Day Twenty-Five - Finish the Fight

The group was having mixed responses towards Ender's death. Fedorekd was simply glad that it wasn't him. Carson thought about how much harder it would be scavenging without her, with there being less people to guard the house. And Flee blamed himself for her death, seeing it as their duty to protect each other. They only had a few days left until the peacekeepers came. All they had to do was hold out until they arrived.

Flee, overcome with guilt over his friend's death, made a risky decision. He made his way to the military outpost. He needed to confirm that Ender had indeed died there, and he also needed to avenge her death if so, and finish what she died doing.

The front half of the base was empty. The walls were covered in blood and bulletholes. There had clearly been a fight here. If this was Ender's work, she'd done well enough to push the soldiers back into the rear end of the base. Flee made his way through the mess hall, looking around for soldiers. He walked into the courtyard to find exactly what he was looking for. He was staring at Ender's mangled remains, along with her backpack. The bag was almost bursting. He took a look inside, and found a ridiculous amount of food and ammo. Ender had died trying to get this stuff back to the group, and from the looks of her corpse, her final stand hadn't been a fair fight. There were still living soldiers here.

Flee went over to the next building. He could hear movement on the floors above him. He quietly went up to the next floor and hid, waiting for someone to come down. Soon enough, two soldiers came down. They must have heard him, somehow, as they were looking for an intruder. Both stood directly in front of him, but they didn't spot him.

Flee until one of them left. When that happened, he drove his knife into the remaining soldier's head before stabbing him multiple times across the body in anger.

Now he had to get to the other one, which wasn't too hard. He went to the staircase at the back of the building, and spotted the soldier on the floor below him. He should be able to get a shot in. He aimed down at the soldier, who still hadn't spotted him, and pulled the trigger.

He checked the outpost for more soldiers, but didn't find anything. The entire underground section of the base was blocked off, so he couldn't find out if anyone was in there. However, the base had a wealth of supplies, too many for him to carry, so he left, intending to return and collect the rest later on.

Finally, Flee was at ease. Ender's killers were dead, and her supplies had made it to their destination. The next few days should be easy, or at least Flee hoped they would be easy.

Day Twenty-Four

When Ender didn't return that day, the group assumed the worse. Taking on the military outpost was a monumental task, and yet they had gone through with it regardless under some false notion of nobility, some desire for redemption. How on Earth was one starving refugee meant to take on an entire outpost of soldiers? The war must have left them deluded.

Ender was a controversial member of the group. She became incredibly volatile as the war went on, resulting in some questionable kills made on scavenging runs. And yet, she was still a competent scavenger. They needed Ender. And after having some thought, there was no way Ender would have gone down without a fight. She must have taken some of those soldiers down with her. They were almost certain she'd put a dent in their defenses. Was that reason to finish the job? Would Ender have wanted her fellow survivors to finish what she started, or would she have hoped that they would just continue surviving, and abandon these silly "heroics"?

Carson went to a hotel for the night. Unfortunately, most of the place was blocked off by debris, some of which he was able to clear with his hands. That took a lot of time, and he wasn't able to gather much. On one of the upper floors, he found that there was a person living here, and it sounded like he had food. The doors were locked though, so he couldn't get to the food. After unsuccessfully trying to find another way around, Carson left with a disappointing haul.

Day Twenty-Two

Carson got his wound patched up and had a well-earned rest. The trader came again. Fedorekd bought some food and materials in exchange for some of the group's spare guns. With some of the materials, he upgraded the workshop, so that they would be able to make some better items at some point, if necessary.

The military outpost was a no-go tonight; the route was blocked off by snow. Instead, Ender went to an abandoned gas station.

The place was a wreck, and she soon found the reason why no one had looted this place. The entrance was blocked by a pile of debris. Ender didn't bring a shovel with her, so she cleared it with her hands.

The interior was more unnerving than it should have been. It was dark, and odd, quiet sounds could be heard. Finding the source of these sounds, Ender was relieved to find out that it was just a pair of rats, scurrying about. Ender gathered up some food and all the materials she could, and went back home.