(Links to previous chapters in comments). The storm started innocently. A light wind stirred a ground more dust than dirt from months without rain. It swept the orange grit into small dancing eddies that twisted and tumbled amidst the desert succulents. Slowly the wind grew, from a whisper to a shout and from a shout to a scream, grasping more of the land as it passed until the air was thick and choking. Reptiles scampered for cover and the day grew darker as dust blocked the sun. Within hours the storm was raging over the desolate interior, a churning apocalyptic wall of burnt orange devouring everything in its path. It crashed into the city like a tidal wave, sweeping around towers and filling streets. Shops and offices that had lain empty and forgotten for centuries were battered by the winds, what was left of their interiors flung about chaotically and what little glass remained in their windows finally smashed. Dislodged vegetation bounced around the streets, rebounding off vehicle husks and forlorn bus shelters. Street signs that had endured through countless former storms were finally ripped free to smash and spear into nearby walls. A flood of lights automatically blinked into life as the room high in the tower block momentarily darkened, the cityscape that had filled the windows suddenly and immediately hidden within the dark churning cloud. As one, the survivors of the Wastes stared out of the windows to the darkness outside, hands nervously dropping to empty belts where knives and handguns usually hung. “Damn dust storm”, Garten growled under his breath. “Big one too”. He turned to Alfren. “Better make sure Eden is sealed tight”. “Been sealed since the visitors arrived”, the doctor replied quietly. “Visitors?” Mattaus scoffed. “Prisoners more like!” A slender spectacled man slowly raised his hands in the air, returning all eyes to him. “Easy everyone. Let’s all just take a breath for a moment”, he said, locking eyes with Hausen whom stood protectively in front of his companions. “You have no reason to think that we will do you, any of you, any harm. We have looked after the young man here and we continue to look after Mirim. We have not threatened you in any way. We have gone out of our way to care for you all”. “At the barrel of a gun”, Mattaus growled. "You have to understand that we don't see many people out here", the spectacled man explained, "and the ones we do get are not exactly friendly. We put ourselves in danger to rescue you". He let his arms fall to his sides. "Everyone, my name is Petrisen. Hausen has already met me, but things have not gone very well and I want to resolve that". Petrisen turned to the guards behind him. "Stand down and please, wait outside". "Sir..." The lead armed female began to argue, but bit back the rest of her words as Petrisen raised an open palm in the air and looked at her. "Please, leave me" he said simply. The guard stood motionless for a moment, taking her time regarding the three outsiders. Each could feel her intense scrutiny, her distrust. Finally, she gestured in the air above her and the other guards turned and left. With a last pointed look at Hausen and his comrades, she closed the door behind them. "Well, let's sort this out" Petrisen said after they had left. He gestured to the three figures. "You scare us. We nearly left you out there". "You were going to leave us out there?" Mattaus asked incredulously. "Yes", Petrisen answered simply. "You've caused a lot of noise here". Mattaus and Felicia looked at one another, instantly on guard. Hausen stared coldly and firmly at Petrisen. "Meaning?" Mattaus asked cautiously. Petrisen looked at each of them in turn. "The Fallen keep away from here, or else they did until recently". He nervously licked his lips. "You have to understand that we have strict rules to ensure things stay that way, that we do not raise awareness of ourselves. We keep small, we keep quiet and we stay alive. You changed that". "You would have left us to die when we were so close?" Mattaus asked again. "Yes" Petrisen repeated without hesitation. "I have over fifty people to look after, that look to me for their safety". He gestured at the young man. "I don't know you". He gestured at the others. "I know them. We all support one another. My loyalty is to them first and I will not let anything or anyone endanger them". Petrisen looked at Hausen. "We have stayed hidden. The Fallen do not bother us - until you came. Patrols do not come near the city - until you came. You have put all of us at risk. Everything we have done here is in jeopardy. You must understand I'm not happy to see you or eager to welcome you with open arms". Hausen took a deep breath and nodded. "I understand. I have my own people to look after". "What are they after? Why are the Fallen so interested in you?" Petrisen asked him. Hausen shook his head. "I don't know. I think it's more like we stumbled onto something. We came from further east…". He looked at Felicia and Mattaus and suddenly it was all he could do to keep standing. [i]Further East… The settlement in flames overrun by scampering dark figures with too many arms. Silvie with blood dripping from her back and limp in my arms whilst our daughter screamed. Mirim dieing…[/i] Hausen visibly sagged, the façade of strength he had held for so long crumbling. "It's relentless out there. They just keep coming and coming. There are so many of them and there is no respite. Day and night... There is nothing except being hunted. So many of us have died..." He looked to the people before him. "We have all been through so much. We have just kept running, trying to keep ahead - to stay alive. Then as we came further west we saw fewer and fewer Fallen. Finally we had a chance to rest". He cleared his throat as an image of Jaspiel with the Fallen blade embedded in his skull filled his mind. "Anyway. We started finding dead Fallen, not killed by anything obvious". Gartan glanced at Alfren. Hausen pointed to Felicia. "Felicia tracked one of them to their camp. We took it out, but that may have alerted them and caused the additional patrols. Since then we have been on the run trying to keep ahead of them". "Do you know what's happening?" Felicia asked Alfren, noting the earlier exchange between him and Gartan. Alfren rubbed his head. "Not exactly". "What do you mean?" Felicia pushed. Alfren looked to Petrisen who nodded slowly. "Let's show them". Petrisen walked to the double doors standing tall amongst the boarded windows at the far side of the room and leaned upon the horizontal bar running across their centre. They swung open with a sharp grating sound revealing a small dusty platform stretching to a curved matt grey wall ahead. Mattaus walked through the doors, stepping over a foot-long gap to reach the platform beyond. “Damn-it!” he hissed as sand carried by a strong breeze got into his eyes and mouth. "I would get off the track". Wiping the irritated tears from his eyes and spiting to clear his mouth, Mattaus turned to stare at the other man. Petrisen gestured down. The young man looked at his feet and found that the platform he was standing on was actually a single piece of solid dull metal, separated from the building and the far curved wall by identical foot-long gaps. It was also was subtly vibrating. The sensation ran up his legs in waves and made his ankles and knees ache. The metal under his feet stretched away to either side of him, curving out of site around the sides of the building. Looking up, he found that he was standing in the centre of a large concrete tube illuminated by small white lights embedded within the ceiling. "Mattaus", Petrisen called, pointing behind the other man. "The train is coming". Mattaus turned to see a matt-grey cylindrical shape suddenly appear from the far side of the building. It almost entirely filled the concrete tube, its sides stretching down into the gaps between the metal rail and the walls. Nothing touched those rails, however. The cylinder was suspended a couple of feet above it and its’ sides maintained an equal and constant distance of about half that on either side. An armoured figure with a rifle slung over one shoulder could be seen through the window stretching around the front of the cylindrical shape. “MATTAUS!” The young man jerked as Hausen shouted and with a sharp curse scrambled back through the doors as the fast moving shape slid to a smooth and soundless stop where he had been standing. Two panels within the featureless grey sides immediately in front of the doorway pushed themselves forward and away from one another to reveal a brightly lit interior. “Please”, Petrisen said gesturing to the open door. Cautiously Mattaus walked forward and peered inside, finding it filled with slightly curved forward facing seats. “Just seats”. “What were you expecting?” Gartan asked, chuckling as he moved past the younger man and sat heavily in the nearest seat. “I have never seen one of these working”, Hausen said with a slight touch of wonder as he took a seat. “I don’t doubt it”, Petrisen replied. “Please, buckle-up” he added, pulling a belt around himself and fastening it into the side of his seat with a loud snap. The doors pulled themselves back in and sealed them all inside with the barest of sounds. Smoothly, silently the train moved forwards, quickly picking up speed as it moved through the dark tunnel, twisting one-way and then another as it moved trough the city.