Were it not for the impending sense of doom, there would be something almost peaceful about their surroundings. Of that, the twins are in complete agreement. The Earth of today is nothing like the Earth of six months ago. It's a landscape from any number of sci-fi series: wild, alien, magnificent, and not a bit threatening. As they gaze through the steel lattice of the protective cage, all manner of aberrations cross their fields of vision. The convoy hesitates for something that looks like a prehistoric Glyptodont, but easily three times the size, with a set of bullish blue horns and a long, prehensile tail ending in a scaly green bulge that resembles a snake's head. The unsettling appendage curls and uncurls sinuously, poking and slinking around in a startlingly sentient way. 

A handful of minutes later, the forest erupts in motion as a massive swarm of tiny, monkey-like creatures moves through it. Their backs bristle with translucent quills in a poisonous orange, yellow, and green. Thousands of sharp black beaks lined with needle-like teeth let loose whoops and eerily trilling chirps in equal measure. Whole sections of the forest seem to shift and change colours as waves of the odd creatures, covered in iridescent feathers ranging from a deep turquoise, through navy blue, indigo, and deep purple, to an unsettling maroon move through the area. A handful, Amanda notices, are larger and bright orange, with tufts of yellow feathers or fur around their necks. [i]Alphas,[/i] she thinks.

They avoid the thick, fleshy creature that slithers its way through the tangle just above the forest floor. It's like a cross between a stubby snake and a snail, but with thick, army green, claylike skin that would seem to be more at home on a hippopotamus. Its head is ensconced in thick bony armour with the exception of a pair of luscious, rubbery greyish-pink lips that seem to be constantly sucking at the air around them. Dozens of tiny, squishy appendages that resemble the 'feet' that cover the underside of a starfish writhe on its back, emitting occasional puffs of something steamlike and incredibly foul-smelling. Both twins plug their noses until it passes.

Finally, there are these weird, treelike...things that always grow in pairs. They look like two enormous, moss-covered (though it's obviously not moss) tree trunks that tower over three stories high, pockmarked at random by fluffy red spots that seem to have some sort of fleshy eye or mouth at their centers. But it's what lies between them that's truly unsettling: A creature that is little more than a torso that trails off into a short, scaly tail. Covered in green and black fur, with long, humanlike arms that stretch between the two trunks, it thrashes and wails out of a great fang-lined maw that irises open from an eyeless, misshapen head. The 'arms' seem to be fused with the trunks as if they're part of the same organism, and the towering green stacks bend and sway back and forth menacingly, though their bottoms seem fixed to the ground. [i]They might even extend deep beneath the surface,[/i] Hannah shudders to think. 

"My God," Amanda finally remarks. "These things are terrifying. You can't even call them freaks of nature. They're -"

"Yeah, that's our gig," Hannah interrupts. 

Amanda regards her dimly. "They almost don't seem to be of this world."

The twins watch in silence for longer, until Amanda breaks it. "Hey sis."

"Uh huh?"

"Do you think we're the first people to see these things?"

Hannah furrows her brow and ponders for a moment. "I'd imagine not quite the first, but there can't have been many."

[i]Nor many who lived to tell the tale.[/i] They both think it. Sometimes they share thoughts that way.

"We should name them," Amanda decides.

Hannah grins. It's a way to pass the time. "Okay, I'm game. What should we name that giant turtle-sloth-bull, snake-tailed thing?"

"A vine-tailed bulltank"

"You think there are other types of bulltanks out there?"

"Nope!" Amanda replies. "This one's just vine-tailed. Hmm...so how about those creepy monkey-bird things?"

"I thought they were kind of beautiful."

"Yeah, like in a devour you to the bone sort of way."

"Ah, that's it!" Hannah exclaims, "Piranha Monkeys!"

"I love it! And then there was the Kissing Steamsnail."

"YES!! So much yes!"

"And a wailing ape?"

Hannah purses her lips thoughtfully. "Nah..."

Amanda pretends to pout.

"How about Sampson's Pillars?"

"Going biblical?"

"This shit [i]is[/i] pretty biblical. Like, have you ever read the Book of Revelation?" 

"Only when you did..." Amanda lets that trail off. People are staring at them. Obviously, that's par for the course if you're Hannah and Amanda Sinclair, but nobody's said a word yet. Things go quiet for a bit. Two pairs of eyes observe their fantastical and forbidding surroundings.

"You know," Amanda breaks the silence, "I'm kind of glad we didn't get the turret."

"You're gonna dance all over my broken dreams," Hannah replies melodramatically. 

"Nah." The self-recognized 'older sister' takes a sip of water from her bottle. She points at the lead truck through the cage. "Think about some of the crazy shit we've seen, and that position's exposed as all hell. If this were a game and not like...real life, the gunner's the first to go."

"How do you know it's not just some kind of game?" Hannah challenges. 

"How do you know everything isn't a game, that there isn't some sweaty neckbeard on the other side controlling our every word and motion?"

Hannah takes a sip from her bottle as well. "That'd just be silly. There's some kind of reality out there, objective or not."

Amanda shrugs, and without even thinking, Hannah fulfills her half of the gesture. 

After another hour or so, there's a break. People get out and stretch their legs. The twins don't have to be told twice. They're the first to bound out of the truck. Of course, the break isn't necessarily for leisure. A fallen building combined with some particularly thick plant growth is obstructing the convoy's passage, and people have started clearing it. Hannah and Amanda set to work with machetes and heavy workboots, crouched over the low-growing vines as they kill the pests.

Their stomach growls. "Is food a thing here?" Hannah gripes.

Amanda straightens the both of them up. "Bossman's in the truck ahead. Y'know asking beats complaining."

The others seem to have things well in hand. "Right. Yeah. Let's see what's for lunch."

The twins arrive just on time to hear Eli elucidate on their dinner to Roland. One of them is going to have to eat that for the both of them. "Not it!" they call simultaneously, each of them instantly touching their respective noses. [i]That is not food.[/i] Hannah thinks. [i]I'd rather eat a piranha monkey.[/i]