Chapter Two: Dirty Jake, The Almighty
"Who… what do you want?" The dumbass said, shaking incredibly.
"I just want to know where you hid the kid. Oh look, your friend just stopped breathing. It was about time. We should check if his heart is still beating." Jake said, pulling out his knife and stabbing it into the dead man's chest.
"No! Please don't, I'll tell you!" and Jake pulled the knife out, wiping it on the sleeve of the man he just stabbed.
"Good" Jake said with a grin, admiring his knife's blade. "So? Are you going to tell me or not?"
"The kid is on the top floor in the first room on the left. Please don't kill me!" The man said, gripping on to Jake's right leg, and Jake shook him off.
"Are there any more of your friends I should be worried about?" Jake asked, gripping onto his .44.
"Only five others. They're not armed. I swear!"
"But you and your buddy here were both armed with pistols. Why do I feel like you're lying to me?" Jake pointed out, putting the barrel of his .44 to the mans head, then pulled the trigger. "I got my information. This meeting is over. Thanks bud." Jake then walked out of dark room, and emptied out his chamber, and inserted six more shots. Jake was doing a favor for someone in Rivet City, who's child was kidnapped by some dumb ass raiders. He had followed a group to this building, then ambushed two of the idiots, slitting one's throat, getting information out of the other, and killing him when he got what he wanted. Raiders don't deserve to live. Jake proceeded up the stairs till he got to the top floor. He opened the door to the hallway, and noticed a man sleeping next to the first room on the left, that had a "Do Not Disturb" note on the door knob. Jake ignored the sleeping raider, and opened the door and found a dead child on an old worn out couch, and seen a man relaxing on the balcony. Jake walked into the room. There was a kitchen on the left side, a bathroom door to his left, and the balcony was in front of him. In the kitchen he saw a man that had his head inside the refrigerator poking for food, and he heard a man and a woman in the bathroom. Jake sprinted to the balcony and took the man relaxing as a hostage, then shot the man in the thigh that was in the kitchen. Two nude people flung out of the bathroom, a man and a woman. They got to their feet, and looked for something to use as a weapon. "I would freeze if I were you." and they did. Jake slowly approached them with his hostage. Jake was holding his .44 to the hostage's head. "Where did you get this child, and which one of you killed him?" Jake demanded. All three of them claimed not to know where the kid came from, or how the kid died. Jake asked why they did it, and none of them answered. "It's too bad the kid is dead. If he was still alive, I probably would have let some of you live. I hate that it had to turn out like this." Then Jake shot the two lovers, then threw his hostage off the balcony. He watched as the man screamed all the way down, then listened to the pleasing crunch once the body hit the ground. All of a sudden the door flung open and the man that was sleeping was standing in the door way. "Top of the mornin' sleeping beauty." Jake said enthusiastically. "Would you mind cleaning up this mess?" Then the sleeping beauty clenched his fists and charged towards Jake. Jake flipped out his butterfly knife, and let the man charge into it. The man held Jake's wrists, that were holding a butterfly knife, that was now in the man's chest. He stared into Jake's eyes, stared at Jake's face, which was rotten, peeling, it wasn't just peeling, it was also unappealing. Sleeping beauty slowly died. Jake pushed him on to the floor, and held the dead child in his arms, and cried. Afterward, he stood up and wiped his eyes. He found a notepad with a pencil on the kitchen counter. On it he wrote, "ALMIGHTY DIRTY JAKE WAS HERE!" Then he wiped his eyes again, and walked back to Rivet City.
The walk from Rivet City to the raider hideout wasn't that far away. It was about an hour walk, or two hours if you're on a painful-knee-cramping crouch and following a group of dumb ass raiders. Once Jake got to Rivet City, one of the guards was there waiting for him at the front door. "If it isn't Dirty Jake!" The Guard, Mark Moore, said holding out his hand for a handshake.
"Mark, my man. How's it going?" Jake said, shaking Mark's hand.
"Not bad friend, but where's the kid?" Mark said, and then realized what had happened. Jake looked down, then back up and Mark to tell by Jake's face the kid didn't make it. "Spare me the details. The parent, Sarah, is still waiting for you though. Want me to lead you to her?"
"No, it's fine. I know where she is. Talk to you later Mark." Jake walked inside and headed to the market with his hands reaching for a cigarette in his pocket. He lit it with a match, and noticed Sarah rushing toward him. You could tell she was crying, the way she walked she looked like she was about to fall over every step she took. She was wearing a sleeping gown, and her hair was messy and tangled, like she just got out of bed. She ran up to Jake and hugged on him for a couple seconds.
"My baby… is he okay? Where is he? What happened to him?" Sarah looked at Jake's rotting face, and held Jake's decomposing hand. "Is he…" Jake cut her off.
"He's dead, Sarah. I'm sorry. I killed those responsible. I understand that won't bring your son back, but they won't harm anyone again, I can promise you that. I'm sorry I can't do more to help you." Jake tried to hold back his tears, but one slipped onto his cheek. Sarah noticed it and wiped it off, and she didn't say anymore. She walked away, slowly this time and somewhat shaken. Jake wanted to stop her. He wanted to do more for her, but feared he may make things worse. He feared she would think that he pitied her. No, he was going to let her heal on her own; he did what he could for Sarah. Although he killed the raiders, he couldn't stop thinking of the kid. He tried to get his mind off of it, but he couldn't.
Jake went to his room and took off his dark red, and slightly torn trench coat. The trench coat has a hole in the right shoulder, where Jake had been shot by a Super Mutant that was using a hunting rifle. The bastard got lucky when Jake had jumped for cover. Jake was luckier though. He was lucky that the Super Mutant had only got the one shot on him, and that it was only in his shoulder. Jake put so many bullets in that super mutant that the thing that finally killed the super mutant, was when Jake threw his .44 at it because he had ran out of ammo. The .44 had hit the mutant in between the eyes, and rendered him unconscious. Jake was so mad, he ripped the mutant's head off, and kicked it off of a bridge. There are a few cuts on the right arm, where he had gotten into knife fights. One cut in particular stands out from the rest, and is larger too. It goes from the shoulder to the elbow, and was caused by a raider pumped up on so much psycho the guy was practically insane. Jake will never forget that fight. Sometimes it even haunts his him in his sleep. Jake was jumped by the guy without warning, it was almost pitch black, and Jake was on his way back to Rivet City. The druggy jumped on to Jake, and tried to stab him but kept on missing. Jake went to push the guy off, and the knife slashed Jake from his shoulder to his elbow. Jake used his adrenaline to ignore the pain, and push the guy off, then shot the man six times. Jake still has the scar, and it aligns perfect with the tear on his trench coat. Jake examined his trench coat, admiring his history with it, then put it on a coat hanger in the corner of the room. He turned back to the bed, but then turned to the mirror. He rubbed his cheek, where Sarah had wiped the tear from his face. Not many women would touch a wasting-away ghoul. Jake noticed he still has hairs coming from his chin, where he had once had a sexy goatee. He even still had a few hairs above his upper lip, that once was a sexy mustache, but he was completely bald on the top of his head. He definitely didn't look like the man he used to be, now he looked like a zombie, although people didn't treat him like that in Rivet City. People treated him as a normal human being, and why wouldn't they? Jake does a lot for Rivet City. He goes out and gathers food, protects it, he does what he can. He wasn't getting paid to save Sarah's child, he volunteered because no one else in the city has the balls to do it. Jake was about to take off his red turtle neck, then he got an urge to drink, so he headed out of his room, locked it, then went to the bar on the ship. As he walked in one of his old drinking buddies waved for him. He really was an old man, probably around his late fifties. He told a lot of stories, none that really make sense, but he was a loyal friend.
"I'm so sorry about that kid lad, he was a good kid, and he had a long life." The old man ranted.
"He was twelve, old man." Jake sighed, and the old man didn't reply. Instead the old man passed out, and after finishing his shot, Jake left thirty bottle caps on the table, and a ten more as a tip. On the way out he heard a gunshot, and it sounded like it came from one of the rooms. He sprinted down stairs to the corridor, and seen everyone running into Sarah's room. Jake pushed everyone out of the way, and found Sarah in her bed, with blood splattered on the wall behind her, and a 10mm pistol on the ground. Jake fell to his knees, utterly shocked. Someone had put their hand on his shoulder. Jake turned around, and saw Mark. Mark patted Jake's shoulder, and helped him up.
"It'll be okay, Jake. We'll give her a good burial. I guess she believed there was nothing left to live for, with her child gone. Don't blame yourself; there was nothing you could do. If you need anything, come find me." Mark said, and it was comforting. Jake got up and nodded, then squeezed through the crowd of people curious to what had happened. Jake was filled with rage now. Why would she go and kill herself? Because she has nothing left to live for? Jake walked to his room, and punched the mirror, that shattered into several pieces. He then threw it behind him, and punched the wall several times. He looked at his hand, and seen pieces of glass coming out of his fingers, and his knuckles looked destroyed, but he felt nothing. He started to relax, and laid on his bed, and started plucking the glass from his fingers, and putting each piece into his ash tray. He started rubbing his cheek again, where Sarah had wiped the tear from his face. He wanted to feel her delicate touch again. He started to tear up again, but he sat up, and fought it. He was feeling gloomy.
"God Why do I feel this way? I hardly even knew her." Jake started questioning himself, "Of course I cried about the kid. He was smart and died so young… I cared about the fate of the kid. Perhaps it's because Sarah cared for me… and in return I cared for her, but I still hardly even knew her. Come on. You're Almighty Dirty Jake, and you don't cry. Come one Jake you're better than this. I need sleep." Jake opened up the top drawer of his nightstand pulled out a small box of YumYum Deviled Eggs, which he got from the market many weeks ago, and they didn't taste that bad. Jake rested his head on his dusty pillow, trying not to think of Sarah and her son. Instead he thought of the note he left on the kitchen counter in that raider hideout. Is it possible he made a mistake? What if they had found he was in Rivet City, and made an attempt to attack it? That would be stupid though, the guards here and fairly well armed with automatic rifles, and with Jake's help it wouldn't be very hard to defend, the guards plus Jake could easily take on a raider attack, but what if they waited to attack him? What if they attacked Jake when he was out scavenging for food, or doing anything at all outside of Rivet City? Jake could take six raiders easily, his .44 Magnum revolver holds six shots, and he rarely misses. Seven raiders, he'd have to quickly pull his balisong and stab or slice one to death. Eight raiders would be tricky, especially if it was a sneak attack. If he's ready for it he can withstand about ten raiders, or if he's in a position where he has the advantage at all, Jake is pretty lucky, he can probably come out on top. Although, what if the raiders he attack are actually part of one big raider organization and take him when he's off guard, and attack Rivet City with fire power Jake couldn't even imagine? Jake sat back up, and opened up the bottom drawer of his nightstand, and pulled out another .44 magnum from it, and placed it on the top of his nightstand. It was already loaded. Jake laid back down, and calmed himself. He took long, deep breaths. He eventually fell asleep.
Normally, Jake doesn't dream. He doesn't dream of anything. This time was different. He dreamt of Sarah's face, and she was holding her son and she whispered, "You're too late, Jake. You killed my son. You didn't make it there fast enough and now he's dead. How do you know those people there were the ones that killed him? How do you know you avenged my son's death?" And it repeated over and over, till finally someone woke him up. It was Mark, he had used an extra key to get into Jake's room.
"Jake, buddy, you and I are going on a mission." Mark said, shaking Jake awake.
"I was sleeping." Jake replied, pushing Mark away.
"No shit, friend, that's why I'm shaking you awake. Unless you want me to jump on your bed, I suggest you stand up and put your trench coat on. You don't look as bad ass without it." Mark threw Jake's trench coat at him, and Jake caught it. Jake chuckled a bit, stood up, and put it on. Mark handed Jake both his .44's, and this made Jake question a bit.
"So what kind of mission is this?" Jake asked.
"Search and Rescue, just like your last one." Mark replied.
"And you're coming with?"
"I don't really have a choice, Jake. This is a tough one, and I'm not letting you go alone."
"What are you bringing to the party?"
"Not much really. I got my twelve-gauge shotgun and a 10mm pistol."
"Meh, better than nothing I guess. What are we searching and rescuing?" Mark closed Jake's door.
"Another kid went missing. This time it was a little girl, Phoebe. You've met her, she's a little sweetheart."
"But she's only eight years old…" Jake was shocked, and almost shed another tear but held it back. He gripped onto his .44's really hard. He thought of Sarah's little boy, and wanted to leave right now and get to the bottom of this, but he needed to stay calm. He needed to relax. "How did she go missing?"
"Well, you don't know the whole story. Her dad had gone missing too, and two guards went to look for him, and found his body missing both legs and his right arm. Apparently Phoebe had gone with him. Now, you're probably asking yourself why the little girl went with anyway. Well, there original plan was not to go very far from Rivet City, but we assume raiders have gotten braver, and decided to close in on Rivet City, thus they found the girl and the dad, and taken them hostage. We also know that her dad was armed with a 10mm pistol, this same one I'm holding right now. I plan on killing anyone responsible with it. This is the second kid to have gone missing, and I plan on it being the last." Mark leaned against the wall, and noticed the mirror on the ground in the center of the room. He didn't notice it when he walked in. "How did that happen?"
"I tripped." Jake replied, looking down and hiding his hands.
"Okay… is there anything you want to talk about?" Mark said, trying to be comforting.
"No, I want to get out there. There's a little girl out there that needs are help." Mark nodded, and opened the door for Jake. Jake got up and walked straight outside Rivet City, and Mark followed closely behind. Jake thought of the first time he met Phoebe. Her parents let him hold her, which was the first sign to Jake that the people of Rivet City actually trusted him. When Jake walked outside Rivet City, Phoebe's mother was out there waiting for him. She rushed him, and put her arms around him, which came to a shock to Jake, he didn't notice her when he walked out. He hesitated to hug her back, but he did anyway.
"Please Jake, save my daughter, please…" and she started to cry, "I know you'll save her. I know you will. You were like an uncle to her."
Jake thought, "Me? Rotten old me? An uncle to an eight year old girl?" He never thought anyone would this so much of him. Most places rejected him, thought of him as trash. Jake realized it shouldn't come out as a shock to him. He spent thirteen years at Rivet City, making it stronger, and safer. He's glad he finally found some place that accepted him, and now he has to return the favor. He's going to find Phoebe, and he's going to bring her back. Alive. Jake whispered in her ear, "I'll bring your daughter back. I'm going to find her. I'm going to bring her back alive. Don't you worry. I'm going to bring Phoebe back to Rivet City alive." And he looked at Mark and asked, "Isn't that right Mark?"
Mark replied, "Sir! Yes Sir!" and saluted, "We'd better be going now. That clock is ticking." So Jake said his goodbyes, and walked off with Mark. They had no idea whether Phoebe was out there or not. But they were determined to find her, at least a clue. Something to reassure she was alive, and Jake was going to stop at nothing to redeem himself. He wanted to build up confidence for Rivet City, and bring back this girl would do this. It would also build up confidence for himself. He had to bring Phoebe back. He will bring phoebe back.
Mark and Jake kept heading North, till they come across the Anacostia Crossing, a metro station that a must in order to go further north. They walked down the stairs to the station gate.
"I'm not sure if we should do this, Jake." Mark complained, blocking Jake from opening the gate.
"Stop being such a baby, Mark. Nobody hides in these anymore. They're dusty, dirty, and sometimes irradiated." Jake explained, waiting for Mark to move.
"Yea but sometimes there are ghou-" Mark shut up, "Fine, let's get moving." They continued to move through the station till they got to a ticket booth. And they started to hear slow moving beeps at first, then they started beeping faster, and faster.
"What is that?" Jake said, looking up at the ceiling, but Mark realized it was coming from under them.
"Bottlecap mine! Jacob move!" Mark tackled Jake down, and the beeping got faster, then finally the heard an enormously loud "BOOOOOOOM!" and they waited till the smoke cleared.
"Don't ever call me Jacob again." Jake said, pushing Mark off of him.
"Sorry, I'll never do it again."
"Good. Now let's keep move-" Then a bullet grazed Jake's right leg. Bullets started flying over their heads, and Jake dragged Mark into the ticket booth. Mark started blind firing from the booth, and Jake tried peaking to find out where the bullets were coming from.
"We got three directly in front of us and four trying to flank us. I need to get a better firing position now cover me!" but Mark didn't respond, he was hiding his head and blind firing. Jake grabbed him by the shirt and took the 10mm pistol away from Mark, then put the gun into Mark's chest, "AIM! AND SHOOT! THE ONLY THING YOU'RE HURTING IS MY SELF ESTEEM!"
"Okay. Okay. I get it, aim and shoot!" Mark took the pistol back and started firing less blindly, and Jake rushed to a sand bag. His plan was to counter flank the four. Mark was currently grabbing their attention, and Jake slipped out of the booth. This was his moment. Jake vaulted over the sandbags, and seen the four dead ahead, and they saw him. Jake pulled his .44 and shot them down before they got a bead on him. Mark had taken down one of the three hiding behind a wall, and Jake flanked them and shot down the other two. Out of nowhere someone tried to sneak behind Jake, and Jake turned around and tripped him. The man was holding a monkey wrench. Jake cocked his .44 magnum and pointed it at the man's head and said, "I know what you're thinking. Did I fire six shots or only five? Well, punk. I'm holding a .44 Magnum, one of the most power handguns in the world and could blow your head clean off. You'd better ask yourself one question, 'Do I feel lucky?' Well let me answer that question for you. You don't. I'm Almighty Dirty Jake, It'll take a million low-life raiders such as yourself to kill me. I do every dirty job that comes around, just to kill guys like you. If you thought you and your friends could kill me and my closest friend, well, you had another thing coming." and Jake pulled the trigger, and sent the dumb ass raider to hell, and he surely won't be the last he sends to hell.
Mark had overheard what Jake said, and instead of sneaking up on Jake, he walked in front of Jake and commented on his performance, "Don't you think that was a little bit cold?"
Jake quickly replied, "I've said colder to dying men before." This had concluded the conversation. They walked out of the metro and it was almost dark.
"Perhaps we should make camp here." Mark suggested.
"Where do you think Phoebe is right now? A five-star hotel? No! She's probably being raped by raiders, and you want to stop now?" Jake had gotten right up in Mark's face, even spit on him a little. Mark had nothing to say. "We're going to keep walking." Jake said, while walking away at a calm pace, and Mark followed behind.
They continued to walk north, and they came across a small office building, and there were lighting shining out some of the windows. The closed in on the building, and just by listening you could tell raiders were inside, the snuck around, and found one of the windows were loose, sneaking inside would be a piece of cake. The room was completely pitch black, and total darkness wasn't very far away. Mark tried to maneuver himself toward the door so he could open it, but he ended up tripping, and breaking a lamp. Jake hid under one of the desks, and the door opened and a line shined through. Mark was in the wide open.
"Hey boss! We got an intruder!" the raider said, and Jake heard another very deep voice chuckle.
"This is great. Now we have another hostage!"
Jake thought, "Another hostage! That's great! That means Phoebe must be here!" They took Mark out of the room, and when the door shut Jake got up and quickly, and correctly, moved toward the door and waited for someone to pass the room again. It was about twenty minutes of patiently waiting. Jake lit a lantern, then footsteps started closing in. Jake wasn't a sneaky type, but he knew how to stay on the down low. Once he knew the person passed the door, Jake popped out and pulled his balisong, shoving into the man's neck, and threw him into the room. Jake shut the door and continued on. Now he had to save both Phoebe and Mark. He heard a scream, and walked toward the staircase. There were four floors, and it sounded like the scream came from the third floor. Jake knew it was Mark's scream. It had to be. Jake heard someone else coming down the staircase. So Jake decided to be stupid and rush up the stairs. He tackled the person and slit the raider's throat. Then ran up to the third floor door, it opened up to a hallway, and seen light coming from only one door, and it was wide open. He ran into the room, and seen Mark tied up in a chair. Blood was coming from his mouth and a gun was pointed at his nose, and mouth, and his left leg was in an odd position. The man with the deep voice was the one holding the gun.
"Your friend told me you were here." The man chuckled.
Jake thought to himself, "Great, Mark ratted me out… I wonder how much he told him."
The man started to speak again, "Almighty Dirty Jake, huh? Is that right? Is that what you call yourself? Mark told me what you are looking for. A girl named Phoebe? She's not here, sadly. I wish she were though, she sounds delicious." The man continued to chuckle.
"You bastard." Jake sighed. "Do you know where she is?" Jake demanded.
"Of course I do, although you won't get it out of me. I did tell your friend here though, it's too bad you won't get it out of him either. He'll be dead in a couple sec-" Then he fell over. Mark had tipped over too. Mark had flinched, but when he opened his eyes He seen Jake holstering his .44. Jake put Mark in the upright position, and untied him.
"Thank you, thank you so much, Jake. Dear god I thought he was going to kill me." Mark was out of breath.
Jake wanted to cut to the chase, "Did he really tell you where she was." Mark had to concentrate to remember.
"Sort of. He said she was with another group of raiders. Apparently they were going to sell her as a slave. He said they were North-East of here. But he could have been lying."
"No, he was way too dumb lie. We should head North-East. What do you think?"
"I have no other ideas. Let's do it." Then Mark tried to stand up, then he felt a sharp, aching pain in his left leg, "Jake" Mark gripped Jake's arm, "They broke my leg"
Then they started to hear footsteps run up the stairs. Jake assumed they probably heard the gunshots. He pulled both of his .44's, and Mark pulled his 10mm from his holster. Mark said, "Wow, he really was stupid. He forgot to confiscate this from me." The other raiders rushed in, and Jake and Mark shot them down one at a time. Once the wave was over, Jake took all the ammunition and other supplies they could take from the bodies, then Jake searched medicine cabinets and other places. He found a sticky note, and pencil. He wrote on the sticky note, "ALMIGHTY DIRTY JAKE WAS HERE!" then placed it on the boss' head, and placed him in the chair that Mark was tied up in. Mark had crawled to a corner, and motioned for Jake to come near him.
"Jake you need to leave me here." Mark said in agony.
"No, I'm not leaving you here. I don't leave my friends behind."
"Do you really expect to find Phoebe, and travel all the way we need to go when you have to carry me with you? It's impossible, and we can't turn back now we've gone way too far. I'll be fine. You can get me on your way back. Please, just leave me. Phoebe is waiting for you." Mark was right. If Jake wanted to find Phoebe, he had to leave Mark. Jake just stood there, looking at Mark with his broken leg.
"Okay, but I'll be back for you." Jake said, leaving a couple bottles of water and a can of Cram, and a can of Pork n' Beans.
"God. He left me the can of Cram because neither of us like it." Mark thought, and chuckled a bit. "Good luck, Jake." Mark said.
"This isn't goodbye, Mark. Like I said, I'm coming back to you once I find Phoebe." Jake said, reassuringly. Then he left the room, and brought back a lantern for Mark. "I'm going to turn off all the lights, if they do come back, kill them all."
"Of course." Mark said. Then Jake kneeled in front of him, and they shook hands. After that, Jake left, leaving his best friend.
Jake traveled for another six hours. If he had to guess, it was either five or six AM. He could see the GNR tower, which was behind him now, and he was heading East. He was surrounded by skyscrapers now, and Jake felt like they were all about to topple over him now. Jake heard grunting, footsteps, angry sounding people that were yelling for someone by the name of "Kiro". Jake snuck around and got a good visual of the people. They were raiders, fairly well armed too, almost fifteen of them. Jake doesn't usually interfere with other people's business, but it was clear the raiders weren't playing a normal game of hide and seek. If these raiders want to kill this Kiro guy, then Jake wanted to save him. Jake turned around and seen another group of raiders that were rushing toward him. He guessed around another thirteen raiders, who were yelling, "JAKE! ALMIGHTY DIRTY JAKE! YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!"
"Oh for the love of god." Jake said, and he made a careless move. He jumped from his hiding spot into plain sight, pulled his .44 and started firing blindly into the group behind him. This was going to be one hell of a fight. Perhaps it was meant to be. Luck doesn't last forever.
[END OF CHAPTER TWO]
