Alright, it's finally here. What happens to Kooza? Well, you'll kinda find out, but I'm not about to kill a good character like I killed Billo. He'll be back. He's just too cool, and has too cool of a name, ya know?
Thanks, to everyone who's loved the story so far. This chapter doesn't have much action in it, but you get some good background into each character's story ('cept Dan's). Hope you like it, Chapter 8 will be out in no time. Haha, just wait until summer time, when these babies will be popping out of my brain and onto the screen every week! So keep reading, keep R&R-ing, and I'll keep doing this. I have to say, I enjoy it. :D
May 15, 2284 – 5:42 pm
The fast-paced ride to Port Bradley was relatively uneventful. I saw a few ramshackle villages along the road, their citizens confused as to why we did not stop, and we met a single Raider who was stupid enough to try and fire on us. Harri immediately held out her shotgun and took his arm off, and we sped away. She used a small radio to talk into while she guided the Brahmin.
There was an area that Harri said was a Super-Mutant stomping ground, so we had to slow down and sneak around a large collection of boulders. Luckily, we didn't see any, but there was a really weird smell all over the area, like something huge had just up and died. Once we were about a half mile away from it, Harri kicked the Brahmin back into gear, and we reached the city in no time.
At first, from a distance, all I could see were a few blobs with smoke rising from them, and it looked like nothing special. But as we drew closer, past an old electrical fence, I could see a great big wall surrounding a collection of metal buildings. Several old jumbo jets sat among them, with signs, electrical wires, and a water tower on top of some of them. Up to the gate we drove, forcing a couple groups of travelers to jump to the side. Once we could actually make out the guards faces, Harri slowed the steers down and trotted up.
Kooza was still unconscious, and his leg was looking really bad. I had liberally applied stimpacks from Harri's seemingly endless supply, but they only slowed down the infection process a little bit. A single guard moved towards us, and I became angry at him for taking his sweet time.
"State your name and business," he commanded flatly.
"Providence Harith, weapons trader."
"Alright," the guard apparently recognized her. "You can come on in."
Once we entered the city and parked the wagon in between two buildings, Harri jumped out and spoke to another guard. I dunno what she said, but next thing I knew, he drew his gun and stood guard over our stuff. Then she grabbed a large piece of cardboard and laid it next to Kooza, so we carried him on it.
Throughout the city, we passed a multitude of people. I heard stories of the cities of old, where you'd never see the same person twice unless you knew them, and they all crowded the streets, getting to where they needed to go. I imagined that this was such a place. We passed at least a hundred different faces on the way to the hospital, and I was simply amazed into a virtual inertia, staring at everybody.
I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the buildings, or many of my surroundings in fact, because we were rushing through so fast, trying to get Kooza to a doctor. But once we reached the hospital, I took some notice.
The whole building was a small airplane, probably a private jet, with a very large red cross painted on the side. Transparent boxes with med kits inside were piled up high just outside the door, and the only way in was up a set of fold-out stairs. Here, we carried in Kooza, who was starting to wake amongst all the noise and movement.
"What's going on?" he murmured. Then, he started to shout. "Oh my god! It hurts! It hurts! What's going on?!"
Harri stayed silent and grim as he screamed, so I followed her example and tried to stay quiet. The uproar that Kooza made as we ran into the hospital aroused a doctor and assistant from a nearby room, both frantically grabbing our makeshift stretcher and ushering everyone into an area with an operating table.
Now, I noticed that Kooza's entire left thigh was infected and swollen. It looked like his leg wasn't his own, but some other monster's. Luckily, the doctor seemed to know what he was doing, smoothly navigating between his utensils and his patient. First to go in was some special novacain. It must've been special, because in about a minute, Kooza calmed down and simply whimpered. Confident that he could continue, the doctor picked up a scalpel, dipped it into a cup of alcohol that the nurse was holding, and began cutting around the claw, and the most infected area.
Suddenly, Kooza's eyes bugged out of his head like some old cartoon, and through his open mouth he loosed a scream so loud, everyone but the doctor had to cover their ears. Blood spurted from his already bloody leg, into a fountain that just fell back into itself.
"Lemme go, you fuckin' bastard! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die yet!!" Over his deathly rampage, Harri grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me out of the hospital.
Even outside, among all the pedestrians, I could hear him. Some people even stopped to try and see what was going on through that door. Harri and I were the only ones who really knew, and our knowledge made us somber as their unawareness made them curious.
May 15, 2284 - 6:12 pm
Together, we walked back to the caravan silently, where our guard was still standing, keeping the supplies safe.
"You can go now, thank you," Harri told him, but he just looked at her with a cocked eye. She sighed, flipping him a Quantum cap, after which he finally nodded and left.
Then she turned to me, "We need to find a good hotel. There are a few of them around here, but we need a cheap one-nighter."
I had not the foggiest what a hotel was, but I played along. Taking the Brahmin to a pen, and the supplies to a guarded storage area, I finally got to see the city itself.
Planes, all around, was what it pretty much was. Planes and shacks. The smaller ones were important buildings, like the hospital, along with a large restaurant, a main supply center, a water purification plant, and a building whose sign read "Agawam Military Recruiter and Shop: Outpost 6." Larger planes were host to an XXX club, a library, an orphanage, and a science research center.
The shacks were mostly homes, and they ranged from the average hillbilly tin can to the two-story apartment complex. Many of these buildings were awfully shabby, but built sturdy like the planes. People walked out of huts dressed in business suits and dresses, as if they were the "impoverished third world citizens" that you'll sometimes read about in Pre-War textbooks, though they had an air that assumed them as a much higher class.
I saw all this as we walked to the center of the city. Being nighttime, all the neon lights burned brightly, advertising Nuka-Cola and Cram and a Cabaret. One sign read something in Korean, and I couldn't understand it in the slightest.
Harri led me to a large shack named "The Founder's Inn," whose sign hung from one chain, so it spun around in the wind making the words almost illegible. As we opened the door, something fell off, and I half-expected the building to collapse. Luckily, it didn't.
The rusted metal door nearly slammed back in my face as we trudged inside the inn, distracting me from following Harri. The whole building was filled with people. Dirty people. With guns and knives. A drunk man danced on a moldy wooden table while a fight broke out in the far corner over a pint. In all the hubbub, I misplaced my trading host.
I searched the place frantically with my eyes, analyzing the crowd of ruffians, keeping my eye out for a yellow jumpsuit. When I found none, I got scared, and dove headfirst into the mass, bumping into more than one mean-eyed mercenary or hunter. Each one snarled at me like I was the scum of the earth, not the other way around, and with nothing more than my switchblade on me right then, I was seriously doubting that I could take all of these guys.
Finally, a bright flash caught my eye, drawing me to the front bar, where Harri spoke with a pot-bellied mustachioed man while she drank a whiskey. As I drew closer, I could hear them talking about a two-bedded room for the night, but the man insisted they get two single-bedded rooms.
"But that's more expensive, you idiot," Harri told him. "I said I want your two-bed room, or I'll have no business."
The man didn't even hesitate when she hinted at leaving. "Now hold on a minute! Let's not get hasty. I'll check for your room if I must."
"Thank you," Harri replied, then as he left, "Asshole." Then she noticed me.
"Hey! I forgot all about you." She paused to analyze my face. "You holding up okay?"
I sighed. "I hate the world now." To this, she simply laughed and took another swig of her whiskey before burping softly. The whole tavern was filled with those kinds of noises, except most of them weren't from self-employed women.
Now, the man had come back and groaned until words started to come out.
"Ooooohhhh… I got one room in building 2 for you. Just next door. It's at the top of the stairs on the right." Then he handed Harri the keys. "Enjoy your accommodations."
Yeah, right, said his guest's face, but the keys were taken anyways and we both walked out the door.
Next to the main building was a smaller, more ramshackle building with few windows. Blood stains poured from a large hole near the door, implying enough. It wasn't exactly a safe place. But the door was opened, the creaking stairs were climbed, and our room was settled into. Harri got the bed near the window while mine was closest to the door, so I'd die before her, or something.
As I got out my clothes and laid them on top of the bed, her voice rang.
"Sooooo…" she started, as if she didn't know what to say to this 14-year old boy who shared her room. "Uh, so – don't you have any questions about trading? Living out in the wasteland? Et cetera?"
"Not really," I responded while shrugging my shoulders. I was too busy getting the image of Kooza's leg out of my head to think about questions.
"None at all? You don't wanna know anything about what I do?" She seemed like she really wanted to answer something, to talk to someone about normal stuff after what happened today. It was only now I realized that she was trembling.
My book didn't need to be out of the pack right now. So, I put it back and thought. I needed a question that would get a lot of information out of her and was too cliché not to answer.
"Why and how did you become a trader?"
Harri rested her head on her backpack, which acted as a pillow, and bit her cheek. I didn't think that it was something she had to really think about, but quickly assumed she had some built up memories. I was right.
"My dad was a trader down south, selling weapons and ammo like I do now. We lived in a little town called Canterbury Commons with a few other people… well, at least I did. He was always off in the wasteland, selling his stuff to everyone he met. He was good at bartering, and always walked away with less guns and more caps. The people called him Lucky, and in true "generation-passing" fashion, he named me Providence.
"Anyways, while he was away meeting all these cool people, I was stuck inside our apartment in a town filled with freaks. Believe me, there were some wackos around town."
I imagined what Canterbury Commons must've looked like. A street, some houses, an apartment building. Maybe some retards stumbling around and feeling themselves. I didn't know what Harri meant by "wackos" but I assumed that the town must've accepted mentally ill people. She continued.
"I always kinda wanted to go with him, ya know? To see the other towns, meet other people, and make myself known. I never met anyone really cool until I was a teenager. He was this Vault guy, like you only older, and he was traveling with a dog and some Ghoul mercenary. Just the way he walked into town, like he knew what he was doing more than anyone. Of course, he ran into the wackos I mentioned, and eventually took the head off of one of them, but that's besides the point. Even when it was just him, Mayor Roe kept me inside at all times whenever there were visitors. It guess my dad told him to do it, but I didn't know why he would. I never met anyone, just watched them. Watched the guy come, invest in my daddy's business, and leave. A few months later, he took down the Enclave, made the Potomac's water clean, and died from extreme radiation poisoning. I never talked to the guy."
"What was his name?" I asked hopefully.
"I dunno. They called him the Wanderer, because he never told anyone his name. Smart move for someone who had such an impact on the area."
Wanderer, Wanderer. Where had I heard that before?
"But, once I was fourteen, and the Capital Wasteland was actually on the right track for once, my daddy took me out on a trading run. Best and most eye-opening week of my life. It's kinda like what you're doing now, coming with me, 'cept it was my choice. I immediately said yes.
"After that, things fell into line. The Super Mutants died out, and with the city under the control of the Brotherhood, people started focusing on growing out. Megaton must be at least three times its old size by now, Rivet City has the responsibility of the water purifier and the Mall, and this old dude who ran a place called Tenpenny Tower was assassinated, so some Ghouls took the place over. Not the best outcome for the residents, but they were peaceful from then on out."
I was transfixed on her story so much, I hadn't noticed that a rat had crawled onto my jumpsuit, and started nibbling on one of the straps. As soon as there was pain, I shook it off and the rodent went soaring into a wall, never to rise again. Harri just kinda stared at it, then continued her story with a bit of a smirk on her face.
"Pretty soon, things got boring. Only interesting thing that ever happened before I turned eighteen was that these oak trees started growing in from the north. But that was it. I grew up, started trading by myself, and lived okay. Then, the local radio station guy, Three Dog, told us to turn our dials to this new radio frequency. When I did it, I picked up Eyewitness Connecticut, and the world just opened up. In time, the Brotherhood let everyone know of the existence of a country up north called Agawam, which I'm sure you know, and with the radio frequency, I could get updated on whatever was happening in a whole 'nother part of the world!"
"What's Eyewitness Connectict?" I interrupted. Harri looked at me confused.
"You're serious?" I nodded. I had no idea what it was. She answered my question, albeit a little weirded out.
"Eyewitness Connecticut is the radio station at Stony Knoll. Matt Olmstead, or Matty, runs the whole thing, giving news, tips, music. Since Stony Knoll was a weather station, he even gives info on the weather sometimes, that is, if it's unusual. It's really pretty cool. Should be on your Pip-Boy if you look."
I scanned my Pip-Boy for any open radio stations, and surprisingly, one called "EYEWITNESS320" was glowing on my dashboard. I'd never seen it before. Touching it with my finger, the little machine automatically connected with the frequency, and a loud voice sprung from its speakers.
"…increased violence up there downtown. Super Mutants, slavers, Academy forces, you name it. Thusly, a word of advice: Stay away from downtown. Enough crazy shit happens outside of the city. I'm pretty sure that most of you don't want triple the amount of that shit."
"That's him," Harri said. "Matty Olmstead, spreading the word. Much more civilized than Three Dog, though I think he's wrapped up in a little red tape."
She got up, grabbed her gun, the rental keys from the storage place, and started for the door.
I called, "Wait! You never finished answering my question."
"Oh right." She kinda stood there awkwardly, one had on the door and the other on her hip, as if she really wanted to go instead of babysitting this kid. "Well, long story short, I grew up, got curious, and came on up here to see what's what. Now, I run my own merchandising business out of the sand. How's that for lucky, huh?"
Turning around, she exited, and closed the door behind her. I was about to turn the radio back on, when it opened again, Harri's face staring back at me.
"By the way, I'm just heading back to the hospital to give the doctor our location in case something happens. Chou." And finally, she was gone.
"EYEWITNESS320" still gleamed on my screen, and pushing it resulted in another blast of Matty's voice.
"… best place to stop off at when you're in the ass-end of nowhere by Enfield. Food, shelter, and protection. Three good things, they'll give it to you free for no more than a few days. Sounds good, eh?
"Now, it's getting late. You'll be hearing my recordings over and over again for the next 9 hours or so. I'll be back on live at 8 in the good 'ole morn. 'Till then, enjoy some music and a bunch of crap you've already heard before, here at Eyewitness Connecticut, a lonely wastelander's best friend. See ya!"
And with that, the Andrews Sisters started playing. Well, I didn't know it was the Andrews Sisters then… I was told later on. But, their harmonious voices put me right to sleep. Harri must've come back and shut the radio off at some point, but my dreamless slumber was void of everything but music.
"He was a famous trumpet man from out Chicago way, he had a boogie style that no one else could play, he was a tough man at his craft… but then his numbers came up, and he was gone with the draft. He's in the army now, a blowin' revelie… he's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B!"
