Weapons Check
“Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun.”
Don Marquis
I expected a little more for Nage’s home, but it’s basically a shack, a shack made up of rusty scrap metal. It was in the western end of town that is the least inhabited. When we reached the shack, Nage tried opening the door but it was stuck. He struggled for a while but the door would not budge, he gave up and kicked the door off it’s hinges out of frustration. “Home sweet home” he said sarcastically.
His “Home” had only one room. this room had a make shift furnace, a small desk, a locker which look like the ones in the Vault’s school, and his bed... Well, actually it was more like a mattress on a metal frame, no blankets or pillow.
“Sit down, Ken. Show me what you got.” He said, I assumed he meant me to sit down on the bed because there was no chair in sight here. I pulled up my single strapped bag and pulled out that mysterious pistol I found in that safe three days ago. I also pulled up my remington combat shotgun.
I placed them next to each other on the bed along with my 10mm pistol, Nage puts his hand on his chin and began to take a look at my little arsenal. He picks up the shotgun and takes a closer inspection. “Huh, you got yourself a remmy-shot. it looks pretty tactical!” He exclaimed...remmy-shot? he seemed pretty impressed. He stood up and walked to his locker, after adding a combination to the lock he opened it up and pulled out a shotgun of his own.
“My Rem’s a lot older, but I kept it clean and working.” He said, passing the shotgun to me. He’s right about the gun being older, the stock was made of wood! but it still looked polished and clean, Nage really did cared for this gun. The gun didn’t have any rail mounts to add any attachments to like mine.
“Your model is a shotty used by the military before the bombs dropped, mine here is a civilian model, less tactical but they both give a good punch. I’m assuming you got yours from your Vault’s armory” he said.
“Yeah, I thought our weapons were quite average, I had no clue they were pretty tactical compared to everyone else's here.” I said. “Oh no, there are certainly some advance weaponry out here as well, though they are pretty rare.”
He looked at my shotgun’s attachments, the shell strap where the stock is and my optic sights. “alright let’s see your pistol, I’ve already seen your 10mm pistol, so show me the other one.” I passed him the mystery pistol I found, “Hmm” he said. “This is a beretta 40mm pistol. Packs a heavy punch, ‘40 bullets are hollow pointed and can literally punch right through a human body and hitting the guy behind him.”
“Hollow pointed?” I asked. “It’s a bullet that has it’s tip hollowed out, that way, when it hits something. More particularly, flesh, it does a hell of alot more damage.”
“Jeez, it’s that strong eh? Quite glad I found this gun in a safe, though, I don’t have any such ammo for it” I said.
“Hm” said Nage, he was looking at my 10mm pistol, likely comparing it to the Beretta. “The 10mm is reliable at best.. for wild animals and wandering raiders at least. Sooner or later you’ll face more tougher game, like Mutants or Mercs. If I were you, I’d sell this pistol and it’s ammo to try to buy some ‘40 rounds.”
Sell my gun? I guess since I haven’t used it yet, it’s good condition will have some value in the market. So far, only the shotgun has kept me alive. I nodded yes to Nage to which made him smile.
I’m... not sure why... but that smile, for some odd reason, reminded me very much of Liam. I wonder how the Vault is doing since I’ve been gone? Nothing much except strict water restrictions I bet, I don’t think many people miss me except maybe for my mom. She might just go through another drinking binge if she did find out I left the vault.
Nage then removed the sniper that was strapped on his back, and placed in one of his lockers. He slung his shotgun over his shoulder, “Let’s hit the market” he said. I gather my gear together and followed him out the door.
The main street was still full of activity, people are entering and leaving the town constantly.
Nage and I walked toward a line of market stalls set up, there were 3 kinds of people there. People who are buying. People who are selling, and people who are guarding the merchandise. Nage said that he’s been all three over the years, and knows the tricks to getting a quick deal.
We walked up to a merchant who is selling weapons on an open stall. Two men armed with rifles I never seen, were standing next to the man. “Give me the 10mm, Ken. Just watch and learn.”
Nage walked to the merchant and began the trade. The merchant greeted him and offered him a mini tour of his collection, but Nage nodded him off. “I’m here only to sell, my man. Tell me what you think of this.” Nage pulled out the 10mm pistol and placed it on the table. The merchant glanced at it, “10mm huh? Alright, I think it’ll be good for 35 caps” said the merchant.
“Ohhh, but you haven’t even looked in the chamber.” Nage picked up the pistol and pulled it back.”See? Totally spotless, this gun is in great condition and won’t break on you anytime soon.” he continued. “Ya serious ‘bout that? It does look clean...” Nage tempted the merchant even further. “Take it from me, You could sell this gun for 80 caps, and I’ll let you take it from my hands for 65.”
“Hey you got a point there! Alright, I’ll take it for 65.” said the merchant. He then exchanged a bag of caps for the weapon. Nage gave a quick count of the caps, and waved him off. we both walked back into the Main street.
“Here ya go, Ken. Some starting money, don’t lose it.” said Nage as he passed me the sack of bottle caps. “Thanks, but what will I need these caps for?” I asked. “Well, sooner or later you’re either gonna run outta ammo, get hungry, or get pretty hurt. you may need to pay for some supplies ya see” Nage replied.
We walked around the market more for Nage’s needs. He bought ammo for his sniper, “Special” shells for his shot gun, a few stimpacks(Much like the ones in the medkit I have) and a bottle of nuka cola.
Nage and I both walked out to the main street. At this point, I was feeling thirsty. I pulled out my Nuka-Cola. I stared at it for a while, I considered saving it but I was too excited of the sweet tasty liquid it held. Nage chuckled, seeing me so eager to drink this delicious beverage. I popped open the bottle cap and added it to my small collection.
I raised the bottle to my mouth, and took in a very large sip. It tasted amazing! Just like the Nuka-Cola at the Vault! I was getting really homesick, and finally for once I get this tasty sensation that reminded me much of home.
TICK-ICK-ICK
Woah now, hold on. that sounded really close.
I took a look at my PipBoy and found the source of the ticking sound. it was the geiger counter ticking, indicating that I had just absorbed...
“BLRUHGHAH!”
Oh boy. I bent over, and spewed out a bit of my dinner.
Nage snorted a bit, then bursted out laughing! “You ok there Ken? Heheh, you’ll get used to it!”. Get used to it?! I just jugged irradiated soda! He walked over to me and patted my back, “Feeling better? Probably a good idea to keep your steak in your gut.”
“Gughh.. I’ll be fine.. It tasted so good, then suddenly.. the aftertaste.” I said, “First time is the worst time, Ken. Take another sip, it won’t be as bad” said Nage. I looked at the remaining soda, there was a few sips left in the bottle. My geiger counter showed that I had only absorbed a tiny non dangerous amount of radiation. I could feel the tiny chunks of digested bovine steak in my throat, I pushed myself to lift the bottle again and take another sip.
Thats more like it, No puke this time. The soda’s sweet liquid flushed out all the puke that was left behind in my throat. I guess Nage was right about how the first sip is the worst, now I can actually enjoy this drink..
Tersha is a town near a lake. According to Nage, one reason why the Order wants to annex this town so much was because their forward base, Amherst, was directly on the other side of the lake. Tersha prohibited the Order from landing troops here by boat for fear of being invaded by them. This way, Knights will have to travel by land which would take alot longer for them then to travel by boat.
“Then why won’t the Order simply invade? By the looks of their troops, this town would have no chance at all.” I said when Nage was explaining this to me.
“The Revos Order is the military branch of a government that was established a few decades ago. Way down south, is where they rebuilt society. A place where they adopted the ways of the old world before the great war, It’s something called Democracy... people have just as much power as their leaders.” said Nage
I’ve never actually quite heard of such a thing. In Vault Omega26, the only leadership is of the Overseer and his security force. The only time where the people of the vault get any actual say, is when we vote for a new Overseer.
“With a society like that, you can’t go wrong. Things would go haywire if those people find out that their government invaded weak defenceless towns. So the government ‘Annexes’ towns instead.” continued Nage
“I see... So I’m guessing Tersha is just giving the Order a hard time to annex them a huh?” I said. “Yep, but it’s bound to happen eventually... They’ve already done so to other towns near here.”
I took a look at my PipBoy, It was now midnight, day 4. I learned quite a bit in this world, things I don’t really need to know if you live in a Vault. All these hardships, all this... horror.. are just average everyday lives to these people. I wonder how these people manage to completely accustomed themselves in such a condition they can’t escape. Still.. people like Nage and Jas exist... I should be dead, but they decided to spend their time to help me. I feel like I owe a great debt to them, then again, I did got shot by them.
We went back to Nage’s shack house, as we entered he went straight to his locker and placed his shotgun back.
“Alright then. Let’s go.” said Nage, “Go where?” I asked.
“You were heading down that route when I shot you, I’m assuming you’re trying to head somewhere huh? I’ll help you out.” said Nage.
“Well, I’m not sure if you’re willing to go as far as Worcester..” I said. I thought after saying that, he would change his mind and leave me be, what he said next surprised me.
“Hell, Worcester it is then... We’ll need to get through Paxton first though. Normally that’d be a suicide mission, but it just so happens that luck is on our side. A platoon of heavily armored Knights just left Tersha on their way to Paxton.” Nage pulled his sniper over his shoulder and strapped on his leather armor. “Hell, I feel confident. Here, take this.” he said, passing me a leather shoulder pauldron.
“Strap that thing on one of your shoulders, that oughta give ya some protection.” he said. “It’s only cover’s one shoulder!” I protested. “Hey now! That thing will probably stop a bullet from hitting you! It also covers ‘bout 5% of your body, added to your body vest!” Nage argued.
Probably? 5%?? Oh yeah... I like those odds.
After we got our essential gear together, we left Tersha with it’s protection, food and other supplies behind us, back on the road again. At our current rate, we’ll reach Barre by sun rise morning, take a few hours rest, and be at Paxton at midday.
A few hours later, walking down the route, Nage broke the silence we had. “Alright Ken, I gotta ask you something.” said Nage. By now we could see the buildings that made up the town of Barre with the sun rising from the treeline, giving a orange color to the sky.
“What’s going on in your Vault, that’s making you go to the one in Worcester?”
