After eight hours of driving, almost on the dot, Corax lands on the open window.

  “Fire ahead.” He reports.

  Ivy reaches back and taps Vince on his knee. He’s instantly awake, pulling back his hat, throwing off the blankets, and resting his hand on his pistol.

  “Corax is saying there’s a fire ahead.” I fill in for Corax. “Let’s get your harness on.”

  Corax hops into my lap and I quickly strap him in. In an instant he’s gone from mostly harmless to being able to kill anyone from 1,000 feet in the air.

  Ivy guides the car towards an especially large dune, puts it in park, and climbs onto the roof through the window.

  “There’s a large convoy burning in the pass.” Ivy says just loudly enough for everyone to hear. “I don’t see any movement though, and it looks like they’ve been burning for a while now.”

  Corax hops onto the windowsill, excitement gleaming in his eyes.

  “Stay safe please.” I beg him.

  “You too.” He leaps into the air, disappearing into the dark.

  “Corax is going to get closer and see if he can see anything.” I tell everyone. “Can you keep an eye on him?” I ask Ivy.

  “I’m already tracking him.” She responds.

  “Cassie, did anyone send out an SOS?” Vince asks.

  “No. I would have heard.” Cassie responds.

  “Ok. Ivy, can you see a cause?” Vince climbs up onto the roof beside her.

  “Some of the cars have been completely torn open. It’s definitely an attack, but there’s still barrels of food and water spread around.” Ivy replies.

  “Kidnapping then?” Vince guesses.

  “With so many explosives used?” Ivy asks. “Maybe an assassination, although even that would be sloppy.”

  Twenty minutes later Corax lands on the roof.

  “Few alive. Robots south.” He reports.

  “Are they heading away?” Vince asks with barely disguised fear.

  Corax nods.

  “Alright, we need to move quick. All lights off, Cassie, don’t broadcast anything.” Vince hops into the driver's seat and instantly puts the car in drive. Despite the movement, Ivy stays perched on the roof. “Corax, keep an eye on that group, but stay as far away as possible. Tell us if they turn around.”

  Corax instantly takes to the sky once again and disappears into the night.

  “What’s happening?” I ask.

  “During the war, someone had the bright idea of making androids with their only goal to end the war. They decided that the only way to do that was to stay functional and build more of themselves. Packs of them still wander, hitting caravans and towns for repairs and new parts, still looking to find a way to end a war that ended years ago.”

  “Oh, that’s awful.” How did the humans that made them not see this outcome though? All it takes is not defining what the end of the war is explicitly enough and they just continue on forever. I guess desperation can lead to dumb decisions. “I’m guessing that is what led to those rules you told me about when I first got to the compound?”

  “One of the things, yeah.” Vince confirms.

  It doesn’t take long before we arrive in the pass. Half deconstructed burning vehicles are strewn in front of us, blood sizing on the hot metal. Parts of bodies litter the ground, and belongings have been haphazardly torn from the cars. Broken glass, family portraits, food, and opened, empty containers of water.

  Don’t think, just accept what I’m seeing. Don’t think about what it means, don’t think about what happened. Just let the sights wash over my mind and accept what I’m seeing without processing. I’m ok. I can handle this. I’m ok.

  “Here Little Blue.” Vince tries to hand me his hat. “You shouldn’t have to see this.”

  “I’m ok.” I copy my thoughts into my voice. “I have to be, at least until we save everyone.”

  “You don’t have to do that Little Blue. But alright, I trust you to know best.” He places his hat back on his head and parks the car in a place where we both have a straight shot through the wreckage, but can also turn around if needed.

  Cassie jumps out the instant the car stops, and starts quickly checking the insides of the cars.

  “Cassie! There.” Ivy calls, pointing to a car in the distance.

  Cassie sprints over. The front of the car is an inferno, but the back is mostly unharmed. She rips open the scorched door with her metal hand, and it lands in the sand with a soft thud. She pulls out the charred remains of a human woman. She’s curled around a burnt, but still faintly breathing baby.

  “Shit! Vince! Get the trauma kit right the fuck now.” Cassie carefully extracts the child and begins to quickly make her way over, careful to not move more than absolutely needed.

  “Little Blue, give me a hand.” All fear Vince had has been replaced with a deadly seriousness, as if nothing else matters but saving this child. He runs to the trunk and I follow. He puts a large blanket and a battery powered light into my hand. “Find somewhere flat and spread this out.”

  “Ok.” I take it from him and get to work. “I have a lot of medical books in my head, I can help.” Keep it together. I’m ok.

  “Perfect.” Vince spreads out his tools across the blanket, and Cassie gently sets the baby in the middle. “I’ll take care of the baby, you take care of everyone else, alright?”

  “Ok.” I say in a shaky voice.

  “Cassie, they’re still breathing.” Ivy points to a body that I would have thought dead if she hadn’t said anything.

  Cassie runs over, scoops the woman into her arms in one smooth motion, and sets her down on the tarp.

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  Her right leg has been shredded by shrapnel. A belt is wrapped tightly around her thigh, acting as an emergency tourniquet. It’s far from perfect, but it’s kept her alive. Her leg is already dying from lack of oxygen, and it looks like an artery has been punctured in several places. I don’t think I have the tools to repair that kind of damage.

  “Cassie! Another.” Ivy calls out.

  And even if I did, I wouldn’t have the time to spend on a single person.

  “Bone saw.” I say, holding my hand out to Vince. He grabs it from the bag and hands it to me. He also pulls out what looks like a small soldering iron, and a plastic cap from his kit next to me. A few clamps are already spread around. I guess that’s all I need.

  Don’t think, I’m just following steps in a book the best I can. No anesthetic, hopefully she doesn’t wake up. Leave the tourniquet, and repeat one simple motion a few dozen times. Tie off the arteries, cauterize the veins, and attach the cap to prevent any further bleeding. Wrap everything to ensure it stays in place. It’s not exactly textbook, but it’s the best I can do.

  “Done.” I tell Cassie, and she moves the woman away from me, only to quickly replace her with an injured man.

  He looks uninjured, but he’s heaving inconsistent, raspy, breaths that make his whole body shudder. Smoke inhalation is my best guess. That’s not something I can entirely fix, if the damage is too bad there’s nothing I can do to save him.

  There’s only one thing I can try. If he can’t breathe because his trachea is swollen, instead of his lungs being too damaged to function, I can save him. I grab a thin, long tube from the kit and feed it though his mouth and into his trachea. His breathing instantly smooths a little bit. I have no idea if a breathing tube will be enough, if the damage is too bad in his lungs I’m only prolonging the inevitable without pure oxygen, but it’s the best I can do.

  He’s going to rip it out the moment he wakes up. I grab a few cable ties from the car and restrain his hands, just in case.

  While I work a gunshot goes off from the other end of the convoy where Cassie is. Vince doesn’t even look up from his patient, trusting that Cassie is alright.

  “Son of a bitch!” Cassie yells. “Give me that. If that shot makes the robots turn around I am leaving you here!” Cassie reappears, pinning a young, stammering man’s arm behind his back.

  The instant his eyes land on me, fear fills his face and he tries to stumble back, only to be pushed on by Cassie. I do have an awful lot of blood on me, and a severed leg in the sand next to me. I can’t exactly be mad at him being surprised.

  “What are you doing with that thing?” He asks, terror filling his voice.

  Ok, never mind. Anger flares up inside me, forming too many threads for me to kill. Instead, I form a ball from the threads in my mind and trap the anger inside. I let it twist and grow, encased in a small sphere that I shove to the corner of my mind. I can deal with it later.

  “She’s a friend, and if you call her a thing again you’re going back in the trunk and I’m restarting the fire.” Cassie shoves him onto the ground against our car. “Now sit there and shut the fuck up.”

  “Are you injured?” The anger still comes through in my voice, but at least I can deal with it.

  “No, he’s not.” Cassie answers for him and runs off to check the other cars.

  I keep my pistols close at hand.

  Cassie returns with a third person. Shrapnel is embedded all over their skin, but it looks like he’s lucky, none of it went deep enough to hit anything important. I grab the tweezers from my bag, a needle and thread from the trauma kit, and get to work.

  The man behind me never takes his eyes off of me. He tries to stand up a few times, but a quick word from Ivy gets him to stay put.

  I wrap up any wounds I think will heal on their own, but most of them are too deep to safely leave them to heal. Don’t think about the feeling of stabbing a man repeatedly, just focus on my actions, focus on sewing. This is for the best, he won’t live if I don’t do this.

  The man with the breathing tube begins to stir behind me.

  “Cassie!” Ivy yells out.

  She returns in an instant, holding the man down by his shoulders.

  “I need you to calm the fuck down.” She says sternly.

  The man thrashes against both her and his restraints. He’s going to hurt himself if he keeps doing that, but it’s not my problem. I did my job, now I have to focus on the person in front of me and hope Cassie knows what she’s doing. I tune her out and focus solely on my job.

  Corax lands on my shoulder, pulling me out of my trance.

  “They’re coming.”

  “Shit!” Cassie yells behind me.

  “How much time do we have?” Vince asks.

  “Not long.” Corax responds.

  Vince isn’t nearly done working on the baby. Even if we could cram eight people into our car, there’s no way to do it while still allowing Vince to work.

  “Cassie, give me that guy’s gun.” I say before anyone else can, an idea popping into existence in my head.

  She grabs it from her waistband and places it in the sand next to me before returning to trying to settle the man with the breathing tube. I grab it and check it. Bullet in chamber, ammo in magazine, safety off.

  “Corax, take this a mile southeast, land, fire, and repeat until it’s empty. Lead them away and buy us time.” I hold up the gun for him to grab in his talons, and he takes off into the night.

  “Good idea.” Vince says without taking his eyes off the child. “But we still need to get out of here.”

  My patient is stable enough. All the big gashes have been closed, and he can probably live with the rest. Just in case, I walk up to the uninjured man. Fear consumes him and the small ball of anger flares, but I’m ok. I can handle it for a little longer. I hand him a roll of bandages.

  “Wrap up anything that is still bleeding.” I gesture to the man who I was working on a moment ago and step away.

  Taking stock of the surrounding cars, it’s easy to see none of them are in running shape. Engine compartments have been opened on all the ones that aren’t on fire, and those robots would be dumb to not take basically everything that still works.

  “Little Blue, can you make a sled that we can pull behind the car?” Vince asks. “We’re not leaving these people behind.”

  “Probably?” If I can free the roofs of one of these cars it should work well enough. In that case all I’d need is some rope or a chain to connect it to the car. If that doesn’t work, maybe I can connect a few doors together? “I’ll figure out something.”

  A gunshot rings out in the distance.

  I get to work on one of the non-burning cars. The roof is welded directly to the rest of the body. I guess it’s the easiest way to keep things sandproof. Don’t panic, just think. This isn’t an unsolvable problem.

  “Do we have any power tools?” I ask.

  “Here.” Cassie runs to the trunk, only to return with what look like oversized garden shears. The long handles offer a lot of leverage, and will hopefully chew through the metal without too much issue.

  When I grab it, I can see that the uninjured man has taken over comforting the man with a tube down his throat.

  “Thank you.” It only takes a few minutes to get the roof free. In that time a few more gunshots go off in the distance, and Corax returns to me.

  “Did it work?” Cassie asks him hopefully.

  Corax nods, but still shifts from foot to foot uncomfortably.

  “We need to move.” Ivy says. “If they don’t find anything they’re going to come this way.”

  “Cassie, can you help me move this?” I gesture to the roof I’ve just severed. It’s far too heavy for me to do alone.

  She doesn’t hesitate to come over and silently helps me lift it. The two of us carry the sheet of metal and place it behind the car. While I make small holes in the metal by stabbing my oversized scissors into it, Cassie collects some metal chains from the wreckage. It only takes a few seconds to connect the makeshift sled to the car.

  “We’re good to go.” I inform Vince, who immediately scoops up the child and moves his setup onto the piece of metal.

  “Good. I can see them in the distance and they’re turning this way. Looks like a group of at least twenty or thirty.” Ivy’s statement drives fear into the center of my mind, threatening to overturn the fragile grip on the situation that I have.

  Corax gives me a gentle tap on my cheek, reminding me of his presence. He’s here. I’m ok. I can do this. I can handle this.

  “Little Blue, can you stay with me?” Vince asks. “I need you to make sure nothing slides while we drive.”

  “Ok.” I step onto the sled and crouch down next to him. I spend a few moments placing everything he has out securely back in the trauma kit, ready to grab anything the moment he asks for it.

  Ivy begins directing the rest of the survivors where to sit. Ivy remains on the roof; the woman missing a leg, and the man who I removed the shrapnel from are loaded into the back seat, with the uninjured man between them to keep a lookout. The breathing tube man takes shotgun, Cassie ends up driving, and Ivy remains perched on the roof.

  “We’re going to be fine, they’re slow.” Ivy reassures everyone, and Cassie begins her drive.

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