Chapter 9
The next day was remarkably uneventful, we'd packed up in the early hours of the morning and set off – ALT and I sharing the load equally. My wound was healing thanks to the Stimpack, but it would be a while before I was fighting fit again – If I took it easy it should be OK in the long run.
We'd headed west, cross-country, picking our way over the terrain with due care and attention, keeping the main road to our left and using it as guidance that we were heading in the right direction. Our journey was a lonely one, occasionally a swarm of Bloatflies threatened to impede our progress, but were carried away in the wind, I was thankful – disgusting creatures.
We hadn't had any more run-ins with bounty hunters – or the mysterious 'C' – although we were both aware that they were probably on our tail, and if we were to stop for too long – they would be upon us in a matter of moments.
Best to keep moving.
ALT and I kept silent during our travels, aware that voices tend to travel in the Wilds, except only to discuss instructions or to check the map. We were making good heading and were ahead of schedule in our travels. We may find ourselves at the shopping mall sooner rather than later.
The sun hung low in the sky as we picked our way through the car park of an old diner that was set back from the road. It was deserted and had been picked clean of anything worthwhile a long time ago, it was little more than an old-world curiosity at this point – a monument to the lives and habits of those who had left this world a long time ago – and served little purpose other than indication that we were getting closer to the remains of civilisation.
The land fell away downhill at the edge of the car park, and we stopped next to some old benches and tables that sat atop the viewing point. We had a pretty good view of the land beyond, and I could see the shopping mall straight ahead.
It was massive, quite possibly the biggest building I had seen in a long time – judging by the size of the Nuka-Cola advertisement that greeted us on one side of the building, and the fact that I could easily read it from this distance. Plant life had grown untamed from the shrubs and bushes that were planted at its base to make the area look more beautiful, but now was a reminder that no person had maintained them in a very long time.
The mall would have been a good place to scavenge at one point in time, lots of old-world goodies ripe for the taking. Judging by the number of derelict vehicles abandoned in the car park, the whole place had become a mass grave after the war – It wouldn't have been a pretty sight. I imagined skeletons of former shoppers littering the interior, still clutching bags of shopping, frozen in time.
What concerned me more, however, was the large lizard like creature using some of the abandoned cars as a scratching post. It moved with power and precision as it rubbed itself against an old Corvega, the whole car bucking and swaying at its old suspension showed that it still had life in the old springs, and just how powerful the creature was.
A Deathclaw, no doubt about it.
I could see where it got its name from now that I've seen one in the flesh, it would tower over ALT and I if we go close, and I didn't fancy our chances in a straight up fight. It's mottled brown skin looked tough, even from this distance, I didn't even know if my .308 would even make a scratch on it. Its hands could easily crush my skull with their size and the claws that adorned each finger where easily longer than the length of my forearm – it looked bred to kill.
"What do you think then, ALT?" I asked my companion, who was lying on her front next to me – trying to keep as low as possible.
"-No way.-" she said bluntly.
"Agreed."
We watched the creature for a while and it moved away from us, leaving the car park, and heading towards the mall, it picked something out of its teeth and snuffled at the air. Following its nose, it sauntered around the building and out of our sight.
I huffed and rubbed my eyes. "We could try circling around..."
"-There could be more than just the one. You said it was a nest after all.-" ALT glanced over at me.
"True. But do you have a better idea?"
"-Not really, but I do not like it.-"
"Me neither," I agreed, but met ALT's eyes. "Do you see any other option though?"
"-Again, not really.-"
"Other option being that we double back, take a longer route around, and try our luck with the Raider gangs." I felt myself fall into a whisper, I wasn't sure if it could hear us from this distance, I didn't want to find out. "Or we try and sneak past."
"-How long would it take for us to do that?-" ALT asked aloud. "-Is that a worthwhile option?-"
"And potentially run into more bounty hunters? I feel as if we need to keep pressing onwards honestly." I shook my head. "Rock and a hard place."
"-Rock and a hard place.-" ALT parroted back.
We stood and watched the mall for any more signs of movement, a light breeze whipped through the air ruffling my hair and I pushed it back into place as we watched. I didn't want another shootout, the last one ended up pretty bad, and I really didn't want to tangle with a Deathclaw if I could help it.
I glanced upwards towards the sky – the sun was beginning its decent and night would be upon us again. I didn't reckon there was enough time to head back the way and circle around, not without us traipsing around in the pitch black. I sighed and muttered something under my breath, ALT must have realised what I was thinking as she nodded in the corner of my vision.
I moved into a crouch, adjusted my pack on my back and readied my rifle. ALT copied me and drew the shotgun – I wasn't sure how much damage she could do with that, maybe annoy it? But I felt slightly reassured knowing that she at least had a weapon.
"We try and sneak around the back – take the long way around. We'll keep upwind of it and hopefully it won't smell us and fingers-crossed we can be long gone by the time it circles back around." I pointed and traced the route with my finger. "Understood?"
"-Understood.-"
We set off down towards the mall, as quickly as we could without drawing too much attention to ourselves – though I doubted we were hardly inconspicuous to any potential watchers. Moving fast and low, we headed in a lazy arc towards the mall – keeping the structure to our left as we moved towards the rear, trying not to get too close.
I briefly stopped, raising a fist for ALT to do the same, and tested the air – trying to get a bead on which direction it was heading. Chances are we stunk to high heaven to a Deathclaw, best we could do was try and stay upwind and hope that by the time it or any others caught our scent we would be long gone.
"Double time c'mon – towards the generators." I ordered in a whisper.
"-With you.-" ALT replied in equally hushed tones.
A small grid compound of fusion generators around the back of the mall was our destination, they would provide good visual cover and to go all the way around would take longer – I spied a break in the chain-link fencing as we approached – and hurried my way towards it, ALT in tow, her distinctive footsteps making me cringe at their noise.
I pushed myself up against the small concrete wall at the base of the fence and peered over – apart from the idle hum of a couple of generators that surprisingly continued to function, no sight of any Deathclaws. I grabbed the edge of the wall, and pulled myself through the gap, trying to avoid getting caught on the fence – once I was through, I covered ALT as she did the same.
The sound of her body scraping over the concrete and catching on the metal fence made me wince as she pulled herself through – despite her advanced nature and flexibility, she still couldn't squeeze through in the same manner I could. We both froze once she was through and listened for any sign of the Deathclaw.
Nothing.
I gestured with my off hand to proceed and set off – rifle at the ready, and I heard ALT follow with slow steps as we entered the maze of generators. The humming was our only companion as we made our way through, trying to reach the other side.
I stepped as gently as I could through the grid compound, careful to avoid anything that could make a noise underfoot. I could hear ALT matching my steps, trying to be as quiet as possible, and we moved carefully forwards.
I spied another break in the fence – this time much larger, as if something had torn the fence away completely, leaving only the concrete wall to hop over, then we would be out of here. I motioned for ALT to follow and headed towards it.
Thump
My breath hitched in my throat when I heard something large and heavy thump not too far away from us.
Thump
I stopped.
Thump
Alt stopped.
Thump
We listened.
…
Thump
…
Thump
…
Thump
It was the Deathclaw.
Thump
My eyes widened involuntarily as I saw the creature emerge from the other end of the grid compound right in front of us.
My hands hurt from gripping my rifle so tight.
The beast ceased its lazy plodding and seemed to sniff the air in confusion, before snapping its head to face us. It felt like an eternity as we stared at one-another – stubby horns on its head giving it a devilish look, its amber eyes dilating as it spotted me.
A slow growl emanated from its throat.
Then a roar.
"SCATTER!" I barked as I darted to my left behind one of the generators as I heard the Deathclaw launch itself at where I had once been. I hoped ALT had time to follow my orders as I sprinted as fast as I could, trying to put as much distance between the creature and myself.
I zig-zagged through the compound towards the mall, it's rear walls looming over me, making me feel like some kind of animal in a cage.
I heard the Deathclaw scamper its way towards me, through the generator field.
I span on my heel to get a look at the beast emerge from a corner and clock me.
I raised my rifle and fired.
Centre mass impact.
The Deathclaw recoiled almost in shock, I didn't know if I actually hurt it or not, but then I could have sworn I saw it scowl before charging at me again.
I had just enough time to dive to my right to avoid its claws as it closed the distance between us frightfully fast. I scrambled to right myself as I almost felt its presence at my back. A burst of pain flashed in my torso as my wound from earlier told me that it wasn't quite healed just yet.
The retort of a shotgun echoed around us as I hurriedly pulled myself to my feet and ran – I glanced back to see the Deathclaw clutch at its arm before spinning its head towards the shooter.
"-Over here!-" I heard ALT taunt and fire again – this time I saw the impact as dark read blood splattered from its arm as the Deathclaw raised it to protect its head – before it leapt away towards her.
I franticly worked the bolt and ran around the generators, the feeling of bile rising in my throat out of fear – the throbbing pain of the bullet wound reminding me I was still alive.
If we both took turns with hit and run tactics, we could protect each other as we searched for an exit.
Hopefully.
I circled around a couple of generators before popping out behind the Deathclaw – it was hard to miss. I heard the shotgun fire again and I saw the spray of blood from its body as it roared at ALT, it raised a clawed hand to swipe down – it must be right on top of her!
I raised my rifle and fired.
I saw a spurt of blood gush out from its neck, and it howled in pain – spinning around to face me as I worked the bolt again, ready to fire again.
I practically fell to my right as I stumbled to avoid yet another slash from the Deathclaw – lungs burning in my chest as I sprinted as fast as I could to try break visual contact with it. My side was shooting with pain, but I had to push through it if I needed to survive.
I skidded and pushed myself off my left foot to try and quickly change direction down towards the fence we had come from. I heard the Deathclaw scrape the concrete with its claws to try and stop and continue the chase – despite its size and its power, we were faster in the tight spaces of the grid compound, if we could just keep this up….
I heard another blast of the shotgun, along with another growl of pain, or annoyance, and I spied over my shoulder that the Deathclaw stopped and turned its head to look at ALT. I kept moving and reached around with a free hand to my backpack, fumbling with the zip, I didn't have time to take the damn thing off, but I knew I had something in here to try and even the odds.
The Deathclaw roared again, and I heard the distinctive sound of it charging towards me yet again as I threw myself around another corner.
I finally wrestled my pack open on one side and stuck a hand in, pushing the crap out of the way to try and grab my prize – I had to be quick.
I heard another shotgun blast and the Deathclaw stumble slightly with a clatter – ALT must've caught it in the leg – enough to buy me some time.
"-I am out!-"
Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!
I darted around another generator – I was right at the perimeter fencing now, nowhere left to run – I span around to face the Deathclaw as I found what I was looking for and yanked it out of my pack.
I had already pulled the grenade's pin already as the Deathclaw came barrelling around the corner and locked eyes with me again, it racked its claws in the concrete – it must have known it had me cornered.
Everything was banking on this one grenade.
It was already mid-air as the creature hunkered down to charge – the grenade plinked off the concrete right beneath it and exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel.
I was already moving, choosing not to look at my handiwork, and darted to my right – half expecting to hear the thing crash into the fencing where I had just stood.
But there was nothing – just a wailing sound.
I tried to catch my breath and stop my heart racing and peeped around the corner.
The Deathclaw was lying belly down – surrounded by scorch marks from the grenade. There was blood pooling onto the ground as the fresh wounds in its body leaked onto the concrete – most of the damage was from the lack of a right leg however – which had been blown clean off at the thigh, the grenade hitting it a just the right spot. It's right arm, which had been shot more than once by ALT, hung lamely at its side as it thrashed with its left in a pitiful effort to move towards me.
It bellowed and writhed at me in defiance of its injuries – attempting to close the gap and secure its kill. I raised my rifle and fired another shot at the wounded beast, striking it right in the skull just near its stubby horns. It howled in rage, as I frowned at my rifles lack of a kill shot and readied the next round with shaking hands.
I spotted ALT coming out of a hiding spot from behind one of the generators – she strode with purpose and precision onto the back of the wounded Deathclaw, who tried to buck her off – but due to her weight and the creatures wounded state it was unable to. I stepped back in shock as I could see her optics aglow a fiery red – like other Assaultron I had seen in the past – she didn't have a head-laser mounted in there surely?
ALT swung the shotgun down, butt first onto the creature's skull, with such force that the wooden stock splintered apart and the Deathclaw yelped with surprise, stunned at the sudden impact. I watched with horror as she then swung the length of the shotgun under its throat, grabbing the barrel with her other hand, and pulled as hard as she could.
The Deathclaw thrashed again with its good arm and managed to tear a large part of her overalls and poncho, and only leaving scratched metal underneath – ALT pulled harder in response – and I heard the Deathclaw's breath get choked out of it with the broken shotgun.
"ALT!" I cried – we could just put a bullet in the thing and get going, there was no need to-
There was an awful popping sound, as ligaments and tendons in the Deathclaw's neck snapped and broke – the cries from the wounded beast becoming weak, gurgling a disgusting sound. ALT seemed to relax her grip in response, before yanking upwards with herculean effort once more, the Deathclaw gargled in response – I swallowed down a wave of nausea at the display – adrenaline leaving my system, making me feel week.
There was a sickening crunch – as its neck snapped – and the Deathclaw's head became limp in ALTs chokehold, she released her grip on one end of the shotgun, allowing the beasts head to flop against the ground.
"Jesus Christ!" I exclaimed at the sight – and I bristled as ALT's head darted up to meet my gaze, her red optics almost blinding me.
Then all at once they faded their usual yellow, and ALT seemed to almost stagger down from the corpse she was stood upon towards me, I instinctively took another step back – to which she paused and cocked her head.
"-Are you OK, Victor?-" She asked, concern heavy in her voice.
"Am I… Am I OK?" I spluttered, at a loss for words – the sheer display of strength wasn't lost on me. "I…. We'll talk about whatever that was later…. I think-" I grunted as a flare of pain shot up my side, diving straight onto concrete hadn't done wonders for my wound from earlier. "I think we should go, now."
ALT glanced back at the dead Deathclaw. "-I think it was a juvenile…-" She muttered.
" What?" I asked incredulously, stepping forward slightly.
"-Look at the horns, they don't match your descriptions, much too short." ALT gestured at the corpse, sure enough – the Deathclaw's horns were not fully grown, or at least didn't look like they were.
ALT and I shared a glance, that was a baby?
I rubbed my injury with a free hand. "That means there's probably a parent about…" I muttered to no-one in particular.
Almost on cue, another roar sounded from nearby, I bristled at the noise, it sounded a hell of a lot louder and deeper than the one we had killed. We had barely managed to take this one down, god help us if an adult turns up – we would have no chance.
There was only one option.
"Fuck me, Fuck me!" I snapped my head around looking for an idea of what to do next – my eyes resting on the large building to our left. "Right into the mall, c'mon!"
"- Into the mall?!-" ALT questioned me as I hurried to the mall through the grid compound. "-The Deathclaw nest?-"
"We're exposed out here and we barely outrun a baby, so never mind if Mom or Dad turn up – we can hide out in the utility areas for now." I barked back as I made my way towards the building at pace – glancing left and right trying to find a door. "Unless you got a better idea?"
Another roar bellowed around us.
"-No, no, you are right-" ALT conceded jogging up to meet me – she pointed at a utility door a little way down towards where we had entered a grid compound. "-There is the door!-"
"Break the fucker down!" I ordered, spinning around, and readying my rifle to watch for anymore Deathclaws – trying to ignore the throbbing of my side.
ALT stood in front of the door, before turning about face and donkey-kicking the metal door. It flew open with a snap, something metal bouncing off onto the floor as it did so. Blackness inside beckoned us.
"-Victor come on!-" She waved me to follow her into the room, clutching the broken shotgun like a bat. "-It is clear!-"
I followed her backwards, keeping my rifle pointed outwards covering us – as the roars from the other Deathclaw sounded closer and closer. Once I was past the threshold I reached forward and grabbed the edge of the utility door and slammed it shut.
Plunging us into darkness.
I bent forward and rested a hand on my knee as I caught my breath, lungs burning and limbs heavy. A muffled roar travelled through the utility door from outside as the other Deathclaw had finally made its way to where we had been only moments before.
We'd made a monumentally stupid decision coming this way, and as I puffed away hunched over, I cursed our bad luck.
My eyes began to adjust to the darkness, though I still couldn't see very well. As ALT glanced around the room, her optics lit up whatever she was looking at in their yellow glow – I straightened up and nursed my sore side as I turned and faced her. ALT was peeping out of another door at the far side of the room, checking if the coast was clear, she closed the door quietly and gently made her way to my side.
"-It looks like there is some maintenance tunnels through there, thankfully they are empty, I did not see signs of life.-" She informed me. "-We should try and get the lights on.-"
"Agreed – some of the generators where still running out back, lets see if there's a light switch anywhere…." I nodded. "Scan the walls will ya? Use your eyes like a flashlight and see if we can spot a switch somewhere."
ALT did as I asked and started looking across the walls, trying to spot anything that could be a switch – before stopping somewhere on the far wall where an old industrial light switch adorned the wall.
"-Found one.-" She said as she made her way over to it, before gripping the level and pulling it down with a click. A low hum began above us, before a fluorescent lamp blinked to life and began warming up, getting brighter as it did so – it flickered ever so slightly, threatening to give me a migraine – but it will do for now.
With the room now lit up, I could take proper stock of our surroundings. We were in some kind of utility room as I expected – clearly where the mechanic who worked on-site at one point would be based. It was filled with the typical assortment of standing toolboxes of various sizes – along with a flat workbench at the far corner of the room.
It was small, I'd easily cross it in four or five paces, and ALT and I would likely bump into one-another if we both started moving about the room. At the other side a small desk and chair was crammed in against the wall, clearly where someone would file any maintenance reports, but other than that it was unremarkable.
I placed my rifle flat on the desk, along with pack, and leant over the desk and hung my head. I heard ALT shuffle about, presumably removing my make-shift pack and placing it down on the workbench at the other side of the room. I sighed and righted myself and leant against the desk and folded my arms and watched her place the broken shotgun on the workbench next to her pack.
The Deathclaw had done a number on her clothes, as they were completely tattered on her right side – long slashes along her hip and leg acted as almost a split leg effect, and exposed her body underneath, and the poncho I had made for her was shredded down its right side. Her jumpsuit sleeve was hanging by a thread, and she reached up and ripped the rest of it off, leaving her sleeveless on one side – but other than the clothes, and a couple of scratches on her metalwork underneath, ALT seemed no worse for wear.
"Whilst I always appreciate an assist…" I began as she turned to face me. "Mind telling me what the hell happened there?"
"-What do you mean?-" She crossed her arms like I had and cocked a hip.
"That whole display on the Deathclaw? Your eyes where like fire, red as all hell, not to mention you almost pulled its fuckin' head off?" My voice raised in inflection at the end of my sentence like a question, though it came across as more of a statement.
ALT didn't say anything.
"You were almost like a true-blue Assaultron." I finished. "Like a proper-"
"-A proper machine?-" ALT shot back. "-I am not a machine. Victor, you know that!-"
"Well, I'm sorry ALT, but that is what it looked like!" I argued back. "You looked like a proper machine!"
ALT stepped back slightly as if I had struck her. "-I did what had to be done.-" She stated angrily. "-Just as you would have done.-"
"We could have just put a bullet in it and get outta here!" I pressed on, annoyed. "What was goin' on in your head? Was it like some kind of process that just started up or something?"
"-I did what had to be done! I did not think I just acted!-" ALT raised her voice in defiance. "-'Put a bullet in it', you saw how much good that did! I saw you shoot it right in the skull and it was still moving!-"
"That's not the point – did you loose control or something? I can't have you reverting to some pre-war killer 'bot programming when things are going to hell and-"
"-I am not a machine!-" ALT stepped forward and shouted at me, hands clutched into fists at her side. "-I am not a machine I am a person like you!-"
I didn't get a chance to respond as she continued.
"-Need I remind you that you choked out one of the bounty hunters with your bare hands? How is that any different? Do not preach to me about loosing control or whatever when you cannot even demonstrate that yourself, hypocrite!-"
I hung my head and studied my boot laces before rubbing my face; the stress of the previous encounter had clearly made strong emotions boil to the surface. I didn't mean to compare her to a normal robot, to insinuate she was nothing more than that, but it frightened me how she silently despatched the Deathclaw with ruthless efficiency.
Was that how I looked when I was squeezing the life out of that man?
Was it not worse as he was an actual person, and the Deathclaw was just an animal acting on instinct?
I sighed heavily; she was right.
"Look I'm sorry ALT, it just scared me a bit is all…" My mind flashed back to the nightmare I'd had ages ago when we'd first met. "I didn't mean to compare you to a machine, it's just-"
"-Save it Victor, I do not want to hear it right now.-" ALT snapped furiously, hand raised to cut me off. "-I did not think you of all people would compare me to one of them! Just… Just drop it, I do not want to have this conversation anymore…-"
She shook her head in disbelief and turned away from me, placing her palms on the workstation behind her and let out a huff of annoyance. I made one of my own, in disappointment – people always lash out or say things they don't really mean when they're stressed as all hell, it's only human.
Plus, nine times out of ten - they usually take it out on those closest to them.
Apologies for the delay - life, uh, finds a way... So they say.
Let me know what you think anyway, not entirely happy with this chapter but wanted to move things along and didn't want to abandon the story completely!