Core Narrative 3

**TITLE:** Gamma Correction

**CORRESPONDING MACRO-STORY BEAT:** ENTER BIZARRO WORLD

#### **SHORT STORY SYNOPSIS:**

**Part 1:** We start off by seeing Echo, a bounty hunter, sitting on the edge of a canyon looking off into the distance. The sun is setting and she is visibly upset. She fumbles around in her pocket and pulls out a little black book which she opens to about half way, where we see a list of names. She circles one of them three times, scowls at the horizon, and walks off towards her tent. In the next few panels, you see her enter her sleeping bag which is next to a high caliber sniper rifle. She seems visibly malnourished but still determined to go after the bounty during sunrise. Echo plays some music and in the process of planning for tomorrows trek, she falls asleep.

**Part 2:** When Echo wakes up she is weak and dehydrated. She finished the last of her water supply two days ago and feels discouraged but knows the only thing between her and her next meal is to find the next bounty from the list she was given. She sets out on her seemingly never ending journey, occasionally running into problems that were no match for her. Echo's targets never see her coming and that is partially due to the fact that she kills anyone in her way.

After a grueling 10 hour hike in an arid wasteland, she sees something moving in the distance. As she reaches into her bag to take her binoculars out, three giant explosions engulf the man in the distance and now there is just clouds of smoke and fire. Echo starts running over to identify the body. When she gets close enough and the smoke starts clearing, she see a silhouette of a man in the center of the blast zone crying on all fours. Echo's instincts kick in and she realizes any man who can withstand those explosions mush have superpowers. This being Echo's chance for a possible pay day, she aims the rifle at the man, yells, "get on your stomach" then slowly moves in to tie him up.

**Part 3:** Once the stranger is tied, Echo sits him back up and moves across from him. She points her rifle at his belly and asks, "What are you doing out here and what were those explosions?" The stranger is visibly drunk but unscathed from the explosions and in a drunken blunder immediately admits to having powers that protect and allow him to make fire. Echo usually has a no exception policy but because she had been lonely for so long she lets the stranger talk a bit longer. He talked about his life and what kind of childhood he had, including how hard it was growing up with super powers in a world that would kill people who had them. He spoke about how he had not seen another person in over a year and how he yearned for human interaction.

The more the stranger spoke the less Echo wanted to kill him. She empathized with the stranger and shared the same sentiment: she was alone and just needed a friend. Echo apologized and before the stranger could say anything, she shot him in the stomach. As the stranger bled out, Echo realized the stupidity of her decision, dropped her rifle, quickly fumbled for her little black book and asked," Whats your name?" The stranger tried to muster up a few words but died in the process. She never got the name to verify if that man was a bounty on her list or not. Taking a body back that was unidentified would lower her reward considerably so she put her goggles back on, wrapped a cloth around her mouth and nose, picked up her rifle up, and continued walking--leaving the stranger.

**PROTAGONIST:** Echo is a 6th generation bounty hunter from Fractured Sands and has the best shot in all of the Wasteland. She is a nomad who travels from one end of the Wasteland to the other looking for ex superheroes and villains she can take off her hit list.

**ANTAGONIST:** The Wasteland in its entirety is Echo's main antagonist. The demanding, radiation soaked, barren land tests the wit and cunning of a bounty hunter at every bend. But, the hardest thing to overcome in The Wastelands are the long term effects of isolation on the brain.

**MAIN SUPPORTING CHARACTERS W/ DESCRIPTIONS:** The Stranger is an "ex-superhero" who has been wandering the Wastelands aimlessly trying to get himself killed.

**PRIMARY LOCATIONS WITH DESCRIPTIONS:** The comic takes place in an area formerly known as Tombstone, Arizona, which is now just referred to as The Tombs. The Tombs are a barren, arid and dry desert land that gets water only twice a year. The nights are cold and lonely and the days are blistering hot. This part of the Wasteland is not for the frail. From venomous snakes and poisonous plants, to mutated blood hungry wildlife, super heroes and bounty hunters are the least of one's worries in The Tombs.

**ADDITIVE COMPREHENSION:** It shows you the life certain people have to now live out because of the war. It helps you sympathize with the harsh decisions they have to make in the name of survival. This story is supposed to give insight as to how bounty hunters lived during the height of the superhero hunt and the toll living such a life has on your mental health.