Wasteland Odyssey

Chapter Four: A Friend in Justice

Nick kicked his way through one of the small windows that lined the bottom around the outside of the clinic and slid inside to drop into the hallway below once he saw the coast was clear. Gunshots of varying calibers were echoing throughout the halls, but he couldn't pinpoint any of it. It was like the sounds came from all around. Slinging his rifle and fastening it tight, he pulled his pistol and just picked a direction to creep down. He'd run into someone eventually.

Peeking around a corner, Nick whipped back out of sight. Ghouls, a small group of them were skittering his way!

'Other way then,' he thought, making his way backwards. But when he turned fully, there were more coming. And they'd seen him!

Breaking into a sprint, he'd alerted the others as well and had a sizeable group now chasing him!

"Fuck, fuck, what do I do?" He kept running the length of the hall and turned a corner, didn't stop, he couldn't stop. That was until more appeared from that end as well!

These few hadn't spotted him yet, but he was effectively surrounded, now what was he-

A hard yank pulled him from the hall and he hit the floor on his face! Scrambling to turn over, he turned his pistol on the hulking bulk of a figure standing by the door he was dragged through. Another crouched beside him, and if it weren't for the serious look in their eyes, he'd have yelled`. It was dark in the room, but he could just make out the hand gesturing for him to stay silent and the other put a finger to the lips. The whispered shush was feminine, and he knew now this one was a girl. He couldn't see much of anything to the 'girl' with that hood covering her head.

Nick gulped but nodded nonetheless. They stayed deathly quiet, as feet shambled by and shadows passed the grimy glass of the door. A few more moments dredged by and the only sounds were that of muffled gunshots, and finally he asked in a whisper, "Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter," the girl next to him answered, proving she was indeed a girl, "what the shit are you doing here? Do you realize how much of a shit storm you and your pals caused?"

Nick's face twisted, 'shit storm?' "Hey, it's not like we planned to be swarmed by fucking ferals, alright?! We only came here for medicine," he seethed.

"Well good luck with that," she started back, until a disgruntled, almost inhuman groan cut her off.

Nick looked back at the hulking mass as it stepped forward, it's feet leaving behind the clank of metal as it skulked towards him. In the low light of the room, it stepped in front of the door and the silhouette showed it for what it was.

Power Armor. He'd heard stories about it. . . but this, this thing looked like a god damn giant from where he still lay on the ground.

The power-armored figure turned it's helmet on that of his companion, "Levi, we need to go. We've got no quarrel or need to be messing with the Khans here."

"Well duh," the girl scoffed, standing up now. She didn't stand very tall, and that told the boy she was young, much like himself. And she had a pretty well-stocked-looking backpack on. "I'd say the feral ghouls have them handled. Are we just going to let this one go?"

"Yes, and that's not up for debate. We got what we came for and we have a rendezvous."

Against his better judgment, Nick leapt to his feet, "Wait a second," when they were both looking at him silently, he realized they actually were considering. "She said 'good luck with that,' does that mean you already got the medicine?"

"Obviously," Levi quipped, receiving another groan from the mechanized warrior. "What, you said we're letting him go, so why have them continue their suicide run?"

"What the Great Khans do is their business. No doubt this stuff will be used after they finished raiding another settlement anyways."

"No," Nicked jumped back in, "it's not for us, honest. Look, I know it may be asking a lot, but we need your help and we don't even need that much medicine. Just enough for one person, a few days to break a fever."

The girl, from the way she crossed her arms seemed skeptical. "Really? Why go through all this trouble for one person?"

"Because," the gunshots continued, and the boy knew valuable time was being wasted, "Listen, I promise I can explain more later, but if we don't do something now, my 'pals' will have died trying to do something good for once. And then a good girl dies because we failed. Please!" The man in power armor stayed silent, but the girls arms drooped some with a sigh as her head lowered. He had to push just a little harder. "We think she. . . was raped, or at least her parents believe so. And I know us khans are just a bunch of raiders to you, but our tribe is different, I swear! We don't allow that. Part of us coming here was to find the one's that did it along with getting the medicine so please, help us."

He felt he may have gotten through to the girl, she had turned away from him a soon as he mentioned the crime. But he also figured she wasn't the one who called the shots.
"Damian-" she whispered.

"Don't say a word." The man ordered, but it wasn't harsh or reprimanding. He only took two strides before he was towering over the boy hefting that monster of a mini-gun and bent forward, the visor coming right before Nick's face and could feel the man looking directly into his eyes, "We'll help you. But if you're lying, I'll kill whichever of you are still alive, got it?"

Nick couldn't stop the relief that washed over him, "I got it," he said, with a grateful smile, threat notwithstanding.

The man within stared a moment longer, grunted, then turned on his heels with the concrete scrapping beneath. "I'll try dealing with as many ghouls as I can. There's not much they can do to me, so I'll draw their attention. Levi, you and the Khan find his friends, just give me about a minute's head start."

The man was out the door and gone, leaving just him and the girl now. She walked over to grab some kind of weird shiny gun perched against the wall that he'd never seen before. She checked the side, removing a small yellow battery before popping it back into place.

"Are we going to get your friends, or are you going to keep staring at me?" she said. She never glanced or looked back at him since the man had exited. She was certainly aware of her surroundings, that's for sure.

"Yeah, you ready with… whatever that is?" he gestured back to the gun, despite her still not looking at him.

She turned to face him this time, a ghost of a smile flashing from underneath her hood, "Never seen laser weaponry, before? Too advanced for Khans?"

Nick saw the jab for what it was, "Is that how you load it?" He had to know, there wouldn't be a single weapon he couldn't fire. "What are those you loaded it with?"

She grimaced back, possibly annoyed with his pestering, but walked to the door and resting a hand on the handle ready to open it, "Jesus, you'd think you be more worried about your friends, eh?"

"You can walk and talk can't you?"

She opened the door and stepped out, flipping him the bird during her exit. Nick followed her, taking the direction he'd been running from. She stepped confidently, and never budged when they heard the mini firing off elsewhere behind them. "We passed a security room while we were searching. The building has power and is in pretty good condition. If the terminals are intact, we might have an easier time finding them."

"Seems like you two do this kind of thing a lot."

She didn't stop, but his comment did get her to glance back briefly. She snapped her head forward and never answered him. They were both coming up on the hallway his chase began, and the girl hugged the wall as she closed in on the next hall. Slowly moving to her side, they both edged into view with three ferals limping their way.

Before he could utter a word, the girl was striding them down, weapon shouldered and taking aim. Her first shot flung a crimson spear that snapped a ghoul's head sideways and dropped it. The second died the same way. By the time the last ghoul had sights on her, it only caught a glimpse.

She stopped, right in the middle of them to lean back her rifle with a smug smile he could see plain as day despite the hood. 'She's done this alot,' he mused. She turned, with a little more pep her in step to boot. 'Cocky, too.'

It wasn't much further before Levi had brought them to the Security room. The door wasn't locked and a quick scan showed the all-clear. "Close the door behind you," she ordered, going right up to sit in front of a series of built in wall terminals and screens.

Door closed, Nick sidled up to her and watched as she expertly surfed through the many menus, files and options. She was a good shot, and smart by the looks of it now. He was actually kind of impressed with her honestly, there weren't many girls in the Barge that possessed the skills and traits she'd just shown.

"Here it is," she said, pulling him back. "I can access any working security cameras from here, but there's quite a few. This might take time we don't have."

"Well is there, like, a quick scroll or something? Just keep flipping channels till we hit. Set me up over here." he said, sitting in the chair next to hers.

"Okay." And so, on the large wall monitors, images flashed by as they switched dozens of cameras, stopping only when the saw human-like movement. The first few times were busts, and then Nick found one.

It was her brother in power armor, laying waste to ferals as quick as they came, "Holy shit, your brother's bad ass." There wasn't any audio he noticed, because that minigun would be loud as hell.

"I got one!" she called, and Nick rolled over to her in his chair. It was a hallway angle, and at the very back, he could see Bren. The proof of life was gone in a flash as Bren stepped from view. "Damn." She flipped a few more channels.

"Stop, stop. Right there!" he saw Nate, he was still alive too. He was in a room and it looked like he was talking. "Do these have sound? Can we get that?"

"Yeah, give me a moment."

"-the fuck are you about some girl?" Nate's voice cut it, Levi having succeeded. There was banging going continuously as he spoke, "I don't know why you two were in such a hurry. Four of us are missing, the three of us a trapped in here, but the girl is what you're thinking about right now?"

"Just answer the fucking question, I heard what I needed too, that whelp isn't so slick. He was asking about us too, wasn't he?" That was Tylor's voice.

"He just asked me if I'd ever worked with you before, and how long I'd been there. The fuck is up with your guilty conscience?"

"You filthy fucking liar!" Tylor quickly entered the scene lunging for Nate, the two locking over the varmint rifle in Nate's hands. A knee doubled the younger khan over, as Tylor ripped the gun from his hands and slamming the butt stock down onto Nate's back to knock him to the floor. Tylor aimed the rifle for Nate's head, when Scottie too came on screen.

"Yo, hold up, hold up. He said that was his last round, and we ain't got shit! The hell are we supposed to get out if you waste our one fucking bullet!?"

Nate grumbled from the ground, "Why are you doing this?"

"Stop playing dumb. Tylor said it and I'll say it, I heard you too, boy. Talking with that worthless son about her sickness and about us, had that little brat eyeing us while in their home. That little brat's been eyeing us this whole trip!"

"Yeah!" Nate managed to get to his knees, but didn't dare trying to stand yet. "And other than you too mucking up this trip, the fuck's the problem. We're here for some god damn medicine!"

"Scottie," Tylor said, his tone low. "Stand by the door, I've got our ticket out of here."

"Plan on leaving me behind, with that look?"

"I'm going to kill you. And if you had just told me what we wanted, I would've made it quick. Now, you are our ticket."

"What?"

Tylor discharged the varmint rifle, the round striking Nate in the leg and collapsing him to the floor. He roared out in pain, writhing on the ground, and Tylor turned away from him to stand over by Scottie.

"Don't urgh don't do this! Don't do this to me!"

Tylor opened the door, holding it open just enough to shield the two from sight. The ferals stalked in, clearly targeting Nate's wounded form. He tried crawling backwards, crying out for mercy from his supposed kinsmen. They both ignored his screams as the ghouls descended upon him, and made their way out shutting the door sealing his fate.

Nate's screams continued as the ferals tore into him. Nick had to grit his teeth. Levi's hand was stuck, hovering over the switch key, hand trembling. She couldn't tear her eyes away.

The monitor suddenly flickered to a new area, and she was shocked back to the present. She hadn't realized her breath quickened, and her limbs felt shaky now. Looking at her hand, she saw she hadn't pressed the key.

She tried to meet his eye, but stopped herself, "I'm sorry."

Nick didn't know what to say. That was the most disturbing thing he ever witnessed. There's no way that didn't hit her just as hard. "I'm sorry, too." This time she did look him in the eye, showing him bright brown eyes and a dark, vibrant complexion.

The lock held, until she broke it with a cough, shifting away as he drew back his hand. "Let's hope the other's have better luck." She started searching again, stealing the occasional glance back at him as he searched as well.

Eventually, they found her brother again, and fortunately he had located Chance and was keeping him safe with that minigun. The halls weren't as full of ghouls anymore either by the looks of things. Her brother was really cleaning house.

"He should be a Paladin already."

"What the fuck is a Paladin?" Immediately after asking, he could see her visibly clam up. "Okay, I get it. Another advanced secret of your's, it's cool."

She smiled within her hood, "He's highly skilled, even without the armor."

"Well, that still leaves two we haven't seen." He tried a few more screens, and there Denver took the limelight. And he was following behind Bren! "Where is this?"

"It looks like they're almost at the cafeteria."

"Come on! We have to get there and warn him."

(With Bren)

"So you haven't seen the others? Who the hell's on that mini-gun?" Bren asked, hoping the blonde behind him could fill him in.

"No, and I don't have a clue. Those things are heavy as sin, aren't they, none of us could hold that fucking monster!"

'Shit,' Bren had to admit Denver was right. Even Chance couldn't heft that piece. Someone, or worse, something had taken the field and there was no way of knowing if it's in the mood for friends. He wanted to find his friend, Chance wouldn't go out like this so he knew he had to be alive somewhere, but he also needed to find a way out too.

"I can't believe I came here. What the fuck am I doing here?"

Bren scanned the large open space, all the tables, seating and spoiled food items making it out to be some sort of staff/patient lunch area. Some of the lights in the back were busted, but everything looked clear and so he stepped out to keep searching for an exit. "You came here to help your friend, didn't you?"

"Yes, you're right. This was all for her." He was breathing faster, and Bren was starting to worry if this guy was going to lose it, then and there.

"So get your shit together and-"

"This is all her FUCKING fault!"

Bren turned at the sudden outburst in time to see Denver level the barrel of that lever-action his way and tried to dive out of the line of fire. Denver let loose and the bullet grazed his side. The blonde darted into the cafeteria aiming for where he thought the khan would be laying, but Bren wasn't there.

Movement had Denver tracking it with his gun, firing another round as Bren jumped over the buffet counter separating the cafeteria from the kitchen, sending plates and glasses to shatter on the floor in gnarly shards, metal trays banged off the hard tile.

"Because of her and fucking Harland, I gotta kill you and the other three. You just had to take pity on us for once and help when you should've ignored us like you Khans always do."

Bren palmed the graze. He was bleeding, but nothing he'd bleed out from which was good. Who knew fear would drive the guy into a berserk confession? Standing up and aiming at Denver, he forced the blonde teen into cover behind a pillar to avoid buckshot to the chest. Bren racked in another round when Scottie and Tylor stormed in.

He met their gaze and he knew it in their eyes, so he swung the barrel around on them. Denver fired again, nearly hitting him as the round eviserated a coffee dispenser. Bren blind fired, hearing one curse out in pain. Bren ducked and scrambled to relocate and not get pinched. "Kill him, fucking kill him!"

Scottie came leaping over the counter and took a swipe at Bren. The knife had sliced his khan vest, but Bren was untouched. Scottie lunged again to stab the Chief's son, but was parried with the shotgun. Bren parried him again, and pushed the older khan off balance to the ground. He ducked to escape the slash of Tylor from the other side of the counter, then uppercut the man with the butt of his shotgun, sending him staggering back holding his jaw, dropping to a bloody knee.

Scottie grabbed him from behind, just as Denver was lining up another shot. Denver pulled the trigger and dust kicked off their bodies, Scottie and Bren falling to the floor back behind the counter.

"Jesus Christ, I got him. . ." Denver whispered.

"Yo Scottie, he didn't get you too did he, come on?! Get up!"

There was no answer from behind the counter.

Denver scurried over to look. He didn't move once he got there, leaned over as he was..

"Yo man, did you kill him too or not?!" Denver started to back up slowly, hands and rifle in the air in surrender, Bren following him up with the barrel of his 12ga. Tucked under Denver's chin. Tylor used his good arm to hoist his AK to aim from the hip. "How the fuck are you alive?"

"Easy, your pal hit Scottie. Now put the gun down or he dies too."

"How about you put it down or you die, because if you kill him, I still kill you."

"Put down the gun scar-face," everyone's eyes were drawn to Nick and a stranger as they entered the cafeteria, both their weapons locked on Tylor. "Give it up," he demanded of the older khan.

"You think I won't gun down two brats?"

Nick kept his pistol trained on him, "I think you can't."

The man smiled wickedly and swallow back his nerves, the little brat was being awfully ballsy. "You wanna bet? You're gambling with your life, boy!"

"So, pull the trigger."

The man's gun wavered, this brat was going to call his bluff just like that? There was no way he could know the magazine was empty!

"What are you waiting for, shoot the little fucker!?"

"He can't." Petty said confidently, and Bren watched as the color drained out of the man's features from across the room. "He wasted it on Nate." Nick fired, putting one round through his skull. The man went limp, folding up on the ground as blood steadily leaked from his head.

That last shot had echoed loudly, and yet Nick never heard it. The pistol kicked, and he never felt it. He just stared at Scar-face's body, the images of him betraying Nate and his last expression before his own demise replaying over and over again.

This man, his fellow khan, was the first man he's ever killed.

"Hey, snap out of it," Nick's attention turned to the side, where Levi was standing there watching him, she had broken his stupor. A look at Bren found him restraining Denver's hands, the wound in his side having leaked enough to color his pants pocket. "We should get out of here, go find my brother and your tall friend."

The boy managed to pull away and look back at her, very much wanting to leave this place, "Yeah. . .Yeah, let's go." Bren started leading Denver passed them and out the cafeteria, and Nick could only hold the other's eyes as he walked by him. Bren wanted answers, but he had to guess the older boy wasn't going to push it right now. There was one he could give him, "Chance is alive, safe with her brother."

Bren didn't say a word, but Nick could see him relax his hold on that shotgun, and the tension leaving as his shoulders drooped slighty. He was relieved. He followed from a few paces behind, with Levi quickly falling in line.

(Harland's)

It wasn't difficult to find Chance with his metal savior. The ghouls had been dealt with, and Nick was following behind the group. Chance was escorting Denver, the teen with a controlling grasp on the farm hand's bent back arm. Bren was talking with the brother about the story told by Nick, AK held casually with one hand by his side and shotgun slung over a shoulder, and Levi was matching his pace next to him, taking the opportunity to look at everything. Her behavior was familiar, but he had the feeling she probably spent the time avoiding attention and being seen.

They were approaching the farm and the sun was low on the horizon with an orange glow, and people were already taking notice of their arrival. Some of the hands loyal to Harland subtly armed themselves with tools and the stand out shotgun or sidearm. It must not have been a good look for them, dragging in one of their people by the neck. It was easy to imagine why the Khans were resented and feared. Those days he'd heard from the older members of when they were more 'active', wasn't very long ago for these people.

They were nearing Harland's when the man stepped out from his home, his right eye was swollen over and he had a busted lip, but he didn't look any less mean than the first time Nick had seen him. He was flanked by his son and two other men, and sure enough, once he came out, the audience started to grow around them.

"I've got one of your men," Bren said, stepping ahead of the group. Chance forced the teen to his knee for effect, "We can make this public, or just give him to you."
Harland looked from Bren to the teen kneeling in the dirt. Denver's head was down, and quiet sobs shook his body ever so often. While still eyeing the boy who was one of his own, he asked, "H-how are you sure? How do I know this isn't a ruse?"

"He confessed, along with two of my men. They're dead." Bren assured, handing off the AK to a khan at his side.

"And medicine? My wife mentioned medicine." Harland's voice grew hopefully, even as his stare grew darker.

Bren nodded, and motioned for Levi to head inside the house. She was quick about it, and gone in a moment with Harland's son showing her the way. Damian turned and skulked off with heavy steps. Nick assumed he was going to sit and wait elsewhere.

Harland took a couple more steps towards Denver. The shadow cast by older man enveloped the teen's form in darkness as he drew closer, and with each step the boy only shrank further into himself.

"I remember you," Harland mumbled.

"It wasn't me," Denver cried.

"You were that boy. Trying to be sweet on my girls, a few weeks back."

"It wasn't me."

"Save your breathe boy," Harland's said coldly. He bent down to Denver's level, and Chance pulled the boy's hair back hard to force him to look into the man's eyes. "Ive seen a lot of things in this world, and once you've seen something enough, you start to recognize it. Before I settled here I was a deputy in a town a long ways away. And do you know what I saw?"

Denver didn't answer him, until he got an encouraging head jerk. "No," he groaned, with grit teeth, tears still trailing down his dust covered face.

"I would see men. Quaking in their boots, sobbing like girls, pissing themselves as they were escorted to the noose. They declared their innocence up and down, even when they were caught red-handed. All the shaking, and crying, and soiling their pants was overwhelming guilt, because they knew they were caught."

It was like a switch was flipped in Denver. He'd been trembling before, but by the end of Harland's tale, he was shaking so bad that it seemed like Chance was trembling too. The sobbing had progressed into near hysteria as he repeated 'he didn't mean to,' and 'the khans made him do it,' but Harland wasn't having it.

"Do you know what I see now?"

"Please," he begged.

"I'm seeing it all over again."

"So, how do you want to handle this?" Bren asked, stepping forward to snag the attention of Harland.

"Do your thing, I just want to be the one that executes his punishment."

Bren nodded, and spoke loudly for all those gathered without missing a beat, "Denver is guilty of the crime of rape among the tributaries. He, Tylor, and Scottie. The latter two have already been dealt with, I need some men to head for the clinic and collect their bodies to be put on display, along with Nate's so that he can be buried with honors."

"Holy shit, he's dead too?" someone muttered.

"We lost three men over this shit?" another whispered.

"We Khan's have three rules here in Bullhead." Bren cut his eyes across everyone, walking in a full circle so that he could glare at everyone donning the vest. "Murdering clansmen outside of duels is forbidden. Stealing from clansmen is forbidden. And rape, be it of clan, tributary or outsider, is forbidden. So, let this be a warning to everyone."

Bren came to a stop beside Denver, and he and Chance hoisted the boy back up to his feet. With a free hand, he pulled his knife, and held it out for Harland to take.

And the man took it with calming easy.

"By Law and by Blood, Denver will be castrated and left to bleed out, his body on display with the other two."

Many of the residents were conflicted. Nick could see looks ranging from silent approval, disgust, acceptance, and horror as they whispered and spoke to one another. Many of the women started gathering children and walking them to their homes, some of the men following their wives to coral their younger sons, preferring not to watch the gruesome punishment and their children bear witness.

Among the Khans, some looked angry, speaking doubts to their cohorts beside them, while others seemed as though they didn't care one way or the other. How did they all feel about these rules? With new recruits every day, and an old guard that remembers the old days, how many actually follow the rules?

A heavy hand fell on his shoulder, and Nick turned to look, it was the power-armor clad older brother looking back down at him. He never heard him approach. "Come on kid, as lovely as castration is, I'm sure you'd rather not set it." he said, his voice filtering through the helmet mic.

Nick turned back to Bren, as he and Chance held Denver in place as Harland stalked closer to the boy. He was crying hysterically now, as his pants were dropped by two of Harland's men. The only one's left watching were the khans and the few residents willingly to stay. "Yeah, I think you're right." Two khans stepped from the crowd to take over for the Chief's son and Chance, and they stepped aside to watch punishment unfold.

Despite being thirty yards away, it still hadn't helped with the screaming. Another excruciating yell forced a shiver out of the boy. It only reminded him of Nate's, and that was already trouble getting out of his head.

"So, you're story checks out. As soon as Levi's back, her and I will be on our way."

"Thank you," Nick said, nodding to the power-armored warrior, "We might not have made it out without your help. And for giving us some medicine."

It was only a few moments later that Levi, Bren and Chance drew close, and the girl nodded to her brother, "The girl was sick with a bad fever. I gave the family enough to manage."

"Excellent, and with that, our business is concluded." The man with the minigun began to turn around and started walking away, calling for Levi to get moving.

"Sorry about him," Levi grinned from under her hood apologetically, "It's just more work for him later."

Bren just smirked, and him and Chance began the trek back to their horses.

That just left her and Nick standing there.

"Thank you both, for taking a chance on me." Levi turned to face him fully, allowing him to see her face for the second time. She smiled, then quickly deposited that laser rifle into his hands, "Hey, watch it! That's how you get shot!"

"Don't worry," she mocked, mischief bending her lips, "this is a microfusion cell, or MF cells." She held up the yellow, palmed-size battery. Nick glanced backdown at the gun, seeing that she had unloaded it without his notice. She tossed him the battery, "That goes into that slot. No, flip it around."

The MF cell clicked into port, and the boy held it out to study it, "That's it?"

"To operate, yes. For maintenance, this isn't like that rifle of yours."

"Levi, let's go!" Her brother called, having stopped when it became clear she wasn't in tow.

Nick gave the girl back her rifle, "Thank you for the lesson," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "My name's Nick, by the way."

She held her hand out to him, "Levi Cross. You asked about it in the clinic, so I figured why not? Thanks, for not being a scummy liar!"

He took her hand in his, shook it once with a smile on his face, then she let go to run after her brother. After standing there a few moments longer than he probably should have, he decided he'd better get moving. Bren and Chance probably wanted to get back, especially after all this shit.

The sun was almost set now, for the errand that would only take a few hours. Back at the horses, Bren was quick to get his attention. "We're heading to The Glade, you're coming with us."

"And what's at The Glade," Nick asked, going to work checking Alban over.

"A chance to get in on the war party."