Surface: Doomed Planet

Excerpt 8- DJ Skyline

Alcatraz and I loaded up with Mike early the next morning to make our way to the radio station. The sky was a dull gray with the sunlight just barely coming through it. Almost everyone inside the tower's fences was still asleep and snoring was clearly audible. We were putting gas in the Ford when Chy spoke up.

"Reminds me of that one time that your slavers let you come with me camping", She said, "this was about the time we left."

"I liked your owners", I said putting the gas cap back on, "they were the most chill people on the planet and treated you like their daughter."

Chy smiled, "I know, I actually miss them. At least they know I got away safe."

I tilted my head, "if you miss them why'd you run away?"

Chy sighed, "I didn't run, they sent me away. They heard that a slave dealer was rolling through town and offering such high prices that no one could say no. So they gave me a backpack and told me to run as far away as I could."

"Something I should have done years before I actually did", I said putting the gas can away.

"The light house is on the same route you took to get Vahq", Chy said, "just keep going straight once you hit the intersection, then follow the road up the hill. I don't know if the gate to the light house is locked or not, but if it is you'll have to brake it down, something that truck should be more than capable of."

"Got ya", I said climbing into the driver's seat, coiling up my tail so it wouldn't get in the way of anything. Mike rode shotgun and Alcatraz was in the bed because he didn't fit in the seats because of his Exo. Marco opened the gate as I put the Ford in first gear and started it. The big 6.2 liter Diesel engine came alive, blowing blue smoke out of the pipes sticking out of the bed. Even though it was blowing smoke, the massive engine didn't have the roar I'd come to expect from Ford's beefy turbocharged V8, rather this truck, being stock, had a low gurgling sound to it, preventing it from waking the dead. I idled the truck out of the life guard tower parking lot and as Marco closed the gate behind me I gave the engine a little bit of gas to get the truck up the steep hill. I steered the truck around the other smashed cars and crossovers before turning the corner at the top of the hill. I gave the truck some more gas and shifted into second gear as Mike spoke up.

"What exactly are we looking for at the light house?", he asked.

"Radio equipment", I said, "that's our objective, but of course we can't leave anything remotely useful behind."

"Think there might be people up there?", Mike asked.

"What kind? Survivors or Ryu's mercs?", I asked.

"Either", Mike asked.

"If there are people", I said, "I hope it's just survivors, I don't wanna deal with any more sociopaths, I've about had enough of these kinds of people."

"You and me both", Mike said, "you should have tried working with Martin, protecting him even. Just being near that man made me uneasy. When he captured all those pyronauts that were infesting our generator room, he did it so efficiently that we were back online in less than an hour, I'd kill to know exactly how he did it. Most of the time you can't get near a pyronaut without scorching yourself."

"Who cares?", I asked as we made the intersection, the truck's tries crunching over the bodies of a few slain ghouls as we started up another hill, "what matters is that he's dead and gone."

"I suppose", Mike said.

I drove the ford up the hill and through a few twists and turned before I noticed that there was a stream of what looked like blood flowing down the street. I also noticed that there was an orange light by the speedometer that read TCS, SILP. As we turned the final corner before the lighthouse, I noticed the rear end swing out and then a big, red MSTC flash across the truck's touch screen