Ryan Cawdor, a tall man with curly brown hair and only one eye, was piloting the war wag across what used to be Arkansas, if the maps were correct. Krysty Roth, a tall woman with fiery red hair that seemed to move of its own accord, sat next to him, using the muty senses taught to her by Mother Sonya back in her home vill of Harmony. J.B. Dix was going through the monotonous, yet relaxing task of cleaning his guns, and counting ammo. J.B. was thin and a cheerful cynic, with glasses and a weathered fedora. His knowledge of blasters* rivaled even the best traders. Katie, a small mousy girl with brown hair and thick wine rimmed glasses, was in the barracks, curled up with a good book, resting her knee after a run-in with some muty ants.
Her boyfriend, a brown haired, green eyed boy named Dean, was sitting on Jak's hammock, trying to teach the boy some grammar. Jak was a 16 year-old albino from the Louisiana swamps. There weren't any arguments that were prone to the 2 boys, so Katie put her book down, and pulled up the small quilt that was at the bottom of her bunk, roll ing over, and started to drift off. But as she was almost asleep, she heard a voice, drifting across her consciousness, one that she had heard many times before.
'You must tell them, Daughter.' Katie's eyes snapped open, but the voice did not speak again or continue. Katie's eyes drooped again, and she fell into a deep, dreamless, slumber. Katie woke again to a sharp jerk and Ryan's shout of "Fire blast!" Katie was up in seconds, through the curtain, and sprinting down the hallway. She was in the drivers hull a few seconds later, stumbling.
"Was up? 'Nother muty attack?" From what Ryan had heard, Katie was nothing like this before she was frozen, but Deathlands had changed that. It always did.
He smiled like the father he knew he had become for the young girl, and said,"No Katie, I just missed the turn to go get Mildred in Lubbock. Remember, she was the Baron's wife's mid-wife? Well, the baby's doing good, so her work is done."
Katie yawned, leaning into Dean, who had just walked in behind her, and hadn't announced himself. Ryan wondered how she could do that."Oh, well then, come on Dean, lets go tell J.B. Later, Ryan." Katie walked out, still leaning on Dean, saying that "No,I'm not going back to bed, I'm gonna hang out with Ryan." Dean cut in, quieter than his girlfriend so Ryan had no idea what he said. Katie replied:"No, Dean. And yes I am taking the big quilt! You can deal with out it-and me- for 3 hours. Besides, I probably won't see anything anyways, so I'll be back soon."He heard her giggle slightly, and knew that Dean had started grumbling again. He heard knocking then, and Katie's excited squeal, so he figured they had told J.B. the news, and he knew that it would be relaid to Krysty. He turned when he heard the slide of the door, and saw Katie standing there, quilt around her shoulders, looking like a lost goddess, and then, she collapsed.