Chapter 12 people.
Chapter Twelve
Through the burned tent, the young Regulator saw his processions were burned and destroyed. The HAM was ruined, and both cots were slashed.
There were the four bodies of Talon Mercenaries lying on the ground. An empty 10mm pistol lay in the center of them.
It looked like they had been executed.
He panted as he looked around. These things didn't mean anything to him. What he valued the most, was not there in the tent.
He then felt something under his foot, when he looked down, it was a teddy bear. It was badly burned on it's entire right side, and it's left arm was missing.
As he picked it up, he began to panic.
"MARIA!"
Lowell gasped as his eyes popped open. He groaned as he rubbed his eyes, and straightened up. He looked around, and saw that it was still dark, and everyone in the common house were still sleeping.
He got up as quietly as he could and stepped outside. Once out he pulled out a cigarette and immediately started coughing once it was lit.
"Agh, Damn it." He muttered as he exhaled the smoke.
He then looked up to the heavens and muttered, "Why you plaguing me with this shit again?"
Lowell sighed as he looked around the harbor. It was only half an hour to dawn and it was pretty dark out. Though he knew that it wasn't so, it looked as though he was completely alone.
All he could do was sigh and carry on.
After dawn had broke and he woke Mina, Lowell did some digging, and found that there was a job in at the House. Something involving man tracking.
It would take about five hours to reach the house, providing nothing would bother them.
Lowell gathered up ammunition and food, and the two set out towards the Empire State building.
As they made their way through the derelict buildings, they began getting nervous. The buildings were groaning very badly in this part of town, and reports came through in the harbor that some were even starting to collapse in places.
Lowell found himself glancing up occasionally as well as forward. Both of them kept their ears open, to any sudden noises. The two also had learned a long time ago to trust their animal instincts, if they heard something, anything, they'd be off the street in a heartbeat.
Fortunately nothing occurred and the two safely reached the House.
Once the gate was open, Lowell immediately went to the mayor, and main supervisor of the House, Ramirez.
This guy, though Lowell never understood why, had a serious problem with mercenaries and Regulators. He had denied Adam and his men both support and shelter a year ago when they needed it the most, even going as far as selling them out to Talon company.
Lowell wouldn't hesitate to shoot him if he even thought of selling him out.
The first person he met inside the House however, was not Ramirez, but someone else. He wore the traditional navy blue combat armor, as well as a black duster of a House guard. He had a black ball cap, and what looked like a long barreled semi-automatic and magazine fed shotgun dangling by a strap on his left side. Lowell noticed the word 'Saiga' engraved into the stock.
"How you doin'?" The guard asked as he shook Lowell's hand. "Fine." Was Morgan's response as he pulled up his dust mask. When the guard stared quizzically, Lowell scoffed humorously. "I tend to frighten small children less when this is up."
The guard chuckled, then said, "Name's Moss, I'm the marshal here, or the head of security." Lowell nodded and said who he was and what he was there for.
The emotional response Moss gave was somber. "Oh, yeah. Maybe you should leave the kid in the view." He said, staring at Mina. "Sure." Lowell said and sent Mina off with some caps for a meal.
"If you'll let me, that's a fine looking weapon you have there." Lowell said. "Thanks. This shotgun was used by the Russians before the war. By people called uh, 'special soldiers', I don't know." Moss said as he led the way.
"So may I ask what is going on here?" Lowell asked as he followed Moss into the elevator. Moss sighed and pressed the button for the fifth floor. "You want the quick and nice version or the detailed and ugly?" Moss asked as he leaned against the wall. "What do you mean?" Lowell asked, feeling the up and coming conversation will be disturbing.
"Well your going to see it anyway so the nice version." Moss began and cleared his throat. "Yesterday, one of our local 'girls' was found dead yesterday in a very heinous way, even in this life." Lowell could tell this was not a comfortable conversation for the marshal.
"By girls, you mean one of the local whores?" Moss then glared at him. "We don't use that term, and I would appreciate it if you didn't either." Lowell nodded, "I can accept that."
"Anyway, the bastard behind this was one of my men; Neil Jayner. Always been trouble, but never thought he would go this far." Moss continued as the elevator dinged and the two stepped out.
"What else can you tell me about Jayner? Anything I need to know about this guy?" Lowell asked as they rounded a corner. "The boys call him N-Jay; he's really good with a knife; and he's a hype." Moss said, sounding ashamed to say it. "Oh, yeah? What's his flavor?" Lowell asked. "Med-X. And here we are."
The room they arrived at had several guards standing in front of the door. "You left the body here?" Lowell asked as he stared at the guards. "We kept it preserved as best we could, and to help motivate anyone going after N-Jay."
Moss then turned to Lowell and asked somberly, "I figured you've seen your share of shit, but this will even startle you."
When Lowell stepped inside, he was certainly glad he did pull the mask up, cause the smell was overwhelming. The young girl, couldn't have been more than 19, was lying in a pool of blood. Her eyes were open and her entire naked body was pale.
She had been skinned. The pattern of the skinning was almost terrifying. From the lower neck, just shy of the elbow, and down to her waist. It was both embarrassing and shameful for the victim.
"Jesus. She's just a baby." Lowell muttered.
Moss sighed and rubbed his eyes. "She's was alive when we found her. Told us it was a guard."
"Didn't anyone hear her screaming? Being skinned is quite painful." Lowell asked as he knelt down and respectfully closed her eyes. "No. This is one of the floors not really used. We only found her due to weekly cleaning."
Just then there was shouting outside in the hallway. Someone seemed very angry.
"Moss, what's this?" The angry new arrival said as he stepped inside. It was Ramirez. "Are you just letting anyone in here now?" Moss seemed to become agitated at this point. "Ramirez this guy wants to go after Jayner. Wanted to give him some motivation doing it." Ramirez took one look at Lowell and shook his head. "Him? He's a Regulator. His only interest in this is the money."
"If you're saying you want our people handling this, then that's impossible. Jayner is no longer in the House, therefore no longer in our jurisdiction. We need someone outside to track this guy." Moss said as closed the distance between him and Ramirez. Apparently they've already had this conversation.
"Moss, I'm the supervisor of the House, so I make those decisions." Ramirez said, his tone rising. "And I'm head of security! And this is security related!" Moss shouted. The guards were either getting uncomfortable or irritated.
Lowell decided to end this. "Look, now that I know what to hunt for, I'll be sure to bring Jayner back, dead." He said as he stood up. "Now if you truly hated me that much, then you wouldn't have let me in, in the first place." Ramirez just glared at him. "Now you know full well that you need a good tracker, and I'm good at what I do."
Ramirez thought about it for a moment before he nodded. "Fine. You just bring that bastard back dead." He said and then left the room.
Moss sighed then looked back at Lowell. "I'm sorry about that. He's got a beef with you guys and none of us know why." Lowell scoffed. "I've dealt with worse pricks than him."
Moss then motioned for Lowell to follow him. "I tell you, there's going to be fighting sooner or later." Moss said as he rubbed his face. Lowell could tell this guy was stressed, and it wasn't hard to see why. "You're kiddin'. Fighting in the House?" Lowell asked, shocked. "Ramirez is getting more and more paranoid on who we let in and out. He's actually denying refugees sanctuary." Lowell stared at him.
"And I suppose your leading the opposition?" Lowell asked as they headed back to the elevator. "Right now, it's shouting matches, but it will soon turn violent. I know it."
"So if I were you guys, I'd stay out of the House for a while." Moss said as the entered the elevator.
Mina had taken up a seat at the bar. She was listening to a humorous story from May about a familiar rat coming to this very bar with a single cap and being fed scraps from the kitchen. The very funny thing about it was, the rat always took the cap from a friend of his, and he always knew that one was missing.
It was then Lowell stepped into the view and patted Mina on the shoulder. "Let's saddle up, kiddo."
Moss had told Lowell a favorite hangout of Jayner was the old Penn Metro station. Unfortunately that was also deep in Raider country. Jayner either was lucky enough to sneak by them or he brokered a deal with them.
Lowell didn't care though, more fingers.
Though what happened next, Lowell didn't expect.
At a T intersection several blocks from the House, lay several bodies. Some raiders, some wastelanders, and what looked like a single House guard.
"I don't suppose that's the end of our bounty?" Mina asked as she stared at the small mass of bodies. "Nah. We can… lie…"
The reason Lowell trailed off, was because one of the wastelanders, lying on his side, was breathing still. He then opened his eyes and stared at the bewildered two. "Help…me." He moaned weakly.
Mina nearly ran forward, only to have Lowell stop her. "That's a sniper's trick of the trade. Bait and shoot." Lowell said as he scanned the buildings.
Lowell then turned back to the injured man and placed a finger on his mouth. The wounded man nodded gently and began panting softly.
The Regulator began stripping his pack off along with his rifle and shotgun. "Mina, let's see that new long gun of yours." And she immediately handed it to him. "Now listen to me and listen good." Lowell said as he knelt down next to the child.
"If anything should happen to me, you take my things, and the caps, and you get back to the house as fast as you can. Now you should make back just before dark. Understand?" Lowell instructed her, and she nodded gently. "Good." Lowell whispered and ruffled her hair.
He then stood up and walked behind her towards a fire escape. He had to leap up to since it was a foot over his head. As the ancient metal creaked, Lowell grunted as he then moved up and into the building.
Once he was in the building he crawled on his belly towards an open window. There he stared out through a small hole just next to it.
A gray building, about 350 yards away, was the prime candidate for the sniper. Plus it was really the only building that was above two stories in this district. It had seven floors and was roughly still intact.
"Well, this sniper boy has talent." Lowell muttered.
Meanwhile 350 yards away on the seventh floor, in front of a window, in a chair, the sniper rested his barrel on the window sill. He knew there was someone else there, because he had seen his victim nod gently.
Just more targets.
When they didn't look like they were about to rush out and rescue the wastelander, he began scanning around the buildings by the group of bodies.
Though not worried, he didn't like the idea of taking chances.
When he still couldn't see anything his breathing began to quicken slightly. His scope darting in different directions.
Then he glanced at the building to the left and what he saw next, was a Lowell pointing a hunting rifle right at him. Then the flash from the top window. He felt the bullet rip through the scope, then through his eye and out the back of his head.
He didn't feel his body hit the floor though.
Mina heard the distant shot and though she didn't doubt Lowell's abilities, she still worried.
She was reassured when she heard his voice and looked up. "Care for your rifle back?" He asked as he leaned against the destroyed wall, a smile on his face.
If only she had the same enthusiasm.
Lowell noticed this and asked what was up. Mina glanced towards the wastelander. He was no longer moving.
He sighed and headed for the fire escape. "Let's grab Jayner, and the raider's fingers and get out of here."
So After Mina sliced off the fingers of the dead raiders, and Lowell fireman's carry of Jayner, the duo headed back to the House.
And that's chapter twelve. Sorry this took so long folks, didn't have the ability to publish for a while.
