Chapter 1

Part 2

Darryl was only third in command until a few days ago, when they lost contact with the school outpost. He didn't mind, it was actually even better for him, he was now second in command after Jeff, his leader's friend, disappeared.

He liked being second in command, and should this venture into the school succeed, he would most likely be able to turn his group against the leader, assuming control. Three years is a long time to be depending on someone else's leadership, especially one like Rex. He despised his leader; he was smart, cunning, strong and even worse of all, a tough fighter. He was an ex-soldier that went entirely bonkers.

Darryl spat at the ground, his group was coming up at the school from above, they'll infiltrate through the playground.

He took note that whoever was inside the school wasn't shooting at the group coming from the baseball field, they were probably setting up an ambush, or was aware there was more than one group, and conserving ammo.

He reached the school's front doors, waiting until the group at the back door was in position, and the one positioning to enter through the side windows were ready to enter. They were twenty men, out of a group of twenty six, before that, a group of thirty four. It was due to their leader's demand that the other group holed up in the school, looking aimlessly for nothing. There was nothing of worth in the school, and the jackass Rex knew it all along. It was like he sent them to die.

"Heh," Darryl laughed, "We'll see who's going to bite it." He chuckled, kicking the doors to the school open and giving off a few rounds inside, signaling the other groups to proceed and gain entry. From familiarization, the best place to hole up would either be in the basement, or the roof. Any fool could tell they weren't on the roof, so two groups immediately headed towards the basement, the other groups slowly seizing control of the other rooms, clearing them one by one.

"Uh, Darryl." Ox called over, ox was an ox, part of his second group. He was a truly dumb bull, really. Anything he had to say could not be important. Darryl ignored his cries from above and plunged beneath to the basement, standing right outside the door, he thought he could hear noises inside, maybe a creaking of a chair?

Oh how long Darryl waited for some fresh blood! He hoped there were females, delicious young things… ripe for the picking, oh the females… Darryl licked his lips in anticipation, oh how anxious was he. "Darryl!" He heard one of the others from above call out, "Darryl you stupid son of a bitch, get up here!" Darryl growled angrily, not now, not when he was this close. He kicked open the door, the wire attached to it tearing the safety pin from a grenade emplaced on the group of gas containers, one of them was leaking. The creak he heard must've been the gas faucet turning. He took a good look around the room, noticing their positions, structural supports and foundations. Darryl's last thought was that of irritation, looks like he won't get to be alpha dog after all.

"Darryl! Someone spilled gas all over the…" Ox started, but never had a chance to finish, as the resounding explosion cut him off, the entire school collapsing on itself, burying the raiders beneath tons of stone and rubble.

Buster knew what the explosion meant, they had precious few moments until the noise died down, in that time, they had to infiltrate the back entrance of the mall, gunning down the skeleton crew guarding it.

Buster wasn't a violent person, not even back in the vault. Sure, he looked the part, with his gigantic corpus of strong, well trained muscles. But he wasn't, he liked the safety of the Vault. He liked his mother; he liked everything when it was funny, or casual. He did not like this.

He could practically feel the black rings forming under his eyes; cousin from his uncle's side was a Blanc-De-Hotot. So the black around her eyes came naturally with her fur. His however, came from exhaustion. He hasn't had a good night's sleep since they left the Vault. He couldn't close his eyes without seeing those things; those… monsters tear apart the crowd desperately trying to flee.

When Marina had slipped when escaping the Vault, she fell over a body, and right next to her, Buster could recognize his mother's blood-stained locket, limbs ripped apart, head missing, but he could still know it was her. When he'd succumb to exhaustion that was what he saw.

He gave a silent prayer to Marina, who despite being blind, was the only one who could see, or rather, the only one who cared to see his pain. She kept his spirits up, by talking about it with him. He can't have imagined how frightening it must've been, in total darkness, hearing screams, crying, vomiting, hearing those monsters roar and whatnot, the sound of flesh tearing… He shook off those thoughts, as another crept back into his mind.

"Buster, I… well, before you go I just…" Marina said, funny how despite looking uncomfortable and embarrassed her eyes still stared vaguely at his. "Just, well… be careful?" She asked, then rubbing her temple, "I wanted to give you this, for luck." She said, handing Buster a knit four-leafed clover patch. "Keep it, and when you get back, maybe I can sew this into your suit?" She asked hopefully. Buster's ears perked up, a wide grin spreading on his face. It was the first time since they left the vault that he managed to concentrate fully on what he was doing.

"I'd love that, Marina." He stated warmly, putting the patch in one of the magazine holsters on his Vault armor. "I'll see you soon."

He saw Arthur give the Go command, under cover of the noise of the explosion and collapse of the nearby school. They charged through the back, easily surprising and taking down the two guards at the door. Arthur, as point man, got one in the gut, Buster was right behind him, but only managed to scrape his shoulder, luckily either Slink or Brain took a shot from behind Buster and managed to take him down.

"Inside!" Arthur ordered quietly, he and Buster dragged in the Raider corpses, closing the door after them. The Brain looked around for security cameras, none there. Molly took out a combination lock she cracked from the school, it wasn't much, but it should hold any raider reinforcements from getting in the back door for a while, she used it to bar the door, passing it through the two rings attached to the door and frame.

"Brilliant Macdonald," Brain said, "I just hope you can open it as quick if we get in trouble." He whispered. The others reloaded their weapons to full magazines, hoping their gunfire was not heard over the sound of the explosion.

"Alex, did you see that boom? Damn, you think Darryl did that?" A radio on the raider's body piped up. Arthur's group stopped and stared at it tensely.

"Alex? Yo wake up! Alex!" The radio called out, this wasn't good.

Buster signaled Arthur to move, or they would lose their surprise element, Arthur nodded and went through the door to the corridor, where a cargo elevator and a flight of stairs went up to the first and second floors. The words "Property of Rex's Raiders" were sprayed over the elevator doors.

The power still worked, the Raiders must've been maintaining the emergency generator, so when Arthur called down the elevator, it started with a loud rattle.

"What are you doing?" Rattles asked, "You'll give us away!" Arthur grinned at him; that was exactly what he was going for.

As the elevator doors opened he pulled out one of the flash bang grenades he took from the raider lieutenant at the school and casually tossed it in, sending the elevator up to the second floor, then silently, but quickly ascending the stairway, opposite it.

Unsure of what his leader had planned Buster stayed in tow, he trusted Arthur; they were still alive weren't they? Just around the bend of the last flight leading to the second floor, Arthur waited, as he heard the elevator doors open, gunfire from the raiders ambushing it, and then a loud bang.

The raiders yelled out in surprise, their confusion allowing Arthur's group to mow down both of them with automatic fire. However, their moment of triumph was short lived, as Rattles took two bullets, one in the gut, and another in the shoulder, and proceeded to collapse on the floor.

Arthur could see him, the raider leader, in a suit of leather armor, wearing a black ski-mask with a burning white skull painted on it.

Arthur fired, but the raider leader took cover, springing his own trap, a remote detonation device he planted on one of his men near Arthur's group, peppering them with fragments painfully, also shattering Arthur's glasses.

Buster was panicked now, though his injuries were only superficial, the sensation caused by them and the pain, not to mention the raider blood and gore he was drenched in caused him to lose his cool. He quickly pulled Arthur down below the railing (as the upper floor was overlooking the one beneath, creating two corridors on the sides with a large gap overlooking the first floor in the middle.)

Arthur couldn't see, blood from his forehead was blocking his view, and without his glasses, he could hardly aim. Rattles was down, Slink was providing covering fire, but Rex timed himself perfectly to advance slowly. Within few moments he will be within grenade range, meaning they would be screwed.

"Molly, do something!" Buster cried out in alarm, when a single gunshot wound was heard, said rabbit was behind Rex, gun pointed at his back.

"Already on it," She said seriously, the raider leader turned his head, how did she…? "That was a warning shot." She threatened.

But Rex wasn't done yet, a shot rang out, getting Molly straight in the shoulder, there was another raider.

"No!" Arthur called, hearing Molly's painful groan, Buster didn't wait, he charged forwards, if they managed to take Molly hostage, the entire operation would be screwed. He tackled the surprised Rex to the ground. Unfortunately, though, said coyote was an ex military specialist, even Buster wouldn't last long in a melee against his close quarters training.

It was all up to Slink now, he wasn't much of a talker, less of a fighter really, but with two of his best friends down, he had to do something. He peeked around the corner, looking for the last raider, his keen eyes spotted him, a silhouette behind some shades in an office on the other side of the gap; he could see the barrel of his hunting rifle poking out of the shattered window, trying to get a shot at Buster.

"Okay Slink," He muttered, "Hero time." He stepped lightly over Rattles' injured form, and sped towards the other side of the gap. He wasn't among the top three of the Vault track team, but he was definitely a good runner, and agile. By the time the raider, who was fixated on the fight between Buster and Rex, took note of him, he was already sprayed with automatic fire.

Rex, holding Buster down to the floor after repeatedly introducing his fist to said rabbit's nose, looked up at the noise. His backup was down, but he hasn't lost yet, he pulled out his army knife from its sheath and was about to press it to Buster's throat, when Brain, who, when the remote explosive detonated fell back down the stairs, managed to get his way back up, now aiming his pistol directly at Rex's head.

Rex growled, this was it, he'd never manage to take the barely conscious rabbit hostage now, he'd be shot point-blank before he'd manage to get the knife to his neck. A blow to the back of his head rendered him unconscious.

Molly, holding Rex's assault rifle spat out at the gap overlooking the first floor. "Your goon shot my good arm, son of a bitch." She rumbled.

"Would that be offensive to a canine?" The dazed Buster asked, as Brain was already starting to field-dress Rattles' wounds.

Molly shrugged, passing by him quickly to check on Arthur, while Slink secured Rex; he handcuffed the raider leader with a pair of cuffs hanging from his own belt, and pulled him away to the side.

"Is Rattles going to be alright?" Molly asked with concern, as brain was feverishly working on staunching the bleeding. "Argh, no good!" He said, "I need to take those bullets out now, help me get him to the food court!" He said, Arthur jumped to assist, lifting him carefully, and walking him over to one of the tables in the food court. Brain always carried a first aid pack on his vault suit, unpacking it, he pulled out the equipment he needed, a pair of tweezers, bandages and a folding scalpel. Rattles was losing consciousness.

"Molly, go, keep him awake." Brain ordered calmly, "Talk to him, do anything, make sure he doesn't black out."

The red-eyed rabbit did as she was told, moving to Rattles' head, she said "Hey,"

"Hey," He grunted back, "Sorry, kind of hurting here, y'know?"

"Suck it up, boy; you're a tough customer, aren't you?" she answered back, he managed a chuckle.

"Hey, you know what, what they should call us after this?" He said, coughing, blood. Molly tilted his head sideways, so it would not choke him.

"They should… totally call us Molly's Marauders." He said, she tugged on his ear painfully. "Ow! Why?"

"If you're already licking my boots, you mind cleaning up the sole, too? I think I stepped on some of your bull-crap back there." She said sternly.

"Hah, don't worry Molly, I ain' kissing that hot ass of yours, I'm juss being honess." He mumbled, then groaned in agony as Brain began pulling out the first bullet from his gut, "Hold him down, I'm taking it out." Rattles struggled, but was held down firmly by Molly and Arthur.

"God, agh!" Rattles cried, "Stop it, I can't, I can't! Stop!" He cried.

"You little girl, if you die I'm taking your jacket, no way I'll let a wuss like that be a Tough Customer." Molly provoked him.

"Go to Hell! No way you're taking my jacket, I co-founded this gang!" He said, biting his lower lip as Alan finally managed to remove the bullet in his gut. "The one that hit the shoulder went clean through." He said after a small inspection.

Brain quickly applied antiseptics to the wounds and pulled out a stimpack from his first aid pack. Stimpacks were the height of military medical technology, stimulating the cellular regeneration to a near instant healing process. It could only go so much however, so to treat any true injuries, more than one would have had to be applied, it was also no good against crippled limbs or damaged nerve organs.

Injecting the stimpack into Rattles' Pip Boy's Stimport wasn't easy, since Rattles was still thrashing around. Brain finally managed to inject it eventually, and slowly, Rattles began to calm down. Brain moved to bandage his wounds, asking Arthur to see how Buster was doing. He also Noted that Rattles was probably going to make it, though he will be off duty for a time, depending on the effectiveness of the stimpack.

Arthur however, was looking at Molly's blood-soaked arm. "You're hurt." He said.

"No crap." She answered sardonically, "It's a flesh wound, idiot didn't even hit an artery, at least it went clean through, hah, no painful bullet extraction for Molly!"

Arthur couldn't see Molly that well, he was about to comment about her carelessness, staying out in the open like that, but remembered that he had to be strong and inspiring. "Have Brain take a look at that." He finally said, "Good job Molly, I never even saw you splitting up from us."

Molly chuckled, "You kids used to hang out in the Sugar Bowl, we used to hang out here. I know all the ins and outs." She gave Arthur a genuine smile, obviously happy he thought she did well. She felt an urgent need to kiss him, but she didn't feel like frenching any raider guts, so she resolved to wait for him to clean up.

Arthur went over slowly to where Buster was still lying down, and sat down next to him. "Buster?" He asked.

"Head hurts." The rabbit replied, "At least he didn't break my nose."

"We got him, don't worry." Arthur pulled Buster to a sitting position, smiling at his bloody face.

"Hah, what are you smiling at?" He asked mockingly, "You're not too up and about yourself."

The two shared laughter, allowing relief to take over adrenaline, and only then realizing how much of a headache they had.