Blue Death
He awoke in the morning, his eyes crusty, sore and dry. His lips were chapped, split and rough. Johnny's throat burned and ached. His heart? Well his heart was shattered. It had felt like it someone had torn it right out of his chest cavity.
He swore they had ripped it right out with a smile on their face. It was like they had dug their fingers into it and squeezed so tightly you could see the blood slowly dribble out of it. Johnny questioned whether it was even still beating, but he knew it was. For the pain he was feeling was too real.
He had given up on life and it had given up on him. Johnny lived off of alcohol now, the only thing that stopped his heart from aching. He wondered often how he was still alive. Johnny would go for days without food, without water, without anything.
If it wasn't for Preston's constant checking in's or MacCready's drop byes and forcing him to eat. Johnny was sure he would've perished by now. For the first two months they had tried their hardest to get Johnny out of his rut.
But after four, five months of violent outburst, emotional break downs, they had decided to leave him to his own devices. He could tell they still hoped for his comeback. For Johnny to snap out of it and bounce back.
However there was no coming back this time. Johnny had no idea how to tell them to leave him alone, to let him die a lonely, heartbroken man. He just wanted to drown himself in the alcohol that no longer affected him.
When the alcohol had dried up and he had to wait days before Trashcan Carla's next delivery. Johnny would lay in his bed sober, shutting his eyes tightly as the memory would swarm his mind. He could remember it all so clearly and perfectly. He'd have it on repeat constantly going through everything that had happened.
It had been the first day of spring. The air around them was warm but cool at the same time. The smell of radiation was always in the air. Yet somehow Johnny had become a custom to its burnt crisp scent.
He watched as Piper looked up in the tree's listening to the birds chirp away. Johnny allowed a small smile to dance across his face as he marvelled at the beauty next to him. She had basically pulled him from the brink of death.
Meeting her was one of the best days of his new life in the Commonwealth. At first her sarcastic, witty comments grated him. They did not go along with his dark, serious demeanour. However after a few months of travelling together and getting to know one another, he had fallen for Piper Wright hard.
She was unlike any woman he had met before. Piper was different to his wife. She was loud, out spoken and independent. Piper opened Johnny up and managed to change him unlike no other. She was so determine, so beautiful and smart. Piper Wright was a breath of fresh air for Johnny.
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He watched her as she marvelled in the sunlight allowing the light to aluminate her hazel eyes. Her skin was sun kissed with freckles sprinkled light across it. Her smile reached her eyes and her laugh warmed his heart.
He was content for five seconds of his life at that moment. However everything he was feeling was dropped when they were ambushed from behind. Four raiders had stealthy came up from behind them.
As he turned around, his eyes grew wide. They stood a few meters apart and had their weapons drawn on them.
"Hand your fucking weapons over now." One of the raiders said. Johnny clenched his jaw and grinded his teeth together. He was unsure if he'd be able to get out of this without any casualty to either himself or Piper.
He looked over at Piper he was fuming as much as he was. However he could also see the concern in her eyes. Johnny sighed and raised his hands in the air to surrender. As he watched one of the raiders walk closer towards him, he felt the earth beneath him tremble.
The raider stopped in his tracks as he had felt the same thing. He looked back over at his friends who only glared at him.
"What the fuck are you doing? Grab their weapons." One of the raiders yelled. The man turned back around and kept making his way towards Johnny. The tremor in the earth had become more noticeable. The four raider's attention was drawn to the area around them as they still kept their guns aimed at Johnny and Piper.
Johnny cautiously tried to devise a plan in his head to get himself and Piper out of this mess. The earth shook furiously and in the mere seconds an adult death claw had presented itself. Johnny noticed as the raiders scrambled to take cover.
However their fear had set the death claw off and it charged at them with speed. Johnny watched as Piper took out her pistol and started firing shots at it. Johnny took out his rifle and aimed for its head.
However the death claw absorbed the bullets and kept its focus on the raiders. The raiders were now firing at the death claw, scrambling to not get swiped by its claws. The leader of the small group turned his gun from the beast and aimed it at Johnny.
He fired a few shots only missing Johnny's head by a few centimetres. Johnny swore under his breath as he reloaded his weapon and shot at the raider. He knew raiders were unpredictable but he had hoped they would be too distracted by the death claw.
Johnny watched as the beast sunk its claws into a raider that had gotten to close to it. The death claw lifted the raider's body effortlessly pulling it apart and sending pieces flying all over the open meadow.
Piper hid behind a boulder shooting at the death claw. Johnny covered himself behind a tree as the leader of the raiders was still aiming at him. Johnny peered around the tree and took aim, missing the leader by a long shot.
The death claw was still focused on the raiders, practically ignoring Piper and Johnny. However it wasn't long before they had finally caught its attention. It sniffed the air and roared loudly before charging towards them. Johnny swore as he sprinted behind what little cover they had.
The raiders were now taking aim at Johnny and Piper. However Piper was still stuck behind her cover to notice. Johnny aimed his rifle and shot one of the raiders dead into the forehead. The leader swore loudly as he unleashed a rain of fire upon Johnny.
Johnny was taking cover behind a small tree as Piper was way behind. He peered over his shoulder shooting a few times at the death claw as it searched the area for her. The death claw didn't budge as it ripped at the ground around Piper.
Johnny hoped that Piper would be okay until he took care of these raiders. He had managed to shoot the only female raider in the group in the leg. She dropped to the ground screaming, clutching her wounded leg.
The smell of blood caught the death claw's attention as it stampeded over to the injured woman. Johnny looked away as he heard flesh being torn from bone. The screams of the raider intensified for a minute before it slowly faded away.
Johnny turned his attention to the last raider left, the leader of the gang. He shot a couple of times only hitting the trees around him. He cautiously watched the death claw as it finished ripping apart the body.
He heard Piper's gun being shot behind him. He turned around and saw her peer around the boulder aiming at the death claw. The death claw roared in agony as one of Piper's bullets had found one of its eyes.
Johnny took aim at the raider; however he had ran out of bullets in his rifle. He took the opportunity to run at the raider and tackle him to the ground. He laid fist after fist against the raiders face, ignoring the fact that a death claw was still in the area.
It wasn't until he had heard a blood curdling scream was he broken out of his trance. It had clicked to Johnny that they scream belong to Piper. He quickly peered behind him and he felt his heart drop into his stomach.
He scrambled to get away from the raider he was beating when a sharp pain shot into his thigh. He looked down as he noticed the raider had stabbed him with a dagger. Johnny cursed loudly before taking out his pistol he kept hidden and shooting the raider in the head without hesitation.
He lifted himself up and limped towards the death claw. He unleashed a fury of bullets into its back before finally getting its head. He watched as the beast came crashing down, blood from its body turning the ground around it red.
Johnny ran as fast as he could to where he had last seen her. He prayed that she was still alive; he prayed that she was okay. The sight he however walked upon proved to not answer his prays. Johnny approached slowly, the smell of blood, flesh and death was clear to him.
He peered down at Piper's body; the whole side of it had been torn deeply. Her blood was everywhere; he could clearly see her rib cage. It took all his strength to not vomit. Johnny dropped to his knees and pulled her closer to him.
There was no sign of life, she was no longer breathing and he could no longer feel her heart beat. He looked down at her lifeless body, tears spilling from his eyes. Johnny exam her hands as she clutched something tightly to her chest. It was his ring he had given to her. She had been wearing it around her neck on a small golden chain.
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He woke up in cold sweat, his heart racing frantically in his chest. He noticed that it was on the cusp of dawn as the sun threatened to rise further into the sky. Johnny's guts rumbled and his throat begged him for water.
He ignored all request before reaching for a bottle of whisky. However they were all empty, which enraged Johnny. He threw them at his wall before swearing loudly. He had forgotten about running out the night before.
Johnny dragged his weak, skeleton body to the toilet, as he retched whatever contents that were in his guts. He made his way over to a cupboard he kept an emergency supply in. He threw out the contents of the draw all over his room.
All the bottles were empty. He ripped the draw out of cupboard and threw it to the ground. He searched in his clothes and found nothing but some psycho and some jet that Hancock had left.
Feeling as this was his last option Johnny inhaled the jet and then injected himself with the psycho. He let the chemicals do its job noticing the world around going slower than speeding up and then going slower again.
Johnny barely felt himself fall back and land hard on the ground. He found himself in a fit of laughter as he enjoyed this new intake. He closed his eyes and allowed the darkness to seep in. When he opened his eyes he was blinded by a bright white light.
Everything was bright, colourful yet also foggy. He saw his old house from before the war, he saw his beautiful wife Nora out the front playing with whom he presumed to be Shaun. He smiled to himself and wondered if he had finally died and gone to heaven.
"John." He heard her sweet voice call out to him, waving him over to join them. Johnny found himself slowly walking towards them.
"Blue." He heard another familiar voice say from behind him. He turned around and saw Piper standing outside of his house after the bombs. She wore a smile on her face and a certain gleam in her eyes.
Johnny felt his smile break out across his face as he saw her. She waved him over for him to join her. He felt conflicted as he still heard Nora calling him from a distance. He peered over his shoulder to look at her and Shaun and then looked back over to Piper.
"Blue, they'll be okay. I promise." Just as Piper had said that he turned around to look one last time at his wife and child. That had been another time for him. He knew that if he was to join them he'd be content but not satisfied.
Johnny had grown too hard, to cold and distant for that life. He watched them for a few minutes longer until a car pulled into their drive way. He observed as he saw a man get out of the car.
He barely recognised the man, but he knew it was himself. Johnny looked so different though. His clothes were so clean, his hair was slicked back and he actually looked happy. He watched as his son and wife ran to him and pulled him in for an embrace.
The scene unfolding before him warmed his heart and allowed him to finally turn back around to join Piper. As he walked closer to her the world behind him faded away. He finally reached Piper's side and looked down at her warm smile she offered.
He felt her take his hand as they walked off towards their house, in the Commonwealth. His last thoughts were of,
"This is where I belong."