August 23rd, 2279

Zack kept his eyes closed and concentrated on the sound of his breathing. The inhaling and exhaling from his lungs was comparable to that of the tide of the ocean. Another explosion occurred in the distance. This one was more blatant than the last. Zack's curiosity finally overcame him, and he wanted to know what was going on.

"Zack?" Kade drew his name out as she said it.

Zack opened his eyes to look at her. She looked nervous while she kept her hand resting on top of the laser pistol at her side. He quickly reached back to grab his binoculars. "Alright Kade, I'm going to go check it out. It just might just be the practice you need. Stay close and do as I say, alright?"

Kade nodded. She pulled her laser pistol from her holster and held it facing upwards.

Sounds of gunfire were still present as Zack stood up slowly from behind the boulder. He brought the binoculars to his eyes. From this vantage point, he could easily see the chaos ensuing below. Down the hill no too far away, the road curved to the east a bit before continuing north again. On the south side of the road he could see a small one story structure. The building was made of brownish colored bricks and the paint looked to have been burned off by the sun long ago. It had a flat roof with a short raised wall going around the top of it. Zack could see two people on the roof, using the short wall as cover, popping out every so often to fire down below. They were dressed similar to raiders, but Zack didn't want to make that conclusion just yet. They could be desert dwellers taking on Rad Scorpions after all or, perhaps something worse.

He looked across the road to see what they were shooting at. Sure enough, they were your common raider scum. Zack could see two unmoving Brahmin lying in the road with gear and supplies strapped to their backs. One of them had their entire back end blown off. Its intestines and numerous purplish stomachs were spilling out from it and blood was pooling on the road next to it. Zack figured it had been the victim of some kind of explosive. The other Brahmin was riddled with bullets all along its side and its legs were sprawled out in strange directions.

Next to the first Brahmin, lying face down somewhat behind it was a woman dressed with armor less clothes. Her long blonde hair whirled around from the passing wind. A small pistol was clutched in her right hand. Her body seemed untouched except her legs, they had been completely blown off from the knees down. She had been the caravan merchant Zack had figured. North of the road, next to the ditch was a man wearing leather armor. He too was dead. His blood was splattered along the dirt and rocks behind him.

Zack saw several rock clusters of which the raiders were firing at across the road. Zack could see two people cowering behind them. One was sitting down on the ground, grasping their legs tightly and was rocking back and forth. The other was crouched low wearing metal enforced armor. He was toting a Chinese assault rifle, and was leaning out to fire at the inside of the building at random intervals. He would most likely run out of ammo soon, or one of the raiders would get smart enough and flank the two of them.

Zack lowered and put away his binoculars. He looked to Kade who wore a questionable gaze on her face. Zack knew they had to do something for the trapped men. If Zack and Kade had been traveling any faster, they might have passed by this building and had been the target of an ambush instead. That plus that fact that the raiders would clean up the area and ready themselves for the next victim that happen to pass by. After a moment to plan a quick strategy, he finally spoke to Kade.

"Okay, some raiders are holed up in a building down there by the road. They ambushed a passing caravan. There are two survivors who are still under fire. Only one is armed and doesn't look to have much chance getting out unscathed. That's where we are going to help. That is, if you want to take part in it? I could go alone."

Kade nodded slowly and her face started to lose some color. "No, I want to help. So what should we do?"

"Were going to hustle down there, the sound of gunfire will cover our approach. There might be more in the building that I wasn't able to see. There were no windows on the back of the building though, so they won't be able to spot us from inside. We are going to run first to the back of the building. There is a ladder on the side which I'm going to climb up and take down the two raiders on the roof. Your job will be to stay on the ground and watch for any exiting ones from the building. If need be, take cover behind the dumpster there till I can assist you. Got that?"

"Yep, what's next?" She quickly said.

"I'm going to try and signal to the caravan guard that we are there to help and for him to hold his fire while I'll assault the inside. I'll come back down the ladder and we'll head to the entrance from each side. I'll take the east and you the west. You'll just stay behind the cover of the building, only come out if I call for you to help. The sun will be behind you which will give some advantage. I'm sure once whoever is inside realizes return fire stopped they'll head out to collect their goods. That's when I'll hit them from behind. If everything goes to plan, we should be fine. If things get too crazy though, just get out of there and take off."

"What! I won't leave you to take on who knows how many others. I don't think it will come to that. I'm sure it will all go smooth." She gave a reassuring smile which actually made Zack not feel as nervous for her well being.

"Ok, let's hurry."

They both quickly bolted down the hill and made their way to back of the building. Kade was trailing behind Zack a little as shots were continuing to crack through the air. Zack crouched down once he was close to the back wall and stripped off his pack and canteen. After a moment Kade was there next to him. She did the same taking her pack off as well, but left her side bag on. She still brandished her laser pistol in her hand. Zack withdrew his revolver and turned to Kade.

"Okay, I'm going up. Watch the side where the ladder is, but stay near the back."

Zack walked around the corner and began making his way up the metal ladder that was attached to the side of the bricked building. He only used his left hand to pull himself upwards so his other could be ready to fire if need be. Zack became surprised as one of the rungs he had grabbed suddenly broke off, the metal was quite corroded. Zack gasped loudly as it came off in his hand. He had to balance his body quickly forward to prevent from falling to the ground. He was successful and his face banged into the side of the ladder causing his head to throb. He tried his best to shake the pain off and continue on. He reached up for the next available rung. He was almost near the top.

Zack raised his head above the small wall on the roof to survey the two that were up top. One was busying himself shooting downwards. The other on the left was reloading his bolt action rifle. He was crouched down using the small wall as cover. He was facing towards the back of the building, but took no notice to Zack. Zack waited until he finished reloading and began to fire at the trapped men. Zack pulled himself up and over as quietly as possible and onto the roof, staying low while getting ready to attack. He moved a little closer to the two men, neither of them none the wiser. He aimed to the right one first and fired two shots quickly into the man's upper back. He collapsed down without a sound. The other heard the blasting shots from his revolver and quickly brought his rifle around behind him. Zack fired two shots at him as well. The first one whipped by him as the man was turning. The second one impacted his upper left chest causing the man to scream with agony and to lose his balance. He dropped his weapon and fell over the side of the building backwards. Zack could hear a thud as he landed. There were no more screams from him however.

Zack quickly made his way over to the front of the roof. He could hear a few shots coming from below him in the building. He waved his hands above his head to try to get the attention of the caravan guard. The man eventually noticed, looked up, but held a suspicious look upon his face. Zack tried to convey with gestures that he would have used with his own militia to tell the man to hold his fire while Zack would assault those that exited. The guard seemed to understand. He nodded and took full cover behind a jagged boulder.

Zack quickly made his way back to the ladder, taking out the four spent casings from his gun as he went. He let them fall to the roof while he loaded it back up from the ones on his holster's belt. He made his way down the ladder as fast as he could, taking special care of the broken rung. He jumped down when he neared the ground. Kade came out from the back to meet him.

"Are we good to attack the front?" She asked hurriedly.

Zack nodded quickly. "Yes, take the other side, but remember to only help if I call out, otherwise stay back."

"Understood." She responded a little sadly. She then turned and sprinted around the corner making her way to the other side.

Zack took a few deep breaths and turned to walk towards the front of the building. He crouched low, using the corner as cover, and waited until those inside left. The front of the building had many windows that had long ago been broken out. It seemed like an eternity passed while he sat still waiting. He saw Kade at the other end peering over from behind the other side. Finally, he heard the muffled sounds of conversation coming from within. Zack prepared himself for whatever was to pour out.

"Finally one of those idiots took him down." A man said as he came out.

Zack saw the man. He was wearing pathetic rags for armor, and seemed to be carrying some kind of metal weapon in his hands. Zack waited patiently for others to emerge.

"Did you hear those fucking loud shots though? I didn't know Craig or Todd had any other weapons. Must've of been holding out." A woman spoke this time following behind the first man. She was wearing provocative clothes that barely covered any of her body. She was cradling a shotgun in her arms.

"I dunno, let's go see what we got." The first man shot back.

Zack was going to wait till they got further into the road before he made his presence known. Also, he wanted to see if anymore came out. Others holed up would be harder to take down. To Zack's surprise, he heard a charging scream and automatic gunfire by the road. He quickly looked to see what was going on. The caravan guard had decided not to wait for Zack and ran out from behind cover.

"You sons of bitches!" The guard cried out while rushing forward shooting.

The two raiders were frozen with shock as they were torn down by the incoming rounds. They fell down next to each other by one of the Brahmin, their final resting place. The caravan guard then rushed forwards to the building, still screaming curses and firing. When he neared the entrance, Zack actually thought the guard's rushed entry would be enough of a surprise to overtake them. This was quickly shattered however, when a huge barrage of flames came blasting out from the door that engulfed the guard fully.

The guard dropped his gun to the ground immediately. He was flailing around grabbing at his face while horrible screams pain that made Zack shudder. Popping sounds accompanied the screams as his skin boiled off. The guard fell down first to his knees, then face forward to the earth. The screams had subsided. The smell of burning flesh and hair wafted through the air causing Zack to feel nauseous. Luckily, his stomach was empty.

Zack figured this was his best chance and quickly got up holding his revolver out in front of him as he made his way in front of one of the windows. There was someone standing right in front of him on the other side. Their eyes were wide with surprise as Zack quickly dispatched the man by shooting a round into his neck. The man slumped downwards as blood spurted outwards from the wound. Zack moved his arm to the rest of the room and saw that there were three others in the building. All were armed. The most dangerous was the large muscular man with a metal tank on his back, and a flamer in his hands. The man was quicker than Zack was, and brought the flamer's barrel aiming towards him.

Zack cursed and had no choice but to quickly dive to the ground lying flat. He hit the ground hard. Dirt covered the side of his face while blistering flames flew overhead. It was only a matter of time until one of them came over to put a bullet in his back. The flames finally ceased and Zack turned his head and tried to bring his arm over to be able shoot at anyone that appeared. There was a problem though, while diving, he had unintentionally released his revolver.

"Go kill that shithead so we can get our loot!" A voice screamed from inside.

Zack turned his head frantically to find his weapon. He saw it, but it was out of reach unless he got up to his knees. Zack saw movement from his side. He feared the worst, but to his amazement, it wasn't a raider, but Kade. She was running from the opposite side of the building. She had a lit stick of dynamite in each of her hands. She threw them both expertly through two different glassless windows and dove to the ground away from the building. Zack covered his head with both his arms, he clenched his teeth, and his stomach tightened.

Zack heard swearing from inside, but it was quickly silenced by the deafening sound of explosions which caused a massive wave of air to rush over him. He could feel dust and debris fall on top of him. After the initial blasts finished, there were several other loud crashing noises. Zack forced himself to look. Apparently the dynamite had caused the roof to collapse and the building's walls were crumbling inwards, all of them except the one in front of him. He didn't want to stick around to be crushed underneath all of that.

Zack got up quickly and sprinted away from the building. He reached down, grabbed his revolver and holstered it along the way. He looked over to Kade who had come to the same conclusion about the wall as he did, and was moving away. For some reason she didn't get to her feet and was crawling on her hands and knees trying desperately to clear the path of the falling wall. Zack was too far away from her and all he could do watch helplessly as the wall fell to the ground. It caused bricks to scatter everywhere and a large dirt cloud to fill the surrounding area.

Coughing, Zack made his way quickly over to where Kade had been. He squinted through the floating dust for some sign of her. He finally located her body face down unmoving. Her lower half was covered with many bricks and fragments of wooden boards.

"Kade!" He cried out.

Zack began tossing the bricks wildly off her flinging them in all directions. When she was free he turned her over and felt her neck for a pulse. He exhaled a sigh of relief. She was still alive and had a strong pulse. Her chest was also rising and falling of normal breathing, she was just unconscious. He dragged her by the shoulders of her jumpsuit towards the road away from the now burning rubble. The fuel from the flamer must have spread all around.

"Kade, you smart crazy girl." He said more to himself than to her.

When he felt it was a safe enough distance away from the building he released her. He quickly took off behind the building to retrieve their packs. When he arrived by them, he saw that fire had been inching slowly towards them. He picked them up and ran back towards Kade. He crouched down next to her and propped her head up with her pack. He took his canteen and poured a little water over her face. She made a small moaning sound and moved her head slightly. He figured she would be ok with some rest.

The adrenaline that had been coursing through Zack's body was finally dissipating. His heart had been thundering the whole time ever since the caravan guard attacked and it too was now slowing down to normal. Zack made his way over where the other man had been hiding behind the rocks. When he got close, he was met with cries of fear.

"P- Please don't kill me, take all the stuff, it's yours!" The small framed man exclaimed. He held his hands out defensively in front of him.

The man looked to be near the age of Zack and happened to be still huddled behind the rock with the remnants of tears streaked across his cheeks. He had medium length jet black hair which hung loosely down the sides of his face. His eyes were a pale brown color of which Zack had never seen before. The smoothness of the skin on his face made it appear that he had not traveled the wasteland very much.

"Damn. Save a man's life and this is how he thanks you."