16 - Rise of the Mutants
Holy fuck, Brian. That was awesome!
I told you, I'm not him. Anyway, say hi to Brian, for me. *Wipes the blood from his face*
The blackness starts to clear...and I found myself standing over the bloodied corpse of the deathclaw.
Wha...what happened?
You just made some tomato ketchup out of deathclaw meat. Welcome back, Brian. I thought we've lost you.
I...I did
that?
I raised my right knuckle, noticing the amount of blood on the spikes. I can't suppress the shivering.
Shit, I forgot. Tycho!
He's gone. There's nothing I can do for him. His shotgun lay next to him, he must've shot the beast pretty bad, that's why it went after him first. I should've given him a dose of Psycho...
There's nothing you could've done, Brian. You've saved me and the dog. You should take his equipment, at least. Tycho would've wanted that.
Yeah...I know. I'm sorry.
I my palm over his lifeless eyes and gently push it close for one last time.
Thank you. Tycho.
A slight groan caught my attention. The mutant! I rushed over to the hulking body, hoping to hear him speak.
Hey! Are you still alive?!
I knelt over the mutant, examining him. Pale green skin...abnormally large muscles....
Who are you?
I, I'm...I can't remember...Was the leader of...it...Maybe my holodisk.
The mutant weakly hands me a bloody holodisk.
Where did you come from?
We...we were scouting for primes...came from...came from the Northwest.
It's just like what Harold said...
What are primes? Who sent you?
Father...Where are you father?...Yes Master...
The mutants breathes his last breath and dies.
Damn!
Holy shit. Harold wasn't kidding.
I ... I didn't expect the mutants to be like this. Was Harold mutation...imperfect?
A careful search of the dead mutant's body yields a radio set.
This might still be in working condition.
I carefully place the radio into my pack and plug in the holodisk into my PipBoy, hoping the blood doesn't mess up the data upload.
Fortunately, the data is intact.
This is bad...
Ian peers over my shoulder.
Holy crap, they sound like a military outfit.
They're the ones behind the missing caravans. But why? Non-mutated are 'primes'?
We better warn Butch. The rest of the Hub is also in danger. Hell, once they cut down the trade from the Hub, the whole Wastelands will die a slow death.
Yeah, let's go.
We gave Tycho a final salute before leaving the cave.
Farewell, Ranger. It's been nice knowing you.
I think I may have figured out what's been happening to the missing caravan.
That's great! Go tell Butch what you've found and he'll let me know if you've earned your reward.
It was Mutants.
What, do I look a crate shy of a load? Did you even see the Death Claw?
Been there, saw that, killed it.
You....you killed it? Well...I..uh...um..uh, where did these mutants come from?
I don't know yet. But they have an outpost somewhere in the northwest.
An outpost? Well...um..well uh. I'll have to talk to the Committee. Yeah...yeah, they'll know what to do. Done and done. Get out, cause I got stuff to do...okay?
Fine.
We return to Rutger to collect our payment.
Actually, it was a group of these HUGE mutants.
Some huge mutants are destroying my caravans? That's almost as good as this Deathclaw story.
Listen, pal. My friend is dead, and so is that son of a bitch Deathclaw. You want the coordinates to the cave? There's three bodies in there, my friend, a deathclaw and a mutant. And here, check this holodisk.
Hey, I know how to use one of those. Butch got some gizmo from some scout from the Brotherhood a long time ago that can read these things. Let's see...
By the time he was done, the look on his face tells the whole story.
Sorry for not believing you. This...does not bode well for the good guys. Well, here's your 500 caps. Hell, make it 800, and thanks for the information! If you need any more work you will always be welcome.
Not at the moment. I'm leaving on the 17th. And I could use a break.
I visit Beth's shop and bought myself a metal armor for protection.
It's really, really heavy. But with the Mutant threat around, you can never be too careful.
Ian, I want you to take these.
Huh? What for?
Don't be daft, man. I want you to stay alive. I don't want that to happen again.
Alright, I'll take 'em, Brian. But I'm sure you'll bail us out of trouble again. Or maybe Vince will.
What...did you say?
I said 'Vince.' That's what you called yourself when you made ketchup in that cave, remember?
No...I...ARGH! My head-
Brian?!
The pain...what's going on? My breathing...it's...oh no..