Shadow of the Red Flag: Part 1

by dcfefs

The year was 2277, 200 years after the Great War. the world was locked within a dark and quiet void. The US government was broken, unable to continue with the war with its enemies, nor could the enemies. China, with its government remained intact, sent out her most deadly force towards the capital wasteland... to execute protocol 614, a plan to end the war once and for all.

24. Chapter 24

Part 24:

The vertibird flew high up in the sky and for the time being, the two surviving paladins can let their guard down and rest. Parker took a look at Nikita, who was sleeping on the pilot seat of the vertibird beside him. It was Parker's first time seeing Nikita sleep, Parker was amazed that the mighty, aggressive heroine of the battlefield, has a quiet and peaceful side when she's asleep.

Parker walked to the back of the vertibird and began to wonder what happened at the vertibird bay back at Raven Rock. He had never heard of such gun fire noise before, it sounded like a heavy caliber sniper rifle, yet it can fire so rapidly to take out the enclave soldiers. And each shot can penetrate the helmet and armor of the Enclave power armor. Parker sat down on the vertibird's passenger seat , deep in his thought. Chen was sitting opposite him, activated his stealth field, he knew that he could not kill them, as they were going back to the Citadel, it would be a lot easier to infiltrate if he follow them all the way.

Then Parker, crossed his hands, closed his eyes and said "well, I don't know if you are real, but I guess I have to thank you, without you, me and Nikita would never had survived during our escape, thank you."

Chen stared at him, it was his first time seeing a man praying to his God, he found it amusing as the concept of religion remained vague within China as the government banned all kinds of religion and a lot of history had been altered back in the 2100s, when the communist movement took over all the remaining cities that remained democratic, such as Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, etc…

Soon the vertibird began to descend, they have reached their destination, Parker went back to the pilot seat, and woke Nikita up. Parker placed his hand on Nikita's shoulder and told her "we are here." Within a few minutes, the vertibird landed in front of Mama Dolce's food factory's entrance. On the screen of the vertibird's control panel, a message came up "auto pilot session: ended, return to base within 5 minutes." The two paladins got off the vertibird, and fixed up their gear. Parker said to Nikita "now we will reach down to Arlington's metro and once we are through, we will reach Citadel in no time. We cannot risk other paths as in our current condition, we cannot handle any hostiles. This route will take longer, but it is definitely safe, are you up to it?" Nikita, who was injecting herself with stimpacks she found on the vertibird, said " I am feeling way better now." They began to walk towards the Arlington Metro.

Chen got off the vertibird, was about to stalk them till he reached Citadel, but something else had caught his attention. He noticed a painted mark on the food factory's entrance. It was a simple symbol consisted of 5 stars connecting to each other in a circle. The symbol reminded him of the ancient code mark which the Chinese military used back in the 2000s. The mark was originally used to represent itself to the spies and agents of the Chinese military as a secret base. normal people would have no idea what the symbol was and mistaken it for a graffiti. Chen asked himself "what is the mark doing in a place like this…" Chen decided to investigate the old factory and learn about the past of this broken down Chinese base.