Rotting birds beat their tattered wings, trailing the stench of death as they streaked across the ashen sky.
As they flew, feathers fluttered down like dead leaves. They sped through the ruins of the ruined city, finally perching on a rusted iron railing outside a fortress and lifting their heads to let out a hoarse cry.
Their hollow, lightless eyes turned toward the tightly shut metal gate.
Bang!
A gunshot suddenly erupted in the silence, tearing through the stifling air.
A reddish bullet tore through the dusky sky and struck the undying bird with pinpoint accuracy. Its body instantly disintegrated, rotten flesh and shattered bones scattering in every direction before dissolving into a mass of black smoke violently torn apart.
"Hey, not bad, huh?" A lanky, humanoid man emerged from the swirling sandstorm, spinning a revolver-like pistol around his index finger.
"Blackie, save your bullets. The underground fortress is almost out of ammunition. We should save it for those annoying raiders."
Another slight figure emerged from the swirling yellow-brown sand. He carried a heavy pack on his back and held an oversized modified weapon in his hand.
The two figures arrived before the rust-stained metal gate.
As his friend continued grumbling in his ear, the figure called Blackie lowered his mask and grinned, revealing a row of white teeth.
"We got a good haul today. Don't sweat the small stuff."
As he spoke, he looked up at the camera above the metal gate and waved.
Before long, the metal gate groaned with a deep, grating scrape, as if a giant beast were waking from its slumber.
As the gate moved, rust flakes fell in a steady shower, scattering over the dust piled before it.
The hinges creaked under the strain, as though they might give way at any moment.
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