Blood from Vault 18

Free

"They… they died!" the Voice said as he poked at the dead raider with his shovel. Kieron said nothing as he took everything that looked like might be of value from the dead raiders. He tried not to look at their faces, it helped him forget that they had been living human beings with families and dreams.

No matter how messed up both of those things where.

Reloading his weapon Kieron turned to the voiceless "They are not immortal, just flesh and bone like you and me" the caves where too quiet, raiders should be all over them but he there was nothing. Was it a trap?

"We should move, you have advantage over them in the darkness. For now just follow my lead" Kieron said with way more confidence than what he really felt, but it did the trick to lead the Voiceless as they all shadowed him as he began to walk towards what he assumed was the exit.

Whispers reached his ears as he could hear something in the distance, there in a large cave he could see it the light, sunlight. A bridge separated him from the exit and in that bridge a group of raiders seemed to be praying, a massive robed figure spoke with fervor as a woman sat next to him and handed the raiders what looked like to be a green beverage, her hair captivated Kieron as her braids resembled something akin to snakes that cascaded down her shoulders. "Oh madre serpiente, extermina a nuestros enemigos" a prayer for destruction, he understood that much. The priest stood up and lead the group out of the caves and into the light as only a few of the raiders remained, putting his gun down Kieron decided it was time to switch to something more personal, sneaking behind the raider he used the machete to decapitate him with one single savage blow.

The voiceless followed his lead as they picked the targets off one by one, it was almost eerie how well they used shadows and caverns to plan out their kill, Kieron reached the last one and maybe in an act of vengeance pushed the raider into the darkness with a savage blow to the back of the head. If he screamed Kieron could no longer hear it, but that didn't matter anymore after all the caves where fully in their control now.

"Grab everything that looks like a weapon, anything that might give us the edge" Kieron instructed as they crossed the large bridge and Kieron spotted cages, his hands trembled as he remembered the words from the raider boss.

Kira, that's where Kira was. Running toward sit he slammed his shoulder against the gate and frantically looked around, he saw torn bodies and mutilated creatures all over and he felt a sense of dread fill his body. Was Kira really here? No there was no reason for Elsdragon to lie to him she had to be here! The young Vault Dweller stopped as he felt his blood run cold as he watched the butchered remains of a human, what if she was… a groan made him snap out of his shock as he moved towards a dark part of the cave and there hung by the arms to a rotting piece of wood Kira was fighting to remain conscious as blood poured down from her wounds to the floor bellow. Moving quicker than humanly possible Kieron ran to her and cut her binds holding her closer to his chest "Oh my god, Kira… you're alive! I was so worried about you… I" Kieron wished to say more but the girl struggled against him trying to distance herself.

"Hey its okay its me"-"NO! I don't want it to be you… why you…" Kira said between sobs as Kieron held her softly "Why… why did you come for me?" it was such a silly question in his opinion, but he knew that he had to answer carefully. Why she was looking at him like he was a monster he did not know.

Looking into her eyes Kieron simply smiled "Do you really think that I care so little about you? I wouldn't leave you behind even if it meant loosing an arm" her breathing became less erratic as she calmed down enough to glare at nothing. Kieron placed a hand on hers to help her get up "Is anything broken?"

"Nothing important… they are not here Kieron my tribe is NOT HERE!" she snarled as she punched the piece of wood that she had been "all this time I thought that… I thought that I was so close and no. I am not, not even close that stupid raider said that they where taking to somewhere they don't even know about so I have nothing AGAIN. Back to square fucking one" Kieron let out a sigh as she helped he move out of the cages and where the voiceless had gathered.

Kieron looked at the light as he planned the next move "You have me… if that helps" Kira gritted her teeth as her ribs cried out in pain, her arms and legs where to numb to feel pain at the moment but her broken ribs where another story. But maybe what hurt her more was knowledge of how little she mattered and how little she truly had out here, Vault and Wasteland had turned their backs on her, and that information burned like no other.

And the other part that hurt was due to the boy next to her "Kieron… they tortured me, they wanted information. But not about the Vault, not about me, not even about the Enclave. Elsdragon only wanted to know about you… why? Why did he want to know about you?"

Kieron frowned at that as he remembered his interaction with the raider boss. "I don't know, it had to do with Rossman and the wasteland scouts he says that he and Rossman where sworn enemies or some shit like that, he had me kill a massive monster on the caves bellow but other than that I have no idea" Kira seemed satisfied with that answer as she looked at all the people that had gathered near them "Friends of yours?"

"Yes, the voiceless are going to get their freedom and seeing as we are not up to the neck with raiders we have one shot getting out of here without a fight. So for now, all of you just stick by me" Kieron reloaded his weapon as he reviewed his options on what to do, sneaking out of the cave with a massive group behind him would be straight up suicide but staying here was like waiting for an execution so for now what he would consider to be the next best thing would be to take the first step out. Checking to see which raider had the less blood on him he undressed him as the leather vest was a little too small for him but it did its job.

Grabbing a mask from another corpse Kieron now looked the part "Do not move, I will take a peak outside" he muttered as he walked outside and the light nearly blinded him but to keep apearances the boy merely powered through and blinked in quick succession to adjust his vision. No guards that he could see, Elsdragon had probably assumed that the men he had been with would me more than capable taking care of him and Mandrake, but he did see many raiders on the other side by what could only be described as a market.

He saw people, junk, robots and even vehicles all being paraded around the market as more and more raiders all gathered to trade with whatever they could find in their pockets, Kieron walked to the side as he spotted some of the raiders with swords eye him wearily. Swallowing his nervousness, he moved with confidence to the first door that he could see he spotted a drunk guard snoring next to the place.

Reachin into his pockets he pulled out the key that Elsdragon had tossed him and he made a small prayer, with a simple twist of his wrist the door unlocked. He walked inside as the dim light illuminated the slaves, Kieron noticed a shade of gold and immediately changed trajectory towards it "GET AWAY FROM…" Kieron placed his gloved hand on her mouth as he pulled the mask off and smiled.

Slowly he removed it as Jenn felt some tears fall down her cheeks, not able to talk and say how relieved they where to see one another Jenn simply rested her forehead against his as their lips grew closer and closer. "Wha the… is that you buddy?" Johnny mumbled as he stumbled up. Kieron hushed him but did move to his side and undid his binds, he handed him a gun as he motioned for him to follow, Jenn was freed next and as he spotted Jamie and Eric sitting together near one of the beds.

"Took you some time to get here" Kieron jumped in fright as Kurtz nudged him to signal where he was, Kieron let out a long sigh as he motioned Kurtz to free the others "Eric and Jamie will follow us, what of the other slaves?"

Kieron bit his lip and looked around "Tell them to wait here, we are going to cause a distraction and then they can leave" Kurt nodded as he set out to do his task. Now the only problem was what could distract a bunch of raiders?

"Nos, we found Elsdragon passed out in one of the emergency tunnels. He almost bled out from the wound on his hand and the one in his eye… do you want to…"-"Yeah, get him to the fucking doc and use all the medicine we have in store if needed. Keep that man alive"

Nos growled as he smoked a cigarette "Now" slamming his hand on the steel he stood up from his comfortable place in the vertibird and reached for his weapon "Who did it?" as a raider some things you just had to accept, number one was that your life was always one second away from ending, second was that morality is overrated and three was that if you had power you had a massive target on your back. If it wasn't the NCR it was the Brotherhood, but more likely it was some dumb fuck bellow you that thought he could do better.

A simple and brutal man Noss had managed to climb the ranks of the raiders with ease, specially with his special energy pistol but he never desired the place of the head honcho, following Elsdragon around had made him realize how much you had to give a shit in order to make the position actually work. So he would not jump at the opportunity take his place, but raiders where like sharks they smelled blood.

If they did not set an example right away, they would be walking on shaky ground for a long time "Find the one that did it, cut out his tongue and then peel all the skin from his muscles. Easy job" Noss muttered as he walked down the ramp and towards the mine, if Elsdragon was found on one of the emergency tunnels than he was running away from the mine, it would not make sense that he was near the main entrance.

Reaching for his gun he prepared to enter the mine when another raider stopped him "Nos we got reports of a machine walking around the main entrance. Looks like one of our protectrons"

"And why in the world would I care about that?" a large explosion that shook the mine made the raiders look at each other for a split second. "Get everyone to the main gate, we are under attack!" those Enclave bastards where back. Elsdragon had been wounded outside and was trying to crawl into the mine! That thing was impenetrable, there was no way that anyone could attack him there.

As the raiders all left Kieron stepped out of the shadows and grinned "Some explosives was all it took, thanks Kira for the help with the protectrons" the purple haired simply nodded as everyone stepped out. The slaves all ran towards the mountain as they tried to put as much distance as the could with the raiders, the path was narrow and it lead to the forest, the voiceless where soon to follow as Kieron stopped himself from running behind them "Are you sure about this Kira"

"Yes, I know what I heard. That thing has an autopilot, it can take us out of here faster than anything else" Eric frowned as he shook his head "Are we really putting our trust in someone like her? Now of all times, she was the one that wanted to come here with the raiders in the first place!"

The group all turned to look at Kira as she frowned "Just like the Vault then, you don't believe me!"

"I do" Kieron said as he looked at the hangar above "That and if we leave in one of those we can distract the raiders and give the slaves and Voiceless time to run" Kieron nodded at Johnny who simply let out a long sigh "Yeah yeah, lets leg it then" the remnants of Vault 18 all ran towards the Vertibird as some raiders could be seen returning from the main entrance.

Getting into the machine was not the hard part because the raiders had left it open, making sense of what to do was the hard part "Kieron, let me try" Jenn said as she sat down on the pilots seat "If I was a an autopilot option I would be the…" Jenn remembered something that her father had said, sometimes the most obvious path was the solution. So she ignored all the complicated dials and things and slammed her hand on the big red button as the engines roared to life and she saw the machine give her the option to engage in auto pilot "Thanks dad" she smiled to herself as the machine began to move.

"HERE COME THE RAIDERS!" Jaimie yelled as she took some shots at them, Johnny snorted as he pushed her out of the way "Morons, we have a machine gun!" grabbing the massive weapon Johnny laughed as he rained fire down on them as they left towards the unknow. Kieron on the other hand looked back as some of the Voiceless looked at them from atop the mountain, the raiders focused only on the Vertibird flying above them.

The girl that he had met down on the mines extended her hand towards the sky, was she thanking him? Asking him to come to her? Kieron did not know all he could do was place a hand on the collar she had given him and point at the woods. "Know her?" Kurtz asked as he placed a hand on his shoulder "Yeah, we met on the mines, she was a slave just like me. But she was born down there… I just hope they can all make it"

The tribal boy said nothing as their vertibird was assailed by gun fire "It feels weird, part of me wanted to go with them, but I don't think I really belong there" before either of them could speak Jamie and Eric pulled them towards the others as the machine emited black smoke from its engine "We need to talk, all of us"

"Kieron… we learned something from the other slaves" Jaimie said as she leaned rubbed the place where her hands had been tied, Eric placed his hand over hers as they looked at him "This raiders are at war, there is a nation here. They call themselves the NCR, the wasteland scouts talked about them from time to time but… they are our best option. We need to go somewhere safe and this people from what we understood controlled a large portion of the country"

The boy nodded "Makes sense, the enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that. But… where are they?"-"Union City" Kira was the one that replied as she held her ribs, the pain almost unberable.

"That bastard Elsdragon let it slip while he was… you know" Jenn placed a hand on her shoulders "Are okay?" a sharp glare made her flinch "Like you care"

Kieron let out a long sigh, he looked away from the drama and down at the Wasteland. They where out of Athens Mine but he could still hear some of the raider sentries shooting at them, most bullets bounced off the machine but he was still worried that one lucky shot might do the trick "Keep your arms and legs all inside the vertibird, we are not out of hot water just yet. Johnny, Kurtz how is your side"-"All out of ammo here, but I did explode some of the raiders into paste… damn that felt good" Johnny said with a grin.

"I see damage on this side of the machine, but I would not know if it is critical" came the reply from the tribal boy as Kieron nodded, his vision began to blur as his mind reached its limit, moving into the back he allowed himself to collapse on the floor of the machine covering his eyes with his hand "Then… I think I am going to rest here… just for a second" Jenn left her seat as she placed a hand over Kieron's exposed chest "Look at this scars, he must have gone through hell to get to us"

Kira closed her eyes "Yeah, we all owe him our lives…"

Johnny simply shrugged "I wouldn't have minded being a raider honestly. But not with those guys, they sucked. And they where all so fucking secretetive too, like why the fuck did they care so much about Kieron. Like yeah duded is a freak that can heal wounds like no one else that I know but come on is not like he is that special or anything"

"They asked you about him too?" Kira asked as Johnny nodded "Yeah"-"Kira, what did they talk to you about?" Eric said as he walked over to where she has seated herself "I don't see why I should share, is not like any of you actually believe me"

Jamie glared at her "Forgive us for not believing on the girl that has been nothing but confrontational AND wanted to fight all the raiders on her own. Is a miracle that you where right about the Vertibird, we only followed because Kieron seems to have a soft spot for you. God knows why, but sure blame us like you always do"

"See, I wont share shit. I will tell Kieron all of you just leave me alone" Kira grumbled as Eric shook his head "Kira we are talking about life or death here, I don't care what you think but if they ask about Kieron I want to know why!"

Kira simply snorted "You are not the boss of me, why don't you leave me alone, go kiss your sister and THEN…"-"Enough" Kurtz stepped up as he glared at them "We barely got our freedom back, sit down and shut up. Our tribe is barely hanging by a thread, Kieron almost killed himself for it. I wont have his efforts go to waste, Eric you are not the leader here you cant force Kira to speak if she does not want to, and you Kira. If you know something that our lives depend on you should share, with Kieron or someone you can… tolerate"

Some nods followed as Kurtz rested against the machine, Johnny decided to stand next to him as he grinned "Not bad Benny boy, sucks that we are stuck with a bunch of drama queens. Kieron is too soft on them"

"I do not have anything to say on them" Kurtz did smile as he watched Jenn clean some of the wounds that Kieron had while Kira watched with a twinge of jealousy "But I will say that at least their interactions are a bit distracting"

Johnny snorted "Yeah, I disagree on that. The sooner we get to the NCR the better then the three of us can become mercenaries and ger shit done, these cowards can stay and clean our dishes if they want"

Kieron woke up from his small nap with a groan as his bones ached and his mouth felt dry "Fuck" he muttered to himself as he looked around, everyone was asleep all but Kira who was looking at him with a small smile "You know, when you sleep you almost look cute"

"Almost being the key word there I assume" he smiled at her as he stood up, he felt his joints make a noise as he stood to his full height "How long was I out" Kira looked down at her PipBoy "About an hour, the bad thing about autopilot is that is slow as shit. We barely passed Pinehaven I think, and down there is just dessert and roads with nothing on it"

Kieron nodded "Better than nothing, at least we put some distance with the raiders" he said as he watched outside "If Pinehaven wasn't under raider control I wouldn't have minded if we stopped to rest there."

"Too late for that now, the raiders all think that land is cursed. And the ones that found us are all dead, but I don't think they want that" she tilted her head to the others "They want to get to the NCR"-"Yeah, I figured. Is our best bet for security, but I don't think that the people are going to welcome us with open arms you know. The only ones I really trust is you guys"

Kira frowned "Wish I could say the same. Once we get to the NCR I might go my own way" Kieron looked at her in surprise "Why?"-"This people hate me and I hate them, is not something that I want to change and I don't think they want to change that either" the boy bit his lip as he thought about that "Everyone is tense Kira, we just got out of a life or death situation… again. Everyone is jumpy, just give them some time" Kira rolled her eyes as she looked down at the dessert.

"You just say that because you want to keep me around, scared that you wont be able to hack robots or terminals?"-"I am scared because I care about you" Kieron said as Kira had to focus on her broken ribs to not blush.

Kieron let out a sigh as he sat down next to her and pulled her closer to him, a small hug. But one that meant more than a thousand words to Kira, the girl bit her lip as tears began to fall from her cheeks again "I… I fucked up Kieron, we were wrong. I asked Elsdragon about our tribe… our family and he said that they are all gone. That they died in a place called the prison of a thousand horrors… I am alone…"

"That's not true" Kieron said softly as he made her look at him "you have me" he turned around and smiled "And the others, I know that things are bleak now, but I haven't forgotten the promise I made. Elsdragon might have been lying, we have to find this prison he talked about to be sure."

Kira couldn't help but to return the smile "Fine… but just because of you… just you" as the duo continued to chat, they failed to notice how the Vertibird began little by little to descend, the damage it took from the fight with the raiders and the depleting fuel making the metal bird fall out of the sky slowly. As the sun finally set, Kieron smiled as he felt the cool air against his skin.

Freedom had never tasted so good.

A/N: Thank you for reading! The slight detour to Athens-tech while not that important in the grand scheme of things is something that I always do because I really like the Behemoth fight and the character of Mandrake, the latter one having an impact later on in the story that I want to expand a bit and also with how some of the characters react (or don't at all) to some events or decisions that you make, like Jenn and Eric. As always thank you for reading and sharing your own experiences with the mod, see you around!