Evelyn found herself back in her room after breakfast, suiting up in her road leathers and securing her pieces of armor around her body. Her headache was still a lingering annoyance at the back of her skull, but her determination and bloodlust was overriding it. Carefully, she picked through the weapons she had stored in her trunk, selecting her usual rifle as well as a laser pistol and a few frag grenades. She wasn't quite sure what they were dealing with, but it was better to be prepared.
After a moment of hesitation, she pawed her other things aside to reveal a bundle wrapped in an old shirt. Her fingers unwrapped it quickly, cloth sliding away to reveal a small collection of, ahem, enhancements. She didn't use drugs for recreation, but she wouldn't lie- some of them came in handy during a fight. Evelyn studied them thoughtfully for a moment before selecting a vial of psycho and tucking it into her travel pack.
When she reemerged back onto the street, adjusting her slightly oversized army helmet, she say several of her companions were already ready and waiting. Hancock and Cait stood together, shouldering packs of their own and chatting. Preston was not far, talking to Sturges and gesturing at the turret that the mechanic was working on. MacCready was knelt beside Dogmeat, scratching at the canine's ears and neck. A pair of Minutement also stood at attention near Preston- volunteers to help track the mystery monster. Only one person missing.
"Where's Nick?" Evelyn asked as she strode to join the team. All eyes turned towards her, Dogmeat abandoning MacCready to bound eagerly up to her.
"Back over the bridge again," Preston said, hefting his laser musket as he stepped away from Sturges and his work. "Said he'd join us when it was time."
Evelyn nodded. "Alright." Her eyes slid over the little group in front of her, everyone shifting on their feet and clutching their weapons. It seemed silly to drag so many people along for what she hoped was just a simple beast hunt, but none of them seemed willing to stay behind. "Let's get going, then."
She led the way towards the bridge, settlers peering at them from the edges of the street to watch the team as they set off on their hunt. Evelyn put on what she hoped was a strong face, raising her chin up a fraction as they approached the bridge. Nick was waiting for them just before it.
Evelyn slowed down as she approached him, yellow eyes boring into her own. Nick seemed just as determined as she felt. "Find anything?" She inquired.
"Not much," Nick admitted. "The area around has some tracks, but they're pretty scuffed up. I don't think we can track it." Now he tilted his head, eyes shifting down to Dogmeat, who stood loyally at Evelyn's side. "But he might be able to."
Of course, Evelyn thought. Dogmeat had managed to successfully track Kellogg. Tracking another murderous beast shouldn't be so hard. The realization gave her fresh energy.
"Good idea. Lead the way, Nick," Evelyn offered. Nick's gaze slid over the team gathered behind her, and he nodded grimly.
"Alright everyone, last chance to stay here," Nick warned them. "We don't know what we're dealing with, or what we might find." Glances were passed around the crew, but no one backed down. Nick tilted his head towards the other end of the bridge. "Just be careful, then."
There were murmurs of acknowledgement as Nick and Evelyn led the way to the spot where Mason had been killed- and subsequently dragged several steps away from the street, made obvious by the streaks of blood and furrows in the soil.
Nick picked his way around the biggest smear of dried blood. "There's only a bit of a trail here, but it leads southeast." He gestured with a hand to show how drops of blood and faint scuffs in the dirt led away from the scene of the kill. "Try having Dogmeat pick it up where it fades."
Evelyn nodded, stepping carefully around blood smears as Nick had done and following the trail of blood drops as they wound back and forth alongside the road. But the amount of blood she could see was tapering off rapidly, forcing her to pick a spot where some blood was streaked across the dry trunk of a tree. "Dogmeat, here boy," she called softly.
Dogmeat's head popped up from he had been sniffing around a few steps away, pacing slowly through the few scraggly trees and rocks here. He bounced in her direction, tail wagging in delight at having been summoned. Evelyn couldn't help but smile at his infectious dog joy; despite how serious a situation was, Dogmeat could usually get a smile out of her.
"Here," she commanded, pressing her palm flat against the tree next to the bloody marks. "Just like Kellogg, remember?" Dogmeat's ears were perked forwards, eyes following her hand to the tree. His tail slowed down as a more focused demeanor took over, and he pressed his nose up against the tree beside her hand, inhaling rapidly as he snuffled over the sharp, metallic scent of Mason's blood.
"Now follow," Evelyn withdrew her hand, extending her arm in the general southeastern direction that the trail had been moving. "Find it, Dogmeat."
Dogmeat took another moment to sniff at the trunk and then around its base, then trotted slowly forwards, nose moving back and forth between the air and the ground. Evelyn could tell he'd picked up the scent when his hackles started to stand up, and he snapped to attention with a bark. And then he was moving, leaping forwards eagerly to pursue the trail.
"Follow him!" Evelyn ordered, jumping to her feet and running after him. Dogmeat was moving fast, apparently excited by whatever he had caught a whiff of. "Dogmeat, slow down, boy!"
Her team was running to keep up with her as well, feet thumping and stumbling over the rocky earth. Evelyn frowned. This wasn't going to work for a very stealthy approach. Dogmeat paused finally, quite a distance ahead, and turned his head back to stare in their direction as if to say Hurry up!
As they reached Concord, Dogmeat took a moment to sniff around again before veering sharply south, finally settling into a quick jog so his slow human followers could keep up. Evelyn and her team spent the next hour following Dogmeat as he carved a winding trail through the wasteland, occasionally losing the trail and needing to double back or wander for a while to pick it up again. Eventually, Dogmeat was leading them towards Lexington, loping warily towards the Super Duper Mart on the outskirts. When he finally halted, hackles raised and body stiff as he stared into the building, Evelyn turned to the others gathering behind him.
"This place was crawling with ferals last time I passed through Lexington. Keep your eyes open," she warned, trying not to raise her voice too much to alert anything that might be inside the building. Though, she figured the ferals weren't going to be their biggest problem if their mysterious killer was in there as well.
"No one goes alone," she added as everyone started to break apart, prowling towards the Super Duper Mart with purpose. She joined in, lifting her rifle to rest the butt against her shoulder and falling into step between MacCready and one of the Minutement. Fuck, what was his name again? She was an awful general to not even know everyone's name. Preston usually did the recruiting.
The glass windows of the store had long since been shattered, shards still scattered across the pavement outside and tile inside. Evelyn swung herself through one of the wide windows, feet crunching quietly on glass as she landed on the other side. Her rifle was instantly up and ready again, eyes scanning for any sign of movement in the aisles.
Hancock, Nick, and Preston were creeping along the perimeter of the store, working towards the far side, so Evelyn figured she'd take this end. Cait and the other Minuteman were making their way down one of the aisles in the middle, sliding between crumbling shelves and vanishing from view. Dogmeat cleared the window behind Evelyn and paused, considering her for a moment. She cocked her head in the direction Cait had gone, and Dogmeat took the signal, scurrying after her.
MacCready and her Minuteman follower were watching her expectantly, so she started easing her way along the wall on this side of the building, stepping carefully to avoid making too much noise. The Minuteman was behind her, a shotgun held firmly in his grip, and MacCready brought up the rear with his sniper rifle.
As they edged around a section of shelving, Evelyn froze, making the Minuteman behind her almost topple into her before he caught himself. Lying on the floor ahead were a pair of feral ghouls, a few steps apart from each other. Squaring her shoulders, Evelyn raised her rifle, setting her sights on the back of the nearest ghoul.
But before she could make the shot, MacCready was beside her, pressing a hand against the barrel of her gun and shaking his head. Evelyn faltered, frowning in question, and he jerked his chin towards the ferals.
She looked again, narrowing her eyes. It took her a moment to realize what MacCready was trying to tell her. The ferals were already dead.
The first one was lying with its back towards the group, but dry blood speckled the tiles just beyond it. The second ghoul had a partially severed neck, head twisted unnaturally to one side. Evelyn approached them slowly despite a quiet hiss of alarm from MacCready. She moved until she could study the first ghoul and confirm her suspicions. The front of its body had been torn up in a similar manner to Mason's, though this ghoul had a ribcage that had been crushed inward on one side.
Evelyn glanced up at MacCready and the Minutemen, both of whom had followed her nervously into the more open intersection between two aisles. She nodded her head in silent confirmation of the question in their eyes, averting her gaze from the ghoul. She had no love for ferals, but they had been human once too, and this was an awful way to die.
The three continued towards the back of the store, encountering another dead ghoul with similar wounds that was sprawled across an aisle, forcing them to carefully pick their way over its carcass. Blood smears painted the floor here and there, but Evelyn could see they weren't all very old. Some of this blood had only just recently been added. One shelf near the back of the store looked like something heavy had crushed part of it.
A shout of alarm from Cait had Evelyn's head snapping up to look towards the middle of the store- a useless attempt, as there were too many shelves and too much clutter to allow for that. Her feet were moving without really thinking about, deftly moving to avoid debris as she ran. Footsteps behind her told her that MacCready and the Minuteman were following.
There was a gurgling snarl and the sound of scrambling bodies ahead, followed swiftly by a gunshot. Evelyn leaped a collapsed display unit and rounded a corner to see Cait and her Minuteman companion standing over the twitching body of a feral ghoul, fingers curling and digging into the floor as it hissed. The Minuteman had blasted a hole into its chest, but Cait finished it off with a swing of her machete across the neck before lifting her eyes to meet Evelyn's gaze.
"You okay?" Evelyn asked breathlessly, forcing her tense muscles to relax a bit.
"Yeah, just spooked us," Cait huffed, nudging the feral with her foot to ensure it was dead. "The other one we saw was already dead. Thought this one was too." She cast an unimpressed look at Dogmeat. "Your guard dog there didn't even alert."
Dogmeat was standing stiffly beside Cait with hackles still raised, but he indeed seemed distracted, his head swiveling about every few moments and ears flicking this way and that. It set Evelyn on edge.
There was a crash to her left, and she whirled around, jerking her rifle up- and almost firing a shot into Hancock's face as the ghoul stumbled past the hunk of metal he had just tripped on. Hancock raised his heads up in surrender, but Evelyn immediately lowered her gun, pushing out a hard breath. "Sorry."
"Hey, no sweat," Hancock put a hand on her shoulder before peering around her to look at Cait. "We were trying to pick the lock to a back room, but we heard yelling." As he spoke, Preston and Nick appeared behind Hancock, stepping more carefully around the piece of scrap metal that Hancock had kicked across the floor in his haste.
"Just a feral," Evelyn explained. "We saw some dead ones, too. Same wounds as Mason."
"Same here," Preston spoke up before Hancock could answer. "One crushed against the wall near the back room."
Evelyn shifted uncomfortably as all eyes moved back to her, awaiting her direction. "Well… Whatever it is, it must not be in here anymore." She said finally, though she felt her eyes drawn back to Dogmeat and the way he still stood, stiff as a board and crackling with wary energy. "Let's see if Dogmeat can pick up more of a trail somewhere."
Together as a single unit again, everyone headed back towards the front of the store, seeming more comfortable to speak now that they had cleared the building. Evelyn swung her pack around in front of her, thrusting a hand in and feeling around until her fingers brushed against her water bottle. She gulped water while she let her thoughts roam.
Whatever they were up against, it was strong. Not even deathclaws could crush bodies like they had seen done to Mason's legs and the ferals. It had to be something new to the area, too; not even the Commonwealth's long term residents like Hancock and Nick seemed to have any clue as to what the creature could be. Maybe it was something concocted up by the Institute? Her eyes narrowed at the thought. She'd seen the gorillas when she was there- they could have something else hidden away in the depths of their complex. But, no- as wicked as Shaun was, she didn't think he would let loose some nasty beasts, especially not near her. Would he…?
Her thoughts were cut off by a sound behind her. She tensed, glancing down. Dogmeat was frozen beside her, fur standing up on end, a low snarl building in his throat. She'd never heard him make such a menacing sound before. Combined with his ears pressed flat to his head and the teeth he bared, it made her blood run cold.
She glanced back at her team, finding them all as tense as her, weapons raised. She opened her mouth to speak, but Dogmeat was moving before she address her team. Her head snapped back around as he lunged towards the end of the aisle ahead. A hiss escaped her teeth. "Dogmeat, no-!"
Chaos erupted. A huge paw swiped out from around the corner as Dogmeat cleared the aisle. It struck the canine in the flank, sending him flying to slam into a pile of debris. The paw was followed by a hunkering body, black eyes narrowed to slits as it fixed them on Evelyn.
At the same time, another one of the creatures arced up from two aisles away and landed heavily on a shelf further behind the team, causing the top shelf to cave in but managing to balance precariously on what was left. Rodent-like teeth clicked rapidly as it studied the cluster of people below.
The creatures reminded Evelyn of bears, but they were sleeker in form akin to a great, muscular cat. An extra pair of legs sprouted out behind their forelegs, and their heads looked like battering rams. The image of Mason's smashed legs flashed through Evelyn's mind.
Just as quickly as the beasts had appeared, they were being fired upon. Evelyn levelled her rifle, fury surging through her, and blasted three holes into the creature ahead of her. The shots hardly seemed to slow it down; it took one to the cheek and two sliced into its hulking shoulders, but it just clicked its teeth at her and barreled towards her.
The sounds of the fighting behind her seemed to fade into blackness, all of her focus going to the beast as it charged. It dropped its head, ready to plow her over. Her thoughts raced. Not only was her own life in the balance, but if it reached her it would bowl over her and then trample her companions behind her as well.
Fuck it. Evelyn charged the beast back. Bullets zipped past her head, and one hit the beast in the snout, making it stumble. But it recovered quickly, realigning its charge, flat head primed to crush Evelyn's chest in. She tugged her combat knife from her belt, clenching it hard enough to turn her knuckles white. And then she jumped.
The low angle of the beast's head aided her, and she landed hard against the back of its neck. The collision knocked the wind out of her and send a jolt of pain up her spine, but at least she wasn't turned to mush on the ground.
Clearly surprised by this unexpected rider, the creature slammed on the brakes, thrashing its head and shoulders viciously in an attempt to dislodge her. Evelyn twisted her fingers around the hilt of her knife and then swung her arm with all her might to bury it behind the beast's head at the base of its skull.
The beast let loose a keening wail, body lurching violently sideways into a shelf as it twitched its head to the side, now trying to dislodge her knife. She clung on to it for a moment longer, forcing it in further and making the beast thrash in pain. When the knife was seated to the hilt, she finally let go and kicked away wildly, letting herself tumble to the floor away from the monster.
It ducked the front of its body, swiping a foot up in a desperate attempt to remove her knife, continuing its high pitched wail all the while. Evelyn scrambled across the floor to her rifle, pushing her back into the shelves when she had in her grip again and firing off a few shots at the beast she'd been fighting.
Her shots reminded it that she was there. It raised its head up stiffly, then stalked towards her purposefully while she pushed herself to her feet.
"Come and get it, bitch," Evelyn growled back at it, unloading her rifle into it. The damn thing had a thick skull, though, and her head shots were only weakening it.
There was a blast to her left, and she instinctually turned her head towards it. Someone had lobbed a Molotov cocktail at the second beast; it looked like it had been driven back towards the end of the aisle before being lit up. This creature, too, began its wail, crashing into shelves in its attempt to get away from the flames.
Her distraction cost her. Her eyes moved back to the creature before just in time to see it leap in her direction, long claws and snapping teeth aiming for her throat.
Someone crashed into her, slamming her hard into the floor. She got the breath knocked out of her for the second time today, and the crack of her head against the tile brought her headache rushing back at full force. There was an even greater crash beside her as the beast flew over her and slammed into the shelf, sending it toppling over as well as several other shelves around it. A gunshot above her followed it
Evelyn groaned, struggling to focus with a throbbing head and ringing ears. She became aware of hands gripping her under the arms, tugging her towards the front of store in quick tugs. She tilted her head back slightly, blinking blearily. "Mac?"
He grunted in confirmation, sliding her up against the shelf at the very end of the aisle. He knelt in front of her, snapping his fingers in front of her face when her eyes glazed. "Hey, hang in there," he murmured, his voice quiet despite the raging fight going on nearby. She rolled her eyes to her right, straining to see what was going on. The prone shape at the other end of the aisle suggested that one of the beasts was down, but the team seemed scattered, firing shots through the rift that had been created by the second beast when it jumped over her.
Twisting her head made her aware of a new pain, though, and her gaze dropped to the gouges in her arm where the beast's claws had skimmed over her. The adrenaline must have numbed her to it. She let her head fall back against the shelf, another groan rising in her throat.
"Eve." Her eyes opened again slowly, focusing on MacCready's blue eyes bearing into her own. "Focus on me," he urged. He had dug a stimpak and a roll of gauze from his pack, and he carefully slid her torn sleeve up her arm to bare her injury. The stimpak came next as he injected it in higher up her arm, waiting until he was sure she received a dose before beginning to wind gauze around her arm while the medication flowed into her veins.
Evelyn struggled to obey him, trying to focus first on his face and then his hands as he worked on her arm. Her head hurt. Pain radiated out from the back of her skull, curling harsh claws around her head and digging in behind her eyes. She didn't even feel the stimpak being injected.
But then MacCready was up on his feet in front of her, propping his rifle against his shoulder to lend his assistance to the rest of the crew. Evelyn scooted away from the shelf, trying to get a look at what was happening.
Her team was finishing off the second creature. It was struggling to retreat now, but was too injured to get away from the onslaught. Even Dogmeat had joined in, but he was bloodied and holding up a front leg as he lunged in close to snap at the beast's legs before dancing back out of reach again when it tried to bite back.
It would be done soon. Evelyn's eyes drifted back, and she almost leaned back again until her gaze snagged on two shapes lying in the aisle not far from her. Her breath caught in her throat.
The nearest was the body of the Minuteman who had accompanied her and MacCready earlier. He had been unlucky; the beast must have trapped him against the floor with its bulldozer head, and his body didn't stand a chance. His chest had been crushed in. Dead.
Next to his body, Preston was sitting back against a shelf, one hand clutching his abdomen. She could see blood soaking through his shirt. But despite his injury, he still raised his pistol, firing at the remaining beast when he could get a clear shot.
There was a hissing groan over her shoulder, and she turned to see the beast slide to the floor in defeat. Its glaring black eyes slid over to meet her own, and it made her skin prickle. It was as if the beast knew that she was the leader of this group.
"These things don't go down easy, do they?" Hancock's snarling voice rose over the gunshots as they died down. He broke away from the others, stalking towards the creature and levelling his shotgun at it. The beast hissed again, clicking its teeth weakly at him but not rising from the floor. Hancock got as close as he dared and fired both rounds from his gun right between the eyes. The way the beast's eyes glazed over told Evelyn it was dead.
"Shite, look at you," Cait crouched in front of Preston. "Took a nasty hit." She helped him to his feet, making him wince.
"It's shallow," he assured her. Preston's eyes shifted to meet Evelyn's, and a look of grief passed over his face. He limped slowly in her direction, followed by the rest of the group.
"Mac, if you would," Evelyn stretched her good arm up. On a normal occasion, she'd feel like a fool to be asking for help to her feet. But right now, she wasn't convinced she wouldn't pass out the moment she tried to stand up.
MacCready obliged, grasping her arm and helping her upright. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself grounded as her head spun and pain throbbed in her temples. Once she was standing, she observed the fallen Minuteman again.
Your fault, that thing in her head hissed at her. You were sloppy.
She ground her teeth, but instead just moved her gaze over the crowd, meeting the eyes of each of them in turn before spluttering out, "I'm so sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for," Nick stepped towards her, gripping her gently by the shoulder. Yellow eyes followed her line of sight to the body on the floor. "He gave his life to protect others. It's not your fault those things attacked us."
Evelyn chewed on her lower lip, nodding numbly. She should have done better, though. Should have been more alert- maybe posted a guard so nothing could have snuck up on them like that. Hell, if Dogmeat hadn't run ahead, the creature probably would have gutted her before she even noticed it when she passed that first corner.
And she should have been better prepared. She had grenades- she should have been ready with one, ready for an attack like this. They'd been trapped. Part of her wondered if the beasts had purposefully waited for some unsuspecting prey to wander into the building to be ambushed. But they couldn't be that smart- could they? Her thoughts went back to the Institute. If they had engineered such creatures, who was to say they hadn't granted them enhanced intelligence?
"We need to get you two back to Sanctuary," Hancock slung his shotgun over his shoulder, slinging one of Preston's arms over his shoulders to help him limp along. "Looks like it hit you pretty hard," he added, eying Evelyn's wrapped up arm and the hand she pressed against the side of her head.
"No," she said, glancing sideways at MacCready. Sudden irritation flared up in her chest. Why had he pushed her? She could have dodged that lunge. All he'd done was probably given her a concussion and put her out of the fight. It piled on top of the guilt already rushing through her veins. She clenched her jaw and saw a frown crease MacCready's face in response. "I got pushed down. Hit my head. Otherwise, I could've been helping you. Helping him." Her eyes flashed down to the fallen Minuteman again.
There was a beat of silence in which everyone looked a bit uncomfortable. Except MacCready, who looked like he'd been slapped in the face. "What?" He said indignantly, turning to face her. "That thing was gonna smash you like a can of cram. I was getting you out of the way."
"Well, forgive me for not having your gold medal ready," Evelyn snapped. It came out harsher than she intended, and she saw the way MacCready's face hardened, but she couldn't seem to stop the flow of words. There was a fire inside her now, adding a bite to her speech. "I could have handled it myself. I could have helped everyone. Good thing it didn't come back to finish the job, would've been real nice to die sitting on my ass down there." She was just spitting the words out as they came to her now, fists clenched. She didn't care if it made sense. She was just- angry. MacCready's face seemed to shut down as she spoke, and he looked away bitterly.
"Evelyn." Her head snapped around to look at Preston, frowning at her in disappointment. It was enough to make that flame inside her sputter and die out. "He was just trying to help. Any of us would have done the same."
She twisted her head away, breathing hard to refocus herself. It wasn't easy when her head pulsed with sharp pain. But Preston was right; she wasn't being fair to MacCready. What happened wasn't his fault. She was just projecting her own shame and anger at herself.
Evelyn dragged her eyes back up to MacCready after a long moment, a newfound shame spreading through her at the sight of his cold expression. "… I'm sorry," she mumbled. What a sad excuse for a general she was: not only was she a messy leader, but she even shouted at her own men. No, scratch that- she was a bad friend. She shouted at her own friend. She swallowed the guilt in her throat.
"Let's head back, okay?" Hancock tried again, taking the lead with Preston on one side. The other Minuteman stepped up silently to Preston's other side, carrying his laser musket for him. Her eyes darted briefly to Evelyn's. She was probably wondering why she was working for such an incompetent leader.
"Actually, I'm going to Cambridge," Evelyn announced, making all heads turn back her way. She rushed on. "I want to talk to Paladin Danse about these things. The Brotherhood might know what we're dealing with."
"That's a good idea," Nick mused. "But you shouldn't be going alone- there could be more of those animals out there. I can come with you, if you'd like," he offered.
Evelyn was grateful for his offer, but it would never work. She shook her head. "Danse is not a problem, but I think the other Brotherhood workers might have a problem with that. Sorry Nick," she added apologetically. Nick just shrugged, as if he'd guessed that answer.
"No need to worry. I'll come with ya, lass," Cait grinned at her from her other side. Evelyn couldn't bring herself to smile back at the moment, but she extended her good arm to rest against Cait's own arm.
"Sure. Thanks," she murmured. Evelyn looked to Dogmeat, who now stood patiently in front of her, tail wagging slowly despite his injuries. "You too, boy," she added, and Dogmeat's tail wagged faster.
She felt her eyes drift to MacCready. He didn't deserve her nasty attitude like that, especially right after saving her ass in the middle of that brawl. She was about to invite him along too, but then he squared his shoulders and brushed past her, moving to join the others. "Let's go. I need a stimpak for my shoulder, think I wrenched it."
"What about the body?" Hancock asked, tilting his head towards the fallen Minuteman. Hancock obviously didn't remember names, either; but then again, he wasn't the general. He shouldn't need to.
"Too dangerous for the Minutemen to come back for it," Evelyn murmured. "I'll see if Danse can arrange some Brotherhood men to take it back to Sanctuary, okay?"
She could see the gratitude in Preston's eyes at that, but Hancock only nodded. "Be careful with them, Eve. I don't trust them," he warned.
"I'll do my best," Evelyn shrugged. The Brotherhood wasn't a problem for her, though. Sure, they could be a pain in the ass- particularly Maxson- but she still found most of them to be good people at heart.
And so the team now split in two, each moving their own separate ways. Cait linked her arm through Evelyn's uninjured one, chatting with her as they started heading south down the street, probably trying to distract her thoughts from what had just happened. Even though she knew what Cait was doing, Evelyn let herself sink into it, letting Cait's voice lull her throbbing head while Dogmeat limped on her heels. She could only hope Danse would be at the police station today.
