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The Dark City: A New Encounter

You hear absolutely nothing as you walk past the rocky landscape just past the exit from the crevice in the canyon. The sharp shale rocks and the huge boulders give an excellent cover for anyone if they so desire to use it. There really isn't anything you can do to draw out whatever it is that's looking for you, so you continue to trek down the path; ever vigilant. Past the rocky outcrop, it opens up into a vast flat wasteland with nothing but remnants of what use to look like vehicles, and the cement pillars of a highway that have long been forgotten. You stare back at the canyon, waiting for something to happen, someone to come out...but nothing happens. You hear nothing but the howling wind sounding off against the rocks. Maybe there wasn't anybody following you. You know one thing though; you're never going back, not to that evil place.

"South..." you say aloud as you walk into the nothingness, stopping every so often to rummage through piles of rubble and metal. You go south, not because it's the only way out of the city, but because something is telling you to. It's a feeling inside. It just feels right. From the few miles that you've been walking, you come across a few structures, scavenging what you can. You find a decent looking machete. It's much bigger than your knife, but the handle has been broken. You take some electrical tape from your bag, wrap it around the hilt, then you slide it in through your belt. As you continue your journey south, you see in the distance what looks like a small town. The structures are dilapidated and unsound for the most part, but some look well enough to live in.

The sun is coming up from the east and as you approach the deteriorating town, you notice something different about it. There seems to be a makeshift fence built around it; built with scrap metal and wire. It's defensible, but looks though as if it was taken down at parts. The shifting dirt and sand has covered most of the scraps on the ground, seeming to you that whoever built the fence is long gone, but you stay cautious. You crawl through an opening of the fence and crouch towards the back of one of the houses. You peer inside and see nothing. You do so to the rest of the buildings. There's no one here. It's an abandoned town. That is, until you hear the sound of something approaching.

A rumbling in the ground is all that you can describe it. 'An earthquake maybe? No...It's different than that.' You take cover in one of the two story buildings; an old shop with some living quarters upstairs. You peek outside a window facing east and you can see a cloud of dust approaching the town. You squint your eyes, but it's too far off to see what's creating the dust. Just then, something grabs you from behind, covering your mouth, pulling you back away from the window. You try to break free, but whatever grabbed you has put your arms in a lock and has freed the gun from your hand. 'Shit...' you think to yourself, 'I'm always so cautious, how did they sneak up on me?' You keep struggling, but your efforts are in vain; it's too tight of a grip, so you stop. A few moments pass before the attacker speaks.

"I've been trailing you for a while now. You don't seem like the others...Can I trust you?" a feminine voice whispers in your ear.

You nod and the hand that was holding your muzzle releases. You take a big breath of air and try to turn your head.

"Ah ah ah. Not just yet. I need you to promise me something..." the voice asks from behind.

"Ok..." you say in a confused tone.

"I am going to release you, but...if you try anything stupid...I WILL kill you...and if you knew what was coming, you would do best to listen to me. Do you understand?" the voice from behind went from a soft whisper to a stern reprove.

You nod, "I understand..."

The hands release you and push you forward, crashing you to the ground as you land on your cut shoulder. You grunt in pain and lay there grabbing your shoulder; blood starts to seep through the bandage. You try to get up, but the pain from your shoulder is too great and the journey to the town has left you weakened. So you turn back, lying on the ground, to see your own gun pointed at you and the hand holding it belonging to a female fox. The fox's fur is a lighter grey than yours; her tail, bushy with the tip being white. Her white chest peeks out from the top of her brown leather vest. She is the same height you think, but looks slightly older and you can't see her face because of the goggles and bandana she wears.

When she realizes that you're hurt, she tilts her head and lowers the gun slowly to her side.

"Did...did those things get you?" she asks, now with a softness in her voice.

"No...I was trying...to escape some thugs...had to make a quick getaway...so I smashed through some glass. Not the smartest decision I've made." You say, trying to catch your breath and finally pulling yourself up to sit with your back against the wall.

"Glass? Are they still here!?" The frantic female fox says as she peers out the window.

"No no...It happened last night. I was at my hideout in the city and..." you say, but are cut off by the vixen.

"City?" She yells as she takes off her goggles and mask. She kneels down next to you, grabs you by your jacket and looks you straight in the eyes, revealing to you her deep azure eyes, "What City!?

"The Stronghold!" you say with an agitated voice.

The fox releases her grip and her eyes widen. She gets up and starts pacing around the room with her hands on her head rubbing them through her hair.

She stops suddenly, "Was this stronghold in the mountains?"

You nod, "I've lived there my entire life until last night..."

This surprised the frazzled vixen. She kneels down beside you again, laying the gun on your lap with her hand on it. "So you could take me there?"

You pause a moment, then look her right in the eyes, "I'm never going back there. That city is evil! Evil people, evil...things trying to kill you, beasts I guess you could call them." You shake your head. "No way I'm going anywhere near that place again..."

The vixen lets out a depressed sigh, "So it's overrun?"

"I guess...I've only lived in the Ruins of the South. It only takes up about a quarter of the city. I've never been north until I tried crossing the lake inside....That's when I saw the beasts for the first time."

"...You don't know...do you?" The vixen asks.

"Know what?" you say, raising your eyebrows, now very confused.

The female fox sincerely asks, "How long have you been alone?"

You pause, memories filling your head, "I don't remember...My parents were killed by a gang inside the city...I survived only because my mother hid me in a box as she ran from the gang...I heard gunshots...I waited in there for at least an hour, and when I got out..."a tear rolls from your eye. "I've been alone ever since."

The vixen sits down beside you, letting the gun sit on your lap. "I'm sorry..." she says, staring at the opposite wall with you. She pauses a moment before speaking again. "There were other strongholds...I've been to four of them to look for my family. All were...destroyed by the beasts; swarms of them, killing everyone. I've been lucky enough to survive them all. But something gave me hope. I heard people talk about a master stronghold in the mountains; one that was well fortified and defensible...and held secrets."

You look up and turn to the vixen, "Secrets? What kind of secrets?"

"The older folks talked about a plan. A plan to colonize and survive the after affects of the nuclear fallout, but the plans were lost. They were supposed to be sent out to the other strongholds. But they never were. They were lost as the bombs fell."

"And you think it's the stronghold that I...wait a second, do you hear that?" You say, remembering the approaching dust cloud.

"Hear what?"

"Exactly..."

The vixen gasps as she remembers. You both jump to your feet and look out the window to see that the cloud of dust has disappeared. "Oh...this is not good..." she says as she takes the rifle from her back.

"Huh? It's gone...I don't understand..."

"You haven't been fighting them as long as I have. They travel in packs sometimes, looking for food. They can probably smell you right now...!"

Just then...the piercing scream that haunts you still from your earlier encounter...is heard.