Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 112: Darkness Falls

As the black dome of the sky cupped the land and sucked the heat from the air, the Red Awakening rose from the ashes of the Age of Anguish to smote the tyranny of the Bloodlands. In red warbands they broke out across the league of cool sand toward the Grim Gates, bearing in from all avenues, silent and savage.

Kelly gave her bloodbeast free rein to run with the main procession, letting herself meld with the ruggedly sylphine movements of it's armored form, her torso anchored between two of it's vertebrae spikes. Now she understood why her captors had garbed her so lightly around the hips, while she sported a metal chestplate.

She glanced back for Danse, her tension soothed by the sight of him on her six. Amongst the mob, he moved at a controlled charge in his war-painted power armor, knees marginally bent to constrict the weight and sound of his movements, laser rifle in arm, ready for anything. She wondered how much fusion cells he had left for his rifle, and if he would be forced to make use of that crossbow the warriors had given him. To fall back on something so basic would irk him, she knew, but he had the intrinsic ability to make any weapon in his possession a tool of mass destruction.

Not excluding the primed payload...

She nodded back at him, hot love and cold fear for him flooding her veins. He nodded back, his fearsome war mask helmet silently roaring at her. In the sea of painted faces, he was the Bloodlander in true form, the Shadow of Steel arisen from his torment to eke out his honor in pain of battle. He was a living legend to these people, demonized or idolized, loved or hated, just as she was. Together they were a force to be reckoned with.

He should be at the head of this charge. He should be leading us all.

As the charge pushed over the rise of the thickets and boulders, Kelly set her eyes on the canyon wall ahead and felt her heartbeat kick louder in her ribcage, echoing in her ears. According to Prowess and Roark, it was a straight shot through the passages to the Grim Gates. Guerrilla fighters were keeping the Dark Bloods occupied on the Southern edge of the canyon and out of any guard posts on the route. But her eyes spied the watchtowers and firelit posts on the canyon's shoulders, alive with the dark silhouettes of loitering guards. For now, the Red Claw advance was shrouded by the darkness, but how would they cover their entrance through the passages once they fell into the firelight?

In answer, a devilish red glow overtook the night skies to the Southeast, spires of liquid fire rising like hot whips from the depths of hell. The sight ushered whispered words of reverence from the warriors beneath her bloodbeast.

"The Red Doom!"

"Brace for it."

"Let out the demons!"

Danse told it to her straight. "The oil fields," he panted, voice muffled beneath his war mask. "They've pressurized and blown the pipes, then set a blaze to them. The Brotherhood could never deploy in force near the fields. They're a constant hotzone for clan skirmishes."

"Dark Bloods need oil-the blood of the land-for their Dark Blood Sea." Prowess spearheaded the charge with longbow in hand, her stride long and strong. "We sabotage to bring distraction. It never fails."

"Your runners are swift," Danse commented, having to raise his voice a notch to reach Prowess ahead of him. Kelly didn't miss the edge of condescension to his tone - it was a far stretch to believe a runner had reached the oil fields on foot in time for the siege. There was more to the Red Claws than they were letting on, that was for damn sure.

"So thoughtful. So sharp." Prowess huffed back a small laugh at his expense, obviously delighting in toying with him. Kelly was well aware she had eyes for her man. "We draw forth the Red Doom."