Part IV: RidgeFeild
Chapter 1: The Approach
Dameon and Chloe reached RidgeField before dusk the next day. Chloe had gotten restless during the night and Dameon had agreed to leave early to get her to be quiet. They had stopped walking once Dameon had spotted the red and white water tower. It took hours of creeping up the hillside to get to the crest of a tall hill that would give them a better view of the valley.
Dameon made a motion for Chloe to hold back. He got on his stomach and crawled to the crest, rifle pushed out in front of him. He leaned so that his binoculars peeked over the hilltop.
Small town.
RidgeField had twelve houses clustered together in a gentle valley. All but two of them looked perfectly intact. There were no nearby craters. There were swathes of waist high, wiry brush and black/green scrub. The main road of the town was littered with cars and bicycles. He could make out the last rusting posts of a swing set and a slide off to the town's left, and the looming remains of a library to the north.
Dameon ducked back down.
Chloe waited for a moment, patiently.
"What did you see?" she whispered.
Dameon leaned in, "the town is right on the other side of this hill. Little smaller than I thought. Lots of standing buildings."
"What about the mines? And the sniper?"
"Can't see mines from here. . .I'll check for the sniper. Don't want to be exposed for too long," Dameon rolled away and went back up.
He waited for the library to come into focus. It was four stories tall, mostly rubble. He could make out some wooden planks serving as bridges to intact sections of the building. He could just discern the dirty mattress of a bed, and some boxes of ammunition. Finally, on the middle level, he saw what he was sure was the sniper.
Dameon ducked down again.
"I saw him. Too far away. I want to approach in the dark," Dameon whispered, "from north of here. I'll come up along his right side where the library wall has fallen down."
Dameon checked his rifle, "You, you should follow two or so hundred yards behind me until I get over. Wait a few minutes, then crest the hill. Wait for a shot before following. If he fires first and I don't do anything. . ." Dameon stopped, "well, you know."
"But I don't know how to get to MegaTon," Chloe frowned.
"Walk east," Dameon began to walk back down the hill.
"What about the mines?"
"I'll avoid them or deactivate them."
"Won't they be buried? How are you going to know where they are?'
"In this shitty rock and sand, and with the constant wind, the mines get exposed within a day. Gotta stay off the grass or anywhere where there's thick soil. . .hey. . ."
Dameon smiled and pulled a second knife out of his boot. He handed it to Chloe.
"When I was little my father would have me go and clear mines. You can sell them, lots of caps. There's a pressure plate near the top. You need to stick the knife blade under it without pushing it down at all," Dameon motioned with his hand, "then pull straight up and it will deactivate. If you knock the pressure plate down, even a tiny bit," he thrust his hands apart, "boom."
"I'm not doing that," Chloe said, indignantly. She looked up at the sun, "your father made you do that as a child?"
"Its easiest if you have little hands."
Chloe couldn't tell if Dameon was joking, deadly serious, or if there was a hint of pain or hurt in his eyes. Dameon kept an expressionless face.
"Just follow my path after you crest. Stay out of the grass. Most of them will be around the town itself. We can meet up before we walk in. I'll. . .go first," Dameon set off.
Chapter 2: The Sniper
When the last rays of sunlight finally dipped below the horizon, Dameon crested the hilltop. He readied his rifle, adjusting the knobs on its scope. His leg began to ache again, he was running low on pain killers and jet. Hopefully, it wouldn't become infected. At least not until they made it back to MegaTon.
Dameon stared at the library. It was maybe four or five hundred yards away. He didn't see the sniper yet. Dameon sat motionless. How could he be sure the sniper would shoot on sight? Should he just kill him once he saw him or give the guy a chance to explain himself?
Well, no one who's sane would just sit on a pile of cargo like this. Always better to be safe.
Dameon saw a flicker of movement atop the library.
The sniper walked across a wooded plank over to a mattress. Dameon followed him with his rifle. The sniper then leaned over a bit and pulled out a bottle of alcohol. Dameon watched as he took a sip. He was still a bit too far, Dameon sure as hell couldn't miss. He began to silently slide down the hillside, inching closer and closer to the sniper, while keeping him in his crosshairs.
The sniper put down the bottle. He looked up and out into the blackness with tired brown eyes. Dameon froze. The sniper raised his gun and stared.
Chloe was just coming to the top of the hill. She hadn't even seen the town. The crest was loose and sandy. She was afraid to look over it, imagining a bullet would careen towards her skull the moment she popped up. She just peered over the edge.
Dameon was exposed. He didn't look at the sniper for fear of his scope giving his position away. He lay facedown next to some weeds. Hopefully he was far from the mines.
Shouldn't be here.
He felt a tingle in his spine, the feeling of being watched.
Chloe looked down at the town. In the gray light of early evening she could make out the outlines of all of the buildings and cars. It was a beautiful town. The most intact town she had ever seen. She waited for the shot Dameon had mentioned.
This is intolerable.
Dameon hadn't moved in several minutes. He must have been spotted. . .but no shot? Dameon couldn't be blind any longer. He rolled from his stomach onto his back. The rifle lay on his chest. He poked the barrel up, just an inch or so, above the weeds. Down the crosshairs, he could see the sniper. He was looking in Dameon's direction but didn't seem to have a beat on him.
The sniper was a grizzled old man. Dameon could see his dirty clothes and tired dark eyes. The sniper felt something too. He looked down the scope of his rifle and turned towards Dameon.
Chloe heard a shot. She couldn't tell where it had come from. She gazed on from the top of the hill.
Dameon watched the old sniper keel over and fall from the third story of the library. He stood up and held still for a moment. He then waived Chloe over.
Chapter 3: Before the Bombs Fell
Dameon and Chloe huddled in the library for the night. They didn't want to risk walking around the streets while it was dark, out of fear of stepping on an exposed, yet unseen mine. Chloe nearly collapsed on the old sniper's dirty cot. Dameon searched the ruins for the man's rifle and dug around for ammunition.
After Chloe had fallen asleep, Dameon slowly began to clear a path through the main drag of town. By the time Chloe awoke, he had disappeared into one of the houses.
Chloe blinked in the morning light and sat up on the mattress. Dameon was gone. She walked over to the third floor ledge and peered into the town looking for him. Dameon was out of sight, inside a building somewhere. He had laid down a breadcrumb trail of empty bottles down the main street for her to follow.
Chloe walked down the stairs and out onto the street. She followed the path over to one of the houses. The door was still shut, Dameon must have cleared a path without entering it. She walked up to the front steps. Beside the front door was a dusty plaque. Chloe brushed the dust off with her hand. In ornate, flower lettering the plaque read "Zane Residence."
She softly pushed the door open and walked inside. The home smelled of rust and mildew. It was a complete house, the first Chloe had ever been inside of. She turned to look at the living room. A broken TV set sat on an ancient table across from a green couch that still looked soft after all of these years. There was a bookcase – with actual books. Chloe walked over to the book case and looked at the titles.
Cross Stitching: A Guide; Brother vs. Brother: A History of the Civil War; Romeo and Juliet; Catcher and the Rye.
Books were one of the most valuable cargo out in the desert – knowledge to educate an otherwise ignorant society.
Chloe touched her fingertips to the hard covers of the dusty tomes. In front of her was a large staircase with a poster along the wall reading "Help stomp out Communism! Enlist today!" On it, a picture of a US soldier dressed in jet black power armor stepped on the face of a cringing Chinese man.
Patriotic mumbo jumbo.
Upstairs were two rooms. The children's room gave Chloe morbid fascination. Two empty beds. The child on the left must have been older, the wall behind his bed was decorated with pictures of old sports cars. The bed to the right was surrounded by children's toys. A large car, an armored action figure. She looked at the action figure. Sgt. Benjamin. On the child's bed was a teddy bear. Chloe walked over to a small desk beside the bed. Inside was a sheet of notebook paper. She peered at it, multiplication tables. She tried to follow the math.
At the end of the hall was the master bedroom. Chloe saw three ancient skeletons laying jumbled together on the bed. She felt her heart sink, so sad.
Must have wanted to be together for the very end.
The tiniest skeleton seemed to be clutching one of the others. The bed sheet and mattress had long ago rotted away.
There were more books in the bedroom. Chloe thumbed through them and then went over to the dresser. She began searching for something new to wear. She looked to see what was hanging up. A man's suit. A dress shirt. A woman's yellow dress.
The dress. . .
Chloe looked at the dress.
Same cut, same pleats, same marigold yellow. . .
She decided to change in to the new clean dress and took off her clothes. She looked at the dirty pile and then realized there was a mirror in the bathroom.
She wanted to take a look at herself and went in. It had a deep moldy smell. Chloe looked into the bathtub. A skeleton lay crumbling next to the remains of a toaster, wired to an MF battery.
Must have survived the bombs.
Chloe looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She had never thought of herself as the beautiful one. Emily was prettier. . . She noticed a tear in her underwear from where Dom had grabbed her. She shuttered at the memory and put the new dress on.
The yellow dress was stiff. Chloe got a light overcoat to help with the sun and a scarf. Before she left the house she reached into the coat pocket. She felt something crisp and pulled it out. It was a photograph. The Zane family: Harold, Cindy, Dillon and Andy. She was wearing Cindy's sundress.
Chloe decided to get Dameon to come and grab the books. It was still blindingly bright outside. She paused to wait for her eyes to adjust. She then looked for the bottle trail and began to walk. After a few moments she heard something coming down the road. It was a feral dog. The beast snarled at her and licked its lips as if it could already taste her blood. Chloe looked back.
Running could make him charge.
The Zane house was nearby – she could make it.
The dog took off, running at her with long strides. Before it got too close, but before Chloe could begin to run, it disappeared in a violent explosion. Chloe collapsed on the ground. A wave of dust flew over her. She heard another explosion down the street and waited for the dust to settle.
"Are you okay? Are you still there?" Dameon called. He walked out of one of the houses, "Chloe?"
"Yes," she squeaked from the rubble. Dameon walked over and picked her up by one arm.
"What happened?"
"A dog tried to attack me. It must have triggered a mine," Chloe looked about herself to see if she had been injured. A shard of metal had run along her thigh, opening up a narrow, bleeding wound.
"You look fine," Dameon walked over and picked up a piece of the dog. He began to wrap it up in paper, "Dinner. . .find anything in there?"
Chloe brushed herself off, "there were some books in there. Some clothing."
"Look at these," Dameon held out his hand, "Transistors, a fission battery, and spare parts for a radio. I found some books too – one is on electronics. Some posters, some junk. I even found a titty poster hanging on one of the walls – just a bit faded."
"The people were still inside."
"Who?" Dameon looked a bit nervous.
"The people who owned the house. They were laying on the bed. . .well one was in the bathtub. It looked like he killed himself. Can you imagine what it must have been like?"
"Better than now I suppose."
"Had to have been worse right after the bombs fell. Couldn't go outside because of the fallout. Your family. . .your family is dead," a tear fell down Chloe's cheek.
Dameon furrowed his brow, confused.
"The raiders," Chloe continued, "the one who took Emily said he was going to Paradise Falls. Do you know that place?"
"Yeah, its a town for slavers. Its where they auction everyone off. Most people would only be there a day or two until they're sold. Like a weigh station for scum."
"Could you take me there?"
"Why? You think you could fetch a good price?" Dameon smiled and tucked away the dog meat.
"I have to find Emily. She's all I have left."
"I told you, its a weigh station. After these past three days and the two it would take to get there she'd be long gone. Could be anywhere by now."
"I have to find her," Chloe repeated.
"If you want to go there go ahead. Wait until we get back into MegaTon. Sell your share, buy gear, I don't care. I'm not going there . . .its a waste of time. Only thing you'll catch there is a bullet," Dameon walked away.
Chloe bit her lip. She would have to fight this battle again.
Dameon began to paint his mark onto the front door of the Zane house.
Chloe stared, "Why do you do that?"
"This? For the notoriety," he finished painting the horns and smiled at his blue insignia.
"You need the fame and the fortune?"
"Well. . .It helps to be feared. If people know who you are, they'll put up less resistance. . .I won't have to use violence. They'll know who I am before they meet me."
"Not that using violence would bother you," Chloe began to walk away.
"I guess not. . . you bother me. Like a child with all your questions."