They spent some time gathering bodies and hauling them to the hole. Despite the time that it had taken to dig, it still felt early into the night, perhaps just a few hours in. Though, it was hard to tell as the darkness seemed to settle in every corner and crevice. This had the effect of creating a somber kind of atmosphere, depressing and full of unspoken sorrow. For a time, Alex and James worked in resolute silence, going about their work slowly and steadily. The town was in a higher state of devastation than Alex had first realized.

Her boots stuck to the hard, blood stained earth as she trod across it, the congealing trail of blood make sickening suckings sounds as she traveled back and forth from the ruins to the pit. The desolate, abandoned buildings seemed to grin with wicked maws through the darkness. Their rubble strewn bodies collapsed and charred. Alex turned into one of these buildings, her flashlight barely penetrating the darkness as she made her way around overturned furniture and shattered aesthetics. Glass crunched beneath her boots, pulling her gaze down for just a moment. She was standing on the remnants of a broken family photo, poorly taken, but clearly outlining the joyous faces of the former residents. The daughter of which Alex had just finished hauling to the pit from outside the house, all four pieces of her.

A frown pulled at the corners of her mouth, and she looked away. She knew she should feel, sick, nauseous even–any normal person would. Yet, she only felt her cold, steel reserve to finish burying these people, however informally. She wasn’t planning on saying anything afterwards, no hopeful words for the departed. She hardly felt anything, most of the time she was lost in her own thoughts. At least, what thoughts were her own. Occasionally Aeshma would chime in with a snide remark about weaklings, or tasty morsels. The latter thought did make her feel just a tad queasy. It wasn't easy having a presence inside you that literally felt the need to express his desire to consume raw, human flesh. 

Alex scoured the house, not finding much in the way of bodies. Plenty signs of looting and destruction, and large smears of blood to enhance the overall scene of the house. Though, she was only able to pass through the common area and the dining area. The rest of the house had collapsed, probably from being set ablaze as the soot covered floors and charred splinters of wood would suggest. As she rounded the corner back out of the kitchen, her flashlight graze across a boot protruding slightly from beneath an overturned sofa. She braced her foot against the upper edge of the sofa and gave it a solid push, sending it toppling over and revealing a large portly man beneath. Despite his bloody, half squashed appearance, it was plain to see was, or had been, the father.

[color=red]”James,”[/color] Alex called out, [color=red]”I’ve got a large one over here.”[/color]

James had largely disconnected himself, partially out of conscious effort, after the fourth or fifth body, and the last several minutes sort of blurred together.  To him it was almost as though he forced himself into a lower state of sentience, simply doing what he knew he should be doing and not giving it any more thought.  He stopped keeping count of how many he had laid into the hole, as well as stopped caring about the people they used to be.

After what felt like countless minutes of this, the sound of Alex’s voice snapped him back to reality, bringing his attention the cooked body of a young child.  As he fully realized what he was doing, he let out a slight yelp and unceremoniously dropped the body onto the dirt just outside of the house he was in.  He took a moment to process the last five seconds, then turned to where he heard Alex call from.

[color=8dc73f]“Yeah, okay, give me a second,”[/color] he said, giving the body he had just been carrying a brief regretful look.  He came to the house Alex was in, finding her standing over the body she had mentioned.  He was, indeed, a big one.  [color=8dc73f]“Okay, so, I grab his legs, you grab his hands?”[/color] he asked, fairly distraught.

[color=red]”Sounds like a plan..erhm..”[/color] Alex started, positioning herself around the top half of the man, [color=red]”Well.. hand and stump.”[/color] She grabbed exactly that, what was left of the man’s forearm and his one remaining hand. She gave a grunt of effort, mimicking that of James’ as they hefted the body upwards. Alex’s hands slipped away from their purchase, losing grip due to the half congealed blood his body seemed to be coated in. Her half of the body hit the floor with a wet thud. [color=red]”Fuck, sorry,”[/color] she said, letting out another grunt as she struggled to raise the body off the ground and keep her grip.

James jumped slightly when the body slipped from Alex’s hands, but his grip didn't waver.  He let out a slightly shaky sigh.  [color=8dc73f]“Let’s just hurry up,”[/color] he said.  He had been trying to shut out his emotions ever since he first laid eyes on the carnage, but for some reason now he was finding it difficult, a growing feeling of uneasiness settling inside him.  It had been a long time since he ever saw carnage of this degree.  He couldn't think of exactly when, but he knew something had happened, several years ago.

He cleared the thought from his head as Alex picked the upper part of the body back up.  It took far too much effort to move the ample girth of the corpse, by the time Alex and James reached the pit and rolled the body in, Alex felt just about worn out. She stopped for a moment, placing her hands on her knees and taking large breaths of air. She looked down at herself, barely illuminated by the glow of her flashlight, which was currently laying askewed on the ground. She was covered in blood, and other filth. She felt almost as if she had begun to rot too, maybe from the sheer stench of the all the bodies. She had the sudden, powerful urge to wash herself, but she suppressed it. That would be a deplorable waste of drinking water.

[color=red]”How about a break huh?”[/color] Alex suggested, doing her best to wipe her filthy hands on her shirt, aiming for some paltry semblance of cleanliness. The act wasn’t very effective, it had become very apparent to her that she would be burning her shirt when all was said on done. In fact, she had discarded her jacket to remain with her supplies awhile ago, and was contemplating doing the same with her pants. She decided against that thought upon observation of her trousers, they were lost to the cause as well and would have to be cremated.

[color=8dc73f]”Holy shit, I thought you’d never ask,”[/color] he said, letting himself drop to the ground with little effort.  He wasn’t exactly physically exhausted, but either way he needed a moment to regain his calm.  He would have been fine if it weren’t for the town being a massacre, but that, coupled with his jarring break of focus moments ago, had done quite enough to shake him somewhat.  He leaned all the way back on the ground, bringing his hand to his face.  He stopped it short when he noticed just how much blood covered it.

He sighed once more, rolling onto his side, staring into the desert, trying to recover himself.  This wasn’t like him, and he knew it.  He began to worry that he might devolve into paranoia again, but he somehow doubted it.  It felt different from how he did before one of his episodes, though the last few hours definitely did take a toll on him.  [color=8dc73f]”Dammit,”[/color] he muttered.  He kept passively scanning the desert, trying to distract himself.

Alex joined James’ on the ground, placing herself next to him. She shuddered slightly as her hands pressed into the earth, and the loose soil clung to grime coating them. She dried to dust her hands off, but only succeeded in smearing the muck around more, causing her to sigh heavily. [color=red]”What I wouldn't give for a shower.. or a river.. hell even a puddle, right about now,”[/color] She muttered, mostly to herself as she recline back on her hands, looking up at the sky. Thousands of perpetually suspended lights twinkled as she looked at them, each one separately seeming to contest the others for her attention. Space seemed truly wondrous at moments like this, only brought down with the realization that she would be stuck here. In a world where hauling mutilated corpses was the normal, day to day routine of life.

[color=red]”You ever wonder if our ancestors did something to cause this?”[/color] She started, peering over towards james. She had never been the religious type, she always sought comfort in logic and reason, things she could perceive. Invisible deities had never seemed to help her much. [color=red]”What could a person possibly do to deserve a world like this, I wonder,”[/color] She pondered quietly, feeling utterly and incomprehensibly small in the grand scheme of things. She sighed, turning her gaze upwards once more, [color=red]”I guess it doesn't really matter now.. nothing matters but survival. I think that’s why I'm here, James, survival. I've lived everyday in fear, wondering if it would be my last. Perhaps the wastes would claim me, maybe the Wings, or some back alley mugger would get the jump on me. Living a quiet, meek like.. I know, I don’t seem the type right?”[/color] She paused, chuckling.  James scoffed slightly at that, rolling himself onto his back as she continued.

[color=red]”When I was young… I was taken away from the family I can only assume I had.”[/color]  James had a feeling he knew where this was going and tried to shut out what Alex was about to say.  [color=red]“I lived in a slave camp for years, it was there that I first became an Immortal. I thought that with powers like these, things would be different. Yet, everywhere I turned there was only discrimination and fear.. oppression. Things are getting worse too, you'd have to be blind not to notice it. What would we do if everyone turned against us? When they finally start raising their guns en masse, to eradicate us, one by one. When all I want is to live like they do, with a semblance of freedom in a world that’s already too dangerous for anybody to effectively live in. I want a family, I want a home, I want to live where I don’t have to fear everybody trying to knife me in the dark…. I want to stop being a slave to other people’s desires and emotions.”[/color]

Despite James’ best efforts, memories of his own time as a slave came flooding back to him.  All the memories he had been repressing for the last several years.  Of course, it was hard to keep them from bubbling up every now and then, and it figured it would happen again, now.  There were too many triggers all around him at that moment.  Countless mutilated bodies, endless desert all around, isolation, darkness, and now Alex’s own recountance.  He closed his eyes and turned back over in the sand, a pained expression forming on his face as he actively tried to shut out the memories once more.

Alex stopped suddenly, letting herself fall back onto the ground to calm down. She felt tears glistening at the corners of her eyes, but she dared not wipe them away with the state of filth her entire body was in. [color=red]”But I can’t do that by myself, that’s why I sent the call out... I know you don't really know me.. but it would be nice to know that I’m not in this alone,”[/color] Alex posed the question softly, as if afraid of the answer. She was so tired of being alone, so tired of living in fear and paranoia. She tired of what the world had made her… a monster too worried about others to show her eyes in public.

She leaned up and stuck out her grimy hand in his direction, [color=red]”Would you help me change the world James?”[/color] She asked bluntly, an inkling of hope creeping into her voice despite making such a wild proposition to a stranger she had just met a few hours ago. A stranger that had watched her kill another Immortal in the guise of a savage beast. A stranger that would help bury a town for no other motive than it had to be done.

James had hardly registered what Alex said.  His mind was too preoccupied with the tempest of tumultuous thoughts and memories that circulated in his head.  It was only at the direct mention of his name that he finally turned back to Alex.  He tried not to show his distress so much.  [color=8dc73f]”I’m sorry, did you say something?”[/color] he asked, relatively nonchalantly.

Alex looked at him, a bit taken aback. This gave her a moment to actually slow down and mull over everything she said, though it took mere moments until she broken down into a fit of giggles. She fell back into the dirt, laughing at the absurdity of it all, the insanity of what she was asking. She wiped away her tears, grimaced at the moist, spongy streak left across her face, and turned back to James. [color=red]”I said, do you want to help me change the world?”[/color] The question still sounded highly absurd to her, but the tone of her voice made it certain that she was entirely serious.

James couldn't help but be slightly confused.  Of course, he hadn't quite gotten the entire context of what she had said, but the question itself helped fill in the gaps.  [color=8dc73f]”Change the world,”[/color] James said, somewhat whimsically.  He let a smirk crack on one side of his face.  [color=8dc73f]”I don’t know about that, but for now I think…”[/color]

He stopped himself short, his smirk disappearing in an instant.  He had heard something, something close, much closer than he should have allowed before picking up on it.  He bolted himself upright, simultaneously drawing his CZ and cursing himself as he realized his AK was lying with his backpack, several meters away.  [color=8dc73f]”I think we have company,”[/color] he whispered, turning his head around rapidly.  Alex rolled over onto her stomach, trying to find what James was looking at. James jumped up to a crouch and turned towards the town.  [color=8dc73f]”Wolves,”[/color] he said, noting the unmistakable sound of paws hitting the sand.  He really wished he hadn't zoned out; they were already in the town, probably preparing to get the jump on James and Alex.

James stood up and reloaded his CZ with his low-grade rounds, firing two shots into the air before switching back to his usual loads.  [color=8dc73f]”Hopefully that will deter them,”[/color] he said.  Unfortunately, that wasn't so, as was evidenced when a howl pierced the silence and several gaunt, dog-like figures emerged from behind various buildings and debris.

Alex stood, frantically patting herself down. She grit her teeth, trying to stave off the fear that was trying to slowly ensnare her. [color=red]”Fuck,”[/color] she cursed, [color=red]”My stuff is in the post office..”[/color] She let the sentence hang as the low growls creeped closer to them. There was no chance she could outrun a pack of wolves, she was defenseless. She kicked herself mentally, she should have recharged back in Russel, but she hadn't been expecting to find Isolone in this state–and without power.

James had taken note of Alex’s lack of weaponry, and from the look on her face, suspected she also couldn't use her power.  [color=8dc73f]”My AK is just over there,”[/color] he said, looking at the porch of a house about 30 meters away where his belongings sat.  He handed his pistol to Alex before continuing.  [color=8dc73f]”I can get there if you keep me covered, either that or you can keep their attention until then.”[/color]  He could feel his heart rate increasing.  As much as he hated to think so, it was probably their best bet.  Given the circumstances; 13 hungry wolves, a pistol with a tendency to malfunction, and no other means of defense, they needed to tilt the odds in their favor.  This was their best shot.

Alex looked at James curiously, pulling back on the slide of the gun. She wasn't quite sure what he was bringing to this fight, but she did agree on trying to obtain his weapon. She nodded, satisfied with the condition of the pistol–which was subpar. [color=red]”I can barely see without my light.. I’ll try to grab their attention,”[/color] Alex said, feeling her leg muscles coil with adrenaline as she inched towards the opposite direction of the porch. The wolves came closer, their eyes glowing a pale green in the dark night. Alex quivered with anticipation as the pack slowly advanced. 

[color=darkred]”Such tasty morsels.. let me-”[/color] Aeshma hissed from within Alex’s mind. She shut him out, putting her entire focus to the encroaching animals before her. Their low growls seemed to echo across the packed, rocky soil, reverberating all around Alex. [color=red]”GO!”[/color] She called to James, feeling her adrenaline spike as she fired a shot directly ahead of her. She wasn't sure she actually hit anything, her vision too obscured by the darkness. A furious cacophony of barks and howls sounded out around her as she sprinted opposite from James stuff, leading the animals that were pursuing her around the back of the post office.

James made a dash for his AK, taking note of any of the canine predators that went after him.  The shots had done a good job of keeping their attention, but as he neared his AK one of them jumped in front of him, baring it’s teeth and snarling at him ferociously.  James slid to a stop, a mere five meters away from the beast.  From here he could make out the details of the animal quite clearly.  It was very wolf-like, but not exactly a wolf.  It’s fur seemed more rigid, and it’s ears were particularly pointy, shaped like an arrowhead.

The animal began to approach him slowly, step by step.  James held his ground, taking a quick look around to make sure that he wasn’t about to get flanked.  Sure enough, there was one more on his right, about to jump.  Damn pack mentality.  James dodged as soon as it made the jump, leaping to his left and rolling out of it.  He evaded the one going for the kill succesfully, but the one that seemed to serve as the distraction tried to go for James while he was still rolling out.  James kicked some dirt behind him in an effort to discombobulate the animal.  It worked just long enough for him to get up and make it to his rifle.

He snatched it up, taking a moment to get it in his hands before turning around and opening fire on the two that he assumed were pursuing him.  He fired three shots, but the two had broken off, possibly to try to flank him again.  He listened closely to their movements, hearing one of them move to the other side of the building next to him.  The other had gone a few buildings down, probably to head him off.  He broke away from the building and ran towards Alex, firing on three of the wolves that had gotten close to her.  They went down fairly easily, and it seemed like Alex had wounded another.

Alex’s legs pumped furiously, her feet nearly losing purchase in the dirt as she flew across it. Close behind she could hear the vicious snarls of the beasts. She squeezed the trigger of the handgun, aiming blindly behind her. One, two, three rounds, but she didn't wait around to see if she’d struck any of the wolves. She rounded the corner of the office building, sliding through the dirt as she tried to maintain her velocity. The wolves barreled around the corner after her, a hand's width behind her as she rounded another corner, heading for the front of the office. One of the beasts snapped at her, catching the rear of her pants and tearing away a chunk of the material as Alex pushed forward against the pull of the wolf.

The others seemed to scramble over themselves to get at her, their ferocity scared her, but spurred her adrenaline to greater heights. Still, she didn't feel she was going to make it, just a few feet from where her gear was stashed. The hollow crack of a rifle range out, and Alex could audibly hear the impact the rounds made against the flesh of her pursuers. She thanked James mentally, diving through the ruined window of the office. She hit the cool concrete in a roll, sliding to a dusty stop as she scrambled for her gear. Even though she was practically blind within the building, the paltry light coming through the window barely enough to illuminate anything, it only took her a handful of seconds to dump her stuff on the floor and secure her knives.

Glass crackled as an ash gray bloodhound leaped through the window, it’s rather large body breaking off jagged edges of glass from the window frame. Alex whirled around, rolling back as the beast soared towards her. Both blades plunged into its skull from beneath the wolf’s jaw, and as Alex rolled back she used her feet to propeel the wolf over her, rather than on top of her.

As the wolves pursuing Alex came to a bloody halt in the ground, James returned his attention to the two who were no doubt following him.  He heard one of them behind him, making a leap at him.  He spun around, the butt of his rifle hitting the wolf in the head, knocking it unconscious.  It hadn’t deflected it, however, and it still hit James pretty hard, knocking him onto his back.  He tried pushing it off, and while it wasn’t too heavy, he had bigger problems converging on him.

He pulled his AK out from under the beast and leaned backwards, putting the muzzle of the rifle into another one of the bloodthirsty hounds’ mouth and firing, sending a globule of brain matter out of it’s skull.  It collapsed in a heap as he spun the rifle around and shot another just before it tried to pounce him.  He checked around and, seeing no others in sight, pushed the unconscious one off of him and shot it in the head.  He brought the rifle to his shoulder, taking another quick look around.  The wounded wolf began to make a run for it, along with another that had witnessed the carnage.  Eight down, five to go.

Alex pressed the hilts of her knives together, locking them into place as she turned the two weapons into a single entity–A bladed staff of about five feet. She felt the familiar weight of the weapon as it whirled through her hands, it has been some time since she had felt the need to use it. She crouched, peeking out of the doorway of the building. The wolves seemed torn between their targets, but a few seemed set on Alex. One of them advanced, growling as it and Alex circled slowly in front of the office. She kept her eyes strained, scanning the very edges of her vision for movement, knowing that bloodhounds never directly attacked, not when they had backup. Sure enough, a pure white mongrel charged at her from her side. The bladed ends of the staff whipped around her as she spun the weapon, one tail end of it gouging a narrow line through the dirt as she brought it around and cleaved open the side of the beasts face. It howled in pain seconds before Alex whipped the other end of the staff around, fully decapitating the wolf and cutting off its strangled cries–literally.

James knew that the fight would likely be over soon, having heard two more of the hounds die at Alex’s hands.  Only three left.  One was inside the post office, probably about to try to get the drop on Alex.  One was trying to sneak around behind the collapsed inn, and the last one James couldn’t hear.  He ran over to where Alex was standing.  [color=8dc73f]”There’s only three left.  One is…”[/color] James stopped, lining up the sights of his rifle on the second floor window of the post office and firing twice.  A yelp came from the window, followed by a thud.  [color=8dc73f]”Make that two more,”[/color] he corrected himself.

Alex flinched as the hound’s body hit the ground next to her. [color=red]’He’s a damn good shot in this darkness..’[/color] she thought to herself, keeping a watchful gaze on the remaining two predators. One of them feigned forward and Alex responded by whipping her staff towards it, causing the wolf to emit a snarl and back off. They circled around her cautiously, all too aware of how quickly their brethren had been gunned, or cut down. The one she had been watching, a midnight black wolf, feigned again but Alex flinched backwards, trying to remain aware of the wolf behind her. She shot a glance over her shoulder, turning slightly as the one in the rear let out a snarl, giving the first wolf all the opportunity it needed to launch itself at her. 

As the final wolf made it’s presence known and began circling Alex along with the other, James brought his rifle up and took aim.  This was a typical tactic, Alex would attack one wolf, leaving herself open to the other.  Still, after taking a moment to gauge Alex’s behavior, he could tell which one she was going for, and as the wolf she had turned a blind eye to leaned back for the kill, James fired, splattering a mosaic of gore onto the dirt next to the bloodhound.  It’s body turned into a rigid corpse mid-leap, causing its lifeless body to fall to the ground and tumble into Alex’s legs. She yelped as she tumbled backwards over the wolf, prompting the one she had been watching to leap into action.

Alex didn’t bother trying to recover, rather she braced one end of her staff against the dirt, pointing the other towards the final bloodhound. The upward end of the weapon pierced through the middle of the beast. Its jaws snapped furiously towards her as it slid down the shaft, close enough that Alex could feel the heat of its foul breath. Aeshma roared from within Alex’s consciousness, tearing away her control. She let out a howl, her hands curled into claws as she gouged the wolf’s eyes out. The creature wailed pitifully as she attacked it with the same ferocity it had shown her. She took its jaws in both hands, feeling the creature’s sharp teeth cut into the palm of her hands as she twisted with all of her absolute, rage fueled might. The hound’s neck snapped loudly, to which Aeshma receded back into his dark corner of Alex’s mind.

[color=red]”Fuck Me!”[/color] She exclaimed loudly, rolling away from the bodies of the bloodhounds. She knelt on all fours, trying to catch her breath as she stared down at her bloodied hands from between the bloodstained locks of hair dangling around her face.  James lowered his rifle, taken aback by Alex’s outburst of pure, instinctual bloodlust.  [color=8dc73f]”Shit, are you sure it’s dead enough?”[/color] he chimed in, sarcastically.

[color=red]”The Spark.. my spark.. he..”[/color] Alex gasped. She stopped, trying to settle her nerves and maintain proper breathing. [color=red]”I.. am fairly certain it’s not going to get back up,”[/color] She replied, standing as she did so.

James looked between Alex and the corpse for a moment before simply bringing his hand to his face and sitting down again.  [color=8dc73f]”Well I guess that’s that,”[/color] he said.  [color=8dc73f]“Two of them made a run for it.  One was wounded.  I doubt we’ll be hearing from them again for a while,”[/color] he continued.  He let out a sigh, setting his AK on the ground next to him and laying down, still breathing heavily from the short battle.

[color=red]”You’re a damn good shot James, I mean fuck, what did you say your power was again?”[/color] Alex exclaimed, turning to look at him and failing to make him out clearly through the darkness. He was a blotchy silhouette to her, but the way he had gunned down those wolves, it was almost as if he could see clearly.

James look up at Alex briefly.  [color=8dc73f]”Like I said, I've got really good sensory abilities.  Sight, hearing, feeling, everything,”[/color] he stated in between breaths.  [color=8dc73f]”If I hadn't been distracted and caught off guard, I’d have heard those bloodhounds long before they reached the town.”[/color]  He mentally reproached himself once more for that, knowing he could have easily dispatched them long before they were a tangible threat.  [color=8dc73f]”Hell, who's to say we wouldn't have been completely ambushed if I hadn't heard them when I did?”[/color] he retorted.

[color=red]”You’re probably right,”[/color] Alex agreed, [color=red]”Luckily neither of us were alone when it happened.. even armed I almost didn't make it.. so I mean, Thank you,”[/color] She finished king of sheepishly, a feeling of familiar meekness washing over herself.
[color=8dc73f]”Speaking of which, can I have my pistol back?”[/color] he asked.

[color=red]”Er.. here,”[/color] Alex said, holding the gun out into the darkness, [color=red]”I think there’s something stuck in the slide there.. some piece of hardware you got,”[/color] She scoffed.

James took the pistol, noticing the stovepiped casing in the ejection port.  [color=8dc73f]”Shiiiit.  Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t need another shot,”[/color] he said.  [color=8dc73f]”Yeah, it’s not great.  I bought this pistol a while back.  Thought I was getting a bargain for it, but it turned out to have a faulty ejector.  I would have replaced it, but parts are hard to find, and I’m not good enough at metalwork to make one myself,”[/color] he finished, sighing as he pulled the slide back and let the spent casing fall into the dirt.

[color=red]”Heh, remind me to get you a new one when I get some hardware in.. going to need a lot of it for what I want to do,”[/color] She said, carefully retracing her steps to clean up her stuff inside the office.

James chuckled slightly at that.  [color=8dc73f]”Yeah, will do,”[/color] he replied.  He sat back up, picking his rifle up and putting it back with the rest of his things.  It was then that the smell of the many other dead bodies returned to him.  [color=8dc73f]”Ughhhh… we still got work to do,”[/color] he said, grabbing his things and hauling them to the post office.

[color=red]”Hey..”[/color] Alex started, stopping in the doorway as James dragged his stuff closer, [color=red]”You never answered me…”[/color]

James stopped at that, recalling the question she had asked before the attack.  It seemed a strange thing to ask, to “change the world” as she so put it.  He wasn't even sure how he or she would go about doing so.  [color=8dc73f]”I really don’t know,”[/color] he replied truthfully.  [color=8dc73f]”I mean, if I knew more about you and what you had in mind…”[/color]

He sighed once more, tilting his head upwards.  [color=8dc73f]”’Changing the world’ sounds like a tall order to me.  I mean, for now, I guess I’ll help you however I can.  If it’s like you said and things are really as bad as you say they are for us, there’s no point in going back to Russell City,”[/color] he stated, matter of factly.

Alex smiled at him, sure that he would see it, [color=red]”We have a lot to do, then.”[/color]