Its cold.. if I don't keep my focus my hands would start shaking.. that in itself is a problem.. my weapon, a rifle made out of parts I found after a few days of searching in a dump trail.. they're really a wasteful bunch, those city folk. I close my eyes for a moment to regain my focus as I lower my head to look through the scope of my rifle. In my sights is a group of around 6 or so people.. probably the red ribbon gang. The truck they're driving around has a decent looking machine gun mounted ontop of it.. im envious.. I wonder where they got that. Raided a supply drop maybe..?

I go to adjust my rifle a bit to the left, a few meters from the incoming Ribbon gang is what the ruins of a high way, the large pieces of rubble lying around everywhere gives perfect cover for an ambush.. oh. Speaking of ambushes, theres one right now.. one.. two.. three… Five people? They only have what looks like two rifles and the rest only have blades and blunt weapons.. they look thin too.. well, thinner than the average looter I mean.. They must be desperate. Challenging a gang who're equipped with a truck and a machine gun, while they only have two rifles.. should I go help..? No. Why should I. If by chance they succeed in the ambush then they'll probably lose most of their members.. after that I can just pick them off with my rifle and grab the loot for myself..

I take my time in standing up, pulling off the tarp that covered me from the falling snow, with a small nudge, the snow that piled up ontop of me quietly fell off. I grab my bag and rifle and start slowly climbing down the building I was camping in. Most of the buildings surrounding it have already been reduced to ruble god knows how many years ago so it gave me a clear view of any visitors heading towards me.

A few minutes later I start hearing gun shots, they must have started fighting.. I hasten my steps towards the location of the ambush with my rifle at hand, being careful not to set off any of the traps I've set within the rubble surrounding the building.

As I near the ruins of the highway I hear an unexpected explosion… They had explosives? They must have been really desperate if they used it now.. That sound will attract unwanted attention in no time.

I start to walk faster and within two minutes I see the aftermath of the battle, most of the truck has been destroyed by the explosion but lucky the cargo that it was carrying was relatively safe with only a bit of its contents leaking out… Nutrient packages huh? That amount will last me for a quite a while, how lucky.

I slowly raise my rifle as I approach the battlefield, I see the corpses of five members of the ribbon gang inside the wreckage of the truck.. so that means one survived? I start looking around more and see two corpses laying ontop of a pile of bricks, one held a rifle and wore tattered clothes, a machete lodged into his head, while the other corpse was the missing ribbon gang member, seems like he got shot a few times after killing one of the ambushers.. good for him.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

As I draw closer to the destroyed truck I find the rest of the ambushers, one looked like he was ruthlessly ran over while another had numerous bullet holes littering his body.. probably tried to act as bait to lure the truck into stopping but the ribbon gang didnt fall for it.. they use the same trick afterall.. a few feet away from the two corpses was a man and a woman, the man.. or should I say the remains of a man was being held by the woman with both of her arms, the corpse had a large shard of metal lodged into his chest, the metal shard probably came from the truck that exploded.. after all it was made out of scrap and was shoddily constructed, you cant compare it to cars made pre apocalypse which were factory made with good material. If scrap cars blow up, its like a giant frag grenade , shrapnel would fly every where, the dude must have been down on his luck to have been hit by a large piece.. I quickly turn my body and start walking towards the two..

I didnt try to conceal my steps but the woman still completely ignored me, she kept on hugging the mans corpse and crying at the top of her lungs.. well thats what you get for fighting unprepared. Since she was just ignoring me I assume she went mad from emotional shock or something and bend over to pick up the relatively undamaged rifle on the ground next to her.

As I start walking towards the nutrient packs I hear a sudden shout coming from the woman behind me.

“DON'T TOUCH THAT! That's ours! W-We worked for that!”

She suddenly start to stand up, a sword made out of scrap in her hands as she ran towards me, snot and tears covering her face. I take pause for a moment, thinking that she might reconsider her attack but as she drew closer the less options I had . I quickly raise my trusty rifle and aim it at her leg

BANG!

With the gun shot the woman drops face first into the snow covered ground, a bullet hole on her leg. Even with that injury she continued to crawl towards me, muttering something about her husband and their home… Crazy woman, just stay down..

I start to ignore her and head towards the box of nutrient packs, placing my bag down next to it I start to stuff as much as I could inside, the ones that couldnt fit were stuffed inside my jackets large pockets. After I finish collecting the food , the woman crawling on the ground finally reaches a distance where I could hear her crazy muttering.

“Thats.. ours! I'll kill you! Y-You killed him!”

By now she had made a trail of blood on the snow, not only will the sound of explosions attract bandits near the area, the smell of blood will attract the mutated beasts at night as well. If I left her here she'd either be taken by the bandits and… used. Or be eaten alive by the mutated beasts.. with a bit of hesitation I slowly lift my rifle, aiming it at her head. As I see the crazed look in the womans eyes I could tell that it was too late, before I pulled the trigger I offer a short prayer as thanks for the food, as well as a form of apology.. I hope that in your next life, you'll be as far away from this wretched wasteland as possible...

BANG!