Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 106: Tunnel Snakes

“Why didn’t you tell us this from the beginning, Clay-Crawler?”

“Was never asked about radslugs. Never knew radslugs had home down here.”

“Steel give me strength. So if what you’re telling me is correct, then the ability of these amphibious slugs to absorb the radiation in the aquifer is the key to our survival out here.” Paladin-Commander Cardona appraised the raider with undisguised gratitude. “This explains why this particular water basin is held in such high esteem by the natives. It could be the solution to our concerns of radioactive contamination, and Elder Maxson will be very grateful for your insight. But this also presents us with a problem when we mount a final assault for the outpost...”

“How not to blow the things to hell in the crossfire,” Hancock finished for her, and not without injecting a certain level of acid eluding to the Brotherhood’s recent history of crossfire casualties.

Cardona cut him a scathing silence. “More importantly, how to prevent the raiders from denying us their uses once they realize the battle is lost to them. You can bet your bottom cap that they have a contingency plan to wipe the creatures out in one fell swoop, and I’m guessing through the use of explosives or their Doomdust grenades.”

Nobody in Cardona’s command staff offered a comment or solution, bringing a silence to the small gathering where Clay-Crawler had been ferried over on his stretcher. Knowing the Dark Bloods on an intimate level, he didn’t think they would reserve modern explosives for a contingency plan. They would employ every ounce of precious modern firepower on the main threat of the Brotherhood. But Doomdust? They had an endless supply. It was more likely they would use that to kill off the radslugs. He communicated this to Cardona.

“If you’re right, then we need to come up with a way to preserve the slugs,” she resolved, looking to him pointedly behind her helmet. “I know the Brotherhood’s Scribes have probably asked you this before, but is there anything you know of that can shield against the gas?”

He shook his head despondently. “Only gas masks. Sunrise tonic can be made, protects from nightfire, but not Doomdust. Nothing can save once breathe in Dragon’s Breath.”

“Sunrise tonic... Does command know of this?”

“No.”

Her voice sharpened. “Why not?”

“Never told them.”

“Why not?” Cardona repeated, with serrated urgency.

“Was never asked.”

“Flip the vertibird,” she said as way of swearing, Brotherhood style. “Just what other secrets have you conveniently never been asked by the Brotherhood?”

He rolled his lips against his teeth in thought. “... Don’t know. Never been asked that before.”

She stared in flat disbelief for a long moment, and Clay-Crawler grew nervous, wondering if something more was expected of him. So he smiled at her, his big one that showed his full set of teeth, all proudly and miraculously still in his gums.

“Somebody move his stretcher away from me before I kill him.”

Two soldiers carried him swiftly back from the command hub, placing him down just outside it's perimeter of portable barricades.

“Well, now that we have this brand new intel to play with,” Cardona remarked with false glee, addressing her officers, “it seems we have a new task for our marksmen: identifying the raiders equipped with these Doomdust gas grenades and taking them out before they become an issue. If you’re not familiar with what they look like, tell your men they’re egg-shaped and usually black in color.”