Thread: The Ruin of Mankind

By the time that Cali stepped into Bloodridge through one of the many gaps in the ruined wall which had once surrounded and protected it, the sun had already risen high up into the sky, its scorching rays relentlessly beating down on her. Having resided in the Californian wastes her entire life, she was about as well acclimated to the high temperatures as a person could get, but that didn't stop her from feeling as if she were cooking under her leather. Wiping the matted strands of hair and beads of perspiration from her brow, Cali kicked herself for leaving her water canteen back with her bike, but she didn't feel like turning back to get it now. Making her way up the main road leading to the town's center, or at least what was left of it, Cali was filled with the same eerie feeling that she always got when exploring pre-cataclysm ruins. Even though she'd been born decades after the world had gone dark, places like these still filled her heart with the strangest sense of nostalgia. She realized that it was irrational, but that didn't make it any less unnerving. Maybe it was because she'd seen photos of the Old World and just couldn't wrap her mind around how they'd gone from that to the world that she knew. It seemed impossible. The sudden flapping of wings snapped Cali out of it, her eyes darting towards the small flock of black birds that she'd just startled. Her heart rate spiked for just a moment until she realized that it was nothing, and that the area was still dead except for the birds and tricks that the wind liked to play. She did, however, take note of the campfire. Even from a distance, she could tell that it was recent by virtue of the fact that it was only covered in a very thin layer of sand, but she wanted to take a closer look. In all likelihood, the campfire had either been made by the merchant or by the outlaws who robbed him, and either way it was the best and only lead that she'd found so far. However, before Cali could make it that far, she caught sight of the figure standing further up the road from the corner of her eye. In a single swift motion, she wheeled around to face the stranger and pulled her shotgun out of its holster, keeping it pointed towards the emaciated man with one hand. The tattoos gave him away as belonging to one of the many gangs of degenerates roaming the wastes, which made sense since they were pretty much at the top of the list of suspects for who could have robbed the merchant, but in spite of that the situation still felt far from right. Why hadn't she noticed anything when scouting the town out earlier? Why was he just standing out in the open like that and warning her to turn back instead of laying in wait to ambush her with his buddies? And what was up with that metal collar? Too many questions that Cali didn't have answers for, and she didn't like it. Had the man been armed, she would have been very tempted to shoot first and save the questions for later, but since that wasn't the case she decided to hold back. He could have valuable information. She'd already taken note of how skinny he was, but when he turned around, Cali truly saw just what a miserable state that the bastard was in. He practically looked like a walking skeleton covered with a paper-thin layer of skin, about as close to looking like a ghoul without actually being one. More importantly, she also noticed the little blinking red light on his collar, and blinking red lights on unknown objects were generally not a good sign. They were usually a good indication that said object could potentially go boom . When the man repeated his warning and took off sprinting towards her, Cali glanced around her surroundings as she took a few steps back, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. It wasn't hard to find what she wanted, one of the hundreds of bricks laying around throughout the scattered debris. Sliding her shotgun back into its holster, she bent over to pick the brick up almost lazily and the waited a couple more seconds for the stranger to get a bit closer before hurling it at one of his legs. Normally, it would have just been enough to leave a bad bruise, maybe a fracture, but with how frail the man looked, the heavy projectile might have shattered his tibia as it made impact. He went down hard with a loud wail, his body skidding briefly over the harsh sand before coming to a halt. Cali kept her distance, moving closer to the edge of one of the dilapidated houses just in case she needed to find cover fast. Who's they ? she called out, hoping to extract some information out of the man. Your little friends turn on you or something?