I’ve got nothing better to do, unless I want to take my unarmed ATV and explore a little way through the Wasteland into areas I haven’t been yet. Of course, that’s pretty much a no-go at the moment so I head on up to the others. Sure enough, they’re right around the corner and up a winding track. It’s a pretty defensible camp and it’s behind the walls of what looks like some kind of old treatment plant. I meet some new, well; I can’t call them friends at the moment, people yes. I get some spiel about doing a job for an old woman, her arm’s missing and she has a replacement robotic one, it looks freaky. I don’t stare – much...

So Juno’s gone missing, and I can earn myself some kind of weapon if I do another little task for a guy. Yeah, I know how it works by now. I have to put my life on the line for people I don’t know, to get things that will help me put my life on the line for people I do know. It’s a little one-sided I think, but then I remember Dan and the fact he saved my ass when anyone else would have turned me over to the Authority. There’s a price on Ark Survivors and they fetch some pretty big bounties. That’s if the Authority pays, and I don’t like the sound of them one bit.

I make a quick trip back to Dan’s place, time to stock up on ammo and other goodies. I find that an old AK is in store, I sell a bunch of loot and a few other things I don’t need. I have just enough cash for that rifle and it wipes me out, going to need some more dough if I want to keep on stocking up. Now I ride back and park the ATV right outside the place where I was told to go. It’s a simple pair of jobs, just get in, poke around and see if Juno is ok, whilst I’m there sort out the radio transmitter. Sure, easy.

It doesn’t take long until I run into some gruff guys, with Union Jack face paint and body markings. I’m not sure who the hell they are, but they’re armed to the teeth. I let the wingsticks do the talking and both are down before they can even scream out in alarm...so far and so good. Now I take things easily, sure I’ve got the ammo to have a few prolonged skirmishes thanks to these guys now, but I’m just getting started out here.

So I scope things out, spot a couple of the guys over on a far area. They’re moving around and just relaxing. No sign they’ve spotted me yet. I take advantage of that and line up the scope of the pistol with the markings on the guy’s nose, pull the trigger and drop him in one. It’s a lucky shot though; usually it takes a few more rounds to put people down with this old thing. Now they know I’m here. So I get a few more shots off and wing his friend, his helmet goes flying and the next few take him down to the floor, he crawls out of sight.

I have to make my way onwards and now a friend of his has joined in, he’s coming and the area is pretty clear. I don’t waste ammo, I just throw the wingstick, it slams into his head and he drops like sack of potatoes. I get the wingstick back, rifle him for his money and spare ammo. I can hear the cursing from high above, the guy who I winged is still alive and it sounds like he managed to catch a second wind. No matter, as I round the corner I let him have it with the AK, it feels good, it kicks a lot but he can’t escape the torrent of lead.

His body rocks from each shot and finally he drops. I do the same thing I’ve learned to do, rifle him for anything he might have spare and then move on. It’s all quiet now and I get closer to where I’m supposed to look for Juno. I’m not expecting to find him alive, not at all, but I do find something...as I enter this old place. It’s dark, it’s creepy and its most of all deserted. Or at least I think that as I move through the broken hallway. I can hear something, it sounds inhuman...I prepare for the worst and come upon a figure crouched over another body.

Juno’s being eaten, it’s not one of these clan guys though; this bastard has ugly grey skin and misshapen arms. I throw the wingstick but my aim’s off, careless, and it costs me. It clangs off the wall and breaks, he turns and as quick as a flash he’s on me, snarling and slicing. The AK roars in the dark and soaks round after round before he finally goes down. There are more of them, I back off down the corridor and I can scarcely keep my gun steady as I deal with another of these damn critters. It’s over and they melt into nothing but goo, that turns my stomach and I try and find the tower where the radio transmitter is...I need out of the stench.