Today was a long, eventful day.
It started at the crack of dawn when we headed out of Diamond City to go back up to the Red Rocket where I had left the T-45. I guess raiders don't get up that early because the only people we ran into were the ladies at Oberland Station who had just woken up and were getting breakfast around. They doted over Dog and invited me to share their breakfast. My timing with these two is impeccable. After a good hearty breakfast, we headed north and stopped in at Greygarden to do a little trading. Loaded with fresh fruit and veggies, we made my way back up to Concord a little before noon. As we approached the Red Rocket, Dog stopped and made a low growling sound.
After the mire lurk debacle, I stopped as well. I pulled the .44 out and started to move slowly towards the station. That was about the time that Preston Garvey poked his head around a corner and said "Don't shoot!" I let him know that I was setting up shop in Diamond City and that he was more than welcome to come down any time. He thanked me and then asked for a favor. A passing caravan had told him about a settlement at ten Pines Bluff that needed help with a raider problem. He explained that he wanted a little more time to get everyone settled in at Sanctuary and was hoping that I could look into it for him. I really didn't want to, but he seemed so pathetic. He had apparently been looking for me and waiting at the Red Rocket off and on for 3 days. I agreed to take care of it for him, but also informed him that it might be a bit before I got back to him about it, due to my getting settled in. If I met up with a trader or caravan heading his way, I would let him know quicker.
Just as a note - I think that Sturges is more than capable of dealing with things if Garvey were to leave for a day or two. I think what is really going on is that Garvey feels guilty about what happened at Quincy and feels that he owes this group more than her really does. Hell, he got them this far. A bitch, a depressed lump, and a crazy old lady... yeah, I am about 90% sure that the old Sturge can handle that. Though I do give both he and Preston props for not putting a bullet in Marcy's head yet and telling Jun that it was raiders. I dealt with her for about 5 hours and I wanted to kill her.
After I loaded into the T-45 it took me about half and hour to make Dog understand that it was still me. With that out of the way we walked over to Ten Pines Bluff and ended up taking out 5 raiders and two mean ass dogs enroute. More goodies to sell and meat to cook as far as I am concerned. I will mention that I was slightly irritated when I came across a skeleton propped against an old well that just happened to have a pristine .44 snub nose and about 2 dozen rounds of ammo in a suitcase nearby. Now the real test of how fair Arturo is will be run. For as much business that I have been doing with him, the caps better be good.
I found a man and a woman at Ten Pined that had set up a respectable little mato growing operation that we being harassed by raiders. Between stealing their crop and extorting caps, I was actually looking forward to meeting these dickheads. One of the raiders had mentioned getting back to "Corvega", so I was confident that I knew exactly where to find them. I figured out the travel time and it looked like it would only take me about an hour out of my way and that I could still get back to Home Plate before nightfall if it took less than 2 hours to take care of the raider issue. All I needed to do was drop south to the old cemetery and then follow the road into Lexington.
For some reason, I decided it would be good to have a little travelling music and popped up the old pi8p boy to see if DC radio was in range. I found an odd and unexpected broadcast and tuned in to it to discover that someone or something called "Casdin Caravan" was actually broadcasting from near the old boneyard and that they were selling meds. I was down to 7 stimpacks and with some of the crap I have experienced so far, I was wanting more to be safe.
It was following that broadcast that led me to my new travelling companion, Heather Casdin. I wasn't going to take her up on her offer at first, but then she mentioned synths. Til then I had assumed that the piece that piper wrote were the nonsensical ravings of a paranoid mind, but Heather had not just seen these things, but had survived a massacre executed by them at University Point. These mechanical men were apparently taking orders from a man named Kellog who seemed pretty ruthless from her description. What really got my attention, however, was her description of this turd. Medium height and build with a raspy voice and a scar on one side of his face. He also just happened to use a large revolver as his weapon of choice. It was not definitive, but it was close enough to agree to take her with me. I had to trust her when she told me that she knew how to use her laser pistol, because, as I explained to her, I was heading into what might be some heavy crap.
Passing through Lexington we dispatched about a dozen ferals and four raiders. More goodies for the backpack!
Corvega. Corvega was a cakewalk. Again with the shouting before pulling the trigger... As soon as I heard that, I started laughing. For me, it was a, pretty much one shot - one kill sweep, and Heather definitely proved her worth. When the smoke had cleared, I think I might had killed one or two more raiders than she had. The guy barking orders to the rest of the scum was named Jared and he was so high when I killed him he wasn't even holding a weapon. He was just standing there, pointing at me and yelling, so I shot him in the face. I really didn't want to screw with these asshats again, so I decided to send a message. I told Heather to take Dog and wait outside for a few minutes. After they left, I gutted Jared and put him on display, hanging from the only walkway that led to the control area. Above him, in his own blood, in foot tall letters, I wrote a message that simply read - "Leave 10 Pines alone." I washed the blood off and walked outside to find Heather smoking a cigarette and Dog munching on a chunk of meat.
"What was that all about?"
"Just wanted to send a message." I replied.
"Do I want to know?"
"Probably not. Any problems out here?"
"Couple of raiders, but I took care of them."
"Nice. Um... Do I want to know what Dog is chewing on?"
"Probably not. Want a cigarette?"
I accepted, and the two of us just stood there for a few minutes in silence, staring out over the wasteland, inhaling the toxic fumes while listening to the sounds of occasional gunfire in the distance. After a bit, she broke the silence and told me about her parents and her experiences in he wasteland while working the caravan trail. When she was finished, all I could think of was that I managed to find someone that was as screwed up as I was. I told her my story and, although it took me nearly an hour to convince her I was not bullshitting her, she seemed to be fascinated by it. I suggested that we started to walk while we talked because we had about two hours to navigate our way to DC before it got dark. I was exhausted from all of the activity of the day and just wanted to get home and crash. Working off of each other, we killed another dozen raiders between Corvega and the gate at DC and both of our packs were full of dead raider gear.
We made our way to Home Plate after stopping for noodles and dropped our packs, figuring we can sort it in the morning and get it to Arturo and Crazy Myrna for caps and ammo. I sat on the couch I had dragged in the day before and took my boots off. I felt her looking at me. I peeled of the leather jacket and decided I needed to get something a little more protective in the morning.
"So... Question!" Somehow, she always sounded so perky.
"Hmmm?"
"You were frozen for over 200 years and you have been thawed out for just over a week, right?"
"That's right... Why?"
"When was the last time you had sex?"
"Um..." I felt my face flush. "About a week before the bombs dropped? Why?"
"That couch looks uncomfortable..." She started to say as she slowly stripped. "and this bed looks comfortable and too big for one person."
With that, she threw herself on the bed, completely naked.
I could feel my body flush from want and need as I rolled over to face the back of the couch.
"Not yet Heather. Good night, see you in the morning."
Not yet.
I still have things to do...
