CHAPTER 5: HIGHWAY TO BATTLE.
"Any halfway clever devil would decorate the highway to Hell as beautiful as possible." -Criss Jami.
February 24/2296
The morning came over the Wasteland, Louis' Pip-Boy rumbled him awake. The group looked at the dead Nightshrieker on the road as Doug gave one of them a hard kick.
"Don't ever wake me again!" Doug shouted as he kicked it again, breaking a few ribs.
"I'm sure it's dead, Doug." Joe said to him. "Don't break your foot."
Victoria was kneeling in front of one and cutting out its fangs with a combat knife. "These things have some value. People like to use their fangs for all kinds of things." she pulled the bloody fangs out.
"Just goes to show that everything has a use..." Louis shrugged.
The four continued their trip through the highway, the sun beaming down on them. They were now in Richmond that bordered with the next state.
Their walk was peaceful, Louis turned the radio of his Pip-Boy on so they could listen to music to pass the time. Doug practiced his quick draw with his sawed-off, he rapidly pulled the trigger to fire both hammers of the unloaded gun. Joe hummed an old song to himself and put on a pair of sunglasses. Victoria did a few practice draws with her bow, and when she was done, she did a couple of practice shots with her empty .223 pistol.
"You're a little off." Louis suddenly said to her.
Victoria frowned a little. "What do you mean I'm off?"
"I mean your aim is a little low." Louis went over and grabbed her hands and raised them. "Always look down the sights, and keep your gun leveled. Have you ever even used a gun before?"
"I've gotten my hands on one a few before. But Jeremiah always got it away from me." Victoria sighed as she pulled the trigger a few times.
"You just need some practice with guns." Louis left her to continue. "But why did you choose a bow as well?"
"The village I came from used bows and such for hunting. My father was teaching me how to use one before..." Victoria lowered her gun. "Anyway, I was pretty good at. But I'm still a little out of practice."
"You took down a rabbit and several Nightshriekers in the dark. I'm glad you're on our side, I would hate to be on the other end of your arrow when you're experienced enough..." Doug chuckled a little.
"How much farther is this highway supposed to be? I don't like being on such a high and unstable platforms." Joe asked with a grumble.
"I checked the map a little while ago. We should reach the end in a few hours, as long as there isn't any problems along the way." Louis answered the Ghoul.
The group soon passed some cars and a semi truck with a full car carrier trailer, all of them rusted away. "Man, what a waste. Those cars were brand new and on their way to a car dealership." Joe sighed in disappointment.
"What's a dealership?" Victoria asked him.
"A place where people buy cars. I bought my first car when I was like...twenty or something." Joe answered her. "I wish I remember the model. It was a basic model, nothing too fancy."
Doug walked pass a piece of sheet metal propped against an old car and noticed something on it. He stopped in his tracks and saw a painting of a skull with an X on the forehead and a stitch pattern at the mouth. His eyes went wide and quickly grabbed his shotgun. "Holy fucking shit! Everyone, get down!"
They stopped and looked to Doug and saw the painting. "Oh, fuck! Is that what I think it is?" Louis pointed to the painting.
"The fucking Gunners! Those shitheads are nothing but trouble." Joe pulled out his combat shotgun.
Victoria loaded her 12.7mm SMG. "The Gunners? I've heard of them, they're like some kind of mercenary group, right?"
"They're well organized and trained. But in the end, they're just a bunch of Raiders with advanced weapons, armor, and robots." Doug answered her.
"Shit. Can we go back? Maybe take another route?" Louis asked as he crouched.
"That will take too long. We've already lost enough time as it is on this highway." Joe scanned around for movement.
"But if this is Gunner territory, why haven't we seen any of them?" Victoria asked, ready for anything. "Maybe they moved on to somewhere else."
"That's a possibility. But we need to stay low, I'll keep an eye on my Pip-Boy for any threats." Louis raised his left arm while pulling out his Desert Eagle. "This is one hell of a way to get off this highway."
"Then let's get going already. The last thing I want to do is get killed by a bunch of gun loving nut jobs." Joe grumbled with his shotgun ready. "I could really use a smoke right about now."
The four had no other choice but to press on. They had their weapons ready for an attack, even as far as the state they came from, a lot of people knew who the Gunners were. An order of dangerous mercenaries for hire that were known to attack strangers on sight if they didn't know them. Nobody knew how they managed to stay on top and get access to prewar weapons and armor and even robots. Another hour passed as the group finally saw the end of the highway that would lead back to ground level, and the only thing ahead of them was a number of cars and trucks.
"Look at that, guys! We're almost to the end of the highway!" Louis pointed ahead.
"Maybe the Gunners did move on after all." Doug sighed in relief. "Now let's get off this road before we-"
Two gunshots rang out across the land as Louis and Doug fell to the ground. The Vault dweller started bleeding from his right shoulder as the Wastelander clutched his left leg above the knee. They heard the sound of cheering and shouting and looked towards the wreckage pile. The cars in front started moving aside to open up the highway road, several other car piles were lowered by cables and revealed hidden structures and walkways of a fort building a little under two stories. Four gray flags were lowered on the front, all of them with the Gunners' symbol on it. The group then saw around fourteen people emerge, they were dressed in dull green armor of various types, some missing complete sets. And they all had advanced weapons, some dating back to before the Great War.
"Woohooo! Look at what we got here!" a man stepped out from the top of the structure. "Been awhile since we've had some fools come up on our highway!" he shouted, the other Gunners laughing at the group. He wore heavy combat armor from head to toe, and had two assault rifles on his back.
Joe and Victoria dragged Louis and Doug behind a concrete guard, they left behind a small trail of blood. They pulled out two stimpaks and injected them near the wounds, the bullets popped out from the wounds before they fully closed up.
"Fuck! That stings so much!" Louis hissed in pain, the area near the wound going numb for a minute. "And I just had my jumpsuit sleeve mended from that snake bite."
"This was a trap! The Gunners made it seem like they left the area and think it's safe! And then anyone walking down the highway would come right up to their doorstep." Doug cursed them while rubbing his leg.
"What do we do? We have to retreat or they'll kill us!" Victoria suggested.
"No. They will have a few snipers posted at the top." Joe warned before looking through the scope of his hunting rifle. "If their victims could simply run away, then nobody would come here."
"So we have the choice of getting shot to death by sniper fire, jump off the side of the highway to our deaths, or go to our deaths at their doorstep." Louis spoke and peeked his head up for a second. "Loving our options."
"And here's an option. I'm putting a bullet through that one asshole's head." Joe said before pulling the trigger.
His bullet flew and hit a Gunner on the lower platform. He fell off the side and hit the road at the foot of the fortress. "Patrick! They fucking killed Patrick! And we just recruited him a month ago!" the leader shouted with anger and looked back to the group. "Congratulations! You fuckers just dug your own graves!"
Several of the Gunners open fire on the group, the concrete guard was pelted with many bullet holes. The four ducked down from the gunshots as the guard started to crack.
"What are you doing?! Stop firing, don't shoot unless you can hit them!" the Gunner leader yelled at them.
"Strange, I'm getting the feeling they don't have much ammo. The Gunners aren't known to go easy on it." Doug pulled out his Winchester rifle.
"Maybe they splintered off from another group. I've always heard Gunners usually make their bases in better places than this." Victoria suggested and readied her weapon.
"That's possible, but we're not exactly loaded to the teeth either." Louis said as he looked over the guard for a moment. Another one tried to shoot him and ducked back down. "But maybe we can take advantage of that."
"How? There's a ton of them, they got better guns, and they got us pinned down!" Joe snapped at him. "I hate to say it, but there's no way out of this!"
"There has to be a way to push through! We can't give up now!" Victoria nock an arrow to her bow. "And I sure as fuck not going to die here!"
"I got it! We make their little pretend fortress collapse!" Louis spoke up with a grin. "All that extra weight must be putting a strain on the structure!"
"Oh, that's a great plan, Louis! Except...it's a fortress! And they have it heavily guarded! How the hell are we suppose to make it collapse?!" Doug snapped at him.
Louis pointed down the road to a gated section near the rails of the highway. "That's a service entrance. It leads right under the road where all the supports are. A few well placed bombs could send that fortress collapsing to the ground!"
"We don't have any explosives!" Joe frowned at him. "Unless you have them stuffed up your ass!"
The Vault dweller reached into his side pouch and pulled out a grenade. "These grenades have a timer on the bottom that can go up to three minutes. All you have to do is turn the knob and pull the pin. I got around a dozen of them, so take them all."
Victoria took the pouch and looked at the grenades. "Are you sure about this? If the highway collapses, we might not be able to pass it."
"That's a risk we're gonna have to take. Better to backtrack then get a body full of bullets." Louis checked his Desert Eagle. "I'll distract these guys, who wants to help me?"
"I'll give you a hand. I'm good at shooting from a distance." Joe volunteered.
"Alright. Victoria and Doug will plant the grenades, we'll draw their fire." Louis peeked his head above the concrete cover. "Hey! I want to have a dialogue with you bastards!" he called out to get the Gunners' attention.
"Why would we talk to you?!" the leader cackled. "We're gonna kill you and dumb your bodies off the highway!"
Doug and Victoria started crawling on the road, making sure to stay low and close to the vehicles. "I'm serious! I just want to know how you guys built that fortress out of junk!" Louis continued to talk.
"Watch your mouth, before I string you up by your guts and let the animals feed off you!" the Gunner leader shouted as he fired a few shots at them.
The bullets hit the concrete guard. "Fucking trigger happy asshole!" Louis growled before raising his arm over the cover and fired a few shots. One bullet managed to get a gunner in the head through the eye. "And there's plenty more where that came from! You want some bullets in you?! Bring it!" he yelled with a deranged tone.
"When I get my hands on you, I'm gonna shove a missile up your ass and fire you from a launcher!" the Gunner leader shouted and looked down to his men and women. "Shoot them! Destroy that pitiful road guard they're cowering behind!"
The Gunners opened fire on them, Louis and Joe quickly rolled to another hiding spot. The mercs thankfully didn't see that there was two of them missing for now. One of the Gunners fired at them with an LMG, the bullets breaking chunks off the road. Joe rolled out from behind a car and fired four shots off, he managed to hit one of the Gunners in the throat, followed by another in the gut, and one more in his hand as the last bullet missed. Louis leaped from his hiding spot and fired at the man with the LMG and got him in the side of the shoulder before ducking back down.
The Gunner leader picked up a sniper rifle and started shooting at them blindly. The bullets were of high caliber, each shot punched through the road with ease. Louis and Joe split up as more Gunners started shooting at them while they took cover, waiting for another opening.
Doug and Victoria made it to the service entrance, it had a rusty lock pad with chains tied around. The Wastelander pulled out some bobby pins and started working on the lock.
"I'm worried about them. They're outnumbered and outgunned. What if we don't collapse the road in time?" Victoria asked quietly and looked back to the gunfire.
"Don't worry, Louis is very good at not getting shot. Well...usually." Doug answered as he undid the lock. "And perfect, we're in!" he pulled the rusty chain off.
The two ran down the stairs and was soon under the highway, they could still hear the gunshots and yelling above them. Bits of concrete rained down on them as they ran down the rusty walkway. The two started to look over the structure and find where the Gunner camp was.
"Did we by any chance get an estimate of where the Gunners were?" Victoria suddenly asked him about the fort's location.
Doug looked up to the ceiling for a moment. "Shit...I forgot about that..." he chuckled nervously at his mistake.
The two suddenly heard the dull thud of an explosion that rumbled the structure. "Holy shit! Are they shooting explosives at them?!" Victoria shouted in surprise.
()()()
"Holy shit! They're shooting explosives at us!" Louis shouted as bits of concrete rained on him at their hiding place.
"I should have gone with Doug and Victoria!" Joe groaned.
()()()
"They're not going to last much longer. We gotta hurry!" Doug was about to walk ahead as he suddenly spotted four Gunners ahead. "Dammit! Get down!" he grabbed Victoria's arm as the two crouched behind cover.
"Fuck! We have to watch the bottom while everyone else gets to shoot those people!" one of them moaned.
Another Gunner was twirling a knife. "I heard one of them was a fine ass redhead! I've always wanted to fuck the shit out of a redhead!"
"And one if them has a Pip-Boy! I heard those are worth a lot of caps to the right person." the next Gunner snickered.
"I just want to kill them and hang their bodies up!" the last Gunner laughed. "We can use them as target pra-"
Victoria's arrow went right through the side of his neck before his body fell off the side of the rails to the ground below. The other three Gunners turned to their attackers as another received an arrow in the stomach. Doug leaped in with his 9mm and fired several rounds, talking out another Gunner by hitting him in his vulnerable areas. The last Gunner was about to fire as Victoria emptied all five rounds from her .223 in him, most of the bullets hit the Gunner in the chest.
"I really hope they didn't hear all that..." Doug said while passing the fallen Gunners.
"I doubt it, I can still hear the gunfire from above." Victoria pulled her arrow out from the Gunner's stomach, he wheezed in pain before she stabbed him through the throat with the tip.
"But if there's guards here, then that means we're near the underside of the fort." Doug said as they looked up to see various cables and metal struts holding up the support. "Jackpot! Let's get to work!"
The two started taking out the grenades and looked for the best spots to place the timed grenades. "I think we should put these at the edges of the road. That will cause the weight from up above to bring it down." Doug said as he turned the knob on the bottom.
Doug and Victoria started placing the armed grenades near the struts and crevices of the supports, they needed to move quickly, the timers were ticking as both of them placed the last of the dozen or so grenades in the right spots before running as fast as they could to where the service entrance was.
()()()()
Louis and Joe were pinned down behind a truck, they had ran out of cover. Just about every form of vehicle in the area was covered in bullet holes. The Gunner leader looked through the scope of his rifle, he finally had the two right were he wanted them and took aim. But he suddenly lowered his scope and realized something. "Hold the fuck on! Where's the redhead bitch and zombie?!" he started looking around the area.
An explosion rang out from underneath, the Gunners stopped firing as they heard another and another, all within a few seconds of each other. The highway below the fortress began to crack, the sound of metal twisting and concrete crumbling only got louder as some of the fortress structure started to fall. Louis and Joe looked up from their hiding spot, the Gunners started to panic as more of the fortress spilled over the side, taking several of them with it. An explosion was seen at the right side, most likely from some form of generator. The Gunner leader yelled with rage and started climbing down the structure to the ground floor to retrieve his special weapon.
Doug and Victoria spotted the two behind the car. "Oh good! They're alive!" Doug said as he turned to Victoria. "Looks like I owe you twenty caps..."
Louis happily stood up. "I take it that all was your awesome work, right guys?"
"No, that was the other guys. They beat us to the punch." Doug answered sarcastically.
The metal sheet doors of the makeshift fortress collapsed, giving them the opening they needed. "The doors are opened! Literally! Let's get the fuck out of here!" Joe shouted and fired another shot that hit a Gunner in the head.
The four made a beeline for the opening and ran inside the collapsing fortress. The cracks on the road were only becoming bigger as more pieces of metal and junk fell. They passed a few Gunners that were fleeing for their lives, and even one that was on fire and screaming in pain.
Louis fired his Desert Eagle and hit a Gunner in the chest. "Seriously, how many of these guys have been squatting here?!"
"Too many! I thought these assholes were for hire!" Doug raised his shotgun and fired a shell.
"Look, the other end is over there!" Joe pointed ahead of them.
Victoria heard metal clanking and stopped, the other three noticed as they saw something coming. "No, they have one of those damn things too?!"
A robot came out from the corner, it was an Assaultron class. Its dark green body had the Gunner's mark painted on its chest. Its head turned to them and locked on, the red lense lighting up as its three prong claws clanked together and started running for the four. Most people knew just how dangerous an Assaultron could be, it had various models and a knowledge of many weapons and even a laser cannon in its head. The four began to split up, the Assaultron couldn't attack all of them at once. Doug fired two shells from his shotgun as Victoria took out her 10mm SMG and fired away. Joe whipped out his revolver and loaded stronger caliber bullets before firing, Louis steadied his Desert Eagle and aimed for the head.
The Assaultron swiped its clawed clamps at Louis, barely missing him as Doug came in with his fire axe and drove the blade into its back. The military robot surged with electricity as it turned and grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. Joe fired two rounds from his revolver and managed to hit the Assaultron in the exposed area under the arm, causing it to drop the Wastelander. Victoria emptied her clip and loaded a new one as the Assaultron charged for her, it was about to grab her as Louis fired a few rounds into its back with his Desert Eagle. It turned to him and reached out, managing to grab him by the throat and lift him off the ground as its head laser cannon started to charge up. It was aimed directly for him.
"Not good! Not good!" Louis strained to say as its laser was about to fire.
"Hey, metal head!" Victoria called out.
The Assaultron turned to her just as she let loose an arrow. It struck into the lense and caused a short-circuit, the military robot dropped Louis as it started to stagger around. Doug came in and pulled out his fire axe, Joe gave it a few more shots from his combat shotgun. The area started to give way, more chunks of the road started to fall as the spot the Assaultron stood collapsed. It fell but quickly grabbed on to a piece of rebar that was sticking out, its processor started to recalibrate as Louis walked over to it with a smile. He raised his boot and stomped on its clawed hand and broke it, the Assaultron's grip gave way and it fell to the ground below.
"That...was too close." Louis panted while watching the Assaultron hit the ground below.
"How's your neck?" Doug asked him.
"A little sore, nothing rum can't fix..." Louis answered while rubbing it. "Now let's get the fuck out of here."
"The only way you people are leaving here is in pieces!" the four turned to see the Gunner leader step out with heavy thuds. He wore a Power Armor suit, the model was unrecognizable. It was heavily modified with spikes and the Gunner's symbol plastered on the chest and helmet. In his hands was a new LMG meant to be mounted on a military vehicle. "It took us five years to gather the parts and build this fort! And you cocksuckers ruin it in less than an hour! I'm gonna stomp you into paste under my Power Armor feet!"
"This place is going to collapse any minute! Get out before it's too late!" Joe aimed his rifle at him, despite knowing it might not do much good. "Before we put you down for good."
"No! Either you all die, or we die together!" the Gunner leader aimed at them. "I can't go back to the faction I used to be with! So I'm a dead man anyway!"
"Not unless we kill you first!" Louis opened fire with his assault rifle, but the bullets bounced off the armor as everyone spread out.
The Gunner leader opened fire with his LMG, his aim was wild and filled with rage. The whole area was pelted with bullet holes as the group took cover. They had several close calls as they tried to attack, Victoria fired two arrows at once and they only bounced off the suit. Louis empted his assault rifle as Doug fired both shots from his sawed-off, he used the incendiary shells and set the Power Armor on fire. But the fire died out quickly as the Gunner leader laughed, he turned and smacked Doug with his weapon and sent him to the ground. Joe fired a few rounds from his hunting rifle and managed to hit one of the weaker sections of the body. Doug rolled over with his shotgun loaded with two new shells and fired at the back of the knee, the Gunner leader buckled from the shot as his ammo started to run out. Victoria shot another arrow and managed to get a hit under the shoulder plating and caused the Gunner leader to have a hard time moving it.
"Is this the best you can do?!" the Gunner leader shouted as his ammo ran out and started to reload it. "I'm gonna kill you all here and now!"
Louis came in and grabbed on to his back. "Guess who?!" he asked as if he was playing.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?! This isn't a game, you shithead!" the Gunner leader shouted as he managed to shake Louis off and turned to grab him by the collar of his Vault suit and tossed him to the pavement.
The Vault dweller slammed into a nearby wall, the wind knocked hard out of him as he hit the ground. He knew a few of his ribs were cracked from the blow and struggled to roll over.
The Gunner leader finally loaded a new ammo case and aimed it right at him. "I'm gonna enjoy filling your ass with lead! And then I'm gonna take that Pip-Boy as a trophy!"
Louis looked up to him and began to chuckle. "That armor...it's very impressive. It's thanks to Power Armor this country won against the Chinese invasion in Anchorage that ended in January of 2076."
"And your point?..." the Gunner leader was about to fire as an alert went off in his helmet.
"My point is..." Louis held up the fusion core. "Those suits are only useful when they got power. Without this...it's just a giant hunk of metal. A useless suit..."
The Gunner leader's Power Armor went dead, and Louis managed to stick a piece of metal into the wheel ring around where the core would go to jam it from opening up. The suit went limp and slumped forward, the Gunner leader screamed and thrashed about inside. Victoria and Doug went over to help Louis up as Joe lit a cigarette and puffed smoke in the Gunner leader's armored face.
The Vault dweller was lifted to his feet as Doug and Victoria slung his arms over their shoulders. "That was so fucking stupid, Louis! You don't need to get yourself hurt like that, especially against someone in Power Armor!" Doug said to him.
"Nothing's broken, Doug. I'll just be a little sore, so relax." Louis half smiled, shrugging off the pain.
"I think he hit his head a little too hard..." Victoria stated.
The area started to rumble again, the supports for the area were starting to crumble in their area as well. "Time to go!" Joe called to them and ran.
More of the structure started to fall all around them, the Gunner fortress had almost completely collapsed. The four left the Gunner leader where he stood as the area around him gave out, they could hear his faint scream from within the Power Armor as it fell. The four passed through the exit of the fort as they shot down any remaining Gunners that tried to stop them.
The group ran down the highway as the last of the fort fell. Nothing remained except for various sections of the highway and scrap parts and dead Gunners. They didn't stop running until they reached the bottom of the highway and back on to solid ground. The four then looked back to the fort, smoke filled the sky above it with the sound of creaking metal and rubble falling to the ground.
The Gunner fort was no more, the small group sat down on a large rock to catch their breaths and look over their remaining ammo and gear. Louis used a stimpak to heal his cracked ribs since he started having a hard time breathing. "So...that was fun..." he said to them.
"We're alive. That's what matters." Victoria sighed in relief.
"Too bad we can't loot the place. If that highway was unstable before, it won't stand much longer..." Joe sighed over the lost loot and finished his cigarette.
"At least those bastards won't have anymore victims to attack. I'll drink to that..." Doug crossed his arms in victory.
Louis stood back up and stretched to see if his ribs have fully healed. "Much better. Now that we have passed through this horrible highway, we can finally get into the next state."
"As long as no one shoots at us..." Doug slung his Winchester over his shoulder.
The group continued on for another hour until they came up to what they wanted to see. A large and faded sign that said, 'WELCOME TO MASSACHUSETTS'.
It was a state with a long and interesting history, the capital of Massachusetts was the stage to an event between four powerful factions that changed the very foundation of the land several years ago. All thanks to a Vault dweller. But despite the peace, tensions were still high in some places. The people that lived in the state have heard a lot about what has happened between the Institute, the Brotherhood of Steel, the Minutemen, and the Railroad, and people still had mixed feeling about each faction's roll in making the state a better place, along with the very things they believed in.
"Here we are! Massachusetts!" Louis said to the group with his arms outstretched to the sign.
"Do we really have to go through here? I've heard things. Disturbing things." Doug asked with worry, he had heard of the Synths roaming the state.
"This is the best route we can take, Doug. We're in Warwick, not Boston." Louis looked to him. "And besides, I've heard there's peace between all those factions. Despite how impossible that seems."
"I doubt we got anything to worry about. Or at least I don't..." Joe smiled.
"Why's that?" Victoria asked him.
"I've never heard of Ghouls being replaced, if you know what I mean..." Joe chuckled deeply.
"Actually, I don't..." Victoria looked confused.
Louis clapped his hands together. "Come on, guys. Let's keep moving. The signal is still ahead..."
"But first, let's hit up a nearby town. And hit up a bar with whatever passes as a beer around these parts." Doug said as they crossed into the state. "And don't call us a gang."
The four had their first real battle as a team, but many fights were still around the next corner. And a lot of it far worse than Gunners and Raiders. But for now, they needed to pass through the state that became one of many places that made groundbreaking history in the country since the bombs dropped.
