The Survival District III: The Ruin Walk

Chapter 1

SHANE
We all sit down in a circle, with Zach towering over us, like a giant. James refused to sit down, but leaned against a stack of chairs and tables in the shed. Lisa leaned against his legs. Zach grins. "So, your next Experiment will begin. The Ruin Walk, to be exact" he says. Nobody says a thing. I knew it. "You're objective is simple" he says, reaching into a pile of paper and pulling out a large map. He lay in on the floor. In corner, covering nearly 1/4 of the map, was a forest. In a tiny area under the forest, were the mountains, where Gauge was located. Covering another 1/4 of the map was a large grass land. But, then, the other half of the map, was a desert. What separated the forest-grassy area and the desert was a wide river. Zach points in the middle of the grassland on the map. "Where here. The Ruin Walk begins-" he placed his finger on the edge of the river, "-here! You will have to cross the river and make it across the desert, to here" he says, sliding his finger to the very edge of the map. "What's there?" I ask. Zach looks down at me and chuckles. "One of the GENS installations, where you will have a tiny rest and begin the final Experiment, which I will explain upon your arrival. You have 3 weeks. Now, follow me, we will drop you off at the river to start your Experiment" Zach says.

He led us to a SUV, parked behind the shed, which we all hopped into. Due to a shortage of seats, Rachel sat on my lap, Lisa sat on James' lap and Anna sat sat on the floor. Zach started driving east. "How long will the drive be?" James asks. Zach sighs. "Around 6 hours" he says. God damn it. I shut my eyes and fall asleep, to avoid the boredom.

I was running. In one hand, I was holding a gun and in my other hand, I was holding Rachel's hand. We were in a long corridor. At the end of the corridor, was a door, labelled EXIT. Rachel opens it and we find ourselves in a forest, but surrounded by armed soldiers, with Zach in the middle. I remember this. This was while escaping the mall after then Survival District. Zach had a gun pointed at us. "You see? You can't escape us-" Zach was cut off by my gunshots, quickly killing all the surrounding guards. Zach had ducked to avoid the bullets. Rachel let's go of my hand and kicks Zach in the face. Me and Rachel start running into the forest.

I was awakened by a heavy jolt. We were on a rocky surface. We were driving next to a river. I groan. The car was speeding up like mad. I could hear gunshots. Zach looked panicked. I look out the window, to see a GENS helicopter hovering above us, shooting across the river at running people. Some of the people were in Gauge vans. It was Gauge. But within seconds, all the vans we flipped and all the soldiers were dead. Ahead, near a bridge, was a tall tower, with GENS written on it. Zach starts laughing. "You're friends can't help you now. Trust me. While you're out in the Wasteland, nothing can save your ass's except for GENS" Zach laughs. I'm guessing the Wasteland was the desert that covered a half of this huge area. Zach stops the car and hops out, followed by the rest of us. We start walking to the tower. "This river is artificial. It was built by GENS to stop people from leaving the Wasteland and enter our place" he says. Mark looks mad. "Why don't you save them?! They need help!" Mark shouts. Zach sighs. "When you are doing the Ruin Walk, you'll see why we can't let them into our place...and why we don't help them" he says. We arrived at the bridge, which was locked, but Zach unlocked it. He gestured to the bridge. "The Ruin Walk has begun. You have 3 weeks to reach of Wasteland installation, or we leave you stranded, to die. Go" he says. Without a word, we all start running, onto the bridge.

LISA
Now that I think about it, why don't the people in the Wasteland swim across the river or build a boat? I'm guessing we'll find out. The river was around 100 metres wide, so it took us only 15-20 seconds to cross. The second we stepped off the bridge, I realised our problems. All of us were barefoot, by now. There was a lot of sand dunes. We had 5 minutes to grab resources, so we could only last a week, maybe 2 weeks if we ration. There were stones scattered around. Sharp stones. I hear a loud engine roar. We spin around. Zach's car was leaving. "Why don't we use the Gauge cars that crashed a couple hundreds metres back?" Anna suggests. I shake my head. "They're probably broken. Let's just hurry up-" I was cut off by a howl. It was evening. A few seconds ago, it felt normal, but the heat was really getting to me. Felt like 30°C at least. Thank the lord it was becoming night. We start walking, over sand dunes. But when we reached the top of our first dune, I could see something ahead. A mini warehouse, similar to the Restricted Zone in the Survival District. It was around a kilometre away. Could reach there in a few minutes. "Let's get to that mini warehouse. Let's see why Zach won't help these poor guys" Angie says. I hear a loud rumbling sound. We all spin around. The clouds were getting dark. Under the dark clouds, were lightning strikes. Striking every second or so. That storm looked unnatural. But it was moving....towards us.

MARK
"Okay let's go!" I yell. We all start running, as fast as we can. I can hear the lightning striking behind us. After a few seconds of running, I hear Angie shout. "IN HERE!" She shouts. I turn towards me. She was running into a cave, one the side of a sand dune. We all jump in. The cave went on for about 20 metres. I look outside. No rain, only lightning strikes. It was too dark. "This is gonna be a lot tougher than I thought" Mason comments. True enough. Then, I hear car engines.

We all step further back into the cave. Through the flying dust of the storm, a van appeared. It was an old van. From the back of the van, some people jumped out. They looked like hobos, only armed with AK-47s. They also wore motorbike helmets, so it was impossible to see their faces. Here were 3 of them. They all ran towards us. We stepped further away. "Freeze!" One of them men yells, very loud, but very deep. We all raise out hands. They all Sesto into the cave. The tallest one takes off his helmet, revealing his face. He had dark skin, he was old, grey and white hair, slight beard and a cut on his chin. "Who are you?" He demands. Shane sighs. He introduced us. "We're people taken in by GENS and we're currently being used as test subjects, against our will" Shane concludes. The man chuckles. "Good luck, brother. You'll have tough time convincing me of dat" he says. It sounded like he had a fat tongue and a blocked nose, because his voice was weird, with his accent. I couldn't specify the accent. The accent would sound good, but it sounded screwed up on this guys voice. Shane sighs. "What's your name?" Shane asks. The man starts chuckling and laughing (It sounded weird) while taking off his gloves. "M'name is Lex, brother. Lemme ask you something. You come from GENS, correct?" Lex asks. Now I remember the accent. Indian. We shrug. "It's confusing. We come from Gauge technically, but we're currently doing stuff for GENS" I respond. Lex starts laughing. His companions lower their guns. "Gauge help us, you know? Me and friends...dead if not for Gauge. GENS doesn't want to help. Now, where you going?" Lex asks. Nobody says a thing. We didn't exactly need the public knowing what we were doing. Lex bites his lip. "No one answering?" He asks, shrugging once, hands in his pocket. Nobody says anything. Lex sighs and pulls out a handgun from his pocket. "Wait, wait, wait, no!" James yells. Lex shoot's James, in the toe.

James starts shouting. Everyone except me, runs to him. I looked panicked. "Now, you answer. Where are you heading?!" He demands. I bite my bottom lip. "Near the mountains. There's a GENS installation there...we need to get there" I snap. Lex and the guards start laughing. Everyone stares at them, even James, who had calmed down, still nursing his toe. "That place? Gone. Gang take over it. Dat happened years ago. Only thing GENS owns out there...is a old shed, with guns" Lex says. Rachel sighs. "We have to get there, within 3 weeks" she says. Lex looks surprised. "You can't get in only 3, it takes 5 at the lowest" Lex says. Lisa chuckles and walks up to Lex. "Not on foot, we won't. Can we borrow your van?"