Return from Exile

Chapter 3 Lying In Wait

\"Please god, please. Don\'t let them get away with my babies.\"

\"Easy Mrs. Abrums. We\'ll get them.\"

\"If those hunters have anything to say about it. They won\'t get far.\"

\"Oh no.\"

\"What?\"

\"One of the hunters is down. There\'s the horse.\"

\"There!\" The vehicle turned slightly at the sight of the tall figure. \"And they\'ve got prisoners!\"

\"My babies!\" The woman flew out of the vehicle and ran for her playing youngsters and held them close. \"Are you two ok?\"

\"I need a first aid kit,\" said D to Warren. The man took the kit from the back seat.

\"How bad?\"

\"She\'s been slashed on her upper right thy. I can\'t stop the bleeding.\"

\"Sounds like she cut an artery.\"

\"Petilla here\'s got triage training. He can take care of that.\"

\"Thank you so much,\" said the woman, clutching her youngest to her. \"If I can help in any way...\"

\"Keep your kids here. It isn\'t pretty.\" D led the two men behind the gathered bikes, where his wife lay. Her upper thigh was bandaged heavily, but stills he bled threw.

\"Miss...\"

\"Kale, or Mrs. Tepes, please,\" she said.

\"Well, you seem in good spirits. I\'m gona have to remove the bandage.\"

\"I know. The wound is too high, or I\'d\'ve used a tourniquet.\"

\"That\'s ok. Here we go.\"

\"D, how\'s Max?\"

\"I ordered him to shut down as I rode by. I haven\'t gone back to look him over.\"

\"Is there a repair shop in the city?\"

\"Yeah,\" Petilla muttered, \"But judging from what we saw of your horse, he\'s only good for spare parts now. Ok. The muscle is good. You\'re very lucky. The bleeding is from the skin itself. No arteries are damaged. You\'ll need stitches.\"

\"Do it.

\"I haven\'t got any freeze compound. You\'ll never make it to the city.\"

\"Do you have a stitch kit?\"

\"No.\"

\"We do.\" And D was off to his horse for what was needed.\"

\"I\'ve got alcohol.\"

\"That\'s gona sting.\"

\"Oh yeah. Think you can handle it?\"

\"Yeah. Just don\'t stop, once you start.\"

\"You sure?\" She nodded and took D\'s hand once Petilla had taken the offered stitch kit. \"OK. Here we go.\" The woman\'s high scream spread out over the valley, causing a few birds to take off.

She woke some time later to see D riding Nightmare beside the Security vehicle. She then realized that she was laying in the back seat. \"Where\'s Max?\" she called.

\"Hey, she\'s awake. Warren stop will ya.\" The vehicle stopped and Nightmare sidestepped closer. \"You best stay still. The stitches aren\'t that great. The doctors at Airomat would be best to fix you up right.\"

\"Max? Where is he?\"

\"In the back love. We\'re taking him in for repair.\"

\"So he can be fixed. Where\'s Mrs. Abrums, and the boys?\"

\"They\'re behind the prisoners,\" said Petilla. \"You get some more rest. We\'re almost there.\"

\"Prisoners?\"

\"Yeah. You and your man here bagged four of the purists. Though two aren\'t in the best of condition. They\'ll live. We may actually get somewhere with them.\"

\"Good. D. I\'m really cold. I...I can smell snow...\" The last she saw was D spreading his cloak over her, and then darkness.

The lab was dark, save for the lamps that the two men used. They were special bulbs too. Softer so they wouldn\'t damage the tests they were doing. Another technician came in and set another tray of test tubes on the counter, among the already 300 that were there. The younger man sighed and stretched, then returned to his work, taking another test tube from the batch, labeling the last with a bright red sticker.

The older of the two looked up as well, consulting papers, then back to his equipment. \"Where did this sample come from?\" he asked his college.

\"Fraser said two of the gatherers came back with a knife with the blood on it. Why?\"

\"This was a child?\"

His college looked up in thought. \"No. Adult female. Said she had some interesting traits that we\'d be interested in.\"

\"Like what?\"

\"Don\'t know. What is it?\"

\"Take a look.\" The older man stepped aside to let the younger get a good look into his microscopes.

\"This...this is...\"

\"Incredible.\"

\"Impossible. There\'s no sign of...of anything. No radiation damage, no mutation, no...anything...its like...\"

\"Its like she was protected. Question is, why is she with this guy, who has got mutation all threw his jeans.\"

\"Who got a sample of his blood?\"

\"No one. But he\'s known. The Dhampire Hunter, D, or something like that.\"

\"Him? Again? Man he\'s turned up more times than enough over the years. How old is he?\"

\"Not sure. But we\'ll see what Panteck\'s got to say about this girl. He\'ll probably send some gatherers for her.\"

\"Either way. We need her.\" He watched as his senior left with his paper work and then turned back to his own work.

He thread his way threw the halls to a large room. Originally the family room of the old mansion, now converted to the conference room. \"Mr. Panteck?\"

\"Ah, doctor, you\'re just in time. Tell him, Justin, tell the good doctor why you allowed four of your fellow gatherers to be captured, to bring us that useless bitches blood! Tell him!!\"

\"Please sir. Like Laren, I thought...\"

\"Thought? You are a Dud, Justin! A useless sterile Dud! You weren\'t bred for thinking!\" Panteck suddenly drew his gun and fired, leaving a large hole in the young man\'s forehead.

\"Sir?\"

\"What?!\"

\"The blood of that \'Useless Bitch\' as you called her, is clean.\"

\"Good. We\'ll put her on the list with the others.\"

\"No sir, you don\'t understand. It\'s clean, as in there are no defects. Here look for yourself.\" The man snatched the papers and started looking through them.

\"What\'s this...\'Unknown chemical\'? What is that?\"

\"Nothing. It can be filtered out if we need her blood for medical purposes. But her DNA, her Jeans. The have nothing of what is common now. All the mutations and genetic defects that we are trying to breed out of our lines, she doesn\'t have any of it in her make up. She\'s totally human, but she\'s perfect for our purposes.\"

\"Well. I guess the Dud did right for a change.\"

\"Father,\" called a young brown haired man. \"Let me get her.\"

\"No son. You\'re our next breeder. I can\'t risk you.\"

\"Father. If she\'s to be bred to me, than I\'d like for her to know me at least. I can do this. Besides, didn\'t you say that one day I\'d have to do something for the good of our people? Let me do this. Let me prove that I\'m both strong in jeans, and cunning in mind, to lead our people, by brining in the best breeder.\"

\"You think you can do this?\"

\"I know I can father,\" he laughed, leafing threw the papers.

\"Oh?\"

\"Father, I have a plan. But I\'ll need a Dud.\"

\"Ethan!\"

A younger blond boy stepped into the room, his appearance betraying his fear of their leader, and the shock of what he saw.

\"You have one chance to redeem yourself,\" said Panteck. \"Unlike your partner here. Go with my son. You are to do exactly what he says.\"

\"Yes sir.\"

She turned once more, only the pain in her leg prevented her form rolling further. \"This really sucks,\" she cussed. \"D?\"

\"Here.\"

\"How you doing?\"

\"Managing,\" he said with effort. \"Dawn is coming. I can feel them waning.\"

\"I\'ll wait.\" As the sunlight slowly crept into heir room, the sharp pain in her thigh diminished to a dull ache. She thought about what she\'d done to save the boys, and couldn\'t believe her stupidity. \"You know, I think the leap over the cliff was the dumbest thing I ever did.\"

\"No, just the craziest. How did you know I\'d know about Snowy River?\"

\"I didn\'t. \'The Man From Snow River\' was one of my favorite horse movies when I was, well, much younger. OH DAMN! D! That third bike! One of the guys dropped a kid off it! Did Warren recover the body to find the parents?\"

\"There was no body.\"

\"What?\" She propped herself up on her hands as D left the window to join her on the bed. \"D the kid was dead. There was too much blood...\"

\"Kale. I saw the child too. But by the time we returned to recover the child, the body was gone. The cloak too.\"

\"The kid survived? How?\"

\"No Kale. There were tracks everywhere, of the desert devils. Warren and Petilla believe that there was one nearby, in a hollow, and when it smelled the blood, came out and took the child away.\"

\"Oh god. No.\"

\"I\'m sorry baby. I know you hate to see things like this happen. But there wasn\'t anything you could do. Warren and Petilla are looking for a family that lost a child. They shouldn\'t be too hard to find.\"

\"That poor kid. What do they want with kids?\"

\"I don\'t know. But it is not for us to get involved right now. We have other things to worry about.\"

\"How long till Max is fixed?\"

\"A while. Nightmare is offline too. Max took the blasts to his neck and chest. Many of his uncyberized tissues have to be replaced. He\'s blown a couple neck braces, they\'re using parts from nightmare as a base model for new ones. His power core was also severely damaged. It has to be replaced.\"

\"How much will it cost?\"

\"Everything we have left, and then some. I found a bundle of money in your saddle bags. Father\'s crest on the clip. He must have snuck it in there when we left him.\"

\"That was over a year ago.\"

\"It was in the bottom, under your socks.\"

\"Oh. I gotta wash them again.\"

\"Please do.\" She started hitting him with a throw pillow, when he pinned her to the mattress. Her green eyes sang to him for more than his playful touch. \"How long has it been?\" he asked between gentle kisses across her lips.

\"Too long,\" she whispered, arching her back to press her breasts closer to him. Then came a knock on their door. \"Damn!\" D hissed, rising.

\"Leave it D.\"

\"It could be about Max and Nightmare. This Inn doesn\'t have a phone in each room.\"

\"Damn.\"

He opened the door to find two young men standing outside. One had shoulder length brown hair, and wore a leather pant suite, the other had short cropped blond hair and wore tan pants, white shirt and a long brown overcoat. \"Are you D?\" asked the brown haired man. \"Mrs. Abrums said we could find you here. She said you could help us.\"

\"Who are you?\"

\"I\'m Presley, this is my little brother Ethan. Sort of my brother anyway. Look, Mrs. Abrums was telling us how you and the woman you\'re with saved her two sons, when the security force couldn\'t do a damn thing.\"

\"So.\"

\"Well. My little sister,\" he produced a small photo of a girl about 13 years old. \"She was kidnapped by purists about nine days ago. The security guys won\'t help. I was hoping you could.\"

\"Purists aren\'t really my field.\"

\"Well, would you try? I\'ll gladly pay. Please. No one else will lift a finger.\"

D glanced over his shoulder to Kale, she nodded and pulled herself upright and D stood aside form he door. \"Kale\'s recovering from wounds, but we\'ll hear you out in detail. Come in.\"

\"Thanks. Thank you so much.\"

The view on the binoculars got larger, and she could easily make out the men carrying struggling children from the vehicles out front, into the structure. Though none of them seemed older than 10 years. \"Well,\" she sighed. \"It\'s them. You say they disappear just before a raid by the authorities?\"

\"Yeah. They got someone on the force. I know they do,\" answered Presley.

\"D? What do you think?\"

\"Too many guards. A frontal assault isn\'t a good idea. We\'ll need a vehicle if we are to get away with your sister. The one you have isn\'t reliable.\"

\"Geese what gave you that idea,\" smirked Ethan, Presley quickly cuffed him across his brow, a stern look in his eyes. \"I can get one,\" he sighed. \"I know where they keep their armed cars.\"

\"Armed cars? How would you know that?\"

\"I posed as what they call a Dud. That\'s how we know that Jess is in there.\"

\"He\'s right. I couldn\'t get close, but he looks a lot like one of their guys, and he got right in.\"

\"Why are they all the way up here though? Its like they\'re sitting ducks. There\'s only two ways down, cut them off and they\'re sunk.\"

\"The distance to the ground,\" said Presley. \"No where for escapees or rescuers to run.\"

\"And we\'re on this little run because...?\"

\"My sister.\"

\"Max\"

\"No Jess.\"

\"Never mind. All right. Where do they keep the vehicles? Asked D.

\"Around the back. You\'ll need to stay out of sight. They\'ll know your trouble.\"

\"Ok. D, you and Ethan get the car. Presley, you and I will take out a couple of those guys in suites. We\'ll sneak in and get your sister. We\'ll meet at the side in 30. any questions? Objections?\"

\"I should go in,\" D quipped.

\"I figured, but you wouldn\'t fit in the suite. Everybody ready? Lets go.\" \'I must be crazy to storm a place like this.\' Carefully the four went to their tasks, Presley guided Kale along the darker strips, and round behind some of the larger transport vehicles. The man dashed around on and quickly subdued one of the suited workers, dragging him back, and pulling him out of his suite. The thing reminded Kale of the suites used by HAZMATT clean up crews, but the faceplate was dark, and you couldn\'t see the person\'s face very well.

\"You want me to get a guy for you?\" he asked seeing Kale hesitant to take initiative.

\"No. No, its ok\"

\"What\'s wrong?\" he asked clamoring into the suite.

\"Something doesn\'t feel right. What did you mean, that Ethan was \'sort of your brother\'?\"

\"Simple. Same father, different mothers. I only recently found out about him. Haven\'t really gotten to know him yet.\"

\"Not impressed with your dad are you?\"

\"What\'s with you? So my dad slept around. No I\'m not happy with it, but that\'s not why we\'re here.\"

\"Yeah, ok. Where\'s a guy for...Oh crud!!\"

\"What?\"

\"Those two in the car.\"

\"Yeah.\"

\"They\'re on the security force. That\'s Warren and that one, yes, that\'s Petilla!\"

\"That explains how the purists know when the raids are coming.\"

\"Also explains about the valley.\"

\"What do you mean?\"

\"Nothing. Never mind. Lets go.\"

\"Wait, you need a suite!\" Within seconds of his more than obvious statement, Kale pulled a suited worker back in a headlock letting his unconscious form slide to the ground, careful to make sure she didn\'t kill him from lack of air. \"Wow.\"

\"What? That I couldn\'t get a suite myself?\"

\"No. Nothing like that. I just, never expected you to be so...\"

\"Cut the admiration and help me will you. My leg is killing me.\"

\"Sorry.\"

Soon the two were walking back into the building with the others, carrying boxes rather than children. \"Man I can\'t walk straight\"

\"What\'s wrong?\"

\"My leg. Damn!\"

\"Hang on.\" Presley handed the boxes to someone and turno heo help her. \"Kid out there really packs a kick,\" he said to a nosey guard. \"Got him right in the knee. I\'m taking him to the med lab.\" The man nodded and let the two pass.

\"Him?\" she asked quietly.

\"You see any other women around here? Just be glad the suite hides you that well. Come on.\" He pushed open a door and sat her down on a bench inside. \"You gona be ok?\"

\"Yeah. Damn. I think I pulled a stitch.\"

\"Is it bad?\"

\"No. Hey. Hand me that clipboard.\"

\"What are you gona do?\"

\"Read the papers, numbskull. If your sister is here, this may give us a clue as to where to find her.\"

\"Oh I never thought of that. So? What\'s it say?\"

\"Cleaning schedule. But it doesn\'t make sense. Rooms T1 through T10 are cleaned every hour. But it doesn\'t say why.\"

\"I saw a sign outside. Said rooms T1 to T10 were to the left, and T11 to T20 to the right.\"

\"Well, there\'s an exit down the left side, we\'ll check out rooms T11 to T20 and work our way around.\"

\"You feel up to it?\"

\"Yeah. But man these suites are hot.\"

Slowly the two made their way down the hall to the right of the main doors, taking a moment to look over a posted floor map. Kale was right in her assumption. The two halls met at doors at the back, with connecting halls through the center of the structure. The rooms tabled T11 - T20 were mostly empty, some had people inside, adults, cleaning the floors and some equipment that neither of them recognized. They passed through the double set of double doors at the back of the building, sr thr their progress was unimpaired. For a moment, Kale caught a glimpse of a dark shadow moving around the vehicles she could see at the back, and knew it was D, but where Ethan had gone was unknown.

They passed rooms T10 - T7 and so far the rooms were empty, save for the equipment. Then at room T6 they saw some of the older children being held in front of one of the machines. An arm like affair reached out and grabbed them, lifting them off the floor. The door opened as one of the white-coated technicians left, and they could hear the screams of the children from the soundproofed room. \"You\'re early,\" said the tech. \"We\'re just starting on this batch. Go to T4, they should be done about now.\"

Presley steadied Kale, and turned her down the hall. \"Thanks,\" he said, and walked her away.

\"What are they doing to those kids?\"

\"I don\'t know,\" he answered, looking into room T5 as they passed. \"Those are all boys though. Where\'s my sister.\"

\"You two!\" called a tech. in front of them. \"We need an extra hand. Come on.\" As the two stepped into Room T4, they were shocked at what they saw. There was blood everywhere, and the bodies of several female children lined the back wall. \"Since we stepped up the operation with the new equipment, we\'ve had nothing but problems. Here, this one\'s stuck. Help me open it.\"

Kale stood back as Presley helped the techs pry open a machine. When the device let go, a little girl\'s body fell to the floor. The same little girl they\'d come looking for. \"You Bastards!\" Presley yelled, and lunged at the men. \"You Fucking Bastards!! What have you done!!\"

\"Guards!!\"

As several more men poured through the doors, Kale kicked out disabling a few in their pride. But more kept coming, and as they fought, the hoods of their suites came off. \"They\'re not DUDS!!\" called one of them, and in little time they were held captive.

\"Take them to the detention area,\" the tech ordered, and they were pulled through the halls once more.

\"I\'m sorry,\" he sighed

\"Don\'t worry about it. There\'s no way you could have known.\"

\"My sister.\"

\"I know.\" The approached the set of double doors and passed through the first pair. \"One thing though.\"

\"What?\"

\"DUCK!!\"

Quickly Kale kicked, and as instructed, her foot went over Presley\'s lowered head, and caught his guard right in his temple. Presley, released, turned and tackled her guard, as she ducked behind and jammed the doors on either side of the back entrance. \"Nice goin\',\" he said dropping the unconscious guard.

\"Lest move! D! TIME TO GO!!\"

D got into one of the cars, Ethan appearing on the other side. \"Where\'s Jess?\"

\"I\'m sorry,\" Presley announce, pealing off the suite. \"They killed her.\"

\"No! PANTECK! You said...!!\"

\"I\'d try to save her. I\'m sorry. We were too late.\"

\"Argue later!\" shouted Kale tossing the last of her suite along with Presley\'s. \"Those doors won\'t hold, and unless you missed it, there\'s more than one way into that building! D, grab Ethan! Presley, I sure hope you can drive!\" In seconds they were off, charging through a group of men sent from the side door to stop them.

\"Why\'d they kill her?!\"

\"I don\'t know.\"

\"You promised...\"

\"I promised I would try...\"

\"Did you even that?!\"

\"Stop it. This isn\'t helping!\"

\"You don\'t understand...\"

\"Jess was my half sister, full sister to Ethan. But when I found out about Ethan, I bonded more with Jess. She had less of a chip on her shoulder. I thought of her as my sister. I was hoping I could eventually say the same for Ethan, but...well...not yet...\"

\"NO! You never gave a damn about her!!!\"

\"Ethan, Shut up!\"

\"You PRICK!! YOU LET HER DIE!\" Ethan grabbed Presley and tried to drag him into the back seat. \"I\"LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!\"

\"Ethan, get a hold of yourself!\" D shouted. Suddenly a shot came through the back window, and exited the front, just as D pulled Ethan off Presley. The bullets passing didn\'t harm anyone.

\"Damn!! That didn\'t take long!\"

\"Never mind that! Drive!\"

As Presley turned around he saw another vehicle in front. \"Oh shit! HANG ON!!\"

\"Low Bridge!!!\" Another hail of bullets riddled the car as they sailed under the truck in front. Tearing the roof back, and continued on through to the other side.

\"Kale!\" Presley called, looking back over his shoulder.

\"I\'m Alright!\"

\"Good. Take the wheel!\"

\"I haven\'t been driving in years!\"

\"TAKE THE WHEEL!\"

\"All right!\" Carefully she slid her foot over the gas pedal, pressing down on it further as she pulled her self into the driver\'s seat. \"Everybody strapped in?\" she called jokingly, eyeing the many dials on the dashboard, many of them seemed dead.

\"Just keep hard to the stick!\" he called, as he pulled a gun out of the back. \"D, loose the blade, grab the gun!\"

\"I don\'t like guns!\"

\"D! Just grab the damn gun!\" she yelled, as she dodged yet another hail of shots and explosions.

\"KALE WATCH WHERE YOU\'RE DRIVING. I don\'t want you to loose us!\" called Presley, steadying himself in the back.

\"I HATE BACK SEAT DRIVERS!\"

\"KALE!\"

\"WHAT!\"

\"LOOK OUT!\" Two other vehicles appeared in front of her, trying to cut her off, but some quick turns and she\'d thread the car between the ones before her quite nicely, and onward she went.

\"EAT MY DUST!\" she yelled.

\"Where\'d you dig her up at?\"

\"You don\'t want to know,\" D answered calmly.

Again the men fired at them, the pealed back car roof serving well to block the passing of the bullets. D opted to dispense with his sword, and took out the larger of the guns. Seeking cover behind their makeshift shield, they fired back, though not having much luck with their aim.

\"KALE, HOLD \'ER STEADY!\" Presley shouted.

\"Sorry, but when I have target written on my back side, I tend not to sit still!\"

\"Enough of this!\" shouted the boy, taking the cannon like weapon. \"NOW YOU DIE!\"

\"ETHAN, NO! NOT THAT ONE!\"

But it was too late. The boy pushed the firing button, but rather than the missile going towards their enemies behind them, it shot out ahead of them, the explosive launch from the weapon sending the boy threw what was left of the forward wind shield, the rocket exploded 30 feet in front of them, destroying the road way.

\"OH SHIT!!!\" yelled Kale, as the car skidded off the road, into mid air, listing heavily and suddenly, to the left, sending D falling from the vehicle all together.

Suddenly the car started sputtering, the once dead, or inactive, dials coming to life, the steering wheel being withdrawn and a long stick rising up from the floor between her knees. \"Emergency flight mode initiated.\"

\"What?\"

\"KALE! D FELL OUT! GO AFTER HIM!\"

\"NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THIS THING SPROUTING WINGS!\"

\"Just fly the damn car! D\'s gona be a smear on the ground, if you don\'t get to him! NOW FLY!\"

\"HOW?!\"

\"Computer. Follow voice commands of pilot!\"

\"Voise command mode active.\"

\"GO KALE! YOU\'RE THE PILOT\'\'

\"SHIT!\"

\"Command not understood.\"

\"Level off!\" At once the car leveled off and hovered. Quickly she spotted D\'s cloak, fully spread, and acting like a parachute, but it wasn\'t going to work. \"COMPUTER, BANK LEFT 90 DEGREES AND DIVE! HANG ON EVERYONE!\"

Quickly Presley grabbed Ethan\'s shoulder, and pulled him back into the car, hanging on for dear life to both the boy and a seat belt in the middle of the front seat. \"SSSSHHHHIIIITTTT!\"

\"So this is it hu?\" mumbled the sym. \"It was nice knowing you D.\"

\"Hey handsome?\" D looked right to see Kale flying what was left of their car. \"Need a ride?\" Quickly D grabbed her outstretched hand, pulling himself into the back seat. Once safely in, Kale turned back to the dashboard. \"Anybody remember Top Gun?\"

\"What?\"

\"Oh no!\" muttered the sym, and cringed further back into D\'s wrist, if that were even possible.

\"COMPUTER, manual control.\" Quickly she grabbed the stick pulling it back and to the right, just blowing the dust off the top of some of the old buildings. Once asafesafer height, Presley looked around and turned to D.

\"You\'re lucky to be alive!\"

\"I\'ve nothing orryorry about as long as Kale is near. She always finds a way.\"

\"You kidding. You\'re lucky to still be alive, just DRIVING with her. She\'s worse thy fay father!\"

\"I HEARD THAT! How\'s Ethan?\"

\"Dead. Broke his fool neck.\"

\"Oh god! Get him off me, he\'s drooling on my leg!!\"

\"Baby!\"

\"Hey! Anybody know how to fly laterally forward?\"

\"Oh, come on...\"

\"I mean it!\"

\"Why?\" Presley followed where she pointed. \"Oh Shit!\" ahead were several gun ships, too many even for him to take on while drunk. \"Fly straight at them. They\'ll give way.\"

\"You sure?\"

\"99% sure\"

\"The other 1%?\"

\"They\'re cockier pilots than I thought. Fly NOW!\"

\"Ok.\" She pushed the stick forward, and the gun ships began to get larger, and closer. \"They aren\'t going to move!\" she called.

\"Yes they will!\"

\"No they wont!\" shouted D.

\"Yes they will!\"

\"Well they aren\'t!\" Kale taunted

\"You\'re right! Computer. Lateral flight, right side! NOW!\"

The car listed to the right, and as Presley pulled Ethan\'s body over himself, D threw himself over Kale, protecting her from the barrage of bullets from the gunship they passed. The shielding on the underside of the car stopping the bullets from that side. Safely threw, though the engine ta nua number of hits, Kale pulled the car upright again and raced off into the foggy mountains.

\"You are one crazy fly girl,\" Presley laughed, leaning on her shoulder. The mountains they had retreated to were high, and covered in a high layer of mist. If the gun ships followed, they would have a hard time finding them. They were actually lucky to have found thuff uff they were on. The engine had died almost in mid flight, and the last five feet to land was quite hard.

\"ME!!?\" She quickly and solidly slugged him. \"Cars I drove don\'t usually fly! You almost got us killed!\"

\"ME! I\'m not the one who fired the rocket launcher.\"

\"That\'s not the point!!\"

\"Hey, fly girl, take it easy. We made it.\"

Kale was about to protest further, till D collapsed to the ground behind Presley. \"D!\"

\"OH SHIT! He\'s been hit!\"

\"No. He just walks around rattled with bleeding holes in himself for the fun of it.\"

\"Shouldn\'t he...you know...be dead with all those bullets in him?\"

\"Get the med kit!\" she eased D over on the ground, pulling off his cloak, and raising the back of his shirt.

\"NO KALE!\" he gasped, turning from her. \"Don\'t touch my wounds. You might get my blood into your leg wound. I know it is still bleeding.\"

\"Enough, D. You need help.\"

\"And he\'ll get it, just not from you.\"

She turned as Presley shot at her, a dart landing deep in her right shoulder. \"YOU!! You set this hole thing up...\"

\"Oh don\'t worry fly girl. You won\'t mind where you\'re going.\"

\"Bastard!!\" shouted D, turning from Kale\'s unconscious form. But Presley shot four darts into him before stepping away from his path, letting D fall once more to the ground.

\"Good bye half breed. You were never meant to survive. Don\'t worry about Kale though. She\'s as pure as they come. She\'s gona be the mother of a whole new generation of purists. Hell. I may even be given the privilege to seed her. Die well.\"

\"No!....You .....can\'t...\" he watched through hazing eyes, as Presley bent over and picking up Kale. Within seconds one of the gun ships lowered from out of the mist, and with a subtle leap aboard. Kale was gone. \"NNNnnnoooo......\"