The Lantern Bearers

chapter 7: into the void

With it being so dark and dangerous, one would think that there would be street lamps lining the roads and trails, right? Well, one would think that. Electrical engineers are rare to come by. Most are working for the United Government and tend to prioritize the closer cities and havens over those further out. Every time we had engineers come out, they would either be gunned n looted, eaten by mutants, not check for anomalies, or were outright kidnapped.....especially female engineers.

All three of us were geared up, venturing the void.

The goal?

To head towards the abandoned mattress store on the map and get Zeus and Yui a mattress to lay on.

Yui rejected the idea of wielding a gun. She said she didn't need em. Judging by the display she made when we first met, i take her decision's weight in gold any day.

Then there's Zeus, i gave him my .22 pistol to use. Its more of a self-defense piece, but once he's been in a void a few times and when i can afford one, I'll get the kid a real gun.

We each had our own lanterns, but had to share certain equipment. Since the mattress store wasn't irradiated, it was perfectly fine to not use a geiger counter. Yui was given a lantern as a backup, which was something she suggested and was a very wise decision on her part.

Replacing lantern parts on the fly is painful and you have to subside the pain for a moment to not panic and lose concentration. Thankfully to Yui's idea, we are spared from that.

As we walked, i would wave the anomaly detector around. Zeus would occasionally drift from us, not wanting to stick close together.

"Zeuuus, stay with the group." I said flatly, focusing on the detector.

"No, it's too cramped of a formation! I can barely walk!" He whined.

"Young Zeus, please listen to master." Yui said.

"We only have one anomaly detector and we have to stay close." I said flatly.

He crossed his arms and pouted.

My detector started to bleep ahead of the path, it looked to be a ripple.....aaaand zeus was being a brat and not listening.

"Zeuuuus, stay in formation." I said.

"Bite me!" He growled.

"Aight, fuck around and find out..." i said.

Yui was about to say something, but i put my hand on her shoulder and shook her head.

It was a good minute, until there was a loud boom and Zeus flying backwards, tumbling on the dirt road. He would lay there and cry like a baby, before we would go and check up on him.

I'd be lying if i said i wasn't laughing at him.

"Sooooo what'd we learn, sport?" I asked, dripping with smug sarcasm.

"It...it felt like...hic...i hit a wall and the
..hic....wall hit me baaaack!" He cried with a bloodied nose.

"Heheheh, you shoulda listened to me, ya brat! Yui, patch him up, please?" I asked.

"Affirmative." She said.

I kept watched as she fixed him up. Hearing a distinct CRACK of the nose and him screaming in pain for a second. Call me psycho, but him whimpering after him being a brat, was music to my ears.

We would resume walking and would come across an open area. The detector was going off in several directions.

I threw a bolt ahead of us. It'd go so far before bouncing off something invisible. An anomaly was a few feet from us.