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Water isn't the easiest thing to find in the Southern parts of the US Post War. Due to the nature of the Biomass and Scourged, the chances are high that any water that is found is badly contaminated.

Oh god how I wish I could have seen what the future held in store for us. Right around 26 hours after we left Jame's place, I realized that we were neck deep in shit creek with our mouths wide open with no shores or boats in sight with no life jackets. We came to a stop in a small town a couple hundred miles outside of Marshal. It hadn't been an easy ride since we had booked it from James' place as we'd quickly learned that wherever there are Scourged, Biomass isn't far behind. We'd also come to the realization that sunlight exposure had little if any effect on the Scourged, as we'd been ambushed by dozens of them several hours after sun rise. Roughly 50 contacts had broken down the door of the house we were hiding in, somehow evading the detection of Ben and James, they didn't even have time to shout hostiles and instead just open fired. We got brutalized for a good twenty minutes and burned off enough of our ammunition that I was silently fretting about the ammo reserve when we boarded the trucks after the massacre had ended. We drove for most of the day after that, each of us in various states of bloody disrepair and damage. Ammunition concerns were voiced only by Eirren tapping her last full magazine in her palm most of the day, I was down to two in the Redi-Mag, three on my vest for my Rock River and three and some change for the SIG. I still had plenty of shot shells for the 1200 and had changed out the pouches on my rig for my shell carriers, which I kept buried in my ruck. Most of the day had been radio silent, no stopping for anything out of fears we'd get attacked again. It was after nine at night that Ben finally broke the ice.

"I'm gonna piss myself if we don't stop soon guys", he growled, "I can't fucking take this."

"Me either", Nat said, "I've got wounds to lick."

"Neither can I", James said, "I need a cigarette like you can't comprehend."

"Guess the Scourged didn't hit the spot", Eirren sighed shoving her last mag back in her vest as I picked up the radio.

"I hear ya guys. We'll stop at the next town we find for the night and can look for ammunition come morning."

About an hour after that, we pulled into Oakley West Virginia. We'd done another state. Decent sized town, but seemed like it was a quiet place pre war. Sign had said the town had a population of just over 600 Animals and most of the town seemed like a collection of late 19th century buildings with some more recent constructions mixed in. We pulled into the town a bit after ten at night. I didn't see anything being too out of place when we first pulled in. Town seemed completely abandoned. Pulling the Tundra to a stop, rolling down the window and turning off the big diesel that replaced my 5.7 liter I-Force seemed to confirm that. Couldn't smell the smell of blood, gun powder, rotting shit, burning, etc. I couldn't hear hardly anything but the wind through the eaves of some dead trees. Looked like we had the entire place to ourselves.

"Arien, why'd you stop?", James asked.

I started the Tundra, "just seeing if I could glean anything from the air. Seems like we've got the entire town to ourselves."

"Fucking good. Maybe we can avoid getting beaten up again", Ben said.

We pressed further into town. We drove down main street and met a four way intersection where we turned right, which took us into more residential territory. Ten minutes of searching yielded an apartment complex that was fairly built up, lots of twists and turns through the buildings, plus a fence guarding it from a near by post office made it so there was no way that our trailer or trucks could be seen from the road. I pulled in first, driving slowly through the parking lot, looking to see if I could see any sign of life. I didn't. Satisfied that there was none, I pulled the Tundra to the end of the road between the two buildings and drove right to the end of the pavement, backing up and turning the truck around so the nose faced the rear of the trailer. James had pulled in straight and had come to a stop just beyond the second of the three buildings, while Ben backed the Sequoia into the dead grass out front of the middle building. I put the Tundra in park, and no sooner had I shut off the engine. Two other vehicles, blacked out Ford F-150's, skidded to a stop in the parking lot. The backs of the trucks had mounted weapons.

"CONTACTS!", Nat shouted as the the first truck open fired on the Sequoia. The second truck opened up on the Tundra. It wasn't short controlled bursts for kill shots, it was full fucking auto spray suppressive fire to keep us in our vehicles. Nero and Mya screamed in terror in the back of the Tundra while Eirren tried to assure them they'd be fine. The bullets were pinging helplessly off the Tundra's armor, not so much as cracking the bullet proof glass as they were smashing against it. That was great, so long as we were in our truck and they were in theirs. If we got contacts outside our windows, we were just as fucked as we'd be without armor.

"Ten plus hostiles!", Nat shouted over the radio, "James! They got us pinned, could use some of that fight you had back at the house!"

"That RPK will turn me into wire mesh Nat!", James shouted, "Unlike Goliath bullets still hurt me!"

"BEN!?", I asked, "Now's a real good time for that M203!"

"I can't get out!", Ben said, "that RPK will tear me apart!"

I put my rifle in my shoulder and looked at Eirren.

"We have to brake this trap! Soon as they reload!", I shouted to her.

Seconds later, one of the Mg's quieted, I could see the gunner fumbling with something on his weapon.

"GO! NOW!", I shouted over the radio, pushing the door of the Tundra open, placing my AR between the door and the body of the Tundra, firing six of the 13 rounds remaining in the magazine at the gunner furthest from us, who had been the one putting rounds on me. At least four of the rounds hit their marks. I saw the guy stagger and drop, still holding onto the grip of his Machinegun. At this point, the doors of the trucks opened and four contacts were stepping out of each one. I took three shots at the driver of the first F150, dropping him when he tried to exit his truck. Nat took off like a bat outta hell, jumped on the hood of the lead truck and sprayed into the cabin, while James moved around the side and took out the only Animal that had managed to escape the cabin and Eirren killed one remaining in the back seat. By this point, we were forced to take cover as the Animals in the other truck had managed to get out. These guys were built like US Army Remnants, head to toe black gear, well maintained weapons, M4 Variants and Kalashnikovs. The driver of the second Ford, however, had a Mossberg 500 and made damn sure that I knew it. Four slugs smashed against my carrier, knocking me onto my back as if I was a rag doll. Three rounds sent from behind me tore through his skull and before the body even hit the pavement Eirren moved in front of me and killed the animal behind him, while James and Ben finished the other remaining animals. I sat up, groaning from the pain in my chest.

"Fucking slug gun!", I hissed, damn near unable to breathe.

"Arien", Eirren gasped, running to my side. She stuttered incoherently as she reached behind my carrier.

"I'm good it caught the plate", I choked out.

"Who the fuck are these guys!?", Nat asked from the hood of the other Ford, "where the fuck they come from!?"

"US Army remnants?", Eirren suggested.

"With Russian made AK's?", Ben asked.

"Russia was using M4's during the ass end of the war", Zack said, "makes sense some units of the US Army might have had AK-400s."

"Hey Arien", James said from the other side of one of the trucks, "there's chatter on the other end of this radio. Got three more units 20 minutes out from the sounds of it, closing in fast."

I growled loudly, Eirren helped me get to my feet "James, can you get back on the road from where you're at?"

"Easily", James said, "this fence is just made of wood. My rig'll punch it no problem."

"Strip these weapons and reload", I said, "let's load up!"

It took a measly minute to relive the dead animals of their munitions. We threw it in the trailer in a pile and booked it through the back fence, James leading the way. From there, we drove until sunrise, or about seven thirty the next morning. At this point, we'd been going for two days with on and off gun fights and no rest, when we stopped under the cover of a gas station. We pulled in Tundra first, Rig second and Sequoia third. I put the Tundra in park and laid back in the seat, well past the point where coming to rest was too much damn effort. Eirren put a paw on my shoulder.

"Arien, are you alright love?", she asked.

I didn't answer, but just kind of looked over at her. I was too tired to close my eyes and my chest was throbbing from taking that round right to the heart. I would forever be thankful that I had been wearing a plate, because I'd be dead if I hadn't. I was so tired my hands were shaking. I had never been this long, almost two straight days of constant gunfights, without so much as a five minute break. Eirren took my hand and held it tightly.

"It's okay, we'll make it Ari", she assured.

The fact that I was yet again starting to have doubts about weather or not I really wanted to keep going went unspoken. I just kind of looked at her, slumping over in my seat. She put her hand on my shoulder.

"Arien..."

I still didn't answer, leaning back towards the door, trying, and failing, to open the door. My hand wouldn't stop shaking long enough to get a grip on the release. Eirren held my right hand tighter, opening her door.

"Shannon, James, Arien's not in great shape, can you come give us a hand?"

Eirren slipped from the truck and shut the door behind her, running around to the driver's side as Shannon came to help. The girls tried, to no avail, to drag my nearly limp carcass from the driver seat of the Tundra, even with what little help I could provide. James had to come over to help and he had managed to get me out of the Tundra without much effort.

"Get this carrier off me", I pleaded, "my chest is on fire."

James helped me to strip off my carrier and Eirren helped me to take off my combat shirt. Shannon looked me over. I couldn't help but notice that the impact from the three slugs I'd taken were gathered around the same hole that the wasp had put in my chest when it stuck me. The area was raised a good half inch above the rest of my chest, and holy shit was it angry looking.

"Impacts of the slugs agitated the wasp sting", Shannon said, "How you feel Ari?"

"My heart is on fire Shannon", I said quietly, "feel like it's going to explode."

"I'm not surprised. I'mma give ya' a shot of Morphine. Should help you life a little easier", she told me.

Shannon took a small syringe out of her med kit and shot me in the neck. The fire burning in the center of my chest quieted down almost instantaneously, but didn't go away completely. Enough that I was able to get back to my feet.

"Arien", James said solemnly, "How much water do you have?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. Like a gallon in my ruck? Why? What's up?"

Shannon and Eirren exchanged glances, matching the look on James' face.

"Were out of water, aren't we?", I asked.

There was no answer. I didn't need one. I shook my head and breathed a long sigh.

"Are we out of drinking water or water period?", I asked.

"Water period", James said, "The holding tanks on the trailer were empty, have been since we found it in all likely hood."

I leaned against my Tundra, resting my head in my hand, "so how the fuck are we supposed to, you know, live?"

"Don't worry too much about this yet", James said, "especially not as beat up as you are."

"James. I can't not worry. It's what I do, it's like asking someone to just stop breathing", I fired back.

"Arien", Shannon said, "he's right, you've taken a near lethal level of damage these past two days. You need to rest before you hit that third time's the charm point and we lose you."

"Does the baby bard at least cool?", I asked.

James nodded, "I already got the trailer cold for you. Damn thing will be trying to freeze you outta there."

"Then I'm just gonna park my ass in one of these cots for the time being", I shrugged, "we can discuss this water issue after I've had a chance to get my shit together."

Given one of my legs was stiff as a board from the long ride with little activity other than clutch work, I limped my way from the Tundra to the trailer, the inside of which was, to be frank, nicer than most apartment buildings. The walls were made of stone washed sheet metal that had a quite nice texture to it and kept the glare from the two overhead lights down. The floor was faked wood, putting a boot on it was enough to garner that, however, it was one hell of a good fake. It appeared to be a kind of lightweight resin that was filled with wood chips, poured in the bottom of the trailer, then sanded and polished. The result was a really darkly colored, hard wood looking floor that was easy to look at. Over head, the ceiling was a simple, plaster textured sheet of particle broad that ran the length of the trailer with the lights pressed into it. There was a blue sticker that ran a short length from the shower compartment that read "clean water access, cut here" Most of the floor space was occupied by six twin mattresses that rested on heavy metal frames bolted to the floor, with containers that could slide into the aisle from any direction. The vents for the small Bard unit, a tiny W12, were in the far end of the trailer opposite the shower. It was certainly no luxury camper, but it was a dark, cold place to sleep and would keep the sand out of scales and hair with running water to boot. Five star accommodation far as I was concerned.

"Nice damn place", I said crashing head first into one of the corner cots closest to the vents.

"How you feeling?", Eirren asked sitting on the edge of the bed.

"How do you think?", I hissed, "I got stuck by one of the most venomous wasp on the planet, and not three days later, take three twelve gauge slugs to the same general area. My chest is burning, and that's putting it lightly."

Eirren sighed, "Arien. I am genuinely concerned."

I rolled over on my back, resting my head on the pillow. Eirren had a depressed look on her face, I didn't blame her.

"You're killing me Arien. You really are."

"How is that?", I asked.

She shook her head, "Never mind, forget I said anything."

I took hold of the bed frame and used it to pull myself up, "it's gotta be something."

She sighed and leaned up against me, "Arien, you can't comprehend what you mean to me. I've had somewhat of a difficult life, with Hunter and my Dad being gone all the time for military work, and a leech of a mother who stole every penny she could from them, I was by myself for most of the time. Hunter and Dad touched base with me every night, but with how often they were gone, they may as well have ignored me. The Animals I hung around with weren't exactly upstanding citizens, I can't tell you how many times Mark's Dad rolled up with siren on and lights flashing to save me from a bad situation", she chuckled, "soon as we were out of sight, he'd pull me out the back seat and take the cuffs off."

"Sounds like Mark looked out for you", I smiled.

"Yeah. He was always a good friend. We were in a relationship for a long time, but what I had with him, now that I look at it, he was more like an older brother. He never acted the same way around me that you do."

I stayed quiet.

"I'll tell you what too", her tone changed, "I said this the first night I spent with you, but you're being stupid so I'll say it again. I've lost everyone I've ever cared about since the bombs fell. I will_NOT_lose you. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, I get ya", I answered.

"Yeah right", She shook her head, "in three hours I'll have to scrape you off of something."

"Not true", I said kicking off my boots, "I'm not moving for at least five."

"If that's the case", Eirren kicked off her boots and threw off her fatigues, "make room. Cause if you're staying put, so am I."

I wasn't about to argue with her, and I passed out from exhaustion shortly after. When I did eventually come to, I knew night had fallen, given the way Zack, Shannon and Ben were passed out on the beds, that left Nat and James pulling guard duty. Since Eirren was still asleep, I decided to let her be. Since I was feeling much better now, the pain mostly being relegated to a small area in my upper chest, I slipped back into my gear, picked up my M4 and went out to join James and Nat. Nat was standing beside the door, her M4 across her chest. I didn't fail to take notice of the fact that she had shed her suit, and was wearing a tightly fitted grey sweatshirt like the one Eirren did, her plate carrier over that and a pair of regular combat pants along with a normal helmet. I could see the glow faintly through the shirt and her gloves, but here eyes were as vivid blue as ever.

"What happened to your suit?", I asked.

She jumped back, initially reaching for her M4, but stopped when she realized it was me, "Oh. Sorry Arien, made me jump a little bit there."

"Sorry sister", I apologized.

"No worries, how you feeling? You looked like death when Eirren put you up."

"Like I got shot", I said, "Not anywhere near as bad as it was though."

"Good to hear", she said.

"Where's James?", I asked.

She shifted her stance against the trailer, shouldering her M4 just enough so she could reach up for her weapon light. James was perched atop a building corner across the street like a gargoyle with that Biomass crap all over him, looking like some monster fresh from the pits of hell. Nat's weapon light wasn't the whitest light, and it made the red that was on him at the house even redder than normal. We watched James turn his head towards us, then pick his radio off a war belt he was wearing.

"Get that weapon light off me", James said over the radio. He spoke with that overshadowed, creepy as hell voice that the biomass did, "I'm exposed enough as it is."

I hit my own radio, "Hot mic."

"Hot mic", Nat giggled.

"Fuck both of you", James said replacing his radio and moving out of the lights influence.

Nat turned off her light, lowering her weapon, "I can learn to live with Venom up there. But that voice? That'll never get less creepy."

"Wonder what causes something like that?", I pondered.

"Shannon was off and running earlier", Nat said, "She's got theories, spent all day going over Taylor's notes, says they don't match observations or some shit. I don't understand much medical jargon."

"I know Taylor was wrong about light causing the Biomass", I shrugged.

"Yeah, I think we'd gathered that", Nat shrugged.

"What happened to your suit?", I asked.

"Oh, It's put away under my cot in the trailer", Nat explained, "I found out by accident earlier today that I'm not giving off radiation any more. I don't quite understand why. Turn on your Geiger if you don't believe me, it'll be a church mouse."

Out of curiosity, I reached up and turned on the Geiger. She wasn't lying, it was quiet, aside from some background rads.

"Far cry from what it was", I turned it back off, "hey, how much ammunition you got?"

"Enough", Nat said, "we salvaged a good haul from those guys who attacked us last night. Made sure we left enough for you. Not gonna restock you fully, maybe get a combat load from it."

"A combat load is better than no load", I shrugged, "now, what about water, fill me in on that."

"Not much to know, we ain't got none", she shrugged.

"You guys been scheming to get more?", I asked.

"Well", she sighed, "we ran a basic recon of the town, a few points presented themselves, water tower, obviously, a few hardware and small general stores, and...."

She hesitated.

"And what?", I asked.

She sighed, "if all else fails, there's a sewage plant twenty miles outside of town. According to Ben it's flooded out."

"We're not getting water from a sewage plant", I said, "that is asking for trouble."

"If it comes down to it, we might not have a choice", Nat sighed, "we have to get water some how."

"From anywhere but a sewage plant", I protested, "we'd never get the shit out of it, quite literally."

"You have a better idea?", she asked, "because we don't."

"Any idea is a better idea", I told her.

She sighed, "I mean I don't disagree, but for how much of it we need, I don't really think we have a choice in the matter."

"And everyone else is on broad with this?", I asked.

"If it comes to it", Nat sighed, "I protested too, but they dragged me down to the bottom and beat me with enough rocks to eventually make me see that it might come to that."

I scoffed, "man I was in some pretty fucked up situations when I was living in Maine, but this? Fuck me this might be the worst."

"Yeah, tell me about it", she sighed again.

Nat and I didn't speak much after that. The next hour was spent patrolling around the trailer, making sure nothing was plotting against us from the darkness. James would check in with an all clear every now and again. It must have been about 4 or five in the morning, like an hour or so before the sun was due to come up, James came back to camp. Once he was under the covered area of the gas station, he unstrapped his war belt and threw it aside, slumping to his knees like he was doubling over in pain. The Biomass layer peeled back, underneath, James looked like death, his skin was devoid of any color, a far cry from the nasty yellow it normally was. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut and he tried to dig into the old concrete with his claws. Nat and I ran over to him. He was muttering under his breath.

"...fuckin' fire...not now. God please anythin' but this!"

"Holy shit, James what's wrong", Nat asked putting her hands on his shoulders to keep him from falling over, "James? JAMES!?"

I picked up and ran back to the trailer, throwing the door open.

"Shannon!", I yelped, "James is down!"

Shannon was up in an instant, pulled on her pants and without bothering to stick her feet in her boots or even grab her fatigue jacket, she grabbed her small hospital and ran out with me to meet James. Nat was trying to keep him from fading out completely.

"Holy hell", she squeaked when she, "what happened!?"

"I don't know", Nat said, "he came back to camp like this!"

Shannon gave James a quick look over, performing some actions I recognized, some I didn't.

"I know what's happening", Shannon said, "Gimme a hand."

The three of us together carried James to the trailer. Shannon instantly put him into bed and rifled through her medical supplies, cursing under her breath as she scattered everything around.

"Fuck!", she squeaked.

"Shannon what's happening?", I asked.

Shannon looked like she was panicking, "Whatever processes his body has to use to manipulate that biomass uses more water than it's designed to. James is so dehydrated right now that the only way we can save him is if we do a IV, but I don't have an infusion kit!"

There was a moment of silence as we exchanged glances.

"We ran a scout of the town last night right?", I asked.

"Yes", Ben said.

"Did we happen upon any vet clinics? Any clinic of any kind?", I asked.

"Two", Eirren said quickly. "a GP Clinic and a small surgery center. Shannon, what do you need?"

"I need an infusion kit", Shannon said, "at least one and any other surgical tubing, fittings, valves, everything you can get your hands on, bring it to me. I need electrolytes, salt, sugar and water. As much water as we can get as quickly as we possibly can get it. I estimate James has got about thirty minutes so we gotta get moving!"

I knew what that meant.

"Teams of two!", I said, "Eirren and I hit the Pharmacy, Ben and Nat hit the Clinic Zack, do whatever you have to do to get water back here. Once Eirren and I have everything from the Pharmacy, we'll link up with you. Let's move it!"

"Eirren, where we going?", I asked as we scattered, Eirren and I making for the Tundra, the others making for the Sequoia.

"Lifecheck Pharmacy", Eirren said as we climbed into the truck. I threw my M4 into the back, "it's in the neighboring town but if you get on main street it's a straight shot. It was seven or ten minutes when we walked it so should be a fairly quick drive."

"Good, because we don't have a lot of time", I said putting the Tundra in gear. Now, the Tundra wasn't without horsepower, I think the manual said it had about 900, but having said that the builder of this truck didn't give it go fast horsepower, he gave it pull a house off a foundation horsepower. It wasn't nearly as quick as the Ford, but was still plenty quick. We managed to close the distance to the GC in a little over four minutes and the welcoming party was already waiting for us in the parking lot.

"Five scourged", I pulled my AR out of the back, "probably more inside."

"Better than Army Remnants", Eirren pushed the door open, steadying her AK between it and the frame, sending four rounds which struck her target in the upper chest and neck. The scourged fell to the ground like a bag of wet concrete as I stepped out. Two of the four were now closing in on me, the larger of two had a big ass two by four in his hand with a bunch of metal scraps tied to it. He was the first to go, dropped like a sack of wet concrete, the same way they all did. The second hobbled past him, reached out and tried to grab at me, catching six rounds in doing so, he fell flat on his face about a foot from my boots.

"Clear left", I said.

"Clear right", Eirren answered.

I took a step forward, instantly falling to my knees from a sudden twisting pain in my sting wound. I would compare it to pulling a muscle near two or three times all at once. It wasn't the most painful thing I'd experienced, but man did it hurt. I hissed something fierce on the way down which had Eirren at my side in a literal heartbeat.

"Arien!", she yelped, "did one of them get you?"

"No, no it's that damn sting", I growled, "it decided it wanted to twist or some shit."

"Hopefully we can find you some stronger pain killers", She said helping me up, "you good to go?"

"Long as I use my handgun", I said throwing my AR over my back, "I don't think I can hold it up in this condition."

"Stay close", Eirren said, "I'll take point."

The glass door on the Pharmacy was shattered, so we just kinda walked in. The clinic was in major need of some detailing, for sure. Furniture was overturned, walls were burned and perforated, broken glass was everywhere and wires were hanging from the ceiling which was missing more tiles than it had left. Judging by the three dead scourged with single bullets through the head, it certainly wasn't a sterile environment any more. I doubted that we'd find anything of real value here, but with James getting closer to the point of no return, we had to try.

"This damn place is trashed", I commented, "that mess yours?"

Eirren shook her head and crouched down, "no...they're not."

"So we have another shooter in the AO, so lovely", I opened up my coms, "all points be advised, we have an unknown in the AO, active shooter, friend or foe is unknown at this time. Advise."

"Copy all here", Nat said.

"Wilco", Ben said.

"Got it, I'll keep an eye out", Shannon said.

"Will keep the safety off", Zack said.

"Two to the chest one to the head", Eirren said, "shots came from a full sized battle rifle given diameter, can't tell what cartridge though. I don't see any spent brass, they must have policed it."

"Knows what's up", I said, "give 'em that one."

"Is that good news or bad?", Eirren asked.

"Dunno yet", I answered, "we'll cover more ground if we split. Start at each end of the hallway and work our way towards the middle."

"We're not going to find a damn thing in here", Eirren said, "we'll just be wasting our time."

"We've gotta try. James' life is depending on it."

"Okay", Eirren shrugged, "Guess I'll start from the back and work my way forward."

We split off. It proved to be quite a chore just navigating this complete mess. Having to right the downed shelving, avoid metal spikes long enough to punch through boots and whatever other shit might have been hiding in the piles of refuse was bad enough, but for the icing on the cake, the pharmacy appeared to have been picked clean. We were spending way too much time searching this place and was looking up to call it off to Eirren when I saw her quickly stuff two large cartons, think those tall milk cartons, of electrolyte mixture into her three day bag.

"Found electrolytes, let's rock and roll."

I reached up to hit my radio, "all points, Eirren just found two electrolyte cartons, what's our situation looking like?"

"We found a few kits and some miscellaneous surgical fittings and tube", Nat answered, "we're headed back now."

"Zack, what are you looking like?"

"You sure you wanna know?", Zack asked, "from what I understand you're not exactly keen on this."

"Yeah, don't get all dramatic, just tell me."

"Water's not anywhere near as nasty as you think. I don't think there's been any actual waste here since before the bombs fell. It's an old plant, but there's no telling what might have died here since then. Problem is, there's no way we can purify enough of this shit quick enough. We can filter it yes, but to be safe we'd have to boil it. I'm not sure we could bring it to a boil fast enough or long enough for it to be viable, and even if we can there's the issue of getting it cool enough that we can put it in the IV. In short, I think we're fucked on this."

Eirren and I exchanged glances, "Wait, didn't you say you have water in your ruck?"

"Shannon, Eirren just reminded me, there's two, two liter canteens in my ruck, in the bottom of the sustainment pouches on the outside. Can you use that?"

"Sure can", Shannon said, "thanks for the heads up."

"Comin' your way Zack", I said.

"Okay, I'll sit tight, not like I can load these drums myself."

Eirren and I booked it from the Pharmacy down to the sewage plant. For a sewage plant several years after a nuclear war, the place was surprisingly odorless. Wasn't sure what I could attribute that to. Zack was standing near the fence line of the flooded plant with Eirren's make shift water pump and two 30 gallon drums beside him. He looked like he had to have fought the thing through the entire process and was down to his underwear, his kit on the hood of the sequoia to dry out. I backed the Tundra as close to the drums as I could and hopped out. It took all three of us to load those things into the Tundra and no time was wasted in peeling out once they were secure. We arrived back at camp to find Shannon waiting for us. Before I had even killed the truck, she was at the window.

"The electrolytes?", she asked.

Eirren fished them out and handed them to her and she very quickly disappeared inside. Following suit, I was treated to one hell of a sight. Shannon was hunched over a make shift work station furiously mixing canteen water and old electrolyte mix into an IV bag. She dumped it all in, shook it like she was trying to throttle someone and then screwed the end of the bag to a surgical hose taped to James' arm. A needle disappeared into his skin. James was white, almost albino looking, a far cry from his normal, sick yellow coloration. I couldn't decide what was worse, to be honest. Shannon sat back and wiped sweat off her face.

"That's about all I can do. I don't understand enough about what this Biomass shit is doing to him to help further", she sighed in frustration.

"What's his prognosis doc?", Ben asked.

Shannon sighed, "Really Ben?"

"Just trying to lighten' the mood", Ben shrugged.

Shannon paused for a moment, then replied.

"Can't say honestly. It's anyone's guess at this point, we've got nothing to do but sit back and wait."

There was an exchange of glances and a silent agreement to let James and Shannon alone for the time being. We stepped outside. Now that the sun was fully up, the day was warming quickly and if the past two days were anything to go by, even the heat wouldn't allow us a moments rest.

"Sitting' and waiting'", Nat sighed, "sounds like a plan to me."

"Yeah, me too", Ben agreed, "I'm exhausted."

"Starting' to get hot too", Zack said shedding his plate carrier, dumping his fatigues and under shirt and simply putting his carrier back on, "Hopefully that means the Scourged will stay off us."

"Wishful thinking Zack", Eirren shrugged.

"Yeah probably", Zack conceded.

"You guys set up a perimeter while I was asleep yesterday?", I asked.

"Yeah. There's six spots around the station we rotate through, only two aren't shaded. Rear guard and over watch, up on the roof of the covered area."

"Where the sun is the strongest", I sighed, "such fun. Guess that means the first run is mine."

"I set up a metal sheet with some sand on the top of it when I was up there yesterday", Ben said, "should keep the heat off you, for a while at least."

"I'm not too worried about it. How long a shift are we pulling?"

"Four hours", Nat said.

"Long time to go without water."

"Don't stay up for the four hours then", Zack said, "I'm gonna get started on these barrels, so we'll have something to drink for the next few days. We're not leaving until the tank on the trailer is full right?"

"I wasn't planing on it", I shrugged.

"Good", Zack said.

World Defense Initiative. In which five of the US Army's best Special Operators team up with five of the Taliban's most skilled soldiers to hunt down a madman hell bent on turning the world to glass with the most powerful Nuclear weapons ever created. I still remember walking out of the theater with an untouched popcorn and flat coke. Lots of Animals walked out of that one just...I think stunned is the most applicable word. It was one of the most bloody, realistic war movies I had ever seen in my life and in reality, just used a fictional madman to tell the stories of Animals both sides of a decades old war. It also painted a very vivid picture of the carnage caused on the regular populace that most Animals never thought about. Most I think assume that there's not really civilians in a combat zone. Maybe I'm guilty of that thought myself, but I digress. From the roof of the covered area, I could see for miles around, even from a prone position. At the edge of the covered area was a hide constructed out of corrugated sheet metal and make shift sandbags. It wasn't even missing the rifle, albeit, this rifle was a Remington 700, not a Barrett M107. That said, the area that this rifle was overlooking was quite similar to the one that was watched for 30 straight minutes in WDI. For miles and miles around, it was just wasteland. It was difficult to tell what buildings, or more accurately, what remained of them, went where. Piles of rubble had just been thrown around to land where they may and through it all there wasn't a single sign of life. Not even lesser insects out here it seemed, it was just the sun, the wind, and us. I was fine with that.

"Gonna be an easy day if it stays like this", I said to myself.

Easy it was. I stayed in that hide all day, only making occasional trips down for some of the water Zack was cooking, after which I promptly returned to the hide. He and Ben made several trips back and fourth to the old plant to gather what was needed to fill the tank on the trailer. Since Shannon and James were safely shut up in the trailer and Zack had said he wouldn't need my help, it just left me to watch the road, which, again, I was just fine with.

Shortly after sundown, I felt a kick on my boot. I flipped over to see Ben standing over me.

"Bro what up?", I asked.

"There been any activity?", he asked sitting beside me.

"I got noting bro", I said, "this place is dead."

"Good news. Come sit with us, Nat and Eirren are cooking."

I picked up the Remington and followed him down to the ground. Everyone was gathered around a rather sizable fire with a makeshift barbecue pit on top of it, looking fairly relaxed. James was up again, still looked like death, but at least some of his color was starting to return.

"How you doing James?", I asked.

"Gettin' there", James said, "I didn't realize I had it in me to stay with the Mass for that long. Never pulled a 10 hour before."

"How long you usually use it?", I asked sitting beside Eirren.

"Longest I'd been with it before last night was about 50 minutes", James said, "and I'd always shed it feel like like someone had wrung the water out of me like a sponge."

"You don't know how close you came", Shannon said, "don't do that again, or drink fluids or something."

"Yeah, message received", James agreed, "what's on the menu Nat?"

"Chicken soup", Nat said, "cooking a bunch of progresso canned stuff I found."

"That works."

The pot of like two gallons of soup went quickly, very quickly. Once that was done and everything was cleaned up, James stepped away for a smoke.

"So how much water do we have in the tank of the trailer?", I asked leaning back against the front tire of the Tundra.

"Enough we can all take thorough showers", Zack said, "just make sure you turn off the water when you're soaping or using shampoo. I got everyone's canteens filled too, but some how I still think we're going to run into this problem more than once. Whose to say we'll find another water source between here and Texas?"

"Nothing's guaranteed anymore", I shrugged, "our only way to guarantee water is to follow the rivers."

"That also guarantees wasteland nightmares", Shannon said, "that's not something we can afford."

"We can't afford to be without water either", Zack said, "and we can't afford to be bogged down in one place for too long should we find it."

"He's got a point", Ben agreed, "we were stopped for all of twenty seconds before we got run off."

"We'll have to figure something out", Shannon said, "quickly."

"That's a job for morning", Eirren said, "whose got first shift?"

"Arien and I will can do it, what ya think bro?"

"Fine by me, I'm all caught up on my sleep."

"That's not a good idea, you boys are the most screwed up of us all", Shannon said.

"We'll be fine", I shrugged.

"Hey, they wanna take first shift, let 'em. Not like there's anything alive out here", Ben said, "I ain't even seen roaches since we stopped."

Shannon sighed, "fine...whatever."

Benjamin put out the fire. We cleaned up the dishes and when everything was packed neatly away, the others hit their cots. I changed out my rig to shotgun pouches and took the W1200 from the Tundra, joining James near the entrance to the station.

"How you feeling?", I asked.

"Tired", James said, "still not all there from hanging with the Biomass for so long."

"I'll tell ya' something James, up until I met Nat, I would always laugh at Animals that said radiation could induce helpful mutations. You, Nat and Ben have such cool ass powers."

"Heh", James said sheepishly, "it's not a fuckin' power bro. It's a damn nightmare, there's a voice in the back of my head that only seems to want to talk to me when he's telling me I'm doing something wrong."

"Maybe it's to your own benefit", I said, "you're a Marine right?"

"Yeah?", he asked, "What of it?"

"I wouldn't want the Animal I'm sharing a body with eating crayons and sniffing glue."

"Take it back mother fucker", James hissed, "you take that right back!"

"Make me", I shrugged.

"I should cave your head in for that", James said.

"Dude I'm sorry but you should have known where I was headed when I asked if you were a Marine."

"Fuck you", James said.

"Fuck you too", I shrugged in return.

There was a pause between us.

"So, can I ask you a question?", he asked.

"Sure, shoot."

"My mate, Kai...She died overseas during the war, she was on the Chinese front with Russia", James said, "but..."

"What?", I asked, "what's up?"

"I'm thinking that Shannon's fallin' for me", James said, "and, lately I'm beginning to question if I feel the same way. I don't know that I can accurately describe the level of guilt that makes me feel. Only thing that comes into my head is what my daughter would think. What should I do?"

Yeah. Thanks for that James.

"Well", I began, pausing to pick my next words carefully, "I'd like to tell you I understand, but I don't", I told him, "I didn't meet Eirren until after the war. I understand your line of thinking though. My advice? Do what you think is right. When you've made your decision, you'll know it."

"Big help boss. Big help", James sighed sarcastically.

"Sorry dude", I shrugged, "I just don't really know what to say about that."

"I didn't think you would, just thought I'd ask", he said.

"You'll figure it out. I'll be up on the roof if you need me. What channel are you on so I don't have to shout at you?"

"Four."

I switched my radio to channel four and returned to the post I had been at for most of the day. Up here, with only the moon light, I didn't find it necessary to hide under the sniper's roost and instead decided to pull up a chair and sat down. Rifle across my chest, I gazed out across the moon lit blued desert. With no pressing issues at the moment, I went back through my thoughts over the past few days, eventually loading the memory of the black clad animals that had attacked us a few days ago into Inteligence.EXE. It struck me as odd that they just rolled up and open fired the way they did. I didn't chalk it up to them being bandits looking for a score. Some bandits I'd seen hadn't been the clearest thinking, but as a general rule, there was at least a pause between meeting and confrontation where they'd try and coerce you out of your shit. They hadn't even spoken to us, just appeared and attacked, even USAR didn't do that. They'd almost always flash their weapons, order you to turn back, or even fire warning shots to get you to fuck off. At some point, I'd have to address this with the others. Besides the now nagging question in my head, the night was peaceful. Even though I was armed with a shotgun, occasionally I'd see that slightly darker than normal shadow, or catch a momentary view of what I thought was movement and would zoom in all the way on the Nikon Prostaff that sat atop it to investigate the specter. Up until about two in the morning, all was quiet. We rotated shifts every two hours, the final shift of the night falling on myself and Ben. Until that time, these specters had all been just that, or some piece of light debris fluttering in the rather stiff breeze. Then, I spied it, the moon light glimmering off...something. I only caught the slightest glimpse of what I thought was an Animal in a window about 400 yards down range. Well out of the range of my 12 gauge, but not view of it's optic.

"Ben", I hit my PTT, "think you can hold down the fort? I wanna go check something out."

"What you got?", he asked.

I looked back at the house, "it's probably nothing, but I don't wanna ignore it. I'll only be like ten minutes at the most."

"I can handle things until then", Ben said, "other's should be up soon."

"I'll be back quick as I can."

I descended from the covered area and headed out of camp, following the road, but sticking close to the ruins in case I needed to duck out of the way of rifle fire. About halfway to the building where I had seen the specter, I picked up the scent of shark sweat. Pungent thing it was too, like the Animal hadn't made the slightest attempt at personal hygiene, or perhaps hadn't had the chance to do so. Judging by what I could smell, my specter was a female shark.

"Ben, heads up, remember when I said we had an active shooter in the AO?"

"Yeah?", he asked.

"I found her", I told him, "I'mma try and see if I can make contact."

"That's not a good idea boss, come back to base, we can go together", he said.

"Probably not, but when have I ever had a good idea?", I asked.

"Wait for me to get into position on the roof top before you do something stupid", he said, "stand by."

I crept off the road, taking cover in some old ruins, shotgun held at the ready while I waited for Ben to get into position. I kept my eyes glued to the house and my ears up, against the darkness in side the house, the moon provided just enough illumination that I saw just a quick glimpse of someone wearing NV goggles moving around in the house.

"That's not good", I hit my PTT, "Ben, my specter has NV gear, I could see the green light on her face through the window. Now she can see me just as easily as I can see her."

"Hey this was your idea dumb ass", Ben returned, "are you surprised? NV gear hasn't exactly been hard to come by since the bombs fell."

"Yeah fair enough", I said, "I'm gonna poke around and see what I can see. I'll brake off if I twinge things are gonna go south."

"10-4, proceed with caution. I've got you on scope."

I dropped my own goggles. This was the first time in a while that I had used Night Vision and though these were the same four optic tube design that the military used, these were optimized for civilian operators, balancing all aspects of the tech with price and matching durability of the military models. This, of course, meant that they employed the old green tubes, as opposed to the black and white NV that had turned me into a spoiled brat when I was in the army.

I began moving closer to the house and was navigating another ruined building when Benjamin stopped me.

"Arien, she's just around the corner, be careful, she's focused on the house but she's got a belt fed pointed at it with a launcher right next to her."

"Aight, thanks for the heads up", I whispered.

I poked my head around the corner, sure enough, there was my specter, she was laying almost scary still, focused intently on the house.

"Get over here 'fore they see you", she muttered, turning away from her Bino's to look at me.

"Who is they?", I asked lay prone by her weapon.

"Shadow Company", she said handing me her bino's, "I've been stalkin' 'em since ya'll showed up. I believe I'm your active shooter."

"Ben", I said, "I've made contact, specter is friendly. House is filled with hostile Animals of unknown allegiance. Can you get them on scope?"

"Stand by", Benjamin said.

"You've got a team right?", she asked.

I nodded.

"How many?"

"Seven combatants", I said, "two kids."

"How many feel up for a raid?", she asked.

"Ben", I hit the PTT again, "the others up yet?"

"Not yet", he said, "why?"

"Get'm up. We've got hostiles set up less tan 400 yards from camp, a little house cleaning is in order.'

"Rodger", Ben said, "stand by."

"I'm Alex by the way", the female said offering a gloved hand.

"Arien", I said accepting.

"I believe I'm your active shooter", she said, "thanks for chasing me out of that clinic by the way. I thought at first ya'll were Shadow Company."

"Sorry we spooked ya", I apologized, "what we dealing with here?"

"At least five contacts, seems like one radio operator and four armed operators, all on AK-405C's. Operators on some kind of bolt action, didn't get a good look at it. They've got the house wired up with cameras and some kind of funky motion detection, doesn't seem to work very well, I've almost gotten in a few times, it's never rang them my location."

"Even if it does work", I said, "it's not going to save them. We've dealt with far worse than soldiers carrying firearms over the thousand miles we've traveled."

"I'll take your word for it", Alex said.

We sat in silence for the nearly ten minutes it took Zack, James and Eirren to arrive.

"Someone called the Calvary?", Eirren asked.

"Sure did", I said, "found our active shooter. Turns out the hostile is friendly."

"How ya'll have managed to go under their noses I don't understand", Alex said, "but that won't last forever. We clean them now and it'll save you problems later if you need to move out of the area."

"Sounds like a plan to me", James said.

"I miss dark ops", Zack said, "lets do it."

"It'll be just like Hill 41", Eirren said.

"Sweet", Alex said.

"Okay then", I put my shotgun in my shoulder, "let's get to work."