Crawlout Through the Fallout - Ch. 03

"When he died, was that when you decided to come to the Commonwealth?"

"Yes, that was when Bradson made his move on me. You know the rest."

"Well, I'm sorry you had to go through all that, Beth, but I can't say I'm too upset about your timing. It meant you were in position to save my life." His eyes were full of warmth. "Thank you for that again."

I blushed. "No problem."

We lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. I glanced at David and was reminded that he was a good-looking guy--one I still wouldn't mind sleeping with. I bit my lip, thinking, We can't get into this now. Nick will be here any moment.

David apparently reached the same conclusion. "It'll be right back. It's almost seven, so Arturo should be out at his shop in a few minutes, and I need some more ammo."

"Oh?"

"I went to the firing range last night and fired off four full clips." He chuckled. "Stress relief."

My mouth outran my brain and the words were out before I could stop myself. "I know a better way to relieve stress."

He gave me a sharp look and I dug my nails into my palms. Why the fuck did I say that? I know how he feels and after the blow-up last night, now I throw flirtation in his face? Jesus, Beth. "Prick-tease" would be one of the nicer things he could call you.

David stared at me a moment without comment, then offered me an uncertain smile. "Maybe some other time." He left and I slumped, glad he hadn't come unglued.

Nick and Ellie showed up a short time later. David returned and the three of us set out.

#

We traveled south and east, weaving through ruined buildings and debris-lined streets. The normal distant chatter of gunfire was still there but somehow, I had started to tune it out. I wondered if I was actually becoming used to the place.

Watching Nick was amazing. I'm not sure if it was because he was a synth or because of his experience but he moved like smoke, fading in and out of cover with a simple flit of his long coat. He only carried a heavy revolver, which I thought was terribly under-armed for a mission into the Boston ruins, but something about Nick's confidence told me that in his hands, it might be enough.

We wound through narrow alleys and tight lanes, all of which were more confined and shadowy than the broad, sun-lit avenues the caravan had trod to and from Goodneighbor. Nick led the way with me behind and David bringing up the rear. I wanted to be irate over being placed in the middle--whether at doubt in my ability or misplaced chivalry to protect the woman--but when I was honest with myself, I was glad they did. The gunfire came no closer but other odd sounds echoed through the streets: howls, moans, shifting rubble, and the whistle of a stiff breeze. It was enough to drive a girl mad from fear, and nearly did. But before I really built myself into a fever pitch of terror, the buildings fell away and we emerged into a more open area, dotted with decaying homes, broken pavement, and crumbling ruins. A new thought occurred, that we would be much more exposed and visible than we had been. I smiled to myself. It's always something.

But we crossed the expanse without incident. I caught David watching me and stuck my tongue out at him. He chuckled and I laughed quietly to myself and in spite of the gravity of the situation, I realized I was both happy to be out with him and that we had seemed to bury the hatchet.

The morning faded into afternoon and by the time the sun hung low in the west, we found ourselves under one of the elevated roads--something Nick called an "overpass." He pointed at a nearby cluster of buildings. "That's University Point."

The place looked unremarkable to me. Wood and scrap metal barricades spanned the gaps between buildings and unmanned guard posts sat idle atop most of the buildings. There was no movement save some canvas tarps rippling in the wind.

David squatted down. "Okay. How do we do this?"

Nick stared at the place for a moment. It continued to be still. "It looks clear but that's the problem."

"What is?" I asked.

He snorted. "They always look clear."

"Okay, so do we need to find another entrance and sneak inside?" I gazed at the lengthening shadows, half-hoping he'd tell me we were just going to walk away.

"No, Beth, we're going in the front gate. I have no idea what we're going to run into, so don't go spraying bullets wildly, unless they shoot at us first." He pulled his pistol. "Let's go."

My heart thumped like it wanted to burst from my chest but I gripped my rifle and followed my boss across the intervening space, to the entrance to University Point. We paused there but the joint remained quiet and still. Nick slipped inside and went left, sticking to the shadows. I followed as best I could, with David once again bringing up the rear. We moved from building to building and I heard nothing but the cricket-song of mid-evening.

I sighed. Maybe this had been a bust.

"Is someone present?"

I froze. The words had drifted from the next building over from us. Though the diction and syntax was perfect, the voice held a tinny quality, as if someone had spoken through an aluminum tube.

Nick cocked the hammer on his pistol. "Synths," he said in a low tone. "First generation, it sounds like."

David raised his rifle. It was an old hunting rifle, modified to automatic fire from the attached ammunition drum.

"What do we do, Nick?"

He shrugged. "Put them down. Just be careful. If you blow off an arm, they'll keep coming. Their legs, and they'll keep shooting. Make sure they're destroyed."

"Got it." I pulled back the charging handle on my rifle.

A pair of white-skinned humanoids stepped from around the corner, thirty feet away. At first glance, they looked like Nick but as I peered at them, I realized the two synths were more pale than my detective friend and even more artificial-looking. Each clutched a thick baton that glowed at the end. The nearest one swiveled its head our way and in that same metallic voice I'd first heard said, "Engaging hostile life forms."

Nick fired. The heavy bullet ripped through the syth's upper torso, carrying away a hefty portion of its inner mechanics. It shook and collapsed. Sparks skittered across the pavement.

I tried to line up on the second one but David was faster. He shot twice. The first round struck the synth in the shoulder. Its arm tumbled free. The second struck the synth in what would have been the throat on a human. Its head popped loose from its shoulders. Amazingly, the machine staggered forward, raising its baton.

Dumbfounded, I stared at it until a third round from David's rifle blasted a chunk of the synth's hip away. Apparently, it had suffered too much systems damage to keep upright, as it fell. The synth's legs kicked and the fingers of its remaining hand flexed open and closed.

The patter of numerous feet pounding our way filled the air. Nick flexed his fingers. "Here we go."

Another pair of synths appeared, both armed with compact pistols. This time, I didn't wait, and fired twice. Two rounds from my high-powered combat rifle ripped the nearest synth in half. David gunned down the second one.

Nick faced our rear and fired. I heard the crackling and electrical discharge of another fallen foe. He muttered, "Garden variety first generation. Institute cast offs. But be careful. I sense there's something else here too."

My eyes roamed back and forth, looking for more targets. "What?"

"I'm not sure but I'm afraid it's a courser."

David paled. "Shit." He fired as another of the mechanical men appeared, and shot it to pieces.

I looked at Nick. "What the hell is a courser?"

"It's the kind of synth the Institute once used to chase down runaways. Upgraded third generation. Very fast, very tough. Worst of all, they can stealth. It could be on us before we know it."

A chill shot down my spine. "Swell."

More of the regular synths appeared in groups of two or three and we were able to destroy most of them before they ever got a shot off. I had a momentary fear that I was going to run out of ammo but around the time I had that thought, the attack slowed to a trickle. One more synth appeared, and then none.

I slumped, relieved.

David leaned against the building. A lazy wisp of smoke curled from the tip of his weapon. "Maybe you were wrong, Nick."

Nick continued to scan the area. He reloaded his weapon without looking, showing the practiced skill of a long-time gunslinger.

I looked deeper into University Point, wondering if we would find the answers Nick thought were there.

Something moved.

I frowned and squinted into the growing darkness. There was nothing immediately visible. I wondered if I had been seeing things, if my fatigue-racked brain was playing tricks, or--

I tensed. There was a... distortion. Just a ripple in the air, a change in the light. The area of uneven vision moved toward us.

Sometimes, I think that for humans to learn to pay attention to those nagging instincts they tend to ignore, they need to spend a little time in life-or-death situations. They'll either activate those heightened senses or not live to tell about it.

I had every intention of living. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I raised my gun. "Courser!"

I fired. My shot struck the distorted mass dead on. It shimmered and faded, revealing a non-descript man in a long coat, plain shirt, trousers, and boots, and carrying a pistol. I wouldn't have looked at him twice at any other time, and I'm sure that was the point. He tapped the broken device on his arm--which apparently was where my bullet struck--but the thing fell apart and clattered to the ground. Without hesitation, he raised his pistol and fired.

A bright red beam leaped from the pistol. It sizzled across the space and grazed my bicep. Pain warred with the harsh scent of burning flesh. I gasped and ducked behind a cardboard box... not that that would do me much good.

At the same time, Nick and David shot at our attacker, who moved almost impossibly fast, dodging behind a building corner. No sooner had the echoes of my friends' shots faded did the courser return, firing in our direction. Nick grunted. I saw with some alarm that his left hand had been blown loose and now only hung by a handful of wires. David fired again, striking the courser in the arm and blasting away a chunk of flesh, though the injury didn't seem to slow it at all.

David's successful shot galvanized me to action. I waited until the courser stuck his head back around the corner. I aimed for the spot between his eyes and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, the pain in my arm caused my aim to drift.

My shot struck the courser's laser pistol.

There was a pop and a flash and before I knew it, the courser had thrown down his ruined weapon and lunged among us. It knocked Nick sprawling with its charge and wheeled on me.

A stunning blow to my jaw knocked me from my feet. I landed on my back; the impact drove the air from my lungs and tumbled my rifle from my grasp. Strong hands clamped down on my throat as it straddled me, and leaned into the choke for leverage. My lungs pulled for air but none came. I gripped its hands but I may as well have attempted to move granite for all the good it did. The courser's eyes stared into mine. An isolated corner of my dazed mind was surprised to see no hate, no anger. There was just... nothing.

Like this is just routine and it's nothing personal. I wanted to cry. Nothing personal, human, just because I'm killing you.

A rifle round glanced off its head. David fired a second time, shearing a way of fragment of the courser's cheek. My attacker staggered back, clutching its bloody head with both hands.

Sweet relief poured into my lungs. As my breath returned, my thoughts cleared and I reached for my rifle but before my fingers found it, I brushed over the handle of the pistol thrust in my belt.

Much easier in tight quarters.

I pulled the pistol and fired into the courser's body until the clip emptied. Amazingly, it didn't die, though our enemy staggered to its feet and swayed back and forth. David fired several more rounds into its head and at long agonizing last, it slumped across me and went still.

If I wasn't already on my back with a killing machine sprawled across me like an obscene lover, I would have collapsed in relief.

Nick had gotten back on his feet. He grabbed the courser, hurled it off me, and offered me his good hand. I took it and stood upright. The pressure on my arm made me wince. He said, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah." I touched my throat. A couple of spots felt tender and I figured I might have some decent bruises before it was over. I jerked my chin at my arm. "It's not deep. It should be okay."

"We'll get that wound squared away." Nick nodded to David. "Good job, you two. Coursers are damn tough. You made it look easy."

I took his arm. "Nick, your hand."

He shrugged and gently took his arm from my grip. "It's fine. I still have my gun hand. I'll get this fixed when we get back to Diamond City. In the meantime, let's see what we can find."

I grabbed David's hand. He glanced at me in surprise. I said, "Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome, Beth." He squeezed my hand in return and gave me a smile that made my knees weak and my pussy wet.

Oh, man, I do want him. For the first time in a long while, I actually want a man for something other than just a trade. I sighed. Goddamn it, of course this happens when we're miles from safety!

We followed Nick to the largest building in the compound. A plate by the doors read, "Sedgwick Hall." I kept expecting us to be attacked but it seems as though our initial ruckus had drawn all of the nearby synths. I hefted my rifle but the stinging wound in my arm made it hard to keep it at a ready position, which was concerning.

David stayed by my side. I caught him thrusting out his hand when I stumbled once, ready to catch me and keep me from falling. I saw his smile and I bit my lip and looked away.

The interior of the gloomy building was quiet, though sounds of scuttling emanated from the lower levels. Fortunately, it appeared as if the descending stairs were blocked by debris and rubble. Nick led us to the top floor, to a room with several glowing computer monitors. "All right, I am going to see what we have here. David, can you help me plug in?"

"Sure."

I placed my rifle on the desk, glad to relieve my arm of the weight. "What is it that you're doing?"

"Going to upload myself into this computer." Nick drew a long thin cable out of his coat pocket, and doffed his hat. I spotted a plug-in jack above his left ear. "I can go through the data much faster. What would take six hours to copy to holotape I can go in and scan in a tenth of that time."

"Is that safe?"

"If you mean in the computer, sure. I'll be fine. If you mean out here..." He shrugged. "There are no more synths around. If there were, they would have all come to the courser's aid. Mirelurks tend to nest in the basement of this building, where it's flooded, but they'll stay down there. And I'm not worried about raiders or anything. If they know synths are in University Point, they'll stay far away. By the time they figure out we cleared the place, we'll be long gone. You two keep an eye out but feel free to relax. Beth, let David take care of your arm." Nick plugged one jack-end of the cable into the computer. "I'll be out in thirty minutes, tops."

David sank the other end of the cable into the port on Nick's head. Immediately, Nick's eyes went dark and his body stiff.

"That's it," David said. "He uploaded himself to the system."

"All right. I guess we wait."

"Let me take a look at your bicep."

I scoffed, even as it throbbed. "Oh, it's not bad."

David gave me a faint smile. "Please?"

We moved behind where Nick sat frozen. David pulled two wooden chairs out of a messy pile and positioned them facing each other. I took off my flannel, sat in one chair, and rolled up the sleeve of my vault suit over the wound. That stung quite a bit as the snug material scraped over the bloody spot but it would have been way too much work to take it off.

David perched facing me. He examined the injury, which to my eyes much resembled a harsh burn, with singed flesh around the impact area. My comrade produced a roll of cloth and a small device that looked like a pair of opaque tubes attached to a needle with a thumb plunger. "What is that?"

"Stimpack."

I blanched. "You sure you want to use that for something so minor? Stimpacks are rare and expensive, aren't they?"

"Yes, but less expensive than dealing with infections and lost limbs. Hold still."

I sucked in my breath but the needle had surprisingly little bite. Almost immediately, the pain in my arm abated. I flexed my fingers and had total control and tactile feeling. "Wow. That's amazing. Pops talked about them but I had never seen one."

"Yeah, they work great, but just like anything, they're no substitute for rest and proper care. Here, let me bandage you up." He made several passes around my arm with the sterile cloth and pinned it place on the opposite side from my injury. "That should hold for now. See if you can get your sleeve over that."

I barely felt the injury as I pulled the vault suit sleeve back to my wrist. I flexed the arm in several directions and it moved without issue. "That feels great. Thank you, David."

He nodded. "Happy to help."

A touch of lightheadedness filled my mind. Either the stimpack or the injury was making me feel a little silly and daring. I touched his hand. "Thank you again for saving my life out there, too. You killed that courser."

"We did, together--and I just did what I had to do, for a companion."

"Maybe, but it was me you did it for." I stroked his fingers with mine and stared into his eyes. He gazed back and I saw him swallow nervously, which made me smile. "You seem nervous."

"I..." He withdrew his hand from mine. "I won't lie, I think you're teasing me again."

"No, I'm not. David, I told you I was sorry we argued the other night. I can't really explain what happened in Goodneighbor, though Ellie and Nick said based on some things they know, I might not have had much of a choice." My palms were clammy and I had started shaking. I was afraid--afraid that I was putting myself out there and I was going to get rejected. I already liked David and the whiplash of adrenaline--of going from a life-or-death situation where I very nearly did die--to sitting quietly next to him, did nothing but amplify the sexual tension between us. I could almost feel the individual hormones surging through my veins. On top of that, the pain-killers in the stimpack were making me loopy. And horny... so very horny.

He raised his eyebrows but I got my nerves under control and kept talking. "I'm attracted to you, David. You saved my life and I would like to thank you properly. I don't have a lot of ways to do that but I do have one."

"I think that's the stimpack talking."

"It's not," I lied, trying like hell to ignore the endorphins swirling in my head. "Let me prove it."

"How?"

I thought for a moment but I really knew what I had to do. No, it was what I wanted to do. I put my hands on his knees, looked him in the eyes, and whispered, "Take your cock out."

David blinked. "Uh, what?"

"Take it out. Let me prove it."

"Uh... I mean..." At that moment, he looked more scared than he did when the courser attacked us. "You don't have to do that."

I stroked his leg, feeling a giddy sense of desire building inside me. My snatch was soaked and I had a desperate urge to pull him on top of me, to ram my tongue into his mouth, to open my legs and let his cock spear into my body... but we couldn't. The vault suit was far too hard to get on and off with any speed and given the situation, we might have to move quickly. I really didn't want to have to fight naked. But nothing said I couldn't take care of us in another way. I'd blown guys for much worse reasons than doing it for someone I really liked who had also saved my life. I caught my lip between my teeth in what I hoped was an inviting manner.