Wastland Chapter 5 - Journey through the City of the Dead

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Saint_Cadian

First time out of the vault
The echoes of distant gunshots only gave Cadain the satisfaction that he had no need to run or hide. the heroes had their hands full, but in the small way it disappointed him. The last job was far too easy. Infact, the girl only noticed as she was passing out that he had threw ether in her room. there was no struggle whatsoever, wich was part of the plan but that didn't mean it was any fun. He sighed ahd shrugged as he carried the sleeping fortuneteller towards the towngate.

his eyes caught a hold of the an object sticking out of her back pocket. he pulled it out with his free hand and could only chuckle amusedly. Ah, she was indeed small and young. He flipped through cards idly, coming to a stop as he neared the nightly guard. his eyes focused at the card he stopped to, not once looking at the man next to him.

The guard was about to speak but the killer cut him off boredly. "Yea, i know this looks odd, sir. I told her she shouldn't drink too much, that we were leaving for the Hub the same night. but noo! She just had to not waste such savory bottles." he shook his head and looked to the guard with an exasperated smile. "Women i swear. surely you can understand?"

The guard smiled back, obviously sympathizing for he had a someone simillar. that much the killer did know. the guard waved him a pass but Cadian handed him a card. the man on post only looked at Cadian confused but the boy smiled cheerfully. "i feel horrible but can you give this to a friend of mine. he's tall sack of meat that goes by the name of 'Brute'. he will know what it means." curious still, the guard was about to question him but boy was already leaving, the sleeping 'wife' still on his shoulders. With a sigh, he stasheded it in his pocket and waited for the requested person. He couldn't see how grim reaper driving ruined automobile over a road made of skull would mean anything good to a friend but that wasn't his business.

Adults knew better than to play games but sometimes certain games were just too good to pass up.
 
OC- I'm back guys, but to be honest I was never gone. I am gonna put Ved out of commision for now so I can rejoin you guys, but there will be enough slack so if she returns she can be revived.


IC- Zeke arrived at the spot where Vedpose had gotten a shiver down her spine in front of the carnival about twenty minutes after she had been captured on the spot. The sun was at it's last sliver, but Zeke still spotted a pool of blood on the ground. It was fresh.

O........no...PLEASE GOD NO!

A roar sounded from inside the carnival and Zeke realized his mistake too late.

A flit of motion passed between the horses of the carousel off to his left. Zeke drew his pair of guns.

With a hawk's perception Zeke scanned the area. A rush of adrenaline was filling his veins and his hands began to tremble.

A second flash of motion to his right in the bumper cars. A third closer to the left behind the ticket booth.

They were distracting him.

Zeke holstered his .45 and lit a nailbomb. The flash on the right moved closer. He threw behind the ticket booth and a hiss issued forth as the bomb knocked into his opponent.

WHUMP. TACK TACK TACK TACK TICKA TICK.

Shrapnel showered the metal frames of the amusement park rides, and a stray nail bounced off of Zeke's vest. As Zeke lowered his arm his heart froze. Am adolescent deathclaw was lying wounded in the open, apparently thrown by the blast.

THUD THUD THUD. Three shots plowed into the deathclaws skull before his .45 was back out of his holster and joined in with another four shots, two of which hitting the claws face. It didn't move. It was dead.....way dead. Zeke blew out a huge sigh and stood with his guns and attention trained fully on the prone figure.

With a scream the second deathclaw charged from the right. Zeke turned in time to snap off three shots from his guns before the claw collided with him and tore his Desert Eagle in half with it's razor sharp claws. Zeke dropped what was left of the gun and fired his .45 at the beast. One of the two shots connected to its chest and it reeled back. CLICK.

Zeke dropped the other gun and drew his knife as he ducked a ferocious swing and retaliated with an uppercut slicing off two of the fingers on the claws right hand. It screamed and lunged at Zeke, boring him to the ground. Zeke stabbed with his right hand deep into the beasts left shoulder slicing the nerve and paralyzing the arm.

Unfortunately pain flared into Zeke as the Deathclaw sunk it's teeth deep into Zeke's right shoulder seriously damaging the tissue, breaking the collar bone, dislocating the shoulder, and piercing his right lung.

With superhuman strength Zeke grabbed across with his left hand and tore the knife out of his own grasp and the deathclaw's shoulder. With pure defiance to die Zeke plunged the knife deep into the beasts eye reaching all the way to the brain. In it's dying moment Zeke's adversary plunged the remaining claw of it's right hand into Zeke's left thigh causig him to scream with pain. They fell to the ground in opposite directions, the deathclaw vanquished.

Victory was the last thing on Zeke's mind, ahead of it was Vedpose shortly followed by screaming pain and then somewhere a ways back a growing concern for a threat of more adversaries.

So he did what anyone would do in his situation, he lay down his head to rest and gather his thoughts.

-ELSEWHERE-

Vedpose awoke feeling entirely helpless. She knew she had been captured, and also knew that Kyrie was behind it.

I see you are awake my darling. I love you so. And infact I plan to give you to my master soon enough. Too bad he wants you. Well at least we'll have fun won't we?

Vedpose went to speak but found she was gagged, and shortly after that she was also bound to a bed.

Kyrie walked over and undid the gag.

Why are you doing this?

She smiled. Because darling, I want to hear you scream.

- YET ELSEWHERE-

Zeke yelped in pain for the umpteenth time as he tightened his bandages on his arm. It had hurt terribly when he relocated his shoulder, almost as bad as when he reset his collarbone and tied it in place. His right pectoral muscle was half shredded, but fortunately the lung was doing ok after some minor surgery and Zeke was able to reinflate it.

Ok now if only Zeke could stand. The last slash had cut some of the muscle of Zeke's calf and would take a long time to heal.

With some pride Zeke cut the femur out of the slain beast next to him and used it to hoist himself to a standing position. He slowly limped over to retrieve his gun and reload it before holstering it.

Moonlight gleamed from many facets in the amusement park and shadows danced insanely, but Zeke was undeterred and began to hobble towards the main tent where Ved would almost surely be.

As if to affirm this a scream came from the tent, and Zeke doubled his effort in an attempt to get there in time to save Ved
 
OC- ok Pyro it sounds like you are writing this part on your own. Where is Albatross?

IC-

They had left Junktown at first light. Brute had spent much of the night in search of Roadrunner, only to find her missing. A guard had mentioned a man leaving town carrying a woman and accompanied by friends. Still it was a note that gave the answer.

"A hitman from the Hub, named Cadian, has your companion. He travels with two or three allies, maybe more, and he travels south."

The message was from Gizmo, though it was not signed.

Killian had given them food and water, plus ample ammunition, though Brute knew that Killian did not trust them. Just as well perhaps. Junktown was due to errupt in war eventually as both Gizmo and Killian knew the town was to small for the both of them.

The fellowship of campanions that had left Arroyo was split. Pyro and Ved were somewhere South. Caribe should be heading for Arroyo with his family. Richard, Melvin, Ivan and himself were left to go for Roadrunner.

Why her? Brute had no clear answers but his imagine was ripe of terrible thoughts of the man's intention.

Cadian had a head start to where ever it was he was going. He would certainly try to throw them off the trail But they would catch him in the wasteland, and they would free the girl.
 
*Ivan checked the pistol he carried, glad to be reacquainted with his sidearm once more. Then again of course, his muscles certainly sufficed in a battle, but the large caliber bullets were just, well, sexy to him. I don't know, maybe he was just a little bit more messed up than he thought.


"I do appreciate you releasing me from unnecessary bondage once more. Do we know where this girl is again exactly? I have a few issues I wish to work out with our friends."

He grinned slightly, his eyes twinkling. He tried to keep a good cheer about this all, and being on the road once more always made him happy. Maybe he could even write this down in that book he was working on, after suitable embellishment. He had already decided the holy drink will be vodka, and nothing but. As for the rest, he honestly did not know. Maybe holy iguana bits for the crowds of people gathered to hear him, maybe just pretty rocks. After all, everything was special and particularly animated with spirits, this he knew. He just, however, preferred spirits of the liquid and refreshing variety.*
 
Carib had followed the trail of Roadrunner and Cadian since he returned to the outskirts of Junk Town. Going back to Brute and Melvin now would have lost him time and besides, he had big game to catch.

The Hitman fled across the desert. And the Nuka-Cola Chaser followed.

Hmm, sounds like the beginning of some story. Perhaps, if O'Reilly lived through this experience, he'd sit down and draft this tale. He checked his ammunition, and saw he sported eight clips of .44 magnum ammo, from FMJ and JHP. A bandolier of forty shotgun shells, buckshot and seven sold slug rounds. Two water Canteens filled with sweet water, his zippo lighter; a back pack packed with compressed rations and well... Carib was determined.

"I'm comin' for you girl. C'mon." He murmured as he crossed the desert floor. If south was the direction of the assailant, that meant he was going towards Hub.

And Decker.

It was no secret Decker, leader of the Underground had been a well paying employer in the past... and even a friend; but if Cadian had hurt or even damaged a single hair on the Fortune Teller's head, Carib would bring down the underground; and bring it down hard.

He came across some leaving of his game. A tin can of meat, now empty but the residue within the stainless steel can was still fresh. He passed his finger within the cylindrical contain and dabbed it against his tongue. Not even a day old.

He wished he had a radio or even talked to Melvin and Brute about a frequency channel that they alone could use; but alas no time had been made to construct an eves-dropping device.

Carib moved on, further into the desert and hot on the trail of Cadian.
 
Roadrunner had begun to wake into the world of the clear. Her dream had been disturbing and even before she opened her eyes, she knew it wasn't a dream. Cadian had indeed snatched her from the arms of her lover Brute.

When she woke into consciousness, "What do you plan to do with me, Sai Cadian."

Her first question was met with silence and her body justled more as they treked through the waste lands. The occassion rad-scorpion and rat caught her eye in the distance. Her senses were very sharp, even at night time. Yes, she liked the night time. Alas, she wondered what her future was now that she was in Cadian's clutches and what would Carib do? She knew the hot blooded Nuka-Cola Chaser was on her trail. What? Would Carib burn the Hub for her and his family? She dreaded the thought of Carib doing that and then spending the rest of his life running from Regulators and Bounty Hunters.
 
OOC- Yea Welsh I haven't heard from Alby in a long time and I wanna continue the story so I am ditching him. Also what is up with Carib and Roadrunner using the language of Eld.

IC- Zeke reached the tent in time to watch a Kyrie splattered with blood grab his beloved Vedpose's cheeks and pour a viscous liquid down her throat. Vedpose began thrashing and screaming. Kyrie turned and faced Zeke at the flap of the grand tent as he watched in horror. Her mouth was dripping with blood, and it ran down her bare skin all the way to her toes. His wounds forgotten, Zeke drew his .45 and aimed it dead at his friends killer. Click. The gun refused to fire. Click. Zeke ejected the cartridge, and Kyrie began to run at him arms in the air, mouth open, her teeth seeming to grow in length as she ran.

Click. Kyrie was thirty feet away. Click. ten feet away.

As Zeke drew back the slide she lunged and sunk her teeth deep into his neck. But they weren't really teeth. They were fangs.

Venom poured into Zeke's bloodstream and Kyrie straddled him as she continued to bite harder.

Shick. BAAAMMM. The smile left Kyrie's face and she let go of Zeke's neck. She sat up with her entire heart blown out through the gaping hole in the right side of her chest.

with a final whisper of denial she fell backwards off of Zeke as the shine left her eyes.

But the fight wasn't over yet. Pain flared through Zeke as the Ichor took it's course. At first it wasn't too bad, and he began to feel as though it was possible she hadn't even been poisonous to begin with. But suddenly Zeke found he couldn't move. Paralyzed from the neck down.A growing throb from his extremities rapidly drew his attention, but the throb soon became much worse. Searing pain began racing down his nerve endings to cruelly slam his brain. In horror Zeke watched as the visual embodiment of the now unbearable pain flowed towards his heart and left a black webway in it's wake that looked to be an exact tracing of his circulatory system. Once the lines ducked into his sleeves and the hem of his pants he became haloed by a glowing light. All understanding was lost and he began to scream, but it was lost in the humming torrent of noise emitting from the light. His shirt and vest were shredded and he writhed in pain as the lines crept ever closer to his heart.

NOOOO! STOP! MAKE IT STOP!

The lines grew closer still and Zeke noticed a red blur forming on his chest. He thought his heart was getting ready to burst. The lines formed together at his solar plexus and began to rise. But as they did something changed. Zeke was thinking his dying thoughts when a perfect rose traced itself on top of his heart in vivid green, red and black.

The base of the stem stopped the black lines dead in their tracks, and a great disharmony erupted in the halo of light. reality seemed to tear itself apart around Zeke as the rose battled the Venom. The hum began magnifying until Zeke thought his ears would burst, and then the planes of existence rocked, and Zeke lost consciousness.

-A FEW HOURS LATER-

Warmth. It started as a warmth. Shortly after that, a red color in his eyes. He squinted and the color went black momentarily. Thought began flowing slowly back along with realization.

His eyes shot open and the rapidly closed as the morning sun shone directly through a large tear in the circus tent's fabric. He slowly turned his head aside, and tried to lift his arm. The fingers gently curled, but for the moment the arm was too weak to rise. With huge strain he managed to raise his arm over his face, and then slowly opened his eyes. The hairs on the back of his hand brought back memories of all the time's he had seen them while working, and in a flash he remembered who he was.

Zeke rolled over with the effort of his arm and a sharp pain jolted his side. He looked down and saw his handgun with an empty casing next to it that was rimmed with a small amount of blood. Looking at his flank Zeke saw a small fresh semicircular cut. He groaned, and realised he could move more freely now. Zeke rolled onto his stomach and then raised himself onto his knees.

A flood of information entered his mind as the scene around him came into view. Kyrie's body lay with a snarl next to him and Vedpose lay still on a bed fifteen yards away. Zeke immediately tried to get to his feet as tears filled his eyes and stumbled to the ground. He gathered his strength and tried again. This time he stood freely and began to walk towards Vedpose when he fell again as his wounded leg gave out from under him.

AHHHhhhh!!! FUCK FUCK FUCK!!

Zeke began to drag himself the fifteen yards with his one working arm, and after five minutes he hoisted himself over the edge of the bed and threw his arm around Ved. It came back covered in blood, and he realised what atrocities had been performed to his friend by the evil bitch lying faceup where he had awoken. A tear rolled onto the dusty floor, and Zeke raised himself high enough to look at Ved's face. She was oddly at peace with a slight grin on her face.

Why Goddamnit? WHY!?
 
Rob slowly awoke from his slumber that was caused by the giant needle that the midget had attacked Rob with..but..wait..no Ivan? awfully quiet? dead midget?

"What the fuck is going on here!?"Exclaimed Rob as he stumbled out of the chair and towards the ladder that lead out of this cold and desolate place.

Rob headed towards the building everyone had been staying in yet rather dizzie from the needle Rob still managed to walk in a straight line..well almost.

After a long trek through the town Rob had reached the building and entered Dwemers room...although the room was completeing empty.Rob walked across the room and sat down on the bed while letting out a loud sigh.


"Why does this shit always happen to me?"Said the tired and drugged Rob with the needle still firmly lodged in his back.
 
The Trail had gone bleakly cold. The hard pan and uneven ground concealed Cadian's foot prints and Roadrunners. Providing he wasn't carrying her anymore.... The worst was she was dead, but Carib didn't think so; and if it was the case, the Merchants Market and Maltese Falcon would run red with blood.

Crossing the hard pan, the air was whistling in O'Reilly ears; sending a tune that reminded him of his mother's singing. Carib's family unit were safe, and that is what mattered. He probably would never see them again, but their safety was enough for him.

And Inne? What of her? Did she fine her Ian and reconcile? He didn't know, but he hoped she would come back to him. Even Sam he missed now. Sam Solo of the Brotherhood of Steel. She was a hard head and didn't much like men like Carib, being a former Water Pirate had earned him notoriety he can't forget and people find it hard to forgive; but the world moves on.

"Give me a sign, RR. Just one Sign so I can bring you back to Brute; safe and sound. I never wanted to go back to the Hub... not so soon. Hmph, destiny."
 
Roadrunner had asked questions but Cadian had refused to answer or even acknowledge her. So eventually she had given up asking and had settled to observation. Certainly her friends were pursuing her, but Cadian and his men were clever. They had covered up the trail and they were moving fast.

But to where? Not the Hub for they would arrived by now. Instead they moved through the desert, occassionally following caravan trails or even with caravans to hide their movement. Sometimes following dry creeks were they left no tracks. Other times one of the men would linger behind and cover up their tracks. They had acquired a cart from one of the caravans that was traveling to necropolis, and they were making better speed.

Cadian was the leader and drove them mercelessly across the wastes. The men were purely tools to him, like beasts of burden that he would drive until they collapsed, and then he would leave them to die.

There were three of them now. She didn't need her cards to read them. Their stories were etched in the hard lines of their faces, the harshness of their eyes that had seen to much pain and violence. But they followed Cadian not for money, but because he had shared something of his strange vision with them. The first, Orax, was a giant of a man with huge hands that could easily break a man in half or crush his head. He moved about like a lumbering giant and did much of the hard work. THe second, Grimble, was the opposite, a small weasel like creature, small dark eyes under oily black hair. He whispered a lot, whined a lot. He was the weakest of them and would probably be the first to fall. But he was also a man of talents, a reader and a thief. The last, Sloan, was closest to Cadian, and carried two pistols in an easy manner. He normally moved slowly, lazily as if he was storing energy. But that betrayed the quickness with which he could snatch flies from the air. The way he kept his pistols

Cadian was a man possessed. Something inside him was clawing at him, eating away at whatever slender humanity the man had lost. He had gone into the desert as a man under a dark shadow, but somewhere out there the shadow and found and consumed him. He had gone in search of a violent freedom and found only blind servitude.

It was that unknown master that wanted her. She could feel it, like an icy chill creeping up her skin the further into the desert wastes she traveled. Something was out there, knew of her and her gifts and now wanted to possess her and use her. Whatever it was, it had wrapped itself around Cadian's skull and taken possession of him. It would do the same to her.

____________

Cadian rarely slept anymore. Time, time time. Not enough time. Time to go. Time to get back. Back to the flame. The flame.

He didn't sleep. He tried to. He knew he had to. It was essential. But he had to keep them moving. She was impatient.

She had been quiet for a long time. He had thought she had forgotten him, had forgotten their time together in the desert. But at night she would come back, show him things. Terrible, horrible things. Beautiful terrible horrible things.

But they needed to sleep. The Brahman would collapse without rest or sleep. The men as well, but he turned them on shifts. And himself.

THe difference between wake and sleep had stopped to have difference. When he was awake he saw into the horizon, so the hill that he had been awakened. Felt her waiting for him.

She had wanted the girl, and he had gotten her for him, as she had prophesized.

As she had known he would.

It was all going according to the great plan.

______________

Brute and his companions moved through the night until they could barely walk, and only then settled for a few hours. They had tracked their prey up until they had found the caravan trail, then had followed the caravan trail until one of the carts had split from the others and headed South.

They had thought to have closed in on Cadian, but then Cadian had jumped ahead.
His companions knew of no inhabited place to the South, only of some place called The Glow, that was supposedly cursed.

But in the dark they had begun to lose sight of the trail and had been forced to stop. The others had taken sleep but Brute had remained awake and watchful, taking guard duty first.

A few hours later Melvin had joined him.

"Wonder what happened to Rob?" Asked Melvin.

Brute shook his head. They had left the man drugged in Junktown with the assurance that Killian would look after him. "I hope he's alright."

"Might still be in Junktown."

"Perhaps."

"Caribe?" Asked Melvin.

"Probably in Arroyo by now." Said Brute.

"Well as we expect to be running into Cadian and his friends, it would have been better had we an extra pair of fighting hands." Said Melvin. "Perhaps he caught up with Inne or Sam."

"Yeah, perhaps." Said Brute. The man was generally more taciturn than Melvin remembered, more downcast.

"It's not your fault she got taken." Said Melvin.

"Then whose fault is it?"

"You didn't know about Cadian." Said Melvin.

"I'll kill him with my own hands if he hurts her." Said Melvin, his fists clenchened.

"But is that essential?" Asked Melvin.

Brute didn't say anything for a moment, stunned by his friends statement.

"Of course. She's one of us."

"She's someone we met on the road that you developed an attachment to, who has been with us. But she's not why we are here." Said Melvin.

"She's risked her life for us." Said Brute.

"She's distracting you from what you should be doing." Said Melvin. "We are not out here to save Roadrunner but to find a waterchip."

"Fuck the waterchip." Said Brute.

"That was not the promise you made to the Vault." Said Melvin. It pained him to say this. He had grown fond of the girl, and he understood Brute's desire to protect her. But the further they went into the wastes, the further it took them from their quest to find the chip.

"I know what I promised them." Said Brute.

"I know. But time, brother. The Vault is on limited time." Said Melvin.

Brute got up to turn in, but before doing so said quietly. "I know what you are saying Melvin. But Roadrunner has limited time as well."

Melvin nodded and listened as his big friend walked away. Quietly he preyed that, for all their sakes, they caught up with Cadian soon.
 
TRACKING

The trail had grown cold for two days now. Cadian was moving, but he wasn't moving where Carib had anticipated, and his confidance had led him to assume his quarry's plans. And what did his scarred father say to him, "Assumption makes an ass out of you and me, boy." Carib would get a punch to the forehead and he'd look up at his father in stunned surprised. "If you assume, or even second guess boy, you're aimed to get kill and kill your friends. Boy, too many people die because they assumed that a mine was a dude or that they figured that cutting the green wire stops a tickin' bomb." Yes, that was what his father would have said.

In his travels, he was told by a passing Hermit he spotted a Caravan from the Hub heading eastwards. A girl with trinkets and bangles was seen in their company.

Now, as far as Carib knew the only settlement east bound was the City of the Dead. Necropolis. This, of course, sent a chill up Carib's spine, but he knew fear was for cowards. And Cadian wasn't alone, he had company with three men. Toughs. Hmph. O'Reilly had dealt with worst, but what would Cadian want with Roadrunner? If he wasn't for Decker as he had fooled Carib into believing, then what was his motives.

Carib found the old dry creak beds, and saw no tracks. It didn't make a difference, he had an idea they were heading to the City of Death. He'd find them and he'd dish out death. Right, now, he can just follow from a distance. He didn't know who he was up against, so prudence was the best advice. For all he knew he could be dealing with three dead eyes who could peg a man a mile away. It would make for a poor rescue mission if Carib got sliced.

And yet, something wasn't right either. Why Necropolis?

For now, Carib would pick up leads where he'd find them. There would be trash or witnesses and tracks. One way or the other Carib would find Cadian and bring him down.
 
Roadrunner, the Child of Los Salvadores; outcast and wanderering fortune teller was now the captive of a man who was called Cadian, but by the vacant stare she saw time and again, when he thought she didn't notice, he was being guided by a much stronger force. It was true, that legends of old said evil did rise from the south, but this felt different; felt hinky.

She knew the fate that awaited her somewhere in the ruins of the south lands, the lands where she once traveled from was inhuman but she found her captors weren't. They fed her, allowed her to use the bathroom in privacy. No thoughts or inclinations of rape ever crossed their minds, and she would have felt it like an ice prick.

When a regulator had tried to take adavantage of RR two years back she had felt the dark intent. Of course, the Regulator, a man with a mishapen gut had tried his luck and ended up with a busted scrotum for his troubles didn't know how the long haired half-nigger half spick bitch knew. She had taken his gun and knife and supplies and left that small scrap head the next day.

These men weren't rapist. Perhaps the small weasel like man named Grimble might have been one in his former life. He had a shifty glance, one moment he watched RR with want the next with the blank expression. Whatever force that held them it was keeping them in check.

The giant was as prodigious as the fabled Lord Perth from the Dark tower book she reading. And the land did shake with that thunder.

She looked to Sloan, the right hand of Cadian, and then to Cadian. Her hands weren't bond and she touched her small wrists where a certain tattoo ran up to her forearm. "Cadian... I won't escape and I can't escape... but level with me. Who is the mistress or master you send me to. I have a right to know."

In the back of her mind she trying to send a signal to her love Brute and to Carib, the least likely to be connected to her. Yet, she could feel some bond forming. Was Brute her knight and Carib her Protector?

The Vault Dweller of the Fabled Cookie.

The Nuka-Cola Chaser.

"You look like a man who has sold his soul for power, but ended up getting used instead of being empowered. A king who has become the slave." Her eyes glowed over the fire they made. Her robs were beginning to tear, and the fine woven cloth of madras was now tearing. She looked more like a mad fortune teller then a sane one.
 
......it isn't fair.....no....No........why me?.....WHY WASN'T IT ME?.......COME ON.....ANSWER ME!

Because I am not done with you yet.
Because I am not done with you yet.

Zeke's mind reeled back when the duality of voices erupted in his skull. They sounded strained, and one sounded utterly sinister while the other rang with notes of salvation. Zeke couldn't tell which voice was which.

What are you?

A low rumble emanated overhead and suddenly the ray of sunlight was replaced by a blanket of dark clouds.

What is my purpose?

The air began to feel heavier.....charged. The hair on Zeke's body began to stand on end.

ANSWER ME DA-

With a blinding flash and a thunderous roar a bolt of lightning rended it's way through the center of Zeke's chest where the rose had etched itself earlier.

The sound of a heartbeat and for a moment all was black, and when the light reappeared Zeke realized he wasn't in Kansas anymore.

All around him running off into infiniti was a field of the brightest green grass. Zeke turned and saw a wolf. In fact the largest wolf and only wolf he had ever seen. It stared at him with blazing eyes, and immediately he understood it was an embodiment of all things good and holy. And yet......He knew it wanted him as it's pawn.

The heart beat again and he was in front of a great throne hundreds of feet tall and surrounded....no.......made...out of bones

A great red figures stood in the center of the chair and slowly strode towards Zeke. It stared him down with eyes of purest crimson and he felt as if he would burst into flames on the spot. This surely was the embodiment of malice and evil. It was also after Zeke as a servant.

The heart beat again and he was standing a hundred feet away from a great set of doors sealing the entrance to a grey stone tower hundreds of feet tall. With a thunderous clash the two figureheads of good and evil struck at each other, battling fiercely for control of Zeke who apparently now held some level of importance. With speed so unnatural it was almost teleportation the two flung themselves at each other viciously attacking until in the blink of an eye the wolf bit off a large chunk out of the red figures side and the heart beat again.

As the black sheet dissapeared Zeke sat up. He was in the middle of the desert, and a permeating sense of reality flooded through him. He was back in his own world. His old clothes and equipment were replaced with good of far higher quality. the finest white linen shirt draped his torso, and a pair of worn bluejeans. both fit perfectly. A dusty leather belt of shells wrapped around his waist and joined in the middle with a large buckle. Each shell was of the finest ivory with a rose delicately etched onto the surface and a golden bullet resting in the casing. In a holster on his right hip was the ivory grip of a colt peacemaker masterfully crafted with a gleaming silver finish and an ivy design running the length of the barrel. laying by his side was a leather pack and a canteen.

Zeke was finished looking at his new belongings and stood up. He looked down at his feet (now adorned in the finest of shor' boots) and saw an arrow drawn in the sand straight into the sunset.

With a shrug he shouldered what was now his and followed it.
 
Dwemer was grumpy & Melvin unusually quiet. No bad jokes, no stupid comments, no useless chatter about women.

Still, Richard could relate... He understood that whatever they had been sent out to do outside the vault, probably had a time limit. The inner conflict with the rescue of a friend, even a lover, probably takes a heavy toll on any man. But Richard didn't mind traveling in silence.

They were traveling roughly south-east. The only place there according to the information he had gathered in Junktown, was some place called Necropolis. Supposedly a city full of zombies. Richard realised that these so called zombies were probably ghouls. Once human, now completely mutated. The presence of ghouls in itself feared Richard little. Ghouls can be both smart & polite, or feral & cannibalistic. Either way, they would be dealt with in good time.

The silent travel allowed for a lot of soulsearching. For the first time since he had left the base, he was mildly homesick. Not because he missed 'home', but because everything was less complicated, safer & boring there. A lot had happened over such a short period of time: a foiled suicide attempt, Sam, the battles, the intrigues, the kidnapping,... It had made him loose sight of his own goal, his holy grail, but he didn't mind. Friendship was something far more precious than chasing ghosts of the past...
 
Cadian appeared not to hear what Roadrunner had asked and for a long time he did little but stare into the fire.

Then with a twitch of his hand he motioned his men away from the firelight, so that it was his alone to enjoy.

Roadrunner, bundled up near a wagon wheel watched him as he turned his attention to her slowly. He watched her, his face a wrinkle that could have been a smirk or a smile.

ANd he said, "We are all just food to the Gods we worship."

Then he let his eyelids fall and he slipped into that place that might have been a dream or a trance.

The next day Roadrunner was roughly woken up by Orax, who made sure she was fed from a kettle of soup made from a mix of cactus juice, water and insects. When she was finished he picked her up and put her on the wagon. As soon as the bulls where harnassed they set off across the wasteland.

No one spoke.

By midday they were in sight of Necropolis and that evening Cadian met with Set.

______________

"They were here last night." Said Ivan. He had broken open a log and the inside was still warm from the fire.

"So if we press forward we could catch up by tonight, tomorrow?" Asked Melvin.

Outside the camp, Dwemer circled the camp on guard. Ofen he looked to East and South. She was so close. He could feel it.

"Perhaps. But they are making good time with the wagon. But those Brahmin are going to need water. Only one place near here for water. That's Necropolis." Said Ivan.

"What's Necropolis?" Asked Melvin.

"The city of the dead. Where the dead continued to walk the streets as the flesh falls from their bodies." Said Ivan.

"I don't believe in ghosts." Said Richard.

"Not ghosts, ghouls." Said Ivan. "And not very happy ones at that. SOme are said to be cannibals, some to be crazy. Others afraid of the light. But they own the city and except for the occassional caravan, no one goes to Necropolis."

"So why is Cadian going there?" Asked Melvin.

"Water probably. Supplies." Said Richard.

"Or something else." Said Ivan. "Necropolis is bad for smoothskins like us, but it's not easy on the ghouls either. They war with each other, divide the city up. "

"So?"

"Let's say Cadian is going to Necropolis because he knows he's being followed by us and doesn't want us to catch him. And maybe he has a friend in Necropolis that might do him a favor?"

"You mean set us an ambush?" Asked Richard.

Ivan nodded.

"Someone is following us." Said Brute from the darkness.

They put out the campfire and crawled into the dark. Against the night sky they could see a single man, dragging his weary body, over a dune in their direction.

The man stumbled and fell. Then got up again and continued.

He nearly fell a second time when Brute snatched him from the dark, bringing him down with a knee across the man's chest and a knife under his throat.

But it was no enemy.

"That's not a nice way to say good evening Dwemer." Said Rob.

Dwemer removed his knife and his knee and half supported, half carried Rob to the campsite.

There they fed the man and gave him water, and then listened to Robert's story of following them from Junktown.
 
when Carib had reached the City of the dead he hadn't been warmly welcomed. In fact three ghoul gang members, guys who aptly named themselves the Zombies had bared his way at the town entrance.

It was the usual waste land greetings, 'Stay out. Yer not welcome.' No matter hwat species, it is all the same in the waste lands. So Carib smiled and had told the maggot faces to step aside. The three laughed and brandished their knives, saying Set runs the city and normies are unwelcomed.

To Carib, he wasn't thinking straight. Thez were all six feet away from him. He withdrew the Deser Eagle from his holster and snapped shot the middle ghoul's decaying knee cap. He went down like a felled tree, his dry cracked screaming filling the city like the gun shot. The ghoul on the right wearing the remains of a vault jump suit bared his black teeth only and the second shot was fired, half the ghoul's face was vaporized by the .44 slug. He fell over with a slump.

The third lunged clumsily with a knife, not having seen much action in his life or perhaps long past his prime, Carib stepped aside easily and dropped his gun wielding hand on the creatures back. There was an audiable pop and the ghoul screamed. The knife scatted across the rubbled litter gravel. The silver muzzle of the Eagle was placed firmly against the ghouls skull.

Carib to some degree enjoyed these little acts of violence. So much angst and trauma, so when Carib is confronted, seven out of ten times he reacts with violence.

He watched the lader ghoul hold his ruined remains of knee cap, his leg was barey attached to his thigh. The face down ghoul was moaning about his back and Carib shot him through the head, muzzle firmly placed against the temple. A simple and nasty execution. But they shoul have listened to him and let him pass.

"Now, am I welcome? Damn that leg don't look to appetiying. Well that happens when you fuck with the Nuka-Cola man. Now, my ghoulish friend, we're gonna talk. And if you don't wanna talk, fine, I'll just make the other leg the same, and then I'll work on the arms. And just so you know I'm not kidding around..." He aimed the Desert Eagle at the left and blew off three digits, and the screams continued in tandom. The ghoul curled his good hand over his destryed one, moaning and weeping, unable to shed tears, but Carib knew he'd gush them if he could.

"Shall we begin?"

This was the side of Carib that many would respect and fear in him. He was a man who didn't compromise and who could as ruthless as required. For him violence was a necessity
 
OOC: Wow, finally back after a most hellish summer semester.

IC:
There was only darkness shining through the slit eyelids of the once good to do warrior of the wastes. Where had she gone wrong? Was it in the venomous revenge that poured through her veins at the end? The malice, the hatred that was complimented by the scorn of a dark sign under a crimson velvet sheet? Was it to blame for her untimely death? Whatever the case may have been, the end had come and its depths were filled with anything but harmony and bliss. It was a shallow emptiness that reflected upon the way she had lived her life, isolated and introverted.

But it was not the end…. It was the beginning…… The beginning of a new story and a new life. A light, brighter than the center of the sun, broke through the lonely darkness, shattering it and bring with it a warmth so stunning it brought Vedpose to her knees. A moment moved through time like an eternity before she could find words.

“Who are you?” Vedpose asked.

“I am the rising of your sun and the end of your day. I am the one who cleanses the unclean to be brought before judgment. I am the morning light and evening star of the afterlife, but you my child may call me Rhiannon.”

“Who or what are you and why am I here? What have you done to me?!?”

“Come my child and all shall be revealed to you.” A figure of a woman, draped in the whitest silk and doused in a holy glow emerged from the light, taking Vedpose’s hand and leading her back into the light, into that which was not know to anyone of the mortal coil.
 
Zeke was walking for about a half hour before he came across a portal starkly similar to that from an old start trek episode.

What the FUCK GUYS COMON! WHICHEVER GOD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS FUCKING STOP!

A dark thunderhead rolled over the area and the very air filled with electricity. Without question Zeke sighed and jumped through the portal.

-the other side of the portal-

Zeke opened his eyes again. At this point he was becoming used to sickening interdimentional travel.

He was back in the tent. And his arm was still wounded, as was his leg. Off to his left Ved lay dead, and to his right Kyrie.

For the first ten minutes Zeke just sat there stretching and waiting for something to transport him again. Nothing.

Zeke looked through the skylight. It was still dusk.

All of a sudden an urge to bury Vedpose arose and he moved over to the bed limping badly. She was cut up quite a bit, but not enough to kill a person. It must have been poison like what Zeke had gotten.

The only thing she lacked were the vein tattoos from the scorching pain. Looking at his own torso Zeke saw that they were still there and so was the rose.

I'm sorry I have to do this Ved.

Zeke began to dig a grave outside the tent and could only wish this were another bad reality. It wasn't he was stuck here.
 
Rob had sat next to the fire near the group..he had a drink of water to wash the sand and dust that entered his mouth as he stumbled into camp then took a bite of his food.

"So my freind,how you catch up to us?"Said Ivan looking at the weary man.

"Well...i asked around town abit to see if anyone had seen you guys" Rob took another bite from his food
"Some guards said they had seen two burly men with two other men....after that i pretty much just headed in the general direction the guard had givin me until luckily i stummbled into this camp"

"you a lucky man Rob"Said Ivan

"Well they used to call me Lucky O'Conner back at LA Boneyard"Rob went silent

The Boneyard...formally know as LA..Rob's home..or at least it was,Rob was sent up towards Shady Sands in search of two people who had pissed off the Gunrunners...they'll kill Rob if he goes back empty handed..but for a man who had survived a Rad Scorpian encounter un-armed and a dozen fire fights they didn't call him "Lucky O'Conner" for nothing...and Rob was almost certain now that the two men would be heading down to the Hub after realising that Rob had lost their trail so they can sell off what they stole from Rob and the Gunrunners.

Rob sat quietly and continued to eat his meal.
 
Vedpose had entered a long boundless room of piercing white. What is this??? She wondered.

“This is you, endless and unrestricted by anything other than the limitation of your own mind. Your creation and desecration and destruction are of you your own doing. You are here because you wish to be and now you are dead because you conscientiousness has accepted defeat of your body and chooses to continue on its own will.” The woman’s words hit home deep.

“Dead… I’m not dead… I can’t be…” The knife of the daunting words of this mysterious woman put Vedpose in a state of disillusionment and panic ridden euphoria. She couldn’t remember… She couldn’t remember anything. Her entire life seemed to face her as a disjointed array of horrors and broken flashes of repugnance that now displayed themselves against the endless spaces the room. It was too much for her, seeing her serrated and own acid scalded body amongst the chaos; a green, almost glowing solution was spilled across left cheek, her radiant purple eyes still ajar and staring blankly at the passing day, and her partially exposed body baring the scars of prior battles and the trials she had endured at the hands of her whilom lover.

“Do you see now?” Vedpose simply nodded her face still white from the shock. “I am glad. It will make what you must do easier, recognizing your limits and your faults. Now take my hand my daughter.” Vedpose did so and a calm relaxation came over her as she faded into a black recess.


I am still here, alive? Was it all just a dream of imagination? I can’t see… What is that… something touching me??? It’s warm like the basking lights of the campfire… I… I’m moving!!! How??? Am I really dead??? I feel so cold… but the touch is warm. Should I be scared??? I feel so cold... I’m falling!!!

Vedpose landed hard. Zeke had finished digging the grave for his fallen comrade, placing her inside its forgiving depths and dropping her in the process. His strength has spent on the ordeal with Kyrie. She hit the solid ground of the sepulture knocking the wind out of her or was it into her. She tried breathing but her lungs burned like the fires of an erupting volcano, long and unforgiving. She tried coughing and the burning spread up into her trachea causing an uncontrollable coughing fit. Vedpose’s body, unable to remove the source of the cankering, began jerking violent as a gurgled sound came from her mouth.

Zeke, who had momentarily collapsed from the strain of lifting Ved’s body, looked down at her in her ravaged state.

“What the hell!?! Ved, You’re alive?!?” Vedpose didn’t respond. “ Ahh, Fuck!!! Okay, She’s gotta be choking. Please tell me she’s just choking.”

Zeke lifted Vedpose sitting her up and giving her a violent pat on the back; nothing happened. He tried again without results. Finally on his third attempt, Zeke managed to do some good and Ved coughed up a mass of black mucus and blood. She blinked gaining her consciousness.

“I though I told you I didn’t want you coming after me? Don’t you ever listen?” Her voice was little more than a whisper.

“No. What the hell’s the fun in that?”

Ved tried laughing at her friend’s comment but she was still weak and all it did was bring on another coughing episode followed by stomach cramps and vomiting. Zeke pulled Vedpose out of her would be grave and made her a small makeshift bed made out some cloth rags placeds against some rumble. She just sat there with her head slumped down on shoulder and the circles around her eyes more blackened than before. Her complexion remained pale and what was left of the sparkle in her eyes was little more than speck.

Zeke walked over to the pile of rumble where he had seen Ved’s pack when he first arrived. He needed some medical supplies to attempt to stabilize her as best he could. He was almost through looking when he found a small vial with a label which read To My Daughter, the Amazon of the Wastes . Contained with in the vessel was a clear purplish liquid. Zeke removed the lid and smelled it. It was absent of any scent. Zeke wasn’t sure why but he the urge to give the liquid to Vedpose in spite of the fact that he had absolutely no clue as to the identity of the contents contained within. It was almost hypnotic.

“Hey,” Vedpose did little more than nod and blink in response. “I need you to drink this. I think that it might help.” Vedpose laid her head back and opened her mouth as best she could. Zeke slowly poured the substance into her mouth as she tried her best to swallow it. It had a subtle sweetness to it and a smoothness that aided in its swallowing. She finished the bottle but nothing happened. Then again, who could expect that anything would be an instant remedy? Vedpose slipped back out conscience a short while later while Zeke started to work on cleaning and bandaging her wounds.

Six Long hours passed while Zeke kept vigilant watch over his friend. She did little more than breathe and even that was irregular. Finally the day had caught up with Zeke and the sandman got a hit on him. By the time he awoke, the sun was setting. He looked up for Ved. She was gone.

“Damn! Vedpose!!! Vedpose, where are you!!!” he called.

Vedpose poked her head out of the nearby tent. “I’m trying to get dressed you pervert.” Even in her weakened voice, the sarcasm still rang like a bell.


“Glad to see you’re feeling better.”

OOC: All right pyro, your turn.
 
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