8 Ch. 8 Savior
"I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me, and I walk alone
I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one, and I walk alone
I walk alone, I walk alone
I walk alone, I walk a-"
Colton was singing as he walked with a pip in his step. He was dance walking and moving his head and arms. He had his face covered with the mask from his cloak. It covered his nose down. Only leaving his eyes and above visible. His red goggles were on and his hat sat atop his head. His hood was down for now, when the sun started beating down on him he wood have to put the hood on as well.
His Pipboy is playing the radio so only he could hear it and he was singing decently loudly.
Mainly because there was nothing around. He was staying vigilant and checking his radar in his bottom left vision constantly.
He had been on the March for an hour or so and just enjoying the morning. He saw his new quest and was glad it was so easy because it's what he was gonna do anyway. And if he can get to the road and hitch a ride with a caravan that would be perfect for him. But he's gotta get to the Long 15 first.
He reaches into his satchel and grabs the 2 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. books.
[Read and tear out the page you wish to select]
Colton continues to dance but not as much. It just feels so good being out and about. He's gotten over leaving his parents and has the fire of passion driving him forward to explore the Mojave.
He opens the book and it's just like the Character Creation page with the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. and it's 10 points with the little nicknames per point in a stat. His stats appear and he looks at the and makes a thinks hard.
"Which stats do I select?"
He debates it as the next song plays.
He thinks about upgrading 2 stats to 10 and it was so unbelievably tempting. But he knew that he should at least increase his Strength to 8 because almost all guns require 8 or less Strength. Anything higher is just a luxury and benefit in hand to hand or hand weapon fights.
He looks at his Intelligence, Charisma, and luck. He knows he needs to increase one. And it's somewhat a no brained to him. It's either Intelligence or Luck because both would give him more Skill points either flat out or per level.
So he goes with his gut feeling.
[ S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Stats Increased:
Strength = 8
Intelligence = 5
Confirmed ]
Strength was to get it to an even number and the gun requirements, along with the boost to Melee. It also increased his maximum Carry Capacity.
Intelligence was just better than luck. Sure he would only be getting a 0.5 skill point per level increase. But it's better long term. Plus that flatly increase to Medicine, Repair, and Science. The three things he might be doing after Guns and Speech.
The books in his hands just turn to ash and get blown into his face. He shakes his head and stops walking. He wasn't expecting them to just disintegrate like that. But he will keep that in mind.
He feels his muscles slightly increase and his brain felt better. Like it wasn't so bogged down. He hadn't noticed it before, but feeling this it became clears that it wasn't a pleasant feeling. So to distract himself he thinks of what else is in the bag.
He opens the Satchel and sees the rest of the books inside. He was getting prompts when he touched them if he wanted to use the book or not back at the bunker. All of them had given him a prompt. And even if these books only gave 1 Skill point per book he would be happy with that. And that means that the perk [Comprehension] would double the books effectiveness.
But there's no way he would pick that just for an extra skill point per book. His mom said they were rare and he believed her. The bunker had rarer things in it probably.
But that made him wonder. 'Why were there so many goodies in a random bunker. And decently close to the Mojave as well. Had someone been sent farther back than him? Or was it the Devil just giving him a bonus because he was forced to take the deal. But after being here for 4 years, he would say yes to that offer now'
He shakes his head and continues his walk onwards after making sure he was safe.
He pulls a book out and looks at the cover.
'Pugilism Illustrated'
[Use [Pugilism Illustrated]?]
"Why the Hell not?" Colton said.
[Unarmed increased by +3]
Some minor knowledge about fighting with his hands made it's way into his brain. And some of the things Jack taught him made more sense now.
"Hell yeah!" Colton jumped into the air. "Each book give 3 skill points to a skill that corresponds with that book!"
Colton was fired up.
But then he notices red dots appear on his radar.
He instantly shuts his radio off and crouches down. The way that sneak works is weird and random. It's just whenever he crouched down to do anything. Even if he doesn't want to sneak. He's spooked his mom and dad plenty of times on accident, and on purpose.
He grabs Purifier since he can't see whatever would be and points the rifle in the direction of the hostile markers.
Colton had to calm his heart. This will be his first kill out in the Wasteland without the safety of the Bunker.
He looks through the scope and sees 7 decently large reptilian creatures. They weren't Deathclaws, too small for that. They were bipedal and had a tail that was dragged along the ground or slightly above it. A pair of fins behind their somewhat flat heads. Their eyes possess an orange tint, and their body was a steel blue almost. They stood from about 3'-5'6". And then there were 2 smaller ones.
"Yay~ Geckos" Colton said as he got another magazine of .308 ready. He uses vats to count how many there are quickly just to make sure.
"7 adult and 2 young….. guess their numbers in this pack are dwindling. Normally they have more young with this many adults….. whatever, they're about to die anyway"
*pew* *pew* *pew* *pew* *pew* *pew* *pew*
Colton swiftly reloads in the blink of an eye. The 9 Agility, 80 Guns, and [Rapid Reload] combined made for a sight to behold that could still be improved slightly.
While the bodies were dropping to the ground lifelessly, the other remaining geckos looked around to find what was ending them. But before they could even spot Colton:
*pew* *pew* *pew*
The last Adult and 2 young geckos went down.
The hostile markers disappeared one at a time as a bullet gave them a new face hole.
Colton scanned his surroundings and didn't notice anything. So he went over to the dead geckos to collect his prize. They only had 2 gecko eggs so he just tossed them high into the distances sky. He didn't feel like eating scrambled gecko eggs anytime soon. He was kinda spoiled by his parents at the bunker. But if he had to he would.
He didn't take the meat, but the hide was taken off their corpses. They could be sold to any merchants he happened upon or anyone that randomly wanted gecko hide. He didn't really care.
"Speaking of caps"
Colton turned his Pipboy on and looked at the caps and was stunned.
[ 863,702 caps ]
Colton had learned about the economy from Barter and his mom. His dad helped with the cost of bullets, armor, weapons, and other combat and military supply costs.
He was loaded. He thought about a cap in his hand.
And it appeared, he was stunned. And it went back with another simple thought.
Colton doesn't know if this is because he left the bunker which was apparently his tutorial area, or if it's because his Intelligence increased. But he didn't really care because that no longer matters.
He scanned the area again and then continued on his way to I-15.
He stops for breakfast and lunch, but only to take the food out of his pack. And then he ate as he walked. One hand always free to draw a weapon if necessary.
Maybe he was a little too cautious, but better safe than sorry.
He doesn't want to just binge on all the books. He wants to use them as rewards. The first was for testing and for killing the geckos, which earned him 8 gecko hide.
He was able to see the I-15 on his local map now. His world map was having issues and was unusable at this point. He would reach it just before dinner if he continued his pace.
So he turned his radio on and began his smooth dance-walk. He had too much energy and nowhere to use it. He shot another gecko from afar after spotting it with his now 11 Perception. That scared the other geckos back off to their home or somewhere. He came across a Bighorner group, but just snuck past it since he couldn't collect their meat and hide anyway. He had no more body storage for it. And the Pipboy didn't work as an inventory where things disappear into.
Some more geckos
Bighorner
A surprising group of only young geckos
Coyote that were a bitch once they smelled him. But his pistols were able to kill them without them getting within biting distance.
Only a few shots and he's almost at I-15, he'd say that was a pretty good conservation of his ammo.
——————
The road wasn't anything spectacular. It was just a big paved road that was flatter than the rocks and sand and whatever else of the Wasteland, but it was still cracked and trying to hold together.
He didn't see any caravans or any people for that matter. So he opened his satchel.
"Eeny meeny miny moe….you know what? Screw it! I don't want to lose them because I was stupid and didn't just use them all when I had the chance"
He takes them all out and puts them in his lap as he sits on the side of the road.
[Use:
[Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor] x3
[Guns and Bullets] x3
[D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine] x3
[Dean's Electronics] x3
[Big Book of Science] x2
[Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual] x1
[Lying, Congressional Style] x3
[Wasteland Survival Guide] x2
Confirm]
Colton braces himself. He swept the area and activates V.A.T.S. just to be safe as well. Because this was going to hurt.
[Barter increased by +9]
[Guns increased by +9]
[Medicine increased by +9]
[Repair increased by +6]
[Science increased by +6]
[Sneak increased by +3]
[Speech increased by +9]
[Survival increased by +6]
"Gggaaaaaahhh!!" A sharp pain wracks his brain as knowledge of many different subjects make their way to their respective homes. But there's a traffic jam as his brain has to sort through them.
He rubs his temples to ease the pain he's feeling. He knows it was stupid to take all 57 Skill points at once. But now he knew better, and he would still do it again just to be safe. Even losing one would suck.
He sits there for a few minutes letting his head calm down. Once his head is feeling ok he then pulls up his Skills.
[ Skills
Barter = 24
Energy Weapons = 31
Explosives = 31
Guns = 89
Lockpick = 31
Medicine = 47
Melee = 32
Repair = 33
Science = 33
Sneak = 24
Speech = 54
Survival = 42
Unarmed = 34
Total skill points = 505 ]
"Worth it" Colton says as he makes time continue.
The books turn to ash and get swept away by a breeze. Colton pats down his cloak to get it all off. And check his surroundings again. Even if in reality seconds passed, many minutes had passed for him.
"I walk this lonely…"
——————
Colton has been walking all day and is starting to feel the effects of it. His body is strong, but the mind and spirit are weak and squishy. But before he can find a place to sleep he sees something indescribable happening.
He looks at a wagon being pulled by two brahmin. He sees three guys laying on the ground not moving. Another two were trying to struggle and get free of their bindings.
Across from them are two women on the ground. Not by choice. They're pinned on the ground and held at gun point. They're having their clothes stripped off their bodies-
Colton breaks into a sprint towards the vile filth.
"Hey you fucks!" Colton shouts at the top of his lungs.
Everyone looks at Colton who's aiming his rifle at them.
"I've got 6 shots and then I'm going down there and taking care of each and every one of you disgusting pigs!"
Colton sees 2 men whip their hunting rifles from aiming at the girls to him.
*pew* *pew*
"4 left! Who's feeling lucky?!" Colton shouts. He's not entirely sure they can hear him clearly. But he doesn't care as he still has about 9 men and 4 women to kill.
He takes off his pack and moves his satchel to his back very quickly.
Some of them get scared. It was getting dark and a mysterious figure with red reflective eyes was staring at them as shots went off.
It was supposed to be 'fun time' for the rest of the night, or until their toys broke. But now they had to fight again. Some already had belts around their ankles.
*pew* *pew* *pew*
Colton fired three more shots.
"Jay!" A woman shouts and runs to a fresh corpse.
"My dick!" One shouts in agony as he falls to the ground holding his bloody crotch. He will bleed out soon enough but Colton will make sure he doesn't try to take anyone with him.
*pew*
He takes care of one of the women still holding the two women down.
"Aahhhh!" "Karen!"
Chaos erupts as Colton quickly reloads Purifier.
He's got 9 more to take care of and they've started rushing him. Some are faster than others and they are the ones that leave first.
*pew* *pew* *pew* *pew* *pew* *pew* *pew*
Colton quickly puts Purifier down and takes out his pistols. He reaches his left hand to his right hip. He frees his .357 magnum revolver from its holster and takes aim. The enemies had already begun shooting at him, but he's got a slight height advantage and they had terrible aim while running. Luckily for him, he had better accuracy than most currently.
He stands up and gets ready to fan the hammer. He prepares himself to unload his .357 magnum into the walking corpses.
"It's high noon" Colton says getting some confused looks.
*Bang* *BANG* *Bang* *BANG*
Four shots sound out rapidly sound out.
Two instantly fall lifelessly to the ground. He blew a mans hand off, and that same mans knee won't be getting used anymore.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!" The man screams in pain. He didn't even know which bullet hit him first. All he knew is that the ground is very hard and he's in a lot of pain. His gun was shot out of his hand.
Colton surveys the area and makes sure that there aren't anymore vile people around. He puts holsters his magnum and picks his pack and rifle up.
He slings the rifle over his shoulder and walks to the screaming man.
The guy was dirty and he'd rather not touch him but oh well.
"D-don't kill me!" The man pleads
Colton wonders if he really just heard that. This same man had just rushed him with a nearly broken 9mm pistol that was 3 shots from falling apart and he was begging for his life.
"Shut up" Colton walks to the man and grabs him by the back of his collar. "I've got some questions"
"A-any-thing! Just help m-me s-s-stop the bleeding!" The man doesn't even care that he being dragged over one of his friends corpses and back to the people they had just attacked.
Colton gets next to the wagon and tosses the man against it.
*thud*
The mans back slams into the wood.
Colton grabs a belt from one of the dead filth.
"Raiders?" Colton stands above the man.
"Yeah! We were just attacking these passerby!" The man shouts in fear. He doesn't like it when he gets beaten by a belt, he dealt with his dad a few years ago.
Colton grabs another belt and finally moves back to the bleeding man.
"I'm not feeling so good" The raider says.
"No shit. I blew your knee off and some of your fingers. If you felt good now I'd be concerned" Colton says as he ties a belt around the raiders wrists and the wheel of the caravan.
"Really?" The raider asks
"No" Colton flatly says as he uses the second belt as a tourniquet for the raiders knee. "What's your name?"
The raider looks into the red goggles of this random guy. Maybe he can talk his way out of this and live. "My name is-"
"Oh sorry. I forgot I don't give a mole-rats ass" Colton presses his boot onto the raiders knee.
"Aaaaaggghhhhh!" The raider shouts and squirms in pain.
"Now don't move or I'll blast your other knee" Colton takes his foot off the guy. The idiot didn't even have any other weapons on him. And even if he did he probably couldn't do anything with his hand the way it is.
Colton turns to the two women who are putting their clothes back on like robots. They seem out of it.
He turns his gaze over to the caravan men lined along the road. He can now see that the ones not moving had their necks broken.
He goes to the two still living men. "Don't attack me, I just saved your life's and whatever their chastity is" Colton points over his shoulders at the women.
The two men nod, their mouths being gagged with some unholy cloth. Colton takes his goggles off his eyes and legs it hand on his chest. This reveals his turquoise eyes.
"Let me help ya with that" Colton pinchesas little of the cloth as he can and pulls them out of their mouth.
The two men spit and gag as the tears in their eyes are still present.
Colton grabs a life from his thigh when the two guys flinch.
"I'm just cutting you guys free" Colton reassures the men. He could have slit their throats with the soiled underwear in their mouths, but he doesn't think these two are bad people. But who knows, he's be ready to just in case.
The men after being freed from their hogtie stir in the ground. They've already spat whatever water they had in their mouths but seem to still be trying to get it out. But their bodies are beaten and it hurt just sit up.
"Thank you, but could you grab us our water, it's on the Brahmin there" The man with a buzz cut asks.
The other man with a similar hair cut looks on with pleading eyes. It seems he's had his throat bashed in and is having trouble breathing as is.
"Sure. But don't move" Colton puts his knife away and makes sure they both see his pistol.
Colton goes to the brahmin and grabs 2 jugs of water.
He looks over to the two women and sees that they are fully clothed but are just sitting there. Ones hugging her knees and her heads down, the other is watching him. He see's 2 canteens and grabs them for the women. He hands the vocal guy a jug.
"Thank you. The names Hank, this guy here is a friend that came with me on our vacation from the NCR post west of here. He had his throat crushed by those raiders and hasn't been able to talk since" Says 'Hank'
Colton raises an eyebrow at Hank. He didn't expect that name for someone as young as him. "I'll check his throat in a second then"
"You a doctor?" Hank asks in surprise, it's rare to come across someone with medical training, especially ones that can take down 9 charging raiders at once.
"No, just have some training" Colton sets a jug next to the crushed throat guy. "Don't drink this. You can get the foul taste out and spit it out but don't drink any of the water until I check your throat alright?"
The guy nods.
"His names Dan" Hank informs.
Colton nods and then moves over to the women.
"Water?" He offers.
Both shake their head. 'Yeah, didn't really expect much'
"C-can I get a bit more treatment?" The raider asks. His hand is still bleeding pretty badly.
"After these ladies. Now shut up!" Colton shouts at the idiot.
Colton squats down so that he is practically sitting on his heels. "So do you ladies have any injuries? And don't worry he's not getting any treatment no matter what"
"Just got roughed up a tad bit. Don't think anything is broken or needs to be looked at" Says the lady who has been watching him. She seems uncomfortable.
"Oh, sorry. My bedside manners was kinda skipped during my training" Colton takes his face covering off and showed off his sharp features. "What about you" he asks the other girl.
Not getting a response he looks back over at the first one to see her shaking her head.
"Do you want his end quick or slow? Public or private?" Colton asks them.
"You'd torture him?" The quiet girl finally speaks.
"Well, I guess? If you wanted me to I could. It's be my first try though"
The quiet girls shakes her head. "I just want him gone"
He looks over to the first. "You heard her. And privately please. She doesn't need to see it"
Colton pushes off his thighs as he stands up. "Understood. Colton Lucky King, at your service" He says before turning around and looking at the guy.
"Now it's your turn. I've still got some questions as well" Colton grabs the belt around his wrist and unties it from the caravan and drags him behind it so the others can't see.
"Why and how did you surprise the NCR even if they're on vacation?" Colton asks as he holds the mans hands up. This'll help stop the bleeding slightly.
"I-we heres waiting, for hours. And they weren't paying attention or something, we just clobbered the men first and then got ready to have our fu-" The man was sounding loopy.
He turns on the old timely music and blares it.
Colton doesn't want to wast a bullet or dull his knife. He kicks the man to the ground and stomps on his skull three times to make sure it was squished. He fucking hated scum like them.
He shuts the music off and cleans his boot by wiping it in the mans clothes.
He moves around the other side of the wagon and sees the 4 people looking at him.
Colton takes his hat off and swipes his hair back and says:
"This has been one hell of an eventful first day"
