Crack!—Suddenly, the high-beam headlights of the Redland Runner ignited with a loud slam and a whirring hum, casting a blinding light out over the platform. The officers and onlookers all reeled.

  Growling, Vogel recoiled. She shielded her eyes, her hold relaxing on Kaelis’s neck.

  Kaelis wheezed back to consciousness, a sip of air pouring into her lungs. Acting fast, she gathered her wits and reared back her leg. With as much force as she could muster, she flung her heel straight into Vogel’s kneecap.

  “Agh!” Vogel cried. Her leg buckling, she released Kaelis fully from her clutches.

  Kaelis gasped, choking on her breath. Wasting no time, she slipped out from under Vogel and began to crawl away.

  Sheah’s metallic voice rang out over the ship’s external speakers. “Kaelis, run!” she shouted.

  The engines of the Redland Runner roared to life and revved mightily. Jira sprang up from the bow of the ship, Kaelis’s rifle gripped in her hands. Aiming high, she cracked off a warning shot over the heads of the crowd. The mob reflexively recoiled at the thunderous sound.

  Panic struck the platform as the mass of people instantly scattered. The guards and workers flailed about, knocking into each other in a crazed confusion. They scurried off in all directions, swarming around the handful of officers. Standing firm, the officers pushed back against the frenzy and threw themselves into defensive positions, clutching their pistols and waiting for the crowd to clear.

  The tires of the Redland Runner began to spin wildly in place. They tore against the tarmac, kicking up plumes of black smoke. Then, at once, the ship exploded into reverse. It zoomed down the long pier, heading for the exit road.

  Kaelis, her breath reclaimed, shook the lingering haze from her head. She scrambled, scooping her revolver from the ground and springing to her feet. Bursting into a limping gallop, she ran full bore down the docks after the Redland Runner, doing her best to ignore the biting sting coming from her wounded leg.

  Standing just down the pier was the Verloren commander and her two officers, gawping at the fleeing ship in bewilderment. Kaelis charged into their backs at full speed. She plowed through, knocking them aside, spilling their guns from their hands. Racing on, she hurtled past the stack of barrels, only to nearly trip over a body laying on the ground. She flashed back a confused glance as she passed—it was the young guard from the galley, splayed out and moaning in pain. Shaking her head, she kept on running.

  As the blinding lights of the Redland Runner diminished, Vogel surged to her feet. She moved behind the remaining officers and shouted a decisive command.

  “Open fire!” she cried, thrusting a finger at Kaelis. With the last of the crowd having scattered, the officers let loose a barrage of gunfire.

  Small pockets of the dock burst all around Kaelis, erupting into chunks of concrete. She ducked and weaved, narrowly evading the bullets as they whizzed by. Jira returned fire from the reversing ship, fighting to keep the officers at bay.

  As the Redland Runner reached the far end of the dock, Sheah excitedly jerked the wheel around. She turned a second too early. The stern of the ship slammed into the tip of the adjacent pier. Jira braced herself against the railing, jostled by the impact. Sheah flailed around in her seat, her harness holding her in place. She looked around, embarrassed, then kicked the ship into drive. The Redland Runner edged forward, aiming towards the exit road, small chunks of dock trailing in its wake.

  Keeping her speed steady, Sheah rolled up to the end of the platform. She locked her sights on Kaelis rushing towards the ship, her limp growing steadily worse. Twitching the wheel, Sheah angled the half-open cargo door towards her.

  Sheah shouted into the intercom. “Kaelis, jump!”

  Fighting through her pain, Kaelis picked up her pace. She gritted her teeth, anguished, feeling the wound on her leg shift and tear with every footstep. Just a few more meters. Unleashing a guttural cry, Kaelis pressed her foot into the tip of the pier and launched off. She hurtled herself through the air, aiming straight for the Redland Runner’s open cargo ramp.

  Kaelis made herself narrow. She slipped into the gap as the ship rumbled by, the back of her legs slapping onto the steel ramp. Tumbling down the slope, she hit the bottom and sloppily rolled onto the cargo hold’s floor. Shaking her head, forcing herself to keep moving, she labored to her feet. She stumbled over to the side of the door and punched the large button on the console. The bay door heaved and groaned.

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  Sheah held her breath as the ramp crashed shut. Jira stormed into the bridge seconds later. “Is she okay?” Sheah asked, keeping her eyes on the road.

  Jira gave her an affirmative grunt and stowed the rifle along the wall. “Move,” she then ordered. Sheah undid her buckle without question. As the ship coasted ahead, Jira gently pushed Sheah from the helm and settled herself into the driver’s seat. She fiddled with the various knobs. “Time?” she asked.

  Sheah checked her watch. “Four minutes.”

  Jira nodded. “Hold on.” She slammed her foot down on the gas. The engines roared. Sheah grabbed onto the back of Jira’s chair, her fingers digging into the leather, as the ship barreled down the dock road and towards the Imperial Highway.

  The Redland Runner surged onto the bridge’s central road, narrowly winding through a convoy of passing cargo ships which honked indignantly at the disturbance. Jira twisted the wheel, skidding the Red across the lanes and leveling out, aiming straight for the drawbridge at the end of the highway. A bassy horn blared out behind her. She looked through the rearview mirror to see the traffic swerving aside as a heavy Verloren warship sped towards them from the south. Its mass of deck cannons jolted into position, their sights set squarely on the Redland Runner.

  “C—Captain! Cannons!” cried Sheah.

  Jira lurched the steering wheel hard to port. The ship heaved and roared over the suggestion of a dividing barrier bifurcating the highway. It crashed onto the other side of the road, chunks of concrete crushing under its wheels.

  Two oncoming civilian ships sped towards the Redland Runner, their horns yowling in a panic. Jira remained unphased. She feathered the brakes and jerked the wheel, narrowly slaloming between the vessels. The tail of the Red swung around, its tires screeching as it emerged past the ships unscathed. Jira calmly leveled out the helm. The way ahead was clear—nothing between them and the wasteland but an empty stretch of highway. She kicked the ship into high gear and floored it.

  Just then, the northern edge of the bridge flared with a sea of swirling orange sirens. A batch of city workers, dwarfed by the gargantuan machinery, dashed to and fro, shouting frantic instructions. The drawbridge heaved. Slowly it was hoisted upright by a pair of enormously thick chains linked to skyscraping towers.

  “No!” shouted Sheah. “They can’t do that! It isn’t time yet!”

  “Verloren must have seized it,” Jira glowered. She ripped the receiver from its cradle and yelled into it. “Dez! Booster!”

  “Way ahead of you,” Dez replied as he finished screwing a canister into the slot on the engine room wall. He bobbed his head as he worked, carried by the sounds of jazz blasting from his record player. The room rumbled and creaked as the ship picked up speed. Small vents of steam burst and hissed through the pipes running along the walls. Dez patted the machinery reassuringly. “C’mon, Red, you got this…”

  Jira threw all of her weight on the gas. The Redland Runner revved, racing towards the drawbridge as it angled ever higher. Hitting the base of the ramp, the ship jolted, skipping violently onto the slope. The treads of the tires tore against the grated steel, barely able to claw their way up.

  “Now!” Jira yelled into the intercom.

  Dez slapped the button. Its engines screaming, the Redland Runner rocketed forward at a frenzied speed, sparks trailing in its wake. Sheah latched onto Jira’s chair as the two were thrown back by the force. The ship shot to the top of the ramp and flung out over the edge.

  The Redland Runner soared through the open air. Time seemed to slow as the ship crested above the canyon floor thousands of feet below. The entire team—Jira and Sheah on the bridge, Dez in the engine room, and Kaelis in the windowless cargo bay—were lifted off their feet as the ship reached the top of its arc and began its heavy descent. And then—

  Wham!—The Red slammed down onto the far rim of the canyon. Its rear wheels crashed onto the solid ground, missing the cliff’s edge by mere inches. Chunks of stone, loosened by the impact, tumbled down the chasm into the ravine.

  The Redland Runner rattled fiercely, rocking and heaving, jostling the crew as they held on for dear life. Rolling ahead on its own momentum, its quaking chassis slowly settled on its shocks.

  The ship simmered to a standstill. Sheah and Jira achingly picked themselves up. They took a look around the bridge, their mouths agape, stunned to still be in one piece. Jira quickly shook herself from her daze. Without a further thought, she threw her foot back on the gas. The Redland Runner popped and sputtered before growling with power. It sped off once more, careening into the wide open fields of the Deadlands. The two women stared out in amazement, first at the plains ahead, and then back at the glimmering city fading into the distance.

  Sheah shivered violently, her eyes quivering, adrenaline coursing through her body. She pressed her hands against the back window, her gaze fixed on the Bruckhaven skyline. As it grew smaller and smaller, she waited with bated breath for the fleet of pursuit ships that was sure to appear at any moment. But nothing came. There was only the humming of the engines and the whisper of the night, as the city became just a glow on the horizon.

  Sheah’s nervous quaking quietly diminished. Gradually, the corners of her mouth pulled taut. All of her fears, all of her doubts, melted to elation. Tears of victorious joy welled in her eyes. Unable to contain herself another second, she leapt over to Jira and threw her arms around her.

  “We did it!!”