The Rules Of Living On The Wasted Land

Chapter 15 Ambushing Green-skinned Monsters
Were all the soldiers of the Gun Team working so hard for their so-called “leader”?

Knowing that his men were in danger of dying, that they would completely be annihilated with no support in the face of mutants’ attacks, their so-called leader didn’t care their lives and even didn’t want to rescue them. He preferred to hire an unrelated vagrant to make inquiries, rather than ask the silly standing guards to try to rescue them. Although such a simple task had fallen into my hands, I still felt sorry for these soldiers.

I took down the magazine and pulled the bolt with my thumb to make sure the sniper rifle was okay, then I patted it which was in my hand. It was time to go to complete my first mission, my first real adventure in this Wasteland!

After leaving the headquarter of Gun Team, I was going to the Northern District of City St. John. Outside the eastern cement fence of the Gun Team’s headquarter, there were dense ghouls’ remains. Some soldiers in masks and gloves of the Gun Team were carrying the remains into the truck compartment, with their eyebrows frowning. I didn’t know where they would send them to for disposal. Through the remains of this place, I could imagine how fierce the battle of last night was, although it should be the slaughter of one-side. The fact could only be that fragile skulls were crushed by large-caliber rifles.

Walking in the street, I didn’t encounter any looters or gang members except some soldiers on patrol together sometimes. It seemed that these groups were independent of each other and the areas under control couldn’t be invaded by other groups, which might be because of the potential dangers in the Northern District. After all, fear and danger because of mutants and ghouls were no less than those because of the Gun Team. The latter would kill people, but the former would kill and eat people.

The more I walked to the north, the more dilapidated the buildings I saw were and the more sparse the weeds were. The abandoned vehicles here were badly damaged, and broken walls and rubble were everywhere. Unlike the ruins of the Southern District, these large pieces of building debris that had fallen were plundered by little people. In the Southern District, similar debris had already been smashed and steel bars or other metal materials in it had been taken.

There was hidden danger in Northern District which was almost an undeveloped paradise.

The ghouls seemed to have disappeared. I had been walking for half an hour, I didn’t saw any creatures except for some fist-sized mutant cockroaches. Of course, I didn’t want to meet those damn mutant creatures.

I just thought it was too quiet. It was too quiet… to be scary.

The environment here imperceptibly brought depression to people. Compared with the areas where human beings lived, everything here seemed to be dead and was shrouded in stillness. I admired those soldiers of Gun Team who stationed here. Their mental qualities must be extremely strong. Of course, it might because they loved their leader. The power of beliefs was always beyond one’s explanation.

Desperate life always led to beliefs, all kinds of strange beliefs. Some worshipped the so-called Atomic God in the direction of craters with a few bloodstains on their faces. Some looked at bronze statues of centuries ago with reverence, expecting that great men would climb out of the cemetery and lead them to freedom. And some even knelt down to mutant cattle… well, that was what I couldn’t understand. Maybe he just hoped not to be hungry every day. Don’t be surprised even if you saw someone kneeling down to a toilet brush. Because this was Wasteland.

Night always kept you unaware of the danger at hand, but it was totally different in the daytime.

When I passed through a half-collapsed three-storey building on the corner, the sunshine which had been blocked shone here. At that moment, I unintentionally saw my shadow on the ground and a strange shadow was approaching it quickly.

Damn! Holding the gun, I immediately rolled forward, which was hurting because of the rocks on the ground. I succeeded escaping from the shadow. I looked back, and it turned out to be a big net full of hooks.

There was an ambush!

“Bang!”

At the moment when I realized that I was ambushed, mud splashed on the ground of one side. I stood up quickly and ran to the nearest abandoned vehicle. But the bullets were shot into the ground and mud splashed behind me all the way as if those bullets had eyes until they hit the car, making a series of crisp sounds.

I raised my head and wanted to look for the attacker, but sparks splashed on the car because of shooting and I had to lower my head.

Fuck!

Every time I wanted to pop my head, I was greeted by dense bullets. And the enemy was in a high position so that he could see more. I had to shrink in and I was completely suppressed.

I tried again and again. And I found that as soon as I looked up even for a short time, the bullets would pour in the direction I was hiding. The shooting lasted about five seconds each time, and then stopped. There seemed to be a regularity?

I decided to take a chance.

I exposed myself out of back of the car, pretended to shoot, and immediately returned to the back of the car. Then there was a burst of bullets hitting the car. Only a few seconds later, the gunfire stopped, and I quickly ran to the small building beside me. It suddenly dawned on me that the attackers stopped shooting for five seconds because they had to refill the guns with bullets. All of a sudden, I admired the persistence of the attackers.

The site of attacks that the opponent chose was really subtle. If I hadn’t accidentally seen the shadow on the ground, this first adventure might have been my last journey. And the attacker was quite persistent. He insisted shooting until gun’s bullets were used up although I hid behind the car. What did that mean?

I came to the roof of the small building carefully, and popped half of my head. I saw a tall figure standing on the opposite roof, and his gun was pointing downstairs.

Mutant? Yes, I saw a mutant, just like what the old drunkards in Dick Town described. He had big limbs which were full of tremendous power, green skin and abnormally bulging blood vessels which was weird, and low intelligence. Yes, he was quite foolish. It had been two minutes since I ran into the building, but the mutant still pointed downstairs with his gun. He was stupid.

It seemed that mutants had learned how to use guns, but hadn’t learn how to use their brains.

I raised my sniper rifle and aimed at its green head. Holding my breath, I pulled the trigger steadily.

“Bang!”

The sound was quite loud. A blood hole appeared on the green head at once. When I pulled the trigger and aimed at him again, I found that the mutant was lying motionless on the ground. Was he dead? I didn’t get up immediately, but continued to lie here. After about 10 minutes, I confirmed that there was nothing unusual and then I packed my things and went downstairs.

I came the roof where the mutant was, and I found there was a heap of weeds which was supposed to be the place where the mutant rested. And next to it there was a stick with a complete human skull tied to the top. I wondered who was the poor guy.

I searched the mutant’s storage bags and useful things I found only were a dozen of bullets of general rifle and a silver pocket watch. Silver pocket watch? Could mutants of low IQ understand pocket watch? It was funny.

A pocket watch was special luxury in the Wasteland and already hadn’t been produced. The existing clocks and watches on the Wasteland had existed before the outbreak of the nuclear war. Unlike those gorgeous clothes, mellow wine or high-grade cigarettes, the value of clocks and watches was that they were timing tools. One could not drink wine or smoke cigarettes, but a working pocket watch was something that everyone wanted to own.

The majority of the Wasteland was full of danger, but it also brought matching wealth. Several days ago, I killed mutant creatures with great effort in Dick Town in order to exchange for brown bread. But just now I killed a mutant easily and got a luxury, a silver pocket watch. This change was beyond my imagination. I could change this silver pocket watch for a lot of mutant beef which were the best-tasting hind leg meat.

The mutant’s homemade rifle was of general caliber. And parts of this rough homemade rifle were tied together with wire. I doubted whether it would break up after several shots.

I ate some food, and opened the map provided by the captain of the Gun Team. It was about five kilometers away from the Northern District metro station. I could arrive in an hour, provided no accident would happen.

According to the map, I would passed by a hospital, a church, and a cemetery next to the church.

All three places seemed to be close to the dead, which was really annoying.