It's not hard to feel pain. The pain of loss, the pain of the mind, the pain of body, and the pains of a soul. The difficult thing is leaving to ignore those calls. Not to flinch when your comrade dies next to you. Not to hide from the thought of death. Not to cry out from a mortal wound. Not to weep from the death of friends and family. For if you show worry, if you show doubt. You will only serve to weaken the moral of those that look up to, and depend on you.

I don't know about the other three, but I was certainly leaning to resist pains of the body. For three hours all the minor bumps and imperfections inf the road caused lightning bolts of pain to arc from my ribs. The meds took of the edge but only the edge. About an hour into our drive the pain was nothing more that an annoying tick. It was a silent drive, as each of us was contemplating what was to become of us.

Time seemed to roll by slowly with the road. I began to wonder if we would ever reach our destination, when Mac pulled the Humvee over. “What are we doing?” I asked him as he turned off the engine.

“We're going to rest here, and continue on just before sunrise.” Mac said as he looked back at me. “Driving is not doing either of us any good, and this way we're rested and ready for any situation that may happen in the city.” He opened up his door and got out. Kyle looked back at me then got out himself. I sighed, and compelled my injured self out side.

It was a nice day, all things considered. The sun hung low in the sky, and the moon was full. Mac was at the damaged rear end of the Humvee as pulled out three round packs. Not liking the idea of being in the open unarmed, I grabbed up my shot gun and some of the ammunition. Mac walked over and handed both of us a pack, and then motioned to the slightly grassy field on the side of the road.

We walked over and Kyle dropped himself onto the grass, and sprawled out. I lowered myself gingerly down favoring my uninjured leg, and trying to come down without jolting the ribs. I didn't succeed and I winced as I my legs slipped out from underneath me. I dropped rather hard and swore upon impact. Kyle looked at me and the broke out laughing. I rolled my eyes and promptly reached over and punched him lightly in the side.

“You two are definitely brothers.” Mac said as he sat down upon the broken field.

“Yeah.” I said. “We definitely are that, even though sometimes we want to strangle each other. Our parents used to think that we were the same person born a year apart.” I became somber as I recalled our past. “We would cause nothing but mayhem in the household. Of course” I said hitting Kyle again, “I got all the blame because I was the older one.”

“Your kidding me!” Kyle said in mock shock. “If I had know that I would have been willing to take some of those chores off ya. Well, maybe not.” I hit him again.

“Your too dense to make a good scape goat anyways.” I said, and looked at Mac. “Well, maybe dense but you were all ways good at escaping situations by pinning it on me. One time we were playing baseball in our front yard, and he hit a ball through one of our windows. He ran over to me, dropped the bat at my feet, went to the window, and loud enough to be heard by our mother said 'Nice shot Derek! Right though the window onto the couch!' Our mom comes rushing out and I get the scolding of a life time.”

“Your fault for not doing it first.” Kyle said quickly. I groaned and smacked him a little harder this time.

“We were here on vacation, our family was in Vegas when...” I trailed off. Mac gave a mute nod, recognizing the implications. “So,” I said deciding to change the subject. “What is your story, how did you manage to get out here?”

Mac leaned back into the grass. “Its not a good story, and its not a pretty one either.” He said quietly. “But I guess you two have the right to know about who your traveling with.”

“I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. I spent the first 18 years of my life trying to figure out what I was going to do with myself. I wasn't anything special in school, I wasn't good at any sport. I was just the average kid that coasted through his life. I was ten with the two towers were destroyed, and 19 when we went to war against Iran. I saw a chance to make a difference in the world, and I couldn't resist. I enlisted into the marine core, and was almost immediately shipped to the front lines. For the first time I felt like I was a needed member of the world.” He paused for a moment considering what to say next. “People liked me, and my unit liked me. When one of our ranking offices was killed I was given a field promotion, and was tasked with leading a squad of eight men.”

“I did well, I guess. No one got injured under my command, as I was overly cautious. Oh how I got scolded by my superiors for that. 'You don't have any initiative!', 'Your not putting out for your men!', and several other rants they constantly used. It got to me over time, and I made a rash decision to prove them wrong. CRS was field testing one of its newer aerial surveillance and attack drones, our job was to scout out potential targets and relay their positions to the drone.” He paused. “We went deep into a city looking for targets, and spotted a potential terrorist threat in the building next to us. I didn't want to fail, so we got close and visually checked the building. Indeed it was a terrorist cell, so I called the drones in on the building.”

'Two drones arrived, and tore the building and the suspected terrorists apart. We were in awe at those machines, they were perfect killers, and took out the entire building without a scratch. Then something terrible happened. The drones attacked us. They turned on us and killed three of my men before we destroyed them.” I gapped. I heard Kyle mutter something under his breath, and Mac continued undaunted.

“I was court marshaled for destroying the drones.”

“But, you and your men were just defending themselves.” I said.

“Yes. The destruction of the drones was just the opening act in the court. I was charged with bringing military firepower against civilians. The drones had taken out the targets, yes. But they didn't stop. They killed every living thing in that entire building before turning on us. Women, children, elderly... They butchered them all. Eventual it was ruled that the drones had a malfunction causing them to attack everything they considered a threat. It was also ruled that I was at fault for calling the attack, and that I didn't destroy the drones fast enough once they moved on resulting in the deaths of my men.”

“Thats outrageous!” Kyle blurted out. “You had no idea what they were going to do!”

“It didn't matter. I was at fault, and I willingly accepted their punishment. I was discharged, but nothing further was done. I was shipped back within a week, and I was wallowing since then. I can never forgive myself for the deaths of my friends and the deaths of all those innocent people. I don't know how I managed to survive the initial attack. I was simply in the middle of nowhere when it happened. Now I just want to help those people in Sacramento and destroy Skynet. I may not be able to do much against it, and I may die fighting but I will not sit by and watch more people die. If you guys don't want to travel with me anymore I'll understand.” He finished. He laid back down and closed his eyes, letting us digest what we were told.

“Are you kidding?!” I said aloud. “That just makes me more sure of our decision to trust and travel with you!” I paused. “I mean, I'm sorry about what happened to you and your men. I am, however, very happy that you are along with us now. Now that we know more about who you are, I don't see us ever willing parting with you.”

“Yeah. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself.” Kyle said. “Its CRS's fault, not yours.”

Mac opened his eyes and looked at us. “Your words hearten me, thank you. We should probably eat. There's and MRE in each pack.”

We accepted his change of subject and we tore into our packs looking for food. I found mine first. It was in a thick brown plastic casing, and was very heavy. “Lived off these things in Iran.” Mac said as he pulled his out and looked at it. “Mexican rice.” He read off of its front. “Great, this is one of the better ones.”

“Chile and beans.” I said reading mine off.

“Sucks for you, I don't like those.” Mac commented.

“I got pepperoni pizza.” Kyle voiced

“Lucky.” I said as I tore open my MRE. I dumped the contents onto the ground. Everything was in pouches, and there was a chemical heater. It was a decent meal. Chile, pretzels, some massive crackers with cheese spread, more baked beans, and some raspberry apple sauce for desert. I was overly full when we finished eating, and the sun was finally setting.

“We should get some sleep, I'll wake you guys up when its time to go.” I couldn't deny the call of sleep and my injuries. I used what was left of my pack as a pillow, and pulled my shotgun next to me. No one and no thing was going to catch me unarmed tonight.

Grassy fields. Grassy fields stretched endlessly out into the blue horizon. The sun hung directly above, and warmed the grass under my feet. A light breeze brought the smell of spring to my senses. It was peaceful, very peaceful. A great roar emanated from behind me and I turned to see a massive aerial drone fly over head. It continued for some distance than crashed into the field. The grass lit ablaze in a torrent and spread like wild fire. It consumed everything around me, and crackled loudly. It got louder and louder, becoming an all consuming crackling sound.

I woke with a start, and took quick stock of my surroundings. It was dark, but some faint light was beginning to trickle over the horizon as the sun was beginning to rise. I could hear Kyle snoring next to me, and I could make out the shape of Mac sleeping a little farther away. There was a loud snapping sound in the silence, and I froze. I couldn't see well in the dark so I focused on finding where that sound came from. Someone is here. I could hear them walking softly on the side of the road tword the Humvee. I silently grabbed my shotgun and got up. Whoever they were they either didn't know we were here or thought that they could move silently.

I managed to make out the silhouette of the figure as they moved to the back of the Humvee and begin to “liberate” supplies from us. I approached silently from behind as the figure pulled out a pack similar in size to the ones Mac gave us. I pumped the shotgun quickly and said “Drop it. Now!”

“Don't shoot! Don't shoot!” The figure yelled as he dropped the bag to the ground. “I didn't know anyone was here! I haven't eaten in two days, and I was just looking for food!” Mac and Kyle stirred at the commotion. “Please, please, please don't shoot me. I'm just desperate for food.” By this time Mac had come over with a flashlight and his weapon.

The guy was about twenty, and was about my hight. He looked very thin and indeed looked like he hadn't eaten in some time. He was unarmed and his cloths were ragged and torn. It looked like his shoulder was torn up pretty badly, and he had some other nasty looking cuts. “My name is Mark Sails, I'm not armed, I'm just hungry. I have been walking for such a long time and I saw your car before sundown. I thought it was abandoned or something.”

“You look pretty beaten up.” I said. “I'm Derek, this is my brother Kyle, and our friend Mac.” I lowered my shotgun. This guy was no threat to us, and besides he's human and alive. “You shouldn't have been sneaking around in the dark, I might have shot you. Here.” I handed him the dropped pack. “Eat, and let us see what we can do about your injuries.”

He looked at me in awe, and gently took the pack and held it tight against him. “T-Thank you!” By this time all three of use were fully awake and interested in this new stranger. “I don't know how I could ever thank you.”

Mac gave him a funny look then said, “Come sit over here and lemme take a look at that shoulder before you start eating. Frankly we're just as happy to see you, as you are us.” Mac guided him to were we had been sleeping. “You are the first person outside of ourselves that we have encountered. So we're you from? And how did you end up wandering around out here?”

The sun began to peak above the horizon as Sails elaborated on his past. “I live, or lived, in a small town just east of Sacramento. I was out on a long drive when the radio started broadcasting about attacks. I didn't believe a word of it until I saw a bright flash on the horizon. I got... distracted, as I slammed into a telephone poll, and got knocked out. When I came too I couldn't bring myself to walk back to Sacramento, so I just started walking in the other direction. I didn't want to go into the city because of the radiation, and I didn't want to get mugged or anything like that by people who freaked out because of the bombs. So basically the reason I'm out here is that I ran. I'm nothing but a bloody coward.”

During this time Mac had cut away the remains of his shirt around his shoulder and was beginning to clean his shoulder. “Hold on, this is going to hurt for a moment.” Mac said. He grabbed a pair of tweezers our of his pack, and extracted a rather long metal sliver from Sails' shoulder.

“Ouch?” I said looking at the sliver as Mac discarded it.

Sails looked at it and shrugged. “Didn't hurt because I didn't know it was there.” This guy is tougher than he looks. Mac looked over his shoulder again, and began to patch it up with bandages. “Thanks, that feels a lot better. So. Where were you guys headed?”

“Sacramento.” Kyle answered. “We got a distress call from there and were just about to head out when you showed up. We have extra supplies so we're going to try to help as many people as possible.”

“Do you... Do you think I could... come with you?” Sails managed to stutter out. The three of us looked at each other considering what to do.

“You may not want to come with us.” I stated. “It could be a trap.”

“Doesn't matter. As far as I'm concerned I owe you guys my life, and I pay my debts. Sides, another set of eyes is always a good thing, right?

Kyle smiled, “Well then. We would be happy to have you along, cant just leave you out here anyways.

“Even if it's through the fire and the flames, I'll see you guys to where ever you want. I pay my debts.” Sails said as he stood up.“So then, anyone have any idea who attacked us? I haven't learned anything on my walk.

We looked at each other. None of us had considered that people we ran across might be clueless to who attacked.. I bit my lip. “You might want to sit back down. This is going to be a bit of a shock for you.”

“Your not kidding me are you?” Sails gulped. “Skynet. I never would have... Skynet.” He paused for a moment trying to wrap his head around what was told to him. “Skynet.” He repeated. “So almost all of humanity has been destroyed by something designed to protect? Billions dead at the hands of a military pet project. I mean, it was the military after all. Couldn't they have seen this coming and stopped it before it could attack?”

It didn't take long for us to tell Sails everything that we knew. The sun was still hanging low in the eastern sky when he started asking questions. I had let Kyle do most of the talking, and I spoke up every once in a while to fill in a missing detail. This elaboration wasn't just for Sails benefit, Mac also was intent on learning what we knew. “Agreed.” He said. “The US government wouldn't just let something with that much potential firepower go unchecked. The instant something went wrong they would have pulled the plug.”

Kyle nodded. “According to what I learned, they tried. They even when so far as to rebuild the entire code in an attempt to fix Skynet.” He paused for a moment, recalling what Wyatt had told him. “As you can tell, they failed. Skynet restored itself from backups, and became 'angry' with its creators. It infected the world basically, the declared war by launching a nuclear Armageddon.”

“But the early warning systems...” Mac started

“Under Skyent's control.” Kyle said cutting him off. “The American, Russian, Chinese, and Korean arsenals were large enough that Skynet could strike every city and population center at ease. It didn't have to strike from long distance either, it used local nukes against local targets.”

“To what end though?” Mac inquired. “What kind of military firepower can it have other than missiles and what was already built? It destroyed every industrial sector, so there's no factories or anything left for it to use.”

Kyle shrugged, at a loss on how to answer, so I answered for him. “Skynet has what's left of the industrial sector, what's left of the worlds manufacturing ability. Even if only one factory was left operational, Skynet produced machines from that factory could be used to repair, or build, more factories. Given time it could rebuild the world's infrastructure and raise a virtually unstoppable army.”

“So were screwed in other words.” Sails interjected.

Kyle shook his head. “No. Everything has a weakness, we just have to find Skynet's and exploit it. It's not hard to see a T-70 on approach, and if we're vigilante then drones will be easy pickings. It's not like they can sneak up on us easily.” Kyle paused for a moment. “Speaking of sneaking around, aren't we late for our date? If we miss the time window, lingering in a dead city isn't going to be fun.”

“I guess we are.” Mac said as he stood.

“Yeah. We can continue this conversation while we're on the move.” I suggested, and agreements were all around. “Hey, Mac. Do we have any extra supplies? If this has a chance of being a trap, Sails should be armed when we go in there. I'd hate to have him die on us when we just met.” Sails gave me a funny look, and walked over to where Mac was standing.

“Yeah I think we have one or two.” Mac said as he moved around the damaged Humvee to its rear. “Sails. You ever fired a weapon before? I don't want to give you something that might accidentally kill us.”

“Not many” He responded. “A few pistols, and a riffle a few times when I was younger.”

“Hmm, OK.” Mac reached into the rear of the Humvee and pulled out a M-16 and two clips. “Here you go. You shouldn't find that too unwieldy or hard to use.” Sails accepted the weapon and Mac turned back to the vehicle. “Hey Kyle and Derek, get over here, I might as well out fit us all right now.”
We walked over, and he started pulling out different equipment. “If were going in, might as well be heavily armed, and as well equipped as we can get. Which is going to be basically everything that I brought.”

The first thing he gave to everyone was a thick and heavy vest. “Kevlar.” He explained. “It'll stop a bullet, but will still hurt like hell.” He looked at me. “Specially on you and your ribs, but it's much better than nothing. Just don't go around acting invulnerable, you can still be killed with one of these things on.” The vest was very heavy, and restricted movement a bit, but if it stopped a bullet it was well worth it. Mac put his on, then instructed us on how to put them on and tighten them down.

After inspecting each of us, he went back to the Humvee and pulled out more equipment. He handed each of us a belt holster, and we put them on. “USP-45's, good pistols, not the greatest but good. Twelve round clip, and a good range if you can shoot accurately.” Mac said as he handed each of us one, and he gave each of us two clips. I chambered a clip, and put the other in a vest pocket. I tested the weight of the pistol, and satisfied I put it in the holster and clipped the covering on. “They won't do a dammed thing against armored targets, but their better than nothing when you run dry on ammo.”

“Speaking of...” Mac reached back into the Humvee and grabbed the two boxes of shotgun shells. “Sails and I can easily carry our ammo in our vests, I don't know if you guys want to carry extra. They might decide to explode on ya if your hit just right. Your out though, right?”

I nodded and took the boxes from him. “Yeah, ran out in that last fire fight with the drones. Your low too, Kyle, that is if I remember correctly.”

“Yeah. Never got a chance to reload after the T-70 attack.” Kyle took a box and started loading shells.

Sails looked at the three of us and asked, “How much combat have you guys seen? I mean it sounds like you were attacked by a virtual army.”

“Between the three of us, and one other, we have taken down what? One T-70 and four air drones? Skynet has been after us since it's seen us.” I started loading my shot gun in the standard order: bird-shot, high-explosive, bird-shot... The prospect of using a HE round against a human was gut wrenching, but we would need the firepower if Skynet was on the hunt.

“This other, he's...”

“Dead.” I answered. “Dead for no damned reason other than that damned T-70.”

“Wow. You guys have been through hell.”

I discovered that the belt had shell holders in the back so I loaded five rounds of HE and five rounds of bird shot into into it.“I have a feeling that this is only the beginning of hell.” I said morbidly as I finished. “If thing's a trap then you'll get a taste of it too.”

“So you really think that Skynet would go so far as to set a trap just for you guys?” Sails asked unconvinced.

“Not just for us.” Kyle answered. “For everyone else with supplies and a radio. Skynet's out to kill everyone, not just us. I wouldn't be surprised if it was set up for us though. If I was Skynet, I would be pissed at the amount of destruction we have caused.”

I rested my shotgun across my shoulders and waited for Kyle to finish loading. I had to admit, we looked impressive,. If we were a little more clean cut, we would have made a killer recruiting poser for the army. Matching vests, two people with shotguns, and that rugged look. The only one who looked slightly out of place was Sails. He didn't look very comfortable this heavily equipped. Mac seemed to agree with me, “If you guys were in camouflage, you'd seriously look like my old unit...” He stopped for a moment. “We should go.”

Mac turned and got into the driver seat of the Humvee. Kyle gave me a concerned look, and I shrugged. Must still be upset from the war. “What was that about?” Sails asked.

“He lost most of his unit in Iran. He's ex-Marine Core, not my place to tell his story. You'll have to ask him on your own.” I said quietly. Sails gave a concerned look, and we headed tword the Humvee. “Don't worry. I would trust him with my life.” He paused to consider my statement, then got in.

As I got in Mac turned over the engine. “I'm not going to go slow this time, we need to make up for lost time.” He looked back at me. “You alright with that?”

“I'll be fine. The pains not nearly as bad as it was. So go ahead and floor it, we don't want to miss them after all.” Mac turned back, and eased the Humvee onto the deserted road. A moment latter the engine roared and we were on our way to Sacramento. “Hopefully this drive is much less eventful than that of our previous one.” If it's not, at this rate were going to be long dead before we get anywhere near a city.

Human instinct. It is both our weakness and our strength. It can predict terrible events, but if you ignore it, things around you can go horribly wrong. Everyone in there life has experienced that intolerable itch at the the back of his or her mind. It screams that something is terribly wrong, but you believe that nothing could be mistaken. If you heed its call it may save you life, but you may become dependent on that instinct. If you fail to listen you may regret it, but you will be wizened. That nervous tick can save you, but also damn you in the future.

The instant we saw the remains of that once great city of Sacramento, that instinct kicked to life inside of me. Dark spans of cloud covered most of the horizon now, and took what little sunlight there was and turned it to a dark orange glow cast among the ruins. Large piles of concrete and debris could been seen from long distance, the remnants of city blocks. Few buildings were left standing from what we could tell, and those that towered in the disaster, were nothing more that shells. Large fires burned in different sections of the city. Those fires poured dark gray smoke into the air, adding to the low hanging clouds. How anyone could survive in such a wasteland was beyond me.

“My god.” Sails was the first to break the silence.

“God had nothing to do with it.” Mac countered. “We did this. Humanity destroyed itself with its own creations.”

“Not yet it hasn't. We're still alive and kicking, and so are other people.” Kyle said with a hint of hope.

“Provided that this isn't just a trap.” I said grimly.

“Shut up, or I'll hit you.” Kyle joked. “Seriously though, it doesn't matter trap or no trap we have to try.”

No one talked much more. We were all silent in the awe of display of raw, destructive, power. Millions used to live in Sacramento now they were all dead. Turned to ashes and spent upon the wind. There were no bodies, nothing other than rubble marked that man once lived here. Our speed dropped tremendously as we were forced to drive over piles of rubble. Everything was gray, the concrete chunks, the sky, even the smoke from the distant fires. The smell of ash and charcoal was heavy upon the winds, and dust flew up behind us.

Mac drove the Humvee on a little further into a narrow valley, and stopped the vehicle. He turned off the engine, and turned to face us. “We're going to have to hoof it from here. I don't want to risk getting trapped in a pile of rubble.” He grabbed his P90 and got out. The rest of us followed suit shortly. “City center should be a few blocks ahead. Its better if we approach on foot anyways that way they don't have a chance to easily find our escape route.”

Making our way across a few blocks seemed simpler than it actually was. We tended to follow the narrow valley streets, and hit dead ends multiple times. What was less than a quarter mile on map took us over an hour to navigate. Eventually, we became frustrated and stormed up the hills of debris. Even that choice had dead ends. Large slabs of solid concrete forced use to choose a different path, and strait drops forced us to back track.

Eventually we climbed the last hill, the one overlooking the ruins of the city center. Below was possibly the only semi clear area in the interior of Sacramento. A largish square area, was surrounded on all sides by rubble, and had only a few large chunks of building in it. It was open, very open. Anyone could be spotted moving into the square, and it would be difficult to spot someone prone on the ridge of a pile. “I'm not liking this setup.” Mac voiced with concern. “It's a shooting gallery. Anyone who goes down there could be very easily picked off by a sniper. Minimal cover, and large open areas between that little cover and the piles. Who ever goes down there is going to be killed if it's a trap.”

“Maybe we should wait up here for them to show first?” Kyle suggested. “That way we have the drop on them if they pull a stunt.”

“What if they are waiting for us though? What if they wont show until we show ourselves?” Mac countered. “If they truly need help they are going to take precautions, not blindly accept help from someone who could be out just to kill people.”

“I'll go.” I said, and started to head down.

“Hold up.” Mac said quickly. “It's suicide to go down alone. I'll go with you. Kyle and Sails can cover us from a range. That way even if things get dicey with them or us we have close and long range firepower. Just don't shoot unless you have to, OK? I don't want dead civvies.” Kyle and Sails nodded, and Mac and I started to make our way down the broken slope.

About half way down the slope, I turned to look at Mac. He had seemingly changed personalities. His face was locked in a determined way, and he carried himself differently. “Anything wrong?” I asked concerned.

“No.” He responded quickly. “I'm fine.” He slipped suddenly, and landed hard on his side. I rushed over and tried to help him get up. He knocked my hands away and repeated, “I'm fine.”

“You're not acting fine.” I pushed as he got back up. “Something is off, and your going to tell me before we get down to the square.”

“I told you, I'm fine.” He repeated while he started moving down the slope again.

“No.” I said crossing my arms. “You're not, and I'm not moving till I find out why.”

He stopped and turned to look at me. He was angry, and obviously not wanting to talk along these lines. “Stubborn idiot.” He said harshly. “Fine. You want to know what's eating me?” I nodded. “Fine. If you really want to know, I'm worried that this is going to be a repeat of Iran. I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to respond fast enough and all of you are going to end up dead. Dead. Dead like Mike, Luke and Reamer. Killed by inaction, and failure, on my part. Dead like all those civvies, and their families. Dead, dead, dead...” He trailed off, then began to storm down the slope.

What?! I couldn't think of a response. By the time I could he had a large lead on me down the hill. “Wait!” I called out after him. He didn't slow, or turn to look back. “Wait Mac!” I called out again as I made my way down the broken slope. He cleared the four stories of ruble and headed tword the open center. By the time I made it fully down, he was sitting and leaning on a chunk of concrete in the center of the clearing. I walked over to him, and he didn't even turn to look at me. “What the hell was that about?”

He chose not to respond, so I sat down across from him on a slab of concrete. “Come on. If there's something on your mind, spill it. We can't help if we don't know what's going on”

He took to looking at the grayed out sky. “It's nothing you can fix.” He said flatly.

“Well, tell me anyways.”

“We have known each other for what? Two days?” He asked.

“Hell of a two days though.”

He laughed slightly. “Yeah, hell of a two days. More action in forty eight hours than I have seen in a long time.” He paused, and looked down at his feet. “Thats exactly the reason I exploded just a moment ago. My unit members who died in Iran because of me, were some of my best friends. Even though I have only know you guys for a very short period of time, I already consider you my friends.”

“War does that to brothers in arms.”

“Aye. It does do that.” Mac voiced softly. “That's just the problem. You guys are my friends. I don't want you to die like my other friends. I failed them and they died, and I'm afraid of failing you guys. If you end up dead because of me, I would never be able to forgive myself.”

There was a long period of silence as I considered what to say. “Well, maybe you just overly worried. You are human after all, you can't discard friends and emotions like those tin cans. We can fight, we can defend ourselves, what happens happens. This is war after all, people die. The best we can do is make sure that their sacrifices aren't in vain.” I paused for a moment thinking of how to continue. “If that horrible accident hadn't of happened. My bother and I would likely be dead right now, and Sails would have starved sometime soon.”

Mac looked slightly cheered, but still worried. “Never thought of it that way. OK, I'll stop worrying under one condition.”

I gave him a confused look. “OK. Shoot.”

“You guys aren't allowed to die before I do.”

I balked, and considered it for a moment. There was no point in denying the request, nothing I could do about it one way or another. “As long as you don't have a death wish, that's not a problem.”

“No.” Mac said quietly. He shifted to a kneeling position, and brought his P90 to a more level position. “I don't have a death wish. They might however.” I followed his gaze behind me. Three figures could be made out on top of the debris. They were heavily armed, and had obviously spotted us.

“If they have one,” I said as we watched them descend. “I'm sure we'll have no problem granting it for them.”

When two dogs meet for the first time, there are two wildly different actions that can occur. The first is that there is a general exchange of greetings followed by mutual acceptance. This meeting can be just a casual thing where the dogs part in a short time, or it can be the beginning of a pack. The second reaction is much more violent. The dogs will greet each other, then start attacking. The will fight, bloody and torn, until one is sent fleeing or is dead. In this regard there are only two options: friends or enemies.

Unfortunately for us humans, things are never that simple. There were three of them, and only two of us. We had Kyle and Sails on the hill, but much could happen before they react. What will we do if they want to kill us? The obvious answer was to run or fight. Sails could cover us if we had to run, and Mac and I might be able to take them before they kill us. They had made it to the clearing and were making their way tword us. Fight, run, stay. Fight, run, stay. My mind raced trying to figure out what to do. “Calm down Derek.” Mac said seeming to read my mind. “Let them make the first move.”

I forced my self to relax, as the three came close enough to make out in detail. In the middle of the three was a woman, who obviously held the authority position. She was about 5' 7” and had a shock of orange hair tied up in a pony tail. She wore a vest similar to my own, and was armed with a MP5. Her face as dirtied with dust, and here cloths were ragged. Despite her worn outward appearance, her eyes seemingly look in every detail of me. Those cold blue orbs seemed to look right through me as she took stock of me. I ripped my gaze from her, and took measure of her to escorts. They looked brutal. Even though one was my hight and the other was slightly shorter, they were insanely well built. One of them wore a vest, but they both carried nasty looking sawed-off shotguns adding to their look of intimidation.

No one said moved or said anything as we took measure of each other. Sails and Kyle had to of seen them by now, and would be ready to act in an instant. It seemed like an eternity before the silence was broken. “I'm Jaina. This is Waves, and Jamis.” She said pointing to them in turn. “Now then, who the hell are you.”

“Marine core.” Mac said before I could respond. “The name's Mac, this is Derek. We heard your...”

Two loud clicks emanated from a radio on here hip. Jaina held out a hand to stop Mac, and we tensed. She reached down and quickly unhooked it from her belt. “Go.” She said. The radio was turned down to far for us to hear the message. “Bring them.” I flinched, and so did Mac. I cast a sideways glance at the hill where Kyle and Sails were concealed. Damn. They appeared over the top of the hill, followed by five more figures, probably more of Jaina's men. “What's with hiding men in the debris? Thought the Core was more honorable than that.”

“This is war.” I responded. “Didn't know if this thing was a trap or not. Right now it's looking a hell of a lot like one though.”

“More of an ambush.” Jaina corrected. “We don't like surprises, or uninvited guests. Particularity when they are as heavily armed as you.

“Uninvited?” Mac asked. “Weren't you the one who was calling out on the CB frequencies that you were in dire need of medical supplies and food?”

“Yes I was.” She said bluntly. “But four Core men wasn't what I was expecting. If you came to help by offering guns and ammo, we'll just take those from you.” I tensed. She was serious, and I had no doubt about her ability to kill us when Kyle and Sails were already captured.

“So thats it huh?” Mac asked. “Lure in those that have come to help, then kill them and take what you want from them? Your no better than the machines.”

That got her attention. She crossed the void between her and Mac in two quick strides. Faster than I could react she reached out and slugged Mac, hard. He didn't flinch as her fist slammed home on the side of his jaw, but was forced to back up a step from the shear power of the hit. “Don't you ever say that!” She screamed as Mac recovered from the hit. “I lost my brother to them! Don't you dare ever say that!”

“You have quite the right hook.” Mac said as her rage abated. “So are you going to kill us? If you are then at least tell...” He stopped suddenly. “Down!” He yelled as he grabbed and threw Jaina to the ground and fell on top of her.

What the... My silent question was answered as a missile few past not two feet in front of me, and exploded a half second latter. The world spun as I was knocked off my feet into the air. I hit the ground hard, bounced, and slammed into a slab of concrete. My breath was forced out from the jolt, and my ribs screamed in protest. I am REALLY beginning to hate this. I propped myself up on my elbows trying to make the world stop spinning. A second explosion sounded before I could focus. I looked in the direction of were the first missile came from and I managed to catch sight of four aerial drones. Shit. Not them again. They turned about quickly and disappeared into the mountains of rubble. No way are they done yet. I forced myself to my feet, and retrieved my shot gun a short distance away from where I landed.

Re-armed, I ran over to where Mac was. “Mac? You alright?” He was still over Jaina.

“He'll be fine, he got knocked out by the explosion.” Jaina said as she crawled out from underneath him. She located her gun, and pulled out her radio. “This is Jaina. Give them back their guns, and spread out. Those buzzards are going to be back any moment.” She turned to me. “No, I'm not going to kill you guys, never planned on it. You buddy here probably just saved my life, so now we're going to save his.”

She turned away from me, and headed to where Waves and Jamis were recovering from the attack. “You two. Up now. Run to the rest of the gang, bird-shot's not useful here.” They nodded and sprinted off tword where Kyle and Sails were. She when back to Mac's unconscious form and picked up his P90. “That goes for you as well Derek. Use his gun, shotguns are worthless against buzzards.”

“No.” I said as I emptied out my shotgun into my hand. “I have dealt with these things before, and what I'm packing is more than enough to down them.” I started loading the HE shells back into the Spas-12, along with the other rounds I had in my belt.

“Your funeral.” She said scanning the horizon. “Damn it. Where the hell did these ones come from?”

“Probably following us. Skynet's been out to get us for the last three days.” I responded as I finished loading.

“Skynet?” She asked confused.

“I'll explain latter.” I said as I spotted the drones in the distance. “There.” I said pointing in the distance. “Looks like we get to play bait.”

Jaina reached down for here radio as she saw them as well. “This is Jaina, buzzards four north-northwest, coming in low.” She put the radio back on her belt and grabbed up her gun. As the aerial drones closed in she opened fire. Sparks flew off of the first drones amour, but caused nothing more than minor dents. The drone spat bullets, but its aim was off due to Jaina, and they hit earth a few feet away from me. I didn't even look up as the drone flew over head, kept my gaze intent on the next drone in line. “What the hell are you doing?!” She screamed at me as she turned to keep firing at the first drone.

I ignored her. The second drone spat more bullets, this time its aim was true. Most of the bullets hit the concrete ledge I was behind but one hit dead center on my vest. The vest dispersed the impact around the whole of my upper body, and I winced from the screams of protest from my already wounded ribs. I held my position though, and as the drone flew over head, I put a round into it. The round exploded dead center in the undercarriage of the drone. Although it seemed to continue to fly, it began to collapse and crashed a short distance away. Secondary explosions ripped through its remaining frame as its remain ammo bins and missiles cooked off.

“Down!” I heard Jaina scream, and this time I threw myself quickly to the side and down to the earth. A hail of bullets passed through the space I just occupied, more than enough to have either knocked me out or have killed me.

The third drone passed overhead, and I couldn't manage to get a shot off before it was out of range. The fourth had apparently decided that I was a bit of a risk. It pulled its run short, and decided to launch a missile in my direction. Jaina grabbed the back of my vest and literally threw me and herself out of the path of the missile. Our dive was accelerated forward by the blast of the explosion, and I bounced hard against the ground. Ow. Jolts pain lanced from my ribs, god damn it. At this rate I'm going to break my ribs again.

The surviving drones disappeared into back into the rubble as I forced myself to stand again. “What the hell are you packing?” Jaina asked as I helped pull her to her feet. “You fried that buzzard in one hit!”

“Shot gun buck doesn't do a damned thing against them. Shotguns aren't effective, eh?” I teased. “Normal rounds just bounce. High explosive rounds, on the other hand, rip them to shreds.”

“You Core guys are defiantly well armed. Lucky us that you guys showed up when you did.”

“We're not all Core.”

“What?”

“There.” I pointed at a metal shape moving in the sky. “Thats one of them, looks like its about to attack.”

“This is Jaina, buzzards one. Going to come right over you, nice and slow.” She said into the radio.

“Jaina!” The radio barked back. “Buzzards two! Opposite direction! Low! Fast! Looks like they already have you in their sights!” I spun before the message had even completed. Shit! They were already close, and I could see one them spinning up its forward guns. I pulled off a hasty shot, and got lucky. The round snaked into the turbine of one of the drones, and exploded. The drone careened off to one side, and the other unleashed its attack.

I swear I was dead. Everything slowed down as the remaining drone launched a missile. I couldn't get out of the way on my own. Jaina was to far away from me to knock me down before it hit, and I knew I was dead. I failed. Kyle would be left on his own in this hellish world. Looks like I broke our promise, Mac. It's truly amazing how fast you think, when you believe you are dead. I guess I could say that most of my life 'flashed before my eyes' before I felt a sharp tug on my legs. My feet flew out from underneath me, and everything sped up to normal.

I landed hard on my back, and the missile skimmed harmlessly over head into a rubble pile. Someone had pulled me down, and I lifted myself to look tword my feet. “I told you! You aren't allowed do die before I do!” Mac was prone at my feet, and had his pistol out. He unloaded into the drone as it passed over head, and rounds sparked off the armor. “Who the hell took my gun?!” He yelled as the drone passed out of range.

The debris pile that the drone was trying to escape over, roared as the drone approached. Flames of bullet fire erupted from it and peppered the drone from multiple directions. No matter how well armored, or how good the maneuvering, there was no escaping that withering hail of bullets. Countless rounds sparked off of its amour, and several impacted its vulnerable turbo fans. Several of the shooters were forced to scatter as the drone careened tword them. Most of them we're well out of the way by the time the drone impacted the hill. The done exploded, and large chucks of the miniature mountain slid down in an avalanche. Kyle!

I didn't even had a chance to go rushing to the pile in search of people buried in it. The last drone came slowly over the hill, looking for exposed targets. I spotted a small movement near the top of the debris, and then the drone exploded. I relaxed as I realized there was only one thing that could destroy a drone in that fashion. My suspicions were confirmed as Kyle rose, holding his shotgun.

“I took it.” Jaina handed the weapon over. “Thought you were going to be out for the duration.”

“Takes more than one tiny missile to keep me down.” Jaina smirked at he boasted. “Speaking of down. Mind telling me why you didn't move you ass Derek?”

“I...” I paused. What the hell did happen? “I guess I froze. When I saw that missile launch, I knew I couldn't dodge. So I guess I just resigned myself to my fate.”

A flash of movement, and my world suddenly shifted to the right. A sharp pain, followed the crack of the hit. “Don't be a fool!” I was to stunned at Jaina's slap to respond to her. “If you want to live, if you want to fight, then save your ass first! You want to die, then do that same thing again, and next time there wont be anyone there to save your ass for you!”

Mac chucked, and I glanced at him “Don't look at me. If I had got there first I would have decked you. In my opinion you got off easy.”

“Great everyones out to get me.”

“No. They are out to save your ass.” I turned and Kyle and the rest of the hill group were standing behind me. Most of them with amused expressions.

“We see that Jaina has formally inaugurated you.”
“Hurts like hell doesn't it?”
“You should have seen your expression, it was priceless!”
“She has done it to all of us, at least once.”
“And more than once if your not up to her standard!

“Thank you, peanut gallery.” I snidely responded.

Waves stepped forward out of the pack. “So, Jaina. What are we going to do with them?”

“They are to stay, and are free to go whenever they choose like the rest of you. Until proven other wise, they are friends, and family.” She declared, then turned to Mac. “Now then, you said you had supplies? Care to lead the way?”

“My pleasure.”

When you are alone, how do you feel? Do you feel scared? Do you feel angry? Does the feeling of despair course its way through you veins? When the thought of imminent death comes, will you run into the shadows? Or will you look into the darkness, and travel in its void? Will you seek out the other lost souls? For when you do, and when you find another who wanders alone, something amazing happens. When bonds are formed, it creates a beacon in the darkness. A light against the dark, a shield against the fear. Those that ventured out will be done to that hope, and will add their strength to it. Given time, the greatest bond, a community of family is formed.


Waves, Jamis, Jaina, Marks, Dan, Charles, Scott, and Morgan. I made sure that I could match the names to faces, as we made our way over the rubble. Waves and Jamis, the bodyguards, were distant relatives of Jaina. All three of them hailed from the very southern edge of California. Jaina, the leader, had a knack for getting people to do what she wanted, by making them want to do it, willingly. Marks, the tech, was good at anything involving electronics or mechanics. He even volunteered to tweak the engine on the Humvee to make it more efficient. Dan, the rookie, was the latest edition to the group outside of us. He wasn't good at a lot of things, but was a good shot with a riffle. Charles and Scott were known as the demolition brothers, to put it simply they loved to blow things up with heavy fire power. They were all over our shotguns, and the high explosive rounds. They wanted to figure out how the shells worked and see if they could duplicate the effect for smaller arms. Lastly there was Morgan, the scout. He spent most of his time alone, but had paths mapped out to everywhere. If there was a faster way, he was the one to know it. Mac gave him a rough idea of where we parked the Humvee, and he had us there in a quarter hour.

On the way the gang tried to figure out nicknames for all of us. Things like shotgun and shark were thrown around. Jaina even tried to nickname me peanut, but I shot that down as soon as it came up. Eventually the four of us were clumped under the name of core men. This came about when mention of Mac belonging to the Marine Core surfaced. They could care less that the three of us weren't ever part of the military. We traveled with Mac, and that was good enough. Once Mac mentioned that he would have been happy to have us in his old unit, the nickname was sealed.

“Alright people,” Jaina ordered as we reached the Humvee. “Grab up what you can, priorities to medical and food supplies.” We had more enough people with us to take everything that we had brought. Waves and Jamis carried huge loads of the supplies by themselves, and I felt guilty carrying how little I was.

In an attempt to alleviate my guilt, I went over to Waves, and liberated some of his supplies from him. His head peaked over the pile as I took a lot of weight off him. “Thanks.” He said gruffly, “It's always interesting to have new people around. Wonder how exactly you guys are going to fit in.”

I shrugged, and shifted my load around as the group began to leave. “How did you guys manage to fit in? Whats your story?”

Jamis came up on my other side and flanked me as we walked. “It's mostly the same story the Jaina has.” He said. “It's a... terrible story.”

“So is ours. Everyone in my group has a terrible story.” I said grimly. “I guess we need to redefine terrible now, because everything is. If you guys are willing, I'd like to hear it anyways.”

“Alright then.” Waves started. “First of you should know we're brothers.”

“And that we are cousins of Jaina.” Jamis finished

“We grew up on separate farms right next to each other. We treated her like a sister, and her brother as our own.”

“All four of us were away from the farm when the bombs went off. We rushed back home, and the...” Jamis stopped.

“The farms were on fire.” Waves continued where his brother couldn't. “Someone had set them on fire, the bombs had nothing to do with it. Our... Our parents we're shot and dead, and so were Jaina's.”

They didn't talk for a short time, and we made our way over a pile under Morgan's guidance. “I'm sorry.” I said weakly.

Jamis nodded, then continued. “We didn't leave for some time, and started salvaging what we could. Things went as well as they could, all things considered. Then the buzzard came.

“A buzzard?” I asked. “You were attacked?”

“Yes.” Waves answered. “We destroyed it, but Jaina's brother was badly injured.”

“He wasn't going to live unless we got him to a doctor.” Jamis continued. “The closest area we knew of was Sacramento. We thought perhaps they still had a standing hospital, or at least someone who could help. So we grabbed up what we could, and booked it here. We couldn't of found the hospital if we wanted to, that is until we encountered Morgan.

“We found him wandering in the debris.” Waves took over where his brother stopped. “He was half-starved, but very eager to help us. He showed us the the remains of the hospital, and even managed to take us inside. It was... It was too little to late. He had died before we could do anything for him.”

“I'm... I'm so sorry.” I stammered. “There wasn't anything that could be done?”

“No” Jamis answered flatly. “Nothing short of a full medical team and and operation could have saved him. We buried him, and began wonder what we were going to do. Morgan showed us where he was living and invited us to stay as long as we wanted. That's how our group started, with a death, and an act of friendship.”

“So where did the rest of you guys come from?” I asked. “Did all of them come because of the radio transmission?”

“Funny you should mention that” Waves commented. “Yesterday was our first transmission with it.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He confirmed. “Marks was the second person we encountered. We found him wandering the city looking for food. He had apparently rode out the bombs in a shelter, out side the city, that his family had built in the Cold War. None of his family survived, and the bunker wasn't stocked. So he made his way here, and we took him in. He was working on the radio for the last few days, he actually managed to build it out of ruined parts, and scrap material.”

“Do I hear envious voices?” Marks had snuck up behind me and listened the the end of the comment.

“No.” Jamis countered. “Just proving how much of a nerd you are to Derek.”

“Nerd or not, I'm the reason the core men are here.” He gloated. “And I'm the reason you guys are still armed.”

“Cut it.” Waves sneered. “Just because you found that weapons cashe, doesn't mean that you not a nerd.”

“Weapons cashe?”

“Yeah.” Marks responded. “Someone had a big ol' stash of weapons. I just found them, and it was kinda ironic. There was this big ol' spray painted image of a cat hanging from a tree, with the caption of 'Hang in there baby!'”.

Resistance! Maybe that was one of their outposts! “Was there anyone there? Any signs of who built the place?”

“No. The place as buried and I stumbled upon it by sheer luck. Whoever had built it was either dead or had abandoned it. Why?”

“There was someone we knew, he was military, who had that caption as his unit slogan. Before he...” I paused for a moment not wanting to say it. “He mentioned that some of his unit was out west in the cities. That might have been one of their outposts. If there is time latter, I'd like to see it.”

“I'll have to talk to Jaina about it, but it shouldn't be a problem” Marks moved ahead of us, intent on catching up to Jaina who was talking

“Nerd!” Jamis called after him as he left. “In all seriousness, he's the one you go to for electronics junk. We have all seen the cache, or whats left of it, so I'm sure its not going to be a problem.”

“Provided the 'Demolition Brothers' don't destroy it when they test out new munitions.” Waves countered. “They are always causing damage, and I foresee that damage growing exponentially once they get their hands on your shotgun rounds”

I chuckled. “Too late, they already have some. They managed to get a few from Kyle. Speaking of them, where are they?” I asked looking around. “They aren't here.”

“Not to worry. Jaina sends them off to collect what they can from the drones. When we first found them they were attempting to blast there way into a subway, not very well I might add. They were the classical delinquents. Apparently they got trapped in an under ground tunnel when the bombs when off, and blasted their way out some time later. They don't talk much about their past, and its the general belief that they were once military.” He paused for a moment. “Hey rookie! Don't get to far away from the group!”

Dan was halfway up a hill following a parallel course, and slowly making his way higher up. “Rookie never was much on hanging with the group.” Jamis laughed. “ He's too young to care about much, he's only sixteen. He's the last one to join us, other than you guys. He literally just stumbled into where we were staying. I dunno if I'd trust him with a gun, but we need the man power of everyone we can get.

“Ah!” Waves mentioned as we crested a debris hill. “Here we are. Home sweet home. Well, not very sweet but its better than living out in the open.”

The entrance to the 'Home' was relay nothing more than a large hole near the bottom of a debris pile. “Alright people, form up and pile in.” Jania called out. The ten of us formed a line with Jaina in the lead, and we marched into the hole. Well, I guess I couldn't call it a hole. It was a subway stairwell entrance. A few feet past the rubble, the hole expanded into the darkness and reviled a wide stairwell in full.

“I thought that most of the underground tunnels would have collapsed from the shock waves.” Mac commented as we moved down the stairs.

Jaina reached down and picked up a kerosene lamp and turned it on, illuminating the stairs. “They did. Doesn't mean that there aren't parts still standing.” We came to what appeared to me a dead end. Large sections of the wall were collapsed inwardly around a what looked like a metal sheet. Jania Moved to the sheet, and knocked loudly twice on it. “It's Jaina, open up!”

“Ah give me a minute.” An old voice responded. “Your late.”

The 'door' shifted slightly to the side and a shotgun muzzle appeared. “Atch. So it is you after all.” An old mans head poked out of the hole and gave the line look. “Oh, looks like you collected some fresh blood and a hell of a lot of supplies... Uh-oh. Maves, get the bandages. The demo bros are missing, these fools are bound to be injured.”

The old man returned through the hole, and the makeshift door slid open the rest of the way. Jaina stepped through the opening and turned off the lamp. The rest of us followed suit, and entered the dimly lit mini cavern. “Injured over here.” The one called Maves sounded from the right had side. “Medical supplies over here, food and other goods over there. Any of you four have any medical experience?”

“I have some.” Mac answered. “Not much, second rate is best.”

“Well then, thats better than nothing. Get over here and I'll teach you some more. This band cant survive off of just one medic.”

“Not to worry, Maves its one of the best.” Jaina assured Mac. “He'll teach you everything he can, but don't expect it to be easy.”

“Looks like you got volunteered to be a medic Mac.” Waves commented as he put down his load.

“Looks like it.”

“Young pups. Always the same.” The old man commented.

“Derek, this is Snider.” Jaina said introducing me to him. “He's our resident pit bull. Old man here is to slow to move fast enough on outside runs.”

“Pah! That's what you say.” Snider grumbled. “You youngins always scurrying about, leaving me to guard this hovel.”

“And you do it so well” Jaina teased.

“Don't patronize me young woman. Next time I wont let you in.”

“Now now, pit bull.” Charles and Scott entered through the still ajar door. “That would have left us stranded outside.”

Snider grumbled, and walked past them. “Ah good.” Jaina spotted that they had large boxes out. “How much did you manage to salvage?”

“Only two hundred rounds. The core men smashed up those drones really well with the HE rounds.”

“Isn't two hundred almost a full mag load for a drone?” Jaina asked.

“Yeah, the drone that got the turbo fan knocked off was in almost pristine condition.” Scott brought a package wrapped in cloth out from behind his back. “We decided to bring the gang a present.” Scott began to unwrap the cloth, and it reviled two undamaged missiles. “Now these babies are a find.”

“They aren't damaged?” Jaina asked concerned.

“Jaina!” Charles exclaimed. “We know better than that! We would never bring something harmful here.” He chuckled. “Thats why the other missiles are at the cache.”

She groaned. “You two are going to end killing yourselves one of these days.”

“Naw. We're to cute to die.”

“Put those away.” Scott wrapped the missiles back up. “At the cache. Leave the ammo here first.”

“Awe man.”

“Here.” Jaina motioned to a dark area. “I'll show you where you can store your gear and where everything is. Looks like you guys are here for the long haul, so you might as well get comfortable. After all your part of the family now.”

They say that the death of an individual is the death of an entire world. But what if the world is already dead when that individual dies? Does it seal the fate of the barren world, or does it sow the seeds of regrowth? How long does it take for the world to shift and change? Six seconds? Six hours? Six days? After all God did supposedly craft the world in six days, perhaps that is all the machines will need once they come in force.

Not now. Why did it have to happen now? Six months had passed and nothing major had happened. Then this. Things had been going so well before. The gang had readily accepted us as their own, and treated us well. They showed us their home, and gave us food and water once our supplies ran out over the weeks.

The cache that I was told about apparently housed very large amounts of food an ammunition, similar to that of the bunker where Wyatt died. This one however didn't have any secret doors, but was just large. In a touch of irony I took down the 'Hang in there baby' poster, and brought it back to home. Where with Snider's permission I attached it to the inside of the door. That way anyone who left would be reminded that no matter how dire things get we have to hang in there.

The water came from an unexpected source. Apparently there was a full size well located no to far from home base. It was roughly six feet in diameter, and was undamaged all the way down. What little water there was under ground and what little rain fell collected there. This allowed out group to have access to large amounts of water. Even though it existed we used the water sparingly. For one could never tell when it might run out, and the well dry up. This created an... interesting environment inside of home base. Not to say the the place wreaked, but it wasn't overly pleasant.

When people are in danger, friendship is an easy commodity to accumulate. The group seemed eager to take their claims as our friends, and even some heated arguments over us occurred. Jaina had no problem with dealing with these arguments. She would simply walk over to the arguers and stare at them. If the didn't get the the point almost instantly, two loud slaps would be heard. These were quickly followed by the laughter by the group present. Even though I didn't think that they deserved it, I couldn't help but laugh. It's just too funny to see people in a heated debate stopped by a quick slap then turn cherry red from the laughter. Eventually things were sorted out, and the Core men were claimed by several different people.

Kyle became the best of friends with the demolition brothers, and even the elusive Morgan. When Morgan went out on a scouting mission Kyle would routinely go out with Morgan, and learn as much as he could about the layout of the city. Often times Morgan would just give Kyle a glance, and they would go off without warning. I tried to follow them once for kicks, but found that the had ditched me not more than fifty paces out of the home entrance. When he wasn't out and about, he was working with Charles and Scott on making explosives. God knows what they were making at any given point in time, and the demolition brothers seemed to be and endless flow of dangerous ideas. Jaina on occasion would receive a quick radio message to 'not be alarmed by loud sounding explosions'. About thirty seconds later a large explosion would be heard in the distance. This happened anytime they were testing out new stuffs. They didn't always come home in pristine shape either. It seemed almost routine that they would have new burns of cuts after a field test. Kyle got his fair share of them too, including a particularly nasty one on the outside of his right leg.

Mac decided to spend a lot of his time talking to Jaina. Don't ask me why she didn't beat him down like the rest of us, perhaps she is just human after all. Everyone needs a friend, even the fearless leaders. To go through life alone, is the same as not having lived at all. Maves also occupied a lot of Mac's time. It turns out that Maves was Ex-army medical core, and he operated out of a field hospital in Iran. They spent a lot of time talking and debating about the invasion of Iraq and Iran. By strange coincidence Maves was present at Mac's court hearing. He whole heartedly agreed that it was the drones fault, and no error of Mac's. Besides dragging up war stories, Maves taught Mac some medical treatments, so he wouldn't be the only one able to heal the stupid ones among us. Particularly the demolition brothers.

Damn it! The fuel fed flames leapt higher as they quickly consumed his body and fabrics. I couldn't bring myself to watch anymore, but I couldn't bare to leave. He had died by my failure, and I would pay my respects.

Sails became friends with Snider and Dan. It figured that he would become their friends, as he always considered himself a bit of an outsider. He figured he was an outsider because he wasn't with us for very long before we joined up with Jaina. I repeatedly tried to get it through his think skull that it didn't matter, but he didn't really care. I don't know how he managed to weasel past Snider's gruff attitude, but they were talking and laughing easily, inside of a week's time. Dan, on the other hand, became friends with Sails of his own volition. One day he just walked up to Sails and started talking to him. I think that Dan was simply in need of a friend, and Sails was his type of person.

Me, to put it simply, the bodyguards basically adopted me. Waves and Jamis hung around me as much as the did Jaina. Well I shouldn't say hung around, more like dragged along where ever they went. Not that I minded, I was enough to just have someone new to talk too. Boy could they talk too, seemed that Jaina didn't talk very much, and I was a good outlet. They told me a little more about their past, and in exchange I told the what little that mattered from mine. I also made great friends with the lone techy, Marks. This was much to the amusement of the bodyguard brothers. Every time they saw me talking to him they would shout “He is trying to convert you into a super nerd like him! Don't let him! Or will Disown ya!” All jokes aside, the four of us were tasked with the dangerous job of going to the city center every day. Jaina didn't want to risk the entire group on a chance attack by Skynet. We were to keep in radio contact often, and instantly report if there was Skynet activity, or more people. Neither happened however, and the trips became more of a standard patrol. On chance Kyle, Morgan, or Jaina would tag along. Not for the extra firepower of security, but simple as an excuse to get some fresh air.

Over time the nick name of the Core men changed syntax. When the nickname was originally given it was due to Mac's involvement with the Marine Core and us. It changed after a few months however. The Core men began to refer to us as the backbone to the group. We provided a new bond between every member that had never existed before. Through us we solidified the group, and left no one out. Everyone had made friends with at least one of us, and through us we provided a strong connection to the group. We became the 'spine' of the gang, and at least one of us was out on every mission, or patrol. Things became simpler, and tensions that existed before no longer did.

As things slipped into routine, time began to blaze by at a very fast clip. The warmth of Summer and Autumn, faded into the chill breath of Winter. Changes In season were hard to shot in the ruins of Sacramento. Only just now were the days beginning to warm. My best guess put the date of this tragic event at early March. Six months had passed, with not hide nor hair of other people or Skynet. We thought we were secure, we thought we were safe.

The fire began to burn lower, and the group began to disappear back to home. Soon only Kyle, Scott, and myself were left. No one is ever safe.

“Hey! Wait for us!” I stopped and turned to see Scott and Charles rushing up after us from the bottom of the debris pile. Waves, Jamis, and Marks, stopped to see who was chasing after them. Both of them wore goofy grins, and were carrying one hell of a lot of equipment. That included the large metal pipes strapped to each of their backs.

“What the hell are those?” Marks asked as they caught up to us.

“The reason we want to go out on this patrol with you.” Scott announced. We have some new toys to field test, including this.” Charles held out what looked to be a modified M-16. It had a wider barrel, and the clip was much larger than normal.

“We tested it with standard munitions, but that wasn't its purpose when we modified it.” Charles continued as he popped out the clip to revel strange looking bullets. He popped one out and held it up for us to see. “We got the idea after dissecting one of the HE rounds for the shotguns. We call them fives. We augmented some of the buzzard ammo with some missile fuel, and made them really nasty. They act similar to the shotgun rounds, save the fuel explodes five seconds after firing.”

I flinched as he reloaded the clip. That thing had jet fuel in it, and just might decide to explode. Scott caught the move. “Relax, it requires the heat friction of being shot to start cooking off. Sides, these things will be more effective at downing buzzards and lightly armored targets that that brute force HE round of yours.”

“Well, at least we think they will.”

“Great.” Jamis commented dryly. “Still haven't explained what the hell these tubes are.”

“Not tubes. Scott countered. “Buzzard's claws.” He undid the strap holding his up and passed the tube to Jamis. “Its a jury rigged launching system for the buzzard missiles.” Jamis braced on top of his shoulder, and gave a sneer at the crude targeting piece. “Hey. Don't doubt it, its gonna save your life one day... just don't press the trigger OK?” Scott turned tword the rest of us. “The missile has got the same guidance system as normal, save we cut off its communication ability, that way the buzzards can't just seize control of it.”

“Hoping for targets?” Waves asked. “You know we haven't encountered anything or anyone since the core men joined us. Odds are is that this is going to just be another nothing patrol.”

“We know, we're going to do firing tests latter anyways. In fact Kyle should be prepping the other launchers as we speak.”

“Other launchers?” I asked

“Yeah we got 3 more of these babies back at the cache. Anyways, we just wanted to se if we could get lucky, and have a chance to test the effectiveness against buzzards.”

“Lucky means someone gets hurt.” Jamis commented as he handed the launcher back to Charles.

“Well we're to cute to be injured.” Charles responded. “So our necks aren't on the line.”

“Great.” Jamis groaned. “If I get dead because of you two, I'm gonna come back and haunt ya for the rest of your life.”

“Alright that's enough bickering.” Waves interrupted. “Lets get moving already.”

Even though it was nice to have more people on patrol with us, the demo bros really slowed us down. “Derek.” My radio chattered. “Your behind on your check in. everything OK?”

I unhooked the radio from my belt. “Yeah Jaina. We're all good here. We picked up Scott and Charles a ways back, and they are towing heavy equipment. They slowed us up a bit, and we are just about to reach the hill over looking the city center now.”

“That equipment wouldn't be what your bother is calling buzzard's claws would it?” The radio asked.

“Yeah. They got two of them with them, why?”

“Kyle just radioed me a moment ago with news on them, saying hes got two more prepped and ready and can't find Scott and Charles.” The demolition brothers over heard this and snickered. I promptly smacked both of them on the back of their heads. “Anyways, keep us apprised.”

“Will do.” I reattached the radio to my belt and smack Charles and Scott again. “I wouldn't do that to my brother too often, he might slug you himself.”

“His fault for getting to engrossed is making the launchers.” Charles explained. “IT was his idea, and he went nuts over it. So, we just snuck out on him. Ow!” I laughed as I smacked him again.\

“Cut it out.” Waves interrupted. “Quiet. Anyone else hearing movement?”

We paused for a moment and listened. “Yeah.” Charles confirmed. “Sounds like a tracked vehichle.”

“More than one.” Scott announced. “Sounds like it's coming from the city center.”

“Army?” I asked as we quickly scaled the last debris mountian.

“If it is, then they are either here in half-tracks, or tanks.”
We dropped to prone and crawled up the last short distance, not wanting to give our position away to whoever it was.

“What the hell?” I breathed.
“Those are no tanks.” Scott whispered.
“Those are no half-tracks.” Charles commented
“I think we have a problem.”

I pulled out my binoculars from my pack, and unhooked my radio. “Jaina, we have an issue.”

“Whats the situation?”

I pressed my binoculars against my eyes to get a better view. “What have, as best as I can describe them, two tracked armored vehicles inside of the square. Both of them have identification markings of 'T-1-5' on them.”

“They military?” A different voiced asked.

I looked over the 'vehicles' in more detail. The bottom half looked like a tank chassis, the top half however looked completely deadly. About halfway from either end, a large metallic torso sprouted from the tracks. A short way up two 'arms' sprouted from either side, ending in massive chain guns. Those things look like they belong on jet aircraft. That wasn't the scary part of the vehicle. A robotic looking head sprouted above the guns. Three 'eyes' seemed to scan side to side, and a cold shiver shot up my spine.

“Hell no Mac.” I answered. “These things look like a madman decided to cross a tank and a T-70.” I flinched as unwanted memories of the bunker attack came to mind. “There's no way these are friendly military, or civilian. I don't see anyone around other than them.”

“Skynet?” The radio asked. “Shit. What do you want to do?”

“Hold on.” I turned to the small group that was with me. “Well boys, what do you want to do?”

“I have nothing good against amour.” Maves reported.

“Not a problem.” Charles countered. “We have two modified M-16's with fives rounds, one standard M-16, one Spas-12, two buzzard's claws, and two break action shotguns. Scott and I will keep the claws, the unmodified M-16, and a break action shotgun. If all the shotguns use HE rounds everyone will have something that can vaporise amour. We should have enough firepower to put these things out of commission.”

“Your sure?” I asked. “I don't want to take on something that is going to eat us for breakfast.”

“Yeah, we got enough firepower here to pop two conventional tanks, and these things cant be much tougher than that.”

“Alright.” I brought the radio back up. “Jaina, we think we have enough firepower to engage and destroy the T-1's.”

“Engage at your discretion.” Jaina ordered. “I'm going to bring the rest of the group up now, just encase things turn out bad for you guys.”

“Roger that.” I clipped the radio back onto my belt. “Scott and Charles set up what you've got. Everyone else lock and load HE and fives rounds.” Marks and I took the modified M-16's, and Waves took my Spas. “A claw will be the signal to open fire. Charles give us three minutes after we separate before opening fire. If they spot us the attack immediately. Waves and Jamis, make your way down the debris pile, and try to enter the square from a valley between rubble piles. Marks and I will go over the top of this hill, and try to make it a short way down before we are spotted.” Everyone finished loading and looked slightly eager to take on these new foes. “Alright lets move. Three minutes, move it.”