The story below is nothing special. Its something I wrote in about 30-40 minutes in like 10 minute segments whenever I felt like it. I didn't put a whole ton of effort in so the story isn't amazing, but I need a place to store it and this seems like a neat site. As of right now the story isn't finished and its possible that it might never be. This story is mostly something I can use to work on world building. Never the less feel free to give me some pointers.
We got off the helicopter about two miles from the deserted city. There were three of us. Me, Patrick, and Jake. We had been tasked to see if there were any resources we could scavenge for. Ever since the nuclear winter cleared up, we got hit with a never ending drought. There was barely any water left on the surface and the wars being fought underground were getting too dangerous to take part in. One of the nomadic clans had figured out how to make a functioning flamethrower and they were just ripping through tons of the Armored Union's soldiers.
"Yo, Nick, are we heading straight into the city or should we circle around it", Patrick said.
"I think we should go straight into the heart of the city. If im remembering correctly on the old maps there was a spring fed water fountain in the center. Im guessing anything thats dangerous in there is probably going at the fountain, so there's no use in circling around. What do you think Jake?"
"To be honest, i dont really care. We are here to get water and water is what we are gonna get", Jake said as he set down a huge bundle of jugs. "I think we should leave these here so we dont have to carry them while we make sure the place is clear."
I picked up one of the smaller jugs and strapped it to my back. "We should at least take one each. That way we can have some for ourselves while we come back out here for the rest."
" Makes sense to me. Im gonna care yours, Jake, so you can carry the minigun."
"Aight, lets go boys!"
We began the long journey into the destroyed city. Even from here i could see that many of the buildings were beginning to lean because of their supports being warped by the extreme heat of the dry season. Over to the east a sand storm was moving away from us. It must have just hit the city a few hours ago. I looked over at my two companions. They were an interesting pair. Jake was our heavy weapons guy and one of the few to have been in the Desert Tankers faction before it was dispended. He was pretty tall with broad shoulders and he was covered in tattoos. The most obvious one was a large tank that went from his left side of his chest onto his left shoulder. He had a very stern, quiet, and straight forward personality. He didnt like funny business while he was working, but i know from past experience that when its his free time he can actually be quite a fun person. Patrick on the other hand was our medic, map expert, and a n all around smart guy. He was originally part of the Underground Mining group for the Armored Union. He was quiet but not because he was serious but because he just a bit shy and just kind of liked to keep to himself. Patrick was a genuinely nice guy and probably the only person I would trust completely.
I was the resident marksman/scout guy. So i was the guy who usually got stuck with these more dangerous scavenging missions. I kind of hate them, but i have to do my part for the group. Our group is a relatively big clan of about 153 people. A good chunk of those people are children, the elderly, or cant fight; so in reality our number of fighters and workers are only 96 which out here is still pretty sizeable. We like to call out selves the Broken Branch. The name comes from the Tree of Life faction which we broke off from a couple decades back. They were too strict with who they let in and they got us into pointless wars all the time. Our current leader, Kat, does a pretty good job of keeping the place running. She has kept us out of conflicts with other factions and has built a pretty good system of getting work done. She split the workers into different groups. The Scavengers, the miners, the guards, the scouts, the metal workers, the builders, and the government.
Each group had their own special tasks. The scavengers collected anything usefully; things like metal, wood, parts, water, and food. The miners dug our homes and looked for underground water and minerals. The guards did all the fighting and protection. The builders and metal workers made stuff. They take anything the scavengers bring in and put it to good use. The scouts, like me, do all the actually looking for resources and enemys, but we dont usually do much of the collecting unless its dangerous. And finally the government. Its their job to make sure everything runs smoothly and to keep peace with all the other factions.
"Wow, look at that!"
"What is it Pat?"
I had fallen a bit behind so i ran to catch up. Pat was standing next to a very large building maybe 25 floors tall, but it wasnt near anything other buildings. I then saw the thing Pat had found. At the base of the building was a huge hole with steep sides. Jake stepped aside to let me get a better look.
"I bet its a razor hound den if ever ive seen one."
Jake flicked the cigarette he was smoking and threw it down into the gaping hole. Sure enough we heard a guttural scream of a razor hound.
"Oh shoot, i wouldnt want to fall in there."
" Yeah, thats for sure. I have half a mind to use this mini gun and mow em all down."
Pat gave him a stare. "You know, you could collapse this whole building if you did that. Even more, depending on how big their den is, you could bring down this whole area!"
"Yeah yeah i know. I only said i have half a mind"
"Okay you two we are about to enter the city so we are gonna have to set up a game plan."
Pat put the big water jugs he had put down back on his back with a huff. "Your the boss big man. Kat put you in charge so the planning part is on you, just dont get us killed."
"Ok, we are about a mile from the city now. Let me check the map for a second." I pulled out an old map of the city. Along time ago the city used to have alot more buildings along the outer edge, but the desert winds had since eroded them so much many of them have just disappeared. "Alright, so look here. The fountain is in the middle of city square. When we get there me and Jake will stand guard while you test the water. You did bring your test kit, right Pat?"
" Yeah, of course i did. I'll test the water to see if its drink able and i'll take a sample back to the lab to see if theres any longer lasting effects that we need to worry about. The plan is that if this water is good enough we will dig a tunnel out here from our main cave. "
Jake keeled down and took off his back pack and pulled out a large drum magazine. "Sounds like a plan then. What formation should we take?"
" We will take an L formation. You will be on my right with your mini gun and Pat behind me with his rifle. If we get into trouble i'll kneel down with my marksman rifle and you, Pat, can shoot over my shoulder. "
Jake stood up with a huff. "Lets do this."
We started the final leg of the journey at a good pace. From the mao it looked like we would have to walk through about 2 miles of city space to get to the fountain. That didnt seem to bad, but bad stuff tends to live in those abandon buildings. I think it is usually just normal wild dogs, but occasional there will be some blaze beetles and maybe even a Mantix. Mantix are giant bugs with huge exoskeleton blades for arms. Ive seen in some old books pictures of a praying mantis and they look quite similar. A thing i definitely didnt want to walk into was a Forgetful. They tend to be people that didnt take the wasteland too well. I believe its a parasite that lives in their brain. The parasite feed on different chemicals in the brain so it forces the host to do things that give them that chemical. Stuff like jump of cliffs for adrenaline or give things away for serotonin and some just to drugs to get food. They are usually walking around aimlessly. Sometimes the come and give you valuable things that they own, but other times they try to kill you for no reason. I feel bad about killing them because they arent in the right mind, but sometimes it has to be done to survive.
I looked around. All around us were huge sky scrapers that towered over us. Most of them seemed intact and relatively untouched by deterioration. I looked into the widows of what seemed to be a store front. The dark shadows inside made be shiver with a bit of fear. This place seemed so dead with no people in it. Pat was telling me earlier that the ice quakes this area had during the nuclear winter made the area uninhabitable and i guess no one came back.
I looked down an alley. I could see some dogs eating something, something vaguely human. Poor guy.
"Alright, it looks like we are here." Pat set down the water containers as he pulled out the testing kit from his pack.
" Hold your horse. We gotta see if theres anything there before we go jumpin in. "
We stepped out into the square that held the fountain. The sun was blindingly bright and shown right into my eyes. As my eyes adjusted i saw something and froze. A giant mantis was eating something in the corner across from us. It looks like he had caught one of those dogs we saw earlier.
"Hey, Nick, whats the plan." Pat whispered in the quietest voice he could.
" You two go grab the rope and the hooks. You guys go around the outside of the square and I'll go through the middle. When you get close enough hook his claws and pull them as far apart from each other as you can. I'll take care of the rest. "
Pat and Jake both slinked back to their bags and grabbed the rope. I eyed the creature up. It was massive probably the only predator in this whole area and had eaten all of the food there was to find. It was probably 30 feet tall, the biggest i had ever seen. I had a plan to defeat him without guns that i had tried before, but not with one this big. The guns we had that could penetrate used bullets that were getting more expensive lately luckly i had a trick up my sleeve. Jake and Pat were about half way around the outside of the square when they gave me a thumbs up. I made my move inward toward the creature. When i was about three-fourths of the way Jake and Pat threw their ropes. They both landed great shots entangling both arms and pulling them apart. I made a mad dash for the creature. As i did so i pulled a my short sword that i kept on me. With a quick thrust to the center of the chest the creature let our a roar. Some of the windows around us broke and i went deaf for a moment. The creatures legs began to buckle.
"Get out of the way its going to fall!"
We all ran as the the creature hit the ground and a huge cloud of dust filled the square.
I heard some coughing. Jake had ducked into a café and Pat came out of an alley way.
"Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah, im good. How about you Pat?"
Pat coughed, "I'm alright, got a lung full of dust though. "
"Thats good, we need to get the fountain tested before something comes. Something had to have heard that thing hit the ground." I walked over to the creature and pulled the sword out. After wiping it on the tail of my shirt i put it back in its sheath. "Jake, come help me take out its teeth."
" What? I thought those things didnt have teeth. "
"They have small little spikes on their mandible that act like teeth. I heard they can go for quite a bit on the market. They use them for weapon building or something. Pat after testing the water get on comms and call in the chopper ."
"Yeah, i'll do that"
"Jake you got a bag in your backpack right? Can you get that out for these teeth. "
"Sure thing, Here you go. I wonder if any of the blacksmith guys back at camp would want these."
" Im sure they would, but they wouldnt ever use them for anything good. In fact i bet they would waste them by putting em on a dune buggy or a demo derby car. Im just going to keep them for ourselves. We are on our own when it comes to food and spending money when we are on missions. "
"If you say so."
" Hey guys! " Pat yelled. "I got bad news, the water isnt any good. Its been poisoned with Bane fruit."
" Thats odd, " I yelled back. "You should call the chopper and tell them we got a poisoner in the area. Tell them to give a five mile radius for the exclusion zone."
" Okey, im on it. "
Jake looked puzzled. "Exclusion zone? Whats that. I havent done much of exploring duty is this some kind of code?"
" Oh, im just having him tell base to label the water within five miles of here as potential poisoned. Who ever poisoned this water may have done it to others. Im guessing it could be faction warfare. "