Chapter 4

Logan watched as the sun started to peek over the horizon. It was a beautiful sunrise, but his thoughts were plagued by memories.

Logan laid in the embrace of a beautiful woman, his wife. His wife. He couldn't stop thinking about the fact that the two were married now. It had seemed like such a short time since they had even started dating officially. But here he lay the stunning woman snoring softly, hair sprawled over, and curled up next to him. Logan traced circles on her back, admiring the soft, slightly tanned skin.

A shiver, a halted breath, and finally a stirring. The woman opened her eyes and smiled at Logan. Her eyes held the love he had become so reliant on, but there was something else in her eyes, something mischievous. Without a word her lips met his. Logan smiled into the kiss. After what had seemed like a moment kiss ended. Logan opened his eyes to look at his wife. He saw her lips move but couldn't hear her talk.

"Nora?" Logan asked.

More movement from her lips. He finally sat up from the bed, only to watch in horror as the beautiful moment in his life slowly faded and was replaced by the worst. Logan was trapped in the cryo pod again, screaming. His wife looked at him in horror, Shaun crying in her arms. He watched in agony as the scene played out again, the mysterious people trying to take Shaun, Nora's murder, and finally the face of the man who had shot Nora. It was almost as if he were living the memories again.

Logan shook his head, trying to dispel his grief and hopelessness. He had seen friends die in combat, and civilians lose everything they own, but he had never thought that he would lose Nora, not in the way he did. It plagued him at how helpless he had been in protecting his family, the two people he would do anything for. He hated himself for everything.

He finally had a distraction when he heard Preston shift and begin waking up.

"General?" Preston asked, coming more awake as he saw the other man.

"Preston, you know you don't have to call me that, especially when no one is around." Logan commented.

Preston looked at the General, smiled, then responded with a 'yes, sir.' Scrounging through his bag, Preston found two cans of cram, he tossed one to Logan and held on to the second. Logan pulled open the lid and couldn't decide if he should be appalled or happy that the contents of the can had been pretty well preserved after all this time. Shrugging, Logan bent the lid into a makeshift spoon and began eating his breakfast.

About half an hour later the two men walked out of the Cambridge Police Station, and were greeted with the sun, which had further separated itself from the horizon. Having said their farewells to the Brotherhood scouting party, the two men began walking, hoping to make it to Diamond City before midday.

The journey had been uneventful until the two men approached a bridge. Said bridge had been halfway raised and now had a boat crammed underneath, the boats cabin effectively halting any movement for the rest of the ship. The boat itself, Logan noticed, was unimpressive. What caught the Generals eye was the barge that the boat was pulling. Logan spotted, through his rifle scope, two Armored Personnel Carriers. Movement pulled his attention from the military vehicles as he spotted, if judging by the makeshift armor, raiders.

"Preston, there are raiders on the barge behind that boat." Logan pointed out.

"I see them, General. What do you want to do about them?"

Logan contemplated their next plan of action.

"Well, I don't have many rounds life for my assault rifle, but I have plenty for this one," Logan gestured to the scoped rifle on his back, "The problem is, we will be making a lot of noise, so we may be drawing unwanted attention to ourselves. The good thing is they only have one way to get to us and it's the bridge. Our second option, is to try and sneak passed them. Which if we succeed someone else will have to deal with them, or, if we don't succeed we would be put at a disadvantage."

Preston nodded, tightening his grip on his laser musket.

"General, we wouldn't be Minutemen if we walked away from a threat to the people of the Commonwealth." Preston stated, his gaze trained on the meandering raiders.

Logan nodded, and felt the sides of his mouth tug upwards slightly.

"That's good to hear. So here's my plan."

Logan explained to Preston his plan. The two men would make a little sniper nest, using the gaps in the stone railing to fire from. This would help conceal the muzzle flash from the rifle, and their position. Preston would work as a spotter, calling off any movement he saw from the barge, while also keeping an eye on their surroundings. Logan would be the triggerman, attempting to put down as many of the raiders he could before they found his position.

"Ready?" Logan asked.

"Ready." Preston responded, eyes scanning for movement.

Logan, looked through his scope and spotted four raiders. Two were sitting by a fire pit, cooking their breakfast. The other two were talking to each other on the opposite end of the barge from the two cooking. . Movement caught Logan's eye as he shifted his sights to the cabin of the boat, where a fifth raider stood watch over the bridge. Waiting for the natural pause in his breathing Logan smoothly pulled the trigger.

The first shot found its way into the throat of the raider look-out, a good shot at this distance. Logan pulled back on the bolt ejecting the spent casing and ramming the bolt back forward, seating another round. It only took a moment but the four other raiders all had their weapons drawn and were scanning for the threat. Another round, another dead raider with a nice little hole below his left eye. Blood splattered the other cooking raider as he looked up with dread, right into the faraway eyes of Logan.

'Fuck' was the word Logan read from the man's lips before another round took him down.

The two on the back of the barge had jumped down and were now attempting to make their way into one of the APCs. That is until Logan dropped a shot into one of the raider's legs. The man screamed, or that is what Logan guessed as he couldn't hear the wails of the wounded man. Logan lined up another shot to end the fallen raider, but was surprised when the second raider went back to his fallen comrade and attempted to get the man on his feet. Logan sighted down the unwounded raider, and fired a shot through his back. Both raiders fell to the ground, one screaming and the other silent. Logan aimed for, what he hoped, the last time and fired. The final raider's cries were cut short as the round entered his opened mouth and exited out the back of his head.

"That was some very good shooting, General." Preston commented.

"Hmm, I agree." Logan agreed, frowning slightly, "I'm actually surprised, I haven't ever shot moving targets with this rifle, especially at this range."

Both men gathered their gear and made their way to the barge.

Arriving at the old boat, Logan walked down the rickety wooden stairs, the laser rifle Danse gave him at the ready. Preston split off and searched the raider sentry. Logan cleared the barge, making sure nothing dangerous popped out and attempted to kill him or Preston.

A few minutes Preston arrived holding a decent 10mm pistol, some rounds, and a small pouch.

"Everything good, sir?" Preston asked.

"Yeah, everything should be good now. What's with the pouch?"

Preston handed the General the worn leather pouch. Giving Preston a questioning look, Logan opened the pouch. What greeted the General was a handful of bottle caps.

"Bottle caps?" Logan asked.

"Yes, sir?" Preston questioned the General, before understanding spread across his face, "Sir, bottle caps are our currency now."

Logan laughed. It was funny, he felt almost like a kid playing make-believe. He stopped laughing after a few moments.

"You're not pulling my leg are you?" Logan asked.

"No, sir." Preston stated, not finding it as hilarious as Logan.

"Well, I mean it makes sense I guess," Logan said, giving back the pouch, "we should finish looting whatever we can here and head out."

"Yes, sir." Preston responded moving to the first two raider corpses.

Logan walked to the closest APC, the back ramp down. Inside Logan found several ammo boxes, a gun made out of wood planks and metal pipes, and a few bottles of purified water. Prying open the first of the ammo cans, Logan let out a celebratory 'yes!' Stacked neatly inside the ammo can were boxes of 5.56. Logan immediately set his Laser rifle down and began loading his assault rifle's magazines. Logan was so focused on loading his magazines he didn't hear Preston step up into the back of the APC.

"Everything alright, sir?" Preston asked.

Logan flinched a little, not paying attention to Preston's arrival.

"I found 5.56 rounds, finally!" Logan announced triumphantly.

Preston smiled before starting to pick through the remaining containers.

In the end both men had found a total of 600 5.56 rounds, 300 10mm, and 100 .44 rounds. The two men also ended up with two bottles of water each. This lead Logan to believe that the raiders had just succeeded in opening the APC. With heavier bags both men smiled as they made their way off the barge and up the wooden stairs to the bridge, finally continuing on their journey to Diamond City.

Logan noticed, as they ventured further into the city, that there was more damage to the buildings themselves. Signs of battle, both old and new decorated the once prosperous city. Debris littered the streets, making walking through the streets slow and tedious.

Logan noticed as the buildings seemed to be better in condition as the two men closed in on Diamond City. Signs decorated the sides of the roads, arrows pointing up the road with 'Diamond City' sketched in crooked handwriting.

"It looks like we are getting close." Logan stated.

Preston nodded, scanning the surroundings for any threats. The two walked passed a makeshift barricade and met a man wearing baseball gear, rifle held in his hands.

"You two making your way to Diamond City?" The man asked, voice rough and strained.

"Yes." Logan answered shortly.

The man nodded and pointed up the road, "just follow that road, you will be at the entrance in a few minutes."

Logan thanked, what he assumed was, the guard before stepping away from the man. He had only gotten about five feet away when another man dressed the same as the first stumbled up the man.

"Sir, there are Super Mutants heading this way, they got Dom."

"Oh shit. How many?" the first guard asked, coughing into his hand.

"No more than six, but they have hounds with the-."

The new guard was cut off by the sounds of a howl echoing off the walls of the buildings. Logan turned to the sounds and found something horrifying. The four legged animal was green and muscle bound, its mouth stretched back exposing razor sharp teeth longer than Logan's index finger. Logan raised his rifle and fired, trying to stop the howl of the hound.

A few rounds peppered the flanks of the mutant hound cutting off its howl but not killing it. The hound looked at the offending nuisance and spotted Logan's dumbfounded look.

"Aim for the head!" Preston shouted.

Logan adjusted his fire and fired a few rounds into the hounds head. The rounds had their intended affect as the hound began stumbling, until it fell on its stomach and lay still.

"GET DAT HUMAN!"

Logan looked to the thing that had shouted and was met with a humanoid being. Standing much taller than himself. Green skin, muscles, armor made of car parts. This being was intimidating.

Rounds ricocheted around Logan and Preston as both men dove for cover. Preston cranked his laser musket and peaked over their cover to fire a shot. As he pulled the trigger a green blur dove into him, forcing him to the ground. The mutant hound had its teeth sunk into Preston's musket, the only thing keeping Preston from being a full course meal for a very angry green dog.

Logan attempted to aim his rifle at the hound who had Preston pinned but was interrupted before he could shoot by another hound. Logan shifted his arm into the hound's mouth right behind its last tooth, into the jaw's joint, steadily keeping the mouth from closing on him. As Logan struggled to grab his combat knife with his left hand, Preston planted his feet on the hound's stomach and rolled. Using the rocking momentum, along with his leg muscles he threw the mutant off himself before scrambling up and aiming his musket at the beast. Pulling the trigger Preston was met with a fizzing sound, before a flame shot out of the puncture marks on the musket. Preston threw the rifle at the hound hoping to at least stumble it. As soon as the laser musket made contact with the ground underneath the advancing mutant, it sparked and exploded. The explosion though small, had enough power in it to rip open the hound's stomach. The beast stopped advancing and whimpered before it fell over.

Logan, who was still struggling to fight off his beast, took one second to chuckle at the stupid impossibility of what had just occurred. Preston hearing the General's chuckle turned and saw the General still struggling. Not finding anything that could help Preston charged the hound and tackled it off of Logan. Exploiting the freedom of his right arm, Logan grabbed his pistol and aimed it at the hound.

"Preston jump off!" Logan shouted.

Preston heard and shoved off of the muscled beast. The second there was room Logan fired his whole magazine into the hound's head, putting the beast down for good.

With the two hounds taken care of Logan finally noticed that the rest of the battle had been fairly one-sided, as the guards had started to get pushed back by the Super Mutants. Grabbing the laser rifle from his pack Logan tossed the weapon to Preston, who caught it before turning a saddened look at the small crater that had once been his musket.

Logan grabbed Preston by the shoulder and moved him towards the pinned guards. Preston shook his head before focusing on the advancing Mutants. New laser rifle in hand Preston opened fire on the first Mutant, lances of red penetrating the humanoids armor. Logan joined in attacking the next mutant with his assault rifle, rounds perforating the beings skull. The guards saw the two men starting to make quick work of the remaining Mutants, and sat in awe at their prowess.

It had only been a few minutes before the battle subsided, the clear winners being the two Minutemen. Logan scanned the clearing the battle had taken place in to make sure that nothing had been left standing. All the greeted him were the green bodies all laying sprawled out, neat little holes decorating each of them, at least where there wasn't the occasional fire spreading over some of the bodies Preston had taken down with his laser rifle.

The two men, with their weapons lowered, looked back at the guards. One had been hit in the stomach with a stray round, and the other was attempting to stop the bleeding.

Running over to the downed man, Logan kneeled down and assessed the situation.

"Do you have a doctor in the City?" Logan asked the second guard, who only nodded, "we have to move him, I need you to run ahead and get the doc prepared for his arrival. You got me? Do you understand?"

The guard nodded standing, "It'll be done, just hurry."

The guard took off sprinting like a mad man. Logan reached into his bag and grabbed an extra shirt, tearing the article into strips Logan hurriedly made some bandages before wrapping the man's wounds enough to slow the bleeding.

"Preston I'm going to need your help getting him onto my back, are you ready?"

"Yes, sir. Ready whenever you are."

Logan nodded, before taking quick shallow breaths.

"Alright three, two, one."

Logan grabbed the guards arm pulling him into a half standing position, while Preston helped stabilize the man. Scooting closer to the man, Logan draped the man over his shoulders and lifted. Gritting his teeth to the added weight Logan began his jog to the gate to Diamond City. Logan thanked whoever was listening because the distance to the gate was not very far at all, especially lucky because Logan was already sweating profusely.

Arriving at the entrance Logan and Preston were met with several guards all running to meet them with a stretcher. With the help of Preston and a few others the guard was removed from Logan's shoulders and placed onto the stretcher. The group of guards sped away with the stretcher, making their way into the city, leaving Logan and Preston to catch their breath.

"Well I hope that he ends up being ok." Logan remarked, as he sat down on a bench.

"I'm sure he will, sir." Preston responded taking a seat next to the General.

"It has just been on event after another, huh?"

"Ha, welcome to the Commonwealth, General."

"Well, at least it's not bor-."

Logan's thought process came to a screeching halt as he looked into the eyes of a woman wearing a red leather jacket. The woman before him had shoulder length black hair, beautiful hazel green eyes, soft skin over high cheek bones, and finally full lips that were pulled into a little mischievous grin. Logan was looking at a woman who bore an insane resemblance to his wife.

"I'm Piper Wright, and I think I just found my next story."

Author Note

I have changed Piper's look to follow along more with the preset face of Nora in Character customization. Thank you for reading this far, have a good day.