Rescue

They left the sound of the troggs, scrabbling to get into the tunnels behind them, slowly making their way with only the light from Ferris' torch to guide them.

The tunnels were part of an old sewer system that ran under the majority of the Pitt. Most of it had been blocked off over the years, as parts collapsed, the supports failing to allow tons of concrete and steel and brick to crash down into the tunnels. Despite their lack of use, there was still a fair volume of stagnant water gathering in the darkness, collecting in pools, and shallow streams. It was too hazardous to drink; like almost all water sources that survived post war, they were mildly radioactive.

Ferris and Sid avoided the water as they crept through the darkness. Neither spoke. Sound echoed through the tunnels, coming back to them oddly distorted. Several times they thought they heard the sound of something with them, stalking them in the darkness. But nothing came at them. Chances were, whatever it was, shied from the beam of light.

'"Maybe it's an alligator," Sid murmured.

"What?"

"You know, back in the day, there was always talk about alligators in the sewers, eating maintenance folk. Apparently, people used to flush them down the toilet when they got too big to handle, and they ended up down here, growing and feeding off rats."

Ferris grunted. "That's great, Sid. Think up another adventure for you to have. Preferably not when I'm involved."

"I'm just saying. Could be an alligator."

"But it's not."

I hope, Ferris thought.

The sewer tunnel sloped downwards, steeply, forcing them to move to the sides to make their way down the slithery surface. Encrusted slime slicked their backs as they pressed against the wall. The smell, of rotting meat and fungal growths, was disgusting.

Eventually, the tunnel levelled out again. Ten metres ahead, they came to a door, recessed into the side of the tunnel. It was a heavy metal hatch, the metal pitted with rust and mold.

"Is this the way?" Ferris asked, turning to look at Sid.

There was a pensive expression on Sid's face. He shrugged. "I don't know."

"What do you mean, I don't know? It was your idea to come down here in the first place. There's a way out down here, you said. I though that meant you knew the way!"

"Well, it's not like I've been down here before. And I said there might be a way out down here, thank you very much."

"Fantastic. Alright, let's try it. Can't be any worse than the steel yard, can it?"

Sid grinned. "Famous last words."

"Just shut up."

The grin widened, and he swore he heard a low chuckle.

Ferris gripped the door lock, and twisted. It resisted at first; the lock hadn't been in use for a long time, and had rusted almost solid. He heaved hard. The lever shifted suddenly, and the door swung open. There was a maintenance corridor on the other side. Pipes lined the walls and ceiling, conduits that contained power cables and gas and water supplies once, in the past.

The corridor connected two separate sewer lines, leading them down another level before terminating in another door. This one however was wide open, the door lying twisted and broken on the floor on the other side of the sewer tunnel. The inside of the corridor was blackened and scorched, the door having been blown off.

"Gas explosion?" Sid asked.

Ferris crouched down, examining the door. "Maybe. There's no sign of any explosive used on it. My guess, the gas line leaked, and ignited. The overpressure blew the door off."

"Nothing to do with us, though, right?"

"No. Explosion like this, you'd probably feel it up on the surface."

"That's a relief. Hey, at least it's not the work of some sewer alligator, eh?"

Ferris held up his hand. He pointed his torch down one end of the tunnel. "Wait. You hear that?"

Sid glanced around nervously. He brought his shotgun up. "Come on, mate. I was only kidding about the alligator. It's not real, just a my-"

"Will you shut up about the damn alligator." Ferris said, cutting across him. "It's not that. Sounds like, wind."

They glanced at each, and started walking, following the direction of the noise. A few times they were forced to backtrack after taking the wrong route at a junction, ending up at a blocked tunnel, or a dead end. The sound was difficult to trace, the tunnels bouncing it around too much to easily pin point.

Eventually though, it started to get louder. There was more light in the tunnels now, so much so that Ferris turned his torch off, the light making it an unnecessary aid. The light was natural daylight too, not artificial.

The noise became a discernible whistling sound, wind blowing across the open mouth of a pipe. The tunnel took them up another slope, before finally levelling out and turning at a junction. It terminated suddenly at an opening into clear air.

"Well, that wasn't expected," Sid said, shuffling to the edge and looking down. He moved back quickly, a queasy look on his face. "Still, got us to where we wanted to go though, eh?"

"Oh absolutely. Problem is, how're we supposed to get up to it?"

"We'll find a way. There's got to be some way of getting up to there."

"Not by swimming, that's for sure."

The sewer tunnel had brought them out from underneath the Pitt, right to the bridge across the river that they'd crossed when they'd first arrived. Once, the outlet had been almost level with the river, chugging out an almost constant stream of sewage. But that had been centuries ago. When the city was still a busy population centre. When the river wasn't radioactive. When the river was a few metres below the outlet, instead of over forty metres.

The bridge was ten metres above them, to the left of the pipe. Support girders angled down from the span, plunging into the concrete sides. Ferris glanced along towards the bridge. There was a ledge below the mouth of the outlet, leading right across to one of the girders. His eyes followed the girder, right up to the bridge, where there was a walkway underneath, and stairs that led up to the topside.

"I think I can see a way up."

Sid rejoined him. "You must be joking."

"You want to go back to the Pitt, maybe explain how we got out collars off without blowing our heads off? I thought you wanted to escape? Still got a lot of the world to see."

"Shut up," Sid growled. He grimaced and stepped back, then let out a long sigh. A sudden grin split his mouth. "This is mad, you know? But, it's another adventure."

"Thought you might see it that way."

Ferris slung his rifle over his shoulder out of the way. Carefully, he made his way out onto the ledge. A sudden gust of wind tugged at him. He gripped the side of the outlet hard, holding on for dear life until the wind dropped again. Slowly, he started to inch across to the girder.

Behind him, Sid swung out onto the ledge. He was confident at first, sidling along the ledge with far more ease than Ferris had. The wind picked up again. Sid yelped as he felt it pull at him, attempting to whisk him off the ledge to a deep plunge into muddy waters. He flattened against the wall.

"Okay, I take it back. Can we go ask the Raiders to pretty please let us go?"

"Keep going."

"You've no heart," Sid grumbled.

It was hard keeping the fear from his voice, but Ferris felt it. Any moment, he expected his feet to lose their footing. Then that would be it. Sonora would be lost to a short life of slavery.

Don't be stupid, he told himself. The others have probably rescued her by now. They don't need him to do it. They were probably out looking for him now, trying to work out where he'd gone. Lucas had known he was going to Paradise Falls. But after that, his trail would probably have gone cold. Only Leroy had know where he was sending Ferris, and it was doubtful he'd stayed in Paradise Falls.

Besides, even if they did try to come get him, it'd take an army to assault this place.

Suddenly his groping hand slapped down on rough metal. The girder, he'd reached it. He let out a sigh of relief, and hauled himself up. He waited for Sid to catch him up, then held out a hand to haul him up. He companion took the hand gratefully.

They started climbing.

The girder was brown with rust, the protective coating of red paint that had covered the metal had peeled back and flaked off in massive patches, leaving the iron with no protection from the elements. The surface felt rough under their hands, but at least it gave them a good grip.

One day, the bridge supports would all rust through, and, unable to take the weight of the bridge, it would collapse, tumbling into the now-thin sliver of water below. It was unlikely that the Raiders would ever make use of any preventative methods to stop that eventuality. They were too set on making use of whatever scrap metal lay in the city. For what purpose, Ferris had no idea, despite two weeks of hard graft down in the mill. It was worrying enough that Raiders could organise themselves, let alone to what end. For a horrible moment, he had the terrifying thought of an army of well-armed and armoured Raiders invading the Wastelands, swooping down like swarm of locusts to rape and pillage the few towns and homesteads there were. Bastions like Rivet City and Tenpenny tower would be the only few to hold off against a storm like that; they were heavily defended. But even they would fall to an army, their supply routes cut off until their defenders collapsed from hunger. It was not a pleasant thought.

His foot slipped.

All thought of what the Raiders were up to left him. He scrambled for a good grip on the girder. With slow inevitability, he felt himself falling as the weight of his body, now unbalanced, followed his foot. Suddenly he was dangling out in mid-air. There were no handholds to clutch at. The pitted, rusted surface of the girder tore his hands as he tried to find something to arrest his fall.

A hand clamped around his wrist. "Gotcha, mate."

Sid pulled him up halfway. He swung his legs back onto the girder, and lay there panting in relief.

"Still think this was a good idea?" Sid asked. He was lying further up on the girder. "Thought you were a gonner for a second."

"Me too. And no, I don't. But I don't really want to try going back down."

"True."

Ferris opened his eyes. They were two thirds of the way up to the bridge now. A little bit more, and they'd be at the walkway, then safely on the bridge proper. He refrained from looking down, having gained a new and very sudden appreciation for height.

"Come on, not far now." Sid panted. He started crawling again.

Reluctantly, Ferris followed. He focused his eyes on the surface of the girder, and refused to take any notice of the ridiculously long drop on either side. It was more interesting to study the rust and the flecks of paint that still remained, treating each one as a work of art to be savoured.

Finally, they reached the walkway. Both companions sat down on the mesh walkway, leaning against the railings. Ferris had the shakes, his limbs trembling as the excess adrenaline faded from his system.

"I, am never, doing that, again. Ever," he said.

Sid raised one arm, and let it flop back to his lap. "I second that. Fight against unassailable odds? No problem. Journey across DC, exploring unstable ruins and running from super mutants? Sure. But climb across a narrow beam, high above a radioactive torrent? Piss off am I ever doing that again."

"Avoid bridges in the future?"

"Damn right."

"Sid, thanks for saving me."

"No problem, mate. Least I could do. Doubt I'd have gotten out of this place without your help."

Ferris snorted. "Maybe. Except you'd probably be in charge of the place by the end of the month, the way you had the Raiders damn near eating out of your hands."

"You mean I've gone to the trouble of escaping when I could've been in charge?" He slapped his face. "Oh, the shame! Power, wealth and ties to someplace, and I leave all that behind. Bugger. Shall we get to the train tunnels? I've got a powerful urge to go to Megaton to drown my nonexistent sorrows in lots of alcohol."

Ferris chuckled. "Let's go then."

They took the stairs up to the surface of the bridge. They emerged a quarter of the way along, near the base of one of the several guard posts along the span, fixed high up on the support towers. The bridge looked no different to when they'd passed across it, still strewn with the wrecks of ancient cars and trucks. Still quiet except for the low whistle of wind through the steel cables, and the distant sound of the mill, in full production. If the Raiders had noticed their escape, there was no sign of it yet.

For a moment, he thought he heard the sudden burst of gunfire. Ferris listened hard, but couldn't hear anything, and dismissed it.

He looked up at the guard post, and cursed. There was the barrel of a sniper rifle poking out over the edge of the platform. The Raiders still had a lookout posted. If they started making their way across the bridge now, the lookout would see them, and they'd be an easy target for a sniper's bullet.

Sid looked at him questioningly.

"Lookout."

"Bugger. How're we going to get past him?"

"We're not. Wait here."

There were ladder rungs bolted to the side of the tower, leading up to the guard post. Ferris started climbing, pulling himself up silently. The post was thirty metres up. Halfway, he made the mistake of looking down. His hands clamped around the rungs as a sudden wave of dizziness hit him. The surface of the bridge looked so far away. He could see Sid's upturned face looking up at him. He looked tiny.

"Get a grip of yourself, Ferris, for fuck's sake." He growled.

He took a deep breath, and continued climbing.

The platform was constructed from scaffolding and metal sheets, and had been bolted to the support tower. It looked and felt flimsy. The Raider was sitting on a chair at the edge of the platform, the sniper rifle on his lap, the barrel resting on the railing around the platform. He was sleeping.

Ferris' knife slid cleanly into his throat. The Raider let out a gurgle, and died, limbs twitching. The sniper rifle slipped off his lap and clattered to the sheet floor.

Leaving the body of the Raider, Ferris picked up the rifle, and brought the scope to his eye. There were two other lookout posts on the bridge.

He pulled the trigger. The rifle boomed. One hundred metres away, the Raider on the next post spasmed as the bullet tore through him. His body tumbled over the railing of his post and fell to the bridge surface, landing on top of a wrecked car.

Ferris shifted his aim. He watched the Raider look around, trying to find the source of the first shot. He clutched his gun nervously. The rifle boomed again. Another corpse tumbled off the platform.

Ferris surveyed the bridge for a few more minutes, looking for signs of other posts. Satisfied, he dropped the rifle, and climbed back down the side of the tower. This time, he kept his gaze firmly fixed on the rungs, and didn't look down until his left foot touched the surface of the bridge.

"Done?" Sid asked.

Ferris nodded. "Should be clear now."

"Oh, good. I get a bullet in the back though, and I'm suing."

The two companions carried on. They carried their weapons at the ready. The guard posts might be clear, but there was no telling if there were other patrols, or more Raiders returning with slaves. It was slow going across the bridge; a few times they had to climb over car wrecks, and once an overturned bus, blocking the bridge.

When they reached the first of the two guards, lying face down on the roof of a car, Sid paused, and grimaced. The bullet had torn through the Raider's chest, just below his sternum.

"Fuck me, you're a good shot."

Several minutes later, they passed the corpse of the other Raider. His foot must have caught in a tangle of cabling as he fell, and the Raider was now dangling, legs splayed, a few metres from the surface of the bridge.

"Fuck me sideways," Sid muttered.

"I'd rather not." Ferris suppressed a grin at the compliment.

They reached the end of the bridge, and picked up their pace. The railway tunnel out of the Pitt wasn't far away now. There was a passage that led from the end of the bridge, winding its way between two sheer rock faces. On the other side was what was left of the old Pittsburgh train yard. There were freight carriages parked on the rails there, that led down to the single remaining tunnel that made its way through the mountains.

Ferris heard the gunfire again. It was louder and more distinct now. And was coming from the way out.

"You've got to be kidding me," Ferris groaned. He glanced at Sid. The two of them advanced, their weapons held at the ready.

There was a fire fight at the train yard.

Fifteen Raiders were taking cover around and on the freight carriages. They were shooting at a small group of people sheltering in the remains of the platform. Ferris caught sight of a brown duster.

"Regulators?" He uttered.

"What?"

"On the platform. They're Regulators."

"So, your friends then?"

Ferris nodded. "We've got to help them."

Suddenly one of the Regulators popped up out of cover and fired a burst from her SMG. The bullets struck a Raider in the chest, dropped him. She dived back into cover as the now dead Raider's pals let loose a fusillade. The bullets peppered her cover, sending up a lethal cloud of concrete chips.

"Those are pretty big odds, you know."

Ferris looked at him.

"What the hell. They won't know what hit them."

They darted across the open ground to the nearest carriage. None of the Raiders saw them; they were too focused on the Regulators. Ferris gestured at Sid. He nodded in agreement at the silent order, glanced down the length of the carriage, then ran across to the next one. He disappeared behind it.

Ferris brought up his borrowed rifle. The Chinese assault rifle was different to his old one. The stock was bare-bones, and it felt bulkier, but it worked. For a moment, he wondered whether his old rifle and his pistol were still lying under the floorboards of that shack, or if some wasteland explorer had discovered them. He shook off the thought, and stepped out of cover.

There were three Raiders at the other end of the carriage. Two were taking cover behind a pile of sandbags, whilst the third used the carriage itself.

He fired the rifle on full auto. The Raiders hadn't expected to be ambushed from behind. There was no way the Regulators could have circled round them; there was no cover except the platform, and the carriages and sandbags they occupied. All three jerked as the bullets struck in a spray of crimson. Ferris dived back behind the carriage. He heard a boom as Sid fired his combat shotgun, followed by a yelp cut short.

"We're being flanked!" The cry came from above, on the catwalk above the carriages. Another burst from Ferris' rifle took the Raider in the legs.

Realising that someone had come to their aid, the Regulators renewed their attack on the now disorientated Raiders. It didn't take long.

"Come out where we can see you!" One of the Regulators shouted.

"That you, Lucas?" Ferris called. He strode out, carrying his assault rifle languidly in one hand.

"Motherfucker. Ferris?"

The five Regulators approached. They were all grinning. Lucas walked in the middle, cradling his rifle, and beside him was Katrina. He recognised the other three: Greg, Maxine and Leonard. Katrina broke into a run and flung herself at Ferris. Her arms clamped around his neck. He thought he heard a whimper.

"I thought you guys were on patrol at the border?" Ferris asked once Katrina's grip loosened. She pulled away to stand next to him, her cheeks flushed.

"We were," Leonard said. "Saw Katrina here following a supply convoy heading out of the city. She filled us in about Sonora. Tracked the convoy the rest of the way, and came back here to get help."

"How'd you find out about me?"

Lucas grinned. "Well, that would be my doing. When you didn't come back from Paradise Falls I decided to pay them a visit. Turns out Penelope's quite forthcoming when you know how to ask the questions. Got back to Megaton when these four arrived, so we thought we'd mount a rescue. Looks like we didn't need to, though."

"Still, I appreciate it."

"Freeze!" Maxine suddenly yelled. The red head yanked out her magnum, aiming it at the end of one of the carriages. "Fucking get out here, now. Slowly."

Sid complied, stepping out into sight. He held up his shotgun over his head. "This slow enough for you?"

"Hold your fire!" Ferris pushed Maxine's gun up, spoiling her aim. "He's with me," he added at the annoyed look on her face.

"Name's Sid. Can I put my arms down now?" He glanced uncomfortably at the five guns that were now suddenly aimed in his direction.

Ferris nodded.

"Cheers. Nice to meet you all." He gave Maxine the once over, and grinned. "Especially you."

"Charmed." She snorted, holstering her revolver.

Ferris turned to Katrina. "Where's Sonora?"

"We tracked the convoy to Cincinnati. They took her to farmland there, with a big house in the middle of it all. Belongs to some big landowner down there. And Ferris? Leroy was with them."

"Good," Ferris growled. His hands curled into fists. "I think that bastard's lived long enough. Sid, up for another adventure?"

"Is this one going to involve more walking above long drops?"

"No, but there'll probably be a big shootout."

Sid grinned. "Count me in. Always wanted to go to Cincinnati anyway."


A/N: Review please!