Chapter 28: Capital
"Come on, honey…" Victoria helped her tired daughter up some stairs as the raiders took them into the city.
Her daughter didn't respond. She stopped talking days ago after she awoke from a heat induced slumber.
"Where are you taking us?" Victoria asked the raiders.
"Where do you think?" A raider responded.
"And where is everyone else?" She asked.
"What are you talking about now?" The raider sighed, acting like her husband.
"This isn't the whole town, we're missing people. What did you do with them?" Victoria asked as she lifted up her daughter and carried her down the streets of the city.
The raider smiled. "You're right, this isn't the whole town. Some of you thought it was smart to fight us, if you already didn't realize." The raider smiled at her ever wider. "If it makes you feel any better, I can tell you they're still in Megaton. They're probably being pecked apart by vultures."
Victoria looked at him. "W-What?"
"What do you think happened? What are you, stupid?" The raider asked as he brought the captives towards a large building.
"Get in." Chain instructed the survivors of Megaton. Veronica ran towards Chain and the raiders held their weapons to her head.
"Where's Joe?!" She yelled at him.
"Who?" Chain asked.
"What did you do to Joe?!" She shouted.
Chain shrugged. His face was tired, underneath all that armor was an aged man, a man surprisingly older than anyone Veronica had ever met.
Natalie walked slowly up the stairs into the building, her head down and compliant with the raiders.
"Natalie!" Victoria ran to her.
"What happened to Joe?" She pleaded for an answer.
Natalie looked up at her for a second and silently walked into the building. Victoria was grabbed and brought into their base, a fortress of raiders and barricades. Victoria remembered what happened during the attack and refused to expect that Joe met his doom. She felt that that wasn't Joe, Joe wouldn't have died like that. He wouldn't have fought back, that just wasn't him. But it was, and that was still him. Joe limped down the roads with his hands to himself, his eyes staring at the Washington Monument, with one last battle firing up inside him. Victoria sat her daughter down inside and sat by herself. Natalie had already done the grieving and now it was Victoria's turn. The only thing in her mind was the last conversation with Joe. The words she said to him echoed in her head as she knew she couldn't fix what she told him now. She stroked her daughter's hair as she rested her tired, tiny body in her mother's lap.
Victoria had turned her back away from her best friend. She hated him and he hated her, but for some reason, she missed him, even after all he had done. He was lower than her in her eyes because he refused to see things the way she did, he refused to see the world as it was; a Wasteland. But once again, that wasn't Joe. He didn't see the world for what it was and that's what made him different than everyone else, that's what Natalie saw in him and that's why Victoria kept him around as her friend. She needed him, because without him she wouldn't have what she had; a husband who needed Joe to realize he wanted to marry her, a daughter that is still alive because Joe realized he was the only person who could save her, and a best friend who didn't ask for anything in return, just their faces to light up when they saw him. She saw that as childishness, not optimism, because these two were contrasts. She was a pessimist and he was a light in the darkness. But now she had nothing except a little girl in her arms and the end goal for her husband's obsession: the man who ruined everything in their lives. He was there at her fingertips and she hadn't cared about it until now. He was an old man now, she thought. He wasn't capable of something like this. But Victoria couldn't see people for who they were, that was a flaw she had and will continued to have. She hated Joe for one reason and one reason only. He was the person Sarah needed the most in her life, because this life was going to be harsh and sad, and there was only one man who cared enough to brave these feelings with her until the bitter, bitter end.
"What are we doing with them now?" A red-haired man asked the leader.
"If the vault wants them so bad, they're going to follow us here. Something tells me more will follow them. Two birds, one stone. And all that's left is a bunker full of tech, and us." Chain explained.
The building was large and expansive. What was meant to be built as a two story building was a project that was never to be completed. Makeshift construction benches lay scattered with projects and blueprints left there, never to be finished by the minds that thought of them. Ripsaws with their jagged teeth sat half-way cut into wood. Metal chains used to hold heavy things up were detached and lying loosely all over along with discarded food. The building reeked of sweat, spoilage and dust. The upper floor of the building was in the early processes of being started, so the only thing built was the wooden foundation and catwalks for the constructors to finish their large project. Stairs were built but not completed so the stone work lay scattered in block form around the base of the stairs that led nowhere. The captives were herded to the corner of the room where fires were lit by the raiders that have clearly been staying there for a while. They gave stern, cold looks to them as the returning raiders kept them still. Guards were issued to them and watched the group with unpleasant looks. Natalie stayed away from the dense group of people as they flooded into the hall. She sat against the wall silently and looked through the floor, her mind thinking everything, or just nothing. Victoria stared at her for a moment, and then her daughter. She blinked and went to go get her water.
The men around my campfire nodded and ate the rest of the steak. We went to sleep and awoke the next day, ready to enter the city. We all woke up easily, probably because we were so close to ending this. We packed up and walked towards the city. Manny pointed out a sewer grate at the side of a wall. We took out our radiation suits that were neatly and carefully packed away and put them on over our clothes. Dimitri looked like a giant yellow blob with his suit on. I saw Manny chuckle, but no one could hear him. I told everyone where the radio intercom was on the suit, so they could talk.
"Alright, guys, this is it. If you guys get a tear in your suit, tell Doc, he has some medicine that will help." I instructed them as I walked to the entrance of the tunnel grate.
"You have the Radiation medicine, right?" I turned to him.
"Ich am not stupid." Dock glared at me as he shoved the liquid blood bags to my chest harshly, making me stumble back.
"Just get the grate open." I ordered. Dimitri cleared a larger hole that we could slip through by bending the old metal out of the way.
Doc took out a Geiger counter, so he could tell us when it's safe to take the suits off. The sewer tunnel was cramped, and we moved slowly through it. Doc glared at the back of my head as we walked through, and his mind thought up a past memory.
He lifted a bunch of supplies onto his bed, inside his home. Sun poked through his porch, he would lived in a luxurious area, if it weren't for the charred trees and dead earth surrounding his town. He heard his door open but he didn't listen to it. He breathed quickly and his arms shook as he packed food into a backpack along with a few books and water.
"What are you doing?" A voice asked him in his German tongue.
Doc swallowed hard and turned around to see a man who looked similar to him. He had glasses and clean cut hair.
"I'm going to find her." Doc responded.
"Do you really think that's a smart idea?"
"I AM NOT STUPID!" Doc shouted at the top of his lungs. For some reason, he had struck a nerve in Doc, as if someone had been plucking at it for years with a needle.
Papers and supplies slipped form Doc's hands as he attempted to crowd all of his studies around him.
The man stared at him and then the papers. He sighed and picked one up.
"Can you read this?" He asked Doc as he put the paper in front of him.
"You… you aren't going to make me look like a fool anymore. You're not a good man."
"You wrote this, didn't you?" He asked Doc as he looked at a bunch of squiggling lines that meant nothing. "If no one knew any better they'd think you're crazy, not illiterate." Doc looked down at his writing. "But Anna is different. She is crazy. And that's why she had to leave. She doesn't belong." He told Doc.
Doc stared at him for a moment and dropped his papers. The man held a paper in front of him in a condescending matter towards Doc. Doc, with all his might, threw a punch straight at his brother. He stumbled off to the side and crashed into a wall. He leaned against it and held a bloody lip as Doc breathed heavily at him.
"You're not a man. You're a coward. I may not be as smart as you but at least I have a heart."
He stared into Doc's vigorous eyes. "You're right, you've got a heart. But you've lost your mind."
"And you've lost another brother." Doc picked his things up and left his home for a journey with no visible end. He had defected against his brother, his family, his town, all to chase a girl. This would prove to be a foolish and dangerous journey for anyone in the future, but in this day, the mind is never as powerful as the heart. He would look for Anna until it seemed like he would give up, that the leads were misleading, and the only thing to do is explore the places Anna would go. She loved history, not math. She loved walking with him, not studying to improve her literacy like the town wanted; she loved Doc, and not his brother.
We walked through the sewers slowly. "It is disgusting in here." Dimitri pointed out.
"How do you think I felt when I went through here the first time? I didn't even have protection against whatever I'm stepping in right now!" Manny exclaimed. Dimitri chuckled softly as he imagined it.
"It's most likely irradiated shit." Dimitri said deeply.
The sewer had sticky black goo dripping everywhere. As we walked, we heard Doc's Geiger counter tick faster and faster as we walked, and the goo got glossier until it almost glowed.
"How long do we have to stay in this tunnel?" Tai asked Manny.
"It should start opening up soon. Then we'll have some room. There's a ladder leading up into the city soon after that." Manny explained.
"Good." Tai responded.
As Manny had said, the small tunnel opened up into a larger tunnel and we didn't have to walk in a line anymore. Manny led us ahead, remembering the path towards the city. I noticed that the black goo glowed in the dark a little bit as we walked. I pointed it out.
"It's the radiation, we should hurry up." Doc said.
"No shit." Dimitri responded. Doc sighed angrily.
We walked faster through the tunnel, eager to get out of this waste. Manny stopped walking without warning, and we almost tripped over him.
"What is it, what's the problem?" I asked.
Manny didn't respond. He stared forward with his mouth open. We all looked forward. There was a giant shadow of a man staring at us. We could barely see him in the shadows, but the man looked tall and extremely muscular. I didn't understand why he was out here, especially without protection. He breathed heavily, like he's been running for days. He didn't speak, only breathed heavily towards us. I decided to speak to him, to end the awkward staring.
"Hello? Are you all right? We have a doctor; he could help you if you're hurt." I said. And this man did sound hurt. He was almost choking on something, it may have been his own tongue.
Doc nudged at my back and I turned around. His Geiger counter was ticking at a lightning fast rate, and rose faster. He pointed behind us and showed me 5 more men, who looked exactly like the first man, towering, shirtless, and muscular. We turned back to the man in front of us slowly, trying not to startle them. The man then walked forward into the light so we could see him. His face was an orange-green and mutilated and he shook like he was being strangled to death. His mouth foamed and coughed up saliva. He opened his mouth and roared at us.
The irradiated men behind us screamed and ran at us. Dimitri ran up to the man in front of us and grappled him.
"Go, I'll be right behind you!" Dimitri yelled as he battled the mutant.
I shook Manny as he stared at Dimitri and yelled at him to run. He snapped into reality and started sprinting. I asked Manny where the exit was loudly, the noise echoing and probably alerting more. He pointed to a ladder and we all sprinted to it. Doc went up the ladder and then Tai. I started to climb it and saw Manny turn around. I slid down the ladder and ran to him. I grabbed him.
"He needs my help!" Manny yelled.
"Shut up and get up the fucking ladder, you dipshit!" I shouted. I pulled at Manny's waist and forced his small, easily moved body into the ladder where he smacked against the metal. His arms grabbed the bars above him and he began to pull himself up reluctantly. Manny turned towards the tunnel where he left Dimitri as he climbed. I went up the ladder and pulled myself up.
It looked like we were in a building, as it was dark and I couldn't feel a breeze. Doc and Tai panted, falling over and looking at the sewer ladder. Manny turned towards the ladder and waited as he panted. We waited there for 10 minutes, and then 10 more, but no sign of Dimitri. Manny sat on the floor and looked down. I looked at him and sighed, and walked up to him. I put my hand on his shoulder as he looked down.
"Manny, we've got to-"
We started to hear noises coming from the sewer. Manny looked up at the ladder quickly. A bald man crawled out, panting and wheezing in his yellow suit. He slung Sasha to the floor and rolled over onto his back, coughing as bullets from his bullet belt spilled on the ground. I called for Doc, and he sprung up nervously.
"His suit is torn; he's been taking in radiation." Doc informed us.
"Then do something!" Manny yelled.
"I-I..." Doc stared intensely at him as his hands shook.
"Doc, come on, you've got to do something!" Manny shouted.
"I-Ich don't know how." Doc said as he picked up the liquid.
"You just inject it!" Manny yelled as Dimitri choked loudly and grabbed at his veiny arms like they were being picked apart by flesh eating bugs.
"It's not that simple!" Doc yelled at him.
Doc stared at Dimitri, and their eyes locked. Dimitri looked pleadingly at the doctor, but all he could do in return was squint and shake his head. At that moment Dimitri knew something we didn't.
Doc had no medical training.
His position in Megaton was given to him not off of merit, but from being the only 'doctor' in the town who wanted to set off into the D.C. ruins.
"Ich don't know." Doc told himself.
"I-WHAT?! You're nickname is 'Doc', fucking do something!" I shouted.
"You just have to..." Doc started to mumble to himself as he nervously took out his medical pack and took out tubes and rubber bands. Doc then stuck a needle Dimitri's arm. Doc then put tubing into the needle's end and fed the tubing to the pack, wrapping Dimitri's arm in bands. Dimitri vomited off to the side and coughed. Doc held him still as Dimitri took in the yellow liquid.
"What is that stuff?" Manny asked.
"It's your medicine for the radiation. We... we have to wait until it works." Doc said as he wiped his forehead of sweat.
We all rested for a short time as we waited for the medicine to work. Manny sat next to Dimitri and waited for him to get up. I wanted to tell them that the medicine might not work, but I couldn't tell that to Manny. We waited in the building, and sat there as Dimitri rested. No one said a word to each other. Dimitri breathed heavily and rested on his back, mumbling to himself in Russian. If that medicine doesn't work, then Dimitri could die from the amount of radiation that was down there, and we had to sit there and watch. We waited there for two hours now. I had to tell Manny. I walked over to him. I stopped walking as I saw Dimitri cough and open his eyes. We couldn't see his face clearly in the suit, only his eyes. He looked at Manny.
"Hello, molsich." Dimitri said quietly.
Everybody got up and went to Dimitri.
"All you alright, do you feel any different?" I asked.
"I feel fine." Dimitri said.
"Who were those guys?" Tai asked.
"Those... things... were not men." Dimitri told me.
"They were what I feared. Super Mutants." Dimitri said.
"The radiation down there must have killed them when they were human. Instead of decomposing, they grew from the massive amount of radiation and were resurrected. They use it as nourishment as it destroys them." Doc said.
"Or they could have been a part of an evil experiment inside a bomb shelter and left to the world as an infected, breeding, malicious hunter as the virus inside them changes more in their breeding grounds." Manny nodded.
"I like my theory better." Dimitri mumbled.
Manny nodded sadly at his rejected hypothesis.
"I'm glad you're all right, big guy." Manny said.
"I am too." Dimitri said as he got up.
Dimitri and I locked eyes and he blinked slowly as he got up.
Doc checked his Geiger counter and said it was safe ahead. We took off our radiation suits and put them away. The building that we were in was pitch black and cold. We saw a door off to the side, slightly blocked by rubble, and tried it. The door was jammed and couldn't open. Dimitri kicked it down, knocking over dust and the rubble around, letting us continue through the building. Charred pieces of wood covered the floor, and the building smelled of smoke. The building was bigger than I realized, and spacious. We walked to a spiraling staircase and got Dimitri to move random debris out of the way. We then walked upstairs and to the next door. We turned towards a desk that had skeletons laying over it. I inspected the building more and saw giant holes everywhere, with sunlight seeping through them. Dimitri also saw more skeletons on the floor and draped over railings.
"Be respectful here. This is a gravesite." Dimitri said. I turned over and saw Manny who was kicking one of the skeletons. He stopped and looked at me.
"Sorry." He said quickly to us.
We walked out of the building and into the streets. We inspected the buildings around the area. They were taller than anything I've ever seen. They all had damage from the nukes on them which included blast areas in the buildings and blown off sides of the square shaped apartments. We all stared up at the colossal buildings as we walked.
"Do you know where you're going?" I asked Manny.
"Seems familiar. I remember how to find the place we're looking for. Just need to look for the Washington Monument, it's down the street from it." Manny said to me.
We continued walking down the street until Manny spotted the Washington Monument again. He pointed out the tower to us and we stared up at it. What used to be an impressive stone statue was blown to bits and crumbling. Although its tall height was still impressive, the pillar of the city seemed like it was on its knees. The innards of the construction were exposed as age and war tore it apart. It symbolized the heart of the city: a beaten and destroyed beacon. A beacon not of hope, but of a physical warning of what the city would bring to us. We turned down the street and continued walking towards it. We heard gunfire off in the distance.
"Sounds like the raiders are having problems with their neighbors; that could be helpful for us." Tai nodded.
We walked down the streets and saw all the buildings in the city. Those giant complexes were everywhere, and so were the debris. Blown up and large pieces of metals were everywhere. Abandoned cars were scattered out all over the street and in some cases inside buildings as if they were thrown into them.
"Think of what we can accomplish if someone could make a town here." Doc said as he stared at the tall buildings.
"They wouldn't be able to last out here with the radiation and Super Mutants, although it would be great." Tai agreed.
A street was cut off by a street full of cars, so we all got together and moved them out of the way. The area that we opened up to looked like a fort. We wandered around the tiny fort and looked for supplies, as it was completely abandoned, and it had been for years. Manny started to scavenge around, picking up toys and discarded food containers.
"Hey guys, look! A Captain Cosmos toy!" Manny smiled as he picked up a plastic, small toy of a man, holding a tiny, high-tech pistol, and wearing a large metal helmet. Manny then took off a monkey attached to his shoulder, one with a matching circular helmet.
"Manny, stop goofing around." I told him.
"But I can make the monkey have the gun!" Manny smiled a she placed the pistol in the toy monkey's hand. I took the monkey away from him and threw it against the metal walls made from stacked cars.
Manny silently looked at me as he placed the Captain on the ground. We heard a clinking noise near us, and it made us all look up.
"What was that?" Tai asked.
"It was the little baby toy I threw." I calmed everyone as Manny found another Captain Cosmos toy in a food bag.
"It's not for babies. It had a gun." Manny whined in a mumble.
We heard more noises behind us from the entrance that we made. We turned around to see a group of ghouls looking at us, rasping slowly through their skinny, rotting throats. They looked malnourished and anorexic, and their eyes spread forward from their skulls. They stared at us and bent forward, we could see their bones popping out from their skin. We got up and looked at them. This time, I pumped my shotgun and aimed it at them.
"Who are you?" I asked.
They just stared at us, they all looked angry for some reason.
"Answer me, dammit!" I commanded.
More ghouls showed up, all looking similar. Their clothes looked like they fit them loosely. They were draped on, some cut up and bloody, some without anything covering them.
"Who are you people?" I yelled as everyone behind me took out their weapons.
More and more ghouls started to show up, until they started to arrive by fives.
"Dimitri, clear another path out of here. Hurry." I ordered without turning around.
More ghouls showed up. I couldn't count the amount that showed up at the fort. They all just stared at us. Dimitri pushed another car out of the way. All the ghouls in the area flexed their hands and arms towards us and hissed at the grating sound of metal across the pavement. They had claws where fingernails should be. They shouted in an incredibly raspy voice, like they ran out of water and were being strangled. All the ghouls sprinted at us at once. We fired at them, until we realized there were already too many, so we turned around and started to run. What seemed like over 100 ghouls chased us through the streets. It was among the streets of D.C., silent except for my breathing, and the throats of the ghouls screeching. We all ran and shot at the same time. We sprinted through the streets and vaulted over cars to get away from the ghouls. They poured through the area, fixated on catching us. I shot any ghoul that got near me, although my accuracy from running made me miss a few shells. Dimitri huffed as he ran and carried Sasha. He fired at all the ghouls behind us, his gun spewing out bullet casings. I turned as I saw Doc get tackled by one of them. Tai shot it and pulled Doc to his feet and told him to keep running. Manny tripped over some debris as he was running in front of me. I picked him up and pushed him forward so we wouldn't lose speed. My legs stepped over the cars in the area as we traversed through the ruins at the highest speed we could go. My shotgun ran out of shells when I fired the last ghoul that jumped from the top of a car at me. I cursed and threw it at an approaching ghoul's head, making it trip and cause the ghouls behind him to stumble over him, buying me more running time, but not much.
They were faster than us. Manny pointed out a building with big doors that were intact from the explosion. We all sprinted to it and ran inside. Dimitri was the one who lagged behind, as we watched from the inside. The ghouls were about to get to him when squeezed his large, sweaty body inside. They scrambled to get in the door as we slammed it on their arms and hands. We all pushed to get the door to close completely, but weak bone kept us from doing so. My muscles ached and I was tired from running, so my pushes weren't what they could have been. I felt I was going to give out any second. Dimitri gripped the door with all his might and shouted as he slammed it shut. Manny ran and put two poles on the handles of the door to keep it closed. The ghouls smacked against the door and screamed in their raspy voices with every thump against the door. We all sat against the door and caught our breaths. Sweat ran down our faces. Dimitri started to laugh out loud as a sign of relief. I turned over at him and glared. I gasped for air and turned my head to the door.
"So...that's a feral ghoul." I said as I huffed and puffed.
"This day has been filled with running. I would have preferred fighting raiders at our campsite than this." Dimitri said.
"You prefer fighting raiders than doing anything else!" Manny exclaimed. They both laughed.
We got up and walked around the building. Another set of doors where inside. We opened them up and walked through them. A row of ghouls with weapons aimed at us were the first thing that we saw. We stared at them.
"What are you smoothskins doing here? Here to take our stuff again? Well it's not going to happen! We're ready for you this time!" A ghoul shouted.
"Easy, easy! We're not raiders. We were sent here to get rid of them." I said to them.
"And am I supposed to believe that? You have three seconds to get out of here, or we're shooting!" The ghoul shouted.
"We can't, there's-"
"3!"
"We can't leave, there's a bunch-"
"2!"
"We'll die if we go out there!"
"1!" They men readied their weapons to fire as a ghoul woman intervened by running in front of the firing line.
"Stop! Don't shoot them!" A woman said in her raspy voice.
"Anna, get out of here!" The ghoul shouted.
A man in our group recognized the name and his heart sank into his chest, his sweat came out more than before. The room was silent for what seemed like a year for him as he looked forward at her. Doc stepped out from the group and walked slowly forward, his eyes focused on her. The ghouls raised their guns at him in defense, but he paid no attention. The ghouls realized this and stared in confusion at him and the one he stared at.
"Anna?"
She turned to him. Her face was torn and decaying, her hair was plucked out, her lungs wheezed out gentle breaths as her insides rotted. She was a ghoul now, but she was still her. And she remembered him. She remembered what he did for her and what he's done with himself now. He realized it was still her, but he was horrified, surprised, shocked, scared… but happy. He had found her, he had accomplished something.