A Night In The Western Wastes - Part 3 (Short Story)

While I didn't get a chance to write a story yesterday - for NaNoWriMo - as it was power-up day. I've decided to jump back into this story about these friends taking a trip through one of the more lawless regions of Talirda - The Western Wastes.

I've written a few world-building posts about this region, and have also based other stories in the same location before. I'm looking forward to not only bringing back some characters that exist here but potentially working on some new factions and characters who populate this area of the world.

Over the next month I'm going to focus on this story as part of NaNoWriMo, and see if there is a potential novella here.

Here's The First Part of The Story -

Here's The Second Part of The Story -

Source

       "We're going to die!" Andron shouted, and as he did the wind made him swallow each word.
       A storm of air blew so violently that his eyes were watering. He could barely see the dark street below approach rapidly. It was approaching though. Faster and faster with each passing second. The only thing he was able to do was hold onto his seat. If there was a god that he believed in, he would be praying.
       There was nothing though, he couldn't think of even one person to ask for help. Even if he could, there was no time to pray fully, because he was too scared to concentrate. Andron closed his eyes to the impending doom. The G-force of their decent made his stomach rise into his throat.
       Through it all, he could hear Mari laughing, the bitch. It wasn't good enough that she caused their death, she also had to fill his last moments alive with her nonsense.
       The dropping sensation stopped suddenly as he heard the engines engage; the momentary grumble as they came to life once again. Along with the sound of them activating, he felt the vibrations that rattled his entire body.
       Andron opened his eyes, and after a few blinks he could see that the ship was, once again, level. Rapidly blinking helped to regain his composure, and he turned to see that M'Trada was awake once more, and fully in control of the ship.
       "That was fun," Mari said, "Let's do it again."
       "Fun? Are you joking? That wasn't fun," M'Trada replied, "my ship could have gotten destroyed. It would have cost a lot to get it fixed back up, and who would have paid for it? You?" The Trisken turned back to face Mari and threw a passing glance at Andron as he turned.
       "What? Your ship?" Andron whispered, in a shaky voice.
"There would have been no repairs because we would have all been slabbed," Mari said as she started laughing once more.

       "Yeah, well, maybe you two would have been," M'Trada said. "Not me though, Triskens are made of thicker stuff than Humans. It might have hurt though." He let out a sigh as he finished. "I need a mist stick, let's land for a minute."
       Taking them down a few extra feet, the transport ship came to a low hover and descended the rest of the way slowly, before the engines cut out completely.
       Once they were fully halted, M'Trada dived over the edge of the ship and onto solid ground. Mari followed soon after, staggering out of the back of the ship, and stumbling as she reached the ground.
       Andron took a moments break, and just let his mind clear of all noise. His ears were ringing from the free-fall. The more he tried to ignore the sound, the louder it got, until it was all he could hear, over the mumbling from the other two.
       After unbuckling himself from the transport, he stood up. He wobbled slightly, as if standing on uneven ground, and rested a hand on the side of the ship to steady himself until he felt capable of getting out of it.

       Now on the cold concrete, he felt a slight relief and had to shake off the memory of falling. Walking the length of the ship slowly, swiping a hand on it for safety, he reached the other side of it and was surprised to see the other two laughing between plumes of smoke.
       "Want one? It might help settle the nerves." M'Trada asked, as he offered a red pack of mist sticks, with the top lid unfolded.
       "I don't smoke," Andron replied, as he looked around the unfamiliar area.
       "Neither do I, but I always keep some handy for occasions like this. It's not every day you have a near-death experience." The Trisken smiled, showing a few of his missing teeth.
       "Suppose you're right, give me one then." Andron said, barely paying attention to the others.
       He felt it being placed in his hand, and squeezed the top of it which made a popping noise as it ignited. After taking his first drag, he started coughing, but the second drag went down easier, by the time he had a fourth pull, he felt a bit more at ease.
       "Where are we?" He asked.
       M'Trada shrugged as he looked around briefly, and Mari didn't pay any attention as she was too busy trying not to fall over.
       "It's not like anyone really cares, the place is dead, it's all dead. This whole city should have been wiped out during the occupation, scum." Mari mumbled abuse through slurred speech.

       "Yeah?" Andron slowly responded, as if ignoring what she had said, but his response was painted as an agreement. "Anyway, I'm not really in the mood for this "party" and kind of want to just go back home." He quickly continued as he focused on M'Trada.
       "Go home? Really?" The Trisken asked, as he stared at Andron and occasionally shifted his eyes back to Mari.
       "Well, yeah. I mean, come on, this is more your thing. Besides, we haven't really hung out much in the last few months." Andron said, turning back to Mari as he moved to lean back against the transport, creating an invisible triangle between them. "This sounds like something fun you two want to do, it's not my thing."
       "Fun? You think this is for fun?" Mari said, as she looked down at Nippy, holstered on her hip. She took a final drag of the mist stick and tossed it on the ground. As it landed an eruption of sparks spewed out from the top of it, and died. "This is for revenge, you idiot."
       "Revenge?" He asked.
       "Yeah, well. We weren't going to tell you about it, because we didn't know what your reaction would be." M'Trada said as he tossed his mist stick away. "It's something that we thought you should join us on. You know, because of our long-lasting and unsteady friendship."
       "Revenge on who?" Andron wondered what they could have gotten up to, and why they'd need to enact revenge on anyone."
       "It's not important, just know that they're bad, and deserve it. We just need some extra bodies in case something goes down." M'Trada replied, as he turned to look at Mari, as if subtly asking her to take over.
       "Yeah, it's not important. We'll spare you the details." She slurred.

       "Got room for another in your transport? I could do with a lift," a voice from the darkness asked, and Andron turned to see a Mulu approach them. Its skin was leathery, and it had two protruding eyes on fleshy stilts at the top of its head. He wore a dark long jacket and had a scruffy-looking shirt and trousers underneath that looked uniform.
       "We might be able to give you a lift," M'Trada said, as he turned around and inspected the potential passenger.
       "It'll cost you," Mari interjected aggressively.

       "Sure, I can pay you some credits." The Mulu responded slowly, taken aback by the sudden talk of money.

       The four of them got into the transport ship, and they were taking flight in no time leaving the city streets far below them. All Andron could do was hope that Nippy stayed in its holster.