After the Bombs Fell

4. Salvation

It had been hard getting sleep after what happened last night but eventually, Henry was able to successfully drift off to sleep after being alone with his thoughts for long enough. Now it was morning and Henry had to continue his journey, he started by grabbing his gun and sack and beginning his slow trek to Atom City once more, he hoped soon he would make it to the halfway point showing that he had indeed almost made it to Atom City.

Noticing his hunger Henry scrounged through his backpack for something to eat and eventually found some snacks like a candy bar and some canned food as well as a clean bottle of water. Despite his lack of food and money he decided the next town would have something for him to do, possibly a job or some other way of making money considering this was supposed to be a relatively big town.

After having his snack Henry decided it was best if he keeps walking, remembering what he saw on the road yesterday with those people with drawings on their skin. Henry began to wonder just exactly who were those people and why exactly they had murdered that man. Was he a criminal? Did he wrong them in some way? Did he betray them? All of these thoughts rushed through his head as he tried to grasp exactly why they had done that.

Henry had almost completely forgotten the mutant he had seen yesterday just focusing on those strange men. The only questioned that really mattered was who the men were, yet mutants were still prevelant as well. What if Henry had seen another mutant, what if they only came out at night? These were all reasonable questions about those mutants, atleast in Henry's mind they were.

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After what felt like an eternity of walking Henry had finally made it to the city halfway between Atom City and the last town he had visited. outside of the gates was a large sign which read, "Mazatlan" as if advertising the town as a safe haven for strangers. Henry stepped through the gates and was greeted by a sprawling town center, this town was much larger and much more active than the last 2 towns he had come across.

As he entered the city Henry was already being offered protection while in town, weapons, and other items of varying quality. Henry shrugged all of these would-be businessmen off as he made his way through town, Henry was in awe at the sheer size of this place. The town had to be even bigger than the shelter he thought to himself. If this was how this place looked, how would Atom City look, Henry thought to himself.

Eventually Henry came across a empty shop with nobody in it so he entered, Henry was greeted by an average looking man who was slightly skinny.

"Well hello there stranger, as you can see I am still setting up my shop here but I should be done soon enough to open."

"Actually sir I am here to see if you had any work for me."

"hmm, well I could use some help around here, I could also use a good cashier."

"Tell you what stranger, I don't usually do this but if you help me out around here I can pay you a little and let you work here."

"Well thank you sir that sounds like a good deal to me."

"By the way, im Mike White."

Henry and the man shook hands and Henry got to work setting up the shop and placing products on their respective shelves. As Henry placed each item he couldn't help but get a devious thought in his head, Henry could easily pocket a few of these and possibly get away with it. Just as Henry was about to stuff the can of food into his pocket Mike called out.

"Oh by the way make sure everything goes on the correct shelf."

"Y-yeah got it!"

Henry couldn't hide the shakiness of his voice but the fright did cause to rethink his action of stealing the can, after all he had no idea what this man was capable of and would rather just get paid. Henry got back to putting everything on the right shelf, this time without any thoughts of stealing or pocketing anything for himself, though it was still tempting not too. Henry's morals got the better of him and after successfully stocking the store he grabbed a broom and got to sweeping.

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As the last customer left for the day Henry entered the backroom where he found Mike passed out on a mattress, next to his was an envelope with a note that read. "Here's your pay Henry, sorry I couldn't give it to you myself, a mans gotta sleep." Henry took the envelope which was full of paper money and a few bottle caps, finally he had some money to spend and could do something with it, but first of all he needed to find a place to rest.

Henry figured since this place was must bigger there would most likely be a lot more options on where he could sleep in this town, so he set out to find a hotel or a room he could stay in for the night. Eventually with the help of a local he found a safe looking saloon which had an open room on the top floor, Henry was delighted to hear this and immediately booked the room for himself.

Once Henry had made it to the room he couldn't help but notice the smell, however Henry shrugged it off and decided he should just get some sleep, placing his money in a safe place, setting his sack down on a chair and putting his gun on the floor next to his bed. With this Henry decided it was finally time to get some rest, finally time for him to sleep, so without another word or thought Henry laid down and quietly drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the "adventure" that awaited him at Atom City tomorrow.