Chapter 3.3 - Crimson Surge

August 23rd, 2279

As the duo started on, Zack realized that the day was actually quite pleasant compared to the past few. There was cloud cover that was heading to the both of them which would block the sun out within several hours. A strong wind was also present, which was blowing violently from the east. It helped the both of them stay cool as it rushed over their perspiring bodies. It sometimes caused the dust of the barren land to dance around the both of them. Kade would cough violently and rub at her eyes every so often because of it. Zack felt terrible for not remembering to buy her anything to cover her mouth or eyes with. He actually offered his own to her, but she thankfully declined.

After about an hour worth of traveling on the highway, Zack and Kade finally finished passing the Estrella Mountains to the right and the horizontal mountain to the left. They had to hike down a rather steep path though. Kade stayed behind Zack so she could follow the same footing he took. All around in front of them it had opened up, you could see for miles. Zack peered to the left of him. He did not want to start traveling north west until he was sure that they passed that radiation black spot on his map caused by the detonated nuclear missiles so long ago. He did not know how far the danger zone extended, but he calculated that at least one more day of trekking north should be enough before heading towards Aguila. Zack wasn't too sure what type of place this town was, there were no notes on his map about it. He just knew that they would most likely need more water by then, so they had little choice but to visit it.

"Hey look, there are the edges of Phoenix." Kade said from his right and pointed.

Zack looked over, and far away he could see the fringes of what was left of the ravaged city of Phoenix. There were the many silhouettes of homes, stores, warehouses, and further in near the center were towering skyscraqers. "Whoa, it's massive. I never got the chance to see it when I was traveling with my mother to Polvo. I guess we took a different path."

Kade nodded. "Yep, not all of it is exactly Phoenix though. Phoenix is actually more the central part, and other cities and towns branch off from it. I think over time the other names of places were forgotten, and it was just known as the Phoenix ruins. Also, long ago, with the way the mountains surround it almost on every side, the area used to be called, "The Valley", or something similar."

"How much of it have you and others of Dedge explored?" Zack asked and started to walk onwards again.

Kade had to jog a moment to catch up to the side of him. She was now on his left side. "Over the years that I've been doing it, it was just mainly the southern and eastern areas. They pretty much cleared out the western part before I was born. We never went too far in though. There are deep pockets of radiation speckled throughout its core and most of the buildings aren't very stable. Along the edges there are an abundance of ghoul settlements that we sometimes trade with. I usually avoided those trips though. They make my skin crawl." She made a quick disgusted face.

Zack smiled under his head wrap. He knew that most people feared ghouls. Those that didn't fear them would discriminate and treat them rotten. Zack had met quite a few ghouls in his short time on this planet. They were just like people, obviously not the way they looked, but the fact that there were the occasional ones that had good character. Of course the opposite was true as well, there was quite a few of them that deserved their face crushed in by the heel of your boot.

Zack was gazing around the landscape in front of him. "There must've been some amazing things you saw while you were out scavenging."

Before Kade could respond, Zack saw something flickering from the side of his goggles. He quickly looked over and saw some kind of black shape in the distance hovering over Phoenix. His mind screamed Rad Hawk. He didn't know how well their eyesight was, or if it had spotted them yet. He also wondered if this was the same one as the day before.

"Kade, get down!" He said quickly and he crouched to his knees. Kade followed suit immediately. Zack pulled his goggles down to his neck and reached back to his pack for his binoculars. He looked back to Kade as he did so.

She was fumbling with her laser pistol. She had pulled it out of the holster carelessly and it fell to the ground in front of her. She quickly picked it up and held it in front of her, her hands were shaking slightly as she looked around for some kind of threat.

"Don't worry. It's nothing close by." Zack turned back to the speck in the sky and brought the binoculars to his eyes.

Kade set down her laser pistol softly and squinted to where Zack had aimed the binoculars. She brought her hand up to try and block the blinding sun. "Do you know what it is?" She asked softly.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"I thought it might have been a Rad Hawk, but it's something I've never seen. It's some kind of flying machine, like a small bus almost, with spinning blades attached to its wings and another on its tail. It looks to be painted a reddish color with dark grey lines flowing throughout it, with some kind of emblem on the side that looks like a sword and an assault rifle crossed over each other like an x with the letters C and S underneath."

Zack watched the weird contraption as it hovered over atop one of the tall buildings near the heart of Phoenix. The doors opened and what looked like ropes were thrown out, their ends dangled near the top of the building's roof. Zack then saw several people wearing combat armor, which was colored to the same alikeness as the outside of the machine, grab on to the ropes and slid down to the roof. They were all heavily armed, pulling their assorted weapons up as they made their way to a door which must lead to a stairway of some kind. Zack took notice how they moved in precise formation to one another. They were obviously trained soldiers.

Someone that remained behind on the flying thing pulled up the ropes rapidly and closed the door. To Zack surprise, the machine seemed to change somehow. Along the wing's tips, the blades that had been spinning horizontally were now facing vertically, and the vehicle sped off quickly to the south. Zack lowered the binoculars. He was pondering over what he had just seen. He seemed to have totally forgotten Kade's presence, who then cleared her throat behind him causing him to jump a little.

"Oh sorry, did you want to see?" He held out the binoculars for her.

She shook her head. "No, just had some dirt stuck somewhere." Her hair swayed across her face almost hypnotically from the wind. "I already know what it was and who they are from the description you just gave."

"Really?" Zack asked as he put the binoculars away and stood up. Kade stood up as well, and she started to walk off without saying a word. "Hey!" He called to her. "What was it?"

Kade turned around while she continued to walk backwards. She shrugged her shoulders once and smiled while she spoke. "I thought we were supposed to save our energy and only talk at night or if there was danger." She said it with sarcasm. She then stuck her tongue out at him and turned back around.

Zack couldn't help but laugh. He sprinted to catch up to her. "Oh come on," he said coercively, "we're cutting it short today anyways. Who exactly are they?"

"Alright, if you must know." She said with an excited voice. She reached into her side bag for a bottle of water. She took a long swig and returned it. "They're known as the Crimson Surge, and that flying thing is called a Vertibird. It's a hybrid type of machine; it can be both helicopter and plane. It can land and take off vertically, and fly at incredible speed when the propellers are faced forwards. Their area of operations is mainly eastern Arizona. Dedge hasn't had to deal with them directly yet, just a few of our teams had a few run-ins. Some of this information comes from caravans and traders as well."

"Apparently they started out as few groups of raiders who had some kind of pact together at one point to stick to their own territory and not interfere with the others. The larger raider group eventually came across some old military base that had barracks and storehouses of supplies ranging from armor, weapons and food. It is rumored that they found information about the locations of two other bases there that happened to fall within the borders of the other two raider parties. They learned that these three bases were part of some fail safe operation before the Great War occurred. They were to provide a front for American troops if the southwest was invaded by the Chinese war machine. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to station soldiers at the bases before the war, and all the equipment sat in pristine condition unused."

"The leader of this group whose last name was Sills, decided it was time to expand. She geared up her own raiders, and began to invade the others. She forced them follow her command or else the only other option was death. They obviously had no other choice and submitted to her authority. Afterwards, they located and took control of the other two bases which happened to be an airfield and the other was some kind of motor pool. This was when she promoted herself to the rank of General and began to call her army, Crimson Surge. She appointed three of her most trustful underlings as Colonels, one to each of the bases, and each one more ruthless than the last."

"Wow," Zack cut in, "I never seen or heard of them before now. How valid is all this information though, and what are their plans?"

"Well, we didn't start seeing them until just a few months ago. I trust the people that spoke of them. They certainly seemed terrified about doing so as if there would be some unknown repercussions. Apparently they've been on a recruiting spree of some sort, been going around to many settlements, towns, and other raider groups trying to rally more soldiers for their cause. They are very hard to turn down, and not just because they bolster violence. To the average desperate person living anywhere, General Sills and her army were a Godsend. People are told if they join their ranks, they will be provided shelter, food, weapons, armor, training, caps, and they would all share the spoils of battle. It's no wonder why so many are signing up in droves."

"How do they train new recruits, and who taught them to use that kind of flying technology?"

"Luckily for them, there were training and tactical manuals archived in the bases. I even heard that the air base and motor pool had some kind of advanced machines that allowed a person to sit in, and be trained in simulation through video and audio means. I'm guessing that's how they learned to operate the Vertibirds, and probably learned to drive. They usually travel around along the ground in these large troop carrying trucks. They have remained pretty neutral when our teams have come across them. We are usually asked nicely to leave the area, which we do."

"No one is really aware of their long term plans but them. Apparently they are just pushing this whole recruiting thing to grow their army quickly. Last reports I heard, their army is about half the size of NCR's own. It would be great, but very unlikely, that they would decide to unite all of Arizona, and establish a new government that allowed people to finally rise from the crap that we all have grown accustomed to live in." Kade gave a sad, blank eyed stare towards the ground.

A long silence passed while Zack thought over all of what Kade had told him. They both began follow the road as it made its way upwards onto a hill. "Well, no matter what their plans are, they don't sound like they will be the ones to come around and help out. They were raiders after all. I mean, with the NCR, Caesar's Legion, and now the Crimson Surge, they all seem to just want followers so they can send them off to battle with those that their leaders disagree with. I don't believe the path to peace begins with a call to arms."

Kade responded softly. "If I recall correctly, a great man once said, I have never advocated war except as a means to peace."

Zack could only smile. Kade always could find a point for any side of a dispute. "That's very clever. Who was it that said it?"

"Um…I think it was a president. It was the man that led the winning army during the war when America split apart. I remember reading about it in a badly damaged history book I found once."

As they neared the top of the hill, the clouds had finally moved to block the bright sun. It was then Zack realized how hungry he was. He had completely forgotten to eat anything earlier from all the excitement that had occurred before he left Cherry Cliff. He figured they had traveled far enough for the day and there happened to be several large boulders to the right of the hill which would provide them shade once the clouds moved on. Zack started to walk towards them while he gestured to Kade to follow.

"Come on, I haven't had anything to eat all day. You must be hungry as I am."

"Actually, I had the chance to eat something while I was waiting for you earlier, but I could eat." A sly grin appeared across her face as she sat down on the ground cross legged.

"Well, either way, we can eat and rest for now until nightfall before we continue on." Zack said and sat down with his back to the boulder. He closed his eyes for a moment to relax. As he did so, he heard a muffled explosion not too far away. It was quickly followed by sporadic gunfire from multiple automatic weapons. Kade yelped from the front of him.

"Why do things seem to always have a way to find me?"

Zack's eyes remained closed while he contemplated if the both of them should bother to investigate.

I'm loving the way that you update so quickly. Keep it up!

Nice...

I'm lovin' it.

Chapter 3.4 – First, You Light The Fuse

August 23rd, 2279

Zack kept his eyes closed and concentrated on the sound of his breathing. The inhaling and exhaling from his lungs was comparable to that of the tide of the ocean. Another explosion occurred in the distance. This one was more blatant than the last. Zack's curiosity finally overcame him, and he wanted to know what was going on.

"Zack?" Kade drew his name out as she said it.

Zack opened his eyes to look at her. She looked nervous while she kept her hand resting on top of the laser pistol at her side. He quickly reached back to grab his binoculars. "Alright Kade, I'm going to go check it out. It just might just be the practice you need. Stay close and do as I say, alright?"

Kade nodded. She pulled her laser pistol from her holster and held it facing upwards.

Sounds of gunfire were still present as Zack stood up slowly from behind the boulder. He brought the binoculars to his eyes. From this vantage point, he could easily see the chaos ensuing below. Down the hill no too far away, the road curved to the east a bit before continuing north again. On the south side of the road he could see a small one story structure. The building was made of brownish colored bricks and the paint looked to have been burned off by the sun long ago. It had a flat roof with a short raised wall going around the top of it. Zack could see two people on the roof, using the short wall as cover, popping out every so often to fire down below. They were dressed similar to raiders, but Zack didn't want to make that conclusion just yet. They could be desert dwellers taking on Rad Scorpions after all or, perhaps something worse.

He looked across the road to see what they were shooting at. Sure enough, they were your common raider scum. Zack could see two unmoving Brahmin lying in the road with gear and supplies strapped to their backs. One of them had their entire back end blown off. Its intestines and numerous purplish stomachs were spilling out from it and blood was pooling on the road next to it. Zack figured it had been the victim of some kind of explosive. The other Brahmin was riddled with bullets all along its side and its legs were sprawled out in strange directions.

Next to the first Brahmin, lying face down somewhat behind it was a woman dressed with armor less clothes. Her long blonde hair whirled around from the passing wind. A small pistol was clutched in her right hand. Her body seemed untouched except her legs, they had been completely blown off from the knees down. She had been the caravan merchant Zack had figured. North of the road, next to the ditch was a man wearing leather armor. He too was dead. His blood was splattered along the dirt and rocks behind him.

Zack saw several rock clusters of which the raiders were firing at across the road. Zack could see two people cowering behind them. One was sitting down on the ground, grasping their legs tightly and was rocking back and forth. The other was crouched low wearing metal enforced armor. He was toting a Chinese assault rifle, and was leaning out to fire at the inside of the building at random intervals. He would most likely run out of ammo soon, or one of the raiders would get smart enough and flank the two of them.

Zack lowered and put away his binoculars. He looked to Kade who wore a questionable gaze on her face. Zack knew they had to do something for the trapped men. If Zack and Kade had been traveling any faster, they might have passed by this building and had been the target of an ambush instead. That plus that fact that the raiders would clean up the area and ready themselves for the next victim that happen to pass by. After a moment to plan a quick strategy, he finally spoke to Kade.

"Okay, some raiders are holed up in a building down there by the road. They ambushed a passing caravan. There are two survivors who are still under fire. Only one is armed and doesn't look to have much chance getting out unscathed. That's where we are going to help. That is, if you want to take part in it? I could go alone."

Kade nodded slowly and her face started to lose some color. "No, I want to help. So what should we do?"

"Were going to hustle down there, the sound of gunfire will cover our approach. There might be more in the building that I wasn't able to see. There were no windows on the back of the building though, so they won't be able to spot us from inside. We are going to run first to the back of the building. There is a ladder on the side which I'm going to climb up and take down the two raiders on the roof. Your job will be to stay on the ground and watch for any exiting ones from the building. If need be, take cover behind the dumpster there till I can assist you. Got that?"

"Yep, what's next?" She quickly said.

"I'm going to try and signal to the caravan guard that we are there to help and for him to hold his fire while I'll assault the inside. I'll come back down the ladder and we'll head to the entrance from each side. I'll take the east and you the west. You'll just stay behind the cover of the building, only come out if I call for you to help. The sun will be behind you which will give some advantage. I'm sure once whoever is inside realizes return fire stopped they'll head out to collect their goods. That's when I'll hit them from behind. If everything goes to plan, we should be fine. If things get too crazy though, just get out of there and take off."

"What! I won't leave you to take on who knows how many others. I don't think it will come to that. I'm sure it will all go smooth." She gave a reassuring smile which actually made Zack not feel as nervous for her well being.

"Ok, let's hurry."

They both quickly bolted down the hill and made their way to back of the building. Kade was trailing behind Zack a little as shots were continuing to crack through the air. Zack crouched down once he was close to the back wall and stripped off his pack and canteen. After a moment Kade was there next to him. She did the same taking her pack off as well, but left her side bag on. She still brandished her laser pistol in her hand. Zack withdrew his revolver and turned to Kade.

"Okay, I'm going up. Watch the side where the ladder is, but stay near the back."

Zack walked around the corner and began making his way up the metal ladder that was attached to the side of the bricked building. He only used his left hand to pull himself upwards so his other could be ready to fire if need be. Zack became surprised as one of the rungs he had grabbed suddenly broke off, the metal was quite corroded. Zack gasped loudly as it came off in his hand. He had to balance his body quickly forward to prevent from falling to the ground. He was successful and his face banged into the side of the ladder causing his head to throb. He tried his best to shake the pain off and continue on. He reached up for the next available rung. He was almost near the top.

Zack raised his head above the small wall on the roof to survey the two that were up top. One was busying himself shooting downwards. The other on the left was reloading his bolt action rifle. He was crouched down using the small wall as cover. He was facing towards the back of the building, but took no notice to Zack. Zack waited until he finished reloading and began to fire at the trapped men. Zack pulled himself up and over as quietly as possible and onto the roof, staying low while getting ready to attack. He moved a little closer to the two men, neither of them none the wiser. He aimed to the right one first and fired two shots quickly into the man's upper back. He collapsed down without a sound. The other heard the blasting shots from his revolver and quickly brought his rifle around behind him. Zack fired two shots at him as well. The first one whipped by him as the man was turning. The second one impacted his upper left chest causing the man to scream with agony and to lose his balance. He dropped his weapon and fell over the side of the building backwards. Zack could hear a thud as he landed. There were no more screams from him however.

Zack quickly made his way over to the front of the roof. He could hear a few shots coming from below him in the building. He waved his hands above his head to try to get the attention of the caravan guard. The man eventually noticed, looked up, but held a suspicious look upon his face. Zack tried to convey with gestures that he would have used with his own militia to tell the man to hold his fire while Zack would assault those that exited. The guard seemed to understand. He nodded and took full cover behind a jagged boulder.

Zack quickly made his way back to the ladder, taking out the four spent casings from his gun as he went. He let them fall to the roof while he loaded it back up from the ones on his holster's belt. He made his way down the ladder as fast as he could, taking special care of the broken rung. He jumped down when he neared the ground. Kade came out from the back to meet him.

"Are we good to attack the front?" She asked hurriedly.

Zack nodded quickly. "Yes, take the other side, but remember to only help if I call out, otherwise stay back."

"Understood." She responded a little sadly. She then turned and sprinted around the corner making her way to the other side.

Zack took a few deep breaths and turned to walk towards the front of the building. He crouched low, using the corner as cover, and waited until those inside left. The front of the building had many windows that had long ago been broken out. It seemed like an eternity passed while he sat still waiting. He saw Kade at the other end peering over from behind the other side. Finally, he heard the muffled sounds of conversation coming from within. Zack prepared himself for whatever was to pour out.

"Finally one of those idiots took him down." A man said as he came out.

Zack saw the man. He was wearing pathetic rags for armor, and seemed to be carrying some kind of metal weapon in his hands. Zack waited patiently for others to emerge.

"Did you hear those [censored] loud shots though? I didn't know Craig or Todd had any other weapons. Must've of been holding out." A woman spoke this time following behind the first man. She was wearing provocative clothes that barely covered any of her body. She was cradling a shotgun in her arms.

"I dunno, let's go see what we got." The first man shot back.

Zack was going to wait till they got further into the road before he made his presence known. Also, he wanted to see if anymore came out. Others holed up would be harder to take down. To Zack's surprise, he heard a charging scream and automatic gunfire by the road. He quickly looked to see what was going on. The caravan guard had decided not to wait for Zack and ran out from behind cover.

"No!"

"You sons of [censored]!" The guard cried out while rushing forward shooting.

The two raiders were frozen with shock as they were torn down by the incoming rounds. They fell down next to each other by one of the Brahmin, their final resting place. The caravan guard then rushed forwards to the building, still screaming curses and firing. When he neared the entrance, Zack actually thought the guard's rushed entry would be enough of a surprise to overtake them. This was quickly shattered however, when a huge barrage of flames came blasting out from the door that engulfed the guard fully.

The guard dropped his gun to the ground immediately. He was flailing around grabbing at his face while horrible screams pain that made Zack shudder. Popping sounds accompanied the screams as his skin boiled off. The guard fell down first to his knees, then face forward to the earth. The screams had subsided. The smell of burning flesh and hair wafted through the air causing Zack to feel nauseous. Luckily, his stomach was empty.

Zack figured this was his best chance and quickly got up holding his revolver out in front of him as he made his way in front of one of the windows. There was someone standing right in front of him on the other side. Their eyes were wide with surprise as Zack quickly dispatched the man by shooting a round into his neck. The man slumped downwards as blood spurted outwards from the wound. Zack moved his arm to the rest of the room and saw that there were three others in the building. All were armed. The most dangerous was the large muscular man with a metal tank on his back, and a flamer in his hands. The man was quicker than Zack was, and brought the flamer's barrel aiming to him.

Zack cursed and had no choice but to quickly dive to the ground lying flat. He hit the ground hard. Dirt covered the side of his face while blistering flames flew overhead. It was only a matter of time until one of them came over to put a bullet in his back. The flames finally ceased and Zack turned his head and tried to bring his arm over to be able shoot at anyone that appeared. There was a problem though, while diving, he had unintentionally released his revolver.

"Go kill that [censored]head so we can get our loot!" A voice screamed from inside.

Zack turned his head frantically to find his weapon. He saw it, but it was out of reach unless he got up to his knees. Zack saw movement from his side. He feared the worst, but to his amazement, it wasn't a raider, but Kade. She was running from the opposite side of the building. She had a lit stick of dynamite in each of her hands. She threw them both expertly through two different glassless windows and dove to the ground away from the building. Zack covered his head with both his arms, he clenched his teeth, and his stomach tightened.

Zack heard swearing from inside, but it was quickly silenced by the deafening sound of explosions which caused a massive wave of air to rush over him. He could feel dust and debris fall on top of him. After the initial blasts finished, there were several other loud crashing noises. Zack forced himself to look. Apparently the dynamite had caused the roof to collapse and the building's walls were crumbling inwards, all of them except the one in front of him. He didn't want to stick around to be crushed underneath all of that.

Zack got up quickly and sprinted away from the building. He reached down, grabbed his revolver and holstered it along the way. He looked over to Kade who had come to the same conclusion about the wall as he did, and was moving away. For some reason she didn't get to her feet and was crawling on her hands and knees trying desperately to clear the path of the falling wall. Zack was too far away from her and all he could do watch helplessly as the wall fell to the ground. It caused bricks to scatter everywhere and a large dirt cloud to fill the surrounding area.

Coughing, Zack made his way quickly over to where Kade had been. He squinted through the floating dust for some sign of her. He finally located her body face down unmoving. Her lower half was covered with many bricks and fragments of wooden boards.

"Kade!" He cried out.

Zack began tossing the bricks wildly off her flinging them in all directions. When she was free he turned her over and felt her neck for a pulse. He exhaled a sigh of relief. She was still alive and had a strong pulse. Her chest was also rising and falling of normal breathing, she was just unconscious. He dragged her by the shoulders of her jumpsuit towards the road away from the now burning rubble. The fuel from the flamer must have spread all around.

"Kade, you smart crazy girl." He said more to himself than to her.

When he felt it was a safe enough distance away from the building he released her. He quickly took off behind the building to retrieve their packs. When he arrived by them, he saw that fire had been inching slowly towards them. He picked them up and ran back towards Kade. He crouched down next to her and propped her head up with her pack. He took his canteen and poured a little water over her face. She made a small moaning sound and moved her head slightly. He figured she would be ok with some rest.

The adrenaline that had been coursing through Zack's body was finally dissipating. His heart had been thundering the whole time ever since the caravan guard attacked and it too was now slowing down to normal. Zack made his way over where the other man had been hiding behind the rocks. When he got close, he was met with cries of fear.

"P- Please don't kill me, take all the stuff, it's yours!" The small framed man exclaimed. He held his hands out defensively in front of him.

The man looked to be near the age of Zack and happened to be still huddled behind the rock with the remnants of tears streaked across his cheeks. He had medium length jet black hair which hung loosely down the sides of his face. His eyes were a pale brown color of which Zack had never seen before. The smoothness of the skin on his face made it appear that he had not traveled the wasteland very much.

"Damn. Save a man's life and this is how he thanks you."

Excellent job. You have some talent for keeping people interested. Keep it up.

Good.
The guy's a vault dweller right?
BTW if anybody is good at modding they could make this a quest. For female characters they could be Kaede and for males Zack.

Naw sorry, he's not a vault dweller, I will eventually get to one though in the future. I have a slight idea how to introduce them.

Ok. Just keep them coming.

Chapter 3.5 - My Sister's Keeper

August 23rd, 2279

"I'm not going to harm you…promise." Zack said and held his hands open showing the man he had no weapons of any kind. "Do you have any injuries?" Zack calmly asked the man.

The sitting man lowered his arms down from the front of him and stared intently at Zack for a few moments before finally speaking.

"Yeah, you don't look like one of them." The man leaned his body to the right to look at the smoking rubble behind Zack. He brought his hands to his face and tried his best to wipe the stains on his face from the tears. He then cocked his head to look at the side of Zack's face. "Did you know you're bleeding from your ear?" He asked after a moment. He then stared down at a small beetle that was climbing its way up a rock.

Zack reached up and felt his earlobe the man was looking at. He could feel dried blood there and also some going down his neck. He brought his hand in front of him and rubbed some flakes of dried blood between his thumb and index finger. "Yeah that happens sometimes when you're close to an explosion.

"I take it you were the one that took care of those [censored]s?" He pushed his hands on the ground and stood up.

"I did have some help with that." Zack quickly looked back to glance at Kade. She was still lying motionlessly where he had left her with her head propped up on her pack. He then turned back towards the man. "Sadly that other caravan guard didn't follow my instructions very well and got himself killed. Were you hit anywhere?" Zack asked and tried to visually look for wounds across the man's body.

The man was staring blankly at the road where his caravan lay in ruins. He didn't respond to Zack but shook his head slowly.

Zack raised an arm and snapped his fingers in front of the man's face. "Look you might still be in shock. Why don't you sit back down and I'll give you some water. What's your name?"

The man stood silently moving his eyes to each of the bodies in the road. He paused when he got to the long blonde haired woman who was face down. "Paul." He said at last and started walking towards the dead woman.

"Wait!" Zack called out. "I don't think you need to be that close just yet."

It was of no use. Paul made his way to the road and crouched down next to the woman. He turned her body over with strained effort. He reached a hand to her cheek and it wasn't too long before tears were running down his face again.

Zack exhaled a breath slowly and made his way towards Paul. He crouched down on the opposite side of him and looked down to the body. The skin on her body was as smooth as Paul's was. Her eyes were closed and her mouth hung loosely open while Paul held her head in his arms.

"Those pieces of [censored]ing [censored]." He said through his crying sobs.

"Who was she?" Zack asked.

Paul looked to Zack's face. His eyes were shaking slightly and were bloodshot. "She's my sister…was my sister."

"I'm sorry for what happened to her and the rest of your crew." Zack tried his best to sound sympathetic even though a scene like this was all too common in the wastes.

"It's all my fault…I was the one that convinced her to come out here with me. Kept telling her that we'd be set forever if we made a couple of trading runs." He paused to wipe his nose with the back of his hand. He then rubbed it on the thigh of his pants. "It should've been me that died, not her. She was going to be married to one of my friends once we returned."

"Where are you from?" Zack asked after a moment. "Both of you don't look like you have traveled in the wastes all that much. You look too healthy and your skin is virtually unmarked."

Paul's crying sobs finally subsided and his tears ended as well. He sat down and stared and the burning remains of the raider hideout. "We're from a small settlement called Scorpion Bay off of Lake Pleasant. It's about forty miles north of here. The lake has receded quite a bit since the Great War, but the water remains pretty clean. It gets refilled a little each day by some kind of underground water table. The place that we all live in is a warehouse where boats used to be placed for long term storage. The only way to get to it is by a winding narrow two way road or across the lake itself. We have several hidden defense points so no one can enter without us knowing. We are able to grow a bunch of food on a few acres of land next to the lake and we also have a large paddock where we keep a few herds of Brahmin. We aren't aggressive or anything, we are a defensive people. My sister and I were just farmers. We were in charge of cultivating and planting."

Zack had sat down as well and listened while Paul continued on.

"We do have an abundance of food and water, but we were lacking weapons, medical supplies, and technologies that could really help us out. Our group had very heated discussion and debates a few months back about sending teams out to locate other settlements that we would be able to trade with. They finally agreed to do so and one of the teams came across Cherry Cliff. They found a business there that would trade the food for supplies we needed and hired those two guards to come back with them. We still had to have someone volunteer to travel with our stuff though. Those that volunteered would get first dibs on what they brought back. I wanted to go of course, but my sister tried to talk me out of it. She kept saying that it wasn't for me since I had never left the safety of the warehouse before and wouldn't know how to handle myself. I pleaded with her and she finally gave in and decided to come. And then all of this." He waived his hand in front of him towards all the carnage that had occurred. "It all happened so fast…I didn't even realize we were under attack. I was in the front with the first Brahmin. They didn't start the attack until the second one got nearer. I don't know what kind of bombs they used, just that they were very loud and as you can see, were very effective. I don't even remember how I got behind that rock with one of the guards. Maybe he pulled me along with the shooting started."

The wind had died down considerably and the sun was making its way towards the edge of the horizon.

"I wish we would've gotten here sooner. We might have been able to help more. What was her name?"

"Ana." Paul looked over to Kade resting next to the road. "I take it she is the one who helped you destroy that building?

Zack laughed. "Actually, she's the one who destroyed the building with some well thrown dynamite. I was busy lying face down on the dirt trying to not to die. Her name is Kade, I'm Zack."

Paul gave a faint smile. "Zack and Kade…was she injured?"

Zack shook his head. "No, she just had a little too much excitement for one day. I'm sure she'll be up in a few hours. Speaking of which, it's going to be dark soon. I'm going to gather some wood to make a fire with. Neither of us has eaten all day. I'm sure you could use some food too. How about we make a camp back behind those rocks where I found you? The sound from the explosion and the smoke might attract some unwanted attention, so it'd be wise to be behind cover in case anyone shows up. Can you dig a small pit for us and place some stones around it? Also, if it's ok with you, I'll cut us some meat from the Brahmin to eat for dinner."

"Yeah I wouldn't want them to go to waste. I think one of the guards pack's had a shovel attached to it." Paul got up, made his way towards the first Brahmin, and began to look over the gear tied to it.

Zack got up and searched the surrounding area for anything that would burn. About twenty minutes later, he had an armful of an assortment of thick sticks and weeds in his arms which would last for quite a bit. Paul was finishing up the fire pit when Zack returned. He placed what he was carrying next stones and rubbed his hands together to remove the dust. Zack took notice of a small bag that Paul had placed nearby. There were several spots of blood splattered across the backside of it. Zack thought it had been attached to the first Brahmin.

"Alright, I'm going to go grab my bag and bring Kade over here. Can you start breaking some of these sticks up for kindling?" Zack wanted to keep Paul busy as possible so his mind wouldn't focus too much on the death of his sister and the guards.

"Sure thing." Paul responded.

Zack got up returning first with his bag, then with Kade in his arms. He placed her down gently and placed her pack under her head same as before. She was still very out of it. He then went through the side pocket to grab his lighter. He took the small broken twigs from Paul and arranged them in the fire pit. He then lit from the bottom and began to add larger pieces to it to build the heat. Paul sat silently watching Zack as the flames grew before him.

"Can you make sure the fire doesn't go out? I'm going to get our dinner."

Paul nodded and Zack got up to head towards the Brahmin. He came back three large cuts of Brahmin and also had a small thin piece of metal that he picked up from the wreckage. He placed the metal over the fire and placed the meat upon it. It instantly began to sizzle at the edges of the base.

The sun had finally disappeared. The blackness of night was creeping over the land. Zack flipped the meat every so often as it cooked. As he did so he kept an eye on Paul as well. He was studying his face and wondered what was going through his mind. Paul was sitting cross legged with his elbows on his legs and his chin resting on his close fisted hands. He was staring at the flames flickering in the fire.

"It will be done shortly." Zack called out over the fire.

Without warning, Paul stood up quickly and gave a grunt of anger. "Look, I thank you for what you and Kade did Zack, but I can't just sit here idly while all my settlement's supplies lie in the road and my sister is decomposing by the ass end of Brahmin. I need to get away from here. I'm going to head to Cherry Cliff and ask for help to bring the supplies into town so I can complete the trade. I'm sure someone can help me bury my sister and the others as well." He grabbed the small blood stained back and began to walk towards the road.

"Paul." Zack called out. "You don't have to leave just yet. Please eat something first. I can help with the graves if need be."

Paul paused and turned around. His hands were at his sides in clenched fists. "You did enough for me already Zack. I just can't be here right now. I'll probably be back in the morning. Thank you for your help." He waived goodbye to Zack. He then turned and started to head in the direction of Cherry Cliff.

Zack thought about getting up and trying to convince him to stay, but then thought better of it. Paul was a man, and there were many emotions running through him. He knew what was best for him at this time. Zack sighed and leaned backwards using his pack for support poking the steaks with his combat knife.

When the meat was done, Zack got out his metal plate and placed one of the steaks on it. He grabbed his utensils and began to eat vigorously at it. The meat was excellent and it warmed him from the inside out. Once he finished with it grabbed another one and ate it as well. He moved the last one to the edge of the makeshift grill to keep it warm. He grabbed for his canteen and drank from it. He put a little on his hands and cleaned the blood from his ear and neck as best as he could. He then scooted himself along the ground putting his head on his pack and he stared up at the emerging stars. It wasn't too long before he fell asleep.

"Zack?"

Zack heard the voice and immediately sat up and pulled his revolver with his right hand and aimed it in front of him. He was breathing rapidly looking for a threat.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Kade spoke from his left.

Zack turned to look. In the pale moonlight he could see her sitting with a concerned expression across her face. He placed his revolver back in the holster and smiled to her. He vaguely remembered a dream he was having where he was walking through a city made of rusted metal. There were people there, but no matter how much he tried, they wouldn't speak to him. He wondered if the dream had any relevance to anything, but then quickly shook it off.

"It's good to see you're finally awake." Zack looked to the fire. Burning embers is all what remained of it. "You were out for a bit. I didn't mean to doze off. I was more tired than I thought I suppose."

Kade nodded slowly. "Where are we?" She asked and looked around squinting in the darkness.

Zack laughed. "We're still by the building you decimated, just off the road a bit. Speaking of which, didn't I tell you not to help unless I asked?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Kade raised an eyebrow at him. "Well it was either that or else you'd have been barbeque." She gave a big grin.

"I don't know Kade." He said and grabbed the plate by his side. He placed the last bit of meat on it, it was still warm. He passed it over to Kade who took it quickly and began to eat at it with just her hands. "I thought I had the situation well under control. I was just lying low until I was able to get the jump on them. It was only a matter of time before they would've thrown their weapons down."

Kade tried to laugh but ended up choking a bit and spit out some food back onto the plate.

"Sorry." Zack said.

Kade shook her head. "It's ok."

"I'm glad you decided to do what you did. It was a crazy thing to do, but everything turned out good. I thought I was done for." Zack added.

"Yes…I didn't really know if what I was doing was going to help. I just saw them through the windows and threw the dynamite in. I don't really recall anything after they blew up. But, I guess that's where you helped out."

Zack nodded to her.

"Hey, wasn't there a survivor? Or did something happen to him?" She asked looking around again for him.

Zack took some time to think about how he should respond. He thought it best to leave out the part about Paul's sister.

"Yeah, the man lived. His name was Paul. He was traveling from north of here by Lake Pleasant. His plan was to trade extra food in Cherry Cliff for other supplies. He wanted head there to ask for help. Not too sure when he'll return."

"I bet he was terrified through the whole ordeal. He must have trusted you a lot to leave the both of us here alone with his stuff."

"Yeah, I hope he gets back home safe. You feel ok to travel?"

"Of course. A little explosion won't slow me down."

"Alright, good. Finish that up and we can head out."

Sorry for the delay in posting. I've been a little preoccupied with some things at home.

This chapter didn't have too much going on I know, more of a transition into the next part.

Will update again sometime this week.

Chapter 3.6 - A Walk Through Dream Land

August 26th, 2279

Zack and Kade quickly made their way down the marble stairway back to the first level of the large building they were both in. The greenish wallpaper was peeling from the walls and the large tiled floors were cracking in many places. When they neared the last of the stairs, Zack turned to Kade.

"I didn't think you were going to do that." He said with some laughter in his voice. "We need to get out of here quick before the fire spreads and causes the second floor to collapse upon us."

"Right." She responded at once. "He didn't really leave much choice though. The way that he spoke of the children…I just couldn't allow him to continue with his work."

"I understand." Zack said and pulled Kade by the upper arm towards a hallway to their left. Once they entered it a robotic voice was heard echoing down from the far end of it. They paused to listen.

"Explosion detected in main lab. Threat level changed to Alpha. Consider all movement hostile unless given proper voice recognition."

Kade gasped and Zack clenched his jaw. Down the end of the hall was military grade Sentry Bot. It was painted olive green. Its optical sensors burned bright red in the low light within its armored round head. Its arms were lowered towards the ground at the moment. It turned itself with its tri wheeled legs to face the both of them. The metal of its large body creaked as it turned.

It bellowed down the hall to them. "Two targets detected. Please give proper voice command or you will be eliminated. You have three seconds to comply." The robot began to raise its left arm up aiming at them.

"Uh -" Kade managed to say while she stood frozen with fear.

Zack swore loudly. He quickly placed both his hands on her shoulders and guided her to the other side of the hall. As he was doing so a whooshing sound was heard erupting from the other side of the hall. Zack fell to the ground pulling Kade along with him. When they landed on the warm dirty tiles a missile impacted against the wall behind them and exploded. Shattered remains of concrete and drywall rained upon the both of them. A horrible acrid smell filled the air.

Zack's ears were ringing loudly. He shook his head a few times and looked around to get his bearings. He quickly sat up and pulled his revolver out. He moved and kept his back to the wall. From around the corner the robot began to speak again.

"Targets missing. Direct hit. Checking for other hostiles."

Zack peered carefully around the corner as Kade sat up and began to shake out debris from her hair looking towards him. Zack could see that the Sentry Bot was making its way up the wide hall slowly. It was pivoting its upper body left and right scanning for them. Zack brought his head back to look at Kade. She was biting her lip and looking at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry Zack. I totally forgot about that thing when we first came in. The exit is somewhere behind it though. That scientist sealed all the other doors and windows with that armored plating. It's the only way out."

Zack nodded. "There might be another way to get past him. But he might spot us. Its armor is too heavy for what we have. I wish I would have brought some pulse grenades or mines."

"Kade stood up. "Alright. I'm going to find a way to get behind him. With my tools I might be able to disable it from its maintenance panel. Think you can keep it distracted long enough?"

Zack was about to protest this plan, but didn't see any other way out of the situation. Zack nodded. "Be careful."

"I will." Kade stared into his eyes for a moment. She then turned and quickly sprinted down the corridor they were in to Zack's left.

Zack stood up with his back still to the wall. He raised his revolver up and took a few deep breaths. He ran out sideways across the opening of the hall and fired three rounds at the robot. The discharge of his gun echoed loudly in the hall. Two hit the torso and the other a leg. They appeared to do no real damage to it though and it raised its right arm up. Zack cleared the way and got behind cover of the other wall as rounds from its minigun pounded into the wall where he had run across.

"Keep it distracted she asks. Easier said than done."

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- An Hour And Half Earlier

The past three nights of travel for Zack and Kade remained mostly uneventful. The only occurrence was a trio of young Jackal Rabbits that Zack had managed to scare off with a few blasts from his gun. They had traveled one more day north before finally heading more to the west towards New Vegas. They had gone through about a quarter of their food supplies, not finding much to scavenge or hunt along the way. The beginnings of dawn had just started showing itself across the landscape as they both entered the outskirts of the settlement of Aguila.

"I'm glad we are finally here. We were beginning to run really low on water." Kade said from Zack's right.

"Yes, hopefully they'll allow us admittance. I'd hate to -" Zack stopped speaking abruptly to pause in the road to consider the strange scene in front of him. Kade stopped as well and was about to question him but then she too saw what he was looking at. She stared with a confused expression on her face.

Coming down the road was a thin elderly man with long tangled gray hair wearing a wide tooth grin. Even from this distance, Zack could see that his teeth were yellow and quite decayed. He was riding on an old red painted bicycle. Zack had seen a couple when he was younger. The bike was dented in a few places and had no tires on it. The man was peddling quite hard to make the steel rims turn to carry him along. A man riding on a bike wasn't that out of the ordinary, not even in the wastes, what was strange was that he was completely naked from head to toe. In his right hand he held a small black pistol. Zack thought it was remarkable that the man was able to ride the bike with ease as his privates were exposed.

As the man on the bike got nearer, Kade hid herself partly behind Zack fearful of what this man might do. He stopped the bike when he was next to the both of them. There was awkward silence as the old man looked at them smiling with his bright blue eyes. His eyes, they seemed distant somehow.

"Um, hello." Zack said at last.

"Well howdy!" The man responded. He said it very loudly causing Kade to jump a little. "You didn't happen to see that thieving bastard did you? He just robbed the bank. He must have come down this way."

Confused, Zack answered. "No, didn't see anyone."

"Ah don't you worry none. My trusty steed and I will track him down." The man then pat the handle bars of the bike in front of him affectionately. "Do you know what I'm going to do when I find him?"

Zack shook his head.

The man raised his right arm up to show the gun in his hand. He then raised it up and placed it to the temple of his head. "This of course." He said it to both of them as if they were ignorant.

Before Zack could react or respond there was a loud bang. The elderly man had pulled the trigger causing the left side of his head to explode outwards. The man slumped forward crashing down with the bike intertwined in his legs.

Zack stepped backwards bumping into Kade hard causing her to stumble and fall to the ground. Zack immediately turned around helping her back up by grabbing her right hand.

"Sorry about that." He said

A look of shock was on her face and her mouth was open a bit as she stood back up. She shook her head a few times slowly and was silent a few moments. Zack could hear strained sounds coming from her mouth.

"Why did that man just do that? She asked.

Zack shrugged. "No idea, he didn't seem all there though. Come on, let's hurry and get into town before someone comes around and think we did this."

"Okay." She said softly, still starting at the elderly man's naked body as the contents of his head spilled out onto the dusty road.

All that remained of Aguila was the town's center. Apparently violent winds or other hazards had caused much of the surrounding buildings and homes to collapse or burn down. There was only one street which seemed to have buildings and that is where they both headed. Before the Great War they must have been shops, restaurants, and hotels. But now they were just shelter and refuge for anyone that decided to enter them. They were made from concrete by the looks of it, which was smoothed flat over the outside. All were painted in dull earthy colors and the largest one was three stories high. The town didn't look to have any power as all the building's windows were darkened. The sun hadn't quite risen fully yet.

As they walked further down the street Zack looked at different areas which would serve well for cover, but didn't see any kind of guards posted anywhere. The entire place was silent. Small creaks were heard from a metal door attached to a car that was partly up on the sidewalk. The wind was causing the door to move slightly back and forth. Zack began to question himself for deciding to come here. On the map this was a settlement the caravan had been to before, but perhaps it had been abandoned sometime ago. He hadn't looked elsewhere on the map for any nearby ones. They might not have enough water to make it to another location.

"Am I the only one that is a little freaked out?" Kade asked.

The ambiance of the town made it appear to be empty of people, but Zack couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.

"No, something isn't right here." Zack responded as he tried to look into the buildings for signs of life.

As a precaution he took out his revolver and held it at his side. He motioned to Kade to do the same. She took her laser pistol out and held it in front of her with both hands ready to bring it up quickly if need be.

They came to a large circular concrete fountain that was placed in the median of the road which intersected with another street perpendicular to it. There were many designs of flowers etched into it. The fountain had three levels with a faceless statue of a woman standing at the top holding some kind of jug with both her hands. The fountain was void of water though. The only company it had was an abundant amount of dirt that had filled the bottoms of it.

"Hello?" Zack called out loudly. He heard his voice echo as it entered alcoves and broken widowed buildings. Zack didn't realize this before, but scattered all around the town's center and from when they first entered, were small empty glass vials. Some had been crushed under his feet. He wondered what they could've held.

"There!" Kade exclaimed and pointed with her hand.

Zack look to where she pointed and saw two kids that had exited from a building, a girl and a boy. They both looked to be about eight or nine. Their hair was unkempt and their clothes were tattered and filthy. As Zack looked them over, he could see that their eyes held that same distant stare as the elderly man on the bike, almost as if the lights were on, but nobody was home. The kids made their way quickly across the street.

"Nice, Mr. Oliver left some candy." The boy said and picked up what looked like to be handful of gravel.

He took the small handful, placed it in his mouth, and began to chew on them. Right away Zack could see that it actually was gravel that he was eating. He could hear the crunching sounds as the rocks crushed against the boy's teeth. Blood began to escape the corners of his mouth.

"What flavor is it?" The girl now asked. "I want some!"

She reached out a hand to try and snatch some gravel for herself. The boy pulled his hand quickly away from her. He swallowed.

"Get your own [censored]!" He yelled.

The girl immediately threw a punch which hit the boy in the face causing him to fall over. She jumped on top of him and began pounding him wildly with both her arms.

Zack and Kade had stood transfixed watching the commotion between to the two children. Kade stepped forward looking determined to help. Zack held her back and shook his head. Whatever was wrong with them, he didn't think that Kade would be willing to shoot a child if it attacked her. Kade had a look of protest, but eventually nodded in agreement.

After a moment, the girl got up and moved over to where more gravel was. She sat down and began popping small pieces into her mouth and chewing. The boy lay motionless, his face was bloodied.

"What's going on here?" Kade whispered to Zack. "First that man, now these kids."

"Don't know, but I suppose we should find out." He said.

Zack heard a voice calling out. He scanned further down the street and saw woman by a one story building waving her arms over her head to them. Once she knew Zack saw her, she began beckoning him over. She seemed more aware than the others they had encountered and didn't have that blank stare to her eyes.

"Maybe someone can answer some questions." Zack said and gestured to the woman. "Come on."

They sprinted hurriedly down the road towards the woman past the girl. Along the way they saw a man with short dark hair sitting on a bench next to the entrance of what looked like a café. His pants were down to his ankles. He was pleasuring himself with one hand while he stared up at the sky intently with his empty eyes and with his mouth slightly ajar. Zack heard a sound of disgust from Kade as they ran past. When they got to where the woman was she stood smiling at them. She short curly blond hair and was wearing beige shorts with a red shirt.

"Quick, inside." She said and she opened the door behind her.

Zack and Kade followed her into what was some kind of shop. The place was musty and quite dim. A random assortment of goods and items lined the shelves. Zack closed the door behind him and was about to speak, but Kade beat him to it.

"What the hell is the deal with this place?" She asked in a low voice.

The woman held her hands flatly together in front of her mouth with the thumbs under her chin. She looked like she was thinking of how to explain. After a moment she lowered them and sighed.

"My name is Christina, I hope you here to help." She said at last.

Zack and Kade looked questionably to her.

"We have to hurry though. He's going to come down here soon to dispense more of it." Christina said.

"More of what?" Zack asked.

"Why do you appear to be the only sane person in town?" Kade added.

"Okay, well I'll give you the short version." She walked towards a corner and pulled a metal folding chair outwards and sat on it. "We don't have a lot of time. Not too long ago a man moved into town, goes by the name of Dr. Skye. He said he was a scientist and that he was working on some kind of formula for a liquid that would make us immune to the effects of radiation. He went up to the college that is up a hill north of here and began to work in one of the science labs there. After awhile, he started to come into town to hand out samples in those little vials you see everywhere outside, saying that he had to view its effects firsthand to see how viable it was. I was the only one that didn't want to consume it. I pleaded with the others, but they wouldn't listen. He just didn't seem all that trustworthy so I declined."

Christine paused for a moment before continuing. "Only a few days passed and then people began to act weird. Not like they are now, but their moods changed slightly and they sometimes said things they normally wouldn't have, almost like they lost the filter to their mouths. They didn't seem to care that they their personalities were changing and that they were becoming more aggressive. They act like they are in some kind of dream or something. They're asleep but awake at the same time I guess. There's also some kind of addictive quality to the stuff. They can't get enough of it. Every time that he comes into town, the people just line up waiting for more that violet colored stuff. They mostly only go outdoors at night. Something with the way their eyes are now makes them sensitive to the light of the day. The ones you saw outside, they haven't used much of the stuff."
"This is horrible, what is the stuff, some kind of drug he plans to mass produce and sell?" Kade asked.

Christine shook her head. "I don't think he plans to sell it. Sometimes he tells the people to do things, commands it to them. He acts like they will obey him or something."

Kade look lost for words, so Zack stepped in.

"Why don't we have a lot of time Christine?" He asked.

Christine looked down the carpet on the floor. "He usually comes around eight in the morning, going door do door passing the stuff out. He always threatens me when he comes. He doesn't want me to interfere with his experiment in anyway. Keep calling me his "Control Group". I'm worried that he'll just do away with me eventually."

"And what exactly is it you want us to do?" Zack asked her.

"Well…I was hoping that you would…you know run him out of town or something. Force him to leave. Kill him if you have to. That is, if you want to."

"Of course we'll help you." Kade blurted out.

Zack turned his head towards Kade and stared at her a moment before turning back to Christine. "We can try to reason with him, but the way you described him sounds like he won't leave willingly."

"Anything will be better than what's happening to my fellow residents. I can pay you of course. Well, not with money, but you are free to take anything you want from my shop. We haven't gotten many visitors lately." Her voice trailed off near the end.

"We'll go, don't worry." Zack assured her. "I trust that if we leave some belongings here that you'll watch over them?"

Christine shook her head hurriedly. "Of course." She said.

Zack then began to take off his pack, canteen, and duster. He gestured to Kade to do the same. She took her main pack off and placed it on the ground.

"One moment." Christine said. Then she walked towards the back of the place and was rummaging through a box on the floor.

Zack whispered over to Kade. "I can go alone if you want Kade. You can remain here and wait till I return."

"No." She said quickly. "I want to see this bastard for myself. He has no right to do what he did."

"Okay. Just giving you the option." He said.

Christine came back over to the both of them. She held four frag grenades, two in each hand. "Here, take them. They might help. I know he keeps that school like a fortress."

"Go ahead Kade." Zack said.

Kade took them from Christine, placed two in her side bag, and the other two in pockets on each side of her jumpsuit.

"Thank you so much." Christine said. "I wouldn't know where to begin with him."

Zack walked towards the entrance, and then stopped. "We shouldn't be too long. Can you fill our water containers for us?" She nodded and Zack took out his water bladder from his pack and placed it by his canteen. Kade went through her bags and took out her plastic bottles.

"Thanks." Kade said. "Hey, is that a Pip-Boy?" She asked and pointed to a nearby shelf.

Christine looked. "Yeah, I don't think it functions fully though."

"Wow, I so want that." Kade smiled and began to walk towards it.

Zack grabbed her lightly by the arm. "Come on Kade, afterwards."

"Oh, alright." She said submissively.

Zack guided her out the door in front of him.

"Good luck." Christine called out to him.

Zack turned his head to the side. "Thanks. You never know, we might need it." He said and then went outside to meet up with Kade.

Man when new vegas comes out this may be a good quest mod with the right modders.

Interesting story what is very well written.

Ive read the first and so pages and like what Im seeing

Some things that I have criticize is the sappiness of the first few chapters, but thats probrably just not my taste,

Why are some of your characters just listing off infomation about where they live like off a brochure or something, I know your trying to fill them with detail and get on with the story but I think you need to blend this better into the conversation.

Like how Kade starts talking about how she was raised by an older couple, puts some more emotion into that.

Also why would Paul just start rambling to a stranger about his village and how they make a living and their defenses, I know Zack and Kade saved him but I doubt Paul would be that trusting of information like this that could harm the village, to strangers he met like an hour ago.


Also the time frames dont make much sense to me, Ceasers legion have been in the area for 30 years in New Vegas, and Zack is what 26 or so, He wouldnt even been born when they first came so he should have known something about them. Also how can the NCR change so much in Cherry Hill in 2 weeks, they already have new menus and such?

These are questions Ive asked myself that don't make alot of sense to me.
But other than these its been a great read. Thx for sharing this.


Also I think the jackal rabbits would fit perfectly into the new vegas setting, would be so cool to fight them in the upcoming game. Love the play on words.

Chapter 3.7 – Dream Fuel

August 26th, 2279

Zack let the heavy wooden door close behind him as he exited the store. He paused a moment to consider if the story that had been told to Kade and him held true merit. For all he knew Christina could be the mastermind behind the strange behaviors of the townspeople and was sending the both of them to their deaths by the claws and fangs of some hellish creature infested college. Or perhaps, it was a distraction while she took the time to sneak up behind and do them in unknowingly. Zack made a note to keep his guard up fully for any surprises that might come about.

"You plan on letting me do this alone Zack?" Kade called to him from the middle of the road.

Zack cleared his throat. "Yeah. Sorry. Was just thinking of how we should proceed." He then made his way alongside her. He pulled his revolver out inspecting to make sure it was loaded fully. Satisfied, he held the smooth wooden handle tightly within his right hand, ready to bring it up at a moments notice.

"You think we'll be attacked right off?" She asked.

"No clue, but it's better to be cautious."

Kade nodded and pulled her laser pistol from her makeshift holster.

They both made their way up a meandering road that led to the north eastern part of the town to the college. While walking from the store they had seen a small rusted sign barely hanging upside down onto a pole, written upon was Aguila Technical College with an arrow which had originally been pointing straight. The college consisted of several large buildings, the largest residing in the center. The central one was two stories with intricate designs etched along its walls. The windows were covered with some kind of metal plating securely fastened with bolts.

The design of the college was made of yellow stone with large columns supporting an outstretched covering over the entrance of the school. A wide set of stairs led up to two large doors on its front. The buildings on either side were considerably smaller than the main one, and both appeared to make unfavorable living quarters. The one on the right had no glass within its windows. Its outward stony surface was blackened by what looked like some past fire. The other was almost totally collapsed inwards.

Kade gave a low whistle after she took in the view of the college. Zack figured the main building was where the illusive Dr. Skye made his fortification. He quickly scanned the roof and other positions looking for lookouts or guardsmen. He didn't see either.

Zack sighed. "Well, shall we?" He asked without turning his head and began to walk carefully towards the first of the steps.

Kade's throat gave an inaudible sound, but she followed along behind him a few paces back.

They both walked up the thin stairs rapidly. Zack made sure to keep his eyes at the large doors in case an armed person was to appear. He could hear the exertion of breath from Kade and himself. There were far more stairs than what appeared at first glance. When they reached the top Zack kept his weapon outwards in front of him and with his left he gestured to Kade to move against the wall by the doors. She did. He went on the wall opposite of her and carefully placed his hand on a bronzed colored handle and pushed it open slowly. The hinges of the door creaked loudly inside the innards of the building, echoing violently off the walls. Zack face cringed while he fully opened it.

"So much for the element of surprise." He thought grimly.

He walked in slowly. It was very dim inside the school, the only light was pouring in from the open door behind him, as well as some old safety lights. They were the kind that would kick in when the main power would cut out. It took some time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Before him stood an entrance atrium which had an overlook from the second floor. Three halls jutted out from the atrium, one in front of him as well as to his right and left.

"Kade, come on in." He called over his shoulder. He heard her footsteps along the tiled floor. They then stopped abruptly behind him.

Kade gasped. "Um, Zack?" She asked.

Zack turned quickly ready to shoot. He looked to where her gaze was. In a corner by the entrance was a large silhouetted shape. Zack walked cautiously towards it and realized at once what it was. It was a military grade sentry robot painted a dark olive color. Its optical sensors shone on and off with a faded red color. Its large arms were hanging unmoving at its sides. Zack stepped immediately backwards worried that it might attack them at any moment. He had his revolver aimed towards the bulk of its mass, but he knew full well it wouldn't do much against its heavy armor.

"Move away from it slowly Kade." He whispered, moving back himself.

Kade didn't retreat at first, but continued to study the robot for a few moments.

"Kade!" Zack said with higher hushed voice.

"It's alright Zack. I think it's in some kind of standby mode. Perhaps recharging its power supply or running diagnostics."

"That may be, but come on. It doesn't do any good for us to linger. We need to find Dr. Skye." Zack said while looking behind them down the halls for any other surprises that might be lurking.

"Yeah, sorry." She moved away from the robot and turned looking down each of the three hallways. "Which way should we go?"

"If I had to guess, which I am, I'd say he'd take refuge near the central part of the building." He pointed towards the hall in front of him. "Christina mentioned a science lab. I'd say we look for one of those."

Kade nodded. She scanned the room and gave a sound of excitement. "Look, on the wall."

She walked quickly over towards a long wooden desk. She went around behind it and was looking at some framed object that hung on it. "It's a map!"

Zack quickly made his way over to it. It was hard to make out the lines of walls for the rooms of the building, but the lettering stood out very well. It appeared that there were two science labs, and both were on the second story. The staircase was near the end of the hall in front of them.

"Up we go." Zack said while starting down the hall. "Stay alert." He added.

Kade gave a quick nod.

Even walking slowly across the tiled floor, both their steps seemed to reverberate on all the walls around them. The atmosphere remained calm and still. It irritated Zack a bit. He'd rather hear the sounds of someone, something, just anything so he'd know that they weren't alone and where the danger would be coming from.

They neared the end of the central hall. Zack looked each direction quickly. He saw a marble stairway to his right. He went directly for it. He used his left hand for balance on the rail as he made his way up. Kade followed behind him, she seemed edgy and kept conversation to a minimum, which suited Zack just fine. He wanted to keep his full attention to the task at hand.

He reached the top and proceeded towards the labs. Directly above him were several broken crumbled ceiling tiles. Droplets of water were falling from the ceiling from unseen leaking pipe that created a melodic beat as they fell to the floor where a small puddle stood. They passed several empty classrooms and lecture halls on each side of the corridor, their doors were open. They went further along and Zack noticed a door on the right that was closed securely.

He went over to it pressing his ear to it. The door was made of some metal material and felt cool on his ear. Kade stood in front of him and she began to open her mouth to speak. Zack quickly brought his finger to his lips in a gesture of silence. She understood and waited patiently. Zack reach to a handle and slowly tried to turn it. It was stiff but it turned fully and he cracked the door open a bit.

Zack kept his voice in a low whisper. "Alright Kade, this must be it. Don't act unless absolutely necessary. I want to talk to him first, okay?"

"Got it." She responded quietly. Her voice held a trace of nervousness to it.

Zack pushed the door quickly open to the left while he aimed his heavy revolver in front of him. Both he and Kade stormed inside, ready for whatever was waiting for them. The room was just as dark as the rest of the college. The only light was that being emitted from several Bunsen burners on a few counters around the room as well as from a hanging single low wattage light bulb. There was a lot of glassware set up on the counters consisting of many different shapes and sizes. The majority of them were empty, but several had different amounts of liquid of different shades of color. In one corner there was a rack filled with about thirty or forty vials of what must be the drug that Christina spoke of. Labels were attached on the outside of them with small writing.

Zack was uneasy at first when nobody was directly in front of him. He was beginning to scan the rest of the room when he heard a voice to his right.

"Well, I was wondering when that [censored] would finally get some poor bastards to do her bidding. I knew I should have taken care of her earlier." His voice boasted confidence.

Zack could only see the back of the man. He had dark straight medium length hair that fell just past his neck line. He was a tall lean man who wore some kind of stained white lab coat. He was behind one of the counters. Zack couldn't see his hands. They could be working with the strange concoction, or very well be grabbing some hidden weapon.

"We're here to shut you're little drug factory down Dr. Skye. Turn around." Zack commanded. "Slowly."

"Or else what? Are you going to shoot me?" He asked coldly.

Zack thumbed the hammer of his revolver back. He was sure the man heard it sound from where he stood.

"If it comes to that." Zack said.

From his peripheral, Zack could see Kade was holding her laser pistol uneasy in front of her. Her head was tilted looking to his face questionably to what he would do next.

"I'd have to advise you highly against it. The chemicals and compounds that I use to experiment and create with, over time have found themselves absorbed by any item in here. Also traces remain in the air."

"So?" Zack asked unknowing of what Dr. Skye was referring to.

"So," He responded contemptuously, "I use a wide variety of chemicals, sometimes having to break them down to base properties, and some of the elements are quite unstable, as well as explosive. If you have half a brain, you'd think greatly over pulling that trigger. You'd cause us all to die in a fiery inferno."

Zack swore under his breath. He felt a trickle of sweat that flowed down his cheek to his jaw. He moved his eyes widely around the room trying to contemplate if Dr. Skye was bluffing.

"Kade?" Zack asked without moving his head. He could see her shrug slightly and she lowered her weapon and returned it to her holster.

"Sounds feasible." She said.

Zack kept his weapon on the man, its weight was beginning to cause him some strain to keep it level. He decided it best to keep the man talking while he thought of what to do.

"What the hell are you testing on these people? What are you trying to accomplish?" Zack asked.

Dr. Skye scoffed. Zack could hear the clanking of glass instruments. The man turned around. His skin tone was pale. The wrinkles throughout it made him look to be perhaps in his mid-forties. He had a neatly trimmed beard that had a bit of grey to it. Underneath the lab coat were blue jeans and a dirty red button up shirt. The circles under his eyes made it appear he didn't sleep much. He probably spent most of his time working maliciously at his project, ignoring rest.

"I wouldn't want to bore someone as ignorant looking as you with the details. Not like a simple mind would understand what I'm trying to do." He reached up and stroked his beard with his left hand. He didn't seem phased at all by the weapon in Zack's hand.

"Try me." Zack shot back quickly.

Dr. Skye studied Zack's face with his piercing grey eyes sizing him up. "Alright then, if you insist. Maybe then you'll leave me in peace. I have developed a beautiful formula, that I named Dream Fuel. When taken orally, said formula allows a person's mind to exist in two places. The subject falls into a dream like trance, they believe they are sleeping, and the actions that they do in the actual world are visualized different in their mind's eye. They feel no pain, have absolutely no inhibitions, and are none the wiser about what is happening to them."

Disgusted, Zack thought of another question. "And how does that help you exactly?"

The muscle in Zack's forearm was burning from keeping the gun in the same position for so long. He wouldn't be able to hold out forever. Dr. Skye gave a short laugh before answering.

"The only way to build an army without recruiting is through force. And where I lack brute strength, I make up by attacking the mind. You see, in this state they are very open to suggestion. Once I get the variation of Dream Fuel perfect, I will have those poor saps of the town obey my every command." He began to pace back and forth behind the counter with his chin raised upwards.

"Once that is done, I will venture outwards, to other settlements and towns to do the same thing. Once I have a large enough army, no one will be able to stand in my way as I reclaim this battered land. I will rule as a mighty emperor and bring back order." He paused looking towards Zack as if waiting for applause.

Zack lowered his arm pointing the end of his gun towards the ground. He figured that it would be too risky to discharge his weapon which might cost them all their lives. He planned to wait till the Dr.'s attention was focused elsewhere and then he would rush the man. Zack was about to say something else, but Kade beat him to it.

"That's just sick." She spoke in a low monotone voice. "You gave that [censored] to the kids as well. They're innocent in all of this. They would be of little use to you in this grand army you speak of. I saw a little girl injure another child over nothing out there. It might've been her brother. You had no right to do any of this, to any of them."

A malicious smile crossed Dr. Skye's mouth and he shook his head slowly. "My dear, the children were instrumental in my experiment. Such young unformed minds are easily corruptible. They aren't as innocent as you think they are. They will be my future soldiers and servants."

With his attention on Kade, Zack thought this was his best chance and he was about to launch his attack. But before he could take two steps, Dr. Skye hands quickly reached behind the counter pulling out a strange gun like contraption aiming towards Zack. It looked similar to a shotgun, wooden handle, long steel barrel, and some kind of drum assembly. The opening on the barrel looked to have an inch and a half diameter to it. Ttoo large to a shot gun.

"Don't even think about it." He said. His teeth glinted in the dim light.

Kade swore from behind Zack.

"And the part about blowing us all to hell and beyond?" Zack said through gritted teeth.

"Now please, I'm no liar. This here is a nifty little thing that doesn't discharge bullets. I bought this off some traders awhile back. It uses the power of steam to fire very large railway spikes. At this range I would be able to attach your neck to the door back there, no problem. Would leave a nasty little mess but you'd be outta my hair. Now, you have done no wrong to me yet, so I suggest you leave while you can, but Christina will have to die I'm afraid."

Zack stood unmoving glaring at Dr. Skye. Kade came up behind him placing her hands gently on the sides of his arms.

"Zack, come on. We can't do anything more." She said softly.

"What?" Zack turned around confused.

"Please?" Her face conveyed eagerness and her eyes were flickering down and up.

Zack looked down. In each of her hands she held a frag grenade. He smiled and winked at her. He replaced the smile with a more serious face and turned back around to face Dr. Skye.

"Alright, we'll leave. We won't bother you again." Zack said and placed his revolver away.

"Good, I can see who wear's the pants in the family. Now get out of here before I change my mind."

Zack walked out of the room first. He wouldn't call himself a religious man, but he said a small prayer in his mind that they'd make it out of here alive.

Kade followed closely behind him. She inserted each of her thumbs through the rings of the grenades and pulled them out. She held her fingers firmly closed keeping the safety lever's in place till she was almost out of the room. She then thrust her hands backwards releasing the grenades. She was already out of the room sprinting down the hall as they landed and tumbled across the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Zack heard asked loudly from inside the room.

He grabbed onto Kade's arm and ran along side her. As they neared the staircase, Zack's foot slipped in the puddle of water that had been accumulating. He had put it out of his mind earlier. He fell backwards landing hard on his back and grunted loudly.

From down the hall a huge sound erupted shaking the building's walls and ground around them. Kade had managed to keep her balance when Zack had fell down, but after the explosion, she fell down more out of reaction than from force.

Zack got up on is knees and looked behind him. Smoke was billowing out from the room and flames were beginning to crawl out from the now open doorway igniting the wallpaper. He stood fully and helped Kade get up.

"Come on!" He said as he began to trotter down the steps.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Present Time

Without exposing his entire body Zack aimed down the hall and fired the remaining three rounds blindly down the hall. There was harmless return fire that pelted into the wall. Zack quickly reloaded and was going to shoot blindly again, but stopped himself. He didn't know when Kade would appear at the other end. She might get hit by his wild firing. He couldn't just sit there and hope that the robot would continue downwards either. It might ignore him entirely if it heard Kade trying to sneak up on it.

Zack reached for his necklace through his shirt holding it a moment before he rushed across the hall again. He fired four times upwards at the ceiling making sure the rounds didn't go past the robot before making it to the other side. There were a few more bursts of return fire. Zack saw that the sentry bot was slowly progressing down the hall towards him.

"Come get me you overgrown rust bucket." Zack cried out at the top of his lungs.

He peered around the corner and saw a silhouette behind the robot. It was moving slowly towards it.

"Kade."

Zack ran out again firing two more rounds at the ceiling. He didn't make it completely to the other side. A missile had been fired towards the path he was running. Zack quickly halted and fell to the ground sliding a bit as the missile exploded where he would have been. He covered his face as shrapnel and fragments flew towards him. The wind was totally knocked out of him. He lay motionlessly on the ground trying to regain his breath. He turned his head slowly to the side and saw that the sentry bot was beginning to wheel itself around towards where Kade surely was.

"No!"

Before it could finish its turn, the top part of its body blew outwards in a brilliant orange and blue flash. It caused Zack to close his eyes from the surprise brightness. When he reopened them he saw Kade above him reaching down the help him up. Her mouth was forming words, but an overpowering ringing was only thing in his ears. Luckily he still grasped his revolver. He moved aside his duster to put it away. His left leg had a sharp shooting pain in it. Kade guided him past the now useless robot. Its head was nowhere to be seen. The right side of its torso and arm was completely resting on the floor and small white embers still burned at its core.

Kade opened the other door and they both walked out. Zack almost tripped as he made his way down the stairs, but finally they were away from the burning building. They both collapsed to the barren ground on their backs. Zack was sore all over. Even his teeth even seemed to hurt. But at least the ringing was fading from his ears. He turned his head to look at Kade.

"Hey." He said with a wheezing breath. "Got that bot I see."

"Yep." She responded.

"And you destroyed another perfectly standing building as well."

She beamed at him.

Zack returned the smile with one of his own. They then both broke into laughter as they lay there watching the college burn in front of them. Thick black smoke rose high in the sky towards the cloudless sky.

Sorry it's been a bit since I last updated. I wanted to take a little break while I got some painting done in my house. I also bought a couple of Xbox games that have stolen a lot of my attention as well. Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still working on the story, and will be posting more regularly from now on.

sokay, I'm really enjoying it

Makes me think that the adventures of old_andy, archie and the gang might have to mosey on over to vegas some time.. :whistling:

Yay more to read!

I've grown attached to this story.

man. your cool...keep writing will ya? started reading this and realized I had read before and not said anything but it is good to see this coming along. Perhaps New Vegas will somehow dominate this scripture.

Excellent story, thanks 4 posting.

-I admit it was a little sappy in the beginning, but I wanted to show that he was actually a human, and not just some random bad ass who doesn't have feelings and is awesome at everything.

-The characters listing off information. Looking back, I see that I could have blended it better. I kind of wanted to make it similar to the games, where you can ask people questions and they pretty much tell you everything they know about it. I'll work on this for future chapters though. Thanks.

-Paul telling them about town's information. True he probably wouldn't trust them so quickly. But I wanted people to know where he was from instead of him being paranoid of them and just disappearing into the sunset without a clue to who he was. Looking back, that chapter should have been done better. I was beginning to develop a bit of writer's block and just created something to progress the story. I should not do that next time.

-About timelines not making much sense. Yes I was a bit aggravated, but I wanted to stay true to the new game coming out. When I first starting writing this, not a lot of information was yet out about the new game. I would search on the fallout wiki every so often for new things to pop up. And after I had written a bunch of chapters, they put up that Caesar's Legion had been around for quite sometime, but I wanted to make it seem like Zack didn't know what he was about to be getting himself into, and that traveling to New Vegas might bear other problems and obstacles. And about the menus after two weeks, I just kinda threw it in random, I didn't think about it too much. Forgiveness please.

-I was quite amazed how the jackal rabbits turned out after I was toying with the idea for a bit. I know in the new game they are putting in a giant ram thing, I might add that later into this story, will have to see. It would be awesome if any developers had read this and add them to some game add on or something. I would be honored and glad to see them.

Thanks for giving me some good criticism. It helps me to evolve my writing style and make sure I'm getting facts straight.

I'm glad that you took time to answer my questions. Your answers make sense once I see your reasonings(specially the time frames).
-Don't worry I forgive you, hard to stay true to the lore when its not even available lol.

Hope to see more of your fan fics soon.

Its nice to see people evolve through writing.

Cheers. :foodndrink:

About that Paul (he was the guy attacked by raiders, right) ...in that condition, you know: sister and some good friends getting killed, people can go to shock and say nothing or they can tell their whole life story so it's okay that he's telling about his town defences and locations, amirite? :wink_smile:

Chapter 3.8 - Back To Reality

August 26th, 2279

While lying on the ground, Zack had closed his eyes to rest a moment from all the excitement that had occurred in the past few hours. At the moment, the entire second floor of the college was engulfed with flames. The materials inside was what was burning, the stone structure merely blackened like one of its side buildings had been. There were a few other internal explosions that were heard from within the school. Zack figured that Dr. Skye must have been storing chemicals somewhere else in the school, perhaps in the other science lab that they didn't find. Without trying or wanting to, he fell into a light sleep. They had been traveling most of the night and it was almost about the time when they would have set up camp to sleep still dusk.

Zack was startled awake by the sound of Kade speaking. At first he couldn't discern what she was saying until he opened his eyes and focused on her voice. Kade was standing over him on his left side. She held her hand on her brow blocking the sun from her eyes. Her face was full of concern.

"Did you hear what I said Zack?" She asked him. "You're bleeding from your leg." She pointed down with her other hand.

Zack remembered that his leg was bothering him on their escape from the college, and he required the aid of Kade to get out. Zack sat up slowly and propped himself up an arm while he looked to where she pointed. He moved the end of his duster aside to get a better look. On the side of his thigh on the ground he could see a small amount of blood that had combined with dirt and congealed. Looking to his leg, he saw a good sized jagged piece of metal about the size of his index finger poking out of his charcoal colored pants. It had ripped through with relative ease. It was of the same color as the sentry bot was painted. He figured when the thing exploded he must been in the path of flying shrapnel. He was fortunate that only one piece had struck one of his legs. Multiple shards could have easily struck him all over. One might've even been fatal.

"Yeah. Looks like I picked up a little souvenir from our robotic friend." Zack said. He winced a little while he moved his hand and different parts around the wound to see if there was sill feeling to it.

Now seeing what caused the wound, Kade squatted down next to him looking worried.

"Should I pull it out?" She asked and moved her hand towards it.

"No don't." Zack said quickly, a little more stern than he meant to.

Kade immediately pulled her hand away as if his leg had magically grown teeth and had tried to bite her.

"Sorry." Zack said. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that. It's just that I don't have my pack with me. It has all my medical supplies in it. If we pull that that thing out and have nothing to stop the bleeding with, you might as well be going to New Vegas on your own."

"Oh right. Forgive me for being such an idiot." She said softly and stared down to the ground. Her hair fell slightly to block her face from view to Zack.

"Hey." Zack said.

He moved his left hand to her face. He placed it under her chin and lifted her head up so her green eyes met his.

Zack let out an exhausted breath. "Trust me when I say this Kade. You're just about the smartest person I've met in a long time." He gave her a reassuring smile.

A faint smile appeared on her face. "You're too kind Zack. I'm nothing great." She said.

Zack brought his hand back and placed it back on the ground to support his raised body. "You don't give yourself enough credit. Not just anyone would be able to disable a sentry bot. Most would just need a lot of fire power to take one down and would need more people to help out."

"Alright I guess I can give you that." She said.

"And, you've saved my life twice already, even if you had to do some remodeling to do it."

Kade snorted. "Well you saved my life first. You also helped me out at Cherry Cliff, when I wasn't myself. I say we're even then." She stood up and stretched her arms outwards. "I am a bit rough on buildings aren't I?"

"Yeah, remind me not to invite over you to dinner. We'd have to eat outside." Zack said with a laugh.

Her smile grew wider. "Speaking of which, I'm starving." She said.

Feeling blasting heat on his face from the warm day, Zack wiped some sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "So am I. Come on. Let's get back to town. I'm going to need to some help though. I don't have much motion with my leg at the moment. Think you can help?"

Kade nodded. "Sure thing."

Kade helped Zack to his feet. He tested his leg by putting some weight on it. He groaned when he did so. He could feel slight trickles of blood flowing down past his knee. Kade supported his larger heavier frame as best as she could by being on his left side with his arm hung over her shoulder. They began walking carefully together towards the road.

"I wanted to ask you about that robot." Zack said when they were almost to the road. "I thought when you said you would disable it that it would just turn off or something. Not that it would explode."

"Yeah, making it explode wasn't what I had in mind. I was able to open the maintenance hatch no problem, I believe it had some anti tampering program installed. I think it just sort of self destructed."

"Bummer, we could have probably sold it to Christina." He said with a chuckle.

They slowly made their down the winding road back to the main part of the town where Christina's shop resided.

When they got to the entrance of it, they both saw that the door was standing open. The streets were void of anything and no sounds could be heard from inside the shop. Both added together made Zack feel uneasy. He unwrapped his arm off of Kade's shoulder and propped himself against the wall. He couldn't remember if he had reloaded his revolver or not.

"I don't like this." Kade said looking towards Zack for instruction.

Zack kept his voice low. "Kade, take your gun out and see if Christina or anyone else is inside. Go slowly and be careful. Call out immediately if you need assistance."

"Okay." She responded while nodding at the same time.

She took a few deep breaths and pulled out her laser pistol. She held it out in front of her and went inside.

Zack could hear her footsteps as she progressed further into it. Straining, with one hand he took out his revolver. Sure enough, he had used all the rounds in it. He took the empty casings out and reached for more on his holster. When he reached down to his holster he swore. The ammunition was running low. He made a mental note to acquire more as soon as possible. Once it was reloaded he moved the revolver's cylinder back into place and held the gun at his side.

After he was finished he focused on the inside of the store. He couldn't hear Kade's steps anymore. Worried, he hobbled over to the doorway to glance inside. He didn't see her anywhere. Just as he was about to enter inside to investigate himself, she appeared from the backroom. She had put her pistol away. She paused by the counter looking confused.

"She's not here." She said.

Zack looked more carefully around the room. Their packs were still were still where they left them. Their containers were full of water sitting nearby. Zack lifted his hand to his mouth to cover a yawn. He was very tired. The loss of blood might be making him sleepier. There didn't seem to be any evidence of a struggle or blood throughout the store. Zack could only imagine what could've happened to her. Some of the residents might have come and took her somewhere. Or maybe once she heard the explosion at the college and took them for dead. She might have just gone about her daily business.

Zack heard rustling behind him. Forgetting about his wounded leg, he turned around quickly with his gun in hand to the oncoming threat. He let out a small cry of agony as he used his left leg to move and fell on his back to the wooden floor before he could fully complete the turn. His leg burned with pain. He was breathing rapidly. He aimed his gun unsteadily upwards to a person in front of him. It was Christina.

"Whoa don't shoot!" She said quickly with her hands raised in front of her body.

Zack let out a long sigh of relief. He lowered his gun letting its handle rest on the floor. He gave a small laugh and remained on the floor. He was too weak to get up himself.

He smiled up to her. "You scared the crap out of us." Zack said. "Well at least me anyways."

Christina looked down to him apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."

Kade walked over to Zack and with a strained face she helped him back to his feet. He thanked her. He then placed his revolver away while balancing on her.

"Where did you go?" Kade said with a hint of anger to her voice. "Did you know you left your door wide open? We thought the worst."

Christina closed the door behind her. She had some kind of small bag over her shoulder.

"Yeah, that stupid door doesn't stay shut sometimes. I don't have a key for it or else I'd lock it up." Christina said.

"Where were you?" Zack cut in.

Christina walked past scraping a shelf a bit with an arm and made her way to the counter. Kade and Zack turned together to follow her movement. She placed the small bag upon the counter and turned back around to face them.

"After you left I went to get water for you. I brought it back and waited for a bit. I was half expecting Dr. Skye to come down here saying how he killed the both of you that he knew I asked you to go do it. I figured he'd do me in after that."

She paused a moment to and sighed. "Once I saw smoke billowing from into the sky in the direction of the school, I'd figured that you did it. I was extremely pleased. I wasn't too sure if you would be coming back though. I had to keep myself busy. So I gathered some food and went around trying to get people to eat. You see, they usually forget to eat on their own while they are high off that junk he'd give them. I finished and came back here and found the both of you here."

"Makes sense." Zack said.

"Did you…have to…kill him?" She asked.

"He didn't leave us much a choice." Zack said.

"I see." She said softly.

Christina glanced down to his leg and saw the piece of metal jutting from it. Her face scrunched up.

"I'm sorry you got hurt. Is it painful?" She asked him.

"I'll manage." He responded.

"Um, you don't know a place here where we can rest for a bit and take care of this wound do you?" Kade asked politely.

Christina smiled. "Sure thing. I'd be happy to have you stay here actually. In the backroom there is a wood stove and a bed where the both of you can sleep. The bed is a bit small, but the two of look like you'd be fine nestled up next to each other."

Shocked by what she said, Zack began to mumble something incoherent.

Hearing Zack's muttering Kade jumped in to help. "We aren't together like that." She said. "We're just friends traveling together."

"Uh huh." Christina said and rolled eyes. "Could've fooled me." She added with a sly smile.

Kade gave a small laugh. "Thank you for the hospitality Christina. We'll be fine. But where will you sleep?" She asked.

"Don't' worry. I have some friends here that won't mind me intruding. I want to be close to them anyways to help them come back into reality." Christina nodded. "Oh, don't forget your payment. Any item you'd like here. Both of you I mean can choose something."

Zack finally found his words. "We will thanks. I want to get this leg taken care of first."

"Sure." She responded. I have some other things I have to take care of. Hopefully now that he won't be distributing those vials anymore, that the people will return to themselves." She lowered her eyebrows and paused. "I hope they don't go through withdraw or anything like that."

"Only time will tell." Zack said.

"Right. Well I'll be back later. Thanks again for what you did. Feel free to stay as long as you'd like." She said while walking past them and leaving the store.

"Come on Zack, let's get you fixed up." Kade said.

She helped him to the back room. It was a lot smaller than the business part of the building. It had a smudged square window against a wall. A raggedy looking shade was present. It was pulled half way down, allowing a stream of coppery light to flow into the room. A large oval teal rug filled the center of the floor. There was a small brown dresser under the window with a small silver circular mirror resting on the top along with several candles. A small bed frame was set into the corner. Two stained maroon pillows were at the head and green sheets covered it. Christina was right; it would have been a tight fit for the both of them. A decent sized black stove sat against another wall. A long pipe was attached that lead up to through the ceiling. Next to it was a stack of wood of various sizes. There was another door in the room as well. It looked to lead to a bathroom.

Zack let go of Kade and he plopped down on the bed. The mattress sagged a bit under his weight. The springs must have been worn out long ago.

"I'm going to go get our things. I'll be right back." Kade said and left the room.

While she was gone Zack took off his gloves, duster, head wrap, goggles, and holster. He organized them on the bed to his right. He then reached down and took off his boots and slid them under the bed. He grabbed one of the pillows and placed it against the wall and laid his head on it while his feet remained over the edge on the floor. He closed his eyes and almost fell asleep.

Kade returned a few moments later, her arms were full of their packs. Zack reopened his eyes and watched her. She emptied the contents of her arms gently on the floor and then proceeded to take her mechanic's gloves off. She tossed them on the bed next to Zack's things. She then brought her hand to her chest and unzipped the top part of her jumpsuit down to her waist. She pulled her arms out from the sleeves, exposing the small white tank top that she wore underneath. She pulled down the upper part of the jumpsuit behind her so the bulk of it remained at her waist.

"A bit warm in here isn't it?" She said.

While trying his best not to let his eyes wander to explore the curves of her upper body, Zack merely nodded before finding something to say.

"Could try to open the window perhaps?" He suggested.

Kade walked over to it and brought her hands to it feeling around the edges. Zack sat up and reached for his pack which was nearby his feet. He opened the middle compartment up to pull out his container of medical supplies. He also pulled out the spare shirt he kept in the main compartment. He then placed his bag down again. Kade turned around with a look of defeat on her face.

"Stupid thing doesn't open I guess. Oh well." She said waving the back of her hand at it.

Looking to Zack's leg, Kade sat gently down next to Zack taking special care not to bump into the metal protruding outwards.

"Will you need help with it?" She asked.

Zack took a deep breath. "Yes I will need your help. I really want to save these pants though. Cutting them off to tend the wound would leave them useless. Do you have any kind of cutting tool that can shorten the metal so I can take my pants off without ripping them?" He asked.

"Yeah." Kade nodded.

She grabbed her small messenger bag and pulled out blue handled wire cutters.

"Will these work?" She asked him.

"Yeah, they should be good. Can you do it for me? Just cut it down to about three quarters of an inch." He told her.

"Alright." She said a little uneasy.

Kade carefully held the piece of metal with one hand and used the other to hold the wire cutters. It took several cuts to get it completely off. Zack winced a few times as the piece moved around and dug into the muscle in his leg.

"Sorry." She said as she took the now removed piece in her hand. She set it and the wire cutters next to her.

"No worries." Zack responded. "Now, we'll need um…needle nose pliers if you have them."

"I do." She said at once and began to rummage through her bag again.

Zack began to undo his belt and shift his pants downwards. He took special care to make sure the pants wouldn't get caught on the remaining metal.

Placing the pliers next to her and seeing what Zack was doing she spoke nervously. "Uh, do you want me to leave the room for this part?" She asked.

"I'm fine if you are. I do wear underwear." He said with a laugh.

Kade helped him pull down his pants down to his feet and took them off completely. The boxers that Zack wore had also been penetrated by the metal. Zack lifted them over and pulled them up a bit. The side of his leg was caked in streams of dried blood. Kade looked a little queasy.

"Least it stopped bleeding." Zack said. "Can you check the store for any alcohol or some disinfectant? Or perhaps the bathroom?"

"Of course." She said and got up.

She went into the bathroom first, but came up empty handed. She then proceeded towards the store.

Zack lifted his leg up a little, folded his spare shirt, and placed it underneath his leg. Once the metal came out, he might bleed some. He didn't want to ruin Christina's sheets and mattress.

Kade came back carrying a clear bottle of what looked like vodka.

"It's all I could find." She said.

"It'll do. Now come back over here." He said.

She sat back down next to him but kept her eyes from the leg.

"I'm going to need you to pull it out while I quickly clean it from any other debris that might be in here. I'm most likely will have to suture it closed as well. I should be able to manage from the pain. Think you can do that?" He smiled to her.

"Yeah…I can." She said at last.

She gripped the pliers in her hand and slowly pulled the metal object from him. A small spurt of blood gushed out along with it that trailed down to his spare shirt. From the blood on metal piece, it looked to have gone in about almost two inches into his leg. Zack was glad that it didn't hit any arteries. Quickly he poured a good amount of alcohol onto it. He gasped a few times as the liquid sterilized the wound. With some gauze wrapped over his finger he gently poked around and inside to clear any dirt or fragments of metal that remained. Kade watch in astonishment as he worked on himself.

"Kade can you go into the side of my pack and get my lighter?" He asked her through gritted teeth.

Kade retrieved the lighter and held it to him, but he shook his head. With his free hand he passed her the open plastic container.

"I'm going to need you to thread one of the needles in there, and then sterilize it with the lighter." He saw the look on her face. "I'm up to sewing it closed my self though, don't worry." He said.

She nodded. She had some difficulty threading it. It seemed obvious that she hadn't sewn much in her life. But finally she managed to do it. She was just finishing sterilizing the needle as Zack felt satisfied with the now clean wound. It wasn't bleeding all too much anymore. He threw the bloodied gauze to the ground and took the needle from Kade. He placed one hand around the wound, squeezing a bit to bring the skin together. He was about to insert the needle when he looked to Kade. Her green eyes were focused on his hands. Some of the color of her face had faded away.

Zack smiled. "Kade, why don't you get that stove lit and get some of our food cooking on it. I don't think you need to watch me do this. I'll be alright."

"Okay, sounds like a good idea." She said. Her eyes were still focused a moment on his hands.

Finally she got up with the lighter in hand and made her way over to the stove. She opened its door and began to place small pieces of wood that she grabbed from the pile. She placed them inside in a standing arrangement.

Zack took a deep breath and inserted the needle for the first of what would be quite a few times into the skin by the wound. He grimaced. The hand not holding the needle shook a bit. He finished the first half of it while Kade got the beginnings of a fire going in the cooking stove. She prodded at it with a stick in one hand, causing it to grow. She stared intently into the flames, not wanting to turn to watch as Zack patched himself up. He couldn't blame her for not wanting to.