It was pitch black in the desert. The headlights provided some vision, but Gabriella still had to concentrate to not get us stuck. She leaned into the wheel like an old lady driving, and smoothly navigated across the dunes. Quinn helped her get back on the correct route whenever she had time to spare, but mostly she scouted our surroundings.

  The bright lights not only helped us see, but helped everything see us too. We must have looked like a small star as we drove across the dunes. The sole light for kilometers on end.

  “How much further?” I asked Quinn.

  She had the best grasp of our surroundings. Most of her time in preparation had been spent with maps, learning the layout and topography of the desert.

  “A few minutes at most. Anything new on the comms?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing. You doing fine Gabi?”

  “Never better,” she mumbled without turning her eyes from the road.

  She’d been driving for hours in night time. I doubted she’d had the foresight to sleep before setting out. She must have been exhausted. I wanted to take over, help carry the burden of keeping focus and staying awake, but I couldn’t drive. Never had the chance to learn.

  “Just let us know if you need to stop and rest.”

  “Tsk. If you’re able to stay awake then so am I.”

  I smiled in the comfortable cover of darkness in the back. “I did say I was sorry about the comment. You’re good as you are.” You don’t need a blessing. You don’t need a life this violent.

  “I know. Shut up.”

  I leaned back in my seat with a satisfied smirk. When they both concentrated I was safe from their teasing. Not that I minded it too much. It made it feel like I had a place to belong with them.

  The car bounced on a buried rock. Gabi cursed about environmental sabotage or something. Metal rattled, but the car kept rolling without issue.

  “Right up ahead,” Quinn said and pointed. She turned to me. “Call it in.”

  I nodded and began transmitting. "HQ, HQ. This is Beetle, Beetle, over.”

  “Reading you, over,” Gerrard’s voice crackled.

  “We’re coming up on the objective, over.”

  “Copy. The signal’s looking strong, little to no interference. You’ve got green light to install it, out.”

  I made a thumbs up in the rearview mirror and Quinn guided Gabi to a safe place where she could stop.

  Quinn and I stepped out of the car, shutting the steel doors behind us. Gabi stayed in the driver’s seat and kept the engine running as we went about unloading the signal enhancer and a pair of shovels. To spare it from unnecessary damage, we were supposed to dig it into the ground and connect it to a net of wires. The wires then connected to thin antennas that would stick out of the ground like reeds. If one failed, another would pick up its slack—and so on until they all failed. At least that was how Gerrard had explained it to me.

  I heaved the black box off the back of the car and carried it over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Quinn unfurled the net of wires and began the arduous process of connecting antennas to the various nodes.

  Compared to her task, digging a hole and carrying a heavy box was much simpler. And much more suited to me. Although I had a gift for embroidery, I didn’t much like finicky stuff.

  I walked around the car into the light. It felt as if I stood in a cage of light. I eased the enhancer down into the sand and grabbed a shovel. I barely had to exert any strength to dig. Still, it took time. I used water to wet the area before digging. I couldn’t have more sand filling up the hole as I went.

  Shovel after shovel, I dug. I lost track of time some time during the monotone labour, and Quinn came to join me. Although the night was cool, it didn’t take very long for her forehead to become glossy with sweat, and her spiky hair to sag with the added weight of moisture.

  All the while we dug, she kept looking around. Her eyes were always focused, wide, and alert. Ears pricked.

  Once the hole was deep enough we worked together to ease the enhancer down. When it stood stably at the bottom I brushed my hands against each other and asked, “Hear anything?”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  She shook her head. “It’s quiet. Way too quiet. I don’t like this.”

  I shrugged. “Figures. We’re in the middle of the desert. Can’t blame the monsters for sparing us their company.” I chuckled.

  Her face was as stone, she didn’t find it funny. That much was obvious from the heavy silence she let hang between us as she fastened the net of wires and antennas to the enhancer. We pulled opposite corner of the net until it stretched taut. The wires were weighted, and would be buried by the blowing sands in no time. I couldn’t help but appreciate the thought that had gone into the whole thing.

  Quinn nodded at my shovel and poured sand into the hole. “Let’s get this over with. Stay vigilant.”

  We filled the hole much quicker than we’d dug it. Neither of us spoke. The only sounds that kept us company were those of the humming engine and our shovels as they pierced the earth.

  We were close to finishing when Quinn froze. She whirled her head around, urgency in her every move as she began to backpedal with her back to me.

  “Cal…” she whispered and fingered the blade on her hip. “Something’s coming.”

  I glanced back at the car. I couldn’t see Gabi in the driver’s seat. The headlights blinded me. I turned back to the hole. It wasn’t fully covered yet. We couldn’t leave it like this.

  “Get back to the car. I’ll finish if you be my eyes.”

  She nodded and jogged to the passenger door. It opened with a creak, and a murmur of Gabi’s voice accompanied it.

  The work hadn’t tired me out, but now I felt sweat begin to pour down my spine.

  There was something eerie about facing the unknown. At first I thought getting used to the feeling of diving in headfirst was just a matter of time and practice. Experience had proven to me that wasn’t the case. Even now as my heart raced, my fingers trembled around the shaft of the shovel. I was alone, surrounded by night. And people depended on me.

  I worked fast, but not fast enough to make mistakes. One shovel, then the next. Never taking my eyes off the viscous wall of black unless I needed.

  Since becoming… something else. My eyesight had improved. I saw better in the dark than most. But I saw far from enough.

  Curiosity got the better of me and I looked down to see my progress at filling the hole. The sand at my feet shifted. The top layer of it trembled ever so slightly, like a leaf in the wind. I knew then, even before Quinn shouted.

  “It’s coming!”

  I tossed my shovel to the side and clasped my fingers around Stoneflow’s leathery grip. Jackpot wouldn’t be of any use in a pinch like this. And I’d been itching to try out my newest accolade. Only, I’d hoped to do so under more controlled circumstances.

  The ground burst into a spray of wet sand. It pelted against my skin like a hailstorm and I had to shield my eyes with my free hand to not be blinded. In the midst of it, a blur of movement shot toward me. My instincts screamed at me to move, but that would leave the car in the line of fire. I couldn’t risk it. Gabi and Quinn would be hurt.

  I clenched my jaw and activated Skin stitching just before the monster slammed into me. Oxygen escaped my lungs as my stomach compressed from the impact. I took a step back with a groan and looked down as a sharp pain flared from my abdomen. The toddler sized monster clung to my side like a leech by embedding needle-like teeth into armor and flesh. My body moved on its own.

  Stoneflow ripped through the monster like it was made of paper, decapitating it without difficulty. The body went slack, but its head remained fastened to my armor. I tore it loose and got a better look of the thing.

  It was disgusting. Some sort of mix between a worm and a lamprey. It was long and thick, a leathery brown and had sharp teeth that lined its insides. I shuddered at the thought of having been bit by the thing and pressed a hand to my wound. It wasn’t very deep, nor did it hurt much. But it would leave a bruise.

  I kicked the decapitated body away and inspected the now buried enhancer with a grunt. The job was done, just in time too.

  “There’s more!” Quinn shouted from the safety of her car.

  I threw a glance to the ground. It was trembling just like before. Only on a much larger scale. Even if I thought myself quite competent in a fight. There was no fighting the tide. Our job was done here anyway, no point in staying. I turned my heel to the incoming tide.

  I didn’t bother stopping to pick up my shovel as I rushed to the car. I finally got a look at Gabi’s face when I passed the driver’s side and tore the back door open. Her sun-kissed skin had taken on a shade of pale I didn’t know it was capable of.

  I threw myself into the back seat and slammed the door shut behind me. “Go, go, go!”

  The engine screamed and the tires spun in the sand, spraying a good deal of it into the wind before they found traction and sent us into a ripping acceleration.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” muttered Gabi and shifted the gear. “Are you fucking okay?!”

  She did a U-turn and I looked through the rear windshield. I could just barely make out the horde of approaching sandworms with the faint red brake lights. They came in varying sizes, with most being smaller than the one I killed.

  The monster on its own was disgusting. Not the horde. The horde was terrifying. I whipped around, not willing to look at the approaching tide any longer.

  “They’re coming!” Quinn shouted at the already frantic Gabi.

  “I know, I know! Fuck!” She shifted into a higher gear and took a sharp turn to the left to avoid the steep decline of a dune.

  They were too close. Multiple of them slammed into the car’s armored side like bullets, rocking the vehicle onto two wheels before it stabilized again.

  It sounded as if we were under fire when they barrelled into us. The dents on my door grew numerous within the span of the few seconds it took us to create some distance. We couldn’t take many more of these hits. I swallowed the impulse to tell the others. They had enough on their plates. All we could do now was trust in Gabi’s ability.

  Gabi took another sharp turn that sent me slamming into the vacant seat to my side. I straightened back up and fastened my seatbelt.

  “Fuck, sorry!” She shouted and eyed me through the mirror.

  “It’s alright, I’m fine!” I insisted and heard the radio crackle.

  On instinct I grabbed the headphones and heard Gerrard’s familiar voice. “Beetle, Beetle, this is HQ-”

  And I shouted back, “Not now!”