The Outcasts: Part 2
Kesler walked up to Fitts and asked if he wanted him to cover his shift.
"Your shifts over and we all need the same amount of rest to if we ever hope to make it to the National Guard Depot."
"I'd cover your shift Protector because you're the one who's reading the maps of these ruins." "No it wouldn't be fair to the rest us, we'll see each other again in the morning. Now get some rest, that's an order soldier."
Kesler walked off to his bedroll and once he found, he almost fell into it, but he knew if he did, landing front first on his armor would hurt like hell, so he nonchalantly sat down and passed out.
Fitts went on patrol near their camp, to an abandoned grocery store, hoping to find at 1 least a pack of cigs. Nobody in the squad knew he smoked because he rarely took off his helmet and only smoked when on late night patrols, to prevent himself from falling asleep.
Sergeant Clifton and his goons were nearby and saw Fitts walking alone, toting a Supersledge.
"Bullet beats rock, mumbled one of the mercs" as he raised his sniper rifle and Clifton quickly yanked it away.
"This one's mine, if any of us is gonna bag an unsuspecting Outcast, it's gonna be me.
Commander Jabsco wants the armor pristine and I'm not letting one of you cross-eyed idiots fuck this up."
Fitts busted through the front door of the grocery store and scanned for cigarette boxes.
" I swear if I don't find one cig I'm gonna crack, watching Colt being crushed under that rubble hasn't left my mind and what better than a smoke to calm my nerves.
He was under my command and he was like a son to me, damn it!
Get a hold of yourself John, he thought. You're not supposed to get attached to your men, that way you don't let their passing affect you."
Farsight was about to doze off when she heard whispering echo off the ruined buildings. She wanted to know where it was coming from and looked all around and saw nothing in the darkness of the night.
She switched her optics to nightvison and saw a flicker in the corner of her eye. As she cocked her head she saw 4 talon mercs, one was holding a sniper rifle. It looked as if he was aiming at something nearby and automatically, she thought of Fitts.
Fitts went into the grocery storage room and found a lone cigarette box. He pulled out one pack and found 4 untouched cigarettes, "Thank you God", he thought. He popped one under his lip and pulled out his zippo.
Instantly she shot up and searched for his tracks, "Fitts where the fuck are you"? As she looked, she kept the talons in view. "I see you bastards, but you don't see me." Just then, one did see her and jerked their sergeant's shoulder.
Clifton fired off an accidental shot and blew Fitt's smoke right out of his teeth. Fitts dropped to the floor, "Curse yourself, for thinking you were safe in a grocery store"
Clifton angry at his subordinate, punched him right in the face and shot bursts of bullets in Fitts direction.
"Sargent Clifton, another Outcast is one the move!" "Perfect they can watch as I blow their friend's unsuspecting brains out"!
Farsight sprinted toward Fitts as she heard the shot and slammed through the grocery as a she watched a bullet go right through Fitts' neck.
He dropped to the floor instantly, blood gushing everywhere.
"Payback's a bitch and then you die" said Clifton after being satisfied with his work, gathered his men and moved on.
Farsight bent over next to Fitts, and carefully rested his head on her knee. He was coughing up blood, but still tried to tell her something.
"Of course when I let my guard down, I get hit, "he chuckled. "Damn it Fitts, I thought we scared those assholes off"', she said as a tear ran down here cheek.
"They're…. mercs…cowards. Never…fig...fai…. He fell silent as the light left his eyes. That was it, Protector Fitts was dead and Defender Farsight was now leader of their squad, whatever's left of it anyways.
"FITTS, you bastard, the first time you start acting like a human being to me and its right before you die." You never knew, but I loved you and as far as we've fallen we needed to find love during such hard times.
What at am I gonna tell Casdin, that the mighty Protector Fitts died while smoking a cigarette?
She planned to lie about how he died as to not soil his good name. Kesler slept like a rock during the whole exchange and didn't even know what happened, so in the morning he was a little shocked when he saw Farsight filling a grave.
He jumped up and ran over to her, "What the hell happened, Fitts strangle a Supermutant Behemoth with his bare hands and under there is its ugly head?" he said jokingly.
Wait don't tell me, he told you to bury it so the carpet matches the drapes."
"Fuck you Kes, it's not no piece of shit mutant down there, its Fitts."
Just then Farsight moved over to reveal Fitts's helmet resting above the mound, marked as a head stone of sorts.
"There's no way, Fitts is better than that, not even I would dare fight him!"
"Those Talon fuckers came in the night and took us by surprise. Guess they wanted payback after the skirmish at our HQ."
Kesler's voice started to crack, as he tried to keep his emotions out of this. "He was a fucking one man army and now he's six feet under. I knew I should've taken his shift, I'd rather be dead than lose him." John knew these ruins like the back of the hand and he was the only one who could decipher our map."
"Don't blame yourself, this shit comes with the job and nobody, except we will know what really happened. He will not be remembered for his last hours as a man searching for smokes, but for his service to the Brotherhood.
Kesler proceeded to sit near Fitts his grave, and Farsight wouldn't see him for almost 2 days after that.
He would sit there until an ungodly force made him move, a stranger who was approaching, clade in near-crushed power armor.
Point Lookout 2254
Cross and Casdin are on their way to the Coastal Grotto to speak with its owner Plik.
Both had been traversing the landscape for a few days and all they found was suicidal smugglers, swampmutants, and new breeds of feral ghouls. Sure it was useful information, but who'd want to come back to verify our findings,
"That lying sack of crap, I knew something was sketchy about that ferryman. Bustling with treasure he said, find your fame and fortune he said, but were either true, well not yet anyways."
"Zip it Cross, we have to be alert going alongside this cliff, I think I saw some mirelurk hunters and maybe a king or two down below."
"What, you think one of those damned things can tear through my power armor, please."
"Being cocky isn't how the Brotherhood operates, and to save our skins, I'm going to get a better view from higher ground and maybe thin out the herd."
"Why not use a Fatman, that's how I solve my problems." "That would attract too much attention and it could also blow up the place were searching for."
Casdin had the last word as he started climbing up the cliff a ways. "Stupid Casdin, always wanting to do things the hard way. It's not like he's much older than me, thinks that makes him so much wiser."
In a short 5 min Casdin returned, saying that he took care of the mires.
"Yeah I see you used an Anti-material rifle with explosive rounds."
" Cross, I know what you think about how I operate, and if you truly want to be elder Lyons' body guard you have to follow orders whether you like it or not." "But you still partially used my advice."
"Yeah, but you were about to nuke the whole fucking cliff."
She knew that tone, they made their way to the center of the cliff where a rusty metal door stood and above stood a homemade neon sign that read: Plik's Safari, You pay and you may die another day. In scratched lettering was probably not
"Doesn't sound good, especially if a safari is involved, although we need to search everywhere for working tech, no matter the risk.
Both of them proceeded inside, but one of them wouldn't leave unscathed. The moment they walked in, they felt an increase in heat, outside it was chilly, but in here it was a little too warm. The two of them met a double metal door and nearby was a middle-aged man that was balding and appeared to have lost patches of skin.
"Greetings, and salutations my new customers!" "Stuff it local, were here to proclaim any technology you might have." "Not until you pay the safari entry fee of 1000 caps." "1000 caps, what kind of show are you running here?" "Give up the caps or you're not welcome here"
Cross, annoyed by his misbehavior, punched him in the face and knocked his nose clean off. After that he fell out of his chair and started to speak.
"You guessed the secret freebie option, knock my nose clean off and you get my ghoul hunting guide and free entry into the game preserve."
Casdin raised an eyebrow, "Game preserve?" "Oh yes, that's why I charge so much to get in. I round up ghouls and you have a killing frenzy with them. According to former customers, it gives you an adrenaline boost.
And there are times when they get overwhelmed and don't come back out. Speaking of which here's a plasma rifle that used belong to this guy with a weird metal suit, that looked like a devil."
"Must have been an Enclave straggler." Casdin thought.
Out of nowhere the floor raised and the door to the preserve opened and tossed them in and closed behind them.
"Thank you for choosing Plik's Safari as your new favorite pastime and have fun, if you survive. Don't worry, the other patrons are already inside to be your friend or your human shield."
"Fucking asshole, I'm gonna kill him good when we get out of here!" "Calm down Cross, this isn't the time to panic." "What do you suggest we do, this guy is tossing packs of feral ghouls at us?"
"We need to find the other locals and even though I don't like it, were going to have to stick together if we hope to survive this.
Present day
Kesler sat in front of the grave, while the stranger still approached. He noticed this stranger had a bit of a limp and wore a makeshift bandage on his leg. Kesler didn't realize who it was until the person spoke.
"Kesler, is that you, whose grave is this?" "Who the fuck are you to care" he said as he rose to the stranger's level. The moment they met eyes, he knew who he was standing face to face with.
"Colt…., but you were crushed under all that rubble, you should've died." "I got lucky, well if you can call a permanent limp lucky. I saw Farsight over at your guys' camp, but where's Fitts?"
"Who do thinks in the hole, huh?" "No, not Fitts, it can't be…." "Face it, he's gone, what makes it worse is he told us a story about you two in the old days. Then he went on patrol and was fatally wounded when he was caught off guard."
"Caught off guard by who, the hand of God?" "No, those talon fucks got the jump on us, looking for payback. I plan to track them bastards down, even if it kills me. And I know Farsight won't have it, but Fitts was like a brother to me.
"Maybe we can get her to come round. It's not like he wasn't something to her too and besides, there's a reason they don't keep tabs on us out here."
The two of them walked down to camp where Farsight was waiting for them. A small fire flickered in the wind, then she shot it with here laser pistol before it went out again. She looked up with a rock-hard expression.
"I figured you weren't dead, Colt, knew it was just a matter of time before you stumbled back here. Seems the almighty granted life where there was death. An eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth as it were. Well in a way, I suppose."
She examined him under her helmet and saw the black crusted blood that had formed around his bandage and the fresh blood soaking through and slowly dripping down his leg and into the dirt.
"You could say that. Kes and me, were going after the talons before we lose the trail, you're I either with us or alone. Whichever you choose, we'll be outcasts of the Outcasts.
Far poured a bottle of Nuka on the pathetic fire and cocked her laser rifle.
"It's time for some payback."