For the next three days they had travelled and collected things, Stopping in A old Red Rocket truck-shop ... Somewhere. Rachel and Karis were sewing shirts from the Carpet they saw in the last roofless house they were in last night, and ivy was asleep behind the till. The fabric was somewhat soft, so it didn't really irritate their skin. They had eaten the last of the Radstag meat, and now Rachel would have to go hunting again.

"Rachel, How are we goingto get out of here?" Karis stopped her sowing, looking at her friend andwaiting for a response. With a slight sigh, Rachel put down the muddy-red shirtshe was trying to make. "I've been thinking about that...and The only placethat would have such advanced technology would be the institute. But, How longwould it take for them to figure out what to do?"

"Rachel, we have to try!" Karis pleaded

"And what if they come into our world, too?" She put her chin in her hands,leaning them on her knees, "They could take over our world and try rebuildingtheir world over there, Destroy this one and pretend nothing happened here."She shook her head, "I don't know how the institute thinks, Not even with theamount of times I've played this game."
___
Ivy woke up, Looking at the pale-brown shirt she had been given. When she putit on, it was actually more like a dress. It was kind of loose around herchest, which was fine, with short sleeves. Around her tummy it became kind oftighter, and then it had a skirt like frill to it. At least it was clean. Sheran the hairbrush she found through her hair to get out any knots. She had lostHer hair bobble just yesterday while they were running away from a crazymutated bear. Rachel Said it's name, but ivy didn't remember it.

She peeked over to her sister and friend and saw they were both asleep. Good.It was time for her to start Scavenging for food and other things. She found another few bottle caps, which Racheltold her was the currency, so she pocketed them. Currently she was the one whoheld their caps, for some reason, and they only had 100 so far. Rachel said itwouldn't buy much. As she searched through a scrap pile, she heard a click frombehind. She turned, her hands in the air.
___
They woke up to a scream. Rachel shot out of her sleeping bag, grabbed her gunand looked around. No one was near them. The scream came from outside. Sherushed out, hearing karis call her name, And ran to see ivy biting into thehand of a single raider. He was trying to fling her off, but she bit downharder and blood spewed out of his hand. He screamed more.

With a gasp, Rachel saw him finally hit her over the head with the handle ofhis gun. Her gun was raised in no time, and she pulled the trigger. Karis was next to ivy straight after, when the body hit the ground, takinga hold of her sister's shoulder to steady her. "Ivy, are you okay?"

"I think so? That really hurt..." she rubbed her sore head with a sob. Theyboth looked to Rachel, who stood with her gun lowered. She seemed to bethinking of what just happened... Her eyes slid to ivy, and she took a deepbreath. She let go of her gun and walked over to the corpse, pulling around hispockets she got more ammo and some bottle caps. She then turned to ivy, "Youalright?"

"I'm alive."

"Good." She cast one more small glance to the corpse, then turned her back tothem, "I'll get some breakfast on the way... Karis, help ivy?" she walked awaybefore Karis could respond. The sisters shared a look, silently asking eachother the same question; was Rachel alright?

.

Karis helped ivy back to her sleeping bag, letting her sit up against the wall.Rachel came in with some sugar bombs and fancy lad snack cakes. Karis ate justenough to fill herself, since she wasn't as fond of sugar as the othertwo. "Ivy, your head, how is it?" Rachelasked

"It's better now. Numb, and throbbing. " Ivy frowned, "We won't be able to moveout today, will we?"

"Not when you might have a concussion, no. I don't think so. ~Sigh~ I'll gohunt for a bit. We can't live off of sugar forever."

"Yes we can!" Ivy whined as Rachel walked away, making the brunette grin,"Maybe you could, ivy!"