The ride was a short one, but by the time we reached the outskirts of the city, it was dark.

Only the bright lights coming off the buildings illuminated the way. It shocked me that they even had lights at all. It had to take a lot of energy to power up an entire city. They obviously were a bit more put together than the other places I'd been.

The buildings weren't extremely tall, so I knew this hadn't been a well-known city. It wasn't too big, and looked like it had been very clean-cut at one point. Now, it had broken windows and was covered in dust and dirt.

Our truck drove past buildings, ranging from grocery stores to broken-down clothes shops. Weirdly, many of them still seemed to have lights on, and I could make out the shapes of people wandering about behind glass windows. Somehow, this place had managed to even keep a population alive and going. I wondered why the people from their camp didn't just stay here. Then again, it'd probably be more of a risk. This place likely was an easy target for gangs.

Even so, the people seemed to be thriving fine.

Our truck parked next to a building with large neon letters spelling out "Joe's Food and Stuff". Except some of the lights were out. Now, it just said, "Je Foo tuf". I opened the door of the truck and stepped out onto the ground. My boots splashed into a small barely frozen puddle of water. I still had trouble getting used to how warm it was here.

Sean, the leader of our group, got out of the driver's seat and was the first one to the door. Before he pulled the glass doors open, he looked back at our group one last time. "Remember, don't steal. Don't offend anyone. We're just here to get what we want and go. These people can be a little paranoid." Even though he was acting as if he were addressing the entire group, I knew his words were only for me. I was the only newbie.

We all walked inside the brightly lit store. Beyond the doors lay rows of shelves, each carrying piles of different resources. I could definitely see why the "stuff" had been added to the store's name. Even though it seemed like it should be a grocery store from the outside, inside there was such a wide array of things that I couldn't even give the type of a store a definition. There were vacuum cleaners next to stacks of bread. Those sat next to an entire row filled with different toilet papers and towels. I knew that things in this store had probably changed since things had fallen apart. It did look like a complete mess now.

I avoided stepping on anything as I walked through the door. There were a few miscellaneous plastic bags and some other items. I almost tripped over an  empty soda bottle. We headed towards the register to the right side of the store. Behind the register was a bearded man, scrawny and with a large scar across his left cheek. I wondered where he'd gotten it from. He was balding and didn't seem to give much thought to us as we walked in. It was hard to believe what Sean had said about these people being paranoid.

Sean stopped right in front of the register. The man was simply reading a book with his feet up on the counter. His shoes were scuffed. The computer that was supposed to be there to help with transactions was dead and had it's screen broken in.

Sean placed a handful of money, marked with the signature of the Equator, down on the counter. Old money wasn't useful anymore, but money from the Equator was. Even though the majority of people had never been there, they used it to pay for things. It was a familiar and easy way to trade. "The usual," Sean said. I wondered what that could mean, but I felt like asking such a question would be unwelcome.

The man finally looked up. He seemed a bit exasperated. He let out an odd groaning noise and stood up from his chair. He seemed irritated. He didn't even speak a word to us as he got out from behind the counter and disappeared into one of the many rows.

It took the man about five minutes to return rolling two large crates towards us. He stopped right next to Sean. "There. That's it, right?" the man said. Without even waiting for Sean's answer, the man grumbled and walked back towards his chair, swiping the money off the counter and into his pocket on his way there.

Sean didn't seem to care. He didn't even thank the man. He just turned to us. "Max, Natalie, get the crates." I didn't see how a single person could lift one of them, but somehow the two of them alone were able to hold them.

The entire experience was a lot less eventful than I had been expecting. There had to be some catch, right? I'd been nervous about this for so long, that it didn't seem normal for it to be so easy.

And that was the story of how I jinxed myself and ruined my entire night.

Because just as we were walking towards the door, the sound of gunshots exploded into the night air.