Gunshots.
One after the other.
Yelling.
His dad's.
A scream!
He peeks out from beneath the stairs.
"Bryan! Run!"
Bryan crawls out.
Shock and horror freeze him.
"Run, Bryan! Run!"
…
XXX
"What is it, Sawyer?" Jess pushes. Her eyes were on the map she'd drawn in her notebook, but she could feel his on her.
The two were already on their way out of Megaton, to cross the bridge, and enter the Dupont Metro station. Traveling underground was safest.
"…What happened with your father?" he asks. Jess furrows her eyebrows irritably at the question, though her gaze remained fixated on the map she no longer needed to see.
"He left me in the vault. About a month ago," she shortly tells.
"…Why?"
"Wish I knew…" Jess then lets out a short laugh as she pocketed the notebook. "You think it's stupid, don't you? Me going after him," she implies.
"Yes," Sawyer bluntly replies, causing her to gaze at him un-expectantly. She then grinned. His honesty was refreshing.
"Heh. Yeah, I know," she retorts. Not the first time he'd heard that reply. "But, what else am I gonna do? Build a happy home in Megaton? Start a new life or something?"
"Survive."
"And would he have 'survived', knowing I was out there doing who knows what?" she knowingly challenged. Sawyer looked away.
"If he was smart." Jess eyed him in disbelief.
"That's sad, Sawyer. A life with no meaning, living for yourself. That's just sa-" Sawyer cuts her off with the raise of his hand.
Next to the building they stood, Sawyer pushed Jess to hide behind the corner as he remained on the edge, armed, for panic sped at the sound of footsteps rushing towards them.
Hearing it dangerously nearing, Sawyer saw no other way but to move out and face it.
He charged, Chuck high-aimed, and Jess followed,
only to find, that they scared
a young boy
off his feet, and onto the ground.
…He looked horrified,
tears streaming down his dirt-stained cheeks, eyes, nose, and cheeks strawberry-red.
They stood surprised.
Jess rushed forward, pushing down Sawyer's shot-gun and releasing her rifle that remained strapped to her shoulder.
The boy had his hands raised in caution, signaling wordlessly for them to stay back. Jess knelt near him, and he shuffled away, hasting to find his footing once again. "Hey, it's okay," Jess softly told. Sawyer glared onward. Whatever scared the boy might still be after him. "What happened? Is someone after you?" she asked. The boy sniffed and spoke with a hoarse voice.
"H-he. They-they killed him," he tried.
"Who?"
"D-dad," the boy cried, body convulsing with every shaken breath he gasped.
Jess eyed the boy sympathetically, and frowned. Sawyer grimaced at what he'd said.
The Wastelands. One's greatest enemy.
Or life.
They then heard a sound so strange to Jess, and, though distant, Sawyer recognized it,
so did the boy…
He turned in fear. "They're coming!" he exclaimed. Sawyer hooked his hand beneath Jess's upper-arm and pulled her up.
"Let's go," he said.
"Come on," Jess urgently beckoned the boy. Seeing no other options, he followed.
The three entered that adjacent building-block, and Sawyer eyed around for stairs in haste. "We need to get to the roof," he said.
"Why?" Jess asked in confusion with a firm, assuring hand on the scared boy's shoulder.
"It'll be harder for them to detect us, and will take them time to climb."
"Raiders?"
"…Worse."
The boy stifles a sob.
She notices.
She further panics.
Sawyer opens a door, and finds stairs. "This way," he beckons in haste. They rushed to follow. He waits for them to pass him, then grabs a broom from the shop's floor, heads in, closes the door, and blocks it. He climbs after them.
He rises to find that the entrance to the roof is locked. The boy starts to cry, and Jess shushes him. "Hey, it's okay, I'll get us in," she assures. Sawyer is worried by the fact that they'd locked themselves in. He assumed he could break-down the door, or shoot the knob, but after Jess pulls out one of the many bobby-pins in one of her belt's pockets, he and the boy await her success anxiously. Sawyer prays she knows what she's doing.
*Click*
She smirks, turns the knob.
They're through.
Sawyer exhales in relief, and Bryan hurries in. "Boy!" Sawyer whisper-yells at him. Bryan stops and turns to him impatiently. Sawyer stomps angrily towards him, and Jess warily follows. "Don't move. Crouch down."
The sun glares down on them, but the wind is swift.
The boy is clearly frightened by Sawyer, and reluctant to comply. Jess steps in. "Hey, what's your name?" she asks, crouching to reach his level. Sawyer leaves them and scours ahead. The roof-top was small, but the fencing was a half wall all around, torn-down at some sides.
"Bryan," the boy, who is eased by her presence, lets out.
"Okay, Bryan. I'm Jess, and the big, scary guy is Sawyer," she gives a slight smirk. Sawyer can hear them, and ignores them as he carefully reaches an edge and eyes down to spot them. "He's very strong, and is gonna keep us safe, so you have to listen to him, okay?" she pleas. It takes a minute, but Bryan then nods. Jess, who was fairly scared herself, smiles for his sake. "Good. Stay here, and crouch down like he said, okay?"
"Okay," he complies. Jess nods in approval and heads after Sawyer, who was down on one knee near the edge, binoculars she didn't know he had in hand.
She mimics his posture and attempts to follow his gaze. Unable to see exactly what those were, she squints and places her hand straight above her forehead to avoid the sunlight.
Still, she is unable to make out what the hasting, three or four figures were. "What the hell are those?" she asks quietly.
"Ants, big ones," Sawyer replies. Jess turns to him in shock. He still looks onward through the gadget, plotting. Her eyes dart back.
They couldn't be.
…The image zooms to focus with Sawyer's description…They really were ants…
Her eyes widen.
"Normally, they wouldn't be a problem," Sawyer resumes, placing down the binoculars. "But these ones breathe fire." Jess snaps to him, gawking.
"What?"
He does not think they have time for her to process, so he hands her the gadget, and she slowly takes it. He points west. "There's the station," he says. She brings the gadget to her eyes to see. It wasn't very far, but there were two other ants there, as well as the ones moving below.
"How are we gonna get there? Can't we just shoot them down?" she asks.
"We could, but the rest will follow, and we're not fire-proof." She studies his evident sarcasm, despite the lack of a smile. This was so not funny. "We have to move undetected."
"How? They'll smell us, they'll sense our movement."
"We'll have to run for it." Jess shakes her head.
"That's pretty risky," she says.
"Do you have a better idea?" he asks with well-hidden irritancy that was still obvious from his question.
Jess takes a minute.
She then turns to him with suspecting eyes. "…How's your throwing?"
XXX
As the ants busy themselves with their routinely patrols for food and anything moving, their senses are attracted to the vibration of a thud on the ground. They look to see a splattered chunk of meat not too far off, it immediately invading their sense of smell. All nearby rush towards it.
As they circle around it with ridiculous organization, a grenade quickly falls between them…
and explodes…
Half are dead.
Two are wounded.
And one is somewhat unharmed.
The three remaining turn,
and see…
XXX
"Shit," utters Jess. Sawyer brings up Chuck.
"It's easier to fight them from here," he states. Jess nods.
"Yeah. Okay." She rushes back to Bryan and kneeling in front of him. "Bryan. Go inside and close that door. If I don't come get you in ten minutes, you run, okay?"
"No, no! You'll die, just like dad!" the boy cries in panic. Jess doesn't know what to say.
The sound of Chuck going off snatches their attention. Jess snaps to Bryan impatiently. "Go!" she yells. The boy reluctantly does as told in haste. Jess quickly pulls off her rifle and joins Sawyer by the edge.
Sawyer had managed to kill one, it down and dead. The other two were still ascending the walls. Jess shot at the one closer alongside Sawyer.
Radroaches were easier. Why were the ants so tough?!
When it seemed they'd finally gotten it, the one behind it switched tactics, and spewed fire out on them from Jess's side.
Sawyer notes in time to push her back, but it still caught her, reddened her hand and forearm, and caught at the edge of her shirt-sleeve. She screamed out as her and Sawyer fell onto their backs, quickly putting the fire out, but their attention was forced back to the ant that had successfully risen.
Just before it cooked them both, Sawyer shot-gunned it right in the mouth, spluttering bits of skin and blood on both of them.
…
…Assuming it was over, the two, who were still on the ground fall back and breathe out in exhaustion and an attempt to shoo away the fear.
Jess, whose arm only lightly collides with the ground, winces and hisses at the immense pain. The skin was hot red, her whole lower arm and hand. The sleeve bits were charcoaled near her elbow.
Sawyer quickly rose and went to kneel beside her. He pulled off his bag and brought out one of the six stimpaks they had. She pushed herself up on her other elbow and reluctantly offered him her arm. He was careful touching it, but she winced still. It was too painful.
Hearing the commotion die-down, Bryan's curiosity, and the hope to see his saviors alive, took over him, and he peeked out the door. Seeing them alone, he cautiously strolled towards them.
"This is gonna sting," Sawyer warns her. Jess nods impatiently.
"Just do it," she says. Being a fresh vaultie, she was sure to have been caught in cross-fires at some point, at least he hoped this wasn't her first.
About to close the distance between the needle and her singed flesh, Bryan, somewhat quietly, calls out: "Wait!"
They freeze and turn to him worriedly. He hurries to Jess's other side and places one hand on her shoulder and the other atop her hand.
Getting he was trying to comfort her, Jess smiles gratefully at him, and he smiles back half-heartedly. Sawyer is also pleased with this, though a part of him thought it silly. He mainly hated it when his employers were hurt though; their whining was insufferable, this one he actually disliked seeing hurt, so if the boy would help, let him.
XXXXX