The handcart squealed softly as it slowly cruised to a halt. Just ahead, the tunnel finally came to an end as the tracks continued on into the open air.

“Okay, that’s the Pitt!” Rotty eagerly hopped off of the cart, closely followed by Brux. “Pleasure doing business with you!”

“Likewise.” Applejack offered the two a wave before they turned and headed back into the depths. “Thank fuck that’s over with.”

Wernher nodded and stepped off of the cart too. “At least we made good time, I thought we were going to take a lot longer to get through those tunnels. You’ve got a good set of arms on you for a Regulator.”

“If only Ah could say the same about you,” Applejack shot.

Wernher snorted but didn’t reply as he gestured for her and Adam to follow. Applejack gladly hurried after him, eager for a lungful of fresh air after being stuck in the stuffy underground, only to balk when she actually stepped out of the tunnel.

Rusted, derailed trains and piles of shattered debris littered the trainyard. A couple of half-ruined buildings moldered nearby, covered in a thick layer of soot, while a pair of smokestacks in the distance belched black smog into skies that glowed with such a bright orange that it looked like someone had set the heavens on fire. Even the air itself tasted like ash and oil. It took Applejack a second to notice that there wasn’t a trace of the snow that had been plaguing the Capital Wasteland.

“Hang on, someone’s coming,” Wernher said suddenly, throwing an arm out to keep the other two back. Applejack squinted and spotted a trio of raiders striding towards them through the haze, clearly a welcoming party for the group they’d sent to the Capital Wasteland. She flinched as Adam nudged her, then realized that he was pointing out two more raiders standing on nearby roofs, pointing weapons at them. “Let me do the talking,” Wernher said in an undertone. He grinned and threw his arms wide as the raider approached. “Hey, hey! What’re you guys doing here?”

“I might ask you the same thing,” the closest raider spat. “You’ve got a lotta guts, coming back to this place, Wernher.”

“Yeah? Well, I guess that’s the difference between us,” Wernher said calmly. “I got a lotta guts. You don’t.” Without warning, he whipped out his revolver and shot each of the three raiders before they could react. The two on elevated ground fired in retaliation, but Applejack and Wernher managed to put them down before they could get their aim in.

Adam shook his head. “I guess we should be thankful that those guys are crap shots, but seriously?”

“Well, Ah’m out of ammo for the .32, so grab their guns and you might get a chance to play with the next bunch,” Applejack told him.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Wernher warned. “If the guys guarding the Pitt see you packing heat they’re gonna shoot first and ask questions later.”

Adam raised an eyebrow as he stared pointedly at the dead raiders. “I’m pretty sure they’re going to shoot first either way.”

Wernher shook his head and holstered his gun. “You’re dressed up like slaves, so you should be able to get through the front gate without any issues. Just pretend you’re escaped slaves who got spooked by the dangers out here.”

“What about you?” Applejack asked.

“I’ve got a hideout not far from here, I’ll wait there,” Wernher replied. He pointed to a chain-link gate a short way ahead, barring the way between a rocky crevasse. “Go through there and follow the road across the bridge until you find the Pitt. You can’t miss it. Once you’re inside, find a slave named Midea. She’ll be able to help you.” He fixed the two with a stern look. “Remember, your goal is to get access to Ashur and find the cure. Once you have it, I’ll contact you.”

Adam nodded curtly. “Got it. Anything else?”

“Just be careful,” Wernher told them. “And good luck.”

“Yeah, you too.” Applejack sighed, turned, and headed towards the gate with Adam a half-step behind. The gate was rusty but a good shove was enough to get it open, and the pair slowly made their way through the narrow crevasse.

The other side was just as ruined as the trainyard. There were more bombed-out old buildings, more piles of debris, and in place of derailed trains were dozens of trashed cars and trucks. Thankfully, the road Wernher had mentioned was easily found despite the mess. Adam and Applejack advanced cautiously, keeping an eye out for danger, until they turned a corner and found the bridge.

It looked like a stereotypical scene found in pretty much all post-apocalyptic stories, as ironic as that sounded. An old suspension bridge, completely choked with abandoned vehicles, crossed over a clearly polluted river and disappeared into a ruined city.

“Well this looks fun,” Applejack muttered.

Adam nodded grimly. “And they probably all have live reactors.”

“Probably,” Applejack agreed. “Ah don’t know about you, but Ah reckon we should probably take this real slow and careful.”

“Funnily enough, I was thinking the same thing,” Adam said flatly.

Together, the two picked their way carefully across the bridge, doing their best to avoid touching any of the cars. Applejack knew that they were probably being paranoid, but there was no telling just how unstable the old reactors in their engines were; better to play it safe rather than risk blowing the entire bridge to kingdom come.

“Hold up, things just got trickier,” Adam said suddenly only a short way onto the bridge.

Applejack froze in place and glanced over at him. “What’s up?”

In response, Adam pointed down into a clear space between two nearby cars. A landmine sat half-hidden beneath an old tire. “I get the feeling the people down here don’t like visitors.”

“Nice of Wernher to warn us,” Applejack muttered. She opened her mouth to suggest finding another way around when something whizzed past her ear and ricocheted off of the car behind, followed closely by the bark of a high-powered rifle. “Shit, sniper!”

The two ducked behind the nearest cars. Rusted steel wouldn’t do much against a sniper rifle, but it was better than nothing. Right as she thought it, another bullet tore through the trunk of the car barely six inches from Applejack’s arm. “Damn it, do you see where he is?!”

“High up on the left support strut!” Adam shouted back. He flinched as a shot smacked into the hood of his car. “Think you can throw something and hit them from here?!”

“Nope. Ah got a better idea though.” Applejack charged out of cover and hefted an abandoned motorcycle. Instead of trying to aim for the sniper, she just hurled the bike directly at the support strut itself. The impact did a lot of damage to the concrete, but it was the engine exploding that did the real work, blasting apart the ancient architecture in a shower of masonry and tortured steel. Applejack nodded with satisfaction as she spotted a raider tumbling down with the rest of the mess.

“Oh, fuck!” Adam’s exclamation snatched Applejack’s attention. A second later the sight of greenish smoke billowing out the car next to him drove a spike of terror into her heart. “We need to mo-”

Applejack didn’t give Adam a chance to finish. She just darted over to him, threw him over her shoulder, and used her magic to sprint across the old vehicles like they were stepping stones. The first explosion almost knocked her from her feet. More followed near-instantly, filling the bridge with an advancing tide of fiery death. The bridge shuddered and shards of metal whizzed lethally through the air as Applejack belted across it and charged into the ruined city beyond. Only when the explosions stopped and the echoes faded did she allow herself to slow down and take a look around.

It was clear from a glance that this place hadn’t been ravaged as much as the Capital Wasteland; the buildings were far less damaged, the roads were in much better condition, and the ever-present craters and piles of debris back in the former capital were largely absent. Looking around carefully, Applejack spotted a chain-link fence topped with spotlights blocking off a side road.

“Can you put me down now?” Adam asked flatly.

“Huh? Oh, sure.” Applejack set him on the ground and gestured to the fence. “You reckon that’s where we’re headed?”

Adam dusted himself off and looked over at the fence. “I’d assume so, going by all the people on the other side of it.”

“People?” Holding a hand up to shield her eyes against the lights, Applejack could just about make out dark figures behind the fence. “How in the hell did you spot those guys?”

“I’ve got a good sense of smell,” Adam replied, earning himself a very confused look. “Just let me do the talking. We need to pretend that we’re escaped slaves, and you can’t lie for shit.”

Applejack just sighed heavily. She couldn’t refute it even if she wanted to. Instead, she tagged along as Adam headed over to the fence and tried not to look like a badass Regulator. As they got closer, Applejack saw that there was a gate in the middle of the fence, and at least five raiders all either smirking or glaring at the duo.

One of them, a diseased-looking man covered in sores and wearing spiky metal armor, took a long drag on his cigar before calling out, “Sounds like you scabs damn near blew the fuckin’ bridge up. Who the fuck are you?”

Adam sighed and put his hands up. “Come on, man, you win, alright? We thought we’d escaped, but we couldn’t get past the fucking bridge. Can’t you just let us back in?”

The raider laughed as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “I love it! Open the gate up, let these fuckers in.” He grinned at the pair as the others hurried to obey. “You’re lucky I don’t fuckin’ paste the two of you. Now get back in there and get to work, or next time I’ll just stake you out there for the Trogs.”

Luna crept along the ledge as quietly as she could. Anyone looking out of the emplacements would see her instantly, but she didn’t have much in the way of options. Cover was practically non-existent on the next part of the trail.

The path wound around to a steel walkway, then on to a pair of short metal staircases that led up to another concrete platform. This one had another sandbag wall and several steel drums, beyond which was a metal bridge that crossed over the chasm to the lowest of the concrete emplacements on the other side.

Unfortunately, another soldier was standing right in the middle of the bridge. He was facing away from Luna, but there was no way she would be able to get past him without him noticing. It looked like the best option would be to stab him and toss him over the railings, much like with the first soldier. Luna readied her knife and crept forward but, as if to mock her efforts, the bridge creaked loudly as she set foot on it.

The soldier immediately shouted something incomprehensible and turned, already drawing his assault rifle. Quick as a flash, Luna sheathed her knife, gripped her Tide Stave with two hands, and charged right at the soldier. He didn’t have time to react before the pearled tip slammed into his skull. His body crashed noisily against the railings before disintegrating.

As if on cue, gunfire crackled out from the emplacements and sparked off of the bridge, making Luna yelp and dart back to the sandbag wall for cover. More bullets thudded into the sandbags, making her lie flat on her stomach for fear that they would soon tear through it entirely.

Even as her belly touched the concrete, Luna realized that she was trapped, without even any way of seeing exactly how many shooters there were and where they were firing from. She couldn’t even run back the way she’d come without getting shot at. Fighting against her rising panic, Luna was desperately trying to think of a way out when a deafening wave of sound tore the world apart.

The raw power of it was like nothing Luna had ever experienced. The ground shook, snow fell from the cliffs, concrete cracked and even the ground and sky started to glitch from the sheer force of the sonic barrage. Luna looked up just in time to see Sonata close her mouth and give a satisfied nod. “That was easy.”

“Sorry, Vice-Principal, but you looked like you needed help,” Trixie added from behind her.

Luna got to her knees and peeked over the top of the sandbags. The emplacements were all cracked and broken, and there was no sign of any soldiers waiting to start firing again, but she could definitely hear faint shouts of alarm coming from somewhere a little further off.

“We’re in trouble, aren’t we?” Trixie asked anxiously.

“Maybe-” Luna admitted, “-but we’re not going to sit here and wait for it to come to us. Both of you follow me, but try to stay out of sight. Sonata, I need you to be ready to do whatever it is you just did as soon as I say, and only when I say, got it?”

Sonata shrugged. “Sure, whatever.”

Luna quickly scanned the emplacements to make sure that no soldiers had turned up. Satisfied, she took a deep breath to steady herself and drew her pistol. Her eyebrow twitched when she saw that it had a silencer attached, but she shoved it to the back of her mind and prepared to move. “Ready? Let’s go!”

The three broke into a sprint across the bridge. No crackle of gunfire greeted them, but they still didn’t dare to slow down until they were across. On the other side was a steel stairway that wound up and around the emplacements, hugging the cliff as it went. Luna led the way, moving a little more cautiously so she didn’t accidentally charge headlong into a soldier coming the other way.

It wasn’t until the trio reached the top that they ran into another enemy. The soldier stepped onto the stairway just as they rounded the corner, only to be dropped by several reflexive shots to the chest.

Luna froze, keeping her gun up and ready just in case, but no more soldiers turned up. When she felt that it was safe to advance, she climbed the last of the stairs and looked around cautiously.

The group had emerged on top of one of the concrete emplacements. To the left was some sort of metal bunker built into the cliff, while to the right was another short staircase that led down to a little rocky ledge with a sniper rifle and what looked like an oil canister of some kind. Both the rifle and the canister were glowing an ominous red.

“What’re those?” Trixie asked.

Luna shook her head. “I’m not sure. They could be supplies meant for whoever is going through the simulation, or they could be booby traps.”

“I’ll go check!” Sonata eagerly bounded down the steps before Luna could grab her. Teacher and student alike tensed as Sonata casually poked and prodded everything down there, but nothing happened. “I think it’s safe, the gun and the round thing aren’t glowing any more!”

The siren waved the rifle in the air along with a small circular object. Luna didn’t know what it was, but Trixie apparently did as she gasped loudly. “That’s a landmine, you moron!”

Sonata yelped and threw the mine over the edge of the cliff. “Why didn’t you tell me before I picked it up?!”

“We didn’t see it before you picked it up.” Luna sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to calm her thundering heart once again. “What about the canister? That’s still glowing.”

Sonata glanced at the canister. “You mean that weird ringing thing? I don’t know. It made my legs stop aching after all those stairs, so maybe it’s like a video game health kit or something?”

Trixie muttered insults under her breath, but Luna couldn’t help wondering whether the siren might be onto something. “We’ll check it out quickly, then we’ll get on with the mission.”

It turned out that the strange canister did indeed replenish stamina and nullify pain with just a touch. The canister also let out a faint ringing sound just as Sonata had mentioned, so Luna made a mental note to keep an ear out for any more of them.

After relieving Sonata of the sniper rifle, more for safety’s sake than anything, Luna led the others back up the steps and into the metal bunker. Inside was clearly a rest area, with tables, chairs, coffee makers, a bunk, and posters depicting Chinese military propaganda. There was also a chinese assault rifle, a couple of grenades, more landmines, and a strange dispenser of sorts in the corner, all glowing red. The dispenser was also letting out the same ringing sound as the health canister, so Luna assumed it was something similar.

“Don’t touch, Sonata,” Luna said right as the siren went to do exactly that. She ignored Sonata’s unhappy whine and stepped over to the dispenser first. A quick test revealed that touching it refilled the ammunition of any gun Luna was carrying, but taking bullets out of the magazine beforehand to try and get more just resulted in the excess disappearing.

Luna crossed her arms as an idea started to come together in her mind. “Girls, I think the two of you should hole up here. If you bring the health dispenser in here, then-” Before she could finish her sentence, a crackling wave of red and black static obscured her vision for a second. “What the-” Luna glanced at the others anxiously,”Did you girls see that?”

“Yeah.” Trixie pointed a wavering hand at the door they had come through. “And I can see that too.” Luna whipped around, already fearing the worst, but nothing could have prepared her for what was waiting.

The door was gone. In its place was a barrier made out of jet-black bones all interlinked and fused together to block the way back. The macabre barricade shimmered in the light, as if it was completely covered in a layer of oil.

“Okay, that’s creepy,” Sonata said bluntly. “Do we really have to stay here?”

Luna shook her head, trying to ignore the chill running down her spine. The message was clear; whoever the Boogeyman was working with, they wanted the trio to stick together, or else.

Next Chapter: Chapter 195 - Unsafe Working Conditions Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 41 Minutes