"Not yet." Alina said. "But I was really, really tempted."
"If you want them to suffer, just leave them to the radiation. It's still expanding and will soon cover Oregon."
"But I won't get to watch them suffer." She said, dissapointed.
"Leaving them to their own devices is just as fun. We can come back again in a year and see how they're faring."
"But they deserve to burn for what they did to Ruby!" She exclaimed. "How can I let their bad deeds go unpunished?"
"Their punishment will be their demise." Salem said darkly. "And their deaths will be deaths of agony and torment."
Alina looked at him, shocked. This was a side to him she had never seen. Salem was internally shocked, too. He never knew he had a side to him that thirsted for revenge.
"Alright I won't burn the whole town." She said, sighing in defeat. "When do you think that Ruby will wake up?"
"Probably in the morning." Salem said, placing three trackers on her clothing. "I'm going to sleep."
Alina laid out her bag next to his. "Shouldn't we give Ruby a bag?" She asked pointedly.
"Oh s**t, right." Salem made another bag for Ruby and bundled her up in it.
Placing her on the opposite side of Alina, he got back into his bag and promptly fell asleep.
....
The next morning, Salem awoke surprised. Alina had really meant that she wasn't going to burn down Oregon.
'Now I feel guilty for doubting her.' He thought ruefully as he went to check on Ruby.
Salem conducted a check-up on her. Halfway through, she abruptly opened her eyes and sat up.
"Where am I?" She demanded. "Who are you?"
Then her eyes focused and she immediately relaxed. "Salem." She said, relieved. "What happened?"
"Alina and I carried you out of the wasteland. We found you dying on the ground after visiting Oregon." Salem said. "Why did they cast you out?"
"I managed to class up into a sword mage." She said, huffing in annoyance. "They saw my sword spells and called me a witch. They blamed the wasteland on me and I didn't want to hurt the very people you saved so I left."
"Why don't you sound mad?" Salem asked curiously.
"Oh it's just mob mentality. When someone takes an aggressive stance and manages to convince one other person of it, it spreads like wildfire."
"That does make sense." Salem replied, his overall faith in humanity dropping by a lot.
"How did you heal me?"
"Prussian blue."
"What?"
"You heard me. Prussian blue."
"What is that?"
"Its a compound that binds to irradiated metals and radiactive metals in your blood, allowing your body to flush it out. And you're not fully healed yet. You still have excess radioactive particles stuck to your skin."
"Is that why I'm naked?" She looked down at her body, making no attempt to cover herself up or hide herself from Salem.
"Yes. You also need to take a bath to get rid of the last remaining radiation."
"Would you like to take that bath with me?" Ruby asked just when Alina woke up.