I'm so sorry for making this post so slowly... its a bit longer and more detailed than i expected.

They say that when you sleep you live other lifetimes in mere fractions of a second. When I used to dream, they were kind and wonderfully pleasant dreams. But now... endless nightmares. Cities reduced to rubble. People turned to ashes on the wind, and plants burnt into choking dust. A barren and lifeless planet. Earth was a dieing planet, but not a still one. I have learned to fear them, those red eyes that control the nightmare. Pain. Slowly my mind wakes from its eternity of suffering, seizing control of the never ending horror. The eyes won't surrender, they came ever closer, closer. Pain. As they drew near the agony multiplied. Closer, ever closer. Never stopping. until I am destroyed....

I sprang upright, fleeing from the red. My eyes snapped open from the intense pain of the movement, and all I could see was a blur. A strong arm reached across my chest and forced me back down. “Don't move.” It said. Not wanting to cause myself anymore pain, I complied with the gruff command. Where am I? Slowly my senses began to return to me. My leg was tightly bound and compressed, and pulsed painfully with the beat of my heart. My breathing was also restricted, as my chest was also taped tightly.

I felt a hard seem running under my hand, and firm padding underneath me. My vision finally came into focus, and I was greeted by a gray ceiling. I was still in the damaged Humvee. There was no movement or sound of the engine, even though the sun was still in the sky. I lifted my head and was surprised at the amount of pain the move caused. Mac was crouched near my leg and was inspecting the bloodied bandages. “How long was I out?” I asked him.

His eyes glanced in my direction, and then returned to the bandages. “About four hours.” He responded as he began to remove the outer layer of cloth and replace it.

“Where?”

“A short while from the California border. We stopped about two hours ago so I could better patch you up, and better patch myself.” I ripple of pain shot from my leg as he tightened the bandages down. However I was willing to take the minor pain if it meant healing faster. I had to admit he had done a great job of patching us up. I wasn't nearly in the amount of pain I was before, and his shoulder was patched and his minor cuts looked well on their way to healing. “I didn't know you were injured before we left. Looks like you re-cracked your ribs.” He tested my rips slightly, and I inhaled sharply in response to the pain. “You got lucky on your leg though. Two clean entries and exits. I sticked them, albeit badly, and wrapped them up.”

“Yeah.” I said thinking back to the attack. “I cracked my ribs when you made one of those sharp turns to dodge a missile.”

“Sorry about that, then.” He responded.

“Don't be.” I said quickly. “It was a very good thing that we let you drive. Hell, if I had been driving we would never have survived.”

“Thanks.” He said with a faint trace of confidance. “All the driving in the would couldn't have taken down those drones however. That was some really nice shooting you did back there. The fact that you took down two of them in a speeding car, hell, I was impressed.”

“I got real lucky.” I said, dismissing the praise. “Particularly with that first one.”

“Don't be so modest.” Mac said with a small grin. “Now that I have seen you fight, I would have been honored to have you in my unit.”

I flushed slightly. “Thanks. I just got lucky though.”

“Luck is better than skill.”

I sat up slightly, and grimaced as my ribs screamed in protest. I started looking about for Kyle, and I couldn't find him. “Kyle?” I asked. “Where's Kyle.”

“Outside.” Mac answered. “Working on the radio, hold on I'll get him.” Mac opened the door, and hopped out. He looked about for a bit then yelled, “Hey, Kyle! Pack it up! Your bothers up and good to go!” He closed the door and got into the driver's seat.

A moment latter Kyle entered the passenger side door with the CB radio. He closed the door and turned to look at me. “You have looked better.”

I sat up slowly, and ignored to sharp jabs of pain shooting down my side. “You've looked worse.” I said snidely back. Indeed despite the hails of bullets, and the missile explosions, Kyle was unmarked. “Don't have the decency to get injured like the rest of us, huh?”

“Just be happy that I didn't. Otherwise we would be driving without knowing where we were going to go.” Kyle reached down and grabbed up the CB radio.

“You fixed it?” Mac asked.

“Partially. The send parts have been shattered, so we can only receive.” Kyle flipped a switch on the radio and began to mess with the dials. “If anyone is broadcasting it shouldn't be too difficult to find them.”

Mac and I listened to the static hoping for some type of signal. “Wait!” I said suddenly. “Go back I thought I heard something.” Kyle turned a dial back slightly and we listened to the static. It wasn't much, just a random pulse in the static.

“I hear it as well” Mac confirmed.

“Kyle nodded and adjusted a second dial. “H...need...burnt...br...” It was an obviously female voice, but the static shredded the transmission. Kyle made some more minor adjustments and her message became slightly more coherent. “This is Jai...omberg. We are in desperate need... and water. W have no medica.... desperate need of. Will be... Sacramento city center at... Pleas help. Were attacked... robots... and children. If your out there... meet us... help please. Be at city center... Will broadcast again... marrow. This is... Please help.” The signal cut to static, and we sat there wondering if it would come back. Kyle messed with the dials again, and there was no longer any evidence of a signal. Kyle turned off the power, and we sat in silence for some time. We aren't alone. Even though I had come to the logical conclusion that there we others survivors, a voice was enough to confirm my hopes.

“What do we do now? Kyle asked, breaking the silence.

“Isn't it obvious?” Mac answered him. “ We have got to go help them. You heard them. Women and children, and they are low on food, medicine, and water.” He pointed tword the back of the Humvee. “We have extras of all of those, and we can make runs for more. Dono where from though.”

But what if... I gulped at the implication that I was about to make. “ I hate to suggest this but what if it's a trap?” The simple statement cause them to reconsider their choices. “Skynet knew about the storage place. It figured out that there was a bunker. It knows how many of us there are. It knows we are armed, and it might have figured out where we were headed. What if that entire transmission is nothing but a Skynet trap?” I sighed heavily, and leaned back into the seat. There. I had just said what was not wanted to be heard.

“It doesn't matter.” Mac said firmly. “It doesn't matter much because what if it's real?” I don't know about you two, but I won't abandon people just because of a threat of a trap. If it's real then it's our responsibility to help. I its a trap, then we'll bust it wide open and inflict some serious damage.”

“Besides,” Kyle said. “ We can now think of it as a trap, so we're one step ahead of Skynet.”

“OK.” I said. “I just dont want us to be caught flat-footed and get ourselves killed.”

Mac nodded and turned over the engine. “Alright then. It's settled. We'll go to Sacramento. To its city center and see what there is to see.” He eased the Humvee onto the road, and accelerated quickly.

We hit a small bump, and the shock rippled through my ribs. I grimaced as the pain registered in my mind. This is going to be painful if I don't do something. I leaned forward and tapped Mac on the shoulder. “Is it possible for you to dive a little slower? I would prefer to not be in pain all day.”

He laughed. “Yeah, no problem. I had almost forgotten about you injuries in the prospect of other people besides us being alive.” He slowed the Humvee to about half the speed it was moving before. “There are some pain killers in the med-pack on the floor. Besides, we don't want to have to carry you to our introductory meeting with new people!” He laughed again. I smirked at his mirth, and reached down for the medical pack.

My smile dropped as I realized our destination. Sacramento, a very populated city. Most likely nothing but a pile of rubble and ash now. Nothing but a nuked out and irradiated wasteland. A place that we used to know by heart. Where Kyle and I first grew up. Our home.

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.”