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The sweat from Madeline’s brow dripped in perfect rhythm as she studied the holographic map display of what was once the lower levels of the San Antonio Rivercenter mall. The concept of a mall is now foreign to a second-generation retriever. Society has long since enjoyed the enclosed markets and entertainment hubs. The building now holds housing, makeshift clinics, a community of sorts; however, this particular community is hording something that Madeline and her people need desperately; an energy source. The small can sized nuclear batteries were once described as science fiction, yet the need to make them a reality was apparent after the first worldwide power outage in the year 2071. It wasn’t until the power remained off, when the world knew it was too late to change their ways.

The “Golden Gaters,” horded and formed their own community of the rich and powerful. Much of their wealth, once in the form of paper, now resides in resources; water, electricity, food, shelter, protection. Governments no longer run the people. They’ve fallen to the side of their core beliefs, corruption ran rapid as they knew their time was coming up short. They couldn’t feed the people the nonsense answers to the important questions anymore. The answer now was easy, survive anyway you can.

Madeline sat with her back to the wall in her small living quarters. Her community gave her a single living area before she moves in with the other retrievers. Small and compact, she folded her cot back flat to the wall and read the old thermometer she found from a three-hundred-year-old car garage from a salvage hunt no more than six months prior. One of her first hunts, ending with only a few spare parts for the community generator, and one retriever in training coming home sans one leg; she managed to find a few trinkets and souvenirs for herself. Placed outside of her small window the metal plated thermometer’s red line read one-hundred and fourteen degrees.

Madeline continued to place one section of the old downtown parking garage adjacent to the main entrance of the once Rivercenter mall, presently named No Hope, into memory. She held a golden heart shaped locket in her hand. A gift from her mother. Passed down from generations. She polished it with such precision and care with an old cloth she kept clean for this sole purpose. Inside resided an old micro-SD card. One that fits perfectly in her wrist communication unit.

She arose from her position and grabbed her pack, another item she smartly took possession of from a salvage hunt. She did her research and became a connoisseur of sorts; she had an eye for value and quality. She attached her newly sharpened kopis and kukri to her hips. She didn’t think she had the need for her old Winchester lever action, she would have to find ammo first anyway. Her step-father always told her, World War III will be fought with guns, ships, and bombs; World War IV will be fought with swords, sticks, stones. The quote sounded familiar. Her baggy breathable trousers clung to her frame as she strapped a thigh holster beneath her kopis. A few emergency items rested in it. She knew she had to be prepared for anything. Her coat, made of loose and flowing cottons rested on top of her full length and full body garbs. Her shemagh, tan in color, rested below her chin while her sunglasses rested on her forehead. Her breakfast, a Ready to Eat Meal she found in a box in an unfortunate home south of their community. A priceless find she decided not to tell anyone about. She saved it for this very moment. She needed all the strength she could muster. Her distance to her destination was a short one. She wouldn’t need to use her dual wheel the entire way. Madeline, a strategist at heart, decided to only use her motorized transport until a mile out; she would then have to sneak her way in. This is the first attempt in over a month to get stolen resources from No Hope. Ruthless in nature, they were known to take prisoners for ransom, or no prisoners at all.

Madeline made her way to a large building. On the side, RY and GO hung on top of another set of letters; VT and TER. Vegetation over grew the building. The doors and windows have been long since removed. She recognized the building as the downtown Convention Center. She remembered the stories of the people gathering in masses for a single event from her grandmother. She told stories of people dressing up in costumes at some of these events. Strange, but it sounded like fun. Madeline loved to read the literature from before the blackout and The Great Divide. Imagining what the world was like, the freedoms, the liberties; or in some cases, the lack there of.

Madeline shielded her eyes as the sun reflected its rays from broken glass next to her. A single piece of undisturbed glass was a rare sight to see. The sun continued to beat down as the day was reaching its mid peak. Madeline needed to stay hidden and in the shade. Multiple ways in gave Madeline a chance to assess her situation and determine the safest way into the bottom levels of the old parking garage. She knelt in a patch of heavy tall grass. A quick look around at the buildings made her wonder how this area would have looked three hundred years ago. To her right stood the Marr, all the windows barred and closed, no one was aware of her position yet. She calculated her entry. Two roaming guards stood at the entrance of the old mall. Madeline didn't want to risk being spotted, she tried her luck quickly making her way down a set of stairs, into the old river. Her old maps she studied for hours indicated that the lower levels had a small canal with old shops on either side. She hoped that she could use this as her way in.

With soft feet, Madeline made her way down; she unsheathed her kopis sword. A sleek weapon and indeed her favorite. She hugged the walls as she traversed the difficult terrain. The river has long since evaporated and in its place stood barriers, old cars, and to her surprise; one sleeping guard. Madeline did not want to take a chance on this large man waking up to her. He was about to meet her in his slumber. Had he been awake, he would have fought off her approach with her syringe of potent and quick unconsciousness. Madeline had no intentions of taking a life this mission. A code her stepfather lived by as he rose the ranks as a community leader. Although this guard may have deserved death's touch, it wouldn’t come from her hands today. A vow she may have to break as she made a fatal mistake on her approach to the sleeping guard, she didn't see the sleeping dog, curled away from view.

The series of barks alerted two guards from the far end of the tunnel. Madeline reached into a pocket in her right drop holster and pulled a piece of dried and spoiled meat. She waved the tasty treat in front of the barking K9 and tossed it as far as she could to the stairs she entered from. There was no turning back now. The two guards quickly made their approach to investigate. Madeline, with both weapons drawn, lunged herself to the barrier made of stacked cars; with her back to the metal she looked up and then to her left; she calculated both men's entries. She heard the boots from the first guard climb a small distance up the two-car pile. His boot barley visible. Madeline shifted her eyes to the left and saw the sharp blade of a circular saw affixed to an old wooden bat. She was momentarily in awe at the sight of something so barbaric; perhaps it was her turn to show how barbaric someone can be. Madeline drove her kukri blade up through the bottom rubber of her top foe. As the guard shrieked in pain, Madeline swung her kopis across his shin, turned her blade towards the bent over man and expertly placed the tip of her sword to the adam's apple and with his forward momentum; she shoved him down and in front of her next opponent. An approximate ten-foot by ten-foot square is all Madeline had to work with. It was enough. The undamaged guard sprinted forward in a craze, lifting his crude slashing weapon up and over his head for a rudimentary overhead strike. Madeline, with a grace of a dancer, shifted her weight into her attacker bringing up the blade of her kukri into the guard's armpit. The guard cringed into the side of the pierce allowing Madeline a fierce punch with the guard of her kopis to his exposed ribs. He let his weapon swing through, hitting the concrete of the once wet river floor. Madeline front kicked his hip sending him over his still down companion. Both men gathered their composure and stood; one limping with pain. The two men looked at each other and spoke a language unfamiliar to Madeline. Their clothes were a mixture of whatever metal they could fasten together to make some sort of protective armor. Both men reached into their pockets and pulled out a small device with a single button. In unison they angerly pressed as hard as they could onto them. Both men shivered and convulsed as electricity surged around their persons. Electric arcs formed on certain points on their bodies as Madeline could see the two men physically getting larger. Old military experiments from 2090. She remembered what these were. Implanted circuits, artificial limbs; all meant to create an unbeatable opponent. However, they haven't met an opponent like Madeline.

Their attacks were uncalculated, sloppy, and primitive. Madeline's dodges and precision strikes was a master display of patience and practice. As each clumsy swing approached her, she chipped away at the nobs which were creating the arcs across their bodies. The old military systems needed power to operate. Cut off the power, cut off the man.

She defeated them both with great ease. Not to their deaths, but unconscious close to death's door. With a moment, she caught her breath, reached into her garb and clasped on her golden heart locket and proceeded forward.

Her target was in sight. A container of supplies, stolen from the rich who exploit their mass cache of supplies to dangle in front of the people. Madeline did not know how No Hope was going to use these power cells and supplies, but she didn't care, her community needed these more.

A small, cramped alley between two old restaurants housed a small container of four power cells, two packages of old military rations, a water purifier, and four boxes of old ammo. Madeline reached into her backpack and pulled out a lightweight rectangular object with a shining blue light on top. With one press, the box extended four spider like legs, and sprouted a small orb for a head. Madeline quickly secured the box to this robotic companion's back and whispered the command word; "go home Lassie." With a bolt of energy, the small yet extremely powerful machine began climbing the walls, returning to her community, knowing to stay in the shadows and to not be seen. Madeline, with her back to the alley's entrance, felt multiple set of eyes upon her. She slowly turned, again drawing her weapons to her sides. With a small smirk she lifted her head and rolled her shoulders to perhaps loosen her muscles or present a very real presence of intimidation. This is where she shined.