Rusted treasure

Boss, Roger, and Sam

Chapter 2

Boss, Rogers, and Sam

            I looked up.  When I had fought the captain and fallen, the sun had been rising. Now, it was about to start its descent. And in a world like this one, you didn’t want to be caught outside in the night. I got up and began walking. I had no destination, no plan. The best thing I could do now was look for any signs of friendly civilization, and try to avoid the more unfriendly types. I still had my map though--my treasured map, which hopefully, led to a treasure. But I couldn’t continue on that journey until I was resupplied.

I had found the map in a chest, in a room, in an old abandoned city. As it had turned out, the room I was in had been the room of some dead president who had wanted to take over the world of rust using whatever treasure he could find on the map. He never found the treasure, and his own soldiers turned against him and toppled his regime of terror. I was hoping that I would have better luck.

            I thought about all of this as I walked along an old, half destroyed highway. Sand was everywhere, and it lazily slid this way and that over the old tarmac. Following the wind, going everywhere it lead. This world was a desolate one, yet somehow thriving. But it is a different kind of growth now. I am part of the 18th generation to live since the world ended. And you would think that by now we would have rebuilt society. And we have, it’s just, different. No longer do people flaunt their riches, and try to create buildings up to the sky. No, that would be an instant target for every raider within a hundred mile radius. Instead we hide our presence, underground or over. If someone were to walk for days on end, looking for civilization, he would not find it. Unless he knew what to look for. And as it just so happened, I knew what to look for, and where to look for it. So as I walked towards nowhere-in-particular I had no fear of being lost. Because I knew that I would find someone, or something, eventually. Our world is filled with people, and you can’t walk more than half a day without seeing someone. The only trouble is that most of those some ones aren’t very friendly at all.

            As I walked along the old highway the scenery around me changed from an old abandonded junk yard, to a huge metropolis of destroyed buildings and wrecked cars. This however, rather than being a blessing, was a curse. Whenever there are tall buildings and tight corridors, there’s bound to be at least one unsavory character lurking in the shadows. I hope I’m lucky enough to avoid any such sadistic Sultans. But it doesn’t seem that luck is on my side today.

            I heard a piece of garbage fall from an overfilled trash can to my left. That meant one person.  I had seen some shifting in my peripherals, someone was watching overhead too.

            “This does not look good.” I mumbled to myself. I slowly raised my hands in the sign of submission.

            “I surrender, don’t shoot me!” I shouted as loud as I could, all the while holding my hands above my head. There was a moment of silence, and then a voice called out in an uncertain squeal:

            “Boss! He said he surrenders. Whadda we do?” Yet another voice, this time much gruffer, came in from my right.

            “Shut up yah idjit! I heard the man too. Give me a second.” A third voice spoke from behind a trash can.

            “Sorry mate, usually the people we come at try to put up a fight. No ones ever given up so easily before. But I don’t suppose you have any weapons, so it would be pretty pointless to try. Because we got lots of weapons, and we also got a hu—the gruff voice interrupted:

            “Shuddup will yah! You’re giving information to the enemy! Just keep yer trap shut! I’m trying to think!”

            “Take all the time you want.” I said in as friendly a tone as I could manage.