Rajauto Y1.

After of the First Burning Season of old Bravo following the Hiway-Wars….


Though the truth may vary
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore…

The dark Caravan Ride weaved through an area that was normally a back path towards Downtown Bravo, but was blocked by fire once again. Auto slammed on the breaks and looked over his shoulder to see a clearing that wasn’t burning anymore.

“This is insane.” Auto said, putting ‘Baby’ in reverse and driving backwards until he could pull off and stop in a place where the fires weren’t so dense. He sighed, looked to Rajah then shrugged signaling he was going to get out of the ride. The Vegasian had her head tipped back on the seat, staring at the sky languidly, feet up on the dash.

“At least it’s warm.” She tilted her face to the flames and smiled, then coiled her limbs in towards her body and climbed over the windowsill of the vehicle door, split toed shoes sending up puffs of ash and soot from the burnt red dirt.

Auto moved around to sit on the warm hood of the black vehicle they had been driving, he waited for Rajah to be near before saying, “Every road in is still on fire, and every back path is a death trap. It’s as if the fires won’t stop until they’ve consumed everything that ever was. Normally the burning season has ended for months by now, but this is something different. Something stronger.” It was then he noticed a spike of fire far off in the distance, trying to touch the sky. “Is that were the Saloon was? That might be the angry cricket pump on fire. Or worse.”

“Fire ahead of us, Fire behind us.” she agreed, eyes snapping to the plume of black smoke rising in the distance. The air was acrid, the wind a malicious devil grabbing fistfuls of embers and throwing them in their eyes. She tugged her scarf over her face and stepped to the treeline, Auto pulled the rag off his head and held it in place with one hand wishing he’d had a scarf too.

His boots felt the rumble in the earth even before the trees began to quiver, abating a moment later, settling. Rajah leaned down to grasp a handful of dirt, digging her claws deep in the soil. She lifted a large clod and held it up between them.


“Dust on top, baked…” she crumbled it in her fingers, “But beneath…” she returned to where he stood, placed her hand in his, fingers splayed for him to see, and beneath the long pale nails there was caked black oil.

“They sat on their slick hoard, guarding their black gold for too long.” Grey eyes solemn behind the black fabric hiding her mouth and nose. “And now Jed’s teaparty is everlasting.” a bark of her laughter and he huffed in shared amusement. Rajah continued, “Look how the land falls away from here, it was never that much of a valley before. The Oil Baron’s cisterns are cracked and cratered, they spill their filth across the earth.” She slapped her hands on her thighs to shake off the dirt, then turned to stare west.

“The fire burns the Bravo above and the Bravo below. We’ll be all that’s left of the past. We’ll carry those we remember, and the stories we can tell to others.” He stared towards the setting sun with her, realizing something more than he could understand was happening to the old-town. Were they cancelled? He didn’t feel cancelled. Not yet, anyway.

He wrapped his arms around her then, chin over her shoulder as they both looked at, and through, the flames. “At least home is where we make it. This was just some bit of land where we stayed for a while. I regret nothing I did in those final hours before we left. Nothing at all.”

“Regret always seemed an odd concept to me anyways.” she nodded against the stubble of his cheek, “Regret makes you hesitate when you should be focusing ahead, not behind. Better to keep driving forwards, never look back.” her voice was strident in his ear, but her fingers clutched sharply at his crossed hands at her waist as though she feared being swept away into an uncertain future.

“Coming to this town wasn’t my choice, but leaving it was.” her voice was more hoarse now, with dust and smoke and something more, “We were thrown together, she and I. Broken, enslaved, good only for the profit of others. Together we proved our worth,” she leaned her head against his temple, “and their downfall.”

In the distance a burning log crashed to the ground, shooting sparks into the fading sky. “Now I have to learn to live without her.” the words came soft and sad. “Without them.”

Auto said nothing, just holding this moment for Rajah, he didn’t have any witty quips or religious quotes. Like the woman, this moment was unique and personal. He would treat it as such and be there when she was ready to continue.

You're gone, gone, gone away,
I watched you disappear
All that's left is a ghost of you