WELL...

I see that - if I'm not mistaken - you've taken my hint about the return of the Duke, deadlier than ever, and run with it...it is the Duke who is raising ghouls, isn't it???

And I really like the gritty feel of the bar fight scence. Mah man, you have style. Woo hoo! " people who bring knives to gunfights should really be worried when the gunslinger gives his weapon off," man...I'll be quoting that in my head for weeks.

Ahem.

Is Carl's goofy send off to Celeste based upon a certain personage you know???

:lol:


One again, to borrow the words of MalxMinx, YOU R.O.C.K!!!!

Dang Andy you churn it out faster than I can copy and paste and edit! BTW there are some doozies in your spelling again!!

Your writing has brought a tear to my eye, and old memories into my brain...

:thumbsup:

NO SPOILERS!! :stare:


B)



:D



:bowdown:

Thanks guys, sooo much!
Err, yeah, there would be the odd auto biographical bits in there.. it's true.. I have no imagination, just a very eventful life
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In a bad fight, eventually your best option is to run.

Run like hell.

Danny was doing just that, and breaking all kinds of personal records. Having abandoned the heavy salvo after running out of special munitions for it, he was lugging the rest what was left of his kit and hauling ass, ducking around wrecked cars and around the corner of a building. Stopping to check he could see the vile creatures round a burned out truck. He checked the P90 ?half a clip left in the weapon and two full ones left in his pocket. The vierling shotgun only had seven game shot shells left, after that it was it. And even though the creature definitely died in a satisfying way, getting close meant getting within range for their spitting attacks, which were somehow grosser than anything Danny had ever witnessed before. Keeping clear of them was paramount in his mind.

The slithering creatures had already spotted him rounding the corner, so shouldering the small automatic weapon Danny dropped the one in front with a quick burst, counted six more, and turned to haul more ass down the street.

+++

Lucius was feeling pretty good about himself. Something only a very few people got to say these days was that 3Dogg was decked out in all new threads and all new equipment, down to his undies, new boots, a huge supply of .50AE munitions and a matching large bore, lever action hunting rifle with detectable scope. The rifle slung over his shoulder, his Desert Eagle sidearm in a new shoulder holster, and the rest stowed away in a new rucksack, 3Dogg had bid his goodbyes to Acky and the dogs.

Just prior to Lucius disappearing out of sight, Acky had run after his friend, chasing him down until he stood beside him. 3Dogg looked up curiously, Acky explained.

"Me gotta go that way too. We go together." Lucius looked as his new friend walked on, surrounded by the dogs, as if taking a stroll on a Saturday afternoon in the park.

"Well, hey, brother. If you're heading this way as well, them by all means, let us enjoy each others company." Taking a harmonica from on of the pockets ?also new, and blowing a chord through it, he asked, "Do you sing?"

"Me not so good sounding, no. Dogs no like when me sings so day run and hide 'till I stops." So Lucius just played as they walked through the ruins.

With the GNR building only a few blocks away yet, Lucius said that Acky could go his own way if he wanted to, and that Lucius would be alright.

"See Acky?" He asked, "You can see the top of the building from here. There it is." Acky, convinced that his little friend would be alright from here on, said good byes, and looking at the bag of jerky they had been eaten from ?Lucius already had lots in his rucksack, gave it to 3Dogg as well, smiling somehow embarrassed that he might have kept it for himself.

"Me makes lots. Many mollyrats 'round. You have dis too." And had stood waving until he couldn't see 3Dogg anymore. Climbing onto the roof of a wrecked busliner he could see him a little longer. Then he quickly climbed four flights of stairs to a roof to see 3Dogg just walking out into a square.

Lucius would turn every so often and see Acky, then he was standing on a bus. Lucius stopped and waved again, smiling widely. Then for a few minutes he was gone and Lucius figured he had left when he heard Acky bellowing from a roof top, waving both arms over his head. 3Dogg waved back, but Acky kept waving. Lucius turned, and saw a somewhat portly man moving extremely fast for his size, down the street at him. He almost pulled his sidearm when he noticed the man not running at him, but just in his direction. As he drew closer Lucius heard the man yelling at him,

"Run, kaffer, RUN!"

Then he saw the centaurs rounding the corner at the end of the street, shortly followed by a group of mutants. Lucius turned and started running as Danny past him, shouting

"I need to find some flat open ground!" Holding up a moment for the other, "Know anywhere close by?!" 3Dogg nodded and ran to the other side of the square and into an alleyway, cutting left into a multi-storey parking garage. Skidding to a halt, Danny looked at the cars lining the alleyway and garage entrance. Running to the closest car, a Chryslus Highwayman with the skeletal remains of a woman in a paisley dress behind the wheel, Danny got in pushing the skeleton to the passengers side, put the large car in neutral and together with Lucius pushed it towards the center of the alley, blocking it. Fishing a grenade out of his pack and setting it to remote detonation, he opened the glove compartment and tucked it in. As he exited the car the woman's remains slumped forward against the dashboard, taking the full brunt of the future blast. Even though dead, Danny felt a little bad about it.

"Quick help with these!" He shouted to Lucius, running to the next car.

Working their way back to the garage entrance they lined the entire alleyway with vehicles, with five grenades hidden here and there.


"We gotta move, brother." Lucius commented. They went into the garage and to the roof level. "Uh, you do realise that there's only one way out, right?" He asked as they overlooked the square below them. He could still see Acky on the roof across the square, but wasn't waving anymore. He was crouched. In the square were half a dozen centaurs and as many mutants as well. All heavily armed with antiquated RPGs, machineguns and rifles. This was a big hunting party.

"Are they looking for you?"

"sTruth mate. Guess I pissed 'em off a little too much."

"Doing what exactly? Insulting their mom's?"

"I was trying to kill that."

Lucius almost went faint as it treaded around the corner into the square with a slow lumbering gate. Not another one of those.

+++

Maria flew the craft into the DC ruins, still homing in on Danny's locator beacon, but cautious of what might be below. Coming in from the south east she flew first over Anacostia suburbs, where Dogtown was, before reaching Dupont circle, where the beacon was broadcasting from. She didn't need long to locate the square, as tracers sliced into the air and explosions sent billowing clouds of black smoke upward.

"Madre de dios." Maria muttered, seeing the behemoth stumble out of the explosions in the alleyway and back into the square.

"Haga las armas para tirar." She told the craft through the helmet microphone, the weapon pods on the craft swivelling into ready action.

"Punter?a a tirar en el gigante." Nose turret and winglet mounts zeroed in on the largest moving object, but the range finding needed adjusting since the tactical processor mistook the behemoth for normal sized. Recalculating took only a second, and the target indicator blinked the corrected range and target size.

+++

The behemoth seemed to be the same size as the one Acky had killed, but that was where the similarities between the monsters ended. This one was obviously either expecting something, was already one its way to something, or just was hoping to start something, because in simple terms, it was armed for big-Rohugh-growling-bee-ee-ay-ar. Or as a foot soldier in medieval giant-only war. Lucius had to shake his head, clearing the disbelief.

"Wait a minute.. You were hunting that meat-mountain? That one?" He turned hands upturned in the air, disbelief not wanting to be dislodged just yet. "I swear white people do the dumbest things when they get bored, it is unbelievable!" Turning back to Danny, "Had you not noticed the complete war kit that thing is wearing? That flattened trash dumpster it's holding is its shield, man! And that other thing is its idea of a [censored] battleaxe!!" Lucius was referring to the stripped down rear axle and differential that once hung under a heavy truck or bus. Steel plates and what looked like dumpster lids were used to fashion the blades of the battle axe, and the entire construction was fixed to a large street lamppost, with a block of concrete still hanging off the end, where it had stuck in the ground.

"We need to lure the big one into the alleyway, but we don't want to have all those others storming up here before that."

"You want to lure him, this way?!" Lucius thought he had heard it all. "Man, in the category dumbest thing I've ever heard a white man say, then is the single dumbest thing, ever!"

Danny pointed to his EKL wrapped around his forearm, "Listen kaffer, I'm gonna blow the alleyway." He grinned. 3Dogg blinked. Well, that changed everything. "Uhm, how good a shot are you?" Danny inquired indicating 3Doggs scoped rifle, "Mind if I maybe.."

"Be my guest, my man." Lucius handed over the rifle. Danny looked it over for a second approvingly, and handed the vierling shotgun and cartridge belt back to him.

"Here. I'll pick off as many as I can with this ?shouldn't be too difficult.. Very nice" He smiled, then pointed from the shotgun 3Dogg now carried to the ramp leading up from the lower level. "Use the gator gun to stop any of those beastlies that get up here before big boy out there makes his way into the alley."

3Dogg nodded, then stopped to ask a question, "Hey man, this 'kaffer' thing, it ain't like it's a racial thing, is it?" Not that he wouldn't have wished for the KKK just then if they were willing to deal with the behemoth, but Lucius wanted to know. Danny didn't even look up from the weapon as he fired, then smiled.

"One bloody mutant less. What? Oh. No mate.. not really.. Well, maybe when some say it, I suppose. But not me.. It's just my way, ya know? In Afrikaans, calling a ka-.., uh, coloured person a 'blackie', now that's being a racist bigot where I'm from. You hear ouwe boere still using the word derogatorily, but no one of my generation says it like that. Kaffer is a name given long ago to the Khoisan peoples on the west kaap. They're lighter than the darker Bantoe and Zulus in the east and north." Danny explained this as he calmly sighted it and dropped another mutant in one shot. turning to Lucius for a moment, "Kaf-.. ehh.., h?-h?. I s'pose 'boy' doesn't work either, huh?" He started over, "I'm Danny Boerson, people call me D.Foxy, or just Danny. Surely this is the nicest rifle I've fired in a long time." He complimented Lucius, hoping to make a better impression.

"Name's Lucius, , but in the 'hood it's 3Dogg 'Just Danny', and don't call me Shirley." Came the old joke from the up ramp. "Any centaurs got through yet?"

"What-towers?" Danny yelled in between shots

"The sqiggly mutant things with- " And seeing the first centaur round the up ramps curvature, "Never mind."

Ka-Blammo!!

+++

Acky figured what ever they were doing over there they could probably use his help, especially moving those cars, but he could also see the mutant pets slithering down the road, and the other mutants coming around the corner at the end of the street. He stayed where he was, not out of fear, but to keep an eye on the advancing horde. The mutant centaur pets were approaching the squares corner while 3Dogg and the other man were still moving cars. Acky waved frantically, hoping they would see them.

Another car was put into place and the two men ran back just as a centaur crawled into the square.

"Phew." Archie sighed audibly, and ducked, worried someone might of heard. Peeking again he saw Both 3Dogg and the other man push yet another car out of the garage and into the alleyway, while one of the creatures only meters from the alley's entrance. Looking around Acky picked up a broken brick and grasping it stood up in the clear of the roof top. In the sports department their was a batting cage ?Acky didn't use for obvious reasons, and a pitching cage the working of Lucius had explained to him. After which he also instructed the newly promoted personal shopping coordinator robot that Acky might need some help with it. Standing in the cage the big mutant thought back to the sports books from eldest son John Vanderkamp and was soon pitching perfect strikes.

Lifting his leg and pulling his arm back he aimed straight for the closest centaur to the alleyway.

'Da wind up, and da pitch!' he imitated his friends words.

The centaur dropped quietly, its skull caved in by a brick.

As soon as Archie saw the behemoth round the corner and head for the square he knew they were in for a bashing. Centaurs, no problem. Half a dozen mutants armed with whatever, not too much trouble. Annoying and sometimes protracted, but otherwise not too much trouble. Behemoths.. more annoying and troublsome, unless he got lucky like with the last one. But that really was more luck than wisdom, and it looked like this one was dressed for trouble. Most of its body was covered in dumpster panels, quarter panels ripped off of cars, and other assorted steel plating to form a crude but effective looking armour. While wearing an adapted mailbox for a helmet and armed with some kind of really big chopping thing with a shield that looked as big as Acky was.

"Gonna be trouble." He concluded.

The other mutants were now together in the square with the centaurs as the behemoth lumbered forward, spreading out to cover the square better. Still thinking of a good way to help Lucius and the other man, he saw them open fire into the square. Immediately a few other the centaurs slithered into the alleyway and out of sight, but meanwhile one mutant after another was dropping to the precision rifle fire from the garages roof. Acky figured that if the other mutants could be taken care of he might have a chance against the behemoth, but first the others need taking care of. Acky grabbed the antique browning machinegun from its new custom sheath he wore on his back ?yes, the same water-cooled .30 cal. monster from his first escape, the sheath was 3Doggs idea and sat a lot more comfortable. Checking that the ammo belt hung free and unobstructed, something you always learn the hard way, he shouldered the heavy weapon as if holding a pee shooter, and skilfully laid down a number of grazing patterns.

+++

"What the bloody hell?" Danny exclaimed, "There's another bloody mutie on a roof top shooting at these muties." Turning to Lucius, "Is there some mutie war going on?" And sighting in on Archie, who made a perfect target standing out in the open. "Why's it dressed like a bloody nip." Danny muttered as he tightened his pull on the trigger.

"Too easy."

That must of been exactly what one of the mutants was thinking, as it wielded an antiquated RPG and fired directly for the top floor of the garage building. The warhead impacted a few meters below and to Danny's left, but threw his aim, the round passing by Archie and ricocheting harmlessly.

'Damn.' The South African exclaimed through the smoke. 'Best concentrate on taking down the big one first'

Lucius was dealing with what was coming up the ramp, contently relying on the hand crafted weapon to blow satisfying holes in the centaurs when ever they showed their ugly faces.

Ka-Blam, Blam, Blammo!!

'Oops.' That was the 'all-at-once' trigger, riight, gotcha.

Nothing seemed to be moving at the bottom of the ramp anymore so Lucius joined Danny at the front. Seeing Acky firing into the square he tapped Danny on the back, "Don't shoot that one on the roof. He's one of the good guys." Danny looked back, surprised. 3Dogg nodded, "Yeah, and if you see any dogs ?big dogs, in the square, don't shoot them either, they're with him." Lucius pointed to Archie while reloading the shotgun, Acky just firing the last of his .30 cal munitions from the machinegun, and ducking away just in time as another rocket slammed into his roof ledge.

"If you say so." The larger one was a bigger problem anyway, and truth be told, Danny agreed to himself, the funny armoured one on the roof across the street wasn't shooting at them.

the RPG wielding mutant dropped after another shot.

"Dang, brother. you got some serious skill with that thing." And quieter, "Better than I could ever get."

Raising the shotgun and aiming in the general direction of the behemoth's head and pulled the 'all-at-once' trigger.

"Bloody hell mate!" Danny yelled as Lucius was knocked back by the massive four barrelled blast. he turned to where the other lay on his back, and switched straight to the P90,

Bratt.
Bratt.
Bratt.
Bratt.


..dropping two of the slithering mutated beastlies just coming up the ramp behind them. Danny turned back to the street and emptied the rest of the SMGs clip into the behemoths head and went over to Lucius. Like the shotgun, the P90 rounds penetrated the mailbox, but the giant stayed standing so any residual penetrating force obviously wasn't hurting it enough to take it down.

"Christ Lucius, I've never even tried that during a bench fire. You're one mad kaffer, mate! [censored] brilliant! Let me try, mind reloading this?" Taking the vierling and handing a groggy 3Dogg the emptied hunting rifle, he went back to the roofs edge.

"Oi!" He yelled at the behemoth who was the remaining mutant in the square, "Will you come over here NOW!" And blasted all four barrels at the behemoth, while landing almost as far as Lucius did on his butt.

"Aw, hell yeah!" He exclaimed, happily as smoke curled from the muzzles. "I wish I'd tried that earlier!" the mutant was coming towards them. "C'mon beastly.. come to Danny. Just walk into the alley and-"

Grenades started bouncing off the behemoth and exploding around it, accompanied by a mad scream that came from the other roof,

"That's Acky." Lucius mentioned, standing again, "Brother has an arm on him.. like in those old fashioned sports vids" Lucius mimicked a quarterback's throw, Danny nodded.

"Rugby." He said understanding, losing Lucius in the process. "But he's drawing the damn thing away from the alley with it." And fired the shotgun again, only now shot for shot, trying to aim for the back of the knees.

"HAY!! You fat, stupid, lousy excuse for intelligent life, OVER HERE!!" He yelled while firing. The behemoth turned back to them and in two strides was standing next to the alleyway.

"Awwwwe Shhiiii-" Lucius was back peddling, Danny just turned and dived. The battle axe came crashing down on the front ledge of the parking garage roof, followed by a grab at where Danny had rolled over the ground and lay.

BLAM
BLAM
BLAM
BLAM
BLAM

3Dogg unloaded half a clip from the Desert Eagle into the giants groping hand. howling it pulled back its hand and came around to the side of the building while Danny still lay on his face.

"Is it in the [censored] alleyway yet?" came from under the South Africans breath.

"Huh?" Lucius couldn't make out what he was saying, but the behemoth was coming up close by now. "Uh.., yes, Yes! Blow it! Blow it now, man!!"

+++

Acky saw the explosions and nodded. So that's why they were acting silly, he nodded understanding now. Leaving the browning for later to be picked up, he went down the stairs, in case the explosions didn't take care of the behemoth.

+++

I can't believe it's still standing.

And you were hunting it, remember?

Mate, don't remind me. Still, now the hard part starts.

How so. We're alive. That gloriously in the nick of time 'who-ever-they-are-I'm-naming-my-kid-after-them' gun ship can take care of the rest. I'm smiling. See? All smiles. It's cuz I'm alive. It's a natural thing.

My wife is in that gun ship, 3Dogg. And I'm going to have to explain waaay more than I was planning on.

Your, wife? Is on that? That's yours?? That thing?! Damn brother, but you more loaded than freakin' Tenpenny man!

Uh-huh, whoever. Let me pop smoke and you can meet her. Say the big thing was chasing you though, okay?

+++

"?por qu? siempre el m?s grande?" Maria asked herself, as the craft strafed sideways, the three rapid fire energy weapons slicing into the giant. The behemoth screamed in pain and swatted at the aircraft, falling forwards, finally silenced. She saw the blue smoke pot ignite on the remains of the parking garage roof and took the craft in for a slightly tight landing.

Minutes later the craft set down and Lucius was getting his first look at the different looking vtol craft, reading the name on the side.

Serenity

"Good name." Lucius commented. Danny asked if he could set him off somewhere.

"Me? Fly? In that? Hell yes!" He was almost in the craft when Danny raised the rifle.

"The other one is here" He mentioned to Lucius, pointing the rifle at Archie who just came up the car ramp.

"3dogg?" Acky asked puzzled. Why was the other man now pointing at him. That's how accidents happened.

"Acky! It's okay" and pointing the desert Eagle at Danny's head. "He nursed me back to life, man. And I ain't about to see you kill him, no matter what you call the brothers back home."

"I won't," Danny cautioned while lowering the weapon somewhat. "But this is seriously going against my better judgement, common sense and rational behaviour, so make it say something friendly, for the sake of convincing me." Acky stood staring down the barrel of the .50 cal rifle, tilting his head to the side to see Danny behind the bead, he commented dryly,

"Dat rifle 3Dogg gets from SEARS on preferred customer credit. You gotta clean it before giving it back cuz it's dirty."

The DC ruins aren't too bad, if you stick to the edges of it.. Okay, so that's like saying hell isn't too bad as long as you stay in purgatory. Or an old graffiti I read one a wall once:

'Theme parks are great as long as you stay in the parking lots.' And having salvaged through a few theme park ruins in my life, I concur that they couldn't have been much better when they still were up and running.

Still, even the edges of purgatory are not without their perils, and same held true for the edges of the DC ruins we were travelling. Radiological mutated flora and fauna that went beyond people who were simply ghoulified or the genetically enhanced mutated humans with their centaurs pets. And I didn't mean the scorpions either. I strode up to where Carl was on point and asked him about it.

"How much have you tracked DC. You know, last year." indicating his search for the escaped synthetic scientist.

"Uh.., not much really. Hooked up with an old merc up in north DC who's raising this teenage kid." I nodded,

"The guy calls himself Master Chief and the kid is named Reilly. The guys real name is Mark uh.. something or other. I think it's either slavic, or celtic." Carl blinked,

"Wow, you do get around, don't you?" I didn't have to look to note his wow facial expression. Neither did I mention that I usually wandered the ruins for a week or two at a time, alone. You tend to meet people that way. Good people became friends, or acquaintances and trading partners at the very least, and the bad.. well, I was still standing obviously.

"Yeah, anyway, the reason I'm asking is because this place has animals roaming that I haven't seen north yet," I explained, "As well as some seriously [censored] up plant life that we don't see up north either."

"Yous talkin' 'bouts Jersey." enough with the goomba already..

"Riight, listen up cuz some have only a few ways to kill them, and a few I have no freaking clue yet as how to kill them." I was referring to floaters.


Talk about mans ability to seriously screw up. Or, man decided to play God, and God wasn't having any of that. Floaters are a catch all phrase for a sub species of genetically engineered insects. The sub species being that they were man made and didn't just naturally mutate thanks to the radiation. I realy wanted to meet the waste-of-space egghead labrat who thought it would be cool to genetically engineer and force mutate a tapeworm.

I mean, a tapeworm. Talk about mega-heave-cookies time.

So yeah, somewhere out west in a lab no doubt, they cooked up a few of these. When the bombs fell, guess what, they escaped. Gee, never saw that one coming. And gradually the things slowly made there way east.

What do they look like? I mentioned gross, right? Good, wouldn't want to skip over that. Well, the most common one I seem to encounter look like a cross between; a tape worm, for overal look and feel. A cobra with it's hood expanded ?I'll explain in a bit. And a centipede, for the rear half.

Apparently ?one of the biologists at Rivet city told me, these and most other floaters can store gasses in pouches along their spinal column, especially near the front, lifting it off the ground and spreading the top half out, a little similar to that of a cobra snake coiled to strike -I saw a picture of a cobra once, and noticed the resemblance. The rear is covered with lots of centipede like legs, that propel it over the ground. Because the front literally floats in the air somewhat, the small back legs are capable of moving it forward almost as fast as I could run. Almost. And they get up to five meters long. And they can spit poisonous barbed spikes from their underbelly up to ten meters away. And the business end is nothing more than a massive fang encrusted mouth that at very short ranges can produce a noxious cloud of gas.

"So it's got bad breath, then?" Another voice asked beside me. A new comer to our little camping trip, and one only added at the last minute as he was a friend of the expedition captain. A foreigner and again what on the surface mounted to nothing more than a rich kid, wasteland tourist, especially since the weird looking vtol sitting in the citadel courtyard was his. "And what do we do about them, matey?"

I hate being called matey. makes me sound like a sailor. "We," I emphasised, "Hang back, and rely on the BoS troopers who will take point." Carl and the South African almost protested, but clapped shut as I continued. "They are wearing the Powered Armour suits with the plate steel protection. Also, these things have a healthy fear of fire which is why Knight Artimus has the primary napalm projector, and we also have a secondary incendiary device." I motioned behind me, "One of them's got it." I turned and walking backwards for two steps asked in general "Who has the secondary burner?" One of the troopers raised a hand and indicated to their back. "And you are? Sorry, it must be the helmet." The raised hand became a raised finger, followed by a metallic woman's voice, "You know very well who I am?"

"Why little Sarah Lyons." I said in mock horror. "Does your daddy know you're tramping about the ruins for two whole weeks with just us guys?" Grinning I turned back, "Oops, did I say tramp." The speaker static sounded like teeth grinding.

"Anyway, we have two-"

Whack!

Damn that hurts when it's the enhanced strength of a T-45b suit of power armour.

"Ouch, christ!" Back of the head, against my combat helmet. Which was a good thing or I would have been out cold. I turned around, my head still ringing from the impact. The others walked onward slowly. Young Sarah Lyons stood in front of me, helmet off and glaring daggers. The three remaining BoS trooper also kept walking, with a metallic voice of Knight commander Vargas commenting as they pasted, "We'll uh.. we'll wait just before the bridge."

"Stay under cover." I commented, keeping my eyes on the young woman. "Sorry. The tramp thing was outta line, huh?" I offered.

"You.. you.. you're infuriating!" she burst out. I kept a straight face. It seemed prudent. "Why are you alway doing.." she sputtered, "You're always.. with me.. and then you pull something like yesterday at the service.." She smiled at that. Forgoing my straight face, so did I. Sarah frowned again just as fast, "..and then you go and do Neanderthal things like this?!"

Flustering flabbergasted I believe the term is. I should have kissed her. Pity, but keeping things professional was a better bet on this run. I tried my best disarming smile.

"Look, I'm am sorry about the remark" I was. "And about all that other stuff." I waved it away, "Pfft. Ever since I pulled your squad out of that mess last year," I pointed at her, "You young missy have been trying your damnest to prove you're sooo hard charging and all that."

"So?!" still the defiant daggers on standby, eyeing me sharply.

"So..," I continued, "I'm just trying to show you there's something else. And that I know that you're more hard charging than probably most of the BoS out here." She wanted to speak. I could tell, her mouth was open. "And," I concluded before her motor-mouth re-ignited. "You're sometimes too easy not to tease."

Carl tapped me on the shoulder, "Wastelanders camped out under the bridge. Wadda ya wanna do, boss. Does we whack 'em cuz Danny wants to."

"Carl, there's only one Don, and you ain't him." Referring to Donald, my old mercenary buddy whom Carl had also known quiet well.

"Hey.. think of me as his duly designated union representative. Block number 'fo'-oh-tree'."

Sarah wasn't sure about all of this between Carl and me. I eased her suspicions, "He's an idiot." She nodded, seeming to understand more than I was saying.

The rest was gathered behind a pile of rubble that once belonged to a building, it too now a pile of rubble. Beyond there was maybe fifty meters and then the embankment up to where the bridge once started. It was collapsed on our side and one could scale the collapsed section onto the rest of the stone arch bridge and cross over. But, on each side of the river bank there were support arches underneath the bridge and those made for almost perfect ambushes if one didn't take notice.

Laying down the heavy automatic weapon and taking my carbine from its sheath, I sighted in on the under bridge arches, flipping to infrared and back a few times. Asking in general, "How many?" As I counted at least eight or ten milling about behind the brick columns.

"I think maybe a dozen, possibly few more." Carl mentioned. Others agreed with him. "So?" He asked, "There's more of them than there are of us." True, but there was something about the way they seemed to be huddled under the bridge that didn't scream ambush at me. And certainly not ghoul like, nor were there any of the tell tail signs -centaur turds, to give away a mutant position. Besides, they didn't usually hide like this.

"True, but we can hit harder I bet." Beckoning the closest BoS trooper over. It was Artimus. Opening a small exterior compartment on the back of the Knight's shoulder and taking out a small microphone ?standard on all T-45 suits, I asked for him to enable the suits PA system.

"Besides," I said, "It's bad juju to start an expedition in blood." And keyed the mike.

Aww...MANNNN...

There's a saying that was true 400 years ago, and still is: "Never let an old War Horse hear the sound of battle, for that will stir even his rheumatic bones".

Yes, your descriptions are true to life - for it was the life you lived.

Thank you ... for the truth. For telling the truth through fiction.

And for everything else.


HOLY SHIP, MAN...IT SEEMS LIKE ONLY YESTERDAY I WAS CONGRATULATING YA ON REACHING 1000 VIEWS AND NOW WE A-HEADING FOR 1500!!!

Yes, Congrats Andy, your story is Awesome!

The Smiths and the Jones had been a-feudin' since the great war ?no, not that one. The war-between-the-states, or as them egghead, history writin' unionists done called it in the schoolin' books, the civil war. Of course, once the bombs fell ?yes, now we're talkin' 'bout that war.. geez, pay attention, then the feudin' just got worse on account that the only uncontaminated water-well was dang smack in the middle of the valley, right between the Smiths and the Jones property. Now, them hill folks can fight a mighty fierce feud when they gets a notion to. And to have Ramon Jones fall ass over elbows in love with Julie Smith, well that just added some powerful emotions on either side to the fray.

It wasn't until a midnight rendezvous between the two covert lovers ?there only time they could see each other, at the disputed and unused well in the middle of the valley, that they noticed the well to be contaminated as well. And even worse than their own wells that both families had. Crying out and shouting for their families to awaken, they rushed to show that the reason for their feuding was now gone, the well also being now poisonous. Gathered at the well, the two family heads shook hands, and made peace.

Without the prospect of there ever being clean water in the valley, the two families packed up what little they cherished ?weapons mostly, and headed for 'the big city' to make a better place for the now unified family ?the 'Smones', although the Jiths came in a solid second place during the vote.

The trip had been longer than expected, and they were a little worse for wear when they made camp under the arches of the broken bridge. It was a decent enough place for a camp, once a few idiots who tried jumping them were taken care of. Now a good half of them were out hunting and scouting around, with only Ramon, his wife Julie and a little over a dozen left behind. Little Jim-Bob piped up,

"Uncle Ramon, looks like someone else is givin' us a looksee now. Oh shii-" the little one ducked down, "He's a sightin' in wit' sum kinder scoped rifle, uncle!" Ramon looked up from what he was doing.

"Was he gonna fire?" Ramon asked. The boy shook no, then shrugged.

"Don't think so, dunno really." Sliding down to a different position and peeking around a corner for a minute, then scooting back. "I reckons he was just usin' fer lookin'. Still at it too, uncle."

"To the persons under the bridge, I know you can hear me ? so get this. Whether you are the nice friendly sort of people, or the murdering homicidal sort doesn't matter because all we want to do is cross the bridge. But I really don't like the idea of all of you underneath there, while we cross the bridge and would rather not kill you, unless we really, really have to. So could you please come out from under there?"

I looked at Carl smiling. Of course it would work. Either they were good people and wouldn't shoot, or it was an ambush to start with and they would shoot.

"No!" It was Ramon from behind a pillar. The rest were ducking low, readying rifles and handguns.

"See" I said, "Good guys. Now we just negotiate a toll to cross." And back into the microphone, "Are you sure? Did I mention we have guns and stuff. Really cool ones"

"So do we!" came the response, "And who says you wouldn't kill us if we did come out." Fair assessment. Hadn't even crossed my mind really.

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking. Too concerned with the whole possible ambush. Admit it, you were thinking of it weren't you?" I commented

"Maybe.., hadn't put much figurin' into it. Kinda preoccupied over here wit sumptin." Ramon yelled from the arches.

"What kind of toll were you thinking of charging for crossing the bridge, anyway?" came from the PA behind the rubble.

Ramon looked around at the others and shrugged. He had never done this kind of thing before. How much toll was fair to ask, he wondered.

"Dunno!" He yelled from his position behind the pillar. "We needs water. We has sick youngins here. They has infections an' stuff."

I put the mike back in its little container. Leaving the squad automatic weapon and shouldering the carbine, I told the others to wait, and calmly walked around the rubble towards the arches.

"He's a comin' over here, uncle Ramon. Do ah plug 'im." The boy offered. Ramon hushed him up.

"He done civil 'nuff te men'chun he's a comin', then it ain't polite to shoot th' person Jim-Bob." The man scolded. "What would yer pappee say 'n do if he found out you done shots th' first people we comes across here in th big city who ain't wantin' to shoot us, huh?"

"Ah'd gits a hidin'.." the boy ventured downtrodden.

"Uh-huh, now go meets the man and see if he truly is nice. I'll shoot him myself if he tries anything." The boy grumbled. Why did he always get the crap jobs.

I saw the boy scoot around a pile and cautiously approach me. He had a small caliber lever action rifle pointed dead at me as came closer.

"Mah uncle's got his bessie trained on you dead square, mister. An' you tries anythin' funny like and he done kill you dead quicker than Jack Flash" mentioning a pre-war comic hero.

"That quick huh?" As I steadily approached, "But I thought Grognak would be faster, him being way stronger than ol' Jack." The boy scrunched up his nose in disgust.

"Nuh-uh!" Breaking his cover and standing up. "Cousin Alfie keep sayin' the same thing" squinting at me, "You 'n him 'r like two yaps from the same dawg. But Jack Flash has th' ato-mike shoes that done turned his feets inter them fast runners he gots. Grognak's just a dumb old barbarian wit' an axe"

"Oh." The boys rifle was a .22 Ruger. Not entirely deadly unless he shot me a couple times. In the head, close up. "That's a serious rifle you have there, boy."

"Ah's ee-levin." Straightening out a bit, "Pappa says that done makes me a man." He looked a little sheepishly, "Well, almost then." squinting at me again. We stood across from each other. "I still hasta see if peoples 'r friendly kind, or bad folk. And ah gots to watch th' little uns al th' time too." Ending with his face in the classic is-there-anything-worse-than-being-stuck-babysitting expression. He reminded my soo of my older brother just then that I laughed.

"My brother used to hate babysitting me." I told him, and ruffled his hair.

"Is that yer rifle, mister?" He asked as we headed to the brick arches. He had been notably drooling over it since I was close enough to notice. "It sure's fine lookin'. Dats a grenade launcher, innit?" he asked, pointed at the under barrel mounted weapon.

"Yep." We were standing under the arches. It was deserted.

"Far enough now, an' no funny business." A man emerged from behind a pillar. A dozen or so also slid from behind crates and columns. Nice trick, I was staring at every pump-, breech-, break-, bolt- and lever-action rifle known to God, and a few that would surprise even Him.

"Kin ah have his rifle uncle Ramon?" The boy piped up next to me. Sharp kid.

"Ramon, is it? Nice to meet you." I said, my hands loosely in the air. "I'd shake hands, but someone might shoot me by accident." trying to grin naturally.

"Yous got moxy to walk in here alone like this." I didn't want to get into the whole gun-fu explanation, so I just shrugged.

"Usually, bad people just start shooting straight away. When they talk back, there's other concerns than killing on their minds. You mentioned having some." I lowered my hands, carefully.

"You got water? Clean water?" he asked tentatively, "We been lookin' fer some, but aside from a bottle here an' there we done can't find any." I nodded.

"If you're referring to the ambitious Project Purity, then safe to say it isn't as far along as the rumours would have you think it is." He looked puzzled, "Nor is it really common knowledge," I continued, "And you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" It was retorical. "Never mind."

"You saying you can't help us?" A slight chilling in the atmosphere, and it wasn't the weather. I motioned that I wanted to take my pack off. He nodded.

"Didn't say that. Said never mind the Project Purity if you haven't heard of it." setting the pack on the ground and opening it.

Bring on the battle my man! WOOO HOOOO!!!

I have only a few tiny nits to pick, but I'll do them later. For now I shall drool over the BEST battle scenes I have read for a long time, and believe you me I have read quite a lot!!!

"Hey Andy?" Carl over the PA system, "Everything Kosher, buddy? Cuz if so, then you might wanna come out here with your new friend." a pause, "And meet some of our new friends..."

Ramon looked up. "Aw hell, them be th' paws. They done heard ya on yer speaker set an' come checkin' up. See ev'rythins all right, dangit! Jim-Bob you-" But the boy was already standing.

"Ah knows," He muttered unhappily, "Runs up to th' paws an' tell 'em nots to shoots th' nice peoples an' all. Ah'ma goin', ah'ma goin' all right." getting up. I unclipped my M4 carbine and gave it to the adolescent. His eyes popping as he put his own pee shooter down and took the precision rifle.

"You can borrow it." I said, "And I want it back, but it'll help convince your family out there that we're friendly."

"Helps on it way!" I yelled back at Carl and the other, as the boy ran for them, carbine held at the ready.

Ramon watched, smiling. I unpacked what I wanted to get.

+++

"Looking lively people and see here." I was standing behind a table, with the South African next to me. He had retrieved the water purifier from Lucius ? appearently they swapped the purifier for the scoped .50AE hunting rifle Daniel was holding. Good trade. the South African model ?der Wasser Weisser™ -the water whiter, could pump out purified water faster than mine could, was a third smaller, and took less Ecells to run.

Impressive.

The both of us were filling empty bottles for the Smones family, the Smiths and the Jones. From what I gathered after fighting longer than the US and China, they made peace after Ramon and Julie fell in love. To avoid future feuds the two families combined, and the ruling power went from the two clan fathers, to the son and daughter now married. With the elderly parents acting as council to the newly weds in all family matters.

"Fer truth is that the ole farts just don't trust me or Julie to comes to a reckoning without passin' gas." Ramon offered at one point after we'd filled all their empty containers, burning through a few power cells in the process. Looking around it ws clear to see that they hadn't been squatting under the bridge for very long. Most of what was there was in crates, boxes and packs. The two bunkbeds were already hauled in by others, or maybe the Smones just salvaged them recently. The women were putting up cloth and hanging tarpaulins in front of the arches, sectioning them off.

We were both drinking a bottle of water, freshly purified from the river. He looked at the water in the bottle, "Cept fer pappies moonshine ah ain't ever seen nuthin' this clear inna bottle befo'." He looked at me square, "And you says you can give me's a list of things and parts and whatnot that ah needs to collect and gits to.." He faltered, I helped, he continued,

"Megaton, right. And then I could gets one of these built just like it? And gets clean water all day?" He thought for a minute and scratched his chin, "Reckon I could brings enough parts for two to be made, ya think." I told him I would even show him how to build them if he wanted.

He beamed and glowed like three shades of radiation, "Woman," He yelled to his wife, "Gets over here a second." A girl barely out of her teens, carrying a baby she was nursing fresh water from a bottle to, walked over. "This here's Mister Andy," pointing at me, "Him says he can makes machines like the ones they have-"

"Except a lot bigger.., and slower" I grinned a little embarrassed, "..and a lot uglier than what we used today, ma'am. And it makes funny noise."

"Makes a machine that looks and sounds just like yer momma," I grinned, someone else's arm took the bruising for a change, "..and gonna makes us clean water for drinkin' for all time."

"And uses more Ecells than this one does." I couldn't help the attack of sudden modesty.

She smiled through her tears, "Mah baby was rightly near this side o' dying mister. Little thing wouldn't but throw up everything we gave it. We come here hopin' fer a wonder or sumptin, ta nots hafta lose our baby."

The infant did look sick, pale and flushed at the same time, eyes watery. "Wit' yous fixin' to get Ramon a swank contraption like yours, then we'd be indebted sumptin powerful to yous mister Andy." Her husband nodded.

"You has a good woman?" Ramon enquired, "A buncha th' cousins ain't hitched and all make a fine wife. Good child bearing hips too." Oh god, how I was looking forward to getting back in two weeks..

[sit com rolling theme song ends..]
"Hi honey, I'm home!" dressed like Ward cleaver some how, down to the pipe and cardigan. And I don't even wear cardigans!

"How was your safari through the nuclear ravished wastelands?" For some reason, her name is now June, she's dressed straight out of a Doris Day movie, and she's baking a cake.
[queue canned laughter]

"Funny you should mention that. One the first day out, I caught another wife! Say hello to Sue Ellen Mabel! Uhh.. honey.. why are you holding an automatic weapon. Honey...?!"
[queue more canned laughter. Cut for commercial and a mop up on stage. And a coroner]

"I'm getting married in two weeks." I simply said. And then thinking a little further, "But a man, a travelling man, could be happily relieved if word got around the region that this side of the bridge was inhabited by good folks. Decent people wanting to help keep the road safe, and free of ambushes. I think a travelling man would be happy to show his gratitude if such a family were living here." I winked at Julie. "Call it Smones corner. Fresh water for sale, maybe set up a trading post you could build up on the road proper. Well defendable position and good neighbours" Gesturing to Artimus, who was playing with some of the kids.

Jethro Jones joined his son and daughter in law with me, and Jeremiah Smith close behind. "Who in tarnations be them troopers, son?" Jethro asked, with the other 'paw' nodding in agreement. I explained why having the BoS only two kliks down the road was a good thing, if you were good people.

Knight Artimus walked over all well, telling the children he would play with them some more later, young Jim-Bob at his side anyway.

"He's a real knight pappa. Just like in them stories yus tellin' us 'bout king Arthur an' dragons and stuff." Artimus smiled down at the boy, who was already so much a man. "An'lookit pappa, a real raygun" Artimus unclipped his sidearm, checked the safety, extracted the power cell and handed it to Jim-Bob.

"Actually, you're right. This is a model eighty-eight Ronald Raygun™. It's a little random, but packs one hell of a rhetoric." The boy ran off to show the other kids. Artimus turned to the Ramon and the two fathers. "We use the river crossing here to get into the DC ruins when on deep patrols every week. This area was a problem spot up until now with ambushes being the order of the day. If your family were to settle here, and mind the bridges crossing, then the brotherhood would definitely be favourable towards you." The fathers looked at each other and nodded.

"Reckon havin' some boys in them fancy blue steel armours y'all wearing come 'round now and then is only civil, right Jeremiah." Jethro commented.

"And 'course they be welcome te some Smones hospitalities, ain't that fer sure, Jethro?" Jeremiah added.

"Fer sure, 'tis."

Question to people..

does te swapping about in the story bother people? I'm asking because my dear old mom is trying to read it, and getting confused.. a bit


ps I'll edit another chapter here tomorrow
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"You're right, my bad, brother." Smiley took aim with the snub nosed revolver and waited another few seconds. Molrats would go down with one of these, but not if they were too far away, like down a hallway.

Luckily the hallway was long and opened out into a small employee alcove where they were making there stand. This was not by choice, there was nowhere else to go, and the horde of mutated rodents had followed them all the way up to the fifth floor of this old office building. And it was second time that they were up here in less than an hour.

Desperately needing weapons and supplies Smiley had directed them to one of the caches that the Jones Street Boys kept around the ruins. After reaching the top floor and making their way to one of the executive offices that came with their own walk-in wet bars. A few booby traps had to be disarmed or avoided before the hidden door opened revealing its contents.

The wet bar was a large closet shaped room with shelves lining all three sides. Smiley and the rest of the Jones Street Boys had cleared out the booze when they found it, and refilled the closet with gear for if they found themselves in the area and in an emergency. This qualified. Shak commented that it was prudent to know the whereabouts of an enemies resources. Turning to face Shak, Smiley held a snub nosed .38 cal revolver pointed at Shak. He wasn't smiling.

"You have to know, that [censored] at the meet could never have been Jones Street Boys." He stated. Looking intently at the pistol, Shak inquired how Smiley could be so sure about it. "Cuz my last name is Jones. It was my street, and they were my boys." Looking hard at Shak, "I'm the Jones behind the Jones Street Boys, and I know they didn't start whatever [censored] back there because me and the brothers were diggin' what the Duke was saying." To prove it, he handed Shak the weapon. "You can shoot me if you don't believe."

Taking the revolver Shak looked at Smiley. He had wondered when he was going to tell him. He had remembered seeing Smiley during the meet, wearing his gang colours. He hadn't brought it up because it was past them now. "I believe you." He simply said. And then handed back the compact pistol. "But I will take that instead." Indicting the double barrelled shotgun Smiley had grabbed.

Soon they had cleared out the closet and were just outside the door when a stampeding herd of molerats came charging down the street from out of nowhere. Shooting at the animal mass and falling over themselves to get back inside the building, they were eventually pursued back upstairs to their current position.

Shak had the double barrelled shotgun opened and was extracting the spent shells. "Remember, just slow them down Smiley. I can take out more with this." As he reloaded the weapon and readied it. he nodded at smiley.

Ka-PANG
Ka-PANG
Ka-PANG

Ka-PANG
Ka-PANG
Ka-PANG
-click-

"You're up, I need to reload." Smiley ducked to retrieve bullets from a box that lay by his feet. Shak aimed the shotgun down the hallway and waited as the agitated animals were somewhat lined up and charged forward. Smiley cupped his ears as the weapon blasted buck shot down the hall. Five animals went down, the largest one decided it wasn't dead yet and kept coming. Shak dropped the shotgun, and grabbing a baseball bat ran for the charging molerat bull, emitting a primal warriors battlecry.

Man and beast met in the middle of the hallway, where they was no room for manoeuvring or fancy moves. Shak tried to strike the animal but the bull hadn't survived to grow this big without learning a few things, and dodged the swing, while biting madly for Shaks leg.

Smiley was reloading as fast as he could, but without the aid of a speed loader, getting bullets into a cylinder under stress can be a daunting task for anyone.

"Crap, nooo." as he dropped the rest of the bullets. At least three were loaded so Smiley slammed the cylinder back in place and took aim.

"Watch it Shak!" Smiley yelled.

-click-
-click-

'[censored]!' Where were those bullet he loaded?

-click-
Ka-PANG
Ka-PANG
Ka-PANG
-click-

Now the animal was looking at smiley, and started to charge for him while Shak bashed it on the animal head, to no avail.

"Ahhh!" Was Smiley's appropriate response, with part of his mind wishing he had space to wave his arms and run in circles. Luckily, saner elements of Smiley consciousness reigned supreme at that moment, and he grabbed the shotgun, broke open the chambers and whipped out the spent cartridges.

The massive molerat was getting up to ramming speed.

"SHAK!! Where are the [censored] shells!!!" Looking around, all he could see all of a sudden were the .38 caliber rounds laying on the ground. Shak was gaining on the animal and tried slugging its back legs out from under it as he chased it towards Smiley.

"Best find them now!" Shak yelled at him.

"Got 'em!" he fiddled with the first getting it to slide into the chamber, looking up the animals mouth was stretched open, only meters from his position.

The thundering animal raced towards Smiley, murderous animal intent raging through its wounded body, nearly at its prey. Smiley slammed the weapon shut, pulling both hammers back as he raised the weapon in the direction of the massive black hole that was the molerats mouth. Shak threw himself sideways against the wall and out of the line of fire, averting his face from Smiley and the weapon. Smiley shut his eyes as the weapons muzzle slid into the animals mouth and down its throat, impaling it. Opening his eyes again Smiley saw the animal withering helplessly, clawing but unable to dislodge the long barrels of the weapon from its throat. Shak just shrugged. Smiley looked at the doomed beast.

"Hello lunch." And pulling the double trigger gave the animal a rectal amputation, showering Shak in,

"[censored]!"

..the tall warrior was covered in it. "Smiley! Next time wait 'til ah'm outta the way?"

+++

At least it was a dark night. No moon and overcast, good. But Christ, He'd taken the wrong way underground and ended up on the wrong side of the Mall.

'Smart move stupid' mockery or loathing was having a go. It was too long since his last well rested night that he couldn't even tell.

'Really?' that had to be mockery.

'Actually, I'm loathing. He's mockery, stupid.' Whatever.

'Hey, that could be our credo.. whatever.' definitely mockery. 'woo-hoo, score one for the crazy ass zombie.'

He was going crazy.

'That's what I said' Was that him? He couldn't even tell anymore.

"SHUT UP!!"

That, definitely was his voice, and standing at the top of the subway stairs, across from the Underworld entrance, with a dozen or so mutants now looking right at him..

'Smooth. That almost sounds like a death wish, you old [censored].'

He'd show them a deathwish.

'Show who?!'

The oldtimer checked that the stiletto shaped bayonet was still secured to the weapon ?it was, and still dripping blood from his subway jaunt. He then shouldered the rifle and planted two rounds in the nearest mutants head, dropping it, and then bolted for the mall that lay between him and Underworld, with a load of mutants to work through before getting there.

+++

The three mutants stood their watch on the front line of the defensive perimeter, overlooking the no mans land out to the Washington Monument where the tin soldiers stood with there fancy flashlight weapons. Looking behind them, the trenches stretched all the way back to the Capitol, which was in mutant hands these days. It had taken weeks of digging but finally they were all dug, and no stupid humans were gonna kick them off the mall anymore. rifle fire erupted out on the left.

"Who dat?" Asked the first mutant named Mork.

"Dunno. Not me." was the simpleton answer from the dimmest of the three, Ork.

"Duh, stoopid, yous here wit me." Mork prided himself being the brains of the trio.

"Oh yeah. wot yous tink, Gork?" Always checking the odds of the three.

The third who wasn't answering to Gork at the moment was contesting a rather stubborn booger that it tried to extract from a nostril, in one piece.

"Ooh, gw'on der Gork, das a longer one dan before." Ork was impezzed.

"Hey das a walking dead guy doin da shooting. Hey, he's good." So was Mork, but at other things than legths of snot.

"Gorks booger is good. Lookit Mork." Showing the feat..

"Wanna chuck some grenades at 'im?" Mork was trying to ignore the others eating habits

"Naah, keepin dem fer da tinny's. Day kin be tough ta bust open udder wize. Dat looks like bacon." Ork almost drooled as the encrusted rope of mucus that hung from the mutants finger disappeared in its mouth. It looked sooo..,

"Mmmh, tasty. So we gonna do nutin den?" finally finished with its snack.

"Yous da one eatin' an not doin nutin'!" Mork retorted

"But it was a biggun, Mork." ork said in defence of the other mutants snot production

"An' tasty." always a valid argument among mutants.

"Now we gonna shoot 'im den? All done eatin?" Impatientence to kill something was winning from social etiquette.

"Walkin' dead guy gone now." Gork mentioned, still peckish

"Crap." And returned to napping on duty

"Ooh, dere's another one pokin' out. gits it Gork."

+++

'Lucky these lumbering idiots are an even worse shot than usual, huh? Do you feel lucky, punk?'

It didn't matter which voice was what anymore. He was piling them all onto one heap until he could get his meds bottle refilled. But crazy or not, he wasn't about to get caught in the trenches themselves

'That's right. We want the slow and protracted deathwish, instead of a nice quick compassionate one.'

Some planks carried him over to the other side of the first trench, but it was a maze of criss-crossing trenches all the way to other side, and the kind of luck that puts planks nicely in the way, probable wouldn't hold.

On the other side of the trench the ground heaved and fell as earth was dug out off trenches and piled up next to them. The head of a mutant soldier could be seen as it stood behind a pile of dirt. Running up the pile and jumping from it the ghoul stabbed downward into the shoulder of the other, firing a salvo and vaulting over the deadly injured warrior. Landing on the other he pulled the bayonet free from the corpse and stopped cold, crouching.

Two mutants each armed with what looked to be RPGs came around the trench corner, checking their way. Crouched behind the fallen warrior the other two in the trench couldn't see the old ghoul, but that wouldn't last long. One grenade left. It sailed with a graceful arc, rolling between their legs, as the twin mutants looked at it, surprised.

The exploding grenade cooked off both of the RPGs that the two had been holding just moments before, as well as igniting all the spare warheads that they carried in packs and pouches on them, firing in every direction and causing secondary explosions everywhere.

'So you do feel lucky, dontcha?'

The old ghoul grinned.

+++

"Dere he is!" Mork was still bummed by missing out on killing the ghoul

"Nah das just dem two dopes who blown themselves up wit dere rokkits day bin playin wit aw day. Me said earlier dat its aw fun 'n games 'till ya gets a rokkit in da face." Gork was concentrating on what he had. It was a good one this time.

"You not saids dat." Ork had been shuffling his hand around, but to no avail. It still svcked.

"Me 'as too." Yup, Gork had a good one in his hand.

"Yous 'as not." Ork looked at the pot. It wasn't much, but still worth sticking around for.

"As too and yer wasn't even dere, hrumpf." Gork hadn't even seen Ork around when he said it.

"As not." Still, arguments had to be made felt Ork.

"Oi! Shaddaps ya mugs! So.. is it 'im, or not?" Mork checked, and checked again.

"Not." Gork didn't want to give up the pot with Mork running off, and so was sure

"Mebby.. uh.. not." Ork was sure to be unsure about most things

"Right den. Is me turn.. hur hur hur.. Gin!" Mork smiled. This was fun.

Well, I do have some slight problems - but nothing I can't handle. But then I speak for myself.

YOU HAVE MALE er er MAIL, ANDREW!!!

First to answer your question: No, I am having no problem keeping track in the story. In fact, I quite like it.

Now to the most important part...... Great work.... really, I mean it. Coming from the same kind of standpoint, I can really see where you're coming from with this story. I like it a lot. Don't know why I haven't bothered to post now, but I've enjoyed the story from the very beginning. Keep it up, I'm quite excited. Hope to see other stories from you as well, once this is finished up, but that's in the future.... FAR in the future I hope. :goodjob:

I think I agreed back there to giving every kid a tour flight on the Serenity." Danny mentioned to 3Dogg.

"You had to go and mention you owned your own aircraft.. military aircraft.. state-of-the-art-ain't-been-seen-around-here-*ever*-before-fancy-dancy aircraft." Lucius commented back.

"Right, right. I get it. I blabbed, I'm screwed." The south African hung his head in defeat.

"With a hot momma pilot" 3Dogg grinned.

"I never told 'em that" Danny was sure of it.

"I might've.." Lucius, on the defence. "Well, they wanted to hitch him to one of their homier cousins, so I basically saved his white butt and told them his wife was part Latino, part Asian and knew kung fu- capoeira , of which that last bit was all my own." He hesitated "Does she.. know kung fu I mean?"

Danny was nodding.

I pitched in, "You're not screwed, but you might just have made friends for life, if you follow through with that tour flight you promised. Otherwise.. lets just say it's a good thing South Africa is far away, and they don't know where it is, because then you'd be screwed."

Growing up, our caravan had made it south quiet a few times. As in they-lynch-people-in-Lynchburg-these-days south. Farther than that actually, having trekked one summer all the way down to the coastal settlement of Myrtle Beach in what used to be South Carolina.

Danny blinked.

"Virginia hillbilly feuds? They can last forever." Me again, remembering the story that Ramon told about his family's past.

We were on the other side of the bridge, having said our goodbyes to the Smones and crossed the bridge. We were now just hunkering down beside the road on the sidewalk, waiting for Sarah to get back from Maggie's, who was an old hag, and probably the most successful bag lady in the history of Washington DC, before or after the war.

She lived under the arches as well, only on this side of the bridge. The arches had been bricked up on the outside and a service door installed directly under the bridge, that she had found behind some rubble. Now there was a scavengers shack put up underneath the bridge as well and a big old bedroom cabinet mounted in front of the service door. Granted, if you don't know it's there you would never think of looking, not that she'd ever let you.

She's also probably one of the crabbiest women in the DC wastelands. She'll cuss, moan, whine and generally complain about anything and everything, good or bad. And she said
"Oy vey" a lot.

"That's Yiddish." Danny commented.

"Bless you." 3Dogg completely misunderstood that one. Danny explained.

"Then say Jewish, dude! I wasn't born educated ya know? I'm still working at it. *Slowly* working at it." And looking at me, "Come to think about it, if it doesn't concern music, I never really cared."

"So what's this Maggie woman have down there, and why can't we go with the young trooper.. what's her name?" Danny asked.

"Sarah, Lyons. As in daddy-is-big-boss, elder Lyons. And because if she doesn't know you she tends to shoot at you for awhile."

"Oh right," and then with sudden insight, eyes widening, "Riight. His daughter, got it. Sorry it didn't register earlier since Frystaat only has maybe two dozen surnames among a population of fifty thousand citizens. And I know a couple neighbors like that as well."

I blinked at that. Those were some serious population figures. Frystaat just grew immensely in my mind. That meant a real economy and an industrial base that produced for the population. Infrastructure, transport, utilities, the works.

Danny nodded,

"How do you think I got to have my own rooivalk?" I figured he'd stolen it from somewhere. How could I know his family had..

"..bought it with cash." He said. Christ, Tenpenny was chump change, beer money compared to Danny's family wealth. "Yup. My family owns the largest manufacturer of anti-radiation treatment medications in Frystaat."

Christ on crutches. Revise that. In the world you mean! Tenpenny divided by a gazillion, compared to Danny's wealth. This guy was rich enough..

"Wanna buy the DC wasteland?" I ventured. "Hire me, I'll help clean the place up. Please." Part of me wasn't kidding.

"Who wanted to be rich?" came a question from the other side of the embankment wall.

Sarah climbed over the side of the bridge embankment and stood on the sidewalk with us. She held a plastic shopping bag in her hands.

"Didn't you mention back at the citadel that you were collecting pre-war cash?" She threw the bag at 3Dogg. "Maggie has lots more, but said she'd only trade that if you can find equally, or softer, paper. This I got for a few Ecells." She pointed at the bag 3Dogg held in his hands. "I told her it was that time of the month again and that I was really blee-"

I was staring so intently at the woman that telepathy actually worked.

"-well, never mind really, girl talk. So afterwards whatever I don't need, you can have, if you don't mind." She asked Lucius.

"Lady, whatever you do need, I don't want to have afterwards, if you don't mind." And looking in the bag, "Damn that's a lot of cash though." Came the brilliant response. I could actually picture Lucius being a radio host and being good at it.

We got moving.

I didn't expect to much trouble on Liberty Road ?the road directly to the right of the bridge as you come off it. There was a collapsed stairway down to the underside of the bridge where Maggie lived, and a street, Liberty Road that went to the right and continued parallel to the river for a few hundred meters. and it was either this, or going along the riverbanks, notorious for Mireluks at that point.

But Liberty Road presented it's own unique problems in the form of a couple of mutants that were almost always camped out in the remains of a skybridge that hung between two building about twenty meters above the road.

Leaving the rest a few meters behind I crawled forward to peek around the corner and verify what there was ahead of us. The plan was simple, and a proven strategy at that since I came this way now and then. The idea was to crawl to the building's entrance, boobytrap it with a bunch of noisy party favours, and then sneak back here to attract their attention.

Anything will do, I mooned a couple mutants once who where camped up their. That certainly got their attention then. Anyway, after getting their attention they will pursue, and that means exiting the building and completely disregarding the party poppers, which ends the party for the mutants then and there.

By the way, I'm talking about explosives when I refer to party popper.. A nice, simple plan that never goes wrong.

+++

The only way that this could go, was wrong. Marcus knew it, but wasn't going to tell Matilda about it. He knew damn well that the WWCA would never take her back. Hell, it wasn't even rightfully a 'her' anymore, if ever. Nope, they would just waste Marcus, and then probably waste her as well, what with the new head dyke biker now firmly in charge, and probably not wanting to give up the top spot anymore.

He knew he wouldn't.

So they were headed for Undertown. It was a ghoul safe haven, and they would need to earn some cash and get some supplies there. He only knew of the place from those who lived in Dogtown, which his posse had needed passage threw on the way in from Baltimore. Some had mentioned that underneath Dogtown lay Undertown. Marcus had thought it was the stupidest whiteman [censored] a person could do, live above a ghoul safe haven. But he was glad for it now.

"Where we goin' Marcus?" The name spat out.

"Undertown. Earn some paper. You that is." He had an idea that she could freefight for money, and people, or ghouls as the case might be, would pay to see it.

Keep walkin' [censored].

+++

'Run [censored]!'

He was agreeing with himself more and more. Something to do with the focus that comes from being in combat. Or being caught in these trenches ?he fell in trying to jump one of them, and now was searching for the exit out. Must be one of two.

'Must be. [censored] who cares, shoot!!'

The heavy rifle barked a short salvo straight into the face of the mutant from point blank range.

-click-

'Whoops! Hey, did ya hear the one about the ghoul who ran outta ammo? HE DIED!!!!'

The other mutant who stood next to his fallen comrade, just having witnessed its death-by-multiple-head-shots, and grabbed for a heavy ten pound mallet carried on the back, while it roared loudly. Presenting the perfect target

'You are using up you luck for the next century..'

Stabbing the rifle forward, the stiletto bayonet penetrated the brain via the nasal passage and the roof of the mouth. Twisting hard while pushing forward the mutant fell as well, accompanying its comrade in death. He pulled the rifle free.

Kneeling, clip ejected, with a new one already to insert, and the oldtimer was ready. Up and moving he turned a corner, only to face a large mutant pet -a centaur, sitting quietly there, forked tongues tasting the air, barely a meter from him.

He moved past as it watch quietly, not sure why, but nine out of ten times they left ghouls alone, as if some weird kindred spirit hung between the two species.

'Just saying that we here are all [censored] tickled that this wasn't the tenth. Now stop with the intellectual ponderations, and *find* *the* *exit*!!'

Now that's the kind of tension I admire...and I see you've added a new twist to the story.

What is the SRB (The words 'State Research Bureau' popped into my head, from a former life long long ago)???


And how does it tie in with the story? Questions! Questions!

MORE MORE MORE...


BTW has anyone noted the VOLUME/SPEED ratio of Andy's output? Nearly 100,000 words in just about a month now! THAT-IS-F.R.E.A.K.I.N.G HUMON-GOUS!!!!

Imagining cross-dressing super mutant. Brain broken.

Have yet to finish it all but what I read, I enjoyed. Well paced.

'A nice simple plan that never goes wrong'

Sun Tzu would probably have something to say about this, but then I didn't know whether he hated spiders or not.

I do.

It's just one of those irrational things. Going down into tunnels used to always give me the class-A jibbies, but then you breath twice and get on with it. This was of a whole different magnitude of jibbies.

This was a needle tooth floater.

Why they were called floaters as well was a jump in logic that was completely beyond me. My only guess was that they escaped from the same laboratory together, which meant that the scientist responsible probably named them. Which was besides the point, but interesting.

To see one was to understand the conundrum about their name giving, since they weren't based off of tapeworm genetics, but that of an arachnid, creating a mutated spider creature. That's not where the creepiness ends though, nope. These things have freaking humanoid like heads where the normal spider head would be. How and why it went about having a humanoid head, I have no idea and since I never ever want to be around to ask, I probably never will. I say humanoid-like because honestly I don't really care how handsome you are, if there's a freaking spiders body attached to the base of the neck, then the head will never go above humanoid-like. Sorry, I'm weird that way. I see a human head on a spiders body, then the head becomes magically humanoid-like. That just the way that is.

I'm rambling.

God I hated those things.

I really wished that whoever thought these thing up died a seriously icky death.

So, recap, big ass spider, with humanoid-like head, increased vision in the infrared, increased hearing, and a bad sense of smell. As to feeding habits they were solitary and didn't hang with centaurs and other mutants in happy coexistence. Nope, these creatures ate anything they could catch, slowly. Just as you might imagine, wrapped in a cocoon and then svcked empty. And they makes webs.

Oh, sorry. didn't mention the webs. Yeah, well they make them, just like your ordinary garden spider might think;

'hey, between my twig here and that shovel over there, hmm.., I could spin a fabulous web.'

Except these thing made their webs in between buildings.

And they're fast, reaching thirty kph over flat ground easy. All in all not my favourite mutated nightmare creature to come across, and luckily it hadn't happened often.

I crawled quietly back to the others and conveyed my findings.

"Oh yeah, getting back to my little flora and fauna class from earlier, these would be the ones I have no idea how to kill. Suggestions anyone?" It was dealing with this thing or chancing the Mireluks along the river bank. Great set of choices. If Maggie hadn't mentioned it was mating season for the Mireluks, I would have chanced it. But you just don't want to come face to face with a horny, mutated seven foot catfish that weight two hundred kilos. Really, you don't.

"What's it doing?"

"Remember those mutants in the skybridge I said we were gonna need to get rid of? Well, they're lunch."

Danny mentioned a wild sounding rifle he had to abandon somewhere in the ruins, and it sounded like it could've done the trick. Pity he didn't have it with him anymore. Personally I was wishing I hadn't used the satchel charge on the super duper market the other day.

"That I do have with me, minus the nuclear charge though, sorry." A lopsided smile, "But how we're gonna apply this here five pound puppy is outside my field of expertise." Carl had made sure that everyone knew the freaking story of the market. Now I was really wishing I hadn't used it.

Sarah motioned for the two remain members of the BoS fire-team to join from the rear. With silent head nods and gestures ?obviously communicating through close-circuit internal radio channel, and then turned to me, metallic voice coming over the speaker.

"We brought some new gear that might take it down. But there's only one shot at it." There always is. "No, really. It's a one shot weapon, but we brought two of them." The third member of the fire team had a two foot grey tube in his hands. Uncapping the front like one would with a camera lens, and extending the rear telescopically, while two leaf sights popped up and a trigger button was exposed. It looked like a LAAW weapon ?a light anti armour weapon, a one shot disposable missile system that's design was older than the war itself.

"Actually, it's a LCLAAW" She explained, pronouncing it 'el Claw', "The extra 'CL' stands for continuous laser. Something Scribe Peabody and quartermaster Knight Durga put together."

I asked to look it over. It was indeed very light, maybe two kilos, and the front had a massive focal lens. "So it's disposable?" It wasn't, it just took two days to recharge, hence the one shot option. The continuous beam could be under broken at anytime for re-targeting, as long as it fired again within three seconds or the capacitors would cool draining it prematurely. And apparently continuous also depended on what setting it was at. High settings drained the capacitors in seven to nine seconds. High being one point two one gigawatts output.

"One point two one gigawatts? great Scott!" Danny certainly was impressed. I wasn't sure.

"I once put more than three hundred charges from a Watts fifteen hundred sunbeam into one of those bugs, and it still didn't wanna die. I finally got away by laying down smoke and flash bangs as a screen. Then I ran.., for a week."

"Uh-huh, cool story, bro." As impressed as Danny was with the weapon, he wasn't with me. "Look, between the lot of us surely we can take that beastie down?" I looked at him, "And I'm not calling you Shirley." and smiled.

"Right then, we do it by the numbers." I closed my eyes and pictured the setting, followed by the engagement as it would most likely play out from different angles. The needle tooth was feeding just now, and thus occupied for hopefully a few seconds. Then it gets pissed and comes off it's web and looking for us, fast. Creating a disorientation would go a long way to slowing it down, somewhat.

"What's he doing?" Danny and 3Dogg almost asked at the same time. Lucius continued, "A nap? Cuz this don't seem like the place for catchin' zzz's, you dig?" Carl told them, as he watched my eyes dart frantically back and forth behind the closed eyelids. He knew this part well.

"He's doing his genius thing. Give him a minute."

"I'll take two, thank you, and no milk." I said in a dream like state. I could hear everyone, it wasn't like a full-blown-out-of-this-reality zone out. I was just watching a whole bunch of possible scenarios play out in my head, at the same time. Scrapping them one by one, adapting other parts here, guestimating the animals response and how much we could injury when and where. We'd have to try and burn the legs off of it, as fast as possible. Otherwise, any way you cut it, someone would get hurt, and or killed. Unacceptable.

"Listen up kiddies, this is want I want." Opening my eye suddenly. Lucius's face was inches from mine.

"Waah, dude! Don't scare a brother like that! I thoughts you were sleepin'."

"Told ya" Carl jeered.

I smiled. "Nope, we can nap later. 'Kay boys, one of you will target the beast first, and aim for it's legs, not the body. The more we can cripple it early on, the slower it is from the get go. I have mentioned the speed at which those svckers run? Good." Checking again. "We drop smoke below it in the streets to screw with it when it falls from the web."

"How do you know it'll fall?" Lucius again. I don't mind questions, but I needed to get this briefing done.

"Cuz were burning it's feeties. After the that we drop a satisfying amount of grenades into the smoke. The grenades won't do much, believe me, but we're going for mass confusion of the animal, because it is fast. Once it's out of the smoke, let presume it can still charge, I want the second el claw-o,"

"No. It's L-claw." Sarah corrected me. Appearently the briefing was actually a tea party.

"Oh, sorry. I thought it was Spanish" sarcasm, hopefully people would get it.

"Your Spanish svcks though." Carl wouldn't get it without a note and a brick attached to it, and thrown at him.

"I know. That's why I- oh, never mind. Have the second flashlight burn it across it's front as it closes with us. The rest lays into it with whatever you deem most deadly, I'll leave that up to everyone's own good judgement." Some things, you don't want to micro manage.

"Energy weapons concentrate your fire on its legs as much as possible." Other things..

Personally, I was going to pop a smoke grenade or two from the launcher, then empty a clip of armour piercing/tracer into it's head ?hopefully, reload the launcher for later and finally switch to my main arsenal, a squad automatic weapon that fired the same rounds my carbine did. That's just smart soldiering, but it could also take the standard clips from my carbine as well as from a belt feed ?that's not smart, that's genius! Short barrelled for urban engagements but still with a bipod and an upper rail for different scopes, she was, aside from my carbine, my baby.

And it was loaded with a box for two hundred rounds of belted ammunition. Match grade self loaded rounds. A soft, hollow point that I each filled with a drop of Mercury-fulminate and sealed. My very own 5.56 mm HESH rounds. But only two hundred of them because it was a fiddly work.

Artimus, Do you have the Bos standard hymes collection on tape anywhere in that tin can you're wearing? Sarah, you maybe? It turned out that they all had the brotherhoods choir recordings downloaded into their suit databanks. Even better, now we could have quadrophonic sound! I explained the need for noise to further disorientate the creature. It needed to be raw.

"Cannee suggest 'The black Bear' on pipes sir?" you could vaugly hear the accent. "It takes a scotsmen to really play the pipes sir." As tempting as it was, I had enjoyed hearing him play his bagpipes on a number of occassions during BoS services, and noisy as it was, but it wasn't for now.

I told him what I was thinking of. "The one with Durga on guitar?" He asked and I could feel the old warrior smiling widely behind his face plate.

"Yessir!"

Single file, first up the BoS trooper with the one shot laser cannon, next it was Carl, then me, the second BoS trooper with a flashlight, Sarah behind him with her standard issue AER9 laser rifle and the secondary burner close at hand. 3Dogg, Danny and Artimus brought up the rear, and deployed last in the line.

The line would start at the corner with the first trooper and spread out to the other side of the street with Artimus on the end. Hopefully it would just run away, since we couldn't sneak past an cover the end of the street beyond the skybridge. We went on the first bars of the old war song.

THE PLOT THICKENS!!!


... we now have a new, uber villian a-coming up on the scene...


... WOOO HOOO!!!


I haven't been so excited since I was a kid and knowing the next day the new edition of my favourite Spider Men, X men, Green Lantern and Mighty Thor would come out!!



YAY FOR ANDEEEEE!!!


:bowdown:

"Attention Sears Shoppers!" - ROFL !! Andy, you may be prolific, or you may be just HYPER !!!!! But your story is great - where is Danny? Celeste? Gotta' keep us women readers happy too, you know, ROFL !!!

After 3Dogg boarded and Danny's vtol craft took off, Archie waved until he couldn't see the craft anymore. He came to realisation that Lucius really must be rich to be picked up in a shiny whirly bird to go the short way to the GNR building. It was good too because Lucius had racked up a massive credit debt and Archie had been worried a few times that he might not be able to pay it all back. But seeing Serenity enter the square and cut the behemoth down reassured him.

'Was probably coming to get him when I met him' he thought. And 3Dogg hadn't even been cross with Archie for taking him to the department store. Archie smiled and fondled the necklace that he wore as a bracelet ?because wearing it around his neck was well.. yeah. The bracelet had a small circular locket with a smiley face engraved in the front, done directly at the jewellery counter by a helpful automated shopping assistant. On the back it said

'My friend
ACKY
from 3Dogg'

Acky had friends now. He hummed a tune that Lucius had played a lot over the shop's PA system while he was there.

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

He had then ?with out telling Lucius, asked the personal shopping coordinator, just promoted, if, for one time only, he could buy something on credit and also pay it back like his friend. The robot started to explain again that because Acky couldn't give a proper address for residence he couldn't apply, and cut itself short. A few calculation later and the shopping coordinator replied happily that Acky had racked up almost seven grand in consumer points, that could be redeemed for airmiles or a gift certificate. Acky chose the certificate and bought a handsomely engraved necklace and medallion for Lucius. It read

3Dogg
Bestest friendZ
of
ACKY

It was the first time Lucius had seen his nickname spelled, ever. He liked it.

+++

The sounds from Knight Durgas wailing guitar filled the street from four sets of speakers. Then the brotherhood choir kicked in with a spoken text from the hymn, divided between the young and the old, the higher pitched sopranos and the deeper baritones, it was perfectly balanced between the two.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1430348525314484340# The young sopranos in the choir began.

"You has to survive, that's the main thing.." The remaining elder baritones picked up,

"..we were, we're sitting on the porch drinkin' beer at night, and it was supper time or something like and I asked him-" The soprano voices explained

"..about that time you think what the hell are we doin here right? watchin my friends die." Baritones forcefully laying it down.

"..and he just said you know, that's, that's dead, so let it lie.. Just let it be." Sopranos trailing off...

"Well, it's the worst experience okay? and a sad experience. and lets just hope nobody else has to go through it." Baritones ending it.

The first time I had ever heard the hymn was on an ancient eight track player that one of the troopers in the brigade owned. Played on an acoustic guitar by some guy singing it with a voice that sounded like twenty miles of bad road and forty years of hard drinking. On a diet of two packs a day.

I loved it.

I traded a months wages to borrow it and listened to it so many times that Mr. Nice even became grumpy. I knew every line, every tone by heart. Hearing it, I became Rooster.

The young trooper turned the corner, knelt, sighted in, and fired the powerful laser beam at the four meter long creature suspended in its web, which was feeding on a cocooned mutant. At the same time the full choir opened up over the speakers slamming home the first lines of the hymn.

Ain't found a way to *kill* *me* *yet*,

"Go, Go, Go!!" I shouted, using arm signals to emphasise and moving quickly into my position besides Carl, the others fanning out alongside me.

Eyes burn with stinging sweat

Ozone filled my nose from the continuous laser beam being fired, almost choking me. Checking my right, Carl was beside me, Justin Case in hand. Checking left, the others out beside me, with Artimus at the end. Raising the carbine, I flipped up the leaf sights and took aim. The beast was staggering under the assault of the laser.

"Smoke!"

Seems every path leads me to nowhere

We both fired, Danny and Lucius throwing additional smoke pots down the street as far as they could, which was respectable. The other BoS troopers had their energy rifles and were living up to their reputation for disciplined combat. Unlocking the breech in a practised blur, and replacing the spent casing with a new shell, I saw that Carl was a little faster than I was.


FUMP!!..,

FUMP!!.

Reloading the launcher for later, I shouldered and sighted in on its humanoid-like head, switched the selector to 'Elvis', and fired.

Wife and kids household pet

In the same time Carl had replaced the customized blooper tube with his BAR and laid into the animal with a long salvo, emptying the clip.

"Beat ya!" He yelled, replacing the spent magazine, grinning widely.

Army green was no safe bet

'Aw hell, is that how he wanted to play it?' I emptied the carbine and laid it down, picking up the light machinegun, and grinned back.

"Cheater!" Carl hollared, but the comment was lost as I opened up on the animal. The BoS troopers threw plasma charges with their enhanced strength all the way up into the sky bridge,

The bullets scream to me from somewhere

exploding rubble that rained on top of the assaulted creature as Danny and Lucius were popping rounds into it. Danny's was putting some good rounds on target, and 3Doggs attempts with the odd shotgun were certainly helpful.

"Grenades!" I yelled, making sure everyone was still on the same play.

Here they come to snuff the rooster,

3Dogg and Danny each threw two grenades. Artimus was pelting it with fire from his mk. eighty eight limited edition Ronald Raygun™, Sarah and the other trooper were still using the laser rifles. Carl and I both switched to our seperate grenade launchers, loaded and dumped a few forty mils HEAP each into the smoke clouds. With the last of the weapons continuous beam, the trooper cut through the web and dropped the animal onto the ground.

aww yeah, hey yeah

"Check your fire, wait for it to emerge from the smoke."

Yeah here come the rooster, yeah

"And if it doesn't? You know, emerge? What then?"

You know he ain't gonna die

"Don't worry, it will."

No, no, no, ya know he ain't gonna die

"Yeah, but what if?"

No, no, no, ya know he ain't gonna die

"Then it's dead."

Which it wasn't. Rumbling out of the swirling clouds, the bug like creature emerged, seemingly unscathed by all our combined firepower, and only slightly limping. The second trooper wanted to unleashed the suns fury with his one shot energy cannon, but I held him back telling him to wait just a bit longer. He resumed fire with his standard issue laser rifle.
Leaning into the recoil from the M249, I started laying heavy salvos directly into it's the gaping hole of its face, that was indeed bristling with needle sharp fangs.

It should've been named the needle fang floater.

Walkin' tall machine gun man

"It's not really dying, Andy!" Carl, observer of the obvious, does home deliveries. "Isn't it suppose to be dying right about now?" Silly questions are usually a freebee with him.

They spit on me in my home land

"you weren't listening earlier, were you?" I countered over the weapons fire, "I don't know how to kill it. All of this," Nodding at the rest, "..is just academic!"

"Academic!! You mean you ain't even sure?" 3Dogg didn't look amused, and fired the funny shotgun, all barrels at once.

Gloria sent me pictures of my boy

"Jesus!" That was Carl.

"Is he all right?" Me.

"He's fine. He does it all the time." Danny to the explanatory rescue. I saw Lucius laying a few meters back, flat on his back

Got my pills 'gainst mosquito death

"Awww, that hurt." Yup, it probably did.

We were still dealing with the on coming thing. I yelled for Sarah and Artimus to flank it with the Flamers, each from aside of the road. Switching weapons and moving to the side they opened up the fuel valves ready to hose it down.

My Buddy's breathin' his dyin' breath

"Roast that [censored]!" I bellowed. The thing wasn't but maybe thirty feet in front of me, and I was running low on special ammo. And regular ammo was like throwing pebbles at it

Oh god please won't you help me make it through

Burning napalm engulfed the arachnid from both sides as Sarah and Artimus lit the creature up, turning it into a burning ball of flame. I tapped the trooper who had been holding back with the other L-claw.

Here they come to snuff the rooster, aww yeah

"Now kid, Now! While it's burning! Lighter up!" Another crap load of gigawatts were poured into it. Ozone once again filling my nose. I was starting to think that the old LAAWs at least didn't stink so much.

Yeah here come the rooster, yeah

The mutated arachnid, finally being hurt to the point that it didn't want to be anymore, turned and leaped into the air, landing on the skybridge, the back abdomen just hanging off the platform, still in flames. The trooper stopped firing the weapon momentarilly. I tapped him on the back and pointed upwards, yelling into the helmet mounted mike

"Get it in the ass!!" And repeating for everyone, "In the ass, shoot it in the ass!!!"

"It's known as the opisthosoma, mate."

"Man, give a brother a break from the long ass words, 'kay? I'm startin' to feel ignorant."

You know he ain't gonna die

"What 3Dogg says, and Danny, you may shoot it in the oh-pisstidy-something."

Without trying to sound too gross or graphic, we pumped everything we had into that creatures rectum, you name it, we poured it in. The final seconds of continuous beam from the heavy laser, Carl emptying a clip in a single targetted salvo, me running dry, slamming a clip into the front of the belt reciever, and emptying that in a single salvo as well. Danny switched to a shiny compact automatic weapon that burped rounds on target happily, while the three remaining BoS troopers unleashed so much laser fire that it too seemed continuous. Lucius, having reloaded his hand cannon everyone was still stubbornly calling a shotgun, braced and aiming in, fired the only four DU slugs he had into the rear of the it, which completely ruptured, finally killing the mutated insect.

No, no, no ya know he ain't gonna die

As we watched, a black shadow started to spread out from where the dead needle tooth floater lay on the skybridge. It was definately some kind of shadow form moving outward, engulfing the skybridge and moving towards the connecting buildings. I was having a really bad feeling about this as I grabbed the carbine and sighted in on the shadow. Adjusting the focus I saw that it wasn't a shadow spreading out like an ink blotch over the structures. It were thousands upon millions of differently sized baby needle tooth floaters that swarmed out over everything, ranging in size from little marble sized to baseball sized. [censored] screw this [censored].

No, no, no ya know he ain't gonna die

"Fall back!! Fall back to the bridge. Flamers covering arcs! WE are going back to the Smones!!"

So much for our first day on safari...

The colours of the rainbow.., so pretty, ..in the sky

Are there on the faces.., of people, ..going by

I see friends shaking hands.., saying.. how do you do

They're really sayin'.. *I* *love* *you*.

Enjoying the afternoon sun as he walked the street back to the department store, - it was one long street from GNR building to the SEARS department store, and for the better part deserted. The dogs sniffed out a few molerats, and they came across a scavenger who nearly fainted in terror when she turned and saw Acky, dressed in what had to be fairly intimidating samurai armor and a bunch of well fed, hell-hound sized dogs standing around him.

"Holy Shiii-" she started, and collapsed. Acky helped the woman onto a bench that was just there, on the sidewalk. Not knowing exactly what to do, but realizing the lady was probably wounded somehow, he figured that maybe he should bring her to the department store, like 3Dogg.

Just then she woke up,

"Ohmygod-, Ahhhh!!"

Acky held his hands up. Her screaming would upset the dogs eventually, and was already unnerving him.

"Waaah! Stops.. your screeching is painful to me ear nobs. Me just wants to take you-"

"AHHHHH, noooo, don't take me!!!. Please don't take me plee-hee-heese" The woman sobbed.

"Uh.. ,okays. Me nots take you. yous better then now?"

Simple, yet effective. The woman stopped sobbing.

"What?" she wasn't sure how to cope, her mind kept reeling over the incredible reality unfolding before her very eyes. Here was a mutant, - a big mutant, with equally big dogs. All in all, not what you'd want to come across on an afternoon of scavenging, and being nice?!

Whoa, hold the phone sweetheart.. This [censored] is all wrong. These thing EAT people like you. Yeah, well, here it was, all bigger-than-life and in full Techni-Colour Panavision, *not* eating her, and being nice.. Brains would definitely need a second to catch up.

"Huh? Why whats?" Archie asked

The woman started again, slightly more relaxed, but still freaking out on many, unnamed levels within side her.

"Are you.. no wait. Were you going to.., uhmm.., what exactly just happened here?"

"Dogs sees you, me walks up to you. You turns around, sees me and falls down. Wakes up and screams lots. No screaming more 'kay? Dogs, and me, not so much liking it."

The woman nodded.

"You 'kay now?" more nodding, coupled to the realization that all was perfectly safe with the mutant, which was stranger than normal, but then, what was normal.

"I would offer some tea, but I don't have any water except this," holding up an almost empty bottle of clear fluids.

"I has water," Acky said happily, and forgot not to smile. The woman cringed momentarily, and then recovered, "Ooh, sorrys." he continued somewhat embarrassed, "I fergets only dogs likes smiles from me." covering his mouth quickly. "Peoples not like Acky-smile."

"Is that.., that your name? Archee?" And recovering completely.

Scrunching up his nose and thinking. It sounded familiar, but that wasn't it. Was it? "Nooo.., is AK-ee. Acky-smiles. Me'll only smile at them, not make you then jumpy."

"No, it's fine. I just , just wasn't expecting it. But may I call you Archie? It sounds friendlier than Acky." The woman asked, smiling a warm and friendly smile.

Archie held the bracelet up to show. "Me gets given from bestest friend 3Dogg, says me friend of 3Dogg, see?" Shoving his arm in front of her face, "Me has friends." And looking at the scavenger, "you wanna be friends too with me? You say you has alphabets letters you wanna gives? I knows reading words 'n stuff. I reads to them." Whispering the last sentence and cupping his mouth, "But day donts care what me reads." Straightening up, "I is okay if yous says Achee 'stead." And with something of a warning in his voice,

"But me thinks that the dogs gets maybe muddled, but I knows you mean me, an' not someone else."

Reeling again, trying desperately to keep up with his conversation. 'alphabet letters?' And then it clicked,

"Oh.., tea, riight." and taking the bottled water poured some into a kettle that stood on a battery powered hotplate. "Won't be but a minute, Archie. It's fresh nettle tea."

"Uhh, okays." not completely sure what she meant. "Who you is?" He asked. The woman looked up. "Liz." she said, "Well, Elizabeth really. Elizabeth Bennet." the kettle started whistling. Some of the dogs started howling. Archie laughed, pointing at the kettle.

"Hur hur hur, steamy pot make funny noise and makes dogs sing. Me likes that." Liz feigned a shocked expression, "Archie," Semi scolding the large mutant "Do you mean to tell me you don't even have a proper kettle? That's just not civilised."

Archie looked at his feet,

"Uh-Uhh." shaking his head, "Sorry missus Lizz."

'How could something that five minutes ago still embodied the epitome of wasteland terror, become so soft and.., well cute, so quickly.' Liz caught herself staring at him. She poured to cups through the strainer, while trying to ease him.

"That's quiet alright darling. After all, you didn't know. And now you do." She said smiling. Archie smiled widely as well, forgetting to hid it. He liked this lady-woman.

"Otherwise" Liz continued, taking a sip of tea. "You couldn't offer a passing person a cup of tea, could you?" Archie picked up the tea cup which honestly speaking, was a few sizes too small for his hands, but he managed. even going as far as raising his stubbed pinky. Elizabeth smiled from behind her cup.

Suddenly Archie looked up, "Does you have monies?" he asked.

Liz, careful to keep her composure, leaned a fraction of an inch back, tilting her head slightly. She had maybe eighty caps on her. Not a lot, but it was all she had, aside from what she could carry on her back. This not counting the three different ?modest- caches she had at various points around the DC ruins.

"Paper monies type." he went on. "Cuz me needs monies then to gets steamy pot, udderwize dere's too little in Arthur Epstein's register in da home appliances department. And den he gets bad mark, cuz wrong monies in da registers is a negative expenditure of da personnel labours to finds da fault an' dat den constrains da quarterly department reports. An' Arthur has good marks always on quarterly reports."

"I have no idea what you just said, Archie. But it certainly sounded important to you." Archie nodded vigorously, "So, is this what you mean?"

Elizabeth had acquired a shopping cart with four working wheels and filled with salvage stacked into and on top of the push trolley. Getting up and rummaging around a bit, she pulled a dufflebag. Unzipping it on the ground and opening it, Lizz revealed the contents to Archie.

"You means this? Greenbacks? I keep 'em handy for when I'm mens-.., uh.., never mind."

Archie blinked a few times. Wow, everyone was so rich it seemed these days, except him. He never was able to earn any paper monies like that, and when ever he *did* sell something, all he got were bottlecaps in return! He was going to have to be real clever about how he was going to ask this.

"Uhh.. missus Lizz? Me wanna asks yous if mebby me can sells to you something, or does something to helps, for work. And then you could give me monies fer it?" Meekly pointing at the opened duffelbag, "with paper monies?" Archie was real careful not to smile, and still try to look as friendly as he could.

Liz was startingto understand that Archie still used the old currency. That made her eyes pop for a second. Pre-war currency? Nobody in the entire world, or the DC wastes at least, still used the old paper bills or coinage. Paper was used mostly for toilet paper and assorted functions. While some sized coins were often used in shotgun munitions stacked up inside the cartridge as alternative fl?chette. Which, by the way is hands down the greatest way to turn otherwise useless rocksalt- and birdshot cartridges into deadly shredder shells. Also, with a dime having exactly the same diameter as a twelve gauge, and being able to stack nine of them in a cartridge, it became the best dollar eighty investment in a shotgun that a person could do.

"Uhh.., why I think so. Yes," patting him on a knee, "If you would be so kind as to walk me to the end of the street here" pointing in the direction of the SEARS, and maybe that a strong young man as yourself could then help with my trolley. Why then I would be happy to pay you a handsome fee, Archie."

Taking another careful sip ?it was still hot, Archie thought how easy this would be. He was going in that direction anyway, hur hur hur. And then he could gets a steamy pot and Arthur's register would be the right amount of monies. Arthur would be proud of Acky.

Thinking about it, he kinda liked the name Archie too.

I will speak more, Andy
Yea, long and deep and wise and strong:
You who share no blood of mine
You whose skin shades mine not:

I shall speak more, later
When time drips back from its now-raging torrent
You who are not of my family
You who share no name with me

Real life calls me to duty, Andy,
And flight is awaiting me
Yet when I return, I shall do this justice -
and grace the beauty of your poetry in prose

And know this, Andy
You who pray to the other, but yet the same
You who are a stranger, and know not my true name
You who share not with the the same mother-
You, who are all that, are my soul's brother.

“Just… profane? Or are we talking really offensive?”

:lmao:

Yeah !!! Metallica - YES !!!!! Love that song !!!!