Kirk entered the building and found it very hard to see. It was incredibly dark, and he found it difficult to see anything. He could see carts, counters and tall shelves ahead, but only the outline of them. He could hear talking and see some kind of lights in the back ahead of him. He turned to his right and saw an alcove with a light on inside. He could see shelves and boxes inside. He hopped over the counter and took a quick look around. He noticed a small generator running and at the far wall he found a fridge and box freezer next to each other. He opened up the freezer and found the rest of the brahmin meat frozen inside. He opened the fridge next and found various assortments of food and beverages.
Well that's the main point of the chapter done for Moira, he closed the fridge and hopped back over the counter. He did his best to stay low and made his way toward the back of the store. He froze when he heard a sneeze. He looked up and saw raider on top of the shelf right next to him, wiping his nose. He was looking down as he did and saw Kirk. They both stared at each other for a moment before Kirk whipped his pistol up and shot him in the face. The dead raider made a loud crash as he fell off the shelf.
"The hell was that? Hey! You good over there?!" a voice yelled out. Kirk made his way forward but knocked into a cart making a noise. "Hey over there, go check it out bitch."
"Fuck you." a voice said near Kirk. He cursed at himself for not seeing the cart and took cover behind a big container. "Shit! One of our boys is dead! Spread out look for the fucker!" Kirk peeked around the corner and saw a raider a few feet away heading toward him. Kirk swung out and put two in his chest, dropping him. He was lucky he had this silencer or else they would probably all over him right now. Kirk saw two alcoves ahead him and headed toward the one closest to him. "Hey, I found him!" a voice yelled behind him.
A spray of bullets whizzed around Kirk as he dove into the alcove and scrambling to take cover behind the counter he went over. 'Does he have a machine gun?' Kirk thought. His heart froze when a raider ahead of him came around a corner with a sawed off. "Gotcha!" he yelled and pulled the trigger. A loud click was heard. "Fuck!" he yelled, checking the gun. Kirk raised his pistol and emptied his clip into him. He slumped against the wall, leaving a blood smear on it. 'Way too lucky.' Kirk thought. More bullets whizzed over his head, as he reloaded his pistol. He removed the silencer, since they knew he was there now. Kirk peeked over the counter but couldn't see the raider.
At this point he heard more commotion and running all around him, but couldn't see anything because of the lighting. Kirk shook his head, he really needed to better about putting himself in bad situations like these. He got up and made his way to the door the raider he killed came out of. He readied his shotgun and peeked out seeing an empty small hallway. Kirk entered the hall, but as soon as he did three raiders with various melee weapons came around the corner. "Rip him apart!" one yelled, as they all charged him.
"Hey, uh, Sheriff? Got a weird report during my turnover." Stockholm said over the radio. "What kind of report?" Sheriff asked, going over town reports. "Seems like Kirk left town this morning, heading east."
"I'm heading your way, keep your turnover there."
Simms made his way to the sniper perch, quickly. When he got there he questioned the other sniper, "Tim, what time did he leave?"
"About 0700?"
"What did he have? Was he by himself?"
"A backpack, some guns, and a duffel bag, and yes by himself."
Simms looked at Stockholm. "Keep an eye out for him, I'm gonna go talk to Doc, Moira, and Gob. They were the only people that might know what the hell he is doing."
Kirk fired his lever action shotgun, blowing away the closest one to him, spraying blood on his face. He just racked another shell when the other was on him. He blocked the bat swing but the other raider with a switchblade stabbed him in the side. Kirk yelled out, kicking the raider with the bat away and blasting the one with the knife's head off. Gory bits splashed all over Kirk as he pulled out his pistol and put three bullets in the one he kicked away. He put two rounds in his shotgun and moved around the corner seeing another raider with an strange rifle.
"Damn you!" he cried, spraying bullets at him. Kirk took cover back in the hallway, but one bullet got him in the back of his thigh. Kirk cursed and swung out when the raider stopped firing. He was reloading, but like an idiot was just standing out in the open. Kirk blasted him in the stomach, making him curl forward dead. Kirk saw a door to his right and opened it, seeing a female raider charge at him with a knife.
Memories flooded in and all he saw was her face from the school. Kirk roared in fury and swung his shotgun like a bat, knocking her over. He straddled her and started raining blows on her face. "How's that pig?! Do you like that my pet?! You fucking bitch!" he cried, punching her face in until it was a bloody pulp. He aimed the shotgun at her mess of a face and blasted it away. Just bits of skulls and flesh was left. Kirk caught his breath and looked at his bloody aching hands. 'What just happened? Did I just do that?' he thought. He looked down at his work and got nauseous and held back vomit. His adrenaline was calming down and the pain in his leg and side was increasing.
He looked around, trying to see or hear any other raiders. Nothing, but he could hear something on the other side of store. He pulled out his medkit and quickly treated his wounds. He bit down on the handle of a knife and tried to pull out the bullet in his leg, but he couldn't find it. Kirk caught his breath from his pained screams and patched up his wounds temporarily. He would have to have Doc Church get it out. He noticed another door in the room he was in but it was locked. He saw a terminal next to it but it was password protected. Before he could look into it further, he heard more noises coming from the other side of the store again. 'Oh shit!' Kirk thought, limping out and heading toward the noise.
He made it to the far side of the store and entered a hallway leading to the bathrooms. He heard sobbing and laughing from the girls room. Kirk readied his shotgun and stormed inside. He found the raider from outside raping a woman that he assumed was the farmer they mentioned earlier. She was stringed up by chains in a horrible position for the raiders to easily have their fun with her. Kirk couldn't risk shooting his shotgun or else he might hit her.
The raider turned to see Kirk, "Oh fuck, what the hell!?" he yelled grabbing for his gun. Kirk aimed his shotgun at him, "Don't move!" The raider stopped and raised his arms in the air. His pants were around his ankles so Kirk knew he wouldn't be able to charge him if he tried. Kirk slowly approached him, "Move over there." he ordered, pointing his shotgun in the direction briefly.
"Okay man, just take it easy. I can give you whatever you want. Chems, food, ammo, we got it all here. Just name it." he said, moving to the place Kirk ordered.
The woman tried to look behind her but it was hard since the way she was strung up. At this point Kirk could see the chains had hooks in her flesh that she was hanging from. Kirk grimaced at the sight and looked back at the raider. "Where is this stash at?" he asked. "In the back it's locked up but my boss has the key."
"I killed everyone in here, I'll find it, but you die first you piece of shit." Kirk said, squeezing the trigger.
"My boss ain't here! He and our main group is out looking for stuff!" he yelled. Kirk's heart dropped. 'More of them? Did I come across a group like the one that attacked Arefu? This is bad, I need to get the woman out of here and get back to Megaton.'
The raider must of noticed Kirk's fear since he started laughing. "They should be back any time now, they left only this morning. They come back in the afternoon. You are fucked, might as well give up now. What's the point, better I kill you than they have their fun with yo-"
Kirk blasted him into the stall he stood in front of, dying on a toilet. Kirk went over to the girl and as gently as he could unhooked her from the chains. She sobbed the entire time and curled into the fetal position on the ground once she was down.
Kirk covered her with a blanket and found her clothes. They were all ripped up. He tossed them on the ground and saw her get up and run out the room. "Wait!" he yelled, following her. She ran into the men's bathroom and collapsed in front of a stringed up man, crying. Kirk came in and saw the gruesome sight. Most of his skin was cleaved off and he had his manhood chopped off. The sight made him vomit in the corner.
"K-kill me...please." she said behind him. Kirk turned from the corner seeing her stand in front of him. "P-please...kill me!" she pleaded. Kirk stared at her in shock. He couldn't do that. "No, I can't...Come with me. There is a place called Megaton not far from here. You'll be safe-"
She grabbed his hand, and looked at him. "Please, he was...all I had...left..." she sputtered between sobs. "I have...nothing...else to live...for!" she cried.
He looked at the man behind her. He must've been her partner on the farm. Kirk felt overwhelming sadness from it all. Is this how he is going to find his father? Murdered by someone or something in this hellish wasteland. He looked at her and held her face. "No, you do have something to live for, you just don't know it yet."
"I can't... I can't live with...this shame...the torture...the...the..."
"Yes, you can. I know you can, just come with-"
She shook her head violently and pushed him away. "You don't know! You don't know what I just had to live through!" she screamed, dropping the blanket. Revealing her naked body with bruises and cuts.
Kirk stared at her with sadness. He took a deep breath and untucked his shirt. He lifted up revealing his damaged torso. She stared in surprise at his reveal.
"I do know. I have suffered at the hands of these monsters...and was used like you...by a female one." He put his shirt down. "If I can find a way forward from that, you can too. I will help you find it if I need to." He held the blanket up to her. "We need to go." She took the blanket and wrapped it around herself, giving him a nod.
Simms was going over old reports of Super-Duper Mart. His investigation from talking to Doc, Moira, and Gob was that was the place he most likely headed. The last time they reconned that area was over two months ago. Latest report only states an Enclave robot in the area.
Simms mentally kicked himself. He wanted to focus patrols to the west and south lately because of raider activity. He checked his patrol plan and the next one to go out east was in a week. He had no idea what Kirk could run into out there. 'Why did he go by himself? Damn kid.' he thought, throwing the reports down. He will have to change the patrol for tomorrow morning to that area to find him. In case he doesn't return. His other patrol would be back soon, he will give them the orders then.
Kirk and the woman exited out to the main area and heard a voice echoing across the store. "Hey, we're back, any of you idiots alive in here?" Kirk put his finger to his lips and led her to the back where he found the locked door. "I think they're all dead, boss, like our boys outside-." The speaker cut out. Kirk quickly pulled out the bottlecap mine from Moira and placed it in the hallway activating it.
He went to the terminal next to the lock door and plugged his PIPBOY into it. As a younger teen he messed around with hacking into terminals, he figured he could do the same here. The girl stood next to him trying to see what he was doing but all she saw was a bunch of weird green text. A click was heard, and he opened the door, pulling her inside.
They found themselves in a storage room filled with all sorts of resources. 'Really hit the jackpot Moira.' he thought, noticing an old Protectron stored away. He made his way over to it and found a terminal. He was pretty sure he could program it to guard the store, he remembered in class how old Pre-War robots would be used for anything in society.
He plugged his PIPBOY into the terminal again to hack it. The woman stared at the door in fear it would be kicked in any second. He found the option he was looking for to guard the store after closing hours and selected it. The Protectron activated, "Commencing patrol route." It walked out and stopped in front of Kirk. "Please provide ID."
Kirk looked around and found an old badge on the counter. He grabbed it and showed it to the robot. "Scan complete, hello fellow employee, please stand back." Kirk stood in front of the woman in case it wanted to scan her but it just left the room. Kirk pulled the woman behind cover with him and aimed his shotgun at the door.
Soon they heard yells and gunfire outside. "Kill the tin can, hurry up!" someone yelled. More gunfire and then silence. "Check the store room! It came out of there you fuckin' morons!" Kirk got ready and shortly an explosion was heard along with screams of pain. "Are you scared?" the woman asked, "You're shaking."
Kirk nodded staying focused on the door. He was really hoping that robot killed most of them. He didn't want to fail this woman, she had been through enough. Maybe that's why he was shaking. He then realized this is actually a bad spot. They could easily over run them in here. He had to go out there, to protect this woman. "Stay here, if you hear me yell go, then run for the exit as fast as you can. Do not worry about me."
She nodded frantically as he made his way through the door. She heard yelling and gunfire for a while. She started trembling knowing she was gonna be taken again, how can one guy take on these raiders? Soon she saw Kirk just outside the door fighting a bigger man. His shotgun was gone and he was fighting with his fists. She could see the raider had spiked fists and was boxing Kirk. She glanced around the room and saw a lead pipe and grabbed it.
Kirk was barely holding his own against the raider. He had some kind of spikes on his fist and they were hard to block. His forearms were bruised and bleeding heavily already. "Oh, I'm gonna kill you slow for what you've done to my gang. I don't know how you did it, but you will pay!" he roared, throwing a hook.
Kirk's guard was barely holding, his arms were tired and his leg was trembling bad from the gun shot. The raider threw another hook into his body, right where he got stabbed. Kirk screamed in pain, falling to his knee. The raider pressed the advantage kicking in the face, making him fall on his back. The raider straddled him and started raining blows onto Kirk. He did his best to block and dodge but he was still being punctured more and more by the spikes. He grabbed Kirk's face and dragged a spike down the left side of his face.
Kirk groaned in pain as he reached for his pistol and shoved it into the raiders torso and pumped three bullets into him. The raider yelled in shock and rolled off of him, holding his side. Kirk got up and stood over him, aiming his pistol at his head. "Who...the hell are you?" the raider asked, blood pooling underneath him. Kirk scowled at the raider, thinking of all the things to say, but decided not to waste his breath.
Kirk shot him in the face and then looked around, checking for any others. It seemed clear and quiet, so he let his guard down, holding his wounds. He could barely stand but again he was able to survive. He looked over to the storage room and saw the woman standing in the doorway, holding a pipe. She was staring at the raider he just killed.
She ran toward the corpse with the pipe overhead, screaming. She started beating the corpse relentlessly with the pipe. Kirk watched her with a sad expression as she slammed the pipe into the raiders corpse. He knew the frustration she felt all too well. She started sobbing again, dropping the pipe. Kirk walked over to her and fell on his knees next to her. He wrapped is arm around her and she started crying into his chest.
They stayed like that for a while as she let out all of her anguish. Once she calmed down, Kirk asked, "My name is Kirk, what is your name?"
"...Ella."