David Robbins - The Kalispell Run

“Well be ready for them when they come,” Geronimo vowed.

“Yeah.” Blade glanced at Hickok. “Plato likes the idea of an alliance with the Moles, if it can be arranged. We still must travel to the Twin Cities again and bring back those people who want to join us.” He paused, reflecting. “At the rate we’re going, we could end up with a genuine confederation on our hands.”

“Wouldn’t the Watchers be surprised!” Geronimo deduced.

“All these folks backing our play is well and good,” Hickok declared, “but when it gets right down to it, the only ones I really trust to protect the Family, the only ones we can completely rely on, are the Warriors.”

“That’s why we’re here.” Geronimo grinned. “The safest, most boring occupation anyone could ask for.”

Blade, his arms folded across his massive chest, nodded. “Reminds me of something we read in one of the books in the library when we were kids.

How did it go? Oh, yes. All for one and one for all.”

“You got it, pard,” Hickok said, walking to the doorway and standing next to Blade. He nodded at Rikki. “I’ll come visit you again tomorrow,” he pledged.

“I heard about your new… companion,” Rikki stated. “Why don’t you bring her along? I’d like to meet her.”

“Will do.” Hickok stepped outside onto the front steps.

“Going somewhere?” Blade casually inquired.

“You better believe it,” Hickok replied. “I have some serious kissin’ to attend to, and my lips are rarin’ to go.”

“Need any help?” Geronimo offered, and the others laughed.

Hickok faced them, perched on the threshold, affectionately gazing at his three closest friends, and patted his Colts. “Thanks for wanting to help, but I can handle this mission by my lonesome. It’ll be a piece of cake. If I run into a mutate, though, I’ll be sure and give a yell.”

“If you bump into a mutate in the dark,” Geronimo quipped, “the poor thing would probably die of fright.”

Hickok, grinning, turned, inhaling the cool night air. He strolled toward the joyous gathering, reflecting. All for one, and one for all. It would make a dandy motto for the Warriors. He recalled another saying, a phrase imprinted on a wooden plaque hanging on one of the walls in his parents’ cabin when he was a child, and for the first time he experienced a real appreciation for the words and their meaning.

There’s no place like Home.