Seems like a lot has happened since the last time I explored the wasteland. Or maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention to notice. Apparently I've earned a reputation throughout the wastes. The civilians think that I'm some sort of mysterious hero that stops the forces of evil before disappearing for a while. To the bandits and raiders, I'm a demon, with the shrapnel lodged in my head symbolizing a horn. I never thought about any of this throughout my travels, yet it seems that even though most of the worlds advanced communication technology has been lost, word still gets around. I guess I'm pretty stupid for thinking that wasn't the case. Well you learn something new every day I guess.

"HEY YOU! FREEZE! HANDS OVER YOUR HEAD!"

Oh great. This is just what I needed.

"Just turn around slowly and give us your stuff. You do that, and we won't kill your sorry ass." A man demanded.

We? So there's more than one of them. Alright, time to turn around so I can analyze the situation and figure out how I'll kill all of them.

Snake followed the man's orders and turned to see 4 bandit's pointing their guns at him. Though as soon as he turned around, they all began to look frightened.

"O-O-Oh my god! It's him!"

"The one horned devil!"

"Drop your weapons guys! Let's get the fuck out of here!"

"But Boss! Isn't there a big bounty on his head?"

"Fuck that! We can't get the money if we're all dead! Now RUN!" The boss ordered as the four of them ran from Snake. Snake pulled out his pistol and aimed for one of the bandits. He had a perfect shot, and he could easily kill them with four well placed shots. But…

It'd be easy to kill them…but they're running away. Seems like a waste of bullets to kill guys that aren't really threatening me. I'll let them live as a reward for being smart enough to choose their battles.

Snake put the pistol back into his holster.
I guess having a reputation of being a demon has its perks.

After the ordeal with the cowardly bandits, Snake continued his travels.

One of them said something about a bounty on me. Apparently it's a big one at that. Who would put a bounty on me? What am I saying, a lot of people and groups would like to have me dead, given the amount of scum I've killed over the years. I just need to figure out which one. Better be careful though. While those bandits may have been too scared of me, there's a good amount of hitmen and bounty hunters in the wastes. All of them are stone cold killers, and would definitely have the balls to fight me one on one. Having one of the other fighters with me would definitely give me a better chance of survival. As for now I'll just have to lay low.

Nighttime had arrived. Instead of the usual routine of making a campfire, he decided to travel at night. The darkness has always been one of his allies, given his specialization in stealth ops. He was lucky that he still had both his Night-Vision Goggles and Thermal Goggles. Now he had the upper hand over any possible attackers. Crouch walking and moving from cover to cover, He eventually saw a group of 5 men traveling with flashlights. Hiding behind a large boulder, Snake assessed the situation.

Five of them. They can't be bandits, they're too well armed. They've got to be mercs. One had a shotgun, 12 gauge. The others looked like they had assault rifles, five-five-sixers. I think I can listen in on what they're saying. Maybe I can find out what they're doing out here.

Hiding behind the rock, he waited as the mercs passed right by them. Quietly, he followed them as they spoke with each other.

"Hey boss? Don't you think we should find a place to rest for the night?"

"No can do. Intel tells me that he travels during the day, but he sleeps by a campfire at night. If we can find that campfire, we'll find him. And then we can kill that bastard in his sleep."

Yeah they're definitely looking for me. I could just let sneak away from them, but I'm sure they'll find me eventually. Better kill them right here one by one.

Sneaking up behind the guard farthest back from the group, Snake put him in a CQC chokehold, covering his mouth as he snapped his neck. Moving on to the next one, he put the merc in a chokehold, this time stabbing him in the throat. For the next one he pulled out a suppressed handgun. He shot the third one in the head for an instant kill. Unfortunately, Snake forgot to consider the noise that would be made by the bullet casing hitting the ground. The last two mercs heard it, and quickly turned around. Their flashlights pointed right at him.

"THERE HE IS!"

SHIT!

As the two mercs opened fire, Snake dived behind the nearest cover he could find. The two mercs circled around the rock he hid behind. One of them popped in front of Snake. Snake dashed towards the man and stripped him of his weapon, using it to kill him. The last merc opened fire, one of the bullets hit Snake in the back, making him grunt in pain. The gun he was holding was out of ammo, so he threw it into the merc's face, stunning him. Snake sprinted forward and tackled him. The man kicked Snake off and they both got up, ready to fight hand to hand.

"How about you and I finish this like men? No guns! No blades! Just the weapons that God gave us." The mercenary challenged. The easiest thing to do would be to just pull out his pistol and shoot the man. Though Snake had a sort of warriors pride and code of honor. So against his better judgement, he decided to take the man up on his challenge.

"All right fine!"

The two men dashed towards each other. The mercenary threw the first few punches. Snake blocked each one, and countered with a hard right cross to the stomach. He did a spinning roundhouse kick towards his head, but the mercenary sidestepped and avoided the attack. The mercenary hit Snake with a big boot to the midsection, knocking him to the ground. He attempted to follow up the attack with a jumping elbow drop. Snake rolled out of the way, and his opponent landed back first on the hard ground. As the man began to get up, he was surprised as he was hit from the side with a hard dropkick. He slowly tried to get back on his feet after the powerful hit he took. Snake would not give him the chance to pull himself together, and got behind him and wrapped his arms around the man's waist. Using his strength, Snake performed a devastating German suplex on his opponent. The man was reeling as the back of his head hit the ground. Feeling that he could go for the final attack, Snake forced the man to his feet and put him in a chokehold, and began strangling him. Surprisingly, this mercenary still had plenty of fight left in him. He landed two hard hitting elbows to Snake's ribs, forcing him to break the chokehold. He turned and knocked Snake to the ground with a devastating right hook to the face. Now the mercenary had the upper hand. Snake got back to his feet but wouldn't be there for long as the mercenary instantly rammed into Snake with a shoulder bash, putting Snake on his back. Feeling arrogant, the merc let Snake get back to his feet, then smacked him in the face with a strong left hook. Snake reeled back but did not fall to the ground like his opponent thought he would. Instead, Snake struck back with an even stronger right hook. Then the man struck back in a similar fashion. The two combatants continued to trade blows with each other for about a minute. Snake finally broke the cycle with a fierce uppercut to the jaw. Knocking the man up in the air and making him fall on his back. The two men had been going at it for half an hour. Exhausted, Snake fell to his knees to take a rest as his opponent was on his back, not looking like he was getting back up anytime soon. Getting back to his feet, Snake walked over to his fallen opponent. His face was bleeding around the eyes, and even coughed up some blood.

"So what they've said is true. You're just like a demon in battle."

"Just save it! I've got some questions. Who put the bounty on me?"

"Who? That's something both of us don't know. I never care for who places the bounty. All that mattered to me was the pay."

Typical mercenary…

Snake stood back up and began to walk away.

"You'd better watch yourself demon. There's others like me and my crew out there looking for you! You may be able to defeat a few more, but eventually they will be too much for you and you will d-"

Snake cut the mercenary off with a pistol shot to the head. He turned and left to but after a while he began to feel a sharp pain in his back.

Damn! That hurts! What's…oh wait. That's right I got hit with a bullet in the fight. Fuck! It's still in there. I'm going to have to remove it.

Snake pulled out his survival knife. He took off the upper part of his suit and began to treat his bullet wound. He dug the knife into the wound, causing him to yell in pain. After what felt like forever, he dug the bullet out. He applied disinfectant and syptic spray onto the wound, both of which stung like hell. He took out a suture kit, and began stitching the wound.

C'mon this is the last painful part! There we go!

Finally closing the wound, Snake finished his treatment by wrapping a bandage around his torso. He put his suit back on, but couldn't get himself to continue moving. As much as he didn't want to, he couldn't help but fall asleep, completely drained of energy after performing first aid. He laid down and lost consciousness.