01 - Lonely Heart

The strong wind funneled through from the end of the valley towards us and almost blew the map from my hands as I was trying to see if we were going in the right direction. "Bloody hell." I grasp the map tightly after rolling it and I put it back in my satchel. "Just a bit further guys." I turn my head halfway and yelled it from the top of my lungs because I knew I was way ahead of them. I looked around as we kept waking and the only thing I saw as we kept walking were broken arrows and rusted swords on the floor, and some broken spears stuck to the trees. This sight was not surprising as this was a battlefield couple of years ago and the dead bodies scared the local town folk, so no one really takes this path.

"Us scavengers don't really take part in wars or battles but we can handle guns and bows. Our main purpose in life is to survive and not get engulfed by the corrupted government that controls the major cities around here. Scavengers are what people call 'Outlaws', even though most of us haven't done anything wrong. we just loot what other people forget to take. Thus the name. Now we're enroute to a drop site to collect our payment. Since it changes every now and then, it makes it hard to find. Sometimes even for us. But our leader, Lieutenant Harrison, marks them on a map and hands it to each scouting party." I wrote down all of those in a new book I found. I thought about making it my journal as I embark on journeys with my team. I close the book and puts it back in the satchel with me pencil and closes the satchel tightly so that nothing falls off.

As soon as we I come out from the end of the valley, I look around, stretching a bit. "Hey, Sean!" I look back to see Garry running towards me full speed, jumping over bodies and old weaponry with one hand on his revolver holster. He puts a hand on my shoulder and stops me. "S-slow down. Wait for the others." Garry said as he bent down with his hands on his knees, panting heavily. "It's not my fault that they're slow as hell." I snickered and scans the tree line for enemies. Garry gets up and pats my back. "Why do you look so worried?" "Something doesn't feel right," I said as I unholstered my revolver and grip it tightly. Garry takes his rifle out and keeps it at the ready scanning the dense forest ahead. John walks up to us from behind with Kevin. "What's the hold-up?" John asked with his usual huge annoying grin on his face. I signal them to be quiet with my hand and to crouch down.

Silence took over the entire area around us. An arrow whooshes right passed Garry's head making a clean whistling noise before hitting the tree behind us. The four of us split-up to the sides of the roads taking cover behind the tall pine trees. "Fucking Ravagers," Garry mumbled before blindly shooting a couple of rounds to where he thinks is where the arrow came from. The Ravagers didn't shoot back so I told them to seize fire. After some time, the ground started to shake lightly. "Earthquake?" Garry looked at me, confused. I looked at John and Kevin who were on the other side of the road. Kevin looked at me, more nervous than usual, made me realize its far worse than earthquakes. I look down to the ground as the small rocks started to bounce on the ground, "Berserkers." I mumbled under my breath but Garry heard me and yelled, "RUUUN!" I and Garry run the opposite direction from where Kevin and John took off. We knew that if we get split up, we're to meet up at camp after we lost the people that are following us.

Garry and I run deeper into the forest, looking back occasionally. We stop by a clearing to catch our breath. "How did they find us?" Garry said panting harder than ever before. "Jeez, Gar I don't know. Maybe it's because we were walking out on the open road with little to no cover with our guards down!" I said, being very annoyingly sarcastic. Garry rolled his eyes at me and looked around to see if they are still following us. "I think we're in the clear." Oh boy was he wrong. Again, an arrow was fired from deep within the woods, which went right through Garry's eye and came out from behind his head. I looked horrified at his face as it collapsed on the green grass, covering it with his brain matter and blood. My eyes widen and filled with water as I was about to cry. 'He was a good man and he didn't deserve to go down like this.' I thought to myself as I started running in the opposite direction, whipping my tears as they rolled down my cheek. I run and run as fast as I could deeper into the forest, still thinking about Garry. Suddenly, I see myself falling fast as I trip on a small branch and rolls down a steep hill. I fling off the side of the hill falling head-first on to a small boulder, instantly passing out.

I woke up as the sun came down on me and noticed some scavenger birds hovering over me. I touched my forehead, where I hit my head and I felt wet. "Son of a-!" Stinging pain ran through my head as I touch my wound. I look at my hand and my vision started to fade as I see the bright crimson blood on my fingertips. I try to get up using the support of a tree still barely being able to see. My eyes started to tear up as I started remembering what happened earlier today. "Oh Garry. You're such a dumbass." I collapse on to the ground with my hands on my knees. Tears rolled down my cheeks and on to the dry grass, making it even harder for me to see. "Don't cry. It doesn't look good on you." A soft, female voice said as she touched my shoulder from behind. I reach for my gun from the holster, but I ended up grabbing air and noticed that its missing from the holster. "Must've gotten off in the fall." I thought to myself. "Who are you?" I hit the hand away from me and takes a step back from her. I look at her squinting my eyes as my vision keeps fading. "My name is Jessica and I can save you." She said as she moves closer to me slowly. "H-how are u gonna do that?" I slowly move back, using the trees for support. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you at all." She said as she walked up to me. She became clearer the closer she got. She had nice and warm blue eyes and soft-looking, long black hair that came down to the middle of her back. Her hands, soft to the touch as she grabbed my hands slowly. All of a sudden, she flung her head forward, kissing me on the lips with her soft and bright red lips. "you'll thank me later." She says as she pulls away from me. I see her move away from me as if I'm falling to the ground. I hit the ground hard and I look up at her as she stands and looks down on me. "I'm sorry. I'm just lonely and I can tell we will meet again Sean." She said and walks away from me. I start to lose conscious and I close my eyes as it felt so hard to keep open and I went into a deep sleep.