Chapter I: The Road to Salvation
I was sitting in the back of a trailer being pulled by a delivery truck. I was surrounded by cases of water the driver had managed to salvage. I counted ten cases, which could keep a Sanctuary from dying from dehydration for half a year.

Unbeknownst to the driver, I was sort of his protector. I was making sure he delivered the water safely, without consequence, and hopefully without loss of life.

I pulled my hood over my head and simply listened to the tires bounce over the uneven and cracked road.

Suddenly, the truck stopped moving. We were too far from the Sanctuary to be stopping. I listened as the driver stepped out of his truck and walked around to the back of it. Instinctively, I placed my hand on the handle to my bowie knife. Ammunition was too valuable to waste on a trigger-happy truck driver.

I waited, ready to kill if I needed to. The back of the truck opened and the driver put both his unarmed hands in as an act to show me he meant no harm.

With my hand still on my knife’s handle, I looked the man in his eyes. I couldn’t see any deception.
“Come now, Loner, I mean no harm. I just wanted to know if you’d rather sit up front instead of back here with the cargo,” the driver said.

I watched as his hands never left their position above his head. I cautiously moved my hand away from my knife and nodded.
“Alright, it was starting to get hot back here anyway,” I said.

I stepped out of the trailer and dropped to the ground. The sun shined right in my eyes and I raised my right arm to shield myself from the light. A couple of hours in the dark can do that to a person.

The driver looked at my right arm after closing the back of the trailer and backed away nervously. I had lost it a while back and it was replaced by a solid metal one. It served well when some idiot needed to be hit.
“Well, let’s get back to the truck before the Bandits realize we’re here,” I said, ignoring the man staring at my arm.
“Uh…, right, of course,” he said, clearing his throat.

We walked on either side of his truck until we got to our respective doors. We both got into the truck and the driver drove away without giving me a second glance.

We rode a couple of miles in absolute silence. I took this silence to look over the man’s cab. There was trash on the floor, and flies fluttered around both of our faces. It reeked inside.
“Sorry ‘bout the mess and the smell. Been in here for two weeks straight,” the driver said.
“No problem, I’ve seen and smelled worse,” I responded.
“I bet you have. Ha! A Loner, you guys are total badasses,” the driver said, laughing to himself.
“Well, it’s nice to know I got a fan club,” I said.
“Hell yeah, some of us lesser people really are thankful for what you guys do,” the driver said.
“Thanks, but then there are the others that hate are guts,” I muttered.
“F*** those pricks, they just pissy ‘cause of the whole situation,” the driver said.

I somewhat chuckled to myself.
“So, uh… forgive me for asking, but uh… what happened to your arm?” he asked me.
“Bandit cut it off,” I said.
“Oh s***…,” the driver responded.
“Yeah…,” I muttered.

I looked off into the side mirror and noticed that we were being followed by a trio of motorcyclists.
“We got company,” I said.

Company was catching up too.
“Son of a b****, Bandits,” the trucker growled.
“I got it, just keep driving,” I said, opening the passenger door.
“Where you going!?” the trucker called out to me.
“I’m going hunting,” I responded, pulling out my scoped pistol.

I really hoped the Sanctuary had ammo, if I was even able to see it.

I climbed onto the top of the trailer, went down on my gut, and aimed my pistol at the head of one of the Bandits. I pulled the trigger and placed the bullet through the visor of his helmet. The Bandit lurched forward and he and his motorcycle veered off the road.
“Hold on!” I heard the trucker yell.

Suddenly the truck swerved, nearly causing me to roll of the side of the trailer, and hit a disabled vehicle. It spun around on the road and went in the path of the second pursuer. He couldn’t move out of the way and hit the car. He flew off his bike and skidded across the road on his face, leaving broken pieces from his helmet and smears of blood.

I pulled myself up to my feet and sighed in relief when I saw the Sanctuary in the distance.

Suddenly I saw more Bandits up ahead. One of them threw a spike strip out across the road. The trucker must’ve not seen it, because he was heading straight for it. I needed to make a decision or get mixed up in a bad wreck.
“S***!” I swore, jumping off the trailer.

I rolled across the dirt just as the truck hit the spike strips. The front tires burst and the truck swerved before flipping onto its back. It flipped over once more and skidded across the road on the driver side.

I looked up and saw the Bandits approaching the truck, guns out. I pulled out a grenade and tossed it onto the road. Smoke billowed out of it and covered the Bandits, blinding them from view. I pulled my hood over my head and readied my bowie knife.

I ran into the smoke and stabbed the first Bandit through the back of his neck. Blood spurted out of the wound when I pulled the knife out and I quietly put him down on the ground.
“Who the hell’s out there!?” I heard a voice call out.
“Salvation!” I roared back, throwing my knife at the source of the voice.

I heard a choking sound and drew my pistol. There was one more that I knew of and the smoke was starting to clear away.

When the smoke cleared, I stood in front of the final Bandit. I had my gun on him and he had his gun on me.
“Heh, this is how it is, Loner?” the Bandit hissed at me.
“Guess so,” I said.

I had nowhere to go without getting shot.
“I’m gonna give you a choice, right here, right now. Put the gun down and walk away with your life. I’m ready to die, been ready for years, but I’d be damned if I didn’t drag your ass down to Hell with me,” I growled.
“F*** you, Loner!” the Bandit shouted, stepping forward to shoot me.

His chest suddenly exploded as a shotgun shell hit him from behind. He fell over in a pool of blood and I saw the trucker, leaning against the back of his trailer, with a shotgun in his hand. He was bleeding, battered, and breathing hard, but alive.

I pulled my knife out of the face of the second Bandit and looked at the trucker.
“Thanks,” I said.
“No problem, now how the hell am I supposed to get these waters to the Sanctuary?” the trucker asked.
“Maybe we could “borrow” their truck,” I said, looking at the Bandit’s pickup truck.

The trucker smiled bloodstained teeth and nodded. I helped him into the passenger seat of the truck and moved all ten cases of water into the back of the pickup. I got in and drove off toward the Sanctuary.
“Thanks, Loner, knew you were a good guy,” the trucker muttered as he leaned against the passenger-side window, leaving a smear of blood.
“I’m not a good guy,” I muttered under my breath.

Chapter II: No More Heroes
I drove the rest of the way to the Sanctuary. It was a massive structure surrounded by walls that were several hundred feet tall and a hundred feet thick. The top of the Sanctuary was a massive dome that sealed in clean, recycled air.

We drove up to the gate and I walked out.
“What… what are you doing?” the trucker asked me weakly.

He had been losing quite a bit of blood.
“I have to get us inside, get you to the infirmary, and then deliver the water,” I said.

I walked up to the massive door.
“I am a Loner,” I said.

My voice seemed to echo up the immense walls.
“Loner, voice recognized,” a mechanized voice responded.

The ground began to quake slightly as the doors to the Sanctuary opened. I walked back to the truck and drove into the Sanctuary.
“Here, let’s get you to the infirmary,” I said.

I parked the truck in the middle of the road and got out. I walked around to the other side of the truck and grabbed the trucker, who was starting to get pale. I supported him and half-dragged him into the infirmary.
“I need some help here!” I called out.

A medic ran over to me. He was a man in his mid-forties with graying hair.
“What happened?” he asked me suspiciously.
“Bandits ambushed us,” I said.
“Alright, lay him on the table,” the medic said.

I nodded and placed the trucker on the metal table. I started to move away to let the medic have the needed room, but the trucker grabbed my wrist.
“Loner… please… can you deliver those waters to the diner…?” he asked of me.
“I’ll get them there,” I said.
“Thanks…,” the trucker said before passing out from blood loss.

I looked at the medic.
“Will he make it?” I asked him.
“Yeah, he’ll be fine, just gotta patch him up and give him some water as soon as you deliver it,” the medic said.

I nodded and walked out of the infirmary. I went back to the truck and backed it up across the street to the diner. I stepped out and lowered the tailgate. I grabbed two cases of water and walked into the diner.

It was small, jam-packed full of people, and noisy. There was a young woman behind the counter. She looked nervous and I soon saw the reason why. There was a rather large man snapping at her about the lack of water.
“I told you, I want my water!” he barked.
“And I told you, we don’t have any,” the waitress responded meekly.
“Bullshit!” the man growled.

He then reached over at her, but she backed away out of his reach.
“Give me my fucking water!” he shouted angrily.

I dropped the cases on the floor and moved over to the man. I placed my left hand on his shoulder and he glared at me with dark eyes.
“I suggest that you calm down,” I said.
“I suggest you mind your God damn business,” the man growled, shoving me away.

The waitress stood still, eyes darting between us. I sighed, brushed myself off, and walked back to the cases of water. I lifted them off the ground and put them on the counter for the waitress.
“Your water has arrived, ma’am,” I said, nodding curtly at her.

She looked relieved.
“About damn time, what took you so long!?” the same man barked, reaching for the case closest to him.

I grabbed his wrist with my right hand and looked at him. He stared at my metallic arm and swallowed hard.
“You know, patience is a virtue. I have eight more cases to carry in. Help me with them and you can have your water, on me, but continue being this angry piece of s***, and I will have to give the medic another set of injuries to mend,” I said.
“Oh… okay…,” the man responded, being put in his place.
“Anyone else want water!?” I called out.

Every one shouted yes.
“Then help carry in the cases and help this young lady put them away, and your first bottle of water will be on me!” I shouted.

The big man and seven others ran outside to carry in the cases and more rushed over to the waitress, asking her how they can help. She looked at me and smiled.
“Thank you,” she said.

I just nodded and stepped back, allowing them to bring the water in. More men helped put the waters away where they needed to go and I sat at the counter.
“Again, thank you… Loner,” the waitress said again.
“You’re welcome,” I said.
“Do you want anything? It’s on the house since you’ve given every patron in here some water,” the waitress said.
“No…,” I said, but my growling stomach said otherwise.
“I’ll get you some bread and some SPAM,” the waitress said with a smile before disappearing behind a door.

I waited while she fixed my food, but my attention was turned to the sound of the diner door opening. I turned and saw three men walk in. They looked like the type to start a fight. The one to the right looked to be of African descent. He had a Mohawk that was dyed blonde and wore dark shades. The one on the left was a small, Latino man with a gang tattoo on the side of his face. The one in the middle was a Caucasian man with long, greasy hair, several prison tattoos, and was chewing on a toothpick.

Several of the other patrons moved away when they came in.
“Hey, you, how’d your poor ass get that water?” the Caucasian asked.
“That man bought everyone a bottle of water, Cyrus…,” the man said timidly.
“Oh, did he now?” Cyrus responded, looking at me.

The three walked over to me and I felt the one called Cyrus prod at my shoulder.
“So, where’s our free water?” Cyrus asked.
“They helped bring it in, so they earned it,” I said, not looking at him.
“Ha! These lowlifes!? How in the hell did they earn it, they don’t even earn to be in the same room as me!” Cyrus squealed.

He suddenly pulled a gun and aimed it at the patrons. A few screamed and dove to the ground.
“Go on, ya heard me, get the f*** out of here!” Cyrus shouted.

The patrons began moving, but a few stayed behind, the large man was amongst this group.
“What? Think you got balls, big boy? Go on, get, before I put a bullet in your face!” Cyrus shouted.
“I suggest you go,” I said.

The man looked at me and then back at Cyrus. He and the other men left. It was just us four and the waitress, who was still fixing my meal. I started to wonder what exactly she was doing back there.
“So, where is our free water?” Cyrus asked, pointing his gun at me.
“I told you, you didn’t earn it, now put the gun down and buy you and your buddies your water,” I said.
“How about you get us some free water or I kill you?” Cyrus said.
“You’re not that smart, are you?” I asked him after snorting.
“F*** you!” Cyrus shouted, putting the muzzle of his gun against the back of my head.
“You probably still have the safety on,” I said.

I felt the cold steel of the gun move away from my head as Cyrus checked to see if the safety was on or off. It was on and he clicked it so it was off.
“There, safety is off jackass, now get us some fucking water!” he shouted.

The waitress then stepped out of the back of the diner with my sandwich on a plate. Cyrus aimed his gun at her. The waitress screamed and dropped my sandwich. The plate shattered. That’s when I saw my opportunity.

I grabbed Cyrus’s arm and pulled it over my shoulder down toward the counter. He fired a shot and it safely went into the counter. I flipped the smaller man over my shoulder and snapped his wrist over the side of the counter.

He screamed and dropped his gun. The Latino went at me with a knife, but I grabbed the blade with my right hand. I broke the cheap blade off its handle and smiled as the Latino backed away.

Cyrus was still screaming in pain from his broken wrist. The bone was sticking out of his skin and blood seeped from the wound.
“Shut the f*** up,” I said, looking directly at him.

He had tears in his eyes.
“I gave you the choice to walk away from this. I gave you three opportunities to walk away, and you ignored all three of them. I didn’t break your wrist. You broke your wrist!” I shouted.
“F*** you… f*** you… kill him Roger!” Cyrus screamed.

The black man pulled his own gun, but I was quicker. I drew my knife and threw it into his chest before he could fire off one shot. The black man backed away into a wall, dropping his gun, and slid down to the floor before dying, leaving a bloody smear.
“Sorry about that,” I apologized to the waitress, who stood in the far corner, shaking in fear.
“See, your bad decisions resulted in his death!” I shouted.

I looked at the Latino.
“Now, let’s see if you’re smarter. You can either take dipshit to the medic to mend his arm, or you both can join your friend Roger right there for a trip to the morgue’s incinerator. It’s your choice,” I said.

The Latino man gulped and nodded. He grabbed the crying Cyrus and led him out of the diner toward the infirmary.
“I’m really sorry about the blood and stuff…,” I apologized to the waitress.
“It’s… it’s okay…,” she said shakily.

I walked over to Roger and pulled my knife out of his chest. I cleaned it on his shirt and picked his gun off the floor.
“He won’t need this,” I said, pocketing the gun.

The waitress moved over to the fallen sandwich and began picking it up.
“Pity,” I said, walking back to the counter.
“Yeah…,” she agreed.

I picked up Cyrus’s fallen weapon and pocketed it as well.
“By the way, what took you so long? A SPAM sandwich shouldn’t have taken that long,” I asked.
“I was… uh… trying to write my name and address with the mustard and ketchup,” the waitress responded, blushing.

She then left to go make me another sandwich, one without the mustard and ketchup writing. I just sat down on the same chair and waited.

Chapter III: Working Class Citizen
I walked out of the diner after finishing my sandwich and passed a couple of morticians who were arriving to take Roger to the morgue.

I walked through the streets with my hands in my pockets and passed a couple of fruit stands. I watched a young boy pass by and pull an orange off the stand.
“Hey! Thief!” the stand owner called out.

The boy ran off, but I simply stepped in front of him. The boy stopped in his tracks and his eyes went straight to my right arm. I guess not many people had metallic arms.
“Hand me the orange,” I said.

The boy hesitated.
“Hand it over before he gets here,” I said, holding my hand out in front of me.

He placed the orange in my hand as the stand owner ran up to us.
“You little thief, ought to beat the s*** out of ya!” he barked.
“Calm down, I’ll pay for the orange,” I said.

The stand owner looked at me and backed away.
“Loner…, you…, you can have it,” the stand owner said, backing away even more.

I nodded and the stand owner ran back over to his orange stand.
“Heh,” I muttered, tossing the orange up in the air.

I caught it and tossed it into the waiting hands of the young boy.
“Stealing isn’t the best thing to do, kid,” I said.

He nodded and ran off across the street to an older woman. She looked sick and the boy handed his orange over.

I simply turned and walked away. I walked to the center of the Sanctuary and looked up at the tall building the stood before me.

It was the Sanctuary’s Cathedral. It was a large, triangular building with an immense spire that nearly scraped against the top of the dome. It was where I picked up my assignments.

I walked into the building and went straight down the aisle. I stopped in front of the massive crucifix at the end of the aisle and knelt down. I did this in respect, not faith.
“Father, I’m here for a job,” I said, keeping my eyes toward the floor.

An elderly man dressed in red robes walked over to me from behind the crucifix.
“I know, why else would you be here? Certainly not to pray,” Father responded.
“Got that right,” I responded.
“May I at least forgive you of your sins?” he asked me.
“No thanks, I prefer to wear them,” I said.

Father sighed.
“Your assignment is waiting for you outside, a family of four needs to be taken to the Southeast Sanctuary,” he said.
“That’s across the whole country,” I said.
“Yes, which is why I’ve chosen you for this assignment. I do recollect you having an untarnished record,” Father said.
“I do,” I muttered.
“Then go,” Father said.

I stood up, turned away from him, and walked out of the Cathedral. The damned place was too depressing for me.

I stood outside of the Cathedral and looked around. The streets outside of the Cathedral were packed full of people. Of course, Father had to just tell me these people were in the most crowded place in the whole damn Sanctuary.

I sighed and sat down on a bench, watching the crowds of people walk by.

Finally, I noticed a family of four standing across the street. They were looking around, through and over the crowds of people. I stood up from the bench and pushed my way through the crowd of people.
“Hey!” one protested.
“Watch it!” another muttered.
“Asshole,” a third spat.

I ignored them and made my way to the family.
“Are you the family looking for a Loner to transport you to the Southeastern Sanctuary?” I asked them.
“Yes, my name is Jason Booth, this is my wife, Candace, my daughter, Kelly, and my son, Keith,” a man said.

He was a short man, balding, kind eyes, and a slight gut. His wife was thin, birdlike, and nervous when she saw me. Their son was young, no older than ten. He looked intrigued when he saw me, like I was some new toy or something. Their daughter looked to be in her early-twenties. She stared at me with icy, blue eyes as if she already hated everything about me.
“Alright, good, we should get going. It’s going to be a long trip,” I said.

I led the family across the Sanctuary to the Armory, so I could stock up on some weapons. The armed guard standing outside stopped me.
“State your business,” he said.

I lifted my right hand and showed him the brand on the palm of my metal hand. It was in the shape of a diamond with a square within it.
“Loner, and guests, permitted to enter,” the guard said, stepping out of our way.
“Come inside, but do not touch anything,” I said.

I walked inside the Armory, which consisted of three long hallways lined with various weapons.
“This is my favorite part,” I said, walking up to a shotgun.

It was a Mossberg 500 pump-action shotgun with a M7 bayonet attachment. It held eight rounds and was perfect for blowing away anyone in my way.

I strapped the shotgun across my chest. I reached out and grabbed a belt of shotgun shells for my new gun and wrapped it around my waist.

I then walked over to the handgun section and simply grabbed ammo for the three guns I had at the moment. After that, I walked over to the knives and saw something awesome.

It was a kukri, a curved, Nepalese blade that was essentially the Asian machete from Hell, but angrier.
“I found my friend,” I said to myself with the Booth family right behind me.

I grabbed the big knife and its sheath and strapped it against my back with the handle pointing up.
“There, is that it?” Kelly asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Kelly! Don’t be rude!” her father scolded.
“Whatever, Dad,” she responded.
“Yeah, that’s it,” I said.

I led the family out of the Armory and over toward the edge of the Sanctuary.
“Now what are we doing?” Kelly asked.
“Quit talking,” I said.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” she responded.
“Kelly!” her father hissed.
I ignored them and walked up to the Sanctuary wall. There was a large garage in front of me. I knocked on the door and waited. It then raised and a Mechanic stood before us.

Mechanics provide Loners with vehicles when they need to get from Point A to Point B.
“What do you want?” he asked me.
I showed him the brand on my right hand.
“Ah, need a car, eh Loner?” he asked me.
“Yeah, I need a car,” I said.
“Maybe I don’t wanna give you one,” he responded.
“Maybe you don’t have a choice,” I said.
“I always have a choice! You damn Loners take my cars and never return them! I work on them and work on them and work on them, but in the end you motherfuckers destroy them!” the Mechanic shouted.
“Please, give us a car,” Candace said, holding onto Keith.
“You heard me, no,” the Mechanic growled.

He closed the garage door.
“Now how are we supposed to get to the Southeast Sanctuary?” Kelly asked me.
“By force,” I said, punching straight through the garage door with my right hand.

I peeled it apart and stepped inside.
“What the f*** do you think you’re doing!?” the Mechanic shouted.
“Getting a ride, and you’re not going to stop me,” I said.
“Like hell you are!” the Mechanic shouted, jumping onto my back.

He wrapped his arms around my neck and started choking me. I ran backwards and slammed him against a far wall. He slid off my back and I simply walked backward.
“Help! Thief! Someone, stop him!” the Mechanic shouted.

More Mechanics started rushing over.
“I don’t have time for this,” I muttered, readying my shotgun.

The Mechanics stopped immediately and raised their hands.
“It is your job to provide Loners with a vehicle, which is why you get paid! I don’t give a f*** if you’re tired from all the work!” I shouted.

I looked at the Mechanic lying on the garage ground.
“You do know that there is a crime against attacking Loners. The punishment is either a trip to the infirmary or death,” I said.

The Mechanic looked up at me in fear. I aimed my shotgun at him.
“Please…, I’m sorry,” he said.
“So am I,” I muttered, stabbing him in the arm with my bayonet.

It was a non-lethal blow, but it would require a trip to the infirmary.
“I suggest you go now,” I said, letting my shotgun hang off my shoulder.

He got to his feet and ran away, holding his injured arm.
“All clear!” I shouted for the family.

I tear off a man-sized chunk of the garage door and tossed it across the ground to let the Booth family in.
“Alright, now what car can be used to transport five people across the country?” I asked.

A young Mechanic stepped forward. He was shaking and acted nervous.
“That one…,” he said, pointing at a large vehicle covered in a tarp.

I looked at it and approached it. I tore the tarp off and looked at the vehicle. It was a charcoal grey Ford F-450 pickup truck. This one had been outfitted with a battering ram on the front.
“There are gas cans in the back…,” the young Mechanic said.
“Good, enough to get me across the country?” I asked.
“No, not with that truck…,” the Mechanic said.
“Then choose something else,” I said, turning away from the truck.
“Okay… wait! We have something better!” the Mechanic announced, walking over to a smaller vehicle.

It was a Ford Focus sedan.
“It will hold everyone you need and the gas cans in the back will get you to where you need to go,” the Mechanic said.
“Is there room left for our things?” Jason asked, stepping forward.
“Uh…, no, there won’t be any room left…,” the Mechanic said.

I sighed.
“I got one last vehicle,” the Mechanic said.

He walked over to the back of the garage and pulled the tarp off a strange vehicle.
“Say hello to the last electric car,” he said.

It was an electric car.
“How are you keeping it charged?” I asked.
“Portable generator will charge it full in six hours, giving it a nice thousand mile drive before needing to be recharged. It will fit all five of you, have enough trunk room for the generator and all your belongings,” the Mechanic said.
“We’ll take it,” I said.

The Mechanic and I then loaded the generator into the trunk and the Booth family loaded all their belongings.

Jason, Candace, and Keith sat in the backseat with Keith in the middle. I sat in the driver seat and Kelly sat in the passenger seat.
“Thank you, at least someone can do their job,” I said to the Mechanic.

He nodded and ran over to the far wall. He pressed a button on a remote lying on a table covered in tools. The garage door that separated the Sanctuary garage and the outside world opened up.
“I suggest you buckle up, I’d prefer to get as far as I can without the Bandits looking for us,” I said.

The whole family buckled up and I sped out of the garage, leaving skid marks on the ground.

Chapter IV: The First Night
I’ve been driving for about an hour straight and it was late in the afternoon.
“So, why are you moving on the other side of the country?” I asked.
“Too much crime in the Northwest Sanctuary,” Jason said.
“I can agree with that, everyone is all tensed up. Nearly got into a fistfight delivering an injured trucker’s shipment of water,” I said.
“Hell, with that hand, you’d win that fight,” Kelly commented.

I chuckled and nodded in agreement.
“Did you get into the fight?” Jason asked.
“No, I talked everyone in the diner to help carry in the water and put it away and then I gave a free bottle to everyone,” I said.
“Boring,” Kelly said, lifting her legs up onto the dashboard.
“I only resorted to violence when these gangsters came in and pulled a gun on me,” I said.
“Did you kill any of them?” Kelly asked.
“One, put the other in the infirmary with a compound fracture,” I said.
“How many people have you killed?” Candace asked.
“Too many,” I said.
“How…?” Kelly was about to ask.
“Enough questions,” I interrupted.
“But…,” Kelly tried to say.
“Enough,” I said.

Kelly just looked at me and then crossed her arms and blew some of her brown hair out of her face.

I growled to myself.
“What were you gonna ask?” I asked her.
“I thought you said enough,” Kelly responded.
“Kelly,” Jason said, trying to ease the building tension.
“What, Dad? He said it,” Kelly pointed out.
“Never mind,” I muttered.

I drove on in complete silence, but listened to the Booth family’s conversation.
“I’m kind of nervous about putting so much faith in a murderer,” Candace whispered to her husband, trying not to let me hear her, but I heard anyway.
“He’s probably only killed to protect himself,” Jason whispered back.

He was wrong about that.
“Well, let’s just make sure to keep an eye on Keith,” Candace whispered, looking at her silent son.

He hadn’t spoken a single word in the few hours I’ve known him. He’s unlike any other child I know. The other children can’t shut the hell up and usually gawk at my metallic arm. He only glanced at it occasionally.

I then watched Kelly through my peripheral. She still had her feet up on the dashboard and that’s when I realized something. She had really nice legs. I immediately shook away the thought.

Loners were forbidden from starting relationships with anyone, let alone their transports. I never thought anything against that rule. It was a good rule, meant to protect both the Loners and whoever they attempted to court.

I kept driving until the sun started to set.
“We’ll pull over for the night,” I said, pulling off the road amongst several other abandoned cars.
“Why not just drive through the night?” Kelly asked me, yawning tiredly.
“I need sleep too,” I said.
“And how exactly are we going to sleep?” Kelly asked.
“You were doing just fine at it,” I said.
“I! Uh… shut up,” Kelly muttered.
“Your family is doing it just fine,” I said, gesturing to the backseat.

Kelly looked back and her family was asleep.

She looked at me, but I was already stepping out of the car.
“Where are you going?” she asked, stepping out as well.
“I’m patrolling the boundaries, now get back in the car, lock the doors, and do not open them unless it’s me,” I said.

She looked at me, and then at the pistol in my hand. She nodded and sat back inside the car. I saw the doors lock and walked off to make sure it was safe.

I crouched down low behind a truck and looked off into the distance. The whole area had once been a forest, but now the trees were dead, bared of all leaves and branches, and stood there like oversized toothpicks. I watched silently as something moved around between the trees.
“What’s out there?” Kelly asked me.
“What? I told you to wait in the car,” I hissed.

She ignored me and just looked wide eyed out toward whatever was moving out there.
“What is it?” she asked as they came closer.

I suddenly realized what they were and they were coming close.
“Get down!” I silently screamed, pulling Kelly down with me.

I rolled across the ground to get us both under the truck as three large, dog-like creatures came near.

They had grayed, decaying skin that reeked of rotting flesh. Their eyes were milky white and they relied solely on hearing and smell to locate their prey. Their mouths had a deadly concoction of poisonous bacteria, much like a Komodo dragon.
They sniffed across the ground and I covered Kelly’s mouth as I lay on top of her. There was no wind to carry our scents to them, so they could only hear us.

The dogs plodded around and eventually left. When I determined it was safe, I removed my hand against Kelly’s mouth.
“What were they?” she asked quietly.
“Dogs, we’re in Huntmaster’s territory,” I said.
“Who’s Huntmaster?” Kelly asked.
“He’s a Head Bandit,” I said.
“Could we finish this conversation without you lying on top of me?” Kelly asked.

I then realized I was still lying on top of her.
“Sorry,” I apologized, rolling off her.

I crawled out from underneath the truck and helped Kelly up to her feet.
“Thanks,” she said, brushing the dirt off her back.

She turned her back to me.
“Do I have anymore dirt?” she asked me.

I briefly looked and saw none.
“No,” I said.

She turned back around and her eyes widened in fear.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her, turning around.

There was a dog looking right at us. Its blind eyes staring right at us. It had heard us talking and it growled lowly, poisonous drool dripping onto the ground.
“Oh s***,” I said.

The dog charged, flinging drool at us. I pulled my kukri out with my right hand and swung it at the dog’s neck. The heavy, curved blade went straight through the dog’s neck and decapitated it. I had my left hand over Kelly’s mouth to prevent her from screaming and attracting the other dogs. I kept my kukri out as I led Kelly back to the car. I opened the passenger door.
“Get in,” I said.

Kelly nodded and sat inside the car. I closed the door and pointed at the lock. She locked the doors and I walked back over to the dog. I held its head underneath one arm and dragged it by one of its back legs away from where we were camping for the night.

I laid the dog’s headless body against the base of a tree and then tossed its head into the darkness.

I looked out into the darkness and spat at the thought of Huntmaster. I turned and walked back to the car.

I knocked on the driver side window, causing Kelly to jump. She looked at me, her blue eyes wide in fear, and then unlocked the door. I sat inside the car and closed the door behind me, locking it as well.
“You okay?” I asked Kelly.

She nodded. I looked back at her family and they were still asleep.
“Damn, they’re heavy sleepers,” I said.

Kelly nodded again.
“Hey. Hey!” I snapped, getting her attention.
“You’re okay, we’re safe,” I said, trying to calm her down.
“For now…,” she muttered.
“Listen to me right now, I’m going to get you and your family to the Southeast Sanctuary even if it kills me. I’d sooner get killed than let any of you get hurt,” I said.

Kelly looked at me and nodded.
“Now, do you want to hear about all of the different Bandit Heads?” I asked her.

She nodded.
“Well, first there’s Huntmaster. He is like a wild animal, but he owns the area throughout here. He always has his dogs patrolling it,” I said.
“Why are those dogs so…?” Kelly asked before pausing to think of the right word.
“Deformed? The radiation hit them. They were outcasted by their own breed, which is why Huntmaster took them in. He was outcasted by the human population,” I said.
“Poor guy,” Kelly said.
“Don’t feel bad for him. He’s a crazy son of a b****, and will kill you in a heartbeat,” I said.

Kelly nodded.
“What about the others?” she asked.
“Well, there’s Four Arms and like his name suggests, he has four arms. Then there’s The Widow. She’s like half-spider and creepy as all Hell. Finally there’s Big Daddy, the most powerful of the Bandit Heads. He’s seven feet tall, four hundred pounds, looks like fucking Frankenstein mixed with a Tyrant from Resident Evil,” I said.
“Wow…, he sounds scary,” Kelly said.
“He is… he’s the one who took my arm,” I said.
“Really?” Kelly asked.

I nodded and pulled my sleeve up where the metal kept going until my shoulder.
“I was a different man then… I went into his lair and challenged him to a fight to the death. He beat me soundlessly and then used an ax to chop off my arm. He then threw me out onto the street and left me for dead, saying I wasn’t even worth him me himself. He’d rather have the elements kill me. I forced myself threw the pain and blood loss and made it just outside the Southeastern Sanctuary before collapsing. Lucky me a trucker found me and took me to the infirmary. The medics there saved my life and a Mechanic built me my arm out of scrap metal that he welded together,” I said.
“Why did you go into his lair?” Kelly asked.
“Big Daddy killed my parents while we were traveling with a Loner,” I said.
“Wait, Loners transport other Loners?” Kelly asked.
“I wasn’t a Loner back then,” I said.

Kelly’s eyes widened.
“I became a Loner after I got my metal arm, pledged to protect my transports better than the cowardly Loner that left my family and me for dead,” I said.
“He left you guys?” Kelly asked.

I nodded.
“What happened to him?” Kelly asked.
“He was killed by another Loner for abandoning his transports,” I said.
“Wow…,” Kelly said.
“Yep, well get some sleep. I’m going to start driving again the moment the sun comes up,” I said.

Kelly nodded. I watched her through my peripheral until she fell asleep. I didn’t sleep that night. I just watched the darkness.

Chapter V: Who’s the Real Animal?
I watched as the sun came up and turned the ignition to start the car. I pulled out onto the road and drove for about an hour before the family started to wake up.
“Can we pull over for a minute?” Jason asked.
“I swear to God if it’s to use the restroom,” I muttered.
“Never mind,” Jason said.

I pulled over.
“Anyone else have to go?” I asked.

I was the only one left in the car. I got out of the car and waited.

Kelly went a bit further out than the rest of them to get some privacy. She went behind a thin toothpick of a tree and froze in her tracks. In front of her were three dogs. Their ears perked up and they looked right at her.

She started to back up as quietly as she could, but stepped on a stick. The snap echoed throughout the quiet forest of toothpick trees.

The dogs charged and Kelly took off in a run.
“Loner!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

I looked out into the forest as Jason, Candace, and Keith walked back to the car.
“Kelly!” Jason called out.

He made a move out toward the forest, but I was already running.
“Get back in the car and lock the doors!” I shouted as I ran past him.

I pulled my kukri and pistol out and ran through the forest.
“Kelly!” I shouted.
“Over here!” she shouted.

I looked to my right and she had climbed up a tree. There were three dogs circling it, trying to claw their way up to her.
“Hey!” I shouted, waving my arms at them.

They turned to me and charged. I fired a few shots, killing one and then took off in a run. Suddenly a fourth dog broadsided me. We rolled across the ground together. I dropped my pistol and kukri and the dog put me on my back.

I held its jaws back from my face with my right arm, but it raked my chest with its back claws. I gritted my teeth as drool dripped down on my face. I closed my eyes and mouth to avoid ingesting to poisonous saliva.

I blindly felt the handle of my bowie knife and drew the hunting blade. I stabbed the dog in the throat. It yelped and I stabbed it again. Finally, after a third stab, it died.

I pushed the heavy-bodied animal off of me and stood to my feet to face the other two. I wiped the drool off my face and opened my eyes. I drew my other pistol and readied myself.
“Over here!” I shouted.

Both dogs charged from either side of me. I shot the one on my left dead and ducked, thrusting my knife into the gut other second dog as it leapt over me. Both fell dead in front of me. I holstered my gun, sheathed my knife, grabbed my two other weapons, put them both away, and ran back over where Kelly was.

She was still up in the tree, hugging the trunk.
“It’s safe, come down before more come,” I said.

She started descending, but lost her footing and went for a ten foot freefall. She screamed the whole way down, but I caught her before she could hit the ground.
“Nice job calling in the pack,” I said.
“Sorry,” she apologized.
“Think you can run?” I asked her.

She nodded and I put her on her feet.
“Then run,” I said, taking off in a sprint.

Kelly ran alongside me as the sound of more dogs approaching us from behind got closer.
“Keep running, keep running,” I said to Kelly and myself.

We finally got to the car, but the dogs were close behind.
“Go!” I shouted, turning to fire a slug into the closest dog.

It tore through the tog, pretty much exploding the upper torso in blood and guts, and hitting the dog behind it in the skull. I cocked the shotgun and aimed, but something wrapped around my hand and pulled me to the ground, causing my shotgun to fall away from me.

I looked up and saw the Huntmaster. He was a tall man, standing about six-foot-five. He had what looked like a piece of dog skin sewed over the right half of his face. A piece of his left cheek was bitten off and the inside of his jaw could be seen. His hair was messy and parts of it were matted down with dried blood. He was wearing a coat made from a skinned dog. His right hand was missing and replaced with a machete that was tied to his wrist. He held a whip in his left hand. He looked at me wildly.
“Loner,” he growled.
“Huntmaster,” I said, standing to my feet.
“You’ve killed a few of my dogs,” he said.
“Yep,” I responded.
“Makes you wonder who the real animal is,” Huntmaster commented.
“I think that’d be you,” I said, drawing my kukri.

Huntmaster whistled and two dogs ran at me. I rammed the curved edge of the kukri right smack in the middle of one dog’s skull, but the other bit down on my arm. Lucky for me it bit down on my right arm and broke several of its teeth. I grabbed it by the throat and broke its neck. I tossed the dog to the ground and pulled my blade out of the other dog’s head.
“Is that all you got?” I asked him.

Huntmaster roared and hit me in the side of the face with his whip. That stung and left a nasty gash on my cheek. It also knocked me to the ground and allowed him to rush me. He swung his machete arm down at me, but I blocked it with my kukri.

I kicked him in the gut, causing him to fall back, and got back to my feet. I was about to hit him with my kukri, but he wrapped his whip around my hand and threw me across the ground. My kukri skidded across the street and went under a U-Haul truck.

I rolled onto my back to avoid being hacked by his machete, but got hit in the chin by his whip. That dazed me. I tried to crawl away, but Huntmaster stepped onto my back, pinning me to the ground. He roared and thrust his machete into the air.

Suddenly he was shot in the back. He fell off of me and I immediately got to my feet. I turned and saw Kelly standing behind the car, a pistol in her hand.
“Look out!” she shouted.

I turned and stepped out of the way as Huntmaster swung his machete arm downward. I slammed the ridge of my metal hand into his throat and severely damaged his windpipe. He struggled to catch his breath, and I slammed him headfirst into a car window. He slipped down to the ground, blood covering his face. He coughed violently and blood trickled from his mouth.

I drew my bowie knife and slammed it through his good eye. He stopped moving and died. I pulled my blade out of his skull and stood erect.

I looked at the dead Head Bandit and spat on him. I walked over to the U-Haul truck and grabbed my kukri from under it. I looked back and I saw several dogs staring at me with blind eyes.
“You wanna go, come on!” I shouted.

They didn’t charge. They backed away instead. I killed their alpha and now I was their alpha.
“Go, get out of here!” I roared at them.

The remaining dogs ran off into the forest. I walked over to Huntmaster and decapitated him with my kukri. I held his head up in the air, blood dripping in front of me, and then tossed it into the woods after the dogs.

I turned, wiped the blood from my face, grabbed my shotgun, and walked back to the car.
“Are you okay?” Kelly asked me.
“Yeah, just a few flesh wounds that I’ll look at later,” I said.

I looked at the pistol in her hands and then back at her.
“Where’d you get that?” I asked her.
“I stole it from the armory,” she admitted.
“Didn’t I tell you not to touch anything?” I asked her.
“Hey, you’d be dead if I didn’t,” she said.

Damn it. She had me there, but I wouldn’t admit it.
“Give me it,” I said.
“Why?” she asked.
“Just give it to me,” I growled, taking it.

I looked the gun over and then gave it back to Kelly.
“Good shot,” I said, sitting in the driver seat.

Kelly sat in the passenger seat, a smile on her face.
“Everyone okay?” I asked.
“You killed that man…,” Candace said.
“Yeah, I killed him. I did him a damn favor,” I growled.

Candace looked at me, disgusted.
“You got a problem with it, then you can walk your happy ass to the Southeast Sanctuary. If not, then buckle up, and shut the f*** up!” I snapped.

Everyone buckled up and didn’t say another word. My face was still bleeding along with my chest.
“You need to pull over,” Kelly said, looking at my face.
“No… gotta keep moving,” I said, breathing hard.

My face was starting to burn. I then realized that Huntmaster had lathered his whip with the poisonous saliva of his dogs.
“S***…,” I said, pulling over.
“Mom, get the First Aid kit out of the trunk,” Kelly said.
“I’m not getting out of this car,” Candace said.
“What the hell is wrong with you!?” Kelly snapped.

Candace looked taken back by her daughter’s outburst.
“I’ll get it,” Jason said, stepping out of the car.

He came back and gave the white case to his daughter. She took out a swab, dipped it in alcohol, and pressed it against the wound on my face.

It stung like hell.
“This should keep it from getting infected,” she said.

And stop the poison.
“Now take off your coat and shirt,” Kelly said.

I looked at her.
“Come on, take it off,” she said.

Her parents looked at both of us.
“Jesus Christ, take off it off so I can tend to your wound!” Kelly shouted, growing impatient.

I took my coat and shirt off, cringing in pain from both my face and chest.
“Now hold still,” Kelly said, dipping more cloth in alcohol.

The claw marks stretched down from my shoulders down to my gut. She dabbed the cloth against my chest. I winced from the stinging.
“Wuss,” she commented.
“Says the girl who ran up a tree to get away from a few dogs,” I said.
“Mutated dogs! And I’m not a Loner!” Kelly protested.

I heard a snicker and looked back at the other three members of the Booth family. It was Keith.
“What’s so funny?” I asked him.

He didn’t respond.
“Is he always this quiet?” I asked Jason.
“Yeah, he doesn’t talk much, not even to us,” he responded.
“Humph,” I muttered.

Chapter VI: Kidnapped
After my wounds were cleaned and I was bandaged up, I went back to driving. It was about noon and the sun was shining high up in the sky. We soon left Huntmaster’s former territory and went into Four Arm’s. I kept my eyes open for anything that would give us problems.

We drove until night fell and we weren’t even halfway there.

I pulled over in what had once been a small town. There was an abandoned motel that had been stripped of all of its materials, but left intact and safe.
“We’ll stay here for the night,” I said.
“Is it safe?” Candace asked, holding onto Keith.
“About as safe as we can get,” I said.

I tried opening a door to one of the rooms, but it was locked.
“Great, now what?” Kelly asked.

I sighed and simply punched the door to open it. Metal hands are great.
“Your room,” I said, moving aside.

The Booth family walked inside their room and I stood outside.
“Goodnight, I’ll be here to wake you up at dawn,” I said, closing the door behind them.

I walked over to the room next door and opened it up the same way. I closed the door behind me and lay down on the floor. There was a gaping hole in the roof and it allowed me to gaze out at the stars. Without the bothersome city lights from before, the stars were almost always seen. I’ve watched them many nights since the world fell to s***.

I then stood back to my feet and pulled all my weapons off. I put them in a pile in one corner of the room and took my coat off. I tossed it onto the same pile and walked into the bathroom.

I stared at myself in the mirror. Dried blood coated my face, so I grabbed a canteen full of water clipped to my waist. I splashed some on my hands and used it to try and wipe the blood off. It did enough. I looked at my right arm and gazed at the new scratches on it.

Suddenly I heard a rustling sound coming from the medicine cabinet. I quietly grabbed my bowie knife and closed the door behind me. I held the knife with one hand and slowly opened the door with the other. A squirrel jumped out at me.

It scampered around the bathroom floor until I stabbed it through the back. It let out one more pitiful squeak before dying. I walked out of the bathroom and out of the room. I found some wood outside of the motel and went back to my room.

I placed the wood on the floor beneath the hole in the roof and scraped both my kukri and bowie knife together, creating a spark, and igniting the wood.

I skinned and cooked a piece of the squirrel over the fire. Someone then knocked on my door. I grabbed my handgun and aimed at the door.
“Come in,” I said.

Kelly stepped in, her gun aimed at me.
“You wouldn’t want to aim a gun at a trained killer with the safety still on,” I said.
“The safety…?” she questioned me, looking at the gun.
“I switched it on when I handed you your gun back,” I said.
“Asshole,” Kelly spat.
“Why are you here?” I asked her.
“I kept hearing you moving around and I got curious about what you were doing,” she said.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” I said, going back to cooking my squirrel.
“What you cooking there?” she asked me, walking over.
“Squirrel, found it in the medicine cabinet,” I said.
“Mind if I have a piece?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said, handing over a piece impaled on my bowie knife.

She sat down across from me and cooked her squirrel.
“Beautiful night,” she said, looking up at the stars.
“I’ve seen too many of them to be impressed by them anymore,” I muttered.
“Wow, you are such a prick,” Kelly said.

I ignored her.
“Does your chest hurt?” she asked me.

I nodded.
“Really? You’re not acting like it is?” she questioned.
“I’m ignoring it,” I said.
“Alright, enough of this macho tough guy bullshit, it’s getting old,” Kelly said.

I ignored her. I pulled my squirrel away from the fire and ate it.
“We should’ve invited the rest of your family over,” I said.
“Oh, they’ll be fine,” Kelly said, waving it off.

I nodded and took another bite from my squirrel. I looked across the fire at Kelly and definitely saw that she was attractive. Again, I shook away these thoughts and reminded myself of the task at hand.
“You know… I never got to thank you for saving my life,” Kelly said.

I looked at her.
“So… thank you,” she said.
“I just what I’m supposed to do,” I said.

I then noticed her start to shiver. It was cold out and the wind was blowing.
“My coat is lying on top of my weapons, why don’t you grab it,” I said.

Kelly nodded and stood up to get my coat. She wrapped it around herself and ate her squirrel.
“Better?” I asked.
“It’s covered in blood and smells like rotten meat,” she said.
“You’re welcome,” I said, smirking at her.

Soon enough, we ate the entire squirrel just as the fire died.
“Well, that’s done. You should go back to your room,” I said.

Kelly then moved over to sit beside me.
“Maybe I don’t want to go to my room,” she said.
“Too bad, go to your room,” I said.

I was starting to get a strange feeling about the way she was acting. I then noticed that she had changed her clothes. She was wearing a tank top that was pretty tight and a pair of shorts. No wonder she was cold.
“Kelly, no,” I said.
“What are you talking about?” she asked me, grabbing my left hand.

I looked at her. She stared back at me. Before I knew it she was kissing me and I was kissing her back. I don’t know what had gotten over me, but I’m labeling this a rare moment of weakness. Finally, I got over the weakness and pulled away slightly, holding my pistol under her chin.
“No more, go back to your room, right now,” I said, looking straight into her icy blue eyes.

She bit her lower lip and nodded. We stood up together and I kept my gun against her back as we backed back over to her room.
“I know you won’t shoot me,” Kelly said.

She was right.
“And I know you wanted it just as much as me,” Kelly went on.

Somewhat right again.
“But why are we at this moment?” she asked.
“It’s a law for Loners, they’re not allowed to start a romantic relationship with anyone,” I said.
“Sounds lonely,” Kelly said, turning back to face me.
“It is, but I made a pact of solitude when I first became a Loner,” I said, keeping my gun aimed at her chest.

Kelly looked at me and, despite the gun, moved closer. I lowered the gun since we both knew I wasn’t going to shoot her. She took my coat off and handed it back to me.
“Good night, Loner,” she said, kissing me on the cheek without the scabbed over gash.
“Good night, Kelly,” I said, watching her disappear behind her door.

I walked back to my room and sat up against a wall to sleep.

I woke up immediately as dawn poked over the horizon. I grabbed my weapons and coat and walked out the door.

I knocked on the door to wake up the Booth family. Kelly immediately came to the door with her pistol aimed at my heart.
“Safety’s off this time,” she said, smiling at me.
“Good, you’re learning,” I said.

Kelly smiled and moved aside so her family could step out of the room.
“How’d everyone sleep?” I asked.

All I got were groans.
“Better than sleeping in a cramped car,” I said.

More groans.
“But we’re three days away from the Southeast Sanctuary,” I said.

More groans. I chuckled to myself as I led them back to the car.
“He seems to be in a good mood,” I heard Candace whisper to her husband.
“Maybe his room had a mattress,” Jason muttered.
“It didn’t,” Kelly said.
“How would you know?” Candace asked.
“Uh… lucky guess, right Loner?” Kelly asked me.
“My room didn’t have a bed, but I slept just fine,” I said, reaching the car.

We all got in.
“Alright, I have something for the each of us. I hid it in the car on the first day and I was planning to give it to us all at the midpoint,” I said.
“What is it?” Kelly asked, growing suspicious.

I opened the center compartment and pulled out five Twinkies.
“Hoarded these for a while, but they’re still good. The expiration date was in two years,” I said.
“Oh wow, I remember when Hostess went out of business,” Kelly said, taking one Twinkie for herself.

I handed out the others and took the last one for myself. I started driving out of the small town and back out on the open road.
“So, Loner, what did you do before all this happened?” Kelly asked me.
“I choose not to remember,” I said.
“Boo! Bad answer!” Kelly protested.
“Well, it’s the only one you’re gonna get,” I said.
“Well, I was in college, studying to become a nurse,” Kelly said.
“I’d feel sorry for whoever had you as their nurse,” I muttered.
“Hey! Who patched you up!?” Kelly responded.
“I’ve done better jobs. Hell, I’ve dug bullets out of my own body before,” I said.
“Ungrateful piece of…,” Kelly muttered.
“Kelly!” Jason snapped.
“Sorry, Dad,” Kelly apologized.
“What do you miss most about the old world?” Candace asked her family.
“Sunday football,” Jason said.

That brought back some memories. I pushed them away.
“Saturday morning cartoons,” Keith said.

We all looked at him. It was the first time he had said a word since the trip began.
“I miss my bed,” Candace said.
“I miss going to the strip club with my roommate on Saturday nights,” Kelly said.

We all looked at her.
“What? I never stripped, I was just there to see the guys,” Kelly said.

I chuckled.
“I miss going one, single day without having to worry about someone trying to kill me,” I admitted.
“Nice,” Kelly said.

I looked at her and nodded. She looked back, but then her eyes widened.
“Watch out!” she screamed.

I turned to look out my window, but only saw the grill of a semi-truck plow into my side of the car. The opposite side of the car lifted up in the air before the truck braked hard and threw us into a barrel roll. We flipped side-over-side about ten times before coming to a stop on the car’s roof.

I groaned in pain as more wounds bled. I looked over at Kelly, who was unconscious, but still alive.
“Is everyone okay?” I asked, looking to the backseat.

Jason was dazed and had a large cut on his forehead. Candace was crying. Keith just looked at me with doe eyes.

Suddenly, I started to smell gas. The gas tank in the back had been ruptured.
“We have to get out,” I said, bringing my knife out to cut the seatbelt.

I kicked my door open and got over to the back door. I used my kukri to pry it open and pulled Candace out.
“They’re coming back!” she shouted.

I looked over the car and the semi-truck was heading in our direction.
“S***…,” I muttered, pulling Keith out.
“Jason! Come on!” I shouted, cutting his seatbelt to release him.

He crawled out with help from his family. I ran over to the other side of the car as the truck stopped nearby. I readied my two blades and put myself between them and Kelly.

The driver side door on the truck opened up and my worst fears were realized. Four Arms stepped out of the truck.

Like his name suggested, he had four, large arms. Each hand held some kind of weapon; an ax, a sledgehammer, a knife, and a mace. He had God-awful teeth and was dumber than dirt. But he was ruthless and strong.

I lifted my kukri and knife, waiting for the fight. He charged me. I charged him. He swung his ax at my head, but I ducked under it only to be stabbed in the gut by his knife. I dropped to my knees and he kicked me to the ground.

I finally lost consciousness when he slung me over my shoulder and started approaching the Booth family.

Chapter VII: The Trials I woke up in a pool of my own blood. I felt weak and my eyes were nearly caked shut from dried up blood. I groaned as I rolled over on my back. I looked up and realized I was inside a room. Upon further observation, I realized I was in a prison cell. I sat up, too quickly, and grabbed my stomach in pain. “We suggest you stay down, Loner,” a low voice said to me. I looked around, but didn’t see anything. “Where… where are you?” I asked. “We are everywhere,” the voice said. I looked around, but only saw darkness. “Where is everyone else?” I asked. “We see them die,” the voice said. “What!?” I questioned, trying to stand, and immediately regretting it. “We are with you, Loner, we are with you,” the voice said, fading away with each word. I then realized the voice was from my own f*ed up mind. Guess blood loss can do that to you. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stand. I ignored the pain and walked around my prison cell. I got to the door and looked out. I saw Jason leaned up against the door of his own cell. “Jason,” I whispered. He stirred slightly. “Jason!” I whispered louder. He turned and saw me. “Loner…?” he asked. “Yeah, it’s me, what happened?” I asked him. “I don’t know… all I remember was getting hit by that truck,” he said. He grabbed his head in pain. “It’s okay, I’ll get us out of here,” I said. “Have you seen my family…? Are they okay?” he asked me. I honestly didn’t know. “They’re fine,” I lied. I was without any weapon, but Four Arms forgot to take off my metal arm. I punched the door and it fell off in a loud clang. I flinched from the pain, but walked out of my cell. “Prisoner escaping!” a guard shouted from the upper level. “We need to move,” I said, ripping the door off Jason’s cell. I helped him to his feet and we ran in the direction, only to be met up with a guard. He was armed with a shotgun with a bayonet attachment. My gun. I grabbed the muzzle, forced it upward, and stabbed the bayonet into his throat. “I believe that’s mine,” I said, taking my shotgun. These assholes had my weapons. Jason and I kept moving through the prison. Most of the cells were empty, and the others held dead bodies, but none of them had the rest of the family. We then rounded a corner, but five guns pointed at the both of us. I aimed my shotgun at one man, but it was pointless. Four Arms stood behind them, grinning madly. “Hello, Loner,” he growled. I swore to myself and put my shotgun down. “Good, cuff the civilian,” Four Arms growled. One guard stepped forward and put Jason in handcuffs. The guard dragged him away, leaving me alone. “Leave us alone,” Four Arms ordered. This was strange. Four Arms wasn’t acting like his usual stupid self. “Huh, you don’t look half-bad,” I said. “Wish I could say the same about you,” Four Arms replied. “What have you been doing lately?” I asked him. “Well, took this prison, and spent a lot of time in the library,” Four Arms said. “I didn’t know you could read,” I said. “One must learn when he can,” Four Arms replied. Great, now he’s smart, strong, and ruthless. “What have you done with the family?” I asked him. “They’re fine. They’re up in my private quarters. The girl, the one with the cold, blue eyes, she’s quite the fighter,” he said, winking at me. “I swear to God, if you touched her!” I growled, getting into the larger man’s face. “Don’t worry, I’m not Huntmaster,” Four Arms growled. “You’re still a monster,” I spat. “We’re all monsters, Loner! In this world, only monsters can survive!” Four Arms exclaimed, extending two of his arms in emphasis. “Take me to the family,” I ordered. “Oh, in due time, I will, but first I have some tasks I need you to do,” Four Arms said. “Take me to them now, or I will kill you,” I growled. “You don’t scare me, Loner. Even if you do kill me, my men outnumber you fifty-to-one. You’ll never survive,” Four Arms said. “What tasks need to be done?” I asked through gritted teeth. “There are… four tasks that need to be done. Ha! Four, get it?” Four Arms joked. I remained quiet. “Each one will be harder than the last, but as soon as you complete each one, I’ll release you and the family,” Four Arms said. “Why don’t you just kill us?” I asked him. “Where’s the fun in that?” he asked me. “What’s the first task?” I asked him. “That’s a good sport!” he bellowed, leading me deeper into the prison. He led me down into the boiler room. “We seem to have a bit of a rodent infestation, please take care of it,” Four Arms said, pushing me forward. “Rats?” I questioned him. “These are some big rats,” he said, grinning madly. I walked through the boiler room, looking at the ground for the rats. I saw one and stomped on it until it was a bloody pulp. “That was easy,” I said. Suddenly I was hit in the gut by a rat tail that was as big around as I was. It knocked me into the wall and I winced in pain from my gut and chest. I looked up and saw a six-foot tall bipedal rat. “Really? A rat man!?” I shouted. “Nuclear radiation sure is a b****, isn’t it!?” Four Arms laughed from where he was watching. I stood to my feet and squared off with the rat man. It let out a horrible sound as it swung its tail at me again. I ducked under it and rushed it, hitting it twice in the face with my metal hand. With the Booth family’s life on the lines, I was not messing around. I broke the rat man’s incisor off with my metal hand and grabbed the sharpest piece of it. I stabbed the rat man in the eye. It squealed in pain and I put it in a headlock. I finished it off by snapping its neck. I released its neck and it fell over dead. “There, are we done here!?” I shouted at Four Arms. “Yes, thank you,” he said. I walked up to him, pissed off. “What’s next?” I asked him. “The next one is a show,” he said. I looked at him questioningly. “Just come with me,” he said. He led me away from the boiler room and out of the prison to an exercise yard. There was an area surrounded by a barbed wire fence and several of the prison guards. Four Arms led me to his seat and pointed down to two women dressed in only their underwear with burlap sacks over their heads. “Your task is to watch these two lovely ladies fight to the death,” Four Arms growled. A guard removed the burlap sacks from their heads and I saw that Kelly was one of them. “No,” I growled, grabbing Four Arms by the collar of his shirt. “Yes, someone must die!” Four Arms roared. “Kelly!” I shouted. She looked at me and the other girl kicked her in the back. Kelly fell on her stomach and looked over at the girl in surprise. “Fight Kelly! Fight! This is to the death!” I shouted. Kelly stood up, but was punched in the face, and knocked down again. I hated every second of this. Four Arms was laughing as the other girl kicked Kelly while she was down. Kelly suddenly grabbed the other girl’s foot and knocked her off balance. She fell back into the barbed wire fence, several of the barbs sticking into her skin. “Ha! I told you she was a fighter!” Four Arms bellowed, clapping me on the back. I winced in pain, but let out a sigh of relief when Kelly stood to her feet. The other girl pulled herself off of the barbed wire and blood dripped down her body. She then tackled Kelly to the ground and immediately began punching her. Kelly brought up her arms to defend her face, but got gut shots instead. I heard her cry out and gritted my teeth. It was hard to watch. “ Come on, she can do better than that!” Four Arms bellowed. The girl kneed Kelly in the gut and stood up off of her. Kelly went into the fetal position. She was tough, but no fighter. “Finish her!” Four Arms bellowed, tossing his knife into the ring. The girl picked it up and grabbed Kelly by her hair, lifting her head up to expose her neck. “No!” I shouted, pulling my metal arm off from my shoulder. I tossed it into the ring. Kelly caught it and hit the other girl in the wrist. I heard her wrist break and she dropped the knife. The girl stumbled back, holding her broken wrist. Kelly stood to her feet and swung my metal arm like a baseball bat, hitting the other girl in the side of the head. Her neck breaking was heard by everyone. She fell over dead and Kelly stood over her in triumph. Blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth and she spat blood on the dead girl. “Boo!” the crowd booed me. “Hey now, it’s all fair, I tossed in a weapon, so he had every right to toss in a weapon,” Four Arms said, quieting his men down. I gritted my teeth and pushed my way to Kelly. I jumped over the barbed wire fence and hugged Kelly. “Interesting,” Four Arms muttered to himself. “I’m glad you’re okay,” I said. “Me too,” Kelly whispered, crying silently into my shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m going to get you out of here, you and your family, I promise” I said. “Alright, time for the third task!” Four Arms bellowed. “Here, you might need this,” Kelly said, handing my arm back as two guards led her away. I nodded and put my arm back in. I cringed and stretched out the fingers as my nerves reattached to the metal arm. It hurt. I grabbed the barbwire fence and ripped it out of my way. “What’s the next task!?” I bellowed. “Fight to the death with all my men,” he said, gesturing all ten of his guards. They all brought out knives of various sizes. I backed away toward the exercise equipment and smiled. “Alright then,” I said, picking up a barbell. I squeezed one end of it into a sharpened point and picked up a fifty-pound dumbbell with my metal hand. My makeshift weapons at the ready, the fight began.

Chapter VIII: Promise Kept I used the greater length of my barbell spear to stab one guard in the gut. I then broke the neck of a second one by slamming the dumbbell into his chin. I kicked a third away, but got slashed in the back by a fourth. I swung the dumbbell at him, hitting him in the side of his head. His neck broke and brain matter sprayed from the gaping wound. I pulled my spear out of the gut of the first guard and slashed open the neck of a fifth. I kicked a rushing guard and dropped the dumbbell on his face, crushing his skull, and spraying the ground in gore. I snapped the barbell in half with my metal hand and dual wielded both halves. “Come on!” I roared. Swung one of my makeshift blades across one of the guard’s faces, slicing an eye out. His screams were silenced when I stabbed the other blade through his open mouth. I ducked under one guard swinging my kukri and stabbed him in the gut with both of my blades. I pulled them out and tossed both aside. I picked up my kukri and glared at the three remaining guards. One lunged at me, but I hacked his hands off. I kicked him aside as he screamed and bled. I swung the curved blade upward, hacking the ninth guard’s face in half. I ripped the blade out, bringing a trail of blood with it as I swung it through the final guard’s neck, decapitating him. I walked over to the handless guard and lifted him off the ground by his throat. I tossed him aside and he tried to crawl away, crying. I stomped on his back and kicked him several times. “Please, don’t kill me,” he begged. “You want mercy?” I asked him, kicking him onto his back. He nodded. I hacked at his chest over and over and over again. His blood covered my face. I was drunk for this man’s death. Finally, I stopped after pulverizing his chest cavity. “F*** you and your mercy,” I spat. I glared at Four Arms. He wasn’t smiling. “Bring out the family!” he ordered. Two guards led the Booth family back out. I was glad to see they let Kelly put some clothes on. “What’s the last task!?” I shouted angrily over at Four Arms. “One more duel to the death… with me!” he roared, brandishing all four of his weapons. “Fine, but let me make one promise to everyone here!” I shouted. “Go ahead,” Four Arms growled. “I promise to everyone here that I’m going to kill this motherf*er!” I shouted. “You can do it!” Kelly shouted. “Shut up, b****!” one guard shouted, backhanding her. That pissed me off. I was going to cover this whole area in blood. “As soon as I kill you, I will get the family and my weapons correct?” I asked Four Arms. “Correct,” he growled. “Then let’s get this over with!” I shouted, running at Four Arms. I was going on pure adrenaline. Any past injury wasn’t even on my mind. I had only one priority on my mind. Kill this monstrosity. He tossed his ax at me, but I slid across the ground beneath it and his knife arm. I kept sliding between his legs and sliced at his ankles. He dropped to one knee as I stood up behind him. His free hand wrapped around my skull and he tossed me over him. I hit the ground hard, but rolled out of the way of his descending mace. I swung my kukri through that hand, severing it. “Ah, my hand!” Four Arms cried out. I kicked him in the chest. “Shut the f*** up, you got three more,” I growled. He narrowed his eyes at me and lunged with his knife. I sidestepped him and swung my kukri into his side. He yelled out like a wounded animal and punched me several times in the face. I ducked under his sledgehammer and sent an uppercut straight into his chin. He stumbled back with my kukri still imbedded in his side. His jaw was broken and blood seeped from his wounds. I was breathing hard and bleeding as well. He roared and charged me. I turned and ran toward the exercise equipment. He tossed several machines out of his way. I grabbed a dumbbell and threw it at him. He caught it and tossed it back at me, hitting me in the back of the leg. I fell on my face and rolled onto my back. Four Arms stood over me, grinning madly. He dropped his knife and sledgehammer and pulled my kukri out of his side. He tossed my knife aside and began beating me senseless. He picked me up and threw me against a machine, toppling it over. “Is… that… all you got?” he asked me. “Nope,” I said, standing to my feet. I had hundred-pound weight in my hand. I ran at him and hit him in the head with it. He fell over with a massive thud, but he was still alive. I dropped the weight and walked over to my kukri. I picked it up and walked back over to Four Arms. “I told you… I was going to fucking kill you,” I said, stabbing the point of my kukri through the center of his face. I jerked it around and bisected his skull. Blood and grey matter covered the ground. I stood to my feet and looked back at the watching crowd. I roared triumphantly and all of the guards backed away. Kelly broke away and ran over to me. She hugged me and I just stared at the guards. Some of them were reaching for their weapons. “Get down!” I shouted, diving for my guns. I came up with both my pistols and unloaded both clips into the rest of the guards, leaving only the one that had backhanded Kelly alive. He looked at me, wide eyed. “I got something special for you,” I said. I grabbed my shotgun and aimed it at him. I looked at the family. “Cover your eyes and ears,” I said. They did just so and I fired a slug into the man’s groin, bisecting him, and blowing bits of his legs across the yard. I stood there, breathing hard, and then collapsed in exhaustion. Kelly ran over to me and knelt down beside me. “I told you I’d save you,” I said. Kelly simply smiled and caressed the side of my face, not caring that she got blood on her. I caught my breath on the ground and was helped to my feet by Jason and Kelly. “This prison should have an infirmary,” I said. “I know where it is,” Candace said. “How?” I asked her. “I worked here as a guard before the world fell,” she revealed. That surprised me. She didn’t seem like someone that could handle a job like that. Either way, she led us to the prison’s infirmary, and it wasn’t at all ransacked. The prisoners were mostly killed off throughout the years and no one would think of heisting from a prison. Kelly used her nursing skills to patch me up and clean off the blood. She stitched up the knife wounds on my back. I looked at her and nodded. “Thank you,” I said. “No problem,” she said. She winced in pain as she walked away. “Let me see,” I said. She looked at me and sighed. She lifted her shirt and I looked at the bruises on her stomach from her fight. “You fought well,” I said. “Bullshit, I got my ass kicked,” she said. “But you did win,” I pointed out. “Thanks to you,” she said, letting her shirt fall. “Yeah, well think of it as we’re even for your shot at Huntmaster,” I said. Kelly smiled and shook her head at me. “I am glad you’re okay,” I said. She looked at me and I touched her arm. She looked down at my hand and smiled again. I sat up and moved my hand to the side of her face. She leaned into my touch and then moved toward me. I gently pushed her away when I heard someone coming and Jason walked in. “Hey, we found the kitchen and it’s stockpiled with food,” he said. “Good, we’ll be there in a second,” Kelly said. Jason nodded and left. Kelly and I looked at each other again. I stood to my feet and put my shirt back on. I limped out of the infirmary and Kelly followed. We went to the cafeteria and I went into the kitchen. Jason was there. He was holding a large can of corn. “It’s prison food, but it’s food,” he said. “Better than squirrel jerky,” I muttered. Kelly nodded in agreement. “Where are Candace and Keith?” I asked. “Over here!” Candace called out, rolling a drum full of some kind of liquid. “What’s in there, Mom?” Kelly asked. “Kool-Aid,” Candace responded. “And cups,” Keith added. “There’s also a large can of beans, and some little packaged cakes,” Jason added. I just nodded. “Even the nearby cells have beds,” Candace said. “Alright, we’ll stay here for a few nights, let ourselves rest up, and then head back to the car to get your things,” I said. “The car isn’t there anymore,” Candace said. “What do you mean?” I asked her. “ Four Arms set it on fire,” Candace said. All their belongings were destroyed. “I’m sorry,” I muttered. “Don’t be. They’re just things. Material possessions that don’t matter s***. You saved all of us, and that means a lot more than a couple of clothes,” Jason said. I nodded. “Well, let’s get to eating. We got cold beans and corn with some Kool-Aid and cheap, prison cakes,” Candace said, sitting down. I sat down with the family and opened the can of beans with my bowie knife. “Spork?” Kelly asked me, handing me the plastic eating utensil. I took it, nodded, and began eating.

Chapter IX: Jailbirds After our meal, we all decided to go find some cells to sleep the night in. Candace led us to the cells that still had the beds. She pointed them out, but the doors were closed and locked. “I got it,” I said, forcing it open. I kissed my metal hand. “Showoff,” Kelly said. She tried moving forward, but I stopped her. I had my pistol out and silently gestured at the moving lump beneath the blankets on the top bunk. I crept up to it and looked back at the Booth family. They stepped out from the exit and I pulled the blanket off. I ducked as something black flew past me. It was a pair of crows. “Heh, talk about jailbirds,” I muttered. I brushed off all of the feathers and moved out of the way. “Your cell is ready,” I said to Jason and Candace. They walked in and I opened the one next door. I checked to make sure it was without any “guests” and then moved out of it. “And your cell,” I said to Kelly and Keith. “Top bunk!” Kelly called, climbing up onto it. Keith laid down on the bottom bunk without complaint. “Child,” I said to Kelly. “Bite me,” she responded. “No, I think you’d like that too much,” I said. “Oh, think you’re a funny guy now?” she asked. I ignored her and walked up the stairs to the elevated catwalk. I sat on the top step and kept a good watch over the family. Today was a tiring day. Tomorrow morning, I was planning on checking to see if the showers would work and if the water was safe to use. I rested on the catwalk for about an hour until I heard movement. I sat up, pistol aimed at the movement, only to have a pistol aimed back up at me. It was Kelly. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?” I asked her. “I couldn’t sleep,” she said. We both lowered our pistols and she sat down next to me. “What’s wrong?” I asked her. “That was my first time killing someone…,” she said. “Ah, I remember my first time,” I responded. “How do you kill someone and act like it’s nothing?” Kelly asked me. “I guess I got used to it,” I said. “Pretty fucked up to be able to do that,” Kelly said. “Yeah, well it’s my job,” I said. “Have you ever thought about doing something else?” Kelly asked me. “No, I can’t anyways. Loners stay Loners for life,” I said. “So you have to be alone for the rest of your life? Killing whoever threatens you?” Kelly asked me. I nodded. “That’s sick and f*ed up. I killed a girl today, about my age, and I’m sitting here wondering if she was like me. Kidnapped by a madman, forced to fight for her life!” Kelly ranted. “Shh, here, let’s go for a walk,” I said, standing up. “I don’t want to go for a walk,” Kelly muttered. “Let’s go,” I said a bit more sternly. I held my hand out to her. She looked at me, defiantly, but gave up. She ignored my hand and stood to her feet. We walked away from her sleeping family. “Listen, I know what it must feel like,” I said. “Don’t, you don’t know what it feels like. You’re so used to killing people, it probably gets you off,” Kelly spat. I somewhat lost it there. I grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her up against the wall. “I do not like killing! I hate every minute of it!” I snapped at her. She must’ve realized I had momentarily lost it, because I saw the fear in her eyes. I looked at my hands and saw how hard they were holding her. I backed away and shook my thoughts away. “I’m sorry,” I muttered without looking at her. “No…, I’m sorry, I didn’t know how bad killing affected you, and here I am bitching about me,” Kelly responded. “It’s horrible… taking another human being’s life. You not only take one person’s life, but you lose you along the way,” I muttered. Kelly looked at me strangely. “What do you mean, ‘lose you along the way’?” she asked me. “Well, look at you, you can’t stop thinking about that other girl. Your mind is playing tricks on you. Hell, your mind is probably trying to convince you that you liked it, that you had every right to kill that other girl,” I said. “Well, if I didn’t, she would’ve killed me,” Kelly responded. We looked at each other, and I saw her catch on. “Oh my God…,” she muttered. She looked at me, eyes wide, mouth agape, and made a sort of choking noise as if she couldn’t think of how to respond. “Hey, listen to me. Ignore your thoughts. That’s how you save yourself from losing you!” I shouted. “But…,” she responded. “No, no buts, no hesitation. Ignore your thoughts, and listen to me… Look at me!” I shouted, grabbing her shoulders, and shaking her. Her eyes went straight to mine, but she was still hesitant. I would not have her lose herself. I would not have her become like me. I had to keep her mind from tricking her. I had to do the one thing that can cause someone to ignore their thoughts completely. I pulled Kelly into me and kissed her. She must’ve been surprised by the whole thing, but eventually melted into it by kissing back. I used my left hand to gently hold her hand and my right arm against her back. Finally, we pulled apart, but I could tell she wanted a bit more. Her eyes opened and she looked at me. “Look at me. Look at me,” I whispered to her repeatedly. She looked at me and there wasn’t any hesitation. She had ignored her thoughts about murder and put her thoughts on me. “Thank you,” she said. I nodded at her. “What’s your name?” she asked me. The question surprised me. I looked right at her and didn’t know how to respond. “I’m sorry, it’s none of my business… I was just thinking of calling you something other than Loner,” Kelly said. My name… it’s been so long since I’ve used it, or been called by it. Everyone who knew my name is dead now. I never told anyone my name. I don’t even know if I remember it. “Are you okay?” Kelly asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” I said. My name. “Are you sure?” Kelly asked, taking a few steps toward me. My name. What was my name? “Yeah…,” I responded. Kelly reached out and touched my left arm. I looked at her as she gripped my arm and pulled herself closer. “Thank you… for… everything,” she said. I nodded, but my mind was elsewhere. “Hmm…, I wonder,” Kelly said to herself, noticing my mind was taking me over. She then wrapped both her arms around the back of my neck and kissed me. I was so preoccupied in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice. I snapped out of my thoughts when Kelly decided to deepen the kiss. I pushed her away and looked at her in surprise. “What are you doing?” I asked her. “You were stuck in your thoughts, so I thought I’d do the same thing you did for me,” Kelly explained. “I was…?” I questioned her. She nodded. I paused, but pushed my thoughts away. I looked at Kelly. “Thanks, you’re a quick learner, kid,” I said. “Kid! I’m as old as you are!” she protested. “Yeah, but I’m a battle-hardened Loner,” I responded. “So!” Kelly responded hotly. I chuckled, but this discussion wasn’t over. “Fine, if I’m a kid, then you’re a pedophile for making out with me!” Kelly responded. Low blow. “Fine, you’re not a kid,” I gave in. “Told you so,” Kelly said, smiling victoriously. “And for the record, you kissed me first,” I said. Damn, that sounded childish. “You didn’t have to kiss back,” Kelly responded. Damn it! “Shut up,” I said. “Make me,” Kelly responded. Wrong thing to say. I smiled wickedly. I grabbed her wrist and tripped her. The only thing stopping her from falling down was me. Kelly looked at me in surprise. “You win,” she admitted. I pulled her back to her feet and gave her a quick kiss. “Damn right I win,” I said, walking back to the cellblock the rest of her family was sleeping in. “Wait up!” Kelly called after me.

Chapter X: The Deadline The next morning, I was walking around the prison yard, looking for any kind of vehicle. I saw the semi-truck, but that wouldn’t have been able to hold all five of us. We were still three days from the Southeast Sanctuary, so we needed a vehicle that could get us at least halfway there. I sighed when I wasn’t able to find a vehicle. I walked back into the prison and paused as Kelly raised her pistol at the side of my head. “We really have to stop meeting like this,” I said, smirking at her. “I know,” she said. I ducked under her line of fire, hit her forearm hard enough to cause her to drop her gun, and caught the falling gun with my free hand. I aimed it at her face as she rubbed her arm. “Showoff,” she muttered. I smiled and handed over her gun. She took it. “Were you able to find a car?” she asked me as we walked back through the prison. “No,” I muttered. “Damn it, now what are we supposed to do?” she asked me. “Walk the road and hope for the best,” I said. “What would be the best? Let mutated vultures pick out our eyes over being shot down by Bandits?” Kelly asked me, crossing her arms over her chest. “No, find a working car I can hotwire, siphon some gas, and get you and your family to the Southeast Sanctuary,” I said. “Sounds like a long shot,” Kelly said. “This whole trip is a long shot,” I pointed out. “So, would you write this one down as your craziest delivery?” Kelly asked. “The most f*ed up, violent, disturbing, and craziest delivery,” I said. “Glad I could help,” Kelly responded. “You did, you’re the disturbing part and the f*ed up part,” I said, smirking at her before walking up ahead. “Ha, ha!” Kelly responded, catching up with me. We walked into the cafeteria together, where Candace was fixing cold oatmeal. I had determined the water safe for use earlier that morning. Our clothes were washed, we all showered, and we had it for cooking. “Did you find a car?” Candace asked, serving Keith a bowl of oatmeal. “No,” I said. “Then what are we supposed to do?” Jason asked. “Walk the road, until we find a car I can hotwire,” I said. “We’ll be out in the open!” Candace exclaimed. “I know, but it’s either that or we stay here, which can’t be done,” I said. “Why not?” Candace asked. “Because I’ve been tasked with delivering you four to the Southeast Sanctuary, and if I’m not there within the next week, I’ll fail my mission,” I said. “So what if you fail your mission?” Candace responded. “If I fail… a member of your family dies,” I said. “What!?” three of four of the Booth family exclaimed in unison. “It’s assurance to make sure a Loner succeeds,” I said, biting my lip. “Who insures this rule!?” Kelly asked angrily. “According to the church, God,” I said. “How could they do something like this?” Candace questioned me. “They believe it’s their divine right. You see, that’s why I despise everything about them!” I growled through gritted teeth. “Sick, ain’t it? They hire us Loners to transport families past Bandits and everything else this f*ing world has drawn up for us and they watch and wait to see if we fail or not. They kill a member of the family, usually the wife or the youngest child, to alienate us from the rest of the population,” I said. “Heh, guess that’s why I got tasked with the hardest transport imaginable. Transport a family across the United States in ten days, going through four Bandit Heads’ territories all because I’ve never failed before!” I snapped, slamming my fist down on the closest table in anger. “Hey, we got a week, we’ll make it,” Kelly said, placing a hand on my arm. “Not if I don’t find us a car!” I snapped. I walked out of the cafeteria to clear my head. I was pissed off. Pissed off at the church, the situation they put me in just to watch me fail. I sat down on a bench that had once been used for inmates wanting to bench press to try and push away my thoughts. I looked over at the big rig truck parked nearby. “Too bad it was too small for all of us,” I muttered. Then I saw that it had a sleeper behind the cab. “Son of a b****, that’s it!” I shouted, getting to my feet. I ran back into the prison where the Booth family was huddled together in the cafeteria. “Hey!” I shouted. “What?” Kelly asked me. “I have a way for us to get to the Sanctuary, or at least close enough,” I said. “How?” Jason asked, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “The big rig that hit us,” I said. “But we already went over that fact that it isn’t big enough to hold all of us,” Candace said. “Unless we sat on each other’s laps,” Kelly pointed out. She looked directly at me. “The truck has a sleeper in the back. Two people can stay back there while I and two others stay up front,” I said. “Who’ll go in the back?” Candace asked. “I will,” Jason said. “So will I,” Kelly added. “No, I will. The kids should stay up front where they can be buckled up,” Candace said. “Mom…,” Kelly tried to reason. “My decision is final, Kelly!” Candace said. Kelly didn’t like it, but nodded. “Now, I know you’re all scared, but we’re a three days drive from the Southeast Sanctuary. If we push now, we will make it, and we can tell the church to shove it where things should not be shoved,” I said. That earned a giggle from Kelly. “Our deadline is a week. I promised you all that I’d get you to the Sanctuary safe and sound and I will keep that promise!” I shouted. “And to any motherf*er who stands in my way, I will promise them that I will kill them,” I added. “Now, let’s go, grab as much food and water as you can, we’re stocking up,” I said. Together, everyone began carrying, or rolling, barrels of prison food into the sleeper of the big rig. I had to take the mattress out, because it reeked of Four Arms and it wasn’t a nice smell. With the truck loaded, Jason and Candace got into the sleeper while Kelly and Keith sat up front. I got into the driver’s seat and looked at Kelly. “Just so you know, as soon as I drop you and your family off, I will be sure to throw some rules out the window,” I said, smiling at her. Kelly smiled back and nodded. Four Arms must’ve never expected to be killed, so the keys were in the ignition. I turned the keys and found out the truck had a full tank of gas. “This thing has a two-hundred-gallon tank… With a full tank of gas, it should take us to the Sanctuary no problem,” I said. The family was happy to hear about that. I pressed down on the gas pedal, a smile on my face, and drove.

Chapter XI: Into the Spider’s Nest I drove through the whole day, stopping only once for a bathroom break, and reached just outside the former state of Missouri and The Widow’s territory. It was starting to get humid and Widow’s trademark spider webs were becoming visible. “Hope none of you are afraid of spiders,” I said, chuckling nervously. I hated spiders. Ever since one crawled down my ear canal when I was five, I get nervous around them. Widow’s spiders are even worse. I took a deep breath and focused on the objective ahead. “You okay?” Kelly asked me. “Yeah, just fine,” I said, keeping a hand on the handle to my shotgun. Suddenly a large stinger pierced through the door just above Kelly’s leg. It jerked outward, tearing the door off its hinges and a dog-sized spider dropped down. It was white with black stripes, had eight piercing, red eyes, and mandibles as big as my bowie knife. Kelly let out a scream as the spider lunged only to be stabbed through the head with my bayonet. I pulled the blade out and the spider slipped down, leaving a smear of green goo. “Get in the back!” I ordered. Kelly and Keith climbed into the sleeper and I drove forward as more spiders came clambering over at us. Luckily, they weren’t faster than the truck. “That wasn’t so bad,” Kelly said, clutching at her heaving chest. “Those were just drones,” I muttered. “Drones…?” Candace asked. “Yeah, Scouts, tests, the real trouble is coming for us soon,” I said. As if on cue, a thing out of an arachnophobia’s nightmares dropped down onto the hood of the big rig. It was a man with eight, spidery legs sticking out of his pectoral region. Eight eyes covered his human-looking face and mandibles clicked at us. It raised one leg like it was a blade and stabbed it through the windshield. I ducked under it and raised my shotgun. “Plug your ears!” I shouted back at the family. I blasted a slug into the chest of the spider-man, blowing it apart. A human fist punched through the driver-side window and grabbed me by the neck. I jerked the steering wheel toward the left and swerved the big rig off the road. I pulled us back onto the road and drew my knife. I stabbed it into the forearm that was busy strangling me and green goo sprayed. The spider-man hissed and let me go. I heard it climb onto the roof of the truck as I approached a low-clearance tunnel. It stabbed a sword arm through the roof. “See ya, f*face!” I shouted, flooring the truck to sixty. I heard the top of the truck scrape against the roof of the tunnel. I sighed in relief as we came out of the tunnel and the sword arm embedded in the roof fell onto the seat beside me. I then looked ahead and saw a web-covered bridge. We were heading straight for it. “Hold on, we’re heading into the nest,” I said. I drove onto the bridge and saw cars hanging from the top of the bridge, covered in thick webbing. “Ah, I see I have visitors,” a raspy voice hissed at us. “S***…,” I muttered. Suddenly the back of the truck lurched up into the air. I hit the steering wheel and Keith fell toward the shattered windshield. I grabbed him by the back of his shirt and held him as a thick web lifted us into the air. “Keith!” Candace screamed for her son as I desperately held onto him. Suddenly the back of the truck ripped away and the most grotesque monstrosity looked down at us. It had a somewhat feminine face, but with four red eyes, and hair made out of webbing. Its lower jaw was longer than its upper jaw and split into two separate halves. It was naked from the waist up, but anything human about it was long gone. Its upper torso had an exoskeleton, but still had the accentuated female parts. It had four arms that connected to the same shoulder. One had a set of three-fingered claws and the other had twin spikes that were as long as I was tall. The lower half of this creature’s body was a spider’s abdomen with a large, jagged stinger at the end of it. There was a thick strand of webbing sticking out of the end of this creature, holding it in midair. It was The Widow. “Holy s***,” I said. “Loner!? I missed you, my babies have been crying to me for months ever since you left me,” Widow said, clicking her bottom jaws at me as if she was smacking her lips. “Yeah? Well, you can call me later,” I said, aiming my shotgun at her. Widow was quick, stabbing her spike through my shotgun. It stabbed into my shoulder and I cringed. “No!” Kelly exclaimed, firing her pistol up into Widow’s face. She hissed as she blocked the bullets with her claw arm. I yelled out in pain when Widow pulled the spike out of my shoulder. I nearly dropped Keith. “Oh, Loner, you’re not sleeping with this tramp, are you?” Widow asked, hissing at Kelly. I was too busy trying not to drop Keith. He looked up the bridge below with wide eyes. “Come here, b****, let’s have a little girl talk,” Widow hissed, pulling Kelly out of the truck. “Help!” Kelly shouted, trying to pistol-whip Widow, but her gun was knocked back down into the cab. “No!” I shouted. I pulled Keith up through all the pain in my shoulder and placed the small boy behind the driver’s seat. “Stay here, I’ll get her back,” I growled as I started climbing up the length of the truck. “Get her back, Loner,” Jason said, giving me a leg up. I nodded and climbed out of the truck. “Come get your whore, Loner!” Widow called out deep within her nest. I climbed onto the back of the semi-truck and jumped onto a sedan. It swung back and forth and strained against the webbing suspending it in midair. “Hurry now, before you hear her scream,” Widow teased. “Touch her and I’ll kill you!” I growled, leaping into a truck bed. My weight caused it to tilt. I grabbed onto the trail gate, but it released. I free fell about five feet before hitting the windshield of another car below me. It shattered and I laid there. “Ooh, you gotta do better than that, babe,” Widow said. “F*** you!” I shouted. “What time?” Widow asked. “Ugh, that’s gross,” Kelly’s voice responded. “Shut up!” Widow snapped. I heard Kelly cry out and I climbed out of the shattered windshield, ignoring the pieces of glass imbedded in my back and arms. I grabbed onto the lowered tail gate of the pickup truck, pulled myself up, and grabbed onto the fender. I reached up to the front fender and put my feet into the back. I climbed up onto the front bumper of the pickup truck and jumped toward the entrance of Widow’s nest. “Kelly!” I shouted. “Up here!” she shouted. I looked up and saw she was wrapped in webbing, upside down, and hanging from the nest’s ceiling. “Hang on!” I shouted. “Well, I got nothing else to do!” she shouted back. I pulled my bowie knife, aimed for the single strand holding Kelly, and threw my blade. Widow swung out and swatted my knife into the side of her nest. “Don’t think so!” she snapped, dropping on top of me. Her arachnid-half was holding me down. She gently caressed the side of my face with her clawed hand. “Don’t touch him, you ugly piece of s***!” Kelly shouted. Widow ignored her. “How could you? How could you betray me like this? I thought we had something,” Widow said. “You kidnapped me, hung me up in your shitty nest, and fed me mutated roaches. This infatuation you had with me is completely one-sided,” I growled, struggling beneath her. Widow hissed and her eyes shot up at Kelly. “It’s because of that b****! She took you from me and now she must die! Slowly and painfully!” Widow hissed, launching off me. She turned and her legs gripped into the sides of her nest. “No!” I shouted, pulling my pistol. “Keep him busy, my children, he’s been brainwashed,” Widow hissed. Two spider-men rushed over and one shoulder checked me. I hit the bottom of the nest and my gun fell out through the webbing. I got back to my feet and one of the spider-men grabbed me from behind. I got kneed in the gut; right where Four Arms had stabbed me, by the second. I grunted and then threw the one holding me over my shoulders, hitting the second one. I pulled my second pistol right as Widow pulled Kelly out of her cocoon. I shot Widow in her hand, causing her to drop Kelly. I stood right beneath her, preparing to catch her, but Widow shot another strand of webbing out of her abdomen, pinning Kelly to the side of the nest. “Stop him, my children!” Widow hissed scampering over to Kelly. I drew my kukri and hacked one spider-man through the head. I kicked it away and stabbed my kukri through the second spider-man’s chest. I ran over to Kelly the same time Widow got there, but was kicked back by the Bandit Head. I sat up and chucked my kukri, hitting her in the back. Widow cried out and looked at me in anger. “Come on, you crazy b****, come and get me if you want me so bad,” I growled, pulling my third pistol out. Widow hissed and fired a strand of webbing, pinning my left arm to my chest. I aimed my right pistol, but Widow sliced the muzzle off with her spike. She swiped her claws at me, but I ducked under it and hit her in the chin with my metallic hand. “You want to know something, b****? I really f*ing hate spiders,” I spat, hammering my arm into the side of Widow’s head. One of her bottom jaws broke off and green goo sprayed. She stumbled around, allowing me to rip my kukri out of her back. “Now be like every other spider I see and die!” I shouted, swinging my kukri into the part where her human-half and her spider-half connected, bisecting her. Her spider-half fell over and her human-half flailed about. “Die,” I growled, hacking my kukri into her face, killing her. I pulled the kukri out and she fell over, a growing pool of green goo spreading beneath her. I ran over to Kelly and cut through the webbing to free my arm first. Then I freed her and watched her fell onto her side. I helped her to her feet and pulled my knife out of the side of the nest. “You okay?” I asked her. “Yeah…,” she said, looking at Widow. “So, you and her?” she asked, grinning. “Shut up,” I said. “What? Besides the webs and extra-appendages, she’s only kind of ugly,” Kelly said. “Shut up,” I said again. “Make me,” she said. I looked at her and smiled. “I’ll shut up,” she said before I could make her. I wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her. When we separated, she just looked at me with her beautiful blue eyes. “I should get kidnapped more often,” she said. “No, you shouldn’t,” I said. “Right, now what do we do now?” she asked. “I don’t know, your family is hanging in the truck about twenty feet in the air,” I said. “Oh yeah, let’s go get them,” Kelly said. I nodded and held my right arm around her as I dropped out of the nest. We landed on the front of the pickup truck and I heard the web stress against the weight. “We have to be careful,” I said. Kelly nodded. We stepped off of the pickup truck and onto the sedan I climbed onto earlier. We walked over the top of it and got to the truck. I helped Kelly onto the rear of the semi-truck and she climbed down to stand on the back of the cab. “This is going to be tricky,” I said. “What are you going to do?” Kelly asked me. “It’s risky, but get your family out where you are,” I said. Kelly nodded and helped both her parents and younger brother out of the cab. “Hold on!” I called down to them. I climbed onto the back of the semi-truck and pulled my knife out. I began carving through the webbing. “Hey! That’s holding us up!” Candace shouted. “I know, hold onto something,” I said, getting about halfway through. The family huddled together as I cut through the webbing before dropping down to the family. We freefell and the truck landed on its grill. I hit the family and the truck started to tilt over onto its roof. “Hold on!” I shouted as we fell onto the ground. The truck’s roof hit the road and it nearly crushed us, but we were left a little opening to stay safe. “That went well,” I said, helping the family out of the opening. “So now we’re without a car again,” Candace pointed out. “Sadly, yes… I guess we should start looking for another car before they decide to have us for dinner,” I said, looking up at the giant spiders. I hate spiders. The family kept in front of me as we walked out of the spider lair.

Chapter XII: Failure We had walked for about ten miles without finding a single working car I could hotwire. Even worse, it was starting to get dark and we couldn’t find any shelter. We were still in Widow’s territory and her spiders had a vendetta against me for killing her. They were trailing us. All I had for weapons were my kukri, knife, and pistol that only had a clip left. My shoulder was still bleeding, we were getting dehydrated, and hungry. I ran over to a car and smashed the window open with my right hand. I opened the door and tried hot-wiring it, but it wouldn’t start. “F***!” I shouted, punching through the steering wheel and airbag. Kelly looked at me concernedly. Jason and Candace held onto Keith, keeping an eye of our pursuers as they got closer and closer. I roared as I pulled my hand out of the steering wheel and I pushed my way to the spiders. “What do you want!?” I asked them angrily, shooting one dead. I kicked a second in the mandibles and it fell over onto its back. I stomped onto its abdomen and it exploded in green goo. “Come on!” I shouted. A third jumped at me, but I sliced it in half with one swing from my kukri. “Come on!” I shouted as green goo covered my face. I began hacking, slashing, and shooting until most of the spiders were dead and the others fled back to the bridge to mourn their fallen queen. “Yeah, go back home!” I shouted, tossing my empty gun at them. Suddenly I felt something grab my hand. I turned, about to hack my kukri at whatever it was, but stopped immediately once I saw it was Kelly. “Stop,” she said. I looked at her, kukri still up in the air, and sighed. “I’m sorry,” I said, pulling my hand out of her grip. I walked away from her, sheathing my kukri. “Wait, what are we going to do now!?” Kelly called after me. Jason, Candace, and Keith followed as I kept walking. “Find a place to wait out the next couple of days so the church can send someone to bask in my failure and kill one of you,” I said bitterly. “So that’s it? You’re just gonna give up!?” Kelly called at me. “What’s the point!?” I shouted at her, turning around. “What about keeping your promise?” Kelly asked me. “I FAILED TO KEEP IT! IS IT THAT HARD TO F*ING UNDERSTAND!? I FAILED! I FINALLY GAVE THE PRIESTS SOMETHING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT! I FAILED YOU ALL!” I shouted angrily. Kelly looked scared. She backed away from me. I walked away and found an empty market. I kicked the door down and walked inside the dark store. Its aisles were bare, but there were some useless items. I stopped by one of the registers and slid down to the linoleum floor. I stared at my metal hand as if I had seen it for the first time in my life. “F*** you,” I spat at it, pulling it off of my shoulder. I tossed it out the window and listened to the glass fall and shatter. I walked away, one-armed, and walked aimlessly around the store. Kelly and her family ran up to the outside of the store, hearing the glass shatter. “We could stay the night here…,” Jason said. “What’s the point?” Candace muttered angrily. “Mom, the Loner is just upset because it seems hopeless. Let’s show him that we still believe in him,” Keith said suddenly. Kelly smiled at her younger brother and then saw my metal arm. “Oh no…,” she said, picking up my arm. They ran into the store. “Stay here, I’m going to find him,” Kelly said to her family. “Kelly, wait!” Candace called after her, but Jason grabbed his wife by her shoulder. “No, she has to do this herself… All of our lives depend on it,” he said. Candace looked at her husband and nodded. Kelly walked through the store, trying to find out where I was. She turned the corner and paused in her tracks. There was a spider-man holding a half-eaten cat in its arms. It looked at Kelly and dropped the smaller meal in favor of a much larger meal. Kelly backed away slowly and then turned in a run, but ran straight into me. I simply pushed her to the ground and pulled out my bowie knife. “Come on, you ugly motherfucker, come on,” I growled. The spider-man clicked its mandibles together and lunged. I thrust my blade forward and stabbed it in the chest. I pulled the blade out and stabbed it again. I did it again and again and again and even more times even after the monster died. I kicked the spider-man to the ground and stood over it, breathing hard. “Loner…,” Kelly said, standing to her feet. I ignored her. “Loner…,” she said again. I looked over at her. “Please, stop,” she said. I approached her and dropped my knife. I pulled my arm out of her grasp and tossed it to the ground. “Loner…,” Kelly said quietly. “Go away, find some place safe, and wait for the church to kill a member of your family,” I said. “No, there’s still a chance, we got six days,” Kelly said. “There’s no point,” I said. “No, quit saying that, don’t let your thoughts take you over,” Kelly said. “Ha! That bullshit!?” I laughed harshly. “It helped me,” she said. I looked at her. “Please… don’t give up on us,” Kelly said. “What is the point?” I growled at her, grabbing her chin. “We can still make it. You can still succeed. There are plenty of cars we haven’t checked yet. We have six days to do this. We can make it, but only if you help us. Please… help us,” Kelly said. I looked at her and moved my hand away from her. “I’m sorry,” I said, turning away from her. I walked over to my arm, looked at it before picking it up, and put it back into my shoulder. I cringed as the nerves took their place and sighed. “I’m sorry for being like that coward that abandoned me,” I apologized. “It’s okay,” she said. I walked back to the rest of the family. “Hey… I’m sorry for giving up on you… I refuse to go back on the promise I made all of you to get you to the Sanctuary safely,” I apologized. “Then what are we supposed to do now?” Candace asked. “We stay the night here, we go look for a car to hotwire in the morning,” I said. “But that didn’t work at all!” Candace called me out. “That doesn’t mean it won’t work tomorrow,” I said sharply. That quieted her. “Now, let’s get some sleep… we have a long day tomorrow,” I said. The family nodded and we all moved to an aisle to bunk for the night. I lie down, wide awake, and watched as everyone except Kelly fell asleep. I quietly stood up and walked away. Kelly met me in the storage room. It was empty. We made use of it.

Chapter XIII: A Miracle
The next morning, Kelly and I lay together underneath a makeshift, aluminum foil blanket on top of a pallet of wood. She was still asleep, resting her head on my left shoulder. My left arm was draped over her bare waist. A box of condoms lay open beside us.
“Hey, wake up,” I said, jerking my shoulder.

Kelly slowly opened her eyes.
“Morning, now free my arm,” I said.

She smiled and picked herself off of me. We quickly got dressed and walked back out of the storage room.
“Where were you two?” Jason asked, already awake.
“We were…,” Kelly tried thinking of an excuse.
“Looking for any food in the storage room,” I said.
“Oh, did you find any?” Jason asked.
“No, people picked this place like a bunch of buzzards,” I said.

We left the store together in search of a car to hotwire. Five failed cars later, we exited Widow’s territory and entered Big Daddy’s. I was all over the place, trying to find a car. I did not want to be out in the open in this area.
“Loner, calm down,” Kelly said.
“Can’t right now, bad memories,” I responded.
“There’s a truck heading our way!” Jason called out.

I turned and there was. It was a pickup truck.
“Get behind me,” I ordered the family.

I pulled my bowie knife and kukri as the truck approached. Then, a God-given miracle happened. It was the trucker whose life I had saved four days ago.
“Loner!? Is that you, man!?” he called out, getting out of his truck.
“You know that man?” Kelly asked me.
“Yeah, he’s a friend,” I said.
“You have friends?” Kelly questioned.

I approached the trucker, smile on my face.
“Damn, I am sure glad to see you,” I said.
“Where you heading?” he asked me.
“The Southeast Sanctuary, but we don’t have a vehicle,” I said.
“Well, I’m heading there, you can hitch a ride with me,” the trucker said.
“Thanks… hey, I never got your name,” I said.
“Oh, it’s Randal,” the trucker introduced himself.
“Alright, thanks Randal,” I said, turning back to the family.
“We have a ride,” I said.

We all got into the truck, Jason, Keith, and Candace in the back, Randal driving, Kelly sitting in the passenger seat, and me sitting in the middle seat up front.

I put my hand on Kelly’s leg and smiled at her. It’s the first real break we’ve had.
“Everyone buckled up?” Randal asked.

Everyone, but me nodded.
“Good, let’s get going!” he exclaimed, driving.

Kelly put her hand over mine and she smiled at me. I finally felt like I could rest.
“Uh, we got company,” Randal said, looking through his rearview mirror.
“Oh, can’t we just get a break,” I said, turning around.

Three bandits were pursuing us on motorcycle.
“Do you still have that shotgun?” I asked Randal.
“Yeah, it’s right behind you on the floor,” Randal said.

Jason handed it to me and I sat on Kelly’s lap.
“Don’t get too excited,” I whispered to her.

She just smirked.
“Close your ears!” I shouted, leaning out the window.

I cocked the shotgun, but didn’t even have to shoot it because one of the Bandits sped up alongside us. I hit him in the side of the head with the butt of the shotgun and he went off the road into a tree.
“Hold on!” Randal shouted, swerving the truck over to hit another Bandit on his side.

That Bandit sped head-on into the back of a minivan, shattering the back window.
“I’ll be back!” I shouted, climbing out of the pickup truck to the bed.

I aimed the shotgun at the last Bandit and hit him right in the chest. He and the motorcycle fell over, skidding across the road.
“What’s that on the road!?” I heard Kelly shout.

I looked over the truck and saw my worst fear. Standing in the middle of the road, yard ahead of us, was a massive monstrosity.

He stood at seven-feet tall, weighed in at four hundred pounds, had a massive ax on his back, and was wearing battle armor made out of car parts. It was Big Daddy.
“Turn around!” I shouted.
“No, I can go around him!” Randal shouted back, flooring it.
“No!” I shouted, seeing Big Daddy ready his ax.
“Get down!” I shouted, lying on my back.

I just hoped that the family listened to me. The truck sped alongside Big Daddy as he swung his ax. It sheared off the top of the truck as if it was nothing. I watched the ax go over me and the truck slowed to a stop. I stood up and fired a shot into Big Daddy, hitting him in the shoulder. He grunted, but walked toward us, dragging his ax across the ground.
“Everyone okay!?” I shouted.

The family was okay. They listened to me and dropped down low. Randal wasn’t so lucky. He had been cut cleanly through just below the shoulder blades.
“Everyone out!” I shouted.

I helped the family out and moved out of the way as Big Daddy slammed his ax down into the truck bed. He looked right at me and I swung my right arm like a hammer straight into his temple.

He grunted and stumbled back, leaving behind his ax.
“Loner!” Kelly called for me.
“Go! I’ll hold him off! You get somewhere safe! If I’m not back by tonight, then I’ll be dead!” I shouted.
“No!” Kelly shouted, trying to get over to me, but her father held her back.
“Kelly, keep your family safe!” I shouted as Big Daddy approached me.

He swatted me across the road like I was an insect. I bounced across the pavement and hit a car.

I looked over at Kelly.
“Go,” I whispered as Big Daddy pulled his ax out of the truck bed.

I stood to my feet and drew my kukri.
“Come on!” I roared.

Big Daddy paused, looking at me.
“You look familiar,” he growled lowly.
“Well, I should, you killed my parents and took my arm!” I shouted.
“Ah, yes, that’s where I remember you,” he said, chuckling.
“F*** you!” I shouted, running at him.

He simply kicked me in the chest, knocking me back down.
“Stay down,” Big Daddy recommended.

I just had the air knocked out of me. My vision was fuzzy. Finally, I passed out.

I woke up, chained between iron rods sticking out of the ground. I was in the middle of a junkyard. It was nighttime. I looked around and my heart sank when I saw the Booth family tied together with a chain.
“No…,” I said, letting my face fall.
“Kelly, he’s awake,” Jason said to his daughter.

They rotated their positions on the ground so Kelly could see me.
“How did they get you?” I asked her.
“Big Daddy’s Bandits caught us and brought us here at his orders,” Kelly said.
“How long have we been here?” I asked her.
“Four days, about to be five…,” she said.
“We’re on the outskirts of the Southeast Sanctuary,” Jason added.

So close, but so far away.
“What’s the plan?” Kelly asked me.
“I… I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head.

Chapter XIV: Retribution I rested there on my knees, not even bothering to stress against my chains. It was hopeless, we were all going to die. Finally, I heard something big approach me. It was Big Daddy. “How long has it been? Seven years?” he asked me. “Eight,” I responded. “Much too long… you do look better than how I left you, and ah… you even got a new arm,” Big Daddy responded. He then grabbed a cooler and opened it up. “Remember this?” he asked me, tossing my severed arm in front of me. I looked at it. They had kept it on ice all these years. “I remember how much you screamed. You sounded just like your mother when I chopped her head off,” Big Daddy taunted, tossing my mother’s severed head. I then started stressing against my chains, but not to get to Big Daddy. I wanted to run away. “Your father was the fun one to kill. I tortured him with castration, shot him in the feet with a nail gun and made him walk. I then tied him down and let my dogs eat him alive,” Big Daddy growled, gesturing three, large Rottweiler’s penned up nearby. “Then you came in, angry at me for killing your parents. You thought you could avenge them. You, a seventeen-year old child! I spared you with just chopping your arm off, and now that I see you survived, I realize just how strong you really are!” Big Daddy exclaimed, laughing heartily. I was still stressing against the chains. “Leave him alone!” Kelly called out. Big Daddy looked at her. “Oh? Leave him alone? Oh, I’ve seen how you’ve looked at him, girl, you love this weakling!” Big Daddy snapped, punching me in the gut. I groaned from the pain and he punched me again. Each time he hit me, it felt like a jackhammer hitting me. “You’re a coward!” Kelly called out. Big Daddy then walked away from me and over to her. “How am I a coward?” he asked her, lifting her face up to him. “You hit him while he’s chained up, but you can’t fight him like a man,” Kelly growled. “Loner, you got yourself a real keeper here! She wants us to fight like men!” Big Daddy shouted. “Or whatever the f*ing hell you are,” Kelly added. Big Daddy growled and turned away. He walked back over to me and cut me loose. “Alright, your lover wants us to fight, so fight Loner!” Big Daddy shouted, tossing me against a pile of cars. I lay there, dazed. “Come on, get up!” Big Daddy shouted. I struggled to. “Here, I’ll help you!” Big Daddy shouted, lifting me to my feet only to kick me down again. While I was being beaten, Kelly began trying to pick the lock holding her and her family together with a bobby pin. “Come on, fight me!” Big Daddy shouted, punching me. “Fight me!” he shouted again and again and again, punching me each time. I hit the ground hard and lay there motionless. I spat blood onto the ground. “Fine, don’t fight me, join your parents,” Big Daddy growled, grabbing his ax. He raised it over my head just as Kelly picked the lock. She tore the chains off of her and rushed Big Daddy from behind. “Die just like them!” Big Daddy shouted. Kelly jumped onto his back and jammed her fingers into one of his eyes. Big Daddy roared like a berserker and tried to get Kelly off of him. Finally, he got her by the head and tossed her into a car. I watched her crumple to the ground, motionless. “No…,” I muttered. “Kelly…,” I said. “F*ing b****,” Big Daddy muttered, wiping the blood from his eye socket. She had ripped out his eye. “Kelly!” I called over to her. She didn’t move. “No…, NO!” I roared, getting to my feet. I turned toward Big Daddy, hatred seething out of me. “Oh, now you’re gonna…,” he tried saying, but I punched him in the jaw with my metal hand before he could finish his sentence. He stumbled backward, dropping his ax. I grabbed him by the front of his breastplate, which was made out of a car hood, and ripped it off. I smacked him over the head with it and watched him fall onto his back. I swung my arm at him, hitting him in the side of the head, but he kicked me back before I could deliver another blow. He then released his dogs and they rushed me. I hit one over the head, shattering its skull and broke the second dog’s neck. Keith had found my kukri lying on a table and tossed it to me. I caught it and drove the blade through the final dog’s throat. Big Daddy used this to get his ax. We stood, facing each other, and then we charged each other. He swung his ax, but I ducked under it and slashed open his stomach with my kukri. He hit me against the back of my head with the handle of his ax and knocked me to the ground. He tried stomping me, but I drove my kukri through his foot. He yelled out and I pushed the blade; handle and some of my hand, through his foot, knocking him off-balance. He fell back and I picked my kukri off the ground. “You did me a real favor, you know?” I said to him as he crawled toward his ax. I kicked him in the jaw and tossed his ax out of reach. He reached up to me, but I hacked my blade through his hand, severing his middle, ring, and pinky finger along with half his hand. “Letting me live taught me how to make it in this world. It taught me to ignore my thoughts and just think of where I need to go,” I said, kicking him in the jaw, breaking it. Blood and some teeth came out of his mouth. “So, thank you for the second-biggest mistake in your pathetic life,” I spat. He looked at me in confusion. “Oh? You want to know what your biggest mistake was?” I asked him. I looked at Kelly, who had her family around her, and then back to him. “You hurt my girlfriend,” I growled, slamming my blade down onto the top of his skull, splitting it in half. I ripped my blade out of Big Daddy, and he went limp. He was dead. I dropped my kukri and ran over to Kelly. She had a trail of blood coming from the top of her head. “No, no, no, please don’t be dead…,” I pleaded, checking her pulse. “I’m not dead…,” Kelly whispered weakly. I looked at her in surprise and felt immediately gracious. “You’d miss me too much,” she said, smiling at me. “Oh thank God,” Jason said, nearly choking on his tears. Candace was crying and holding onto Keith. I picked Kelly up in my arms, holding her bridal style, and walked toward the exit of the junkyard, all of Big Daddy’s Bandits backing away from all of us. “Why are they backing away?” Kelly asked. “I’m their boss now, they listen to me,” I said. Jason, Candace, and Keith caught up and we walked to the Sanctuary. “You don’t have to carry me all the way there…,” Kelly said. “No, I walked there beaten, one-armed, and nearly bleeding to death. I can carry a hundred-and-twenty pound girl there,” I said. “Hey!” she protested. I looked at her. “A hundred and five,” she said. I had to chuckle. We reached the Sanctuary by morning. “Loner!” I shouted at the tall gate. “Loner, voice recognition,” the mechanical voice responded. The gates opened and I delivered Kelly to the infirmary. The medic tried keeping me there to tend to my injuries, but I had to get to the cathedral. I ran, powered solely on adrenaline, and got to the cathedral. I stormed inside and approached the priest at the end of the aisle. “I am the Loner transporting the Booth family from the Northwest Sanctuary, I made it here in nine days; therefore, completing my delivery in success!” I shouted at him. “Congratulations, Loner, you’re perfect record still stands,” the priest responded, wearing the fakest smile on his face. “Damn f*ing right it still stands,” I growled, grinning like a madman. He looked offended that I’d use such vulgar language in front of him. I turned, and walked away, triumphantly.

Epilogue I went back to the infirmary and got my injuries tended to. Kelly was getting the gash on her head stitched shut. It was going to leave a scar, but she was going to be okay. My wounds were all over the place. Several ribs had been broken, my knife wound had reopened and had to be stitched shut again, and I was very sore for the next month. Finally, after I had recovered, I went to where the Booth family still was. I knocked on the door and Jason opened it. “Hey, Loner, Kelly isn’t here,” he said. “Where is she?” I asked him. I felt the cold muzzle touch the back of my head. “Right behind you,” she said. I turned and looked at her. She had her hair styled to hide her scar and was wearing a leather jacket over a tight, white shirt and jeans. She had a pistol pointed at my face. I smiled and nodded down at my hand. She looked down and saw I had my own gun pointed up at her chest. “Can’t go one day pointing something at me?” she asked me. “Nope, now come on, we have to go,” I said. “Oh yeah, today’s the day, isn’t it?” she asked me. I nodded. She walked to her father and hugged him. “Bye Dad,” she said. “Bye, keep her safe, Loner,” Jason said to me. I nodded. Kelly then walked over to her mother and hugged her and then her brother. “I’ll be home soon,” she said, walking back over to me. “We’ll be waiting,” Jason said. We then turned and walked away from her family. “How’s your hand?” I asked her. “That f*ing hurt like Hell!” she shouted at me, showing me the brand on her hand. It was the Loner’s sign. “Good thing I have a metal arm,” I said, smirking at her. “Bite me,” Kelly responded. We approached the garage and a Mechanic met us there. “Ah, Loners, or Loner and Loner-in-training,” the Mechanic said, nodding at us. He opened the garage and revealed our vehicles. They were motorcycles, but looked like they belonged in some science-fiction, steampunk video game. Either way, they looked badass. “Here they are,” the Mechanic said, handing us the keys. Kelly and I got on the motorcycles and the Mechanic opened the garage to let us out of the Sanctuary. “Ready?” I asked her. She answered by speeding ahead of me. “That’s a yes,” I said, speeding after her. We rode until sunset and then stopped beside a river. “Hey,” I said, looking at her. She looked back at me and I kissed her. When I pulled away, I kept by her ear. “My name is Wes Philips,” I whispered into her ear.