War Beast

Book Three: Chapter 14

The sky turned dark yellow over the desolated dry plains. Nightfall was right around the corner. If Jenny and her party were lucky, they will encounter nothing at dusk.

On their Yorks, they stopped over a sandy slope facing a ruined modern city. Half of the buildings were all submerged in sand. No cars or human skeletons laid around the rising dunes. No doubt the desert claimed the city after the comet devastated the entire world.

Jenny beamed her eyes when she spotted a fallen sign mounted on a hill saying, “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada.”

Jenny’s heart immediately pounded. “Hey! I know that city!”

Rani turned her gaze toward her. “You do?”

Jenny’s throat jumped. She almost forgot she didn’t tell Rani and Basju where she actually came from. Perhaps it wouldn’t matter if they knew the truth, but Jenny’s mind had wandered into space while she traveled through the dull wastelands. At least she kept her mind sharp for danger. “Ahh-it’s a long story. Humans used to live and gamble there for entertainment. Now it is a forgotten memory.”

Not to her in this time period. Jenny’s grandparents brought her to Las Vegas when she was little. After her father vanished, her grandparents took her on road trips to give her the chance to explore when her mother was busy. Las Vegas was their favorite city because they met there in the sixties and married. They used to be a typical party couple until they had Jenny’s mother. Then they settled down and built their own farm to live a comfy life.

“Humans gambling?” Basju laughed. “I guess we’re not so different after all. Hehehehehehehe!”

Jenny didn’t see many Beastmen gamblers in the wild lands. The tribes barely collected resources, and most weren’t foolish enough to gamble them away. But some tribes do gamble when they have enough to waste for their own entertainment.

Huntar opened the map and read it. “Nagendra’s tower should be in that city.” He lowered the map and looked around. “But I don’t see it.”

Zena narrowed her eyes at the buildings. “It might be further in those ruins. We should move forward to see.”

“Torag!” The rhino agreed.

Jenny nodded. “Alright, but we must be wary if anything is in the city.”

Rani snarled at the ruins. “My only concern is slaying the sorcerer. I will not let this quest to become a waste of my time.”

If the journey turns out to be a waste, they can blame Eera.

*****

The sky grew darker and darker as the adventurers rode through the city. It felt like they entered a dark dome overshadowing the ruins. But obviously, the tall buildings, what’s left of them, darkened the ground. Anything might hide in the shadows, waiting to attack unexpecting prey.

Jenny’s skin shivered as she observed the buildings. “We should search for the sorcerer’s lair at dawn.”

Rani glared at her. “I can see fine, human. Don’t your kind hide in darkness?”

Jenny glared back. “Not when we can’t see anything.”

Huntar hushed them both. “Let’s find a shelter first. Rani and I can look while you rest safely.”

“What about Torag and me?” Zena asked.

The lion smirked. “Someone needs to watch over Jenny.”

Soon, they approached a tall rectangle building with broken windows and a flat rooftop. The sand coated the entire bottom, but the entrance remains exposed.

Jenny assumed the building was a hotel, although the sign fell off from the top. She pointed her finger at the open double doorway. “I guess we can rest in there.”

Huntar beamed his eyes at the structure. “Rani and I should scout inside. We don’t want someone to kill us in our sleep, aye?”

Jenny gave him a yes nod.

“Good idea.” Rani dismounted off the mount before Huntar. Both of the felines pulled out their weapons and sneaked into the building.

 After the stars appeared in the black sky, Huntar and Rani returned to Jenny, Zena, Torag, and Basju outside.

“We found nothing except an abandoned camp in there,” Huntar explained. “No food, but bones and equipment. But there is little loot left.”

Rani grinned and held up two Gladius-looking swords. “And I found these! The Goddess of Luck finally shined fortune on me!”

“She didn’t help you when you were a slave?” Zena asked.

Rani shrugged.

“Should we bring the Yorks in too?” The monkey asked.

Jenny turned toward the entrance. “I think so. We will all be safe inside.”

*****

The abandoned camp inside the empty lobby has four tents and broken wooden crates. A couple of barrels full of weapons sat on the dusty carpet floor near a dozen armored skeletons, lying in shattered patterns.

After Jenny tied her mount around a pillar with the other Yorks, she glanced at the floor with her friends. “Why are there so many bones here?”

Huntar rubbed his chin. “It appears there was a conflict here.”

Below his foot laid a canine man skeleton with a spear through his ribcage. Huntar picked up the spear and examined the stone-bladed tip. His eyes turned back to the skeleton victim. “This spear is the same as the ones in the barrel.”

Zena circled around the bones. “I see they fought one another with the same armor and weapons. They might be the same party.”

Rani turned toward the zebra. “You mean they killed each other?”

Zena grimaced with a nod. “It appears so.”

Jenny frowned at the floor. “Why would they do that here?”

Huntar stepped over a skeleton with a smashed skull. “There are many unspeakable reasons. No food, lurk of control, or something made them kill each other.”

Jenny understood the desert could drive people mad. Another reason ‌she preferred the city life.

Basju removed a lid off a crate. He frowned as he glanced inside the box. “Crap! No gold!”

He tossed the lid to the floor. “These bone heads fought for nothing!”

Rani snarled at him. “Pay respects to the dead, monkey!”

Basju shrugged.

“We can rest here if we clean this floor up,” Jenny suggested.

“As you wish,” Huntar replied.

Resting in a graveyard might not be pleasant, but traveling through the desert at night was risky. Luck will protect them if nothing attacks them in their sleep.