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producing, Kate adjusting her skirt slightly, “Mind if I
turn the radio on?” I shrugged, “No, go ahead.” She pushed a button
near the centre console, a small screen lit up on her side of the
dashboard and she began to sweep her fingers on it, she tapped it
twice and a voice began blasting out of the speakers around me
causing me to veer around slightly, “Sorry, sorry!” Kate turned it
down and changed the station until a pop song began to beat around
the car. I desperately tried to blink the stars out of my eyes.
    A few buildings started to come
into view. “You ever been here before?” I shook my head, partly as
an answer, partly as a vision enhancer, the stars had started
fading away, “What’s it like?” She smiled, “It’s pretty quiet, not
a lot to do, but it’s good to get out once in a while.” full
hearing and vision had been restored, “So what will we be doing?”
she pointed down a road which led to the coast and then into the
city, “Getting dinner, watch a movie. Oh, also you have a new bank
account, the card and code will be in your wallet, I really hope
you brought your wallet.” I took one of my hands off the wheel and
began patting myself down, and there it was, right where I left it.
I slid my hand into my jacket's pocket and pulled my wallet out. It
was old and made of brown dyed leather, I’d gotten it in Germany
shortly after the war. I shook it slightly and put it back in my
pocket. Houses began to become more frequent and before long we
were deep in the heart of the city. There were a few cars on the
streets and the even fewer people were scuttling to the nearest
open door, “If you want to pull up along here we can go find a
place to eat.” I nodded and parked between a green hatchback and a
brown 4wd, took the keys out and popped my door which resulted in
my face being hit by a breeze so cold it burnt, it quickly
dissipated and I stepped out into the street.
    I heard the car door behind me
close and I turned to face Kate and smiled, a gesture which was
promptly returned, “Which way?” she seemed to shrink into her
jacket, digging her hands deep into her pockets, “Umm, if we go
left there’s a few Asian restaurants and a hot dog stand, aaand to
our right we’ve got a fish and chip shop. Your choice.” I juggled
the options, a restaurant would be classy and nice, but the fish
and chip place would have burgers. Big juicy burgers, Kate tilted
her head to her right, “Fish and chips has meat, and a pinball
machine.” A massive smile played across my face, this person is
cool, I like this one, “Let’s go then.” We made our way down the
street, in silence for a moment, which just felt wrong, “So, what
were you doing before you came here, I’ve read you’re file, but a
lot of what was written seemed to be hear-say.” I pushed my hands
further into my pockets in an attempt to stop them from freezing
off, unfortunately the cold had seemed to have pierced the very
fabric of my clothes, “Most recently I was a bartender at a small
place in Brisbane. Before that I fought and sustained myself on the
spoils of war, which, as it turns out, is highly profitable. The
first war I was in was also the war when I was changed, the
American Revolutionary War. It was 1776, I fought with the British
and I had taken a shot to my left lung which led to me promptly
bleeding out. But someone found me, he turned me, took care of me,
we wandered around for a while before he finally killed himself, he
was a good man... if you look at the big picture. After he passed I
went back to the war and fought until the final days. When the war
was over I took an extended holiday, I decided to truly live, I
spent the majority of my time in London, but also travelled to
Italy, France, and several more times to the States. I soon became
bored and began to study everything, learn every possible skill
that was out there, it was a wondrous time. That’s all I did for
many, many years.”
    We took a turn