![\"\"](\"https:\/\/punkapocalyptic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Chatarrero01.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\u2013 See something? \u2013 said Elena behind him. <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 Nope. But something is going on over there. Where there is smoke\u2026 <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 There is a fool looking at it \u2013 said the woman, while she turned back once more to scan the Wasteland behind them, using her hands as a screen to protect her eyes from the sun.<\/p>\n\n
\u2013 Haven\u2019t you read the Gazette? I am not the only one who thinks that the Final Waste is not inhabited or deserted as it seems. I would say someone is waging a big war there, if you ask my opinion. <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 A war? You hallucinate even more than those Red Viper shitheads. But I\u2019m sure you could have your conspiracy theory printed on the Gazette, because each month they slip more garbage between the news just to fill space. <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 And how would you explain that huge column of smoke we have been seeing all morning long? \u2013 said Derek with a grin, without separating his eye from the spyglass. <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 Anything could have caused it under this blazing sun, dumb ass. A shard of glass that ignites some shrubs, a tank full of chemical products that gets overheated\u2026 Ask any Dynamo back in the camp, they are used to things that explode on their faces and can tell you a thousand ways to start a fire. <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 And why no one is coming back from that zone? What is so special about it? \u2013 the man pressed on. <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 Extreme radiation, that\u2019s my guess. A source of contamination so strong that not even the Mutards can stand it. <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 Produced by?<\/p>\n\n
\u2013 Who knows, I am no expert in ancient history, but you have seen the remnants of old settlements, factories and all kind of buildings scattered around. And we haven\u2019t yet discovered a tiny fraction of it. The Wasteland still holds a lot of secrets\u2026 <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 In that I agree with you, partner\u2026 \u2013 whispered Derek while he scoped the source of the smoke for the last time. Only a thin grey hue in the sky marked the fading existence of the smoke column. <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 Can we go back now? \u2013 asked Elena impatiently. <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 Yeah. We have taken some interesting stuff and I have satisfied my curiosity\u2026 for now. <\/p>\n\n
The woman had walked some steps away from him while they were speaking, walking around the garbage dump while watching tirelessly the desert behind their position. That was the reason why Derek had the instinctive reflex of throwing it back to her with a whistle, but as soon as he moved his arm back to do so, Elena guessed his intentions, opened her eyes wide, frowned and raised an accusing finger. Her partner tried to disguise his movement pretending to stretch out and faking a yawn, after which he jogged down the pile of trash, got near to the woman and put the visor in her hand. <\/p>\n\n
\u2013 Thanks \u2013 said to her, just before turning his eyes away from the killing look his partner gave him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Derek stopped searching the pile of junk and raised his head for a second, looking to the distant column of black smoke that loomed over the horizon. It seemed static, almost as if it was painted over a canvas, but after staring at it for some time he determined that it was moving slowly as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n