John felt strangely confident. He had arrived at the subway again, this time without much incident. Sure there had been a couple of mole rats munching on the remains of the ghouls he had killed before, which had been disgusting, but those had been easily mown down, along with a few ferals that had been hiding further into the station.
Yep, he loved his new SMG, the thing's weight comfortable in his hands as he stalked through the dark underground. The hunting rifle was tied to his back as he figured it wasn't much use in the tight quarters of the subway. Still, with a combat knife tied to his boot, a rifle on his back and a machine gun in his hands he felt quite badass. Not to mention that the slightly chafing leather armour he now wore gave him a feeling of invulnerability...
Sliding to the corner of the rightmost wall he listened intently for any movement. There was just the light dripping of water somewhere ahead, other than that the place was eerily silent. The subway leant itself well for creepiness, to his left a broken train had derailed, most of it buried under the collapsed tunnel. The rest was just broken windows and mouldy seats...along with a few scattered bones from whoever had died within the carts.
Glancing past the corner John blinked. The little room was obviously some sort of maintenance room between the two parallel tunnels, a few steel shelves lined the room, some junk still lying in them. To the left a metal fence enclosed a generator of a type John somewhat recognised from the vault...it was still working though, humming slightly as arcs of light escaped the worn machinery.
What drew his attention was the skeleton lying next to the fence. Stepping forward John frowned in confusion, he'd learnt to accept the many corpses that seemed to litter the world...this one looked odd however. The jumpsuit it wore had a green military tint to it, the shoulders marked red. It also wore a dirty fur hat... lying face down on the floor one of its hands was still raised, resting against a sword, a sword of all things, stuck in the grill off the fence.
Closing in John crouched down next to the corpse, placing the gun to the floor he reached down and pulled the skeleton over unto its back. Despite knowing what he should expect he still recoiled at the sight of the empty skull staring up at him...before it rolled away and the hand resting on the sword fell down upon its chest.
With a puff of smoke the skeleton's bones were turned to dust, stinging John's eyes and making him turn his head.
When he looked back an odd feeling grabbed him at the sight. The fur hat displayed a red star in its centre, an odd golden symbol engraved in it. The golden wings reaching up around the star belonged to some odd bird... Two similar symbols were etched into the collar of the jumpsuit, as was a red flag with a large and a few smaller golden stars in one corner was sown over the left breast.
China? John had of course read about the war, it was one of the few interesting things one could read about among the annoying crap the overseer poured over them every other class. Still, it was shocking to see the reality of it, even if it was a mere suit full of dust. Despite the age of it the surprisingly ornate blade still seemed in good shape, stuck in the fence as it was. Didn't this guy carry any other weapon? Didn't look like it...how had the Chinese ever been a threat with such crappy gear? Though maybe the gun had been looted by someone with a little more sense...
Huh? What was that? Reaching down John grabbed the worn red thing that had lain hidden under the corpse. A book? The odd letters covering the front didn't give him much hope of finding something useful...yet he might as well check it out. The pages were frayed and old...some missing altogether, yet John smiled. "Oh...illustrations!"
He had always loved illustrations describing procedures, medicine, explosives or simply building a computer...he loved them all. Amata thought it childish...but without them John always had trouble visualizing things. This one seemed to illustrate how to sneak up on someone and....eww...John grimaced. "That's nasty...why the eyes? Seriously...ouch." That didn't stop him from putting the book in his duffel bag though. Would be fun to read something at night...
Then he heard a thud.
Tensing he grabbed his gun, the Chinese corpse forgotten. There! Again...a thud.
The sound was a muted, heavy sound...familiar.
Holding his SMG close John turned to other side of the room. He couldn't see much except another broken down train, shards of its windows still littering the small walkway at the edge of the tunnel that would lead further into the unknown. He hadn't scouted any further then this...but already knew that whatever he found down in the underground couldn't be nice.
It wasn't the sound of a ghoul though, too heavy. Nor a mole rat despite the fleshy sound when they walked, still heavier... John didn't like the conclusion he was getting at, inching closer he strained to hear how close the sound was...which wasn't entirely easy in the echoing subway.
There was no more sounds though. Had the thing stopped?
Inching closer to the left corner ahead of him John swallowed. Where was the sound? Was it really a super mutant? He didn't like the idea of facing one in these close spaces..though the idea of turning one to mush with the SMG did feel tempting...John found himself breathing heavily as he crept forward...
"Stupid human!" John jumped at the sound as well as the sight of the massive green creature coming round the corner with a heavy looking wooden board in its hand. Had it waited for him!? Shouting in defiance John jumped backwards and pressed down the trigger. The SMG spat wildly, the first shots flying past the monster's shoulder before stitching a fine line of red craters across its chest...
Not even slowed down by the fusillade the creature swat at him, a nail in the board catching his gun at the safety...and wrenching the thing right out of his hands! John screamed in frustration of seeing his weapon sail through the air before slamming into the train behind the mutant...and drop in under it. Realising his rifle was tied to his back John made a dive for it.
And was slammed to the floor.
Coughing he felt his left shoulder go numb, a slight throbbing sensation telling him a massive fist had pounded him shoulder first into the ground. Rolling to the right he heard the crack of the board hitting the ground where he had lain. Coming to his feet he ducked left, barely dodging another sweeping attack. God the thing was fast!
Roaring the creature rushed at him, trying to catch him in a bear hug. The acrid smell made John grimace even as he ducked left again, stumbling a little as his head bounced against a massive arm. It was as he had hit a wall!
With a cry he was tossed forward, flying face first into the wire fence he grabbed at it with both his hands in order not to fall. The strike against the small of his back left it difficult to breathe and despite the leather armour the spikes on the plank had still managed to draw blood, the pain stinging him into action. "Stupid human! I crush you!"
Slipping to his knees John felt something bouncing against his knee...the sword!
With a hiss of pain he pulled it out of the fence and turned to face his foe, a defiant growl passing his lips as he forced himself up on one knee. Squinting through the haze of pain he saw the mutant recoil, not out of fear though, the wolfish grin on it was one of amusement. "Ha! Hahaha! Human fights on! Human should get green stuff!"
God...this was stupid, he was fighting an idiot of a monster with a steel poker, a steel poker when bullets hadn't even hurt it... Despite the futility of it he got to his feet and growled: "You aren't doing shit to me!" God...was he spitting blood? It didn't feel that bad...in fact he just fel tired. "Come on! I'll rip your head off!"
"Hahaha!" The monster rushed at him and John found himself coming to meet it.
The monster growled as fresh blood splattered across John's face. Blinking he realised that he had caught the mutant by surprise, the board was still raised over its head while he had pushed the blade right through its chest. The hilt of the weapon pushing against the tough skin as dark blood poured from the deep wound.
Tears begun fall from John's eyes. He had done it! He had somehow managed to save himself from dying! He would see father! He would go on to breathe another day! It had been so close...only now did he realise it. So close to annihilation....oh the relief! His knees were weak with it, he would live!
Then the mutant grabbed him by the head.
"Stupid human!" With a shove the monster pushed him away, the blade coming with him in an explosion of blood.
How could it be alive!?
John had no time to think. The push had shoved him so hard into the fence that he found himself bouncing back right at the waiting beast, a beast which now waited to hit him as if it was batting a baseball.
Stretching out his sword John stumbled...and fell forward.
The air parted above him when the weapon clubbed the air where his chest should have been. Instead more blood filled his vision as his blade sliced into the leg of the beast. This time he didn't expect victory though, despite the way his sword had cut right through the monsters thigh he looked up to find the mutant already raising its club, a victorious glint in its eyes.
Growling he pushed the sword forward with all his might. If he was going to die so would this thing! He was rewarded by a gush of blood when the sword sliced through flesh and muscles.
With a howl the mutant reared back, the movement causing his sword to saw through the front of its thigh. John could do nothing but watch as the leg suddenly detached itself from the mutant's body. Twitching the limb fell to the side as the howling mutant fell to the other. "Argh! Stupid human! I crush you!" Despite the blood pouring all over the place the creature still raised its weapon in defiance, swinging it about while struggling to get to its remaining foot.
Shaking his head John struggled to his feet, his face numb. Had he just...? Was his face covered in the beast's blood? He...won? Where was the feeling of victory? Where was that elation? Maybe it was the injuries? Or...huh...he felt odd.
Stepping forward he lashed out with a double handed horizontal swing.
The mutant roared as the hand grasping the board came off, spraying more of its blood over the floor. John watched impassioned as the hand, still gripping the weapon, slipped over the bloody floor before coming to a stop when it reached the dry part of the ground....huh...the thing was still twitching.
The monster was still growling, mouth moving to voice another threat. John sighed... Feeling weary he stabbed downwards, burying the blade into the mutant's throat and ending the creature's suffering.
Wait...had he just thought the mutant as suffering? Well it had...but had there been a hint of pity in his mind?
Shrugging he moved over to where his SMG had fallen and reached down, quickly fishing it up and checking it for any damages. Despite a new buckle it seemed perfectly fine...he sheeted it with another sigh. His body was aching and...as he pulled a hand over his face he felt the blood caked over his face drop away...his mind ached. Something felt wrong...just wrong.
Rolling his pained shoulder he stepped over the mutant, quietly studying its features. Even in death it seemed angry, as if death was an insult to such a massive creature. God...it was still pumping blood all over the place...how much could it contain? Placing a foot on its chest he grabbed the sword sticking out of its throat. With a groan and a pull he freed the weapon, making even more blood pour out of the monster. "God you're ugly."
Then he was thrown forward...towards the bloody floor...and all went black.