The Sovereign

Not Alone

I began walking off towards the truck stop, hoping against all odds that it would have food and water. 

I knew my odds of surviving were slim.  And the further I went northward, the more Radios there'd be.  They had to be migrating from somewhere.  The virus can't spread as quickly as it had.

The Sun was climbing out of view by the time I dragged my feet into the parking lot in front of the truck stop.  The gas pumps looked raided--good thing I didn't push the car all the way there, it would have been wasted energy. 

That lessened my hopes of finding food and water there as well.  Raiders were there.

I dragged my legs into the small Grab-N-Go gas station store, and looked up from my sneakers.

My jaw dropped in a wide grin.

Candy bars, bags of chips, soda; the place looked untouched since the Ends.  I snatched a box of chocolate chip cookies and a soda from the inactive refrigerator and scarfed them down.

Something moved across the store.  I shifted out of the aisle I was in to peak around to the back of the shop.  Nothing was there.

I shrugged and kept went back to eating.  Upon turning around, a radiation sick feline of some kind--likely a bobcat--was hissing at me, back arched, tail frazzled.  It launched towards me, claws outstretched.

I spun around, ducking out of the way.  It slipped across the linoleum to the other end of the aisle.

I slipped trying to stand back up, but the small, nimble cat recovered, and readied to pounce again. 

Trying to regain my balance, and scooted back with my hands and heels. 

It hissed and bore its teeth before jumping.

Suddenly, something large and fast slid down and knocked it out of the air.  I heard a sickening piercing and the sound of the bobcat screaming in pain.

I crawled out of the aisle to see something  that felt extremely strange.

A human form, wearing skin-tight sports padding as armor, and a metal mask hiding his face and hair, stabbing the creature with a long, stainless steel knife.

The man seemed to take a few deep breaths before plunging the knife once more into the creature that had attacked me.

Out of breath, I thanked him between gasps.

"Thank you...a lot.  I mean it. I hate Radios."

He turned and nodded.  He gestured for me to take what I needed, and I shakily stood and began shopping. 

I took two six-packs of soda and a sixteen pack of mini water bottles, as well as various flavored of chips, cookies, and whatever other food wasn't expired.

I became aware that the man was watching me. He was my height, but other than that, I couldn't tell much about him.

I looked back at him and asked "What?"

He shook his head and looked down, then motioned for me to follow him.

He lead me to a back room, which I realized had been stockpiled with gear. Aside from food, some knives, staffs, other weapons, more skin-tight sports padding, and more were hanging from the walls.

"Whoa!" I said. "Where'd you get all this stuff?"

He shrugged and removed his mask.

"Been raiding and scavenging since I was a baby."

I dropped my jaw. It was a girl.