After a long absence I have returned to writing.

Everything was quiet at the base, Madcat and his team had just come back from a supply run to one of the other colonies so were now getting some well-earned rest, Chelsea was up to her ears in gadgets and machines and was loving every moment of it, Lily was enjoying a game of Basketball with some of the members of the other teams, Buckley, as usual was in their supply room, cleaning and repairing her weapons, Madcat just sat outside on an old Sofa he had rescued and was engaged in his favourite hobby, reading.

The base had started out as a normal Army base but over the years had grown into a small City, there were Districts all over, you had the Farming District where all the Food was produced, the Residential District where most of the people lived, the Industrial District where they worked to keep everything working and produce new equipment and the Utilities District where they had all the Solar Panels and Machines to purify Water from the local Lakes and Rivers, there were even Schools, Universities and Research Centers, even now it amazed Madcat how quickly everything had bounced back after the disaster. This base was just one of many still dotted around the Country, there was a thriving trade between them using heavily defended Land Trains that were adapted from Semi-Trucks and they also still had Steam Trains running, but only where they were able to keep the track maintained.

Madcat marked his spot in his book and lay back on the Sofa, pulling his cap over his eyes he stretched out and dozed, listening to the sounds of life around him, the salvage teams of which his was but one had their own separate compound. The Compound was set aside from the rest of the base for safety and security reasons, it ran along the only runway on the base, the high tech Jets that had once flown from here had since been cannibalised for the metal and parts they held but they still had a couple of helicopters running and some small simple Propeller aircraft, they also had some Gliders that were launched from a static Tractor engine at the end of the runway. Inside the compound each team had a separate house, usually these were as individual as the teams themselves, each house having been re-designed and re-modelled by each successive team that had it. Madcat and his team had spent many hours working on their house as well, the design was pretty straight forward, it was a basic rectangular house with a T shaped corridor running through the middle of it, along the back wall were the bedrooms for each member and each was further personalized by who every slept in the bedroom, on the left was the living area with a small kitchen and food storage area, they didn’t need much as there was a large canteen in the compound for all the teams to use, on the right was a locked and secured room where the teams weapons and equipment was stored, but a few of the members also stored a personal weapon or other piece of equipment in their room.

He didn’t know how long it had been as he had sleeping on and off but suddenly the air was split by a loud Klaxon, a shout went up from one of the towers “RAIDERS INCOMING”, Madcat rolled off his Sofa and was on his feet and running in under a second, as he ran for the nearest tower, he could see the rest of the teams scattering and running for their positions, some heading for bunkers, others starting up vehicles and manning the mounted weapons, Madcat climbed up the ladder as fast as he could and grabbed a pair of Binoculars as he looked at the approaching dust cloud he could see the raider trucks, everything from stripped down sports cars to busses and panel vans with people hanging off them, his lip curled into a snarl, he knew this was going to be a tough fight, handing the Binoculars back he slid down the ladder and ran for their house he could see Buckley standing in the door while Lily and Chelsea readied the stripped down heavily modified Humvee they used as their wagon, there was a .50cal Machine Gun mounted on a pintle mount in the back along with ammunition for the weapons and a single shot M79 Grenade Launcher that they had traded for many months ago.

Madcat saw Buckley looking at him expectedly, “Lily, Chelsea keep in Radio contact with the towers make sure this is not a feint and we won’t get screwed in the ass by a party sneaking in the back”, “Got it Madcat”, Chelsea gunned the Humvee and sped off with Lily attached by a safety harness to the Machine Gun, “Buckley …. take Ma up to Snipers Roost and let her introduce herself”, Madcat could see a twinkle in her eyes and a slight smile on Buckley’s lips, then she was gone, Buckley ran into her room and pulled a blanket from a long shape resting on top of a Gun case, under the Blanket was her pride and joy, an M82 .50cal Sniper Rifle, she lifted it up by the carrying handle, grabbed an ammo box and some magazines then ran for Snipers Roost which was a special area atop the Control tower, as she ran Buckley could see the other snipers heading in the same direction, she bounded up the stairs 3 at a time before reaching the roof. Snipers Roost had been made by the snipers themselves, it had a clear 360° field of fire and they could see out to some distance in most directions, Buckley lay down and got herself comfortable, she pulled the stock tight into her shoulder, loaded a Magazine and looked down the sight, as she waited for her breathing to steady she adjusted the dials on her scope to compensate for the wind and other factors, through the scope she could see an old school bus heading for them with Raiders in it and hanging off the sides swinging their weapons. Buckley lifted her head and looked around, she saw the other snipers with a variety of weapons, from Hunting Rifles to large calibre weapons like hers, “I got the Bus” she called before taking careful aim and smoothly pulling the trigger, the blast of the rifle sounded like a cannon going off and the recoil shook her body, Buckley got the scope back on target to see the windscreen and also the drivers chest blow apart, as she watched she seen the shot was better than she could have hoped for as the driver fell out of his seat pulling the steering wheel down with him causing the bus to veer sharply to the side, before one of the tires dug into the ground and caused the bus to roll catapulting Raiders everywhere. Buckley scanned left and right and could see not only the other snipers had found their targets but Mortars were bursting around the vehicles causing some to explode scattering burning debris everywhere.

Buckley continued to search for a new Target a bullet struck the tower near her “FUCK, SNIPER!!” she bellowed to the others as she grabbed her telescope and scanned for him, keeping both eyes open she scanned the terrain and was rewarded with a glint from a piece of glass, grabbing her Rifle she trained it on the area and was rewarded with a Raider Sniper setting up for his next shot, Buckley growled to herself, “Oh no you fucker you had one shot and that is one shot too many”, she trained the crosshairs onto the Raiders head and pulled the trigger, at this range she didn’t need to be super accurate as just hitting him would be enough, but as she watch her bullet hit him right on his chin, blowing apart not only his head but most of his chest, she smiled and whispered “goodnight Gracie” before returning to the incoming Vehicles.

Soon the attack was over, the injured were taken to the Medical bay, the empty ammunition cases were policed up to be reused and the recovery wagons went out with their Winches and an armed escort to see what they could salvage, Buckley walked back to the house, cradling the Rifle in her arms she went to her room and started to clean it, taking extra special care over it, once she was satisfied it was clean she put it back together and returned it to its spot, before covering it with the blanket she ran her hand down the barrel and with a smile said “you did good ma”, then went outside to join the rest of her team.