Blood from Vault 18
Prospector
"You know I really thought that because this place was mechanic shop there would be cooler shit, all I can see so far is junk" Johnny commented as he threw away a melted piece of metal. Kieron for his part wiped his hand on the wooden wall as he let go of the piece of paper that he thought might have useful information, he was disappointed to find it was just more propaganda "Tell me about it, I did find a shotgun and some ammo under the counter but other than that I think we are out of luck it seems"
Johnny let out a long sigh "So no cars, no motorcycles and not even a fucking map, this place suck. What do you think is next door I think a good punch can destroy that wall over there" the brute said as he pointed to a weak looking part of the wall.
"And maybe bring the entire structure down on us, I think our best bet is to just destroy the window like we did with this place" Johnny looked at Kieron for a second before nodding "Sure, it would be pretty embarrassing to die by a brick to the head when we survived a vault explosion"
They both made their way outside as the sun glared down on them, the vault dwellers not used to the sunlight making them cover their eyes, Kieron hoped they found some glasses among the rubble so his poor eyes could rest or at the very least adapt to the situation that they now had to deal daily but that was just wishful thinking on his part after all is not like luck was on his side most of the time nowadays even if before he really felt like he was a lucky guy.
"Fuck… leaving in the vault is really catching up to me buddy, this heat is unbearable" Johnny complained as he quickly searched refuge from the sun in the shade, Kieron nodded but forced his eyes to focus even if the glare of the sun made it difficult, the store next to mechanic shop seemed to be a small postal office. "Kiero-fuck… Six the door is opened on this one should we go in"
Kieron nodded as he gently pushed the door "I don't really think that we need codes right now Johnny, this part of the valley is way to open for someone to be spying on us" there was a pause as Johnny looked around "Yeah other than these two buildings there's nothing in this stupid valley. Kind of creepy actually isn't there like tribes and stuff that we come from"
"Yeah… that's actually kind of creepy why is there no one around here?" the two vault dwellers frowned "Maybe something scares people from this are?" Johnny suggested but Kieron shook his head "If that was true we would be dead, something else is going on here. But that's something for us to worry about later lets just try to find a map or something"
Pushing the rotting door out of the way they were greeted by a multitude of papers and packages scattered all over the floor and the smell of something putrid reached their nostrils "Gah it smells like shit here" Johnny commented as he fought to not puke for a second time in the last couple of days.
Kieron for his part simply sniffed a bit and continued to press forward with his search for anything useful, he noticed a framed picture that had fallen near the main desk, Johnny nodded at Kieron and helped the smaller teen move the debris out of the way. Kieron grinned from ear to ear as he saw what he found on the ground, a large map of the region with a "You are here" written on the middle.
"Lady luck is smiling to us Johnny, come on help me get this map free from the frame" Johnny simply nodded as he used his brute strength to break the wooden frame, the wood humid and putrid enough for him to make it look easy. Kieron skillfully removed the map without tearing it and folded it so he could place it somewhere safe. A small package did catch his attention before he left, looking way more preserved than the other boxes on the small building he wiped away the dust from the box and gasped as he recognized the logo.
Bragg's logo, the enclave. They had stashed something here and he wanted to know what it was, so looking around for something to help him pry it open he spotted a small knife that was rusty as all hell but it would do the trick. Johnny for his part was more surprised about the amount of junk and toys he could find lying around "Man did people from before the bombs really needed this much junk, like when would you need a Nuka Cola… I don't know what this is it looks like a plastic dil…"-"Holy shit" Kieron interrupted him as he opend the box and saw what was inside the Enclave box.
Ammo, 10mm pistols and grenades were the most eye-catching things but he also spotted a large combat knife and peculiar looking black box that he cautiously picked up, putting it in his pocket the young Vault Dweller twirled the combat knife in one hand and in the other he studied the pristine condition 10mm pistol. Anger burned in his chest as he remembered that this people took his home from him… his family.
"The least they can do is help me survive out here" he muttered as he grabbed everything that looked even remotely helpful and darted out of the door with Johnny close behind. The walk back up the hill was way quiet as Kieron felt his anger guve way to sadness and then to just cold. No matter how hot the sun shined down on him, he felt like shivering.
Johnny said nothing giving the man his space, that and he did not know what the fuck to say to him to cheer him up. He had never been all that close to his folks or anyone on the vault really, they all saw him as this dangerous drug addict that was only good if you wanted to win a game of Vault Ball… until Kieron almost killed him. Pretty boy was stronger than what he looked and nicer than what he imagined which sucked because now Johnny felt like a dick because he could not say anything to cheer the man up. But it wasn't that big of a deal, after all he had hit the jackpot. Kieron might had ignored them but stashed in that Enclave crate where a shit-ton of drugs like Med-X and Buffout that he had snatched so while he did feel a little bit bad for Kieron, he would say that today was a success.
As they got close to the house, Johnny spotted the blonde sitting near a tree trunk, she spotted Kieron and waved happily at him, Johnny snorted "Yeah I am not staying to hear this, see you at the house"
"Yeah… see you around" Kieron walked up to Jenn near one of the destroyed houses, the blonde raised her hand up and gently caressed his cheek "You have a cut"-"Really I dint even notice, must have been when we I broke the… the enclave box. One of the splinters"
Jenn's eyes widened as she looked at him with worry "They are here?"
"No, this box was covered in dust. It was a secret stash, something they kept out ion the wild in case they ever needed it… close to home too"-"Bastards, they really played with us" Jenn said angrily as they both sat down on the broken down tree. Kieron passed his hand over the large slash on the tree and frowned.
Jenn rested her head against his shoulder and let out a sigh "You okay?"-"No, you?" Kieron asked making Jenn smile sadly "Doing worse than you Kieron, I am just glad that you are here. I don't think I would be ok if it was just me and… well the others" Kieron chuckled "Other than Kira I don't think they dislike you Jenn" the blonde chuckled and shook her head "Yeah, Kira hates me and I think Johnny is not that fond of me either… Jaimie and Eric are nice but they seem to be occupied with one another to help anyone else you know"
Kieron chuckled "Yeah I get what you mean, and Kurtz?" Jenn made a face. "He is… kind of creepy" they both chuckled a bit as they enjoyed the silence together for a while but as a cloud passed over them Jenn gently placed "I found nothing, just some giant bugs… dad made it all sound so easy" Kieron said nothing as jenn kept her eyes on the sky "Being out here made me realize how much he lied to make it seem like he wasn't on constant risk of dying, I miss him"
There was a pause as Kieron didn't know what to say but he realized that there was nothing he could say to make this better, so instead he gently reached for her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. Jenn smiled at him as she caressed his wounded cheek "Kieron I…"-"There you are, trouble found us Kieron" Kurtz interrupted them as both jumped in fright.
"What? What happened is everyone ok?" Kieron asked with worry but to his surprise Kurtz shook his head "No, Kira and the others are already inside. The problem is that I spotted the fire of a camp not so far from here while I climbed one of the mountains, we might have company soon"
Kieron cursed as he reached for the map on his back and motioned for everyone to follow him "Then we don't have much time" the trio ran up the hill and opened the door, searching for the nearest table he placed the map down and motioned to Kurtz to stand next to him as he looked at the map "Any of this rings any bells Ben?"
"No, I was not conscious when we passed through the area but there is definitely a path through Pinehaven the problem is that it leads us to this" Kurtz placed his finger over a road with two paths "Where we go from there, that's up to you" Kieron looked around as everyone expected him to make the decision.
Shaking his head he turned to his friend "How far was the smoke"
"A days walk away maybe more" Kieron then let out a long sigh "Then we rest and we leave at dawn, we will make the decision once we are out of harm's way"
"Boss one of the other searching parties made camp near the river, shouldn't we be with them?" one of the raiders asked his boss as shook his head "Hell no, Pinehaven is cursed land boys the sooner we get the fuck out of here the better. If it wasn't because Elsdragon himself asked me in person I wouldn't fucking be here, monsters and shit are not good for my health"
The other raiders nodded as they constantly looked over their shoulders as they walked deeper into Pinehaven "Well make it around midnight, I just hope that the boss is right and there actually is someone there"
Preparing their weapons the group prepared themselves to capture more slaves, but in the back of their minds they shivered as they felt that something was watching them from the shadows, something big and invisible was stalking them in the dark.
A/N: Thank you for reading!