((For whatever reason... the creative part of my brain works best late at night. I caught the bug about 20 minutes ago and just finished.))
I can hear them bouncing off the wall behind me. There isn't much left to it but it will hold long enough. Just need to catch my breath. Forgotten how big this city was. Sure, there were endless hiding places but their sweeps never stopped so you can never settle. The last 3 months had him see more of his home city than the 23 years prior. Once, before the blast, this had been one of the worst slums. No one came here willingly. Not even the cops.
This was home for the next 30 seconds while his body rested and his mind raced through a series of mental maps, trying to find a route that wouldn't get him fragged six ways from sunday. It was bad enough in the beginning, but there were cults that popped up. Whether they had spiked the punch with too much drano or didn't get their hug quota filled as a child, it turned them against their own people. Spies in the ranks. Spies who would bring the combat parties down on your group. They moved like pro soldiers in the vids he used to watch as a kid. Fast, effective, choosing their targets wisely and maximizing their take. Sometimes they could grab the entire enclave without a single casualty. The days and nights of running will wear down even the most staunch fighter so that, eventually, capture is a joyful release from the fear. What more is there to fear when you know exactly what is about to happen.
Possession. Persuasion. Or just ending up as the next course on the nightly meal.
He gave up on the groups long ago. It seemed everyone with a bit of will and desire had tried to form their own "army" out here. There were two that had amassed quite an arsenal and were now fortified in their respective areas. It was the closest thing to safety in this place... that is, if you agree to their laws. You're no better off... you're still a prisoner in the city.
So I keep running. There is no way they will let this go on. It's too dangerous to the city as a whole to let this go unchecked.
Damnit. I have been repeating that for two months now. At first it helped to calm the survivors he came across. Now... now it sounded empty and he could see in their eyes they knew it. There was no escape. So many had tried but the wall locked everything out. Tom had the idea of making a swim for it but... fuck, what happened to him was unbearable to think on.
There were shouts and curses coming from up the street. Likely it was a hunting group trying to figure out if they got me. I pop the magazine and check... 11 shots left in this one, two more full mags on his belt. He could probably take this group out, but it would be a waste. These morons were firing blind, wasting ammo. When the gunfight finally ended, they probably wouldn't have anything left for him to scavenge. Best to make a run for it. Scatters said to check around 79th and Pulaski at sundown. The light coming through the holes in the wall now had a red hue to it. Maybe an hour till sundown. Scatters would have astrally scoped the area to make sure it was clean. If it was, they had a sleeping hole for a few hours before it all started again.
Not much time. Pushing off from the wall and darting through the crumbled remains of an office building, he could keep a low profile and the setting sun would be in their eyes. 5 blocks later he didn't hear any gunfire. Lady "luck" was a cruel bitch. She trapped him in this hellhole but kept letting him get out of nasty predicaments like that. It was a race to sundown. To his right was the remains of Midway Airport, shelled and bombed to make sure nothing could get out. One mile to the rendevous.
Near the airport, someone had spray painted over a sign that had been there for decades.... "Welcome to Bug City."
They had to do something soon... dear god, let them do something soon.