characteresque

character :: Gabe Falkner

All he knew were the stories about the Industries and that their massive walls and buildings didn't always used to loom over the Badlands. They were places of safety in the uncertain wasteland that had become the United States following a massive war but only some were allowed inside: those that could pay the handsome entry fee followed by the yearly taxes and those that, from what Gabe had gathered, the filthy rich bastards inside took a shine too. And everyone else? They were fucked from the get-go.

As a young child growing up in the war-torn Badlands, Gabe, the eldest of four children, had grown up dreaming about the day his family would finally walk through the massive doors of the Industries. They were places of 'economy, factories and production', his mother would say, words that meant nothing to Gabe when the family was barely scrapping by enough money for food each night. His father Gabriel, a retired Badlander from the former gang known as Helter Skelter, would go out in search of food with his young sons while his mother Kat, a Badlander who had retired from the well-feared Femme Fatale, stayed close to home to keep a good watch over the children in between her short hunting and fishing trips that were one of the few sources of food on the table. Through this, Gabe learned early on to carry his own weight and provide what he could for the family, begging his father to teach him everything there was to know about surviving in the Badlands.

Between his two parents, Gabe learned everything from courier work, to trapping and everything in between and was raised to be headstrong and ruthless, the only way a young Badlander could possibly survive the harsh world in which they lived. So Gabe was thrilled when his father and younger brother explained that they were leaving on an extended hunting trip and that it would Gabe who would become the man of the house. But it will be the last few moments with his father before Gabe's life changes forever. Several months later, the men have not returned and a raid on the small shack has left his youngest sister Rebecca as the victim of a robbery gone wrong. Broken by the death of his sister, but forced to move on to survive, the family does all they can to put her death behind them and continue life as a family of three...until Gabe's father makes a surprising return. The return is in the dead of night and Gabriel, in a drunken, homicidal rage, raids his own house with total disregard to the safety of his family as he threatens to kill Gabe if he isn't given all their food. Realizing there's no other way out, Gabe kills his father and remains to this day, unaware of the fate of his younger brother.

And this is just a taste of what Gabe's life is like and how he becomes the person that he is: a brash, vulgar, jack-of-all-trades looking to score his next payment however he can.

It's at this time that he runs into a young woman who doesn't quite fit into their dog eat dog world and only after speaking with her does Gabe realize why: the woman claims to live in one of many underground cities, beautifully carved towns cut into the rock below where they have made a living storing food, water and away from the threat of violence and murder that runs rampant above ground in the Badlands. She goes on to explain that she's here to help, to make things better but her government has a different idea, viewing all those above, including Gabe and his family, as ruthless, savage killers that can't be trusted. These words enrage Gabe who sees the opportunity to monopolize on their ignorance and their good lot in life: by taking what they have and leaving them in the same ruin they've left the people of the above ground in for so long.

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