ALBA

by HL TRUSLOVE

  Sleep for the evening – Turn to 24.6.

  * * *

  Go through their supplies when everyone is asleep – Turn to 24.7.

  * * *

  Poison them when they’re asleep and steal as much as you can – Turn to 24.12, Needs Chemistry OR Medicine.

  24.3

  You move around the circle until you’re sitting near the old woman, her good eye watching as you come towards her. She takes a long draw on her pipe and puffs out the smoke in little rings. It’s quite impressive. She laughs when she sees your amazement.

  “You don’t come from around here, do you?” she asks. Her voice is old and croaky. She reminds you of Vola, back in the vault, and maybe that’s why you find yourself opening up to her.

  “No. I don’t.”

  “You’ve come from far away. I can see it in your eyes.”

  You’re not sure how true that is, but she’s not wrong; you have travelled pretty far to get here.

  “So,” she says, stretching her old legs out to get them a little bit warmer by the fire, “are you going to tell me your story?”

  Tell her about your journey – Turn to 24.8.

  * * *

  Don’t tell her anything – Turn to 24.9.

  24.4

  You make your way past the roaring fire, a couple of caravaners watching you suspiciously as you go, and approach the gaggle of giggling children who only titter more as you approach. There are three of them, all around six years old, huddled around a game board. When you’re actually close enough to speak to them they all look suddenly skittish and wide-eyed, as if the fact that you might want to have a conversation never crossed their minds.

  “That looks fun,” you say, pointing to the board. One of them nods and scuffs his foot on the ground, which seems to have become a lot more interesting to look at now that you’re standing in front of them.

  Take a closer look – Turn to 24.10, Needs Game Knowledge.

  * * *

  Ask how to play – Turn to 24.11.

  24.5

  You scoot over to the man who welcomed you to the group. His face lights up as you come closer, swallowing his mouthful of food so he’s able to talk.

  “How are you finding the food, my friend?”

  “Very good,” you admit; it is. Wherever they got the ingredients for the soup, they were clearly fresh because it tastes amazing – rich and full of flavour.

  “I’m glad, I’m glad! There’s an upside to being a caravaner, you know.”

  He winks at you and you find yourself smiling. He has an easy kindness about him, this man.

  “So, how does your caravan work?” you ask, genuinely interested to find out a little more. The man gestures over his shoulder with his spoon.

  “Mostly we pick up purchases from one of the bigger cities inland and run them towards the smaller ones by the coast. We try and do a trip a month.”

  “What about raiders?” you ask. He grits his teeth, as if you’ve brought up a painful subject.

  “Yes, they’re always a problem. The only thing we have on our side is speed. Can’t be robbed if you’re not caught.”

  “That’s very brave.”

  “Well, you do what you have to to survive out here, eh?” He pokes his soup around in his bowl pensively. “We’re headed back inland for the moment. We got quite the haul this time. Say…” He stands up and heads over towards one of the caravans, beckoning you to follow. “You know much about pre-war stuff? I know it’s a long shot, but we picked up some things nobody can identify.”

  Investigate the strange tub of powder – Turn to 24.13, Needs Chemistry.

  * * *

  Investigate the book in old language – Turn to 24.14, Needs Old World Language.

  * * *

  Investigate the odd-looking box – Turn to 24.15, Needs Knowledge.

  * * *

  Ask to trade with what’s in your pack – Turn to 24.16.

  * * *

  Ask to sleep – Turn to 24.6.

  24.6

  You make it known to the group that you’re tired and ready for bed. Nobody seems particularly bothered. You clamber into your tent, set up not too far from the rest of the group, and put your head down.

  You can hear people talking outside. It’s comforting, honestly, to know that you have people surrounding you. Every night you’ve had to camp out alone has made you nervous.

  There’s no telling what might come to get you if you don’t have someone else to look out. Raiders sneaking up and slicing your throat before they rob you. Wild animals attacking your tent and catching you unawares.

  Of course, neither of those things have happened.

  Yet.

  You snuggle down into your sleeping bag and let the quiet murmur of people’s conversations lull you to sleep.

  The next morning, you awake to more chatter and the smell of even more food cooking. You stretch yourself and make your body come to life before poking your head out of your tent. The man who greeted you yesterday smiles at you and offers you a bowl – pretty similar to what you ate last night.

  “We’ll be heading on our way in about an hour, which is where we’ll have to part ways with you. Where are you heading to, traveller?”

  “I’m trying to find my group. We were separated in the storm a while back.”

  How long ago was the storm? You really don’t remember. It seems you’ve been searching for them for years.

  “Well, there’s a church in the city. They might be there. A lot of people head there when they aren’t sure what else to do. Or maybe the library? It’s a good place to get information.”

  “Maybe,” you say, fidgeting with your bowl. You don’t really have much of an idea. They might be places your people went but if they aren’t, aren’t you just wasting more time?

  “Have you got a map?”

  You pass it to the man and he scribbles a few notes on it.

  “I’ve marked them for you, plus a couple of places to avoid. I hope you find your way, traveller.”

  Those are the last proper words you’re given before the caravan packs off and ships out. Nobody seems to want to talk to you much more except to vaguely wish you goodbye or good luck. You watch them leave back on their journey to trade more and hope they have good luck. Honestly, in this place, you think they’ll probably need it even more than you do.

  END.

  Add The Library (Chapter 17, L.17), The Church (Chapter 14, L.14), The Streets (Chapter 28, L.28), The Radio Tower (Chapter 25, L.25), and The Battlefield (Chapter 26, L.26) to map.

  Add a Red Circle (F.27) to map around Locations 26 and 28.

  Add a Green Circle (F.28) to map around Locations 14, 17 and 25.

  24.7

  You lie down in your sleeping bag and wait. It takes ages for the conversations to die down and people to head off to bed. The most irritating thing is the fact that you can’t hear exactly what they’re saying, their mumbling is so low, so you can’t even entertain yourself by eavesdropping.

  Time goes by slowly, but eventually you’re sure nobody else is speaking, straining your ears against the silence of the night to make sure the sniffles you can hear are definitely snoring. Then you slowly, slowly unzip your tent and climb out.

  There are a few other canvas tents. You can hear loud breathing coming from them, but some members of the caravan have decided to sleep under the stars. That’s annoying. You’ll have to be extra quiet to avoid waking them.

  You tiptoe over to one of the caravans and part the tarpaulin over it. It’s all crates and barrels. Damn. You try the next one over, moving your feet as softly on the ground as you can so as not to wake any sleepers. The plastic rustles obnoxiously loud and you grimace. There’s a rolled-up piece of written-on paper lying free, which you sneak into your pocket, but everything else is tied down, you’d need to cut the rope to—

  “What are you doing?”

  The voice is loud enough to command your attention, but not so loud it wakes the others. Y
ou turn to see the man who greeted you sitting bolt upright from his sleeping bag, staring at you with narrowed, unfriendly eyes.

  You open your mouth to reply, but he cuts you off. It’s a pretty damning situation.

  “I think it’s best if you leave now. Before I make you.”

  The man lifts up his pillow, and underneath you see a huge knife. You take the hint, returning to your tent and quickly and quietly collapsing it. His eyes don’t leave you until you’re done, when he uses his blade to gesture for you to leave.

  You pick up your pack and head back into the black night. You don’t risk going back.

  END.

  Add Scavenger Map (F.24) to your notebook.

  Add Instability to your character sheet.

  Add The Library (Chapter 17, L.17), The Church (Chapter 14, L.14), The Streets (Chapter 28, L.28), and The Battlefield (Chapter 26, L.26) to map.

  24.8

  “It’s a long story,” you confess.

  “I have time to listen,” she replies, continuing to puff.

  So you tell her. The story comes easily, starting when you sailed with Gaia and Viktor, a wry smile on your face as you describe them both. Docking and meeting the group. Going for your first assignment. Being separated from everyone and left alone.

  With such a small group, it doesn’t take much time for everyone’s attention to be on you. Even the rambunctious children stop their roughhousing to sit down and listen. Your tale goes on, uninterrupted, until you get to the point where you found yourself at the caravans. It’s a bit of a poor ending, but it’s as far as you’ve got. You sip the soup but find that it’s cold.

  “That’s a harrowing story, friend,” says the man who greeted you. You shrug.

  “It’s been tiring. But, you do what you have to.”

  “If you’re looking for people, have you tried the radio tower?” he asks. You shake your head and he asks for your map, scribbling something on it for you.

  “You might be able to track them down from there. It still works.”

  “Really?”

  “Aye, from what I’ve heard. I hope you find your group.”

  You stare at the map long after everyone has retired for the night. A lead, finally. You can barely wait to get going in the morning, but you also understand the luxury of sleeping around other people isn’t one you’re likely to have again any time soon, so you force yourself to sleep, listening to the crackling of the fire as you drift off into dreams. Tomorrow, you know which way to head.

  END.

  Add The Radio Tower (Chapter 25, L.25) to map.

  24.9

  You open your mouth to speak but find yourself clacking it shut again. What would you say? Talk about the heartbreak of losing the only people you had in this land? The violence from the run-ins with raiders? The horrors you’ve had to endure since being all alone?

  It’s not something you want to dwell on, and it’s definitely not something you want to share.

  The old woman looks a bit disappointed when you clam up instead of speaking, but she seems to understand. She shuffles so she’s facing the fire and keeps on puffing her pipe in silence, knowingly.

  Turn to 24.2.

  24.10

  When one of the children scuffs their foot on the ground, you get a better look at the game and are surprised to recognise the brightly coloured glass pieces scattered around it in the grass.

  “I know this game!” you say, pointing. They follow your finger to where you’re gesturing at the ground and look surprised.

  “Do you... want to play?” one of them asks, their cheeks bright red in their shyness. You nod and sit down with the children.

  They play against you, one by one, thoroughly trouncing you each time and lording their victory over you in a way only little children can get away with. You take it in good spirit, though, and the adults in the group watch on, clearly glad to have someone help distract the children for a little while. You play for an hour or so, until they’re called to bed by their parents, and when they complain and ask to stay up for just a little bit longer you eke out another few games. Eventually, though, the children get tired and are corralled off to their beds for the night.

  You’re thanked for keeping them entertained, but you feel like you don’t really need to be. It was a nice way to while away the evening.

  Add Compassion to your character sheet.

  * * *

  Turn to 24.6.

  24.11

  You sit down with the children round the game and ask them how to play. They try to explain as best they can, but they are only children, and it’s incredibly apparent how young they are when they try to explain. Their words are garbled and confusing, and when you try to make a move they keep telling you you’re doing it wrong. It seems to make them frustrated.

  “Can’t we just play tag?” one of them asks, her voice stretching out and whining. You give in and let them chase you around the camp for the evening, letting them win to appease them. However, the adults in the camp don’t seem to appreciate it, sighing and side-eyeing every time a child runs screaming past them.

  Eventually, the children tire out for the evening and are called off to bed, but the amount of adrenaline in them means they don’t go down easily for the night and the adults’ stink-eye looks start being trained on you.

  You try not to make eye contact with any of the adults. Maybe, playing tag right before bedtime wasn’t actually the best idea.

  Turn to 24.6.

  24.12

  You lie in your tent for a little while, until you’re sure that everyone around you is asleep. The only noises they make are the stuttered breaths in their snores. You grab what you need from your pack and sneak out of your tent.

  Maybe it’s a bit harsh, but honestly, these people are of more use to you dead than alive. Without them to argue, it will be far easier to pilfer their belongings.

  While some of the caravaners sleep in hastily erected canvas tents, others chose to lie in sleeping bags under the stars – you’re going to have to be quiet. You thought ahead and removed your shoes, but it’s still difficult to sneak through rows of sleeping people.

  You make your way to the pot that’s been left over the fire after dinner. It’s been cleaned but kept ready for the next day’s meal, you guess. You’re counting on it. You reach into your pocket and pull out the vial you slipped out of your pack and quietly deposit its contents inside.

  Someone snores loudly behind you and makes you jump, but a quick check reveals that nobody is awake to see what you’ve done. Feeling relieved, you go back to your tent and bunker down for the evening.

  You wake the next morning to… silence. There’s the occasional bird call, but no human chatter. You lie down for a moment, making sure there’s nothing else to be heard, before you poke your head out of the tent.

  Everyone is dead.

  Bodies litter the ground. Spilled bowls of food are clutched in some people’s hands, dropped when they started to choke and die. Not a single person was spared.

  You walk into the daylight and stretch before inspecting what’s been done. Nobody seems to be breathing. Every person you met yesterday lies scattered gruesomely on the ground around you.

  You get dressed, and get to work.

  A lot of what they were transporting isn’t incredibly helpful to you. Crates full of copper piping. Sheets of plastic and fabric. They have some fresh vegetables which you squirrel away, but other than that? You’re really not sure they’re carrying anything useful or valuable.

  You perch on the side of a cart and sigh. If you’d known that before, you might not have done what you did. It seems a shame. Still, can’t change it now, you suppose.

  Out the corner of your eye, you spot a rolled-up piece of paper. You take the scroll and unroll it.

  It’s a map, with little notations around the local area. It’s better than nothing, you suppose. You copy the notes onto your own map before packing up your tent and leaving the site.

&nbs
p; Maybe someone else will find the other things more useful.

  END.

  Add Cruelty to your character sheet.

  Add High Quality Rations (O.6) to your inventory.

  Add The Library (Chapter 17, L.17), The Church (Chapter 14, L.14), The Streets (Chapter 28, L.28), and The Battlefield (Chapter 26, L.26) to map.

  24.13

  You pick up the tub and turn it over in your hands. There’s definitely something inside, you can feel it tumbling about. You twist the cap off, straining a little bit because of how stiff it is, and inspect the inside.

  The tub is full of loose powder, a soft peach colour. You stick a finger into it and rub it against your thumb. The bigger clumps fall apart into dust.

  “Any ideas?” asks the man.

  “A couple,” you reply, reaching into your pack for your chemistry set. Once you’ve confirmed the pH balance you hand it back to him.