The crackling of the fire filled the silence as Judy thought about my offer.

"Ghost, I know you and your skills, but even you can't promise me there'll be no casualties."

"Yes, I can. We give everyone weapons from our new-found stash, get a decent strategy and hit 'em from every angle all at once. They're raiders, for crying out loud! They'll crumble the second they lose half their gang in the blink of an eye, or when they spot a dozen gatling-laser-wielding, power-armour-wearing soldiers rushing toward them."

She said nothing more, grumbling to herself for a while before finally making up her mind, "Alright, alright! Just this one job!"

"Really? What about-"

"Look, Ghost... I make too many caps to settle down in one place, not to mention we'd deplete the area's food stocks in record time if the population suddenly grew by this much!"

"Your caravan guard is exactly what this settlement needs. It'd give us protection, a general income from taking odd jobs, and enough people to start funding expansions."

"This dream of yours is really good in theory... But that's all it is, a dream. Hell, we all want a safe place to live, but I can't just abandon my current life."

"I understand you, Judy, but..."

"No! After this raid of yours, I'll tell everyone that they're free to stay if they want, that’s all I can do. I'll grab some new mercs from Bunker Hill or wherever."

"Thank you." I smiled, "Just remember that this place will always be free for you and your caravan to rest at."

She sighed, "It feels too similar to what it was like before the bombs, and knowing you, that sensation will only get stronger as you settle in more. I can't get attached again, losing everything once was enough."

"Maybe this time, we won't have to lose it."

The conversation was cut short as my pip-boy buzzed, and I looked down at the screen.

Perimeter Warning!

"Preston, Jeremy, grab your weapons and follow me! One of our guard dogs caught something."

"You need help, Ghost?" Judy asked, standing up with us and reaching for her pistol.

"We can handle this," I told her, and she hesitantly sat back down.

"Just give us a shout and we'll show the bastards what hell looks like."

Walking over the bridge, I saw the red glow of the assaultron's head laser illuminating a small group of people, dressed in regular clothes, all of them terrified.

They didn't look like a hostile bunch, but you could never know in the wasteland. Unholstering my pistol, I approached carefully.

My two companions shouldered their rifles, and as we got closer, they must've seen some sort of movement, because the one at the forefront called out.

"Are you the Minutemen? We mean no harm, we're just settlers!"

"What are you doing here?"

"We heard about this settlement on the radio, so we left our farm to come here."

"Right, and how many of you are there?"

"Eight. The others are farmers, but I'm a merc. We had more, but..."

I holstered my pistol, and the others lowered their weapons, "You’ve gone through your fair share of troubles.” I shrugged, “Much like everyone else. We'll consider letting you in once you tell us your story, we have the time."

The man's head looked at the darkness all around him, before starting.

"Our... Or well, their farming community had fifteen members originally, some ways north. After they were found by raiders, who took almost all their crops as payment for protection, my mercenary company was recruited by the settlement. Four of us against an entire raider gang. We fended off the collectors, who returned in less than a day with an army of raiders. Two of my men died, along with three of the farmers. We heard about Sanctuary soon after, so we tried escaping with whatever we could carry."

"I assume you weren't exactly allowed to leave just like that."

The man shook his head, "They ambushed and captured us, but we managed to free most of the settlers. My brother... The other mercenary, he didn't make it, and they took everyone we failed to save back to their hideout, probably to use as slaves."

"Were these the Lexington Raiders perhaps? Operating from the old Corvega Plant?"

"No, Lexington wasn’t near us. These assholes live in an old, abandoned satellite station, perhaps you've heard of their leader Ack-Ack?"

"Haven't had the pleasure to meet them yet, but I dare them to come knocking."

There was silence for a while, as we stared at one another.

"Can we... Can we enter the settlement then? We'd be happy to sleep somewhere safe."

I smiled, "Come right in, we've got plenty of space. Jeremy, can you help them settle down somewhere?"

As they strode past us, I grabbed the arm of the mercenary and held him there while the others passed us.

"Umm, is there a problem?"

"Let's be clear with each other." I looked him straight in the eyes, "I've lived a very long time in the wasteland, and one thing I learned is that it's incredibly stupid to trust someone instantly. Trust has to be earned."

"I understand."

"If you try to bullshit us in any way, you won't live for long, got it?"

He nodded, "Yep, all clear."

"Now, with that out of the way... What's your name?"

"Gus Vicars, Sir."

"Gus... Call me Ghost. Welcome to Sanctuary."

----------------------------------------

"Nice shot! Now again, hit it five more times!"

I strode down the row of settlers firing at makeshift targets. Three more individuals had joined us since Gus and his group had arrived four days ago, all of whom were now standing in a line, firing with the practice rifles I had made. Military-grade laser rifles, but with the power dialled down to as low as possible to save ammunition.

Eight settlers would be staying here with Marcy, Sturges, Judy and Mama Murphy, while the others would all come with us and Judy's guards to Lexington. Sixty-three caravan guards and eight settlers from Sanctuary. A small army.

Each of us would be carrying modified laser rifles, combat armour and two stimpaks, except for six individuals. Those were Judy's most trusted guards, and they'd be the lucky ones to wear power armour. Four with T-51 suits while two would have the heavier T-60. And of course, they all carried heavy weaponry that fit their gear.

With this much firepower, we could take on much more than just some lousy raider gang. Shame that Judy wouldn't be staying, but I couldn’t blame her.

She'd been right about the food problem. It was already harder to find enough for everyone to eat and the water purifier Sturges had made two days ago was struggling to keep all our thirsts sated. With the Lexington raiders out of the way, we'd send a message to the Commonwealth that we were here, and we weren't to be messed with.

Hopefully, that'd be enough to keep the big fish away from us for a while, after news reached them of our presence. The speed of news travelling across the wastes was surprisingly fast for something mostly filled with mindless monsters.

In a few hours, after the final training session of the day was finished and everyone was packed and ready, we could leave for Lexington. Maybe we'd get to scout out the surroundings a bit beforehand.

----------------------------------------

"Damn, Ghost, your group have probably robbed me of the last of my damn food stocks." Trudy chuckled, "When did you grow so big anyways?"

"They're just friends helping clean up our surroundings a bit. They won't stay at Sanctuary forever though, or we'll starve." I shrugged, looking out of the window at the mercenaries and settlers sitting all around the diner, "What about you? Have you been bothered by the raiders since?"

"Nope, probably thanks to you. Carla passed through here a day or two ago, said she wasn't even forced to pay protection money through Lexington. Whatever you did in Concord, it worked."

"How do you know it was me in Concord?"

"Well, Carla again. Said she saw the aftermath of a fight there. You walked off in that direction, so it wasn't too hard to deduce it had something to do with you. You look like the type of person that's always in the thick of it."

I nodded, "Well, you deduced correctly. We can't rely on them to cower in that factory forever though, they'll slowly come back out and terrorise the area again... We're finishing them off for good."

"With this many hired guns, I somehow don't doubt that. Gave me quite a scare when you appeared at the end of the road."

Chuckling, I looked at Gus sitting beside me. He was sipping some vodka from a chipped cup, staring blankly ahead of himself.

"What're you thinking about, son?" I asked, derailing his train of thought.

"The raider problem. Even if we remove this threat, there are many more gangs all across the Commonwealth that we have to worry about."

"I know, but we need to take things one small step at a time."

"I'm well aware of that, but if you're thinking of the next target on your list, it's Ack-Ack you want."

"The gang at the pre-war satellite station?" Trudy asked, "I heard she's got quite a few small farming communities under her thumb, all paying her tribute. Never came this far, this is the Lexington gang's territory, but I'm certain you'll have more than one thankful Wastelander looking your way if you get rid of her too."

I downed my whiskey and gave Trudy a fistful of caps for another fill.

"You said that she took some of your folk prisoner, right?"

"That she did."

"Then, my friend, you'll have your revenge, and the nearby settlements will have their freedom." I raised my glass, clinking it together with Gus' vodka, before downing it in two gulps.

With a satisfied sigh, I got up and looked at the sun nearing the horizon. This close to sunset, there'd be no way we'd get to attack today. Half of our force would get hunted down by ferals hiding in the dark.

"What's the plan then, boss?"

I smirked at the title.

"We scout ahead, find out what our best course of action is, maybe find a place we can settle down for the night while we're at it. Grab two people you trust, and the Minutemen too. While at it bring Piters and two of the nearest caravan guards as well."

"Piters, with his suit and everything?"

"Yeah, just in case we need some heavy firepower."

Half an hour later and the thirteen of us were ready to leave.

As we left for Lexington, leaving behind the others to rest, I wondered what we'd find amongst the dead buildings that had once been a city.

It took quite a bit of walking before we finally found ourselves on the actual streets of Lexington, flashlights moving across long-abandoned buildings, searching for ferals. The ex-vault dwellers had gaunt looks on their faces as they glimpsed more and more faded memories of the past. This was their first time seeing what the real Wasteland was, with Concord being the farthest they had gone before. As for the feral problem, hopefully Piters and his gatling laser would be enough to hold them back.

After what felt like ages, an angry groan suddenly ripped through the air, and I felt my blood chill. Much like the roar of a deathclaw, this too was a sound that'd haunt your nightmares for the rest of your life after hearing it once.

"What the shit was that?" One of the mercenaries whispered.

"That... That was a Behemoth, Bretik." I muttered.

"What, you mean a supermutant giant?" Shaun, one of the settlers, murmured, "I thought those were only a myth."

"Well guess again, friend, because they sure as hell ain't. Stay close behind me, and whatever you do, don't open fire unless I tell you to. Its skin is not like ours, you shoot it with a laser and the best you'll do is annoy it."

The roars and groans got louder as we walked further down the street. The realisation as to why I had such a strange sense of familiarity with the place came to me like a punch to the gut.

We were nearing the square where the Super-Duper Mart was.

Beside me, Preston was also tensing up and I looked at him questioningly.

"This is near where we were ambushed, and the Super-Duper Mart where we hid..." He explained quietly.

"I have a feeling that's going to be our best option to set up camp in, it's in too good of a position."

He said nothing as we continued creeping forward. The last rays of sunlight illuminated a hulking green behemoth stomping around the place, when suddenly the staccato-like rattle of gunfire ripped through the air, the muzzle flashes revealing three raiders standing on a metal walkway, one of them wearing what looked like a power armour frame with makeshift armour plating attached to it.

I was just about to smirk at the uselessness of their efforts when an all too familiar ding echoed across the square, and I saw the raider in bulky armour lift what was probably the most dangerous weapon one could have in the wasteland.

"LOOK AWAY!" I roared, the whistling sound already filling the air.

The blast knocked us back, the heat searing our faces as the nuclear payload of the fat man exploded against the behemoth's face. Even with earplugs, my ears rang as the blast faded, and I looked at the charred stump that had once had a head connected to it.

Ever so slowly, the creature collapsed, clearly dead. Not even a behemoth could survive such an explosion.

"They have a Fat Man?!" Preston mouthed, as we got back up, the ringing in my ears making it impossible to hear his actual words.

"Right now, that's not what matters. That explosion probably drew every ghoul in Lexington to this very location! We deal with them quickly, then get inside the mart before we're swarmed!"

He nodded uncertainly as I called the merc with the sniper rifle, Coirn, over, to take aim at the walkway.

"What do you see? Got a shot?"

"None on the raiders... But they left a mini-nuke out in the open."

I smirked, "You have your target then."

He chuckled, "With pleasure."

A shot rang out, in the silence sounding just like a nuclear explosion, but no actual explosion followed. Coirn cursed the gun, sliding the bolt action back quickly, ejecting the spent shot and letting a new one slot into the chamber.

This time, the shot was quickly drowned out by the sound of the blast, the bright flash consuming the rusted metal structure and hopefully the raiders along with it.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

With no time to cheer, ghouls already emerging from the streets by the dozens, I cleared my throat.

"Move your asses!"

Laser blasts demolished the monsters closest to us, and my pistol fired at anything moving until it clicked empty.

Kicking open the door, Gus was the first to enter, Piters slowing down at the very back, turning around and revving up his gatling laser. A short burst evaporated the first row of the wave approaching us before he realised we were all through and ran through the entrance, Preston and Gus slamming against the doors, while the power armoured man threw a nuka cola vending machine against the wooden construct.

The first angry growls came from the far side, smashing against the door uselessly.

"Alright, we've got no time to sit around. Piters, take Coirn with you and clear the aisles, Jeremy and Carrie, take care of the checkouts, Preston, Jun and Gerald, you're with me around back. The rest of you stay at this door, make sure they don't get in and listen for calls for help from the rest of us. Block all openings they can get through, go!"

Nobody argued as we split off into teams. Following Piters, who was already blasting through the mindless monsters waking from a stupor, we smashed through the first door to our right and gunned down the clueless monsters standing before us.

"Where to next?" Jun asked, looking at the corridor going in both directions

A window broke somewhere on our right, and I was quick to make up my mind, sending Preston and Jun in the other direction while I pulled Gerald with me to check out the threat.

"Keep your eyes open, ferals like to pounce on you from seemingly-" As if I had uttered magic words, three of the creatures crashed against the wall at the very end of the corridor and unfazed by the hard contact, they sprinted straight towards us.

Both of our guns let off a burst of rounds, riddling the charging enemy with bullet holes. Two collapsed on the spot, the third one continuing its journey for one more step and smashing into Gerald with its entire body weight. There was no life left in it though, and the man was quick to shove the corpse off himself to stand on his feet once more, breathing heavily.

"I'm fine..." He cleared his throat, lifting his weapon back up.

As we moved forward, sweeping the offices first before entering the kitchen where the ghouls had come from, I noticed the shards of broken glass on the floor, along with droplets of blood from where the ferals had cut themselves coming inside.

More would get through there soon and closing the room's flimsy wooden door would do little against a dozen ghouls if they were to accidentally work together, not to mention the massive hole beside said door would give them an easy way around.

Nothing we could move was tall enough to block those windows off.

"Shit... We need Piters to pile furniture that high."

"Should I get him?"

"No, he's got his own job to do." I looked at the hole, "I'll place some mines by the door and hole, that way we'll know when to turn around to gun down the new arrivals."

Without waiting for a response, I took three frag mines from my backpack and flipped their safety off, gently placing them on the ground in a pattern that'd hopefully guarantee any feral getting that far to not remain in one piece for long.

Making our way through the hole, I looked at the two paths I had to choose between.

"Where should we go now?" Gerald muttered.

"You secure downstairs, make sure no surprises arrive from there but don't take any necessary risks. I'll head down this corridor."

With a nod of his head, he followed my orders, while I headed down my route, entering what was some sort of loading bay. Dead ghouls littered the floor as I approached, holes burned straight through their bodies. Laser weaponry was devastating against anything unarmoured.

The clatter of something moving made me raise my rifle, only for the flashlight on the end to illuminate Jun holding his weapon towards me, his flashlight gone for some reason.

"Whoa, sorry there." He called out, lowering it quickly.

I smirked, doing likewise, "What did you find?"

Preston looked up from where he was kneeling, holding Jun’s flashlight in his hand, a look of bitterness plastered across his face, "Nothing good."

As I got closer, I finally got a glimpse of what he was standing over. A body, many days old by the look of it, and wearing a hat just like the minutemen. The wounds on his body told the story of a violent death inflicted by ferals.

"Who is that?"

"Josh... He was a part of our group."

"You mentioned getting holed up in this mart, right?"

He nodded solemnly, "We made camp in here for the night, Josh and Emma were sent out to scavenge in the morning, but we were attacked by ghouls whilst waiting for them to return. We lost Anthony and had to escape without the two of them... They probably never knew what they were walking back into."

"There's nothing you can do now, Preston." I smiled sadly, trying to console him, "He's someplace better... They all are. Come, let's secure this place, then we can rest a bit while we plan our next move."

----------------------------------------

"-If Josh would hurry his ass up, maybe we can get there in time... Shit, gunfire! Not good. Josh!" The holotape recording we had found next to Emma's body cut off amidst the sound of the distant boom of a laser musket.

"Not exactly the best way to go out..." I muttered, "But certainly could've been worse. You shouldn't worry about them anymore Preston, they're dead."

Before the minuteman could reply, the final group arrived to sit at our table, between the drugstore where we had found Anthony's body and the diner.

"We're done, nothing's coming through that barricade."

Three dead minutemen, a lot more dead ghouls, and some supplies that we could always use were collected in three separate piles beside us. The mart had been a good find, especially the food that was still in decent condition even after two hundred years. Good old preservatives.

I nodded, "We can discuss what the next step of the plan is. The radio here?"

"Right here, boss." Coirn pushed it closer to me.

“Good… What about Radaway, everyone take a pill?” A series of nods went around.

“What’s the plan?”

"Currently those ferals are still outside our doors, and while we're in no imminent danger, we're far from out of this mess. There's no way the others can reach us quietly through the horde that's outside. Dozens of guns firing tends to draw attention."

"Didn't we already call attention to ourselves with that mini-nuke?"

"With nobody to report the happenings, they probably don't realise what really went down. And if they somehow did manage to spot us, they'd have every reason to believe we were torn apart by the ghouls." I looked at the rough drawing I had made with what everyone knew of Lexington, "Now, it's still an option for the rest of us to just arrive guns 'blazing and kill everything that moves, but we'd be wasting a lot of ammo, even if we're not exactly lacking in that department."

"So, what's your plan?" Gus asked.

"There's already a hole in the roof. If we carefully make it into an access point, we can jump from house to house and create some disturbance that'll draw the ghouls away from the mart. Take a small break, eat something then let's get to work. I, for one, don't want to go jumping around building tops in the dark."

----------------------------------------

"Mother of fucking Christ." Jeremy cursed as we got to the side of the mart, many others following his lead.

I could only agree.

Down below, across the entire square, was what was probably a good chunk of Lexington's old inhabitants. Hundreds of them were walking about the place, swarming like flies over a corpse. Only we weren't dead just yet.

In the dim light of the setting sun, I could see the remains of the walkway and the overpass, both having collapsed in the explosion.

Someone ripped me from my thoughts with a rough shake of my shoulder, and I whipped my head towards them.

"There's something over there," Jun pointed in the direction of the bridge. I squinted as hard as I could, trying to see what he was pointing at.

True enough, the glow of light was visible past the walkway, at the very top of an apartment complex.

"Very good, that should be our target. Anyone in Lexington after what's already gone down is not going to be friendly."

"But how are we going to get over there?" Carrie muttered, looking at the distance separating us from the row of buildings we could use to get over there.

"Preston, Gus, Coirn, you three come with me. Piters, grab us a shelf from downstairs that we can use as a bridge."

He chuckled, bringing an entire row of shelves from the warehouse not a moment later and slamming it over the gap between the two sides of the street, not entirely reaching the other side with it.

"Hold it properly, will you?" Gus muttered as he slowly got on top of it and it wobbled under his feet.

"You can trust me... Hell, I could get used to being this strong." He chuckled.

"It suits you." I patted his armoured back, as I hopped on and quickly walked over to the far side.

From there, it was a matter of clambering over and around the various buildings without alerting any ghouls. Finally getting to the terrace at the very end, the same building to which the walkway had been attached, an entire street still separated us from our goal.

Two figures sat around the fire, that I could see, and by the looks of it, they were raiders.

"What now?" Gus looked at the streets below, "We can't get over there without the ghouls ripping us apart."

I grunted, tracing a path to that rooftop. There was no other way through other than straight across the ghoul horde, and though I hated having to reveal so much about myself, it was the only option.

"You sure can't, but I can." I sighed.

"You're planning on fighting through that horde? Are you insane?" Preston grabbed my shoulder.

"Not fighting, not if I can help it." I glared at him, and he took a step back, "Let me do what I have to. You three stay here and cover me in case things go wrong. Do not fire at that horde unless I'm about to be torn apart, understood?"

"You might be experienced but think about it for fuck's sake!" Gus told me, "Preston's right, this is insane! There's no way in fucking hell you're not turning into ghoul chow."

"There's much you don't know about me." I winked, pocketing two grenades.

Leaving my rifle with them, I walked inside the building and slowly crept down the stairs, carefully going around the mines left by the raiders. On the floor lay a ghoul, which I stabbed in the head before covering myself with the rags it still wore. Taking a deep breath right before stepping outside, I couldn't help feeling a tingling sensation in my palms.

The last time I had done this... I had smelled much, much worse. Maybe that had helped me then.

"Here goes nothing." Taking another deep breath, I stepped past the door, only to look straight into the eyes of a feral.

It looked deep into my soul with those black eyes that had once belonged to a human... We just stood there, staring at each other for what felt like an eternity.

The moment passed, and its gaze left me.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I weaved gently through the crowd of shambling figures, making sure I made as little contact with them as I steadily approached my target. A family house beside the apartment building the raiders were on top of. Every jostle from a feral felt like it was going to be the last thing I was going to experience before being swarmed by irradiated and madness-stricken humans.

But they weren’t going to attack, because just like them, I was a remnant of the past...

Unlike them, I was still sane.

Reaching the front door, I cursed under my breath as I realised the entire door was boarded up. Carefully jamming my knife between the doorframe and the board, trying to pry it away, the top right corner finally gave under my strength with a crack like a gunshot.

I paused, looking around to see what effect that had, but much to my relief, the ghouls were still listlessly milling around me. Quickly repeating the process for the bottom, I rested my body weight against the half-open entrance.

The age-old boards didn’t resist my bodyweight, my hands closing around the planks before they could clatter against the floorboards.

Scanning the interior of the abandoned house, I briefly paused on the final scenes of a family. Skeletons sitting around a dinner table, cups laying not too far from their bony hands, and in between all of them were empty bottles of nuka cola and yellow boxes of rat poison.

They had taken the easy way out, or maybe the hardest, to just... End it all, going against your survival instincts.

Shaking myself from the thoughts, I jogged up the stairs to the first floor and opened one of the windows, climbing through it and onto the roof.

From there, I snuck up to the side of the apartment building and stopped. I was just close enough to hear the conversation between the two raiders.

"-fuckers... How many of these bastards are there?"

"Lexington was a big city before the bombs, Tick. Perfect conditions for ferals."

"Last I heard, Boston doesn't have this problem," Tick grumbled.

"Boston doesn't have the Cambridge crater as close as we do, and there's plenty of other trouble on its streets that keep the ghouls at bay. Lexington doesn't have supermutants or settlements."

"Still, I don't understand where all of these fuckers came from. I thought Gristle and the boys were cleaning out the city. Doesn't look clean of ferals, does it?"

"Gristle’s been dead ever since that Concord job went sideways. About a week ago.” He spat, the globule of spit slapping wetly against the concrete, “And you can blame Fist for this mess. He had fantasies of using that thing day and night ever since we found the Fat Man.”

“Shame that Jared lost his common sense when Concord was fucked up and that massive Caravan passed through. Never would’ve given it to him. Now look where we are… Back to square one with the ghouls, and minus half a dozen people, their gear, a fat man and three mini nukes!”

"Jared would've killed him anyway if the cunt didn't blow himself up first. Serves him right... Shame he took out the others with him though." A pause.

"Hey, Green, you sure we're safe up here?"

"Completely. Doors are barricaded, and even if they do break through, we've got mines and turrets guarding the stairs.”

"I doubt we've got enough bullets to deal with them if they ever come our way."

"Well then, that's one more reason why we shouldn't alert them now, ain't it?"

A sigh, "I don't wanna go out like Rickie and Fallow, they should've been faster, fucksake! I watched them get torn apart while trying to barricade the pool. Not like there was anything worth trying to save there, all it was used for was burning ghoul bodies... Stupid reason to die."

"They're dead, Tick, best you stop thinking about them. You get too distracted, you'll get yourself and others killed."

Jumping up onto the roof, I let my knife fly, the blade embedding itself into the neck of a wide-eyed raider who couldn't have been more than twenty.

He gurgled as blood flowed heavily from his wound, his mouth open and choking up more blood. Whatever he had wanted to say had been cut off brutally. Clutching his hand to the knife, his knees buckled.

Something must've alerted the other raider because he was standing up and turning around, weapon in hand.

Not that he could do much. Reaching Tick, I ripped the knife from his throat, and pushed him towards the other raider, using him as a meat shield.

Tick's eyes locked with mine, and I saw in them a cry for help. He'd do anything, just to live a little longer, not realising he was already gone.

Getting close to Green, I kicked Tick out of the way, his eyes already rolling up into his head. With my artificial arm, I smacked the gun out of the other raider's hand hard enough to crack bones. I thrust the blade into the elbow joint of his other arm, which was in the process of reaching for a tire iron.

With a cry of pain, he collapsed on the floor, the screams becoming louder as I twisted savagely, snapping his arm.

With my next move, I severed his neck, and the fight was over.

Wiping the knife on his shirt, I looked around the roof, quickly spotting a door.

I walked up to it and took the pins out of my grenades.

"Sorry guys... You chose the wrong side to be on."

Throwing them inside, I quickly doubled back, the explosions ringing out in the darkness by the time I was back on the house's roof. The surprised cries of raiders were quickly drowned out by the roar of dozens of ghouls. Peering over the edge, I could see the churning mass of bodies sprinting towards the source of the noise, some of them already beating at what I could assume was a barricaded door.

The job was done, and now we could get on with the rest of our plan.

Touching my face, my fingers came back darker. Would there’ve been a little more light, I would've seen its blood-red colour.

It wasn't mine.

It belonged to a random kid who had been in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Born in the wrong era.

----------------------------------------

"Operation starting in 5 minutes, await my signal."

I hung the radio back onto my belt and stretched. Standing behind a bus, I looked around at the gathered soldiers. With seven snipers and a power-armoured soldier up on the overpass and a dozen others waiting to scale the loading bay at the back, we had a few dozen armed men and women on this front.

There was no way they didn't know about us. Having a heavily armed force arrive in an abandoned city wasn't a subtle thing, and I was sure that the lookouts on top of the factory had noticed that something bad was going to happen.

"I hope this works," Gus muttered, tightening one of his combat armour straps.

"It's a meticulously planned operation against a bunch of raiders. I've not taken part in such a battle in a long time now, yet I can assure you they won’t know what’s coming."

"Like before the war?" Like the others, Gus too had been astonished about my past, which I had to briefly explain to everyone after my display two days ago.

I was a ghoul in some ways, just enough to fool the scent of ferals with a little help. Their questions as to why I was like this had fallen on deaf ears though. I wasn’t ready to reveal everything to them and since then, they had been trying to not-so-subtly pry more information from me.

"No." Looking at my watch, I pressed the radio's button three times.

Five seconds passed by quickly before the crack of rifles filled the air. Three or so volleys, and a laser blast or two from those approaching from the other side, and it was over, our march up to the main entrance undisturbed by raiders.

Two bodies hung from above, and a broken turret lay on its side.

No words had to be said, those that knew they were entering the building with me piled up on either side of the door, while the others spread out outside.

A dozen of us, half-half on either side of the double doors.

I was kicking it open as soon as we were in position, the raiders trying to form up behind the information desk caught out in the open by my sudden intrusion. Two of them collapsed with blood spurting from their chest as I shot a burst of bullets into the room.

They didn't get to return fire as the rest of my group entered the room and lit up the desk and everything behind it.

Striding past the corpses, Piters pushed in front of me, charging through the barricade set up in the corridor, and riddling whatever was around the corner with lasers, low-calibre rounds pinging off him. Getting past the offices, we reached a corridor from which we could go in all directions.

"Alright folks, four of you go downstairs-" I pointed to the right, "Piters you take three others through those doors," This time I thrust my finger towards the double doors on the left, "And I'll take you three upstairs. Let's go, don't lose momentum!"

Leading my squad away, we ran past a kitchen and through some double doors, only to hear the sound of voices screaming out in anger and terror, trying to make sense of what was happening.

"They don't sound too happy." One of the mercenaries muttered.

Pointing at the woman nearest to our cover's edge, she looked at me like a fish out of water, "Don't give me that look," I grunted, "Peek around the corner, see what we're running into."

She did so, albeit hesitantly at first, quickly pulling her head back once she'd finished counting.

"Two turrets, and four, maybe five raiders. They're up on a platform, only way up there is a walkway, part of which is retracted. They've stacked explosives around the button, we'd be blown apart if we even tried to approach it."

"So we're not getting up there while they're alive. Their loss..." I shouldered my rifle, "Shoot everything that moves, primary targets are those turrets. Give them hell, and make it feel like we're an army."

My grin was reflected on the faces of the mercs and the settler woman. Counting silently to three, we rushed out of cover and opened fire. The boom of the two laser rifles and the loud crack of the high calibre rounds interrupted the raiders and their preparations, first one, then the second turret going up in smoke in the blink of an eye.

The entire walkway sparked as bullets rattled off it, the raiders trying their best to duck behind cover.

Suddenly, a door opened beside us, and a terrified raider entered the room, breathing heavily. Two blasts from my revolver and he was keeling over with ragged holes erupting across his chest and neck. The next raider to rush in after him jumped back in shock and reflexively raised her pistol, only to get blasted back by a laser beam.

Not half a minute later, one of our squads arrived through that same door, power armour at the front. They wasted no time joining our indiscriminate fire.

Finally, I waved my hand, signalling them to stop.

"Hey! Hey! I... We surrender! You understand what that means?" Yelled a voice from the walkway. How the hell had he survived that barrage?

"Throw down your weapon and then step out for us to see you."

A pipe pistol clattered on the floor, quickly followed by a ragged-haired young man standing up.

"Who the fuck are you guys?" The man asked, his eyes wide with terror.

"I'll be asking the questions. Anyone else up there with you?"

"They're all dead... Jared too."

"You sure?"

"I'm pretty sure you don't survive a shot through the head."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that..." I muttered, remembering the tales I had heard from all across the older United States, "Come down slowly, and no funny business. One wrong move, and you won't get the chance to apologise."

I saw him gulp, before nodding.

"A-A-Alright. Just don't kill me please."

"You guys handle him." I slapped the nearest man's shoulders, before unhooking my radio, "Status update."

"Overpass free of activity."

"All quiet on the rooftop."

"As is outside."

"Sewers clear for now."

"No more hostile contact on our end."

I looked up to see Preston striding over to me, blood spattered across his chest.

"Everything okay?"

"This isn’t mine.” He wiped at the dark spots, “Gus was hit in the shin by a stray bullet, but it's nothing serious, everyone else I’ve seen is fine. We’ve captured a prisoner in the sewers, and I’ve left one of the power armours down there to keep the ghouls back. What do we do now?"

I quickly made up my mind, holding the radio up to my mouth, "Fifteen minutes, take everything you deem important. Meds, food, ammo, quality weapons, if such a thing exists. We meet outside right after that. Anyone that isn’t there by then fends for themselves.”

"Why the rush?" Preston raised an eyebrow.

“I want to leave before the ghouls rush us and we waste ammo on them. The horde that surrounded the mart disappeared after we diverted them, but this gunfight is the perfect way of bringing them down on us.”

“What if we use the ammo on them and secure this place?”

“We won’t have the manpower to hold both Sanctuary and the Plant… Not right now, anyway. We’ll think about clearing this place out once we decide on expanding in this direction, but that won’t be for a while yet.”

"A shame, we could have done something good with this place."

"We will," I smirked, “But all in good time.”