In a future where outposts swelter beneath a nuclear sun and run-gunners patrol dusty wastelands to protect against winged creatures known as devlars, Trin is the mech at the waystation in Arens. He has a thing for the gunners: rough men with strong hands and hard bodies, who roll through his garage like the hot desert wind. Gerrick’s the best gunner around, a quick draw with a deadly aim and a penchant for sharing his pallet with young men. He has a roving eye and roaming hands, and has left a string of broken hearts in his wake. Having heard the tales of Gerrick's bravery and seen the man in action for himself, Trin has fallen in love with the man he believes Gerrick to be, and he’s sure he can change the gunner’s mind if given the chance. Gerrick’s all he wants out of this blasted world, and he tells anyone who will listen. Then Gerrick rides through Arens. He’s heard the rumors of what Trin will do for a gunner who only mentions his name. What he wants to know is, what will Trin do for him?

Trin

“I know that,” Trin said. He remembered the driver’s smoky eyes, the blonde mustache above lips pulled back in a grimace, each shot fired true. Not one astray, not one. “But whoare they?” he persisted. “Did you know them when you gunned?” 


At Blain’s nod, Trin wanted to know, “The tall one, the driver? Who’s he?”


Blain laughed. “How do you know he’s tall? He stayed in the cab.”


It was no matter to Trin, tall or not. He had to know. Those hands, those eyes. “Who is he?”


The evening sun slants into the garage, casting the chrome and steel in a golden glow. As Gerrick hefts a travel pack from the bed of his truck, he laughs at something one of the other gunners says. The crowd that followed the men through the outposts now jostles around the bay doors but Aissa won’t let them into the garage. They stand at the shadow’s edge and call out to the gunners, laugh, shriek, cry, anything to get the men’s attentions. 


Chapter 3