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Houston Texas is divided into three sectors, one, two and three. Section One is home to the Alley One concentration camp, ruled with an iron fist by Shadow Company and their insane leadership. Sector two is under control of Mech, whose Landships patrol the outskirts and fire on Shadow Company enlisted without mercy. Section three, a developing salt marsh, is ruled by Biomass, Scourged and Rabids, feared by all inhabitants in the city. Rumors have been spreading though the ranks of both, Shadow Company and Mech about the inhabitants of Section Three. If they could be verified, the Animal the rumors speak of has the power to save the survivors of WW3 from the Bio-Cancer, or send them straight to hell.

"Gun down standby!", Eirren shouted over the clatter of Alex's machine gun, running away like it had a bad sear in it.

"I got you covered!", James said.

"We need to unfuck this AO!", Shannon squawked over the fire, "like, right goddamn now!"

"They'll fuckin' follow us if we try and run!", Eirren responded, "we have to wipe them out here!"

"Arien watch yourself!", Nat said, firing a six or seven round burst towards my direction. The bullets passed mere inches from my head, the supersonic cracks were way too close, even for me. The response to Alex shooting the large biomass had been swift, Rabids pouring from the literal stone work and sidewalks all around the hospital. I guessed that answered my question. We were trying to load up, and had barely gotten Zack into the Tundra when the Rabids started swarming us. It wasn't a large group, not compared to the packs the Scourged traveled in, but Rabids were a whole lot more dangerous.

"Did the fucking nukes not kill anyone in this fucking part of the country!?", Alex hissed as her 34 quieted.

"Worst nuclear apocalypse ever!", Benjamin agreed slamming the door to the Sequoia, "now would be a really good time for air support!"

"Truck could end up in the same situation as us!", I protested, running my combat knife into the chest of a Rabid that had lunged at me mid-reload, "no point in him dying with us!"

"We can't die here!", James took a viscous swipe at a Rabid that strayed a bit too close, his hand briefly transforming into the three pronged claw he wore with his Mass, that poor bastard stood less than zero chance, "we've come to damn far to die here!"

"If we try and move they will follow us!", Eirren said, "We can't let one of them live, not one!"

"Thanks for the tip captain obvious", Nat said, sizing one of the Rabids by the throat, her paw burning through it's neck without issue, "how'd that fuckin' taste?"

It took a good minute, but eventually we did manage to drive them off, or at least it appeared that way.

"Clear!?", Eirren asked.

"Nothing over here, for now", Benjamin stated.

"My side's good too!", I added.

"What's the game boss? They might be regrouping", Shannon asked.

"I dunno yet", I said, pulling open the door of the Tundra without taking my eye off my ACOG, "Rhino King, Condor Ground. Be advised, we've re-opened primary ex fill but that window could very rapidly be closing. I need to know where the hell I'm going."

"Condor Ground, Rhino King", Truck answered, "Proceed down Andes Street to the second four way intersection, take a right towards Treadwell Road. Destination will be the motel on Brockman road."

I started the Tundra, "Moving out now!"

Thankfully there was enough empty space in the parking lot to beable to swing my truck around to head back the way we had come. A short stent heading towards the Interstate down Andes street had us at that second four way, with the turn towards Treadwell being very clearly marked by an old road sign that had multiple bullet holes in it and was covered with a generous splatter of dried blood. As soon as I turned down the road, I stopped the Tundra, getting on the radio.

"Rhino King, Condor Ground, come in."

"Rhino King here", Truck answered.

"Can you see evidence of vehicles on your thermals?", I asked, "I've got heavy equipment tracks in the road here consistent with the pattern of a MK VII Landship."

There were a few minutes of silence before Truck replied, "No...nothing on Thermals. Not big enough to be an active Landship anyway. Can swing down to gun run height for a single 15 second pass before I have to go upstairs again. I have four active fighter Aircraft in the AO with a fifth probable, likely Shadow Company."

"Won't task unless necessary King", I promised, "will radio if situation changes. Out"

"Landship huh?", Eirren asked, "Suddenly I'm wide awake."

"You weren't before?", I asked.

"Landship's fucking scare me Arien", Eirren said, "more than C-Gas does. At least with C-Gas I can put a rubber mask over my face and be safe. Nothing but an M1900 LBRC Avenger could stop a Landship if it saw you."

"What's a Landship?", Nero asked.

"Something you don't want to meet unless your friends are behind the controls buddy", Eirren said, "we know there's one around, but not whose driving."

"Oh dear", Nero sighed.

"Truck's up there with his plane, so we should be okay. Just let us know if you hear another engine."

"Okay Mom", Nero said sitting up.

"Be ready for anything guys", I said hitting my radio, "These are Landship tracks. No telling whose driving."

"Wonderful", Alex hissed, "like the Scourged weren't enough."

We continued to follow Truck's instructions. I grew more unsettled as we drew closer to the destination, as the Landship's tracks crossed our path way too much for comfort. Seemed as though this tank had a well pounded out area of operations, the question now was, was the crew Shadow Company? These Mech animals? Or were they a remnant of the US Army? None was a great option, but USAR would spell the end of our little adventure, even if Truck swooped in for a gun run.

According to the Tundra's clock, it was now nearing one thirty in the morning. We were about ten minutes out of the final destination when Truck came over the radio.

"Condor Ground, Rhino King", he said, "need you to take the next right, your destination will be five hundred feet on the left. Do you see any more evidence of the Landship?"

"Negative Rhino King, nothing down here at the moment but rubble. How's it going up there?"

"Sweatin' bullets brother", Truck said nervously, "these fighters keep pinging our fuckin' radar. Up to five confirmed now. Who knows how many more there are. We can't exactly shoot back either."

"Truck, vacate the AO, don't stick your neck out for us", I said, "we made it this far, and you've held up your end of the deal."

"Arien, I promise you I'll come back once I can lose these fighters", Truck stated, "I won't leave you stranded in this city without air support. Write down my sat phone number, we have it integrated into our plane's COMs."

I pulled the Tundra into a parking space at the hotel Truck had lead us to and grabbed the ledger I kept in the center console.

"Go ahead."

"4576-3310-6621-9909", Truck said.

" 4576-3310-6621-9909?", I asked.

"Yep."

"Right, got ya saved, get yourself safe. I'll hail you in 24 hours, or if the situation changes", I said.

"Take your own advice bro", Truck said, "farewell, for now."

"There goes air support", Nat said over the radio, "was nice while it lasted.

"Can't ask them to continue risking their lives when they upheld their promise. Hell, I'd say they went way beyond what they promised."

"They did more for us than they asked for, that's for sure", Eirren agreed as we exited the truck into the night. The air tasted fresh here, not stale, salty, and it didn't contain the reek of dried, rotting shit and coagulated blood. The hotel that truck had led us to was rather rundown, pre war, my youngest brother would have called it a "stabby" hotel. It certainly looked the part, perhaps more so now, only illuminated by the Tundra's headlights.

"What happened to no sane Animals down south?", I asked, looking towards James, who had now joined us at the front of the truck.

"Hey, I heard that from a traveler", James said, "for all I know, he didn't see anyone."

"I would have thought the bombs have killed more Animals than this too", Eirren said.

"Looks like the the Biomass and Rabies-3 did most of the killing", James said, "down here at least. How many nukes did they drop on this part of the country?"

"No nukes, not here", I said, "the nukes were dropped up North, where the bulk of the Animals were. Even if they did a nuke run, plenty of places to hide from 'em here", I shook my head, "there wasn't a shelter out there that could protect an Animal from a ZR-5. Speaking of shelter, let's get this hotel cleared."

"We going to split up and do it? Or check as teams?", Alex asked, "it's not like we're on a time crunch, no excuse to not check every room."

"Teams of three", I suggested, "I'll take Eirren and James, and you, Zack and Ben can sweep some too. Shannon and Nat can watch the kids."

"Seems like fair deal to me", Shannon said, reclining in the rear seat of the Sequoia.

"How come Shannon get's off easy?", Eirren asked.

"Someone has to watch the pregnant one", Shannon replied smugly, "you a Veterinarian?"

"I don't need watching", Nat protested.

"Yes you do. Plus, one team of three and another of four is all kinds of non symmetrical."

"That's a lousy excuse", Eirren put her hands on her hips.

"Can we just clear the rooms so we can get some sleep?", Alex said, "I'm fixin' to lose my shit if I don't get some sleep."

Of course, the keys to the rooms were all digital in the days before the bombs. I would have imagined that when the bombs went off, EMP's would have fried the locks, leaving the doors barred permanently, but that turned out not to be the case. We found that most of the doors, while unlocked due to the failure of the electronic locks, had physical dead bolts along with manual operations of the knob locks on the inside of the doors. While for the most part, the rooms were clear, we did find a few that still held the remains of their last occupants.

"Got a body in this one", I whispered to Eirren, closing the door behind me.

"That makes five", she hit the radio, "Ben, most of them down stairs are still occupied, how's your end looking?"

"Less cadavers up here", Ben said, "for sure. We'll check around back and see if it's a bit more private, with that Landship in the AO, leaving the trucks out here for the world to see seems like it's not the best idea."

"10-4", Eirren said, "Arien, James and I will circle around and try and meet you there."

"Rodger", Ben said.

"If you and James want to loop around from the opposite side of the building as me, we can clear the rooms and be done for the night quicker", I checked my watch, "yeah, it's like 2 in the morning now, I'm starting to get run down."

"Sounds like a fair idea to me", James said, "three at once as opposed to one."

"Kay, I'll head around the left side if you guys take the right."

We split up from there, heading around to the back of the building from opposite sides. I started checking the rooms, one at a time, working my way towards the others. Most of the rooms on the ground floor were empty, but a few of them still contained the rotten remains of their former occupants. One of them ended up having a small Biomass feasting on it, which was easily enough dealt with by stepping on it and squashing it.

"Head's up, found a little example feasting on one of the corpses in here. Be on your toes, doubt it's the only one near by."

"Rodger that", Ben answered.

"We'll be on our toes", Eirren replied.

I continued down the row of rooms, checking them one at a time, eventually joining up with Eirren and James at the final of the bunch. This one was locked, and from the outside we could see what appeared to be two by fours had been nailed up to cover the window.

"Hmmm", Eirren mused, "Looks barricaded from the inside."

"Someone's safehouse?", James asked.

"Maybe. Or just a room that got boarded up after the bombs fell. Might be something dead inside. Did you smell anything when you cleared the one next to it? I didn't when I was checking mine."

"Smell no", James stated, "Prysm can typically detect any animal or remains through the walls, but him trying to look for anything through this wall is making my head hurt. Never experienced that before. But, I could have sworn I heard the PTAC kick off when we started clearing rooms on this side."

"Back up. Prysm?", Alex asked.

James turned his glance towards Alex, "My biomass. That's what he calls himself."

"'Prysm?", Alex asked.

"Yes", James nodded.

He bent down and inspected the coil of the PTAC unit at our feet.

"It's warm. This has been running recently."

"Can't we catch a fuckin' break?", Eirren groaned, "it's fucking three in the morning and I wanna go to sleep!"

"It's never that easy", Alex sighed, "seems like shit gets the hardest when you're the most run down."

She muttered something incoherently

"I need everyone here", I hit my PTT, "We've got a room that seems occupied. James says the unit's been running recently."

"We're on our way, hang tight", Alex said.

Everyone was soon together, minus Nat. The girls were stacked on onside with Alex on point and us guys on the other, me on point.

"How you wanna do this boss?", Alex asked.

"Happen to have a breaching charge somewhere?", I asked.

"You mean room service on demand? I sure do", Alex grinned, with her Mg34 in one hand, she reached into her vest and pulled out a small chunk of plastic explosives. She primed it and stuck it to the door, stepping back. It stewed only for a second before the charge went, blowing the lock off the door and swinging it open. She followed it up with an instant flashbang.

"Flash out for Alpha 1-8", Eirren said. We waited for the bang before we moved inside.

It became clear that once the smoke from the flash bang cleared that we had made a huge mistake the second we put the charge on the door. The room wasn't currently occupied, but there was zero doubt that at one point, it had been, and I had little doubt that the occupants would return. Hanging on the wall directly inside the door, where you might normally see the dresser and the TV was a pegboard with about a dozen firearms, M4's, AK's and a PP-19 Bizon. There was a cache of ammunition in several huge boxes that could have easily numbered in the tens of thousands of rounds. I also noticed that one of the beds had been pushed to the wall to make room for a cork board that had a shit ton of pins, pictures and documents on it. The pictures were all of faces. Some of them were circled, some of them were crossed out and a couple of them had question marks on them. Notes along the lines of "dead", "Mech agent?", "traitor?" or "kill ASAP" were scrawled in red marker all over the board. They all pointed back to one index card that had a hand drawn note on it that read "The Biologist's Identity????"

"I don't think we were supposed to see this", Alex noted.

"Yeah...me either", I agreed.

"Look at all this hardware", Eirren took one of the AK's off the wall, it was finished in forest green, "Check this out Arien, this AK is three hole certified."

"What about the others?", I asked.

"All these guns have the third pin hole", Benjamin noted pulling one of the M4's off the shelf, "here boss, maybe salvage the autosear out of this one."

"Don't much care for full auto", I shrugged, "plus, I've been to hell and back with this rifle, so why change it?"

Benjamin put the M4 back.

"Arien", Alex pulled one of the pictures off the board, "I think we should try to bring this to Mech's attention."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Let me worry about that", Alex said pinning the picture back in place. She took out her phone and began to take pictures of the board.

"Ben", I said, "go find your mate and bring the trucks around. I don't want to be in this AO when this animal returns to his lair."

Rodger that boss", Ben said ducking out the door.

"Rest of you go with him, Alex and I will resupply ourselves and gather intel, we'll be ready by the time the trucks get 'round."

They exchanged glances and then left the room. I turned to Alex.

"Alex, it's not lost on me that picture you pulled off the board is you", I said.

"Picked up on that did you?", she asked.

"Who did you piss off?", I asked.

"An American Whitetail deer by the name Raul Holden", Alex said, "in Mech, they called him The Processor, to Shadow Company, he's their most brutal enforcer. Recognized his handwriting second I stepped through the door. Last time we meant, I left him for dead on a desolate roof top. Figured the Biomass would have gotten him. Guess not. Must have had backup near by."

"Where the fuck did he get that name from?", I asked.

"Oh, because he's the one who decided it was a good idea to torture anyone who doesn't capitulate to shadow company's demands absolutely by boiling them alive. He was the last one I went after before I left this state."

I rubbed my face, I could almost feel the aneurysm now. "they _BOIL_animals alive?"

Alex nodded, "yeah. I've seen them do it. That's why Mech hired me to go after him. They knew I'd catch him, even if the way I did it would be hard to stomach."

"What you do?", I asked.

"Tracked him to a roof top, trapped him and beat the literal shit out of him with a length of iron pipe", Alex said, "after that I cut the tendons in his ankles and zip tied him to a sky light. I would have given him half a day on that roof. Should have just cut his throat and been done with it."

"So was it Mech or this Biologist that gave you the boot?"

"The biologist."

"I'm guessing beating him to an inch of his life was a violation of ROE?"

Alex answered, "I told them to shove their ROE in their ass, among other things. They decided my methods were a bit too brutal for their liking and that I was driven more by vengeance than justice. They weren't wrong. They didn't think grinding an animals paw off with a wood sander was an effective way to get intel. Personally, I disagree, it got me his location. Regardless of what happened Arien, this Biologist, he controls a safe zone on the coast, a sort of dock site he retrofitted to a lab. His animals are the best armed and trained in the city. He owes me a favor, and I suspect that the Landship in the AO is his, convincing James, Nat and Benjamin to let him give them a once over will be more than enough of a bargaining chip to buy us an FOB while we figure out how to get out of this fucking city. Mech tanks never patrolled at night, too much risk of attracting the Biomass, that old Animal was hunting them though"

I paused for a moment. Coastal lab could mean Rabids, furthest thing from safe.

"Lot to take in boss. I get that", Alex said, "I get it. The simple fact of the matter is that, without Truck and his plane. We're trapped in the middle of this war Mech and Shadow have got going on. The biologist owes me a favor and I imagine that the Mech Science division would love to talk to him in exchange for use of the runway at IAH."

"So what I'm getting is the following", I began, "you call this old scientist for a favor, he declines. We leverage James, Ben and Nat, he accepts. And then in exchange, he barters a meeting with Mech in exchange for use of a runway so Truck can land safely?"

"In a nutshell", Alex shrugged.

"Lets run this by the others before we go and do anything", I said, "I hope you're good at playing Animals."

"My Dad was a BAU profiler for 37 years", Alex said, "he always wanted me to follow his footsteps. Because of that, I can convince most animals of anything. That's why I was as quick to trust you as I was."

I resupplied my ammunition and grenades and before long the trucks were parked outside. I joined my team at the trucks and hit my radio, as well as hailing Truck. He picked up nearly immediately.

"Didn't expect to hear from you so soon", Truck sounded surprised, "what's changed?"

"Well, the situation has now changed. Truck, without your air support, we're stuck in this city. Safezone you gave us turned out to be a safehouse for a Shadow Company enforcer known as The Cooker."

"Crikey", I could hear Skeve in the background.

"I'm sorry Arien", Truck said, "I didn't know."

"You couldn't have", I stated, "what matters now is how we handle the situation going forward. Alex has a contact who she says can help us. Once we've got a place to rest our heads, Truck, our next objective is finding a way to clear the skies so we can get you back into the city. We'll keep you in the loop and I'll let you know if anything changes."

"Rodger that Condor Ground", Truck said, "I'm still within the vicinity of Houston and can loiter for another hour or so before I'm looking for a place to refuel. I have enough gas left to make two passes at combat height and still re-enter orbit. Task only if necessary."

"We might have a runway for you soon", Alex said.

"I'll hold you to it", Truck said, "Rhino King out."

"Here's how this is going to work", I explained, "Alex's contact is a biologist. He has a safezone on the coast, which is supposedly occupied by the best armed and trained mercenaries in the city. He owes Alex a favor, but might need some convincing. James, that's where you, Ben and Nat come in if necessary."

"Once over in exchange for a bed?", James asked, "long as he's not wanting to cut pieces off me."

"It might not come to that", Alex said, "but let's see."

There was a pause.

"Citadel, this is Viper 1-2, please respond."

Nothing. Alex tried again.

"Citadel, Viper, I know you can hear me on this channel you old bat. You and I both know you've been listening since the moment I stepped foot in this city. And we all know that you know damn good and well exactly where we're at."

There was a short pause.

"Yes, Alex. I read you", the old male on the other side didn't seem very pleased.

"Did you miss me?", Alex taunted.

"Like a rash on the soles of my paws", the male said, "the hell do you want?"

"You still owe me for North Texas. I'm calling it in", Alex said, "I've got a team here who needs a safe place to put their heads for a little bit. They have some animals on their team I think you'd love to meet."

"I've got half a mind to tell you to fuck off", The old doctor stated, "but if there's one thing you're not, it's a liar. What do I need to tell my soldiers to watch out for?"

"A Mech spec Toyota Tundra and Sequoia", Alex explained.

"Come my way", The doctor said, "I'll hail Bottom Feeder now. And Alex?"

"Yes?", she asked.

"Much as I may not like your tactics, welcome back."

"Good to be back sir!", Alex stated, "Viper 1-2 out."

"Bottom Feeder, Overlord. Come in captain", the doctor continued.

"Rodger that Overlord, Bottom Feeder here', a female said, "got something for me?"

"I need you to pull your Mark Seven off patrol and re-route to 46606 Brockman Drive, at the old Days Inn hotel. Turns out hostiles are friendly. They need an escort here."

"Rodger that Overlord", The female said, "Bottom Feeder is oscar mike. ETA to destination in 8 minutes."

"Eight minutes!", Alex said over the radio.

Seven of those eight minutes were spent with rifles clutched in complete silence and vehicles off to avoid attracting undue attention. We atually heard the Mark Seven long before we saw it. It pulled around the corner of the hotel from the same way I had come, bathing the trucks and the alley way in the purest of white light.

Landships had always been intimidating, and their name was well deserved. A complete monster of a modern, super heavy battle tank, they stood at an imposing 12 feet high, were damn near 20 feet wide and just a hair under 50 feet long. They were a hybridized design, a combination of the M1A5 Abrams Main Battle Tank and the old, British Mark Five Landship. Like it's great grandfather, the Mark Seven bristled with weapons, two short barreled 105mm side cannons, one 135mm man cannon, a top mounted M134 minigun and Mk19 grenade launcher and four Browning M2 fifty caliber machine guns. The Mark Seven, like the Abrams that inspired it, carried a high displacement multi-fuel gas turbine engine, transversely mounted in the rear, hooked to the tracks via an integral four speed manual transmission. The track base on the Mark Seven looped through armor at the top of the tank, the aspect of which was taken from the old Landship, thus, the Mark Seven's namesake. I could still recall the day the first Mark Sevens hit the ground in combat roles during the Gobi Campaign. It had been a repeat of Iraqi Freedom. Mark Sevens and the new M1D2 Abrams nearly wiped out the Chinese Armor Corps within a few days, and only one Landship was lost, to a case of friendly fire from another Landship. Suddenly the world wanted them, despite the cries of old vets saying it was a bad idea.

This one clearly had seen it's share of combat. Dried blood covered the front of the tank, splattered all over the bulldozer scoop that was welded to the front with holes cut into the front of it, covered in rebar cages that allowed the LED lights to shine through. A big bold "Bottom Feeder" was painted across the top turret in black spray paint, which contrasted sharply with the tanks dusty desert tan finish. The tanks apparent commander, an Armadillo who couldn't have been any older than fifteen or sixteen waved to us when the tank pulled to a stop. Alex got out of the truck with a smile on her face.

"Hey Alex!", she yelled.

"Long time no see Kai!", Alex called back, "finally got promoted I see!"

"Yep!", the Armadillo smiled, "you ready to go!?"

"I'm always ready!", Alex said running towards the tank, "I'mma ride with Kai and her crew Arien."

"Fine by me", I said, "let's move out."

The Landship shifted into reverse and backed out into the street so that the front of the tank was facing back towards the way they had come. Thick black smoke spewed from the sinked four inch wide exhaust tips that jutted out of the back of the tank at almost a 90 degree angle when the driver double clutched it back into first. Get a competent driver behind the wheel and you may be surprised to learn that, even for weighing close to 120 tons, a US Landship can be quite nimble. This was clearly an example of someone that knew his tank. The Landship took off back the way it had come, and we followed suit. The driver at first seemed to just be taking the roads that were clear, but it became apparent the longer I followed them, given all of the cars that had been pushed aside and track marks on the street that they regularly patrolled out here. For a good ten minutes after we departed the hotel, we weaved in and out of tunnels forged from collapsed buildings, through swampy rivers running through the streets, and through underpasses. We had hit let's say maybe the 12 minute mark as we were nearing a four way intersection, straight ahead under the overpass would take us towards north Houston, left would takes more towards the San Antonio direction, while right would put us on one of the longest tollways in the Houston area I knew of, taking us closer to Galveston. With a flash of the right turn signal, the Mark Seven made a damn near 90 degree turn about as easily as you might expect a turn in a fifty foot long super heavy battle tank with no central pivot to be. The pilot hailed us as he took the tank up the ramp.

"The free way takes us straight to the lab, we cleared it shortly after we moved out here and there's no speed limit, so feel free to open it up."

"What about attracting Biomass?", I asked.

Kai was the one who answered my question. She seemed slightly amused by my comment, "I hope we do. My gunners always like a bit of target practice."

"Citadel this is Bottom Feeder", the Pilot said over the radio, "coming up on the Freeway now, Eta to base in t-minus fifteen minutes."

"Rodger that", the male from earlier said, "get the lead out Bottom Feeder. I need you all back here pronto, we may have a situation."

"Rodger that Citadel", the Pilot said.

Bottom Feeder's pilot must have taken his CO's instructions to get the lead out as permission to make his Mark Seven's sing, because that's exactly what he did. Bottom Feeder spit a cloud of black smoke as it flashed a change to the far left lane, giving me plenty of room to open up the Tundra to keep pace, which I was happy to do. It was clear to me that Kai's Landship had both, the top speed and engine rev limiter removed. The case normally was that a Landship could do about 75 at the absolute top of it's powerband. This one was doing that in second and still had two gears left to go.

"Wish we had a way to clock this thing", Nat said over the radio, "Ben's back here doing 90 and having an issue keeping pace."

"Same here", Eirren said, "Arien's doing 92 and we're losing it."

"Listen to the damn Landship", Shannon noted, "I remember Honey Badger could haul ass, but not like this."

According to the trip screen, the Tundra was speed limited to 125 miles an hour, right now, I was doing 104. Keeping pace? Perhaps. Cruise was set for 104 in sixth gear at just about 1500 RPM. Similar to what I'd been doing on the way to the hospital. I couldn't get over the idea that the ZR-5's had done a better job at ridding Houston of traffic than anything the city officials had ever tried.

"I can't get over how clear the roads in this city are", I laughed at myself, "you'd think the nuclear apocalypse would have made these roads completely impassable."

It took us about 20 more minutes to drive out to Kai's FOB. It was a twin warehouse compound, one behind the other, nestled in a port like area in the very back of the waterway access at the west side of the city in an old DOW chemical operations area that I could see was occupied even before we arrived at the gate. It was surrounded by a chain link fence topped with Constantine wire that was patrolled by some really rough looking Coyotes and Texas Brown Boars. At the front gate, Bottom Feeder slowed to a stop as Kai greeted the main guard, a Boar carrying the biggest fucking light machine gun I'd ever seen with a gigantic box of ammunition bolted to the bottom of it.

"Is that a Sig Sauer MG338?", I asked, sticking my head out the window, hoping he could hear me over the sound of Bottom Feeder's turbine winding down.

"What's up brother?", he asked walking over to us.

"Is that a Sig Sauer Mg338?", I asked.

He grinned, "Sure is. This thing is crazy in all of the best ways."

"Chambered for .338 Norma Mag right?"

"Yep. 300 grain rounds at close to a thousand RPM. Effective to 2000 yards."

"Have you had the chance to rip it at a big Biomass yet?", I asked.

"Not yet", he said hitting his radio, "yeah boss?"

He paused a moment.

"Yeah, these Animals are gonna fit right in here", he turned back to his ally in a security booth, "open the gate! They're cleared for entry!"

"Try and find a place out of the way to park", he told me, 'as I'm sure you'll soon see, we have some construction projects underway and we don't need another truck backed into by our forklift."

"Rodger that", I acknowledged following Bottom Feeder into the base. Kai led me to an empty spot in the warehouse parking lot and put the Landship in a space that specifically had Bottom Feeder written on it. I parked the Tundra closer to the end of the parking spaces, backing it in so I could just get in and go if that was what it came to. Benjamin parked the Sequoia next to me and killed the engine. I flicked my wrist and the Tundra went quiet, showing me a read out from the most recent trip.

"Distance traveled, 74 miles, average MPG 31, top speed, 106 miles an hour, average speed, 97 miles an hour."

"Wonder what kind of MPG the tank was getting?", Eirren asked unbuckling her harness.

"I'd bet it was atrocious", I shrugged grabbing my M4 from the back seat.

The air this close to the water, though salty, was a welcome relief from the dry hot/cold air of the normal wastelands. The smells on the air was that of salt, diesel fuel, cigarette smoke and gun powder. Couldn't hear much except the water moving in the channel beside the base and the bells of some buoys at the harbor mouth, so Id have to guess that this base went on a sort of lock down after sun down. If that biomass we saw at the hospital was anything to go on, made perfect sense. Alex joined up with us after disembarking from the tank.

"Forgot how fast Bottom Feeder is", she stated, "damn thing is scary fast."

"It is very quick", I noted, "I was doing 105 at a point and was questioning if I'd beable to keep pace. It has a top notch pilot to beable to handle something that heavy going that fast."

"Val's a badass pilot for sure", Alex said, "he joined USMC's Landship program at 18, kid don't know how to do anything else. Now, let's be on our way, the boss is waiting."

Alex led us inside the warehouse. The layout was mostly open and divided into four sections, medical, living, food production and armory. Overhead lights lit the entire warehouse, and despite the amount of work going on, it was relatively quiet. The Animals here looked rough, they weren't like me and mine, these were just civilians who didn't have a fucking clue how to make it in wastelands on their own.

"Mostly civilians here it seems", I noted.

"Mostly", Alex said, "most of 'em got hit in one way or another by Shadow Company and their bullshit."

She led us to the back of the warehouse and unlocked a door, leading us out back of the first warehouse to the one behind it. The lights were the front office space for the building were on inside, and there was a bard unit humming away on the wall. Alex rapped on the door.

"Open up you old bat, let me in!", she said.

"Door's unlocked Alex", the male inside said.

Alex tried the knob, the door creaked open and she stepped inside.

"Alex", the male said as we stepped inside. The room was mostly bare, only a bed, small cooking station and a a couch facing a wall mounted TV, living quarters perhaps. The one that had greeted Alex was an older looking bat with plenty of white beginning to pop out. He was blind in one eye and had a scar at the base of his neck that looked like it was from a machete or other large blade. He was dressed in a simple multicam uniform with a single star on each shoulder. There was a smaller Coyote standing next to him that was looking all kinds of fucked up, like he'd lost a battle with a wood chipper.

"Evan", Alex said. She turned to the Coyote kid, "next I meet him, I'll finish the job."

The Coyote stared daggers at Alex, although he didn't say anything.

"Who are these Animals you've brought me", the Bat asked standing.

"Arien Kyvart", Alex said, "he's the leader of this team. He and his friends got me off a roof back home when I was besieged by Biomass."

"Alex shared a bit of information about you and your friends while you were on your way here", The Bat said, "please, come with me to my lab."

The bat lead us out the back of the room and into the secondary warehouse. He flipped a breaker and lit the lab up. It consisted of most of the warehouse and had multiple areas that I could see from where I stood. One looked to be some kind of corral constructed out of heavy pipes, one had a shit load of computer towers and monitors set up and one area looked like it was exclusively for chemistry. A fourth area looked like kind of a record keeping/situation room. He turned an overhead light on over the table and sat down on the edge as we all gathered around.

"So tell me", the bat said, "why'd you come out to this godforsaken city?"

"It's in my way", I shrugged.

"In your way?", the bat seem intrigued.

"We're headed to Brazoria", I said, "Houston is our last major hurdle before Highway 288. Our mechanic Zack is an augmented, we had to come to Tucker Memorial for the equipment necessary to reset his cybernetics after Shadow Company attacked us. We weren't aware of the company's existence until after they had already moved against us."

"I'm told that you have an air crew looking for a place to land", the bat inquired.

"We do", I said, "a gunship in fact. Alex tells me you can get me said place to land."

"I can", the bat said, "but, we have to discuss the subject of payment. You can't get something for nothing."

"What do you propose?"

"Shadow Company is terrorizing the animals of this city", the bat said, "they are capturing and torturing any who refuse to bow to their quite frankly insane commanding officer. As long as Shadow Company is allowed to keep up their shit, they will and as it stands right now, they have some capabilities that are keeping Mech from rolling them over. They've killed about a dozen of my scientists in the field who were trying to actually do some good for the animals left in the wastelands and to be frank I'm sick of their bullshit. I've got plans for them."

"We might not have air power or artillery", the young Coyote with him said. He sounded like his throat was full of water,"but, we have a Landship and capable infantry."

"If you stay I can help you get home", the bat turned around and leaned on the table, looking me in the eyes, "but if you stay, you fight."

I looked over at my team, their faces said it all.

"Then let's fight", I agreed.

Evan seem satisfied, "welcome to Dock 41."