My arrival at the garden did not go unnoticed. As I got close, I heard the compound gates slam closed and a frantic clattering, someone running up a rusted iron stairwell. Seeing as I was not getting a warm welcome, I parked far, and hid my ride as best I could.

It seemed to me the best idea to lay low and try and find a way to sneak in, certainly preferable to a head-on fight. Anyways, all I really needed was some food. I surveyed the outside of the large compound and found it to be surprisingly intact. It's not to say that it was in perfect shape, but it was certainly shockingly well kept. I found myself with some respect for whoever was calling this their home.

Unfortunately, this attention to detail extended out well past the fences of the compound. As I walked along the forest edge, I found myself contemplating what I would be taking from this place -- just enough to get by -- when I was forced to stop in my tracks. A click, underneath my boots, quite mechanical in nature. I'd figured I was just about as good as done for. All the same, it was worth standing here to see if there was any way out, or at least to make my peace with god. A shape, from afar, began making it's way toward me. -har har, looks like i got ya

I could see his large, mustached face gleering at me across the field. He ambled over slowly to take a look at my predicament. -yah, looks like yer just about done for. Serves ya right for snooping around. Now, I could see something was off. This man had me, far as I could tell, dead to rights. And yet, there he stood, pointing his rifle at me. I couldn't help but think to myself what need there was to hold someone about to get blasted to high hell at gunpoint. And so, I figured what the harm could be in slowly, carefully, reaching for my own weapon. If I was gonna die either way, might as well go down swinging. -Now, since we got a little bit a time I figure, maybe you could go ahead and tell me a bit about yerself before you go and get vaporized As the man made a dramatic gesture to emphasize his point, I dived for the grass; fully expecting to be torn in half by an explosion that did not come. Aiming as best I could, I unloaded my sidearm in the direction of the large man.

I heard no response, and then a thud. I peeked up over the grass to see the figure slumped over, halfway to the forest edge. As luck would have it, I'd survived, I went back to inspect just what it was that decided not to kill me. As it turned out the device wasn't even a dud, it was a mechanism rigged up to produce that distinctive click that stuck fear into the heart of so many around these parts. Generally speaking, I was much more care about mines when out in the woods, but perhaps I was getting rusty in my old age. Regardless, I'd managed to survive the encounter. I gathered up the mans gun and inspected his wounds. It seemed as though I missed everything barring one lucky strike, right between the eyes. His rifle was loaded, and his pack had enough ammo to make due for a while yet.