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[Mulch Diggums]

I enjoyed that, though I'm wondering how common these bunkers are. If something like this happened now, five years down the road survivors would be surprised to hear some one just stepped out of a bunker of any kind, and they would ask where it was to go loot it, I would guess. Everyone's responding to it like he said he just came back from the bathroom. Also, not that this is bad, during the whole thing I kept thinking "Where are they getting the bullets for these things?"

[Vester]

Yay for update!

It does a very good job of establishing the world and the situation Cooper's in - and I find the idea that the jumpers use PK really fun. (No traceurs, though? )

Now to nitpick!

It's neatly put together. Here are a couple of proofreading corrections.

"A prime example was his faced"
“But… I was a mile into… Grody territory. Why was their running lanes there?”

[Mulch Diggums]

I thought the same thing about the running lanes thing, Vester, but as far as I know, that's actually correct grammar. But, were actually is the correct thing to use, as far as I can tell.

[Jackrabbit]

I could have sworn I fixed that before posting. And bunkers are fairly common. It'll make sense if I'm lucky.

[Jackrabbit]

It does a very good job of establishing the world and the situation Cooper's in - and I find the idea that the jumpers use PK really fun. (No traceurs, though? )

GABADAWABADARAEG.

More proof I need to research things before hand. As if I needed any more.

[Jackrabbit]

Okidokie, first page updated.

[Jackrabbit]

Removed by the author. Paranoia cited as the VESTER DAMN YOU AND YOUR INTEREST IN SOMETHING I WISHED YOU TO BE INTERESTED IN IN THE FIRST PLACE.

[Vester]

Remember all that boring exposition you had to sit through?

But no longer.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Cooper headed out into the harsh glare of the daylight, following the man up a ramp and into a parking lot adjacent to the building. All around him was a forest of iron, steel and glass towers. It made him feel small. Looking around, he saw that the building he just exited was situated on a four way intersection in the city. About one hundred meters down the road in either direction, barriers had been erected. He could see figures moving about on top of them.
“Ah! Good, Steven, we were wondering where you were!” came a voice. He turned and saw the man with the AK47 walking over to three other men, all dressed the same way as Cooper, with pistols strapped to their thighs. They were uniformly fit and of average height.
“Just getting this guy here. Jedd had to suit him up,” said Steven, turning to look at Cooper. “What is your name, mate?”
“Uh… Cooper. Who‘re all you?” asked Cooper.
“This is David, Richard and Justin,” he said, point to them in turn. Only Justin, wearing a grey beanie with wisps of red hair peeking out from underneath, smiled. “They’re my squad. You’re new so you might not know how it works but there are six Combat Groups in the Jumpers. Each has squads working individually within each of them. You’ll learn more later. For now, we’ve got places to be. But, first, check your pack.”
Cooper stared at him, then took off his backpack and opened it. Inside was two bottles of water, a first-aid kit a bowie knife and… six large rocks.
“Rocks? Fucking Jedd, thinks it’s funny. Calls ‘em ‘renewable long distance projectiles’. I call ‘em rocks. Dump ‘em and strap the knife on, ‘kay? Ammo is hard enough to come by as it is. Oh, which reminds me, unless I say otherwise, you don’t fire a shot, okay? Use the knife if you have to. Military surplus and looting can only get us so far and we need to conserve on the ammo and weapons, hence why I’m the only one with the heavy stuff. You ready? Let’s go.”
They began to head down one of the roads.
“So, what’s your story Cooper?” asked David.
“I was in a bunker for the last five years.” He said, simply.
“Oh? Another, eh?” said Justin.
“Another?” asked Cooper.
“People have been popping up periodically,” said Steven. “Plenty of places and people had bunkers before shit went Biblical. Those that were actually good bunkers lasted. I’m kinda surprised you survived 5 years, we don’t get many people now. Most places we find had their doors beaten down ages ago. Where is it? We could get supplies.”
“Uh… I ran out of supplies. It’s why I came up in the first place,” lied Cooper, quickly. “And also it’s apparently a mile and a half into ‘Grody’ territory.”
Richard whistled. “Damn! You’re one lucky bastard.”
They were approaching the barricades, which had two levels, one on the bottom and one on the top, each manned with several people. Steven took out a card and showed it to the guy at the gate, who glanced at it before signalling to a man on the upper levels. After a moments inactivity, the metal gates opened. They headed through.
“Okay, safety time. Check your gun Cooper. Safety on?”
He looked at it.
“Yes.” He replied.
“Good. Keep it that way unless I say otherwise. I know I already said that but understand that if you shoot in any situation that could be resolved in any other way whatsoever I will rip your balls off. Okay? Good. Now, we’re meant to be picking up food from a leper trader, in some construction site. I’ll talk, you guys don’t need to say anything, just back me up. Got it? Good.”

*

They arrived an hour later, picking their way through the debris left in the site after all the workers either cleared out, or died. Blood stained the concrete in various places.
“Okay, here we are,” announced Steven. “You got my back, lads?” There was a chorus of yes’s. “Okay, let’s go.”
They walked into a large, half built room with several doors. Large chunks of rock were strewn haphazardly across the floor, along with gravel, paper and dust. The roof was unfinished and through it, the upper levels could be seen. Some parts seemed to have collapsed from a lack of proper construction. In the middle of the room was a woman, dressed in rags. Steven walked up to her.
“Where is the food?” he demanded. The others fanned out around the room and Cooper followed suit. The knife was both a reassurance and a worrying weight on his thigh, much like the M9. Leaning against the wall, he looked at Steven and the woman. They were speaking quietly, but he could make out the words ‘more’, ‘weapons', and ‘protection’, from the woman. Then:
“That wasn’t our agreement,” said Steven, angrily. He leaned forward and unslung his gun. “The food,” he said quietly. “Now.”
The woman looked terrified. Shaking, she glanced upwards and seemed to regain her composure. Cooper looked upwards himself, and saw the glint of light reflecting off a barrel. He started forward. The woman said something.
“Steven!” he called out, just as the color drained from Steven's face. Steven straightened up.
“Ambush!” they both shouted, before gunfire roared through the room.
Miraculously, no-one was hit. The squad broke for cover, moving behind the large broken stones, searching for the source of the fire as the woman ran screaming for the door. Cooper already knew, he could see the men on the level above them. A jerk of the finger alerted Steven to this.
“They’re above us!” he roared, before taking aim and gunning down the screeching woman. Blood fountained from her back as she collapsed to the floor. “Weapons free, ladies!”
The next bullet cut a grove in his arm. He roared in pain and dropped the AK47, the strap preventing it from falling to the floor. Turning, he ran for cover and slid behind a piece of fallen concrete. Bullets thudded into it.
Around Cooper, Jason, Richard and David were drawing their M9s and thumbing off the safety. He couldn’t. He was still watching the woman collapse in his mind, blood spurting from her back. The snap of a bullet brought him back to his senses. How hard could it be? He drew the gun, switched the safety off and fired a round into the sky. The kickback snapped his wrist back. Oh that hurt, that really hurt.
Around him, the others were beginning to return fire, but still nobody was being hit. Cooper remembered reading something somewhere that a human not properly trained will shoot to miss even if they don’t know realize it. So that would imply – once again a near miss by a bullet brought him back to earth. He raised his gun and fired wildly in the direction of the sound and a man dropped from the upper levels, sans the back of his head. Coopers gun clicked. He was out of ammo. Dropping behind the rock, trying hard not to vomit, he fumbled for another clip and tried to insert it upside down. After realizing his mistake, he managed to reload the gun. Before he could cautiously poke his head back up, the chatter of rifle fire rang out. Evidently, Steven had only sustained a flesh wound. Several more seconds of frantic gunfire ensured, before silence. Cooper raised his head above the stone and a bullet winged its way past his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Steven return fire, before silence returned. Blood trickled down from the upper level, and spread out from the man on the ground's head like a Rorschach blot from hell. He slumped against the wall. He had just killed a man. Another thought seared through his mind. Again. He was responsible for, presumably, the deaths of billions. Why did this one matter? He kneeled over and threw up.
In the corner of the room, Steven tightened the bandage around his arm. Finished, he looked up.
“Safe your weapons.” He said, before breaking into peals of laughter.

It is good.

Although Cooper's thought process is a bit dry. Well, if it's read another way, he can be construed as numb due to, you know, the whole "death of billions" thing, but he seems an emotional guy, the type to freak out even further than he does currently.

[Jackrabbit]

Aha! Emotionality coming up!

Maybe we'll get to see Cooper explore his feminine side by playing with dolls!

Maybe that will never happen, ever.

Still, you're right, emotion must be added!

[Vester]

But remember what Socrates said: "Nothing in excess."

This from the guy who was so excessively awesome that instead of executing him, they asked him to kill himself.

[Jackrabbit]

And what, they trusted him to do it?

[Cheeetar]

They basically gave him poison and said 'Drink this or we're kicking you out of the city'.

[Jackrabbit]

Uh. Socrates was a bit to attached to the place, methinks? I mean, if I was told I could:
a) DIEDIEDIEDIE
or
b) Leave the city forever
I would be forced, in my infinite wisdom, to choose the option that didn't leave me a corpse.

[Vester]

Actually, what happened was that the Athenian senate (I think) was convinced that he was a bit of a troublemaker. So they figured on punishing him for being wise and telling people that a well-examined life is a life worth living and all that, but he was popular, so they weren't just going to kill him. So they arrest him and put him on trial. The trial went badly, since they were already set on getting rid of him (Socrates said so himself during the trial). Then they told him to pick his punishment. They were expecting him to say, "banishment". Instead he said "Give me a mansion on top of a hill, and a lot of gold."

The common consensus is that he wanted to die.

[Jackrabbit]

Ha! A man after my own heart.

But there's a time and a place, seriously.