Haley had grabbed her weapons and put them in their respective place. She walked outside to Abby and Funk. Haley looked around, “We are close to the volcano.”

Funk nodded, “What about the survivors?”

Haley sighed, “Where are they?” Funk pointed at a building, Haley nodded and walked into the stone building.

She looked at the three Lizardians, they had been patched up. Haley walked closer, “Hello there, I apologize for the problems I have caused.”

The Lizardian tried to crawl back, “Please get away from me, I am going to warn everyone.”

Haley grunted, “I really wish you had not said that.”

She pulled her gun, “I am truly sorry for this, you have left me no choice, if the capital gets word of this, we will have a cold welcome.” Haley closed her eyes and looked away, she fired three bullets. All of them made a squishy sound as their brains got blown out. Some of it splattered on Haley. She casually walked outside while taking a few deep breaths.

Funk stared at her, “Did you seriously just kill them?”

“Yes, I did, it had to be done.”

Abby looked at Funk, “She has like two sides, a fun-loving innocent girl, and a cool and calm collected form of Steve when you met him.”

Haley started walking away, “We have no time to give them a proper burial, these were not our friends. They intended to execute us, I am not making excuses. Yes, I killed them, yes, I need to live with that. A few lives to save the many.”

Abby looked at an execution stage and shrugged, “Alright, I am with you, I have been through this with Steve.”

Funk sighed, “I am going to follow you, Haley.”

She nodded, “We need to follow this path, it will lead us back. It is time to play catch up.”

Haley started running, Abby and Funk followed her. As night started to fall, they had made it to the entrance to the volcano. Haley kneeled, “They have been here not too long ago. They tried to make some distance, and kept going. This path should not be very long, are you guys ready for a hot trip?”

Funk looked around, “I dislike volcanos, but my exoskeleton can handle it.”

Abby looked around, “This is quite cool compared to the one with lava.”

Haley nodded and drew her gun, “Let’s go.”

They started walking through the hot mountain, smoke bubbled out of vents. Haley held up her hand, “There are monsters ahead.”

They slowly walked ahead, Haley looked at some kind of lizard, a big specimen. It appears to be dead. Funk looked at the smaller lizards curled up to the big lizard.

Haley sighed, “I think the big one is their mom.”

They slowly walked past them. Abby chuckled, “How much do you want to bet Steve killed their mommy?”

Haley looked at her, “Why do you say that?”

Abby laughed, “He killed a baby frog once.”

Funk nodded, “He stepped it up a notch.”

Haley chuckled, “He must have had no choice, come on, we need to press on.”

At a fast walking pace, Haley moved towards the exit. As Haley walked out of the exit, she looked at the night sky. She pointed at the river, “We should go there.” At the river, Haley sat down.

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Funk came over and sat down next to her. “How are you doing, Haley? No shit answer, no beating around the bush, how are you doing for real?”

Haley sighed as she filled a cup with water, “I killed someone, Funk.”

He nodded, “Yes, you’ve killed multiple people, where did that come from.”

She looked at the cup of water, “I am not sure, training, survival instinct, making my dad proud that I handled it right way.”

Funk nodded, “And did you think we could have handled it differently?”

Haley shook her head, “Lance had a power preventing collar, along with a high-tech gun in his back pocket. He was the strongest of them, I took this from him.”

Haley grabbed some kind of pass out of her inventory. It said bounty hunter Lance, Haley showed Funk a wanted poster for void related people.

“I think they came to investigate the airship crashing down.”

Funk sighed, “So you let us get captured, made him think he could get lucky.”

Haley nodded, “It seemed like the best chance for our survival.”

“If they had sent word to the capital, we would have been fucked. My dad prepared me that I might have to kill people. He never told me it would feel like this.”

Funk took her hand, “What does it feel like, Haley?”

She sighed, “It feels good.”

Funk chuckled, “You are indeed a daughter of Lory and Steve.”

Haley looked at him, “Why do you say that?”

Funk looked around, Abby seemed to be investigating the area. Funk looked back at Haley, “When I met your dad, he killed a bandit that tried to rob him, then he killed a woman who attacked him. After that, he killed a woman who tried to stop us. Your mom helped him kill. But, somewhere along the way, your dad realized he could do it without killing. I think, if your dad needs to, he will kill. But, he will not just give in to his rage and kill people. If someone were to threaten your mom, for example, or you, he would not hesitate one second. Do you feel like your dad respects you?”

Haley nodded, “Yes, he loves and respects me a lot, of course he loves and respects my mom a lot too. He must have an excellent reason why he left, and why he keeps leaving tracks.”

Funk nodded, “Your dad does everything for a reason, no matter how strange some of his reasons are.”

Abby walked over, “I think there was a campfire, like a half hour ago or something.”

Haley nodded, “They must be close. We cannot rest and camp here. Once we are done with our break, we will follow the river. Funk?”

“Yes Haley?”

“Thank you for checking in with me.”

Haley got up, “We have been going for a while at a fast pace. We should keep a steady pace, but we should go a bit slower.”

Abby nodded, “I am tagging along, I will just follow you.”

Funk got up, “I agree with Haley.”

She smiled at him, “You are a good friend.”

Haley started walking through the shallow water, hoping to find her mom and dad soon.

Abby walked over to Haley, “I know Funk checked in with you, but I need to ask you something.”

Haley nodded, “Yes, that is alright, as long as we can do it while walking.”

Abby nodded, “Do you have a problem with your rage?”

Haley smiled, “A little bit. Usually, my rage is calm, but in that situation I noticed it flared up a little, but I remained calm and thought about my training.”

Abby nodded, “That is good of you, your dad had some problems managing it.”

Haley checked her gun, “I know, he told me. He also told me in Brickton how to use red energy. My dad can barely use it, he told me it is blocked, and he has no clue what he is. He wants to find out what he is. It seems he has something in his head, I intend to check out his mind space.”

Abby looked at her, “How do you want to do that?”

Haley smiled, “I have a few ideas.”

Haley stopped, she kneeled, “Do you see this?”

Funk looked at what Haley pointed at, “It seems there was a struggle here, just beside the water.”

Haley nodded, “And traces of blood.”

Haley touched the blood, “It is very fresh, not older than five minutes.”

She tasted it and hid the satisfaction it gave her to taste it, “It is not monster blood. This is human blood, most likely my dad’s. They should be nearby, they either had a fight here, or the fight is still going. There are four paw prints, indicating my mom has transformed into a wolf to make sure she is fast enough to run from whatever is chasing them.”

Haley looked around, “There are no monsters nearby, meaning they are all out to get my mom and dad.”

Haley drew her sword with her left hand. “We should follow the blood trail.”

Abby nodded, “If things go out of hand, I will help with fighting.”

Haley nodded, “Wait until the very last moment to do so.”

“Funk?”

He nodded and spawned two dark blades.

Haley started following the blood trail, it started to lead to a clearing.

Haley could hear fighting in the distance.

Funk looked at her, “That must be them, they must have rested somewhere before going on.”

Abby nodded, “Something else must have happened.”

Haley started running down the river, “No time for talking, I see them there in the distance in heavy combat!”

“Come, Funk, follow me into the jaws of death!”

Haley screamed, “To war.”

Funk chuckled, “Damn, she is enthusiastic.”

Abby laughed, “No time to fuck around, Funk, you have monsters to kill.”