Chapter 7: Camarada

A few days after my encounter with Mr. Blue, I happened upon a motel. It was already dusk, the sun peeking beneath the horizon before finally sliding down to rest for the evening. Moonlight Motel, it was called, in this town named Sutter, quaint little place. I wasn't exactly beat, but after being on the road all day I felt like just laying my head to rest somewhere. Sure I've done it frequently, but that doesn't mean I've started to get sick of it. Anyway, I went inside, looked like any motel anywhere, and headed to the front desk to check in. Before that, though, I saw this panther lady. Black fur, almost as black as the night sky outside. Curvaceous, a bit busty. She had a distinct white streak of fur running diagonally straight across her face. She had on a tan button shirt with the top button undone and the sleeves rolled up, along with gray cargo trousers and boots. She also had a messenger bag slung around her shoulder. In her hand was a journal of some sort, she was writing in it with a pen.

Her gaze looked upwards from the book, and met with my own. She and I exchanged looks, with me noticing that she put her pen in her book, and closed it, laying it gently on her lap. I walked up to her.

"What's a pretty face like you doing in a lonely motel like this?" I asked, holding onto the strap of my duffel bag strapped across my shoulder. The weight was a bit uncomfortable and I sometimes adjusted my grip, but I could live with it.

"That depends," replied the woman. "Who would be asking such a question?"

"The name's Wolf O'Donnell," I answered. I took a closer look at her, and noticed something rather unique about her: on her messenger bag was a badge of a green star with a fist within it. I chuckled and smiled a bit. Then, I balled my hand up into a fist, raising it to beside my temple, my wrist facing the woman. "Camarada," I said.

The woman chuckled warmly, a smile quickly forming on her face. "Let me guess," she started, "the Thomas Talbot Brigade?" Now, the Thomas Talbot Brigade was one of the Interplanetary Brigades, and consisted almost exclusively of Cornerian volunteers fighting on the government's side in the Eladardish Civil War. I was one of them.

"That's right," I said with a nod. "Didn't see action until a little late in the war, though."

"Oh? Where?"

"The Blanco." My ears lowered very slightly, melancholic at the sudden memories flowing back to me. Fuck me… the Blanco. Even the goddamn word takes me back to the blazing summer sun, with me and my squadmates darting from rock to rock, getting peppered by blaster fire and artillery hammering away at our positions daily.

The woman instantly understood. She frowned, the all-too familiar painfully sorrowful look in her eyes that I've seen before coming to full view. I saw it during the evacuations, when the children of loyalists, Verduras, sinarquistas, and those aligned with the government were being shuttled off-world to safer places in the Lylat System. They had that same dead look in their eyes, the look that was as if they had all the hope, all the light, all the happiness in their lives sucked out of 'em. They shared that look with the adults, the fighters, soldiers, and wounded. The government officials. The anti-Oros and anti-Maximists. They lost. Hell, we lost. We lost bad. And now, a whole world was paying for it.

"I'm sorry," the woman said. "I think you deserve to know my name now. I am Luisa Caroso. I'm a soldada in el Ejército de la República de Eladard. At least until… you know."

"Yeah."

"And now, like you, I am stuck here on this world."

"Yeah, shit happens. Was supposed to head back to Corneria, but my ship was hit by fire from Maximist fighters, and we had to make an emergency landing on Papetoon. Been stuck on this planet ever since, trying to scrape by and make enough cash to fly myself off this world."

"And head back to Corneria?"

"Hmm…. I dunno. Probably not, my folks didn't take too kindly to me running off to join some foreign war due to political idealism."

"Do you still believe in la revolución?"

I stared at her for what seemed to be the longest time, as if hours passed. But actually, it was just a few seconds. Didn't wanna say the wrong word, make her go off on me. I feel her, where she came from. We both fought for the same thing: freedom. Equality. People actually taking control of their own destinies, not letting the big guys tell them what to do. Then we lost. We fucking lost. All of that fighting, that killing, that dying, all of it for nothing. I shrugged my shoulders and said "I dunno."

Luisa blinked once and sighed, then nodded her head. "I understand," she said. "I've talked to a few other voluntarios from las Brigadas. They too have become disillusioned…. I…. I'm sorry. On behalf of la República, I'm so sorry." She spoke like someone punched her in the gut, like she just watched everything she knew and loved burnt to the ground, mostly because she probably did see everything she knew and loved burnt to the ground. Almost moved me to tears, that did.

"You don't have to be," I quickly replied. "Shit happens, it's how it is."

I moved to the empty chair beside her, and sat down, making a long sigh and letting out a big breath while doing so, like how old people sit down except in my case I was not even outta my twenties. I dropped my bag beside the chair.

"Do you plan on driving through the night?" she asked me.

"Nah," I replied, "I'm actually planning to stay the night in this here motel."

"Well, I've already got a room here, you should stay with me."

"I'd like that very much, thanks." I smiled, grateful that I wouldn't have to spend creds for some room in a motel.

"Well, along then, it's getting dark."

So, we got up and went to her room, room 203. When I headed inside it looked like she'd been staying there for some time: she's probably been living here ever since the war ended some months ago. Things were neat and tidy, but there were scraps of paper scattered on the desk of them motel, along with a laptop that was off, some empty food containers and drinks, and a sawed-off shotgun, no doubt loaded. Luisa's a prepared woman, it seems. My guess was proven right when I asked her, and she told me that she'd been there since shortly after she evacuated to Papetoon. "It's my new base of operations on this world," she said.

"So, what have you been up to on this world, then?" I asked.

"I've been trying to coordinate and rally the other stragglers from the rest of the Armed Forces and Interplanetary Brigades," answered Luisa. She moved to the table and put the messenger bag on it, before turning on the laptop, leaning over the furnishing and looking at her device, which apparently opened up a document. "I've had mixed results: so far I've managed to find over 80 fighters. Not nearly enough to assemble a proper army, but it's a start."

"You're not thinking of going back to Eladard? After the beating we took?"

"We must strike while the iron is hot, O'Donnell."

"Luisa… it's over."

She stopped what she was doing, frozen in her gaze at the bright screen of her laptop. Could see her eyes dart around the screen, as if she was looking for her next words to say on the open document. Then, she sighed, and closed her eyes. She opened them again, stepping away from the desk and backing up towards the edge of one of the room's beds. She sat down on the slightly worn mattress and took off her hat, gently putting it down beside her on top the plain, quilted comforter.

"Because it is over, a whole world will now have to live in tyranny and darkness," Luisa said bleakly. I moved to her, and sat down beside her, putting my own bag down in the little aisle separating the two beds in the room.

"I thought I was gonna make a difference, I really did," I said to her. "Guess things don't work out how you'd like 'em to."

"Not precisely, no. But at least we can say we tried. At least we can count ourselves among the many who chose to stand up to evil, to oppression. Even though we failed, nobody will say that we are cowards, that we just let it happen."

"We did fuck it up, though."

"Hmm. Worse yet, we delivered defeat unto ourselves."

"Yeah, the synarchists and the mainstream leftists were at each other's throats, while the center-left tried to be the referee. Meanwhile, Maximo was slowly starting to crush us."

"And in the midst of that crisis, we attacked him across the Blanco in a final desperate attempt to regain the initiative in the war."

"Hmm. Not the brightest strategy I've seen."

"No, which is why it didn't work."

"Yeah…"

"But we must not dwell in the past, but think of the future by building it in the present. And for me, the present is regrouping as many fighters as I can to fight for our future."

I let out a long breath, taking off my jacket and tossing it on top of my bag. "Well," I started, "at least I met another friendly face on this godforsaken planet."

"If you want, you can always join me and the others," said Luisa. "We're always looking for fighters. Especially ones who managed to escape the fall of Anaranjado."

Now, usually, I would tell her right away, pretty quick, a great solid 'no.' I'd shake my head, tell her how I'm my own man, how I work alone, how it's easier for me that way. But, this is a sister-in-arms I'm talking to here. We fought the same fight, shed blood for the same reasons, found ourselves on the same side against the same enemy. Never did see her before, though, but in a war as big as what happened on Eladard, ain't no way you can recognize everyone who was on your side. Plus… I'll admit, she was smoking.

"I dunno, Luisa…" I replied, turning my head slightly to her. She did the same to me, and our eyes locked together.

"It's okay," she said in a low voice. "You don't have to make your decision right now. I'll give you time to think about it."

Felt her fingers touch mine, and lighting bolts shot up through my whole body. The good kind though, the kind that makes your heart all fluttery and your boy stiff. Guessing she felt it too since she looked just as floored as me. We leaned in towards each other… and kissed. Then… you know. I dunno how long round one went on for, but it was clearly night out when I finished. Inside her, I may add. We were panting, sweaty, me laying on top of her on the bed.

"Not bad, O'Donnell," Luisa whispered to me into my ear, rubbing my ass cheeks. "Not bad at all."

"Thanks," I said breathlessly. After a few minutes of just splayed out on top of my fuck buddy, I rolled off of her, laying on my back. She wiped the sweat off her brow before turning her head to mine to look at me. I looked back.

"So…"

"So…?"

"Do you have an answer for me?"

"Oh fuck, uh…"

Yeah, that caught me so off guard. I started just grasping at the air in front of my face, trying to find an answer there. Didn't know what to do, what to say, so I just started making circles with my hands. When I looked back at Luisa, the look on her face just made me lose it. I started laughing, I swear to God, and buried my face in my hands.

"I'm sorry!" I said, blushing. "I mean, I was a bit busy with plowing you to try and think about it. I didn't know this was a homework assignment." And that sent her over the edge, and she started laughing, and I laughed even more because she started laughing. So our afterglow was basically us laughing. After about a minute or two of just us laughing, I put one of my hands beneath my head and straightened the other one, and I looked back to Luisa. "I dunno, Luisa," I said. "I dunno. I've been on my own for a bit and… Guess I just got used to it."

Luisa nodded. "You know, even if you don't want to fight anymore, we can always drop you off where you live."

"Really?" I asked.

"Oh yes."

"Huh… Hmm."

"Trouble at home?"

"Could say that. Just… I just saw the war on Eladard as a chance to get away from home in the first place. Felt too… too restricted. Felt like I wasn't getting anywhere back on the farm. I looked at Eladard all wide-eyed, daydreaming about fighting for a good cause and making a name for myself as a soldier, an adventurer. Can see where that got me."

"Do you still chase after that dream?"

"Yeah."

Didn't actually really know the answer to that question back then, so I just threw out a "yeah" to satisfy Luisa's curiosity. I was telling the truth back then, I really did want to make a name for myself as a merc, or an adventurer, or a soldier of fortune, kicking ass across the stars and getting paid for it. Getting my name on TV or in the papers or shit like that. Wanted to be somebody back then. In a way, I kinda succeeded.

"So," continued Luisa, "you still want to earn fame and fortune?"

"Sure, who doesn't?"

She didn't say anything for a bit, turning her head to look at the ceiling, her soft breathing raising and lowering her nice, round, soft breasts. Then, she turned to get something from the nightstand: it was an e-cig, and she turned it on, sucking on it before letting out a small puff of smoke.

"Are you actually a leftist?" she asked me, holding the cig in two of her fingers. Question kinda floored me, didn't see it coming. I answered quickly, though.

"I'm no friend of the Oros, if you're asking me."

"But I wasn't asking that. Are you a leftist?"

"Yeah, I tend to lean a bit to the left."

I did, once. I did support the little guy, the people having control of their own lives, their own destinies, not some massive government telling them what to do. To each his own. But it was more of actually me not really caring about politics. Politics is just not my mind most times, from then until now.

Luisa nodded. "It's fine if you're not really invested in the cause, but I just wanted to know if your heart is really for the people."

"Well, I wouldn't call myself a die-hard revolutionary," I admitted. She nodded again. "But hey, I fought on your side, for what you guys believed in, so that must count for something."

"It does," said Luisa. "Trust me, it does."

"Alright. Well, uh, I think I should clean up a bit, right? Can I use the shower?"

"Of course, of course."

"Thanks."

Got up off the bed and headed to the shower. Made sure there were enough towels for the both of us, and there were, so I stepped inside the tub and started taking a shower. Soap wasn't too bad, smelled like regular soap anywhere, bathroom wasn't in too bad a shape. Actually the motel as a whole didn't look like shit, looked pretty nice. For a motel.

Wasn't a minute before I heard Luisa come into the bathroom after me. Stepped inside the tub, and closed the curtain, turning me to face her. Our lips connected like before, and in an instant we were at it again like two horny teenagers, me fucking her from behind as she propped herself against the shower wall. We faced away from the shower head, so none of the water got in our faces and made it annoying. Finished inside her again after pumping her for what seemed like ages, and she turned right around with some real sultry look in her eyes, licking her lips before kissing me again, our panting muffled slightly by the running water. Luckily it was easy for us to stand while we fucked, she was almost the same height as me. That was round two.

We both cleaned up in the shower, and I stepped out first. I dried myself off, and got my toothbrush and toothpaste and started brushing my teeth. I was almost done when Luisa finished washing up and turned off the shower. She got out, wiping herself dry with a towel.

"I feel like you still don't have the answer to my question," she said to me, leaning on the counter, the mirror casting our reflections back at us. I spat out the toothpaste in my mouth into the sink to speak to her.

"Unfortunately, no," I said. "Thought you said you'd give me time?"

"Sorry…" she answered slightly ashamed by her pushiness. No. Wait. I think that's too strong a word. I wouldn't call it pushiness. Like, what she was doing was more gentle and friendly than being pushy. Just can't find the word for it. Ah, whatever. She was looking for an answer.

"Got any family or anything?" I asked, genuinely curious about Luisa the woman, not Luisa the revolutionary. I turned on the faucet and put a handful of water in my mouth, rinsing it clean and then spitting that out, then turning the faucet off.

"My brother and his wife, my sister-in-law," replied Luisa. "His name is Diego, her name is Elizabeta. They have a son named Panther."

"Ah, where are they?"

"They fled to Corneria as the war was ending. They're lucky to have kept Panther with them, many children were separated from their parents in the chaos."

"Yeah… saw that…"

"Our parents died before the war. As for myself, I am married to the cause. I have no children."

"Yeah, yeah."

"What about you? Do you have family?"

"Oh boy…"

Now… yeah. It's complicated. Family always is, isn't it? Anyway, I wasn't gonna lie to her, especially after we fucked. Twice. So, told her the truth. Doesn't mean I held some stuff back.

"Well, I wouldn't call my family a really big family, but it's not tiny either. I've got a mom, a dad, and siblings. Two other brothers, a sister, and me. I'm actually the youngest."

"Oh?"

"Oh yeah, I'm the baby," I said with an affirming nod. "Yeah, we're actually all named with 'w' names, like, our names start with 'w.' You see, there's William, he's the oldest. Then Walter. Then Wendy. Then me, Wolf. William, Walter, Wendy, and Wolf. Sounds pretty catchy, doesn't it?" Chuckled a bit there, which caused Luisa to smile.

"How old are you?" Luisa asked.

"21," I answered.

"I'm 22," she said.

"Ah, cool, cool."

"So, where is home exactly?"

"Someone once said a brave man's home is all the 'verse, but my home lies in Kiowa. That's in the First Nations."

"I see. I come from San Miguel, myself. In Tierra de la Espada."

"Can't say I've been there."

"And I can't say I've been to the First Nations."

"You ever been off-world before? Before now."

"No, you?"

"Eh, one time we took a family vacation to Zoness. Liked it, liked the beaches, the food, the water. Yeah, it was nice."

"Do you have a lot of good memories like that with your family?"

I paused. 'Good memories with my family.' Hmm. I… I don't wanna discuss what I told her. Didn't tell her much in the first place, but I said my piece about that. I- actually… no, you know what? I might as well recount what I said. I told her… some of the truth.

"They were few and far between," I said to Luisa. "When I was younger, yeah, I had a lotta good memories. But… I started forgetting. Dunno how or why, but now my memory of my childhood is foggy. Don't remember a lot from before or during high school. Then… I dunno, then I started getting angry and sad about everything. By the time I left, I was about ready to explode on everyone. You know. Fantasizing about… about just getting a blaster and shooting… them. Had to get outta there. So I did. I did and went and joined to find something to believe in, something to fight for, something to join. The Interplanetary Brigades seemed just right for me. And that led me to here."

Then I started nervous laughing, fidgeting in place.

"God, this is kind of an absurd situation to be talking about such heavy shit, ain't it?" I commented. "I mean, I'm naked, you're naked, I came in you twice in as many hours already."

"Actually, it's only about midnight," said Luisa.

"What? Damn, long night."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Well… not necessarily. I mean, we've got time."

"Time for what?"

"You know. A few more rounds?"

Luisa smirked, and grabbed my member with one of her hands. Every nerve in my body fired all at once, and I shuddered a bit, not expecting such a move.

"Of course, Wolf," she said. "If only you've the energy."

"Oh, but I do," I said. Then, Luisa went onto her knees and started working on me with her mouth. Wasn't long after I came in her mouth, then a few minutes after that, mustered the energy to mount her on the countertop and finish inside her again there. When that was over, she kinda looked… fucking annoyed to be honest. "Ugh, I've got to shower again..." she said.

"Oh, if you actually plan on following through with the offer you took up, then you'll forget about showering after each time I cum," I said. Luisa shook her head and sighed, almost dejected and shit.

"Alright, but from now on we're doing it on the other bed," she said.

"Like, the one we didn't sit down on?"

"No, the one we did sit down on."

"Oh, alright."

And with that, she grabbed my cock again, which made me grunt and shudder a tiny bit. Then, she led me along, with me chuckling, to the bed closer to the door, where she had me lay down on my back. Then she rode on me, and after a long while of her moving her hips back and forth on top of me, I came gain, but this time it seemed like she came with me, those final orgasmic moments being her really bucking as she moved like the fucking wind. One point for me, finally. As she laid down on me, between big gulps of breath – something I did too - she took the opportunity to make conversation again.

"You know, you've told me much, I think it's time I returned the favor," said Luisa. She moved off of me, so that we laid in pretty much the same position after round one. We turned our heads to look at each other. "My brother doesn't care much for politics, but he does care for me. Initially he was very concerned for me when I joined the army, but I told him that I could take care of myself. I say to him 'Diego, in the army, everyone looks after everyone else. You need not worry about me.' Although, my time away from him meant that I couldn't get to see my nephew, Panther. He must be about… oh, six or seven now. Last I heard from Diego and his family, they were in a refugee facility on Corneria City, awaiting to be housed."

"You worried about him?" I asked.

"Of course," she answered. "He's family, after all. But I can't do much here, and I can't leave until I gather enough support, finances, supplies, so that we could properly regroup."

"I feel like there's this tug of war you're having."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, the cause or your family. Which one do you fight for?"

Luisa stopped speaking for some time, her eyes darting down, away from my face in deep thought. Waited a bit for her to start speaking before I adjusted my position so that I was laying on my side, facing her. She drew out a long breath, moving her head to stare at the ceiling. Then, she talked again.

"That's a good question, Wolf," she said.

"Much like the question you asked me," I added. "The one where I join you or not. Haven't found the answer to that one, just like you haven't found the answer to the one I asked you."

"Hmm," she uttered.

"But maybe you can answer a few more questions," I continued. "Like… whaddya think of the planet?"

"Papetoon?"

"Yeah."

She scoffed.

"The first day I was here, I shot a man who tried to rob me. Ever since I've not traveled out of this room unarmed."

"Yeah, if you do it's kinda stupid."

"Mmm, yes, this planet's laws are haphazardly enforced depending on where you are. Some areas are completely lawless, while others are policed well."

"Mostly you see the police in the cities, the wealthy towns, or in places where people care."

"Much like anywhere else."

"Yeah, that's true. And when there's no cops, there's just you and your blaster. Or maybe if you're lucky – or well unlucky depending on your temperament – you'll stumble across a militia or vigilante group. They're their own can o' worms to be honest with you."

"Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have gone to Papetoon."

"Did you have a choice?"

"No, not really. I suppose you didn't either, otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"Yeah, that's true. Like I said before, it was either getting blown up in space or landing on Papetoon. So, I went along with it. Been a few months since then."

"Hmm, I just rushed onto the nearest freighter I could find. It said 'Papetoon,' which wasn't Eladard, so it was good enough for me."

"I see."

Then we just stared at each other for the longest time, just not talking. Just staring. I looked at her, she looked at me. I noticed that that white streak of fur of hers, that was a scar. A nice big slash right across her face. Didn't feel like probing about that, not at that moment at least. Just took the time to really get a good look the rest of her down. Those breasts, those curves, her hips, nice and wide hips, down to her legs, and her all-round silky smooth fur. She looked like a goddess… and fucked like one too. Speaking of fucking, while we were staring, I decided to take the opportunity to fuck her again. Went right to her and kissed her on the lips, which sent both our hearts racing. Pretty soon I managed to convince her to lay on her stomach while I mounted her and started humping that nice fine ass of hers. No anal though, all vaginal. Pounded her nice and good while she made the hottest noises as she gripped on one of the pillows. Took me a little bit before I came. She didn't though, which only meant that next time I should work harder. A good problem to have, honestly.

Kissed her on the back of the neck before I got off her, standing up to head to the bathroom, had to go. Took a few minutes, and when I came back into the room she was bent over the table where her laptop was, looking at it intently, working on something. Stepped closer and saw that she was writing some more notes in a document, didn't get too much of a look though.

"What's that?" I asked.

"A correspondence between myself and another soldier trying to rally stragglers to our cause," she said. "He's been even less successful than me, only gathering a few dozen to him. Hopefully I can convince him to join up with me, but like I said, he's a long way off. And… there. Message sent. He should be waking up to receive it right now."

"Well, at least you're putting the free Wi-Fi here to good use," I said. She was still bent over the table when I got close to her, seemed like she was sorting some more documents or some shit like that. Didn't care much about that before I decided to take this opportunity to plow her again. Perfect position, I thought to myself. Pounded her hard enough to have the table jostle and move beneath us, and along with those moans from both of us we were making quite the racket. Hopefully we didn't have any neighbors… or at least, they were pretty heavy sleepers. Anyway, came inside her again, and this time she came too, with more than a little help from my hands giving her… like, um, the straight version of a reach-around. You know what I mean.

"Good thing nothing got on any of these papers," Luisa joked to me after I pulled out. I chuckled at that.

"Man, I'm thirsty," I said as I stepped away from her and sat down on the edge of the bed we used to fuck. Stared at the nice work I did on her womanhood, and she was still bent over the table, trying to regain her composure. Took her only a few moments before she stood up straight, stretched out her arms, and turned around.

"Unfortunately I don't have any drinks," she said. "There is a bodega across the highway, though. It should be easy to cross, since it's very late."

"Alright, I think I'll get some drinks from there," I told her. So, I put on pants, shoes, and my jacket – didn't bother with a shirt – and headed out. Luisa told me to knock on the door twice, wait a second, and knock twice again, so that she'll know it's me. Went out, and it was pitch black, save for the lights from the street lamps illuminating the parking lot, along with the convenience store's lights.

Sutter was a quiet town, and we found ourselves on the outskirts of it. No hustle and bustle, no bright lights, just peace. Noticed a few groups of Republic soldiers, fighters who managed to evacuate. They were grouped around each other beneath the street lights, near the vending machines. Didn't wanna get small cans, but rather the big two-liter bottles. Dashed across the empty highway, distant headlights the only thing I paid attention to. As I went up to the front door of the convenience store, I noticed two Republic soldiers, one a dog and the other a feline, hanging out by the entrance, smoking on cigs. They eyed me suspiciously, but I calmed them down by making the Republican salute and saying "la República".

"Viva!" they yelled enthusiastically back to me. I shook their hands and they greeted me, and I grinned back, nodding. Then, I went inside. Brought my spirits up a bit, that did. Gathered a big two-liter bottle of soda and some water bottles, as much as I could carry in my hands. Paid for it and headed back, but not before getting another nod and sending one back to those two soldiers. Made my way back to Luisa's room, knocked like how she told me to, and she opened the door, where I hurried inside to make sure nobody saw what exactly we were up to, only safe when I heard the door shut behind me.

I put the bottles onto the table before stripping entirely. Got back into the mood, you see. As I took off my clothes, she and I kissed lustfully, both of us tonguing each other. We were quite horny in this particular round. Uhh… I think it was up to… round four? Or was it five? No, no! Seven. Yep, this was round seven. Didn't even make to the bed this time around, just fucked where we stood. Actually managed to do the stand and carry position, was really proud of that. Finished again inside of her, but we were both so fucking physically exhausted we just agreed that the next round will definitely be on the bed. Crawled onto it, and in fact we were so spent from that one round that both of us actually fell asleep.

I woke up at around the same time Luisa did, and we rustled softly on the bed. She and I moaned at around the same time, rousing ourselves out of our slumber, and we both managed to pull ourselves up off the bed. There was a few cups on the table, so I used that to drink a ton of the soda.

"That's a bit unhealthy for you, isn't it?" asked Luisa.

"Eh, I can live with it," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. After a few minutes of just drinking, we hit the showers: no fucking this time. Then, we both got dressed and headed downstairs to the motel's dining room. It was a small room, only cereal, bread, hard-boiled eggs, and fruit. Got me a box of sugary cereal and an egg, while Luisa loaded up on fruits. We sat down at a table and started eating. During breakfast I had some time to think about Luisa's offer to me, about me joining her fight. About halfway through the meal, I gave her my thoughts.

"I don't think I'll join you, Luisa," I told her. She looked up from slicing open her apple with her combat knife. Looked like she was expecting that answer.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "We can be greater camaradas than you have ever known before."

"Yeah, I get that, I had an encounter with two of your men when I was getting drinks last night- er, earlier this morning. I flashed the salute, and they treated me like an old friend almost instantly. It was… it was fucking beautiful. I really enjoyed it, I really did. Never really felt like that in a long-ass while."

"And you say no to it?"

"I say no because I don't wanna lose it. I don't want it ripped away from me again, like at the Blanco."

Luisa looked sullenly at me.

"You know what it was like," I continued in a low voice. "Losing… your way. Having something to believe in and then having it fall apart, come crashing to the ground. Having something you really enjoy and love and fight for just vanish, torn from you, and no matter how hard to fight to keep it it just fades away, dies. Those two guys… you… I don't wanna have that taken away from me."

Luisa stared at me, then leaned back in her chair. "Loss is a normal part of life, Wolf," she said to me.

"Yeah…" I answered dejectedly. "Guess it is."

Luisa said nothing to me again. I sighed heavily. We sat in silence after that with me finishing my breakfast. Got up and we both left the room. Gathered my stuff and headed to my bike, but before turning it on, Luisa came up to me.

"A damn shame you aren't joining us, Wolf," she said. "You'd be a great help to us."

"Ah, you know why I won't stick around," I replied melancholically.

"I do indeed. But I do hope that I will see you again, someday."

"Maybe… maybe I'll even get to see that nephew of yours."

"Perhaps. Perhaps Panther will even take a liking to you."

"Hmm." I nodded. "Good bye, Luisa. I'll… I'll see you around."

I rode away from the Moonlight Motel, from Sutter, and onto other places. I'll never forget Luisa Caroso, thanks to her nephew.