Guns For Hire (R J MacCready)

Two Cities

It's a miracle I'd managed to survive this long. Countless times I'd ran into trouble whilst on my road to nowhere, and countless times I'd managed to survive. I was a cub, constantly stumbling blindly into the lion's den out here in the dystopian jungle, yet I'd somehow managed to refrain each time from being caught. Slavery had taught me one thing it seems, that being how to lay low and avoid danger at the hands of those out to harm you.
All I wanted was to go home, to my real home, but God forbid the impossibility of that. I was only six years of age when the raiders came, only six when I was sold into slavery. And now, sixteen years later I was finally free. Until they find me.

I poked my head out from the latest place I'd been hiding in, the smell no less pungent inside the trash can than the outside. I'd heard voices, and lost count of the number I'd gotten up to by the time they'd long gone. Now I found myself stumbling the streets once again, with no direction or destination.

"Coming to you from, uhh, the jewelled green..."

My heart stopped beating at the sound of a male voice.

"I mean the green, the uhh, Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth."

I pushed my back up against the wall, crouching to make myself as small as could be behind a raised wooden makeshift barrier. The sound of static could be heard approaching and I held my breath as it came to pass.

A robot.

"It's Diamond City Radio!"

A portable, hovering robot radio.

The breath of air I blew out in a huff was loud, though not quite so loud as the humiliation creeping up the back of my neck, sitting on the raised hairs. I stepped out of my hiding place, brushing the dirt from my legs, closing my eyes to sigh. I crept into the open once more and my heart leapt into my mouth upon bumping into someone. I screamed, startling him as much as our contact had frightened the both of us. I froze in place, unsure whether or not to run away, to scream again. I could've fainted.

"Hey, you OK lady?" His accent was thick, and though I wasn't sure what exactly it was, it was unlike any I'd ever heard before. "What are you doing out here all on your own? Are you even armed? My God, you're not a synth are you?" His expression turned horrified and he tightened his grip on the gun in his hands. I had no idea what a 'synth' was, but I felt that telling him that would've just made things worse.
"N-no, I'm not. Please don't shoot me! I'm just looking for a place to live but I'm lost. I promise, I'm not nasty."
His eyes narrowed and he looked me up and down.
"P-please, I have some caps, only a few. Where's Diamond City? Do you know? I heard about it on that radio thing. Do you think they'd take me in?" My voice sounded beyond desperate, and this man could see it in every ounce of my being.
"Come this way, Diamond City's just around the corner. I'll set you up a meeting with the mayor." He turned, and led me out of the alleyway. After a long few minutes, we appeared before an impressive fortification, its entirety a painted green. The Great Green Jewel.

A lady in a red trench coat stood outside the entrance. The gates were down and she was yelling frustratedly at an intercom. The man beside me let out a frustrated sigh.
"OK, wait here for me. Let me deal with this just one sec'." He headed towards her but stopped when she started yelling.

"What do you mean you can't open the gate? Stop playing around, Danny! I'm standing out in the open here for crying out loud!"
A man could be heard, his voice muffled through the speakers of the intercom, but I was stood close enough to hear.
"I got orders not to let you in, Ms. Piper, I'm sorry. I'm just doing my job."
"Oh, 'just doing your job?' Protecting Diamond City means keeping me out, is that it? 'Oh, look, it's the scary reporter! Boo!'"

My God, she's delusional. Had the raiders been shielding us from crazy people all this time?

"I'm sorry, but Mayor McDonough's really steamed, Piper. Sayin' that article you wrote is all lies. The whole city's in a tizzy."
The woman threw her gloved hands into the air and released a loud angry growl.
"Agh! You open this gate right now, Danny Sullivan! I live here. You can't just lock me out!" She sighed, defeated. "Dammit, Danny. Open up!" She spun around and noticed the security guard who'd stood watching with a smile, enjoying the sight of her being riled up. The only thing he'd been lacking was the popcorn.
She then spotted me, curious and timid behind him. She rose an inquisitive eyebrow, a devious smirk appearing.
"You, you want into Diamond City, right?" When I didn't respond, she nodded. "Play along. W-what was that?" Her voice rose, a deliberate act clearly intended to provoke. "You said you're a trader up from Quincy? You have enough supplies to keep the general store locked for a whole month? Huh."
The guard in front of me sighed again, stepping towards the woman.
"All right, shows over."
She ignored him. "You hear that, Danny? You gonna open the gate and let us in? Or are you going to be the one to tell crazy Myrna about-"
"Enough, Piper!" He rose his voice, approached the intercom. "Danny, it's Andrew. Look, you're gonna have to open the gate. Got a girl here, needs to speak to the mayor." Upon hearing his words, the lady eyed me again, curious as to what my intentions were.
"Jesus, she's a handful. Alright, he's on his way down. Give me a minute to open up."