FALLOUT: War for Vegas {WattyAwards 2013 Contender (Did not make Finalist) }

Chapter 14

Lilly stood over two Super mutant corpses. She being a Nightkin, was able to sneak up behind them with ease, though the cost was insanity. She constantly thought of her grandchildren, so much that she confused most humans with them and had hallucinations that they were there in the flesh, even though they went missing after the Super Mutants under the flag of the Master attacked her home in Vault 17.

“Jimmy? Becky? It’s alright, sweeties. Grandma’s here, it’s safe. You can come out now.” She yelled into the bleak ruins of Jacobstown. Once, Jacobstown was the only place that Mutants and Nightkin could live peacefully, but after Marcus’s death at the hands of the Legion, they were at odds. So much in fact that a small civil war had begun.

There was a scuffling to Lilly’s left. She turned large sword in hand and her flowery hat bouncing, to see several more Nightkin appearing from the gloom, blood covering their weapons.

“Lilly!” yelled one of them. “Are we glad to see you, how many of the Muties have you killed lately?”

Lilly laughed. “They are us, but they are not us, brother. We kill our kin that are not our kin. Though many have been slain by my hand, I will mourn them later.”

Some of the Nightkin muttered. Apparently her schizophrenia was worse than before. Then there was another noise, large crunching footsteps. They turned to see the brown green skin of the Mariposa Super mutants, led by one with a Brahmin skin hood and a sledge hammer. This Mutant called himself Grognak, after the comic books Grognak the Barbarian.

“Step aside, Nightkin,” said Grognak in a deep tone. “We rule Jacobstown, we were the ones who nailed your human friend to the wall of the great hall, and we are going to be the ones to kill you all unless you leave!”

Lilly roared. “You hear that Leo? This bastard thinks he can destroy us!” She ran forwards and swung her sword in an arc towards  Grognak’s head. He stepped to the side of the blast and swung his sledgehammer into her gut. Lilly ignored the blow and kept attacking. Soon every one of the Nightkins and Super Mutants were part of one big brawl, swords, hammers, and fists colliding into flesh, weapons, and the ground.

Then there was a loud sound, a rapid fire Pewing sound, loud enough to make everone stop fighting and look at its source. Only a hundred yards away was a Super mutant, completely different than the Mariposa Mutants, wielding a Gatling Laser rifle smoking into the air. This mutant had bright yellow skin and was wearing a torn Vault 87 Jumpsuit.

“That is enough!” Yelled the yellow mutant.

Grognak laughed. “Who do you think you are?”

“My name is Fawkes, from Vault 87 in Washington D.C.” Yelled the yellow Mutant, Fawkes. “I came here with the Brotherhood of Steel to destroy . . . the Enclave! Why is it that you fight, fellow Mutants?”

“Those are not our fellow Mutants.” Yelled a Mariposa Mutant from the crowd, pointing at the Nightkin, “Those are the Nightkin! Former assassins of the Master. They have what is called Schizophrenia and are too insane to be kept alive!”

“Our leader, Marcus, a Super Mutant,” Yelled Lilly “Was the only one to keep the peace between the two races. With him dead, all we can . . . all we must do is become the dominant species!”

Fawkes shook his head, “That is not the correct way! If you could serve under one Mutant, but fight when he is dead, what is the point of thriving when all you do is fight one another to extinction?”

“That what are you suggesting?” asked Grognak, “That you take over as the new “Marcus”? That you lead us to victory? That is my position! I am the new leader of Jacobstown!”

“Well it doesn’t look like you’re doing a good job of it.” Fawkes taunted while he pulled out a sledge hammer of his own. The Mutants in the crowd murmured, those where the words of a challenger.

“Oh? So you think, the great Grognak is not a good leader then.” Grognak growled. He rushed up to Fawkes and swung his sledgehammer towards his head.  Fawkes dived out of the way and punched Grognak in the stomach. He dropped to one knee then hit Fawkes in the jaw with his own hammer. Fawkes stumbled back, the taste of blood in his mouth. As soon as Grognak came up to swing again, Fawkes pulled out a machete from his belt and shoved it into his opponents stomach. Grognak stopped mid swing and fell backwards, the machete protruding out of his abdomen. Fawkes got up and walked over to the fallen Mutant. He raised his sledgehammer, and slammed down into Grognak’s head. There was a crunching as metal tore through bone and brains covered the ground.

Fawkes looked up at the stunned crowd of Mutants and Nightkin. “Serve under my banner, fight the Legion and the Enclave, and we will thrive as the nation we were born to be!” He raised his blood-soaked hammer into the air. “Are you with me?”

The mutants cheered, raising their weapons into the air chanting Fawkes’s name.

Fawkes smiled. “We are of Jacobstown! Allies of Vegas and of the human Escado! We shall be victorious!”