Dust billowed up behind us in a large tan and red cloud. Our pickup grinded through another gear as we climbed yet another sand dune. The compass mounted on our dash wavered for a moment as we passed a wrecked hulk of a mech.
“Watch for spider-scouts.” The man riding shotgun, who I named gunny, warned as we shot past its empty optics.
“Ah know!” the driver shouted, skewing us through a tight gap between another’s cabling. “’taint my first rodeo!” he protested, expertly cutting us back through the spindly wires and back on course.
“It’s hard to believe that two years ago none of this was here.” Gunny commented as the dust settled behind us, joining an already healthy patina of sand on the monsters wreck.
“Hard tah believe that we’re the only survivors’ fur nine states either.” The driver replied flatly.
“Cut the chatter, some of these track by audio. They are primed for human vocal ranges.” The man next to me hissed. Wearing a dark coat and sunglasses despite the scorching heat, he must have been sweating. The nonreflective bars on his shoulder denoted his rank of captain. As if noticing my gaze he glanced down at me. My chains rattled as we ground over a broken piece of armor and I winced as they ground on my raw wrists.
“Our guest doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself.” He deadpanned, as if blaming them for my displeasure.
“We are carrying him for his execu-“ Gunny was silenced by a sharp glance.  “Sorry, sir.”
My chains rattled again as we hit a bot rising from the sand. The tires skewed to the side and we plunged down a small rise. The windows blew out as we rolled over and over down the dune. The rebuilt engine and cut out, flooded or worse. After numerous tries to reactivate the dead engine, it finally puttered to life. Unfortunately, our wheels spun when the driver revved the engine. He and Gunny climbed out and ran to the back of the truck. The captain beside me slid forward into the drivers’ seat and tried to coax the engine forward. A spray of sand shot out from behind me and showered the pair. I bit back a laugh when a shadow fell on me. The captain was standing above me with an old style military handgun.
“You’re going to help get us out of here.” I said nothing, glaring at him. “I’m going to unchain you, and you’re going to help them push. Because if you don’t, we are all dying here.”
“Why?” I barked out, my first words in over 72 hours. “I’m dead no matter where I go. Your government will kill me when we get there, so I see no need to hasten my demise. Hell, if I can take you all with me then that’s a positive.”
The captain cocked the pistol and fired over my shoulder. “Then it is my duty as an officer of the state that I prosecute you here and now. On crimes of treason, sabotage, theft of military property, vandalism, and heresy, I find you guilty. Any last words?”
“Fine, I’ll help.” He bends down and places a finger on the cuffs. They read his fingerprint and click open. He motions to the back of our vehicle and I take my place next to the driver.
“Three… two… push!” we all grunt and grown with exertion, but the truck slowly pulls up the rise and onto the harder, packed sands. We all pile into the truck, the captain speeding us away. After half an hour, we cut into a canyon.
“You think we’re clear?” Gunny whispers. The driver bends down from his seat next to me and picks something up. In between his fingers a brass case glimmers from the sun.
“No!” the captain dives at him. A sickening crunch is heard as a spike smashes through the driver’s chest. Blood bubbles out of his mouth as his fingers slump and release the spent casing. I leap out of the truck, madly dashing for the caves pock marking the canyon. Another crack echoes off of the walls as a spike embeds itself in the truck. Gunny and the captain sprint on my heels. I veer for a different path, and gunny tries to tackle me despite the captain shouting “leave him!” the metal spike slams into me through him and his vest, and a spray of blood showers over me. I shove him off and sprint for the caves.
Another spike smashes into the sand behind me. I reached the shelter of the rock and spun, expecting the man in black to be right behind me. Instead he’s pinned behind a rock around 30 feet away. It’s then that I catch my first glimpse of our attackers. They are small spider-scouts, the type that we were warned about.
Spider-scouts are small for their kind, measuring only three feet high. They have eight legs with hooks modeled into them. They have a single “mouth” that can shoot titanium spikes. The spikes are linked to a spool of nano-fiber cable to pull their prey back to base. As for eyes, they have an eight patterned multi-sensored array. Video and audio, thermal and radiological, they are all equipped differently to be able to track and retrieve anything.  
Two of them scuttled over the ridge, the cables already winding in and pulling the driver and gunny to them. Another pair crawled towards the captain, their mouths full and ready. The last one was different. This was a variant I had never encountered before. It stood like the others, three feet high and four feet around, but instead of a spool and line behind it, it had a lodge of spikes. Another spike slid into place in its mouth as it hissed in machine code.
The pair retrieving the fallen retreated, carrying their prey towards one of the ruined cities they used as bases. The second pair split up, one heading directly towards the captain through his blind spot, aiming to come over the rock, while the other continued circling around. The variant suddenly spat another spike at me, and I scrambled back in the cave as it impacted in the rock above the entrance. The captain looked at something on his wrist and then back at me. I saw him pull out the pistol again and check the round count. When the first spider crabbed up the rock, he stood up and fired directly into its optic array. The spider, blinded and hurt, rotated wildly back and forth before scurrying away, following the others.
A spike flew from behind the captain and nearly shredded his shoulder, but he spun and dodged the metal. Instead of shooting it, he ran at it, typing on his wrist. He pulled a glove off, and I saw the exposed wiring of a cybercuff. He dodged a spiked leg and slapped the bottom of the drone, uploading the program instantaneously. The spider turned from him and raced towards the other spider, only to be stopped by a large spike smashing through it. The metal picked up the drone and stuck it to the canyon wall. Its legs wriggled in life for a few seconds before falling limp. Captain ran for the variant, but there was too much distance. A sextet of small metal spines impaled through his vest and sunk deep into his chest. The variant turned back to me and chittered in laughter.
“Crap.” I cursed under my breath, stepping into the light. The spider made a big show of dropping most of its spines into the dirt, leaving only a handful of tiny needlepoint slivers. Its mouth reformatted, and it clacked its new jaws at me, scuttling forward. I cracked my fingers and started out into the arena the canyon made. It lunged at me, leaping over 50 feet to try and impale me with its jump. I rolled away from its legs and ran for captain. Halfway there a shadow warned me of the spider, and I dodged to the side, rolling next to the rock. The variant chittered again as it scuttled between me and the man in black.
I though about my options, spacing out the canyon in my mind. Captain was past the spider and on a slight rise; his hacked drone was impaled on the canyon to my left, about six feet up. Captain’s pistol was on the ground by the rock, the caves were to my rear-right, and the variant was swiping at my face. I quickly refocused and ducked its bladed legs. I ran for the Pistol, snatching it up and diving down while firing. The bullets crumpled on its optics until the gun clicked empty. A slight crack was all I had to pay for my efforts.
It chittered again and surged forward on deft legs, rushing over me. It stopped above me and started blindly stabbing at me with its legs. I grabbed one and rode it out of the stabbing scuffle of death, flying through the air until I hit the canyon wall. I looked down at my leg, resting against the crumpled carcass of Captain’s drone. A large slice or two bled from ankle to knee, crimson dripping onto the sands below and sliding down the warped metal. When the variant tensed and leapt up again to try and land on me I dropped to the sands below and ran raggedly for Captain’s body. My leg gave out at his coat, and I yanked his gloved hand towards me. I slipped the cybercuff off of his pulse less arm and onto mine. My fingers scrabbled on the bloody keyboard in a frantic tapping pace. The variant’s shadow flew over the hot sands until it hovered over me. It slapped my arm upwards in a desperate attempt to ward off its mass and sharp legs. When its body connected with the glove, it discharged in a violent shower of sparks. The variant rolled over me and flipped upside down, legs curling inward in death. I used its body as a crutch to pull myself up.
The canyon was empty, the truck mangled and smoking. Two spider drones were broken on the floor of the canyon, along with the captain’s body. I sunk next to the variant and let my head rest. Enough for one day…