bet you guys never expected next Monday I had spring break and I took a break from my writing so i wouldn't overdose. I got myself a good story planned out... give me a few hours to get home and finish typing it up.

I hope the break didnt make me lose any of my voters :(

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.”

Waves and Jamis booked it down the hill, and started making there way tword a nearby valley. “Lets go Marks. We should separate a bit from the demo bros, that way we aren't all easy targets.” We moved about thirty feet over on the pile, and the crawled up to the top.

“Looks like they haven't spotted us yet.” Marks commented as we slowly crawled down the debris pile.

“Not yet.” I confirmed, and pointed tword a small concrete wall sticking up out of the pile. “That looks like a good place to set up.”

“Shit!” Marks screamed as bullets began to whiz overhead. “They spotted us!” For being a nerd, I have to give credit to his strength. He grabbed me by the back of my vest and chucked me the last six or so feet to the wall. By now both T-1s had seen us and were slamming our position with a seemingly endless hail of bullets. Marks crouched quickly and dove tword the cover. His momentum seemed to stop as a bullet ripped into his shoulder. He cried out in pain as he fell flat on his stomach. Shit! Acting on impulse I reached out, grabbed his arm and heaved him the rest of the way into cover.

“You alright?” I yelled over the scream of gun fire.

He propped himself against the low wall and nodded. I took a little bit better of a look at him, and if I were him I would be in a world of pain. Blood flowed easily from his right shoulder, and he couldn't stop its flow with his hand. That wasn't the only bullet he had taken however. There were three circular rips in his shirt centered on his ribs. Thank god for Kevlar. If he hadn't of been wearing that vest he would be dead man. I gave him a concerned look, and he smiled at me then passed out. Better not die on me... Speaking of dead men, where the hell are you Charles?

As if answering my summons, a loud sound emanated from the top of the debris pile, followed by a streaking missile. One of the T-1's stopped unloading on our position and turned to face the oncoming missile. The missile struck at the place where the torso was mounted on to the tracks, and a fireball engulfed the machine. The second T-1 didn't seem to care about its brothers fate, and continued to unload on my position. I poked my head out when the smoke of the explosion cleared to see the fate of the T-1. The missile had eaten away all of the amour at the base of the torso, and more. A large chunk of the machine's guts had been reduced to molten slag. The damned thing was still operational however, and its guns spun up and began to belch bullets at Charles exposed position.

From my angle I couldn't see what happened to the demo brothers, all I knew is that the machine continued to fire on their position. Because of the pinning firepower of the T-1 targeting our position, I couldn't unload into the damaged machine without exposing myself. Time to test out the new toys. I grabbed up the modified M-16, and crouched just high enough over the barricade to fire at the undamaged T-1. The idea of willingly popping up into a hail of bullets is insane, but now was not the time for sanity. If the machines weren't destroyed quickly someone besides Marks was going to get badly injured. I waited a moment, and there was a brief pause in the bullets. The machine mush have been switching ammo bins or something. As I came up I held down the trigger, wanting to unload as fast as possible into the T-1. Before I realized it, the coughing click of an empty click sounded and I ducked back under cover. 1... The machines guns began to rev up again. 2... Countless more bullets rained on my position. 3.... Common! Common! 4... The amount of bullets this thing was unleashing was staggering. The hill side behind our cover had been flattened down just from sheer volume of slugs.

5! A rapid firecracker sound filled the air as the fifteen rounds of fives detonated. Two more large sounding explosions occurred and the bullets hammering our position stopped. I peaked over the rim of the wall, and saw that the T-1 had been demolished. The top section had been completely blown away, and the bottom wasn't much more than scrap metal. No way my rounds did that on their own. Then I spotted them. Waves and Jamis had entered through a valley not to far away from the destroyed T-1. They must have unloaded on it the same time I did. With one T-1 down this fight just got much easier.

I paused as I spotted movement on a debris hill in the distance. Moments latter, a rocked roared into the rear of the remaining T-1. As far as I knew Scott and Charles hadn't separated, so who then? Kyle? I didn't have time to ask any questions as the ridge above me exploded with bullet fire. Countless rounds rained in on the crippled T-1, and tore its remaining structure apart. Secondary explosions ripped through what little of it remained as the machines remaining ammo cooked off.

The area went silent and I breathed a sigh of relief. We had lived through another conflict with Skynet. We took the fight to it on our terms, and won! Marks was injured, yes, but he would survive to fight another day. “You alright Derek?” My radio chattered. “Hope my arrival was timely.”

“That you Kyle?” I asked the radio. “I'm fine but Marks has seen better days, he took a nasty one to the shoulder and a couple hits to his vest.”

“Bring him up.” Another voice cut in. “Mac will tack care of him.”

“OK Jaina, how are Scott and Charles?”

She hesitated a moment before responding. “Just bring Marks up. Waves, Jamis, and Kyle come over here as well.”

Strange. I put the thought aside and went over to the still unconscious Marks. His shirt had become soaked red around the shoulder, but the blood loss seemed to be slowing. I shook him slightly. “Hey wake up Marks. I don't want to have to carry your nerdy ass up the hill.”

“How many times have I told you not to call me that?” He groaned as he woke up. “Damn it, did I miss it?”

“Yeah, battles over. Those machines are nothing more than scrap metal now.”

“Damn it. Help me up will ya?” I crouched down and ducked under his one good arm, and supported him to a standing position. “Sorry to be a burden, damn it, I take one bullet and I pass out. I'm useless.”

“Shut up will ya?” I asked as we began to make our slow accent up the hill. “That stunt of your probably saved my life. Oh, and you took more than one bullet, you have got three others that impacted you vest. Stop moping and start moving faster.”

“Oh really?” He asked as he looked down at his torn and bloodied shirt. “Hmm, guess so. Pain from the shoulder hit hurt... hurts... badly enough that I don't and didn't feel them.” It took us a bit of time to make it to the top of the hill. Mac came up and took over for me when he saw us, and he wore a very grim expression.

The hill was strangely silent for some reason. You would expect after a victory over Skynet that people would be celebrating. No one spoke however. Jaina walked tword me then sat holding her knees on the debris. I walked up to her and knelt down next to here. He eyes were watering, and she was lightly sobbing. I bushed the hair away from her face, and she gave me a mourning look. What's wrong. I asked silently. She sniffled, and her eyes darted to the side, as if wanting to look behind herself he but she could bring herself to do it.

I stood, and walked quietly over to were most of the group had gathered silently. I edged my way into the small circle that they had formed and I was greeted with an evil sight. Maves and Scott knelt by the bloodied form of Charles. Maves pulled his hand away from Charles' neck, and shook his head. At first I didn't understand the significance of this gesture, as Scott exploded into tears. Then I refused it as it dawned on me. Maves closed Charles eyes and stepped away. No. He cant be. He just cant be! GOD DAMN IT NO!

Chapter 7 part 3

“This cant be happening.” Scott whispered. “You cant die. You cant leave me here! Wake up damn it! Common wake up. Please don't do this to me. I told him. I told him we should wait. Not to shoot when its shooting. Not to be a hero. Damn it! What did I do that got him...” In a flash of movement he spun, stood, and grabbed Maves. “There has to be some thing you can do! We can't just let him die! Do something!”

Maves couldn't bring himself to look into Scott's eyes. He looked to the side in a futile attempt to escape from Scott's rage. “There's nothing I can do.” He whispered regrettably. “He's dead.”

“No!” Scott screamed. He threw Maves to the ground and turned back to his dead brother. “Charles cant be dead. He just cant. Not possible. No. No, no, no! No damn it!”

A wave of grief and guilt swept over me. It was my idea to attack them, my fault. My fault he died. I should have waited. If I had waited... DAMN IT! Why do people I know have to die! First Wyatt, now Charles. Everyone dies because of mistakes and failures on my part. Damn it. Damn myself. Damn fate to hell. DAMN SKYNET! My thoughts were interrupted as a strong hand grasped my shoulder. I turned to see Waves standing mutely by me. He didn't say anything, just looked at the body of Charles, and kept a strong grip on my shoulder. The unspoken message was clear. I can't be everywhere at once, and even if I was there, there would have been nothing I could do.

Still regardless of how true that statement might be, I felt like shit. I broke away from Waves grip, and knelt down next to the body of Charles. Scott locked his watering eyes onto mine as I reached out. “Dont touch h...” He began to yell as my hand moved outward. He stopped however as I grabbed onto his shoulder.

His gave me a look of both hate, and sorrow. For what seemed the longest time nothing happened. “I'm sorry.” I managed to say finally. Those two words managed to shake what little constitution Scoot had left out of him.

He smiled weakly. “Not you fault.” He whispered. “Not your fault.” He stood and turned around. “Kyle, will you please go and get it from the back of the cache?” Kyle had only just arrived and begun to digest the death of Charles.

He nodded, turned and began to walk off. “Hold up, I'll go with you.” Maves volunteered. The left some of their gear behind, and descended into the destroyed city.

Scott moved and sat on a piece of concrete a short distance away from Charles. “He never did like the idea of wearing body amour.” He said with a weak laugh. “Always thought that he would blow himself up from a bad design before being shot. He never... he never worried about it. Always sure that he would be fine. Even when we were in the army together. We were part of a TDT in Iran, a tactical demolitions team. The officers yelled at him constantly for being stupid and not wearing protection. He would always laugh them off in private.”

“He was a nice guy too. Never made anyone angry, never got one anyones bad side. He never did anything bad, never did anything wrong. Thats what got us thrown out of the army in fact. One day we got a command from In-Ops to demolition a large civilian building that was supposedly acting as a headquarters for terrorist insurgents. We out right refused. The place was a apartment complex, and they wanted us to take it down while it was loaded with civilians. Charles out right refused to the officers and got thrown into the brig and I was assigned the task. I couldn't kill civilians, so they threw me in the brig as well.”

“That was you guys?” Mac asked from ever my shoulder. “We we're told that Spec-Ops went in to wipe out the place because several army soldiers mutinied against commanders. It was a blood bath, orders to kill on sight anyone they considered even a remote threat.”

“That was us.” Scott confirmed. “Our entire TD team refused to go through with it thanks to Charles. Their spin on it was that we were collaborating with the enemy. That we refused to destroy it because we knew that it was a hide out for insurgents. Hell they even tried to hang us for treason. We thought that we were saving civilian lives, but they just went in and butchered them without warning. Their claims to treason were far fetched, and dismissed in court. Our team got kicked out of service for refusing orders however.”

“I find it ironic that we got kicked out for trying to save lives, and those people who slaughtered the apartment complex didn't get touched. I find it more so that Skynet was created to defend us from foreign powers, and now it's slaughtering people... like my brother...” Scott broke into silence and didn't continue any further.

The silence held for a while as people remembered all those who they knew that died. This was the first death that had happened since the gang had first formed, and it struck hard on all of us. “He was a good man.” Jamis put forth, breaking the silent revelry. “In what little time there was that I knew him, he was a friend and brother to all of us. I'm going to miss him. Him and his stupid pranks.”

“Like that time he set of fire crackers at the entrance to home.” Waves continued. “We all rushed out with weapons loaded, thinking that a buzzard was knocking, to find you two sitting and laughing hysterically.”

Scott smiled, and laughed lightly. “He was always a bit stupid when it came to things like that. Could have gotten us killed so many times, that now that I think about it I don't know how we survived up to this point.”

“That's easy.” I said quickly. “Like Charles always said, 'Your to cute to die'.”

“Maybe. It's probably that and we were to thick sculled to ever realize the danger we were in.”

“I think I can speak for all of us.” A voice spoke from behind me. “When I say that we would have had you guys any other way.” I turned and saw Marks walking slowly up behind me. His shoulder was wrapped in bandages, and a large spot of red emanated from where he was shot.

“Shouldn't you be resting?” Waves asked concerned.

“Bug off.” He snapped back. “I'll be perfectly fine. No way am I resting a little bullet hole because one of my friends died.”

“Please.” Scott said concerned. “At least sit down. Don't make your injuries worse on my part, or Charles'. He would have wanted that.”

“Alright, alright.” Marks dropped himself to the ground. “I'm just saying that we would have wanted you two any other way. In all that has happened you provided relief to despair and worry. Nothing like a good joke to make someone smile again. Thats what I'm going to miss about him.”

Scott nodded, then looked to the side. “Ah here they come.” Kyle and Maves worked their way up the rest of the hill with a large jar. Kyle offered the jar to Scott silently. “Thank you Kyle. He wouldn't have wanted to go out any other way.”

He unscrewed the top the the jar and reached in to pull out a handful of lightish blue powder. “'Agree with me that we wont bury each other.' Charles told me.” Scott said as he began to sprinkle the pounder of Charles' still form. “'I don't want to be worm food, and neither do you. Lets go out in a blaze of glory.' Charles said. I agreed, so we made this powder.” He finished with the powder, brought out a match and lit it. “Stand back.” He took a step backwards and tossed the lit match onto his fallen brothers form.

A bright blue flame erupted from the fallen form. They almost instantly consumed the cloths and hair of Charles and began to work quickly on his form. Not now. Why did it have to happen now? Six months had passed and nothing major had happened. Then this. The flames charred Charles form, and Scott collapsed into sobbing again. The sight of his brother burning was simply too much for him. Damn it! The fuel fed flames leapt higher as they quickly consumed his body. 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. We were safe. Charles was safe. Why did I have to act so stupidly and bring about his death? What impulse drove me to attack without support? What am I, a monster or someone who's a fool? I thought of Wyatt, Mac, Charles, Waves, everyone that had one point depended on my skills and my luck. I quickly came to a realization that startled me. No matter where I am, no matter how skilled I become, I cant keep everyone safe. The best I can do is try, and pay respects when I fail them.

The substance made quick work of Charles' body, and soon only a wisp of smoke smoldered where his form once was. Silence enveloped the group as they prayed, or payed silent respects, to Charles. One by one the group departed. As they did they comforted Scott, either a word or some other token gesture. When the wind picked up and carried Charles' ashes away into the city only Scott, Kyle and I remained.