Bloody Gale, Queen of the Wasteland

Chapter 1: Co-op Wallop

"RAIDERS! RAIDERS ARE COMING!" the settlement look-out shouted. The Sunshine Tidings co-op settlement had only been established a mere month ago with their numbers and armaments small compared to their growth. They'd been lucky enough so far as to not be targeted but a few times, but every encounter was more than enough to leave them all living in fear. A stout man came out from the shed clad in full leather armor, a flannel and jeans resting beneath them with a rifle sling over his shoulder.

"What are their numbers?" the settlement leader called out, loading up their pipe rifle.

"Mark, it looks to be about a dozen of them. Judging by their equipment, I don't think they're here to talk,"

"Damn it, the parts to build our sentry turrets are still in transit,"

"Should we evacuate sir?"

"We've worked too hard just to let some raiders have it..." turning to the rest of the settlement, the leader gave a shout for everyone to assemble.

"Raiders are heading this way and judging by how they're equipped, they could easily wipe us out. We have two options everyone, we either evacuate and lose all of our hard work, or we fight til our last breath to show them we won't back down. I don't expect any of you to stay, but I'm going to remain here because I'll be damned if I let a bunch of raiders intimidate what we stand for!"

All of the tenants looked at one another with strong unease, as if waiting for anyone to speak on the groups behalf. A strong silence was shared, the encroach wave of footsteps growing more and more defined with every moment.

"Mark...they're almost here,"

"For shit's sake...prepare everyone to evacuate, I will confront them to stall for time,"

"Understood, quickly everyone! Gather what little bit you have and escape. Mark will stall us for time!"

Each and every member of the small settlement had a deathly gaze of shame and cowardice, clearly guilty in their decisions. Taking a long shakey breath, Mark cocked his pipe rifle to prepare for confrontation, and knowing this was to be his last moments alive, he exhaled soundly.

"It was an honor leading this settlement with you, good luck everyone," and with that, Mark made his way towards his impending doom. Getting at least a meter out from the settlement, Mark raised his rifle, a loud, but short bang left the barely, the .38 round planting itself just in front of the raiders.

"Aw isn't that cute, he thinks he's threatening," the largest of the raiders prattled, the group bursting into laughter as they kept walking towards him.

"WE WILL NOT ROLL OVER FOR YOU SCUMBAGS! COME ANY CLOSER AND YOU WILL BE FIRED UP ON!" Mark roared as loud as he could, trying to intimidate the group the best he could. One of the members with an eye patch raised the scope of his bolt-action pipe rifle to his good, and with a piercing crash of sound, it sliced right through Mark's lag, a scream of anguish leaving his lips as he was forced to kneel.

"How about I give you a counter offer, surrender to us and we'll make your deaths nice and quick, I think that's fair don't you?" the largest chuckled, Marks teeth visibly clenching as he took aim and started letting loose shot after shot, the raiders quickly dispersing into cover with fits of cocky laughter being shared between them. The anguish and pain in Mark's voice could startle any beast as he desperately hobbled over to a large rock for cover. Before hitting the dirt, another .308 round was fired, this time catching Mark's arm, nearly making him drop his rifle.

"Damn it! I don't want to go down like this!" Mark repeated to himself as he reached into his waist pouch, removing both a chem bottle and a stimpack. As gunfire pelted the rock, and pulled out a bullet to bite onto before jamming the stimpack needle into his leg, growling violently. Spitting out the bullet he, he poured the remaining three capsules of buffjet that he had, dry swallowing all of them in one gulp. The raiders removed themselves from cover as Mark waited for the chems to kick in, reloading his pipe rifle and cocking it.

"I hope this buys them enough time...!" Mark grumbled, the chems hitting him full force, allowing him to finally go out with a bang. Roaring a battle cry he hobbled out of cover, his leg slowly regaining feeling as he let loose of barrage of gunfire, catching them off guard with his sudden burst of speed.

Four splashes of blood pounded out one of the raiders, dropping him to the ground before he turned his attention to the next. In his reckless barrage he was numb to the numerous bullet wounds that pelted him, bloody holes forming in his legs, chest and gut as he refused to go down. He managed to let loose another barrage of bullets into one of the other raiders, dropping him dead before his body finally gave out on him, a pool of blood forming beneath him. With a blurry open he watched the largest put the barrel of his gun to his head, a look of sadistic joy in his face.

"I'll say this, at least you can die knowing you had the balls to go out shooting, I almost respect you for that, almost..." as Mark's vision darkened, he felt a sudden splash of fluids rain upon his face with a deafening blast erupting from the distance. As a body fell next to him, he was shocked to find he didn't have a head anymore, just a mangled mess of a neck hole with strands of blood spouting out from it.

"What the fuck was that?!" the sharpshooter shouted, Mark catching it's muffled sound in his ears before finally blacking out.

In the blink of an eye, Mark's eyes fluttered open and closed, his vision barely making out the details of a roof above him. His body felt as heavy as lead, fighting hard against his every attempt to move as pain coursed through his veins.

"Alive...? I'm...alive?" Mark thought, the pain excruciating to the point where words refused to form, only being replaced with agonizing grunts. He managed to turn his head to see a blood pack feeding into his arm, clearly keeping him stable as he laid.

"Everyone! Mark is waking up!" the familiar voice of the settlement look out rang out. In minutes, all of the settlers made their way into the room, injecting him with a substance that began to slowly numb the pain. Two of them helped him raise up into sitting position, every inch of being trying to move, finally listening to him enough to help them sit him up.

"What...the hell happened with the raiders...?"

"It was incredible! They were all executed by a person passing by! It was incredible, I've never seen someone so skilled at combat before,"

"Please stop shouting...what does this even mean?"

"Oh, sorry. But yeah, the settlement is safe and sound now thanks to their help,"

"That's nuts...is the stranger still here...?"

"Yeah, she's still here. She's making use of our work benches as we speak,"

"Please, can you bring her here so I can talk with them?"

"Sure Mark, hold on. Everyone out, give the man some room to breathe," he said as he shoo'd everyone out. Leaning back into his stale pillows, he gazed as the ceiling once more, still in shock that he was still in the world of the living. A soft knock on the door frame snapped Mark out of his trance, his eyes shifting forward to gaze upon his savior.

To his surprise, he saw a fairly tall woman clad in a steel plated jacket, its hems tattered and worn with stitched holes and rips all over it like a road map. Her hair was short and black, her face full of natural beauty, but had been molded by the cruel world in which they lived. Multiple scars and stitches were spaced upon it; one trailed from her cheek and all the way under her right eye, one ran across the opposite side of her face and a few smaller one upon her forehead and lower jaw. Her bold, ebony skin was stained with various splotches of smooth, pale skin, a clear sign of treated radiation burns with the most eye catching covering her entire eye socket like an eye patch. Her gaze was weathered and sharp, her hazy blue eyes both deadly and seductive with various weapons around her waist and strapped across and over her chest. The most distinguishing detail about her however, was a heavily used pip boy strapped to her wrist, it's screen light shining a green hue.

"I'm honestly surprised you made it, you're sturdier than you look," she chuckled, her voice smooth like a song bird as a small smile formed upon her face.

"I wouldn't say that, I'm just a stubborn bastard," Mark let out a cough as he foolishly attempted to laugh before laying his head back.

"Stubbornness pays off in the end sometimes, but it's more than likely going to get you killed out here. I normally only kill out of necessity or money, but I REALLY hate raiders so you lucked out,"

"I'll take it, thank you for the save. So...how did you manage to disperse that group of raiders...? I was out for all of that minus a headless raider collapsing next to me," the woman simply smirked as she popped her neck to the side.

"BOSS!" the raiders shouted in unison as they turned around to face the direction of the gun blast, spotting no one.

"Where the hell did that come from?!"

Looking around frantically, another loud pow shook the air from their left, another raiders head being turned into a red, chunky mist of gore. Fear was seared on their faces as they desperately tried to search for the source until finally the clattering of boots touched down from a high source. They turned to see an ebony skinned woman, a sadistic look on her face as she slung her assault rifle into her hands, immediately unleashing an automatic blitz of screaming gunfire.

All but one raider remained, his comrades riddled with bullet holes, blood splashes everywhere. Frantically he took off in a sprint away from her as she shifted her assault rifle to her and removed a large .44 magnum revolver. Looking down the sight, a toothy grin formed upon her lips before a massive boom erupted from the firearm. As of in slow motion she watched as her bullet ran at blinding speed, slicing cleanly through the back of his knee, bursting out of his kneecap, the rest of his leg destroyed and laying on the ground next to him.

As the pathetic raider screamed in agony, the wastelander slowly approached, releasing the casings from her .44 to the ground, satisfying clinks filling her ears as she removed a single .44 round from one of her many waist pouches. It was several moments before she caught up to the raider, her shadow casting over him as she stooped down to talk to his face.

"All of you raiders are just filthy creatures, preying on the weak at the drop of a hat. Tell you what...if you bark for me like a dog I'll give you chance at living,"

"Fuck you bitch! I'd rather...AGH!!"

A satisfying crack came from the raiders nose as the wastelander slammed the handle of her rather heavy pistol into.

"Careful what you say you piece of trash, I can make you a whole lot uglier,"

Bleeding out and desperate gasping for air, timid little woof sounds came gargle from his blood soak mouth, a smile curling on the wastelander's lips before revealing the singular round to him.

"Good...here's your chance," the raider cast his horrifying gaze on the revolver as the wastelander slipped in the round, the rapid clicking sound of the chamber cracking off as she spun it hard before snapping it back into place. Clenching his eyes shut, the warm tip of the barrel was placed to his forehead, the sound of the cocking hammer making his heart come to a screeching halt.

Click! Nothing happened, the raider finally releasing his breath as the wastelander shrugged her shoulders.

"Lucky you,"

She reached into her coat pocket, removing a stimpak and jamming it into what was left of his leg. A bloody gurgle escaped the through the raider's clenched teeth, the wastelander re-holstering her revolver before heading towards the settlement. Noticing the man slowly bleeding out to death, she stepped to him, kneeling down to check his pulse.

"You're a tough one aren't you?" she chuckled, removing another stimpack to stabilize him. Picking him up, she held him like a bride on her wedding day, carrying him towards all of the settlers who looked like they were ready I migrate.

"Anyone got a free bed? This guy's still alive,"

"Let's just say it was incredibly easy for me, they didn't stand a chance"

"Well thank God for that. I know that saving me wasn't exactly you wanted to do, but we could really use your help...you see we're waiting for parts to build sentry turrets, but as you saw we're incredibly vulnerable to attacks. Can you stay and protect us until then? We can scrounge up what ever we can to pay,"

"Pretty demanding aren't you? You haven't even bothered to ask my name but you want to hire me?"

"Sorry, I'm still in a bit of shock. My name is Mark, and this is the Sunshine Tidings Co-op settlement, what is your name?"

"Just call me Max"

"Alright, Max, will you help us?"

"Do you have any Nuka-Cola?"

Mark paused and cocked and eyebrow at her, the look on her face completely serious.

"I mean, yeah, we have six or so last I checked,"

Her gaze was fixated on his eyes, a pause being shared between him before a huge smile graved her face.

"Thank God! Finally! It's been weeks since I've gotten my hands on any, you have no idea how bad my cravings get. I'll take those as payment, one Nuka-Cola for each day I spend protecting you all, deal?"" Max's entire demeanor shifted into an excited child, the transitioning was incredibly jarring to say the least. Flabbergasted, Mark smiled back, trying to lean forward but immediately falling back from the intense pain.

"Deal, but, are you sure you don't want..." as Mark tried to explain, Max had already stepped out of the room, her hands raised above her head to stretch before approaching the closest settler to start reaping her pay.

"What a strange woman..."

For the next six days, the Co-op saw a tremendous increase in productivity. Walking and observing with a cane, Mark saw Max in a whole new light from just being a gun for hire.

When she wasn't patrolling the parameter, she was digging in the dirt to help with crops, teaching the various settlers how to better handle their guns and improving their aim, even going so far as to help repair building and telling stories to the few children that inhabited the settlement. It was like she was super human, never stopping to rest aside of 2 hour long naps.

By the sixth day, all of the turrets had been built, the settlement was flourishing and all Max wanted in return was soda, just soda. Shaking hands with Mark, he placed a hand on her shoulder in a gesture of kindness.

"You truly are a hero to us Max, thank you so much for everything you've done to help around here,"

"I'm not a hero, but I was glad to help. I'll be sure to stop by if I'm ever in the area again,"

"Please do, you'll be welcomed with open arms,"

"So in truth I just arrived here, is there any inhabited cities I could take refuge in for awhile,"

"It's a little far away, but there's a small but we'll protected settlement to the east called Covenant, I heard they welcome travelers very kindly,"

"Thanks a lot, take care of yourself Mark,"

The happy expression that Max had been wearing for the past six began to fade, giving him a nod before turning away, making her way to parts unknown. In the midst of her leaving, a folded piece of paper fell out from her coat. Max, now recovered ran to grab the piece of paper calling out to Max that she had dropped something. She simply ignored his words, raising her hand to wave towards him who could only see the back of the her coat. Opening the piece of paper, he suddenly felt a cold sweat from the contents revealed, it was a wanted poster drawn up by some raider group he hadn't heard of with a photo realistic drawing of Max's face.

"Posting by the raiders of the Capital Wasteland. Wanted: Maxine Gale. Alias: Bloody Gale. Height: 5'10", Skin Color: Dark Brown, Age: 24. Wanted dead or alive. Bounty expiration date: Until captured or killed. Bounty: 5,000 caps. Bloody Gale is wanted for the ruthless killing of hundreds of raiders and dozens of encampments across the Capital Wasteland as well assassinating various high ranking officials within the local chapters of the Brotherhood of Steel. Must be returned to the Capital Wasteland to receive the reward. She was last seen headed towards the Commonwealth Dated..."

"This...was only a few years ago...there's no way..."

Mark looked up to follow Max out of sight before returning his gaze to the poster, too shocked to think. He didn't realize he had let such a monster into his settlement, but he was glad that he did. He crumpled up the poster and tossed it aside, returning back to his settlement that Bloody Gale had saved.