by HL TRUSLOVE
“What do you want?”
No time for pleasantries, you suppose. They clearly want you to cut straight to the point.
But then again, what is it you actually want to say? You wish you’d planned this better as you were approaching. Now you’re met with at least seven icy stares and nothing to say.
Ask what they’re looking for – Turn to 27.9.
* * *
Ask if you can search the bodies – Turn to 27.10.
* * *
Tell them they’re being disrespectful to the dead – Turn to 27.11, Needs Compassion >/=3.
27.5
The note is scribbled and difficult to read. You have to hold it close to your face and try to make out each word individually before you can string them all into a sentence.
It seems it’s a warning about a nearby raider base. You read it over again, but surprisingly it doesn’t seem to be about either of the sides that were in the battle that day. It’s a warning about a different group, one whose leader is exceedingly dangerous, and only to deal with her if it’s a last resort.
You consider these words. It’s almost like they were written for you. The longer you spend in this place, the more it feels like anything might be your last resort, any way to find your group. You wonder if you’ll pay this base a visit.
You leave before the scavengers take too much notice of you. It’s best to keep this to yourself.
END.
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27.6
You crack open the little cylinder in your hands. It’s brittle now, roughed up during the fight, and puts up little resistance to your firm tugs. Powder spills onto the ground in a little heap. You touch it and bring some up to your eyes on your fingertip.
And then you realise it’s some sort of gunpowder.
This is a bomb.
You’d panic, but clearly the device is dead. There’s no harm to be had from it now, except maybe from cutting your finger along its jagged edge.
Then the thought occurs to you: this device is dead, but that isn’t to say that there aren’t other ones scattered around the field. Other ones that are live.
Leave now – Turn to 27.12.
* * *
Look for more bombs and try to disarm them – Turn to 27.13.
27.7
You call out to the scavengers who all stare at you, clearly irritated that their work has been interrupted. They seem guarded as you approach – though they don’t seem to have any weapons, you see them square up as if ready to fight. You raise your hands in the universal sign that you don’t mean trouble.
“I was just wondering if you could tell me what these are?” you ask them.
A younger woman steps forward and brushes her wild brown hair from her eyes so she can look at the items you’re presenting before she turns back to her group and mutters something at them. The oldest woman there, probably the leader, nods to her and she turns back to you.
“All right. But it’ll cost you.”
It’s not like you have much on you, but you suppose you could offer what you have, if you’re that bothered.
Leave – Turn to 27.12.
* * *
Offer an item from your pack – Turn to 27.14.
* * *
Offer to help with anything they can’t identify – Turn to 27.15, Needs Knowledge.
27.8
At the very least, these people deserve to have their bodies treated with respect. They might not have been good people when they were alive, but they were still people.
You tuck your hands under the armpits of the nearest body and pull it to lie next to another. In an ideal world, you’d carry them, but in death the bodies are heavy and difficult to move, so this will have to do for now. You lay the raider down and close their eyes so they look a little more peaceful before moving on to the next one.
The work is long and gruelling. There are dozens of corpses splayed on the battlefield, and getting them all together takes time. You notice out of the corner of your eye the scavengers are watching you work. You don’t have time to justify yourself to them, so you just keep going.
Then, something strange happens. The next time you look up, a couple of the more able-bodied scavengers have joined in, hefting bodies between them and bringing them to where the others lie. One of the scavengers catches your eye and nods as if he understands why you’re doing what you’re doing.
It takes you until the evening to gather all the bodies. They still cover quite a large area, but at least the rest of the field is clean and they look at peace, laid out with their eyes shut. You say a prayer to whatever gods are listening in this old land and hope something like this doesn’t happen again – but you know it will.
The man from before comes to stand next to you. You look over the sea of death in silence before you ask, “Should we burn them?”
He shakes his head. “No, it might attract attention from one of the raider groups round here.”
“But won’t they know it’s a funeral pyre?”
“Oh, not either of them. One of the other ones. A couple of miles east, there’s another warlord. She’s trouble. You don’t want to let her know you’re here.”
You nod, taking in that information. Another warlord doesn’t sound particularly safe, but then again anywhere could be a good source of information about your group at this point. You make a mental note as the two of you stand for a bit longer before going your separate ways. The bodies lie still in the setting sun.
END.
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27.9
“Anything of value,” the woman spits back. She doesn’t seem to want to disclose what, exactly, that applies to. Then again, she doesn’t have any real reason to trust you.
The awkward, silent staring continues. One of the group shifts as if he’s incredibly uncomfortable with the whole thing. You understand why.
Ask if you can look through the bodies – Turn to 27.10.
* * *
Leave – Turn to 27.12.
27.10
The woman with the grey hair isn’t happy about your question, you can tell from the way her wrinkled mouth twists into a thin line. She shrugs.
“I can’t stop you any more than you can stop us. Check anything you want.”
You guess she’s probably more open to the idea because they’ve investigated most of the bodies already. Still, you thank her and head away, towards the bodies on the other side of the field, ready to start looking for valuables.
Turn to 27.2.
27.11
“What are you doing?” you shout. The scavengers look up at you. One of them is holding a corpse by its armpits as the others rifle through whatever pockets there are.
“What does it look like?” snaps the oldest member of the group, a woman with matted grey hair.
“It looks like you’re disrespecting the dead. What right do you have to go through their things?”
The woman throws her head back and laughs, revealing a mouth full of yellow, rotting teeth.
“As you said, they’re dead. Why does it matter?”
“Because they were people once! Living, breathing people. And now you’re acting like they’re just treasure chests!”
“They were raiders.”
“Raiders are still people!”
You don’t seem to be making much headway with this woman, but a couple of her lackeys are looking uncomfortable, avoiding your gaze. You sigh. You can’t stop them from doing anything, but hopefully you made a couple of them think about their actions.
“Fuck off before I come over there and make you fuck off.”
You take her warning, turning to leave. You get about two minutes away before you hear footsteps coming after you. You brace yourself for an attack and spin round only to see one of the guilty-looking scavengers approaching you cautiously.
; “Look. We do what we have to do to survive,” he tells you. It’s odd he came all this way just to justify himself. Perhaps your words really got to him.
“That doesn’t make it right,” you reply. He sighs and nods.
“No. Just… look, there are people a lot worse than us, all right?”
“Like raiders?”
“Well…” it’s clear that’s what he means but doesn’t say it. He sighs. “Be careful when you go, all right? There’s a raider base a couple of miles east of here. The people there… well, let’s just say if you meet them, you’ll see why we’re the good guys.”
He leaves before you can reply.
END.
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27.12
It’s time to leave, you think. Seeing the battlefield was bad enough the first time. You don’t want to hang around and look at all the dried blood you saw when it was fresh, spraying from open wounds and dying victims.
As you take your leave, you hear words on the wind. The scavengers are talking about another raider base, east of here, one that had no alignment in this fight… but wouldn’t take too kindly to finding anyone rummaging through raider pockets. Likely because they’d want the loot, you think. You tuck the information away. At this point, anything is worth an investigation. Even if it is dangerous.
END.
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27.13
You take your time thoroughly searching all of the bodies, even the ones you’ve already gone through. You don’t want to risk missing any bombs. Even just one that’s left could go off at any time, and could cause an explosion big enough to cause damage to anyone nearby. You don’t want to run that risk.
The scavengers watch you, clearly taking an interest in your hurried work. They can tell you’re looking for something. At long last one of them comes over to you and stares until you look up at him.
“What?” you snap, not in the mood to justify your actions.
“What are you looking for?” His voice holds genuine curiosity. You sigh and hold up the broken bomb.
“See this? This was a bomb. I’m checking to make sure there aren’t any more.”
His face blanches and he shouts back to his group. They all seem to be as surprised as he was and start going back to check old bodies.
“If you find any, bring them to me,” you tell him. He nods and scampers off to join in the work.
Only two more bombs are brought to you – luckily, they’re both duds. You can dispose of them safely but the young man still thanks you heartily.
“You don’t need to thank me,” you tell him. “I just want to try and make this place safe.”
“Well, it’s still a good idea to get rid of all this either way. In case the raiders find them.”
“Why, do you think they’ll come back?”
“Oh, not these guys,” the scavenger scoffs, “the other ones. They’re a couple of miles east. Really vicious bastards. Not the kind of people you want to meet on a dark night. Or any time of day, really.”
You nod but store that information away. Dangerous they may be, but they might have seen your group. It might not be a terrible idea to see what they know.
You leave once all the bombs are safely disposed of. Your work here is done. You feel proud that a few less lives are endangered because of you.
END.
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27.14
The scavengers speak amongst themselves once again before the leader sniffs “all right.”
You hand her the items you found and she looks them over, squinting at the note and rattling the canister against her ear.
“This is a note warning about the raider base to the east. Probably right. They’re a bunch of vicious bastards over that way.”
She screws the note up and drops it to the ground before pocketing the canister.
“And what was the other thing?”
“It’s of no importance to you, outsider.”
Ah, she’s noticed your badge. The hostility in the air seems to be growing by the second.
“Now I think it’s time you leave, before we have a problem.”
Frustrated but unable to do anything you turn on your heel and leave the area. You hear the laughs of the scavengers in the breeze. Your fists clench so tightly you leave little crescents in your palm from your nails. At least she didn’t take anything.
END.
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27.15
The woman gives you the once over, then nods.
“All right outsider. You have yourself a deal.”
You’re led over to where the scavengers have divided their loot into a few piles. The woman points at the smallest one, and you begin to pick through it.
There are a lot of old world relics here. It’s surprising; seems like people carry more trinkets around with them than you thought. You hold up each item to the scavengers and explain what they are – this is a necklace with a clover on, so probably a good luck charm, these look like empty ammunition shells – and they nod and take them from you to file away. By the time you’re done, the woman in charge looks impressed.
“You know your stuff,” she says. You shrug.
“I’ve done research.”
“I can tell. Right, let’s see what’s stumping you, then.”
You pass her the note and the little canister. She squints at the former and rattles the latter against her ear.
“This is a note, warning about the raider base to the east. Probably right. They’re a bunch of vicious bastards over that way.”
She goes to hand you the note but you wave it away, not needing to take it now that you know what it says. She crumples it up and drops it to the floor.
“This used to be a bomb, but it’s broken now. Useless, too.”
She throws it onto the pile you guess is for garbage. You thank her for her help and she nods.
“You know, you could come with us. Could always use another expert around.”
“I can’t, I have to find my own people. But thank you.”
“Suit yourself,” she says, and the two of you part amicably. You smile as you leave. All things considered, that went quite well.
At least it didn’t end in violence.
END.
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Chapter 28
The Streets
28.1
To say the streets are grim is an understatement. You knew the outside of the city was in bad shape, but what you were told couldn’t really have prepared you for what’s in front of you.
Everything is ruined.
The concrete beneath your feet is shattered to pieces and marred with weeds, pushing their way through the dark grey. Buildings have fallen to piles of rubble, and though they aren’t really suitable for living, you can still see people moving around inside their broken husks. A couple of times, you think you catch someone’s eye in what’s left of a house before they skitter away. Probably worried that you’ll pose some sort of threat. Not wanting to cause anyone any unnecessary worry, you shove your hands in your pockets and keep your head down.
People pass you on the street. Despite its dire appearance, it seems a lot of people still live in this area of the city. All of them are as skittish as the residents in the houses, though, giving you a wide berth when they recognise you as an outsider.
It’s sad to see people living in such fear. Maybe there’s a strong raider presence around here, and it’s easier to just keep your head down.
It’s annoying. It would be handy to speak freely with the people around here; maybe they’d have an idea of where your group had got to. But every time you look at someone, they act li
ke you’re going to try to stab them rather than speak to them.
Attempt to approach someone – Turn to 28.2.
* * *
Keep walking – Turn to 28.3.
* * *
Study the surrounding buildings – Turn to 28.4, Needs Knowledge.
28.2
You spy a man walking along on his own. Like you he has his hands in his pockets and his gaze glued to the weeds beneath his feet. His eyes go wide with fear as he sees you approach him, and he stops dead. You slow a few feet in front of him to try to show that you don’t mean him any harm.
“Wh-what do you want?” he asks, unable to control the tremble in his voice.