Three miles. That really doesn't sound that far away. Of course the distance between leaving the Burrow and arriving at Beaverton was nearly half that - and in that time, I encountereda horde of ghouls, saw a defenseless woman get kill, almost got taken by slaves, and on top of that had a severe emotional breakdown when I arrived at Beaverton. I keep saying it can't get any worse than this, but I am starting to doubt myself more and more. I had a feeling that these three miles were not going to be an easy route. At least I am not alone.

"Miss, I don't think this that is a very good idea, you really should think more of your health."

Then again, some alone time can be very helpful.

"Onion, I am covered in ancient excrement. I can't even tell where the white of my fur ends and the auburn begins. I need this. You just keep a look out."

When we got to the bottom of what I assumed must have been an off-ramp from the highway, we started to get into a more residential area. There were buildings of all shapes and sizes, many of them nested together to allow the tiniest of mouse and the largest of elephant to share the same building. There were so many building - scattered at first but clumping together over time. You would think I could have found something useful here, at least if they were intact. Most of them were too dilapidated to provide much shelter, and this area must have gotten hit hard from post war looting. There was barely a useful scrap to be found. I did however stumble into a small lifesaver.

While looking for anything useful I stumbled into this small alleyway leading between two buildings. Curiosity got the better of me when I heard some dripping noises. The noises belonged to a small pool that was located in a boxed area surrounded by three buildings and a large fence. I found the source of the dripping, it was coming from a drainage pipe that hung from the roof of one of the buildings, letting water trickled down into the pool. While looking around to make sure that it was safe, I noticed a gate in the fence. It had a small padlock on it. I wanted to try picking it, even if it led nowhere, it was good practice, but the sight of the water got the better of me. I placed my belt, Pip-Boar, and bag next to one of the houses and then stripped off my clothes and jumped right in. The water was deep enough for me to mostly submerge my body, leaving my head and part of my feet sticking out, but it had enough to do the job.

Sure, it was filled with water that made my radiation detector go crazy, and it is probably decades-old stagnant water, but it was surprisingly clear, and it felt amazing. While I had no soap or anything, just being able to scrub off this gunk was good enough for me. It was starting to itch. I did not spend too long in there, about ten minutes or so, and it wasn't perfect. My fur still had splotches of brownish stains on it, and I still had a stink to me, but I felt better.

Once I was sure I had absorbed enough radiation for one day I got out tried my best at shaking out the excess water from my fur. Daylight was still present, but the clouded sky there did not provide enough sunlight to effectively dry myself, and I had left my only towel back near the stadium. Rather than putting back on my clothing over my wet fur, I decided to simply put the trench coat on until I had dried off better. It was much more water resistant then the cloth clothing I was wearing. It felt kinda weird not having anything under my coat, but at the same time it made me feel a bit more, free.

"Miss? I am detecting movement nearby."

Fuck. Ok, calm down Olivia. Maybe it's just more of those creepy insects. I grabbed my gun, just to be safe and checked my Pip-Boar. Sure enough two dots were approaching my location. They were a few feet from where that fence was.

"You're a riot, you know that Tony?" The voice was faint, but the dots were getting closer.

It's not insects. Figures.

I whispered to Onion, "Okay Onion. I say we hide this out and hope they pass by. Friend or foe, I would rather not take our chances. Things have not been in our favor as of late."

"Sounds good Miss. I will be at the ready."

One of the buildings had a hole in the side of it that was large enough for me and Onion to slip into it and wait. From the looks of it, the floor above had collapsed, creating a barrier that prevented us from getting further into the house, and that left me a bit nervous. Our only escape if things go bad is out this hole and into an open space.

"I still can't believe that geezer is still alive. After everything we did, he should be dead, but no, he's still alive and still playing ignorant."

The voice was getting closer, and I was not liking what was being said. There was malice in those words.

"Yeah, but once the boss gets back, he'll be telling us everything in exchange for quick death."

"Remind me to never get on the boss's bad side."

"You're telling me. Now let us get back to our little side project."

The voices went quiet as I heard the lock on the gate rattle. Fuck. Why did I even imagine that they would just pass on by? I'm not that lucky. I heard the gate squeak as it opened. I dared to peak around the wall and my heart sank. My bag and clothes were still sitting there, in plain sight. Stupid, Olivia, stupid.

"What the hell is this?" The voice came from a large orange and black tiger. He was wearing a simple black tank-top with hole ridden black jeans.

"What is what Tony?" This one was much smaller in comparison. He was an armadillo who seemed to have spikes attached to his shell, and wore some kind of leathery clothing on his chest and legs.

"There are scattered clothing and a bag near our well Arnie. I think someone was here!"

"Well fuck. Check the well. If some of the other gangs found out that we were trying to undercut them in the water trade, they may have tried to do something about it."

"I don't think so. Why would they just come here and leave some random clothing?" The tiger's voice fell silent for a moment. All I could hear was the dripping of the water until he broke the silence. "Damn it! The water has been contaminated. It's brown and there is crap floating all in it!"

"What the fuck? Check the bag. Maybe it has an answer. Whoever did this will pay."

Shit, if they take all my supplies I will be screwed. Maybe I can just reason with them? I could say that I didn't know it was their water, or that I was sorry for contaminating their radioactive water? From what I have heard, I doubt they would care. I didn't see any weapons on them, but then again I was barely able to get a look at them without risking getting spotted. I could activate my B.A.T.S. again, but do I really want to attack someone who was unarmed?

"Well shit Arnie. This bag has a ton of supplies. There is food, some medicine, and even a bunch of ammo. We could make a few caps off of this easily."

Damn it! I should have grabbed my bag when Onion detected them. Fuck it. From what it sounded like, they were torturing some old mammal, and armed or not, that should be enough of an excuse to attack them. Maybe if I just shoot their legs, I could incapacitate them rather than outright killing them. I lifted my Pip-Boar, now how did I activate that last time? Oh right, I hit it. Unfortunately, that did not seem to work this time. Ok then, maybe if I just asked it politely?

"Hey Pip-Boar, activate B.A.T.S., please?" I whispered as low as I could so that I would not attract their attention.

"No Threats Detected." It seemed that my Pip-Boar however did not know how to whisper.

"What the fuck was that? Who's there!?"

Fucking shit. I need to figure out how to adjust the volume on this thing. What to do, what to do? I have two choices. I could go out and attempt to incapacitate them with my gun, or I can go out all friendly and apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused.

"I smell something Arnie. It's coming from over there."

He was pointing at where I was, wasn't he?

"Hey! You! I know you are there!"

Why can't I come to a decision? I've weighed both options in my head and I did not like any of the results. If my damn Pip-Boar would just do what I tell it, then maybe I would have a better way out. No threats my ass. Am I have to be near death for this damn thing to work?

"Tony, get the javelin."

Javelin? That can't be good. Suddenly I felt all my hairs stand on end. Maybe I should just … before I could finish that thought, I felt part of the wall behind me give way as a large, and very pointy, spear pierced it. Three long spikes buried themselves into the wall as started to retract. The entire wall was buckling outward until it shattered completely, showering Onion and I with shards of wood and chunks of brick. I looked over at the two, my cover completely eradicated. I saw the tiger pulling on a large chain that was attached to what must have been the javelin. He used his own strength to pull down this wall! Is this a threat enough Pip-Boar?!

I did not know what to say, so I just let something slip, "Umm, hi?"

"Well, well, what do we have here? A little bunny. Are you the one responsible for contaminating our drinking water?"

"Ok, here's the deal," I just started talking, letting my brain do all the work. "I did not know that this was your drinking water. I was desperate to get clean, and it was the first thing I saw in days to allow me to do so. To be fair, it was a bit radioactive, so I probably wouldn't have drunk it if I were you."

"We don't have time for this. Tony, deal with her."

The tiger smiled as he finished reeling the javelin towards him and picked it up with ease. Now that I got a good look at it, it was nearly twice as long as I was, and it must have weighed a decent amount to have pierced through wood and brick with little effort. Either that or he was unusually strong. Or both, and I really did not want to find out. He took aim as I readied my gun. He wasn't stopping so I had to stop him first. I took aim and got ready to pull the trigger. Then the world exploded.

Ok, so the world didn't explode, but there was a huge explosion that caught all of us off guard. The armadillo got knocked backwards onto his shell while the tiger stumbled but used the javelin to prevent him from falling by shoving it into the ground. It did, however cause me to fall flat on my face. Why is it always the face? Onion was … wait, where was Onion?

"Onion!"

A roar answered my question as to his whereabouts. I looked over to the tiger as I saw Onion jabbing his stun baton into the tiger's back. Unlike last time however, the tiger did not falter.

"You fucking robot!" The tiger exclaimed just as he smashed the back of his paw at Onion, sending him flying into the side a building.

"Onion!"

"Elevated Heartbeat Detected, Increased Levels of Adrenaline Detected, Potential Threat Found. Activate B.A.T.S.?"

"It's about time! Yes!"

Just like before, I felt the pricking of a needle in my arm as the serum burned its way through my veins. The world started to slow, my mind feeling clear. The more I used this, the more I grew to like the feeling. I felt, powerful and invincible. I checked my Pip-Boar, the highest chance of hitting was in the head and the left leg. Now I need to make the decision. Kill or subdue? I looked over at the armadillo. From his position the highest chance to hit was 32%, not enough to risk a bullet, and the tiger was the bigger threat. Fuck, why can't they have been ghouls? I would not have hesitated. Fuck it. I aimed for the leg and fired just as the chemical started to wear off.

"My leg! You fucking shot my leg!"

"If you don't stay there, I will make sure to shoot something more vital. That goes for you too." I moved my gun between the two as I addressed each.

"Well Miss, that looks like another dent added to my collection."

"You ok Onion?"

"Apart from being back-pawed into a brick wall, my self-diagnostics seem to be green."

"Who the fuck are you rabbit?" the armadillo said as he tried to correct his position so that he could face me.

"That is not important. I am sorry I messed up your water, but you still tried to kill me even after my apology."

"Hah! You think just because you said you're sorry means that you are safe? This is the wasteland kiddo, there are no rules but the ones we make. Me and Tony here, we're members of the Grey Quills, and this is our territory."

"Grey Quills? Sorry, never heard of you."

"You … what? You been living under a rock or something kiddo? We are the biggest thing around here!"

"No, and stop calling me kiddo. I've had a rough past few days and I am not in the mood." I tried to sound as serious as I could, maybe that will give them a moment of pause to figure out what I should do. The B.A.T.S. should be cooled down by now, but I had no idea how to activate it without getting into a fight. I really need to work on that.

"You had a rough few days? Hah! What happened, kiddo, did you lose your favorite toy? Tell you what, let's make a deal. We are going to kill you now, and if you don't put up a fight, we will make sure it is quick and painless. How you like them carrot, rabbit?"

I tried to think of something snappy to say, but before I could I noticed that the tiger had managed to get back up and was pulling the javelin from the ground. So much for subduing him. I should have just killed him, this armadillo did not look like he could put up much of a fight, I did not even see any weapons on him, then again, I did not see that giant javelin earlier. Where the hell did he hide that thing? I got to think of something. If Onion's baton failed once, I doubt it will work again, and with that giant shell on the other one, I highly doubt Onion could maneuver to get a good hit in. I got to focus on the tiger, he is the more dangerous one at this time. Hmm, I might have an idea. It's probably the worse idea in all of mammal history, but if I can pull it off…

"Well, that sounds like a mighty fine deal, I think I'll take it. I can tell I don't stand too much chance against you two."

"Miss!"

I turned my head over to Onion and winked. I have no idea if he saw it, or if he even knew what it meant, but I wasn't going to say anymore without risking blowing my plan. If it failed? Well I'll be dead so it won't matter. No, I can't think like that. This will work. I was rested enough to make it. Plus, there was something I needed to know, something that has been in the back of my mind for this whole time. I stood there and spread my arms wide.

"Get it over already, please."

"Hah! Stupid rabbit, throwing your life away, but you are right about something. You never did stand a chance against us. Tony, do your thing."

The tiger moved his arm as far behind him as possible. I could see in his face that he was straining against the bullet wound in his leg. Once he was at the ready, it looked like he put all of his effort into the toss. The javelin flew from his hand, dragging the chain through the air behind it. I only had four seconds from the look of it. Please work.

"Imminent Threat Detected, Acti …"

"Yes!"

Once again I felt the serum flowing through me as whatever it did slowed the world down. No time to think, I knew exactly what to do. I dove down and picked up my gun and fired right into the head of the tiger. Without even looking at his reaction I side stepped to the left, jumped onto the wall of the nearby building and forced myself off of it. While in the air I turned my body so that my feet were ahead of me and kicked the javelin with as much force as I could. While still flying through the air, it changed directions and headed straight towards the armadillo. Everything occurred so fast that I don't think he could even comprehend what happened until it was too late. The javelin pierced him right through the chest and pinned him on the building behind him.

Once the chemicals wore off I walked towards him and saw that he was still alive, but only barely. Blood was dripping from his chest and mouth as he tried to struggle against the javelin, but to no avail. I calmly walked until I was right in front of him and rested the barrel of my gun on his forehead. Either my eyes were playing tricks on me or else he was … crying.

"I'm … I'm sorry!" He struggled with the words, coughing up blood between them.

"Too late for sorry. What was it you said? Here in the wasteland you make your own rules? From the sounds of it you broke one of my own. Now tell me, what was this about an old guy?"

I wasn't able to find out everything from him before he died, but I found out enough. Apparently, him and a few of his gang member buddies kidnapped some old buffalo who was out for a walk. He said that the buffalo was special, and that he would be worth a lot to their boss, but the armadillo died before I could find out what was special about him. I did, however, learn where they were keeping him. An abandoned movie theater nearby.

"Miss, that was … something."

"What you mean Onion?"

"Putting your life on the line and then pulling off a counter attack like that. I'm a robot but even my processors had trouble figuring out what happened."

"It's really hard to explain. Remember when I told you that my Pip-Boar was talking to me? Well it also did something to me, something called the Burrow-Tec Assisted Targeting System. It, injected me with something that put me into some kind of trance. Everything seemed so vivid, so clear. The whole world seems to slow down to a standstill, but I feel as if I can move faster than ever. It doesn't last long, but it's quite the rush."

"It sounds, dangerous Miss. Have you felt any side-effects from it?"

"Other than me missing it when it wears off, not really Onion."

"That's called an addiction Miss."

"Well then I must be addicted to you, because, I sometimesmiss you when you're not here too."

"What do we do now Miss?"

"Well, apparently these bastards kidnapped some old buffalo and is holding him hostage and even torturing him. If I am going to be any kind of hero, I need to try to rescue him. Plus, it's on the way."

"If you keep putting yourself into these situations Miss, one day you won't make it out."

"One day, maybe, but not today. Between your sensors and my quick thinking," and my B.A.T.S., I thought to myself, "we should be fine. Let us not draw any unnecessary attention, and I promise you, if it looks like were in way over our heads, we will call it quits. We can't help anyone if were dead."

"If you insist Miss, I've come to learn that when you put your mind to something, nothing I say can change it."

I changed back into my clothes, put my coat back on, and grabbed the rest of my stuff. I peeked out of the gate to make sure we were alone, and once I was certain of it, we moved out slowly. We were getting deeper into the city. More and more buildings kept popping up, along with an increase of abandoned vehicles.

It was really hard to tell myself not to go scrounging for stuff. I saw a few buildings that were not boarded up, but every time I go to investigate, Onion detected movement. I am sure that most of them were just some of those giant insects, but I did not want to risk it. I still had a decent amount of food, supplies, and ammo, hopefully enough to make it to Hope at least.

A few of the buildings had been defaced with graffiti. Some I could tell were old, like pre-war old. 'The End is Nigh!' was written on one, while 'Peace is an Illusion!' was on another. A few of them were more recent. On the top of one of the buildings was a very large billboard. It was faded with the picture of a lion, with a very fluffy mane. It was hard to make out what it used to say, it was covered in graffiti that said 'Grey Quills, Keep Out!'. I couldn't tell if that was telling the Grey Quills to keep out, or if it was them telling others to stay out. Either way, we were heading in the right direction.

As we continued down, I noticed that many of the buildings were not getting closer and closer together until they seemed to fuse at points. Makeshift shelters were set up along a few of them, but I still did not see any signs of life. I checked a few of them, but did not find much. One of them had a small bag of caps, probably no more than thirty, while another had some ammo that I did not recognize. I put it in my bag just in case. There were no bodies, so I am assuming that these shelters were a more recent establishment.

"Miss? I detect movement coming from an alleyway about a hundred feet from us."

"Quick, lets hide over here."

Onion and I ducked into an open building. There was a large window that had been shattered, allowing us to get in with ease. I turned to check for any other exits when my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. Behind me were five figures. I pulled my gun out but they were not moving. I slowly walked up to them and nearly laughed. They were mannequins. I took a better look around and saw that this must have once been a clothing shop. There were ragged shirts and pants scattered all over of various sizes.

"Miss, the movements are getting closer."

I turned my attention back towards the window and found a small table to hide under. I peeked out slightly and waited.

"That damn Arnie better have a good reason for not showing up when he was supposed to. The boss will be pissed when he gets back."

"Leave him alone Frankie, I think him and Tony went to go have a little … you know what I mean?"

The first voice was gruff, like most of the mammals that I have met, but the second one I could tell was a female, and she sounded almost sweet. They were looking for the two I killed, so they must have been part of same gang. The voices were getting closer and I started to hold my breath. No sudden movements, no loud noises. There could be more behind them, and I did not want to take any chances.

"That Arnie always did like his guys built. I've seen Tony single handily take on a squad of Guardians without batting an eye. I would hate to be the ones who messes with him."

I almost laughed.

"Those two should have stayed at the theater then. Those Guardian bastards will be coming back, and we could use ever capable fighter to drive them off."

"That's why we are trying to find them June, to drag their sorry asses back to the theater."

They walked by and I was able to get a better look at them. The male was an elephant, but from my position I could not see his face, only his body, with his trunk occasionally coming into view. The female, however, was dwarfed in comparison. She was a polecat. Her stripes of auburn and white reminded me of my own fur color. She was hunched over a bit as she walked. She wore a loose shirt and some leathery pants, while he had some kind of metal plate armor on his body. The odd thing was that unlike the other two, where the larger one wielded the javelin, I could see that the polecat had it strapped to her back.

They continued to walk by the window, unaware that they were being watched. Good. When they finally passed out of Onion's sensors, I let myself relax.

"We need to hurry. If they find the bodies, I am sure they will head straight back to the theater. We need to get there before that happens."

"Agreed Miss."

I looked out and did not see any signs of them. I signaled to Onion and we left the building and continued onward, going in the direction that they came from. Odds are they were coming from the theater. It was clear, but I had a feeling that there were more out here. We just had to avoid them. Hopefully we don't run into any of those Steel Guardians either, I have no idea who's side they are on, but I did not want to get caught in the middle of a fight.

We passed more of the same. Shoddy shelters placed in front of boarded up buildings. I don't understand why they did not just try to remove the boards. It would have probably been a lot safer inside a building then under a sheet. While the urge to go savaging has diminished, I did try to keep an eye out for any buildings that could be used as a temporary hiding spot, just in case we ran into anyone else. We moved from car to car, doorway to door way, doing our best to keep hidden. Well I was anyways. A large floating metal ball was a bit more conspicuous, so he hid where he could, and I think it made him nervous when he was forced to hide away from me.

We thankfully did not see anyone else, although a few times some of those giant insects popped up on Onion's sensors. What was with those things? They were easy to kill, but they were annoyingly quick. I was really glad that my gun was silenced, otherwise we would have more than insects to deal with.

We turned a corner and all I saw was smoke. Lying in the middle of the street was one of those flying contraptions that I saw pick up those two Steel Guardian guys earlier. Its engines were billowing black smoke and part of its body was missing. Small fires were still present around and on it.

"That was probably the explosion we heard earlier Miss."

"I think your right. Did the Grey Quills do this? I doubt some simple peashooter could take down one of these, they must be packing some serious firepower."

"Another reason to avoid this whole thing Miss."

I ignored him. He should be well aware of my response by now. The smoking wreckage was in between us and our destination so I decided to look around since we had to go pass it anyways. This thing used technology that I was not familiar with. A levitation engine was simple enough for someone of Onion's size and weight, but this thing was huge. The power it would take to run it must have been massive. I tried to look for any survivor's. Maybe if I help them they won't try to kill me too.

There were three in the wreckage, all dead. The pilot was hanging out of the cockpit window, a bullet hole coming out of the back of his head. He was not dressed in a large bulky armor, but rather a black jumpsuit, similar to the ones back at the Burrow. One of the other two was wearing a massive suit. Its helmet was missing. It was a polar bear. I checked for life, but like the pilot, there was a bullet hole in the head. I did notice a necklace around the neck. I picked it up and looked at it. It was identification tags. Haggerton, Karen. was imprinted on it along with other details that I was unfamiliar with. Right next to her was a wolf. The wolf was not dressed like either of them, but rather dressed in a very form fitting jumpsuit with what looked like flexible plating on it. Just like the bear, there was a bullet hole in the head. I saw the same looking tags. Wolfort, Gus.

I knew nothing about these guys, but I wondered if they had friend, or family that would miss them. I took off the tags from them, maybe I can bring solace for their loss to someone. I have not had any negative interaction with these people, so I had no reason to assume they were as bad as the rest of these fuckers. Of course, I have been wrong about this before.

I searched the rest of the wreck and did not find anything useful to me. All three of them were much larger than I was, so anything that could have been useful was either too cumbersome to carry or to use. I did find packets of processed food, and since the dead can't use it, I placed them in my bag. There was one thing that stuck out, however. Inside the intact part of the body was a green crate. It was obviously bolted to the floor, or else it would have been thrown out during the crash. I went over and opened it. Inside were ten small grey spheres. I picked up one and it fit easily into my paw. Each of them had a small cover on the top. Beneath the cover was a red button. What were these?

"Miss, be careful. I am detecting trace amounts of explosives coming from that."

Explosives? Were these grenades? Oh, these will come in handy. I grabbed them and carefully placed them into my bag. Thankfully the cover over the button had a latch, so it would not accidentally pop open. I assumed that it was what armed them, but now was not the time or place to figure that out.

"Let's go Onion."

We left the wreckage and was able to slowly manage to squeeze through it. The thing was so big that it took up the entire street. Onion was able to float right over it. Once we were on the other side I was able to spot something in the distance. There was a very large building with a giant sign. I took out the scope and focused in on it. The building had giant pillars that decorated the front of it. Its architecture made it stand out from the rest of the buildings. It had giant arches that flowed over the pillars forming the roof. Two giant giraffe statues held up a sign above the building: 'Regal Giraffe Theater'.

"That's our place."

"Are you sure you want to do this Miss? It's not too late to turn back."

"I am sure Onion. Now, let's go rescue a buffalo."