I Am Alive 02: Be Defensive or Be Dead

I am in the city now. I gotta get to my apartment. As soon as I enter the sewer, I hear a voice.

"What are you doing here?! Get away from here!"

I show my palms to him, saying, "I don't want any trouble, man, I'm just passing."

But no way I am gonna show my back to him. So I back away slowly, face still on him, walking backwards. Then when I can no longer hear him, I turn, and start my journey.

Who says anything about straight journey? My first path is already gone. According to the surroundings, I am not getting to my apartment in the shortest time possible. Roads caved in, streets gone or blocked by impossibly tall debris, and I gotta be very careful. Like the man I met earlier, there may be more like him. He didn't seem sick or anything, just defensive. That could lead to a potentially deadly situation for me. Tread carefully, buddy.

Of all the things that go down, a parking meter still stands. Heh.

Suitcases, a teddy bear, a shopping cart with remains of a skeleton lying beside it. And that leads to another impassable road. Guess I have to take the alley. At the end of the alley, I climb over a fence and get on the other side. According to my map, I should be a block away. Keep walking...

(Later)

He had a machete. He was about to slay me alive. So I took out my gun, pointed it at him, and forced him near a gaping hole. When he was trying to talk his way out, I kicked him in the chest, and down he fell. Heard a crack when his body met those steel pipes. Now he's quiet. His machete that he waved so haughtily at me now lay useless on the ground. Picked it up, keep it ever since.

I'm lucky he didn't know my gun is empty. Machetes are not only sharp, but surprisingly sturdy as well. It has a thick blunt edge as well as a sharp one. I can use mine to pry open locks, or fend off attackers. Speaking of locks, here's one. The chain'll snap easily enough, and I'll be through.

A voice calls out: "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Never a good sign.

***

It was a tough choice. I killed all three, though, and spared the one who surrendered.

The idiots who tried to kill me had to be disposed of. They weren't satisfied with just harassing, they would've wanted to see my blood flow from my slit throat. So I gave them that treatment, let'em feel what they expected me to feel.

Now I should be closer, after going down into a mini crater and up again, where I found a semblance of a first aid kit. There are so little things to be found here. Looters probably got all of them within the first week of the Event, maybe.

There are two bespectacled men inside a building on my left as I exit the crater. They look, strangely, well-fed and safe. But they just sit behind the glass door and mumble. Spook me out, and immediately leave.

Next I meet a mother and her son, who is stabbed. The wound is festering, and from the sound coming from the son, he is not doing well. I need the first aid kit. Who knows what will I find next?

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