Chapter 16 Vagrants in the Northern District
After being attacked by mutants, I finally realized that it was not as peaceful as it showed. Perhaps danger was hidden at the corner of the next street. I needed to be careful all the time.

There was an ambulance parked in front of the gate of the Hospital of Northern District. It was obviously abandoned. In the door-opening carriage, there was a complete skeleton lying on a stretcher. When the disaster happened, he must be desperate. People fled everywhere, but he could not move and could only lie down and wait for death.

In the ambulance I found some mildewed drugs and medical tapes that lost their stickiness, but they were useless. An unused filter mask? This was a good thing. It could effectively protect us from the toxic gases remaining in the Wasteland. I put on the mask, took a deep breath, and felt breathing smoothly a lot.

I didn’t go into the hospital to search. I needed to hurry up and finish the task from the Gun Team before dark. The hospital was here anyway. There were plenty of time for me to come here in the future.

On a street not far from the hospital, the bonfire marks in a room caught my attention. Some bones scattered around the bonfire, and the burning marks above them could be seen. It was impossible that ghouls left these. So would it be possible that these were left by mutants? Those big green-skinned guys had unique tastes, preferring to eat raw meat. There was the last possibility. It was left by people of the Northern District. People who could survive in the Northern District was not simple, which worried me a little.

Compared with pure ghouls and mutants, cunning humans were most terrible. They always kept a distance from you and followed you far away. If you didn’t pay enough attention, they may have come behind you.

Joining the Gun Team was a good choice, or being a looter was also good enough. The two choices were better than staying in the Northern District and fighting with mutant monsters all day. From my point of view, I didn’t understand this behavior, but I still admired them. I admired their courage, although there wasn’t much difference between their behaviors and looking for death.

At this time, I stood on the roof of a five-story residential building and looked at a church which was not far away and next to it was the cemetery. It seemed that ghouls preferred to stay in lifeless place. Now several ghouls were lying in the cemetery.

I took a deep breath, set up the sniper rifle, and aimed at the ghoul’s head.

“Bang!”

I pulled the trigger, and the bullet passed through the head of a ghoul sitting by the tombstone, leaving a black blood hole, and the ghoul fell instantly. The gunshot shocked the rest of the ghouls, and they stood up and looked around. The ghouls didn’t rush toward the floor where I was, which was beyond my imagination. They ran out of the cemetery for a short distance, and then stayed in the same place at a loss because they couldn’t find the target. In fact, gunshots could attract ghouls. But the sound echoed through the walls of nearby buildings, so it was hard for ghouls to confirm my exact location.

“Bang~bang~bang~”

The sound of gunfire arose continually and the ghouls, which were standing targets, fell down continually. Without wasting any bullet, I killed all the ghouls. After eliminating this group of cemetery residents, I didn’t encounter any danger on the rest way except for a few mutant cockroaches. I could get to the entrance of the Northern District Metro Station by crossing a lane in front of me.

At this time, a black shadow flashed through the front entrance of the lane. Was it a ghost? I grabbed the gun in my hand and cautiously came to the entrance of the lane. The towering houses on both sides obscured most of the sunshine, only a small amount of light could penetrate. And the narrow lane was quite dark, but the other end of the lane could be seen easily.

In the lane, several huge tin bins laid out in disorder. The garbage mixed with water released foul smell in the bins, and the smell rushed out of the mouth of the bins and spread around. Although I had worn a filter mask, I could still smell the strong foul smell.

Damn! Was this box filled with mutant cow dung? How could it be so stinky! If I hadn’t worn a filter mask, I suspected that I would have died of the smell.

Tolerating this peculiar smell, I stepped on piles of garbage. In this lane which you could see through, what else was there besides the garbage? Nothing else! The smell was so unbearable that I walked faster in order to get out of the lane as soon as possible.

“Ka”

As soon as I stepped forward, there was a crisp noise under my feet, accompanied by a huge gunshot. A pile of garbage burst out in front of me. All of sudden, I felt uncomfortable in my chest, as if I had been hit by a hammer on my chest. The huge impact directly knocked me down.

It was a trap!

Lying on the ground, I had only one feeling at this time. It was fucking painful! It felt like the ribs of the chest were broken. The mutants couldn’t think out such a trap. It must be the vagrants who lived in this area.

Damn vagrants!

I reached out and touched my chest. An obvious dent was in the alloying baffle. Thanks to this modified armor. Otherwise, I was not sure if the bullet-proof baffle inside could block the impact at such a close distance.

It was just a simple tripping trap. I stepped on the tripping rope which pulled the trigger, then the shotgun hidden under the rubbish spewed bullets directly. Fortunately, it just hit my chest. Even if the angle of the gun was a little higher, my head would be shot and I would go to see God.

I struggled to get up. Though I still felt uncomfortable in my chest, I had to leave the lane quickly. The owner of the trap must be coming when he heard the gunshot.

However, before I reached the entrance of the lane, I heard the sound of running in the street outside.

Somebody was coming!

I quickly pulled out the pistol, stood close to the corner, and quietly waited for the target to appear.

“Ah!”

Someone screamed.

The visitor didn’t see the prey lying on the ground as his or her expectation, but almost hit the black muzzle. This was a female vagrant, a slovenly-looking female vagrant, with a slightly bulging stomach.

“Drop the gun!”

I pointed at her with my gun.

The female vagrant hesitated for a moment, but threw away the gun in her hand in the end. It was a standard rifle.

“Did you set this trap?”

I asked her.

But she didn’t answer, just looked at me, not taking my question seriously.

I didn’t believe that she was a dumb person. I just heard her scream. A captive even showed a defiant attitude. Did I look like a good person? Obviously not. I hit her forehead with the butt and saw the blood on it at once.

“Don’t try to challenge my patience. I don’t want to ask again!”

I didn’t think that her skull was harder than my gun. But she could have a try.

“This… this was for hunting.”

Covering the wound on her forehead, the female vagrant’s eyes twinkled and she sort of hesitated.

“Hunting? Hunt for ghouls or alive people?”

I admired the courage of these vagrants who still tried to lie when they were pointed at by guns. Don’t forget, I was also a vagrant.

Instead of shooting her head, I pulled out the field knife, kicked her to the ground, and inserted the knife directly into her left shoulder. Then I held the handle of the knife and began to turn it around gently.

The female vagrant groaned continually and couldn’t stand it in the end.

“I say! I say! It’s for hunting people!”

Looking at the woman’s feeling of powerlessness after crying, I stopped turning the knife and signaled the woman to go on.

“When you passed the hospital, we… we’ve noticed you. We think you’re a fat sheep. So… we decided to deal with you.”

Because of pain, the woman didn’t speak very quickly.

“Where are your associates? How many of them? Where are they hiding?”

Saying that, I tried a little harder and turned the knife again.

Suddenly the female vagrant stopped talking and just clenched her lips. She might realize that even if she spoke out, she still would die. So no matter how I stirred the wound, she didn’t respond any more except the uncontrollable twitching due to pain.

“You’re tough! Are you waiting for your associates to rescue you? Are you thinking about how to kill me for revenge?

“You’re so naive. They can come, but you’re going to die first!”

Without hesitation, I pulled out the knife and plunged it into the neck of the female vagrant. A great deal of blood gushed out in an instant. The female vagrant stared with unwillingness, kicked on the floor a few times and then stopped breathing.

When you faced a vagrant whose intention was to kill you, all you can do was to give that intention back.

I was not sure whether her associates would appear. But I had to leave here as soon as possible. I had experienced countless danger brought by gunshot.

Looking at the sign of the subway station which was not far away, I hurried up.