Buster's Journey

Buster bursts into a container yard, steel walls towering on both sides. The ripped gate rides in his hands like a battered shield as the drone’s whine rolls over the metal stacks.

A sweep of pale light skims the containers ahead. Somewhere above, the drone searches the maze, patient and mechanical.

Buster edges the shield up and guides the others toward a narrow lane between stacked steel boxes. One wrong move, and the yard becomes a trap. One quiet move, and they might vanish long enough to reach the street.

The drone’s whine dips closer, and the trio commits to stealth, because speed would save minutes and expose them to hunters in seconds.

Buster hurls the ripped gate upward in a brutal arc. It clips the drone dead center, snapping one rotor and cracking the housing open with a metallic shriek.

The drone jerks sideways, showering sparks and torn plastic across the lane. Its pale beam stutters, then swings wild over the container walls.

The Veteran Hero drags the Teenager into the deepest shadow between two containers as the broken machine tumbles past overhead.

The drone slams into a steel stack with a hollow boom, then drops out of sight beyond the next row, its whine turning ragged.

Ahead, the maze opens into a darker pocket of containers and a narrow gap just wide enough to hide bodies, but distant boots answer the crash from somewhere off to the left.

Buster takes the lead and drives the others into the maze, choosing the narrowest lane between stacked containers. The hidden pocket ahead swallows their footsteps.

The Veteran Hero hustles the Teenager after him, both of them bent low as the steel walls cut off the open sightlines behind them.

They reach the darker gap Buster spotted, a slit of shadow tucked between two leaning containers and shielded on three sides by rusted steel.

The distant boots keep moving left, muffled now by the maze, while the broken drone stays out of sight behind the container stacks.

For the first time since the crash, the trio has cover that actually holds, but the yard stays tense with that far-off search and the echo of trouble somewhere above.