Crossfire - Fallout 4 - [R J MacCready x Sole Survivor]

Chapter 13

He couldn't sleep the night before. Despite his exhaustion, his feet moved entirely on their own as the Med-Tek Research facility loomed closer on the horizon. Dawn took point, donned in a new set of road leathers and a different arsenal of weapons strapped to each holster. A combat shotgun, frag grenades and a heavily modded 10mm pistol was her choice of weapons; all of which are suitable for combat at close range or for crowd control.

MacCready still had his rifle, but the Minutemen were kind enough to let him have a laser pistol to back him up if he ever found himself in a pinch. His duster was left in Sanctuary – it had too much loose material – so he swapped it with a drifter jacket which Dawn had suggested he should wear. It was a better fit for his frame, less material to get grabbed with, a thought which both eased and terrified him.

He made sure to stash his carved soldier into the front pocket, its presence reminding him to stay strong for Duncan.

Dawn stopped ahead, scanning the area around her, before she turned around and pointed at the building before her. She waited as MacCready strode up to her, and they both regarded the Med-Tek facility ahead.

"You said you've scouted the place before," she said, voice low. "What did you find?"

"Ferals," he said as he nodded to the parking lot beside them. "They'll be sluggish during the day, so the ones in the parking lot shouldn't give us much trouble. But the place is on lockdown since before the war, Sinclair and I couldn't get through the security at the time...but they were everywhere when we tried."

She nodded as she took in the information. "How are you when you're up close with 'em?"

He let out a reluctant sigh. "Not great to be honest." There was no use lying to her about it, not with what's at stake. "The closer they are, the more my hands shake."

Dawn was tactful however, and didn't press for more. "I'll be the one up front. I'm gonna be making a lot of noise, so they'll swarm after me. I need you to pick them off from a distance and watch my back," she pulled out her shotgun and clicked off the safety latch, "Catch up to me when it's clear."

He was comfortable with that – though comfort was very subjective in this case – but not having to be up close to them...he was actually grateful. "Sounds good, Boss."

Plan now set, MacCready found higher ground and watched Dawn from his vantage point. There were a few dormant ferals scattered around the entrance, but with so many cars and debris around it was hard to discern exactly how many could potentially be hiding. Three began to amble towards her, two which Dawn easily dispatched with her shotgun, the third he sniped from a distance.

True to her word, each pull of the trigger made the area boom with the sounds of her shotgun, and more roused from their slumber and dashed straight for her. She scattered them with her gun, keeping them at bay, and he picked off the stragglers nearby.

The area was clear after that, and he sprinted to join her at the entrance.

Dawn was sweating, flecks of blood and viscera now staining her clothes and dotted around her skin, but she was at least uninjured. She looked at him, checking for signs of injury, then gave him a quick pat on his arm. "You okay?"

He nodded and made a move to the door, but he hesitated with pushing the door open. His hands hovered over the handle, unsure of why his body was so unwilling to enter. Dawn sensed his uneasiness and placed her own hand on top of his, then gently guided it to the handle. As soon as the cold metal made contact with his skin he regained control of his body, and he opened the door with caution.

The foyer was dim and dusty, but the there was still power within the building to light up the interior. He recognised the spent rounds on the floor from his previous visit with Sinclair. A few decaying bodies were strewn across some furniture, most of them were riddled with the familiar wounds only his .308 rounds would cause.