Kirk did his best to calm the child down but he was hysterical, spouting they were coming. He kept looking behind him with wide eyes and a terrified expression. "Calm down, what's your name?" Kirk asked, grabbing his shoulders and giving him a gentle shake.
"B-Bryan. Please...my dad...he's in trouble! H-he told...me ...to run when they...came..." he said, catching his breath.
"Okay, so your dad is in trouble? What kind of trouble?" Kirk asked, kneeling down to his level.
"Those things... those monsters... came out of nowhere and started... killing everyone! I heard my dad...say... fuckin ants as he shot at them..."
Kirk stood up, if they acted quickly they could save him. "Okay, take us to your place and we will save your dad and everyone else."
"Like hell we will! We gotta go report this! That's all we do in scouting! Observe and report! I ain't gonna die to save some lost causes from fuckin ants!" Nick yelled.
"Then go back! I'm gonna help them! I'm not about to abandon his dad and leave him an orphan!" Kirk yelled, stepping up to him.
Nick cursed and looked away. Simms would probably fire him if he left him out here by himself. "Fuck me! Fine! Just the dad though and we get the hell out of there!"
Kirk was stunned for a moment at the change in attitude but he nodded and turned to Bryan. "Okay Bryan, lead the way."
Bryan led them up the hill Kirk asked about earlier and soon came to a makeshift barricade with a gate. A sign on it said 'Welcome to Grayditch'.
As they entered the town and turned down what seemed to be the main street, they saw a grisly scene. Fires were everywhere as houses along both sides of the street burned down. Scattered outside the house and the street were bodies. Men, women, and children. They were burned and mutilated with giant ants roaming around them. Bryan fell on his knees crying seeing the people he knew dead. Kirk got his rifle ready, swallowing his empathy for Bryan.
"We need to leave now Kirk. They're all dead." Nick said, his gun raised as well.
"We find his dad first. He needs to know if he is alive." Kirk felt for the boy. He knew the likely outcome, but he would want to know.
"Don't be stupid! Look at how many their are! At least a dozen! Let's go!"
"You can go, I'm staying for the boy." Kirk said. He aimed at a ant's head and then remembered Arkansas words about the antenna. Kirk fired, blowing off the antenna. The ant chittered and turned on it's fellow ant, spewing fire on it.
Kirk looked up from his scope making sure he was seeing this right. "What the fuck..." Nick said, shocked as well. The other ants attacked the frenzied ant killing it quickly. The pack turned on Kirk and Nick, heading their way. Kirk pulled out a grenade and threw it at the pack. He was glad he recently read that Duck and Cover magazine. Chunks of ants flew into the air, as Kirk took aim and blew off another antenna, forcing the ants to fight each other again. Nick opened fire as well and soon the pack of ants were killed.
The group slowly made their way down the street and Bryan pointed out his house. He tried to not look at the bodies on the ground, but they checked each one on the way for his dad. Despite the burns, he was sure none were his dad.
Kirk entered the burning house with his shotgun out as Nick stayed outside with Bryan. He wrapped his neckerchief around his face to help with the smoke and quickly found the living room. He found a body surrounded by dead ants. He picked up the rifle and the body and carried it out quickly. Once outside Bryan saw the body and sobbed into Nick's leg. "Daaaadd...no..." Kirk was kneeling by the body catching his breath from the smoke.
"I told you this was a waste of time..." Nick said, keeping his emotions under control. He hated seeing all this. Now he has a kid crying into his leg.
Kirk walked up to him and shoved him, causing Bryan to let go of him.
"You piece of shit! This could've been prevented! All you damn scouts had to do was walk up a damn hill! You could've found this place! Help them! Anything! They died alone!"
"Shut up...you don't-"
"What if I hadn't taken care of those raiders?! Bryan here would've ran straight to them! Do you think they would've helped him?!"
Kirk grimaced at the thought of what they would've done to him. Nick stayed quiet and looked at the ground.
"I'm not a team lead-"
"Oh fuck off!" Kirk yelled waving him off. "You have a voice! Stop using it to make excuses! Speak up if you think something is wrong!"
"What do you know!? You've lived your entire life in a nice cushy vault! You know nothing of our ways! How things work out here! It's every man for himself! Kill or be killed! I am not a bad guy for wanting to stay alive!" Nick yelled back, poking his finger on Kirk's chest.
"I know enough to see this world is fucked! Everyone out here is selfish! My town! My group! My people! Myself! None of you think of the bigger picture! It's been 200 years! No civilization has been created! There is no humanity out here! I won't be a part of that mindset, I REFUSE!"
"P-please stop fighting..." Bryan sobbed, his head on his father's chest.
The two men stopped and walked away from each other. Kirk went over to dead ant to examine it. It seemed bigger than the other ants he had seen before. It was red as well, Kirk notice a strange hole where it spewed it's fire. It didn't look...natural like a forced adaptation. He went over to Nick, "Have you ever seen or heard of ants like this?"
Nick shook his head. "Nah man, from what I've heard from veteran wastelanders, this is all weird."
"How so?"
"Well for one there is way too many of them together. They don't group up like this outside their nests. They usually are in much smaller groups. Again, not an expert but you hear all sorts at Moriart- er Gob's."
Kirk pondered his words and walked over to Bryan. "Bryan, do you know where they came from?"
Bryan shook his head, "The doctor would've known, he liked talking about them."
"Doctor? Did you see him out here?"
"No, he has been gone for a couple of days, his shack is over there." Bryan said pointing at a shack not on fire.
"Nick I'm gonna check out the shack, why don't you find some stuff for Bryan? We may be able to salvage some of his things."
"What's the point? Let's get out of here, take the kid with us."
"I just want to see something, besides it's untouched we may find some meds inside since he is a doctor."
They parted ways and Kirk entered the shack. It was small but filled with science equipment even a protectron charging station. He went over to a terminal and tried to log in but was password protected. Kirk went to plug his PIPBOY in when he spotted a note that said 'formicidae!' Kirk tried it hoping it would fail and when it worked, he lost some respect for this supposed doctor.
Kirk did a quick review of his notes but most were removed. From what he could tell he was experimenting on the ants but no details on why. One note mentions Marigold station as the nest and his lab. Kirk wondered if this doctor was the cause of the ant problem or he was trying to solve it. Either way Kirk wanted to have words with him if he was still alive.
He left the shack and saw Nick and Bryan at the diner. "Anything?" Nick asked, sorting through resources on the counter.
"Yeah, it seems the doc is involved with the ants and maybe alive in a nearby metro station. He has a lab near the nest down there. I want to go find him."
Nick sighed dropping his head. "I would say we should head back instead but I know you won't listen. I can instead give you many other reasons why that's a bad idea. One, we have no idea how many ants are down there. Two, we have a child with us. Three, is that your a righteous moron who is gonna get himself killed. What is even the point in going down there for him anyway?"
"If he is responsible for this then we need to stop him, if he is trying to stop them, then I want to help him. Do you want fire breathing ants coming to Megaton? I didn't say you were coming with me anyway. Take Bryan back and tell Simms where I am at."
"Can't do that. His orders were to stay with you. I'm already on his shit list. Not gonna make it worse."
"Um- I can stay in the shelter outside, I'll be safe in there until you guys get back..." Bryan said, sheepishly.
Nick slammed his hands on the counter, "Dammit fine! Let's get this over with!"
Bryan stepped into the shelter, "Um, I didn't see my friend Will out here. He might still be alive! He is big and strong so I think he went down to the nest to fight."
"Okay bud, we will find him. Don't open the door for anyone but us okay?" Kirk said, handing him food and water. "You got it."
Kirk and Nick made their way to Marigold station. Kirk looked down the dark tunnel and felt a cold shiver go down his spine. "You sure about this man?" Nick asked with the same fear. "Yes. A whole settlement was wiped out and I want to know why."
It was late afternoon when they entered the tunnels, taking it slow. It was dark but Kirk's PIPBOY flashlight lit up just enough for them to see a few yards ahead of them. Kirk had been in the Meresti tunnels but this one was more claustrophobic to him and found it dreary. He noticed Nick shaking slightly with his SMG and began to feel bad dragging him into this. Even so, Kirk knew this was the right thing to do.
"Shh, do you hear that?" Kirk asked. Chittering and tapping was heard nearby, Kirk turned the corner and saw a few ants clustered together. He turned back around the corner and held up four fingers. Nick nodded and got ready. They both turned the corner and open fire. Any that got too close Kirk blew away with his shotgun while Nick took care of the further ones. What they didn't notice was the small alcove to their left and a gush of fire emerge from it engulfing Kirk in flames.
Kirk yelled in shock and dove away trying to put the flames out on his suit. Nick unloaded a spray of bullets into the source of the flames, and it soon stopped. He turned to see Kirk had put his flames out but held his head in his hands.
"You good?" Nick asked, frantically looking around for other ants.
"Yeah, just trying to...gather myself..."
"Well hurry the fuck up, this was your idea, so let's go!"
Kirk hated this, always finding himself in life or death situations constantly. Would his father be able to survive even half the crap he has been through? He didn't want to dwell on that thought and got up. He also hated how often he was just winging it when it came to fights. He wished he had a strategy or method of dealing with these ants, but all he could think of is to just shoot at them until they stop moving. With humans he knows where to hit, to shoot, to stab. That thought gave him pause and decided to dwell on it later. They continued forward, keeping a closer eye on the darker alcoves where they found a couple of dead ants.
"Looks like their heads were crushed by something." Nick said, taking a closer look.
"You think it was the doctor, or that Will guy?" Kirk wondered. "Who cares, the less ants we have to deal with the better."
They came across a body shortly after in a booth. "Could be the doc or Will." Nick said. Kirk noticed a holotape next to it and played it in his PIPBOY. The holotape was a message by a man named Grady who was delivering a package to a man name Ronald Laren and he stashed it in a safe somewhere nearby.
"Sucks for him, could be good stuff if we find it." Nick said. "It's not important, we need to find the doctor and hopefully Will, let's go." Kirk said.
They exited the booth and looked over the railing to see the an open area and tunnels below. They spotted numerous dead ants again but some alive were checking them. "A lotta dead ants again...let's kill the rest of them." Nick said and brought up his SMG. "Wait, don't." Kirk said, putting his hand on his SMG.
"Why? We got an advantage up here, just pick them off from here." Nick said, annoyed.
"Look at how many tunnels branch out from this spot. We have no idea where to go, and I don't want to wander in the dark forever fighting fire ants. I think we should follow the ants, they have to go back to their nest some time." Kirk explained.
"Pretty smart, we could also follow the trail of dead ants. It could lead to Bryan's friend." Nick suggested. Kirk stared at him in surprised. That was a good idea too. "What? I'm a seasoned scout, I know a thing or two!" Nick said, annoyed. Kirk nodded amused. "Okay looks like that group of ants is leaving let's see where they go." Kirk said.
They watched the group go down a tunnel and waited a bit to follow. They went down to the platform and inspected the dead ants. Again all seem to be crushed in the head. "The kid said his friend was big and strong, it has to be him doing this." Nick said. "Thought you didn't care?" Kirk asked.
Nick scoffed and moved on with Kirk. They follow the tracks moving along side an abandon train when they heard ants and they were getting louder. "This is a bad spot Kirk we got nowhere to run from the flames here."
Kirk spotted a door, "There, let's hide." They ran over to the door and entered, shutting it behind them. They heard the ants crawl by and let out a sigh of relief. "Hey look a safe. I wonder if it's the same one that Grady fella mentioned." Nick said, pulling out a bobby pin. "Is that really important right now man? Wait what are you doing?" Kirk asked seeing him fiddle with the lock.
"I am picking it, what you never picked a lock before? Oh...probably not being a vaultie and all. Just give me a moment." Nick said, focusing on the lock. Soon he opened it and pulled out a cheetah print lingerie.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Look what ole' Grady was supposed to deliver!" Nick laughed, holding it up. Kirk rolled his eyes, "Can we go now?"
"Holy shit! 2000 caps?! This note says the delivery price is 2000 caps! To the Ronald guy in Girdershade! Kirk we are gonna be rich if we deliver this! Open your pack, mine is full!" Nick exclaimed, spinning Kirk around and unzipping his pack. "Nick, have you forgotten why we are here!? We need to stop these ants from killing anymore people! Like our town!" Kirk yelled, but paused on saying my town surprising himself.
"Oh calm down, I haven't forgotten, think of this as a side gig to complete later. We will split the reward 50/50 deal?" he said, zipping up Kirk's pack. Kirk annoyed but wondering where this friendliness was suddenly coming from, decided to let it go.
They followed the tunnel where ants went down earlier and found a handful of them dead in between two tunnels. Kirk shined his light into a fenced in alcove and saw a body with an ant head in his torso. Kirk approached the body telling Nick to keep an eye out as he began his observations.
A young male with a brawny physique, covered in light burns. Had to be Will. He noticed a broken sledgehammer next to him and saw that the ant had skewered him with it's pincers. However it's head was torn off it's body?
"It's the kid's friend right?" Nick asked. "Has to be, body is fresh and he matches the description. He is definitely a big boy. The sledgehammer here was what he used to kill all those dead ants we came across. What's even more crazy is that it seems he ripped this ants head of when it skewered him."
"Damn. Strong kid huh?" Nick said looking at the body.
"It's a bit of a stretch. I can't see how it's possible. Yet I can't think of another reason of the decapitation. No blade or sharp object near him." Kirk said. He thought back to when he killed the ant in the school with the ripper. Even that took a while to get through the carapace. He remembered feeling the weight and strength of the ant. It was ten times stronger than him at least. He got lucky having the ripper. Yet, this brawny kid was killing these ants with a sledgehammer and his bare hands? Something didn't add up.
"Come on, let's finish this and go home. I better get some overtime for this shit..." Nick mumbled moving ahead down the tunnel.
Soon they came to a door and when they opened it a man in a lab startled them. They yelled in surprise and pointed guns at each other.
"You startled me!" the man said, lowering his gun.