Chapter Fifteen: The Station - Part Two

I stepped into the room, just as Kyle shouted, "I don't ca–!" I didn't need a mirror to know how my expression was. I cast a steely gaze toward one then the other, and crossed my arms with an added tap of my foot. Any further comment by Kyle was cut short in his throat as he saw me, and it didn't seem like Blake was going to say anything, either.

With a quick scan of the room, I spotted two chairs not far from one another, and with an authoritative jab I pointed the two men to a chair. Kyle scrambled to the seat, plopping down with a 'squeak' as the legs scraped against the flooring. Blake straightened himself out as he calmly stepped toward the chair and sat down with a relaxed dignity, the chair groaned as his weight set upon it. I glanced between the two, waiting for one to explain, but they were silent, practically squirming in their chairs.

Finally, I took out my book and wrote: Issue. Explain. I decidedly didn't bother with any sort of longer wording, remaining succinct and to the point. I thrust the book out for the pair to read, and kept my steely gaze upon them. For about a minute afterward, the air stewed with fear before Blake answered, "There's no issue, Ma—"

My foot thundered against the ground, cutting off his words, and I fixed him a hard stare. Without moving my head, I shot Kyle a look, and he shrank into his chair. "Things just got... out of hand," he reluctantly explained, and – for now – I could believe that.

Despite my mood waning, I kept the stern and serious expression plastered on my face, and shot Blake a look I was hoping said 'talk'. He took in a deep breath, then let it out in a slow sigh, "Right. I used the radio here to make a call to my unit, and he started asking a bunch of questions."

By the time I realized I was feeling it, it was too late to hide my consternation from creeping over my features. With a quick shake of my head, I tried to return to a more stony expression, but couldn't find it in me. Tensing my shoulders, breathing in, and then letting out the breath and letting my shoulders relax; so, too, then, did my expression ease up. I ran a quick hand through my hair and wrote in my book, pointing it toward Kyle.

We'll talk later about this, 'kay? And then showing the other page to Blake. You're going to explain these calls to me. My features all suggested a single thing: he couldn't run from this talk.

With a wave of my hand, I made a dismissive motion toward Kyle; thought, then wrote: Check on Anton, he's by the front door. I wasn't particularly concerned, but letting the calmer heads converse was the wiser course of action. And Kyle practically had smoke pouring out his ears.

He grumbled as he left, but I ignored it. Once he was gone, I strolled over and took his seat, carried it closer to the other person in the room, and plopped it down across from him. Taking my seat, I fixed him with an inquisitive look, my hand running along the spine of my closed book.

The man across from me had his legs parted slightly, his back was straight, and his hands clasped together in his lap. He sighed once more and cast his head down, as if in thought. While waiting for a response, I took in his features for what felt like the first time. Blake fit his clothes well, muscle pressing against the cloth, but not overly so – it was toned, but not abundant. He had fairly short brown hair, but a streak of blue pervaded the locks.

Raising his head, Blake's grey eyes showed resolve, and I gave him a soft smile and a nod. "I should explain a few things..." he began, before explaining that he hailed from San Antonio, somewhere to the west, and that he was sent here, on orders, to rendezvous with his organization's base here in the Capital Wasteland. He then went to explain that his compact radio had been damaged when his transport was shot out of the sky, which was when he met up with us.

I remained still through all that, watching and listening intently, and once it seemed like he'd finished I gave a curt nod. I wrote for a short while, then showed him what was written.

Thank you for sharing. I won't ask many questions, nor ask your motive for traveling with us in particular; but should I be concerned about your intentions going forward? Kyle might be overzealous, but don't let his doubts become justified – you wouldn't want that.

As I had been writing and even after that, my face was void of emotion. And when Blake finished reading and looked back to me, my features only expressed apathy. It didn't feel like me, yet it also didn't not. It was almost frightening how my responses to things were becoming. Just how quickly was I going to acclimate to the land? Finally, Blake answered, "I... understand. You shouldn't have anything to worry about."

I narrowed my eyes, fixing him with a hard stare, but his eyes remained clear and unclouded, determined. After a brief moment, I stood, stretched, and made for the door, my expression softening once more. Just then, I ran into something soft, yet firm. She groaned ow and rubbed her chin, while I massaged my forehead.

"Ouch... what's your head made of?" Addison didn't bother waiting for any sort of reply, as she made her way inside the room. "I was hoping to find both of you, but... um... where are the others?"

"Outside," came Blake's simple reply, as Addison took to my seat.

I pulled up another chair, set it so the other two would be able to see me, and sat down. It creaked underneath me, and I shot it a few worried looks; but it never collapsed, so I opted to ignore it. Then, scribbling in my book, I gave my own response to her question.

They're outside, but we can pringbring them up to speed later.

"I see..." she seemingly went deep into thought, before nodding to herself. "Right, I found what I needed to get to where I'm going. I know this is all a little vague... and I'm rather reluctant to say too much. But could I ask you guys to take me the rest of the way?"

Where is this 'place'? How far is it? Direction?

"Southeast, as we've been going. I don't believe I'd have been able to get in if we didn't stop here," her mouth worked a few times, as if to say something, but nothing further came. Her shoulders drooped and her head hung low, it almost seemed like brooding or pleading.

"I need to head east. I don't mind going, if it isn't too far out of the way," Blake offered.

"Thank you."

I looked to one and then the other, then to the floor and ceiling. Staring at the buzzing, humming light above, I quickly came to a decision. Returning my gaze back to the others, I wrote without looking and showed it to them. L dan`t see anv pvablum– Turning the page back to me, when I saw their confused looks. I felt my face grow really hot as I tore out the page, scribbled the correct version, and showed it to them again.

I don't see any problem with joining. More the merrier, right?

"Thank you." Despite having more pep in her tone compared to a minute ago, her shoulders somehow dropped lower and her hands came up to meet her forehead, her elbows finding her knees. Standing from my chair, I took a few steps toward the woman, gave her a hug, and then left Blake to tend to the sniffling woman.

By the time I was nearing the front door of the relatively sizable building, I could already make out shouts from a distressed Kyle. "I'm onto you. I don't know what you're doing, but I am onto you!"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Mister Kyle."

Kyle scoffed, "Sure, of course not. I–"

He stopped as I pushed the door open and stepped outside, looking at the pair, calm written all over my face. Then I looked around, it seemed Ross was no longer here. It didn't feel like I was quite done chatting with him yet, but there wasn't anything I could do. So I pushed it from my mind and regarded the current situation.

What's going on? I didn't have to write anything new, it was already on one of my pages.

"'What,' indeed."

Kyle worked his mouth a few times, closed it, thought for a brief moment, and then answered, "Don't worry about it, Muna."

I cocked my head, but when no further comment came I figured I'd let it go. At that, I wrote something new and showed it off: Buy anything? But all I got was a firm shake of the head from Anton.

One thing I'd never claim to be was good at reading others, and at that time I could really feel it from deep within. The atmosphere twisted to an unsettling chill, and I couldn't even figure out where it originated. It was a relief, then, that the doors swung open and Blake and Addison stepped out. I turned to look at them, as they were only a double-arm's length away.

"Should we figure out where to go next?" Kyle inquired. I began checking my Pip-Boy's map.

Addison smiled, "We've got a more concrete destination in mind." That's odd.

"Really now?"

Why was–?

"Mh-hmm," came a hummed reply.

A new marker appeared on my map, one I hadn't seen before. An indicator of some sort, southeast of our current position. I wasn't certain if it was curiosity or something else, but my feet began carrying me in the direction – not taking my eyes off the screen. Naturally, then—

'Poomf!'

Dust and dirt clouded around me, as I gained a new reason to hurt. I laid there a moment, stewing in my utter defeat at the vile machinations of my feet; lamenting my coordination as of late. Finally, I stood, dusted myself off, and began toward the marker anew.

I could have sworn I heard murmurs behind me, but I ignored them – if they truly existed. Footfalls soon sounded behind me.

"Hold up," I heard a faint whisper from behind, as I finished checking my Pip-Boy once more. Looking back, I saw the others crouched – trying to be quiet. I lowered myself as well, then took a scan around. A red mark bleeped into existence to my far left.

With a single motion, I drew my hunting rifle and peered down the scope toward the target. The target trudged along on four thick legs, it had coarse brown skin, and tufts of black fur roughly splotched about. And with a quick jump in and out of V.A.T.S., I discovered it was a creature called a 'Yao Guai'. As I continued to observe it, I could even see the five sharp, thick claws protruding from the ends of each foot, and a set of dangerous teeth on what must be a terrifyingly powerful jaw.

"We should try to sneak around it," came a hushed voice. Immediately, I saw the yao guai's ears perk and search for noises – it was on to us.

Breathe in, slowly let it out. Breathe in, slowly let it out and–

My shot soared toward the target, smashing right into its left hind leg. It roared and began charging right for me. The others cursed and began to attack. A moment later, and I loosed another shot, it splattered against the ground below the beast. As I was readying the next shot, blood spattered off the beast as several shots landed all at once.

It didn't fall. Hopping into V.A.T.S. I took the eighty-six percent shot toward the head, as the creature was mere feet from me. I stared into its listless, lifeless eyes as the shot sprang forth in slow motion; it landed home in the beast's right eye. It reared back, looking down upon me – regarding me with a wheezing breath. Then, it roared and slammed its powerful front paws down.

I dived forward and hugged one of its hind legs. It was all I could do to save myself from getting hit, but the back of one of the paws landed and promptly smashed my right ankle. I could feel the tears begin to form, as spikes of pain zapped throughout my body. I didn't notice when, but I even started to squeeze the creature's hind leg in a bid to stave off the searing pain.

Even as the beast took a step forward, to go after a new target, I held tight. As the leg landed back on the ground, narrowly missing my right leg, instead cutting it with its claw. I pointed my rifle toward the creature and fired – gelding in one shot. It cried out, even as blood splashed down upon me.

I pushed against the leg and rolled out from under it, readied another shot, and fired into its side. It collapsed moments later. I wasn't certain if my attack felled the beast or not, but it stopped moving.

Addison rushed over to me from somewhere, her face was pale, as if all the color had drained out of it. I just laid there, soaking in the stabbing pain. Even when Blake was called over, I just laid there – I didn't feel like moving. Blake's expression was also pale, but it contained far more color than Addison; likely because he was far more used to this type of thing.

They quickly had a back and forth, but my ears refused to register the noise. Then, as a spike of pain coursed from up my leg, sound returned to my world as a crunch filled my ear. My face formed a grimace, as it was all I could do to face the pain – even as tears began to flow.

Slowly, the pain began to lessen and I rubbed my eyes, attempting to clear them. I tried to sit up, but a hand forced me back down. I did, however, manage to pull out three stimpack and set them down, motioning toward my leg. With each dose, the pain died even more until it became a dull ache. At some point, my eyes closed and I felt myself become weightless.

I was floating through an emptiness, when suddenly my body became heavy – my usual weight. I found my breathing came with a small amount of effort, and a cold sweat ran down my back. I flicked my eyes open to see the sun had hidden behind a thick layer of grey clouds. Nearby I heard the faint crackle of a fire.

As I pushed myself up slightly, I was able to see the others sitting and chatting around the fire. Something fell to my lap – a blanket. To my right, the creature's corpse was still laying there, unmoving. Yet, I was invaded by a sense of foreboding, as if it'd stand and attack at any moment.

"I was surprised when she dove under the thing."

"Yeah, same. I was worried it'd step on her."

Pushing myself up the rest of the way, I then stood. Stretched, and took a few steps toward the fire.

"Oh, she's awake!" Kyle stood, a kind smile stretched across his features.

I awkwardly waved back, then looked at the creature once more. Either I was getting way too used to this wasteland thing, or I'm just far too hungry; but my feet began to carry me toward it. Once there, I started taking what I could. Eventually, my Pip-Boy gives me a notification '3 Yao Guai meat'.

Within moments, I was back by the fire and tossing one of the meats onto a clean-ish looking rock directly by the heat. The others just stared at me, mouths slightly agape. I opted to ignore them as I watched the meat slowly start to sizzle. After a good while, I took my knife and stabbed it. Pulling it closer, blowing on it, and then chomping right into the thing.

It tore quite easily – far easier than I thought. The juice splashed against my tongue, and the heat lashed out inside my tongue. Yet the salty flavor was almost overwhelming, but at the same time I couldn't get enough. It was delicious!

Or maybe just addictive?

I devoured the meat, tearing, ripping, and tasting piece after piece until none was left. All the while, I felt all eyes on me. I still opted to ignore them. When the first one was gone, I began cooking the second. It began to sizzle in silence. Then, like the first, I tore into it until it, too, was gone.

Setting the third down to begin cooking, I finally regarded the others. Cocking my head, as if to say, What? Only then did their fixation seem to waver and end.

"So," Blake began, "What's this place we're headed to?" His question was, undoubtedly, directed toward Addison, but she remained silent. "Addison?"

Upon hearing her name, she quickly glanced around, finally landing her gaze on me – I smiled back at her, then skewered the next bit of meat. "Muna, what was it you and the others were doing before Blake and I figuratively and literally dropped into your lives?"

I swallowed the last bit of meat, then pulled out my book and found an empty page. Not much, actually. Raiders here. Roiders there. I'm sure more would have happened, but we were still getting settled on aur feet. I honestly wasn't sure how much I wanted to share with the pair, but I certainly wasn't lying.

"You were just killing raiders?" Blake asked. I nodded back.

"Why?" Addison inquires, glancing at Blake.

After a moment, I held up the fresh page. They shot at us first when we ran into Anton, as he was fleeing from a couple of them. After that, Anton and I cleared a 'trainyard' and I fought a giant green thing called Muck. A day or two later, we ran into you.

"So that's what happened," Kyle huffed. I rolled my eyes and set to writing more.

Don't be like that...

"Why not? You shot me once. You leave me behind. You never consult me about matters... it's like you don't trust me," he sighs, glaring all the while. Then, as if realizing what he's said, he's about to say something else, but stops as I practically tackled him to the ground.

Having lunged toward him, I could hear things getting knocked over and a couple of gasps of surprise resound from the others (mostly Addison, I think). A loud 'bwumpf' sound emanates as we crash to the dirt, but my arms take the brunt of the fall. It doesn't stop me, however, from pulling him closer or hugging him tightly; almost as if this could actually suffice as an apology.

"Hmm. That's one way to do it," I hear Anton murmur.

Eventually, I release Kyle and show him a page of the book near the front: Sorry. Standing, I return to my seat, book closed in my left hand. I began to relax.

"As far as apologies go, that's certainly a... uh, new one," Blake stated.

Addison suddenly remembered something, as she perked up slightly, then reached for her bag, laying next to her, "I forgot all about it, but I just remembered that we found something for you at that Grey State building!" She goes to pull out some black hard case, but a green oval shaped object clunked out and rolled near the fire.

"Fucking hell, Addison!" Blake jumped up, startled.

Addison quickly scooped up the object, her eyes bulging wide. I cocked my head at their behavior. Wonder what that is?

"Mini nuke," Blake began, sighing in relief, "It causes a very powerful explosion."

Hmm.

Didn't it almost?

I see.

Carefully, she packed it back inside her bag and brought out the hard, black case and handed it over to me. I opened it to find a disassembled gun, my Pip-Boy automatically marking it 'Red's Sniper Rifle'. I smiled back at Addison, a thanks for the gift, but she then handed over some rounds – they were marked as '12 .308 caliber rounds'. I continued smiling at the girl, resisting the urge to tackle-hug her, too.

I placed the box in my bag, it seemingly shifted in without any issue, and stand, checking my Pip-Boy once again. Then point in the direction of the marker, and start headed off, albeit slowly.

"Seems we're leaving," Kyle sighed.

"Seems so." The others fell in behind me after a moment and we set off at a good pace.

After about an hour and a half of walking, we came upon two large mounds of dirt. Spread between them was what looked like a broken down building.

-Transmission Complete-