Hooray! Another update. Thank you guys for all your support and positive reviews. I'm glad that it is enjoyed this much, because you know that I had a ton of fun writing it. Comment and review, although a PM is preferred with criticism, so we may discuss it in depth.

Dawn broke on the crest of the horizon. I woke up sore, after sleeping on my backpack. And the groans I heard a few feet away made it seem like Blaze didn't sleep much better than I did. Blaze and I were both strung out, only catching a couple winks of sleep after finding a little hollow to bed for what was left of the night. We had gotten a fair distance from the valley where we had spent the last couple days and we finally decided that we were safe to stop. I was still a little shocked at what happened. Miles had seemed so nice, but he was going to turn us over to be executed. I still couldn't help but feel bad that for the Sawlites, knowing that an attack was inevitable against them. But that was their problem. I couldn't just hand Blaze and myself over like that. I did feel bad for the Sawlites, but Miles treated it like he had no other options, when he did.

"Let's get moving." Blaze said, up and ready to go. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and standing up. I threw my backpack over my shoulder and picked up my bow and we walked off, continuing south. We walked most of the morning, and it wasn't until mid day approached that we finally got clear of the wooded area. We were on the edge of another small town, in a backyard of a one story house.

"How about we find a place to rest? Eat something? We missed breakfast?"

She replied, "Sure." We cut through the yard and into the back of the house. The door was falling off the hinges and the house looked to be in serious disrepair. But inside, it seemed to be in decent shape, although it was not an unusual scene, kitchen tore through in search for anything of value. There were two ways, left and right.

"I'll go right." I said and Blaze nodded, and broke off down the left hallway. I walked right and found a locked door. I rolled my eyes and reached into my backpack and pulled out my lock pick. It was a little tool I designed myself. It was made up of seven different lock picks and a couple torsion wrenches, all folded into one convenient tool. Looking to find the right pick, I heard a crash down the hall behind me. It made me jump and turn around.

Blaze poked her head back around the corner and said, "Sorry." I smiled and went back to what I was doing. I found the right pick and after a little working, I heard the lock turn and the door unlocked. I stood up and opened the door, a dining room.

"Who locks a dining room." The room was untouched, there was even a thick layer of dust on all the surfaces. There was a table in the center of the room, and old chandelier, and a couple of alcoves: One had a stereo and the other had a locked cabinet. There was a door on the other side of the room, so I walked over. This door also locked from the inside, so I only had to turn the lock on the knob. I opened the door to walk into the living room. I saw Blaze, sitting on the couch, whose legs had long since collapsed and disintegrated.

"Find anything?" I asked.

She shook her head. "A bedroom that's been tore through and a bathroom that's been completely stripped."

I sighed. "I found a locked cabinet, but I wanted to see what you found first." I motioned for her to investigate with me, which she did. We went back into the dining room. I decided to be blunt with this, so I took out my knife and slid it in the crack between the two doors of the cabinet and flipped the lock open. I opened the doors and saw it to be a fully stocked liquor cabinet.

"Well , well, what have we here?" I said, jokingly. Blaze even laughed a little. I started perusing through the stock. "Looks like this person was fully stocked: vodka, whiskey, gin, rum, wine, and the like."

Blaze added, "This will be worth a lot. Could trade for supplies for winter." I looked over my shoulder at her. She shrugged. I smiled and shook my head. It was strange though, like she was planning for us, for winter.

"I saw a bag back in the bedroom. We can take this stuff with us." And then she walked out of the room, to go fetch a bag. I started to pull the stuff out of the cabinet when Blaze returned with a burlap sack and started to load them in. We must have had at least twenty bottles of the stuff. We went back into the living room and sat down on the decaying couch. The front room was tore up pretty bad. There were some empty bottles of alcohol and the front two windows were smashed in and the door had been taken off its hinges. There was an armchair in the room as well, and it was in even worse shape than the couch. There was a fireplace, but it looked to be sealed up.

"What food do you have?" Blaze finally inquired.

I replied, "Not much that I keep on me. I have some salted meat wrapped up, but I like to keep some spare for when I hit a bad streak hunting."

She nodded, "Ok, anything else."

I rubbed the back of my neck and took off my backpack, searching for some food. "Uhm...I have some dried beans, fruit that I picked, some spices..." I looked at Blaze, who seemed less and less hopeful. "...and this bag of nuts." I pulled out a quart size bag of assorted nuts that I kept with me whenever I came across some nuts in the woods. Walnuts, peanuts, almonds, and some other nuts that I found. Her eyes didn't light up, but she was pleased to see some food. I took a handful from the bag and then offered it to her. She took the bag and I watched as she picked out all the peanuts she could find.

I gave her a strange look and when she saw the look I gave her, she smiled and said, "What? Peanuts are my favorite."

I took the bag back and said, "Well their mine too, but that doesn't mean I only take them." I resealed the bag and put it back in my backpack.

"So what next?" Blaze asked as she chewed on a peanut.

I replied, "Well, I guess we should keep heading south, maybe we'll run into a group of friendly people. And escape the cold."

She nodded. "Good, but I mean like what do we do for food. I mean like, do we have a regular source."

I shook my head, "Not really. I mean, I've never had trouble eating. Winters get a little scarce, but I usually have no trouble getting food. It may not be regular, but I always find something." She gave me a condescending "Mmh-hmm"

I replied. "Well ok, what did you have in mind." I said it more as a joke though.

She replied, "I'm a pretty good scavenger. I had a fishing pole before those three guys captured me. I was hoping you had something better."

I shrugged. "We'll be fine. Hopefully we can trade this stuff..." I made a motion to the bag of liquor. "...and then we shall eat graciously."

No sooner had I said this, a voice from the door said, "I'll make a trade with ya." Blaze and I both looked over to see a bull standing in the door. Blaze and I both reached for swords on our belts. The bull reacted by putting up his hands,

"Whoa there Jack and Jill. I'm not here to fight. I was just hoping to make a little trade concerning your uhh...alcohol." Blaze and I removed our hands from the handles of our swords and I motioned for him to come in. The black haired, mountain of a being strolled in and flopped down on the remnants of the armchair. His fur was unkept and he looked kinda mean. He had scars on his face and a ring in his nose.

I spoke first, "What do you have to trade?"

He took off his pack and started going through it. "I have some salted pork, mess kit, knives, pain killers, arrow heads, and...this salt." He set the stuff out in front of us and motioned for us to browse. Blaze motioned for him to look in the bag of bottles, which he right ahead did. He didn't have much for us. We knew he'd want to much for the pain killers, of which I already had. I didn't need salt, I had plenty. The arrow heads he had were of poor quality, we both had a mess kit. The salted pork and the knives were of interest.

I whispered into Blaze's ear. "I'm thinking for the knives and the salted pork, three bottles."

She whispered back, "No go on the pain pills and salt."

I replied, "Nah, he'll want to much and I have both in my bag." She pulled her head away and nodded.

The bull finished his browsing and said, "See anything ya like?"

I replied. "Yeah, the pork and knives for three bottles. Your choice."

He pondered for a moment and said, "Tell ya what. Because you both seem real nice, deal." He reached in the bag to take his three bottles and I grabbed the salted pork and knife set.

He sat back up, three bottles of whiskey in hand and said, "It's nice to meet some sensible people once in a while." But when he sat back up, his sleeve fell and on his wrist, a large "W" was burned into his skin.

I recognized it instantly and said. "You have a brand. Where from?" I already knew the answer. Anyone that ran with him got that brand, to show loyalty. That was the brand of William the Badger, aka Wild Will. He was feared across the lands and the monster that took my family.

The bull replied, "What? This ole thing? I used to be a member of Wild Will's gang. But I bugged out about a year ago."

I inquired more, keeping a straight face and picking up one of the knives to examine it, "Why'd you leave?"

He replied, "The old bastard was getting soft, so I left. Why? Is that a problem."

I was now floating the knife with my psychokinesis. "No, not a problem at all..." And, without hesitation, I used my powers to run that steel blade through his forehead.

Blaze jumped back in shock and I stood up, taking the stuff he had laid out. "Keep your knife you filthy son of a bitch." I said before walking to the door.

I stopped in the doorway and said, "Take the rest of the stuff and lets get out of here."