Prologue

    Date. World War III has ended. Among the abrupt end, the entire world had perished. All of the super powers of our world massed an all out nuclear attack on their enemies.

    Thousands upon thousands of nuclear missiles erupted on the then thriving, surface of Earth. It did not take long for the earth to perish.

    The earth was demolished. Life was devastated. Billions and billions of people were dead instantly. Most of the survivors did not last long.

    As for the few who had survived the aftermath of the world ending war, they sought refuge in the underground. For many years, no one dared to attempt to breach the desolate surface. The uninhabitable surface we once called our home was now a frozen, toxic, radioactive wasteland. Could anything have survived?
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Chapter one

    The man with no name trudged through the barren desert, a hot and dusty wasteland full of emptiness. Alone, this faceless speck walked. Not knowing where he was going or what was going to find him, he trekked on.

    The town of New Hope, as its people deemed it, was visible through the pale green fog which inhabited most of the planet. Though few people made this small town their home, it was thriving. The people were able to make trade goods and use some of the remaining debris for buildings and other useful tools. A community in which every person is important for it to survive.

    The fully clothed man had reached the towns perimeters. He arrived at the east end of the one road town. Two men gawked at the man as he made his way towards the town hall. One of those men took off and ran into the tavern. Steadily the nameless man paced towards the center of town.

    A large thud sounded as the heavily clothed man entered the broken down building, waking the man behind the counter almost knocking him off his chair. The startled sheriff stared hard at the dark figure. “What’s your business here?” The sheriff said with an awkward pitch in his voice. Realizing the sheriff knew who he was, the man with no name replied, “BLUD.”

    After retrieving the documents to his new bounty, the shadowed figure walked to the tavern.

    The make shift bar was full of dust, as well as the clambering noise of the people it consumed. All eyes gazed at the shadow as he made his way across the, noticeably quiet, room as he sat at a stool at the bar.

    “What you need?” The tender asks.

    The eerily mysterious man points to a bottle on one of the shelves behind the bar tender.

    Sipping his cup, a solid figure quickly moved behind the mysterious man. A sharp glint caught his eye.

    As quick as lightning, a gun shot fills the room. A scraggly man behind him screams in pain. Wielding a ten inch blade the man stands stunned looking down the barrel of a smoking gun.

    The dead silence is broken as a hoarse chuckle from a dark corner cuts the air. As the knife wielding man limps away, for fear of his life, attention is aimed at a scruffy, burley man sitting at a corner table in the bar.

    “Come on ova here n’ have a sit down.” The big man chuckled. “That kid di’nt know what he was git’n hiself into. Can’t blame the boy fer tryin though. I take it you been to the Serffs office. Well, I saws that there new bounty stroll on in this morning. He should be at that brothel yo the road there. Now, the only reason I’m givin you this information is cause-” The burly mans demeanor suddenly lowered. “I know who you are. And I know you’ll be leaving as soon as you came. So do your business here and leave this here town. We don’t want no problems from you, and I’m sure you don’t want none from us.”

    At this time the entire tavern was standing around at full attention to the conversation. As calmly as the dark figure entered the tavern, he departed.

    The mysterious man was on his way to the brothel. On the way he passed a huge disabled machine. The scholars of the new world learn many things of the old. Although most of life was destroyed, many machines were left intact. Most machines were demolished but were in good enough condition to use for different things.

    “Psst, Hey!” Came a voice from out of no where. “I just got a specialty shipment from Forge, that industrial town to the West.”

    The man opens a case and pulls out a black rolled up clothe. He unravels it on the back of the machine. Twenty-five red tipped bullets glint in the sunlight.

    “Top of the line stuff we got here. These bullets explode on impact. I saw a demonstration at Forge. The guy shot a target in the dark. All you could see is a huge fireball. The aftermath was amazing. If you hit someone in the arm, you can kiss that fucking thing goodbye.”

    The dark man turns to walk away.

    “You might want to go to Forge. In your line of work it would be well worth the trip.” Said the salesman as the dark figure walks away.

    The mysterious man opens the door to the brothel, with fire in his eyes, knowing what he is about to do. Surrounded by horny women, the dark man, stares past them looking for his BLUD.

    He spots the man on his way up to a room on the 2nd floor. The dark man calmly walks up the stairs not far behind. A few minutes later he reaches the door his BLUD entered. The dark man kicks the door wide open. He aims at the naked man riding on top of the hooker and pulls the trigger. As the half headed man collapses, the whore screams in horror. The shadowy figure walks away like nothing had happened.