mmk...chapter 24 should be out soon, and If any of you want, I have all the chapters saved to my computer on Word in one document. It's 241 KB. Just email 'merlinh_13@yahoo.com' and I'll attach it to the response. I'm pretty busy, though. I've got Black Ops at the moment, and trying to get the other PS3 and Vegas back..It's complicated, as life usually is. well..back to writing..

here ya go:

Chapter twenty four and now for something completely different

To my right off in the distance, I saw a vertibird land, and six robots were unloaded, which started to scan the area. I could hear their’ beeps and puffs of exhaust. One started shooting at something, and the others joined when it was being overrun by what looked like ants. To my left, a group of well equipped soldiers were headed my way, all ready for combat. Their’ armor had an insignia on it, and the leader lifted her gun towards me, and shook her head.

“You friendly?” She said, training her hunting rifle on my head.

I coughed, clearing my dry throat. “Friend. Not dead yet, am I?”

“Can’t tell from here. Would have to test your pulse, and you might take my fingers.”

“Nah, I’m not a zombie, not for the taste of human flesh, either.”

“Well, sorry to say this for ya, but you sure as hell look like a zombie. My name’s Reilly”

A girl with a buzz cut and a minigun, with ‘Eugene’ painted on each barrel said proudly “Of the Reilly’s Rangers that is!”

“That’s Brick, our lawn mower. Butcher, our medic is in the back.” He waved. “Donovan is our engineer, and Theo, our newest member is our quartermaster. Now, if ya don’t mind… who are you and what are you doing out here? And what is that beautiful piece of equipment strapped over your shoulder?”

“I’m Leroy, and this is the Lightning Rifle.”

Donovan walked up to me, and shook my hand, then looked at my rifle, highly interested. I handed it to him, and Reilly lowered her rifle, then looked past me. Donovan laughed slightly, and handed me my LR. “Rangers, we have hostiles.”

“Time for feedin’ Eugene!” Brick yelled as her minigun revved, and started pouring streams of hot lead into the Enclave militant robots. I didn’t even fire a shot. They all started battle crying repetitively and wasted a lot of ammo on the six robots, which were long piles of scrap before Eugene was cold. “Yeah. Theo, I need more ammo.” Brick said solemnly.

“You just used up the last of it. We don’t have any more 5mm shells. I warned you that was Eugene’s last full mag.” Theo said, looking down at the ground, his .44 magnum held tightly. A small necklace was tightly wrapped around his hand also, the metal chain had visibly cut into the wood handle of the gun. He looked at me, and shook his head. I figure it must’ve been a bad memory. I turned, and Reilly was talking to the rest of the Rangers. Theo walked to them, and Reilly parted from the group, and walked to me.

“We’re headed off to the Statesman Hotel, in the D.C. area. Helluva walk from here. You can come along if ya want, but we’re headed directly into Mutie turf.” She looked at me and smiled. I could tell she wasn’t completely right in the head; she also looked permanently shell shocked a bit.

“Sure, I’ll come along.” I hefted my LR, and followed them.

We walked a few miles until Theo saw an old military outpost that looked un-looted. The chains were still wrapped around the doors, and dust covered them. I let them cautiously enter, and I looked around. The chain broke easily, which made me uncomfortable. Two minutes and twenty three seconds later, I heard a rumbling, followed by shots to the East of the building they were in. I kicked the door twice, letting the rangers know we had company…

There were between twelve and fifteen guys on horses, all shirtless and with wicked hand-made melee weapons. Skull morningstars and hip bone axes. All made from human bones, by the size of them. I heard Eugene rev, and the familiar explosion of the .44 going off. I remembered that I wasn’t just a spectator when the biggest one on a horse started shooting back. He had mounted two heavy incinerators onto his also bulky horse. Fire showered the building as I sprinted to the next building, and Butcher yelled “Where ya going? Come..” I heard Donovan yell something as I climbed a ladder to a great vantage point.

I looked through the scope just as I also heard a lot of battle crying. The horseman were charging straight through the building. This was an ambush. I trained my scope on one of the front horseman, and shot him in the chest, the bullet tore through him into another horse. The guy on the other horse was shot through the chest by a .44, his back scattering all over the guy behind him. The blood spattered one fell off his horse, and rolled. Ignoring him at the moment, I looked over my scope, and watched as the horseman ran through the building again.

As soon as they left the building, the guy with the incinerators started to barrage the house again. The roof was starting to crackle and pop under the strain of the napalm. I shot twice into the brute, but he was still calmly covering the building. He was obviously angry at me though, because he started to rain fire all over my building as well, which sadly was only wood, not sheet metal like the military building. I shot the brute’s horse, which fell, finally stopping his fire.

I turned, and started to descend the ladder, and heard some rummaging beneath me. The one whose horse fell was beneath me, smiling, and holding a bone axe, the bone head welded to a steel pipe. He looked down, waiting. I decided I’d rather take my chances, and not trust him to wait for me. I jumped down onto him, one foot landing on his shoulder, the other catching his belt later. I fell on my ass, and he turned and then laughed maniacally. I yanked out my pistol, which he kicked into a puddle of napalm, which the handle was sticking out of. He then, using the blunt side of the pole, hit me upside the head…

I awoke, my head pounding almost to the rhythm of horrible rap shaking the loose metal walls. I could feel the stupidity rumble through me, and I could sense my intelligence drop from hearing it so loudly. I leaned up, I was sitting. My pants were gone along with everything else, I was in my underwear, which I had forgot I was wearing. I was in a tin box, with a tin door that had some flaps cut into it. I tried to stand, but I could feel the floor give beneath me. There weren’t any support beams. “If I stand, I’ll fall through”
I made a mental note.

The rap was turned down a bit, and I sighed. A guy opened a flap on the door to my cell, and tossed in a Salisbury steak pack, and a small microwave emitter, and then he walked away. I heard voices, and arguing, then my door opened, and a rather short girl came in, the floor swaying violently. She looked high, and mumbled something like “come on, let’s go.” I got up slowly, careful not to fall through, and followed her. I looked at the microwave emitter in my hand, and on the side it had carved into it “Opportunity 1” I thought about it, and then looked at a door on the hallway we were walking down, and it had “Opportunity 2” carved into it, also.

I opened the door, and as the girl started to say “Whaaa?” I stepped forward into the hole, fell down, and then hit a sheet of metal which ripped in half, flipping me. I closed my eyes, realizing my slight fear of heights. I first heard the roaring of water, then nothing as cold wrapped around me, and I couldn’t breathe. I opened my eyes, and the contact of water stung. I saw a beam of light, and something big pass through it. I swam up, until I got to where I could breathe. I tried to concentrate on where I was, but the shock of the water was still being processed by my body. My left leg had cramped also, forcing me to put all my efforts to staying out of the water.

I found a small piece of stable metal, and planted myself onto it. I stretched out my leg, and forced myself to stop shaking. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could feel that the water was spinning, and a metal rod was coming from the building above me, and into the water. It was spinning. I could hear footsteps above me, and the few support beams cracking. This building was not safe. The metal beneath me started to hum, and rise. I quickly got off, swimming to the tin wall.

I heard some clanking behind me, and suddenly a beam of light appeared to shoot over my shoulders, as I was dragged onto a dry platform, handed a towel and a sawed off single shotgun. “Don’t be scared, I’m good people. Now see, you’re the first I’ve successfully helped to escape the slavers. This here is Megaton, and from what I hear, your friends the rangers drove the slavers off, but they got to you. You’ve been sold to a Med-X addict who just can’t help herself.” I dried myself off, and looked at the guy.

“So, who are you and where do we stand?” I said, and he looked at me as if I was the first person he’d had speak real English to him in a long time.

“I’m Cromwell. Used to be Confessor Cromwell, but that’s not safe anymore. Not since the Portal’s Revenant killed Mother Curie...” He looked sad, but coughed and it went away. “Now, I’ll get your stuff in a day or so, but otherwise, It’d be best if you came with me. Don’t worry; you’ll be enlightened once we’re in The Sanctuary.” As I followed him, I noticed an ominous bulge behind his right temple, above his ear, along with a fusion pulse charge on a chain to his belt…

Chapter Twenty Five The Glow is Something Not to be Experienced First Hand

I was offered a hot cup of chocolate, as I wondered where the chocolate came from, a woman came in wearing an apron, and holding a tray full of chocolate chip cookies. I couldn’t help myself but smile; this was the best thing to happen since the bombs fell. I looked wide-eyed at the cookies, which she quickly held one out to me. I snatched it up, and chomped down on it, setting the hot cocoa on a small table in front of me. I frowned, as I could no longer taste, even though by the look the cookies should have been delicious.

“Welcome to the sanctuary, I’m mother Maya. I hope you could enjoy the chocolate. The last ghoul we had here said that he couldn’t taste them. Such a sad thing, since the only chocolate for hundreds of miles is here; in two hundred year old super-preserved Hershey’s bars we found when we made this place.” She smiled, and I could hear footsteps coming form the roof above us. I noticed that she said that they were two hundred year old..

“Ma’am, what year is it?” I said, feeling stolen from my home.

“You don’t know? It’s twenty-two, eighty-three. I think it’s June… sixth.”

“Ah…crap. I’ve missed about two hundred years to that bastard.” I looked at my hand, and I could see my knee beneath it between the bones in my palm. My skin had worn to the bone. I threw up, and Maya hurried away to another room, and a moment later had a cloth, and quickly began to clean the mess. I felt sick to the stomach, and leaned back, staring at the roof.

Cromwell got up from the chair he was sitting on, and opened a closet. I looked past him into it, he turned on the lights, and it had shelves lined with guns. All military, well kept weapons. I got up, trying to forget that I was two hundred and thirty three years old. I walked to the closet. “The cookies were delicious” I lied to Maya, not knowing. I heard her say thanks as she went into another room. I looked at the weapons on the shelves, and they were all conventional weapons, with personal modifications to them, some of them had names scratched into them. Simms, Hertigen, Rheems, and Tercorien were just a few.

“Grab whatever you need; I’ve got loads of ammo beneath your feet.” He tapped his foot on a small trap door in the floor.

I grabbed a lever action rifle, a ballistic knife with ‘Butch’ carved into the wooden handle, and a 10 mm handgun. Cromwell tossed me a military coat, which had holsters and ammo pockets sewn in. I loaded as much ammo as I could fit in it. “So, what are we doing?” I asked Cromwell.

“Taking back Megaton, and if we can’t… taking it out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Megaton is built around an undetonated nuclear bomb. Its divine glow will cleanse the inhabitants of Megaton if we cannot.”

“Oh. Well, that’s handy…building a town around a bomb.” I said, Cromwell laughed.

“I love hearing what people have to say about it, they all say something different.” He smiled, opened a hatch above him, lowered a ladder from above, and signaled for me to follow him. I did, up the ladder, around a corner, and into a room full of people in purple robes. Cromwell put his sawed off single shotgun to one’s head, and then held the person hostage. I grabbed someone too; putting my 10 mm to my hostage’s neck, he shivered at the touch of the cold barrel, despite already being pulled backward. Most of the cultists gasped. I counted twelve.

‘Six to one odds, I’ve done better’ I thought to myself.

Someone, with a darker purple robe with gold trimming everywhere possibly sewn into it, said “Cromwell! We’ve been knocking.” A crude blowtorch was in his hand as he turned to face us. “Who’s your friend? Oh, do we have a rebellion? You’ll die just like the other non-believers.”

“Umm…I’m not sure who any of you are. Can I become…enlightened?” I said, trying to hold out on the conflict, eyeing metallic objects hidden up the sleeves of most of the cultists.

“I am Billy Creel, and this is my friend; Glados!” he said, with a finale-like thrust upward. A computer rigged to several arms lowered into the room, with two of them aimed at mine and Cromwell’s head, both with attached plasma blasters. The others just kind of flailed about, seeming that it could only control two arms at once. A round piece of metal fell out of it, and its vision scanner looked down at it. Cromwell became fidgety.

“Ignoring that…thing; you humanoid beings are now my er…subjects. I have been programmed by higher authority to put you through a series of tests. There will be grief counseling and cake once the process is complete. Any attempt to escape will be quickly and effectively…what’s a nice way to say this…Put down. Have a nice day; Cheerio!” I was rather confused until the floor beneath all of us opened up. We all fell into darkness.

The floor that was now a roof closed above us, and some sulfur lights slowly lit the room. Glados’ voice happily declared, “Put your weapons into the incinerator, or I shall gas you all.”

Billy protested, “We made you! Gave you the means to do your will! Why don’t you spare us?”

“Because you are not ready”

“For what,” I queried.

“For the outside world. Apocalypse. Your situation… you all need to either be extinguished or learn how to survive. Now quit your bickering and drop your weapons into the incinerator. Don’t hurt yourselves; you’ll need your limbs.” Static replaced her voice as we all placed our weapons into the incinerator. I took out the ammo; she only said weapons. “I already see a smart one.” She said as I slipped the shells into my pocket, along with the ballistic firing case. I watched as Cromwell hid the fusion pulse charge among his things.

As I inspected my surroundings, a clean room with an incinerator in the center, with every surface slick except one wall, which had a door-shape in it, A few ‘eyes’ lowered into the room. “Now, before you go into the next room, I must mandatorily invoke some rules. If it were my choice, I wouldn’t tell you and let you figure it out yourselves, BUT I have mandatory rules just like you will once I tell you.” She cleared her voice, for some reason.

“First of all, you may not directly harm one another unless told to do so. Second, you will be given five seconds to prepare yourself for each obstacle or set of obstacles, do not go ahead of my count.” She paused for a minute, exactly. “And third, try to have fun.” The door slid open, and a thin hall with several giant cockroaches skittering around was visible. “Simply, get past the roaches, without killing them. Five.. Four..”

Three guys ran ahead, and as they passed through the doorway, a yellow gas was sprayed from the roof, and the guys dropped to their’ knees screaming. Blood poured through their’ skin, and as they scratched everywhere they could, they ripped open a destroyed membrane of skin, and blood gushed everywhere, almost nothing solid remained. “Oh, and Fourth, don’t go ahead without preparation.” She charmed.

The cockroaches converged on their’ bodies, but turned away, knowing better than to gorge themselves on the doomed feast. “Where was I? Oh, One.” She laughed a bit as they all ran to the other side. I stood where I was for a moment, thinking. Then I walked forward as one of the guys was being eaten by all of the roaches, which were quite distracted by the fresh, unsoiled meal. I barely stopped myself from throwing up, then I sighed and shivered a bit once I was in the next room, and the wall closed up behind me, putting us in an off-white tiled room.

“Now the rest of you get to decide which way to go. You are in a white room, with ten people. There is no way to go South, your trail has been blocked. Choose a direction.”

*
I looked over my brother’s shoulder as he giggled at something upon the computer screen he was staring at. All I saw was a black background under a cascade of white words.

“Leroy!” I turned and saw Gunny coming up to me, angry with the scent of alcohol along his trail. I knew I was his target. He never chose Him, the easy target. He wanted his fun. “Come with me, son.” He said.

“I refuse to be yours.” He looked me in the eyes angrily as he grabbed my wrist. Despite me catching myself on every surface, trying to stop him, he dragged me into his entertainment room.

“I just want to play a game with you. Sit down.” When I shook my head, he lifted me up and onto my brother’s highseat. He shoved my legs through the miniscule holes, skinning my legs all the way around, then he strapped me to the chair. “You’ll learn to play with me.”

“I hate you, coward! You cheap bastard, I would play if you’d play fair!” He angrily dealt cards, five to either of us. I saw him slip three Aces into his hand.

“Five card draw, deuces wild.” He said as he looked over his cards at me.

I slowly picked up the cards, and looked at them. “You have a Full House, don’t you?”

“Why would you think that, brat?” He sneered.

I had three fours, a two, and a six. I set the six on the table and said loud enough for anyone in the house to hear; “Hit me once.” Instead of taking it as a pun and hitting me once as hard as he could, he threw a card at me, and as it spun through the air I saw it was a two.

I knew his rules by now. I didn’t pick up the card, only smirked and said “I bet three days.”

He looked shocked that I would go so high. He set a card down, and drew another, him being dealer, he saw fit to cut the deck to draw. I knew what the bastard was doing, the deck was pre split after he shuffled. He was drawing a two out of the deck, just to spite me. He laid his Aces and two twos on the table, and got up, declaring he’d won. I looked at him angrily and set my five of a kind down. “Five of Aces beats Five measly fours!” He then whipped out his pocket calendar, scratching through the days he’d ‘won’.
*
“Leroy?” I awoke, my head felt like it was about to burst. One of Glados’s eyes was lowered to my face. “We were worried about you, how are you feeling? Next time I won’t allow you to continue. If you keep fainting, you won’t be able to survive the Wastes. Here’s some water and bread to help your stomach. You look a bit starved.” A hole opened in the roof and bread soaked in water landed on my chest, making a sickening squish. I ate it gladly as my stomach growled. I tore a bit and handed it to Cromwell, my only ally so far in this twisted game.

“Let the tests proceed, thanks to Mr. Johnson, we’ve lost fifteen minutes….”

yeah, I've just realized that comments make me want to write, without them I will subconsciously slow down. Positive feedback works wonders on my psyche.. Next chapter should be posted...eventually.

Wait... that's unusual for other people??

Necromancer.

Notes: sorry for the long wait, if you had caught up on reading, I had writer's block, and I think I may have dissipated it.


Chapter 26 bust


“We’re planning to go West. What do you think?” Cromwell asked after he finished swallowing the bit of bread.

I coughed and said “West? Ok, might as well.”

“OK, now that we’ve made a decision, The next puzzle will either be a monster, which you should kill, or a timed trap that will kill anyone left in the room after ten seconds. Prepare yourself for either. Five, four, three, two one!” The wall rose, and I leaned down to see a bit before the wall was gone, wanting to know which puzzle it was.

We all backed to the opposite wall as the rising wall was torn down by an abnormally huge crab-like, bipedal monster. “Mirelurk! A huge one at that!” A gruff Cultist yelled, making the monster look angrily at him. A second after the monster stood and surveyed the room for prey, it grabbed one of the guys with a huge pincer, and started pinching the poor bastard in half. One of the other Cultists ran and jumped on the claw, trying to pry it open. “Help, get him out!” He yelled. Cromwell tried to stop me, and I thought I was crazy just like he did.

I ran forward, and launched myself upon its angry face, barely dodging the fast pincer I had underestimated behind me, which scratched my back open. Cromwell backed into a corner away from the Cultists, and the monster. I punched my fist as far as I could into the creature’s eye. The shell around it closed over my hand. I looked back, putting my left foot into its other eye after it tried to fling me off. The Cultist had been dropped, his friend helping him up. “Are you crazy?” I heard yelled behind me as the shell closed over my foot, and the Mirelurk swung around blindly.

As I pushed my foot in deeper, the guy who I had just saved, despite bleeding from his stomach and back, ducked under a swinging claw and jumped on its shoulder. He straddled its shoulder-pad shell piece, and pried my hand out of its eye, and as it blinked it rotated towards me angrily, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a .44 Magnum round or two, and threw them as hard as I could into its eye. It fell on its back, throwing us into the wall behind it.

While the Mirelurk flailed and hyperventilated, Glados’ voice echoed through the walls, “Finish the poor beast.” She said as a large rock rolled on a conveyor belt into the room. A pad that covered it slid promptly back into place once the rock fell into the room. Me and the guy picked it up, lifted it high over our heads, and threw it into the Mirelurks’ head. The shell crushed, green blood oozed out of the shell in other places, and the beast was still.

I sat down against the wall, and the guy leaned towards me as he plopped down next to me. “Th- thanks, you saved my life.” He said through a sputter of coughs. “My name’s Leo. You’re pretty tough for a ghoul.”

I bumped my head against the wall, rolling my eyes upward as I said “My name’s Leroy.”

“You have three minutes to choose a direction.” Glados said quietly.

“I say we continue West.” was said from within the crowd of cultists. Some grumbling, nodding, and sounds of distrust followed. I stood up and said “I think we should go South.” Leo nodded, and stood behind me, leaning forward a bit over his wounds. Cromwell stepped towards me, and so did a few cultists. “Okay, so it’s settled, then”

“South it is, then” Glados chimed. “Ten seconds until a two minute, timed puzzle is in front of you. Oh and, I must admit, you all are doing much better than predicted.”

“Five, four..” I ran full speed towards the wall, stopping to stand less than a centimeter from it. “One!” the wall lifted, and I ducked beneath it, stopping to find a Smith and Wesson .44 caliber special. I was riveted securely in place on a podium, aimed at a lever, rigged to a complicated contraption. It’s chamber was loose. I tapped the side, allowing it to roll out of place. No bullets, I grabbed a shell out of my pocket, loaded it, and pulled the trigger until it fired.

“Nice one, dumba- “ I heard a smacking sound behind me. The contraption started to buzz, and the panels of the wall shivered and began to hum quietly. I could just barely make out a slight static, and felt unease in my stomach. A few of the cultists started to panic as I looked around, everyone had looks of torment or unease painfully etched into their’ faces. A cultist screamed as red and brown squelched explosively out of his short, horribly made pants. A couple others unwillingly followed suit.

Glados giggled, which began to frighten me. Cromwell, Leo, and the three cultists, including Billy, plugged their’ ears. The rest were either scrambling around, violently [censored]ting their’ selves, and two had already died. I felt wonderfully glad I couldn’t smell, Cromwell’s face welled with obvious want to plug his nose. I looked around, and loaded two shells into the pistol, bending the podium by kicking it, and mercy killing the two men not smart enough to live through this.

I loaded one last shell into the gun, kicked the podium t the center of the contraption, where there was the back of a large bass unit. I shot, and the three survivors slowly unplugged their’ ears. They looked worse for wear, and Billy looked like he wanted to eat a bullet too. “Well played, my good men, and Leroy…what you just witnessed was a military sound wave of static that makes people’s bowel explosively release. I have improved it.” I increasingly hated this AI.

“Now, which way do you want to go?” I twitched with anger, and saw something in Cromwell’s eye that wasn’t there before.

“Can we please leave this test now? I don’t want to pass a torture test. It’s a waste of my time.”

“Damn it, I was just beginning to have fun with you, as you please.” The panel beneath him rose quickly, and the panel above him moved perfectly. He was gone, and I didn’t expect him to come back anytime soon. “Well, that’s all folks!” the world around me moved violently, light filled the room from cracks in the walls that turned into me being thrown, feeling nothing but fast movement and the walls disappeared, as I turned through the air, I saw the sun. This was all very confusing, and I was beginning to feel heat.

me?

Ayyyyyyy! Good to see you, merlinh. I have no idead where I left off here, but I'll start reviewing your story by two chapter increments probably by tomorrow. But there just one catch, you have to do the same, That comment psyche thing also works on me to, although I have developed tolerance over the months.

Note: if it wasn’t for inspirational music, I wouldn’t have gotten past twenty six.

Chapter Twenty Seven Slavery; continued.

I started to spin faster through air. I could hear the whistle, and feel the pull of the air slipping through gaps in my skin. After what felt like I was forever rising, I felt the pull of gravity once again. Using the air pressure beneath me, I tuned over. The wasteland was spread around me, My arms were black in front of me, what little skin was left. Dust was in the air every where, light was still coming from where I had come from, and my ears were ringing. The cloud was moving across the ground, pulled by the sound. The air whistled past me as I hurtled towards the ground, far from Megaton and that crazed AI. I heard a more frenzied whistle coming from my right, and I looked and saw a stick-like object rotating quickly towards me. Smack! , and I was numb.


I awoke, surprisingly alive. My ears hurt, my head hurt, and my ribs hurt. I looked across my chest to see a few ribs sticking out of me. I turned my head, highly resisting vomiting. I tried to lift my head, but my neck was weighed down. “How in the hell are you alive?” I looked over to see a dark guy walk in, sporting a Chinese AR, with a knife taped to the end like a bayonet. “You should be unconscious, and, sorry, but we can’t spare the [censored] that works.” He put a needle in my leg, where there was muscle, and infected something in me, that made me unable to move. He then began to snap my bones back into place. Each one hurt like hell on hot/cold rub. “I’m Leroy Walker, nice to know ya, and good night.” He said as my eyes closed numbly.
I woke up, deceivingly keeping my eyes closed. “Yeah, he should last a long time, man. Especially since he lived through THAT [censored].” Leroy’s voice.

“That should make him worth quite a bit, maybe we should send him to the pit, then. They’ve got the money and everything.” A new, more business-like voice came through my still ringing ears.

“Well, since Megaton’s gone, we can’t sell him there. Rivet city doesn’t much like us anymore thanks to the Lone Wanderer.” A female voice jarred my mind. I recognize this voice, I thought to myself.

My leg began to feel cold. “Umm…why is his leg glowing?” the female voice asked, startled.

“I have no idea, how about you?” I said loudly. I heard them jump, metal against metal clanged its way to the floor. I opened my eyes and sat up despite the pain, to see a bloody apron on a girl who yet again sparked something in my head. She had blond hair, with a familiar rustic smirk planted between laugh lines. “Who’re you?” The weight on my neck snapped my confidence suddenly as it beeped.

“I’m Cutter, if ya still know, who’re you? We need a nametag for you.” The girl tapped my neck. “I wouldn’t move too fast if I were you, or attempt to leave. It’s filled with explosives.”

“Ahh. Great incentive. Why again is this on me?” I felt the cold steel with my hands, which were beginning to look greener. It had a small antenna, lots of wires. I immediately knew how to disarm it without setting it off. I just needed a mirror. “And who gets to push my button? I’d like to meet the bastard.”

“That’d be me, buddy. Or, if you run, Eulogy has a switchboard in his Pad.” Leroy said. “You’re property of Eulogy Jones now, and he’d like to sell you by name, not title, so what’s yours?” He smirked, and Cutter shook her head as she walked behind a curtain, and changed attire.

“Well, my name’s Leroy, and you planted a bomb on an antique from before the bombs.” I coughed, and warmth spread across my cheeks as I felt proud of myself for having survived this long. I felt my leg stop freezing, and just go numb. I decided to ignore it and continue having a decent time being a slave.

“You’ve been alive that long, and you’ve got my name? You’re kidding me!” While Leroy was enthused, I shook my head. “I guess you will get to meet Eulogy, he might want to talk with you.” He stood me up, and he carried me out of the medic’s room we were in. I looked around, breathing the dusty air. Fences everywhere, almost a maze. “Sorry I gotta walk you out so long, but some kid let all the slaves escape, we had to make that less possible.”

We walked around for a few minutes, and I counted fifteen armed guards and a barman. After a bit, we came to a tall, decent looking building, which we entered, walked up some red carpeted stairs and into the third room on the right, a balcony behind me, with a red room covered in luxurious crap. Everything I saw was useless except for seducing dumb women. I sneered at the man’s poor taste. A projector was set up, I didn’t have the heart to see what was being played. “Eulogy, you have a guest! Just a sec, Leroy.” Leroy said to me, politely. I could tell he liked me for some reason.

“Gimme..a few…more…minutes!” Leroy signaled for me to take a seat, and as I did, I heard a groan from the next room, where Eulogy’s voice originally came from. “Okay, done! Just a sec, Leroy, I’m coming.” He yelled, then, quietly “Shoo, get outta here.” Was followed by a girl in trampy clothes who looked abused ran out and past us in tears. Eulogy came out a moment later, red in the face and in a distasteful suit. I shook my head to myself. This guy had to be kidding. I was NOT letting this guy own me.

“Ermm, why did you interrupt me with a ghoul slave? He should be halfway to the Pitt by now.” Eulogy sneered at me. “Or is he-”

Leroy interrupted “He’s from before the war, and he just landed here from the Megaton blast. I just thought-”
“Thought what? That-” He started.

“That you might want to talk to me, you half-witted-“ I stopped as I saw his hand reach toward a switchboard I had just now noticed.

“Ahah, watch your words with me, and whoever has your other button. You’re property. Disposable property. Keep your head screwed on, and it won’t come off.” Eulogy smiled as I sat back in my chair. I looked around, not looking at the projector, and saw a mirror.
“What in the hell are you looking for?”

“You mind if we walk and talk?” I asked. He noticed my changing the subject.

“Sure, why not?” He eyed me wearily. Leroy looked at both of us, trying to figure out what we were thinking. I began to pace slowly toward the mirror. “Why don’t you see Cutter’s handiwork? Check yourself in the mir-“ A gunshot shattered the window in front of me, and hurt everyone’s ears. I turned to see Cutter standing in the doorway with a revolver in hand.

“What the hell do you think YOU’RE doing?!” Eulogy yelled.

“Don’t talk to me like I’m your [censored], this is my home as much as it is yours. Now shut the [censored] up! I know the ghoul, and he was just about to kill you.” Cutter pushed Eulogy into a chair, and walked towards me. “I saw the look of recognition in your eyes, now get back to your seat.” I walked back to the chair, and sat down. “Time for a family reunion…”

Well, who is she? I can't wait, I can't wait!

I like the story, a few spots get choppy and confusing, but it's a good read. I only played the game for a very short time so any game references go over my head.

I really like the chapters about when he was trapped in the game, I was picturing the movies CUBE and SAW. I felt elements of both.

Constructive Criticism time:

The character background and development are bit lacking. People flit in and out of chapters without a real fleshy feel to them.

The jump of 200 years in an instant without a deeper explanation was hard to follow. Is it visually different; is the landscape exactly the same? Does everything look as it did 200 years prior? Is the future language and use of words the same as it was in the past? How about the clothing, food, money and living conditions, are they all the same?

Is Leroy always able to fall down, stand up, dust off, and continue living, without any person reflection/guilt/want or opinion about his life or his situations? Does he have any deep feelings about anything?

Again, I really did enjoy reading your story and look forward to the new chapters as you continue to post them!

he's usually just forced into different situations before having the time to sit down and calmly think, and, there's a bunch different, but that's not what Leroy was worried about, also, the game was a portal reference, VERY obvious if you've played it, or even read an article about it. Hmm..and, I think you'll find out if he can always get up <_< thanks.

Chapter 28 Trennung von Reich

I was motioned to sit in a highly uncomfortable love seat. I sat down, and two rows of mercenaries filed into the room, one every two feet in a wide rectangle, blocking off the room entirely. “I want to have a word with you alone, Jones.” The woman said, dragging him off to another room. I got up to stretch a bit, my bones all began to ache. Every merc in their’ specialized armor had an assault rifle pointed at my chest. I sat back down.

“Wonderful” I said, and then a slight tinge of cold that felt distant pressed it’s way into the back of my neck. “Not escaping this one, am I?”

“No. You aren’t.” the woman said, walking out of the room; Eulogy right behind her. “You, ” she pointed over my head “Get that gun off his head, he might want to be able to think straight.”

“Yes’m” I counted two footsteps as he backed away.

“Now, my real name is Charlet, you don’t know me, but you knew my great great some-odd grandmother, Carol.” My jaw loosened and fell wide open with surprise. “She…specifically mentioned your name in a diary she was writing, and… well, technically…”

“I never did anything with her…” The words slipped between my teeth, my mind trying to jar memories into place.

“Oh, no, you didn’t. But, over 200 years, you have been used in an experiment.” She shook her head “Gosh I don’t know how to say this..”

“You just put words in a sentence, you du-“ Charlet put a large red mark across Eulogy’s face before he could finish. He slinked away, anger boiling up beneath his eyes. I noticed AR’s being pointed at Eulogy. The mercs were hers…

“You’re technically my father, and..if you get to Vegas in time, you might be able to save my whole family. You are the cure! And..and..I’ll explain it all when we get there.”

“Sure” I didn’t have to think about it, why do I want to be here, anyway? “How do we get there?” She looked shocked.

“You sure you don’t need to think about it?”

“HEY, I need you here, Cutter! You can’t leave!” He started to walk toward the switchboard.

“I’m warning you” Cutter said as she took aim at his legs, counted to three, he ignored her, and as he reached the board, she shot through both of his kneecaps. He screamed and fell. “Sorry, I had started to like you until recently. Now it’s Leroy’s choice of what to do with ya. You’ve pissed me off.”

“What? No. Why aren’t my men doing anything?!” He rolled over, and tore an old rusty pistol out of his coat, aiming it at my head. I stepped to the right as he pulled the trigger, and it blew up in his hand, the pin nailing his throat to the board behind him, and the trigger system arced slightly to the left of my head, while the bullet whizzed into the roof above him.

Leroy stepped into the room holding the detonator to my collar. Charlet pointed her .44 at him, and he set it on the switchboard, shaking his head. “So, how’s everything Hangin’?” He said nervously as he looked around the room.

“Well, I guess you can have this place, Leroy.” She said, and he looked around, thinking.

“O..k-kay?” he stammered.

I went to the mirror, and pulled the wires necessary to disarm the bomb strapped to my neck, then releases the locks, letting it fall into my hand. I dumped out a sack that was full of drugs, and then put the bomb and detonator in the sack.

“We’ll be outside when you’re ready, Leroy Johnson. Men, head out.” Charlet motioned to the mercs, and they all filed out through the doors they came in.

I crouched over the blood covered form of Eulogy, and rifled through his pockets, taking a few .32 shells and some bobby pins. From his coat pocket I took an old silver watch, and the medium sized holster, which I strapped to myself. I would have taken his coat if it weren’t soaked in his blood, just like his hat. I took his shoes even though my feet were beginning to turn a dark green with brownish tones, and I couldn’t feel them.

As I pried off the left shoe, a straight razor fell out, pinging its way across the floor. It looked sharp, but before I could reach to grab it, Leroy picked it up. “That’s where it went, sorry man, but you don’t need to shave.” I looked at Eulogy in the face for the first time, and his eyes were open and moving around violently. He opened his mouth and whispered “Sie wird die Welt ver?ndern” in a harsh tone; then lowered his head to his chest. I shook my head, having no idea what the first half was. All I could translate was ‘The World.’ And it’s not like I could ask him…

There was a knock on the door, and a guy in metal armor covered in spike barged in. “What the HELL is going on in here?” He roared. As soon as his boots touched blood, his rifle was raised at me. “Who killed Eulogy?!” He stepped towards me.

“Jones killed Eulogy, idiot” Leroy sternly grasped his armor. “And now this place is mine. The whole operation.”

“What? Umm, ok? Sure… i’ll let everyone know” The brute backed out through the door, confused.

“That was easy. Now, on your way, bro.” He snapped his fingers at me, pointing towards the door. I looked around one last time, and left. The door led to a balcony which had some of the rail broken, with Charlet and the mercs standing on the other side of a fence beneath the part where there wasn’t railing. I hopped over, looking out over the wastes. A town in the distance, trees to the north, an armored car Charlet was beckoning me to get in, but past it, I saw a familiar stock of a sniper rifle sticking almost straight out of the ground.

I put a finger up towards her signaling that I’d be right back. I jogged over to the rifle, and pulled it out of the ground after a few tugs. It had made a small crater, but hadn’t bent at all, surprisingly. It had a full clip in it, but needed to be cleaned. I thought to myself how ridiculous it was that my old LR had landed so near to me. But lo and behold, here it was. I trekked back to the car, opened a heavy metal door, and strapped myself in.