The Remnants Pact

Chapter 3: Wasteland Tribute

As the first light of dawn painted the wasteland with hues of gold and amber, Atka and Miki stood poised at the threshold of their shelter. The air was charged with a mix of anticipation and uncertainty, a reflection of the path they had chosen. Before they could fully absorb the beauty of the sunrise, their senses were jarred by the sound of approaching footsteps, their rhythms were heavy and deliberate.

Atka's instincts kicked in, and she turned to Miki, her voice a hushed warning. "Miki, get ready. We might have company."

Miki's eyes widened, her fingers instinctively gripping her steel pipe spear. Shadows emerged from the wreckage, coalescing into two figures. Wasteland bandits, their eyes gleaming with the predatory hunger and thirst for some satisfaction that they heard from people of wasteland laid here in this specific spot of a shelter.

The bandits' eyes fixed on Atka and Miki, their gaze predatory and drooled out their mouth. One of them held a makeshift harpoon, its tip crudely fashioned from jagged pieces of metal, while the other brandished a blade fashioned from discarded debris.

"Look what we've got here, Rafe," the harpoon-wielder sneered, his voice a harsh rasp. "A couple of fresh faces looking to make their mark, whooo! Wahaha!" Brack's laugh crackled the dawn's emptiness.

Miki's grip on her steel pipe tightened, her expression unwavering. Atka gestured her to move behind her for this time.

"We're not looking for trouble, just passing through." Atka said with fierce sight to them eyes.

Rafe's laughter echoed through the air like a taunt. "Passing through, eh? Well, we've got a 'toll' for that. Aren't we, Brack?" He then slurped his own from his lips.

"Come, darling... Let me get a taste of ya!" Brack slowly reached out his hands to try to caress Atka's hair.

"Get away from Atka! She doesn't like you!" Miki suddenly scratch Brack's hands off from Atka's body with a swung from her steel pipe spear.

"Shayyt!!! Arghh! That's fucking hurt!! You! Rafe! Forget about raping them, let's just fucking cook these bastards!" Brack waved his wounded hand in the air while tilting his head to told Rafe to attack them.

"Come here, you piece of shit!" With a swift motion, Rafe lunged forward, his scrap metal blade glinting in the sunlight. 

Atka and Miki moved as one, their survival instincts told them to move away from each other, letting Rafe's blade hit the trash ground. 

Miki swung her steel pipe spear toward Rafe's face and hurt his below eyes made him bleeding in a sudden while stared him fierce.

"AAAKHHHHH!!!" Rafe went into rampage and swung his blade here and there while his left hand covering his wound. "I'LL SLICE YOU UP YOU RAT!"

An arrow flew swiftly from Atka's bow just in time before Rafe could give some damage to Miki. While Brack was still busy tying his clothes' part to his hand, Rafe got a direct hit on his shoulder from the back, "GAAAHHHDD!!! BRACK! FFTTTT..... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??!!"

Brack just bulged his eyes out of shock after he knew Atka hit Rafe in a second out of his sight. "Ohhh.. I'll make sure you'll get tetanus all over your tasty leg from my harpoon! Eat this!"

"You sure?" Because of his own clumsiness, unexperienced Brack got his forehead in front of Atka's bow that was ready to be launched. 

"Want me to deliver this arrow through your empty skull?" Atka said it to Brack's face with cold face and made him kneel down out of fear and despair, looking back at Rafe that was still trying to hit Miki with her swift movement through the garbage. "Aren't you going to help your sister..? I already give up, your sister going to die any moment now."

"She's not the person you need to worry." Atka then slapped Brack's face hard with a strong blow of her make shift bow, delivered him straight to sleep.

"STOP RUNNING ... YOU... MOLE RAT!" Rafe tried to catch Miki with him slashing around the metal drums, plastic bags, bottles, and everything on his path. Making his own perception to be barely visible at looking forward, which now he could see clearly now that Miki's not in front of her running. 

"Looking for me, mister?" Miki stood still beside him, quickly swayed her spear onto right knee and wounded him badly, forcing Rafe to kneeled down. "GAARRHHH!!! THAT'S HURRTTTTT!!"

Miki standing while looking down on Rafe's head looking down that was nearly her own height, "Never. Try to hurt any of us, again, okay Mister?" She quickly then smiled when Rafe looked up on her which she responded with a hard knocking down on his skull, making him unconscious.

Miki then carelessly walk to her sister while hopping happily, she hummed with cheer as she got her first victory. "Hm Hm Hm .. Did you see that, Atka? I was like.. whoosh, whoosh! It's better than hunting rats, y'know?" She told Atka happily.

"Pfft.. Bwahaha! I can't hold it... They were so confident on threatening us, like 'C'mere you pieace of shayt!' And you were running here and there on that guy with ease....Of course I saw that, Miki! You were 'good' back there." Atka pat and rub Miki's head out of proud, making Miki smiled widely.

"Good? I was so sick! Hehee...I guess I don't need that bow of yours later when I'm big, sist!" Miki started walking in front of her with a big head.

"Yea... that steel pipe better be harder than that big head of yours! Ahahaha!" Atka followed her closely while holding her stomach laughing.

"Heyy!!" Miki yelled her in embarassment.

"There.. there.. I will always believe in you and your choice of doing, Miki... . Let's continue our road and you can beat up more enemies as you like, okay?" Atka pat Miki's shoulder in trust.

 As the sun continued its ascent, Atka and Miki shared a glance, their unspoken understanding a testament to the bond that had carried them through the trial.

With a nod, they turned back toward their chosen path. The sunrise painted the wasteland with renewed beauty, the promise of their journey now tinged with the knowledge that danger lurked around every corner. But their resolve burned brighter than ever, a beacon of hope in a world where survival demanded every ounce of strength they possessed.