Ten Bullets (Charley's Story, Chapter 12)
Entry posted by gregaaz in Charley's Story
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I ran all the way to the Abernathy Farm. Last time I ventured out of Sanctuary Hills, when I went to Cambridge, I walked. I had to walk - I didn't have the endurance to run or even jog most of the way. And that was following the still more or less intact roads. This time, I was going cross-country, and I was running the whole time. The power suit was just incredible - its mechanisms we remarkably miniaturized, and they ran quite and cool, but they boosted my own strength and made the whole trip almost effortless.
Of course, the suit still took some getting used to. I had to adjust me stride a bit to spread my feet a bit more than my natural stride, otherwise the indwelling parts of the suit quickly started to make me sore. Even adjusting my stride, running in the suit created an awkward (though not entirely unpleasant) sensation. It actually gave me some insight into the large size of the plugs. I think if they'd been smaller, trying to move around in the suit would result in me basically fucking myself as the probes slid up and down. Large and snugly fitted, however, the motion was minimal.
Around the time I turned south from the Red Rocket station, I started to feel a bit of pressure in my bladder, and my mind flashed back to Winter quoting from the manual about the purpose of the waste management system. True to her word, I didn't get any relief until I reached the point of practically bursting. Even then, I didn't feel like I was completely emptied. I hoped the manual was right about the benefits of this... unconventional solution.
When I finally reached the farm, I could see why Winter described it as a fort. For something cobbled together from scrap metal and hand-cut planks, it looked pretty solid - and defensible. I decided to loop around a bit to the east so I could approach over clear ground and announce myself early. Probably a good move, as it turned out, because the inhabitants were looking a little jumpy that day. The man of the house, Blake, was happy enough to talk, but I didn't miss the fact that his wife was casually cradling a baseball bat a few paces away... and I'm pretty sure I saw a rifle barrel poking out from the upper level of the fort.
I made my introductions, and once Blake understood I wanted to trade, the tension dialed down a little. Still, he explained to me that he didn't have much to offer. Growing season was long past, of course, but on top of that he hadn't been able to stockpile nearly as much as he'd have liked. He mentioned Raiders in passing, and I recalled that Winter had talked about Raiders as well. When I asked about them, Blake crooked an eyebrow.
"You're not from around here, are ya?"
Well... that's a matter of perspective, isn't it? For a moment I toyed with playing along and pretending I was a traveler from further afield, but I decided honesty was the best plan. I gave him the short version - Vault dweller, frozen for two hundred years, still figuring out the state of the world.
Blake took my answer in stride. Perhaps my story wasn't as outlandish as I'd imagined. We chatted for a bit, about farming, about the Commonwealth and... about Raiders. The way Blake told it, they were a big problem. The Raiders were just what their name suggested - bandits and thugs who roamed the countryside shaking down farmers and settlements. On their most recent 'visit', they'd also absconded with Blake's daughter, Mary.
He wanted her back, and my armor hadn't gone unnoticed. Blake laid out the case simply: he didn't have enough produce to spare for trading, not till the seasons turned at least. But he had plenty to offer to someone who helped get his daughter back... or at least, find out what happened to her. He asked me to sneak into a raider camp north of his farm, up by the old Air Force base.
Remember how I mentioned that I'd felt more impulse and less inhibited since I started using the Neural Sentry? Well I think even after taking it over to don the power suit, I was still feeling some of its effects - because I agreed without giving it nearly enough thought. Looking at my Pip-Boy map, Blake showed me the location of the camp, and I started hiking overland through the woods.
I was practically on top of the base when I reached its perimeter - the years had allowed trees and other vegetation to largely overrun the facility, and I could tell immediately that sneaking up to the edge was going to be easier than I'd originally feared. Still, I had to play it safe. If you recall, I only had a single magazine left for my gun - ten rounds - and so I did my utmost to approach undetected.
And despite the Raiders' best efforts (maybe not that great, all things considered), including a watch tower with a lookout scanning the woods, I succeeded. Now out of view to the sentry, I slid open a building door and slipped in. Unfortunately, that was the extent of my stealth - I almost immediately came face to face with a Raider relaxing on a couch. I dispatched him with a bullet to the head at close range, but from the shouts I heard outside the camp was alerted to my presence. I'd need to see if I could find a silencer at some point.
The dead man had a sawn-off shotgun propped against the wall next to him and I scooped it up. I was going to need more than just my pistol for this operation, after all. The raider from the watchtower, evidently unfamiliar with the advantages of the high ground, raced to the building and piled in, looking for a target with his shotgun. Unfortunately for him, I was waiting and gunned him down before he could react. I scooped up he shotgun shells and then looked around for any signs of further pursuit.
The base, however, was quiet. I took a brief look around, searching for any sign of other occupants, but found nothing. On reflection, I realized that just like with me and the vault, the winter chill had probably forced the Raiders underground. Thus, I changed the focus of my search from looking for Raiders to looking for a basement. It took some casting about - during which I saw firsthand how the Raiders treated their prisoners - I found what I was looking for. One of the buildings had an air raid shelter beneath it... and ample signs of people coming and going.
Hoping that Mary hadn't yet been turned into a decoration like the corpses I'd seen outside, I started descending the stairs into the bomb shelter. It was damp and squalid, with trash and debris strewn everywhere, but the shelter was also big. I realized almost immediately that this was more than just a bunker. Before I could consider the place further, however, I started to run into Raiders. I did my best to pick my shots carefully. Actually, I think the suit was helping with that as well, because my hands were really steady. Nevertheless, I'd only had eight bullets left when I entered the bunker. After the first Raider within I had six. I was suddenly very glad I'd taken that shotgun, because I expected to be switching over to it soon.
The big factor working in my advantage was the lack of light. Maybe one in eight light bulbs down here were still working, so there were lots of dark pools of shadow, especially in corners, for me to hide in. I kept my flashlight off, and stalked the Raiders one by one. By the time they realized what was going on and started working as a team to search for me, I'd already considerably thinned their numbers. And then, at the end of a hail of gunfire and screaming, it was over. I'd taken a few hits, and it felt like I might have a broken rib, but none of the bullets had pierced through my armor. The Raiders hadn't been so lucky, faring no better against the shotgun than my 10mm.
While I was fighting, I'd heard cries for help from some of the side rooms, and I went to investigate. Within, I found several prisoners who the Raiders had apparently still been having fun with. As I freed them, I asked about Mary. All in all, I rescued four prisoners - all men, and none of them knew where to find Mary. Enlisting their help, we searched the bunker from top to bottom, and in the end I made a sad discovery - the locket Blake had described as the means to identify her. Given that this was a room where the Raiders had been stripping corpses and sorting their valuables, it seemed I'd come too late.
I got back to Abernathy Farm that evening and gave Blake the bad news. I could see that it hurt for him to hear it, but I think he'd already accepted that most likely she was gone. On consideration, he said he was happy to have the locket back at least, that it would give his wife something to remember Mary by. Rain was pouring down and we didn't linger long, but Blake offered me a sack of tatos to take back to the vault and promised that if I returned in the spring, he'd be interested in talking about setting up a more permanent trading relationship.
I agreed, and suggested that we exchange representatives to liase between the two settlements - maybe his daughter Lucy (she'd been the one covering me with the rifle when I first visited) could come to Sanctuary Hills and we could send one of the members of my settlement (I was thinking Holly) over to his Farm. I could see Blake thinking it over and weighing the benefits. At length, he didn't commit, but said he'd think on it and discuss it with his family.
We parted with a handshake from Blake and a hug from his wife Connie, and I proceeded to haul the bag of starchy produce back to the vault. I felt bad that I couldn't have saved Blake's daughter, but I was glad that I'd made a friend and hopefully secured a future food source for my home... and for what was likely to end up turning into a little town, over time.
I headed back towards the vault, but it was pitch black outside by the time I reached the Old North Bridge. Thinking back a comment Winter had made, I decided to see if I could indeed sleep in the power suit. I made my way back to my house, made a little small talk with Codsworth, and then hooked up the battery and turned on the fireplace to enjoy some heat and light before bedtime. Sitting down in the suit was an odd sensation, as everything mushed a bit more close together and in particular the large probe in my vagina compressed my well-full bladder. I could feel it compressing and building up enough pressure to open the drainage port, soon after which I felt more comfortable. I'd have to remember that trick in case the 'alertness boosting properties' became too much for me to deal with in the moment.
Though that did raise a question in my mind - what was the suit doing with the waste products is siphoned off? There was a network of tubing along the outside of the body sock running flush with the load-distributing webbing, and it looked like they fed into one of the backpack reservoirs. I'd have to ask Winter about that when I got back home.
For the moment though, I needed some rest. I splashed a bit of warm water on my face to clean up, disconnected the battery, and settled onto my bed. I had to shift a bit to get to a comfortable position, but the suit was so flexible that I could lie down without any problems. Eventually my fatigue overtook me, and I proved that I could, indeed, sleep in the power suit. That actually bode well for using it on long-distance missions, especially combined with the almost unlimited endurance of the suit's power supply.
After bidding goodbye to Codsworth and checking if he needed anything, I finally returned to the vault. I descended the elevator with two big sacks of tatos over my shoulder like a latex-wrapped Santa Claus, eager to give the good news to my neighbors. Everyone was down in the cavern working on the farm, and I made my way down there after dropping off the sacks in the mess hall. I'd hoped that everything had gone smoothly while I was out, but the concerned look on Holly's face when she greeted me made me worry a bit.
"Look, Charley, we need to talk."
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