The air was starting to take on a considerable chill following the last big rainstorms of the Summer season, Turner had felt it necessary to wear his brown bomber jacket adorned with Sheriff’s Department patches and his badge. Thomas had borrowed a pair of Turner’s warmer cargo pants and a turtleneck, though the main source of his warmth was a grey suede jacket. It had been a couple days since Gwen and Thomas had come down with Sam, as it stood things were going well. Sam and Gwen were having a ‘Girl’s Day’, while Thomas had requested to go on a ride along with Turner to get a better idea of just what the Sheriff’s Office was facing.

So far, Thomas had spent three hours driving along in the cab of the truck as Turner ensured that campers were clearing out for the end of season. He’d also had to close several trails in the mountains, all while balancing his usual duties of patrolling the county. The workload was just on the borderline of undoable, but the day was still young. The sun was low in the morning sky, it wasn’t any later than eight in the morning. However, that wasn’t even the beginning of the Deputy’s duties. There was also a clipboard resting on the dashboard which was oddly enough in Equestrian, Turner had picked up enough of the written language to get by without translations.

Thomas sat in the cold cab of the truck, his breath quite visible, as he watched Turner walking down from the Grave Eagle Trailhead. A large sign reading ‘Trail Closed’ had been erected right on the path. Turner had also taken to wearing a black knit cap for warmth, it was almost as if the season had changed on a dime, not uncommon in Equestria… But then again, that was usually due to magic.

“Alright… That’s the last one.” Turner said with a grunt as he climbed up into the freezing cold cab and rubbed his hands together a couple times. “Fuck, I hate winter…”

“It’s only fall.” Thomas said correctively, Turner looked at him flatly. “But I see your point...” Thomas looked at the fan settings on the dashboard, while the Air Conditioner worked just fine, the heating coil had blown around two years ago. As it wasn’t entirely necessary Turner had forgone having the new part fabricated, after all it had between new shocks or the heater.

“Having fun yet?” Turner asked rhetorically as he put on his seat belt and grabbed the clipboard off the dashboard to look it over. “Let’s see… Oh, this is gonna be fun.” The Deputy offered the board to Thomas to let him take a look. “You ever done a repossession before?” Thomas quietly shook his head. “Well, today’s your lucky day.” Turner put the truck in gear and took off down the road, he reached to the stereo and switched it on. The familiar twang of guitars filled the cab as Turner let out a tense sigh. “So, where were we?”

“Waylon Jennings or Johnny Cash.” Thomas replied simply as they slowed down to stop at an intersection before Turner took a right turn that took them towards Blue Mountain. The deputy hummed for a moment before shrugging.

“Cash.” Turner said simply. “I mean, I like both, but I before I came here I owned more Cash albums than anything else.”

“Respectable answer.” Thomas replied as he looked over the clipboard. “So you patrol the forest areas, you handle cargo security at the train station, you do regular police work… And you repossess property?”

“Yup.” Turner replied with a sigh. “Not my favorite part of the job, but that’s why it’s called work and not happy fun time.” They hit a bump as they drove along the country road, a bit of frost had formed on the ground and the tall grass on either side of the road was relatively uninteresting other than the way it swayed in the morning breeze. “Heck, I’m an old hand at repos, it’s one of the things the county hired me for that got my foot in the door for this job.”

“And when you just did repos you made more money?” Thomas asked, slightly shocked by the revelation.

“Yup! I went from doing twelve hours of work a week to around fifty hours and I actually lost money. Kinda fucked up, ain’t it?” Turner shrugged as he leaned on the steering wheel and braced himself for an upcoming bump. “But hey, I prefer doing this to just repo any day.” The truck thudded heavily as it hit the bump, prompting Thomas to whack his head against the ceiling with a grunt. “Shocks are starting to go, so get used to that…”

“Thanks for the warning…” Thomas said flatly, the pair continued driving for around thirty minutes before they reached a driveway that branched off the road. Turner slowed down as they approached and came to a stop at the end. “So, I take it we’re here?”

“Yup.” Turner slowly pulled the truck up the driveway, after a couple minutes the man turned off the radio.

Thomas looked out the window, there were more trees here than he’d expected, and a distant looking field with a couple ponies working out in it. As they passed a large grove of trees a small farmhouse came into view, it was painted mustard yellow with white accents. Parked out front was a large carriage, it looked like a fruit stand on wheels. The carriage was painted green and had various images of happy looking vegetables depicted on the portion that would face customers. An older stallion was working on painting a new sign on it when he heard the rumble of the truck pulling up behind him and turned around. The stallion was an Earth Pony with a green coat similar to that of the carriage, his mane was varying shades of gray and he had large bags under his eyes.

“Well… This is gonna suck.” Turner said under his breath before he looked over at Thomas. “Wait here.” Thomas nodded and watched as Turner took the clipboard and turned off the engine, after which he got out of the truck. Thomas turned the key forward a bit so he could roll down his window and listen, but the engine remained off. Turner quietly removed his knit cap and tucked it into his jacket as he approached the stallion who was now standing in front of his carriage with an uncertain expression.

“Deputy…” He said as he adjusted a scarf around his neck. “What… What brings you out here?”

“You know what, Harrow. I gotta take possession of your property.” Turner said as he put a hand on his hip, he looked at the clipboard in his other hand and examined a series of numbers painted on the carriage. They matched the numbers on the repossession order. “Please, I need you to step away from the carriage.”

“I just need two more days, Turner… Can’t you give me ‘til then?” Harrow replied, Turner quietly shook his head as he lowered the clipboard.

“I want to, Harrow, you know I do…” The man said as he took the Repo Order from the clipboard and folded it up. “I gotta do this, Harrow.” The stallion looked at the folded piece of paper as Turner held it out to him. “You can pick it up at impound when you have the money.”

“How am I supposed to do that, Deputy?! Yer takin’ my livelihood here!” Harrow shouted at him, the older stallion took a step towards Turner and bitterly grabbed the sheet of paper. “You can take this and stuff it!” The stallion threw the paper on the ground, stamping on it several times. “I ain’t letting you take nothin’ from me!”

“Harrow, this doesn’t have to be any more difficult than it already is.” Turner replied calmly, he set the clipboard on the hood of the truck and held a hand out to try and calm the stallion down. “We both work hard, Harrow, we both have our jobs to do.” He tried to keep about twelve feet between himself and the agitated stallion, his eyes roved over the area for anything of note. What first caught his attention was an open tool box, which had various screwdrivers, hammers, and other instruments exposed.

“If I don’t sell the last of our harvest my family’s not gonna make it through the winter!” Harrow replied, Turner could see that most of his hostility wasn’t from anger, but desperation, which wasn’t the best circumstance to be dealing with. “You don’t care! No one does!”

“That’s not true, Harrow. We both know that’s not true.” Turner said, maintaining his calm tone. He watched Harrow very clearly look towards the toolbox, then back at Turner, then back at the toolbox. The desperation on the stallion’s face was clear as day. “Harrow, you know that won’t end well. Your family needs you, man. You go for something in that box and I have to haul you in, I don’t want to do that.”

“Damnit…” Harrow said defeatedly as he looked at the floor. “Fine, take it…” Turner watched the stallion reach down and pick up the paper he’d stomped on. He dusted it off and put away his tools, a deeply worried look on his face.

Turner hopped in the truck and started the engine, then turned the truck around to line up the towing hitch with the trailer. Once it was in place Turner got back out and walked around to the back, by this point Harrow’s family was coming in out of the field to see what was happening. Turner ignored them as best as he could, he hitched the trailer up to the truck before pulling on his knit cap once again and getting in the truck. All the while Thomas had been quietly observing and listening, repossessions weren’t uncommon in Canterlot but usually they ended in a lot more shouting or occasionally a physical confrontation if the debtor was present.

“Let’s get goin’.” Turner said as he started the truck and started driving down the driveway with the carriage, he sighed as he saw the family all watching the truck driving away in the side mirror. “That went a lot better than it could have.” Turner looked ahead as they pulled back onto the main road back towards Silver Lake.

“How so?” Thomas asked, Turner looked at him briefly.

“No one got arrested, or worse.” The Deputy simply stated, the chilly morning air made his breath visible as the two men drove along the road. “Harrow’s a good guy, had a run of bad luck this year. I really hate having to do this.” The man drove a bit slower on the way back, taking bumps more carefully than he usually would. “So, any thoughts so far? Questions? Comments?”

“Who taught you Conflict De-Escalation?” Thomas asked, Turner hummed for a moment before looking out the windshield.

“Changeling Holdout by the name of Mourning Cloak, he and I go back a ways.” Turner’s simple reply earned him a raised eyebrow from Thomas. “He and his group mostly want one thing, and that’s to live their lives like before King Snorlax or whatever took over. Relatively speaking.”

“Thorax, Turner. King Thorax.” Thomas corrected him. “What they did before Thorax took over was pretty bad.”

“You know what I mean, Thomas. They don’t want to change into those weird greenish turquoise ones, and frankly I don’t blame ‘em. I’d go nuts if I had to live in some hippie commune full of that pacifist feeling circle crap.” Turner said flatly as he rolled down his window and rested an arm against the door. “You’d be amazed what you can figure out when you actually know how to read.” Thomas looked out his own window as they drove past a sign for Grave Eagle Trailhead. “Anyway, if you happen across Mourning or any of his guys, may be best to just leave out the part where you work for Princess Twilight.”

“I suppose I see your point.” Thomas said with a shrug, after a couple minutes he spoke up again. “Since it’s just us out here I can be honest. I don’t much care for how Thorax runs things either.” Thomas grinned a bit more widely. “Look at us, a couple of rednecks talkin’ shit about the government. Almost feels like I’m back in Eagle Creek.”

“You seem like you’d be more suited to this sort of work than ‘Fact Finding’.” Turner mused as they continued their drive, occasionally the trailer would thud from side to side, but not anything to be alarmed about. “Or is it because you and the Princess are, y’know…”

“What?” Thomas asked with a raised eyebrow, after a couple seconds he realized something. “Oh, uh, no we aren’t together… What made you say that? Did… Did she say something?”

“I cannot confirm or deny… But yes.” Turner replied simply as they pulled onto the main dirtroad back to town. Thomas looked rather thoughtful after that, as if he’d just been told some hidden truth about the universe itself. “Look, I only tell you so you know. That’s the worst feeling, I’ve found… Not knowing.”

“Yeah… Yeah, I get it.” Thomas replied after a couple more minutes of thought, he looked out the window as the road came up alongside the train tracks. “So, what’s on the other side of the tracks? Anything?”

“Silver Lake, the actual lake. It’s about twenty miles west of the tracks, but it’s the first thing that settlers around here named, so that’s the name they chose for the town.” Turner explained, Thomas hummed slightly as the cold air bit against his cheeks. The Deputy meanwhile seemed far less perturbed by the weather. “I go fishing there from time to time, but without a boat you don’t catch much more than lake trout.” The pair lapsed into silence as they each ruminated on their conversation so far. “Gonna have to hook up the plow soon…”

“Shit, you plow too?” Thomas asked, Turner nodded. “Jack of all trades, eh?”

“Nah, man. There’s work that needs doin’, so I do it. Simple as that.” The Deputy grinned as he responded. “Besides, I’m gonna need the extra hours if I’m gonna be able to afford the heating bill this winter. Probably gonna have to go without electricity to balance things out.”

“Really? It’s that bad?” Thomas asked, Turner nodded after a couple seconds. “Sounds like you’ve done that before.”

“Not here, but back on Earth it happened a couple times.” Turner shrugged. “I’m more concerned about families like the Harrows, honestly.” The man looked off out the windshield with a conflicted expression on his face. “I can hunker down with some survival gear if need be, but they can’t… Can’t afford to get dry firewood neither, not without this carriage.” He shook his head. “Fuck it… I’ll help ‘em.”

“You just said you-” Thomas began.

“I’ve got some money squirreled away, and if I fish and hunt my own food I can put the food budget towards some warm clothes. I can probably still get a cord of wood for them. Not much, but it’s something.” Turner thought aloud, he stopped as the town came into sight. “Fuck, man, it’s not like I can just sit at home while they freeze.”

“True, but you can’t beat yourself up over this either.” Thomas cut in. “Look, it sucks, but this is shit that we’ve been seeing all our lives. In Eagle Creek, even in Eustace, bad stuff happens to good people.” Turner remained quiet, after a couple minutes he nodded and sighed. “You need to look out for yourself, like you been doin’. You’ve seen some serious shit a couple days ago, don’t let it cloud your judgement.”

“You’re right…” Turner said with a sigh. “Still, I ain’t gonna sit idle. I have a little time before the first snow falls, I’ll figure something out.” The truck passed the first couple buildings and the train station as the two of them pulled in to an area behind the Sheriff’s Office. It was fenced in and the two other Sheriff’s vehicles were parked there, as well as a couple other impounded carriages and carts. Turner pulled through the open gate and oriented the truck, after a couple minutes of work he had backed the carriage into a parking space before he hopped out and started undoing the trailer hitch.

Thomas got out as well, rubbing his hands together as he walked back and watched the Deputy finish undoing the hitch. He walked back to the driver’s seat and pulled the truck forward a couple feet, leaving the carriage in its own parking spot. Thomas walked around behind the truck and then up to the driver’s side door as Turner cut the engine and climbed out once more.

“Well, it’s now officially repossessed.” Turner said tiredly as he closed the door, he took his phone from his pocket and looked at it briefly. “It’s about eleven, and I’m starvin’.” The man took his radio from his belt and brought it to his lips. “Dispatch, Unit Two. Just finished the Harrow Repossession, I’m goin’ on meal break.”

”Affirmative, Unit Two.” Deputy Buckeye’s voice replied over the radio before Turner put it back on his belt.

“So… Burgers or burritos? That’s about the only choice we have ‘round here.” Turner asked, Thomas would have to think on that one for a minute.

Downtown Silver Lake was a little quieter with the cold snap that had hit overnight, despite the rather small size of the town Gwen and Sam weren’t having any trouble finding something to do. As the day continued and it gradually started to warm up the two of them were walking among the market in the downtown area. The last vegetables of the season were being sold off, however, there were also quite a few tough looking stallions with thick beards and various scars. These ponies were selling fur and leather products. They were decked out from head to hoof in warm looking clothing, to be honest Sam was a little put off by the amount of fur they’d acquired.

She wasn’t wanting for warmth though, she was wearing a nice red wool jacket with double breasted buttons, a scarf, jeans, boots, and a pair of black earmuffs. Over her shoulder was a rather old looking brown leather purse. Gwen had forgone her usual business attire for something a bit more casual and conducive to the weather. Her jacket was more puffy than anything else, with her right hand tucked in her pocket to ensure her wallet was right where it should’ve been.

The market was made up smaller stalls with many displaying vegetables or other products, but the fur trade ponies had probably the fullest looking stock. A couple mares also stood there, though they seemed a bit more focused on tending to the leather and fur clothing rather than the pelts themselves. As both Gwen and Sam approached the first stall the stallion standing there adjusted his fur cap making it easier to see the unicorn horn and light brown fur he possessed, one of his eyes appeared rather milky.

“Well, this is a sight I ain’t seen before.” He said in a rough voice, a smile becoming viewable even with his beard of epic scale. “I take it y’alls friends of Mister Turner, been a minute since I seen ‘im.” The stallion gestured to the furs on the table. “Been out past the east basin for, what was it honey?”

“Goin’ on six months.” The mare working behind him replied, she wore a more tasteful and homely ensemble, her pale white fur accented by a long black french braid. “And it’s Deputy Turner now, remember?”

“Right…” The stallion replied thoughtfully before looking back at Gwen and Sam. “Anyways, name’s McSnare, that gleamin’ pearl of a mare behind me is my wife.” The stallion offered his hoof to the women with that same smile of his.

“Nice to meet you.” Gwen shook the stallion’s hoof with a tone of calm interest, Sam followed suit, though once again she was a little uncomfortable with just how much fur it seemed McSnare was able to stock. “You’re right, my friend and I are visiting Deputy Turner… But seeing as he’s at work we thought we’d take a look at your wares. Is all your fur locally trapped?”

“Yup, all within about a hundred miles of here, actually. S’big county.” McSnare stated with a proud expression. “Seein’ as you appear to be a… uh… human mare?”

“Woman, dear.” McSnare’s wife shouted from the back as she began to fiddle with some leatherworking tools.

“Right! Seein’ as you appear to be a woman what knows her stuff, I can confirm that each fine pelt you see before you is coyote, rabbit, elk, and I have one bear on hand as well.” The trapper continued, leaning against his stall. “Now, the elk and the bear are limited supply since we’s only allowed to hunt or trap a set amount, however the coyote and rabbit are in a far greater supply.”

“Why is that?” Sam asked as she examined one of the coyote pelts, noting that most of them had similar marks near the base of where the neck ended. “What are these marks?”

“Oh, well, Coyotes and Rabbits been havin’ what’cha might call a population explosion… So to keep their numbers sustainable and stable there’s no limit on how many you can claim.” McSnare explained as he picked up the pelt in question and looked it over. “That there mark is where we put these little fellers to rest with a spell what my great great grandpappy come up with over a hundred years ago. Quick, painless, humane.”

“We also make sure to use every part of the animal we can, nothin’ goes to waste!” McSnares wife piped up once more from the back of the stall, Gwen could see she was working on some sort of jacket. Her tools were illuminated with a faint glow of orange, her horn only barely visible through her thick mane. They moved with the grace and finesse that could come only with years of arduous practice. “Speakin’ of, we got coyote and rabbit jerky for sale if’n your interested!”

“I may take you up on that.” Gwen warmly state while putting a hand on Sam’s shoulder, she turned to look at her slightly more squeamish companion. “I don’t suppose you have any clothes suitable to folks like us?”

“Actually…” McSnare slowly trailed off before he crouched down and reached under the stall counter before grunting and standing back up. His horn glowed and a trunk levitated out from where he’d had it stored, he cleared space in front of the counter before setting it down at the feet of the women. “Deputy Turner has occasionally put in requests for clothes, and to be honest, my wife likes a challenge… So we have plenty of thing’s she’s experimented with. Figured we might be able to start selling to minotaurs, but that seemed a bit in poor taste…” McSnare opened the trunk to reveal its contents. “You’re welcome to take a look, heck, I’ll give it to ya at a discount, seein’ as your the only folks what took an interest in it.”

“Thank you, we’ll take a look.” Gwen politely said with smile, Sam looked the redhead with uncertainty before looking down at the trunk that had been set down. It wasn’t just leather or fur that was present, as it seemed McSnare’s wife was quite the talented seamstress as well. She seemed to have quite a lot of different ideas of what human clothing looked like, an unsettling amount actually. “I think she might’ve been paying attention to those modelling shots you did a couple years ago when she made some of these…” Gwen held up a rather risque looking bit of attire.

“Oh, god…” Sam said as a large blush spread across her cheeks before she grabbed it quickly out of Gwen’s hands, she stuffed the garment deep down in the trunk. “Why, may I ask, are we even looking through this stuff?”

“Well, for starters, I’m always looking for new inspiration…” Gwen replied as she held up a fur cap that looked like it was designed for a human head. She pulled it on and found it was a bit larger than she’d first imagined. “I’m predicting next year it’ll all be about ‘rugged’ and ‘tough’ campaigns, doesn’t hurt to do a little studying ahead of time.” Gwen put the hat back in the trunk and reached a bit further down. “Secondly, and this is a bit more important, I want you to know all about bartering here. If you’re going to move here you’ll need to be comfortable with the customs and means of trade that tend to come from such an… isolated locale.”

“How did you…?” Sam started to ask in disbelief. “Did Pai-... Did Turner tell you?” Gwen stopped and looked at her, the redhead let out the most genuine laugh Sam had heard from her in a long time before she shook her head.

“No, he didn’t… And why don’t you just call him by his first name?” Gwen asked with a grin while she continued to examine the clothing in the trunk.

“Because he doesn’t want a lot of people to know it.” Sam replied flatly, she paused and lifted up another hat. This was very similar to a montana style hat, made from brown felt. There was a band around it which seemed to have coins stamped into it. It actually looked rather nice, at least it would if the coins were removed. “Still didn’t answer my question.”

“I’ve known you for nearly a decade and not once have I seen you as… Sprightly.” Gwen mirthfully looked around them, the market was still relatively quiet and the air still had a notable chill to it. “Also I may or may not have overheard you two talking a couple nights ago…”

“You were eavesdropping?” Sam stopped everything else and looked at Gwen with an annoyed expression. “What if we’d been… You know?”

“What? No, I was going to the bathroom, which is in the bedroom.” Gwen defensively leaned back a bit. “Look, Sam, I actually want to see this work out for you… Really, I do.” There was a couple moments of tense silence before Gwen pulled Sam into a hug, this caught her by surprise but hesitantly Sam returned it. When Gwen broke the embrace she spoke once more. “It’s good you’re getting out and looking to start a life somewhere else, honestly I was worried you were starting to turn into a hermit like Howard Hughes.”

“Even if that life is pretty much in the middle of nowhere?” Sam asked rhetorically before she presented the hat she’d become interested in to Gwen. “What do you think of this? Do you think Turner would like it?” There was a second of brief silence as the redhead grabbed the hat and examined it a bit closer.

“If the coins were removed, yeah… They’re a little gaudy. Other than that he’d look like a regular Dudley Do Right.” Gwen ran her fingers over the coins on the hatband. “These actually seem like they might’ve belonged to Turner at some time.” She showed the coins to Sam. “They have George Washington on them.” Gwen stood up with the hat and looked at McSnare, who was not to subtly trying to overhear their conversation. The woman ignored that and showed him the hat in question. “I kinda assume this is something Deputy Turner ordered, judging by the coins.”

“Nope, he just was cleanin’ out that big truck of his and gave us a bunch of them tiny metal coins.” The stallion replied as he looked over the hat. “Why, do you think he wanted them back?”

“No… But I’d like to buy this, that is if you’d be willing to change the hatband to something a little simpler for me?” Gwen asked, McSnare rubbed his beard of ages for a couple moments in thought before nodding. The stallion levitated the up out of her hands and walked back into the stall. Gwen knelt down once again and started looking through the trunk again. “We need our clothes made specially, remember? First thing you should do before moving is familiarize yourself with local services… Like tailors, seamstresses, or where you’re going to be buying your food and other essentials.”

“You think that’s really going to help?” Sam asked as she quietly reached into the trunk and lifted out a couple of the other ‘woman’s wear’ that had apparently been made by McSnare’s wife. “To be fair, though… These look almost exactly my size. You might been onto something.” Gwen smiled from ear to ear as Sam stood up with the clothes. “Listen, I’m not buying these for any reason other than I just want them out of the public eye. That’s it.”

“Riiight, but private eyes are fine.” Gwen’s airy voice and cheshire grin was something that Sam had gotten used to over the years. In fact, it was getting to the point where Sam could give as good as she got in some cases. Though perhaps without the same eloquence or sophistication of, well, whatever it was that Gwen did.

“You have a point… Maybe you should look in there again, I think a saw a bridle that was about your size.” Sam offhandedly commented, that prompted a rare and very deep blush across the normally pale redhead’s cheeks. “You really should close your door all the way when you have company over…”

“I’ve taught you well…” Was the only reply that Gwen could muster as her cheeks continued to burn a bright shade of crimson. Sam was the one grinning from ear to ear, watching as McSnare and his wife were working in the back of their stall on the hat in question. Both their horns were glowing, and to Gwen and Sam it was like watching some sort of ballet. While McSnare might’ve looked gruff clumsy, it seemed his magic was just as practiced as his wife’s when it came to leather working. It took them only around ten minutes to finish up their work, McSnare walked back with the finished brown felt montana style hat floating in his magical aura. Gwen took it and looked it over.

“I think he already has one of these, but… I think he’ll like it anyway. I’d also like to get these.” Sam admitted while she placed the clothes she’d taken from the trunk, afterwards she began to reach for her purse. “What do I owe you, Mister McSnare?”

“Oh, forty bits outta do it.” McSnare replied, Sam smiled as she reached into the purse and withdrew a small sack of bits. The stallion meanwhile was examining her purse with curiosity, noting its age and rather weathered appearance, just out of curiosity. “Couldn’t help but overhear you might be moving out our way, if’n your lookin for a decent tailor that’s not out in the wilderness half the year I might recommend Pintuck down by the general store. He’s the one what makes all the clothes for your Deputy friend.”

“Really? Well, I’ll have to see about going to see him then.” Sam counted out the appropriate coinage before handing it to the stallion. With a grin he levitated her purchases into a brown paper bag, with the exception of the hat, that he set right on her head. That prompted Gwen to start giggling as she looked the woman up and down. “What?

“You look like a Canadian mountie.” Gwen replied as she and Sam started walking away from the market stall, with the latter of which turning to wave goodbye to McSnare. “The red coat and that hat just…” Sam quietly looked up at the hat that had been placed on her head, it was a size or two too big, but it was also quite warm. “Come on. Let’s go check out that General Store, maybe they have something to eat… At the very least it’ll be warmer in there.”

“Yeah…” Sam said with a nod, as they were walking towards the road they heard a familiar blaring sound in the distance. The wail of sirens getting closer, Sam and Gwen came to a stop and looked down the road towards the Sheriff’s Office. The screech of tires echoed through the small town as Turner’s truck skidded into view off a side road and tore down the street that ran past the market. The flashing blue and red lights, the blaring noise, and the sheer speed all pointed towards something going wrong. The vehicle tore past the market, kicking up gravel as it sped off towards the Basin and catching a little air when it hit an occasional bump. “That… That didn’t seem good.”

“I’m sure he’ll be okay…” Gwen said as she put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Come on…” Hesitantly Sam nodded and started walking with her companion towards the town’s general store.

Author's Note

I haven't been leaving as many Author's Notes as I used to, for that I'm sorry. I've been working a lot to get a good number of chapters done ahead of time so I have something to post in case I get hid with writers block. Even still, I'm sorry if my updates are slower than I'd like.

As always please leave a rating, and please please comment. I love reading what you guys have to say, it helps me get a better idea of how things are being received.