A corrupted world where laws and rules are merely a means for those in power to squeeze the blood of their people dry, while those who are well-off take advantage of the situation to become shadow rulers who are free from the law.

  Law enforcers are merely a means for them to use as protectors of personal property and executioners who are ready to enslave the people below, forcing them to abandon their morals as human beings just to survive.

  The constant pressure resulted in some resistance strong enough to the point of horror, those who were mad fought the government with vulnerable bodies and blunt fangs, those who were trusted to take their people away to seek their own fortunes, while those who were cowardly became sycophants who betrayed each other just to prolong their lives.

  All these events lead humanity to its own destruction, each part of the world is fighting each other endlessly for their own reasons, even though those reasons are just their own thoughts so that they don't want to be blamed for their own stupidity.

  The war between humans that resulted in a shortage of food and drink turned 90% of humans into piles of skulls, so that now only a handful of them still survive among the shadows of the past to continue living with a small thread of hope in their hands.

  “ Hey ! Look what I found!!!” said a shabby boy while holding up a broken electronic device.

  “ Woooow ….it’s a laptop!! Amazing you found it” said his friend in the same condition.

  Both of them were fiddling with a laptop that they had just found among the mountains of rubbish, both of them were so happy as if they had found a treasure.

  “ Hey !!! Let’s go back…it’s almost evening!!” said a man who was only wearing tattered pants while his upper body was only covered using a cloth that he wrapped like a robe on his back and there was also an AKA 47 rifle ready to be used.

  “Okay!!!” said the two children.

  They walked for a while before joining several people wearing similar clothes carrying various items on their backs, some of them were even looking around with firearms in their hands.

  “How is it ? Did you find anything?” said a man who seemed to be the leader of the group.

  “Look what we found!!!” said one of the children carrying the old laptop.

  The group leader smiled and patted the heads of the two children in front of him. “Good job!!....then let's go because it's getting late.”

  The two children nodded happily and finally the group walked towards a place among the rubble of a nearly collapsed building.

  That's right, they are not in the middle of a pile of rubbish (landfill) but are in a city that has long been abandoned with tall buildings that are almost collapsing, whether because of natural wear and tear from age or the aftermath of a battle of human selfishness.

  “ Brmmm ….” Suddenly the sound of a car was heard.

  Suddenly someone gave a hand signal to stop. "We're spreading out!! You kids follow him and don't come out"

  Immediately, his men hid behind the rubble as fast as they could, and a tense atmosphere immediately spread in the air.

  After waiting for a while, several convoys of cars passed them, old cars that had been modified for difficult journeys and whose bodies were coated with a layer of strong bulletproof steel.

  “ hahhaha !!! Come on…come on…faster!!” said one of the convoy who seemed to be the leader of the group who had colorful hair and strange leather clothes.

  “Sir where else are we looting!?” said the subordinate below him who had the same appearance.

  “Keep going!!! Find survivors , we’ll make them new toys!! Find the base? We ’ll loot it !!” said the convoy leader lightly.

  The words of the group leader were of course agreed to by his men and they immediately sped up their vehicles, on the other hand the leader of the search party accompanied by one of his colleagues who had previously been hiding began to come out cautiously.

  He sharpened his eyesight and hearing to make sure things were safe, but suddenly. "Sir who are they?"

  “Oh my gosh!!!” the leader said in panic. “You naughty boy!! I told you to hide!!”

  The child who was also a member of their group suddenly appeared beside him, of course making the leader of the group panic, because the other group had previously changed their minds and turned around.

  “ haaaah ….little kids are always curious about everything” said the leader of the group. then he knelt down so that he was the same height as the child below him. “they are a group of ‘troublemakers’ they always do whatever they want even eating children like you…”

  “ Pfft !!...” the child suddenly tried to hold back his laughter with his hands as hard as he could, then he replied. “Sorry but... is that true? Don't keep scaring me!!”

  The leader just smiled and stroked the child's head and stood up, at the same time a strong wind blew until it lifted the leader's robe, for a moment an old wound appeared but it never disappeared, not a burn, cut, or bullet wound. But a laceration and tear that stretched across his chest.

  The little boy was stunned but the group leader immediately answered. “That’s right… this is their work.”

  The boy turned to the man next to him and was met with a nod, and now the boy knew how dangerous the group that had just passed them was.

  “GET OUT!!! WE’LL CONTINUE OUR JOURNEY!!!” shouted the leader of the group.

  Finally they continued their journey but the day was starting to set, one of the members approached the leader. “What about the boss? Are we staying here?”

  The group leader immediately shook his head. “The base is still far away, while if we camp here then they will find us.”

  “Then where are we going?” said a small child in their group.

  The leader smiled “relax… we’ll go stay at the old man’s grumbling place”

  The leader's words made the other subordinates protest. "Wait, are you sure!?... don't we have any other choice!?"

  The group leader nodded calmly to his men. "Don't worry, he's not that scary ... maybe"

  “YOU’RE NOT EVEN SURE!!!” his men said in unison.

  The little boy who was with them asked in confusion. “Who is he? The grumpy old man?”

  The group leader wanted to retaliate but was beaten by his subordinates who responded one after another. “He’s a terrible person…”

  "he said he was a living corpse because of his obsession with corpses"

  "Isn't he an imitation human being?"

  " No-no, I heard he's not human at all!!!"

  ….

  Every word continued to make the children there more and more afraid and curious, but a voice from a distance interrupted the discussion.

  “ Hey !!... Let's go!!...” said their leader and a man who was always with him.

  The other men hurriedly followed their leader as there was no other choice.

  Although many skyscrapers have become ruins, this is not the only place built by humans, in some places there are also some that are built underground.

  Places like this are rarely or even impossible for anyone to make a place to live because of various reasons, not only can they collapse at any time, but some locations have also been submerged by water from broken pipes or groundwater that has entered them.

  But there are still some desperate and crazy people who live in such places, now the search group approached one of them who lives in an underground station that has been used as a base.

  An old man with messy hair and beard spied on the surveillance cameras he had installed in several places and found several men and children heading towards his headquarters.

  Quickly the old man pulled some levers and spoke into the microphone. “What do you want here!?... Get out before I blow you up!!”

  The leader of the group smiled and turned to a place and shouted. “hello old man!!!... it's me, I just want to stay overnight.”

  “Who are you? I don’t know you,” replied the old man.

  “Come on grandpa… I’m sure your memory won’t fade that easily,” said the group leader.

  “What? What memory? I even forgot where I put my nail clippers ,” the old man argued.

  But when they wanted to reply, a door to a building near them opened beside the group and a teenage girl's voice said to them. "Uncle, I told you that if you want to bring a stranger here, let us know first."

  The group leader could only smile and reply. “ hehehe …sorry this is an emergency”

  “ Hmph !!!.... always the same excuse!! Boring” teased the teenage girl then said before inviting them in. “You guys shouldn’t touch anything unless grandpa allows you to”

  The leader of the group and a man who was always with him just entered without hesitation but his men and the children who were with him were stuck outside the entrance so the leader of the group warned his men. “What? Come on if you stay here that grouchy old man will really blow you up for showing his base”

  Seeing their leader looking serious everyone didn't dare to argue or dispute, the group finally went inside, inside they had to go down a phantom hole to actually enter the base.

  When they entered, they were greeted by colorful lights and the walls themselves were filled with murals of various themes and shapes that were refreshing to the eyes. The deeper they went, the more life-supporting objects they had to survive in this chaotic world.

  After some time they arrived at a large room that seemed to be a combination of a maintenance station and underground irrigation channel as well as a room that was previously used for who knows what.

  There are various electronic goods, books, a refrigerator full of food and various rusty irons that are piled up and stored just like that, there is also the sound of music and songs that create a calm atmosphere.

  The children in the group immediately became very curious about everything there because everything here was new to them, and as usual, this curiosity made them approach one of the items there.

  The children approached a machine that had colorful lights that really attracted the children's attention and when they wanted to touch it.

  “ hoooh ….what a delicious looking hand” an old man suddenly appeared while gripping one of the little boy's hands that made him shocked and scared.

  How could it not be? An old man with a thick, untidy beard and several life support devices attached to his body and many scars that have lodged inside him makes him look like a crazy doctor who likes to kidnap children.

  “AAAAA!!!!” suddenly the children screamed very loudly and ran helter-skelter, while the child who was being held by the grandfather immediately fainted.

  “Huh??... kids these days... their guts are too small,” he said while dragging the child.

  “Grandpa… it’s not them who are mentally weak, it’s just you who are too scary,” said the woman who lived with the grandfather.

  “long time no see grandpa….how are you?” said the group leader.

  grandfather glanced briefly after which he immediately put the unconscious child to sleep on a transparent bed filled with water. "Huh!!! Naughty bastard!! You're back!!?.... you're not dead yet, it turns out"

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Come on… don’t be like that… look, I’m also bringing the mute,” said the group leader while embracing the man who was always with him.

  “If he’s not with you, how can he communicate!? And who will protect you!? Tch!! What else can he do besides eating and fighting!?”

  The old man's words made the man who was with the team leader become listless, while the other members could only smile a little because it was the reality.

  But when the group was enjoying the atmosphere, the old man continued his words. "Then if you want to visit, why did you bring a bunch of stinky kids and skinny, scared rats!?... do you want me to lock them in my sock closet!?"

  The leader of the group approached the old man while holding his wrinkled hand and smiling. “ Hehehe … just one night, old man, if I didn’t meet those savage creatures, I wouldn’t have come here either.”

  The old man squinted his eyes for a moment and then he pulled out a container. box and handed it to the search party. “You know the rules!! And you skinny scaredy-cats if you want to sleep soundly better not touch anything!!!”

  After that, the old man turned to leave while the team leader and the man who turned out to be mute put the weapons and other dangerous items in the box. “You put all the weapons in this box, don’t leave a single one even if it’s a needle.”

  “ B ... but leader!!!-” his subordinates objected.

  But before he could finish his sentence the group leader immediately lit up. “Don’t argue, you don’t want to be kicked out of here, do you?”

  Finally they could only nod and obey what their leader ordered, and after that the girl who lived with the grandfather took the container. The box was for storage, but he also took the group to a room.

  "Okay, this is your room, don't let it get damaged or dirty, and for you kids, your room is next door," said the girl while showing the room in a room that was actually quite spacious.

  Even though the girl talked about cleanliness, the room was actually full of mountains of dust, so everyone knew that they were being used as free labor to clean a guest room.

  But it is different from the children's room which is still clean and comfortable. "wait why is this room so clean?"

  The girl immediately answered the child's question. "Because this is grandpa's room... this is the cleanest and most comfortable room here... you should clean up quickly because dinner time is in an hour, you still remember the place, right?"

  After giving the message the girl left the group and the team leader stretched his body and said. "Okay, let's get to work, I'm sure you're all hungry."

  Immediately, the mute man who was always beside the group leader immediately started his work followed by the team leader, but his curious subordinates approached and asked with curiosity.

  “Real leader, what is your relationship with that grouchy old man?”

  “ hmm …. well maybe you could say teacher? Or parent?

  his men , even the children they brought with them.

  “AAAAA!!! Leader are you serious!!!”

  The team leader nodded. “True… but to some he is a hero.

  “ hahahaha …. Someone like him? Leader are you sick?” said one of the children.

  The leader just smiled and then replied. “ Well …it will be a long story, I will tell it to lull you to sleep… I am sure you will be very interested because all the stories I tell you and how I can be like this is thanks to him.”

  The children were now very enthusiastic and immediately went to their rooms because the team leader was a figure they greatly admired at the base where they came from, not a few children wanted to explore the ruins with him.

  Not only that, he also always took the time to entertain orphans like them by telling them various very interesting stories from the time when humans were still at the peak of their glory or even longer than that.

  On the other hand, a child who had fainted woke up on a soft bed that he had never seen before. When he stood up, he suddenly checked his surroundings with alertness.

  "Are you awake?" said an old man who suddenly appeared in front of him.

  " waaaa !!!" Of course the child was shocked by what happened next to him.

  The grandfather just kept quiet and looked at the child in front of him flatly. "Go there to clean yourself, the food will be ready in 1 hour."

  The child was hesitant but had no other choice and finally followed what the grandfather told him to do. When he entered the intended place, the child was surprised by the bathing place with clean water that continued to flow in front of him.

  It should be noted that in this era, water is an expensive commodity because most water has been contaminated with heavy metals which are dangerous if drunk, even rainwater contains acid, so far they have only dared to drink water from dew and steam that they collect.

  However, in this place, the clear water looked very abundant and seemed limitless, and without waiting long, he took off his clothes and cleaned himself, he even drank a few sips of the water that was gushing down on his head.

  After finishing his bath, he wanted to go straight to find his friends but instead he bumped into the girl who lived with the grandfather. "Is that it? Wait, the others will join too"

  The child nodded in agreement because the teenage girl looked friendlier than the old grandfather whom he thought was scary. When he was walking around, something accidentally caught his interest, until finally he touched the object he was holding to find out the function of the object in front of him.

  “Are you curious about that thing?” said the grandfather who suddenly appeared behind him.

  "HAAAA!!!...." shouted the child while holding his chest.

  “Why? You look like you saw a ghost,” said the grandfather who saw the reaction.

  “You… why do you always surprise me!!” the child protested.

  The grandfather hit the child's head in front of him. " Hmph !!... where are your manners in front of your elders!?"

  The child became silent and lowered his head, the grandfather shook his head slowly and then took the object and attached some electrical cables.

  “Watch out… after this you might faint.” The old man said disdainfully.

  " hmp !!...I'm not that weak!!" he replied.

  After slowly pressing several buttons, the device emits light that shines throughout the room. When the light hits a wall or object, there is a picture painted on it. The picture is in the form of various types of sea creatures of various sizes and shapes that move to and fro happily.

  "This tool is called a projector, this object can display moving images if we insert a recording cassette here," said the grandfather.

  The child was very amazed by what he saw and his eyes were now filled with curiosity, he turned to look at the grandfather who was previously scary but now awe filled his eyes.

  After a few rounds of video they were finally distracted by a voice. “Grandpa dinner is ready”

  The old man finally turned off the projector and walked out of the room leaving the little boy alone. “Come on… you must be hungry, right?”

  After taking a while, finally everyone ate, some people looked very stressed because of the presence of the grandfather but some people especially the children who were shown the projector were now very relaxed and cheerful as if they were at home.

  After finishing, the old grandfather gave a projector and several CD cassettes containing similar things to the child who was previously with him. Suddenly, the child became excited and brought his friends to enjoy the view from the projector.

  But the grandfather gathered the other members who came with the leader of the search group, they were now in a room full of weapons, both sharp weapons and firearms.

  Everyone didn't know what the old man was really going to do but when he took a gun and a dagger with his fragile hands and immediately turned around and pointed the gun at them.

  “ Te !!.... grandpa, what's wrong?” said the leader of the group.

  “Traitors deserve to die!!!” said the grandfather in a threatening voice.

  “ creck ” the sound of a gun cocking was suddenly heard and it was seen that the girl who lived with the grandfather was holding a shotgun in her hand. “old rules”

  “ Thu ….wait, what’s wrong with you guys?” said one of the group.

  “bang!!” the sound of a gunshot was immediately directed at a thin man in the group and hit his head. “if you don’t confess your death won’t be this quick!!”

  Suddenly, one of them turned around and took the girl who lived with the grandfather hostage using a sharp iron bar that no one knew where he had hidden it.

  “DON’T ANYONE MOVE!!! Or I’ll kill him!!!” said the traitor.

  "BANG!!" but unfortunately a bullet was immediately fired and hit his head causing him to die instantly, in the confusion of everyone the girl immediately searched the bodies of the two traitors and found an iron brand mark on their upper arms and a transmitter on the waist of each traitor.

  “ Hmph !!! Prepare for battle!!” After the grandfather said that, an explosion occurred followed by an echo and vibration that caused the entire secret base to shake violently.

  “This grandpa…” said the group leader with full of question marks.

  "This place has long been exposed and targeted by several groups," said the grandfather briefly while preparing his weapon, after which he patted the leader of the group on the shoulder and whispered. "If I die, everything here belongs to the three of you."

  The group leader still half understood what the old man in front of him was saying, but before he could digest the whole thing, the old man was already standing at the front of the line wearing a soldier's robe that was full of holes.

  “Listen up!! You may not like me or my attitude, but I don’t care about that!!! If you want to live, take up arms and follow all my commands, UNDERSTAND!?”

  The words of the old man somehow moved everyone and followed all his commands but when the preparations were complete the old man walked over to the girl who lived with him. "You go to my room"

  The girl of course immediately refused. “NO!!! Why!? Why do I have to hide there!?”

  The old man held both shoulders of the girl in front of him and stared at her sharply. “Your job is to protect those children!!, at least you are the only one I trust to protect them”

  The girl was silent for a moment then nodded and saluted. “ready to carry it out!!”

  After the grandfather returned the salute, the girl immediately ran to the safest room in the hiding place, but after the girl left, the grandfather immediately coughed up very badly.

  “ Cough !!.. cough ..!! damn it” the grandfather looked at his hand which had blood coming out from his cough.

  This was of course seen by the team leader. “Grandpa…you…”

  Grandpa immediately stared at the team leader with a sharp gaze. “Shut up!!!....this is my choice!!”

  Seeing the gaze filled with very strong and firm determination, the team leader and the man who always followed him immediately saluted. "The army is ready for duty, commander!!!"

  Finally, the group headed straight towards the explosion which was at a fake entrance, namely the train station entrance. In the middle of the journey, the grandfather took out the remote and pressed it for a few moments. After they were at the front line of defense which had been blocked by several parts of the armored vehicle, the grandfather immediately turned on the monitor which was connected to the surveillance camera.

  It was seen that outside there were many people with spiky and strange clothes surrounding the headquarters carrying many explosives in their hands. "It seems that you are indeed being watched by them"

  One of the people there immediately exclaimed. "Wait!! Aren't they the people we met earlier?"

  The group leader nodded. “Yes, it seems there is a traitor among us… I am worried about the state of the base.”

  “BOOM!!!..BOOM!!..DOOR!!” but when they were discussing suddenly there were several very strong explosions, the explosions came from outside which made the crowd of jabrik people run away and some of their bodies were even scattered.

  Everyone in the base saw the scene and was very shocked and scared, because one of the places was the place where they were standing before entering this secret base, now they knew that the grandfather who was with them was really not joking to blow them up just like that.

  “What?” said the grandfather who realized that he was the center of attention.

  But the danger did not end there because after a while a very large vehicle entered the surveillance, an armored vehicle with a shooting barrel on top.

  “tank!!!... why is that thing still in this condition!?” said a member.

  Even though energy reserves are very difficult to find, vehicles such as electric cars are still abundant, but vehicles such as tanks that waste fuel are a waste.

  “BANG!!!....BOOM!!” it was seen that the tank fired its bullets and opened the blocked entrance, while on the other side the grandfather and the others immediately got ready to point their weapons in the same direction.

  " Hahahaha !!! Let's attack!! We'll loot whatever is inside!!" said a leader of the group of looters.

  “Get ready!!” said the grandfather giving the command.

  When the looters entered, suddenly when they passed a few meters there was an explosion under their feet which made the scene even more terrifying, not just once but it happened several times making the stench of blood spread very thickly.

  After the series of traps, the looters continued to enter the base without fear, some even took body parts from their friends' corpses which they used to trigger other traps that they felt had not yet been released.

  “ Drrrrrrt !!!” a machine gunfire opened the fight between the two sides, although the owner of the base was smaller, they had the advantage of the terrain which allowed them to hold off the looters.

  The gunfight continued and several members of the base owner's camp had now been reduced, fortunately no one died in their group, but unfortunately losing just 1 person had drastically reduced their strength.

  They were pushed back and increasingly cornered, seeing the situation getting worse, Grandpa immediately gave the order. "You guys retreat!!! We're leaving this base"

  “ B -but!!” said the team leader.

  “Hurry up!! You know yourself that we are short of people!!” the grandfather forced.

  Finally everyone gradually retreated with the grandfather being the last person, but when he was about to retreat an explosion suddenly occurred but fortunately the grandfather survived but he got some wounds on his body, he quickly covered his wounds so that his friends wouldn't see them.

  They continued to be pushed back until they were in the children's shelter, they were able to survive for several hours because of the traps in the base until they were at the base's last defense.

  "Let's get out of here," said the grandfather as he opened a secret door.

  The girl who lived with her grandfather was the first to speak up. “Grandpa…is it that bad?”

  Grandpa nodded. “Right… you kids go first, then you injured ones and we’ll go in last.”

  “No!! Grandpa should be the first to come out!!” the girl argued.

  Grandpa stroked the girl's head gently. "You are the one who should go first, remember you are the one who must protect them"

  After saying that, the grandfather turned to the frightened children, the girl understood and hugged the grandfather. "Promise me that you will be safe."

  The old man took his gun and left saying, “I promise.”

  Finally the children and the injured went straight to the secret door to escape, but on the other side the team leader approached the grandfather with a tearful gaze.

  Without hesitation, he immediately took off the clothes worn by his grandfather and saw several wounds that continued to bleed and his life support equipment had been damaged. "Grandpa, you..."

  Grandpa, who was caught, immediately looked away and continued fishing. “Go with your people….”

  “but you!!?”

  “Don't make me say it twice!!!...." said the grandfather while pointing his rifle at the team leader "...let me choose my own death"

  The team leader looked at the grandfather with tears that had fallen with a heavy heart, he immediately dragged the mute man who was always with him by force. "We retreat!!"

  The old man turned around and shot the looters alone when the team leader saw the old man fighting, he faintly heard his last words. "Goodbye"

  The grandfather immediately charged out with all his strength, of course several shots hit his body directly, but he continued to survive all the bullets that had lodged in his body.

  Until when his body lay helpless because he was no longer able to continue fighting, he finally took out a trigger that was always flashing which he put on his waist.

  “ Hahahaha … thank God I can still choose how to die,” said the grandfather at the end of his life.

  When the looters had surrounded his body, he immediately pressed the trigger button, at the same time his head was immediately cut off by a looter and raised high like a trophy.

  But when the cheers of victory were heard, “BOOOM!!! BANG!! BANG!!”

  A series of massive explosions occurred, explosions so large that they caused the entire base to burn and collapse, burying everyone inside.

  On the other hand, the search group that had gone to save themselves also saw a very large explosion coming from the headquarters.

  “NO!!! GRANDPA!!!” said the girl who lived with him, immediately screaming loudly and running towards the destroyed headquarters, but the girl’s intention was stopped by the team leader who also cried seeing her.

  After a while on a barren hill everyone gathered at a tombstone leaning against a tree, there was a girl who continued to cry with 2 men standing beside her.

  The three of them looked very sad because they were left by the person they loved and respected the most, in the midst of their sadness a child suddenly approached the leader. "Brother, can you tell me the story??"

  The leader smiled and stroked the child's head. "I will tell you... a story about a hero named Agra Wiranata"