Two Dead Worlds

Chapter 5: The beginnings

"Ah, Sanctuary Hills, so beautiful," Danny said sarcastically.

It was to be expected that even luxurious suburbs couldn't be left unscathed after the bombs fell. The group went over the half crumbled wooden bridge. The small one story buildings were lining the dented road. Rusty cars were near the houses, under the roofs sticking from the buildings specifically to cover them from the rains. It wasn't much of help, since the ceilings were filled with holes.

"Isn't much of a cozy place," Preston commented.

"Well, luxurious hotels are kind of extinct," Danny responded. "I once survived in a forest infested with mutants, tied to a woman who wanted to kill me herself. Compared to that, sleeping under such roof is a blessing."

"Damn, kid, where were your parents looking?" Sturges asked.

"Dunno," Danny shrugged. "But they are dead right now, anyways."

"Oh, I'm sorry," the pompadour haired man said awkwardly.

"Don't be, I've dealt with this long ago. People live, people pass, such is the way of life."

Once again, the group found that the kid seemed to be much older than he looked. Preston suddenly got a question.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Heh, my teenage years were filled with fighting for my dear little life. Or what remained of it. Lately I've been living in royal conditions, I had delicious food, I was protected by a hundred of bodyguards, but it just felt so dull. That's why I set off to explore this radiation infested world. So much danger and thrill."

Sturges whistled. "Is your family a bunch of big shots?"

"Well, only me. I don't have a family whatsoever. I killed one nasty guy, and some of the locals are ready to worship me because of it. They already do. I was put in charge of that land, despite my age. Now they can fare without me for a few months. Then I'll go back to my duties as their leader."

The conversation came to an end. The group needed to take care of their living conditions. They picked the less destroyed house, which looked like a typical advertisement of American dream. Danny volunteered to do the hard labor. He brought the scrap pieces from around the neighborhood, killing a few oversized roaches in the process, in order to cover the holes. The humans were surprised that someone so agile in combat could be so clumsy at the same time. Phantom hit his fingers a few times as he worked with nails, causing everyone to laugh.

The house still looked like a piece of garbage, but it was more tolerable. The group at from the scarce source - a few tin cans with beans which they warmed up over the fire. They were supposed to sleep where they could, someone on the sofa, someone on the bed. Neither of those were in satisfactory condition. Danny stayed awake, saying that he would be on the lookout. Preston insisted that Phantom woke him up in the middle of the night. The half ghost had no such intention, he could stay for its entirety.

After everyone fell asleep, Danny quickly got bored. After all, there was nothing to do. He got up and decided to have a short walk around. Sanctuary seemed dull and lifeless, just like everything he had seen so far. He walked down the street, shot a few roaches with ectoblasts, not willing to waste ammo others might need in the future. But that just wasn't funny. Danny wanted adventures, not work as a sanitation cleaning, that's why he came into that world.

Once Phantom returned to the house, he suddenly saw that Preston was awake, leaning against the doorway. He narrowed his eyes at the ghost.

"I asked you to wake me up."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Relax, I just went scouting. Nothing but roaches around here."

The dark skinned man sighed. "I guess there is a discipline to be learned."