Chapter 54 (YEAR 2052)

Report: Quinn

The interior of a dropship.

Three-hundred feet above sea level.

International airspace.

Seventy minutes later our dropship was once again cruising over the Russian countryside.

A massive, concrete dam dominated the eastern horizon, watching over a winding riverbed like a silent guardian. The once-pristine river was a dry trench in the ground, dividing the landscape in half.

On the south bank of the river sat a farm, an old agricultural center abandoned years ago. A field of various crops swayed in the breeze, now too overgrown and irradiated to be remotely safe to eat. A small farmhouse sat abandoned next to a ring of rusting metal silos.

The northern shore of the river was home to the Stalnoy mining district, a patchwork grid of rusty metal depots and tall buildings slicing into the sky. Two bridges jutted out of the district like arms, clutching the opposite side of the river. Crumbling concrete ramps lead down towards the riverbed at various intervals, boat laun