August 18th, 2279

Watching the fire flicker in front of them, and the stars twinkling above, the three of them had sat waiting till the meat was finally ready. Amber brought out a plate, and accepted two of the large pieces from Zack. She covered her hand with the sleeve of her shirt, and passed Zack one of the cans of now warm beans. While the meat had been cooking, Zack had taken notice of David taking off his jacket and placing it aside. Even with the cool night air, David had been sweating quite profusely. Zack took a bite of the meat. It had its own unique smoky taste to it, and was rather good considering he had no idea what the animal had eaten in its life. Zack chewed a few times, and then swallowed. He looked up over the fire at Amber and David as they hungrily ate at theirs. Zack scooped up some of the beans and ate them as well.

"Not too bad for pre-war food" Thought happily as he ate.

"Yours taste as good as mine?" Zack asked.

"Y-yes, it's very good." David said back.

Amber looked up and smiled, "Mine is excellent, we are very grateful that you shared with us."

Zack nodded, "Well, I couldn't have eaten it all by myself, and you did already have a fire going, so it worked out well."

"Yep." Amber responded with her mouth full.

While the food had been cooking, Zack had seen two packs leaning on the side of the tree.

"Do you two live out here in the wastes, or are you headed somewhere?"

"No way, it's t-t-too dangerous to try and survive out here indefinitely." David responded quickly.

"Yeah, we are headed to the southeast a ways. The place we had lived for quite some time had a visitor arrive one day. Our whole town gathered to hear him speak. He told us of a place about a week's travel, southeast our own. He said if you look for a mountain range that looks like a man's head facing up, that the place would be at the base of that mountain. He spoke of such great many things. There was an abundance of food, clean water, and safe from raiders and animals. If we were to go, we would be given a home to stay in, and land to farm. He called the place Shady Paradise."

When Zack heard this name, he dropped his fork to his plate, and choked a bit on his food.

"No way, he's still out there spreading his lies." Anger burned in Zack's heart.

Amber looked over concerned. "Are you okay Zack?"

"Yeah, sorry. It's just that man. Let me guess, he was dressed in fancy pre-war wear, and called himself Nom?"

"Yes." She said slowly. "How did you know that?"

"This man, Nom, he too came to my town to visit." Zack paused and took a deep breath and exhaled. "This was earlier this year, right about the beginning of spring. He told all of us of these same things. We had heard rumors of strange actions occurring in this area that he spoke up, and most of our residents took him as a liar. There was however one family, the Keaton's, composed of Jack Keaton, his wife, and two daughters that believed different. The town's militia had asked this man Nom to leave nicely, and he did. He probably knew that at least someone had been swayed. We argued with the Keaton's for quite sometime, but it was of no use. They packed their belongings on a couple of their Brahmin, and left for the southeast. We figured it would be the last we saw of Jack Keaton and his family."

David lay down on the ground with his head on Amber's lap, and closed his eyes. Apparently he was tired, or he was very bored with Zack's story. She pulled out the box of dandy boy apples from her pack, took a couple out for herself. "Want any?"

Zack shook his head. He then stared at the fire dying down as he continued. "I was part of the safety for the town, by serving with the militia. It wasn't till a couple of months later that we were on patrol early in the morning, a few hours till sunrise, and my squad and I came across a man. We could only make out his shadow at first since it was still nightfall. This man was staggering as he walked; wearing torn dirty garments, and was mumbling incoherently. We had raised our weapons, telling this man to halt, but he seemed to not understand, or even notice our presence. We approached him, and it was then we realized it was Jack. He seemed to have many wounds across the parts of his body we could see. None were life threatening at the moment though. I treated him there as best as I could before we moved him back into town to our med clinic."

"Our doctor, Sylvia examined him and determined he was almost dehydrated, and very mal nourished. She thought the reason he was mumbling and unable to answer questions was because of some sort of post traumatic stress. The doctor's treatment was fluids, food, and lots of rest. She sedated him and strapped him to a gurney so he would not be harmful to others or himself, and attached an I.V. that would re hydrate him. He stayed in the med clinic for a week before he was aware of his surroundings."

"I was there along with our commanding officer, Captain Fadden, as Jack Keaton was interrogated. He had no recollection of how he had managed to get back, or what happened to him along they way. He did recall however, the place called Shady Paradise. He said it only took his family about five days to get to the mountain range that was described by Nom. At the base built into the side of the mountain there was this strange fortification there. They saw high towers and long walls made out of brick. The Keaton's had went to the entrance where huge wooden doors stood before them. They did no see anyone in the front, so they pounded on the door. They were greeted by a group of people, wearing strange obsidian robes with hoods. They were welcomed and shown to their new domicile, along with some land that was within the boundaries of the walls where they were able to keep their Brahmin and grow food. Jack told us that everything seemed really well there. They met others who had traveled far as well, and all felt really safe in this new place."

Zack looked up over at Amber and saw that she was stroking David's hair as he slept. David every now and then would shudder, and moan slightly.

"The stuttering, sweating, and night shudders. Now I understand. Poor guy."

Amber took notice of Zack's silence and looked into his eyes. "Was that all he could remember?" She asked.

Zack sat for a moment. "No, there is more. How long has he been without a fix?"

She winced at this question. "I was hoping that you wouldn't notice. He uses jet quite regularly to help in the manual labor he does. It allows him to work longer and harder than the others. He had to kick his habit though to be able to afford our traveling supplies and to clear a few debts we had. He doesn't strike out against me in anger or anything, so you don't have to worry about that."

Zack nodded. "I've heard that if you can make it a week without the junk and get it completely out of your system, you'll be good."

"I hope so." She said softly.

Zack continued on with what was told. "Well, Jack said a few weeks had gone by, and the only thing out of the ordinary was they were asked to attend a weekly meeting with the elders of the group. The meetings were strange and everyone was to meet in some kind of hall. Words were read from a large book about the some kind of makers he had never heard of, how they created the world, and the way we angered them with all the hatred we put upon others. So the makers released these giant lizard creatures who could breathe fire upon the world to cause havoc and destroy the evil ones and their cities if sin. It was now their job to pray diligently to the makers, and prepare for the day they must continue the work of the dragons had started, and remove all the non believers from the wastes. Jack Keaton thought this to be absurd, so he and his family stopped attending. They were told by other residents that they need to go to the meetings to understand history. Jack shrugged them off. They were visited by the elders a few times and told it was imperative they go, and prepare for the coming times. Jack still didn't go, and then a few days went by and his wife went missing. He searched everywhere, and found her dead, her body attached to a wall with spikes and the words non believer written on her chest with charcoal."

"That is horrible." Amber eyes had started to water.

"Yeah, I know. It just gets worse. Angered by what Jack saw he went back to his home, and got a blade he kept, and went to search for blood. He found the elders in the audience hall, their backs turned. He told us he yelled at them, not remembering what he had cursed. They had turned around, he saw his two daughters in between them. He then repeated what they said. Hello Mr. Keaton, since you decided to be a non believer, we had to take certain actions so others would not fall astray. Your daughters have chosen the right path. They are with us, and follow the maker's teachings. One of the elders handed a small blade to one of his daughters. She took it, an absent look on her face as she spoke aloud. For the makers! Then slit her throat. Jack told us he remembered screaming, but could not recall anything until he woke up in our med clinic. He told us he wished he listened to us, and never put his family in harms way."

Zack shifted to a more comfortable position. "We believed what he told us, and allowed him to return to his old home. We found him dead a week later. He hung himself from a pipe in his basement, there was no note left behind, but we figured why he did it. Now, I tell you all of this in great detail to hope you will not go to Shady Paradise. It will only be the end of you or your soul."

"Yes, this sadly changes everything. I feel so stupid for believing the lies. We have nothing to go back to, and nowhere to go. I don't know what we'll do."

Zack sighed. "Look, I think you two are decent people. If you head south of here and come to interstate eight, follow it east and you will find my town of Polvo. Tell them I have sent you, to allow you entrance and residence. There should be enough room as long as you make yourselves useful."

"Oh thank you, that sounds so wonderful. I don't really know what to say."

"Just promise me you won't go to Shady Paradise." Zack commanded.

"Don't worry. It's the last place I'd like to be."

Zack was glad he persuaded her to make the right choice. He then went back to the carcass, cutting away as much meat as he could from the animal, and cooked it. After it was done, he gave most of it to Amber, so they could eat it later as now it would not spoil as quickly. Zack put the small amount for himself in his pack. Amber and he both said their goodbyes while David slept on.

"Hope to see you again someday." She said with sadness in her voice. "You seem like a good person to be friends with and have around. Take care of yourself."

"You do the same."

Zack then grabbed his belongings, and made his way out of the clearing. He traveled for a few more hours. The sun had risen just a bit ago, and the heat was already starting to increase. He came to a beaten up two way road, and saw a small building to his right which sat next to the side of the road. He made his way to it. It appeared to be some kind of toll booth. A sign on it read, "Welcome to Sandy Lake Recreational Park." Zack went to the side of the building, and found a door, it was unlocked. The place looked just the right size for him to rest for the time being.