Fallout: Connections of Fate

Chapter 5: Hired

A small boat approached a large, foggy port. A strong man in an old suit sat next to a sleeping man wearing heavy leather armor.
"Anderson, get up."
The muscular man shook the leather clad man awake. He groggily responded.
"What?"
"We're here."
Anderson sat up and rubbed his eyes. "You said payment was on arrival, right?"
The suited man pushed up his glasses and sighed. "Our client is waiting for us in the Last Plank."
Anderson grabbed the railing next to him and used it to pull himself up. "Then what are we waiting for?"
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The duo strolled into the dirty tavern as the bartender shooed a cat away from the bar. He grinned and called to the two mercenaries.
"Hey boys! Can I get you two anything?"
The suited one of the duo waved his hand to brush off the offer, but Anderson removed his hat and sauntered up to the bar.
"Give me the strongest drink you have."
The bartender's already large smile grew even larger. "I got just what you need." He reached behind him and grabbed an old bottle of vodka and a dusty glass. "On the house."
Anderson excitedly poured the vodka into the glass and motioned to his regimented friend. "Jakob, you have to relax and drink every now and again. Good for the soul." He drained the glass in one large gulp.
Jakob sighed and started walking over to one of the booths in the small bar area where a stout, balding man was sitting and began speaking.
"Mister Morris?"
The fat man adjusted his glasses and stumbled over his words, seemingly caught off guard. "Ah, you're one of the people my friends hired for the trip. Wasn't there supposed to be two of you?"
Jakob sighed once more and pointed to the bar, where his partner was sitting, already visibly intoxicated and swaying back and forth on his bar stool.
The man seemed disheartened. "This is going to be an interesting trip. Anyways, your payment is up in my room. I rented another room with space for the two of you, along with another incentive."
Anderson started singing a flurry of songs he had heard on the radio, and the bartender joined in.
Jakob glared at his drunken partner as he muttered to his newest client. "We might have to put off leaving until tomorrow."
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The three dragged along down the foggy road. Anderson was dragging his feet and rubbing his head. He was also clad in a shiny new suit of body armor.
"Jakob, why do you keep letting me drink?"
His friend kept walking and responded without missing a beat. "Because you don't listen when I do try to stop you."
"Fair point." He removed a water canteen from his belt and began to drink heavily from it.
Morris turned to his hungover bodyguard. "How are you liking the new armor?"
Anderson turned and rubbed some dirt off of his new shoulder pad. "Stylish and protective. Damn heavy though." He pointed to Jakob, now sporting heavier combat armor as opposed to his normal stylish attire and carrying a scoped assault rifle on his back. "Remind me to do something about the weight."
Morris seemed happy that his hired gun had enjoyed his gift.
Jakob held up a hand to stop his crew. "Did anyone else see that?"
Anderson used his hands mockingly as binoculars to look around before walking past his large partner. "Look, I know I was absolutely hammered last night, but let's not fuck with me right no-"
He was cut off by Jakob grabbing his collar from behind and pulling him back. Jakob turned to him.
"Listen. Our job is to protect this man. If we can't do that, we shouldn't have taken the job. I know I saw movement over there. Looked like two guys."
Morris spoke up. "Can we please hurry? It can't be much farther."
Anderson spun around to look at his employer, but had to take a moment to not throw up from spinning so fast. "Okay, where are we even taking you?"
The man pointed into the distance. "Farther that way, there's an observatory that sent me a message telling me they can help me. It's called Acadia." He stopped talking and looked nervous.
Anderson spun around again, much slower. "Alright. Observatory. That way?" He said, pointing.
Morris looked confused, as he had just pointed out the direction. Suddenly, a shot rang out, piercing him between the eyes.
"Down!" Yelled Jakob, as he removed his assault rifle from his back and ducked into the trees. Anderson took his large .44 out of his holster and ducked behind a nearby van. Bullets began riddling his cover.
"Jakob, you might have been right to worry!" Anderson yelled out, trying to peek from behind the van.
Jakob screamed back from deep in the fog. "I'm counting at least 3 on that hill, you push up and I'll flank!"
Suddenly, the van began to creep forward. Two large, bright red and armored legs emerged from the gaping hole at the end of it. They pulled forward until the majority of the creature living inside was leaning out and pulling he can towards the gunfire.
Anderson couldn't help but be confused as his cover began charging the assailants that had shot their client.
He walked slowly behind the van as it picked up speed during it's charge on the enemy. One of their attackers began to scream.
"Holy fuck! It's a giant mother fucking crab!"
Anderson peeked around to see the front of the van and saw the giant crab running towards its next meal. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the people that would soon be caught in its giant claws. Then he remembered that they had just shot at him, and the pity faded.
Screams erupted from the front of the bus. The hermit crab had picked up one of the shooters and started ripping him in two. The screams were silenced, however, by a shot to the head from an assault rifle a few yards away. Jakob made his way up the large hill the trappers were perched on. He gunned down 2 more with ease. More gunfire and a few harpoons came speeding down upon them from the top of the hill, shredding into the hermit crab. 2 harpoons had pierced its skull, and what seemed like minigun fire had riddled the beast's thick shell with holes.
The two took cover behind the van to reassess their plan.
Anderson took of his hat and wiped the sweat from his brow. "I think there's a few more than 3."
Jakob smirked at his small joke while loading a new magazine into his rifle. "The more the merrier." He leaned towards the side of the van and peered down the scope of his rifle to see the hill. For some reason, the gunfire had stopped.
Anderson cocked his head. "Why do you get more fun when we're being shot at?
Jakob held up a hand to shush his partner. "They stopped firing." Jakob said quietly.
"Yeah, no shit. I know this armor is supposed to be badass and all that, but I'm not sure I really want to test it."
"Why would they stop firing now?"
"Maybe they think they got us?"
Jakob removed a sawed off shotgun from his bag and loaded two shells into it. "We move up on either side of the road. Clear the area and shoot anyone who might want to shoot us."
Anderson nodded and slowly moved to the right side of the van as Jakob moved to the left. They slowly crept up the hill, trying not to alert the gunmen that they were there. As they reached the shack, they noticed all of their attackers had already been killed. Pools of crimson liquid surrounded the corpses. Bloody footsteps made a trail from body to body.
Anderson spoke up. "What the hell is that noise?" A wet sort of noise was emanating from behind a rock that the trail led behind. The two approached it, weapons raised, ready to fire. Behind it, they came face to face with a man giggling while stabbing a corpse repeatedly. The man turned and looked up the barrels of the two guns in his face and immediately jumped backwards, tripping over the dingy blanket he had draping behind him. He let out a large howl, as if he was some kind of wolf.
Anderson just looked at him, confused as ever. "What the hell are you supposed to be?"
The man stopped his howl and smiled at the mercenaries. "I saved you. These guys were on my list, and it looked like they were killing you, so..."
The man trailed off. Jakob hit him with the barrel of his rifle and, after a dirty look, he continued speaking.
"So I stabbed them all to death while they were busy trying to kill you."
Jakob's expression remained as blank as ever. "You're insane. Should we shoot him?"
Anderson shrugged. "He did just save our lives. And he's not trying to stab us too."
The caped man brought out a journal and began crossing some things out of it.
Anderson turned back to him. "What's your name, crazy?"
The man sprung up and offered a salute. "John Lowmans, crime fighter extraordinaire."
Anderson put away his revolver and Jakob followed suit. "My name is Samuel Anderson, this is my partner Jakob Waller. We're guns for hire."
John scribbled their names down in his journal under 'friends,' right under the names 'Dean Domino' and 'Davey.'
"Thank you two for the fun!" Lowmans then sprinted off into the fog, laughing all the way.
Anderson stared confused at the man making his way further into the fog.
"I could shoot him, you know."
"Don't, Sam."
"Nobody has to know."
Jakob sighed yet again. "Don't waste the bullet. It's a long trip back to Bunker Hill, and we need to start now. We fucked this job up and we need to put it behind us."
Sam and Jakob turned and began walking back to Far Harbor. "At least we already got paid. Drinks are on me when we get back."
"Didn't you say I shouldn't let you drink?"
Anderson laughed and waved his hand. "Fuck off, Jakob." He said, grinning.