Kev and Amy: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale

“Amy! The third and fourths have gotten out of the trap again.”

“I got it, Kev, I really do. You should have used a different kind of bait this time.”

“It's not a trap, it's an enclosure. And it doesn't matter what bait you use, they're still gonna run right into it. They're stupid like that.”

“No they aren't, they're just hungry and used to being hunted by the fifths. They know what's best for them.”

“What are you talking about? Those idiots are gonna get themselves killed. They don't even know what guns are for. We need to catch them before the others kill them off for us.”

Kev and Amy walked along the tracks that surrounded their small town, each holding a rifle in one hand and a collection bag in the other. As they walked, they kicked aside the occasional tree root that blocked their path across the train tracks and around the edge of the town walls. A short distance behind them were two more similarly armed people walking parallel to them on the other side of the tracks, but neither group called to each other or made eye contact as they continued their patrol down parallel stretches of track inside their own walled towns.

The sun beat down on them without mercy as they walked through waist-high weeds growing up between sections of shattered asphalt that had once been roadways. High above them in a concrete tower a sniper watched over their town with binoculars trained on anything moving outside their walls, looking for threats posed by other towns nearby or signs of approaching warlords with larger armies who might pose a threat to take over their town and steal everything they possessed. It was these very warlords that had driven everyone out into the wasteland and forced them to cling desperately onto their little corner of civilization left intact within its last city limits, where life was lived under constant threat from marauders looking to steal everything of value from those who could not defend themselves against such attack.

“Hey Amy? Have you ever seen one of those big warlords? I heard some people say that there's this one guy who has thousands of men under his control who will keep killing until he owns everything he wants all around him because he has nothing better to do than fight everyone else all day long... That guy is supposedly dangerous enough to make everyone else scared just by showing up at their doorstep ready for battle... Do you think he's real? Or is he just a legend?”