Lin crouched beside the third supply crate, fumbling with the latch until it hissed open. Inside, folded neatly and vacuum-packed, were five rugged backpacks — dusty gray, padded, covered in straps and buckles. No brands, no logos. Just utility.
He pulled one out and held it up.
"Looks like... bug-out packs," he said. "There's five of 'em."
Sierra leaned in, whistling. "Not bad. That should carry enough to keep us mobile for a while."
Yue stepped forward, taking one and strapping it across her back in a single, mechanical motion. "Efficient design. Reinforced stitching. Acceptable."
Yuzuki struggled to tighten the chest strap over her idol-modified outfit, which did absolutely nothing to help with her bust. "Nnghh! It's squishing my boobies~!"
Lin's eyes darted away like he was defusing a bomb. "U-uh! I—I can help, I mean, if you want! Or not! I'll just—look away—!"
Celestine plucked her pack out silently and slung it over her shoulder with an eerie grace, her violet eyes never blinking. "Five bags. Five travelers. Five fates entwined beneath the ashen sky."
"Cool," Lin muttered. "That's... totally not ominous."
He stood up and looked out across the cracked landscape. In the distance, dunes of broken asphalt and half-sunken buildings littered the horizon like bones of a dying world.
"...So how the hell do we find a city?" he asked. "Like, any city. Somewhere with stuff. Shelter. Medicine. Food that doesn't come in a can with Cyrillic labels."
Yue answered flatly, "Most of civilization was wiped out after the Third War. Known settlements are few and scattered. Travel between them is high-risk due to mutants, bandits, and radiation zones."
Lin blinked. "...Wait. What do you mean, wiped out?"
"There was a nuclear exchange," Yue said. "Followed by twenty years of engineered bioweapon drift and terraformation failure. Global population fell below 100 million. Nation-states no longer exist."
Lin's mouth went dry. "Holy shit..."
Yue added, "Based on cloud patterns and local fauna, we are somewhere in what used to be Eastern Eurasia."
"That narrows it down to... a fuckload of radioactive dirt," Sierra muttered, kicking a rock.
She pulled her own pack out and began loading it with food packs and loose ammo. "Your best bet, pretty boy? Abandoned city. Ruins mean loot. Loot means meds, weapons, parts. Probably some place that got bombed to hell but still has structure."
Lin rubbed his temples. "Okay. Cool. Great. How do we find one?"
"Satellite uplinks are down," Yue said. "So is GPS."
"So we just... wander?"
Celestine stepped forward slowly, her bare feet whispering across cracked concrete. She reached into her shawl and produced a small leather pouch, worn and stained with ash. She knelt down in the dust and whispered something in a language Lin couldn't recognize.
With a flick of her wrist, she tossed out a set of bone dice — six of them, yellowed and carved with strange, archaic glyphs. They clattered across the pavement.
Everyone watched in silence.
The bones settled.
Celestine tilted her head and nodded to herself. "The wind calls us eastward. Toward the sleeping ruin of steel and silence."
"...East?" Lin repeated. "That's it?"
"The bones never lie."
"Wait, hold on—are we actually trusting dice to guide our survival?"
Celestine looked up at him, her expression unreadable. "You trust dreams of waifus, summoned by a perverted machine goddess."
Lin opened his mouth. Then closed it.
"...Touché."
Sierra grinned. "Honestly? Works for me. You got any better ideas, Cap?"
Lin scratched his head. "I mean, no. Not really. Fuck it. East it is."
He slung the last pack over his shoulder. It was heavier than he expected, the straps digging into his hoodie. The faint wind carried the scent of scorched plastic and dust. His legs already ached just from standing too long.
"Okay," he said, trying to sound in control. "We move out in ten. Load up your gear, don't forget water, and—uh—watch each other's backs, yeah?"
Yue nodded crisply. "Affirmative."
Celestine gathered her bones and slipped them into her pouch with reverence. "The sun will guide our passage."
Yuzuki finally managed to strap her backpack tight and gave a playful salute. "Producer-sama~! Ready for Idol Adventure~!"
Sierra locked and loaded her rifle. "Lead the way, virgin general."
Lin turned and started walking east.
"...This is going to be such a fucked-up week."
***
By the time the sun began bleeding orange into the wasteland sky, their boots had carved a dusty trail across cracked dirt and rust-covered rubble. Lin's thighs were burning. His back felt like it was slowly disintegrating under the weight of the pack.
No one complained, though. Not even Yuzuki, who had spent most of the walk humming pop melodies and skipping between potholes like she wasn't in a post-nuclear hellscape.
When the last of the light began to fade, Lin stopped at the base of a half-collapsed overpass. Chunks of concrete jutted out at odd angles. The underside was shaded, partly enclosed, and scattered with burnt-out rebar.
He turned and forced a smile. "Okay, I think we should, uh, set up camp here for the night. It's got some cover... less chance of mutant birds shitting in our soup."
Sierra nodded. "Works for me. I've seen worse crack dens."
Yue knelt beside a chunk of broken pavement and checked her surroundings, scanning with precision. "No recent tracks. Air is still. Low electromagnetic interference."
"That's good, right?" Lin asked hopefully.
She gave the faintest nod. "Adequate."
Celestine walked wordlessly toward a rusted metal pole, placed her hand upon it, and whispered something that sounded vaguely Latin. Then she crouched beside a patch of dirt and started drawing symbols into the soil.
Yuzuki threw off her pack with a dramatic "Oof~!" and flopped down next to a dry patch of grass. "My feet are sooo sore! Producer-sama~ can I get a massage?"
Lin's ears flushed red. "I—I—I mean I could—uh, actually we should—probably start dinner first, right?!"
Yue ignored the awkward exchange and unzipped the food pack. Her icy tone cut through the dust-filled air.
"These rations," she said, pulling out a vacuum-sealed block of something vaguely meat-like, "will last approximately three standard days for a five-person unit. With careful caloric control and reduced physical output, they may stretch to six."
Lin crouched beside her. "So we have, like, a three-day timer before we start chewing on our boots?"
"Correct."
He scratched the back of his head. "Okay. Cool. Cool cool cool. No pressure or anything..."
She handed him one of the sealed packets. "Consume slowly. Minimum chewing required."
He looked at the grayish slab inside and winced. "This looks like someone microwaved a brick of sadness."
"It is high in protein."
Celestine sat cross-legged near the fire, eyes closed as she chanted softly under her breath. The flicker of the flame made her pale skin glow, her shawl swaying lightly in the wind.
Sierra had kicked her boots off and was crouched by the firepit, breaking up some old planks for kindling. "Cap, you should probably check the stash. Make sure the gear's not all toy-grade bullshit."
"R-right. Good idea."
Lin fumbled open the weapons crate beside him. Inside were a handful of tools and weapons—clearly scavenged from various military and civilian sources. He took them out one by one, laying them in a neat row.
"Okay, so we've got..."
One pump-action shotgun, scratched but functional
Two loaded 9mm pistols
One scoped bolt-action rifle
A machete with a half-broken handle
Four combat knives
And a crowbar — his crowbar
He picked up the crowbar and sighed. "You're my best friend now."
Sierra whistled. "Not bad for a starter stash. I'll take the rifle."
She slung it over her back without waiting for permission.
"Uh—yeah, sure," Lin mumbled. "I-I trust your judgment."
Yue took one of the pistols and quickly checked the slide, chamber, and mag with clinical speed. "Acceptable."
Celestine didn't even open her eyes. "I will not require a weapon."
Yuzuki pouted. "Ehhh? But I want the cute knife~!"
She grabbed one of the combat blades and held it in both hands like she was about to slice a birthday cake. "Tada~! Idol girl with danger accessories~!"
Lin held up a hand. "Just—please don't stab yourself."
Yuzuki winked. "Producer-sama~ are you worried about me~?"
Lin turned beet red. "N-no! I mean, yes! I mean—injuries are bad! F-for everyone!"
Yue sighed and took another knife before Yuzuki could juggle them.
As night fully fell, the wasteland turned eerily silent. The only sound was the crackle of the fire, the faint rustle of plastic wrappers, and the quiet chewing of rehydrated ration bricks.
Lin sat cross-legged, chewing his slowly like Yue had instructed.
His legs were sore, his arms ached, and he was fairly certain his balls were sweating into oblivion.
Still, he looked around at the four women—each completely different, each sitting near the fire, eating, breathing, existing beside him—and felt a weird mix of disbelief and something dangerously close to hope.
He cleared his throat. "So, um... good job today, everyone. W-we didn't die. That's... something, right?"
Sierra gave a dry laugh. "A real motivational speaker, you are."
Yuzuki nodded enthusiastically. "We got to walk and sing and eat mystery meat~!"
Celestine opened one eye. "The stars remain quiet... for now."
Yue simply said, "Affirmative."
Lin smiled softly and looked at the fire.
Tomorrow, they'd need to hunt down a mutant wolf.
Tonight, at least, they had warmth. Food. And each other.
He leaned back against a broken slab of concrete and exhaled.
"...This is fucked," he whispered to himself. "But it's also kind of... cool."
He tried not to think about how many ways it could all go wrong.
Q: What would you pack for camping?