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The Fallout By Kendo Kawabata Chapter 4

Innocence Lost

Adam could hear the sound of gunfire coming from down the street, well past the checkpoint that was in his vision. The hooting and hollering of a group of people, Adam had no way of knowing who, sounded like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

And if people were enjoying shooting guns while hooting and hollering loudly like that, they could not possibly be the kind of people that Adam wanted to go near.

"Oh jolly good. There are people that way" Cadwell said, the robots lights flickering as he spoke as he began to hover forward. Adam stood up from his chair and stared at the robot with shock written across his face.

"You cannot be serious" the lion said to him.

"I am serious. This is my serious face" Cadwell said as he pointed the tip of his gasoline filled water pistol towards the dome that was his head, tapping the tip towards the eye that was focused on Adam.

"But... but those are people with guns" Adam said to him. "And they don't sound nice at all" he protested.

"But they haven't shot at us yet" Cadwell pointed out. "And until they shoot at us, we can assume they're not actually bad."

"But... but they could be anyone" Adam pointed out. The gun shots were still ringing out, and they didn't sound like they were really slowing down in the slightest. "They could be a ....a biker gang or something just as bad" he said.

There was a difference to Bikies and Bikers, back in the day that the world hadn't been changed for the seemingly worse. Bikies were men, and sometimes women, who wore leather jackets and drove around the countryside on very loud Lone Wanderer motorcycles. Bikers were mostly the same thing, but they often carried guns and had no problem 'hassling the man' or causing trouble for shopkeepers and law enforcements.

His mother had some patience for Bikies, but none for Bikers. When Carl Moss, one of the jocks from Adams school had received a motorcycle and a leather jacket from his parents for his birthday, Adams mother, in plain view of every single student in the school, made it clear, in a very loud voice, that if he ever drove that bike around Sanctuary Hills and made a nuisance of himself, she'd drag him by his ear all the way back to Concord and force an apology out of him in front of his parents.

Needless to say, the bike never once made an appearance anywhere near the neighbourhood. And there was a lot less students talking about getting one themselves after that day.

"Adam, you have a gun. If anyone shoots at us, just shoot back" Cadwell said calmly.

"But...but I don't think I can shoot people with it" Adam protested. He couldn't help but remember the Ghoul that he had encountered. It was true, he had no problem carrying the pistol or even using it. But the ghoul hadn't been a person, at least not really. And he hadn't even fired it at the damn monster properly.

But these were people, actual people. People like him. Was Cadwell really asking him to shoot another person, even if it would be in self defence?

"You shot the ghoul. It didn't die, but you still shot it" Cadwell pointed out firmly.

"But...but that was different" Adam said as he found himself stammering. He also found his hands were starting to shake.

"Not really" Cadwell said to him. "It was coming to kill you. If these people come at you to kill you, you should shoot them. It is either you or them, Master Adam. And quite frankly, I'd much rather it be them. I'd hate to have to bury you because you were too stupid to pull the trigger" he pointed out.

Adam wanted to protest that, but he found he wasn't able to come up with a retort. His voice stuck in his throat and he wasn't able to finish his sentence, or even come up with words. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but nothing came out at all.

"Now, let's go see what all the fuss is about, shall we?" Cadwell said before the robot turned and started to float away towards the sounds of the gunfire. Adam didn't say anything at first, before he looked down at Rocket. The shephard had been looking in the direction of the gunfire, but then looked up at Adam and gave a wag of his tail.

"What do you think?" Adam asked him. The dog gave him a lopsided look before he suddenly sprang to his feet and started to trot after the robot.

"This really, really isn't a good idea" Adam said as he looked around for a moment. He spotted the briefcase sitting on the ground, so he picked it up and then carefully placed it through the broken window of the ice cream parlour and hid it out of immediate sight. Once it was safely out of sight, he pulled the pistol from his jackets pocket.

"Could I really shoot someone with this?" he asked himself as he looked down at the weapon in his hand. He hadn't really thought about it before, because when he first emerged from the vault, he thought that he was alone. The gun he brought with him, he brought along because he thought he might have to use it. And he didn't really think when he pulled the gun and fired it on the ghould. He had just reacted, possibly out of instinct.

But now he was faced with the probability that he would definitely have to use it. This time against other people. Who had guns themselves. A lot of people with guns, from the sounds of it. And the worst part, at the moment, was that he had to think about it first. He had to actually consider the that that he'd have to use it. And the consideration itself was what was making him nervous.

And the more he thought on it, the more the idea of him actually killing someone made his hands shake so badly he nearly lost his grip on the gun.

But Rocket and Cadwell were both heading in the direction of the gun shots, and he couldn't just leave them there. With a heavy swallowing in his throat, Adam ran after them.

Once he was past the dilapidated checkpoint, ignoring the skeletons that littered themselves across the ground, the last remnants of the military men who guarded the road block until the very end, he was able to see the Museum of Freedom more readily. And it had definitely changed the last time that he had been there.

The museum was a three levelled building, a sign proclaiming ''Concords Museum of Freedom'' was attached above the double doors of the building. The third level balconies had several large american flags hanging proudly from their edges. It was once a high traffic tourist spot for Concord, for which red blooded american did not appreciate freedom?

Although the building had aged. The sign was rusted, the words barely legible anymore. The flags were in tatters, just rags dangling in the non existent breeze. Weatherboards had fallen from the building, one of the balconies had actually collapsed onto a car beneath it. It looked like something had crashed into the buildings third floor, all he could see was the tail end sticking out of the roof.

"Oh look, there are people here after all" Cadwell proclaimed proudly as he hovered behind one of the cars in the street, the Museum sitting across the road in the middle of the T intersection. Rocket lay low on the ground, the dog growling in warning as if he was daring the people to come closer.

Adam ducked behind the car, feeling his heart pound in fear as he carefully looked through the broken windows of the car, trying to see properly what was going on.

Adams first thoughts were that these people belonged to some kind of bikergang. They were all standing around the front of the museum, shooting their guns at someone hiding up on the remaining balcony on the second floor. They were all dressed in leathers, all in various shades of black.

But some looked like they were wearing... some kind of protective armour. Some had wire mesh from fences wrapped around their arms and legs. Others seemed to be decked in the protective equipement used by baseball catchers. From the pads to the helmets. At least two of them had sack clothes covering their faces with what looked like tubes sprouting every which way. It was hard to tell what species they were as they were all covered up.

"Hey, come down and play boy" one of them shouted as he shot a shotgun towards the balcony. The wood cracked from the impact around the door frame. "Come on, we only want some fun."

"We almost got the door open" one of the sack cloth wearers shouted as she continued to hit the door with a large wooden bat covered in sharp nails. There were three people dead at her feet, all of them wearing long coats and cowboy hats. From the amount of blood covering the front steps of the building and the blood splatter on the door, she had gotten up close and personal.

"Hear that you minute man fuck?" one of the gang members shouted, this one wearing a football helmet. "We're coming in. Got some fun time planned for those girls you got. Woooh!" he shouted as he rudely groped his crotch and gave a hip thrust.

"I'll die before I let you in here" the man on the balcony shouted before he appeared in the doorway with his own weapon drawn. Adam did not get much of a look at him before the man fired his gun. There was a sizzling sound, like meat hitting a hot frypan as a beam of red light struck one of the gang members on the chest.

Adam cried out in shock as the mans chest looked like it had burst outwards. A huge gaping hole was burned straight through the mans chest, from one side to the other. The protective chest guard he had been wearing did nothing to stop the laser from burning straight through him.

The man collapsed on the ground, falling forward as he dropped his weapon on the ground with a loud clatter. Smoke rose from the hole in his back as the man lay dead on the street. Unfortunately, Adams shocked cry ended up drawing the attention of the other gang members.

"Hey, we got one over here" one of them shouted as he waved his arm at the car Adam was crouched behind. As he said that, the girl hitting the front door of the museum let out a happy whooping sound as the doors locks finally gave in and the door splintered open.

"We're coming in boy. Gonna git you now" the one in the football helmet shouted out as they started to advance.

"You guys get them. Save some chems for me" the female said as she stepped away from the door. "You two, lets get our new friend over there" she said as she pointed the end of her bloodstained bat towards Adam.

Two of them stopped advancing towards the doors as they turned and began to advance towards the scared boy that was only a short distance away from them. The female tapped her bat against her hand, the nails digging into her exposed palm and drawing blood. But either she didn't notice or she didn't care as she advanced with the others.

"Stay...stay back" Adam shouted as he backed away from the car. "I...I have a gun" he shouted as he found himself standing up and pointing the gun towards them. But his hands were shaking badly as he tried to keep it steady.

"Guess what boy, so do we" one of them shouted, wire mesh wrapped around his face as he held up a large gun that looked like it was made out of pipes. "And ours are bigger" he said as he pulled the gun against him and fired it towards Adam.

Thankfully, the front of the car ended up taking the most damage, but it was enough to make Adam jump in fright. He almost dropped his own gun as the gang member fired at him. His hand shook as he held his gun up and desperately pulled the trigger twice.

He felt it, even through his panic, that tiny little twitch in his hand as if the gun had corrected itself. He didn't know where exactly he ended up aiming, but two large blotches of red appeared on the gang mans right arm, exploding into the air as he let out a cry of shock to be struck.

"Oh, you'll fucking pay for that" he shouted as he dropped his gun and clutched at his now bleeding arm. It dangled against his side, a huge hole just under his shoulder and the other in his forearm. "You shot me you bastard" he shouted as he glared death at Adam from afar.

"Don't just stand there, he's just a kid" the female shouted through her sack hood. The other guy nodded as he pulled up his own weapon, a large and lethal looking shot gun and pointed it at Adam without hesitation.

"Oh god...I.." Adam didn't get a chance to finish whatever he was saying as Rocket leapt over the hood of the car. The shephard cleared the car and landed on the road before he sprung forward, a furious snarl on his lips. the gang member aimed his shotgun at the dog and fired off a round. Adam cried out in fear that his dog ahd been hit, but the shot sprayed the side of the vehicle instead as it missed the charging canine.

The gang man didn't get a chance to reload before the canine leapt and sank its teeth into the only part the male didn't have covered up in leather. his throat. The man let out a gurgled scream as the fangs of the canine sank into his tender flesh and blood began to spurt around the dogs muzzle.

"AAARGH. Get the fucking animal off me" the male shouted as he was knocked backwards as the dogs muzzle tore into his throat, the sound of flesh ripping was heard amidst the dogs feral snarling.

"you heard him, shoot the mutt" the female shouted through her sackcloth hood as the other male pointed his pistol towards the dog.

"Not so fast you filthy cur!"

The male looked up as he saw the charging Mr Handy glide towards him, the two good eyes glowing a bright angry red as he drew back the arm that contained the sharp spinning blade. Behind the thick black goggles, the males eyes drew wide as the blade spun, a horrible whirling grinding noise above the dogs ferocious snarling before the spinning blade was slashed.

The male let out a gurgling scream as the blade sliced through his unprotected neck. The goggles that covered his eyes protected nothing from the spinning blade as a fountain of blood sprayed across the parched ground.

"If anyone disciplines that mutt, it will be me with a baseball bat" Cadwell shouted as he forced the male to the ground and brought the blade back up for another slash. "Certainly not you with a weapon of that calibre" he shouted as the blade sliced through the meager leather that covered his chest.

With one male getting sliced to pieces by the furious robot and the other having his throat torn out by an attack dog, the female realised she was suddenly outnumbered by two very dangerous attackers. So she seemed to take the more logical approach as she turned her attention to the kid with the gun that wasn't even pointed at her.

"You're dead kid, you hear me? DEAD" she screamed at him as she waved her lethal bat in the air as she started to run at him. Adam felt his heart race into his chest as she headed in his direction, and he did the only thing he could think off. He pulled the trigger as fast as his finger was able to move as he moved himself backwards.

The bullets seemed to fly everywhere except the charging female, most of them creating new holes in the side of the car before him. The few bullets that didn't hit the car just blew past and struck either the side of the building or just kept on going beyond where he was able to see them. Adam let out a terrified yell as the female leapt up onto the hood of the car, waving her bloodied bat and screaming a harrowing war cry at him.

He did the only thing that managed to spring to mind. He turned, and began to run.

"Don't run away. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just gonna kill you" she shouted after him as she leapt off the hood of the car and began to move after him. But she didn't seem to be in much of a hurry to give chase to him.

Adam could feel his heart racing in his throat and his blood pumping in his ears as he stumbled up the street he had just a short while ago been running down. He could hear the crazed female behind him laughing and taunting him, whacking her bat against the broken windows and panels on the shop fronts.

"Awww, don't you want to play? I promise I'll go easy" she called out as she watched Adam stumble over his feet again on the sidewalk and scramble to pick himself up again. He was panting hard as he didn't dare look back over his shoulder as he tried to get away from her.

He spotted the doorway to a building in front of him that had the door wide open, the door practically hanging off its hinges. She was right behind him, and he was already getting out of breath. He went to grab for the door handle, his hands shaking so badly he didn't feel the gun slip out of his grip, but he heard it clatter to the ground.

Adam practically launched himself through the doorway as he pulled the door shut behind him. It didn't even close properly against the frame as he backed away slowly from the door, almost expecting it to be ripped open by the female on the other side.

He gulped and slowly turned around as he found himself standing in the front room of what looked like a bar. A long counter covered in dusty bottles and dirty ashtrays filled most of the room, with a couch and matching armchairs sitting beside the door. There were several skeletons of what looked like males in three piece suits sitting on the couch and chairs, some still propped up at the bar, clutching bottles in their hands. It looked like they had died drinking.

A loud bang on the door made him almost jump out of his skin.

"Knock knock, anyone home?" the female shouted through the door as she banged her bat on the door again. "Come on kid, I know you're in there" she called out to him. Another bang on the door almost knocked it off its hinges.

Adam spun around, desperate to find a way out of the bar. There was a set of rotten looking stairs to his left, behind one of the large rotten couches, and behind the bar there was a set of heavy looking doors. The doors looked like they were bolted shut. And he had no time to test the theory as the female banged on the door again.

He chose the stairs.

They creaked and cracked under him as he tore up the dusty staircase as fast as his feet could take him. There was a landing above that overlooked the front half of the bar, with a set of doors next to the stairs. He grabbed the handle and pushed, and almost fell forward onto the floor with how easily they opened up.

He slammed the door shut, hearing another bang from downstairs. She shouted something, something he wasn't able to hear properly through two sets of doors as he slowly backed away. His foot came into contact with something and he heard something clatter behind him, causing him to yelp as he turned around.

The lion found himself in a bedroom, his foot had touched an empty whiskey bottle on the floor and caused it to topple over. A large double bed took up most of the room, although it had collapsed on its side and the mattress had rotted away. There were bottles everywhere, the floor was practically littered with them.

He forgot about the female down below when he saw what was ontop of the bed. There was another skeleton, covered in rags and lounging on the bed with a bottle clutched against its chest. And it had its arm wrapped around a naked female mannequin, the plastic moulded canine tucked firmly in the skeletons rotten arm.

"The heck..." he thought to himself as he heard a smashing noise from downstairs as the door was knocked off its hinges. He jumped, whimpering in fear as he realised the female was now in the building. His eyes darted around, trying to see if he could spot a window or somewhere to hide. There was a set of venetian doors on the other side of the room, right next to a broken set of shelves, and he hurried into them.

"Where are you, little man? Come out come out wherever you are" she called out as she stood in the ruined doorway, tapping her bloodied nailed bat in her hand as she looked around the dirty bar. Her ears flicked around, trying to hear anything in the building that was moving. A smile crept across her lips, under the sack cloth as she heard something fall upstairs with a loud thudding noise.

Adam was wedged in the cornor of the little bathroom, behind the door with his hand clamped over his mouth as he whimpered, trying very hard not to cry out. He had bumped into a damn mannequin, the moulded canid had toppled over and clattered onto the floor. It had scared the heck out of him, but what scared him even more was the fact there were more of them.

There was at least five naked male plastic moulded mannequins, one on the floor and the other four standing around the rusted out bathtub. They all had their arms held up in the air, clutching weapons in their hands. Two held plungers, a third held a stick and two of them, including the one on the floor, held a large metal machete. And there was another skeleton, in the damn bath tub. It had the rotted remains of a dress on its frame.

And on the floor, in the middle of a large black stain was a skull. Adam was trying not to whimper too loudly becuase not only had he walked into what looked like a two hundred year old murder scene, but knocking over the mannequin had revealed where he was hiding.

"You picked a bad, baaad day to come to town, little man" he heard the female say as she purposefully stomped her way up the stairs, one step at a time. He could hear each creak and crack of the stairs as she deliberately took her time. "Most people run from gunfire, but you, you ran towards it. Guess you think yourself a little hero, don't you?"

He whimpered as he heard the bat whack against the wall. He carefully peered through the venetian door and he saw the wall actually bounce slightly. She had reached the landing already.

"Want to know something fun? Raiders like us, we don't travel alone. We travel in groups" she called out as he saw the wall thump again, a dustcloud forming from behind the ruined wallpaper right beside the door. His eyes darted back to the machete on the floor, right next to his feet.

Not able to trust himself from making a noise, he kept his hand over his mouth as hard as he could, almost hurting as he slowly kneeled down as carefully as he could. His hand was shaking, his fingers spasming as he carefully reached for the handle.

He heard the bedroom door swing open as the female forced it open, Adams hand wrapping around the machete handle as he stood back up, holding the weapon with both hands now. He forced his jaw shut so hard that it was starting to ache. The huge blade actually felt heavy, his hands shaking so badly he thought he'd drop it . "We have another group behind us, and they wont be happy you killed our little friends" she called out. Adam looked through the cornor of his eye as he saw her walk into the room a couple of steps and just stop, literally on the other side of the door.

"We're gonna kill all those settlers in the museum. And then, we're going to kill your dog. And then we'll take apart your robot, piece by piece. They scream you know?" she said with an evil sounding giggle. "They scream when we pull them apart. So much fun."

"And then, I'm going to skin you. I'll pull your pretty little face off, and I'll wear it like a hat, while you watch, screaming as I dance around the fire" she said before she turned to the door of the bathroom.

The wood broke easily, having been rotten for so long it was a wonder the door hadn't broken when Adam pushed it open. But it broke as he rammed forward, screaming in anger as he thrust the machete blade in front of him, bursting through the door and into the female raider in front of him.

She let out a cry as the boy and the door collapsed ontop of her and they both crashed to the floor beside the broken bed. The bottles on the floor scattered about as Adam let go of the machete handle and pushed himself off her, panting hard now that the adrenaline had worn off.

"Oh no" he gasped as he saw that the macheta had driven itself through her chest, tearing through her leather and into her skin. She lay there on the ground, choking, blood dribbling from the cornors of her mouth and through the sackcloth as her hands flailed rather uselessly as her arms flopped against her sides.

"Oh God...oh God...did I...." Adam said in shock and horror as he scrambled backwards, watching her literally choke on her own blood as the dark red stain spread across the face of the mask. She choked again, a similar dark stain spreading across the front of her leathers as it dripped down her sides.

"I...I'm sorry....I'm so sorry...I ...I didn't mean it" Adam said as he scrambled to her side, looking over her rather helplessly as he had no idea how to fix what he had just done. He grabbed the handle of the blade and pulled, but she just lifted upwards as he tugged at it rather frantcially. With a horribly wet squelching noise the blade suddenly pulled free, a stream of crimson following it as she fell on her back with a dull clunk on the floor. Her head flopped to the side, the lower half stained red as her arms just dropped to her sides and she fell still.

Adam just stared in shock as he fell back on his knees, his hand gripping the blood stained machete as the gravity of the situation hit him rather hard. He had just killed her. He had killed someone.

She was dead, by his hands.

"I killed her....I just....killed her" he said in disbelief as he dropped the machete at his side, the dull metal clattering on the dusty floor as he felt his shoulders sag. He just found himself staring at her, watchign that stain spread over her leathers as it slowly seeped from the wide open gash.

The room was quiet, he couldn't hear anything beyond the immediate area around him. His heart slowly calmed down, his breathing became normal. But he didn't move. He simply sat there, on his knees. Trying to come to terms with the fact that he had just killed someone. He had just killed her. And it was so easy. The machete had just pierced the leather like it was butter and just pushed into her like she was nothing. The blood was on his hands, he could actually feel it. It burned into his fingers, a feeling he was not going to get rid of anytime soon. How long he sat there, he wasn't sure. Time seemed to loose meaning for him, it could have been hours or it could have been minutes. He didn't know how long he simply sat there, he just did. Staring at her body, her corpse. He kept blinking, slightly hoping that each time he blinked, her body would vanish and it would mean it didn't happen.

"Master Adam?"

Adam shook his head as he heard Cadwell downstairs, almost pulling him back to reality but not enough to even call out that he was there. He heard Cadwell call out again, this time closer as the robot ascended the stairs.

"Master Adam, if you are in here, we are going to have to leave now. You are not the legal age to be in such a place, and I will not bail you out if you get caught in here illegally" the floating robot said as he reached the landing and pushed itself through the doorway.

"What in the world has happened here?" Cadwell asked as he placed his clawed hand on Adams shoulder.

"Cadwell....I....I killed her" Adam croaked out as he felt his throat suddenly go dry and he found speaking difficult. "I....I killed her....She's...dead..." he found himself speaking. Even though he was saying the words, they didn't feel real.

"Master Adam, do not be upset. She would have killed you" Cadwell said as he floated over to Adams side and lowered himself down to the floor so he could focus both his good eyes on Adam at his level.

"I...I killed her" Adam said as he found himself trying to.... well he wasn't sure what he was trying to do. Was he trying to defend his action? Was he trying to put himself in trouble? He wasn't sure. He just felt so guilty and confused and scared and a mixture of emotions that he hadn't felt before.

"She's... she's dead...I killed her....I just killed someone... that's....that's the worst thing you can do..." Adam croaked out as he felt himself start to shake from his emotions as they threatened to swallow him up.

"Master Adam, I killed a man outside as well" Cadwell said as he held his blade up. The blade was splattered with blood, the dark red liquid covering every one of the lethal points of the blade. "I do not feel guilty about it, and neither should you."

"But..." Adam said, but Cadwell squeezed his shoudler firmly with his clawed hand.

"Master Adam, she was going to kill you. Those men outside, were going to kill us. They were not going to feel guilty about killing us, I can assure you. If they were going to feel guilty, they wouldn't have tried so hard" Cadwell pointed out to him. "It was either her or you, Master Adam. And in all honesty, I would rather have her guts splattered across the room then find out she got to you first" he said firmly.

"She....she was trying to kill me" Adam said slowly as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "She...she did say....she wanted to...to skin me...." he said.

"It was either her, or you. Now, we better go see if those people in the museum are actually alive. If they're dead, they won't be able to help us. Dead people aren't that talkative" Cadwell said as he floated back upwards into the air and began to hover through the door.

Adam rubbed his eyes again as he slowly stood up. He looked back down at the corpse on the floor. Cadwell was right. It was either her or him, and she had been going to kill him. She had said as much and she intended to. But he still felt horrible. It was another person after all.

He bent down and picked up the machete. There were more of those, Raider people out there, she had said. Some had managed to get into the museum, and apparenlty there were more on their way. He didn't want to be caught without a weapon, although how much use was a big blade during a gunfight anway?

He held the blade by the handle down against his side as he slowly left the room and followed Cadwell out of the bar.

Rocket was still out there, sitting on his haunches beside the now dead raider. The shephard gave a happy bark when his master came into view, his tail wagging furiously as he licked at his blood stained muzzle.

"Good boy" Adam said, almost numbly as he rubbed his hand between the dogs ears. Rocket barked again and attempted to leap up to lick at the lions face, but Adam just brushed him aside as he followed Cadwell towards the museum. He stopped to pick up his gun from where he had picked it up, and slid it back into his pocket.

The door was splintered open, revealing the decaying reception area. Two battered old desks lay on either side of the doorway, several display cases against the walls were broken open, shattered glass across the floor.

Adam glanced upwards and stared in surprise at what lay overhead in the ceiling. The museum was three levels high, with a large grand staircase at the rear of the building that spread out to all three levels. The middle of the building was taken up by a large statue of several colonial men firing their rifles towards the front door. Above the impressive statues was a large iron wrought skylight.

The glass had been shattered long ago, but not from the nuclear dust cloud. There was a military vehicle that had crashed landed straight into the buildings roof. Adam recognised it as a twin turbo Vertibird, which was essentially an armor plated helicopter that was big enough to carry a small platoon of soldiors in Power Armor.

"Seems someone beat us to it" Cadwell said as they approached the staircase behind the statues. Adam took his gaze away from the hanging vehicle in the ceiling to see that there were already several bodies littering the staircase.

They were the raiders from earlier who had managed to get into the building. But Cadwell was right, someone had managed to take them down first. Adam was actually relieved to see that. The thought of having to shoot someone else made his stomach want to upheave.

The Raiders were riddled with holes, bleeding from behind their leathers and their masks, sprays of crimson littered the rotting wooden stairs. One of them had several very large heavy looking syringes sticking out of his chest and his neck, the canids neck and face swollen and bloated to a seething angry red, his eyes practically blood shot to hell. He looked like he overdosed on rage. Another raider lay slumped against the landing on the second floor, a very large spray of blood and brain matter staining the hanging american flag that was above the raiders headless torso.

"Whoever created this mess needs to clean up after themselves" Cadwell said as Adam and Rocket followed behind him. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get blood out of fabric? The only good thing that gets it out is bleach, and heavens to mergitroid if you put bleach on blood stained coloured fabrics. It's a working nightmare" Cadwell prattled on.

"Do not move, unless you want it between the eyes."

Rocket lowered himself and growled loudly as Cadwell and Adam both turned to the stairs above the headless corpse as Adam held the machete in his shaking grip and Cadwell bared all his weapons rather eagerly.

Standing on the stairs, as the most surprising of all things to be standing there, was a nun. A female doe stood there on the steps in a black and white habit that was streaked with dust and dirt. A large gold cross hung around her neck, her gaze glaring right down at them, as was the rifle she was holding.

Beside her was a kid. A thin gangly looking racoon wearing a ripped up flannel shirt and torn up pants. He was leaning propped up against the wall behind her, his hair tied back in a grimey looking bandanna. He also had a gun in his hands, a twin barrel shot gun that he had aimed at the both of them.

"Are you with the raiders?" the doe demanded as she gestured the end of the gun at them. It was a big enough rifle, with a large glass barrel attached to it. It didn't look like any normal rifle to Adam, but he didn't dare question it as he slowly raised his arms in surrender.

"We're....we're not with them...." he said slowly, his voice faltering slightly at the sight of the weapon in the nuns hands.

"Oh really? Prove it" she said as she aimed the rifle at him.

"I do mean to insult your intelligence, but does it really look as if we're with those maniacs from outside?" Cadwell said as he hovered in front of the nun at the base of the stairs. His weapons were still drawn as he turned his good eyes up towards her, as she trained the gun at him. "Not only are we not dead, we're not trying to kill you" he pointed out.

The nun didn't say anything as she kept her gun pointed at his glass dome, her eyes narrowed at him as she seemed to think on what he just said. Rocket just continued to growl low, looking like he was ready to leap up and attack her.

"I guess you're right" she said as she lowered her gun, Adam breathing a sigh of relief as she pulled the nozzle of her gun away from Cadwell.

"You don't look like raiders to me. They don't normally travel with butler robots" she said as the racoon lowered his gun as well, letting it dangle against his side as he looked like he was trying to keep himself from falling over.

"Excuse me, but I happen to be a top of the line Mr Handy" Cadwell said as he waved his clawed hand at her.

"Like I care" she said as she turned her attention to the lion as he still had his hands in the air. "Pur your arms down, they'll get tired" she said. Adam sighed again as he slowly lowered his arms. "Are there any more of those psycho fucks out there?" she demanded.

Even Rocket stopped his growling to hear such a word come from a nuns mouth as all three of them stared at her somewhat in shock. It took Adam a few moments to actually register the question she had asked him, and a few more moments for him to come up with an answer.

"One...one of them... she said..." he said, suddenly feeling his throat go dry at the thought of the dead bandit by his own hands. "She said there was another group coming."

"Fuck" she swore again, startling all three of them again. "We just used up the last of our ammunition on this group. If there's another group coming, we're done for" she said. "You don't happen to have anything on you, do you?" she asked them.

"Um...not really" Adam said as he gestured to his machete before he pulled out his pistol. "I do have this" he said as he showed her.

"That won't be enough" she said as she shook her head. "Unless the second group is a small one, but I don't like our chances on that." She tapped her a few times as she took in the information before she gestured at them with her gun.

"This way. We'll see if that dumb idiot managed to think of a way out for us" she said as she took a step back and indicated for them to head down the walkway on the landing. "You first" she added, as she narrowed her eyes at them, clearly not giving them an actual choice.

"It's nice to see manners survived in this day and age. You really don't see that anymore" Cadwell said, sounding quite pleased as he started to hover up the stairs. Rocket gave a curious whine and began to trot up behind the robot, his nails clicking on the aged wooden flooring.

Adam stepped up the stairs and saw that there were a few more dead raiders along the hallway. One side was just railing, giving him a view of the other side of the museum. Clearly, none of the raiders had managed to actually get to whoever had managed to survive, but with the amount of blood spatter and the many holes in the actuall walls meant they did not go out without a fight.

The nun and the racoon began to follow behind them, although as Adam looked over his shoulder back at them he noticed the racoon was using the railing for support. Adam thought he could see a stiffness in the boys leg, and the way he was grimacing meant he wasn't in full health.

"Eyes forward" the nun said firmly and Adam snapped his gaze back as they were lead to the doorway at the end of the walkway. When they got close enough, the door opened inwards and the black husky from the balcony looked out.

"Friendly?" he asked as he looked over them once before he looked at the nun. Up close, Adam could see the cracked leather cowboy hat on his head, and the long duster coat that looked like it had never been washed. He had a very heavy looking rifle in his hands, the barrell actually glowing as he expected confirmation.

"Relax Preston, they're friendly. He's just a kid" the nun said as she gestured with her arm for him to let them pass. Preston gave her a nod as he stepped back and allowed them to pass into the room. Adam noticed on the door that it said 'Curator' on a tarnished bronze plate.

It was definately an office, swamped by a number of large filing cabinets along the walls and several desks spread out. Papers were scattered across the floor, the office looking like it had been ransacked. A number of rotted aged american flags and faded paintings covered the walls above the rusted cabinets.

"Well, Hello there. This is a fine looking party we are having" Cadwel said loudly as he surveyed the room, and the people in it. The nun followed in behind Adam, and so did the racoon, who immediately sank into the nearest chair and grimaced as he tried to keep his stiff looking leg in a good position.

"I suppose introductions are in order. Who are you?" Preston asked as he looked at Adam. Adam had the distinct impression that this guy was the leader of the group, and he quickly.

"I'm Adam. Adam Gold sir" he said as he tried to keep his tone respectfull. "This is my Mr Handy, Cadwell. And my pet dog, Rocket" Adam said as he introduced his group. Preston nodded with each name, giving them all a once over with a rather serious gaze.

"I'm Preston Garvis. Captain of the Minutemen" Preston said as he began introductions to the group he was with. "This is Mother Janet, although everyone calls her Spring" he said, as he introduced the nun. "That's Bandit" he said as he pointed to the racoon, and continued to introduce.

A male cougar by the name of Sturges was sitting at one of the desks, furiosuly typing on an actual working terminal. He was dressed in dark blue overalls and a flannel shirt that was covered in grease, several wrenches and a miniature hammer sticking out of his pockets. He had his eyes glued to the screen, hidden behind a large pair of reflective goggles that reflected the words on the screen.

There was a married couple introduced next. Marcy and Jun Leong, a pair of asian golden retrievers. Marcy was pacing back and forth, twisting her short brown hair in her fingers, looking highly irritated. She had dark stained jeans on and a dusty leather jacket, her scowl at the mention of her name gave Adam the impression she had already made up her mind that she hated everyone there. She was favouring her arm, which was wrapped up from her wrist to her shoulder.

Her husband was sitting on the floor against one of the desks. He had the look of someone who had lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. He was rocking back and forth, muttering under his breath. He had a dusty white shirt on his torso, and the dark red stains on it suggested that he hadn't come out of a tussle on the good end.

The last one of the group was an older looking vixen, although her outfit reminded Adam of a fortune teller he had once visited when the circus had visited Concord. Her whispy thin frame was hidden under powder blue robes that seemed several sizes too big. Her hair was wrapped up tightly in a matching turban decorated with several large jewels and a black feather. She was sitting in the only armchair in the office, although the way she was vacantly staring ahead gave Adam the impression that she was spaced out. She didn't seem to be noticing anything around her.

"Who the fuck let the kid in with his pet robot?" Marcy said once the introductions were over. "Just what we need, more nuisance to be bothered with."

"Marcy, shut it" Preston said with irritation. "This kid helped us. The managed to take down three raiders outside before they could join the others inside" he said.

"We were glad to help you" Cadwell said as he tapped his clawed hand against his dome in a salute.

"Wow. Three raiders. Big fucking deal" Marcy snapped at him as she went back to her pacing.

"Ignore her. You helped" Preston said as he turned back to Adam. "Is the coast clear out there?" he asked.

"Apparently there's another group coming" Spring said as she put down her rifle and knelt beside Bandit and gently lifted up his ripped pants leg. The racoon let out a hiss and a grimaze as his leg was revealed. Adam saw the crude splint wrapped around his leg, and the blood soaked bandages that looked like they hadn't been changed in days. "And we're out of ammunition. We used the last of it on the raiders on the landing."

"Shit" Preston said as he swore loudly. "That is not the news that I was expecting to hear. I thought we finally saw the last of them" he said.

"Were they following you?" Adam asked as he looked away from Spring and Bandit and turned back to Preston.

"Since Lexington. We had a group of about thirty when we arrived in Lexington, and the Raiders had already settled in there when we arrived" Preston explained. " By the time we got out of there, we were down to about a dozen of us. And they tailed us. They chased us out and followed us here. We're all that's left of the group" he said.

"Yeah, the Minutement really fucking helped" Marcy snapped at him.

"You watch your language around my master young lady, or I'll wash your mouth out with soap" Cadwell said firmly to her. Then he turned to Preston. "You don't happen to have any soap handy do you?"

"Wait...Minutemen? You mean, like the Colonial Minutemen?" Adam asked in surprised. "I learned about them in history. Aren't they supposed to be solidors or something?" he asked. Preston chuckled at him.

"Yes, only more up to date" Preston said to him. " 'To provide help at a minutes notice'. That's our motto. Unfortunately, we fell on hard times recently. There's not many of us left anymore" he explained. "I'm the last acting captain. We lost the last soldior outside when the raiders chased us in here."

"Hold up guys, I think we got a way out of this" Sturges said as he held his hand up in the air and waved it around to get everyones attention. "Looks like the stats check out. We can use the power armor upstairs. Problem solved" he said as he jumped up off his seat and stood up, a big grin across his face. "Told ya'll I could get ya out of this mess."

"Sturges, that power armor is nearly two hundred years old. It's rusted like hell" Spring said as she stood up and faced him. "Plus, there isn't a way to power it. It's dead without power" she reminded him. Adam had the impression they had this discussion before.

"Ah. But we can use this" Sturges said, keeping his grin on his face as he placed something on the desk beside the terminal. It was a cylindrical tube about the size of a bottle of milk and it sounded heavier then one. "A power core. Liberated from the generator in the basement. I checked the stats on the terminal. It's compatible."

"Um, excuse me, but what power armor are you talking about? Only the military have those" Adam piped up. "There shouldn't be one around here."

"The vertibird up that crashed into the roof, it was carrying a full and complete suit of T-45 Power Armour. Military Grade. We're talking Cherry condition" Sturges said with a grin on his face. "That kind of armor does more then just protect you. It cushions your fall from great heights, helps you run faster for longer, AND gives you super strength."

"Strengthe enough to get the minigun off the vertibird and blast through the raiders, leading us to safety" he added. "Just pick up the gun, jump off the roof and let it fly. As good as target practice."

"And as we have pointed out to you, you idiot, none of us can pilot the damn thing. We're all out of commission" Spring said firmly. "Marcy can barely use her arm, Jun is in no condition to pilot anything, Bandit has a broken leg,. Who exactly is going to pilot that thing?" she asked.

"Why don't you do it? You're fine" Sturges said as he pulled the goggles from his eyes. "You can hop in it save the day instead of shooting syringes at them."

"You could do it" Spring said firmly to him. "There's nothign wrong with you, as much as I hate to admit it. You get in the damn thing, it's your plan. Why don't you carry it you?" she asked. Sturges then seemed to lose his bravado at the idea of actually going through with it as he clutched at his stomach.

"Oh, ah. I can't do it. My stomach. Hurts like hell. I might throw up in the suite" he grimaced as he put on a rather sudden show of being sick.

"Figures" Spring said as she crossed her arms and grimaced right back at him, although her look was one of annoyance.

"Why not the kid?" Preston asked. Sturges, Spring, Adam and Cadwell all turned their gaze at him when they heard him say that.

"Me?" Adam said in shock. He hadn't expected this.

"No" Spring said firmly. "He's just a kid. We can't ask him to do that" she said firmly as she quickly stood between Preston and Adam. "This is not his fight."

"It's like you said, none of us can really pilot that thing" Preston said to her as he met her gaze. "We're all out of commission in one way or another. He's the only one in good condition to actually fight."

"He's a child" Spring said firmly. "Besides, that thing is over two hundred years old. It might not even work at all."

"Not according the data I pulled off it with the holodisc" Sturges said as he seemed to recover from his upset stomach pretty quickly. "It works. It just needs to be juiced up. The kid can use it, I'm sure of it."

"We're not sending him out there to fight off raiders in a tin can" Spring said firmly. "Especially with a minigun. That kind of thing is not a toy for a kid to handle."

"Look, the more we stand around here arguing, the sooner those raiders get here" Preston said as he interjected between them. "We have no other ammunition, and no other way out of the musuem without being seen. This is the only option for us" he said. "They catch us here, they'll kill all of us."

Adam did not know what to say as the adults argued about him as if he wasn't even there. He looked down to find that his hands were shaking again, rather badly at the thought of actually having to go out there and kill someone again. The actual thought of using a giant gun to mow down the raiders as they kept coming, it did make him sick to his stomach.

But Preston did have a point. The raiders were coming to kill them. And it wouldn't matter wether Adam was part of the group or not. They'd all die here. Adam swallowed a lump in his throat as he felt his skin turn clammy from the thought. The thought of dying scared him, not because it was actually death facing him.

But if he died there, in the museum at the hands of those raiders, he'd never find out what happened to his little brother Tommy. Or get the answers that he needed to know.

Plus, these people needed help. They were all injured, outnumbered and outgunned. He couldn't just stand by and do nothing, especially if there was something he could actually do to help them.

He swallowed another lump in his throat as he clenched his figners together and held them tight untill his hands stopped their shaking. But his stomach still felt upset as he looked up at Preston.

"I'll do it" he said as his mouth went dry.

"NO, you can't" Spring said to him. "This isn't your fight, you're just a child" she said firmly.

"Sturges, take the kid upstairs and get that armor on him" Preston said as he turned his attention to the cougar. "Make sure that thing works on him before he gets the minigun" he said.

"Will do boss" Sturges said as he grabbed the cell and gestured for Adam to follow him.

"We don't have time to debate this" Preston said to Spring. "Someone needs to go" he said. Spring looked like she was about to argue, but then thought better of it as she turned to Adam.

"Just be carefull" she said as she gave his shoulder a squeeze with her hand. Adam was rather surprised by the kind gesture as he felt the gentle squeeze as Cadwell floated over to him.

"Are you sure about this, Master Adam?" Cadwell asked him as he turned his eyes towards him.

"Cadwell, if they get past me, someone has to stop him. And you can probably survive longer then the rest of us" Adam said to him as he put his hand on the robots dome. "I'll....I'll be fine. I'm sure I will be" he said, although everyone could hear the nerves in his voice when he spoke. "If you die out there Master Adam, I will give you such a thrashing" Cadwelll promised him. "But I will hold down the fort. There's still some life left in these old limbs" he added as he whirled his arms around for emphasise.

"Uh kid, when you're done being all sappy to the machine, can you come this way before the raiders show up?" Sturges said as he had made it to the other side of the room and had opened a door. Adam nodded as he took his hand off Cadwell and handed him the machete he had been carrying. "Like, today?" Sturges added firmly.

"You're an asshole Sturges" Badnit suddenly said, which made Adam jump slightly. The racoon had a rather soft sounding voice, and it was the first time he had heard him speak. Sturges gave him an annoyed look but he didn't say anythign as Adam began to walk over.

"Be carefull out there kid" Mama Murphy said as she suddenly seemed to snap back to reality the moment Adam passed in front of her. He almost jumped in shock as she stared at him with pale violet eyes that were wider then he expected to have seen on an eldery vixen. "There's something coming. And it's angry."

"Oh shut up you old bitch" Marcy snapped as Adam quickly darted through the door before anyone else could say anything. His stomach was starting to churn again and he felt his throat close up a little. If he didn't go now he wouldn't end up going at all.

Sturges didn't say anything as he made Adam follow him up the small set of stairs at the back of the office. The stairs were old and creaking, covered in dead leaves as their boots crunched over them as they hurried up. The door at the top of the stairwell was wide open and Sturges quickly pushed through it as Adam followed.

Adam was surprised, not by the fact that they were now on the roof of the building, but by how suddenly and quickly the sky had darkened. There was a rumbling above them, and there were dark clouds moving faster then he had ever seen before. It looked like a storm was brewing, but he had never seen one appear so quickly, considering all day the sky had just been empty and pale blue.

"Weathers fucked up" Sturges said when he saw Adam was staring up at the sky with a perplexed expression on his face. "Most of the time we get nothing. Then we either get a flood of rain or a radiation storm sweeping through. We got no way to track it or predict it. It's anyones guess what happens" he said as he grabbed Adams shoulder and pulled him away.

"Well, there it is" Sturges said as tehy emerged on the flat roof next to the huge skylight. He pointed towards the vertibird with a smug look on his face. Adam could see it rather clearly now. The vehicle had done a nose dive into the framework, the whole almost having fallen through into the actual building. How it had not fallen through, Adam was not going to question.

"Alright, here's the armor" Sturges said as he hurried over to the side of the vertibird. Judging by the gouges in the roofs surface, the group had pulled the amor out of the vertibird and placed it up rightside. It looked just like the amour units Adam had seen outside Vault 111 when he and his family had first gained access to it. Large, bulky, a complete person made out of metal. Very large, almost a foot taller then either of them. And it was a dark dirty rusted brown colour. It looked like it wouldn't work full stop.

"Let's crack her open" Sturges said as he gestured to the back of the armor. Adam could see what looked like a large circular dial on the back with a cylindrical hole in the middle. Sturges lined the cell up and gave it a whack with his hand as he forced the battery into the hole. There was the sound of it clicking in place and for a moment, nothing happened.

"God dammit, work you asshole" Sturges shouted as he gave the side of the armor a kick with his foot. He gave a yelp of pain as he started hopping on one foot and grabbing at his injury with his hand. Adam heard a hiss and turned his attention back to the suit to see several jets of air hiss out of its seals before the whole suit seemed to open up from the rear.

"Wow" Adam said in surprise as the suit opened up from the back like some kind of flower as he stepped up to it. The inside seemed smaller then the outside, just waiting for a person to simply hop in and take control. Sturges got over his injury pretty quickly once he noticed the suite had opened up.

"Alright, hope in. Quick" Sturges said firmly as he gestured with his hand. Adam swallowed the lump in his throat as he found he had to actually lift himself up into the suit before he could settle his body into it. The suit was much bigger then he was, at least several sizes too big. How was he supposed to operate it when he was far too small for it?

He gasped, for the moment his arms and legs managed to slide into place, there was another hissing noise as the suit quickly closed around him. There was another hissing noise as the material that lined the suit seemed to inflate to close the gaps between him and the suit. The large visor on the helmet suddenly lit up with a number of displays on the screen as the suite seemed to come to life around him.

"Yeehaw. It works by god" Sturges yelled happily as Adam found himself able to move in the suit.It creaked and groaned as the suit moved for the first time in centuries, but the stiffness began to ease up as he moved. It was slightly dizzying to suddenly be almost a foot taller as he stretched himself out in the suit. It was actually a little more then just a little dizzying, it was actually light head worthy.

There was a line on the bottom of the visor that indicated a compass direction, and a little display on the side showed what looked like a figure made out of segments. One of the arms and one of the legs were bright red while the rest were yellowed. It looked like the suit was more damaged then its exterior let on.

"This is...something else" Adam said in surprise as he spoke, and he heard his own voice get spoken back slightly distorted like he was speaking through a microphone. When Sturges spoke, he could hear the voice echo back against his ears through a set of speakers. And when the cougar spoke, a line on the visor flashed to indicate where the sound was coming from.

"They're here" they suddenly heard someone shout from below. They recognised the voice of Preston as he shouted up through the stairwell. Sturges made a beeline for the edge of the roof, and very quickly retreated back towards Adam. He looked pale.

"They're coming down the road. Grab the damn gun" he shouted at Adam as he gestured impatiently to the vertibird. Adam felt a lump appear in his throat at the warning and he felt butterflies in his stomach. Even with a large metal suit completely covering him, he was still scared of actually fighting them.

His footsteps were heavy, crunching onto the aged rooftop, giving him the impression that he would end up falling through the roof just by standing on it. The machine gun itself was hanging on the side of the vehicle, hanging by a frame against the side. It was a huge multibarrelled beast of a gun, with a heavy looking chamber attached to the underside of the gun. It looked as if it would take at least four to five men to actually carry it.

"Do'nt just stand there looking at it" Sturges shouted irritably at Adam, admonishing him for taking his time. "Grad the damn thing and start shooting" he ordered as he waved his arms at Adam. Adam carefully reached forward and wrapped his heavy gauntlet around the handle of the gun. He couldn't actually feel the handle, he could only feel the interior of the glove around his fingers.

"I have to see what I'm doing" he said, hearing his own voice echoed back against his ears as he wrapped his other hand around the trigger handle and, with both hands gripping, he tugged. And tugged again. And tugged a third time. The gun was firmly locked in place and there didn't seem to be any sign of give.

Adam inhaled and didn't tug, he pulled. This time, there was the creaking of rusted metal as it twisted and groaned as the gun was pulled against its frame, and the metal began to rupture as the strenght of the suit overpowered the stregnth of the metal. With a horrible tearing noise of metal, the gun was pulled free.

"I....i can't feel it" Adam said in surprise as he held the gun in his powered hands. The gun, felt so lightweight in his grip. There was no way that he could have actually picked up the gun without it, but it felt like he was carrying nothing, if he didn't see the actual gun in his hands.

"I don't give a fuck if you can't feel it, just get down there and shoot them" Sturges said angrily as a rumbling sound was overhead above them. "Short controlled bursts. Squeeze the trigger and let go after a few moments, otherwise you'll lose control of the gun. Short bursts, got it?" he shouted at Adam. "If you jump off the edge, you won't feel it. Armor like that can absorb the shock of a fall from a good height" he said as he waved his hands at Adam to indicate he should get going.

Adam nodded, the heavy helment nodding with him as he started to walk over to the edge of the building. He stood up at the front of the building, seeing the street laid out before him. He could see the dead raiders from before, laying where they had fallen.

And he could see the new Raiders that had arrived. There were more then before. At least a dozen of them, wrapped up in leathers, sack cloth and barbed wire caging. They were slowly walking down the street towards the museum, carrying weapons in their hands.

"Go on. Get down there and shoot them" Sturges shouted at Adam. "I'll um.... cheer for you from inside" he added as he quickly ducked into the doorframe and practically ran down the stairs, the door slamming behind him with a heavy thudding.

Adam looked over the edge, seeing the Raiders in the front pointed at the museum. Their voices weren't carrying well, as he couldn't make out what they were saying, but he didn't have to guess very well what they're intentions were. He had butterflies in his stomach and a bad taste in the back of his throat. He gulped and took a deep breath as he closed his eyes.

"Please don't let me break something" He thought ot himself as he lifted his foot up and stepped off the edge of the building. For a moment, there was nothing. Just...a silence as nothing happened. And then heard, more then felt the impact on the ground underneath him as his boots made contact with the ruined concrete.

He opened his eyes after the impact was over, and was surprised to see how far the ground had cracked around him, at least an inch or two of the concrete hand sunk down under his boots, leaving very obvious impressions. It took him a moment to realise he was kneeling bent over from the landing as he slowly stood himself up, the gun still clutched in his hands.

"Looks like we got a new toy to play with" one of the raiders shouted, his cloth hood obscuring his face behind the barbed wire cage that covered most of his upper body. "Let him have it" he shouted as he pointed his pistol at the armor clad figure.

Out of instinct Adam brought his hand up in front of his face as the raiders started to shoot their weapons at him, but it took him several moments to realise that he didn't need to guard his face. The bullets were bouncing off, pinging against his armour and going everywhere but inside him. He could actually see them fly off the front of his screen as several red triangles began to appear in his vision.

A small circle locked onto each of the Raiders and the red triangle appeared above them as the targeting program located each potential threat to him. He could see exactly where they all were and even how far they were away from him. They were still firing at him as he stood there, but what would they do once they were out of ammunition for their weapons?

He hoisted the gun up by the handle and wrapped his hand around the grip, his finger pressing into the trigger. He then pulled the trigger....and nothing happened.

"What?" he said as he bent over to look at the gun as he pulled the trigger again, but again nothing happened. Was the gun broken? Was he facing a horde of raiders with nothing but a broken construct of metal? "Come on, work" he said as he pulled the trigger several more times, but again nothing seemed to happen.

Out of frustration he pulled the trigger and held it down as he shook the gun about in his hands, thinking that by shaking it the gun would somehow magically start to work. One of the raiders noticed that the weapon wasn't working and she began to run forwards, wielding a large two-by-four piece of wood that was covered in lethal looking spikes and wrapped in barbed wire. She ran through the firing bullets as she went to start striking the armored lion, and that was when the barrel of the gun began to rotate.

Adam watched in surprise as the barrell started to turn and he could hear the gun waking up. A faint whirring noise was heard that slowly began to build up and get louder as the barrell started to spin faster. But no bullets.

"Die, fucker" the female screamed, her muzzle showing blackened rotting teeth as she charged at him, just as the end of the gun seemed to explode in a burst of fire.

It sounded like a type-writer, the force of the gun firing should have knocked Adam off his feet, but his powered legs held his ground. Bullets exploded out of the end of the gun so fast that the barrel of the machine began to burn a fiery red from the amount of heat.

The raiders scream was cut short as the hail of bullet tore through her, her scraps of leather armour covering her body no protection against the hail of bullets. Chunks of flesh and splashes of blood went everywhere, splattering onto the cracked road behind her as she was literally torn apart in front of him.

Adam pulled his finger off the trigger, a shocked expression on his face as the gun stopped firing and the barrel spun to a halt. He couldn't find the words to speak as what was left of her torn apart body fell to the ground with a wet sick sounding 'splut', like a water filled balloon had just fallen and burst open.

"Did....did I just do that?" Adam said in shock. This was the power of a machine gun? To turn a person into swiss cheese?

"He's not firing. Attack the fucker" the raider leader shouted as he pointed his gun at Adam. The other raiders began to run forward, brandishing their lethal weapons as they went to swarm him, while the others held back and started resuming their firing.

Adam was jolted out of his shock from a bullet to his visor and saw the raiders running to bear down on him. He held the gun back up and pulled the trigger, keeping it down this time as the barrel began to spin and whirr once more.

The sound of a typewriter filled the air as bullets began to spew forth from the fire of the barrell, colliding with a raider who was quickly torn apart. Adam swung the gun once the raider fell to the ground, the bullet tearing a path across the cracked ground as he aimed the gun in front of the next raider. The raiders legs found the hail of bullets and he screamed as he fell forward, unfortunately for him he fell face first into the hail of bullets and he didn't last long.

The gun was swung again as the hail of bullets travelled upwards to the next raider. He screamed as well as the bullets tore up his body, tearing apart his legs, then his torso and then his head, his body exploding under his wired leather armour as the bullets tore into him. The last raider stopped in her tracks, watching her fellow raider die in a cloud of blood and gore through her goggles before she turned and started to run back.

"Keep firing. He can't win against us" the leader shouted as his fellows began to spread out as the gun stopped firing, the barrell smoking red. Several ducked into a broken store front, a few taking up behind a rusted car in front. Others took to taking cover across the other side of the street, hiding behind the cars or in the doorways of the buildings as their leader continued to scream orders at them.

Thunder rolled overhead, the storm clouds covering the sky above them as Adam aimed the gun and started to fire again, a hail of bullets aiming at the raiders behind the car. Bullets poured into the steel frame, the car screeching from the abuse as the side began to buckle.

"That all you got?" one of the raiders in the building shouted, her laughter mokcing him as Adam kept the gun firing at the car. Her laughter was cut short as smoke started to pour from under the bonnet of the car, followed by flames that were quickly spreading.

The sheer amounts of bullets and abuse on the car, even though it was well beyond old, cause the old nuclear engine to destruct in a rather spectacular fashion. Smoke and fire erupted from under the car, billowing out in all directions as the raiders behind the car were incinerated from the sheer heat. The body of the car was thrown into the air, fire spreading along as it went, causing the front of the store to implode inwards from the force, the raiders screaming as they were ended.

"I didn't know the cars could do that" Adam said in surprise, the gun falling silent as the car was blown into the air and then the fire and smoke stopped pouring from it as it just seemed to hang in the air for several moments. And then it dropped. Right across on the other side of the street, falling onto another two raiders taking cover behind another car.

"Pull back, pull back" the leader began to scream as his group was now left down to only three left. The other two quickly moved from hiding to join him at his sides, their guns raised and keeping aim at Adam. "You won't get away with this you bastard. You think you can kill me raiders and we'll forget about it?" he shouted at Adam.

They slowly began to back up the street, keeping their attention on Adam as he stood there, still holding the gun with the barrel pointing at them. He really didn't want to kill them, he had killed more people that day then he ever wanted to in his life. His stomach was actually turning knots at the thought of having to pull that trigger again, even if it was to stop them.

The raiders stopped moving backwards when they heard the first thudding sound.

All three of them looked at the ground as several small rocks moved, almost dancing from another dull heavy thudding that echoed from nearby. Adam could hear it too, an arrow appearing on his field of vision indicating that the heavy noise was coming from up the street, near where the statue was.

There was another heavy thudding noise, the ground actually shaking as the sound of tearing metal was heard. The raiders turned and looked behind them as something flew overhead, a dark shadow on Adams vision. It collided with the smoldering store front with a heavy crashing, and Adam saw what it was. It was one of the statues, although now it was in pieces.

"What the heck?" Adam said in shock. What could have possibly done such a thing? The answer came a moment later when one of the raiders screamed, with so much shock and terror in her voice that Adam felt a shiver run down his spine.

"DEATHCLAW."

The heavens themselves seemed to open above them with a roar as the rain simply fell and began to cover the street. The rain looked dirty and gave Adam the impression that he wasn't being rained on with water, but with something grey and slimey even. And it took him a moment to realise that the roar he had heard did not come from the thunder or the rain. It had come from whatever this Deathclaw thing was.

He got his answer quickly as, through the torrent of rain, he saw something come running down the street. His first thought was that it was a dragon, a huge scaled dragon on all fours, a furious angry look on its face and horns that resembled a demon. Its scales were black, huge claws on its large front paws, and a heavy thick tail that swung back and forth behind it.

The raiders began to back up as they aimed their weapons and started to fire, bullets hitting the beast in its chest and arms, but the bullets didn't seem to phase the creature as it loped towards them, roaring loudly through the rain.

The first raider was grabbed in its claws, the female screaming as it brought her up high into the air before it slammed her down, the ground cracking under the strength of the beast, leaving an impact as the force of its movement made the female burst like a balloon, her scream cut short as she was killed instantly.

The other two raiders continued to fire, trying to focus their bullets as they aimed at the beasts head. But it brought its arm up to block the bullets as it advanced forward, shielding its head from the attack before it was close enough to swipe at them.

The leader ducked out of the way, but his accomplice wasn't so lucky as the beasts claws found the male. The leather armour provided no protection against the beasts claws, and the male wasn't lifted into the air so much as he was sliced into the air. His torso was thrown against a nearby building, landing with a sickening thud and a spray of crimson, followed his legs and one of his arms as they splattered against the building like thrown eggs.

The raider leader was grabbed by the hulking lizard and he screamed as he was lifted into the air, his limbs flailing as he struggled to no avail. The lizard brought the raider close to its maw, opening up to reveal a mouth filled with fangs from a nightmare, before it snapped its jaws forward and the males entire head and most of his torso disapeared into the creatures maw. The lizard roared as it spat out the twisted bloodied mouthfull of flesh onto the ground before it dropped the lifeless body onto the ground.

"Oh crap" Adam said as he realised the giant lizard had now set its sights on him, and he quickly brought the gun up. "No no no no no no no no no no" he said in quick succession as he realised he was next. The targeting on the visor locked onto the hulking deathclaw, showing its location even through the pouring rain. Adam pulled the trigger and the barrell began to whine and spin as he felt the gun shudder as it began to fire.

The bullets from the minigun seemed to affect the giant lizard more then the bullets from the raiders weapons as it brought its arm up to protect itself, and Adam actually saw the blood fly from pin point holes that appeared in its arm. The beast began to lumber forward, keeping its arm up as it advanced. Adam did not stop the gun as he tried to shoot on the creature, but his body was refusing to co-operate out of fear from the giant lizard advancing on him.

With another roar the Deathclaw swiped at him, swatting Adam to the side as if the armored lion was a plaything. Adam saw everything pass by his vision in a quick rain streaked blur before everything collided with him. He felt disorientation as his mind tried to process what had just happened and where he was as he realised he had collided with a nearby truck and the truck had been knocked back several meters from the impact. And the side of the truck had contracted inwards.

"I'm not even hurt" Adam said in surpirse as he managed to, rather awkwardly, pick himself up and get to his feet. But the armor figure on his vision was flashing red across the torso, indicating the amount of damage that had been done. The beast was strong. And it was once again advancing towards him.

Adam had not lost his grip on the gun and he held it up, pointing the barrel back onto the lizard before him as he squeezed the trigger. But the barrell merely twitched and refused to spin. Adam glanced down to realise that the entire barrel had become unhinged and was stuck at an odd angle. The gun was now useless.

"Crap" he said as he looked up to see the deathclaw reach and grab him on his side, pulling him up with a deep growling. His legs dangling as he was pulled several feet into the air, Adam could only think of one thing to do. He brought the gun up and smashed it into the deathclaws face the moment it got close enough.

There was a crunching sound of metal on flesh and bone as the deathclaw reeled back and roared, then it caught another strike on the other side of its head. There was another crunching sound as several of the beasts fangs flew from its mouth. But that just seemed to make it angrier as it tossed Adam away.

Adam cried out, letting go of the gun as it flew who knew where as he was thrown across the street, landing on one of the roads and finding himself tossing and skidding along the ground. His vision spun repeatedly, his head dizzy and his stomach threatening to upturn itself as he crashed to a halt against a mailbox that crumpled from the impact.

"oh god...my everything" Adam said as he slowly pulled himself up. His entire body felt jolted from that throw and his limbs shook. There were flashing signs on his vision, the damage on his suit having grown in severity. Several warning signs were flashing across his screen, and he had no idea what they were supposed to mean.

He heard thudding as he looked up, seeing the beast run towards him. It looked furious, its roars heard above the thunder and the pouring rain as it bore down on him.

"CRAP" Adam shouted as he leapt forward, out of the creatures path as the beast was unable to stop in time and it crashed forward, knocking itself into the building before. Adam rolled once before he hoisted himself up to his feet, seeing the building fall inwards and collapse ontop of the deathclaw. The building crashed downwards, a dust cloud erupting through the rain as the whole building, at least three floors of building, covering the giant lizard.

Adam swallowed a lump in his throat as he stared at the debris, hoping that the monster was now dead. He didn't get more then a moment to wonder as the beast started to emerge, tossing the debirs off its body like paper and pebbles. And it seemed to be even angrier then before. "Crap" Adam said again as he looked from side to side, trying to see if there was anything he could use against the beast. He saw a downed street light laying across the road and he ran towards it, grabbing it at the end and hoisting it up like a bat.

It felt light to him, and the suit easily held it and swung it around as he faced the creature that had now emerged from the pile of rubble. This creature took down three raiders and it could demolish a building rather easily. He had to kill it. Before it killed him and ended up going after the others.

It tore down on Adam again with a roar, but Adam responded by slamming the end of the streetlight into the side of the creature. The strength of the suit and the strength of the swing surprised him as the pole connected with the beasts arm, and there was an audible cracking noise as the beast was thrown to the side from the impact.

"Woah" Adam said in shock, having not expected to be able to swat the beast like it was a fly. The end of the lamp had caved it on itself, bent like a straw from the impact but still useable as the deathclaw was thrown to the ground. Its arm hung uselessly at its side, the limb twitching as the beast picked itself up.

"I can hit you again" Adam threatened the beast as he held the large metal pole like a bat and advanced towards it, aiming to hit it again. Hopefully in the head. But the beasts speed surprised him as he was swiped at, finding himself getting thrown back once again as he was tossed aside and through another building.

Adam landed on his back as the wall and ceiling of the building collapsed in on itself, covering him with aged wood and concrete and more then a few pieces of furniture. Adam panted as this time he felt a searing pain in his side as he struggled to get up, but being flat on his back he wasn't able to do much more then bend in half to look up.

His hand still clutched the lightpole, which had broken in half from the impact through the wall. He used his other had to grab at his side, and he felt the enourmous gash that had been torn through the metal. The image on his visor showed everything on the armour flashing red, including a large tear on the torso.

Adam brought his hand up and saw something red coating his fingers as rain began to pour through the new hole in the roof. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he realised he was injured, but he didn't have the chance to dwell on it or even think on it as he heard the beast loping towards him.

"Oh crap, oh crap" Adam said loudly as he saw the deathclaw emerge through the hole in the building and roar at him. Its huge paw planted itself at his side as it reached in, its bloodied jaw opening and revealing that maw filled with broken and razor sharp flesh rippers.

Adam actually screamed as he did the only thing he could think of. He lifted his arm up and thrust it forward, sending the broken end of the pole at the beasts body. There was a thud, and then a tearing noise, and a pained roar as the beast was stabbed.

He could only look up in shock as he realised he had stabbed the beast in its neck, and pushed it through to the other side where it stuck out covered in the beasts liquid black blood. The deathclaw roared, its throat gurgling as it clawed desperately at its neck, sprays of black erupting from the open wound as it started to falter.

It staggered and started to collapse with a gurgle in its throat, black blood pouring from between its teeth before it fell on its side and started to twitch, a dying death rattle coming its throat as its raged yellowed eyes began to slowly turn white.

"It....it's actually dead" Adam said, staring at it in disbelief at the fact he had actually killed it before he found himself slumping back. Rain began to fill his vision on the visor as he began to feel light headed, and his vision began to blur.

"I need....a nap...." he managed to get out from his lips before he passed out.

Adam woke up slowly, his head throbbing as he attempted to sit himself up. The bulky and heavy suit was not really made for manouvering like a normal person was and it took him a few tries to actually get up from off his back. Seveal thick pieces of debris fell from his armored body as he slowly got to his feet, his limbs aching.

The rain had stopped, the sky clear through the hole in the roof. The deathclaw lay dead where it had fallen, the metal pole still impaled in its throat. It had bled out, dark almost black blood had seeped into the rubble and covered the ground like tar.

Adam groaned as he stood up, feeling the pain in his side. His hand rubbed over the open hole in his side as he held himself for a few moments before he brought his gauntlet up in front of his visor. With the way he had felt the pain earlier and how deep that gouge had looked, he half expected to see his gauntlet covered in blood again. But there was none. Just mud and grime. It must have been a miracle that the beasts claws hadn't connected with his skin. Had he been seeing things before?

"What happened to the others?" he said to himself as he started to move out of the building. He was lucky it hadn't fallen down ontop of him after the deathclaw had thrown him in there. His side burned with each movement as he moved, the suits heavy footsteps thudding against his ears.

The street was empty as he tried to trace his way back to the museum. The ground was still damp, the rain having stopped who knew how long ago. Everything looked as if it would feel damp to the touch. His vision was still flashing with warning and error messages, his suit almost ready to fall apart.

He could see the group standing on the stairs of the musuem, Cadwell and Rocket seemingly on the lookout for him. When Rocket caught sight of him, the dog ran fast with Cadwell following the excited mutt.

"Master Adam, the next time you go off to fight a giant lizard, would you kindly tell me when you intend to return?" Cadwell practically scolded when he was within reach of Adam as Rocket happily danced around Adams feet. "You have no idea how concerned I was" he said as he waved the machete in Adams face.

"I'm...sorry Cadwell" Adam said as he rubbed his hand over the dogs head having to actually watch himself do it to make sure he didn't accidentally hurt his dog. He was still finding it surprising as to how easily he could kill his dog if he wasn't careful.

"Do not expect me to clean your new toy. It's far behind on the list, right behind the refrigerator and mowing the lawn" Cadwell said firmly as he gave Adams shoulder a prod with the handle of the blade before he turned and began to hover himself away. Adam could only shake his head as he headed back to the group.

He could hear them arguing amongst themselves the closer he got, and it did not sound like they were in agreement with each other. Mama Murphy was sitting on the steps of the museum, next to the dead minuteman, again looking rather spaced out. Jun was beside her, curled up in a shaking ball in the mud. The others were standing around, not looking happy about the arguement that was going on.

"We're going to leave, AGAIN?" Marcy was shouting at Preston as she stood before the husky, who looked like he wasn't backing down. "We just got rid of the raiders, we're all hurt and beaten up, and you want us to leave, AGAIN?" she shouted.

"Mama Murphy saw that we would be safe in that place called Sanctuary Hills" Preston said evenly, as he seemed to hold himself pretty calm against Marcy's shouting. "Just because we beat off these raiders this time doesn't mean we can do that if another group comes by" he said.

"So we're just going to up and leave again, beacuse the old bitch saw it in a dream?" Marcy said angrily. "She hasn't been right since Quincy, or the Jamaica Plains, or Lexington. You want to move us all again just because she saw it while she was drugged up?" she demanded. "We can build in here, make this place fortifiable and livable, and you want us to just up and leave, because the crone had a dream?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Sturges asked her, alhtough he did not seem calm. He looked annoyed at the fact that Marcy was openly questioning Mama Murphy and Preston. "If you have a better idea on what we should do, I'd like to hear it. Unless you can't come up with something better."

"Oh fuck you Sturges" Marcy snapped at him. "The old bitch isn't even supposed to be on chems anymore. Did you stick the needle in her arm this time?" she demanded.

"I did no such thing" Sturges shouted back at her. "And how dare you accuse me of giving her chems. How do I know you didn't stick the needle in her yourself, just so you could complain about it?"

"Will you all just shut up for five minutes?" Spring said as she interjected herself between Sturges and Marcy, before one of them punched the other. And she knew Marcy would be the first one to do it. "Adam just got back. Perhaps you would like to explain why we didn't go looking for him?" she said with a stern glance at Preston.

"What's going on?" Adam asked as he carefully made his way up to them. Spring was the one who noticed the claw marks across the armour, and the twisted punctured hole against his side.

"Are you hurt?" she said as she pushed past the group, forcing them to the side as she hurried up to him. "Did the deathclaw get you? How bad is it?" she demanded of him.

"I feel fine" Adam said to her as he lifted his arm to show her the gouged marks in his armor. "I think the armor held up better then I thought. I think I might have a bruise though." Spring took a closer look but she wasn't able to see any blood on the outside of the metal, although the claw marks did seem rather deep.

"Adam, you have no idea how gratefull we are to you" Spring said once she finished her inspection of him. "You've saved our lives more times today then you can imagine" she said.

"You did well there kid" Preston said once Spring moved away. "The Minutemen recognise the effort you put in today, and we shall remember it from henceforth."

"Fat lot of fucking good that will do him" Marcy snapped at him. "Praise from an idiot in a cowboy hat. That sure is a reward" she said as she folded her injured arm against her stomach and held it.

"We'll even let you keep the armor, provided you help us out a little longer" Sturges said as he walked up to Adam. Spring however blocked his path and pressed the nozzle of her gun up under Sturges chin.

"Let him?" Spring said firmly as she narrowed her eyes at Sturges. "He saved us Sturges, while you had a stomach cramp. You don't get to decide on letting him have anything. You are not in charge" she warned him. Adam noticed Bandit over on the opposite side of hte door, leaning with his shotgun over his shoulder. The racoon was chuckling, looking amused. Adam felt a flutter in his stomach.

"And neither are you Spring" Preston said firmly. Spring gave him a stern look before she moved the nozzle of her gun away. "Adam can keep the armor. It's the least we can do for the fact that he laid his life on the line for us."

"Thank you, Captain Garvey" Adam said with a somewhat awkward nod. It was awkward because although he did nod his head, the actual helmet didn't budge noticeably. Sturges brushed Spring aside and looked over the armor.

"You damn well damaged the whole thing. Looks like it's ready to fall apart on ye" Sturges said in a condescending tone of voice as he didn't like the look of the now battered armor. "Sooner we get to Sanctuary Hills I can patch her up good as new, provided I get parts for it" he said.

"Why do you need to go there?" Adam asked as he looked at Sturges.

"Because the bitch had a dream about it" Marcy said with a sneer in her voice.

"Marcy, if you don't show Mama Murphy the respect she deserves, you will be left behind. Along with Jun, do you understand?" Preston said as he walked up to Marcy and glared at her in the face. If he expected that show of brovado to intimidate her, it didn't really work as Marcy simply smirked in his face.

"I am showing her the respect she deserves. None" she said pointedly as she took a step back. "She has a brilliant track record when it comes to this shit" she snapped as she turned away from Preston, who looked so angry at her that Adam was sure he'd reach out and smack her.

"Mama Murphy said that we will be safe in Sanctuary, and that is where we will head. As far as we know, it should be one of the few places not infested with Raiders or anything of the like" Preston said.

"I should say not sir" Cadwell said rather indignantly as he turned his good eyes toward the husky. "The only infestation we have are a bunch of ongodly mole rats. As if riff raff such as the like of Raiders would be welcomed in our community."

"Wait, are you from there?" Sturges asked as he looked at both Adam and Cadwell with a look of disbelief on his face. "Why the heck didn't you say so before?" he demanded.

"You didn't ask him" Bandit pointed out as he continued to lean against the wall. Adam thought that he saw the racoon smirk against the side of his mouth, and he couldn't help but smile, although he was more able to hide it.

"Well, if Adam and Cadwell are from there, then they can confirm that it's safe" Preston said as he gave each person in the group a firm look. "And we will be heading there" he added, with as much of a glare at Marcy as the one that she gave him back. "Unless anyone has a better idea."

For several moments there was just silence in the group, as no-one seemed to have a better solution to present to the group.

"Well then, we better hit the road. With any luck, we'll get there before dark" Preston said firmly. "Sturges, help Mama Murphy. I'll take the lead" Preston said as he started to walk forward, only seeming to give Sturges time to help the elderly vixen to her feet. She still seemed spaced out, mumbling something under her breath that even Adams sensitive microphones were not able to pick up.

Marcy helped Jun to his feet while Spring assissted Bandit in walking, but Sturges didn't even give them time to get up as he moved ahead with Mama Murphy at his side, who seemed completely capable of walking by herself as she was held by her arm by the cougar.

"Well, I wonder what country she's the queen of to get that kind of attention" Cadwell said as he and Adam took up the rear of the group along with Rocket.

Adam wasn't too sure about that as he began to follow behind the group. He did however, remember to grab his briefcase from the ice cream parlour once they were close enough. He had a feeling that his rations weren't going to last as much as he would have liked them.