The stables were built directly into an old double-wide garage that Ofelia had personally added two box stalls to many, many years ago. Soliz had pulled the garage door open fully and chosen the horse on the left, a spotted appaloosa mare that her daughter had boringly yet affectionately named Spot. She entered the stall slowly, giving the horse a gentle pat on the nose as she crossed to the back wall where all of the reins and bridle were kept.

When she turned around to gear-up the animal, she saw the big eager eyes of her daughter peering over the edge of the stall’s gate and jumped a little at the shock.

“Minerva Lucia Soliz, what have I said about sneaking up on people?” Soliz scolded before breaking into a little smile at the sight of her daughter.

Minnie giggled at her mother’s surprise and pulled herself higher up on the wall to give her the biggest pout she could muster. Soliz saw it from the corner of her eye as she pulled the bridle over Spot’s head, but pretended to not be fazed by the rather adorable display.

“No, Minnie.” She said firmly.

“You promised!” Minnie whined. “I’ve been practicing shooting with Ofelia like you said!”

Minnie had a face anyone would give into, with round cheeks and brown hair tied in a loose braid over her shoulder. It may have been for that fact, or it may have been that she reminded Soliz so much of her late husband with their shared optimism. Soliz on the other hand, had been rather hardened over the years.

Her husband had been killed almost ten years ago, when raiders had showed up to their home and demanded they vacate it immediately. James stood his ground next to his wife, and had paid the ultimate price for it.

Soliz was given a brief moment of pity by the raiders who chose in that moment not to fire on a pregnant woman, and she was able to run from the chaos. It was pure luck that she ran into Robyn and a much more clear-headed Ester on the road, and they brought her to Hillcrest. Initially, she only agreed to stay until her daughter was born, but once Minnie had arrived she knew that this was the best - and safest - place to raise a child.

Soliz now pressed her mouth into a flat line and realized that yes, she had indeed promised Minnie that she could come along on a trip one of these days. She had turned nine about six months ago, and had already been quite eager to venture beyond the walls and into the big open world she heard stories about from her mother and other people inside Hillcrest. As a matter of fact, she had pestered every single one of the regular runners for stories the second they crossed the threshold of the gate and arrived home.

“Fine,” Soliz relented. “Get your pistol from the smithy and meet us at the gate.”

Minnie’s little brown eyes lit up and she dropped from the fence, effectively taking off down the road. Soliz smiled at her daughter’s energy as she led the horse out of the garage and closed the door behind her. She waved to Zed standing on the doorstep of the house the garage was attached to, and made her way towards the gate. She knew Minnie would not be far behind her, as she was a fast runner often sent on little errands, usually to deliver messages around the settlement.

When Minnie arrived with her tiny pistol in a specially made holster around her leg, and a backpack around her shoulders, Soliz waved up at the guards in the towers. As the chain link gate rumbled open and they walked through, they paused on the other side. Soliz put her foot in the stirrup and slung her leg over the horse, and reached a hand out to help Minnie up. Once seated securely in front of her mother, they kicked off down the road.

The trip itself was three days north, and from there they’d reach the towering city gates. Until then, they had the crisp chill in the air as a reminder to keep their pace and only stop to camp once the night fell. They passed into one of the many small ghost towns between here and there, and with the sounds of hooting owls in the air they decided to dismount and set up camp.

Soliz found an old building with brick walls that they could use as a temporary shelter from the cold air, and luckily the door did not need to be forced open. It had all of the hallmarks of an old theater, with large double doors leading into the auditorium.

Majority of the built-in seating for a hundred year old audience had been vandalized, with many of the chairs themselves having been ripped from the floor. The stage itself had the remnants of a pre-existing camp in the middle, though it appeared to have been abandoned long ago.

As they came to it and climbed up, Soliz dropped Spot’s reins and gave the horse a reassuring scratch between the ears. She trusted the horse not to stray too far in here.

In the near-center of the stage the floor was charred and covered in ash from a previous fire, and Soliz pulled her pack from her shoulders. She rifled through it quickly, before pulling out a rather large and wide tin container that took up nearly her whole pack.

She popped it open and the thin twigs and paper inside were already primed with just a dash of lighter fluid, and she placed the container down on the floor. Normally, she would never risk lighting a fire inside a building, but with the ampithetre’s tall ceilings and large open area, she figured the smoke would dissipate easily enough if they only kept it on for a short time.

“Minnie,” She called to her daughter, who eagerly hopped over. “You know how to get this started, right? Like I showed you.”

Minnie nodded eagerly, and Solized rifled in her pack once more. She handed over the spindle and bow to her daughter, who set it up in the center of the container and immediately got to work rubbing everything to create friction, and eventually sparks.

It took her about ten minutes while her mother set up a bedroll, but when the fire finally lit up she jumped up with excitement, and Soliz gave her an approving pat on the shoulder.

Together they sat by the fire and ate their granola for the night. When Minnie’s eyes began to droop with fatigue, she crawled into the bedroll and Soliz fished into her pack for one last thing.

She pulled a piece of jute from the fire and used it to light the small lantern she brought out, and then tossed an old rag over the fire to smother it.

She could hear the sounds of coyotes in the distance, even through the walls of the auditorium. With the lantern being the only light, Soliz wasn’t overly worried, but knew to stay cautious.

She crawled her way into the bedroll with Minnie, and slept with her daughter in her arms and her pistol in reach.

They stirred awake before dawn, to the sound of hooting owls that had seemed to nest somewhere in the building, and Soliz decided that they could pack up and start their ride a little early today to save some time. When the sun finally did start to come up overhead, they hadn’t quite reached another town yet and likely wouldn’t for the rest of their trip. Instead they were surrounded by endless dry grassland on either side of the derelict highway they trod on.

Minnie had been getting restless, expecting more from the world she was seeing for the first time. Soliz could sense her daughter’s impatience, and decided to pull the horse to a stop when she eventually caught the sight of an old rest stop.

“Let’s try some target practice,” Soliz suggested as they dismounted. “Find some things to aim for.”

She hitched the horse to a nearby tree and they stepped closer to the old building. The walls were concrete, and old painting had been scrawled across the once blank slates. Minnie eagerly pulled her pistol out of the holster around her waist, and pointed at some graffiti on the wall.

“I bet I can hit that cartoon thing straight between the eyes!” She proclaimed self assuredly.

Soliz chuckled to herself. “So do it, then!”

She scanned the horizon as Minnie took aim, and her little fingers pulled the trigger back. Minnie jolted backwards a little bit from the momentum as the blast sounded. Spot let out a fearful cry, and Soliz whipped her head round to see the horse take off.

Without thinking, Soliz ran after the animal. Minnie watched her mother take off, and simply shrugged and turned her attention back to the face on the wall. Her first shot had hit near the nose, but she was determined to get one at least in one of the eyes. Minnie took aim again, and went to cock her gun but was interrupted by a voice that sent shivers down her spine.

“Brace for the recoil.” The man’s voice rang out, spiking Minnie’s heartbeat.

She darted her eyes to the source, and instinctively pointed her gun straight at his chest. The man was tall, with dark hair half tied behind his head and a rugged face that had a soft stubble around his sharp jaw. His brows were hard, with green eyes that caught the sunlight as he looked at Minnie.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” His voice came out gravelly as he put his grimy hands up. “My name is Vera.”

Minnie cocked her gun, and the man didn’t move an inch. She opened her mouth to respond, but Soliz returned to her in a flash and pushed her daughter behind her. Soliz pulled her own pistol out and aimed straight at the stranger. She eyes the rifle slung around his shoulder, and knew that if he so much as attempted to reach for it, she’d fire.

“Back up,” She ordered him through bared teeth and he immediately complied with his hands still in the air.

“Smart kid.” Vera smirked ever so slightly at them. “I’m headed to the city. I’m guessing you are too.”

“So go.” Soliz spat.

Vera took yet another step back from them. “There’s been a lot of wildlife attacks lately, I could use another pair of eyes. Or two.”

What he said was quite true, and Soliz knew it. She’d been hearing the howls of coyotes getting closer and closer over the last day they’d travelled, and it had been sitting uneasily with her. They still had another day of travel, and she knew firsthand that safety in numbers rang true.

She studied Vera’s face, and she watched his eyes dart to something behind her. She whipped her head around, and came face to face with a snarling trio of coyotes.

Repositioning Minnie behind her, Soliz began to slowly back to two of them away from both the animals and the stranger. The animals bare their teeth at her and she could see the foam dripping from their mouths. It was painfully obvious that they were starving, with prominent rib cages on each of them and hunger in their eyes.

Before she could adjust her aim accordingly, a shot rang out and hit the ground at the lead coyote’s feet. The animals yelped in fear and took off, and Soliz turned her gaze to the stranger. He had unslung his rifle from his shoulder, and followed the retreating animals with the smoking barrel.

Vera's eyes shifted back to Soliz when the animals disappeared from his sight, and he slowly lowered his rifle. He tossed it to the ground a good ten feet ahead of him, and nodded to the direction they had come from.

“Caught them tracking you a while back,” He spoke up. “Probably after your horse.”

Vera tried to hide his sigh as Soliz pointed her pistol at him once more.

“You said you were headed to the city?” Soliz questioned him.

Vera nodded, and Soliz looked down to the weapon he’d already surrendered. She took a deep breath and ever so slowly lowered her pistol.

“Fine. You can tag along.” She relented. “But if you even look at her wrong, you’re dead.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

They had a few more hours of sun before they’d be forced to make camp. Luckily, Spot was easy to spot among the open grass, and Soliz had quickly managed to calm the horse down from it’s earlier spook. Minnie was ordered to sit atop the mare while Soliz led it by the reins, just in case a quick getaway was needed.

Vera had kept silent as well as a distance, walking a good twenty feet ahead of them at all times. Soliz debated if this was intentional on his behalf or simply his gait, and if it was intentional was it for their peace of mind or some other reason? She didn’t let her head wander to too many scenarios that could answer the less appealing option, but Soliz chose to keep her guard up high and her eyes on any and all areas that someone could potentially sneak up on them from.

By dusk, she had seen no hint of any potential co-conspirators that Vera may have had, and had begun to drop her guard ever so slightly when he suggested that they make camp soon. Soliz agreed, and began to eye the open grassland for a prime area, only to see that Vera had already slung his pack over his shoulder and placed his bedroll at his feet just past the edge of the open road.

She helped Minnie from the horse and eyed Vera as he pulled kindling from his pack and began work on a fire for the night. He seemed more than adequately prepared for the cold nights they’d be facing for the next six plus months, and Soliz wondered if he’d spent the majority of his time as a vagrant outside of settlement walls.

With the sun set and the horse hitched nearby, Soliz finally sat herself down on her own bedroll next to her daughter. She dug through her pack for their food, and pulled out some granola bars for the two of them. Vera had spent the last half an hour skinning and preparing a rabbit he had caught shortly after they had agreed to travel together. As a matter of fact, he had stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted the animal and made sure to make a show of what he was doing when he pulled a hunting knife from his coat and tiptoed over to it. Soliz had to suppress her look of amazement as he managed to catch the rabbit with his hands, and quickly snapped it’s little neck. He had held the carcass up and offered to share it when the time came, but Soliz briskly declined and they kept walking. It didn’t take long for him to get to work skinning the creature once the fire had started.

As he cooked the animal over the blaze and the savory smell wafted over to Minnie’s nose, she couldn’t help but eye the fresh meat. She looked even more enthralled by it as Vera picked tiny pieces off with his fingers to eat once he deemed it fully cooked.

“You’ll have to ask your mother.” He said without looking up, having known that she’d wanted some since he first caught it.

Minnie turned to Soliz with pleading eyes, and Soliz pressed her lips in a flat line before she reluctantly nodded. Vera pulled a piece of meat off and held it out to Minnie, who took it eagerly and began to chew it down.

“I’m not too much of a hunter.” Soliz said as she bit into her granola.

Vera nodded. “I guessed.”

They finished the rest of their meals in silence, and Vera pulled his boots off and slipped into his bedroll to sleep. Soliz saw Minnie’s tired eyes and the two of them curled up together so she could sleep, but Soliz kept her eyes open and on Vera. That is, until he started to snore quietly and she knew he had truly fallen asleep. She was amazed that he could sleep so deeply out here, but noticed that it was much easier to do so when there were not many sounds from the wildlife anymore. The weather had gotten colder, and most animals had retreated to their safe homes to hibernate and keep warm for the oncoming winter.

That night, Soliz slept with her daughter in her arms and a pistol in her hand, but knew she probably wouldn’t need it.