The War of the Elements

New Friends

(Hey guys, tbh this isn't my best work. But I hope you guys like it anyway. Comments to help improve my writing are always welcome.)

To wake up in a tent, when I had fallen asleep on the side of a wagon was quite a surprise. I don't remember anything after I shot whatever was about to eat Brock. It was all a blur, just a flurry of fuzzy images and feelings. An extreme shot of pain, some memories of a man, and of course the corpses. They were the worst remains I had ever seen.

I slowly sat up, wincing in pain as a sting of pain laced up my side. I only now realized that both Lila, and Brock were in the tent with me. Normally I would blush at the thought of me and Lila sleeping next to each other, but at the moment I was preoccupied with making sure everyone was alive and well. I reached over and checked both of their pulses. Feeling a steady beat from both of them I took a second to investigate my surroundings. The tent was an ugly mustard color, and was very very warm. It was similar to standing in the Chester greenhouse, humid and sticky. Much different then the usual hot and dry and that was the norm in the rest of the land. The space looked like it was situated for one, maybe two people to sleep in comfortably, so three almost adults were kind of cramped.

Rising up to my knees, I quickly and quietly crawled out of the tent. Once i was out of the tent I noticed something. I didn't feel sick. Before I had felt like I was going to throw up but now I felt much better. There was still a pain in my side, but it was more of a dull throb now. There we also fresh bandages on my cut, they looked very white and pristine, with only a small red dot of blood from my recently opened wound.

"You're up early," said a voice just to my right.

Whipping around I caught sight of a large man holding the rifle that I had found, and admiring it. The man was a real giant, around six foot nine and had a very muscular build, as if he spent all day hauling heavy equipment and running around with it. His face was covered in a thick, salt and pepper beard, with his long graying hair pulled back into a pony tail.

"Quite nice quality," he said as calm as could be,"this thing would rip through the armored plating of a tank with the right shot."

He looked up from the rifle, and tossed it to me. I looked at him incredulously, he had just tossed me a fully loaded weapon with capabilities to rip through him and anybody that could have been behind him. He was either a complete and total fool, or he knew me well enough to know I wouldn't dare to shoot an innocent.

As if reading my mind he said, "I trust you, anybody who would point a rifle at a complete stranger to protect his family, is alright in my book." I had been trained by my father to tell if someone is lying, and this man was either the best lair I had ever seen or he was telling the truth.

He beckoned to a lawn chair next to him. "Come take a seat, I can tell you have a lot of questions." Very true, I had a lot of questions, but why was this man so inviting to a total stranger. I was understandably shocked. A random man who I had apparently pointed a gun at, had patched me up, set us in his only tent and then kept watch over us.

Nervously walking over I sat down, next to him. My rifle was cradled in the crook of my arm, a suspicious gaze locked onto the man across from me.

"Fire away," he said,"I can tell you don't trust me which is understandable, but if we're gonna survive to get to the City, it's better that you trust me."

My suspicious gaze became a little softer as I relented to his reasoning. If he was gonna kill me or Lila or Brock he would have just left us leaning against the wagon.

"Fine, I can learn to trust you, but be warned, those kids are my only family left and if you betray us I won't hesitate to protect them."

He looked at me with slight admiration, and nodded, "That seems perfectly reasonable." I relaxed, my gun falling to lean against the chair, still close enough to reach for if we were attacked, but far enough away that it conveyed trust.

I looked up and started asking questions,"First things first, who are you?"

He smiled slightly and replied,"My name is Barry Lassiter, I'm a veteran Guard from the City. I was on a mission to find the lost caravan, and you can see how that went."

I nodded, it made a lot of sense. It definitely explained his build. City Guards used to wear giant suits of Power Armor which required immense strength to operate with the efficiency that the Guards did. Their weapons were also quite heavy, and though the power armor mostly handled that weight, it did require a decent bit of strength. There were of course other models of armor that didn't require such strength, but judging by the fact that he was a veteran he probably been trained on the old T15 models which were notoriously strenuous to use and often broke down, but were extremely deadly in the hands of an experienced Guard.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a slight cough. I looked back up and asked my next question.
"Why did you save me and my companions." I asked.

His face had a slight drop in expression from is his confident smile, to a sad smile, as if remembering someone important. He sighed and looked down. His mouth opened up and he said,

"I used to have a daughter, about your age, her name was Victoria. She was a Guard prodigy, destined to be the first female Guard Captain. She had so much life in her," he sighed and looked up at me,"It was supposed to be a routine Ghoul extermination. She and her friends George and Fred were heading out to the settlement, when they were attacked by those...things. We call them Demons, because of their bloodthirsty nature. They don't kill mindlessly, they are sneaky and conniving, killing the biggest threats before slaughtering everyone else. It made sense that they would attack her squad. We never found her remains. Just bloody Power Armor husks. I guess you kids remind me of my daughter, tough enough to survive out here yet still young enough to not fully comprehend the horror of this world."

By the end of his speech he had a lone tear running down the side of his face. Abandoning all caution, I stood up, and pulled Barry into a hug. He seemed shocked, but gently put his arms around me. I stood back and said,

"My parents were killed in a Ghoul attack on our settlement. Nobody else escaped not even a single child."

He looked at me in both pity and understanding. A rustling came from behind me and I turned around, and saw Lila and Brock standing there with expressions of both sympathy towards Barry and sadness at their own situations. I walked over and pulled them into a group hug and whispered in their ears,

"We may be a family of three, but I think we have room for a fourth don't you think?" I could sense their smiles and simultaneously they said, "Definitely."

We turned around, one our arms resting on the shoulders of the other one.

"Welcome to the family, Barry."

(And thats a wrap folks. Im sorry this part is late I just couldn't find my inspiration, but today its back! Thanks for reading!!)