"Three point twoooo... five nine seven six." She said as she looked through the scope of her rifle measuring the distance of her target, a small bouse rat. Of course, small for a bouse rat was three feet long not including the tail.
As she watched it forage around a small bush, she couldn't help feel that it was a shame to kill it, it was far enough away not to trouble her, but there were bigger things out there and it was a baby, if the mother was nearby it would make itself known soon. Readying herself she gently squeezed the trigger and fired a shot. The six foot rifle bearly made a sound as it spat out a small depleted uranium charge shot from the end, two second later the bouse rat's head exploded with a satisfying radius, "Yea-hea, my baby" She purred as stroked the smooth matt black and suprisingly featureless contraption, with only a few outlets and a large scimtar shaped blade coursing along the underside of the overly long barrel. Standing up from behind the small mound she had rested on for the shot Karen made her way down the steep cliff face.
When she was a few meters from the bottom she jumped down from a precipice and landed on the soft sand that had blown up against the rocky cliff face, remaining in a low landing position observing her surroundings and watching for any movement that might affront her. When she decided it was safe enough to stand she bagan to button up her long brown over coat, the bottom ones first then the top. The collar reached just under her eyes, reaching in through the gaps between the buttons she placed a small tube into her mouth and sucked on it receiving small amounts of bitter water.
Happy with that she flicked a large flap hood over the top of her raven black tied up gypsy hair, grabbed the rifle with her gloved hands and using it as a staff she walked out from the shadow of the cliff and into the seering heat of the vast and flat desert.
Two hours later she spied what she was looking for, Nesbrim Gaxul, a small yet bustling oasis which had been there for longer than anyone can remember. Tall metal spikes and torn sheets of steel stuck out of the ground awkwardly casting shadows which were full of travellers like herself surrounding betting stalls and produce sellers, mostly dried meats, dried fruits, dried vegetables and powdered condiments. All were fixed in place in the permanent cool shade of the monolithic metal growths, some had even been stung together with ropes and fabrics to make more shelter from the intense heat of the suns.
Karen payed no heed to the calling and jeering of the crowds, she had no need for the items that they held, she carried everything she needed from town to town.
Meandering through the forest of metal and tents she walked on through to the oasis itself, the water tube that she had been sucking on had dried up not long before she had arrived and her only need was to refill the bladder strapped to her her waist.
As she closed in on the oasis she entered the shadow that was cast over it, removing her hood she looked up at the gargantuan object that had eclipsed the sun. People had their own stories of how it got there, what it had been, who made it and what it was used for, no one really knew for sure, but all the tall tales and stories could never justify the fact that it was there, what worried Karen was what it was connected to underneath the ground.
As she entered the walls of the Oasis, the eternal night cast down by the enormous metallic clawed hand was, she had to admit, a welcome change.
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