They came like rhinos charging through the grassy fields, pounding the ground with each stride as they reached the combat zone. Roaring their throats in unison as their leader, Brute Straal, led the way for the hunt of fresh prey.
As the warbands sub leader, Straal had seen fit to hunt out in the Wasteland to prove his worth to his Master. To gather fresh blood sacks as offerings of loyalty and a guarantee of rewards and rank.
This latest hunt was a stroke of luck thanks to the demise of the patrol near their territory. They must have delt some damage to the intruders to make them slow down, possibly slower by a wounded human. His hounds can smell fresh blood in the distance, driving them crazy to feast.
Fresh meat they shall have; but the best and richest meat must be reserved to be transported back to the camp.
Brute Straal strided with such determination that he didn’t flinch at the whipping laser fire. He and his warriors are the Super Mutants. The greatest and strongest beings in the Wasteland who are immune to radiation and diseases. Born not from radiation mutation from the fallout, instead they were the product of scientific experiments for the answer to mankinds next evolution.
The Commonwealth will submit or die to the might of an ocean tide of the Super Mutant invasion. The coming attack at Dimond City was the main assault for the bigger warbands, this wave will ensure any resistance will be dealt with swiftly and brutally.
The defense against the Super Mutants was like a brick wall being smashed by a bulldozer. Nothing could stop this onslaught of senseless killing. No effective equipment, no supplies to keep the pushback levelled and no possible routes to retreat less be pinned down by bullet fire.
Sergeant Anna was beaten and damaged in her T-45 suit of power armour. Even just one power armour user wasn’t enough to turn the tide of battle.
She saw Gareth shot in the head in a spray of blood like a bloody fountain. The esteemed lawman of one of the outer settlements of Lexington, now the first squad mate to die under Anna’s command.
She cursed her self for agreeing to this mission, she should’ve stood her ground and argued her case harder. But old habits die hard. She was bred by a family of soldiers and learnt to be one herself. Once they retreat, if they live to retreat, she’ll make command wish they…
Daisuke was at her left side shooting at an oncoming Super Mutant. The great green brute came rushing with a spikey nail board, swinging in close to Daisuke. He couldn’t dodge the swing in time as he was smashed aside across onto his back.
Another mutant came rushing in equipped with scraped armour plates, aviator goggles and armed with a rusted assault rifle. He came beside his kin as they surrounded Anna. She was prepared to fight to the death knowing this may be her last fight.
She could spare everyone the pain by tampering with a Fusion core. Her Grandfather did it once to save others by sacrificing himself. What else can she do? Gareth was dead, Sally was wounded, her sister had her limb broken by a previous combat engagement. As for Daisuke he was flung across the battlefield. She couldn’t see where he landed
She wanted to do it, to spare herself and her team a worse fate than death. But her conviction to do it faltered as doubt flooded into her thoughts. Her indecision was her last mistake as she saw her error of judgement.
This wasn’t a mission, it was a death sentence for her and her team. Lexington command lied, the Eyebot was a distraction for a location that never existed. She came to realise this once the fear came in and her dogmatic mind eroded away and paranoia made her think.
A Supermutant behind the first two stopped mid charge and got something out of it’s carrier bag. A molotov read to throw and burn everyone! No one could react in time to avoid the strike as the Mutant threw the molotov right in front of Anna and the two mutants. Everything within the area lit into a rolling burst of flames like a wave of fire.
Anna was burnt alive wailing in the flames that her power armour was too damaged to ward off. She fell to the ground rolling left and right as the heat burnt her inside the armour. She stopped rolling after a few minutes as she stopped rolling into a still position.
The two Mutants weren’t safe from the flames as they too were cooked alive in the fire. One was killed and the other hist barely alive.
The battle was over as Sally was killed by Brute Straal from a swing of his Super Sledge. Her sister tried to flee limping into the dead wood forest like prey. But her efforts were meaningless as a hungry Mutant Hound caught her scent. It leaped onto her and chewed her alive with a satisfied crunch of it’s teeth.
As for the Eyebot, it left the battlefield whilst everyone was distracted and flew off into the forest.
The Super Mutants won the day with fresh meat to collect and offer to their Master. Brute Straal will be rewarded for his successful hunt.
The remains of Sally, Haley and Gareth were collected and stuffed into meat sacks. Nothing human remained of the squad as the Mutants did their dirty work collecting the ingredients. As for Anna, her remains were too cooked and burnt to be of any use, so they left her and moved on.
Daisuke was MIA, the Mutants couldn’t find his remains even with the Mutant Hounds strong sence of smell. He may have managed to flee before the flaming chaos turned the tide of battle.
The mutants left to go back to the camp as the sun disappeared into the horizon. Night was washing the sky in darkness; stars burst in the veil, twinkling in the cold night. The battle zone was silent as a grave. Nothing stirred. Only the dying smoke of the aftermath marked what transpired on that day.
But it would be foolish to believe that they weren’t watching. The silent and stealthy followed Anna and her group for days, keeping two steps back like patient hawks. They evaded the Super Mutants who attacked the Minutemen, again they waited for the right time to present themselves.
They came out of the trees one by one as silently as dust. They wore lightweight military green armour covered in black smudges, obscuring and blending themselves into the dark.
In total there were four of them gathering around the frozen remains of Anna. One knelt down to check on her, another went through a bag of medical supplies. The other two stood guard like armoured sentinels.
Then minutes later two more figure came out of the forest, one as it turns out was Daisuke, the other whose appearance was similar to the group who came out. However, he was unmasked, a ghoul with a deep cross scar on his forehead.
“So this is Anna?” Said the Ghoul as he lit his cigar. Daisuke looked at him with unease like he’d failed in some way. “Yeah…what’s left of her…” he said.
Moments later one of the medics called the ghoul out, Anna was still alive. “So, she’s got some fight in her still. Heh, just like Alfred back in the day” said the ghoul as he looked a Daisuke with a ghoulish grin. “Dont beat yourself”. He went over to the group to assess the situation. Daisuke took off his Minutemen uniform and opened his bag that the group kept safe for him. Inside was a set of military armour and supplies set aside for him.
He and the others were but a fraction of a growing military group trained by those who survived the nuclear Apocalypse. Ghoul and old veterans alike trained a generation of soldiers in the hopes that the Commonwealth may once more be controlled.
Led by Colonel Tristen these soldiers of the post nuclear war generation were called the Gunners.
End of part 2
The Tidal Leviathan 