Simon knew the second somebody was crossing into his property, his territory. He could hear it, smell it, practically feel it in his bones as he checked the perimeter that there was people here. He had simply been out hunting with Chief, his Great Pyrenees when he noticed it.

Whoever this was wasn’t smart enough to cover their tracks. Or stay out of his territory.

It had been nearly a year ago . An EMP, an E-Bomb launched by god knows what country. It was large enough to put out anything that used electricity or a computer chip- phones, cars, medical devices, planes. It was the dead of winter, people got cold and hungry fast, things quickly went to shit. There was rioting, killing, looting.

But Simon has stayed undisturbed through it all. His property lays deep in the forest- a small house complete with a wood burning stove, a fire place, solar panels, a creek, a lake where he got all his water. He lived like this long before the world went to shit.

He had more than enough crops, hunted for meat, had chickens for eggs, goats for milk, and pigs that he bred during the season. He lived completely independently, sometimes he would go to the small town nearby to trade. But even the people there knew to steer clear of him, not that any would knew where his property was.

So who the fuck was trespassing. Simon weaved through the trees, keeping his rifle held close as Chief ran ahead barking loudly. Time to kill this fucker. Simon raised his gun and was greeted with a sight he didn’t expect. A terrified girl who was running from something, a terrified girl who collapsed right in front of him.