Bandits

When the bandits had come close enough, Draco announced himself.

"Greetings, I see that I came at the wrong time. You seem busy." Draco said with a laugh. 

One of the bandits stepped forward and examined Draco cautiously, he looked unamused. 

"You are powered." The bandit said matter-of-factly, a thick accent in his words. 

Draco nodded, "Indeed I am. I'm not looking for trouble, how much would it cost for you to grant us passage?" he asked. 

The bandit twisted his head, "We can just take. This is the desert, the strong will have everything." the man replied.

Draco shook his head and sighed. 

"You do not understand. I will take a few of you out before you can reach my valuables, and my goods will not make up for your losses." Draco said, his tone grim.

He wasn't certain he could take on all of them, but he felt confident enough to take at least one down. 

Draco wasn't lying earlier, for even one powered soldier was likely worth more than everything in his possession. 

Progenitor serum was not candy that could simply be found lying around, and he was sure these bandits knew that. 

This wasn't even mentioning that most injections failed, wasting the serum completely. 

This all meant that a single powered individual was more valuable than anything Draco had to offer. 

The bandit seemingly understood this, for Draco could see him re-considering. 

"You are lucky. Go, run back to your people." The man finally said after a long few moments.

However, Draco made no movements to leave. He wasn't about to leave his back open to these bandits, they would probably strike him down the second he turned around. 

"You first." Draco chuckled, standing firm in his position. 

The bandits all stared Draco down for a full minute, but eventually they turned to leave in silence. 

Feeling the cold sweat dripping down his back, Draco heaved a sigh of relief. 

'That was a close one. These bandits are smarter than most, especially that Yougo punk.' Draco thought, watching the bandits walk back towards the ransacked camp. 

He knew that they were going to regroup with their comrades, and he wanted to be gone before they had any second thoughts. 

Once the bandits were far enough away Draco turned to sprint back towards his convoy. 

After reaching the convoy he climbed back into his vehicle and promptly told Addo to hit the gas. 

Addo could tell by Draco's tone that they had to urgently leave, so he led the convoy away from the desert at the max speed the vehicles could muster. 

"That was a close one." Draco said, leaning back in his seat. 

"What happened out there?" Snow asked, concern in her voice. 

"They wanted to kill me, but I convinced them it was in their best interest to let us go." Draco replied.

Snow's eyes widened, "What! Ugh, I'm just glad you're okay." she said with a sigh. 

Draco smiled and rubbed her on the head, "Don't worry, I told you I would handle things." 

Snow was placated and purred happily under Draco's affections.

Addo continued to drive the convoy away at max speeds, but once they had traveled a few miles he slowed down. 

The vehicles would overheat under the desert sun if they maintained that pace for much longer.

When Draco looked at his map he saw that they were probably another two hundred miles away from the next oasis, and the sun would be setting in a few hours at the most. 

After what had happened Draco didn't know if he even felt comfortable stopping at another oasis, for they were essentially hotspots for bandits. 

While they slept they would be an easy target for people with bad intentions, and anyone with a map could easily find them. 

With this in mind Draco told Addo to keep driving until the sun set, and they could take that opportunity to refuel their vehicles and set up camp for the night. 

The convoy continued through the desert for two more hours before the sun started to set. Seeing that darkness was approaching, Draco began to look out the window to find a spot to stop. 

However, his eyes spotted something strange in the distance. 

There were white things sticking out of the sand, and they stood out against the endless orange dunes. 

Draco told Addo to head towards what he had found, and once the convoy approached it Draco realized what he was looking at. 

The white objects were actually gigantic bones! 

Draco could hardly imagine how massive such a creature would have been before it perished, but all it left behind were bones so tall they towered over the vehicles.

When Amber saw this skeleton she stared out of the window in shock. 

"Draco! Do you know what that is?!" She shouted.

"A skeleton?" Draco said, confused by their reaction. 

Amber shook her head, "It's not just any skeleton. Do you see how huge it is? Those are definitely the bones of an ancient progenitor." 

Draco realized the significance of their discovery, "Interesting." he said. 

Amber was beaming at the sight of this, "Interesting is an understatement. I've never seen records of this site anywhere. They must've been covered by sand dunes and re-emerged as the sand shifted." 

She continued, "Stop here! My team and I have to take a look at them."

Draco sighed, but this was one of the conditions of Amber's service. He promised to allow them to research whatever they desired. Perhaps they could even use these bones to help with his operation. 

He didn't want to stop next to such an eye-catching landmark, but he figured they were far enough away from the oasis to be safe.  

Draco had the convoy approach the massive bones, and he had the armored vehicles stop around the edges of what looked like a ribcage. 

It looked a little strange for a ribcage, but Draco wasn't an expert on progenitor physiology. Who was he to say what a progenitor's skeleton was supposed to look like? 

When everyone got out of the vehicles they were evidently happy to have their feet on the ground again. 

The scientists and researchers were excited though. They all ran over towards the massive bones sticking out of the sand to get a closer look. 

Draco told his soldiers to stand watch on the surroundings, and to take shifts on the vehicle's machine guns. 

Seeing that scientists were busy, Draco helped the remaining soldiers unload the camping supplies from the convoy.

They set up their tents within the inside of the ribcage, for the skeleton was so large they could fit the entire camp inside of it and still have room to spare. 

After setting up the camp, Draco approached Amber to check up on her. 

"So, find anything cool?" he asked. 

Amber nodded her head, "More than cool. These remains are simply incredible. We haven't been able to identify the genus of the progenitor, but we know it lived at least two thousand years ago. If it was any more recent there would certainly have been records of it." 

Draco didn't know what to say about that, but he acknowledged that it was a neat find.

The sun was now setting around the camp, and Draco went back to his tent to rest and collect his thoughts. 

The camp was arranged into a series of six tents. Two for the scientists, two for the soldiers, one for the prisoners, and one for Draco and Snow. 

When Draco reached his tent he saw that Snow was already inside. She had brought Draco's valuables inside of the tent, and was now arranging a bed roll for the both of them.

"You take such good care of me." Draco said to her. 

Snow smiled up at Draco, "I'm going to prepare dinner for the camp in a little bit, hopefully you like it." 

Draco gave her a kiss and a hug, he was definitely hungry now. 

His enhanced body could probably go weeks without food, but that didn't mean it felt good. 

Snow then left after a while to start cooking dinner. 

Dinner wasn't served until the sun had already set around the desert. The only light visible for miles was from the campfire that sat in the middle of the towering bones.

Snow had prepared a soup complete with meat and vegetables. There was also fresh bread available, and Draco filled up a bowl and sat next to the others. 

The food tasted amazing for what Snow had to work with, and he was impressed.

Draco and Snow ate in silence while the scientists chattered on about the bones surrounding them. 

Draco couldn't follow their conversation, but he was happy they were at least in good spirits.

Dinner was uneventful, and after everyone had eaten they went into their tents to rest for the night.

The campfire was put out and everyone slept soundly under the monumental bones.

Unbeknownst to them, several figures were now approaching their camp under the cover of darkness.

These figures were sprinting in a uniform line, and they tracked the marks Draco's convoy had left in the sand. 

Once the camp was within view they spread out and silently approached it, their swords drawn and ready.