Borderworld Players
1
Seth Hayes had once been a Catholic priest of a town called Mucca, it no longer existed on any map. He didn't care though. It had held him back for most of his life.
He was wearing a suit of great armour, this much we already know. But we will delve deeper into his side of the tale. We will not take long. For he is not the central part of Ryder and Grace's journey, but his part is grand and he will meet his destiny one way or another.
As Ryder and Grace wander Freeside, taking contracts and taking the days off inside the club owned by Gath and Bath, Seth had taken a longer route to detour as far away from Vegas as possible, and while those two were singing along merrily, Seth – with great effort – passed by without so much as a glance at the big city lights.
Ryder had got him good, and this had depressed Seth into a state of pure loathing. Not so much as a scratch had stained this beautiful piece of equipment that was told to be indestructible. Any more shots, and he would've been killed in that church, he did not doubt that conclusion. And that would have been ironic, wouldn't it? Killed in a church, something he used to work in, converting and whatnot. Those days were good. But these days are better.
Well, they were better, until a kid had outgunned his whole team with a bunch of filthy lizards!
Oh boy, would Bessie be pissed. Seth wouldn't be surprised if she or her boss killed him when he returned. One might think then just don't go back! but where was he supposed to go? Everyone out here is a sin in human form, and he didn't have enough napalm to burn them all back to hell.
He crested a dune.
Though Seth would never see nor admit this, but his whole life is full of dead ends. He still lives by God and the priest inside him always lives on, that's why before and after expeditions he likes to pray for the wellbeing of life (with no sense of irony) and asks God to give him strength to do the lords bidding.
The bidding of turning this world back to normal.
The idea of two hundred story buildings and biplanes that carried people across whole continents (he didn't know anything was across the oceans until recently) was so fascinating, that it was his lifelong goal of seeing this world come back from the grave.
But before we can delve too deep into Seth's twisted little mind inside that twisted little dome, he had crested one last dune and was walking towards two runs of fence with a leaning warning sign that read:
DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE
GOVERNMENT PROPERTY AHEAD, RESTRICTED AREA
TRESSPASSERS WILL BE SHOT
Only two things on the red sign were true. There was a hole cut out nearby (it was one of many) and it looked like the work of Radscorpion's (could you believe they used to be only as big as hands?). He ducked into the hole and entered the compound.
There was a thin, dusty road that lead into the central area, on either side of it were two watchtowers and two bunkers. He called out the password and raised a hand in greeting. His response was not being peppered by bullets and lasers.
He passed into the inner compound. All around there were small turrets that noisily rotated there barrels left and right. Men and women in power armour either wandered about or guarded the few surface buildings. Seth somehow knew that behind their little helmets, they were mocking him with either cheeky remarks or silent sneers. When was the last time they were challenged enough to LOSE people, let alone have his armour beaten into a literal pulp?
They should be worried. This was serious. HE was serious. He was the lieutenant, and no one makes him a laughing stock.
"Where's Bessie?" he growled, facing a trio of recruits he wore combat armour, they were making fun of him, no doubt, like a couple of schoolgirls.
One of them jerked a thumb to the building behind him. "She and the Bug Man are waiting for you."
The Bug Man was here?
Shit.
The Bug Man wasn't a literal Bug who is a Man, but THAT would've been preferable compared to who this Bug Man really was. Seth went pale at the name. Bug dude didn't come here often, him and his little flying 'Bertivird' or whatever you call it.
Why would he come now? Right after his first failed mission in well over two or so years? Did he know? Seth thought so. The Bug man knew a lot - had eyes and ears down in the deepest of the wastes. Not even Seth or Bessie's privacy was safe, for the Bug knew what they did in their spare time.
Seth entered the half building, half nuclear shelter structure.
The place was old, not so much ancient, but it had that pre-war feel to it. What this place was used for, no one could tell anymore, because it had been reshaped and refitted for Purity purposes. It felt so claustrophobic to be in this bunker, especially when your stood up in a suit of power armour.
He came up to a heavy door that could be shot at with a nuke and it wouldn't fall. There was a figure in power armour on the side of the door. This one not quite the 'Purifier' variant but very similar. Seth did not know who this was.
"You the Lieutenant?" this guard asked him.
Seth screwed his face up behind his battered helmet. "Who do you think you are? In my home, asking who I am?"
"This isn't your 'home', Lieutenant. You'd do well to remember your place. Boss is inside – don't keep him waiting."
The heavy doors opened and Seth entered through them. Like the drums of death it clanged shut behind him once he did so.
Only two others occupied the office. There was Bessie, a few feet away with her back to him – her helmet was off but her suit was not. She turned and smiled at him. But it was a pleading sign: lord help us.
Because standing a few feet beyond her, was another giant hulking figure with two laser rifles crossed over his shoulders. His armour was massive, and if there was a young super mutant underneath all that garb, then Bess' would owe him five bucks.
Easily eight feet tall. Seth had a sneaky suspicion the armour wasn't compensation.
This thing, this Bug Man, (for his helmet resembled one, and his body could be a ladybug with limbs) sounded so rotten, that even the filtering of his helmet couldn't hold back Seth from cringing.
"Seth! I'm glad you could make it. Your lovely sister was just telling me you were wiping a handful of Deathclaws off the earth!"
"W-Well, yeah, we picked up a signal and tapped into the-"
"Stop."
Seth stopped speaking. The Bug Man approached him. Seth was glad his helmet was still on, for a bead of sweat dripped over his left eye.
"Do you know how much a suit costs, priest?" The Bug Man snapped. Jerking a finger at Seth's chest plate, which had many bullet marks on it.
Seth gulped, it was loud. For a moment he wanted to lie, but then figured he would truly be punished if he did. So he said, "No."
"It's worth more than your pitiful life. It's worth dying for. It shouldn't have to go through so much to protect a damnation of life like you, Seth. Do I need to go on?"
"No."
The Bug Man gave a tittery laugh the made Seth's flesh creep. Laughs like a dead person, he thought.
"Come, now," the monster in front of Seth said, somehow seeing the distraught through their helmets. "We're all friends here. Why, we are absolutely palsy-walsy. We will speak of many things – who did this to you, where your team is, and if you completed your mission or not."
Once more the Bug Man tittered again. It was like the sound of wind drifting through barred windows of an asylum. The Bug Man put an arm around Seth's and Bessie's shoulder's and lead them to the far wall where a window was.
Seth did not want to offend this man, but he couldn't bear the touch of that arm. It was simply unbearable for some reason, even though they had thick armour separating their skins. He shrugged it off once they reached the window.
Instead of being offended, the Bug Man tittered again and released Bessie. "Look."
They obeyed his order and looked out the window.
"Good boy. And good girl." said the Bug Man. "Now, my little redheaded friend, you will tell me everything that you did between leaving my base and coming back. I would not have you leave out a single jot."
Seth took a breath. "There were ten of us. We tapped into a signal near-"
"Were you all wearing my armour?"
"… Yes, Sir."
"Go on, but I do not care how you found them. You can leave that jot out."
"Well, when we arrived. There were maybe… fifty Deathclaws. But more than half of them were pure black, and they had these great, scary red eyes. And they attacked the normal looking ones as well as us."
"Hm," said the Bug Man. "And how, pray tell, did you get bullet wounds against animals? Don't lie to me."
"They had… humans, with them. Three to be exact, although one ran off." Seth waited for a question but no one asked, so he continued. "These… stranger Deathclaws, they were like literal shadows to my eyes, they killed a few of us and we had to pull back. We waited for Ryder and his buddies to deal with them and we moved in to clean the rest up."
"So where is the rest of your team?" asked the Bug Man.
"… Dead. B-But we burnt their home down and-"
"And lost nine good suits in the process, correct?"
"… Correct."
"And your weapons, too?"
Seth nodded.
"Who is this 'Ryder' you mentioned?"
"Just some kid, a nobody, we don't think he's anything but."
"Ah," the hulking man said. Seth imagined him smiling behind that mask. "Your right about one thing. You don't think. That's what I hate about you muties. You don't think! Do you think a 'kid' could wipe out your best men? No! This isn't some kid you're dealing with."
Seth didn't take his eyes off the window. What he saw made him cringe, but he didn't dare look away.
"I want him dead." The Bug Man ordered.
"Of course," replied Seth. "I'll get a team and-"
"Oh, not you," Bug Man shook his head. "No, you failed me once, you won't again."
"But Sir!"
"Excuse me, Seth?" The distance between their heads closed until a mere inch. "Are you defying my word? After all I've done for you and your little bro-sis relationship? Remember, I own you both. You were nothing but a freak who passed the days with little boys in your cellar when I first found you, Seth. You promised my word was law. Have you changed your mind?"
"I… No, no I haven't, Sir."
"Believe me, Seth, before the war we would've hunted priests like you down like you were rats. I don't like it when people forget their place. Understand?"
Seth nodded.
The beast of a man tittered. "Glad we straightened that out. Bessie?"
"… Y-Yes?" She had been silent this whole time Seth forgot she was there at all.
"You will come with me. It's time we move onto House. We will rid ourselves of this, 'Ryder', fellow, unless he'd like to pay for nine X-01 suits in cash! But you, Seth, you'll be going north."
"Why? I-I mean, of course."
Again, that deathly rotten laugh. "One of our bunkers has been infected. You'll blow it up from the inside. If you dare search for intel on my people, we're going to have a real big problem. Understand?"
The Bug Man needed no response. Seth wouldn't do that and he knew this well. Seth was a pup.
"My man outside will tell you the finer details," the Bug Man said. "Run along!"
Seth, like a puppy, did as he was bid. He was glad to be far away from the Bug Man as possible.
2
Corporal Ava was the odd one of the bunch.
There was always one who had to suit that role. She would ask herself day and night on why it had to be her. She would love to just throw herself out to everyone and be read like a book. But there was just too many mental barriers holding that back from happening.
Ava was hard-headed. She prided herself on being hard-headed, and had nothing even slightly spiritual on her mind as she walked at the second front row with her leader – Seth, a real charmer that one… not! – and a handful of squad mates behind her. She did not believe in God, hell, angels or demons. It was just all a big pile of baloney.
But, in about say a few hours, she would believe in that last one: demons. And, in particular, the Devil himself.
"Seth?" she asked. She had earned her suit of power armour a while back, and her filtered voice to her own ears sounded oddly satisfying.
Seth, in his beaten but somewhat repaired suit, looked at her over his shoulder. "Corporal?"
"Remind me why I have to carry the bomb."
"Questioning your superiors again, Ava?"
"I never asked a question, Sir."
"Smartass. Did you forget the first thing you learn when becoming a Purifier?"
"'No cost is too great'. That's they fancy way of saying-"
"I know the fancy way, Corporal." Seth interrupted. "You came to us, remember? We are your family now. How many times must I tell you?"
"Your all heart, Seth."
"I know. Now shut up. We are here."
Half a bunker peeped out of the ground before them. They were quite a ways north-north east of the Mojave and had travelled on foot for most of the day. Had there suits not compensated a lot of energy, they would have had to camp out near the 'superiors' abandoned bunker. Including Seth and her right hand – Ava – there were seven of them in total. Ava knew a few of their names, but she had kept distance between making friends. They probably didn't even know her name, these killers. So what was the point?
They gathered around in a tight circle and hunkered by the big bunker doors.
"Do I need to remind anyone of what we are doing here?" asked Seth, gazing at them all. Almost all of them except for Ava fidgeted under his look.
No one responded.
"Good," Seth said. "Keep it tight and form up around the corporal here. She's our priority until the bomb is set. Stand clear of vents and don't let them get close."
'Yes, sir." they chanted – some uneasily then others.
"Good. Remember the path back in case you get lost. No one's going in after you if you get left behind. Let's go."
With Seth in the lead, they formed up and entered the bunker. It was dark. Immediately there helmet-mounted torches came to life, thick beams of light bounced off the metallic walls as they searched the darkness for any sign of movement.
Ava scanned a wall. There were posters half torn away and bullet holes dotting in fine arcs across the entire expanse. There was dry red blood that splotched the floor and nearby desks. But no bodies.
"Move." Seth ordered. And move they did.
Ava checked her heavy assault rifle once more as they passed into the corridor beyond. She never really liked flamethrowers or energy weapons. Conventional bullets were… conventional, in her mind.
"I think I just browned myself." said one of the men in the squad. They didn't know how to use private channels, none of them did. But this one didn't seem to mind just blurting out anything on his mind.
"We'll feel better once we're out of here," said a woman. "Place is cursed."
Ava understood what she meant. The wind that passed into the bunker from the main door sounded fierce, and it screamed around the eaves, like the screams of children.
"All right," said the soiled man. "But… promise me that ya'll put a bullet in my head if something grabs me."
The woman said she could do that.
They went on in silence. It became more and more unpleasant beneath the earth every second, more creepy and eerily silent. They emerged into a large rotunda, with doors leading everywhere. They took the one labelled POWER SECTION, ORANGE PASS REQUIRED and passed into its featureless hallway for a little way. Then, in the glow of one of the still-working fluorescent lights, they saw something on the wall and they detoured over to read it.
Light
But that's all it said. Below it was a dead body with one missing leg. Whoever this was wrote with his own blood.
"Hope it was quick." said the soiled man. Ava silently nodded at this.
"Stay focused," Seth said. "Stay quiet."
3
They got lost three times. The power door had led them to a maze of tunnels and passages – some moaning with distant drafts, some alive with sounds that were closer and more menacing – and Seth put them back on track by spotting the occasion passage label that had THE CORE writ upon it. At one point, in front of a barred door big enough to fit a car through, they heard an unpleasant chewing sound. Thankfully, it didn't budge and they passed it without knowing what was making that awful sound. Ava thought it might've been a giant centipede mutated by radiation, and thought that if they did see it, would they be able to run?
Probably not.
Shortly after passing this door, they went down a long flight of stairs. Ava pointed to the dust on the risers, clearly seen were echoes of bare feet and boots. "Whose walking around without shoes?" asked the woman from before, but no one answered.
In the warren at the bottom of the stairs they lost themselves again due to the lack of signage. This time Ava set them straight through the diverging passageways, her keen eyes just barely recognising more markers as to where they were. They found themselves in a darker corridor, where over half of the fluorescent lights were out, and many tiles had fallen from the walls, revealing the dark and oozy earth beneath.
"There!" Ava hissed. "Go left."
It was hot down here. Soon they were all sweating freely in there bulky suits. Ava was panting like a little engine, but kept up in the protective circle around her. At least she wouldn't be the first to be attacked if something happened. No more dust could be seen on the floors. The noises from the doors, however, were louder, and as they passed another barred one, something on the other side thumped it hard enough to make those sturdy locks shudder. The soiled man – Ava thought – let off a tiny squeak.
"They can't break them down." Seth said.
"Are you sure?" the man asked.
"Yes." Seth said firmly. But in truth, he wasn't sure at all.
There were green puddles they had to skirt around – no doubt it was all radiation. There were pipes exhaling red steam they had to pass – no idea what was in them. They were lucky to wear these suits.
"Wait, please…" wheezed a different man, and they all followed his bid to stop contently enough.
"Matt, you okay?" asked the soiled man.
"Yeah… These sounds… there getting in my head…"
"I know what you mean. Here." The soiled one ducked under Matt's arm and Matt thanked him.
"This all looks the same from the last sign," said a woman, her name was Triss. "We should go back."
"No," said Seth. "Not yet. It's a little brighter up ahead, let's see what-"
On their left from where they had stopped, the ceiling had collapsed in and blocked the passage leading that way. And from a gap at the top came a low throaty growl that cut off Seth from finishing. When it passed, Seth motioned with his hands to push forward.
"… Let's move. Now."
And Seth's order was law. They moved away and up to another intersection. Ava was about to suggest they go back when they finally found a message from whoever had been here last.
Core Room
And an arrow pointing left. They rested here for a while. Nothing to eat and nothing to drink, all they had was each other.
The soiled man turned out to be named Sam, and he had asked Ava just before Seth could ask if they were ready to push on: "Do you want me to hold that for you?"
"No," she replied, tapping the bomb on her back. "But thank you."
"All right," he said, and turned to the unnamed woman from before. "Rose, can you help Matt for a while?"
"Sure," she said, and put herself under Matt's arm.
"Are you all ready to go?" Seth asked.
The final one – who hadn't spoken yet – answered after everyone else had. "Yes. Right away, I think I'm gonna- my God, what the fuck was that?"
From behind them, had come a low thudding sound. It sounded quite liquidly , as if someone had jumped off a set of stairs and landed in a pile of mud.
"I don't know." Seth said.
Ava (and everyone else) was looking uneasily back over her shoulder, but all she saw were shadows. Some of them were moving, but that was probably because of their helmet lights flickering.
Probably.
"To say in technical terms," Ava whispered to all. "I think we should get the fuck out of here lickity-split."
"Agreed." Seth answered. And they followed his lead and unhunkered. They followed the arrow on the wall, at a pace short of a jog.
They continued at that speed for about twenty minutes before they came upon skeleton dressed in a rotting military uniform propped up against the wall. Howdy! Welcome to hell, or the next best thing! is what that dead grin said.
They had to rely more and more on their own flashlights now. The light bulbs above them were slowly dying, there dim cores were only burning feebly. Some were gone out completely. At first one, then two, then three…
"Its gonna be completely dark before long." Triss said glumly.
"I know." But that was all Seth said.
The air was still unbearably hot. There were posters far beyond the point of readability, but there was one that depicted a man in power armour holding up the head of a ghoul or some other sort of mutant. The chest was puffed out and the helmet was aimed up and proudly towards the sun.
Wish I felt like that now, Ava thought, her head buzzing with growls and groans. I'm about to go mad.
4
There were more stairs at fifty pace intervals, that took them gradually deeper into the bowels of the earth. More and more skeletons on the ground. They had to step on them just to tread past. Some crunched, others made damp sounds that were worse. The walls had been pocketed by bullet-holes. A firefight.
Ava was about to say something about who they could have been fighting, but before she could, a combination of a hiss and snarl came at them from behind. It was a little louder than the thud. A little closer. Ava looked behind and saw nothing. Nothing but the dark.
"We're being followed," she said out loud. She didn't dare look back for long, she had to keep up her pace.
"I know." Seth said.
"We should shoot." said Sam. "Light up this tunnel a little."
"No. If we shoot, it will."
Maybe poison bullets and flames can't even hurt whatever is back there, she thought… was sure of it.
This time Matt spoke up. "What the fuck is it? Is there more than one?"
"There's might be," Seth said. "Now shut up."
They began to speed up. Ava's breathing was loud in her own ears – quick, gasping intakes followed by rough expulsions that sounded like annoyed cries. There were fewer lights above them, their combined shadows would stretch long ahead of them, then shorten as they approached the next light. The air was boiling. The ground beneath them was less even then before. In places it had split apart, leaving traps for the unwary.
Ava put her right hand out to stop Sam's progress. He was about to ask why she did it when he looked down and saw he was an inch away from falling into a bottomless pit.
"Phew! Thanks!"
"Don't mention it." Ava replied, and the group kept moving.
"I haven't heard from our followers for a while-"
Sam was interrupted by something behind them scratching away at the bare earthen walls. Then there were footsteps, then a great growl that somehow caused air to fly into and past her eyes.
Whatever was back there, there were dozens of them.
No.
Hundreds.
"Run!" she cried.
5
Running in that dark tunnel was insanity. But there was no choice. Their guns and heads swivelled in there chase, only illuminating the risers ahead of them for split seconds before they disappeared for longer. She climbed up the invisible steps behind her comrades. Four, five, six, all the way to ten and then the ground levelled and light shone up ahead. But between them and there was pure black.
"There!" Seth yelled. "That's the Core!"
What if she got a foot stuck in a hole? It was possible, given the way the floor was rotting. Or what if there was a big pile of bones in the tunnel? At this speed she would surely take a nasty tumble, and how many bones of hers would join this place? She tried to block out the vision of seeing herself fall, but couldn't quite do it.
No choice. The things behind them were making noises all too clear to hear. Not just the growling but some sort of sandpapery rasping sound as something slid itself across the floors, or maybe the walls, or maybe both. Every now and then she would hear a clitter of what she deduced to be claws being dragged across the metal. Maybe it was Deathclaws? Big ones? Hungry, angry lizards closing the gap between them and the group?
But they could close in no longer. The doorway was right in front of her, and she and Sam dived inside as Seth activated the locks and the heavyset door clanged shut behind them.
Whatever loved the darkness out there was scratching the door like cats. Ava took Sam's offered hand and she was back on her feet, huffing like a train engine now.
"Everyone here?" Sam called out. They all murmured. They were all in.
The rooms epicentre was dominated by a giant spherical contraption that stretched all the way up to the vaulted ceiling like a giant pole. It radiated a baby blue hue and the whole room bathed in it. Computers and terminals curved about along the Core rooms edges. Most of them displayed nothing but static, but the occasional one showed lines of coding and countless errors.
"Ava," Seth said. "Put the bomb at the Core's base. Ten minutes."
"Sir, how are we gonna get out?" she asked. "The way back is blocked."
"Just do it, there's another exit around here… There has to be."
So she did as ordered and but down the bomb at the Core. It was similar to a briefcase, but the many flashing lights along its spine proved otherwise. Not to mention its inner workings revealed a small egg shaped thing with fins on its tail.
This is one of the things that killed the world, she thought as she put the digits to her desired time, which was 15:00 just to be safe. She placed the nuke carefully down.
There was a small panel with writing on the base of the Core. She took a moment to read it.
U.S.A GOVERNMENT PROPERTY
THERMONUCLEAR POWER CORE
ALL ENCLAVE PERSONELL ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTINUED FUNCTIONALITY OF THIS CORE
"Alright, its set. I'll start it up when…"
She was uneasy now. She hadn't heard a single peep from anyone since making her way to the Core. She turned her head and saw Seth, the unnamed girl, and Triss near what looked like a small emergency door built into the wall. Sam and Matt and Rose were pointing their guns and flamethrowers at the door, which was being assaulted by the scratching fiercely.
She heard a clicking sound from above her. The sort you'd hear from a human calling out to a cat – the tongue-on-roof sound. She looked up.
Now was the time she started to believe in demons and devils.
There, hanging from the side of the Core, was a reptilian-humanoid with dark, scaly skin. Chitinous spikes protruded from its shoulders and head. Two large luminescent eyes studied her every move. The thing above her was nothing short of hideous.
Ava went for her rifle which was on the floor by her side. As she did so, two things happened at once. The first was that the thing above her gave off a deafening shriek and snarled at her move – revealing hundreds of sharp reptilian teeth – and jumped towards her. The second thing to happen was the door had been broken inwards and more things looking identical to the thing above her started to pour into the Core room.
She quickly brought her rifle to bare, but the mutant was quicker. it jumped onto her head and began tearing its huge claws into the front of her helmet. The three guarding the door began firing, and her screams of fear were drowned out.
She seized one of its arms and tried to crush its wrist (she naturally had a strong grip, and the power armour only improved it). But its skin was like tough jelly, and she could feel the bones and flesh pop back into place no matter how hard she tried.
She managed to pull it off of her enough to fire a dozen bullets into its neck and chest. It tumbled off of her and onto the floor. It stayed sprawled there for a moment, before squealing and picking itself up and launching off its powerfully built legs back at her. Arms forward with claws aimed.
She sent the rest of her clip into it and its legs were sent skyward and it fell on its back, unmoving this time.
She reeled around and raced to the emergency door. Forgetting the fire fight behind her as she did. She was a meter away from the door when it banged shut and locked her out.
She stopped and looked through the small window slot, and was greeted by Seth's unique power helmet.
"Seth! Open the door!"
"Sorry Ava, I can't let those things into our only escape."
"You bastard! You said I was a priority! Open the damn door now! Please!"
"I said you were priority until you put the bomb down. I wish there was another way, believe me."
"You son of a bitch! You've killed us!"
"I've killed a lot, true. But you've forgotten the first thing of being a Purifier. No cost is too great. I hope your death is quick. Goodbye."
Seth – along with Triss and the unnamed girl – disappeared.
She turned and scanned the Core. The others were holding the things away but that wouldn't last long. There were no other doors she could see. She was trapped. Oh dear God, not like this, she thought, I don't want to die like this. Getting shot is one thing, but eaten alive in the dark…
She looked up. Thank God! There was a balcony halfway up the room, there had to be a way out there.
There were no stairs she could see, but the giant Core had enough footholds for the mutant to hang onto, maybe she could use them too.
The reloaded the rifle and it locked onto her back.
She started the bomb timer. The beeping was almost precisely the same as when Ryder and Grace were in the Sierra Madre – slow at first, gradually rising intensity. It was a deafening sound, but Ava pushed herself to go faster.
She picked a moment to look down at her three other comrades getting swarmed by the mutants. One of them – Rose – was screaming in terror as two of the things tore into her shoulder, right through the armour! Two more joined her and sent her on her back, another three blocked Ava's view of her entire body. Rose wouldn't stop screaming until a full minute later.
Sam's helmet had caught Ava's movement and spent up all of his leftover flame and started climbing as well.
Ava looked away and resumed her ascent. She didn't see Matt fight on bravely for a few more moments beneath her. Matt got swarmed as well, the last thing he saw was Ava and Sam trying in vain to escape the swarm.
The snarls and shrieks and growls of the mutants, plus the beeping of the timer, gave Ava the adrenaline needed to jump across the wide space between the Core and the balcony. When she half-landed onto the railings she thought it might break under her great weight. But something was looking over her that day (or night, it felt like days since seeing sunlight) and the railing held for her as she picked herself up.
"Ava!" Sam cried.
She whipped around. The mutants were chewing on his feet and clawing at his legs. He was high on the Core, but not high enough to jump…
But Sam jumped, and Ava lurched forward and grabbed his arm which was a foot away from the railing. When Sam hung there, dangling above his death, the pain tolled on Ava immediately. Holding a power armoured man was nothing short of painful.
The mutants snarled as they jumped as well. With great nimbleness they clung onto Sam like monkeys, and were soon sinking there sharp teeth into his back. Sam cried out in pain and agony. "Lift me up, Ava!"
"I can't!"
"Please!"
But the more mutants that hung and clung to Sam, the more heavier he got. Seth's voice, in her head, not her helmet, said: No cost is too great.
She let him go to his death. She took a giants step into the safety of a doorway. Her hand found the button of damnation, and locked the doorway shut. Behind her, in the dreadful Core room, she heard no scream; Sam was probably too surprised to take note of his death.
Ava was too.
She turned, and left.
6
Sometimes Ava would ask herself why she didn't have any friends. Why she had no family, why she was alone. She'd spend sleepless nights thinking of an answer, or an excuse, so she had a reason to get up in the morning. Because other than to go on bug hunts on order by that excuse for a human called Seth, what was the point of life?
She got her answer in that Core room.
Whether it was friends of family, they would all end up dying. She wished this would happen to Seth, maybe a knife to the throat while he slept with his sis. But of course, it only happened to those she actually cared for. A shame, really.
But as the redhead had said: they were family now. They were a substitute – a murdering bunch of psychopathic purists, deeming ghouls and anything even minutely animalistic as unworthy of living – but they fit the bill. She wasn't alone… kind of.
She found her way unchallenged to the rotunda room. She emerged from a different doorway, and looked towards the POWER ROOM one. There, on the walls, were two more mutants, who screamed bloody murder at her.
She let loose a cry of her own as she tightened her grip on the trigger and sent them down, expending her whole clip as she did so. She jerked the rifle back and reloaded.
"Grenade!" she heard Seth call. She than heard a-
Poomf
-and the cackle of orange flame exploded inside the power room doorway. The rotunda shook heavily, and the sound was deafening in this confined space. From the flames came forth Seth and Triss and the other woman. And Ava thought at first about shooting Seth in the foot, but decided against it.
"Glad you could make it, Corporal." Seth said.
Ava nodded.
"Let's move it before this whole place goes down."
The primal screeches behind them filled the air. The fire coated the floors and walls like water, and whatever muties tried to jump the gauntlet either met the fire and flailed helplessly or were picked off by the squad.
They staggered away (and shoved each other at some points) back up and into the lobby. Behind them the muties were sprinting, not eager to stop the onslaught just yet. They emerged into the afternoon light and pivoted on their heels. But they needn't shoot any longer, for the mutants stopped inches before the shadows ended and the sunlight began.
Afraid of the light, are they? Good to know.
"Stop gawking and run!" Seth said, and Ava needed no more incentive.
Never before had she breathed so evenly as of today. She was glad for the power armour, for she could probably never run as hard or fast as she was now without it. They ran on for about a mile, Ava thought her heart might burst out of her chest if-
Faster! she thought to herself, Give it all you got! You're not dying today!
And somehow Ava sped up faster then she believed was possible.
She explosion was so epic and out of scale, no one apart from those four would believe or imagine the grand scale of destruction.
First, there was a sonic boom, it passed over them, then was gone.
Then there was a bright light.
Then came the fire that would shake all of the surrounding USA for a few moments. Some would dismiss it as a minor earthquake, but others would know better. The loudest muffled bang was sharp and echoing, and it vibrated Ava's ears until she went deaf for little more than a whole day.
But she lived.
She actually lived!
Seth, who had turned at the right moment to view this display of tremendous purity, thought it was the most beautiful thing he had seen in his entire life. Had they not ran any further, or the Core not been deeply tucked into the earth, they all would have literally turned to ash. There suits would just be hulking ghosts on the borderlands of the Mojave.
But no. Seth lived through this, and was inspired by the aftermath in the most dreadful of ways. To be frank, they ALL were, even Ava – who wouldn't be glad to see that place destroyed?
Picking themselves up, they four of them returned to the Purifier compound.
7
"Well done!" cried the Bug Man to the survivors, he even patted Ava's shoulder (it was like being slammed by fifty pounds of weight). "The Enclave is forever grateful to your continued support, my Purific friends!"
He gave that titter laugh and turned to Seth. "AND, you didn't botch it up! Call me impressed! Though losing three more X-01's will cost you dearly, I'm afraid."
"Yes, Sir." replied Seth.
"But you three!" said the Enclave (General, or maybe just a Commander? No one knew) he turned and faced Ava and the others. "Which one of you performed exceptionally?"
Seth said, "I'd say it was the Corporal there, Ava."
"Ava?" said the huge figure, laughing the cold laugh. "What a funny name. Ava dear, step forward."
Ava stepped forward.
"How would you like to represent all your friends here, and head to Vegas on Seth's behalf?"
"… I-I would be honoured… Sir!"
"I'll send you with two of my best men to establish relations with the owner of said city! I trust your charismatic enough to… ahem… not disappoint?"
"Of course!"
"Very good, I'll give you more details in the morning. Rest up now, my dear, you have a script to memorise!"
"What!?" Seth exclaimed. "But we haven't dared touch that city of sin. If anyone should go it's me!"
"I'm sorry." growled the Enclave rep, turning menacingly to glare at Seth with those great bug eyes. "Did you say something, priest?"
"I… No Sir."
"Good. Now! All of you get out of my sight!"
8
Ava had unsuited herself and was in her own personal en-suite looking at her tired face. Vegas! She couldn't believe it. The biggest thing she'd done was travel from the east coast to the west, and she lost too many in that journey for it to be a pleasant memory.
She had a lot of cons with becoming a Purifier, and she wasn't proud of some of the things she'd done. But as she stood there, looking back at herself, she traced the faded yet permanent tattoo that curled about her left eye.
I'll make you proud, she promised, reminiscing on the days in the company of family. I'll make you all proud.