It's the End of the World

Chapter 24

"Shit..." 

I cursed quietly. As soon as I move my foot, I would only have about three seconds before I would be blown to bits. I kept my foot firmly in place as I leaned down. In one swift movement, I lifted my foot and chucked the mine out through the hole in the wall. It beeped a few times before exploding outside. I took a deep breath. I avoided becoming human BBQ, but I had another problem. The raiders knew there was something going on. I spun Garvey's chair around and sliced the rope that bound his hands. He took the gag out of his mouth, and I immediately put my hand over his mouth.

"No time for questions. As difficult as it'll be, I need you to trust me. Take this."

I pulled a combat shotgun from my bag and pushed it into Garvey's hands. He stood there, speechless.

"Go on, get to the settlers. They'll need the last of the Minutemen by their side."

 Garvey left the broken down house as I turned my attention to Sturges. He had a cut over his right eye that dripped blood, and bruising along his strong jaw. My heart broke at the sight. I wiped the blood away carefully as I knelt by him.

"What did they do to you?"

I whispered to him while I cut the ropes off of him. I pulled the gag off, tossing it aside. He stood up, towering over me.

"I know you don't like fighting, but we'll need everyone we can get. It won't be easy to fix the damage I caused."

Sturges gave a chuckle as he put a hand on my shoulder.

"Everything can be fixed with enough duct tape. In this case, I think you'll need duct tape and a few old friends."

I smiled. He still saw us as friends. Even after everything I had done. He always was the most forgiving and kind hearted. I gave the dirty mechanic a hug.

"I didn't realize how much I actually missed you. It'll be nice when things go back to the way they were."

I stepped back, looking up at Sturges.

"We better get going. We'll have time to catch up later."

I nodded, and pointed towards a blue house near the end of the street.

"You're right. Take settlers to the cellar of that house there. When it's safe, I'll come get you all."

Sturges kissed my forehead before running off to the cellar. I pulled my own gun off my back and got ready to fight. My best bet would be to get to the roof and provide support. I climbed on the kitchen counter and pulled myself up through a hole in the roof. I crouched down, staying out of sight. There was fighting in the field behind the houses. I looked through my scope and focused on one of the raiders. I squeezed the trigger, dropping them. I ducked back out of sight as I took a breath. I've done harder things than this, but I felt myself struggling with my decision to wipe out the raiders.  I had convinced myself it was for the best, but I couldn't help but to feel like there was another way to go about this. I shook my head. Too late, this is the path I chose. I will deal with the consequences. I lined up another shot. The bullet found the target, causing the raider to collapse. I searched the field through my scope for my companions. There was a group of raiders surrounding Deacon and Preston, and they were closing in. If I shot from this distance, I risked hitting them on accident instead of the raiders. I slid off the roof, hitting the ground with a roll. I sprinted towards the group, pulling out the famous Deliverer pistol.

"Hey! Over here, assholes!"

I yelled to get the attention of the raiders to keep them from getting any closer to Deacon. A few of them turned to look at me, but one of them pistol whipped Deacon as I approached. I glared at the raider.

"That's it, you're dying first."

 I shot the raider, using every bullet in the magazine. It may have been a bit overboard, but it got my point across. I slammed a new magazine in as I looked around at the remaining raiders.

"Anyone else feel like pissing me off?"

My threat apparently seemed empty because one of the raiders roughly pulled Deacon back to his feet and punched him. I narrowed my eyes. Preston watched me with a knowing look as I stormed forward and slammed the bottom of the gun into the raider's forehead.

"I destroyed the whole Commonwealth because I wanted to protect this man. Do you seriously think I'm going to let you hurt him?"

The raider lay on the brown grass, writhing in pain. I pressed my foot into his chest and shot him multiple times in the head. The other raiders dropped their weapons and started running. Preston took my arm, pulling me away from the raider.

"Pretty sure he's dead now."

"Good."

I spat on the corpse before kneeling by Deacon, helping him to his feet.

"Remind me never to piss you off, boss."

Deacon joked. I rolled my eyes.

"I was gonna ask if you're alright, but obviously you are."

He smirked at me as he brushed the dirt off.

"I'll live. How about you? I heard a mine go off."

"I'm okay. Really. We need to worry about the other settlers, not me."

I assured Deacon, putting him hand on his arm. Preston watched us before speaking up.

"This is what you had planned? This is chaos."

I faced Preston.

"This is me trying to fix my mistakes. Sorry if that isn't good enough for you, Garvey."

I snapped at him. I holstered my pistol and stalked away, not looking back.