Chapter 7

The day was dry and hot, dave reached for an old dirty cloth that he had in his bag putting it around his face. The wasteland was so dry that the ground begain to crack under his feet, dave trekked on through the wasteland hills, when a fait sound begain to come over one of the hilltop ridges, the sound was dry it sounded like a man, but dave was unable to hear it clearly. Dave grabbed his rifle that he had placed acrossed his back wrapped in blankes, the sound begain to get louder, dave tried to make it out again but it was to dry, dave ran over the hilltop to get a look at where the sound was coming from. He looked around but still could'nt see anything, he layed his bag on the ground and rumaged through all his wares, and pulled out a pair of binoculars, he scanned the wasteland once more finding nothing, just dead shrubs, and cracked earth. The sound continued as dave put his binoculars away, when suddenly a huge blast entered into daves ears, he covered his ears at the sound, and looked around, some dust was hanging in the air to the west just a few miles away, dave grabbed his gear and begain to run towards the dust, "What could be out here?", dave thought as he continued.

As dave got closer, the dust had settled and the sound was much more clearer, the sound of plasma rifles, and high explosives were heared over the screams of men running through trenches, as several brutish Super Mutants came running towards the men, " FOURTY-FIVE GET THAT ONE, SEVENTY-ONE THAT ONES GETTING BACK UP!", dave watched over a small sand-dune as the battle continued, dave tried to get a better look at the men in the trench but could not move or he would exspose himself to the Super Mutants, and the mysterious men. The mysterious men continued to fire from gun ports made out of the ground, the sound of the guns echoed in daves ears as a small group of five super mutants ran towards the trench, one of the men on the firing line pulled his gun away from the gun port, as another layed his into the firing port hitting two mutants in the leg and torso, one of the super mutants stumbled to the ground but immediately got back up, getting his two more times in the chest, as the other was hit in the head.

Later in the day, the super mutants begain to pull back, as the mysterious men regrouped and dave moved from his spotting position, dave dusted himself off when a large shadow engulfed dave, "What are you doing in this area, dont you know its not safe to be out here alone!", dave looked up as the man removed his dust covered helmet, "I'm number twenty-three, I'm a paladin in the Brotherhood of Steel order, and Who are you?", dave thought for a moment staring at the man, "My name... you want my name", the paladin knoded his head as dave thought for a moment, "My name is sterling, I'm just a traveling through, and saw the dust from a few miles away, and thought to check it out?", the paladin layed his hand on daves shoulder, "Well you found a nice time to join us out here in the desert, we dont have much to offer if any, our supply line was cut yesterday by some raiders, who were looking to cause us some trouble for us", dave knoded as the paladin escorted him to the trench.

As dave and twenty-three entered the trench, a man in casual clothes poked his head out from his barracks, "Hay who's the new guy, a recruit, he does'nt look like he could carry a plasma rifle!", twenty-three looked down at dave and shook his head, "Dont lisen to him sterling, I did'nt bring you here to try and recruit you!", dave looked releaved and continued to look around as more men stared at him. the two stopped in front of a door built into the earth, twenty-three knocked on the door twice, "Sir I have a guest for you, he was found behind a sand-dune while we were clearing the area, of any left overs", the door slowly creaked open as the sunlight hit the dirty womans face, "Thank you twenty-three, I think I can take it from here, why dont you go clean your power armor", twenty-three stepped back and saluted the woman, "Yes sir", the woman greeted dave into her room and closed the door, as twenty-three walked off to clean his armor, "So you were found behind a sand-dune huh?", dave looked at the woman here face was covered in dust and dirt, here hair was a chestnut brown, she seemed to be happy to see a new face, "Well I was walking through the wasteland, when I saw a plume of dust in the air, and I decided to check-it out?", the woman pointed to a seat, dave pulled the chair closer to her small table as she sat down and removed her boots, "So you were traveling through the wasteland, and saw a plume of dust, you know just last week we had a raider party, attack our supply line and try to infultrate our ranks!", dave looked at the table for a moment, "Twenty-three told me about your supply-line, but not about the infultration?", the woman studied dave for a moment and then looked at her clock, "So you know about our supply-line being hit... it was'nt as bad as it would seem, at least not for us, the raiders came at our flankes, ambushing the supply wagon in the hills, there was only four paladins guarding the supply wagon, they were over taken in minutes, the raiders took everything of importance...", the woman pounded her fist on the table, knocking over a small cactus on the center of the table, dave layed it back up, as the woman continued, "Do you have any idea how long we were waiting for those supplies, we sent out a request for more supplies from washington, it took them five weeks to get the request there, then another seven weeks for the supply wagon to get here, but on the last stretch the raiders got it", dave just looked at the woman as she grew infuriated at the fact, "Umm, if you dont mind I would just like to get some fresh water, and some food, maybe be able to sleep here for the night... it is getting to be noon?", the woman shook her head at daves request, "I'am sorry we cant spare any food or water, but you may stay here tonight, if you do me a favor?", dave looked at the woman, causious of his next words, "Well that matters on the favor, I dont do things for free, its a dangerous world out there, and I need some supplies", the woman looked at dave with a sturn look, standing up, "You dare try to barter a deal with me, I will not give you any of our food or water, the only thing that I can promise is that you may stay here tonight, but you have to do me a favor!", dave looked at the woman with a grin on his face, "Whats the favor", the woman sat back down, brushing the hair out of her hazel eyes, "The favor is simple, take-out the raider camp as quietly as you can, return with our supplies, then you may stay", "Wait a minute, I'm not taking out a raider encampment all by myself, give me some of your men", dave looked around the room while the woman thought about it, "Ok you get four of my men, you can choose why you want to go with you, But one thing, I want all my men to return here got that, none of my men are left out there", dave stood-up put out his hand and the two shook on the agreement.

Later that night dave rounded up his group to move-out, "Ok first thing I dont want any of you to fire unless they fire first, the only weapon I want you to use is your combat knife, and no power armor, were going in stealthy, and out fast!", dave pulled twenty-three away from the group, as the rest geared up, "Twenty-three, your my right hand man, you know these men alot better than I do, so I need your help to make sure that none of them fire first, got it", twenty-three knoded as the group was reassembled to move out, as the group departed the trench, some of the other paladins, waved goodbye as they trekked towards the raider camp.

You need an editor: but I find the overall content to be superior to Stephen King's gunslinger series.

Snap! Snap! Snap! You keep it moving. As an author (poet) I hate your guts!

As a human being, I keep waiting for the next installment.

Don't let them get inside your head (THEM!!! the Ants!!!).

Man, damn fine job writing this eh!
Don't stop writing alright!
Thanks!

WOW I think thats the best compliment I've gotten (No offence to anyone else including MAD-MAX) I'm glad that a fellow writer hates me, and I'm impressed that I've been compaired to Stephen King, thats funny to because I just got into a argument today with a "writer" who said that he enjoyed Stephen King and I told him that I could write a better story than King any day, I sure shut him up, and I also told him that Kings stories moved to slow and there were no "Scary" or any frightning parts in any of his stories. Any way thanks!

ALSO I'll work on the editing, its just that at times I decide to start writing, and start writing what ever comes to my head, and I just get a rhythem going.

Chapter 8

As the night grew into day, dave and the four men trekked across the wasteland hoping to get to the raiders soon, "I swear when I see one of those raiders, I'll slice him up, tell you cant tell if its man or beast!", the paladin's friends knoded in agreement, while dave and twenty-three trekked in front, looking at each other for a moment then looking back, "Dont be so cocky, fourty-four, the raiders are tough dont forget that", the paladin looked at twenty-three with a disgusted look on his face, "Their our enemy, and it would be treason to think any different!", dave glanced at twenty-three, as he swung his fist into the paladins stomach, the paladin fell to the ground holding his stomach, while dave and the others continued on, "Why... did you do that?", twenty-three looked at him for a minute, "Because you were out of line, you know that, and if I ever see you disrespect a higher-up again I'll have you sent on patrol missions for three months, Do you understand!", the paladin knoded his head, still holding his stomach from the punch, "I'm sorry sir, wont happen again", twenty-three pulled the paladin up off the ground, and the two caught up with the rest of the group.

Later that night the group sat around a small kettle, that was hanging over the fire as the men talked and waited for their dinner, "So traveller how is it out here... I mean how long have you been out here?", dave looked at the young paladin with a grin, "Whats your name paladin?", the paladin lowered his head a minute, and then looked to dave, "My name... I dont have one, only my Orders name, Thirty-five, my parents were killed when our town was attacked by super mutants,I ran for my life, I hid in a empty closet until all the noise had stopped, I thought of leaving the town, but there was no where for me to go, I stayed in town until some paladins marched into town, and took me in", dave looked at the paladin for a moment as he refelcted on his childhood, "My names thomas, thomas jones, I was born into the order my father was a paladin since the order moved to the east coast, that is until he was killed in a battle with a horde of gouls, you see my father and a small contingent of other paladins were ordered to exsterminate a subway tunnel infested with gouls, the mission was going fine until they hit the main force of gouls, they were over run, my father and another paladin were able to retreat to a defensive position, were the gouls had a harder time getting too, but his rifle jammed and his laser pistol was out of ammo, and his power armor was to damaged from gouls bashing it with rocks and pieces of steel, so he gave his life to protect the other paladin, long story short, the other paladin made it back fine", the group looked at the paladin for a moment, to digest his wild story, twenty-three looked over at dave with curiously, "Well Sterling, whats your story? why are you wandering the wasteland, and not living it up in some town?", dave thought about the question for a minute, "Well when I was a child my town was also attacked, but by some raiders who were looking for a man that had made a bad deal with them, my father was the mayor and tried to plead with them, but they would'nt leave, well one day the raiders were gone and everyone was celebraiting, until later that night, they returned torching the town, my mother hid me with this pistol, in a old warehouse that had old crates and barrels, I never saw my family again", the men looked and listened to dave as he told his story, throughout the night dave was the man with the stories, the only stories the paladins knew were ones that they had heard about as children, which were mostly about great victories by the brotherhood over "Opression" and the "Mutant Scurge", most of which the stories were totally fake, and just made to entertain children.

The next morning all the men awoke, around the fire gathering their gear for the rest of the journey. As the day passed and the men trekked father, smoke was visible high in the sky behind a large hill, the paladins knew they were close to the raider camp, " Sterling the camp isnt far know, probably only a mile or so!", the five men hurried along as to the smoke begain to settle, and the morning grew into midday. The five men rushed up the hill as sounds of gunfire begain to go off, the men leaped onto the ground looking for where the shot came from, "Did anyone see where the shot came from?", twenty-three looked over at dave, "Did you see it?", dave shook his head at the question, "Ok I'll go look over this hill, and survey the camp, for a number of hostles", dave handed twenty-three his binoculars as he crawled forward towards the top of the hill, while dave and the rest waited.

As shots continued to be heard, twenty-three looked through his binocluars, the gunfire was coming from the camp it seemed that the raiders were celebraiting something, twenty-three slowly, backed away and returned to the other. Dave stood up as twenty-three ran down the hill, "What did you see, where's the gunfire coming from?", twenty-three handed the binoculars back to dave, while catching his breath, "The... gunfire is coming... from the camp... the raiders are having a party or something, its better if we wait till dark to attack", dave and the others knoded as they begain to load and check their rifles and pistols, for tonight.

Later that day, the group moved up the hill, dave and twenty-three switched off using the binoculars, to study the camp, "I think the best way to enter is coming down this hill, and then having us split into two small groups and pincer them from both side, they wont even know what happened because they'll be to drunk and tired", dave knoded at the plan and signaled to the rest to move-up. Dave checked his pistol again to make sure the chamber was clear of dirt and dust, while twenty-three told the others of their plan, "So me, fourty-four and thirty-five will attack from their left flank while fifty-one, you move with sterling entering from the right flank, know dont get messy or out of hand, we want this mission to go without a hitch so we get the supplies, kill the night guard that get in our way and were gone", the paladins looked at each other axiously, as they grouped up and moved into the camp, dave and fifty-one slowly entered the camp, "Sterling..." fifty-one whispered, "Dont move!", dave stopped in his trackes as he realized the raider an inch to his left, dave stepped back and started walking around the raider, as fifty-one followed. On the other side of the camp twenty-three and the others were making great progress, "Fourty-four, to your right, take him out", fourty-four looked as he drew his knife sneaking up on the unaware guard, cutting his throat, as they moved forward, dave and fifty-one had made their own little path of destruction, as they made their way into the supply tent, dave signaled for fifty-one to move left, as he moved right with his blood soaked knife in-hand.

As the night progressed, and the group made more and more runs into the camp for their supplies, dave started to wonder how they would get all these supplies back to the trench, "Hay twenty-three, how are we going to haul all of these supplies back to your little base?", twenty-three thought for a minute, "How about a sled!", dave looked at him strangley for moment, "How are we going to get a sled?", "Easy, we make it out of those wooden boards the raiders had in their supply tent, they have tools also so we can make it to night!", dave had no better idea so the two entered the camp to retrieve some wooden boards. Throughout the night, the two men worked on building a big enough sled to hold all the supplies, as the others tied the supplies together with some old rope, and wire.

The next morning all the men were helping to pull the large sled and supplies, across the dry earth, "Maybe we should have put wheels on this...sled of yours", dave said pulling the sled, "Well, least we dont have any tracks following us back to the trench, Like wheels would have!", dave glanced at twenty-three grinning, "Hay I never asked you guy, whats up with the numbers, have'nt you ever heard of that famous saying, "I'm not a number, I'am a man", twenty-three looked at dave for a moment, "Well when you join... The Brotherhood give you a number or if your born into the Order, then your given one at birth, at least thats how ours works!", dave looked at twenty-three for a minute, "So whats your real name, or are you not allowed to say?", "My name is Jefferson, you know like the founding father Thomas Jefferson, my father liked Jefferson because of what he stood for and believed, so I got the name!", dave knoded his head, "I like that name it fits you, at least better than Twenty-three!", Jefferson laughed as they continued on back to the trench.

Funny how anonymous voters vote no without explaining.. Gosh is society today stupid.

^I dont understand it either, its not like I'm going to find where you live and beat you to death?^

We will if they don't post a comment or explain.

Nice story by the way. :goodjob:

Story writing time is over tonight kids, so just wait for tomorrows instalment of LIFE OF A WASTELANDER

i like it pretty much all of it man. the characters are great. one thing i would change is that i wouldnt describe him starting and ending his day every few paragraphs. i think it would be better if the events filled up more amounts of time because i feel like theres a lot of empty space (time) where i dont know whats happening. also i thought instead of using "Dave" so much you could use pronouns such as he or him. same goes for the other characters. i like the fast pace of the story and mystery of the underground organization and daves character but if you just took a little more time to throw in some in-depth descriptions of everything: characters(looks espiacially; clothes; mood around the person: are they scuffy and post nuclear looking or are they well-kept. charismatic/trustworthy/shady ect.), terrain (the new town he's in and the facilities. are their leaks, is their rust, damage, makeshift things or are they solid structures?), crowds (how they react), objects (BOS PA, weapons, ect.) and thats all i can think of as far as constructive criticism goes. nonetheless, its a geat story. i really like it. i still need to read ch. 8 though. lookin forward to it. keep it up. :tops:

Chapter 9

As the five men continued to trek across the barren wasteland, all that could be seen was dry scorched earth and very little shrubbery, that was also withering in the sunlight, thomas looked at dave who was perfusley sweating, "Hay Sterling how about we get some of water from the supplys?", dave looked back over towards thomas huffing as he pulled the sled, "Sorry thomas, but we dont have that much farther to go till we reach the trench", he looked back forward as jefferson fell to the ground, hitting his head on fair sized rock, dave and the others, knealed over jefferson trying to see what happened, dave yelled at fifty-one to get some water and cloth from the supplys, he ran over looking for some water, "I cant find the water, it must be stacked under all these other supplies, dave looked at thomas with a sturn look, "Thomas go help fifty-one look for the water!", thomas ran over to the supplies while thirty-five tried to give dave assistance, "What do you want me to do, I can do anything!", dave looked up at thirty-five, as he tried to stop the bleeding from jeffersons head, "Yah get me something to put under his head to keep his head elevated!", thirty-five ran to the supplies, thomas and fifty-one ran back over with a canteen,and cloth to wrap his jeffersons head in, "Here thomas hand me that water, fifty-one, cut me off a wide strip of that cloth!", dave poored the water from the canteen as fifty-one quickly cut the cloth in half with his knife, "Ok fifty-one hand me the cloth, thomas hold his head up", thomas leaned down as dave, folded the cloth in half, to make it stronger, "Ok hand me that canteen again, thomas move your hands, I got him", dave poored water over his wound to clear some of the blood away, "Know I need...", thirty-five ran over and handed dave, a small pillow-like object, "Whats this...", thirty-five shrugged at the question, "Ok it will have to do, here thomas take the canteen!", thomas grabbed the canteen from daves hand, as dave tightly wrapped jeffersons wound.

Dave grabbed for the canteen again from thomas, to try and keep jefferson hydrated as they layed him on the sled, "Ok we got him secured to the sled, lets hurry and get him back to the trench!", the men looked at each other for a moment, as dave hurried back to the front of the sled, "Umm... We dont have a medical unit at the trench, we dont even have a doctor!", fifty-five said throughing his arms up in the air, dave looked back at fifty-one wildly as he approached, "What did you just say?", fifty-one stepped back a foot, "I said the trench does'nt have a medical unit or doctor", dave looked at the scorched earth and towards the dust covered hills, as he thought of what to do, "How about we take him to a town?", the three paladins looked around looking at one another agreeing with the plan, thomas looked at dave as the others continued to whisper with each other, "Dave I think that we Should take twenty-three to a town, to get him help!", the others looked up at thomas as he moved to the front of the sled, "Ok... but do you guy agree, that he should be looked at in a town?", thirty-five looked at dave questioning his judgement, "Where is this town, how far is it, will twenty-three even make it through the night with his injury, I say we just leave him for some animals or at least give him a ceremony at the trech!", dave rushed up into thirty-five's face pushing his finger into his shoulder, "Hay how about this, we can either go to this town to the west, that I visited before, thats not too far from here OR we can leave you out here to die and starve, would you like that!", thirty-five stepped back with his hands above his shoulders knoding, "Ok we'll take him to a town, no need to get in a fight!", dave and the rest walked back and begain to pull the sled.

Later in the day as noon turned to evening and evening to night, the wasteland sounds begain to come to life, the sound of thousands of mutated creatures echoed through the cool air, as dave and the group continued to pull the sled towards town. The men trekked through-out the night, as the wasteland tempuratures begain to drop, "Sterling we need to stop, and cover twenty-three with some blankets", thomas said looking back at jefferson, "Good idea take my wool blanket from under my bag, its on the sled", thomas walked along the side of the sled as he layed the blanket around jefferson, and returned to his spot. As the sun begain to rise, and the nightly wasteland creatures quieted, dave and the others begain to see sight of the city, "There it is everyone!", dave said pointing to a large hill,"I told you it was'nt far!", dave looked back at the three paladins, "I have one important thing to tell you, this is not a friendly town, its controlled by a evil mayor by the name of Darin, he's been infected with FEV, and is not able to be seen, your BOS brothers are the "guards", of the town and take orders from derin, but they are by no means to be trusted...", thirty-five quickly interupted dave, with a ferious voice, "WHAT our own brothers of the order can be trusted, thats rediculous!", dave signaled to stop the sled, turning around to meet thirty-five's gaze, "YES they are not to be trusted, no matter who you are, they overtook this town awhile back, and have been fighting an underground orginization, that is made-up of men, woman, and children, and some elderly people, they are the ones we can trust more, just dont mention your BOS, or they will kill you where you stand, so the plan is we get into the town, head to this hotel, and get access into the orginizations base, ok!", the three knoded at the rules, as they approached one of the city entrances, with four BOS paladins guarding the gate, "Hello there, we need to get our friend some help, we've been traveling for along time and just need to get our friend some medical care!", dave said using his tired and weary voice act, the paladins looked at each other for a moment, and then turned their attention back towards the group, "Ok you may enter but dont cause any trouble, and dont talk to anyone who approaches you, that isn't a Brotherhood of Steel guard, do you understand?", the three men knoded, as the gate rose and the men entered the town.

As the group headed towards the hotel, they all gazed at the the different merchant, and slave shops in the area, some were disorginized than others, some were more professional, and clean, some sold different kinds of jewlry while others sold men and women to be house cleaners, "COME ONE, COME ALL TO THE BEST SLAVE SHOP IN THE WASTELAND, DONT BE SHY ONLY 50 LEFT!", dave lowered and shook his head at the sight of all the slaves, "Hay look at that one, she's not so bad!", thomas said pointing to one of the slaves on the stage, dave looked up towards the slave, her face seamed withered and tired, she looked like she had been beaten a few times across the face and arms, she had a particular marking on her left lower arm, dave could'nt make it out, he leaned towards fifty-one and asked about the marking, "Say fifty-one, you would'nt know what that mark on her arm means would ya?", dave pointed to the marking as fifty-one tried to get a clear view, "I think...Ya its a Brotherhood marking, that one means she was in a BOS prisoner of war camp", dave listened as fifty-one told him about it, "Ya the only way you get those, is if the Brotherhood captures you for some kind of reason", dave and the men begain to pull the sled, to the front of the hotel.

The hotel was in worst shape then when dave had come here, the windows were dirty and cracked, the aluminum sheeted wall was rusting, and stained, the floor dirtier than before, and the little old womans table was broken at some corners, dave walked up to the table and rang the bell while the others stayed outside watching jefferson, "Hello is anyone here?", the sound of a large book closing was suddenly heard behind some beads hanging in the doorway, "Yes someone is here, hold on a minute", the little old woman, slowly walked out and staired at dave, "Well hello what can I do for you?", dave looked at the woman trying to remind her of who he was, "Dont you remember me, the guy that was hauled off by some BOS paladins, a few weeks ago, I helped you guys hold-off the BOS when they attacked your base!", the woman looked at dave strangely for a moment, "Sorry I dont know what your talking about, I'am only a old hotel keep", dave looked at the men outside to see if anything was happening, then returned his attention back to the old woman, "Well I need three rooms one and I need one with two beds", the little old woman opened her large book, that was full of previous acounts, "Yes we have three rooms, but none with two beds, we could move a bed from one of they other rooms though, that will be sixty-five bottle caps?", dave agreed, and waved thomas into the hotel as he handed the old woman the bottle caps, "What is it is there a problem?", dave shook his head, "No I just need you and "Tom" to move jefferson into the room with two beds, I'll go and move the bed into the room", thomas walked back out motioning to fifty-five, to help get jefferson up, as dave grabbed the three keys.

Later that day, jefferson was moved into the room, while dave and the three planned what to do next in the next room, "Here's my Idea, and can I PLEASE not get interupted this time...", thomas said glancing at fifty-one, "I think we should just take him to a doctor in town, and leave him there for a few days while we check this place out?", fifty-five or harry as dave, thomas, and thirty-five begain to call him, begain with his idea, "I think we should watch him over night, and then decide, like sterling said we are not to identify ourselfs as BOS paladins, and with the rules of the town and the way they acted I have no reason to disagree with sterling", thirty-five gave his opinion to the group, "First off I'am now called Ben, and my idea is that we follow sterlings advice", Ben looked at dave as the others listened, "First we get some sleep, then we will deal with jefferson tomorrow morning, I'll need some help moving the supplies into the alley", thomas stood up and agreed to help move the supplies, while ben and harry got some sleep.

AHHHH only a couple of days :ahhh:

That was a GREAT chapter, I cant wait till the next one.

This thread delivers. Absolutely epic.

The prose... what can I say? When my eyes stopped bleeding, it was beautiful.

Chapter 10

As sun rose over the large shanty town it begain to come to life, the sounds of traders and merchants erupted in the air, as dave walked up and down the streets looking at different ware's. As the morning continued dave begain to head back to the hotel, to see how jefferson was doing, and if the others were awake yet, the slave owner that the men had passed yesterday, was not open yet to sell, but the cage where he held the slaves, was clearly visible from the street, dave lowered his head as he continued to the hotel, he could not understand why one human would want to sell another, had'nt the world been through enough. When dave entered the hotel and quite thinking about the slave cages,he saw the old woman was sitting at her broken table looking through her inventory, paying no attention to him, "Good morning ma'm, how are you today?", the little old woman payed no attention to him, as he walked up to her table, "Why dont you have someone fix the table, it could use a little fixing up?", the woman looked at him intently, "Why dont you fix it then or go talk to your friends, instead of talking to me!", the woman said returning to her book, he thought for a moment, and decided to return to the market and see what was something to get.

As morning turned to noon dave begain to get bored of exsploring the town, he had seen a poster for a arena match happening later in the day, and decided to go see if the men were awake and were interested, he also wanted to get jefferson to a doctor quickly but was unable to think of a way to get into the rebel groups base, he knew that the only entrance was still guarded by heavily armed rebels, so he could'nt directly enter the base, he had to get the old woman to remember him. While dave walked back to the hotel thinking of how to get to the rebels, he slowly heard the sound of quickening footsteps behind him, he went to turn around as the noise grew closer, but felt the end of a laser pistol in his back, "Dont worry its not a robbery, I'm here to retreave you, and take you back with me, just act as if were old friends, having a nice day in the town and walk towards the hotel", dave did as the mysterious person asked and continued to the hotel.

When dave and the mysterious person entered the hotel, the little old woman looked up towards the two, "Finally, how long does it take to find him and bring him back, your acting like its the early days of the cause, unable to locate a person and retrieve them, take them to the destination at gun point, jeez you should know better jacob", the little old woman waved dave over to her, "Sorry stella its just that I could'nt go with the protocol, to many people were around", dave looked at him for a minute, he was'nt a tall guy, fairly young about twenty-four maybe even younger. Jacob left the hotel, as stella lead dave to her back room to talk in private, while some rebel soldier took watch, the room was filled with books, five large book shelves stood in the center of the room, while three smaller book shelves stood against the wall. Stella offered dave a seat, as she poored some tea from her little tea-pot, "So where are my colleagues, and what do you want with me know?", stella smirked at the questions, while handing dave a cup of tea, "First off, your friends are fine, their in a new facility that is outside of town about fourty miles from here, we have your supplies that you brought into town, thats a good haul for a scavanger man, we know that your friends are BOS paladins, they've been here before, except the one with the head injury... Oh and he's doing fine, doctor taylor fixed him up, and he's walking around, well anyway, I brought you here because Annie, the woman who speakes over the intercom, she needs your help again, and the mission is close to you!", dave took some sips of tea, as he thought about helping the rebels again, "Well I dont know what to say to annie, but I do have one question...", dave set his cup of tea down on the small beaten up table, and sturnly looked over at stella, "What will you do with those BOS paladins, you said have been here before?", stella sat up and motioned at him to follow her.

Stella and dave walked out of the back room, as stella pointed outside towards a traders store, it was a better looking store than most of the other small time trading store in the area, "Tell him, "The Hawk is never far from its prey", he'll understand,follow him he'll lead you to the tunnel", dave knoded and left the hotel, towards the traders store. As dave approached the trader, a BOS paladin stepped infront of him, "Excuse me sir but I have to ask you to please come with me immediately, its most important!", dave looked up at the green armored paladin, "Ya I'll come with you, just let me buy something here real fast, I've been watching that vase for awhile and I thought that I would buy it", the paladin stepped aside to let dave pass, as the trader pulled a captured BOS plasma rifle from under his counter, dave ducked as the plasma rifle echoed into daves ears, the sound was almost deafning, the paladin fell to the ground as he grabbed for dave, the crowed erupted into chaos, people were running every where, the trader layed the plasma rifle down behind his counter, and then reached over to pull dave out of the crowed, "What is the hawk never far from?", dave looked up uncovering his ears, "The hawk is never far from its prey", the man smiled and lifted dave onto his feet, dusting him off, "Dont worry the ringing should stop soon, but right know I have to show you the entrance", the two ran toward the back of the shop, as two paladins tried to manuever through the crowd, the trader dusted off a small piece of wood covered in dirt, "Here go down there, and grab the torch until you see light, then continue, until you see a large door, understand", dave knoded his head, and climbed down the rope-latter, as the trader covered the entance with dirt.

As dave found his way down to the ground, he saw a small fire with torches next to it, he lit one of the torches and continued down the small tunnel. The tunnel seemed to run for ever, there seemed that there would never be a light soon, but dave continued on as he ran through the winding tunnel. As he dave reached another turn, the light begain to shine through, dave saw a large bucket of water to dowse his torch in, he ran towards the bucket and dumped the torch into the water, the torch exstinguished into the water, as dave ran towards the large metal door the trader had told him about, a voice crackeled to life over a old beaten-up speaker that was at the top left corner of the door, "Heo...dve...Hello Dave, I was wondering when you would come back, your place is with us", annie's voice quieted as the large metal door begain to open, dave took a deep breath before he entered the small room on the other side with a robot, "Welcome to the new Sancuary, dave, I hope I can assist you with anything you need", dave looked to the robot, "Umm... Ya you can help me with something!", "Anything dave, I'm here to serve", dave rolled his eyes, "Just open the door, I'm not here to chat, I'm just here to get a colleague of mine OK!", the robot hovered towards the door to unlock it, "Yes dave I'm here to serve", the large metal door opened as dave stepped out and looked around, the complex was quiet big, it seemed to be a litte broken down at spots, some of the metal pipes were rusted or broken, there were people rushing around calibrating and talking, as annie and jefferson approached dave, "How is it up there dave?", jefferson asked with a grin on his face, "Well you'll see in a minute lets get...", annie interupted dave, as jefferson and him shook hands, "Dave what about you helping us, and our cause, what about the mission?", dave looked over at annie with a irritated and annoyed face, "Me I already helped you ok, and its not Our cause its Your cause, and this mission I dont want to have any part of!", dave motioned to jefferson to leave, "I'am sorry dave, but it involves emily...", dave turned around and held his head in an annoyed fashion, "Well if it involves emily, then you go and help her, she's one of you people!", annie casually walked over to dave, laying her hand on his shoulder, "The day you left... During the battle... Emily was pushing her squad up the west ridge, when some land mines exsploded around them, killing five and injuring only three, emily was one of those three, they were sent to a BOS war camp, and then sold to some slavers, she's in the city, our informants tell us that she has'nt been sold... Will you please help us get emily back", dave looked at annie with a sturn face for a moment, then turned to jefferson who was standing at the door entrance, "How much do I get paid, last time I did you a favor, and from now on I'am freelance to you, I can accept any deal on either side, because frankly, I don't care who controls the city, the BOS is bad, but you are nuts, also those BOS paladins that you have, that came in with me, I want them freed, I cant do this just with jefferson, I'll need a team", annie smiled at dave and shook on the deal, "I knew you would help us", dave shook his head, "No I'm just free lance, a man of may talents!", dave motioned to jefferson to follow him as annie lead them to where ben and the others were being held, dave looked at the complex as they walked, the rooms seemed like old hospital rooms, but metal, the place was in total disrepair.

As the three entered the holding cells, ben, thomas, and harry, all jumped up glad to see dave, "Sterling how did you get here, and what are you doing with this, rebel pig?", dave looked at annie for a moment smiling, then returning his attention back to the men, "First my names not sterling its dave, and I've worked with the rebels before, did'nt I tell you guys that, any way I've been given a job to free a rebel from some slave trader, and I told annie here, that I needed your guy's help, so how about it?", the three men looked at each other and knoded towards dave, annie signaled the cell guard to come unlock the cell.



Later that day, the five men disscused how they would free emily, "So we go to the slave trader, when she's up for sale, we "buy" her bring her to a trader, and then were free to do what ever?", ben said rubbing his chin, "Thats the plan, but I said that I was free lance and I would take contracts from bothsides, rebel or BOS, who ever pays more, and on this job the BOS are the one's who sold her to the trader, so they obviously dont want her", dave looked at his team, as they thought about the plan, "Hay what about the supplies, should'nt we bring that to the trench, I mean what if their starving out there?", thomas said with a worried look, jefferson layed his hand on his shoulder, "Dont worry about them, you guy's know that all we were out there was a small contingent force, that was meant to intercept Super Mutants before they got to the town, it was so the rebels could'nt attack our forces also ", the men shook their heads acting like they understood, as dave looked at all them with a questioned face, "WHAT THE ****, YOU WERE FROM THIS TOWN... WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME THAT?", jefferson looked up at dave, "We were'nt", "WAIT so your telling me that your whole plan was to stem the mutant attacks on the town, so the rebels would'nt have a chance to attack your forces from behind, while you were dealing with the super mutants outside the town!", jefferson knoded his head, as dave sat down on the bed, "So your saying that the BOS was planning their attack on the rebels base, for a while, that it was'nt just some fast glued together plan it was accually thoughtout, how did you know when to attack?", "We had an informant in the ranks", "Well thats just GRRREAT, do you know I almost got shot several times, because of that battle", jefferson handed dave a glass of water to calm down. As the evening came around dave begain to think about the whole plan, and what jefferson had said, "I can't believe I was going to help both sides get something, the rebels get the informant they want and the BOS can move in on the rebel base when ever they want, I cant believe this is happening", dave layed on his bed continuing to think about what had happened until he fell asleep.

about the first comment, thanks

about the second comment, I'm not sure how to respond.

i like this story dave seems like a [censored]

Thanks, and I wanted dave to seem more like a guy who's been in the wasteland for a long time and the town life isnt for him and he has a hard time copping with others really.

Oh and for everyone be exspecting two more stories tomorrow, or only one I'll see how I feel. or you could tell me?

This is awesome! Keep em comin til tuesday! :toughninja: Dave is like this.

It is one of the hardest things to maintain a natural rhythm, yet you seem to do so effortlessly without reaching to extremes. As far as the earlier "bleeding eys" comment, I understand fully. Don't take it as anything but a compliment. I'm very persnickety about reading material, and can't even read a few lines of most prose without wanting to retch. Strange. Strange indeed. Don't get full of yourself, and don't burn out.

i think its a great story how bout 3 :fallout:

Chapter 11

The next morning as the sun peaked over the hills, three paladins, begain to shake dave, who was covered in his blankets, "WAKE UP Dave, its time to go free our lady friend!", thomas yelled trying to wake him, the three continued to shake and yell at dave as jefferson walked into the room, "Ok guys cool-down, we need him to be able to hear during the job", jefferson walked over to dave kneeling down, and uncovering his face, "Come on dave wake-up we need to get the girl...", jefferson jolted back as he looked emotionless face, realizing it was'nt dave, the three paladins took a step back, as jefferson examined the man who was blue in the face, it seemed that the man had frozen to death, in a refrigerator, or some kind or cooled area. Jefferson grabbed the blankets and through them over the mans face, "I cant belive he's gone, where could he be?", jefferson scrached his head for a moment, as the other three paladins looked at each other trying to think of where dave could have gone, "How about back to the rebel base, he need's supplies to travel out into the wasteland, and he could'nt have gotten far... Maybe he's still at the base?", jefferson looked down at the three as he walked out the room, turning around towards them, "Get every brother you can gather, we need to attack the rebel base!", harry looked at the ben and thomas for a moment, "Well what are we waiting for, lets go get some kills!", ben and thomas rushed out the door, while harry followed slowly behind, as harry followed the two through the streets, a hand reached out too harry, harry looked at the man, it was dave, he was wearing the dead mans clothes, as he motioned to harry to follow him.

As the day continued the town begain to erupt in chaos, BOS paladins were running all over the town, In the BOS Sactuary paladins were running in and out of the armory grabbing plasma rifles, laser pistols, grenades, anything and everything that was leathal, some paladins were still gearing up in power armor, while others were rushing to their stationing postitions, preparing to march into battle. As dave and harry pushed their way through the chaos of the crowd's, dave tired to spot a way to the slave trader, where emily was held, "Dave, where are we going, the others are looking for you, we need to get to the sactuary!", dave pulled harry into a alley, swinging him around and pushing him up agianst the wall, dave looked at harry with rage coursing through him, "WE ARE NOT HEADING TO THE BOS SACTUARY, WE NEED TO FREE EMILY FIRST, THEN WE CAN GET TO THE BOS SACTUARY, OK!", harry knoded his head at dave, as dave released him, "Ok we get emily first, then we head to the sactuary?", dave knoded his head quickly, looking out towards the chaotic crowd, "You dont understand, we need emily to destroy the rebel base, but we also need a way into the BOS Sactuary, to plant the "rebels" bomb!", harry looked at dave with a questioned look, "WHAT, you want to destroy the Orders sactuary...", dave knoded at the statement, "Where did you get your information, and the bomb?", dave looked back at the chaotic crowd, "We'll early this morning, I got up to speak with stella, the hotel attendant, well she said that the rebels wanted emily, so that she could disarm the bomb she had planted, a few day before I got to town, that they had found the day after, the battle at the base...", harry looked at dave with a puzzled look, "Wait if emily was "captured" during the battle, then why did'nt she just blow the place, when they brought her back to the Sactuary?", dave quickly answered, "Because they had to insert the detonator into the bomb, but after the battle, one of the rebels found a mysterious large box shaped object, and realized it was a bomb, and some how, stella could'nt tell me, but they found out that emily had placed it there, and they need her to disarm it, but they don't know that she has the detanator on her, or more like in her, she swallowed the detonator incase of a body search", harry took a deep breath, as he tried to orginize what dave had said, "So she would have died!", dave knoded his head, "And the only way to stop this battle, is by hitting both sides at the same time!".

Later in the day, dave and harry thought of a way to free emily they sat in their hotel room talking and thinking, neither could think of a good way, harry looked up at the wet sealing that was dripping as he thought, "Wait I got it, I act as if I want to sell you to the slaver, and if he buys you, you'll be placed in the cage, you pull out a small lock picking kit, and free emily and yourself?", dave thought about the plan for a moment, "But what if he does'nt want to trade, we could get caught?", harry looked at dave as he tried thinking of another way, "Dave, lets just try it, I'm fresh out of ideas, it could work!", dave rested his head against the wall and thought about it, "Well harry I guess I dont have any other ideas, lets try it!", harry ran to his room, and changed into his "trader" clothes, while dave dressed in his ragges and chains, as the two left the hotel.

Luckly the trader was still doing buisness, harry walked up to the slaver, with dave being pulled by his chains, "Good day sir, I was wondering if I could sell this man to you, he can clean a house, and help women around the house!", the dirty old faced slaver looked at dave, and returned to his advertising, "Please, this slave is of no use to me anymore, he is a behaived person, but I just had no need of him anymore, will you please buy him!", the slaver looked down on harry, "How much do you want for him?", harry smiled at the slaver, "Oh lets say thirty-five bottle caps!", the slaver pulled out a small sized bag, pooring out thirty-five bottle caps, "Here you go", harry handed dave to the slaver, as he grabbed the bottle caps. Dave tried looking around, for emily in the crowded cage, "Emily are you here, its me dave?", a faint voice came from the center of the crowd, "Dave I'm over here!", dave looked around, spotting the top of emily's head pushing his way into the crowd, "Emily its me, dave, I'm here to help you finish your mission", the crowd of slaves looked over at dave, trying to get help, they stunk of piss and other foul smells, "Emily we have got to get out of here!", dave pulled emily up to her feet, and got a better look at her, she was hardly looked like the emily he had once known, this one was frail and weak, her skeleton begain to show, she was malnurished and unable to speak clearly, dave pushed their way through the cage, as he pulled out his lock picking kit, "Hold on emily I'll get you out of here, just give me a sec!", dave twisted and spun till the lock freed, dave pulled emily out, as the other slaves pushed their way out, the noise of the cage woke the slaver, a sudden light turned on as the slaver walked out of his tent, watching his buisness flee, "What the hell, get back in that cage immediately!", the slaver yelled, as dave picked up emily and ran towards the hotel, fleeing the area.

The next morning dave cleaned up, while emily was hidden from stella, or any other rebel that might take her away, dave and harry walked over to the room emily was staying in, which was accually dave's room, "Emily this is harry, he's helping me to destroy the rebel base, I think you know what we need", emily looked up at dave and harry, while reaching into one of her tattered pockets, pulling a small battery shaped object out, and handing it to dave, "Is this what you mean, take it, I dont want anything to do with the BOS anymore!", dave and harry looked at each other, and then back to emily, "Emily you dont understand, theres a bounty on your head put there by the rebels, they still have bomb, all we need you to do, is place this detonator in it?", emily quickly looked at harry, to confirm the bounty, harry knoded his head, as emily, looked around the room, so you still want me to go along with my mission and get myself killed, how about... NO", dave motioned to lower her voice as he looked towards the door and returned his attention to emily, "But your the only one who they think can defuse it?", emily shook her head, "No I'm not the only BOS rat in the rebels base, how about Jacob, he's a commited BOS paladin, he will finish the job!", dave and harry looked at each other shocked, dave walked out the door as harry followed him, "Dave stop you can't do that, what if she's lying?", he looked at harry with a sturn face, "Harry all I'm going to give jacob a letter that tells him the BOS wants him to complete emily's mission, because she's dead", harry turned around and walked back into the room with emily, standing in the doorway as dave continued to the rebel entrance.

Dave walked to the trader, and gave the password, gaining entance into the tunnel. As he walked down the tunnel, dave thought of what his plan was to destroy the BOS Sactuary. The large metal door opened, as dave was greeted by annie, and her two body guards, "So you have returned, but without emily, where is she?", dave did'nt hesitate at the question, "I killed her, I found this in one of her pockets, its used to disarm the bomb, and I hear that jacob is your best bomb disposal guy, I was just going to give this to him", annie agreed, and escorted dave to the bomb, where jacob and some others, were looking at the bomb, the bomb was about the size of a old computer monitor, and was a very rugged looking bomb, it had some wires sticking out of the side and a bunch of plastic exsplosive, exsposed, "Dave what are you doing here?", jacob asked looking back at the bomb, "I killed emily, I got this off her body and figured you would want to use this to disarm the bomb?", dave handed the detonator to jacob, as he studied the small object, I'll have to take it to my quarters to see how it works, the two shook hands, as dave waved to them, jacob walked to his room, to read the note dave had slipped him.

As the night got closer dave, harry, and emily worked together to come up with a plan to destroy the BOS Sactuary, "How about me and dave, dress up as paladins acting like we found a rebel, and want to bring him in for questioning, the guards at the front and the others will be to busy to question it, then we head to where the bunker buster is, set it for ten minutes and then run like hell, to the exit!", dave and harry looked at each other, "Umm... We've already put on a act, why not put on another?", harry knoded as the three left the hotel maybe for the last time.

Wow thats hardcoe lol.
Immpresive lol il drink to that :foodndrink:

^Thanks^

thats a good one but the slave owner should have ran out with a mini gun killing the slaves but dave and emily made it out

:gun: