The journey west continued, the landscape growing progressively more desolate and marked by the occasional signs of recent conflict—burned-out vehicles, makeshift barricades, and the ever-present, unsettling silence. They were deep in the disputed territories now, and the tension was a tangible thing, thicker than the dust coating their vehicle.
The relative quiet was shattered not by mutants, but by the rapid, heavy thump-thump-thump of rotor blades. A dark, armored helicopter, its design sleek and menacingly post-collapse, descended from the cloud cover, kicking up a fierce whirlwind of dust and debris. It didn't just fly over; it moved with clear intent, swooping down to land directly on the ruined highway ahead, blocking their path completely.
"Someone is coming!" Zoe growled, her instincts flaring.
"Identification? Affiliation?" Celestia rattled off, her hands already on her weapons.
