Fallout 3 - Beautiful Stranger

Chapter 24 Part 2

With his huge sword in hand, the King stepped into view. It cocked its head to the side and crouched down before Valrie and Gia. Even crouching, it still would have towered over them both. The King even appeared to smile as it reached out a huge, meaty hand, gently turning Valrie's face from one side to the other.

"And I know you, too, you big ugly mother fucker." She spat into the King's face and regretted it immediately. She didn't care if she died, but she may just have killed Gia, too. "Go fuck yourself."

"Feisty! I like feisty. It makes all this even more fun." The King laughed, wiping the spit from its face and then rubbed its hand on Valrie's coat. It turned to a Super Mutant beside it and stood up. "These two. Do not damage them!"

The King strode away, throwing its sword onto its shoulder, still laughing. The other Super Mutant pulled Valrie and Gia to their feet and pushed them forwards to follow the King. Valrie looked at Gia, still terrified, still crying, but with a hint of defiance in her eyes. Gia's way of being brave.

Unfortunately, what Valrie had told Gia was bullshit. She was lucky the girl didn't know that. Patience wasn't coming. Valrie doubted she was even alive, but, even if she was, there was no way she could get to them. As they turned the curve in the trench and saw what was ahead, she realised how true that was.

When she got to thirty Super Mutants and lost count, she knew she was as good as dead.

-+-

Through the scope Vincent had borrowed from the Brotherhood of Steel, Patience watched from her prone position above the trench network as she saw Valrie and Gia pushed through the doorway into what she could only imagine was a bunker of some kind. She lowered the scope and chewed on a fingernail as she considered her next move.

Raising the scope again, she surveyed the trench network and tried to count the number of Super Mutants and captives. There were around a hundred Super Mutants and almost as many captives, that she could see. Some areas of the trench network were out of her sight line and they could hide the same numbers of Super Mutants and captives.

Using stealth, she could, most likely, reach the bunker door undetected. Getting in, finding Valrie and Gia and getting out again would be another thing entirely. Two Super Mutants guarded the door entrance and movement in and out of the bunker by Super Mutants made keeping track was difficult. Apart from the different pieces of scrap they used for armour, she had no way of telling the creatures apart. They could be the same ones coming and going or different ones altogether.

She snapped her sidearm upwards at the sound coming from her left, only lowering it when she saw Vincent scrambling towards her, keeping extra low. He dropped to the ground beside her and raised his own scope to survey the area below. His power armour stood, looming and impassive a few feet behind where they lay.

"I've set charges in several locations up towards the Washington Memorial." He used his hand to indicate the areas. "Say the word and I'll suit up and be in position before you know it."

"There's too many of them." She flipped over onto her back, staring up at the cloudless sky. "It's going to be a bloodbath."

"What are you talking about? If anybody comes to help, and that's a big if, they know to retreat as soon as they're fired upon. You heard Three Dog on the radio." He raised the scope again and lowered it just as quick. "Look, I won't say it's the greatest plan ever, but it's all we have. You can't back out now. Valrie and Gia are down there."

"I know, and so are dozens of captured civilians." She covered her face with her hands, rubbing until her face burned. "We start this, they're all going to die. I can't justify their deaths for two people. Can I?"