The roadrunner should have stayed down.
Ren knew that the moment he saw it move again.
The creature lay in the sand twenty yards away where Jonah had thrown it. Blood darkened the feathers across its chest where Ren's last bullet had struck. One wing twitched weakly, and for a second Ren thought the fight was finally over.
Then the wind began to move.
It started as a faint whisper across the sand.
The blurry legend shape behind the roadrunner pulsed again, stretching upward like a shadow trying to break free from its host.
Dust lifted from the ground.
Ren tightened his grip on the revolver.
"Jonah," he said quietly, "tell me that thing isn't getting back up."
Jonah didn't answer.
The roadrunner pushed itself upright.
Its golden eyes burned brighter than before.
Feathers rustled along its body as it shook the sand off its wings.
Then it took a step forward.
Wind surged across the basin.
Ren exhaled slowly.
"Of course it is."
The roadrunner leaned forward.
Its claws dug into the sand.
For a moment it looked like it might charge again.
Instead, it screamed.
The sound ripped across the desert like tearing metal.
Wind exploded outward in every direction.
Ren staggered as the sudden gust hit him.
Sand blasted across the rocks like a wave.
"That's new!" he shouted.
Cal dropped to one knee, already pulling paint from his container.
"We're pushing it!" he yelled back. "That means it's pushing harder!"
The roadrunner moved.
Not toward Ren this time.
Toward Mara.
The bird crossed the distance between them in a blur of feathers and wind.
Mara reacted instantly.
She stepped forward instead of back.
Ren saw her reach over her shoulder and pull something free from the strap on her pack.
A staff.
Ren had seen it before but never paid much attention to it.
It looked like an ordinary walking staff carved from dark wood, its surface covered in faint engraved lines.
But as Mara planted the staff into the sand, those lines began to glow.
Bright silver.
Wind slammed into her like a wall.
But the staff didn't move.
The sand around it hardened instantly, spreading outward in a circular pattern like cracks in stone.
The roadrunner hit that invisible boundary a split second later.
The impact created a shockwave.
Wind burst outward in a violent ring.
But the bird didn't break through.
It skidded sideways across the hardened ground, claws scraping sparks against the surface.
Ren stared.
"What did she just do?"
Jonah's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Anchoring."
Mara held the staff with both hands now.
The glowing lines along its surface pulsed with energy.
The ground around her remained solid despite the storm of wind raging across the basin.
The roadrunner backed away a few steps.
Its golden eyes locked onto the staff.
The blurry legend shape behind it twisted again, reacting to the power radiating from Mara's weapon.
Ren realized something.
"Wait," he said. "You've had that the whole time?"
Mara didn't look at him.
"Not useful against most things."
The roadrunner charged again.
This time it didn't go straight for Mara.
It zigzagged across the battlefield, kicking up clouds of dust as it circled them.
Wind howled louder with each pass.
Cal's vines snapped under the pressure.
Sand blasted across the rocks.
The bird was building a storm.
Ren raised his revolver.
But the creature was moving too erratically.
Even probability couldn't guarantee a hit when the target changed direction ten times in a second.
Elise moved next.
Her shadow stretched across the ground like liquid darkness.
She disappeared into it and reappeared several yards away along the roadrunner's path.
Blade ready.
The bird streaked toward her.
She struck.
The blade sliced across the creature's side again.
Feathers and blood scattered across the sand.
But the roadrunner barely slowed.
It twisted mid sprint and slammed into Elise with its shoulder.
The impact threw her ten feet across the ground.
She rolled and came up in a crouch, breathing hard but still standing.
"Still too fast," she muttered.
Jonah stepped forward again.
"Ren," he said calmly.
Ren glanced toward him.
"We need to slow it down."
Ren nodded.
"Working on it."
The roadrunner sprinted past them again.
The wind intensified.
Dust spiraled upward in twisting columns.
Ren noticed something.
Every time the bird changed direction, the wind surged harder.
It wasn't just moving fast.
It was pulling the air with it.
"Cal!" Ren shouted.
Cal looked up from the vines he was drawing across the ground.
"What?"
"Can you paint something heavy?"
Cal blinked.
"Define heavy."
"Something that slows wind."
Cal grinned slightly.
"I can try."
He dipped both hands into the glowing paint and began drawing across the sand.
His movements were faster now.
More confident.
Lines appeared across the ground.
Shapes forming.
Within seconds the paint hardened into massive stone pillars rising from the sand.
The roadrunner slammed into one of the pillars seconds later.
The impact cracked the stone but forced the bird to change direction again.
Jonah moved at the same moment.
He stepped into the creature's path.
The roadrunner hit him at full speed.
Jonah absorbed the energy.
Then redirected it.
The bird shot sideways like a cannonball.
It crashed into another painted pillar and collapsed into the sand.
Wind exploded outward again.
But this time it didn't rise as quickly.
Ren realized why.
The pillars were disrupting the airflow.
Breaking the storm.
The roadrunner struggled back to its feet.
It looked angrier now.
More desperate.
The blurry legend outline behind it stretched wider than ever.
Ren finally saw a clearer glimpse.
Something long.
Feathered.
Serpentine.
A creature of wind and speed.
But still not fully visible.
The roadrunner screamed again.
Then it launched straight at Ren.
Ren fired.
The bullet curved through the air.
The roadrunner twisted.
But not fast enough.
The round struck its wing.
Bone cracked.
The bird tumbled across the sand.
Jonah stepped forward instantly.
He grabbed the creature by the neck.
Kinetic energy surged through his body as he absorbed the roadrunner's final burst of speed.
For a moment it looked like he might lose control.
Then Mara slammed the end of her staff into the ground.
The glowing lines flared brighter.
Energy surged outward from the staff in a circular wave.
The ground hardened again.
The wind stopped.
Completely.
The sudden silence was shocking.
The roadrunner struggled in Jonah's grip.
But without the wind feeding its speed, the creature moved slower.
Ren walked forward slowly.
Revolver ready.
One final shot.
One final outcome.
Ren raised the gun.
The roadrunner's golden eyes locked onto him.
For a moment the desert felt perfectly still.
Then Ren pulled the trigger.
The bullet struck the creature directly in the chest.
The roadrunner went limp.
The blurry legend outline behind it flickered violently.
Then vanished.
Silence returned to the desert basin.
Wind faded.
Dust settled.
Jonah slowly released the creature.
Ren lowered his revolver.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then Cal exhaled.
"That," he said, "was ridiculous."
Ren nodded.
"Agreed."
Mara pulled her staff from the hardened ground.
The glowing lines faded.
The desert wind slowly returned.
Elise brushed sand from her clothes and glanced at the dead roadrunner.
"Still not sure what legend that was," she said.
Jonah studied the sky thoughtfully.
"Something old," he said.
Ren holstered his revolver.
He looked west toward the distant mountains.
Nevada waited beyond them.
And if creatures like that were already roaming the desert…
He had a feeling the journey was about to get even harder.