Sand efa

The saw-scaled viper (lat. Echis carinatus) is a venomous snake of the genus Echis from the viper family. One of the ten most venomous snakes. (Wikipedia)

"Don't try to talk me out of it!" Kate walked quickly down the corridor towards the northern armory. "I've said it many times, escorting convoys is my job, and I'm not going to give it up!"

"There are plenty of men in the Dome Guard! Can't they send anyone but you?!" Ronald pursued his wife in vain, adjusting his glasses which kept slipping down his nose.

She suddenly spun around sharply. Ronald ran into her and the fragile optics finally fell to the floor.

"Listen, go back to the lab, okay? Your place

is there. And mine..." Kate fastened her pistol holster, straightened her black army pants, and, without finishing her sentence, quickly walked away.

Ronald picked up his glasses and sighed. Arguing was pointless...

The usual bustle before a convoy's departure reigned in the armory. Five vehicles—heavy armored trucks—were already parked by the airlock gates. Two jeeps, protected by steel sheets welded to their sides, were also ready to depart. Kate approached one of them and looked inside.

"Hi!"

A broad-shouldered man in camouflage sat behind the wheel.

"Who's leading today?"

He turned to her, looking up from a paper map.

"The Commander wanted to put you in front again, but then he changed his mind for some reason. So you'll be the rear guard today."

She nodded.

"Dietrich will be the lead. The new guy, still green. But a big fellow!"

"What about Henry?"

"Won't see him anytime soon. A fracture, you know. He won't be back to work for at least a month."

The convoy burst out from under the huge transparent dome covering Settlement No. 4 at high speed. Kicking up clouds of yellow dust, the vehicles pulled onto the broken highway. One jeep in front, five trucks, a bus, and another jeep with a machine gun turret mounted on the roof at the rear. The route led to the station that was once Settlement No. 7. Civilians hadn't lived there for many years. No one maintained the dome, its seal was broken, so the few inhabitants spent their days in mobile living modules. If not for the location of this point—at a road junction leading to three other settlements—it would have been abandoned entirely. As it was, life was sustained by the Guard. Every six months—a convoy with supplies and a crew rotation.

"Look..."

The driver sitting to Kate's left nodded somewhere into the distance. She peered through the barred window. Several blurry silhouettes were moving quickly along the sand hills parallel to the column. They were a little less than a kilometer away.

"Creaturexes."

Kate raised her binoculars with a built-in stabilizer. There were four of them. Theoretically, their ancestors could have been feral humans, but mutations had left little that was human in the creatures' appearance. They ran fast, on all fours, glancing at the vehicles.

"Strange. They usually don't come this close to settlements. Starving, maybe?"

She lowered the binoculars, checking the assault rifle secured between the seats. Creas weren't dangerous to armed people, especially in vehicles, but it was better for an unarmed person not to meet them one-on-one.

A few hours later, the convoy stopped. The men jumped out of the vehicles and, without embarrassment, relieved themselves right by the road. Kate jumped down onto the dusty shoulder. She wore narrow black glasses and, just below, a scarf covering the lower part of her face. She carefully inspected her area of responsibility—the semicircle behind the convoy. The horizon shimmered in the quivering heat haze. Making sure nothing suspicious was around, she arched her back, cracking her vertebrae, walked around a few dunes, and squatted, pulling down her pants. Her bladder contracted with relief. She kept one hand on her open holster the whole time, not forgetting to look around. The Rusty Desert did not forgive carelessness. About ten meters away, she noticed several low pyramids. They were made of skulls. Not human ones. She peered, trying to identify the species, but couldn't. There were plenty of strange creatures here. Though... Not many were intelligent. And animals were unlikely to stack skulls into pyramids.

"Kate, where are you? We're moving out!"

"Coming! Damn..."

Quickly pulling up her pants and fastening her belt on the go, she hurried back to the jeep. She looked around carefully once more before climbing in. The convoy moved on.

Despite all efforts, the number of civilized people was dwindling, and the Guard allocated fewer and fewer escort officers to protect the column each year. Now they traveled in threes, not counting the drivers. Yes, there were another dozen people in the bus—the rotation for the seventh station—but they didn't look around; that wasn't their job. They already had six months of dreary and dangerous life ahead. So the protection of the column was now on her conscience, and on the conscience of Mike and that new guy, what was his name? Dietrich. The only comfort was that attacks on convoys hadn't happened in a long time.

The explosion lifted the jeep a good half-meter but didn't flip it. Kate instantly realized the blast wasn't under them but somewhere ahead. The cursing driver spun the wheel, the vehicle slid off the embankment, its iron nose hitting a sand dune.

"Out, quickly!" Kate grabbed the assault rifle and jumped out of the jeep.

Two trucks, meanwhile, continued moving, accelerating. A shell whistled between them, exploding off-target. Estimating where it could have been fired from, Kate let loose a long burst in that direction. Behind her, the turret roared to life. The girl turned and saw the driver at the machine gun. "Good job, of course, but now you're a target, buddy..."

She began moving away from the jeep towards the nearest truck. Reaching it, she flipped open the lid of a wooden crate. Two or three bullets screeched into the truck's side. She pulled out a red cylinder, yanked the cord sticking out of it. A bright flare shot high into the sky. "Of course, they won't see it from ours or from the seventh. But maybe it'll scare off the bastards."

Another shell hit her jeep. The machine gun fell silent. Kate ran around the truck, trying to reach the driver's seat. But she was too late: one of the attackers—dirty, in rags, covered in tattoos—was already standing by the cab. Kate noted to herself that the gunfire was decreasing. She glanced at the dead driver lying on the ground and, beating the opponent by a fraction of a second, fired her rifle. He fell onto his back and went still. Without wasting time, the girl rushed for the wheel. A kick knocked the rifle from her hands—someone was already in the cab. Another half-naked stranger, baring his teeth angrily, jumped onto the sand and began advancing on her threateningly. Kate drew her pistol from the holster, but it too was knocked out by a powerful blow. She dodged the next swing of a heavy hand, spinning around to kick the man in the stomach. Quickly drew a dagger from its sheath. The blade sank into his body up to the hilt. A wheeze sounded. She pulled out the bloodied steel, jumped aside, turning. Three more were approaching. All had assault rifles. Not losing hope of rescue, Kate lunged for the pistol lying in the sand, but she was knocked down by a rifle butt. Tasting blood in her mouth, she got up, throwing a furious look at the savages. The girl jumped straight at the leveled barrels. She managed to push one rifle aside, yanked its barrel towards her, twisting it along with the arm holding it. A wrist crack, a scream, and then a new, powerful blow to the back. Kate fell. She was kicked in the stomach, then again, and again... Her breath caught. She no longer tried to get up—lay curled in a ball. Blows rained down one after another. They beat her silently and hard. Another heavy boot to the head, ringing in her ears, and the light faded for her...

Kate was dragged by the leg, not caring about her face digging into the sand. Then they flipped her onto her back, leaving her lying under the scorching sun. Someone's hands shamelessly searched the girl. Voices reached her as if from afar.

"What are you feeling? Strip her!"

Mocking laughter.

"How many?"

"Seven."

"What to do with the others?"

"Finish them off!.."

She came to in a shaking truck bed. Her hands were tied behind her back, someone else lay nearby. Kate lifted her head. Fortunately, her face hadn't been reached, or she might not have been able to open her eyes. In the gloom of the van, she made out several armed men sitting along the sides. Rays of the setting sun penetrated through narrow firing slits. "How much time has passed? An hour? Two? Where are they taking us? There's no habitation for hundreds of kilometers around here, only three domes."

When it was completely dark, the truck stopped. The armored door swung open, the savages went outside. Kate raised herself. Four others in Guard uniforms lay beside her. All tied up. One of them also lifted his head. It was the new guy, Dietrich.

"Alive?"

She nodded silently.

"Where are we..."

He fell silent and lowered his head—one of the savages climbed into the truck bed. The thug began roughly pulling the prisoners out of the vehicle, dragging them by the legs and dumping them on the ground.

"Damn! This one's half-dead! What idiot loaded a wounded man?"

Kate and Dietrich managed to get to their feet on their own. They saw the lifeless body dragged aside. A shot rang out. Another Guard man lay nearby unconscious but, by all appearances, alive and without serious wounds. The savages began bringing him to his senses, lifting him by the hair and slapping his face. Finally, he came to. All three were herded with shoves towards another truck. Three more survivors stood there.

A savage watching them took a flask from his belt, brought it to his mouth—a trickle of clear liquid ran down his unshaven chin. After drinking, he grunted with satisfaction and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Kate caught herself staring unblinkingly at the flask. The savage noticed too. He raised the water container as if asking, "Want some?" Then thrust his hips forward.

"Suck it!"

Grimacing, Kate turned away.

In the light of headlights and flickering flashlights, several squat structures could be seen, resembling ventilation system exits from underground. A vehicle ramp was also visible, winding down somewhere deep behind open iron gates. One of the trucks coughed and slowly crawled down.

"Forward!"

They were pushed again, directed to follow the vehicle. They descended for several minutes, slowly winding in circles. Then suddenly the lighting improved, the floor became level, and they found themselves in a spacious concrete room. Apparently, it was a garage. But they didn't linger; they were driven further, first through a long, wide corridor with stone walls and peeling green paint, then through narrow, winding passages abundant with rusty pipes of all sizes. Finally, the procession stopped. A few more armed men came out to meet them, searched everyone again. Nearby, at a table, sat an incredibly fat man with a haughty look, sipping some brew from a mug. In the corner of the room, Kate spotted a dogbeast chained—a hairless monster with wide, toothy jaws.

An iron door clanged, its small round window gleaming dully. The prisoners were herded inside, and the lock clicked shut behind them.

At first, Kate didn't understand where they were. Neither walls nor ceiling were visible. Somewhere above, several meters high, a single weak light bulb glowed. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, the girl finally realized they were in a large stone sack. It seemed this had once been a cave, now a prison. An uneven floor, bumpy with rocky outcrops and in places dipping into hollows a meter or more deep, rounded walls of irregular shape forming nooks, some of which, judging by the smell, were used as latrines, and in the center... In the center of the cave was a pond with water! Barely restraining herself, Kate approached it, knelt, and, bending close to the water, cautiously tasted it. A slightly musty smell, but it seemed drinkable. No longer holding back, the girl began greedily gulping water, not noticing the others bending down beside her.

After drinking, she fell onto her back, catching her breath. Her tied hands painfully pressed into the stones. Kate winced, sat up, trying to stretch the rope. Nothing worked.

"Hey, Dietrich! Untie me!"

"You think they didn't..." He glanced towards the locked door. "Ah, to hell with it!"

Turning his back to the girl, he began working on her bonds. After a few minutes, he managed to free her, and then she quickly untied him. Soon all the prisoners were rubbing their numb wrists. And only then did they notice they weren't alone in the cave. At the other end, about fifteen meters away, another group of people pressed warily against the wall. They wore Guard uniforms, but much more worn and torn. And their emaciated faces suggested they had spent many days here. There were seven of them—five adult men, a middle-aged woman, and a very young girl. Kate stood and walked towards them.

"Where are you from?"

They were silent, some not even looking in her direction. Kate repeated the question, but got the same silence. Finally, someone spoke quietly:

"We're from the tenth settlement."

She realized it was the girl speaking.

"The tenth dome?! That's very far from here! How did you end up here?"

Silence. Kate sighed and decided to change the subject.

"Been here long?"

The girl shrugged.

"What's your name?"

"Steph. Stephanie."

"I'm Kate. We're from the fourth. We were heading to the seventh and got ambushed today. Listen, Steph. I can see you've been here a while. Do you know what they'll do with us... well..."

Stephanie lowered her gaze and shook her head hesitantly.

"I see. Well... do they at least feed you something?"

She nodded.

"Once a day."

Kate looked at the others and realized she wouldn't get more from these people now. Maybe later. She returned to her group.

"They're from the tenth."

"Yeah, we heard," one of her team replied.

"Okay, guys... As I understand it, I'm the highest-ranking here. Of course, we're not in a situation where I can order you around, but..."

"Come on, Kate. Until we turn into..." Dietrich glanced towards the other end of the cave. "I think everyone's ready to maintain the chain of command."

The others agreed silently.

"Well, thanks. You, uh... Mark?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You're Dominic. You?"

"Philip."

"And I'm Jeffrey!"

"Great! I'll try to remember," she smiled.

During the night, Kate woke up several times. She thought the entrance door was creaking, but each time the alarm proved false. Sometimes