Chief Razuk, The newly elected chief of the Vengruzs Clan, Slammed his fist on the table.

"I decide what goes on here, the old fool is dead now. He was ignorant and selfish. I am thinking of the clan here" he rasped at the two Valaa, Nerok and Bizsn.

"While we agree, Chief, i just think we should focus our efforts on the current matters. We are at war, remember?" argued Nerok, The short but bulky Mental.
"Leave the past in the past. The prisoners escaped, we caught most of them. There is no point wasting time troops and resources on this silly prisoner fiasco."

Razuk sighed. "You are not seeing my point. This has left a gaping hole in our reputation. If any rival clans found out, they would hunt them down themselves and get information off them. The old fool had no idea what he was doing. He was lazy. No wonder he only held his position for 63 years. We are hunting them down, You hear me?"

"But Chief sir," Nerok protested, but before he could finish he was choke-slammed against the wall.
"We are finding those prisoners, and bringing them back! As a matter of fact, you and you're friend can go and find them, hear me?" spat Razuk. Nerok wheezed a weak "yes" and Razuk dropped him to the ground. Bizsn stood in the corner meekly.

***

Anklus hadn't eaten in 5 days, but he saw his next meal in front of him. He crouched behind a rock, holding his spear low to the ground. About 6 metres away there was a plump male tromskus, a peacock like bird that is bigger than an ostrich. He raised the spear and aimed. Calculating the distance and how hard he would have to throw it. If he wanted he could just shoot the bird, but he didn't want to waste ammunition or make a loud noise. Gunshots often attracted bandits.

The bird clucked and shuffled around, as if it knew it was being watched.
Anklus crept slightly closer, making sure to stay out of it's line of sight. Luckily they were quite blind birds.
He thrust the spear and it flew towards the tromskus, spearing in the buttocks. He had missed his mark. The bird let out and ear piercing screech and ran around in circles, not knowing which direction to run in. The rumbling in Anklus's stomach convinced him made a split second decision. The type of decision he would regret later. He grabbed his homemade slam-fire shotgun off his back and BAM! a slug pierced the bird's chest.
The tromskus fell to the ground. The barrel of the shotgun smoked. He put another slug into the barrel of the gun an put it around his back again, in case he needed quick access to it.

Which he surely would soon...

***

Nerok and Bizsn rode through the sand on salvaged quad bikes. They were extremely loud and leaked petrol, but they worked.
The heat would have been unbearable for any human. over 60 degrees celsius. But Nerok and Bizsn were not humans. Nerok was short, well for a mental anyway, about 6 and a half feet. But he was bulky. At least four feet wide at the shoulder. Not a very common sight among mentals, as most resembled Bizsn more, tall and lean. Bizsn was about 8 feet high and his arms reached down almost to his toes. His bones jutted out of his back like the spines on some sort of reptile.

They both wore automatic rifles on their back. Kalashnikovs to be exact. Weapons used over 1000 years ago by humans in their disputes. Despite the world aging almost 2 millennia, almost no technological advancements had been made in that whole time period. Mentals weren't really the inventive type.

Nerok and Bizsn's only advice on where to look was areas around flowing rivers and food. The prisoners had to eat something. If they were lucky the would be able to find the one who felt pain. Razuk would reward them greatly for that. They had strict instructions not to majorly hurt or kill him. Apparently Razuk wanted to study him.

Nerok was there when The Painfeeler and the rest of the thugs escaped with the help of that mystery girl. No one knew where she came from or how she got in. Nerok took a hollow-point bullet to the lung from her. The pieces of shrapnel were still inside him. All mentals had a raspy voice but Nerok took the cake.

The two Valaa were heading to Krestkun River, quite far away. Riding at full speed, as they were, at around 120 kilometres per hour, they would be there in only a few hours.
They had been out for a few hours already, and Chief Razuk would never let them back through the gates unless they had The Painfeeler with them.
Somewhere in the distance, a gunshot sounded. It echoed through the dunes.
"Hear that?" Yelled Bizsn across to Nerok over the roaring engines.
"I heard it" Confirmed Nerok back. "That sounded like it was near Krestkun"
"Could just be some raiders or bandits" Biszn yelled back.
"Or, it could be someone we are looking for. Pays to check it out."

And so they did.
Maybe Anklus should have gone another few days without food...