Fallout: WarMonger

Visitation

Blue and Piper tried to approach Mason's shack with a small degree of stealth. Their entire strategy relied on Mason not knowing they were coming. Their plan, to interrogate Mason and see what he knows regarding the gang that was hunting them.

Blue and Piper reached the wall of the shack, with revolver and pistol drawn, they crept forward towards the door to the shack. Blue motioned "1, 2, 3" then kicked the door down and stepped inside with his revolver aimed forward. Piper went in behind him.

Mason was nowhere to be found but in the center of the room was a solitary radio. Blue picked it up and listened in.

"I trust you can hear me, right?" Mason's voice came in over the radio.

"Where the hell are you?" Blue replied.

Mason laughed. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I'm not in the mood for games, Mason." Blue said forcefully.

"Neither am I. So, step out of my house and leave me alone." Mason said.

"What did you tell that gang this morning?" Blue asked.

"Step outside." was Mason's only answer.

Blue obliged and stepped out of the shack and unbenounced to him, into a sniper's crosshairs.

"Now, Blue. There is 50. Caliber rifle pointed at your forehead so your just going to have to play my game. Why do you want to know what I told them so badly to the point you'd break into a man's home?"

"Because that gang is hunting us and we don't know why! So my turn, what did you tell them?"

Mason's answer didn't come for a while. "I didn't tell them anything. Even if I wanted to."

"Why not?" Blue asked.

"Because, they asked if I saw where you went. I was whittling, I didn't see you leave."

On a distant ridge, Mason stood up and waved his hand and his sniper rifle. Blue and Piper nervously waved back.

"That guy is weird." Piper said.

"No truer words have ever been spoken." Blue replied.

"I'm still on the radio." Mason said.

/

In Goodsprings, the Leader of the gang stood in front of a line of people. Men, women, and children. Trudy, Sunny, and the owner of the general store Chet among them. The Leader walked up and down the line, eyeing each person.

"Which of you here is part of a caravan of any sort?" the Leader called out.

Several men raised their hands.

The Leader turned to his men. "Cuff 'em and put 'em in Wagon 1."

The Leader walked a while longer before stopping in front of Trudy and Sunny. "Tell me, Trudy. Where did my fugitives go?"

"Go fuck yourself." Trudy growled.

The Leader sighed before smacking Trudy with the back of his hand. Blood came from her mouth and the Leader had to wipe it off his knuckle. Then, he turned his attention to Sunny.

"Ms. Smiles, is it? A pleasure." he said.

"What Trudy said." Sunny said calmly.

"Hmm." he replied. "Mr. Brody!" he called to one of his men.

A tall, broad shouldered man stepped forward. "Yessir."

"Take this one and every woman under 40 and above 15 to my personal wagon." the Leader said.

Mr. Brody got a sickening smile on his face. "My pleasure, sir."

Several of the gang members began dragging young women to the most armored wagon at the front of the long line. One woman cried for her husband who stepped forward to defend her but was quickly cut stopped by the Leader.

"You don't want to do that." the Leader warned.

"You can't take Maria!" the man said.

The Leader put his hand on the man's shoulder. "You'll see I can."

With his other hand, the Leader pushed against the man's chest and knocked him to the ground. Then, he kneeled beside the man and began stabbing him in the throat over and over.

The Leader stood up and smiled at the remaining citizens of Goodsprings. He ran a hand through his medium length brown hair to comb it back away from his hair.

"Mr. Brody, get me a cloth. I need to wipe the blood from my face. Put the children in Wagon 2 and lock the men inside the saloon."

The people looked upon the Leader with questioning.

"And burn the saloon afterwards."

The men and some women looked on helplessly as the mercenaries took their children towards the wagon line. Then, another squad forced them at gunpoint towards the saloon door including Trudy.

Moments later, the saloon was aflame and the Leader listened with eerie calmness as the people screamed inside as they slowly burned to death.

"Scout the graveyard and the school. I want those fugitives found." the Leader ordered.

/

Several Hours Later…

Mason, Blue, Piper, and Dogmeat ran into Goodsprings at full speed after seeing the smoke on the horizon. The saloon was roaring in flame and a dead man lay in the street, stabbed to death. Mason kneeled beside the man.

Pouring water on the man's throat, Mason analyzed the wound marks. "Curved blade. It's him."

"Who?" Blue asked.

Mason stood up. "He's called 'The Captain' by his men. A military genius and brilliant tactician. Rumor has it, he first surfaced in the Commonwealth. He's got a sick taste for women, the several his men don't kill wish they died with their families, probably the only good thing about him is that he doesn't kill the children, he just sells them to slavers." he said.

Blue wasn't entirely listening to what Mason was saying, he was too busy observing the condition of Goodsprings. Children, sold. Women, taken. Men, burned alive. Anyone who stood up to them, shot down or stabbed to death. It all mirrored the MO of the people who destroyed Sanctuary.

"That's why they're hunting us." Blue said.

"What?" Piper asked.

"Why the Captain and his men chased us all the way across the U.S, we're loose ends. He burned Sanctuary."

Mason stood up and looked at Blue squarely. "You're sure?"

Blue nodded. "Positive."

Mason slung his sniper over his shoulder. "Then good luck."

"You're not coming? I thought Goodsprings was you town, too." Piper said.

"I don't do that anymore. I took revenge once, it just caused more trouble. These were good people and I'd like to see nothing more than to have the Captain's head on a spike, but it's not my fight. Go ahead, avenge your people but leave me out of it."

Mason turned and walked back in the direction of his solitary shack. Piper, with pure anger on her face spat in his direction.

"Fuck 'em. We don't need him." she said.

Blue; however, was not so sure.