ReSoul

Just a week or so before Felix met the stranger, he went on an expedition to Agua Fria. There was a house on the outskirts of town that was easy for the taking to him. He slipped in to the house via a second story window that he was able to open through use of a heavy stone deftly thrown. Once inside, Felix was quickly satisfied by the treasures of the pre-war home, such as a cache of pre-war ammunition and old computer terminals that still turned on, had data, and could be easily hacked. He progressed swiftly through the house, stopping only once he saw the dried blood trail on the floor in the kitchen leading to the back door. There was a journal fragment on the floor next to the place a body had once apparently been, as evidenced by the pistol on the floor and where fragments of a once complete skull remained. Intrigued, he stopped to pick up the journal fragment. It read as follows:

“... didn’t take them too long to find us. Took my Tod, my only son first. May he rest in peace, bless his poor soul. Only six years old! Went quietly at least. Never knew what hit him, wasn’t in pain. Then my wife, Barbara. She was tortured, was hell to watch. Couldn’t do a thing. Paralyzed by them. Waist down. Left here to die, they’ll be back for me. Whoever finds this, I am General Larry Sanders. U.S. Military. Take what you need, and do me a favor. Take as many of those bastards with you before you go down. Info on my terminals about prototype weapons. Passcodes are...”

Felix read the scrap of paper over a few times. He crumpled it up and tossed it into the trash bin. He had no need for useless old world ghosts to clog up his mind, but his collection of the story was the guy shot himself after writing the story of his life for some future sightseer to view and get all emotional over. Useless trash to Felix, that note was. It didn’t even contain the damn passcodes for the terminals! Taking the good general’s weapon of choice in death up and into his pack, Felix thought it was time to get going. He remembered the house and its terminals, and decided to return in a week or two after he’d done some trading over at the village some ten miles south.