Chapter Six: Blood and Sunflowers
September 10 2289
Salina, Kansas
"I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength" Anita whispered quietly while holding her mother's rosary. Nightmares plagued her the whole night; all though now that she was fully awake she could no longer remember them.
It was still in the early hours of the morning, the rest of her squad was still sleeping as far as she could tell at a glance. She ran her fingers through her shoulder-length ginger hair, which initially made her repulsed from the amount of grease build-up in her hair. Out of all the luxuries she missed, daily showers were missed more than anything. At this point, she was sick of the greasy hair touching her neck. On a sudden impulse, she pulled out her jagged combat knife and thought about cutting her hair off, all though when thinking of the logistics of it, she decided not to go through with it. Instead, she started to form her hair into a sophisticated braid style her mother always wore.
She sat cross-legged on the ground and pulled a small atlas out of her very dilapidated looking canvas pack. Flipping through the pages, she stopped when she reached the map of Kansas. Based on where Josh had landed last night, she estimated that they were near the old city of Salina, which indicated that they were halfway through Kansas. The next major city that was coming up was Kansas City, after that, Indianapolis.
Any information about Salina was difficult to come by, especially since the forward squad hadn't been in contact for at least three days now. Without Delta squad, it meant that she was going blind into situations, plus it was one less squad of Paladins that could come to her aid if needed. Not to mention, nobody had a clue if and how Elder Maxson would send aid to them.
Anita had always heard people talk of the flatlands that covered much of inner North America. When the elevation started decreasing after Denver, it felt strange to no longer be in the mountains since she had spent her whole life living in mountain bunkers. This part of Kansas featured small rolling hills with grass taller than her and all sorts of grazing creatures from buffalo to their smaller stag cousins. Deep down, she was hoping to see a horse, she had heard they went extinct in most places in old America, but a traveler said to the north, he had seen a great herd of them prowling the plains. She decided to not get her hopes up.
After another hour of pondering, the rest of her squad had risen and started preparing for talking to the townsfolk of the settlement that was visible in the distance. She had never heard of Salina until she had plotted out this map, perhaps it was for the best, since many of the settlements that get discussed are usually known for their more unsavory aspects.
Josh started the vertibird after everyone boarded and decided to land about half a mile from the outskirts of the small Salina community. Or, the remains of the old city of Salina. Off in the distance, she could see her Uncle's group coming in; recently Elder Casdin wanted Anita's squad to stay closer to the main pack, instead of flying at least a day ahead.
Anita could see people working in the vast fields on the outside of this settlement, most of the crop looked like it was wheat and potatoes and Brahmin were roaming around their pens. A group of guards wearing leather vests and homemade metal armor that had been repurposed from scrap metal found in old Salina took note of the vertibird and started walking towards them. If Salina was willing to trade goods, which would be life-saving for the group, since they were burning through supplies faster than they could obtain them from the few settlements that were willing to trade their precious food for weaponry.
"Anita, look through your binoculars right now" Moretti whispered to her. "I don't like this place."
Fuck, she thought. She looked through her binoculars and saw what alarmed Moretti. Dozens of rotten heads sat speared upon massive wood posts. Buzzards pecked at the macabre remains and Anita's stomach was doing summersaults from the gruesome sight.
"You're trespassers here" one of the guards said with a threatening tone. "Don't tell me you're travelers, if there were one or two of you I'd believe that. Travelers don't travel in groups of hundreds, they don't fly no airships either" he deduced. He pointed his pipe rifle that sported a rusty combat knife at the end towards Josh, who he must have decided was the leader.
"Perhaps we all have the same destination Sir…forgive me, I don't know your name" Josh started to say rather confidently. Smith and Moretti both held their plasma guns steady on either side of Josh.
"Well, 'sir' you don't need to know my name" the guard responded gruffly. "We here in Salina don't take kindly to strangers in numbers. My scouts report seeing an airship to the east last night, thing was large enough to blot out the sun they said. They with you?" he asked. "If you lie, I've got no issue adding one of your heads to the slaughter pen."
Josh gave Anita a confused look, perhaps they had seen the missing delta squad, although there's no reason for it to be heading westwards. Unless…
"I ain't talking about one of those birds, my best scout said he saw a bird that could fit hundreds of men, and they're probably looking to invade us for our wheat" the guard guessed. "And you lot are probably here to let your friends in the door and slit our throats in the night!" he shouted, his mangled yellow teeth showing their wear and tear.
"We're heading east, to our new home. We have no intention nor any plan to invade small settlements such as yours. All we ever want to do is trade. We have extra plasma weapons we're willing to trade as tokens of our gratitude" Anita stated calmly. "I don't know anything about the 'big bird' your scouts saw in the sky" she insisted coldly.
He looked at them skeptically, as if he thought they were full of shit. "Plasma, you say?" He looked at the other guards before turning back to them. "Let's show these tourists what we do to those who lie to us" he said while giving them a chilling grin. "Follow us, trespassers, I'll show you your future neighbors if you lie to the Captain."
"Understood" Anita said with the most forced smile she had ever worn on her face. She tried to keep her voice as steady as possible, the men were putting her on edge.
This new 'Salina' was groups of wood and metal shacks that were surrounded by barbed wire and chain-link fence. Anita found it rather intriguing that the barbed wire surrounded the houses and not the brahmin pen…People toiled away in the fields, most of them wore scrappy pieces of material that covered most of their bodies in a shapeless form. Many of them looked as if had been weeks since their last bath and their bones were almost too prominent. Guards wearing drab combat armor oversaw them, many of them wielding pistols and assault rifles.
"Don't look at them tall girl" one of the guards growled, making it clear that her gaze was noticed. "Harvest is approaching us fast, they need to stay focused" the guard said cruelly while quickly turning the safety off on his rifle before turning it on again.
Anita's eyes met Moretti's briefly, she knew Moretti had grown up in similar circumstances in the rural reaches of New Vegas after a gang had taken over his village. He had thinly concealed rage behind his eyes as he took notice of the field workers as well.
There had only been a few times in her life that she wished she had been deprived of her sight; and this was one of them she realized as she got closer to the 'slaughter pen' cruel bastards, she thought. Wooden posts shaped into spikes contained the heads of whomever broke this gang's petty rules. Bones were organized into heaps around the spikes. Many of the heads didn't appear to be more than a few months old…that's what they're doing with the bodies, she realized, more horrified than she had ever been in her entire life.
"You lot are trespassers here, this is just a reminder of what we do to trespassers that don't cooperate with the Captain" the guard with the scraggly teeth said in a gleeful tone that repulsed Anita.
"Understood" Veronica stated, the first out of the group to speak up. "All we are here to do is trade for a few provisions" she reminded him pointedly.
The guard led them further into one of the least architecturally sound compounds Anita had ever laid her eyes on. Houses were built with scrap wood and metal that had roofs that couldn't have been much taller than seven feet. People were creating bricks out of the muddy clay and were ankle deep in the muck. Anita tried to keep her eyes from wandering; however, she found it hard to ignore the inhumanity of her surroundings.
To think we're giving them plasma weapons she realized darkly, all we're doing is giving them new play things to use to torture these people. Everything has a cost, even survival she told herself, trying to justify these circumstances. Growing up, she was taught that the Brotherhood of Steel no longer interfered with the depravity of the wastelander towns, not unless there was powerful technology at stake. Seeing bones so visible underneath skin would haunt her dreams forever, no humans deserved this, she wouldn't even wish this upon the most feral of ghouls.
The guard led them into the largest building, which appeared to be built upon the skeleton of an old barn. Sunlight streamed in through the missing wooden boards, as if it was mocking this settlement's depravity. A respectable looking wooden chair, probably the well-constructed thing she had seen in this place thus far, contained a despicable looking man who appeared to be in his forties and had long greasy brown hair and a graying beard that touched the top of his chest. A long scar ran from his forehead down to his chin on the right side of his face and his clothes were made out of brahmin leather and metal combat armor.
"What have you lot brought me? I thought I said that all armed outsiders were to be shot on sight" he growled at the guard who escorted them. "Outsiders are not to be trusted and there are many heading in this direction."
The guard bowed his head in what Anita presumed to be fear. "They have a peace offering for us. Plasma weapons, they say" the guard said quickly, slightly trembling in his captain's presence.
The captain arched an eyebrow in skepticism at the lot of them, clearly unconvinced of their intention to trade. "Tell me why you are willing to give up something as precious as plasma weapons for something as simple as food?"
"We have a long journey ahead, lots of mouths to feed" Veronica stated, her voice unwavering. "There's at least another thousand miles between here and our destination. Autumn is set to begin in a few weeks, not longer after that, winter will begin."
"Show me the weapons!" he demanded. "I don't give a damn about the poor fortune your people face, it's your own damn fault for traveling this late in the season" he said cruelly.
Anita nodded at Smith, who unsheathed his back-up plasma rifle and handed it to the captain to inspect. The acid-green pipework along the rifle and the carefully placed valves appeared to entrance the captain, who seemed to be impressed with the intricacy of it.
"How does such a thing kill a man?" his beady eyes looked at Smith.
Without hesitation Smith answered. "The plasma burns through the layers of the skin and makes death inevitable as the injuries it causes are difficult to heal" he explained coldly.
"Hm, interesting" the captain responded. Within a blink, he aimed the rifle at the guard that escorted them in and fired a gooey plasma round into the man's chest. The guard screamed until he went into what Anita assumed to be cardiac arrest.
She held her hand over her mouth to muffle the shriek she let out. Time seemed to stand still temporarily, fear of death took over her mind. This is not where I want to die she thought to herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the sunlight that was streaming into the barn turned to complete darkness, as if a cloud had blotted it out temporarily before it streamed back in. Loud turbulence filled the air as she turned to the rest of her squad.
"Captain, the big ship is outside!" one of the guards screamed as he rushed into the barn. "I think they mean business."
It can't be she thought. There's no way that any ship could have arrived here so fast. Elder Maxson actually came through for us.
The captain looked down at them in fury. "Let's see how much your friends care about you lot" he told them with a nasty grin. He looked to his remaining guards "make sure they don't leave" he commanded his guards. "Robert, you go out there and tell the leader that I wish to bargain" he told one of them.
Anita's heart beat so loud that she felt as if that was all she could hear. Sounds of everyone talking melded together in her mind. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours as she closed her eyes in terror. Waiting to hear if she was going to die or not was worse than being shot in the chest on a whim like the disgusting guard had been shot by his captain.
All her breaths were shallow until she opened her eyes and blinked twice in disbelief as she saw three paladins and a tall man in a long brown leather coat that couldn't have been much older than she was. That boy is leading the east coast brotherhood? She knew better than to let his youthful appearance fool her. Elder Maxson was a capable man, even if he was too idealistic for his own good, or so she had heard from Elder Casdin.
"Boy, who are you? Why are you here?" he snarled at Elder Maxson. "That bitch told me that she knew nothing of your ship. That damned fool believed her" he said, pointing at the plasma burned corpse of his old guard.
One of his guards grabbed her by her braided ginger hair and she let out a shriek as the guard's grip held her steady, and she was afraid to move. She swore she heard a knife unsheathe from the man's belt. Her body stilled in fear of having her throat slashed open, her eyes focusing on Elder Maxson.
Elder Maxson folded his arms across his broad chest, standing at least a foot taller than the captain if the man would get out of his chair. He walked forward to get closer to the captain while holding a look of emotional blankness on his youthful face. "I'd argue that I'm more a man than you are. I don't resort to barbarism to achieve success" he said coolly.
"Where I come from, boys like you respect your elders" the captain snarled back defensively. "I'll give you back this sorry lot in exchange for weapons and if you leave our village right now, along with the crops that are mostly free of bugs" he proposed to Elder Maxson.
Elder Maxson made unwavering eye contact with the captain. He gave him an uncanny smile and stayed silent for what felt like the longest five seconds to have ever occurred. "Your offer is tempting and generous" he commented.
Sighing, he continued on, his right hand reaching into his coat pocket. Before the Captain or his guards could react, Elder Maxson pulled out a small revolver and pulled the trigger, taking out the Captain instantly with a bullet to the brain. Taking the cue from him, his entourage of Paladins along with Moretti and Smith opened fire on the eight guards. Gunfire and screams started outside of the barn. Blood splattering all over her face, Anita felt relief as the guard holding her head back was taken out with a well-placed gunshot.
"Unfortunately for you all, the Brotherhood of Steel doesn't make bargains with degenerates" he informed the captain's corpse with an unwavering tone of neutrality. All eight of the guards laid dead on the ground, their blood coloring the barn's dirt floor. "Disgusting bastard."
Elder Maxson's reinforcements tore through the settlement, along with Elder McNamara's group of soldiers, killing all the guards who fired upon them within an hour. The stench of death filled the air outside. Elder Maxson led them all outside, to take a glimpse of the village to survey the damage dealt. The people who were working in the fields and making bricks looked terrified as they saw more Brotherhood soldiers pour into the settlement.
"No harm will come to any of you" he told the workers. "I had no interest in striking a bargain with the Captain, but, I'll give you weapons if we can have access to crops you're willing to sell" he offered them.
One of the workers stepped forwards to speak for the rest. "We have a deal" the short bony woman decided quickly. She reached out her right hand and Elder Maxson gripped it steadily and shook it quickly.
Elder Maxson turned around to look at Anita's squad. "Start-up your vertibird, the Prydwen awaits you all."
When Anita laid eyes on the Prydwen for the first time after Josh started the vertibird and flew towards the Prydwen, she almost felt the need to pinch her arm to make sure was in reality right now. The massive airship could fit hundreds of men and its existence alone was a massive feat of wasteland engineering. She was glad that her seatbelt was secure when the vertibird jolted violently as the electromagnets gripped the vertibird to dock it.
Taking her first step onto the Prydwen was an exhilarating experience, its loud engines whirring in her ears and a breeze whispering through her hair. She kept both of her hands on the railing while walking on the deck, until she reached what she presumed to be the main cabin. The immense scale of the Prydwen astounded her, High Elder Casdin wasn't lying when he said that it was practically an airborne base of operations. She made sure to watch her footing coming into the main cabin, she noticed that there was an enormous ladder that led into what she assumed to be the main living area. There was staircase in front of her that led downwards towards the main control area for the ship.
Just ahead there was a lounge-like area with couches and an intercom. An older yet grizzled fair-skinned man wearing a blue uniform Anita had never seen before gestured her and her squad to come forward. There was another man next to him, he was darker skinned and was wearing a charcoal gray officer's uniform. He held a clipboard and pencil in his hand and looked over all of the onboarding BOS members.
"Hello brothers and sisters of the west coast. My name is Lancer Captain Cahill, I'm second in command of the Prydwen. Elder Maxson wants everyone from the west coast to give their name and rank to Knight-Sergeant Gavil so his team can ensure that everyone has an assignment by the team we reach Adams Airforce base in Washington DC" Captain Cahill stated in a no nonsense manner.
"You first", he said as he pointed at Anita. "Name and position sister?" he asked while gripping his pen.
"Anita McNamara, scribe of the quill" she answered back. Gavil nodded at her and gestured the next person to come up next.
Not entirely sure where to go first, she climbed up the enormously wide ladder that led to the living quarters. Several knights walked around in combat armor worn over faded orange or drab green uniforms. She continued walking forward, she was getting close to the mess hall, which was rather compact and was only manned by two people. They both saluted her and continued cleaning dishes. She paid attention to the symbols spray painted on the walls, one of them signified the medical bay and across from it was the tiniest library she had ever seen. Amazingly enough, she could barely feel any turbulence, if she didn't know better, she almost would have believed she was back on the ground. A hand gently grabbed her left shoulder, startling her out of her thoughts. She smiled when she saw who it was.
"Uncle Nolan, I'm so glad to see you!" she said as she wrapped her arms around him for a quick hug. She noticed that he was thinner than usual, as if he had lost muscle mass as she stepped back.
"Anita, your squad saved us…I haven't eaten in two days" he whispered. "I was worried that we wouldn't last another week out there" he said quietly. "Your father would be proud."
She smiled sadly. "I'm glad I did the right thing" she whispered back. She looked over the crowd of oncoming people, seeing mostly familiar faces. "Why don't I see any of Paladin Hardin's group?" she asked quietly.
Uncle Nolan shook his head. "Total radio silence, Elder Casdin is with his group as well. They were behind us, haven't seen them in…about five days now. All I know is that we're missing two vertibirds, a weeks' worth of supplies, and about fifteen of our best Paladins" he explained softly.
"Actually, we're missing three vertibirds, Delta squad? They're gone, nothing for days now" Anita responded quietly.
"I'm discussing this tonight with Elder Maxon, you and your squad should be there too" he told her. "Joaquin and Chipeta are both doing well, I'm having both of them looked over in the med-bay. Poor girl has been through too much for someone her age, she's strong as steel though. She'll be a knight one day, mark my words" he told her proudly. He looked Anita over. "Go get yourself cleaned up, these are for you" he said as he handed her a neatly folded crimson red uniform.
Anita walked towards the sign marked showers, she honestly wasn't sure how the water supply worked onboard the Prydwen, but she wasn't going to question it if there were functional showers available, a luxury that she will never take for granted again in her life. The women's shower room appeared to have a few stalls available for her use at the moment. She got into the first shower stall and pulled the curtain shut. She set her new uniform in a little alcove that was out of reach of the stream of water and unclasped her locket, setting the delicate necklace on that pile. Eagerly she peeled off her formerly pristine gray scribe uniform that was stained, threadbare, and grimy. She almost didn't recognize her body when she looked down, her densely muscled body was now almost too skinny for her larger frame. Turning the water on practically made her skin sing in joy as grime was stripped away from her body and soap that light lavender notes created bubbles on her tanned skin. Undoing her hair from its braid, she grabbed a tiny amount of shampoo and massaged her scalp.
Feeling more rejuvenated than she had in months, she put on her new scribe uniform. It was more akin to a long tunic that draped over her body until halfway down her thigh that came with black pants. She was grateful that it included a leather belt that helped the tunic better fit her now slimmer frame. Barefoot, she walked down a flight of stairs to figure out the bed situation, which it appeared as if there was a mixture of beds and newly assembled cots. Beats sleeping on the ground she thought. Without much thought, she plopped her backpack on a cot and sat there for a while in silence before she saw Veronica and chatted with her for a few hours.
Lacing up her shoes that she decided she would clean later tonight, she headed towards the lounge area near the entrance, bumping into people along the way. She waited for a few minutes at the ladder that led downwards to the command center, people were still streaming onboard. It had been a few hours since her squad had boarded, it looked as if now, the last of the western BOS members had been processed through by Knight-Sergeant Gavil. Carefully placing her foot on the ladder, she climbed down quickly. Once she landed, she walked towards the command deck, which she assumed was the room with the couches.
Straightening out her uniform, she walked into the room and stood next to Uncle Nolan. Elder Maxon nodded at her and looked outside the dusty glass windows of the command deck. She folded her arms together and glanced around the room. Oddly enough, there were liquor bottles here, which is a sight she would have never expected to see at Lost Hills, as drinking was more taboo there. Gavil and Cahill walked into the room and stood next to Anita, Cahill looked at her as if he was wondering why she was even here.
Elder Maxon was silent for a few minutes before speaking, as if he was waiting for someone else to arrive. After letting out a sigh, he cleared his throat. "Where is Elder Casdin?" he asked in a flat, yet confused tone.
"Elder Casdin and most of the paladins that escorted him disappeared several days ago. They took two vertibirds and a weeks' worth of supplies. Without your support, I feared that we would have been starving by the time we passed Kansas City. I'm grateful for your aid, Elder Maxon" Nolan said respectfully.
"It wouldn't be right to abandon my western brothers and sisters, after all, I was born in California. Was there a reason that Elder Casdin would have disappeared? He was the supreme leader of all brotherhood chapters, it seems unlike him to abandon his duty" Elder Maxon explained.
"Permission to speak Elder Maxon?" Anita asked politely.
"Permission granted" he answered.
She took a deep breath before starting to speak. "When we were passing through Denver, Elder Casdin ordered a group of Paladins under Paladin Hardin's command to investigate the Denver International Airport" she explained. "There was strange technology in the tunnels below the airport…I saw two alien corpses there" she started to trail off, not wanting to think of that unpleasant memory.
She could tell that Elder Maxon wasn't an easy man to catch off guard, but she must have managed to do it with that story.
"You saw alien corpses?" he asked with an uncharacteristically shocked tone in his voice. "Gathering old-world technology is an important task, but it should never come at the risk of our most vulnerable members. If they make contact with us, I'm willing to let Elder Casdin and his group explain themselves; however they will all be stripped of their ranks until they can all be proven trustworthy" Elder Maxon stated calmly.
"A fair verdict" Lancer-Captain Cahill said in agreement. "If they are going to make contact they only have about seven days until we reach Adams. We have a favorable eastern wind" he added.
Over an hour passed as the meeting went on, Anita stood there, waiting for the meeting to be over. Gavil was hashing out the supply details with her uncle and Elder Maxon; Lancer-Captain Cahill left to address an issue that arisen in the control center. If she had to stand here for another hour while there were perfectly good couches just there to the sides of the room, she felt as if she would fall asleep on her feet. For just a moment, she shut her eyes and tuned out her uncle and Elder Maxon discussing how the western BOS would be integrated into the eastern chapter. Only a few minutes had passed, but it felt like hours to Anita.
"You look quite enthused, Scribe McNamara" Elder Maxon said dryly. He gave her a smirk before continuing on. "According to Elder McNamara, you have a great interest in all kinds of history along with a decent grasp of working on terminals. You're going to be working with Proctor Jameson once we reach Washington DC" he informed her. "Proctor Jameson has been working on archiving the library of congress, a task, which I believe will be well-suited for you" he added.
She nodded respectfully in agreement. "Elder Maxon, you do me a great honor" she responded with a smile.
He nodded back. "The moon is high in the sky, I think it is time for this meeting to be adjourned" he announced, to everyone's relief.
Anita was the first to leave as she climbed back up to the main living area of the ship and made her way to the humble cot she had claimed. She never would have thought that the scratchy canvas would be so welcome to her poor back; however this cot compared to the ground felt like the most luxurious mattress on which her body had laid. Sleep practically claimed her in a few eye blinks.
Author's Note: Thank you everyone for the views and the comments! I'm shocked at how well this story is doing and I'm having so much fun writing it. Also, I realized that I misspelled Maxon's name multiple times…oof lol.