Fallout part three: Back in the saddle
Part three, also written before posting the first. I am unsure of how many to write before posting, but I am starting to get the hang of this and I may be in danger of writing too much without getting feedback, but oh well. I'll get round to posting eventually.. Any ideas for series names would be welcome. This part of the story starts to incorporate anthro-creatures now (yay) Sooo... yeah. Thanks. By the way, the random things in italics might begin to make sense to certain abstract creative odd people. You might get it eventually. It's an abstract story.
sstepss of one-Thousand echo acrosss tHe land the moon, thE moon is whole and sssilver against the night ssky. No, no no no! A sssshadow crossssesss the moon, it ssslowly crossesss the moon. Eclipssse, an eclipsssse of the moon-BUT NO! NO! NOOOOOOOO.........
David jerked up out of bed panting hard as sweat rolled off him. He desperately searched the room. He was lying in a single bed, not as comfy as the bed in the vault, but nethertheless comfortable. The door slowly swung open as Shawna stepped into the room, her long white ponytail swaying slightly behind her head.
"Hey, look at you, yer finally awake." She said in a cheery tone. Getting no answer she continued.
"Are y'all right?" She asked a little confused.
"Yeah, I'm fine. My fucking head hurts a little that's all." David looked down at the bed he was in. "How did I get here?" He asked.
"Can't you remember?" She asked cocking her head to the side.
"No not really. I just remember following you into the city, that's it." He replied wearily.
"Oh, I guess yer jus' worn out by all the fun we had last night." She said smiling. David just stared with a blank look on his face, unsure of how to react.
"Oh don't worry, I'm jus' messin' with ya." She said with a giggle. David smiled.
"Oh, that's all right then, you had me worried for a second." He said getting up out of bed. It was now Shawna's turn to look confused, trying to work out if that was an insult or not.
David saw her confused look and flashed a smile so she would no he was just kidding around. Shawna, having recognized his little joke stepped back outside his door.
"Come out once yer dressed and ya can have some brekkie." She called to him. David smiled at her hospitality. She was such a positive person, always making little jokes and smiling. Not often you come across somebody like that. David slipped out of his sleepwear and into the clothes Shawna had left on the bed. There was a pair of leather slacks and a long sleeve shirt. David laughed a little as he felt how baggy the shirt was on his upper torso. Obviously Shawna had little in the way of men's clothing.
David trudged out of his room into what he presumed was the kitchen. The walls were made of concrete, like in his room, except for on one of the corners where the corner wall had broken and was covered with a sheet of iron, though the room was pleasantly warm. Shawna sat at a table eating some tough looking meat. There was a plate opposite her with a slab of meat on it.
"Eat up David!" She said as he entered the room. David sat at a makeshift chair opposite her and dug into the meat.
"So, what was that you said yesterday, what did you mean 'us'?" David asked.
Shawna put her food down and looked up at David.
"Well, y' see, due to the radiation floating bout in the air," She said. "Most people in the wasteland have developed... mutations. Some of em' more extreme cases than others. Look at me fer example." Shawna turned her head to the side. David was shocked to see her ear was pointed at the top.
"All I got is wee pointy ears an a bushy tail." She said.
"You have a tail?" David asked, still trying to take this in.
"Yeah, you betcha, but if I showed ya ye'd see a little more than that, so you ain't gonna see it." She said shifting about a little in her chair. "Not yet anyway." David managed to refrain from blushing.
"But anyway, my species is classified as Forx, fox with an 'R'. "In some cases, like the wulf you saw at the gate yesterday, it's almost a full body transformation." She said.
"So it'll be interesting to see how you turn out." She said giving David a small smile.
"How I turn out?" David asked curiously, even though he knew the answer.
"Yup, all o' you vault dwellers change in about a week or so. Only about 5% are unaffected by the mutations." Shawna said taking another bite. David's curious side was secretly was excited about what could happen to him, his sane side, well, it also was excited.
"Most vault dwellers don't have the balls to even go near a gueno or a milliploid, much less shoot one, and a milliploid." She said out of nowhere looking at him with respect.
Gueno=guai, milliploid must be the millipede thing. David thought.
"Actually, David started, unsure of how believable his story was, "The gueno killed the milliploid."
"Yeah, but ye still shot the gueno good and dead." She probed further.
"No, I didn't." David replied. "I shot the gueno a few times, but it tackled me. I didn't shoot it dead, I broke his neck." Before Shawna could say anything David added: "With my hands."
Shawna stared open-mouthed at him, thinking back to how he took out the guard at the gate.
"How is that even possible? You haven't even mutated at all yet!" She said in awe. David put his hands up in front of him and made a twisting jerking motion like he had done to kill the gueno.
"Even got the marks to prove it." He said proudly presenting his hands to her facing upwards to show her the light teeth marks on his palms. Shawna gave a low whistle.
"Damn! You are one motherfucking hard son-of-a-bitch! She exclaimed. David cracked up laughing at her sudden outbreak of curses, but Shawna was thinking more deeply now.
"I," she started slowly, "I have a problem. I need help." She said looking down at the table to hide her eyes from David. He suddenly stopped laughing.
"Shawna, what's wrong?" He asked trying to reassure her.
"I'm in a spot o' trouble David." She said uncertainly. "It was a couple o' months ago, m', dad was a jet addict you see." She began softly. "He took out a loan wit' a local crime boss, slippery bastard, and damn careful. None o' the police force able to catch him. Blew all the caps on the stuff. He died the next day from an overdose." She looked up at David with a pleading look in her eyes.
"They've come to collect from me since I'm his next o' kin." Shawna's head lowered again, faintly sobbing. "I ain't got that kind of money!" She cried.
"Hey, hey, don't worry about it." David said softly standing up and going around the table to meet her. "I'll keep you safe." He said bending down and wrapping her arms around her.
"They, they comin' in two days, they says I got til' then to pay." She sobbed as she rested her head on David's shoulder. He watched helplessly as the woman completely broke down in his arms disgusted at what could do this to a person.
"Don't worry." He whispered into her ear. "I'll take care of them, don't worry. When they come, they'll have me to deal with." He said reassuringly. Shawna sat up and wiped her eyes.
"I, I'm sorry, I just, I'm not normally like that, I don't know what to do." She said slowly. "Thanks." She said regaining her composure and smiling a little. "It'll be so much off my back wit' this taken care of."
"Don't mention it." David said with a nod. "So who are these guys anyway?"
"Local mob type thing." Shawna answered. "Loan money ask'n for big interest back on it. They do hits for those who can afford it, drug peddling, a real nasty bunch. David nodded.
"So what is it that you do around here for fun?" He asked.
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David followed Shawna through the markets. He had opted to carry her pack full of scavenged items she was selling. David couldn't stop staring at her and imagining a tail swishing about behind her. It was evident that most residents were more comfortable with their tails out, unlike Shawna. A couple of the female residents flicked their tails against his leg and gave him small smiles. Good to see he was still in favour with the ladies. David stopped to look about him in awe. Most of the people in town were some kind of canine hybrid, there were those like Shawna with her ears and tail, and there were those that had furry bodies, muzzles and walked hunched over, and everything in between. There were occasionally those with armour-like plates covering a lot of their bodies that resembled the crab-like mirelurk, and some huge guai, (or gueno, David remembered) like people with large muscular arms.
David felt something brush against his side. Recognizing the move he was familiar with using himself his hand shot out quickly and grabbed the outstretched arm that was nearing his pocket and pulled the creature in front of him twisting its arm behind it's back and pushing it forward onto the ground where it lay pinned. It was some kind of feline creature. He could tell by the fuzzy head and ears. The creature kicked about and squirmed to no avail. It was stuck.
A couple of bystanders watched as it writhed and cheered for David, prompting a crowd to gather.
"Break it! Break it!" A couple said. "Shoot the sneaky bastard!" Came another call. David mentally gasped at the realization of what was happening. This was racism. Actual race racism. Cats and dogs.
Shawna stood back unsure of what was going to happen. David lifted the feline to it's feet and gave it a push as he let it go. The cat stumbled forward, and after a brief look at David, it ran away. The crowd booed at both David and the cat that ran, however they still parted as David advanced towards them with Shawna in tow. They moved to the side as the two passed.
Once they were away from the crowd, Shawna rolled out a large mat on the concrete and prompted David to unpack the bag. Most of the scavenged stuff was random pieces of scrap metal and electrical equipment. There were a few pieces of interest to David. Shawna sat and watched the passers by as David fiddled with some electronics.
"You really are one unique guy, y'know?" She said without looking at him.
David smiled.
"Every day's an adventure with me." He said returning to his fiddling.
"So why is it that you don't walk about with your tail out? I don't mean to offend, but most folks around here seem to enjoy showing them off." David asked, hoping he wasn't going to offend her. Shawna sighed at the question.
"I used to y'know? But it just... drew unwanted attention." She said. David nodded, thinking about the guard, even thinking about how he was staring at her earlier, even without a tail.
Shawna froze all of a sudden and averted her eyes from the passer-bys. A large gueno-person walked past watching her suspisciouly before turning to a wulf beside him. David managed to make out some of what the wulf was saying.
"There she is...yeah that one...theres no need to, the boss is sending us to fetch her in two days...hey, that's a good idea ,I could use a little fun...back to the boss, I told you five minutes ago! Where else would we be going?" David had heard enough.
"I'm going to have a walk around. I'll see you tonight." He said standing up. Shawna nodded uncertainly.
David quietly followed the two figures, managing to look inconspicuous. He followed at a distance and blended with the crowd. Eventually David found himself following the two into a more remote area with few, if any people. He ran from corner to corner hiding from view. He saw the two go into a building surrounded by guards, wulfs and a human. David glanced down the road behind him and had an idea.
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Danzig's small lean frame sat on a large soft chair with a guard on either side. Stupid human chairs weren't designed for a Forx. No room for the tail. A large garage door whirred and opened and the two David had been following walked in, followed by a couple of people with Brahmin (Two headed cows) stacked high with various bags, and two other three others.
"Boss, I tink's we has a problem." Said the gueno-man dopishley. "And what would that problem be Max?" He asked unhappily. Danzig didn't like problems. "We may have been followed boss." The wulf cut in. "Not too much to worry about though, just some human." Danzig nodded. "Well he can't get in now. That door only opens every two hours. We can sweep the area outside." The wulf nodded and he and max headed back to the open door. It shut behind them.
Danzig turned his attention to the rest of his visitors, eying them suspisciously.
"What do we have here George?" He asked a person who was holding a wulf girl by the shoulder.
"Fresh meat." George replied as a maniacal smile crossed his face. He leaned in close and licked the side of her face, savouring the taste. The handcuffed wulf girl squirmed and tried to yell, but her gag prevented her from saying anything. David was shocked. This was disgusting. This guy was going to die.
"Good, she should fetch a good price." Danzig turned to the two Brahmin handlers. "What about you two? He asked his regular.
"Jet, from out west boss." One replied. Danzig nodded and turned to the other one.
"What about you?" The new guy looked up at Danzig nervously avoiding eye contact.
"Drugs, um, buffout sir, boss, from, um north..." He said looking at his feet.
Danzig turned to George.
"Whose this guy?" He asked pointing at a man beside George. David gulped a little wondering what would happen.
"He says he needs to talk to you about something." George said. Danzig looked at the man thoughtfully.
"Tell me what you would like to talk about, maybe I will talk to you, maybe I will kill you for wasting my time."
"I am here concerning a money matter of a friend of mine." He said.
"Do you have the money your friend owes?" Asked Danzig.
"No but i-"
"Not interested." Said Danzig drawing his gun. NOW! David thought.
The man scrabbled for his gun but he was too late. A loud crack filled the room.
Danzig sat smiling, but the smile disappeared quickly as he saw the man still standing. The man was just as confused as Danzig was. Danzig turned to the right and saw the nervous Brahmin handler standing there with a magnum pointed at him. He looked down at his suit. Blood oozed from the gunshot wound.
The guards acted quickly, but not quickly enough. Drawing his second magnum David executed three perfect headshots; one guard was hit in the shoulder. An unsatisfactory shot. George, the Brahmin handler and the man who was about to be shot all pointed their guns at David. The Brahmin handler, unsure of what was going on put his weapon away, and the man who was almost shot, realizing what happened turned his gun on George.
"Let the girl go." David said, eyes locked on George. George considered his options and reluctantly released the girl and dropped his weapon. The girl ran into a corner out of the way. David weighed up the situation. By killing the boss, he had no doubt disrupted all operations in the area, but he would be unable to stop them. "Where's your money?" David asked George. George's eyes flicked over to a small safe beside the boss' chair. David lay down beside the safe, twisting the knob of it a few times before pulling it open. David took out a large bag full of red caps. Red caps. He thought with a smile. The most valuable kind. David tied up George and left him in the corner. He then scooped out a handful of caps and presented them to the anonymous man who had kept George at bay.
"Don't care who you are or what you're doing here, but I reckon you need these." The man took the caps without a word. "Now how are we going to get out of here?" He asked looking around the enormous warehouse they were in.
Two guards were idly chatting to each other outside when the enormous garage door opened. Not expecting this unscheduled opening they tracked the people emerging with their assault rifles.
Two men walked out of the door, one carrying a bound wulf girl over his shoulder as the gate closed behind them.
"Halt!" A guard called baring his fangs. "What are you doing?"
"The boss needs us to make an urgent drop-off." Said David as he indicated the wulf girl over his shoulder.
"Urgent?" The guard probed further.
"Yeah, guy looking for a bit of fun, he's paying double if we can get to him before 6." He said stroking his hand down her side and giving her a light slap on the ass. The guard looked from the girl to David giving a nod of recognition and said:
"Let them through then." The guards lowered their arms as the two men and wulf girl left the building.
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David was walking alone in an unfamiliar place. Wandering about trying to get back to Shawna's place. He was thinkingt back to the warehouse when he remembered the Brahmin. The Brahmin piled with drugs... evidence. David had an idea, an idea that could fix all Shawna's problems. For now at least. He approached a mirelurk-like guard on the corner.
"Hey, you, yeah, I need to report something."
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By the time David arrived at Shawna's place it was almost 7:30. Shawna was cooking something over a fire when he walked in. She greeted him with a warm smile.
"I wus' wonderin' when you was getting back." She said cheerily. "Where ave you been?" David shrugged.
"Oh, you know, attending to some of your unfinished business." He patted his magnum. Shawna dropped the meat she was cooking in the fire and stared at him open-mouthed.
"Turns out once the boss is gone everybody working for him just fucks off somewhere else leaving his drug-filled warehouse full of evidence completely unguarded." He said with a smile. Shawna ran over to David and threw her arms around him.
"It's over Shawna, don't worry." He said reassuringly.
"I on'y wanted you to protect me, not get rid of them!" She said bewildered. "This is incredible!" She yelled hugging him tighter. Without warning she leant up and kissed him for a second. David was stunned. Shawna dropped her arms from around his neck.
"I reckon I got to find a way to repay you fer all yer kindness." She said.
"Don't worry about it, you gave me some clothes and a place to stay. That's all I need."
"Nah, ye deserve somt'n more." She thought for a second."I have an idea." She leaned in close to David's ear and whispered in a seductive tone:
"Y' want to see my tail?"
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...He is performing well is he not? Now things shall become interesting...