Fallout : 2263

.II. 23rd of October, 2263.

The sky, seemed, motionless that day. The very few clouds present, moved as if they had nowhere to be. And, with not even the slightest wish to shade the place above the rusty, scrap metal made tavern. Not far from the sun beaten people of Barkey's Sanctuary, who, were picking the potatoes from the dried dirt.

That hot morning of October had two clouds wandering the sky, that were tied to one another by a thin, cord like shaped line, that would become thinner and thinner as one kept advancing south and the other, although, heading in the same direction, remained behind, struggling, to keep up with the other, but, to no avail. The other was quicker, as if it had it all figured out, and despite his connection and familiarity with the other, it chose to quicken it's pace. It didn't take long for the slower one to get left behind, on the clear blue sky, that to the lonely cloud must've looked like a desert of endless blue. Days may pass until it may unite with another, or just disappear in loneliness as he's being consumed by the dark clouds, and fall, taking the shape of water droplets and be showered upon the dried earth. Only to be reborn once again, come sun's warm touch.

Such is life, unforgiving. Moving in an endless circle, towards the moment it transcends into nothingness, into death, and becomes motionless.

...

'Debrah.'

'What ?'

'Did you get any news about Jack's return to town ?'

'I didn't. Why ?'

Michael pulled out of his back pocket a rugged, yellowish sheet of paper, and placed it on the table.

'From where did you pick that up ?'

'Glow Town. This morning.'

'One thousand caps...', she said, as she cut a potato in half. 'He's been making a name for himself, those years while we were on ice.', cutting the halves in half as well.

'I asked around, and I found out some drug addict-gangster chick, named 'Blue Eye' Wendy had left yesterday, planning to collect the reward...'.

'We know he's back at least.'.

'Mhm...'.

'Are you trying to say something, Michael ?', asked Debrah, placing the knife on the table, looking at her brother.

He nodded.

'Get your stuff. We leave in 10.'.

...

'It wasn't easy to catch you...', said the woman, ready to push the trigger.

The man scoffed.

'You seem confident enough...'

'What ?', asked the woman, pushing the man's head back with the barrel of the gun

'Don't get me wrong. Confidence, is good. But, this situation requires a wee bit of skill. Skill, that you don't possess.'.

'Really, how so ?'

'Let me show you...'.

The man managed to keep the woman talking enough time so he could release his right hand. With which he quickly grabbed her hand and moved the barrel of the gun away from his head and unnoticed by the woman, he slipped his finger behind the trigger.

'Also. I can see through this bag...'. he said as he released his right leg and headbutted the woman. Who immediately fired the gun into the ceiling.

'Motherfucker !', yelled the woman, as the man freed all his limbs and leapt beyond the counter, to his right.

She took a few steps back, reloading the gun with another round, while aiming at the counter.

'Hey, what can I say ? You fucked with the wrong guy !', said the man, as he threw a pan towards the woman, knocking the gun out the grasp of her hand.

'Shit !'

He then quickly jumped the counter, and bolted towards her. She made a punch out of her left hand and managed to almost hit the man who grabbed her by the waist and slammed her against the wall standing behind her.

She fell on her knees. And as she raised her head she saw the man pick up his holster and take the weapon out of it.

'I told you. Skill can beat anything...', he said with a smile, cocking the weapon aimed at the woman's head. He wanted to fire but, his attention quickly shifted to a running, rotting, group of corpses, of feral ghouls, approaching quickly the diner from south.

'Damn. They must've heard the gunshots...', he checked his clip, revealing only five bullets. 'Tsk.', then looked at the woman. 'Fuck it. Get up.'.

'What ?'

'Do you wanna die ?'

'What are you doing ?'

'Saving your ass.'.

'There is no way we can out run them.', she said as the man picked her up, on his back.

'Shut up.'

He ran through the back of the diner into a small alley, then inside an old warehouse, behind a cargo box.

'Here you are.', he said smiling.

Turning the old heap of metal on at the press of a button near the handle. The fierce deep roar of the machinery filled the warehouse.

'Get on.', he said, feeding the acceleration.

The woman did like the man said.

With a loud war-like-scream the rusty veteran, skid it's back tire, bolting out from behind the cargo pod, towards the door of the warehouse.

'Here, take this.', said the man, handing the woman a 9mm pistol. 'Don't shoot me, shoot the ghouls !'.

'Got it !', replied the woman.

The sound of the pre war machine resonated through the small alley. Sliding out of it, with tire smoke and dust following behind. Through the momentum of the slide he was swinging a metal pipe that he picked up, crushing the skull of a ghoul the charged towards them, as the rest followed the loud rusty veteran, as it was accelerating ahead through the time worn remains of the asphalt and concrete streets, of Oklahoma City.

The secondary streets began to be filled with other feral ghouls joining on the main street leading towards Glow Town, the biggest settlement in the Oklahoma City area. A hub for trade and home to at least a thousand wastelanders, closely followed by Barkey's Sanctuary, with a few hundred settlers.

'You know this road leads to Glow Town, right ?', asked the woman as she shot down ghoul after ghoul.

'I know...', answered the man, tensing his jaws at the end.

He picked up a radio, he had placed on the right side of the gas tank. 'This is Red Harley, copy ?'.

The man's voice was heard in the main radio in Barkey's Sanctuary, just as Debrah and Michael were headed to the gate.

'Michael ! We got Red Harley on the main channel !', yelled a young scrawny boy as he ran out of the radio building.

'We got a few dozen ghouls on our tail, with a few more joining from secondary streets. We're heading for Glow Town, unable to change direction. Hub, do you copy ?'

'We copy, Red Harley. We'll get you some fire power !', replied Michael.

'Roger that.', the man replied, accelerating to full throttle the old heap of rust, getting further and further from the horde. 'Hold on tight !'.

It's engine pushed to the limit, to the absolute maximum, the machine rocketed through the desolate, apocalyptic streets. Roaring, and vibrating, burning the gallons of fuel that propelled it ahead.

It did not take long for them to reach the point in which Glow Town's huge steel gates could be spotted.

Among the old rusty water towers ahead of Glow Town, a wall had risen. A wall of men and women. A wall prepared and ready to deliver the requested FIREPOWER.

While from behind the live wall, a Vertibird approached...

'When death comes close to our town's gates, we, shall burn it to smoking ashes !', a gravely voice spoke through the radio. 'Salvation has reached your eyesight, friend. Welcome, to Glow Town you rotting bastards !', the sound of machine gun fire followed. 'Burn you vermin ! Ad Victoriam !'.

The ship was advancing ahead close to the ground, firing the machine gun round and rockets toward the horde. Passing a few meters above the two, showering them left and right with bullet shells.

The wall opened to let them pass.

They stopped and turned one hundred and eighty degrees, watching as the Vertibird cleared almost the entire horde of ghouls approaching the water towers.

'You pals with Paladin Erenheight ?', asked the woman, getting off the back of the motorcycle.

'Not me really, I know someone who does.', responded the man.

'Wilson ! You dimwit !', yelled a man wearing a Power Armor with the insignia of the Brotherhood of Steel engraved on the chest. 'Those are my wheels !'.

'Isn't that Power Armor stolen as well ?'.

'Borrowed. You wrecked mine ! Remember ?'.

'You said it's jetpack worked, I proved you wrong...'.

'You're a prick, you know that ?',

'It's hard to forget.'.

'Hah ! We've been awaiting your return for some time now...', said the man in the power armor approaching the two. 'I'm glad to see this beauty still in one piece. It has some new scratches...'.

'It broke several times on the way back.'.

'Who's this ?', asked the man, noticing the woman behind Wilson.

'I don't know. What's your name ?'.

'Wendy.', responded the woman.

'There you go.'.

'You don't know her ?'.

'Nope. I haven't seen her before.'.

'What !?', responded the woman slightly annoyed.

'Did I ?'

'Yes. Two years ago. In Little Rock !'.

'I don't remember you.', he replied turning away.

'You killed Joe 'Salamander' Hill !'

He turned his head when he heard that name.

'He tried to kill me first...', he then turned completely, and approached the woman. 'They pay 1000 caps for my head ?', he continued smiling. 'And sent people like you to collect ?'.

He then stopped in front of the woman. 'I was good pals with Joe...'.

'I know. I remember.'.

'Funny, I still don't remember you, but you probably didn't look like this...', he said, looking at her scars and cuts. Her left arm had many puncturing wounds, fresh and old.

'Fuck you !', she burst out. 'You fucked it all up ! Joe helped us. He gave us a purpose, a place to belong. A home, which you burnt to ashes, literally !'.

'He was going to get you all killed by now. You and your pals are lucky I stopped by.'.

'What pals, you killed them all in the diner !'.

'Bad luck, I guess...', he said, trying to walk away.

'Don't you dare walk away from this !'.

'You're really temperamental, you know that ? Calm the fuck down. It is done. It's been more than a year since then. Your home is gone, your friends too, so, instead of revengeful acts maybe you should try to befriend new people. It's a whole world out there. But, it's your choice, Wendy.', he then walked away from her, to greet the men and women stepping off the Vertibird.

'Why did you save me ?', asked the woman.

'I don't know...', he responded. 'But, I don't know why I didn't kill you either.', he continued smiling. 'Come on. It's time you made new friends...'.

She knew that what he said was true. She knew that if she'd try to go back to Little Rock there would be nothing for her. So, she followed the advice of the man she tried to kill an hour or so ago, and joined him to greet her new friends...