KimRae decided she liked the calm, quiet tone with which Raymond answered her. She appreciated him letting go of her hand as she came back into her head after the drug wore off some. He was respectful and wasn’t full of hot air, like boastful, she thought. Suddenly, she heard footsteps and stiffened, drawing back toward cover when shadows full ahead of someone coming. Raymond went for his gun but refrained from drawing it. His cool voice demanded from the ranger,<br/><br/>“Explanation?”<br/><br/>The voice from the ranger was clipped and strained as it came through the helmet. He spoke confidentially to Raymond, and mentioned the “girl”. KimRae stared at the girl in question. Was this who had been in the building, shooting at them? Was the ranger insane? Or had he killed the assailant and rescued some girl along the way? She came out of her haze to hear,<br/>“This girl’s cause I assume was survival instinct and panic. The girl may or may not agree with me, but that is what I think about the situation."<br/><br/>KimRae looked her over and realized that she was seeing another female, much like herself. For a minute, she marveled that in this godforsaken hull of a city, there was someone else like her. Surviving along, doing the best she could. Doing someone else before they could do her. KimRae looked her in the eye and nodded, in a sisterhood of survivors sort of way.<br/><br/>The effects of the stimpack still dulled her senses and she started when the ranger say as he looked at her with a mixture of concern and curiosity,<br/><br/>“"Now that I have told you everything, may I ask what the situation is on KimRae's wound?” He spoke to Raymond but then shifted his eyes to her "I mean, do you feel like you are in pain?"<br/><br/>“I’ll live, thanks to Raymond.” She answered with a thrust of her chin. “Sorry I let you down back there. I could have sworn that building was deserted. Getting shot served me right, I guess.” KimRae’s voice was husky and street smart gritty. She worked hard to keep her face set to what had been called military bearing in the old days. Never let anyone see what you are thinking because  you never know who to trust.<br/><br/>KimRae was sizing the girl up, testing her metal, so to speak, deciding that she would get to know her better, like give her a chance when she heard,<br/><br/>“"If you cannot trust her, trust me" it was the ranger again.<br/><br/>KimRae squinted her eyes at him, looking like a feral cat about to leap to attack.<br/><br/>“I thought that was where we left off and YOU weren’t sure you could trust me, even though I had run at your back for several blocks without causing you harm. But this person who shoots at us, we trust her on your say so?” she crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow.<br/>Turning to Raymond she said,<br/><br/>“You I definitely trust. So where are we going to get off the street? I’m new to this section of the city so I’m not going to be a great tour guide. I will follow where you say to go. As for you,” KimRae turned to the girl and held out her hand,<br/><br/>“I’m KimRae.”<br/><br/>There was other commotion on the streets so she glanced at Raymond as if to say inquire about his earlier instructions of finding a safe place to crash for a while. She nodded her head to let him know she was ready to move out.