Principles of Survival (1)

A few minutes had passed when the gang left the place. They piled us away from the road because of a transportation mission; which was to take all the vehicles from the city. I got out of the pile of dead bodies which left blood stains all over my clothes. That was enough trauma for me today, all my family and friends assumed dead left me sad.

But at the end of the day, I had to move on from the shackles. Right now at an intersection, I spotted a store across it. Then I remember the principles of survival by my favorite author: ExposedMonkey.

Number one: Find a store. They are your haven in times of aftermath

That was a fact. Since there isn't any law in times of anarchy, I walked across the road quickly to enter the store. On entering, the place was barely touched to my surprise! Anyway, I quickly found a backpack to store the necessary: Canned food, water, weaponry, e.t.c

Those who don't loot these places of equipment are bound to die within the first week of the aftermath

Next thing, I overheard one of the lackeys talking about how this destruction is occurring all over the world which leads to the next principle.

Number two: Live off the grid. Cities are unpredictable in times of aftermath, snipers and people hiding in assumed abandoned buildings are your greatest threat. Live in forests, rural areas, and places near mountains.

You could say that the country I was in, Heyad, was blessed with cities making it nearly impossible to live off the grid. But good thing Andra City is a border city making it easy for me to cross over to the country. Two routes to consider, either through the Andra Desert or the city itself. 

It's quite obvious that I was in a dilemma. One route consisted of me going through vast emptiness and scorching heat, possibly dying from too much heat exposure or dehydration. The other route consisted of possibly running into gangs that have formed in the aftermath of deadly assassins who want to kill you for absolutely no reason.

This is gonna be a hard choice, while crossing the border is going to be a breeze but the route to it is a pain in the ass.

The goal was simple. Escape to the border or otherwise risk dying. The number of water bottles that I have stockpiled in my backpack is enough to cross the desert, however, at the same time, I would like to conserve it. 

***After some moment***

I was still packing supplies when I heard car sounds from outside the store. I immediately ran to the back of the store and found a ladder leading to the top. It wasn't long because the store was a single floor. Climbing the ladder and lying flat on the rooftop was only the sensible option. 

I don't know how many are they. Wait. . . let me listen to their conversations

"Hey, Lamar! We got some other cars coming! Move your large ass truck out of the way!"

"Alright boss!"

What made this spying side quest was that I couldn't peek over the rooftop. I mean, these lackeys won't spare a soul!

After some random movement around the intersection, night-time was already calling. The lackeys decided to take a break by going to a nearby store; they were planning to take loot the place.

This gave me some time to execute my plan that I made earlier

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"Boss, you say these cars are fully tanked with fuel?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course, they have enough fuel to reach the dealer's location"

Wait, the dealer? Who is that? I asked myself. But does it matter? Anyways, at a certain point, these boys are gonna go get supplies for their trip. That will give me a chance to steal one of their cars. But what about the keys? Wait, I know what to do!

>>Undo Rewind>>

I took the ladder downwards and sneakily looked where they were going. But as per my expectations, they left one boy to guard the cars. So I left my bag of goodies and took a knife. I cut parts of my shirt and my jeans to make me look needy but still revealing. You could I had some hidden beauty behind these clothes.

"Excuse me, kind sir. Can you *coughs* hel..p me with some food?" I pleaded to the boy.

As expected he rushed to help me, to be honest, he was a cute boy unfortunately I'm not human from now on. He forgot one key principle of survival

Number three: Be cautious with who you interact with. Women have this principle to their advantage. Some will come acting needy but in the end? You are some deer in foglights, dying due to your stupid actions!

The boy took me to one of the cars and took some food but that's when I stuck at his neck with the knife.

"Sorry, boy, you look cute but you have to die for my survival," I stabbed him once looked at his cute face, and gave him a peck before lying him on the ground. 

Taking a car key from his pockets, I eventually found the right car as there were many cars. It was the right choice to take an SUV which was armored. I started the car quickly and wanted to drive off to the city but the other lackeys came.

"Hey! Stop that car! Timmy, why did you give away the important car?" The boss shouted but looking at the boy that I killed, he was shocked and took out a UZI from his jacket and started letting bullets fly. 

In response, I quickly pressed on the gas pedal and drove off to the city. As I was driving, my phone was buzzing. It was my A.I assistant, Brilla. 

[ User: Mia Wellson, I noticed this car has been stolen ]

"So what, Brilla, I had to, otherwise how will I cross the border," I said back

[ Brilla understands that you stole it. But Brilla meant that this car was stolen by the people you stole from ]

"Explain more,"

[ Well, this car originally belonged to another Brilla user: the mayor of Andra City. The mayor previously placed a tracker on this car. Brilla understands Mia's survival comes first, that's why I told you this information ]

"That's nice to know Brilla," I responded. But as I looked outside the window. I noticed the lackeys were following me with the other cars.

Damn, I'm screwed

I pressed on the pedal some more. It was a clear road to the border. But the cars behind already caught up. They were firing bullets to the windows, but luckily they bounced off upon impact. Seeing that didn't work. They decided to ram into the SUV but I didn't back down and also rammed back, totaling some of the cars following me. 

Finally, I was crossing the bridge to the border but then another car to my right was ramming into me. The only option was to treat fire with fire, I rammed back but I missed my mark. They pressed the brakes, which made me drive the SUV into the railings of the bridge and break it. 

Falling. Into. The River!

". . .Fuck me sideways!"