Deadman

We got back on the road and started heading in the general direction of the nearest taken settlement. It was still almost unbearably slow going for me, but I was also glad to be moving again in general. Being boxed in like that put me on edge. It was one of the reasons I left Pott’s, and why being a Postman had appealed to me so much. That, and the obvious utility of the job of course.

We walked most of the day in a straight line, but as the sun began to set Leah turned us off the main road.

“We’re getting close. Let’s find a place to set up a base of operations. I haven’t traveled here often, but I think I remember some intact buildings over this way.”

We all nodded and fell in line behind her. By the time the sun was down, some buildings came into view. We made our way for the one that seemed to be the most put together, an old gas station and garage.

The door to the place was just barely hanging on by its hinges so we made our way inside. I cleared each of the rooms first. Made the most sense as I could see clearly in the dark. All I found was broken glass and a few rats the size of dogs. I kicked their heads in and gave the all clear.

Leah took out a small lantern from her pack and lit it up so that everyone else could see. “This should do nicely. Off the main roads. Isolated, but close enough to our objective.”

Mercy and Graves produced light sources of their own and started setting up. Leah laid out some building layouts and maps, Mercy began unloading various devices I was sure would vaporize me if they went off, and Graves just started out on a silent patrol of the surrounding buildings.

I just sighed and started looking over the materials Leah had taken out. I didn’t really have much prep of my own to do. I was always as ready as I could be for any situation. Came with being a Postman. Came with being a Marshall. Now that didn’t mean a castle in the middle of woods filled with mutant bears wouldn’t faze me, but hey, the wastes are wild.

The maps Leah had out were pre-war, but she’d marked relevant locations. I quickly memorized what she had. The three settlements were clustered relatively close together. My guess was that since they were all at the fringes of STAR territory, they developed close to other settlements for safety. That was just conjecture though.

I pointed to one of the markers, a fourth one to the north and west of the settlements. “Is this the factory?”

Leah nodded.

I looked again. It was on the edge of what was habitable to normal folks. Just a dozen miles north and most people’s skin would start peeling off. It was also just within range for things from The Cut. They usually stuck to their dank hole, but every once in a while, something came out of it.

After I finished memorizing the maps and looking over the notes Leah had, I had a dinner of radded deer and went to sleep. When I woke up four hours later, Leah was doing her closed eye thing, Mercy was working on something, and Graves was standing at the door keeping watch. I stood and stretched. I’d had a lot less soreness from sleeping on hard ground since I’d gained my healing ability, but the old scars still ached every time. No healing those I guess.

Leah opened her eyes and stood up. “Alright. I’m going to go meet with STAR forces and help them coordinate. Mercy, you keep working on what you think we’ll need at the facility. Donovan, Graves, I want you to scout out the nearest settlement. I want numbers, disposition, whatever information you can give me.”

Graves and I both nodded. I was ready to get started. If I'd been alone I would've gotten to the facility by now. I started heading out the door.

“Do you need a map?” asked Leah.

“No. Got it memorized.”

She shrugged, and I walked out. Graves followed behind. I realized when we’d made it about a third of the way to the settlement that I was walking at the pace I normally did, rather than the one I’d been going at to stay with the group during our usual travels. I looked back at Graves and noted that he was keeping up easily. His pace not slowing, and no signs of any real exertion on his part. He’d had to slow himself down for the group too.

After some time, but not nearly as much as would’ve passed if we’d been with Mercy and Leah, the settlement came into sight. It looked similar to a number of other edge settlements I’d seen. Buildings made of scrap metal, a pit dug all the way around, filled with spikes of metal, and mean looking men and women on the lookout for trouble.

Graves pulled out a pair of binoculars and gave the place a long look. When he was done he handed them to me. I took them, and had a closer look. The men on the walls had the same kind of rad poisoning I’d seen on the men that had attacked us. They were also armed and armored in a similar way. I could see a number of unarmed people toward the center of the settlement. They looked scared, and a little beaten up, but otherwise okay. At the corners of the buildings I could see, there were a number of unmanned guns that were sweeping back and forth. Those must’ve been some of the automated turrets Leah had mentioned. I took a closer look at the men on guard. Most were wielding more typical weapons, but I saw a number of them holding guns that looked very similar to the ones that had been used to attack Boon.

I lowered the binoculars and went to hand them to Graves, but he was gone. I dumped them in my bag and started looking around. I eventually saw him making for the corner of the settlement, right toward one of the turrets.

“Fuck.” I muttered, grabbing my rifle and making my way toward that corner. I had no intention of making that suicidal approach with him, but I took position to cover him.

The turret Graves was headed toward swiveled in his direction, and suddenly began spewing bullets at him. I expected him to dodge or move away, but instead he just kept going forward. That made me expect him to crumple, but instead he just kept moving straight toward it. I could hear what sounded like bullets bouncing off metal, and so could a number of men who started to move in Graves direction.

I pulled out my rifle, froze the first one who was lining up a shot at Graves, and fired at the next one. I hit him on my second shot and started repeating that process. Freezing one, dropping another, trying to keep any fire from being concentrated on Graves.

By the time I had to change magazines, he’d reached the moat. I watched him leap the full distance of it, smashing the turret to bits with a swing of his hammer. He then pulled something off his back and threw it into the corner of the settlement. He turned around, leapt back, and started running back toward me. There were a few more shots on him, one of which was a red beam, but even that seemed to dissipate just before it reached him.

There was an explosion, and suddenly the entire corner of the settlement was on fire. After that the shots in Graves' direction stopped coming. He reached my position and just kept running past me, back toward our camp. I cursed under my breath, stood up, and started following him. I wasn’t worried about being followed. Between the explosion and the heavy winds, I didn’t think we’d be easy to track. Besides that, the mercs knew that STAR forces were incoming. Spreading themselves thinner in order to follow us would weaken their position.

I fell in line with Graves. He ran fast and with no signs of slowing. I didn’t do much running. Used too much energy and my highest rank was in walking, but I managed to keep up with him easily enough. I wanted to chew him out, but part of me had enjoyed the action so I decided to wait until we were further from trouble. As we ran I checked my notifications.

Congratulations Citizen! You have earned ranks in Long guns! Good job exercising your 2nd amendment rights!

Excellent work Marshall! You’ve successfully performed a secondary goal of your job ‘Combat’! You’ve earned 60 Patriot Points!

After about a half hour of running, we finally slowed back to a walk. I caught up to Graves, and noticed that the grey poncho he’d been wearing had disintegrated. What was left looked a lot like a suit of armor. That explained his bulk. I also noticed that in spite of the hail of fire he’d received, there wasn’t a single mark on it, or him. It was some kind of bunker tech. Had to be. Though why the system saw fit to force me to destroy what I found, but allow Graves and Leah to keep theirs was beyond me, and also suspicious given the recent timing of everything. I finished looking him over.

“That what you consider ‘scouting’ where you’re from?” I asked him.

He nodded.

“Was that what Leah had in mind to begin with?” I asked.

He nodded again.

“I think we’re all going to have to have a chat about proper communication.”