Fallout - The Life Of A Hunter

Fortress Falls

    The moon cast a glow on the foreboding fortress, spotlighting their goal. The shadows still hid them from prying eyes, but night was failing. The sun would soon peek over the horizon, shining light on them.

    They had been resting against the building, regaining their strength temporarily. Logan had taken the tarp off of Ellsworth and was working on repairing some of the dinged up bits. So far, no Deathclaws had been spotted, fortunately.

    "Think they heard us?" Logan said after they had finished their small period of rest. "I can only imagine they'd be around here a lot. Caravans come and go from this place all the time."

    "Let's just hope they haven't gotten hungry yet," Avery said. "Speaking of hungry, these biscuits you packed don't really do much, Logan."

    Logan, upon leaving their precarious situation at their old camping site, had decided to bring along a pack of old biscuits that were sitting in there. Jared hadn't seen him take them, so he must've done it before they slept.

    "It's food," Jared said gruffly. He too was hungry, but he wasn't about to admit that. The food in his pack wasn't fit for this situation; they were for cooking, not much of eating raw. The closest thing he had to food that didn't have to be cooked was stale strips of meat that tasted and felt like rubber.

    "Not enough," Avery complained quietly, but she stayed silent and gnawed on the biscuit. "When are we going to go in, anyways?"

    "Some time soon, hopefully," Logan said. "Don't think I can stand another second of being right at their doorstep and not being able to do anything."

    Jared was about to respond before Ellsworth cut in, saying, "Sir, I believe that my sensors have detected a large critter to the North. Shall we investigate?"

    "No, no no!" Logan said, realizing what the robot meant before Jared did. "We are not investigating, we are leaving it alone!"

    Jared realized what he meant. "Deathclaw?" He asked.

    Logan nodded. "To the North..." He looked around, obviously for the North star.

    "Clarke," Logan said, grabbing his arm. "You've got that Pip-Boy of yours, use it."

    "Oh, yeah," He said, laughing a bit to himself. "Forgot about that thing. Kinda feels like a second skin after a while." Logan inspected the device, tilting it around. "North is... that way," He said, then cowered as he realized where he was pointing.

    Naitel's fortress was to the North, and walking out of an alleyway was a large Deathclaw.

    "Get down!" Jared hissed. "Get that tarp back over your robot, now!"

    Logan quickly obliged, covering Ellsworth. The robot protested for a moment, then silenced at Logan's urging.

    The Deathclaw was walking into the darkness, it's head leering up into the moon. From here, Jared could make out the creature's milky white eyes, the sign of a blind Deathclaw. It lowered it's head quickly, it's mouth forming into a snarl as it did so.

    "Stay down," Jared whispered urgently. "It's blind so it won't be able to see as well, but we need to keep quiet and not move."

    "What if it comes over here?" Avery said, her voice suddenly hoarse. "It can smell us well, right?"

    Jared sighed. "Then we move. Slowly and into whatever tiny crevice we can."

    "Where?" Logan whispered.