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Chapter 3

"Get in here!" a voice called from inside the room.

"Jared?" I asked.

"Yes! Now get in here and be quiet, Gabe!"

Jared was 22 and my second closest friend, other than Mika. He spent most of his time as a guard or a scavenger, as his shooting ability was uncanny. I had never known him to miss a shot.

The room was made of concrete, like everything else in the compound as you may have guessed, and smelled like old fish and sour milk.

"I still don't understand how you can stand this smell. Shouldn't you be out there fighting the mutated?"

"They've got that under control," he responded. "This is more important. You know how the mutated were waiting for us right as we were opening the gate?"

"Yeah, that was strange," I replied. "What about it though?"

"Well, there is no way in Hell they could have known to do that. I was just out there yesterday and the wind rustling through the trees was enough to make one start hitting its head on the tree trunk."

I laughed, then allowed him to continue.

"Anyway, my point is that there is no way it was them that coordinated the attack. I think someone lured them there so when we opened the door they would be able to jump us."

"Like who?" I questioned.

"I don't know. Someone with a grudge against us I guess. Or someone with a personal grudge against someone in here. Or maybe it's just some psycho. Either way, we have to figure out what the Hell is happening."

"I agree. You wanna go scavenge with me? I'm bored."

So we walked out in to the hall.

"What was up with Mika? I saw him rolling through on a stretcher this morning on guard duty," Jared asked me.

"Radiation mask broke. He should be ok. I hope," I responded.

"Ok. Let me know if it gets any worse."

"Will do."

We walked on in silence until we reached the gate. Well, I guess it's not much of a gate, more of a barrier. Essentially it is a large, rusty metal circle that can be cranked aside, and a ladder behind it. The two guards on either side of the door wore gas masks, though they were not completely neccesary.

The air was usually clean everywhere thanks to multiple pipes throughout the place with specially modified air filters inside.

We put up our hands in greeting to the guards, and they nodded in response. They had on black and white striped clothes, the closest thing we had for uniforms to distinguish them.

We each grabbed a radiation mask from the rack on the wall, then checked the time on the air filter.

"I got about an hour left in here. You?" Jared asked.

"Hour fifteen. Let's go."

We ascended the ladder slowly, in order not to break any of the rusty rungs. It had been there for as long as anyone could remember, and wasn't in good condition.

Jared pushed open the manhole cover at the top of the ladder, and nimbly jumped out. I followed suit, but tripped and fell in to an old piece of metal, cutting my hand.

"Smooth," Jared commented, chuckling.

"Shut up," I said, dusting myself off as I stood up.

Everything within a mile of exit was already thoroughly checked, so we broke in to a jog northwards, though we were slowed down by the constant stream of ash and debris in our way.

When we had gotten a couple miles away from the compound, Jared pointed out an old store.

"The glass isn't broken, and everything else looks untouched. Let's check it out," Jared remarked.

I agreed, and we walked towards the store. I smashed through the glass with the butt of my gun.

"Whoah. Jackpot," I said excitedly.

We were in an old military surplus store. Camouflage surrounded us on all sides, and anything else army from gas masks to pistols covered the walls and shelves.

"You go see if you can find anything good, and I'll record this place on our map. We should come back to carry more sometime," Jared said.

"Sounds good," I replied happily.

I spotted a large pistol, which I recognized as a Desert Eagle. I stroked the cool, silver metal and then slipped it in to my jeans.

Then I saw a long, black object peeking out from behind a cart. I pushed it aside, and it revealed a shiny new sniper rifle.

"Sweet! Jared, come over here!" I exclaimed. Jared was always complaining about how his rifle always misfired. "I found a sniper rifle!"

Jared started to walk over to it.

"Whoah... I remember looking at this when I was your age. It went for over a hundred thousand online. One of the best made. And it looks brand new..." Jared trailed off in awe.

It did look brand new. A little out of place, too, among all the old rusty army equipment.

"Wait Jared-" I was cut off by a loud metallic clang that sounded from behind us.