Caution: Bright Day Ahead

Alexander Jackson pulled the Wanderer into the dusty town of Sunshine, coming to a stop outside an auto shop adjacent to a hotel. He killed the motorcycle's engine and stepped off the vehicle, brushing off the worst of the sand from his cloak. Penny opened the sidecar's door and stepped out herself, removing her sunglasses and propping them on top of her head.

The auto shop was split into two buildings; a garage on the right, a stripped pre-War car suspended on a lift. The building to the left was the office. Between the two was a narrow alley, lined with a couple metal trash cans and an old generator. AJ walked down the alley to a small square, the door to a two-story building opposite the alley. He and Penny walked up to it and entered together.

Directly ahead as he entered was an open floor, dominated by a pool table. Two men were standing by the table, cues in hand. To the left was a threshold, a bar through it. AJ went through the threshold and took a seat at the bar, his daughter climbing onto the stool next to him. A radio by a rack of tequila was turned up, 'Johnny Guitar' coming through the old speaker. The bartender saw them and came over, a smile on her tanned face. She looked at the two of them with her dull green eyes, her blonde hair done up in a bun.

"Well hey there, AJ! How're you and the lady doing today?" she asked.

"Just fine, Cassandra. We'd like some breakfast, though," he said, and Cassandra nodded.

"Oh sure, sure. I'll fry some eggs real quick. Think we got some Mole Rat bacon, too. Kyle was supposed to have brought it by before sun-up," she said, and went over an electric hotplate. She scrambled a couple eggs and poured the contents onto a pan before setting it on the hotplate. While it heated up she grabbed a few bottles of water and brought them over to the duo. "Here ya are, these are free."

"Oh?" AJ asked. "What do you need now?"

Cassandra grinned. "Y'always could see right through me, AJ." Their eggs were quickly done and she brought over a plate and two forks. AJ divvied up the scrambled eggs, reserving the larger portion for Penny. As she dug in he kept talking to Cassandra.

"Kind as your heart may be even you don't do things without expecting something in return," AJ said, and started to eat his eggs as well. Without any seasoning they were nothing special, but he didn't exactly consider himself a picky eater. Cassandra leaned on the bar, an elbow on its dented and scarred surface, her chin on her hand.

"Well you're right there, AJ. Got a favor to ask ya," she said. "Y'see, the electrical station nearby's been taken over by a pack of ferals. I'm worried they're gonna break something. One'a the kids, Kenny, he got scratched up by 'em when he was out by the fence last night. He's fine, doc looked him over, but I want them gone before we gotta find an electrician."

AJ wiped his mouth and cracked open the water bottle. "Kenny's not a kid. He should've had a gun on 'im."

"He's 16, he's a kid. That said, he did have a gun. Shot the feral, sure, but not before it slugged him good. Ego's probably more bruised than his body," Cassandra said. "Look, you know I'll pay. Even got some news you might like to hear, once you're done."

"Fine, fine. Twenty Eagles'll do it, I'm sure," AJ said. Cassandra nearly fell over.

"Puh! Twenty! God, man, do you think I get a whole ton of business out here?" she asked.

"Of course you do," AJ said. "Between the auto shop, the hotel, and the bar you and the others ought to be doing just fine."

"There're a dozen hotels out here, AJ, most abandoned. Anyone with a lick'a sense beds down in one of them, like you do, not that I can figure out why. You've always got a room here. Anyway, most people don't go looking for hotels that'll actually charge 'em."

"They do if they want rooms that are at least half-clean," AJ said. Penny packed away the last of the eggs and started in on her water, finishing at least half in the first couple of gulps. "Don't want to pay, then haggle."

"You know I was going to," Cassandra said. "I'll give you ten, plus some supplies. Got some shotgun shells around here somewhere."

"Paper, or brass?"

"Paper, obviously. Ain't seen a military shotshell in a while," Cassandra said. "Got some of the usuals, too, like Rad-X and RadAway. Figure you'll need 'em, since you're up against ghouls."

"Fifteen, plus the supplies. I'm not tryna get my balls bitten off here. The little lady here wants to keep her skin, too," AJ said. Penny smiled at him.

"Fine, fine. It wasn't like I was gonna do it. Or ask Laura to do it. Good as she is with engines I don't think a pipe wrench would be of much use against a pack'a ferals."

"I'm glad that we're in agreement," AJ said, and stood. Cassandra took the dishes back, put them aside to be cleaned, and popped open the cash register. She pulled out fifteen gold coins, so-named 'Eagles' because of the namesake bird on the reverse, and slid the stack over to AJ, who took them. Cassandra reached under the bar and pulled out a box of shotgun shells, two bottles of Rad-X, and one bag of RadAway.

"This it? Jesus," AJ said.

"I told you, we ain't rich."

AJ put the supplies in his bag and topped up the bandolier with the shotgun shells. "If any of these are swollen I swear to God, Cassandra."

"We live in a desert, bucko. They ain't swollen."

"If they are, you know I'll complain. Substation's behind the town, right?" he asked, and Cassandra nodded.

"Yep, top of the hill," she said. "Ferals musta come down from the Florida Mountains. Shouldn't take you much more than an hour to clean 'em all out."

"We'll see."

AJ wasn't exactly predisposed to taking his daughter to dangerous places, but it wasn't as if he had a choice. He could've left her with Cassandra, sure, but the substation was occupied by just ghouls. It wasn't a big station, either, so he figured there wouldn't be that many. The two of them had left the bar and walked up the hill behind the town, maybe a hundred yards away. The hill was some twenty or thirty feet high at the peak, two buildings on it. The substation was a brick two-story building with a row of transformers outside. The other building was a single-room trailer, containing the offices and a bunk bed. A common retreat for Sunshine's teenage lovers, eager to get away from prying eyes and perked ears.

AJ stopped outside the fence surrounding the substation, the air humming with electricity. The substation was built specifically for Sunshine, population 500 pre-War. With fusion technology being the way it was a town like Sunshine didn't need a proper power plant; a fusion generator was more than enough, and cheap. General Atomics built them to last, too.

"You've still got those hollow points, right?" he asked Penny. She shook her head.

"I used them all at the laundromat on Tuesday, remember?"

AJ had to think about it for a moment before he remembered. "Oh yeah. Alright, well, I'm sure it'll be fine." He opened the gate, the two of them stepped in, and he shut the gate behind them. "Stay out here a second. Pretty sure all the ferals are inside the station, but keep your eyes open anyway. The fence'll keep them out, make it easy for you to put them down."

"I got it," Penny said. "Be careful!"

"Always." AJ approached the metal door of the substation and pulled it open, shotgun at the ready. The building was just one room with the second floor being mostly catwalks and an office overlooking everything. To the left as he entered was the fusion generator, running steadily. To the right were a few control consoles, tended to by a pair of hardworking ferals. They saw him, howled, and started rapidly shuffling in his direction.

*BAM!* *BAM!*

Two blasts of 00 buckshot put an end to all that. The rest of the ghouls in the building howled and started making their way to him, their bare feet plodding against the concrete floor. One emerged from behind the generator and the two on the catwalk made a beeline for the stairs, one wearing a handmade metal cuirass and the other...

"Oh what the fuck," AJ said. The second feral, casting a bright green light as it went, was a Glowing One. It thundered down the stairs, right behind its armored comrade. The feral from beyond the generator was nearly on him, raising its arms as it prepared to grab him. He put a load of buckshot through its stomach and to the floor it went. The two from the upper level were about to reach the end of the stairs, the steps rattling from their footfalls.

AJ took the few seconds he had to spare to top up the shotgun and fired when the armored one hit the bottom step, aiming low. The buckshot hit it in the waist and it flinched, coming to a stop for a moment before continuing on its way. The second shot tore off one of its legs and it toppled to the floor, still alive.

The Glowing One moved past his buddy and continued his manic maneuvering towards AJ, growling and hissing. AJ held down the shotgun's trigger and racked the pump as fast as he could, slamfiring the remaining four shells. The copper pellets rammed through the decaying monster's luminescent flesh, tearing chunks from it. He backed through the open door and slammed it shut, and the creature collided with it. The extra second it took to push the door open gave him an opportunity to draw his pistol.

"DADDY, MOVE!"

AJ backed off further and moved right, pistol at the ready. The Glowing One came out the door and Penny put three .30-caliber rounds through its upper torso, shattering its collarbone and tearing its right arm off. It staggered away, groaning sharply. AJ plugged five 9mm bullets into its chest and it fell to the ground, pale yellow blood pouring into the sand.

"Are you OK?" Penny asked as she trotted up, carbine in hand. AJ reloaded the Model 39 and picked up the Winchester, reaching for his shells. He loaded up the tube to max, pumped one, then replaced it, leaving him with six shots. He put a hand on Penny's head and rubbed, and she smiled, her face flushing.

"Yeah. Good shot," he said, and Penny beamed up at him. He moved back over to the door and pulled it open, keeping his shotgun up as he stepped back inside. The building stank of sulfur and blood, but nothing was moving save for the wounded ghoul on the floor, propped up on its elbows and twitching.

"I got this one!" Penny said, and approached the immobile feral. She pulled her 1903 Pocket Hammerless from its namesake and put three rounds through its head. It dropped to the floor, blood and ichor flowing out onto the concrete. As the thunder of the last shot faded the building was once again calm, the generator's pleasant hum the only sound.

AJ stepped over the ghoul his daughter had finished off and checked the others to make sure they were dead. He quickly cleared the upper level and then went back down to join Penny by the door. She slipped her rifle over her shoulder as he approached. "That all of them?"

"Yep," he said. "C'mon, let's go back and let Cassandra know."

"Nice job on that one, AJ," Cassandra said once they got back to the bar. The men playing pool had moved off somewhere, likely their jobs, leaving the three of them the only people in the bar. Cassandra turned down the radio and leaned forward, her palms on top of the bar. "They give you any trouble?"

"There was a Glowing One among them. Penny put it down," AJ said, and Cassandra whistled. She looked at the young girl and smiled.

"A Glowing One no less? Nice job!" she said. Penny rolled her eyes.

"He's being modest!" Penny said. "All I did was shoot its arm off."

"Which gave me the chance to put a couple slugs in its head," AJ said. "Guess we'll call it a team effort, then. She can definitely claim credit for one of them. Shot it in the head as it crawled around on the ground."

"Well thanks again, the both of ya," Cassandra said. "Now, about that good news. I had some visitors last night. They came up from the south, place called the City of the Sun. Said they were Acolytes of Sol. Some kinda cult, I guess. Word is they've got work. Two of you could go on down, see if you can get jobs. Should be less than a half-hour's drive."

AJ rubbed his chin for a moment. "Hmm. Never heard of them. Did they look weird?"

"They're cultists, they always look weird. They weren't high or drunk and they didn't have any weird scars or tattoos, so it's probably legit. They even had a Chryslus Highwayman, pretty nicely restored one, too. Worse case scenario they ask you to shovel Brahmin shit all day, but if they feed you and it's a safe place then big deal."

"Hmm. What do you think, princess?" AJ asked, and his daughter looked up at him.

"I don't want you to smell like Brahmin shit all day," Penny said. "Maybe they'll make you a guard or a sheriff! Maybe they have a school, too."

"If they had a restored car then they probably do have a school. Either that or they bought it, but if that's the case they've got money. If they've got money then they must do good business, which means they've got good jobs. Either way, I'm sure they could find something useful for us to do," AJ said. "I'll check it out, thanks."

"Don't mention it," Cassandra said. "Just be sure to come back and visit, yeah? You know how much we love our visitors here."

"Yeah, the ones you can hire to do things for you," AJ said as he stood up, a teasing smile on his face. Cassandra rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Goodbye, Cassandra."

"Bye now."

AJ and Penny left the bar and headed back down the alley to the Wanderer, parked where he'd left it and untouched. Sunshine was a nice town, small and quiet, but not much to do. Not a fun place for a girl Penny's age. Worse, no schools. He was a fine enough teacher, he supposed. If you asked her then he was great, but he wasn't well-educated himself either. He could read and write, and knew enough to be able to count his bullets, but there was more to life than that. Of course, a lot of what you learned in the desert was more practical than math or history, like tourniquets and how to suck out cactus juice, but he'd already taught Penny most of that. Her favorite was sucking out cactus juice; she said it was delicious.

And if they didn't have a school then big deal. There were other things a girl Penny's age could do. He knew that well enough.

He climbed onto the bike and Penny got into the sidecar next to him, holding her rifle with the stock on the floor. He started up the engine, put on his goggles, and slowly guided the bike onto the road. "Ready to go?" he called out to Penny, and she nodded.

Let's go see what the Acolytes of Sol are all about, then he thought to himself as they took to the open road.