[headquarters]

[I]
A pale sun shone through a dim haze of ash and smoke in the stratosphere, down on a burnt and ruined landscape dotted with buildings untouched and patches of growth that had yet to die .Crows swarmed over a lot a few hundred meters out from his well hidden position . In the distance, a black streak of smoke drifted upwards from some burning vehicle or house .Other than that nothing moved in this desolate part of the northern central valley .

A chilly wind blew gusts of dust covering Lt.Reyes of Detachment "A" of the WillisCos Corporate Security branch .he didnt mind .Anything obscuring his ghillie suited figure even more he welcomed.He had a full mopp suit on and new maskfilters-and as such not too worried about the rads .Even still...Radstorms were a pain in the ass.The miniscule dust and ash fragments could be inhaled,ingested,lodge in the corner of the eye ..If unlucky you could get dosed pretty good .A buddy had taken cover for 3 days in a collapsed warehouse building when on patrol .He had gotten home , but had severe radiation illness.All the metal that had been stored in there had accumulated far more rads than the surrounding brick and sand and stucco.



Oh well..They were well paid considering .And it was not like the other organizations that were hiring had all dandy jobs on offer either .He adjusted the focus of his rubber padded binoculars and checked the anti glare cover .A little glimpse of a reflection could raise suspicion -even in this bleak sun .The chill was begining to get to him now.he had lain on his rubber mat for over 16 hours without moving more than a few inches.His hydration system was soon drained .The nipple inside tha mask still yielded a few drops of sickly sweet water/salt/sugar solution when he sucked on it . But he was there for teh money .Photographic evidence or no bonus.He sighed and put the glass of his mask to the binos again .He wondered about what his girl had told him before he left on this one .She had something to tell him.They needed to talk .Annoyed he clenched his teeth .Probably another girl with a master plan for him to provide for her growing in her belly already.He shuddered."Come on ..come on.." he whispered impatiently .

Another rad storm was brewing out in the distance ,far south.It would be there in an hour or two .The minutes passed slowly,almost reluctantly .He checked the digital alarm clock he had set up next to his binocular on its little tripod and his camera .He looked at the little red numbers and was puzzled .Before closing the plastic cover he checked again .It seemed so dark to be so early .How could anyone really tell the time anymore he wondered.There were no central agencies to give everybody the right time anymore.The atomic clocks or whatever were long since gone .Who was to say that they were even on the right date ?God knows there had been mistakes made before -one monk guy had miscalculated by 33 years on the calender they used in the western world -and that was in 1200 or whatever .Who had had presence of mind to keep track those fateful months of chaos when it all came tumbling down? He remembered standing in his uncles back yard and seeing an airliner come screeching down from a great altitude and slam into the ground a mile or two away .The shock wave had still been enough to rustle his hair. The burning rows of cars on the blocked highways had blackened the afternoon sky all of that week.And always the gunshots in the distance and the helicopters roaring overhead .For weeks .

No.He hadnt kept track of his calendar.

There was finally movement.
A cloud of dust hugged the ground as it snaked and grew out of the horizon .Inbetween the scorched buildings and littered ruins a convoy was approaching .As it came closer he hit the switch on his camera and adjusted the zoom .He was a bit worried that the fold out LCD screen would give him away -but paranoia is a good quality in a long range recon man .At least it had served him well-seeing as he was still around.The convoy was heavily armed and had a vanguard and a rear guard deployed .Occassionally a gunner would let of a few MG rounds into a suspicious looking brush or ruin .It was always nothing .As the long line of ragged and dusty vehicles drew near ,the ground trembled slightly .Reyes lowered his head and lay utterly still -praying silently as the dustcloud from the passing vehicles engulfed his OP.

5 minutes later ,Lt.Reyes shut down his little OP and started his extraction routine .He went slow and deliberate ,and methodically removed every trace of his being there .Before he got foot mobile ,he exchanged the bottle of piss that he had hooked up to his suit with a new one .Running with a full bottle could be messy -as he knew from experience .

The 45 seconds of video in the pouch in his load carrying gear was everything he needed .He had the money now.He just had to get home to get it first .

He started a crouched run from cover to cover .He had a long way to go to the pick up point .The first howling blasts of wind reached him and his ghillie suit hissed and flapped .Then the millions of little grains of sand and dust hit him with a noticeable nudge against his gear.It made a constant swooshing sound against teh fabric of his kit.He kept his PainTek AK-47 thigthly wrapped in a plastic cover .It would be filled with dust in minutes if not .He flipped open his compass and turned away from the wind to get his bearing. He didnt bother hiding or coveringhis tracks now. Visibility was down to a few dozen feet.

He hummed a Norteño ballad to himself and trudged along .Hopefully he would be miles away by the time this one died down .
everything was going smoothly .But then again -there was that talk with his girl waiting for him back in the safe zone.