Chapter 3
And into Hell.
"Haha..." I chuckled, nervously. "What's up, guys?"
"Shut up, you wandering piece of shit." the officer said, soldiers filing in behind him.
"Hey, you guys aren't still pissed about Adams, right...?"
The officer leveled a plasma pistol at me.
"Keep talking, and you'll find out, shit."
"Hey!" my anger starting to rise. " My name is not..."
A Hellfire Enclave soldier stepped forward, slamming his Heavy Flamer straight into my gut. Even with my new physique, the cold steel hurt like Hell, and knocked the breath straight out of me. I staggered back against the wall, reaching one hand out to steady myself.
"Done talking?" The officer asked me.
"I'm all ears, man..." I wheezed out.
"Good," the officer started. "I'm going to give you two options, Wanderer. You come with us willingly, and we can get what we want, or you can resist, and we kill you, and still get what we want."
"You know what?" I asked, my breath coming back to me as I straightened myself. "I have another option."
Before the officer could even open his mouth to speak, I lunged at the Hellfire soldier, pulling the Heavy Incinerator out of his hand before back-handing him into the side wall. I leveled the Incinerator (which felt way less heavy in my new condition) and sent out a fireball into the Enclave soldier behind the officer, frying him in his heavy metal armor. Three soldiers remained, and with their wits now gathered, they charged me. The combined mass of all three soldiers plowed into me and staggered me, almost causing me to fall to the ground. Luckily, the solid concrete wall broke my fall. It wasn't the softest landing I'd ever had, but certainly one of the most helpful. I pushed myself off, kicking one soldier off. He hit the ground, bounced, and then lay still. I dropped the Incinerator, grabbing both of the remaining soldiers by the neck. I smacked their helmeted heads together, so hard that the helmets crumpled into each other, killing the soldiers instantly.
I dropped the bodies, searching for the officer. I spotted him on the floor in the fetal position, emitting something that seemed like a sob. I strode over, grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him off his feet.
"Well, officer. It looks like things turned out a little bit different than you anticipated. Now, I have a proposition for you. Either you lead me out of this shit-hole Hell pit, and I entertain the thought of letting you live, or you don't show me the way out, and I kill you right here and now."
The officer's eyes darted back and forth, his breath coming in sharp, agitated gasps.I shook him, his body almost weightless in my semi-Mutie hands.
"Three seconds, fucker!" I shouted into his face. "Three seconds before I decide for you!"
His mouth gaped like a fish, his hands trying in futility to pry my fingers off his lapel.
"Three... two... one..." I counted down, grabbing his neck with one hand.
"OKAY." The Enclave officer seemed to regain his senses when my massive hand reached for his neck.
I dropped him down. He scrambled to his feet, stumbling over himself to the far wall, in which he then pressed himself against in what seemed like a very impressive effort to put as much space between he and I. I stretched myself out, then proceeded to loot the dead bodies of the recently deceased Enclave soldiers. I took ammo, fuel, and caps off all the bodies, then proceeded to sling an Incinerator over my shoulder.
"Lead the way, bitch." I motioned with my Incinerator to the door. The officer, still pressed tightly to the wall, looked me over.
"D-don't uh, you.. want some clothes...?"
I looked myself over for the first time since I'd arrived in the Vault. My shirt had been ripped, tattered, and torn until it was more holes than actual fabric. My pants had long since disintegrated, my undershorts and boxers the only thing keeping my lower body hidden.
"Good idea, pussy. Let me scavenge something from your dead comrades..."
I saw a flare of anger in his eyes. It quickly faded when I made a show of ripping the Enclave armor apart at the joints. The man incased inside seemed to be in his early thirties, powerfully built, with dark hair and an eternal grimace of horror plastered on his face. I felt something twinge inside of me. An awkward feeling. One I hadn't experienced since the trip I made to Paradise Falls...
"Are you going to take something, or not?"
I glared back at the officer, who looked as if he immediately regretted ever being born. I growled, and turned back around. I was snapped out of my memories. I took off the plain black shirt the soldier wore, and tried stretching it over my massive frame. It worked, but it was tighter than a Mirelurk's asshole. Next were the pants. I pulled the trousers off the corpse. They were tight. I was unsurprised. It seemed that I would just have to wait to get more comfortable clothes. Speaking of comfortable... I looked down at my feet. I had hardly noticed before, but I could definitely feel the dank coldness of the wet concrete beneath my feet. I would need new shit stompers. The shoes on the big dead soldier were no where near the size I needed, so I stripped off the heavy metal boots off the fallen soldier's feet. I added an extra layer of padding on to my feet to prevent chafing, and shook my feet. The boots were tight, like the rest of my clothing, but they would work. And provide nice protection for my lower legs.
I turned to collect my prisoner. He had not moved, the fear of a brutal death holding him in place.
"Now it's your turn, princess. Show daddy the way out."
The officer edged along the wall to the exploded door way, trying to find the exit while never taking his eyes off me. He reached it, his hand brushing the blackened, twisted metal. He stepped over and out, careful not to fall. It would be a painful mistake if he did. I followed suit, carefully picking my way through the shredded steel, watchful to avoid cuts. I had no StimPaks, and getting a cut from metal was inviting infection. I now stood behind the officer, hallways twisiting off into darkness all around us. His head swiveled in an attempt to possibly remember the way out. I nudged him in the back with the Incinerator.
"Time to go." I growled, pushing him again.
He stumbled forward, making a seething glance back as he steadied himself. He straightened up, took a deep breath, looked forward, and bolted.
"Son of a bitch!" I snarled, leaping in to the dark after him.
He may have been a pussy, but he was fast. He already had several yards on me, and showed no signs of slowing. I picked up my pace, thundering down the hall after him. It was dim, and hard to see the debris that littered the floor. With standard Enclave issued HUD contacts, the officer could see in the murk fine enough. But my eyes were no matched for that kind of tech, even with my biological enhancements. But if I wanted out of this Hellish labrynth, I had to keep up.
The chase went on for miles, for all I could tell. One moment he would almost be within reach; the next, he would take a sharp turn around an invisible corner and be off, starting the cycle all over again.
I was growing tired. My legs burnt from the sprinting, my calves ached from the short jumps over crumbling wreckage I had made a million times. How the officer had managed to keep this up was beyond me, but all I knew was that I wouldn't be trapped down here. I would not die, not like this. And so I kept running. As I did, I began to notice a shifting, gradual change. The air. It was… different. Hope inflated in my chest. The outside! The officer had led me to it! I regained strength and charged after the officer, his weariness becoming a major detriment to his escape. I closed in, using the last of my fortitude to close the gap. I dove, snagging his pant leg with my hand. I pulled violently, almost ripping the officer's leg off with my ferocity. He sprawled, landing hard on the cold ground. I scrambled to my feet, dragging the officer off the ground as I rose.
"Listen up fuckface!" I roared into his face, my breath coming in heaving gasps. "You're so damn lucky I don't skin your shit, right here and right now. TAKE ME TO THE FUCKING EXIT!"
I threw him to the ground. A snap sounded through the air. Bone protruded through his left arm, the fracture piercing his skin. He yelled in pain before I once again lifted him off the ground and shoving him into a wall.
"Get fucking walking." I said.
He shot me a look of pure hatred before slowly limping off before me. I kept my wits about me this time, and my body poised to tackle him again if he tried to escape. He limped on, the darkness surrounding us slowly dissolving into a murky gray. We walked on, fresh air now plenty evident to my nose. Light broke up ahead, a hole letting it in from the outside. The sight alone excited me beyond belief. I grabbed the officer and tossed him over my shoulder, my strength having returned enough to make a final sprint for the exit. The light proceeded, my footsteps swiftly carrying the officer and I through the hole and out into the open Wasteland. I shrugged off his body, sinking to my knees, inhaling deeply.
"Sweet baby Jesus…" I sighed.
I honestly never thought I was going to make it out of that Vault. Through all the treatments and abuse I had suffered at the hands of Bitch and his Mutants, I had lost hope that I would ever return to my Wastes as a man, not a monster. But I did it.
Hell yes.
A scratching sound hit my ears. I turned, my eyes meeting the sight of the officer trying to make his way to his feet. I rose from my knees and strode over, lifting him off the ground once more. I looked him right in the face, noticing for the first time what he actually looked like. Blondish hair marked a bookish face, and he had more the look of a nerd than a soldier. I dropped him to his feet.
"In return for showing me the way out, I won't kill you." I spoke, his eyes flashing through shock, disbelief, and suspicion before I raised my hands in assurance.
"I'm not going to kill you," I said. I took a step forward. He didn't back down.
I walked up to him, put my hand on his shoulder, and then kicked his knee in so that it broke backwards. He screamed in agony, falling to the dirt.
"But I'm sure as Hell not letting you live." I spat in his face.
I turned away, his cries for mercy falling upon deaf ears. I walked, making my way to the top of a nearby hill. I surveyed the land, noticing that I was in the middle of straight nowhere. Checking my PipBoy was useless, as its solar powered battery was no doubt drained from the time I had spent underground. It would take time to charge. And in that time, I would simply wander. It was what I was best at, after all.