The gate opened up to reveal a sort of canyon dirt roadway leading to the Dahl headlands.

“Alright folks lets burn some rubber.” I said to the others as I jogged over to my bike and jumped into the seat and cranked it on.

I pushed my foot to the pedal and the engine revved as the back tire spun sending the whole bike rocketing forward. I swerved and navigated the roadway nice and smoothly thanks to how agile the bike was until the side of the canyon fell away but the side of the road was still blocked off by metal wire fencing so I could only follow the road.-

The road curved at an upward angle until it finally ended with a single building as well as a catch-a-ride station. The building was a single small shack with a cot on the inside as well as a toilet in the open right next to it. Over the top of the shack was a metal canopy and under it was a metal sheet floor that was made from some sort of stainless steel from the lack of corrosion I saw on it despite clearly being well worn. –

To the left of the shack was a small square of concrete that had an ammo vending machine and a med machine on it. Leaning on the shacks doorframe was our contact for this area wearing a hard hat, medical facemask, leather vest over a long sleeve shirt and patched up jeans with a utility belt. The guy just watched me as I parked my bike and looked around the place while I waited for the others who were just behind me. I also noticed that the way out of this fenced area was via a ramp that had a pretty far drop to it as the other gate was locked tight.-

It only took the others a few extra moments to arrive and walk up as we needed to see what this dude had to say.

“You showed up just in time. The bandits have regrouped behind some character named Mad Mel. He’s apparently got it in for whoever kacked Sledge, which is to say you lot. They currently have the Last chance watering hole run by my buddy Lucky sieged and my buddies trapped there. Name’s Ernest Whitting by the way, please go help my buddy. Might have more work for you afterwards.” the guy said giving us the quest to take care of.

“A not so damsel in distress AND some bandits to kill? Mercenary day musta come early.” I said with a grin.

“Sounds like we got to rescue this Lucky guy to find out what to do next, it’ll be a good warm up if nothing else.” Lil said before we all get back into our vehicles and hit the ramp one by one. 

The hang time was awesome though I did sneakily use my phase lock power on my bike to soften the landing a little since I didn’t want to fuck up the shocks or hydraulics.-

Not enough or long enough to even register on my echo but just a little blip of power to kill my falling momentum a good deal. Once I landed I slung dirt as I swerved the bike to turn it sharply to the left since that was where the mark on my minimap said I needed to go. About the same time Scooter spoke up through my echo.

“Eh! Lucky’s an old buddy of mine – and, uh, by old buddy I mean asshole who ruined my momma’s girl parts. Sounds like he’s in trouble so go on ahead and try and keep him alive long enough so I can kill him at a later occasion.” he said. 

I chuckled “You want me to bring him to you or just leave him be after we are done with him for you to deal with yourself?” I sent back as I drove over the sand and rocks towards the compound in the distance.

“You’d do that for me?” 

He asked surprised.

“Of course I would we are friends and friends help other friends murder people that fuck with their mothers.” I said with a grin.

“When’d we become friends?” he asked confused.

“When we chatted over our machines, that’s how you make friends from my experience. You talk about a shared interest and get along and boom, friendship. Might be I’m simplifying things a bit but who says it needs to be complicated right?” I said verily.

“That really how that works? Well suppose we would be friends then, still I’ll deal with Lucky on my own time so just leave him be after you get what you want from him.” he said and I was fine with that.

The Dahl headlands were more or less a dust pit with reddish brown stone walls and pillar formations making up the vast majority of it from what I could see and a roadgoing fro Earnest’s place to somewhere in the distance I couldn’t make out as the road curved behind one of the rock walls. The road like in the arid badlands by Fyrestone were ass by the way with potholes and and uneven surface from where they didn’t even bother flattening the ground before paving it. I saw some runners in the distance of the Dahl headlands that I assumed meant there was more than just bandits here which would be interesting at least.-

The Last chance watering hole was a sort of decent sized compound with scrap metal walls and what appeared to be only a single entrance that I parked my bike at. The others were already close by so I didn’t need to wait long before the two runners parked next to my bike and they got out.

“Fast and loud or we being sneaky?” I asked and got four odd looks. “You’re right that is a stupid question, shall we?” I said and Lil vanished in a flash of light while the rest of us dashed through the entrance guns and fists in Bricks case at the ready.

The compound within past the entrance was barely better than the outside as it had one large storage building made of sheet metal and a bunch of huts made from what appeared to be cheep aluminum, rope and cloth. The bandits had two dudes on the ledge of the storage building while most of the rest appeared to be standard shirtless masked psychos. There was a couple of brutes thrown in the mix and like two midgets but that was it.-

Mordy immediately raised his sniper and with two precise shots domed the bandits on the second floor ledge of the storage building which signaled the start of the slaughter. Calling it anything else would be a fucking lie as the bandits tried to fight back but accomplished absolutely nothing as we shot the ones with guns first and that left the psychos with their Buzzaxes that were very much outgunned(pun intended). I killed seven with my gun and the last one with my bare hands simply so I didn’t get rusty, really played with my food on that one.-

I checked the corpses for any decent traits and after not finding any ripped out the lifeforce that amounted to a solid 21,493 units. We moved on to the second area after that that had a couple storage crates that the doors blew off of to release some flaming psychos that we killed without delay. I grabbed all the [Fire resistance-Uncommon grade] at 2,000 units a pop for a total of 10,000 units for the five I got. This wasn’t even for me but for my friends here as if we are going to deal with more and more flaming stuff I’d prefer them not getting burnt to death.-

Maybe it’s just me but that would rather annoying to deal with. Anyways once the flaming psychos were dead and dusted the door to the actual building with decent architecture opened. From said building walked out what looked to be a much smaller much calmer version of the roid rage monster we killed at Sledge’s safehouse. I reflexively unloaded my gun in the blue shining eye holes of the metal mask/helmet thing killing the brute instantly as it’s head burst like a watermelon and it’s juices started to leak out of the helmet as it’s body fell over.-

“What? I thought he could take it.” I said as everyone stared at me oddly. “He looked like a smaller version that that thing we killed in the safehouse so I might have gone a teensy bit overboard is all.” I defended myself.

“I can see it.” Mordy said with a nod.

“Well let’s go see if our damsel in distress is still kicking since everything’s dead.” I said and everyone agreed.

While I was at it I checked the big dudes traits and finding nothing new or worth grabbing ripped out the lifeforce as I walked. The inside of the building was as busted up looking as everything else on this planet with cracked floor and decaying ceiling. There was three vendor machines in here too with the standard med and ammo machines sitting there as well as a gun vendor as well surprisingly.-

On the wall was a large green painted scrap metal clover with a dart board in the middle of it. The place had a wrap around bar and three fridges behind it along with a sink and some boxes of food and other supplies. At the front of the building since we entered from the back there was a sort of makeshift cage made out of fencing and a latch style lock on a wheeled door. It was also apparently the toilet since that was exactly what we found Lucky sitting on as we walked up.

___________________________________________

https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro

_______________________________________________

Alexander Drake

Lifeforce: 347,304

Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade], [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Omega body-Rare grade]x4, [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Bone regeneration-Uncommon grade], [Corrosion resistance-Uncommon grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade]x4, [Superior vitality-Epic grade],[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade], [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade]X2, [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade]X4, [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade]X2, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade]X2, [True omnivore-Rare grade], [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X3,[Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Hyperflexibility-Rare grade], [Strong circulation-Epic grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Buzzaxe expertise-Uncommon grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade], [Pugilist expertise-Uncommon grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Uncommon grade], [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3

Stored traits: [Fire resistance-Uncommon grade]X5

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep