Welcome to chapter 4. Sorry that I took longer to post this chapter, needed to flesh out some parts. Just a quick note, I may be posting things further and further apart as I take more time to review each chapter for mistakes and as I expand the story a little more. Please be patient, and as always, I am totally open to reviews good or bad. Enjoy!
Chapter 4
They don't get very far before throwing themselves to the ground and covering their heads as the explosion goes off behind them. The ground beneath them shakes and debris rain down on their backs. Nick nearly bites through his tongue in pain as something slams into his shoulder. The metal plating there takes most of the damage, but he can already feel a painful bruise forming. After a few more horrifying seconds, the debris stops falling and the ground ceases its trembling. He chances a look up and his mouth falls open at what he sees.
Behind them there is nothing but twisted metal, flames, and thick black smoke spiraling into the sky. There are no signs of any bodies, let alone survivors. Nick shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair as he stands. "Damn," he mutters, "I knew it was going to blow, but, damn."
Behind him Tyler and Luther clamber to their feet with their usual sets of curses and complaints. Luther steps up beside him, brushing himself off, and nods in approval. "I think you about got the gist of it kid. That was one hell of a boom. I bet people all the way in Rivet City heard, hell felt, that one." He pops his neck and sighs in satisfaction.
Tyler joins them, holding a hubcap in his hands. "This thing landed right next to my head. Impaled itself into the ground. Just about couldn't get it out. Would've killed me if it had been a few more inches to the left." He shakes his head and tosses the metal disk aside. "How about next time we get clear of the blast radius before using one of these old deathtraps as a weapon?"
They are standing on the cracked and broken remains of an old highway. Moments before, they were pinned down by raiders on all sides. A car near Luther caught fire early on and he got the bright idea to shoot at the others and cause the huge explosion they just narrowly escaped from. The blast would seem to have obliterated all of the raiders who had been too dumb, or to high, to realize what was going on. Now there are smoking wrecks all along the highway for miles in either direction. They really had not anticipated a chain reaction of this size. "Right," Nick says with a nod, "note taken. Cars make convenient bombs, but are unpredictable and prone to causing more damage than necessary."
Luther nods, "Yep, pre-war tech is dangerous, but useful. That is the way most things are actually." The three of them snoop around, looking for any loot left over from the raiders. After a few minutes of finding only scrap metal and dirt, they abandon the attempt and set off. Nick reaches into his pocket and pulls out the folded letter. He scans through it again, making sure they are on the right path. Yesterday, while job searching in Megaton, Nick was approached by an extremely attractive blonde woman by the name of Lucy West. She had pleaded with him to deliver a message to her family in the nearby town of Arefu.
At first, he had been reluctant to do the job, since Lucy had no way or paying him for it, but the woman was persistent and he eventually gave in. He had intended to take care of the job on his own, but Tyler and Luther decided to come along with him, claiming that they had just about exhausted the job market in Megaton and that this Arefu sounded promising. Nick suspects, however, that they are actually just bored, or searching for a way to escape from their adoring fan base. Ever since the three of them disarmed the nuke at the town center, and killed a would be saboteur, and saving the town sheriff in the process, the populace of Megaton decided they were heroes and doted on them wherever they went.
While all the attention was unnerving for the mercs, it was doubly so for Nick. As a child in the vault, he was shy and awkward, and the few times he had attention, it was for something horrible he had done. He knows that the people of Megaton mean well, but they way they talk about him in hushed tones, it reminds him of his biggest fuck up. He had lost it. He nearly killed Butch. It didn't matter that he did it to defend his only real friend in the vault.
Amata, the Overseer's daughter. When everyone else shunned him, she reached out. He knew she was shy too, and left out by the others because of her father. They grew very close as years went by. When the time came for all of them to take their G.O.A.T. exams, which would determine their jobs for the rest of their lives, stress levels were high. Nick's test ended up with him slated for the maintenance department, which is looked down upon by the other vault inhabitants. Needless to say he was a little ticked, then he saw Amata cornered by Butch and his stupid gang the Tunnel Snakes. He started towards them, intending to try and talk Butch down, but then the asshole put his hands on her.
He lost it. All he remembers is the other Tunnel Snakes trying to pull him off of their leader as he beat his face in. Next thing he knows he is being dragged away by vault security officers with his hands cuffed behind his back. He spent he next day locked up in a holding cell, cowering in a corner and staring at the dried blood on his hands. Only when his father was allowed into the cell to treat him did he realize that several of his fingers were broken. His father didn't say much, but he did tell him of the condition Butch was in.
Apparently, Nick had broken Butch's nose, knocked out several teeth, and cracked large segments of his skull. They had him in the vault hospital and his condition was stable, but still. After he was released, nothing was the same. People whispered behind his back. They looked at him as though he were some sort of monster that might snap at any second and kill one of them. What was worse, his father was the same way. He never said anything, and always kept up a loving act when they were together, but Nick could see through it. His father saw him different, and it was a bad different. Nick eventually became a recluse. Devoting himself to his work and nothing else. He allowed the years to slip by. He didn't see Amata again, not that he didn't want to, there was nothing he would have liked better than to go to her and explain what had happened, but he just couldn't.
Then one day, she showed up out of nowhere, holding a gun. In a few short minutes everything changed, again, just like before. He escaped the vault, killing several guards along the way. Of course his father was to blame. The man escaped first, and the public's reaction, find the Doc's psych sun and make him pay for his father's crimes. There was some irony though. During his escape, he came across Butch. The man was in hysteria, begging that someone save his mom from the radroachs that had chosen that time to conveniently swarm everywhere. Nick saved Butch's mom, and in exchange Butch game him his Tunnel Snake jacket. Strange how things work out. Never in his life would he have pictured himself traveling with two mercs, looking for odd jobs.
"Hey kid," Luther shouts behind him, "Arefu is this way." Nick stops, realizing that he had started wandering from the path while daydreaming. He shakes his head and moves back onto the road. "Damn kid," Luther jokes, "if you are distracted that easily, how are you ever going to make it?"
"I remember this one time," Tyler says, waving a hand in front of him for emphasis, "I met this gorgeous babe. She called herself Rose, and man was she bad! Liked to drink, more than anyone else I have ever met. Drank me under the table once." He laughs hard before a much more serious tone enters his voice. "She didn't like being tied down though, always wanted to keep moving, always needed something to do. At the time I was so infatuated with her that I was sure I would follow her to the ends of the Wastes. One day we walked into an ambush, and not even a well planed one. I had been to busy with her to realize what was about to happen. Decided right then that she was bad news. We split ways, after a final night of drinks anyway."
Luther looks at him out of the corner of his eye. "Is that story supposed to have a point."
"Yep," Tyler laughs, clapping Nick on the shoulder, "don't get so wrapped up with one thing that you stop noticing all the other stuff going on. I passed up six jobs while I was with her. Six! Do you realize how many caps I stood to make! Oh, well, no use griping about the past."
The continue on. Luther and Tyler keep up a steady conversation, though most times it is more like an argument. Every so often they ask Nick what he thinks about what they are fighting over. Each time he just shrugs and shakes his head, unwilling to be dragged into their debates. Yet despite his uncaring demeanor, he listens to each fight intently. The duo argue everything that pops into their heads, and thus he learns a lot just by listening. It is interesting, Nick decides, they never come to a conclusion, they just switch topics and continue on. How two people with such opposing views on so many things manage to work together so well is Beyond him.
Before much longer Arefu comes into sight ahead. The little town is seated at the top of a partially collapsed highway that looks to have once been a sort of bridge over the now mostly dried up Potomac river. There is only one way up to the town, but that also means there is only one way down. From the ominous amount of smoke rising from the place, and the dead brahimn pinned up at the foot of the highway, Nick can already tell something bad has happened. Wordlessly the three of them draw their weapons and begin the ascent up the highway to the town.
Nick pulls the slide back on his 10mm and leads the way up. Behind him He hears Luther chamber a round into his rifle and Tyler check the load of his shotgun. They approach slowly, keeping their eyes peeled for any signs of danger. Nick steps forward and hears a click followed by a short beep. He immediately recognizes the sound from a job they did for a psycho lady in Megaton. "Fuck, mines!" he shouts as he throws himself backwards. The explosive mine goes off! He his rolled a short way by the impact, but is not seriously hurt. He sits up, shaking his head in an attempt to stop the ringing in his ears. He scrambles into a nearby crack in the pavement. It isn't much in the way of cover, but at least it is something.
He readies himself to fight, but an unexpectedly elderly voice shouts out, "Wait, you aren't one of them! Are you lot okay down there? Damn, I nearly blasted you in two! Come on out. I won't shoot if you don't, I promise!" Nick looks over at Tyler and Luther. Luther Shrugs and Tyler just shakes his head. Nick swallows hard, and then stands slowly. He raises his hands above his head and loosens his grip on his 10mm.
Just ahead behind a wall of sandbags is an elderly man with a rifle much like Luther's. He motions for Nick to approach. Nick looks back at Tyler and Luther and gives them a nod. Together the trio climb the rest of the way up the highway to where the old man is waiting for them. "My name is Evan King," the old man says as they approach. "Sorry about that, couldn't take a chance. The Damned Family has been causing too much trouble around here for me to get slack. What are you folks doing all the way out here anyways?"
Nick reaches into his pocket and pulls out the letter. "I have a message, for the West family. It is from their daughter in Megaton. She hasn't heard from them in a while and asked us to deliver this to them. I am assuming that whatever has you spooked is why she hasn't heard anything?"
The old man nods, "You would be right mister. People have been hiding in their homes too scared to come outside ever since the Family showed up nearly a month ago. At first they were no real threat, they just did normal gang stuff. You know, vandalize some things, make noise, try to scare people, but nothing serious. Then they started getting violent. They slaughtered our brahmin, took some shots at us, I even caught their leader trying to talk one our own into joining them."
Luther steps forward with his arms crossed. "You called them a gang, and raiders would have just wiped you out by now. Something has you scared, hiding for your lives. What is it about them that has you so spooked old man?"
Evan King looks at each of them in turn before heaving a heavy sigh and shaking his head. "Look, I can't really tell what it is, but there is just something not right with these people. Remember I said they killed our brahimn, well they didn't take any meant, but the animals were dried up, drained of blood. They only ever show up at night. They are stealthy as shadows, and their leader, something about him just seems plain wrong. One time I saw him up close he had this look in his eyes like nothing I have ever seen before." The old man sighs again. "Look, you go ahead and deliver your message, but can you do me a favor? I am afraid to leave my post here, Family could attack any time, but someone needs to check up on the folk around here. Do that for me, and I've got some spare stimpacks I can give you. Deal?"
Luther nods in agreement and shakes the man's hand. "Deal." He then motions for Nick and Tyler to follow. "All right," he says as soon as they are out of Evan King's earshot, "I do not like the sound of this, Family, and I am pretty confident I can talk the old man into a hiring us to deal with them. You two check up on the residents, I will speak with Evan. Sound Good?"
Nick and Tyler nod and they three of them split up. Luther returns to Evan while Tyler goes to the nearest houses. Nick looks around and heads for a small house at the back of town. He knocks on the door, but nobody answers. Behind him he can hear Tyler explaining that Evan King sent him to a person who must be reluctant to open their door. Nick knocks again, this time calling out as he does. "Hello, is anyone home? Evan King sent me, asked me to check up on you." Again there is no answer. Nick shakes his head, deciding that this is pointless and moves to leave. As he steps away, however, he notices that the mailbox outside the house has the name West on it. This is the house where Lucy's family lives.
He steps back up to the door and bangs on it all the harder. "Mr. and Mrs. West? Ian? I was sent by your daughter with a message! Open up all ready!" He mutters under his breath and reaches for the doorknob. He is surprised when he finds that it is not locked. Opening the door he steps into the little shack cautiously. Immediately he is hit by a rancid stench. Cover his nose and mouth with a hand, he steps further into the house and is greeted with a gruesome sight. On the floor at the foot of a bed is the corpse of a man, while the corpse of a woman lies on the bed. Both have been decaying for a while now, a few weeks at least. Scrawled in blood on the wall are the words, The Family. Nick feels his stomach churn and he turns to rush outside before he hurls. Instead he runs into a stone-faced Luther who simple moves him aside and crouches down to examine the bodies.
Nick stands in the door frame, fighting to keep from hurling, and watches the merc. Luther gently turns the head of the dead man on the floor. His fingers brush over wounds in the man's neck. To Nick, it looks like some sort of wild animal got hold of them, but the look on Luther's face says that it is worse than that. Next Luther goes to the woman's body and examines her neck in much the same way, finding identical wounds on her as well. What he does next finally causes Nick to loose it and step outside to hurl. Luther drew his knife and drew a long slice along the woman's wrist.
Outside Nick shakily gets to his feet, wiping off his mouth as he does. He feels lightheaded and is having trouble keeping his balance. Luther steps outside with a grim look on his face. Nick straightens up and looks over at Luther, but the man's face is unreadable. "We need to speak with Evan." Luther finally speaks. His voice is husky and dark. Nick's stomach rolls again, but he keeps it together and follows Luther back to where Evan and Tyler are waiting.
Evan notices them first and calls out once he sees Nick's face. "Are you okay there mister? You look more than a little sick." Evan moves to give Nick a hand, but Luther intercepts him. He grabs the old man by the front of his jacket and slams him against the side of a nearby house. "Hey, hey, now, what is this about?" the old man whimpers.
"Hey," Nick shouts, stepping forward and grabbing Luther's arm, "what they hell are you doing?" Luther shakes him off with a snarl that Nick to step back and Tyler to lay a hand on his shotgun.
"Luther," Tyler growls in a warning tone, "let go of the old man."
Luther ignores them and bores holes into Evan head with a glare that would stop a raider in his tracks. "The Family," he spits, "what else do you know about them old man? Tell me!" he roars!
"I," Evan gasps, "I told you everything I know, please..."
Luther continues to glare at him, his eyes cold as ice, before releasing his grip and marching over to the edge of the highway where he stairs down at the shallow waters below. Nick helps Evan to his feet and looks at Tyler with confusion. Tyler shrugs his shoulders and moves to stand a few feet behind Luther's tense form. "Luther?" Tyler says in a questioning tone.
Nick watches as Luther takes in a deep breath, holds it, and then releases it slowly. "The Wests are dead." he growls.
Evan stiffens in Nicks arms and pushes away from the young man. "What?" He boldly walks up to Luther. "What do you mean dead? What happened to them?"
The images of the dead couple swim before Nick's eyes and he swallows hard to keep from gagging. Luther turns to them and speaks in a low voice. "Ian is missing. His parents both have the same wounds. Bit marks, to the neck. Both have been drained of blood, like your brahmin." Evan King opens his mouth to speak but is silenced by Luther holding up a hand. "I have seen this sort of kill before. This gang of yours, the Family, they are cannibals."
Luther's eyes search through the darkness, keenly alert for any movements. After the revelation of the Family's true nature, it didn't take much persuasion from Evan King to convince him to go after the gang. He wanted to go alone, to deal with the problem himself, but the kid and Tyler followed him anyway. They found the Family's hide away easily enough. Luther knows about cannibals, more than he cars to admit, and thus knew exactly where to look. Now they are deep in the bowls of a metro station, and have set a trap for the bastards.
Luther and Tyler wanted to do what they always did, go in guns blazing and kill everyone, but Nick reminded them that they were also hoping to find and rescue Ian West, who they are assuming has been taken prisoner by the gang. so here he sits in the shadows, watching the kid's back as he does what he does best. Which is making a ruckus. The kid has the flashlight of his pipboy all lite up and glaring into the darkness. He is also making about as much noise as he can as he pretends to look for salvage. Somewhere in the shadows across from Luther's position Tyler is also hidden, but where exactly he isn't sure.
The kid as been making a nuisance of himself for all of six minutes before Luther spots movement. The kid has his back purposely turned to the tunnel where they already know the entrance to the Family's base is, and thus the approaching man goes ahead and moves forward, believing he has himself an easy catch. The kid starts to whistle a lively tune, indicating he knows the man is behind him and that he is ready to spring the trap. Luther lets the man pass his position before stepping out of the shadows.
The man stops just behind the kid and shouts, "Hey!" Luther steps forward and presses his knife to the man's neck. The kid stands and turns, leveling his 10mm at the man's chest.
"Hello," Luther growls in the man's ear, "thinking you were going to get some fresh meat were you? Thought to yourself, I will just kill this stupid little shit and eat his ass, no one will know. Didn't stop to think that maybe the little shit would have dangerous friends hiding in the shadows just waiting for the chance to slit your throat did you? Did you?"
The man gurgles something unintelligible and Luther presses the knife against his throat a little harder. Tyler steps from the shadows with his shotgun raised. "Luther," he states firmly, "we need him alive, remember?"
Luther glowers at him before growling in the man's ear again. "You are lucky he is here. Of the two of us he is usually the move violent, so if he says I need to back off, then clearly I do, just remember, this knife in my hands would like nothing more than to spill your blood all over the inside of this tunnel." He gives the man a hard push towards the Family's base. "Now, take us to whoever leads your little gang."
The man stumbles before standing straight and staring defiantly at Luther. "There is no way in hell I am taking you to them. I would rather die!"
"That can be arranged!" Luther growls as he steps forward with his knife. He is cut off, however, by the kid. Luther is genuinely surprised when the kid pulls back and slams his fist right into the man's face, knocking the guy on his back. Luther watches, equal parts impressed and surprised, as the kid towers over the downed man with both fists clinched and a dark expression on his face.
"Listen you scum sucking son of a whore" the kid shouts, "I don't care if we have to kill you and wait for another one of your pals to come and check where you are. We will wait out here and kill each and every one of you off one by one if we have to, but if you get your sniveling ass up out of the dirt and take us in their yourself, I swear the only one who runs the risk of getting hurt is you, and only if you give us trouble. Got it asshole?" Surprisingly, the man gets up and silently walks ahead of them. They follow without comment, and soon enough find themselves standing in a large open transit area of the metro. Before too long, they are speaking to the Family's leader.
The guard leads them up a derelict escalator and points them to a tall, pale, man who turns to greet them as they approach. "Ah," his voice sends a chill down Nick's spine, "I sense your coming. Welcome brother, there is no need for any hostilities, you are among your own kind here." The man approaches Luther with his arms held open as though he intended to embrace Luther in a hug. He stops, however, when he finds himself staring down the barrel of Luther's rifle.
"I am not your kind!" Luther's voice is barely above a whisper and Nick only just manages to make out what he said. "Where is Ian West?" Luther demands, his voice raising loud enough for the other nearby members of the Family to hear and take notice.
The man lowers his arms and hols his palms out in a gesture of peace, "Please, I meant no offense. I knew others would eventually find their way here to us and I assumed that was why you were here, forgive me. Let us start over, My name is Vance, and this is my flock, the Family. Welcome outsiders, I hope no harm has befallen my loyal guardsman."
The guard rolls his shoulders, "Nothing that I can't handle Vance. Don't worry with me. This lot ambushed me in the tunnels, I didn't realize one of them is like us, I don't have that skill."
Nick has no idea what they are all talking about, but he notices that Luther emits a low growl at the guards words. Nick can feel the tension in the air and decides to intervene before Tyler mistakes something innocent for an attack and starts shooting. "Vance is it?" he asks, stepping forward and offering his hand. "My name is Nick. We came looking for..."
"Interesting." Vance interrupts.
"Um, What?" Nick asks in confusion.
"You are interesting," he elaborates, "as is this other." he says turning to look at Tyler. "You are not like us, yet your travel with..."
"ENOUGH!" Luther suddenly roars, leaping forward and putting the barrel of his gun directly against Luther's head. "Tell us where Ian is or I swear I am going to blow your brains all over that bitch behind you!" Vance's eyes widen and he turns his head slightly to see the woman who had approached unseen by anyone else from behind. His eyes return to Luther with a desperate look. "Good," Luther continues before the man can speak, "I am glad we have an understanding. Now where is the boy?"
A feral look appears on Vance's face, "You do not understand! We have not kidnapped the boy! He came to us! He told me about himself, about what he thought was a curse. I revealed his true nature to him, our nature, but it was too late! He had already killed! His parents, to say that he was distraught is an understatement, so we took him in and I took the blame for his actions. I painted the walls in the West home with the Family's name, I caused all the problems with that town, to save the boy!"
Comprehension finally slams into Nick. His mouth drops open and his gun falls from his hand. The bodies of Ian's and Lucy's parents. The dead brahimn outside of Arefu. "Cannibals," he whispers, "you are cannibals."
Vance turns his gaze upon him and glares. "We are more than that, we are vampires!"