I decided it was time to get to know my new companion a bit better. It had been almost a week since I first met him, and he hadn't had much to say to me. Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that both of us were too busy watching for signs of life while we traveled... and that in the two cases we did spot signs of life, that life wasn't friendly in the slightest. "So, do you think we'll run into any more of those "trees" anytime soon?" "Considering that we've run into those monsters twice since we left the forest, I'd like to ask you a question about your question... was your question a rhetorical one?" I realized that a question as stupid as the one I'd just asked was not going to make my companion any more talkative... and the last thing I wanted was for him to leave. All the weapons I had left were my shock pistol and one .45, which were both completely useless against the "trees." Well, actually that wasn't completely true... but I'd used the ammo in the rest of the weapons and managed to only kill ONE "tree," while my companion's hunting bow appeared to be far more effective.

I decided to try again... this time actually thinking before I spoke. "So, what did you do for a living before all this happened?" "That's a long story... but there's isn't much else to do to pass the time, so I'll tell you a little of it. I was born into the world with the name of Julius."Julius? What's your last name?" "It's not one I care to remember... I have good reasons for that." I decided not to press him further about that. "If you don't want to tell me that, it's fine. You still haven't answered my question about what you did for a living." "I did several things for a living, and some of which i'm not proud of. In fact, that's why I left civilization... along with several of my friends that felt the same way." I didn't ask what had happened to them... the tone of his voice told me all that I needed to know. My companion continued to tell his story, and I listened for several hours.

When my companion finally finished telling his story, he asked me the same question I'd asked him. Clearly he hadn't been kidding about leaving civilization behind; after busting Cooper AND that mysterious fox so shortly after I busted Cooper, I'd been all over the news. I also now knew the name he called himself now, so I addressed him by it. "Ok Sureshot, here goes. I'm Carmelita Montoya Fox, formerly of Interpol." "By formerly, I'm assuming that Interpol was destroyed in that explosion. "The tone in Sureshot's voice told me that while one could have assumed he was asking a question, he had been stating it as being a fact, and that being the case I continued on. I told him about what I'd done during my career (omitting certain parts that I was still uncomfortable about revealing at the time or that I felt were of no matter) and what had happened up from the time the box had been opened to the time he encountered me nearly being crushed to death by those "trees."

"Quite a story, but I wouldn't have believed a month ago that something that had been contained in a little box could have done all of this to the world. On the other hand, those trees weren't around a month ago, and my friends were still alive. You didn't ask me what happened to them..." "Considering what you said to me about what those "trees" had done to every other living thing in that forest other than you, I've got a pretty good idea of what happened to them." "You weren't kidding about being a Interpol officer..." "What's that supposed to mean!" "Nothing, nothing..." I decided to let the matter drop, as I quickly realized that there was nothing to be gained by interrogating my companion. Like I said, my past as a member of Interpol was dead, so even if he was hiding something, it wouldn't have really mattered... or at least that's what I thought at that moment.

That night, I was about to go to sleep when I paused and stopped to think about the past week or two. I'd been hoping that whatever had been released from that box hadn't inflicted widespread damage over a large area... but it appeared that so far there was little that had been left untouched. Villages and towns had been wiped off the face of the world, there were "trees" walking around killing and eating anything living that they could get their tentacle-like branches on.. and although I'd learned a little about my companion, he was hiding something... something that he appeared to want to forget desperately. "That's enough, Carmelita. Time for you to go to sleep... you've got a long day tomorrow." As I said this to myself, I then wondered exactly what the next day would bring for me... and my companion Sureshot.