HIGHWAY BURN

"Woooooo!"

Remy's half-mad howl tore through the comms, tinged with equal parts thrill and raw fear as Trapper slingshotted them up the highway.

Smoke and dust billowed around them in a thick cloud, rendering them nearly blind. Will could barely see five feet ahead, and his heart leapt at any looming shadow that broke through the haze. At the speed they were going, any crash would splatter them across the pavement, even in their suits.

Trapper's relentless sprint urged them faster and faster, an ever-accelerating blur. The numbers across Will's HUD climbed wildly, and he could only stare in disbelief.

Trapper was pushing their combined weight with effortless ease. Their formation never faltered as he guided them past broken pylons and abandoned cars. His grip on their mechs remained firm, his field never wavering for a second.

Will had never seen such finesse. Even Lawson didn't compare. She had raw power, but Trapper operated his field with such delicate control it felt unreal.

An alert beeped, and Will glanced at his HUD map. Ahead, the ruined stretch of highway began to curve.

"Heads up!" Trapper barked, his voice crackling through the storm of wind and static. "We're making a turn. I need you three to mirror me. Lean where I lean."

"Got it!"

They rocketed toward the bend with Trapper in the lead. The highway bent far too sharply for their speed, but Trapper didn't even flinch. He dipped low, shifting his weight in a smooth, perfect arc, and Will, Remy, and Becca mirrored him exactly. The world whipped sideways; wheels screeched and metal screamed as their skates skidded across the asphalt.

Their frames shook violently. Gyros wailed as they clung to the turn.

Trapper's field pulsed once, twice, three times, each micro-adjustment correcting their trajectory by fractions of a degree.

Then, with one final pulse, they punched through. The curve spat them onto the open road with barely any loss of speed, smoke still billowing from their frames.

The highway stretched out before them, straight and wide, and Will finally breathed.

His heart hammered in his chest.

That had been too close.

A fraction of a second off and they would've smeared themselves across the barriers, even inside their mechs.

"Dust is clearing!" Becca yelled, her voice a little shaky.

Will focused ahead. The stubborn ash cloud that clung to their mechs was finally thinning. Visibility sharpened, and the dark shapes ahead began to resolve.

"There!" Remy shouted, pointing.

Through the lifting haze, three hulking haulers emerged.

"Trapper!"

The older pilot gave a curt nod and accelerated. The slipstream snapped tighter; pressure doubled around them as the invisible tether dragging them snapped taut. Will leaned low, letting the wind shear across his frame as they rocketed closer.

Engines whirred and the wind howled around them as they burst free of the dust cloud. The transition was sudden, and the road ahead came into sharp, unmistakable clarity.

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Will blinked the haze out of his eyes and focused. The giant haulers were lined in a row, traveling abreast at a very fast clip for their size.

Scorched black from the earlier explosion, they bore the scars from their recent tussle. Paint peeled away in molten streaks, their armored plating warped; but the most telling sign was the absence of one of their number.

Perhaps they had gotten one after all.

Will zoomed in on the hauler in the center. It was the most damaged of the lot, its rear hatch scorched black. The door was dented inward and its hinges looked like they were on their last legs.

Will gave a grim smile. The moving fortress wasn't invulnerable. There was a way through.

"Get ready," Trapper called, voice tinny through the comms.

"Roger that!"

With a burst of speed, they took off.

Their rapid approach was noticed immediately, and movement rippled through the trucks.

Panels snapped open in the rear hatches and gun barrels jutted out; three, four, five on each truck, their sights swiveling toward them.

"Shit!" Will cursed.

Trapper yanked them to the right. Tires screeched as they swerved, followed a beat later by the rattatat of gunfire. Sparks spat off the asphalt, missing them by a hair.

The rifles swiveled after them, and they had to dodge again. Will winced as bullets whizzed past, striking where they had been moments before. The gunners converged on them with overlapping arcs of fire, each one tightening by the second.

Moments later, the bullets finally found purchase. Rounds hammered into Trapper's field, and for a precarious moment the invisible grip around Will's mech loosened before snapping back into place.

Trapper clicked his tongue and began dodging more aggressively. They wove through the hail of fire with renewed speed. Each turn was sudden and violent, and Trapper had to warn them a split-second before making his move.

"Dodge left." "Duck low." "Tighten the formation." "Dip right."

Will locked onto every command, reacting within fractions of a heartbeat. Bullets zipped by in molten streaks past his helmet, but they were always one step ahead. The crisscrossing lines of fire never pinned them down, and they rapidly closed in on the haulers.

They were nearly on top of the trucks when the gunners escalated.

Metallic clangs echoed across the convoy as several guns retracted.

Will's brow creased; then his eyes widened.

The barrels were replaced by a turret.

"Oh hell—" Remy yelped.

"Behind me!" Trapper barked. "Ready your fields."

The trio snapped into a single-file line behind him just as the turret unleashed.

A deafening roar filled the channel as Trapper's field met the burst of machine-gun fire. Will's stomach dropped as Trapper's vice-like grip on his mech failed.

There was enough inertia to keep him rolling forward, but they were no longer accelerating. Trapper faced the fire from all three trucks alone, and for a moment he held strong; before he, too, was pushed backward. Will braced instinctively and caught Trapper by the backplate before the mech slammed into him.

Remy wasn't as quick. He crashed into both of them with a metallic grunt. Becca, however, managed to stay upright, even as the sudden deceleration nearly threw them off their feet.

"Damn it!" Remy cursed. "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah," Will grunted. "We need to move quick; they're getting away."

Before he could finish, Becca gave a sharp gasp.

"Grenade!"

Will felt the world lurch sideways as Trapper's field flared and yanked them to the right.

BOOM!

A blast cratered the spot they'd occupied seconds before.

"Another one!" Becca yelled.

Will snapped his gaze forward just in time to see the gunners dropping more cylinders out of the turret openings.

BOOM!

More grenades followed. Dropped from the haulers, they clattered and rolled toward them before erupting in violent explosions.

White-hot light flared across his HUD, blotting out the world in bursts of static and glare. He had no idea where the next blast was coming from, yet Trapper moved them in a zigzag rhythm, dragging them out of danger every single time.

"They are not making this easy!" Remy yelled, his voice strained.

Will, jarred by the explosions, scanned his HUD and frowned. An alert blinked insistently on the screen. Something was approaching them fast from the rear.

"What the..."

Two jeeps were speeding up the highway toward them. Gray-uniformed Revenant fighters hung off the frames, toting machine guns. Several pointed ahead, shouting, urging their drivers to go faster.

"That's not good…" muttered Remy.

"Carrion flies," Trapper spat.

"What now?" Becca asked.

Trapper didn't hesitate. "Full-on assault."

He reached to his hip and unslung a brutal, wide-mouthed shotgun, its barrel shaped for tearing through armored plating at close range.

Will's hand drifted to his own rifle, heart hammering.

"Ready?" Trapper asked.

The trio nodded in unison.

Trapper's field wrapped around them again, tighter, harsher, charged with violence. Will felt the pressure crawl along his frame as he gathered his psionic energy, muscles coiling.

Ahead, the damaged haulers barreled onward.

Behind, the roaring jeeps closed the gap.

Will steadied his breath.

This was going to be a wild fight.

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