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World War Three was the longest running war in modern history, lasting from 2003 all the way up to 2017. It reached it's globe shattering Climax January 1st 2019 at 4:23AM, when the Chinese detonated a 100 Megaton warhead on Russian Soil. Russian and American retaliation occurred mere minutes later, plunging the planet into world wide nuclear war.

Hunter had a pretty sweet hideout. The interior of the house was divided by the stair case itself and it split the bottom floor into three distinct parts, the living room, kitchen and dining room. The living room had a single, red sofa good for three people against the back wall with a drawer table on either end. A yellow ceramic lamp sat on top of the right table and a bunch of magazines and remotes were on the table on the left end. The coffee table that sat on top of an Arabic looking rug was hand made out of a piece of a railroad track, mortar shells and a pane of very clean glass with some of that slight sticky, rubberized drawer liner on top of it. A TV sat on a clear coated shelf assembled by hand out of steel I-Beams and thick metal grating along with all three generations of Xbox consoles and a PC that was so badass it had water cooling. A beanbag chair and two, also handmade, copper lamps sat in one corner and a decorative, steampunk looking desk fan sat on a small table in the remaining corner, set to high. Another, astonishing detail of the house were two giant, just absurdly huge gun safes, again looking like they were handmade, resting on either side of the TV shelf. Giant bolts about as big around as my wrist tunneled an unknown distance into the floor and were secured with massive nuts that looked like they could hold up a skyscraper.

"You really aren't a fan of the idea that someone could break in and steal your guns are you?", I joked motioning towards the safe.

"Not really no", Hunter said, "I get problems with bandits a lot and it seems like the more time that passes, the braver they get, these safes are really good insurance."

"What are they made out of?", I asked, "because they look like tanks."

"4 inch thick steel plates with a half an inch of carbon titanium in between them", Hunter said, "those bolts that hold these things to the floor are stainless steel. Even if you get through the bolts, the safes weigh 2000 pounds each, so you're not moving them anywhere."

"What kind of ordinance are you protecting?", I asked, "I mean shit Eirren said you had a 20mm on the way up here."

"20mm's upstairs", Hunter said, "mounted on a frame built into the house", he reached into his shirt and used a key on a necklace to unlock the right safe. He turned a massive vault door like latch that made an extremely loud grinding sound and then pulled the easily 400 pound door open, revealing more rifles than I'd ever seen in one place. M1 Garands, M14's, M4's, AK's, Shotguns, Handguns, frags, C4. It was all there.

"I wish I had money to be that paranoid", I laughed.

"Courtesy of the Canadian Government", Hunter smiled, "Pre war I ran shadow ops to any country you could name. They needed something dead or stolen, I was the one doing it. Payment was always in weapons and ammo, on top of the fact that I was always bringing guns home from missions. As you can well imagine, by the time the nukes fell, I owned an arsenal. I got the fun stuff downstairs, rocket launchers, HMG's, even a 30mm Autocannon and a Mk-19 belt fed. I wouldn't have the problems that I have if I had bodies to fill triggers."

"Ever tried recruiting the bandits?", I asked, "stupid as I know that probably sounds."

"I'd be lying if I said that I haven't tried", Hunter said closing and locking the safe, "Bandits don't wanna work for their shit though, they'd rather steal it from people to scared to fight back. Makes me sick."

"Tell me about it man", I said, "up where I was hanging out, we were getting Rabids from the ruins up near NYC. They were filtering out of the ruins chasing the bandits that were coming up to raid people's settlements. Overwatch was always good at warning us when trouble was coming, but attacks go so incessant and Overwatch was burning so much fuel that it got to the point where they could only fly once or twice a week, and the bandits learned the schedule. They started attacking when Overwatch was grounded and couldn't support us. It got so bad that a bunch of people up and left town, I was one of them. Started out on a Convoy that Overwatch covered to a check point 50 miles outside of town, and after that we were on our own and we split up from there."

"Mentioned Overwatch a bunch", Hunter said, "I'm assuming someone in your group had a helicopter?"

I shook my head, "AC-130 gunship. Crew said they'd been flying non stop since the nukes fell, eventually they touched down at an airport that was near our town and we sent people to talk to them. They offered protection if we'd guard their plane from assholes and gave them a place to lay down for a while. Plenty of ordinance, but orders were not fire unless they came within a certain distance within town. Overwatch was powerful, but the likely hood of scavenging 105 ammo any more is pretty fucking slim, saying the least."

"Must of been nice living there", Hunter shrugged, "least until the bandit attacks started."

"To be honest I've been homesick since the bombs fell", I explained, "I live in Texas, way down south, so I'm a long way from home."

"No shit", Hunter said, "could tell you weren't from my side of town, but couldn't place your accent. Sounded Southern, didn't think it was that far south."

"My old man knew about the nukes months before they actually came", I said, "we ran north, now my only objective is going home."

"What are you gonna do if you get there and you're town is gone? What if your house is gone?", Hunter asked.

"Pitch a fucking tent and rebuild from scratch", I shrugged.

"I admire your determination", Hunter said, "I doubt you'll make it across the border though."

"And why is that?", I asked.

"Radiation", Hunter says, "An atomic bomb landed not that far from here, and due to the way that the winds blow, it's all stayed in one spot. It's big enough that it would add at least a day to your trip if you're on foot."

"A day ain't shit at this point", I said setting my AR-15 against the wall, "gonna take over a year at this point anyway."

"Tch, got a bigger dick than I do", Hunter laughed.

"That means something coming from him", Eirren laughed, "I've seen what he's got to work with."

I smirked, "I'll take your word for it."

"What's on the Menu Hunter?", Eirren asked.

"I'll put some burgers on the grill", Hunter said, "I've got fresh vegetables and stuff too. Trader came through this morning."

"Sounds good to me. Been ages since I've had fresh food."

"Eirren, show your guy friend upstairs, I left your room the way you left it", Hunter said. He set the AA-12 against the wall, walked into the kitchen and through a sliding glass door to his back yard. Eirren took Nero and I upstairs and showed us her old room. It was about ten feet in each direction. There was a queen sized bed, probably looted from a near by house, in one corner with a bunch of solid color blankets on it in one corner, while a desk, locker and small walk in closet occupied the other corners. A desk with another badass looking PC stood quietly against the wall with a handmade office chair sitting underneath the desk. A window looked out over the road with a great view of both the sun and moon rise. It had a pretty good view of the neighbor hood as well, you'd see someone coming from a mile away if you could be bothered to pay even the least bit of attention. Eirren had a bean bag chair up here as well, which she fell into after dropping her pack and weapons in the corner.

"Home", She sighed, "Feels good."

"I thought you said that you wanted to move on", I said setting my gear in the corner and sitting against the wall.

"I do", Eirren laughed as she picked Nero up and set him on the bed, "but that doesn't mean I don't miss my bed and $3000 dollar pre war gaming PC."

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss my Xbox 1", I smiled.

"What was your favorite game?", she asked.

"I know you'll probably stab me for this, but Call Of Duty Ghosts. No shame", I stated.

"Ghosts was shit Arien", Eirren said with a mocking sigh, "you call yourself a gamer?"

"Yep", I replied with a grin, "I don't expect a PC Gamer to understand us lowly console peasants."

"I do understand Console peasants", Eirren said, "part of the reason I got Hunter to build me a PC."

"If you understood you wouldn't have committed high treason against us by leaving for PC", I joked.

Eirren shook her head and stood up, taking off her long coat and placing it over the office chair, "I'm gonna go get cleaned up. Wanna join me?"

Well. That came out of nowhere.

"You mean share the shower?", I asked, half sarcastically, half seriously.

"Pretty much yes", she replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"I don't know how to respond to that", I told her.

"It's a yes no question", Eirren said, "but I think I know what you mean. I caught a glimpse of your dog tags last night. I think given the circumstances the big man upstairs understands there isn't exactly a priest around to marry us first. I was still going to church everyday right up till the bombs fell, so trust me, I know your exact thought process."

"Yet you ask me anyway?", I returned with a more sarcastic tone than I probably should have, "I don't understand why when bad shit happens people throw their morals out the door."

"You still haven't answered", she smirked.

"No, I don't want to share the shower with you", I flatly voiced, "not yet anyway."

Eirren gave me a funny look and then left the room, thank god Nero was asleep. While Eirren was in the shower, I started to smell the burgers cooking upstairs. Since Nero was unconscious, I figured he'd be fine on his own for a bit and went back down stairs to join Hunter. The backyard was mostly empty, and looking like a normal suburban backyard. Big pool with a deck, garden along the back fence wall and patio holding a glass table with four chairs arranged around it and an umbrella sticking up through the table itself. I found Hunter sitting on his patio in a lawn chair with a beer in his hand that looked ice cold, watching the sunset with some super dark sunglasses on.

"Burger's smell good", I said opening the back door, "they're not gonna attract Rabids are they?"

"Nah", Hunter said, "I cook outside all the time, only ever have problems with Bandits. Want a beer?"

"I don't...no, actually I do want a beer", I said pulling up a lawn chair, "I need something to take the edge off."

Hunter reached down into a small ice bucket and handed me an unmarked brown bottle that was super chilled to the touch, "home brewed. Has good flavor."

I popped the cap off and took a drink. Tasted better than any beer I'd had before, gotta say. Went down nice and crisp, it'd also been a while since I'd had something cold to drink and to be honest I don't think it was a stretch to say I'd nearly forgotten what it was like.

"Damn", I commented, "that's some good beer. Cold and refreshing, know how long it's been since I had something cold to drink?"

"Take it's been a while", Hunter said leaning back in his chair, "you been taking care of Eirren?"

I shrugged, "she doesn't strike me as the type that needs someone to take care of her."

"She does", Hunter said, "she's hasn't been the same since Mark died a few days ago. She seems happier around you though, something about you puts her at ease. Maybe she see's something in you that she saw in Mark."

"Who exactly was this guy Hunter?", I asked, "from what Eirren told me about him, it sounded like he had schizophrenia."

"He did", Hunter said, "had it bad too. Constantly jumping at shadows to the point I had to take his guns away, but even that didn't do much good. Eirren could usually pull him back easily enough, but once those bombs fell, he went completely insane. I guess eventually his mind just overloaded and shut down."

"Hell of a way to die", I said taking another swig of beer.

"He's buried a few blocks down", Hunter said, "Eirren left after she finished digging his grave. Wouldn't let me help her either. To be honest I understand why."

"I won't prod", I said, "she'll tell me when she's ready."

"You strike me as a religious type", Hunter said, "I'm not convinced myself, but tell me, say you and Eirren fall in love and wanna have a few kids together, how you gonna go about that without a priest to marry you?"

"Just do it I guess", I shrugged, "though to be honest taking my pants off is the furthest thing from my mind right now. Once I make it home, I guess I'll have to see what happens. Plus you've seen the movies. The minute you start to bang, bam, the monster shows up to eat your face."

"Good answer mate", Hunter laughed, "but, in all seriousness. Take care of Eirren, you ain't gonna find another female like her out in the fuckin' wastes, I promise you that."

"Thanks for telling me what I already knew", I said, "the night I pulled those rapists off her, she stripped off and somehow managed to work herself into this ittybity space between me and the wall, without waking me up."

"She did the same shit to Mark", Hunter laughed, "she was always trying to get to Mark too."

Eirren also picked that exact moment to walk out of the house. When I heard the doors open, I turned around to see what was up. She was wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a white T-shirt and the sun glinted off her scales with an eye popping emerald glow that contrasted with her eyes in such away that I couldn't help but wonder what kids between us might look like.

"Boys talking about me behind my back?", Eirren asked as she forced herself onto the chair with me, "that's cool, that's cool. I just wish I had another girl to gossip to about the two of you."

"Good luck with that", Hunter said getting up to check the burgers. Eirren put her paw on my cheek and turned my head so she could look into my eyes.

"Did I ever tell you your eyes remind me of sapphire?", Eirren asked me.

"Really?", I asked with a smile and a slight pur, I just hope she didn't notice my tail had started to sway, "yours remind me of beautifully cut Citrine."

"Strange", Eirren purred, "Citrine is my birthstone."

I didn't have a reply for her. She starred into my eyes for a while before she put a paw on my shoulder, "just kiss me Arien."

I grinned, "let's do it."

So we did. Up until this point, I'd never kissed a girl before, had never even come close to getting a female to like me. I couldn't help but wonder if she was only into me because I'd saved her life a few nights ago, but to be honest, I couldn't bring myself to care, not even a little bit. That kiss, I'm not even sure I had something to compare it to. At the risk of sounding a bit cheesy, it was magical, and that was putting it lightly. I wasn't sure how long the kiss lasted, in reality, probably 30 seconds, but in my head it felt like hours, maybe even a day. When we pulled away, I saw a look in Eirren's eyes that I'd never seen in the eyes of any Dragoness before and I wasn't sure what that look was.

"Wow", I quietly sighed, "that was...unreal."

Eirren giggled a girly giggle, "your not so bad yourself."

My cheeks turned red hot and Eirren just started laughing at me.

"This kiss, this kiss", Hunter bellowed, "unthinkable."

I saw Eirren's face illuminate, not so much from shock that he said it, but from shock at Hunter's atrocious singing.

"Don't ever do that again", she pleaded, "please god no. Your singing is aidsy. It just spreads disease wherever you go."

"Yeah bro, that was sinfully bad", I smiled.

"Hmm", Hunter said, "then maybe I just won't feed ya'll."

"Bullshit", Eirren said, "fix up those burgers like a good lil' draggy."

"Hey", Hunter said, "only one dragon get's to talk with me like that he's absent at the moment."

"I'll be he's not missing your singing", Eirren sneered.

"You really don't wanna eat do you?", Hunter asked as he set the burgers on a picnic table near his pool, "you see, Nero's been behaving, all quiet up there in his room. Maybe he'll get first picks of the meat."

Eirren stood up and went back inside to go get Nero. I stayed in the lawn chair while he fixed a burger for himself.

"Man you were right about her", I said, "she is one of a kind."

Hunter snickered, "hope you don't disappoint her in bed."

"And what happens if I do that?", I asked.

"I don't know", Hunter shrugged, "Eirren was more concerned about keeping Mark alive than trying to mate him these past few years."

"Sounds like a nightmare", I sighed as the mood of the evening drastically pulled away from cheerful right back to normal wasteland life.

"You gonna get something to eat or not?", Hunter asked.

I rose from the chair, grabbed my beer and sat down at the picnic table. I took one of the big, juicy beef patties from the cutting board, set it between two very fresh pieces of bred and put some obviously handmade cheese between it and took a bite. I never cared much for burgers Pre-War, but now, it was like a taste of old, can't say I didn't miss it.

"Good beef", I asked, "where the hell was this raised?"

"Trader said it came from the Great Lakes region", Hunter said, "still grass, trees and fresh water out there apparently."

"Long walk for sure", I said, "maybe I'll stop by the lakes on my way down."

"I haven't been down there post war", Hunter said, "but the trader said there's a nice little town there. Might not hurt to stick your head in and say hi."

"I think I will", I agreed. At this point, Eirren rejoined us with Nero, who immediately picked up the scent of burgers.

"Meeeeaaatttt", He said rolling out of Eirren's arms and following his nose, bonking his head on the table.

"Careful little dude", Hunter laughed, "don't hurt yourself."

"I'm super hard headed", Nero said groping around the table, looking for a way to climb up, "it doesn't hurt me one bit!"

Hunter chuckled as Nero found a way to climb up and onto the table, "I like your attitude little man", He put a plain burger on a plate and set it in front of him, "here, eat up."

Nero put both his front paws on the burger and started chewing on it. Eirren sat down and started fixing herself a burger and while she was doing that, Hunter spoke up again.

"So here's the deal", he said, "I don't want you guys walking down to the border, too much shit between here in there. No so much a danger to the two of you, but most of it would be more than happy to kill Nero."

"How do you propose we make it out then?", I asked, "I don't know if you noticed, but I can't fly and we don't have a car that works."

"No, but I my Dodge Charger still runs", Hunter said, "I can drive ya down to the border, shave a good couple of days off your trip if you like."

"I would appreciate that, very much", I told him taking another bite of my burger, "as long as this trip is going to take, every little bit someone is willing to hack off is much appreciated."

"Pre-War would have taken you two or three days", Hunter said taking another bite of burger.

"Pre-War we didn't have to worry about Bandits, Rabids, Radiation, EMP Storms and any manner of other shit the wastelands can throw at us", Eirren said.

"Fair enough", Hunter said, "just be warned. I haven't started it in a while, it'll need a slight tune before it hits the road. Don't complain because I can't fucking change it. I haven't driven it in ages because I haven't had the need to."

"I'm not, trust me", I said finishing my burger, "walking or driving, I'm getting home."

Dinner was spent mostly discussing pre-war movies and video games after that point. When dinner was done, we got everything cleaned up and went inside so Hunter could lock the house up for the night. When he started, I understood why Eirren had said no one was getting into this house. Neatly concealed in the floor and undetectable by anyone who wasn't paying extremely close attention were solid, half inch thick steel plates that covered the front and back door as well as all of the first floor windows. They bolted into the walls by means of inch thick and half foot long bolts that screwed into openings neatly hidden away by his decorative curtain rods. Once the house was locked up, he turned out the downstairs light.

"I'm going to bed, and the three of you should too", Hunter said, "you guys got a hell of a trip tomorrow."

"Good idea", I agreed heading upstairs as Hunter turned out the lights. I took a shower and when I made it back to the bedroom, I found Eirren sitting at her desk playing Call Of Duty and Nero was trying to kill a squeaky toy. I stood quietly in the door way, watching them, feeling a paw on my shoulder after some time, turning around, it was Hunter.

"Should get some sleep brother", He said.

"I know", I said, "just got a lot on my mind right now. Glad I don't have to make the trip on my own, but now I've got two others to look out for, not sure I'm ready for this kind of responsibility."

"Gotten this far haven't you?", Hunter asked.

"Yeah", I sighed, "but up to this point, I've been on my own, all on foot. I'm worried about Nero more than anything. If Eirren or I overheat, eat something irradiated or dry out a bit, no big deal, but if Nero overheats, he'll probably die. Not to mention the fact that radiation is infinitely more dangerous to him than it is to me an Eirren and mammals need a lot more water than us reptiles do."

"Well", Hunter said, adjusting his stance slightly, "like I said at dinner", he shook his head, "not religious, never been religious, but I'd be lying if I told you I haven't given the matter thought in some recent years. Few months ago, got into a jam, then by some improbable stroke of luck, I got out of it. Still don't know if a really good sniper saw me about to be beheaded, caused a bit of carnage and then slunk off, never to be seen again, or if there really was a higher power that saved me. There may or may not be something or someone watching over us, to me it's irrelevant, but on the off chance that there is? I'd pray. Seems to work for a lot of people nowadays."

"Hey Nero", Hunter spoke up.

Nero looked up from his toy.

"Why don't you come hang out with me in my room?", he asked, "I've got a bed made for Ferals in there that you'll like a lot better than the floor in here."

"Okay", Nero said picking up his toy and joining us in the hallway. Hunter leaned in and whispered in my ear.

"Now's your chance", he smiled motioning to Eirren, "make your move and don't fuck it up."

He and Nero disappeared down the hallway without a word. I couldn't help but grin as I walked into the room and shut the door behind me. I sat down on the bed, watching Eirren play WW2 Search and Destroy against what looked like next level vet bots.

"What difficulty are those bots set on?", I asked.

"Realistic", she said, "it's a mod Hunter made to make...them resemble human players...better!"

She panicked as five guys converged on her. Armed with only a Commonwealth sniper rifle, they laid her out and crushed her, ultimately she died to a shotgun with incendiary shells, losing the match.

"I tried", She hissed taking off her headphones, "I can only backpack so hard! Gimme some better teammates!"

"Let me guess, only one person on your team was actually using guns, the rest of them were using knives and going for Ninja defuses?"

"We literally lost every round that I and the good bot, the other level 1000 died", Eirren sighed, "pisses me off."

"Just like Marksman pre-war", I laughed, "seemed like every video he was bitching about at least one teammate. He only played SND."

"I would have liked him then", she laughed turning off her PC and coming to sit me me in bed. I fell to my back, she rolled over to face me.

"You know, I don't think I thanked you properly for pulling those bandits off me", She said.

"You did, like a hundred times within the span of a few minutes", I smiled.

She giggled, "no idiot, not like that, like this."

She pulled me into another kiss. Yet again, it wasn't like anything I'd ever experienced before. I didn't want it to end. I couldn't fathom how she warmed up to me so quickly when we'd barely known each other two days at this point. When she pulled away, she smiled a warm smile and pulled me close to her, closing her eyes. I put my arm around her, reached over and turned off the lamp, falling asleep shortly after that. When I woke up the next morning, Eirren was already up. Her clothes were gone and Nero was still sound asleep with a light snore at the foot of the bed. I pushed the covers aside to avoid waking him up, got dressed, grabbed my Sig and then went down stairs, finding Hunter sitting on the couch and Eirren was in the kitchen fixing herself a bowl of cereal.

"Does Hunter happen to have any other kind of Cereal besides corn flakes?", I asked.

"There's a box of Golden Grams in the cupboard above the fridge", Eirren said, "be careful of the sugar content though."

I reached above the fridge and grabbed the box along with a small bowl. I poured cereal into the bowl till it was about 75% full, added the milk and then sat down at the table.

"Do you know how far we are from the border?", I asked.

"About 3 hours", Eirren said, "but anything could happen between here and there. Hunter took his car out for a spin run before we set off because the damn thing hasn't run for more than a few minutes at a time since the bombs fell."

"Any idea when he'll be back?", I asked.

"Probably in a few minutes", Eirren said.

As if on cue, Hunter pulled back into the driveway. His car's cammy diesel engine gurgling as it died. Without saying anything, I exited the house. Hunter's Charger was sitting on Work wheels, riding on a Buddy Club suspension kit in the front and rear and on Toyo 9902 tires that had a generous amount of sidewall and treading. It didn't have anything too flashy in the way of cosmetic mods, providing you ignored the widebody and the headlights which pierced your soul with their demonic glare. From the outside in, the headlights were a blend of Neon and LED's. Each unit had three distinct Neon Bulbs that had a half sphere mirror in front of them to reflect light back into the VERY heavily polished copper mirror that the actual bulb was half way depressed into. They were a bit difficult to see, but each of the copper mirrors had a halo of six LED lights around it that were angled in a way that the light they emitted would bounce off the edges of the sphere mirrors and back against a polished chrome back plate that had been so carefully detailed that I could make out the detail of the bricks in the house across the street in the reflection. Along the top of the headlights was another strip of about 50 LED's that appeared to be your standard daytime running lights, and underneath the main assemblies were the turn signals. The way the units were slanted, combined with the angles of the front bumper, hood and eye lips gave the car a face, and a quite unsettling face at that, like someone had just waked in on their mate who had four other males in bed with her, on valentines day after spending a bunch of money on gifts no less.

"Those are some wicked looking headlights", I said aloud as I inspected them further. I tried the handle, the door was unlocked. The interior of the car was tan with silver accents, reminding me of my Dad's old pickup. There were VWD badges that looked like they were factory, but also suspiciously aftermarket. There was a "Charger SRT" badge on the front and rear bumpers as well. There was a 15 inch tablet sitting above the AC controls and there was a "Charger" woven into the tan fabric on the passenger's side dash broad. I also noticed that the shifter went 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. A very interesting point of the car were four, full size seats, rather than two full sized ones up front and a back seat, like most normal cars had. The front and rear seats were both by Recaro and they were some nice looking racing seats with deep buckets that were super soft to the touch, didn't think I'd mind doing a few thousand miles in these. The steering wheel was custom too. It reminded me heavily of the one in my Dad's old 240SX with the flat bottom, but it had a silver and black coloration instead of red and black. The shifter looked mostly stock, but it was nice to look at nonetheless

"See anything you like?", Hunter asked getting out of the driver's side.

"I see a lot of things I like", I told him, "wish I had gotten the chance to mod my Honda Civic like this before the nukes fell."

"Yeah", Hunter said, "there were some things I wanted to do pre war that I never got the chance to, now I gotta live with it for the rest of my days."

"Given the tone in your voice I'm guessing it wasn't trivial shit", I said putting my paws in my pockets, following him up the steps and back inside.

"No", Hunter said, "fr from it. But it was personal and I don't much feel like discussing it."

"I won't pry brother", I said as we went back inside, "Eirren had just finished eating and was getting a few final things sorted with her gear."

"You guys got everything ready to go?", Hunter asked.

"I do", Eirren said, "what about you Arien?"

"Everything in my pack is still right where I left it", I shrugged.

"Well round it up and pack it into the car", Hunter said, "once I pull out of that driveway we ain't coming back."

I went up stairs. I made one last check of my pack, put my vest on, grabbed my weapons and went back downstairs. Outside, Eirren was cramming her gear into the Charger's hilariously small trunk, no thanks to the roll cage being a space vampire. By the time she actually managed to make it fit, I was just standing there laughing.

'What's so funny?", she asked.

"The size of that trunk", I snickered, "you couldn't fit a pine cone in there."

"Like you could fit your pack in there?", she asked.

"Hell no I couldn't fit my pack in there", I said, "the frame on it doesn't collapse."

I opened the back door, threw my pack inside, set my shotgun on the back seat and closed it, "but it does fit in the back quite nicely."

"Everyone's a critic", Eirren sighed. She pulled open the door and sat in the back seat with Nero. I opened the front door and sat in the car as Hunter came out of the house with a pop tart and bottle of water in his hand. He locked the door, came back to the car and sat in the driver's seat.

"Got everything?", he asked putting the shifter in neutral and starting his car.

"Yep", I said as he put it in reverse. The Charger got moving with almost no tangible effort and by the time he was back in first and going up the road, all I could smell was torque and burning clutch. The trademarked Cummins V6 idle overtook the smell of the car at a stop sign at the end of the street. Hunter turned on the signal light, checked both ways and then idled the Charger through the corner. He weaved through various streets and roadblocks until eventually we were out of Sherbrooke altogether, back in the waiting arms of the lifeless desert. Despite my best attempts to strike up some conversation as the long ride played out, Eirren and Hunter both refused to speak to each other and I couldn't fathom why. Eirren had said that she and Hunter weren't too fond of each other, but they seemed to get along well enough. I supposed it could just be that Nero and I were here and they didn't wanna fight in front of us, but I didn't know. Could have been something else going on there I supposed. Since no one was willing to talk and the radio in Hunter's car didn't work, I dug my phone out of my vest, put my ear buds in and turned on my Hollywood Undead playlist. The time passed slowly, or at least it seemed that way. The Charger muddled through mile after mile for an easy three or four hours before Hunter pulled into the parking lot of a building with a "Canadian Customs and Immigration Office" sign near the front door. He killed his Charger and rubbed his eyes.

"Whelp", he sighed, "here we are. This is your stop."

I stepped out of the car and into the waiting arms of the desert. The sun was all to eager to start punishing me and after a four hour ride in an air conditioned car, it seemed angrier than ever. I fished my pack out of the back seat and put it on. Feeling the weight back on my back was almost a welcomed feeling, and to be honest I wasn't sure why.

"Before you guys clear out, here", Hunter said emerging from the car, Nero riding on his shoulder. He had a satellite phone in his right paw.

"What's this for?", I asked.

"Call me when you get home", he said, 'I'd like to know if y'all make it safe, plus it get's boring by myself this side of the wastelands. You can only listen to a playlist so many times while cleaning out old houses before you start to die of bordem."

I laughed, "I know the feeling. Thanks for putting us up Hunter. It means the world to me."

"Didn't do it for you as much as I did it for her", Hunter said to Eirren, "you stay safe little sister, ya hear?"

"I hear ya brother", Eirren said with tears in her eyes.

"Come here", Hunter said outstretching his arms.

Eirren broke down as she and Hunter hugged it out. When the broke it off, Hunter shoved his paws into his pockets. Eirren turned to me, "let's go."

"You could stay", I told her, "I'm sure Nero would be happy here with you and Hunter."

"No", Eirren said, "I said I'd be here forever when I met you. I took an oath and I'm sticking it out till the end."

"Once we pull out of this driveway", I told her, "I'm not stopping the truck. You need to be absolutely sure that you wanna come with me."

"I do Arien", Eirren said walking to the passenger side door, "let's get moving."

I took Nero from Hunter and offered my paw, "thank you again brother, this means the world to me."

Hunter accepted my handshake, "maybe we'll see one another again some day. Bye Arien, safe travels, take care of my little sister."

I nodded, turning to the border. I looked to Eirren, who had tears streaming down her face, she was sobbing heavily.

"You sure you don't wanna stay?", I asked.

She nodded, "yes, let's go."