
From: Mark Stroud

"HEY! WAIT!"
 
The recruit noticed the stranger wasn't stopping, hurriedly, 
the recruit gathered all his possessions and stuffed them into 
his pack.  Picking the pack up he started running in the 
direction of the stranger.  "Wait! Wait!" he yelled.  The 
stranger was still walking but at a slower pace than before, 
with the recruit rapidly approaching the stranger from 
behind.  When the recruit reached the area of the stranger's 
last battle, he noticed the remains of a small humanoid 
figure.  A trilism, salanger, leather vest, med kit, and a few 
other odds and ends were scattered in a 10 foot circle.  
Dropping his steel chain and pack, the recruit picked up the 
leather vest and put it on. Next he picked up the triliasm, 
salanger and the med kit.  Picking up his pack again, he ran 
toward the stranger, but the stranger was gone!  
 
The recruit kept running in the direction the stranger was 
walking, hoping to find him again.  When the recruit finally 
realized the stranger was no where to be found, he slowed to a 
walk.  Night was coming on and the recruit finally admitted to 
himself that he was scared.  This was no place for him to be 
in the middle of the night.  There were too many beasts about 
for him to spend the night alone in the wastelands.  He had to 
get back to the Complex before it became too dark, but he had 
no idea where he was at.  Everything looked different and 
everything looked the same.
 
He was lost.  
 
Suddenly he noticed light coming from the north, as he walked 
in that direction he realized that it was a camp fire and ran 
towards it.  As he was running, limbs from trees and bushes 
slapped against his face and body, he tripped once on 
something, but hurriedly picked himself and ran frantically 
towards the fire.
 
When he finally reached the fire, there was no one there.  
Just a small fire in a small clearing surrounded by the 
remains of old buildings and debris from centuries past.  The 
hair on the back of the recruit's neck started to rise as he 
felt that he was being watched.  A voice sounded out, "That's 
a very good way to get yourself killed."  The recruit tried to 
locate where the voice was coming from but the walls from the 
buildings caused an echo so he couldn't determine where the 
sound was coming from.  He searched with his eyes for a possible 
hiding place, but the light from the fire ruined his night 
vision and he realized the speaker had spoken truly.  "I'm 
sorry," the recruit said, 
 
"I'm all alone and I saw the light from your camp fire and was 
hoping to find a stranger, I met earlier today."  
 
"That's your second mistake.  You never tell anyone that 
you're alone."  As these last words were spoken, the stranger 
stepped from behind the recruit and walked past him towards 
the fire.  The stranger seated himself on the hard ground and 
pulled out his Xendrix and began cleaning it.  As he was doing 
this the stranger said, "I know you are alone, when I heard you 
running, I slipped out of camp to see what the commotion was,  
I back tracked you a couple hundred yards and made sure.  Not 
that I expected you to bring any friends with you, but those 
damn mutants are attracted to noise.  And you made plenty of 
it."
 
The Saga continues.....

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