Hey guys Three stars means change of scene, and a whole line of starts means end of Author's notes since the underscores I constantly put on disappear. Some people say not enough detail and others say it's a perfect amount so I don't know I will keep it in mind when writing this chapter and see how it looks after, also on a different note I naturally write in a third person sense so I am writing His jacket or He said, when I mean it in a first person sense. I have no clue why I do this but bare with me when I miss some of those when editing. Thank you! Update: I found the 'Insert Horizontal Line'. lol
We entered a cave, with a small crack of light at the end… We were walking towards it with all our pip-boy lights on illuminating several feet beyond where we stepped, lighting up the walling and ground. There were several skeletons with tattered clothing, dead long before the Cannibals raided the vault. We reached the threshold of the cave, there was a door that was welded shut, it was air tight discluding the crack under the door where the earth had corroded. There was an air filtration vent atop the door that looked quite sturdy.
"This door is welded shut…. Why do you think that is?" Jose commented.
"I'm… I'm not sure but we have to get it open, we can't stay here." I said pulling out my crow bar. I fitted it in the crack that the door had, putting all my weight and muscle in it I slowly inched it down, the door giving way after hundreds of years of aging. "Could use some help here guys…!" I told the rest of the squad, they all immediately starting helping any way they could, putting their fingers under the crack and pulling with the crowbar, helping with the crow bar itself, and finally the door broke in half.
"Well shit… guess we're gonna have to crawl out of here." Jack said.
"Lets get to it." Jones said, going under first.
Jose went under after her, Jack went next.
"Don't worry Martin, I'll see you Outside."
"You too, captain.." I replied.
After he went under I swallowed down fear and got on my knees and crawled under after the rest. The light was blinding, I couldn't see anything. I felt dizzy and disoriented, two sets of strong hands kept me from falling. After a minute of this feeling and blindness I adjusted to the light, Jack and Jones were holding me up, I took a step forward and observed my surroundings, there were dead trees here and there and a road just north of the door, broken down and destroyed cars with ruins of what I guessed to be houses just beyond that, a single house seemed to be spared from the ruin. It still looked like a sorry sight but it was mostly intact. just beyond the house were several shapes that looked humanoid, I couldn't tell due to the sun still in my eyes.
"Alright we're heading for that house, stay low we need to be cautious, we have no idea if the people over there are hostile or not." James ordered.
"Aye sir." the whole team replied in unison, they sneaked over to the road hiding behind the divider, when Jones spoke up "I'll cover you're guys' approach, but don't stand infront of my line of sight, I can't help you if I can't shoot at them." She explained.
"Sounds good, alright men we'll approach them nice and easy, don't shoot until I do. Understood?" James said.
"Understood." Jack replied.
They foursome walked up the the 8 people, dressed in improvised tattered clothing, they all had some sort of weapon, only 3 with firearms however.
"Hey stey roight where ya fucking are!" one shouted as they got closer pointing at them drawing his sawed off shotgun.
"Wait! Don't shoot! We're just looking around, do you know where we are?"
"What is dis' guy fucking dumb?" the same person said to his companions.
"He must be! He don't even know where da fuck he iz!" the other replied.
"Calm down now, we just got out of the vault not 300 feet from where we are now, we just want some information of where we are." James explained to the group.
"Yee' gon' have te grease our palms if ye want information out in the Wasteland." another said holding a fireaxe.
"Ah I understand.." James said pulling out his wallet and taking out a 100 dollar bill, then handing it to the one he initially spoke to.
The opposite group looked at eachother and started laughing, "Hahahaha! Hey mate guess ye wern't lying when ya'll said ye was from a Vault, our currency now-a-days is Bottle Caps, though yer pre-war money is worth just about the same. Alright we'll take it. You're just west of Phoenix, in Caesar's Territory. And he won't be too kind to you Vault Dwellers… I suggest ye head farther West into NCR Territory, ye will find a better home thare." he finished.
"Who is Caesar? And who is NCR?" I spoke up, wondering who these people were.
"Caesar is a Warlord, he invades tribes and strip them of their identity then integrating them into his army. NCR is a bunch of civilized folks controlling parts of Old Mexico and California, They're much friendlier then dese' Legion Folk."
"Hmm… It seems the world has reconstructed itself much more then we had thought, Captain?" I said to myself and James.
"Yes it seems so, guess we'll report it to our Overseer once our scouting mission is over, however one more question for our friends here… What are you doing here?" James asked
"We're escaped raiders, dem' sons of bitches we're going to crucify me and my band but we'ze pulled the slip on em'!" The supposed band leader said taking pride in himself.
"Then one more question, would you all mind if you escort us around for alittle while? We'll pay you for your time by the day, say… A 100 dollars for today and another 50 for every day after today?" James offered.
"Hehe why don't we kill ye and take it fer ourselves?" the leader threatened brandishing his sawn off in our captain's face.
"Because we are all armed, and we have a sniper aiming to blow off your head." James explained without losing his cool.
"Shit! Errgh… Fine ye got yerself a deal, mister friendly." On that they shook hands on it.
"Alright here's your money, and what's you and your crew's name?" Jacob said whilst handing him more money.
"The day is early, so we ought te get movin' if ye want yer moneys worth." one of the raiders said without answering him.
After awhile of traveling aimlessly for half the day marking some intact buildings we stopped at an abandoned police station, long abandoned and long since looted by scavengers and prospectors. It was naturally fortified with only two points of entrance, the front door and the back door, all the others were long since boarded up. We all got to sleep in 3 different holding cells, being thirteen of us in total James and the other group's leader who's name was apparently Gibson. James and Gibson agreed for a three man watch, shifting 6 hours. The first watch was myself, Jones, and one of the raiders who had a hunting rifle, we all stayed on the roof of the station for a superior vantage point.
"So what's your name?" I asked the raider.
"It's Rodger, and yers' mister Mechanic?" He replied in a friendlier tone, they had spent more than 12 hours with the group and they all warmed up to eachother, not exactly family but atleast the tension wasn't high anymore.
"Its Martin, Martin Bishop. Specialist-Corporal, at your service." I recited taking pride in his temporary title.
"Oi so ye have a military-type ranking like dem' NCR? Haha if ya'll make it up de're then they'll welcome ye just fine." Rodger replied.
"Why don't ya'll come with us? If this territory is so bad then just come along when we move the rest of the people, if that'll happen at all that is." I questioned.
"As we said, wer' Raiders. The old Lancaster Bandits we used to call 'er selves. We raid and pillage, sack caravans and all that murderin' sort, I do it for the loot personally but everybody got de're own reasons." Rodger explained.
"So that doesn't explain why you didn't shoot us on sight then.." I mused
"Ye'all looked like ye was too much trouble to bother with till ye' approached us, then when ye said ya'll had a sniper trained on us we thought 'Well shit might as well get paid for not pissin' these folks off', Hehe yes-sir-ree!" Rodger explained
"Haha its nice to hear that we became friends in the end, ain't it?" I said with joy in my voice.
Before he could respond a spear narrowly misses my head, I immediately ducked and screamed "Get down!" everyone got down before I finished but that didn't matter, several bullets slammed into the wall of the police station's roof, Jones drew her 9mm and fired off a few shots randomly, out of the 4 shots only one scream was heard. "Rodger, go tell the others!" I yelled over the bullets. He nodded and bolted for the door, he opened it and hauled ass down the stairs, I drew my own 9mm and fired off a few shots of my own, I decided I wasn't gonna get anywhere by not aiming so I poked my head out and was sorely sorry, another spear was thrown and got me in the shoulder. I screamed out and held my wound, it was a graze but it still hurt like a bitch, apparently the spears were barbed and ripped up my shoulder a lot worse. "Shit!" I cried out in pain crawling to the wall for more cover. "Jones, don't get hit by their spears, if it impales you you're done, its barbed and it'll do a whole lot more damage!" I explained to her, she nodded and holstered her berretta and took out her sniper rifle, she moved to a different position so they wouldn't immediately shoot at her, she poked over the wall and took aim, she fired and a scream was heard and shouts of insult. There was banging down stairs but we didn't bother ourselves with that now, Jose came through the door with a assault carbine and took position on the wall crouching, emptying his clip at the brush the enemies were hidden in.
All of a sudden two legionaries bursted through the door, armed with Machetes, I turned around and fired my pistol at them, sever shots landed in his torso but it didn't seem to phase him as he closed the distance, I stood up as he grappled me, I grabbed the wrist that the machete was armed with, he sent savage blows in my gut and ribs. With my free hand I grabbed the side of his face and dug my thumb in his eye, he screamed out but continued his assault, I looked to see how Jones was doing with her problem, she sent the legionary off the roof with a yelp, He fell with a Crunch, Jose unloaded his Carbine into the soldier's side, his covered face coughed and blood soaked the cloth over his mouth, he went slump and I threw him over the side of the building, we all back under cover even though the firing had ceased.
"Jones, stay here and make sure none of them get inside the building, Jose come on lets go see whats happening inside the building." I said taking charge.
"Alright, but make it quick." Jones said as I left, Jose in tow.
After going down two flights of stairs it was a bloodbath there were dead raiders and Legion, the raiders were looting the Legion whilst our guys were tending to all the wounded we had. "The fuck happened?" I asked. "Fucking Legion! Those fucks can't let anyone go, can they? Fuck! Lost fucking 3 guys now, When I gather a bigger crew I'm gonna fucking show those Legion pussies!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.