Crawl out through the fallout, baby
When they drop that bomb
Crawl out through the fallout
With the greatest of aplomb
The general awoke- with sharp pain in his side- to the lyrics of the song, although the effects of his injuries prevented him from understanding. He was stuck to the wall by a pipe jutting through his liver. The blood had reached his thigh and was already flowing around its musculature. The ground before him was blackened by fire. Blood and guts were exploded on the walls. The general's gun was battered and thrown near his feet. He would need to repair it later. He attempted to force himself off the pipe- finding it impossible without the full use of his legs. Looking down- even with his blurred vision- he could tell by the pain and odd angles that his bones had been fractured. He sent a gloved hand into his jacket and it returned with a stimpak. He bit his bottom lip as he pressed his broken legs to the floor and injected it. He considered, for a brief moment, remaining attached to the pipe in order to avoid the pain that was coming. The song persuaded him not too.
When your white count's getting higher
Hurry, don't delay
In obedience, the general readied himself. Pushing against the floor he felt himself slide off the pipe with painful ease- the pipe lubricated by his own blood. He fell to the floor. "Gah." He spat blood onto the seared section. He gritted his teeth. He grumbled. "Body's soft." His body healed quickly- using up the stimpak in a short time. There was no longer a hole where the pipe once was. The wound, however, continued leaking blood.
Placing a hand on his wound the general rose from his knees and picked up his rifle. He stumbled out the doorway. Trying to place himself in the greater world he found his memory to be hazy. Putting his free hand into his jacket he spoke- remembering without thinking. "I'm out." His hand was empty. He stumbled on, hoping he was still headed to Diamond City.
Preston had finished gathering the new Minutemen and brought them to the Castle. Marching around it they observed two large breaches in the walls, in the north and the southwest. All they saw of the reported sea monster was the evidence it had left behind long ago, the broken walls and the mirelurks nesting inside the courtyard.
Preston once again became imaginative, now imagining himself as a participant in the final battle of Fort Independence. Preston walked the courtyard with his laser musket and nodded to General McGann. A Minuteman turned to the courtyard, shouting from atop the southwest wall. "General, something is approaching out of the water!" The Minutemen around him began firing as a tentacle lashed around his waist. With a scream, he was pulled from the wall.
"Sound the alarm! Everyone to your stations!" General McGann shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. More tentacles whipped around the wall, knocking back or latching onto the Minutemen defending it. The men and women of the Minutemen rushed about, descending into the armory to prepare themselves for battle with the beast. Preston hurried towards the wall, cranking and firing his laser musket. Where Preston shot the tentacles chunks of them dissolved into red glowing ash, falling separate from the remaining tentacle. Preston neared the wall, stopping to help a female Minuteman back to her feet.
"You all right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine." Suddenly many thick tentacles flung over the southwest wall and suctioned onto it. The tentacles began to pull and Preston saw what appeared to be a massive squid pulling itself over the wall. The brick of the castle buckled as the creature pulled, until the creature came to rest upon the rubble that was once the southwest wall.
"Kraken!" Preston could not identify which Minuteman had shouted this as many Minutemen now scrambled out of the armory to fight the monstrous creature. A tentacle wrapped around the left leg of the Minuteman Preston had helped and pulled her towards the creature's exposed beak. Preston latched onto her with his right arm, holding her in place. She had tears in her eyes.
"Don't let me go! Don't let me go! I don't want to die!"
"Look at me, look me in the eyes. What's your name?"
"Kathy, my- my name is Kathy."
"You're gonna be okay Kathy." Preston fired his laser musket with his left arm, severing the tentacle's connection to the main body of the kraken. Preston watched in horror as others of his fellow Minutemen where dragged to the creature's mouth and gorged on. Countless more tentacles assailed Preston and Kathy from every direction. He fired over and over, tentacles falling to the ground all around them, as Kathy lay helpless beside him.
"We're gonna be alright babe." More tentacles came at Preston alone. He threw down his laser musket when it ran out of ammo and withdrew a knife. He had heard of common food before the Great War called sushi. He wondered what it tasted like.
"Where do you suppose the creature that made those holes went?" This question forced Preston's unwelcome return to reality.
"They say it came out of the sea. Maybe died in the battle. I don't see anything." Another Minuteman spoke.
"Well, what now?"
"We set up in that diner, wait for the general to return." Preston led the men over to the diner and they began to get settled for the waiting in store.
It had been night for an hour. The general had developed a painful limp over that hour and now stumbled upon the first signs to Diamond City. He continued until he came to the city's proper entrance. A woman with black hair, wearing a distinctive red coat and news cap stood outside the gate, arguing with an intercom, her back to the general. He intended to speak but instead moaned pitifully. The woman in the red coat hadn't noticed him and went on yelling at the intercom. "What do you mean you can't open the gate? Stop playing around, Danny! I'm standing out in the open here, for crying out loud!" The general stopped approaching for a moment and, removing his hand from his side, reexamined his wound. His blood slipped through his fingers and out of his hand. Time slowed as he watched the drops of blood splash against the ground. He was losing his lucidity. The intercom replied.
"I got orders not to let you in, Ms. Piper! I'm sorry. I'm just doing my job." The general shook his head from side to side and placed his hand back on his injury, moving closer.
"'Just doing your job?' Protecting Diamond City means keeping me out, is that it? 'Oh look, it's the scary reporter!' Boo!" The intercom replied again as the general grew closer and wearier.
"I'm sorry, but Mayor McDonough's really steamed, Piper. Sayin' that article you wrote was all lies. The whole city' in a tizzy."
"Piper…" The general's voice came out wispy and nearly inaudible.
"Agh… you open this gate right now, Danny Sullivan! I live here. You can't just lock me out!" She sighed, kicked a stone at her foot, and turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw the general for the first time and she quickly turned back to the intercom. "You better open up Danny, I've got a walking legend out here." She bent down and whispered a name to the intercom. She hadn't noticed the general's injury yet.
"Like I'd really believe that. Fine, I'll open up. Just give me a minute." Piper turned back to the general.
"So, I'm Piper, Piper Wright, and you're- well you're…you…" The general remained silent and instead removed his hand from his injury again, allowing it to speak for him. "Oh, you don't look so good."
"Out of… stim-paks." The massive green door lurched and began to open, swinging back and forth as it rose.
"Well there are… there are plenty of stimpaks inside. We'd better head in quick. Here, let me help you." Piper moved back towards the general and helped to support him. But when they tried to move forward into the city, his knee bent at an odd angle and he fell to the ground.
"Damn." He started to taste blood as he spat out the word. The general put one arm around Piper as she helped him back to his feet. The general did not fall again. A man shouted, waving his arm in the air just inside the gate.
"Piper! Who let you back inside? I told Sullivan to keep that gate shut!" Making a fist he continued. "You devious, rabble-rousing slanderer! The- the level dishonesty in that paper of yours! I'll have that printer scrapped for parts." Piper snapped back, forgetting the general. She began gesturing wildly in the air with her free hand.
"Oooooo, that a statement, Mr. McDonough? 'Tyrant mayor shuts down the press?'" Desperate to continue moving before he passed out, the general pushed off of Piper to continue into the city on his own. The man noticed him now.
"Oh, I didn't mean to drag you into this argument, good sir. No, no, no." He fidgeted with his tie. "You look like Diamond City material." The general felt blood beginning to escape from the corner of his mouth, limping a step forward. The man either didn't notice, didn't care, or both. He continued, gesturing with outstretched arms. "Welcome to the great green jewel of the Commonwealth. Safe. Happy. A fine place to come, spend your money, settle down. Don't let this muckraker here tell you otherwise, all right?" Piper interjected as the general cocked his head to the left and spat blood.
"Oh, you're even worse off than I thought, better get-" She was interrupted by Mayor McDonough clearing his throat.
"Now, was there anything particular you came to our city for?"
Piper answered for the general, who had fallen back on her. "Oh please McDonough, he obviously needs help, are you going to have him die at the gate while you go on talking?"
"Oh- well, I'm confident that you can find help here. Diamond City has every conceivable service known to man. One of our great citizens can surely find the time to help you."
"Agh! Let's get you into the city, there's a doctor just inside." The two moved past McDonough. The general's vision wavered and diminished with each step forward. His eyelids grew heavy. Suddenly an old man clothed in white light stood before him. This man was, at the same time, both incomprehensible and unrecognizable to the general. He only knew, somehow, that he was old. The general woke softly, at first, but his heartrate quickened as he realized he was in unfamiliar surroundings. He forgot his dream altogether.
He looked to his left and saw, hung up on the wall, his jacket, rifle, belt, and thigh holster and, on the floor below, his boots and gloves. His other clothes remained on. The general reached for his face, and, feeling his cowl, was assured that no one had peeked beneath it. He sat up to the right side of the bed. Before him sat a young girl on chair, wearing a green scarf and goggles around her neck. The general guessed she was about twelve. With a groggy growl, the general spoke.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Nat, Piper's sister." She leaned forward and narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you the real-"
"Nat, did you wake him up? I told you to quit staring at him." Hearing Piper's voice the general remembered what had happened. The general checked the place where his injury had been. The once grey material surrounding the area had been stained a dark crimson by his blood, while the wound itself had been replaced by a smaller scar.
"Piper made sure you got fixed up, then brought you here." Nat helpfully interjected. "I think Doctor Sun did a good job."
"Hey, if you wanna try walking again, come downstairs. And it's time for you to head off to school, Nat."
"Aww, but I wanna stay here!"
"Not gonna budge." Nat left, reluctantly, looking back at the general before disappearing down the stairs. She forgot a paper on the chair by accident. The general rose to his feet without difficulty and, picking up the paper, read the handwritten headline. "Wandering Legend Bunks with Reporter." He assumed himself to be the subject of the proceeding article. He let the paper fall back to the chair before he walked downstairs.
The general found Piper working at a printer, but he didn't see Nat in the house. It seemed she had already left for school. "Morning sleepyhead. Welcome to the land of the living, and Publick Occurrences." The general's voice was no longer groggy.
"What's Publick Occurrences?"
"My home, and newspaper."
"What do you run a newspaper for?"
"There are a lot of lies and secrets out there in the Commonwealth and people need to know the truth." The general suddenly remembered why he had come to Diamond City.
"Thank you. For taking me in." He tossed a bag of caps onto the printer desk. "But I have work to do. I'll be leaving soon."
"Stop and talk to me before you go. I was hoping to get an interview." The general didn't respond, instead climbing back upstairs to gather his things. "Not a talker, huh? Have it your way." The general wasn't sure if Piper had just turned on the radio, or if he hadn't noticed as she was talking to him, but he listened to the music while he gathered his weapons and clothing.
I'm as corny as Kansas in August,
I'm as normal as blueberry pie.
Two more songs went by before the general finished putting his clothes and weapons back in order. He noted that his rifle had been repaired and guessed that Piper might've done it. He looked the modified combat rifle over, finding it like new. Slinging the weapon strap over his left shoulder, he headed back downstairs and towards the door. Piper was about to stop him for the interview she was after when they heard two male voices shouting outside.
"Kyle. I'm your brother! Put the gun down!"
"Don't move synth! What have you done with the real Riley? Where's my brother?" The general pushed open the door, finding a hazardous scene beyond it. One man held another at gunpoint near the center of the market. People were starting to gather. Diamond City security guards had already arrived and had the man in their sights. The general swiftly threw down his rifle, marching towards the man. He needed to defuse this situation before the security guards did.
"I swear. I'm not a synth! Don't shoot! For God's sakes, we're family!" The general interrupted, still moving on Kyle.
"Put the gun down. Now!" Kyle didn't look away from his brother. He had been aiming the pipe pistol at Riley's chest, but now he moved it towards his head. The general had no choice but to take him down.
"He's a synth! He'll- argh!" Kyle cried out in pain as the general, with one easy movement, broke his arm at the elbow. The guards leapt back at this, but readied themselves again when the pistol misfired, hitting the nearby cooking station. Kyle held onto it. The general remained latched on to Kyle, using his broken arm as a lever, along with his own shoulder as a fulcrum, to flip Kyle and throw him to the ground. Kyle released the gun as he was thrown and laid in the dirt for a few moments, clutching his elbow where a bone now protruded. The general abandoned his fighting stance and stood over Kyle at his feet. Unexpectedly, Kyle reached for the pistol with his uninjured arm. Riley called out in desperation.
"Kyle! No!" His head exploded, shot by one of the Diamond City security guards. Blood and brains splattered the general's boots. The guards all but ignored what had happened. Kyle's body lay in the dirt without a head. One of the guards, not the one who had fired, spoke to dismiss the crowd. His voice was monotone, as though he had witnessed some mundane event over no one would later grieve, and it forced the general to question whether or not this city was an improvement over the raider infested wasteland outside.
"Okay, shows over! There are no synths in Diamond City, hear me? Just you folks and your damn paranoia!" Riley spoke softly and to himself, but the general was still near enough to hear the man's pain.
"He- he pulled a gun on me. My own bother…" He sighed heavily. "I'm… I'm not a synth. I told him. I kept telling him. Why didn't he listen to me?" Someone placed a hand on the general's shoulder. It was the guard who had killed Kyle.
"I need you to step away, sir" The general did not move.
"What led to this?"
"It's that newspaper's fault. Got people all riled up, thinking their own family might be replaced by machines." His next statement had the opposite effect from what he intended. "Look, I'm sorry you got caught up in all this, but it's over, okay? Just go about your business like nothing happened. Better that way." The other guard who had addressed the crowd before shouted to them again as the general stepped away.
"What's everyone still standing around for? Go back to your own damn business!" The onlookers obeyed this time, returning to their homes and businesses. The general walked back over to Piper's residence, bending down and picking up his gun in front of the doorway. There Piper was standing.
"Well, that… could have gone better." The general silently agreed. "The way you handled that though- I definitely need this interview."
"Fine. Ask away." Piper turned, leading the general inside and upstairs to he terminal. She gestured for him to sit down on the bed where he had woken up this morning. Piper sat in the chair opposite the bed and prepared to type his responses.
"Okay, first question. What are you- what are you doing in Diamond City?" She added extra emphasis on the second "you."
"I'm here to get supplies. Resources. The Minutemen are going to retake the Castle."
"So you're what's left of the Minutemen, interesting. Next question, uh- what should I call you?"
"In the Minutemen they call me 'the general.'"
"Wait- you're the general of the Minutemen?"
"Preston Garvey says no one can argue with him."
"Last I heard, Garvey was the last Minuteman."
"He was."
"So, general, why should the people of the Commonwealth put their faith in the Minutemen? After Quincy, I mean."
"The Minutemen were disorganized at the time. No one was really in charge. Many didn't feel it worth their time to show up. Now we're building and helping settlements. Creating safe havens for wanderers. Guarding against raiders. Maybe one day we'll take back Quincy."
"Hmm, maybe. Well, I think that'll be enough to write my article off of. Thanks. Now I just have to put it all together." The general got up to leave. "Wait." The general stopped. "If you're looking for a few extra caps for supplies, a friend of mine, Nick Valentine, has gone missing. There's a reward if you can find him. Just talk to Ellie Perkins, his assistant, in his office. It's the one in the back of town with a heart on the sign. And about earlier, in the market- I know that must've been hard for you." She paused, trying to read him. She was unsuccessful. "Hard for anybody. Ugh, look, I'm no good at this. I'm sorry I pushed you into this interview right after that. If you want, I can come with you. To make it up to you."
"It's your funeral."