"Rudy, get your hands off of me," Izzy said, frustrated. "We have more important things to worry about right now."

"Aw c'mon, Izzy," Rudy said, and moved to either brush her hair out of her face or to do something else to that effect.

She slapped his hand away. "I said stop. Why don't you do something useful for once, Rudy? See if you can find somewhere we can actually live. Just go take a walk down there and look." She gestured down a side street and almost snarled. "A long walk."

I had mostly been leaning against an old wall, sipping my water, and studying the skyline up until then, but presently I spoke up. "Rudy, let's do that. We'll look too, we can all meet back here in an hour."

"Go to hell, Steven," Rudy said, and turned and walked away.

"Watch out for drones, Rudy," Izzy called after him. "You're a huge fucking target!"

I ran a hand through my hair and stared at her, exasperated. She did the same, a frown on her face.

"What?" She finally said.

"What the hell was that, Iz?

Her frown deepened... Was it possible she looked even prettier when she was angry?

"You saw it. He just won't stop touching me. All over! I'm sick of his shit, Steven," she said.

I shrugged. "As long as you don't feed ME to the drones, Iz." I started walking, my boots thumping against the pavement. She had to take a couple of running steps to keep up, but she fell in next to me and walked with a hand on my elbow. Damn, the very smell of her drove me crazy. Izzy was the only person in the world who could go without bathing for two or three weeks and not look even a tiny bit dirty.

I mean, I felt bad for Rudy. But THIS feeling was pretty nice.

"I mean it, Steven. Doesn't he just grate on you sometimes?" she said.

"Sure he does. But he has my back when it counts. Yours too," I added.

"Does he though? He treats me like a doll," she said, and crossed her arms over her chest. 

I wanted to say a lot of things to her. I wanted so tell her that she probably shouldn't encourage that kind of behavior in him on a regular basis. I wanted to say that she would clearly be happier with me, so she should just stop jerking the two of us around like her little puppets. I wanted to tell her that I noticed the way she got more affectionate with me as soon as Rudy pissed her off...

Mostly I wanted to tell her that I loved her, but I didn't. Instead, I pointed at a building.

"How's that one look?"

She shook her head. "Ground floor windows."

"Right." I had known that, I just needed to change the subject.

We walked on. It hurt me to leave Brightside, I'll be honest. Brightside was home, I grew up there, but a change in scenery had been necessary. But it wasn't all bad in Kingsport, our current location. The buildings here all stretched higher into the sky, the cars lining the streets all cost thousands of dollars more, and if we were lucky those two factors would combine to mean that food would be easier to find. 

Besides, the drones here didn't want to kill us.

The street widened out a little bit, and Izzy pointed at a park as we walked by. 

"Steven, do you see what I see?"

I chuckled. Trees, actual trees, lined the street beside the park, and they all surrounded a statue of some guy on a horse... The grass was a little bit overgrown, but it was no doubt a park. It looked like something I would have spent time in as a kid, just a little bit nicer.

"We're really not in Brightside anymore, huh?" she said.

"I don't think Brightside had any statues even before the Collective," I said with a smile. "I'm not sure anybody worth a statue ever lived there."

"Aw Steven, I'll build a statue of you someday!" Izzy said, and pressed closer for a moment. I grinned and threw an arm around her shoulder for a minute.

"Still though, all these... nice things. They make me a little uncomfortable."

I nodded. "It was always a rich town, even when I was a kid."

"You've been here before?" She said.

I shook my head. "My old man worked here, though. He commuted two and a half hours every day and never made enough money to actually take any of us."

She took my hand as we left the park behind us. "We wouldn't have fit in here anyway. That's just how I like it."

I was about to say something in vague agreement, or maybe comment on how soft her hand was and how she made me want to go to war for her, but she spoke again before I could.

"Steven, look at that!"

I looked where she pointed; a corner drugstore sat next to a small supermarket, with a staircase in between. I looked at the second floor, which seemed to be as cheap an apartment as I had ever seen.

"Good eye, Iz!" I said, and we hurried over.

It was one of those European-style apartments, with no door at the bottom of the stairs. We carefully climbed the steps and found a hallway at the top, with a door on either end... Two different units, by the looks of it. Izzy lifted a welcome mat and found a key, which fit in the door on the left. We high fived and carefully entered.

Inside it was about as unremarkable as the outside. An old leather couch sat in the center of the room while a small kitchen sat took up one corner. There were two doors; one to a small bathroom, and the other to a bedroom just big enough for two people.

I shrugged. "Rudy can sleep on the couch."

She laughed. "This is kinda nice, right? Just us two, no fighting..."

She trailed off and looked up at me with her big blue eyes and I grinned at her. "Aw Iz, Rudy wouldn't make it without us," I said. "C'mon, let's go get him. He's probably getting hungry."

We took a walk back down the street, and found Rudy waiting for us in the park.

"You two seen this?" he said excitedly. 

"Sure." I shrugged. "That was fast, man," I said.

He shrugged. "I found what I was looking for."

He reached behind him and produced a bottle of red wine... Cheap red wine by the looks of it. He stuck in his pocket knife, uncorked it and took a sip.

"Iz, this is for you," he said with a wink.

She frowned. "I'm sick of you, Rudy. Remember?"

He nodded. "That's why I was hoping you'd let me get you drunk."

She raised a eyebrow, thought it over, really really thought it over, then shot me a pained look.

"Just us two, huh?" I said. I couldn't see my mouth but I imagine that it looked a lot like I bit into something particularly sour, rotten, or both.

"I know, but do you mind?" she said to me. "I'm only gonna drink a little bit, don't worry..." 

I threw my hands up. "It's fine, great. Go for it. I'll go find us dinner."

"Are you sure?" she said.

"You can do whatever you want, Iz," I said. 

"Good. Come back soon, I have a question I want to ask you after." She kissed me on the cheek and went over to Rudy. I heard her laugh girlishly...

I turned and walked away; I didn't want to see. I realized once I had gotten about ten yards that my best chance of finding food was the supermarket in the opposite direction... But I'd be damned if I was going to walk past them again. I took deep breaths and forced myself to calm down, and I set about finding some food.

I didn't actually find any, but I found... Something.

I had stopped to peer through a window and, as I scanned the sky to make sure there were no drones around to witness any crime I might commit, I heard... Laughter? I knew how Rudy and Izzy laughed though, and this noise sounded different. I was ready to chalk it up to a bird or the wind and get back to the task at hand, but I heard what was definitely the sound of a car starting in the distance, and then the unmistakable beep of a horn. I took off at a jog towards the noise. Other people!

It couldn't have been too far away. I couldn't hear anything past the thump of my boots and the wind around my head, but I didn't have to; a pickup truck turned the corner and came into full view. I froze, and debated throwing myself to the side of the road behind a parked car or something for cover, but I moved too slow; whoever was driving certainly would have seen me already. I stood in the road and stared at the oncoming truck, doing my best to look nonthreatening.

The pickup slowed, and I could see that it was overfull; two men sat in the cab, and another four or five had crowded into the bed. I say "men" but they really weren't much older than boys; from the looks of it they probably couldn't have even voted in the last election. Teenagers, nothing more.

The doors opened and the two boys inside got out, one who was unremarkable aside from his hair, almost as long as mine and quite a bit greasier, and another who was dressed in cargo pants and a dirty white wifebeater. That kid must have outweighed me by fifteen pounds though, and it seemed like mostly muscle. He wore nice name brand sunglasses, which probably would have cost an arm and a leg if the world had a working economy... Oh, and he had a gun pointed at me. I raised my hands.

The kid with the gun stared at me. I stared back.

"Hey," I finally said.

"I haven't seen you around here," he said slowly.

"No wonder. I'm from Brightside," I said. "I just rolled into town this afternoon."

"Why?"

"Drones," I said.

He nodded. He gestured to the greasy looking boy on the other side of the pickup. "Ed came here for the same reason, from Reddsburg."

I nodded at the boy. "Ed," I said in greeting. As I looked him up and down I liked him even less; there was some kind of glint in his eye that just... bothered me. I put it out of my head for the moment.

They both stared at me. "So, who are you guys?" I said.

"Are you alone?" said the one with the gun.

"I am right now," I said.

"Did you come here with anybody?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. Why?"

"Cause I have a gun."

I sighed. "Does it matter if I'm alone or not?"

The kid nodded. "Yeah, it does."

"Why?"

"What's your name?" he said.

"Steven."

He put the gun down. "It matters, Steven, because we have rules here. If you're going to live in our city, then you have to follow our rules. That's the bottom line."

"Fine by me, I just won't bother you. I'll find a place and just take care of myself. No need to worry," I said.

He shook his head. "No, sorry Steve. Like I said, Kingsport is our city. I- hold on." He reached into the truck and pulled out a brown paper bag, like the kind you pack a lunch in. He put it over the hand he held his gun with, covering the firearm, and gestured skyward.

"Rule 1, don't upset the drones. Now as I was saying, we have rules, and everybody here is bound to them under the penalty of death."

"You haven't even told me the rules," I said, frustrated. "Fine, great. Rules. What do you want? And who the hell are you?"

"My name is Justin, but that's not important. The important thing is I'm in charge of the Business District Bandits."

"Business... District... Bandits?" I said. "Are you serious?"

He frowned. "We picked the name a few years ago. But the bottom line is we own the city, so rule number two is that what we say goes. I say take us to anybody you brought here."

I opened my mouth to speak, but a walkie talkie in on Justin's waist burst to life and cut me off. It sounded like static to me, but Justin grinned. 

"On second thought, just stay there," he said.

"What are you talking about?" I said, but he ignored me to whisper to his greasy friend, Ed. 

"Hey," I said a little bit louder. I was going to press him further, but a low rumble cut me off. A second pickup truck turned onto our street and pulled up alongside the first one. A few boys jumped out of the back, and to my surprise so did Izzy and Rudy. One of the "bandits" had a bottle of red wine in his hand- Oh, too bad, Rudy.

"Steven!" Izzy yelled and rushed over. I caught her in my arms and made sure to get in between her and the youths in front of us.

"Are you alright?" I said.

"Yeah. But Steven, you were wrong about Rudy," she said. "When they pulled up... he ran."

I sighed and stroked her hair. Damn. That was supposed to be OUR Rule Number One: women and children first. We didn't even have any children, and we only had one woman.

"Justin, we don't want any trouble. We'll move on if you want, no problem," I said.

"Steve, you and your friend can go if you want," Justin said. "But there are only a few girls around these days."

Some of the boys laughed, and Greasy Ed's gaze turned slightly more predatory.

I scowled. "Go to hell."

"I have a gun, remember? It's fine, you can leave. In fact, do. Leave. Get lost, move on. But she has to stay."

"If I stay, so does this one." Izzy turned to face Justin and gestured to me. I tried to step back in front of her, but she wriggled and put out an arm. "He's with me."

Justin shrugged.

"Izzy!" Rudy yelled.

"Go to hell, Rudy," she said. His jaw dropped.

"Iz," I said, gently, but firmly. "I meant it. He won't make it."

She frowned at me, but nodded. "Fine," she said, and sighed. "Let him stay too," she called to Justin, and waved a hand in Rudy's direction.

"No, screw you guys!" Rudy said. "I'm outta here. Justin, you wanna let me go?"

"Actually... It's Rudy, right?" Justin said, turning. Rudy nodded.

"You want a job?"

"Do I want... A job?" Rudy said.

"Sure. Be a Bandit. We run this city, Rudy! I figure you probably don't link into the Collective much, do you?"

Rudy shook his head, frowning.

"Exactly! We don't either, there's no need! Why should we spend our lives trapped underground in some dark Unit Complex when the entire city is ours for the taking? If you do what you're told then you'll never be hungry here."

Justin raised his arms, gesturing to the kids around him. "You can join the brotherhood, just look at it!" he said. "And then look at those two. They don't have your back, Rudy! They just proved that to all of us, right here in public. What do you say?"

Rudy frowned. "I... I mean, I have nothing better to so. I guess that sounds pretty good."

Justin barked out a laugh and walked over to Rudy. They clapped each other on the back, and Justin began pointing at other boys in the crowd to presumably introduce them.

Izzy and I looked at each other, and I held her a little bit closer. "What were you going to ask me?" I said in a whisper.

She smiled. "I was going to ask if you wanted to live together, just you and me. Be my main squeeze, you know?" she whispered back. "Be careful what you wish for right?"

I frowned. "Iz, it's still just you and me, and that's all we need... But we definitely need each other. Will you look out for me?"

She nodded. "Always."

"Good. Then I have your back. We'll get out of this just fine," I said. I squeezed her hand.

She squeezed back, hard.

We stood silently from then on, waiting. Was all really fair in love and war? I think that before there were plenty of weapons that were declared unfair; nuclear bombs, chemical weapons... Using one of them would quickly guarantee you nothing but more enemies. Had Izzy and I inadvertently just done the same thing, but with love? I looked at Rudy, smiling and laughing with his new friends, and I looked at the guns several of them had strapped to shoulders and hips. I looked at Ed, who hadn't actually taken that uncanny gaze of his off us since he's arrived.

Then I looked at Izzy, and some of my worries disappeared. 

It was in the open now, we would look out for each other. I knew it. We would be just fine.