Kade didn't suspect he was being followed, but still wanted to get as far away from the abandoned city as possible. Monitoring his oxygen intake, he was mindful of the time. He needed to make his oxygen last until he reached Endocrine. The display on his helmet told him that he had less than a day's worth of oxygen. With Endocrine less than a day away, it would be cutting it close. He could not afford any major detours or setbacks at this point.
A dull, nagging headache lingered, but he did his best to ignore it. What he couldn't ignore was the pain in his leg. As he pressed on, he stretched it out, which only seemed to make it worse. Just as he was thinking about stopping for a quick stretch and bathroom break, he caught movement coming from behind.
Heavy on the throttle, Kade continued to look over his shoulder, blasting through the hazy fog that had crept in. Riding high, he jockeyed the bike as it skipped across the uneven terrain. Navigating the sand dunes were exhausting and required a lot of strength and endurance to control the bike as it bounced around the rolling mounds. Without his drone and special helmet, it was also difficult to read the topography. To his eye, everything appeared to be flat and of the same colour.
Approaching a sand dune at high speed, Kade launched off it like a ramp, becoming momentarily airborne before slamming down, compressing the suspension to the max. Kade gritted in pain as his wounded leg begin to shake from the lactic acid that had built up.
The choppy and unpredictable landscape was taking its toll on him and his bike. It also made peering over his shoulder incredibly difficult and dangerous. When he hit a smooth patch, Kade snuck another glance over his shoulder. Racing toward him were large battle drones that were nearly impossible to escape, especially with the old bike he was riding.
The high-speed drones were closing the distance and were now within firing range.
Pff, pff, pff, pff – their guns started firing. Kade swerved back and forth to be as evasive as possible, but he knew he couldn't maintain these manoeuvres the whole way. It was only a matter of time before the drones had completely caught up to him. Once their sensors were close enough to lock onto him, he would be picked off with ease.
Turning his head for a brief moment, he only saw two drones. By the time he turned around, his front tire was already lifting off the ground. The bike launched off a sand drift, but this time he was unprepared. He lost his balance and was bucked off, slamming into the soft sand and he rolling to a stop.
Wincing in pain, he wasn't sure if anything was broken, but he didn't have time to worry about that at the moment. He lifted his head just in time to see his bike explode into a million pieces. The drones slowed to a stop and circled the perimeter, looking for Kade. Using his last bit of strength, he placed one forearm in front of the other and crawled behind a large dune.
He rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky. He was utterly defenseless. His only option was to bury himself in the sand. The drones continued to search the area. With their guns drawn and ready to lock onto a target, the high speed drones covered a 25 metre radius, scanning every rock, mound, and piece of debris. But they couldn't find Kade anywhere.
Satisfied that they had completed their mission, they retreated, disappearing into the fog in which they had come. Kade could hear the dissipating sounds, but remained buried for a few extra minutes just in case.
Feeling reasonably confident that he was in the clear, he emerged from the sand and dusted himself off. It was a close call, but he was definitely not out of danger just yet.
Hobbling to his feet, he made his way to what was left of his bike, some of the larger pieces were still in flames. There was absolutely nothing to salvage.
With only two choices — stay and die, or continue the rest of the way on foot, he started walking. Even though it was futile, he would rather die a fighter than a quitter. His injury, dehydration, and heatstroke didn't help matters, but those were the least of his concerns. His oxygen supply would surely run out before he reached any sort of civilization.