It had been more than two hundred years since the bombs fell. Communities were able to exist out of the stables and actually live. The air was somewhat breathable out in the Wasteland. That was the new name for Equestria, the Wasteland. It was pretty fitting how it went from something so beautiful, to something so beautifully destroyed.

A little community had already begun outside the vault of number 46. Although the vault was sealed, it didn't drive off any attention of raiders or scavengers. The settlement of Journey was made and had a thriving community of ponies. The settlement was like being in a huge family. Others would watch everypony's back and ensure that everypony was ok.

About twenty ponies lived in the settlement at the time, making it a pretty big community for recently forming there. The settlement wasn't short on supplies, but they were quickly running out of food and water supplies. The only thing that they didn't pack, was good weapons with a lot of ammo.

There were multiple buildings in the settlement. Houses for the ponies and a central point in a tavern that had been restored to a somewhat state of glory. It was the central hub of the area, meaning that it saw the most activity. Ponies came and went from the tavern, ranging from the drunken scavenger that couldn't hurt a fly, to commonly appearing arrivals, like the settlers that frequently appeared.

Inside the tavern, was a unicorn stallion going by the name of Soul Eater. They were not one to be taken lightheartedly. They were relatively new to the settlement, living there for about a month tops. He wasn't really one for talking, avoiding conversation with others in the settlement as much as he could. He requested a drink from the barkeeper, in exchange for a hefty amount of caps.

Nobody was generous in the Wasteland, which is why it annoyed Soul Eater the most. He used to be the most generous soul, until death knocked on his door, requesting entry. A drink landed on the counter, making Soul Eater jump.

"Thanks." Soul Eater stated to the barkeeper. The barkeeper nodded in response to the appreciation, before moving across the way, to the other side of the bar. The tavern was the hotspot, there was no doubt about it. All of the ponies filtered through here, then branched out into the world.

Soul Eater turned around in his bar stall, spinning himself a little too far and correcting himself shortly after, taking a sip of alcohol. Beer was something Soul Eater enjoyed drinking. It numbed the pain around him. As he took a sip of the delectable substance, the mayor of the settlement walked through the door. That didn't spark joy to anypony inside the tavern. Everypony liked her, it was just the face she made when she walked in. Depending on her face, it was either good or bad news. Judging by her face, it wasn't the former.

She looked directly at Soul Eater and signalled with a hoof, for him to come over to her. He had to do what she said, because that was the rules of the settlement. So, Soul Eater got out of his sitting position, on the stool and approached the mayor. She turned and walked out of the tavern, still wanting him to follow her. He sighed angrily, knowing that he was going to be sent off to do some chores.

To Soul Eater's surprise, he was being taken to the medical wing of the settlement. He definitely didn't know what was going on, so he was eager to see what was happening. The mayor showed him in and gasped when she saw somepony in bed. They were mega ill! Soul Eater looked around for the doctor, but only found his assistant.

"Eater? You've met with Doctor Alchem, am I correct?" The mayor asked. Soul Eater shook his head and extended his hoof towards Alchem. Doctor Alchem was a little sceptical, but that didn't stop him from continuing the transaction of movements. He shook Eater's hoof and then walked back a little, giving the others some space.

"Nice to meet you Eater." Doctor Alchem prompted. Soul Eater didn't reply, he was just wanting to get all of this over with.

"So, what are me and the doctor doing for you then?" Eater asked, raising an eyebrow at her. She smiled and then scowled at Eater. Soul Eater was a little nervous. Normally, there would be a smile on her face and he could see that she was stressed and annoyed.

"You two are the only ponies who know how to use weapons properly. I need you both to take care of a huge amount of raiders heading here. I got a radio call from some of the scouts and they were under fire. You're the best we got here." She admitted, making both of them look at each other with a significant amount of shock. Soul Eater sighed, regretting being part of the settlement then and there. He travelled solo for most of his life.

Doctor Alchem was very concerned. Sure he knew his way around any weapon, but he didn't like creating holes, he always tried to fix them, regardless of the creature. He followed the ministry of peace.

"Are you sure that I'm one of the best?" Doctor Alchem asked, being unsure more than anything. The mayor nodded, pointing at Soul Eater too.

"You two are our only shot at keeping the settlement safe. There should be like fifteen raiders on their way. We got some weapons that you could use in the Armoury." The mayor acknowledged. Eater nodded in unicen with Alchem, making them both look at each other with surprise.

The mayor led them both to the Armoury and allowed them to grab whatever they needed to. Eater grabbed a simple handgun and a saber. He remembered getting the saber from a scavenger that wanted to take all of his stuff. The scavenger made a wrong move and Soul Eater took it with his magic and plunged it straight through the scavenger's heart, making sure that he wouldn't lose his life in the tricky situation.

Eater looked at Doctor Alchem as he was sceptical about choosing a weapon.

"Mayor? I notice that you have no medical guns, why is this?" Alchem asked, being slightly curious on why there weren't any. The mayor didn't answer, so he chose a handgun, a smaller one than Eater had taken. Soul Eater rolled his eyes as he thought about how he was going to keep the doctor alive. He didn't have the mindset of a soldier, but yet again, who did anymore? They both grabbed some armour from a nearby table and some extra ammo for their weapons inside the Armoury, before they both walked out to the gate of the settlement.

"They are coming from the south, so if you set up an ambush down the road a little, you should be able to catch them by surprise." The mayor stated, opening the gate and revealing a path that travelled south. Soul Eater and Doctor Alchem began their journey south, getting a fair distance away from the settlement, before looking back.

"Alright then Doctor, you understand how to use a gun, right?" Soul Eater asked, being mildly curious about a doctor that could use a weapon. He had never seen a doctor be confident with a weapon. Alchem nodded and then loaded a magazine into the receiver. That made Soul Eater smile.

They both continued a little way down the road, seeing debris and ruins of buildings to either side of the road. The settlement was out of view, so they both guessed that the area they were at, was a good location to set an ambush. Doctor Alchem took a position behind one of the carts, to the side of the road. Soul Eater had another idea, running into one of the closer buildings to the left side of the road.

It was a solid five minutes before they could both detect some noise. Doctor Alchem looked through the window of the cart and saw them. Some filthy raiders were heading towards them, travelling on the road. Alchem signalled to Eater about them. The only response that Alchem got, was a nod, followed by Soul Eater moving back, away from one of the windows he was at. Alchem did the same.

Doctor Alchem could hear them laughing. When he originally looked, he saw that they had been covered in blood and were cackling to each other. Alchem waited for them to pass before counting out that there were only six of them. The mayor had told them both that they said that there was like fifteen of them on the way. Alchem shook his head as he then cocked his weapon and aimed it at the raiders, using his muzzle to hold his weapon. It was a little awkward, but it got the job done.

Before Alchem could shoot, he watched in pure shock, as Soul Eater pounced onto one of them, jumping from the rooftop of the building he was originally in. He landed on them and sliced the blade he held in his mouth, into the throat of the raider. This made blood squirt onto his face, making him look like even more of a terrifying being. The attack was quickly followed by three shots, landing into the head of the others around him, dropping them instantly. Alchem could see that he wasn't taking any chances.

Alchem rushed in and winced, as Eater shot one of the raiders in the leg, before sliding and balancing on his forehooves, releasing a devastating buck to the raiders skull, indenting it and killing him instantly. If he was still alive, he would have had brain damage for sure. One of the raiders shot wildly back, spraying a barrage of bullets in the direction of Soul Eater.

Eater jumped out of the way as he gave chase to the pony that was running away. He fled into a building by jumping through a window, making Soul Eater surprised because of it still being intact, until the raider jumped through it. Soul Eater followed him, jumping over the window and finding the raider inside. The raider tried to buck Eater out of the window, but he dodged it and dropped his pistol, bringing his knife to bear, in his magic. He used the opportunity to kill the raider, by dragging the knife underneath the stomach of them. Eater used brute force to plunge the knife into the raider and then dragged the knife towards him. The raider fell limp, being as dead as they come.

Eater plucked the knife out from the raider's stomach and watched as it fell to the floor. He picked it up with his magic and then placed it into his weapon belt. He began to loot the raider, seeing that he didn't have much on his body. Eater turned out the corpse's pockets, finding a hefty amount of bottle caps inside. He nabbed them all before grabbing his own pistol with his magic. He placed the raider's weapon into his saddlebag and realised that he held a pistol and a shotgun, both being loaded. He shook his head, before stepping through the doorway.

Soul Eater returned outside to see one of the raiders alive on the floor. Alchem was trying to fix him. Soul Eater came up beside the Doctor and then paused. He quickly pulled out his pistol and shot the alive raider in the head. Alchem looked back at him.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" He shouted, looking angrily at Eater. Soul Eater shook his head, before going down to loot the other corpses.

"I completed the mission!" Eater declared, bending down at one of the raiders. He began to strip all of the bodies for ammunition and weapons and Alchem did the same, starting with the fresh death that happened a foot away from the doctor. He found some medical supplies on some of the ponies and then looked to Soul Eater to see if he was ready to head back to the settlement.

Soul Eater turned to Doctor Alchem and sighed, before stopping. He noticed a glint behind Alchem and pushed him out of the way, as a loud bang was present nearby, followed by the crack of a bullet. The bullet barely missed Alchem, as he fell to the floor, due to Eater's push. Instead, Eater had the bullet pass through his hindleg, making him scream loudly.

Alchem scrambled to safety and began to take shots towards the sniper, using his tongue to pull the trigger and missing all of them. He did an effective job of making the sniper take cover behind a tree, allowing Soul Eater to get to cover as well. They both got behind a stone wall, something that the sniper couldn't see them through. Eater crawled into a building, leaving a blood trail behind him. Alchem waited a couple of seconds before he followed the trail and saw that Eater was trying to fix himself. Doctor Alchem sighed, before walking up to him and placing a hoof on his chest.

"Let me help you!" He commanded, looking Eater dead in the eyes. Soul Eater drew in a deep breath, before closing his eyes, perking his ears up.

"J...Just stay quiet when you do it, I'll listen for him!" Soul Eater suggested. Alchem didn't reply, he was too busy trying to fix Eater's hindleg. He had to get the bullet out, then patch him up. Eater winced in pain as Alchem used his wing to dig inside for the bullet. He found it! He placed the bullet on the floor, before getting up and grabbing some bandages. He proceeded to wrap them around Soul Eater's hindleg, making him wince again.

They both got up, Alchem allowing Eater to balance on his wing, as they walked out of the building. Eater slowly pushed off Alchem and stood on three legs, before sneaking around the outside wall. He signalled for Alchem to stay put, so he did. Alchem heard a pony approaching him, so he pointed his weapon at the pony's location. The raider came into view, sniper on his back.

"Aww! What do we have here? A pretty pony with some goodies for me? Maybe I should break you open like a piñata!" The raider spoke, somewhat muttering to himself. The raider grabbed the sniper from his back with his magic, before pointing it at Doctor Alchem. He was completely convinced that he was about to die, so he closed his eyes for about two seconds, before opening them to look at the raider.

A large blast punched a hole in the raider's hindleg. This shocked the doctor at first, before he saw Soul Eater behind the raider, holding the shotgun that he had looted from the raiders, in his magic. The raider turned to Eater, before having his muzzle blasted to pieces by another shotgun blast. This made the raider instantly drop to the floor, increasing Eater's kill count an additional kill. Eater looked down at Alchem.

"You alright?" Soul Eater asked Alchem, hoping that he wasn't hurt. Alchem nodded. Eater wasn't one to make friends, in fact, he hated making friends. He only cared about himself most of the time, but in this situation, he had to make sure that him and Alchem survived. "Despite me not liking anyone, including you, I must admit that we need to get back together. I'm slightly confused by the amount of raiders here too. Where could they have disappeared to?" Soul Eater added.

Alchem scowled and then got up. He looked around and then looked at the chunks of pony that covered the floor. He tried to avoid stepping on any, but it was nearly impossible to bypass. Alchem walked over to the sniper on the floor and picked it up, placing it on his back. He looked at Soul Eater and frowned, seeing that he was holding two full saddlebags with weapons on his back. Alchem felt a little bad about the entire thing and walked up to Eater. He took the bags off Eater's back, allowing him to move easily, without the weight being put on his back.

Eater looked at Alchem and then yawned, being more tired than anything else. Eater barely became tired often, but the blood loss must have gotten to him. Alchem kept him steady on his three hooves. Once he got back, he would properly sort Eater's hindleg out. They both could see the settlement, but something was off about it. Something was wrong. They could see that the gate to the settlement was destroyed. That meant bad things had happened. They never left the gate open, let alone unlocked.

They both began to pick up their pace, as they got closer to the open to all settlement. They could see flames on the inside, which made them both think badly, picking up more and more negative connotations about the settlement's new condition. Soul Eater broke away from Alchem and rushed as fast as he could to the gate. He stumbled, but instantly got straight back up again. Eater got to the gate and froze. Alchem rushed over and took one glance inside, to see the horrors that lived inside.

There were bodies of ponies that lived in the settlement, along with the bodies of raiders that attacked. Eater entered the settlement and saw a raider dragging their body across the floor, still being alive. Eater looked angrily at the raider, as he walked calmly over towards them. The raider turned and smiled at Soul Eater, still crawling along.

"We killed them all! Hahaha! There's nothing here for you anymore!" The raider spoke, before Eater landed a hit on the side of the raider's head, with his hoof. Soul Eater began to rapidly hit the raider and Doctor Alchem looked on in horror, as the raider kept getting punched by Eater. He didn't feel like doing anything, because he was in too much shock. The settlement and all of the ponies in it, were destroyed. Alchem looked back down at Eater and walked up to him.

Eater was still punching the raider, even though they were clearly dead, due to the amount of blood on the side of the head that Eater was punching. Alchem slowly began to drag Eater off the body, but Eater pushed him away, before biting hard onto the dead raider's neck. He pulled with such a force, that the raider's head snapped cleanly off, bringing part of the spine with it.

Alchem winced at the scene before him, recoiling back as he saw the head in Eater's muzzle. Eater dropped the head to the side, before throwing it with his magic, into some fire. He looked around at the flames around him, the burning buildings, the burning ponies. There was nothing left! Eater got up and walked around, observing the surrounding area. Alchem joined him, wanting to keep Eater from falling over or breaking emotionally.

They both walked up to what was left of the tavern. It was ransacked! They noticed a familiar body on the floor. Turning the body over, they recognised the mayor of the town, eyes open wide, with her jaw snapped and hanging low. This made both of them recoil in shock, but it impacted Alchem the hardest. Although Soul Eater had only recently travelled to the settlement, about a month before the events of today, Alchem didn't go anywhere else.

Eater rushed out of the tavern and travelled down the settlement road, towards his home. Alchem chased after him, trying to keep up with him as best as he could. He caught up to Soul Eater and looked at him, as Eater examined his home. It was leveled to the floor. He broke down in tears. Alchem was shocked by his reaction, having seen such a fearsome fighter of Soul Eater. He never could have imagined that Soul Eater was soft, but he was definitely showing his softer side through all of this carnage.

Doctor Alchem used his wing to hug Eater. Soul Eater didn't appreciate it, slapping his bloody hoof against the underside of Alchem's wing. It hurt Alchem slightly, but he folded his wings in and just stared blankly at Eater.

"Sorry Doc, I don't do affection! I can handle this shit alone!" He whispered, then roared. Alchem stood back, understanding that he didn't like the help, but he just wanted to be alone to deal with it. He didn't want to be felt sorry for. Alchem understood that! Alchem passed by Eater and entered into the debris, lifting up rocks of concrete to find some things. Eater joined him and lifted up some debris with his magic. His bed was mostly intact, but that wasn't what he wanted to find.

He eventually found the lockbox that he wanted. It was his own personal stash. Some things that he kept and wanted to keep hold of. Eater picked it up with his magic and then sat on the bed, Alchem joining him shortly. Eater opened the box and saw what he wanted to. There was a weapon, with some ammo, a syringe with some fluid in it and a photograph. Eater picked up the photograph with his hooves and looked at it, while Alchem picked out the syringe with his wing tips, before reading the instructions on the tag of it.

"To make an entire lake of water, pure! A purification Syringe that can sterilise and cleanse water and other substances around it. Crafted with special dark magic spells, found within the Canterlot library." Alchem read clearly to himself. He was really surprised at how he had this in his lockbox. Alchem looked up at Eater and saw that he was still looking at the image. Alchem turned to look at the image with him and saw two creatures in it. They were both the same type of creature, but they were different to whatever creatures that Alchem had ever seen in the Wasteland. It was almost like they were bug ponies, but why did he have them in there.

Eater realised that Alchem was looking at the photo too, so he jumped and hid the photo from his vision. Eater placed the image into the lockbox and closed it, before placing it into one of the saddlebags he had with him.

"Keep the syringe out, it will allow us to cleanse water as we go. That's the only reason that I returned here" Eater Convinced, not convincing Alchem in the slightest. Alchem noticed a change in mood from Eater, as he evaluated him more. He was becoming slightly less hostile, only slightly though.

"We should search the bodies, to see if there is anything else we could use before we go." Soul Eater advised, making Alchem nod. They both went in separate ways. Doctor Alchem heading towards the medical section of the once liveable settlement and Soul Eater heading towards the tavern and Armoury.

"Soul Eater!" Alchem shouted, making Eater turn. "Be careful!" Alchem added, turning back around and trotting to the medical wing. Eater smiled at that and turned around and paced towards the Armoury first.

Alchem strolled carefully up to the medical section. Like all of the other areas, there were a couple of corpses. He looked worried, as he walked up to them, each one individually. He recognised all of the bodies, including the true doctor. This doctor was somepony that he worked closely with, ever since he had gotten to the settlement. He was his assistant. The doctor's body laid flat on the floor, a hoof missing from him. His eyes were open and were staring into open space, clear air. Luckily for Alchem, the doctor had not been looted properly, finding a couple of healing potions and syringes. He was happy about that, but closed the doctor's eyes, using his wing tips. Alchem closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, before moving on, towards the building.

Alchem foraged through the rubble of the building and found some more supplies. Bandages, tape, screws, and a fully stocked medkit. That was a good haul, but sadly, the raiders had picked it clean, leaving some empty medkit boxes out, which Alchem picked up and stored in his saddlebag. There was no space in the saddlebags, since they were full of the weapons that the raiders had. He was just about able to fit the boxes in them, before closing them up and making his way back to the gate. He was going to wait for Soul Eater to get back there, so he was going to keep the main entrance covered, making sure that no raiders could sneak in.

Alchem got to the main entrance and ran to one of the closer buildings, before setting the saddlebags off onto the ground and opening them up. Since Alchem was going to wait for Eater, he was going to make himself productive. He opened the medkits that were empty and filled them with the same types of ammunition. He was sorting it out and emptying the weapons, so that they were organised. He kept the sniper next to him, just in case he needed to use it to defend the area, as he began his tedious and time consuming sorting out process.

Soul Eater travelled to the Armoury first, leaving the tavern for later. He picked up some more saddlebags from a pony that didn't need them anymore and came to the door of the Armoury. It was still intact! The raiders surely couldn't have got into the Armoury vault, if they didn't have an entrance in and out. The door was still locked, so Eater used the password to open it. This opened it a little, but not enough to get a pony inside. He used his magic and teleported through the small gap. He looked at the door and saw that some of the roof had caved in, making the door not open properly.

Eater turned to the wall and saw that everything was near enough like how they had originally seen it, when being handed the weapons. There were only a couple of guns missing, but there was still a rightful amount there for the picking. Soul eater opened his saddlebags and crammed weapon after weapon in. Most of them were pistols and knives, but there was a submachine gun in there too. There was a light machine gun in there too, but sadly, that didn't have any ammo for it in the ammo boxes that littered the room. Most of them were empty and none of them were full. He grabbed the lot and placed it into his saddlebags before teleporting out of the door.

He travelled to the tavern next, being surprised that his bags were weighing so much already. He was walking on three hooves and tried to avoid putting pressure on his back one. It hurt so bad, but the surroundings took his mind off it, if not for a brief second every minute. He entered the tavern and then paused. He re-looked over the mayor. She wore a scowl, but there was something off. The way she positioned her lips, made Eater think carefully. Out of all of the surrounding settlements, why did the raiders decide to attack here and not the others?

Eater scouted behind the bar and saw that everything was smashed. There was nothing left. There was a medkit box under the counter, so Soul Eater took it and placed it in the saddlebags, knowing damn well that it was empty. The box might have been useful for either holding medical supplies, or something else. Eater shook his head and smacked his hoof against a ridge on the floor, sending him tumbling onto the floor and landing on his bad hoof, making him wince.

He looked down and realised that there was a floorboard sticking out. He got down and lifted the floorboard out and found a stone of some sort. It wasn't any normal stone, it was a glowing stone, something that Soul Eater had never seen. He would consult with Doctor Alchem about it, when he got back to see him. He placed the stone inside the saddlebag and looked back down to see a note. It was a tag of some sort. He picked it up and looked it over. He then read it out loud to himself.

"Keep this artifact away from the raider's leader, Sawtooth will surely destroy the entirety of the Wasteland with it. Keep it safe Appleseed!" He spoke, reading from the paper tag. He placed the tag inside the saddlebag as well, as he travelled swiftly out of the tavern, forgetting to loot the body behind the counter. He looked back at the mayor's body, Appleseed's body. He was happy that he knew her name now. It brought a sense of joy to his body. He felt like he knew somepony, finally he could say that he knew somepony's name. He closed the door to the tavern and made sure that it was shut. "Rest in peace my friends." He whispered to himself, rubbing his eye with a free hoof, wiping a tear away.

He headed in the direction of Alchem and took a little look around as he walked towards the main gate. He couldn't see Alchem, but he was sure that he was staying out of sight. Alchem was probably out of sight, but doing something productive. As Soul Eater got to the gate, he looked up at the broken building and saw him on the second floor, counting out the bullets and placing them in different sections. Eater walked up the stairs of the building, nearly not at all intact on their own without him walking on them. He got next to Alchem and placed down everything that he had. Alchem decided that he would sort out the ammunition that Soul Eater had collected and would let Eater sort out the weapons, breaking certain ones and keeping the others.

It took them a couple of hours to sort all of this out, between what to keep, scrap, store or sell. Most of it was in the selling section of it, with only a couple of others needed to be kept. While they were doing the sorting, they turned on an old radio that was next to the bed and sorted out the items into saddlebags. The radio played classical tunes from before the war, before the bombs. Doctor Alchem and Soul Eater both enjoyed the tunes on the radio, ranging in different genres of music and sounds.

They both finished sorting the weapons and supplies out and were about to start heading out, before a noise could be heard close to them. They both got down and looked over the lip in the wall. There were more raiders and they were looking for something. Eater poked Alchem on the back, making him turn.

"We need to get out of here!" Eater whispered, making sure that only Alchem could hear. Alchem looked at the raiders searching bodies, then nodded to Eater. They both carefully picked up all of the medkit boxes and their saddlebags and quietly crept out of the settlement. This wasn't the last time that they would visit the settlement, that was for sure. They were also playing it safe by not engaging with the raiders, since they had plenty of ammo and weapons to continue a war.

Alchem and Eater travelled south, following the roads and paths for a little while, before they engaged in any conversation. They didn't get where they were meant to travel to. How could they with all of the raiders around? They saw an outcove and some rubble. It was a slight indent into the rock, enough to house two ponies for the night, as Alchem looked up, confirming that night time was coming. Alchem travelled towards it and dropped his items on the floor and laid down. Eater looked a little sceptical, but didn't hesitate to take a break from all of the running and gunning. Soul Eater sat down, across from Doctor Alchem. He didn't want to get too close to him, due to the fact that he wasn't with him by choice, he was with him for survivability, but he was growing on him a little.

"I think it would be smart if we stay here for the night, then in the morning, we head to the nearest town." Alchem stated, sounding like he was in command. Eater nodded and then curled up, sticking his hindleg out, to avoid sleeping on it and regretting it when he woke up.

Alchem placed his saddlebags on himself, keeping him hidden underneath them. Soul Eater looked at him and moved right next to him, before flopping to the floor again and lying next to him. Alchem poked him with his wing, prompting him to speak.

"Do you want me to wrap my…" Alchem stated before getting rudely interrupted.

"No! I don't need your warmth! I'll be fine." Soul Eater replied, angrily shuffling away, but not too far. Alchem found that a little funny. The fact that he came close meant that he trusted him enough to be that close, but didn't want to stay warm. This made his heart jump and he began to chuckle softly. Despite being hostile towards Alchem's wings, Soul Eater grew a smile on his face, just from the look on Doctor Alchem's face.

Alchem just looked at Eater and kept his goofy smile on his muzzle. Eater covered himself with his saddlebags and kept his eye out for any movement. Alchem got some of the medkits out of the saddlebag and placed them in front of Soul Eater, acting like a little defensive wall. Eater was now wearing the stupid grin on his face. He looked back at Alchem and chuckled.

"Go to sleep! I'll look out and wake you up when I get tired." Soul Eater commanded, making Alchem nod. Alchem got up and walked to the edge of the outcove, before curling up and resting his head down. Eater got up too and placed his saddlebags around Alchem, keeping him warm. Eater sat up straight and pointed his ears up, making them keep awake and aware. He closed his eyes and listened. If he heard anything, he would definitely pick it up and what direction it was in.

Alchem was asleep for a short time, before waking up to see that Eater was still sitting down, keeping a clean ear on everything. Eater's ear twitched as he looked back at Alchem. Alchem froze as he looked at Soul Eater. He was terrifying! His eyes were not the usual colour of dark blue anymore. They were red, bright red! They pierced Alchem with their brightness, making him fear Eater a little.

"This is why I got the nickname of Soul Eater. Ever since the bombs fell, I have developed something that makes my appearance terrifying at night time." Eater admitted, making himself feel a little worse. Alchem looked at him dead in the eyes. He was looking awesome, but he was a sight to behold. Some sticks broke a little way away, suggesting that somepony or something was there. Alchem picked up his saddlebags and placed the medkits back inside them, keeping an eye on the area where the noise came from.

Eater placed his saddlebags on his back, before there was another stick breaking, followed by another. Eater stared in the direction of the noise and made himself vicious. He snarled at the green glowing eyes that were approaching them. There was only one set of green eyes gladly.

"Slowly walk back onto the road and wait for me." Eater calmly announced. Alchem nodded at Eater and slowly walked to the road. He could see both sets of eyes and that terrified him. Soul Eater snarled angrily at the unidentified thing. It snarled back, then howled. Eater launched himself at it while it was howling and shut it up, placing his hooves on the muzzle of the timberwolf. He was surprised to see that the timberwolf didn't try to fight back. He slowly placed his hooves on the floor and eyed the wolf. It was fully made out of wood and had flesh fused to connect the pieces together.

Eater thought about doing something bad to the timberwolf, but it didn't seem hostile, it just eyed him, like he was a friend or something. The timberwolf turned back around and walked away, being quite smart to shield it's eyes, so it couldn't be followed. Eater was just a little confused, as he walked back onto the road and began to walk down it, with Alchem in front of him.

They continued to walk down the road as they originally did. Their next stop or idea or plan was to find another settlement and trade resources with them. They would sell the bullets that they didn't need, in exchange for weapons that they would need, as well as equipment and armour. They paced at the same pace down the road, before they came to an unexpected sighting, in the distance.