Free The Sands of Borrowed Time by Jeffry Winters

"Every fucker is invited to this little shebang!  We are gonna need the whole fucking team!"  The rest nodded in agreement, neither taking their eyes off the liner, their wide pupils revealing their hunger as deep as Leon’s.  They all stared at the ship for a long time as it wavered hypnotically in the rolling waves.  It was an island of opportunity they thought, dreaming of what was stashed inside those containers.  "Come on nancy boys, let's head back and tell the others what we have seen," Leon said elatedly.  "The fucking Crow," he laughed out quietly as he kicked-started his Harley.

 
     
     
     
     
    City Bound
     
    The next day she awoke to a deep orange Sun as it peaked over the horizon, its rays extinguishing the stars one by one as its grew stronger with each rising degree.  She took a gulp of water from her last bottle and put on her shades.  The sky was a brilliant blue, but that would soon change as the heat stirred up the air into a stiff breeze, picking up loose, dry dirt until the sky became a hazy yellow.  She decided not to wait until night.  She would go now, today.  It was a risk, but maybe the guys she saw laid low during the long and hot day, out of the harmful rays of the Sun.  She grabbed her bag, swung it over her shoulders, and walked down the slope towards the edge of the bridge.  The air was still clear as she began her citybound journey.  However, the mummers of a breeze began to stir, its effects becoming noticeable on the ground, dust coalescing into little swirls, moving along the baked yellow ground like the ghosts of snakes.  Her tangled, black hair wavered over her face.  It smelt oily, she thought.  It hasn't been washed for weeks; time to freshen up.  Once Skylar had descended the slope and reached the road, she turned and started to walk towards the city.  It looked daunting before her.  Its colossal towers of broken glass seemed foreboding, casting long shadows out across the glistening sea.  She looked down at the road.  It appeared that it had long been covered in dirt.  She could see the tyre tracks from the bikes, perhaps too many for the trip of last night.  Maybe they came here often, she thought. She lifted her scarf to cover her nose and mouth as the wind became more spirited.  The road into the city was deserted.  She imagined how busy it would have been at this time in the morning not so long ago.  Cars, buses, lorries and motorcycles, making their way slowly into the city as it awakened from its slumber to another hectic day.  Horns blaring as people battled for position, trying to make their journey short and quick through this clogged artery to their offices, their stress, and frustrations would clearly have been evident on their furrowed brows.  Today, however, nothing; just silence and the occasional stirring of the wind as it too awakened, the Sun’s rays penetrating deep into its cold mass as it rose above the horizon.  She looked ahead, the road flanked by telegraph poles, some leaning and broken, hanging from the wires that they were meant to hold up, pulling them sideways, looking taught and ready to break.  The road was dusty, all the way into the city.  It had become uneven and broken as if an earthquake had hit.  It was a possibility, she thought.  She had felt some gentle tremors a few nights before, maybe they had been stronger here.  Vines and branches, some of which had grown through broken windows, choked the tall buildings in the distance at the heart of the city.  A few buildings looked entirely overrun by plant life, looking like giant hydroponic vases. 
    So hot, she thought, as she wiped her brow free from sweat on the arm of her blouse, pushing back her dark, damp hair behind her ears.  Her once-white blouse, now moist with sweat.  As she walked onwards, bushes and small trees began to appear along the verges of the road until they got bigger and taller, forming a canopy of swaying leaves.  Many were dry and