Hours Later
"Hey, Mac," I said, tossing a rock between my hands.
"Don't call me Mac," he mumbled.
"Whatever." I threw the rock up high, watching it flip and then catching it. "I never told you where we're going, huh?"
"I don't think so," he responded. "You reminded me. I forgot to ask."
"Mass Pike Interchange."
"Dear lord," he sighed exaggeratedly. "You're not being serious, I can't go back there."
"Look, I get that you have shit with Winlock and Barnes, but I need to go there."
"For what?"
"I'm looking for my brother."
MacCready stopped walking. I turned around and looked at him. "Your brother?" He asked after a second. I nodded slowly. "Does he look anything like you?"
I tilted my head slightly. "He's my brother, of course he looks like me."
"Describe him. I might be able to tell you if he's... alive."
"How would you kn- wait. You were in Winlock's gang of gunners?"
"...Yeah? Why else would he track me down like a damn molerat in his backyard?"
"I thought he was just working with someone else-"
"How would that make sense?"
"I... guess it doesn't."
"Exactly. So anyway," He looked down at me. "What did he look like?"
"He has- or, had- my brown hair and my dad's brownish-hazel eyes. He also had tan skin and freckles."
"...What was his name?"
"Nico."
"Yeah, he's alive alright." He seemed to be in deep thought about Nico. "I was there the day Winlock came back with a group of raiders he had taken..." his voice faded off, then he exclaimed, "You're a raider?"
"Shut up," I said, as if someone could hear us. "It's not something I'm proud of."
"What, you think I'm proud of being a part of the gunners??" His tone instantly changed; he was angry. "I told my wife I was a god damn soldier!" At the speaking of those words he instantly silenced himself, storming ahead of me. I let my mouth open, then closed it, mulling over my words.
"You have a wife?"
"Had." He responded, sadly now.
"Shit, MacCready, I'm sorry." I bit the fingernails of my right hand as I shuffled behind him.
"Thanks," He said, almost with no emotion. "I... back to Nico. He and a bunch of the other raiders were taken as captives, forced to become gunners. If they didn't comply, Winlock killed them."
"So you weren't there at the high school?"
"No, I stayed back for that mission."
I remembered something that made my heart stop. The sniper with the green hat.
"Where did you get your hat?" I asked, a shakiness in my voice.
"One of the gunners that went on that mission," he responded. "His name was Ryan. He was a good friend of mine. Weeks after he got back from that mission, he went out to the Glowing Sea."
"Why the hell would he-"
"I- I don't know," He said quickly. "None of us did. He was just gone one day. Left in the middle of the night. He came back in a week, in the worst condition we had ever seen him. He didn't bring any sort of radiation protection there. We had him confined to a bed, dosing him with Rad X and RadAway."
"Christ," I muttered.
MacCready sighed. "He was too young to die. He was 15, the youngest out of all of us at the time. It's Winlock's fault he's dead." He balled his fists in anger, then let his hands relax with a strained sigh. He looked at me. "Since we're going to Mass Pike, can you do something for me?"
"Of course."
"I need you to help me kill Winlock and Barnes."
I blinked. "I was planning on that already."
"You're not very good at making plans, are you?"
"Guess not," I chuckled.
"I... I don't usually tell people this much. Something tells me you actually care about what happens to me, though. And I guess that's why I'm telling you."
I smiled, looking down. It felt good to be trusted, or somewhat trusted. I looked at my map again. we only had an hour of walking left.
Great.
~~~~~~~~~~
Later
I was about to jam a stimpack into my arm when MacCready grabbed it from me.
"You're gonna make yourself sick," He said, annoyed. "Put it back in your bag."
"Okay, mom," I mocked, rolling my eyes. I shoved the stimpack in my bag. He seemed satisfied.
"Where are we?" He asked.
"Uhhh..." I looked down at my map. "Holy shit, we're not that far from Mass Pike. It's just South of here." I looked at the time. 6:30. "We should go in the morning, when they're just waking up and out of it."
"Smart," He agreed. We walked around the gunner's floor base underneath the skyway and headed down a hill towards the small building.
I balled my fists after setting my bag down, fighting the urge to grab the stimpack.
"You know there's a thing called stimpack sickness, right?" he said, leaning up against the wall and lighting a cigarette.
I backed up to get out of the range of the smoke. "You're making that up."
"No, I'm being serious. You can get really sick from using stimpacks too often."
"You can get really sick from smoking, too." I sighed. "You're just being paranoid. Like my mom was."
He rolled his eyes. "I've heard plenty of horrible parent stories. Kind of makes me glad I never knew mine."
"Sometimes I wish I wasn't born a raider."
He flicked his cigarette to the floor and stomped on it, crushing the ember. "Makes sense. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to resort to being a mercenary."
I nodded, looking at him. "Is it genetic?" He asked.
"Is what genetic?"
"Your eyes."
"Oh. I was the only one in the gang with them, so probably not." I covered my eyes self consciously. One was hazel, like my father's, and one was cobalt blue.
"It's actually kind of cool."
"You think so?" I uncovered them.
"I've never seen anyone else with eyes like that. It's unique."
I smiled. I turned to my bag and took out a snack cake, handing it to MacCready.
"Thanks," he mumbled, turning away slightly.
I looked down at my boots, narrowing my eyes as I thought deeply. I had absolutely no plan on how this was going to go down.
I guess I'd just have to wing it.
