Dan turned the strider tank around and glided the vehicle back to his two allies. Once he stopped the tank, Adam reached out to him over the private channel.
“Hey kid, any weapons in there you can fork over? I need to make myself useful,” he said.
Dan could hear Li climbing in from the back and taking something out of the weapon rack on the side.
“Found something,” Li said. “Appears to be some type of anti-materiel rifle.”
“I’ll ride on top of the tank,” Adam said. “It beats being cramped inside that thing with you two. I just need one of you to be a decent driver.”
“Deal,” Dan said.
After Li handed off the rifle to Adam, Li closed the door behind them and took a seat right next to him. From his expanded view, Dan watched as Adam climbed aboard the tank from the side. The Kodak agent held onto some small handle on the side of the strider, somehow fitting his body in between the obnoxiously huge spikes on the outside hull. Dan was still gliding around with the strider, strafing the tank from side to side. He couldn’t contain the smile under his mask as he pushed around this floating tank.
He felt a sudden tap on his shoulder. “Dan, regain your focus. We’re not playing bumper cars here,” Li deadpanned.
“We might have to if we encounter enemy striders,” Adam interjected through the channel. “If laser cannons and missiles fail, we’ll have to ram them using that plough at the front. It’s there for a reason.”
“Your shard’s design philosophy on its military vehicles leaves much to be desired,” Li said.
“Not my shard anymore,” Adam responded. “Besides, where the hell do we even go from here?”
Admittedly, Dan knew that he didn’t think far ahead after the initial prison break. He was so focused on him and Li busting out of Kodak custody that knowing their next destination outside of the city’s walls and how they would make it back to Alpha territory hadn’t crossed his mind. He also didn’t want to admit to either of his teammates that whatever relationship that had been developing between him and Ada also partially distracted him from planning further.
“Even with a strider in our possession and having protection from the incoming sandstorm, we can’t keep fighting forever,” Li said. “We’re still firmly in Kodak territory and eventually someone will catch on that one of their tanks has been stolen and commandeered by us.”
“Kid, I’m sending you a map of Kodak-owned territory. We could still make it through this wasteland and find civilization elsewhere, though we’ll have to keep a low profile.”
The stealth specialist snorted. “Keeping a low profile while driving a hover tank? Good luck with that. I’m sure no one will question such a normal, everyday occurrence.”
A small spinning icon popped up in the center of Dan’s expanded view of the desert along with a message from his HUD.
Updated world map received.
A map of the entirety of Eurasia territory expanded in front of him, floating above the strider he controlled. The entirety of Europe along with North and Central Africa was covered in green, representing Alpha-controlled territory. The lands that used to be Russia and most of Southeast Asia were covered in red, representing Kodak-owned lands. Everywhere else that wasn’t the Americas was colored white, representing territory owned by the Church of Nanotology.
A blue circle blinked on the map and it zoomed in deep into the red territory. The map zoomed into what Dan remembered as former China. He grimly saw the blue circle deep into the red, showing them to be a long way from Alpha territory.
The next closest city where they could possibly reach and maybe steal some supplies or a new ride once the strider ran out of ammo or fuel was over seven-hundred kilometers away. He immediately set a waypoint to that location.
Dan knew he didn’t have an answer that would satisfy either of them, but it was the honest truth.
“Yeah, our chances aren’t looking too good out here. But as long as we’re still alive, let’s harass Kodak a bit on the way to our next stop.”
Adam chuckled over the channel. “Well, no better options I guess. It’s going to be a long ride.”
“Just saw the new waypoint,” Li said. “Let’s get going then.”
Dan accelerated the strider and drove forward. The vehicle reached a speed of over one-hundred-twenty kilometers an hour as it glided smoothly over the desert sand. Ordinarily, Dan would just enjoy this relaxing tank ride, but as the strider hovered smoothly across another sand dune, the expanded view allowed him to see the sandstorm rolling in not too far away. The sandstorm was like a wall that divided the desert apart from the rest of the world. The wall that surrounded the city he and the others had just escaped was puny compared to this wrath of natural forces coming for them. He squinted and saw lightning that flashed within the giant wall of dust.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“Uh Li, have you ever heard of lightning within a sandstorm?” Dan asked.
“Our planet’s weather patterns have been getting increasingly unstable since the meteor struck the Dead Zone back in 2099. Nothing comes as a surprise anymore.”
The waypoint on Dan’s HUD pointed him straight ahead to a clear path to the next city. Or at least relative compared to the giant wall of sand and lightning coming at them from the side. He pressed the acceleration further and the strider reached its maximum speed of one-hundred-seventy kilometers an hour.
The invisible cushions underneath the hover tank blew small waves of sand to the side as the tank glided over the desert. The tank jumped another sand dune and Dan encountered his first set of enemy tanks.
“Watch it kid. Rush past them and they might not suspect anything,” Adam warned.
The tank made a smooth landing onto the sand past the sand dune and continued rushing forward. The three strider tanks that floated in place swiveled their energy cannons in his direction but didn’t immediately open fire.
Dan exhaled as he assumed his strider left the other three in the dust and the enemy operators, while confused, would not suspect that this tank had been stolen.
But then his expanded view updated him with three glowing orange arrows that pointed behind him. He was warned of hostile tanks ready to engage.
“Okay, too good to be true,” Adam said. “Turn this thing around and get ready for a fight. We can’t outrun these tanks.”
The three enemy tanks were also strider models and the desert was nothing but flat land with sporadic dunes. Even if Dan wanted to outspeed the tanks, he had no cover in the environment to exploit.
“My first tank fight,” Dan muttered. “This should be fun.”
Dan spun the hover tank a full one-eighty and strafed to the right, evading a red energy beam that narrowly missed his vehicle. All three enemy striders glided towards him, looking to close the distance between them. Adam opened fire with his anti-materiel rifle. The first shot was nothing but a brief muzzle flash from Dan’s perspective within the tank. His rifle flashed another few times then he saw all three striders stop abruptly and then briefly bounce and rock. Then the skull-faced agent called in.
“Nice. I took out each of their missile launchers,” he said. “As long as you don’t stay still, they’ll have a hard time hitting us with their energy cannons.”
Dan continued strafing in one direction, quickly closing the gap within a few seconds and finding himself around the flank of the furthest strider to the right of the group. He squeezed the trigger on his steering wheel and his cannon took a second to charge before a bright red beam blasted out of his strider and smashed into the enemy strider.
The affected strider exploded then fell and smashed into the sand in flames. Raging fire and black smoke plumed out of the heap of alloys as Dan secured his first enemy tank kill. His HUD also notified him of the achievement.
You have destroyed your first enemy tank!
Massive bonus experience rewarded.
He immediately strafed his strider again, remembering Adam’s warning of always being on the move.
Congratulations!
You are now Tier 2 | Level 35.
You have earned 5 stat points!
Dan didn’t have time to celebrate another level up as he saw the remaining two enemy striders glide in opposing directions out from behind the smouldering wreck.
Green circles flashed on his expanded view as they tracked one strider while Dan focused his main cannon on the other. Both he and the other strider charged their energy cannons at the same time. Dan proved to be faster by a razor thin margin as his cannon blasted a red beam that crossed space between the two and found its way into the enemy strider. The enemy still managed a partial blast as a thinner red beam slashed the air beside him and dangerously close to Adam.
“Way too fucking close,” Adam said over the channel. “Felt the heat on that one, even in this desert.”
Dan squeezed the other trigger on the wheel and his missile launcher blasted two missiles that ascended into the air then arced downward. He kept his strider on the move, zipping in between and around the burning wrecks of the two enemy striders to prevent the third hostile hover tank from getting a good shot in.
His strider emerged from the middle of the burning tanks and Dan got a clear view of the third strider. He watched the brief flash of red light from the strider’s charging cannon before the two missiles smashed and blew up the enemy. The last strider exploded in the same wild fashion as the other two, multiple detonations with an exaggerated shower of sparks in all directions and plumes of black smoke releasing into the desert air.
“Holy shit,” Dan muttered. “We cooked those guys up.”
Adam chimed in over the channel. “That’s a combination of explosions from the engines, plasma energy powering the cannon, and whatever other munitions those striders carried. The tanks may be lightweight, but they certainly don’t go out quietly.”
“Solid work,” Li said out loud beside him.
“Thanks buddy,” Dan said. “No point in sticking around here.”
He turned his strider and sped through the desert, taking occasional glances at the approaching wall of sand and lightning. The expanded view of his environment showed stretches of relatively flat desert ahead of him. For at least a few kilometers off to the opposite side, he didn’t see any additional enemy tanks.
The smooth glide across the wasteland didn't last as Dan caught a faint flash in the darkness ahead of him. His strider’s front light illuminated three dark figures not too far ahead of him. His eyes widened as he saw the familiar golden blade form in the middle figure’s hand.
“Oh shit,” Dan said.
The figure lifted the golden energy blade up, then brought it down. A piercing, crescent-shaped wave of energy barreled down toward him and Dan just barely strafed his tank to evade the bizarre energy attack. His strider drifted over the sand and Dan watched in his peripheral as the edge of the golden crescent of energy dug its way into the sand. The energy wave continued its path uninterrupted and sent up a miniature wave of sand before the wave completely buried itself into the ground. The mark left by the wave extended at least a few hundred meters behind Dan’s tank.
“Is that who I think it is?” Li said.
“No other possibility,” Dan said grimly. Even within the air conditioned interiors of the strider, he began sweating, knowing only one individual who wielded such a golden blade and powerful enough to launch such an attack.
The same figure with the golden blade popped up a few dozen meters in front of the tank. The brilliant golden blade offered Judith her own light source as she extended her out as if she held a lantern. The lead Bloodknight flashed him a grin and waved at him.
Dan turned the strider tank around and glided the vehicle back to his two allies. Once he stopped the tank, Adam reached out to him over the private channel.
“Hey kid, any weapons in there you can fork over? I need to make myself useful,” he said.
Dan could hear Li climbing in from the back and taking something out of the weapon rack on the side.
“Found something,” Li said. “Appears to be some type of anti-materiel rifle.”
“I’ll ride on top of the tank,” Adam said. “It beats being cramped inside that thing with you two. I just need one of you to be a decent driver.”
“Deal,” Dan said.
After Li handed off the rifle to Adam, Li closed the door behind them and took a seat right next to him. From his expanded view, Dan watched as Adam climbed aboard the tank from the side. The Kodak agent held onto some small handle on the side of the strider, somehow fitting his body in between the obnoxiously huge spikes on the outside hull. Dan was still gliding around with the strider, strafing the tank from side to side. He couldn’t contain the smile under his mask as he pushed around this floating tank.
He felt a sudden tap on his shoulder. “Dan, regain your focus. We’re not playing bumper cars here,” Li deadpanned.
“We might have to if we encounter enemy striders,” Adam interjected through the channel. “If laser cannons and missiles fail, we’ll have to ram them using that plough at the front. It’s there for a reason.”
“Your shard’s design philosophy on its military vehicles leaves much to be desired,” Li said.
“Not my shard anymore,” Adam responded. “Besides, where the hell do we even go from here?”
Admittedly, Dan knew that he didn’t think far ahead after the initial prison break. He was so focused on him and Li busting out of Kodak custody that knowing their next destination outside of the city’s walls and how they would make it back to Alpha territory hadn’t crossed his mind. He also didn’t want to admit to either of his teammates that whatever relationship that had been developing between him and Ada also partially distracted him from planning further.
“Even with a strider in our possession and having protection from the incoming sandstorm, we can’t keep fighting forever,” Li said. “We’re still firmly in Kodak territory and eventually someone will catch on that one of their tanks has been stolen and commandeered by us.”
“Kid, I’m sending you a map of Kodak-owned territory. We could still make it through this wasteland and find civilization elsewhere, though we’ll have to keep a low profile.”
The stealth specialist snorted. “Keeping a low profile while driving a hover tank? Good luck with that. I’m sure no one will question such a normal, everyday occurrence.”
A small spinning icon popped up in the center of Dan’s expanded view of the desert along with a message from his HUD.
Updated world map received.
A map of the entirety of Eurasia territory expanded in front of him, floating above the strider he controlled. The entirety of Europe along with North and Central Africa was covered in green, representing Alpha-controlled territory. The lands that used to be Russia and most of Southeast Asia were covered in red, representing Kodak-owned lands. Everywhere else that wasn’t the Americas was colored white, representing territory owned by the Church of Nanotology.
A blue circle blinked on the map and it zoomed in deep into the red territory. The map zoomed into what Dan remembered as former China. He grimly saw the blue circle deep into the red, showing them to be a long way from Alpha territory.
The next closest city where they could possibly reach and maybe steal some supplies or a new ride once the strider ran out of ammo or fuel was over seven-hundred kilometers away. He immediately set a waypoint to that location.
Dan knew he didn’t have an answer that would satisfy either of them, but it was the honest truth.
“Yeah, our chances aren’t looking too good out here. But as long as we’re still alive, let’s harass Kodak a bit on the way to our next stop.”
Adam chuckled over the channel. “Well, no better options I guess. It’s going to be a long ride.”
“Just saw the new waypoint,” Li said. “Let’s get going then.”
Dan accelerated the strider and drove forward. The vehicle reached a speed of over one-hundred-twenty kilometers an hour as it glided smoothly over the desert sand. Ordinarily, Dan would just enjoy this relaxing tank ride, but as the strider hovered smoothly across another sand dune, the expanded view allowed him to see the sandstorm rolling in not too far away. The sandstorm was like a wall that divided the desert apart from the rest of the world. The wall that surrounded the city he and the others had just escaped was puny compared to this wrath of natural forces coming for them. He squinted and saw lightning that flashed within the giant wall of dust.
“Uh Li, have you ever heard of lightning within a sandstorm?” Dan asked.
“Our planet’s weather patterns have been getting increasingly unstable since the meteor struck the Dead Zone back in 2099. Nothing comes as a surprise anymore.”
The waypoint on Dan’s HUD pointed him straight ahead to a clear path to the next city. Or at least relative compared to the giant wall of sand and lightning coming at them from the side. He pressed the acceleration further and the strider reached its maximum speed of one-hundred-seventy kilometers an hour.
The invisible cushions underneath the hover tank blew small waves of sand to the side as the tank glided over the desert. The tank jumped another sand dune and Dan encountered his first set of enemy tanks.
“Watch it kid. Rush past them and they might not suspect anything,” Adam warned.
The tank made a smooth landing onto the sand past the sand dune and continued rushing forward. The three strider tanks that floated in place swiveled their energy cannons in his direction but didn’t immediately open fire.
Dan exhaled as he assumed his strider left the other three in the dust and the enemy operators, while confused, would not suspect that this tank had been stolen.
But then his expanded view updated him with three glowing orange arrows that pointed behind him. He was warned of hostile tanks ready to engage.
“Okay, too good to be true,” Adam said. “Turn this thing around and get ready for a fight. We can’t outrun these tanks.”
The three enemy tanks were also strider models and the desert was nothing but flat land with sporadic dunes. Even if Dan wanted to outspeed the tanks, he had no cover in the environment to exploit.
“My first tank fight,” Dan muttered. “This should be fun.”
Dan spun the hover tank a full one-eighty and strafed to the right, evading a red energy beam that narrowly missed his vehicle. All three enemy striders glided towards him, looking to close the distance between them. Adam opened fire with his anti-materiel rifle. The first shot was nothing but a brief muzzle flash from Dan’s perspective within the tank. His rifle flashed another few times then he saw all three striders stop abruptly and then briefly bounce and rock. Then the skull-faced agent called in.
“Nice. I took out each of their missile launchers,” he said. “As long as you don’t stay still, they’ll have a hard time hitting us with their energy cannons.”
Dan continued strafing in one direction, quickly closing the gap within a few seconds and finding himself around the flank of the furthest strider to the right of the group. He squeezed the trigger on his steering wheel and his cannon took a second to charge before a bright red beam blasted out of his strider and smashed into the enemy strider.
The affected strider exploded then fell and smashed into the sand in flames. Raging fire and black smoke plumed out of the heap of alloys as Dan secured his first enemy tank kill. His HUD also notified him of the achievement.
You have destroyed your first enemy tank!
Massive bonus experience rewarded.
He immediately strafed his strider again, remembering Adam’s warning of always being on the move.
Congratulations!
You are now Tier 2 | Level 35.
You have earned 5 stat points!
Dan didn’t have time to celebrate another level up as he saw the remaining two enemy striders glide in opposing directions out from behind the smouldering wreck.
Green circles flashed on his expanded view as they tracked one strider while Dan focused his main cannon on the other. Both he and the other strider charged their energy cannons at the same time. Dan proved to be faster by a razor thin margin as his cannon blasted a red beam that crossed space between the two and found its way into the enemy strider. The enemy still managed a partial blast as a thinner red beam slashed the air beside him and dangerously close to Adam.
“Way too fucking close,” Adam said over the channel. “Felt the heat on that one, even in this desert.”
Dan squeezed the other trigger on the wheel and his missile launcher blasted two missiles that ascended into the air then arced downward. He kept his strider on the move, zipping in between and around the burning wrecks of the two enemy striders to prevent the third hostile hover tank from getting a good shot in.
His strider emerged from the middle of the burning tanks and Dan got a clear view of the third strider. He watched the brief flash of red light from the strider’s charging cannon before the two missiles smashed and blew up the enemy. The last strider exploded in the same wild fashion as the other two, multiple detonations with an exaggerated shower of sparks in all directions and plumes of black smoke releasing into the desert air.
“Holy shit,” Dan muttered. “We cooked those guys up.”
Adam chimed in over the channel. “That’s a combination of explosions from the engines, plasma energy powering the cannon, and whatever other munitions those striders carried. The tanks may be lightweight, but they certainly don’t go out quietly.”
“Solid work,” Li said out loud beside him.
“Thanks buddy,” Dan said. “No point in sticking around here.”
He turned his strider and sped through the desert, taking occasional glances at the approaching wall of sand and lightning. The expanded view of his environment showed stretches of relatively flat desert ahead of him. For at least a few kilometers off to the opposite side, he didn’t see any additional enemy tanks.
The smooth glide across the wasteland didn't last as Dan caught a faint flash in the darkness ahead of him. His strider’s front light illuminated three dark figures not too far ahead of him. His eyes widened as he saw the familiar golden blade form in the middle figure’s hand.
“Oh shit,” Dan said.
The figure lifted the golden energy blade up, then brought it down. A piercing, crescent-shaped wave of energy barreled down toward him and Dan just barely strafed his tank to evade the bizarre energy attack. His strider drifted over the sand and Dan watched in his peripheral as the edge of the golden crescent of energy dug its way into the sand. The energy wave continued its path uninterrupted and sent up a miniature wave of sand before the wave completely buried itself into the ground. The mark left by the wave extended at least a few hundred meters behind Dan’s tank.
“Is that who I think it is?” Li said.
“No other possibility,” Dan said grimly. Even within the air conditioned interiors of the strider, he began sweating, knowing only one individual who wielded such a golden blade and powerful enough to launch such an attack.
The same figure with the golden blade popped up a few dozen meters in front of the tank. The brilliant golden blade offered Judith her own light source as she extended her out as if she held a lantern. The lead Bloodknight flashed him a grin and waved at him.
