«You listen, and you listen good!» What I'm telling you now is between you and me, you tell anyone else and I'll track you down and shut your mouth for you. You got that!» «Yeah I got it Karl!» I said. Karl shook his head slowly side to side little streamlets of sweat running down his balding head. «And don't you be thinking this is cause I'm some sort of nice guy, cause I ain't. I owe you one Mikal, and I pay my depts. If you hadn't come along them damn roaches would have had me for sure!» «You mean the hot-zoners!» I asked. Karl raised one bushy gray eyebrow, and stared at me over the top of his silver-framed glasses. «How long you been out here son!» I shrugged, «About a month or so I guess!» Karl sat back in the small wooden chair that creaked under his size, and sighed. «You could do a lot better then this for a living son. Take my advice and get out of here. There ain't nothing out there for you except blood and pain. «Well that might be but I need the money, and this is the fastest way I know to make it. It's either this or spend the rest of my life on some damn farm like my dad. He did that for almost thirty years, and in the end what did he have? Nothing!» The big man tapped his finger on the table in front of me, his forehead creased like he was concentrating on something. «You know Mikal I use to think that way to but.. Well it's your decision I guess. I ain't your family, or your friend, so you do what you want!» «Anyway, yeah them hot-zoners, them's is what we here call roaches. They might look human from a distance but up close you can tell, they ain't. Up close you can see all them clumps of hair coming out, the open sores, and those long-old nails and teeth of theirs. Ugly as the devil himself they are. Those damn things can go in and out of any place they want. The radiation don't bother them none, the high-grav areas only seem to slow them down, and I'll be dipped in shit if they even feel it when you put a bullet in one of em'. You saw it for yourself back there by the bridge. I put three rounds from my .44 in that things belly and it just slowed it down some. I swear by the third shot I could see straight through that damn things belly, but it just kept coming. If you hadn't been there to take that things head off with that shotgun of yours, well, I don't think I would be here talking with you now!» «Karl, I was wondering about that, why was that thing after you anyway!» Karl gave me a little sideways smile, the kind you give a child that has just asked a question that you find amusing. «You see any food out in the zones Mikal!» I'm pretty sure at that point my jaw dropped and my face went blank, because Karl laughed. «You mean those things.!» «Yup!» «But that's inhuman!» Karl let out a little barking laugh. «Ha! Son you're right its not, and neither are they. You best be remembering that the next time you see one!» He just shook his head again and leaned forward again, looking me straight in the face. He seemed to do that a lot, the shaking of his head. Like he didn't think I was good enough to be out here doing this. «I'm probably killing you by telling you this son, but I guess if your gonna make a living out here you got to start somewhere!»

Karl looked around the little run-down trading station, making sure none of the other four people in the place were paying us any attention. «Right before you get into town there is a bridge with a small stream running under it. You get off that road, and you follow that stream westward about half a Km. into a small grove of dead trees. In the middle of them trees is some sort of high-grav area. It's smaller then most, but I didn't check to see how strong it was, so carefull there. No need to screw around with something like that if you don't have to, that's my thinking. Anyway, that high-grav field is stuck right in the middle of the stream, kind of parting it in the middle. Right after where that field ends is some sort of grate stuck right in the middle of the streambed. There's still some water going down in it, but it ain't really anything to concern yourself with, it's dry enough once you get down there. I'm not really sure, but when I went down into the tunnel it looks like it was some sort waste runoff area. Seems they were taking a bit of water from that stream to help wash the stuff in that tunnel further down. I'll warn you now, whatever it was they had washing down that pipe smells worse than a wet dog!» «Okay, so is that it? Karl sat back pulled a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket and lit it. «Well, some more of them roaches for one, plus a hell of a lot of equipment. Not really sure what all of it is but its got to be worth some cash. You follow that thing uphill a while and the ceiling of the pipe is broken wide open. It leads into some sort of building. I didn't see any windows so I'm not even sure what building it is. All I know is its big. " «That's exactly what I wanted to hear Karl. Think I'm might head down that way first thing in the morning!» «Son, there is something else. I'm not positive what it was, because one of them roaches tossed a rock that caught me in the head. I was seeing double there for a while. Might sound crazy, but I swear I saw some damn trees in there. Not dead one's either, green ones, with fruit on the branches. If I didn't know better I would say they were apple trees. I did get nailed in the head with that rock though, might be I was just knocked silly for a bit!» I just nodded my head, smiled and chuckled a little. «Knocked silly or maybe your old brain is just playing tricks on you!» Karl's face went from contemplation to pissed in less then a second. «Boy if there is one thing I've learned its that nature has it's own rules out here, so don't go thinking you know crap, because you don't. And you might be half my age but that doesn't mean I won't knock you on your ass if you start up with me like that again!» «Saving my ass or not, I think we're done talking!» He dropped his cigarette into his glass of vodka were it went out with a hiss, and stood up to go. «Karl, come on, I didn't mean anything by it, just seemed a little crazy that's all!» He just stood there looking at me, not saying anything for what seemed to me like a very long time. «Alright, fine Mikal. I'm still going, but watch yourself in there and not just because of them roaches. I saw some tracks in that building too. They looked like bear tracks, and son if they were, that's gonna be one damn big bear!» He nodded his head toward me, grabbed his half-empty glass of vodka, fished out the cigarette butt, «To your health!» he said in a flat tone, and drank the rest in one swallow. Then turned without a second glance and walked away.

That was two days ago.