The Time from Before

Picking Up

It wasn't much of a surprise when Allen found Harper passed out. She wasn't too far from the direction of the port.

But she wouldn't just pass out for no reason. Allen stayed quiet, getting as close as he could. Even in the dark, he could see her face. It looks like she cried recently. No... maybe she bawled her eyes out. Guilt struck Allen like a bullet.

'Maybe she wasn't mentally ready for this yet. I'll be careful from now on.' Allen thought.

He blamed himself, mostly. The shock of the situation would've left anyone in this state much sooner, so it was strange that she hadn't crashed until now. She must've been through a lot.

Allen thought it was best to put off any operations for the time being. To let Harper steady herself, and more importantly, figure out what to do with Sasha.

And... maybe figure out where to go from there. The Arctos Dominion is, as it stands now, completely gone. He has no real reason to serve a fallen Dominion, but...

He's at a standstill. Loyalty, or reason? An internal dilemma was forming in his mind.

For now, though, he needed to wake Harper. And introduce her to Sasha. And... Guess Allen has got a list of things to do.

"Harper." Allen whispered. "Get up."

Harper slowly stirred, her eyes sluggishly dancing around.

"Where... *Sniff*..." She looked up at Allen as her eyes filled with tears.

Allen reached out his hand, and Harper took it. He assisted Harper to her feet and guided her to the newly made campfire.

It didn't take too long, but when the duo made it to the campfire, Harper merely glanced over to Sasha. Today was already too much for her mentally, so she didn't care.

Sitting Harper down next to the fire, Allen made sure Sasha was comfortable. Then, making sure everything was as it should be, Allen sat next to the fire himself.

...

"We're all headed for the bunker after the fire goes out. We'll do our introductions there." Allen spoke, but the ones he was speaking to felt like rocks.

Talking to a brick wall, one would say.

...

...

...

As the fire slowly faded away, Allen got up and grabbed his gear. He was a little clumsy in his movements, as he hadn't slept in quite some time.

"C'mon, Harper. Up." Allen picked up Sasha, as she was already asleep. "The sun is coming up, and I don't want to be caught with my pants down."

She blinked, shaking her head. "Oh, uh, yeah. Right."

She got up, and the three made their way to the bunker. The trip was rather uneventful, as no one said a word. Sasha stirred a bit, but she was still dead asleep. The cold must've drained her of her energy.

Just as the entrance was in sight, Allen stopped. Harper didn't get the memo until she slammed into Allen, stopping herself. Rubbing her nose, she leaned to the left and looked around. Then, she saw it too.

A group of those colorful creatures were standing in front of the bunker. But they weren't like the ones Allen saw at the outpost. These ones... looked, in a strange sense, professional? The gear they had on was drastically different, but still fairly glowy.

With a heavy sigh, Allen wasn't up to care. They looked harmless enough.

"Let's go. I doubt they could stop us from going in anyway." Allen handed Sasha over to Harper, then grabbed his rifle.