I reach down, grab my vest that was full of my ammunition and put it on over my DBU blouse then pull the straps on the waist to make sure it was tight and strap on the pistol holster onto my belt at my side. I stand up and take a good look around the empty desert building. There was sand in the corners, scattered on the stone floor. I raise my hand in front of my eyes to block the light coming through the hole in the roof, then take my combat scarf and wrap it around my face to cover my mouth. After making it comfortable and tight, I put my desert-tan beanie on then pull my goggles over my eyes.

"Come on, Rune." I say as I motion for him to come out from the rocks he was laying under.

He shakes off the rubble and walks up beside me, cheery as always. I hand him a raw peace of steak and let him eat while I readied my M40A5 sniper rifle then sling it over my shoulder and onto my back. After which, I grabbed my desert camo m16, which is outfitted with an a3 barrel, mock suppresser to muffle the shots, an angled fore grip, and an a cog sight on top. Once Rune finished his meal, I motioned for him to follow as I hopped down into the sandy wasteland. In the area, I could see scattered buildings and a lot of scrap metal laying around in the dunes. I started to move north towards my objective, which was to assassinate a high ranking war bandit. After walking a good mile, I headed to the closest building I could see.

The building was an old skyscraper that only has three floors showing, a lot of the land was covered by sand due to the atomic anomalies. I raised my m16 rifle, quickly scanned the windows of the building from the outside then signaled Rune, who was close behind me.

"Rune, go scout." I whispered in his direction.

He gave me a happy look then took off towards the building, slowing once he got closer. I continued to scan the windows, just in case, as I watched Rune slowly head into the building. Normally, he will quickly and quietly scout the building for anything living or loot, then come back to me.

After about 5 minutes, I saw Rune on the top floor looking down on me with a happy smile. Knowing that it was clear, I shouldered my rifle and headed inside the dark building. I took out a small flashlight and shined it around a little bit to reveal a huge hole in the floor, that led deeper down under the sand. Around the hole was plenty of toppled cubicles and a lot of scrap pieces laying around among the rubble. I carefully slid along the wall then headed to a small staircase leading up. Just as I reached the set of stairs, a loud metal object smacked against something. I froze, and slowly unshouldered my m16. I pointed it up the stairs then waited a couple seconds before hearing yet another metal smack. I slowly headed up the stairway with my rifle pointed into the darkness. As I reached the top of the stairway, I looked around carefully, to no avail as the darkness was incredibly thick. I slowly pulled my flashlight out with one hand, my m16 in the other. I pointed the flashlight at the darkness and switched it on. Just as the light beamed into the dark, a Xuke jumped onto me and toppled me backwards, sending me down the stairs. On the way down, I dropped my m16 and it landed near the hole in the ground.

I quickly regained my balance and stood up and looked the Xuke dead in the eyes meeting its gaze. It was Rune.

"Rune, you gave me a heart attack man. Be more careful next time, or at least give a warning." I said as I retrieved my m16.

After I grabbed my gun, Rune and I both headed up the stairs until we reached the top. The room was missing a wall, leaving the space well lit. What was once the wall was now in crumbs and let in a blinding light. On a closer look, it was a small conference room. There was a table which had multiple chairs surrounding it.

"This couldn't be more perfect." I said, patting Rune on the head.

I walked over to the dusty table and pushed it so it ran right along the missing wall. After doing so, I moved a chair up to it and sat down behind the table facing the bright desert. I take a deep sigh as I pull my M40A5 bolt action sniper and set it onto the table on its bipod.

I pull out my binoculars, and look into the desert. There's a small camp set up about 1256 meters away, with plenty of guards around it and a lot of tents put into a circle. In the center, there is a camp fire with about 15-20 people around it, all looking to the big guy on the pedestal behind the fire giving what seemed to be speech. I put down the binoculars and take the rifle in my hands and look into the sights. I can see the man but its a little fuzzy due to the of the heat coming off the sand. Knowing he is far out, I aim a little above his head, also including wind. I aim just right and above his head. The scariest part of long range sniping? Missing.

I put my finger on the trigger. Sweat dripped off my face and onto the rifle. With the corsair still above and to the right of his head, I gently squeeze the trigger and hear the loud bang echo out of the building. I can see the glowing bullet travel all the way out and fall right into his skull, releasing the thick red liquid out into a puff. The man's head flew back and flung him onto his back. The target has been eliminated.

I quickly lift the bolt on the rifle and slide it back, then forth reloading the next round into the rifle. I set down the rifle and look out again through the binoculars to see all the people in a panic, a couple covering the dead body and the rest firing blindly in my direction, although they are too far away to do anything. I stand up and fling the sniper onto my back. Just as I do so, I hear a low growl from Rune, who was laying behind me, watching the staircase.

"What is it, boy?" I whisper in his direction while readying my m16 and aiming it at the staircase.

Rune then got underneath rubble near the staircase and hid himself. After seeing him do so, I flipped the table over onto its side and got behind it to create cover from whatever is coming up the stairs. I poke my head out over the table just in time to see two men with rifles come up the stairs. I jump up, point my rifle at them and yell "Stop! Don't move! I will shoot!"

The two men froze and looked at me. Both are heavily armed and have their faces covered by face shields.

The two men looked puzzled and, in an instant, raised their rifles and began to fire at me. I quickly ducked behind the table and held my head low as they fired relentlessly.

"Rune, now!" I yelled.

I instantly heard Rune jump out and bite one of the men's arm. At that moment, I pop up again and aim my rifle and the other guy and fire four rounds into the man's chest. He released a shriek of pain, then fell to the floor. I quickly aim the rifle at the distracted one and fire three rounds into his chest and neck area. He dropped with a loud thud. I walk over to Rune and look down at the two blood soaked bodies laying on the floor lifeless.

Some people say you change once you kill someone. But in my case, I've done it so much, it doesn't even affect me. Some may say it's sad, but I think its good for survival, especially in these times. I quickly loot some water and ammo off of the bandits then throw it in my backpack. I look over at Rune, who was chewing on one of their hands.

"Hey, let's get going Rune". I say, gesturing for him to follow me. Rune stood and headed downstairs. We needed to get out of here fast, before the people in the camp reach me. I quickly run down the stairs and out the window I used to get it. Once I got out, I headed west towards a abandoned bridge, heading towards the ruined city of Dubai.

After all the nukes fell on The White Night, most major cities have been ruined. Some small establishments still exist, the biggest one being where I live, Haven.

Haven is a town about the size of two football stadiums, and is made up of metal shacks. The streets on the town are filled with trash and homeless people, but it's probably the most well to do town around.

After walking for about six miles, and resting in small building underneath the bridge, I could finally see Haven in the distance. They recently built a metal wall around the settlement for protection from bandits, and to keep out anymore poor people. The population in Haven is always growing. I walk to the south side of the town, and pull out a folded duffle bag out of a pocket on my backpack. I open it up and Rune hopped inside. He barely fits, but they won't let him in any other way.

"Alright, just hang in there buddy, and be as quiet as possible." I lift up the bag and head around the tall metal wall till I reach the front gate.

Outside the gate are four armed guards, all of them wearing bright white clothing like black tactical gear: helmets, masks, vests, etc. One of the guards walk up to me

"House ID, please." he says quietly.

I pull out a small piece of paper from my pocket and hand it to the man.

"All good, head in. Be careful Xavier, we got a new guest in today. She seemed really... suspicious." he says even quieter.

"Uhm, thanks" I say and walk into the town.

Inside Haven was multiple bars, run down shacks, people walking the trashy streets. Some people were fighting over a dropped cap, which happens very often. I walk down the long street and open the door 3727, my house. It was small with a sofa, small kitchen, as well as an underground storage room for all my loot I scavenge. Not everybody has this big of a house. Scavengers get bonuses in Haven.

Scavengers are people you can hire to do anything, as long as they're willing to do it. I am a top ranked scavenger in Haven, so I get a pretty large income. I set down the duffle bag to let Rune hop out and get comfy on the sofa.

"I'm going out to collect the pay bud, stay quiet." I walk out of the house and head down to a small bar called The Big Scav.

I open up the door and walk past all the drunks lying at the table and into a small door in the back. I head down the stairs behind the door and into a room that has a small billboard on one end of the room, and a small window on the other. There were a couple other scavengers there looking at the job requests posted on the billboard. I was never a big teamwork person, I only work good with Rune, so I don't interact with the other scavengers.

I walk up to the window and knock on the glass till a small old lady come up and points at me.

"What do you want? Make it fast." she says, clearly aggravated.

"I'm just collecting the money for this bounty." I hand her a Wanted flyer of the man I shot. The flyer had a note at the bottom.

This man killed my daughter and I want him dead. I will pay 200 caps for him to be executed. i

It was good money, and an easy kill, I couldn't pass it up.

"Thank you, I will be back with your cash" the little lady walked away and came back with a small pouch full of caps and handed it to me.

"Now if you don't mind, I have stuff to do." she said as she walked away.

I turn around and head to the board to look at a lot of the papers posted on it. Kill this, find that. That's mostly all you ever saw on the board. But this time, one caught my eye.

A scavenger is wanted dead or alive. I will pay 1600 caps for her head. She is in Haven at the moment.

I pull the paper off the board and look closer. The picture was a question mark, and the description for the person was empty, which was a very odd request, mostly because its illegal to hunt a scavenger if you're one yourself.

"Hey, you shouldn't even be looking at that. You know its illegal." the rusty old voice came from behind.

I turn around to find an older man who was pointing a handgun at me.

"I was just wondering who it was."

I turn back around and pin up an old piece of paper and carefully put the request in my pocket.

"That's more like it, now get out of here you trash." the old man yelled.

"I was just leaving anyway." I turn and walk out of the bar and onto the street.

I was heading back home when out off nowhere someone wearing a long black hooded cape bumped into me knocking me over, the person falling on top of me.

With a grunt, we both fell to the ground.

"Hey, watch it!" I yell.

"I-I'm sorry, it was an accident." she replied.

It was a girl and she quickly jumped off and kept running.

What was that all about? I headed back to room 3727 and took a seat on the sofa. i reached into my pocket to grab the bounty flyer I took from the board, only to find it was gone. I searched my other pockets in a hurry and quickly realized that I was pick pocketed. I let out a grunt of anger thrn I stood back up and bolted out the door, grabbing my suppressed colt 1911 handgun on the way out and holstered it.

I quickly bolted down the narrow dust filled alleys to get back to wear that girl hit me. Once I reached the spot she hit me, I turned and headed down the alley she ran into. I look down and notice bare footprints in the sand and begin to follow them down the different alley ways. A left, a right, another left. Where was she headed? I turn down a wider alley and notice her standing at the end in her black, hooded cape.

"Hey! You! Stop!" I call out. She looks over at me, her face still covered by shadows, and bolts into another alley on her left.

"You got to be kidding me!" I started to run down the alley when all of a sudden she poked her torso out from the alley and pointed a handgun at me.

I quickly dived to my left behind a junk washing machine laying on the side of the street. Just as I do, three sharp clangs smack against the machine.

"I don't want trouble, stop shooting!" I yell out from behind my cover.

Right after I call out, she shoots one more time before I hear her dart back down the alley.

"So you're gonna be that kind of person. I see how its going to be." I unholster my 1911 handgun and run to the alley she was hiding in and fire four shots at the hooded figure running down the alley.

Three of the shots hit around her and one of them found a cozy spot in her leg, causing her to fall to the ground. I slowly walk towards her. She is un-responsive. Once I reach her, I gently roll her over onto her back to find she had been knocked out. She had landed on a rock and her head was bleeding very badly. I let out a long sigh, lift her over my shoulder and begin to carry her back to my house. Once I reached my house, I laid her down onto the sofa and began to collect the materials and tools I need to help fix her leg and head. I come back upstairs, pull up a stool next to the sofa and pull down the sock covering her leg wound. Dark, red blood was almost gushing out of the wound. I quickly grabbed tweezers and pushed it into the bloody gash to retrieve the bullet. After a little bit of digging, I pull out the mangled silver bullet and put it into the small bowl of water I have next to the stool. After that, I spray on an anti-bacterial spray, and stop the bleeding with the gauze I had. Afterwards, I clean up some dry blood around the wound and wrap the wound with medical bandage. Then I clean up the blood off her forehead and put some medical bandage wrap around her head to stop the bleeding.

The girl had long black hair, dark blue eyes, and almost pale skin, which was very rare around these times and especially in this area. After I finished fixing her wounds, I headed downstairs and brought out an old mattress then laid it on the floor in front of the sofa. I also grabbed a nice new pillow and a blanket and placed them on the bed. I gently lifted the girl up and onto the mattress, pulling the blanket over her. Rune is in the corner looking at me worried, probably because I normally don't have visitors.

"Let's just hope she doesn't wake up and try to kill me, right?" I go into the small kitchen and get a piece of bread and some water to drink. I also grab a raw piece of steak from the fridge and throw it to Rune. Just as Rune snatches it out of the air, I hear a knock on the door.

"Open up, it's time for inspections!" A voice shouts. I sigh.

"Now, of all times?"

The guards have annual searches for illegal items inside the houses, such as bombs bigger than a grenade, drugs even though its never really enforced as long as its shared, and illegal pets, like Rune.

"Go get in your spot, buddy" I whisper to Rune.

He heads downstairs and I slowly open the door. As soon as the door opens, I'm shoved backwards by a guard. Before I know it, there are four guards going through all my stuff. Two of them went downstairs. When they were occupied, I slipped my 1911 pistol into my holster, just in case. I followed two guards down stairs and watched them go through some of my stuff, making sure they did not take any of my gear that was lining the walls. After one of the guards finished searching a small box, he walked up to me with an aggravated look.

"You seem to be pretty wealthy and stocked up here." he said with a deep voice, "How did you obtain this stuff?" he says immediately following his comment, basically telling me that he thinks I got it by stealing from other citizens here.

"I am a scavenger, one of the top ranked. Believe me, I wouldn't have to steal something if I needed it. I would go find it myself." I say in reply.

The guard then walked away and whispered something to the other guard them they both turned around and looked at me. Before I know it, the other two are behind me as well.

"Are you really going to start this?" I say.

"You have a lot of stuff here. I'm sure no one would care if you happened to go missing." he says while aiming a riffle at me.

I let out a deep sigh and quickly kick his rifle into the air, then drop to the ground, pulling out my hand gun and firing five rounds at the guard beside him then more at the man stumbling for his gun. I quickly get to a crouch position and roll towards the new corpses. Coming out of the roll, I turn around and pull the trigger three times aiming at the man on the right, that was behind me. But only one bullet came out, followed by two hollow clicks. The one bullet lands in the man's skull, sending him backwards. My handgun is out of ammo. I quickly check my left and right for an available weapon, or cover.

You've got to be kidding me, there's nothing! I look back up and see the man aiming his rifle at my head, tears running down his face.

"You killed them all! What is wrong with you?!" he says, almost screaming.

I stood there, silent, not sure how to answer him.

"A lot. A lot is wrong with me." I reply.

Just as i let that come out, he is yanked backwards with a loud snap. Before i know it, he is laying on the ground limp with the girl standing over him.

She had broken his neck.