Creative Story inspired by J. Conrad's Heart of Darkness with commentary

“This journey went on for a fair few weeks, possibly a couple of months. I spent most of my time sleeping in bombed out houses, living off tins and packets of dried food. I was not alone, there were animals and other people! I was told about a camp where I could stay and this one guy explained about how hell had been realised onto us for our sins, I don’t know what he was talking about but he kept saying it was our fault, strange man to say the least.”

“I hadn’t washed in ages and had grown a beard which I was trimming with a knife. As I neared the camp, I became paranoid, the whole world seemed to be against me, I had been shot at and mugged more times than I can remember by then and that was only the start. At night, this world is a very different place, a whole new world, and the temperature goes from scorching to freezing in minutes, other people come out too, like me, just trying to get by and maybe find a camp to settle down in.”

“Finally, I arrived at the camp, Templum, it was an abandoned school which had been turned into a refuge for ‘wastelanders’. Caravan traders had set up shops and a doctor had the old sick room as his clinic. At first I thought wow, what an amazing place; this really is the epitome of humanity, it was amazing how a bunch of random people all helped each other to start a community in such a desolate time, when civilisation had gone out the window and into madness and where every one starts looking out for themselves and resorts to robbery, prostitution and drug dealing just to make a living.”

“Soon I realised Templum was not exactly a great place, after living in the wastes for so long I had become accustomed to adventure, and I needed to get out. It was in the seedy little bar when I overheard a conversation between two mercenaries about an old relic from before the war, a group of wastelanders had started worshipping it as if it was a godly item, and I had an adventure on my hands, I knew I had to see what all this was about, I packed my bags, loaded my gun and set off. The wilderness was mine to travel, I felt the dusty wind rushing past me like a bullet, I felt so good, I felt so alive, I was back where I belonged. My journey was before me and adventure filled the air with every breath I took. I was embarking into the wastes once more.”

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