Stories from the commonwealth

Bright and Shining NUKA WORLD!

Pt. 1

"Where are we going?" Hancock grumbled. "We've been walking for hours." The sun beamed down heavily on us, sending a nice warm glow. Of radiation. The crunching of the coarse dirt and sand beneath our boots leaving shoe prints on the ground.

"I'll tell you where we're going my ghoulish friend," I grin, "To the bright and shining family fun park, NUKA WORLD!" I shout, spinning around to face Hancock. My face lighting up as I pull out the brochure, shoving it in his hands.

"Ah, that shithole? I heard that it ain't doing to well these days." Hancock muttered from behind, looking at the paper,
"You really wanna go there?" He says, kicking a rock.

"I went when I was a child, I remember all the good times I had there when it was a new park. I wanna go recreate that with my best friend!" I reach into my bag and pull out two T-Shirts, one with Cappy and one with bottle, the parks mascots. I toss the Cappy shirt over to Hancock.
"Put it on! We're gonna have fun." I smile.

"We're almost there! I can see the gate for the monorail!" I shout as I grab onto his hand and drag him along. It's not as beautiful and colorful as I remember but hey after having a nuclear bomb dropped on it I didn't think it would be. Theirs trash and bullet shells scattered on the ground. Splashes of blood on the walls.

"Wowza this place is disgusting, still remind you of its glory days?" Hancock sneers, picking up a piece of trash and dropping in a nearby bin.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" A voice calls out from the darkness. I hear multiple guns cock. I turn around to see Hancock with his sawed off shotgun drawn.

"Were not alone." He says darkly. I pull out my pistol, aiming it around at doorways, windows, and roofs. A woman in rusted raider armor strolls out from behind the building. Her hair shaved on the sides, a messy undercut it seems to be. She has a long scar running down the side of her face, most likely received from a settlement raid or a cage fight, it lined her cheekbones and jawline.

"Y'all must have taken a walk into the wrong part of the woods." She chuckles, swinging her arm beside her and in her hand a noticeably large machete.
"Boys, what do we do about lost souls that wander into our neck of the woods?" She hollered to unseen members.

"We exterminate them!" The group voices. It sounds to be about nine or ten of them, nothing me and Hancock can't handle but these guys seem different, more sophisticated and dangerous. As I glance around more figures appear, each in a different type of garb, seemingly belonging to different groups. Every single one armed with some powerful weapon.

"Are we gonna talk or are you gonna shoot us? Pick one cause I'm getting bored." Hancock intimidates, swinging his shotgun towards the leader. A silence falls, the sounds of heavy breathing and guns cocking swimming in the air.

A shot rings out, a bullet connecting with the skull of one of the gang members. His head exploding and splattering in every direction. My head swings over towards Hancock, his gun aimed towards the raider that was now just a pile of blood. Then the shooting started, bullets whizzing by, flashes coming from darkened windows. I shoot out at the shadows standing in doorways, my days as a expert marksman treating me well as I hit every target with precision.
I hear a shout, the leader rushing towards me with her knife. I dodge her quick slashes and jump back, she's clearly trained. Leaping into a barrel roll behind a small wall I quickly hide waiting for her to run to me, Hancock drawing the fire away. I toss my other gun aside, letting her believe I'm unarmed, letting her believe that I'm vulnerable to be killed.  As she crept around the corner I pulled the trigger and my bullet met her brain. Standing up triumphantly I smile over to Hancock, I get a grunt in return as he stabs a stimpak into his leg.

"Wasn't to hard now was it?" I say, picking up my revolver I tossed aside off the concrete.

"You really are one crazy asshole, I like that." He flirted.

"Whatever lets get to the terminal." I laugh, walking towards the darkened tunnel.

"You really wanna go after all this? Plus it doesn't look like they've had power for a long time." He whispered as he flips a light switch on the terminal wall, stepping on a Nuka cola bottle, shattering it under his boot.

"Like hell the power doesn't work." I say flipping the main breaker, soon all the lights in the terminal turn on and an preprogrammed announcer begins speaking over the sound system.

"Welcome to Nuka World! We hope you enjoy your day at the park! Remember to pick up your souvenirs before you go!" 

Just then the doors on the monorail slide open, an eerie darkness filling the train.

"Pussies first" Hancock teases as he motions toward the empty cabin.