Shadows of JiangXi

[arvg]

Broken tiles crunched lightly beneath his boots as he crept through the derelict hospital, he wasn't far from the shopping district, and he hoped to find some additional medical supplies secured somewhere on the premises. The wonder of Hospitals, especially Coalition ones, was that they anticipated nuclear strike, and any medical supplied would be secured in lead-lined boxes, protected from any kind of radio isotopes.

The only real problem with his plan was the fact that he wasn't the only one to realize this fact. From the looks of the ruins, someone else had already been through the hospital, turning much of it upside down in the process of looting it for anything that was even remotely valuable.

Bandits.

Humanity had this unerring ability to survive, and prey upon disaster, and there were those in the Zone who had excelled after the destruction of the world. Plying the Coalition black market with looted treasures taken from the shattered homes of the dead.

They roamed around places, especially larger settlements like New HangZhou, in large packs, usually on dirt bikes, shooting anything that moved or got in their way, as they strove to get rich off of the suffering of those that had died. Not really caring that at one time or another, they had been Coalition citizens. Such trivialities were long forgotten, as they had been, on New HangZhou.

Moving down the dingy hall, lit from the noon day sun outside, he kept his gas mask on. Even breathing the dust inside of a building was toxic. And he didn't like being inside for long, it was dangerous, and deadly in the confined, dark space.

He swept each room, as he advanced, his assualt rifle poking into dark corners that would probably never see the light again after he had gone past.

If there were signs of bandits, they were old. That was a partial relief...

Though elsewhere in the city he could hear the occasional ratta-tatting of gunfire, and noises of their bikes.

From the sounds of it, they had found a few of the Nuggets, and sensing the chance for fresh meat... well unfouled meat was a delicacy on JiangXi those days. Not to mention the wealth of the gear the nuggets were carrying.

The room at the end of the hall had been a small theatre of sorts. A decrepit looking piano sitting next to a small stage where, only a year ago, rousingly patriotic songs and dances had been performed for the patients of the hospital. A place that had once held such cheer.

He remembered his childhood on Leeds, learning to play the piano under the tutelage of a strange old governess with her strict rules and ruler to enforce them. A lifetime ago now, even thought he was only twenty-four. But then, Bretonia seemed more like a dream in those days...

His gloved fingers brushed the flaking enamel paint on the old instrument, and he wondered if everything and everyone would end up that way? From last reports, Leeds would be in as bad a state as JiangXi was soon enough. At least JiangXi had a fighting chance of getting better.

Continuing down the stairs, he descended into the bowels of the hospital, aware from the faint rustling that he wasn't alone. And years of dealing with the Zone, telling him that very soon he'd be fighting for his life.

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