Jason moved slowly, taking great care to not further injure or exhaust himself. After about an hour, he reached the Super-Duper Mart. It was a large, ugly, rectangular building. Whatever bright colors might have once improved the outward appearance of the superstore had faded away long ago. Rusted vehicles and shopping carts were scattered about in the parking lot.
Two dead raiders lay on the ground. A ball-shaped robot was projecting the voice of the self-proclaimed president, John Henry Eden. Eden mentioned something about the Enclave being the last vestige of truth in America. Jason didn't pay much attention to the robot though. He was a little busy staring at the mutilated bodies hanging from chains affixed to the superstore.
"Raiders," Jason growled. "No matter where I go, it's always raiders. This is probably a bad place to look for food and medicine for Moira… but I'm going in anyway. Alright raiders, here I come."
Jason opened a door and snuck inside. Before him stood an old Nuka-Cola vending machine. A faint, purple glow shone from somewhere above the dispenser. Jason reached into the vending machine and retrieved a Nuka-Cola Quantum. He placed it in his backpack before moving to hide behind a corner.
Jason cringed as he accidentally kicked a shopping cart. A raider heard the noise and made her way in his direction. He hid behind the wall until she rounded the corner. She carried a hunting rifle in her hands, and she had a knife sheathed at her hip. He drew the knife and slit her throat before she could react. He attached the sheathe to his own hip and sheathed the knife. Then, he took the hunting rifle. It was in poor condition, but it was the only weapon he possessed with decent range at that time.
Jason peeked around the corner to get his bearings. One raider walked between the aisles and the bathrooms. Another raider walked on top of a shelf, hunting rifle at the ready. Jason ducked back behind the corner just before the man on the shelf spotted him.
"I guess there's no way to avoid noise now," Jason thought. "I won't get anywhere without that raider seeing me unless I take him out. Unfortunately, I can't take him out without a gun."
Jason drew the hunting rifle. He checked that it was loaded and took a deep breath. He carefully poked his head out from cover. The raiders were turned away from him for the moment. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jason crept out from cover. Keeping his rifle trained on the raider up above, he stole toward the bathrooms. The second raider reached the end of the shelf and began to turn. Before he could finish turning around, Jason pulled the trigger. BANG!
Blood sprayed as the raider went flying off the side of the shelf. The other raider whirled around just in time to be knocked upside the head with the butt of Jason's rifle. He staggered as Jason swung his rifle again. This time the rifle connected with the raider's temple. CRACK! Blood poured from the wound as the raider crumpled to the ground.
Jason heard shouting from all over the store. He dashed over to the bathrooms, ducking into the men's room. The men's room was devoid of raiders much to Jason's relief. He took the various drugs he found lying about and tried to flush them down one of the toilets.
"No running water," Jason whispered to himself. "Fantastic."
"What happened to these two?" Jason heard a raspy voice say.
"Someone must have killed them and ran once they realized there were more of us," said a deep, gravelly voice.
"Oh well," said the first voice. "You idiots got yourselves killed."
Jason breathed a sigh of relief. "They're not the only idiots in the building," he whispered. "There's you lot… and then there's me: the idiot who walked into a store, knowing full well that it was infested with raiders. I guess I just can't let you murderers live."
Jason quickly confirmed that the women's bathroom was empty before retracing his steps to the entrance. The bathrooms had not been a good vantage point. He crawled past the check out lines. The cash registers had all been broken into. A few of them had been knocked over, their paper contents spilling out onto the filthy floor.
He soon reached a room on the far end of the store from the bathrooms. Inside, he found a few stimpaks, a few caps, a strange-looking mine, several energy cells, and a laser pistol. He decided not to worry about the laser pistol, preferring his firearms instead.
"Hey!" A raspy female voice exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
Jason whirled around just to get bashed in the face with a baton. His head on fire, blood trickled into his left eye. He drew his newfound knife and lunged forward. CRACK! The baton connected painfully with Jason's shoulder. He grabbed the raider's arm and drove his knife up under her ribcage. A stifled cry gurgled in her throat as she slumped to the ground.
During the fight, a box had been knocked open. Inside the box was a key and another strange mine. Jason took the box's contents and staggered out of the room into the main store area. Still clutching the knife, Jason moved toward the back of the Super-Duper Mart. Jason froze as he heard a shotgun cock.
"So you're the fool who's been killing my friends, huh?"
Jason looked up to see a man with a sawed-off shotgun standing on top of one of the shelves.
"You're gonna pay now, little boy," the raider spat.
A slobbery piece of chew landed on Jason's upturned face. The putrid juices seeped into the wound from the other raider's baton. Jason cried out as his wound burned. Hegrowled and grabbed the raider's foot. Jason yanked the man's leg out from underneath him. POW! An ear-shattering blast reverberated throughout the entire mart as the raider tumbled the ground. As he fell, the raider hit his head on a group of old cans sitting on the shelf. The disturbed cans fell on him as his head smacked the floor.
Jason pried the shotgun out of the raider's cold, dead hands. He quickly searched the raider's pockets for his shotgun shells and reloaded the shotgun. Jason ducked into a hallway where he found spare ammo and frag mines. After loading up, he moved through the halls as quickly as his injured body would allow him to.
Many agonizing steps later, Jason reached the door to the storage room. He grabbed the doorknob which refused to budge. Jason hit his head on the door.
"Of course it's locked," he groaned. Jason pulled out a lockpick. Then, he looked over at the computer next to the door. Wires connected the computer monitor to the door. "Forget this," he said. Jason pulled out the shotgun, took a step back, and blasted the doorknob into the next century.
Jason whirled as he heard a soft patter of footsteps. He saw a flash of brown dart out the door.
"Maybe I should stop him," Jason thought. "He seems to be the last of these raiders. Then again, I think it's time I finally figured out whether there's any actual food or medicine in this stupid place."
Jason threw open the busted door and marched inside the storage room.
"Finally," Jason said.
A first-aid kit was mounted to the wall in front of him, and a fridge was on the far wall. Interestingly, an old robot was sitting in storage next to a computer. Jason grabbed the medicine and food and the four nuka-cola quantums he found in a box, finally ready to take it back to Moira.
He took a few steps toward the door when he heard several people moving around.
"Hey, something's not right here," a burly male voice growled.
"I'll say," a raspy female voice replied. "Half our crew is in pieces!"
Jason peeked around the doorframe. Four raiders were approaching. One had climbed up on the shelves with a hunting rifle. Jason whirled and hurried to the computer. He began hacking as footsteps drew nearer. Finally, he managed to get in. He activated the robot and moved to the back corner of the room.
The cylinder containing the robot slid open, and the robot stepped out. It clanked as it walked. It babbled in its robotic voice about protecting the mall. It walked out of the closet.
"Hold it right there," it said as it opened fire.
It quickly dispatched one of the raiders. It did not make it much farther, however, as the next raider had a combat shotgun. She blasted it in its face three times before the robot collapsed in a heap of scrap metal on the ground. Electricity crackled as smoke rose from the robot.
"Guess I have to do everything myself," Jason said.
Jason drew his hunting rifle. He aimed from the doorway and shot the raider with the shotgun in the head. He cocked the gun and took aim again. BLAM! The raider atop the shelves careened to the floor with a crash of cans and boxes. The fourth raider was not in sight.
Jason crept over to the first raider he shot. He dropped the sawed-off shotgun and picked up the combat shotgun. The combat shotgun looked like it was in better condition and it could hold more rounds at a time. Jason carefully searched the rest of the Super-Duper Mart. Finding no one, he walked outside.
He heard a cry of rage as a raider leapt on him. Jason drew his knife and stabbed it into the man's abdomen as they fell to the ground. The man raised a knife. Jason caught his arm and retrieved his knife from the raider's gut. Jason stabbed the man's neck before getting back up.
"Well," he thought. "That band of raiders can't hurt anyone anymore. Too bad all the Super-Duper Mart has been stripped of its resources. Moira won't be very happy about that. Oh well. Time to head back to Megaton."