Naruto woke with a shake, he looked to his left to see Catlin cleaning her 5.56mm rifle. He sighed at the memories that flooded his head with the previous day's events. They had been travelling for two days now, yesterday they had scanned every inch of the Vault-Tech university of Georgia and they didn't find anything. He could still remember how the building smelt of ash and decay. The air wasn't as fresh as he remembered before the bombs hit. They had found bodies with rags for clothes. It covered their skinless flesh. Catlin had to remove her helm so she could vomit at the sights. "Hey look at this" screamed Blake. He along with the rest of the crew looked over the edge of the Vertibird to see two headed deer with pink skin running through the dead trees. "Looks like the surface isn't as lifeless as we thought" whispered Miller .
"They look disguising," said Velma with a frown. Blake laughed and ran a come through his black hair. "Aww come on Velma, don't tell me you wouldn't at least try a double deer steak" Velma covered her mouth and gagged. "Shut up you gun monkey" Naruto couldn't help but chuckle along with his squad at Blakes actions. "Sir we are approaching the school of gas and water". Naruto sighed and looked at his squad, he appreciated times like this. Just them in the Vertibird joking around, but all things come to an end. "Alright squad, we are approaching the next location. Prepare yourselves for departure"
Naruto grabbed his Tri Beam Laser rifle that was lent against the wall and checked it was loaded and ready to go. "Here we go Sir, we are nearly at ground level" Blake detached the Gatling Laser from its stand and hopped off the Vertibird. With a loud thud he hit the ground and surveyed the landing area. "All clear from what I can see guys' ' Naruto touched the coms link on the side of his helm. "Okay set her down commander" with a thud and a shake they hit the ground. Miller was the first one to leave the Vertibird and joined Blakes side. Catlin hopped off and helped Velma down, given she was shorter and not aided by the power suit it was harder to get off the Bird.
Naruto was the last to leave and marched up to Miller. "What do we have?" Miller pointed to the half-crumbled building before them and its massive courtyard. "Building's pretty roughed up, but other than that it should be fine. The right side is nothing but rubble". They began to walk towards the centre of the courtyard and down the cobbled path. "Velma, do you have any idea where our missing part might be in this building?" Velma started pushing and twisting buttons on her Pip-boy. "It says here there is an advanced class room with industry sized equipment. It's in the basement level, room 012"
They reached a dried up water fountain and began to head for the broken double doors up the building's stares. "It says here on my maps there should be a stairwel-"
"SHIT"
Everyone looked to Miller to see he had somehow caught on fire. They heard a bottle smash and flames lit up next to Catlin. Naruto looked to the rooftops and could see signs of movement and in the distance he could hear people yelling. "It's an ambush, defensive positions. Catlin, get Velma into cover"! Catlin grabbed Velma by the shoulder and shoved her behind the dry fountain. She used her massive, armoured body as a second layer of cover as she aimed her rifle at the roof tops. Gun fire started raining down from the eastern rooftop. Bullets started pinging from their armour. "Take this you fuckers". Naruto watched as Blake charged his Gatling laser and shot at the makeshift sandbag fort on the rooftop.
The area blew up instantly and it was covered with dust and smoke. It soon cleared and they could see blood and gore littered the smoking sandbags. "Miller you alright". Miller stoked the remaining flames on his arms and looked at Naruto. "Yes sir, just got a little warm but I am fine" Naruto looked him over and gave him a quick nod.
"AHHHHH" They snapped their attention to the building's entrance once more to see people charging out. They had a variety of makeshift weapons such as chainsaws, bats and even pool cues. Naruto aimed down his sights and could see these people for what they truly were. Savages.
They had covered themselves in rubber tires, hide and bone for armour. They looked scrawny and were littered in boils and scabs. "Light these fuckers up". Miller and Blake stood by his side. Each one pointing their weapons to form a gun line. His ears throbbed as he listened to the heavy gunfire by his side. Their enemy stood no chance and soon turned to ash, slime and gore. "CEASE FIRE" He popped his fuel cell and quickly changed it for a new one. He could still hear the hissing of Blake's Gatling Laser. He heard a small cough and saw something move in the flesh pile.
He moved closer and could see a woman crawl towards a rusty sword. He stood on her hand to prevent her from reaching the weapon. He would have heard her bones crush under his armoured foot but it was drowned out by her screams. "Who are you, why are you here"? She looked up and snarled at him. "Fuck you and fuck the brotherhood" she grunted through gritted teeth. Naruto without even aiming shot his Laser rifle and made a smelting hole through her head.
"Fuck man I just … I killed her" Naruto could only stand and look at everything around him. He was dead centre of the death and carnage they had just caused. "Sir, Sir are you okay"? He jolted when someone touched his back. He quickly turned to see it was Catlin. "Oh Catlin, yes I am good. Just a little shaken up". She nodded and looked over to Velma who was looking around frantically. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she was inputting data on her Pip-boy. Miller walked over to Blake who was on his hands and knees. He had removed his helm and was throwing up this morning's rations. Miller patted his back as he kept being sick. "Fuck man (cough) I didn't think it would be that bad" Miller could only shake his head and sigh. "Yeah man, it gets a little easier, but you never get used to it"
Naruto could see everyone was affected by the current events. How could they not? They finally made contact with outside humans, and they had eradicated them. "Alright everyone listen up. What just happened was, was fucked up. No other way to put it. In the heat of everything we lost who we were and killed these people. But let's not forget why we are here. There are hundreds of people counting on us and the success of this mission. And these people got in the way of that mission. We did what we had to do. So hold your heads high and let's get this done. Because I want to go home, back to our vault where we don't have to do this shit"
Blake stood up and put his helm back on. "Naruto is right, fuck these guys. We did what we had to. Let's get this shit over with" Blake grabbed his Gatling Laser and took point. Catlin followed him up the stairs that led to the building's entrance. Velma was about to follow when she stopped and gave Naruto a hug. "Thank you Sir. I feel so much better after what you said. I was so scared" Naruto lightly wrapped his metal arms around her and gave her a pat on the back. "You don't have to be scared, Velma. Me and the guys will always protect you" She looked up and smiled before jogging after Catlin.
They finally made it through the broken doors of the school. The dark hallways were illuminated by fires coming from rusted trash cans. "Where to Velma". Velma looked up from her pip-boy to Blake and pointed down the left side of the corridor. "Down there, we should see some stairs leading down to the basement on the right." Blake began stomping towards the stairs that Velma pointed too, his eyes dancing across the odd shopping carts full of trash and burning wood. Miller at their back was aiming his plasma rifle down the opposite side of the hall covering their rear. They finally made it down the stairs and Velma spoke up. "Down the hall on the right should be room 012, water filtration 101." The group slowly headed to the classroom, all of them sending a silent prayer that the part they were looking for was in their. Blake stopped and gestured to Miller to take point going in. Miller put his hand on the door and looked behind him to see Catlin at his back ready to follow. He slowly entered and looked left while Catlin stepped in and looked right. "Clear" was all Miller said before the group stepped fully into the room.
Naruto was the last to enter and sighed when he saw the state of the room. The chalk board that hung on the left side of the wall was full of graffiti. Crude pictures of monsters and people fighting each other made for a gory picture. The busted desks were piled up into one corner and the floor was littered with makeshift sleeping mats. Empty beer bottles and needles danced across the floor as they made their way to the back of the class. "Funking junkies" hissed Blake as he too looked around the room in disgust.
Velma approached a giant machine in the back of the room and quickly began inspecting it. "This is an early model of the filtration system we have at the vault. These models were used on submarines but the tech is all the same. It should have the component we need." Those few words filled the squad with hope. They eagerly watched Velma open the machine and began to look through its mechanical organs. She smiled and plucked out what looked like a circuit board. It was about the size of a terminal screen, its green body was littered with silver and gold wires and it had a blue bulb on the right corner. Velma's smile quickly died however when she noticed a small hole in the centre of the board.
"I am sorry sir, this is the part but it's of no use." She dropped it to the floor and put her hands behind her head in frustration. Naruto and Blake walked to the other side of the machine and Naruto sighed in frustration. On the flat side of the machine was a crudely drawn black and red target. It was littered with bullet holes and all of them looked to have gone through the machine. Naruto watched as blake kicked a chair in frustration and listened as he shouted "Fucking savages man". Naruto rubbed the top of his helm and sighed "Well squad, it looks like we have one more stop to make before we get to go home".
The squad groaned in frustration and began to file out of the room. Velma stopped and looked up to him. "Sorry sir, i really thought we had found a good one" Naruto smiled inside of his helm and shook his head. "You don't have to be sorry Velma, it's not your fault. We still have Vault 09 to check out. If anywhere has that part it's Vault 09". They quickly made their way to the Vertibird and began to settle in for their next destination. "Sir, what do you have to report". Naruto lifted Velma into the side of the Vertibird before pressing the side of his helm to respond to Richard. "Part found Richard, but it's busted. Set coordinates for Vault 09".
Richard gave no response, he just turned on the Vertibirds propellers and waited for Naruto to get in. With a grunt Naruto pulled himself into the Vertibird and plopped into a seat next to Miller. He removed his helm, listening to it hiss as the pressure of his armour was released. He looked to the squad and frowned when he noticed the mood was sour. The silence was deafening, the only thing they could hear was the low thrum of the propellers outside the bird's hull. He rubbed his yellow locks before addressing the squad. "So… How's everyone's day going"? It was a weak attempt to brighten the mood he knew, but what else could be said. Blake shook his head from the gunner seat and chuckled. "Oh just fuckin peachy Sir". He looked at Catlin and Velma and both of them gave weak smiles. "Could be better Sir". He nodded his head and grinned before looking to his left at Miller.
"What about you Miller"? Miller shot him a fierce glare before looking at his own hands. "I'm in no mood for idle talk … Sir". Naruto's grin fell off his face. He put his hand on Miller's back and looked at the squad. "Look, I know this mission hasn't been easy. We haven't found the part yet but am sure it's in vault 09". Miller slapped his hand off his back and looked at him with fury. "And what if it's not, what then. Our people will run out of water, we will most likely have to come to the surface where fucking savages roam freely. Are we to wonder the wastes forever to find some fuckin circuit board and hope to go back to the vault … are we destined to fight savages all our lives. You dont even sound the least concerned, making jokes at a times like this when the fate of our people hangs in the balance"
The group looked at Miller in shock. Out of all of the recruits, Miller was the best. The most able, the most proud and the most dutiful. It was rare to see such emotion from the man. Naruto stared him down after his outburst before looking out of the open side of the vertibird. He watched a mixture of grey clouds and dead naked trees blitz by. "I understand your fear Miller, believe me I do. But don't think for a second I am not worried about our people's future. I dread to think of us not finding the part we need for the vault. If we don't find the part then we are doomed to resurface. But I have hope, I believe we can survive anything because we are survivors. If the parts not at vault 09 then so be it, we won't give up. I will kill a thousand savages if I have to. If it meant our people survived. The difference between me and you is I am not sulking like a beat dog. I keep my mind to the task and hope, hope for the best."
Miller looked around to the group and could see them all relax at hearing Naruto's words. He looked back to Naruto and he could see the fire in his eyes as he looked out to the waste. "Forgive me sire, I spoke out of turn. You're right, it's just I worry for the future of us. For our people, so many depend on us". Naruto put both of his hands on his shoulders and smiled. "I know Miller, believe me I know. I feel it too, but our people trust us to protect them and that's what we will do. We will fight and keep fighting for our people … and i will make sure you dont look so fuckin grim about it." Everyone including Miller chuckled at his final remark. Miller looked up at the smiling Naruto and nodded his head. "Thank you Sir. I appreciate it". The group smiled at the moment between the two, it was after all a heartwarming moment. The moment broke however when they all heard Richards voice play through the tannoy. "Vault 09 is approaching, I will land just outside the main entrance. Get ready, squad." Naruto placed Miller's plasma rifle in his arms and turned to grab his helmet. "Alright squad, if any of you believe in god, start fucking praying the parts in this vault" Blake once again jumped off the bird and ran towards the Vaults entrance, scanning the area for any threats. He could see the small hill that entombed the vaults entrance and could see the checkpoint stations before the vault door. He turned to see his squad mates climbing down from the vertibird and pointed to the hilltop.
"Looks like this vault was built under a small ridge Sir. Both checkpoints look abandoned". Naruto walked past him and approached the first checkpoint with caution. "We thought that about the last place and we were proven wrong. Keep your eyes peeled, we don't need another ambush". The crew followed close behind as they passed the second checkpoint. All around them they could see chard skeletons, makeshift weapons and exploded cars. They finally saw the huge vault door of vault 09, they climbed the metal stairs leading to the door control panel and found more dead bodies on the ground.
"These corpses look fresh, mutilated but fresh." Miller was right of course. The bodies, covered in leather armour all looked freshly killed. Some were filled with bullet holes, others looked to be killed by melee, if the missing limbs were any indication. "More fuckin savages". Said Blake, Naruto looked to velma who looked to be tinkering with the vault control panel. "We can only assume, it doesn't matter. Whatever did this to these men will soon be ash." The group watched as Velma hooked her Pip-boy up to the control panel. She smiled and quickly unplucked herself from the panel. They all listened as the door sirens began to buzz, yellow lights began to flash and they could hear metal grinding metal. They watched as the vault key moved from the rafters and began to drill into the centre of the vault door. Eventually the drilling stopped and the cog shaped door began to roll left, revealing the insides of the vault. They were about to enter when Miller shouted. "Stop, look at your helmet display. This vault has traces of radiation." Naruto looked at his helmet's hud and true to Miller's word, his geiger counter was flicking upwards. Blake chuckled and rolled his shoulders. "What of it, these suits will give us protection from the radiation." Catlin sighed and looked at Velma. "And what of Velma, she isn't in power armour." Velma smiled before digging through her satchel at her side. "Not to worry, I have this." She proudly pulled out a gas mask and began to strap it onto her face. "Is that gonna keep you safe, the radiation levels are pretty high" She smiled through her foggy mask and held her thumb up. "It should be fine for a short while, plus if any of us get irradiated we have radaways ready to go". Naruto smiled at the perky girl and her attitude. "Ok now that that's sorted, let's go in. all form up around Velma, she will guide us to the filtration system."
The group finally began its descent into the vault. Taking careful steps as they began to traverse the vault's metal corridors. Catlin at the front with her rifle aimed in front looked around in confusion. "Why haven't we seen anyone? Surely the vault dwellers would have approached us by now." Blake on the rear looked over his shoulder. "Maybe they are setting up an ambush." Naruto on Velma's right shook his head. "No, look at the lights, they are red. Vaults only do that when they go into lock down. If you look closely, you will see blood and scorch marks on the walls".
The group nodded at Naruto's words. Evidence of fighting could be seen all around, piles of human meat and pools of blood sat in many of the corners of the corridors. The deeper they went into the vault, they could see windows all covered in grime and blood. When looking in, they could see metal tables full of mutated bodies and horrid creatures that looked to be human. "Sir, do you know what's going on here". Naruto looked at the deformed bodies and gagged in his helm. "To be honest Blake, I have no idea. By the looks of things, radiation must have gotten into the vault. Mutation must have happened to these poor souls before they died. Look at your geiger counters, the radiation is getting heavier."
Velma broke them off their conversation by pointing at the end of the corridor "Ok this is the centre of the vault, through the left door should lead us to facilities." True to her word, the group could see a door. Above it was a grim soot covered sign "Facilities". Catlin pressed the door panel on the right and they watched it slowly open. Their eyes widening at what they saw before them. A Hulking creature standing easily nine feet tall, its green body exposed. Only clothing it wore was its crude hide pants, his huge muscles wet with sweat and bulging veins of blue threatened to burst from them. It turned to them and they could see its huge square teeth snarl at them.
"HUMAN"!
With a roar it pushed Catlin back before aiming its wooden rifle at her. It opened fire and the sounds of bullets hitting metal echoed through the halls. Naruto stepped in front of Velma as he watched the green beast shoot at Catlin. Catlin shrugged off the bullets and aimed her rifle at the beast. She opened fire and they all watched its green head explode in bone and brain matter. It quickly fell to the floor with a thud and the group sighed in relief. "W-What the fuck was that". Screamed Blake, Velma, who was breathing rapidly in her mask, knelt down to look at the creature. "It looks humanoid, my guess is it's a mutant due to the radiation". Laser fire snapped their attention behind them, they looked to see Blake firing his gatling laser at two more of the mutants that came up behind them.
The mutants quickly turned to ash and mutilated flesh in the hellfire that came from Blake. "There must be more of them them in this fucking place. We need to find the part quickly and get the fuck out of here". Screamed Miller over the laser fire. Catlin reloaded her gun and turned to Velma. "Velma do you think you ca-**Squeltch**
The group looked on in horror as a crude looking sword crashed down onto Catlins helm. Cutting through the metal and sunk into her skull, the sword roughly getting ripped from her head. They watched as her body slowly fell to the ground. Behind her stood another green mutant, its angry breathing ragged. It raised its sword in the air ready to strike down the now trembling Velma, who looked like a child compared to the beast. Velma looked up in fear and closed her eyes waiting for the blow to come.
She heard a primal roar and opened her eyes to see the armoured form of Naruto Charged and tackle the beast. They both fell to the floor, Naruto on top of the mutant. Naruto roared and bashed the mutants face in with his powered hands. She turned around to see Blake and Miller still firing at the approaching mutants that seemed to come from nowhere. Naruto picked up the scrap metal sword from the mutant and shoved it right through the eye of the thrashing mutant on the floor.
He slowly stood up and turned to the rest of the group. Velma didn't know if she was seeing things, but from the looks of it, Naruto's eyes seemed to glow red behind his helm lenses. With a roar he ran down the hallway past Velma, past Blake and Miller and towards the two remaining mutants. Blake and Miller stopped their firing and watched in horror and Naruto Charged at the mutants with a crude sword in hand. Bullets pinged off his armour. Some penetrating his armour gaps and digging into his flesh. He didn't stop however and swung the blade, cleaving the head off one mutant. The other jumped at him, causing them to fall to the floor. They both tussled on the floor before Naruto grabbed it by the head. Using his thumbs he pushed them into the eyes of the beast causing it to cry out in pain. He pushed the mutant off him and straddled the now thrashing monster. He began punching it in the face. Over and over he punched until he felt someone grab his right arm. He turned ready to pounce on the person that grabbed him, but stopped when he saw it was Miller. "Sir, enough, its fucking dead". Naruto looked back down to the mutant to see its head was no longer there. All that remained was paste and a growing pool of blood. With a huff he stood up and looked down the hall to see Velma crying over the corps of Catlin. He walked down the hall and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. She looked up at him with tear filled eyes. "Sir, she, she's dead". Naruto nodded solemnly before turning to Miller. "Miller go into Facilities and make sure no more of these fuckin mutants are waiting". The man nodded before stomping off into facilities.
He looked back down at Velma and sighed. "Velma, I am sorry. We will take her back with us when we go home. Everyone will know that she died defending us." The girl weakly nodded before standing up. Miller stepped up to them and pointed through the door. "It's all clear Sir". Naruto nodded before looking at Blake. "Blake, we're going in. you stay here and watch over Catlin". Blake only gave a nod before staring down the hallway again. The three of them stepped into facilities and looked around for the part. Velma slowly made her way over to the water filtration system and began to look around the machine for the part.
She gave a weak smile and pulled something out of the machine. "Sir, I have found the part. It's intact". Naruto sighed with relief and nodded to Velma. "Well done Velma, let's get going". He turned to leave but heard Miller approach him from behind. "Sir look". He turned to see Miller holding the part that Velmer was just holding. He looked back to Velma to see her still holding the part. "A spare" was all Velma said, as she took the part from Miller and put it in her satchel. She walked back over to Catlins body and knelt down to get closer to her. They all stood over her and bowed their heads in silence. "Did we get the part"? Blake asked. Naruto looked to him and nodded. "We got two of them". Blake sighed and looked at Catlin. "Good, I would have hated all of this to have been for nothing". Naruto nodded and looked to the squad. "Catlin died a hero, i will make sure the whole Vault knows of her sacrifice. She will be remembered" They all nodded and at the same time spoke. "She will be remembered".
Wow what a chapter. I hope you all liked it, thanks again for reading and following the story. I have seen some suggestions and I will be taking them on board. If you have any thoughts please let me know and I will gladly read them. Thanks again and please review, I will see you in the next chapter.