So here's Part 2, sorry for the delay; I have a new job and The Man's been keeping me down. I'm hoping to get the final part of this arc up before the month is out, but unfortunately I can't make any promises.
As usual you'll find this chapter's playlist on my author's page, so go rock out and enjoy the story
"Two Ugly Wagons six O' clock!" shouted Glade looking into the rear view mirror.
Sarah turned her head and saw two beat up trucks filled with snarling green bastards turn onto the street behind them. I hate my fucking life.
Sarah leaned out the window and targeted the truck that was coming up along side them and aimed a shot at the ugly sitting behind the wheel. The laser beam hit him between the eyes and the truck swerved off the road and into a building. Sarah shifted her aim to the next truck but was forced to duck back in the humvee as the Super Mutants in the back sent a storm of bullets her way.
Dusk flipped the turret around and pounded a stream of bullets into the trucks engine compartment, setting it on fire. The truck crashed into a power pole and exploded.
"I would really like to put this fucking city behind us now!" roared Dusk.
"No one likes a gunner seat driver!" snapped Glade, sliding the humvee around the next corner.
"Oh fuck me," groaned Sarah.
The road they had come in on was now blocked by three two turret APCs, with six snarling uglies in the gunner seats. Glade pulled the hand brake and spun the humvee around just as the APCs sent a stream of bullets their way. Gallows leaned out the window and targeted the middle APC with the missile launcher. There was a massive explosion as his missile breached the APC's fuel storage and it went up in flames. The shots from the other two APCs went wild as smoke from the destroyed vehicle clouded their vision. Glade gunned the engine and sent the humvee flying around the next bend before they could get their aim back.
"What the fuck are those assholes doing with that kind of hardware!" demanded Kodiak.
Sarah shrugged, after today she was done assuming anything about the Super Mutants, if they could hide hundreds of their ugly asses inside a city, and right under her fucking nose, they could probably do a whole hell of a lot more as well. All that mattered now was getting back to the Citadel and letting her father know of the changes to the Super Mutants play book.
Kodiak tried the radio again but it was useless, they were still being jammed.
Sarah grabbed the map and located another route out of the city, one that would take them right through wide streets filled with tall buildings on either side. It was going to be a god damned sniper's delight but there wasn't any way around it; if this route was blocked then they would really be fucked. Sarah showed Glade the new route and he steered the humvee down a new street.
BANG!
Sarah felt the humvee give a violent shudder, and quickly looked over her shoulder. Standing on the road behind them was a Super Mutant aiming a sniper rifle. The green bastard prepared to squeeze off another shot, only to have his brains blow out the back of his head when Colvin leaned out the window with his sniper rifle.
Glade brought the humvee to a stop, "Motherfucker got our tire!" he snapped, jumping down from the driver seat.
Glade walked around the back of the humvee and shouted back to Sarah, "I'm going to need 15 minutes to fix this!" he reported.
"Son of a bitch," groaned Sarah.
"Alright everyone out!" she roared.
Sarah hopped down onto the street and surveyed the terrain around them. She narrowed her eyes and tried to determine which direction the Super Mutants were most likely to come at them from. Given enough time they would come at them from both directions but Sarah didn't plan on being here that long. She made her decision.
"Gallows, Kodiak! Get your asses over here!" she shouted.
Sarah grabbed onto one of the broken down cars lying on the side of the street and started dragging it into the middle of the road, the gears of her power armor straining against the weight of the four ton vehicle. Gallows and Kodiak each grabbed onto a car of their own and helped Sarah complete the barricade.
Once she was reasonably sure the rusty cars would soak up the bullets Sarah shouted to Dusk and Colvin, "Grab the ammo boxes out of the supply trunk!"
"You got it Boss!" shouted Dusk
The two of them came running up with a bunch of metal containers which they dropped next to the barricade; cracking them open they started passing out ammunition.
Sarah loaded a fresh micro fusion cell into her laser rifle, "Shoot down any inhuman son of a bitch that tries to get past us," she stated, taking up position behind the cars.
:RGFyZSB0byBiZSBBd2Vzb21l:There had been a short pause in explosions, and for a moment Jason thought someone had won, but now they started back up again. Luckily for Jason the fire fight was now fixed to just one location and it was only a few blocks away. Jason scanned the buildings around him looking for a good vantage point and found a parking garage near to where the explosions were coming from. The building was five stories high so it would give him a good view of what was happening. Jason drove his bike up the ramp of the parking structure, past a broken automated toll booth and straight to the top floor. The garage was filled with decaying cars in various states of disrepair, Jason could see that some had at one time been pretty sweet rides; it was a damn shame for them to be rusting out the remainder of their existence in a deserted ruin. Jason grinned, he could imagine what a few of his ex-girlfriends might think about that thought; you care more about your car than you do about me you son of a bitch! He had heard statements like that more than a few times throughout his adult life, they were usually followed by; you never open up! why won't you talk to me! Jason shook his head; he had learned a long time ago that he sucked at relationships, something in him was just broken and it wasn't ever getting fixed. Eventually the women in his life came to the same conclusion, and if they were really lucky they got there with some of their sanity still intact. Relationships were complicated, cars on the other hand were simple, you gave them gas, polished the hood, and kept the engine running; he had once heard someone say relationships were the same way, but in Jason's humble opinion that someone was a fucking idiot.
Jason reached the top floor of the garage and watched for a moment as the morning sun crept over the horizon. Still as beautiful as ever, I guess some things never change, he thought lazily. The explosions below the parking structure drew Jason's attention back to earth. Jason hopped off the bike and reached into the storage compartment. He pulled out the R91 Assault Rifle and slung it over his back then reached in and grabbed out the Scoped M72 Gauss Rifle; slamming a new magazine into the rifle he made his way to the edge of the building and stared down into the street below him.
Well this is interesting
Below him, towards the end of the street, a squad of soldiers in beat up power armor were hunkered down behind a barricade of broken cars. And charging the barricade were over thirty of the greenest, ugliest, motherfuckers Jason had ever laid eyes on.
Didn't think it was possible, but those bastards are even more hideous when they're still pumping oxygen, mused Jason, thinking back to the huge bloody green corpses scattered around the destroyed humvees.
Jason analyzed the Super Mutants below him. They were seven feet tall and had more muscle than a gorilla chugging steroids. And the big green bastards came in a variety pack too; ranging in size from huge, to fucking huge, to run the fuck away and don't look back. They didn't appear to be overly smart though; the ones below him were charging the soldiers' barricade and getting shredded like fucking confetti.
Just when Jason thought the soldiers might not really need his help after all something massive suddenly smashed into his mind, and for a split second Jason felt an all consuming hatred well up within him, and a presence urging him to attack and kill the Brotherhood soldiers, there was more to the command but Jason wasn't having it. An ancient and primordial rage welled up inside him; it was the kind of rage that was generated when a predator intruded upon another predator's territory. Jason took hold of that rage and lashed out at the presence invading his mind; the intruder was immediately dissolved by the heat of Jason's fury.
As soon as contact with the invading presence was broken a flash of pain stabbed Jason in his temple.
"Motherfucker!" he hissed rubbing forehead.
Jason didn't know how it happened, but something had just intruded upon a very private area…and something was going to die a very very painful death when he found it.
Jason's attention was drawn back to the fire fight below as the Super Mutants suddenly changed tactics and ducked inside the buildings on either side of the street for cover, and then began…chanting?
It was quiet and incomprehensible at first but soon built into a roar.
"JUGGERNOT! JUGGERNOT! JUGGERNOT!"
"What the fuck…?"
Jason wasn't the only one disturbed by the turn of events; the soldiers behind the barricade quit firing and began scanning the street, looking extremely agitated.
Suddenly two humongous Super Mutants appeared at the far end of the street. Each was over 10 feet tall and packed with enough muscle to rip the plates off a tank, and they were each covered in armor, and sporting heavy firepower. The one in the lead, sporting a mini gun in each hand, began spraying the soldiers with a firestorm of bullets. The second one was carrying a heavy incinerator, the big bastard pointed the weapon at the soldiers and a launched a fuel cell in their direction, the canister smashed into the barricade setting fire to the broken down cars.
The Super Mutants all let out a massive roar and surged from the cover of the buildings to swarm the pinned down soldiers.
Jason gripped the gauss rifle and took aim at the ugly with the mini guns.
"No one gets inside my fucking head," he growled.
:RGFyZSB0byBiZSBBd2Vzb21l:"Glade! Hurry the fuck up!" roared Sarah flipping her laser rifle to scatter shot and sending a shotgun blast of laser beams into the uglies fleeing for cover.
Kodiak lowered his plasma rifle as the last of the uglies cleared the street and began chanting.
"Umm…Sarah? What the fuck is going on here?" he asked tensely.
"I think you might want to see if you can light a fire on the repairs," replied Sarah calmly, shoving a fresh micro fusion cell into her laser rifle.
Kodiak nodded and took off for the humvee.
Sarah turned to Gallows, "Do you know what's happening?"
Gallows nodded, "Juggernaut…Overlord,"
Sarah cursed, "As if this day wasn't bad enough already,"
"We got Heavies!"
She reached down and picked up a Gatling Laser and aimed it down the street just as the two Overlords appeared. Sarah bared her teeth into a snarl and pulled the trigger; a three second blast of directed energy emanated from the laser and then it died. Sarah dropped the laser to the ground screaming a string of obscenities.
"Hit those fuckers with everything you got!" she snarled.
Dusk and Colvin leaned out of cover with their sniper rifles and fired half a dozen rounds into the ugly carrying the mini guns. The bullets impacted the Overlord's chest, sending up a spray of blood, but the Overlord didn't seem to notice or care, instead he just pointed his mini guns at the barricade and pounded the Pride with bullets.
The other Overlord then raised a heavy incinerator and fired a fuel cell into the barricade, setting it a blaze.
"We're pulling back!" shouted Sarah
Sarah turned to Gallows, "Wait until those assholes are right on top of the barricade then hit the charges. I want those big green bastards deep fried and extra crispy."
She turned her gaze to Dusk, "Get on the turret and shred every ugly green motherfucker who manages to make it past our fireworks. Now! Go!"
Sarah backed away from the barricade and knelt to the ground, laser rifle in hand. Once the Mutants were past the barricade it was only a matter of time until they were overrun; Sarah wasn't the praying type, but right now, she was praying hard for a miracle.
Sarah took aim at the Super Mutant with the mini guns; well, if this is it, I'm sure as hell going down swinging. Sarah waited for the right time to fire, and it came, but not for her.
WAM!
There was a very loud metallic clang as a magnetically accelerated round impacted the Overlord's helmet. The mini guns fell from the Overlord's hands and he dropped to one knee, however he didn't appear to understand that a metal slug moving at high velocity had just entered his head, if he did he would have been dead and not looking to get back up.
WAM!
The second shot drove the point home. The Overlord collapsed to the ground, and the Super Mutants, all of them, stopped in their tracks and lifted their noses to the air, sniffing at some strange new scent, they then completely forgot about murdering Lyons Pride and began searching for the mysterious new attacker.
Another shot rang out and another Super Mutant fell to the ground lifeless, then another, and another, until it became very clear the sniper was sitting on top of the parking garage and they all opened fire.
Gallows cocked his head, "Well they're having fun, want me to ask if we can play too?" he inquired, turning to Sarah
Sarah grinned and turned her eyes to the sky, "Maybe you aren't asleep at the wheel after all," she whispered.
Sarah addressed the squad, "Tear those fuckers apart," she growled.
:RGFyZSB0byBiZSBBd2Vzb21l:Jason loaded another round into the Gauss Rifle's chamber and took aim at the second Big Ass Super Mutant. He put the ugly's head in his crosshairs and pulled the trigger. The magnetic accelerator along the rifle's barrel crackled with electricity, too much electricity; next thing Jason knew there was a loud clang and a crack suddenly appeared in the rifle's magnetic coils. Jason threw the rifle to the ground cursing.
"Rusty piece of 200 year old garbage! Ain't that just like the fucking Army, never thinking ahead…" Jason's rant trailed off as he grabbed the assault rifle off his back and took aim at the Massive Super Mutant.
The Big Bastard lifted its heavy incinerator into the air, taking aim at Jason.
Jason narrowed his eyes, "Eat shit and die," he growled, lining up the sight.
Jason released a torrent of bullets into the Super Mutants head, blinding the creature and causing it to scream in pain, but still not killing it. Jason loaded another magazine into the rifle and took aim again; only to have his shots go wide as the building he was perched on gave a violent shudder. Jason's eyes caught sight of a Super Mutant reloading a single shot grenade launcher, the Mutant took aim again and Jason had just enough time to file a grievance with God before the floor beneath him collapsed and he was sent tumbling into the street below.
If there ever came a point in Jason's life where he was asked the question of what it would feel like to fall five stories from a parking garage and land on a pile of hard rubble; he felt confident in his ability to provide an answer…it hurts.
Jason could feel something warm running down the side of his head, and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open; he tried to remember what he was doing sprawled on the ground; it seemed a very odd place to be.
Fuck it, it can't be that important, decided Jason
Jason's eyes fluttered closed and he drifted into a black void…only to be pulled back from the edge as strong arms gripped him by his shoulders and lifted him a few feet into the air. Jason reluctantly opened his eyes to face the 7 foot tall, 500 pounds of Green Ugly currently dangling him in the air.
The Super Mutant barred its teeth into a snarl; a low rumbling emitted from its throat, as a cloud of bad breath hit Jason's face full force. The breath more than anything else served to return Jason to his senses. It was all still a little foggy, but Jason was reasonably sure that he wanted to kill the thing with the diarrhea breath, he wasn't sure why exactly, but he could figure that out later.
Jason rammed his forehead into the ugly's face; it didn't really cause the mutant that much damage, but at least Jason's effort was rewarded with a splitting head ache and more warm stuff dripping down his head.
Hey! I can fly! Jason thought excitedly, as his body was suddenly sent soaring through the air. Jason crashed through a concrete wall and landed hard on the floor of an abandoned building.
"Really got to learn how to stick the landing," grumbled Jason incoherently.
The ugly green bastard with the bad breath leapt through the building's newly created opening and landed on top of Jason. The mutant then proceeded to hammer Jason's chest with its powerful fists. Jason's chest plate was soon transformed into a slab of warped metal as the beast rained down heavy punches strong enough to dent a tank. But on the upside Jason slowly regained his senses as his ribs began to crack under the beating, when the mutant brought its fist down on Jason's head in addition to seeing stars he suddenly remembered exactly why he wanted to kill this big son of a bitch.
The mutant roared and brought its fist down on Jason again, but this time it didn't make contact. Jason caught the heavy fist in his hand and turned his head to stare into the eyes of the monster trying to kill him. Locking eyes with the beast, a murderous grin spread across Jason's face and he squeezed the monster's fist in his hand, snapping the bones and causing the mutant to howl in agony. Jason then lashed out with his other hand, taking hold of the monster's neck, he began digging his finger nails into its wind pipe; getting himself a good grip on the mutants esophagus he gave it a hard jerk. Blood sprayed from the ugly's neck as Jason ripped out its throat.
The mutant collapsed on top of him and Jason got to his feet shoving off the heavy corpse as he did so.
Jason ripped off the warped chest plate and tossed it to the ground; if these fuckers are going to be an everyday occurrence I'm going to need something a lot stronger.
Jason stumbled out of the building and onto the street where over thirty Super Mutants were waiting for him along with the giant bastard he had blinded, who was currently stumbling around the street screaming and crashing into shit.
The Super Mutants weren't shooting at him, instead they circled him with curious eyes; it wasn't everyday a Bleeder managed to kill one of their own in a fight; especially if they weren't using stupid power armor to cheat. The Mutants waited for orders on how to deal with this new situation.
Jason rested his hand over his pistol, waiting for the inevitable moment when this Mexican Standoff dissolved into more bloodshed.
Suddenly the presence that had invaded his mind earlier was back in full force, and this time it was speaking.
CAPTURE THE HUMAN
Jason pulled the pistol from its holster, "Just fucking try it," he hissed.
The Super Mutants let out a low growl as they closed in on him; Jason emptied the pistol into six of the assholes, dropping them all to the ground. The Super Mutants slowed their advance and bared their teeth in unconcealed murderous rage.
Jason held up a finger, "Hold that thought, need to reload" he deadpanned.
Jason reached into his ammo pouch to pull out some more rounds but came up empty.
"Damn," Jason looked to the Super Mutants "Hey do you guys have any .44 rounds I can borrow? I promise I'll give them right back," he said, as if he were asking to borrow a cup of sugar.
The Mutants opened fire on him; Well, I guess we're done fucking around, decided Jason coldly. Jason dashed to the nearest Super Mutant, pulling a combat knife from his belt he jabbed the blade into the Mutant's spinal cord. Taking hold of the paralyzed body, Jason turned the bleeding asshole toward its fellow green bastards and used it to soak up the bullets.
Just as Jason began contemplating a way out of the fucked up situation he had found himself in, the situation changed status from fucked up to very fucked up. The Brotherhood soldiers behind the barricade had regrouped and were opening fire into the crowd of Mutants clustered around Jason, so now he had the joy of dodging bullets and laser beams from every direction.
Jason grabbed a beat up pistol dangling from the belt of the mutant he was currently using as a meat shield and aimed a few shots at the ugly bastards charging at him. The bullets practically bounced off their flesh. The lack of quality in the weapons of this world was really starting to piss him off.
Jason dropped the gun and gripped the 500 pounds of dead ugly between him and the charging Super Mutants. Taking hold of the green bastard's body he lifted it over his head and threw it into the charging mass of steroid abuse. The dead Mutant collided with his comrades sending three of them crashing to the ground.
Before the Mutants could get a clue Jason took to the sky; roaring like a tiger ripping into its prey Jason pounced on the Super Mutants.
:RGFyZSB0byBiZSBBd2Vzb21l:Sarah had already put this morning down as the craziest seven hours of her life. So when the man in the pre-war combat armor had been blasted off the parking structure with a grenade launcher, and then lived to be pissed off about it Sarah just took it all in her stride. She did however take a moment to evaluate this new development, and ordered the Pride to hold fire.
Sarah watched as the man was picked up and dangled in the air by one of the ugly green monsters, and then thrown through the wall of a building. She watched the Super Mutant leap in after him, and then watched as 30 seconds later the man emerged alone from the building, covered in dark red mutie blood.
Dusk turned to Sarah, "Shouldn't we be doing something to help?"
Sarah raised an eyebrow, "We don't help Super Mutants Dusk, we kill them,"
Dusk tilted her head confused, "What…oh…funny," retorted Dusk angrily.
"This guy saves our asses, the least we could do is throw a few bullets at the assholes surrounding him," snapped the Knight Sergeant bitterly.
"Hold fire until I say otherwise," stated Sarah coldly.
Not that she wasn't grateful to the man for showing up and saving her and her knights from the meat grinder, but the fact was he wasn't her responsibility, the Pride was. And if taking advantage of the distraction created by his presence meant leaving him to fend for himself, then she would clear it with her conscience later, if there was a later; that possibility was still up in the air.
Glade ran up to her, "Humvee's fixed…the fuck is going on here?" he asked looking at the Mexican Standoff between the mysterious stranger and the thirty some Super Mutants surrounding him.
"Get the engine running, and hold position," ordered Sarah, ignoring the question.
Sarah turned to the rest of the Pride, "We need to draw those ugly assholes attention away from our dashing hero, and toward this barricade, once they're on top of it, we light the match then get the fuck back in the Humvee before the festivities start."
"Finally," grunted Dusk.
Sarah turned to Gallows who was staring at the man with fixed attention, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing, or maybe…was afraid to. Strange fucking behavior for Gallows, Sarah had always been under the impression that nothing surprised or impressed him. The man could keep his cool in the very depths of Hell; in fact if he ever did actually wind up in Hell, he would most likely end up skewering the Devil with his own pitchfork and taking over control of the place. Sarah's mind flashed on the near infinite number of times Gallows had mercilessly cut down his enemies over the years, even against the most dangerous opponents his reaction to them could at best be described as bored…no, something was definitely off about this, but she would have to meditate on it later.
"Gallows! GALLOWS!"
Gallows shook his head and turned to Sarah.
"Would you care to join the rest of us back on Earth?"
Gallows stared at Sarah through his visor for a moment, then cocked his head, "Have I ever passed up an opportunity to kill something; let's crash a party." he said taking aim at the mutants with his old SOF Combat Assault Rifle.
Not for the first time Sarah wished he would remove his fucking helmet so she could get a feel for his emotions.
Colvin and Dusk took up position and started dividing the targets amongst themselves.
Kodiak loaded another plasma canister into his rifle and took aim as well, "Got your back buddy," he muttered towards the mysterious stranger.
Sarah took hold of her own rifle and gave the order.
"TAKE THEM DOWN!"
Shots rang out and bullets, laser beams, and globs of superheated matter were sent ripping through the Super Mutants. Soon the Pride had the Super Mutants attention divided between the five warriors pouring fire down their throat, and the psychotic bad ass ripping them apart from close in.
Sarah flashed a murderous grin as over a dozen Super Mutants charged the barricade.
:RGFyZSB0byBiZSBBd2Vzb21l:The Brotherhood's renewed presence had drawn off half the Super Mutants that were trying to shoot, stab, strangle, crush, or otherwise cause Jason bodily harm. The fact that he was forced to dance around their shots was a small price to pay for the distraction. Fighting these green bastards was a little different than butchering a dozen raiders; the raiders had all but bent over and pulled their pants down when Jason's boot had come calling. The Super Mutants on the other hand had a much higher bad ass factor. The weakest of them was almost as strong as he was and the big ones, the "Juggernauts" were considerably fucking stronger; long story short the Jolly Green Bastards were getting very close to ending the story that was Jason's life.
Jason ducked under the swing of a sledge hammer and slammed his fist into the heart of the ugly bastard who swung it; Jason heard ribs breaking as his knuckles made contact with the muscle pumping blood through the Mutants body. Jason felt the heart crush under the blow of his fist and the Mutant dropped to the ground gripping its chest.
Jason kicked the sledge hammer into his hands and swung it into the head of the nearest Mutant; he felt a rush of satisfaction as the creature's head caved in.
BAM!
Jason grimaced in pain as a sawed off shot gun blast suddenly hit him in the abdomen; he looked down to see the six pellet shaped holes leaking blood from his chest. Baring his teeth into a snarl he found the Mutant who had shot him. Jason closed the distance and punched his fist into the Mutant's throat, crushing its wind pipe, and sending it to the ground gasping for air.
Jason snatched the sawed off shotgun out of the air as it fell to the ground just in time to be tackled from behind by yet another super mutant. Jason twisted in the Mutants grip and shoved the barrel of the shotgun into the bastard's mouth, pulling the trigger, he blew the monster's brains out the back of its skull.
Jason dropped the shotgun and kicked off the heavy corpse.
He had now brought down eight of the sons of bitches since the standoff had ended and the voice had ordered them to capture him, but it came at a price. Jason had more broken bones than he cared to contemplate, and was leaking blood by the gallons; there was a strong possibility that he was going to die from his injuries. In fact it should have happened a while back; the shotgun blast wasn't the first hit the Mutants had scored on him. The only thing keeping him going was the rush of adrenaline and whatever was in the Super Vitamin Shot he had received from Chase.
There was a massive boom and heat singed the hairs on the back of Jason's neck as the Brotherhood barricade exploded, sending bodies flying through the air and obliterating half the street. The explosion rendered him temporarily deaf and once more sprawled on the ground. Getting to his knees Jason looked for any surviving Super Mutants. There were ten of them, and they all had eyes for him.
"It never fucking ends," snarled Jason, getting to his feet.
:RGFyZSB0byBiZSBBd2Vzb21l:"Fallback!" roared Sarah making a run for the humvee.
Kodiak, Colvin, and Dusk broke contact with the mutants and took off for the humvee. Sarah risked a glance over her shoulder and saw Gallows pause as he looked back towards where the mystery man was engaged in a no holds brawl with the Super Mutants. The pause was only momentary but it was enough to confirm Sarah's suspicions that something was definitely up with the deadliest warrior in her squad. The Pride jumped in the humvee just as a dozen Super Mutants leapt on top of the barricade they had just abandoned and started opening fire on them with their assault rifles. Sarah took the detonator from Gallows and personally flipped the switch, looking back to watch as the barricade went up in flames and a fiery hell descended upon the Super Mutants.
Glade gunned the engine and the humvee took off and hauled ass away from the carnage.
"Who the fuck was that back there?" he demanded, spinning the humvee around a corner.
Sarah glanced back at Gallows, "Not a fucking clue," she replied after a moment
Glade snorted, "Yeah, well whatever the fuck he was, I can say one thing with absolute certainty; it wasn't human."
There was a general murmur of consent.
"REEEEEEEER!"
"Not again," groaned Sarah bitterly.
"Sounds like Big Ugly wants to play some more," said Dusk picking up the missile launcher and loading the last missile.
"Is that going to be enough to take it down," asked Kodiak.
His question was greeted by silence.
"Right," he replied bitterly.
"REEEEEEEER!"
"It's about a half mile away," said Glade calculating the distance
"Should have brought a fucking Fat Man along for this ride!" snapped Kodiak.
"Let us not lament on missed opportunities," replied Colvin calmly.
There was another roar, this one a lot closer.
"He's hunting us," observed Gallows coldly
"Can you outrun it?" asked Sarah.
"On these streets? Not a fucking chance," replied Glade.
Sarah pulled out the map again
"Fashion Square Mall," she stated reading off the name of the long abandoned shopping complex.
The back parking lot was the perfect spot for a Vertibird LZ, but that would mean banking on a lot of variables. Such as getting out of range of the Super Mutants signal jammer, being able to call in air support, and then being able to hold out for the thirty minutes it would take for the gun ships to arrive on location. But they were out of options; it was time to call a Hail Mary.
Sarah pointed out the building to Glade, "Make for the front entrance,"
Glade drove the car the four blocks to the mall, but was forced to slam on the brakes as the Behemoth exploded out of one of the buildings in front of them. The giant beast turned its gaze towards the humvee and let loose a massive roar. It couldn't be standing in a worse spot, up ahead Sarah could see the entrance to the mall, but between her and the entrance stood 30,000 pounds of snarling ugly. The Behemoth bared its teeth into a snarl and glared at the humvee, waiting for it to make the first move.
For a full three seconds there was nothing but quiet within the humvee as the realization that there were only two ways out of this situation began to sink in. The first one was death, and the second one…
"How many mines are left in the supply trunk?" asked Glade.
Dusk thought for a second, "…twelve…Glade, you aren't thinking about…?"
"Give me the missile launcher," said Glade calmly.
Dusk massed it up front and Glade took the missile launcher and jammed it between the seats, pointing it at the vehicle's fission engine.
"Now might be a good time to start walking," he advised the Pride coolly.
Sarah suddenly flashed on his plan, "Not a chance in hell." she growled.
Glade flashed her a smile, "Thanks for putting up with all my shit over the years; I know I can be a bit…abrasive. It's been a real honor Sarah; you're one hell of a commander."
"Glade, whatever dumbass plan is bouncing around in that empty space between your ears you can fucking forget it, it ain't happening!" snapped Sarah.
Glade winked at her then turned towards Gallows, "If you need to, drag her kicking and screaming into that mall; you guys will have maybe a minute before every fucking mutant in the city is on your ass like a pack of dogs on a three legged cat."
Gallows nodded, "Got it covered."
Was he brain damaged or something? There was no fucking way Sarah was letting him do this.
"Maybe you didn't hear me dickhead, I just gave you an order, and you will obey!"
Glade pushed the electronic door release and the doors of the humvee swung open.
"Don't take this personal Sarah, but get the fuck out of my car," and with that Glade shoved her out of her seat and onto the ground.
He threw his combat shotgun out after her, "And take this with you,"
Glade shut the doors as the rest of the Pride cleared the humvee.
"God damnit Glade!" roared Sarah getting to her feet.
"Be seeing you around Sarah," replied Glade gunning the engine and taking off towards the Behemoth.
Glade observed the Big Bastard through his windshield and watched as it narrowed its eyes and charged.
This has got boom written all over it…hehehe always said I wanted to go out with a bang.
WAM!
The force of the collision nearly knocked him unconscious, luckily the shaking of the humvee as the Behemoth lifted it into the air kept him awake. Glade felt blood running down his head, but he forced himself to look into the big bastard's eyes as it lifted the vehicle off the ground.
Glade grinned, "Didn't your mama ever tell you not to play with your food?"
"REEEEEEEEER!"
"No? Well let this be a lesson to you."
Glade fired the missile launcher and the world slowed down around him as fire tore through the humvee and the vehicle came crashing to the ground as the explosion ripped the Behemoth in half. Then the light of the fires faded and Glade drifted into a comfortable dark void.
Now that was a good bang, bright, loud, and obvious; just the way I like it, he thought as he drifted into the darkness.
:RGFyZSB0byBiZSBBd2Vzb21l:Sarah was nearly deafened from the explosion as the combination of mines, fuel, and unused ammunition incinerated the Behemoth from the waste up. The explosion also drew the attention of Charlottesville's remaining Super Mutant population, Sarah could hear the big bastards roaring and making their way towards her.
"Crazy son of a bitch," she growled
Just had to go out in a blaze of glory didn't you, you motherfucker!
Gallows watched Sarah through his visor, "You good?" he asked.
"Yeah, just fucking peachy!" she snapped.
"Get Moving!" she roared.
The squad turned and made a break for the mall. Sarah reached the double doors of the mall's entrance and shoved them open; once the Pride was through she placed a high explosive charge on the door and hooked it to a trip wire. Sarah moved away from the door and deeper into the mall. The various stores and kiosks scattered throughout the building were mostly empty, anything valuable having been removed from them by two centuries worth of scavengers.
The charge Sarah had placed at the door detonated and a couple of Super Mutants roared in agony. The squad moved up to the second floor landing to gain a better view of any approaching uglies.
Sarah turned to Kodiak, "Try to raise Citadel Control,"
Kodiak activated the radio, then shook his head at Sarah.
Fuck!
Sarah could hear the Mutants roaring behind her, but there wasn't a single noise up ahead of them; she didn't like it.
Sarah held up her fist then pointed down the hall and the squad began sweeping the stores on either side of them. She didn't have to wait long for justification for her bad feelings to present itself. Eight Super Mutants exploded out from a store called "Radiation King" and charged at the Pride. Sarah brought up Glade's shotgun in one hand and sent a blast into the chest of the nearest one. The Super Mutant caught fire as the incendiary round burned through bone and flesh, and the ugly bastard dropped to the floor screaming.
Sarah brought up the laser rifle in her other hand and kneecapped another Super Mutant as it charged at her. The Mutant dropped to its knees and she finished the ugly bastard off with a kick to its chin, snapping the creature's head back and breaking its neck.
Kodiak sent three globs of super heated plasma into another of the ugly bastards as it leapt at him, and then pulled a war axe from his belt to fend off the blow from a mutant with a sledgehammer. Kodiak tossed his plasma rifle to Dusk who caught it and used it to melt the head of a Super Mutant firing a machine pistol at her.
He then turned to face the ugly bastard with the sledgehammer. He twirled the war axe in his hand.
"Okay asshole, let's dance,"
The Mutant raised the sledgehammer over its head then sent it crashing towards him. Kodiak brought his war axe up, splitting the sledgehammer in two and sending the end of it flying across the room. Kodiak then swung his war axe into the Mutants neck, removing the bastard's head from its shoulders.
Gallows really didn't have the patience for this shit, he raised his Combat Assault Rifle hammered the remaining Super Mutants into the ground.
"Can we get going now?" he asked coldly.
Gallows felt the floor beneath him give a shudder and a crack appeared where he was standing. He had just enough time to look up at his teammates in surprise when the floor gave way and he was sent crashing to the ground below.
Sarah rushed to the hole and looked over to see if he was still alive, but she couldn't see anything. The spot where Gallows body had landed was swarming with Super Mutants, who upon catching sight of her opened fire, making the floor vibrate and crack with their bullets.
"Oh shit!" she exclaimed as the floor began shaking.
Sarah turned to the rest of the Pride, "MOVE!" she roared.
Sarah started running as fast as she could for the Mall's roof exit, massive chunks of the floor collapsing behind her as she hauled ass. The squad reached the exit and kicked open the door, catching a face full of morning sunshine as they stepped outside and onto the roof of the mall.
To Be Continued…
Alrighty so there you have it, let me know what you think