A beep rang through the air as Anton tapped the second card against the interface and the door opened up. Immediately beyond I saw a wall; to be more precise, I saw a bit of solid ground, then the wall, and stairs leading up the left side where a wall otherwise would have been.
I stepped through and set my sights up the stairs, but nothing was there – or rather no one was there. Without waiting, I started up the stairs. After rounding a bend and climbing even higher, I arrived upon another door.
A hand reached past me and tapped a card against yet another interface. It made a clicking sound that I could only assume was an access denied noise. The arm retreated and returned a moment later with a different card, it tapped against the scanner. This time it made a trill that almost sounded happy and the door slid to the side. At the same time, I saw something swinging away from us.
The room beyond looked to be another office of some sort, one not all that dissimilar to the overseer's office in the vault. It even had the curved desk with a terminal built into the center. Many of the other objects one would expect in an office were around, too; like filing cabinets, a tall locker, and several massive clumps of red goop-stuff tied together.
Wait...
As I looked closer at the red bags – as that's what they looked like – I started noticing more and more about them. Even from a distance, I could make out a distinct, putrid scent. The more I stared, the more I started to spot the bones and other bits of flesh sticking out from the goop. Just turn and ignore. Just turn... and ignore.
Anton brushed past me, entering the room proper and immediately made for the desk. I watched as he riffled through the drawers and anything else that wasn't bolted down. After a moment, he intoned an, "Ah-hah," as he seemed to find something. Pulling his hand out from under the desk, he had a small pistol.
After running a few checks on it, he stepped toward me and held it out, clearly expecting me to take it. I cast my eyes down to the gun, then back to his emotionless eyes and smile, before returning back toward the gun. It was the same weapon that he was carrying – a .32 pistol. I grabbed the pistol, as I knew a knife wouldn't be very useful when my movements were slowed.
With that, Anton stared at me, as if he were trying to find something and couldn't find it. His eyes practically bore into me as he searched. I looked away, instead focusing on the gun now in my hands. It had all the rounds in the chambers, so I'd have a total of six shots. I doubted whether I'd be able to reload, regardless. Not that I had any spare ammo on me.
Deciding to just ignore Anton's gaze, I noticed that the stairwell had been hidden behind a bookshelf, and I got to watch as it slowly slid back into place. It silently shifted to a halt and looked as if it'd never moved at all, it was surprisingly well placed.
I flipped back around to the man staring intently in my direction – whether he was actually looking at me, I started to wonder – and poked him to the side of the gun. "Hmm? Ah, yes. I'm sorry, a thought occurred to me." Had he truly been lost in thought? "Never you mind that, now, Miss. Instead, I propose we should get out of here."
I couldn't agree with him more. With a weapon in hand, I shuffled toward the door leading out. It was wooden with a simple handle. Anton and I flanked one side, and he silently reached for the knob, giving it a careful and slow twist. He then gave the door a small push, slowly released the handle to not create any noise, and through the crack I observed the space beyond. No enemies in plain view, so I nodded to say the coast was clear.
He rushed through, scanning the hall. I had the pistol aimed and ready down the other way, yet nothing appeared before me. With the lack of gunfire, it was safe to say that nothing had appeared down the other way.
I glanced back to see Anton spacing out in thought once more. Leaving him to his own devices for the time being, I checked the hallway; two paths, several doors. I was growing increasingly vexed by the amount of doors I'd seen since coming here, and this was only compounding the issue. With no way of knowing where either path led, I settled the course the old fashion way.
Eenie, meenie, minie, mo. Down that way I must go.
If one were to step out of the office, then I took the right path – the side I checked coming into the hall. Trudging along, I spotted nothing. There were doors, yes, some even opened, but the rooms beyond had been picked clean. I couldn't even spot any super mutants. The only decoration were those occasional... meat bags.
Arriving at a bend, I creeped close to the corner and peeked past. Beyond there were two super mutants standing around. It was clear that they were talking, yet I couldn't understand a word. Had it been a deficiency? Idiocy? I dare not seek the answer to my problem, as there are times when ignorance is bliss.
Occasionally one of the super mutants would punch the arm of the other, and the punched one would slug the other back. It'd then appear as if they laughed about something, and then continued chatting. It was bewildering to behold.
Should I kill them?
While the thought had occurred, another came shortly after, and that had to do with whether I could kill them with what I had. Six shots in a .32 pistol really won't go too far. At least, I didn't think it would.
A voice called out from behind, it barely reached a volume I could hear, "We should avoid confrontation for now." Anton had creeped up behind me and was peeking past the corner as well, hovering above me in a comical and almost cartoonish fashion.
I didn't think that much needed to be said, but so long as we were on the same page, I thought that it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. I let out a small breath and pulled back, it seemed the only option left, then, was the other direction.
On and on we crept away from the noisy mutants until we were at another bend on the far side. We both leaned over to peek around the corner, and we both likely saw the nothingness that encompassed this hall. Crawling our way along, we soon came upon another set of stairs, this time leading down. Unlike the last one, however, this one would clearly bring us to a floor above the ground.
When we got to the base of the stairs, I was greeted with a new sight: patches of deep, dark red were scattered across the floor and sitting on tables. This had to be a mess hall for these creatures. Bones and discarded chunks of flesh lay atop the tables, and the one thing that caught my attention was the lack of knives or the like.
Do these creatures have the strength to rip flesh from bone?
A deeply unsettling shudder ran down my spine. I looked at Anton and could see that he remained stoic, or perhaps he had already been this way. Whatever the case may have been, we had to get out of here. There was no telling when a mutant would appear.
The only problem, then, was that neither of us knew where my gear was being stored; and I didn't know whether Kyle was alive and well, or if he had gotten injured at some point. That girly-guy with him should hopefully keep him safe, but there's no telling whether he was doing that or not – he was here on a mission. Or perhaps he was just here to watch us.
Shaking my head, I cleared the thoughts and focused. Just as I set back toward the task at hand a grumble filled the air. I quickly searched and found a super mutant hovering over one of the tables, his back to us, and his arms moving about. Soon enough, I heard a sound I wish to never hear again: flesh and bone being broken and torn apart.
Anton and I stared down the back of this creature, neither of us making any motion. It continued to joyously tear into its soon-to-be-meal, setting chunks aside as it focused purely on dismembering and assembling the food. A moment passed and I glanced to Anton and he looked back, I gestured toward one of the exits and he gave a solemn nod.
With that agreement, we sneaked our way to one of the doors on the far side, still at the mutant's back. It didn't take long before we reached our exit way, and Anton slinked past me and opened the door. Once it was cracked, we shuffled through like our lives depended on it, yet as silent as a mouse.
As we went out, another door swung open and several footsteps went in. Luckily, Anton had just closed the barrier between us and them. Beyond the door I saw that we had stepped inside of a supply closet. It was fairly large, cleaning supplies were still sitting in the corner or on metal shelving.
The standard issue medic box was hanging by the door, so I popped it open to check for supplies; inside I found two stimpack, med-x, some gauze, and something with alcohol in it for disinfecting (definitely not standard issue). I took the two stimpack and stuck them in my bag, injected the med-x, and took a swig of the alcohol. The liquid burned as it hit the back of my throat and I felt it go all the way down. Thanks to the med-x, though, much of my body felt both lighter and at ease, as if a weight had been lifted or I was lifted from a bog.
After another swig, I put the alcohol back in the box and closed it. By that time, Anton had moved deeper in and had managed to find a fragmentation grenade of all things. He went to say something, but I hushed him with a finger and shook my head, turning back toward the door. There was no telling how close the super mutants were or how well they could hear, though I doubt it'd be very well. Unlike the hall, we had nowhere to run if the closet were opened.
Sticking my ear to the wood, I listened to the other side. Voices of the super mutants shouted back and forth, they sounded angry yet also eager. While all of this was going on, I heard shifting behind me; Anton was up to something, but I couldn't quite make out what while listening through.
About a minute passed and the shuffling came to an end, and I had a steady idea of what was going on in the other room. Suddenly, Anton tapped my shoulder, clearly to get my attention, I turned and saw he had a piece of paper with some writing on it. Skimming through, I nodded. He asked if I'd like more ammunition.
He handed me a small box full of rounds, my Pip-Boy told me there were twenty-four .32 caliber rounds within. It was spooky how it can tell this sort of stuff. I placed the box within the little bag, careful to not lay it atop the trigger; though, I'd likely only ever accidentally set it off once (ha ha...).
The paper crinkled as he flipped it around, and it took less than a second to read what was written on the back. 'How many?' From what I could tell, there were only that many – and I held up three fingers.
He gently placed a hand on my shoulder and scooted me aside, I shuffled over so as to avoid the pain of the contact as much as possible, and watched as he reached for the handle. I reached out and grabbed his hand with my left hand, and the pain throbbed, but thanks to the med-x I could handle it well enough. He glanced my way and I shook my head. He just smiled as he forced his hand.
Soon enough, the door creaked open ever-so-slightly, and a pineapple shaped object was chucked out. It clattered across the floor and before I knew it, an explosion rang out followed by a heavy groan. Just like that, Anton kicked the door, aimed straight for the farthest super mutant. Before either the super mutants or myself could act, he unloaded as many shots as he could into the target.
None of his shots missed. By the time he started reloading, I lined the sight of my own pistol, steadied as best I could, and pulled the trigger. The recoil was far greater than I imagined, particularly because I hadn't used both hands, but it was also much weaker than I imagined. The shot arced wide and hit the back wall. By that time, the super mutants were scrambling.
Anton rushed out the closest, kicking over one of the large tables and ducked behind it just in time for the mutants to aim their weapons our way. I used the wall of the closet for cover, peeked out and fired once more. I couldn't tell whether I hit or missed, as the mutants aimed my way and I popped back behind cover.
Whenever an opportunity felt like it appeared, I lined up a shot and pulled the trigger. Never staying out long enough to see whether I hit, though. Soon enough, the thundering roar of guns firing off came to a sudden halt. At the same time, I heard as two large objects crashed against the floor. Peeking out, I saw two of the mutants lying dead on the ground (or at least unconscious) and the last one throwing down its gun, which had apparently broken in half.
It released a rage-filled roar and started charging toward Anton, knocking tables out of the way with huge swings of its massive, trunk-like arms. Wood splintered and metal groaned as it continued forth, not letting anything stop it. Anton dropped to one knee, planted his other foot and took aim at the rampaging super mutant.
With a steady eye, he aimed without a tremor to be seen, and then repeatedly squeezed the trigger. Shot after shot, his bullets found their target. And just as the bull-like super mutant nearly closed the distance, Anton pushed off with his planted foot and dived out of the way. The mutant's momentum carried it forwards and past, missing entirely.
Meanwhile, I lined up my own shot and squeezed the trigger. The bullet splattered through the beefy creature's neck and it roared once again. Just as it turned its attention my way, another shot came from the opposite side as Anton's gun rang out. The mutant lurched forwards and stomped its mighty foot, trying to keep upright. By that time, I already had the next shot ready and fired.
Turn after turn, we fired into the mutant until it was down and dead. With the threats gone, I looked around the feeding hall and saw the damages; busted up tables, walls riddled with holes, and a new hole in the floor just barely peeking down to the floor below. If anything walked in here, it'd be obvious at a glance that there'd been a fight.
I took a moment to collect myself, to not let any rampant thoughts run through my mind. I didn't want to have to think about what'd happen if another mutant showed up. I didn't want to think about whether I'd be able to complete the request to clear this factory. I didn't want to—
I shook my head, cleared my thoughts once more. Turning, I hobbled over to the pair of super mutants lying on the ground and bent down, placing the .32 pistol in the little bag, and began rifling around for anything worth taking. Within a few minutes I wasn't able to find anything of note. Giving up, I rose to my feet and turned to see Anton lingering near a door on the far end.
As I came up, he didn't so much as glance back as he said, "I think this will lead us to where your armor and equipment is at." He glanced back, his eyes betrayed hesitation. I tilted my head and gave him an inquisitive look. He sighed and pushed the door open, "However... it might be with that large super mutant, it could be carrying it around. And perhaps if we're lucky, then that's the best case scenario. Otherwise... otherwise we'll need to search this entire place."
Having said his piece, he walked away. I looked down at my hands, one heavily bruised and slightly bloated, the other comparatively better. Even now it felt painful to just move my fingers. I huffed and tried to will the pain away, yet much to my chagrin I couldn't push it from my mind. Instead, I focused on moving forward.
With one last look around the room, I spotted one of the discarded guns some ways away from the mutants. Moving over, I spotted a sawed-off shotgun. I hadn't seen any of the mutants using it, so where did it come from? Regardless, I bent over and picked it up. Checking it, I found two shots ready, and loaded and five rounds scattered around where it'd been lying.
With the shotgun collected, I looked for a place on my person to put it, but couldn't find anywhere so I decided to just carry it. I left the messy room and tried to catch up with Anton. Going down a hall, it soon opened up to a catwalk overseeing one of the factory floors. Below I could see half a dozen super mutants hard at work at different switch panels, operating levers to operate the dark snake-like monsters.
Boxes sat at odd intervals. A mutant stood before each; it'd occasionally pull a lever or press a large button, and some object crawled out the end of the box and moved down toward the next box. I didn't know the purpose or function of these creatures coming out the boxes, but after a trip into each box the creatures looked bigger – they had been growing.
My eyes then moved up to my level, there I spotted Anton moving around a bend curving along the corner and headed toward a large box suspended in the air. It was metal and had a window cut out, which held remnants of glass – sharp shards that jutted out here and there. Below, I spotted what appeared to be the broken glass scattered about.
Surprisingly, none of the super mutants spotted me as I casually walked my way to the suspended box. The metal door sat against the wall, broken off the hinges and bent – as if some powerful force caved it. Stepping inside, I was assaulted with the scent of oil and grease. Three tables sat equal space from each other through the center, on the far wall was an odd angular desk with a blue piece of paper sitting atop it, and a metal control panel of some sort sat before the window. It was covered in buttons and nobs and a thick lever protruded on the side closest to me. Lastly, a small crushed barrel slowly dripping with a black substance sat in the corner.
Anton was hovering over the desk, he ran his hand over the paper and half-whispered, "This is..." He sighed, shook his head, and turned and faced me. That cold fake smile worn like a shield. "I found some paper, do you have a plan to get your stuff back?" He asked while holding a small stack of papers, a pen rested in his other hand.
I set the shotgun on one of the tables, grabbed the papers, and took up a pen that lay atop one of the desks. With that, I began to lay out the foundations of a very, very terrible plan (if it could be called that). 'We get my stuff and get out. Once gone, the trigger will be pressed and it'll all go boom. Maybe. Not that we know how large the explosion will be, it could just take out the room the bomb is sitting in, but I don't think that's the case.'
"Hmm. Why is that?" he inquired, reading over my shoulder.
'Simple. From what little I understood on the skeleton's manifesto, there is a chain of explosives underneath the entire factory.'
"Y-You didn't think to mention that until now?! You knew that and you just shrugged?!" He clasped a hand over his mouth, inhaled deeply, then let out a long, slow, and deep sigh. "I can't believe this. I'm glad you didn't try pressing it until now..."
'We were still underground, so that could've only been detrimental. I don't want to be buried under rubble.'
"Then what about the time in the military research compound when you had us throw multiple explosives? We were underground then, too. Or did you conveniently forget that, Miss?" He seemed unnaturally perturbed, and I could swear I heard sarcasm in his tone – despite it still sounding almost cheerful. Not that there weren't any hints of vexation.
'Relax, Anton, we aren't going to die just like that. Besides, if it goes off while we're here, then it goes off while we're here. It'll be a once in a lifetime event.'
I punctuated the last sentence with the motion of laughter. He didn't reply to that. So I continued writing.
'I don't know where the large green guy is at, so that leaves one option: we signal to the others to create a diversion, while the mutants are busy we assassinate the big guy, take my stuff, and run like hell. Assuming it has my stuff.'
A half-groan-half-sigh was the only response.
-Transmission in Progress-
Next chapter is mostly written. Progress was slower than I'd have liked, I got very distracted. I hope to get it out within the next two weeks, but we'll see.