» Fri Dec 24, 2010 10:02 am
Ok, today`s adventure ...
"Be as fearless as you want, just don`t take me with you!"
I spied on the two Raiders with the scope on my scratched-up sniper rifle. It was old, but well maintained and trusty. I had done much killing with this weapon.I fidgeted with the scope as I looked. It would soon be dark. We`d travelled by foot all the way from Rivet City to Megaton and then from there to TenPenny Tower looking for this Harkness guy. It wasn`t until I got to TenPenny Tower that Brisa mentioned that she reckoned Harkness was actually at Rivet city!
I was tired from jogging. My tongue tasted like sand and all we had was crappy dirty water and some box of crap. All probably irradiated. It was also too damn warm. Brisa would say I should take all that heavy clothes off and keep light, like her. Thanks, but no. She jokes that maybe I`m afraid to show off my rippling muscles.
Everyone`s afraid. Anyone who says different is a liar.
It`s one of the first questions I ask any merc I`m about to employ. If he says he ain`t afraid of anything, I don`t hire him. I`ve seen too many `fearless` fighters who`ll dive into a fight never to come out again. Lost one guy I was trying to rescue from a Super Mutant encampment in GermanTown cos he insisted on attacking when I told him to stay back. Now everyone in Big Town hates me. That`s why I fear rescue missions too.
Malcolm. Yea, he was one Merc who was ok. Tough bloke. Didn`t like following orders, but he followed them. He`s off doing a job for someone else who can pay more. Good luck to him. He was afraid too, I could tell in every battle, even as he taunted the enemy, he just never showed it. Fear, but facing your fear, that`s the secret of a good soldier.
And the women- They`re the worse. Braver than brave, or do they have a chip on their shoulder? Or do they just hate being ordered around by a man? Or do I just pick the wrong ones every time? Last one I hired refused to stay back while I prepared to scout out a derelict building.
"Stay back, woman!" I hissed as she started moving towards an oblivious lone Super Mutant.
"Don`t call me woman!" she replied and immediately attacked. She killed him, rather skillfully, just before the six other Super Mutants round the corner caved her skull in and I had to fight my way out of there.
"Be as fearless as you want, just don`t take me with you!" Is my motto.
So why was I here with another woman beside me about to attack a Raider settlement?
Because she was different. She was actually afraid. Like me, like all of us. That meant she followed orders because then we both lived. That and I didn`t have to pay her.
We were a klick away from Fairfax in the Wastes, two clicks from Greyditch on the way to Rivet city approaching a set of buildings with a wide road going through the middle. I`d been here a week ago and it was quiet, but this time I spotted the unmistakable trappings of Raiders who had no doubt decided this was a good waypoint to snare unsuspecting travellers.
"Well what do you think?" Brisa asked in that youthful teenage voice of hers, although she was 22, I think. She`d left Vault 101 a month ago looking for me. Crazy really. Instead of heading to Megaton she`d instead headed the complete wrong way deeper into the Wastes. She`d dodged raiders and creatures, sold almost everything to a wandering merchant except for her pistol. She got rid of the 101 jumpsuit for a somewhat revealing Raider Sadist armour, as I`ve heard them called. She said the jumpsuit made her stand out as new. This way others tended to leave her alone, thinking her a Raider. True and dangerous, as I nearly shot her the first time I saw her. She put on a brave face in that shack surrounded by creatures, but I realised she was close to risking heading back to the Vault out of desperation. I could see she didn`t want to die alone and friendless in this hell. She was glad to see me, and in my own gruff way, I was glad to see her as well. I did not ask about the vault- I was finished with that place, for good. I`d changed a lot since those wide-eyed days.
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I looked down from my scope, " Two raiders, one`s got a sniper rifle; other looks like a heavy mg. Guarantee there are more, but we can set a trap. You wait here, I`ll go to the other side of the road and snipe the first two, when the rest come running up, you know what to do."
"Ok, but be careful" She said, simply.
By the time she had responded, I was already halfway across the wide road in a running crouch ,my camouflage fatigues and kit jingling to my movements. Brisa`s a lot quieter, in fact her sneak abilities are like that of a mouse! You don`t hear her until she wants you to. But I wasn`t going that near the Raiders, just close enough. I set up at the corner and gave a quick glance at Brisa to make sure she was still in position. Even from over here it was difficult not to be drawn to her fetching curves in that leather Raider armour she insisted on wearing. It was sixy in a kinky kind of way... She looked back at me.
I turned back to my sniper scope- Concentrate, dammit, or she`ll be the death of you.
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The first Raider showed up clearly in my scope, I could see the wide-brimmed hat he wore and the strange eagle-face mask. This was the part of battle I hated- The bit before the crap hit the fan... I could avoid all this death, especially the potential death of me by just walking away.
I breathed in slowly, then out... and gently pulled the trigger.
The report from the gun reverberated about the buildings as the Raider dropped to the ground like a ragdoll. I let the rifle buck against me and realigned my sights, I quickly rechambered. The other Raider in a bronzed armoured vest looked about puzzled. Then he saw his dead mate just as I fired the second shot spurting a spray of blood from the base of the back of his skull. He collapsed like a sack of potatoes. I immediately dropped the old sniper rifle and swapped to my smg. A nice weapon recently bought from Rivet city, quite rare apparently. It`s designation had worn off long ago and it had been repaired many times. It acted sometimes like a short range sniper rifle and often like sub machine gun. There were also rumours that it was a British weapon. Considering my great, great, granddad was English, that was a bonus. It cost a ton of caps.
Immediately, there were shouts from ahead of more Raiders- LOTS more. I waited calmly.
I saw three through my scope making their way up the road. Already one of them was shooting. It seemed randomly. I coolly aimed through the scope and fired at the first, the second, the third, on semi auto. I saw two go down, but the third ran behind a corner of the building. Alerting others to where I was.
"There is he!" A child-like voice came from my left and slightly behind. [censored]! I didn`t realise there might be Raiders up that way. I swiftly turned left to see what looked like a very short Raider followed by two others on the top of the road there, "He`s over here!" The tiny female voice shouted.
A Raider child? I thought, a Raider child in pigtails? As I stared, she threw a ball towards me. I watched it arc over gracefully and thought I should catch it. But then reality kicked in- GRENADE!
I jumped up and ran as fast as I could. I wasn`t going to get away fast enough. The grenade exploded- the ground shook like an earthquake had hit it! I felt myself hit the ground and my head hit that. Everything went momentarily black. Then light and a screeching sound in my head accompanied by the slow bak-bak-bak dull sounds which suddenly sped up into the staccato sounds of various types of gunfire. I heard a crack sound by my ears through the high pitched tone- Not good. I stumbled about, grappling automatically for my weapon, petrified of that final hit that would be blackness forever. I surprised myself by hoping that Brisa would get away if I went down.
I looked back where I had been and just around the corner appeared a Raider, an advlt, with a shotgun "HahahAAA!" He laughed wickedly. His heard jerked back as his temple spouted blood and bone from a gunshot. He stumbled back into an oncoming second brigand who also went down to rapid fire from an M1 carbine- Brisa!
"I`m not enjoying this!" she shouted still shooting rapidly, she stopped to reload, she shouted something else, but I couldn`t hear her any more. It was clear behind me.
I turned my attention back to the road where two more Raiders were running at me, armed with a baseball bat and some kind of sword. Even through my dazed semi-conscous state I put them down easily. I hurt all over. I knew I`d taken shrapnel to various parts of me and my old world war 2 helmet had probably saved me from instant death even as blood trickled down my face. I grabbed the morphine and stimpack off my helmet and quickly stabbed both into my leg.
"Brisa!" I shouted, "With me, but keep your distance!"
She quickly looked at me and replied something, but I couldn`t hear that either. My attention was drawn to the Raider taking potshots at me from down the road and behind a corner. He stopped to reload and that`s when Brisa hit him, he tried to move out but my many shots in his direction put him down. Now it seemed the Raiders that were left were retreating, I picked two of them off as they fled. I sat back against the wall in relief, my sweaty, bloody hands trembling. Brisa crouched over to me, she started applying bandages to my head, "Just look at you," She mumbled.
"We must make sure ... area clear," I stuttered.
"It`s clear. This is going to hurt. Bite down on this..." She shoved some stick in my mouth.
"The-the kid?"
"I got her."
And then it started raining.
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Semi conscous.
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The kid.