Darina was honestly not going to follow Rock, and she was glad he had volunteered to check it out. To her surprise, the grim, scarred man also willingly joined Rock Hammer. Perhaps partly out of contrition for nearly killing the giant?<span style="font-style: italic">What a pair they are,</span>she mused. They both filled her with a mixture of awe and fear, and just as well: if Rock went on another rampage, this guy might be their best option of calming him down, temporarily or permanently. “I’ll stay here,” she told them, stepping a few paces outside of the entrance of their current hideout. The footsteps were getting nearer, and now she was certain it wasn’t any sort of animal but a person. And a small one, at that. Surely, that wouldn’t set anything off, unless she was scavenger-bait. Bandits had used those now and then.<br/><br/>“I think we don’t need to worry so much,” she said out loud, crossing her arms, “there doesn’t seem to be anything else accompanying the—dammit!” Gunfire stabbed her ears, the air carrying whiffs of gunpowder her way. Of<span style="font-style: italic">course</span>there would be trouble. Groaning, feeling a little responsible for having sent the big guy outside, she sprinted closer, her ears ringing from the succession of booms coming from the scuffle. Not too close, though—Rock Hammer’s voice rang out right before he intended to crush his opponent, and Darina gulped. Not again. She was sure the girl was as good as crushed, but to everybody’s surprise, it was Rock Hammer who got repelled. Granted, the stranger, too, looked like she took a hit, but it didn’t look like it was from direct contact with the behemoth. Liliana stepped in, the second time she had stepped between Rock and another person in his way, Darina noted.<br/><br/>Seeing as she couldn’t do much else in this situation, she fell back, letting Viktor be the leader again. She didn’t want to admit it, but his presence was a bit comforting. Though bandits weren’t known for their hard discipline and their strict adherence to hierarchy, Dar was still used to working with a crew, and someone calling the shots. She had been a scout, and she knew being a leader took a hell of a lot more than being keen-eared. Catching a trace of blood, she turned to see that Darren had been injured by one of the ricocheting bullets earlier. She grunted in approval as the girl was relieved of her weapon.  With a sigh, she went back inside their makeshift shelter, not really waiting for the whole situation to fully simmer down. Darina was damned tired, and she couldn’t remember the last time she had really slept. Finding a corner of the shelter unoccupied by any of the other Stalkers, she turned her back against the wall, used her bag as a makeshift pillow, and closed her eyes. This late into the night, and with all the shit that happened to them already, she really didn’t much care for guarding herself against future trouble right now.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, sleep was fitful for her. A couple of times when there was a change of watch among the Stalkers, her body woke her up, her bleary eyes following the figure of Viktor as he stepped away from his post. As if unwilling to succumb to exhaustion again, her gaze fixated on the dying fire before she sank back into unconsciousness.<br/><br/>She was the first to wake, having felt the rumbling of oncoming vehicles, but Darina groaned, instead, and crossed her arms, shutting her eyes tight. She knew she couldn’t exactly afford to be lazy and petulant right now, but screw that. Not long after that, the rumbling grew louder, and nearer, and the Stalker on duty woke the rest up. With a couple of curses, Darina sat up, slapping her cheeks to get her to wake up faster before slinging on her backpack and making her way outside.<br/><br/>Her eyes landed on the Stalker insignias painted on the vehicles, and suddenly remembered how she had come to be in their company. They weren’t bandits, but could they recognize her? She knew it was paranoia; she carried no symbols on her, no real outward sign of affiliation, but there were people who could tell just by your manner what kind of person you were. “Where we goin’, Chief?” she said as casually as she could to Viktor.