The waters of Lake Union were chilled from the coming winter and Snow was glad she didn’t have to wade through its shallows. She stood along the shore as the real hunters risked their lives to bait lakelurks into pursuit. Her role, as well as many of the others who stood with her, was to provide covering fire for the hunters. They were the guns held in reserve, reserve gunners as Mickey put it, and were equipped with Fairview’s old rifles, originally meant for the militia.
Snow had pleaded desperately to earn her keep among the hunters, despite her youth. With Fairview’s scavenging missions disbanded until Warden City reopened its gates to traders, Mickey was compelled to allow her to join them. None of the fishing boats were willing to take her on, especially as they traveled closer to the center of Lake Union.
Her clothes were slightly damp from the night before and Snow shivered as she waited for a chance to shoot her rifle, bored out of her mind. Sam was further out on the lake, working her shift on one of the fishing boats. Renner was stuck at home, too old to be trudging through the muck and fighting lakelurks. She had insisted on joining the hunting party, but Mickey had somehow managed to convince her otherwise. Snow would’ve been glad for her company, but it was probably for the best.
This left Snow on her own, grouped with the extras. As in, extra guns that were nice to have around, but not needed. One of the scavengers the caravan had picked up at Warden City joined them, Bari. Assigned to this particular hunting party while the others from his group were divided among the others. Snow didn’t know why they couldn’t be assigned together, keeping friends together to keep each other safe, but she figured it was a good chance to talk with the man.
“Hello, Bari.” Snow said as she wandered over. “How are things at the bunkhouse?”
“It’s a bit drafty, but warm enough. Dry too.” Bari spoke softly, dark bags under his eyes. A silence fell over the two as they continued waiting. The man seemed in no mood to speak, but Snow couldn’t contain her curiosity.
“I hope you don’t mind, but can you tell me about the Brotherhood?” Bari frowned at the question and Snow worried she was pressing too hard. “I heard some things from the wardens we’re hosting. I’m sure you saw some of them at the hospital. I just want to know what we’re up against.”
Bari scratched at the stubble on his cheek, adjusted the rifle on his shoulder. “I don’t think there’s anything that can stop them. Sooner or later, they’re gonna come up to Warden City and that’ll be that. They win.”
“But the Wardens pushed them back in the South. The wardens here say they killed dozens of their metal men.”
“The wardens here are all mostly maimed or crippled. I don’t know what they did to stop the Brotherhood the first time, but they’re not gonna do it again.” Bari shook his head. “We thought we were safe down South, away from all the fighting in the North.” Bari sat himself on a patch of grass on the beach and Snow sat herself beside him, fixing herself on the sand.
“We’ve had to defend ourselves from raiders. A surprising number of times, but we beat them back each time. But the Brotherhood’s metal men?” Bari closed his eyes and cradled his head in his hands. Sand somehow got into Snow’s pants and she shuddered, but said nothing, not wanting to interrupt Bari. “They shot up our home with a damn minigun and got some of our guys. No questions asked. One of them forced their way in, literally tore apart our walls and climbed through. We had no choice but to run away from only one of their metal men, and there were more waiting outside. They could’ve killed us all if they wanted, but they were just toying with us.”
“How did you make it out?” Snow couldn’t help but ask.
“They let us go. Even let me take my brother with me.” Bari sniffled and wiped his eyes. “We should’ve just ran, but a few of the old timers thought we could fight the Brotherhood. They should’ve known better.”
“It’s not like they could’ve known. Skulltakers wear metal, but it doesn’t make them bulletproof. And it’s not like anybody’s ever had to fight the armor the Castellans have. They never bring those out.” Snow shrugged. “Except for that one time down south, apparently, but they ran before the fighting happened.”
“The Brotherhood attacked other scavenger groups. We heard about it from someone fleeing east, to find some family over in Yakama territory. He said they fired at the Brotherhood, but their metal men just laughed and took everyone they could get their hands on.”
“They took them? Like, as slaves?”
“I don’t know, probably.”
A shiver shot through Snow’s back. The Brotherhood were slavers with big metal suits and guns that shot lasers. Whatever happened, she hoped she’d never have to come face to face with any of them. However bad the Skulltakers were, their savagery was limited by the Wardens, but what could they be like if they could do whatever they wanted? Snow didn’t want to know.
Shouts rang out as hunters fled from a pack of lakelurks. They trailed along the beach, careful to not stroll too far away from the water or the lakelurks might lose interest and return to their nests. Hunters standing on a nearby ridge overlooking the beach gave the signal for everyone to ready their guns and Snow unslung the rifle from her shoulder. She turned off the safety and kept the barrel pointed to the sky, the way Renner had taught her to handle the rifle safely.
Lakelurks skittered across the sands, their mandibles clacking together like a chorus. There were a lot of them, dozens, which would last Fairview a long while. Snow thought there were too many, but none of the hunters showed any signs of running, so she set aside her fear. She didn’t dare reveal her cowardice.
The lakelurks chased a group of hunters who led them to an open stretch of ground, which had been cleared of debris and designated as the killing field. As soon as the hunters rejoined Fairview’s so-called battle lines, the signal was given for everyone to fire their guns.
The opening barrage was deafening and Snow could only hear the blood pulsing through her ears, the world around her was drowned out by gunfire. The lakelurks at the very front of their group were shot to pieces, their underbellies exposed to Fairview’s guns. Whoever had to sort through the pieces for bits of lead were going to have a hard time. She pulled on the trigger of her rifle and noticed that it no longer kicked against her shoulder when she did. The magazine was empty and she fumbled around the pouched belt she wore over her coat for another, but she dropped it.
Snow dropped to a knee to pick up the magazine and tried to shake it free of dirt and sand, but softened by high tide in the night, the muck was too wet and sticky. Someone grabbed her shoulder and frantically tried to turn her away. It was Bari and he was shouting frantically, but Snow’s ears were still ringing and his voice sounded too dull and hollow to be coherent.
He turned her to face the hunters and she saw that a second group of lakelurks had broken through their lines and forced them to run. Snow looked around and found that she and Bari were standing alone, the other reserve gunners had fled to new lines further back. Her ears popped and her hearing returned.
“We’ve gotta get outta here!” Bari yelled.
He tried to pull on Snow’s arm, but she caught sight of one of the fleeing hunters. The man tripped in the muck and a lakelurk fell upon him. He held back the creature’s claws with his rifle, unable to fire his weapon, but it was all he could do to avoid getting gutted.
The hunter screamed for help, but lakelurks dispersed towards the rest of the group. Someone else called out, “Spread out! Spread out!” But panic took hold over the group as they fled.
“We have to help him!” Snow said.
“There’s nothing we can do, there’s too many lakelurks running around.”
He was right, Snow acknowledged, but she couldn’t bear to abandon one of their own. Bari tried to pull on her arm, but Snow stood frozen in place, resisting his pull towards safety.
The lakelurks were focused on pursuing the greater mass of human flesh huddled further away. Moments passed and the lakelurks around the fallen hunter skittered around him, more interested in claiming their own prey.
Snow found an opening leading to the fallen hunter and her heart pounded furiously at what she was about to do, there was nobody else willing. She pulled free from Bari and ran past the few remaining lakelurks that were too injured to move quickly. A claw swung at her, but she hopped to the side and avoided it. She nearly tripped in the muck, but remained on her feet as she continued running.
“Snow, what the hell are you doing?” Bari called out, but she ignored him and forced her way through the deepening mud.
When Snow got closer to the fallen hunter, close enough that she could reliably hit the lakelurk that was pinning him down, she pointed her rifle at the creature and opened fire. However, her rifle only made clicking noises as she pulled on the trigger. The mud still left in the magazine was preventing her rifle from firing.
The fallen hunter cried out, the rifle he held between himself and the lakelurk growing shakier in his struggle. There was no time to clear the magazine. Snow steeled her resolve and charged forward with a roar, bashing the butt of her rifle against the lakelurks face.
The lakelurks beady eyes popped away as the plates in its face shattered on impact, but Snow kept swinging the rifle. The lakelurk twitched as it moved towards Snow, allowing the fallen hunter to aim his own rifle into the lakelurk’s soft underbelly. Shots rang out and it collapsed onto the hunter as he laughed.
Snow leaned into the lakelurk, trying her best to move it off the hunter, but she didn’t have the strength or the weight to move the creature, weighed down by its heavy carapace. “Snow, watch out!” A voice cried out.
Snow turned to see a lakelurk skittering furiously towards her and hopped away, but she tripped in the thick mud and fell onto her back. The hunter beside her tried to fire at the lakelurk, but no shot rang out and he tried to fumble with the receiver.
The lakelurk fell onto Snow and she found herself in the same situation as the hunter she had just saved. She used her rifle to block its claws from tearing into her, but it pushed her deeper and deeper into the mud until it covered her face. She spat out the mud, tried to shake it off her face and see, but it was a struggle enough just to breath as the tides rolled back and forth. Snow gasped for breath, but she was too weak.
The lakelurks whole weight fell suddenly against her and her arms gave out. She felt its small arms poking at her body and she screamed. She forced her eyes open, seeing through a thin layer of mud, but she saw its open mouth above her. She wriggled under its weight, until it was pulled away and pushed to the side.
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A hand grabbed her arm and pulled her up. Snow cleared her eyes and found Sam holding an ax. Her friend smiled and stuck her ax into the side of the lakelurk. “That was close.” Sam said and laughed.
“How are you here?” Snow asked shakily.
“The captain didn’t like the way the weather looked on the horizon so he dragged us back home. Good thing too. A few minutes later and I might’ve been pulling pieces of you out of the mud.”
Snow fell against her friend, face buried into her shoulder, and began to cry.
✥✥✥
Security near the Brotherhood’s camp in White Sprawls was lax, because most of the Brotherhood’s attention was concentrated along the fringes of the territory they wanted to hold. As that territory expanded, it meant there were fewer patrols to guard the borders, let alone to guard the territories closer to their camp. They didn’t have the numbers.
It had been a year and the Brotherhood had yet to make use of the people living near their camp, who naturally fell under their sphere of influence. Instead, their reinforcements were flown in by vertibirds from a location further south. It revealed an inherent flaw in the Brotherhood’s operation in Seattle. For whatever reason, they were few in number and couldn’t easily replenish their losses.
Vertibirds had landed freely when the Brotherhood first arrived in the city, but Kenneth’s company put a stop to that. His platoons divided themselves around the Brotherhood’s camp and revealed themselves only to harass the vertibirds that landed outside of their fortified positions. Nowhere else was safe.
Once, the Brotherhood tried to land with half a dozen vertibirds, to protect the landing with force of number, but the bulk of that number had been infantry outside of power armor. Kenneth’s old ghouls had the experience to know that they didn’t have to wipe out their enemy in every engagement to count them as victories. They only needed to make sure their enemy lost more than they did.
With a few sticky bombs, homemade recipes used against them by the Canadians during the Annexation, Kenneth’s ghouls rendered two of the Brotherhood’s vertibirds inoperable. Their broken skeletons still lay where they had been abandoned. The vertibirds doubtlessly required a large investment of time and resources to salvage the vehicles, but it was always quicker and easier to destroy.
The world around them was proof of that.
Eventually, the Brotherhood were content to keep to themselves in their camps and outposts, only moving between those positions in large groups and supported by power armor. Julius had thought the effort reckless, but Kenneth’s gamble paid off in the end. Brotherhood reinforcements to Seattle became limited to the lone vertibird flying to and from their White Sprawls camp.
Now, despite the casualties the Warden army had suffered for the victory against the Brotherhood, Kenneth saw an opportunity to continue beating back their enemy. His insurgency in the South, besides drawing away Brotherhood forces from the North, provided Kenneth with valuable intel. Not the simple stalking Kenneth had done in his pursuit of the Brotherhood’s Enforcer, but intel on the movements of all the Brotherhood’s forces in Seattle.
A paladin had returned from Browns Point, confirmed by the men he posted to watch the Brotherhood’s camp at White Sprawls, without the unarmored knights he had escorted. What plans they had for Browns Point would not come freely. Kenneth led his platoon of veteran ghouls to the highway the Brotherhood paladin had taken, to and from Browns Point, and hid among the buildings along its length.
Kenneth watched the road with his binoculars and caught sight of his target, the Brotherhood convoy returning from Browns Point. As his scouts reported, much to his disbelief, he saw a flatbed truck rebuilt from scrap metal. Whatever they were using to power the truck must not have been powerful enough for the truck’s weight, because it rolled slowly down the road and slowed the convoy considerably. Two dozen knights flanked the vehicle to protect it, but they weren’t paying attention to their surroundings.
Kenneth looked to the designated gunner closest to him. Like the other gunners in the platoon, he was equipped with a refurbished firearm of civilian origin. It was prewar semi-automatic carbines that had been confiscated from raiders some few decades ago. Despite firing pistol rounds, the raiders had tinkered with its stock in such a way that made its rate of fire comparable to a firearm intended for fully automatic capability.
With pistol rounds being among the most plentiful throughout the wasteland, they could be used without much worry about running out of ammunition. Compounded by the large drum magazines Julius had put together when he was still himself, they were his platoon’s most reliable machine guns. The closest thing they had to them, at least.
Kenneth gave the signal to open fire and the gunners lit up the road, quickly followed by the rest of the platoon. The pistol rounds of the gunners struck around the Brotherhood convoy as they struggled to keep their aim accurate, but their rate of fire was enough to suppress the enemy while the rifles in their platoon focused their fire. Even after 200 years, they were all still veterans of the subjugation of Canada.
Nearly half of the knights dropped to the ground, dead or wounded, under the first hail of gunfire. Other knights dropped to their knees and fired wildly at Kenneth’s wardens along the road, but they were caught off guard and panicking. One woman pulled a pack from a dead knight and climbed into the truck.
The gunner near Kenneth removed the drum magazine from his weapon. The assistant gunner beside him handed him a fresh magazine, which the gunner placed into his weapon and continued firing on the Brotherhood on the road. The assistant gunner began refilling loose pistol rounds from a bag into the magazine, when the radio operator called out to Kenneth.
“Kenneth! I’m picking up a signal.” The radio operator said, twisting the knobs on his radio.
There was loud static, but Kenneth could hear a woman’s voice grow in clarity. “Repeat! This is Inquisitor Flores, we are under attack!” The woman said and called for paladins to be sent to her position.
“It’s the Brotherhood. I think they’ve got radios of their own now.”
“I’ll be damned.” Kenneth said with a laugh. “And we can hear everything they're saying. Do you think they know?”
On the road, the other survivors of her unit hid themselves in the scrap truck with the woman, Inquisitor Flores. They were becoming more organized as the initial shock of Kenneth’s ambush wore off. Laser blasts found their way around his position as the Brotherhood fired from their truck, despite counter fire from his gunner. The truck was more resilient to small arms fire than Kenneth would have expected and he ordered a withdrawal.
His platoon had drawn enough blood from the Brotherhood and needed to escape the power armored paladins being sent their way. With his recent discovery concerning their radios, Kenneth would have more opportunities to fight the Brotherhood. As long as he and his men were still alive to take them.
✥✥✥
Sylvia walked through the camp, attracting many curious eyes. Despite hiding her face beneath her mask, they all heard about her encounter with the raiders. A broken nose and the first trip to the field hospital tended to attract notice. Especially when the second trip involved treating a broken face.
William was still resting in the field hospital and Sylvia had insisted on being by his side when the camp doctor treated him. As colleagues and friends, of course. A partial shot of a stimpak would help William’s body heal faster, but the bones in his face had been fractured from the beating Landon had given him. It would take significantly longer for the bones in his face to set, taking him out of the field.
The doctor assured William that he would eventually regain use of his injured eye, as long as he didn’t overexert himself physically. William was all bluster and bravado, but Sylvia intended to make him obey the doctor’s orders. There was nothing else she could do.
If she didn’t let William join her in visiting his list of moonshiners, then he wouldn’t tell her where they were. A few of them were the dangerous sort that might not be able to resist taking a lone warden captain as prisoner. Unlike William, who had a believable cover that allowed him to travel through Seattle with a handful of trusted wardens, Sylvia didn’t have the legal authority to range through Seattle at her own discretion. She didn’t have the same connections with Kenneth that William did.
Sylvia entered her company HQ, expecting to find Feris busy at work. Elliott was there instead, sitting back in a chair with his boots on a table. He stood and greeted her with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Despite wearing her mask, showing nothing of her underneath her Warden uniform, something about the way his eyes moved over her made her suspicious of the man.
“Captain Sylvia, I hope you’re doing well after your unfortunate encounter. I’m here to inform you that the ISC has diverted patrols from the North to the East. If there are raiders in the area, there won’t be for very long.”
“Is that so? That’s good to hear.” Sylvia said, trying to sound convincing. When William recovered, she hoped the patrols would be sent back. Raiders or Warden patrols, they didn’t need any more distractions. “Where’s my staff?”
“I sent them on an errand with the other HQ sections. The new patrols will be operating from this camp and they need help setting up.”
“I see.” Sylvia said, sorting through files on a desk. Seeing what Feris had done so she could continue where she left off.
“It’s strange.” Elliott said, pacing through the tent. “What were you and Captain William doing alone together so far from camp? I understand having a bit of fun, but at least wait until you’re in private. This behavior reflects poorly on all the captains.”
“We were relieving ourselves. The latrines have yet to be dug.” Sylvia said, but Elliott cut her off.
“The raiders caught you both with your pants down, I’m sure.”
Sylvia chafed at the insinuation, but tried not to overreact. “We are colleagues and friends. We were just watching each other’s backs.”
“Just friends?” Elliott raised a brow and sauntered over to Sylvia. She was looking through the half filled form of a request for more equipment, when she felt Elliott’s hand traced down her lower back. “If you need another friend to watch your back, I’d be happy to lend a hand.”
Sylvia pulled away, slapping Elliott’s hand from her body. Elliott gaped at her with surprise, like she had offended him and not the other way around, so she slapped his face too. “What makes you think that was appropriate?”
Elliott rubbed at his face, wiped away some dust from his thin lips. He stared at Sylvia for a moment, who stood her ground and waited for his answer. She didn’t intend to let him leave without one.
“Well? Explain yourself.” Sylvia said.
“Only friendly with Harlowe? Naughty Sylvia, slumming it up with the raider.”
“He’s a warden, like the rest of us.”
“You do know what they used to call him, right? Fishhooks Harlowe, because of some fishhooks he used to commit his murders. When he was on his raids.”
“He’s paid for his mistakes, but now he’s one of us.”
“He was a Named Man. You can’t just walk away from that.” Elliott smirked at her words, edging closer towards her. “Our old reports say he had tattoos when we arrested him. Are they still there?” Sylvia pushed him back and Elliott laughed bitterly. “There are plenty of other men you could spend your time with. Proper Warden men you won’t catch diseases from.”
It was Sylvia’s turn to laugh. “Like you? You’re clean because nobody wants to touch you.” Elliott was blank faced, but she knew he was bothered. Though, she might’ve said too much.
“What do you see in these outsiders? They’re all raider scum, if you ask me.”
“Nobody asked you.”
“The ISC asked me. She tasked me with security in the area.” Elliott walked away to a table with a pitcher of water and poured himself a glass. “The patrols have been added to my command. That means any raider scum I catch will be handled entirely at my discretion.”
Sylvia tensed at the poorly hidden threat. Elliott was referring to William, she knew. “As long as you don’t overstep your authority, you’ll have no problems with me.”
“I could say the same of you. Abandoning your post for some fun on the side is a punishable offense. I’ll be visiting from time to time, checking on my new wardens. You better take good care of them while I’m away.”
Elliott looked her up and down, with a different intent than before. Once there might have been lust in those eyes, now he looked at her the way a wild mongrel might look upon a wild doe. But he was mistaken if he thought she was anything but a Warden captain.
“It’s time you left my tent. I have work that needs doing and you’re an unnecessary distraction.”
“Of course.” Elliott said and took long sips of water from his cup. He savored every gulp, taking his time and letting her know she couldn’t just throw him out, but he left in the end.
Sylvia stacked her papers onto a table and slumped down into a chair. She removed her helmet and twisted her neck back and forth, stretching out the strain in her muscles. The bridge of her nose was sore and she tapped it until she felt a stinging sensation, but she didn’t flinch away from the pain. Retrieving the request form that Feris had filled out, Sylvia added a handful of stimpaks for her and William. They’d cost her some goodwill in the long run, but she needed William back on his feet if they were going to meet with the rest of his moonshiners.