As the scav team made their way through the maze of utility tunnels, Bokep found himself standing on what looked like a platform for a public transit station. It was made of white tile and had several florescent lights along its ceiling. On one side of the platform, there was an illuminated tunnel with a series of tracks running along it. The other side appeared to have a similar track, but it was not illuminated.
“Didn’t think there were any working lights left this far down…”, Bokep said, his voice echoing across the empty walls.
“This station is pretty shallow, but you’re right. There isn’t much functional electrical infrastructure left in the under-city, but what you’re looking at now is the one of the last safe lanes of travel in Lost Angels.”, Ellie said, looking further down the tunnel as it began to move around a bend.
“Yeah, Scav Town managed to negotiate an agreement between the three Super-States.”, Samantha said, moving from behind Bokep up to beside him.
“In exchange for accepting and facilitating the completion of their contract by scavs like us, Scav Town stays out of the line of fire, and the four cardinal trade routes stay open.”, She continued.
“So what, does everyone just agree not to shoot each other? Seems like a good way to get robbed if someone doesn’t play nice.”, Bokep replied, sitting his rifle over his shoulder.
“No. They send out guards to patrol the routes and escort caravans as they travel to and from their walls. Not saying there is never any fighting, but must people understand that its better to get along than to not, especially when the alternative is making enemies with the only nation-state not preoccupied with a world war.”, Samantha said.
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“Well when you put it like that, I suppose it makes sense…”, Bokep said, peering down the other end of the tunnel as a light began to come into view.
“Speaking of guards, there’re ours.”, Ellie said, adjusting her kit.
As the light came closer, Bokep could make out a series of figures. As they grew closer, Bokep could make out their arms and faces. There were four men and one woman. Each by and large had a similar kit; one AK with basic modifications, a mix of brown and Euruskan military clothing in its traditional digital camouflage and helmets with an outline of a diamond in bright neon green painted on the front. After some brief introductions, the group began their trek down the tunnel and towards Scav Town.
Some while later, they made one final turn and found themselves in a long straight away. The one set of tracks began to branch off into four sets of rail lines as the narrow tunnel widened into a much wider room. Bokep presumed that because of these branching rail lines, that Scav Town started as a metro or train depot and slowly grew in size, engulfing the levels and complexes around it to create the pseudo metropolis that it was today.
As they approached, Bokep saw that the exterior walls were made up of a thick concrete base and a mix of further concrete and sheet metal walls and firing positions. From what he could guess from his limited knowledge of train-based logistics, Scav Town had four major points of access. Each of the four cardinal trade routes, north, south, east, and west had similar fortifications and stationed garrisons.
After going through customs, they four were handed back their equipment and the guards left to return to their posts. Moving from the security checkpoint onto the street proper, Bokep was amazed by what he saw. This wasn’t a shanty town of makeshift houses and makeshift tents. This was a fully developed and built city. His mind began to race with all the logistical implications that building such a large place would entail, but he chalked it up to the treaty and a very large amount of contracts as to how the material was sourced. Between that and the large amount of people coming to and from Scav Town, it wouldn’t be too hard to convince a few scavs to work for three warm meals and the only real safety they would likely ever know.