Blood from Vault 18
Chapter 6
Wasteland food retrieval
The first one to react to Kieron's little joke was Kira who nodded "You know I know you're just joking but we need to find some food like ASAP. This little "community" of ours wont last long if we all die of starvation or dehydration"
Jamie rolled her eyes "Always the optimist I see Kira"
"I am just stating the facts" Kieron stood up before the argument could escalate and opened one of the lockers to his left "Things are already looking up! Found a Nuka Cola!" Kieron said with a large smile, the only that sort of smiled was Jenn "Yay" she said as everyone turned to look at her.
Kira grabbed the bottle and smelled it and shrugged "Smells fine, but I don't think it will be possible for everyone to drink from this"
Kieron nodded "I know, but it's better than nothing. Give us some energy to search for food" Ben eyed the drink and then shook his head "Be wary of that, it might be tainted by the passage of time or worse" Jenn used her PipBoy to do a rudimentary scan of the drink.
"Radioactive" she muttered as Kieron gulped a bit "And how radioactive are we talking?" Jenn snorted "Barely enough to cause real harm but you should me mindful of that, here I swiped some RadAways from the pharmacy while you were fooling around with bugs" Kieron smiled at her. "Thanks Jenn, but let's save them for a more critical. Some radiation wont kill me at the moment" being the first to give it a small sip he let out a satisfied sigh.
Erick studied him for a second "Taste good?"
"Fantastic, a little warm but other than that it tastes just like the one in the Vault" a sad smile began to form on his lips as the emotions he kept burying tried to surface, but he pushed them aside as he focused on the main priority: survive. Kieron looked around and grasped one of the weapons that someone had left behind. A dusty hunting shotgun and a couple of shells was what he ultimately decided would best suit him and he placed it on his back "Right, here's what I am thinking. We split up, Jenn check every inch of this house, Kira help B- I mean Kurtz in the area around the house and Eric you're the one that knows the most about botany so maybe you and Jamie can try to gather some useful herbs"
Kira frowned "And what about you?"
"I will check out the area, I spotted something behind the house and I want to check it out"
Everyone nodded and set out to do their respective tasks, Kieron made a beeline to the back of the house as he stared at the mountain that separated them from the rest of the world. Black Bear lodge was beautiful, the morning sun hung high above them, illuminating everything and creating quite the peaceful atmosphere it was too bad that on the sky a dark cloud of smoke could bee seen for miles.
His home, now reduced to nothing more than rubble and radioactive waste.
"No… look for food. Survive" Kieron forced himself to tear his eyes away from the cloud as he began to search for anything that might help him complete his current goal, passing by a crafting table to the side he grabbed one of the pieces of scrap metal and wondered what the people that used to live here were building. It had been a long time he mussed to himself, the pieces of rust were a dead giveaway but what mattered more was the shovel that was to the side of the bench.
Kiron grabbed it and gave it a small twirl, the dirt on it falling to the ground. Someone had used this before they left, looking around he spotted a small mound of dirt that did not look all that natural. "Look at that" Kieron muttered to himself as he spotted a large hole on the ground. Even if he was not the smartest cookie around he knew that this was most likely a grave, the grass to the side of the hole looked uneven so using the shovel he began to dig for more clues, his shovel bounced when he hit what sounded like wood, using his hands he began to moved it around and he found what he was looking for. A name lovingly carved into the cover of were the remains of a loved one "Sorry, I just needed to be sure" Kieron apologized and began to fill the grave once more.
Two graves, one empty.
"What happened to the other person?" he muttered to himself as he looked around for clues, following the small trail from the graves to the house Kieron paid close attention to the ground and in a small rock underneath the barely existing ceiling he found his answer, a bloody footprint leading to the side of the house. The teen hummed as he wondered where this person was heading, mimicking the pattern he was surprised when he heard the sound of wood creaking under his feet, using his hands to push the leaves and dirt out of the way.
Kieron's eyes widened as he spotted the door of what looked like to be a cellar, reaching for his shotgun he prepared himself as he let out a shaky breath, opening the door to the darkness bellow the smell of humidity made him cough but what worried him the most was the pools of dried blood on the ground. Walking down the stairs he felt the temperature around him grow colder as if he was walking inside a refrigerator, as he reached the bottom of the stairs he prepared himself for the worst and turned his PipBoy light on.
Only wooden boxes greeted him as he allowed himself to relax "Ok… ok" he looked around trying to see if the body of the person was around but he could not seem to find it, the blood on the entrance the only clue that a person had been here before. "But the body could not vanish just like that" Kieron said as his hand rested on one of the wooden boxes to his side, shaking it a bit he heard the distinct sound of glass bottles on the inside. Using his brute strength he forced it open and reached inside, pulling out one of the bottles Kieron was greeted by a somewhat familiar sight "Beer" the old people in the vault always complained that the machine could never get it right and that it tasted synthetic compared to the ones that the one Doctor Rossman brought them, to him and the rest of the rebellious lads the taste of that beer was the only they had ever known so curiosity got the best of him and he opened the bottle and gave it a small sip. "Holy shit" the difference really was night and day, it was stronger than anything he had tried but he liked the taste better "Guess the old folks really knew what they were talking about "
Right, one drink down. A lot more things that still needed to be covered, so he began to open more boxes to see if they held the key to his salvation. Magazines and some trash seemed to be what comprised the majority of the things down here but he hit the jackpot when he opened a box and found canned goods. It seemed like their food problems were solved for the moment, Kieron was about to leave to tell the good news when he spotted green light to the side. A small terminal hummed peacefully, putting the box down Kieron went up to it and booted up the information, pleasantly surprised that he did not need a password Kieron began to browse the files on the machine.
Data Logs and diary entries seemed to be the only thing on the machine, but the one that called his attention was one directed to the wasteland scouts, intrigued he opened the entry and began to read.
Hello Yeti, I hope that you and your family are doing fine. I am sad to say that we wont be meeting again. I know I know I promised that we would all have a last get together before one of us kicked the bucket but I am afraid that I cant keep that promise, my wife is dead. A green demon killed her Yeti… its outside, he has been stalking us for days and the moment I leave the cellar I am a dead man, so I guess I will at least go out fighting.
I love all of you, thank you for making this quiet part of the woods so fun.
"Green demon?" Kieron muttered to himself as he stepped away from the console, was it still here? "Shit" he ran out of the cellar "Jenn! You okay?!"
A small yelp sounded from the other side of the house, the blonde glared at him as she walked out of the door "What's the big idea Kieron?!" Kieron grabbed her by the waist and carried her inside, looking around he felt cold sweat drop down his brow "Stay here, the people that lived here were killed by a monster… it might be here" he added the last part as a wisper as he prepared his hunting shotgun and headed outside.
Spotting Kira on the cliff he walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder "Holy…" Kieron covered her mouth with his hand stopping her scream and made hushing noise "Head back to the house, were is Kurtz?" Kira tilted her head towards the woods, Kieron gave a small nod as he motioned back to the house and tried to sneak his way towards the forest.
Kurtz raised an eyebrow when he spotted him but quickly imitated his movements and approached him "Something going on."
"The people from this house, they were killed by a green demon. It might still be here, we need to go get Eric and Jamie ASAP" Kieron informed his friend making the tribal kid shake his head "That won't be necessary I saw them head to the house not so long ago, carrying some plants."
Kieron nodded "Good then let's get back, we need to prepare just in case" the duo quickly made their way back to the house were they closed the door, Eric was the first one to break the silence "We heard you scream, what's going on? Are we in danger?" there was a pause as Kieron looked outside "I found the previous owners of the house; they are all dead. There's blood on the cellar and a body behind the house, it was stalking them before… it might still be around"
The room grew tense as everyone looked outside with worry, Kurt hummed to himself "It might already left, I found no trail of any large animal" Kira frowned as she looked at the dark cloud behind the mountain "Maybe it's on the mountain, watching us" Jenn shuddered at that idea.
"Then maybe its best if we remain vigilant and set up a few traps" Kurtz commented, Eric rubbed the back of his head "Traps with what? Like do you want to dig a hole and cover the top with leaves?" Kieron shook his head "I don't think we need to do all that there is a cellar underneath the house, it has food and some scrap metal. Maybe it has some weapons we can use!"
The group all seemed to perk up at the mention of food "Then… we might just make it then" Jenn said as she felt her heart be at peace, even if there might be a monster outside of their new home.
A/N: Hi there, thank you for reading! Just as a heads up I will be changing the story a bit around this part of the mod, I feel like we never got to be really get to know the companions once we left the vault. So instead of just one in Pinehaven we will be staying on this are of the wasteland a little bit more, other than that the story will play out the same way you expect. See you soon!