Chapter 17: Promises of Hope

Stainless steel shone, as it was ripping through strands of giant tarantula silk. It reflected light rays from the desert sun, which was at its zenith, above Gregory and Astrea.
Tarantula silk was already hard enough, harder than steel actually. But now that the tarantulas have mutated and have grown in size tenfold after the nuclear war, their silk followed. It was almost impossibly tough to cut through, but with enough dedication and adequate technique, it was a doable task.

"How much more do we need?" Gregory was sweating heavily, half because of the blazing sun and the scorching sand he was kneeling down on, and half because of how tiring his task was.
They have been collecting silk for what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only just 30 minutes. 
"Just take a few more strands." Astrea replied dejectedly.
"Hey! What are you doing? Did you leave the hard work for me?"

Astrea was holding one of the enormous fangs of the now dead giant tarantula, and extracting a liquid substance into a glass flask. The substance had a nasty black color and Gregory started to notice a foul smell coming from this direction.
"I'm extracting its venom. Might be useful."
"Oh.. Okay..." He didn't know what to make of that, so Gregory continued cutting silk.

***

"All right, let's leave." A monotone voice sounded through the muffling of a dirty gas mask.
"Okay!" Gregory zipped up his old looking leather backpack, which was now full of very durable silk.
As they were about to leave;

Fhhh

"Who are you?!"
"Stand still, both of you!"
A standoff occurred.

On one side it was two wasteland survivors, residents of the settlement, Gregory and Astrea.
They had both drawn out their rifles and aiming at the figure.
On the other stood a humanoid figure that was covered from head to toe in futuristic looking military armor, holding a peculiar weapon. This person's armor was painted a dark gray, and his helmet had no visible visor, they must be seeing through a camera.
This soldier was flying by the area with its sleek, low profile jetpack, and landed in front of our duo the moment he saw them, with weapon in hand, aiming at them.
"We are survivors, we live in a settlement. We mean no harm if you are peaceful." The once stoic voice now sounded ever so slightly more aggressive.
"Do you associate with mages?" The speech of the mysterious person in front of them sounded digitized, as if it was coming through a speaker. Despite that, one could tell that it was a grown man inside this suit of futuristic armor.
"No. We can't even cast spells."
"How can I know that?
"You'll just have to trust us."
"This won't do..." The man sounded disgruntled at Astrea's responses
"Listen, you don't sound like the other hostiles. We just want to go back to our home and get by, preferably peacefully. I don't know where you come from or what faction you are in, we just want to live. If you seek to disturb our peace, I will kill you." Astrea's voice was as immovable as a monolith, with a hint of aggression at the end. 
"Good." The figure seemed convinced.
Astrea put her gun down, and signaled Gregory to do the same, with a hand signal.

"We are the military."
The duo was getting ready to leave again, but they stopped. It looked like the man wanted to talk to them about something.
"We haven't been able to contact other battalions, we might be the only ones left. The fortified base in south Na'hram survived the nuclear war and we are trying to gather survivors. Not much else we can do right now."
"Mhmm..." Astrea nodded with interest.
"It looks like there are some people in this side as well, but we are having trouble getting through and evacuating you all."
"And why is that?" Gregory was naturally curious as well.
"Our base is on the bottom border of south Na'hram. If you continue down from here you will be on the desert pass, the only land mass that connects the desert here with the Carola continent."
As the soldier was speaking, the duo could tell his voice was genuine, even through the muffling of his peculiar gear. Ultimately, this group probably had good intention. They were trying to piece together a broken world with all they had left. But there was one problem.
"The thing is, there's a big group of dangerous weirdos blocking our entrance to the desert here. I was only able to get through via flight, but I don't assume you people have rocket propulsion systems, right?"
"No. We can't fly if that's what you are asking."
"I thought so... Evacuation will be difficult unless we can deal with the hostiles."
"And who are these hostiles you speak of?"
"We... don't know. They started appearing after the apocalypse. Mutated humans most likely. Others have been saying they are biological weapons, others call them punishment from god, for ruining this planet."
"What do they do?" Astrea had a suspicion of the people the soldier was talking about.
"Everything. They fly around with menacing and crazy outfits, and manifest all sorts of disasters. Some of them launch meteors, others raise the dead to fight for them, others are able to pick up and control objects with their minds, most of them are able to fly... it's a disaster. Even we are struggling."
"Wizards."
"I assume you've seen them huh? It's gonna take a while to clear them out so you can cross the bridge. We don't know if you are able to do it, anyway..."
It was afternoon and Gregory and Astrea had to start getting back home. They wouldn't want to be stuck in the middle of the desert wasteland at night and become insect feed.
"Take this, we might be able to communicate through it. When you hear my voice through it press this button and talk to me. Safe travels."

And with that, the soldier took off to the sky, and left.

"So... there's hope...?
"That's what it looks like."

As the sun was getting close to setting completely, a duo of brave survivors made their way back home, bringing back spoils of war.
With this, they believed that they would be able to fend off junkie raids more efficiently, without the cost of casualties. All that was left now was to actually make the crossbows. That was when Astrea's work ended, and Frederick's begun, of course with help from his newly found apprentice.

***

"Oh my! You made it back!" An excited, energetic voice was heard by the moment the gates of the settlement had fully opened. Atra was standing in the yard in front of the main building, playing with some children, when she noticed our two heroes return from their adventure.
"Why wouldn't we?" A cold, dispassionate voice contrasted her enthusiasm.

Almost everyone was back home now, and it was time for dinner.
The expedition team was still missing. Most of the people here had accepted the harsh reality, but they also hoped that by some miracle, Leon and his team were still alive.

***

"S-S-- r, -e n--d , r...ffff-rcm--....etns. Now-w-w!~~" Inside the military base of south Na'hram, a cry for help could be heard, that was being cut off by hopefully static, most likely wave interception spells.
The people who worked in the communications facility were fearing for the worst with this signal.
It was late at night, and most soldiers were sleeping among civilians at the last standing fortified military base in the world, the last bastion of hope for humankind.

For how long could they upkeep this fragile promise of hope?