Jacob Burns and the Order of the Algorithm #Wattys2017

Chapter 18: One Good Neighbor

"Me? Why I was just... ah... persuading our dear friend here to be a bit more cooperative, he is our secret weapon, after all. He may have given me a little trouble at first, but I think he's got the message now. Ain't that right, buddy?"

"AHHG! How many times human, MY NAME NOT 'BUH-DEE!'" As soon as I heard that guttural growl, I spun around on the spot, just in time to see the super mutant called Strong appear from around the corner.

My jaw dropped at the sight of the beast, what was Hancock thinking?! There was just no way... We wouldn't make it a mile with that monster in tow, let alone manage all the way through Nuka World! Not only would that massive frame and booming voice get us caught in an instant, but if we so much as turned our backs on the beast, he'd be crushing our bones flat beneath the nearest boulder.

"Hancock, you can't be serious... You're actually going to bring this... this... thing?! I mean, are you trying to get us killed? Besides, I thought we were just meeting with a friend of yours, not raising an army to storm his settlement! Is this how you treat your friends?"

"Friend? Friend?!" Hancock laughed as he shook his head, "There ain't no such thing as 'friends' out here in the Wasteland, Burnsie-boy! No, this fella we're meeting with is more of a, ah... business acquaintance, so to speak. He's the sort of high-class fella that just so happens to deal in the lowest common denominator, in other words, in people like me. And there's only one thing that people like me understand... And that's brute-fucking-force, so that's what we're gonna give 'em. With both barrels."

"Well, you certainly seem to have enough trust in these people to call them your friends, and all I see are freaks, low-lives, and degenerates."

"These people?" Hancock said with a scoff, "Why, these people are not my "friends" at all, but my brothers and sisters... My family. In fact, I would trust them with my very life... Which is certainly more than can be said for you, eh Burnsie? But perhaps we should just call up the Brotherhood of Steel and see what they have to say about that... Shall we?"

"Wait, Brotherhood of Steel?" Ilya asked curiously, "What's that? I've never heard of them before."

"It's nothing," I snapped as fast as I could, but it was already too late as a dark smile spread wide across Hancock's hideous face.

"Oh, so you don't know, do you?" He said with the cock of his brow, "Well, imagine my shock...What else haven't you told her, Burnsie? Did you bother to mention that the world had ended, or did that happen to slip your mind as well?"

The heat rose to my face even as I seethed beneath the surface, but there was nothing I could do. Hancock had me over a barrel and he knew it, not only that, but he was enjoying every second. The breath hitched in my throat as I watched the wheels turning in his head, mulling over which would be more humiliating... telling the girl now, or holding it over my head for the next hundred miles? Ilya's eyes darted nervously between the two of us, a look of confusion on her face as the tension began to grow so thick you could almost cut it with a knife.

Just then, the door slammed open, the sound nearly startling me out of my own skin. I watched as Fahrenheit entered the room, a stern scowl on her battle-worn face. One look from her and just like that, the mighty Watchmen of Goodneighbor were scattering like cockroaches at the sight of a flame, back to their work without a word. As she approached the rest of us, she glared at me a thousand degrees colder than the iciest nuclear winter, and I could tell she was none too pleased with Hancock's decision to let me go, but she knew better than to question her almighty leader. As she leaned in to whisper into Hancock's ear, I could see a flash of anger ignite behind his jaundiced eyes.

"Is that so?" He said dangerously as he narrowed his eyes, "Well, if that's how he wants to play it, then that's fine with me... What time did you say the next performance was?"

"About thirty minutes, but that's just the matinee," the woman replied, "The main event is happening tonight around happy hour, giving us just enough time to get out of here and make our way across the city. If we leave right now, then we just might be able to make it."

"Well, I suppose that settles that!" The ghoul said as he turned back towards me once again, a smile on his face that told me our conversation was far, far from over. "Guess you've lucked out again, eh Burnsie? Keep this up and I just might make you my lucky charm!" He laughed as he slapped me across the back, nearly knocking me off my feet.

"All right men! You heard your commander, party time's over! Looks like we've got ourselves a show to catch..." Hancock barked the order and his men scrambled to attention.

"Show? What show?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Why none other than the best damn show this side of the Charles River! Well, except maybe the old Vault 114 whorehouse, boy that place used to be wild..." He trailed off with a wistful look of longing upon his face.

"Seriously Hancock, where are you taking us?" I insisted.

"What, and ruin the surprise? C'mon Burnsie, where's your sense of adventure?" He said with another grin, "Now, no more questions! We've got a long road ahead of us and not a lot of time, so let's roll out!" And with that, the men lined up behind him and Hancock lead them out of the church in formation, leaving Ilya and me speechless in his wake.

"This is complete madness..." I managed to say as I shook my head and turned to the girl, but she only shrugged.

"I don't know, Jacob, he really seems to know what he's doing," she replied before putting on her pack and holstering her own gun, "but then again, I had always wanted to go with Detective Valentine, so I'm just happy we actually have somebody willing to help us for once! I mean, I know he may be a bit rough around the edges, but how bad could he really be?" She added before running after the group, eager not to be left behind.

I stood in the vast empty hall alone, barely able to process everything that had just happened. My entire world had been flipped upside down, and worse yet, Ilya seemed blissfully unaware of the danger we were getting ourselves into. I looked around the cavernous room, the dust beginning to settle for the first time since I'd set foot across its threshold. I couldn't help it as another dark shiver rushed up my spine, how close had I really come to certain death? Even a moment too late and I would have been a goner, and these dark and empty halls would have been my last resting place for all eternity.

How bad could he really be? I heard Ilya's last words echo in my ears.

"If only you knew," I said to myself as I checked my gun and followed after her, "If only you knew."