Living Antiquity

~4~

The trek to the Thunderjaw site was mostly filled with Drakka fuming about how the parts better get them the water they need, and how many lives had been lost to get the parts...
When we got there, I witnessed the bodies of at least a dozen Tenakth warriors, all laud bare to the elements, full of holes from what appeared to be lasers and various clawmarks... Even prints from being walked over by machines... That part really pissed him off...
"By the rocks, someone is still alive!" Aloy called out from atop a post she had climbed with the Pullcaster. I still wanted one and by any deity listwning, I was gonna make one.
Drakka and Aloy didn't manage ti ask him anything before a swarm of Burrowers sprang from underground... Around me...
"Y/n watch out!!" Aloy yelled, running toward me as I dodged their attacks.
Roll, damnit, ignore the pain and dizziness and just ROLL... I dove under one as it sprang at me, and shoved my spear up through the underside of the housing on its head, driving its eye out and getting my spear stuck, "Shit!" I let go, knowing the glorified stick was a lost cause, and rolled again, my vision swimming as I huck the nearest rock directly into another's rear storage, Aloy already on one further away as Drakka runs toward us.
"Use y-"
"I know!" I cut Aloy off, prepping the bow she and Zo had helped me make, and nocking an arrow, aiming for another Burrower's antennae. You're not gonna be calling reinforcements, sorry buddy.
By the time I fired, Aloy and Drakka had taken all the other Burrowers out, leaving us quietly standing in a duststorm, panting for breath.
For a second, anyway.
"Hey! The Thunderjaw is coming back!" The survivor yelled from the rocks, clearly panicking.
"Get down, Y/n!" Aloy yelled at me, running toward the very very big machine with Drakka, "You need more experience before you can try to tackle something that big!"
I nod and duck into the grass, keeping my head down to where I can just see them fighting it, ducking and dodging as they whittled its armor and tried to get it stuck where they could tear off its weapons.
Looking at the metal t-rex, I could see why people were so scared of it... It had more guns than a battleship, alongside lasers and the fucking disc launchers...
White hot pain tore through my leg, and i fell flat on the ground, biting back a scream so I wouldn't draw attention.
A stray bullet from its face guns hit me, and I was going to pass put if I wasn't careful. And I certainly don't want an infection...
Fuuuuck this, hard and fast, all the way...
What made me think I could survive out here? I should just become a damn cave goblin and live in the repair bay...
But, first's first, I gotta keep this from getting infected...
Wincing, I sat up, and began carefully cleaning and binding the wound, trying to ignore the sounds of fighting while downing one of the healing potions that everybody swore by. Supposedly I'd just have a scar by about next week...
Looking over at the fight, they'd knocked the biggest guns off of it already, but it was pinning them to the cliffside...
Oh hell no...
I groaned, leaning against a rock in the middle of the grass, and knocked two arrows on my bow, a shock, and an acid, pulling back as far as I could and aiming for the back of its "head", angling so it's arc and hopefully hit dead center
I just hope this bow has the necessary range...
Taking a deep breath and hissing as my leg twinged from the pain of tightening so many different muscles all together, I losses the arrows, biting my lip as I watched them arc and drop, dead center, the acid arrow's load opening the armor enough that the arcing electricity from the shock arrow shorted the Thunderjaw's circuits and it fell, twitching and unable to move as Aloy jumped up and severed its lifeline.
Good riddance.
"Y/n! Where are you?!" Aloy yelled as she hopped down from the falling carcass, unable to see me.
"Aaaaaagh..." I deadpan at as high a volume I could muster, groaning.
"Are you alright?" She runs over, frowning as Drakka whistled, circling the carcass and walking over to us.
"My leg got hit when a bullet bounced off a rock..." I groan, pointing at the offended limb as she grabs my reaching arm and yoinks me up onto my good foot.
"I'll call your Charger. Dra-" Aloy starts.
"Who woulda thought they'd hate combined elements so much? You oughta see the marks in the metalburn," Drakka laughs, walking over and grinning at Aloy and I, "I took the liberty of digging out its heart... Hey, I know I'm wracking up favors here, but would you take these back to Jetakka in Arrowhand?" He asks, handing Aloy the part, "I'll be right behind you, I have to get my soldier home." He says, frowning.
Aloy nods and whistles, the Chargers we had left somewhere near the town running toward us and skidding to a halt beside us... I still don'y know how she does that...
"Help me get her up real first? She won't be able to walk for a few hours."
I groan, wincing as they lift me onto the Charger with my f/c paint marks on it. Figured its my ride, why not personalize...
"Do you remember the way back to Arrowhand? I'll have to walk these parts, I still have repairs to make on my Charger..." Aloy says, looking at me,
"Yeah, I'll be fine," I groan, tapping the Charger's sides to motion them onward, and walki g to the Thunderjaw to check my work.
Deep acid burns, surrounded in sooty arc-marks and patterns from electricity finding the path of least resistance through acid and metal... Sweet.
Finally, I urged the machine into a gallop, and took off, groaning and wincing my way through the couple hours of hard riding to get back to the town, almost hurling over the Charnger's side as the world swam with pain and the loss of blood. The wound tingles, must be the potion kicking in, that or I'm about to lose my damn leg...
"Its the woman that was with the Easterner! Get her down, get her to the medbay!"
And darkness as I fought with nausea and irritation...
--
Waking up a few hours later, I was laying under the shade in the village, someone kneeling over my leg.
"Did she do this herself? Impressive. Thorough, too. Oh, you're awake. Did you take a potion?"
"Mmhmmmphlkss..." I groan the affirmative, sitting up as it devolves into a hiss of pain as they put pressure on the exposed wound. Guess they were changing my bandages...
"You did well. Its actually superficial, but Aloy mentioned you weren't used to war wounds. You should be able to walk and left this exposed, the skin is all that is left broken now. See for yourself. Whoever made your salve and potion was effective," the medic stood up, smirking, "I'd like to learn from them sometime."
"Zo and Aloy made them..." I said as I slowly, oh so gently, lifted myself to my feet, "Man, fuck this... I'm never gonna adjust to this life."
"You already seem to have, Drakka and Aloy mentioned what you did to the Burrowers and Thunderjaw," a man's voice says as he walks under the shelter, "Y/n, was it? Aloy explained you were of the Old Ones, as did Drakka. How is that possible?"
I look up, greeted by Jetakka, "It is a long story..." I sigh and walk over to him, wincing at the feeing of the wound stretching and contracting, as I slowly explain my prior illness and how I was preserved and healed.
"Ah. Amazing... Maybe you'll be able to help as well, then, as this is a matter concerning Old World tech. Would you accompany Aloy to Scalding Spear? I can't say more here..." he says cautiously, eying everyone around us.
Not a good sign, and not a good vibe...
"I can't explain here." He says, looking at me earnestly.
"... Fine." I sigh and limp back out into the aun, seeing Aloy helping carry the survivor from the Thunderjaw site toward the medical cover, "Yo!"
"Oh, they said you were sleeping..." Aloy looks at me, "You sure you're okay?"
"Nothing some red meat, and eventually some sleep, won't fix," I groan, stretching, "Doc said to leave it exposed, let the skin heal. Apparently you and Zo make some potent stuff, I'm already almost healed. That shit was deep, though..." I rub my head, frowning.
Drakka raises an eyebrow, "Really? Damn. Guess you'll be moving on soon..."
I raise an eyebrow, but shrug, "Aloy and I have places to be, sorry..." I yawn, rubbing my face, already sweating balls.
Alpy sighs and helps set the soldier down where he can get help before saying our goodbyes and leading my back ti the Chargers, "Did Jetakka tell you?"
"To go ti Scalding Spear? Yeah. I think we're about to know ay too much about this clan..." I frown, piecing the pieces together in my head as we gallop, and start a call with her so we could hear each other over the wind, "I'm not sure what to think this is going ti be. I hope it isn't really bad, but..."
"We never know. But if water is in short supply, it could be their water supply that was affected."
"Exactly. And remember what Drakka said about the Desert Commander. He doesn't like this person... And he kinda wants to replace them. I'm tryi g to withhold judgement, but... I have a bad feeling that this is going to get messy." I say, thinking.
"Well, there's a shelter ahead, we can hunt, get you some food, and rest fir the night. If you're right, we both need to be in top form." Aloy offers.
"Yeah, lets." I groan, stomach growling.
Within an hour, we were settled in while chunks of meat roasted over the flames, neither if us picky enough to want seasonings or anything else. Just food.
--
The next morning, we took off again and were soon passing through the ruins kf a solar power plant.
"Whoa. Never thought I'd see this place, especially not after the end of the world..." I stare up at what used to be the central tower, "Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project. Looks like its been defunct for a long ass time. It heated salt in the tower via the heliostats- the giant mirrors everywhere. They were replaced at some point with the Miriam Tech solar panels. Each panel made enough power to put the tower out of business, but they kept the tower cause it was too dangerous to demolish it. They just removed the salt and left it, I think. But that means the cold water system below it- oh. I thi k I know how they get their water. And I think i know why they need us. Something has either happened to the tank, or happened to the flow..." I frowned, looking over at Aloy.
"You're sure this is the place you remember?" Aloy frowns.
"Yes. I watched documentaries about it," I deadpan, hopping off my Charger and following her in the settlement gates.
We passed people obviously suffering dehydration, a d eventually heard yelling the closer to the center we got...
People were vying for a woman's attention, yelling about how they don't have enough water fir their children.
"Why put guards around the wound?!"
"You can't just take away our water!"
"The wound gives less water. Our rations adjust," the woman they were addressing says harshly.
"Uh-oh..." I mutter as we reach Jetakka.
"What's going on?" Aloy looks to Jetakka, frowning.
"We know the way of the desert!" A man stalks toward the woman, growling, "What's stopping us from taking what we want, an-"
Motherfucker headbutted him!
He fell instantly, gripping his nose
The woman glared out over the crowd, obviously pissed, "Anyone else want to complain?" She snaps at them, before seeming to regain her composure, "We're the desert clan. We survive with what we have." She turned and stalked up a walkway into the old salt tower.
"Your uh... Commander... isn't much for handholding..." I mutter, hissing the commander part, as I was already disliking this woman.
Aloy gives me a look that more than says I beat her to the punch.
"That js not our way... Even less so in her case..." Jetakka sighs, motioning toward the tower, "Now, shall we?"
Yes, we shall... Break noses, that is...
I follow, Aloy staying close as Jetakka confirms we're with him, and leads thw way inside.
"Survival is bred into the way we live out here. We spit at death, and charge into battle... Maybe a little too eagerly." He sighs.
Far too eagerly.
"I'm hoping you two have a miracle for us..."
"What do you need?" Ally asked, instantly on guard.
"You'll see..." he sighs, halting behind the woman from earlier.
"So... The outlander who bested Regalla, and the outlander with no experience, but seemingly endless strategy... Both conspiring with the dissident Drakka," she hissed, glaring out over the horizon.
If you say one more snooty word... Fuck, bitch, your voice is enough to piss me off. How?!
"Demanding water dkes not make one a dissident, Yarra." Jetakka says gently.
"Nor does it make one a commander. You shpuld advise him of that," she spits, not looking at us.
I like you as much as I like warts between my toes.
"Jetakka said you needed help," Aloy said in a much kinder tone than I was capable of summoning.
"Did he now?" Yarra rolls her eyes.
"Aloy and her friend have a unique insight into the ways of the Old Ones. They might be able to fix this before it gets out of hand..." Jetakka says pointedly, clearly trying to hide his own irritation with this woman's surprisingly childish behavior.
"Get to the point. What is Jetakka talking about?" Aloy says, folding her arms.
She's already sick of it, too.
"... There is no water." Yarra snarls, turning to face us.
Nailed it.
"What do you mean?" Aloy frowns. Probably realizing I'm right, but knowing she can't just turn to me and say that. Jetakka probably sees it on her face, but Yarra? Can't see past her face paint.
"The Wound in the Sand. That which gives our clan thw water we need to survive, is completely dry..."
"Then why not find other sources?" I ask pointedly, watching her.
"It ran dry a few weeks ago, and I ordered rationing and searches... But everything nearby comes up tainted in one way or other," Yarra states, clearly desperate.
"Why the secrecy?" Aloy frowns, watching her.
"If the clan knew, my command would be challenged," she snaps.
That got me, "There is no water, and you're worried about keeping your command?!"
"Think what you want. Between the storms, the machines, and Regalla's uprising, I'm the only thing keeping this clan from falling apart," she glares at me.
"The only thing?! Your secrecy is going to have them all at each other's throats for everyone else's water rations," I snarl back.
"Don't take that tone with me, little girl," Yarra glares.
"Drakka said your clan won't touch Regalla..." Aloy deflects, distracting her.
"Regalla's blood is with Hekarro, not me. I plan to keep it that way to keep her troops from attacking my clan. Besides, if she defeats Hekarro; she deserves to rule. That is the way of the tribe," Yarra folds her arms.
"When she marches thousands to their pointless deaths, you won't be saying that," I prod, at this point wanting just as much of a ruse from her as she was getting from me.
"Drakka's people sacrificed a lot to get that water," Aloy frowns, worried, and clearly trying to stop me from getting my head ripped off, "He thinks you're hoarding it for yourse-"
"The perfect excuse to challenge my command. Just like he's always wanted. Of course he makes it sound very noble, that he only cares about his thirsty people. But all he really wants it to be in charge. And if he was? He'd face the exact same problem I have. There is simply not enough water to go around."
"Then how are you going to solve that problem? How are you going to get water?" I ask, watching her. We could fix the water system, but I'd only do it for the people, not for her...
"Ration what little water we have. Biy time to fix the wound."
"And in the meantime people die of thirst?" Aloy asks.
"Every corpse weighs on me. That is what it means to be commander. What matters is that the clan survives as a whole," Yarra says, waving her arms.
"The clan won't survive, not with you treating their worries like this," I say, turning and walking away to let Aloy finish the conversation. If I listen to her say anything else, I'll punch her.