The sound of fire crackled in the air as a boy stoked it with wood. His red and black hair sat flat on his head along with black wolf-like ears that pointed upright. The boy turned his head towards the sound of rustling in the woods. A walker soon came into view prompting the boy to grab his bow and stand up. He then pulled out an arrow from his quiver and placed it on the side of the bow. "May you die with some dignity you lost soul." the boy said softly as he pulled the string back and let go sending the arrow flying into the walker's head. Its body fell to the ground followed by a thud.
The boy sat back down and pulled out a walkie-talkie from his pocket. He debated if contacting anyone was a good idea since demihumans and Humans weren't on the best terms. After pondering, the boy held down the button on the side of the walkie-talkie and took a deep breath in. Slowly exhaling the boy began to move his mouth, "Is anyone there?" Getting no response, the boy let go of the button and sighed. Suddenly the sound of a twig snapping prompted the boy to turn around meeting face to face with a nuckle duster. "Disgusting beast." a deep-voiced man said as he picked the boy up by his hair. The boy being somewhat conscious used his remaining strength to stab the man in the hip with a small pocket knife. This prompted the man to let go of the boy allowing the boy to slowly get up and limp away.
By the lake, Riot continuously dodged punches from his old friend. "Atlas just listen to me!" Riot shouted as he blocked a right hook from him. Atlas proceeds to grab Riot's vest and pull him into his fist causing Riot to stagger back. "Fine, I'll beat some sense into you." Riot got into a peculiar stance unknown to Atlas. Atlas unfazed, charged towards Riot prompting him to do the same. The two clashed arms and began throwing punches, each blocking one after another. Atlas began tracking Riot's movements however that's exactly what he wanted. Riot quickly looked over to the left prompting Atlas to think he was going for a left hook but realized too late that it was a pump-fake and got a lightning-fast jab in the face.
Atlas staggered back from the jab and held his nose for a moment. Not giving him time to recover, Riot charged in and hit him with an excessively hard kick followed up with a punch. He then grappled onto Atlas's shoulders and kneed him in the gut. Before Riot could proceed any farther he turned to see Jackal and Dozer emerge from the woods. "Jackal" Riot muttered. "WATCH OUT!" Jackal shouted. Riot turned to look at Atlas but was quickly met with a hard punch to his face. Riot fell to the ground and Atlas got on top of him. Riot quickly covered his face with his arms to block the incoming blows from Atlas's fists.
Dozer ran towards them and kicked Atlas off Riot. Jackal followed behind and reached his hand out for Riot. Riot took his hand and Jackal pulled him up. "You get Riot out of here, I'll take care of our old friend." Dozer insisted. Jackal nodded and wrapped Riot's arm around him. As they walked away, Riot turned back to look at Dozer fending off Atlas. "Will he be okay?" Riot asked. "I'm sure he'll be fine we just have to get out of here or what he's doing for you will be in vain," Jackal said sternly. A pickup truck soon came into view giving Riot a wave of relief. Riot opened the passenger door and got in.
Jackal got in the truck and started it up. Putting it into drive, Jackal floored it causing the truck to kick up dirt and stones. As they drove away Riot looked at Jackal with a somewhat pissed expression. "Where have you been? I mean you've been gone for god knows how long?!" Jackal sighed and opened the compartment between the seats. He then pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "Hold onto your seat, it's going to get bumpy," Jackal said as he drove over potholes on the dirt path. He then swerved the truck to the side and began driving through the open field. "You haven't answered my question," Riot said as he gripped the handle above the door.
"It's a long story but to put it simply I went on a hunt to kill that old man however it didn't go as planned and I was ambushed by them." He said with a tone of annoyance. "After they ambushed me, I managed to escape off into the deeper parts of the town and camped out in a small house on the border of the town." Jackal stepped on the brakes and slowly came to a stop in front of a camper. "I'll tell you the rest later, right now I need to hook the camper up to the truck.
Riot hopped out of the truck while Jackal parked the truck under the front end of the camper to hook it up. "What about Dozer? shouldn't we wait on him?" he asked. "Nah, he has a backup car waiting for him a little away from here and we're going to meet up at a certain location," Jackal responded. Riot took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He then walked back to the truck and hopped in the passenger seat. Jackal got back into the truck as well and put his seat belt on. Riot did the same and they drove down the field towards an open road.
"Where are we going anyways?" Riot asked while looking out the passenger window. "A small double-wide trailer that's a bit away from here, it'll only be temporary as we need to be on the move." Jackal explained. "why's that? I mean why can't we just settle down for a bit?" Riot asked and turned his head towards Jackal with a confused gaze. "Well from what I heard during my time away is that there is a man who plans on nuking America, as for what reason I have no idea." He explained. Riot's eyes widened with disbelief. "We have to stop him," Riot said promptly.