Chapter 13: Seedy Underbelly = Gone
John stood, breathless, wondering what just happened.
Okay, so he comes out of nowhere, shoots me, I shoot back, hitting Burke twice, then I kick his ass and kill him, and now what happens?
"What the hell're you doing son? I thought you were one of the good guys!" The familiar voice of Sheriff Simms shouted out.
"I am! They shot me first!" John yelled back.
"Who's they?" Simms asked, shooting John a suspicious look while aiming his rifle at him.
"Burke and Moriarty! They shot me, hit my armor, and I killed... Well, maybe I killed Burke, Colin is... Well, he's dead as dead gets. Aren't they part of the 'seedy underbelly', or whatever, of Megaton?"
"Wait.. You killed Burke and Moriarty! You really are a good guy!" Said Lucas Simms, a big grin on his face, and he had lowered his rifle.
"Thought so... Wait... What is that?" John said, hearing a crack and fearing it was a gunshot.
"Shit! Moriarty's thugs are angry, let's go take'em out, son!" Lucas shouted out, running toward the door to the bar. John followed suite. The door opened to hell. Moriarty and Burke's thugs were going insane, shooting up the place. John could see various mercs fighting them. Luckily, there were no casualties so far. John aimed his magnums at a thug assaulting Gob, and pulled the trigger. The bar patrons were running out of the bar, and John could see a settler hit the ground, with an enlarging pool of red under and covering him.
John drew his two kukri, and slashed at a nearby thug, tearing through his shoulder. John turned to his right to late to see a thug running at him with a switchblade. The blade went through a chink in John's armor, and John's mouth opened wide in pain and horror. Cade turned to see John, and unloaded a clip of pistol rounds into the thug, who hit the ground in a pool of his own blood. John collapsed on his side, and attempted to pull the knife out of his stomach. He succeeded, but slipped into unconsciousness.
John awoke in a very bright area, with skies of blue. He could see all of his deceased friends, Jonas, Gage, and one big surprise. His mother. She was shorter than John, and had dark brunette hair. She was smiling, and tears were in her eyes.
"Am I... Am I dead?" John asked himself.
"Yes... And no."
"Da- Stupid double answers." John said, smiling at the chance to finally meet his mother.
"Sorry, but this special moment's over. You ain't dead yet." Gage said as he walked up to John and punched him in the face.
John awoke with a gasp, and found himself in a familiar location: Doc Church's "hospittle".
"Dammit, this always happens to me.. Can't I just get a stim and leave?" John asked Church, who was at his desk in the other room.
"Internal wounds, you gotta stay here for the night. Get some shut-eye, and then you can leave. Now shut up, I have to work."
John fell asleep to his usual odd dreams, dragons kicking Super Mutants in the face and whatnot, and didn't wake up again.
6 HOURS LATER
John awoke, and through a hole in the ceiling he could tell it was dawn.
Oh damn... My gut feels like it's on fire... Better get out of here.
John sat up, and got off of the improvised hospital bed. His gut felt like it was on grabbed a stim off of a nearby table and injected it into his stomach, and most of the pain lifted.
"Can I go now, Mr. Church?" John called out, with a joking tone in his voice, despite what he'd been through.
"For one, don't EVER call me that, and two, yes, you can, get the hell out of here." Church responded, with an angry tone. John chuckled to himself, and walked out the door.
John had never been outside at dawn, and it amazed him. Everything had this darker tone about it, and everything was covered in tiny droplets of water. John looked around Megaton, surprised at how different everything looked.
"Hey! Vault-kid!" A voice called out.
"Wha-huh? Who's there?" John said intelligently, looking about, sleep in his eyes.
"We heard you were killed fighting thugs in Moriarty's saloon! Now you're walking up and about! What's with you?" Another voice said. John realized that a few of the settlers were forming into a crowd, with more coming by the second. John was a little nervous, as he was not much of a public speaker, and he knew nobody in the crowd, and they were suddenly very interested in John.
"Uhh... It was a switchblade... They don't cut deep.. Uh.. Umm..." John said, backing up slowly, the crowd coming ever closer.
"I heard you stopped the massacre! You're a hero!" A person in the crowd shouted.
"Uhh.. Not really... I just shot some raiders.. No biggie, right?" John said, adding a nervous laugh.
"You didn't save my sister! She was in the crowd, and you were taking your damn sweet time shooting those raiders!" A man in the crowd shouted.
"I couldn't save everyone! I'm not a god!" John shouted to that person, and the crowd agreed.
"God? Whazzat?" Some dim looking person in the crowd called out, getting a lot of odd looks from the other members.
"Nothing... Look, I really have to-"
"You let my Andrew die! He came along with you, and you let him get killed by the Mutants!" An old woman in the crowd shouted at John.
"He came along of his own accord.. I'm sorry for your loss, but I really have to-" John responded.
"You let him-" The woman began, before she was silenced by another member of the crowd.
"Listen, I gotta g-" John began, before one of the members of the crowd interrupted him.
"Wait! Why'd you leave the Vault! C'mon, tell us!" A rat-faced kid shouted. (Not Simms' kid, for those who are wondering)
"Hey guys, leave the kid alone! He's been through a lot today, leave'em alone!" a girl who had came upon the scene yelled.
I think I'm in love... What the hell am I thinking? I just really hope she doesn't like to ask questions... Too bad I'm that interesting... Everybody loves a sob story out here, I guess. Or a blood soaked beast of a life.
"Ah cmon Brooke! We wanna ask some more questions!" A girl who looked similar to John's savior yelled back.
"Can't you see your freaking him out? Give him some time, guys! He wants to leave, stop asking so many questions!" John's helper, Brooke, yelled to the other girl.
"Yeah, he looks very uncomfortable, but we wanna know some things!" The other girl yelled.
"Ask him later! Now leave him alone!" Brooke yelled. John mouthed a silent thank you as the crowd reluctantly went back to their jobs.
"You are like an angel, your name's Brooke, right?" John said to his savior.
"Yeah, and over there's my sister Paige. Paige! Get over here!" Brooke yelled over to her sister.
"Yeah, whaddya want?" Paige asked Brooke.
"You wanted to ask him some questions? Let's go to the dock. Cmon... What was your name?" Brooke asked John.
"John. And where's the dock?" John responded.
"About a mile to the north, along the Potomac. We constructed a shed, and we have a weapons cache there. Come on, it's a short walk." Brooke said to John.
"You do realize you're talking to somebody who's lived underground for his entire life? And it was only about a square mile long." John asked Brooke and Paige.
"Oh don't be a baby." Paige told John.
"Well, I better tell my fri-" John said, being cut off by Brooke.
"We'll send a message. Nico! Get over here!" Brooke yelled, and the short, dirty, rat-faced kid came over. His dark blonde hair waved in the dusty wind.
"Yeah lady?" The kid, Nico, asked.
"Go up to the mercenaries at Moriarty and tell them J... It's Jack right?" Paige asked John.
"John." John replied, looking a little annoyed.
"Tell them John's coming to the Potomac with us."
"Okay lady!" Nico said, running uphill toward Moriarty's, climbing up the rails, and banging on the door.
"Damn, that kid is annoying." Paige whispered under her breath.
"Paige!" Brooke scolded.
"Sorry." Paige said as the trio set off for the Potomac river.
I'm back! Alright, school is out, so I'm gonna have more time to write. Also, I've started taking Karate, so the hand to hand fighting scenes are gonna improve. So, review, and the next chapter will be out before you know it!