Pepper was in the back of the van transporting him to the courthouse. He watched the trees pass by at the side of the road and was grateful to see something other than dull concrete brick walls.

His eyes burned slightly. He’d been struggling to sleep at night. All he had was a small two-inch pad for a mattress to soften the hard metal surface that was his bed. Then there were the screams, the bellowing creepy laughs of the transient veterans who still fought the terrors of their dreams. Then there were the sick and tormented drug addicts thrown into the mix.

Their voices rang out during all hours of the day. A few swore to God, pleading for mercy and safety from the demons they were sure were standing in the hallway. Others spoke to those gathered around them, but their audience only existed in their imagination. Pepper rather believed they were the ghosts of the dead that still haunted some of those people.

For the first time in his life, he missed Rocket Burger. He would have given an entire week of hard labor breaking rocks, digging holes, and carrying sandbags if only he could get that juicy, meaty, greasy, melted-cheese-with-mayonnaise-dripping goodness of a burger. The hot, salty, and crunchy taste of fresh French fries. The cool balance of ranch dressing coating their ends after he dipped them in the small sauce container.

Instead, he was treated to powdered eggs, bacon that crumbled in his fingers, and a biscuit so hard, he was sure he could make a golem out of them alone. Lunch was normally a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some carrots and an apple. Dinner was the worst canned beans he had ever had, with small pieces of pork, a side of steamed broccoli, and a cup of vanilla pudding.

The van pulled up to the back of the courthouse and Pepper was escorted inside. A man in a cheap brown suit walked up to him. “Mr. Walker, I am Terry Vandemogle. I will be your defense attorney helping represent you today.”

“Do I really need a lawyer for all this?” he asked and let out a long breath.

“Not really. These things are pretty straightforward.” The man had not even looked up at Pepper. But then he paused and they finally locked eyes. “I forgot this is your first time. Don’t worry. I was able to talk to Judge Lori Atwater this morning and put in a good word for you. It’s your first offense, and I think she’ll understand my reasoning.”

“Pepper Walker,” a court clerk called down the hallway.

“Okay… that’s us. Let’s get this over with,” his lawyer declared.

Pepper followed the highly polished tiles until they arrived at a set of carved wooden doors. They opened up just enough for him to walk into the room. He was afraid there would be a large audience—those closest to him seeing him walking in with shame and regret in his heart.

A quick scan of the room put his mind at ease, as there was only a clerk or two at the front. A single deputy stood in the corner of the room. The judge was seated dead center behind a carved wooden platform which looked down at Pepper and his lawyer. He could sense the judge’s eyes blazing through him, analyzing him with every inch of floor he crossed until he arrived at a small wooden desk.

He finally came to a stop and looked straight ahead. The court clerk read off his charges and information, but he didn’t hear the words. Everything sounded like he was stuck in a metal tunnel. Every noise echoed uncontrollably until they were indistinguishable. It wasn’t until he felt a nudge on his shoulder that he pulled himself out of the fray.

He looked over to see Kyle was now standing in the center of the room before the judge. He was dressed better than his lawyer, in a black suit with a bright blue tie. He adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat.

“Good morning, Your Honor.”

“Hello, Mr. Wilkinson. I am informed that you are a victim of Mr. Walker.”

“No, Your Honor.” Kyle coughed; he seemed to be struggling to get the words out. It looked as if he was finding it hard to focus. He took a second to recompose himself and finally stood straight and continued. “Your Honor, I am no victim of Mr. Walker. In fact, I was offering the items as a gift to Mr. Walker. I had forgotten that Mr. Walker was planning to stop by my junkyard that night and I had locked the gate. I know Mr. Walker, or as I better know him as, Pepper.

“He was in desperate need to get the items to work on a project. There was no damage done to my property, and the items are mere scraps. Pepper is a wonderful young man with a very bright future. I would hate to have my name or business in any way, shape, or form associated with a criminal charge. He comes from a wonderful family, with an older brother who helped defend this world, this country, and this community from our greatest enemy.”

Pepper’s mouth was open in shock. He looked at the judge, who had her reading glasses hanging on the edge of her nose. Her cold-hearted glare danced back and forth between him and Kyle. “I see.”

She paused and removed her glasses. “Well, Mr. Wilkinson. I respect your decision and shall drop the theft charges in regard to your relation to this case brought before me today.” She adjusted her attention to Pepper. “As for you, Mr. Walker, I am greatly troubled by your actions. How do I ensure a young man such as yourself understands the severity of your decisions? How do I know that you will learn there are consequences for your choices? Nordon’s grocery are still claiming to be victims. Though they recovered their property, it was only due to the actions of Deputy Ryan Kaber that those items were returned.

“However, this is your first offense. I have been informed of some… extracurricular affairs between you and another individual at Status Academy. But I will not hold those instances against you. Therefore I am sentencing you to community service for the next six months. Should you commit any additional crimes in my jurisdiction, you will serve out the remainder of your time in jail. Do I make myself clear?”

His lawyer gave him a gentle nudge. Pepper cleared his throat and swallowed. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Your Honor,” his attorney muttered.

“Your Honor, I mean.” Pepper quickly corrected his error.

The judge lifted her glasses up and appeared to be skimming over a list. She hemmed and hawed at the options and finally removed her glasses. “You will serve out your community service at the Equine Sanctuary. Eli Gardner is a personal friend of mine. If I hear you are any trouble whatsoever, you’ll be back here faster than greased lightning. Do you understand?”

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“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Dismissed.”

***

Pepper stepped out of the courtroom and closed his eyes. He let the fresh air wrap around him and took a deep breath. His eyes slowly opened and he saw Kyle standing nearby.

Pepper was filled with shame and embarrassment. But he knew there was only one thing to do. He took his first step down the road of redemption. The few steps that came after that led directly to the man he really didn’t know much about.

“Hey, Pepper,” the man said with a slightly bashful smile.

“Kyle.” Pepper let out a sigh.

He was just about to start his apology when Kyle lifted his hand. “It’s okay, Pepper.”

“No, I need to. I’m sorry, Kyle. What I did… it wasn’t right. No matter what. I shouldn’t have snuck into the junkyard and stolen the rune cards. It…” He paused but shook his head and decided to be fully transparent. “It wasn’t the first time I snuck into the junkyard either. I’ve done it at least two, three times before. There was just nothing ever good enough to steal is all.”

Kyle grinned. “Yeah… the last couple batches haven’t been good hauls. You sure showed up just when the real good one arrived.” He finished with what Pepper was sure was a nervous chuckle. There was an awkward pause and Kyle took a quick look around. “Can I give you a ride home?”

Pepper nodded and smiled slightly. The two walked side by side and eventually arrived at Kyle’s white pickup truck. The first thing Pepper noticed when he sat in the seat was row after row of military patches velcroed to the roof of the cab. His eyes instinctively narrowed in on his brother’s unit patch.

The ride was quiet for a few minutes until Pepper finally felt the need to ask, “Why did you come to testify? Why did you come and ask for the charges to be dropped?”

“Because…” Kyle seemed to struggle to get the words out. Pepper took a quick glance at him and saw his eyes begin to water. He sniffed and coughed. “I wasn’t sure who you were when I first met you. You’ve sprang up like a beanstalk, at least compared to the pictures he used to have taped up in the barracks.”

“You were with my brother Travis…” Pepper said and nodded slowly.

“I wasn’t just with him. I was his supervisor. I was… I was there that day.” Kyle paused and waited for a new ounce of strength. “There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t wish I’d been there. We had received a new shipment of fuel at the base. I had assigned another soldier to oversee the shipment and ensure everything was up to specifications.

“But I had administrative work I had fallen behind on. I was sure the guys could handle the job on their own. We’d done it a dozen times before without an issue. That shipment, though… I had no idea there was a leak. It was all over in the blink of an eye.”

Pepper looked out the window but found himself turning back towards Kyle. “It was an accident, Kyle.”

“You know what accidents do for guilt?”

“What’s that?”

“Nothing,” Kyle said with a thousand-yard stare out the front window. “A supervisor’s worst day of his life is the day he watches five caskets lowered into the ground. Their family standing all around, and there you are. Standing tall and proud. The way the military expects you to be. The thing the military doesn’t teach you is how to survive when they didn’t.”

“Don’t they say to live your life to the fullest, for that’s what they would want you to do?”

“That is what they say. It’s just a little hard to do when you have to figure out how exactly to do that all on your own. All you want is to swap places with them. To give everything up to have them back.”

Kyle ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve wanted to stop by the house for years. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I wasn’t sure it was you when I first saw you at Rhino’s. But later I realized who you were. I’ve wanted to say something for a while, but yeah. Last thing I would want to do is get up top and have to explain to Travis that I didn’t give his little bro some help when he needed a second chance.”

“Well, again, I’m sorry, and thanks for doing what you did.”

“Here.…” Kyle reached back behind his seat and into the second row of seats. A second later Pepper’s black backpack was in the center console. “You picked out a good selection of runes there. You think they’ll help you get a Regional Invitation?”

Pepper gazed at the bag in amazement and opened it up to see all the runes he had stolen were still inside. “What… why?”

“Why not? Not like I need them. You know what, consider it your first sponsorship. Sounds about right for two scrappy guys.” Kyle turned to him and smiled. His eyes still glistened with the emotions he was holding in.

“You seriously don’t need to do this, Kyle.”

“Yeah… I do.” He finished by putting the truck in park. “Is that your dad’s truck in the driveway?”

“Yeah. You want to talk to him?”

Pepper could see Kyle begin to white knuckle the steering wheel. It looked like he was about to say yes, but then he paused and sat back in his seat. “I thought so… but you know… I think I’ll do it another time. I think you should probably just spend some time with your family.”

“Okay.” Pepper shook Kyle’s hand and slowly made his way towards the house. The faint smell of smoke caught his attention, and he walked around the side towards the backyard. He was surprised to see a small campfire burning in the fire pit. His dad was sitting in a low chair, a cigar in his hand.

It had been years since he’d seen his dad smoke a cigar. If his memory served him right, the last time was when one of his dad’s military friends had passed away. The surviving members of the unit had gathered around to smoke a cigar in the man’s honor.

Pepper slowly approached and motioned to the empty seat. His dad nodded his permission for him to join, and he sat there in silence. The silence was soon interrupted by Amprage running out the back door.

Pepper started to laugh as his familiar trotted up to him wearing a pink ballerina outfit. Pink lipstick covered the dog’s face, and a plastic princess crown was taped to his head.

“Pepper! Thank god you’re back! Please… save me!” His familiar came to a skidding stop next to him and finally lay down at his feet.

“He is quite the unique… thing you have there,” Trent finally said.

“I’m sorry, Dad… about… all of this.”

“You know, Pepper, I just want to know one thing. Why… why did you believe you needed to resort to stealing?”

“I mean… I needed to build Mala. I knew all the rune cards were going to take me forever to get, so I … you know, I tried to get myself back into the arena as soon as possible.”

“Why didn’t you come and ask me for help?”

“Money is tight, Dad.”

“Money may be tight, Pepper, but that doesn’t give you the justification to do whatever you want. This family is not a bunch of criminals. This family follows the rules; this family takes care of one another.”

“Look, Dad, I’m sorry. I’m just tired of feeling like I’m being knocked down right when I’m about to get ahead in life.”

“That is what life is about, Pepper. It’s about getting knocked down but getting back up. It’s about chasing after a dream that only you can see but being patient in knowing it will come at the right time and place. It’s about giving to those around you, cos you sure can’t take it with you once you’re buried in the ground. Even if you did get buried with all your wealth, some old British guy will dig it up and take it from you.”

His dad paused and took a long drag on his cigar. “I now have my boss down my throat every day. You embarrassed me, you embarrassed your mom, all those people who wrote letters to get you to that convention thing. Heck, you embarrassed our neighbor Ryan who told his friend Bill to hook you up with Amp.”

“Amp? You mean Amprage?”

“Yeah, Amp, Amprage, same-same. Look, the point is, Pepper, I hope you spent a lot of time in jail thinking about all of this. Because if you want to keep going down that path of life, there’s the door.” His dad pointed towards the front of the house and the main street. “If you want to actually support and help this family, then you do things the right way. And if that means it takes you ten times longer to accomplish your goals and dreams, so be it.”