Dogmeat had made it to Arefu in only a few hours, running the entire way. It was night and as he approached the town, a light was shined on him. "Get out of here mutt!" a member of the Family yelled and gave it a warning shot. Dogmeat barked and moved up, another warning shot. "What are you shooting at?" Vance asked coming down the ramp. "Some damn dog, who has a death wish."
Vance approached the dog, who came bounding up to him smelling him and gave him a bark, wagging his tail. 'Interesting, it already trusts me?' Vance noticed the the shirt around his neck and reached for it. Dogmeat snapped at him, but kept wagging his tail. Vance leaned to the dog and sniffed him. He smelled Lucy, Kirk, and Jericho on it. "Hmm, lead me to where you want to go." The dog barked and bounded up the ramp, with Vance following.
Dogmeat started scratching at the clinic door, which Vance opened. Dogmeat went over to a sleeping Jericho and started barking.
"Wha- what the hel-" Jericho groaned, seeing the dog and Vance. "What the hell is going on freak?" he demanded, annoyed and druggee. "I think he has something for you." Vance pointed to the shirt. Jericho untied it and a note fell out. "Dammit." Jericho said, reading it. "They're in trouble aren't they?" Vance asked.
"Yeah, slavers. Get the ghoul." Jericho said, sitting up as best he could. Soon Murphy entered the clinic rubbing his eyes. "Need more meds? Thought you were tougher than that."
"Shut up ugly, I need you get me on my feet, I don't care what you do to do it." Jericho ordered. Murphy went to protest, but Vance quickly explained what was going on.
"I'll be right back." Soon after he came back with a bag and started administering meds into Jericho. "Now listen, these meds will help keep you on your feet, but it won't heal your injuries, that takes time and rest. Take these pills every few hours if the dizziness comes back, Med-X for the pain, and this." He pulled out a sleeve with a needle and guage on it.
"This is UltraJet. I made it for ghouls to get more of a kick of Jet, this isn't really for humans, but it won't kill you. Use this only as a last resort to fight for your life. Understand?"
Jericho nodded getting up and gearing up. "I am coming with you." Vance said, already packed. Jericho wanted to say no, but he was only at half capacity to fight, he would need it. "Fine."
As they left, they informed Evan King and Holly of their mission. They followed Dogmeat into the night. Vance pulled out a bottle of pills, "Here take one." he said popping one in his mouth. "What is it?" Jericho asked taking one. "Cateye, will help you see in the dark for a few hours." Jericho shook his head, and took it. Soon his vision had a blue hue to it, but it was clearer to see. "Fuckin vampires..."
Lucy tried to focus on the sunset as the slaver girl undressed, getting ready to mount Kirk. She noticed Kirk's boxers and got flustered. She was confused and angry about it. He couldn't get it up with her, but this slaver did practically nothing and he got aroused. Her emotions were every where, she could tell Kirk didn't want it but his body seemed to. As Kirk demanded her to stop, Arkansas kept his eyes on the group of slavers drinking, waiting for an opportunity.
"Alright, let's see what we are working with." the slaver girl said reaching down to grab Kirk's boxers. His head was racing, 'No, not again, I won't allow it!' As she lowered herself closer to him, he kicked her face. Blood spurted out as she screamed and fell backwards. Kirk stood up, rage fueling him, and with a roar he brought his heel down on her face over and over. The other slavers yelled, trying to get up from the ground, dropping their bottles. He then dropped his knee down onto her neck crushing it before he was tackled by another slaver.
Arkansas tried to react when he attacked but the leader held up the device to him, shaking his head. Lucy was stunned at the sudden brutality and didn't make a move. "Holy fuck! Is she dead?!" a slaver asked, pointing a gun at Kirk.
"GET OFF ME! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" Kirk roared struggling against the slaver on him. One of the men went over to her. She was choking and spurting blood from her mouth, until she stopped moving. "Shit, she is dead! What the fuck! Kill him!"
"NO!" the leader ordered. "What the fuck you mean?! He killed Stacey!" another protested.
"I SEE THAT IDIOT! She knew the risks! Should've held a gun to his head if she wanted some fun, but she fucked up and now she is dead!" He turned to the other two women in his group. "Let that be a lesson to you bitches, when you want a taste of the merchandise." The group looked at him increduously. "Vault Dwellers go for almost triple the average slave! No one is to touch him now do you understand!? Now, get him back in the suit!" The group nodded and got Kirk up. "Put these rags on slave!" one ordered, but the leader came over and punched him in the ear. "I said the suit! He needs to look like a real vault dweller!" he ordered. They held Kirk at gunpoint as he put his suit and PIPBOY on. Once they bounded him again, he sat down staring at the ground, not moving.
"Fuck! Put the booze away, Stacey died and ruined the fuckin mood! Now!" the leader ordered. Once the liquor was put away, a few of them stared at Kirk in anger. He didn't notice this, since he was in despair at the realization of why he couldn't get aroused with Lucy. 'You see my pet? I made you nice and submissable. I trained you nice and proper.' The raiders voice was like venom to him and he shook it away. His mind was racing, he couldn't accept what just happened.
Lucy stared at Kirk, sitting next to Arkansas. "How long has he been out here?" Arkansas asked. "I don't know, not long." she answered.
"That boy is damaged, I could see it in his eyes when we met." he said. Lucy looked down at the ground, "He was tortured by raiders for a few days, when he first came out of the vault."
"Just tortured?" he asked, shifting to a more comfortable sitting position. "What else is there?" Lucy asked, looking up at him.
"Raiders do more than just torture."
"Well, yeah women get raped."
"Not just women." Arkansas said with a sad look.
Lucy looked at him, and he simply nodded. She looked over at Kirk who was still staring at the ground, with a tear rolling down his cheek.
"Gather up the slaves, and tie them together." the leader ordered. The trio hands were all tied together. The slaver in charge stood over them with the device. "If you all try to escaped together, I simply have to click this device and you will all die from his collar. Not like you would make it far like this anyway. So stay put and get some sleep, you got a lot of walking tomorrow."
As the band of slavers got comfortable, with two of them standing watch, the trio settled against each other as comfortable as they could. None of them said a word to each other.
Jericho and Vance had made it to Agatha's with the sun rising. They could see the scrapyard in the distance. Jericho was sweating profusely and his vision was blurring. He popped some pills and sat down on a rock, ripping the bandages off his head. Vance kept watch as he rested. "You know, I could've handle this myself."
Jericho scoffed scratching his head where the bandages were, "Probably, but I made a promise to someone that I would watch out for them. Ain't gonna fuck that up." Jericho took a swig of water and stood up. "Let's go."
"Get up slaves!" one yelled, kicking Arkansas. The trio stood up and were tied to each other in single file, with Arkansas in the middle, Kirk up front, and Lucy at the back. They started marching with the group of slavers. None saying a word. Kirk didn't get much sleep and was now trying to come up with a plan to escape. He had bottled up what transpired yesterday, and decided to handle it another day. After a few hours of walking, he turned his head to Arkansas, "Where do slaves typically end up at? I've never seen a slave."
"This group of slavers, usually send slaves to a place called The Pitt. Horrible place, where slaves are worked to death, doing who knows what. Women slaves usually end up being some kind of prostitute, yet will never say they were a slave. Some end up being a kind of bodyguard under a 'contract' but really they are owned by them. Many other things, people tend to ignore this problem."
"Why? Someone has to have an issue with it."
"This group in the Capital Wasteland is very strong. Their base is practically protected by an army. No one has the manpower or firepower around here to wipe em out. The Pitt slavers would also come looking into what happened, and that group is apparently much bigger. Wouldn't want that problem coming here."
"You fight them, though. Why haven't you tried to find others to help you?"
"My fight is personal and I ain't gonna drag anyone else into it."
Kirk pondered his words as they continued walking for hours. Occasionally a critter came around and the slavers took it out. Nothing Kirk hadn't seen already. As they passed a radio tower, Kirk's PIPBOY lit up with a gargling static noise.
"What the hell is that?" a slaver asked, coming up to Kirk. "What are you trying to do slave?!" he demanded, pointing his gun at Kirk. "I'm not doing anything! I-it must an urgent signal nearby!" he tried to explain.
The leader came up to him and looked at his PIPBOY. He rubbed his beard, looking around. "Cut him from the rest, you three come with me. The signal may lead us to more merchandise. How far is it?" he asked Kirk.
"I would have to look at it and zero in on it."
"Fine, cut his bindings and keep a gun on him. The rest of you follow but at a distance!" he ordered giving a slaver the collar detonater. Kirk zeroed in on the signal after he was freed and led them east, following ruined powerlines. The signal was getting clearer but it was gibberish, he couldn't understand it.
"Boss, you sure this is a good idea? We got a high profit with this batch already." one slave asked, scanning his surroundings. "You can never have too much product. Besides if its something we can't handle, then we will report it with the next group to be sent out."
As they followed the signal, and found themselves on top of a hill, where they saw a giant object below them.
"The fuck is that?" a slaver wondered out loud. They spread out in front of it but kept their distance. "Ignore it, lets keep following the signal." the leader ordered, turning to Kirk.
"Um, this is the source." Kirk said looking at his PIPBOY. "Well shit." realizing their is no potential slaves, the leader turned to the group in the distance. "STAY BACK AND KEEP WATCH!" he barked and turned back to his smaller group. "Alright let's scavenge this at least, might be Pre-War goods." he ordered.
The group including Kirk walked up to the wreck and found a creature surrounded by glowing blue objects. Kirk noticed the big object had shattered glass leading to the body. "It looks like he broke out of the object." Kirk wondered out loud. The slavers turned the body over, and stumbled back away from it. "Fuck! It's some kind of mutant!"
The body had a glass helmet around it's head, but couldn't see into it. You could see it three long green fingers though. The leader examined the scene, "Grab these blue things and look inside that thing, could be valuable stuff inside." he ordered pointing around. Before they could act, a large blue beam surrounded them.
"W-what the fuck!?" a slaver panicked. Kirk tried to move but he was already levitating off the ground. They all started panicking and trying to move out of the beam to no avail as they all started slowing moving up off the ground.
Lucy and Arkansas stared in shock as they saw the blue light and Kirk with the slavers levitate toward the sky. The other slavers freaked out and started running toward them, calling out to their boss.
A flash of light blinded everyone and in an instant the blue light was gone. The slavers got to the sight and saw no one. "Where the hell did they go?! What happened?!"
"Am I hallucinating or did you see a weird blue thing and flash of light off in the distance?" Jericho asked, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I saw it, and Dogmeat is heading that way. We will soon find out if it's our friends." They were still miles away but were making good progress.
Arkansas and Lucy sat near the wreck as the slavers argued about what to do. "Do you think he is alright?" she asked, looking up into the sky. "Who know, I can't even wrap my head around what I saw." he grumbled, watching the slavers. Lucy felt guilty for holding the bedroom thing against him. She didn't think about his side. He might be hurting about it, and she wanted to talk to him.
"Don't touch anything, there could be more traps! We keep moving! We still have the VIP, Jones will be happy with that. Let's go!" a slaver yelled, taking charge. The group moved on toward Paradise Falls.
The sun was setting and the slavers found a ruin to hold up in for the night. After sweeping it they tied Lucy and Arkansas to a pillar. "The dog you sent away. Is he bringing help?" Arkansas whispered to Lucy. "That was the idea, but the one I wrote the note to is heavily injured. Despite those injuries I believe he will try to help, but we also have other friends where he is at. I believe someone is coming." she answered quietly.
"He must be a good friend, to trust in him to come." Lucy chuckled lightly, "I wouldn't call him a friend..." Her mind went back to him saving them from the super mutant and his 'kind' words after her brother died. She smiled, "But I do trust him."
Jericho collapsed behind Vance. "Jericho? Jericho? Dammit. He is out." Vance rolled him over and put his bag behind his head. He was covered in sweat and breathing hard. He was hoping to gain on the group through the night but Jericho had not rest since Arefu. Dogmeat sat and kept lookout. 'Might as well get some rest too.' Vance thought and settled against a rock, resting his eyes.
Dogmeat barked, stirring Vance from his light slumber. It was still dark, good they can make some head way in catching up to the slavers. Vance splashed a bit of water on Jericho's face, who woke up cursing. "You ready?" Vance asked. Jericho realizing he must of passed out involuntarily, took some meds and Med-X, getting up. He nodded to Vance and pressed on.
Soon they came to a site filled with glowing blue objects. Dogmeat sniffed all around and started whining. Vance looked at the dead body, noticing the strange fingers. "A mutant?" Jericho asked, looking at it. "Seems so. Why would he lead us here? No one is here." Vance wondered, looking inside the giant object. Dogmeat kept whimpering as he sniffed around. Jericho found a strange item and picked it up. He looked it over, determining it was some kind of gun, he pulled out a blue cell, similar to the ones laying all over the ground. "What do you have there?" Vance asked, walking over. Jericho pointed at a nearby boulder and pulled the trigger. A bright blue flash shot out and made a gaping hole through the rock.
The two men stared at the melted hole for a moment, then looked at each other in silence. Vance held his hand out for it, but Jericho turned away and gave him the finger.
Dogmeat howled into the sky, catching their attention. "Let's move on." Vance said, urging Dogmeat forward. Jericho picked up the blue cells laying around and put away the strange gun.
As they kept going, seeing the sun starting to rise over the wasteland, Dogmeat kept looking back toward the site they left with a whimper.
Arkansas and Lucy were marching in the hot sun. It was a little in the afternoon and they hadn't been given any water since morning. "Please we need water and he needs rest." Lucy pleaded, stumbling over a rock. "Shut it bitch!"
Arkansas took her stumbling as an opportunity to fake a collapse. "Get up you old bastard!" a slaver demanded kicking him. "Stop! He is a VIP to you right? He won't be if he is dead! Please give him some water and let him rest!" she tried pleading again. A woman slaver walked over to the new leader and whispered, "She has a point boss." He groaned, "Fine! Get them some water! Dirty for the girl and clean for the VIP!"
As they rested, Arkansas turned to Lucy and whispered, "This is probably the last time we can pull this trick in buying your friend time to catch up, we are getting close to Paradise Falls." Lucy nodded. At this rate they will get there by noon tomorrow, based on what the slavers were saying.
Jericho sat down, and put his head in his hands. The dizziness was getting worse even with the meds, which he was quickly running out of. "At this rate, we will lose them." Vance said, staring out in the wasteland. Critters had slowed them down and they almost ran into more dangerous threats, but Dogmeat led them around. Jericho vomited. Dogmeat whimpered and licked his hand. Jericho gently pushed him away. He took a few more meds and drank some water. "Let's go." Vance knew Jericho needed rest, but he also knew they had to keep moving.
"Enjoy your last few hours of freedom honey, because by noon tomorrow you will be own by the great Eulogy Jones!" a slaver cackled, tying them to together. "Yeah, and he always samples the new females, you know, to determine what you are worth!" another said. Lucy did her best to keep a firm expression, but inside she felt dread. "Please hurry, Jericho." she said under her breath.
"Jericho, I found them." Vance said, pointing at a fire. "Idiots, only one watchman for such a big group." he said. "I can barely stand, so let's do this your way. Quietly." Jericho suggested. Vance pulled out a small blade and disappeared into the night.
A few hours into the night, the captured duo dozed off. As a slaver walked around the perimeter of their camp, keeping watch, he heard growling. He aimed his SMG into the darkness looking for the source. A knife came up to this throat as he was grabbed from behind. "Shhhh, not a sound. Answer my questions and I will let you go. Nod if you understand." a sinister voice whispered into his ear. The slaver frantically nodded. "Now answer quietly, how many of you are there?"
"Eight."
"How many slaves do you have?"
"Two."
"Collars?"
"Just one."
"Who has the switch? Describe them."
"Jerry, he is next to the slaves, wearing a long black coat. Has long brown hair with a goatee."
"Thank you." Vance said and slit his throat.
Jericho came up to him with Dogmeat. "Ready?" Vance wiped the blood from his knife. "Yes."
Kirk woke up and tried to move. He was locked onto a table standing upright and fully nude. He tried to wiggle his limbs but they were locked tight. He tried to keep his breathing under control as his dreaded memories tried flooding in again. Getting captured was becoming too common and he was sick of it. He looked around the room. It was disturbingly clean and bland. Shiny silver walls and floors with extremely bright lights. A door of some kind spun opened and three skinny figures walked in. They had big green head and large black eyes. They approached Kirk and pressed a button on some sort of console, where a bunch of tools and mechanical arms dropped from the ceiling. Kirk closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, preparing for the worst.