by HL TRUSLOVE
“I just want to talk to you,” you tell him. You can tell from the look on his face that he doesn’t believe you.
“I don’t have anything on me!” he insists, holding his empty hands out in front of him. You don’t know what else you can say to try to calm him down, so you guess trying to get this conversation over with as quickly as possible is the best route.
Ask for directions to the local area – Turn to 28.5.
* * *
Ask why everyone is so worried – Turn to 28.6.
28.3
You consider approaching a man you see walking along the street, but as soon as you take a step towards him his eyes go wide and he scurries to the opposite side of the road. You let him go, not wanting to follow him and give him the wrong idea. The last thing you want right now is for people to start mistaking you for a mugger.
Instead, you keep walking. This road is surprisingly long, and though there are turn offs to alleys and side streets you don’t take any of them. People are acting worried enough about travelling here, you don’t want to see what might happen in a less open, less lit space.
You’re so wrapped up in these thoughts you almost don’t hear the scream. It’s only because you happen to be passing by the mouth to an alley that you notice the high-pitched wail of fear. You stop and poke your head round the corner to have a look.
The street is thin and dirty, with litter and rubble dotting the concrete. You can see there are a couple, a man and a woman, backing away from three figures descending on them. The woman was the source of the scream and you see why when the knife catches the setting sunlight and glints in one of the assailant’s hands. It looks like these people are going to get mugged… or worse.
Step in – Turn to 28.7.
* * *
Draw the attackers’ attention away – Turn to 28.8.
* * *
Leave – Turn to 28.9.
28.4
You take a moment to pause and look at the architecture around you. The houses are in neat little rows and look like, at some point, they were all connected, each house sharing outer walls with its neighbour. Probably a dangerous design – not ideal if there was a fire, as it would catch quickly and keep spreading. Maybe that’s why they’re husks now? An inferno started during the bombing – but then again, it looks like these were destroyed by impact, rather than fire. If this place is a big city now, it must have been huge back then, making it a prime target for attack.
You sigh. It’s a shame. From the looks of these houses, they were probably built around the mid 20th century. Though they’re blocky and uniform, you imagine once upon a time they were quite good-looking buildings, each resident putting their own little spin on an otherwise identical home.
You’re pulled from your observations by a scream, and instinctively – if not foolishly – follow it.
In an alley, you see two people being backed against a wall, three assailants descending upon them. One of them has a knife. It looks like they’re going to be mugged… or worse.
Step in – Turn to 28.7.
* * *
Draw the attackers’ attention away – Turn to 28.8.
* * *
Leave – Turn to 28.9.
28.5
“I just want some directions!” you insist, bringing your hands out of your pockets to show you don’t have a concealed weapon. The man seems to relax a little, but not completely, his eyes flitting from your hands to your face as if he still expects you to jump him.
“Directions? To where?” Nervousness laces his voice, so you try to keep your tone as calm as possible.
“I’m looking for a group of friends. We got separated, back in the storm. Do you know anywhere they might have gone to? Anywhere that lots of people gather?”
“Th-there’s the church.” He points and you see that sticking obviously out from the tops of the other buildings is a huge spire, the tallest point in this whole city. “Or the library. It’s about a half-hour walk towards the centre of town. Have you tried there?”
You nod and make a note to write on your map.
“Thank you,” you tell him. He doesn’t answer. Instead, he takes the words as a cue to leave, which he does gladly.
You watch the man jog away and sigh. Perhaps you’re destined to never fit into this place. All the more reason to find everyone again, you suppose.
END.
Add The Church (Chapter 14, L.14) and The Library (Chapter 17, L.17) to map.
28.6
The man looks at you as if you’re mad, but a cursory glance reminds him you aren’t from around here. He answers your question with a sigh.
“There’s lots of raider groups ’round here. Most of them are outside of the city, but come in often enough to cause trouble for us.”
“Why doesn’t everyone just move?”
The man laughs, an odd sound, as if he isn’t familiar with it.
“And go where?”
He takes advantage of your confusion to scurry away. You don’t follow him.
His words ring in your head. And go where? You look around at the ruined, hollowed-out buildings and suppose that this state of decay is likely present everywhere in this world. If they moved out of the city, you suppose they’d probably lose the sense of safety in numbers and retain the threat of raiders. It’s no wonder there are so many people here.
A scream startles you out of your thoughts. You notice it’s come from an alleyway and poke your head round to have a look.
A man and a woman have been backed against a wall. Three men are descending upon them. One of them has a knife. With bile in your throat you realise it’s a mugging, and from what you know of these streets so far? It won’t end nicely.
Step in – Turn to 28.7.
* * *
Draw the attacker’s attention away – Turn to 28.8.
* * *
Leave – Turn to 28.9.
28.7
“Hey!”
Your voice echoes down the alley, the amplification helping to hide the fact it’s shaking. You want to help, of course you do, but there are three of them and one of you.
“What?” the one with the knife shouts back, readjusting his grip.
The potential victims look between the attackers and you. They look ready to run. Maybe that’s the best thing you can do for them, give them an opportunity to escape. In retrospect, you really didn’t think this through. You just knew you had to do something.
The staring continues. You find your voice before they turn back and continue.
Fight them – Turn to 28.10, Needs Hand-to-Hand Combat.
* * *
Run and try to lead them away – Turn to 28.8.
* * *
Talk them down – Turn to 28.11.
28.8
You need to draw their attention away, but you don’t think you stand much of a chance in an actual fight. Luckily, there are pieces of rock and debris littering the street and you find one that perfectly fits your palm.
“Oi!”
The assailants jump and stare at you.
You turn the rock over in your hand before lobbing it towards them as hard as you can.
It must be luck, you think; either that, or you have better aim than you thought. It goes flying through the air in an impressive arc before hitting the man with the knife directly in the face. He yells in pain, dropping his weapon so he can hold his nose with both hands, now spurting blood like it’s a tap. His accomplices look at you, then him, then you, and start running at you.
You turn on your heel and try to run faster.
You don’t know these streets, so you’re working entirely on guesswork, but maybe you can play that to your advantage; if you have no idea what side road you’re about to turn down, they don’t either. They can’t predict where you’re trying to go.
It’s a good plan, so long as you don’t turn into a dead end.
You hear constant footsteps for at least the first three minutes. Your heart is fit to burs
t out your chest from the effort of putting them as far behind you as possible.
You’re lucky. Enough opportune turns and you’ve lost them. You risk a glance over your shoulder and see the pursuers are gone. You can only hope you’ve given the people they were attacking enough time to escape.
Breathing heavily, you rest your back against a crumbling wall, rolling your head back and closing your eyes. It’s a good thing you’ve done – you hope. Of course, you had no idea who those people were. You assumed they were victims. Maybe you got the wrong end of the stick entirely…
You shake your head. You can’t think that way. It’s done now.
Your breathing returns to normal, slowly. You’ve run quite far now, and got into the city. When you open your eyes you start – because in front of you is an enormous spire.
It’s far bigger than any of the other buildings you’ve seen. It’s incredible.
Maybe it’s a beacon to any passing travellers. Worth a look, anyway.
Your previous worries forgotten, you start heading to your next destination.
END.
Add The Church (Chapter 14, L.14) to map.
28.9
You take a moment longer to watch, feeling odd and uncomfortable at being a silent observer. You tuck your head back around the wall.
If you get involved, you risk getting hurt. It’s just a fact. Not only does one of them have a knife, but there are three of them against one of you. Stepping in is asking for trouble.
The best thing you can do for yourself is walk away. You feel a pang of guilt as you go, especially when another scream follows behind you, but you start walking faster.
Don’t look back. It isn’t your problem. Don’t look back.
You can’t be in this city any more. You trace your steps back, leaving the same way you came in. It’s likely people from the houses either side of the street are watching you, a couple of them maybe even recognising you from not ten minutes earlier, but you try not to dwell on that. Instead, you concentrate on walking away, adjusting your posture to that of those around you, staunchly looking down and ignoring unfriendly eyes.
You get out of the city soon after. Houses fade away, becoming less and less frequent until you’re back to open fields again. Movement catches your eye and you look up for the first time in a while.
On a hill in front of you, you can see a caravan trail. A long line of carts trundling along, almost ants from this distance.
You find your feet moving towards them.
END.
Add The Caravans (Chapter 24, L.24) to map.
28.10
The three of them clearly aren’t expecting someone to try to fight them, especially a stranger who’s turned up out of nowhere when they’re in the middle of a mugging.
Which is good – it means they don’t have time to respond.
You go for the armed man first, grabbing his hand and twisting. He yelps as a couple of his fingers pop out of place and he drops the knife. You raise your leg and kick him between his legs and he falls, clutching himself desperately.
The other two jump, but it’s too late. You grab each one’s head, burying a hand in the back of their hair, and smash them together. They grunt in pain. You release them, letting them reel for a moment, before taking one by the shoulders and kneeing him in the stomach, then swing him towards the other one. Taken off guard, they slam together once again and tumble to the pavement.
Just to be sure, you slam your foot into a couple more soft points before turning to the couple. They look shocked.
“Come on!” you shout, and they don’t wait. The woman grabs her partner’s hand and sprints off after you.
You run for a few minutes, leading the way with the others hot on your trail. Suddenly, you feel a hand on your sleeve and are tugged into an alley.
The woman and the man are breathing heavily, as if they aren’t used to running like that. You let them catch their breath before trying to talk.
“Are you all right?”
“Why did you do that?”
The woman’s face is firm, searching yours for any sign of deception.
“Why did I do what?”
“Help us.”
“Oh.” You shrug. “It was the right thing to do.”
She snorts.
“Right.”
Her partner speaks for the first time.
“Come on, Trish. We might have died.”
She seems to relent when he finally makes his feelings known. Her whole body seems to relax.
“Thank you,” she says eventually. You nod.
“Can we… is there any way we can thank you?” asks the man, but it seems like he’s dreading the answer.
Turn to 28.12.
28.11
“What are you doing?”
The man with the knife furrows his brow, half in confusion, and half in anger.
“None of your fucking business.”
Before he can turn back you take a step forward and keep talking.
“Because it looks like you’re mugging these people.”
“Yes,” he says at length. He seems surprised at himself that he’s answering you.
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why?”
“I mean, why mug these people. Look at them. What do you think they have on them?”
The man opens his mouth, closes it. He inspects the couple, who flinch back.
“I dunno. But I’m gonna find out.”
“Look, let’s be honest. They probably don’t have anything, do they? That’s why they live here. Is it really worth it?”
“All right. What do you have?”
“Oh, that’s a road you don’t want to go down.”
“Oh yeah, and why’s that?”
“Because I’m much stronger than any of you, and if we fight, you will lose.”
You say it with such effortless confidence that it catches him off guard. His cronies look to him as you steadily hold his gaze. You’re lucky he can’t see how sweaty your palms are.
“If you go now this will end much better for you. So go.”
You step to the side and gesture to the mouth of the alley.
The leader stares at you for a long, long moment, but you keep your face impassive. Not scared, not angry, just determined.
He squints as he watches you, trying to call your bluff, but you’re better than that. You just gesture again.
He breaks.
Flipping his knife away, he gestures for the other two to follow him. They do, sneering at you as they go. Your face remains blank. They leave.
When you’re sure they’re gone, you turn to the couple.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, we’re fin—”
“Why did you do that?”
The woman interrupts her partner. Her eyes are searching yours for any sign of deception.
“Why did I do what?”
“Help us.”
“Oh.” You shrug. “Because it was the right thing to do.”
She snorts.
“Right.”
Her partner speaks for the first time.
“Come on, Trish. We might have died.”
She seems to relent when he finally makes his feelings known. Her whole body seems to relax.
“Thank you,” she says eventually. You nod.
“Can we… is there anything we can give you as thanks?” asks the man, but it seems like he’s dreading the answer.
Turn to 28.12.
28.12
You look the couple over, taking in their ragged clothes and gaunt faces. You doubt they have much on them. If you’re going to ask for something, there’s little point in it being something of physical value.
“Can you tell me what’s round here? Directions or anything?”
The man nods, happy to be of help (and probably relieved that you only asked for that).
“Yeah! We know a lot about the city. What are you after?”
“Anywhere there’
s lots of people. I’m looking for… people,” you finish lamely, not wanting to reveal too much. The man doesn’t seem to pick up on it – though his partner narrows her eyes – and launches into a detailed description of the nearby area. You take out your map and begin to make notes, but soon the man takes it from you and scribbles on it himself.
“There you go,” he says at length, tucking it back into your hands.
“Thanks,” you tell him, not thrilled that he handled your things, but grateful nonetheless.
“We’d better get home,” says the woman, tugging on her partner’s hand. He nods and follows her out of the alley. He wishes you luck before disappearing around the corner.
His partner doesn’t.
* * *
END.
Add The Caravans (Chapter 24, L.24), The Church (Chapter 14, L.14), and The Library (Chapter 17, L.17) to map.
Chapter 29
The Reunion
