The air inside the base was stale — a mix of oxidized metal, burnt wire, and something like old leather. The familiar scent should've been comforting. It wasn't.
Robert was already muttering by the time he reached the storage crates. He shoved one open, then another. His voice sharpened.
"No, no, no… this was full. This one was full." He kicked the crate, a metallic clang echoing into the open space.
Adam stood beside a stripped-down table in the corner, a tangle of wires and screws laid out like a forgotten puzzle. His revolver holster hung loose on his hip. Slowly, he reached into a bin marked gear parts and pulled out nothing.
"Gone," he said flatly. "Someone's been here."
Robert spun around. "What do you mean someone? We've been gone less than a day."
"Doesn't take long to rob a place when you know what you're doing," Adam said, jaw clenched.
Marie stepped into the room with Sage behind her, both pausing at the sight of the two. "What's going on?" she asked.
"We were hit," Robert snapped. "Materials, rations, all the good scrap—cleaned out."
Sage raised a brow. "Could've been squatters."
Adam shook his head. "They were careful. Took stuff we actually use. Whoever it was, they knew what to grab."
Michael entered just in time to catch that last sentence. "Scouts from another camp?"
"Could be," Robert muttered, pacing. "Could be one of those creeps from the Northern strip. I knew they were watching us when we passed."
"Well, good news," Sage said, plopping down on a crate, "guess we're going back out sooner than expected."
"Not a chance," Adam said. "Not without prepping defenses first."
Michael turned toward him, arms crossed. "You thinking sentries?"
Adam nodded. "Low power. Motion triggered. I've got a couple lenses and a solar converter hidden in the back—unless that's gone too."
He stalked off toward his stash, and they all heard the audible sigh of relief a minute later when he shouted, "Still here!"
"Thank God," Marie said quietly.
Robert crossed his arms. "We need to sweep the perimeter, check for signs of entry. Tracks, busted locks, anything."
Michael nodded. "I'll take west and south. You take east."
"And the north?" Robert said with a small hint of annoyance in his voice.
"I trust Jadrien to scout it tomorrow. He's got the range."
Robert snorted. "Yeah, and the attention span of a goldfish."
"Still fast," Michael said, already heading for the door. "And loud when he's not trying. Quiet when it matters."
Adam returned with a bundle of scrap in one arm and a small solar panel under the other. "I'll need two hours. Maybe three. Then we'll have eyes on the camp 24/7."
Sage tapped a ration box with her boot. "Unless they steal the sentries next."
"I'll rig them with shock failsafes," Adam said, not looking at her.
"Spicy," Azariah said from behind a pipe, where no one had noticed her sitting.
"How long have you been there?" Robert asked.
"Long enough to know someone's in trouble," she said brightly. "Probably us."
Marianna leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "I'm more curious why someone stole from us now. Either they're desperate… or they know something's coming."
Everyone went quiet for a beat.
Then Adam spoke. "We need to leave tomorrow. First light."
Robert scowled. "We're running on fumes."
Adam finally looked up, and his voice was hard. "Then we better move fast."
Night in the Wastes was a different kind of quiet. Not peace — never that — just the kind where even the air seemed to hold its breath. The group had settled in, bellies half-full and nerves still wound tight from the earlier discovery.
Adam crouched beside one of his newly-installed sentries, hands steady as he tightened a rusted bolt. The sentry's eye — a cracked lens from an old surveillance drone — whirred softly as it rotated on a pivot, scanning the barren perimeter.
"Shouldn't we give it a name?" Azariah said, leaning over his shoulder.
Adam didn't look up. "It's a turret, not a puppy."
"I'm naming it Crispy," she declared. "Because if it works, something's gonna get—"
Click.
A sound.
Sharp. Precise. Wrong.
Everyone froze. Even Azariah shut up.
The sentry gave off a soft beep, then rotated again — faster this time.
Adam's voice came low: "It's found something."
Robert stepped out of the makeshift bunker, dagger drawn. Michael followed, mace already resting on his shoulder, shield gripped tight.
From the far edge of the camp, something moved.
First, just a shimmer — then, a glitch in the air, like corrupted pixels bleeding into reality. The TechRot wasn't like normal threats. It didn't stomp or howl. It seeped.
A shape unfolded itself from the dark. Its body was barely humanoid, stretched thin and bound in black, sinewy cables. One arm was a mess of wire and chitin, ending in a jagged blade that clicked softly as it dragged across stone.
Mid-tier.
Faster than the one they'd seen before. Smarter too.
The sentry let off a warning chirp and sparked — a flash of blue and a pulse of heat.
The TechRot twitched, then charged.
"Now!" Adam barked.
The sentry fired. A tight coil of energy zipped out, catching the TechRot in the side. It jerked, staggered—but didn't fall.
Robert rushed forward to flank it, but the TechRot twisted impossibly fast and swung.
Michael intercepted the blade with his shield — sparks exploded on contact.
"It's adapting!" he yelled. "Faster than the last one!"
Marianna's voice came from the shadows behind: "Then I'll just have to hit it before it adapts!"
CRACK.
A single shot echoed. Her sniper round tore through the thing's leg joint. It buckled, twitching violently.
But it wasn't dead.
It shrieked — a piercing, mechanical glitch-scream — and lurched toward the nearest sentry, trying to destroy the tech that hurt it.
"Not a chance," Adam said, flipping a detonator from his belt.
The sentry exploded — not enough to damage the camp, just enough to vaporize anything within a meter.
The TechRot collapsed, one last flicker of its internal circuits glowing orange before fading out.
Silence again.
Then a slow clap.
Azariah.
"Well," she said, brushing dust off her sleeves, "Crispy did her job."
Adam exhaled, rubbing a smear of grease off his forehead. "Too close. It got too close."
Michael looked at the scorched earth where the sentry had stood. "That was mid-level?"
Marianna slung her sniper back over her shoulder. "Which means the stronger ones are still out there."
Marie stepped out from the medbay bunker. "Is anyone hurt?"
"Just my feelings," Robert muttered.
"Good," she said. "Then next time, try not to let it scream in your face."
Adam turned to the rest. "We double the perimeter tonight. I want two people on watch, rotating every three hours. If something else gets in, we don't wait — we end it fast."
Sage grumbled but nodded.
Robert stared into the night, where the TechRot had come from. "We need to know why they're this close now."
"Or who brought it here," Marianna added, eyes narrowed.