Part Two: Shady Sands and Vault 15
The hot wasteland sun beat down, hard; his feet sore from walking the harsh desert sands and hardpan, finally, after several days, he came to a small town. A nice man greeted him at the entrance. Jack put his P=90 away; why he had carried it in his hands for the entire trip to this town, he could not be sure, probably as a precaution not knowing this world, wherever it was located in the galaxy. However, this nice man was offering to tell him about the town and some problems they have been having.
"Tell me about the radscorpions," Jack said, not sure why he really wanted to know.
The man at the entrance described a cave or nest of over-sized scorpions with a nasty sting that could irradiate you if you were not careful.
"Um, why don't I get back to you on that one." The thought of facing some pretty tough bugs was not appealing after a three day hike in the desert. Maybe this nice lady has some other information. Jack turned to the pretty lady on the other side of the entrance.
"Hi. What can I do for you?" she asks.
"Tell me about yourself and this place."
"Well, I live here in Shady Sands. Been here all my life. It's pretty quiet most of the time."
"That's interesting, thanks. I think I'll just have a look around."
Jack wandered around the small town, wandering through the buildings, and talking to the people of this unusual village. While he was wandering around the village he met a man named Ian thinking of the radscorpions, had asked him to help him out.
"Hell yeah, I'm looking for some 'action' and want to get out of Shady Sands. I only stopped here to heal after a pretty hefty bang up with some Raiders." Ian enthusiastically agreed with Jack's request for help.
*Great, since I have to get rid of this giant-scorpion problem, you'll be plenty of help!"
"However," Ian began, "there may be a couple of towns south of here that may be able to help you with that quest of yours. We could head there after we've cleared up the bug problem in this town.*
Jack, and his new-found-friend entered a large building in the center of the town and met a girl named Tandy.
"hello stranger, my father, Aradesh, is the leader of the town and might have something he would like for you to help us with."
"Sure, great, give me MORE work to do. I'm trying to find this Water Chip.... come on."
"Thanks, Tandy. So, where can I find your father?" Jack asked.
"He's right over there." Tandy pointed to the corner.
Jack crossed to the old man and was greeted warmly. "Greetings. Welcome to Shady Sands. What brings you here?" the man spoke in a soft, light tone.
Jack thought to himself, Well, you sound a lot like that guy Antonio from the show Wings, for starters. Jack answered, "Aradesh, I'm looking for a water chip."
"We have nothing of that sort here. But, I would like your help with someting."
"Sure, I have plenty of time." Jack says sarcastically.
"We have a radscorpion problem."
"Heard about that."
"So you will help us?"
"Sure, why not."
"Thank you. Talk to Seth at the entrance. He will tell you what you need to know."
"Thanks." Jack replied. A scent drifted past his nose, not the most appealing, but he decided to check it out anyway. He walked toward the smell and saw a woman preparing a meal. "Hmmm. That smells really good."
"Thank you," she replied.
"You must be a great cook."
"The best in town. Would you like some?"
"Sure." Jack almost regretted agreeing, but not eating could be considered rude. Hey maybe some of those lectures from Daniel were sticking in this brain of his.
The woman handed him a bowl and he took a bite. It wasn't all that bad. He ate some more, then handed the bowl to Ian. "Eat up, buddy, we've got a long trip."
"No Molerat stew for me thanks."
"Did you say RAT stew?" Jack looked decidedly green about the gills now.
"Molerat stew to be precise." Ian added.
Jack was about to give Ian the what for when he noticed the nice lady looking at him, "It was nice," he quickly added and then headed back outside to wander around some more.
One building he entered, he was greeted by a man named Razlo. He said he was the doctor of the town and could make some radscorpion antidote if he had a sample of the venom.
"Well, that's a... Hey... ahem, I'll bring you a sample, I'm gonna head off to kick some radscorpion butt pretty soon. I'll see what I can do," Jack offered.
"Great! Thank you." Razlo seemed excited and returned to his work.
Jack rummaged the shelf and took everything but the doctor's bag. He didn't need that now anyway. He'd come back and get it later. Calmly, he walked out of the doctor's place and back into the main square, Ian planted on his six. That man is going to annoy me. Jack thought to himself. "Hey, Ian."
"Yeah, man?"
"I need to change position."
"Whaddya need?"
"Back off just a little."
"You bet."
Jack wandered some more about the town and came across a farmer seemingly ripping his hair about because his fields aren't doing as well as he would like. Jack talks with the farmer for a while, then suggests he try crop-rotation to keep the fields from exhausting their nutrients.
"Damn, Carter must be rubbing off on me," Jack grumbles as he walks away from the farmer.
In Jack's continued exploration of the town and its buildings and shelves he locates a rope, figuring it will come in handy, he decided to hold onto it. In one building he found a couple books on wilderness survival. These could be really useful, he thought to himse;lf. He picks these up, then decides to read them... and discovers, when he's finished, the books disappear completely.
"What the... that is the strangest thing. That never happened before. What if I wanted to read that again?"
Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Looking back he saw it was Ian, "What is it, Ian?"
"We should get going."
"Yeah." Jack glanced at his PIPBoy, (the funny primitive thing that passes for a computer on this world the Vault Overseer gave him to keep track of his travels and such) "You're right. Let's move out."
"Where we going first?"
"Vault 15. Maybe there's something there I can change into. I need to get out of this stupid jumpsuit." Jack and Ian took off running toward the entrance of Shady Sands, darted under the entry arch and headed out across the wastelands again.
Jack and Ian spend several days wandering the flat, sandy wastelands to finally reach the entry to the vault, covered by a small, dilapidated shack.
"I wonder what's in there that vault?" Ian asks.
"Let's go take a look." Jack walks up to the door and peers inside. Nothing but a hole in the ground and a ladder leading down. "Come along, Ian." Jack and Ian climb down the ladder and are met by more of those radiated rats.
"I SO hate these things," Jack spat out.
"Me too. Oh, be careful, if you are bitten by too many, you'll get radiated."
"Oh, sure, NOW someone tells me that!" Jack shakes his head and starts pummelling rats again. *Hey, Ian, you wanna help me out here? And stop wasting your bullets on these rats!" having wasted too many already himself back in Vault 13's entry way.
Having cleared all the rats away one more time in a dark cave, Jack and Ian make there way to the Vault entrance. "Nice of someone to have left the door open for us," Jack commented on the heavy, metal door laying on the cavern floor.
They entered the Vault and killed a few more rats, Jack then began to rummage through the wall lockers, finding only some flares. "These will come in handy...." He stuffed them in his pack and continued further inside the Vault.
"More rats. I'm beginning to hate these little buggers." He soon ate his words when a large, brown monster of a rat came around the corner. "A little help here, Ian. And bring your gun!" Jack called, kicking the hell out of the large rat, then running away several steps, causing the rat to have to walk forward to attack. Allowing him time to switch back to his P-90.
Ian fired a couple shots, then Jack fired a three round burst, and finally the Giant MoleRat was dead.
"That thing bit my arm," Jack griped, examining the deep scratches in his right forearm. He tore the sleeves off his jumpsuit and wrapped his wounds; no sense using a stimpak when it was not necessary. "You all right, Ian?" Jack called to his friend, wandering around the first floor of the Vault, locating a locker in what looked like it was once the infirmary.
"Yep. No sweat, man."
"Glad you thought it was so much fun." Jack rummaged the wall locker and found some medical supplies. "These will come in handy."
He left the infirmary area and wandered around, inspecting the broken computer terminals, then found an elevator shaft, guarded by the little rats. He and Ian eliminated those with ease, compared to the Giant Molerat fight.
"Ian, you still have that rope?" Jack asked, staring blindly down the adandoned elevator shaft.
"Right here." Ian handed the rope to Jack.
For the first time, Jack noticed Ian's clothing... a pair of blue jeans and a black leather jacket over a white T-shirt. "How come he has those and all I have is this stupid jumpsuit?" Jack thought dismally to himself. Jack shook his head and descended the rope to level two.
_________________ Benno the Mad Wrote:
man, you gotta realise that thor and bos fell out of the patriot tree (like the ugly tree, but instills patriotism instead of ugly) and hit every branch on the way down.
"Gone now, dispersed by the brutal destruction of this one day, was the belief that the Darkman and his army of the dead were so superior as to be invincible. By attempting to destroy the morale of the Marines, the Darkman had restored it to full vigor. Dia De La Muerto had failed in its objectives."
The Gunny: Stand of the 300
Si vis pacem, para bellum
If you want peace, prepare for war
Gunny's color #FF2400
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