THUD! SCREECH! Raka slammed into the highway asphalt with his left shoulder first. Pain exploded through the entire side of his body, as if his bones were being crushed by a hammer. He rolled several times on the rough road surface, his clothes tearing and his skin scraping, before finally coming to a stop on his back, staring up at the silent night sky. "Ugh... hah... hah..." Raka's breath felt like fire. He tried to get up, but his head was spinning violently. In the distance, the taillights of "The Toxic Goose" were shrinking, moving away at high speed. The roar of its diesel engine slowly faded, replaced by the chilling silence of the highway. "Vanya... Luna..." Raka mumbled, his voice hoarse and weak. Click-whirrr.77,200 The screen on his chest flickered dimly, the number of his remaining heartbeats feeli

"Hah... hah... Vanya, do you have... any burn ointment?" Raka asked, trying to sit up. "We'll deal with ointment later!" Vanya shouted, her eyes fixed on the vibrating rear monitor. "He's not stopping! He's really angry now!" Outside, The Rider had managed to stabilize its motorcycle from Luna's sticky trap. The bio-mechanical creature let out a roar that was no longer the sound of an engine, but the growl of an apex predator that felt it had been toyed with. VROOOOOOOOOOOO! The Rider accelerated to its maximum speed. It shot down the middle lane of the highway, ignoring the spikes fired by Vanya's automated nail turret. The steel nails bounced off its black armor without any significant impact. "He's going to ram us!" Raka exclaimed, seeing the Rider's silhouette growing larger at the half-closed rear door. "Luna! Get inside!" Raka shout

The roar of the engine behind them no longer sounded like a screaming banshee. The sound had now transformed into the heavy, rhythmic thud of steps that vibrated the highway asphalt. Raka stood at the threshold of the shattered rear cargo door, gripping the dented metal frame. He squinted, trying to pierce through the dust and the darkness of the night. Under the flickering streetlights, he witnessed a sight that would haunt his dreams forever. The Rider, whom they had just kicked out, was no longer in the form of a human riding a motorcycle. Through the unit merger process, the bio-mechanical motorcycle had split apart and enveloped its master's body. Its large wheels had disappeared, replaced by four sturdy mechanical legs ending in steel claws. The creature was now in the form of an iron Centaur. The Rider's shattered upper body remained upright, while its lower half was a fou

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!! The sound was no longer just an explosion. It was the roar of the earth splitting apart. Inside the narrow Northern Ring Tunnel. The concentration of methane gas, ignited by 'The Rider's' thermal venting, exploded with the force of millions of tons of air pressure. A wave of blue and orange fire spread like lightning, consuming the iron Centaur figure in milliseconds. Raka felt a vibration that could have shattered his teeth. A blinding white light filled his vision, followed by a wave of heat that felt as if it were peeling the skin off his back. "LUNA! VANYA! CLOSE THE DOOR!" Raka screamed, his voice hoarse, nearly drowned out by the sound of collapsing concrete behind them. The truck "The Toxic Goose" jolted forward as if pushed by an invisible giant hand. The explosion's shockwave gave a deadly boost to the truck's speed. In the c

"You're overthinking it, Doctor!" Raka chuckled, a laugh that sounded foreign. "You just don't want me to share this coffee with you, right? I can see the steam up ahead. Look, Vanya! Look through the front camera! There's a cafe at the end of this road!" In Raka's eyes, the gloomy purple fog was slowly fading, replaced by an impossible scene. The ruined and barren rocky valley, in Raka's eyes, transformed into a beautiful flower garden. The cracked highway was replaced by a path strewn with dewy red roses. And in the distance, in the middle of the garden, stood a beautiful vintage-style wooden building with warm, cheerfully flickering yellow neon lights. Above the building's door, a large wooden sign read: "HEAVEN'S CAFE: FREE COFFEE FOR THE WEARY SURVIVOR." "Free coffee." Raka smiled broadly, tears of joy streaming from the corners of his stinging eyes. "Finally, someone who ca