CYBERIA 01. The edge home

The stars never shined that bright before.

At least not that he could remember, laying there on a dusty hood of an old rust bucket in the Wastelands to the West. 
"You comfy there, Sam?" Angie shouts at him while she slowly walks up to him.
"With all the stuff we put into space, it's weird we're not blocking the stars." Sam replies.
Angie holds up with a frown, surprised by the sudden deep thought she caught him in. In the distant crickets start their performance, while a night owl seems to have taken the stage on a nearby cactus. It's silent in these dusty wasteland near the city. Almost peaceful.
Sam sits up and looks to the east. Bright colors light the sky on the other side of the subtle mountain ranges. Pink, blue and orange colors seem to dance with each other in the sky above several of the large skyscrapers peaking above the mountain tops. Even in these wastelands it's hard to escape Cyberia.
"I caught one of the buggers!" another male voice shouts from nearby shadows.
"You really can't let it go can you, Lando?" Angie replies while shaking her head. 
"Come on now, don't tell you don't want to try this!" Lando says with a broad smile on his face when he reaches them.
Sam slides off the hood and looks in the hands of Lando, whose proudly presenting his trophee. It's a trixian beetle, about the size of a handpalm, golden colored armor on top and a weird oil color underneath. 
"You really want to squish and eat that thing?!" Angie blurts out with a face declaring Lando mentally ill. 
Lando sighs and turns around to their bikes. He opens a small case on the back and drops the beetle in before closing it again. 
"While I'll be on a trip way way up, higher then these damn stars of you, I don't want you to ask me to join in, yeah? You catch your own damn beetle then." Lando replies to Angie. Sam sighs. 
"You both want to head back to Cyberia now?" he asks. They both nodd, turn to their bikes and get on starting their tour through the dusted highways back to the city.
It's a silent trip, with only the sound of their wheels grinding the sand, the crickets and that owl that seems to stay put on that cactus and disappear. The wastelands have a major asphalt road heading from Cyberia to the western cities. Alongside the road are remainders of wreckages, demolition sites, forgotten underground mines and occasional abandoned gasstations. It seems violence has been in play here for a long time. Riding through these wastelands on their bikes with illuminated wheels and body work creates an uncertain vibe. Like living on an edge even. 

That sudden moment of peace is abruptly ended by a large explosion on the road ahead of them just over the hill. All three of them pull on the brakes and drift slide on a couple of meters on the sandy road. They quickly get off the bikes and run with them to the side of the road, hiding in a set of dry bushes and another car wreck. They keep silent, aware of the dangers on this road. They put the bikes down and crawl alongside the wreckages up the hill to see what's going on.
Another fireball erupts into the air from a black armored transport vehicle that is on fire in the middle of the road. In the front and back of them are armored cars with the Cyberian icons on their side. They can already see two or three bodies of Cyberian officers laying dead amongst the flaming convoy. Two other officers have they automatic rifles out and are aiming at a different hill side to the left of the convoy. They open fire, but a shadow slices through the air from the hill all the way between the officers. The gunfire sound stops and a metal whistle sound echoes in the night. Both officers fall down to the ground, one loudly sufficating in his own blood. Another officer from the car in the back comes running at them but gets stopped in his track by another shadow piercing his torso with a long red sword. His body falls to the ground. The two attacking shadows wear cloaks and are utilizing long swords, almost ancient Samurai like. 
"It's the Cloakz!" Lando whispers out with clenched teeth. Angie and Sem look at him to be quiet. Lando clearly scared looks back at the violent scene on the road.
One of the assassins turns to the transport vehicle and shoves his sword blade alongside the door, breaks open the lock, enters the vehicle and comes out again with a small black case in the other hand. The sound of the burning convoy is interrupted by a loud roar of a V8 car engine that comes growling into the scene. The assassin drops the case in the trunk of the blacked-out car, which then takes off in a hurry in the direction of Cyberia. The two Cloakz slice through the air again like shadows and the metal whistle sound disappears further and further from the scene. 

The three teens are still trembling and laying silent in the bushes alongside the wreckages. Looking at how the convoy is slowly burning out. Listening if they hear anything from the Cloakz anymore. About half an hour is past when Angie turns to them.
"You think they're gone?" she asks.
"We're not a threat to them, but I'm not sure how they respond to witnesses either." Sam replies.
"That's ensuring..." Lando mumbles.
"So what?! You want to stay here till dawn?!" Angie responds.
"No, we can head out. Just... just be quiet and leave the lights out." Sam answers.
They crawl back to their bikes and get on, making their way back to the illumination of Cyberia in the distance. Probably even in the track of that black Cloakz car that raged toward the city, who knows carrying what from that convoy...