Chapter 18 - Boston

Two days later the team left the Fenway Park Stadium and headed off towards downtown Boston. Making their way through Back Bay East, they had planned on taking a left at Boston Common and up into the West End. The Cabot Residence was located in Beacon Hill, being tucked between the Charles River Dam Bridge and the Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge. The day was bright, the sun was out and the sky, a vivid blue was scattered with high wispy clouds. There was a light breeze, which was welcome, as walking through the streets in the high summer heat was not pleasant.

As Cait approached the common, she signalled for the team to halt. They had spread out allowing them to sneak past a couple of raider groups, holed up inside some of the more serviceable buildings of Back Bay. Boston itself had not taken a direct hit to this part of the city, the closest crater was to the south of bay Village. This meant that many of the buildings in this part of the city were still intact, or at least most of the structures were still standing. Some of the skyscrapers were nothing but skeletons, the blasts having stripped them of almost all of their outer shell. These steel giants standing as monuments to the war, their exposed girders groaning eerily as the structures swayed ever so slightly in the breeze. With so many places to hide, this made travelling in the Back Bay area particularly dangerous. Many raider gangs had made these long-abandoned streets their home. Thankfully raiders were as keen to take chunks out of each other as they were a group of unsuspecting travellers, so they tended to stay close to their homes, only venturing out to go on raids. Today, things had been quiet for the team so far.

Nate moved up to where Cait was kneeling. "Can you see the APC, at the bottom of the street," Cait whispered to Nate, indicating towards the end of the road.

Nate held up his rifle and looking down the scope, aimed it to where Cait was pointing. There was an old, prewar army vehicle parked on the corner of the street they were on. These six wheeled armoured personnel carriers had a turret on their roof and two smaller, ball mounted machine guns pointing out from the driver and commanders cabin. In the back there was space to carry six troops, in full power armour, who accessed the vehicle through a ramp at the rear. This vehicle looked like it was part of a roadblock, set up at the time the government had imposed a curfew on all civilians, soon after the first bombs fell.

"The back ramp is down, and I can see a large ammo crate," Cait continued. "Wanna take a look?" She smiled. Nate turned and signalled to Curie and Piper to join them.

"Cait and I are just going to take a look at the APC," Nate told Curie and Piper. "Cover us from here and across the road." Nate ordered, indicating the places he wished the girls to provide cover from.

Curie nodded and, watching the rest of the team fan out to cover her move, she scampered across the road, to take up position on the far corner of the street. Once there she signalled a thumbs up to the team and Cait and Nate began patrolling down towards the APC.

"It's quiet," commented Cait, her tone reflecting her concern.

Nate arrived at the rear of the army vehicle and peered inside. Cait was right, there was a large ammo case sat in the back. Before Nate got any closer, he examined the outside of the crate, looking for telltale signs of traps, such as loose wires. Nate turned to hand his rifle to Cait and then crept into the back of the vehicle and up to the drab green ammo box. Giving the entire crate another examination, Nate undid the two catches and slowly lifted the lid. The box was full of grenades, twelve in total, all still resting in their original crumpled paper cases. Nate and Cait took six each stuffing them into their backpacks.

Just then, Curie whistled, signalling that she had seen something. Taking his rifle back from Cait, the two of them made their way around to the front of the APC and began scanning in the direction Curie had indicated. Nate saw it soon enough, a body lying on the ground, at one of the entrances to the park. It was a sad fact, but bodies didn't stay around for long in Boston, as the city streets were full of creatures who wouldn't pass up an offer of a good meal like this. In his mind this was either a new body or a trap.

Nate gave the hand signal for Curie and Piper to join him as he broke cover and began making his way to the body. The girls, following behind spaced themselves out, far enough apart to reduce the chances of them all being hit in a surprise attack. This was one of the drills that Nate had taught them from early on in their training.

As Nate approached the body, he could see a large bolder off to one side that had been smashed against the pavement. Looking around he spotted another one lodged into the bent railings that ran around this area of the park. Each bolder was the size of a cigarette vending machine. Whatever had thrown these was obviously much larger than a normal human. Once Nate had reached the body, he could see it was of a scavenger, his pipe pistol still in his hand. It was a hard life living in the post-apocalyptic wasteland for everyone, but scavenging was a particularly dangerous job. These folks, either living in a settlement or working on their own, would travel the streets searching for anything they could scavenge, to then sell on for a few caps. Cait soon joined Nate and began looking through the scavenger's pack for anything they could use.

Cait was about to speak when suddenly the ground began to shake and there was an ear-splitting roar. There was a rush of water and from the centre of the lake emerged a huge green monster. Called behemoths by Boston's locals, these creatures were oversized super mutants, standing at least three times the size of their smaller cousins. They had very little intelligence and a habit of throwing boulders the size of brahmin at you if you got too close. This one had obviously made Swans Pond its home and had taken umbrage at the arrival of Nate's party. At least the mystery of what killed this scavenger had been solved, Nate thought as he and Cait ran for cover back behind the APC.

Nate looked over to the other side of the street where Curie had been. He could see that she had moved and was wondering where to until he heard sounds of two weapons opening up, just the other side of the boat shed. Central to Boston Common was its pond, which in the summer, before the war, used to host boat rides on specially constructed pontoon pleasure boats decorated as swans. He and Nora had taken one soon after they had got engaged. That seemed a very long time ago to Nate. Ripped from his reminiscing by a boulder exploding against the other side of the APC, rocking the whole vehicle, Nate knew the Behemoth was still concentrating on him and Cait and not the boat house where Piper and Curie were hiding.

Seeing Cait was about to lean around from her cover to open up on the monster, Nate halted her, "Wait." He commanded.

Cait threw Nate a questioning look but she did as she was told, moving back into cover. Nate waited and was rewarded by further weapons fire coming from the other girls position. Nate then ventured a look and sure enough, after a few seconds the dim witted creature turned its attention towards the boat house.

Seeing his opportunity Nate turned to Cait, "Grenades," was all he mouthed. Cait nodded and in tandem, leaving cover either side of the APC, the two of them began hurling grenades towards the giant creature. Behemoths usually only wore loin cloths and this one had a fire hydrant in its hand which it was wielding like a club. Fixed to its back was a huge net that contained a number of sizeable boulders. Nate watched as it took one of these rocks from the bag and threw it at the boat house. It exploded through the roof, showering the ground around the shed with broken tiles and plaster. Reaching into his bag Nate took the first grenade and quickly removing its packaging, he pulled the pin, looked over to Cait and nodded. In unison they launched their first salvo to land at the feet of the behemoth. Whilst Nate saw that the grenades had landed just inside the water, He hoped the shallow depth would allow the grenade to do some damage.

Whether injured or just irritated, the behemoth screamed in rage and turned towards the source of the grenades. Just then Piper and Curie sent another volley of shots into the creature, and it turned again, back to the boathouse. Just the diversion Nate needed.

"Again!" Shouted Nate as he pulled another grenade from his pack. Cait followed suit and another round of grenades landed close to the behemoth, these ones exploding on the grass directly underneath the massive creature. It bellowed in pain and anger, obviously somewhat overwhelmed by being attacked from two sides. As Nate had never covered drills for dealing with one of these creatures, the fact that Piper and Curie had moved, giving the team two angles of fire, was an act of accidental genius. Another ear shattering crash against the APC brought Nate out of his premature celebration, the thing wasn't dead yet.

"These ones are going to have to be blind, ok?" Nate shouted to Cait, as he unwrapped another grenade.

Cait gave the smile and began to prepare her third grenade as well.

"Now!" Nate shouted and the two of them lobbed their grenades over the APC in the general direction they thought the Behemoth would be. An explosion followed and they were rewarded with another, lower, growl of pain. Nate risked another look and the monster looked in a bad way. He estimated that it must have taken over one hundred rounds of ammunition into it so far. These creatures were enormous and very difficult to kill but not invincible.

Cait moved up beside Nate, "one more each, from out there?" She indicated the spot she had thrown the first two Grenades from. Weighing up the risk against reward, believing that this last salvo may well be enough to finish this creature off, he nodded.

"Now!" He commanded and stepped out from behind cover, Cait doing the same.

The Behemoth was on its knees, scrabbling behind its back, desperately trying to grab one final rock. Nate looked over to what was left of the boathouse and could see it had taken more direct hits from the massive boulders and was a mess. He hoped the other girls were ok. They loosed their grenades, this volley again exploding on the ground almost directly underneath the creature. The team watched as the creature died in the dust and debris that followed.

Nate indicated to Cait to begin to make her way up the side of the park towards the boat house. They were greeted by Piper and Curie coming down to join them. Seemingly unharmed but covered in dust.

"You guys ok?" asked Cait, pure relief sounding in her voice.

"Yeah," gasped Piper, breathing hard after her sprint, "I ran as fast as I could to you guys as I wasn't sure that thing was dead."

"That was a Behemoth, yes?" Asked Curie, who was brushing dust off herself.

"Yes," Nate confirmed. "I have only seen one once before and that was at a distance. Well done you guys, smart thinking opening up two fronts on that thing. Once it was being attacked from two sides it didn't know where to look."

"Thanks Blue, I would love to say it was planned and … you know, tactical and all that, but when I saw that thing I just ran." Piper was getting her breath back.

"Well, none the less, a fantastic move from both of you." Nate smiled at Curie.

"Shall we go?" Curie started to look around, obviously worried someone might show up having heard the noise.

"I'd say we have about ten minutes before the curious risk a peek. If this creatures has been here for a while no one else would be daft enough to be within a few blocks of this place." Nate began walking towards the body of the Behemoth. Cait and I will check this, can you two take a look at what is left of the boathouse?"

"Sure," Piper replied, shaking some dust from her hair. "So, this is what I'll look like when I'm old and grey." She smirked.

Moving towards the body of the oversized super mutant, Nate was hit by that rotten flesh stench. Grabbing his pot of Tiger Balm, he could see Cait was doing the very same thing.

"What are we looking for?" Cait asked.

"No idea," Nate answered honestly, "but they are said to be hoarders, so it might have something of interest."

Sure enough there was a smaller bag, hanging next to the netting full of rocks. This bag was about the size of Nate, and looked like it had been fashioned from tent material. The outer casing had been turned upside down, bunched together and tied off with rope. Nate feeling sorry for the previous owner of this tent, imagining the sheer horror if that owner was inside when the Behemoth had taken a liking to it.

"Shit, I wouldn't have wanted to be in that tent when this thing grabbed it." Cait mused, obviously thinking the very same thing Nate was. She made quick work of the side of the bag, slicing it open with her knife. Cait then absentmindedly twirled the knife skilfully in her hand, before sliding it into its scabbard. Nate often found himself forgetting Cait's origins as a cage fighter, where being good at knife skills would have meant the difference between life and death. How far she had come, he thought. From the highly strung, suspicious and almost feral young woman he had first met at the Combat Zone, high on whatever junk she could shoot into her arm, to this young confident, professional soldier beside him. Nate was suddenly overwhelmed by a desire to gather Cait into his arms and just stand there with her.

"You ok?" Cait asked softly, snapping Nate back to reality.

"Er, yeah, I am," Nate gave her a smile. "Let's see what Swan had on him." Nate moved to inspect the contents of the tent.

"Swan?" Cait asked, looking puzzled.

Nate pointed at the behemoth's head, which had smashed into one of the Swan pleasure craft as it fell. The wings of the swan that were either side of the boat were now either side of its ears, making the boat look like a hat. Cait nodded and chuckled.

Inside the makeshift bag was an assortment of weapons, six in total. Three ammo boxes and a number of smaller items of junk. The only piece that was of real interest was a Mr GiddyUp toy horse. These robotic toy horses were all the rage before the war, with kids from around four being able to ride them like you would a real horse. Given the number of accidents had on one of these Nate had never been a fan. In the present day, however, the components of this toy would be worth at least a few hundred caps.

Piper and Curie returned with a stash of caps, six hundred and thirty in total, a couple of fusion cores and some old bank notes. Overall the haul was quite impressive, Nate estimating near to fifteen hundred in total.

"We will need to break down this horse before its ready to carry, what time is it?" Nate asked, obviously making up his mind what to do next.

"Nearly four," Curie replied, "should we find somewhere for the night?" She asked.

"Yes, I think so," Nate responded, "grab everything and let's head to the underground entrance." Nate pointing to the far side of the common. Boston underground had stations in every district but much of the tunnel system had long since collapsed, creating small sanctuaries in some of the underground stations, that was if there were not already occupied.

Arriving at the steps down to this part of the underground network, Nate could see that large rusting chains hung between the door handles, indicating that this entrance to the network had not been open for many years, if not centuries. The only concern now was were there other entrances? Instinctively Cait moved forward to take a look at the lock. She turned back to the team, who were up at ground level offering cover. She made an action like you would using garden sheers and Curie immediately stood up and headed down the steps, pulling out the bolt cutters she carried in her back pack. In a swift motion, but with a little too much noise for Nates liking, the chain was off.

Nate held his hand up, signalling the team to freeze, each person listening for any signs of life. Curie put her ear to the door and rested there for a good minute. She then waved her hand across her throat, signalling to Nate and Piper that she couldn't hear anything. The team made their way into the station, still patrolling in with all caution. It soon became apparent that this part of The Boston Common station had collapsed and only a small room, the old ticket hall, remained useable. Roof collapses blocked the entrance to the platform and into the back office part.

"This'll do nicely," Cait commented, setting down her backpack and the Mr GiddyUp.

"Got the gas stove, Curie?" Nate enquired, seeing that an open fire wouldn't be a good idea down here.

"Oui monsieur," Curie nodded as she unpacked the items she would need to prepare the evening meal.

"I'll take first watch, but do you want to come up with me Piper, just to do a quick sweep?" Nate asked, thinking it might be a good opportunity to check in with her as they hadn't had a chat on their own for a while.

"I'll come," Cait jumped up from where she was sat, going through and storing some of their finds.

Nate shrugged, "okay," he agreed.

As he and Cait turned to head to the door Piper smiled. "Finally," she said quietly.

"Hmm?" Curie looked at Piper, "what was that?" She hadn't heard what Piper had said.

As Nate and Cait left the station Piper smiled at Curie, "those two, surely you have seen it?" She quizzed back.

"Seen what?" Curie asked, not understanding Pipers meaning.

"The way they have been looking at each other, the lingering touches, the increased teasing of each other. If those two don't feel something for each other then I'm a mole rat." Piper exclaimed, describing the small burrowing rodents that were common in Boston.

"Oh!" Exclaimed Curie, "I had no idea," a look of genuine surprise on her face.

"I really hope something does happen with those two, they are great together even if they don't realise it." Piper stares into the flames of the stove.

Curie smiled at the door the pair had just exited, "I had no idea, you really think they have feelings for each other."

"Oh, god yes, no doubt about it, let's hope one of them has the brains to figure it out." Piper exclaimed, opening a tin for Curie.

"But are you not worried that things might change, if they do become an item?" Curie asked, showing her knack of getting to the heart of things without getting bogged down in tact or diplomacy.

"Are you?" The reporter turning the question back on Curie.

"I don't think so," Curie shrugged, "it will be quite nice to have some love in the team, don't you think."

"No concern over a change in the dynamic?" Piper continued to probe.

"Well, I trust Nate and know Cait is just as passionate about keeping the team together as we are, so why would they risk all of that." Curie smiled "we could always ask them, if we are concerned."

"I love Nate, I really do," Piper looked at Curie, "but it's the same love I have for you and Cait. Don't get me wrong, he has a great ass and looks dreamy in just a towel but come to think of it, so do you and Cait," she laughed.

"I think they will be fine and as you say, if we have concerns we can always talk about it." Piper took over the stirring of the stew as Curie prepared a few more ingredients.

©Agoodhiding 2023