Rebuild Capital Wasteland.

Chapter 15: New York

"Approaching Governor Island!" the voice from the bridge shouted.
Finally TLW thought. The last two weeks had gone slowly. TLW had used the time on exercise in the coal basement and reading about New York. From the earlier history when it was called New Amsterdam until the last books that were published before the war.
He had also read about the Minutemen. They were a para-military group established for less than forty years ago. Some caravan traders tired of the anarchy of the west came over the Governor Island. Throughout the years they barricaded and made a settlement on the island. Since then it has been the only civilized fortress in the area. The scribes speculated that the survivability of the group would not have existed if it were not for the natural fortress that the Governor Island was. A star shaped fortress from the old age and surrounded by polluted heavy rivers that made it impossible to invade.

The boat anchored at the dock and the workers started to unload the proviants for the island. Two Minutemens waited for TLW at the dock. They did not wear uniform but all of them had something blue dressed.
"Are you the Lone wanderer?" one them asked.
TLW nodded approved.
" Welcome to New York" he said with a smile. TLW looked at the man. He was a chubby, unshaven man dressed in a blue overall. He was equipped with a police body armor and a 9 millimeter submachine gun.
" I am Marko Alesvic, but call me Marko."
"You are in charge?"
"No, thats Lincoln Booth, i will guide you to him."
"Thanks." They started walking and left the dock where people were working heavily to unload all the crates from The Mall.
"Good place you have here." TLW had to admit. The island was not big, 172 acres and just 1 km away from the island of Manhattan, but it was protected by the fort on the northern side and they lived on the barracks all around the place. With exeption of the natural decay it actually looked pretty habitable. Half of the island was also protected by a scrap metal wall that took care of any sniper bullets.
"Thanks. My dad came here with my mom and settled here with 50 other people. They were only some feral ghouls living here so it was easy to take it over. Today we are over 200 people that seeks refugee from the wasteland of the Manhattan."
TLW looked over at the other island. Some half-rotten skyscrapers were still keeping stand. "Is it that bad on the mainland?" TLW asked.
"Depends on how you see it. The manhattan were for some reason not directly hit by the nuclear weapons, but the water got polluted and the infrastructure collapsed after the collapse in the areas called Bronx and Queens. The streets are a nightmare with collapsed buildings blocking the way. The easiest way is the subways, but there the feral ghouls are. The remnants of the people seeking shelter for the nuclear fallout.
"So there are no friendlies there?" TLW asked.
"None at all. There are some tribal groups living at the former park. They wont attack as long as we dont go into their areas or threaten them, but there are dozen of raiders and cannibal dens around there. But since the trades goes through the water no decent people ever visit the place. So they life of each other. Of course except when we need scavenging valuable material,"
" I need to go to the New York Public library."
"Yes we have been informed."
They walked into the main building, just south of the fortress. Some guards with pistols guarded the well brushed up corridor. They walked into a room that was once used for a board meeting. Four other people waited there. Three men and one women. The tallest of them. A old man with with brushed hair went forward.
" Ahh, you are the lone wanderer. I am Lincoln Booth, the overseer of the Minutemen."
They shook hands.
"We have been briefed about this situation and have already made a strategic plan. TLW now noticed that there was a map of Manhattan at the right side of the wall. He then introduced the other persons.
"This is Johan, Nina and Gregor. They are our best scout party, they will be with you on the mission." He nodded nicely too them and then focused his attention against Marko again.
"From the information we have received from The Mall about the index card we believe that the information you seek is here." He pointed to a dot very south of the map. Not the worst place to be located.
"It is about 3 hours walk from the Park at the southside, where you will go too land. Unfortunately the library is in the Cleavers territory."
"The cleavers?"
It was the girl Nina that answered. "There are Jet high psychopaths that kills for sport, their member like to use cleaver, hence the name."
"The good news is that the area is not a hotspot for them. After what we know they live more at the Seward Park area, a click away."
"So why do we have to go on land at the southside of the island?" TLW asked.
"Many reasons, first of all, the bridge called the Brookly collapsed into the river and blocked anything but water to pass through, and we know about barbarians settlement around the coast. And thanks to the tunnel we can go unoticed into land through the metro?"
"Tunnel?" TLW wondered.
"Yes, before the war they built a underwater tunnel. It has not been flooded yet at we can access it through the island. It will lead us straight to the metro network. No one will see us coming. We have planned for the operation to take 12 hours, it all depends on how long it will take for you too search at the library."
"Thanks, it will not take long if it is there. 200 years with decay can change things. But its the only lead we have to track the mastermind that started a war against us. He needs to be found."
"Dont say more. The leaders at the Mall, you need a better name for your country by the way, have made the daily life here much better for us. We dont need to risk life's to scavenge the mainland anymore. Its the least we can do." Lincoln finished the presentation.
"I think the best is to start the operation at nightfall." Johan said. TLW looked at his Pip boy, that was 9 hours too. Good, then he could sleep in a real bed and go trough his equipment first.