First encounters

[Tbone555]

Well... where to begin? I've had a hell of a month. First my plane goes down over Great Bear in the middle of the night. Hike until my feet feel like they're about to fall off just to discover a completely broken society, or at least a husk of one. I've read about the quakes and the collapse, but never knew it hit Great Bear quite this hard. Rail lines severed. Highway crumbled. Major settlements and infrastructure completely abandoned. Bodies of poachers and victims of wildlife scattered. Wandered for days starving to death. Survived off of half eaten deer carcasses and mushrooms. Almost died because I was too weak to pull myself out of the ravine I climbed down into. I walked so far looking for any sign of civilization. Didn't find any. Then I learn that the aurora makes the lights go haywire. Gonna be what happened to my old Cessna. I remember sitting in that gas station listening to the radio, seemed like I hadn't heard music in a lifetime. Started getting more and more desperate. Then I stumbled upon what I now refer to as Desolation Point, me and my sick humor. Found a rifle and a good bit of ammo. Took down some wolves. A bear. Got mauled my fair share of times. It's a miracle I'm sitting here telling you all this story now. Had to have come face to face with God himself well over 5 times. I've tasted death over and over and yet, I persist. But I'm rambling. Where were we? Yeah, desolation point. After I recovered from that bear attack, that's when I really dug my boots in. Fired up this forge I found in an old ship. Made some tools. Saw some (expletive) up zombie wolves that I'm still not convinced were real. I think I was losing my mind, being couped up in that old whaling plant for so many days on end. So I recover, and go out to check out that light house down the road. Made it to the bridge and there he was. This HUGE moose, staring me in the face, right in the middle of the bridge as if some kind of toll keeper. Wouldn't surprise me if he was sent by Satan himself, in all honesty. Mother nature just seems to want me dead at this point. This thing charges at me, no warning. I panic and run, of course, roll down the hill to the ice the bridge is over, sprained my wrist on the way down, and run across the ice. But not fast enough. He catches me and beats the sense out of me. I eventually black out, my arms over my face, and wake back up with a nice new set of broken ribs. I'll never forget the pain that ensued the following days. all swolen, hot, throbbing.... ugh. I spend the night in the light house, then go back to my shelter the next day. this time I decide not to take the bridge. and wouldn't you know it - he was waiting for me. he saw me coming a mile away and charged down onto the ice to meet me. Thankfully I had a flare for my distress pistol left. Put it right on his nose. Scared him away long enough to retreat back to Hibernia and grab my rifle. By the time I made it back, weapon in hand, he was long gone. Probably for the best. the very next day i cooked what bear meat I had left, gathered my supplies and got the hell out of there. Didn't look back. So let this serve as a lesson to all you would-be moose hunters out there. don't take it for granted. this is far from a harmless animal. my ribs still hurt to this day.