Winter
The fifteen-year-old Sirch stood at the top of the hill observing the mostly intact city. Hidden throughout the snow-covered buildings, was a massive camp that stretched through every single building in the city. Smoke rose from the occasional rooftop campfire. If one looked close enough they might see the glint of a rifle scope in several of the buildings.
This was definitely the place. Sirch had made it. It had taken him an entire year, but he had made it. Anchorage, Alaska. Someone had told him once that of all places, Alaska was the most devoid of the cordyceps. Many bad winters had taken out large portions of the infected population, and what remained of the human survivors.
Some had been successful through the harsh winters though. This camp was one of several spread throughout Alaska. It provided shelter, and food to those who needed it most. Anyone in better shape was given a rifle and told to hunt.
Sirch walked through the ankle-deep snow towards the camp entrance. He shivered a bit as he came up to the buildings. Two men wearing thick winter coats came out of the building and stopped him.
"What is your business here?" one of them asked.
"I came looking for a place to stay." Sirch answered.
"Come with me." The other man said. He turned and walked down the street. Sirch followed him. The man led him to a small canvas tent. He held open the door.
"This is where you'll be staying." he said. "A truck will come by tomorrow morning. It will stop here. Get on it. You'll be going hunting. Mike will give you the rules then." The man walked back down the street and left Sirch in the tent. Sirch Sat down on the cot in the tent. Besides the cot, there was a blanket, a small stove, an axe, and a frying pan in the tent. Sirch lied there on the cot, thinking.
"So I collect my own meat and wood. I can do that. I'm going hunting tomorrow. I should probably get some sleep." Sirch slowly dozed off.
Sirch woke up the next morning feeling well rested. He slowly got off the cot and stood up. Upon hearing the truck outside, Sirch threw on his back pack and ran outside. He climbed into the bed of the old Dodge Ram and sat down.
"So you're the new kid?" a man sitting across from him said. "Name's Mike. I lead this hunting group."
"Nice to meet you. My name's Sirch."
"Interesting name. Well anyways, we've got two rules for hunting. Do not take the shot unless you are confident it will hit and always stay with the group."
"So what are we hunting?" Sirch asked.
"Moose, wolves, coyote, it doesn't really matter. Just the bigger game."
The truck stopped again and two teens got on. They sat down next to Sirch and the truck started moving again. They drove north out of the city on the highway. The truck drove onto an exit and stopped.
"Here's where we get off." Mike said and got out of the bed. Sirch got out along with the others. The truck turned around and drove off.
"This way." one of the two teens waved the group over. "I've got tracks. They're fresh."
Mike took the lead as the group followed the tracks through the forest. As they moved deeper in the forest, Sirch heard something.
"You guys hear that?" he asked.
"No, what'd you hear?" Mike asked.
"Not sure, but I definitely heard something." Right after he said that, a wolf jumped out of the bushes and onto Sirch. Sirch yanked his knife out of its sheath and stabbed the wolf in the chest. More wolves came out of the bushes and tried taking down the others. Mike threw a wolf of himself and fired his shotgun at it. One of the teens had managed to get out from under the wolf and was firing his pistol at the wolves on the other teen. Sirch fired into the pile of wolves with his hunting rifle. The bullet tore through several of them. Mike fired again and the remaining wolves fled. Sirch walked over to the teen. The wolves had torn up his coat but he was uninjured.
"You okay?" Sirch extended a hand to pull the teen up. He took his and pulled himself up.
"Yeah I'm fine."
"I'll call the truck , we've got our meat." Mike took out a walkie-talkie and called the truck back. Sirch grabbed two dead wolves by the hind legs and hefted them onto his shoulders. Once the group had picked up the wolves the followed their tracks back to the road. The driver was waiting for them when they came out of the woods. They threw the wolves in the bed and climbed in. The truck drove back to the city and dropped everyone off. Sirch set the wolf down outside his tent and started to gut it.