Over the last five months, Sam had fallen into a routine that she was quite happy with. During the daylight hours, she would meet up with Juda to work in the farm fields. Others worked in the fields as well, but they gave Sam a wide berth, still referring to her as an outsider. She didn't mind; working with just Juda was enough. Her hands, once died with oil, now were usually encrusted in dirt. Miles mostly left her alone, only checking up on her when he had to. What surprised Sam was that Jamir had become more friendly over time. He still wasn't a "friend" by any means, but when Sam asked for supplies to rebuild her shack or needed anything. He would do it that day and helped with rebuilding the shack into a home with solid walls and a splinter-free floor.

     Now she had privacy, well except when Marco came around, which was every day. Some days louder than others, like right now, yelling through her door. Sam loved having Marco around but he often tested her patience with mornings like this. Rolling over she called out to Marco with much tact as she could muster under the circumstances. Her, now home, was coming together nicely. She had an actual bed on a bed frame, a bookshelf that she one day hoped would be full of books. But for now was home to her plants and her dear aloe.

     Rolling out of bed Sam shuffled through a small dresser given to her by Juda for some clothes. Getting dressed and tucking her hair behind a bandanna, Sam heading out the door to find Marco standing with his back to her. Completely still which was not like him at all, walking up to him, Sam noticed a tear escaping down his face.

"Marco, why are you crying?" Sam said while crouching down to his level.

     Marco tried to pull off a small smile and looked up at her, "I'm sorry Sam, bad memories."

     Sam wasn't sure what he was thinking about but knew that today was going to be a good day. “Let’s make some better ones, yeah?” As she offered her hand.

“Yeah.” He replied as he took her hand and stepped up.

      It was pretty early in the morning with the first sun's rays shining down through the ceiling and a few people were out in the fields. Normally, they would go towards the cliff to do anything, but since they were seeing Rosa today, they'd be going to the outer perimeter. Walking away from the farmer fields and up a cave that led to the surface. This was the first time she'd been up here since that first night and the cave opened up to inside the rock formation they saw that day. The rocks were a good 60 feet tall if not more and covered in ladders and platforms. Men and women were walking around all of them were armed.

      Marco grabbed on to Sam's hand and squeezed as they stood there. Sam was looking for a very specific person and spotted him talking to a younger man. His honey tanned skin and buzzed cut black hair gave him away. "Rui!" Sam called out to the man.

     Rui had become a surprisingly good friend to Sam, he was the first one to actively be nice to her. He visited Sam often after her hours in the field and invited her to have food with the rest of the colony. Rui with the help of Masika were the ones to arrange this all for Marco. Under Rui's supervision at all times. He turned to face Sam and a classic smirk on his face and waved them over to him. Marco let go of her hand and ran over to Rui with a smile on his face.

      Sam walked over and caught Marco asking about Rosa his dog. How she was doing; was she eating; were they treating her well. Rui was answering every question and explained that since Rosa was the only dog on the team they treated her the best. Which made Marco very happy.

"Well, are you ready to see her?" Rui asked

"Yes!" Said Marco with all the excitement that a boy could have.

     Together they walked and Sam talked with Rui about what they in the perimeter guard. While they didn't fear much from Sulla there were still plenty of predators that would try and get inside of the cave. They would often scare off the wildlife or everyone in awhile kill one for food. A steady breeze whistled through the rock formation and looking up you could see the red dust flying off in a beautiful display. Sam didn't get to leave the farming area unless someone was with her so she cherished the times she got to see something new.

"Good to see I didn't hit you too hard." called out a familiar voice off to her left. Sam turned in the direction of the voice to see a man leaning against some crates. His brown hair sticking up in all place and he had goggles on with a toothy grin on his face.

"Do I know you?" Said Sam while tilting her head.

      The man let out a chuckle and explained, "I'm one of the men that went out to greet you when you first walked a crossed the dessert. Got to say, for being from the tower you're pretty tough. Glad to see that they let you stay."

     Sam remembered the hit she received from the gun that night and was able to connect the dots in her head. Rui rested his hand on her shoulder and looked at the guy. "Same. Ryan, do you know where Rosa is at this time?" He asked. The man named Ryan pushed up his goggles and hummed to himself while looking around. "Last I remember she was playing fetch with Jose in section 7."

"Thanks." Replied Rui and Sam nodded her head at Ryan as well. Turning a direction Rui started walking again, periodically stopping to talk with folks. To Sam, it looked like everyone had great respect for Rui. People sitting down would stand up and everyone acknowledged his existence.

     Sam kept quiet and was happy to just watch people, some were relaxing against the rocks, others were practicing shooting, or just exercising. All of a sudden Sam heard a playful bark off in the distance and didn't even get a word out as Marco took off running to the sound. Rui and Sam looked at each other and Sam shrugged with a smile. "Should have seen that coming."

"Right, better hurry up to keep up," said Rui.

     They picked up their pace and in the distance, Marco was on his knees with his arms wrapped around a large dog. Sam had never seen or been near a dog before and was a little hesitant to approach. The dog, Rosa, was panting and licking all over Marco's face which gave Sam a good view of her teeth.

      Rui must of felt Sam tense up and a bit and looked at her with questioning eyes. "She won't bite you. She's pretty friendly as long as you're on her good side."

      Sam let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding on to and reminded herself that this was the Rosa that Marco ran away for. Marco loved this dog and was protected by her. She could surely be friends with her too. Sam nodded to Rui and looked back at Marco, he was laughing and had on the brightest smile she had ever seen on him. "You're right, it is cute to see how much he likes her."

     After watching Marco talk with Rosa and her responding by letting out happy barks. He pointed at us and ruffed up her neck, standing up he walked to us with Rosa staying right by his side happily wagging her tail. Marco stood in front of us keeping a constant hand on Rosa.

"Rosa please meet Sam, she's my best friend. Sam, this is Rosa my best friend too."

     Sam swallowed her immediate fear and crouched down to Rosa's level with a smile on her face. "Nice to meet you, Rosa. I've heard a lot about you from Marco here." Sam froze as Rosa got close and sniffed her face. Sam reached a hesitant hand and touched Rosa's fur, it was softer than she was expecting and she watched her hand disappear into her neck. Rosa licked Sam's face and Sam smiled, "A very sweet dog."

      Sam stood up and looked at Marco, "Now the deal we worked out was that you could spend all day with her. Go off and play with her, I'll stay here with Rui and wait for you."

     Marco beamed and looked at Sam "Thank you." With that, he ran off with Rosa yipping all way and wagging her tail. Sam looked at Rui, "So, what now?"

      Rui gave his classic smirk, "I don't think I'm allowed to give you a gun to teach you to shoot. Hmmm, how do you feel about seeing the landscape and walking around?"

Sam gave her own tiny smile, "Sure"

      A few hours later they were both talking on the top of a rock and enjoying the scenery. They had a lot of fun till the first sun started to set and they knew their time was up. "Ready to find Marco?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, it was good spending time with you. You know, next week we're having a festival for everyone here, since you know, you're here... would you like to come?" Asked Rui while staring out at the dunes.

"Would I be allowed to?"

      Rui shrugged, "Doesn't really matter to me, the way I see it. If you wanted to harm us you would've already done so. And anyone can see how much you care for Marco, more than his parents for sure."

     This piqued Sam's interest, "What are Marco's parents like? I've never met them and Marco doesn't talk about them."

Rui looked up at the sky and sighed, "They are.... something else. "

Sam shrugged, "aaaaaannnnd?"

       Rui let out a sigh, "AND, let's just say they're not the best people. They do a lot for the community but that leaves Marco out of their picture. He definitely looks up to you and wants to spend time with you more than at home."

      Sam hummed to herself and stood up to get going, she didn't think Rui was telling her the whole story but didn't want to push the issue. "Well let's go find him and send him home. Thank you again so much for doing this for him."

      He stood up as well and put on a smile, "Of course, and please, think about attending next week?"

"Yeah, I will."

      They walked down the makeshift stairs together and started to look for Marco. It didn't take long as Marco and Rosa basically ran in front of them in a game of tag. "Marco!" Called out Sam, "It's time to go home."

Marco slowed down and his smile fell from his face. "Can we visit her again?"

      Sam sneaked a peek at Rui and didn't know how to answer that thankfully he did for her. "I'll see what the council can do." Sam let out a smile and watched Marco get down to Rosa's level to say goodbye. It was sweet and when he was done Sam grabbed his hand and they started to walk to the cave again with Rui following behind.

       They were almost there till Sam saw a man and woman starting to jog to them with looks of worry on their face. "Marco!" They called out. Marco paused and a look of fear washed over his face for a brief moment. Sam was confused at this and held on to his hand stopping with him. "You know these people?" She mumbled down to him.

"Yeah, that's my mom and dad."

Speak of the devil and he will appear