Brute
"Those are the bastards that murdered my vault!"
Silence filled the hall for a moment, but reactions to her outburst
were more than mixed. An impressed whistle broke through, but that was
followed by a dismissive laugh from Jassic on the other side of the
hall.
"Hahaha! If *she* can deal with 'em we'll get this mutie, no
problem."
Having travelled with Abigail already his words held some weight
among those who had not, but just as many again were worried by the
obvious scale of what Abigail had said, Kirren, Lyster and even Bason
included. These monsters had penetrated a still sealed and operational
*vault*, and left only one survivor.
For his part, Mayor Golway looked to be in the latter camp as he
eyed Abigail. "Be quiet people! If you have anything to add, girl, then
now is the time."
Lilis agreed, much more sympathetically. "We have been working on
what the Diamond King told us, which as you heard isn't much. Anything
you can tell us would be of use."
Abigail felt her rage fall out of the bottom of her stomach, only to
be replaced by butterflies. "They... they just broke into our vault,
and killed everyone."
Silence fell again, and Abigail knew that her answer had been
inadequate, but before Golway or Lilis could prompt her Rathley spoke
up from his corner seat. "Come on, Sugar. Details again, huh?"
"Their numbers? Strategy? Armament?" asked the heavily armed man,
standing beside Golway and Lilis. His voice was pleasantly soft and
concerned, in contrast to his bull-headed appearance. "Any *why* would
they attack a vault? That was evidently suicide."
Abigail shook her head, trying to calm her sudden case of nerves as
she spoke to the men and woman at the front. And she shook her head in
vehement denial at the armed man's assumption. "They did enough, they
killed everyone! I thought they were raiders, because I heard them say
they wanted what we had inside. I survived because I got lucky, and
because they were... they were dumb."
"How do you mean?" Lilis asked, looking genuinely curious, while the
men wore blank and serious faces.
"I killed the last one because it let me sneak up behind it. Another
sounded hurt, and killed itself. And their boss was mad, and wasted all
its bullets, so I guess the rest of us just overwhelmed it."
"And how big was their squad?" the well armed man asked.
"Squad?" Abigail echoed. She hadn't even thought of them like that.
"It was just four. Our security team killed the other one, before they
died."
All three of the apparent officials were caught off guard by such a
small number, and Golway's eyes bugged out slightly. "God."
That ripple of worry spread across the rest of the audience as well,
quelling Jassic's optimism, and a few of the faces began to regard
Abigail with something akin to awe.
"They also had to cross the Cobalt Line, if they found the girl's
vault," Old Bert added darkly. "So these 'Super Mutants' must be hardy
buggers. Kinda like ghouls pumped up on buffout, eh?"
The pitch black humour sank in quickly. The unknown heckler had said
it in jest last time, but ghouls were well known for their toughness
and their resistance to anything the wasteland could throw at them, be
it starvation, radiation, or just hails of gunfire.
"And they just attacked your vault unprovoked?" Golway asked.
Abigail nodded. "Yes."
"Then we *do* have to eliminate it," the armed man said, and Golway
slowly nodded, before he turned to the crowd.
"This was going to be a mission to persuade the Hearts that it was
in their best interests to rein in their new member's camp, but given
this new information we will have to deal with them more directly. We
will have to discuss the details further, but in the mean time think
about what you've heard today. While diplomacy would be preferred, you
may have to shoot first and deal with unanswered question later, and
needless to say, the risk may be very high."
"For those of you who don't do maths," Lilis added, "Abigail, how
many were in you vault?"
"People? About six hundred and fifty?"
"That's about a hundred and sixty people killed for every super
mutant taken down."
Mayor Golway let that sink in for a moment, before making his final
announcement. "Also, given the level of threat that Diamond Jack
implied, I took the liberty of asking for some assistance while we were
contacting the Diamonds. This," he said, finally introducing the green
armoured man at his side, "is Initiate Harris, from the Brotherhood of
Steel. Given the severe nature of the warning Diamond Jack gave us, he
was sent here to assess the situation on behalf of the Brotherhood."
Several whispers of "Holy shit!" and "Man, you're kidding," started
circulating the room, while beside Abigail Chopper just closed her eyes
and grimaced.
"Chopper?" Abigail asked, but the woman just shook her head.
Harris stepped forward, and gave a short bow. "After hearing of
their recent increased danger to the region as a whole, I have been
given full authority to uncover what level of threat the raiders known
as the Hearts possess. I will be the eyes of the Brotherhood on this
mission, so that we can see first hand what must be done about these so
called 'Super Mutants'."
He looked to Abigail. "Especially now that we know there may be more
than one of them, and that they passed right through the Cobalt Line to
get here."
Within their little group, Sharn looked distinctly worried. "This...
this is going to be bad, isn't it?"
Beside her, Chopper nodded. "Oh yes, it's *always* bad when *they*
show up."
Abigail had the same unspoken answer, but for a very different
reason. She needed to go now. The desire to confront this monstrous
raider was overwhelming. She wanted revenge, no matter how emotionally
pointless she knew it would be, and she wanted to make sure that those
creatures could never do to Corva what they did to Vault 42.
But if she went, she wouldn't be coming back. She had been lucky
once, and her record with lady luck would not allow her to escape
again.
***
Sharn knocked on the door again. "Abby-girl? You're not still in bed
are you? We're going to buy some lunch. Do you want to come? Abby-
girl?"
Silence. Sharn knew she was in there, probably. Chopper had been
playing doctor again in the street outside, so Sharn had been learning
some first aid with her and she hadn't seen Abigail emerge all morning.
"I can pick you up something to eat? Iguana on a stick?"
She was only concerned - okay, not just concerned, she was worried -
because Abigail had been so quiet and angry the evening before. She had
not talked to any of them much, and had stormed off after yet another
poorly advised joke from Rathley. In fact, Sharn had laughed along with
him, as they all had, because the unpleasant old wastelander had been
the only one of them who had managed to lighten the mood. Abigail just
hadn't seen the encouragement in it.
Maybe the fact that her vault's combat abilities had been at the
butt of it hadn't helped, but even so the mercenaries that would be
going on this mission couldn't really be compared to a vault full of
hydro farmers and scientists. They had a member of the *Brotherhood of
Steel* going with them; they were bound to win, whether it came down to
a fight or not. And it wasn't like they weren't all nervous. Maybe some
of them would die. Sharn and Abigail and Kyle would just have to make
sure it wasn't them.
Finally Sharn heard the belated reply through the door. "Sorry
Sharn. I'm not hungry."
Sharn frowned. Since Abigail had eaten almost nothing in those first
days after being found, that wouldn't do at all. Sharn had been more
willing than Chopper to respect Abigail's need for privacy, but right
then the only thing that stopped her entering was that nagging in the
back of her head about Abigail's discomforting feelings towards her.
Knowing that Abigail was attracted to her meant that Sharn didn't want
to appear too familiar with her. The trouble was, where was the
boundary? Before, either Sharn had liked someone, or she hadn't, and
that had been it. She made sure she was close to those she liked, such
and Kyle and Abigail, and made sure there was always a safe distance
from those she didn't, like Rathley.
Now Abigail occupied that safe but uncertain ground that Chopper
did. Sharn did not like Chopper, as a person. But she trusted her both
as a doctor and fellow Scav. As such, Sharn had learned to allow
Chopper into her personal space, both physically and emotionally, even
if it made her wary and tense.
And now Sharn was trying to learn to keep Abigail out of it. Sharn
did not want to imply that she might feel the same attraction that
Abigail felt towards her, and yet the girl drew out a very strong
sisterly and maternal instinct in her. She wanted to coddle and protect
the girl, and she couldn't do that from a distance. It was difficult.
It was much the same charm that had first drawn Chopper's interest
to her, Sharn guessed. Abigail was a very distracting person, so when
she hadn't appeared all morning, none of them could simply leave her to
it. Chopper had been all for dragging her out, but Rathley and Kyle had
instead pulled the doctor away for a lunchtime drink while Sharn took
the more sensitive approach.
"I'm coming in, okay?"
She took the silence that followed as acceptance.
Contrary to Chopper's disapproving expectations, Abigail was not
still curled up beneath the sheets, but instead sitting cross legged
atop them. She had, once again, spread her worldly wealth out on the
bed, and only briefly looked up to Sharn before looking back down to
her possessions, both her latest loot and what she had reclaimed from
Sharn's locker at the town's three-man exploration company.
Compared to the normal townsfolk, Sharn guessed, it probably wasn't
a bad haul.
"Hey Abby-girl," Sharn greeted, hopefully, "come on. If you don't
eat you're going to waste away, and there's not much left of you as it
is!"
Abigail gave her a weak smile, but that was it.
It wasn't enough by a long shot, and it only made Sharn worry more
for the frail athlete. "You can't afford to go hungry around here,
Abby. If this is about Rathley's joke, I'm sorry, okay? We didn't want
to make you angry."
Abigail shook her head. "No. I'm alright now."
That was something. Sharn sat down at the other end of the bed. "So
what's wrong?"
Abigail shrugged. "I just... can't believe it's going to happen
again. It's sort of like a bad dream. You know, those ones where you
can see what's coming, but you still walk right into it? Just the way
you always do?"
Actually, Sharn didn't. "Umm, I don't really have nightmares like
that. Do you think you're being given a prophecy?"
Abigail smiled again, her melancholy broken briefly by the moment of
amusement. "No, not like that. Just an inevitability. Actually, when I
do see that monster again, I think I'm going to wet myself."
Now it was Sharn's turn to be amused, if only by the inappropriate
image, given what Abigail wore. "Hey, we'll all be scared. Even if
those tough guys look like they're enjoying it, they only get that
thrill because they might die because of the next stray bullet. That's
why Rathley makes all those nasty jokes, right? If we were always
serious about going up against raiders like this, we'd all be depressed
all the time."
"No you wouldn't. I saw you fighting. As soon as those raiders
started shooting, you were all business. You just, I don't know, dealt
with it."
"Yeah, I ran under the cart and prayed to my grandparents that those
bastards wouldn't be able to hit me behind the wheels! I haven't had to
fight raiders without being safely hidden before. Molerats and
radscorpions I'll fight in the open, but people with guns?" Sharn shook
her head, smiling sympathetically. "I don't know how Kyle fights like
that any more than you do. He just says you have to think fast and have
confidence."
"Confidence? What if you die out there, Sharn? It took so many
bullets to kill just one of those monsters."
Sharn was just as concerned, but shrugged off Abigail's worry for
the girl's own sake. "Then if we have to, we sneak up on it and blow
its head off. That's how you did it, right?"
Abigail nodded, looking uncertain or ill - Sharn couldn't tell which
- and she picked up one of her knives in her hands. "Maybe I'll have to
get a gun after all."
"Well, you can afford one," Sharn encouraged, motioning to Abigail's
possessions. "But knives and spears, if you're throwing them, are just
as useful as distractions and cover fire, even if you can't rely on
them for a kill."
Abigail gave her a questioning look, to which Sharn grinned.
"I'm a traditional girl, remember? I like spears and things too.
Nothing scares a guy more than seeing a spear flying in out of nowhere
when he thinks he's got himself covered!"
Abigail didn't seem to have an answer to that. "Yeah, maybe. But I
don't want you to come this time Sharn."
Sharn was surprised by the sudden request, and more so by the tone
in Abigail's voice. She leaned across the bed to look Abigail in the
eyes. "You can't say that when you sound like you've made up your mind
to go, Abby-girl. I'm not letting you go without me, and anyway, I
think Kyle wants to see this super mutant for himself."
"And what if you die?!"
Sharn shrugged, "Then I die, and I hope my mother and father will be
proud of me when I see them. But if we have to fight I'll be shooting
from behind a rock or something. I'll be safer than you will, Abby-
girl. Why do you look like you're already resigned to the worst?"
Abigail shrugged, looking lost, and Sharn had to try very hard to
resist the impulse to hug her. "I don't know what I can do against
those things," Abigail said, "but I have to give myself the opportunity
to do *something*. I guess if I die, I die, like you said."
Hearing that sad acceptance Sharn's resolve finally did break, and
she crawled onto the bed to take the girl into her arms. "Yeah, if you
die then that's that, but that never means you should let it happen,
Abby-girl. You've got to want to come back here so you can spend all
that loot!"
Abigail clutched at Sharn in return and buried her face into her
shoulder. "I don't care about loot," Abigail whispered. "I just don't
want you to die!" She wheezed out a breath, almost laughing at herself,
before that dark humour vanished again. "I don't even want Rathley to
die. Not because of this."
Sharn accepted the embrace, conceding with her own inhibitions that
it was what they both needed right then. A strengthening of weakened
bridges. "Well, you know, we might not have to fight at all. I've only
done a few Merc jobs for this town, but they usually have some kind of
negotiation option. Who knows what the Hearts might say?"
Abigail nodded, but as they parted, something on her face told Sharn
that the girl didn't believe it for a second. Sharn was not going to
try and argue the point though. Abigail needed something else to think
about.
"Come on," she said with a smile. "Let's get some meat in your
stomach!"
***
"So, you *are* heading out again, huh?"
Abigail nodded, looking down from the vast auditorium stage. "I have
to."
Her words bounced around the wide, empty room, reverberating from
the walls and between each and every one of the seven hundred empty
chairs. Hearing herself sound so certain made her feel naked and
exposed up there. She *was* naked and exposed, almost. Standing there
in her underwear would do that to her, but at least the mass of her
vault family was not there to see her wardrobe blunder. She didn't feel
embarrassed, only foolish.
And Abigail knew that Alice didn't care as the girl sat by herself
in the blue plastic chair, the sole member of the audience.
"You would do the same, wouldn't you?"
"Who knows?" Alice replied. Hers was a friendly voice, but utterly
non-committal. "You're the adventurous one, not me."
Alice was one of Abigail's better friends - one who, like Abigail
herself, abstained from the scheming that went on between many of the
other girls. They both knew, and Gillian as well, that the others would
say thing about them behind their backs, and the three of them just
didn't care. They were one part of their social network, the tomboys as
they were often called, and the others slotted themselves into other
places in the group. But while Abigail and Gillian were bold and
charismatic, being unremarkable was Alice's greatest asset. She had
said as much herself, and more than once.
She was a model student, but never exceptional enough to be singled
out as such. She was pretty, but never received any attention that
wasn't wanted. She was multi-talented, and yet never tried to take
credit for her assistance with so many different and varied work
projects.
She was the girl who everyone liked, because she gave you no reason
to dislike her. The girl who everyone had seen as capable, or worth
owing favours to. There was no doubt in Abigail's mind.
Alice was the girl who would be an Overseer one day.
Just as Abigail stood awkwardly on stage, Alice sat stiffly in her
seat as well, her hands flat on her lap. "It'd only be an adventure if
I lived to tell about it," Abigail said. Alice's bland reply had taken
some of the fire out of her uneasy conviction. "This won't be an
adventure."
Alice replied with a questioning look. "Really? You're fascinated by
the new and exotic people, thrilled by the danger of the fighting..."
Abigail wanted to object, but her body wouldn't let her. "That's...
not..."
Alice didn't let her respond further. "It is all so new, isn't it?
So hard to deal with, but simply by dealing with it, it has become your
victory. You know what this world is capable of now. You know what *we*
are capable of. And if it comes down to it, you won't hesitate. You
will cry and scream and tremble, but you will do what you have to. You
were always about action, Abigail."
"I won't be very active when I'm dead."
"And you won't accept death that easily." Alice smiled finally.
"None of us would. Do you know how hard we would fight?"
Abigail shut her eyes and turned her head away. "I don't want to
know."
"If resigning yourself to your fate is the only way you can convince
yourself to face your fears then I'll accept that, but you will need to
be careful when you reach them, Abby. All that frustration of yours
won't help you, and you won't be so eager to take Death's hand when he
offers it."
Then Alice shrugged. "*If* he even offers it. Are you sure you're
not just being a pessimist? Or do you know something that you don't
want to admit to?"
Abigail couldn't answer that.
"Alight, I won't push. You know, you're not very chatty tonight. We
always spend so much time talking, and listen to you now. I've almost
forgotten what you sound like!"
Abigail smiled, growing misty eyed for her poor lost friend. "I
haven't forgotten you. I miss talking too, you know? Even if what we
talked about never mattered."
Alice nodded and finally broke her stiff pose, getting to her feet
and wandering up to sit on the edge of the stage. Abigail did the same.
"Talking about nothing is the best way to start making something
new, isn't it?"
Abigail had to agree.
***
When morning came, signalling their departure, Abigail found that
she could put a much better face on the situation. Though she
remembered little of what she had dreamt, the memory of Alice had
instilled in her a calm confidence about the upcoming battle.
And it *would* be a battle, even if there might be no fire fight.
This was, Abigail had realised, her chance to face the memory of her
vault, still so recent and so painfully fresh. Whether or not a single
shot was fired, Abigail would end up wrestling with herself over what
she must do, what she would crave to do, and with the fear of simply
seeing one of those hulking green monstrosities again.
It would be the test that proved to herself, once and for all,
whether she could live on the surface. Would she be able to put aside
her anger and her terror and live as objectively as people like Chopper
and Lilis did? Those were the sort of people who made something of
themselves: the doctor reviled by the self same people who would seek
her out for her brutal and audacious skill, and the prostitute called
upon to make the choices that lesser men and women would never be able
to.
Could Abigail do that? If she did not find out, she would never
forgive herself. And if she died, then she would be re-united with her
vault, wherever they were now.
"Nice to see you looking better," Kyle said as they headed for the
main street, and the caravan that would be waiting for them there. "I
thought you might not be up to it yesterday."
"Kyle, be nice!" Sharn admonished. "You know you don't have to come
if you don't want to, Abby-girl."
Abigail appreciated the sentiment that Sharn obviously intended, but
she didn't want to be pushed away either. "No, I just needed to sort my
head out. I figure that maybe I can be more use this time. I've been
trying to remember everything I can about the monsters."
In front of them Rathley looked back to her and grinned, pulling his
shades down his nose a little way. "Like the soft spot on the back of
the skull, eh Sugar? There ain't nothin' a point blank shotgun shell
can't handle!"
"Maybe," Sharn said, sounding entirely doubtful, "but you've got to
get that close first, old man. You're not so fast on your feet,
especially when you've got that metal shell over you."
Abigail looked to Rathley's pack, and saw that his metal armour
still made up most of its shape. "Why didn't you wear that when the
Diamonds were shooting at us?"
Rathley laughed. "I'm not sittin' in the sun with that thing on!
It'll cook a man if you're not careful. Didn't get a chance to grab my
pack before they started shootin', and believe me, at the time I wished
I had."
"Not that it would stop a rifle round if you were hit full in the
chest," Chopper said, wearing a black smile. "Though I guess it might
help enough against a glancing shot to let you keep a kidney."
"But it doesn't cover that far down," Abigail said, remembering what
the armour looked like from her first encounter with the raiders.
Chopper just smiled back. That had been her point.
"Armour like that comes in separate pieces around the stomach,"
Sharn told Abigail. "If it was all one piece like the chest you
wouldn't be able to bend down, so the rest hooks on and swings out when
you move. It's heavy as hell with all that extra metal though, and it
gapes open if you're not careful."
"Eh, maybe I'll buy the lower bit when I find one," Rathley said,
not caring. "It's typical: now I've got the caps spare, this place
doesn't have a single metal suit for sale! Not even parts."
"What, really?" Kyle asked. That was a surprise, considering how
often the town hired in Scavs to explore up by the Cobalt Line.
"Yup, not a fucking one. Still don't think it's really worth it
though. People don't go for the gut on reflex, only when they want you
to die slow. If I've got time for that, darlin' 'Marie' here'll have
time to sort me out!"
Chopper gave him a questioning look. "Assuming she's in the mood to
keep you around, 'old timer'."
They reached the caravan with plenty of time to spare. The brahmin
had yet to be brought up, so the five of them simply climbed into the
back of their cart to wait while the water was loaded on. A few of the
other Mercs were there, but they were more interested in discussing
what they mayor would finally say about the specifics of the mission,
and about their as yet unmentioned pay.
It gave Abigail the chance to voice a question that had bothered her
since she had been invited to lunch with the mayor's daughter.
"Chopper? If Erin is a lesbian, why was that Diamond so insistent on
her being 'his girl' when he was trying to kidnap her?"
Chopper gave a sudden chuckle at the question, blowing her breath
out of her nose. "Jack? Because he was a moron? I don't know. The
Diamond King brought him to Corva when he was a kid, before I arrived
here. He fell in love with little Erin, though according to her they
never even talked. Every now and then he'd try to come on raiding trips
here to take her away and make her realise that she was supposed to be
his."
She had a laugh at the memory of it. "He nearly shot me because of
that. He didn't like the idea that I'd got her first."
"How did you get out of that?"
Chopper shrugged. "Erin screamed to high heaven, so all I could do
was threaten him a bit. What would it have looked like if he'd been
found over my dead body, with the mayor's daughter screaming and half
naked at the scene?"
"And just why was she half naked at the scene?" Sharn asked, with a
bit of bite in her voice.
Chopper just leered. "The same reason I was. Anyway, he didn't know
her too well if he thought he could bring her round. She's not just
gay, she's a real bitch about it if anyone questions her. Especially
the men. She gives her dad such a headache sometimes! Or at least she
used to."
The time for their departure came soon enough, but surprisingly the
Mayor himself didn't. Instead Lilis came to join them. If possible, she
would talk to either the Heart in charge, or to the super mutant
itself. If that was not possible, she would just be there to evaluate
the situation with Brotherhood Initiate Harris. As for the pay, Lilis
handed each of them a sum of one hundred caps. She said that the rest
would come after the job was done, once they had decided what it was
actually worth to meet, and possibly fight, the Hearts and their super
mutant. Several of the Mercs who had turned up balked at the offer, but
the majority took it, making their caravan fifteen strong.
Abigail was surprised that there were fewer of them than on the
Diamond Ring caravan, but at the same time the Mayor was not providing
spotters or guards this time. It was an entirely independent job,
financed by the mayor. Rathley expected that if they were successful
Mayor Golway would recoup the caps by selling the information to the
neighbouring towns.
Abigail was glad to see several of the faces that returned. Kirren
sat with them again, as did Jassic and Bason, despite their best
interests. Jassic said something about curiosity and the feline
mortality rate that came with it, but for Bason seeing a new threat up
close was worth the risk. Especially if first hand experience meant
that they could be a part of whatever large scale operations or
information trading might follow. Seb was again sitting quietly apart
from them, cleaning the inside of his gun, while old Bert talked with
Lilis about the specifics of the mission.
Lyster was conspicuously absent, but none complained about that, and
Stephanie had chosen to stay behind as well. She had all the money she
needed for now, and she had succeeded in selling her obscene automatic
shotgun, the 'Shotheart Double Driver', to none other than Jassic
himself. He had bought the thing in trade for both his old pump action
weapon and almost everything he had been paid in for the last job,
except his share of the shotgun ammunition.
There were four new faces as well, but Abigail didn't get a chance
to meet them before Jassic swore loudly at the sight of the crowd that
had come to see them off.
"Fuck me! Look at that!"
The expletive surprised everyone, not for being coarse - that was
expected - but because the crowd at first sight was once again made up
with a few well wishers and rubber-neckers, and made for a very low key
send off.
That was until they also saw who joined them from the side streets.
Filtering from the alleyways, slowly but with an obvious shared
purpose, came a crowd of ghouls larger than most had ever seen in the
town outside the ghoul quarter itself. The small crowd doubled in size
as the ghouls shuffled and staggered their way to the carts, and the
human half seemed to recoil instinctively at the unprecedented display
of activity from them.
"What the hell got into them?" Kirren whispered, evidently not
having heard the rumours, but the reason made itself clear instantly.
"What are you guys doing here?" Abigail asked, rather astonished,
but Christian and his friends all smiled and grinned at her.
"What d'ya think we're doin'? Ain't gonna let ya go without a decent
send off! Wouldn't be right!"
Beside him another ghoul, Albert if Abigail remembered correctly,
offered up a battered looking pistol to her. "Here. You're goin' to go
fightin' for us, right? Take it. It don't look so pretty, but it still
shoots straight."
Abigail was flustered by the offer. "What? I can't..."
"I don't got any use for it no more," Albert insisted, almost
lamenting the fact. "So you go use it for me."
Christian agreed. "Us ghouls gotta do somethin' when we get a
smooth-skin fight for us, and it ain't much, but this's all we can do
for ya right now, Abby."
"Take it," Chopper said quietly, out of the corner of her mouth.
"Don't offend your ghoul friends."
So Abigail did, handling it carefully, both because it was a gift
and because she didn't want it to go off accidentally. In return,
Albert smiled broadly. "Good. Now you go kick ass for me, Abby."
From behind them Lilis called that they were leaving, but Abigail's
attention wasn't broken as Celia limped closer. "Be cahreful, Habee-
gale. Hy whould like to plhay dohminoes with hyou hagain, when hyou
come home."
Abigail nodded, suddenly feeling deeply appreciated. With that
welling in her heart, she could be assured that she was not ready to
die yet. Not in the least.
"I will. I promise."
***
With fewer people taking on the job there were only ever one or two
people walking beside the caravan at any time, and while a little
cramped it gave the carts a more sociable atmosphere than she
remembered going to and from the Diamond Ring. Most of them who had
come back from that job had chosen to ride together again in the second
cart, despite the bloodstains that lingered, but since Chopper showed
no concerns over its hygiene neither did the rest of them. It helped
that both Rathley and Lilis were riding in the forward cart again, with
Bert, Seb and the newcomers. It meant that they could speak more
openly, considering that neither Rathley nor Lilis was overly liked by
most of them.
"What's Rathley gettin' out of this anyway?" Jassic asked. He wasn't
bothering to hide his suspicion or his jealousy. "Okay, you get to
work," he said to Chopper, "big whoop-de-doo, but raiders aren't *his*
normal brew either. I know he cut a deal, so what does he get out of
this raider run that we don't?"
"You mean besides a better chance of getting his head blown off?"
Kyle smirked. "He's too well known now, so he makes one hell of a
target. Like Lilis said, he's lucky he didn't make himself an easy
target last time, or it might've been him and not our driver who got
his brains blown out."
Then, as an apologetic afterthought, he looked over the water
barrels behind him and up to their new driver. "No offence, man. You
might want to duck when we get to the Hearts though."
The brahmin driver smirked. "No kidding. It won't stop me taking a
few pot shots at them though!" he said, patting the rifle at his side.
This time Bason was on the same page as his co-Merc though and
wasn't going to be dissuaded by Kyle's cheerful misdirection. "No, I'd
like to know too. He didn't get more pay - we all shafted each other
over those damn shotgun shells - so what *is* he getting? I don't know
him, but I'm told that charity isn't his style. He always has an
angle."
The stocky man looked to Abigail for a plain answer. "Like betting
on your rat fight. Maybe it did your rep good, but still, that was
low."
Abigail agreed, but wasn't going to dwell on it. Rathley had, in his
own twisted way, helped her understand what surface life was about.
"Maybe. But I don't know what the Mayor offered him. It was long enough
before Chopper told me what *she* was getting."
Abigail gave a pointed look to the woman beside her, but Chopper
just shrugged. "And you still came along, after all that fuss. Anyway,
Rathley's getting the same as me."
Kirren smirked from her seat at the back, opposite Jassic. "Wow, I
never pictured him as the healing type."
Chopper laughed with her. "Heh, I let him handle the euthanasia."
Abigail grimaced, and to her relief Sharn shared her distaste,
sitting with Kyle at the front end. "Nice, Chopper. Really
compassionate of you."
Chopper just smiled, considering it harmless. "It happens. Work,
Bason. Rathley isn't so good at making friends, so he has to be
carefully where he goes unless he's ready to get lynched."
Abigail blinked in surprise. "Really?"
Kyle, Sharn and Chopper all nodded. "Really." Chopper explained.
"Out of every five towns in the Mid Waste, one would drive him out on
sight and another two would get him shot as soon as the wrong people
heard he had come back."
"Bloody hell," Jassic swore, impressed. "No wonder he stays out in
the desert."
Bason had a more constructive observation to make. "So what can
Golway do to fix that? Rathley hasn't made any real enemies in Corva
yet, but we're just one town."
This time it was their cheerful driver who answered correctly.
"Mayor Golway is a diplomat, and real persuasive to boot. He never
leaves Corva but any time he gets people in from other towns he's there
to share information and make new contacts. And he makes us do the same
when we head out. Hell, he managed to contact the Brotherhood of Steel
for help! And they listened!"
Chopper nodded. "He's an ass, but he's Mayor for a reason. And
apparently he has a list of people who, for the right price or with the
right leverage, could make this part of the Waste safer for Rathley to
travel."
"A list of targets?" Kirren asked. It was an obvious omission on
Chopper's part, but Abigail hadn't thought of that.
"You mean, people he can kill? To get them off his back?"
"Just a couple," Sharn assured her. "You know, so he can top the
ones who are gunning for him before they find him first."
Chopper gave Abigail a sly look. "And apparently the township of
Borgin might be more forgiving if he just married the poor girl he
knocked up. I knew he was promiscuous, so I guess it makes sense if he
has a few bastards running around out there!"
***
Abigail knew it was properly late the next day when she realised not
how dark it was getting, but how difficult it was becoming to keep her
eyes open. She refocused them and double checked the screen on the
PipBoy on her wrist. They had been stopping on and off all day, but
with no reason that she could see other than to check the lie of the
land; which was uniformly flat and dry. Enormously so. Animals seemed
few and far between on their route this time, which could probably be
explained by the similar lack of even the most brittle and parched
vegetation.
Maybe it would all have made more sense if she had known the first
thing about tracking raiders, but she did not. She was merely a
passenger. "How are we going to find the Hearts? We've been zigzagging
all day, and if we keep bending south each time we'll end up going back
to Corva."
Then, as if to punctuate her question, she let out a very large
yawn. The sun would be setting soon, and they would have to make camp,
but sitting in the cart all day had drained the energy from her without
the slightest effort on her part.
Kirren smiled at her lethargic display. "The same way you track an
animal: look for its tracks, and follow them. Raider camps are usually
pretty conspicuous, but they move around so much you need to make sure
you're following a fresh trail and not the tracks they left out here a
year ago."
"That's what all the zigzagging is about," Bason illuminated. "If
you know where they've been recently it's easy, but we're after a
specific camp of Hearts, who we heard were here about a week ago.
Zigzagging gives us the best view of everything that's been around here
recently, and we then work out which routes match what we're after
best. We found them about three o'clock, when we started heading south
like you said. Now we're just being cautious, so we don't lose them."
Abigail didn't really understand how that was possible, but just
accepted it on faith. "I would have though that the wind would have
covered all the tracks, with all this sand everywhere."
Chopper took Abigail's hand and held it up into the air. "You feel
any wind?"
To her surprise, Abigail didn't. "Oh."
"In some places the wind makes tracking impossible," Chopper said
casually, "but the only real winds we get here are when the currents
change and it comes off the Cobalt Line. When that happens raider
tracks are the least of our worries."
"And when we say tracks we don't just mean footprints," Bason added.
"Brahmin pats, dead campfires, used up stim needles, even bullet
casings. Raiders leave more crap in the desert than any trading
caravan. Like I said, they're conspicuous."
At that point Kirren looked over the back of the cart, and pointed
to one of the partially filled footprints in the dust. "But that's what
we've been after."
Abigail, sitting between her and Chopper, leaned over to see the
print as it disappeared behind them. It was huge. "The super mutant
monster..."
"Yup," Kirren said. "Hard to spot, but pretty obviously what we're
after. We're heading south since this is the freshest of the three sets
it made, but we only found it by crossing off their old route.
Otherwise we'd still be heading up towards where the Diamonds said they
were last."
That made more sense, or at least Abigail thought so, but she had
had enough talk for one day. She turned off the screen of her PipBoy,
since their crazy route wasn't worth saving to its memory. "Good. I
guess it's one of those things you just learn naturally up here."
"Something like that," Bason said. "I bet we're going to be riding
for another hour, 'til sundown at least, so get yourself some shuteye
before dinner. You look knackered, girl."
Abigail gave him a wry smile, but rested her head against the low
side of the cart and closed her eyes. She really did need a nap. "Eh,
thanks."
Despite how uncomfortable the wooden cart was, and the fact that she
had to sit up straight if everyone was to have room, she was out like a
light in no time at all. Kyle and Sharn watched with great amusement as
she keeled gently over, coming to rest her head on Chopper's shoulder
instead of the hard lip of the cart's side.
"She really *was* knackered out, wasn't she?" Bason said, surprised
at how accurate he had been. "Weird girl."
"Well, she has got a lot on her mind, I bet," Sharn said in her
defence.
Chopper remained quiet as Abigail dozed against her side, and
allowed herself a lop-sided smile. She pulled the girl's exhaustive
medical textbook out of her bag and began to read again.
***
The first Abigail knew of the morning was Rathley's boot poking into
her side, bringing her from a very deep sleep. "Huh? What?" She blinked
once before being struck by the light that shone in through the open
tent flap, and then cursed as she scrabbled around for her shades. "Ow,
god damn it, Rathley! Close the curtain!"
Her annoyance was soon joined by Chopper's early morning rasp.
"Ehhgh, you could just ask us to get up, you know."
"Fuck the pleasantries," Rathley whispered, sounding eager but
without any smile of expectation on his face. "We're going in."
Now that Abigail had her shades she could see Chopper no longer
cloaked with the fuzz of the morning, but hurriedly dressing herself in
what clothes she hadn't yet again slept in. Rathley proceeded to kick
Sharn and Kyle awake as well beneath their shared blanket, even though
they were both already stirring.
"Alright already!" Kyle whispered, "We're up. Where're my pants?"
Chopper flung him his discarded clothes, since they had strayed over
to her cramped portion of the tent. "Who's got the coffee? We
remembered the coffee, right? Fuck, it's too early for this mission
crap."
"Bason and Lilis might have some left outside if you're lucky,"
Rathley said, grabbing his pack from the corner of the tent. Upending
it revealed his armour, and he pulled the heavy metal shell over his
head.
Kyle barely paid any attention to him, instead passing Sharn her
clothes until he saw Abigail looking at them without much
comprehension. "Better get your leathers on, Abby. The Hearts might
have spotted us already."
Only then did Abigail's waking brain choose to fill in the gaps. She
did not remember much of the previous night, except that for the first
time since she had come above ground these surface people had eaten
their evening meal entirely by moonlight. The food had been dry and
unpleasantly cold, desert temperature Kirren had called it, and Abigail
had been woken from her snoozing in the cart simply to eat before she
and her companions, sans Rathley as ever, had staggered into their tent
for the night.
There had been good reason for the lack of campfire or torchlight
though. Lilis had pushed their brahmin past sundown and into the night
out of a clever necessity. It left them camped up within striking
distance of the Hearts, now that they had plonked themselves down
again. The Hearts' camp was small, only four tents and no animals, but
they had holed themselves up in some old brushwood, and looking into
the red morning air a fire could already be seen in their camp.
Fully dressed and quickly put into their right minds, the five of
them joined the rest of the camp as they all prepared themselves. As
Abigail might have expected, while most of them were checking their
weapons or clutching at tin cups of bitter, luke-warm coffee in the
cold morning air, Lilis and the Brotherhood of Steel man, Harris, both
stood awake and commanding. They were already organising their
approach.
"Jassic, stop playing with that monstrosity and answer the
question," Lilis repeated. While fully awake and in control, her
patience was obviously suffering since the sun was still only
struggling to rise.
Jassic did look up from his automatic shotgun. He looked anxious,
but put on a very confident front. "Will you guys have my back? That's
my question. I know I'm good, and I know he's good, or he wouldn't be
Brotherhood," he said, pointing to Initiate Harris, "but a two man
assault? That's mad."
From the other side of their camp one of the newcomers spoke up.
"Just why is it the prostitute deciding tactics here anyway?"
Lilis gave the man a venomous look. "Because I'm better at it than
you, Merc."
Harris stepped in to put the discussion back on track. "Mr Jassic,
between us we will have more firepower than most of the others here
combined. It makes sense to have us working together, to make best use
of that advantage. Assuming that... contraption, does work as
advertised."
"Seb and Chopper will be your cover. I trust both of you can at
least lay down some suppressing fire when needed?"
Chopper snorted in distaste. "If I have to."
Seb seemed similarly dissatisfied, but was more professional about
the idea. "I would be better put on a striking position, but if no-one
else carries a sub-machine gun..."
Humouring him, Lilis looked around with a questioning eye. "...
Nobody? That's decided then. The four of you will be the attack force,
should it be required. Take the right flank of the Hearts' camp and
hide in the brush. The moment you hear a shot fired, you come out and
do your thing. Don't worry about your targets, just destroy everything
and everyone from right flank to left, and don't stray off your line or
you'll be shooting us as well."
Next she turned to the newcomers. "Merc, you just voted yourself as
my support. We go in from the front and make contact. You keep your
guns at your sides until either they start shooting or I give the word.
How are you three armed?"
One man held up a sizable pistol, while the other two carried
unnecessarily sawn shotguns. "Right. You'll be covering our retreat
then. You want to drive them behind cover, and take out anyone stupid
enough to stay standing."
"Hey, are you armed?" one of the men asked.
Lilis shook her head before moving on. "Not for a firefight. You,"
she said pointing to Kyle and Sharn, "You two can go with Kirren and
take up covered positions to the rear of the camp. After we and Harris'
team pin them down, you pinpoint and take out anyone who took cover in
the open. If it goes well most of them should have their backs to you."
She paused and took a look around the camp. "Okay, Vault Girl, Bert,
Rathley... who else is left?"
Bason put up his hand.
Lilis looked him over, as if wondering about the stout man. "I'm
guessing you're not one for infiltration?"
"Never tried."
"Then stick with Initiate Harris and go all out. Go for tent
supports if you can. You three," he said to Abigail, Rathley and Old
Bert, "get the infiltration between you."
"Infiltrate an open camp?" Kirren asked. "I assume they're just
going to sneak into the tents."
"That's the idea," Lilis confirmed, "While I talk with them, you
three pick a tent each and go in under the tarps from the rear, or hide
behind them and be ready to go under if we haven't given them
sufficient distraction. You take out anyone inside who our three
sharpshooters can't see. "
At that point Sharn interrupted. "But that'll put them in the line
of fire from the Initiate's group!"
To Sharn's horror Lilis nodded. "The three of them are to stay low,
so when the first lot of shooting stops, they ambush anyone trapped in
the collapsed tents."
"Despite being trapped themselves," Chopper noted.
Abigail just listened to this in shock, and found herself trembling.
Beside her both Sharn and Chopper took her hands, and she squeezed them
anxiously, hoping to draw strength from them.
Jassic had another more amused concern about the idea. "Are you sure
those two old wrecks can handle something like that?"
Old Bert simple raised an eyebrow at Jassic's attitude, while
Rathley cracked his knuckles. "This should be interesting. Would you
mind if I did my thing before you open fire?"
Lilis stared at him hard. "As long as it's quiet, and you hide the
body well."
Sharn wasn't having it though. "No way, we can't just..."
Lilis cut her off. "Their objective," she said loudly, over Sharn's
irate voice, "is to see if anyone is even in them. If not, they
retreat. If so, they deal with them, if we do have to fight. They can
wait outside until the tents are down and then shoot the lumps
underneath for all it matters. The point is that we shouldn't be
wasting our shotgun ammunition shooting blindly into the ground."
Of course Abigail wanted to speak out, but then the scenario
actually made sense. She was an acrobat, and a knife thrower. Even with
Albert's beaten up pistol at her hip, she would be best used up close,
and silent. It terrified her that she would be put into that kind of
situation, but this was her role. She had to do her part.
And it broke her heart when Sharn's ire had subsided and her self-
consciousness returned, making her let go of Abigail's hand for the
sake of their imagined propriety. Abigail did not say anything though.
She just balled her fist, and forced herself to let go of Chopper's
hand as well. She was not a child any more.
At the centre of the camp Initiate Harris set the mood, pulling his
unusually clean and chunky shotgun out of the holster against his
thigh. "Okay, let's go."
***
Getting so close to the Hearts, and getting into their required
positions, was far easier than most of them had expected. It was early
still, and while they could not catch the raiders sleeping as they had
hoped, the Hearts were caught unawares. Given that they had so little
cover with which to make an approach Abigail was amazed that no signal
was raised in the wandering raider camp, but as Rathley had pointed
out, why would they expect anything out in the middle of nowhere? And
why would they notice anyone approaching from outside the lines of half
dead trees they had taken as their cover?
And, unlike Abigail, the raiders were still half asleep. That much
was clear as she listened from the back of one of the tents. A brief,
coarse bout of lazy sex was interrupted as the woman inside went into a
phlegmy coughing fit, and her partner was disgusted enough to break off
in favour of what sounded like a gulp from a bottle of sipping liquor.
They both soon started bitching to each other about why they did not
need the other for physical gratification, and in rather graphic
detail. The whole exchange made Abigail feel nauseous - quite unlike
the sex she had heard in the past.
Thankfully she did not have long to wait before Lilis and her guards
made their move, and while Abigail could not hear what they were
saying, it did draw the attention of the two inside the tent.
Carefully, Abigail flattened herself to the ground, hoping very hard
that nobody would open fire, and she peeked under the cloth.
Inside the man was hurriedly pulling on his faded and threadbare
jeans, while the woman wore a long, luridly dyed skirt, slit up the
middle into two halves, and she was watching the exchange outside
through the open tent front.
"Man, they're talkin' out there," the woman said, sounding mildly
impressed. "Think they're lookin' to trade or somethin'?"
"Doubt it," her partner replied, zipping his flies and being careful
not to catch himself in the process. "Where's the goods? I guess our
super mutant has someone spooked. Maybe try and talk us outta taking
him to the boss."
"Heh, fat chance. Hey, look at that bitch go white! Man, I always
love it when they see our brute for the first time!"
And, as the monster passed that way, Abigail saw it through the tent
flap too. Eleven feet tall and clad in belt-straps and old scrap metal,
the green skinned thing lumbered across her field of view briefly,
bringing with it nightmares that Abigail was still putting behind her.
She gasped into the dirt and had to stifle a cough, but thankfully the
pair of Hearts hadn't heard her. They were too engrossed in watching
the show.
"Hey Tass," the man said, "I think that guy just pissed himself!" He
pulled a couple of small green things from the pocket in his jeans, and
offered them to his partner.
"Haha! What a schmuck!" The girl took one of the tablets and popped
it into her mouth, crunching down on it. "Heh. At least he'll be dead
soon, so he won't care for long! Fuck, I am so pumped for his!"
Abigail froze, still trying to control herself. Were the Hearts
intent on a fight? Of course, they would be confident since they didn't
know how many guns were ready to take them on, but then Abigail would
be caught in the thick of it!
"Whoa, grab your spears, Tass. Pit's gonna make his shot."
The raider pointed to the tent on the other side of the camp, and
Abigail could see it as well. The barrel of a rifle was poised at the
entrance. And the camp leader was still talking calmly with Lilis! They
were going start shooting with an assassination shot!
Abigail began to sweat, trying to think fast. She had to stay on the
ground, or risk getting caught in the crossfire from Chopper, Jassic
and Bason, but she also had to warn the others. She reached for
Albert's old gun at her hip. If she could make the first shot then
Lilis might be able to get to safety when the raiders all scattered.
But then would the sniping raider just make his shot and then hide?
Abigail couldn't hope to hit him from there - she had never fired a gun
that wasn't at point blank range - and either way, then these two
raiders would know where she was. What if they weren't killed soon
enough by Chopper and her team? The woman was already giggling and
bouncing on her feet, itching for the fight. Whatever she had taken, it
was obviously making her more confident about facing down two shotguns
with only a pair of spears in her hands.
Then the choice was taken out of her hands. Right in front of
Abigail's eyes a flash lit up the sniper's tent, and the report of the
shot made her jump. But the flash didn't come from the muzzle of his
gun, and the sniper was hurled out of the tent, a cloud of blood in his
wake.
That was the tent Old Bert had taken to hide behind, and his shot
unleashed hell on that camp. Abigail lay on her front and screamed as
the air above her was filled with lead. She did not need to see them to
know that the two raiders were cut to ribbons by the hail of bullets
and buckshot. They screamed like animals before being silenced just as
quickly, and the right side of the tent collapsed on top of them all
soon afterwards.
Then, after a moment, the gunfire ceased. The assault team had
expended their ammunition, and now it was up to the rest of them to
clean up. Hopefully that terrible noise would have been enough to kill
the murderous mutant with his huge gun. Abigail broke out of her
shivering with a start, and opened her eyes. She needed to be acting
now. If she hesitated she might end up in the crossfire again, and she
didn't want to die. Not now.
The left half of the tent was still standing, so Abigail scrambled
up into it. She tried to ignore the torn body of the raider man that
lay sprawled in the shade of the tent, but it was hard to take her eyes
off him. He still had his drugs in his hand.
But when she did look up and out of the gap in the Swiss cheese that
was left of the tent wall, the sight that met her was even worse. Alone
in the centre of the camp stood the super mutant, and from his two
enormous hands hung the bodies of two of the raiders, bloodied and
broken beyond all recognition, literally falling into pieces. Though
the hulking mutant was hurt, those two bodies had shielded him from the
worst of the gunfire, both from the front and the flank.
"That not nice," he droned in that hideous, guttural voice, like
those that Abigail remembered so well. "All Hearts probably dead now.
Hearts break easily, and Brute liked Hearts."
The eleven foot monster dropped his two 'friends', and reached
behind him for the weapon slung over his back. "Brute have some fun now
too."
Abigail screamed for Lilis and her guardian Mercs to run, but none
of them did. Lilis, rational and unarmed, flung herself to the ground
in an instant. The Mercs, rooted to the spot in both bravado and fear,
opened fire on the super mutant. Each got only a single shot, and their
shells and bullet either struck the mutant's tough hide or ricocheted
off its makeshift armour, but the mutant only winced and pulled the
trigger on its minigun.
Except this minigun took almost no time at all to wind up, and from
its six white barrels leapt beams of bright red light. Abigail watched
in horror as the lasers lanced out and slaughtered all three of them in
as many seconds. Two were filled with a neat line of glowing red holes,
while the third man did not even scream as he was sliced clean in half
across the stomach.
Abigail could not move. This was how her friends and her family...
whatever the weapon, this was how her entire vault had died. The others
were not so idle though, and two rifle rounds slammed into the back of
the mutant's head. Unlike Abigail's monster though, this one wore a
crude and dented metal helmet, and between that and the creature's
thick skull the rifle rounds could not break through. Blood began to
pour down the mutant's neck, but it turned with a lumbering roar and
fired again, dragging the searing beams of the gatling laser gun across
the sharpshooters' cover.
Though Abigail could not see it, from behind that now burning wood a
woman screamed.
"Sharn!" Abigail gasped.
And then, from behind Abigail, another spray of bullets flew out,
burying themselves in the mutant's right arm. They did damage, and the
monster had to grab the gun with its other hand to stop it tilting to
the ground, but then it hauled the weapon towards them, still firing.
Abigail dropped into the dust again, just in time for the bright red
gunfire to pass over her. Behind her, from the dry vegetation, she
heard a thump, and a headless body fell forwards out of the scrub.
Seb's head had been sliced clean away, and the stump of his neck
sizzled, cooked by the heat of the super mutant's weapon.
The mutant was pushed forward roughly, and behind it she could see
Rathley striding out into the open. His shotgun was levelled at the
monster, and he cocked it again, unloading another shell into its
leathery hide.
"Tough fucker aren't you!!" he shouted, taunting the super mutant.
"How much of *this* do you think you can take!?"
In return the mutant, knowing it would be too slow in turning
around, bent down and grabbed one of the destroyed raiders' bodies at
its feet, and tossed backwards it at Rathley. The wasteland Scav had to
leap out of the way to avoid being bowled over by the gory mess, and
his third shot went massively wide. "Oh dammit!"
That *was* enough time for the super mutant to turn, and Abigail
gasped. Rathley was going to be slaughtered, and no matter how she
hated him at times, she did not want him to die. But she couldn't move.
All she had were knives and a pistol that she couldn't use. What could
she do?
Then, as the monster took its second step, it struck her. She could
live like the wastelanders did. If she did not have the courage
herself, she would take the courage the raiders had. She glanced down
to the dead raider beside her, and snatched up one of the pills in his
hand. If that could make a woman with a spear want to face down a
shotgun, it could make her face that monster's lasers.
The pill tasted of nothing, bland and chalky on her tongue, but the
second she crushed it between her teeth she found that she could move.
Whether it was a placebo effect or something in the strange synthetic
taste that suddenly flooded her nose and throat, it did it job. She ran
from her cover, and towards the exposed back that the super mutant
turned to show her. It was peppered with Rathley's buckshot, and blood
seeped down it from the wounds beneath its helmet, and with adrenaline
filling her Abigail reached into her pocket and pulled out two of her
knives. One slipped easily into her right hand, while the fingers of
her left found their way into the holes in the knife's hilt, pointing
down from her fist and with blade facing forwards, like a climber's
pick.
But it wasn't just adrenaline filling her. Something in that
chemically aromatic pill was affecting her, because she ran flat out
and it felt like no effort at all. She crossed the distance to the
monster in seconds, and though she had planned simply to hurl her knife
at it and turn its attention away from Rathley, she realised that she
could close the gap completely. Her fear had become a thrill, and she
leaped bodily at the super mutant, using every ounce of strength in her
legs as easily as if she had been dancing. She landed on the super
mutant just as it opened fire, and she dug her left knife into its
mangled back to give her purchase, slashing at its gun arm with the
right.
The mutant's burst of shots careered away, but with so many lasers
firing so fast Rathley did not escape unscathed. One of the beams
caught the side of his armour, and while the metal could reflect away
some of the energy, the rest was absorbed to make the impact glow red
hot, and that outer edge began to melt away. Rathley cried out in
shock, dancing around as his side was burned by the heat, and he tried
to pull the armour off without burning himself more.
And, without the monster's left arm to support it, the barrels of
its gun fell to the floor and ground themselves to a halt. The creature
roared again and swung around.
"Get off me, human!"
Abigail did so, leaping away before the monster could swing its
injured arm around and club her with the now inactive weapon. She knew
that she couldn't miss a step and she raced around the beast, drawing
it in a circle and allowing someone from the sharpshooters' cover to
put two more bullets into its torso. The mutant would surely have to
fall soon, and it could no longer hold its gun up one handed in order
to start it again, but Abigail didn't care. She felt oh so alive, and
she was grinning as she dodged effortlessly away from another crippling
swing of the mutant's weapon.
Her newfound synthetic confidence spread out from her stomach to
guide her steps, but it also caught her up in her own personal battle.
When she threw her knife, aiming for the creature's neck, she did not
think that she could miss, and never considered what would happen if
she did. The monster saw her throw coming, and slumped out of the way
just in time to let the knife pass by, only to embed itself in
Rathley's arm as he finally slung his glowing armour to the ground.
"Gahh! Fucking..! Watch where the fuck you throw those things!!!"
Now, all of a sudden, Abigail's confidence was tainted with guilt,
and the blood pumping in her ears seemed to whisper over and over to
her, "Jinx, jinx, jinx!"
"It's not my fault!" Abigail cried, but the tainted confidence would
not let go. She knew she was better than that. This was *her* battle
now. *Her* revenge. In one sudden dash she released all the incredible
energy that flooded her, jumping inwards and catching the super mutant
off guard as he stamped after her for another swing.
This time the knife that slipped into her right hand would strike
true, and with one deft throw it sliced into the air before sinking
into the super mutant's eye. Half blinded and already riddled with
painful bullet holes the monster screamed the lowest and loudest scream
Abigail had ever heard, before falling to its knees and pulling the
knife painfully from its useless socket. "Arrgh! Stop, Brute not want
to die for dead Hearts, Brute..."
And then it was silenced. Abigail looked down to see her fingers
wrapped around her third knife, the blade embedded in the mutant's
throat. She had not even realised that the gap had been closed so fast,
let alone what she had just done. The creature coughed and spasmed, but
Abigail could feel that it was more out of physical reflex than any
desire to breathe. She could feel the grinding of blade against bone
with every jerk, the point of the knife neatly slipping through the
monster's airway and between two of its oversized vertebrae. It was
already very dead.
She had done it. The beast was dead. She ripped her knife from its
neck as hard as she could. "Take that you murdering bastard!" she
screamed, but that scream did not seem enough. The fire still burned
energetically in her muscles. She wanted a better fight out of such a
disgusting monster.
Then the slap hit her, and her limbs grew taut, ready to strike.
Except that, again, she did not remember Lilis having got up yet, or
Chopper already restraining her in preparation for the hit that Abigail
would otherwise have made.
Then again, a rational part of her mind said to her that Lilis had
only returned a favour. And that rational part seemed scarily small.
"It had surrendered," Lilis said, frowning. "Can you imagine what we
could have learned from it?!"
"You can't trust those monsters!!" Abigail screamed back, straining
against Chopper's arms, and the medic had to work hard to keep her
under control. The righteous energy in her was far from extinguished.
"It's over," Chopper said. Given how Abigail refused to stop
struggling, she made it a command. "Settle down Abby! It's over
already!"
Then, behind Lilis, Initiate Harris spoke. He was covered in blood,
but he himself seemed unharmed. "She's right, we couldn't have trusted
it. Weapons like that could only come from the Brotherhood of Steel, or
the gun runners from the west. Either way, this mutant should not have
had it. That would have made it a big threat, and a bigger liability.
It needed to be exterminated."
The Brotherhood man's defence filled Abigail with a sense of
justification, but she did not need it now. Chopper's arms were gone,
replaced instead with Sharn's voice in her ears. "Quickly Chopper,
she's bleeding out!"
Abigail looked over to see Sharn and Kyle carrying Kirren over and
laying her down next to Rathley. Her left arm was missing, cut clean
through the bicep.
"Damn," Chopper swore with good humour, though whether out of
callousness or an attempt to amuse her patient Abigail couldn't tell.
"If it was going to cook you like that it could have cauterised the
arteries for you, eh?"
Abigail felt her excited limbs trembling. Sharn was alive. But
Kirren might be dying. And then she remembered Seb, lying beheaded by
the tent. And the men with Lilis, they were torn apart, their blood
splashed across the dry ground along with the blood of so many raiders.
Next to Jassic, Bason was clutching his right arm again, just as he had
at the Diamond Ring. One of the lasers must have grazed him. It looked
like it hurt.
And Rathley looked up from where he lay beside Chopper as she tried
to keep Kirren alive. He gave her a smirk, made more unpleasant by that
old, deep scar across his lower lip. Her knife was still embedded in
his upper arm.
"Sugar, I don't know whether to kiss you or blow your goddam head
off. Guess you wouldn't be up for either one though, hehe."
Somehow he sounded tired.
Then Abigail realised that someone was missing. "Wait," she said to
Lilis, trying to calm herself, "where's Old Bert? He saved your life."
In response Lilis just pointed to the collapsed tent on the other
side of the camp. "He didn't make it. Stray fire. Or one of the raiders
got him before they went down."
Even filled with that boundless vigour, Abigail felt her legs go
weak. "W-what? But he was... he was good at this... like Rathley...
Right?"
"Eh," Rathley quipped, "I'm not so good at this. Raiders aren't so
much my style. Old Bert had a good run. I'll miss the bastard."
Hearing Rathley call someone by name like that, even in affectionate
mockery after his death, was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Surrounded by the slaughter, Abigail finally threw up. Lilis, for all
her composure, followed suit shortly after.
Afterwards, and after a good cry alone while her friends tended to
each other, Abigail felt a little better. But only a little.
***
Contrary to popular belief, looting the dead was a difficult task
for most people. Different people drew the lines in all sorts of
places. Jassic and Bason, for example, were happy to take the raiders'
bloody boots, at least from those who had worn usable ones. Kyle and
Sharn were far more choosy, taking a few high cost weapons and
pocketfuls of ammunition, rather than weighing themselves down with
mundane sundries.
For her own part, Marie Butcher - she was still Marie in her own
mind, if in no-body else's - was more concerned with consumables than
equipment. She had less problem rooting around the mangled bodies than
most of the others, so would have ransacked their pockets and their
packs for dry food, stimpaks, the odd cap here and there, and any drugs
that could go into her medical serums and salves. After her part in the
firefight she was also a full clip down on ammunition, so would barter
with Kyle for a few nine mil rounds as well.
But all that took time and energy, both physical and emotional. It
had been midday by the time they had claimed everything, and Chopper
had been saddled with the additional problem of caring for Kirren while
the others scrounged for their profits. Sharn had made sure the both of
them would be taking home a decent share, but there were no town laws
out there to govern who could take what. That was one of the reasons
that Chopper not only tolerated Sharn, but appreciated her outlook.
Without someone like that around, Chopper would have come out of the
fight with nothing to show for it, all because her job did not finish
after the guns had gone silent.
Kirren was a wreck, but thanks to the clean wound and Chopper's
skill there was no doubt that she would survive. There was still a good
six inches of stump beyond her shoulder, so tying off, sewing up and
wrapping it thoroughly left the woman pale and anaemic, but stable. All
without painkillers too. There hadn't been time, so Kirren had screamed
most satisfyingly as Chopper had done her work. Screamers were the ones
with the will to survive.
The afternoon had been more sedate, but they had not left their own
camp. Shakey legs needed time to be calmed, as did disturbed stomachs.
Even in her line of work Chopper had not often seen people so
thoroughly torn apart by machinegun and shotgun fire. In comparison the
holes and slicing of the super mutant's repeating laser gun had been
nice and clean. Clinical even.
Sharn, assisted by Kyle, had felt the need to bury the bodies, and
though only using a single shallow pit that spiritual indulgence had
taken them most of the afternoon. Rathley, once his burn had been
salved and his stab wound bandaged and stimmed, had decided to scout
around the brushwood thickets for dinner and for anything the raiders
might have squirreled away. Jassic and Bason spent their time with
Lilis and Initiate Harris, marvelling at the dead super mutant, and
occasionally attempting to count how many bullets the thing had
actually taken before Abigail had managed to cut it down. The two
officials were performing a more serious study of the creature though,
and one that Chopper sorely wished she had been privy to instead of
pumping meds and painkillers into Kirren. She did notice that the
Brotherhood agent, in his arrogance, had confiscated the laser weapon,
but since that was more than his share the rest of them were happy to
let him have it as long as he took nothing else.
The real unknown though was Abigail. She had not stayed around the
bloody camp, and only Rathley had seen her briefly claiming some spoils
of her own before she had left the scene, visibly upset. That wasn't
how Rathley had put it, but then he had been more concerned about
Chopper neglecting his wounds at the time.
She was overly concerned, but at the same time Chopper did not like
the idea that Abigail was unaccounted for. She did stupid things when
not supervised, and like it or not Chopper felt that Abigail's fate was
hers to supervise more than it was Sharn's, or anyone else's. That was
part of the attraction. Abigail was needy, and yet had grown
independent and wilful with the same speed that she had recovered from
her brush with radioactive death. She had Sharn's kindness mixed with
Erin's innocent demeanour, and yet she did what neither girl had
managed to do...
She made Chopper worry for her, and Chopper both loathed that
fact... and liked it. She made Chopper guess at every turn. Her
sensibilities were skewed in every direction, so she could come out
with the strangest things to say or do, from breaking down and crying
for defending herself to lashing out at Lilis with no provocation
whatsoever. None that was personal anyway.
To everyone else it was clear that Abigail was running to catch up
with the way of life for a Scav-turned-Merc on the surface. But to a
few perceptive folk, like Chopper, it was also clear that they were
running to catch up to her, and the chaos she caused. Everything that
had happened since they had found her had been on her terms. Her
attitudes and actions had helped to lead their group into taking on
proper mercenary work for the first time since Chopper had signed on,
and her combinations of ignorance and action had shaped many of the
choices made from then on.
There was also the fact that she had made it very hard for anyone to
ignore her. She was beautiful in a youthful way, with only the
radiation scars on her back to show that she had ever been at the
world's mercy. Only pampered girls like Erin were ever as lucky as
that, but Abigail had a great deal more backbone than they did, whether
she aspired to it or not. Similarly, she had made a striking image out
of her day-blindness, taking the raider styling of the Diamonds and
making it both sleek and gritty. Her leathers no long had any
pretension about them, and her sun glasses hid her naivete from the
world. She might not have noticed, but people stared. And when they
made their snap judgements, either at a bar or in the heat of battle,
that small but intense presence of hers was there nagging in the back
of their minds. If she could harness that, learn to live their way and
replace her fear and uncertainty with confidence, she could become a
personality to be reckoned with.
But of course, that understanding of her had come with time. At
first Chopper had only seen a cute dying girl, who might have been fun
to have around, and would be a challenge to keep alive. After that
Chopper had been everything from impressed to deeply disappointed with
the girl, but it had taken her all that time to realised just who and
what Abigail was. She was a sheltered weakling who had never had to
hide, and had never been protected. Just as it was not in her nature to
kill, so it was not in her nature to cower either. She aspired to be a
survivor, without having the courage to exert the power required.
And yet Chopper had to admit that Abigail had already passed that
phase as well, and succeeded. She had killed today, and been swept away
by that power she had needed. When word got out in Corva that she had
slain the super mutant in hand to hand combat after the Mercs' guns had
failed, she would be a legend. The only question remaining was whether
she was ready to deal with that.
Well, that and the matter of her disappearance. She had not eaten
dinner with them, and Sharn and Kyle had gone out looking for her now
that the light had faded. Unlike them Chopper thought better of the
girl and had decided to leave her to it, whatever it was she was doing,
but there was the annoying worry in the back of her mind that Abigail
would be finding new and interesting was of making life difficult for
them both.
And, a little while later, Chopper found Abigail deciding to do just
that. Sharn and Kyle had still not returned, but Abigail pulled aside
the tent curtain and plodded in as though she had been wandering with
no idea of where she was going or where she had been. She was much
easier to read now that her shades rested in her jacket pocket and not
on her nose. Chopper sat up from beneath her coat blanket, still far
from finding sleep, and was instantly curious. "Ah, there she is. From
that look on your face I'll assume that Sharn and Kyle are still out
there looking for you."
Abigail's expression didn't change. "Oh, they were looking for me?"
"Still are, for all I know," Chopper said. "Have you been having fun
out in the wilds of the waste?"
Abigail shook her head. "Not really." She was silent a moment, and
Chopper didn't break that silence. She wanted to hear what Abigail
would have to say next. She was not the reticent type.
"I'm sorry I killed it. But it deserved to die."
Chopper chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. "Doesn't make any odds
to me. As long as I get to study it one way or the other..."
Abigail clenched her fists. "It makes odds to me!!"
So, she was still upset. That was understandable, and she still had
time to sort herself out. "Just lie down and get some sleep," Chopper
advised. "Have you eaten yet?"
Abigail lost the frown she had been wearing and pulled off her
jacket. "Yes. Whatever it was in that packet, it was too dry."
Chopper let herself laugh again. "That'll teach you to buy that
crap. It's no good for anyone, especially a scrawny thing like you."
In response to that, Abigail swallowed hard, and clenched her fists
again, which caused Chopper to take note.
"You... you like mind games, don't you Chopper?"
This was interesting. Chopper grinned. "Depends on the mind."
Abigail let her jacket drop, heedless of the shades inside it, and
stepped out of the matching trousers. Then, to Chopper's surprise, she
pulled off the upper part of her jumpsuit as well.
"Then you can pretend, right? Just for tonight, I want to pretend."
Chopper stared, her smile broadening, but the corners of her mouth
lost their sharp edge. It was one hell of a sight to behold, Abigail
standing there bare-chested and awkwardly awaiting her reply, after so
many denials that the girl had any interest. Abigail swallowed again,
but didn't shift her feet or try to cover herself. She simply waited.
Rather than replying, Chopper got to her feet, and closed the
distance between them. "Pretend?" she asked, taking Abigail's unhappy
chin and raising her head.
That showed the dampness in Abigail's eyes. "I want to pretend that
you love me," she said, sounding so bleak and at the same time so
hopeful. "I want to pretend that I can love you. I just want to be with
someone tonight."
Chopper's smile could only grow. Abigail could not have looked more
adorable or desirable to Chopper than she did right then. Chopper
leaned down and kissed her. Not fully, but enough not to tease the poor
girl. "Who has to pretend?"
That was all the confirmation that Abigail needed, and she pressed
her half-naked body against Chopper's clothes, standing on her toes to
kiss her again. Chopper felt the heat rise in her body as she allowed
Abigail's tongue to meet her own, and her hands wandered freely down
Abigail's scarred back to grope at her slender behind underneath the
tight jumpsuit.
Abigail did not do the same, for which Chopper was a little sorry,
but she let Abigail clutch her just long enough to finish their kiss.
As they parted, Chopper's hands pulled the half-jumpsuit further down,
barely leaving Abigail modest at all. Abigail did not seem to want to
let go, and instead her hands slipped around to Chopper's sides, and
when Chopper began to unbutton her shirt Abigail helped.
Seeing that lost look still on Abigail's face Chopper was tempted to
stop and question her again, but she knew that if she did that it would
only put more doubt into the girl's mind. Chopper wanted her, and if
Abigail wanted the same, even if only 'pretending', then that was more
than alright. Their hands met at the last button, and Chopper played
her part, taking Abigail's fingers beneath her own and pressing them
against her ample chest. There they stayed on her heavy duty brassiere
as Chopper removed the shirt, and once free of it Chopper held her
close again, pulling them together with her left hand while her right
came to rest over Abigail's own petit left breast.
As they kissed again, more forceful with their lips this time, it
seemed to give Abigail confidence. She slipped her hands beneath
Chopper's brassiere and pushed it up the woman's chest to let her
breasts sit heavily against her hands. Chopper once again let her left
hand wander down to caress Abigail's rear.
As she did so, Abigail broke that third kiss suddenly, looking down
at her hands pushing against Chopper's body. Her breath was shaky, and
threatening to break the illusion that they had so easily crafted. "I
can't believe I'm..."
Chopper cut her off by pulling her jumpsuit legs further down,
almost unbalancing them both, and she pressed her right hand more
firmly against Abigail's breast. "Believe it." Then, more gently and
with pleasure in her voice. "Just let yourself do it, Abby."
Chopper was glad when Abigail did so, and after she had pulled the
rest of the girl's clothing from her she leaned down to place a kiss
against Abigail's neck. Abigail finally smiled, water still shining in
her eyes, and she unpinned Chopper's bra, simply wanting to touch her
now, and hold her warm body close.
Chopper's hand slipped downwards across Abigail's clean stomach,
and she returned Abigail's smile with absolute confidence.
"I can love you all you want."
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