“Want me to pick your jaw off the floor for you handsome? Before you catch yourself a rockroach.” Benny teased. She must have guessed what was going on and stopped to watch me as I acclimated. When I opened my eyes she continued to lead me to the heart of her operation.

  The kitchen tent.

  Benny, since I had met her in Benny’s hands found themselves onto my shoulders. She held me firm as her eyes attempted to pierce into mine. I could only shake my head and look down at the evil floor.

  I know she is right. I knew she was right then as well, but I can’t stop now. I wouldn’t be able to survive.

  “I-I’m sorry Benny.” I looked at her for a moment longer before removing her hands from their place on my shoulders. “But, you know I won’t stop till I finish what I started.”

  “I know. I know.” She wasn’t looking at me anymore. She was looking past it at something only she could see. A few moments later she spoke up again with heavy eyes, “It is one of the great qualities you have that I hate. You’d rather die than give up.”

  For the next two hours we made small talk. Reminisced on good times and past hunts we had completed together. She caught me up on what she’s been up to over the years. She stepped away from the bounty hunter lifestyle and had pivoted toward doing any freelance work she could get. She was successful enough to start her own guard/ retrieval company. The company boomed after her team and she completed a notable job to protect a rich traveling merchant as they traveled through the Glowing Pass. During that job they had protected the fat merchant from a mutant horde earning them the merchant’s favor. From there her business took off. She had been behind a desk managing the nitty gritty for the past year, much to her dismay. I’d always known Benny to be a hands-on type. I imagine she must have hated being stuck behind a desk.

  “-then I got a job request to find a certain hybrid who had taken on a rather challenging gang from the weaselly Mayor of Blackstone. I immediately knew it was you he was asking me to find. Hybrids are rare enough as it is, but I’ve only known a single one who matched the description and profession he gave.”

  Benny’s eyes steeled as she locked eyes with me inciting an eyebrow raise.

  “Now I was already going to take the job when I realized it was you he wanted me to find. It was what he wanted me to find you for that had guaranteed I would take this job and lead it myself.” She then reached into the back pocket of her overalls and pulled out a well read piece of folded paper handing it to me.

  My eyes meticulously dissected every line of the letter. When I finished it I read it again followed by a third read for brevity.

  “He wanted you to make sure I never returned.” I let that sentence hang in the air for a few moments that stretched on for miles.

  Enemies I had a long list of that reached down to the floor. When you don’t put down criminals, thieves, rapists, and murderers. Stepping on the wrong toes is inevitable. Having a man I had measured to be trustworthy try to stab me in the back. That list had been empty till now.

  It was an uncomfortable reminder that the world was cruel. My stomach twisted into an angry mess of knots as my tongue flicked, tasting the silent moment held in the air. It tasted bitter. Betrayal was a new taste to me. Despite having been a bounty hunter for years. I was blessed to have met and worked with unique, usually strange, but kind individuals. Benny is a prime example.

  “Thanks for the warning, Benny. I owe you dinner.” I said, my lips pulled into a thin smile.

  “You need to stop doing that flicky thing. Just shout to the world that you are stressed out, ya mutt’.”

  I gave her a light smack on the arm. She never missed an opportunity to yank my tail even just a little bit.

  Just like old times.

  Sunlight poured into the small, dingy room rudely interrupting the sweet dreams the sandman blessed me with. Benny clung to me desperately as if letting go would mean I’d disappear, nose pressed into my neck- her favorite spot-, making adjusting my position without waking her impossible.

  My head sunk into the pillow. I accepted I won’t be able to get that annoying itch on my balls any time soon. If it was any other woman I’d have had her ass printed on the dirt outside as soon as the sun had woken me.

  But she was Benny and so there I remained for another hour or so in and out of sleep, doing my best to ignore the itch, increasing discomfort in my back, and the tightening muscle in one of my calves.

  Finally my torture came to an end when Benny rose making her way to the small restroom. I shot up like a bullet and attended to the screaming needs of my body. When Benny had returned from nature’s call I was already splayed onto the bed sighing in relief.

  Discomfort is an old friend of mine, but when it rears its ugly head in the comfort of a bed it is so much worse for some inexplicable reason. Memories of being naked, lost, and exposed to the desert’s brutal elements with nothing but a hunting knife flashed through my mind.

  Yeah. Itchy balls and a cramp in bed are absolutely worse.

  “Good morning handsome.” Benny said with a big stretch.

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  “Mornin’.”

  “Glad you are up early. We need to get going in the next ten minutes. Our little “reunion” night cost us valuable time, but I won’t say that it wasn’t very much needed.”

  Benny said the last part with a sultry wink. She was right. Being in each other’s tender embrace had worked wonders at destressing my entire body and mind. Oh the wonders of the female form.

  “As you command, Captain.” I gave her a joking salute then made haste gathering my gear, leaving the remains of my old clothes, and dressed into a spare uniform of one of her men. It fit more snug than I would like, but in Benny’s defense there was no way for her to have known my body would have changed much from the last time we had seen each other.

  In seven minutes we were out the door of the shabby cabin that was my home for the past fifteen days. I wish I could say I’ll miss it. But I won’t. Especially those horrid floors.

  A shudder crept up my spine at the mere memory of them.

  My internal compass told me that we were moving north, following a path known to Benny and her company who had moved on ahead without us after I was stabilized. Benny had put a lot of faith in my uncanny ability to heal that she had witnessed in action many times.

  Even the Desert Wraith could not avoid a storm of bullets without catching a few strays.

  The ability to heal to recover from damage that would take other beastmen weeks or months to recover from in a few days had saved my hide more times than I’d care to admit and with my Awakening it had improved drastically.

  Before Awakening, I reckon I would have been bed ridden for a month, maybe two to come back from Death’s front porch. Instead I was back on my feet like new after only two weeks.

  It was useful knowing how it improved, but there was no way I was going to make it a habit of being stuck in bed half dead like I was. And to accomplish that I needed to sharpen my instinct and skills that have become dulled over the years due to my lack of ambition and a surplus of complacency.

  Our shadows stretched long behind us as we walked under the sun’s brutal gaze. Benny’s eyes prickled on my back.. Likely checking to make sure I was not wavering or tripping on my feet. Her intentions were well meaning. She had seen me in a horrible state.

  No matter how much death, decay, destruction, and fire we have both seen. Nothing. Nothing at all can prepare you for the times when those you care about get injured or worse.

  Those who think they are numb to it are liars or freaks without a heart. Neither I’d want to associate with.

  Hours stretched on as we passed mutated cactuses, desert critters, and lonely sand stones that populated this area of the continent. My personal journey had brought me south of the midline where a great gash nearly splits the continent in two. The original plan was to take as many jobs as possible while I made my way toward my hometown to visit my folks.

  My tail stiffened as I recalled the news I still needed to deliver to them. No doubt they’ll be bereaved to hear it, but it needs to be said anyway.

  I let out a sigh. I should be visiting my beloved parents for the sake of visiting them, not because I have bad news to deliver to their front door. Or because their first born had lost his way once again.

  We tore through miles with haste without any stops aside from taking a piss or stopping for a quick bite and a swig of water. Benny’s men likely attracted every critter within five miles of their march. We had yet encountered a marker for a buried comrade, a camp site poorly dismantled, or a critter corpse toasting in the bare sun. It was a testament to the discipline and training her men have undertaken. I would have expected nothing less from men under Benny’s employ.

  Two days flew by. Benny and I fell into a years old routine burned into our minds. Like riding a bike we resumed where we left off. I always took the first watch and at 3 am Benny awoke without any prodding and took up her shift. At 7 am, we were already done eating and on our feet.

  Owlflies buzz hooted from atop their Saguaro cactus watch towers that loomed high into the cool desert morning air. The extremes of the desert made life difficult, but not impossible. Only those with enough fortitude were able to survive here. It took even more to thrive. A snake dog and a bovine became the sun scorched red sands. They rolled, carried by the hot wind, as tumbleweeds. The pair had returned to their familiar role as desert predators, stalking over the rocks and sand.

  On the fourth day, Benny informed me that we had finally arrived at their newest base camp and where we would be staying for the foreseeable future. At least till things with the backstabbing Mayor were resolved.

  After a week of ruminating on the events that took place. A quiet rage boiling in my stomach the entire time. I was more than keen on the type of resolution that put a slug between that traitorous Mayor’s eyes.

  When we arrived at the camp, just like I had expected, it was a sight to behold. Beastmen of all kinds hurried through the organized tents and canopies set up on a flat hill top. With a position like that all sides of the perimeter could easily be monitored and spot any danger from miles out thanks to the clear line of sight it provided. A gruff, haggard mess of a canine beastman, resembling a Scottish terrier, with more grey than black in his fur shouted tempo as a group of young beastmen performed various exercises in unison. The drill instructor, a gruff canine who looked like a mop with teeth, spoke with a booming, out of place Australian accent.

  A garage set up on the east side of the camp also functioned as a stable. Clean, well maintained trucks, jeeps, and personnel carrying vehicles were being worked on meticulously by a greasy furred bear beastmen and his crew of thin weasel crew. Adjacent to their area disciplined riding scorpions and camel spiders ate out of troughs filled with meaty gore. More stable hands worked to fit a new saddle to an intimidatingly, beautiful Blue-footed tarantula. This saddle could fit too average sized beastmen comfortably along with a weapon mount.

  I’d hate to be on the receiving end of that pretty girl tearing through the hills on eight legs of terror. Fangs barred, pedipalps raised, while her mad eyed riders spat lead from a gatling gun. Truly a sight to behold it would be. Everything was tidy and in order. I expected nothing less from my former lover/hunting partner.

  I stopped dead in my tracks as my freshly honed senses adjusted to the sensory overload caused by the bustling campsite. Sounds of breathing and the chaotic cacophony of voices hammered at my sensitive ears causing them to drop. The stink of salt, smoke, and poorly washed fur joined the assault on my senses and stormed into my nostrils. Every flick of my tongue made me want to hurl as it brought with it the taste of every stinking mammal, avian, and reptile that stank to high heaven due to the heat. Heat pits, that were usually the most subtle of my senses, roared to my poor brain about the huge source of heat caused by all the bodies present. Even worse I swore I could sense every beat their hearts made now.