A masked figure wearing a cloak fluttering in the wind and with a crossbow in hand appeared behind the falling man who had threatened Marcus mere seconds before.
“10 minutes. I can’t even leave you alone for 10 god damned minutes.”
“...Gary? Is that you?”
Gary put down his mask so Marcus could actually recognize him and said, “Of course it’s me! The lookout reported raiders in the area, so we moved out to check.”
“What’s with the getup?” Marcus asked, slowly getting back to his feet.
“Look at the sky. What’s it telling you?”
Marcus looked up and noticed the heavy dust clouds rolling up. A sand storm was coming and Gary of course knew that. He needed to get shelter before it arrived or he’d be in big trouble.
As his mind slowly started working again after the rapid sequence of events, it snapped back to the woman the raiders had been hunting.
“T-the woman! The raiders were hunting a woman! She’s hurt! Over there!”
Gary looked over to where the woman had been lying, but she was already gone.
“Marcus, there is nobody there.”
“But...but...I saw her! She was right there! She had a goddamn bullet in her leg and this…this animal tried to rape her!”
“Yeah, that kinda stuff happens out here. Part of the reason why we hide behind tall walls, you know?”
“But...why would she run away then? When she would be safe in the settlement?”
Gary raised an eyebrow and said, “Marcus, how many new faces have you seen in the settlement in the past years? Do you think we are keeping the settlement safe by allowing every stranger passing by to just walk in? No. If she had come to our gates, she would have either been turned away or got locked up until we knew exactly who she was and whether she was a danger.”
“But...that’s insane!”
“This is the world we live in. You just can’t trust anyone. And that woman, whoever she was, knew that. She probably bolted the instant he took the gun out of her face. Either way, here,” Gary said and threw the crossbow before Marcus’ feet, “Silent, deadly at middle range and, best of all, you can reuse the bolts.”
“And...ammo?” Marcus asked, already dreading the answer.
“Think about what I just said. You’ll figure it out,” Gary stated, turned around and walked away, ‘accidentally’ dropping a small satchel as he walked.
“T-thank you for saving me!” Marcus shouted after him.
“Keep yelling like that and it won’t have mattered,” Gary shouted back, disappearing into the underbrush, back towards the settlement that had let him go.
Marcus picked up the crossbow and the satchel, counting five bolts, each smeared with a dark and partially sticky substance. Six with the one still inside the corpse.
“You need to go now,” Ede reminded him of the impending sand storm.
“...yes, I know…” Marcus replied, getting back to his feet, looking at the dead man who had almost killed him. He walked over, took a deep breath, grabbed the bolt that had penetrated his skull and pulled out the steel bolt from the back side, almost gagging at the sight of the gray matter still attached to the bolt as he pulled it out. The wind picked up considerably at that point and the first grains of dust whirled around Marcus’ face. The storm would be here within minutes and he still needed some sort of shelter to protect himself from it. He forced himself to not think about the incident any longer for the time being and hurried away towards the old ventilation shaft he had originally used to sneak out of the settlement. Apparently someone had found it in the meantime and welded the opening shut. Marcus cursed silently, but still curled himself into the tiny opening that was still left, turning his back to the wind. Mere minutes later, the storm his hiding place and the sand whipped against his back relentlessly, carried by vicious and hot winds. It took about an hour until the storm finally let up again and the winds calmed down enough for Marcus to dare try to move. Every limb in his body was hurting and his back felt like someone had dragged him over the desert ground at high speed.

After he was somewhat sure that the storm had, indeed, passed, he slowly rose from his position, stretching his limbs, wincing in pain at every move. He cursed at himself for having been caught off guard not only once, but twice in a row now. His mind went back to the horse the now dead raider had used, but when he returned to the area, it was nowhere to be seen. He figured, that the woman must have taken it to escape from the storm. He treated his wounds the best he could, but knew all too well that his measures wouldn’t cut it. He needed time to rest and recover. Time he did not have.

By the end of the day, his battered body had only managed to carry him to the very outskirts of what once was the city of Amesbury. Exhausted and tired, Marcus dropped himself into the ruins of what used to be a church. He didn’t have the strength left to light a fire, however as the moon slowly moved along its course he regretted his decision dearly, as the cold wind tugged at his ragged clothes. If it had not been summer at the time, he might as well have frozen to death right there and then.

He woke from his uneasy slumber as the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon, basking the ruins in the light of a new day in paradise. Yesterdays storm had cleared the sky of any and all clouds and it promised to be a bright and warm day. Only that Marcus could hardly enjoy it. After having a scarce breakfast, he set out again, trying to retrace the steps he had originally taken to get to Ede’s bunker, but in his pained daze, he had lost his way more than just a little. He had no idea where exactly he was and where he needed to go from there. He looked at the makeshift map he had drawn to help him find the way again, but it was completely useless, now that he didn’t even know where exactly he was. It only had a few landmarks on it, but he could not make out a single one of them. He remembered, that in some of the books he had read, people climbed high places in order to orient themselves, but there was no way for him to climb anything but a soft slope in his state.

He opted for wandering the streets of the city. There were more than enough hiding places in the ruins and he hoped to recognize any of the buildings from his first trip that way. Fortunately for him, the raiders who also inhabited the ruins turned out to be a very noisy bunch, so it was easy for Marcus to evade them without much trouble.

And thus, three days of aimless wandering around the outer rim of the city passed until, by mere chance, he came across a weathered and barely legible street post, which featured the rock formation as picture. Marcus sighed in relief and looked over the derelict road which supposedly took him to the stone formation and, by extension, Ede. However there was a slight problem. As he took down the street, a single gunshot rang out, exploding the ground next to him. Just by mere instinct Marcus dove into cover just before a second gunshot drilled itself into the ground where he had stood mere seconds before. In a great hurry, Marcus dropped his backpack in order to run faster and hid within a nearby ruin.

About two minutes later, two raiders he did not recognize walked up to the backpack.
One of them said, “Well, lookit what we have here, Sal. Ma’s gonna be delighted.”
“What about ta boy though, Cal? You missed him good.”
“Eh, forget about dat boy. Now, lessee what we have here.”
‘Sal? Cal? But...Cal is dead. And...didn’t Sal look differently?’ Marcus wondered, anxiously wondering what was going on. He noticed the crunching sound of feet on gravel too late and when he turned around, he took a direct hit to the nose from a rifle shaft, knocking him out cold.

When he came to again, Ede sharply told him to not open his eyes and to not move, or, in other words, to not let the raiders, who were also in the same room know that he was conscious again. Startled by the intensity of Ede’s words, Marcus listened instead, trying to get his bearings. His senses told him that he was hanging somewhere, gravity pulling on his hands which were above his head. There was a horrible smell of rotting permeating the air, but also the warmth and crackling of fire. The raiders were laughing, apparently going through his things.
“Now lookit that! It’s one of them crossbow thingies! Kid’s got some good stuff!”
“Think he’s from one of them settlements?”
“Where else could he be from, ya dimwit!? Prolly the son of some bigshot out for adventure or sumthin’. Cause that kid dinna kill nobody, I’m tellin’ ya.”
They kept talking and laughing for a little while longer, while Marcus felt like he was about to cry. Not because his body was hurting or because his life was about to come to an end, no. He felt like crying because he disappointed everyone. Gary, who had given him the crossbow. Claire. His father, his aunt, even Ede, whom he had foolishly promised that he’d come back.
“Eh, what’s this thing?”
“I think it’s what they call a ‘book’.”
“...is that edible?”
“Nah, they’re completely useless. Best to just throw it into ta fire and be done with.”
Marcus involuntarily tensed up. Burn the book? Completely useless? These illiterate bastards had no idea what they were talking about. Marcus violently shook his head, alarming the raiders.
“Well, well, well, looks like our lil friend is finally awake,” one of them said.
Marcus opened his eyes and said, “Please...do not burn the book.”
“Oh, and he’s done some listening too, lookit that...what, this pieca junk from yer girlfriend or something? Or why’s it so important to ya?”
Now the tears Marcus had held back thus far dripped to the ground and he found himself incapable to speak. However, just when one of the raiders tried to whack him again, the door opened and a female voice asked, “The hell’s going on...no fuckin’ way!”
Through his veil of tears, Marcus had a hard time seeing, but what he heard told him enough.
“Get the kid off the wall immediately.”
“Really, Sis? But why?”
“Just do what I’m telling ya! Unless ya want me to go fetch Ma instead?”
“No, please don’t call Ma. Sal, help me out here.”
“Sure thing. Hold still, twerp.”
The bindings around his hands and legs loosened and Marcus dropped to the ground. He wiped his face with the sleeve of his rags and looked up at the woman who had saved him. She was wearing a bled through bandage around her left leg.
“Recognize me, twerp, huh? I dunno how ya managed to take down that bloody bastard, but this here makes us even. Now grab yer stuff and get outta here.”
“Wait, that twerp offed the Callum’s boy? Seriously?!” Cal exclaimed.
“Either him or someone from his settlement. Remember though, boy,” the woman said and knelt down so her face was on level with Marcus’, “This is a one time pass. We catch you on our turf again and we won’t let you go again.”
“T-thank you very much, Miss…” Marcus stuttered, causing the raiders to laugh.
Ede chimed in, “I think you have overstayed our welcome more than just a little, dude. Grab your stuff and get the hell out of here.”
Marcus muttered, “No need to tell me twice,” and wanted to get up, but just then, he felt a hand on his arm as the woman asked, “One more thing...what’s this here about?”, waving the book in front of him.
Marcus grabbed it and quickly stashed it back into his backpack, saying, “It’s my favorite story.”
“A...story?”
“Didna Ma tell us stories she learned from her Ma?”, Cal asked.
“Yah, she did. Bout how Ma Baker taught her sons how to handle them guns and how she needed to teach us the same.”
“What’s yer story about?” the woman asked, an unexpected warmth in her voice.
“You...really want to know? No offense, but you don’t strike me as the type who’d be interested.”
“Eh, it’s always nice to have something else you can tell the next generation.”
“Yes, well…” Marcus said, pulling out the book again, “It’s ‘The journey to the middle of the Earth’, a story written by a man called Jules Verne. It’s about…”

Marcus ended up spending the following night with the raiders, telling them about the wonders and miracles described in the book. At a late hour, even more came in and, after a little explaining by ‘Sis’, all of them sat down and listened to him telling his story. After he was done, late in the night, a few of the raiders actually had tears in their eyes and the eldest of the bunch, ‘Ma’, proclaimed, “We made ourselves a real catch today, ma boys and girls. Ya know any more stories, ma boy?”
Marcus wanted to say ‘Of course’, but fortunately for him realized what that would mean, so he shook his head and said, “I’m afraid, I only know this one.”
“...a shame. Woulda’ve been nice to have some more stories to tell on the long winter nights. Ma daughter says ya saved her from the Baker’s hell spawn. That’s all nice and stuff, but yer better not show yer ugly mug round these parts again, ‘less ye wanna be part of the family. Ye wanna be part of it? I have a bunch of daughters ‘round your age.”
“Um...no, thank you kindly, Mrs...Ma. But I...I really should be one my way.”
“Eh, if ye ever change yer mind, dunna be a stranger. And bring fresh stories if ya do. Gotta keep the kids entertained.”

The next morning, Marcus got an escort to where they had originally nabbed him and sent him off. Marcus hurried to get away as quickly as possible and only once he had left the city limits behind him far enough to feel remotely safe, he stopped to take a breather.
“You have no idea how damn lucky you were just there…”
“I know...believe me, I know…” Marcus gasped.
“And they really returned everything…?”
Marcus put down his backpack, took inventory and grimaced. They had left him his book, but not much else. They had taken the crossbow, the bolts and of course the food and the water, as well as the pot and everything else of value. All he had left now were some spare clothes, the book and the makeshift map of the area. He sighed, put his pack back on and started walking.
“Guess we should work on finding water really soon, huh?” Ede commented.
“Amen to that...honestly, bunch of good for nothing…” Marcus muttered.
“At least they left you the most important thing.”
“Yeah, cause I can eat the book all that well.”
“Your life, you dimwit! Still...isn’t it interesting, how both that Ma, as well as that ‘Baker’ Ma named their sons the same?”
“Seriously? We’re likely to starve or die of thirst and you find that ‘interesting’?”
“Hey, I’m just trying to be positive here. No use being all gloomy, am I right?”
“...yeah, you’re right...alright, let’s get going.”
“Yes, let’s. It should only be half a day’s march from here. Assuming the weather holds.”
“Don’t you dare jinx it…” Marcus lamented and continued to walk down the ancient road.