John felt the dread creep up his spine again as he inched closer, his hands shaking as they moved to prime the mine. The rusty explosive was heavy in his hands and it required an effort of will to finally make it active, a little beep escaping it, God...this thing was ancient and the fear of it simply exploding in his hands made him sweat.
It didn't though, as the other five it simply announced itself of being active, not protesting the least when he gently placed it in a shallow dip in the ground. Anyone wary where they stepped would probably see it...or any of the other mines clustered around it, but he didn't believe super mutants to be known for their smarts...
He had really needed that night of dreamless sleep, more then he had thought. His cheeks burnt at the memory. Had he really paid Nova...a prostitute, a hundred and twenty caps...for what basically was a hug? He really was a loser...but he couldn't argue with how useful she'd been, with the tension from restless nights gone he could focus on the present, which was vital.
Of course he would probably die of embarrassment next time he saw her...
If he survived this that is.
The mutant camp was an ugly thing, torn steel beams had been slammed into the ground like an improvised fence around the flat hill. Dark chains were wrapped around them along the line of beams, tying them together to form a crude barrier. John absently remembered an old picture from the vault archives...it sort of looked like one of those concentration camps...
He'd never seen bags of mutilated bodies hang from the top of the fence on any of those pictures though.
Even now, with his head bent down to the task of mining the only entrance to the camp, he could sense those disgusting things sway above him...skinned body parts crunched together in those little nets...eyeless skulls staring at him. Were they dripping? God don't let them drip... Could they reach him with that blood? What if one broke open right above him?
Don't look up, don't look up, don't look up....
The super mutants were crude in all they made apparently. The fence was nothing compared to the shed just a dozen feet away, corrugated pieces of steel bound together by a combination of spikes and tape. At least the little shed was enough to shield John's activity against the eyes from the super mutants, though they seemed too busy to notice him anyway, arguing about...who knew really?
The only thing having some supplely was the worn tent pitched in the other end of the camp, it looked so old though that it might have been there since before the war. John feared more mutants might hide in it, the shed was far too small for any of them, but since the flap to the tent was down he just couldn't know...
Taking a deep breath he turned and begun to scuttle away, keeping as low as he could while still running. While heading for the small hill sixty feet away he mentally checked his gear. The mines he had sold to Moira had been enough for a bolt action rifle whose stock seemed ready to break at any moment...and enough ammo for a small army. So far his wide-brimmed black hat had been far more useful though, giving his poor eyes some cover from the annoying sun.
That would soon change however.
Climbing the hill and the many small boulders littering it John quickly got to make himself comfortable. Throwing aside his duffel bag of supplies he checked his ammo, the belt over his shoulder heavy with the bag of bullets hanging from its end. Then he made sure to put the safety on his trusty N99 in the 'off' position, if everything went as planned he wouldn't need to use it...but he didn't want to take any chances.
Especially not when so much to go wrong. Eyeing the compound as he laid down among the rocks John felt his pulse race. He could see three of them, if there was none in the tent that was it...not that the thought made him any calmer. He could still turn around...they hadn't seen him, he had just placed some mines...that might be enough of a revenge when one of them stumbled outside? Right?
Besides, one of them carried a gun bigger than him! The creature wore strips of metal and leather like some ancient sort of armour, a bashed piece of steel covering most of his skull. The gun was high tech though...consisting of several barrels and an ammunition box the size of his chest it could obviously turn him into a paste if he failed with his trick...
The other two wore simpler garb, leather pants and a metal plate that seemed to have been riveted into their chests...how could they endure such pain? They didn't even seem to feel it... The closest one hefted a crude looking rifle while the other laughed while swinging his massive sledgehammer as if it weighted nothing at all.
Yep...it's a good idea to attack these guys. Smart move...really. It had been easy to talk about it back at Megaton, to speak of revenge and justice and all that crap. As if he could really make a difference...now he was surprised that neither Gob or Nova had laughed at his stupidity. Maybe they had but he didn't remembered? Nah, they weren't as bad as this horrible place, good people...perhaps even friends.
John's heart sank. His only friends now...a ghoul that obviously was an outcast...and a prostitute. Yay... No, don't think like that you horrible bastard! Besides, don't you forget your trader friend?
Right, screw this shit. "Remember the trader..." Taking a big breath John sighed down his 'new' rifle, the stock comfortable against his shoulder. "Remember the trader..." He saw them now clearly, all stood to the left of the little shed. The minigun armed one just seemed bored, watching as the other two argued about...something. "Remember the trader..." The crosshair came to rest on the heavy gunner's head, the thing yawned, unaware of the attention. Press the trigger you idiot!
He hesitated again. His arms were shaking, his heart seemingly about to burst out of his chest. The was beyond nervous...he was on the point of panic. Well he had found that injector of psycho...NO! He was either going to do this with his senses clear...or not at all. Now do it, remember the trader...let it drive you. And remember father's words on concentration...
Take a deep breath...close your eyes...and focus on the simplest part of the task.
He sighted down the weapon and fired.
The recoil was barely felt as John watched the super mutant twitch, the crude helmet of his flying off his skull with a spark. He didn't die...instead he simply roared, the grating sound drowning out the sound of the shot. The other two monsters flinched, their eyes already turning towards his hill, their roar when they found him was felt deep down in his chest...
Simplest part! Simplest part!
Ejecting the spent shell John took aim at the entrance to the camp where the monsters came rushing down the slope. He couldn't miss such monsters...the bullet gouging a crater in the shoulder of the rifle armed mutant. The thing wasn't even slowed down...the wound minimal compared to his massive bulk.
Great, he was going to die.
Fumbling John gritted his teeth and forced the next shell out, the mechanism struggling under his rough handling. Work dammit...
BOOOOM!
His head snapped up in time to see the massive cloud of black smoke from the exploding mines slowly drift upwards. Large limbs rolled away from the place of detonation while blood stained the sand black. With a crash the minigun, bent and broken, bounced against one of the crude steel beams before falling to the ground...one of the barrels slipping out as the whole construct collapsed unto itself.
Whew...
"Stupid loud noise!" Came the guttural growl. Eyes wide in disbelief John watched one of the monsters rush through the smoke, heedless over the broken body parts crunching under its feet. "Stupid human!" The thing was fast...and coming right at him with a sledge he now saw was stained with blood...
John fired in panic, helplessly watching the bullet harmlessly whiz past the mutant's head. Scrambling to his feet he felt his heart take a leap when the mutant easily rushed up the boulders as if it was plain ground. Reload! Reload!
Stumbling backwards John ejected the still smoking shell and loaded a fresh one. How was he supposed to kill this thing!? Its friend had barely gotten injured by a single shot before...the head! Head! Aim for the head!
Despite the constant screaming in his mind John's movement was sluggish when he took aim at the monster now towering above him. Its rancid breath of it hit him head on, the mouth widening in a roar of rage, a mouth which would soon feed on him...
He was too late.
With a crack and a bang the mutant hit his rifle with the sledge, the heavy weapon knocking the rifle out of John's numb hands and breaking the wooden part of it right down the middle. The weapon still fired though, but instead of hitting the head of the monster it blew a hole in the giant's right knee.
Falling unto his back John stared at the beast as it roared out in sudden pain, a hand going down to press together the white pieces of bone protruding from the nasty wound. "Stupid human! You will die!" The monster raised its sledge and took a stumbling step forward while baring its teeth at him like an angry beast.
John moved faster then he knew he could.
Suddenly his N99 was in his hand, one hand clutching at the ground, as if trying to keep him in place...and the other fired off half a dozen rounds straight at the monstrous creature. The first one bounced off the mutant's thick skull...then the next five went right into its mouth. Pieces of teeth flew in all directions as the bullets punched through them and disappeared into the mouth and red mist blossomed from the back of the mutant's skull as they slammed through it as well.
John stared, eyes wide, as he realised he could see the sky through the gaping wound in the back of the super mutant's mouth...
An odd sound escaped it, stumbling backwards the mutant dropped the sledge, its other hand reaching for the wound. It was still glaring at him, as if trying to kill him with its gaze. A clumsy movement towards him...arm reaching out...and the mutant slipped on the edge of the boulder. With a wet thump its head came face first into the rock before slipping down with the rest of the body as it tumbled down to the base of the hill.
"Ho..." John coughed gasping for breath as the panic begun to settle. "...holy shit!" For a moment he lay there, soaking it in...he was alive? "Wow! I'm alive! I'm fucking awesome!" Rolling to his feet he looked down at the mutant, after the fall one of its arms lay twisted in an odd direction...with its face first in the ground blood was already pooling around its head. He had done that...
"Who-ho!" John raised his gun in the air, sheer exuberance making him fire off a round. He was alive! He had killed three super mutants! He could make a difference! He was tough! Wait until he told the others of this! "Victory!" He fired another round, realizing just how filled with adrenaline he was as his fear disappeared.
Oh the feeling! The rush! Better then jet! Greater then the look of pride in his father's eyes when he had treated Vikki Hannon's broken leg! Eclipsing even the feeling of the kiss he once had shared with Amata! He felt like a god!
"Hey! Help me!" Huh...that hadn't been his voice? "What's going on out there!? Anyone there!?" The voice was weak...from the tent?
Ignoring his rifle, the broken thing would never fire another round, John leapt down from the hill. Ducking past the broken pieces of mutants he ran for the tent, the beams and sacks of gore were no longer intimidating, her had killed those responsible for those! He could take anything on! Barely remembering to sheet his pistol he ducked under the flap of the tent...
And stopped dead in his tracks.
The man before him was, he believed, of Asian origin...though it was hard to tell with the grime and blood covering his face and bare arms. His once white t-shirt was dark with blood and his pants shredded, revealing bruised skin. The man had matt black hair...but his face was so bruised there was nothing to identify him by, one couldn't even see the colour of his eyes under the heavy swelling!
The man could at least see him, the head turning towards John as he entered. He struggled to get off his kneeling position and with the grey cord tying his wrists together in front of him. "H...hey! You're human...right? Get me out of here!" He couldn't tell John was human? How little did he see?
Licking his lips John couldn't make himself look directly at the mess that was supposed to be a human, instead he took in the rest of the room. The a broken shelf and a worn old cabinet to the right...a few green ammunition boxes to the left together with a bucket full of holes. Three bags of gory remains in a corner with a knife still sticking out of them...
Swallowing he managed to keep himself from retching. Instead he moved for the knife, ignoring the sloshing sound when he pulled it out of what once might have been a skull he went for the broken remains of the man. "D...don't worry, you'll be free in no time." He grimaced at the sight of the man's wrists, blood was slowly running from the tight binds...
The slick knife slipped at first when he cut at the cords, he yelped at the little cut he made in the prisoner's hands, the man didn't even seem to notice though...he was too busy sobbing in happiness. "Oh...thank you...thank you..." Finally getting a good grip on the slick knife John quickly worked through the binds.
Fresh blood broke out from the wounds over the man's wrists as the cords slowly slipped off him, the man didn't seem to feel it though as he fell forward, almost impaling himself on John's knife. "Thank you...thank you so much..." Shaking arms wrapped themselves across John's neck as the man cried, cried...and cried.
John found himself smiling, a memory of last night touching him. Gently placing a hand on the crying man's back he felt a warm feeling...like a glow...spread itself within his chest, filling him with happiness.
"It's okay...you're safe now."