Drifters Attack Nearby Town of Willow

Untitled Part 1

Oct. 11, 2187– New-Den In the sleepy shadow town of Willow- where the locals live in homes constructed of our city's scraps and the remnants of homes long abandoned, and the only food and medicine they have is foraged or grown- it's not unusual to face the occasional Drifter. So close to the city, they're often the first stop for those exiled from our walls.

But, those singletons, the outcasts and criminals- those that step on a few too many toes in the surface communities (keep your crime here in the Swell, seems to be the message their sending with this law)- are simply that. They're alone. They're the ones we discard to find their own way.

This is either a death sentence, or a higher calling. For those that do not perish on their long journey into the abandoned zones of our forgotten country, it is the Drifter's life that keep them on this earth.

We've all heard the stories of the Drifters- large groups of the exiled criminals, gathering in the desert to trade and plunder, taking the empty territories for their own. After all, it's why no citizen is able to travel between cities without military permit and escort. It is why our walls- once erected as a statement of our isolation from the world- remain important to our livelihood, so they say.

But this fails to remember that there are still hoards of small towns, now shadows of their former selves, with citizens that never left with the migration to the cities.

The Drifters, unaccepted by the Shadows, are forced to move from one to the other, stealing or trading what they can to survive. Thus is the case of the attack on Willow.

While it's strange for a pack of drifters to come so close to the cities, knowing the military presence, word from our sources states they've been inching closer the last few years. Perhaps finding fewer and fewer resources in the wastelands.

There is also a route from Denver to Chicago, manned by a small team of medical staff, along which medical and food supplies are regularly discharged. If the Shadows are lucky, the staff will also stop for health check ups and an evaluation of what the towns need most.

Willow is among the Shadows provided these resupplies, and the townspeople believe that is what attracted the Drifters yesterday evening.

According to a local that runs the co-op of food vendors for the town:

"They came in... dragging along one of their members, screaming for medicine and a doctor. We told them... We don't have... We are simple folk. We have little. They refused to listen. They tore apart our homes, our shops. They only left when one of our neighbors offered them help. He patched up the stomach of the young man, and gave them medicine, as long as they left the rest of he supplies with us."

And they agreed?

"Yes, of course. No one can argue with him."

Him? Who is this man?

Our source became visibly uncomfortable, and shook his head. "He is just one of ours."

We've also discovered from another shadow within a 5 mile trek from Willow, that announced a recent attack from Drifter as well. Just earlier the same day, Drifters came to their town in search of food and items to trade. They'd mentioned that this has only happened on occasion, but in the last three years has happened more than usual.

"Sums o dem are okay wit negotiatin', bu nah deez uns. Theyz came in blazzin' and terrin' up everythin'. Weez nah fur it. Weez figh'"

Reportedly, they took up arms with rusty fence posts and knifes, and struck a few of the Drifters well enough to drive them away. Only they went looking for help in another Shadow, Willow.

How long before resources out in the Shadows, and they all come looking, lining up at the city walls, demanding that we not ignore them. How long will it take for us to join them?