"Kesi just do what I tell you!" Ebony yelled angrily at the young Egyptian girl in front of her. "I didn't hire you to think now did I? I want this problem taken care of or you won't get paid."

"You don't pay me anyway." Kesi replied,

"Excuse me! What did you say?" Ebony asked, hands planted angrily on her hips.

Kesi cocked her head to the side and smiled sweetly at her employer. "You heard me. Besides even if you were going to pay me I don't want that paper crap, I want hard coin. But, oh, that's right, you don't have any of that either. So if you'll excuse me, you're irritating me now. Good-bye." Kesi turned on her heel leaving Ebony standing where she was, scowling, knowing what Kesi said was true and immediately began to think of a humiliating way to get back at her bodyguard and nemesis.

Kesi walked around the cooking fire and peered at the pathetic stew inside that looked more like pig slop before sitting down next to the tribal leader.

"You're the tribe leader, why don't you just abstain from cooking and do what you do best, lead." Kesi asked with a grimace as the wind changed blowing the stew’s sickening scent in their direction.

"Because," she said, standing to stir the slop, "everyone has to take turns with all the chores not just the ones they're good at."

"Okay Jade, if you say so. What'd you put in that anyway?"

"Not sure." Jade said as she sat back down on the fallen log used as a perch. "Let's talk about something else, namely Ebony. Why do you put up with her? She's a real witch. Let’s face it, if she was a good person, she wouldn't need you."

Kesi smiled at her friend and leader half heartedly then turned her attention to a piece of kindling at her feet. She picked it up and fidgeted with it a moment before throwing it in the fire and answered.

"Because she has the potential to be good. I know it, I just don't think she does and I'm here to make her see that good in herself.

"The first time I saw Ebony, it was two years ago just after chaos had taken over the city and the Loco's were in charge. It was raining, cold, and pitch black in the dead of the night. I had just left the Demon Dogs and just wanted to put as much distance as I could between me and Lauper City. I couldn't handle it any more. I felt I was far enough away from dog territory and had stopped running and just began to wander in the direction I thought was leading out of the city. It was so dark I didn’t know that I had just wandered into Loco territory.

I was walking down an alley that looked like every other alley when I heard a heated argument. Like almost every other person I knew I was curious and in serious need of cheap entertainment. I followed the sound of arguing to a shattered warehouse window and who do you think I saw but the two most famous people in the city."

"Ebony and Cole." Jade answered, with a knowing shake of her head.

"Yep and they were arguing about how they were going to take over the petrol warehouse in Sector 13; Dog territory. I didn't hear much but I didn't need to. All I knew at the moment was that I needed out of the city before war broke out in the streets. Even with the chaos that happened after the virus there was still order in the insane and deadly reality that was Cole."

Jade made a grumble in her throat that sounded a bit like a laugh. "Sadly that's true but we all know he's still completely insane and I don't know about you but I want to be long gone when he gets back from where ever the hell he went."

"Yeah. Back to my story."

"There's more?" Jade asked, her face screwed up into a look of astonishment.

"You don't think I met her just by looking into a window do you?

"I backed away but didn't look where I was going and backed straight into a pile of empty old aluminum cans. I fell flat on my back and before I was able to get up I was surrounded by Locos. I was jerked to my feet and held securely until Cole and Ebony joined us.

Cole was terrifying but he isn't what I remember most. It was Ebony and how she held herself. She was strong and sure of herself. She looked at me through slit eyes and I felt like a little bug in the alley. I knew then if I didn’t stand up for myself right then and there I was done. She was going to get rid of me. I don’t know how but I knew I had suddenly become competition.

“Competition for what?” Jade asked.

“I hadn’t a clue at the time but when I finally left the city when the Locos disbanded I realized it was competition for Cole. Ebony thought I was going to steal her position as his queen when he granted me my life.”

“Cole let you live?” Jade asked, completely flabbergasted.

“Yeah but I think it was to make Ebony jealous and more vicious. He was molding her and she didn’t even realize it.

“I couldn’t let him destroy such a strong person. She may have treated the foot soldiers of the Locos like flies on the wall but her leadership skills match even yours. If Cole hadn’t twisted her morals she would be in your position right now. I haven’t a doubt in the world.