Zoe Maximilian

Monday
I was scouting when a gang attacked me from one of the decaying buildings. I used one of my crude bombs to blow the hell out of the building and cold-bloodedly killed one of my attackers who fell out of the window. He had a severe head trauma and it was really an act of mercy. With the threat rendered harmless, I examined the surroundings. The city square had changed even more now, it hadn't been more than a couple of years or so since my last visit, but the mutated trees had slowly taken over and gang tags were painted from top to bottom on every building. The change was an improvement. In the middle of the square the statue of my forefather was nearly unrecognizable but I still saw family traits in the jaw and the proud head. Then my idiot companions rushed into the square and another gang tried to attack us. I managed to save them from most of the bullets by killing one man wielding an old-fashioned machinegun. We escaped the square as the gangs ganged up on us, Echo acted as support and fired several deadly showers of bullets, he would have been left behind if I hadn't dragged him with us. When we were back at our hideout, I yelled at them until Elden slapped me. I kicked him to the ground to make sure he wouldn't try that one on me again. I could see on Echo's face that he wanted to help Elden, but I challenged him and he yielded for me. I ordered them to get some sleep while I stood guard and they obeyed me reluctantly. They didn't trust me and I didn't trust them, but I needed their muscles and they needed the water I was offering.

Tuesday
They are up to something. Heard them talk in the middle of the night but couldn't make out what they were talking about before they discovered that I tried to eavesdrop on them. I got up and tried to think of a plan whilst I cleaned my gun but I was too tired. Elden complained about being in this city, he said that "This place looks as thirsty as everywhere else" and insisted on me telling them why we where here. I said shortly that this wasn't his business and that they would get what I promised them from the beginning; water for them and their families. They didn't look convinced and I don't blame them, I'm a terrible liar. They won't get water, where on Earth would I get as much as I had promised them? They are headed for certain death and I believe that their stupid brains are trying to make them understand that.

Tuesday night
We headed for the Parliament Building where my forefather the mayor of this town had hidden the Maximilia secret book. It was now my inheritance and I needed it to gain control over the water treatment facilities my family, the Maximilians, had built throughout the land. As we approached the building, we discovered that the gangs had gathered and were standing guard around some fires. We were able to get past them as I tricked them and gave Echo and Elden the opportunity to attack them while they were off-guard. The parliament was abandoned which surprised me a bit. Echo opened one of the doors a bit too violently and I grimaced as I imagined the sound echoing through the square. The gangs didn't seem alarmed at least. We waited until dawn so we wouldn't need to use too many torches.

Wednesday
I ordered Elden to stand guard, which displeased both him and Echo. I ignored that and continued into the building with Echo following me to help me break open the probably jammed doors. Echo broke open most of the doors on the first floor, some of them rejected his thrashes. That made him furious and I had to drag him away from some of them. We reached stairs which led up and the steps croaked a warning when Echo dared put his feet on them, but we both ignored them. On one of the door on this second floor I found a small plate, the color had faded and rust had stained the letters but I managed to interpret it. The name on the plate said simply: "Gregory Maximilia - Mayor". The door was stubborn and neither of us managed to open it. I kicked it in frustration and possibly hit a weak spot, the wood shattered and I managed to kick a gap big enough for me to crawl through. Echo seemed unwilling to follow me but was fretful when I told him I would continue on my own. It was a rather small room, not really fitting a mayor of what had been a rather large town once but when my eyes had adjusted to the poor light I saw a nametag on the desk who revealed that the room belonged to a Mrs. Johnson, the mayor's secretary. A door in the wall appeared to link the secretary's office to the mayors and I kicked that one in, too. The safe which contained my inheritance was hidden behind a portrait of Gregory Maximilia. I opened the safe while remembering the code which was hidden within my necklace. As I reached into the safe to seize the book, Elden and Echo entered. I had been so busy trying to remember the combination that I ignored the creaking of the floor and the crash when they broke through the first door. They aimed at me and made me get away from the safe with the book still inside it. I managed to escape through a window and was chased by a couple of thugs until I managed to wound at least two of them. The rest of the group hesitated and dared not meet me in a gunfight. I got back to the hideout and found a new one above the old one. I rested there and waited for Echo and Elden to return. I wanted to get the book back but I was at a disadvantage as they were two to one. I needed to ambush them.

Thursday
I fell asleep when I waited for them and was awoken by Elden's voice as he and Echo welcomed a tall man with scars on his arms and face and two bodyguards. Those idiots sold the book for a fraction of its value. After they exchanged the book for some supplies and water, the man left with my book. It had been suicide to try and take the book back. I made sure that the man and his bodyguards had left before I ambushed the men. Elden was dead before I even reached the ground, but Echo overpowered me. He did not try to kill me, even if he wanted to. It seems like Echo needs someone to take care of, otherwise he feels useless. He made me reveal the importance of the book and I explained to him about the water treatment facilities secrets that can be decoded from the book. The man won't be able to use the water treatment facilities in the full even if he manages to decode the book. Somehow Echo managed to convince me to trust him and offered me help. I can't trust him but I have to, now that he knows the secrets of the book. I admitted that I would have killed them both when I gotten my hands on the book. Echo didn't seem to think less of me when I told him that, he just sighed and shook his head in disgust over the times that made people act like I had. We now plan to undermine the Waterlord's power and take control over the city before we take the book back.

The man with the bodyguards would later rise to become Waterlord over the city, a position that would have been Zoe's if she had chosen more trustworthy companions.