The climb up the hill was strenuous, as the slope continued to steepen the higher Aloy climbed. She had to grab the occasional plant or protruding rock to keep her balance, and soon she was looking for handholds up a small sheer precipice that appeared to take her to the top of the hill. Looking behind her, she realized she'd left the Bandit camp far behind, as there was no sign at all of life behind and below her. The handholds on the cliffside were easily identified, glowing a soft purple wherever hands and feet had been. She simply followed the path blazed by the marauders.

The sun shone almost directly overhead when she reached the apex of the hill. She looked about her: the scene would have been majestic if the hills and valley before her weren't so devoid of any signs of life. The good news, she acknowledged, was that, among the threats not present were deadly Machines and enemy humans.

To her left was a taller peak, most likely the hill upon which Skulldriver's Bandits grew their grapes and collected their water. Ahead lay a narrow "V" shape notched between smaller hills, and there led the images of the tracks she'd been following. The people who made those tracks had taken little care in concealing them, as Aloy could see footprints even without her Focus, and scattered here and there were some sort of shell, presumably from the nuts off Skulldriver's trees, and rinds from assorted fruits. These people were clearly not concerned about anyone tracking them on this narrow, secluded path.

As Aloy continued to follow the tracks, she started to feel a bit uneasy. This area seemed too quiet for her liking, and walking in a narrow valley made her vulnerable to attack from above. Just as she started to feel uneasy, her concerns were borne out: well-armed and well-armored men and women began to appear above her on both sides of the valley, all looking her way. She looked behind, and a small group was walking toward her in the valley. Activating her Focus, she saw more coming from the path ahead. She was trapped.

It was at this point that Aloy realized that, in her haste, she'd made two big tactical errors: she had chosen to walk in a narrow canyon instead of along one of the ridges, and she'd forgotten that she still carried her Shield Weave armor in a tight bundle slung over her shoulder. The armor could have been donned under the loose-fitting Bandit rags she wore, and it would have given her at least a decent chance of surviving the first arrow or two fired her way.

To her surprise, the first sound she heard was not the twang of a bowstring, nor the sound of an arrow whistling toward her head: instead, it was a human voice. A non-threatening, rather soft, female voice, from one of the Bandits approaching her from the trail ahead.

"Why are you here?" the voice said as the party of a half-dozen stopped mere feet from her. "Are you from Skulldriver's camp?"

The woman who spoke was tall and slight of build, dressed in Bandit clothes that fit her as poorly as Aloy's rags fit her. The woman had long black hair, flowing in the breeze and not tied atop her head as most Bandits wore it – at least, Bandits back in Aloy's homeland. She did not appear to be ready to attack, though Aloy knew there were dozens, if not hundreds, of Bandits around her who might.

"No," Aloy replied, her lance held loosely at her side, "I'm from the Timberlands camp, north of here. We got overrun by Machines, and our camp was wiped out, and now I'm looking to join another band."

The woman did not reply at first. Instead, she turned to a man standing to her left and said something that Aloy couldn't make out. Then the woman said, "we've never heard of that camp. Where'd you say it was?"

Uh oh. Aloy was just quoting the erstwhile Bandit leader of the refugees from the Timberlands camp. She had no idea where it was. She tried to be vague.

"North of there. Maybe more northwest. You looking for a new recruit?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"On whether you're telling the truth. If it turns out you're really from Skulldriver's camp, we'll have to kill you."

"I see. Well, I saw his camp, but I'm not part of his gang. I thought some other members of my camp might've come through here."

"I told you, we've never heard of your camp. If you promise not to do something stupid, you can join us at our camp and rest up. We'll see what we do after that."

Whew! Aloy thought. At least I'm not fighting for my life just yet!

"Follow us," the woman said as she motioned at Aloy. The Bandits lining the hills above converged on them and formed an armed escort – or really, armed guards – as they continued to follow the path before them.

As they walked, Aloy quickened her pace a bit to catch up with the leader of the group, as the woman's long legs produced a larger stride. Aloy decided she'd take her chances with small talk.

"Tell me about this Skulldriver camp. Is that a friend or an enemy?"

"Skulldriver is the name of the leader of the camp. He's a mean, vindictive, son of a bitch – even for a Bandit – with absolutely no honor."

"Okay, so an enemy," Aloy tried to make light of the answer. "If you don't like this Skulldriver, why don't you just invade his camp and take him out?"

"His camp is huge. His people are blindly loyal. He's crazy. We'd all die and he'd still be alive. Good enough for you?"

"Good enough for me," Aloy replied. She had the feeling she'd done all the prying she dared for now.

After more than an hour's walk, as the narrow canyon widened and isolated trees dotted the sides, Aloy saw the remains of an ancient road, wreckage of transportation devices rotting in the sun. Partially collapsed buildings stood in a cluster; tarps were extended between them to create a decent-sized shelter from the hot (even in wintertime) sun. Small stands had been assembled from wood and scrap from wreckage and stood around the perimeter of the village, a guard stationed on each stand, bow at the ready.

As the core of the group approached the makeshift village, a young child came running from the shadows, to the leader, and gave her a hug. Aloy wasn't sure if it was a boy or a girl, but she guessed the child was no more than three or four. Long black hair suggested this was the leader's offspring. The leader stopped and gave the child a hug in return, then motioned for her entourage to enter the nearest building. She turned and waved to Aloy, motioning for her to do the same.

The spartan, weathered exterior of the building gave no hint of what awaited them in the interior: a large single room, pieces of animal hide stretched against two walls – presumably to block windows, but also bearing intricate paintings of blues and greens and reds that provided color to the plain white walls; in the far corner, a small woodburning stove under an open roof; around the stove, several hidebound chairs that looked quite comfortable. With the windows covered, the room would have been dark save for burning torches mounted to three walls. A table against the wall to the left was stacked with bowls of fruit and dried meats, some sort of vegetables, and what Aloy surmised were nuts from Skulldriver's trees.

The leader of the group paused to lean her lance in a near corner, quietly waving for her company and Aloy to follow her lead. Five adults, two men and three women, had entered the room with them. The leader walked by the food-laden table and picked up a fresh apple, then sat in the chair to the left of the semicircle facing the stove. She gave the apple to the child who stood beside her, then she spoke to Aloy.

"Please, won't you have some food? It's not often we have such a trove to indulge. I can offer you a flagon of water if you wish, as well, thanks to last night's rain."

"Thank you," Aloy nodded, "but I'm not really hungry. I will accept that water, though. If…"

"If?" the woman replied. "If what?"

"If you're sure it's not contaminated with Rads," Aloy replied. She was interested in seeing how this woman responded: how much did she know about the rains?

"Everyone knows rain in wintertime is safe to drink," the woman responded. "Now, while one of my assistants fetches you a drink, won't you sit down?"

Aloy walked to the chair farthest from the woman, but the woman waved at her. "No, not there, sit next to me. I have a feeling we have some things to discuss."

Aloy obeyed, moving to the chair to the woman's right.

The woman seemed intent on watching the child devour the apple. While looking down, she said, "I know where you come from. You come from Skulldriver's Camp." She looked up at Aloy. "Now you will tell me why you're here."

"What makes you think I came from that person's camp?"

"You were walking in a canyon that starts above the camp, and there's really no other way to get into that canyon. We monitor it full time."

"Alright, I guess it's time to be honest. If you were worried about me you'd have done something by now."

"Yes, to be honest. I'm Cass – that's short for Cassandra – and these good folk help me keep this motley crew together." Cass motioned to the women and men still standing behind them, and two of the women took to open chairs as the others remained standing. A young man entered the room from the open doorway, a clay flagon in one hand and a small cup in the other. He handed the cup to Aloy, filled it from the flagon, then set the flagon on the floor beside her, and left.

After a long gulp of water that almost emptied the cup, Aloy spoke again. "Let's say I did come from Skulldriver's camp. What if I told you I'm not one of his Bandits?"

"I was fairly certain of that already," Cass replied.

Aloy watched Cass carefully: she seemed older than Aloy had originally thought, her long black hair hiding half her face. Her eyes seemed dark but very sad, as if she'd lived a hard life. Her shoulders were hunched slightly. Wrinkles across her cheeks made her skin look tough and leathery. But the woman carried a slight smile that suggested the sorrow was hidden behind a thinly veiled mask.

"What gave me away?" Aloy asked.

"Well, for one, you didn't run or fight when the soldiers showed up. Most of Skulldriver's minions are too afraid to listen to reason."

"Sounds like you've dealt with a few of them."

"Considering I once was one of them, yes. And generally, if we find anyone walking the canyon, they don't return to their camp."

"Hmmm… that sounds threatening."

"What?... Oh no, not at all! It's just that if we capture any of his scouts, they either run and we catch them and kill them, or fight to the death, or they end up joining our ranks. Just about everyone here was once a loyal Bandit. Until they got here and learned the truth, learned what we represent."

"Which is?..."

"We're not Bandits. This is not a Bandit camp."

"Really? You sneak into Skulldriver's camp during a rainstorm and destroy part of his orchard? That sounds like something Bandits might do."

"Hacking down those trees was just a distraction. I know it annoys Skulldriver, and no one's going to complain to him that part of our group raided his food stores while we were at it. So, yes, I guess we're petty thieves. And I admit it, I personally enjoy pestering that monster, and the rest of my village supports me.

"But we're building a village, not a Bandit camp. We don't raid anyone – except Skulldriver – and we actually have trades in place with some locals who walk the trails to the east. We're about a hundred people, counting children, basically all of them former Bandits for Skulldriver, or their children, born in this village. Once we're able to grow our own food, we might stop raiding Skulldriver – maybe – because I enjoy bothering that man and maybe at some point he'll step down, then someone with some compassion can take over."

"Compassion? From a Bandit leader?" Aloy was more than a bit surprised.

"You must realize," Cass replied very calmly, "that camp is not really a Bandit camp, either. Since Skulldriver became the leader, he's worked hard to assemble a core of Bandits, and to some degree, he's had to: he has a lot of mouths to feed, and the place was an easy target for thieves. But before he took over, the camp was peaceful and surviving, if not thriving. He's allowed it to run down as he has one goal in life: to be in control of The Bunker."

"The Bunker? Why does he want it?"

"He was born there. His family worked in the science wing when a quake hit and part of the Bunker collapsed. The military rulers chose to seal off the wing instead of trying to rescue the survivors."

"How did he get away? And how old was he?"

"He says that he was four when the quake hit. Many of the scientists and assistants survived the quake. Anyone not too badly hurt climbed out of the wreckage and assembled at the main entryway to The Bunker. But no matter how much noise they made, the door was kept locked.

"After many hours – some say days – the survivors moved on. There were reportedly several storms – most likely Rad storms – during those days, and certainly many of the banished Bunker residents became ill from the Rads."

"So…" Aloy wondered just how far she should push to find out what happened – and whether it mattered that she knew. "Is that how Skulldriver got his… affliction?"

"Oh, no. The scientists used everything they carried from the wreckage of the Bunker to protect their children. Once they gave up on getting back into The Bunker, the scientists moved on and set up a peaceful village. The village now known as Skulldriver Camp."

"Okay, that explains a lot… I think," Aloy replied. "So what happened to Skulldriver, how did he get his… wounds?"

"Well, for one, those are not Rad marks across his skull. They are Machine scars. Skulldriver – he wasn't called that at the time – got those wounds from a herd of Machines that swept through the village just months ago, at the time of The Great Corruption. Machines that had kept their distance suddenly turned on humans, attacking with no warning, and our village was an easy target. Skulldriver led a group that fought off the Machines, and most of them died, but Skulldriver survived. Barely. He thinks the officers in The Bunker sent the Machines to destroy the village."

Aloy could see that this woman was getting emotional as she recalled the events. As Aloy considered the best follow-up question, a scream sounded from somewhere outside the building. It sounded like a child's scream.

Cass and her companions jumped to their feet, gathered their weapons, and ran from the building. Aloy followed, her lance at the ready.

It was past sunset already, as evidenced by long shadows on the distant hills to the east. There was a commotion in that direction, with women, men, and children emerging from the cluster of closely-spaced shacks and gathering at the edge of the village. Cass pushed her way through the crowd and Aloy followed.

"What happened?" Cass addressed the group of adults standing outside the main crowd. One of them pointed to a grove of trees, downhill from the village and obscured by waning daylight. There, Aloy could see a group of Machines milling about; two or three appeared to be agitated by something in or near a single small tree, barren of leaves and rocking about as a Machine rammed into it.

"It's Pol – she went out by herself and a herd of Rammers chased her! She's stuck in that tree!"

Aloy touched the Focus at her temple, and evening sky lit up with information: in the tree was a human, ramming the tree was a Charger, and seven or eight more were standing nearby watching. The tree shuddered mightily with every impact, and Aloy knew either the tree or the young girl would soon give way.

Cass raised her lance. "Let's go, we've got to get those Rammers away from Pol!"

Aloy lowered her lance in front of Cass to stop her. "Wait. Those Machines can get pretty nasty if you just go running down there. I have an idea. Give me five minutes and I'll see if I can stop them."

Cass looked concerned, and Aloy knew that the leader of this village had little reason to place her faith in a total stranger. Still, Aloy had been in similar situations many times before, so she waited for Cass to compose herself.

"I promise," Aloy said, "that girl will not be harmed if I can help it. If I get into trouble I'll call for you and you come running, but let me see what I can do first, alright?"

"Well…" Cass looked at her guards, now in a tight bunch behind her: they looked apprehensive about attacking a group of Machines out in the open. Cass nodded. "Not five minutes. Two minutes. Then we join you."

"Fair enough," Aloy said as she turned and ran full-speed, not directly at the herd of Chargers, but rather obliquely, toward the edge of the small grove of trees. She wanted to glance back to see if Cass stayed behind, but she knew Cass might get worried and follow her.

It took only seconds for Aloy to reach the first tree, its trunk barely wide enough for her to hide behind. An alert Charger stood a few steps away, intently watching the commotion nearby. Aloy let out a weak whistle, just loud enough for the Charger alone to hear, and readied her lance. Sure enough, the curious Machine strolled slowly in the direction of the sound, and toward Aloy, lance straight out, behind the tree.

When the Charger reached the tree, Aloy knew it had spotted her, but before the Machine could make a move, Aloy jabbed at it with the blunt end of her lance. She contacted the Machine in its haunch, just as it was rearing to attack her. She held the lance firmly against the Machine, forcing solid contact with a device attached by wire to the end. The device emitted a signal, a kind of code, into the operating system of the Machine, loading new instructions into its core, instructions that altered the Machine from an enemy of humans to a friend. After several seconds, as the Machine continued to attempt to break free, Aloy lowered he lance, and the Machine calmly stood still before her, no longer a threat.

Between the scattered trees and patches of scrub brush, Aloy was able to sneak up on Charger after Charger, reprogramming each of them to become friendly to Humans. Finally, there was only the single hostile Machine, still ramming the tree, the young girl in the tree holding on with arms and legs wrapped about a low branch. Aloy let out a "Hey!" in the direction of the hostile Charger. It stopped its assault and turned to face her. She could tell that the Machine was changing targets, from the girl in the tree to the woman before it, and it reared onto its hind legs, shook its mighty curved horns, and prepared to rush at her.

Before the hostile Charger could reach Aloy, the three closest overridden Chargers launched a counterattack. Aloy waited as the three-on-one onslaught quickly destroyed the single hostile, and the attackers calmly returned to milling about, looking docile and friendly.

Aloy walked toward the tree where the young girl still held on for dear life, pausing briefly to pilfer valuable items from the carcass of the downed Charger: a length of wire, several metal shards that served as currency in her homeland, a lens from the Machine's head. Even in the low light, Aloy could see that the girl was terrified, scraped and scratched, her shirt and pants torn from the bark of the tree.

"You can come down now," Aloy said to the girl, extending a hand up to her. "These Machines won't hurt you anymore."

"I… I'm afraid!" the girl stuttered. "And I'm going to be in trouble for leaving home!"

"Trust me," Aloy replied. "I'll talk to your family for you. I think they'll be relieved you're okay. Come on, we'll catch a ride back."

The girl relaxed her deathgrip on the tree and almost fell to the ground. Aloy caught her and helped her stand.

"How long were you up there?" Aloy asked as she smoothed the girl's tattered clothing and checked for injuries. The girl seemed to be relatively unharmed.

"I don't know," the girl was almost crying as she spoke, "I was looking for flowers. Sometimes we get tiny little yellow flowers right after a rain and we don't see flowers that much around here, but then those Rammers chased me and I climbed this tree and…"

"Rammers?" Aloy was unfamiliar with the name. "You mean Chargers?"

"Those things," the girl said as she pointed at the nearest Charger, slinking behind Aloy to hide from the docile Machine.

"Okay," Aloy replied, "where I come from we call them Chargers, but I guess they do ram things, don't they?"

The girl held onto Aloy's arm, still crying.

"But you know what?" Aloy said as she turned toward the nearest Charger and began to walk slowly towards it. "Once these things are… well, once they're no longer a threat… sometimes, you can ride them. Come on, I'll show you!"

The girl pulled Aloy's arm, trying to stop her from approaching the Machine. But Aloy continued to walk slowly towards it.

"Now you can't do this normally, alright? It takes a special… well, a device… to make these Machines so friendly. So don't ever, ever try this yourself. But we're going to ride one!"

With that, Aloy hopped onto the back of the Charger and extended her arm to the girl. The Charger simply stood, head forward, unconcerned about the human atop its back.

The girl wanted to run but curiosity got the better of her. She reached for Aloy's open hand and allowed herself to be pulled up onto the huge Machine. She could barely straddle the Machine's broad back, so Aloy placed her left arm around the girl and tapped the end of her lance to the Machine's haunch with her right arm. The Machine began walking slowly, and Aloy jabbed at its side with a boot to direct it toward the village, where a crowd of astonished, awestricken – and for the most part, frightened – group of villagers waited for them.

The nearest cluster of villagers recoiled as the Charger strode to a stop in front of Cass and her guards. Cass showed an expression of concern mixed with relief. Aloy couldn't tell if the concern was for the girl, for the Charger, or for what might happen next. But she was sure the relief was for the safe return of the girl.

A young man and woman, hand in hand, pushed through the crowd. Their clothes were plain, solid dark colors (as well as Aloy could tell in the impending dark), simple slacks and shirts. The couple hurried toward Aloy and the Charger, but they froze as the Machine turned its head toward them. "Mama! Papa!" the girl called out. "Look at me! I'm riding a Machine!"

"Get down from there, Pol!" her father answered as he released the woman's hand and walked up beside the Charger.

Aloy could tell that Pol was smiling, beaming brightly as she patted the Machine atop its broad metallic head, softly whispering "good Rammy!" She leaned forward and planted a kiss on the Machine's head, then, realizing what she'd done, sat up to see if anyone had seen her. Of course, the entire village had.

Aloy reached about Pol's waist and helped her swing her right leg over the Machine's head. Pol, still smiling and laughing, hit the ground and jumped into her father's arms. The man scooped her up, turned toward his companion, and they walked away toward the buildings.

"How did you do that?" asked Cassandra as Aloy dismounted from the Machine. "Those things are deathly enemies of humans."

"I have a… a device," Aloy began, unsure not only of how much to tell this stranger, but of how much she herself really knew about the device attached to her lance. "Chargers – you call them Rammers – are programmed with instructions to do their job and to kill humans. I'm able to… well, I can override their programs to make them friendly to humans who are friendly to them."

"What happens when you and your… device… aren't around anymore?"

"Don't provoke them and they won't attack you, ever. In fact, that herd will actually guard you and your people if you leave them alone. They'll attack hostile humans and hostile Machines that come too close to them."

"Well, okay," Cass soundly, rather skeptically. "I wouldn't believe you if this thing weren't standing here, looking downright homie."

"Just tell your villagers to steer clear, or at least don't attack the herd, and don't let anyone try to ride them – Machines that I've overridden let me ride them, but that's it."

"You are a very peculiar person… um… I don't know your name."

Aloy pondered for just a moment. Too soon – and too risky – to use my real name, she thought. I guess I'll keep up the Bandit act a little longer.

"Call me Red," Aloy answered finally.

"Alright. Red. Let's go back into the Communal Room. We clearly have a lot more to talk about."

As the two walked past a group of villagers, Aloy heard one of them mutter: "Witch."

"What did you say?" Aloy stopped to face in the direction of the speaker. "Do you want to say something to me?"

An elderly woman, shriveled and head covered with a light-colored shawl, stepped forward from the shadows and spoke. "I said you're a witch. You're a demon, here to turn the Machines against us. You're going to destroy us all!"

Aloy started to answer, but Cass spoke first.

"Now Harlie, you know that's not true. First, witches don't exist, and second, this woman is as human as you or me. Don't start spreading any of your wild tales about Red, you hear?"

The woman made a soft growling noise. "I don't care what you think. No one can do what she did unless they're cursed! And cursed demons mean us no good."

"Harlie, I told you before, we're scientists, and scientists don't believe in your tall tales. I don't want to hear anything like that out of you again as long as Red is our guest, is that understood?"

"Bah!" the woman gave an offhand motion as if to dismiss them, then turned and walked in the direction of the village.

"What was that about?" Aloy asked as Cass led the way back toward the furthest building.

"She's quite old, is Harlie, and she's set in her superstitious ways. She wandered into our camp a few months ago, sick and hungry. We nursed her back to health – at least physically. I'm not so sure about her mentally.

"Don't worry about what she called you. She's accused just about every person in this village of some sort of witchcraft since she's been here. We put up with her because basically she's harmless."

"If you say so," Aloy replied as the two women entered the torchlit single-room building, followed by Cass's companions.

"Have a seat," Cass waved at the chair where Aloy had sat earlier. "We'll arrange for a dinner, then we can start over getting to know one another."