» Tue Jan 19, 2016 9:53 am The Christmas Morning Massacre of 2287
Christmas morning 2287 Sanctuary Hills. It seems like yesterday I was looking forward to my first Christmas with my family. My husband Nate and our infant son Shaun. For me it was like yesterday but the reality, as horrific as it sounds was that it was over two hundred years ago. A nuclear holocaust, being tricked by vault tech into being test subjects in a cryo chamber experiment, watching helplessly while my husband was ruthlessly murdered and my infant son kidnapped was bad enough, but the worst part…the worst part was after escaping the cryo chamber discovering Two Hundred years had passed and then finding my son and discovering it had been sixty years since he had been kidnapped. He had grown up, grown old and was dying. Then seeing how the institute had raised him and turned him into a cold monster, that... that was the worst part. But even as I stood by his death bed I was so grateful for what little time we had had together.
Christmas in the commonwealth didn’t hold the same meaning as it did 200 years ago. With everyday being a struggle for survival the thought of decorating a fur tree just sounded ridiculous. Especially since all the fur trees were destroyed during the Great War, and I don’t think roasted mole rat would be the same as a Christmas Goose. But the commonwealth did have a lot to be thankful for, it had been 2 weeks since I with the help of the minute men destroyed The Institute, the common wealth boogey man for loe these many years. This Christmas morning everyone was just a little bit happier had a little more spring in there step. But this is the wasteland and the apocalypse doesn’t take Christmas off and there were matters to attend too.
Each morning the weather brings a new surprise. It could be sunny, rainy, or even a radiation storm this morning, fog, thick white fog that you could cut through with a knife. Good thing we got those lights strung up last week or I wouldn’t be able to find my way around town. I was able to make it to the bell in the center of town and began ringing it to wake everyone up and get the day started. Every morning we would all met in the center of town and plan the day out. Tedious but in the commonwealth wasteland planning and preparation can be the difference between life and death. Today we needed to make plans to expand are Water purification project and set up a caravan route with are Bramin ranch in Somerville. Once completed we will begin to thrive, and our community will grow, who knows with time maybe our little settlement will rival Diamond city.
Preston Garvey emerges from the fog from the east, “good morning Preston early start I see” Preston slings his musket laser over his shoulder and bites down on a piece of mole jerky. “Yea wanted to do a quick sweep around the island but I couldn’t see a thing through this fog.”
Slowly everyone started showing up Mama Murphy clearly started hitting the chems early staggers up. “The great bird its coming for us all to take us away” “Sure mama Murphy whatever you say” I said rolling my eyes. Sturges arrived holding a musket rifle I could tell he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days his beard was almost filled in to his side burns. He reminded me of my rockabilly boyfriend back in collage.
He out stretched his arms presenting me the musket rifle. “Here you go I’ve been tinkering around with this musket rifle. I fashioned a new receiver and crank for it now its fully automatic you might call it a Gatling Musket. You just start cranking and you’re going to put some serious laser ordinance on whoever or whatever you have in your sights. “
Looking it over I can tell some real craftsmanship went into this. “Thanks Sturges I’ll put it to good use.” “I’m sure you will” he said with a cocked smile and a wink of his eye. “What a great morning it is here in sanctuary, prepared for the future!” I looked over my shoulder and there’s the Vault-Tec Rep cheerful as ever, after two hundred years alone in the wastes I guess he is happier than anybody to be part of a community.
“General” Preston said, “I think we’re all here we can get started”. General… it’s still weird hearing that. Who would have imagined me Lucy Willoughby who was so nervous leading her scout troop in the Pledge of Allegiance she would almost vomit every time is now leading an Army.
I smile and address the folks gathered. “Ok today were going to need to gather as much metal for the new water purifiers as we can. Check out Vault 111 only if you have to.”
We tried never to go to Vault 111 out of respect, it was a tomb. My husband’s final resting place. Myself my husband Jack, all the people from our old neighborhood, we all thought we were getting saved from Atomic War. Instead we just traded one nightmare for another. Frozen like some TV dinner in a vault-tech experiment on long term cryo freezing then the chambers purposely disabled by the institute killing all of them for no reason! Except me, I guess one would argue I was the lucky one…some luck.
“If you have to scavenge from there just stay out of the cryo room.”
There was a sound in the distance fwup fuwp fwup and it kept getting louder and closer, “What is that?” Preston asked more to himself than to anyone in particular. Now everyone was looking skyward but no one could see anything, the fog was thinning but we still had terrible visibility. Then we saw the silhouette of something…. it was a Vertibird. We’ve seen them in Boston and nearer the coast but never this far north, maybe they just got lost in the fog.
The VertiBird approached from the east then hovered for about 5 seconds over the big oak tree that I still for the life of me don’t know why we haven’t cut down yet. Then it made a turn to the right exposing the Brother Hood of Steel crest on the side and exposing a door gunner slapping a barrel drum on to a Mini Gun.
Preston and I both looked at each other eyes widened with fear then as though it was the only sound in the world we heard the sound of the Mini Gun cocking.
“RUN!” Preston screamed as he darted toward the Cooper’s old home. The spray of bullets cut me off and I dropped to the ground. Five settlers were killed instantly, holes appearing in there chest like magic. I saw Preston dive through the Coopers front door the Vault-Tech rep quickly in tow. Then I saw the strangest thing, Mama Murphy standing in the middle of the road amidst a hail of gun fire. She turned to faced me. My god her left arm was gone, but she was smiling even while her life was spilling out of her arm onto the ground. “The great bird has come for me” another barrage of bullets and Mama Murphy vaporized into a red mist, her blood splashed against my face.
Preston began firing from The Cooper’s house distracting the vertibird and causing it to turn giving me the opportunity to make a run for the house. I smashed through the front bay window.
I crawled across the living room floor to wall for cover the vault tech-rep lay in the middle of the room with half his skull missing his blood spilt out all over what was left of the [censored] Betty Cooper’s berber rug that she was so proud of. “Oh Lucy your hard wood floors are nice too. Condescending [censored].” Preston reloading reestablished my focus “we’re cut off! We can’t get to the armory!” he yells while squeezing off a couple of more rounds. The Vertibird opened up its mini gun on the work shop and it collapsed under the barrage. “Damn it Sturges was in there!” Preston screamed while reloading. Just then we heard the turrets at the front gate start firing and coming in low from the south was another VertiBird! It dropped two power Armored troopers by the front gate and then began circling the settlement, the first vertibird had stopped firing and was hovering across the street over the trader’s shops, several troops and another power armored trooper jumped to the ground. The vertibird rose up and trained its guns on our position. “We got to go!” Preston said while running to me grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the kitchen we both dove behind the kitchen island just as another barrage ripped through the living room. Coddsworth flew across the street from our old house slicing the throat of one of the troops with his hedge saw and incinerating another with his flame thrower before being disabled.
I was breathing rapidly almost panting I heard indiscriminate screaming and gun fire, I looked at Preston he was mouthing something at me but I couldn’t hear him then it was like someone turned the volume way up on the TV “General what are your orders!” I took a deep breath closed my eyes, focused and swallowed my fear and steadied myself and assessed the situation. I and looked at Preston.
“Those Power Amour’s are going to be threw the front gate in about 2 minutes’ we have to neutralize those vertibirds before that happens. Go through the back yards to the blue house at the end of the cul-de-sac, behind it there’s an old bomb shelter I used when I first got here. There’s weapons stored there, a missile launcher and 1 missile make it count! I’ll try to thin the troops out on this side of the gate and make my way to the Armory to get the Mini Gun! We’ll rally at the Armory!”
Preston nodded in the affirmative; I pulled my revolver out and looked at him. “Ok…. GO!” Preston ran for the back window as I ran around the side of the island just as two BOS troopers were rushing through the door. I squeezed off two rounds and scored two head shots.
Thank God for The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, the one thing Vault Tech made that wasn’t designed to screw people over. Of course I am sure these two guys would disagree. I rushed outside the vertibird and the powered Armored trooper had turned its guns on my old house where most of the survivors from the initial attack had taken shelter. I holstered my revolver and trained the Gatling musket on the vertibird and began firing. Brilliant flashes of lasers pounded against the vertibirds cockpit most just bouncing off but a couple breached the glass and there was a fiery flash and then ashes poured out of the cockpit getting swept up into the propellers wake.
The vertibird spun out of control crashing into the Armory. The resulting explosion of the Vertibird and the ordnance in the Armory was massive, it knocked me on my back and the powered armor trooper down on his face. My ears were ringing when I made it to my feet I seen BOS troopers running on fire the second vertibird was circling around to the east about to make a strafing run on me I squeezed off four rounds but it wasn’t enough to stop it.
I began to reload as it was lining up its shot on me when a fiery bolt of light with a con trail slammed into the right side of the vertibird bird causing it to explode its remains falling into the river. On the roof of the house at the end of the cul-de-sac was Preston Garvey throwing the missile launcher away he starts to climb down from the roof.
The power armored trooper was groaning and struggling to get up. I begin to walk over to him and my leg almost buckles I look down at my right leg and its drenched in blood a jagged piece of metal sticking out from it. I wince but limp toward him re-loading my revolver along the way. The Powered Armored Trooper had made it to one knee when I reached him. I put the barrel of my revolver to the back of his Power Armored head a squeezed the trigger and he falls to the ground face first. Armor piercing rounds…. thanks Sturges.
The front gate explodes open and through the smoking wreckage of the gate and our 2 Machine gun turrets steps the last Power Armor Trooper. It looked like the turrets did a number on him, the second Power Armor trooper lay motionless next to a destroyed turret.
I immediately open fire with my revolver scoring five hits, each round knocking him back but not down, pieces of Armor flying off then, click,click,click. Out of ammo. The Powered Armored Trooper steadied himself and took aim at me that’s when a beam of light streaks past my left ear singing some of my hair, it hits the Power Armor trooper center mass. He begins flailing and yelling this blood curdling scream as his entire body, power armor and all begins to be consumed in fire. And as quickly as he began screaming he stopped, nothing left but ashes floating in the breeze.
I begin to collapse but Preston Garvey is there to catch me and holds me up. “It’s ok General I got you”
