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Chapter One
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Woeville, even the name gave an idea of what the general temperament of the community was like, was a lawless place that meant that you had to be on your guard at all times. Haruo gazed out at the community with a taciturn gaze before turning to head down into their make-shift underground bunker. Somehow, he’d come across a sheriff’s detachment and they’d managed to break into the armory – now loaded for bear with two M4s .226 LR and two Desert Eagles .50s, they knew that they would be able to defend themselves. Two teenagers in the middle of the desert were easy pickings, if unarmed, less so now since they’d managed to find themselves weapons.
“Promise me that you’re not going to do like Molly…” Haruo had told River who’d shaken her head at the thought. “We’re in this together.” He left unspoken the words that stated clearly that he wouldn’t be able to survive this on his own. It was then and there that their pact was sealed – she was his, he was hers and nothing would ever separate the two of them and that pact had grown into a bond of love. That was seventeen and nineteen. It took another two years before they stumbled across Woeville.
Then it was another year of staking out a claim on a stretch of uninhabited land...and building a place where they could call home, digging out the foundation of what would be a place that they could take refuge and from there they would build it up into a defensible position, to be guarded by them and by their ensuing heirs.
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“I don’t like the fact that our food-stocks were raided.” Haruo was frustrated. Now twenty-two, he’d been hardened by the fact that they’d had to eke out a survival on their own from such a young age. He didn’t trust easily and the fact that someone would make off with their food invited retaliation. This was a lawless community and the advantages were for those who had numbers and strength.
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“I know…” River replied, “Those were the last of our resources and we were short to begin with.”
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“It has to be one of the others...they know what we’re doing and they want our land. I’m not letting them have it.”
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"Honey, we don't want to start a war over it...we only have so much ammo to do anything with."
Haruo turned to look at his de facto wife who gazed back at him in concern; they’d gone through too much together to be anything else but a couple, “I don’t want them thinking that they can walk all over us and get away with it.” a prophetic announcement that bode ill for whomever had purloined their food-stocks. He and River had managed through hard-toiling over the past year to make a life for themselves and to give themselves a fighting chance. He’d learned a lot, from reloading his cartridges after hunting, to making his own gunpowder and caps. Here, as in the Wild West, there was a price for stealing. They hung cattle rustlers and thieves back during the 1880s. Now it was the 90s post-apocalypse and life was back at that era of gunfighting and eye for an eye. Except that now there were automatic weapons and sniper rifles. That made this Second Wild West even more dangerous than before. And Haruo was prepared to make those who didn’t know right from wrong suffer the consequences of their actions.
“Just don’t make your vendettas cost us our lives…” River told him. Not only were there the two humans, but there was Hunter and Loki.
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“We need to restock our food which means we’re going to have to go out and pick stuff from the gardens.” Haruo stated. River knew that meant that they both had to go out. One to pick, one to stand watch to warn of any intruders. You couldn’t drop your guard for one second while out of the bunker or you could get jumped by any number of assailants. River took the M-4...
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...and Haruo put on a leg holster with a Beretta M9 in easy reach and then they headed up to the surface.
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The desert had its own set of problems that came along with it, snakes, spiders,,centipedes, scorpions. beaded lizards, etc, could all make your life a living nightmare if you weren’t a fan.
Haruo and River did not walk side by side they walked in tandem covering both sides of the street for better fields of fire. They knew, all too well, from anecdotal evidence from Haruo’s fascination with military books that too many soldiers died from not having clear fields of fire. Your muzzle of your weapon had to have at least one hundred eighty degrees of covering fire and ready to cover anyone who was approaching them on the street. You did not want to hit a friendly body within that range so each started their one hundred eighty degrees of fire-coverage from the center-line in the road or an approximation since Woeville had no paved roads.
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Even children were held in suspicion while out. River and Haruo held everyone else in suspicion. A child could have an explosive device or a weapon hidden on her person so River’s eyes never wavered from an approaching person while on their walk up to the “community garden”.
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It would sound horrific to someone but these years had hardened the both of them. If there were threats in the area, they were neutralized and age or attractiveness had nothing to do with it. The lesson of daily survival was a harsh taskmaster in these unforgiving lands and either one grew callous or one died through one of the many ways, by the hand of nature or man.
Mother Nature was quick to seize upon the opportunity to eradicate those that she figured were doing her harm or from sheer malice.
(to be continued)...
