Immediately upon walking through the gate, it slammed shut and I was surrounded by over a dozen heavily armed guards in Khaki colored armor. What a warm a welcome to have assault rifles pointed in my face, when I had only come for a job. I should have expected this by how I was greeted through the intercom.
A tall guard with brown hair placed a kick to the back of my left knee, knocking me to the ground. Pain shot through my knee as it banged into the concrete ground
"Bastards," I spat, looking up at the men as they surrounded me. The burgeoning moonlight turned them into shadows as they drew closer.
As the smoothskins took my knapsack and my weapons from me, one by one, even the Higen, I only could think of how if I had the chance; I would tear into the lead guard's chest, rip the flesh away with my bare hands, and tear his heart out before throwing it to a pack of ferals.
This is my fault any ghoul would agree, this is what I get for betraying my kind. I felt the cold embrace of metal on my nearly skinless neck as one of the guards clamped a collar around it.
I growled, "What the hell is this for?" Fear started to rise in the back of my mind. I'd seen collars like this before, on the slaves being taken to and from paradise falls. I knew what they were for, and what they did.
"Security," The lead guard chuckled and the rest smirked. "Now hold still, you move that thing takes your fucking head off." With great force, he grabbed my arm and whipped me around. "Hands behind your back now freak!" I felt the cold embrace of metal slide around by wrists.
I could always have fought him, I knew that I easily rivaled his strength, but with dozens of guns inches from my face, what could I do but play the complacent Brahmin?
The guard pulled me to my feet, and shoved the barrel of a gun into my back, as he said with a tone dripping with hate and disgust, "Walk Zombie."
Even though my knee still hurt from my fall, I forced myself to walk forwards. There were guards on all sides of me, surrounding me as they led me into the tower. Once inside I was quickly bombarded by jeers and insults from the tower's residents. This was clearly the first time most of them had ever seen a ghoul, or so I deduced by hearing a few different voices say, "So that is what a zombie looks like." Fury raged throughout my being, as I was put on display like an animal. The Jeers and pressure of the gun being shoved into my back made me ask myself why I had come here. I knew Tenpenny and all the residents of the tower had a reputation to being the evilest bigots in the wastes, especially when it came to ghouls. In truth I knew why, greed. Even now I can't say even knowing what I know, that I wouldn't be compelled to come to this tower of bigots once again.
As the guards continued to move me throughout the tower's first floor, I started to notice fine decorations scattered around the walls and corners. Statues, paintings of a world I can't remember ever living in. They led me along the right side of a set of stairs, down a passage with white columns on both sides and forced me to turn right upon us coming to the end of the passage.
I stumbled forwards as the lead guard rammed the butt of his gun into my back, making me take a few clumsy steps into a well lit room. Before I could turn around, I heard the door shut and lock. What were they going to do with me? If they had wanted to just kill me they could have done that earlier, no one would go through all of this trouble to put down one ghoul, whatever they had in store now would surely be hell. If they hadn't killed me yet, maybe they still wanted to hire me. I would never in a million years work for the monsters, not now, not for all the caps in the damn wasteland. Beat me, handcuff me, and lock me in a room? Treat me like a fucking animal, and then expect me to go traipsing off doing busy work for them? I decided right there that if they wanted me to help them, I would spit in that bastard Tenpenny's face. Most likely this had been a trap of sorts; why else would they treat a man, though a half dead one, with the animosity that they had shown me?
With my hands still firmly cuffed behind my back, there wasn't much I could do but look around my prison. It was a fairly nice restroom compared to the ones that I have seen on my travels. Firstly, the toilets and the stall weren't falling apart. The toilets weren't overflowing, broken, or covered in shit. This bathroom surely had to get a lot of use; only by figuring from all the noise upon my entrance that many people lived in the tower. Most likely the bigots would be filled with worry and terror of catching a disease of sorts, after my brief stay, that they will never use these stalls again. It is funny to know that I am right, though I don't know the smoothskins who berated me personally. I realize their hate is strong from their vial words that assaulted me upon entrance to the tower. I was surprised that they did not attack the guards, which I could hear stationed outside the door, and swarm on me. Ha, they were probably more terrified of catching a ghoul virus that it overshadowed their hatred for me; either that or they were all talk, acting tough because of the cuffs and collar. Alone…alone I could have made them my slaves, I'm sure of it now.
Time seemed to be frozen as I endured my stay with only grim thoughts and a toilet and to keep me company, while I paced around the room. I thought of what my fate would be like at the hands of these monsters, any man would have in that situation; strangely, I began not to think of my fate but of my past. I had been far from a man of high morality, though I do not think that I am the epitome of wickedness. My opinion is hardly biased now is it? I had never bothered to think what kind of person I was before this moment, and I defiantly had never considered to ask anyone else, what did I care of their opinion?
I must have been in the bathroom for several hours, but time was impossible to tell without being able to see the moon. I imagined the moon must have been directly overhead by the time, weariness took my legs and I had no choice but to sit upon the floor. I leaned my head back against the wall opposite the porcelain sink. I sat looking at the sink, coping with the awkwardness of sitting with my hands cuffed. At some point I must have drifted off, the events leading up to my imprisonment catching up with me.
I awoke abruptly at the noise of the bathroom door being opened and several men entering my cell. Confused and sleepily, I looked at a man wearing a light grey pinstripe suit, a brown hat, and tortoise shell glasses. On either side of the suited man there was a heavily armed guard, the one on the suited man's right side I deduced to be the lead guard because of how he had taken charge during my capture. I wondered who the suited man was; maybe this man was the infamous ghoul hater Allistair Tenpenny. The man's calm, calculating, and cold voice hit my ears as he ordered the head guard, who he called Gustavo, to undo my restraints.
While I was very roughly lifted to my feet by Gustavo, the suited man said, "I am sorry for your accommodations, if I had been aware of your presence earlier, this would not have happened. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Mister Burke." there was no emotion in his face, but his voice oozed with feigned apologetic tones, ice on the end of every word.
My wrists felt a wave of freedom, and my neck seemed to lose ten pounds, when Gustavo released me from my bonds. I moved my hands to my front and used my hands to help spin my wrists in circles to help regain circulation, before moving to my neck to make sure the collar hadn't stripped the last remaining shreds of skin. I knew Mister Burke was lying, though I have to admit it was hard to tell by his charming tone with an icy devilish undertone. I would bet a thousand caps that this man had watched me enter the tower. How was I supposed to believe that he had not known of my presence after the uproar that I had caused by walking through the lobby of the building? Hell, from what I know now I can almost guarantee, he knew I was coming while I was still miles off.
Allowing disgust to show on my face, I said with a hint of fury. "What accommodations? You leave me in this literal shithole to starve, while you and your fucking tenants grow fat and sleep off another feast?"
Mister Burke smirked and said in a calm and collected manner. "You are indeed right, I shall have breakfast brought to you and then we can discuss your employment under Allistair Tenpenny."
Before I could reply, Mister Burke and the guards left my cell. I was sure that I had seen the lower ranking guard mouth the words brain eater before he left. If I ever got the chance to kill him, I would. Though that vial Gustavo had treated me harshly during our encounter, he had been smart enough to keep his mouth shut, however I cannot determine if it was because I was unchained or Mister Burke was present.
The door opened once more and several guards brought in a small wooden table, a stool, and a variety of food. All high class shit, fitting considering where I was being held. Once the guards had placed the table, stool, and food in my cell, they quickly left and locked the door behind them.
Mister Burke must be trying to bribe me with this selection of, Salisbury steak, deviled eggs, noodles, fancy lad snack cakes, and a bottle of Nuka cola. I was tempted to spill the food on the floor, a feeble testament to my anger for being locked up, but I was starving. Burke had called this breakfast, so I must have slept through the night; no wonder I was starving, I had not eaten since last morning. I sat upon the wooden stool and devoured the Salisbury steak before taking a swig of the sweet Nuka cola. After allowing the sweet remnants of my drink to linger in my mouth for a moment, I began to eat one of the fancy lad snack cakes, which I have not been able to find for many months. As I bit into the rich little cream filled cylinder, I recalled the last time that I had eaten one of the delicious little sponge cakes. I had just destroyed a small encampment of raiders, and as I searched through their remains, I found a fancy lad cake box in one of the lifeless raiders' possessions. I ate them on a cliff above the camp, while watched the flames turn everything I couldn't take with me into ash.
The door opened and in stepped Mister Burke and two guards. In his soothing, semi hypnotic voice Burke said: "I hope you enjoyed your meal. Now, hopefully we can discuss a great service you can do for me? "
Anger was still boiling within me from being locked in the cage, I said, "You expect me to work for you? Ha, I would never work for a bigot like you."
Mister Burke casually leaned over onto the sink and said, "Maybe, I can convince you to help us?" He then summoned a young girl, scantily clad and wearing a slave collar much like the one that had been slipped on my throat. I determined the girl to be anywhere from 16 to 21, as I can never give a truly good estimate on one's age, even my own. The girl carried with her a suitcase that she set on the floor before hurrying outside after a menacing glance from Mister Burke.
Figures they would have slaves in this tower, not only were these men bigots but they condoned slavery. Personally, I had never bothered caring about slavery, if a slaver harassed me, he would end up falling face first off a cliff, however seeing this girl awoke something deep within the vast recesses of my mind. Images of a young girl at a park came into my mind for a brief moment before it was washed away. Damn radiation, I wished that I could remember the girl that had seemed so vivid in my thoughts. What can I expect though? At least after all this time the radiation has not eaten away at my entire brain forcing me to turn feral. Then I wouldn't care about anything except slaughtering those stupid or brave enough to enter the metro tunnels. It would at least be a simple existence and part of me always feared that if someone didn't kill me first I'd end up like the poor bastards underground one day.
Mister Burke opened the suitcase, revealing a huge amount of caps. He must've noticed how my eyes shined upon seeing the caps, since with a small smirk on his face he said "I see that I have piqued your interest. Here in this case are seven thousand caps and all you have to do is help a crew excavate an old prewar research lab."
I couldn't stop staring at the pile of caps within the suitcase. I had never seen that many caps at once in my entire life. The bigot was right, he had caught my attention, yet I had told myself earlier that I would never work for these bigots, though all of those caps made one hell of an argument. The caps just stayed in the case, compelling me to inquire more on the job; I tried to fight the urge to ask why Tenpenny would need my help, but my desire for the caps overpowered my will to spit and laugh in Mister Burke's face. What harm was there in just asking? I could always decline afterwards, in fact, that is exactly what I decided to do. With a tone of curiosity, I said, "Why would you need me to help excavate a research lab and exactly what would I be searching for?" Back then, I had fooled myself into thinking I could ask and walk away, as if they'd just let me leave.
Mister Burke smiled a strange, creepy little smile that showed he was pleased. "We have been told that the facility is overflowing with radiation in many areas and only a ghoul will be able to access many sections of the facility without dying a horrible death or risking ghoulification. After all you can't turn ghoul twice. If you accept, and you will, you'll be searching for an air dispersion device that can turn any liquid into air particles that can be dispersed throughout a wide range."
This time, it was truly curiosity not the lure of money that led me with my left eyebrow raised in a questioning manner to ask, "What would you want something like that for?"
Mister Burke moved away from the sink. "Ah, Mister Tenpenny has his reasons, which is all you need to know. Upon you completing the mission you will be given this suitcase and sent on your way." I should have realized this offer was too good to be true.
Once again the caps started to call to me, why not take this job? Because they had treated me like I a dog and I had promised myself that I would never work for these bigots? Eyeing the caps with a greedy look in my eye, I began to think if I did not agree to do this that they would have no reason to keep me alive. Also what wastelander would not accept a job paying seven thousand caps? Any man, even one with only half a brain left could see that this was a chance to live the rest of their life in complete happiness. After a moment of silence, I said, "Add another three and I'll do it. Now when do I meet the team and set out?" I am just a greedy bastard even after the way they treated me, all they had to do was flash some coins in my face and I agreed. Everything I had thought before was nothing but an excuse, so I could do what I wanted and I knew this, yet I agreed because I am unable to control my avariciousness.
I noticed Mister Burk smiled once more as he said, "Make it two and you leave within the hour." He then summoned his slave girl and ordered her to lead me to the other members of the crew awaiting me outside of the tower.
Upon my exiting the bathroom and following the girl, several guards took up positions on my flanks and rear. Once more seeing this girl brought memories of a girl in a park to the focal point of my thoughts. The image was full of greenery just like the last one. This was the first thing I had remembered from before the bombs had fallen; somehow this girl triggered something in my mind. At first maybe it was a fluke of sorts but a second time definitely wasn't a coincidence. How could it be after so long of not remembering anything, that this girl allowed memories of before the bombs fell to come into my mind? As the last time, the image of the blond girl in the park faded from my mind. As the young blonde girl led me out of the tower by the same exact way that I'd been led to my prison, I asked the girl her name and age. Quietly, of course, no need to give the guards a reason to shoot me when they clearly would have loved executing me.
She stopped walking for a second and looked nervously up at my face. Normally, I would think it was amusing to see someone who shouldn't fear me be terrified of me; however this time, I did not wish her to be scared. I hoped that by learning who she was, maybe, I could learn why she had dug up memories that I did not know I even had. The bombs fell hundreds of years ago, I was grasping at straws to learn things that didn't truly matter anymore and yet they somehow did. Any scrap of humanity, anything from my past I could grab a hold of made existing as a ghoul all the easier.
The girl stuttered a little before she said "My name is Ashley Xander and I am sixteen years of age." she was awfully polite. Either she was afraid or she'd been a slave a long time and the manners had been beaten into her.
Before I could introduce myself Gustavo came out of a corridor and ordered us to hurry along. I was unable to talk to her as the girl who clearly had been terrified by Gustavo led me outside of the tower and into the courtyard.
The sun was already a third of the way above us. The girl quickly left once we had gotten outside, again not allowing me to ask her more questions. Maybe once my job was over, I could speak with her; I somehow felt connected to her. One of the guards rudely told me that the rest of the mercs were awaiting me outside of the main gate with my weapons. Apparently they did trust me with arms, I wouldn't have trusted me either after the way they had treated me. I didn't say a word to the guard, and simply knew that if I got a chance to kill these guards that he would be one of the first to die by my hand. So many of them had pissed me off it was getting hard to keep track of who's neck I would snap first.
Once the gate opened, I walked through, unaware of the possible ramifications that my journey may hold for the citizens of the wastes.
Author's note: I would personally like to thank Subject to change for editing chapter one and chapter two