Portraits/Mortis

Old man Mortis is an unsociable troublemaker who lives in an old van on the outskirts of the Valley. Survivors do not communicate with Mortis because of his complicated character, and raiders avoid him because of the old man's military background and a pair of large-caliber machine guns on the roof of his van. Rumour has it that he once had a family, but his wife and child died under mysterious circumstances in an old retro car that still stands in front of his house. Or rather, it used to stand there. Once the car was bought back by a guy called Jones. People were surprised, because no one was willing to give up even an empty barrel for that junk. But Jones was obsessed with it.
After selling the car, the old man completely stopped going out of his house. Ivy XO was the last person to visit Mortis, hoping to persuade him to buy his vehicle back from Jones. But the old man turned her down. Soon, when Mortis's van was beginning to get covered ‘in sand, the raiders ventured to search it and finally got their hands on those heavy machine guns and other rubbish from the old man’s house. But they did not find Mortis himself.
A couple of days later, the survivors found the bodies of those raiders. They were torn and burnt, and not even a whole nut was left of the vehicles. But the old man's machine guns were untouched. No one else dared to take them, and the weapons were quickly covered with sand. Since then, survivors say that at night in these parts you can hear the distinctive sound of the retro car engine and the joyous laughter of old man Mortis in the howling wind.
==Receiving==
* Contests and tournaments.
** Crossout Summer Marathon 2023, places 26-50.
* Clash of Engineers contest:
** A Gift for a Witch, top 10.