It's Not Easy Making Money in the Apocalypse

"This is for you." I slapped the Perco on her wrist and closed it before Zara could stop me.

"W-w-wait!" She cried out, but it was already too late as the device became imprinted on her.

This was the Perco that I had been holding onto from Hazel. I had been hesitant to use it, so I had just been holding onto it in my digitizer. However, after this event, I realized that I really needed a way to get back in contact with her in the future. It only took me a short amount of thought before I called her over and slapped it on her before she could resist.

"You no longer have the slave collar on you," I responded. "I need some way of contacting you, right?"

"You say that, but Percos are exceptionally rare!" She cried.

"It's fine." I shrugged. "Besides, you'll need it to operate the truck."

"Th-the truck?"

"I can't take everything here with me." I shrugged. "Perhaps your people can use or sell some of this stuff. As for the car itself, I don't need it. I live in the inner city and the streets are too congested with wreckage to be drivable. Since you relocated to the outskirts, it'd probably serve your people better."

She stared at me for a few moments, her mouth partially open in disbelief.

"The synthesizer chip is already enough." She finally shook her head. "This is too much. Even father would be suspicious."

"I already said I can't use it, and I'm not just going to hide it and come back some other time," I explained. "Just consider it a gift, not to revenants, but to you personally."

"A-a gift?" Her face reddened.

I chuckled. "Is that okay?"

She turned away, her hand holding the Perco. "Almost no mutants have Percos. Given our longer lifespan, Percos are considered even higher value to us."

"Then, it won't go to waste," I responded. "I already put my location, ascension headquarters, in your device. If your tribe is in trouble or wants to trade, this Perco will keep you safe. My turrets won't fire on you or anyone with you. As for any guards, just let them know I sent you."

"You're taking a lot of risk for a mutant."

"I'm taking an acceptable risk for a friend." I corrected her. "Now, until we meet again."

As I turned to the door, she let out a cry.

"You're leaving m…" She stopped in mid-word, blushing ferociously. "You're leaving?"

"I have to be back before daybreak," I responded. "I've done what I came to do."

"You're joining… a raider gang?"

"I'm tearing it down." I corrected her.

"B-be safe!" She responded, and to my surprise, she turned and walked out of the room.

I stared at the door for a few moments, and then shook my head and left. I never felt like I understood women. Living with Mom and Hazel had only caused me endless confusion, and this girl reminded me of them. I left the safety of the garage and continued on my journey back into the city. I didn't have time to waste. The night was nearly up, and the sky would be getting light soon.

"You should have let me put tracking software on her Perco," Cici complained. "She never would have found out."

"If we're going to come to trust each other, I have to approach her honestly," I responded. "Besides, you left her Perco signal on the find, so as long as we're close enough, I should be able to connect and send messages to her."

"Hmph, I could have had her Perco broadcasting her exact position no matter where she was in the city."

"Let's not worry about that for now. What we need to worry about is-"

"I wonder who you're talking to. Has the Wasteland caused your brain to turn to mush?" I froze as I heard a click of a gun, and then held up my hands.

"Dip!" I responded even as I stood still. "Just the man I was coming to see."

"Hehe… is that so? That makes you an idiot then. A smart man would hope to never see me again." The voice chuckled from behind.

I waited like that without looking back. I had to admit I was sweating a bit. My shield had already taken a hit, and my extension mod was being used to maximize my storage space. If he chose to shoot me, I wouldn't be able to survive. All I could do was order a World Travel, but that could send a corpse to the other world depending on where he shot. After a moment, I heard the thud of boots hitting the pavement and grinding steps as he approached from behind.

"You got pretty lucky down by the Rok haven," Dip stated. "I saw you and the girl. The rest of your friends are bird food, in case you were curious."

"I see… did anyone make it out of there alive?" I asked.

"The two you arrived with made it. One other. You're the last to come out. Three survivors ain't bad."

"Three? Aren't there four of us?"

"Well, that depends on you, doesn't it? Maybe you made it out, maybe you became Rok food. I see you shook the girl before arriving here. Even Rex wouldn't fault me if some pissant tried to fuck Cock and Balls over and smuggle tech away!"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"She's a revenant!" I cried out as I felt the barrel of his gun touch my back. "She's a mutant. It was just happenstance that we helped each other."

"A revenant? Why wouldn't she just eat you?" He asked, nudging me with the barrel.

"She had a slave collar on." I declared. "I'm a bit of a hacker. She promised me if I took it off, she'd help me escape. The bitch kicked me out of the car and drove off with the stuff."

"You're saying she has the truck?" He made an irritated sound.

"She's already gone! She said we were even with that." I lied desperately. "She robbed me."

"That means you have nothing of value." He spoke through his teeth as his gun pushed even harder into my back.

"I said she robbed me! I didn't say I was a complete idiot! I managed to sneak a few things." I didn't even need to act to put the terror in my voice.

He pulled back just a bit. "What kind of stuff?"

I let out a breath, and then reached into my pocket, pulling out an item. "There is this…"

He snatched it from my hand before I could even raise it all the way. A few seconds later, he gasped.

"This is an Allco universal laser scope!" he declared excitedly, but then he coughed. "What else do you get?"

"Come on, man… I need to join the Cock and Balls…" I tried to sound desperate, prompting him to shove the gun again.

"Hand it over!"

"Promise me you'll let me go if I give you it. This is all I have left!" I tried to bargain.

"First. We'll see what you got!" He kicked me.

I stumbled forward and used the opportunity to turn around. Dip was exactly how I remembered him, sniper rifle and all. I slowly reached into my coat. He lifted his gun and narrowed his eyes. At this distance, his rifle would blow a fist-sized hole into any part of my body when he pulled the trigger. I pulled out the second device I had prepared, carefully handing it out to him with shaking hands. He reached out and snatched it just as roughly as the first item, but as he looked at it, he looked confused.

"Eh? What is this?"

"It's a lock decrypter," I explained.

"A what?" He seemed unhappy, and I felt a surge of panic.

I had picked these two items to sacrifice because based on Dip's personality, I thought they'd be the things he wanted the most. I hadn't expected him to not even know what it was.

"It unlocks doors." I felt a bit incredulous, pointing. "You plug it in. It can unlock anything below a Master lock. You won't be able to get into military bases, but just about anything under that can unlock."

Naturally, the item had no value to me, which was why I had been willing to give it up. As for the scope, it was useful, but my other world had scopes and there was nothing uniquely special about this one. It was just a magnifier and a laser. To people who had to scavenge such parts, it might be valuable, but If I wanted one, I could order a custom scope and have it delivered in under a week.

"That's pretty useful." He found himself nodding, lost in thought, but after a few moments of quiet, he looked up at me. "Well, get lost then."

"Cock and Balls…" I looked at the device in his hand.

"Cock and Balls is only for the best. If this is all you got, you deserve to get excluded. Don't bother showing up for Rex. I'll tell him later you died. Hey, at least you kept your head, yeah? I'm leaving, so should you be."

"You're not going back to Rex?" I asked in surprise.

"Fuck no," He laughed. "I've done my due diligence. I'm going to go get drunk. As for you, you should piss off before I change my mind."

"I-I will!" I cried as he lifted his gun again. "Th-thank you!"

I spun around and fled, even tripping on something as I made my way out of his sight. I heard him laughing as I disappeared As soon as he was gone, I leaned back against a broken wall and let out a sigh. The look of fear on my face dissipated and I grimaced.

"You should have just killed him," Cici spoke unhappily.

"Not all problems can be resolved so easily," I responded dryly touching my Perco.

I went through the list and pulled out a few more items, just enough that I was sure I'd get one of the top three places. My digitizer was full of other items, but I didn't have time to World Travel or go through them. I just got past the first boundary. Would he find out later I lied to him? Sure, but by then I'd already be in the gang, and he was already someone who was on their shit list, so I didn't think he'd be able to get revenge easily.

Once putting the items in my pockets, I continued the rest of the way to the meeting spot. The darkness was disappearing to a murky, cloudy morning in Argos. It was just another day in the apocalypse.