FREV Chapter 07 (Patreon)

Cindy’s Point of View

I left my power armor back in my C.A.M.P. storage. I wasn’t sure how it worked but the storage somehow had the two tents, the workstations, and my power armor all inside with no increase in weight. The small amount of information I could gather on the item let me know it wasn’t magical either, just some form of science that I couldn’t wrap my head around.

The two genius mountain-sized people I was working with probably knew but I definitely wasn’t going to ask either of them. Even now after a night's sleep and a stimpak, my legs still feel like jelly. The man had a tool the most people wouldn’t be equipped to deal with but I was more than willing to try every time he wanted to. His hot bitchy sister was the other problem.

I thought she might be trying to get rid of me but after I had sex with her brother, I was getting a different feel altogether from her… Like, protectiveness covered by insults. I think she knew I didn’t have any ulterior motives. I was just here to carry the items and be sexual relief to the group. The meager amount of mechanical knowledge I had didn’t really help the group. I could tell both were more experienced than me in most subjects, including my focus.

Making my way to the giant gate that surrounded the city, I could have got in from the waterfront but there was no need and it might draw more attention than less. There was a group waiting out front already and a line was forming as everyone waited for the city to open up. After about fifteen minutes of waiting the doors finally start to open. They had an old car with its back wheels spinning the gears to lower the gate.

Inside was far more smelly than outside, I had dealt with the smells inside the vault but it smelt like people just shit directly into the streets and no one cleaned them up. The runoff from the city would most likely contaminate the lake, I made a mental note to boil anything we had to drink from it as I got to the gate guard. “State your name and purpose.”

With a squeak, I responded. “Cindy, and I am here for work.” He looked me up and down before asking. “What sort of job are you doing?” I could tell he was hoping I was a prostitute as I responded. “M-mechanical work if possible.” He clicked his tongue and muttered ‘whatever’ before saying more loudly. “That’ll be ten caps. If you live outside the city we can get you a gate pass for one hundred caps if you plan to do business every day.”

I handed over the ten caps and looked for the first bar I could find. Thankfully there were plenty of them everywhere. This should be easier than I expected.

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Daisy’s Point of View

I jammed my blade through a raider's heart as I lifted him off the ground, using his body as a shield to soak up the bullets the rest were firing at me as I charged forward. My face curled into a manic smile that if anyone could see they might have thought it was better to run than try to fight me. It hadn’t taken more than twenty minutes of running to reach this raider group. I immediately picked a fight and pushed into their base, killing everyone along the way. They were close enough to the town that anyone unlucky enough to head this direction would die but far enough away that any scouts could warn of an attack from the city. 

With one hand still free I fired my repeater rifle over and over again, burning a hole in the human shield and firing through it killing a man. The body became so riddled with holes it was less effective for soaking bullets, so I tossed the corpse at two men who were at ground level with me. The two guards didn’t notice the grenade I grabbed from one of the dead companions that were still attached to the dead man's back as they tried to push him off. A second after I got behind cover a cloud of blood mist shot into the air after the loud explosion.

Pulling the pin out of another one, I tossed it near the other catwalk support beams, as it exploded the ground three of the guards were standing on suddenly gave way causing them to fall over fifteen feet. It wouldn’t kill them but they were much easier to deal with on the ground than behind cover with the height advantage. Walking up to the other ramp inside the base, I take a quick step back as a trap springs and shoots four shotgun barrels together all at once.

One of them tried to sneak up on me and as our eyes met I kicked out snapping his leg backward at the knee. In another swift motion, my sword stabs into his downed neck almost decapitating him as I begin to walk up the catwalk stairs again. The three raiders on this catwalk looked at me like I was the Grim Reaper as I pointed my gun at them. They fired but my armor was too powerful to be stopped by their makeshift guns.

Three shots, three kills as I smirk and aim at the men on the catwalk I destroyed. As I walk a few steps out onto the catwalk and fire my first two shots, the catwalk begins to give way from the weight of my power armor and comes crashing down as well. I mutter to myself ‘fuckin shotty craftsmanship, that’s what that is.’ the fall doesn’t even faze me and I kill the last raider outside.

The alarm finally started blaring as the rest of the raiders inside were finally alerted to an intruder. I tossed another grenade at the central building right as a raider wearing a power armor frame with metal attached to it(it definitely wasn’t power armor) came out. He had enough time to look down(why would you wear power armor without covering the face) as the grenade exploded knocking him backward and off his feet.

A dozen more raiders came pouring out of the other buildings and for a moment I felt my heart move. It wasn’t out of fear, but excitement. Once again, the power armor covering my feral grin is the only reason they don’t all go running for the hills as most don’t even have guns and come running at me with pipes, sledgehammers, bats, and other melee weapons.

My blade begins to heat up. It was a custom-made one that I made myself. More a hunk of metal with a heating element attached to it, the blade was far too heavy for any normal person to wield effectively. It was the length of a normal man and as I cut a person in half and began my onslaught, the few who weren’t completely high on drugs saw the writing on the wall and began to run instead of fight.

Pulling my rifle out and wielding it with one hand I began firing at the legs of the fleeing men as I kept cleaving through the raiders who didn’t know better to fight someone this much stronger than them. Someone tossed a grenade at me and I batted back towards them with the flat of my blade as I kept firing. In moments the fight was over. Only those moaning in pain that I was meant to interrogate were left as I began to come out of my battle fugue. 

The leader was stuck on his back like a turtle, not knowing how to flip over in power armor as his arms and legs kept moving and the man began to cry in fear as I held back my chuckle. With him being so cowardly, I didn’t have to leave more than two people alive, him and someone to verify that he was telling the truth... I wonder how long it'll take my brother to realize I'm fucked in the head?