Chapter 6

In the cool morning air, collected light from the sniper scope illuminated the blue of Glen's right eye. The rifle itself was in too poor a condition to be reliable at this distance but would still be useful within 50 yards or less. The flattened image of a Deathclaw paced back and forth near the exterior wall of Old Oldney's Fire Station. Glen had a commanding position overlooking the town from the collapsed highway.

Each time it would turn to patrol towards the corner of the building, Glen would raise his fist into the air. As he did, the crew below would crouch near the opposite wall around the corner. At that distance, they didn't need to see Glen's warning, they could hear the Deathclaw's talons clicking on the parking lot pavement.

When Glen's arm dropped, Ice and Cuddles moved forward in a crouch and placed another pair of mines, expanding the mine field. So far, the wind was in their favor, but they needed to complete this part of the plan quickly. These mines would create a safe zone to separate them from the Deathclaw outside if they had to retreat. Also, if it heard the fight inside, it would run into the minefield and die before it could trap them.

With the outside mines in place, they moved to the hole in a collapsed building wall, and waited for Glen's signal. Their earlier reconnaissance had found two Deathclaws near the Fire Station, one on the outside at the East wall, and one on the inside near the wooden fence along the south side of the town. If they were lucky, no others would be close enough to hear the explosions when the festivities started.

Deathclaws are tough. It could take two, maybe three landmines or grenades to drop just one of them. Grenades were no good unless you could drop them right at their feet. Mines were better but they only had a couple left after laying the minefield, so they were going to have to be accurate with the grenades inside. For this, Cuddles had a special trick; the drugs hadn't yet completely destroyed the creative and cleaver part of his mind.

The team below did a last check of their weapons. It was then that Cuddles and Helmoot shared a last Jet they had been saving. Cuddles grimaced and drew in a deep breath through his teeth, and then he and Helmoot grabbed each other by the armor and smacked their heads together, as Helmoot said, "Let's get some meat!"

"Must be a dude thing." Said Ice, shaking her head.

Glen's scope stopped on the Deathclaw inside, where it stood motionless near a wooden fence. Had it picked up their scent? He scoped the streets further north; nothing. Glen held his arm up and bent it 90 degrees. The team disappeared rank-file into the damaged building leading to the interior town beyond. Glen returned to scanning the streets to the north.

Ice was picking her way through the rubble of the building, scanning ahead with her combat shotgun. Cuddles followed behind with a 10mm sub-machine gun hanging around his neck on a sling; in his hands he held a grenade bouquet, with another in his pack. He had assembled two sets of them the night before. The bouquets were booby-traps, consisting of three grenades, tied together on long, thin lines, that normally hung above a trip wire.

William only had his 10mm pistol. Under the circumstances, Glen let him keep it. It wouldn't help apart from drawing a Deathclaw away from the others if things went to hell. Helmoot took up the rear, and was also armed with a combat shotgun; the missile launcher, with its single round, was slung over his shoulder.

Ice stepped up to the interior broken wall, and peered around the corner. She could see the Deathclaw near the wooden fence. She looked down, and nodded to Cuddles, who pulled the second bouquet from his pack, and draped it around his neck. Then he readied the first, holding the lines of the grenade bouquet in his right hand, and grabbed the pins with his left. Cuddles nodded back.

Ice quietly stepped out into the street, in a low crouch, as she worked her way to a doorway on the opposite side of the street; Cuddles followed close behind. Helmoot put his hand on William's shoulder and stepped past him, to take up position behind the debris of the collapsed building.

Cuddles separated from Ice, and started towards the Deathclaw, as he pulled the pins and began swinging the bouquet over his head, as he had practiced and perfected long ago. The Deathclaw heard the pin retainers clatter to the street, and turned towards them. It crouched and spread its claws, as it looked up at the object flying through the air. The Deathclaw blinked, and moved its head to the side, but the tethered bomb wrapped itself around the creature's large, leg like a snake. It looked at the dangling object, then turned its attention to Cuddles. Everyone ducked for cover, except Cuddles, he invented this and he loved watching the spectacle. The Deathclaw took one step and was blasted five feet into the air. The percussion of the blast blew past cuddles as the creature smacked back down to the ground; blood spraying out in torrents. It thrashed a couple times then went unconscious from the drop in blood pressure.

Cuddles fist-pumped and said, "Yeah Bitch!" Then he coughed, and saw a mist of red droplets appear in front of him. He looked down at his chest, as Ice ran up to him.

"You idiot, I told you to stop doing that!" Then she saw the growing red pattern on his shirt that he was looking at.

Through the scope, Glen saw the Deathclaw drop as planned, and turned his attention to the Deathclaw outside. It had heard the explosion and was pacing north, away from the mines, not towards them. He then saw movement to the north, and refocused there. A third Deathclaw; it had heard the explosion too and was making its way south to investigate. Glen shouldered his rifle and pack, and sprinted down the hill towards the minefield, thinking; "The plan is going to Hell."

Inside, Ice grabbed Cuddles as his knees went weak. Helmoot and William ran up to see if he was hit.

"Take the corner." Ice said to Helmoot who veered off and headed there, shotgun in hand, and missile launcher bouncing on his back.

"The Firehouse!" she said to William, "We need to get him off the street."

William grabbed Cuddles right arm and they carried him past the corner, where Helmoot was already shouldering the missile launcher.

Just as they ran past Helmoot, the missile left the launcher, tracking smoke towards another Deathclaw, at the far end of the town. It was headed towards them at a full run. They kept running, and watching the missile as time seemed to slow to a crawl. Two pair of leather boots floated in slow steps; a third pair dragged along between them, as the trail of smoke angled towards the ground, in front of the rippling mass of flesh and claws intent on killing them. The effects of the missile were immediate, and brought time back to a fast pace. The Deathclaw disappeared as the rolling fireball enveloped half the street. For a second in their minds, it was dead; then it reappeared through the flames, half-stumbling, half-running, as it fell and slid across the pavement.

Ice had seen enough, she looked forward and they headed to the large fire station doors. They didn't budge. Ice frantically shoved the men in the direction of a front door, it too was locked. She dropped Cuddles weight on William, and blasted two shots from the combat shotgun, but the chained door held.

"Hurry the hell up over there," yelled Helmoot, "it's starting to move!"

Outside, Gary had reached the corner, just as the diminishing hiss of a missile was followed by an explosion. He shouldered his sniper rifle, and aimed center mass at the now distant Deathclaw. The round tore into an upper leg as the ejected casing, clattered across the ground with smoke still swirling from the hot casing. The Deathclaw turned and bounded towards him. Gary stepped slowly back and into the minefield as the rifle recoiled into his shoulder again, this time leaving his ears ringing. The round found its mark in a lower leg, but had little effect. Gary stepped back around the corner and ran towards the broken wall. He grabbed the edge of the broken brick hole and looked back, the Deathclaw slid as it tried to negotiate the turn on a run. It slid past the mine field, but caught one on the outer edge and the blast tore at its leg and upper body as it slid past. Gary headed inside.

"Shit! Back outside." Ice yelled to William. They turned and started dragging Cuddles over the rubble towards the crumbled building, just as they heard an explosion outside. As they neared the building, Glen rounded the corner.

"Go back," Glen yelled. "it missed the mine field."

With no cover in the collapsed building, and no chance to exit, they sat Cuddles down. Blood was now freely flowing from his mouth, and the bubbling hole in his chest. Ice, William, and Glen ran back to the corner to join Helmoot; creating a wall between the reviving Deathclaw and Cuddles. Helmoot saw the situation and opened up; peppering the creature and the debris pile it was rising up from behind. The others spread across the street; running and gunning. It was back on its feet again, covered with bleeding pock marks, and some charred, dangling flesh, but it was far from dead. It ran straight at Helmoot, who dodged around the corner. The Deathclaw slid past, clawing bricks loose, which tumbled to the ground with a dry, clinking sound. The shooting stopped as it everyone found themselves in the line of fire, and began to scramble out of the way. The little traction it gained from clawing the building flung the creature around the corner where it saw Cuddles crawling backwards away from it, and leaving a blood trail. Without slowing it continued it momentum towards him. The team tried to shoot high but it had little effect as they heard Cuddles empty his sub-machine gun.

"Come to Papa baby! I got cuddles for ya!" They heard Cuddles rasp out.

"Get down!" Glen yelled, just as the Deathclaw and Cuddles were consumed by the grenade bouquet Cuddles was clutching to his chest.