Free Timeless (The Cartographer Book 3) by Craig Gaydas

Forsaken than rebel activity. There had been rumors of suicidal inhabitants of the Badlands attacking other districts and blowing up the guard outposts.”
    “Jesus,” I muttered. Just like terrorists. It wasn't comforting to know alien planets had similar issues as Earth. It was actually quite frightening. Is this all anyone had to look forward to in life? Was this our reward for simply being born?
    The bus jumped forward and I was jarred from my thoughts. I looked out the window to see the guards waving us past. A burst of air exploded from my lungs which caught me off guard because I didn't even realize I held my breath. “Thank God,” I breathed.
    Kedge stepped off of Mazu and watched as the guard station faded in the distance. He winced and rubbed his chest, but stopped when he saw me watching him.
    “Don't be thanking anyone just yet,” Yori said. “Jori bought us a temporary reprieve that is all. When this bus does not arrive at the Temple as scheduled, Braxii will surely alert the outposts.”
    “Which means we will need to drop you off sooner than expected,” Jori growled from the driver seat. “We have our own schedule we need to stick to.”
    “Don't worry, we won't leave you in the middle of the Badlands or anything,” Yori assured us. “If we make good time, we can at least get you past it and into the farmlands.”
    “From there it will be a hike by foot, but it will be safe,” Jori added.
    “Thank you,” Vigil replied. “It is all we can ask at this point.”
    For the next fifteen minutes, we travelled past open plains with rolling hills off in the distance. It reminded me of highway travel between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The drive brought back nostalgia, despite the fact I was stranded a bajillion miles from home, which was nothing more than a rotting rock now.
    The last sign of life before entering the Badlands was a beaten down, shell of a convenience store with bars in the windows and a burnt out neon sign that should have read “GRADYS,” if the G, R, and S had not burned out. Through the window, I could see a few people milling about, grabbing items from the shelves and chatting with each other. Outside was an oblong object that I assumed was a fuel pump of some sort. A large bird sat on top and I thought it was a part of the fixture until it flapped its wings—all three of them—and soared into the sky.
    “What the hell was that?” I exclaimed, pointing at the bird vanishing in the distance.
    “The people of the Badlands were not the only victims of the impact,” Yori replied. “The wildlife suffered just as much. Sometimes, some of them make it over the wall, but most of the time they are harmless.”
    “Most of the time?” Kedge cocked his eyebrow.
    Yori ignored the question and instead headed toward the front of the bus where he exchanged a few words with his brother. I watched the store recede and wondered what horrors lay beyond the wall.
    The bus slowed as we pulled up behind a truck. It was higher than any trailer I had ever seen. Our bus was at least fourteen feet high, but the truck towered over it. We lumbered behind it for about a half mile before it turned off a dirt side road where I noticed it had sixteen axles. It headed toward what looked to be a warehouse in the distance, leaving a cloud of dust and debris behind.
    Yori noticed my interest in the truck. “It's a weapons factory,” he explained. I noticed a hint of annoyance in his voice. His face was twisted with anger. “This is what your group came here for, I assume. We may be uncivilized rebels, but we are not ignorant of events outside our world. We know why you came. You sought an allegiance with the Order and wished to add their military might to that of your own, did you not?”
    I looked at Vigil who stood rigid with his arms folded across his chest. “We came here to do what needed to be done in order to defeat our enemies.”
    Yori moved to the window and placed his hand on the top of the