617, or Y/N, completed his mission but was left for dead. What happens when a hound is cut from his leash and is allowed to run free? What happens when a mantle is passed on? What happens when one's choice can shape the world as they know it?
Well...
After surviving from what should have been my death, I had to search for supplies, especially for my face. With the rain pouring, it would put out most of the fires from the battle, which would expand my search so I wouldn't get burned, again at the very least. But that would also mean I'd have to find adequate shelter if I'm to not catch a cold, or something worse. Don't want to risk anything now that I'm alone...
The first building I came to was adjacent to the PCA cannon. Unfortunately, a quarter of the building was nothing but rubble, it lowers my search but increases my chances of being unable to finding anything good. With a sigh, I press on through an entry way into the building.
The first thing I notice is the scattered bodies of people, PCA to be exact. Some were crushed under ruble, go figure, but others were just lying on the ground. I get closer to one of them, a security guard if the attire was anything to go by, and inspect them to see what the cause of death was. The first thing that became apparent when I got close to them was the smell of burnt flesh. With their face exposed, I could see that it was burnt, badly, and their eyes were bloodshot. If I had to guess, my AC's core overloading itself was to blame here. Poor bastards didn't have any proper shielding from the blast and got a shocking sendoff. I'd say I would feel bad for them, but they were in the way of my mission.
The mission... Now since that was complete, what now? Walter believes I'm dead, I'm stranded, and I need to survive.
617: Focus...
I can think about it later, I need to find medical now.
Leaving the fried corpse, but not before taking a pistol they had stowed on them, I continue on my way through the building. As expected, quite a few of the rooms were inaccessible, thanks to the ruble, while others didn't have what I was looking for. It was starting to become irritating, and I could feel the left side of my face going numb. Not good, not good at all. Moving to last accessible door in the building, I have to force my way through it as it was barricaded by another PCA corpse. After roughly shoving the corpse out of the way, sorry pal, I notice that the room has a hole in its roof, rain and light pouring in from it, and it seemed to be a personal room, if the personal cot and locker were anything to go by. I shake my head before moving on.
The first thing I search is under the cot. Lowering myself to the floor, I peer under. There's not much light in the room, what with power being out and the fires outside slowly diminishing, but I manage to catch a glimpse of a box. I reach under the cot with one of my arms and draw out the box. As soon as I can see it, I give a sigh of relief. A med kit. I can't move my hands fast enough to open it.
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Once I get it open, I notice all the basic necessities for medical care in it, and luckily some bandages and burn cream for my situation. In only a few minutes, I apply both the cream and the bandages, albeit a bit hastily since there wasn't anything nearby for me to look at myself with, while also mildly hissing through some of the pain. With the medical issue dealt with, for the most part, I began my search for other supplies. Next stop was the locker in the room.
Upon opening the locker, I'm met with a grey/black jumpsuit and a jacket. Since my current jumpsuit was all but ruined, I decided a change of clothes was in order. I put on the jumpsuit, mildly being displeased that the back was branded with the PCA logo, before putting on the jacket. The jacket itself was a black leather bomber jacket, with a fur lined collar. Whoever owned this had some taste, I'll give them that. On top of that, it'll keep me warm for now as well. I was ready to close the locker, when something caught my eye. Tucked in the upper right corner of the locker's door, there was a photo. The photo was that of a man, a woman, and a child all someplace with quite a bit of greenery. All of them were smiling.
Looking at the photo, I felt... I couldn't explain it, but seeing them all together, smiling without a care in the world, made me feel... Cold? Empty? Something else entirely? I don't know.
I couldn't remember much before my augmentations, but it made me wonder. Was I something other than a hound? Was I a friend? A lover? A husband? Did I have someone special?
Special... For the briefest moment, I remember a face. Pale, tired, almost dull lifeless eyes. But there was something that made me feel less of what I was feeling before, and it was seeing her smile...
Just like that, the memory is gone. But the feeling of seeing that smile is still there, and I can faintly feel myself smiling as well. I shake my head and clear my thoughts.
617: Focus.
I'm going to be telling myself that for a while, aren't I?
Leaving the photo where it was, I closed the locker. Picking up the med kit, just in case for future reference, I exit the room and make my way outside of the building.
Luckly, when leaving the building, I managed to come across a small canteen and managed to snag something to eat. Unfortunately, it was MREs, but I'll take it over starving any day. Once outside, I notice that it was still raining and it was getting dark. It would be certain death to wonder out here during dark, especially without my AC, so it was time to hunker down, which meant it was time to build a fire then sleep. With any luck, I should be fine here for a few days, PCA would be too busy licking its wounds to come back for any wreckage. If I'm also lucky, maybe some Dozers will come by, hopefully hers. Boy, would she get a laugh seeing me...
For now, got to survive and keep scavenging for scraps...
A/N: And that's that. Honestly, this was a filler chapter more than anything else, you'll be getting quite a few of those with this story, but that adds to the charm! It really wouldn't be a story if you didn't have a slow burn/buildup, at least a decent story anyways... As always, let me know what you think and if you want more, comments and the like help with motivation after all, and hopefully I'll be able to keep the train for this story going! Writer's block sucks and I need to get back into writing... Anyways, hope you all enjoyed and have a lovely day/night. Cheers!
