The Rolls Royce Silver Cloud created a dust cloud behind it as it flew like the wind through what once was the British Sea, which had long since dried up. Ailith was driving and Ric was in the passenger seat telling her jokes. Nelly was admiring the sandy desert around them, and Jack was writing.

Soon Nelly got bored with watching the sandy landscape fly by, so she picked up the interest in annoying Jack.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"I am writing down what has happened so fare since I have left Prata." He replied.

Nelly rolled her eyes.

"For?" She asked.

"Maybe to publish as a book one day, Mr. Lodovico would have done the same." Jack said without looking up from his paper booklet that he was given by one of the villagers in Chelmford.

"Mr. Lodovico was a fake." Ailith called out from the front.

"How so?" Asked Nelly.

Ric turned around in his seat.

"He wrote a book called 'The Woeful Rebellion' which he claimed to be his own account of being captured by them and held prisoner for a hole month in the Americas. He lied. Mr. Lodovico probably never even left his own office when he claimed when it happened." He said.

Jack looked up from his work. "I don't care what you guys believe, but I believe that he did get captured and some of his accounts are true."

Nelly glanced out of her side window across the sand. Many dark objects in the distance caught her attention. She watched them for a while.

"What do you think are all those dark objects off in the distance on the right of us are?" She asked.

"Probably trading caravans, there common in this part of the Nations." Ailith replied.

The sound of trading caravans intrigued Nelly.

"What sort of things do they normally trade?"

Jack lent over Nelly to get a look out of her window.

"Normally clothes and food. Books if you're lucky, but these days since the trading stopped with the major cities they don't sell much that is handy." Ailith said. She sped the car up to go a bit faster.

A couple of hours passed in silence. By the time anyone spoke again the country around them became more rolling hills and less like a desert, but with the no living plants it was hard to tell.

"We must be leaving the British Desert and entering France." Ailith said.

"How long do you think it will take us to get to Virtutem Spei?" Jack asked.

"Well judging at the speed we're going, maybe 4 days." Ailith said.

The car started to make puffing noises then pulled to a stop.

"What in the name of Mother Earth is this car doing!" Ailith hit the steering wheel out of frustration.

Ric laid his hand on her shoulder. "We will just have to walk the rest of the way." He said smiling.

"But that's going to take weeks or months to get to Virtutem Spei on foot." She said angrily.

"We could go through Paris and maybe catch a ride with a trading branch." Jack said hopefully.

"We must go through decontamination when we enter the city if we plane to do that." Ailith looked at the sky to locate where the sun was at.

"We should get food and water at some point, so Paris seems to be the best bet." Ric said.

Nelly opened her door and stretched her legs, with being in a car for two hours.

The dead country's rolling hills were brown and sad looking.

A few birds could be seen flying south.

Ailith sighed as she opened her door and got out.

"What a dump this world has become. I didn't think bees would have an effect as great as this." She said, shaking her head.

"Didn't you ever train in the art of beekeeping?" Jack asked her. He had opened his door and stretched his legs as well.

"No, I......."

Ailith glanced over the dead land.

Jack could see a tear slip down her white silk cheek.

"You?" Asked Nelly.

"My parents died when I was 13." Ailith said. She whipped away the tear and faced them both.

"So, I had to find my own way through life. I got a job on a caravan as a maid. While I worked as a maid, I tried to learn as much as there was to learn about the trading business, so when I was 17, and with a little help I managed to steal myself a caravan and started to trade in arms. But that's another story for some other time." She said.

Ric got out and slammed his door closed. He looked and Ailith and nodded.

"Let's be off." He said.

The smells of the countryside stank of decaying vegetation. The road was all rigid and there were missing cobble stones in some places.

The group walked in silence exempt for the noise of Ric whistling. Jack plodded along behind Ric who was whistling a tune. Nelly was deep in thought and Ailith was minding the deep puddles in the road.

Before long they heard several people chatting on the road in front of them.

"What luck." Exclaimed Ric, which it was for the sun was setting and the air was cooling down.

The voices soon turned out to belong to a group who lived in a caravan and were parked by the road side because of a wheel that had come off.

Jack was about to speak but Ailith hushed him.

"Let me do the talking." She said.

"Do you need any help?" Ailith shouted.

The group of three people looked up.

"Maybe, who are you?" Asked a woman with a thick ascent.

"We are traveling from Chelmsford in England to Paris and are looking for passage. You?" Asked Ailith.

"Englanders, huh. You can give us a hand if you want but we can't promise you lot a ride." A man said with a gray beard.

Ric helped stabilize the caravan and Jack helped them with the wheel while Nelly stood with her arms crossed watching.

"Where were, you heading before your wheel came off?" Asked Jack.

"North, to the ice hills in Scotland, we're ice importers. But from the looks of it we will need our wheel repaired. We will take you guys to Paris." The man said.

"What are your names?" He asked extending a hand.

Nameswere traded between the group, the old man was called Bailee, Lee for short,the woman that first spoke was called Babette who was the doughtier of Lee andthe man with a big black beard was named Barbe.