So.
I know I said I would get the next chapter up a few days ago but an hour later my buddy asked if I wanted to hike eighty miles through the mountains with him and I said sure, so now we're here. I wont lie to you I probably wont have chapter 8 up for another week because I suck like that, but I DID add to this chapter and that is why my story is at the top of your subscribed updated list again. Re-read the last half and enjoy.
-WhiskyFalls.
Then naming of this chapter refers to the annual sporting event and bares no reference to the tragedy it has become entangled with.
Boston Marathon
It was late, they had let it get late. It took an hour of argument between Nate and Benjamin to even get started and another for everybody to agree to tell their story rather then a fumbled mess of points and facts, a list of which each person had and insisted on being a focus.
So Preston started, the olive branch for his part. He explained the Minutemen, the fall and the run, all his battles, victories and losses in plan grey text. A silent reverence fell over his companions as he recalled lost friends and bygone days. He was honest and it went a far way with the Ghoul.
Then Sturges, how he ran, how he found Nate and got help. Reese told the next part, The museum and the Lexington raiders all in plain terms as always, facts only. The raiders goal to take an elderly woman from the group hostage and the leaders familiarity with her, a prospect Benjamin scoffed at seeing no real reasoning behind it like most of them, and their desire to see Preston's head on a spike.
The final part of their story was told simply and by Preston and Reese and their view of Nate's heroic rescue mission, of Nate's slaughter of the raiding party Benjamin had come across, he had a feeling it had been him, in the first twenty four hours of leaving the vault. But one point of the tale put the ghoul on edge, his friends probable new nemesis, in the form of a Lexington Raider Boss, Jared; a vengeful and seasoned man who would surly never forget him.
It was a story Benjamin did not enjoy hearing and liked even less because, as it turned out, he had penned a letter to Nate telling him not to leave his home. But they insisted he didn't go to hard on him and he finally agreed saying Nate had never listened to him anyways.
After a brief outburst by Benjamin the stick was passed to the two friends, the whole of it being told by the recently calmed ghoul. Nate, for his part scarcely said anything, the most they got from the home owner was simple clarification to parts of the tale only he would know and a rare gruff at Benjamin's angered recollections.
"So to summarize," He stood from his seat and moved to the center of the circle clenching his nose, a headache coming on. "You two are... what? Time travelers from before the war who only just woke up in a vault a mile from here?" Nate sat only a few feet away sipping at a glass of water, he nodded. "And you two are the sole survivors," he accented receiving another nod.
Even after the telling ended some points still didn't add up, or they brushed over very vaguely meaning they didn't want him to know; What did they do for the U.S. military that lead to Ben calling Nate a war hero? What happened in the vault to wake them up, the vault was something they avoided all together only stating it had something to do with freezing people. What became of the other people from the vault? Who had Nate spoken to in the church... Another topic Nate avoided at all costs. And what did they intend to do now?
It all stacked up in a pile of avoided topics, information that was withheld from him, and secrets. He hated secrets. But the fact that they even told him anything was enough for now, though he would find out more later on, but it would be when Nate trusted him.
"And you only just entered the world again Nate. Benjamin, being only a year more experienced... and in that time managed to get ghoulified." The fastest Ghoulification Reese had ever heard of as he said, a years worth of exposure only. It causing the doctor to sink into an even fouler mood he had been building since the start of their half of the story.
"That's right." Benjamin confirmed.
In all this there was however a bright side, a uplifting ray Preston had to contentiously oppress at the moment until this was settled.
"So just how old are you Nate?" Reese asked from the couch. It had been a long while since he had smoked, a few years even, and yet there he was puffing on a cigarette he had procured from Nate.
"Well... Do you measure age by the body? The soul? Or the date?" Sturges interjected, he seemed to be the only one who had any grasp on the time travel so far, and seemed to believe it was almost normal, unlike the smoking doctor.
Preston really didn't want to debate philosophy right now, he wanted dates "Lets say Body."
Preston didn't expect him to answer it like nearly all the direct questions that had come before. But in a pleasant surprise he spoke up.
"By that standard I'm twenty-seven as far as I know."
"Soul then." Reese pushed again.
"But does the soul age when your asleep like they where or only by experience, or some other way entirely?" Sturges asked, again putting them back a few steps.
"WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON STURGES? AND CUT THE PHILOSOPHY SHIT, WHEN WHERE YOU BORN NATE?" Reese finally yelled shooting up from his seating in a burst of anger.
Sturges put his hand up silencing Nate before he could speak and stood to match Reese. "Now hold on, I wasn't aware we where taking sides Reese?" He shot back, Preston really didn't need another fight between the two. "Why has this become so big for you, why does this story make them the enemy when just an hour ago he was a hero in your eyes."
The headache spiked in pain from the yelling and Preston too snapped. They tended to do it from time to time but he would not allow it right now, "Shut up both of you." He hissed, they both glared at him but took their seats. At least they still listened when he yelled, he thought then continuing.
"We will discus all this later. We are here now, to talk to Nate and Benjamin. Nate will you please tell us, it doesn't really matter but I would like to know." He even gave a small smile just to help.
"I was born on the twenty fifth of February, two thousand and sixty..." He explained with a blank stare.
"Damn..." Sturges gasped in the following silence. "Two hundred and thirty seven years old... Imagine the things you know that the rest of the world forgot" Sturges wondered in amazement, it seemed he found the uplifting ray as well.
"Imagine how shitty it seems to the time traveler." Reese grumbled, reminding him that he was still in a fowl mood.
"Gentlemen," Benjamin addressed standing up and walking to the door. "It has been a pleasure to tell our insignificant tale and to hear how Nate ran into the blue to save you but I think its time to call it a night, Shall we leave Nate to his own for whatever is left of the evening?" He said almost ushering them towards he door. They all unanimously followed him and he closed the door behind him leaving Nate alone for the night.
Once the door was shut he spoke again "I need to ask you all to never do that again." The ghoul growled in a sudden rage.
Shock and fear lead him to reach for his own weapon as they all stood frozen on Nate's porch by the seeming threat. They all looked to the ghoul to elaborate the budding threat.
"What do you mean?" Preston finally had to ask before anybody escalated this rather tinny issue, they all where to on edge to hand this reasonably.
"He saved you from raiders, fought a Deathclaw, and maybe just made a new god damn arch nemesis in a raider boss whose body you couldn't find all in one week. He watched his world burn and had his s-" He stopped himself before releasing one of those hidden secrets he wanted to know. "Leave him alone for now." The man huffed releasing his gun.
Preston almost didn't notice he was holding it until he released it.
"You think its going to break him?" He inquired with concern for his new found friend.
He had seen plenty of people broken over the years but Nate didn't strike him as the type, though Benjamin would know him better then himself and if he was concerned, he would respect it.
"I don't know... Look I trust you all enough to feel I can talk to you about all this, I trust a Minuteman. But not on Nate's front step."
They all slowly moved further into the Neighborhood until they where in the roundabout, he knew nobody would be over here save Marcy in her claimed home but she would be long asleep.
"So whats there to talk about Benjamin." Sturges asked to get things going.
"Just call me Ben, and Nate's not doing to good." He said glancing about into the darkness, a habit Preston guessed he did when he was nervous. "You've only ever seen him like he is but I know him better, even you all have to admit he scares you."
Despite not wanting to admit it, he was right, and they all had to agree something was off with the man.
"He's been through more then you could even dream of, I shouldn't be the one telling you this but his wife was killed in the vault. For him only a few days ago."
Now that was something Preston knew could break a man.
"And now he's here... It was hard my first few weeks, just being dropped into this world you all inhabit normally and I didn't fight raiders or monsters on my first day either..." He confessed in genuine concern. "He's slipping, I can see it, I just hope he can pull out of it but all this killing is just not what he needs, the war was already hard enough on him, on all of us, he broke a woman's arm for waking him up just out of fear, Just don't- Let him adjust. Talking about it doesn't help that, I know he wanted to tell you but just don't drill him for now." The ghoul half pleaded.
It was a reasonable request, and he'd seen how hard it could be to loose a spouse not even adding the other half of his life, it was the lease he could do.
"We understand, and I'll help in any way I can." He responded getting a weary smile in return.
"Thank you, I think I can trust you all." He said with a smile almost halting on Reese. "Now I really need to sleep, its been a long day, have a good evening you three." He said starting his walk and adding before out of earshot. "I believe We will be leaving in a few days but I know we will help in any ways we can until then" He finished strolling towards the lit homes.
Now that he was gone, it was time for their conversation.
"Reese," He said turning to face the medic in anger. "What the hell was all that in the house, You can hate a man all you want but if you ever show it again I will personally throw your ass into that river, Do I Make My Self Clear?" To see a Minuteman acting like that made him sick, it was things like this that lead them to this point.
"Yes sir..."
"I need more than that Reese, Why did you do it." He demanded still.
"I don't hate him Preston, Its just- I left the Mojave to get away from the insanity, I've told you all this before." Preston raised an eyebrow, silently insisting that he give more information.
"All the Raiders and the insane robots and Romans and the Immortal rulers and the walking dead men and wars. I came here for peace Preston, I found could even handle the Synths, but time travelers now, I'm to old for this. I just wanted some peace and I... I just let it all pile on him."
"I know Reese, but it isn't his fault." He responded resting a hand on his old friends shoulder, he knew what it was like to want peace.
"Fuck I made an ass of myself didn't I?" They both nodded and he gave a weary smile at the antics. "I'll apologize tomorrow morning." The explanation put him at ease and he believed him when he said he would apologize, but before he walked back to the men's house he left one last thing. "I've seen this kind of man before though, He's not the exact same but close enough. And they bring trouble with them, The kind that start wars... And ends them"
"Damn." Sturges whispered reminded him he was even there.
"And you," Preston barked making the lanky mechanic jump, "Don't ever pick fights with Reese again, I'm done with it. One more time and I'll have to think of consequences and I really don't feel like dealing with insubordination right now. So think on what to do with this place and how to get water before tomorrow and go to sleep before anymore trouble finds us."
OoOoOoO
He walked down the street and pondered a rather simple question, where would he sleep? He could always go to Nate's, even after the war he was sure he would always be welcome in the Howard home, but the thoughts on his mind felt wrong to think under his friends roof.
He decided to prolong his walk to think about what he had seen of Nate so far; He was helping people like always, it was his thing even in Anchorage, help the Privet carry his footlocker, help Chase plan a campaign for a city, help a few survivors fight off a hoard of raiders... it was what Nate was good at, maybe not what he loved but he was simply drawn to it by nature.
But something was wrong with him, it didn't add up. He was as close to normal as he could be on a regular day not adding the apocalypses to his plate and still going strong. Sure he had cracked in in his home a little today but him simply being able to stand up strait perplexed him. He was pushing off all his feelings and ignoring the tragedy, willing himself to accept that everything would be fine so he could keep walking.
Nora had once called him a few months after they had retired and explained how he was; screaming in his sleep, spacing off, abnormally aggressive towards mild threats and the nightmares, those scarred her the worst... The war took its tole on him and it left its mark like it had on so many others, he knew his friend had it, it wasn't that rare but of all the people who could have avoided PTSD, Nate was not one of them.
More battle would put even greater strain on his mind, but he knew he would never stop and leave his son and Ben would never ask him too. But attacking people who woke him up, falling back to war time, and what ever he seemed to listen too, that invisible thing he would speak to when he felt nobody was watching yes he had noticed, how could he... How would Nate even survive this.
He decided to leave his thoughts once his legs lead him across the rickety bridge an to the edge of the wild darkness, not wanting to brave those darkened woods and paths at night he simply turned around deciding to sleep at the yellow house across the street from Nate's. They would leave for the city in a few days and find the detective, then things would really start.
Thoroughly exhausted he found a side of the room far enough away from the sleeping Lee and Reese, How long had he been pacing, contently backtracking in thought he wondered. But regardless of the ache in his bones from the consent movement he didn't take a roll to sleep on, they had brought them for themselves not him after all. He unstrapped the heavy combat armor and let it fall to the ground and huddled in his musty corner finally allowing sleep to take him.
OoOoOoO
"So Sturges you think of the water issue?" Preston asked the tired looking man, he had gone to sleep far later then everybody else and even still Sturges was awake at a table drawing plans never sleeping, dark circles hung under his eyes and a beard was growing between his Mutton Chops.
"Yeah boss... We- It's done, a water purifier for the river." Sturges replied handing him a large plan.
It looked a complicated build, all manner of pipes and acronyms but from what he could tell the water flowed through multiple grated pipes that faced up river and flowed into a sanitizer at water level then into a collection tank. It had some hard to come by parts and needed power but they would worry about that later, for now it was a job well done.
"Good work, you never cease to amaze me, now go get some sleep alright, I don't feel like catching you when you pass out"
He didn't argue, simply walking back towards the Yellow house they had started calling the men's bunk.
He walked though the area on a morning sweep, got some of the last food, Pickled Tatos in a jar for breakfast and checked in with all the groups. Once he had finished he walked back towards the bunk but was halted by the Robotic butler Codsworth.
"Mister Garvey!" It called out.
"Yes?" He responded cautiously, robots where nice but something about them put him on edge.
"I have something for you, Mister Howard was up all night making making it, he seemed to believe exhaustion would be the only way he could sleep. He instructed me to give you it just before 'hitting the hay', As it where." The robot said releasing a messy pile of papers to him and floating back to Nate's yard.
Preston wondered what on earth Nate would have stayed up all night making for him, but of all the things this was the best he could hope for. He wondered if this was the kind of ancient knowledge any soldier would have known but it was just what he needed, a map and blueprints of Sanctuary's too be defenses. Drafts for defense of the Area, A wall, battlements, even some traps they could make.
The wall would only cover the back half of Sanctuary as they had a smaller retaining wall along the front and a fairly fast river as well, they would haul cars and bus's from Concord up as its base then Codsworth would weld metal to fill the gaps. A trench to break up hoards and spikes to go along, barbed wire and lights, a few towers to watch from at choice locations only a native would have known, it would take a few months but it would make this place a fortress, safe.
He would have to thank Nate for this once he woke up, but at the moment he just went and dropped them off at a sleeping Sturges for review and moved on to check the next group of woman.
He marched his way around the settlement assessing it for use, planting grounds would go behind the men's bunk in the large open field, whether they would tear out the useless, alien, metal structures filling a portion of it he didn't know yet. He imagined Nate's wall around the area and worked with the image, water pipes from Sturges's purifier to the crop and even a few Brahman would fit in the area they would designate for agriculture.
Besides that he simply made endless rounds and examined the woods around the neighborhood, most people had almost forgotten that the Deathclaw that roamed the area but he would never feel safe until it was dead. He could almost feel it lurking in the wood as irrational as it sounded, one of the many things that kept him up at night
Over the next few days they all put in the work, they built a guard post at the bridge out of old wood and sheet metal from the collapsed houses, patched the hole ridden roofs and planted seeds for Tatos. The tough, starchy plants would survive with little care in the harsh sun bake soil until they had more water and fertilizer but it would do for now.
He also made note of what Nate did with his time, an effort to help Ben when needed as well as simply getting to know the man more. He helped where he could, simple jobs building his reputation with his new neighbors. He built a dog kennel in his yard for the puppies he had found, he explained that they where still too young to train but would be ready in a month or two. He asked people to help him with the care and training, all of which he was quite knowledgeable, the promise of guard dogs swaying most to help him feed, walk and care for the small creatures while he was gone.
Preston found a small spring in the hills which Nate confirmed was two centuries old and Sturges found to be radiation free solving the water issue for the time being leaving them to only boil it. Nate said he could have told them if they had asked about water, which they hadn't reminding Preston of how much of an untapped resource they where squandering. An issue he would fix once they where back and Nate had adjusted more.
All was going well and Nate and Ben said they where ready to leave for a while, Preston brought it up with Benjamin to find a caravan to come too Sanctuary, he was given the promise a Stockton caravan would be there in less than two weeks.
And finally after five days of fixing Sanctuary the two men walked across the bridge towards Diamond city for whatever reason they had, promising to send merchants and stray settlers they deemed safe back. Preston felt less safe without the two war machines with him but it was only a few days, he had held it down almost alone for two years, he knew they would all be fine.
OoOoOoO
They held a brisk pace the whole walk, a military pace. Three miles an hour never resting in the familiar march across the ruined world. They moved down the road from Nate's home to Concord, the town now silenced and simply a graveyard for the week old bodies of the raiders. The only noise being birds flapping from the rotting, blotted, fowl corpses, leaving their pickings to escape the perceived threat of the newcomers.
Nate never took his eyes off the tunnel the Deathclaw had torn forth from as they crept across streets, a deadly focus on the point of a story Ben was furious about.
From Concord they followed the Massachusetts-2 for a few hours, Nate silently beholding the atomic wasteland they now hiked through. Burned cars and bodies to fill, people fleeing the cities as it seemed. Telephone lines hanging like vines in the rusted jungle it seemed every road had become, the ancient cracked pavement springing forth a mess of burned lifeless looking roots that seemed to hold no life in the day.
But he still remembered his first walk in the dark woods the day he left the vault, the trees that held some life to them would light up at night with their newfound luminescence. Bringing a small amount of beauty into the world with a promise that not everything was broken... Simply, new.
A few hours passed and he could see Lexington, the supposed base of the raiders who besieged the Minutemen not six days earlier. He could see faint light and smoke from the stacks that jutted forth from the ruined car factory that had kept the town relevant and healthy before the war, but the fact it was still operational did not put him at ease. What they where making was now a point he would need to find out.
There they stopped for a modest lunch on the hood of a burnout in silence. Nate examining his feet for blisters and Ben checked his pistol. None were forming though, from what he had seen so far he wouldn't question the quality of Vault-Tec gear again, the Pip-boy, boots and even the discarded jumpsuit had impressed him. They ate what they brought, simple add water and extra to drink while they bathed in the tension of Benjamin's making.
He fiddled with his rifle, then the Pip-Boy as Benjamin wandered just out of sight to relieve himself, intent on learning more about his new tool. It worked simply, basic tabs, nothing like the 2000 his father had but that was never the point of the later models. It couldn't give him satellite positioning or topographical info like the 2000 but it was better at giving him physical reports and he doubted any where still in the sky for a 2000 either.
It had scroll and zoom dials for the screen as well as a touch screen, a Geiger counter, connection cord and port, a few unknown dials and a few tabs. STAT, DATA, MAP, RADIO.
The stat showed his body, endless amounts of Info he only half understood, most where normal but it would tell him if that changed. The map was blank, the previous owner never downloaded any and it couldn't reach satellites to gain one, but once he did download a map of the area he would have endless amounts of pins and cartoonish icons to drop on it to remember everything. The notes allowed him to write lengthy messages, record vocally onto the hard drive or a Holotape, store photos, make folder of any of it and tie any info on the Pip-boy to any pin in the map tab. The final tab was the Radio, something he hadn't even thought of yet. To curious to think about if making noise was a bad idea he began to try and find a signal.
He turned up the volume and engaged the dial only to be met with static, the piercing noise filled the street and made Nate jump as he frantically turned it down to a reasonable volume. After a moment of rest to let his heart rate drop he began tuning for anything he could find, he started at the bottom areas of the bands and worked his way up.
He would pass a rough pour of noise from time to time, decayed signals from a hundred years ago most likely, a ranting man who spoke of his hunt for nails and teeth caused him great discomfort as well as leaving him more adverse to sleeping outside than before. He found one station that played classical music, symphonies and the like and he bookmarked it for later, a action he learned he could do just then, he even found one from DC.
"Hello East Coast, this is your host Three dog, the oldest, goldest, BOLDEST DJ and host on this Coast. Welcome back to Galaxy News Radio and, bigshocker, EVERYTHING'S STILL QUITE IN THE CAPITAL WASTELAND! NO RAIDER, NO SLAVERS, NOT EVEN AN ARSON." The elated personality jeered into the mic.
Nate was amazed he could even pickup a signal from DC, it was some four hundred miles away, whatever transmitter they where using it had to be strong, space age strong. He listened more and found himself liking this seasoned sounding man as he wove tales of hero's and his message of the good fight, something he aligned with strongly. A radio segment began to play of a man with his ghoul companion and their adventure reminding him deeply of the Silver Shroud.
"Alright kiddies, my time is almost up but I got one last story for you." He said changing tones to one more serious and wavering. "It seems, our ever withering friendship with the Brotherhood has just been cut." He said somberly.
Nate knew the groups name from the Survival guide but he skimmed over it, he wished he had read about the faction now if only to know what was going on in the world.
"My sources have finally been denied access to the citadel and I didn't even get some flowers in the mail, damn shame. It seems our buddies have... moved on, from helping us since our beloved Sarah, god rest her soul, passed and John left them in search of whatever the hell he wants in life. Don't hate, he's earned it. ANYWAYS, before they got thrown out they caught a glimpse past that big, alien covering style tarp they through up in eighty one to see a massive metal city almost floating, it seems they are up to something back there after all. De-creased patrols, IN-creased Training, MORE secrets AND FINALLY LEAVING OLD THREE DOG ALONE? Me thinks Maxon is gearing up for a campaign, against whom, well, I just can't say yet but I don't like it. That all folks THIS IS THREE DOG BOW WOW, your voice in, the grey."
Butcher Pete filled the speakers and Nate bookmarked the signal and moved on wondering about what he had just heard but deciding he wouldn't ever go to the capital again, he would probably never meet them and it was hardly his business. He looked a little further but stopped at 102.7 once he saw Ben coming back, he would leave the last few channels for later.
How long had he been gone?, it was almost three at that moment, Nate never checked the start time.
"Wher've you been? its been... Fuck, a while." Nate half interrogated, his friends absence, while unmissed, was still strange.
"I scouted ahead, We're skipping Washington and saying with the M-2 until Boston... Pack of Ghouls along the other road." He explained packing his gear, Nate knew something was off but before he could ask they where on the way again in silence.
So that was the routine, He beheld the world with a shallow mortification and Benjamin watched his reaction. As rarely as he said anything on the walk it was only ever survival tips and random knowledge as if trying to prove to him he knew anything about the world, Something which Nate never doubted. So he just let him talk knowing it helped his friend release stress.
And of course he wondered how things had changed, how he would have to change, how the world would make him change, Morality was something that could never bend, The Nora would never allow it. But still he wondered what he would see of humanity, how he would feel about it, if he and his family would ever fit in with them.
Boston to sanctuary was a tough walk, more than most could ever hope to do in a day but he was a soldier, it was nothing new. They moved along and the stiff, precise leg moments came naturally with a sense of comfort in it, his mind going to rest in the routine, just like training, march until you got there, nothing was ever more simple. He could march endlessly even with the gear, he would watch every angle for attack and he would never rest for anything other than food, it was simple. Familiar.
The most shocking thing he found on the trek was how little actually was seen, Ben explained not many people ever moved outside their respective settlements anymore, traders being one of the rare exceptions. Most animals stayed in the vast, un-rediscovered reigns of the world making it deadly to venture into the woods but it wasn't rare to be attacked on the road by the common mutated beast either.
He told him he heard it was different a decade ago, the Minuteman kept the roads safe and held back raiders like the ones at Lexington, but ever since they fell apart it became to risky for the average man to just walk the roads. Soon they could see the skyline as the sun began to set, his heart dropped to see his city. One of the most advanced in the country, nothing more than a uneven wreck now.
The first thing he thought was some buildings where missing, then he realized they had crumbled a century ago. Some had fallen and now leaned against the less common one that still stood strong, just a waiting game against gravity of how long it could hold itself and its parasitic sibling. The southern side was the worst, the blast originated from that way so Brookline and Newton took the brunt of the force, the ever so scarce building still standing out that way where nothing but naked steel foundation, it looked like a boneyard.
All this simultaneously mixed with the massive systemic activity the world had endured, possibly from the atomic blasts, left the whole city unstable. Some sections where tilted on a new hill or raised higher than a part that had fallen below sea level and turned to a swamp creating a broken, uneven look of towers resting on a board of plateau, cliffs and gorges.
The suburbs and smaller surrounding towns where no better, worse even now that he looked harder. Some still stood in the husk of what looked like an ancient fire that consumed most of Somerville and Waltham leaving them concrete ruins that only stopped at the river, yet Cambridge seemed untouched as well.
Most of the freeways, overpasses and infrastructure the city had fallen like the sky and he was sure whole neighborhoods had been crushed in an instant under the enormous concrete blocks that where missing while some still stood. Nearly all the Bridges over the Charles river where also gone as far as he could see, the river seemed filthy and oozing even from that far away.
He imagined the atomic fire hitting the the city like a wave, destroying everything it touched before finally crashing against the skyscrapers like rocks on the shore, saving whatever was left.
Soon they reached the outskirts of the silent city and Ben explained moving through the city was never a good plan, collapsed roads and buildings making it a maze of vantage points and traps, assuming still you didn't run into any of the less friendly natives. So he lead him around the outskirts until they found the railway and with it a small railway bridge they used to cross the rancid river.
They then followed the river east, past Boston University along the docks, the further they got in the more life Nate saw. A boat filled with fishermen floated lazily along the river and they cautiously passed some intimidating arms dealers, moving off to the right and into a house to let them pass as Ben told him it was done.
Finally he knew they where close to Fenway Park and the next street would lead to it, less then a mile. He recalled long walks along these docks with his wife, How she would make him go out for a show and a meal in one of the beloved city restaurants in an effort to get to know their new home. It all felt hollow now, the only thing he felt in the ruins was the weight of he rings on his fingers.
"Eh... What that Noise?" Called an unfamiliar voice.
"STUPID HUMANS WANT TO FIGHT." Screamed a gravelly, enraged being down the street. "YOU DIE NOW!"
He scanned in a panic looking for the source of the voice, and there it was. On the other side of the street they now needed to go down, along the waterline as well where the larges, strongest, oddest looking humans he had ever seen. He could only guess they where mutants, something struck him about them though, he knew they didn't identify as human by their taunt, and there skin was... yellow.
He suddenly recalled the Pages from the Survival guide.
Supermutants... What can I say about the foul tempered, child minded, and heavily armed monsters that plague the Capital Wasteland...
I myself have ended the pitiful life of hundreds of these monster who attack the average man simply for breathing, they seem to have a natural predisposition to hate and attempt to capture or kill any unmutated human they come across leaving you with only the to simplest options anything living can choose between, Kill or Run.
Being Yellow on the East coast and Green on the West they are mountains of grotesque muscle standing at roughly eight feet tall. While it is not known why, many of the remaining mutants on the west coast are reasonable to some extent and even intelligent like my dear friend Fawkes, a ineradicable, rare, intelligent, yellow skinned mutant. The odds of meeting one are beyond low here in the capital though, If yellow skinned draw you weapon. Do not worry yourself though, if it is intelligent it will let you know and maybe even forgive you, but the risk us to great to assume.
They are abnormally strong to a superhuman extent, a measurement I stumbled across put them on the Vault-Tec S.P.E.C.I.A.L scale at 18-26 for the average soldier making them more than twice as strong as the maximum human aptitude. And yet most of the Super Mutants on the east coast are mentally insane leaving them no smarter then a five year old on a tantrum, use this to your advantage.
Rarely they also have the aptitude to mutate in the process of being created, a Super mutant can at some rare times become a Super Mutant Behemoth growing to thirty feet tall and and unknown limit of strength. Avoid this nightmare at all costs
If capture it would be best to simple kill yourself if no escape is possible, your fate will either be; being cooked alive for their ravenous hunger for any type of meat they come across, or, they will attempt to turn you into one of them, a fate worse then death. I can not elaborate on this processes as it has been made confidential by the Brotherhood, but they call them Frankenstein's for a reason.
Strengths: (Strength)(Damage resistant and increased healing)(Radiation Immune)(Mutation Rampant)
Weaknesses: (Slow)(Stupid)(Pack mentality with limited free thinking ability)
-John Ronas
"NATE FUCKING RUN FOR IT" Ben screamed grabbing him by the collar and rushing down the street towards towards the stadium.
His legs finally came back to life and his mind broke free of what he now only realized was shear terror as they barreled down the streets of Boston with the massive hoard on their tails. Bullets whipped passed as he toppled over a car and drew his rifle, he poked his head to a window and saw they where not stopping the charge. He fired and it hit one in the neck but to his terror and the mutants anger it hardly did anything being such a low caliber shot.
"NATE RUN DAMN YOU!" Ben screamed again pulling him from his cover and back to the run.
As they crossed another street, almost to the park, when he caught sight of another group of the monster and they too joined the chase, it seemed they had some of the hounds he had read about as well, they gave off a haunting howl and gave chase faster than their masters could keeping on their heels. Their screams and taunts where drowned out over the sound of gunfire as their blind retreat lead them past a Slocum Joe's, they where almost to the stadium.
"I SEE A GUARD POST NATE, WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT" Ben Cried, it almost sounded like he was exhilarated like he always was in a battle, it almost made him laugh. It felt good to feel the adrenaline again, the moral toil of battle and the delicate strings of ones life being tested yet again, he loved it.
I also worked with a mix of actual and in game Boston and had to add some of the other city surrounding besides just Cambridge.
