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CHAPTER 3

Aurora, Colorado

1320 Hours, August 16** th ***, 2052*

"It was nice talking to you again, Adam. Come back whenever you have the time," winked Penelope, waving to the others in the Sergeant's unit as they loaded up their gear, their work on the MAV now finished.

"I will. I promise." said Wilks as he leaned in to kiss her cheek. She smiled as he pulled back, nudging him in the ribs.

"Take care. And don't get shot!" she called after him as he closed the door on his vehicle. It lurched forwards almost immediately and sped off towards a routine patrol as she turned back to her house. Timothy, her son, waved as they turned a corner, Wilks waving back from the passenger seat.

"So? You going to ask her out?" asked Robert, who was taking his turn driving. It had taken a while for the bobcat to come out of his shell, but he now flourished amongst his squadmates. Wilks found that he had nerves of steel in a combat zone and more than a little grey matter in between his large, tufted ears. "It's been a four days, and we've been coming to 'deliver her supplies' every day now. I'm sure she has more than enough."

Wilks merely ignored him. His fellow troopers had been roasting him about this ever since the they had first met Penelope. He had slowly stopped protesting their claims, now resorting to feigning deaf whenever the topic inevitably arose. He knew he should say something to her; they had grown close over the past few days, even to the point where they had shared a bed on more than one occasion when he had been on leave.

"Yeah Sarge," put in Lucy from directly behind him, slipping off her canvas-covered helmet and placing it in her lap, "A girl can only take so much 'friendship' before she decides to move on."

"Ah, never mind guys. He won't budge; he's still in la-la land over that kiss." shouted Henderson from above them, leaning back in the gunnery station as they bumped over a curb down a side alley. He turned his head back out and scanned for possible targets, his two cents worth put in.

"Whatever. All I'm sayin' is that, out here, any day can be your last, sir." sighed Robert, turning them onto the designated route.

Wilks just looked out the window, his rifle resting on the sill. But no matter how much he tried to block it out, Arthur's words echoed through his mind. Maybe he was right.

**

Eldora Resort, West of Denver, Colorado

2237 Hours, August 17** th ***, 2052*

John and Owen had spent the day gathering supplies from the various buildings spread out on the hillside, taking turns watching the wolf cub. They had even managed to find an old industrial generator inside of a utility shed near the chalet, and Owen had set it up to power the large condo that they had chosen as their new residence for the next few days. It was set midway up the hill and offered a good view of the resort below it, so it was an ideal location to make up camp.

They had washed up for the first time in what seemed like a month in the condo's shower before gorging on food that they had scavenged from the various other houses and the store. It had been a while since they had had a good meal, so they went overboard with all kinds of food and drink. All the meat and produce had rotted on the shelves of the small corner store, but that hadn't stopped them from feasting on that which was loaded with preservatives. Fortunately the war had broken out before the resort had closed down for the summer, otherwise the food would have been shipped out to the city and they would have been left to scrounge for themselves.

Owen had managed to find a trusty old .30-06 hunting rifle in one of the yearly-rented cabins tucked away under the mattress, seemingly abandoned with half a box of ammunition. He then managed to kill the same deer that he had seen earlier, giving them a good supply of venison for a while and forestalling any need to travel to find food. As Owen had put it as he had quartered the beast; "Thank god for gun-toting rednecks keeping guns handy at all times. And their preparedness."

Despite everything, John had found himself growing attached to little Romulus. He was now in charge of his care seeing as Owen had gone to look for a more powerful radio in the resort, hoping to get into contact with the others and possibly arrange an extraction. The little bugger had been fed three whole packages of dried baby formula that had been mixed with water and nuked in a microwave before he was finally full. He had grown tired almost immediately after tugging the final sip from the bottle and lay back in John's arms. He yawned, his small teeth gleaming in the light cast by the room's lighting, and fell soundly asleep in John's arms.

John had never considered himself an animal person, or even a man remotely interested in having children. He absolutely hated babies with their incessant whining and annoying helplessness, but he couldn't bring himself to moving and possibly disturbing the little cub as it lay cradled in his arms. He had taken off his armour and plugged the batteries into a wall outlet to regain their lost charge. The rest of it lay spread out on the table in the next room, clean of dirt and grime thanks to an hour's careful attention with a shoe-polishing brush. The KEVLAR-esque undersuit was in the dryer. Apparently, the stuff was machine washable and he couldn't have been more grateful: it had been getting quite clammy inside. In place of the suit he wore a pair of jeans and a t-shirt found in a room of the lodge, hidden away in an upturned dresser.

He tried to fight off the waves of crushing exhaustion that swept over him as he held the cub loosely in his arms, Romulus twitching as he dreamed of something or other, but his strength was beginning to fade. Somehow John managed to stretch out lengthwise on the couch, its lumpy cushioning almost as soft as a cloud to his weary form. He finally stopped trying to stop falling asleep, embracing his tiredness like a long lost lover.

**

Owen threw the CB radio across the room of the small apartment-like resort room, the machine crashing against the panelled wall and small parts flying away from the main construct. His flashlight lit up a only small patch of the dark building, barely providing enough light for him to see a dozen feet in front of him. He watched as the radio and several of its broken components clattered uselessly to the floor.

Like John, Owen had removed his armour and had decided to keep it at the 'house' while he performed a quick search of the area for a form of long-range communication. He was now dressed in a brown hoodie with a kangaroo-esque front pouch and a pair of beige cargo pants that he had happened across earlier in the condo. He also wore a pair of black leather work boots a size too small for him, the slight pain in his feet from the ill fitting footwear proving mildly distracting but nothing he couldn't handle. He had managed to find a beenie, or, as he called it, a toque, and had found himself grateful for his this as the night had come on in force. Without his armour the temperature outside was beginning to test even his considerable tolerance.

He slumped against a wall, still angry that the radio had been busted before he had happened across it and let loose a ragged sigh of disappointment. The fact that it had looked whole when he had plugged it into a small power cell he had brought along on his search only added to the frustration that tugged at him. He had plugged it in, a smile spreading across his features for the first time in what seemed like ages, only to find that the internals had been busted to pieces some time ago when it had fallen off a shelf or something. It had been too much for him and his control over his emotions had slipped for a while, resulting in a bout of rage and an even more busted radio.

That's when he had heard footsteps coming from outside, crunching over the crystalline snow. He tensed up immediately. More wolves? He listened intently, reaching for the old Remington Model 770 rifle that he had found earlier and working the bolt just in case. The round slid into the chamber with a smooth click, the noise barely audible in the nearly-empty house. The footsteps paused outside the door and he could see something in the frosted window. There were definitely two sets of footsteps to be heard, both coming at broken intervals with no semblance of order. Whatever they were, they weren't wolves. It was obviously not John coming to find him, Owen had told him to stay put and await his return.

Thinking quickly, Owen placed the flashlight, still turned on, onto the back of a couch and aimed it at about head height on the door. He then slipped into cover behind the bend of the stone fireplace out of sight from the door. There was a slight sound as the doorknob was turned and an audible click as the latch was drawn.

The door flew open quickly, which welcomed in a sudden rush of cold mountain wind. Two figures carrying a pair of large and very lethal guns followed the flash of outside air. The lead person was blinded by the flashlight momentarily, putting an arm in front of his eyes to ward off the light. The second was unable to enter the room, the first still blocking the doorway completely but dropped to a crouch behind. The momentary blindness didn't last long though, the first figure recovering quickly and rushing into the room despite the harsh light. Owen was about to put a bullet in his skull when he noticed the familiar outline of power armour and a slight glint of gold from behind the first spectre.

"Sasha? Lily! Oh my god! You two are still alive!" he cried jubilantly.

The two fems staggered as if struck, immediately relaxing the hold on their weapons. "Owen? Is that you? What the hell are you doing here?" questioned Sasha, mag-locking her SCAR to her back and taking a step forward. Lily stood up behind her and entered the building.

Owen stepped out from the sturdy cover that the stonework had provided, grabbing the flashlight off of the plush couch and directing it at the floor. "John and I were trying to get back to the city when we stumbled across this place just a day ago. Long story short, there's food here and a working power source. I was looking for a radio when you two showed up; both of ours were busted when the buggy crashed and we needed a replacement. But why are you here? Weren't you supposed to go back with the others?"

"We stayed behind to look for you guys. We thought we could catch you on your way out, but the Humanist traffic pushed us off the road. That's when we gave up looking, I'm afraid. Owen... It's so good to see you again."

"Likewise," said Owen, "When did you get here?"

"We just got here a few minutes ago, saw a light on in this house, and decided to investigate." Lily answered, her voice coming across happily relieved.

"Oh thank god... Say, you don't happen to have a long-range radio? We've been without contact since we left the manse."

"Both our sets still work, but we haven't tried them in case the Humanists were monitoring the channels. Besides, we didn't think that there would be anyone in range. But enough about that," said Sasha, coming forward to embrace him in a hug which he happily accepted, one arm still holding his rifle, "We're alive and that's all that matters." She wrapped her arms around Owen and focused on not crushing the life out of him.

Normally shorter than Owen, Sasha now stood at an equal height in her suit. It was odd to see someone hug another person wearing armour that gave them the strength to rip them in two, but it wasn't THAT that had made Lily feel a little awkward. It was the fact that it was a downright soul-binding moment as far as Sasha and Owen's relationship went.

Lily watched patiently from the doorway as the two made up for lost time, the gilded Phoenix set into her chestplate seeming to frown in mild annoyance. It was a good three minutes before she finally spoke up, her awkwardness finally getting the best of her. "Hey Owen, where's John? Did he make it?"

Owen snapped out of his trance-like state, slightly embarrassed to have exposed himself in front of his love interest's sister. Sasha backed up, almost tripping over the throw-rug spread across the floor. Owen tried to catch her, but he may as well been trying to stop the world from turning. She fell backwards, pulling Owen down with her. Their limbs flailed wildly about as they tumbled before landing in a heap. They merely lay there for a second before Sasha started to laugh. Lily joined in and even Owen let out a chuckle despite himself.

"I'll never try that again...," sighed Owen as he pulled himself off from Sasha's prone form and offered his hand to her, "at least, not without your permission first, mon amoureuse." He winked, drawing a laugh from both vixens.

"Anyways, as to what you asked me Lily," he continued as Sasha took his hand, more out of courtesy than practicality, and helped her to her feet. "Yeah, John made it. He's up the hill in a cabin we found, along with Romulus."

"Romulus?" asked Lily, "Who's that?"

"It's hard to explain, so I'll let you meet him yourselves when we get up there." He looked around for a moment before deciding to give up on his previous quest. "I guess there's no point in looking for a radio this late at night, so come on. I'll show you our place."

The night was quiet and the clouds obscured any view of the Milky Way that they may have had. Though the air was cold, it was nowhere near cold enough to bundle oneself up in three layers of insulating parkas. It was almost a perfect night. In Owen's eyes, it was. She had survived and the world was now that much brighter for him.

The trio left the small town and travelled up the slope towards the condo, both parties trying to gain a knowledge about what had happened to the others in the past couple days. Apparently they shared similar experiences, such as rationing their food, hunting whenever they could, and generally avoiding the Humanist patrols. Neither had heard about any events occurring back in Denver, and the women had only seen a helicopter go by overhead once a few days ago. They weren't sure if it was Humanist or friendly, so they had opted to stay hidden from any sensors by throwing themselves to the ground and crawling under a thick stand of trees.

"Here we are," said Owen, holding his arms out to his sides in front of the building they had co-opted as their makeshift home, "La maison!" It was a simple, but elegant, one-story abode, large windowpanes filling up the brick walls and a chimney smoking quietly in the middle of the roof. The number 24 was posted on a sign out front and light shone from outside. The cool wooden planks that covered the building were dark, but the light from outside allowed for a welcoming feel.

"It looks like the kind of place our owners used to have before the breakout," said Lily, "We never went there, but they had pictures of it all around the house..."

"Hmm... I think she's right. What did you say this resort was called?" said Sasha.

Owen had to think for a moment before answering, "Um... Eldora, I think."

Sasha's tail wagged energetically as a memory fragment was rediscovered inside of her skull. She let out a small puff of breath. "Yeah, this is the place. The exact place... Lot 24 at Eldora Resort. What are the odds..."

"Quel coincidence..." breathed Owen. "Oh well; come on in! I managed to get a deer today, so there's plenty of food if you want it. Hell, there's even running water!"

The trio entered the resort house, all in good humour and generally causing a ruckus. John practically flew upwards from the couch, a look of horror on his face as he realized that the building had been entered while he was on duty. The he noted that Romulus had been sleeping on him earlier. Had been. He cast a look in the intruders' direction, recognized Owen amongst them, and turned his attention to trying to locate the small wolf.

He looked about the couch frantically, even pulling the cloth pillows off the piece of furniture. Owen and the morphs watched as he sought desperately to find the cub. His search fruitless, he finally spoke to the others. "Owen! Where's Romulus?!"

Owen only laughed at him, pointing over at a chair on the other side of the room. Romulus was curled up in the middle of the leather chair, his eyes opening just in time to observe John turning none-too-flattering shade of crimson. He rolled over before stretching out on his new bed. Then he pushed himself onto all fours before jumping off the chair and attacking Owen's outstretched hands in a playful manner.

"OHMYGOD! He's sooooo cuuutttee!" squealed Lily, dropping to a crouch beside him. Sasha couldn't help herself, reaching out and scratching behind Romulus's ears. Lily reached and took her helmet off, placing it on the floor next to him.

Lily's face was more haggard than it had ever been before, and that was saying a lot. Her fur was matted in places around her neck and she looked immensely tired. Her hair had grown ragged, now falling freely to just below her shoulders. Dirt lined her face, smudging some of her noble features. Apparently, it startled the little guy and he sprung backwards a foot. He sniffed the air quickly, trying to stretch his small head forward without moving his legs. His fur stood at end and he let out a low keening as he caught sight of Lily's face.

"Oh come on! I know I look bad, but really?" whined Lily. The others merely laughed as the pup took a hesitant step forward in her direction.

"I think I know what it is." said Sasha, a thought springing forth, "You act like a human, but look like a wolf. Or at least, you're canine. As far as he's concerned, you're a freak of nature, sis! Sure took him less time than it did for us to figure that out!"

"Hahahaha.... you're sooooo funny," she replied sarcastically before trying to earn Romulus's trust again, "Come here little guy. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. Come on..."

The wolf took a step forward, his nose working furiously as he tried to work out what stood before him. He then yipped excitedly and jumped at her leg, biting at her shinplate and dodging around her hands playfully.

"Huh. Maybe he's hungry." laughed John as the cub started jumping for her chest.

Lily threw him an icy look before turning back to the excited wolf and running her gauntleted right hand through his fur. The animal nuzzled at her hand for a moment before playfully biting at her fingers and rubbing up against her. "So, where did you find him?"

"Ask Owen. He knows better than me." suggested John, Owen looking to the ground.

"When we came across this town, I decided to scout the town alone before scavenging for any useful supplies. I went to the chalet, and like an idiot, burst through the front door. The new 'locals' didn't appreciate it, and I ended up with an orphaned cub." elaborated Owen, not waiting for the others to ask him directly.

"Okay... But he's a wild animal, Owen. We can't just keep him; he'll turn rampant." sighed Sasha, everyone else noting that she had said 'we'.

"On the contrary, I can. Well, I know how to, at least." replied Smith, "We used to have one back home when I was a kid. He wasn't this young, but he was the same species. He was caught in one of my dad's traps, but he was too short to be killed by it. We took him in as a pet and he ended up living for twelve years. If anything this guy should be easier to handle; we caught Romulus here in the nick of time. Another week and he_would_ be too old to adopt."

"So you're going to keep him? As a pet? Are you insane?" asked Lily. "I mean, he's certainly cute, but how are you, of all people, going to care for a pet nowadays?"

"Same way I care for myself; making smart decisions."

"But is this a smart decision?" questioned Lily imploringly.

"Trust me; I've tried to dissuade him but it's useless." said John as he lay back down on the couch.

"I've told John this already," said Owen adamantly, "He's my responsibility now, whether you like it or not. I hate to say it, but I thought you would be a little more open to helping others in need."

"We're not trying to stop you, Owen. We're just trying to make you realize what you're doing." said Sasha, doubt plaguing her words.

"Don't worry mom; I'll feed him, and love him, and pet him, and call him George," snickered Owen, drawing slight laughter from the others, "Don't worry about me. I need something to distract my thoughts; something to take my mind off of the world for a while. And Romulus might just be it."

The others exchanged glances as the small wolf ran over to its chair, tired of all of the recent activity. There was no way that the man was going to budge on the subject, and none had the heart to put their foot down on the idea and stomp it flat. In a way, they all agreed with him whether they knew it or not. A distraction would be nice for once.

The rest of the night was spent lounging around the house and achieving a state of fulfilment and cleanliness that they hadn't had in a long while. John didn't move from his position on the couch, sleeping away the past month's exertions. Sasha and Lily both cleaned themselves up, the warm water of the showers doing wonders for their dingy fur and scarred spirits. Owen spent most of the time playing with the wolf cub, attempting to get the youngster used to him and the others. In between play times when the cub went for a nap, weapon and armour maintenance kept the Colonel's hands busy.