Divvy Up: One Last Transaction

After the bombs fall and the rules collapse, something harsher takes their place. Not law, not order—something colder and far more personal. In the ruins of New York City, staying alive means reading people fast, spotting weakness, and knowing when to disappear before someone decides you are worth more dead than alive.

Hardesty has carved out his own way of living in this broken world. He doesn’t belong to any crew, doesn’t answer to any authority, and doesn’t share unless he has to. Every opportunity is a transaction. Every encounter is a calculation. When a routine execution turns into something else entirely, Hardesty sees a chance to get ahead—just a little more, just enough to buy himself another week in a city where nothing is secure.

But deals don’t stay simple for long. Every promise invites a double-cross, and every partnership carries a hidden price. As Hardesty moves through the wreckage, scavengers, officials, informers, and opportunists all play by rules designed to favor themselves. The trick is not merely surviving the city. It is recognizing when someone else has already arranged the outcome.

Stephen Marlowe wrote extensively for magazines including Galaxy Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, and Fantastic Universe, producing sharp, hard-edged fiction built around people under immediate pressure. Born Milton Lesser, he also became widely known for the Chester Drum detective novels and later wrote ambitious historical fiction, including The Memoirs of Christopher Columbus. “Divvy Up” shows Marlowe at his most ruthless and economical, turning a devastated New York into a place where every exchange feels temporary and every advantage can vanish in seconds.