Chapter 2: Road to Recovery
After our group of friends enjoyed the burning of their old school, they made their way back to the vault they called home.
"So what are we going to do about Josh's leg, because I'm pretty sure that none of us know how to fix people," Sean asked looking over to his crippled friend. Josh was laying on a bed that Dylan had gotten out of the storage room.
"Well, I do know of a doctor nearby in a small settlement," Clayton replied.
"Alright, then where is it?"
"Well, do you remember that city that we lived next to?"
"Which one?"
"I'm talkin' about Flint. Some people made a town there and have named it Flintsville."
"Is it as shitty as it was?"
"Haha. No, honestly, it seems a bit better."
"Well then lets go there so we can help Josh," Dylan added joining the conversation.
"Alright," Sean said, "But do we have like a wheelbarrow or something cause I don't want to carry Josh there and God knows he hates walking."
"Oh, haha fuck you," Josh told the group. "Just get me a damn crutch, we stocked some of those didn't we?"
"Um, I don't know, let me go check," Dylan mumbled as he walked away.
Twelve seconds later...
"Looks like we did, so lets get going."
The group grabbed their gear and started to head out. With Clayton leading the way to Flintsville, they traveled for a few hours until they came upon a camp...
"Wait a sec guys, there's a camp in front of us," Dylan said cautiously, "Oh, nevermind, it looks like a caravan."
"Hey!" Sean called out as they approached the caravan. One of the caravan guards looked up and finally noticed the worn group of people.
"Halt! Put your hands up and continue slowly," yelled the first guard.
"What!? Oh, there's people. Get your shit together and be proper fuckin' guards!" the head guard screamed.
The group was already up to the caravan at this point and were just casually standing about. The head guard and what looked to be the owner of the caravan walked up to them.
"Hey there," the man said with a heavy southern accent, "My name is Jebediah, and this here's Ember. What's y'all doin' out here in the wastes?
"Well," Sean started with skepticism, "We're heading to Flintsville to see the doctor there to fix our friends leg. He did some stupid shit."
"I'm right here man."
"And I don't care."
"Well I'll be, we be headin' on up there ourselves. Why don't y'all travel with us the rest o' the way and gi' yer friend there a break." They looked at each other for a second, then agreed to travel with the caravan.
The caravan started moving with Josh riding in the carriage pulled by the brahmin. Sean and Lucy were right behind the carriage talking to Josh, while Clayton swapped stories with Jebediah. Dylan decided talk with Ember, the leader of the guards, as they walked along.
"So, you guys are caravan guards?" Dylan asked skeptically, "It sure doesn't look like you're just guards."
"That's because we're not, we're mercenaries," She replied.
"Mercs working as caravan guards? Not unheard of but still not very common."
"Well," She said with apprehension, "We've had a bit of a dry run with jobs lately so we took what was offered."
"Oh, I get ya. That happens to the best of us."
"Yeah, i guess it does. That actually makes me feel less like shit, thank you."
"Oh well, you're welcome."
"So what's your story?" Ember asked looking back, "You guys seem like an odd group. And where did that little girl come from?"
"Oh, well, Sean, Josh, Clayton and myself were born up in northern Ontario and are new to the area, and about the girl, we found her over in Davison High School which is where her parents died, and we've been watching her ever since then. As for Clayton's ghoulification we can only speculate what happened, but he has been like that since we've known him."
"Hell, you guys have come far, but why did you come down here?" she queried.
"Well, have you ever seen a white yao gaoi?"
"No."
"Trust me, you do not want to. They are larger than the ones around here, and they blend in with the snow."
"I'll just take your word for it."
Back at the carriage...
"Hey, Josh?" Lucy said as she got his attention
"Yeah?"
"How did you break your leg?"
"I jumped off of the school."
"Why?"
"Well, there was a time when someone was in danger, and I couldn't act fast enough to save them and I won't let that happen again."
"What time?"
"The time that my parents died."
"What happened?"
"I'm sorry Lucy, but i don't feel like explaining that now, it looks like we are getting close to Flintsville now, I'll tell you later."
The caravan finally reached its destination of Flintsville. The little town was essentially a place where anyone can go, so naturally there were crimes there.
Clayton approached Josh, "The man we are looking for is called Dr. Hawk, but I do not know where his house is."
"No problem, we can just ask for directions."
"Greetings travellers, my name is Conrad Grim, and I am the mayor of Flintsville."
"Do, you always treat visitors like this?" Dylan asked.
"But of course!" he exclaimed. "As mayor it should be my responsibility to see any newcomers, now is there something I can help you with?"
"Yes, actually." Sean said. "Where is Doc Hawk?"
"His house is the second on the left."
"Thank you, sir."
"No, thank you for bringing tourism to our little town."
"We'll be seeing you later sir."
"Yes, yes...good-bye." He said waving them away.
Just as the mayor said, the doc's house was the second one around the corner. As they entered the house all they heard was screaming. They decided it was best to just wait before speaking with the doctor. After a while the screaming subside and a man dressed in white walked into the room with blood splattered on his shirt.
"So, you must be Dr. Hawk then?" Sean asked the man finally noticed them.
"Yes, I am. Now, what do you want?" he said gruffly.
"Well sir, our friend broke his leg and none of us have any medical training." Dylan said with disappointment.
"Say no more, I'll get his leg fixed up in no time at all."
"What about payment?" Clayton asked the good doctor.
"Later, it looks as though you do not have the money right now."
"Alright then, hey Lucy?" Sean turned to the girl.
"Yeah?" she replied.
"Stay here with Josh while we find some work. Okay?"
"Yeah, O.K."
"Let's go guys, maybe the mayor has something for us to do." Clayton said as they turned to leave.
"Let's get you into the back room." Hawk told Josh.
In the back room…
"Now, this may hurt for a second…"
"Wait, what are you going to Aahhhh! Fuck my leg!" He began as the doc snapped his leg into place.
"There, now take this med-x to ease the pain." He said as he inserted the needle into Josh's arm.
"Thanks doc, hey I have an idea…"
Outside on the streets…
"Hello again my friends, do you need something?" Mr. Grim asked as they approached.
"Yeah, we need some work if there's anything available." Dylan asked the kind man.
"Hmmm...Well all right then. There is a nest of ants to the east nearby that occasionally wander into town and while it is not urgent, the people around here would feel better if they were dealt with."
"That would be right up our alley sir, and thanks." Clayton said.
"Whatever for?"
"For being the one of the first nice people who actually helped us."
"No problem, only doing my job."
Back at the doc's house…
"Good you are back." the doctor said, "It turns out there was a slight complication with the leg, it was infected and some of the infection had spread to his brain. I'm sorry, he has some mental issues now."
"Oh my Gosh. Can we see him?" Dylan asked with his voice full of concern.
"Sure, but don't expect too much though."
They enter the room and see Josh laying in the bed his head dropped over and they noticed he was drooling.
"Fuck!, Josh are you there!?" Sean called to his friend.
Josh gave no reaction to it at all. So he tried again, still nothing. After a few minutes of trying he stopped. The only sound in the room was Hawk laughing at something.
"What the hell is so funny asshole?" Clayton asked the doctor angrily.
"Nothing, you can relax now though."
"What?"
"Jesus, you guys are loud, you know that?" Josh said sitting up.
"Oh you son of a bitch, you tricked us!" Sean said.
"Yeah and you guys fell for it, this is why we need someone with medical training, he fed you a lie, that kind of infection would not make me retarded apparently."
"You are a dick, you know that?"
"Yeah I know that. So what does he want done?" Josh asked.
They told Josh what the mayor asked them to do.
"Yeah, giant ants. What. The. Fuck." Sean said confirming it for his friend.
"That's not even the worst thing out there." Clayton added.
"What could be worse Ginger?" Dylan asked.
"Trust me, you do not want to know."
"Whatever then, I'm just sad that I can't go on account of my broken leg."
"Yeah, no work for you, doctor's orders." Hawk said as he was about to leave the room.
"Hey doc, how long until I'm up and running again?" Josh asked before he left.
"A couple of days worth of stimpaks and med-x and you'll be fine."
"Really! That's amazing!"
"Yeah it is, and besides I don't think four people would fit in an ant's nest." Dylan assumed.
"That mean Lucy is staying here then?"
"Well yeah, someone has to keep you from doing stupid shit, thats why we're here, remember? I don't want that kind of joke happening again." Sean mocked.
"Haha," Josh stated sarcastically. "You know she was here the whole time right, I let her know about the joke." Sean looked as if a brick had hit his face. "Just get out of here now."
The trio soon departed, their destination: The Nest of the Giant Ants.
Several minutes later…
"You know, we're going to die."
"What the fuck Ginger!?" Sean asked as they left the town of Flintsville.
"They're just ants…" Dylan began.
"Yeah, but they're huge!" Clayton said as he cut him off.
"So wait, they are going to come at us and all we have is our guns and two grenades? Shouldn't we get some stuff so we don't DIE!?" Sean questioned getting louder as he went on.
"Remember, we have no money though." was the response from Dylan.
"Oh, right. Damn."
The three friends stopped walking, realizing that they didn't know where they were going. Dylan looked at his Pip-boy to find the location and they continued on their journey. Sean, being easily bored at the time, turned on his radio.
"This is Kyle Backwater on the MDF news network or Michigan Defense Force if you have just crawled out of a hole. There are many things going on in the wasteland today. An arena has apparently just opened near Detroit, is it just for sport, or is it for something more vile? Only time will tell. Also, there appear to be rumors of a creature that feeds on deathclaws to the north, so if you head north… actually don't. If there is something that can kill and eat deathclaws I would not want anything to do with it. One last bit of news here, the mayor of Flintsville has announced a festival and encourages everyone who knows about it to attend. Once again this is Kyle Backwater signing off and I shall be back in a few hours." *click*
"What! No Music! What the Fuck!"
"Calm down Sean, and shut the hell up we're here." Clayton said sharply.
"Wait that's it? Its just a tiny little ant hill." Dylan said crouching on the ground.
"No, that's not it… that's it." Clayton said as he pointed a decaying finger at a much larger ant hill.
"Oh, that's bigger than I thought, well then," Dylan said stepping forward. "I'll go first."
"Right behind you." Sean said as he and Clayton followed him down into the depths of the ant hill.
Back in Flintsville…
"I want you to try and stand up now." Hawk ordered Josh.
Josh got out of the bed and was standing there wincing in pain. After a few minutes of stretching his leg he took a few steps forward.
"Ow, well at least it wasn't as painful as I thought."
"Yeah, we'll see about that. The painkillers should be wearing off right about… now."
"GOD DAMMIT!"
"Sometimes I love my job." The doc said chuckling to himself.
"Well, it isn't that bad. I just felt like releasing my frustrations there."
"Holy shit, you're tougher than you look, you know that? I've never seen anyone heal as fast as you before."
"Yeah, well I wasn't always like that." he said depressed. "On another note where is Lucy?"
"You mean that girl who was with you?"
"Yeah."
"I don't know, I sent her to run an errand to get some more supplies and she hasn't come back yet…"
"How long ago was it?"
"I sent her shortly after your friends left."
"Shit, I'll be back doc." Josh said as he moved towards the door.
"Hold it there!"
"What!?"
"You may need this." Hawk said as he handed josh a 10mm pistol and 2 clips of ammo.
"Thanks doc."
Josh then left the doctor's in search of Lucy. After a while…
"Dammit all, I can't find her." Josh stated out loud as he looked at his pip-boy map.
"Hey, I can see the others over in the east, I wonder why?"
"Well master Josh it is simply because all of your Pip-Boys are linked together."
"Wait, AC? How are you speaking to me?"
"I integrated myself with all of your Pip-boys before you left the Vault.¨
"Does that mean you aren't in the Vault?"
"I am, but I am not, I can control technology if I see fit."
"Alright then, can you help me locate a girl then?"
"There is a whore to your left if that is what you mean."
"No, I mean I am looking for a child."
"That is wrong."
"Not for that, you stupid air-conditioner."
"I was only making another joke Master Josh, I already know of Lucy's whereabouts."
"What?"
"I've been in your Pip-boy this entire time, I know what's going on. You are an idiot by the way, jumping off a building."
"None of you are going to let me live that down are you?"
"No, no we are not. Head north now."
"Well then, I better hurry up."
Back at the ant hill…
"Why is this place so big?" Dylan asked as the trio wandered around in the giant ant hill.
"I have no clue, Dylan, no clue. These Pip-boy lights don't do shit. Like they produce hardly any light," Sean responded, looking at his Pip-boy with annoyance.
"Will you two just be quiet already," Clayton snapped at them, "We don't know what exactly is in here so be quiet."
Sean and Dylan looked at each other, then at their friend, and decided to shut up. They traveled the tunnels of the ant hill for what seemed to be hours, until they saw the first ant, or really, it saw them. They heard an odd scurrying sound echoing around the tunnels, they stopped walking and started looking around until they saw what was behind them. A horde of gigantic ants, that were at least half their size each, was walking right towards them! Yet, being the logical and oh so smart people they were, they decided to hide behind some big rocks. Preparing themselves for their final stand they drew their weapons...and the ants walked right by without giving them any attention. After all the ants had gone by, the boys stood up.
"What the fuck just happened?" Sean asked in wonderment.
"They must be worker ants. The workers aren't hostile unless you threaten them." Clayton informed them.
"Um, so...they won't kill us?" Dylan questioned in his befuddlement.
"No, they won't kill us Dylan. Not yet at least..."
Another larger scuttling sound signaled the approach of another ant.
"Crap, guys get down again!"
"Why?"
"There aren't just worker ants in this place you know. Now get down!"
They decided to trust Clayton's experience in the wastes on this one and they ducked down once more. Soon however, a much larger ant crawled past them, and then it stopped going forward. They then noticed it was feeling the ground with its antennae looking for something. Sean looked down at his Pip-boy and at the top if his screen it said 'caution'.
Realizing that he still had his light on, he quickly turned it off and soon the ant continued along the path to look for intruders. Sean looked one more time at his Pip-boy and it now said 'hidden'. With a sigh of relief Dylan stood up saying:
"Now that was a big ant!"
"Yeah that was a soldier ant, they defend the nest and there are certain ones that guard the queen, but it looks like that one was a patrol." Clayton explained. He continued, "To throw the hive into disarray we need to kill the queen, if we do that then the rest should die off."
"Alright then, to the queen's area it is." Sean said leading the way. "Uhhhh, which way is it?"
"Look at your map genius."
Looking down Sean noticed there was a local map tab and he activated it, he could see on it a large circular room ahead.
"Yeah that looks like it, but be careful the queen's guard will be more of a challenge than the queen herself." Clayton warned.
Continuing down the corridor for a ways they came to a stop. When their movement ceased they could hear multiple scuttling sounds coming from behind them. Hearing this they panicked and made a dive for cover. A dozen worker ants walked by carrying a large quantity of food. It looked as though they were going to that large room that they had seen on their map earlier. When the ants passed Dylan began thinking when he figured out what that room could be used for he spoke up…
"That room is either their food store or the queen's chamber. Destroying either of them would be a crippling blow to the colony."
"Exactly, so be prepared to fight, we may have at least twenty ants to deal with."
Sneaking toward the chamber the trio saw a large shadow moving ahead, it took them a few seconds to realize what this was. It was the most horrifying thing Sean and Dylan had ever seen. It was fat, and the largest bug they had ever seen.
"Hey Sean?"
"Yeah Dylan?"
"We need more insect repellant."
"Yeah, wait a sec do they not care about us?"
"Hmm, you're right Dylan it looks like they don't seem to be harmful at all." Clayton said in shock.
Suddenly the queen shrieked loudly deafening the group and the ants all turned around at once turning hostile.
"Well, that right there is a problem. Why did you guys say anything?" Sean said starting to back away.
Meanwhile, north of Flintsville…
"50m to target. Four hostiles detected. Can you take them down?"
"No problem. Thanks for the info A.C."
"You are welcome Master Josh."
Walking toward a building Josh noticed a head on a spike near the doorway.
"Well that almost clinches it they are raiders." he said to himself.
A loud scream comes from inside the house.
"Lucy!" Josh said as he kicked the door in with his good leg.
Four shocked faces turned towards him as he entered the house. For two of them that was the last thing they ever saw. Another made a move for his pistol, but was dropped by a single bullet. The last one began to cower behind an old couch it did little to protect him from Josh. Grabbing the raider by the neck he said...
"Where is the girl?"
"O-over there.." The raider said pointing to a door.
"Thanks, now die." Josh said as he began squeezing the life out of the raider. The eyes were staring at him slowly losing their life until a blank look in them formed signifying that it was finished.
"There, that looks like that's it. Man these raiders are not challenging anymore."
Going over to the door the raider pointed at, Josh opened the door to a dark room. Noticing something moving in the dark Josh turned on his Pip-boy light revealing the scared look of Lucy.
"Lucy! You're okay!"
She just stared at Josh with sadness in her eyes.
"Wait, did they do anything to you?"
She nodded no.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing" she said quietly "It's just that no one has ever been so nice to me before."
"That's what having friends does, we protect one another. Now let's go now."
"Hey Josh?"
"Yeah?"
"Will you tell me why you want to protect people?"
"Well, as I said earlier I don't want to lose anyone else close to me."
"Why?"
"My parents were killed and I couldn't do anything to save them."
"Tell me about it."
"Alright."
January 13, 2077 a few months before the apocalypse…
"Hey Josh, whats goin' on?"
"Sup Dylan, just wondering if this war is going to end."
"Yeah probably what with that new technology we have. I mean those new suits of armor look really cool."
"Yeah, those Chinese bastards aren't gonna stand a chance. Alaska is ours."
"Still don't you wish you were helping them out?"
"Sometimes, but they need people to hold the fort at home."
"Yeah you're right. Hey, do you want to see what's on the radio?"
"Yeah, sure."
Listening to the radio for news of the war was boring at times, but today it seemed like it was more lively than it had been.
"That's it folks! It seems that the Chinese have been driven out of Alaska by our troops! Victory is ours!"
Hollers and whoops sounded from up and down the streets.
"Our boys are comin' home!" Dylan exclaimed happily.
"Took em' long enough, didn't it?"
"Yeah, well it took us four years to beat those Germans in World War II so I'd say seven months is a better time."
"Yeah, you're right man, now is a time for celebration!"
Three months later…
"Well guys, what are you gonna do now that you beat those Chinese up in Alaska?" Sean asked.
"We don't know yet, but we are probably going to invade them or something." One of the soldiers responded.
"Hey, anyone else hear beeping?" another soldier asked.
"I recognize that! Its Chinese code!"
"Here!?" Clayton said in a hurry.
"The four of you stay here, let those who are trained to handle this situation go." A soldier commanded.
"But we can help you…"
"No! Stay safe I don't want civilians getting in the way."
"Fine then, we'll be here if you need us."
"Alright men, let's move out!"
"Sir, yes sir!" They all responded in unison.
The soldiers exit leaving the four friends in the room all of them pondering what the Chinese could be doing in their small town.
"Hey, guys?"
"Yeah Dylan?" Josh answered leading him to answer.
"You know how we're planning a vault?"
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Well, they might be here trying to stop us from building it."
"How would they know about it?"
"They have spies over here don't they?"
"Naturally, we probably have some over there too."
"Wait, doesn't that mean that they might know who we are and who we are related to?"
"Guys, we need to go home, now!"
"Yeah, our parents may be in danger."
Later…
The door to my house was kicked when I arrived and a Chinese man is standing in the doorway. The same had happened to the others, but they got to their homes in time to get their families to safety. My parents were already dead, and I went into a hysterical rage, killing all of the Chinese men who were in the house, but the worst part was seeing them dead on the floor with gashes across their necks. After a few days I had finally got around to seeing the guys again.
"Hey, guys."
"Josh! What happened man? We haven't seen you for a few days." Sean said concerned.
Throwing a bloody sword in the ground between them...
"There is nothing left for me in this world, we need to get that Vault built. It's only a matter of time. Oh, and Dylan, that is for you." Josh said pointing at the sword.
Understanding what Josh meant by him saying what he did the mood suddenly dropped into sadness, and they began planning where the Vault would be and what would happen.
Back in the present…
"Wow, so that's why you jumped off that roof isn't it?" Lucy said after hearing the story.
"Yeah, it is."
"Is your leg better now?"
"Yeah, but there is still a bit of pain every now and then. But let's get back to the doc's, the others should be back anytime now."
After a few more minutes of walking Josh and Lucy were now back at the entrance to the town. They went and got the supplies the doc asked for and returned to his home.
The three friends were sprinting through the tunnels as the giant ants followed. They had no way to fight these bastards. The ants breathed fire! and Dylan was the unlucky one who happened to find out that they were fire ants. He was being half carried by Sean and Clayton because the fire from one of the soldier ants burned his left leg and chest. They had no idea where to go, everything seemed the same, and they ran into more ants at every turn. Finally they saw some light at the end of the current tunnel and hoping that it led outside, ran towards it as fast as they could. Bursting through the few rocks and dirt that was in front of them the trio emerged into the light...of a campfire.
Surrounding the fire was a group of people who were dressed in blood stained combat armor with black bandanas around their heads. Both groups froze for a split second, staring at each other. Then our boys, remembering the ants, dove around the hill they came out of and started looking for a place to hide. The ants soon came hurrying out of the ant hill and immediately attacked the odd raider people. The battle that followed was extremely one-sided. The ants hungrily tore apart the raiders, though the raiders managed to kill a few ants, they were no match for them. Sean, Clayton and Dylan were hiding and witnessed the gruesome showdown. With the raider people being torn to shreds, the trio were detected by the ants, now exhausted and with one of them injured they wondered if they were ever going to get back.