FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 9 : Pull My Trigger

>You awake to the Sun in your eyes as it rises over the mountains to the east.

>Gracie lays with her head on your lap, her nose pressed against your stomach.

>A twinge of guilt hits you since you have to wake her.

>Hm Maybe not though.

>Carefully, very carefully you slide over, gently moving her head off you.

>She whimpers softly as you set her head down on the bed.

>Breakfast was calling and hopefully Raul didn't mind you grabbing a bit more food.

>Quietly you leave the room and wander around the Lucky 38, taking it all in.

>This place was almost magical with how well preserved it was.

>As you pull open an working fridge you find several Brahmin steaks as well as garlic bread.

>Might as well make some.

>Do Ghouls eat? You don't want to be rude and not make Raul one.

>You decide to make Gracie a Steak, you don't know Pip or Amber or Raul well enough to know how they like theirs.

>But you know how Gracie likes her food.

>Looking around, you find a stove and several pans.

>You cook up 2 of the steaks and warm up the garlic bread.

>Gracie is awake when you walk into the room carrying the food.

>Her long tongue flicks out of her mouth and she sniffs the air.

>"Ooo Brahmin steak and something else? What's that Anon?"

>"Garlic bread Gracie, its good" you say as you set her plate down.

>"Mm Breakfast in Bed Anon, I feel so special".

>She digs in happily as you sit next to her.

>"You are special Gracie, you mean a lot to me" you say pulling her close.

>She leans on you and eats happily.

>You eat silently, savoring the Steak and the garlic bread.

>While this isn't breakfast food you didn't mind.

>Maybe you could find some gecko Eggs and make a Brahmin garlic omelet.

>Or Next time Gracie lays an egg you could do that.

>That still bothered you a bit to be honest, but traditional rules are off the table when it comes to Snekdogs.

>Gracie finished her food before you and has started changing into her recon armor, leather jacket and her messenger bag.

>She doesn't even bother trying to hide her body from you.

>Not that you mind but still it was somewhat teasing.

>You finish up and change clothes.

>Your leather armor is worn and beat up, your Boomer Jacket torn and patched up.

>But it's all you have to remember your life from Nellis by.

>There's a soft knock at the door.

>"Come in" says Gracie happily as she rummages through her bag.

>Amber pushes the door open.

>"Oh good you're ready, we should get moving soon" She says with a grin towards Gracie.

>You see Gracie's eyes light up.

>"YAY! I'm So Happy to be traveling with you Sister!".

>She bounds over happily and grabs Amber in a hug.

>"I'm so happy I found you!".

>You can't help but smile as her happiness, it was one of the few things in the world you enjoyed seeing.

>It was right up there with firing big guns.

>It might even be above it.

>You walk out of the room, following Amber and by extension Gracie, who was holding her bigger sisters hand and talking about how you made her breakfast.

>Every once and a while you see Amber looking over her shoulder at you with a smirk.

>Eventually you're lead to the elevator and down to the ground floor.

>"Remember Pip, we need a Full Vertibird" Raul calls to him as you all leave the lucky 38.

>Pip Nods to him calmly.

>"Let's go" he calls to your small party.

>The roads on the Strip are like new, rebuilt like a the bombs never fell.

>The roads outside the strip were torn apart from time.

>As the 4 of you walk south to the Madre Vault you picked various plants to eat.

>Helping those NCR Rangers had proven helpful time and time again.

>You found a Banana Yucca along the way and tossed a few of the fruits to everyone.

>Gracie happily bit into hers before latching onto your arm as you walked.

>You in turn pushed her hood down and rubbed the scales on her head.

>The walk is quiet and peaceful.

>You enjoy the company of Gracie, Amber and Pip.

>Pip may not speak to you much but that's fine, he's polite and doesn't hassle you.

>Amber may be constantly teasing you about not being Gracie's mate but she's nice enough.

>It seems when there are four people travelling together it deters raiders from attacking.

>You also had no doubt that Amber's sheer size was intimidating.

>The roads are hot and the wind dusty but you don't mind it as you walk with your little group.

>But something bothers you. Was it jealousy?

>Amber's hugs and affection to Pip as they walked and talked.

>Why does it bother you? You have Gracie with you, holding your arm, but its different seeing them have it.

>You don't quite understand why it makes you feel upset.

>You shake your head slightly to get rid of the thoughts

>They are mates, you and Gracie aren't.

>You should just enjoy your time with her and she said she wasn't going anywhere.

>As you pass through Novac Gracie looks up at the giant dinosaur.

>"It's so cool!" Gracie says jumping up and down.

>"Maybe on the way back home we can grab one of those little toy dinosaurs Gracie" you say with a smile.

>She hugs your arm tight and smiles while looking up at you.

>"Promise Anon?"

>You rub the scales on her head and scratch her ears gently.

>"Promise"

>You can see Amber smirking as Gracie hugs you, but you ignore it.

>Even now you feel that bit of jealousy as Gracie hugs you tight.

>Why?

>You break from her hug and start walking again.

>Over the hills, sand billowing past, the sun beating down.

>It's all a distraction for you as you check the map of your pip-boy.

>You look around for this ghost town covered in red mist.

>But all you see is sand.

>Where is this place?

>Eventually Pip sees what looks like a storm drain.

>Its right were your Pip-boy says the Madre should be.

>Pip grabs the grate and pulls it open, then peers down into it.

>"There are stairs down here! I think this might lead us there"

>Smart man, you had planned to blow the storm drain open with a grenade or something.

>You pull out your LMG.

>"I'll go down first and check it out then call you down when I'm sure it's safe"

>Pip draws his compliance regulator.

>"I got your back"

>You nod and lower yourself into the drain.

>As soon as your feet hit the stairs you raise your gun, a quick scan of the stair well.

>There's a hallway leading into this place.

>Is it a bunker? What's going on here?

>No time for emotion, time to be tactical.

>"Stairwells clear, Pip come down"

>You keep your sights aimed down the stairs as you hear Pip drop in behind you.

>Slowly you head down the stairs, weapon trained down the hallway.

>Its dark and you know feral ghouls like to hide in places like this.

>The layout looks simple.

>A hallway with a room at the end, no one is in there.

>There are 2 hallways off to the left and right.

>"You clear right, I'll clear left" you say as you approach the fork.

>"Got it" you hear Pip grunt.

>You turn left and aim down a hallway to a well-lit room.

>Hm looks like someone was living here at some point.

>You walk into the room and scan left and right.

>No one here.

>"Clear left" you call out.

>"Clear right" you hear pip call.

>With that you can finally let your guard down.

>"I'll get the girls" Pip says as he holsters his gun.

>You nod and begin looking around the room.

>A bed, a vending machine of some sort, a bunch of half completed weird looking laser rifles.

>The vending machine looks a bit odd so you examine it calmly, leaning over it and around the sides.

>On the side you see words that catch your eye.

>"Big MT"

>If it was made there, then this isn't a normal vending machine.

>"What's that Boomer" you hear Amber over your shoulder.

>"Dunno some kind of vending machine from the Big MT"

>You feel Gracie sliding under your left arm to look at it.

>"OH! I know what that is! It's a self-contained matter transformation device!"

>You look at her.

>"It's a what? And HOW do you know that Gracie?"

>She starts tapping at the buttons on it happily.

>"It takes uh" She looks around quickly and grabs a coin like thing of a table “These!"

>She hands it to you.

>A Sierra Madre chip?

>"If you get enough of these it'll change them into items!"

>She grabs a bunch of the chips and puts them in them punches a few buttons

>Out pops a can of cram

>You pick up the can and look at it, then open it up and taste it

>It tastes better than any other cram you've had before, you pass it to Pip to try "try it, it's good"

>"How do you know that Gracie?" Amber asks.

>Gracie gives a toothy grin.

>"I wandered around the Big MT for a long time, I found the Lab they made these things in! They had details on their computers!"

>Makes sense to you.

>Pip is the first to leave the room and head to the other room.

>"Where is the Madre though?" he asks looking around the other room.

>You follow him and frown.

>"Dunno, my Pip-boy doesn't tell me anything besides it's here"

>You see him tapping away at his.

>"Same"

>You're stumped and getting frustrated.

>Was this a wild goose chase? Did Sato give you bad info? You were so close!

>"Check behind the walls" you hear Amber call out.

>She emerges from the other room holding what looks like a journal.

>"Whoever lived here says there are secret tunnels behind one of the walls"

>You frown.

>Fuck sneaky shit, how were you going to find the switch to open a secret door?

>You look around and see Pip begins knocking on the walls.

>"What are you doing?" you ask, feeling your frustration begin to pour out through your voice.

>You weren't angry at him or anything but this stuff was annoying.

>A pair of scaled arms wrap around you waist from behind.

>"Calm down Anon, its ok we'll find it" you hear Gracie whisper to you.

>You take a deep breath and wait as Pip taps around the room

>Eventually he stops and knocks on one spot again.

>"Here, it's hollow behind here" Pip says pointing to the spot.

>"How will get through that though" Amber says walking up to him and examining the spot.

>You know how, plus it would probably calm you down.

>Exploding things always did.

>"I got some explosives, I'll blow a hole through the wall"

>Pip looks you over.

>"You sure about that? You might collapse the bunker"

>Gracie hugs your arm.

>"He's a Boomer! And he did that clear out our home! Trust him, he knows what he's doing!"

>Pip looks a bit unsure but relents.

>"You guys might want to get into that other room, this could make a mess"

>They all file out of the room while you search through your inventory.

>Start Small, you don't know how thick this wall is.

>You grab a Grenade and back away to the hallway that leads into the side room

>Quickly you pull the pin from the grenade and toss it to the foot of the wall then duck behind the corner.

>The explosion shakes some dust off the walls when it goes off.

>You peek around the corner and frown.

>The others look too.

>The wall is still intact, a small hole blasted into it.

>"Oh great job Mr. Demo man" Amber teases you.

>You can feel your frustration growing.

>Fine they want a big explosion, they get one.

>You grab a nearly depleted fusion core and smirk at Amber.

>"How about this then" you ask smugly.

>You feel a hand on your arm.

>Pip has ahold of it.

>"You sure about using that?" he asks, eyeing the fusion core.

>You nod.

>"I know what I'm doing man, I won't kill us or anything"

>He nods.

>"But you all should get out of the bunker, just to be safe"

>You head to the room and place the fusion core in the hole that the grenade made.

>Everyone else has already climbed out of the bunker as you walk towards the stairwell

>"Gracie, you wanted to know why the Treadnaut had force fields around the power core?" you call up out of the storm drain.

>"Yea! Why is that?

>"It's powered by 8 of these fusion cores" you say as you pull out you scout rifle and take aim at the dimly glowing light of the fusion core.

>"And if one gets shot"

>you hold your breath and pull the trigger.

>A miniature nuclear explosion goes off, causing the ground the shake and all of the dust settled everywhere to get rattled off.

>You can't even hear your own laughter as the ground shakes.

>Nothing like an explosion to lighten your mood.

>"That happens" you say as the sound dies down.

>"Come on down, we're good to go!" you call up.

>"Hold up! Gracie's passed out!" Pip calls down to you.

>You swear to yourself, you were so caught up in explosions you forgot about Gracie's tendency to play dead.

>"One sec, I got her"

>You climb out of the bunker and see Gracie splayed out on the ground.

>"Gracie come on, you're ok, and it was just an explosion" you say as you grip her paws.

>Her eyes open and she pulls one of her paws out of your hand and swats you with it.

>"WARN ME NEXT TIME!"

>You help her up while you apologize.

>"What was that about?" Amber says looking you over.

>"Hog nosed snakes play dead when threatened, I guess that instinct got passed to Gracie" you say as you help dust her off.

>Gracie's ears go flat against her head.

>"I can't help it sometimes" she says looking at her feet.

>"It's ok, we're working on it, anyway let's check out the wall"

>Pip jumps down first, followed by Amber, then Gracie.

>You follow quickly after them and look at the wall.

>Or rather what used to be the wall.

>A smoldering hole where the wall was reveals the tunnel.

>"Told ya I got it" you say with a grin.

>You draw your LMG again and take the lead down the dimly lit tunnel.

>Eventually it gets so dark that you and Pip have to use the lights on your pip-boys to see.

>For what feels like hours the 4 of you walk, but it's hard to tell, at least it is for you.

>But as you round a curve you see dim reddish light and the opening.

>"Oh! Light! Light! Let's go Anon!" Gracie says beginning to run towards it.

>You catch her arm in your hand, struggling to hold your LMG with one hand.

>"Hold up, we have to play it safe. Let's all get there at once"

>No need to rush now.

>You keep your LMG in your hands and watch as the light gets brighter and the mouth of the tunnel gets bigger.

>Eventually you walk through the opening and blink a few times

>Before you there are buildings; villas that are crumbling and decrepit.

>And behind them is a giant tower of a building, bathed in red mist.

>As you walk you feel the ground is soft.

>Like snow, the mist seems to have settled on the ground leaving an inch or 2 of blood red dust on the ground.

>What is this stuff? You don't think you want to know, but you think you'll learn anyway.

>Your footsteps are muffled from it as the 4 of you walk, looking around.

>'It's really here' you think to yourself.

>A fountain sits in the center of a plaza, empty with no water but with a few dozen of those chips in it.

>Holograms of people flicker lazily as you look around and static cuts through the quiet.

>"This place is creepy" you hear Gracie whimper from behind you.

>You nod and keep your LMG out, aiming at every single sound.

>The static is driving you crazy, like a garbled voice yelling at you.

>Silenced footfalls all around you.

>Words echo from your memory.

>"That place will be your grave"

>A noise to your right caused you to jump and fire at the noise.

>Sparks fly as your bullet hits a speaker.

>"Geez Boom calm down" you faintly hear over your own heart beat.

>There are shapes in the mist taunting you.

>"Anon are you ok?" Gracie's voice cuts through.

>You blink hard and focus on her.

>Stay focused on her, let her be your tether.

>You hold her paw, gripping your Gun with one hand.

>"You ok Boomer?" Pip says .

>"I'm just... I don't know; those speakers are getting to me" you cough.

>The 4 of you keep walking through the villas.

>"What is this Stuff? Why isn't it affecting you?" you ask as you walk through the blood red mist.

>You cough and feel your lungs burn.

>It feels like the cloud is closing in on you.

>"What do you mean Boom?" Pip asks as he leads the group.

>"It's like this stuff is choking me, how are you able to walk through it?"

>To your dismay they keep walking; ignoring your words.

>Did you even say anything? Your breathing is so labored your can't remember.

>Maybe you imagined it.

>You look around at the three of them.

>Amber and Gracie walk like there's no problem, like this cloud is nothing more than fog.

>Pip seems like he's walking through a bit of smoke, a cough every once and a while.

>Gracie has a firm grip on your hand as she walks through the clouds

>But she keeps leading you through the clouds.

>Through whatever this stuff is that chokes you.

>Each time you have a violent coughing fit.

>It burns.

>you face burns, your lungs burns and your eyes burn.

>Why is it painful to just exist here?

>You cough and let go of Gracie's paw.

>How can they keep going like its nothing?

>You have to stop in an area where the cloud has settled, the dust around your feet is thick but the air clear.

>Let your lungs clear, try to catch your breath.

>You're not out of shape so why is this affecting you so much?

>The others just keep walking.

>Static in the air is the only noise you can hear.

>But then something else cuts through.

>Horrid, ragged breathing.

>is breathing though? It echoes through the plaza around you.

>Surrounding you.

>Where is it coming from?

>You raise your LMG and aim down the sights, turning quickly at each way into the area.

>What you see is a shape in the cloud.

>A figure, a human shaped figure, carrying something, eyes round and glowing green.

>And it's stumbling through the cloud towards you.

>You aim right between those glowing eyes.

>"FUCK OFF YOU CUNT" you shout at it.

>Your words have little effect on whatever it is.

>It tosses the cylinder thing it's carrying at you.

>As it flies through the cloud you recognize what it is.

>A gas canister, with a small explosive attached.

>FUCK!

>You dive to the side and roll away from the impact, kicking up dust.

>It hits the ground with an explosion, kicking the dust into the air.

>You choke as you get to your feet and aim at the figure once more.

>Fuck this guy.

>You unload 20 or so bullets into the shambling body, ripping it apart.

>Where are Gracie and Pip and Amber?

>Through the mist you see more figures, walking that awful stumbling gait through the blood red cloud.

>Fine.

>They wanted to come for you, but you were going to go to them.

>"BOOMER?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" you hear faintly over the ragged breaths.

>Go, Kill them all.

>You charge into the mist, gun blazing.

>Bodies fall before you as you charge.

>Bullets fly, leaving trails through the cloud.

>How many of them are there? They just keep coming.

>But you don't care though, how many of them have you killed? 10? 20? 30?

>Not that it matters.

>Is your gunfire drawing them to you?

>"ANON! ANON! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

>Only one person calls you Anon.

>Gracie.

>Her voice is getting closer, you can hear it between the gunshots.

>Protect her, kill everyone.

>You kneel down and reload, 200 rounds take a little big to reload but you can keep firing for a LONG time.

>But you're interrupted, a spear made of a stick and knives strapped to it; stabs into your left bicep.

>A scream; Gracie's scream

>A hail of bullets tear through the humanoid thing that stabbed you.

>You're breathing hard, the spear is still in your arm.

>"ARE YOU OK!?" She cries.

>You hear the gentle patter of Gracie's paws in the dust.

>She kneels in front of you.

>"I'm Fine" you choke out, your throat burns when you try to talk.

>You grab the spear and pull it out of your arm, causing blood to spray into the dust on the ground.

>"No, you're not Anon! We have to get you out of here!"

>You stand up gripping your LMG with your right hand, your left arm hurts too much to move.

>Fuck, you can't reload it like this.

>The breathing of these people, these ghosts.

>It surrounds you and Gracie.

>Gracie stands with her SMG drawn, firing at a few of the ghosts.

>But you see one holding a one of those gas bombs.

>You try to warn Gracie, try to shout but the dust that's been kicked up is choking you.

>It throws the bomb right at Gracie.

>NO! You won't let her get hurt!

>You rush forward and push her out of the way.

>The gas bomb hits the LMG in your hand and explodes, blasting you backwards into a wall.

>Pain, so much pain.

>You can't see out of your left eye, shrapnel from your LMG being blasted apart is in your legs and chest.

>The toxic dust is settling into your wounds, poisoning your blood.

>"NO NO NO ANON!" Gracie cries as she gets up and runs to you.

>"I'm sorry Gracie, we should have never come here" you choke out.

>You can feel your consciousness fading as you look into her teary eyes.

>"NO Anon Please! Get Up! You Have to get up!' she cries pulling your arms.

>You can't move, your body is limp as she drags you slowly.

>It doesn't hurt anymore as she pulls.

>"Go Find your sister; get out of here please"

>You cough and taste the iron in your blood .

>She needs to save herself.

>"NO Anon! Please I need you! Please get up"

>"PLEASE Anon! I Lo-"

>Your world goes black and the pain fades.

>Sato was right.

>This place would be your grave.