Chapter 35: All Alone in the Red Valley

Old Jessie's engines purred, the thrumming of the vehicles frame was a constant comfort while loitering in the wastes.

The Narcis' Driver leaned back in his leather chair, a bottle of whiskey sat in a fitted cup holder in his right arm rest, and he held a small tin cup in is right hand. Twiddling a thin cigar in his lefts fingers, he took a long draw of smoke before preparing another drink.

He never understood why so many people, students no less, wanted to journey out here. It was called the wastelands for a reason, coming out here was such a waste!

The driver turned up the volume of his radio, half anticipating, half hoping, the expedition he drove out here would call back for an early retrieval. It was still the first day, but he hoped they would see reason and turn back, rather than venture further into danger.

This was his seventeenth outing since the war, but it was the first time he ever came out this way. Being this far to the east was particularly worrisome. Few explored this region, and several old crews had likened to calling it the Red Valley. He had heard other names for it as well; The Jagged Wound, The Martyred Steppe, The Carmine Path. The reason for all the names had little to do with the war itself, but with the legends that had preceded it.

Regardless, Urix wasn't happy about being assigned to this expedition. He had to read the instruction twice just to make sure he wasn't reading it incorrectly, and still had trouble believing that anyone would want to explore the Red Valley. Reviewing the maps, he had to make sure there were still decent roads leading to the old trenches, and avoided the worst of the harsh terrain. The biggest problem was a lack of escape routes. He didn't like being without at least one alternate route to rendezvous with the group, and return home, should things go sour.

He hoped they were ok.

The last thing he wanted to hear was that another group had been ambushed by slavers. Another expedition, farther west from here, was attacked only a week ago, and more than one student had been captured. A shudder ran down his spine, thinking of what fate had in store for them.

Slavers weren't the only danger, but perhaps the most predictable. Cyber Hounds, Murder Machines, other foul abominations were said to prowl the ruins of the old war, and Urix had no desire to test them. That wasn't even including mines, and other traps, that could've been left behind.

"Yo Urix, how you holding up?" The voice on the radio belonged to another Narcis driver, escorting another expedition up north. Her voice was rough around the syllables, a hallmark for someone raised in the farming districts, but still charming and feminine.

Urix grabbed the radios receiver, "Valorie! long time no see." Urix planted his feet on the dashboard in front of him. "Kids are out playing, just sitting holed up waiting to hear back from them."

"Sounds dull, you want some company? I'm very free right now," her voice was every bit as tantalizing as it was annoying.

Urix chuckled, far be it for him to think anything less of a vampire. In all seriousness, he was happy to hear her voice, even if she were only teasing him. "I'm all yours, got a bottle of wine tucked away just for you. The special kind, with real virgins blood, voluntarily given of course."

Valorie mused on her end of the line, clearly interested. "Oh my, my. Are you trying to seduce me? Want to get me tipsy so that you can defile me with your devilish whims?"

"I wouldn't dare. Courting a vampire only brings trouble, you know that." Urix smiled, his fingers playing with the chord extending from the receiver to the radio. "And besides, what would your crew think, abandoning them out in the middle of nowhere just to enjoy someone else's company."

The vampire laughed, and the sound of her amusement was wonderful to his ears. "My passengers won't be back until tomorrow…if they come back at all. I can take a small detour while picking them up. So what do ya say?"

"How far out are you?" Urix asked, toying with the thought of entertaining this fantasy to a realized conclusion.

"Let's see," Violet's voice pulled back from the radio while she looked over some graphs and charts. "About three hours? Yes, just gotta wrap around this super cell, and…hold up. Am I reading this right?"

"Probably not…" Urix sighed. Here we go.

"Why are you in the damned Crimson Path? That area has been off limits for years!" Her voice had lost its seductive quality, adopting instead a more frightened aspect.

"That's what I thought, but somehow these passengers got a pass. Don't know what their looking for, but its got me stranded in no-mans land." He took another long draw from his cigar, noting how the ash side was now longer than the unlit portion.

"Well I would ask if you were lonely, but now I'm seriously worried."

"You? Worried about me? That's a first."

There was a short pause, when next she spoke, the vampire sounded tense. "Just…be careful out there. You owe me that drink."

"Sure thing sunshine, sure thing. I'll be here, if you need me." Deep down, he knew she wasn't the type to abandon her responsibility half way through an expedition, just because she was bored…or worried for that matter. Still, he liked to think she might show up, if only to surprise him.

Finishing his call, Urix removed the gas mask covering his face, attaching it to a clasp on his belt. His light blue skin had turned pale after spending too many hours inside the closed confines of his precious Narcis, giving him a ghostly grey pallor. Where his two horns once were, now there were only two small scarred stubbles remaining. Now that he was finally alone he let his tail slip free, and used it to pick up the whiskey bottle to refile his cup again.

It wasn't easy, proving his loyalty to the human cause during a war with his own species. Driving Old Jessie around wasn't the most prestigious of jobs, but it wasn't the worst either. After all this time, he couldn't imagine another home quite like it. Having a Vampire on his lap, every now and then, made his days a little sweeter.

Just as soon as he was about to down his drink, a frenzy of warning alerts swarmed his short range scanner. Whatever his sensors were picking up, it was hard to discern. The only thing he could make out was a series of unidentifiable icons shrouded in a cloud of static.

Urix swallowed before leaning forward to scan through the settings, assuming the weather had done something to screw up the signal. It wouldn't be the first time. He did his best to clean up the scanner, dialing a number of knobs, and typing a couple simple lines of code to calibrate the computers settings in hopes to differentiate between storm debris and potential threats.

Finally, he was able to peer through the blotches of fizzling white staining his screen, and could see not one, but hundreds of mechanical signatures approaching the Narcis.

What the fuck? He opened the forward slit, and could see nothing but muddy rain…and strangle lights peaking through the deluge.