Disclaimer: Hah! I own nothing but my fingers that type a plagiarized world. Hah!
Nova
Chapter 7:
Charred Lands
Vash
"Yeah, it's about five iles along the edge of the blast line." The man said. He was explaining to me
where a small camp had been set up to study the blast area.
"Ok, thank you." I said and walked back to the truck. Knives of course, was sitting in the bed of the truck
while Meryl and Milly, were in a nearby store getting more supplies. We had no idea of when we would make it
back to any civilization. Best to be prepared, if you know what I mean.
I climbed into the bed of the truck and plopped myself next to Knives. He looked up momentarily from
the notebook I'd bought him a couple of days ago, then back to his writing.
"Well?" He asked.
"Well what?"
Knives looked up, and exasperated look on his face, "Well what did the human have to say?"
"Just that there's a small camp about five iles away. The only survivor of the blast is there too. We should
be able to question him Get a first hand account of what happened."
"After what I've heard I find it surprising that this human even managed to survive out of a population of
five million."
"Yeah," I said quietly, just as Meryl and Milly came out of the store.
They set the bags just inside the bed and Milly closed the tailgate.
Meryl leaned on the edge of the truck and asked, "So where to?"
I straightened myself up a little and pointed out toward some high hills to the north, "Head that way,
the guy told me that once we go over those hills we'll see the blast area for ourselves, then turn left and drive for few iles. There's a camp there."
Meryl nodded, gave Knives a narrow eyed glance then slide into the driver's seat. Milly got into the
passenger side.
"You know she's going to die." Knives said, a small smirk playing on his lips.
"What?" I breathed.
"Your little human, whether or not I succeed in getting rid of the human race in her lifetime, she will die." He said just as the truck started up, and it began moving.
I looked away, "I'm aware of that."
"And yet you're not worried about it are you? Why? What can you gain from this relationship?"
"Nothing. Except for Meryl's love. And yes I know that someday she will die, but I will cherish every moment
that I have with her. Because she's the best thing that's happened to me since we crashed on this planet.
And I love her. That's something you may not understand Knives."
Knives' face went a little red, "Just because I want to get rid of the vermin that is the human race, does
not mean that I am not an uncaring person. I care very deeply about the welfare of our people, I want to save
them. And that is something you do not understand, brother. Not once have I seen you reach out to help
one of our people. It always humans this and humans that."
I glared at him, "Who says that I don't care about out people! Who says that I haven't been searching for a
way to free them? I have. It's a little slower than your way, but at least I'm not condemning a whole race
to their deaths!"
Knives snorted, "Sure."
Our little talk had consumed much of my awareness that I barely noticed that the truck had stopped and that
both Meryl and Milly were out of the truck.
I stood and stared out at the desert.
Knives copied my action only his face contorted with pain as he stood.
"Good God..." I whispered.
As far as the eye could see. Blackened earth spreading farther than the horizon. What we heard was true.
Nothing was left. Not even the landmark mesas that used to stand not seven miles away.
I could see small glitters in to charred sand. Glass.
The blast was hot enough to have created chunks of glass out of the sand.
Whoever had done this... they were very powerful. Very powerful.
When we reached the camp Meryl and Milly went inside to talk to the supervisor of the camp.
Knives and I stood out side next to the truck facing towards the charred earth.
"This thing wiped out everything, even the plants, which are some of the most heavily shielded places on
Gunsmoke." Knives was saying.
"Yeah? So?" I asked.
"So I'm saying that I don't think that this was a plant. No plant would have done this," He waved his
hand expressively at the barren land. "January had 135 plants in it. No plant would wipe out that many our
people just to get rid of a few humans. And to add to it the land is now virtually uninhabitable. With it
charred to that extent nothing could possibly grow there."
I could see that the sight of the blast area, had shaken even Knives, someone who I had thought wouldn't
be able to feel like that. This was comforting in a way, even if it was only for the plants.
Knives slumped and a sad look crossed his face, "So many of our people died, Vash. Whoever this person is
we have to stop them before they do it again. There are much better ways to get rid of the humans without
so many of our people being lost."
I crossed my arms a leaned back, "Yeah... well...."
"Vash!"
I turned and saw, Meryl waving for me to come closer.
I patted Knives' shoulder and led him after Meryl.
Saroya: Thank you and you're welcome. Happy to be of service.
LegacyRBluesummers: Oh yes definitely. and someone is going to fall for Knives, and the other way around. You'll see soon enough.
Rosebud: Woah! To many questions! haha! I just can't help but wonder if you all are going to be a pleasantly surprised as I hope you will be when you find out who it is. Milly will find out, I had an idea about when and how but I might make her find out a little bit sooner, we'll see. I don't really know about Knives hurting them yet. Vash hasn't really let them get too close to him.
Neptune Butterfly: Thank you, I love getting new readers. Sappy moments will come but after I introduce my OC. As for our dear Kuroneko-sama... I've been so involved in writing a rather serious story that I forgot poor Kuroneko-sama. But just for you I will put him in.
Rainy-days13: ^_^