Sorry it's been so long, guys. I went on vacation to Israel and Europe. To be honest, I expected I still would have some time to write, but the first few days were insane with an 11 hour time difference. Until January 9th, updates will be less frequent, but afterwards, they should go back to being daily/every other day. I assure you, this series is not dead. :)
Part 8 - Damage Control
The dust storm still raged outside the cave, giving a faint background to the silent travelers, all looking at the former vault dweller.
"What… What are you doing here?" Amata asked, starring at Donnovan as though he was a ghost.
"I was gonna ask you the same thing." Donnovan said.
"I kept thinking about your stories… You leaving the Vault… Wandering… Adventure…" she stated.
"So you decided to head west on your own?" Donnovan asked.
"No… no. Well, kind of…" Amata answered, the color in her face slowly coming back. "I started out on my own. Had to sneak out while my dad was in the medical bay. I found this caravan that was going west. Crimson Caravan, or something."
Olin and Donnovan exchanged worried glances.
"So I joined up with them. They decided to take a shortcut through here…"
"What happened to them?" Olin asked.
"Dead… They're all dead." Amata said. "I've been here for…" She looked at her pip-boy. "Four days now. I don't think they could survive that long out in that dust… With that thing…"
"Have you seen it? Do you know what it looks like?" Donnovan asked.
"All I saw were jaws… Two huge black jaws… Ripped a Brahmin in half right in front of me… Took the caravan leader's head off." Amata trailed away.
There was another painful groan from over in the corner. McGraw was propped up against the wall, gripping his puncture wound. He turned and coughed violently several times, leaving blood spatters on the ground along with traces of a strange black substance.
"We got hit, too." Morrill stated, walking up to them. "We're missing three of ours."
"Four." Donnovan corrected him. "Vargas."
"Right…" Morrill shrugged awkwardly.
Hours passed, as the group milled around the cave, unsure of what to do. Donnovan was talking to Amata, after having given her some of the expedition's food.
"I still can't believe you guys came this way. I figured-" Amata was saying, when there was a loud clang at the small entrance to the cave.
"Argh!" A deep voice that Donnovan recognized as belonging to Rockfowl, grunted. There was a rush of movement outside. "Get off of me, you-" his voice faded slightly, then the extremely loud sound of a double-barrel shotgun firing both barrels could be heard, followed by a huge roar and a soft thud.
"Hey! HELP!" Rockfowl's voice called, growing louder. Lucy, who had her head in her knees, leapt to her feet and ran to the cave entrance, Morrill and Donnovan sprinted after her.
Holding his hands in front of him against the wind, a helmetless Rockfowl, bruised and bleeding, appeared in the entrance of the cave.
"Get in!" Lucy yelled. As Rockfowl took two steps in, he suddenly tripped and fell, and slowly began to be dragged back into the storm. Lucy and Morrill grabbed him by the shoulders, attempting to haul him back, while Donnovan aimed his AK-47 between the two rescuers, letting single, controlled rounds off into the dust. Rockfowl feverishly worked at his boot as he, Morrill, and Lucy were slowly dragged forward. Finally, halfway out of the cave, he managed to unclasp his armored boot, and it disappeared into the dust. Morrill and Lucy stood Rockfowl to his feet, just as what looked to be a pincer surged into them out of the dust. The needle missed, but the blunt end hit Morrill across the chest, sending him sprawling backward. He, in turn, stumbled into the others, sending all of them rolling into the cave. Several seconds of silence passed, everyone breathing hard, when Lucy spoke up.
"Would you… power armor… fuck nuggets… get off of me?" Lucy grunted. Everyone untangled themselves from each other and straightened up.
"How the hell did you get back?" Morrill said, as Lucy checked Rockfowl's wounds.
"I remembered the rock. I just got thrown around like a ragdoll. And I ran my head into the stone jutting out near the entrance."
"What the fuck is that thing out there?" Donnovan asked.
"Pincers. That's all I really remember." Rockfowl winced as Lucy applied some disinfectant to his head.
"Pincers? Jaws?" Donnovan glanced backward at Amata.
"Can't be a scorpion, can it?" Olin suggested.
"One that big?"
"Why not, we've seen all kinds of sizes in the Ca-"
There was another fit of hacking coughs over in the corner, and McGraw leaned backwards against the cave wall.
"Rockfowl." He rasped, a small smile appearing on his worn out, sweat-covered face. "You made it back."
"Yeah." Rockfowl nodded as the group circled around McGraw.
"Good. Still missing a few, huh?" McGraw coughed.
"Yeah."
"Whatever that thing is… kill it for me." McGraw said, looking around at everyone.
"You're gonna help us do it." Morgan kneeled down next to him. "We're all gonna kill that bastard."
"No… No…" McGraw. "I'm pretty much… gone."
"You've still got time." Yearling said, checking McGraw's bandage. "If we can get to a settlement. We're almost out of antibiotics and pain killers."
"Let me guess. It was on one of the Brahmin that were taken?" Olin asked.
"Yes." Morgan answered.
"There's nothing else for it…" Morrill said. "We've got to move out, now."
"What?" Glade stood up, angrily. "What about Lyons and Dusk?"
"We can't wait any longer. Who knows where they are?" Morrill stated, though it was obvious he didn't like the idea any more than Glade.
"What, so we leave them?" Olin cocked an eyebrow.
"We have to go for it." Morrill said. "Otherwise we're just going to use up all of our food and die in the cave, instead of out in the storm by that… thing."
"But the others…" Morgan stated awkwardly.
"Who knows, but McGraw will die if we stay here any longer." Yearling spoke up in Morrill's defense. "If we leave now, there's still a chance we can get him to a settlement in time to save him."
There was another hacking cough as McGraw spat out more blood, then passed out against the wall. This finalized the decision in Donnovan's mind.
"We should go." Donnovan muttered. Glade looked at him angrily. "I know, I know. Look… I'm not giving up on them. Maybe we'll run into them. But we've got a heavily injured man, here."
"How about this..." Morrill offered. "We try to get the out of here. We go west until we climb out of this hellhole. We get McGraw stable, then go back in to check for Dusk and Lyons."
Everyone looked at each other. Glade looked unhappy, but he nodded nevertheless.
"There's nothing else we can do." Donnovan shrugged.
"Rockfowl…" McGraw groaned. He had woken up apparently. "My armor… Use it…"
"No… I-" Rockfowl began.
"I can't… You need it…" McGraw said.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes… Please. Someone.. help…" McGraw grunted. Yearling and Morgan began to remove his power armor pieces. Donnovan turned and walked over to Amata, who was standing back from the group, hugging herself slightly.
"You alright?" He asked her.
"I'm scared." She shivered.
"We're not gonna leave you, you know." Donnovan said.
"I… I don't wanna go back out there." Amata stated. She looked up at Donnovan, her eyes welling up with tears. She began to shiver harder. Donnovan pulled her into a hug.
"You have to. You'll die here." He said, holding her tightly.
"I'm scared…" She whispered.
"I am too." Donnovan admitted. "But we can't stay here. Come with us… You have no other choice other than to waste away in here."
It took a few minutes, but Amata finally stopped shivering.
"Okay… Okay, I'll come with you." She said.
"Here." Donnovan smiled warmly, handing her a spare set of traveling gear from one of the remaining Brahmin. As Amata walked over into a corner to put them on, Morrill and Rockfowl came over, carrying McGraw on a stretcher thrown together from spare metal scraps, sheets, and tent pole pieces. They carefully loaded him onto one of the Brahmin, and strapped him down. Not making much conversation, everyone took this as the signal to start packing up, and several minutes later, they all gathered at the entrance. They had fashioned a makeshift line, and tied it to each member of the expedition. This time, they had all agreed, the second their unseen menace decided to attack them again, they will all gather together immediately, and move as one. Donnovan volunteered to bring up the front, while a protectron was in the back.
"So… Every-" Donnovan began.
"Wait, wait!" Olin suddenly exclaimed. "I have an idea. Disconnect one of the other protectrons." Morgan did as commanded, and the robot shuffled over to Olin. She opened up the front panel, examined it, then turned to the group.
"Hand me… Hand me some fragmentation grenades." She said, busying herself on the robot.
Morgan dug into a pack, bringing up a handful of the explosives. She handed them to Olin, who immediately went to work. She then took some of the spare wiring and lights off of the ruined protectron on the cave floor, and added them to the robot she was working on. Several minutes later, she stood back, admiring her handiwork, then closed the robot's panel. She walked it over to the front of the group, and much to Donnovan's dismay, hooked it in front of him.
"What… What the hell?" Donnovan said, slightly uneasy.
"Power Armor's fragmentation resistant, right?" Olin said in an almost unconcerned tone.
"Yeah, 'frag' resistant," Donnovan stated, "not 'rape by thousands of metal shards from two feet away' resistant."
"Believe me, you'll be fine." Olin said.
"Says you, right in the middle of the group." Donnovan retorted as Olin hooked herself back up to the line. "You're not the one with a walking nailbomb in front of you."
"Greetings, fellow traveler." The protectron stated. "I am here to make sure your journey is safe and comfortable."
Donnovan shot Olin an extremely annoyed look, which sent Olin into a fit of giggles. Donnovan rolled his eyes, then put on his helmet.
"Lead on, you fucking deathtrap."
"Have a niiiiice, day." The protectron said politely and started forward, the group following behind him. They exited into the dust storm, and immediately headed west, Donnovan guiding the explosive-laden protectron in front of him. Every muscle in his body tensed each time he took a step, listening for something, anything different in the storm. The group trekked on, and no sooner had Donnovan slightly let his guard down, than his leg hit something solid. Almost tripping, he caught himself, standing upright. He lightly felt forward with his foot, and again, it tapped something metallic. Donnovan signaled for the person behind him to stop, and bent down. A strange piece of metal was jutting out of the sand. It for some reason looked oddly familiar to Donnovan, and he brushed some of the sand away from it, uncovering the edges of what seemed to be a design on the metal. He dug a bit deeper with his hands, and his heart leapt into his throat. It was a Brotherhood of steel design. It was a shoulder piece of power armor. Donnovan's stomach clenched slightly at the thought of finding Vargas' torn up body, but as he dug deeper, he found the right arm to still be attatched.
"Gather over here, near me!" Donnovan called out. The group slowly came together as Donnovan kept digging. "Give me a hand!" Morgan and Glade dropped to their knees and began to help. Eventually, they unearthed a chestplate, still connected to a helmet. Donnovan carefully removed it. The others gasped. They were looking at Dusk's face. Her eyes closed. Almost immediately, Morgan checked her pulse.
"She's alive." Morgan said, looking back at the others as Donnovan replaced Dusk's helmet.
"Thank God!" Glade stated.
"Here. Let's get her up. Help me put her on the other Brahmin." Donnovan said. They carefully lifted their companion, still clad in power armor and tied her down. The poor beast moaned under the weight.
"Hold up." Morgan said. She checked in several of the bags, lifted them to test their weight, then cut two loose.
"What was that?" Glade asked.
"A tent and two sets of combat armor." She said.
"Fuck. We can only go on caps for so long. We're going to need some trade goods when we get out of here." Donnovan said.
"IF we get out of here." Glade added.
"Calm down, man. It's alright." Donnovan put his hand on Glade's shoulder. "We found Dusk. Let's just try to get the hell out of here before McGraw fades. Dusk will be fine, believe me."
Glade nodded as the group went back into formation. Relieved at the discovery of Dusk, Donnovan nudged the protectron leading him forward, and it began to march, the group following. It had taken several steps before something flashed by Donnovan's vision. There was a resounding screech of metal as the robot was taken and the group was pulled forward.
"Did it take it!" Olin's voice could be heard.
"Yeah." Donnovan yelled. "Wh-"
*KA-BOOM*
A loud, heavy explosion resounded somewhere to their left, followed by a bloodcurdling screech.
"Got you, you son of a bitch!" Olin screamed in triumph. Another roar resounded as the group gathered together, back-to-back. The dust seemed to part slightly as a gigantic pincer, pockmarked and bleeding, came out of the dust, followed by the head of what had to be a massive scorpion. Its face was cut and mangled by Olin's trap, and it lashed out at the group, half-blind. It managed to connect the blunt end of a pincer with Glade sending him to the ground, the rest of the group falling with him, tied by their safety lines.
"Shit! Kill it! KILL IT!" Donnovan yelled.
"DIE, DIE, DIE!" Morgan screamed, in a voice eerily reminiscent of a raider as she let loose with her assault rifle, aiming at the scorpion's head. From the dust above, a massive stinger appeared and shot out at Morgan, who fell into the sand, dodging it by inches. It lashed again, this time barely clipping the corner of Donnovan's shoulder armor. It drew back a third time, and lashed out at Morgan again, who was still on her back in the sand. Out of nowhere, McGraw, appeared and threw himself in front of Morgan. The stinger penetrated his stomach and he coughed. There was a stunned silence. Even the scorpion seemed surprised.
The tail began to rise, slowly lifting McGraw up into the air. Grimacing with pain but determined, McGraw slashed as hard as he could with his massive combat knife at the tail, then jammed the blade deep into the open wound. The scorpion screeched again, and threw McGraw to the sand in front of it. As its head bent down over him and the pincers closed around him to block him in, a strange grin appeared on McGraw's face. He pulled the pins on a handful of fragmentation grenades, and immediately thrust his arm forward, jamming it, along with the explosives, into the scorpion's maw. Another massive explosion resounded, sending dust, shrapnel, and blood all through the air.
The massive scorpion shuddered one last time before giving a loud death rattle, and its claws fell into the sand, sending dust flying upwards. Almost immediately, the storm seemed to consume the casualties of the battle, closing in around the expedition as they stood in awe, trying to fully take it what they had just seen.
