Vengeance Days - Pt. 9

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Pt. 9 – Taking The Chances

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4th January 2301

3:50 pm

Outside business estate

“Well this is something. Looks greyer than the face of a dead fiend.” Vik spoke up after a few hours of little communication. They had reached their location and it looked less occupied than they thought.

“You think it has anything at all? It don’t look like no one has inhabited it for a real long while.” Guy replied, knocking on a grey brick wall of one of the buildings, looking up to a groaning metal stair above which looked like it would fall at any time.

“We better start a search, in case something decides it doesn’t want us here.” Lev signalled, “We’ll start with that building there, on the edge looking out onto the dust.”

The others followed him vigilantly as he began to walk. It felt like the streets of north Vegas but with nothing interrupting it with the smash of glass and the electrical sizzle from the lights not far from their territory.

As they approached the glass doors, they realised it had almost the same structure as their base, minus the glass in the windows and the walls that were smoother than the walls of their original base. It was perfect for what they needed.

“I think this is it.” Lev looked up in awe at the building turning its back on the rest of the business estate. He pulled his revolver from the side and pushed at the glass door which took a bit of force, misplacing debris as it opened. Instantly the pained and alerted screeches of some form of abomination flooded the air around them.

Heedfully, Vik tugged Lev back from the doors, “Ghouls. Ferals.”

Lev span around on his feet and looked at him horrified, “Never seen one. What are they capable of? All I’ve ever been told is they’re irradiated humans.”

“You’ve never seen a ghoul? They come towards you like arrrChHhhrrraaa!” Guy mimicked with appalling accuracy.

“Guy, seriously? Lev, they’re feral; they have lost their minds and will tear you apart no matter what you say to them. If we are going to clear this place out, we have to watch each others backs.”

His hand touched the glass doors once again, “Lets get it over with; I wanna sit down.”

The group piled into the building, surprisingly well lit due to the afternoon light. A wasted away feral stood metres from them at the back of the square room, waving its arms about. Another piled down the stairs, landing on its front, unable to stand up. Elliott’s pistol got the first shot of the one in the back just as Freddy put the one on the floor out of its misery.

Cautiously moving across the floor, Lev and Vik filed up the stairs, hearing the wreching gurgles from the ghouls on the floor they had arrived on.

“Take the left, I’ll clear this side.” Vik shot, taking off to the right without a further word. Lev’s wide eyes watched as he ran off, turning to look at the small room next to him.

His energy brought him to the corner, watching a singular ghoul eating one of their own. Its leg was trapped under a fallen fridge. He examined it for a second, having never seen a ghoul close up.

Its neck twisted to look at him brainlessly and started scratching at the floor to get up. He watched it a little longer wondering how a person could turn into such a degenerative, warped animal. Before he knew it, its leg detached from its body and it inched closer gripping at the floor. His hands brought his revolver to it’s head as its arms reached for him, blowing its skull in.

He heard shots from Viks direction, seeing Elliott and guy arrive on the floor. Elliott noticed Lev and signalled with his thumb behind him, “Freddy and Dagwood are guarding downstairs.”

“Righty, help me with Vik, he’s in there alone; His stupid idea.” Lev commanded with a partial roll of his eyes, striding into the large room furnished with fine pre-war furniture, now completely ruined by the elements.

He assailed across the room shooting two of them off of Vik, watching another three go for him. Lev shoved one out of the broken windows, hearing it hit the ground with a morbid slam. In time, Vik shot off the other two and watched them fall on the ground infront of them, plunging back onto a carmine coloured sofa sat in front of the windows.

Beaten, Lev pointed his finger out at Elliott and Guy, breathing through his nose at the action, “You guys gotta get faster.”

“At my age? I’m getting old.” Elliott shook his head.

Guy puffed, turning around and walking into the next room where the stairs were. “I’m sleeping in here in case something comes for us. Quick escape down the stairs.”

“You do that, but I’m staying in here, infront of these windows. Quick get away if I jump out of them.” Lev threw back, trying not to laugh.

Freddy and Dagwood arrived onto the floor throwing their stuff in the same room as Guy. “Don’t think I’m jumping out a window.” Freddy snorted, breathing heavily from walking up the stairs.

“Me neither.” Dagwood looked at Lev as if he were out of his mind. His bones wouldn’t hold the landing.

The light was dying fast, looking out into the direction of its source. Vik stood up from the sofa and went to go sit against the wall, “You can take the sofa, I’m too used to uncomfortable surfaces.”

A piercing look was given by Lev, “You’re giving up the most comfortable furnishing in most likely miles for me? You can’t take those words back now, haha.” He threw himself down onto it slyly.

“If I slept on that, I wouldn’t wake up. ‘n the kings gotta have the throne.” Vik snorted, exhaustedly sitting against the wall to the left of the sofa.

Caringly, Lev slid his jacket off and folded it, planting it over the arm of the chair. There wasn’t anything to make a fire in and planning to do it outside would be a bad choice seeing as there were many ghouls in this building alone. Who knew how many others there were in the other buildings? He settled with burning papers openly on a metal desk a metre infront of the sofa.

00:10

Everyone else had decided to sleep in the room with the stairs after the earlier dispute apart from Vik who slept just a little way away from where the sofa was.

Lev sat completely still on its cushioned fabric, staring out in the direction of the wall with the broken windows. No sounds were to be heard outside, not even the scatter of debris.

He debated shielding himself from the cool air pooling in from the gaping openings in the walls with his jacket beside him, deciding against it as he realised this was the only cool air he’d get until the next night.

The stars in the sky were uninterrupted and aligned, following the Milky Way band that ran across the dome of atmosphere. It had been a while since he had had time to notice them properly instead of being burdened by the things he had to to do.

Vik opened his eyes achingly, spying the view of Lev sat up. Tepidly he stood and walked over to him, barely alerting him at all.

“Why’re you up?” Vik lowered himself next to Lev in the complete darkness, the only light giving them features being the burning paper on the scratched metal desk in front of the sofa.

“There’s too much on my mind to let me sleep.” Levs voice spoke in a soft manner, eyes supervising the flame from the paper and leaning forward to place more onto the pile.

“About the whole thing with Leo-”

“Shut it Viktor, I don’t wanna talk about that prick. He’s dead.” Lev spat in a hissed tone.

Vik opened his mouth to speak again with a hesitance in his lungs, “Fine, then can I talk to you about the whole anger thing you have going on?”

“Fuck no!” He faced Vik fully, “I know it’s there and I don’t wanna talk about it. Why do you care so much about it? It hasn’t even popped up since before we left the automobile place.”

“Because you’re a member of the gang you’ll end up hurting yourself or… worse. You’re my best mate. You look at everything with bitter hatred and do everything in a damned morose way.” Vik sighed in frustration.

“Well it ain’t killed me yet. Why would it fucking matter? Everyone dies and out in this wasteland it seems to happen and no one gives a shit anymore.” Levs vitreous eyes glanced away then back a Vik's with a feeling of pointlessness.

Vik dove his right hand through Levs flop of hair and softly placed his left hand between his shoulder and his neck, closing in on him. “I give a shit Olevander. Don’t you think for one second I’m gonna let you die - Whether you want to or not.”

In the unforeseen awkwardness Lev’s eyes watched his and then darted to the side, leaning back slowly.

Vik backed off as he watched Lev sit on the edge of the sofa, clearing his throat as he looked at the metal desk in front of them.

“Sorry, I, I’ll explain but it may sound crazy and out of place.” Vik spoke quickly, trying to return to the normal atmosphere.

Silently, Lev looked at him, a little shaken by the previous moment, “Are you into me or something, man?”

Vik laughed to himself and looked back up at him in response, “That’s why I got so close, I couln’t help myself. Sorry. I know it’s real sudden but I’ve felt like it since before we were captured by the Fiends.”

His eyes watched him for a moment, “Nah, nah, it’s cool, I just… I don’t want to start anything. Not now, at least, with all that’s happening. I didn’t see it coming.” He half whispered, looking back at the desk. He was debating what had just happened like it was on a loop.

Vik nodded disappointedly but he wasn’t going to force it.

It came out of nowhere.

There could have been no way Lev would have known or seen it coming.

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