Fallout Lawndale Part II
Daria sat tied to a parking post next to a dumpster in the raiders makeshift camp in back of the Goodtime Chinese Restaurant. At least they fixed her leg she mused looking at the bandages. Daria tried to keep her focus on her pain rather then her fear of what might happen to her. She'd been there for hours, it was already dark and there was no sign of Jane or anyone from home. Maybe they couldn't find her; maybe they'd never find her or worse what if Jane didn't make it. From where she was tied up she could hear a conversation between a few of her captors.
"So, are we going to ransom her back, sell her into slavery or have some fun with her?" One of the raiders asked the big guy in metal. Daria presumed he must be the boss.
"Or some combination of the three" suggested another. Of the team he smelt the worst so Daria named him stinky.
"I vote have fun with her, ransom her, go back on the deal then sell her" suggested a third. This one was missing an eye so in her mind Daria called him Cyclops.
"She's worth more as slave if she's unspoiled." The boss answered.
"How do we know she's unspoiled and if we check would that spoil her" that raider was swiftly smacked upside the head. Daria dubbed him smartass. She might have found him funny if they weren't discussing her.
"How much do you think she's worth?" Stinky questioned
"Hmm" the boss mused, "she's young healthy, but fairly plain a five, so two hundred caps to a distributor, four-fifty directly to a consumer tops"
"Nah" argued Smartass. "She hides it deliberately we fix her up pretty I'd call her seven and a half easy."
"A thousand caps direct to the buyer." smiled Cyclops. "You going to make her pretty using those pre-war fashion magazines you read."
The whole gang save Smartass erupted in laughter. Despite the dire situation she was in Daria couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of a raider beautician.
"Hey!" Smartass yelled. "How many of you assholes can actually read." silence followed. "What none of you? I thought so the next time you want my help fixing your guns you can just kiss my ass." In another life Daria thought Smartass could have been a friend. But in this one she'd rather just shoot him in the head.
"Ok were sorry, tell ya what if we don't decided to sell her unspoiled you can have first go" The boss offered.
"Thanks" Smartass replied.
Now Daria really, really wanted to shoot him in the head. As much as Daria hated to admit it to herself she was terrified but she wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of seeing her squirm like some damsel in distress.
—
Jane groaned as she slowly returned to consciousness her head was throbbing and she could here people arguing around her.
"Jane what happened, where's Daria" said a panic stricken Jake.
"Is she alright" mirrored an equally worried Helen. Jane groaned and tried to sit up but she couldn't move and her vision was blurry.
"Jane you need to tell us what happened" came another voice Jane recognized as Tom's.
"Would you smoothskins all calm DOWN!" came the eternally aggravated voice she recognized as belonging to DeMartino. "She may have a concussion, SCREAMING at her won't help her and it certainly won't HELP your daughter."
Jane's vision slowly came back into focus; she was lying on a table, looking around what she recognized it as the cafeteria of Lawndale High. In the years following the Great War a group of survivors made the old ruins there home. This was mainly due to the old principle had spent most of the educational budget on security. Which included metal shutters to block the windows. New walls to completely in close the courtyard and several security robots. According to DeMartino she was a soulless, self-righteous, iron-fisted tyrant who had no respect for the students, even the few worthy of it and routinely abused everyone in her employ.
"Daria!" Jane cried sitting up. "She's in trouble, raiders they took her." She recounted the story through half-chocked sobs and her guilt at leaving Daria behind.
"Its alright Jane if you stayed you'd both be captured and we'd have no idea what happened." Helen soothed through her own tears.
"We need to after her we have to find before those raiders…." Jakes panic quickly devolved into him hyperventilating.
"How did I get here?" Jane asked.
"A man my father hired to plot caravan routes found you at the outskirts and brought you in." Tom answered.
"We met someone out by I-295 by that name."
"Yo" Jack called solemnly he was sitting in a chair with his feet up on a second seat, his faithful cyberdog curled up by his side. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to save your friend."
"One man against a dozen?" DeMartino scoffed, "Who do you think you are the Lone Wanderer? You could have held off a dozen armed men yourself."
"Enough" Jake yelled. "Daria is out there somewhere having god knows what done to her!"
—
"So tell me again how Eric got knocked out by a 98 pound girl who's tied to a post?" the boss laughed. Daria may have had a real name to go with the man curled up in a fetal position but to Daria he'd always be Nutcracked. Thank god for steel toed boots.
—
"Alright so we divide into teams and scout the area along the western edge of town, its after dark so they probably went to look for shelter." DeMartino explained as the group looked over a hastily drawn map of Lawndale.
"Could your dog track down our daughter?" Helen asked turning to Jack.
"Maybe" Jack answered. "He's trained to search for weapons and ordnance. I haven't tried humans."
"Well its worth a try, I'll get something of Daria's" Helen left through the corridors towards of the old high school. She was always worried when Daria and Jane went off alone. It didn't help that just a few months ago she was almost killed by a six-foot radscorpion that wandered in from the open wasteland. Daria was sixteen now and would need to survive the wasteland. She soon arrived at the room Daria and Quinn shared their space, mismatching room dividers gave them some semblance of privacy from one another. Quinn was with her friends the fashion club making new clothing.
"Mom did you find Daria?" Quinn mournfully asked.
"No sweetie, but we're sending out the search parties. That traveler who brought Jane in has a dog so we're going to see if he can sniff her out." Helen marched over to Daria's bed and grabbed some of her dirty clothes. Helen decided to spare Quinn the nightmares about her sister being held by raiders.
"I hope your sister is alright." Stacy said.
"Yeah" added Tiffany.
"Thanks Stacy, but it will ok maybe she's stuck on a roof making out with Tom." Quinn tried to perk up but couldn't.
"I hope not" Sandi smirked "Tom's cute it be a shame if your dad came at him with a shotgun again. None of us have had the chance to try dating him yet."
When Helen returned their master of arms Timothy O'Neil was passing out the better weapons they kept in the armor in the event of just such an emergency. Two drum loaded combat shotguns, three R93 Assault Rifles and a Type 93 Assault Rifle.
It wasn't much but it was better then the regular weapons they carried. Jane was having a heated argument with her brother Trent.
"I'm going and that's final." Jane yelled.
"No your not." Trent had no hint of his normally laid-back voice. "You might have a concussion." The argument continued back and forth, with neither side. It finally ended when DeMartino snuck up behind her and cuffed her to a chair. It ended the argument but not Jane's indigent yelling.
She noticed Tom's parents had arrived along with their bodyguard Tommy Sherman clad in reinforced combat armor. The man gave her and most women the creeps but there was no denying his ability so she'd put up with him until Daria was safe.
"Angier, Kay what brings you here?"
"Mr. Ruttheimer, radioed us the news about Daria so he came to lend our support." Angier explained.
"And the use of Mr. Sherman in the search." Added Kay.
"No need to worry I'm the best fighter in Lawndale, I'll get your daughter back no problem." Sherman gloated. "Second best" he corrected when Timothy O'Neil walked by.
"I appreciate any help you can offer thank you." Helen smiled.
"It's the least we could do our Son is quite taken with your daughter." Said Kay.
"And if we don't do something our Son will insist in going out looking for raiders himself." Added Angier.
"I am going!" Tom stated firmly walking up in a suit of combat armor, lighter then what Sherman wore but better then most of the equipment around here. Tom's parents had given it to him simply for his own personal protection.
"Its to dangerous." Angier argued.
"Excuse me." Jack walked up, interrupting an argument before it could begin. "He'll come with me, I'll be responsible for him." He placed a hand on Tom's shoulder to empathize the point.
Kay and Angier looked to one another for a moment then nodded, much to the surprise of Helen and Tom. "Alright, Jack so long as he's with you we don't mind."
"Here." Helen said handing Jack one of Daria's shirts. He then knelt down to let his dog get a good whiff. As Helen left to find Jake and begin there own search she wondered whom this Jack was. If it was Tom held captive by raiders there was no way on gods brown earth she'd let Daria go looking so easily. She son found Jake and along side DeMartino headed out to search.
The search parties scattered in-groups of three or four, with only the full moon and a handful of flashlights to see by. A worry on many of their minds was even if they found the raiders in time what then. Could they fight a dozen armed men without losing one of their own, and if they fought what was to stop then from killing their hostage.
Tom followed closely behind Jack and the cybernetic dog. They seemed to be walking in circles for a while but eventually the dog started barking excitedly.
"Do you have her sent boy?" Jack smiled, "Come on where is she?"
It wasn't long before they found the camp built into the parking lot of the old Chinese Restaurant. A hastily constructed wall using overturned vehicles and other scrap provided some protection. After telling his dog to stay they climbed into the roof of a nearby dry cleaners for a better look.
"Is that them?" Tom questioned Jack who was looking down a set of binoculars. Jack handed Tom the binoculars so he could see them himself. Between the moon and the campfire he could make out the forms of a dozen raiders heavily armed.
"Crap" Tom muttered, "Is that a minigun and a rocket launcher?"
"Yep" Jack answered solemnly. Tom had a brief flash of how destructive an assault would be. He imagined a hail of bullets and explosions tearing people apart. Beating the raiders wasn't' the problem. Doing it without losing a dozen or more people in return was another matter. He scanned the camp looking for any signs of Daria, he saw her dimly lit by the campfire. She was still tied to a yellow parking post right next to an old dumpster.
"I have an idea." Tom smirked.
—
As grim as it was hearing the raiders discussing sometimes in graphic detail what they should do with her. It paled in comparison to when they started singing drinking songs. The raiders drunken songs abruptly stopped when the distant sound of an explosion filled the air. The raiders leapt into action heading to the ramshackle walls looking for the trouble. From the corner of her eye Daria saw the dumpster lurch forward.
"Tom" she whispered as the boy in question crawled out of the hole previously hidden by the dumpster. Another explosion this time closer to the walls kept the raiders attention while Tom cut the ropes. When Daria followed Tom through the hole it became evident why the raiders just didn't use the building for shelter half the roof had collapsed creating something of a ramp. Limping on her good leg Tom helped her to the top of the ruined building The air was now filled by the sound of gunshots and plasma fire along side the screaming battle cries of the raiders. The raider Daria nicknamed Smartass poked his head through the opening in the wall they used to escape. He was about to yell something when Daria grabbed the 10mm submachine gun Tom had clipped to his belt and opened fire driving the raider back
"What now?" Daria asked, a little disappointed she'd missed.
"We run." picking Daria up he leapt off the back of the building landing with a heavy thud. Tom figured Jack's distraction would only buy them a few more seconds before he was forced to retreat. Wasting no time he took off running east with Daria in his arms. She wasn't sure how long he could keep up this pace, but with level streets and plenty of buildings for cover and with the raiders distracted she was hopeful they could make it. Tom made it a couple blocks before they rounded a corner taking cover behind an old barbershop somewhere off Dega Street.
"Tom what happened back there." Daria questioned as he sat down with Daria in his lap.
"Jack that guy you and Jane met on the road provided a distraction while I snuck you out."
Daria felt a little flustered at Toms daring rescue. Even with the distraction he easily could have been killed. She felt an odd feeling in her gut and decided to follow it before her brain squashed it. She leaned up and kissed him briefly.
"Damn" Tom grinned stupidly.
"I liked it too." Daria grinned back.
"I wonder if Jack's ok?" As if in response to Tom question the raiders were now screaming in terror.
"He sounds fine." They kissed a second time this time for longer. It as at this moment her parents showed up. They had heard the sounds of battle and came to investigate.
"Daria your alright!" Helen exclaimed.
"Kiddo!" Jake smiled. Then realized what they had been doing. "Get your hands off my daughter."
"Jake put the shotgun away they were just kissing!" Helen scolded. Jake snorted putting his weapon away. Helen and Jake knelt down and helped them to their feet. Daria put an arm around Tom's shoulder for support.
"No need Tom I can help her." Jake shot him a menacing glare. He didn't like the idea of that boy so close to his little girl. He was still convinced they had slept together the night they claimed to have been trapped on the roof of the Zon by a Giant Radscorpion despite seeing the corpse. Jake might have believed the protests of innocent If not for the fact that Helen and Jake used a very similar excuse in their youth.
"I could use a little help" coughed Jack as he limped up. His coat had quite a few holes in it and his armor was covered in dents. His dog simply panted wagging its tail, a little bloody from chewing on some raiders but uninjured.
"Dear god, are you alright?" Helen exclaimed.
"I was shot to hell and set on fire but otherwise I'm ok." Jake quickly moved to catch him before he collapsed to his knees. "The armor stopped the bullets from penetrating but it still hurts."
"You know, my plan was for you to distract them" Tom smiled.
"I took your plan and went in a different direction"
Slowly they limped back to the Lawndale High. Where much to Daria's discomfort they were greeted with hugs and tears. She could live with Jane's. Tom was actually kind of nice. She'd tolerated her parents for years. But beyond that it was just embarrassing being hugged by everyone. Jack was also uncomfortable reciving bear hugs from various residents but Daria figured that may have more to do with the multiple bruises and possible cracked ribs