#shindrift

--

There isn’t much that surprises Drifter anymore. Sure, there are moments where he’ll spook but there’s a difference between getting startled by a gun at his back and, say, the idea of end of the world. The latter is old news, and the details on how the world ends keeps changing.

Still, words couldn’t describe the feeling of seeing Shin roll up in a Fallen Walker, pop the top off, and wave at Drifter, like they weren’t in the middle of a nasty little skirmish between the Hive.

“You know how to drive that thing?” Drifter asks, climbing onto one of the legs. Stupid question. Of course he does. Shin might’ve not touted himself as a tech guy, but people tend to pick up a few skills here and there after a couple of hundred years. An Arc blast whizzes by his ear. He jumps, just a little.

“You know how to ride it?” Shin fixes him with a patronizing stare before he drops back in, leaving Drifter to scramble through the opening after him.

The inside of the Walker is spacious. It seems to be freshly stolen, given the bright smell of ether and black splatters over the controls. He wonders when Shin found the time to throw the bodies out but that question was neither here nor there. Drifter slides into the gunner’s seat. From the corner of his eye, he sees an open control panel where Shin had hotwired the thing—a little messy, not how Drifter would do it, but good enough.

The Walker starts stomping forward. Shin turns out to be a courteous driver, unless you were a Hive Knight, then it’s just a foot to the face. Drifter’s hands relax at the cannon controls.

“You get bored or what?” he asks. There’s not much Hive left to smash or shoot at. A Walker seems like overkill at this point.

“I like to keep things fresh,” Shin replies, and leans to the side to fiddle around with the wires.

Drifter glances at Shin’s fingers, noting that one glove was off to get a better feel for the electricity. He can guess that Shin wants to configure the autopilot. Drifter can redo the programing in less than a second, but he sort of likes the view of Shin doing some delicate work. He can’t say why. Not without a gun to his head.

Shin notices his staring. His hands pause for a moment. “You wanna help or just watch?”

Even with a gun to his head, maybe. Drifter flashes a sharp smile. “Kinda wanna watch, actually.”