Scrappers Part III

Visitors

"There," Ruggy said. A humming sound faded in as lights were seen in the sky, piercing through the clouds to the ground below. The lights moved through the ruined landscape, locking onto various cracks and sheltered areas.

"They're looking for something," I said.

"Yeah, us," Ruggy said.

A smaller light came down from the larger light. A craft came out of the clouds and descended onto the ground on the other side of a hill. It was probably a good hundred paces away. The dark made it tough to see the details of the craft. There were only bright lights.

"We can't stay here," Ruggy said.

"We can't turn the engine on," I argued. "They'll see us."

Ruggy nodded. "That leaves us with one option."

"No," I said, already knowing.

"We've got to abandon the cruiser."

My heart sunk. We were sitting ducks. Without the cruiser, we also had no way of getting home. We'd be stuck in The Lost.

"Grab the survival packs. Don't waste any time." Ruggy said, extinguishing his smoke. He got up from his seat and hurried out of the cockpit.

I stared at the distant lights. Smaller lights trickled out of the landed craft. Harvesters. They were on foot. There was no way we'd be able to fight them off. Running was our only hope. I took one last inhale from my smoke and pressed it into the ground. It was time to act.

Ruggy and I gathered all the supplies we could into emergency backpacks and met up in the hangar bay. We swung the packs over our shoulders. Goggles strapped on, rifles in hand, and ammunition belts buckled – it was showtime.

"We can come back," Ruggy said.

"Presuming the Harvesters don't blow the cruiser up."

A loud thump came from on top of the cruiser. It was directly above us. We froze. A moment passed. Another thump. Then a roar. Something was on the roof outside.