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> Hunting the Hunted
redsrock
post Nov 30 2008, 06:30 PM
Post #1


Knower
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Joined: 7-August 07



Prologue


“I think about it all the time…why they had to go. It just doesn’t make sense to me, no matter how hard I try to reason through everything, no matter how many times I used to tell myself that God willed it himself. They never caused harm to anyone, unless of course you count the times I had to change Jacob’s diaper, which wasn’t that much I suppose. I…I just don’t understand. If there really is a God, which I’ve ceased in believing for quite some time now, why would he let them go? Why would he stand back and let a ruthless killer take away my precious little boy and magnificent wife? What happened that day will live with me forever…

We had been shopping in the marketplace that evening; Katrina and I dressed in nothing but a thin layer of Brahmin-skinned leather, but baby Jacob wrapped in several layers of it. Despite it being somewhere in the mid-sixties that evening, we didn’t want to take a chance of Jacob getting sick. There was a steady, cold wind after all, and Jacob was only a few months old. Plus, Megaton’s clinic wasn’t exactly the most pleasant place to be. Now that I think about, the doc was a huge prick, but I can’t seem to remember his name. It doesn’t matter though, for there weren’t many jerks like him in Megaton. The large majority of the city was as nice as could be. I sure wish we never had to leave…

I had been talking with Sheriff Simms outside the barber-shop before it all happened, Kat and Jacob shopping at the small grocer owned by Lucille Greene. Simms had wanted me to quit my repair shop business and become one of his deputies. Raiders to the far south had been starting to migrate closer and closer to the city, and Simms wanted me to help him form something of a militia army of sorts. I’ve always been fairly skilled with a bolt-action rifle, so the offer had been very tempting; not to mention it would have been much more exciting than repairing random objects all day long. Unfortunately I never did have a chance to give him a straight answer, for almost the second after he asked, an explosion sounded just outside the grocer.

Behind me, much of the outer-walls of the grocer were up in flames, with people outside it enflamed themselves; some of them were running around screaming, and some were rolling on the ground in an attempt to get rid of the flames. For a few seconds everything was silent and in slow motion, or at least to me it was. I felt as if I were imagining things. But once Simms jerked my shirt collar I knew that wasn’t the case. He shoved me to the ground, behind the side wall of the barber shop. He was firing at something with his automatic rifle, though I had no clue what is was. I just remember thinking that whoever it was he was shooting at, they were the ones who had taken the lives of my wife and baby.

Rather than standing where I was, I remember taking off towards the grocer as fast as I could. The adrenaline was rushing so fast and intense that I wasn’t even aware of the Raiders shooting at me and other citizens not yet killed by the flames. When I made it to the grocer I kicked open the door and walked inside. Only the first half of the shop was in flames (though the entire place looked as if a tornado had hit), which made me realize the explosion must have went off somewhere just outside the grocer. I remember thinking how lucky we survivors of the battle had been that the explosion hadn’t went off near the atomic bomb in the middle of the marketplace. If it had, I wouldn’t even be telling you this right now.

I found Katrina and Jacob in the rear of the tiny grocer, just before getting to the smelly restrooms. Katrina was laying face first on the floor in a thick pool of dark blood, and Jacob was right beside her in the same way. Neither of them were moving at all. I turned them face up. Katrina’s eyes were still open, but Jacob’s were not. He had probably been sleeping when the explosion went off. Panicking, I immediately started crying. After minutes (that now seem like hours) went by of unsuccessfully trying to revive my wife and child, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Sheriff Simms.

We gotta get outta here, Kevin! I remember Simms saying. At that point almost the entire shop had been on fire, yet I had been utterly oblivious to that. I probably would have died there if Simms hadn’t of come along. From the first time I saw my wife and child lying in the floor I knew they were dead, but the shock had been so powerful that I didn’t want to believe it. It had been as if I was in some sort of…trance.

But despite Simms efforts, I still didn’t want to leave the grocer. At that time I still believed that Katrina and Jacob weren’t really dead, only passed out. I think I shoved Simms aside as he tried to get me out, and then I remember him grabbing me with both massive arms and carrying me outside. From that point on, things get a bit blurry for me these days, but I remember the basics at least. Just minutes after Simms had taken be outside, the grocer’s roof collapsed. I sat there on the dirt ground Indian-style, just staring at the grocer engulfed in flames. It had all be so surreal, like some kind of nightmare that wouldn’t end. Then Simms explained to me that Raiders had attacked, and somehow or another they had managed to rig some kind of explosive just outside the grocer. I remember Simms saying that he thought there was someone from inside the city helping the Raiders, likely that boatmaster Jericho, who had used to have been a Raider himself. That didn’t matter to me. And as bad as it may sound, nobody else mattered to me.

I never got to bury my wife and child, and that eats at my soul every single day, and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. The next day I packed a few small suitcases and left Megaton. I had to leave. I had to get out of the city and find a new home. Back then I remember the reasoning for leaving. It was because I had thought moving would help erase the bad memories. But that was such a stupid idea, for they are with me all the time. I leaving Megaton had been a better decision than staying, though, for I’ve learned to cope with what happened, thanks to you and others here in the city. I just…I just wish it all wouldn’t have happened, you know what I mean? I mean…I…I’m glad I found you, and I’m glad to have made all the friends that I have. But the memories of my wife and child will never leave. But…at least I have your shoulder to cry on, eh?”

Kevin Sting’s eyes filled with tears, and he slowly reached for his girlfriend. Chelly Berndardini took Steve’s hands and held them tightly in hers. It was rather cold outside, but inside Steve’s home the fireplace kept everything warm. Despite that, Chelly noticed how cold Steve’s hands were, not to mention how much they were shaking.

“Don’t worry, baby. It’ll all be alright. Just let it all out.”

“I...I’ve been wanting to tell someone this for the longest time, Chel. Th-…thanks for listening. I don’t know what I’d do with you.”

The tears were streaming like a waterfall now, and Steve felt somewhat embarrassed by this. After all, he was a member of Heaven’s Hunters. But Chelly didn’t care, for she simply wrapped her arms around him and began to cry as well.


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