ALBA

by HL TRUSLOVE

  You’re taking a moment to right yourself with the world when you see a shadow rising from the horizon. This world just seems intent on not letting you have a moment to breathe.

  Add Cruelty to your character sheet.

  Add Deer Skin (O.14) and Fresh Meat (O.24) to your inventory.

  * * *

  Look to the horizon – Turn to 21.8.

  * * *

  Look to the horizon – Turn to 21.8a, Needs The Balloon.

  * * *

  Look to the horizon – Turn to 21.8b, Needs Balloon Sabotage.

  21.10

  With shaking hands, you set the little kerosene lamp up in the corner of your tent and light it. The warmth of the small flame illuminates your surroundings. It isn’t much, but it makes you feel a lot braver when you have enough light to see what’s going on. Spurred on, you quickly poke your head out of your tent to check your surroundings.

  A bird flies off in surprise. You laugh, relaxing. It was just a bird! Not someone trying to sneak up and attack you. Your own paranoia makes you feel a bit silly, but nonetheless you find you’re able to get to sleep easily after making sure the coast is clear. You wake up the next morning refreshed and ready to keep moving.

  Leaving the forest, you find the air clear and fresh. Surveying the area you see a small trail of caravans not too far in the distance. Confident from a good night’s rest you set off towards them.

  END.

  If you so choose, Remove Instability from your character sheet once.

  Add The Caravans (Chapter 24, L.24) to map.

  * * *

  Go to The Caravans (Chapter 24).

  21.11

  You don’t sleep that night. In fact, in the small hours of the morning, you give up trying to get any rest at all. Instead you pack up your tent in the moonlight and leave the forest to keep moving.

  When you get to the open fields, you see smoke rising in the distance and the telltale red glow of a fire. That’s a sign of people, you think. Safety in numbers. Bleary eyed and heavy footed, you head towards it, jumping every time you hear a noise.

  You get the feeling it’s going to be a long night.

  END.

  Add Instability to your character sheet.

  Add The Battlefield (Chapter 26, L.26) to map.

  * * *

  Go to The Battlefield (Chapter 26).

  21.12

  Keeping the balloon in sight at all times, you try to call on the knowledge you brought with you from the vault. You studied a lot about old-world vehicles, and these balloons definitely came up… but it was only a passing mention, as they were rarely used. Mostly they were used for leisure, not actually for transportation. All you can really recall is that they’re kept in the air by a hot flame and can carry a couple of people at a time.

  It’s interesting, and definitely gives you insight into how the thing is kept in the air, but doesn’t help the fact it’s slowly getting closer to you.

  Add Resolve to your character sheet.

  * * *

  Go closer – Turn to 21.13.

  * * *

  Leave quickly – Turn to 21.14.

  21.13

  You begin to cross the fields towards the balloon. Even though it’s terrifyingly large, it is also quite amazing. It’s incredible what sort of old-world inventions can hold up against the test of time. Also, you decide, it isn’t exactly subtle – even though the colours of the cloth have faded, you can tell that it was once striped with bright rainbow patterns. It makes you laugh a little. Maybe the raiders would have changed their mind about it if it wasn’t so worn out.

  You’re rudely dragged away from your thoughts by a bullet whizzing by your ear, making you jump about a foot in the air. The people in the basket have spotted you and the one with a gun is reloading. You want to try to fight back, but there’s no way you could get a tactical advantage on them, they’re so high up and far away – even with a gun, it would be a slim chance of hitting them.

  Just as the raider puts the butt of their rifle back up to their shoulder, you turn on your heel and begin to run. You hear another shot being fired into the ground behind you. You don’t know if they were actually aiming for you or if it was just a warning, but there’s no point sticking around to find out. You don’t want to be a victim of raiders.

  You run and run and run until you’re out of shooting distance. When you stop to get your breath back, you see a trail of caravans not too far in the distance. Desperate for some human company and comfort, you head towards them, keeping your pace a quick jog. You don’t want the balloon to catch up with you.

  END.

  Add The Caravans (Chapter 24, L.24) to map.

  * * *

  Go to The Caravans (Chapter 24).

  21.14

  They couldn’t pay you to stick around. It’s only a matter of time until the raiders see you, and you’re a sitting duck out here. You keep close to the trees as you move away, trying to blend in with the environment as best you can to avoid being detected.

  It works.

  You hear no shouts after you, no gunshots. Either they didn’t notice you from their vantage point in the balloon, or they decided you weren’t worth pursuing. Whatever the reason, you don’t look back. Instead you push on towards the horizon – you can see a caravan not too far in the distance. It could be good to have company. Safety in numbers, after all.

  END.

  Add The Caravans (Chapter 24, L.24) to map.

  * * *

  Go to The Caravans (Chapter 24).

  Chapter 22

  The Metro

  22.1

  You check your map, squinting to make out the markings in the pale sun. The rubble of the old world is dense here. Each step needs to be planned to make sure you don’t catch your foot on some loose piece of stone. You learned that the hard way, you think, looking down at your skinned palms with a heavy sigh.

  You glance at your map again and mark yourself against all the surrounding features. It seems like you’re where you need to be, but looking around you can’t find what’s been scribbled down as the ‘metro’. Heavily, you perch on one of the half-wrecked walls and take a moment to just sit in the sun, a small relief from your days of travel, when something catches your eye. A buried sign, bright orange in stark contrast to the greys and browns around you. Getting back to your feet, you carefully step over to it, kicking up clouds of dust as you go. It takes both hands and a lot of tugging to get the sign free, but there, like a sign from the New World, is the word ‘METRO’.

  You glance down to where you removed the sign and begin to realise what is going on. Judging by the concrete steps leading down, into the earth, the metro appears to be underground.

  No wonder you couldn’t spot it amongst the wreckage.

  Running your fingers over the sign, you consider everything. Going underground could be dangerous. You don’t know how structurally sound anything from the old world is around here. The cities were the ones that bore the brunt of the bombs when they first fell, after all. Then there’s the fact it’s had the weight of the earth bearing down on it unattended for the past hundred years.

  You shake your head to get rid of the thoughts. Night will be here in a few hours, and if nothing else, being underground will keep you safe from whatever dangers the darkness brings. Clearing away what rubble you can from the entrance, you begin your descent.

  You pause only for a moment when you find a torch lying on one of the steps, almost as if it were left for you. You pick it up, admiring the weight of it, and switch it on.

  It works.

  Quickly, you realise there is no way you can navigate down here by eyesight and determination alone. Thank god for that torch. A faint beam shines through in the darkness, desperately trying to illuminate the stairwell, but mostly just lighting up the heavy dust that shifts around you with your footfalls. Despite trying to breathe carefully, you still inhale a lot and are left in wild coughing fits. The journey seems to go on forever, though p
erhaps that can be attributed to your slow steps, careful, nearly reluctant, as if a misplaced foot could cause everything to tumble around you.

  That may not even be too far from the truth, you think dourly, and resolve not to think of it again.

  Eventually, the stairs level out beneath you. The room you find yourself in is vast, and it takes a moment of swinging the torch around for you to realise that it appears to lead to a tunnel which splits off in two directions. Perhaps these were used for transport back before the war, a way to get goods from one part of the city to another? Gingerly, you cross to look down the tunnel, one way, and then the other. There are heavy metal tracks embedded in the ground, about a three-foot drop from where you stand.

  Definitely some sort of cart, then. Your nerves begin to calm as you realise you appear to be alone down here, so there’s no immediate danger.

  The wall in front of you is matted by age and the painted sign appears to have long worn away, but wiping off some of the dust with your forearm, you can see it tells you to the left is WEST LINE, or to the right, EAST LINE. There don’t seem to be any other exits except for the way you came.

  Go left to WEST LINE – Turn to 22.2.

  * * *

  Go right to EAST LINE – Turn to 22.3.

  22.2

  You can’t be sure where this line goes, but judging by the way it faces if you follow it you’ll get closer to the centre of the city. You start to walk along the rusted tracks, wincing occasionally at the sound of creaking metal.

  It isn’t panic that rises in you, not exactly, but apprehension. The last time you were underground like this was back in the vault. But then again, how far from your humble beginnings could this be? You’re exploring somewhere perhaps nobody has seen in decades, maybe over a century. You push on with renewed purpose, heading deeper into the tunnel’s maw.

  That rush of confidence lasts for a while, and you find yourself moving quicker than before. It doesn’t seem like much has come to ruin down here; perhaps the fact this place is underground actually helped to protect it during the war.

  It’s as you think this that your swinging torchlight lands on something strange. Not stone and grey like the rest of the tunnel, but a dull yellow. A coat?

  You jump as you realise it’s a person.

  In your shock, your torch clatters to the ground and flickers off. You scrabble for it desperately before you’re attacked – but strangely you hear nothing coming towards you. Maybe you haven’t been noticed yet? That seems doubtful; your light would have given you away. With shaking fingers you turn your torch back on.

  Sitting in the tunnel does appear to be a person. And another. And another.

  None of them are moving.

  There must be two dozen of them lining either side of the tunnel. You take a step closer and find their flesh has long since withered away; all that’s left of them now are skeletons.

  One skull is pointed towards you. Though it, of course, has no eyes any more, it almost seems to be watching you. You wonder how these people died. Perhaps they were hiding from the bombs, left down here so long they starved. Or the radiation got them. Maybe someone killed them. It’s impossible to tell in this darkness.

  Give the bodies a send-off – Turn to 22.4.

  * * *

  Search their pockets – Turn to 22.5.

  22.3

  You decide that East is your best option. You clamber down to the height of the metal tracks and begin to head in the direction of the sign.

  The tunnel shows signs of age but is still surprisingly sound. Though the tracks beneath your feet are rusting, they take your weight well. When you swing your torch up to the roof, you see that a lot of work went into the construction here: heavy wires and metal rods trace the ceiling and disappear down the tunnel, further than your little light can show you. You would like to come back here, you decide, perhaps with a team to help take some pictures and record this place better. In the right hands, this sort of data could really help illuminate the ways of the Old World.

  You notice in the distance your path is blocked. As you close the gap it seems there is some sort of large metal cart, its wheels interlocked with the rails beneath you. This must be what travelled down here. The door on its back is almost rusted off, and it only takes a few good tugs to remove it completely. There’s a loud clatter as it drops to the floor, and you wince, but it doesn’t seem to have attracted any unwanted attention.

  You clamber inside the cart and peer around. Either side of it is lined with what appear to be chairs that are heavy with dust. Maybe it was once even used for ferrying people along but for now, it is empty except for you.

  Not wanting to breathe in the old air you hold your collar up to your nose to act as a filter. You carefully walk through the strange structure. There isn’t much to see here, most things having been ravaged by age – and then you notice that rubble is blocking the other side of the cart’s door. Damn. Dead end.

  Add Sketch of Wires (F.22) to your notebook.

  * * *

  Turn to 22.2.

  22.4

  You don’t know much about the burial rituals of the old world, but you can’t leave them here to just… sit. Whoever they were when they died, they can’t have wanted to be left like this. You sigh and clip your torch to your belt.

  Luckily, your heavy gloves protect your hands as you bring the bodies together, lying them along the tracks in as close to a respectful burial condition as you can. You try not to look down at their grinning death masks as you assemble the group. It’s hard work, but eventually you’ve amassed them all. You say a few words, the words people in the vault would say when they were coming together to witness a funeral, and stay silent for a moment to give your respect to the dead.

  As you go to make your way past the macabre sight, you see something shiny in the light of your torch. You pick it up from the dirt and it makes an odd sound, almost wobbling. It appears to be a piece of paper trapped inside some plastic sheeting. It’s preserved what is inside – the piece of paper is bright and covered with words and it takes you a moment to realise it’s some kind of map. It’s only of the local area but it could be invaluable, you consider, and tuck it away in your pack.

  Add Metro Map (F.21) to your notebook.

  Add The Library (Chapter 17, L.17) and The Church (Chapter 14, L.14) to map.

  * * *

  Turn to 22.6.

  22.5

  You look at the parade of skeletons and sigh. It is a shame that they perished like this, but they won’t be needing what they have with them any more. It would be a waste to just leave it here to decay.

  It’s gruelling work, looking through each body, and very little of use comes up. You try not to disturb them too much, maybe feeling a little disappointed in yourself. When you’ve pored over all of them, it seems like there’s nothing of particular value to the items with the bodies, except for a few odd pieces of jewellery.

  Add Jewellery (O.17) to your character sheet.

  * * *

  Turn to 22.6.

  22.6

  After that brief sidetrack, it seems the tunnel heads on uninterrupted for a while. You don’t want to call the journey boring, per se, but it is just a long stretch of grey stone. You attempt to amuse yourself by counting the tracks beneath you, but that quickly becomes tedious.

  It’s difficult to tell how long you’ve been travelling for. There’s no real way to keep track of time down here. You are, however, thankful when your torch lets you see a groove in the wall up ahead, though that may just be excitement about having something different to look at. Your pace quickens without even realising it.

  You find it is, in fact, not so much a groove as a room built into the side of the tunnel. There appears to be old, abandoned machinery, with long stretches of cobwebs between the stout black boxes which hold it. If the tunnel was dark, this place practically eats light, your torch not getting more than a few feet before petering out into nothingness. It’s eerie. Uncomf
ortable.

  That’s when you hear a sound. Movement. Your whole body goes tense. It’s impossible to know what it is with the lack of light… you need to think fast.

  Fire a warning shot – Turn to 22.7, Needs Sharpshooter.

  * * *

  Call out – Turn to 22.8.

  * * *

  Wait – Turn to 22.9.

  22.7