Scavenger in a barren wasteland

The year is 3046. After years of advancing technology and rising tensions, the 5th and final world war had broken out. A lot of countries were destroyed and left in ruin. All manner of weapons were used until humanity dwindled to 20% of the total population and a lot of countries had been reduced to barren wasteland. The scorch marks tattooed the earth like a cancer, and it was all but confirmed that the wasteland had become totally barren. No plants could grow, a literal no man's land in an almost dead earth.

The war had never officially concluded, only stopped as every faction dwindled in numbers until they could no longer continue. Humanity and the earth just...gave up.

In the bleak future, there are multiple zones in each country called "safe houses". A largely intact city protected by a dome from the unwanted factors of the barren desert. In these cities, inhabitants lived in comparative luxury. As the dome monitored light and temperature, it was perfectly simulating a habitable city. Life went on as normal and people lived in bliss.

On the outside however, ever since the continuous detonation of weapons of mass destruction, the temperature had risen to become a few degrees short of searing hot. The wanderers, clans of people that banded together to survive as they were not given access to the cities and left out to meet their fate in the wastelands, roamed these areas. They formed factions and alliances as well as rivalries. They scavenged working technology left over from the war, as well as having the habit of going full nudist as even one layer of clothing that make them feel hotter and suffocating in the desert heat.

We follow the story of Audrey. She was born into a small tribe called the Pangolin Clan, named after an endangered species. They called a rundown town in Nevada their home. It was already a ghost town in the past, but a band of wanderers came into contact when banished from the safe houses, and they decided to make it their own.

Audrey had lived in a garage of an abandoned bike shop from before the war. Surprisingly, the motorcycles and vehicles had been left intact when it was abandoned and they remained after the war. Audrey was the child of a couple that were great friends of the main chieftain, who put them in charge of overseeing scavenger duties. For every band of wanderers, their life and **** all laid on the hands of the most important role, the scavengers. They went into the deserts to find resources that acted as lifeblood for their clans, bringing them back after a daily journey to contribute to the clan's survival.

Since she turned 18, Audrey had gotten training from her parents on survival skills, rationing, and vehicle maintenance. Now that she had turned 21 and grown up into a fine woman with long blonde hair, she took the responsibility of being a scavenger.

Today was her first scavenging. She took one last look at her community crowding around her, wishing her good luck and to come back alive knowing how merciless the desert could be.

With a farewell nod, she turned away and stepped on the pedal of the red bike, driving away into the unending desert.