\\___Scav; Episode Ten___/
As Bokep exited the infirmary, he founding himself in a small community. There were buildings and people, and guards all in and amongst each other. He thought he heard laughter as well as he took it all in.
“This is Reservoir, home to fourty-seven people.”, The woman said turning around to face Bokep. She was leaning on a handrail which had been welded to a steel catwalk. There were several catwalks which connected the buildings, giving just enough space for people to walk in ranks of two.
“Wow… this, this is amazing. You all survived out here on your own for all this time…”, Bokep said in shock. The hab-plex he lived in was provided for by the Euruskan government. In exchange for labor, they were given food and shelter. Most of Euruska operated like that he imagined.
“This is nothing, just wait till you see the falls.”, She said motioning for Bokep to once again follow her.
She led him along the catwalks until they reached a sort of defensive wall with overlooked the main entrace to the settlement. Above it was another gargantuan sized tunnel that was flowing with water. It looked like the waterfalls that Bokep’s parents had shown him photos of.
“We built this place in an old sewage tunnel. Below us, about a-dozen levels down is the water purification plant which was meant to supply that entire hab you were fighting over up there. We managed to get into the control room of the sewage pathing center and divert the flow of water to the other tunnel so we could build here, but the plant itself is under guard by the Europans, there’s no way we’d be getting in there.”, She said, yelling over the sound of the rushing water.
“Regardless, we have all the water we need. We have our own small purifier that gives us enough to live on and some extra to trade with the other settlements.”, She continued.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“There’s more settlements?”, Bokep asked surprised. He was astonished that they survived down here, much less several groups this size.
“Yeah, we’re one of the small ones.”, She said taking him down stairs into an open cooking area.
“This is Samuel, he’s from the big city, Scav Town”, she said patting the old man on the shoulder.
“There’s over a-hundred people there. We have a trade network to deliver messages, troop movements, exchange supplies, and employ mercenaries when we go surface-side. But lately, things have been getting tougher. With you and your Euruskan pals showing up and starting the fighting back up here, we’ve been seeing a lot more patrols, a lot more macros, and a lot more death on all sides.”, She said with a stern, serious face.
“So what do you want me to do?”, Asked Bokep.
“I want you to become a Scav, not just a civilian, a true Scavenger. You’ve had rifle training, by the rank I saw on your uniform and the uplink you had, you clearly know what you’re doing. More than that, we need to know how Euruskans think. You may have been fighting Europans, but we run into mostly our guys. We don’t want the fight, just the scrap so if we can use your know how to avoid them, there’s a lot more loot in it for us, and a lot less risk too.”, She said pointing at Bokep’s Russian Lieutenant insignia.
“Why do you trust me?”, Bokep asked point blank. He was the enemy and she was willing to trust him with all their lives? He doubted it.
“I don’t.”, came the reply.
“But, I know that we are more likely to die without you than with you. Besides, if you try something, there’s more of us than you.”, She said with a light laugh.
Bokep sighed. He wanted to beleive in what they were telling him. The whole idea of helping civies sounded good, but he didn’t know if he wanted to risk his neck for strangers…. Then again if he did, there was food and shelter in it for him….
“Deal.”, he said putting out his hand.
“Samantha”, She said shaking it.
“What?”, Bokep said confused.
“Samantha, my names Samantha.”, She repeated.
“Now come on, let’s get you introduced to the crew.”, She said taking him to another building.