Chapter VI:
Prison Blues
Mitchell
I woke out of a nightmare only to wake to another one. My whole body ached like a sonovabitch, but especially my bandaged leg and the dried scalp at the top of my head. Doc was in even worse shape than me. He had tried to fight 'em off, even mange to gun one down, but they had clogged him and kept beating him. I had thrown myself at 'em, stabbed one, but I was easily overpowered.
I had accepted my fate then. They had even begun trying to rip my top off, but then a tall one-eyed man with a mohawk had stepped in and ordered 'em to stop. But I wish he hadn't, because then he started rubbing his crouch, and stared not only lustfully at me, but calculatingly. I looked across the campfire at the man now. He was probably gonna rape me and then torture me to his fuckin' delight. Well atleast Doc was still breathin'.
"Doc?" I whispered to my sleeping friend. He grunted, and rolled over to me. He had a bandage over his head, but his face was swollen and purple in several places. He sat up with a groan, and stared over to where the man was.
"Doc I…" I began.
"You've gotta escape, Sunny." Doc interrupted through a mouth of broken teeth.
"No Doc! I won't leave you here to these fuckin' animals." I whispered back to him, holding his hand in both of mine. He shook his head:
"No girl, you've gotta get out of here. I don't care what the bastards do to me, but you…"
He began to sob, so I brought his crying head to my shoulder, my red hair strolling about him.
"I'm sorry, Sunny." He said through tears, "I failed you, like I failed my wife."
"Shhh, it's okay." I said as tears of my own began to build and fall like a river, "This night ain't over yet…"
I looked up at the dark night sky, which seemed to be as sad as I.
"Not over yet."
Gideon
We didn't really have any real way to track the bastards, as the night's winds had blown the sand over where they were running, but somehow I had an idea where they were moving. The Pip-boys had constant tracking maps of the area, showing where I was in the world and where the prison was; which read as Jean Conservancy. Yet there was something familiar about this place like I had been here before… I brushed the thought aside. I didn't need another memory trip, which would leave me a liability, and we would lose time.
I had set the Prison's location on the map, and a dotted line spread from our ever moving position to show a trail to get to the prison. My hope was if we could get to the Prison first; we could intercept the bastards before they got within their fortress. I looked over my shoulder at my companions, and although the journey was hard on their endurance, they didn't complain. We didn't have time to rest.
We kept on moving through the night, the wind kicking up great gusts of sand that was trying to get at our eyes and mouth. I had put up my scarf to keep my breathing steady, but there was nothing I could do for my eyes. I shrugged off the pain and I kept up the pace, the rest falling suit. We had been forced to stop a few hours later, the wind had just gotten too fierce and great sandstorms had taken up to stop our advance. We could've moved through it, but we would've gotten lost in the storm.
So we had stopped at a shallow cave at the base of the mountains. Fortunately, we had managed to cover half the distance to the prison, and once it lifted we would be on the move again. Once more, I went through the mental process of checking each of my weapons, loading and reloading them. I unwrapped Lowlight from its cloth cover, shaking off the lose sand from it holds and manually checked it for any damages. I looked across the cave at the other two, noticing them doing the same…
"This should be a good spot." I said over to my companions, motioning my hands over to the ledge. The winds hadn't stopped until it three prior dawn, but we had been able to make up for lost time by jogging the rest of the distance. About an hour back we found a path into the mountains that had brought us literally ontop of the Prison. As the sun was beginning its horizon bound descent, I peered out at the facility. It kind of looked like a topless cage, with chainlinked fences connecting into a long hexagon, a tower on each corner and about a half dozen buildings on the inside.
I crouched on the perch, peering down into the grounds with the scope. I counted a force of about a dozen down in the grounds, one in every tower. While this wasn't a particularly large force, I had no doubt there were more inside the buildings. Easy Pete moved up to me, pointing with his arm:
"Where do ye think they'd keep prisoners?"
"There." I replied, "You see that two store building."
"Yep. What is it?"
"It's probably the wardens office, the rest are either barracks or cell blocks. The one by the entrance is probably the visitors center. But if you need a place big enough to hold people and away from anybody else…" I continued trailing off at the end.
"Okay then. If need be how are we gonna get in?"
"Through the front. We'd need a diversion, draw them away. Then two could go in, one up here to cover and observe."
"Well that sounds like a plan…"
"Hey, Amigos!" Ringo called from down the hill, "Down there; where the trail leads off!"
I swung the rifle out to where Ringo was pointing and I saw them. There were eight in total and I could see Sunny trying to help Doc walk over the rough terrain. I growled in anger as I saw Doc's injuries. I handed the rifle over to Pete and he too scolded in anger at them; perhaps even more so.
"Bueno Mierda! Now what are going to do!?" Ringo, cursed under his breath.
"We wait." I said calmly. I turned and they both gave me the 'what the hell for?' look.
"We can't get at them without bringing the full force of the prison down on our heads. We wait, see which building they'll go into and then get them out."
A few minutes passed, and the sun was quickly going behind the dotted horizon, all the better. My guess was right, they were taking Sunny and Doc into the Wardens Building and I noticed something else, there was structural damage to one of the towers, and the lookout was fast asleep. I turned to Pete and Ringo:
"Alright here's the plan…"
Ten minutes passed and it was dark out. I checked the Pip-boy internal clock, and it read 10/23/81+4:54. It was getting darker sooner, and even colder for that matter. Strom season was soon to be coming. Pete came running to my side, a wide grin on his face:
"Got it set up. Three sets of 'splosives, two of 'em on the legs and one fer a surprise."
"Good, you got detonator?"
"Yeah, the ones connected to the legs are primed. The extra is on a timer, should 'splode in about 5minutes."
"Good." I replied, nodding my approval. Then Pete was down the hill in heartbeat, going over to join Ringo who was already in position. I breathed in deeply, and got into a prone firing position. I put the scope to my eye, the night vision already adjusting to its nocturnal green hue. I ran the scope up and down the prison.
There seemed to be more of the Convicts out, maybe another half-dozen down there in the grounds. Another minute passed and a good number of them seemed to be huddling over by the soon-to-be-demolished tower. Two more minutes passed, but every ticking second seemed to expand into minutes. Finally, a large group had huddled over by the tower, so I took my chance. I reach over to the detonator and pressed the firing button.
A split second later there was a thundering explosion as they ripped the legs from under the tower and sent it falling inward into the grounds. There was loud shout of surprise and then the big group ran towards the tower. My mind suddenly began to feel strange as slowly the dark and dreary night of the prison was replaced, night turning to day, the grounds below me turning bright as a lantern. I closed my eyes, time almost stopping into a standstill and the world about felt it had been replaced. Then when I opened my eyes, I was absorbed by the blaring fire of an explosion and reality slipped into memory, as well as my own consciousness.
"Now that was an explosion!" roared a heavy, almost bellowing voice to my left. I turned my eye to the speaker, revealing a young man in his early twenties, with a shaved scalp of red hair and a heavily freckled face. His face, his voice and sight all look so familiar, but I couldn't place him. I rolled my eye over him; the heavy built Kevlar armor set under a long brown coat and tan fatigues. Set upon his shoulder was a brown flag with a golden star set in the middle, the very same arm grasping a Chinese made Type 81 RPK, with a heavy-set 3.85xscope and bipod attached. It was then that I noticed the row of ammo pouches, each holding a banana shaped 40 round magazines.
"Please, Roy!" Another voice, feminine but with a slight bass to it called out, "José's explosions are far more impressive, no offense meant though, Gid."
I looked over at the speaker: she was also in early twenties, with short cropped dark hair, dark brown and shallow completions about her somewhat heavy build. She wore a similar uniform to Roy's: hers wasn't as faded, however. But on her shoulder was the same brown flag with the golden star set in the middle. She also carried a long barreled scoped Remington Hunting Rifle, though slung under her arm was an MP5/10 SMG.
"Yeah, you'd best Lo siento, Millie. Gideon's the best damn shot we've got in this miserable unit, ain't ya buddy!"
"Alright you maggots," a voice suddenly crackled in my ear, "we've got those Crimson bastards running to go douse that fire. Start picking 'em off, boys and girls!"
It was then that I realized that I was wearing a full face helmet, and quite out of nowhere I spoke a single word: engage. Then my body began working like a preset motor. I got into position, aimed down the scope, observing the two dozen targets down below. The prison had been replace with what appeared to a be a field operating base; the soldiery below wearing crimson colored uniforms with a roman style metal chest plate and black face masks.
I breathed in deeply, sighted a target and fired. As the target's mid-section exploded, I re-sighted and continued firing. Picking them of was a relatively easy task. From my vantage point I could see the entirety of the area, no cover was unseen from me and no legionnaire protected from my aim. After emptying my five rounds into the water crews surrounding the burning guard tower, I reloaded as the surviving troops retreated into the main building, a few going into the tents covering the ground.
"They're rabbeting! Move in and engage them! Move it you worthless maggots!" The voice boomed in my ear again.
"Charge!" I roared out of nowhere, the vocal systems in the helmet amplifying my voice to my squadmates. As we sprinted down the hill; an echoing cry roared out in the valley as to either side of me was a tide of brown and tan uniformed soldiers. As we made our way down the hill and toward the entrance; I noted the many bayonets and long war blades at the ready for the kill. I turned the corner and was surprised to find a slain legionnaire, with a large bullet wound… wait why was this one wearing a blue jumpsuit? Why was it suddenly getting darker?
"Run!" A voice rang out from inside, followed by a gunshot; a .357 magnum by my guess. I raised Lowlight to my shoulder and I advanced inside through an ever changing entrance. One moment it had been a mesh wire door leading out into the grounds, then everything turned dark as night. A heavyset metal door lay ajar, a foot sticking out through the exposed crack. I moved slowly, keeping the rifle at 75 degrees and panning the door in front.
Satisfied, I launched a kick at the door and it went swinging wide. I then moved in, sweeping left and right, the room illuminated by a flickering overhead light. All about me laid a scene of chaos, with multiple bodies lying about the strewed mess of clattered furniture. They all wore the distinctive blue jumpsuits of the convicts, and each one had one or two bullet holes in them, either the large .357 magnum or the rather nimble 9mm. I hugged the large receptions desk and moved my way through the room.
I then came across a long hallway; probably leading out into the grounds. I moved close to the right hand wall and began moving forward. There was a series of doors on the other wall and I knew I was going to have to check each of them for hostiles. However before I could do this, a bluecoated man suddenly stepped out of one of the rooms, his back to me.
"Don't move." I hissed at him and the man froze, his hands went up into the air. He then slowly turned, revealing a heavily bearded man with an equally heavy tanned tone. He had high protruding cheekbones, but these seemed rather shallow, as though man hadn't eaten anything for a while. However, this didn't drown out the intensity of his glare as his eyes bore into my one.
"I'm not one of them," He finally said; his voice rough and hoarse from perceived lack of water. Then something moved behind him and a rather familiar white bearded man appeared.
"Easy, Gideon," Pete said as he cross the distance between me and the man in front of me, and pushed the barrel away from his torso, "He ain't with these bastards."
"Then why is he wearing a blue coat?" I asked, struggling to keep my voice calm.
"I am a residence of this place, but had I had it my way," The man in front of me replied, taking a step closer, "I would have had these dogs killed a long time ago."
"Hey there you are, Gideon!" Another voice, Ringo's, called out from the same room everybody seemed to be coming out from, "I see you've met our amigo here, Meyers."
"Amigo?" I asked.
"When we stormed in here, Meyers took up arms and practically blasted half of 'em you see behind ye," Pete explained. I sighed and lowered the rifle to the floor. Meyers stepped closer:
"Figured you're here for the two they dragged in here, that so?"
I nodded. Meyers continued:
"I'm in here 'cause the NCR didn't take to me taking the duty of Sheriff seriously. I'm not one of these animals…" He paused, stooping over and collecting an old, dark desperado cattle hat, centering it on his crown, "I think they're punishment is long overdue."
"You've convinced me." I replied, brushing past them and approaching the door, "Now's the time to put your money where your mouth is."
He nodded, and they all pulled their respective weapons out into a ready position, filing in behind me.I readied myself, and then I proceeded to kick down the door. The force knocked it off its hinges and sent it into the grounds. I stepped forward, rifle raised and peered about the destruction. The tower lay on the floor, but the entirety of the placed was highlighted by the glow of rising flames.
I could hear everybody behind me filing out to all sides of me, guns raised and advancing. As I moved forward, I could see the uncountable number of bodies that lay about, but out of the corner of my eye I knew more where coming. Figures began running out of the other three buildings, and I could tell they were wearing blue. I raised my rifle and fired. The target in front was dropped to the floor, the rest getting the hint to go to cover.
"Gentlemen, prepare to defend yerselves!" Pete shouted aloud. Now an exchange of fire occurred, as both sides began blasting the other. I dived to the ground as bullets whizzed past my head and into the background behind me. I crawled my way forward until I had a good view of things and then I brought the rifle up to my shoulder. I clicked the switch on the scope and before me the entity of the prison was bathed in green fade, with moving burning shapes of green confirming my targets.
I slowed my breathing, blocking out all the noises of gunfire, shouting and pain, locking onto a target and depressing the trigger. A second later the figure top section expanded upwards and then fell, leaving behind a mess of glowing white on the wall behind him. I switched targets and continued firing at anything that wasn't friendly.
"Moving! Cover!" Meyers shouted aloud. He rolled from his shack of fallen metal and dived towards another. More figures came running from one of the cell blocks and proceeded to pin down Meyers' position with withering automatic fire. Meyers began firing blind over his head, but had to pull his hand down as the suppressive fire became more accurate. I switched positions and put down one of the convicts who had exposed himself trying to flank Meyers.
Then I heard a flick and I looked over to where Pete was standing. He had a lighter in his hands, and then there was a spark and sound of burning fuse.
"HEADS DOWN!" He shouted and the stick went flying into the cold, damp darkness…
Mitchell
The slap was audible this time, and I could hear Sunny whimper as he at her came again. I writhed in my bounds, trying desperately to loosen the tight ropes securing my arms to the upright operating table. I looked over to where the bastard had her tied to a similar predicament. She was topless, her bare breast showing with dozens of tiny, deliberate and blooded cuts and bruises lining from her face down to her nude chest. The one eyed bastard grinned maliciously, and raised his hand to strike at her again.
"Leave her be, you son of a gaudy whore!" I growled at him. He turned his head towards me, and smiled a crooked, evil expression. He reached over to a medical drawer and pulled out what looked like some kind of electronic remote.
"Shut up all man. I'll get to you soon," He responded, and then he pressed the button on the remote. Asplit-second later, I felt a burning pain of enormous proportions as volts of electric shock shot through my entire body. My body arched upward and I let out an unearthly scream. Sunny cried out at my pain, and the bald man cackled in satisfaction.
"Don't worry, little girl," He said, moving his hand to begin caressing and touching in all of the sensitive areas, "I will not kill him or you. At least, not until I've had my way with you."
As the shock waves ebbed away from my age stricken body, Sunny spat at him straight in the face. He turned away, and smiled at me:
"She has spirit. Good. This'll be more fun,." Then he turned, and I recoiled as he struck her with an audible crack. Anger and desperation rolled out of their long buried prisons as I struggled to break free and destroy this demon-spawn:
"You fuckin' coward!" I roared with the sound of an enraged mutant bobcat, "Havin' fun hurtin' a tied up girl?! You fuckin' psychotic piece of rolling- "
Then my voice was cut off as more electric current rolled through my skin and began to tear away at my already brittle body. Despite the pain, I roared again:
"Free… me… and face… me! See… who gahh is…!"
Finally the currents stopped and I locked my pain exhausted eyes on the man. He smiled:
"I might…"
Suddenly, his voice was cut off as the air was filled with a loud boom, and the ground began to shake a little. Seconds later, the audible din of screams and gunfire echoed into the halls. The one-eyed man then ran over to an intercom and spoke into it. All he got were loud and death stricken screams. A minute passed, and suddenly there was another explosion and then another, and then a final one that sounded just outside the building.
Then a din of explosions and gunfire echoed throughout the building. My eyes locked on the cell door, and then suddenly a body crumpled into the doorway. The one-eyed man jumped over to the surgical table at the back of the room, removing and brandishing a 9mm pistol:
"Come in here and I'll…"
Then out of thin air, a blur of brown rolled forward and a flash appeared out from its front. A howl echoed from the back wall as the bald man lay crumpled on the ground, shards of metal impeded in his chubby hands. I turned back, and in the back of my mind, I thank him for answering my prayers. One Gideon Maddox stepped forward through the doorway into the room; followed by my old and venerable friend Easy Pete and that cocky son of a bitch Ringo. Pete stepped over to me and patted a hand on my still aching shoulder:
"Ah whats the matter, doc…?" He said with a crooked grin, "We interrupt yer party? Why, was there any women 'bout that I don't know 'bout?"
"You perverted old bastard!" I chuckled back, pain filling my chest and causing me to cough violently. Pete then began to unstrap my bonds:
"Let's get ye back to town, 'fore you cough yerself to death."
"When did you become a doctor?"
"Just now."
As he supported me, I looked over to where Gideon was. He had wrapped the clothed torn Sunny in his massive coat, and was supporting her. She tucked her head onto his chest and began to sob. He wrapped her head in his arms, comforting her as he kissed the top of her swollen hairline. Then came a groan from the backroom, and we all turned to face the condemned man.
Then I saw Gideon's' eye light up with a wrath of pure malice, a look that made me shutter in my bones.
"Take her." He said, as he handed her over to Ringo, "Leave."
As we left the room, I looked over my shoulder and saw Gideon slowly approach the kneeling man, who was clutching his bloodied slump of a hand. In the back of my mind; I felt sorry for the man, for what was about to happen to him. Yet, then again, it didn't matter…
Easy Pete
"Here, there you go I've got you, jovenito," Ringo replied from across the yard, who was beckoning to seat a young scrawny little girl and her younger brother. As it had turned out; the convicts had another seven prisoners housed here, apparently survivors from a convoy of folks who had lured by the false promise of the city of light. I sighed, instinctively running my hand over my bag of 'plosives. Every year, there were more and more of these young idiots. There were no kinder words for 'em. They were no doubt from California; coming here to find a better life outside the Republic, never realizing that they were headin' fer something far worse.
I ran my eyes around the prison yard, noting every detail of every folk still breathin'. Ringo was comforting the children, Sunny and Doc sitting close to each other to my left. Then, I noticed a family of three walkin' 'cross the yard, then another two male teens huggin' a fence, and then… him. Meyers was standing in the shadows, arms crossed and slumped against a wall. My eyes began instinctively mentally watchin' his every movement, even his breathes.
I knew a snake when I saw one just as easy as breathin', a good man even easier. Yet he was neither. No, maybe that was the wrong word: he was a good man, but it seemed he was hidin' from his past. I could see the light of a lawman in his eyes, but they were dimmed by darkness and it certainly wasn't old age. Fer that reason, he was keepin' to himself and his hand close to his revolver.
Then there was an audible crash, and I swung my gaze over to the Admin Building. I grimaced as Gideon strolled out purposely, noticing the sight of foreign blood over his face and hands. I didn't want or need to know what Gideon had done to that 'man' in the buildin'. Whatever he had done was done, and I'd rather it stayed that way. Then began walkin' over where I was standing and he spoke:
"Pete."
"Yeah, Gid?"
"How many explosives you got?"
"'Bout a couple dozen sticks of dynamite, and some C-4 I got from this here armory…"
"Good," Then he beckoned for Meyers:
"This placed got any power or gas lines under or in this place."
"Uh, yeah I think there's a cluster that goes into each of the buildings…"
"Gideon?" I asked.
"Yeah Pete?" He replied; his face and manner no nonsense like.
"Why'd you…" Then I realized why and what we were doing. I actually grinned at the thought. Gideon nodded and grinned too.
"We're blowing this place skyhigh and to kingdom come."
I wrapped the last of the Det-Cord round the copper gas line, placing a single pound of the C-4 at its head. Then I checked the last of 'sploives in their places around the facility. I grinned mischievously at my handiwork. I knew that this was going to be one very big explosion. Then I looked and saw Meyers making his way east, away from where Gideon and the rest were.
I sighed deeply and shook my head.
"Not surprising…"
Mitchell
"Alright is everyone cleared?" Gideon asked turning and mentally counting everyone about. I coughed heavily as pain began creeping through my body and up around my achin' bones. Ringo and Sunny held me steady, bracing me as I practically began coughing my guts out. Then I looked up and saw Gideon turned away, facing the prison a mile down the road with a detonator clutched in his hand. Then he pushed open the safety catch and pressed the arming button.
Then there was loud beep, and followed by a massive orange explosion that shook the ground. It bellowed into the night, illuminating the land into a second, early sunrise with its awesome power. Then it was quickly followed by another ball of fire and then another. At last, seconds ticked by in relative silence, as we all gazed in wonder at the now devaluated fire began burning away at the buildings about, engulfing the air in a burning heat that touched my forehead with the faintest of warmth. Then suddenly there was final explosion that made us all jump with shock, with Ringo coming close to dropping his hold on me and sending me crashing into Sunny. I straightened myself, and I turned my gaze to a grinning Gideon and Pete, who shook hands heartily.
"Now that was an explosion, jefe!" Ringo chuckled under his breath. I nodded in reply turning my gaze away from the burning spectacle less than a mile down the road. Gideon turned began walking out of the trail, his back turned to the rising flame and smoke. We all soon followed.
"Let's go home..."
