Chapter 2:

The end… What the hell is that supposed to mean?

"So what are we going to do now? They aren't going to sell us their land, Clyde,." Justice Gat stated, staring at the Supreme Justice expectantly.

Before Justice Anvil could interject, Supreme Justice Clyde gestured to him.

"Speak."

Whenever Clyde spoke, he did so in the sonorous voice that made him into who he was now. With just a few words, he could speak paragraphs. He could have people cowering in fear or standing with pride with just a slight change in inflection. Like Justice Hammer, he demanded respect before he gave any back.

"Well I know you don't like wasting my people, but I think it's time we used them and… remove this issue." Anvil said slowly. "It may be a bit overkill, but we won't have to worry about someone seeing Hammer's people deal with the problem and cause an uprising."

"We will put it to a vote. We send Anvil's men in; yay or nay?" Clyde said, looking around the room. "Justice Cav?"

"Yay."

"Justice Case?"

"Nay."

"Justice Gat?"

"Yay."

"Justice Steel"?

"Yay."

"Justice Hammer?"

"Yay."

"Justice Anvil?"

"Yay."

"It is decided," Clyde boomed. We send Anvil's men to deal with the issue. Bring in the colonel."

A man flanked by two armored soldiers and wearing a grayish white coat walked in and stood in the middle of the dark circular room. "How may I be of help, Supreme Justice?" he said in a heavy southern accent.

"I want you to send some of your men to a town and I want them to deal with it." Clyde said without hesitation. The colonel didn't need to be told how to do his job; he served one purpose and that was "removing" problems.

"It will be done, Supreme Justice." Then the colonel turned and walked out with his men and the doors closed behind them as they left.

"Are you sure about using them, Cameron?" This came from Case, as only she would dare use his real name while they were in the council chamber. They rarely went by their real names in the chamber, because as long as they were in the House of Justice, they were different people.

"Yes, we have done much for them; now it's time we have them do something for us," Clyde said sternly.

"Yes but still, the Enclave are still quite secretive about their motives."

"I know, but we need them if we want to keep everything we have built from falling apart."

Elsewhere… on Interstate 40 john Connelly's caravan

She wasn't very talkative, but then again, having been a slave for over two years, she was probably conditioned not to talk out of turn. She was young, maybe two or three years younger than Jake. She had her hair tied in a ponytail that reached just below her shoulders. It was covered in too much grime for him to know what its natural color was. She looked to be about five foot seven and had dark green eyes. She always looked at the ground, which was normal for a slave. It was the first thing they learned after enslavement and was a less that was literally beaten into them and other times, burned. A typical slave's typical education system went as follows: learn the rules or die. This made them very fast on the uptake, though sometimes that worked to the detriment of their masters as the slaves occasionally would pick up on the wrong methods. Jake glanced back at her again. So what did she learn that would be useful?

"Hey, Jake! Get up here," yelled one of the other caravaneers up at the front of the line.

Jake grunted and adjusted his sunglasses. As a caravaneer, he was required to be a part of the group's issues. He quickly turned and snapped his fingers to get the slave's attention and when she looked up, he gestured to her to follow him. She started after him without making a sound. When they reached the front of the line, he saw John, the owner of the caravan, talking to a group of about three other caravaneers and Eli. Eli was standing off to the side with his arms crossed and appeared to be thinking to himself… or he might be praying, Jake had no idea. The man was still wearing his trench coat with riot gear body armor under it, making Jake wonder if he ever took it off.

"What's going on?" Jake asked as he approached the group.

John looked up and saw Jake, then he looked past toward the girl, no doubt wondering why she was up there in the first place. He then returned his attention to Jake. "Some wise guy set up a minefield on the road. We are trying to find someone who knows how to disable mines and, is willing to clear us a path," he said answering Jake's question. He then added, "You got anyone in your group?"

"I don't believe so–" Jake started, but was interrupted by a soft voice from behind him.

"I can."

Jake turned and saw the slave girl looking at him.

"You can disarm land mines?" one of the caravaneers asked and looked a bit shocked that not only had she said something but that she was claiming any skill with explosives. He turned to Jake. "That don't make no damn sense, Jake. How the hell would a slave know how to disarm land mines?"

"I was forced to disarm mines by my first owner."

"Show me," John said, gesturing towards the minefield.

Chloe started forward, but Jake raised a hand to stop her. "She belongs to me," he told John. "You don't get to use her whenever you want."

John looked at him for a moment before speaking. "You can keep any mines that she disarms and sell them."

"Fine." Jake turned to Chloe. "Don't die."

Chloe didn't say anything. She just kept her head down and nodded. She walked over to the closest mine, bent over it and began to tinker. After a few moments, she stood up with the mine in hand and walked over to another which she subsequently disabled. She proceeded to do this three more times. After she had disabled five mines, she walked back to the astonished group of merchants and handed the mines to Jake. She started to go back for another set, but Jake stopped her mid-stride.

"Wait a second." Jake then turned to the nearest pack brahmin and grabbed a large sack off its back. He came back and told that she would continue to disarm the mines while he would follow behind her put the dead mines in the sack. About three hours and nine large sacks of mines later, they had cleared the road enough to get the caravan to continue on its way to Oklahoma City.

Jake had Chloe sit on his supply trailer and count the mines. It was both to give her something to do and to give her a break after disarming the mines. Of course some of the others wouldn't think that she should be getting a break at all because she was a slave, so he used the mine counting as an excuse for it.

4 hours later…

They decided to set up camp outside of the ruins of Okemah. They were only about seventy miles east of Oklahoma City. Chloe had finished counting the mines, coming to a total of three hundred fifty-seven frag mines, one hundred twenty-nine pulse mines, and seventy-eight green mines that she had never seen before. She was confused when the caravaneers counted them again because they thought she was lying to them. She was accustomed to being hit when her word was questioned and found it unusual that these men didn't raise a finger. When they were done, they had the same numbers.

She now sat over by one of the five trailers. A short distance away, sitting by a campfire with a couple of others, was Jake, the man who had purchased her. He didn't look to be that old, maybe in the nineteen to twenty area. He also had short brown hair, blue eyes, and must have been around six-foot four as he seemed to tower over most of the people in the caravan. She rubbed her neck. She had an itch on her there, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get it because of the collar. When she looked back over at Jake she was surprised to see him starring at her. She was about to look away when he pointed at her.

"You, come here," he commanded. After a short pause, she got up and walked over to where he sat, keeping her head down. "What is your name?"

Her name?She was amazed that he'd even asked. She'd never been asked for her name in her time as a slave. "C-Chl-Chloe." She stumbled over the word after so many years of not saying it.

"Well then, Chloe, sit down," Jake said.

Chloe could help but look up this time. What was going on? Was this some sort of sick joke about to made at her painful expense? When she looked at him, she saw that he had moved over a bit from where he was sitting to make room for her. After a brief pause, she hesitantly sat down next to him and hugged her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. After a few minutes, Jake looked at her.

"Where did you live before you were put into slavery?" he asked her casually.

"Megaton." When he didn't respond, she glanced at him and saw the confusion on his face. She added, "It's in the Capital Wasteland."

Jake nodded slowly. "So how did you get caught?"

A tear started to form under her right eye as the memories came back to her. "The slavers…they came in disguised as small groups of wastelanders over the course of a few days. When they were ready, at dawn, they took out the guard who watched the gate and then opened it, and let a large group of raiders into the town who…" In her mind, Chloe was suddenly back in Megaton, reliving every horrific moment. She didn't even hear the words she was speaking to Jake, so vivid was the vision. They were coming through the gate, a whole hoard of evil, ugly looking men. She had to run, hide! But where? Moriarty's saloon, that would be a good place. Moriarty was always packing and the building was on high ground. She started to run, when loud bang erupted behind her. She turned and stared open-mouthed at Megaton's sheriff, Lucas Simms. He lifted a blood-soaked hand from his chest, the hole it had been covering spewing crimson. Chloe watched as he fell to his knees, then to the ground, the man's eyes lifeless before he even hit the dirt. She opened her mouth to scream, but the sound was extinguished as she was struck hard in the head. The last image she had of Megaton before everything went black was Simms' son, Harden, kneeling over his fallen father, sobbing uncontrollably. When she woke up again, she'd done so in chains. "After a few days at Evergreen Mills, I overheard one of the slavers talking about how Simms' job went to his son."

After she was done telling the story, no one in the group said a thing. The silence felt like it went on for an eternity. Then the itch came back again, but no matter what she did, she could not get to it as the collar was too tight around her neck.

Chloe felt Jake's hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump.

"Hold still, will you?" he grumbled.

Chloe heard a click followed by a beep, then she felt her neck loosen up. When she put her hand up to her neck, she didn't feel the bulky shape of the collar. When she looked at Jake, she saw him setting the device down.

"There. Feel better?" Chloe nodded slowly. "I will have to put it back on later so that the others don't get after me about it." Chloe looked into the fire and nodded again tears running down her cheek. A little while later, with the crackling flames and chirping crickets seeming to harmonize in a lullaby, she drifted off to sleep.

8 hours before: about 150 miles west…

"Well that was one way to do it… I guess," Helen said slowly, looking at the dead raider in front of them. The doomed man had a massive rock smashed into the lower half of his body.

"What? It worked didn't it?" Lana argued defensively.

"Yeah, but a bit gruesome don't you think?" Tom said slowly, checking to see if the raider was truly dead.

"You guys are too soft on this stiff. He must have killed hundreds of people in gruesome ways before this!"

"True. Still, I don't believe I've seen anybody die via raider by having his legs shot out from under him then having a boulder smash him while his left arm was being blown off. At least you didn't tell us about him until after we ate lunch," Tom said as he took what he could from the body.

"Well, he was still screaming so I thought I had time to eat before we came over to get what we needed from him," Lana replied irritably.

"I can't believe you could eat after seeing this," Tom said, gesturing to all of the blood that was splattered all around the area.

"You guys are just hypocrites. I'll be back at the trailer." With that Lana turned and stomped away.

"Sometimes I question her sanity," Helen commented.

"Me too."

"You know that's a bit rude," Helen said sternly.

"What did I do? I was agreeing with you," asked Tom.

"Don't try and hide the fact that you were looking at her butt."

"Was not!" Tom retorted defensively.

"Were too!"

"Was not!"

"Were too!"

"Oh my God, woman!"

16 Hours later

Chloe slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She remembered falling asleep, but did not remember seeing the fire sideways. It took her a moment to realize that she was lying down and it wasn't until the surface underneath her shifted slightly that figured out she had her head on Jake's lap. A couple of the men were awake and talking quietly next to the pair. Instinctively, she quickly sat up and tried to move away, but something tugged at her wrist. When she looked at what it was, she was surprised to see that she and Jake were joined at the wrist by a pair of rusty handcuffs.

The sudden move knocked Jake over, waking him up. Initially, he just laid there, staring at his wrist with a look of confusion, but after a moment, he shrugged and started to sit up. "Come here," he said calmly. "I had to make sure you didn't run while I was asleep."

Chloe was perplexed. She had long ago given up on the idea of being free again. Didn't Jake understand she had no intention of running?

Seeing that she didn't understand what he meant, Jake decided to explain. "When slaves get their collar removed, they tend to think ways. I've seen it happen multiple times."

Chloe nodded and tried to keep from looking him in the eye. Jake then reached up and with a click followed by two beeps, the unforgettable pressure around her neck returned. Jake then removed the cuffs and put them in his pocket as he stood and then went over to the trailers.

Chloe just sat there unsure what to do. She hadn't been told to do anything and nobody seemed to be looking at her, so she decided to take a look around the camp.

10 minutes later…

Jake had gotten some food and was checking some scavenging gear when it dawned on him that Chloe hadn't eaten anything yet. Feeling guilty, he grabbed a can of Cram, a spork, and a bottle of water. But when he turned to walk over to where he'd left her, he saw she wasn't there. He quickly put the items in his bag and started to look around. He couldn't find her anywhere. He ran back to his trailer and grabbed the collar tracker he'd been given when he bought her. He turned it on and when the screen cleared up, he saw that she had wandered into the town. He sighed with relief when he saw that she was just on the other side of the building they had slept next to. When Jake walked around the building, he saw her looking at something on the ground.

"What are you doing, Chloe?" he asked. She jumped when she heard him speak and quickly turned around and started apologizing for wandering off. Jake couldn't help but smile and shake his head. "Don't worry. It's alright, Chloe. Just tell me next time, okay?" he said, walking over to her. He found that she had been looking at a pile of ash.

"It was a human at one point," Chloe said quietly.

Jake turned towards her. "How did you know that?"

"I've seen it before. It happens sometimes when people get shot with energy weapons," she said, her eyes fixated on the ground.

"Can you please look me in the eye when you talk?" Jake requested.

"O-okay," she stuttered. She looked at him with her large green eyes, but only managed to hold eye contact for a brief few moments before she looked away again. She was unaccustomed to talking to people that way. Jake reached into his bag and handed Chloe the food which she stared at for a moment, amazed that she was given bothfood and water, instead of just one or the other.

They both started to look through the ruins, coming across multiple ash piles as they went. Jake used the group's "first-claim/first-search" method by painting the letters JC on six buildings to mark that he claimed them and were his to go through first. The rules were that when scavenging a town, each member of the forty-three man caravan had rights to claim a certain number of buildings to reserve for first search. This was designed to give everyone a fair chance of scavenging something good. Usually everyone played fair, though some would break the rules by claiming another building; nobody complained unless there weren't enough houses for everyone. The limit was always predetermined by Jake and a randomly selected group. Any extra houses were free for the taking. But office buildings, libraries, or any larger buildings had to be searched by a group. They had to put their symbol on it and once a sizable group was assembled, they would search and take anything of value, splitting everything they found fairly. Though some people wound up getting things that weren't expected.

This was true for the third building Jake claimed. Immediately after walking in, the first thing he saw was the machine sitting outside the bathroom. It was big and round with pipes coming from it and entering the bathroom through the floor and wall. When he walked into the bathroom he saw that the tub, sink, and toilet were clean and that there were cleaning supplies sitting next to the tub as well. After looking around the place a bit more, he went back outside to see that his trailer had been towed over, with Eli watching the Brahmin. Chloe walked past him and into the building, He decided to let her look around, and walked over to Eli.

"Hey Eli, still praying when you shoot?" Jake said, laughing.

"Yes. You still an atheist?" Eli countered with a smile.

Jake simply shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea what that means. But if it means "jackass", then yes, yes I am." They both laughed for a while.

When they stopped laughing, Jake told Eli what he'd found inside the house wasn't much and they should be done quickly. He turned and went back inside and found Chloe in the bathroom. She'd been about to turn the faucet on the tub when he walked in. She immediately backed away from the faucet looking like a child who'd been caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar. "It's okay, Chloe, go ahead," he said warmly.

Chloe reached down and twisted the faucet and she and Jake stood wide-eyed as clean, purified water came out of the faucet.