Chapter 5: Only a few breaks.
Rem wiped his mouth with the sleeve of the trench coat and by then, the trail carbine had been pulled back into the hole. Beside him, there was a puddle of waste that he had simply been unable to keep to himself, and while his mind weaved and twisted tempestuously, more terrified than he had ever been in his life, he could hear the noises of the teen boy being devoured in the background. He had his back to them and he was clutching the trail carbine close to his chest. It felt pathetic to lay there with his legs tucked close, with the trail carbine held in both hands as though he was a child clutching the arm of his mother to feel safe, but he couldn't bring himself to stop. He pictured the skin being bitten off the bone, and when he heard crunching noises, he pictured bones snapping, splintering, and then he pictured the boy's dead head. He almost threw up again, but managed to control himself. The smell eventually dragged towards him, too, mixing with the smell of rotting flesh. The new blood smelled fresh and heavy, and the old simply smelled . . . disgusting.
It took a while. Maybe about an hour, before the haunting noises stopped and made him feel like he could come out again. So he stopped doing what he was doing and turned his body without making a sound, casting his gaze to the cavern. He could tell the difference between the new blood and the old, but what hit him hardest was the remains. Especially the boy's head . . . with its empty eye sockets. Half of the face was missing and the rest was simply strewn about everything else, forgotten. Left overs that wouldn't be revisited. He turned away from it again, completely unable to continue taking all of this in. When he looked back, he snapped his head a little, looking only for the girl's face because that's all he wanted to see. She was sitting there, legs tucked close, back against the cage, with a gaze that had all of its fire extinguished. He pressed his lips together while he stared at her. I can't . . . let it happen to her, too, he said, within the depths of his mind. That was when he made one difficult decision.
If he didn't find the chance to do something to save both her as well as himself before she was eaten, he'd throw away his control. He'd shoot her, right between the eyes, and shoot as many of them as he could before they noticed him. It had been hard enough to watch a young man die, and after seeing that, he just wasn't in any shape to watch a young woman die in the same manner. Additionally, he began to figure that every man had his breaking point. There wasn't a man on Earth able to deny his humanity entirely, and in the end, that was going to be his limit. That would be the moment he threw all of life's lessons out the window. It felt right. He nodded to himself, lips still pressed together tightly, and his hands gripped the rifle. They stopped shaking.
Alright you fucking abominations, he thought hard, spiriting things to give himself the lift he was going to need to seize the opportunity he was looking for, You guys don't know it yet, but you're all a couple of lucky moves away from giving me the edge I need to make you pay for this. His teeth gritted, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he felt the goosebumps on his arms. He flexed his body a bit, moved his head, and his shoulders, too. He felt it, finally. He was still scared but he had gotten his killer's instinct back. Once he had it, it was pretty simple, actually. He knew what he was dealing with, and they sure as hell weren't deathclaws. They probably weren't as smart as people, but they thought on a more complex level than animals. All of that was assessed.
Still, the looming truth that they were going to have to leave to give him any kind of opportunity to do something to save he and the girl remained. He was going to have to wait, patiently, like he had gotten used to doing. The question to be asked, however, was whether or not they'd leave any time soon. Would they get hungry again before they had to leave? He wasn't religious, but he found himself thinking religious things. If there's anyone up there. Anyone, anything, whatever, I hope you do the right thing. I need a miracle here. Truth was, however, that even with a miracle safely tucked in his hands, ready for use, he'd still be hard pressed to believe that they'd make it. His eyes went small and he shook his head. And so, reluctantly, he started waiting.
An hour went by, and he watched them interact. "We must gather more humans!" one of them yelled, and another responded, "Yes, we must! But humans don't like coming here, to the mountains!" Their faces were odd, locked in the same position. It was an eternal sneer, with their teeth pressed together tightly, and they only slightly parted each time they spoke. "We must find somewhere else to go," added another. "But where can we go?" On top of sounding inept, to some degree, mentally, they spoke with an agressive growl. They all heard another voice then, "We will go closer to the vegas strip." The voice startled Rem, because it wasn't the same as the rest. It wasn't even close. It sounded refined, deep, but most startling, it sounded like it belonged to a man with a relatively good amount of sense. It was the biggest super mutant in the cavern, with the mini gun. The one that looked in charge. "There, we will find more humans to pick off, and more weapons." "YES!" responded another, "I want to eat more humans!" After that was said, the super mutant turned to the girl and started walking towards her.
Rem's heart dropped, but he was still holding the rifle steadily. He had made a decision, and he wasn't about to go back on it. So, he held it up, got ready to point, and continued listening. "I want to eat this one! Now!" Rem's eyes closed slowly and reopened, scared and at ease at the same time with what was going to happen next. It's . . . over, he feared. "We've just eaten. Don't make me punish you for being a glutton," said the biggest one. "Get away from her. She'll be of use later." Rem exhaled as softly as he could, in relief, and continued waiting after that. He was oh so patient right now, and he was wishing that just like had many times in the past, that it would pay off.
Steady, Rem.
In the outpost, Sandra was standing in front of the window, looking towards where the safehouse was. Her arms were crossed under her bust, wondering what she should do. She turned her eyes to a clock and then back out, and then one of her assistants spoke. "Sandra, it's been three hours," Sandra turned away from the window, "I know." She exhaled, but nobody asked her what she was going to do because they knew she was about to make a decision. "If he was done, he'd have radioed by now," the others stared solemnly, simply listening. "But . . . those supplies are important. I hope we're lucky. Send the brahmin." A guard nodded once and turned out, stepping out the door. Sandra exhaled again, and looked out the window.
It was getting more and more painful to lay there, waiting. It felt like he had been laying there, on his back, for the entire day, but it had only been a few hours. Honestly, this was the longest he had ever waited for a good shot, but the outlook was starting to feel pretty grim. It just . . . wasn't looking, at all, like he was going to catch the break he was looking for. He needed them to leave. Thinking about it, even if they didn't leave entirely but abandoned the last cave, the one the teen was encarcerated in, he could set up behind them and mount a respectable defense with the use of the frag mines. Even though it was likely he still wouldn't make it, if that was his only shot, he knew that from time to time, all a soldier had was bad choices, and the best he could do was choose the lesser evil, so he'd do it.
How long has it been? he wondered. Least four hours now, he figured, and by then, the guard with the brahmin would be close to arriving at the base of the hill outside, near the safe house. He wondered how long that person would wait, however. Hopefully, whoever it was would be patient about this. When he was thinking about all of that, he saw something. One of the super mutants picked up a large bag and when he set it down, some of its contents came pouring out. Stimpaks, water, med-x, random stuff, but the one thing that was completely out of place, was a mine. A bottlecap mine, to be exact. Don't fuckin' tell me . . . he thought, just as the bag tilted further. Another bottlecap mine came out, and that's when he figured out his next plan of action. He needed to get his hands on those.
That's one break down, he thought to himself, Just a few more breaks and I'll have a good chance. Leave, you bastards. Go outside, he urged. Maybe they were there, pleased by the fact that they had one more human left, and for now, they didn't have to go hunt for another one. That was a worrisome thought, but it was possible that it was true. It was possible that all of this was futile, but he wasn't giving up until it was an utter certainty. He waited again. This time, his breathing was perfectly under control, his mind was focused, and he wasn't missing anything. He looked at the teen female again, Hold on, just a bit. I'll save you, one way or another. She was sitting, still awake, with dark circles around her eyes. Her long red hair was a mess and so was her face. She was dirty from hours, days probably, who knew, from being locked up, and she looked like she was just waiting.
Rem was laying there with his eyes aligned towards the ceiling of the crawl space when he heard something surprising. By then, he knew what it sounded like when one of them was dragging himself somewhere, so when he heard this, he knew it was more than one. He turned to see, and when he did, his eyes went wide, Oh shit. Oh fuck, this is it. He almost sat up entirely, but he stopped himself and kept himself calm. They were leaving. They were going towards the exit, and they had their guns with them. When he saw that, he closed his eyes tightly and pressed the barrel of the carbine up against his forehead. It took him a while, but eventually, he smiled. He wanted to start laughing, but then he heard something. Another one walking.
He turned to look and saw that there was just one left. Just one of them, watching over everything. Damn it, he cursed, silently. What was going to happen next? He started to think about it. There was just one of them, and he could risk coming out of the hole and moving around. If he tried his best, he might get his hands on the bottlecap mines and sneak back inside. If the mutant noticed him, it was just one, and he could probably neutralize it by himself, but he would make noise, and it was simply unknown if the ones outside would hear it. Fuck. Leave, asshole. Go!, thoughts continues as he gritted his teeth together, but when he sat down, he closed his eyes in disappointment. When they came back, it'd be over. They'd eat the girl, he was sure of it. I'm fucking sick and tired of waiting, he concluded, I'm doing this. He got ready to crawl out, and stopped. Early shot, early shot, early shot. Stop, he decided, and he did. One more break, please. Just one more.
For the upteenth time, he began waiting again. This time, he didn't look away. He remained alert, listened, and decided that if he heard the others coming back, he'd eliminate the one in there with him and stage a defense. Yeah, that worked, so that's what he prepared for. A half hour passed by and he watched the last super mutant stand up. It stretched outward, made a growling noise, and spoke, "I'm hungry," it said, and Rem's eyes narrowed. How much could these fucking beasts eat? It started walking, and he didn't make much of it . . . not until it started heading out of the last cave. His eyes widened, Oh my god, this is my break. Thank you, thank you, thank you, he began crawling out.
As soon as he did, the female had her eyes aligned with him. He saw her, too, but then he looked back to where the super mutant had gone, and began his plan. Okay, it's really fucking risky, but I have to do it like this. It'll give me the best chance of saving the girl. He moved to the duffle bag and picked up one of the bottlecap mines. Perfect, he thought, after he considered if whether or not he should use a regular frag mine. Bottlecap mines packed more of a punch, and for this, he needed that. He walked past the girl, and her eyes followed him the entire way, full of disdain. What the hell is he doing? she wondered, weakly, unsure if whether she should care. He was going to save himself, not her. She had half the mind to start making noises to attract the super mutant.
Rem knelt down behind a couple of rocks and started moving them around with his hands, and eventually, he activated the bottle cap mine and set it down. Okay, then he paced back towards the duffle bag, but before he did, he stopped in front of the girl. He glanced at her for a long couple of moments. Then he exhaled, "I'm sorry for your boyfriend. But don't worry, we'll get out of this. We'll survive this." Really? Honestly? Something in her chest responded, tickling her almost, and she breathed. He saw life in her eyes again, "I promise. I promise the same wont happen to you." What was he? Was he here looking for them? Rem nodded to her, assuringly, and picked up a couple of rocks as he headed back to the duffle bag. He grabbed the other bottlecap mine and went back into hiding.
The girl watched him as he did, wondering what he was doing. If they were going to leave, they should do it now. She shook her head. He must've been lying.