I leaned against the rock and fidgeted absent-mindedly with the metal dog tag around my neck. Hours had passed so far, but nothing had happened. I yawned loudly and stretched the stiff muscles in my legs as far as they could go. I peeked my head above my hiding place and towards the run down two-story house I was staking out

There was nothing special about it. It was the only remaining structure in an entire town of ruins, but other than that it was just a piece of junk. The way the moonlight hit it made it look completely desolate, but I knew a small group of raiders were holed up inside.

I yawned again and tucked the dog tag back underneath my shirt.

I abandoned watching the house, and instead stared at a muddy puddle at my feet, marveling at the way the stars and moon were reflected. It would have been a perfect picture if not for the impish face staring back at me. The reflection stuck its tongue out at me, and, in retaliation, I made it pull at its matted blonde hair. We waged war for some time until I heard the loud slam that I had been waiting for.

I pulled binoculars out of one of my many jacket pockets and peeked over the rock again, training them towards to old house.

I watched carefully through the cracked binoculars at the small group exiting the house. Three people, all talking and laughing loudly, smacking each other on the back and having a good time. The group walked away from the house and started off to one of the nearby ruins.

"Idiots" I mumbled as one of them stumbled into the other two, knocking the entire party down. I could hear the roars of laughter even from where I was hiding as they all tried to shakily get back to their feet.

I waited, barely breathing, as they stumbled into the nearby ruins of a small house, still laughing. They disappeared from sight and I stowed my binoculars in my duffel bag and crept from the rock I was hiding behind. I gave one last glance around and sprinted for the run-down two-story house they had just exited, running as fast as I possibly could. Obviously, I tripped.

I landed heavily on my stomach and groaned. I was going to get back up until I glanced over and saw one of the raiders in the far ruins with their back towards me. I hugged the ground as close as possible, hoping that somehow the brown of my jacket camouflaged me. They turned around and quickly scanned the area before returning to the ruins. Before long, an orange glow appeared from the area and a thin trail of smoke began snaking through the air.

I scrambled back to my feet and closed the remaining distance between me and the door. I pumped my fist in the air in silent triumph. It was unlocked. I creaked it open and slid in.

The studio room I was in appeared to be the entire first floor. It was mostly empty, with a few exercise mats scattered around on the floor and a small kitchen area in the corner farthest from me. There was a staircase going up off to my left.

I walked slowly over to the kitchen area, being careful of my noise, and started searching the cupboards. Mostly empty or filled with trash, but one held a few cans of Pork N' Beans. My stomach growled in hunger. I nearly took some when a greater hunger tore at me and reminded me why I was here.

I couldn't find anything in the cupboards, and after checking as many nooks and crannies as I could find, I made my way up the stairs.

I got to the top and was greeted with a hallway, wide enough that two people could walk side-by-side and not touch the walls. There were two doors on both sides with another door at the end of it.

I cautiously pushed against the door to my immediate left, directly at the top of the stairs, but it was so full of rubble I could barely open it a few inches. I checked the one to the immediate right of the stairs and it was in the same situation.

I approached the left door at the end of the hall and opened it as slow as possible. The door swung open, revealing a cluttered room with trash and rubble scattered across the floor, with bunks built into the wall.

There were a few suitcases that I quickly searched, but quickly found out that they were filled only with raider armor, so badly beat up they weren't worth anything. I did find a small leather bag, tied with a drawstring that held a couple dozen caps. I pocketed that quickly.

I left and went to check out the next room. I opened the door and looked around. Blank walls and a spotless floor. Nothing was in here, not a sign of trash or rubble anywhere.

I shrugged and was about to turn and leave when a shape on the ceiling caught my eye. I looked up at it, but it was too dark to see anything. I reached into my duffel bag and ratcheted around my few supplies until I was rewarded with a flashlight. I flicked it on and pointed it at the ceiling.

A gory face came into full focus, its dead eyes staring at me.

I yelped and dropped my flashlight. It hit the ground with a loud thud, its light flickering off.

My heart leapt to my throat and I froze.

I stood there for several minutes, scared to breathe. The silence was complete and undisturbed. I slowly reached down and picked my flashlight back up. I shook it a few times until it turned on and slowly pointing it back towards the body.

A man had been strung across the ceiling. A network of chains, hooks, and ropes dug into his arms and legs and stretched over to the walls. His clothes had been taken and his chest had been mutilated, cuts and gorges dancing across it like the art project of a psychopath. His head had an enormous crater in the side of it, and his mouth had been pinned up in an unsettling smiley face. I turned off the flashlight and tried not to run as I left the room

By the time I got out of the room I was shaking so bad I could barely move. I leaned up against the hallway wall and slid down, shuddering on the floor. The image of the man burned behind my eyes and I couldn't get rid of him.

I had to leave. That body is going to be me if I stay, I never should have come here, I forgot the kind of things these people do.

No. I had gotten this far, I HAD to keep going.

I shakily stood up and took a deep breath. I could do this

I went to the last door at the end of the hall and opened it, peering inside.

Trash lined the perimeter of the room, but the main floor was nearly empty. A couch sat in the middle of the room, facing a wall to my right with a fireplace, its ash overflowing. To my left was a small door, directly behind the couch.

I walked in and clicked my flashlight back on. The beam swept across the room, searching for what I knew had to be here.

There! A glint in the far corner.

I walked slowly over to the safe. It was smallish, definitely no more than two feet cubed, with a large dial squatting in the middle of the door.

I knelt down, aiming my flashlight at the dial.

I realized I didn't actually know what to do now that I had made it this far

I tugged on it desperately, but it wouldn't work. I tried prying it open with a screwdriver from my pocket, but all I was left with was a 90° screwdriver. I even tried pressing my ear against it and breaking in like in the vids, but, alas, it didn't work.

Frustrated, I slammed the butt of my flashlight against it and the beam flicked out. Swearing, I shook it a few times and tried to get it to turn back on, but whatever I had done, it would not be so easily fixed.

I cursed myself and took it apart, trying to find out what went wrong. I had gotten it all in pieces when I heard a door slam below me and loud voices.

I froze. Stopped breathing. Sat as still as possible. Yelling and laughing floated through the cracks of the floorboard. I sat in the dim light and tried to be the absolute paragon of silence.

I slowly rose to my feet, as silent as possible. The floor creaked and groaned as I rose, each small noise making my chest clench and heart stop. I managed to get to a standing position and began slowly making my way to the exit door.

My foot got caught on a nail and I tripped.

I pin wheeled my arms desperately to get balanced, but it didn't work.

I tipped forward and hit the floor with a heavy thud.

A heavy silence settled over the entire house and the only thing I could hear was my pulse pounding in my ears. Fear washed through my body, leaving me cold, and the only thing I could see was my body strung across a ceiling like a sick trophy.

Footsteps erupted below me and began stampeding up the stairs. I nearly threw up. I had to leave. I had to get out.

There was a loud bang and my murderous guests entered the room.

When they kicked the door open and I got a good look at them. Three of them, two females and a male. The larger female was dark, tall and muscular, and was a terrifying sight to see. Miss Scary had a caravan shotgun leaned on her shoulder and walked in calmly. The other two were wearing more tradition spiked raider armor, and were far from calm. They were they were both the same height, which is to say, short, light on their feet, and very twitchy, constantly gripping and regripping the combat knives in their hands. The two looked so similar they could be brother and sister, while all three of them appeared to be Polynesian.

"Check the safe" ordered Miss Scary, gesturing at it with her shotgun

The small man instantly obliged, nearly sprinting towards the little box in the corner. He dropped to his knees and quickly twisted the dial until he was rewarded with a soft click. He swung the door open and quickly checked the contents, visibly relaxing.

"It's all there." He reported to Miss Scary.

Miss Scary nodded slightly, but otherwise showed no emotion about the news. The smaller woman, however, breathed a sigh of relief. She piped up "Well, then what was the noise we heard if not someone coming to steal from us?"

A silence fell over them as the thin man picked up the pieces of flashlight I had dropped around "I don't know exactly," he said "But whoever it was can't be far gone."

The taller women stood up straight "secure the house and then begin sweeping all nearby ruins. Don't let anybody get past you or I'll make you regret it."

Both of the others nodded and ran out of the room.

The taller woman walked slowly to the safe in the far corner of the room. She crouched down and picked up a piece of my flashlight. "Where are you…?" She murmured to herself, before standing back up and walking out.

I drew back from the crack in the door and leaned back against the wall. I felt cold and hollow. I closed my eyes and desperately tried to control my breathing. The space was so small I couldn't stretch my hands out to either side, and I could already feel the walls closing in around me. I had to get out.

I saw down and focused on my breathing for a few minutes until I was calm enough to function. I began searching, not that there was much space to search, for a rope to scale the building or some sort of weapon. Bits of trash were scattered about, a few leather scraps, a broken metal helmet, and what used to be a rifle stock that was bent beyond use. No rope and no weapon.

I reached for my holster even though I knew exactly what I would find. I pulled out a 9mm handgun with a nearly fully magazine. Fired once, completely black, it perfect condition besides a scratch along its slide. I knew I wouldn't use it, so I slid it back into its holster and tried to come up with an escape plan.

I couldn't stay, I would surely be found and I would have nowhere to go. I could try to sneak out, but the chances of me getting caught were too high. The only way I was getting out was with every single raider being unconscious or dead. I definitely couldn't do that alone. If my 90-pound thin frame went up against even one of those raiders the result would be me getting un-alived. There had to be another way.

I was running out of time and had to do something. I picked up the broken metal helmet and examined it. It had a large gouge running down the side as if it had made a not-so-friendly acquaintance with an axe, and the hole was large enough to fit my hand through, with metal curling off on the inside acting as an adequate handhold. I reached my hand in and grabbed the handle hold, the metal digging into my fingers.

I readjusted my grip on the helmet and creaked the door open, moving as slow as possible as I crept back into the room.

It was empty, but I knew that could change at any second. I got on my knees and crawled to the safe, making as little noise as possible. The door to the safe was still open from the raiders searching.

As I got closer to the safe my breathing got faster and faster and by the time I got a hold on its door I was practically panting in anticipation. I tugged it open and nearly cried out in relief when I saw what lay inside. I set down my helmet, pulled off my bag, and quickly began shoveling everything in, trying to keep as quiet as possible.

I got it all out and zipped up my bag, slinging it over my shoulders. The weight of it tugged me down, a pleasant reminder that I had got what I had come for. A few bottle caps and other miscellaneous items were still scattered about the bottom of the safe, but I didn't care about them. I stood back up and swung the door shut.

It closed with a bang.

My hand flew up and smacked myself in the face for being so impossibly stupid.

I couldn't hear any footsteps, but I knew it would be impossible that someone hadn't noticed the noise. The two raiders that had been sent outside to search for me may not have been warned, but Miss Scary no doubt heard it, and she was one person I would not be evading a second time. I had to get out now.

I grabbed my helmet and walked carefully over to the door. I opened it a crack and peered through the opening into the hallway. As far as I could tell, it was completely empty, nothing and no one was out there.

I opened the door a little more and squeezed out to the hall. The rest of the doors were still ajar from the search, but I couldn't tell if anyone was in them.

I tiptoed down the hall, every creak of the floorboards sending shivers down my spine. Somebody had to have heard something, why had nobody come by now? The absence of resistance was far more terrifying than the prospect of being caught

I got to the pair of doors right in front of the stairs before I heard any noise. It was a soft creak, like someone shifting their weight, coming from my right. I turned too late to do anything and was tackled to the ground, hitting the floor face-first.

My assaulter quickly got on top of me, pinned my arms behind my back, and held my face to the ground

"Hey!" I protested weakly "What are you doing?"

The assailant ignored me and began searching through my jacket pockets, systematically removing everything that could be of value or used as a weapon, namely a few spare bottle caps, a mini screwdriver, and half a piece of gum. Then they unstrapped my gun, pulled out its magazine, and tossed both in opposite directions, the magazine skidded towards the stairs and the gun towards the safe room.

"Hey!" I yelled "Be careful with that!" which received me a knock to the side of the head and my arms being pinned tighter.

They ripped my duffle bag off my shoulder and quickly unzipped it. What followed was several moments of tense silence as they took in the contents of the bag.

"You think you can come in here and steal from me?" The voice, Miss Scary's, was quiet enough it could have been a whisper "You just signed your death sentence, kid"

I swallowed hard "Hey, come on, that won't be necessary, will it?" I said as nonchalant as possible, but a quiver crept in "I'm sure we can work something out, no need for vio-"

She grabbed my hair and yanked my head up, bringing my face close to hers. "The only thing we will be 'working out' is you giving me back what is mine, and then me putting a knife in your back." She snarled ferociously, bits of spittle hitting me in the face

I gulped and said weakly "Don't you want to, uh, wait for everyone else? Make it a family event?"

She grinned, showing off stained and broken teeth "Nobody else will know you were found. You're going to disappear, somehow making off with all of our goods" She let go of my hair unexpectedly, causing my head to smack into the ground once again. "I'll have access to all the stash without having to worry about petty shares, and nobody will know."

I felt her weight disappear from my back and I rolled over and saw why. She was standing over me, duffle bag swung over her shoulder, with her shotgun pointed directly at my face. She looked down her sights and got ready to fire.

I threw my hands up "Wait!" I yelled "Wait, wait, just wait a second, wait. If you kill me in here, you'll, uh, leave evidence of a fight! The others will know that you found and killed me, and they'll get suspicious if you hadn't found the stash!"

She hesitated, lowering the shotgun slightly.

"But," I continued "If you kill me outside then no one will know because you can just cover up any evidence with dirt. You'll keep all the valuables and your group won't get suspicious"

I could see her mulling the options around in her mind, trying to decide if this was a trick or whether it would actually be worth risking my escape to move me outside for my execution. I could see her decide that I, with muscles so large I could barely open a pickle jar, wasn't much of a risk to escape as she lowered her gun and gestured for me to get up.

"If you try to run." She warned as I scrambled to my feet. "I will not hesitate to fill your pathetic head with buckshot."

She re-trained her gun at me and I raised my hands in surrender "No worries, I'm not going anywhere." I gestured over to my discarded handgun and broken helmet "You might want to pick those up and keep track of them, you don't want your prisoner having any weapons, do you?"

She squinted her eyes at me, trying to figure out my angle. Finally, keeping the shotgun pointed at me the whole time, she bent over and picked up the two items, stashing the gun in a pocket and the helmet under her arm. "Why are you so helpful all the sudden?" She demanded, poking her gun at me as if to make some point.

I narrowed my eyes at the barrel a few inches from my face. "I would prefer not to get shot until absolutely necessary" I said slowly "And the best way to do that is with cooperation."

She led me to the stairs and I tripped over a loose floorboard and my hands shot out in front of me to stop my fall, but I still landed heavily on my stomach, directly in front of the stairs. I groaned and wrapped my hands around my stomach, grabbing the magazine I was lying on, stowing it inside my jacket.

"Get up!" She barked, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me onto my feet. I desperately got my footing and balanced myself before she hit me in the back of the head with the butt of her gun. Pain shot through my skull and I nearly gasped

"I suggest you keep your balance next time, because that's more where that came from" She spat and prodded me her gun again "Now get moving"

My head throbbing, I carefully made my way down the stairs and started towards the door, Miss Scary right behind me. This was my last chance.

I stopped and she nearly ran into me.

"Why aren't you moving?" She demanded "What do you think you're doing"

I turned and gave her a smile that didn't quite reach the eyes "Ah, you see, the thing is, we're not going outside."

She glared at me "And why would that be?"

I casually stepped backwards, away from her, and said "Because, uh, well… OK there is no real reason, I just don't want to die."

She leveled the shotgun at me "Don't think I won't kill you" She warned "It would be the simplest thing to convince the others that you were a second robber and the first got away with the loot."

Time, I needed time to think. "But, but, It would be highly unlikely that you were able to catch me and not so much as catch sight of the other robber."

Miss Scary apparently had enough of my talking because she stormed over and hit me across the cheek with her shotgun butt. "Get outside or I'm going to drag you out!" She yelled, grabbing my shirt and holding me up.

My hands were free, her shotgun was lowered.

I spat in her eye and she dropped me, stumbling back in surprise and swearing. At the same time I made a grab for the helmet still tucked under her arm and managed to take it. She was too preoccupied to even notice that it was gone. She finished wiping furiously at her eye and turned towards where she dropped me, aiming her gun. But I wasn't there anymore

I lifted the helmet up with both hands and smashed it down on the back of her head as hard as I could. She stumbled forwards and I hit her again, putting as much force as I could possibly muster behind the blow.

I went to hit her again, determined to knock her out, when she spun around, knocking the helmet out of my hand with her gun, and fired.

The gunshot was loud and I flinched hard, closing my eyes and bringing my hands up to my ears. This is it, I thought. This is where I die

It took me several seconds of my ears ringing to realize I wasn't dead, that I hadn't even been shot. I opened my eyes a crack and saw that Miss Scary was bent over, panting, as she loaded another shell into her shotgun to replace the one she used. I glanced back and saw that she had missed her shot, shooting off to my right. I looked back over to her and she straightened up and controlled her breathing

She looked up at me with murder in her eyes and growled. "You. Little. Piece. Of. Sh-" Before another bang interrupted her.

I thought for a second she had fired again, and I flinched again and put up my arms to defend myself, but when I opened my eyes she looked as surprised as I was. She was looking behind me and I turned around to see what was so great.

Two silhouetted raiders were standing in an open doorway, with fresh sunlight pouring in from behind them. I had been in the building so long the sun had risen

The two walked in and I realized it was the other, small raiders from before. The ones that had been sent to search for me. They both looked confused about the situation. After a tense silence the girl spoke.

"Alani" She said, slowly "What is going on? We came when we heard gunfire."

Miss Scary, Alani, grabbed me from behind in a chokehold "Quick, Kahula, you and your twin come help me take care of this thief!"

Twins. That explained why they looked so similar. And it looked like I was right about their ancestry, those were Polynesian names.

The small women, Kahula, moved forward, pulling out her knife

"Wait, wait wait!" I yelled "She was going to betray you!"

She hesitated, looking at Alani.

"Shut it." Alani growled in my ear, and then yelled to the twins "He's lying, what you are waiting for? Kill him!"

"It's true!" I said "She was going to kill me and take all of the- Agh!"

She tightened her hold, cutting off all airflow. I hit weakly against her arm, but her grip was iron. I slipped my other hand into one of her pockets and pulled out my handgun, discretely sliding it into my jacket pocket that held the magazine.

The man at the door stepped forward, stopping by his sister "Let him go. I want to hear what he has to say. After that, we can kill him."

Alani had been backed into a corner. If she killed me, it would prove to the other two that she didn't want me to speak because my words were true. If she let me go, I would tell them about her plan to betray them anyway.

She hesitated, unsure of what to do, and unconsciously relaxed her grip. I immediately twisted out of her grip, quickly stepping out of her range. The other two raiders instantly tensed up, grabbing their knives.

"Whoa, whoa!" I threw my hands up in a Calm down gesture. "She," I pointed at Alani "was going to take the entire stash from me, kill me, and claim I had gotten away, keeping everything for herself."

Kahula stared at me "The stash you stole."

I winced "Well… yes, but! But, if I hadn't distracted her until you got her, then she would have stolen it all. So, in a way, I saved all of your stuff from this thief!" Pointing dramatically at Alani, who was glaring at me? "I have revealed the traitor in your midst!"

The twins, Kahula and Kahole, had looked skeptical at first, but were now glancing suspiciously at Alani. Kahole slowly reached for his knife.

"And why would we trust you?" Kahula said pointedly.

"Because I have proof!" I claimed "The bag! She's holding it! If she had had the chance to take my bag, she would have had the chance to kill me as well! The only reason she wouldn't have killed me immediately would be because she needed to kill me where she could hide the evidence and make off with the stash.

It worked. I could see it in the twin's faces. They believed every word.

"Do you really believe this?" Alani protested weakly, lowering her weapon and stretching out a hand as a gesture of peace "This thief is trying to get us to fight each other so that he can escape!" It was no use. The twins had already been convinced.

"You've always been trying to cheat us Alani." Kahula said. "This is the end of it." Kahole finished. They both made a move towards Alani.

But they didn't get far. Alani raised her shotgun and fired once, taking down the girl, Kahula. She turned and fired again at Kahole, who had been running at her, and he fell at her feet.

I stared in shock at the two bodies gasping on the floor while Alani calmly lowered her shotgun and crouched down beside Kahole, dropping her empty shotgun and picking up his knife.

I couldn't look away from Kahula. The rectangle of light falling in from the open door landed on Kahula's head, so I could clearly see her pleading eyes. She stared at me and raised her hand. For help. A rescue. All I could do was stand there.

Alani strode forward and blocked my line of site with the body .I snapped out of my trance, but the images of her lying there, bleeding out and begging for help, was seared into my mind.

Alani stepped directly in front of me, so close that we were toe-to-toe. I could see a cold, calm, fury burning in her eyes and knew that I couldn't talk my way out of this. She lifted the knife and slowly brushed it along my cheek. I shuddered at the touch of the cold metal.

"You've caused me a lot of trouble." She whispered, sliding the knife lower, off my face and across my throat. "You've killed my two work-monkeys, now what'd you go do that for?"

The knife went lower, passing my chest and stopping at my stomach.

"I guess the only thing left now," The tip of the knife pressed, hard, against my stomach. She locked eyes with me, her stare hard and cold. "Is to kill you."

A pain flared up from my stomach, but was almost instantly replaced by a cold, empty feeling, spreading quickly. I stumbled away from her and fell on the ground, my head spinning. I could see her standing above me, but she was deformed. A giant, larger than life, towering over me menacingly. My vision was blacking out, but I saw her grip the knife, coated with blood, with both hands and lift it up, preparing to bring it crashing down to end my life. But something happened. She stopped, teetering momentarily, before crumpling to the ground beside me. Her head lolled to the side and stared at me. The fire in her eyes died down to a soft flame, and then went out altogether, being replaced instead by a vacant, glassy stare.

Everything blurred together. Black-and-white shapes danced at the corners of my vision, spinning around and around me. Watching them made me feel dizzy. My blood pounded at my ears, desperate to get out. Voices tugged indistinctly at my ears, but I couldn't make sense of them. Everything was slipping away, falling past me into the dark.

Finally, I fell with them.

I saw him again. We were both outside, under a dark stormy sky, with nothing but sand and rocks for miles around us. The wind was blowing hard as the storm raged. He was facing away from me, his head bent downwards as if in prayer. I shouted for him, but my voice refused to work. I began running, but the ground slid out from under me, pulling me away from him. The faster I ran the more the ground slid underneath me, pulling me back. The wind pushed and pushed as the ground pulled me back farther and farther until I couldn't see him anymore and I could only see black desolate wasteland all around me, interrupted by the occasional strike of lightning.

The wind picked up as voices, all the same, floated at me from all directions.

"Here…. This one… take him…."

"Fast…. fading…."

"Run… Run…."

"Here…. come on."

The voices began to get more frantic and the wind matched the tempo

"No…. falling…."

"Have to…. last chance… no choice"

"Hold on... get ready…."

The wind halted and the voices stopped.

For several seconds nothing happened. And then….

"I'm… sorry…"

The storm screeched and the wind instantly burst out into a tornado, pulling me in all directions. An enormous strike of lighting split apart the sky and my entire body exploded in pain. I tried to scream as fire coursed through my veins and my head slowly split apart.

Finally, mercifully, the pain stopped as everything went black