For a few tense moments, no one spoke. They just sat there, panting, hearts pounding.
Then Roger groaned, still clutching his chest.
"You all owe me a drink for this."
Six wiped some sweat off his forehead.
"Screw that—you owe me for saving your dumbass."
Then Boone, still lying on the ground, having just left his armor exhaled.
"Next time."
He groaned.
"I'm bringing a Knightmare frame as soon as the first ones finished, cause they have bigger guns."
Six wiped blood and bear guts from his face, giving Rebecca a deadpan look.
"Bears are the T-Rexes of the forest, huh?"
Rebecca crossed her arms.
"Hey. It almost worked."
After an hour's drive, they set up camp and took some time to rest, but morale was low following the recent incident. The fire crackled softly, providing little comfort to the shaken group.
The weight of the battle, the bloodshed, and Jesse's near-death experience loomed over them like a dark cloud. Everyone sat in silence, tending to their wounds and cleaning their weapons, glancing toward the treeline as if anticipating another attack.
Jesse, despite the pain from his injuries, stood up abruptly, his voice ringing out with forced confidence.
"We are not going to let them win!"
He declared, his fists clenched.
"We will survive this… I know it, my friends!"
The others looked up at him, their expressions a mixture of exhaustion and skepticism.
Jesse took a deep breath and stepped in front of Six's group.
"We've faced them once. We've taken more damage than anyone should have to endure, but we're still here. These are just bears, my friends! Mutated and drugged up, sure. But they bleed like anything else! While we've been dealt a near defeat, I know that we can—"
The words died in his throat as a blur of movement erupted from the darkness.
A Yao Guai burst from the brush, tackling Jesse with terrifying speed. His scream was cut off as the bear's jaws clamped around his throat, dragging him to the ground. The sickening crunch of bone shattered the stunned silence, followed by the wet sound of tearing flesh.
"Nooooooo... Cowboy number 2!"
Rebecca shrieked, scrambling backward.
"SHOOT IT DEAD!"
Six roared, raising his rifle.
Gunfire erupted, flashing bright against the night, but the bear didn't stop. It ripped into Jesse, claws sinking into his chest, shattering ribs, and sending up a gruesome spray of blood. His body twitched once—then went limp.
Another Yao Guai emerged from the shadows, but this one hesitated, watching the firefight unfold. Then, as if realizing the battle had turned, it turned and fled into the darkness.
Six kept firing at its retreating form until it disappeared, the last echo of gunfire fading into the trees.
The surviving Yao Guai disappeared into the darkness, its heavy footfalls fading into the distance as Six lowered his rifle. The campsite was in chaos—Jesse's body lay in a mangled heap, his blood pooling into the snow. No one spoke for a moment, the shock of the attack still settling in.
Silence.
Jesse's mangled corpse was still lying in the dirt, eyes staring blankly at the clouded sky.
No one spoke. No one moved.
For the first time, it felt like the wasteland had won.
Rebecca exhaled sharply, tightening her grip on her gun.
"Sons of bitch's were just waiting for us to let our guard down."
Boone, still pale from the encounter, let out a bitter chuckle.
"Smart bastard."
Six wiped his face again, the coppery scent of blood thick in the air.
"We should've burned the bodies… The smell must've drawn them back."
Raul knelt beside Jesse's remains, muttering a quiet curse in Spanish before shaking his head.
"Ain't nothing left to patch up here. He's gone."
Roger clenched his fists, his wounded arm still dripping blood onto the dirt.
"That thing ran… Like it knew it couldn't win. That ain't normal."
Boone grimaced.
"Yao Guai's are smart, but that was something else."
Six exhaled.
"Something's wrong out here… First, the bears dodging bullets, now this one waiting for us to lower our guard before picking off the loudest one?"
He glanced down at Jesse's ruined form before sighing.
"Well in typical wasteland fashion, we take his shit first and we should burn his body. We don't leave anything behind for scavengers."
Rebecca nodded grimly, retrieving a few fuel canisters from the War Bus.
"I'll do it."
"I call dips on his guitar."
Announced the injured Rogers without any shame.
The group moved in silence, gathering dry wood and anything flammable while Rebecca doused Jesse's remains in fuel. Boone lit a match, hesitating for only a second before dropping it onto the corpse.
Flames roared to life, consuming what was left of Jesse.
The fire crackled quietly, casting flickering shadows across the makeshift camp. No one spoke much, the weight of Jesse's brutal death still fresh in their minds. Even Rebecca, usually the most talkative, sat in silence, idly cleaning her weapons while staring into the flames.
Six leaned against the War Bus, arms crossed, his mind running through every mistake, every miscalculation. They were stronger than this. Smarter. But those Yao Guai had played them. That wasn't normal.
Boone sat apart from the group, sharpening his combat knife with slow, deliberate strokes. His face was unreadable, but Six could tell—he was pissed. Not just at the bears, but at himself.
As the fire continued to crackle, Raul shifted uneasily poking at the fire with a stick, glancing toward the dark tree line.
"I hate to be the one to say it, boss, but something ain't right. Those things were waiting for us. Like they knew what they were doing."
Roger grunted, still nursing his wounded arm.
"Yeah, well, whatever they were planning, they got Jesse. And next time, it might be one of us."
"So, uh… Anyone else feel like maybe we should leave before more of those things decide to show up?"
Said Raul nervously.
Six exhaled, rubbing his temple.
"That's why we're not waiting for next time. First light, we're moving. And we're bringing everything we've got."
Rebecca finally spoke up, her voice quieter than usual.
"And if we run into them again?"
Six looked around at his team, their faces set in grim determination.
"Then we finish this fight."
That night, no one slept.