Fallout: Wasteland Wanderers

Chapter 7: The Buried Secrets of West Tek

Isaac and Knight Rollins had managed to run up the hill to where Hannah had been covering them. The Knight takes time to catch his breath as Isaac approaches Hannah still exhausted

"You came back? What happened?"

Hannah puts her rifle on her back

"I've been out here a long damn time dweller. Over those years maybe I lost some of my morality, who knows maybe having you around might change that."

Hannah gives Isaac a sarcastic smile with Isaac giving a half chuckle. The two turn to the Knight who walk up to them

"Thank you two for the rescue, I already mentioned it to your associate, but I am Knight Lloyd Rollins of the Appalachian chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel."

He extends his arm out and Hannah takes it to shake

"My name is Hannah and we were tasked with helping your squad with the super mutants but we were shot down a ways a way so we couldn't make it on time."

"My squad...."

Knight Rollins walks past the two to the cliffs edge where they see the remnants of the battle.

"We didn't have enough men to over take them. The mutants that were here and the ones back at the warehouse had trapped us on the road. I was the head officer and I couldn't protect my subordinates."

Isaac walks up to Lloyd and puts a hand on his shoulder

"It wasn't your fault, with the terrain and the outnumbering you guys had no where to go."

"That doesn't excuse my failure, I'll report what happened to Paladin Rahmani back at headquarters and face whatever punishment I get."

Isaac looks back at Hannah and they both exchange a worried look. Lloyd turns around to face the two.

"You've already done so much for me and it's feels wrong of me to ask for more, but can we go down there and retrieve their dog tags? The least I can do to make up for this is get their names back to headquarters to let their families know what happened."

Isaac gives him a nod

"Yeah we can, there is another way down on the opposite side of the cliff that we can take to avoid the super mutants from the road. We have to be quick though cause they might start sending search parties after us."

The Knight gives a understanding nod back and the trio begins walking. Heading back to where Isaac and Hannah first arrived they go down the other side of the cliff passing the smaller radio tower and heading down to the battlegrounds. They each find a body to go up to and take the dog tags from their necks. Isaac found only the bottom half of someone and followed a blood trail to where the other half had crawled to. He comes across it resting against a tree with his dog tags in his hands. Isaac kneels down and sees the soldiers eyes open and cloudy showing he had been dead for some time. Taking two fingers he closes the soldiers eyes and takes the dog tags from his hand. Knight Rollins picks up a standard issue laser rifle. Its block like form and fusion cell powered ammunition can put a hole through flesh like a knife through butter. Everyone rejoins in the middle and hands their dog tags to Lloyd as he holds them all up in one hand

"5 of my brothers and sisters. Gone just like that in one battle."

Lloyd stashes the tags away and looks down in shame. Hannah tries to change the topic to ease his mind

"It will be nightfall soon, we should find a place to rest before heading back to Atlas."

Isaac looks at the two of them