John

I legitimately just finished my yearly re-read of The Great Outdoor Fight a few hours ago

He got that dog in him

A digital sketch of a sci fi soldier armed with a recoilless rifle

Whipped up this dude last night

Got these two knives ready for handles

Due to the ongoing NYT Tech Guild strike my wife and I played analog Wordle this morning

#inktober2024
31
LANDMARK
Once you spot the big obelisk, you’re only about a days out from Mercy.
You sure about that, old man? That crossbow bolt ain’t scrambling your memory?
Bolt didn’t hit me in the head, did it? I done this trip more’n dozen times!

#inktober2024
30
VIOLIN
What’s that sound?
I think it’s a violin, dad told me about them. Someone on a caravan must have found it somewhere.

#inktober2024
29
NAVIGATOR
Hell, I’d trade three or four guys with crossbows for a good navigator: he does his job right and you don’t need the crossbows.

#inktober2024
28
JUMBO
What were you and Jumbo talking about?
Don’t let him hear you calling him that.
Why? That’s what the other Sheepdogs call him.
You’re not a Sheepdog. That’s Alphas right hand man, his enforcer. Only other guy in Salvation with a Relic rifle.

#inktober2024
27
ROAD
We’re lucky this whole road isn’t completely washed out; another five, ten years and it probably will be.

An ink drawing of an old film camera

#inktober2024
26
CAMERA
What’s that?
My mother’s old camera.
Does it still work?
That’s a complicated answer: it doesn’t need a battery, and if there was film in it, then yes, it would take a photo. But film is long gone, same as the chemicals to develop the pictures.

#inktober2024
25
SCARECROW
You ever feel any guilt?
What do you mean?
Forging the nails that Alpha and the Pack use to make their scarecrows?
When it’s someone in the village, sure, but did Dad always say?
…Do whatever it takes to keep the Pack happy.

#inktober2024
24
EXPEDITION
It was hard for them to tell how many of the Prophet’s zealots were on the march; it was the biggest military expedition they’d ever seen.

#inktober2024
23
RUST
He saw the zealot pull out a weapon-an old pair of gardening shears, broken and rusty, the handles wrapped with twine for better purchase.

Thanks! Every year I have a blast doing inktober and tell myself I’m gonna do more brush pen stuff and then never do lol

#inktober2024
22
CAMP
Thy didn’t know it at the time, but those first few days just riding through empty wilderness and sleeping under the stars were some of the best times of their lives, despite the danger and the uncertainty.

#inktober2024
21
RHINOCEROS
“What the fuck is that?!”
“It’s a goddamn… rhino. A living Relic. Used to see them in the zoo, someone must’ve let it out before the End…”

#inktober2024
20
UNCHARTED
Gotta stay on our toes, we’re in uncharted territory here.

#inktober2024
19
RIDGE
Wait! If I know the Sheepdogs, there’s a squad waiting up on that ridge; the three on the path are to draw out the zealots, then the spearmen rush down and join the fight.

#inktober2024
18
DRIVE
We need to get off this road, the Prophets’ men have been here.

#inktober2024
17
JOURNALS
“Your dad left me his journals, think he knew that he didn’t have much time. I haven’t read them, he told me that what was inside had something to do with the whole of Salvation; there’s a reason I don’t live here.

#inktober2024
16
GRUNGY
Your average Sheepdog is pretty grungy most of the time, but those Relic pistols they carry are taken apart, cleaned and oiled every night over prayers. The bullets too.

#inktober2024
15
GUIDEBOOK
-So, is this plant edible or not?
-I don’t know! There’s like four plants in here that look like it!

#inktober2024
14
ROAM
Loaded down with food and survival supplies, you can roam far; around twenty miles a day is doable, way more if you find some flat stretches of good road.

#inktober2024
13
HORIZON
-What’s he doing?
-Says he’s using his fingers to tell the direction from the North Star, says we gotta head northwest.
-You see earlier when he told the time using his fingers over the horizon?

#inktober2024
12
REMOTE
The Sheepdogs hate the watchtower assignment; one week at a time, out there with dried meat and beans, climbing down the rope ladder to take a shit. No one comes this way, and if they did two guys aren’t gonna stop ‘em.

#inktober2024
11
SNACKS
Funny thing is, this place was abandoned long before the End. They built a new highway, no one drove down this road anymore, no one stopped here to gas up and buy snacks.

#inktober2024
10
NOMADIC
Merchant caravans wind their way around to various villages. They might stay here in Salvation for a week or so, but they always form up and head out eventually, searching for Relics and useful material.

#inktober2024
09
SUN
-They call him the Prophet of the Setting Sun; you ever hear anything so up its own ass? Just another death-cult. Sure, haven’t seen a big one like this for a while…
-They say he has a magic staff, that he uses it to blind the unfaithful.
-Magic? Bullshit!

#inktober2024
08
HIKE
-Finally getting out, finally going after the Prophet.
-Yeah, they say that, but until we find his army this is just a long hike.