[Krylo]

Having a Blast

North, she said, eh? Well alright. Looks like I'm off. A quick look at my Pipboy's navigational screen tells me that home is that way, too. Maybe I'll make a stop by there and drop off the supplies I got, travelling light through a minefield seems like a good idea.



What's all this now? Looks like a good place for some scrounging.



Voices and gunshots. I go low and prepare for the worst.



Well. This is unexpected. The poor thing's injured. Whimpering at me.

A quick look behind it shows me the source of the gunshots. Raiders... mauled to death... and a trader--shot to death. Dog must have belonged to the trader.

He whimpers some more and I put away my weapon walking a bit closer. I pull a bit of food from one of my pockets--some fried iguana--and hold it out for him. The mutt pulls away at first, but after a moment sniffs the food and takes it from me gingerly. I reach out and pet him while he eats before pulling out a stim pack and injecting it into a gunshot wound on the poor dog's back leg. He yelps a bit at first, but quickly calms down as the drug's soothing effects take place.



I tear some scraps of clothing from one of the dead raiders and make the dog a bandage for his wound, petting him as I bind it up tightly. He's still got a little bit of a limp but his tail is wagging, and when I start to leave he follows me.



"What's the matter? You want to come with me?" I ask as I drop into a crouch. He barks and limps up to me, resting his head on my knees. I find myself scratching him behind his ear despite myself, "Well, alright. It was getting lonely out here... and I guess you can take care of yourself. Let's go."

He barks again, backing away from me, his tail giving a few weak wags, his tongue hanging limply from his mouth. I smile a genuine smile for what seems like the first time in a very long time, before I turn and start to walk away, the dog following obediently behind.



I reach down and scratch the dog's head again. "Welp, here we are, Dogmeat," I don't know where the name came from, but he lets out a bark and seems to like it, so I decide to keep it. "It doesn't look like much, but it's home."



He barks again and I make my way down the to the entrance to where the family used to live.

It's my... no... our home now.



Home sweet home.

I move about the place, tucking my supplies safely away and introducing Dogmeat to our new home--and that's what it feels like now. Home. No longer an empty train station--a base of operations. The only thing that changed was the addition of a new member. I've hardly known the dog for a few hours and he already feels like family.

God I must have been lonely.



I get everything put away, peel off my clothes, and slide into bed. Dogmeat jumps up into bed and curls up by my feet. I don't mind and soon I'm drifting off to sleep.

. . .


I wake several hours later, and rifle through my my closet for something clean to wear. I finally settle on some raider clothes, that I don't remember picking up. . . I wonder if I was really unconscious after the vault, but quickly shake it off.



Anyway, they don't look too bad, and if I'm lucky those pricks will think I'm one of their own next time I meet them.

Reaching into my weapons cabinet next door, on the other hand, I settle for a standard 10mm pistol, a sawed off shotgun, and a combat knife. A few grenades too. That's always compulsory. I'm travelling light. Not really expecting much trouble, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go without any means of self defense. Not by a long shot.



Welp. Back to work. I whistle for Dogmeat and head back toward the north, and, hopefully, Minefield.



Ghost town in the middle of nowhere? check.



Landmines? Check.



Trail of blood leading to a door with a bloody handprint on it? Check.

There's something more than landmines here. I'd best be careful.



I jimmy the lock, and creep inside to find the corpse of a raider laying against a couch. There's some burns on his body, probably from explosives. Maybe the mines... but it doesn't explain how he got in here.



A search of the home reveals some prewar paraphenalia, including some clothing, books, and money I help myself to.

As well as a laspistol in a safe.



When I head back out, I decide I'd best be careful. It's broad daylight so whatever's here has probably already seen me, but I can at least make myself a smaller target.



I hear the the sound of something impacting steel, and I look up just in time to see a care in front of me burst into flames.



I back up in time to avoid the worst of the explosion... but now I know there's someone trying to kill me. Either that or the ghost stories are true.





I look around a bit frantically, but there doesn't appear to be anyone around. Turning back isn't really an option now, either. They'll most likely hunt me down. Moving forward is my only option. I make a mental note to request hazard pay for this when I get back to Moira.



I disarm and steal the landmines as I go, moving forward slowly, constantly prepared for the next attack.



Another house.



I jimmy the lock and get in easily enough, again.





More corpses.

More pre-war paraphenalia. Just like the last one. No killer yet, though.

I head back out onto the street more careful than before. I know I'm being watched. I know there's a good chance I'll end up as a corpse in one of these buildings, too.



I see him. Shooting the car near by.



I back up away from it before it can blow me to hell... but if I can see him and he can't hit me yet... he must not be a very good shot. Now that I know it's just a man, I think I can take him.

Shots ring out around me, as I climb closer to him to get a decent shot, but none of them close enough to be a real worry. It's quickly apparent why he chose to shoot the cars instead of me--he can't handle that rifle. One comes dangerously close to my face as I take aim slowly, exhaling as I pull the trigger...



My bullet tears through his chest, and he jerks into the air, convulsing at the sudden shock, before falling to a lower floor.

Sweet dreams, asshole.



I head up to his little sniper's nest, and take a look around.

Just an old man. Wonder why he was up here doing this... protecting his city... or what was left of it?



I wonder how much of this was caused by the bombs, and how much was caused by raiders afterward... Not that it matters. He tried to kill me, and now he's dead. I search through his clothes and help myself to some ammo, as well as the rifle that fell on the ledge next to him.

Maybe I won't tell Moira about this. I don't want to share the extra loot.

-------------

Longer one.

So back to Moira? Or should we take some kind of sidetrip along the way?