Even before the apocalyptic events that had changed the world, Hope Springs (http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6053/6263367426_b8e6ecd1a4_z.jpg) had been a tiny dried up town set in the middle of nowhere. The outbreak of nuclear war had done little to change this fact, or much of anything else for the town's citizens. The only real differences in their day to day lives were that they now had to live without electricity, didn't have to worry about people stopping by to ask for directions, and had to conserve their water as much as possible. Though even water conservation wasn't as difficult as it first seemed. Thanks to the water recycling tanks that Old Man Hicks had built before he finally died of, you guessed it, old age.<br/><br/>Thus far even raiders hadn't been a problem for Hope Springs, given that they had never once been hit by the savages. The idea of a raider attack was still feared of course, they'd all heard the stories, but it had become more of a 'boogie man' than a realistic fear. Given that the town only had a population of 26 people it was the general consensus that no raiders would be interested in such a small target.<br/><br/>Of course they still kept up a watch for raiders. This watch consisted of a single young man or woman posted on top of what was once the town's bright red general store, and now was it's fading pink meeting hall, with a pair of binoculars, and a hand operated air raid siren.<br/><br/><hr/>Today this 'great responsibility' had been placed squarely on the shoulders of a lazy 19 year old named Richie. To say that Richie wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed wouldn't really be doing him justice. He wasn't particularly stupid, but nor was he outstandingly intelligent. This meant that while he wasn't quite bright enough to keep himself entertained with his thoughts he also wasn't dumb enough to simply sit there without a thought in his head.<br/><br/>And so, as the hours of his watch passed and the hot sun in the clear sky cooked the earth as it always did. Richie grew bored. Not even the appearance of of single woman on motorcycle, which Richie had utterly failed to notify the town of, was enough to break his boredom after it became apparent that the woman wasn't looking for a fight. Slowly his thoughts of boredom turned to thoughts of Maria Smith, one of the other members of the town who also happened to be near his age. Richie absentmindedly daydreamed of what would happen if 'big bad raiders' ever attacked.<br/><br/>In his mind's eye he could see the raiders pulling into town as all the other townsfolk trembled in fear, he saw himself rushing into the meeting hall and grabbing one of the town's few guns, he saw one raider pulling Maria away from her family, he saw himself line up the shot and kill the raider dead, he saw himself moving too fast for his enemies to react, taking shot after shot from behind cover until the savages finally fled.<br/><br/>Next he saw Maria rush over to him with gratitude, he saw himself take her in his arms and kiss her deeply, then he began to see all the things that he and his new lover would do behind closed doors...<br/><br/>As these thoughts passed through his mind Richie was so absorbed in them that he almost missed the large cloud of smoke gathering on the horizon. As he saw it he pulled his mind away from it's fantasy and reached for the binoculars, more curious than anything else. After a few seconds of fumbling with their zoom dial he was able to get his target in focus. And what he saw terrified him to his very core!<br/><br/>On the horizon, approaching very fast, were several vehicles. Precious seconds passed as Richie did his best to get a better view of the incoming vehicles.<br/><br/>"Oh fuck" he whispered to himself as he recognized them for what the were...Raiders.<br/><br/>As his mind put together exactly what this meant Richie didn't get up from his seat and make a mad dash to the guns in the meeting hall  and he didn't suddenly become a hero who had been hidden behind the disguise of a simple boy from a small town. What he did do, was make water in his pants and several seconds later reach out a shaking hand, grab the crank of the air raid siren, and begin to work the device for all he was worth.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>A low, almost mournful wailing siren could be heard throughout Hope Springs. It was the town's air raid siren, and it meant only one thing...Raiders had come to Hope Springs<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The engine of Big Tim's Gran Torino roared beneath it's hood as he drove the car across the barren wastes in the direction of Hope Springs. As the wind whipped past his face and through his hair he couldn't help but smile. Life was good! He and his crew were moving in on a nice easy target that they'd managed to find just as they were running low on 'toys.'<br/><br/>Ricky, the expert scout that he was, had staked out the town without ever being noticed and had reported that they were defenseless and just ripe for the picking. If things went as smoothly as Tim expected them to he'd have to remember to congratulate Ricky on a damn fine job!<br/><br/>As the town slowly grew larger in Tim's field of view he reached over to the dashboard of his car and flicked on the radio that he had there. He'd made sure that every member of The Coyotes had some sort of radio equipment that could broadcast to each other so that it would be easy to always keep in contact and it was times like this that such forethought paid off. "Alright" he said into the radio's microphone "just like we talked earlier, I want us to hit them fast and hard. Don't take any shit from any of them but don't kill them all either...we want captives and we want survivors so that we can come back and hit this place up for supplies again some time."<br/><br/>With that said Tim flicked the mic off again and focused on driving, it wouldn't be more than a minute or two before they pulled into the town...