Wizard wanderers

At the settlement. 2 days before Gregory's arrival.

"We're runnin' low on water. Leon, ya know the drill."
"Yes, I'll gather my men and we will head out first thing in the morning."
"Good. Thanks son! Without you everyone here'd be dead..."

Leon and Joshua were talking at the bar in the main building. It was afternoon, and after preparing dinner Joshua realized their water supply was low, so he called the expedition team leader, Leon, to discuss about this issue.

Creak.

The door opened and Astrea came inside the room.

"Do we have any lead or copper scrap reserves?" She always got straight to the point.
"It's good seeing you too missy, and no we don't. Why ya askin'?"
"Frederick is in short supply. He can't make any more bullets."
"..."
"Leon, does your squad have enough ammo for an expedition?" Her monotone voice sounded muffled because of the gas mask.
"I don't know. Why don't you go ask them?" Leon answered dejectedly.
"I don't feel like doing that, just make sure to grab some stun bolts when you go out tomorrow. The wizards have been running rampant lately."

Astrea never went with Leon's team in expeditions for supplies. She always worked alone. They've argued many times about this in the past but Astrea's stance is sure, and Leon had learned that by now so he had stopped trying to ask her to join. If anyone asked him he wouldn't say he hated Astrea but maybe he just didn't want to admit it. Admit it to others or himself. After all she had never done anything wrong and she was always bringing back good supplies, how could you hate her?

"I'll go look for metal scrap tomorrow in the south. "

***

The sun was rising and all the giant insects made their way back to their caves and burrows. The wasteland just became a little safer to traverse.
Astrea had already left to go find some scrap metal and Leon and his squad were getting ready to go to a nearby Oasis to bring back some water.
"The cart's ready boss!"
"Alright Jacob. Everyone geared up?
"Yes sir!" His men said in unison.
They had prepared a wooden cart that was carrying barrels which they planned to fill up with water and bring back to the settlement. That was how they had been doing this for a while.
"We are moving."
A group of 7 men went out into the wasteland.
And so another expedition had begun.

One might think that it was a better idea to build a settlement next to an Oasis. And that was the main problem with that idea. Everyone thought about doing it. Whoever tried to establish a base near an Oasis would find out the hard way that by doing that you became the target of everyone. No matter their faction they would all want you out of there.

***

After about 2 hours of walking Leon's team arrived at the closest oasis.
"Kill the flyers first."
His men crouched down and started sniping the giant dragonflies that had made this oasis their home. Dragonflies are fast and nimble but incredibly weak. All it took was one well placed shot in their sizeable heads to kill them.

Bang
Crack
Splash

The dragonflies were felled and the giant water bugs under the water of the oasis started feeding on their corpses.

"Now we get rid of the toe bitters."
"Yes sir!"
The squad made its way near the body of water and lured out the water bugs.
They pulled out their tactical knives, waited for the water bugs to come out, grabbed their rostrums when they got too close, and finally stabbed them in the head.
The sound of knives piercing and slashing their chitinous exoskeletons, followed by horrible screeching afterwards might have been too much for some, but Leon and his mean were used to it.
Water bugs feed with a straw like mouth part that's called a rostrum which is attached to their head, once it penetrates it releases toxins and digestive enzymes in the victim's body. Wasteland survivors had figured out that it's not worth wasting bullets on these monsters since you can just grab their rostrum and kill them with a knife. Their pinchers were not all that powerful and their blood wasn't as toxic as that of giant cockroaches so getting rid of them was easy if you knew what to do.
After Leon's team made sure that nothing deadly was still alive in the area they started bringing the barrels to the oasis and filled them up with water. In its current state this water was lethal due to many factors but once they return it to the base a purification process will follow, allowing them to drink and use it safely.
"Should we grab any fruits or fibers boss?"
"If you can fit some in the cart sure. But remember, we're tight on time. We don't want to run into anyone else that's trying to get water."
"Alright, we'll make it hasty."
This was a popular spot after all.
The people of the settlement had approximately figured out the time of day when no one else was here, but there will always be outliers.

"There are a lot of fruits here huh?"
"Yeah, well the junkies get their fill from the fungus and the wizard's palettes are too refined for this peasant food so I guess we are lucky in that regard, heh."
"Hahaha!"
"Hurry up guys! Remember, we came here for water, not fruits." His mates were joking around taking their time while gathering some extra food but Leon knew they were tight on time.
"Sure thing boss."
Eventually, they left the oasis with a great supply of water and fruits. The people back at the settlement would be pleased. 

On their way back a flash of golden light passed over them in the sky. It looked like a bird made of pure gold. Birds had not survived the apocalypse though.
"Huh..?"
"What the h-"
"EVERYONE GET DOWN, NOW!" While his men didn't know the meaning of this anomaly Leon had seen this trick a couple of times in his past.
The curious figure came back to the way it originally came from.
"What's goin' on boss?" One of his team mates whispered.
"I need all of you right now to just stay down and pray to whichever higher being you believe in, understand?"
Leon was getting more and more worried by the second and his men were becoming anxious.

After a couple of seconds a man appeared some meters above them, floating in the air. He was wearing a decorated purple robe and a beaten up pilot helmet was covering his head with some strange markings on it.
"Found you." He did not speak with his mouth, but Leon and all of his men heard an ominous voice inside their heads.
"What's going on?"
"Sir! Do we shoot?" Leon's squad was naturally confused
"KILL IT!" Leon finally drew his automatic old world rifle and started blasting the figure in the sky. His men followed.
A golden barrier of sorts was blocking the soldiers' bullets and the man was laughing. A yellow spark appeared in his right hand and in an instant after that he launched what seemed to be a lightning bolt at one of Leon's men.
"GGGhhhgaaAAAR" The bolt penetrated his chest and he was left stuttering in pain while his insides where spilling out onto the sand below him.
"SPREAD APART, DON'T STOP MOVING!" Leon shouted as he threw a grenade in the air. Once it got close to the wizard he shot the grenade, exploding it almost next to him but to no avail.
The wizard kept launching lightning bolts and killing Leon's men one by one, while standing still in the air. This was beyond confidence. This person had gone insane.
Those are normal thoughts a sane person would have but the wizard wanderers all were like this. To the person in the sky it was nothing more than hunting game.

In a last ditch effort, Leon pulled out a hand crossbow he had attached to the side of his right thigh. When he pulled the safety off, the crossbow produced a buzzing sound. Loaded in it was a stun bolt.
He launched it at the wizard, and the bolt somehow got through the barrier, hitting the flying man and stunning him in the process.
The wizard fell down, his limbs were moving frantically and he couldn't move. He was lying down on top of the sand.
Leon went up to him and stabbed him in the throat with his tactical knife.
"Bastard."

When he got up and turned around, he realized that all of his team mates had been slaughtered and he was the only one left. If his hand wasn't so quick on the trigger of that crossbow, he would have shared the same fate.

"..."
All he could feel at that moment was despair. He couldn't move. He couldn't cry. The desert sun that was burning his skin moments ago was now  inconsequential.