The most direct route between Kind and Boon was straight through a deadzone. I wasn’t familiar with this one, but I figured I’d risk the trek straight through to cut time off the journey.

The edges of deadzones aren’t usually distinct. If you didn’t have a geiger counter handy, or weren’t familiar with an area it could be easy to wander into one without realizing it. This one snuck up on me. The road I was walking slowly went from solid, to broken through by plants and patches of water, until I found myself walking through a thick swamp.

Deadzones tended to be areas with high rads, but they were named deadzones because they killed people, not necessarily because they didn’t hold life of their own. The swamp was teeming with it. Lizards the size of dogs and frogs with long tails scurried away as I walked, sensing a more dangerous predator than they could handle. I broke a branch from a tree that bled a sticky orange substance, and I started using it to touch the ground in front of me, using it to avoid drowning in soft patches of earth. My cart had no issues, it just hummed softly as its treads carried it through any difficulty.

As I walked my geiger counter trilled loudly in areas of particularly thick foliage and as I reached what I gauged to be the center of the zone I began to hear a loud buzzing noise. I removed my geiger counter and held it to my ear, but the buzzing wasn’t coming from it. I kept moving, and as I did the buzzing grew louder.

I walked about another mile before I saw what was making the noise. What looked like a black cloud was writhing in front of me. It undulated and danced, moving in what seemed like random directions. After watching it for a few minutes I realized what it was. Mosquitos, thick as a cement wall. I wasn’t sure if they’d noticed me and were ignoring me, or if they were simply preoccupied with something else. None broke off from the cloud to bite me, instead they moved as a single entity.

After watching them for a few minutes I noticed something. A glint of metal peaking through their thick cloud. I watched that spot a little longer and was able to slowly piece together a picture of a body, guns, and a bag.

Salvage, valuable salvage. It’s one of the benefits of being able to explore deadzones relatively freely. A lot of people wander in and die, leaving behind goods that tend to lie untouched. I considered ignoring it, but the gun didn’t look like the crap I was used to finding. It seemed well maintained. It seemed like whoever had died to leave it behind had taken care of it.

I pulled out some meat and ate it while I considered what to do. The mosquitos hadn’t bothered me yet, but I didn’t know if that would last if I walked into them. My clothing covered most of my body, but I was certain they could slip between the folds of it if they wanted to. I considered a fire, but finding dry wood in a swamp didn’t seem likely. That left one option. I pulled out my machete.

…

I yanked my machete out of the now dead salamander. It’s body twitched as I did. I could’ve made short work of it with my pistol, but I didn’t want to waste what ammo I had. I’d had to slowly sneak up on them and strike before they could react. They were slippery bastards, but after an hour's work I had two of the salamanders and a half dozen of the frogs. I pulled out a net I sometimes used to carry mail and shoved the newest body into it. I didn’t earn PP for killing them since they weren’t attempting to harm me or my cargo, but I figured the salvage opportunity would make all the effort worth it.

When I returned the mosquitos were still there, a black pulsating mass of buzzing. I took the net, aimed it, and threw it through the thick cloud. It briefly knocked a hole in it, but that swiftly closed back up as the bugs recovered. The buzzing grew excited and I watched the mass slowly move off of the body they’d most recently feasted on and head toward the fresh blood I’d provided for them.

I approached the corpse cautiously. It was covered in small holes from the mosquitos, but what surprised me were two large ones. One was in his chest and the other his stomach. They looked like they were burned around the edges, and I could still catch a whiff of burnt flesh in the air.

A notification filled my vision.

Citizen, you have found a dead Marshall. You are being offered the following job:

Federal Marshall

This Job offers the following:

Stat focus: Strength, Perception, Intelligence

Skills: Long Guns, Pistols, Melee Weapons, Investigation, Tracking

Abilities for Lvl 1:

Under Cover: You may retain your previous job and those with the ability to read your sheet will see whichever job you choose to show.

You're Under Arrest: You may temporarily remove all job based bonuses from a target to ease apprehending them. This person will be highlighted in your vision while this ability is active.

This job receives PP based on the following criteria:

Completing investigations

Making arrests

Combat

Tracking suspects

This job will be granted to you as temporary, but can be made permanent on the following condition: Solve the murder of the former Marshall

I blinked, a Marshall. The dead man had been a Marshall. I’d heard the rumors, but I’d never thought they really existed. They were dangerous to the point that supposedly even the Iron Horde was wary of them.

I shook off my surprise. What’s in front of me was more important than notifications at the moment, especially since I was unsure of if the mosquito cloud would return. I found two rifles, a pistol, a bag half full of ammo and provisions, a small notepad, and a metal badge with the word ‘Marshall’ stamped across it.

I heard an approaching buzz as the mosquitos returned and left the body where it lay. One mosquito managed to land on my exposed wrist and I watched it take a drink then proceed to die. I’d assumed the rads in my blood wouldn’t bother creatures that lived in the deadzone, but it was possible that my virus made it even less tasty than the radiation did. Either way it looked like I may have been overly cautious. Better than dead though.

I checked on my cart and when I found that everything was fine I started back on my previous path. Night fell before I reached the end of it, but I pushed on. Deadzones were rarely a smart place to sleep. Luckily my great skill at walking made the rest of the trek go smoothly.

The swamp ended as gradually as it began. Thick trees, pools of glowing water, and strange mutant wildlife gradually gave way to barren roads and shattered buildings. The trill of my geiger counter slowly quieted to a soft purr. I made a mental note to let any guides in the next town know exactly what was killing people there, aside from the radiation.

I did a quick scan around to make sure no one was nearby and went to find a place to camp. Eventually I found the husk of a bus and was lucky enough that a few of the seats actually had padding. I parked my cart just outside the door, making sure the cargo was locked down and covered it with a tarp. After that I climbed inside. I had a quick meal of meat and looked through the marshall’s provisions. I was gratified to find peppers, some kind of hard bread, a few raw onions, and some dried meat. I treated myself to one of the peppers and enjoyed the burning as the juices from it filled my mouth. They were fresh. My guess was that he’d gotten them in Boon.

One of the rifles I found was similar to one I’d used before. It took .308 ammo, which was good because most gunsmiths made that pretty steadily. The other rifle I didn’t recognize, along with two magazines of ammo in a caliber I’d never seen. I dry fired it and gave it a closer look. I was surprised to find that it was automatic. Between the unique ammo and the auto fire it wouldn’t be practical for regular use, but I liked the idea of having something powerful in my back pocket for emergencies. The revolver was a .38. I’d seen them before, and didn’t care for them as much as my 9mm, but I bet I could pick up a decent amount of PP from the right trader for it. The notepad was soaked through with a mixture of blood and water, making it unreadable. Overall the haul was worth the effort.

Once I was done, I turned my attention to the notification I’d gotten. I gave it a long focused read. There was an opportunity here. Jobs like this one were hard to come by, and the fact that I could have both it and my Courier Job meant that there were no real negatives to taking it. None aside from becoming embroiled in solving a murder.

I accepted the new job.

Congratulations! You have been granted the job of Federal Marshall (temporary)!

You are carrying on the legacy of men like Wild Bill Hickock, Wyatt Earp, and Bas Reeves!

That a marshal shall be appointed in and for each district for a term of four years, but shall be removable from office at pleasure, whose duty it shall be to attend the district and circuit courts when sitting therein, and also the Supreme Court in the district in which that court shall sit. And to execute throughout the district, all lawful precepts directed to him, and issued under the authority of the United States, and he shall have the power to command all necessary assistance in the execution of his duty, and to appoint as shall be occasion, one or more deputies. - Judiciary Act

This Job is granted as temporary and can be made permanent upon completion of your first investigation: Solve the murder of the former Marshall

You have 30 days to complete this

I had no idea who the hell Bill Hickock and those folks were, but I assumed they were impressive since they were included in a system message. I also noticed that I should apparently have the ability to deputize people, but I saw no such ability on my citizen sheet when I pulled it up.

Citizen: Donovan

5th Level Postman/ 1st Level Marshall (Temporary)

Patriot Points: 24

SPINES: Be the backbone of America!

Strength- 20

Perception- 15

Intelligence- 10

Nationalism- 3

Endurance- 23

Speed- 17

Job Abilities:

Neither Rain, Sleet, or Snow: You are unhampered by adverse weather

Express: You gain a 5% bonus to movement speed

Special Delivery: You can mark a delivery ‘special’ which will allow you to track it.

Under Cover: You may retain your previous job and those with the ability to read your sheet will see whichever job you choose to show.

You're Under Arrest: You may temporarily remove all job based bonuses from a target to ease apprehending them. This person will be highlighted in your vision while this ability is active.

Skills:

Walking- 34

Pistol- 8

Loading/unloading- 22

Customer Service- 12

Driving- 3

Melee Weapons- 1

Long Guns- 1

Investigation- 1

Tracking- 1

Virus:

Deadman- Bonus to all physical stats +5, negative to social based skills

Natural weapon- Teeth

Night Vision

The new skills had a lot of value, particularly melee weapons. I was already good with a machete, but having it as an actual skill meant I could get much better with it a lot quicker. I also noticed my pistol skill got an automatic boost of one. I wanted to keep these new advantages, to use them. All I needed to do was solve a murder. The strange wounds on the body seemed to be the best clue to finding what may have happened. I went into my sheet and activated my undercover ability to make only my Postman Job display. There was a chance the marshall had been shot in Boon, no sense in me taking the risk of being found out. If anyone had the Mayor or other bureaucratic jobs now they’d only see the profession I had allowed to display. Once I was done I drew my duster closely about myself and went to sleep.