Jacob Burns and the Order of the Algorithm #Wattys2017

Chapter 6: Lost in the Outfield

No. I was pointing below, where beneath the Wall's great shadow lay a sea of tents that flooded the plaza and into the surrounding alleyways beyond. Hundreds upon hundreds of people were crowded into the dilapidated buildings, taking up residence wherever they could find it. They were in the ruins, they were on the street, they were in the dumpsters and the gutters. Some had even fled to the sewers, all just to get away from the crumbling state of the Commonwealth. It was easily the biggest settlement around, and the most dangerous to boot. Goodneighbor was bad enough, but at least they had a code among thieves. Out here, it was every man for himself.

"That's Outfield," I said.

"Where did they all come from?" She asked, wide-eyed.

"All over. Farms, outposts, you name it. The Commonwealth is in shambles, ever since the Minutemen fell at Quincy the settlements have had no one to protect them after that. Those that could afford it packed up and took their chances out west, everyone else? They're either struggling out in No-Man's-Land or sitting right in front of you. C'mon, the entrance is down this way."

"Wait a minute, you're not saying... you can't actually mean... that this is "Diamond" City?!"

"What were you expecting, the Ritz Carlton?" I laughed, but Ilya just looked horrified.

"But that's a baseball stadium!" She cried, "Are you really telling me that this is as good as it gets?" I sighed and I pat her on the back before flashing my most charming smile.

"Welcome to the Wasteland, sweetheart."

*************

We weaved in and out of the bustling marketplace, amid makeshift shops and traveling caravans with their brahmin in tow. The traders shouted over one another with colorful slogans, desperately competing for what few customers there were to be had. There weren't many caps left to go around these parts, most of these people were farmers whose homes had been razed and their crops stolen. The raiders weren't the only thing you had to worry about either, the super mutants had been growing bolder as the Commonwealth continued to fracture into anarchy, their attacks becoming more frequent and brutal with each passing day. And if they didn't get to you, then the radiation would. Intense radstorms had been swelling up from the south, as if the Glowing Sea itself was rising up to swallow all of civilization whole.

And yet, none of this even scratched the surface of the dangers that were lurking around every corner, for there was something out here far worse than mutants and mayhem, something that none of us could escape. Something that was hiding in plain sight.

Everywhere you looked, you could see the fear and distrust in people's eyes. Who? Who would it be next? The man on the street corner? The new trader in town? Or would the hand of fate finally point it's accursed finger at you?

Reality can be far stranger, and more terrifying, than fiction ever could... and the Institute's newest abominations made the synths I'd met in the mine look like child's play. Not only were they smarter, faster, and more deadly than ever, but they actually looked human, and it's a hell of a lot harder to pull the trigger when the face staring back at you once belonged to someone you loved. You just had to remember that beneath the crude imitation of human flesh beat the mechanical heart of a monster, loyal only to the unseen hand that made it.