At The Precipice Of Something New

Something New

Another shot. Another. Another. All around them, raiders seemed to be closing in, and some of them fell to the floor, dead. Her hands began to shake again, her mind growing foggy, only to be drawn back from the haze when Derek pushed her out of the way, stopping her from being shot in the head by mere inches. Voices rose among the din of gunshots, shouts. One of them caused her to stop in her tracks, not out of familiarity, but out of horror. I've killed hundreds so I can feel alive! Don't be pathetic! The words made her blood run cold. Reloading her gun and her entire body beginning to shake, Nora turned around, providing fire support for Preston and Derek as they pushed forward. It was the sound of a heavy gun spinning up that drew her back to the situation at hand again. About ready to puke, Nora swivelled to fire at the tall, muscular woman who was revving her minigun, Preston, Derek, and Codsworth all shooting at her too. Within the span of a minute that felt to be much longer, they managed to shoot her down, their own armour weakening under the onslaught of bullets from her and the other raiders still fighting. When she fell to the ground, dead, however, something in the air felt to lift, if only briefly.

She must have been their leader. She –

Nora forced herself to focus, reloading her shotgun, and firing at the last few raiders who came running towards them. Codsworth flew by her side to cover her back, and Derek and Preston did the same, shooting at the raiders with their backs to each other. Time seemed to become immaterial, even non-existent. Shot after shot. Reloading. Shot after shot again. It almost became a steady rhythm. When the raiders finally ceased their onslaught, when they were all dead, Nora corrected herself, the silence that came over them was almost painful. A ringing in her ears felt as though it were going to beat her senseless, and, holstering her gun, Nora walked over to a set of boxes, things, she had no doubt, the raiders had stolen. Her hands shaking again, she began rummaging through it until, finally, her fingers clasped around something small, something smooth, and metal. When she pulled it out, she breathed a low sigh of relief, and opened the locket to ensure it was what they had been looking for. Sure enough, inside the locket was a small portrait of the family who had sent them. Her heart sank when she saw their happy smiles, how they had never could have imagined they would lose one of the girls in the photograph. Closing the locket, she turned it over to see the engraving on the back. Sure enough, it had the family name – Abernathy.

"There were more of them than I would have expected," Preston shook his head. "Codsworth, if you could see if there's anything worth taking, I would greatly appreciate it. We need as many supplies as we can find if we're going to build up and connect as many settlements in the Commonwealth as possible."

"I'll be right on it!" Codsworth eagerly replied. "Shall I put them in the military grade bags the three of you brought along?"

"Yes," Preston confirmed. "Thank you, Codsworth," He took a look around them and sighed. "Damn raiders. All they do is take and take from ordinary people who just want to live. I don't understand. How can someone lose their humanity so much as to believe this is okay?"

"Some people don't care about the world, or other people, at all," Derek said. "But, then again, that's what this whole thing is. A damn shame."

"It's so wrong," Nora said bitterly, securing the Abernathy family's locket in the pocket of her jacket before reloading her gun. "No one deserves to have their lives torn apart the way these people do it. How can anyone be so selfish?"

"I have no idea," Derek said grimly. "But, at the end of the day, they are not like most people, not even close. Most people want to do what's right and help each other...most people value more than selfish satisfaction."

Nora nodded, but her voice got caught in her throat as a thought she had struggled to suppress finally reached up into her consciousness.

If you knew me then, you don't know me now.