Don't look now...it's another update. Comment and review, but PM is preferred.

"What the hell was that?!" Blaze yelled, running to catch up with me. I had already made my way across the street and out-of-town. She was laden down with the bag of alcohol and the bull's stuff.

I replied, "I'll tell you later."

She caught up to me. "No, I want to know now before I spend a night asleep near a sociopath."

I replied, "I'll tell you tonight. The day is young too for stories. I wont hurt you, but I do need you to trust me. If you knew what Wild Will did to me and my family, you would understand."

Blaze retorted, "I know who Wild Will is. He's bad, but that's no reason to kill someone who used to be a part of his gang." I didn't say anything after that. We walked the rest of the day, neither of us saying a word. We finally settled by a creek for the night and set up our camp. We still hadn't said a word and communicated through body language only.

Blaze was going through his pack and finally broke the silence, "Besides the stuff he had set out for us, it doesn't look like he had much." My back was turned to her, facing the river.

"What did he have?" I asked.

She replied, "Looks like a moldy old blanket, a canteen, another bottle of whiskey, and some more salted pork."

I replied, "Put the whiskey with the others, I'll fill the canteen, and light a fire so we can have some dinner. That pork looks real nice." She did what I said, tossing me the canteen. I went down by the creek to refill the canteen. I wasn't sure what I was going to tell her. I did kill that guy in cold blood, but he deserved it, they all did. I resealed the canteen and walked back to Blaze, who had lit a fire and was unwrapping the salted pork. I sat down, now facing her, but she didn't look at me. The silence was awkward, but I knew Blaze wanted answers.

I finally broke the silence. "You want to know why I killed him?"

She looked at me, now with interest. "I was hoping you would explain."

I nodded, "Yeah, it's not a memory I enjoy recalling." She set the pork on the tin plate down and gave me her full attention. I sighed before saying, "Ten years ago..."

FLashback

I was in our tent, reading, like my mother told me, like I did every day. My mother was cooking dinner and my father was sharpening some tools. This calm scene was shattered by the sound of a bow twang and the thud of a body hitting the ground. I heard my mother scream my father's name. I poked my head out of the tent and saw three men: a goat, a squirrel, and a badger. All three looked disgusting. The goat and squirrel attacked my mother. But the badger saw me and ordered the goat after me. I went back in the tent and he reached in to grab me. He got a hold of my shirt and I bit his hand. He yelped and tore the tent wide open, and now grabbed me with both hands and threw me out. Now on my hands and knees, he kicked me again. The squirrel came to help while the badger held my mother. One held me while the other kicked me, though I do not remember which. My mother screamed and pleaded with them to stop. Their beating on me halted and they dragged me by my hair to a nearby tree to tie me up, next to where my father lay dead, arrow straight through his chest. I was then forced to bear witness to the badger and then the goat and finally the squirrel all take turns with my mother, who was helpless to defend. After they finished having their way with her she laid on the ground, broken, and I watched as the badger triumphantly stood over her and then drew out a sword and ran it through her throat. He now came over to me and knelt down to my face. "Do you want to die?" he hissed at me. I was so furious, I spit in his face. I didn't know that I just spit in the face of Wild Will. He then struck me on the face with the back of his hand, and spit right back in my face. He then took a large knife off of his belt and ripped my shirt open. He then proceeded to carve a large W into my chest. The three of them ransacked the camp and burned it to the ground, and left me tied to that tree. But what he didn't count on was my psychokinesis. I had only been practicing a little, but I focused on a knife my father was working on. And after a couple of minuets, I was able to float the knife over to me and use it to escape my bonds.

End Flashback

"I've been on my own over since, but I have hated Will for what he did, and anyone that is or was allied with him was just as bad and would receive the same end." Blaze's look of horror was softened when I finished the story.

She took my hand and said, "I'm sorry that happened to you."

I sighed, "There's nothing anyone could have done. I'll understand if you don't want to stay with a wreck like me. Half of this is yours if you want to go."

She shook her head, "No, no I understand now. I'm staying."

I smiled and nodded, "I saved you because my mother was a cat. And I couldn't bare to have it happen to you"

She looked at me, not surprised at all, "I joined you because you're the only person to ever take the time and help me; the only person to ever care about me."

I replied, "Well of course I do, you're my friend, right?"

She laughed a little, "You're so naive...but I like that about you."

From then on out, Blaze and I grew close. We became best friends, and partners in this wrecked world. We continued south and our luck improved. We came across a group that was happy to trade for our alcohol. We got a bow with arrows, food, spices, cloth, and utensils. I also offloaded some of the pills I had found back when I first met Blaze and traded them all for a compass. A couple months went by and winter began to set in. The trees lost their leaves and the air grew even cooler. Food became scarcer, and while I never had trouble feeding myself, now there was two of us. So, in greater need for food, I taught Blaze to shoot a bow. Blaze was a natural with a bow, almost as good as me, even though she said she never used one before. I taught her how to hunt and she was good at it. She had a natural patience about her, and hunting suited her well.

I also began to feel different about Blaze. She was very pretty, not something I haven't noticed before. But I realized how well our personalities complimented each other. We made a great team. And, naturally, I began to fall in love with her. Love was something that was almost forgotten in this world. People didn't know what the word meant anymore. I had seen my parents, and that's how I knew what love is. Caring for someone, beyond the levels of normal friendship. Wanting to, not just spend time with someone, but to share life with them. To live for someone and grow old with them. It was a foreign concept to me, but I understood it and I was certain that's what I was in. I just wasn't sure what to do next.

I know the speech at the end of the chapter is kind of vomit inducing, but it a large part of the story.