Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 113: Deeper And Darker

*WARNING*
Graphic depictions of violence and gore

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The passage into the lower chambers of the Bleeding Abyssal grew hot and cloying against Kelly's skin. What could create such strong waves of heat underground on a cold desert night? She dreaded to think. The deeper she went, the more the walls felt as though they were coming alive and closing in on her. Several times she thought she caught them moving in the corner of her eye, shifting and swirling like pools of red magma.

Get a grip. It's all in your head.

Sweat stippled her brow as she moved at Danse's side, Prowess and Foo-Fighter ahead of them. The tunnel was wide enough to walk two abreast, but it put them in a vulnerable position for an ambush. They could only funnel out two at a time, meaning easy pickings for automatic weapons fire, or a well-placed sniper round to rip through multiple skulls in a row.

With luck, the Dark Bloods down here had neither weapons to play with.

Danse shushed them to a halt. Despite the silence, nobody moved, not even the nightkin. Kelly had discovered long ago that his hearing far eclipsed that of normal ranges, and she now knew it was one of the many advantages of his synth origin.

Several dull thuds coincided with crackling pops and then the soft hissing of gas, right as Danse sounded off in his booming repertoire.

"Nightfire! Gas masks on, now!"

The purple smoke rolled and billowed in from the tunnel ahead, sparking with static energy that ignited the rock walls in blue. As Danse locked down the air filtration function of his helmet, Kelly and company scrambled to pull on their gas masks. Within seconds, it was impossible to see anything but vibrant gas, and all Kelly could feel was the electric shocks it punished her with, and Danse's cool metal hand locked around her arm.

She was moving, pulled forward by his inexorable grasp, the sound and red splashing of his laser fire guiding her. Then the air cleared and they were gushing out into the open of a drained aquifer. She could barely get a glimpse. Danger wiped her memory, reducing her to the basal instinct of survival mode.

Danse shielded her from volleys of arrows and bolts, the sound of their steel tips smacking against his plates. Pissed, she married her fire with his, 10mm pistol punching out blindly at any movement her eyes managed to pin on.

Their suppressive fire was enough to get them hustling into low rocky cover. The spot already occupied by raiders, Danse made short work of them and tugged Kelly down with him, sheltering her head from incoming fire.

"Keep your head down!" His voice was a gravelly bass over her as his hand kept the visor of her gasmask anchored to the dirt. Just to give his authority that extra oomf, she begrudged internally. He spun on a knee to crane over her and return fire in precise bursts, catching more flak in the trade-off. Kelly saw and felt arrows and bolts ping down on her as they bounced off him. Some of the arrowheads were superheated, glowing like hot coals, perfect for melting through armor and flesh when landed. Several burned her before she swatted them away.

Tearing off her gas mask and dashing her eyes through Danse's legs, she searched for the rest of the party. The nightfire still smeared around the entrance, but no raiders emerged through it. Had they retreated? Were they all shot down while she and Danse barrelled through?

The exhaust of an empty laser rifle made her stomach drop. Danse growled and tucked away his rifle to exchange it for his heavy auto crossbow. "I'm out. Switching to backup!"