I walked through the woods, my sword on my left side and my bow and quiver hanging on my back. I would have a gun with me but according to Monroe Republic laws, having a gun would be pentalized by death. My white blonde hair swayed gently in the air as the breeze whispered through the leaves. Branches and twigs crackled under my weight as I pushed forward. Traveling all the way from Philadelphia to Chicago was a long trip on foot. I should explain why I'm walking over a thousand miles on foot. Fifteen years ago, a blackout wiped out all the electricity in the entire world. Cars didn't work. Airplanes didn't work. Phones, computers. Nothing worked. Not even batteries. Out of the ashes of this new world, the Monroe Republic rose up. Rebels rose to fight against the Monroe Repbulic not liking the new laws they had set out. I was a bounty hunter before the blackout started. A decent one, but not perfect. But after the blackout, I had some training and I turned into a damn good assassinating bounty hunter. I was now on my way to my do my last hunt. Without any resources, it made hunting a little harder but I had a special way of getting people to talk. I was coming up to a train track when metal clanging filled my ears and stopped me in my tracks. I listened as the noise continued. Sounded like swords being bashed together. I treaded carefully out of the woods and onto the train tracks to see a medium height man with a curvy body fighting another man with sandy brown hair. The one with the brown hair had his back to me but by the way he was fighting, I knew exactly who he was. I smiled to myself as I went around the other side of the train car and appeared on the other side and snuck on the medium height man as I pulled out my sword. Once I got close enough, I wrapped my arm around the man and pressed my sword up against his throat as I peered over his shoulder as the other man who was staring at me wide-eyed. My smiled grew as I stared into his bright, brown eyes. They were brighter than I had remembered them. His eyes used to be heavy, sunken and dark.

"Hello, Miles." I smiled at him.

"Talia, what are you doing here?" Miles questioned him. I put on a fake frown and gave him the puppy dog look.

"Oh, Miles, do I have to have a reason to see you? Can't you just be happy to see me?"

"Oh, believe me, I am. Now, can I have him back, please?" I grinned and shoved the man towards Miles and as the man stumbled forward, Miles slammed his fist into his nose, knocking the man out cold. Miles picked him up by the collar of his jacket and pressed the tip of his sword to his throat. Just when he was about to slice the man's throat, a female's voice sounded. A young woman with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes came running up towards Miles.

"Miles." The woman called to him as she ran up to him and grabbed his arm trying to pull the sword away from the man's throat. "Miles, stop."

"What?

"He's unconscious."

"He's a bounty hunter. Probably not alone, either. Area's crawling with them. Like ants." I pretended to look hurt.

"Well, jeez, Miles, glad to know how you think about me." I snapped. The young woman peered past Miles at me as a chubby man and another woman walked up to us.

"Who's that?" The young woman asked Miles. "How does she know you?"

"I'll explain after I kill him." Miles growled, his eyes burrowing deep into the bounty hunter's face.

"Okay, so what- you're just gonna murder him in cold blood?" The young woman questioned him.

"Yeah, Charlie. That's the idea."

"Miles, please don't." Miles stared at the man for another moment before he put his sword back into his sheath with a sigh.

"It's, like, one day into this trip. You're already a pain in the ass. All right. Come on, Talia. Help me get him into a boxcar. We gotta lock him up." I helped him lift the man into a boxcar and closed and locked the door on him. I sighed and turned back to the group who were all looking at me questioningly. "This is Talia Ramirez. We're old friends. That's my niece, Charlie. That's Maggie. And that's Aaron. Now that we've made introductions, you mind telling me what you're doing here, Talia?"

"I heard you were in Chicago and I decided to stop by on my way to Pennsylvannia."

"Why are you going there?"

"To collect my brother. Thought we would head south."

"Did the militia take your brother too?" Charlie asked me. I stared at her for a moment.

"Not necessarily."

"Monroe has her brother. We're on our way to get him." My smile grew.

"What a hero." Miles glared at me. "Mind if I join you? After all, we are going to the same place." Miles sighed.

"Why the hell not? We gotta pick someone up first."

"A hitchhiker?"

"And what do we call you?"

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We walked into a small farmer's market with a man yelling at the top of his lungs about how God turned off the power. I scoffed and pushed through the crowd following closely behind Miles.

"Great, they're having a sale on heroin." Aaron muttered. On the edge of the market, there were a couple of militia soldiers beating a guy to the crowd.

"What that man do?" Charlie asked.

"It's the militia." Maggie said, like it was obvious.

"Could be just from breathing wrong." I said as Charlie hurried forward to catch up with her uncle.

"Danny's riding with guys like that and we're-" Charlie began to say but stopped and looked around. "What are we doing here?"

"Told you." Miles said. "I need to talk to someone."

"Miles, wait. My little brother's out there somewhere. He hasn't been more than five miles away from home since he was a kid and it's my job to look out for him."

"If you want to see him again, we're gonna have to go up against Monroe himself and a couple thousand of his men. I can't do that alone. I need help and my help is here. Be right back." Miles turned to leave but Charlie stopped him.

"Where you going?" Miles groaned as he turned back to Charlie.

"Uh, this little place called shut up and stay here." Charlie sighed and turned to me as Miles left.

"Did he always have this attitude?" I laughed and hung my head before looking back up at her.

"You have no idea." I said. I turned my back to her and looked around the market. It was Charlie's small voice that caused me to turned back around and see a man holding a knife to her throat. Three more men surrounded as and I sighed. "Really?"

"Come with us or I'll slice her throat open." The man sneered. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Whatever." The men lead us up a flight of stairs and through a carvan to a room to see Miles talking to the bounty hunter that we had trapped in the boxcar on the tracks. Miles looked at each one of us and sighed as he looked back at the bounty hunter.

"Yeah, I don't know them." Miles said.

"Really?" The bounty hunter questioned him. "They were walking around the train yard with you.

"So? I met them yesterday. I've been trying to bang the british chick."

"Then you won't care if I slice them open." Miles didn't say anything. Charlie began to fight against the man as he attempted to slice her throat.

"All right! All right! Let them go." The men stepped away from us and I looked at them, planning my attack and all the ways I could kill them. Miles looked at me and shook his head, obviously knowing what I was thinking." Miles took off his belt and tossed it to the ground.

"Miles." Charlie said and Miles glared at her.

"Not a word." The bounty hunter handcuffed Miles and led him out the door with the men behind him. I stood there and checked my nails for defects.

"Are you going to go help him?" I held up my hand and counted down from five. When I got to one, people yelling and glass shattering sounded downstairs. I smiled and rushed out of the room and down the stairs. I reached the bottom of the steps just in time to see Miles snap the bounty hunter's neck. Unfortunately, so did Charlie.

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We sat around the fire in silence listening to it snap, crackle and pop as I tried to pick the locks on Miles's handcuffs.

"You know, it was probably all my fault." Miles said. "Yeah. It was, I blame myself."

"We made it out okay." Charlie said.

"Mm. Yeah. That went like clockwork." I picked the lock on his left wrist and moved to on to the right wrist. "Charlie, the next time I tell you I want to kill somebody, let me kill them. She's gonna get herself killed." I broke away the handcuff from his wrist and tossed it aside. "Thanks." Miles got up and put his jacket back on.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm learning my lesson. I'll meet you in two weeks. Main street in Lowell, Indiana. You got that?" Charlie stood up in protest.

"No, wait. You're leaving?"

"I got to go get Nora. We need her." I stood up from the ground and looked at him.

"Nora Clayton?" I questioned him.

"Yeah." I grabbed my jacket and backpack and went to his side. "You're not coming."

"The hell I'm not. Nora's an old friend." Miles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You were never good at following orders." I smirked at him.

"Never have. Never will."

"Who is this woman anyway?" Charlie asked.

"She's really good at blowing stuff up." Miles explained. "And we can't get Danny back without her, trust me."

"Miles, please, let us come with you."

"Hey, you dragged me out here! Lowell, Indiana. Two weeks." Miles and I turned and walked into the welcoming darkness of the woods.

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Miles and I walked side by side in silence until dawn. I was so happy to be in his company again and there were so many questions I wanted to ask him but I had higher priorities to attend to first. It was Miles to speak up first.

"You weren't passing through Chicago were you?" Miles asked me. I knew there was no point in lying to him.

"No."

"You came all the way from Philly?"

"Yep."

"Why?" I opened my mouth to answer but a branch snapping somewhat behind us stopped us in our tracks. I took the lead and backtracked around the sound with Miles behind me. I stepped lightly and avoided any twigs and branches. I crouched low to the ground and peered through the trees to a clearing with a playground that was overgrown with vines. Beside the swing set, stood Charlie, staring at the ground. I sighed and straightened up and pointed to Charlie. Miles's face hardened as he stepped into the clearing and walked up behind to Charlie. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around. "Damn it, Charlie. You're killing me. What are you doing here?"

"I'm coming with you." She protested. I smiled as I walked by Miles and Charlie.

"Now who's the one who can't follow orders?" I smirked and Miles glared at me before looking back at Charlie.

"I told you I would come and find you." Miles reminded her.

"Not good enough!" Charlie said. "You need to let me come with you!"

"Look, I get it. You want your brother. You've been abundantly clear on the subject."

"No, you don't get it. You need to let me help, okay?" Her voice started to crack towards the end of her sentence.

"Why?"

"Because it's my fault, Miles!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I took care of Danny. After my mom died, it was me. He gets these asthma attacks. So I had to watch him. I wouldn't sleep for more than an hour at a stretch, checking on him- ten times every night just to make sure he was still breathing. I didn't let him out of my sight. . . until the day that they took him, because I was off pouting like some brat. And if I was there, maybe I could have stopped them. Maybe my dad would still be alive. Maybe Danny wouldn't be off scared and alone. And if he gets sick, they're not. . . Miles, I can't sleep. You got to let me help. I can't just sit there and wait." Miles hung his head and lifted his eyes up at Charlie, trying to decide what to do. If he let her come, it'll just make my job a whole lot harder. She'll make bringing down Miles a lot harder.

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I trudged along through the woods behind Charlie and Miles trying to plan out my move. I had to make my move before we got to Nora. She would make it close to impossible to do anything. I stopped and placed my hands on my knees.

"Talia?" Miles called to me. His footsteps got closer to me and I reached for my sword and once he was in range, I pulled out my sword and swipped at feet trying to knock him off balance but I was wrong. I mean, it was Miles Matheson. Not many people can beat him in a fight. "Talia!" I ignored him and swipped at him again but only to take a step back when he pulled out his own sword and counteracted it. I ducked under his blade and ran to his back and before he could turn around, I threw all my weight into his back to knock him to the ground, knocking his sword from his hand. I quickly grabbed his arms and pinned them behind his back and wrapped his hands up in rope from my belt. I kept all my weight on his back to make sure he wouldn't go anywhere.

"Wow, Miles, I expected more of a challenge." I said.

"Let him go!" Charlie's voice sounded to my right and I looked up to see her pointing her crossbow at me. I sighed, knowing that she didn't have the guts to kill me.

"Charlie, I don't want to hurt you, but so help me, I will put you down like a dog." I warned her.

"Talia, what are you doing?" Miles panted through the dirt. "Why are you doing this?"

"You don't understand. I don't have a choice. If I don't bring you in, Monroe is going to kill my brother."

"Talia, I can help you. I've helped you before. Let me help you again. You said it yourself, we're going to the same place. We can kill two birds with one stone." My fingers lingered on the rope that was bounding Miles's wrists together, deciding what to do. You could never trust Monroe's word anymore. It would be more wise to let Miles help me. I reluctantly untied Miles and let him up. He rubbed his wrists while he turned to me. "Now, do me a favor. Don't ever attack me again or I'm gonna have to kill you." I gulped but didn't change me expression.

"Then, do me a favor. If I do attack you again, give me a challenge or I'm gonna have to kill you."

"Deal."

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We trudge further into the woods south of Chicago for about another hour when a male's voice yelling orders sounded in the distance. We stopped and I glanced at Miles questioningly. The man continued to shout indistinctly in the distance and we snuck through the trees and looked down a ridge to see soldiers ordering a group of people who were strugging to pull a helicopter. The people looked skinny and filthy. You could see the muscles struggling to pull. I searched frantically through the group for Nora.

"Crazy son of a bitch must actually think he can get the power going." Miles said.

"Who?" Charlie asked.

"General Monroe. And if he does. . . imagine what he can do with one of those."

"What'd those prisoners do?"

"Most of them probably just didn't pay their taxes." I answered as a man dropped to the ground. When he fell, I saw Nora right behind him. "There's Nora." One of the soldiers began yelling at the man to get up and when he didn't, the soldier on the horse shot the man in the back. Charlie covered her mouth to stop her gasp in shock.

"I'll tell you something- I might be good with a sword, but I got jack squat against a rifle like that." Miles muttered.

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Miles and I waited in the treeline, watching the torch's light flicker against the soldier's face as he looked around at the prisoners sleeping on the ground. Everyone was asleep, except for Nora. She was sitting up, watching the soldier. In the fire light, I could make out her medium height and lean figure with coffee colored skin. Her black hair was in a messy bun and her dark grey eyes stood out. A tapping sound came from further down the treeline and the soldier went to go investigate it. Once he was gone, Miles and I walked around the helicopter to where Nora was sitting. Miles knelt down behind Nora and gently placed his hand on her back.

"Buddy, I'd keep your hands off if I-" Nora began to say but stopped herself when she turned to see Miles and me. Miles pressed his finger to his lips to keep her quiet.

"Hi." Miles whispered.

"Miles? Talia?" Miles reached for the cuffs on her ankle but Nora stopped him. "No. Get out of here.

"These aren't even locked."

"Cause I picked it. Now go." Miles yanked the cuff off Nora's ankle and pushed her towards the treeline and we ran into the woods to meet up with Charlie.

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"Thank you so much." Nora growled at Miles as we crouched in the trees and peered out over the camp. "I didn't want to be rescued, Miles. And I sure as hell didn't need to be."

"Wow." Miles said. "You could have fooled me. You were on a chain gang."

"On purpose."

"Yeah, but- wait. What?"

"I got arrested on purpose. Give me some credit. I'm working a job."

"What job?"

"The sniper rifle. I'm stealing the sniper rifle."

"You went through all that trouble for a rifle?" Charlie asked.

"Who the hell is this?"

"I'm his niece."

"You have family?"

"Most people do." Miles said and Nora turned her attention back to Charlie.

"And, yes, the rifle is more than worth it. The militia controls all the guns. So a beauty like that on the black market- priceless. I was gonna sneak up, slit the warden's throat, take the gun, but now sneaking's kind of out."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?"

"You weren't. You were supposed to keep the hell away from me. Remember?"

"Things are different now."

"Like how?" Miles sighed but didn't answer. "Like how, Miles?"

"Like me." Charlie said. "He's here because of me."

"Meaning?"

"The militia took my brother and he's gonna get him back."

"Seriously, what's you angle?"

"No angle." Miles said. "This is for real, Nora. And I want you to come with us. You owe me."

"Oh, for that amazing rescue?"

"You know what for." Nora sighed.

"Okay. But I'm getting that gun first."

"You're never gonna get close to that rifle, not now, not without him shooting you with it."

"You want me help? We're getting that gun."

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Miles and I leaned against the side of an old abandoned shack watching Nora build a makeshift gun out of a pipe from the sink.

"Not exactly a colt .45, but it'll do the trick." Nora said.

"You're gonna shoot the warden?" Miles asked. "With that?"

"Yeah, Miles, that's the idea."

"That thing only works from a foot away. How are we gonna get close enough?"

"We'll sneak up."

"In broad daylight?" I inquired. "Nor, they know what you look like and they'll kill Miles and I on sight."

"So I'll do it." Charlie offered and Miles stopped and mid-chew of his snack bar and glanced at her. "Some innocent girl lost in the woods. I can get close."

"I like her." Nora smiled. "I like her a lot."

"Don't get too excited." I sighed. "She becomes a pain in the ass rather quickly."

"Forget it." Miles objected.

"It's a good idea, Miles." Nora said as she walked over to Charlie. "She just takes out the warden. And you, Talia and I sweep up the rest."

"You can't do it."

"I appreciate the concern, but I-" Charlie began to speak but Miles interrupted.

"No, no. I mean you actually cannot do it. You will choke."

"I won't."

"You, who bitched about me killing somebody in cold blood, you're just gonna walk up, shoot somebody in the face for a sniper rifle?"

"It's not about the rifle. And it's not about you or her or her."

"Really? What's it about?"

"The thirty innocent people down there who are working as slaves. And it's insane to me that none of you have even mentioned it. What the hell's wrong with you?" Nora, Miles and I exchanged glances. "So what do I have to do?"

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I sat on a branch right above one of the soldiers, ready to launch my favorite attack. Charlie came out of the woods with her crossbow in her hand and stopped in the middle of the camp sit as the prisoners were about to start another day of pulling the helicopter. One of the soldiers took notice of Charlie and yelled at her for her to drop her crossbow. Charlie dropped her crossbow and held her hands up in defense as the soldier came running at her.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I was just hunting."

"What the hell are you doing?" The soldier questioned her.

"I was hunting. I got lost." The soldier grabbed her roughly by the arm and yanked her forward.

"Hey!" The warden yelled at his soldier. "Take it easy. Bring her over here." The warden sat on top of his horse, with the sniper rifle in his hands. The soldier escorted Charlie over to the warden and stopped just in front of him. Let's see if Miles was right. Let's see if she really does choke. "So you're lost, huh? I know the area pretty good. Where you from?" Instead of answering, Charlie held out her arm and set the miniature gun off on her arm, shooting the warden right in the sternum. I smiled to myself as the warden dropped from the horse. The soldiers began yelling at each other and as Charlie grabbed for the sniper rifle, the first soldier grabbed her and got on top of her. She held the sniper rifle between her and the soldier trying to push him off of her. The soldier below me was about to go help but I dropped from the tree and landed on the man's shoulders. I grabbed his head and snapped his neck, feeling the bones pop beneath my finger tips. Two more soldiers began to fire at me and I rolled to the ground and pulled out my sword. I stood up and charged at the first one, ducking under his gun and going around his back, slicing my sword through his uniform and the blade cutting through his skin like butter. I smiled at my work as the other soldier pulled out his sword and charged at me. Our swords banged together, the rattle filling my ears. But the noise didn't distract me, it only powered me. As he swung his sword at me again, I pushed his blade out of the way with my sword and as he stumbled forward from the loss of balance, I brought my sword back up, slitting his throat and watching the blood pour out like a waterfall. A gunshot sounded to my right and I turned to see Charlie had shot the soldier on top of her with the sniper rifle. I went over to her and helped her up, putting my sword back in my sheath as Miles and Nora walked up to us.

"You know, you two didn't have to come." I said. "I could have done it all myself."

"You enjoy killing a little too much, Talia." Nora said as she took the rifle from Charlie. I looked past Nora to Miles who was staring at me. In his deep brown eyes, I could make out a hint of concern and guilt.

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While Miles and Nora attended to the prisoners, I walked over to Charlie who was sitting on the edge of the helicopter.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, sitting down beside her. She didn't answer me. She just continued to stare down at her hands. She just killed two people in the last hour. That must be taking a toll on her. Miles walked over to us and knelt down in front of Charlie.

"Hey. . ." He said. "Okay, I got to hand it to you. You did good." Charlie finally looked up at her uncle.

"Did good?" Charlie asked him.

"Yeah. All these people are free."

"I killed two men today. Maybe that's not a big deal for you. Maybe it's another Monday or whatever, but it is to me. We shouldn't have to do this. Things should be. . . I don't know. . ."

"You are. . . very unusual."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's not an insult, Charlie." Nora exhaled sharply to the right and we turned to see her with her back to us and her shirt off as she tended to a cut on her side. To the side of her right shoulder blade was a small American flag tattooed on her back. "Oh, son of a bitch." Miles groaned and got up and stormed over to Nora with me on his heels.

"What?"

"When did you get that?" Miles inquired as he poked her in the back right on the flag.

"Just relax." Nora said.

"You're not selling that sniper rifle, are you? You're gonna give it away to the resistance."

"Everyone changes, Miles."

"You joined the rebels? You?"

"What do you mean, rebels?" Charlie questioned him as Nora put her shirt back on.

"A bunch of deluded, bleeding-heart-"

"Patriots- trying to bring back the United States." Nora corrected him.

"They will lynch you on the spot for this, Nor." I tried to explain to her as I knelt down in front of her.

"Maybe. Or maybe I'll take out General Monroe first."