Radioactive: Chapter Seven

Radioactive

Chapter Seven

~Deoxyribonucleic Acid~

Jekyll sat at in his medical office at the hospital and typed away at his computer. It was about 24 hours since the crystal human. The DNA results from the lizard had just been processed and he had just looked in over an interpreted the results. He closed the file and was getting ready to get back to his medical practice when the office door opened. Jekyll looked up with his eyes and followed Kaiba as he walked across the room. Kiri stood at the door. Jekyll stared at the intruders for a moment before saying anything.

“May I help you?” Jekyll asked.

“What do the results say?” Kaiba asked.

Jekyll stood up, “I don’t know what you are talking about. Have you thought of getting checked by a doctor? I could have you admitted into a facility if you’d like.”

“The test results,” Kaiba turned to look at Jekyll, “I was on my way over when I got a notification that the tests were finished.”

“What were you on your way over for?” Jekyll asked, “Did you run into another lizard that tore open a gash in your stomach? Good.”

Kaiba rolled his eyes, “There seems to be something going around getting lots of people at the Tower sick. The symptoms are similar to that of a cold but are much worse. Sirius was wondering if he you could spare a few hours over there and help figure out a cure.”

“There is no cure for the common cold,” Jekyll stated, “Anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you something. But I guess I could figure out what it is exactly it’s spreading rather quickly. Have you tried telling people not to touch their faces? To wash their hands? Use hand sanitizer?”

“Yes,” Kaiba stated.

“Hmm,” Jekyll thought a moment, “You don’t recycle air, do you?”

“No,” Kaiba said, “It gets filtered first before entering the air vents.”

“Like that could stop a cold,” Jekyll muttered. He sighed, “I guess I could do some extra hours at the Tower.”

“The results,” Kaiba said, “What did the results say?”

Jekyll looked at Kaiba, “Patience is a virtue. Besides, I have to come to terms with the fact my weekend is now going to be spent working.”

“You spend your weekends working anyway,” Kiri said as an attempt to join the conversation.

Both men looked at her for a moment. Jekyll stared at her as he talked, a faint smile on his lips, “True, but it’s usually on my own terms.” Jekyll turned to Kaiba, the smile had disappeared, “The results are interesting.”

“Interesting, how?” Kaiba asked.

“Well, they weren’t able to extract any DNA from the crystal. Don’t know what we are going to do with her. Can’t make her into a necklace or anything, it’d be really strange. The lizard, the one you brought back in three pieces, was more interesting. From the looks of it, he’s DNA was altered.”

“I could tell by the way he was biting my arm,” Kaiba said with slight sarcasm.

“But he wasn’t born that way. They found several areas in his DNA that were changed entirely. He was still human but he was also a lizard.”

“But he wasn’t born that way?” Kaiba asked.

Jekyll shook his head, “No, he wasn’t.”

“How can you tell?” Kiri took a step forward with interest.

“Because the last time I checked a lizard and a human couldn’t, how shall I say it, have a baby,” Jekyll smiled at her.

“Do you know what you are implying?” Kaiba narrowed his eyes.

“Yes,” Jekyll nodded, “Someone played with his DNA. It’s not just a mutation with one or two cells but with every cell in his body. Whatever the procedure of doing so, we’re seeing something rather serious. It’s also through some speculation that he was a normal human before being turned into a super mutant.”

“Ouch,” Kiri bit her lower lip.

“I need more information before we jump to conclusions,” Kaiba walked to the door, “Come on Kiri.”

“Where are you headed off to?” Jekyll asked.

“Apparently there is someone who might be able to help with some information,” Kaiba said.

“Have fun,” Jekyll said.

“Come on,” Kaiba ignored Jekyll and walked out the door.

Kiri said a proper goodbye to the doctor and ran after Kaiba who was already half way down the hallway. She walked briskly alongside Kaiba.

“Where are we going?” Kiri asked.

“Keep your wallet close,” Kaiba sighed, “We’re going to the circus.”

~§~

“Hello! Welcome to the—”

“Island Circus and Carnival! There are plenty of thing to do! Like—”

“Games, rides, and much, much more! The next show is in 20 minutes! Watch us preform!”

A group of triplets greeted the coming guests at the main gate. They stood at the gate and waved at the coming people. The sign above the opened gate was large and friendly looking. A mechanical clown waved at the visitors with a large smile on its face. The words Welcome to the Circus were arced in large letters around the clown.

The three triplets all wore a different color. One wore red, the other blue and the third wore yellow. All three looked like trapezist with their sparkling clothing of their respective colors. Each sister had their hair up in a similar bun decorated with a net of sparkling gems.

Kiri followed Kaiba through the gates. She waved to the three girls at the entrance as her companion ignored them entirely. Kiri hurried to follow Kaiba through the busy streets between the tents. She bumped into a circus performer. The young man apologized with a slight bow. His red hair was long and shaggy up to is back.

“My apologies,” he said, “I hope you aren’t hurt.”

“I’m fine,” Kiri said, looking around for Kaiba.

She tuned and caught up with him. Kaiba walked through the center of the Circus where there was an outdoor elephant ride. The elephant tamer was covered in tattoos including his bald head. He did have a patch of hair at the back of his head that was drawn into a ponytail.  He spoke in a foreign language to the elephants and they did as they were told. Kaiba walked past the line of people for elephant rides to the area beyond. This drew a curious side-glance from the elephant master.

They walked to the back of the circus where the wagons and trailers were located. The staff that was getting ready for the performance in the large blue tents looked up from their work and scowled at the intruders. Kiri walked faster to walk alongside Kaiba.

“Maybe we should have asked permission,” Kiri suggested, “They don’t seem happy to see us.”

“I don’t have time,” Kaiba said, “Besides, we’ll be in and out before they can do anything.”

A large man walked into their path. He carried a large hammer with both of his hands. A woman in a blue outfit and small blue top hat on her head sat on the man’s shoulder. She didn’t look happy.”

“Are you lost?” she asked.

Kiri looked around and noticed that they were slowly being surrounded by unhappy faces. She clenched her fists, reading herself for a fight.

“No,” Kaiba said, “We know exactly where we are going. Who might you be?”

“I’ll be asking the questions!” She jumped down and snapped her fingers, “Get them!”

The man drew back his arm and struck them unconscious with the hammer.

Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Seven

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Seven

~Game~

After the Fall

“You are getting on the bus,” Chaud’s voice was serious and strained.

Amber crossed her arms in front of him and scowled, “No!”

“Ouch,” Hina muttered over to the others.

Zara and the others sat at a table outside. They watched as Chaud and Amber had an intense argument. Chaud was telling his sister to go onto the bus with the others so they could be kept safe. However, Amber wasn’t having any of it. She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to help and keep an eye on her brother. The others stayed out of the sibling rivalry. It seemed obvious that they both inherited a strong will from their parents.

“You aren’t staying here,” Chaud pointed at his sister, “Once we finish up this little issue, I’ll come and get you and we’ll get off the Island.”

“Well, there is a little problem with that!” Amber stomped her foot on the found, “Because I’m not going!”

“Arrg!” Chaud groaned, “Why don’t you just listen! I’m older than you so just do what I say!”

Amber put her arms on her waist, “Oh, so you’re playing the age card now?”

“What? No!” Chaud looked at her, “Just do what I say! That is all I need you to do right now!”

“No!” Amber glared at her brother.

“Ooh,” Hina muttered, “Outright defiance! Neither side is willing to give in!”

Chaud put a hand on his forehead, “Okay, what can I do to get you to get on the bus?”

“Interesting,” Naru said, “He tries a very diplomatic negotiation. Let’s see how this turns out.”

“Nothing!” Amber yelled, “You aren’t getting me on that bus!”

“Denied!” Hina laughed. “That has to hurt his ego!”

Chaud crouched down to meet her eye to eye, “If you get on the bus, I will buy you whatever you want after all this is over for the rest of my life.”

“Bribery!” Hina exclaimed.

“Has he been forced to stoop so low?” Naru said.

Hina looked at her brother, “Are you kidding? I’m amazed that he didn’t try that first!”

“Usually he’s a lot less obvious about it,” Naru responded.

“True,” Hina agreed, “The question now is, will she accept?”

“I would,” Naru said quietly.

Hina nodded, “We all would.”

“I wouldn’t,” Zara said.

“Right,” Hina looked at her skeptically.

Amber narrowed her eyes, “I don’t want anything you offer! I am not leaving and you can’t make me!”

“She has a will of steel,” Naru stated.

“I would have done it,” Deontay said, “I could have gotten a private jet.”

“Private jet?” Hina shook her head, “On the first year I would have gone all out and asked for an awesome car!”

“I’ve always wanted one of those high-rise apartments,” Naru said.

Vicky shrugged, “I don’t really want anything. I’m happy with my apartment, my car, and am more than happy to travel commercial if I need to air travel. I’m pretty content right now. At least I was. Still. I’m very happy right now.”

Everyone looked at Vicky. She shifted awkwardly under everyone’s gaze. Kew was unsure about what was going on looked at all of her friends. Chaud and Amber continued their argument while the others continued their silent shunning. Vicky smiled sheepishly.

“I mean, I’ve always wanted a rock garden,” Vicky twiddled her thumbs, “It’s kind of expensive. Right?”

“Anyway,” Hina looked at the two siblings again.

“Fine!” Amber stormed off toward the bus, “I hate you!”

“Fine!” Chaud shouted back, “See if I care!”

Naru sighed, “It seems we missed something important.”

“Dang it!” Hina pouted, “Thanks a lot Miss Goodie-Two-Shoes!”

“Sorry,” Vicky said quietly. Kew kewed trying to defend Vicky from all the negative energy he was sensing.

Amber walked onto the bus pushing past Fang and Shadow. Fang rolled his eyes and sighed. He walked onto the bus with Shadow close behind. Shadow simply smiled and followed after Fang. The caravan started to drive away as Chaud stormed back in to the resort.

Zara got up and ran after him, “Chaud! Wait up!”

Chaud got to the door and turned around, “What!” He sighed and tried to get a handle on his anger and irritation, “Sorry, look, I’m just not in the mood to talk right now.”

Zara shrugged, “It’s alright. Just wanted to say that what you did was the right thing. She’ll understand when this all blows over.”

Chaud looked at Zara, “I know.”

Zara crossed her arms, “You still owe me that pizza.” She walked passed him into the resort, “Come on, I’m starving.”

Chaud couldn’t help but smile, “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.”

<<<>>> 

Dante yawned as he lay on the hood of a pickup truck. He put down the binoculars that he was using and stretched. Dante sighed. He then turned to look over the edge down at Ai. She sat with her arms around her legs by the front tires of the truck. Reassured that he knew where she was, he returned to his reclined position.

“So Ai,” Dante said, “how should we go about this?”

“So it’s true,” Ren said from the back of the truck, “Ai is the one who comes up with the battle plans.”

Dante looked over his shoulder, “Shut up.”

“What are they up to now?” Ai asked.

“Uh,” Dante looked into the binoculars again, “Looks like they know we’re here. They’re moving out.”

“Let me see,” Ai raised her hand for the binoculars. She brought the binoculars to her face and looked out. For a moment, Ai looked in them then handed them to Dante, “They aren’t leaving. They are just moving the civilians. Our target is still there at the resort.”

“He is?” Dante asked, “How do you know?”

“Is the girl with him?” Yin asked as she walked up, “They may keep her with the civilians to keep her out of harm’s way.”

“We don’t have to worry about that,” Ai said.

“They are keeping her at the resort?” Ren asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Ai stated.

“Then they are keeping her there,” Yin concluded.

“I never said that either,” Ai looked at the taller woman.

Yin bent down to eye level with Ai, “And what is that supposed to mean little princess?”

“Hey,” Dante looked at her out of the corner of his eye, “Leave her alone. We have more pressing matters.”

Yin looked at him, “More pressing matters? What could be more pressing than getting a hold of the girl! If this is about your bruised ego and that boy then you’ve forgotten why we were hired in the first place!”

“Hey!” Dante sat up, “I’d like to tell you Ai and I have figured things out!”

“Wonderful!” Yin said with sarcasm, “Care to share?”

“It ain’t any of your business!” Dante said, “We’ll get the girl! You just need to worry about sticking to the plan!”

“What is going on!?” Zathura walked up, hands on her hips, “You two are making enough noise to wake up the dead! Or worse give away our specific location!”

“Just a disagreement on tactics,” Yin stated.

“A tiff?!” Zathura shook her head, “You both were about ready to rip each other’s heads off!”

“How about we all calm down?” Sanya walked up. “Let’s just go over the plan that we have, okay?”

There was an uncomfortable silence as Dante and Yin reluctantly agreed. Dante looked down at Ai, “You want to start princess?”

“We need everyone to be a distraction while Dante and I go after the target,” Ai looked at Yin to see if she was going to interrupt. Though it looked like she wanted to, Yin didn’t say a word. Ai continued, “First we are at a disadvantage since we have to cross a large area with limited to no cover. They will see us before we see them and will likely go for an overwhelming assault. Just try to get to the resort as quickly as possible. Once we get there, the odds will even out. Fortunately there are only going to be about 15 people we need to fight. The civilians were moved like we predicted. Unfortunately, the ones that are left are Others and will likely use Blue Gold.”

“So we’ll have to deal with some new powers,” Ren smiled, “That sounds like a grand time.”

Ai continued, “I’m not sure how many vials they have but I assume that they have two per person. Better to overestimate than underestimate.”

“As we learned on the Panama mission,” Zathura muttered.

Dante looked at her, “I thought it was agreed we never ever talk about the mission at Panama.

“Sorry,” Zathura said quietly, “keep your trousers on.”

Ai sighed, “When we get to the resort, it is everyone’s job to keep everyone busy and distracted while Dante and I finish off the mission. Once Dante and I finish, we will give the signal. At that point, everyone retreats. We’ll meet again at the designated location three days from now. Same thing if we were to fail. Once you see the signal, scatter and regroup. For now, get some rest, we attack early tomorrow when the sun is at our backs.”

“Her highness has spoken!” Ren said over dramatically.

“And what she says goes!” Sanya smiled.

Zathura shrugged and turned around, “I wonder if Dante and Ai really come up with the plans together. I get this vibe that she makes things up on the spot.”

Yin followed her, “I happen to agree.”

“Hey!” Dante called, “It’s a joint effort! I contribute to the plans! I’m not as stupid as everyone would like to believe!”

Ai said nothing but she nodded. She stood up and brought the binoculars to her face. Ai looked out at the resort ahead of them. She stayed like that for several moments before slowly putting down the binoculars.

“I’m getting rather tired of this game,” she said to no one in particular, “I think it’s time we put it to an end. Let’s see who is going to win this little game.”

Iridescent: Chapter Seven

Iridescent

Chapter Seven

~Rock…Paper...Scissors…Kew!~

After the Fall

Vicky woke up covered in the tiny neuws. She lay against the female adult neuw and the adult male lay beside the female. Light streamed in from the cave entrance. The fire had gone out sometime in the night so the inner part of the cave was dark. She just lay against the warm body of the female. As the night wore on, it seemed like the female adopted her as her child.

The male stirred and got to his feet. He walked toward the entrance and looked around. A deep purring sound came from his throat. The small neuws stirred awake and the mother got up as well and shook out the sleep in her body.

“Kew!” the little runt cried as his siblings pushed him off of Vicky’s sweater.

It seemed time that the neuw family to move on. The family met at the mouth of the cave. The mother seemed to make sure all of her children were present. The little runt sat near Vicky and looked up at her. The father purred deeply as if calling the little one to follow.

“Ke-kew!” the neuw said.

The mother’s ears stood up. She walked closer and nudged the little runt. She purred gently as she rubbed her nose against her youngest. The mother then nuzzled Vicky as well. She turned and walked back to the family. The other siblings waved and said goodbye at sporadic intervals. The father waved his tail before walking down the steep slope. Soon they were gone.

“Kew!” the grey neuw looked up at Vicky.

“You’re staying with me?” Vicky asked.

“Kew-n,” the neuw walked over to her bag and started eating a piece of jerky.

Vicky shrugged and started packing her things that had been thoroughly explored by the small curious neuws. She packed the five vials in her bag along with the jerky. Her two axes each had a makeshift holder on her belt. She attached the shuriken to her left arm with something she put together. It served as a kind of shield if necessary but could also be easily detached if she needed it. At the moment, the blades were together basically lining her arm serving no purpose at the moment. The ice tool was strapped to her back underneath her back pack. She threw on the hood of her sweater and headed to the mouth of the cave.

“Kew!” the neuw ran up her leg and snuggled under her hood and beside her neck.

“Hey! That tickles!” Vicky smiled.

The neuw peeked his head out, “Kew!”

“Is that your favorite word?” Vicky asked.

“Kew!”

Vicky sighed, “You probably don’t know what I’m saying do you?”

“Kew!”

“Well you need a name, don’t you,” Vicky said, “How about Kew?”

“Kew! Kew! Kew-r!”

Satisfied that Kew seemed to like his name Vicky set out. The mist was heavy like suspended droplets of water just hanging in the air. Vicky dropped down. She slid down the mountain until she had a firm footing. Vicky looked around. She was unsure about where she wanted to go but figured that if she kept moving the answer would be clear soon enough.

Vicky breathed. She decided to head south to see what she could find and then pop back up north. She brought her ice tool and continued south.

“Kew!” Kew exclaimed.

At least she would have some company in an otherwise quiet mountain journey.

<<<>>>

Naru crouched in a tree. He glanced over his shoulder at the others. Kumo was crouched on a branch behind him. The two sisters traveled on the ground. Hina disliked tree travel and Chou didn’t want to leave Hina by herself. She spotted her brother in the trees and waved at him.

“Let’s go, Slowpoke!” Kumo stated, “If you don’t remember we’re trying to keep moving as to avoid unwanted contact.”

“Maybe you forgot that we’re also trying to keep quiet?” Naru tuned and jumped to the next tree.

He grabbed the branch and pulled himself up in a single easy motion. Naru led the way north east to Sandrock Gorge to one of the natural bridges. Their goal was to go as deep into the wilderness as they could. They had excellent survival skills and could live comfortably in the wilderness away from the city. That was the plan anyway. It would also entail not killing Kumo when Naru had the chance.

Naru scouted ahead up until the start of the fields. He sighed. It was going to be a lot harder to travel unseen in the fields. Fortunately, they didn’t have that much farther until the nearest land bridge. It was still a great distance but it was close enough if they were careful.

Kumo stood beside him and looked out at the flat land. Except for a few small hills and the occasional tree the fields were like a gold and brown ocean. He crossed his arms.

“Are we going or what?” Kumo asked.

Naru jumped down the tree and onto the grass. He led the way into the fields. The first few hours went on uneventfully. The trees of the forest faded behind them. In every direction they looked was just more fields. It was hard to tell how far they walk or what direction they were walking in.

“Do you really know where you’re going?” Kumo asked, “Maybe I could lead the way for a while?”

“And get us more lost?” Naru glared at him.

Kumo shrugged, “Like you know where you’re going.”

“At least I’d keep us out of the ocean,” Naru muttered.

Hina rolled her eyes, “Are you at it again?”

Naru looked at her, “At what again?”

“You can’t be at each other’s throat all the time you know,” Hina put her hands on her hips.

“We aren’t always at each other’s throats,” Kumo stated.

“Argh!” Hina slapped her face and groaned.

The three of them argued as Chou looked around to see if she could find a landmark to regain their bearings. She determined that they were going the right direction. It would be better in the long run if they walked north until they hit the gorge and follow it until they reached the land bridge. She looked in the distance and squinted.

“Guys,” Chou looked back at the group.

“Don’t talk to my sister like that,” Naru said.

Kumo narrowed his eyes, “I think your sister can stand up for herself, don’t you think?”

“I think so,” Hina raised her hand.

“But she’s still my sister,” Naru insisted.

Chou squinted. A cloud of dust rose in the distance.

“I think we should run,” Chou said, “Run!”

That got the others attention. Chou led the way and ran north toward the gorge. Naru looked over his shoulder and saw the growing dust cloud. It drew closer and the hum of motorbikes hung on the air. They were quick on their feet and strong in their endurance. But no matter how fast they were they couldn’t out run the coming motorists. Naru looked over at his sister. She gripped her chains tightly. Kumo’s metal nails clinked together as he ran and Chou held one of her fans in her clenched fists. At least this group knew how to fight.

“Do we have a plan?” Hina asked.

“Basic defense positions?” Kumo said.

Naru looked back, “They’ll likely circle us.”

“On three?” Chou asked.

Hina looked confused, “Wait! Like on three? Or like one…two…three…turn?”

“This isn’t Rock-Paper-Scissors! There is no ‘shoot’!” Naru stated.

“It’s a reasonable question!” Kumo sided with Hina.

Hina nodded, “See!”

“Fine, on ‘shoot’!” Naru said.

Chou started, “One…two…three…”

“Turn!” Hina cried.

The group stopped running and formed a circular defense as the motorcycles caught up with them. Hina and Naru had their back to each other just as Chou and Kumo did. Naru drew and arrow as the motorcyclists formed a circle around the group of four. There were six bikes all together and eight people. They laughed and jeered at the group as the kicked up dirt. Eventually they stopped. The leader was a big man with a big beard. The woman sitting behind him had big hair. Altogether, they were meant for each other, Hina thought.

“What do we have here?” he asked his crew.

“Looks like a couple of lost kids, boss,” a man with a long narrow nose laughed.

The leader nodded, “Well, that’s just sad. Should we help these kids out?”

A man with big muscles nodded at Chou, “‘Specially, that little lady ‘ore there.”

“Hey, just leave us alone!” Hina let the chains on her arms hit the ground.

Chou opened her bladed fans, “Get closer if you want to lose a finger!”

“Oh, ho, ho!” the leader laughed.

“I don’t like her shoes, Bob,” the woman on the back of his bike said.

Another woman on the back of another bike looked at her, hand on hip, “You don’t like anythin’, M.”

“I don’t like you either, B,” M said.

Kumo spread his arms out to either side and sighed, “Do you guys have to listen to their earsplitting voices all the time? Why not throw them out already?”

M brought out a gun, “Why I outta—”

Thin string wrapped around her weapon and the gun was pulled from her hand. Kumo threw out his hand sending more strings to wrap around the woman’s arm. She was pulled off the bike. The gun that was in her hand, Kumo now held it tauntingly.

“You should know better than to walk into a spider’s web, Miss Fly,” he said.

“Bob!” M cried, “Do somethin’!”

Bob glared at the group of four, “You won’t get away with that!!”

Bob pulled out a loaded shot gun. Kumo’s thin threads wrapped around the barrel of the gun and pulled it away from him. Hina used her chains and used then to detain the man. She pulled with her might sending him flying into another man.

The man with muscles got off his bike and ran at Chou. He had brass knuckles on his hand and he tried to punch her. Chou dodged his slow movements easily. She spun; her fans were like deadly blades. The man raised his arms to protect himself. Chou turned and cut at his leather jacket and occasionally striking his metal knuckles creating a sudden ringing that caused him to step back. She kicked him in the stomach when he was exposed and he fell to the ground. Chou closed one of her fans and used the blunt end to knock the man out.

Naru fired an arrow at the man with the long nose. The man dodged and covered his head. Naru purposefully missed and ran up to the man. He struck the man in the jaw with his bow. Naru hit him with the bow again in the side of the head knocking the man onto the ground unconscious.

Another man charged at Naru. He threw a wild punch at Naru. Naru ducked and used his bow as a club on the man’s foot. He turned and struck the man in the stomach with the flat part of the bow. The man doubled over and Naru struck the man in the back of the neck.

A man with a scar on his face ran up and grabbed Hina. He wrapped his harm around her upper arms preventing her from using her chains. Hina fought viciously, kicking, screaming, and trying to hit him with the back of her head but he was just out of her reach. Naru turned and notched an arrow but he couldn’t get a clear shot. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kumo. Kumo looked at Naru a moment before charging at the man with the scar. The man brought out a gun.

“I’ll shoot her, I swear I will! I’ll shoot her!” he screamed at them.

Chou raised on of her fans over her head and threw it. The bladed end grazed the man’s hand that was on the gun. Startled he dropped the weapon. Naru fired his arrow. The man saw it coming and stepped back to avoid getting shot at the angle. Hina lost her balance and fell. To not get pulled down, the man loosened his grip on her and she fell to the ground. Kumo ran up to the man, now exposed.

“You seem to like scars,” Kumo said, “Let me add a few more!”

Kumo slashed at the man’s face. He kicked the man in the stomach then when the man was doubled over he kicked him in the jaw. The man fell in a heap unconscious. All four looked at the remaining member. The girl called B held a hand gun. She awkwardly dropped in and raised her hands in the air.

Naru looked around. The bikes seemed loaded with loot. There seemed far to many bags for just the eight of them.

“Where were you guys going?” Naru asked.

The woman shifted awkwardly, “I don’t know what ur talkin’ bout.”

“You’re pirates on wheels! You rob groups of people like us and leave. Where were you going?” Naru asked again making sure she saw his bow and quiver.

She sighed, “We heard there was a caravan in the desert goin’ round trying to help people where they could, women, children an’ men alike. Bob ‘n M thought we’d rob ‘em nice people. Figured they’d have a lot a loot.”

Naru looked at Kumo, “We’ll take two of their bikes. Let’s try to find this caravan.”

“You sure?” Kumo asked.

“It’s in our destination,” Naru shrugged, “Might as well check it out.”