I Love You Rem Chapter 2: A New Friend
I wonder… how do I even get to Warren? Rem asked herself as she walked through the desert. Huh? What's that? she wondered as she turned around and saw a thing that looked to be made of metal and going very fast coming toward her.
"Hey there, what are you doing way out here all alone?" a heavy man wearing a baseball cap asked as he pulled up right behind her.
"What is this thing?" Rem asked staring at the strange machine he was sitting in.
"It's a car. Come on, you know what a car is, right?" the man asked a little confused.
"No, I'm sorry, but I've never seen anything like this before," Rem said and began circling the car looking at all the doors, gears, and wheels.
"Lady, are you sure your ok?" the man asked. He was kind of worried she might have hurt herself and lost her memory because she had never seen a car before.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine," Rem replied still looking at the car.
"May I ask why you are in the middle of the desert all by yourself?"
"Oh, I'm looking for someone. They said he is in Warren. And that's where I'm headed," she replied and stopped investigating the car and began to talk to the man face to face.
"You're trying to get all the way to Warren? On foot?" the man asked now even more concerned.
"Yes, I don't know where it is, or how to get there, but I know somehow I will find it. I believe in my heart that I will find it," Rem said with a look of determination on her face.
"Yeah well, Warren is still 300 iles away from what remains of July," the man told her.
"How far away is July?" she asked.
"It's about 60 more iles that way," he replied and pointed to the west.
"Oh really? That is a long way, but I'll get there I'm not giving up," Rem said as she looked from the man and to the west.
"Yeah well, I'm going through July. So I can take you there and part way to Warren."
"Really? You would let me come with you?" Rem asked.
"Well yeah, you seem like a nice young lady and it's dangerous to be out here alone," the man replied.
"Why is it dangerous?" Rem asked.
"Well there are lots of guys out here. They want to be as bad as Vash the Stampede and if you run into them all alone who knows what will happen to you," the man said.
"Are any of the men him? Are any of them Vash?" Rem asked as she stared at the man. She wanted an answer, but she wasn't sure what answer she wanted. She didn't want the answer to be yes Vash was one of them, because that would mean Vash was bad, but she didn't want him to say no Vash wasn't one of them either because it pretty much left her with no idea on how to find him.
"Well know," the man said as he scratched the hair under his cap and began to think, "The man who used to lead them he said he was Vash but then he was caught and turned out to be a fake."
"Oh I see," Rem replied half sad and half glad that Vash wasn't in with those men.
"What's wrong?" the man asked seeing the sad look on her face.
"Oh nothing, I was just hoping my friend was around here."
"I see, well you said before some guy told you he was Warren. If that is true I doubt he'd be around here."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Rem replied still somewhat disappointed.
"Well, we should probably go. Hop in," the man said and pointed to the passenger seat.
"Ummm… ok…" Rem said as she walked around to the other side of the car. She was having a hard time trying to get the door open.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. You've never seen a car before, here," he said and leaned over and opened the door for her.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I never introduced myself. My name is Rem."
"Hello there, Rem. That's an unusual name. Can't say I've heard it before," the man said as he turned the wheel so they would head for July, "My name is Duke."
"Duke huh, well I haven't heard that name before either," Rem replied with a smile.
"So what did you say your friend's name was?" Duke asked.
"His name is umm…. Steve," Rem said knowing she couldn't tell him she was looking for Vash the Stampede.
"Steve… I've heard that name before. How did you get separated from him?"
"Well, we weren't really separated. He just moved away and I lost track of him for awhile, that's all," Rem said trying to make herself sound convincing.
"Oh I see, well I hope you find him," Duke replied as they got closer to July.
"Yeah, I hope so too," Rem replied and thought of Vash until they came to a city. "Hey is that July?" she asked. She could see the remains of old buildings and houses among the sand.
"Yep, that's July."
"So, you can take me half way to Warren?" Rem asked as she watched the city get bigger as they neared the broken down gates.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can," Duke replied as they came to a part of July. It looked to be in better shape then most of the town, and there were poor people living in what remained of the buildings.
"People live here, but why?" Rem asked seeing all the poor people.
"Because they have no place to go. This is their home. It's all they have," Duke said and slowed down and stopped.
"Oh, I see," Rem said in a somewhat sad voice and looked at all the people that lived there. "So what are we stopping here for?"
"I come here and give these people food," Duke replied and got out of the car and walked around to the trunk.
"Hi, Duke," a man said as the people started coming to the car.
"Hello everyone, how are you?" he asked and pulled a few bags of food out of the trunk.
"We're good. Did you bring us some food?" a little boy asked.
"Yep, I did. I brought lots of food for you," Duke replied with a smile.
"Oh boy!" the boy replied with a high pitched voice and delighted smile.
"Hey, who is that?" a little girl asked and pointed at Rem who was getting out of the car.
"Oh that's Rem. She's my new friend and she would like it very much if you all would play with her, right Rem?" Duke said and looked at Rem.
"Oh yes, that would be great," Rem replied.
"Yay! We have a new friend, we have a new friend!" the kids yelled, "Come on let's go play tag."
"Ok, let's go," Rem replied with a smile as they all ran to an open spot to play their game.
"So, she is a friend. She seems nice and the kids seem to like her a lot," a man said as they put the food on a table that sat out in the open so all the people in the area could eat it.
"Yes, she is a very good person and I'm glad I met her. You don't meet very many nice people now a days," Duke said as they began to watch the kids play their game.
"Ok, ok that's enough for me. I can't run anymore," Rem said and sat down on the sand. Her hands on her knees and gasping for breath.
"Ok, hey guys lets go eat," a little boy named Mitch said and they all ran to the table full of food.
"They are good kids," Duke said as he walked up next to Rem, who was still sitting on the ground.
"Yeah they are. I feel so bad for them, that they have to live like this."
"I know, I bring food here for them every month. I do my best to help them out," Duke replied as they watched the kids eat.
"Well, I think it's a wonderful thing you're doing," Rem said as she looked up at Duke with a smile.
"Well, we should probably go. It's getting dark," Duke said as he looked up at the sky. It was true, it was getting dark. The sun was setting making the sky a lovely purple and orange color.
"Ok," Rem replied and followed him to the car.
"You know, I've been thinking," Duke said as they headed for Warren.
"Yes?" Rem asked and looked over at him.
"Well since you were so nice and played with the kids. I've decided I can make my trip a little bit longer and take you all the way to Warren."
"Really? Oh thank you so much!" Rem said happily.
"Hey no problem. We should be there by about 10:00 tomorrow morning. so why don't you get some sleep? I'll wake you up before we get there," Duke said.
"Thank you so much. You don't know how much this helps me," Rem replied.
"Hey you helped me by playing with the children. So I figured I should return the favor and take you all the way to Warren."
"Oh thank you so much," Rem said and drifted off to sleep. Playing with those kids really brought back memories of when she played with Vash and Knives, it brought a very claming and peaceful feeling with it which made sleep very easy.