I breathed in deep, letting the air fully fill my lungs, and then in one long huff I let it all out. Even in the blue-hued dark I could see the puff of air forming into a misty-cloud before it slowly drifted away and dissipated. The coldness bit at my body from the inside with each breath, causing a slight irritation in my throat.
My hand slipped down and brushed against the glass bottle of the Nuka-Cola I had set down and I felt a chill seep into my skin through the contact. But I took hold, brought it up, and knocked it back. Letting the ice-cold liquid slither its way down.
I checked my chronometer, it had been about forty minutes since I first sat up here, prepared as I might be; the rifle overlooked the factory, the .44 magnum revolver sat beside it on the right, and my bag to my left – for ease of access. Just in case, I had a med-x and two stimpack laid out between myself and the bag. And just past the bag was the case for the sniper rifle, it sat closer to the ledge and the rifle than to myself.
Far below I saw traces of movement, it was small at first but as the seconds amassed things only grew in scale. What had likely been one person soon became three, then eight, then fourteen. Dropping down to peek through the scope of the rifle, I took a closer look. A quick gander revealed a small mass of humans fleeing from the factory, several were putting up defensive lines to provide covering fire toward unseen attackers.
I spotted Travis mixed with the light-footed defenders, he'd fire a few times with his rifle before beating a hasty retreat back a few yards. In the time I followed him through the scope, someone beside him had been hit and dropped, it looked like Travis attempted to offer a hand but found he was too late. I stopped watching by that point, my focus shifted toward the attackers – to the super mutants.
The mutants poured out like a viscous liquid from a bottle. The swarm oozed out from behind cover, as if they were invincible and nothing could touch them. Several were dropped by the onslaught of bullets or red-hot rays; a handful were touched in such a way that they were instantly reduced to ash leaving only their gear behind. A trio of super mutants led a charge carrying large, gnarled, and weathered instruments in their hands to bring pain onto those too slow to outpace the superior mutants.
The foremost melee mutant had nearly closed the distance with one of these... survivors and was about ready to attack. I had aligned my sights, held my breath in an anxious anticipation, then slowly breathed out to assuage my nerves and pulled the trigger.
Bwum!
The noise echoed out into the cragged hillscape, a light pop of light almost blinded me as it felt brighter than it had just forty minutes prior, and the familiar scent of gunpowder flooded my senses. My shot struck against the mutant's leg, tripping it up and causing its attack to fall short. The ruddy survivor scampered away, fleeing with all his might – even leaving his weapon behind.
The faux soldiers continued to scatter for the hills, the few fighting were starting to use rocks and anything else solid as cover. Those that were solely retreating were either helping along the wounded or unconscious (maybe even dead). One of those unconscious (or worse) looked similar to Kyle, long and covered in a vault suit, and I could make out the shape of a Pip-Boy on the right arm as it waved about. I carefully lined a shot toward the person kidnapping him, aiming for their lower body – a much harder shot but less likely to accidentally hit Kyle – and...
Bwum.
I hastily shifted toward the noise far below and away, Travis had his sniper rifle on a swivel as shot after shot burst forth with a pop of light. All the while he'd dash between points of cover as he took quick shots with little breather between. I couldn't even begin to imagine the level of skill it must have taken to not only rapidly fire a sniper rifle, but to also hit multiple targets with a high level of accuracy in a short span of time.
I had to do my part, then, so as to not let him show me up. Taking in the sights, I turned my focus toward the threat below. Scores of super mutants continued swarming forth from the factory, their weapons pointed toward the 'tin' soldiers just outside their front yard. With a mighty roar, my sniper rifle joined the cacophony plaguing the hills.
As my focus narrowed toward my target and finding the next, I was reminded of the importance of broad strokes. Debris scattered before me as a heavy impact battered me with dirt and rock. I coughed and sputtered in a vain attempt to clear my throat and mouth of the dust that followed. My body reflexively blinked and tears pooled. Through it all, I could hear the sounds of fighting off in the distance as it slowly drew near.
Had I become a target now that they were closer? Should I prioritize those closer to me or would that cause them to target me more?
By the time I gained my senses I had furiously scanned the battlefield looking for who had shot at me, but I came up blank – it could have been any of the people out there, mutant or human. Were the humans really my allies? No, I couldn't let myself suspect the poorly dressed people – not at this point, not until I saw how they were for myself.
Bwum.
Travis was coming and I couldn't even decide what to do. I ran my hand through my hair as I shook my head, I had to clear these thoughts – I'd get to them later. But I had to focus on the then and there.
My rifle pointed toward a target, fired, and shifted to the next. I went until no bullets flew out. How many had I actually hit with those shots? There was no time to dwell as I moved with all the haste I could muster to eject the magazine, pulled some rounds from the box and thumbed in the new ones. Why was there only one magazine?!
As the last round was loaded, I had already started toward loading it back into the rifle. As I did I started to hear voices, the poorly armored individuals and Travis were getting much closer, yet I couldn't make out anything that they said. I didn't know how far away they were, but it sounded as if they were underwater. The magazine slid and secured into place, I readied the next round and found a target in no time at all.
My shot rang loud, and at the same time another impact smashed nearby. Like before, I was stunned by the debris and dust. Through the haze I thought I was able to catch a glimpse of the cause, and for some reason everything just clicked: the large mutant had a hunting rifle.
If that's how you want to play things, then I'll respond in kind!
Is what I had thought, except, I hadn't quite done so. I fished out the trigger from the bag, flicked a few things from 'off' to 'on', then turned a little thing and pressed a button that had been protected by a little cover.
At first nothing happened and some part of me felt disappointed, but another part felt relieved. Then I felt a small tremor, as if the world itself were trembling. It was closely followed by a deep sucking as if all the air were rushing toward one spot. Silence settled across the hills as the sound of the gunfire died down just like that.
Then as if a bubble were burst there was a cacophonous and deafening pop and a flash of blinding white light erupted before me. I had to shield my eyes, yet that wasn't enough to stop the light. I shut them tightly, hoping that'd stop it, yet nothing seemed to help – it was as if the entire world were now just white.
Before I knew what happened, I was assaulted by gale-force winds. I could only lean into it to keep myself steady. Yet within moments I felt something clatter against my shoulder, and I huffed at the impact. Another thing battered my legs and I was swept off my feet. I didn't know what exactly happened after that, as once my head made sudden contact with the ground everything went dark.
"Hey, wake up." As someone called out, I felt a sting in my cheek.
My head pounded and something burning reached my nose, it was acrid and almost burned at my senses. I stirred awake more, and opened my eyes. The searing sun above enveloped me with a warm blanket... too warm, perhaps. A figure loomed above, close to my feet.
She was pretty. Slight freckles, blue eyes that I could get—
I waved at Travis as he looked at me dryly, likely catching some hint of my thoughts behind whatever expression I wore. I could only avert my eyes as he sighed, "You seem awake now. We gathered your gear, here's your book. You will answer my questions."
His voice sounded flat, as if he were largely lost in thought and needed to get through this. I could only give him a curious look as I retrieved my book. It was already opened to a fresh page and my pencil was sitting in the crevice.
As I took the book, Travis stood and moved back a few yards, taking a seat atop a large rock. It was only then that I noticed the amount of bodies around me; some were clearly sleeping individuals on the ground, blankets or mats placed below them as they simply slept in the sun; others were carrying supplies about, I couldn't understand why. Two figures shuffled up beside Travis, they're backs turned toward me.
They were both wearing the same makeshift, cobbled-together armor that that brown haired body within the factory wore. These people must be part of the same group. Each was armed with a weapon, yet the weapons looked worn and not well-maintained.
One of them stepped forward, he was taller and his clothes looked rugged. From a brief glimpse, I saw that his face appeared scarred and burnt and patches of skin showed through his scruffy facial hair. He shot me a glare, then turned fully toward Travis. The two stared at one another for a solid forty seconds in silence, before the man sighed and stomped off. The other one, a few inches shorter, sighed in defeat and followed after him
Alone – or as alone as we could be in the open – again, Travis folded his fingers together and leaned forward, he leveled a serious expression my way. "Were you the one to set off the explosion?" his tone was even, it betrayed no hints of emotion.
I accidentally stared at him for a good fifteen seconds as I was lost in thought. But then I gave him a small nod, no need for my book when it came to that. His face crinkled with some expression I didn't know, and then his head hung low for a moment. After a couple seconds, he seemed to have collected himself and looked back my way, "Why did you do it? How? Do you know what resulted from that?"
He shook his head, "No, you wouldn't know the results because you just woke up." He stood, crossed the distance until he was above me once more, then reached into a side pocket and fished out a med-x and held it out to me, "You'll need this, I'm sure."
I took it and injected it right away, as I did so Travis had left his hand there, palm up. It took me a moment to realize he was offering me a hand up, and as soon as I took it, he pulled me to my feet with a surprising level of strength. His small frame betrayed his physical strength.
With his help, I was led a small way over to the rock he'd been sitting at a moment ago. Even as I traveled over, I noticed off in the east a huge, pillowing cloud of dust and smoke and ash rose high into the sky, disappearing within the clouds. It was unsettlingly dark, as if most light entered but then never returned. It casted a long shadow across the land.
As I stared I started to realize the noise around us; people conversing in hushed voices, feet shuffling in a hurry, supplies falling over and someone scrambling to pick them up, and a small click from my Pip-Boy designating radiation. Before I had a chance to retreat within my mind once more and process all the information around me, Travis helped me atop the rock to get a view of the area beyond.
The factory had completely vanished, we were standing on a ridge further back. The spot I had been during the night had gone crashing down as earth had shifted. Beyond, where the factory once stood, was the source of the smoke: a crater spanning the entire distance of the factory and some distance beyond. Surrounding the crater was a crumbled version of the landscape as the ground had moved to fill in the new holes, and the compacted ground we had stood on just a few hours prior had been made soft in appearance.
The effects of the explosion could be felt even back here, as parts of the already broken road had shattered into a fraction of its former broken self. I hadn't noticed it before, but a gentle fluff floated down and landed across the surface. It didn't stick well to most surfaces. It was light and grey, not at all like the snow I had read about – but, then again, snow was said to be cold, and this was anything but.
"That explosion will be felt for years around these parts," his eyes were looking toward the smoke, or perhaps somewhere even further beyond. It seemed too mystical for my taste. He then helped me sit upon the rock and asked his questions once more, "Now, how exactly did you set off the explosion?"
I looked at him for a moment, then flipped open the book and picked up the pencil and started writing. 'After we had split up to infiltrate the building, this factory as it is—was called, I had found myself alone. The largest of those creatures found me and we chatted for a brief moment, about as well as I could. It then knocked me out.' I paused for a second and flexed my hand, working the muscles as I peeked at Travis; he was watching my paper with rapt attention, seemingly unwilling to pry his eyes away as he was reading the upside down writing.
I continued: 'After I awoke, I found myself in a room. I was let out by Anton and we explored the area. We came upon a room flooded with radiation and I found a device—a trigger—within and a paper with some instructions and information upon it. It had been damaged by some weird gunk, so I could only understand so much. Apparently, there had been a handful of mini-nukes set within the bedrock layer underneath the factory, and a few explosives struck within the walls—a fail-safe or plan of revenge, I couldn't glean the proper answer.'
At that, I set the pencil down and handed off the book. Travis put his hand up to stop me, and shoved the book back in my direction. "But why set it off if you knew that much?" his voice sounded strained this time, as if he was having trouble breathing. I then watched as he fished something from his pocket, shook it, and then placed it before his mouth and took a deep huff. Held his breath, then exhaled a few seconds later.
I let that fade into the background as I delved into my thoughts. Why had I done that? I didn't have a particular reason to do so, nor to not. That train of thought led me to the answer I provided: 'Why not? It got rid of the threat, right?'
Travis read that and his eyes narrowed, his expression looked... pitiable? Or perhaps hostile? I inhaled and shook my head, stood... and then slowly sat back down again as the world twirled and danced. I'd have bounced off like a rabbit on chocolate, but– no, I think it'd be about that if I tried to run in the state I had been in then. Or it'd feel that way as running was dangerous, a poison to my well-being at the time.
Without a word, Travis left. I watched him start across the way, his movement intentioned and direct. He stopped near the tall man I saw mere moments earlier, and the two broke into a conversation. Before long, the man was angrily pointing in my direction, his face red. And Travis motioned for him to calm down. I couldn't hear a single word they'd said.
"What'd the two of you discuss?" I didn't need to turn to know who spoke. I then pointed at the ash and smoke trailing high into the skies to give Kyle the idea, then handed him the book with the page left open on what I wrote. Kyle was much slower to get through the information than Travis, but after a bit he commented, "So you did that?" I nodded.
He silently handed the book back and took a seat beside me. He rubbed his facial stubble and said, "I didn't get to see it, but I heard the explosion was massive. Reached high into the sky. Blindingly bright. I'm not sure if I should be thankful I was unconscious or upset that I missed it all."
I jotted something down and showed him: 'Perhaps a bit of both, no?'
He chuckled as he read it. "Yeah, maybe a bit of both..." He let his words trail off as he leaned back, his eyes wandered to the sky and it felt as if everything else had faded away, but then I began to notice the synced clicking of our Geiger counters and I was reminded about the present situation. He leaned back on his hands and closed his eyes, likely not wanting the falling ash to blind him.
Time slowly passed as I continued to observe our surroundings. It had been what felt like a long while after that someone set my things near the rock and said that Travis had told her to put it there. My sniper rifle was still assembled, the case was left open with the contents barely contained within, and the bag looked like someone had rifled through it. Upon noticing my suspicious glare at my bag, the girl explained that she removed the spoiled food she had smelled within.
My eyes shot wide and I rushed with as much haste as I could muster and tore through my bag looking for anything that had changed, and I soon came upon a major discovery: the smelly bloatfly meat had been removed. For some reason, that had been really pressing and pushed me over some sort of edge, emotionally. It started with a few sniffles, then tears broke. In record time I had become a snotty, tearful mess.
-Transmission Received-
-Level Up-
That 'bwum' sound effect is pretty odd. Anyways, there should hopefully be another chapter this month as I'd really like to wrap this section up before I become a bit more busy. See you all soon.