Where Rivers Run Dry (+lore)

WHERE RIVERS RUN DRY

Oklahoma, 2149...

CHOO-CHOO!!!

The train let out a howling blare of its horn as it zoomed over the antigravity rails, the golden grasses waving from the rush of air. Overhead, the sky was almost black with storm clouds while the distant horizon was a dull orange.

Leviathan, my Saurophaganax, let out a snorting chuff while a shiver ran down his spine, making his saddle tremble slightly. "Whoah, whoah. Easy, bud. It's alright," I said as I stroked his broken left crest. He was a wily male who had a serious distaste for machines. I always thought it was an animal thing with machines acting and sometimes sounding like animals while not being alive. Leviathan kept letting out a deep grumbling snarl like an alligator. At the same time, the train, which was a few dozen meters away from us, continued to zip over the rails before finally disappearing into the distance.

It was then that I also noticed that the sun was getting pretty low, an orange ball of fire slowly dipping behind the horizon. Luckily, judging by the lights in the distance as well as the direction of the train tracks, there must've been some kind of stop just under a kilometer away. "Come on, bud," I said, gently kicking Leviathan with my spurs to get him to follow the train tracks and head towards whatever building was off in the distance.

Night...

About half an hour later I was proven right. The train was headed for an establishment, a small station built right in front of a bar that was pretty much built in the middle of nowhere. "Just wait here, okay, bud?" I said, patting Leviathan's keratinous crest as he subtly twitched and clawed at the lasso that I used to tie him to a fence post outside the bar which was called "The Dry River" and naturally didn't allow multiton carnivores inside. The male Saurophaganax responded with a short, deep grumble and a shake of his head and neck. I understood why he was nervous, this was the time that bandits were on the prowl as well as predators like Acrocanthosaurus. We also had a history with Acrocanthosaurus, or "western high-spines" as they're known colloquially, as we had been attacked by a mated pair a few years back. So I turned around, walked up the porch, and stepped into The Dry River.

Immediately I was hit with a stench like a barn. I saw groups of men sitting around tables, throwing cards onto them and laughing or slapping the tables in anger. There was even one booth in which a guy lay his head on the table, probably zonked the hell out judging by the empty glass next to him while two of what I guessed were his friends chatted about something. To my left, though, was the main bar where bartenders and customers alike laughed and shouted while drinks of all kinds were served ranging from beer to moonshine. And on the TV was the news.

The screen displayed footage of a war zone, the caption claiming that it was somewhere in Oregon. The footage showed dozens of soldiers mounted on the backs of dinosaurs firing guns as well as using blades and what looked like mechanical atlatls. These were the "Freedom Fighters", flesh and blood soldiers who put their lives on the line to take back the dream of a free nation. However, the squadron, mostly made up of ceratopsids and large theropods, was being quickly gunned down by droids.

These robots were installed by the government a few decades ago to "help with rules and public services", their variations ranging from busses to bartenders and, of course, security. However, their installment was much to everyone's chagrin. They had no thoughts or morals, no willingness to compromise or forgive. If you asked me, those droids could go fuck themselves. And I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"Oh, bugger off!" shouted somebody angrily at the TV. "Turn off the damn TV!" bellowed someone else. Suddenly the entirety of The Dry River seemed to become an uproar of anger. "'Em rich fellas up north are just tryn'a keep us southern folk down with their fancy robots!" shouted someone else. They made a good point. The southern parts of the US like Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Florida had become wild zones overrun with bandits and reintroduced prehistoric fauna. Meanwhile, the northern states like Washington, New York, and Montana were a metropolitan paradise of high class and lots of money. However, there were rumors of strange, dark sciences that bordered on magic.

Snapping out of it, I eventually noticed a figure sitting near the very end of the bar that covered herself in a black cloak with little red and blue stripes. It felt...familiar somehow, but I just couldn't place why. It was only when the figure stretched out a pale hand to grab a glass that it finally clicked.

My eyes widened and a grin spread across my face as I realized who it was. "Maya!?" I shouted excitedly, quickly walking over to my old friend. It had been years since I last seen her, at least two or three if my memory served me correctly. She and I had known each other for years, becoming traveling partners for a while as we hopped from town to town with her ride being a Yangchuanasaurus named Carbon. As time went on, we not only became a good team but also profound partners. Eventually, though, she left me in search of "a better life". It was a bittersweet moment, but I just wanted her to be happy. She deserved it.

But it wasn't unreasonable to assume that she would be happy to see me again, right? Because she just sat there, still shrouded in her cloak, holding onto the glass of orange liquid but still as a statue. My tone changed from happy to concerned. "Maya?" I asked again, maintaining my distance while also cocking my head to try and see her face. When she noticed what I was doing, she turned away immediately, faster than the blink of an eye.

"It's...been a long time, my...friend," she croaked, her voice sounding almost snarl-like. "Y-yeah. But how've you been?" I asked, still trying to see what she was hiding behind that cloak. All I got was a deep, metallic grumble and then silence. At this point, I was both scared and kind of angry. Why was she doing this?

"Maya, you know me. I'm Owen, and my Saurophaganax, Leviathan is out back. You remember me, right?" I asked, stretching out a hand to try and put it on Maya's shoulder in a show of compassion. But she turned away and stretched out a bronze metal arm pulsating with green veins of...something while she let out an almost anima-like hiss. I jumped back, putting my hands up to show I wasn't a threat. "Whoah, whoah, whoah! Easy, now, girl. I'm just trying to say hello," I said, slowly lowering my hand to my belt where my gun was at the ready.

"....Sorry. Need to...go," croaked Maya as she retracted her metal arm and quickly rushed out of the bar. "Maya, wait!" I shouted, stretching out a hand as I ran after her. I heard Leviathan let out a grumbling shriek of alarm, head lowered and claws outstretched in a threat display. "Leviathan! Stand dowww...," I said, trailing off once I saw what he was getting pissed at. Standing before him was a huge, heavily scarred Yangchuanasaurus. But that wasn't the most menacing part.

On its back and arms were dozens of tanks filled with a liquid that gave off an eerie green glow. Tubes sprang out from the bases of these tanks, plunging back into the giant theropod's face, legs, and tail. And its eyes. Its eyes were a hideous green and even shone a horrific emerald. Eventually, I realized who it was: Carbon. Maya's Yangchuanasaurus.

But something had happened to him that turned him from the almost goofy expert tracker I once knew him into this...monstrosity. And yet, even that wasn't the most horrific part. Sat on his back, on a saddle made of steel that was stitched and bolted into Carbon's hide, was Maya. And I almost wished I hadn't looked at her.

She was a ghostly pale and horrifyingly gaunt, her beautiful brown hair now an eerie glacial white. One of her arms was replaced with a robotic one, the fingers looking more like talons. Almost her entire torso was riddled with little pieces of machinery, blinking lights, and tiny vials filled with the same green fluid. And her eyes were the same horrific emerald as Carbon's. Eventually, the realization of what happened hit me like a train.

There were whispers that the northern folk were doing some weird science experiments, even weirder than the ones that brought back much of extinct life. These experiments, and the sciences that created them, seemed to straddle the line between marvels of evolution and abominations of hubris. Some people went so far as to even "augment the human species", trying to give themselves powers like fire or telekinesis and whatnot. And it looked like Maya had become one of these test subjects.

Maybe it was a deal gone wrong, or maybe it was of her own volition, but she had turned herself from the beautiful and funny gal I had fallen in love with into this...thing. A biomechanical husk of what she once was. She looked almost feral, sickly, or witch-like as she rode off into the night, the large dinosaur hopping over the train tracks before bolting out into the sea of grass that made up the Oklahoma wilds, the place where rivers run dry...