The four of us had agreed. Though only the expression of myself and the helpful veteran seemed to have any confidence. I knew it wasn't confidence on our face though.

It was the feeling of letting go. We had both accepted our fate. We had cast off most of our fear. We had decided we had nothing to lose.

Most of all we had a burning hate. The other two men as well. I believe it was the only reason they were not begging for life or hiding and weeping.

The nobles had always been awful. In just about every way. They used rats like dogs. But this noble had found a special place in our heart. A place filled with acidic hatred. This man had used us COMPLETELY. To the very last drop, and then planned on disposing of us. Murdering us.

We quickly moved over to one of the elevator doors and begun prying them open. The outer doors were easy, but the inner set of doors was a much harder task. We used blades and a survival ax one of the other men had to wedge the doors open.

A black abyss greeted us. The bottom of the shaft could not be seen at all. We stood for a second peering into the dark before all of us started setting our bags down and pulling out ropes. It was one of the common sense items every scavenger brings. You never know when a good rope might save your life.

The ropes were thin but strong. It was made from the hide of core beasts. Tied together they would reach a pretty amazing length.

The rope was tied on the metal leg of the desk. The desk was built right into the ground with metal legs making a perfect place to tie off.

Two of the other men had glow moss vials of their own. The other man had smashed his on accident during the trip. I pitied the man.

We all came to a stop at the door and paused looking at each other. The pause seemed to last a few seconds before I realized what was happening. We were all wondering who was going to go first. No one wanted to go first....

All eyes seemed to eventually fall on me. I understood the meaning completely. It was my idea, I should go first. I breathed in one large breath and exhaled a small stinging cough that sent the taste of blood into my mouth. I fought down the urge to cough more and stepped up to the rope.

I wrapped my hands with the cloth of one of my spare shirts and pushed out and into the dark shaft.

I managed to secure the vial with a piece of tape to my jacket. The light was half covered but it was still effective.

I wrapped the rope around one leg and pinched it with the other so I was gripping the rope with the strength of my legs as well.

I descended like that at a somewhat quick pace, looking around the large shaft as I went. There seemed to be no other doors for the first 50 meters. I began to worry about the length of the rope.

When I began to see doors I felt relief. I wanted to go as deep as possible but if the rope was not long enough to reach any doors I would have to climb back up. I doubted I could do it. And at most I would be climbing back up to face a pissed off noble armed to the teeth.

At about 75 meters the rope came to an end. A large knot was tied to the end of the rope warning me of that. I gripped the rope around my legs and arms bringing myself to a halt. One door perfectly aligned with my stop. I decided to call the choice fate and stood on the edge of the door's frame. It was an uncomfortable and small place to stand when considering what kind of drop may lay below.

I hollered the all clear and swung the rope like a whip to show I was safely off the rope.

I quickly forgot the rope, took my blade and wrenched at the seam of the door. It was amazingly hard to insert the blade into the edge and even begin to pry the doors apart. I could tell my "sword" was complete junk by now.

By the time the second man arrived, I had the doors open 3 or 4 centimeters. He quickly signaled the all clear to those above and joined in the task of opening the doors. With a second person, we got the task done quickly.

We stepped into the middle a surprisingly well-preserved corridor. The most surprising sight was the dim lights running along the ceiling. They still worked. The corridor wasn't exactly brightly lit, but it was not dark. The base still had power!

This was an amazing find. Who knows what was still in operational condition in this facility.

I hated it. It would do me no good. The nobles would profit off from this. If I failed to kill this asshole noble chasing me he would be the noble to profit off from this.

The third man came through the door wheezing and coughing. As we waited for the fourth man we looked around the empty corridor like idiots.

The fourth man's screams descended from the shaft, quickly gaining volume before just as quickly sounding like they came from below and losing their volume in a gradual way.

I was stunned for a second before I realized what happened. The noble had caught up. The rope had been cut.

The door was checked and there was no rope hanging in the corridor confirming my suspicion.

A part of me had hoped the noble would be too cowardly to follow on foot into this bunker. A part of me was happy he wasn't a coward. Maybe I was already delirious.

We decided a direction at random and began moving at an almost shambling jog. The corridor led into a massive room full of desks and chairs. Most of the desks were separated into cube-like shapes by thin chest tall barriers. There was no clutter. No debris or scattered items.

Most of the chairs were neatly put behind every desk. Those that were not, seemed to be lazily pushed out and left in place. Besides the dust in the air, it looked as if some people could simply walk out of the shadows and start going on with their day. The effect was chilling.

I asked "Here?" While we caught a breath.

I looked at the two men with me. They clutched their sides and heaved heavily. Both of them looked like the walking dead. Gashes and bruises mottled their skin along with some rashes on their forearms and face.

The corners of their mouths were starting to peel and bleed. Blood trickled through their teeth as the tried to fight coughs. They looked weak and dying.

The veteran seemed to be looking at me with concern in his eyes as he answered between some light wheezes.

"As good a place as any I guess."

I nodded my head and tried standing straight from my heaving for air, bent over posture. The weakness that came over me in the attempt nearly had me on the floor.

I steadied myself and licked my lips. In the corner of my mouth I could feel the peeling skin and taste some blood. I realized I was probably in as bad if not worse shape than the other two men.

The veteran's look of worry made sense to me now. I was a somewhat skinny pale man to begin with. I probably looked like a walking corpse at the moment.

"We hide behind desks and attack when he is in the middle of the rooms."

The veteran's plan was simple. We were not exactly commandos. It did have the element of surprise, which would have to be good enough.

Stolen novel; please report.

"You sure he's going to come to the center?"

The other man made a good point.

We had to attack him from all sides. We outnumbered him. We had to use that advantage it was the only advantage we had.

I cursed myself for not buying a gun. It would have been useless against core beasts but may be useful now. A gun, however, cost 20 to 40 silver depending. That's a month of medicine for mother.

I thought about her again. I found myself thinking about her more and more as I got closer to death. I hated that I couldn't be there for her. I was about to die. And soon she would too. The medicine would run out eventually. The thought tore my heart open. A Deep sadness overwhelmed me in that moment.

For a while, even though I had signed on to the scavengers, I had hope. I hoped I could survive. I hoped I could finish my contract and return to taking care of my mother.

Hope was a powerful drug.

I seethed with rage at those who had led me here. Those damn knights who used us, but most of all that damn noble.

"Hey, kid. You there?"

I looked up at the words to find the veteran snapping his fingers in my face. He looked troubled. I realized I hadn't even been paying attention.

"Yeah. Sorry. I'm here."

I shook my head and gave the man a hard look and then a nod. He nodded back.

"Good. Now that you're with us, listen. You don't have a gun. Just that chunk of long metal. Hide towards the center but further back. Make some noise to draw him in and hide. When he's in the middle we will begin to shoot. Try and jump him with the chunk of metal you got there in the chaos."

He looked at me to make sure I got the plan.

I thought about the plan. It's was awful... for me.

If I drew the attention of the noble he was more likely to simply blast me away along with anything close to me. Even if he didn't... I looked down at my blade. It was junk. I looked at my arm. It looked thin and at the moment pathetically weak.

If I took this role I was getting the shit role of this entire impromptu ambush.

I looked at the two men as they looked at me. I could see it. In their eyes. Hope. Hope and a guilty apology.

Fuck it. Let's not ruin it for them. Let them cling to hope.

I smiled and shook my head lightly with a chuckle. It wouldn't matter anyway.

"Sure."

I said it with a big smile. I'm pretty sure the looks the two men gave me indicated they thought I was going insane. I didn't explain myself. I'm sure it wouldn't have made them laugh anyway.

We didn't talk any more. We simply moved to our positions. I was almost center of the room leaning against a desk. The veteran with his shotgun was center-left and the other scavenger with a rifle was on the right, way towards the back. As far away from the way the noble would come from as could be. I cursed his coward nature, but let it go.

When we found our spots and settled in everything became very quiet. I could faintly hear the wheezing of the veteran. I hoped he could control it when the time came.

We waited. And waited. It honestly felt like forever. I wondered how much time had actually passed.

Then we heard the boot steps. A soft thunk, thunk, thunk. It sounded like a cautious pace. I thought about the best time to make a noise. I decided it didn't really matter that much.

I picked up a book next to my head and tossed it against an office chair on wheels across the path and between desks.

The book collided with the backrest and forced it to both roll and spin. It collided wheel first with the edge of a desk and tipped over. It felt deafeningly loud to me.

In the next second things in my general area started bursting into pieces or have holes ripped through them at an astonishing rate while loud snap, snap, snap, snap sounds cracked out like a storm.

I sat completely motionless. I simply watched and beheld the sight. Sitting like a drunk man leaning against the desk, I watched the terrible scene like a child watching fireworks. It seemed beautiful to me. I smiled like an idiot.

When the snapping sounds stopped and the show ended I checked myself. I didn't feel any pain. No pinch. No burn. I felt fine. I looked my chest over and saw a hole bursting out of my jacket right below my armpit.

I put my finger in the hole and wiggled it around. It was astonishing. The round had gone clean through without hitting me at all.

I smiled in a way I thought would say not bad and nodded my head.

An idea struck me at that moment. Not knowing if it was a good idea or not I simply acted. I choked out a word.

"Fuck"

I let out a hoarse groan and began coughing and sputtering. I made some flopping motions and hit a few things around me. I played it to the hilt. It was almost a game to me.

Boot steps soon came closer and closer. I wondered when the two scavengers would start shooting. For a second I wondered if they would shoot at all.

When the bang bang bang of the rifle started echoing and blasting around the room I smiled.

The snap, snap, snap, of whatever terrifying gun the noble had started up nearly instantly, but I began to hear the bang bang bang of another weapon. It was a deeper bang.

I knew it was the veterans shotgun and sprang out of cover. I charged forward in a pathetic, radiation poison and rage-fueled sprint.

When I laid eyes on the noble he seemed to be rocking back against a divider. The veteran was standing 5 meters from him slamming round after round of his shotgun into the nobles chest plate.

I continued running forward and watched as the veteran emptied his ammo and started clicking at the trigger.

The noble put one hand out to steady himself from toppling over, raised his rifle and began filling the veteran with holes. The veteran seemed to melt away under the rapid fire of the assault rifle.

I put the picture from my mind, pointed the tip of my sword at the nobles neck and continued my charge.

I must have been silent or very fast because he didn't see me coming. The blade struck him right in the throat. Because of my poor skill and weakness, I simply bowled right into the noble while following the path of my kamikaze strike.

The blade didn't seem to sink in at all as I hoped. The pommel of the sword struck me in the hip as we both tumbled to the ground.

I rolled over and tried bringing my blade back up to strike.

In the tumble and mess of both of us sprawled out I couldn't quite get the sword in a position to strike.

Before I could find a way to strike properly the noble swore and began coughing while he grabbed my arm holding the sword and with the other arm grabbed me by the neck.

Fighting him felt like fighting a gorilla. I stood no chance against his strength, especially half dead as I was. He quickly overpowered me and took top position.

With a shake of his arm, he forced my hand to release the blade. The blade, if it could even be called that, sailed off into the distance. I watched it depart with sadness.

Straddling my midsection he began to rain blows down upon my face.

"Fucking piece of shit. Die die die."

The noble screamed like a lunatic as he pummeled my face. I did my best to protect my head, but I was like a weak child before him. My arms felt like noodles.

As I began to see spots in my vision and my arms started drooping I heard the bang bang bang of a clunky old semi-automatic rifle.

The noble reared back and flung his arms out to protect himself. He released pained grunts here and there. In my delirious half-conscious state, I watched as he reached over to his assault rifle pick it up and begin shooting back.

I realized we were fucked from the beginning. We couldn't even pierce his personal body armor.

His gear is light years ahead of ours. Fuck. If only...

And then I saw it. On his belt. Within perfect view, as the man straddled me and fired in nearly the same stance as when he pummeled the crap out of me. His backup weapon. A somewhat feminine handgun. Very futuristic looking. Very LETHAL looking.

By the time my last compatriot was blown away, I had slowly reached up, unslotted the pistol from the holster and pointed it directly in his faceplate.

When he looked down with a smirk of victory for blowing away what he thought was the last real threat to himself his face froze in confusion and terror.

I didn't say any words. I did not smirk. I just pulled the trigger. Again and again and again. Over and over until no more snaps sounded out and the kick of recoil stopped.

I watched as the noble toppled back with a smashed visor and a pulpy, bloody mess where his face once resided.

I simply lay there and took the feeling in as I stared at the ceiling with the gun still outstretched.

The noble flopped back and rolled to the side a bit. His legs still covered mine. I didn't care.

I simply lay there. I soaked in the silence. I didn't seem to feel any pain. Just an unrelenting feeling of being tired.

I decided here would be the place I die. The gun fell from my limp fingers and both my arms flopped to the sides. I sucked in a blessed moldy breath of air and smiled.

I felt the end coming. I only had to wait.

So I waited.

I thought back on my life. I thought about mother. I thought about everything I had lost.

They say there is a heaven. When we die we go there. I never believed. But at this moment....

I was so out of it I didn't notice the humming until it was well into the room. It was lyrical. It sounded like a cheerful young boy humming a tune. It also sounded oddly mechanical. It cut off with a startled cry.

"Deary me, what's happened here?! Such a mess!"

I heard the sudden movement of something large that moved closer. I had the illusion of many legs in my head.

Before I could summon the strength to lift my head or try to sit up the moving "person" stopped next to me.

A long snake-like appendage soon swayed over me and fixed itself in a position less than 6 inches from my face. It seemed to end in a bulb-like crystal covering. I realized it was a small camera as the thing spoke again.

"A person!! Amazing. Amazing!! Amazing!!"

The appendage seemed to wriggle about in glee as a child like voice started to celebrate. The mechanical tone in the voice made the sound creepy.

It quickly mastered it's enthusiasm and pointed the camera appendage at me again.

"This is such a delight! I haven't had a testing candidate in such a long time! What luck!!! I knew today was my lucky day!"

As IT finished saying that I felt something grip my ankle with metal pinchers and lots of power.

Soon I was being dragged through the remains of the ambush. My head bumped and skid across the now debris filled room.

My vision began to blur and turn to darkness. In my final moment of consciousness I heard it say one more thing in a voice filled with glee.

"I'm going to name you Buddy!"