Fallout 4: AR

61. Bug Bites

We had nearly gotten to the body which, I suddenly realized with admiration for my partner's perception, had been lying half-concealed by a mound of dirt when MacCready froze. A light buzzing noise teased across my ears. "You hear that?" he asked, his voice tight.

The reason he had thought the body was moving became suddenly apparent as a swarm of enormous insects lifted into the air. To either side, other shapes of winged bugs joined the first, creating a nightmare of buzzing, darting terror.

Giant bugs! Intellectually, I was aware of their existence. Hell, I had even had to try and eat the occasional serving of radroach meat, never mind that it never stayed down for long. The reality of torso-sized insects buzzing and flying around in a chaotic swarm defied even my most inspired mental images. I gaped in stunned and horrified amazement.

Fortunately, MacCready was there. "Bloodbugs! Watch their spit!" He roughly backed into me, snapping me out of my daze. "Bring it on!" he yelled, switching out his sniper rifle for his 10mm pistol and rapidly firing into the mess of flying forms. "Boss!" he snapped, grunting in effort as he slapped away a thin insect with a wicked proboscis, the aforementioned bloodbug. "Wake up! Use your pistol!"

I nodded, quickly shouldering my rifle to grab the laser pistol from its holster. Just as I lifted to aim, a sticky glob of vile putrescence hit the side of my face and I gagged, scraping at the mess which was... moving? I squealed in disgust, batting frantically at the wiggling form dripping down my neck, clawing it free to splat on the iron track. A dying larval form slid down from the goopy mess into the gravel. My focus was shattered and I fired again and again, missing every target, wasting ammunition. I shrieked as another bloodbug, it's like a giant mosquito! darted forward to latch on to my exposed neck. Dropping the pistol, I grasped its disgusting hypodermic-like head in both hands, wrenching it free before it could do more than barely puncture the skin. I thrust it to the cross ties, stomping on its body over and over until it was little more than a bloody stain.

Retrieving my pistol, I whirled at MacCready's yell of pain to witness him battering at two separate bugs; another bloodbug biting deep into his neck, and a wasp-like one with its stinger embedded in a bleeding wound on his exposed forearm. He, too, had lumps of putrid gunk stuck to his jacket, smeared across several cuts on his arms and neck. Several shattered exoskeletons lay on the ground, testament to his fighting skill, but we were badly outnumbered and slowly losing ground. While I fired point-blank into the wasp-like creature's torso, MacCready snapped the bloodbug's nose in half one-handed, following up with a crunching blow from the butt of his own pistol. Both attackers fell to the ground, dead.

"I can't hit them!" I shrieked in panic, lining up for another attempt at the surging swarm. We had reduced their numbers, but there were still more.

"I got the stingwings!" he shouted, indicating the wasp-like ones. "Get the bloatflies before they shoot us again!" He fired, winging one of the swarm to land harmlessly on the ground.

I fired, but the fat-bodied flies were moving too erratically for me to hit without my Pip-Boy to guide the shots. "Mac..." I gasped, crying in anger and frustration. "I can't!" Another bloodbug swooped in and I swatted at it with my laser pistol, barely missing. MacCready whirled, his arm slinging me around to land heavily next to the pile of tangled legs and wings. Another pop of his pistol, and the bloodbug was down, but he took a shot of bloatfly gunk to the side of his mouth. He dropped into a crouch, slapping at the wiggling mass contained within, gagging violently.

In a desperate move, I grabbed at the legs of one of the dead insects next to me. Standing protectively over my companion, I swung the jointed body viciously back and forth, keeping the remaining insects from approaching us until he got back on his feet.