บท 6: Chapter 6: Walk With The Bear
"Why do you keep doing this?" The Prodigy asked the abyss.
"Why not?" A shadowy figure had emerged from the darkness, it's voice sounded charred and raspy. "It's not like we've killed anyone for no reason!"
"You shot a man who insulted Vault Dweller's." Micheal corrected.
"Okay, yes, I did do that. But you wanted him to stop too!" The figure argued.
"I wanted him to stop, not drop." Micheal said. "And stop doing that shadow shit! You look stupid as hell."
"Ugh..Fine." The figure twisted and turned until it gained a physical form. It looked like a clean version of Micheal, all except the red eyes.
"Better." Micheal said. "You can't just go around killing people you don't like. If you did that, we'll both drop dead." He got back on topic.
"If it weren't for me, you'd be dead." The figure said. "I gave you the strength to get back up!"
"And then we were shot a bunch of more times for your recklessness." Micheal said. "You've been like this ever since I was a kid!"
"You. Are. Weak!" The figure said. "If it weren't for me, you would've been killed in the vault. All I see you doing is hacking terminals, rearranging wires and repairing old weapons."
"At least I know how to use a weapon! You wouldn't even know what a gun is if I hadn't told you." Micheal said.
"I kept us alive! I've been by your side for years, without ever complaining. But now that we're out there, in The Wasteland, I can finally use my skills and help us!" The figure said.
"We have a mission to do, so we have to work together. But if you don't control yourself, I'll have to take drastic measures to shut you up." Micheal said.
"...Fine. But don't you think for a second that I'll stay quiet." The figure said. "You better hurry up and get back on your feet, they're starting to go numb."
The figure disappeared and the black abyss around Micheal began to illuminate into a blinding white. The world had seemed to fly past and his body felt weightless. The numbness of his being was overwhelming at first, but soon it began to hurt, liked he'd been shot. His ears rang and whistled around him.
Micheal fluttered his eyes open and the ringing soon became the ambient sound of footsteps and chattering from a distance. Micheal found himself in a bed of the medical ward in the community center. He tried to prop himself up, but the slight pain brought him back down.
"Wh..What the fuck?" He said lightly. His mind was still woozy from his slumber.
He saw bandages wrapped around his torso, but the bullet wounds looked as if they almost healed. He heard the door to the corridor open and looked over to the entrance of the room.
"Oh! You're up." It was that girl from the cafeteria, Jordan. "Glad to see you didn't bit the bullet. A lot of people were worried when you dropped." She said.
"I ain't dead yet..I'm too stubborn to die." He grunted as he tried to get up again. Jordan helped him sit up on the bed.
"Take it easy. You were shot at least five times." She said.
She went over to the edge of his bed and grabbed a clipboard of Micheal's progress.
"We were able to get the bullets out, but it's honestly a miracle you're still alive." She said. "Your body seemed to just start healing itself in just three hours! Usually an injury like yours takes days."
"How flattering." Micheal said.
"Where are my manners? I'm Jordon Optimo, Interplace's medic." She introduced herself.
"The medic? How old are you? You don't look any older than me." Micheal asked.
"How flattering." She repeated her patients words. "To let you know, I'm fifteen."
"Fifteen? And you're the only medic?" The young Vault Dweller asked.
"Yep. Well, besides my little sister of course, but she mostly works on taking temperatures and giving out bandaids. I do the heavy work." She explained.
"Shit. I guess you're a prodigy too." Micheal said.
"Heh. Yeah, I guess." She said.
"...Weren't you the one that said I was fake?" Micheal recalled.
"Yeah..But after what I saw out there, shit, I believe every word the radio said now." She said.
Micheal analyzed her. She was a little shorter than him, but still able to reach his forehead. She had short, messy black hair styled in a pixie cut, wore handmade overalls that formed a skirt, a black shirt under the overall, and dirty sneakers. She was a lot cleaner than most wastelander's, Micheal could even see her being attractive.
"There's a lot of things the radio doesn't tell ya." Micheal said.
"Yeah." She said. "Anyway, you've been out for a bit."
"How long? A couple hours?" Micheal asked.
"Try a few days, three to be exact." She told.
"Three days!? God! They must've got me good." He exclaimed. "Now I understand what he meant by numb." He mumbled to himself.
"It's pretty incredible how fast your skin grew back in that time period. It looks like it's been healing for weeks!" Jordan said. "I took some samples from you to see if I can try and figure out what made you heal so fast."
"Samples? You took samples?!" Micheal asked.
"Well, yeah. A lot of samples.." She didn't want to say.
"Did you take any of my blood?!" Micheal said in a panic.
"Of course. I kept it all in a bloodbag." She said. Micheal stood up.
"I want you to get rid of it." Micheal demanded.
"What?" She said, confused.
"Burn it, bury it, I don't care what you do with it. Just get rid of it. It's dangerous to have my blood around." He said.
"Why? Do you have a disease?" She asked.
"No. At least something that isn't dangerous to me." He said.
"What is that suppose to mean?" Jordan asked.
"Please. If you use my blood, dangerous things could happen." He warned.
"It's Vault Dweller blood! It's some of the most cleanest blood in The Wasteland." She argued.
"You use my blood on anyone, or even try to test on it, there will be dire consequences the likes of which you have never seen." Micheal warned.
"Sorry dude, that stuffs fresh. It ain't going nowhere." She refused to destroy the blood.
"You don't understand. That blood...It's tainted. It's unusable to others. If you use that on another person, God forbid you actually do it, I predict one of three things will happen: 1. They'll die. 2. They'll go crazy. 3. They'll go crazy, and then die." Micheal said. "I know all too well what's going on with me, that's why I'm out here."
"I'll believe it when I see it, Vault Dweller." She said and walked out the room.
"Poor fool...Where's my stuff?" Micheal looked around and spotted his belongings in a container near the door.
He suited back up and walked out into the corridor to try and find his companions. He traversed through the hallways of the community center and left the old building to search for his colleagues. He looked down the old pavement road and saw the many buildings and strangers of the town.
"Man fuck this." He said.
He whistled loudly to the air in hopes of something listening. After a few seconds of nothing, something came running at him. It was Dogmeat, he had called to his dog. Dogmeat jumped on Micheal and whined in happiness and excitement to his friend again.
"Hey boy!" Micheal said to his dog as the canine ran in circles around him. "Glad to see you stuck around." Dogmeat sat in front of his owner and barked.
"Think you can find the others, boy?" Micheal said.
Dogmeat yipped and ran off with his master following him. He stopped at the bar and Micheal went inside. The old bar was rickety with little service today, besides the usual drunks and hopeless heathens. He saw one his companions at the bar, just...sitting there, staring at their drink. It was Bonnie. She seemed to be drifting in space. Micheal went and pulled up a stool next to her, she didn't notice him at first.
"How's space? Find any of those Martians?" Micheal jokingly said to her. She glanced at the person talking to her and darted her eyes in surprise.
"...Micheal?" She said.
"The one and only." He said.
"H-Holy shit! We thought you bit the bullet. How in the fuck are you alive?" She asked.
"Takes a lot more than that to put me down. I'm too stubborn to die." Micheal said. "Where's our Paladin?"
"He's been studying the local wildlife 'round here. Apparently some animals haven't gone extinct this side of Nebraska." She said. "Should find him a stone throws away from this place."
"...Should we go get him?" Micheal asked.
"I'm gonna say no, but you're gonna do it anyway." She said.
She chugged her drink down and got up. Micheal, Bonnie and Dogmeat left the town of Interplace to search for their Brotherhood comrade. They searched the surrounding areas of the town and eventually found their hulking metal man with some kind of mutated animal.
"Hey! You're back on your feet. Good." Jenkins said when he met the trio again.
"What in the fuck is that?" Bonnie ask. Jenkins had brought some kind of mutated being on four legs. It's skull was showing, but it looks as if the bone has formed into some kind of armor. Its mouth could hinge open like a snake and could bite someone's head off. It had hair, but it was more like a second layer of skin, like an onion. This goddamn thing looked like it climbed out a grave, climbed back into the grave, came out again, and was blasted by a literal nuclear fucking holocaust...and inbreeding. The fucking thing had muscles!
"This is an Equidae, used to be known as a horse before the war." Jenkins explained.
"That thing looks like a mutilated nut-sack, Jenkins." Micheal said. Jenkins looked at the horse.
"...Yeah." He agreed. "But it's a lot better than traveling by foot. There's a whole herd of them nearby."
"Fuck that! I ain't riding whatever that is. For all I know, it could grow it's skin and devour me." Bonnie said.
"Come on! It can't do that." Jenkins said. The Equidae stuck its tentacle tongue out and licked it's own eyeball as the trio watched in silence.
"Fuck. That." Bonnie was dead-set on not riding it.
"Well, what do you suppose we do, huh?" Jenkins said.
"I may have an idea." Micheal said.
It took two hours of taming those fucking undead pricks, but they finally wrangled the ones they needed. They went back to the town and stole a wagon and some rope. You know, like sensible people. They tied the rope to the horses and the wagon to make a chariot. The group hopped on the carriage and Micheal grabbed the rope.
"You guys better hold on, it's gonna get bumpy." He said. "HYA!" He whipped the rope and the carriage drove off faster down Interstate 29 than a skinny white guy driving through a black neighborhood. Hit a tree doing that, fucking idiot went flying out his windshield.
"So how long is this gonna be?" Bonnie asked.
"By my estimation...4 hours, if we're lucky." Micheal said. These mutated horses were a lot faster than their Pre-War ancestors. "And that's good 'cause we're three days behind schedule."
"...Where'd you get the Fat Man?" Jenkins asked.
"I found it in one the supply rooms, as well as the items I needed to make my Shishkebab." Micheal said.
"Shishkebab? Is that what you call your sword?" Bonnie said.
"No. That's what the blueprints called it." The young Vault Dweller said.
"There were blueprints?" Bonnie asked.
"Not necessarily "blueprints", more like a drawing of it. It's all in a book I picked up." Micheal said. "Still got it on me." He handed the book to Bonnie and she looked through it.
"You reckon you can make all this shit?" She said.
"With the right materials and tools, I could." Micheal said. "Hey, whatever happened to Davy Crockett?" He asked.
"The Fat Man? The founder took it for some reason. Probably to analyze it." Jenkins said.
"Huh. Alright." Micheal said.
The group rode for hours and talked for most of it. It was midday around the point they reached the outskirts of Sioux City. There was an old sign that used to be the welcome sign, but was now painted with the words "WARNING: YAO GUAI." Bonnie and Jenkins got their guns ready when they saw the warning.
"Keep vigilant. Aim for the head." Jenkins ordered.
"What? What are you talking about?" Micheal was confused.
"This is Yao Guai territory. Must've moved in after the Brotherhood patrol." Jenkins explained.
"What's a 'Yao Guai?' Sounds foreign." Micheal asked.
"Mutant bear." Bonnie bluntly said.
Micheal stopped the carriage just outside the city. Jenkins and Bonnie jumped out to scout ahead.
"You stay here. We'll try and sweep the town." Bonnie ordered. "Don't wander off this time."
"Alright, fine. I won't." Micheal said.
The duo left Micheal in the carriage to scout the city. Micheal looked around and saw nothing, other than the city, for miles. He fiddled with his Pip-Boy to turned on the radio and Pilgrim Radio was still on the air. He turned it on and was blasted by the song "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" by Frank Lymon and The Teenagers. It was some jazzy pop song about asking why fools fall in love, a song you'd usually hear in a diner.
"If there's one good thing about the outside world, it's the music." Micheal said to himself.
Dogmeat barked at something. Micheal looked over and saw that something was trying to sneak around the side of the carriage. The thing reached the front of the carriage to try and jump Micheal, but they were met with a revolver aimed right between their eyes.
"So..You're one of those Yao Guai, I presume?" He said to the creature.
The creature raised its head only to reveal that it wasn't a bear at all. It was a human wearing Yao Guai skin.
"Ah shit." Micheal said.
He was soon surrounded by multiple people wielding spears, bows and some homemade weaponry. They were tribals.
Meanwhile, Bonnie and Jenkins were scouting an empty city. Minus the occasional radroach, the place was deserted long ago.
"-Where are all the Yao Guai?" Bonnie asked.
"I don't know. Keep your eyes peeled." Jenkins ordered.
"They've been peeled, you radsack." Bonnie said. "And they haven't seen nothing. Shit, you think they got to Mikey?"
"I doubt they all went to Micheal. Besides, Becker can handle himself." Jenkins said.
"I don't know man, this just doesn't seem right. Like, somethings not right." She said.
A gun fired and the bullet landed next to Jenkins, which kicked up the dust and went straight into the pavement with the force of a cannonball. The duo aimed their weapons at where the bullet came from and was met with the shooter atop one of the building.
"Well...we found no Yao Guai." Jenkins said. "But we certainly found a bear."
The Prodigy wasn't fairing too well. It just seems like every fucking moment this guy takes a step, something happens. Currently, he was tied up and being dragged through the dirt to the tribes cave. They had Dogmeat in a cage not too far from Micheal. The members all appeared to be wearing this "Yao Guai" fur and skin, as if they defined their whole tribe off it. They had face paint on and barely wore anything to cover their bodies, besides the rags they pieced together.
"Is this really necessary?" Micheal said. "There has to be a better method of getting me here."
"Quiet!" One of the clansmen ordered. "You're presence defiles our sacred land, outsider."
"In what way? Tell me, in what way have I "defiled" your land?" Micheal said.
"You bring with you foreign animals to our land. That is punishable by death." The tribal said. "Not only do you bring abominations on wheels, you also bring the one on four legs and makes that horrid sound."
"Dogmeat? That's a dog." Micheal responded.
"Those beasts are the animal those Legion brought. You must be Legion." They thought he was part of the Legion.
"Woah woah woah. I ain't Legion, buddy. Three days ago I slaughtered an entire army of Legates a little ways down South of here." Micheal said.
"Silence! We are almost there." The tribal commanded.
The tribals dragged Micheal deep within the caves labyrinth. They had built their home in a cavern with wooden bridges and lights. There were cave drawings on the walls consisting of strange symbols and imagery. The tribal members dropped Micheal in front of something. When he looked up, he could see a man sitting on some sort of makeshift throne. He appeared old, but still had muscle to him, and had tattoos and more bear stuff. This was the tribes leader: Standing-Bear.
"What brings you to me?" Standing-Bear said in his deep voice.
"High-Father, we found this outsider on our land. He had brought with him beasts that were not bear." The tribal said. "He has brought with him those beasts the Legion use against us."
"You assume he of the bull?" The leader asked. "He does not appear to be usual Legate."
"A disguise! Legion spies used them against the Jucipie." The tribesman claimed. "He was carrying these."
He gave his leader all of Micheal's possessions: his revolver, shotgun, Shishkebab and even his Pip-Boy. The leader analyzed what was presented to him, but he analyzed the Pip-Boy in particular.
"Obviously a kind of power fist Legion brought and made they usually wear." The clansman said.
"Cub, this not "power fist." You sorely mistaken." The leader said. "You did not capture Legate, you capture Vault Dweller. Very rare." They appeared to speak in some kind of broken English, but could be understood.
"But High-Father, he bring the howling monster back to us." The tribesman argued.
"Legion have monster. Vault Dweller have friend." Standing-Bear said.
Standing-Bear went up to Micheal and released him from his restraints and ordered Dogmeat to be let out of his cage. The canine joined his master at his side.
"Great Grandfather told stories of Vault Dwellers to me when I was cub. You are rare as clean water." He said to Micheal. "Showed us pictures of one they call "Vault Boy" many years ago."
"Uh..Thanks, I guess." Micheal said.
"What bring Dweller of Vault here?" He asked.
"I'm on a mission; seeking a man who could help me find something that could save my vault. Are you him?" Micheal said.
"Hah hah! No. No, not him I. But know of whom you speak." The leader said.
"Then you can help me?" Micheal asked.
"No price goes unpaid. I shall give information, for something in return." He said.
"Let me guess: You don't really care about caps, do you?" Micheal said as he crossed his arms.
"No. Caps mean value to currency. What we want worth more than cap." Standing-Bear said.
"Well, what is it?" Micheal asked.
Standing-Bear guided him deeper into the cavern and brought him to some kind of holy area. The place was ankle-deep with water, but lit up by candles. There was a stone pillar in the center of it, but it appeared something was suppose to go on it.
"Thief come here days ago and steal most sacred items: The Necklace of Sincala-Adium, and water from his container." Standing-Bear said. "He was founder of Yao Guai clan; I am descendant of his bloodline."
"And you want me to get it back?" Micheal asked.
"Yes. It is most sacred treasure." The leader claimed.
"What's with the water though? Why'd they steal that? Is it fresh?" The conflicted Vault Dweller asked.
"The water hold mystical powers of Yao Guai. People who drink out of container meet The Great Spirit, but are forced to fight. No one has won. No one, except Sincala-Adium." He said.
"Do you know where the thief is?" Micheal asked.
"No. But my cubs scout a hooded figure coming from an old home to the East of the city. Go there." He said.
"And what if I say no?" Micheal asked.
Standing-Bear whistled and three tribals grabbed hold of Dogmeat and threw him back in the cage.
"We kill dog, and then kill you." He said. "This is not up for discussion."
"..You son of a bitch. Fine, I'll do your little errand. But I want my belongings back." Micheal said.
"You be given one weapon of your choice. Choose wisely." The leader said.
"Come on. I'm going up against God knows what and you expect me to fight it only one of my weapons? From my speculations: I have an estimated 90% of dying!" Micheal argued.
"There is still a 10%." He denied him his weapons. "Choose wisely."
"...You're really gonna make me do this..Fine. I'll take my Shishkebab, it's better to have a weapon that won't run out of ammo." Micheal requested.
The tribesmen gave him back his sword and sent him on his way to the location they scouted. Meanwhile, Jenkins and Bonnie were fighting with their own kind of bear.
"I can't fucking believe this. First, we fight a giant mutant. Now, we're at gunpoint with this prick." Bonnie said with her gun still pointed at the sniper.
"Put your guns down and no one has to die." The sniper ordered.
"Oh, really? That's a uncommon request Especially from your kind, Ranger." Jenkins said.
The duo had come in contact with an NCR Desert Ranger. The Ranger had riot armor under an old, cloth duster, ripped denim jeans, a helmet with a gas mask that covered their face, bright red eyes for visors, and wielding an Anti-Material Rifle.
"You're a long way from California, NCR. Especially so far across Legion territory. What's the occasion?" Bonnie mocked.
"That's classified." The Ranger said. "I'm gonna say this one more time: Put down your guns and no one gets hurt."
"Better listen to him, an Anti-Material Rifle is basically an arm cannon." Jenkins said.
"...Fine." Bonnie reluctantly agreed.
The duo put down their guns and the Ranger did as well. The situation was calm, for the moment.
"What brings a Brotherhood Paladin and a Mercenary here?" The Ranger asked.
"That's classified." Jenkins mockingly repeated the Ranger's words.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter." The Ranger said. "Perhaps you two could help me."
"With what? Spreading your ego?" Bonnie continued to mock.
"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that. I'm looking for someone: a Vault Dweller; wears a blue jumpsuit with a 25 on the back. He was at Interplace not too long ago. You seen him?" The Ranger asked.
"No. No, we haven't seen a Vault Dweller." Bonnie lied. "Why are you looking for him?"
"...That's classified." The Ranger answered. "Thank you for the assist. I'll leave you two back to...whatever you're doing."
The Ranger walked off into the city. Jenkins and Bonnie turned around and bolted back to the cart to get Micheal the hell out of here. But when they returned to the carriage, the Equidae were dead and Micheal and Dogmeat were missing.
"Ah fuck!" Bonnie screamed in frustration. "Think it was that ranger?"
"No. Even rangers don't move that fast." Jenkins said. "Yao Guai?"
"I doubt it. Yao Guai don't just leave fresh meat." Bonnie replied.
"Look! Drag marks." Jenkins pointed to a line in the sand. "I think he was kidnapped."
"Well, why're we just standing around? C'mon!" Bonnie said.
The duo followed the trail that could lead them to their missing ally. Meanwhile, Micheal was on a mission to find some necklace and spit water from some prick long dead.
"How is someone suppose to find shit around here?" He asked himself.
He had been walking around the East side of the city and found nothing. He found a domestic kind of neighborhood, but he was unsure which house it would be in.
"Great description, asshole. "An old home." Which fucking old home?!" He said.
Micheal saw a door to one home open and he hid behind a destroyed car. He looked over and saw it was a hooded figure leaving the house. He waited until they were out of sight before entering the house. Once they were gone, he sneaked over to the door, only for it to be locked.
"Of course. Great. What now?" Micheal didn't have any bobby-pins, so he had to think of another way in. In a brilliant moment of not giving a fuck, Micheal threw a mailbox through one of the windows. He cleared the remaining shards of glass off the frame and climbed through.
"Fucking brilliant. Now, where is this damn necklace?" He carefully scoured the house. It looked pristine, well, as pristine as anyone in this hellhole can make anything look pretty. He looked through the rooms and eventually found some child's bedroom. Inside was a crib, toys, photos and books. On the nightstand was a photo of a man; they looked like they were part of the military or something. In front of the photo were dog tags and a canteen. Micheal picked up the dog tags and read them. They were a little dirty, but Micheal could make them out.
"Sinclair, Adam J." He read out loud. "123-45-6832; O Positive; Christian." This was the "necklace" the tribals wanted back.
"I suppose this is Adam?" He said as he looked at the photo. He picked up the canteen and, sure enough, it did have water in it. Micheal decided to take a swig to quench his thirst, he hadn't drunken anything for awhile. Tasted like shit, but it's better than chugging soda everyday. Just then, there was a gun cock behind him.
"Put that down." The person had returned home.
Micheal put the canteen back on the nightstand and turned around to face the hooded figure. They were aiming an M9 at him and were keen on pulling the trigger.
"You got two seconds before I shoot you." They threatened. Their voice sounded raspy, like it was burnt.
"Okay. I was sent by the tribe to retrieve their property." Micheal explained.
"Their property? It doesn't belong to them, it belongs to me." They said.
"Why? Are you Adam Sinclair?" Micheal asked.
"No, but you can say I knew him." They replied.
"If you're not him, then who are you?" Micheal was confused.
"Wouldn't you like to know? Those savages are nothing but a twisted vision of him." They said. "They shouldn't have what rightfully belongs here."
"Judging by the decor of this room, I suspect you have some twisted fantasy of him being your child?" Micheal claimed.
"I didn't think he was my child, he was my child!" The person pulled down their hood to reveal a ghoulified woman. "I'm his mother, smooth-skin."
"Oh shit! Then, what happened to Adam?" Micheal asked.
"I don't know. And I doubt you'll ever find out." She was going to kill Micheal.
"...Did you ever get to spend time with Adam after the military?" Micheal asked.
"What? Why would you want to know?" She said.
"It just seems like you long for something. The decor, the house, the fact that you stole his dog tags from some tribe. You miss him, don't you?" Micheal said.
"You're gonna die, I swear." She said.
"It's only natural for a mother to miss their kid. I can't imagine how long you've been without him." Micheal continued.
"Shut up. I swear I'll blast your fucking brains out." She put the gun up against his head.
"I can also imagine he missed you. Going off into the army, thinking of when he'll come home." He was trying to use her emotions to his benefit.
"Don't you ever shut up?!" She was getting angrier. "You didn't know him!"
"Well, I just want to let you know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry things turned out the way they did, I lost my family as well. I've been running around The Wasteland for what's felt like forever; trying to find something to fix my vault and save my people. But I don't know if I can do it. I don't know if I can actually save them. I have a chance to try and hope to fix what I lost, but you can't. Your son is long dead and you can't just try and bring him back, it'll never happen. I'm sorry." Micheal said.
The mother was ready to put a bullet in his head; blast his brains out of his skull. Yet, she didn't. She put the gun down and backed away from Micheal. She hung her head, and began to cry.
"I..I..You don't know that. He's my son..I held him in my arms..I..Oh god.." Tears rolled down her irradiated skin. "I miss him..I never even got to say goodbye...When the bombs fell, I-I was so scared..two decades and those items are the only thing I have left of him..."
"I understand your pain. The feeling of loneliness and dread, I know it all too well." Micheal said. "But that's why I'm out here; to save my people by any means necessary. If I bring these items back to the tribe, they'll tell me where to go."
The woman leaned against a wall and slumped to the ground in sorrow. The entire time she was alive, she had searched for any remnants of her son. All she had to show for it were his dog tags and his canteen. She never went to any settlement or talked to anyone in years; she had stayed in her broken down home, hoping her child will come back to her. But that never came. A mother was forced to live forever, but her family wasn't.
"...He isn't forgotten though." Micheal said. "That tribe you stole his belongings from, he founded that tribe. They see him as some kind of God. You could return his belongings to them and explain everything."
"...Could I? No. No, it's..I don't know." She said.
"The best part is that their leader is a descendant of Adam." Micheal said.
"..Is he?" She got her hopes up.
"That's what he claims, and I doubt anyone could just become leader." Micheal said. "Return the items to them, tell them I sent you."
"You trust me? I..I could just run off with them." She said.
"No, you won't. This is your best shot at getting to Adam, you wouldn't just throw it away." Micheal said as he handed the dog tags and canteen to the mother.
"I..Thank you." She got up and ran to return the items she stole and explain everything to the tribe.
Micheal stayed back for a bit before heading out. He was about to exit the house, but something was wrong. He started to become dizzy and lose his balance. The world started to spin and twist in ways that only make sense if reality didn't exist. He tripped and fell to the floor. Micheal expected to meet carpet, but, instead, he collapsed on to a steel floor.
"What the fuck?" Micheal whispered as he shot himself onto his feet. He was no longer in the house; he was back in the vault. Or, at least, some strange version of it. His vision was a bit blurry, but he could see he was home. He carefully walked through the familiar corridors.
"How the hell did I get here?" His voice echoed. Voices talked back to him, but they were all talking at once, so it was pretty much impossible to understand a single sentence. Until, one voice managed to get through.
"Micheal? Is that you?" It was his other half. "What're you doing here? What is this place?"
Lights began to turn off individually behind Micheal, leaving a pitch blackness where a vault hallway used to be.
"Micheal, run." The voice ordered. Bright, white eyes shown out of the darkness. "RUN!"
Micheal ran down the corridors as fast as he possibly could away from whatever chased him in the darkness; every turn made too many close calls. Micheal ran until he reached an elevator door. The lights were turning off faster as Micheal spammed the button to open the elevator. He ultimately decided to just try and run into the door. He rammed his shoulder against it, but it wasn't budging. Just as the darkness consumed him, Micheal busted through the doors and landed in shallow water.
He looked around and saw soldiers running on a beach with bullets raining from bunkers atop the hill. He was no longer in his vault jumpsuit, but rather a military uniform with a helmet and an M1 Garand. This was Pearl Harbor, D-Day. The water was red with soldier's blood and bodies all around him, the sound of screaming as they ran through walls of gunfire. Dirt kicked up in the air as bombs went off. One soldier was wandering the battlefield, as if nothing was happening, carrying his severed arm.
"We need to move up!" A corporal called out. "Jenkins, Becker, on me!" He ordered.
"Sir! Yes, sir!" Jenkins said as he pulled Micheal to his feet. Jenkins was no longer the hulking tin man, but a regular soldier. They followed the corporal further up on the beach, ducking and weaving from gunfire. The trio united with more soldiers in cover. The sounds boomed through Micheal's ears and he could even taste the mud.
"We need to breach the Seawall!" The corporal said. "Becker, pick up that banger and blow it!"
Micheal looked to his side and saw a Bangalore torpedo on an obliterated soldier. He picked up the banger and the dead soldier wasn't dead at all. He grabbed Micheal's hand and stared at him with his only remaining eye. Micheal screamed and kicked him off. Micheal took a second to compose himself.
"Come on, Becker! Get up there! We'll cover ya." The corporal ordered.
Micheal got up from his cover and ran into the open. He plunged into any cover he could, trying to not get shot down. He even had to use a fellow soldiers corpse as cover, he was so desperate. He eventually made it to Seawall that blocked the entrance to the hill.
"Okay. Okay." He said through breathes. "How the fuck do I do this?"
He placed the banger against the Seawall and tried to figure out how to set it off. He pulled something and heard a click.
"Becker, get back!" The corporal tried to warn him, but Micheal couldn't hear him.
The torpedo went off in front of Micheal and he fell into a ditch. He was pulled up by a fellow soldier and he was now in a field with thousands of troopers with muskets, swords, horses and carriages; Fencing ran across the dirt and the carriages ran over what used to be farmland; The corpses of soldiers in the brown dirt were by the hundreds. The men wore blue while the other side wore gray. This was the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War, and Micheal was on the Union side.
Micheal picked up a musket and it took him forever to reload it, mostly cause he sucked at it. Cannons went off around him and dirt blew in his face as cannonballs hit the ground. He ran through the battlefield and took cover behind a hill. The air wreaked of gunpowder and sweat, the only relaxation was the thirty seconds it took to reload a musket. One cannonball landed next to Micheal and he shielded his eyes from the blast.
Micheal took his hands off his face and saw horses and men run past him. Thousands of soldiers in a town close to a forest with bridges over rivers and dirt roads. The men all had blue uniforms and hats that varied; wielding bayoneted muskets and swords. The enemy was clad in red and white with a similar arsenal. This was the Battle of Lexington during the American Revolution.
Micheal climbed onto his feet and saw he was in an American Revolutionary uniform. He grabbed hold of his musket and ran through the town turned battlefield. There were soldiers holding onto their bleeding necks and some screaming on the ground in pain. The smoke from flintlocks and gunpowder filled the open air and some of the buildings suffered damage. Horses ran and fled in terror from the war-zone as leaders ordered men to fight. Soldiers were shot, stabbed, crushed, obliterated by cannon fire, were on fire.
Micheal tripped on body and fell to the dirt. A British soldier went up to him and was about to plunge his bayonet into Micheal, but he was stopped when he was shot in the head. Someone had saved Micheal and aided him back to his feet.
"Come on! We've almost got them." It was Bonnie, but different; she had a 1700's dress on, but she still was carrying a gun.
"What in the fuck?" Micheal said about his situation.
"Yeah, I know, a woman fighter. Doesn't matter right now! Just kill those Brits!" She said and ran back into battle.
"Holy shit! Holy shit." Micheal took a second to catch his breath.
He composed himself and unsheathed his revolutionary sword from his waist. He ran through the battleground and was shot in the shoulder. He grabbed his wound in pain and winced as it bled. He closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he was in a large forest with trees that touched the heavens; the sound of birds and animals all around him.
He was no longer carrying the revolutionary sword, but a stone axe took its place. His uniform was replaced with a skirt and makeshift footwear made from some kind of animal skin and fur. His hair was much longer; going so far as to his shoulders. This was the primal age, the era of man and the animal.
Micheal heard leaves rustle behind him and turned to face what made the noise. What he saw stunned him: a gigantic prehistoric cave bear. Micheal was frozen at the sight of this ferocious beast; it was probably even bigger than that behemoth he killed back in Interplace. The bear looked down at Micheal and stared at him for a few seconds.
"Ah fuck." Micheal said.
The bear gave a deafening roar that only a monster could make and Micheal ran through the forest. He jumped over logs, bushes, ditches, but the bear was right on his tail. It knocked over trees as it chased its prey through the forest, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. Micheal ran until he hit a cliff side. There was nowhere to go, so the bear had caught up to him. Micheal and the bear shared eye contact for a bit, almost as if the beast was playing with him. Micheal had no other options, he was going to die.
"Come on, Einstein. Think of something!" His other half told him. "How did Adam beat this thing?" Micheal looked around and saw sticks protruding out of the bear; they appeared to be a spears.
"He didn't beat it." Micheal said. He had figured out what to do. Micheal backed up closer and closer to the edge of the cliff.
"Woah woah woah! What're you doing?!" The voice said.
"Trust me on this. I think I know what to do." Micheal answered.
"You THINK?!" His other half was not convinced.
"Trust me." Micheal said.
"Doh..Fine!" The voice agreed.
Micheal jumped off the cliff, just as the bear lunged at him, which made the bear fall down the cliff as well. The beast fell faster than Micheal, which is exactly what he had wanted. Micheal dive-bombed toward the bear and grabbed its fur. He made his way over to one of the spears lodged in the bears back and pulled it out. Just as they were about to hit the ground, Micheal stood up on the battlefield of Lexington.
"Whatever you're doing, it's working." The voice said.
Micheal saw the bear again in the middle of a field, walking away. Micheal had to move fast, so he stole a horse from one his fellow countrymen. As Micheal rode the horse toward the bear, pellets and cannonballs wizzed by him as the battle raged on. Just as Micheal was close to the bear, the horse was shot in the neck and collapsed with him still on it. Micheal quickly got back up on his feet and sprinted toward the bear. He got to it's back leg and climbed up its fur to reach another spear lodged in its thigh. He grabbed the spear and yanked it out of the bear. He lost his grip and fell off the bear.
Micheal was blasted back from the cannonball impacting next to him, but he quickly composed himself. He was back in Gettysburg, right where he left off. He crawled up the hill and saw the bear walking away on the other side of the war-zone, the Confederate side. He got up and stole a chariot with two horses. He rode hard and fast to catch up to the bear, crossing the destroyed farmland. He crashed through the Confederate line and ran over a couple soldiers in the process. The Union side took this as their opportunity to charge, but Micheal had abandoned the battlefield. He made it to the other side of the bear and jumped from the cart to its front leg. He climbed up the fur and pulled out another spear from its shoulder. The bear walked through a cloud and Micheal's vision was covered in fog.
Becker was shot back from the explosion and impacted with the mud. He was soon picked up by Private Jenkins as other soldiers ran through the massive hole he made in the Seawall. He saw the bear atop the hill, sitting, waiting for him. He threw his helmet back on, grabbed his rifle and joined his fellow soldiers up the hill. He ran through the trenches, shooting any Nazi's that tried to stand in his way. The soldiers lit up bunkers, burned anyone wearing a Nazi uniform, and dragged wounded brothers to cover. The flags were burning in the wind, but Micheal had a different mission. The soldiers made it to the top of the hill and Micheal left his troops to get to the bear. Bullets and explosions were going off all around him, but that didn't stop him. He made it to the bear and saw that it had a spear lodged in its chest. Micheal grabbed hold of the spear and removed it for a third time.
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Micheal walked out of the elevator and back into the dark corridors of his vault. However, every step he took, the light above him would illuminate. The shadows tried to reach out and grab him, but they were burned when they came into the light. Micheal traversed the hallways and eventually made it to the atrium. He saw the bear there, but it was more mutated and buff, like a Yao Guai. It had one last spear lodged in its head. Micheal slowly approached the Great Spirit and yanked the final spear from its body. The Great Spirit roared; its skin cracking with a bright light seeping out, blinding Micheal. The bear was tamed.
—
"And?" Courtney asked.
"And what?" The old man responded.
"What happened? Was it all a dream or something?" She was confused, just as the rest of the group.
"Yeah. And what about the bombs aiming at this place, or the photo? What happened to that?" Jr. asked.
"Well, that was Micheal's first visit to Interplace. Everything happened on Micheal's second visit." The old stranger explained. "I just thought I'd continue the story in the correct order and tell the rest another time."
"Thats a dick move right there, pal." McKilla said.
"I don't understand though." Rodger said. "What happened to Micheal? Why'd he go through all that?"
"He drank from the container; it had all kinds of chemicals in there." The old man said. "The reason why people didn't survive when they drank the water was because they died from the chemicals polluting the water. Micheal, on the other hand, could survive because that vaccine made him immune to a lot of different things."
"Mr. Stranger." The receptionist called out. "The mayor will see you now."
"Ah! Very good." He said as he stood up. "Come along now. I need to have a discussion with them."
The group stood up and Jr. lifted the raider to her feet. They followed the old man to the office to meet with the mayor of Interplace.
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