I hoped my pistol would be strong enough to kill it. Normal ghouls were very few shots, or one in the head, but Glowing Ones are a lot stronger.
The filthy fucking bastard stepped out in front of the bushes. I breathed through my mouth so I wouldn't throw up at the smell, but it somehow burned my mouth still. It saw me right away and growled. My Geiger counter kept clicking, and it got harder for me to focus because of the noise.
I aimed my gun at it. "Calm down!" I said steadily. "You freak." I added under my breath.
It seemingly calmed, but then charged at me. I shot it once, but that did nothing. I shot again. It dove at me, but I jumped out of the way just in time. I shot it three times, right below the neck. I cursed under my breath for missing it's head 5 times.
It wasn't going down easy.
It quickly got back up and started lingering towards me. I was far enough away to take a second to aim. I had my aim set, but just before I could shoot, it let out a wave of radiation. I closed my eyes as I fell to the ground, the force of the wave knocking me down. I felt tears sting my eyes as the radiation hit.
I quickly got back up to the sound of more growling. I froze, squinting into the darkness to see how many more ghouls there were.
Six more ghouls had gotten up. "Fuck." I said as I remembered that the Glowing One can reincarnate other ghouls.
I didn't know which ghoul to shoot first. I might be wasting bullets if I shoot the normal ghouls first because the Glowing One can get them back up, but I would be hastily outnumbered, again, with less bullets if I killed the Glowing One first.
I made up my mind and emptied the rest of the magazine into the Glowing One's forehead. It stumbled a bit, but finally fell to the ground, lifeless. I reloaded my gun.
All at once, the six ghouls that were left charged at me. Most of them missed, but one tackled me to the floor. I placed the barrel of my gun to it's forehead and shot it point blank. It fell on top of me, and I shoved the corpse off of me and got up.
Another two dove at me, but I shot them both down with one hit in the head.
Three left. Sweat dripped down my forehead. I shot one of them twice in the torso, causing it to drop dead.
The two that were left kept twitching as they walked towards me slowly. I shivered at their jerky movements. It's like they're animated.
"Augh-" I felt something swipe my shoulder from behind, tearing the old wound open. I turned to the side. Another feral.
I shot it twice, but it still got back up. I groaned in annoyance and pain and shot it again, finally taking it down. One of the others had moved in front of me, and I took it down with one shot between the eyes.
I had my back turned from the other feral, so when I turned around I was face to face with it just as it had dove at me. It tackled me to the ground and gnashed at me. I fumbled with my gun as I tried to shoot at it.
The trigger jammed.
"No, not now, please!" I growled, repeatedly pulling the trigger to no avail. I reached for one of my knives and it slashed my arm. I yelled out and grabbed my knife. I shoved the ghoul away and held my knife out as I stood up. I felt more tears sting my eyes, out of pain, fear and frustration.
I swung my knife at it repeatedly, stabbing it viciously over and over until I knew it was dead. I groaned under my breath as I held my arm. I didn't think I had woken MacCready up. Either way, I didn't bother to go inside and treat my wounds.
Instead, I sat on the railing of the porch, spat blood, and continued to keep watch until I fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning
MacCready woke up around 8, shortly after me. I was surprised I hadn't fallen off the railing of the porch, considering I had fallen asleep sitting up on it, slumped against the large piece of wood that was barely holding the second story balcony up.
The pain in my arm and shoulder had noticeably increased to to the point where I almost didn't want to move. I winced as I held in a groan, trying to make as little noise as possible.
"I'm surprised you managed to stay out here all night."
I stayed silent for a second. "I'm surprised you managed to sleep all night."
"Feels kind of good to be able to sleep with both eyes closed." He leaned over the balcony. "And you? Are you alright?"
I laughed, still holding my arm. "Woah, he cares?"
"I just don't want to have to drag you across the commonwealth."
I turned and looked at him. "Fair enough." I swung my legs over and hopped onto the porch. I walked into the shack and rummaged through my bag for my medical supplies. "I tried my best to keep those ferals off your back."
"Oh, sh- ouch," He said, finally looking down at my arm. The fabric of my armor was torn and covered with blood. He looked over his shoulder and noticed all the dead ghouls. "You could've woken me up or something-"
I shrugged. "You could've woken up to all the gunshots. Besides, I'll be fine." I jammed a Stimpack into my arm, feeling instant relief.
"I owe you one, then."
"You really like to keep things even, don't you?" I tore off the bloodied sleeve and threw it across the room, cleaning my wounds and starting to wrap my arm in bandages.
When I had finished with the section of my forearm, I realized I couldn't reach my shoulder. "You want to be even?" I tossed him the roll of bandages. "Help me wrap my shoulder. Please."
He knelt down and wrapped my shoulder while I sat as still as possible.
"Alright. You're all good." He handed me the roll of bandages and I put it back in my bag.
I looked up at him. "Thank you."
"Yeah, yeah." He turned and walked back outside. I laughed.
"Ready to head back out?" I asked, standing back up and dusting off my thighs.
"Are you steady enough to go?" He said from outside. "You don't need any RadAway or anything?"
I laughed under my breath. "If my arm turns yellowy-green or I start melting, just let me know, okay?"
He chuckled, which surprised me. "Sure thing, boss. Lead the way."
