Chapter 1: On The Road Again
"When the road ends, you’ll find a rocky cliff.”

I was walking back to town when a grey-green alicorn stepped in front of my path and looked into my eyes. I stared back without replying. She wore slightly grimy yellow dress, that seemed to hug her form tightly and allow her wings to show.

"I need your help." the alicorn said with her mouth, much like a normal pony. It was quite an oddity for her to approach a pony directly for a job, lest she be connected to it and blamed.

I looked at the ruined buildings to my right, then at her. Rain steadily drizzled down, yet my hooded cloak kept me mostly dry. "This is most unexpected, Mistress. What can I do for you?"

She stepped closer, glancing around as she moved, and stopped near my face. "I need a cook for a caravan leaving in a few hours."

I adjusted my hood to keep my horn from getting wet. Slowly, I looked back towards where I had come from. From where I had seen something strange and also caused me to wonder about everything. After a few seconds, I slowly floated out the revolver and read inscription along the fancy barrel. Rain splotches twisted and distorted the message of redeemable monsters.

"What is that?" Mistress Tail Blade asked quietly.

"A trophy." Was all I said. She did not need to know the story behind how I came to possess the weapon, nor did she need to know the previous owner. I put it into my bags and nodded. "I'll go with your caravan." I nodded.

"Good." She smiled, her gaze flicking to something behind us for a second. "And your ‘other’ task?" She used her telepathy to ask the last question so no eavesdropping ponies heard. I knew the question was coming as soon as I saw the green alicorn. It was natural, since I had been gone for over a week.

"Won’t be bothering us anymore," I replied with my own telepathy.

Mistress Tail Blade nodded as a small frown formed on her face. “I suppose it had to be done sometime, but she could have proved useful for this.”

“How so?” I tilted my head.

She stepped closer. Her green wing wrapped around me and we began walking back to town. “You see, Lilium, she was a tool of mine much like you are a tool. But, instead of your type of tasks, Eclipse was paid to keep the Steel Rangers looking the other way.” She looked at me as I looked at her and we both smiled. “See what problem is presented when you approached me to ‘deal’ with her?”

I nodded. With a deep sigh, I looked at the shantytown known as Alicorn Town ahead of us. It was quite small considering that it was a wall surrounding an old diner. Tents and buildings were set up to provide shelter for the near twenty alicorns living there, and the fifteen or so regular ponies. Even now I could see the carts and wagons being prepared to leave.

“Yes, Mistress, I understand. You needed another tool to do the same job before I could have my revenge. The Goddess saw fit to grant us what we needed.”

We drew closer to the town as she shook her head and shut her eyes. “The Goddess… nevermind. You won’t get it.”

I felt her warm wing leave my side, so I looked over at Tail Blade and tilted my head. “Something the matter?”

Her drenched mane covered half her face like she was some filly trying to make a statement to her parents. She brushed it to the side and smiled at me, slowly shaking her head before looking up at the clouds above. “Just wondering why you believe she is up there.” Tail Blade said to the sky.

I followed her gaze and received a face full of rain for my efforts. Quickly covering my vision with my hoof, I tried to see what she saw, but failed. “The Goddess is the Goddess. She does not merely ‘die’. I believe she is watching us, guiding us, as we try to finish her plan.”

“Do you even know what her plan was?”

I nodded, lowering my gaze to look at Mistress Tail Blade. “Yes, she wanted to spread Unity and give aid to the wastelanders, even if they did not deserve Our help.”

Tail Blade’s eyebrow arched up as she cocked her head like a bird. “I do not think that means what you think it means.”

I ignored her reply and looked at the nearest wagon. It reminded me of my time on the island when I had attacked a Steel Ranger caravan, yet most of these ponies were not of the Tin Can variety. One of the purple alicorns near it was busy tying crates to the bed of the wagon. My gaze wandered down from his face to his cutie mark of a lasso wrapped around a square object I could not quite make out.

He must have felt me staring at him, because he looked over. I felt my cheeks burn at having been caught staring at a pony's flank. I quickly looked at Mistress Tail Blade and thought of shoving a knife into her eye, which caused my blush to go away. She smiled at me and winked. I rolled my eyes. "Mistress, I was curious as to his cutie mark. It seemed interesting."

"Let's find out what it means, shall we?" she asked as she draped her wing over my back and started leading us towards him. I wanted to run, to head back to Dead Hoof and sort out my equipment from my bags, but I allowed myself to be led over to the purple. "I have your caravan cook," Tail Blade said to the pony.

I stepped aside and pulled my hood lower over my face to hide from him and to block out the rain. He tied a knot off and stepped back from the cart. "Can't say I have met her before. She new?"

"No, I am not." I replied in his mind with my telepathy. "I have been away for a few days on business."

He looked at Tail Blade, then at me and adjusted his backwards turned cap. "Could you not use that telepathy? I don't much care for it and it makes me think you're tryin' to implant some kinda thought into my head that ain't mine."

"She would do no such thing/" Tail Blade glared at the pony. "Lilium is our town's cook. She prides herself on helping ponies, not manipulating them. Lilium does not like to speak with her mouth. I understand this. You should too."

Manipulating ponies is your job, I thought as I looked at Tail Blade. The green stood tall as she flexed her wings and tried to look imposing as if... as if she were protecting me.

I backed away from her and looked towards the purple stallion. He looked to her as his magic pulled a double barreled shotgun out and checked it for ammo. It appeared empty, so he loaded the weapon with red shells. I slowly started heading for my own tent, gulping. "I... I should head to my tent and pack for the trip. I've got to get ready, bye. Nice meeting you!"

Their reply did not come fast enough as I dashed away from them into the tents and small makeshift buildings. My mind raced with strange thoughts swirling around inside my skull, ranging from Tail Blade kissing me goodbye to Eclipse pleading for her life with a pistol to her head.

I wended my way around the path between the various tents, until I came across my tent and dashed inside, panting heavily from galloping and not breathing enough. Slowly, my eyes adjusted to the dark light as I took in my surroundings. All we owned was a small cot for a bed, a slowly rotting desk, and two lockers with our equipment inside them. The small cot near the far 'wall' held a sleeping blue alicorn on it, Dead Hoof.

I placed a hoof to my rapidly beating heart and slowly shook my head to clear my thoughts. Then made my way to my box of stuff. My cloak and bags were quickly removed and opened.

The yet undetonated one hundred and five millimeter shell was brought out and set aside. Strangely, I did not want to use it. It felt sentimental despite it being heavy enough to almost weigh me down. The strange black and gold revolver was lovingly set atop the nearby desk so I could show it to Dead Hoof when he awoke. After that, I dug through my bags and pulled everything out. Only to replace the items with mostly cookware, my journal, a weapon cleaning kit, and a standard ten millimeter pistol with four replacement magazines. Oh, and the Twilight Sparkle statuette. Can’t forget that one, ever.

After the bags were checked, re-checked, I pulled a set of armor plates over my forelegs. They once belonged to a suit of Enclave power armor, but I did not have enough time to loot all of it. Somewhere out there, a pony is probably walking around in a partially complete suit. As I turned around to wake Dead Hoof, my heart jumped into my throat to choke me as my wings unfolded with a pop. The sneaky blue alicorn was standing just behind me with the revolver floating near his tilted head. He glanced down after noticing movement and smiled. "Morning. This is a nice pistol, but you know my rules. It stays in the locker with the other weapons."

I folded my wings and nodded. "Don’t you know it’s not nice to sneak up on a mare like that?"

"Nope. You staying?”

"No." I shook my head as he set the pistol onto the desk. "I'm leaving at dawn with the caravan."

"Caravan? Didn't you just get back?" I nodded and looked up into his eyes. They reminded me of Sister's, but I tried to hide it; however, he must have seen my forming frown because he frowned too. "I was worried. Where did you go?"

"To the island." I lied. He did not know of my other activities, and did not need to. "I had to see Ripper about something."

"About what?" He tilted his head and sat down.

I looked towards the caravan's direction knowing full well I could not see it. Dawn was not far off, and they would not leave without me. A fact I was fully aware of since Mistress Tail Blade seemed relieved she had found me. With a deep sigh, I moved closer to Dead Hoof and smiled. "About her saddle. You remember it, right?"

I placed a hoof on his chest and smiled. He smiled back as he gently set a hoof on my cheek and leaned slightly forward. "Yeah. I remember it being rusted and her obsession over fixing it. You yourself said it was beyond repair."

“But it still sort of works.” I stared into his big blue eyes as they reflected my green face back to me, but my thoughts were interrupted when I noticed something about him. His purple dyed mane was different and… short. "You cut your mane!" I exclaimed as a grin formed on my face.

"Yep." He nodded and leaned back so he could run his hoof through it. "A couple days ago. Oh!" he gasped like some young mare that had just remembered something important. Then, as quick as he could, the blue alicorn rushed over to his locker and dug around inside it.

"Dead Hoof," I sighed. "I like you, remember? I was wondering..." He pulled an object out and my eye was drawn to a blue glowing jar, causing me to tilt my head. "What's that?"

"A drink I bought off a travelling sales pony." He held it out. I took it as gently as I could and popped the lid.

Blueberries and near rubbing alcohol levels of booze filtered into my nose as I inhaled and smiled. "Moonshine? This is a nice gift."

He nodded again with a small smile. "I know our friendship isn't the best, but this is my thanks for being there. If you hadn’t come along and shot everypony I paid, I’d still be a depressed mare stuck on the island."

I smiled as I closed the jar and put it into my bags. "Thanks for the drink. They shot first, I swear.”

“Right,” he muttered.

“Just think.” I pulled my cloak on, followed by my bags. “You’re stuck with Rosey Hoof for another week.”

“Wut?” He tilted his head. “Rosey… Hoof? Shock, I don’t have a…” Slowly, I saw his face change from confusion to recognition as his eyes widened, then narrowed at me. “Shock, you’re a dick. And I’m going with you. I’ve been going nuts here! It’s so boring with them doing the same. Thing. Every. Day. Wake up, tend what little crops they can grow, work, work, work. It’s boring!”

"But who would look after our stuff?" I waved a hoof around the meager shared tent and tilted my head. "I need you here to make sure no pony steals Hyde and my shell."

He grabbed my shoulders and stared into my eyes with pleading eyes. “They have me cleaning toilets! Have you seen how disgusting they are?! I lost my lunch twice when I saw the first one! They're the toilets from Tartarus! Disgusting, rancid, caked on shit, and grime...” his voice trailed off as he stared to my side, lost in thought.

I giggled at him as I pat him on the shoulder. “It sounds like you have a very… shitty job, but you have to stay here. Mistress Tail Blade said only I was to go with them.”

“Oh come on!” he stomped his hooves down. “I’m a ship captain, not a janitor! I’m not supposed to clean toilets!”

I leaned back, my magic grabbing the black and gold revolver. Dead Hoof glanced at it and tilted his head. The weapon was slowly dragged over and hefted up so I could look at it. I contemplated using the bullets to give Dead Hoof a few new holes to breathe with, but I shut my eyes and took a few deep breaths, counting down from ten. Slowly, I felt my mild annoyance fade away.

When it was fully gone, I opened my eyes to find the blue had moved over and laid down on the cot while I had been counting, and appeared to be snuggling a tattered blanket. “Dead Hoof, where did you get that jar of moonshine?”

“A traveling sales pony, why?” He pulled the blanket closer to his chest and nuzzled it, inhaling quite loudly.

“I want to buy more," I replied with a sigh. "What did he look like?”

Dead Hoof sat up and placed a hoof to his chin. “Hm… He was a long eared earth pony with a big hat and a lot of bags. I’m surprised he isn’t dead with how much stuff he had. Can I go with you now?"

I shook my head, causing Dead Hoof to frown. “I still need you to be here. My stuff is valuable.”

“That sword and bomb aren’t valuable to anypony but you.” He held his hooves up and let out a deep, frustrated, sigh of defeat. “Alright. I’ll watch your bomb for you if it’ll make you happy. " He then pointed a hoof at me and glared. "But if I turn into Ripper, I’m going to hurt you.”

I nodded, letting out another deep breath to keep my nerves in check. “There’s something else.” He tilted his head. “I think… I think Mistress Tail Blade has a crush on me.”

“Really?” he asked as his ears perked up. I nodded. Slowly, a smile crept up on his face and the blue stallion began chuckling. He popped his wings out and hovered towards the door, causing my eyes to widen in shock. “I’m going to go ask her!” Dead Hoof laughed.

“Nooo!” I roared in complete shock as I grabbed hold of the blue’s foreleg and yanked him from the door, Dead Hoof let out a yelp of surprise. “She’s a mare, and… and I'm a mare! I like stallions. They’re big, handsome, strong, and oh so very protective!”

Dead Hoof hovered at the door to our tent as a groggy eyed blue and orange pony pulled the flap back and tried to glare at us. "Shut. The fuck. Up," he growled, his voice giving off a loud croak to betray his anger. "Ponies are trying to sleep."

I laughed sheepishly and nodded. "Yes, sir. We'll be quiet right away."

Dead Hoof looked at me, then the other pony and nodded. "Yeah, sorry."

The blue and orange earth pony left our tent. I let out a breath I had been holding and looked over at Dead Hoof, floating my revolver to eye level. "I saw you looking at this. What do you think of the inscription?"

"Looks like your hoof writing," he replied. Dead Hoof had read my journal a few times, so I'd imagine he was quite knowledgeable at what my hoof writing looked like. "You make that with Ripper?"

I shook my head as I set the weapon in my bags. As I was about to open my mouth and tell Dead Hoof the story, Mistress Tail Blade opened the tent flap and said, "Ah, there you are."

I looked over to her, giving a slight wave of my hoof. "Dead Hoof and I were just talking."

She looked to him for a second, then to me and nodded. "Perhaps. But I should mention that the caravan left a few minutes ago." My eyes widened in shock. "It seems they are on a tight schedule and no amount of pleading by me could persuade them to wait."

My ears folded back. I opened and closed my mouth, trying to form a reply that did not sound stupid or as an apology, but a shove from my right broke me out of my daze. "Shock," Dead Hoof growled. "You lied."

"What?" I blinked.

"You said you were leaving," he replied.

I picked up my bags in magic as I spread my wings. "And I am."

*** ***

As I flew through the slowly crumbling artificial canyon, it occurred to me that I did not know where the caravan was, but I was an alicorn. Flying and magic was what I did. I sighed deeply, my gaze sweeping across the ruined buildings again. They looked as dark and depressing as ever.

There were only a four exits from Alicorn Town and the caravan consisted of only three large carts, and there was really only one way for them to go if they were heading to the outskirts.

It did not take me that long to find the caravan, despite the darkness and the rain pelting my face. The three wagons were slowly, and steadily, making their way northwest. I could see a few ponies walking alongside the carts, while only one sat on each. My gaze lingered on the center cart for a moment before I dove down.

At the last moment, I flared my wings and bled off my excess speed, folding the feathery appendages as I dropped to all fours in a perfect landing. My ears twitched and swiveled as a static filled voice sung about heroes nearby.

"Nice to see you joined us," one of the collared workers said with a slow drawl. I rolled my eyes and began walking along with the center cart. All of the boxes were open and empty, causing me to frown. I had assumed that they were sending supplies and food out, but it seemed not.

After untying my bags, I tossed them onto an open spot in the back of the wagon. Then hovered up and looked for the purple stallion with the lasso cutie mark.

I spotted him at the lead cart, so I ignored him and hovered to the the rear cart. The alicorn didn't even wave to acknowledge my presence. I spun around to face the front of the caravan and looked up to spot any air support. A quick search of our immediate surroundings revealed none. All I saw were various buildings ranging from complete piles of rubble to mostly intact.

The caravan ponies seemed lax and devoid of any concern for the well being of their cargo. They looked ahead, only occasionally glancing to the side, and none of them even bothered to keep a watch for intruders coming from behind. It was like I was with a bunch of feral ghouls!

Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves worked and I felt a bit better. I hovered past the second cart and landed next to the first. The purple alicorn with a lasso cutie mark looked over at me as we passed by some rubble that could have hidden bandits. I kept my gaze on it as we passed it by. "What do you want?" the stallion asked from my left.

I’m going to call him Lasso Ass because I have forgotten his name. Or did Mistress Tail Blade forget to actually introduce us?

"I was looking at your caravan from the air and it seems your defenses are complete shit," I told him as blunt as I could. Slowly, I pulled my gaze from the debris and looked at him.

"No pony is dumb enough to attack eight alicorns." Lasso Ass said with a shake of his head. "Use your brain and think. Who is that suicidal?"

"Steel Rangers for one," I nodded again and motioned with my horn towards an earth pony worker. "They've got the firepower to take us down quite easily. Enclave has laser weaponry and the height advantage. The wastelanders have what's left, which can still be capable of-"

"Look, Cook, I don't know who you are, but you can't tell me that you know what's best for my caravan."

My eye twitched. I nearly shouted at the insolent purple. "Just because alicorns are superior to normal po-"

"I've heard enough." he interrupted, causing me to frown.

"You need air patrols!" I shouted as I followed his cart. "We have the ponies to do it, just listen to me if you want this to work."

He looked down at me again. "Want what to work?"

"This caravan." My ears folded back as I placed a hoof to my chest and hovered off the ground. "Please, just listen to my idea. All we need are two alicorns flying constant patrol. Say her and her," I pointed at a pair of blues who looked at each other. "They could fly for three hours while invisible. Then they switch with another pair and so on. When we make camp we must make sure there is always a pony on watch in two hour shifts."

He shook his head. "Nope. That's too much work. It'll tire us out before we even get halfway to the outskirts."

"It worked fine for the Equestrian military!" I landed on the road and stomped my hoof down. "How do you think the Steel Rangers sleep in the wastes? The same fucking way!"

He shook his head as he tapped near his eye. "They got that fancy armor with the fancy sight. Now, if you want to run the caravan, then get out of my mane and start your own."

What? Fancy… sight?! No… that’s. That’s not the reason you dumbshit!

I screamed in frustration as I stomped my forehooves down and flared my wings out.

*** ***

Food was passed out to the normal ponies. The standard fare of crushed ancient apple chips in dirty water greeted them because I was too angry over Lasso Ass’s attitude. My idea was quite valid and yet he refused to listen. The fool should never have been added to Unity. His contempt was… was… contempt for apathy!

Alcohol threatened to burn my eyes as I stared at the partially drank jar in the light of the fire. Another discrepancy I wanted to kick out of him. So, to avoid breaking the stallion’s jaw and gutting him like a fish, I walked over to the workers and sat near them. Their quiet munching of food at least told me some pony cared about what I did. Hooves moving across the wet rubble told me one of the alicorns decided to follow, but I decided to ignore her and take a swig of my glowing drink. The blueberries assaulted my mouth like they kicked a door in and rushed towards my stomach to kill off any evil vibes.

As I returned my head to normal, I looked at something floating in the jar and saw a pretty flower. With a shrug I took another sip and pulled the flower into my mouth without hesitation.

“Hey,” the alicorn said quietly from my right. I glanced over at her and started munching on the nicely flavored flower. She looked at a pale red earth pony next to us. He stopped eating to look at her, tilting his head slightly.

"Hi..." she waved her hoof at him.

"Hi." He waved his own hoof and went back to eating. I poured everyone another bowl of the slop because they needed their strength. "Thanks." the same stallion said as his bowl was filled.

"You are most welcome." I bowed my head some before taking a sip of my drink. It was... Odd that he said anything at all. The other workers appeared scared out of their minds, most likely having assumed I would melt their brains or activate their collars if they said anything at all.

The alicorn stepped closer with her head tilted. She slowly, very slowly, brought a hoof up and smiled. “That was interesting what you did today.”

“Hm?” I poured her a bowl of warm slop. She took it and stared at it. “What was?” I slightly slurred out.

“You trying to tell Lasso how to run the caravan.”

“Wait. His name is actually Lasso?” I blinked in confusion at having guessed his first name correctly. She nodded and took a few bites of her food, which produced a grimace.

“Lasso Overcart.”

"That's a terrible name!" I said before taking a long swig of my alcohol jar. Then offered it for the mare.

She shook her head, holding up a foreleg. “I get drunk too easily and do bad things.”

“Bad things?” I tilted my head. She rubbed at her foreleg and stared down at it. My ears drooped, so I tried to change the subject. “So how do you know Lasso Ass?”

She giggled and quickly covered her mouth. “It wasn’t that long ago that we met. He said he could help me and knew what I was going through.”

“The loss of Unity,” I said. Then took a long draw of my drink, noticing that it was nearly gone.

The blue alicorn nodded again. “I was so lost and confused. He told me I had been wandering in circles for weeks! My hooves were so worn down they hurt to walk on." I slowly dug through a nearby bag of junk, eventually producing a bottle of Sparkle-Cola. She took it and pocketed the cap. “Thanks.”

“I know what you went through, to be so lost. It was like a part of you died and you could not get it back. The Goddess was great and powerful, yet she could not escape that little shit.”

“The Lightbringer saved the wasteland from you freaks!” a nearby worker piped in with a wave of his hoof. I shot him a death glare. With an eep, the pony quickly went back to eating.

I ignored his comment and looked to the blue alicorn. She scratched the back of her head with a small frown. “I’m… not sure that the Goddess was great. Don’t you regret converting ponies?”

I shook my head. “We were making them better and as close to perfection as we can attain.”

The earth ponies nearby grumbled malcontent for my words, but I spoke the truth. While Unity had its downsides with a complete lack of stallions, which got rectified, it also had a few upsides that were obvious. Radiation healing us for one. As I drank the last of the alcohol, the blue alicorn said, "I guess. So... What is your name?"

The very last drop of the alcohol began assaulting my annoyed nerves. So I tossed the jar at a nearby building, and watched it shatter into many tiny pieces. "Shock, Dog, Shell Shock, Lilium. Take your pick. Any will work fine."

"Lilium sounds nice," she replied quietly. "Like a flower."

I looked at her and tilted my head as my eyebrow cocked at an odd angle. "It is a type of flower."

"Oh." she giggled a little, causing me to roll my eyes. I pulled the various pots over and started washing them in whatever water I had, which was dirty with lovely radiation because it is quite helpful. "So where were you before this caravan?"

I dumped out a pan of irradiated slop and cleaned it. When it was as clean as it was going to get, I put it aside and did the same for another pot. "I was on an island where everything wanted to kill me."

"Sounds like normal."

I set the clean pots aside and let out a deep sigh. "Perhaps, but this island is unlike any place I have seen before in the wasteland. And that is saying something. If the vegetation didn't kill you, then the freaks in the morning fog would try."

"Vegetation?" the mare blinked in confusion, then looked down at her drink. "Like plants?"

"Yeah. The island was covered in a lush green jungle so thick I couldn't see more than twenty yards at the most."

"Green... living plants...?"

"Look, I don't want to talk about that place. Why anypony willingly heads there is beyond my comprehension. You said you were found walking in a circle? How big?"

She looked down as her ears folded back. "I'm not sure. All I remember is hearing 'Flee my children! Save yourselves!' And so I flew and flew until I couldn't, so I started walking. Next thing I know Lasso Overcart is trying to get me to stop walking. He's really nice once you get to know him. He already had Lemon Drop and they were transporting supplies to a town in the mountains."

I facehoofed. It was a line I've heard many times before and one I hated. If somepony is an asshole when you meet them, it's a good chance that they'll keep being an asshole. As I gave a small shake of my head, I put my pots and pans away, then pulled out the black and gold revolver. The mare moved even closer as a blue light illuminated the weapon and the both of us stared down at it.

Slowly, the cylinder was pulled out and each bullet was removed and inspected. The workers left us to our own devices, having got their daily meal and probably scared I was going to fill them with lead. "Forgiveness," I recited the word inscribed onto the brass casing, then put it into the cylinder. "Hope," I followed suit with the second bullet and then a third. "Morality."

"Why do you have those on bullets?" the blue asked, her quiet voice filled with the sound of a pony eager to learn.

I glanced at her and held up Compassion, Charm, and Decency in my magical field. Her gaze went to them as her brows knitted together. "These bullets represent traits I've lost." I looked at the revolver and frowned. "I think."

"You think?"

I nodded and finished loading the floating revolver, snapping the cylinder shut with a spin. "This weapon is as perplexing as the stars. I believe the intent of this weapon is for me to go nuts trying to figure it out."

She took it in her magic and read the inscription along the barrel with a frown. "Heartless Monster? Who put that there?"

"I believe I did." I gently grabbed the pistol in magic as I pulled it back and slipped it into my bags. "I've done too much, seen too much, and lost too much. All I have left is the memories and a desire to stab things in a blind rage."

"So you were a raider before Unity." she nodded, receiving a nod from me in response.

"You might say I was one of the first few raiders. Access to wartime tech with the knowledge to use it. Use it we did." I looked over at the burning camp fire and stared at it. The flames licking up to the sky brought an old memory to the surface, but I brushed it aside. When I blinked, I could still see it. Tanks on fire. "Only the strong could survive. You ate, or you died. It was as simple as that."

"Wait." She scratched the back of her head again as I looked from the fire to her. "I don't get it. Were you once a Steel Ranger Scribe or a Raider?"

I smiled at her, gently patting her shoulder. "Don't think too hard on it. Steel Rangers are Raiders in their own right. How about we head over to the others and get some sleep?"

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