This short story is nicely contained and distinctly personal. The latter detail is really what matters in these kind of stories. The added detail to the importance of the axe helped make the one encounter feel as though it had weight for the characters involved. And despite the overall brevity, the story was decently paced and easy to read. The conclusion certainly caught me off guard, yet it was a little underwhelming given how much weight is in the conflict. It was as if a new author had taken over for the last hundred words or so.

All in all, it was a fine tale about wasteland surprises.

8171051

Thanks.