Dominic twisted and turned on his bunk as the morning light began to filter through the windows of the building, on top of the cold he was also having some rather intense nightmares that couldn’t quite be quantified. Images of the people he loved in great suffering, cities burning, and general disaster haunted his tired mind. That was, until his mind had had enough. The man sat upright, breathing heavily as he shook off the nightmares and looked around the room.

The others were asleep, including Maria and Jen, and for the first time Dominic felt like he was truly on his own again. The man silently pulled on his boots and jacket, then set his cap atop his head and walked to the door. As he went he tightened his belt and rested a gloved hand on the hilt of his blade for some sense of security, at the door he paused and looked over his shoulder at the soldiers behind him. With a sigh the man quickly stepped outside and reached to his pocket to withdraw a cigar, he was quick to bite off the cap and light then with a wood match as he began walking out into the shanty town.

The clouds had cleared over the night and a familiar blue sky just seemed to stretch on for miles and miles, Dominic faintly smiled as he made his way through the snow until he’d reached a bit of an overlook. He put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath as he looked out over the snow covered fields and woods that surrounded Pikes Peak, the beauty of his homeland was something he had missed for a long while. The man’s expression shifted to one of melancholy as he thought of all the suffering that was happening out in that vast beautiful expanse.

Dominic exhaled a puff of smoke from his cigar as he turned away from the view and started walking back towards the town. It seemed that almost everyone was asleep, there wasn’t even a soldier on patrol, and as Dominic stuffed his free hand in his pocket he felt a familiar lonesome ache settle into his chilly bones. He paused as he walked past a rather shaky looking building made of corrugated tin and pallet wood, the soft sound of someone picking a guitar echoed through the wall.

The man quietly walked towards the building and took note that it seemed to be some sort of bar, if the sign was anything to go by. He pushed the front door open and stepped inside, momentarily looking around. It was small, and even as he removed his hat his head was still no more than an inch or so from the ceiling. There were no more than three tables spread out about the small square room, each of them had a pair of mismatched chairs, and the bar wasn’t anything more than a couple crates lined up sideways.

A single man was sitting in one of the chairs with a couple empty beer bottles on his table, he was strumming away quietly at a six string without any rhyme or reason. Dressed in fatigues, he was a soldier for sure. As Dominic got closer he soon realized that it was none other than Colonel Baxter, the older man looked at him with a raised eyebrow before gesturing for Dominic to sit down.

“You have some sort of alien psychic powers…?” Baxter said quietly as Dominic sat down and adjusted his seat. “Just as I was about to get up and grab you, you just walk in.” Dominic set his hat on the table and puffed on his cigar quietly.

“Couldn’t sleep.” The younger man replied, Baxter set his guitar down and turned to face his newest visitor with an appraising eye. “I take it that’s why you’re here too?” The Colonel nodded in response.

“Been thinking on what you said about ‘saving’ our people…” Baxter said as he interlocked his fingers and looked Dominic in the eye. “What would we have to do in order for that to happen?” Dominic paused for a moment as he puffed on his cigar and looked off as if thinking for a moment, when he exhaled he began to speak.

“Well, first we’d send them through the portal, on the other side we’ve got a hospital and other places where we can check them out, get them fed, clean clothing, and so on.” Dominic began to explain, Baxter continued to look him in the eyes. “From there they’d be set up in a refugee housing block, or some other form of structure, where we’d give them a decent amount of currency.” The man paused and looked at the table for the moment. “There’s one thing though, and that has to do with weaponry.”

“What about weaponry?” Baxter asked, his mustache hair bristling in anticipation.

“Some folk on the other side were concerned about human weaponry being brought through and left unsecure, what we’d need to do is examine anything going through.” Dominic explained as he puffed on his cigar and continued to stare Baxter in the eyes. “Basically like a normal gun registration and so on, I’ve already set up the forms and channels…”

“That sounds reasonable, Mister Occisor.” Baxter said as he leaned back in his seat and stopped his intense stare. “We’ve got a lot of civilians here that we could do very well without, that’s not to sound cruel, but every one of them is one more person to worry about feeding or taking care of.” Dominic nodded in understanding as he too leaned back in his seat and puffed on his cigar, the smoke rose into the air in little wisps of grey. “With the EOL breathing down our necks, I’d feel a lot better knowing they were some place safe.”

“You have my word as an officer, no harm will come to them while in my care.” Dominic said seriously, Baxter stared him in the eye for a moment or two before nodding quietly. “Speaking of the EOL-” Before Dominic could continue the door to the bar burst open and a tired looking man ran in with a slip of paper in his hand.

“Colonel, sir!” The soldier said as he offered the paper to his commander. “The Colorado Kids torched downtown Evergreen last night.” Dominic sat up straight in his seat at the mention of his home town. “Only building to survive was that bar by the river, it looks like they took out another supply truck and thirteen troops.”

“Fucking brilliant.” Baxter said as he looked over the paper, a slight smirk crossing his lips. The Colonel gestured for the soldier to leave and slid the paper across the table to Dominic “I don’t know who the hell these guys are, but I wanna give ‘em both medals.” The younger man picked up the paper and silently read about how the downtown portion of his hometown had been destroyed, at least the residential areas had survived as fully intended on returning to his home one day. “They’ve got Empress Raven in such a fit, she’s focusing more on killing them than on killing us.”

“Us.” Dominic said quietly as he set the paper down. “I assume that means we’re getting somewhere?” Baxter nodded and offered his hand to Dominic, the man nodded and shook it firmly. “If my General was here, he’d say we should hit their closest base with everything we had, but I don’t know what their base even looks like.” The man shrugged quietly and puffed on his cigar again. “Then again, we may have a way of finding out.”

“That shouldn’t be necessary yet.” Baxter said as he picked up his guitar again and began to tune it quietly. “We’ve got an opening to start moving the civies out and your troops in, I suggest we take it.” Dominic paused for a moment before nodding, he’d differ to Baxter’s judgement here, as Baxter was far more experienced in fighting the EOL.

“The portal should appear in a couple hours, give or take a few…” Dominic said as he tapped the ashes of his cigar into an empty beer bottle. “We should have five more tanks coming through, plus a hundred or so ground troops.” Baxter hummed for a moment as he examined Dominic’s cigar, after a moment the young man took note and reached into his pocket to withdraw another one. The colonel took it and bit off the cap, Dominic lit it for him and after a few puffs his eyes widened.

“Damn…” The colonel said as he exhaled. “What is that, cuban?” Dominic shook his head and leaned back in his seat once again.

“Equestrian.” He said simply, Baxter hummed and looked at the cigar for a moment. After a couple silent minutes the Colonel cleared his throat and leaned forwards, Dominic leaned forwards as well to better look his new ally in the eyes.

“So, I heard tell from a couple sentries you and Major Valova seemed to hit it off last night.” The Colonel said evenly, Dominic puffed on his cigar but didn’t say anything. “Now, what the Major does in her own time is her own business, but I want to know what makes you so goddamn special.” The Colonel looked the man right in the eyes, Dominic’s own gaze was unwavering. “Not that I’m interested, but she’s sent at least five guys to the infirmary for trying to make a move on her.”

“I told you this was all for a girl, right?” Dominic said simply, he leaned back in his seat and sighed. “We grew up together, and when Evergreen fell I pulled her out of a burning building, I’d promised her I’d come and get her if anything happened. Kind of hard to break a bond like that I guess.” Baxter just hummed and smirked quietly.

“Well that helps put my fears to rest a tad, seems you’ve made good on your promise to her. Just don’t let your feelings get in the way, son, that’s a sure way of getting killed.” He commented before he leaned back in his seat and reached into one of his pockets, from within he pulled the bottom portion of a can with a couple rungs cut into it. He set it on the table and set his cigar in one of the rungs, Dominic got the idea and put his own in the makeshift ashtray as well. “You a music man, Dominic?”

“You could say that… To be honest I’m a bit of a Johnny Cash fan.” Dominic replied, Baxter chuckled and grabbed his guitar and gave it a few strums of the guitar. “Is that Man in Black?” Baxter nodded and Dominic smiled a bit. “That’s pretty good, wish I could play like that.”

“Meh, maybe I’ll teach you, hell half the guys around here don’t even know who Cash was, damn shame if you ask me.” Baxter set his guitar down and picked up his cigar once again, the smoke was a bit thick and that was something that he liked. “If you’re looking for something to do while we wait for everyone to wake up, I was gonna go out and do some supply gathering, wanna tag along?”

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous considering you’re the commanding officer?” Dominic asked, Baxter shrugged and puffed on his cigar.

“You’re right, but it’s something that helps me relax. If I want something right, I generally like to do it myself.” The Colonel replied, Dominic paused at his explanation before he shrugged and stood up.

“Alright then, why don’t we take one of my tanks then? We’ll be able to carry more stuff.” The younger man suggested, Baxter chuckled as he rose out of his seat and began walking to the door with Dominic behind him.

“I like the way you think.” Baxter commented as the two of them stepped out into the cool morning light and closed the door behind them. Dominic took a moment to enjoy the fresh air once more before he continued following Baxter towards the train station. “Normally Major Valova comes with me on these trips, so she may be waiting for us when we get there. If she is I don’t want you making googoo eyes the whole damn time, I’m too old to put up with that shit.”

“I’ll do my best, Colonel.” Dominic replied as he put his cap atop his head and puffed on his cigar, Baxter meanwhile extinguished the cigar and slipped it into his jacket pocket for later use. Dominic hadn’t seen just how shoddy the town looked the night before, but as he walked through it he couldn’t believe that it was inhabited by people. Now that more time had passed he could see that there was some activity in the windows, occasionally he’d spot someone looking out at him.

Soon the pair had arrived at the station where the cog train was parked and waiting, sure enough Dominic caught sight of Maria standing on the platform in a brown cloak that looked like it had been decorated to be somewhat camouflaging. She had her mosin over one shoulder and as the sun passed over her Dominic could see her somewhat pale skin giving off an almost angelic glow. The woman caught sight of him quickly and smiled as he stepped onto the platform with Baxter, Maria gave the Colonel a salute before she walked forwards and hugged Dominic.

“What’re you doing here? I didn’t see you when I woke up, I figured you’d gone to the bathroom or something.” She said as she let go of him, Dominic shook his head and smirked.

“Colonel wanted to go for supplies, I offered to let him use my tank.” He said, Maria hummed in thought, she hadn’t seen the fabled tanks that Dominic had told her about. Part of her worried about bringing Dominic along with her and the Colonel, mainly because she didn’t want to put him at risk. On the other side, he was going to be in a tank.

“Sounds fun, I call shotgun!” Maria said with a smile, Dominic nodded with a good natured look in his eyes before the three of them stepped onto the train. Baxter walked to the control box and pushed a few buttons, allowing the train to start down the tracks towards the bottom of the hill. Dominic walked to one of the windows and looked out once again at the vast landscape, his hands clasped behind his back. Maria walked up beside him and hummed as she too looked out at the snow covered fields. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Dominic replied quietly as he took a final puff on his cigar before he tossed it out the window into the snow. “That’s your mom’s Mosin, right?” Maria nodded silently. “The fire didn’t get it? I was sure it would’ve burned up…”

“She had it with her when she and dad ran out to get some last minute supplies, I found it a while ago when I went scouting up by the old Safeway, before the EOL took over Evergreen.” Maria replied quietly, Dominic looked at her for a moment before he put his arm over her shoulder. He could hear the hurt in her voice, there was certainly more to that story than she let on, but Dominic knew that if she wanted him to know she’d tell him. “Thanks, Dom…”

“No problem.” Dominic replied, after a few minutes he hummed quietly. Maria looked at him with a raised eyebrow, considering she was a head shorter than him Dominic couldn’t help but find it a bit cute, after a few seconds she realized what song he was humming and her eyes widened.

“Stop it.” She said with a bit of a blush. “I mean it! You know how that song gets stuck in my head.” Dominic’s smile only grew wider as he continued humming and tapping his foot, then he began nodding his head. “C’mon, Dominic! Stoooop.” It was a Swedish song that Dominic had downloaded so many years ago just to mess with Maria and cheer her up. She tried to deny that she liked it, but Dominic had stopped believing that the time he’d walked in on her dancing to it.

“Fine. We’ll just listen to it in the car… Tank… Whatever.” Dominic said as he stopped humming before he pulled Maria a little closer. The man paused and looked down at the woman for a moment. “Hey, did any radio stations survive? Like, is there some guy like ‘Three Dog’ out there or something?” Maria chuckled for a moment before she nodded, the train was getting closer to the ground now, and Colonel Baxter had resigned himself to watching the two of them from the control console.

“There’s Ghost Peak Radio, it’s run by this lady named Andreina out somewhere in the foothills, my money is on her being near the Mother Cabrini shrine on that big hill top overlooking I-Seventy.” Maria mused as she slipped out from Dominic’s arm in order to begin looking over her rifle, Dominic hummed quietly and leaned against a handrailing installed in the wall of the train. “You wouldn’t like it though, she only plays electronic stuff, no metal.”

“Darn…” Dominic said as he looked over at her with a slight smile. “Guess we’ll just have to sit and talk like normal people.”

“Guess so.” Maria hummed as she slipped a round into the rifle’s chamber and slung it over her shoulder again. “Oh, hey, did you hear what happened in Evergreen last night?” Dominic nodded and quietly cast a quick look over at Colonel Baxter. The older man was still watching them as he puffed on his cigar. “I really hope our neighborhood survived, it’d suck if we couldn’t go back there now that you’re here.”

“The report I saw said the residential areas were safe.” Dominic said with a shrug as the train started passing by a couple trees. “I wonder if my dirt bike is still there…” Maria gave a bit of a laugh, the lyrical sound caused Dominic to smile a bit wider.

“You hardly ever rode it.” Maria replied as she looked at him with a smile. “Why the hell do you care if it’s still there?” Dominic shrugged again.

“Because I miss it.” He said simply. “I didn’t get to ride it because at the time there wasn’t anywhere I could ride it. Now there’s no silly laws about ‘Private Property’, I could ride it wherever I wanted.” The man sighed quietly as he reached into his pocket, his fingers brushed against Luna’s feather for a moment, a bit of guilt went through him as he thought of her. After a second thought he continued to feel around, unfortunately it seemed he was out of cigars. “It was also a piece of shit, if you recall.”

“Yeah, how many times did you have to fix that damn thing?” Maria asked, Dominic shrugged and looked out the window again. It seemed the train was pulling into the station now, several soldiers were waiting to board it and head back up the mountain. Maria adjusted her grip on her Mosin once again before she brushed a bit of her hair out of her eyes. Dominic and her walked towards the door as the train came to a stop, they were soon joined by Baxter.

“I prefer to think of it as a learning experience.” Dominic said with a shrug as the doors opened and he stepped out before offering his hand to Maria, she smiled faintly and took it while the other soldiers boarded and Baxter stepped off behind them. “I learned that any dirt bike selling for a hundred dollars online is probably a piece of junk. Now, two hundred dollars, that’s a different story…”

“Dominic, what did I say earlier? Enough of that mushy talk, get your head in the game, soldier.” Baxter cut in as he walked ahead of them through the station, passing by a couple troops sleeping on the benches that had been converted to cots. They paused momentarily as Baxter went to his office to give word to get the civilians ready for transport, and to notify the radio operators that the newcomers had become allies. It was an awkward wait, but Baxter returned soon enough. Dominic rubbed the back of his neck quietly as the three of them stepped outside, for the first time Maria could see the tanks. They reminded her of the old Stuart tanks she’d seen in all those documentaries that Dominic had made her sit through years ago.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding about them…” Maria mused as Dominic began walking towards the first tank in the line, the two others followed behind him as his boots crunched the snow underfoot. “What’s the max speed you can get out of these guys?”

“On a flat surface we managed to get it up to forty miles an hour.” Dominic said as he pulled himself up the grey behemoth and opened the hatch, Maria followed him, and then Baxter. “I’ll drive.” The commander climbed into the tank and shimmied down to the driver’s seat, adjusting it to better fit him as he was much larger than Gear Grinder. Maria slid in next and slipped her mosin into a gap beside Dominic, she took the gunner’s seat and looked around with a bit of awe as Colonel Baxter climbed in and looked around.

“Huh, dunno why I expected it to be weird and glowy.” The man mumbled, Dominic removed his officer’s cap and reached under the command seat to withdraw his old steel pot.

“Alright folks, put on your headsets.” Dominic said as he pulled on a pair of ear cuffs that had been designed to fit under a helmet, said helmet was quickly put on his head. Maria and Baxter slipped on their headsets while Dominic hooked up his music player, he wouldn’t play anything yet, but it helped to be safe. The man leaned forwards and pulled the starter switch, the engine rumbled to life as the vehicle began to vibrate. “Alright, we’re about to head out, Maria do me a favor and hit the right facing arrow in front of you, hold it until I tell you to stop.” Maria nodded and pushed the button, there was a slight lurch as the turret rotated forwards, when it was all the way forwards Dominic held up his hand. “Beautiful. Alright, Colonel. Where to?”

“Take us out of the compound, I’ll guide you to it.” Baxter replied as he stood up out of the turret and signaled the gate guards to open the gate. Dominic pushed open the driver’s hatch to let in a bit of fresh air and get a better look at the road ahead. The gate was opened quickly and Dominic began rolling forwards, the tank tracks squeaked and snow that had accumulated the night before was shaking loose of the vehicle. “Happened to notice you don’t have any MGs mounted on this thing.”

“Don’t have the know how to make ‘em yet, sir. Kinda had to start from the beginning again, you know?” Dominic replied as the rolled past the gate and started down the snowy road, the Colonel hummed at the revelation and Maria could see him rubbing his chin in thought. Dominic hummed quietly to himself, once again interjecting a couple lyrics as he did so. “... On the road again… Goin’ places that I never been…”

“Dominic, please, no country music.” Maria cut in, Dominic shrugged quietly and stopped his humming. The woman meanwhile leaned back in the gunner seat and looked around, the tank certainly was interesting, especially since it had been pretty much by her sort-of-boyfriend. She wasn’t sure where their relationship was, but so far things seemed to be going well. “You didn’t have to stop entirely, but you know I don’t like country.”

“What’s wrong with country, Major?” Baxter asked as he momentarily looked down from his place in the turret, Maria shrugged and rubbed her shoulders as she was a tad chilly.

“I dunno, guess I never caught the bug like he did.” She retorted, the Colonel shrugged and leaned back against the hatch of the tank. It felt oddly empowering to be riding high in a tank with the wind in his hair, the closest he’d ever gotten to it was when he’d used to drive his convertible.

“I know what music you like, don’t worry.” Dominic said with a grin, he laughed heartily as he felt Maria give him a swift kick. The tank continued rolling down the road for a few minutes, occasionally Dominic would drive past abandoned vehicles in the road, up ahead he could see a familiar looking sight. The bar that they had driven past the night before, it seemed there were a couple drunk patrons stumbling off in various directions while a couple were overlooking six bodies in the snow.

Dominic slowed the tank down as they got closer and eventually came to a complete stop next to the bodies and their overlookers, Colonel Baxter didn’t seem to protest. The two guys standing there raised an eyebrow at the vehicle before walking over and leaning against the front of the armored vehicle.

“What’s the story?” Baxter asked as he gestured to the six dead guys in the snow, Dominic recognized at least one of them as one of the EOL soldiers he’d seen in the woods the night before. The two guys that had been standing over them cleared their throats before the first one started talking.

“These EOL fucks came in and tried to shoot up the place, we took care of ‘em though.” The man, an older fellow like the Colonel with mutton chops and a blue wool peacoat, explained before he kicked one of the dead bodies with one of his boots. Dominic noted a couple AK-47s lined up beside the bodies, something that wasn’t lost on the second man.

“You lookin’ to buy?” He said as he walked towards the driver’s hatch while Colonel Baxter and the first man started talking more in detail about the previous night’s incident. Dominic shrugged before he felt a tap on his shoulder, the man looked over his shoulder and spotted Maria who quietly gestured for him to lean back. Once he did she leaned forwards and whispered into his ear.

“Ask him to see the real guns, this guy’s been selling junk guns for years.” She warned, Dominic nodded quietly and reached into his jacket to withdraw a couple gold bits. The man outside saw the flashy metal and his eyes widened, mainly because gold was still somewhat valuable in the post apocalypse economy. There was always some jerk looking to gold plate a gun or something along those lines.

“Show me the actual pieces and I’ll consider it.” Dominic said as he adjusted his helmet and shut down the tank’s engine to conserve fuel. The man outside quickly nodded and walked behind the pile of bodies to pick up a very clean looking rifle, it looked far better than the ones laid out in the snow. He walked to the tank and held it up for Dominic to view and the commander leaned out of the driver’s hatch and looked over the gun for any minute damage, he also checked that the cleaning kit was present. “What’s the ammo cost with this?”

“If you’re paying in gold, I’ll give you eight magazines free! Of course, the gun will be more expensive!” The man replied with a cheeky smirk, Dominic just gave him a somewhat annoyed expression before reaching into his jacket and withdrawing several other pieces of gold.

“That’s about all I’ve got on me.” He said as he offered them to the man, the man with the AK examined them carefully and raised an eyebrow at the strange language and pictures. He didn’t know gold from pyrite, so as far as he knew they looked legitimate. On the other side, Dominic actually had many more pieces like that in his bag and in his jacket. “Will you throw in a second one for free?”

“Eh… You’ve got an honest face. Alright, but that’s it!” The man said as he slipped Dominic the first rifle through the driver’s hatch, Dominic set it down beside him before he took the magazines from the gun merchant, and finally the second rifle. “Why do you want two of them?”

“I have my reasons.” Dominic said simply before he smiled and closed the driver’s hatch, after a couple seconds he felt another tap on his shoulder and Maria looked at him with an expression that was asking the same question. “One’s for me, the other I’m sending back to my R and D guys.” Dominic took the second rifle and a magazine and stashed them back under the commander seat, leaving his own rifle beside him.

“Think that’s really a good idea?” Maria asked, Dominic leaned back in his seat and sighed.

“Well, it’s either that or we come through with single shot crossbows and swords and no back up. Our magic based weapons are useless against humans.” He explained as he looked at the rifle beside him and picked it up, he’d only seen an AK up close once before when he’d visited a gun show with Maria for her sixteenth birthday. This one appeared to be of the Soviet era, if the hammer and sickle engraving and russian text was anything to go by. Maria hummed quietly as she heard Dominic’s explanation, she hated to admit he had a bit of a point.

“Well, when we stop next I’ll get out and show you how to use that thing, it’s not like shooting a shotgun.” Maria said as she leaned back in her seat and looked over at the Colonel’s legs, he was still chatting with the man outside about the dead EOL troops. “You want to put on some music or something? He’s gonna be up there for a while, these two guys love to chat.” Dominic shrugged and picked up his music player before adjusting his headset, he flicked through a couple of the saved songs and settled on one what he’d taken a liking to.

Dominic leaned his head back and listened to the music, Maria quietly watched him for a moment before she too began paying attention to the song. It was a rather interesting song about tanks oddly enough, Sabaton if she remembered the bands he liked correctly, Maria could see why perhaps Dominic connected with it. She chuckled quietly as she saw him start to air guitar as if he wasn’t being watched, when he heard her giggling he blushed and stopped, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Now who’s the cute one, eh?” Maria asked as she leaned forwards and patted his helmet, the man just sighed and shook his head as he leaned forwards to look outside. “You’re such a silly willy.”

“A silly willy?” Dominic asked as he looked over his shoulder. “What, are we in first grade?” Maria laughed and gave him a raspberry, Dominic responded by making his silly face, and that continued for about twenty seconds.

“I know you are but what am I!” Maria said in a nasally tone before Colonel Baxter crouched down in the turret and gave both of them the look of an annoyed parent. Dominic and Maria quickly quieted down and awkwardly looked at the floor, the Colonel popped back up and quickly said his goodbyes to the fellow he’d been speaking with before he cleared his throat and put his headset back on.

“Alright you lovebirds, time to roll out.” The Colonel said, Dominic pulled the starter and the engine rumbled to life once more. “Take us down to the crossroads, from there turn right.” Dominic nodded and began driving down the road once again, this time pouring on a bit more speed as he listened to his metal music. The tracks continued to squeal and squeak as they tore through the snow that covered the ground, Dominic didn’t let that bother him though as he pushed his hatch open again and let the chilly cold breeze hit his cheeks.

A comfortable silence settled over the vehicle, Maria took that time to go over her rifle once again while Baxter enjoyed the feeling of commanding from a vehicle. He would have to see about getting one of these tanks for himself, but for now he was focused on the scavenging mission. Dominic was a bit more focused on what those six dead EOL troops seemed to indicate, the Empire was getting frisky, and that perhaps meant an attack would come soon. He reached to the radio and changed channels from the internal intercom to channel nineteen.

“Night Eagle calling CNG Control.” He said, that got the attention of Maria and Baxter.

”Go ahead, Commander.” A voice replied.

“Notify the crews of Visigoth and Mirage they’re on guard duty down by the gate, with their vehicles.” Dominic ordered, there was a simple ‘Affirmative’ and Dominic switched back to the internal comms. “Something about those dead guys didn’t sit right with me, better safe than sorry, right?” Baxter nodded silently while Maria shrugged and went back to her rifle, Dominic added a bit more speed as a different metal song began playing over the sound system.

Eventually the crossroads came into view and Dominic prepared to make the turn, the sun was higher in the sky now and it reflected off the snow. It was nearly impossible for Dominic to see the road ahead without squinting, so he reached forwards and lowered the driver’s hatch with a bit of a thud. That made it a bit easier on his eyes as he turned right, on the right side of the road was a large amount of trees while on the left he could see an old ranch house, a barn and a wide expanse of farmland.

“Hey, Dominic?” Maria called out, the man hummed and looked over his shoulder. “You ever wonder about pumpkins? Like, are they a vegetable or a fruit?” Dominic shrugged and went back to looking out the view slit.

“I assume they’re some sort of fruit, they’ve got seeds in ‘em.” He replied with a somewhat curious tone, after a few seconds he looked over his shoulder again. “Why’d you ask?”

“Just something I’ve always wondered about is all, and you always seemed to know that stuff better than me.” Maria replied, Dominic shrugged again and went back to driving the tank, his vision occasionally shifted over to the barn until it had disappeared out of sight. “Hey, Dominic?” The man hummed once again. “Do you think Luna would like me?”

“Yeah, she’s really nice once you get past the whole ‘I can move the stars and moon’ thing.” Dominic replied, Maria got quiet after that. “Or, did you mean something else.” He looked over his shoulder once again, he could see the woman looking at the floor quietly. “Come on, Maria. What’s on your mind?”

“I dunno, it’s just… Look, can we talk about it later?” Maria asked as she gestured with her head towards Colonel Baxter who was still standing in the turret and watching the trees as they drove along. Dominic caught the hint and nodded before he leaned forwards and looked out the view slit, the group continued driving along, passing a couple ruined buildings and a bus that had seemed to have been burned to nothing but a skeleton some time ago. Dominic could see more than a few bones among the metal wreckage, though all of them were covered in a dusting of snow.

The drive lasted for another half an hour before Colonel Baxter cleared his throat, Dominic could see there was a rather large building come up with a fence outside of it. It was clear that this building was a Costco, one of the largest stores to buy in bulk from before the Fall of Society. The parking lot was filled with cars and other vehicles that had been left abandoned, Dominic didn’t see them as much of an obstacle though. He dropped the speed of the vehicle down a bit as he approached a car, which began to groan and crunch as Dominic drove over it in the tank. The movement jostled him and the others around, but it sure beat having to look for a way around.

He repeated the action several times until he’d finally reached the front of the store, the sliding doors were wide open and numerous boxes were strewn about inside, it seemed there was snow inside as well, and the only light he could see was coming from holes in the roof where skylights had failed and fallen inward. Dominic killed the engine and looked behind him at Maria and Colonel Baxter.

“Well, we’re here.” He said simply before he pulled the operator key from the tank’s control panel, that would ensure any passing schmuck couldn’t make off with fifty thousand bits in military equipment. Afterwards he pushed open the driver hatch and wriggled out into the snow, once he was outside he reached through the hatch and grabbed his new rifle as well as three magazines. Colonel Baxter and Maria meanwhile climbed out of the turret and landed in the snow with a couple soft thuds, the two of them brushed themselves off and Colonel Baxter began walking ahead.

“Let’s head inside, I doubt we’ll find anything really important, but you never know with places like this.” He said as he walked through the doors, reaching to his belt and withdrawing his service pistol, Dominic and Maria watched him disappear in the dark for a moment before shrugging and following behind him. The two of them stuck close to each other, partly for warmth in the cold air, and partly because the Costco was very spooky. It was very large, very dark, and Maria had heard tales of a doomsday cult that liked to carry out rituals on the roof.

The two of them could hear Colonel Baxter off in one part of the store, and assumed that since he hadn’t told them to follow that they were on their own. Dominic fumbled with one of the magazines and started to slip it into the rifle, he managed to get it set and looked it over for a moment. Maria reached over and grabbed the bolt, pulling it back and racking a round in the chamber.

“Thanks…” Dominic said as he held the rifle towards the floor, throw the darkness of the building Dominic could hear something dripping, the echo of it sent chills down his spine. The drops sounded too heavy, not like water, more like oil or blood. He hated to admit it, but he found himself shaking, he played it off as the cold though. He and Maria walked down an aisle that used to be filled with televisions, some of them remained, others lay on the floor in shattered ruins.

“Spooky, huh…?” Maria asked as they stepped past a couple of the ruined screens, Dominic nodded quietly. The woman paused and looked at some of the prices listed, then shook her head and sighed. “Three hundred dollars for this, now it’s just worthless junk. Can you believe people used to go for things like this?”

“People used to not have to worry about their neighbors trying to eat their face off.” Dominic replied as the two of them left the television aisle, Maria adjusted her cloak and pulled a brown bit of fabric from underneath. She wrapped it around her head in a manner similar to that of a babushka, Dominic assumed it was because of how cold the building seemed to be. “So, anything weird about this place I should know? Werewolves? Vampires? Doomsday cults?”

“Actually, yeah, on the last one.” Maria replied, Dominic raised an eyebrow for a moment before Maria heard the click of his rifle, it clicked twice, indicating he’d probably switched it into single fire mode. “Did you push that all the way down?” Dominic nodded. “That’s single fire.”

“I know…” Dominic held his rifle a little higher, but paused as he felt his foot step in something squishy. “The fuck…?” He looked down and found that there seemed to be an open jar of peanut butter on the floor, in fact there were a lot of them, the scary thing was they were all open. “Is that… Writing?.” Maria hummed quietly and reached under her cloak again, this time she withdrew a flashlight and flicked it on.

“Whoa…” She mumbled, someone had smeared peanut butter all over the floor, forming the word ‘Sale!’ over and over again. Maria and Dominic backed up, the man occasionally dragging his foot to get the peanut butter off his boot. “That stuff hasn’t dried, it’s fresh. Keep your head on a swivel, Dom…” They went back down the aisle of fallen television's and turned left, heading a bit deeper into the building and even closer to the dripping noise. The passed by a freezer section, some bulk paper towels, and a paint aisle, until finally they found themselves standing in a large area with numerous tables laid out.

Dominic walked forwards to one of them and picked up a soft stuffed animal, he stared at it for a few moments before he set it down and looked around. Aside from the TVs and the peanut butter, everything seemed too clean, too neat and tidy. Maria was quietly picking through the remains of a jewelry display, she held up a ring and looked at it closer with her flashlight.

Normally such a ring was advertised at two hundred dollars, and yet here she was, holding it like it was nothing. No one would be the wiser if she took it, and she was about to, until the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

“Maria…” Dominic’s voice caught her attention and she set the ring down on the counter, quietly she walked over to the place Dominic was standing and saw he was in front of a mop bucket. It was full, there was soapy water, and steam was rising off of it in the cold air. “That’s not normal, is it?” Maria silently shook her head. “We should get out of here, shouldn’t we?” She nodded, both of them froze as they heard a pair of footsteps behind them.

“Welcome to Costco, can I see your membership cards?” An all too cheery, horrifyingly high pitched voice asked from behind them. Dominic and Maria slowly turned around to see a hobbled old man, covered in blood and smelling of cleaning fluids. He wore filthy rags, including what remained of a red vest, and most disturbing of all was that he had a badge reading ‘Manager’ pinned to his chest. Not to the vest, it was literally sticking out of his chest. Maria was more focused on the machete in his grip, the one dripping with blood.

Dominic quietly reached to his back pocket, keeping a very calm face as he grabbed his duct tape wallet. Maria was staring at him with wide eyes, but the calmness in his actions told her that things would be alright.

“I don’t have the card on me, sir, but my mother is a member here. Perhaps you could look her up in your system?” Dominic said as if he were holding a normal conversation, the old man smiled and revealed gnarled black teeth that made Maria cringe. Dominic opened his wallet and reached in before he withdrew a crumpled old driving permit. “The name on it would be Occisor.”

“Y-Yes, I can check, young man… One second.” The old man rasped and looked at the ID, then he turned around and started to walk away. Before Maria could react, Dominic had grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her towards the light of the doors. She didn’t protest and the two of them broke out into full on sprints, behind them they could hear the cackle of the old man, screaming at them. “System’s down! System’s DOWN! I can’t let you in my store! GET BACK HERE!”

Ahead of them they could see Colonel Baxter, he was walking towards them, but the two of them signaled for him to head towards the doors. He got the hint when he saw the old man behind the two of them, wildly swinging his machete and moving with a speed that didn’t seem possible. The Colonel raised his side arm, Dominic’s eyes went wide.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” He yelled, several seconds later he dove to the floor and pulled Maria with him. “Shoot!” Three bangs rang out through the store, followed by the sound of brass bouncing across the floor. There was a thud behind Dominic and Maria, they both looked behind them to see the blade of the old man’s machete inches from their feet. The old man in question was on the floor, dead, the same twisted smile on his face as his dead eyes seemed to bug out of their sockets. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph…”

“Holy fuck…” Maria said as she panted, the two of them quietly got to their feet and brushed themselves off. Dominic picked up his rifle while Maria looked over hers, it seemed fine, as did her flashlight. “Thanks, Colonel.” She looked over at Dominic with a questioning expression. “‘Can you check the system?’? What the fuck was that about!?” The man wiped his nose as he caught his breath before speaking.

“I figured he still thought the store was open… It made sense to play to that crazy mindset so we could get the hell away from him.” Dominic replied as he looked down at the dead old man. “Tell him to check my family’s membership, he’ll go off looking for a computer, that means he’s a good enough distance away for us to run…” The man shrugged and rolled his shoulders. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Point…” Maria replied as she too looked down at the dead old man. “Poor guy… How long do you think he’s been here?” Dominic shrugged and gestured to the clothes.

“Probably since the outbreak.” He said, the Colonel cleared his throat and both of them looked at him.

“We came here for supplies, now that we’ve got the drama out of the way, let’s get back to work.” The Colonel said, his bushy mustache bristled as he did so. Dominic took a moment to calm his nerves before nodding, Maria took a few deep breaths of her own. “Next time, don’t hesitate to shoot first. You bought that rifle for a reason, didn’t you?”

“Right…” Dominic said quietly as he looked down at his weapon, the Colonel began walking down another aisle, leaving the two of them once again.

“Try to find something useful, like blankets or towels, or anything cloth really.” The Colonel said over his shoulder as he continued walking. “I’ll be over here looking for fuel.” Dominic and Maria watched him disappear around a corner, then looked at each other quietly.

“Does he always leave you by yourself when you go with him? Even after shit like that?” He asked as the two of them began walking back towards the tables, Maria shrugged and slung her rifle over her shoulder on its strap.

“He says it builds character.” She replied, it was clear her tone was a tad annoyed. The two of them continued walking in silence until they reached the tables once more and began to look around them. “Thanks, by the way… I know he was just an old man, but I don’t know if I could’ve gotten away as quick without your help.” Dominic shook his head and patted her on the shoulder.

“Don’t mention it.” He said as the two of them continued looking over the tables, occasionally Dominic would stop and looked at the banners that hung from the rafters. They swayed slowly in the breeze that howled through the building, their faded messages advertised everything that had been on sale just before the fall. “Hey, shine your light up there.” Maria lit up one of the banners and Dominic’s face broke out into a smile, he began chuckling quietly as he saw an advertisement for gas masks, filters, and other ‘Survival Necessities’. “Holy shit, these guys were fast..”

“Wanna check it out?” Maria asked, Dominic shrugged and the two of them began walking towards the indicated aisle. “I never understood that, why did everyone assume an apocalypse automatically warrants a gas mask?” Dominic held his weapon in one hand by the front grip as he hummed and put his hand on his chin.

“Well, I suppose if it’s a nuclear war they’d help with fallout, if it was a chemical war they’d help with chemicals, like they’re meant to…” Dominic’s expression faded a bit as they passed by a selection of dolls and other toys, toys that would never reach the hands of a child. “And in the end, I suppose with all those dead bodies, it’d help with the smell.”

“And if I remember correctly, you said they help with cutting onions too.” Maria said, it was clear she was trying to lighten the mood, Dominic just nodded and his expression somewhat brightened. “You know, I hear they used to sell mattresses here…” Maria sidled up a little closer and looked at Dominic, fluttering her eyelashes a little bit. “Want to try them out?” Dominic nervously tugged at his collar as he blushed and looked away, Maria began laughing loudly. “That still gets you after all these years! Yes!” She fist pumped the air as she reveled in another joke played on her ever bashful companion.

“What would you have done if I said yes?” Dominic asked as he tried to hide the red tint in his cheeks, Maria just continued to chuckle quietly.

“You wouldn’t.” Maria replied simply, Dominic looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You’re too much of a gentleman, you’d want to make sure everything leading up to… that… was romantic and special.” Maria smiled faintly. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.” Dominic held up a single finger as he walked along beside Maria.

“I can be spontaneous if I want to be.” He said, trying to defend himself before he lowered his finger quietly. “I’ve just never… Well, you know… I’d want that particular moment to be special is all.” Maria put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a tender squeeze.

“I understand… I’m kind of in the same boat, you know?” She said in a comforting tone before she brought her hand back to her side. “I’ll try to keep the jokes to a minimum.” Dominic smiled at her for a moment before he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, just a quick peck, nothing fancy. “What was that for?”

“Me being spontaneous.” Dominic said with a grin, Maria just sighed and rubbed her temples.

“You just had to go and ruin the moment, you silly willy.” She said with mock annoyance, Dominic just smiled a bit wider as Maria used her flashlight to illuminate an aisle in front of them. The displays were oddly well stocked, but considering that the old man from earlier had thought the store was still open for the last couple years, he was probably responsible for that. Gas masks, filters, and other survival items were lined up on the shelves in orderly fashions. “Looks like we’re here…”

“Yeah…” Dominic said quietly as he walked towards one of the displays and picked up a black backpack, he unzipped it and walked towards a display of gasmasks. “It’s a one stop doomsday shop, Maria. Go ahead and get something to compliment that beautiful rustic cloak of yours.” He said in an over the top announcer's voice as he removed his helmet and picked up a gas mask, Maria giggled before she stepped towards a display of black wool watch caps. Dominic pulled on the gas mask, it made his face feel a lot warmer than the bandanna he usually wore, and he could see in a conveniently placed display mirror that it made him look a bit more intimidating.

He picked up a couple masks and slipped them into the backpack, followed by as many filters as he could stuff into the main pouch. Dominic then put his helmet back on his head and swapped out one of the filters just to be sure it was fresh, with that he turned towards Maria and patted himself on the chest.

“Hey.” He said, the woman paused her browsing and looked at him, she rapidly started to snicker at him. Dominic smiled beneath the mask and got his voice to go as low and gravelly as it could. “War. War never changes.” The man reached behind him and picked up another mask, then tossed it to her. “Here, let’s see how it looks on you.” The woman chuckled quietly and pulled down the brown babushka, then pulled on the gas mask.

“Luke, I am your mother.” She said, doing her best to imitate Darth Vader. Dominic chuckled again as he watched her remove the mask and toss it back to him. “Hang onto that for me.” The man caught it and slipped it into the bag before opening the smaller compartment and walking further down the aisle. He began humming to himself, tapping his foot as he held his rifle in one hand and the bag in the other.

“Let’s see… Axes, fire extinguishers, camping stoves but no propane…” He mumbled to himself as he looked over the items out on display in the abandoned store, pausing as he saw a couple books. “Russian to English phrasebooks… Chinese to English dictionary… What this suggests is just un-American.” The man picked up one of the Russian books and slipped it into the bag, figuring it could come in handy with his new Russian gun. He looked up on the shelves that seemed to stretch towards the ceiling, up high it seemed there was a rather soft looking package. “Hey, Maria. I need that light again.”

The woman nodded as she pulled on a black watch cap and walked over with the light, Dominic pointed up to the top of the large shelf and soon the light was settled on a big metal cage filled with rolled sleeping bags. At first glance there had to be at least ten of them, and Dominic supposed they had been left untouched because they were up so high.

“Huh…” Maria said, Dominic nodded as his newfound gas mask wheezed. The woman looked at him for a moment before she pulled off her cloak and unslung her rifle, she pushed them into his arms before she rolled her neck and did a few quick stretches. “Hold those, I’ll be right back.” Maria hoisted herself up on a shelf before Dominic could protest, the man’s eyes widened as he nervously watched her climb.

“Be careful!” He called out, Maria looked over his shoulder at him.

“Oh really? I was thinking I’d do a couple back flips and then a swan dive into a Dixie cup.” She replied sarcastically as she nimbly ascended the shelves with practiced ease. “I’d move away from there if I was you.” Dominic gradually began walking backwards and off to the side as Maria got higher and higher up until she was on the top shelf next to the cage of sleeping bags. She briefly disappeared from Dominic’s view as she walked around to the back of the container and gave a hard shove. “Look out below!” She called before she gave another hard push, with that the cage slid forwards and fell towards the floor.

Dominic jumped back on instinct as it landed with a tremendously loud crash, to his surprise the cage didn’t collapse in on itself or explode, it didn’t break at all, meaning the sleeping bags were still stuck inside. Quietly the man began to approach the crate, only to hear another loud yell. He had just enough time to jump back again as Maria shoved another big box from the top shelf, this time it landed and exploded open, revealing the contents were numerous boxes of cheese crackers. Dominic’s eyes widened at the sight, he hadn’t had those delicious little morsels in years.

“You’re welcome!” Maria called from the shelf as she began climbing down, Dominic pulled off his gas mask and approached an undamaged box. He picked it up and opened it, then took a cracker from inside and bit into it. It was a bit stale, that sort of thing was to be expected after sitting in a warehouse for three years past it’s expiration date, but it was still better than nothing. As he idly munched on a few more crackers he looked at the cage filled with sleeping bags, the more accurate count now as more like ten or twenty. As Maria finished climbing down she walked up beside him. “So, what should we do now?” Dominic finished chewing his snack, which he was grateful for since he hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, before he reached into his pocket and withdrew the tank’s operator key.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea… Wait here.”

[♠]

Jen sat quietly in the train station at the bottom of the mountain, the cap of a pen in her teeth as she scribbled feverishly on a sheet of paper in front of her. It was her first letter to Johnny from beyond the other side, and she wanted to make sure it was just right. So far things had been going better than expected, the other soldiers were warming up to her and the ponies nicely, and the kids were having a full on blast. She chuckled as she remembered the look on Banana Muffin’s face as three or four girls tried to comb her very short mane.

Of course, a few people were wary of the otherworldly woman, and Jen could understand why. They had tanks, they had industry, and they could easily steamroll the CNG if they put their minds to it. However, Jen also happened to know that Dominic wasn’t in the business of conquest. If anyone had anything to fear, it was the EOL. Jen continued her writing, looking around quietly every couple minutes as soldiers would walk by. As she finished up her letter she set the pen down and folded up the paper in her uniform pocket.

The woman stood up from her seat and felt a rumble in her stomach, she quietly walked to the door of the station and looked outside at her tank. It was still parked where it was meant to be, Dominic’s tank was missing, and two of the tanks had been moved out by the gate for security purposes. Jen was happy it wasn’t her tank, otherwise she might have had to find some way of trading for food. The woman quickly walked across the road to her tank and climbed up into the turret, wordlessly she slipped down to her command seat and looked around the empty vehicle. It was nearly pitch dark, save for the light provided by the view slits and the currently open turret.

She began to look through the supplies stored around the walls until her eyes settled on a simple cardboard box marked ‘Field Ration’. Jen smiled and reached out to grab it, as she grabbed the box she heard her stomach rumble once again. The woman sighed as she opened the box and sat back in her chair, enjoying the bit of silence that the slumbering metal giant provided. She pulled the food from within the ration box and smiled as she saw it was a protein box rather than a vegetarian box. There was some spam, canned cheese, a roll, and a couple other items. Jen packed it all away again and tucked it under her arm before she climbed out of the tank and closed the hatch.

Jen sighed as she thought of Johnny again, smiling sadly as she thought back to the time he’d tried to cheer her up with Monty Python and other breakfast jokes. She walked back towards the train station, humming quietly as she looked down at the ring on her finger. The engraving in the rose gold was so well done she would’ve sworn the leaves were real, well, if it weren’t for the fact they were obviously carved into gold.

The woman entered the station and looked around, someone had started a fire in a big metal drum and a couple soldiers were huddled around it. Jen walked over to a bench near the fire herself and sat down to eat her ration there, she put the cold spam on the roll and put some of the cheese on it. Normally she would’ve cooked it, but she didn’t want the smell to attract a crowd. As much as she’d love to share, she knew she didn’t have enough for everyone in one ration pack, and she couldn’t give out other rations. Those were for her troops after all.

Jen quickly ate her cold sandwich and sighed once she’d done so, even if it hadn’t been the most appetizing, she was happy to have some food in her belly. She slipped the rest of the snacks into her pocket before crushing the box and approaching the fire, she tossed it into the barrel and added a bit more warmth, much to the happiness of the soldiers standing there.

“Hey, Sarge… Or is it Captain now?” Asked one of the National Guards standing there, Jen smiled faintly as she held her chilly hands out to warm them by the fire.

“Either’s fine, it’s a bit complicated.” The woman replied, there were a couple nods among the group. Word had spread quickly about her, and the new alliance, and so far she hadn’t received any trouble. Up in the shanty town she knew that the ponies were doing alright, and now that she’d eaten, she was fully ready to relax.

“So, what’s it like on the other side?” Asked another soldier, Jen looked at him with a bit of a shrug. She’d been asked that question at least a dozen times, and each time she tried to explain it as best she could.

“It’s warm, mainly because it’s in a desert. There’s a city and a refugee center, my fiance owns the only bar in town, and a big military base off to the side.” Jen said, she had never been the best at describing things before. A chuckle went up from one of the soldiers, he’d been standing there silently the entire time. “What’s so funny?”

“You having a fiance.” The man replied harshly, all eyes turned to him and Jen felt a bit of her self worth perish. “Come on, guys. We all know why we remember the dear Sergeant here, it’s my favorite story, how she and Commander Markus-”

“You’re out of line, corporal.” The first man, a sergeant, said harshly. The corporal just chuckled and reached into his pocket to withdraw a cigarette, meanwhile Jen was staring down into the barrel fire. The heat helped to hide the tears forming in her eyes, but she quickly beat those emotions down and shook her head. Johnny knew about what had happened between her and her old Commander, she’d told him long ago, and still he loved her enough to ask her to marry him. “The Captain doesn’t need your shit.”

“No.” Jen cut in, looking up from the fire and towards the Corporal with a stoic expression. “It’s alright, sergeant. I was thinking it was getting a bit crowded over here anyway.” The woman turned and began to walk away, she was an officer, not some little schoolgirl that could be hurt by words.

“Has he taken it up the ass yet?” The corporal’s voice cut through the air like a knife, Jen froze mid step. “You know, like Markus?” Her fists clenched and unclenched and she slowly turned around, in a display of her patience that would go on to be known as nigh saintly, she shook her head.

“Corporal. If you have a problem with me, for whatever reason, bring it up with me directly.” Her tone was calm and even, and the other soldiers around the barrel fire were surprised that she hadn’t stormed over and kicked the corporal’s teeth in. “Do not drag my family into it. Do I make myself clear?”

“C-Crystal, ma’am.” The corporal said nervously, because though her body had been calm, she had been looking him directly in the eyes. The look he’d seen in those eyes conveyed certain doom should the corporal continue his current choice of dialogue. Jen just nodded and walked away, leaving a very shaken corporal and a very impressed group of troops.

“What the fuck is your problem, Kowalski?” Asked the sergeant of the group, the corporal looked at him nervously. “Do you have any fucking idea what she could do to you?” The group leaned in a little closer so they could hear the sergeant better. “I heard she trained their special forces… She probably learned some sort of alien super fighting style that could turn you inside out or something!” The group looked over to the woman who had taken a seat across the room and was writing on a piece of paper once again. “More importantly. What happened between her and Markus in the bedroom is their own goddamn business, if I hear you brought that shit up again I’m going straight to Baxter. Read me?”

“Yes, sir.” Kowalski said quietly, his eyes going back to the fire.

“It’s getting about that time, Baxter wants us to start gathering the civies down here.” The sergeant said as he put his hands in his pocket. “Kowalski, head up the mountain and start bringing them down, O’Keefe you go with him.” The two of them nodded and walked off towards the cog train, meanwhile the Sergeant looked towards Jen who had now put her head in her hands. He silently walked over to her, noting she was sitting on one of the benches and reading over the paper in her hands. “Captain, I’m sorry about Corporal Kowalski.”

“It’s fine…” Jen said quietly as she leaned back in her seat. “I was kind of used to it back when it happened anyway.” The woman pinched the bridge of her nose and chuckled grimly. “Hell, if it hadn’t happened, Markus wouldn’t’ve sent me out that day, I may have never met my fiance. If a little shit talk is the price for that… I’d say it’s worth it.”

“All the same, ma’am, I won’t let it happen again.” The sergeant said, Jen looked at him and extended her hand. The man firmly shook it before sitting down. “I’m Connor, by the way, most people call me ‘Con Air’.”

“Nice to meet you, Sergeant Connor.” Jen said as she folded up her letter and looked at the sergeant beside her. He was just under six feet tall with auburn hair, auburn eyes, and a 5 o’clock shadow. “Mind if I ask where the name came from?” Connor nodded and leaned forwards to speak.

“Did three years for Aggravated Robbery.” He admitted with a bit of nervousness, Jen looked at him for a moment before she shrugged and leaned back in her seat. “What? You’re not gonna ask or anything?”

“My fiance did four years for armed robbery and currently runs what could loosely be called a mafia family.” Jen said as she looked at him with a bit of a friendly smile, Connor blinked a couple times in surprise. “So, yes, I’ve learned not to ask questions about stuff like that. I won’t judge you either, since it seems you’re a competent officer.”

“And you won’t call me Con Air?” Connor asked as he stared at her.

“Do you want me to?” She asked, the man shook his head. “Then I won’t.” The woman looked over towards the train that was heading up the mountain, then back at Connor. “So, I take it we’re gonna be sending people through soon.”

“Yeah, I’m still not sure how that’s going to work though.” Jen began to open her mouth to speak, but a sudden flash of light in the room cut her off. Both Connor and Jen looked to the source, the woman let out a sigh of relief while the sergeant looked confused.

“Oh captain, my captain!” Discord said as he stood there in a sailor uniform, of course he was in his human form, a mix between Alan Rickman and John De Lancie. “If it isn’t Captain Poplawski, soon to be Mrs. John… What is that guy’s last name anyway? I forgot.”

“You know he said the same thing…? We just settled on Gambino. After the whole escape thing he kinda lost some of his memory.” Jen said with a bit of an annoyed huff before she leaned in her seat. “You’re a bit early, aren’t you?” The draconequus in human form chuckled and walked forwards, snapping his fingers and changing his attire to something a bit more conservative. A pinstripe suit, to be specific.

“A chaos god can neither be late or early.” Discord explained, meanwhile Connor was pointing at Discord with wide eyes and a nervous expression. “Yes, I’m an ‘alien’, before you ask. And more than that!” Another snap, and now Discord was dressed as a train conductor. “I’m the one that punches your ticket to a better world! All aboard the Pony Express!” Discord pulled a cord that wasn’t there, nonetheless there was the sound of a train whistle.

“Connor. Meet Discord, lord of chaos in the other world and all around pain in the ass.” Jen said, patting the nervous sergeant on the shoulder and speaking with a warm, almost motherly, tone. “Discord meet Connor, Sergeant in the Colorado National Guard.” Discord offered his hand to the sergeant, and Connor reached out to shake it, only to draw his hand back with alarm as he felt a slight shock. The chaos god chuckled and held up his hand, revealing a hand buzzer. “See? Told you he was a pain in the ass.”

“Oh you’re no fun.” Discord said as he poofed the hand buzzer out of existence. “Speaking of no fun, where’s tall dark and brooding?”

“You’re a chaos god, don’t you already know?” Jen asked, Discord shook his head and pulled a comically over sized pocket watch from his pocket and looked it over, winding it a couple times before using his entire forearm to wipe the watch face.

“In Equestria I’m a chaos god, in this world I’m about as omniscient as a fortune cookie.” The chaos god replied with a bit of annoyance. “I need to talk to him though, there’s been a little bit of a wrinkle in this venture of ours.” Jen’s eyes went a bit wide, as did Connor’s. “Oh, don’t worry, we’ll be able to send all those people through.”

“Good.” Jen said as she relaxed back into her seat. “Dominic went out looking for some extra supplies, just in case we end up needed more when our troops come through.” Discord seemed to brighten at that, he discreetly began to ring his hands before slipping the large pocket watch back into his pocket. “Actually, he should be coming back anytime now.”

“Excellent!” Discord rubbed his hands together as Connor continued to stare at him wordlessly. The chaos god awkwardly began to pace around, Jen and Connor watched him with a bit of curiosity. Neither of them wanted to interrupt whatever it was Discord was doing, but as the minutes ticked by it became the only thing either of them could focus on. By the twenty minute mark the chaos god had taken to starting to peek outside, until finally the rumble of an engine filled the courtyard accompanied by a few cheers.

Discord peeked outside once again, this time Jen and Connor had stood up as well. The two of them stepped outside fully to see what the commotion was about, to their surprise they saw a tank hauling a large metal cage of sleeping bags on the back. Dominic was in the driver’s seat while Maria was sitting on the cage and Baxter was standing in the turret. As soon as the tank came to a stop several of the guards on the barricade climbed down to help unload the much needed warm sleeping bags. Dominic killed the engine and climbed out with an AK-47 strapped across his back, in his hands was a large bag that seemed to hold another rifle and miscellaneous other items.

“I”d say that went pretty well.” Dominic said as Baxter and Maria climbed down off the vehicle and into the snow. “We got stuff for R and D, we got blankets, and we didn’t get hacked to bits by a machete wielding madman.”

“Yeah, all in all, good trip.” Maria added, Baxter just shrugged and the three of them began walking towards Jen and Connor, mainly because that was where the main door was. Dominic reached up and removed his helmet, showing off his mohawk and smiling triumphantly.

“It’s about time to start sending people through, the sooner we get started the better.” Baxter said as they got to the doors. “Captain Poplawski, I see you’ve met Sergeant McCall.” Jen figured that was Connor’s last name and nodded, before she could speak the door opened and Discord stepped out in his pinstripe suit. “The hell?”

“This is the guy in charge of the portal.” Dominic said simply, Discord took a bow as if he’d just completed a play. “Though I’m a bit curious what it is he’s doing here, he normally just works his magic from behind the scenes.”

“I need to talk to you.” Discord said simply. “It’s about the fresh water condenser.” Dominic stared at him for a moment before his mind put the pieces together and he nodded.

“Oh, right… If you’ll excuse me, Colonel. Maria.” Dominic set the bag down on the ground. “Everything in that bag goes through to R and D, I’ve secured all our other gear in the tank.” Jen nodded but Dominic was already walking towards the parked tanks with Discord beside him. He lead the chaos god behind the tanks, out of sight from the others. “Fresh water condenser… Clever ruse.”

“Worked on the Japanese.” Discord said with a shrug before he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “So… There’s a wrinkle in the plan.” Dominic raised an eyebrow at him and gestured for Discord to go on. “Well, you see, magic in this universe is different from our universe. So, it has to work a bit harder than in our universe because of that.”

“Spit it out already.” Dominic said as he put his hands on his hips.

“What it boils down to is there’s sort of a cool down period for portals and what not. The longer they’re open, the longer it takes for them to cool down. I didn’t take this into account while I was doing this, which was dumb on my part, and I left the original portal open for too long. Meaning after we move the people through today… It’s gonna take some time to open another one.”

“How long?” Dominic asked as his disposition rapidly shifted.

“Well, I’m not one hundred percent-”

“How. Long.” Dominic said slowly, Discord bit his lip before speaking.

“Six months?” He said nervously, Dominic’s eyes went wide and he reached out and grabbed the chaos god by the collar, then pushed him up against the back of the take. “At most! It could be as little as two!”

“You’ve been planning this for how fucking long!?” Dominic hissed as he looked into Discord’s eyes. “How the fuck do you miss something like this?”

“Well it’s not like opening a hole between space and time is an exact science, especially between two specific spaces and time!” Discord said with a bit more of a Scottish accent than perhaps he meant, he sounded a bit like Scotty from Star Trek. “It’s like trying to hit a bullet with a smaller bullet while wearing a blindfold and riding a horse!” Dominic paused for a moment before he let go of Discord’s suit and brushed it off, sighing and quietly rubbing the back of his neck, Luna’s teachings on patience were kicking in.

“I understand… Sorry about that…” Dominic said quietly before he looked at Discord again. “What about supplies? What about troops? If we account for them, how long would the wait be?”

“A year, maybe two…” Discord replied, Dominic took a few moments to rub the back of his neck and pace back and forth before he stopped and nodded.

“Just fuel, food and cannon ammunition? If they just shoved a couple barrels and crates through?”

“You’d tack on a couple extra days, but I think you could swing it.” Discord admitted, Dominic looked at the ground for a few minutes, his breath being carried away in the wind as he tried to work it out in his head. Being an introvert, he liked to plan things out as best he could before making any decisions, but the more that he thought about it the more he hated the choices. He’d have less supplies than he’d need for all of his troops, no troops and no supplies at all, or not open the portal at all and just let the clock run down. As he heard the sound of the cog train pulling into the station and the hushed words of civilians, the man took a deep breath and made his choice.

“See if you can get the tank crews down here, as well as Jen and Colonel Baxter, I need to go over a few things with them.” Dominic said quietly, Discord nodded and disappeared in a flash of light. Dominic reached into his pocket and withdrew Luna’s feather, looking at it quietly for a few seconds before slipping it back in. “Sorry, Lu…”

[♠]

Princess Luna and Sonar stood patiently at the edge of the refugee center, ponies from across the globe had come to volunteer to help the first batch of human survivors. Surprisingly, the order for more troops hadn’t come through yet, but Luna could guess why that was. Surprisingly enough, a large amount of fuel, food, and ammunition had been wheeled into position, but it was only to be sent through after everyone had cleared the area. Standing beside the Princess and the Vice-President was Twilight Sparkle, she had begged Celestia to let her go and see the human world, even though she knew how dangerous it could be.

The chance to see human architecture and read human books had proven too much to pass up for the bookish former librarian, she’d been emboldened by events like the first battle of New Liberty and her experience as a ruler in Equestria. Unfortunately, Celestia hadn’t agreed to let her friends go with her, but she would be sure to pick up some souvenirs for them.

“How do you think he’s handling the news?” Sonar asked Luna, prompting Twilight to look over at the two of them.

“Not well.” Luna replied quietly. “Undoubtedly he will probably view this as a failure, when he returns we’ll need to make sure he understands this is not his fault.” Sonar nodded and adjusted her suit, the hot sun was making it a bit difficult on her to breathe. Ever since her experience at the hooves of Starlight Glimmer and her cronies Sonar had suffered from breathing problems and heat flashes, a steady growth of dislike for dictatorships had been growing as well, and that extended to the EOL on the other side. Every wheezing breath, every aching joint, it was all a reminder of the cruelty of evil, no matter what species.

“What if he doesn’t come back through?” Twilight asked, Luna and Sonar looked at her with a bit of surprise. “Well, you’ve trained him to be a warrior, right? What’s the one thing warriors don’t do?” Luna and Sonar looked at each other, both of them were surprised that they hadn’t thought of that themselves. They had been sure that Dominic would want to come through and handle things on the home front, but perhaps the supplies going through wasn’t for anyone he would be leaving behind, but rather for him to use himself.

The three leaders lapsed into a bit of silence as they began walking towards the staging grounds, passing by tents that were being set up with medical supplies and some catering that had been sent on behalf of businesses in Equestria. The changelings had expedited the construction of refugee housing as best they could, there was room enough for at least five hundred now. Meanwhile the area was being patrolled by coalition forces. With the outpouring of support had also come a flood of anger, and several credible threats had been made against the operation already.

“I’ll keep an eye on him, if he stays.” Twilight said as she and the other two got to the portal, they could already see Johnny was standing their with several of his associates, pacing back and forth nervously as he too awaited the first letter from his fiance. Just to see her handwriting would be enough for him, knowing that that paper had been in her loving warm hands would fill him with some form of relief.

“Thank you, Twilight.” Luna said as she took her place beside the pacing mob boss, zero hour was growing closer and closer. “Try to keep yourself safe as well, I’d hate to have to tell Celestia something had happened to you.” Twilight just nodded as her wings ruffled in the mild desert wind, on her back were saddlebags that had been loaded down with scrolls, papers, and other writing tools. The soldiers and other personnel quickly got into their positions as their gaze turned to the designated portal location. “It should start any second now…”

Silence settled over the area, only to be broken as an air raid siren began to blare in the distance.

”Attention all personnel it is now sixty seconds to zero time. Put on goggles or turn away. Do not remove goggles or face first until ten seconds after the first light.” The voice of General Bulwark announced over a set of PA speakers, those with goggles pulled them on while most of the ponies and other species turned away. The siren continued to echo over the area as the countdown continued, until finally the siren began to die down. ”Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”

On cue there was a bright flash of light, even with their backs turned Luna and the others still felt the need to close their eyes. There was a tremendous blast of blisteringly cold wind that kicked up the desert sand, and as Luna and the others turned to face the portal, they could see snow flying out of the portal before it quickly melted or evaporated in the desert heat. Several murmurs went through the crowd, and then…

Someone came through the portal, it wasn’t Dominic or Jen, it was a completely different person. A woman garbed in heavy winter clothing looked around nervously as a group of thestrals moved forwards, she stared at them nervously and looked back at the portal. After a few seconds of silence the lead thestral in the group offered a hoof out to her, she carefully shook it.

“Welcome.” The thestral said with a warm smile. “Please, come with us, we’ll get you some food and clean clothes.” The entire crowd watched with silent baited breath, this was truly it, this was the first real refugee, it wasn’t just a plan on paper anymore. The woman smiled faintly and began following the thestral while the rest of the group remained by the portal, afterwards a steady stream of humans came through the portal. Some were smaller, most likely children, some were older, men and women, black and white, all of whom looked like they hadn’t had a real meal or a real bed in years.

They each were cautious at first, but the more they saw their friends on the other side, the more they began to trust that something good was actually happening. Along the path to the food and clothes a steadily growing pile of heavy winter clothing and other personal belongings appeared, these items were rapidly gathered to be washed and disinfected. Anyone who wanted them back would get them, but those that went unclaimed were destined to be a part of ‘Human History Museums’ in Canterlot and New Liberty.

“I can’t believe it…” Sonar said quietly as she looked at the new comers and removed her glasses. “They… They all look so frail.” It was quite true, as they shed their winter layers many ponies could see just how thin the humans were. What had started out as a bit of a happy moment quickly grew into one of sadness, for Luna it was like revisiting Starlight Glimmer’s village. It soon became apparent that there were many children in the group that didn’t seem to have parents, almost all of them flocked close to a single tired looking young woman who did her best to care for them in the line.

Sonar quietly wiped at her eyes before she put her glasses back on, that was what had truly gotten to her more than anything else. Knowing that someone so young had suffered so much hit her hard. Even Twilight was getting misty eyed, she watched as one young woman approached a thestral and got on her knees. She was crying and pulled the somewhat surprised soldier into a hug, the stallion returned the hug and patted her on the back, doing his best to comfort her.

Reporters from around the globe were jotting down what was happening minute by minute, some of them snapping pictures, those that had access to relatively new ‘Film Cameras’ were recording what would likely be shown for generations to come. There had been a group of protesters just outside of the area, but their picket signs and chanting had come to a halt as they looked into the sunken, miserable faces that passed through the portal.

After a while the people coming through seemed less and less firm, some of them limping along, and it seemed others had amputated arms or feet, most likely from the intensely cold winter’s they’d endured for four years. It had been anticipated, but still it hit those designated to help them along like a freight train. The last to come through wore odd uniforms and carried rifles with them, there weren’t many of them, and most that came through soon went to join loved ones in the line for food, clothes, and medical care.

One of them, a young man wearing corporal stripes, came through with a bag slung over his shoulder. He looked around for a moment or so before spotting Luna and the others, rather than go to the line he began walking towards them. A couple thestrals moved to stop him, but he ignored them and came to a stop in front of the princesses. The man wordlessly dropped the bag on the ground in front of them, then unzipped it to reveal numerous odd devices. One was a rifle, but the others Luna wasn’t sure about.

“For R and D, from Commander Occisor…” The man said quietly. “He apologizes he can’t be here in person, says he has unfinished business to attend to but he knows you’ll understand.” Johnny pushed past the princesses and towards the corporal.

“Do you have anything from Captain Jennifer Poplawski?” He asked quickly, the corporal nodded and reached into his coat to withdraw a folded piece of paper. Johnny quickly snatched it and walked back to his associates. At that moment several changelings emerged through the portal, Luna recognized them as one of the tank crews.

“He ordered the changelings back through, ma’am.” The corporal continued. “Since they would require more physical food than rations could allow for.” Luna nodded as the changelings began walking towards the crates and barrels of supplies, their magic ignited and they levitated the boxes and such through the portal. “He says he’s sorry he’s gonna be a little late getting back, but six months isn’t that long of a wait.”

“Thank you, Corporal. Is there anything else?” Luna asked, she felt split between emotions. On one side she was proud that Dominic had chosen to stand his ground, on the other, she was concerned for his safety on a deep, almost maternal level.

“No, ma’am.” The corporal gave a salute before he turned and began walking back towards the portal, there was a group of other soldiers waiting there as well. Twilight took this as her cue to go and looked at Luna.

“I guess I’ll see you in six months too.” She said with a bit of trepidation, Luna began to speak but by then Twilight had hefted her bags up onto her back and was walking towards the portal. The princess looked to Sonar, but the mare seemed more focused on the portal than anything else. Twilight reached the portal as the last of the supplies was tossed through, she spoke for a few seconds to the corporal, and after a confused shrug he nodded.

Luna felt her breath catch in her throat as she saw Twilight and the other soldiers jump back into the portal, seconds later the glowing light condensed inward until it had become nothingness.

[♠]

Night Raven paced back and forth in her imperial office, constantly munching away on pretzels as she looked out the window towards the foothills. A plume of smoke indicated just how abysmally poor her take over of the small town of Evergreen was going. She couldn’t believe that two hill folk had somehow bested the military of her empire, and to make matters worse, there was the message she’d been given by the poor traumatized female soldier that had managed to escape. The message demanding she send her soldiers to the front with better rations for the sole purpose of feeding her enemies.

Perhaps the most upsetting part of the entire affair was the death of Lord Damneus, one of her more skilled field commanders and a very close follower of hers. As Empress Raven walked to her window once again she cleared her throat and spoke loudly.

“Eugene!” She called, the doors opened and a familiar soldier stepped in. He was her most trusted guard, the one that she had told the night before to deliver the orders about. “I feel I’ve been devoting too much time to the dogs in the hills, please summon Lady Moonbeam. I wish to know the latest on the pigs in the mountains.” The soldier nodded silently and left the room, closing the doors respectfully and leaving the Empress to wallow in her loathing of those she deemed inferior.

Night Raven looked down to the courtyard in front of her where the thralls had been building a statue of her glorious image, all those working were white males, the worst of the worst in her eyes. A wicked smile played across her lips as she watched some of them be whipped as they moved stone and metal around. The first time they had completed a statue she had thought it made her appear too fat, and thus she’d forced them to tear it down and start again, by now they had been working for two years and completed five statues, each worse than the last, all of which had been torn down.

The door to her office opened but she didn’t turn to look, far too enthralled with watching the struggling men below. There was a polite cough and Night Raven sighed before turning to look at who had entered. Lady Moonbeam was certainly one of the Empress’ more attractive followers, and as normal she was garbed in the attire of her true self. A navy blue dress, accented by a white crescent moon pattern, with ‘fake’ wings and a horn. Moonbeam believed that she was the embodiment of ‘Princess Luna’, trapped in a simple human body after a misfired spell. As such, Empress Night Raven had seen fit to put her in charge of her spy ring, specifically the one responsible for spying on the CNG Pigs.

“You wished to see me, Empress?” Moonbeam asked, Night Raven nodded with a smile and gave a slight bow to the woman she believed to be a Pony Princess.

“I have been so caught up with the hill creatures I have neglected our campaign to rid the land of the filthy old government.” Night Raven said, Moonbeam nodded and took a seat in a chair in front of the Empress’ desk. “Tell me, are they struggling through the winter as they normally do?

“Surprisingly, it seems their position has improved.” Moonbeam admitted, this caught Night Raven’s attention. “As you’ve most likely heard, they’ve come into possession of new vehicles. My agents inform me that these vehicles are infact tanks. Actual tanks.” Night Raven froze and turned to look at her chief spy with mild alarm, the spy reached into her dress and withdrew several polaroids. She set them on the desk for the Empress to see, sure enough the images revealed the vehicles were tanks. One of them depicted a man in a peaked cap standing atop one of them. The way he stood reminded Night Raven of a Roman soldier, the wide shoulders and bulging muscles, the chiseled jaw and roman nose…

“Who’s this?” She asked, looking at the picture closely.

“That would be the National Guard’s newest ally, our listening post has determined they refer to him as ‘Night Eagle’.” Moonbeam said as the Empress continued to stare at the picture, Night Eagle was a picture perfect image of everything she despised. An aggressive looking white male that bore an air of imperial strength, but the more she looked at his picture the more she couldn’t look away. “It’s unclear where he came from, but we know that he arrived at the same time the tanks did. What’s more unnerving is that we haven’t been able to get any view of the crews, they’re either up on the mountain or in the tanks when our spies are in position.”

“I want to know more about him, Moonbeam. He could be dangerous.” Night Raven said as she set the picture down on her desk once again. “I’d like you to handle this for me, get as many pictures as you can.” Moonbeam paused for a moment perhaps unsure of if she could carry out such a task, or why she would need to do so considering she already had competent spies in position. Then again, she supposed the Empress wanted her best on the job.

“As you command, Empress.” Moonbeam said with a nod before she adjusted the horn atop her head. Night Raven nodded as she thought more about the odd fellow standing atop the tank once again, she somewhat wished she could have him on her side. He looked like a competent officer, and she continually told herself that was the only reason. “The factories have reported four of our tanks been completed, may I suggest we dispatch them to deal with this new threat?”

“A good idea.” Night Raven agreed as she paced back and forth. “Have them loaded onto a truck and driven there, you can go with them.” Moonbeam nodded again and stood up, leaving the pictures on the Empress’ desk. “You can go.” The spy nodded and quickly walked out of the office, closing the door firmly behind her. She walked past the soldier standing guard outside the door, a peculiar fellow by the name of Eugene Carter.

Moonbeam knew that he’d lived in the city before the EOL came to power and had been ‘Persuaded’ to join, some of her spies had reported he seemed to get lost in thought on patrol, as evidenced by some missed infractions. She honestly found something like that somewhat endearing, and she flashed him an awkward smile as she walked past. Eugene was a bit put off by the smile, he hated Lady Moonbeam almost as much as he hated the Empress.

Eugene looked down at his rifle once again, then over at the door beside him. For what felt like the fiftieth time he contemplated just kicking that door open and spraying the room with gunfire, there’d be no way for the woman inside to hide. However Eugene recognized that perhaps that would be stooping to the EOL’s level, something he’d never do if he could help it. Instead he remained silent, not very vigilant, but certainly silent. Outside he could hear the sound of engines starting up, it was undoubtedly the unlucky replacements chosen to go and root out ‘The Colorado Kids’.

Evergreen had become akin to ‘The Russian Front’ of the second world war in terms of its mortality rate, it was used as a way to punish officers and soldiers that stepped out of line or were just a thorn in the wrong side. Eugene found it hard to believe that just two men had managed to stop an entire army. Then again, considering how ‘Well trained’ the EOL was, it wasn’t really a surprise. Many of them had never fired a rifle before, but joining the army was the only way to get any real food rations, and often times the training officers were too drunk or incompetent. Eugene speculated that the EOL had only survived so long because of superior numbers and resources.

As the man continued to stand guard, Lady Moon Beam was walking through the once hallowed halls of the former capital building. The guards she passed by saluted, but she didn’t acknowledge them, she was far too focused on her latest assignment. The examination of an entirely new player in the wasteland arena, and from the looks of it, a very powerful one at that. Lady Moonbeam exited the capital with dignity and grace, then descended down the stone steps and past laboring thralls towards the main road out of the city. Already she could see truck loads of soldiers being sent out, she knew most of them were destined for Evergreen, others she doubted would even make it that far before they were picked off by the other thorn in the Empress’ side. The Native Confederacy.

Moonbeam watched with a bit of remorse as the trucks disappeared from sight, she knew very well what awaited them in the foothills of the once peaceful town. On top of the snipers that had turned the town into a killing field, the Native Confederacy had set up their own defensive positions in those hills. The Native American tribes had taken to raiding EOL convoys and running off to who knew where, but they seemed to be in cahoots with the woman behind the ever annoying ‘Ghost Peak Radio’. Once again, no one in the EOL had any idea where she was broadcasting from.

After a few seconds of silent contemplation Moonbeam began walking towards the factories with the full intention of getting onto a truck with the EOL’s tanks. She wouldn’t dare to ride in one of the armored vehicles, as much as the Empress boasted their supremacy Moonbeam could see the writing on the wall. These ‘tanks’ wouldn’t stand a chance against the armored behemoths that awaited them. They were slow, had no radios, and they didn’t have anything more than machine guns as an offensive or defensive weapon. To top it all off their armor was nothing more than re-purposed metal from old cars and scrap from abandoned construction sites.

Moonbeam just hoped that she could somehow infiltrate the CNG’s lines, she’d need to look like a convincing mundane to do that, that wouldn’t be too hard though. She’d made her current outfit, who was to say the ‘Princess of the Night’ couldn’t create a commoner’s clothing.

Author's Notes:

EDIT: Oops, forgot the thingy! Heh!

Anyway, here's the next chapter. These longer ones take more time obviously, but it's just gotten to be such a big story it doesn't feel right to just relegate them to small chapters. Feels a little overwhelming honestly, so, please bear with me here.

Anyway, here's the clip of the day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUOqktLm9UU