I had internally debated it on the walk, but by the end, I settled on giving the .45 and all of the ammo for it to Joe. I nearly decided on switching from the .38 to the .45, but when I noticed the engraved ‘D’ above the grip of the .38, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Even at the cost of firepower. I had forgotten about getting the engraving for Duck.
I rubbed my thumb over the engraved ‘D’ and took in the sight below. There was a dusty asphalt road, repaved sometime in the last dozen or so years, that stretched from the uphill perch at the mouth of the valley. The road disappeared into another set of hills before the 101 and the coast. On this side of the far hills, to either side of the road, were vineyards nearly as far as I could see, and I could see far. It was insane how clear the air was now that there weren’t constant vehicles. They were also tall as shit. It was almost a fucking jungle down there.
“Well Cap? Get a move on, you can’t come back if you don’t leave.”
I grinned and gave Joe a lazy salute. He returned it and disappeared into the undergrowth. Thank God I was out of there. My nerves were more than a little frazzled by the fact that Joe had stopped me from certain, trap-based-death, no less than 6 times on our way out. And that was after he had told me ‘stay close and you’ll be alright’. I had stayed close.
I had forgotten to tell Joe that I’d be sending ‘good people’ to their town, but Lena would tell him, right? Maybe I’d just tell them to wait before entering the forest. That reminded me.
“Display List of Possessed Qualities.” I found it near the bottom.
Salt of the Earth:
First impressions are important and you can tell, upon meeting someone, or shortly thereafter, whether or not someone would be a good fit for the town of Ontiveros. You also have the innate ability to locate salt, wherever it may be.