Ch.2

Katie woke to the all-to-familiar ceiling of the wag. She tried to sit up, only to be pushed back by warm black hands "Katie, lay back. You've had a major panic attack, and you need rest." Mildred's voice was relieved, and worried. Katie lowered herself to a half laying position, Mildred had no problem with this, and let her be.

"But Mildred!" The girl protested, "I had one of my serious flash headaches! You know that means that somethings gonna happen!" Katie stared up at the black woman, eyes full of worry and turmoil. Mildred stared back, eyes and expression impassive.

Katie broke her stare, eyes turning away to look for the red leather glasses pouch she knew Dean had been so kind to put her glasses in. You had to be careful with glasses in the Deathlands, because they were extremely rare. Katie sighed as she put her glasses on, looking decades older than her age of 15."Well, now would be as good a time as any. Mildred? Can you bring Dean in here please? I have to talk to him." Mildred nodded, wondering what she needed Dean for. Then she stopped, because you rarely saw Katie without Dean. They were each others ties to the past, each others the time her musings were done, Mildred had opened the drivers hull. She relaid Katie's message to Dean, and the boy was off, down the hall, and through the curtain. He looked around, noticing that her bunk was empty. Then he felt all 105 pounds of Katie slam into him, giggling. He wrapped his arms around her, knowing she would fall over if he didn't.

"Hey you." He said. He easily carried her over to their bunk, laying her down and then following curled together, chastely kissing every once and awhile. The silence was comfortable, until Katie broke it.

"Dean, I think we should tell them. Its getting harder to hide. They would have found out eventually, especially since we're on our way to Snyder." Dean was shocked to see that his Katie, calm, collected Katie, was stressing out,it was getting worse by the second.

He grabbed Katie by the arms,making her look him in the eyes."Hey, HEY, Katie, look at me. Look at me." He saw Katie's deep chocolate eyes,the color enhanced by her closeness."If you want to tell them,then I'll be behind you. Never, ever doubt that I won't be, o.k.? Now, when's the last time you meditated?" Dean looked down his nose at his girlfriend, knowing that she would answer ANYTHING to that look. Dean leaned down at Katie's mumbling asking, "What was that Katie?"

Katie sighed,saying, "Ugh, fine, A month, ok? I know I've been needing to, but We've been too dang busy to even contemplate relaxation!" She leaned against Dean,at his insistence, tapping into the relaxing feeling of Earth surrounding her. But suddenly, her sense of calm was broken by the sound of gunshots. Katie took the gold hilted hunting dagger from under her pillow, and made sure her gun was in its holster, all with in the span of 3 seconds. Then, with more ease than she should have, she fazed through the back of the wag, directing Dean to watch the door so no one could steal the large vehicle. Following the sounds of gunfire back about 6 yards, she found about 30 corpses, and 3 men with automatic rifles. They were spraying round after round at Ryan and his friends, and Ryan and the others were out of ammo, and Jak's throwing knives were far to thin to last against 30 rounds a second. One of the men turned, swinging the rifle to point at Katie after seeing Ryan nod at her. Katie's knife was in his forehead up to the hilt, his gun not even making a full rotation. Katie winced. She'd have to shoot at the other men now, she couldn't pull the blade out when it was that far in, Dean or Jak would have to, 'Well, crap!' she thought. Katie silently pulled her semi-auto uzi, set it to single, and put on the silencer. She pulled the trigger on the second man, the shot going a little low and piercing him in the middle of his neck. She shot at the third man, and the bullet hit home. Katie got up from her crouch, groaning. She heard the others running, and their congratulations. She smiled, wiping sweat from her brow. "Thanks ya'll. Now come on, lets see if Dean handled his end o.k."

"Dang!" was the first thing out of Dean's mouth."That was short. Katie throw her knife?" Nods from everyone." Jak get it out of the dudes skull for her?" More nods.

"Katie finally shoot straight?" This question got an indignant shriek and a whap on the arm from his girlfriend, illiciting chuckles from most of the group. They climbed into the large vehicle, heading off again.