"So that's it, I don't know anything about their deaths." Said Joseph, Jaden was still blushing like a beet. "I promise."
"Okay, I believe you." Emile had cooled down by now. "Still didn't see that coming though," he looked at Jaden and then smiled almost laughing, "You were always quick on the draw."
"Shut your mouth, you can't judge."
"Actually," said Emile, "I can. You just met him!" he made a two armed gesture towards Joe.
"You know him!" Jaden argued, "You can trust me with him."
"Who cares," Matt interrupted, "So what if they're boning each other." Jaden's face kept getting redder; Joseph stood up and pointed at Mathew.
"We are not 'Boning' each other, ok." said Joseph. He quickly flinched back as his bitten arm began to hurt again. "We just like each other." Martin stood up from his crouching position.
"It doesn't matter any to me. If they like each other then live and let live." Martin walked over to Joseph and whispered in his ear, "Try to be smoother next time. Kay'?" Joe just laughed and shrugged him off. Jaden went over and stood beside her admirer.
"Why do you care if we're together Meel'? It shouldn't matter to you." She said. Emile didn't like this one bit.
"I've known you forever, and I know that you don't 'Love' people just like that." She walked over and gave him a quick right hook to the jaw; he fell to the floor faster than a sack of bricks. He landed on his side and expressed his feelings while holding his jaw.
"Fuck!" he exclaimed, "You always were a crazy bitch."
"Better than a dumb bastard." She quickly replied. Joseph backed up a bit.
"What did he mean by that?" Joe asked.
"Nothing!" she replied quickly. Joseph took another step back; maybe he had hit a nerve. Regardless, Joseph did not want to make her anymore mad than she was naturally. Jaden looked back at Joe and realized she may have been overreacting. She whispered to him, "I'm sorry; it's a touchy subject…"
"Some other time perhaps?" he whispered back to her softly. She replied the same.
"Yeah."
Mathew entered the conversation, "The only thing that really bothered me, was how PISSED Amos was… he can be an ass when he's mad, but this was… extreme." Mathew rubbed his chin in thought. "Something's up, and I don't just mean the fuckin' raggedy-ass hit men sent by god-knows-who."
"We should get back on the road, maybe set up fortifications in a better place in the city up ahead." Emile suggested.
"Sounds like a plan actually. Okay!" Mathew raised his voice as he got to his feet with his armor clattering against itself, "We're heading out; you love birds get in back with Martin and Emile you get in front."
Joseph shook his head, "Just shut up." What had he gotten himself into?
A lot of the ride Jane spent in Joseph's arms and he didn't seem to notice or care all that much since his mind was elsewhere. She probably did it just to spite Emile. He remembered how he had nearly broken down when Amos had threatened him and called him a murderer; was he really that sensitive? He had killed people and hardly felt a thing after some time, but now that his security among his most trusted friends was compromised he was too weak to react. And this girl; could he really trust her? He was told not to trust anyone outside the vault and to keep them at arm's length, but now she was much closer than that.
The scenery around them as they drove down the barren freeway was all the same, rolling plains of yellow grass dotted with rubble and old cars. After another hour of traveling they arrived in another town that was bigger than the last one which meant they had a better chance at finding salvage, but also ran a higher risk of attacks from bandits and raiders. As Mathew turned off of the main street of the city he noticed a house that looked heavily fortified but equally as deserted. He was just hoping that they could avoid any traps set by previous or current owners of the building. Rocks were kicked up behind the tires of the SUV as they pulled into the rough driveway. Everyone exited their respective doors and clambered down onto the unpaved parking spot with weapons drawn. Martin's hands were surprisingly steady with the 10mm submachine gun in his grip. Jaden stuck closely behind Joe, she was clingy like that so he noticed. Joseph wrapped his cold fingers around the grip of his Heckler & Koch as he prepared for the unexpected to take place. The barrel of his rifle was cold to his touch, very cold as the crisp air bit at everything it touched; a sign of the winter soon approaching.
Mathew, Laser rifle in hand, motioned silently for Martin and Joe to take point at the front door to the seemingly abandoned building which was boarded up by someone who knew their way around a hammer. Joseph couldn't tell why anyone would want to abandon such a reliable looking shelter, but there was always a reason, right. He aimed down the sights of his G36 and calmed his breathing as Martin turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open revealing the dark entry room. From behind himself, Joseph could hear the chain link fence rattling metal against metal as Emile walked up the path to the door.
Joseph reached into his small messenger's bag and took out a small flashlight with a rail attachment. He hooked it onto the barrel of his rifle and turned it on; the room illuminated almost completely. He breathed a sigh of relief as the room seemed mostly untouched and "Normal" if such a thing existed anymore. Vases had fallen off of the wall tables and shelves and cracked on the ground, how long ago could be anyone's guess. Joe took his first steps inside of the house and the morning light was replaced with the claustrophobia of the dusty old shelter. Martin and Mathew followed after him and the three of them slowly spread around the house in search of what they hoped not to find: residents. Joseph was on edge, especially since everyone had split up now, but he knew what to do if someone attacked him.
He turned off into a very dark room, darker than the entry way even, and noticed what appeared to be a body on the ground. The room looked like a living area, ironic. Joseph decided it was best to inspect before he got everyone else to crowd in this small room in curiosity. He walked ever quietly over to the dead man's body and saw that he was emaciated to the point that ribs nearly stuck out his sides and his skin was rotted grotesquely. As he approached however he noticed his Geiger counter picking up small amounts of radiation; that was when the man's head moved to look at Joe.
An eye hung out of its socket and the Ghoul got to its feet with lightning speed; Joe had hardly enough time to react. The Ghoul screeched at him as it swung out with its outstretched arm. He fell back onto his rump and aimed up, with a single shot a giant hole was left in the forehead of the feral ghoul; its flesh was obviously rotted to the point that a lone shot would be enough to blow off an entire limb. The ghoul took one more step forward and then fell to the side, finally dead. Martin burst into the room now with his SMG drawn.
"What in the hell was that?" his question was answered when he looked down at the decayed body, "Shit…"
Emile entered as well, "Must have been the previous owner; a ghoul that eventually turned feral… damned shame."
"We'd better look around the rest of the house to make sure we're safe to stay here." Joseph suggested. "Rancidus…" he whispered to himself in his favorite dead language. Emile put his rifle up against his shoulder.
"Okay, I'll go get the other two and we'll all sweep the house." He said. Emile walked out of the room and went for the front door. Martin just continued to stare at the body of the ghoul as a pool of blood began to form around its now hollow cranium; a small pool however as Joseph could assume ghouls likely had mutated arteries and messed up circulatory systems in general. Joe got to his feet and patted his friend on the shoulder.
"Let's go."
"Maybe you need a smoke, you haven't had a smoke in a while." Suggested Daniel to Amos who was still on edge from the last conversation with his friends.
"Yeah… yeah you're right." He reached into his pocket and produced a single cigarette, "Hey, do you want one Thad?" he asked.
"Please." Thaddeus didn't get edgy when he hadn't had a smoke instead he just enjoyed the relaxing feeling; he had a strong will to avoid addiction on such a degree as Amos'.
"Here." Amos tossed one of his self-rolled smokes at the larger man and he caught it without effort. Amos took out his lighter and lit his smoke, in a single drag a quarter of it was already gone. He tossed the lighter to Thaddeus and he lit up as well. Solomon was still bitter about how Amos treated him back in the more ruined parts of the city. They had been traveling more north than the other groups, and Amos figured that the city they were in was actually Drumheller on account of the valleys. They were on their way back to their vehicle and Daniel still found it painful to walk.
"Why don't you suck it up and use a stimpack, you haven't used one since you was first shot?" James showed his concern for poor Daniel.
"That's for pussies, I don't need another."
"Whatever."
"Hey, where does the map say to go next?" Asked Samantha. Amos turned and exhaled some smoke near her face which she swatted away without hesitation.
"I'm thinking from this here map that we're going to Lloydminster from here." He exhaled again.
"Amos, about Joseph…" hesitated Thaddeus.
"I know what you're going to say, and yes, I know I over reacted; Joseph would never do that." Thaddeus smiled back at Amos.
"Good to hear, but maybe you should call them back."
"Nah, I'm sure they'll be fine; maybe later, 'kay."
"The rest of the house looks deserted!" shouted Jaden as if it wouldn't already echo through these hollow halls. Joseph and Martin had thrown the body of the ghoul out into the lawn on a nearby property earlier that day, and Joseph was amazed at how green the grass was. Joseph and Martin now sat on an old ruined couch in the living room and a towel lay on the floor where the blood was.
"Have you ever been outside of the vault during winter?" asked Joseph. Martin shook his head no.
"I've heard that it's unbearably cold and that it's better to just stay inside."
"Same." They sat there for a minute more before a bulb lit up in Joe's head, "We need a source of heat."
"Yeah, you're right; we do…" he rubbed his stubbly chin and looked up at the ceiling.
"We have the generator, but we need to use the power for heat somehow…" Joseph continued to stare off into space with his friend.
"Maybe we could find a portable heater!"
"Yeah, we could go looking around town." Agreed Joseph. Emile walked in and looked at them as they exchanged excited glances.
"What?"
"Wanna' go exploring?" Joseph asked.
The city looked absolutely deserted, with not a single living thing in sight and they hoped it would stay that way so they would not have to fight for supplies. A super-duper mart was just down the way from their shelter so they took an opportunity they couldn't pass up. Green grass grew up from cracks in the pavement and strange flowers propagated in places as well. The cold autumn air nipped at Joe's ears so he put his hood up to avoid the discomfort of it. Both Martin and Emile put on tuques to shield themselves from the same cold. Only in this cold of air could Joseph notice just how much metal was on his person and his fingers felt at times like they were stuck to his rifle.
When they arrived in the parking lot of the mart it was very apparent that this was a store of a much smaller scale, but still big enough to be considered a super store of sorts. Emile grabbed a tipped over blue shopping cart from the asphalt and rolled it noisily toward the entrance of the store with them. Joseph detached his flash light from the rail of his rifle, figuring it would be better to use his Pip-Boy light instead. After the scene at the last super-duper mart they were on guard for anything suspicious in the darkness of the giant room.
It appeared that this store had been ransacked more thoroughly than the previous one as whole aisles had been tipped over and cans were scattered across the dirty and cracked tile floor.
"Okay, this is a super-duper mart so we should be able to find a heater somewhere, cuz' they have everything." Joseph turned his Pip-Boy light on and walked forward into the store following the signs to the electronics department. They avoided kicking aside cans to make room in fear that they would be heard by something, whatever could be in here. The wind blew through cracks in the walls of the gigantic store and made whistling noises that were very unnerving to the three scavengers. The electronics area had two checkout counters of its own and five or so aisles in total. After a minute of searching, Martin found what appeared to be a miniature portable heater, with the same plug as their generator luckily. But Martin made a small mistake…
"HEY GUYS! Look what I found!" he shouted as his voice echoed throughout the store. Joseph heard growling, lots of growling and he put his palm to his face in frustration.
"Run!" he said. The three men dared not look behind themselves to see what was giving chase, but from their strangely human growls Joseph had a guess. Martin burst out into the sunlight with the heater still in his hands and set it down as he reached for his weapon. Joseph whipped around and a ghoul knocked him to the ground. The wind was taken right out of him as he hit the ground with a thud. The ghoul looked up and howled as a group of at least six ghouls came out of the doors as well. Joe unloaded part of his clip into the post-human's chest as he crawled backwards on his back to avoid the next ghoul. The ghoul's head was taken off by Emile's AK luckily. Martin ran at the ghouls and hit one in the head with the barrel of his SMG while he shot another with nearly a full magazine of ammo. The ghoul he had hit grabbed his arm and screamed in his face with absolutely rancid breath; Martin recoiled but shook him off so he could place another few bullets in his skull. Emile and Joseph dispatched the three other ghouls with the rest of their clip and Joe tried to get to his feet but slipped back on the blood, but at least he did not fall directly in the blood.
The three of them all sat down and bent over to catch their breaths. After a minute of silence Martin grabbed the heater and motioned toward the road with his head.
"We going?" he asked. Joseph could barely nod his head yes; now he knew he was out of shape. None the less they got back onto their feet and made their way back to the house.
"That will help. The winters up here are pretty unforgiving." Mathew said as he positioned more boards on the windows of the building they would be staying in. Martin placed the heater in the back of their vehicle and went inside the house with Emile. Joe walked up to Matt and leaned against the wall.
"How long will we be staying here do you think?" he asked. Mathew ceased his rackety hammering on the wooden boards and turned to the smaller man; he brushed his own hair to the side.
"I don't know, a few days at the most."
"Okay, that's all I wanted to know." Joseph said. Mathew shrugged and watched as Joe went inside the house; he was greeted by Emile who ushered him into a nearby room.
"Over here." He said. Joseph looked around and saw no reason not to follow, so he entered the room and Emile closed the door behind him. Soon, he would be reminded of Emile's previous hostility.
"Hey, Emile what's up-?" he was cut off as he turned around and noticed a gun pointed at his face. He said nothing instead he let his rifle slide to his side.
"I just want to talk about Jaden…" he said softly so no other would hear.
"… Okay…"
"She got caught up in the wrong relationship once already; luckily me and my Pa stopped her before they could use her. So I don't trust no one with her you understand me?" Joseph could not speak, he instead nodded slowly and let Emile continue with his explanation, "We're from Edmonton, you know that, but her parents were killed by raiders so my Pa took her in like one of his own, you see where this is going?"
"Yeah…"
"Good. Well we found her hanging around some unsavory types one day and after a week or so of her acting strange we knew something was up, so me and Pa went to talk to these fellas… except these guys didn't like to talk much." He pressed the gun against Joe's head and Joseph almost jumped a little, "We fought and killed all of them until only one was left, he told us that they were slavers and that they were trying to trick her into going with them, but he swore to me time after time that they didn't do anything to her and begged for his life like a squabbling rad-roach caught in a minefield."
"What… what happened to him?"
"I killed him anyways, I don't forgive easy…" He said menacingly. Joseph could feel beads of sweat dripping off of his face, "Moral of the story is: if you hurt her, I'll turn your head into a Mother fuckin' splatter on the wall." Joseph was still shaken by the initial surprise of a gun being pointed at his head, and could still hardly move even after he had put his weapon away.
"What the hell man?" Joseph had asked.
Emile walked out of the room, ignoring him, and left Joseph there to think about what he had said. Maybe he had gotten into the wrong relationship himself.
