"Yes, that's fresh, clean water." I waved them over to the outflow canal. "This is the overflow from our water production. We thought we might help turn this canyon into a lake or a river one day." They washed their hands and them moved a bit upstream to drink. Ha, not their first rodeo. I watched them enjoy it, savor it, like the finest of wines. To them this water was a treasure, beyond price.

"Now that you know how to find our home, I ask that you not go up the mountain. We have powerful automated defenses, and I'd like us to all stay friendly, okay." Maybe I should increase the defenses. The history of my world had shown that people clearly were horrible at resisting the temptation of short term gains over long term sustainability. I had my suspicions that it would prove to be an even greater problem here. Desperate people couldn't afford the luxury of thinking about the long term.

"You have our thanks and our word." Amanda said it like a custom. The little bit of info I could dig up online about the Aldecaldos had painted them as mostly trustworthy. I decided to extend some trust first, and prayed that I wasn't being a fool.

"But wait! There's more." I pulled one of the backpacks full of fruit out of the car, "Act now, and I'll give you this pack of fresh fruit." Sally practically ripped the pack out of my hands. She had it open in no time, and rooted through it. Her fierce demeaner was both intriguing and annoying.

"What are these? I've never seen fruit like this." She looked up at me like I was tricking her. Instead of answering right away, I pulled out another pack, I grabbed a golden orange, and started peeling it. I took a bite and enjoyed the tart flavor.

"We have experimented a bit, but you'll find they're healthy and quite filling. Added bonus, they last longer than normal fruit as well." To be fair, the Valley's fruit didn't need a sales pitch. I just wanted to make a good impression.

"Why would you give us this." She actually looked conflicted. I was a little disappointed, but they had probably been burned before.

"Because I like to share with my friends. And I'd like you to be my friends." A took another bite of my orange. Juicy and refreshing.

"Hell kid, I'll be your friend." The older guy spoke up, "I'm Nolan by the way." He gave a jaunty wave. He looked like he'd been around the block a time or two. If it wasn't for the shadows haunting his eyes I'd say he was someone's kindly grand pa. The well worn holster that cradled his revolver, spoke of his skills.

"Ryan." I returned his wave.

Sally looked sheepish, "Sorry, free usually isn't free." True words.

"I get you. Look at it this way, I'm buying goodwill. Trying to smooth the way for the more tricky stuff down the road." I gave her a wink. I winced internally, that was lame. But her damned eyes were distracting.

She gave a smirk in return, "Alright. Mr. Goodwill. I'll be keeping my eyes on you." She cocked her hip at me and raised her eyebrow. Was that a challenge? I was certainly interested in finding out.

"Let's take it slow for now." Amanda said it sternly, but with a huge smile. She also did the hand on the hip thing. Okay, maybe I don't know what that means. I had flunked at reading girls my whole life.

I shook my head to clear out the ridiculous thoughts, "Anyway, I have lumber. Every few weeks, I'll have more. Obviously, we can't be selling all of it in NC, we'd flood the market in a couple of months." I shrugged, "However, I have no real connections in the area, or the world. So I turn to you, the friendliest option I've met thus far." I offered them a smile, "Later, we can even expand to include some of our other projects, The alloy you see here in my weapons, and my Pr-Drones. You'll find they are... quite unique." That was perhaps the longest single thing I'd said since I got here, it hurt my throat.

Amanda considered my words. She pulled out a canteen, poured it out. Rinsed and then filled it in the stream. The other followed suit. Again there was the air of custom to it. Yet, I was thinking I was an idiot, for not getting canteens from the Company Store while I could. Let's just keep that off my face for now.

"We've been looking for steady work. And a safe place to camp. Our group is just one branch of the Aldecaldos, a family, a clan, and a nation unto ourselves. We ride and die together. We remember our friends and bury our enemies. Help us and we will help you."

My smile must have looked truly brilliant. These sounded like my kind of people. "If you know a place out here that fits your needs, not only can I make it safer. Given enough time, I can make it a home. I have been looking to expand, and help clean things up out here." I gestured with a wide sweep taking in all of the wasteland, "If we have a deal, and if everything works out, I'll show you some tricks that will really blow your minds."

I shook Amanda's hand firmly. "Let's get this lumber loaded. What's the current market value of wood anyway?"

Without missing a beat Sally chimed in, "$125 an ounce." I ran the numbers in my head, "About 1.5 million or more right here. What can we realistically unload it at?"

Sally laughed, "About $70 an ounce. The Fixer will want a decent profit."

"So about 800 grand to split. A bit over 300 grand for your folks. That a good haul for you?"

"That's six months of supplies and parts." Amanda looked pleased. She seemed to reach another decision, "We finish this deal, and then we see about expanding our relationship." Her eyes flicked over to Sally for a moment. I couldn't say what she was thinking, but Sally seemed to pick up on what her Mother meant. Her grin was a devastating blow to my lonely heart.

We loaded the 4X4s onto the flatbed, then made sure to cover the pile with a couple of tarps before cinching it all down with ratchet straps. Amanda set our travel order. Her then me, then Nolan and Sally would bring up the rear. We got moving but took our time, keeping an extra eye out for trouble. Everything went smoothly until we got to the main freeway and turned west. Other then being scouted by a few messed up vehicles in the distance, nothing seemed off.

We eventually pulled into a garage. DaKota. I had walked by it... how long had it been now? 10 days? It had seemed abandoned at the time. Still seemed that way now. But then the garage roll doors opened up and a few hard looking people came out.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

While Nolan backed the trailer into one of the garage bays, Amanda introduced me to Dakota herself. A lady that looked like she had traveled every hard road there ever was. They hugged, with a genuine affection for each other. Then she gather Sally into her arms, again with a long running familiarity that was obvious. These folks had been through a lot together.

When the time to introduce me came I got a firm handshake and, "You remind me of a prairie dog I saw once, it lead me to a cache of weapons. That was a good day." After she had stared at me for almost a full minute. I couldn't tell if she was trying to intimidate me or read my soul. A real character this one.

Sally walked up with, "You should let him heal you. It'll feel great." I sputtered for a few minutes at that, while they all laughed. She really wasn't going to let that part go. Sometimes, I thought it was a real shame that it didn't seem to do the same things for me.

"Maybe another time, Medicine Man." With that Dakota went back in the garage, to start running down customers for our goods.

Nolan with the help of the two hard looking guys was unhooking the trailer. I noticed that there were more connection cables between the vehicle and the trailer than I was used to. Something to poke about with later.

"She said it will take a few days to move it all, so the money will be coming in then." Amanda sticking to the practical. "In the meantime, why don't you come to the camp. Tomorrow we can show you a place we have been scouting out for a new site." She gave me the smallest of smiles.

Sally was smiling and nodding, "You can meet everyone, and maybe we can have some fun." Sally slapped me on the shoulder, it stung. Oh yeah, cyberarms.

A few minutes later, we were all headed south.

After traveling a while we turned onto a road headed more toward the west. The evening was rolling in, the sun headed to it's rest. We kept going, the drive becoming a welcome period of meditation for me. Radio off, window rolled down, the rapidly cooling evening air rushing past. Looking up I saw the stars had peeked out, including the artificial ones. Placed above by our manic desire to seek the beyond. I too, would like to see what's out there one day.

The desert felt lonely, yet peaceful. There was no one traveling these backways but us. Just us, and the wind.

After far too short a time we began to slow. Lights were visible ahead, nestled between a cluster of hills. We slowed to a stop while Amanda honked a series of quick taps on her horn. I noticed that the honks were very muted, so the sound would couldn't carry very far. A returning series of similarly muted honks, and we slowly continued. A camp came into view. 5 large Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT) were arranged in a large circle. Each carried a small building on it. A few smaller MRAPS parked inside that circle. Most of the light came from these vehicles. Turning the night nearly into day.

Within the outer circle of trucks were tents of all shapes and sizes. Areas full of benches and tables, where dozens of people sat around talking, eating, laughing. The were several large fire pits where various cooking activities occurred. We parked next to a cluster of standard vehicles just outside the outer camp circle. I saw a few of the Galena's country cousins the Gecko and several Mackinaws. There were even a couple of Mizutani Shion Coyotes. Quite a few people were working on some of these hard used vehicles. They had small mobile light setups and tool boxes and parts crates close by.

Exiting my car, I could already hear Amanda, Sally and Nolan receiving greetings. I smiled softly, the family setting was a wonderful thing. I'd sometimes forgotten that in all the friction with my parents over the years. I asked Barry to watch the Galena while the rest of the Probes would hover nearby to an keep an eye on me, maybe patrol the area. I stopped at my trunk to grab a couple of backpacks. One went over my shoulder, while I carried the other in my left hand. Pulling a silver apple out to munch. I walked over to where Amanda was still talking with the folks tinkering with their cars.

"We'll be able to get all the parts our rides need, soon enough. Then we can look to getting some better iron and chrome." She was talking a short guy, a grease monkey born, if I'd ever seen one. Overalls stained from years of repair and maintenance work. His smile was as dark as his hair, and his eyes burned with a desire to make his cars, his babies, better. Yeah, my kind of dude.

Sally reached over and snagged a blue mango from my backpack, "Guzman, this is Ryan. He's the one providing our new opportunity." I waved with the apple in my hand and offered the backpack to him. His eyebrows went up and he pulled out a red banana. He looked at it in surprise then back to me. I nodded, and he returned it. Enough said.

Amanda lead the way further into the camp. She and Sally introduced me around, and not that long after, I was sitting on one of the benches, with a beer in hand and a plate of tacos in front of me. To tell the truth, most of the new names would need a second or third exposure to take. Yet it was nice to meet so many people in a good way. To share a moment. I had handed off the other backpack to one of the older teens to distribute. They set the pack down next to the cooking area for who ever wanted them.

There was a calm but vibrant energy in the air. The gruff but friendly people here living simple lives, partially free of the sickness hanging over the city folk. Then, I was being regaled with the story of a raid on a Militech convoy. How Sally had flipped her truck and had to be towed back, her blush told me it was true. "It was my first raid, I was nervous, and that rock came outa nowhere." I patted her hand.

I felt a burning glare trying to bore deep into my skull. I turned that way to see Lynx trying to kill me with his eyes. Didn't work, but damned if he didn't give it his all. I grinned at him and gave it extra teeth. I took a casual sip of beer to show him how much his opinion meant to me.

"Don't let him bother you. He's from a different tribe, trying to find a wife with us." Sally said quietly. "He's had his sights on me, but I'm not interested."

"Oh?" I turned to look into her eyes. I gave her the old questioning eyebrow trick.

She laughed at me. "Yeah, I'm not ready to settle down with anyone just yet. Plus he doesn't get along with Megan." I hadn't met Megan yet, but I suddenly wanted to get on her good side. Damn, I loved staring into this lady's eyes. way too much. That she let me, was a nice twist for once in my life.

"Gotta have your fun while you can, right?" Now where had I heard that before? Oh right, first girl I tried to date back when I was back in trade school. That was her attempt to let me down easy. I hoped this wasn't going to be a repeat of that moment.

Sally gave me a wink. Not too long after that a impromptu music festival started up. A lively mix of instruments and genres. Then dancing broke out and Sally hauled me out for a whirl. These folks liked a mix of Line, Square and Salsa dancing and I was perfectly okay with that. Sally and I had a few passes, feeling each other out. Getting used to how we both moved. The music sped up and we followed. I led her through a foxtrot and then nudged it into a pseudo tango. She was a delight to move with, easy to lead, strong and graceful. The piece stopped and so did we. We stared deep into each other's eyes, while taking deep breaths to calm down.

Then a nice soft voiced girl named Kori wanted a round. Then the illustriously lush and curvy Megan, who I hoped I made a good impression with. Even Amanda came to me for a turn or two. Soon I had danced with most of the ladies in the camp. We had all shared a few laughs and small stories of better days.

Finally the paced slowed and Sally was in my arms again. We were not so much dancing anymore as simply swaying together, sharing space and warmth. She murmured nice things into my ear, and I whispered of dreams I had thought lost. After the music stopped and most folks started seeking their beds, we went for a walk outside the camp. Found a nice patch and laid out a blanket to stare up at the stars together. We didn't say much, we didn't need to.

Truth be told I was petrified inside. This was the best date I'd ever had and I was terrified I'd screw it up. But I tried to remember that it was best to go with the flow, not to push. I took a deep breath and let all my old worries go.

We dozed off together under the night sky and the watchful scans of Fix and Scuff.