Chapter Text
Prologue
The soldier had been running for a couple of weeks with a stolen motorcycle and only one backpack. After pulling the man who was meant to be his mission from the river, he quickly fled the scene. In the chaos of the collapsing Heli carriers, he was able to secure a fresh change of civilian clothing from a nearby department store. The employees had been preoccupied in the hysteria. He didn't appear to be the only one looting. He stuffed his tactical gear into a backpack with some non-perishable food and hotwired a motorcycle in the parking lot. He was out of the city within a half an hour.
He drove aimlessly for a few weeks. Stopping only for fuel for himself and his bike. When he got too tired to continue driving, he found a secluded spot that he could hunker down for a few hours of sleep. Sometimes it was at the end of a dead-end alley and others it was in abandoned buildings that smelled of mildew and rust.
He circled back on himself, trying to cover his tracks and confuse any potential pursuers. After a few weeks he found himself in a small town in Pennsylvania. He came upon a building in the middle of renovations. The work site had been abandoned. It didn't appear that the renovations would continue any time soon. He picked the locks on the gates and the rear doors. He climbed the stairs in the back of the building to the top floor. There was one apartment on this floor that was mostly complete.
The soldier secured the apartment and set wire traps at the entrances and windows. He then took the time to scout the rest of the five-story building. He secured the building by placing traps that would alert him with noise if anyone entered the building, stairwells and the floor below him. He found the maintenance and boiler rooms and turned on the water and gas for the building. He hid his motorcycle under a tarp in the back of the lobby.
Once back in his selected apartment he took a quick shower. His first true wash in weeks. He had rinsed in a few rivers and creeks but not enough to truly feel clean.
The soldier settled down against the living room wall on a small pallet he made from a sleeping bag and travel pillow acquired from a super department store. Along with one other outfit, his tactical gear and weapons, the bedding was his only possession.
