บท 191: Mindless sewer wastes

Afton reached the door with little issue, finding no other hiding Fiends in between it and him. He glances behind him and spots Karl covering his back while Boone sets up a good distance away.

The door itself was metal but didn't look thick enough to block any bullets that might be shot at it... Especially if they were higher calibre rounds. Afton opened the door slightly and tossed a piece of junk steel inside to see if that'd get any reaction... It was too dark to see and taking a look even with VATS would be risky due to the confined area.

As soon as the door is opened slightly and allows a small stream of light through bullets immediately start flying. Afton has to quickly take cover at the side as holes riddle the door, the Fiends not even aiming at anything and instead shooting at random on instinct. It's fortunate he and Karl were prepared for this otherwise they might've been caught by a stray bullet.

After a few moments the Fiends stop, though, it seems they'd managed to blow off the hinges of the door, resulting in it falling to the group with a heavy thud. Even if they hadn't, the many holes blown in the door would allow them to see inside with the new introduction of light to the room.

Afton could just toss a grenade inside, but he wanted to see if there was anything he could scavenge from the maintenance room, plus the fact that blowing a grenade underground could have some unforeseen consequences.

The Fiends started shouting curses at them after the door had fallen, not realising that Boone now had a clear view of them...

*BANG!*

One of the shouting Fiends were cut off as a bullet carves it's way through their skull. The rest go quiet and immediately get out of the line of fire of the now open doorway.

"YOU COME IN HERE AND I'LL SHOOT YOUR DOG!" one shouts, fear clear in their voice.

Afton just raises a brow, "We don't have a dog!"

...

"I'LL SHOOT YOUR CAT!" they shout again, though it as obvious they were shitting themselves.

"Oh no! Not Mr Snugglesworthington the second!" Afton does his best to cry out, all the while taking advantage of the Fiend's hopeful confusion. He peeks his head out and activates VATS to get enough time to thoroughly check the room the group were hiding in.

It was quite large, at least, larger than Afton had initially expected. Large mechanical consoles sat on one end of the room that almost reminded him of Helios One due to their complexity... The Fiends clearly didn't care about the technology though as the consoles were covered in leftovers of food, blood, clothes, and other things they couldn't be bothered to store properly.

The Fiends themselves were huddled on either side of the door to stop Boone picking them off from afar. Afton almost choked on air as he spotted one Fiend holding a pistol at a giant rats head... Was he holding it hostage to trick them or something? Honestly, he had no idea what these drug addicts were thinking.

After getting a good look, Afton deactivates VATS and pulls away as quickly as possible, just as the Fiends try to shoot him... Unfortunately for them, due to their positioning it causes them to accidentally shoot one another.

"Ah! You shot me!" one Fiend shouts.

"No! You shot me!" another shouts while grimacing in pain at their new wound.

*Bang!*

"T-there! I did it, I shot your cat!"

...

Did that guy just kill the giant rat? He silently questions before shaking his head... Whatever insanity has taken ahold of that guy, Afton didn't want any part of it. Whatever, the group couldn't breach the room due to the Fiend's positioning, so there was only one thing to deal with it.

Afton shoves his hand around the door and starts blindly firing at their positions, getting pained shouts as they attempt to fire back, only managing to hit their companions after missing his arm.

It doesn't take long for most of them to perish, leaving only one who was lying on the floor with tears streaming out of their eyes, holding their stomach as blood trickles from the bullet wound.

Afton snorts when they give him a pleading look, raising Lucky and ending his suffering with a clean bullet to the dome... More specifically, the eye.

[Blind Fire : Shoot the eye's of your enemies : 2/100]

Karl walks inside and looks around, presumably for traps... Though the consoles in the room take his interest when he spots them. "Any idea what this stuff is?" he asks as Afton approaches one and randomly presses a button, not noticing anything happen.

"Looks like controls for the sewer system... Though, I'm not sure for what specifically. We can check this later, we still got more Fiends to clear out, as well as a bounty to claim."

Karl nods, "Let's check the storage room and loot the bodies before moving on. The NCR troopers would take our spoils if we didn't immediately take them ourselves."

They leave all the loot inside and head to the storage room that Karl had booby-trapped, the tripwire hadn't been triggered yet, which meant that the Fiends were either too scared to leave their hiding place, or no one was inside the room.

Afton was erring on the former as the Fiends sometimes acted more similarly to rats than actual cognisant humans... Whether or not that thought was coming close to be sociopathic Afton didn't really care, it was the truth, if they acted like animals then they would be treated like them.