It was just after noon when Sally spotted the long, low building in the distance. According to her Pip-boy this was her destination. She was approaching it from the rear when she heard a zzztzzt sound and saw a flash of red light. She crouched low and crept forward to peer around the corner. A metal flying robot like she had seen in Springvale was floating away from a body on the ground. The lesson here: don't mess with the flying robots.
She crept up to the body and studied it. It smelled horrifically foul. The scarred torso was mostly bare, the minimal covering bizarre to say the least. The multi-colored hair was short and spiky. A quick, furtive search netted her nothing but the knife lying by the body. She warily surveyed the area. A large sign proclaimed this was the Super Duper Mart. She had reached her goal.
She was looking down the front of the building. A long covered walkway ran the entire length of the front. She could see two sets of doors, with two Nuka-cola machines spaced out against the front wall. In front was a huge broken area with slabs of material here and there, probably once a parking lot, now just bare. The robot, which she remembered was called an Eye-bot by the crazy Enclave fanatic in Megaton, was patrolling the area sending out its canned message enticing anyone listening to join with the President. No one else seemed about, but that didn't make her feel any better. The dead man probably hadn't been alone.
Sally opened the nearest door and crept in as quietly as she could. The small entry room held only old grocery carts and a trash can. Careful to avoid tripping over the carts, she moved into the opening and looked around. Off to her right was a counter, with open space behind it, though she didn't see any entrance to it. No one seemed to be in there.
On her left a clear space ran the width of the building between the doors and short rows of low counters that ran back from the clear space toward the back of the building. These had old cash registers on them and must have been for checking out the merchandise. Another clear space ran behind these counters the width of the building, and then behind them a lot of shelves running deep toward the back of the building. She couldn't see the back part of the building. Carts and debris were everywhere.
A man was patrolling the tops of the shelves, far enough into the interior of the large building she couldn't make him out clearly. It wasn't hard to see he had spiky hair though and carried a rifle. She sure could use a rifle. She couldn't see anyone else but she could hear voices deep in the building, so there were probably several of them.
Crouching low and moving slowly to avoid detection, she crept toward the unsuspecting man. These looked like raiders, drug crazy people who got off on killing and torturing. This impression was confirmed when she observed the mutilated bodies hanging from the ceiling, a trademark of the violent gangs. Vermin to be killed on sight she had been told. She was close enough now to effectively hit the raider. She raised her silenced pistol and took careful aim at the raider's head, but she wasn't absolutely sure who these people were.
"Hey" she called softly, just loud enough for him to hear. He spun around, locating her immediately. He didn't even hesitate; he raised his rifle with a snarl. Sally fired, the silenced weapon making a muted 'pop'. That was settled then, she wouldn't be giving any more warnings.
The raider looked surprised for about a second and then toppled into the aisle. Sally froze, expecting the noise to alert the others, but no one seemed to notice. She moved up and inspected the foul smelling, bizarre man. He had a few caps, a shotgun much like hers only in poor repair, but functional, and some ammo. No rifle though.
She holstered her pistol, shoved the caps in her pack, and made sure the shotgun was loaded. It looked like the gun she had taken off the other man she had killed, but she couldn't be sure. She moved quietly down the front aisle toward the other side of the store. She would study the guns when she got home; maybe the parts were interchangeable.
Still crouching and moving slowly and quietly Sally crept down the center aisle toward the other side of the building. She passed another set of doors that led outside, but no one was in the small entrance room. She stopped at the last aisle and peered cautiously around the last row of shelves. Another of the strange men was standing in the aisle, peering toward the back of the store. Sally quietly put the shotgun in her pack and got out the silenced pistol. If she could get close enough, it would make less noise than the shotgun.
She moved toward the man. Suddenly he caught a sound or movement, something made him turn toward her. With a savage growl he sprang toward her brandishing a large knife. Sally dove aside, but not quickly enough to avoid receiving a glancing blow to her left arm. She swung the pistol up and fired at him. It hit him in the breast, stopping him just long enough for her take better aim and blow out his brains. Sally scrambled into cover in a doorway in the wall. No one came.
She glanced down the short hall behind her. There was a door on each side, labeled for Men and Women. She hoped there was water in the bathrooms, as her arm was bleeding now and throbbing painfully. She was sure the knife wasn't at all clean. She stayed close to the wall and warily peered into the Women's room before entering. It was empty. She quickly checked all the stalls, noting the mattress lying in the back. They must use it for a sleeping area as well. At least there was water in the sinks, so she stood in front of the sink and started washing the wound.
A sound alerted her that she was not alone. She spun around just as a woman, as strangely bizarre as the men had been, yelled, "You're all mine now bitch", and swung a knife at her gut. Sally dodged but wasn't fast enough to keep the knife from sinking into her abdomen. With a screech she swung up her hands, fisted together, and slammed the woman in the head. She fell back losing her grip on the knife as it came free, sending it clattering to the floor. As she sprang up again Sally snatched the knife from the floor and swung it up, impaling the woman under the breastbone. She shoved up and twisted. The woman gurgled, blood running from her mouth, spraying Sally with her last breath.
Sally leaned against the sink, holding her bleeding abdomen. She had learned a hard lesson here. Never stand with your back to an open door. She sank down, sliding her pack off her shoulder to rummage inside. She pulled out a powder, ripped it open and sprinkled it in the wound. She almost cried out with the pain, but gritted her teeth against it. The powder was designed to enhance clotting and stop bleeding.
Then she pulled out a Stimpack and injected herself. This med had some healing properties, but its main advantage lay in its ability to stop pain. She breathed easier as the pain eased and then stopped. She was still wounded, but now she could move freely, a distinct advantage in life and death situations. She just hoped it lasted long enough to finish the job as she only had one left.
Sally heard yelling and the sound of agitated voices in the hallway. Someone had found the bodies and they were searching for her. She pulled herself up and checked all the shotguns and both her pistols were loaded. Sneak attacks weren't in the picture any longer.
Sally fought her way through the store, taking out the remaining raiders, cold and methodical as she ran and ducked and weaved from cover to cover, picking them off one at a time. The raiders were huge on ferocity and savagery, but sadly lacking in strategy and intelligence. When her weapons ran out, she grabbed ones the raiders had dropped. She seemed to have plenty of firepower. She finally strolled through the now quiet store, checking bodies, methodically disposing of any left alive.
It seemed safe enough now and she was very tired. The knife wound in her abdomen had stopped bleeding and she couldn't feel the pain from it, but she knew it was deep and she needed rest. Her other wounds were more superficial although the knife wound to her arm had started leaking somewhat. It was shallow and she didn't want to waste a clotting med on it if it would clot on its own.
She drug the raider's body out of the bathroom and into the hall before cleaning up in the sink, being careful to stand sideways so she could keep an eye on the door, then lay down on the dirty mattress in the back where she would be less likely to be taken by surprise. She spent a restless night fading in and out of sleep with little real rest.
In the morning she began her real work. She ignored the bodies scattered throughout the building; she wasn't planning on being here long enough for them to start stinking any more than they already did. She soon had more meds, food, weapons, ammo and saleable items than she could carry. That was all right, she could come back for the rest. A locked room had presented a small problem as she had to crack the computer that controlled the lock.
Perhaps the most important thing Amata had taught her was how to keep from getting locked out of a computer when you didn't know the password. She had to use the trick several times, but finally got it right. Inside the store room she had found a lot of supplies and a robot, locked in a containment unit. She studied the controls until she was sure she could release it but was still considering the wisdom of that when she heard voices in the main store area.
More raiders had entered the store and were trying to figure out what had happened. Sally punched in the code and stood back, shotgun ready if it proved dangerous. The containment unit swung open and the robot stepped out. "Greetings, fellow employee," it said in its monotone voice. Then its attention was caught by the noise outside the room and it moved out. She followed, peaking around the door. She saw the red light, heard the zzztzzt of laser fire, the screams of the raiders.
She fired on a raider just past the robot. Ooops, that might have been a mistake as she actually hit the robot. It turned toward her. It seemed to have forgotten she had released it because it raised its arm and fired at her. She caught its intention and dove to the side, bringing up her shotgun. A blast to its faceplate finished it off. She looked at it sadly. It would have been nice to have a guardian in the store. Then she searched it and took the energy cells that had animated it. Interestingly she found the wiring to its weapons systems was very similar to that in the bomb.
She found a nice supply of meds. After all these were raiders, they practically lived on chems. Their weapons weren't in the best shape, but she figured they had other things on their minds besides taking care of weapons. Like chems. At least there was an assault rifle, and the other weapons would still be useful so she took them and all the ammo she could find and stacked them in the storeroom. She would at least take the assault rifle, though she hadn't found much ammo for it; they mostly seemed to have 9mm and shotgun shells, as well as a few mines. She could buy more ammo later.
Perhaps the most interesting items were some books. They had probably already been here since raiders weren't great readers, but at least they hadn't destroyed them. Instructional manuals could come in very useful.
Having loaded her pack with all she could carry and stored the rest in the locked storeroom, she went back to the bathroom. She took the manuals with her to the dirty mattress lying against the back wall. It seemed the safest place to sleep. After perusing the manuals for a while she finally fell asleep using her pack as a pillow. It was cleaner than the mattress.
Her loaded pack was heavy on her back when Sally stepped outside in the bright morning light to begin the trip back to Megaton. She stopped when she saw the child walking slowly past. He turned to look at her. "Lady", he said. "Can you help us? We need help. The things are killing everyone."
"Things?", Sally queried. "Could you be a little more specific? There seems to be lots of things out here. And who's getting killed? Where?"
"Over at Grayditch. That's where I live. I don't know if anyone else is left. I ran and ran and I got out. The creatures, they have 6 legs and antennae and they shoot fire out of their mouths. The professor called them fire ants, but Dad said they were fuckin' ants. I don't know if Dad's still alive.", he said, tears running down his face.
Sally looked at him compassionately, considering. "Listen, kid", she said. "I'm wounded and not very well armed. I can't do this now. I think you should come with me. We'll go check it out after I heal up."
"No," he said stubbornly. " I have to go back to see if my Dad's still alive. Please come with me."
"Look, kid, it's not gonna do anyone any good to just get myself killed. I have to go home and get some medical attention.", she pointed out reasonably.
"Okay, but you will come? Soon?", he pleaded. " I know a place to hide so I can wait for you there after I see if Dad's alive. I know how to avoid them."
Sally sighed. "Sure, kid, as soon as I can." She watched him take off. It was his decision; she couldn't force him to come with her. She wondered how many orphans there were fending for themselves in the wasteland.