CLICK

Nikolai pushed the cylinder on his revolver shut. 4 rounds left. Then all he had was his knife. Der'mo. He needed to find a new gun. He had about 48 military-grade rounds, maybe he could get a Bastard, at least, if he bartered well. But then he'd have no ammo for it. He sighed, and scratched his scar, a gift from a knife fight with a wandering bandit a few years ago. The knife had almost taken his eye out, just missing it by inches. All because the bandit wanted some food.

Speaking of which, he was hungry. He rummaged around in the pack of the man he had just killed, and found a sausage. Did he dare warm it up?

He pondered the consequences of starting a fire in the uncharted section of the tunnels. Perhaps he should wait to get back to a station. His stomach groaned, whining for sustenance. He ate the sausage raw, probably not a good idea, but he had to eat.

SNAP

Nikolai turned, punching his revolver out to the noise, finger on the trigger, ready to fire.

"Who's there?" he barked, not really a question.

"Who are you? You're not Kristoff!" a feminine voice responded.

Nikolai felt a pang of guilt rack his stomach. Kristoff must have been the man he killed.

"I just killed a man who attacked me with a knife, it may be Kristoff. I am sorry for your loss if it is. I'm going to turn on my flashlight, so you can see if it is him." It was the least Nikolai could do, offer closure to the poor girl.

He turned his light on, pointing it in the direction of the sound. It WAS a girl, if the slender figure was anything to go by, about his age by the sound of the voice, only slightly muffled by the gas mask she wore. He let the light linger on her for a few seconds, taking in the sight of a pretty girl for later, a rare opportunity in this world. He turned the light to the dead man before she caught on to what he was doing, at least he hoped she didn't realize.

"Is this him?" Nikolai asked.

She came close to him. She smelled nice, which was to say she didn't smell bad. She had a hint of perfume, too. Kristoff must have been a romantic partner, perfume was rare these days. Another pang of guilt. As she crouched down, Nikolai took the opportunity to take in her figure again.

"Nyet. It's not him." she said, after a few seconds of examining the corpse. Nikolai looked away quickly as she stood up and turned around. Though politeness didn't matter much anymore, Nikolai took pride in his civility.

"Don't think I didn't see you staring." she said, not really scolding him.

"Sorry." he whispered, ashamed for some reason.

"Well, I'm sorry I startled you. Thanks for not shooting me." she said, and sighed.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to help me find him. But I can offer payment. 100 military grade bullets." she said.

"How do I know you can pay?" Nikolai asked, skeptical.

"My father was a member of SOBR before the war, and he hoarded bullets when the missiles started flying. I can take you to meet him, back at Polis. We have to arm ourselves, anyways. Unless you have a rifle hidden somewhere." she said.

Nikolai pondered this offer. He didn't have much better to do than search for a probably dead man with a pretty girl, he needed some spending money, and most of all, he needed a rifle.

"Fine, but you're paying for the rifle. And I need 50 bullets up front." he said.

"Deal."

"Then let's head for Polis to see your father." he said.