Chapter 2: Wildlife (CVPELLV Remix) by June Miller & Teddy Killerz

He was tired. His muscles were spent. His lungs were on fire. But he kept running. He just kept running. Why would he stop? Stopping meant death. He noticed ahead of him that a man walked between two cars, holding a bat wrapped in chains. He wound up, preparing to swing. So the runner just altered his course and slid across the hood of a car and began running on the side of the freeway he had been on.

"H-Hey! Come back here you little shit!" The man, who was a raider, yelled, running after him. He was joined by the other five or so raiders that were chasing the figure who was running. He ran towards the sound of water, hoping to have a better chance of escaping there rather than on a deserted freeway. The trees blocking his view soon gave way to a clearing, revealing something even better than he could have imagined. Walls were erected almost 20 feet high at the edge of the clearing, made from trees… which only meant one thing, a village! A settlement of people who wouldn't try to skin him alive and then parade his dead body around as a trophy… hopefully.

"Ah shit!" One of the raiders behind him yelled. "We need to get him before he can get to the settlement walls!"

The runner turned around to glance back at his pursuers and dived to the ground as an axe sailed over him. He quickly used his momentum to spring back to his feet and continue running. He briefly considered grabbing the thrown axe that was now imbedded in the ground, but decided not to as that could slow him down. He glanced up at the walls and saw what he thought was a shadow, unsure whether or not it was actually a person or just something his tired mind had created.

"H-HELP!" He yelled, as he approached the wall. He banged against the massive wall despite knowing it didn't make much noise. "SOMEBODY! PLEASE!"

"It's over kid, just come quietly back with us and I'm sure we'll only break a few bones," one of the raiders said as they slowed down and stopped. "C'mon! Ya made it pretty far by yaself. That's something to be proud of! Though, that'll probably just make the boss more pissed when we return."

The raider began advancing on him, so he turned back to the wall and began trying to frantically trying to climb it.

"PLEASE! SOMEONE! HELP!" He yelled as he continued.

"Jesus, can ya fuckin' shut it? Ya never know what could be-" The raider was cut off by a gunshot and collapsed to the ground with an exclamation of pain. "Gah! Fuck! Who the fuck shoots someone in the goddamned leg!"

"The next one'll be in the head if you don' turn tail!" A deep and masculine voice yelled down from the top of the wall. They all looked up to see a man lowering his rifle. The raider who had been shot struggled to get up, even refusing help from another.

"Who the fuck do ya think ya are?!" The raider yelled up. "And what're ya gonna do if we come back with more?"

"Oh?" The man asked, almost looking amused. "What'll we do? That's a very good question… what do ya'll think we'll do if they come back?"

Suddenly, a handful of people popped up on the wall, all with rifles leveled down at the raiders, who reflexively took a step back. They looked between themselves. They turned towards the one who had been speaking and he scowled back at them.

"Fine!" He yelled. "We'll back off… for now! But we'll come back with more! Then we'll see who's on top then!"

They carefully backed up, keeping their eyes up on the people on the wall until they were halfway across the clearing before turning around and walking back the way they had come.

"Hey!" The masculine voice yelled, getting his attention. "Continue down the wall this way, we'll get the doors open for you."

The figure sighed in relief as he walked along the edge of the wall, hearing a grinding sound as he did. He came across a section of the wall that was slowly opening up. He walked through as it opened enough for a person to slip through and was surprised to see several people pointing various guns at him. He reflexively put his hands in the air. Maybe he had jumped out of the pan and into the fire…

"Who are ya?" The masculine voice said above him. He turned to see another group of people with their guns trained on him from above.

"E-Excuse me?" He asked back.

"Yer name. I want t' know yer name," the man said.

"My name? It's Mathis. Mathis M-Mur-"

"Mathis eh?" The man said. "Well mah name's Rob. And this is mah village."

Mathis looked around him, noticing the large number of buildings.

"I-It's very nice, sir," Mathis replied. Rob smiled.

"It is, isn' it?" He said. "Ah'd founded this village and have been runnin' it for thirt-"

"Eleven," a man next to him interrupted.

"Eleven years," Rob continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Ah consider e'ryone here as mah own family. So, Ah have t' ask ya somethin' Mathis…"

"Wh-What is it, sir?" Mathis asked, his anxiety rising a bit.

"Well first, can ya stop callin' me sir? Ye're gonna make me blush," he said, sheepishly almost. Then he suddenly became serious, sending a shiver done Mathis' spine. "Second thing Ah need to ask is, why the fuck did ya bring raiders onto our doorstep?"

"I-I-I'm sorry. I d-didn't know what to do! I was being chased a-and I-I thought I was going to die! Y-You all looked like my l-last hope," Mathis stuttered out.

"Mhm… where ya from Mathis?" Rob asked, still deathly serious.

"I-I don't know. I never learned where it was on a map… before I was captured," Mathis answered.

"Oh, the raiders captured ya? That's rare. They usually just kill e'ryone they meet," Rob said.

"I don't know why they spared me. They killed my parents and 'took me in'. Which I guess translates roughly to 'you'll do what we say, when we say it, or you're going to die'. A-And I d-don't want to die!" Mathis exclaimed.

"Alright, alright. Calm down Mathis," Rob said, putting up his hands defensively. "Now tell us, and please be honest, do ya have any weapons on ya right now?"

"... Y-Yes," Mathis said after a bit of hesitation. The people around him stiffened at his answer.

"Good Mathis, thank ya fer tellin' us the truth. Now, where is it?" Rob asked.

"It's right he-" Mathis said, reaching down before a gunshot sounded, causing Mathis to jump.

"Ah didn't ask ya to grab it, Ah just asked ya to tell us where it is," Rob said, still talking calmly. The person next to him dropped his smoking rifle to load in another shot.

"S-Sorry. It's right here on my left hip… there isn't any ammunition for it, I ran out a while back," Mathis said. Rob looked at one of the people closest to Mathis and made a gesture with his head. The man nodded and walked up to Mathis and grabbed the crude pipe pistol that had was at his hip. He then patted along Mathis's body and nodded back to Rob. Rob nodded back in thanks.

"Well Mathis, now that that's all out of the way, how'd ya like some food?" He asked.

"I feel like I could eat an entire radstag," Mathis answered.

"Ha! Ah like this kid!" Rob said. "I might hold ya to that statement then!"

(30 minutes later)

"So… Mathis," Rob said, watching him inhale a radstag steak. "Why don't ya tell me about yourself?"

"Ugh… like what?" Mathis asked back, pausing from his meal.

"Well… how old are ya?"

"Oh, uh, about 19 I think."

"Really? You're still pretty green. So ya say ya were captured by raiders?"

"Yeah, I think I was around ten years old when they found my parents' house… I think my parents had tried to protect me but…"

"Ah understand kid, no need to say anymore. So what are yer plans now?"

"I… I don't know. I don't know where to go. I… I have nowhere to go. If I knew where I was going, I would have tried to go to Seattle but I was just too focused on running away that I didn't even think of where I was going."

"Oh… If yer hopin' to go to Seattle, then ya'll ran the wrong way."

"Wh-What? The wrong way? But then I'll have to go back towards the raiders then… Oh God… Now I really don't know what to do. I'm going to die… aren't I?" Mathis asked, setting down his utensils and stared down at what was left of the steak. Rob sighed.

"Seattle also would have been a bad place to go to."

"What do you mean?"

"Seattle, what's left of it at least, ain't nothin' but a hive of raiders, super mutants and ghouls. Goin' there alone might as well be a death sentence itself."

"So even if I went the right way, I still would have died?" Mathis asked. He then found himself laughing a bit. But it was an empty laugh. "Maybe I should just go back to the raiders and accept my fate then…"

"Look kid," Rob began before pausing. "Maybe… maybe Ah can talk to some of the other settlers and you can stay here with us."

Mathis looked up at Rob, his eyes had already begun to water.

"R-Really? I could stay here?" He asked.

"Ah'm not gonna make any promises. But do ya got any… skills or anythin' that can be of use to us?" Rob asked. Mathis contemplated a bit.

"Well… no, there's not much," he admitted, but he smiled a bit. "Though, when I was young, my dad used to tell me a lot about hunting. Took me with him a couple times to show me. While I haven't done it, I could probably pick it up quickly."

"How good are you with a gun?"

"Uh… I honestly don't know. I've only used a gun twice before in my life. Once when I was young and earlier today when I was escaping. I, uh, wasn't very accurate though."

Rob stroked his beard in contemplation. He suddenly sat up.

"Come with me," he said, turning up to leave. He paused though to look back. "You can just leave the ste-"

He stared at the empty plate before Mathis. Mathis laughed sheepishly.

"S-Sorry. That's one of the best meals I've eaten in the past few years," he said. Rob laughed.

"Ya might jus' make it after all," he said while grinning. He left with Mathis following after him. As they exited what Mathis assumed to be like a dining commons, he noticed that the 'streets' of the settlement seemed much more busy than when they had entered.

"So how many people live here?" He asked.

"There are 'round 200 of us the last Ah checked," Rob answered, causing Mathis to whistle.

"200? How did this settlement get so big?" He asked.

"Well, this settlement's been around for 40 years. Ah was one a the co-founders Ah guess. Though, Ah didn't become the leader 'til about 15 years ago. We have a… drat, forget what the name is, but we have the people elect the leaders," Rob said.

"Oh, a democracy," Mathis said, surprising Rob.

"Yeah, that's what it's called! How'd ya know that?" He asked.

"Well, my parents were very interested in everything before the bombs dropped and they told me about lots of different things pre-war," Mathis explained, the look on his face was unreadable.

"Ya sound pretty smart," Rob commented, causing Mathis to snort.

"Yeah, and that's gotten me real far in life," he replied.

"Look, the Cascades are an unforgivin' land that'll-"

"The Cascades?" Mathis interrupted.

"Yeah, it's what everyone calls-"

"I know what the Cascades are," Mathis interrupted again, much to Rob's annoyance. "But the Raiders said that this area was still part of the Sound."

"Eh, it's kinda in the middle between the two so Ah guess it can be either or. But we like to call it the Cascades because of all the nature around us. The Sound has more cities aroun' it so we just like throwin' ourselves into the Cascades," Rob explained. Mathis nodded his head in understanding.

"So where are we heading to?" He asked.

"The shootin' range," Rob answered, surprising Mathis.

"Why are we going there?" Mathis asked.

"Ah need to get a feel for what yer skills are. We only take outsiders if they can prove to be useful to the community. So, we're headin' there to see what'cha got," Rob said. Mathis didn't ask any further questions.

After a few more minutes of walking, Rob led Mathis to small clearing between trees where there was nothing but a few crude targets… very crude. The wood that they were cut from wasn't cut very cleanly and the three circles that were painted on were sloppy. There were two of them and one already looked like it had been used a few times while the other was free of any holes. Mathis hoped he'd change that.

"Ah know that they aren't exactly pretty to look at, but they get the job done," Rob said, almost defensively. "After all, you'll never shoot anythin' that's really round in real life."

"Good point," Mathis agreed, trying to not offend the man and his targets. Rob nodded his head before reaching to his side and pulling out a pipe pistol that Mathis hadn't even noticed. He held the handle out for Mathis.

"Here, go ahead and take a few pops. It's much nicer than the one you came in with," Rob said. Mathis took the gun but spared a glance at Rob before looking down at the gun.

"You do realize that you just gave a person you don't know a loaded weapon right?" Mathis asked. Rob looked down at him with a raised brow.

"Ah do, but Ah also know that if you shot me here, you wouldn't make it out of here alive," He answered.

"That's true," Mathis said. Rob suddenly grinned, which unnerved Mathis. Greatly.

"Of course, that assumin' you could even hit me from this distance. Which, from what you were sayin' earlier, I'm not too sure you could," he said, causing Mathis to scowl.

"Of course I could hit you from here! Watch," he said before turning to the target, holding the gun with one hand. He gauged the distance, about 30 feet. He gauged wind speed, practically nonexistent. He took the shot… and hit the outermost circle.

"Wow…" Was all Rob said, but the tone that he said it in spoke enough.

"Shut up!" Mathis yelled before leveling the gun with both hands and firing again. He hit the outermost circle again… just on the other side of the target. He took another shot, this time managing to hit the middle target. He huffed in agitation before handing the gun back to Rob. "That gun sucks almost as much as the one I stole and is clearly defective."

Rob hummed in contemplation before grabbing the gun and aiming it at the target. He fired five shots, all of them hitting the center of the target. After he was done, the innermost circle was now just an empty space.

"Seems to work alright for me," he jokingly mused.

"You're just used to how much it sucks," Mathis retorted, causing Rob to laugh.

"Maybe," he replied before holstering the gun. "But for your first try you did alright! With just some more time on the range, Ah'm sure we can get your shootin' nice and fine. Ah might be able to convince the others to let you in with this."

Rob then began walking away, causing Mathis to chase after him.

"Where are we going now?" He asked.

"Well I'm goin' to go find a couple of people and we'll discuss about lettin' you in or not," Rob answered.

Mathis followed Rob all the way back to the main part of the settlement, but he was more focused on the layout of the place. There seemed to be two main parts of the settlement built from what used to be two different parking lots. One was more bunched together and smaller which was where the 'commercial' district was while the bigger and spread out one was the 'residential' area. Mathis followed Rob as he went around the commercial district asking for various people. After meeting said people, he then told them to go meet at a certain location to have a discussion. After he had found everyone, he then went to the location to wait for the others. The location was all the way across the settlement for some reason, closer to the residential area. It was a small building, about the size of a hut which was surrounded by benches. Mathis was asked to wait outside while they held the meeting. After gathering everyone, they held the meeting. For. Two. Hours.

After Mathis was sure he was on the verge of dying from boredom, Rob stepped out of the building with others leaving behind him and going back to whatever their daily lives entailed. Mathis perked up as Rob sat across from him on the bench.

"Well good news, they've agreed to let you in," Rob said cheerily, causing Mathis to grow suspicious.

"What's the bad news then?" He asked. Rob scratched the back of his head.

"Well Ah wouldn't call it bad necessa-"

"What's the catch?" Mathis asked again. Rob sighed this time before responding.

"They've agreed to let you in on the condition that they'll be watchin' you closely for the next week or so and will be evaluatin' yer usefulness," he admitted.

"That's understandable," Mathis said, surprising Rob.

"Oh, that's great! Come on, Ah'll show you where you'll be stayin'. We should still have some houses open from the last time we expanded," Rob said, getting up with Mathis following him. Rob took him to the edge of the residential area where after walking a bit to the third house he stopped. He went in briefly before coming back out.

"Yeah, this one's empty. The other two that were down the way we came are still empty as well but the ones on the other side have other people livin' in them. So get to know yer neighbors, it'll make livin' here more enjoyable," Rob said. Mathis nodded his head in reply. "Well, Ah should get goin'. Ah've been puttin' off my responsibilities enough for the day. You can just do whatever for the rest of today, looks like there's still a few hours left of sun."

And with that, Rob left. Mathis sighed as he entered the house. Well, his house. It was… nice. Compared to what he had been living in under the raiders, it was practically a godsend. No constant sounds of fighting or gunshots. No ever-present stench of blood. And no waking up with a decapitated head in his bed. It was single story with a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom with a little porch in the back. Mathis made his way to the porch and stood there, facing the wall that enclosed the settlement. He whistled out a tune. Mathis enjoyed whistling. For some reason, none of the raiders seemed like they knew how to whistle so they were 'fascinated' by Mathis's 'talent'. There was also a second reason why he enjoyed it so much.

A bird whistled after a few moments of silence once he had finished. There was the second reason. He whistled at the bird in a different tune, getting a different reply. He whistled again but this time was met with silence. He frowned. Something must have spooked it off.

Mathis headed back inside before deciding to turn in for the day. If he wanted to impress the others, he'd need to get good rest.

And done. Got this out after a decent amount of time actually. Don't worry, the plot will slowly develop and is currently brewing. It will be delicious.

This is going to be a very human story, it will be a nice change of pace compared to, well… Charming. SoloAcrobat6 out.