Chapter 16

  The inside of the steel box was stacked with a variety of supplies. ed food, bottled water, ammunition, healing autoiors. Besides all that, there were a couple of other things that attracted Jake’s attention: a rolled sleeping bag and a tactical belt with several pouches for carrying spare ammo and other stuff. Ihe supply drop were also a neon and a few grenades. He gnced up and dowreet to make sure there were no enemies nearby that could jump him while he was distracted. He then sed the neon with his PDA to see its stats.

  It was a semiautomatic shotgun of on rarity, holding fifteen shells in the magazis damage was somewhat lower than that of his pump-a shotgun. It had a wider spread too, which was a bad thing. He had killed the stranger with a single shotgun bst from some distance. Had he been armed with this semiautomatic shotgun, he wouldn’t have been able to aplish that, because most of the pellets would’ve missed him.

  Brow furrowed in thought, Jake studied at the semiautomatic shotgun in his hands. He could fire this on as fast as he could squeeze the trigger. It held fifteen rounds and was much easier to reload than his pump shotgun. Against mutants, the neon should prove to be quite effective, but against human ehe good old pump-a shotgun robably much better. After giving the matter some thought, Jake decided to keep both of them for now.

  He took the tactical belt from the steel box and faste around his waist. He then slid his spare mags, shells, and grenades into the pouches on the belt. He proceeded to take all the supplies from the steel box and store them away in his rucksack. After all that, he straightened up. Between what was already inside his pack, the loot he’d taken off the dead stranger, and the supplies from the steel box, his rucksack had gotten much heavier. He even had some trouble heaving it onto his shoulders.

  Gotta find a pce where I stash some of my stuff.

  Besides the supplies, he also carried too many guns. He had lost his sed pistol somewhere in the building and hadn’t bothered to find it, but the first one was still holstered at his right hip. Besides the pistol, he had the submae gun hanging from its sling around his ned the pump-a shotgun slung over his left shoulder. The semiautomatie was held in his hands. And he also had some grenades and plenty of ammo on him. He really o lighten his load.

  Jake then picked a dire a off. He roamed the city for a little while looking for a pce where he could stash some of his stuff. He wasn’t eager to carry all his supplies and ons on him all the time. All the expl and fighting he’d done during the day was taking a toll on his body. He was dog-tired and hungry. His legs had grown so weak they could hardly carry him anymore. After he put some distaween himself and the street where the y supply drop was, he stopped beside a building.

  Shouldering the semiautomatic shotguepped to the entrance, listening carefully. Except for small pieces of debris g underfoot, all was quiet. He ehe building and surveyed the space, alointing the shotgun where he looked. No mutants were in sight. Oher side of the room opposite the entrance was a staircase. He climbed the steps to the sed floor. He couldn’t climb higher, because the rest of the staircase y in ruins. Jake found himself in a corridor lined with doors on both sides. He opehe one and looked ihe room was barren except for a yer of dust c the floor and spider webs ging to the ers just uhe ceiling.

  A few windows were set in the wall opposite the entrance. Jake walked over to one of them and peered outside. The windows overlooked the street. Aside from the wind rustling the grass that pushed through the cracks in the asphalt, there was no other movement outside. Jake took off his rucksad pced it on the floor under one window. He then unslung and put down the submae gun and the pump-a shotgun. Jake po rest in that building, but he had to make sure there were no mutants ihat could attack him while he slept.

  Holding the semiautomatic shotgun in his hands, he left the room and walked down the corridor, opening all the doors and looking into the rooms. Now that he lightened his burden, it was much easier to move. It took him some time to explore all the rooms on the first and sed floors. After making sure no mutants lurked anywhere ihe building, he was finally able to rex. He returo the room on the sed floor where he’d left his things. Croug dowo his rucksack, he took the tin s from it, examining eae and pg them on the floor. Beans with ba. Beans with pork. Rid stew, which looked pretty good in the picture oside of the doubly-yer tin. Each had a pstic spoon in a paper c loosely glued to its outside.

  Jake detached the spoon from one of the tins and uned the c. He heated the , waited the required three minutes, and then ope. Steam rose from it.

  “Ugh. Looks like shit,” he muttered to himself. “Probably tastes like it, too.”

  He used the spoon to sample the food. It wasn’t as bad as he’d thought. He poked at his stew, bringing rge portions to his mouth. When he was done, he immediately opened another , the steam from the self-heat misting the air, the aroma filling the room. Jake ate his fill, dev three medium-sized s before he felt satisfied. He then opened one of the water bottles and drank its tents, emptying the etle in one go.

  After he satiated his hunger and quenched his thirst, he looked at the remaining food. He had enough self-heating meals to st him a few days. It looked like he wasn’t going to die from hunger in this world. Well, at least if finding fresh ed food would be as easy as it had been so far. He then id his sleeping bag on the ground and unrolled it. As he smoothed out the wrinkles, he unzipped the bag and turhe fp to the side, revealing the inviting interior.

  However, before climbing into the sleeping bag, he wao close the door to the room. He stood up and crossed the dusty floor. After shutting the door, he spotted an iron sliding bolt attached to it. He slid the bolt into pce. Sure, if some mutants by ce got into the building and decided to crash through the door, the bolt wouldn’t hold them for long, but if he kept quiet, an uninvited visitor wouldn’t have a reason to try to force the door open.

  Jake returo the sleeping bag and pnted his butt beside it. He pced his semiautomatic shotgun on the floor within easy read climbed ihe sleeping bag, feeling its warmth and fort embrace him. For a moment, he stared at the dirty ceiling above him, his mind devoid of any thoughts. He was so tired he couldn’t even think about anything.

  As soon as Jake closed his eyes, he immediately fell into a deep sleep, and the dangers of the new world around him melted into sweet oblivion.