A New Leader

Part Twenty Four : Catch-A-Ride

The dust seemed to blow in my face as the wind kept pushing it along the desert, Rhys still sat on the ground as car parts were burning all around us. The wind died down for a quick second as I heard the beeping of the tracking device still active off in the distance, I quickly stood up and walked closer to the sound, Rhys unresponsive. I finally found it as it blinked on and off, the screen flashing in and out of signal. I turned in its direction and began walking towards the beacon, footsteps creeping up behind me.

I pulled my pistol out of my holster and held the gun right between Rhys's eyes and clicked the safety off, I told him that people who stand in my way don't last long. He put his hands up defensively before backing away, I put the pistol back and watched him closely.

"You can come with me, but I swear if you try some shit like that again then I won't hesitate to shoot you." I nearly growled.

"Didn't anything I just told you sink in?" He asked desperately.

"You didn't tell me anything, you tried to change my point of view." I continued walking towards the beacon. "I know about all the shit he did, you really think I'm that innocent either? I'm a bandit for god sake."

"But you've done so much good, the only good he had done was make a shit ton of money for Hyperion."

"I'm brining him back weather you want me to or not Rhys, you can stay or you can go."

"Well, since you blew up the car I don't really have a choice." He ran up next to me as we continued to walk through the dusty area.

It seemed like we were getting closer, the beacon getting closer towards us on the map and the light blinking rapidly. Rhys put a hand against my chest and stopped me from walking, I almost hit him before I noticed the giant heap of scrap metal in front of us. He looked down at me and then back at the mess, I felt deep panic set in, I began trying to find a way around it. The beacon moved to the left as I went further away, I ran back and past Rhys frantically. He stood there and watched as I would run back and forth, mumbling to myself nervously, he found humor in this and began laughing at me.

I became over heated and felt my legs give out, laying flat in the sandy ground and nearly ingesting half of sand in my mouth. I groaned as the heat continued to beat down on my back despite the fact it was late at night, my head began to pound. I felt hands around my sides lift me off of the ground. Rhys threw me over his shoulder and began walking around the pile, the device in his hand.

"Rhys... I swear to god..." I breathed.

"Shush, where there's scrap, there's civilization." He hushed me and continued to walk.

I watched as the ground went by quickly, his shoes treading along and getting closer to the beeping noise. I began to play with the black nail polish on my fingernails, chipping it off and watching it fly away. Once I got to my last finger and peeled it off, boredom really set in and I became desperate for some kind of stimulus. The beeping noise was still going nuts but we didn't get any closer to it than I thought we were, I poked Rhys directly in the spine, making him jolt forward and stop.

"What?" He asked annoyed.

"Nothing, I'm just bored." I groaned.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty three, why?"

"Because you sound like a bored two year old." He laughed and began walking again.

"Excuse me?" I pushed myself up as best as I could, he shook me and my body went all rag doll again.

"Hush up, we're getting closer."

"Bite me." I rolled my eyes.

It only took five more minutes before he stopped yet again, his quietness enlightened the tracker going nuts and nearly jumping out of his hands from the loud noise. He quickly put me down, I turned and looked at the giant building in front of us that was surrounded by scrap. Lights turned on quickly and shined down on us, no one was here though, no one said anything or bothered us.

"I think I know the person who works here, she's a mechanic for the catch-a-ride." Rhys spoke, poking his head around the area.

"The what?" I asked.

"The catch-a-ride?" He repeated, "You know, catch-a-ride..." he slightly sang, only making my expression more confused.

"Let's just go find her, what's her name?"

"Ellie I think." He pointed up towards a sign with the name labeled on it, a flower placed on the upper part of her name.

"Ellie!" I yelled out in the giant courtyard, his hand covering my mouth instantly.

"Quiet down, she may think we're bandits." He spoke in a hushed tone.

"Fine, well then lets do it your way." I crossed my arms as his hand was still over my mouth.

"Lets." He walked away from me and towards the large building that started to look more like a garage

The whole area was surrounded by scrap, if the modular was here then it was going to take forever to actually find in all this mess. I could still hear the beeping noise from the device as Rhys made his distance between us, looking around curiously. As I continued walking I saw what seemed to be a horribly written sign, I walked closer towards it and realized what it said.

"Pis off."

I ran up to Rhys and began pulling him away from the building, he seemed surprised that I had done so. He stopped and looked at me, confused and amused at my frantic state.

"What is it?" He asked in a humorous tone.

"We're in a bandit camp." I whispered.

"What?" He looked around, "this is most definitely Ellie's garage, no bandits here." He reassured me, turning around to the gun pointing in his face.

"I was wondering when you Hyperion scum was gunna get here." The familiar voice spoke, catching Rhys and I off guard.