The Castle
A week we had been here in this city and I had yet to get more than a few minutes with the famed "Sole Survivor". The damned woman had been avoiding me like the plaque since the Brotherhood had taken up room in the Eastern Bastion. The Brotherhood had wanted a show of force when we rolled up in the convoy; pleasing no one when we did that.
This whole time we have been doing our part, helping bring the city defenses up and running; honestly, it was more like we just helped maintain it all. The Minutemen had done a damn good job of securing the city themselves and with the constant patrols, they were ready for just about anything. The town was a booming trade hub from what I could see, constant caravans full of various goods; hell, I had even seen men and women coming into town with robots trailing them loaded with materials.
"Savages got something good, huh, Dylan?" Initiate Downing, my driver, muttered as he chewed on a slice of apple. His eyes scanned the city from where we sat on top of the castle; a rusty cannon our back rest and shade from the beating sun.
"They have, something good, yes, they do." I replied, biting into my own apple as I watched the inside of the castle. The militia was in the middle of drills with Knight Jacobs, teaching them more about basic marksmanship and the inner workings of laser weapons. "You've got to admire them for it."
"Admire them for what exactly?" Downing scoffed as he tossed his apple core off into the distance. "All I see are a bunch of people scrapping in the dirt and saying that they are prospering. If, I had my way, then they would be brought into the Brotherhood and we just annex all of this ourselves."
Rolling my eyes, I climbed to my feet and walked past the young man, slapping him lightly as I did. He grunted and shouted nonsense, rubbing the spot as he came to stand beside me.
"Initiate, you will learn that some people do not want to be taken under the wing of anyone; even the Brotherhood. You best learn that now before you piss off those who might not take a liking to it."
"Like right now." A woman's voice muttered from behind.
"Like right now…dammit." I muttered as turned to face the Survivor. "Ma'am, he didn't mean anything by it; he's just young is all."
Cocking her hip out, the General turned to the side, swiping her tongue over her teeth. "I don't care if he's young or not. He says something like that again then I'll view it as a threat. Understood?"
Nodding my head, I slapped the boy in the back of the head again when he failed to speak up. He glared at me fiercely before swearing and looking at the woman in front of us.
"Yes, ma'am. I apologize." He spat out before shouldering his way past me and making his way down the steps; whispering as he went. "Bloody savages."
Shaking my head, I stepped forward and held my hands out in defeat. The General watched as I slowly stepped forward and I shook my head; not believing my dumb luck.
"Ma'am, I apologize, but he's just an initiate; he just knows what the Texts tell him." I explained as she turned her back on me; heading back down the stairs to the center. "Wait! General, look, Elder Maxson said that-"
"Fuck, Maxson!" She whirled on me; finger pointed in my face. "You Brotherhood types come here and think you're better than everyone! She spun back around; minutemen stopping to get out of her way and a few even casting looks up at me as I jumped the steps to catch up.
"General, give us a bloody chance!" I shouted at her, spittle flying from my lips. To this day, I swore it was the heat that made me shout like that. "You have us work on turrets that don't need fixing, radios that are already in perfect working order! So, why the hell do you want us here in the first place if not to help somehow?"
My chest heaved as I watched her stop in her tracks, a woman in a red coat, a camera, of all things, hanging around her neck came to her side and placed a hand on the General's shoulder. I could see her whispering something hurriedly in her ear before glancing back at me. I swallowed slowly, my mouth suddenly bone dry.
Turning to face me, the pair of women stared me down, as well as everyone else in the damn Castle. Minutemen, settlers, and even Knight Jacobs, in his power armor, watched to see as to who would speak first. Clenching my teeth, I took a hesitant step forward followed by a more confident one.
"I didn't want this assignment, but Elder Maxson ordered me here so I'm here. He told me to assist the Minutemen and the settlers under your command; but I've been doing nothing here for a week." I spat out as I stepped forward. "If you're going to just have us stand around with our thumbs up our asses, then I suggest you rescind your invitation and have us go back to the Prydwen immediately."
Moving to get in my face, the General bared her teeth before speaking slowly and softly. "You want to help? Well, you just got your chance."
Xxxxxx
"Tell me again why you only brought me?" I muttered to the red coated woman next to me as we watched the same damn road we'd been watching for hours.
"Because you were the only one who said they wanted to help and Blue took notice of that" Red said as she peered into a pair of binoculars. "Plus, she doesn't trust the rest of your type."
"My type?" I asked, looking behind me at the minutemen cradling their rifles and moving into different positions overlooking the narrow street. Above me, I couldn't see them, but there were snipers posted on the ruined highway overlooking the road; the General among them.
"Men, Dylan, she doesn't trust men." Red replied, her tongue sticking out as she kept watch. "And since you decided to not bring any lady Brotherhood with you, she will only bring one of you at a time, she says, till she gets to know your agenda."
Rolling my eyes, I pulled my rifle to my shoulder and peered into the scope. A few birds lazily fluttered near the road, a few rusted cars were strewn across the way and I could spot just a few places where there was perfect cover. Pulling away from the scope, I turned to face Red just as she pulled from the binoculars.
"I'm Piper, by the way." Red…Piper said as she looked back into the binoculars. "Oh! Heads up!"
Peering back into my scope, I watched as a man dressed in rags came running down the road; the sounds of nearing gunfire drawing my eye and barrel. I grimaced as the man's chest burst open and he fell to the ground; the killers quickly running into view and surrounding the dead man. The raiders began to shout and jump as they fired again into the body; the man's body jerking wildly as the bullet tore into his head.
Looking away from the scope, I licked my lips before settling my eye back behind the scope and squeezed the trigger. The rifle bucked as the .308 round tore through the air and then ripped into the jumping raider's belly. Switching to a new target, I was about to fire when my target, a dirty woman barely dressed, had her head torn from her shoulders along with her right arm. Watching through the scope, the group of raiders began firing in every direction in a panic; not knowing where the gunfire was coming from.
"Fish in a barrel!" Piper shouted over the sound of gunfire as she racked the bolt of her rifle back and fired again.
I fired again, again, and again; each time placing a bullet into vile raider trash. Piper ducked as a lucky shot ricocheted off her cover; spitting a cigarette out of her mouth, previously unnoticed by me. Cursing, she rolled back into position and fired again, laughing as she downed her target.
"This is just insane!" I shouted as I fired again, the bolt locking back as I rolled to my back and fished another magazine out and slammed it home. "They don't have a fucking chance!"
Rising to a knee, I shouldered the rifle and fired, the round punching into the man and slamming him into a car behind him. Even from where I was, I could see him spit blood as he struggled to rise. Cursing, I fired again and then ducked down as my round punched through his body and hit the radioactive engine; the reaction blowing the car and surrounding raiders into radioactive mist.
My ears rang from the gunfire and that ringing began to die as the gunfire ceased; the dust and smoke clearing to reveal the bodies of the raiders strewn across the road. Swallowing, I glanced over at Piper as she pulled another cigarette to her lips and began walking down to the road.
Following her, I watched as a few minutemen ran ahead and began to clear the area; a few kicking the bodies of the raiders to make sure they weren't faking. Crinkling my nose, I slung my rifle as the smell of burning flesh hit me; gagging heavily. I could hear the minutemen laughing behind me as I turned away from the corpses; the adrenaline fading and the realization that I, a scribe, had just participated in a massacre.
"Here, helps with the smell." Piper pushed a cigarette into my hand, a lighter held out in her hand.
Taking them, my hands shook as I placed the stick into my mouth and lit it; sucking heavily. Immediately I began coughing, the smoke spewing out of my mouth; the cigarette dropping to the ground. "Uh, not my thing I think."
"It's not everyone's, but at times I find it helps." The General said as she stepped forward, a pair of minutemen flanking her. "Piper, you gotta stop trying to get everyone to smoke with you."
Chuckling, the woman crossed her arms while placing the stick back into her mouth. "You won't smoke with me anymore so I gotta find someone Blue."
Shaking my head, I turned to face the General. "You all do know we just killed a bunch of people, right? This small talk something normal, General?"
"Nora, I hate that title so it's Nora." She said before stepping forward and placing a hand on my shoulder. "Scribe Dylan, these raiders were killing and raping across this area for weeks now. They deserved it so don't freak out about a little blood."
"A little blood?" I shouted, gesturing to the bodies, flinching as a minuteman placed his rifle against a crawling raider; blasting his head with a superheated laser. The man collapsed, his body turning into ash.
"Dylan, we are the Minutemen. Our job is to keep the people safe from threats like these people. You came here to assist and this is what that is." Nora spoke as she got in my face, her eyes baring into me. "The Brotherhood should have trained for this so stop your whining and get used to it. Welcome to life in the real world."
I sputtered as she walked past me, Piper following close behind; her eyes following me as they passed me. The minutemen just chuckled as they rifled through the pockets of the raiders before rising to join their leader. Shaking my head, I clasped my shaking hands and took one more look at the bodies lying around me before I followed slowly behind them.
She was right, this was the real world; far away from the Brotherhood and the Prydwen. This was the world Maxson had forced me into and as I followed in the dust of the minutemen I realized that I would have to adapt to the world I now lived in.