Three

Wits, water, and weapons. The Essential Three of the open, in proper order. Everything else was fluff. As the saying went, if you’d survived out in the open long enough to get truly hungry, you’d already outlived your life expectancy.

A small lamp shone golden-orange in the corner, casting the room in a dull tribute to sunset.

It was as if some great ocean of destruction had rolled its unyielding tide through the city and then, upon its terrible recession, left behind only a shoreline of concrete sand and crushed humanity.

As far as he was concerned, shooting was rarely a good answer to a problem. But when it was, it was usually the only answer.

Hope can only be offered and snatched away so many times before it becomes a mockery.