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When morning came it already felt a little brighter and much cleaner than the last few days had been. James felt the sun on his back, along with Diana who stood beside him at a height up to his waist. Her blue torn dress ruffled slightly in the breeze, old stains of red and brown murky with age to become a similar colour between them. They looked towards north, the raptor using the compass from his backpack as a useful indicator as he began walking, the girl following after him at a moderate pace. Neither of them wore shoes so the sand was hot on their feet, black claws and brown toes keeping step by each other as at first they said nothing, watching the horizon beyond. The wind was soothing to them, warm and flowing with dust picking up across them. Diana had to shield her eyes more often due to her shorter height, but the raptor always waited for her until she was ready to keep going. They knew this was a strange situation, neither of them could deny that. The best they could do was to keep on walking. Always walking. An hour passed before seeing the length of the river system, seeing many more tributaries and dried-out passages from all around them, a thrilling network of dead veins upon this hardened land. The raptor had no problem hopping over some smaller gaps, but Diana took her time, readying herself for crossing with one leap, before landing rather shakily on the other side until James grabbed out for her. The first time this happened, she did not take his hand and fell back into the dirt. The second time she did. The third and fourth, she steadied herself a lot better by her own feet. She was tired and aching, having not walked this much distance in her entire life, the ground uncomfortable for her feet as she slogged onwards. She refused to let James carry her, even when asked she just kept walking, drinking water and eating whatever food she had rather conservatively. He was glad to see she had the smarts to keep check on her food, a rather cautious girl by nature. Or perhaps it was something she learned back in former days as a slave. It took them another two hours to even pass by the rivers completely, and soon they had sidetracked themselves slightly northeast due to the course of the river's remnants leading towards such. On the plus side, they had found themselves a small town to take stock at, known as Milford according to the sign. It was a standard American town of the midwest, small white and red houses picketed along with broken fences and what once had been verdant lawns of pride were now hollowed scars of the landscape, burnt out where nothing could ever grow again.

But there were some good moments in this place, for it was rather empty and as such there were a few items to still take from the general store still in town. The food was old, and James was not quite sure if it was edible, but the fact they had been so stuffed with preservatives made them practically immortal, taste notwithstanding. Diana loaded up on some Sugar Bombs ravenously, a sugary-based cereal that was every parent's nightmare. Modelled after nuclear bombs, packed with next to no nutrition, and all ADHD-enabling ingredients to fill the rest. The girl became more excitable, but not to the point of cheer with her mood controlling her by a morose melancholy. James enjoyed some too and for the most part became quite eager to head on out once more and start kicking the high road with his feet. At one point, feeling dizzy from a small sugar rush, he found a baseball with leather wrapping still withholding as he tossed it in the air while walking, catching it everytime it came down casually. "You ever play sports?" he asked. "Nope." "You into sports?" "Dunno," shrugged Diana. "Maybe...whut's that?" "It's a baseball, people used to play this game where one guy throws the ball, other person swings a bat and tries to smack it up high into the sky. Now if we just had some kind of bat...or a piece of wood...oh hey." Said piece of wood came in the form of a broken picket fence now bleached forever white, the raptor tearing a smaller part of it off and holding it like a bat before handing it over to Diana. "This heavy?" "Uhhh...whutcha gonna do?" "We're gonna play some baseball." "Whut? Why?" "Because it's boring out here just walking in the wasteland, come on let's have some fun." "I don' wanna play." "Why not?" "Cuz...I dunno, not feelin' it, I just wanna go somewhere." "Okay, suit yourself...just thought it'd be nice to have some fun." "I had fun with my mom...not out here." "...I know. Hey, come on, one game." "Uhhhhhh-" "I'll give you my sugar bombs if you win." "...o-okay." Smiling at a little bargain, he walked out into the street between two rows of houses, both sides ruined as the raptor instructed her on how to play. He tapped out four points to run to, the bases as it were, coalescing into a diamond pattern on the worn street road. The broken asphalt did not matter to them, they had gotten used to the hot feet long ago as the raptor stood ready, ball in hand pretending to chew an American accent.

"Alrigh' now lady, lessee you handle this." "I just hit the ball righ'?!" "Yyyyyep, smack it hard s'you can, if you smack that ball far, the sugar's all yers. Here come the pitch!" Trying not to throw it too hard, the raptor lobbed the ball towards her body hoping she would strike it hard, but instead she swung a little too early and it rolled right past her. "Steeeeeeeeerike one!" "Wha-" "Li'l early, don't worry, throw it back to me." "This is stupid!" "So's being in this wasteland, come on, throw me the ball." "Why you actin' like sum kid, yer not a kid, yer not even human!" "Because...nnnnngh..." He dropped his hands and sighed miserably. Even his forced cheer did not work, much as he hoped it would to ease the girl's disposition as he walked past her to pick up the ball. "I just thought you'd like a smile on your face." "You don' know whut makes me happy, don' think that you know everythin' about me." "Well what does make you happy then?" "My mom." "Okay...what else?" "Seein' those slavers dead." "...you're not a very nice girl are you?" "I'm not a girl! I'm a woman!" "Okay okay, fine...why do you call yourself a woman anyway?" "Cuz that's whut mom told me! She told me I wuz an' that's whut I am, so don' go treatin' me like I'm sum kid!" "...I'm sorry. Just...let's keep going, you're right we...can't waste any time staying here..." Seeing him not fight back made her feel somewhat bad, rubbing her arm slightly as the raptor rolled the baseball in his claws gently. He said nothing, simply waiting for the right moment that never came to ask on what she wanted to do. Eventually he dropped the ball walking away towards the north once again. Diana kicked the dirt lazily stuck between giving him a break or just keep walking to somewhere safe, not wasting any time. She took the baseball with her just in case, dropping the wooden post behind her feeling that it would just slow her down. They had not realised they had been walking for at least eight hours, with only ever having a break fully in Milford after camping in a general store out of the heat. There was little that could be said between them, the raptor cautiously taking any and all possible foods including a few well-preserved tins that were exorbitantly tough, hoping a can-opener at least could be found out on the wastes. At the very least the preservatives pumped into most man-made produce would keep them fresh. Hopefully.

The few creatures they had seen amounted only to cockroaches and bloatflies thankfully, but the raptor was always cautious for any sign of stronger beasts, something much more potentially dangerous. Not even humans were encountered in their long walk, for which he was grateful. In truth, so was Diana not that she ever said anything. Any that did come close were immediately dispatched of, either by James swinging down on them with the scissors, or Diana just ruthlessly stabbing them with her knife up close. At one point, a lone coyote came wandering across the wastes making them look worried around for more. The beast did not seem to come too near them, the raptor showing off an aggressive stance holding his scissors out high above in order to scare it. The canid looked back snarling fearfully in turn, but did not pursue the matter as he turned and slunk off, much more concerned on other matters than deal with an odd reptilian beast. Then they noticed a few more coming up over the dunes. A small pack, three of them snarling at both raptor and human as they brought out their blades without a word. At first the coyotes began spreading out, circling them, but when James saw what they were up to he swung forwards to the nearest one shooting out a hot blast and scaring it with fire. The hound backed off, whimpering by instinct from the flames as one came up behind James ready to lunge as it latched its jaws on his tail. Pain ran up through his spine as he shook it desperately off, before seeing Diana come running to behind him and thrust her knife forwards at the coyote's neck. The frantic shaking and tearing of its teeth made her aim miss as she stabbed it in the upper leg, a yelp coming from the canid as it let go of James' appendage before turning onto the girl. She was afraid by nature, the first time having faced a true feral beast as she waved her blade threateningly with blood dripping off of it. But James rectified the matter with a piercing plunge deep into the coyote's skull, cracking it nearly in half. The scissors crushed through the canid brain as a gargled yelp came drooling blood, the other two remaining pack members heading down to fight them together in vengeance of their fallen friend. James focused on the one to their right, with Diana focusing on the singular left. They stuck close to each other's backs, the raptor waiting as he goaded them with spurting flames trying to intimidate them, the dogs hopping back and forth to avoid the flames while at the same time getting closer sneering their teeth.

Diana had no such tactics to offer but instead she shrieked violently at the furred beast to make it reconsider attacking. Not that it intimidated it enough but it certainly made it pause before barking with menace, snarling ruthlessly as they waited. The coyote lunged for her, as she shoved her blade forwards and just managed to catch it in the eye with a deep thrusting shove as it tried to bite her arm, managing to clamp down as she screamed and punched at the canid without thinking. Her knife now trapped and shaken by the canid holding her arm between teeth, Diana shoved him back hard as she could before grabbing some dust from the soil and shoving a fistful into its remaining eye. The coyote flinched with a snarling grunt pulling back and letting go of her clearly-wounded arm, the young girl switching to her left hand as she rushed forwards without thinking. The snapping jaws went at her direction as she skidded forwards in ducking, trying to avoid the fierce glistening teeth that went straight at her head before thrusting upwards. The knife went scraping down deep into its neck, a wincing yelp trickling out of its bleeding throat as she twisted the blade in and shanked it twice with brutal roaring, the sand-furred creature slumping onto her face. She threw it off quickly before stabbing it even further, making sure it was dead, throwing out all her fury and frustration with a screaming shanking fit of rage. By the time she stopped her hands were covered in blood, her face too as well as her dress, the coyote's body punctured with many holes glistening hot red in the desert sun. James had watched her with a fearful look, the other beast having been dealt with by one burned and wounded face running away, hurrying across the dunes in retreat from his fearful blades. Diana slowly got up and cleaned her knife on the canid's body before pocketing it back smoothly in her dress. He couldn't say anything but was in truth rather frightened of her. If only because he had seen such a scene before through his own methods. "Whut?" asked the bloodied child. "Just...you okay?" "I'm not dead am I?" "Nope...um...thanks for...getting that thing off my tail." "S'alrigh'." "Your arm looks pretty bad though, might have to fix that soon." "I'll be fine." "No you have to treat it or else it gets infected. Here." The raptor brought out his backpack and began to administer the wound as best as he could. The girl's arm had a small tear above the wrist where the jaws had clamped down on, leaving a red scar throbbing through the first layer of skin openly bleeding through. "Dammit I need some kind of antiseptic," said James, "or else this is gonna get infected easily." "Whut about that stimpak you got on ya?"

She pointed at his bag where a weird syringe was spilling out from. The raptor had wondered what it was, a rusty-looking needle with an odd gauge clamped on top of it wired to the needle itself. It reminded him of something cooked up in a mad scientist's laboratory to rejuvenate a monster, of which he had to ask: "You know what this is?" "Uh yeah," said Diana, "that's a stimpak? Yanno, fer fixin' you?" "Stimpak?" "...you really don' know anythin' don't you?" "I'm not the best with medicine. This good enough to fix your wound?" "Only one way to find out, it ain't gonna kill me so don' worry about it." "...heh, I used to hate needles. Always thought people were giving me something I'd never want inside me." "I used to hate 'em too...fer the same reason." "You wanna do this or shall I?" "You." Steadily pressing the needle against the wound he cautiously began to push it in and depress, the life-saving liquid pumping its way in as Diana squirmed out of reflex whimpering hotly. The pain was more uncomfortable than anything else against her raw skin, cold steel pushing in against naked flesh as the effects began to take place. Not only did she seem to feel better already, but the wound wasn't even hurting as much as it used to, even slowly covering itself with some strange quick-acting antiseptic a lighter shade than her skin. It felt weird and rather awkward like feeling cold sharp tinfoil scraping across your open wound nipping and jabbing at sensitive points. But it still felt good and healing as she shuddered cringing at the feeling, the raptor watching with some surprise at how fast it worked seeing that he used an entire syringe worth just to fix it. "Holy...that's some weird science, not bad. Feel any better?" "Mmhmm...stings kinda but...won't hurt no more after." "We still got a few of these left in my backpack, I'll give you two of them just in case alright?" "Okay." After giving her two of the strangely-built stimpaks they walked on further. It had been at least three hours after leaving Milford, where they found another town just as the sun sank beneath the mountains. The sky turned dark, the cold started to come in. One town in the Midwest looked exactly the same as another, not that James even knew what state he was in other than somewhere around Indiana. Red and white houses, all cracked and crumbling under the weight of futility. No matter how many houses he saw, it was a humbling sight to see such a suburban neighbourhood of mediocrity, turn completely dead upon its existence.

He sighed heavily, but he felt more happy than before along with Diana, her face a little more brightened up than when they first walked out perhaps by their sense of freedom. It was uplifting, but there was always that sense of discomfort on her face that he could see, always that constant sense of worry she felt for someone else buried beneath a stern grimace of independence. He worried about her, but she tried to reach out with an olive branch after a long-enough time of not speaking uncomfortably, asking: "You wanna sugar bomb?" "...sure." "They're really tasty." "Mmm...makes me kinda hyper, must be why I was all weird with you back in Milford." "You weren't THAT weird...just...aren't you kinda old to be playin' with things?" "I'm not...hhhhhh maybe, I just wanted to lighten up a little, this is depressing! I wanna get you someplace safe, that's fine, but I don't want us to just be miserable along with each other. I don't want you to think that...that I'm doing this for some reason." "Why would I think that?" "Because...just, I dunno, I don't want us to be not friends if we're gonna last this long." "You wanna be my friend?" "...I don't have anyone else here." "You might make sum new friends up at the Beech." "Maybe...just don't want you to hate me." "I don't hate you." "No?" "I just think yer weird." "I thought you said I wasn't weird?" "I said you weren't THAT weird but still a li'l weird." "Pffft...heheh...nothing gets by you does it?" "Nah-uh." The two ate up the second last packet, offering nothing except a good taste and to fill their bellies up along with some mostly-clean water and a bit more smile on their faces. He hoped at the very least that he might have a chance to refill the bottles with more moisture in the cold night air, thankful that the heat was somehow not as bad as it was back in Dry Dry Desert. Possibly because these were actual wastes and not a desert. He tried to push those thoughts out of his mind quickly as possible to avoid remembering much further, seeing the town ahead was a lot more expansive than the last one. "Hey," she asked him, "you could make fire right?" "Yeah." "How'd you do that?" "Just...I dunno, some things because of this arm I think." "Oh...yer weird." "Says the girl who doesn't flinch stabbing a dog to death." "I'm NOT a girl, I'm a woman! Also that thing wuz gonna kill me!" "Not saying it was a bad thing, just...even back at your age I flinched a little when I beat someone's face in." "Yeah? How old are you?" "About...thirty, thirty-one maybe?" "Whut you do when you were...my age?" "Some kid made fun of me, bullied me like crazy...beat his face in, robbed him of his eyesight, scarred him real good." "Pfft, idiot. Kid tryin' to bully a monster, he deserve everythin' he oughta get." "Yeah...maybe. But I'm still a monster either way." "So? Kid goes down into a cave pokin' at radscorpions, ain' nobody gotta feel sorry fer him. He's stupid an' he dead because of it." "Wow...I mean I agree with you, but wow, cold." "Whutever, not like any smart people are left anymore." "There's still you." "Heh...I ain' smart." "You didn't get killed yet, and you're what...eight?" "I'm nine." "Right, my point exactly, you're not stupid." "If I wuzn't stupid I wouldn't've been a slave in the first place." "Really? Was it your fault in the first place?" "No...but I shoulda been smarter."

She shrugged upon entering the city centre, where rows upon rows of stores greeted them all with great abandon. Food diners collapsed, the postal service hollowed out like an old insect coccoon, the federal savings bank liquidated beyond all repair. Diana shivered from the cold setting in, with James trying to figure out directions along the main street. He noticed the road they now stood on was a much more prominent highway, Highway 24 according to the signpost near them. The raptor pulled out Gruthar's map, folding out as a sheet of paper that stretched out into 12x12 inches, seeing the route continued further on north and they currently stood in Watseka. The map was surprisingly accurate, noting place names with often landmarks and rivers being scrawled out with points of reference, as well as the X and Y axis all dotted in with numbers and letters. A true dedication to the works of cartography from a beastly hand. "Weird name," he murmured. "Huh?" "Oh just...found a map from...someone, shows a place they can go, that place called Beech I told you about?" "Oh. Where are we now?" "Wat-sssset-ka, apparently." "Huh, that is a weird name." "It is. We better find some place to sleep, there's an inn apparently along that way, must have some beds." "S-sure...f-freezing out here." "Come on then." They headed off towards the west, following the road to soon find a rather comforting sight. A Super 8 Motel, according to the sign proudly displaying outside it despite one corner of it having been rotted through. The motel was next to a gas station, clearly to use in overnight hauling delivery services for long-distance truckers as evidenced by one or two eighteen-wheelers completely capsized through the gas station, crumpled completely through with half the store crushed inwards brutally. But the motel itself was unharmed, a brick-built well-designed triangular building almost resembling a modern church. They walked in underneath the front pavilion, the doors broken through. The interior had rotted through with water damage, but for all intents and purposes it seemed to be well-intact enough for someplace to live. There were remnants of people living here, now all but forgotten except the smell of urine. The front desk was surprisingly tall and reached up to James' head, making him have to crane his neck over to see there was no one sitting behind it. It was long faded, and with nothing stopping them from booking a room for the night, they headed to the very back to find a safe place to sleep in. Most of the rooms had been wrecked, or serviced badly by previous residents until they found one mostly remaining intact. Two beds on their left and a large window boarded up for safety straight in front with a broken television laid crumpled against the wall to their right beside a hefty warped dresser. Most of the wood had been torn off of it to make into the boarded window, but the raptor still found a use for it by shoving it hard against the door to block anyone from coming in.

With that they soon climbed up into bed separately, damp sheets but still dry enough to not be completely unuseable. Diana rolled herself up in the sheets completely, tight like a larva as James laid out completely. Eventually he checked on his supplies one more time before going to sleep, seeing he still had his weapon and a full clip of ammo to go with it, with some food for at least two more days and his bottle near-empty. He saw the girl had fallen completely asleep, exhausted no less from such a long hike as he tried an experiment. The damp structure of the motel had given him an idea as he tried summoning water from his very fingertips, coursing through his claws as they began trickling with a mighty flow of thick cool liquid. Drinking some himself, it was certainly much more pure on a scientific basis than any of the water he had drank here, and he began filling up his bottle fully before heading over to check Diana's belongings. The moment he opened up her backpack, he heard a voice. "I told you. Don' turn around." He knew why when he felt the knife against his neck, stifling a curse as he put his hands up clear to see. "Whut are you doin' with my stuff?" "I was checking your water bottle." "Why?" "Cuz I...found a water pipe, had water running out of it and just wanted to top you up." "...that's bull." "No look, over on my bed you can see my bottle full up, see?" Indeed there was his backpack still on the bed and Diana saw a completely full bottle of water, surprisingly clean also with a radiant clarity through the liquid. "You can drink it if you want." "...I don' need to fill my water up now, I can do it when we wake up. Don't. Touch. My stuff." "Alright, alright I'm sorry, I should have asked, that was rude of me, I won't touch your stuff again." "Good." Closing up her pack within clear view of her blade, he headed back to bed once she was satisfied at him giving respect for her privacy. He slept off easily, being rather tired himself from the long walk as Diana went to sleep, needing little reason to do so. But there were times that she would wake up suddenly, her eyes roving everywhere for the slightest movement, any odd notes or indications of danger upon them. She cursed the fact that she was a light sleeper, but at the same time knew the reason for it. To a normal child it would be an invitation for fear and paranoia, for monsters to come from the shadows and start creeping upon their dreams as nightmares. For Diana, she had no need for paranoia. All her monsters were real, but they at least were far away unable to attack her. Never again. She watched the sleeping form of James, his tail hanging down lazily over the side of the bed twitching and flickering as he murmured in his dreams. Not loud enough to disturb but enough for her to see he was being troubled by something. Or someone.

Morning would come not too quickly as she woke up first, looking around to see the light barely creep in through the window boarded up beside her. James was still asleep but did not take long getting up with her, stretching his scaly arms with a mournful yawn. "Mmmmornin'." "Hey," said Diana. "Can I ask you sumthin'?" "Sure." "...whut are you, really?" "I'm a velociraptor. It's a dinosaur from far away." "So...kinda like a mutant?" "...sure, why not, yes a mutant." "Oh. Just, never seen sumthin' like you before or...anythin' that could talk that good." "I was taught all my life, it's not unusual." "You talk better than the slavers do." "Because I'm not a prick, and I went to school at some point." "Whut's school?" "...god just...never mind." Hunching over with his head in his hands, he ignored the question and simply got up scratching his chest before moving the dresser back from the door, ready for them to leave. Diana however stopped him to ask: "UM...you, said you could fill my water bottle up, right?" "...oh, yeah sure um, hand me your bottle." The girl gladly relinquished it to him before he bent down behind the bed, pretending to rip open a floorboard with the sound of trickling water coming through loud and clear. Diana was surprised to hear such a noise, so clear and sprinkling as he put the floorboard back into place, giving her a nice clean bottle of water. It was certainly more cold and pure than she ever tasted, the feeling of it trickling down her throat just the essence of heaven even if it was mostly the dampness existing in the room that made him able to draw any moisture from it. "Woooooaaaah...this tastes so GOOD." "Heh...glad you like." "Thanks um...sorry about...last night." "Nah nah it's...I should have asked first, I shouldn't have gone through your stuff. I wouldn't want you going through mine either." "Yeah...well, next time you ask, alright?" "Alright." "By the way, um...I found this." She pulled up a large thick pistol from her dress, looking rather rusted from years of disuse but seeing it was a very unusual-looking weapon. For starters the trigger guard was one complete length of metal extending out to the muzzle, making the whole thing look entirely rectangular like a solid steel brick rather than the usual thin-barrel length that most pistols had. She offered it to him as he inspected the weapon, seeing it had half-a-clip of bullets still in the magazine which were 10mm compared to his own pistol that was 9mm. "Damn...where'd you find this?" "Under my pillow," said Diana. "Really?" "Mmhmm." "...huh. Well uh, always good to have more than one gun." "Wait, you got one?" "Yeah, much better than this too, this one's old and worn like really filthy. I could probably clean this up easy, seems alright still." "You know...how to use a gun?" "Sure I do." He demonstrated with a slap of the magazine back in its place, clicking loudly. "I trained in them back when I was a teenager, been using them constantly for all of last year...those were a little different but I still remember how these work." "So...you think...I could learn how to use it?" The raptor stared at her oddly as if she had just proposed to him. "H-hey, I found it first!" "But you're still just a-" "DON'T!" She glared at him with a pointing finger fiercely at his snout. "DON'T...say it. We been walkin' a whole day, we killed a buncha bugs, I killed a damn DOG an' you ain't ever seen me flinch! I had my knife at yer neck last night, an' I'm NOT afraid to use it!" "That's a knife, this is a gun. You don't get second chances if you aim it right." "Anyone that come lookin', they ain't gonna git a second chance." "What if it's friendly people? You want that on your head?" "No...but same goes fer any people we meet tryin' to shoot at us." "True. But I have a gun already." "Two's better than one." "It's not easy to use one." "Yes it is, you point an' shoot!" "And that's why you're not getting it, you don't even know how to use it!" "THEN SHOW ME! You got me outta that slave camp so you oughta trust me! If you don' even trust me, why didn't you take my knife off me back at the river huh?!"

He thought about this for a minute, weighing the thick gun in his hand with surreptition thinking on what was right. In a wasteland without order, there really was no reason other than proficiency on why she shouldn't have a gun. But he also felt hesitant on wanting to give one to a child, arming her at a young age with such a dangerous weapon. But of course she was already well-skilled and brave enough with a knife that this didn't quite apply anymore. A lawless place such as this still gave him pause for thought, as she stood staring at him in defiance saying: "I want to learn how to shoot. We gots a long way to go an' there gonna be people out there tryin' to kill us. You know it too, don't you?" "Yeah...but...I can handle them." "Really? Whut if you ain' there fer me, whut if...whut if you get stuck someplace tryin' to get through an' I'm out here all alone, with sumbody tryin' to get me an' they too far away fer my knife to get 'em? Remember whut you promised me?" Indeed she had a point, remembering his promise to her and not wanting to take risks, he also knew that Diana was not just some ordinary girl. Hardened through misery and slave labour, clearly not afraid to kill. His hesitation grew weaker without excuse, as he tenderly gave back the gun to her. "If you really want to learn how to shoot, then I'll teach you. But you have to promise me something. When you aim this, KNOW who you're about to kill. Don't ever use this unless you have to." "Alrigh'." "Let's find some place outside for it, too dangerous to try shooting indoors. I also wanna clean this thing up a little so I'll let you know when it's ready." "Okay." Heading outside at least fifteen minutes later, Diana saw that James had found some old glass bottles still intact for target practice. He planted them squarely onto three boxes placed separately from each other, lined up in a row like ducks against the motel wall steadily. He walked over to Diana waiting as he gave her the gun, seeing it had been given a much more clean appearance all over, not looking so rusty as it was but not entirely quite new. "Here ya go." "Woah...how'd you fix this?!" "Some oil in the gas station," said the raptor, "cleaned it in and out of dirt, also found a few bits and spare pieces to replace the slide bolt, trigger mechanism and some more bullets. That way it won't jam on you if you ever use it." "How'd you know that?" "Had a friend who was into guns, she taught me a lot about the way they worked, handguns especially. Alright, so here's some bottles to shoot. First off, I want you to aim for the one in the middle. You've got a few bullets, I have some more for you if you need them so don't worry about ammo yet." "Kay...whut do I do?" "First, hold it with both hands, push it outwards fully at arm's length and aim that little nub above the barrel at that bottle." She did as he instructed gripping the handle with fingers wrapped round each other, pointing the gun at full length as she looked on down the sight, the small sloped point guiding her aim. "Now...I'm gonna cover your ears because it's pretty loud and it takes time to get used to it. When I do, just aim down the barrel, down that length, and squeeze the trigger." "Squeeze it?" "Right, like you're choking something slowly. Don't pull it, don't pull your hand back or else the recoil's gonna knock you back and hurt your wrist. Just squeeze it. You ready?" Nodding as he covered her ears, Diana aimed for the bottle in the middle. It took her a minute or two to brace herself, arms tightly wound up shakily aiming the pistol before firing off hard enough to make her pull back against him. The gun cracked loudly across the gas station hitting nothing but the wall behind the bottle, by a good few feet above its head. "NNNGH!" "Alright, not bad, first time's always tough." "Nnnnfff...sh-shit that hurts." "Your arms?" "Y-yeah, feel...weird an' tingling." "You're being too stiff, you gotta relax your arms a bit." "Huh?" James gently put his hands on her elbows, moving them back up and rubbing them smoothly, letting the feeling come back to them. "Don't lock your arms, let them relax a little like a spring, you keep it all tightly wound up it's gonna hurt." "Okay...so just...relax." "Right, firm but not stiff...if that makes sense." "Not...really." "Just don't relax them too much. Okay...ready?" Nodding once more she took aim as the raptor covered her ears. Waiting for the shot, she was much faster firing off this time but still missed by a bit, a lot closer than her first as the shattering shot fired across the station. But still missing the bottle by a few inches to the right. "Not bad not bad, you're getting there." "My arms hurt." "You'll get used to it, it's not a weapon you use frequently at your age. Now...let's do this once more. Just hold it up...arm's length...and don't lock-" "-your arms."

The warm summer night breathed down upon him as he stared down at the target, a man painted red like a bathroom sign as the voice of a woman crept over his shoulder. "Squeeze the trigger." "I'm squeezing already lemme jus-" "Squeeeeeeze it." "Just lemme do this okay I got this- "NO!" He yanked the gun back firing as his hand flew back. A new hole appeared above the painted head as a grey hand grabbed him by the arm, ringing with stinging vibrations that racked nerves through to his elbow. "Fuck...sake, do NOT yank the gun like that!" The raptor turned round hard as he was pulled, seeing Sarah stare down on him looking fierce and judgemental. The weight of the handgun felt heavier than before as his arm vibrated slightly, her hand gripped down on his wrist to keep it pointed straight against the ground. Her usual button brown shirt with white underneath gave her the look of a village matron, strong-arm of the district. "I-i was just shooting!" he cried out. "You just point and shoot right?!" "Only if you're an idiot," she replied back, "you might as well just hold it to one side and be some punkass gangsta boy if you wanna shoot like an idiot." "You're teaching me too slow, if I went into a gunfight the way you teach me I'd have ten holes in me by the time I SQUEEZED the trigger." "DON'T!" "I wasn't gonna-" "You take your finger OUT of the fucking trigger guard if you don't plan on shooting for fuck's sake, do you want to shoot your foot again?!" "Um, that was YOU that did that, lady." "Just...ugh, look." She rubbed her cetacean head, the bulbous forehead glistening in the streetlight. She let go of him as she walked back a little, taking the gun off him and struggling to have patience as they looked round at where they were. A parking lot somewhere near the bar itself, or rather a basketball court no one used near it due to being inaccessible, and awkward to use by the all-encroaching asphalt of speed bumps on parking spaces. But it made a great shooting range for Sarah's gang, trapped in the backlots with bad acoustics suffocating most of the noise, with city lights and rumbling cars unseen to be heard. "You will learn to shoot faster when you NEED to," replied Sarah. "I'm just teaching you the basics, you don't learn to run before you can crawl." "I'm not a baby," said James, "so stop treating me like one." "Then listen okay?! It's not about being the fastest shot, it's being the most accurate. Shooting fast is all good if you're in a room full of baddies, but what if I'm in danger? What if yer friends are in danger?" "I don't got any friends except you, you can take care of yourself." "What if Mahmoud was in danger? You shoot too fast you'll plug him in the head by accident, and that's gonna stick with you the rest of yer life. When you crack someone with a wrench you MIGHT have a second chance to stop. You don't get second chances when you shoot." "...just...why is this taking so long, I'm cold for fuck's sake." "It's summer, deal with it." "I'm a fucking reptile, not some warmblood like you." "Bullshit, I'm not falling for that warmblood/coldblood crap again, now focus. Just...take a deep breath and try again." "...alright." "Good. I know you wanna learn James but I want you to learn for the right reasons." "Like what?" "Protecting people. The whole point of arming yourself is to defend yourself and others, NOT to be the fastest shot in all the west." "Says the one who names her guns Thelma and Louise."

Sarah smirked and shook her head, simply walking up towards James and holding him by both wrists. She gently put the gun back in his hands and let him turn round to take the shot once again. Slowly she began wrapping her arms around his waist, she pressed her beak towards his ear and began whispering: "Do you like hurting other people?" "...huh?" "Do you like hurting other people? Do you want to kill? To maim? To destroy anyone who opposes you?" "Wh-what the...the fuck kind of thing is that to ask me?!" "Is that a yes?" "N-no! Fuck's sake lady!" "Then I won't have to worry about you using a gun. Remember that. Remember you said no, because all those reasons I said, are EXACTLY the kind of people who should not have guns." "What, you mean cops?" "No. Murderers, gangbangers, CROOKED cops included. There's a distinction between the police and the crooked police, don't lump those two together." "Sure there is, like every cop out there doesn't just wanna break free on the streets and gun down everyone that looks at him funny." "Don't talk like that." He turned round back to her defiantly. "Why?" "Because that's exactly what the crooked cops think of you, just replace the word 'cop' with 'punk' and you have the same problem. All they want is an excuse and you are not going to be that excuse when I teach you how to be responsible, diligent and unbiased in your judgement." "Like what cops SHOULD be." "Listen, I know you got a chip on your shoulder but you need to cut that shit right now." "Why? It's true isn't it?" "Because that's the kind of motivation people need to start shooting sprees, cop OR not. You got into trouble because you were a punk and a thief, and doing illegal racing on the streets, you didn't get gunned down for jaywalking or get drugs planted on you. You got arrested for dumb shit, that you did and you deserved and you did time for rightly. This..." She held the gun before him still wrapped in his claws, wielding it like a swordhilt. "Is NOT a weapon of vengeance. It is a weapon of justice and defence, to protect you and those innocent around you. If some crazed killer comes in wielding a machete, you shoot. If some other idiot goes off shooting people in the streets, you shoot. If some punk tries to mug you and he got a blade on him...you threaten him and if he still tries to kill you...you shoot. If he pulls a knife, you pull a gun." "That's the Chicago way isn't it?" quoted James. "Pfffft...hhhehehehe, nice, nice, glad I put SOME sense of culture into yer head. But seriously, I want you to have the right mentality using this. You defend, not kill." "Alright alright I get it." "Now I ask again...do you like hurting other people?" "...n-no." "Good. Now, let's try this again." She turned him round to face the target, pulling his arms up and tenderly lining them up with her hands guiding him. Her slender grey beak rubbed against his cheek. "Don't lock your arms. Look down the sight. Breathe calmly." "Hhhhhalright." "Now squeeze the trigger. Don't. Pull. Just squeeze...and..." Bang. "I did it! I DID IT!"

James' eyes refocused as he saw before him a broken glass bottle, with a newly-made hole appearing behind it. The little girl's hands were shaking in his own, but the smoking gun proved her small conquest. "Hehehe...not bad," he said, "Not bad at all." "A-am I good to shoot now?!" "Let's take a few more shots. Practice makes perfect, you wanna use that thing properly then you gotta make sure you know all about it." "Okay. I...I feel really good right now, like...like this thing could-" "Kill anything that moves?" "...y-yeah." "Well lemme give you some advice. This is not a weapon of vengeance. It's a weapon of self-defence, you only ever use this when you are trying to protect yourself, or someone else. First rule, foremost, do NOT put your finger in the trigger unless you want to kill. If you put your finger on it, you best be ready for anything. If you don't want to hurt anyone, you keep that finger out." "O-okay...okay." "Sorry for the lecture but I wanna make sure of everything." "N-nah nah it's...cool, just...first time usin' it I feel...feel..." "Frightened?" "...no." "It's okay to be. Remember, you have something powerful now and you wield it for the first time so you've got to learn to be responsible. And that's what you've been telling me that you are, right? Cuz you're a woman, not a kid." "Right." She smiled at hearing James say this. It was the first time she ever smiled at him and he felt a new trust gain between them. Acknowledgement and respect before putting up the next bottles, spacing them nicely before walking back behind her. The first shot again he guided her, gently gliding his claws along her arm to place them properly. The second shot he kept his hands off, but stayed near her just in case. The third and final shot, he backed off behind her and let her take the shot herself. Diana was now a trained killer of inanimate objects. Once he was certain that she was capable of shooting targets, they walked out of Watseka heading on northwards, the desert broken only by the odd patch of sharp scrubland and a dying river cutting dry across the landscape. The river was much wider, heading serpentine from east to west as they made their journey across it cautiously, a broken road failing to cross over it as they slid down then climbed up crumbling asphalt. It was a sorry sight to see, the river having long died out before the road suffocated its course. Three hours later beyond the river was a small village with the word Tinton on a half-broken sign beside it. It had absolutely nothing of interest to them, not even any proper stores or places to rebuild supplies. It was also entirely vacant except for the odd cockroach or bloatfly wandering around that was easily disposed of. But the empty village did make a rather comfortable stopping point for them to relax in, and with nobody around for what seemed like miles they felt somewhat safer than they normally would since first heading out on this journey. It was mid-afternoon when they camped out in the most intact house of the village, settling down somewhere around 3rd Street according to the signposts around them. The house was typical suburbia, bungalow with red rotting roof and having four rooms on the ground floor, with one skeleton still propped up against the window, cowering in fear from the outside next to the television. James had not realised how weird the TV looked, a much smaller screen on a much bigger box than the ones in his world. But then his world's TVs were rather flat and up on walls.

The living room was the least mouldy, a lone chair of leaking damp plush with a kitchen behind them having one or two tins of somewhat-bearable food they could take along with them as well as some bandages he found in a side cupboard for any incidents. They wouldn't rest for long seeing how eager Diana was just to get to their destination, always wanting to keep moving. Always planning on when to leave, not that James even minded for he was most certainly eager to find safety too. "So where IS this Beech place?" asked Diana. "Well according to my map it's about three towns over, so if we just keep walking we should be in sight." "You sure that map's even good enough?" "What, course it is, it got all those towns we went to before right? Even got the rivers noted." "I guess...so whut do we do when we get there?" "Hmm?" "I mean, whut happen when we get there, you gonna just...drop me off or sumthin'?" "That's the plan, get you someplace safe...same as me since I've got no place else to go." "Yeah...whut's this place like anyway, this Beech?" "Honestly? I've got no idea." "Whut?! But you said it wuz safe!" "And it is, it's all on the map!" "Woah woah woah, you said that you'd take me someplace safe, now you tellin' me you don't know ANYTHIN' about this place?!" "I have this map!" "SO WHUT, it's just a dumb map, you don' know when it wuz made, place might not even be there no more!" "I have it on good authority that this place exists and that it IS safe for us, you have to trust me!" "You don' know anythin'!" She stood up fiercely indignant piercing her eyes down at him. "You don' know whut a stimpak is, you don' pick up any bottlecaps, yer a stupid-ass bitch!" "HEY, I saved your life, the least you can do is put your faith in me when I know where I'm going!" "YOU JUST SAID YOU DON' KNOW ANYTHIN' ABOUT THIS BEECH! That don't mean anythin', means I'll die out here rather than in there an' that's it!!" "You're not dying, not on my watch!" "WHY YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT ME?!" "BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANNA KILL YOU! I DON'T KILL KIDS, I DON'T FUCKING KILL KIDS!" James stood up this time fiercely in turn with tears running down his cheeks, both in frustration. "I...am doing EVERYTHING I can to save you, and I don't care if you're just some kid, I will not let some-" "I'm not a-" "SHUT UP, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN! I don't care what you fucking say, I am NOT going to kill you, I won't let anyone kill you because I'm not a FUCKING MURDERER!" He sat down slowly back onto the floor shaking briefly whilst cupping his hands to his face, struggling to breathe back his tears and slowly wiping them off as she sat down in front of him. "I'm not a murderer...I'm not...some evil monster, just...I just want to do one good thing...j-just one...I just wanted to save you...wanted to prove...that I had hope left in me." "Whut...whut are you talkin' about?" "Just...I-I'm sorry...I'm sorry I just...I know you don't trust me, I KNOW that I'm not some experienced traveller in this wasteland and I get a lot of things wrong but...just...I want to save you!" "Why? Whut's so special 'bout me?!" "I just wanted to do something right! For once! For once I just...don't wanna be a bad person...g-god...h-hhhh..." Gently he began to weep, frustrated as Diana watched him feeling more uncertain but also guilty seeing him like this. A sobbing monster grieving for something, . But she remained still curious for something he had said, asking gently: "But...you said sumthin' about bein' a murderer, whut did you-" "I've done a lot of things okay!? That's all you need to hear, I could have fed you to that person who wanted meat, but I didn't! I didn't do it, because I wanted to redeem myself, I couldn't bring myself to just kill you ever after I lost everything...I thought I could...just...h-he promised me." "Who?" "That...Dr. Black...he said that he'd...offer me a death painlessly...I wanted to just end it but I couldn't...I just couldn't give you to him." "You...you were gonna give me to sum doctor just so he'd kill you?" "I know, I know it's horrible." "...why couldn't you kill yerself?" Hearing the question from a girl made him suddenly feel empty. He slumped forwards gently with his head bowing front, literally as if he had just shut down on himself. Diana waited to see what he said, before murmuring came from him. She asked him: "Wh-huh? Whut did you say?" "Because," murmured James, "...because I'm afraid of him." "Who? Who are you afraid of?" "...the one who's coming to take my soul."

He said this as he looked up at her face, giving her the look of fear upon his faded eyes. Some great and terrible fear that she saw in his face, haunted with fearful shadows across his flesh, torn from the hint of old unhappy far-off things. She realised in that moment he was a lot more human than anyone she had ever known. For now she could not speak, but instead offered him some more Sugar Bombs just to help his wraught and fractured state. The raptor ate it quite gratefully as they sat together in silence, sharing it between them eating only one-third of the packet. They set off once more an hour later. As they headed their way north once again up towards the next region on their map, the town simply known as Papi came close into view of them. It was a lot more interesting than the towns they had seen previously, owing to it being next to a large river creek reaching out west towards a wider lake, as well as a large church that sat upon the opposite side of town on its northpoint. Luckily there was a railroad that ran through the centre Papi giving them a good guidance point to head north, as well as the fact that it crossed the river mostly. They walked upon the railroad cautiously, gently stepping over the large sleeper wood but not before investigating the church, a red torn desiccated house of God that simply blew apart from the initial fallout many years hence. James never liked churches, having always had bad experiences in recent memories in them, and there was also nothing of interest within it apart from ruined books, torn by dust and wind to become mulch. They walked heading north beyond the church, seeing the river up ahead that offered them quite a bit of challenge crossing over it. The railroad bridge had mostly fallen in owing to disuse, leaving it torn and broken through rendering it incapable of walking across, like a burst dam opening its cavernous maw spilling out into the river. They also saw there was no means of crossing elsewhere along both east and west directions, noticing the river spanned equally long in both directions for good lengths according to the map. The bridge was their only way across, where wood and steel twisted and fell down sloped towards the water, down some hundred-feet below their feet. While the farthest two sections of the bridge remained standing as an entry point with reinforced girders, the midsection was where it got tricky glinting bright like broken teeth, steel twisting and warping half-fallen into the ravine. Beams stood tall like deadened stalks of wheat, reaching up towards the heavens blissfully waiting, rusting perfectly to a golden brown of yesteryear. There was a way across, some slanted beams across gaps through the gnarled cracked and splintered wood, being piled up in their decay from the way they had fallen down causing a near-W-shaped slope in the middle.

The bottom parts were nonexistent simply hanging on the bridge teetering. Waiting. The river was also treacherous, seeing various odd creatures slipping across the depths of it by odd wave patterns amongst its rushing course. They were surprised to even see a full river, with so much water spanning and churning a thick turquoise hue that it almost looked sickening. But it was in the same breath also the most rejuvenating thing they ever witnessed. Poisoned clear ambrosia from a land now forgotten. "We don't wanna go in there," said FG. "Nah-uh," said Diana. "We need to cross these beams carefully, I'll go first since I'm heavier and we'll know which pieces support both of us. Okay?" "A-alrigh'...whut you think those things are down there?" "...they look like...giant crabs to me." "Ugh...whutsa crab?" "An ugly fat bastard, like that one." He pointed towards one particular creature scuttling its way onto a rock, a monstrous thing the size of a bear with thick blue carapace and large muscular pincers. It looked as if it walked in from the set of a 1950s B-movie ready to clutch some young white maiden in its virulent claws, but it most certainly was not friendly. Tearing into the skeleton of a cow that seemingly had drowned previously, it had all but been picked clean apart from a few scraps on its tearful head, mournfully looking up towards its current unnatural predator. "We really DON'T wanna go in there," reiterated FG. "Now come on...just follow me and we'll be alright." "You sure 'bout this?" she asked. "We've got no other way to go, you know I won't let anything hurt you." "Yeah...I guess." "I mean if we fall we MIGHT survive hitting the water if the currents don't pick us up and slam our faces into the rock...or those crab things." "So how we gonna do it?" "There's some steel supports I can jump onto, I'll go first, I'm heavier than you so if it can take my weight it'll take you." "Okay...don' do anythin' stupid okay?" "Have I done anything stupid yet?" "Um, yeah." "Like what?!" "...kay you ain't done nuthin' stupid YET but just don't do anythin' stupid right here." "I don't plan on it. Now just stay there and wait for me, I'm going across." His first step was cautious, gingerly testing the weight of the creaking steel lengths underneath his feet. There was a slight sound of pressure but nothing more as he tiptoed his way across, softly clicking his claws upon cold metal beams with hands slightly out at his sides for balance. It took him three minutes to cross it fully, checking his own weight on it as he reached the very middle of the beam straight above a large precipice, knowing the long way down through the hole underneath. Once he reached the other side of the steel length he called back to Diana saying: "IT'S OKAY, IT'S SAFE!" "ARE YOU SURE?!" "TOTALLY, IT DIDN'T SHAKE OR ANYTHING I THINK YOU GOT THIS ONE!" "OKAY!"

She was understandably nervous, gently walking onto the cold metal with bare feet shivering despite the hot afternoon sun. She balanced herself well, but not enough to trust her confidence as she went down on her knees crawling across, hoping that the metal was thick enough to take her new positional weight. It didn't even creak like with James as she inched along like a caterpillar, panting shakily with each scraping forwards of her knees along the steel, feeling her dress tug underneath. Soon she found herself reaching the other side as James helped her up. Now they were only halfway there. The rest of the bridge was far too broken up to allow any steel tightrope acts, forcing them to find another way as the raptor looked upwards to the remains of the bridge foundation. There were still some skeletal structures, as well as a means of climbing up that he could see towards a more viable lookout point amongst the horribly-bent steel. The metal supports sticking up from underneath them could offer them a place to hop to across the wide central chasm, but he didn't trust either of them had the dexterity or agility to make such constant leaps towards safety. At the middle of the bridge however, teetering above the rushing waters below, was a single length of thick steel twisted off from the main railroad, left hanging upon its structure. The large slope of steel and wood underneath meant they would not fall completely to the water, but they would suffer a good evisceration by the sharp and rusted points glinting wickedly upon them. The only true way forward was by the steel supports like singular poles across a bamboo forest deadened in the light of war. But the raptor saw that there was a new advantage he had upon feeling the wind caress his back. "How we gonna get across THIS?" asked Diana. "...we jump." "Whut?!" "Not exactly jump but...we've got the wind on our back." "Um, we ain' flyin' dummy, can't even jump to that first one." "Not jump...but if we just get up higher. Alright, listen, I have an idea." "Whut is it?" "There's some large beams up above I can get a running start, then I jump over the bridge and we land on that long beam right there." "Um...you ain' gonna make it." "I can do it." "Naw you ain't." "Trust me, I can do it, and I'm taking you with me across." "I ain' gonna let you pick me up an' jump across a bridge, then we'll BOTH be dead!" "Then I live up to my promise either way. What's wrong, you scared?" "I'm not scared! Just not a stupid bitch like you!" "Really? Well do YOU have any better ideas?" "...we got any rope?" "Nope." "Um...we could like push these steel things an'-" "Nnnnnnope, too heavy. Plus they're wedged to the bridge so we're not making anymore places to cross." "Nnngh...just...j-just gimme a minute!" "Alright."

It took her at least five more minutes for her to admit that she did not have a plan, struggling to think of something less stupid even to the point of looking around underneath the railroad, thinking that maybe another unknown road had laid under their feet. But alas there was not, nothing but the single torn centre of the bridge frayed and twisted, like braided hair cut by a ruthless blade. The raptor slowly made his ascent, taking Diana with him. He took off his scabbard and attached it onto both of them, making her hang off his back with the scissors now on his front jiggling awkwardly against his chest, the young girl restrained against him with arms and legs wrapped round his waist. As he made his climb up towards the jutting beam across the ridge, the raptor's claws pinged against the rusted steel supports making them echo slightly, a hollow ring that was soon swallowed by the river. The girl noticed also his back was unusual, a flowing network of dark lines meandering from his spine towards the brain, trickling down to his left shoulder. "Whut's this weird thing on yer back?" "Huh?!" wheezed FG. "You got a...weird black line all down you." "...nnnngh...no idea...HNNNNGH! Think you ate too many sugar bombs." "You sayin' I'm fat!?" "NOPE, UNNNGH! Just...never had to carry someone before." "I can climb this!" "No you can't, mmmmph...humans suck at climbing." "I can climb good, you ain't never seen me climb!" "You don't have claws...HHHHhhhh I do, now just pipe down or I'm...turning...this car around." "Whut car?!" squawked Diana. "IT'S A JOKE GUUUH! Hhhhh...hhhfffff...fffffuck...sorry by the way." "Sorry fer whut?" "Swearing in front of you...I know tha-" "Um, why you apologisin' fer that when you heard ME talk?" "...heh...because I think it's rude to swear in front of a woman." He smiled back at her briefly before focusing on his climbing, the girl smirking at this little nod as she gave him thanks more formerly. "It's okay, I forgive you." "Thank you...ma'am. Alright...almost...there!" With one final spurt he pushed his hands up and grabbed onto the steel beam, hoisting himself up carefully by lifting up one foot onto a nearby strut before pushing himself onto it. Once he climbed on top he stood fully up on his feet, looking out towards the other end of the bridge with Diana still tightly clasped against his back. The gap seemed so much wider than it was before, once he had gained a height advantage at least showing a good 20-foot width of impassable destruction, the lone straight central beam upon the very focal point of the bridge shining in the afternoon light. "You ain' gonna make this," murmured Diana. "I'm gonna try dammit." "You can't run that fast an' leap, no one could!" "Correction, no HUMAN. If I wasn't so sure I could do this I wouldn't be doing it now would I?" "Maybe...maybe you just stupid." "Says the one tied on my back like a baby." "HEY, I-...sh-shut up, jus' do it already!" "Alright...hokay......hhhhhhh...f-fuck...I...just need to aim for that central part and we...we can make this. You ready?" "I am just DO IT ALREADY!" "ALRIGHT! ...here we go. Three...two......one-GO!"

He grabbed the scabbard close to his chest as he rushed forwards with an athlete's sprint, weighed down by both scissors and child as the jutting beam clonked underneath him, footsteps heavily pounding on the steel creaking. Without any room for hesitation, he readily began making the wind surge from all around him, trusting his instincts. Or maybe it was because he was too beyond consideration to be careful. "WUUULD!" With a jump straight into the air, he felt the wind slam into his back as his nanos shot straight with a hot piercing gale, rendering itself from the desert winds and pushing Diana hard against his back, like a cannonball wrapped in blue sending him straight across the gap. Blood-curdling screams from the girl rendered him deaf briefly from the piercing pitch, making him lose focus as he began falling slowly. The brief moment hung in the air, like a bird frozen still in a photograph, was almost unreal and something he had never felt before. Then, once the air began to cease, he felt reality come upon him with its law of gravity as he fell straight towards the bridge, heading to the very gap. Screams came further up from behind him as Diana began to regret everything at once, shrieking violently as they soon landed upon the central beam with a shuddering groan of steel beneath. The raptor had made his descent less lethal with some brief-spirited winds to push him upwards, but he landed hard all the same with a heavy grunt as he kneeled swiftly taking the impact. Diana blinked cautiously at where they were. "Di-...did...we make it?!" "Yep," said FG, "s-sure did...nnnngh...alright...f-fuck that's phase two. Now to get to the other side and we're home free." "Y-you really DID leap like that?! SERIOUSLY!?!" "Heh...yeah...are you impressed?" "I...y-yeah, kinda! That wuz pretty awesome! I mean...I...really didn' that...you'd-" "Hey. I promised I'd keep you safe, if I thought I wasn't gonna make it, I wouldn't have had you come along with me and figured some other way around, I mean it. I've just done this before, these kinda leaps, I know how far I can make it." "Really? I never seen no animal jump that far." "Believe me, some do...like me...even if I feel a lot more powerful than I used to...and not as weak." "Whuzzat?" "Nothing just, murmuring to myself, okay you ready for the next jump?!" "Uhmmm...o-okay! Just, lemme know so I can grab you!" "Okay, get ready."

She readied herself for another hug as James tested the steel length he now stood on, knowing it was uneven by the way it teetered slightly back and forth. A fulcrum underneath, born of twisted steel that made him very uncertain as to rely on it for much longer. If he leant too much on one side of it, then it almost certainly would begin to weaken its joints and start falling, needing to make this count. He saw the other end of the bridge mostly intact, but it was too high for a running start on the beam regularly. He had to make this the right choice. Gently walking back he let the beam slowly creak backwards, groaning as it reared its length up towards the sky like a ship heading to its watery grave. He walked back a bit further, then more and more allowing his combined weight to push it back ever higher up until he felt it was ready, Diana looking rather worried as to what he wanted to do. Then he decided it was ready the moment his carrier child began panicking. "Wh-wh-wait, WAIT WAIT, yer makin' it fall back, YER MAKIN' IT FALL BACK!" "I KNOW, THAT'S THE PLAN!" "WHUT!?" "JUST HANG ON TIGHT, I'M GONNA RUN FOR IT!" He pounded his feet heading forwards with a rush off to the very top, the raptor snarling as he stomped up the steel incline as fast as he could as it suddenly began dropping the other way. Each clash of his feet against the beam sent it shuddering down further and further, making it creak and squeal briefly with resistance before he had enough height, leaping off the very edge as he charged his way forwards with a chant of: "WUUUULD!" Sending the gust of wind his direction he slammed hard across the rest of the gap, hurtling forwards as he hit the ground running. The moment his claws slapped across the wooden slats it took every inch of his concentration not to fall through between them, skip-hopping frantically across the remaining railroad beams as he jumped hot onto the bare heated dirt on the other side. He struggled stumbling on towards a complete stop, wincing as he felt Diana's weight overbalance him and fall forwards flat on his face. "GUNGH!" "UGH! S-sorry..." "Snnkay," murmured FG muffling, "wrr gud pesd ud." "Um...whut?" "Nnngh...I said-" He slowly stood himself up before getting on his knees and slowly began unbuckling the scabbard off of him to let Diana drop. "-that we got past it. You alright?" "Yeah...y-yeah totally, that...that wuz crazy, I...y-you really did...do that." "Heh, no more crazy than the usual." "Th-that wuz...um...we ain't never gonna do that again, righ'?" "I sure hope not." "Good, cuz if I get sick an' you the cause of it, then I won' be yer friend no more." "Pfft, since when were you my friend?!" "Uh......okay, if YOU made me sick then I won' ever be yer friend, that it?!" "Sure, fine, whatever, even if I did taught you how to shoot and saved your ass, you know you could respect me a little after I got you across that gap." "Pfft, whut's respect gonna git you, a medal?" "...at least a thank you would suffice. I mean it's not much to hear it at least once, right?"

He seemed rather hurt looking at her glumly as he rearranged his scabbard's position on him, the scissors back in their place upon his back as she gently prodded at her own two index fingers, one on each hand rather nervously. "...th-thank you." "It's alright...just...I just don't get why you don't trust me, after all we've gone through in the past two days, I'm not asking for much, I don't really care if you like me or not but at the very least I just-" "A-ALRIGH' LOOK jus-...look, I do trust you. I really do, I mean you saved me an' I...really really wanna say thank you fer gettin' me out of that place. But...you said so yerself that you don' know anythin' about this place." "Right." "So why should I trust whut you say even if you got me this far with ya? I mean...maybe YOU'RE nice, an' YOU wanna do good stuff, an' you DID rescue me but...that don' mean I trust whut yer thinkin'." "And what am I thinking exactly?" asked FG. "That this place we gonna git to is like sum kinda safe place we can live out on in peace. You really think someplace like that exists? Out here?! Sum kinda safe li'l house that ain't been raided off by slavers an' ransacked an' burnt?! You really think that?!" "We have to try, we've got nowhere else to be and we've come this far. I don't know a lot about this place, this entire state, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't at least just try to get someplace. You believe that too, don't you?" "Wha-huh?" "Think about it, if you never thought for a minute that this place wasn't going to be safe, you would never have let me come with you and guide you. Let me remind you I never forced you to accompany me, I asked your name and let you go out and you agreed to walk with me. You could have left at anytime." "Wha-you never said that, you took me along wit' you!" "Well yeah, but I gave you a backpack full of things and didn't tie you up, I mean you could have SAID you wanted to leave and head out on your own and you mentioned that more people in groups was more easy a target. But you still went with me. Why's that?" "...because you promised that you'd save my mom." That hit him a little harder than expected, almost forgetting that was the real reason she was accompanying him. She hadn't cared so much about herself, he noticed that in the way she went screaming wild at coyotes and barely tried to revel in her new freedom, for as much as she wanted safety like any other living being, she also needed her family. And each step that she took with him out on the wastes was a crippling reminder of this emptiness. He had just been a little too blinkered to keep noting it as she crossed his arms before him, the bridge now forgotten beyond them. "You said we'd be able to see someone, you said that we'd meet sum people that could help me, YOU said that an' YOU promised. You ain't gonna leave me there without mah mom, no way...not like this...we...we promised that we'd be gettin' out together an' I won't break that promise, IF YOU MAKE ME BREAK THAT PROMISE TO MY MOM I'LL KILL YOU!" "Okay okay...I understand, I wouldn't want you breaking anything, I got it." "You...you have a mom too...James?" "No," said James. "I don't." "But...how'd you get born then?" "Heh, I don't know who my mum was, I was raised by someone else, someone who had to raise a city and then couldn't raise me properly. Someone who...did a lot of bad things which is why I've done bad things too." "Like...murderin' an' stuff?" "Yeah, basically. But that's because of me, not because she made me, just one of those things that happen." "So...you never had a mom that...looked after you? That...made you feel like everything would be okay even when it looked like it wuzn't? No matter whut?" "...there was someone...not until a few years back but...there was somebody." "H-huh?" "Someone who...made me feel welcome in her own home, like she...like she wanted me to be. Klair...Klair and...Koopin and...Shelldon. Like a real perfect family. Perfect. ...almost too perfect." "Whut you mean?" "Perfect until I came along...not...not dealing with any problems until me...I don't deserve their family." "Why you say that?" asked Diana. "Because of...things I did...things, that-no, look, listen I...I understand how deeply you want your mum back, and I WILL do everything I can to bring her back to you. That's why I'm going with you to this Beech." "An' whut if you don' find anybody?! Whut if we don' find someone, a-a-an' then you won't be to keep yer promise, you don' know whut's out there you said it!" "Look I got it okay, jesus you keep saying this over and over I GET it okay!? If I can't find someone I'll...I'll find them elsewhere. Listen, I made a promise to protect you, and that's it, I WILL keep that promise. But I can't be certain about being able to save your mom from that slave camp, I'm sorry." "BUT YOU SAID-" "THAT DOESN'T MEAN that I won't do my best, I will do everything I can to make certain someone will get them out safely. I won't forget that Diana. I promise you that." "...alrigh'. Jus'...you better promise me fer real." "Cross my heart." Slowly he began making the cross over his chest, bare with glistening sweat upon the heat of the deadened wastes as he unconsciously felt for something missing, before saying: "All I ask is that you have some faith in me. I know you didn't want this being out here on your own and if I knew that I would have thought of some way to get your mom out with you. I mean it." "O-okay...just...we should...we should get going, get there real soon." "Right." With another awkward end to a conversation between them, they headed out once more onto the wild wastes, searching for that ever-elusive place known only as the Beech. The raptor found the name odd, even with the title of it spelt out right in front of him on the map. But he had more concerns than just odd spelling to worry about, as they soon made their way up towards a larger city called Momence. A city that soon became more than just an obstacle to perhaps both of them.