Those guys
"If men can develop weapons that are so terrifying as to make the thought of global war include almost a sentence for suicide, you would think that man's intelligence and his comprehension... would include also his ability to find a peaceful solution."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
I think my special talent is falling out of consciousness, because lately, I've been doing that alot. I woke up under a bright light and slowly pulled myself up to a setting position on my medical bed. The first thing I noticed was that my leg and side has been completely healed. "Evening, buddy" said a voice. I turned my head, it was the doctor, it was only him here. The other attendant must have left. He walked to me, patting my back and instructing me to try to stand. I did as he asked and only struggled for a moment, but after that the pain in my leg was gone.
I couldn't help but let out a relieved smile, I can now walk with ease without any crutches slowing me down! "Feels a lot better don't it?" said the doctor, "I'll say!" I replied, I feel as though as I could dance! "Thank you so much, I'm sorry I didn't quite catch your name doc" I asked. "It's Doc" he said. I was rather surprised by his reply, "Really?" was what I said, making sure this isn't some kind of joke. "I'm serious" He said, "My parents could apparently tell the future and named me Doc" he continued.
Doc is an interesting man, he is one of only two medics in this town. Which I must say, must be a very busy job, especially in times like these. Doc used to be a wanderer, someone who didn't settle in a town and would much rather travel the wastes and survive on their own or with a group. Doc decided to settle in this town because of the need of medical people, he thought there would be a high profit for that so he stayed.
Soon, a knock came to the door and who walked in was Nage. "That's Nage alright, glad we had this talk." said Doc, I shooked his hand and walked to Nage with a smile. "Well, someone finally kicked off the training wheels". I..didn't quite get the joke, all I gave was a "Huh?". "Nevermind" was what he said, I waved off Doc and followed Nage out the door.
"Hungry?" Nage asked as we walked. "Hell, yeah I am. I was sleeping all day and haven't had a bite to eat." i replied. It was night time outside, there was still quite a bit of activity in the main street of town however. I took a look at my PitBoy's watch, and found out that it was 9pm. I pulled out a can of two century old tomatoes and offered it to Nage as I pulled another can for myself. "Oh no, It's better to save that for when you're out of town. Let's get something fresh, on me." said Nage, I didn't exactly get what he meant by "fresh" but, it sounded more appealing than canned fruit.
We walked to a building that had a card board sign that reads "Grill n' Kill", not exactly a welcoming name for a restaurant if you ask me. We sat down at a table in the building. I looked around to see what other people were eating, I see various meals that look like it's been burned, and one of the meals looked like a small animal just like the one I saw at the house i was sleeping at my first day out. Nage couldn't help but chuckle, "It's called meat, and we cook it to eat 'em" he said, he must have caught me eying the food. "I know what meat is! I just... never seen them look like that." I replied. The vault's 'meat' was actually some kind of brown sludge, that when cooked, hardens and warms into a delicious meal.
A woman in a dirty apron came by our table, "Hey boys, watcha hungry for?".I had no clue what to order, I looked to Nage who did then ordered for me. "We'll both have Bovine steaks and two beers", My head perked slightly when he said 'beers'. "alright boys, commin' up" said the women, she then walked toward the bar. "Uhh, Nage. Maybe I should have this instead?" I pulled out my Nuka-Cola from my bag. "Well, I already ordered your damn beer, best to save it now." he said, I timidly placed back my soda. "What? You don't drink?" he asked, giving me a chuckling smile. I couldn't stop the redness spreading across my face, "N-Not very often, I hardly drink at all". The liquor at the vault wasn't bad at all, the taste was fine, I guess it was because I was still being a kid and continued drinking soda. I mean, I get that some people don't drink a lot, but would occasionally drink at parties and such. I am not that, so I drink soda instead.
"Welp, you gotta quench your thirst, and I'm not letting you waste my caps." said Nage, I nodded. I guess it won't be such a big deal.
To change the subject, I wanted to know a bit more about Nage just like I knew more about Doc. "So, where you always part of the Caravan Outfit?" I asked, Nage looked up at me took a moment to think and simply said "I was a Wanderer like Doc for a time". At least he answered my question, but I wanted to know a bit more than that. I opened my mouth to asked another question but then I was abruptly interrupted by yelling across the room.
"You fucking bitch!"
Me and Nage turned our heads to the direction of the noise, a bald, beefy man struck one of the waitress girls with his fist.
"It's been three fuckin' weeks now! Where the fuck are my caps?!"
The man was kicking the sides of the poor waitress, then picking her up practically choking her by the neck. Someone had to stop him! Hand on my holster I stood up, but Nage grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me back down. "We got to help her!" I silently protested, Nage simply put his finger on his lips.
"It's over now bitch! I'll turn your fucking corpse to nothing bu-"
BR-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT!
A loud submachine gun roared from across the room, the man was torn to bits as he yelled in pain before one of the bullets hit his throat and head, each bullet taking a large piece of human meat and brain matter with it. The man, now a corpse, dropped the lady who was surprisingly untouched by the gunfire. Other waitresses came by to pick her up and walk her to safety.
That angry man apparently had some friends with him, they stared at the one who shot him to bits. The one who shot him was the bartender woman, still aiming her sub machine gun at the group, smoke was still coming out of the gun's barrel. "If anyone's killing here, it oughta be me! No one touches my girls, which one of you boys are next?!" yelled the woman.
They raised their hands in the air, and slowly walked to the door to exit. "Ah shit, now I gotta clean this shit up." she yelled out, some of the people in the restaurant chuckled and laughed including Nage. I was in total shock and awe, did no one just see the flying bits of human meat everywhere?! I lost my appetite now!
A little while later, the waitress came to deliver our food. "Two beers and two bovine steaks" she said. We were given our food and she walked off, I took a look at my meal. It looked to me like a piece of flesh that's been burned. "That's because it is!" said Nage, after hearing me say that out loud. Skeptically, I took my knife and sliced a piece of meat to chew, doing so, I discovered that the inside of the meat isn't brown but rather a light pink. I placed it in my mouth and began to chew. After swallowing it, I realized that it actually tasted quite nice, very chewy too.
"Tastes pretty good now doesn't it?" Nage said with his smile, he then took a bite of his steak. After he took a swig of his alcoholic drink, he looked at me and noticed I have yet to have opened mine. "Well, come on now." he said, I opened the beer bottle and took a sniff of it, it reeked of alcohol. Finally, after a full minute, I lifted the bottle to my lips and raised it to take a full sip of the drink. Nage lifted an eyebrow, the drink was burning my throat, but I did not show it. Before Nage could ask if I liked it, I took another sip, this time it didn't burn my throat. "It's alright." I said, trying to give a cool statement. Nage gave me a doubtful look, chuckled and went back to his meal "Next time I'm getting you Nuka-Cola"
Suddenly, very loud footsteps were heard outside. I was not the only one that could here this, everyone in the restaurant turned their heads toward the door. Three men walked through, but these men were men unlike anyone I've seen in this world so far. For a moment, I thought these men were not human at all. Steel covered them from head to toe, their boots were heavy and made all the table vibrate with every step they take. Was this armor? It was not like anything I've ever seen, the steel armor looked very thick and is painted blue and yellow.
What really made these men seem alien to me, was their helmets. Nothing like vault security helmets, it completely covers their face with steel, tubes, and what appears to be a respirator. The weapons they wield were strange, It had the same build as a M4 assault rifle but with heavy modifications. Tubes and several different modules were embedded all over the rifle, the tubes had some kind of flowing ooze that gave a bright red color. Each of the men had large yellow font numerals and letters at the back of their armor. They walk up to the bar and spoke to the woman who had shot the angry man earlier.
The bartender was cleaning several shot glasses when she asked "What are you guys here for?" The voice I heard from that intimidating helmet sounded as if it was being played by the Vault's PA system, "Just assessing the situation you had earlier, we heard some shots fired.".
"I handled it." said the bartender.
"We know, we just need something to report." replied the armored man.
The bartender looked very annoyed, "A man was causing trouble, things went violent so I gunned him down.".
"Sounds to me, you simply did not want to find a non-violent resolution. Instead just blowing him to bits." said the armed soldier.
"Typical wastelander, more to write in my report I suppose.." he added.
This irked the bartender, she raised her voice to the soldier, "Yeah well, report that a law abiding citizen handled a dangerous thug, and that the Order does not need to police this town with their superiority bullshit." said the bartender.
"Only difference we got is that armor, and you know it." she continued
The soldier and the bartender glared at each other for a moment, he then leaned forward closer to the bar and said "Be very, very careful with what you say... Maybe you and your fellow tribal fucks should learn a little thing called respect."
"You don't scare me. Why don't you take off that shiny little helmet and say that to my face?" the bartender retorted.
The soldier glared at her for another minute, he raised his hand and yelled out "Move out.", the other two armored men then turned and walked out the building along with the third.
The bartender went back to cleaning her glasses, and turned to Nage and asked "Who were those guys?". Nage took another swig of his beer and after a long sigh he explained "Those guys are Knights of the Revos Order, or just simply 'The Order." Couple of years ago they started reaching around these parts. It's been a few months since they set up a base camp down in Amherst, they're numbers are getting bigger since then.". I let Nage continue about the order.
"The Order is a military branch of their society way down south. They only have an expeditionary regiment at Amherst right now, but sooner or later they'll send in a brigade to take over everything. No one here likes 'em because of they think they're some superior people, calling us dirty tribals and what not... Tersha has, so far, avoided annexation."
We've been quiet after that, we both finished our meals, Nage payed for them and we both walked out. The night was lit by the moon, something shiny reflects the light. Down the street from where we are, thick steel armor reflects the light of the moon, worn by well over two dozen knights.
All of them were standing in rows, then suddenly they picked up their feet and began marching out the entrance of town.
"Platoon reinforcements to Paxton." explained Nage.
"Reinforcements?" I asked.
"Backup for the battle going on in Paxton, looks like the Order are really stepping it up into taking over that town" said Nage.
"Why do they want Paxton so bad?"
"Paxton is the last thing that stopping the Order from entering Worcester, after that, Boston."
According to the map data on my PipBoy, Boston was once the capital of this state and a large center of trade and knowledge.
We walked down along the main street, our stomachs full of lean bovine steak and a bottle of beer. Compared to the last two days of being outside the vault, today certainly takes the top for most least worrying. "I'm guessing you aren't tired, seeing as you pretty much slept all day." said Nage, this was true, I wasn't tired at all. I nodded my head in agreement with Nage, "Let's head to my place, I wanna take a look at your piece." he said.
"M-My Piece?!" I yelped, face reddening.
"Your guns, dumbass." he explained.
I let out a relieved "Oh." I thought he meant...
Wow... I clearly misunderstood what he meant by piece.