Chapter 2 The Damn

• The night passed on without disturbing the woman sleeping in the leaves. As the sun arose, distilling the night, it revealed that a thick fog had descended into the forest. The damp cool air soon woke up the woman. She sat up brushing leaves out of her long black hair and off from her faded clothes. Looking around at the gloomy morning fog, it reminded her of when she first awoke in this decade. It gave her shivers.
• She had voluntarily gone to sleep for the US military in 2076, after the end of World War Three and peace had returned. At that time, she was in the most advanced Cyborg Navy Seal Unit of the United States of America. As one of these most advanced military personnel, she wasn't needed for battle at the end of the war’s conclusion. Also prompting her decision to go into cryo-sleep, was that she couldn't join back into the civilian lifestyle with her military secret cyborg modifications. Upon her awakening she was so shocked to learn that the years had flown by in her sleep, and it was now 2278!
• At the time when she was released from the cryogenic sleep in the military base, thousands of miles from here, her vision was clouded. She recalled the confusion and fear that enveloped her at the start of her recovery. Her once muscular physique had weakened considerably, and most of her cybernetic body parts needed a major overhaul to catch up with modern times. After weeks of isolated rehabilitation in the military base, did she recover and receive those new cyborg armor updates. Only then was she informed by the current military, that the world had changed far beyond what it once was.
• Four years before her awakening, however, the leadership of the USA had finally fallen from a Democratic Republic and into a radical Fascist State, the American Fascist Regime or AFR. The country was thrown into an inevitable turmoil and after two destructive, riotous years of the new regime and upon the very anniversary of the nation's first American Revolution, a second revolution was declared on July 4th, 2276.
• Her cryogenic program had been overlooked by the past government leaders and this was due to the rise of many robotic programming and mass production breakthroughs. These breakthroughs gradually removed a bulk of military and police force human personnel from direct conflict. The robotic forces created in this decade, particularly in the Americas, were from three distinctly different companies.
• Astra Aeronautical Industry, or AAI, oversaw the bulk of aerial based robots, aircraft, and spacecraft. Titanium Technology Corporation, or TTC, dealt with robotic functionality, data processing in real time, and robotic adaptation to the environment. Lastly, was the main producer of the individual robotic units, part design cohesion technology and Artificial Intelligence programming, Silicon Valley AI Robotic Products, or SVAIRP.
• It was under these three predominant companies charge to rebuild this woman, and the other cyborgs like her, robotics and bring them up to date technologically. However, the cryo-sleep project had lost over time many of the secret abilities these cyborgs had. The data loss, be it either from corrupted computer data or misplacement of files, was so dire that only the cyborgs themselves knew of what their true capabilities were.
• The only reason that she and approximately three dozen others from various cyborg units like hers were even woken up at all, was due to the base they were being stored at had come under attack by those rebelling against the AFR. The entire base needed to be cleared of all its secrets. They were moved, still in the cryogenic capsules, to another base under the command of this new Fascist regime and then were ultimately revived by them. The saving of the cyborgs and their relocation were done to determine if the AFR could continue the Cyborg Studies Program put on hold all those years ago.
• Long story short, after being revived the soldiers of old couldn't tolerate being under the new foreign regime and staged a rebellion of their own. Waves of enemy robots besieged them after they liberated the military base from within. Many of the cyborgs managed to escape the battlefield and either joined revolution fighters or escaped into the nuclear wastelands, like she herself did. She wanted her days of war to end, and now that everything was different, she saw that this was a second chance at a new life.
• In her past life she had attended two marketing universities and was nearly completed with her degrees when the Third World War draft pulled her into battle. But now she was "free" from military service after abandoning the cyborg battle and able to return to her financial endeavor dreams.
• She wanted to pursue her dream of trading with companies' all over the world to earn vast riches, despite her combative skills. All she genuinely wanted was to be at peace and do so in a way that she chose. However, she was wanted by the Fascist Regime and didn't want to become bogged down with rebellion factions, so getting rich was her only chance for earning her peace.
• Thus, this is how she had nearly traveled across the entire North American continent, building connections, and learning what was valuable to trade with during these violent times. All this effort and experience has led up to where she was now; sleeping in a pile of leaves in the middle of nowhere. Everything she had strived for until now had failed!
• The woman got up off the ground and arched her back, cracking it to relieve her stiffness from sleeping on the lumpy soil. She then loaded up her wooden coffin back onto her back and stepped onto the path to the town: The Damn.
• "Such a vulgar name." She thought as she adjusted her coffin’s straps restlessly. “It had to be some morons who came up with that name."
• She continued to walk lazily down the cracked asphalt road, with seemingly no goal in mind. All her recent efforts to set up a trade network in the Salt Lake City area had gone horribly wrong only months before. It all started when simultaneously the Regime discovered her, and a rebellion group seized all her assets.
• She had acquired a sizable number of medical supplies and unknowingly to her, the supply was already being tracked by both attackers. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, dealing in an area she was not yet established in or supported by a backer. The collapse of her efforts happened so fast that it forced her to relocate.
• She saw a pebble on her path and kicked it forwards mundanely over, and over, as she walked and thought of what her next move might be. She had already decided to lay low for a while in these forgotten and lawless Wilderness Zones between the major cities and relax. Perhaps this time she could indeed relax, but after fighting those men yesterday it didn't seem likely that this disheveled town was going to be the place.
• The woman let out an exasperated yawn, “One of these days I am going to strike it rich and never again need to sleep in the dirt like a dog. Why does the military always have to be in my way? Whether it was the draft, me trying to leave them, or just trying to get a fresh start at a new chance at life; they are always butting in. I want to be my own boss and run things the way I want them too.”
• She sighed again, “The only problem is that I have no clue what it is that I want to go into business for. The main issue is that I can’t do things legally. I am a wanted woman and need to make money covertly, somehow.”
• The morning fog had thinned considerably by now and the sun's rays were now glowing warmly overhead. The forest had also abruptly ended, and she found herself now walking along some dried-up farmland. In the distance, peeking out from the dying fog, she could see the town, The Damn.
• The town's appearance was just like any other apocalyptic town. Buildings were burned, collapsed and rusting. Streets filled with trash and useless cars, both gas and electric powered, had been pushed haphazardly to the sides of the road, rusting away. Animals of all sorts were brazenly living in the town streets or buildings.
• She continued along the cracked road towards this ordinary, dumpy looking rundown town. Only one unique feature provided this wasteland town some unique appearance, it was the large Colorado River that had been blocked off by an unpowered hydroelectric dam. Somehow the dam appeared to be in good condition despite being out of use. At least from what she could see from this distance, it had no cracks, become warped, or had collapsed areas on its walls.
• A single row of multi-wired power lines hung from giant rust red towers that led into the town, could be seen disappearing south from her location. These power lines looked connected to the dam and potentially were still able to function. However, it was obvious that the town wasn't using any electricity, thus a main reason for its clear continued decline.
• The town looked like it could have held nearly thirty thousand or more people back in its prime. But now she assumed its population was now half that or less. Still a decent number for a town in one of the Lawless Zones scattered across America. Even after the dismal nuclear wars of old had long since ended, there were still those that didn’t want to risk living in populated areas for fear of being bombed again.
• After a half hour she arrived at a roadblock that kept her from entering the town’s limits. Again, there were five more men guarding the entrance. Next to them were several objects and walls painted with the symbol of the snarling dog.
• "Ho, ho!" Hooted a skinny tattooed teenager. "Looking good baby! What are you doing out here?"
• "Here to trade stuff." The woman answered, patting the coffin on her back. "The other members of your gang let me through the forest yesterday. I got good stuff."
• "Hmm, odd." Another gangster said getting up to confront the woman, along with two other somber looking thugs. He had a red hoodie on, and a gray arm band with the Mad Dog’s snarling dog symbol on it. Clearly he was in charge here. "Those guys usually would rob anyone. What are you trading right now?"
• "Toilet paper." The woman replied right away. She showed no signs of being intimidated by their advance and simply kept staring at them with steely gray eyes. Continuing she said, "They were practically filling their pants with crap. They needed my goods and after negotiating, they let me through. I recall one of them said he used poison oak by accident too. Turner, that was his name if I recall correctly?"
• The tattooed teen laughed, "Ha-ha! They're such losers."
• At the sound of his laughter, the other three gangsters stopped advancing and visibly relaxed. They knew the name, so it seemed to them that she wasn't lying after all.
• "No wonder they let you through. Give me two rolls and you can enter. Just to make sure you ain't lying to us. You feel me?" The red hooded guy gestured with his hand to instigate the deal.
• The woman sighed and took off her coffin, which landed with a heavy thump. The woman mused to herself while doing so, “There is a time to fight and a time to trade; now is not the time to fight.”
• She discreetly opened the lid so that only she could see inside and picked out two rolls right away. She now only had five precious rolls remaining in her possession.
• The woman then tossed the rolls to the hoodie gangster, "Here. Don't use it all at once."
• Catching them, the gangster gently rubbed the toilet paper fondly. "It's been so long since I felt something this soft."
• The tattooed teen reached for a roll. "Hey bro, let me go ahead and use that real quick."
• "Screw off." The hoodie gangster said, shoving him back. “Lady, you can go in."
• She put her coffin back on and immediately headed towards the center of town. The population along the way started to thicken, and before long she entered what looked like a half-baked marketplace.
• Shacks and tents were scattered along the dirty, pothole eroded roadside. Most vendors were selling miscellaneous products, others sold raw foods and even fewer sold processed foods from outside town. There were a couple of weapons stalls and electrical parts dealers, which was a good sign for whenever she might need to fix her own parts. The overall appeal of the place was still lacking and nothing of value was apparent.
• Then she spied several people dressed in marginally nicer clothes compared to everyone else, drinking what looked like beers outside a ragged tavern. Seeing the bottles in their hands, she knew she needed a drink too. Badly! Her throat was dry from being on the road for so long.
• Passing by them, she entered the tavern to see that its insides were well kept. The bartender was a squatted fat man with a thick peppering in color beard. She gave a small wave to get the bartender's attention and held up one finger. The bartender nodded understanding her intentions and filled a mug of dark beer from a hand pump tap.
• She was forced to sit at the bar as most of the booths were already occupied with regulars eating breakfast. She kept her coffin on just in case there was a thief interested in picking around it. She had only just finished her first mug when a sudden burst of drunken laughter erupted from outside. Sipping thirstily, she peeked from behind the rim of her second mug at the pitiful scene unfolding outside.
• A young girl with straight muddy red hair had been pushed into a deep pothole puddle and the perpetrators were kicking at the puddle to splash at her. The girl could not have been more than thirteen or fourteen and she looked far too thin. She was crying and cowering in the puddle unable to defend herself. The woman could only assume that the girl was homeless or at least malnourished.
• The woman shrugged and was about to turn away. This kind of event was nothing special, but the girl suddenly locked eyes with her. The girl's dull green eyes were pleading violently towards the woman for help!
• Those pitiful looking eyes were just too hard to refuse.
• "Fine. I’ll help you." She mumbled slapping several coins onto the counter and turned to get up.
• "Better leave it be, miss." The bartender said, still rubbing at the mug in his hands. "They are Mad Dog gangsters. They can't be reasonable."
• She waved her hand overhead as she headed towards the incident, signaling that she didn't care. She was going to hunt some fools. A visible smile crept onto her once placid face. Fighting off bullies was always the best!