Page 16 of Craze

I hope they come for us, for me.

But I can’t rely on someone else to find me or my friends. The longer we wait, the more we lose.

Soon, the Solcrue will pay.

I have to find a way.

Chapter 5: Craze

I cruise through the tunnels until Axe’s signal grows stronger. Setting the hoverdrone down in a spore room, I request Axe and RamBash move away from the wall.

Axe>>Craze: Clear and under cover.

Using the drone’s manual-mode guns, I shoot a hole in the tunnel wall. Rock crumbles and an opening appears in the settling dust.

I get down and hike through the mess of rubble. Axe and RamBash hobble toward me.

You two look like shit,I blurt.But at least you made it.

Axe’s hands soften from blades into fingers again.We are operational and united. That’s what matters.

After helping them through the hole and onto the platform, I lift us up again and steer our stolen hoverdrone through the tunnels.

My three injured brothers work on repairing Tangle while I guide us into a long passageway that will take us to the far side of the moon from the plant. That will work for now. But we will need to salvage soon.

“Ranger’s gone?” Axe asks in disbelief.

Craze>>Local: I don’t know for sure. Severely damaged. Shutdown on impact. I’ll inspect him when we stop.

“It’s not your fault,” RamBash says beside me. I’m surprised he’s injured from the fall based on the type of unit he is.

And it is my fault.

I wasn’t fast enough, again. I was supposed to be the one that broke the unbreakable, not the one who left my team to diebehind me because I couldn’t slow down. Guilt is a fierce storm that tightens my hands on the controls until the metal warps.

Craze>>RamBash: He pushed away from me at the last second. I did what I could.

“Craze. We can hear the doubt in your mind.” Axe rests a hand atop my shoulder. Few can be touched by him. My shoulder buzzes with nanosolution and the hum of reinforcement as his bladed fingers sink in. It sears my synthflesh, but I do not shake him off because I know he needs contact just like any of the rest of us. “You saved Macabre and Tangle. That’s not nothing.”

If I had the proper foresight, I could’ve saved Ranger by spending less time with the first two. I just can’t think that far ahead.

Craze>>Tangle: Status?

“I’m up.” He coughs and spits. “Now I know why you all said Solcrue rations tasted like mud. I’d give anything for a gilkyworm crisp. I’m starving.”

As we skirt a corner into a cavern, I notice movement in the shadows. Something primal in me kicks on.

We need food, armor, weapons.

Craze>>Axe: Pilot.

He takes over as I jump off the drone.

Tangle>>Local: What is he doing?

Macabre>>Local: Damned berserker just plows through with no plan. Zero hesitation or reconsideration.

Ignoring them, I tackle the creature. It’s nearly my size, covered in wiry fur and has a horned head that thrashes around. It struggles beneath me as I wrestle it to the ground.

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