Chapter 14

  About ten mier, Jake heard his PDA emit a beeping sound. He took out the devid saw a text message h in the middle of the s. THE PLAH YOUR SUPPLY DROP IS NEARING THE DROP LOCATION. Just after he read the message, he heard a distant rumble ing from the sky. He gnced out the window, but from his current position, he couldn’t see the pne. An aircraft i was dispyed on his PDA’s map, though, and it was gradually approag the building he was in.

  With every passing sed, the rumble of the pne’s engines was getting louder. At some point, the sound grew so loud it sent slight vibrations down the walls, and when Jake gnced out the window and looked up again, he indeed saw a military-looking pne drifting across the sky, flying over the high-rise building he was in. The pne looked unlike any other aircraft he had ever seen before. It had a futuristic-looking design, and Jake wondered if the pne was actually manned by a human pilot. For all he knew, it erated by an AI system.

  His PDA beeped with another notification, and he g the s to read it. SUPPLY DROP INING. On the map, o the image of the pne appeared another small i that resembled a box with a simplistic parachute design.

  The rumble of the pne faded as the aircraft moved farther away from his position. A few seds ter, the sound of its engines could no longer be heard, and the pne i vanished from the map. Jake ed his neck out of the window and looked up. He saw a box desding with a parachute from the sky.

  He sidered leaving the building but opted to remain iil the supply drop touched down. By the look of it, the box should nd not far from the entrao the building. By his estimation, he wouldn’t have to wait for long. A little ter, the shadow of the supply drop became visible on the ground. The box was going to nd right in the middle of the road in front of the building. Jake was about to get to his feet and head for the exit when he caught a glimpse of movement outside.

  He peered out the window but didn’t see anything suspicious at first. He sed the road outside the building and then a movement oher side of the street attracted his attention. He saw a male person hiding in an alleyway formed by two buildings. The straretched his neck out into the open to look up at the box slowly drifting down to the ground. It looked like another survivor had set his sights on Jake’s supply drop.

  He wasn’t sure how long the stranger had been hiding in the alley across the street. Probably not too long, otherwise Jake would’ve noticed him earlier. The stranger himself wasn’t aware of Jake’s presence. Jake made sure to keep his body cealed ihe building so it couldn’t be seen from the street. When he o take a peek outside, he carefully looked around the edge of the window frame to survey the area before retreating bato hiding.

  Jake wondered how the stranger had learned about the supply drop. Had he simply been in the nearby viity and heard the sound of the pne flying overhead? Or were other survivors informed when somebody requested a supply drop, showing them the location of the drop zone on the map? Jake g the dead body of the survivor he’d looted a few minutes before. If he could hato the dead man’s PDA, he would learn the ao this question. Unfortunately, if there was a way to hato another person’s PDA, Jake didn’t yet know how to do it.

  He returned his attention to the street outside. The wooden box was drifting down and a few seds ter, finally nded in the middle of the road, the defted parachute droppio it. The straook a step out of the alley, looking this way, that that. He sed the street in both dires and studied the buildings lining the other side. Yet he failed to spot Jake. Thinking he was alone, he went out of the alley and strode across the road to the wooden box. Watg him, Jake came to the clusion that the other survivors weren’t actually notified about supply drops requested by other people. If it had been the case, the stranger would’ve acted way more carefully, anticipating the presence of the person who’d requested the supply drop nearby. So he must just have happeo be in the nearby viity when he heard the sound of the ining pne and stayed long enough to withe supply drop.

  Jake watched the stranger approach the wooden box. The defted parachute lying on the ground fpped zily in the breeze as the man slowly walked around the box, trying to figure out how to open it. At some point, he stopped and stared at the box in puzzlement, his back turo Jake. The stranger was a sitting duck out there in the open, and Jake could kill him easily. However, while Jake wasn’t going to let the straake all his supplies, he wasn’t willing to kill a fellow survivor in cold blood for no other reason than to protect his supply drop. In fact, Jake didn't mind sharing with the stranger. While the box wasn’t too big, it appeared rge enough to have plenty of supplies for both of them.

  The straook hold of one of the boards and pulled, seemingly exerting all his strength. A sed ter, the board came off ao the ground, revealing a part of a steel box led ihe wooden one. Wheranger began to remove the board, Jake got to his feet and headed for the exit. He unslung his shotgun and shouldered it. While he wasn’t going to shoot at the stranger unless he absolutely had to, just in case, he wao have his on ready.

  By the time he exited the building and stepped onto the sidewalk, the stranger had removed all the boards from one side of the wooden box. Jake could see that the exposed side of the steel box had a security touchs patached to it. The straared at it for a sed, then pressed his thumb to it. Some red-colored words appeared on the s, but Jake was still too far away from the supply drop to be able to read them.

  His PDA emitted a quiet notification sound, and Jake froze, staring at the stranger’s back. However, the survivor didn’t hear the sound, and Jake quickly took one hand off the shotgun arieved the device to read the notification. SOMEBODY IS TRYING TO ACCESS YOUR SUPPLY DROP. He slid the device bato his inner jacket pocket and once again pointed his shotgun at the straanding in the middle of the road.

  “Hey, it’s mine,” he shouted to be heard over the stant howl of the wind.

  The stranger instantly spun around and saw him. He immediately reached for what looked like a submae gun dangling from its sling around his neck. Pointing the on in Jake’s dire, the stranger immediately opened fire.