Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 18: The Rail

*WARNING*
Graphic violence

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The dead of night was making it's passage into dawn by the time the Minutemen force had crept up on Dunwich Borers and surrounded it, keeping to the shadows. All was a desolate calm in the Wasteland, the wind barely a wisp on the skin. The skies gave off a faint blue tint in the fading of moonlight, stars winking their farewells, and the air held a crisp chill from yesterday.

Kelly crept closer to the rocks outlining the quarry edge, keeping low and silent, the only sound emanating from the crunch of her boots on the gravel. She surveyed, paying special attention to the two complex's on either side of the quarry edge, then with a hand signal, ushered up Deacon. The self-proclaimed master of the shadows would be her wingman in this.

"I count three in our building, and two in MacCready's," she whispered to him. "I'll take out the one on the front steps, then we go in together for the other two. Use your pistol if we can't stealth them."

He nodded, hand reaching for his silenced 10mm. He had gifted Tommy Whispers' 'Deliverer' to Kelly upon the success of her first Railroad mission, but she had eventually gifted it back. Going in loud and hard was her preferred tactic. "Got it, boss," Deacon affirmed quietly. "Give MacCready the signal."

Kelly checked the coast, then reached a hand up above the rocks and clicked on a small torch once. Across the quarry, a light flicked back briefly. Go time. Together, the two moved up and hugged the side of the small complex. MacCready did the same, tailed by Cait for her hand-to-hand experience in the Combat Zone. Simultaneously, their first targets were jumped.

Kelly made a swift dash up the steps for her target, knife piercing his throat in a sickening squelch of flesh. The raider's gag was blocked by the entrance of the blade, and a tight wheeze was all that could escape. Kelly lowered him as softly as she could to prevent noise, and as he clung to her in his death throe, she jerked the small blade to sever his artery and drain his life force. She left him dying on the steps, oozing blood and twitching in silence.

Deacon was on her tail again in an instant, giving her the thumbs up in praise. They pressed up against the entrance, Kelly peering inside. Snappy hand signals were issued, and the pair rushed the raiders like snake-strikes. They had no qualms in handling them, Deacon going for a precise jab to a spine, Kelly slicing a throat.

Across the way, it looked like MacCready and Cait had taken out their sentries, too. Good. Step one: done. Deacon and MacCready, along with Minutemen sharpshooters, would use these buildings to provide sniper support.

Kelly drew her hunting rifle, turning to Deacon before traversing back down the steps. "Be careful up here."

"Careful is my middle name," he quipped in return, exchanging his pistol for a Railroad-issue 'Railway rifle.' The rail spikes would be a glaring tell to his covering fire.

Kelly gave him a solemn eye. "I mean it, Deacon. I lost Danse, I can't lose you, too."

He countered her concern with a half-smile. "I mean it, too. I'll be careful, don't worry. You be careful down there. I told Clay that if he let's you die, I'll go Mister Sandman on his ass." Suddenly, his smile ebbed, and faint lines of sincerity etched themselves above his brow. "You're the only real friend I got, Kelly. So don't get dead."