Chapter Thirty-Two: Resolute Talk
"Due to the radiation from earlier, you're all to come and collect a radaway and drink it down. Letting the radiation sit in your system for too long may result in bodily harm or in the rare instance a mutation, so keep that in mind." The voice came from the tall man that had talked with Travis, he was standing in the middle of the area swarmed with people and was yelling out. Two boxes filled with pouches of orange-ish sloppy liquid sat near his feet.
Travis took a deep breath and then called out as well, "Drink fast, then pack. We're heading back soon," his eyes locked onto me as he concluded. After he said his piece, he started toward me.
Beside me, Kyle leaned over and whispered, "I haven't seen Anton. Do you think it could stay that way?"
I shot him a look, but before we had the chance to discuss anything, Travis had arrived and gave us a pointed stare. "You'll talk with Fredrick upon arrival." Having said all that he wanted, he turned his back to us and walked away.
I gave Kyle a pointed expression, and he shrugged back, clearly not thinking anything of that. Seemingly not wanting to discuss it, he hopped off the rock and headed over toward his things, starting to pack up.
I glanced at the chronometer on my Pip-Boy and realized it'd been fifty minutes since I last checked. Which meant it'd probably been about an hour since I woke up. The Geiger counter was quiet, no longer ticking. Yet the thing that caught my attention the most was my slight reflection on the screen; I looked haggard, my cheeks were a mess, and I could make out a few bruises here and there. I felt how I looked, too.
Running a hand through my greasy hair, I sat back and looked upwards; the ash was no longer falling, it had settled into a thin layer across the lands, yet even that had started to become patchy as the wind would rise and fall.
I shuffled over to my things, now bereft of the most important item. I started by disassembling the sniper rifle and placing it back into the case, cleaning it all to the best of my abilities as I went along. It was just as I packed it all away, closing the lid and securing the clamps that someone stepped before me.
I peeked at the feet. Worn green boots adorned the figure, then looked up. His face had patchy blonde hair, and the skin that showed through was roughed up with burned flesh, scars of the past. This was the man that spoke just a bit ago. He was glaring down at me, clearly wanting to talk. I held up my book and pointed toward a specific word: 'Yes?'
"Fredrick's ranger said you required a book to communicate, it'd appear he wasn't lying." He stomped up closer, reached down and grabbed my wrist, forcing me to my feet. It was all I could do to keep hold of my book. Without a word, he led me away. A pain shot through my arm as I was jerked about, I could only grimace as I was dragged along.
It wasn't until we were a ways away from the rest that he finally came to a stop and released my arm. I rubbed my wrist. He turned back, that permanent glare still in its place, "My name is Connor. You're Matthew's girl, right? Do—" at my confused look, he stopped.
For the first time since I'd seen him, his expression shifted away from the glare. "You're not? Ah... then, look, I'll just come out and say it: I have a favor for you to do." With that his expression shifted again, this time into something wounded as if he were ripping off the bandage of an old injury and letting the pain all wash over him at once. He choked as he continued, "Matthew... that man that travels with you, not the tall one but the other one. Would..." he trailed off as whatever he was going through started to really get at him, but after a moment and a few deep breaths he continued, "Could you... would you kill that man?"
He wants to kill Anton? Why?
This hurt man saw my expression full of bewilderment and flinched. My thoughts had largely come to a sudden halt at the request and I couldn't process how to proceed, but he was one step ahead of me. With another deep breath, he started to explain, "Matthew... that man, whatever he's calling himself now, I'm sure that he killed my wife – or was directly responsible for her murder – and I must avenge her death. It's been my sole purpose these last two years..."
I held up my book, flipping toward different pages and pointing toward different words until I got what I wanted to say across. 'How can you be sure it was him?' The man frowned as he read each word, but it wasn't a result of disappointment or anger or anything like that... it was like his emotions had all piled up and were about to spill forth. He looked like he was about to break.
His head dropped and he stared at the dirt below, his voice rose up in a hushed whisper, "Let me tell you a story..." I started to count the seconds as I just watched as he trembled and shook. After one hundred forty-four seconds, he sniffled and matched my gaze. His eyes which had been so filled with sorrow now burned with some sort of zeal and anger in equal parts, yet I could still see the traces where tears formed – he was wearing his heart on his sleeve right now.
Out of respect for his courage, I dared not look away.
"That man, Matthew Ashton, led all the raiders in this area – it was years ago, but I know it to be true. He went around and forced group after group to kneel. We at Siman's Ridge saw his people often as they came in droves to attack and other days to trade, it was all very nerve wracking. Many of us died protecting the settlement, but he eventually stopped attacking. Then came a messenger carrying a missive." He chuckled to himself, it carried no traces of mirth behind it. "Just a few words; let them pass through and they'd treat us well."
"So we did, we let them pass over our bridge and through our town. At first it was fine, it was dandy. They merely passed through, but eventually the raiders started to make demands. Asking for some supplies here, food there... people over there. We tried to be accommodating at first, yet the more time passed the more demanding they became and soon enough they started to force their hand." He sighed and shook his head.
"We were fed up with it. We started to put our foot down. They seemed to back down once we did, but one day this large man pulled a gun and aimed it at a kid. He wanted something, but I never heard what. He shot and my wife jumped between them without a second thought, he emptied his weapon into her. I only heard about it after the fact, by the time I got there it was too late..."
His vision drifted toward the sky, watching a cloud or he had simply started staring off into space. "Finding him, the leader, has been my raison d'etre. Yet when I saw him in the factory, I froze. I couldn't do it. I had no doubts in my mind that that man, Anton as he proclaims himself now, was Matthew, yet I couldn't do it. Hah... hahahahah! How fucked is that? I could have avenged my wife then and there, but I let him walk away! He slinked off as soon as he saw us, he was headed upstairs and left us to fight alone."
"I thought about chasing after him, but I couldn't leave my friends behind – not to chase Matthew. Not for my selfish revenge..." He looked back to me, tears began to break free and flow down his cheeks, "My wife used to say that an eye for an eye does not make rye. I never understood it, not until that moment. Perhaps I'm just foolish, aren't I?" He leveled a heavy sigh, then half-muttered, "I don't expect you to answer any of what I've said. This is just the story of one broken man to an excellent listener." He sniffled, wiped his nose on his sleeve and shook his head, placing a hand on my shoulder, "Thank you for listening, and I hope that you make a better decision than I – before it is too late."
With that, he walked away leaving me alone in my stupor to process everything he just said. I slowly sank to the ground and just let my mind sort through all of that.
By the time I returned to the mass of people, nearly all of the supplies had been packed away and people were getting ready to travel. Empty, transparent pouches littered the area. I finished packing my things around the time Travis and Connor were shouting to the rest of the people, telling them it was time to make the trek back to Siman's Ridge.
I pulled out a med-x and placed it into the straps of my chest plate, it'd come in handy during the walk back, I was certain of it. With that, my bag was pulled over my shoulder. I couldn't tell if it was because of all the rest or the rampant amount of drugs flowing through my system, but my body didn't hurt that much.
Kyle soon came up to me, "I saw Anton hanging around near the rocks, I happened to spot him when I went looking for you after I packed. I decided to watch him for a bit. Honestly, I'm not sure what it is, but he is definitely hiding something."
I started pointing toward different words in my book to form a question: 'Did you see what?' Kyle just shook his head. 'Where is he?'
"This way..." his voice sounded deflated or disappointed, perhaps both.
As we moved further away from the crowd, we traversed along the ridgeline and moved closer to the crater. Soon enough, Anton started to come into view. His tussled, short brown hair had traces of ash scattered throughout it, except along the right side, where I watched as he casually slid his hand through and loosened some ash. His back was turned, but even from a distance I could spot something dark blue that I wasn't expecting to see again.
As we moved closer, Kyle's foot hit a rock and it jumped down, knocking into another rock, and that one into another. Soon enough there was a mini-cascade of rocks freely flowing down the ridge. Anton turned with a hurried twist, hiding the thing in his hands. When he saw it was us, his expression quickly took the shape of a familiar and terrible smile.
He hurriedly placed things inside a pack, then stood and jogged over to greet us, "Good 'eve, Ma'am." His eyes never once glanced toward Kyle.
"It's morning," Kyle retorted, looking down at his Pip-Boy he added, "10:43 in the AM, to be exact. That's morning."
"That may be the case, but it doesn't change a greeting. It's merely a pleasantry. Something you don't understand, I'm sure."
Not wanting to sit through the two arguing, I held up the book with fresh writing: 'Time to head back to Siman's Ridge, we're crossing and making the next leg of the journey soon.' Anton read through the entire thing in less than a second, meanwhile Kyle was still as slow as ever.
I had so many questions for Anton, I needed to know more about it. But I got the feeling he wouldn't be very forthright with truthful information, so it'd be better to just not ask. Not right now, anyways. Through hell and high water, I had to confront him about these suspicions eventually. I was able to ignore things when he joined, he was a stranger. But it felt like we've all gotten to know one another over this short time and now I'm seeing—
"–us!" Kyle's voice broke through my revelry and I noticed that he was now fully sneering toward Anton. I hadn't a clue what all he just said, but he was visibly fuming.
I stepped between the two of them before things became more heated and pointed toward the ridge where the green and yellow markers were, and without waiting a single beat I started back along the ridge and headed toward the people. After a few seconds, likely from a pointed look, Kyle followed after, and then a second later I could hear Anton's distinctive quiet footfalls. Something told me that most people might not even realize he's walking somewhere with how hushed his movements were.
Had they always been that way?
We eventually arrived before the cobbled gates of Siman's Ridge, the large group having traveled through the pockmark-ridden land outside the walls. Unlike last time, the gates opened a spell before we arrived, yet no one stepped out to greet us. And as we stepped through the large door of the gate an array of rifles were leveled our way.
Fredrick stood on high, overlooking us entering. I hadn't noticed him from the outside, nor the amount of weaponry that'd be trained on us. But I had felt many eyes bearing down, like last time. Fredrick shook his head, fixing his gaze on Travis and Connor. He held up a cone and spoke into it, his voice boomed out many times greater than it otherwise would, "Connor, I see you disobeyed a direct order. Not only did you lead a great many of us to the super mutants, you've clearly returned with only a fraction of the numbers. That is not pleasing to see."
As he spoke, he had started to move along the walkway, reaching the stairs. The next part he said while descending, "I can see that defeat doesn't shadow your faces, so I can at least take that for good news." His eyes settled on me and I could see the thoughts swirling around in his head and a half-smile crossed his lips. "It seems I won't have to put you before a firing squad, Connors. Rejoice," his tone was filled with sarcasm during that last part.
Once he reached the ground layer, I could hear the whispers amongst the crowd. Many were simple complaints, some spoke of unfair treatment, while others said this was a harsh reception. Mayor Fredrick lowered his cone, now closing the distance to the group – directly moving toward me. He was flanked by Trish and another person. He waved a hand and the rifles lowered, the people carrying them then started to go their separate ways.
His expression was hard as he took me in, then it softened and he gave a half-hearted smile – as if he were partly forcing himself in a trying situation. He gave a pointed look my way, then looked over Anton and Kyle and simply said, "I'll see you in my office, we have a deal to finalize. And do be sure to bring Travis with you." With that, he started down the street, headed back for his office.
As if some dam had burst, everyone seemed to wave toward their neighbor or give some kind of farewell before, like the mayor, they dispersed. All of those with the cobbled together armor just went their separate ways; some carrying another along, or walking and talking as they cleared the space, but all of the equipment that had been carried had been left behind. I watched as within a few breaths a few people ran over and started hauling it off to who-knows-where.
I gave Kyle a look, but he was busy boring a hole through Anton – or wished he was – and Anton was looking about the place, not paying the tall guy any mind. Just as Kyle opened his mouth to say something, another voice sounded out, "Come."
Travis stood there, his expression a mixture of annoyance and hopefulness, but largely annoyance. I gave him a little nod, and saw that Anton had started walking off somewhere and Kyle gave out a stink eye before following after, leaving me to my own devices – or rather to deal with the situation alone. I reached out to try and pull them back, even if they were long out of my reach, but only found air – neither of them so much as glanced back.
I slumped my shoulders and started towards the tallest building, I had a meeting to attend. Travis fell in line behind me, keeping quiet the entire time. I could feel his eyes on the back of my head the entire walk over. Through the smelly room and up the stairs, back down the hall, and right up to the sturdiest looking door in the entire place, yet it hung open as if preemptively inviting us in.
Like when I had stepped into the office the first time, Mayor Manheim had his back to us as he stood before the window, looking out at his town. His voice rose up as he kept his back to us, "Greetings, Miss Shear. By the faces of my people, I'd wager a bet and say that you and your... friends were able to clear out the super mutant's base of operations, no?"
Travis stepped up, his hands held behind his back as he stood up straight and said, "It's gone... permanently."
"Ah... I see. Travis, why don't you head on down and get a nice drink to give Miss Shear and myself a chance to converse with one another." While it sounded almost like a question, it was quite clear that the mayor had meant that as an order. And without missing a single beat, Travis turned and walked out, closing the door behind him. Once the click arose from the door, Fredrick turned around, stepping up and sitting in his chair.
He wore a stern expression that carried hints of an inquisitive nature. Interlocking his fingers, he placed his elbows on his desk and leaned in, hiding his mouth with his hands. "Miss Shear, I'll be frank with you: I wasn't expecting much. But do ya know what I was expecting?" He let the question hang, likely seeing if I would respond in some way – his eyes were watching me like a hawk – before he continued with a slight look of disappointment, "I was hoping to still have the factory the super mutants were occupying after they were cleared out. Yet, here we are: the super mutants gone – likely fleeing for the hills or vaporized – and the factory reduced to rubble."
"Now..." he let his voice trail off for a moment as he thought of the words he wished to say, "I'm not an unreasonable man. You got rid of the super mutants, and for that I'm very thankful to you, so I won't renege on our deal. Your little group may pass to the other bank in peace. But just this once." He leaned back, letting his hands fall to the desk's surface before reaching into one of the drawers and pulling out a fat cigar.
He lit it with a rusted-copper looking lighter and pulled a heavy drag, before puffing smoke to his left. "That's the best I can do for you," he waved the cigar, putting it within an ashtray he pulled out from the desk. "Now, if you wouldn't mind me asking. How exactly did you pull off that trick? See, we all saw the cloud from here. Felt the ground shake beneath our feet and saw the massive plume of smoke, but we weren't close enough to have properly witnessed it. Travis'll tell me later, I'm sure, but he can be... less than forthright. So, please, explain how you caused this?"
I thought for a moment, about whether to tell him, but decided it might help mend the bridge between us some – not that I did anything wrong, of course – and pulled off my bag and took out my book, flipping to the pages I had explained things to Travis. Once I found it, I held it out to the mayor, who, like before, flicked his eyes down and glanced at the paper and then his eyes wandered back to me.
"Well now, that was certainly not what I was expecting. Mayhaps it was best destroyed, then, before anyone truly got hurt there." He grabbed his cigar and took another long drag, puffing smoke out again before placing the cigar back in the tray. He waved a hand, "I think it'd be best if you reconvened with your group now, Miss Shear. I'm expecting another appointment, and I'd appreciate it if you would give me the space for that."
Nodding, I placed my book back and swung the bag around my shoulders and made for the door. As I turned the knob and started to pull it open, he called out so I stopped in the doorway, "Oh, and feel free to stay a few days here to rest and relax – and recover. You look like you could use a break. There are all kinds of accommodations and relaxations here – including a bathhouse." With that, I walked out.
-Transmission Complete-
