The Fallout Redemption

Chapter 15: Instigation

Instigating: Incite someone to do something, especially something bad.

It was three in the morning, the cold & dark grew as the fog passed and the winter seemed to be right over the horizon of Roanoke Valley, Virginia.
The blue atmosphere in the ridge covered up the fact that half the forest trees were uprooted, flattened to the ground from the atomic blasts.
Frost built on every visible surface around, frozen leafs collected in groups, cracking, circling and swirling.

With the earths magnetic field shifted, the aurora borealis or better known as the Northern Lights, appeared in the sky of North America.
Oxygen and Nitrogen levels enhanced in the thermosphere from the radioactive interference manifesting red, green, blue, and purple streaks of light every two nights, particularly on this night.

Bright purple and dark red mixed in opposite contrast in the clouds above as the half destroyed moon had shown its orange light through the soon to be snowy odd weather.

A crackling torch stuck out from the ground at each side of a specific post at the end of this cul-de-sac, a family of cult members wearing demented clothing made from their victims limbs, surrounded in a circle around what appeared to be a ritualistic practicing sight.

"Now for the last time, motherfucker tell me where is it!?"

A oddly masked dark figure shouted at this beaten up, bloody survivor who sat on his knees, uncomfortably tightly tied up to half of a deteriorated street light.

The houses behind the members were blown up to pieces, forcibly knocked to the ground, subtle remnants of building pieces, what was left of the town scattered across the land.

The crater created such a massive blast radius, it looked like a giant cup had tipped over, spilled, and washed away whatever was in its path while leaving behind a circular sinkhole.

You could see the mans wrists ripping from the extremely tightened rope and how it was cutting off circulation which left his fingertips to change to a purple black.
He looked as if he hadn't bathed in years, his was all hair grown out long, he had a chopped up beard, and seemed beyond exhausted like he had been running his whole life.

The broken stranger coughed up a blood-clot and spat it to the ground in front of the antagonizer.
Wheezing from his shattered ribs, his left eye was so swollen shut he could barely see what the face of the man who had been beating him senselessly looked like.

Each breath was heavy revealing the condensation his damaged lungs produced.

'A road of pain and suffering.'
Was written in blood onto a rusty, old yellow caution sign as the street began.

Southwest Willy Drive, was the former road name, now the infamous cult or clan of Ricky's labeled it 'Gallows Avenue' from the Gallows hangings back in the 1890's.

"A man reaps what he s-sow, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword... and ye d-do unto others as you would have them do unto you.."

The weakened man said.
He tried lifting up his torso up off the ground, but collapsed right back down due to the massive whip gashes decorating his shoulders and back.

"What in the actual fuck does that mean!?
Huh!? Blabbering fucking gibberish this whole damn time..you know what?..I'm done listening to you, you peasant, fuck what R says."

He was then shot from behind, his head exploded into incinerated chunks, from a red laser beam.

As he dropped, blood spattered out from each entry wound, brain matter & skull fragments had flung like a slingshot onto the strangers feet.
As smoke steamed off of the chunks, another unknown masked man walked into the fiery light.

All the cult members watched in terror as they knew who this man truly was, he walked right over the corpse, and continued walking up to the tied, brittle man.
A low, raspy, and aged voice spoke up intimidatingly angry.

"Hello, Jeremiel. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, is that true when you slaughtered my whole family as they slept in my old camp? Does mercy apply to you, why should it? You have brought me nothing but pain and suffering, especially disrespect among the pack which is unacceptable, Jeremiel. Two things I can't let one get away with, you have already given me what I needed.
A new replacement for my second in command."

The hooded man began recharged his laser musket, while eying the bloody stranger on the ground he noticed his distressed fear filled stare.

"Y-You don't gotta do this..Ricky it wasn't what you thought..the-they were going to kill y-"

Cut off by a fiery blast, a red focused beam of laser energy, blasted the innocent man a massive circular hole in the center of his face.
The skin sizzled & smoke formed around the perfectly incinerated circles, blood had drizzled out each of his half eye sockets.

His head limply flopped down, allowing more blood to grotesquely seep downward like a gouged out watermelon.

Ricky turned around looking at each cultist yelling a warning to them.

"DON'T! Follow this mans footsteps, he disobeyed a direct order, thy who seeks thy path, life will end in this detrimental death, mark my fucking words! Return to your quarters!"

Every initiate scattered like rats to a flick of a light switch, R or terribly known as Ricky Fero stood there breathing heavily, wheezing harder and harder with each breath.

He sighed loudly contemplating his actions and the consequences that follow, but he had no remorse or regret so he brushed it off like the dust from his enemies.. waiting on new technologically weaponized tanks to be relocated from an abandoned military hanger, to his main headquarters.