Getting up was a struggle, hundreds of little aches and pains trying to weight him back down.

There was still sunlight peering around the edges of the steel shutters.

A small readout showed the temp 82F. The date 3/21/2074 and the time 4:41PM. (AN: 82F is between 27 and 28C if I remember right.)

Seemed unreasonably hot for March, in California especially by the coast. Maybe that's normal for here and now.

I wanted the brush my teeth really badly, argh. I'll have to remember to grab some toiletries and other necessities later.

I tried a quick cast of regrowth which while helping with the soreness didn't do a thing to fight plaque.

I tried scrubbing my teeth with a clean hand towel, it wasn't perfect but it did cut the fuzzy feeling on my teeth down. (AN: Props if you've ever done this in a pinch.)

I checked out, and told Rosita that I'd stay again sometime.

She said a bunch, I was sorry I didn't understand a word of it.

When we got to the car Scuff reported nothing happened on his watch.

I drove around just taking in parts of the city. I avoided going too far south. Sinnamin had warned me about Pacifica and Dogtown.

I decide to fill up at a CHOOH2 station setup like a convenience store. The Burning Grass, a chain store it seemed.

They were open and had already active turrets hanging from the pump area awning. I pulled in and a bot came and pumped the fuel.

The bot seemed like an evolution of the Boston Dynamics line. It should also be noted that the bot was armed.

Scuff and Fix were scanning everything they could while staying attached to the car.

I got out and walked over to the sales shack.

I get a Cirrus Cola and a burrito. The Bot behind the counter took my bills. Once the pumping was done it gave me back my change.

Blanching a little at the prices, I figured I was going to have to get used to it.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The cola was meh and the burrito was aggressively mediocre. A mass of almost tasteless mush. Still beat Buck A Slice.

Next it was time to head to a weapon store get a holster rig for my Omaha, get some range practice and buy some freaking armor.

They were everywhere.

At the Reach Out and Touch Someone Shop, I got a nice new armored vest and layered an armored trench coat over it. Not too heavy, but the clerk said it should stop most rounds that I'd meet on the streets. I also purchased a nice gun belt and holster with a couple of hours of range time.

[Adjusting...]

[ Militech Trench Coat with Bullet Resistant Triweave

Armor: 3 ]

[ Norco Armored Vest with Polycarbonate Plating

Armor: 4 ]

Whew that was fun, blasting away targets. I even got to try the moving target trial. I didn't do so great, but I did gain a little something.

[ Firearms skill has increased to Rank 2 ]

It was around 8:30PM when I left and the night was young. I was down to $10,456 with my earlier purchases.

As I left the range I saw a man across the street by what I would have said was an abandoned building. Nothing usual except he was wearing a holographic mask.

According to Sinnamin he should be a Scav. Like the 'Strom they were bad folks that like to cut people up and take their bits.

Also like Maelstrom they wouldn't be missed. In fact, she made clearing out Scavs sound like a public service.

With the dark so returned the Probes' stealth. I had Fix track him back to his source.

Scuff and I followed more leisurely with the car. Turned out that the Probes could keep track of each from quite a distance.

This was a great time for testing, if we lose the Scav we aren't set back at all.

Later Fix had back tracked to us. He had the location of the base.

It was in a very rundown area, urban blight incarnate.

I saw my first living rat of this world, a twisted thing. I threw a regrowth on it out of pity, it died immediately. That raised all kinds of questions.

The stench of this zone was pervasive and nauseating. The few people still outside were homeless and feral looking or moving at a brisk pace to get out of here.

The building in question was tall maybe thirty stories, though half of it was looked like it had been recently bombed. Rubble mixed freely with the ubiquitous trash piles.

The plan was simple the Probes go in, kill the strongest or best equipped Scavs first as quickly and quietly as possible and then drive them towards the entry where I will shoot them has them come out.

I ducked into a recess in the rubble hoping I wouldn't be spotted at least at first.

Scuff and Fix vanished into the building. Several minutes later I started hearing the sound of combat coming from above.

I had started to sweat even though it was getting chilly.

People started to run out of the building but none of them had a mask so I let them go, I didn't want to "zero" a non-Scav by mistake.

Then my first customer of the night showed up. Never even noticed me as I took careful aim and drilled him right through the temple.

Some of the other folks, who were trying to figure out what was going on, screamed and scattered further away.

Two more Scavs came out. They saw their comrade. When crouched down over him, I thought they were trying to help him.

They were stealing his weapon, chip and money. My eyes narrowed and I put a bullet in each of them.

Scum.

After another ten minutes the sounds of fighting in the building had stopped.

The Probes beeped from the upper windows getting my attention. They seemed excited.

I waved up at them in acknowledgement and I stripped everything off the three corpses down here. and threw it all into the trunk.

I'd sort it later.

Time to see what the Probes had found.