Buster's Journey

Cold air slaps Buster and Mara as they burst from the warehouse. Ahead, the river gleams black under the tower's red warning light, and the bridge route cuts through a maze of containers and dead machinery.

Heavy tires grind on gravel behind them. A pair of headlights sweeps the block, closing the gap fast. Mara points toward the tower and then to a rusted crane arm that could carry them over the next lane.

Buster surges forward, dragging a bent shipping container aside just enough to open a path. Metal screams against metal, and the gap points them toward the bridge approach.

Above the river, the tower looms closer with every step. The next run is clear, destroy the relay, or the handlers keep the whole city mapped to their doorstep.

Buster hurls the crane arm into the lane, and the metal boom skids broadside across the gravel with a shriek of rust. The headlights jerk hard, washing over the barrier as the vehicle brakes too late.

The front end bucks against the crane arm, stopping dead in a shower of sparks and crunching metal. The bridge approach chokes behind it, suddenly cut off by Buster's throw.

Mara flinches at the impact, then snaps her gaze to the blocked lane. The warning light on the tower flickers over her face as she checks for the next move.

The vehicle shudders to a halt behind the barrier, trapping its own momentum. Beyond it, more light glows in the dark, and the handlers are no longer hidden by the first car.

Mara points past the wrecked lane toward a narrow gap between containers, where the shadowed path bends away from the bridge. From behind the barrier, a shout rises, sharp and organizing.

Buster plants both hands under the nearest container's frame and heaves. Steel groans, gravel bites, and the whole box starts to tilt off its stack.

Mara jerks back from the rising wall of metal, staring up as the container clears enough for a person to slip beneath. Her breath catches at the opening.

A hot sting tears through Buster's injured hand as a jagged seam scrapes raw skin, but the container keeps climbing.

Above the lane, the handlers' shout cuts off. The stopped vehicle sits trapped behind the crane arm while the new passage opens under Buster's lift.

She angles toward the opening, ready to duck through, as fresh footsteps scrape around the blocked bridge approach.

Buster ducks under the lifted container with Mara close behind, then catches the steel edge as it swings. The whole box lurches free of the stack and slams sideways into the lane with a deafening crash, blocking the approach.

Mara flinches at the impact, then straightens beside him, eyes locked down the bridge approach. The scrape on Buster's hand opens again, but the barrier holds.

Fresh footsteps skid to a stop on the far side of the crane arm. The hunters are there now, pinned behind the wreck and staring at the sudden wall of twisted metal.

Through the gap ahead, the river wind carries a low hum from the tower side of the block. The hidden passage still yawns open, but the hunters are already testing their angle around the crane arm.

Buster ducks into the hidden passage, Mara right on his heels. The crawl is tight and rusted, but it opens fast into a slanted service throat that drops them out of the lane and out of the hunters' line of sight.

Buster's scraped hand catches on a jagged brace as he lowers himself, and a sharp sting runs up his arm. The pain is brief, but it leaves a smear of blood on the metal behind them.

The passage spits them onto a grated catwalk above the riverfront service block. Ahead, the radio tower base looms through the industrial clutter, lit by a faint warning glow.

Below them, the hunters hit the barricade and lose the direct chase. Their voices sharpen into a held-back argument as they split around the wreck, but the lane itself is no longer open to them.

Mara points toward the tower access and keeps low, ready to move. The route ahead is open for the moment, but the industrial deck around the base offers only narrow cover and long sightlines.