After the end, Snake had bunkered himself down at Shadow Moses Island, one of the stages that was used when Smash tournaments were still happening. It was now back to being like the nuclear disposal facility Snake had come to know. It was more or less his home, and a well-fortified one at that. It was surrounded by a blizzard, which proved useful at keeping any intruders away. It was also stacked with supplies. Food, water, shelter and guns. The four things you need. But after so many years, supplies are finally starting to become thinner.
"Got no choice. I'm gonna have to go out on a supply run."
Snake geared up for his upcoming trip to wasteland. He wore his sneaking suit used in the Shadow Moses incident. It protected him from the elements, and physical harm. He put on a back pack that'd let him take and store as much supplies as he could. In previous runs he would grab just about anything he found. Sometimes he wondered if he had klepto problems. Regarding weaponry Snake carried a trusty M4 Custom Assault Carbine and a SOCOM Mk23 Handgun. Now he was strapped up and ready to go into the unpredictable wastes.
"I have not missed this place." Snake thought to himself after getting out of Shadow Moses territory. This place looked like a desert, but not because of the temperature. This place was baron, void of anything comforting. There was no grass, no flowers, and the blackened trunks of destroyed trees. Snake continued trekking forward, eventually finding a corpse of a dead wastelander. These were pretty common, more or less are a part of the environment now. He searched the body, seeing if it might have any supplies.
"Nothing." He cursed as he rummaged through the pockets of the dead man. Finding nothing, he continued onwards. Eventually, Snake stumbled across two bandits fighting with each other. He decided to hide and watched as things played out.
"You promised us good weapons! We gave you the food, where the fuck are the weapons?!" The rough looking bandit asked threatening the other at gunpoint.
"Look! Look! Please! Just give us a day! T-t-two days tops! I give you my word we'll have the weapons to you by then!" The other bandit pleaded.
"Your word doesn't mean shit to me! Deals off!" He yelled and blew the other bandits brains out with his pistol.
"That's a nice gun." Snake whispered in the bandit's ear. The bandit snapped around to look at Snake, only to have a knife thrust into his gut.
"I'll be sure to take good care of it." He said taking the pistol from the bandit as he fell to his knees.
"B-b-bastard…" The bandit barely managed to mutter. Snake pulled the knife out of the bandit's torso and slit his throat to finish him off. Cleaning the blood off of his knife, Snake searched both the dead bandits for their possessions. Got ammo, a gun, and food. Definitely a good find.
"I'm glad to see bandits are killing each other and not always focusing on the locals. Anyway I got what I wanted. Time to keep moving."
"You think you can just go around killing our men?" A threatening voice roared.
"Well Shit"
Snake turned around and was surrounded by three bandits, and their clothes showed that they were part of the same gang as the bandit he just killed. The leader of the group, who was taller and stronger than the other two, standing at 7,0 ft, walked towards Snake and stared him down.
"You think you can just go around traveling these parts and do whatever you want? No consequences?" The man asked Snake who simply remained silent.
"Nope…that's what we do. We own the wasteland motherfucker!"
"And who exactly is "we"
"You've been livin' under a rock or some shit? We're the Red Dead Raiders!"
"Oh yeah, real scary. Can you cut the bullshit? Are you gonna kill me or are you trying to send a message?"
"Ya hear that boys!? We got us a feisty one!" The raider taunted. "I'll tell you what we're gonna do old man? We're gonna do both!"
"Wrong answer." Snake replied confusing the large man. With a swift snap kick Snake broke the bandit's leg, making him cry out in agony. He pulled the bandit towards him and used him as a human shield against the other two. Snake took a sawed-off shotgun from the Raider's holster and killed the other bandits with two shots. He then threw his crippled human shield on to the dirt, as he had finished serving his purpose.
"YOU SUNNUVABITCH!"
Snake walked over to the other two bandits he killed and began looting their corpses right in front of their comrade.
"Don't you steal from my friends you bastard!"
"Why don't you come over here and do something about it?" Snake challenged.
The bandit could only respond with a frustrated sigh.
"Your friends sure do have a lot of good gear on them." Snake joked, infuriating the raider. "You know this wouldn't have happened if you didn't give me the big speech on who you were and what you do. That just gave me time to plan out my attack. You should've just shot me on sight."
"Fuck off! I don't need your advice!"
"Well ok then. Time to see what kind of gear you got." Snake said and pointed his pistol at the man's head.
"OH GOD PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! PLEASE!" The raider begged. Snake couldn't help but laugh at how much of a coward this "tough" bandit turned out to be.
"Well you did say please…alright I'll let you live but I'm still taking your gear."
"That's fine! Take it!" The bandit complied and began tossing his possessions. Snake double checked to see if he had anything hidden on him, and decided he was clean.
"So how far is your crew's base?"
"About a few miles. Why you askin'?"
"No reason. Just want to wish you luck on crawling all the way back over there." Snake reminded the bandit and left him to his fate.
It was getting dark, the worst time to be wandering the wastelands at night. Snake had his flashlight on and looked for a place to set up camp. As he walked forward his foot hit something, making him point his pistol and flash light at the ground. Upon examination it was a corpse of a Koopa…and it was fresh. He looked forward and saw three more corpses, all Koopas. And then he heard crying, coming from behind a rock. He quietly moved towards it, gun and flashlight at the ready. He then began to circle around the rock without making a sound. He was sure he was about to see the source of the noise. He dashed in front of the suspect with his gun raised. "FREEZE!"
"AAAAAAH! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"
Another Koopa? And a little girl at that.
Snake lowered his weapon, deeming her as not a threat.
"Please! Don't!" The little girl kept crying.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you…as long as you don't try to hurt me that is. Who are you?"
"M-My name is…Katy." The girl answered.
"I'm assuming you were with them?" Snake gestured towards the corpses. She simply nodded as tears kept going down her eyes.
"They family?"
She nodded her head again.
"What happened? Raiders?"
"No…monsters. We were on a supply run, and on our way back we were attacked by those things." She recalled.
Monsters? I've encountered a fair share of creatures and abominations during my travels. Wonder which ones did this. Wild Pokémon? Chain Chomps? Lizaflos? I guess it doesn't matter.
"You were on a supply run? Are you from a settlement?"
"Yes. I'm from the Koopa Keep."
"Heard of it, but I've never been there before."
"It's a few miles west of here. Do you…you think you can take me back there?"
The question struck Snake with a decision, a moral decision.
It's just another sob story of the wastes. You've heard plenty, you don't have to take care of everyone. It's hard enough taking care of yourself.
Look at her! She's just a kid! She is not going to make it alone! God only knows how she was the only one to survive the attack, but she's not going to get lucky twice. If she dies, her blood will be on your hands!
Let's look at this from a practical standpoint. It's only a few miles, you can make that trip no problem. And if you're able to get her to safety, it will definitely gain you approval among that settlement. They may even give you supplies as a reward.
"All right Katy, come with me. We'll find a place to camp for the night and then we'll head to Koopa Keep." Snake decided.
"Thank you!" She cried and hugged Snake's leg.
"Alright enough! Let's get moving." He insisted.
"By the way sir, what's your name?"
"It's Snake. Solid Snake."