Zora and her small gang left the abandoned house at the first break of dawn, and mist covered the morning sky, thankfully keeping their cover. She rubbed her throat, the earlier murder attempt of the night still in the back of her mind. When they reached that 'raider oasis' or whatever the fuck it was, she was going to enjoy killing that rat Rex.
They walked slowly, taking their time to not be caught out in the open, even with the dense fog that surrounded them. They were getting closer to Cambridge, but still had to walk west in order to reach it. If she had been traveling alone, she would have just gone straight in a diagonal and get there in half the time, but settlers would attack their group on sight. People knew what a group of raiders looked like.
They reached a different type of city. They could see the ruins of a large building, the old C.I.T. Ruins, and tall green and silver towers and office buildings lay behind it. Gunner territory, most likely. Snipers in the towering buildings, land-mines in the streets, and who knew what had taken up the space within the giant walls of the ruins.
She pulled out her faded Commonwealth map, and looked at the roads to Cambridge. They could keep following the river up to the city, but there was no cover in front of the college. It was just an open courtyard and the river, and on the other side, the dangers of the back bay that they wanted to avoid during their travels. The last time she heard, there was a raider gang holed up somewhere across the river, and she didn't feel like delaying their travels any longer than she had to.
"We'll go around the back of the ruins, follow this road and go straight to Cambridge. There's not enough cover to just follow the river up. Let's move."
"You're all gonna die on this quest-" Rex spoke up vehemently and spit on the ground.
"Put a sock in him, Bear, I don't feel like listening to the rat," Zora didn't look up from her map as they walked, focusing on the long length they were supposed to travel.
Bear took her command literally and reached into his pouch and pulled out a spare sock, stained yellow and brown with dirt and frayed holes covering the foot.
"No, no NO-" Rex cried out, letting Bear shove the wretched clothing item into his mouth.
Whiplash laughed and Rex growled at them.
"Hey Zora," Whiplash chuckled, "it seems he's more of a mutt than a rat."
She smiled at the two raiders and their prisoner and continued on past the ruins, holding her gun just in case they ran into any unpleasant surprises.
They passed Cambridge quietly and the sun had started falling back down after noon. She had noticed the ferals wandering the outskirts of the city. Where there were a few stragglers, there was probably a whole mob behind. If she was lucky and as long as she drew no attention to herself, she could have easily passed by the ferals as she herself was a ghoul. But they needed to stay together so they had to go the long way around.
She liked having a gang and all, but sometimes it was just so much more efficient to be alone.
They now headed northwest, to the next place Rex pointed them to go. He wouldn't tell them the final destination, apparently smart enough to keep himself useful. She could torture it out of him, but that would draw attention to their group, and she didn't mind the adventure. The Combat Zone's fun had dried up recently, which added to her eagerness to find a new conquest.
After taking one break the entire day, they finally grew tired as the sun began to set. They still hadn't reached their destination, a pond just south of Lexington, but Zora knew that if they continued the next day, they would be able to reach their location.
Two cabins came into view ahead of them and they all readied their weapons, expecting a wandering feral or two. They crept up into the center of the area, and she motioned to them to search one of the cabins, but a large huffing sound froze them in their tracks. Hiding underneath the broken down husk of a metal trailer sat a Yao Guai.
It lifted its head from it's giant paws, the irritated pink skin around its snout curling up as it growled, low and rumbling.
"Shit."
And it all went to shit. The bear roared and pounced up from its makeshift cave, standing on its hind legs.
They all shot at it and the bullets lodged themselves into the thick leathery skin of the animal, and it charged at them.
Whiplash let go of the rope holding Rex, both of them scrambling out of the way of the charging beast.
Bear did not look the least bit prepared to deal with his namesake and he kept shooting at the monster, holding out his gun as if it would ward away the creature.
"Whiplash, go after Rex!" Zora barked at her, turning towards the Yao Guai, unholstering her shotgun.
"Bear, get a grip!" She yelled at the giant raider and he broke out of his shock, a look of determination crossing his face.
She ran as the bear charged again, only being able to shoot her shotgun once, but she missed, hitting a tree behind them. Bear charged towards Zora and the Yao Guai, pummeling into the irradiate mammal with the same ferocity as the animal, turning it away from her and driving it into the dirt.
He drove a knife into the back of the beast, again and again, blood spurting out all over his face. It swung around and fell onto it's back, crushing him underneath. It rolled over, staggering, and raised its claws to slash into Bear's throat until Zora brought her shotgun around and shot it in the head.
At such a close range, the blast blew off half of the bear's face, killing it instantly. It fell onto the large raider beneath it and Bear pushed it off of his body, still filled with the adrenaline of the body.
He panted hard, trying to catch his breath, his eyes wild and face and arms drenched in blood. He still gripped his knife in his hands, his white knuckles a stark contrast to the red dripping blood. What a man.
She patted his arm, trying to calm him down.
"You did it Bear, you saved me. Take a breath, it's over," she soothed him, rubbing his arm up and down.
"You know, this is the second time you've saved my life, Bear," her grin was sly and the touch on his arm seemed to heat up even more.
He looked down at this short ghoul raider, her cold eyes unreadable.
She scared him. He never knew what her next move would be, and there was a cold reasoning that she followed that seemed to make her an amazing raider leader. He'd followed her before they took over the Combat Zone and she ended up with Walt, but he knew she was just using the man. She was a woman who would use any man, nothing else behind her actions other than physical attraction.
And he was perfectly fine with that.
She abruptly let go of his arm and started calling out to Whiplash, hoping the wiry raider had been able to follow and recapture their guide.
Zora got her answer after she heard her voice call back, affirming Rex's captivity. She hated to admit it, but without that man, they would be lost, unable to find their destination.
"That was fuckin' crazy Zora!" Whiplash laughed as she came into view, gripping Rex by his arm and dragging him back to the group.
"Shit, Bear, you've got some blood on ya," she glanced at the man in disgust, the smell from him overpowering.
"Why don't you clean yourself up," Zora smiled at him, "and we can make a feast out of this monster."
"You guys are crazy," Rex said, still out of breath.
"Yep!" Whiplash threw him onto the ground, her sadistic nature peeking through her normal facade.
As Bear walked away to find a creek or river, Zora bent down at the bear's body, brandishing a knife in order to start the carving.
After securing Rex to a nearby post, Whiplash joined her, each of them removing the organs or skinning the animal.
"Hey Z, you mind if I have a little fun with Rex later?"
Zora glanced at Whiplash, the woman's smiling and her eyes glinting.
"Just don't kill him. Or else I'll kill you for wasting our trip."
"Thanks boss," she chuckled and continued working with their night's dinner.
Bear came back, his arms clean of blood and his hair with only small flecks of the dried liquid remaining.
They all sat around a fire, cooking pieces of meat on sticks over the flames. It crackled and popped and they sat in silence, each thinking of the comforts and beer they left behind in the Combat Zone.
Rex sat behind the group, still tied to a post. He could smell the meat they were eating and his stomach growled, the earlier scraps from the day no longer giving him any comfort.
"Please guys, just give me some food. I won't try to kill you guys tonight, I promise," he pleaded, his voice dry.
But the looks the gang gave him made him know his attempts were futile.
He watched them eat, their lips open as they bit into the juicy Yao Guai meat, their teeth chewing into it and then swallowing. He hadn't had good meat in such a long time.
"You're not gonna eat before tonight," Whiplash finally spoke up, before slowly eating a piece in front of him, enjoying the agonized face he made from his hunger.
"W-what's that mean?"
"You don't want to know," Bear huffed, winking at Whiplash, and the three raiders laughed.
Bear looked at Zora and how the flames seemed to lick up to her as she roasted more of her dinner. He watched how the firelight made the shadows cast by her ghoulish scars dance on her skin, making her both ugly, terrifying and dangerous at the same time.
She caught him looking and held his gaze, the heat from before reigniting within him. She smiled, as if reading his thoughts like an open book. He couldn't read at all.
"We're going to stay in separate cabins tonight. Whiplash will watch over Rex in one, and Bear will keep me company. Tomorrow we leave for the third destination and then hopefully to our last," she glanced over at Rex, sitting partially in darkness. She didn't think Rex would want to spend any more time with their group after tonight. And she was looking forward to her night.
They all split up after they all had their fill, excluding their prisoner of course. The full moon shone brightly above, lighting their ways to their cabins in a silver glow. She entered her cabin and turned watched Bear walk in behind her, the same silver glow in his eyes.