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DZ01 [Fiction] by Mourne

The coyote stood on the street corner with his eyes shut tightly, the biting wind carrying sharp flakes of bitter snow as it howled mournfully through the empty streets. His ears twitched in the cold as he listened. The winter silence muffled everything, but it was not a friendly quiet. It didn’t herald peace for the millions of souls who’d trodden these streets—only the presence of death. Even the cold couldn’t mask the odor of it, nor familiarity deaden the revulsion inherent to the smell of infection and burning metal and decaying bodies.

He opened his eyes, glittering a bright and angry green even as the rest of his expression stayed solemnly neutral. The faintest shifting of light played in his eyes as contact lenses shifted their displays. He stood there for a moment, a worn M1A in his gloved paws as he stared at the wall before him. I am a monument to all your sins. Someone had scrawled that in white spraypaint on the black quarantine tarp that rose up the sides of the skyscrapers, merging into a wall maybe twenty meters tall, foreboding concrete topped with razor wire, and everywhere, always present, the wicked, curving arms of the sign: biohazard.

Finally, he stepped out onto the street, glass from a shattered storefront crunching under his booted paws as he walked, snow biting at the side of his face as he turned away from the wind without breaking his stride. A dusting of frost had already accumulated on his nylon jacket and simple jeans. The orange glow from his watch and the commlink on his shoulder caught the white needles as they howled by, the emblem on his shoulder an unfamiliar symbol barely lit by the dim light.

Reaching a small door in the towering barricade, he gestured at it, feeling it unlock with a thump underneath his paw, thick bolts disengaging as he slipped into the darkness beyond. In his earpiece, a monotone voice spoke:

“Now entering Dark Zone. Communications jammed. Backup systems: online.”

DZ01 [Fiction]

Mourne

The Division is a great game. I find I don't even care about the gameplay mechanics; the atmosphere alone makes it well worth my waiting.

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Literary / Story