I was tired in the morning. It seemed in the harsh world the concept of play for children had shifted to the more practical kind. It did not surprise me much. I remembered my time at the orphanage where play was often picking up stones in the nunnery's fields. Or the many other forms of light work required to keep so many young mouths fed with charity alone.
It differed from my first life where times of play were spent with video games. Or chasing other children around a playground. I remembered my first youth fondly. It was then I had learned before many others the value of rules, structure and freedom.
When I had stumbled back to the caravan hands still wet after cleaning them. Joy had quietly asked me if I had fun and I confessed that I did. I did think that play for them was shooting guls and then dressing them was somewhat of a tragedy. But I was happy to have spent time with them. They were well behaved and friendly children the best kind.
I slept as much as I could but still felt the soft hand of fatigue upon me. When we awoke and were provided with a steaming bowl of thick meaty stew in the morning. It tasted quite gamey to me and I wondered if it was the birds we had shot last night. Or if they had to be hung longer or something else needed to be done with that meat.
I was hardly an expert at hunting or farming in general. I fancied that given the chance I could work most things out but it was an unattractive sort of hard work to me. I much more enjoyed sitting at a desk with a hot cup of coffee.
We departed after we ate and I was roped into a friendly hug with the other children and notably one blushing boy. I did hope he found someone his own age but I did not worry that much. Considering the state of the world he was actually doing very well for himself. It was depressing that someone who lived like this could likely be considered middle class.
Back onto the 'road' things got slightly rougher. Likely a drop in the quality of the building materials had seen this section of the city fall to ruin far more convincingly than the seat of power for what had once been the most powerful nation on earth.
We arrived at an open square with dilapidated buildings, more husks than anything, all around us. The only notable feature was the grand set of stairs leading to a metro station. I watched as Wolfgang collected a rope from the back of one of the brahman. Then he began to loop it around two bent lampposts before attaching it securely to the harness around the brahmin.
Joy and another member of the security marched down the steps into the metro tunnel. Everyone else besides myself and Wolfgang got on the other end of the rope attached to the brahmin. After getting an all-clear signal from Joy, Wolfgang began to lead the brahmin down the steps. It was slow and there were times when the massive animal stumbled but was caught by the men and women holding the other end of the rope.
I had asked Wolfgang if this was the normal route between Rivet city and Canterbury and he said it was his special route. One that cut out almost three days of travel. He must have spent a great deal of time traveling though the city to develop a route like this. Even if it was apparently risky enough that he had lost a few brahmin to this particular metro tunnel.
This time however everything went well. Wolfgang took the time to make sure the animals had calmed down before gathering everyone else together and setting off into the pitch back. Broken only by beams of torchlight and a lantern. The lantern was the type that required a handle be cranked in order to illuminate things effectively. I quietly focused my mind into a formula that would grant me a degree of night vision.
As the tunnels slowly grew brighter, at least to me. I could see at the edges of the halls and rooms we passed piles of long decayed bones. Likely people who had fled from the bombs into the underground in hope of survival. So much waste.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and glanced up at Joy who gave me a smile that I felt obligated enough to return. Even if it did not feel all that genuine. We entered into a larger chamber on a overpass with the metro tracks running underneath us. Four of them in total with three platforms all with escalators connecting them to the overpass.
With the escalator steps being far wider and having a much gentler slope then the metro entrance it was far simpler leading the Brahmin down. Something caught my eye as we were leading the last Brahmin down the metal steps. I blinked and redoubled my efforts to refine my night vision formula. Someone was peaking at us from behind a marble bench.
"There is someone over there!" I managed to shout out foolishly before all hell broke loose.
I drew my pistol and threw myself down beside the escalator as shots rang out in the enclosed space from all directions. The response was immediate as every member of the caravan began to fire into the darkness and dart about looking for cover. There was someone screaming behind me but I ignored it for now and carefully took aim and squeezed the trigger of my pistol. My target stumbled forward shouting as he clutched at his leg and I quickly fired a few more times into his chest making him go limp.
I then turned my attention to one of the tunnels where someone with an automatic weapon of some sort was firing bursts in the general direction of the only light in the room. The torches attached to the members of the caravan.
I got to my feet and fired five rounds at him satisfied that enough had hit their mark when he crumpled. I hoped over the tracks by sending a little jolt of magic into my boot and landed on the middle platform. I was surprised to find a woman with a shotgun hiding behind a pillar. She did not see me but she defiantly heard and felt me and whirled around in a panic as I fired the last bullets in my pistol into her face.
I quickly emptied the spent magazine and fumbled for a new one to slam home when I noticed the blood. At first, I was worried I had been hit when I realised that the women I had dispatched at close range had been the cause of the mess.
"Haha! Your dead meat!" Came a voice from the next platform and a floodlight suddenly snapped on directed at the caravan. I let out an embarrassing shout of pain as I dived back onto the track and blinked away the pain. I reached into my pocket to feed magic into my damaged computation orb to rapidly heal my damaged hearing and vision. I darted up onto the platform again and forced a messy targeting formula into being.
There were four figures aiming out of cover at the stunned members of the caravan. I fired until they were all dead and took the break in combat to quickly load a fresh magazine. It was relatively quiet after the shooting stopped. Members of the caravan slowly stepped out of cover looking around in open mouthed shock.
I had seen the look before after battle and empathised. Such needless bloodshed was commonplace in systems of anarchy like this. That people who only wished to engage in the honest good that was trade and commerce would suffer from raiders was truly tragic. When I was confident that we had dispatched the attackers and made my way over to the caravan to help with the wounded.
"T-Tanya. You killed them." Joy said, clutching her leg as she dropped her shotgun by her side. It looked like the clear face plate she had somehow managed to stop a few bullets.
"Yes. Do you need help?" I asked looking down. It seemed she had been in the perfect place to be peppered with bullets. But her armour had served her well with the only wound being a gap in her armour at her thigh.
"I… No just a bandage and stim and I will be up walking by the end of the day. Don't worry about me." While most of the caravan had made it out with only a few small wounds one had taken a bullet to his gut.
That explained the screaming. I had seen more men than I cared to crying in the mud from such wounds. Wolfgang however was quick to administer aid in the form of an antibiotic. Then what he called a 'super-stimpack' after they had pinned him down to pull the bullet out. I was told that he would be up and about in a day or so but would have to be careful not to open the wound back up.
The medical technology of this world was incredible with some of the equipment being much more potent than even medical formula. Sadly, there was nothing that the medical science of this world could do to the man and women who had lost their lives.
The first was a quiet woman who had intended on traveling north to the Commonwealth. She had suffered from a gunshot to the had that had killed her instantly. The second was a man that had been at the bottom of the escalator when the first bullet rang out. He had been crushed when the panicking brahmin had fallen onto him and there was nothing that could be done for him.
The brahmin in question had survived. The other mutated cows had suffered a number of bullet wounds that Wolfgang treated with a stimpack each. The mobile members of the caravan quickly gathered together the dead. Raiders kept separate from our deceased. And after searching them for anything useful they had dumped the raiders into a corner of the room.
The 'adults' in the room had then began to whisper to each other occasionally glancing in my direction. Likely discussing what could be done about the two caravaners who had lost their lives. I let them have their privacy. In the end Wolfgang laid them out and said a few words and then we all did what I had grown used to in the military.
Everyone began settling in and even starting a fire after assuring me that the smoke would not fill the room. There was of course the question of what to do with the things that the raiders had on them. I was quite content to share the loot fairly with Wolfgang being the stakeholder in the caravan taking the largest cut.
Wolfgang however insisted that I take whatever I want from the looted equipment. More charity for a child I supposed. Of course, it was hardly a big sacrifice on his part and his employers got to see how charitable he was. I truly did have respect for his business acumen. A content and happy employee was vital to any enterprise.
Besides there was another consideration. There was a limit to what I as a child could carry from the loot. He was going to get a good cut of this stuff no matter what. I played along and went though the equipment finding a well-worn sub machine gun. There was a stamp on the side with the inscription being 'M3 A4, 2262, Pitt.' There was also a number indicating that this was the nine thousandth gun of this production run. Nice round numbers are meant to be lucky on guns right?
It was the weapon from the raider who was standing on the tracks and inspecting it the weapon looked well maintained. I had hoped that the calibre was in 9mm considering how many bullets I still had. Still over one hundred. But it was chambered in .45 auto. I found a considerable amount of the round and two magazines that fit in the sub machine gun but I would have to be careful. I knew that 9mm was economical because there was a manufacturing base close by in the town of Megaton. I had no idea where the closest factory for .45 auto would be.
I asked Wolfgang about it and he unfortunately could not tell me. He knew that .45 was an expensive round but it sometimes showed up in large amounts in markets. I also learned that while there was an ammo press for the round in Rivet city it was very unpopular. Rivet city apparently almost exclusively produced high calibre hunting rounds for mirelurks.
When I found out what a mirelurk was I almost burst out laughing. Crab people!
Having taken my prize as well as the bottlecaps I offered the rest to the other caravaners. They had been polite at first and asked if I was sure but carrying too much on me was always a pain in this body even if I did have ways of making my body stronger.
I also had pockets bulging with bottlecaps and bullets. I would need to find a way of carrying wealth effectively. Coins as money had gone the way of the dodo for a good reason after all! I missed my trusty credit card. Ah but for the joys of a civilised world.
We sat down and waited until we could get moving again. Having only spent half the day traveling we would likely be sleeping here and traveling early in the morning if everyone was well enough to travel. Wolfgang looked upset. As he should be considering he was effectively losing an entire workday. The productivity and welfare of competent employees came first however.
It was then I smelt something. My eyes darted to Joy. The women had her leg stuck out and was sat next to a kettle on the fire with a small box that smelled very familiar. I sighed as I worked my brain for a way to get some of that coffee. It was likely a horrendously expensive luxury good that Joy would not want to give up lightly.
I was going to have to exploit my childish charm. I felt my face contort into a wide grin that Visha had commented now and then was far scarier than it was cute. I could not help myself. I let out a giggle before I carefully relaxed and produced a more innocent looking smile before skipping up to Joy.
"Hey Joy! Wow is that coffee?" Her pleasant smile told me everything I needed to know. It was like taking candy from a baby.
"You see anything?" Wolfgang muttered as he watched Tanya skip over to Joy.
"Nothing. They had us, how the fuck did they know we were coming this way?" The man had a ruddy complexion and was nursing a shallow cut across his forehead. He had been somewhat overzealous in the pursuit of cover when the firefight had broken out and thrown himself onto a pile of sharp metal.
"Could have just been bad luck…" Wolfgang said unconvincingly.
"Nah they knew we were coming. We would be dead right now."
"But how did she see them?" Both men watched as the girl kicked a foot and smiled sweetly at Joy. The fact she had just killed seven people somehow made the situation more sinister then cute.
"Good eyesight I suppose, or hearing. Who the fuck knows, we are just lucky to have her."
"I am thinking of taking her on." Wolfgang said slowly earning a raised eyebrow from his second.
"A kid?"
"They grow up fast these days. With the raiders moving in and caravans from Philly being strangled. Bad times are coming. Having a gun with her head screwed on right is going to be important."
"I have had enough of bad times." The ruddy man said and Wolfgang agreed with that.
The taste of coffee soothed me even if this was a watery mess. It was better then nothing even if I missed how Visha always managed to make coffee just the way I liked it. I missed her. I had told her to keep away from the fight and lead the 203rd to safety. She had a good head on her shoulders and best of all she was loyal. The chances of her ignoring my orders and getting into range of the type 95 when it went into meltdown were slim. My chances of getting back to the Empire were slim. Being X had likely thrown me into this world because it was even worse than the last one.
"Not many children like coffee. I hated it when I was your age." Joy said with her omnipresent smile.
"I came around on it. Took me some time." It was true, I had not liked it at first but as my taste matured it had become a constant companion.
"Not many kids, hell not many people can fight like that. Your parents must have been pretty hardcore." I let out a nostalgic laugh at that. My parents had been very competent but they were certainly not 'hardcore' they were the most friendly and peaceful people you could ever meet. They had made sure to keep me focused and had given me plenty of love and affection. In return for fulfilling the parental contract I had made sure I was a model son for them. "You miss them." Joy said quietly, clearly reading my expression.
I nodded but did not try to continue the conversation beyond that. I was not ready to commit to a backstory and I did not feel like wallowing over what I had lost. The conversation turned lighter at that point. Now and then it was broken up with the people who were healing getting up and walking around to see how the stimpack was working. I asked Joy about where she was from and opened the floodgates. The bubbly woman had plenty to say about her life and family and cooed endlessly about how I looked like both her little niece and nephew. I wondered if that meant she was related to someone with blond hair and blue eyes or if they were just equally 'cute'.
As soon as the wounds the caravan had suffered where sufficiently healed Wolfgang had us move on. We would be traveling though the night underground and resting before leaving the metro system. I had to bring into focus a formula that would keep me sharp. But working both a night vision formula and a stimulant formula in my mind without the aid of a computation orb was making my head throb painfully. Whenever I fixed a problem three more showed up until I just gave up and let the darkness win. Focusing on just a stimulation formula was better but now and then I would stumble over some loose rubbish or crumbling concrete and get a sympathetic look from Joy.
She likely thought I was a baby that was up well past her bed time. Truly there was no end to the humiliation this body provided. I resigned myself to being content to still be alive and how things could always be worse.
We spent hours carefully walking along a remarkably intact metro rail tunnel. Eventually came to a single platform station with all its entrances boarded up. It even had the staircase up to the surface carefully bricked up. Compared to the rest of the metro it was clear a lot of effort had been made here but I did not understand why. Wolfgang mentioned that we were close enough to the exit now that we could rest here.
I had made an effort to volunteer for a watch but the moment I opened my mouth I let out a yawn that had half the caravan grinning at me. Rather then embarrass myself even more then I had I settled down on a sleeping mat with Joy for warmth. I was not being cute! Everyone was cuddled up with each other! It was damn cold down in the metro.
The 'morning' was marked by the beeping from a bright orange alarm clock Wolfgang had with him. It was around eleven AM and we spent around half an hour eating some cold rations and getting back on the tracks to trudge to the metro exit.
There was a quiet edge to everyone as we moved though the tunnels. After the ambush the day before that had cost us an entire day of travel there was always the chance that there would be more raiders laying in wait for us though the tunnels. We had no idea if they were working alone or even where their base was.
When we reached the exit station. Friendship Hights, the place had clear signs of activity with a ramp to the overpass made out of rubble and scrap metal. Wolfgang carefully led the brahmin up the makeshift ramp. There was also a pile of dirty mattresses, barrels that were filled with ash and a distinct lack of the bones of the long dead laying around the place.
With two hundred years this place could have been occupied it was hard to draw any conclusions about the station. After a while spent scouting things out all of the security, including Joy. Quickly moved up the staircase leaving the rest of the caravan with the Brahmin as they secured the area. We had to bring the Brahmin up a set of stairs just like how they had been brought down into the metro in the first place. Wolfgang assured me it was far easier getting them to climb them descend.
The fact that this was a reliable and quick route for trade was quite depressing. Eventually Joy returned and a rope was attached to the Brahmin in case the dumb beast tripped while climbing the ancient staircase. Being mostly useless at the moment I simply climbed the staircase and waited for the others to finish.
We were at the edge of the city. A wide plane spread out before us, rough terrain with dusty cracked earth separated with loose grids of dilapidated roads. Here and there the bones of a house stood in defiance of the decay around them. I had no idea why the odd house remained standing while other buildings were entirely lost to time.
The clouds that had been near omnipresent for the rest of my time in this world were distant now and the sun beat down upon the thirsty earth. In the distance there were more clusters of tall buildings and ruins. I imagined that this was all a single metropolis once. Civilisation as far as the eye could see.
I sat on a crumbling wall looking out into the desert as the rest of the caravan struggled with the brahmin. This world was a distinct downgrade. Even without a constant world war, things were deadly and there was a distinct lack of infrastructure. The thought of a comfortable life seemed more distant than ever.
I had worked so hard in the Empire. I had turned the 203rd into a competent and capable unit that could also effectively protect me. I missed Visha.
"You okay Tanya?" I glanced over to Joy as she strolled up to me. A glance behind her showed that the brahmin were all out of the metro and Wolfgang was preparing to move off.
"Yeah, I'm okay." I said putting a smile on and hopping off the wall. We still had a long way to go.
I stalked forwards next to one of the brahmin with a hand over my eyes and even that did not do all that much. Dust was thrown about everywhere and had turned visibility to nothing more than a dozen meters in any direction. The dust storm had come about without warning. From the resigned way the rest of the caravan had settled into the miserable walk it seemed that such sudden storms were common here.
I allowed myself to fall into a trance like state during the long walk as I worked through my formula. It was almost relaxing until I heard Wolfgang shout out to keep together and follow his voice. It was an ordeal to turn the little caravan to the right and into a garage that had mostly survived the apocalypse. Besides a few gaping holes of course.
The moment the Brahmin and everyone was inside and somewhat protected from the sand Joy reached up to pull down the garage door. Only to pull the entire thing on top of her. After extracting Joy and propping up the garage against the entrance Wolfgang sat up against the wall and lit a cigarette.
"Another delay. At this point we might as well have gone the long way around." Joy muttered as she sat next to me.
"Is it always this dangerous?" I whispered. Leaning against a snoozing brahmin for warmth.
"It's always risky but we have never been ambushed on this route before. Raiders normally stick to the northern routs and the river. We should reach Canterbury tomorrow." With that Joy settled down next to me and decided I made for a comfortable source of heat. In moments the women was snoring like an old campaigner.
Not one to be outdone I resigned myself to her grip and slowly let sleep take me. Now and then dust would flit into the garage and there was a howling sound to accompany the pitter patter of dust hitting the thin walls of the garage. I dreamed of coffee and sweets delivered by a certain scantily clad woman.
"Let's see here… Vault physician. My my, it looks like you will be spending a lot of time with your dad! Well done Lucy! I knew you had it in you. Now." Mister Brotch's expression shifted. "Looking at both you and young mister DeLoria, he might be your first patent." Lucy rubbed the welt on the side of her cheek as Butch glared at her from across the room sporting a swollen eye.
"Seriously now Lucy, fighting in front of the classroom?"
"He was… Harassing Amata." Lucy muttered just loud enough for her teacher to hear.
"Ah, well. Strange as it sounds your fight likely saved Butch from a lot of trouble in that case."
"Wish that idiot would see that and back off." That earned a chuckle from Mr Brotch.
"Well, change of subject. Unlike most of the class you won't be graduating at next months prom. In fact, you are going to be taking evening classes with the rest of the specialists for the next four years. Congratulations Lucy you are stuck with me!" Lucy snickered as the teacher continued. "I also have it on good authority that James and Jonas are preparing your training as we speak."
"Wait… That means the GOAT?" Lucy's question earned a wink from Mr Brotch.
"Go on now, enjoy the rest of your free day. You have a mountain of work ahead of you in getting your doctorate." With that Mr Brotch turned away from Lucy and towards Butch. "Ah, Butch. Can I admit that I've been waiting for this day for a long, long time? Allow me to savour the moment." Lucy allowed herself another short snicker at Butch's expense before she rushed off to go find Amata.
AN: I think I will use this space to reply to some of the reviews. I can't think of a better place to do that. I will only respond to things that are questions or that I think deserve a comment but rest assured that I read everything and if you are enjoying this I love you!
Paradox: "This story would do great on Space battles and Sufficient velocity can you do that?"
I don't know much about forums and I did take a look at space battles and could not find out where I would post this story. I did however notice another comment saying they got a recommendation from space battles. I am honestly shocked and flattered that someone would post a link to this story after only two chapters.
Sailormage: "As for criticism, I feel the pacing is just a bit too fast, and that is the only criticism I got gor now. Looking forward to more."
Thanks for the review! Even quite simple criticism like this helps me a lot and it did prompt me to take a look at how the narrative progressed and how much time I was spending in different environments. I think this is a direct response to the narrative choice to move though Tanya's time with the ghouls quickly but I might be mistaken.
Thanks for the review!
BieberLover69: "Great story so far. Your first chapter had plenty of sentences with odd grammar but this 2nd chapter had way less mistakes than the 1st so I'm glad that you seem to be going over your story more carefully. Looking forward to Tanya's first major encounter with either super mutants or raiders."
Sentence structure and grammar are a constant uphill battle for me and something I am always trying to improve. We don't have any major encounters this chapter but I hoped a minor encounter might suffice for now!
L4 of the WEST: "ahh this one of those Tanya story ideas I been waiting for, and the wait was worth it as the idea found it, writer. as for criticism, where a few minor moments were the flow of Tanya thoughts hiccuped but nothing too terrible. all in all, from 2 chapters I read 4.5 out 5, keep up the good work"
Thanks for the high rating! I am still settling in on Tanya and she is still settling in on an unfamiliar environment so it is putting her off somewhat. I will try to present that a bit better.
Amon34: "Haaaa! Tanya despite the nuclear apocalypse you still worry about the economy,can't wait to see the misunderstandings with the commies,tanya worries about the kids and a boy has a crush on tanya (even more misunderstandings).Ho ho Mary Sue is here (there will be a bright sky).what will be the release rate your story is great"
Tanya is a very special girl with a bundle of interests and ideas that make her a fun character to react to things. As for my release rate? As soon as I am happy with the quality of a chapter that has at least 4-10k words.
Thank you to everyone who is enjoying this story! See you next time where Tanya sees a human settlement for the first time and a familiar face suffers from a severe language barrier.