1 The Merchant

Zane woke up, the dust sprinkling from the worn out ceiling above made him wheeze. His eyes were red from his lack of sleep and over work to live in this newly broken world.

World War III, it was something no one was prepared for. The world leaders suddenly started attacking each other and nukes were launched. Bunkers and some untouched areas around the world held little of what was left of humanity and life as it is. Or... normal life at least.

The creatures that survived the blasts were littered in radiation. Their bodies slightly deforms with blisters and pus seeping out. Their skin rotting or turned different colours with colourful ooze leaking out like slugs.

Zane sat up, looking at the wound in his side. The discolouration on his skin was nauseating, even for the little showing beyond his makeshift bandage, stained in a deep red. He looked to the side at his Oxygen Reader, it was below average now, but enough for him to survive. He tapped on it as it lowered another half a atmosphere. He sighed wishing he hadn't tested it.

He swung his leg over the side of the small mattress, and then swung over his stump. He looked around on the ground for his rusted prosthetic, finding it along the far corner of the room, a large Junkyard Roach sat nibbling away at the metal. He reached for his revolver at his hip, upholstering it before blasting the bastard.

He hopped over to his leg before picking it up to inspect it. It had some minor damage to the calf area. He clipped it on anyways and put his weight on it. The leg creaked and the metal screeched against itself, a noise Zane had long gotten used to. He lifted his head up at the broken ceiling and saw the sun's rays beaming in through the holes and cracks.

If even the Junkyard Roaches were getting in, he needed to find new shelter. He limped over to a small closet that held a thick pair of reinforced jeans, thick socks, Steel-toe leather boots, grey long sleeve shirt, leather gloves, black leather jacket, a gasmask, a swimmers head cap, and an old bikers helmet.

He put on his gear and grabbed a semi-automatic rifle from behind the closet. It had 8 rounds left in it, he also had another 2 magazines in the leather jacket's inside pockets. Each magazine holding 18 rounds.

He hobbled to the door, opening it as the heat blasted him, the sun hitting him hard and even reflecting off the far off dirt and sand creating small mirages in the distance that Zane learned to stay away from. He was about 3 hours from the largest settlement, and about quarter of an hour from one of the smaller settlements he would often trade with. He did live about 10 minutes from 'Grand Metals', a small junk yard full of roaches that were used to the radiation that used to litter the area.

He looked down at the radiation detector in his jacket, it was much lower than the livable amount needed after the roaches ate most of the radioactive material. He tightened the grip on his rifle and walked towards the small settlement. On his way, he saw the once normal animals that roamed the Polish grasslands. He looked at their new forms, their colours slightly altered and their faces and bodies covered head to toe in fungus and partially grown limbs that grew painfully due to the radiation.

He did see some of the more hostile ones too, the Mud Wolves. They were covered in green and brown radiation and their fangs had doubled or tripled up in their mouths with random bone spikes poking outside of their puffed up manes.

He always feared those for good reason. When they were alone, they were easy to kill with a shot or two too the skull. If they came in a pack though, they were unapproachable. If they fought a Hell Bear, the bear would either run or die against it. And Hell Bears were tough. They spread throughout Europe quick looking for their next target of prey. Poland just had their own predator though, these terrifying creatures.

Luckily with the Mud Wolves though, they prefer pure meat. He had been wounded by a Lingerer not too long ago. A man that had survived but went pretty much brain dead and their primal urges taking over their torn bodies. Full of unending rage fueled by their radiation poisoning and rotting brains.

Most people who got attacked by these didn't last long. Either due to the fact that they were vicious and slightly intelligent, or that they would fall to the radiation poisoning from the Lingerers. And one last possible outcome that all wished to avoid, becoming a lingerer yourself. It was a long and painful process as they would slowly mutate and their skin began to fall off and their body as it did it's best to reject the small appendages attempting to grow out of their skin.

~~~

The small settlement came into view, a building was on fire. Zane didn't fret though, Larry always did something stupid and the excuse for a village always managed to fix his mistake. He was always reprimanded for his misdoings even if it was an accident.

Zane got into the settlement and looked around, Suzan was throwing water on fire along with Bryan and Kirt. He looked for Eryn, she was the. . . Mayor so to speak. She was a caring woman in her late fifties that used an iron fist when she had to. She often used it on that clumsy Larry.

He looked around and walked around a corner where Eryn was yelling at Larry who cowered on the bench like a child, the woman whacking him with a large piece of leather folded up like a paper fan.

"Zane! Help!" The man-child yelled as Eryn looked back with blazing fire in her eyes full of anger and enjoyment.

"Enjoying that a bit much Miss Eryn?" He laughed, coughing a little due to his side. The fire in her eyes dimmed a little as she sighed looking at him. "This boy's got the nerve of a Ruck Cow!"

Zane laughed again, his side still reciprocating the laughter with pain. Wincing a bit, the old woman let her hand down as Larry took the chance to run off. "It's too bad the young ones like you have to live in this worn out world." Eryn said looking at Zane. He scratched the back of his jacket, forgetting that he wouldn't be able to reach his bare neck.

He moved his hand back down and regripped the under barrel of his gun. "Does Nolen have anything to trade today?" He asked taking out a small 8 GB USB drive and a 64 MB Micro SD card. She dropped a small pair of engineering goggles with a spy glass as she inspected the item.

"They seem to be in good enough condition to still read em. Go have a chat with him, he is still in his shop. He didn't feel like dealing with the trouble maker's problems today." Zane nodded walking further down the street to a small metal shack with a bit of insulation to keep it cool enough to not melt the electrical components in there.

"Nolen, got a Giga and a SD. What can I get for em?" The man in his late thirties stood up, walking over. "Checked with the hag I presume?" He muttered looking down at em. "Any of them have anything?" Zane shrugged, what Nolen kind of expected. "If they are clear, 4 sacks. If they got anything useless, 3 sacks and 2 more items of your choosing. If they have anything useful, 5 sacks."

"Sounds good." He smiled. "Gimme 1200 ticks." Nolen replied, with Zane looking at him dumbfounded. Sighing, "2 Hours, shit ain't the same as it used ta be." Zane nodded and walked off. The man was right though, the world had changed. Luckily, the one place that now had the least amount of radiation was Poland after the Junkyard Roaches cleared it out. Many immigrated to Poland for it's lack of pollution, including Zane. It still had the heavily affected areas as it was still nowhere near the perfect living environment.

He walked out and went on his way to anther small settlement on his way to Brenddan, the larger settlement. The walk took him another half hour, as did most of the settlements. They were all equally spread apart so someone always had a relatively safe place to go. Some settlements were safer than others as some were run by the main organization here. The Seers, a group that controlled some small and large settlements. They didn't care about Polish domination, but they did enjoy their steady income from the 'towns' they controlled.

Zane was on his way to Rello, Seer territory. Luckily, he was a known merchant and had a toll pass granted by Xavier, a Manager of 3 settlements that were in the area. He was entering Rello, not even bothering to show his pass as he regularly visited the settlement. He walked to a small bar with a bartender named Arnold, the only one working.

"Aye, the usual Mr.Leons?" Arnold asked. Zane nodded, he had rarely told anyone his last name, but it had slipped a while ago when Arnold was prodding him with casual talk.

"I got some information, I just need some help on my end. Lingerer got me a bit on my side. I need something to get it cleaned up." Arnold stood there in silence for a moment, the man's intel was always good and almost always spot on, this led to him having a lot of friends and a lot of enemies. Not to mention he was in contact with Xavier himself, so whatever Zane told him, he knew to report to his boss right away.

"You have my attention."

"Alright, Lingerer territory has moved 2 knots south, so its coming down this way. Bet you can guess where I got my injury now. Also, the Jaggers are spreading to Kilsett and Mudridge. So I would expect a turf war or someone buying out another town as they are close to Helin, another settlement that Xavier is in charge of."

Arnold let out a small sigh, "So they decided to move closer in?" Zane nodded, this intel was hard for him to get. It was also the reason why he learned that the Lingerers moved, he was chased out after getting information through the towns folk. So he had another target on his chest, a bounty of 600 credits set by The Jaggers.

Zane, grabbed the Dirty Margarita that Arnold set down for him. He downed it, setting the glass down. "So, that enough information for enough shit to get rid of Lingerer's Curse?"

Arnold wrote down on a worn out napkin the name of the street where the black market was currently on as it always moved, sometimes not even being in town. "Thanks." Zane replied as he walked out looking for Nestgut Street.

As he got onto the street, two men stood outside a building. Though they seemed to be in casual attire of some protective stuff against the hazed air, he knew they had armour beneath their clothes. He knew these two, they were guards for The Lizrd. He walked up to the guards and gave Hert a 20 credit token, "The Lizard bites none that pay the toll." The man nodded as Zane entered the building and looked around.

He walked up to Mike, one of the pharmacists that worked for the Lizrd. "I need something for Lingerer's Curse." Mike looked up in shock, he didn't expect 'The Great Dread' of all merchants to get it.

"Can I ask how you got it?" He asked while scurrying around in a drawer. "Unless ya wanna pay for the information, I won't tell. Ya work for the Lizrd, ya should know the rules." Zane laughed, the pain hitting his side again.

"Another bounty and finding out that Lingerers are moving?" Mike asked. Zane nodded, Mike knowing not to ask further as it would really come at a price then. He was nicknamed 'The Great Dread' in the black market for a reason. One he witnessed first hand, also why he had so much respect by so many people. Including The Seers.

Mike finding the remedy for 'Lingerer's Curse' looked back up to see three men behind Zane, and one in Zane's hold with his revolver to his head. "Don't think you're gonna get the 600 credits that easily" He barked at the three still free.

"It's four on one!" They shouted, Zane pulled the trigger looking back up at them as he let the body fall to the floor.

"Make that three."