The Hunters

Chapter One: The Hunters

North America, 2091, seventy years after the initial outbreak, the United Cities of America was in a state of renaissance. Seven massive cities grew up from the refugee camps of the late 2020s to reform the country, and each was connected by a high-speed, fully-enclosed rail-system, as millions of the infected still roamed and fed in the decaying areas of the once great nation, along with thousands of many regular humans that were living as tribal natives. Each city was surrounded by a wall that stood twenty feet high at its absolute minimum, and the citizens within performed the jobs and tasks that once took several states to achieve. Each state was named to complement their geographic region, and each was responsible for certain crops, goods and services.

In northern California, Pacifica provided citrus fruits, assorted vegetables, lumber, seafood, and electronics;

Mountainia in Colorado provided lumber, beef, poultry, and contained one of the largest universities;

Canadia in North Dakota was a major manufacturing center, along with various crops and pharmaceuticals;

Centropolis in central Kansas had one of the smaller populations, yet was the largest city by size as it grew most of the nation's grains within its walls;

The southernmost city-state, Mexicana in central Texas provided crude-oil and livestock, along with a large variety of crops;

Atlantica in South Carolina was a major fishing center, and also provided cotton and other crops;

And finally, the capitol, New Pennsylvania sat in the plains of one of the oldest states in the former union. Besides providing steel and coal, the city-state contained all three branches of the modern government.

As with any modern society, each city had its own class system, and although it was possible to rise from the depths, it was rare. Most accepted their fates, as they still enjoyed the safety of the walls, and starvation was not a common occurrence. Due to the decrease in population, unemployment was usually self-inflicted, with the only other exceptions being the disabled and the elderly, so nearly everybody had a job; depressing or dreary as some might be. Much was automated, however, and many jobs that were once considered menial were now being handled by automatons. Regardless, nearly everybody had access to three hot meals, shelter, and some semblance of happiness; provided that you obeyed the rules. Rules that carried heavy penalties...

Jails existed within every city-state, and three of the largest even had prisons. However, since neither was a place that anyone wished to reside, it was far better than the alternative: Banishment. Since the government assumed that only a well-armed and outfitted force could breach one of the walls, any citizen convicted of a capital crime was dropped hundreds of miles into the wilderness via helicopter. To avoid these criminals banding together and forming their own societies or governments, the drops were assigned at random, sometimes by the pilots themselves, and occasionally certain murderers and rapists were simply dumped into the center of Lake Erie, or possibly the middle of the Mojave Desert. It was a terrifying prospect, and it was assumed that it kept the criminally-inclined from committing more heinous atrocities.

Ironically, one of the crimes that could lead to banishment was leaving the security of the walls without permission. The infected still existed beyond, and one simple bite, if not detected, could erase the population of an entire city-state within a week. Therefore, leaving the safety of the wall fell to a select few: fishermen, well-armed survey groups, rail repair crews, and the Hunters. The first of the aforementioned four were the fishermen, who were usually transported to the safety of their boats by helicopter. Next were the survey teams, as occasional outside surveys were necessary to check the viability of the surrounding landscape and search for any pockets of infected individuals who might be gathering in large groups; therefore, posing a threat. The third group was the rail crews, as the enclosed rail-system was still subject to the ravages of time, nature, and possibly any banished criminals who wanted to inflict some mayhem, although they, too, usually traveled by air. The last group, however, was a breed all to themselves: The Hunters.