The winds whipped viciously into the tall grass on the banks above. Jed ran through a dry stream bed that had eaten through the land. This was a place he hadn’t been before in the jungle that appeared to never change season. Two suns had fallen for the night. Only one remained on the edge of the sky.

A standard issue sword wasn’t cut out for everything. Jed drew his scrap metal bow with strings fashioned from the spring like metal strings found on the instruments looted from the train wreck he called home. He was a hunter who had come across prey. He set his sight for a snake set up in a tree.

“THWACK!” said the arrow hitting the target.

Jed set upon the snake with his sword, and chopped off the head. He picked up the rest of it, and deposited the nutrients in his sack. The animal would be slowly smoked into jerky in a clay smoker built by the survivor near his den.

“Mmmmm more nutrients,” he said, drooling.

A giant rat had run across the path into the woods. Jed stalked it slowly through the bushes with bow in hand. He pulled back, and let go, but the wind hit the arrow, and the rat ran into a hole in the ground. He was picking up the arrow when the same wind carried distant voices to his ears. Jed was back on the prowl.

Nearby a stream that still flowed formed into a waterfall. The hunter looked down onto a clearing filled with strange beasts of metal meshed into crystal drawing them to life on wheels. A tank cleared the front with a stream of flames in front, saw blades on the sides, rolling on a single massive crushing crystal crusher rotating underneath. A figure clad in golden armor jet packed with magma propulsion on his back flew up from the waterfall into view.

“TWAACK!” said the arrow hitting the target.

“BOOM!” blowing its special explosive load of scavenged crystal taped on.

Jed ran back into the jungle as the mysterious forces below scuttled. The knight he had struck strapped to the malfunctioning pack zipping wildly above him in the tree line. An explosive volley of return shots hit nearby from an artillery barrage. Jed's sword cut through blocking spider webs as he kept eyes on the prize above. A corpse that hit into the top of a towering tree above, and the armor that rang out like a bell.

“Smack!”

The body had tumbled down hitting the ground right in front of him. Strange armor engraved in stranger number blocks, and what appeared to be a single faintly glowing flowing symbol that spun over everything like a giant jellyfish burn. A cylinder weapon of some kind of exposed crystal harnessed glowing blue. On the other hand lay burned flesh, and melted materials exposed to intense heat of a crystal battery meltdown. A small core once harnessed for energy that was no more.

The reinforcements would logically be coming soon to look for him. Jed set to work quickly throwing the body on his back. He would take it back to base camp for looting and disposal. Either the Empire had sent in the elite shadow guards after him, or he was up against some other force that was yet to be determined. The corpse was a heavy load to carry such a distance back home. Maybe stashing it away somewhere safe for the night would be the better plan. The pair descended back into the dry stream dragging feat back home. One foot over another one.

The suns had all long set now. Thankfully the exposed crystals on the corpse were providing an aura of blue light against the tree walls on either side. The birds had gone to sleep, but the monkeys still barked, swinging all around in the dark sky above. The temperature had dropped to seemingly the coldest it had ever been for Jed in this tundra. He needed to get home soon, and lock up his birds and hogs in their pens on the farm.

A ripped piece of red clothing tied to a branch marked the path at a crossroads. The closing road home. It would surely be less than an hour at this pace, or even less he told himself without saying a word. The body had been dragged by a single smelly foot for a while. Jed slung the whole man back on his back walking the path from trampling a floor of flora to coarse eroded rock heading a sharp bend down under roots that lay exposed from the ground above.

An hour later and home was still nowhere to be seen. Jed sat at the base of a fallen trunk where the corpse lay sprawled over top with one dead hand touching the ground. This looked like unfamiliar land, but until recently it had still been marked by red ripped cloth spurring him forward. The cloth had run out, and this was certainly unfamiliar land. A pile of rock going up a steep cliff to somewhere he didn’t want to be. The trail marks had been moved. No doubt somebody was playing tricks on him. A monkey screeched a laughing cackle nearby announcing itself as a primary suspect.

“Curse the bad luck of my existence limping along tortured, while all the animals have so much fun watching on” said man throwing his fists to the sky.

They fell pounding the ground, as a tear fell from his eye.

A branch broke startling Jed back to a quiet state of survival; scanning all around as he dragged a leaf over the body snuffing out the light. The jungle was now nothing but darkness in the night. He crouched behind the overturned tree roots, and waited for whatever hunted him to come forward. Another twig snapped closer. Jed heard a beast's nostrils let out a large vent of air.

“Hello there” said a slow raspy voice.

Jed jumped, falling over into mud he froze.

“Don’t be afraid traveler for we were already traveling companions once” it said.

“Who are you?” yelled Jed.

“I once held many a burden for a wizard on my back, and now I will bear many for you” it said echoing through the trees, and getting closer.

A nightmare bird hit a harsh tone combined with the wind. The nostrils flared hot steam close behind onto Jed’s neck and down his back. He jumped forward crawling for life. Stuck picking himself up off the sucking mud under the ripped away roots in the dead of night.

“I’m a simple donkey there's no need to be a wussy” laughed the wizard’s steed.

It engulfed itself with purple light showing the path again. Jed covered his eyes from where he sat back to the roots. This was either a particularly cruel disarming trap, or he had finally caught his big break.

“That’s an Eleven mercenary thug of some kind” said the donkey now carrying the corpse slung over its back.

“What could they be doing out here in the jungle?” asked the human.

“No clue” said the purple glowing donkey.

The trail grew more worn, and soon the very top edge of train cars stacked on top of themselves showed in the treeline arriving home. The donkey provided light while Jed went to his nighttime chores late. He approached the chicken where the hen flap was open. A coop where a fox darted out carrying away a hen flapping from mouth to feed on later. It happened sooner than the farmer had time to react.

“Damn it,” cried Jed.

“Tsk, tsk hope he only had time to get one” scolded the donkey.

“Only two hens are missing. It could have been much worse” he said, locking the hens in safely from the hungry jungle.

“Since you talk mule I assume you wish to sleep indoors with another civilized beast myself” said man.

“No I prefer to keep watch out here sleeping on my feet instead of locking myself in a deathtrap with no maneuverability” said donkey.

“Very well goodnight” said Jed locking himself inside the mess of crashed train cars.

The next morning parrots squealed the signs of morning. Jed awoke from where he sprawled onto the hammock. Surely a nightmare this talking ass, either way it was full of shit. He opened the door to the beast who was waiting for him outside. Either way now he had a friend to talk to. A good thing needed to keep him from going crazy.

“I didn’t get your name,” said Jed.

“Mule,” said the mule.

“Very well, what can I feed you for breakfast” said Jed.

“Oatmeal if you got it, or porridge with apples,” said Mule.

“I got a tree of apples and plenty to spare,” said the farmer.

It was a good couple weeks on the farm. With the added horsepower, and another mind to bounce ideas off of, Jed worked twice as hard as before. Everyday he, and Mule got up early to work under purple light feeding animals, and tending crops. The storage bags hung to the animal increased the game he could catch to bring home tenfold on every hunt. Eventually growing trust in Mule Jed had never been so optimistic about living this way of life.

"You know the other night I went looking around, and found another train car with a car inside it on wheels" said Mule, between bites of bird feed Jed had poured into pales.

"That's for birds not you fool" said farmer coming down with a slapping hand.

"Hey I deserve a little bonus for all my support. Come on Jed let my show you this project car for us to work on together hidden down the banking under the vines. The wizard used to street race our modified crystal engine cars. I held the light and spare parts in my teeth as we modified our old rig up with all kinds of guns" grinned Mule.

"Alright alright lets go show me this car, and garage creature if it will get you to shut up" said Jed rising from where he had ate breakfast.

They walked over a pile of boulders, and down a banking. Jed had been here before but he hadn't seen the vine covered fallen train car camouflaged into the wood. The Mule pointed it out, and the former soldier got to work clearing away vines from the overturned square box shipping container with his sword. The door knob creaked finally coming down as the man jumped on top of it with his entire weight, but the double doors wouldn't budge open.

"Tie a rope to the handle of the outer door and the other to my harness" said Mule.

"Good idea" said Jed jogging home to get his coil of rope.

Both creatures gave their full strength pulling, and pulling. The door creaked open as dust poured out. Jed untied the rope from his friend who had started glowing purple again. Inside the half buried rectangle was the skeleton on four tires with an engine heart of crystal power exposed in front with wires and parts strewn all over the floor. Painted black, and gold with a spike plow of sharp cutting crystals in front, and a cannon turret in the back for added firepower.

Behind the vehicle a bolted vault with a warning that the volatile magma boosters for the propulsion were locked away by an unknown combination. Cluttering around the edges of the shop grinders, anvils, smelting supplies, a pulley and a furnace. A thin layer of dust hung over everything with stale air that had been preserved by the airtight lock. No matter how long this building had been sitting here a time capsule the contents within were a treasure trove of technology for a more primitive survivor.

"We've got so much work to do" said Jed.

"Indeed I've got my work cut out trying to get your dumb ass to put this unit back together again in one piece" laughed the donkey.