I am eating breakfast, it appears to be some kind of rice, but has no taste, and the water though I think is pure tastes old and musty. I guess you get what you pay for, still!
Today, I will set out back to the old town, and will begin my search for new items to trade and use. The way I see it, I have nothing to lose now, and so if it costs me my life, if that happens while trying to improve things, then so be it.
'Don't look like you have much going for ya.' Someone says, making me jump. It is the old woman who met me at the door before. She is standing in the doorway of my shack, looking at me. I must appear to be a mess, straggly hair, unshaven, not clean, and clearly starving.
I look up at her, and I think my eyes say it all.
'I've seen it afore, new people come here, struggle to cope, and it gets the better of them. Sooner or later they die, one way or another.'
I look on despondently. 'The woman I became friends with, she took all of my stash, caps, food, water, guns, everything. I'm back to square one.' I explained, realising my predicament for the first time.
The woman rubs her chin, smiles briefly. 'Yeah, that gal, she was a difficult one. Not long here, a bit troubled. Sad to say, those like her, victims of the slave trade, they go through it and are never the same again. Never trust anyone, and it's no surprise she skipped out, they just take and run and hide.'
Her words confirmed what I already knew, but didn't help me much.
'I guess I'm going to have to try again, and see if my luck is any better. Alone this time.' I say, looking now firmly at her.
'You go out and live, or you lay down and die. People will either cross you or help you, but outside of family you never really know people, never forget that.'
Her words were kind, because she took the time to come and speak to me.I admired her for that. She wasn't offering me any kind of charity, just a nod that it affected us all, this kind of world.
'Folks round here don't have much, but if you're truly desperate, they will help.'
I nod to her. I appreciate what she is saying, and regardless of what Judy has done, it reaffirms my feeling that this really is my home.
I smile, and she turns and walks away.
I think I do have something to lose now, and so I shall be careful. I grab my gun, the little ammo I have, and the axe. Off I go to see if I can find something worthwhile, something that will lift my spirits, if not change my life.
*
This is the first time it has rained since I came out of the vault. It kind of stings my skin a little, as I walk down this rubble path towards the town again. I am soaked, head to toe, but I don't mind, because it has warmed up a little. The guards cautioned me not to drink water from the rain, still contaminated. Sometimes I think we live in a contaminated world!
Up ahead I can see the first buildings. I keep thinking any moment I am going to see Judy, stood there, waiting for me. At the back of my mind I think over and over again that if something bad happens to me, she will come running and grab my arm, and help me. Experience tells me that will not happen.
The skies are murky grey, filled with a blanket of rain, and it is hard to see ahead. Rivers of water wash away down the hills, it is raining so intensely, I wonder if perhaps I will see Noah in his Ark float past!
The dark red brick of the high buildings has changed with the rain, much darker now, and steam seems to be pouring off them, as if the water is hitting hot rock. Sometimes it's hard to accept I am still on planet Earth.
I decide to leave out the first building, the one I went into with her... Maybe go back to that one day. Next up appears to have been some kind of diner. I doubt I will be served any hot food there today, but I might find something useful. It is a long oblong shaped place, single story, with rows of tables and chairs, and a counter along one side. The windows I am looking through are all long since gone, and some of the metalwork has rusted, but generally it appears intact. Maybe I can open a business?!
All the while, here, I keep a cautious lookout for any of those huge creatures that attacked us before. I hope there are none left, but I suspect the world is full of them
I go through what was once a doorway, and walk across the ravaged tile floorway. There is an old fridge here, a metal one. I open it, and a truly foul stench pours out, horrible. There are packages of what may have once been food, but has now descended into some kind of gloup. Several tins are in there though, old I guess, but not opened. I grab a few of those, and place them on the counter. I realize, she also took that little backpack I had, need a new one, something.
She really did take it all, let me with hardly a thing.
Something pings off a wall near me, and I look around to see what it is. Again, another pinging sound, and this time a piece of wall flakes off. A thought flares up in my mind, they are bullets, pinging off the walls, aimed at me!
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