Simms was walking out of his house to start his rounds when Stockholm came up to him. "Gonna be late for shift, Stockholm." Simms said. "Have you seen Kirk?" he asked. Simms paused and looked at him, "Thought he shacked up with you?" he asked. "He did, but when I woke up, he was gone, and so was his pack." Stockholm answered, looking around. "Shit, I hope he didn't go to Springvale." he said. "Why would he go to Springvale?" Simms asked. Stockholm then explained Moriartys' offer and that Kirk wanted to leave last night to take care of it. "Alright, let's go ask Erin for turnover. He would have seen him leave, and he could tell us when he did." Simms said, heading to the gate. When they got their, Erin had his bag packed and looked impatient. "Never been this late before Stockholm. What gives?" he asked. "Trying to find someone, did you see a guy in a vault suit leave here this morning?" Stockholm asked anxiously. "Yeah, he left, but it was last night, and he never came back." Erin answered, getting ready to leave. "Shit!" Stockholm said, kicking a wall. "Calm down. He might have stayed with Silver overnight." Simms explained. The nearby radio crackled, "Stockholm. It's Doc Church. Is the sheriff with you?" Simms went over and answered, "This is Simms. What do you need?" The radio crackled for a bit. It was old, after all. "Need to see you at the clinic immediately." he said. "Copy." Simms said, then started walking down.
He made his way to the doctor who was standing outside. "Micky is awake, and you need to hear what he has to say." he told him. "Who the hell is Micky?" Simms asked. "The man the kid brought in yesterday." he answered. They entered the clinic and saw Micky sitting up. Simms also noticed Gob laying down too, but he would inquire about him later. "I hear you have something to tell us. Let's hear it." Simms asked. "Hello again, Sheriff. I need to tell ya, you got raiders in that rundown town outside your city. I was on my way here when they snatched me up. They made me and a bunch of others dig some tunnel for them. I got away because of some commotion that happened in their lair." he explained, keeping his composure. "Elaborate commotion." Simms asked. "Well, after they finished... torturing me that morning, they were walking me back to the tunnel when a bunch of them came up yelling for help. While they were distracted, I ran for it, but their lookout outside shot me on the way here." Simms nodded and said, "I'm sorry you had to go through that. Thank you for the info. Get some rest." Micky nodded and laid back down slowly. Simms got on the radio in the clinic. "Stockholm, it's Simms. Keep a lookout for raiders around the Springvale area." The radio crackled back, "You're gonna send a patrol to wipe em out, right? Look for Kirk, too?" Simms sighed, "We can't. I sent Jericho and some men to investigate where the raiders are coming from this morning. They are already gone." Stockholm shook his head and responded, "They may find them then, right?" Simms sat down rubbing his face and said, "No, I sent them west into raider country, I figured that was our best bet where the raiders were coming from. I didn't expect them to be this close." Simms answered grimly. "They won't be back until tomorrow." he continued. Stockholm threw the receiver with a yell and sat down, holding his head. Simms got back on the radio and said, "When the patrol returns they will need to rest, when they do I will send them to Springvale to wipe out the gang and find Kirk...dead or alive." Simms stated. He then turned to Doc. "Now tell me why Gob is here." Simms asked. Doc Church sighed, "You need to talk to Nova. All I know is he took a beating again, but this one was bad, Sheriff." he explained. Simms grunted and left for the saloon. Simms groaned at himself, knowing he made a bad call. He should've waited until Micky woke up for intel. However, he had a city to protect, and sending a patrol out was the right call... just bad timing. 'I hope the kid is okay.' he thought.
Kirk woke up with a headache and quickly realized he was hanging from his hands and naked. He started to panic and grow nauseous as he looked around the room. Corpses, limbs, mutilated bodies hanging or tied down. The smell was unbearable, and it made Kirk vomit. After he was finished, he started to struggle with his restraints. He heard laughing and footsteps approaching. Soon, a woman and a man walked in, "Well, look who's awake." stated the man. Kirk observed them. They were extremely dirty and covered in strange leather and spike straps. "Look how clean this man is. Have you seen this man's junk Buzzcut? It's shaved and clean as well." she said, grabbing it. Kirk tried to swing away from her hand in disgust, yet she squeezed it tighter. "What's wrong? Do you not like my touch?" she said, squeezing tighter on his manhood. "Get away from me!" Kirk yelled. She let go and grabbed a kitchen knife from a nearby table. "Boss, would you get out of here? I'm gonna have some one on one time with handsome here." she said sinisterly. The man backhanded her. "Don't tell me what to do you cunt!" he yelled pulling out a pistol. Kirk recognized it as the one Amata gave him. "You know vaultie this is the cleanest pistol I have ever seen." he said. Then he shot Kirk near the face. Kirk screamed and tried to struggle against his restraints. "See that! Not even a misfire! Shoots beautifully!" he exclaimed with a laugh. He put it away then looked at the woman and back at him and sighed, "Fine, its about time for me to have a round with the hot slut he was with. But if she weren't here kid I would be getting my primal urges out on you." He turned and left. Kirks heart dropped in his stomach. 'How can he get out of this? Why is this happening? Who are these monsters? Can he save Silver? Can he save himself?' he thought in terror. The woman approached him with the knife "Lets have some fun." she said gleefully. She dragged the knife across his chest harshly drawing blood. Kirk screamed out in pain while hearing the woman laugh and cut again and again again. "Oh don't worry meat, I won't cut that pretty face of yours, it will help get me off. Now let's get you in the right position for me." She said grabbing at him. Kirk raised his legs up and kicked her in the face. "OOOOoooohhhhhhh, you fucked up. We could've done this the easy way. Now I have to tame you pet." she said spitting blood. She went over and grabbed a chain. "W- w-wait I'm sorry, please don't. J- just talk to me, what's your name?" he asked. "No no no pig, no talking." she said whipping the chain on the ground. "P-please! D-don't! I'm sorry! You don't have to do this! You don-" he was cut short by her finger on his lips. "Shhhhh. The louder you scream by the way the more wet I will get. So make me proud." she whispered in his ear stepping behind him. She whipped the chain across his back making him howl in pain.
Simms entered the saloon. Everyone immediately stopped talking and greeted him. Simms returned the greetings and made his way to Nova, who was tending the bar. "Sheriff, always a pleasure to see you." She said respectfully. Simms was the only man in town she didn't try to seduce. "Morning Nova, whisky, please. I hear you were the one who dropped off Gob to the clinic. Can you tell me what happened?" he asked, sipping on the drink she gave him. "Oh, you know that silly man. He tripped, coming downstairs from his room, and it seemed like he hit every step on the way." she explained with a laugh. "Nova... I know Gob doesn't have a room because he sleeps in that corner over there." Simms said, pointing at the makeshift cot in the corner. Nova gave him a pleading look and shook her head. At that moment, Moriarty exited his office and approached Simms. "Sheriff! It's always a pleasure. How can we be of service?" Moriarty asked, wrapping his arm around Nova with his hand close to her neck. Nova went stiff and continued to give the Sheriff a pleading look. Simms finished his drink, "What happened to your hands, Moriarty?" he asked. Moriarty continued to stare at the sheriff and answered, "Ah, it was nothing to make a big deal of. There was a bit of a scrap in here with the locals. I had to intervene and get my hands dirty as well. It all ended with drinks and smiles, not to worry. Isn't that right, everyone?" The room nodded and grunted in approval. Simms sighed and stood up. "I'll see you around then." he said and left. Outside, Simms kicked the railing in frustration. The man has dirt on everyone in town, if any one came forward with the truth, he would just report it to me, and I would lock them up for it. Just like every other situation with Moriarty involved. 'Bastard.' he thought as he left.
Kirk didn't know how long he had been there. Blood dripped off his body from the numerous cuts and lashings from chains. His voice was hoarse from screaming. He remembers his father telling him in stressful moments to focus on breathing and better memories. He thought of happier times in the vault with his father and Amata. Amata... if only he could see her and hold her. He remembered his 10th birthday party. How Amata surprised him and got him a rare comic book. That was probably the first time he started developing feelings for her. While enjoying these memories, the woman, his tormentor, came back in. "Hello, handsome. I think I need another round, I get so jealous watching the other boys have their fun with the slut. It reminds me how rare an opportunity is when I get lucky scoring a young buck like you." Kirk had no idea how long he had been tortured and violated. Too long. During this time he was always looking for an opportunity and he decided to take the gamble on the only time he deemed best. When she wanted sex. She would remove him from the hook he hung from to lay him down. She always had that nasty kitchen knife on him while she did this but now he didn't care. He decided he would rather die than be used again. She lifted him off the hook. As his feet touched the ground he gritted his teeth and with all his might headbutted her right in the nose. She screamed as she dropped him on herself. He started pounding on her face with his bound hands. He didnt know how long he kept swings his arms down on her but you couldn't recognize her face after he was done. He stared at her, contemplating what he had just done. He started shaking and hyperventilating. He focused on his breathing again and tried to calm down. He didn't realize but she had stabbed the knife into his side while he beat her. He stared at the knife in disbelief and then scanned the room. He spotted what he was looking for a Stimpack. She had been using them on him to stopped the bleeding if she cut too deep. He took the knife out and used it to cut his bindings. He then immediatley injected himself with the Stimpack and grabbed three other ones. This would give him some time by stopping the bleeding but he knew not long, he needed his kit and sutures for his wounds. He snuck out of the room. He could hear them all around and all he had was a knife.
He spotted a room down the hallway, and as luck would have it, his gear was inside. Unfortunately, his bag was ransacked. He put on his vault suit and gripped the knife tighter. He knew what he had to do. He didn't want to, but he already killed one in his rage and desperation. He could do it again. The memories of torture fueled his resolve, and he walked out into the hallway. He spotted one sitting alone in a room and crept up behind him. The man was eating and humming to himself. Kirk thought of all the ways he could kill him and picked one. Kirk counted to three and then plunged the knife into his neck and covered his mouth at the same time. He watched the mans eyes grow dim as he pulled the knife out. He stood over his victim and started hyperventilating again. He focused on breathing and looking away. 'You just killed a man. Like a coward from behind, too.' He thought. He shook out these thoughts and moved on.
Kirk started to think he was in some kind of school. Lockers filled the hallways, and desks filled the rooms. He heard moaning and smacking nearby and crept over to the room it was coming from. Kirk peeked inside, and his stomach dropped. Silver was being raped by 2 men, in the mouth and behind. She, too, was covered in the same wounds he had. Kirk snuck closer with the knife ready. He thought of a fucked up plan, but didn't have any other options. Kirk readied his knife and angled himself toward the man fucking her from behind. He lunged toward him stabbing him in the neck from behind and yelled, "Bite him Silver!" Silver recognized the voice and clenched her jaw down as hard as she could on the mans cock. The man screamed and started hitting her but Kirk was already on him with the knife and stabbed his throat quickly. Silver got up and hugged Kirk sobbing, he returned the hug but kept an eye out in case they were heard. Nothing. "Lets get you some clothes." Kirk said.
"Fuckin raiders." Silver said after getting dressed. "These are raiders?" Kirk asked keeping his eyes on the door. "Yeah, they make up different gangs but they all like doing the same things, what they did to me pretty much." she explained wiping the tears from her eyes. "Us." he said. Silver looked at him and then noticed the blood seeping slowly through his suit. "Oh." she said. "Wait, gangs? There are more of these type of people out here in the wasteland?" Kirk asked fearfully. "Yes and trust me, there are far worse things out there." Silver said. Kirk looked down defeated. 'What the hell am I doing out here? I left everything behind for my father. For what? I've only been out here for less than a day and I have been tortured and violated multiple times. What's next?' he thought. His anger started to rise and took a deep breath. His father had a lot to answer for.
They made their way down to the first floor and quickly realized more of them were on this floor. All they had was the knife. "Whatever happens to me, just run, okay? I'll do my best to keep them away from you." Kirk told her. 'Who is this guy?' she thought. She had never met someone so selfless. She nodded to him, and they moved forward toward a lone raider. He quickly pounced on the raider stabbing in the neck. The raider gurgled blood and fell down with a loud thud. "The hell was that?" a raider asked, stepping out of the left room. He saw Kirk and pulled out a crowbar, yelling, "VAULTIE IS FREE!" Kirk got ready as he came swinging with the crowbar. Kirk ducked and slashed his arm. The raider ignores the cut and swings again, this time catching Kirks arm. Kirk winced, but stood his ground, and took the opportunity to grab the crowbar and slashed the mans wrist. The raider screamed, letting go of the weapon and holding his hand, blood falling out. Kirk started stabbing him in the torso quickly until he fell. Before he could catch his breath, another raider was already on him with a bat and swung down, hitting Kirk over the shoulder. Kirk crouched down from the blow and sprung forward, stabbing the knife into the raiders gut. He then dragged the blade to the side, and the mans guts spilled out. "OH MY GO-" Silver started to say but then vomited. Kirk was horrified at himself and tried processing what he just did, but then another raider tackled him to the ground and pushed a tire iron down on his throat. Kirk struggled to get his legs up between them and managed to kick the raider off of him. The raider went to smash his face, but Kirk rolled to the side, dodging the blow. He got up and slashed the back of the raiders ankle and knee. The raider fell to the ground screaming, but Kirk plunged his knife into the side of his throat, which turned the scream into a gurgle of blood.
Kirk stood up straight and focused on catching his breath. He had no idea how he did any of that. He was just acting on instinct and desperation. He went to look around him but was interrupted by three more raiders entering the hallway. 'Dammit, give me a break.' thought Kirk. The raiders froze and observe the scene of a man covered in blood holding a knife, standing over four of their dead members. Kirk caught his breath and readied his knife.