Chapter 19 - 19

Words : 1803 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

It was time, The next day, after Adam got up, spent 12 caps on a meal, and then handed back the key to the room to Eric. He set back out toward the walls. Intending on heading outside to scavenge again. He had a location in mind today, and, outfitted with his helmet and newly acquired medical supplies, he was more prepared than last time to head into the dangerous unprotected wasteland. Today was heading to a partially destroyed Corvega assembly plant he had learned about from the farmer he had helped store boxes. It was rumored to still be full of things to loot, which Adam was keen to do, especially since Corvega certainly would have a lot of unique things for him to grab while he was scavenging. As he had learned with his last expedition he couldn't just grab a lot of the same thing. Maybe he could get away with it in a big city, but so long as he was selling to Chuck, unless he found a lot of extremely easily cap convertible items he needed to bring back a wide selection of things. But he had a better idea what he was looking for now. He hoped this trip would be lucrative. The trip there was much further than his last excursion. He had gotten over his initial fear of leaving sight of the walls and was venturing further out into Chicago, but that did not mean he was willing to let his guard down. Luckily not so. After walking for about 30 minutes he turned a corner he saw a pack of feral hounds all fighting and picking at a carcass, likely a human judging by the remains though Adam didn't stick around and watch to say for certain. Luckily he seemed to be able to avoid their attention by sticking to the destroyed and burned out husk of a 5 story building, sticking to the interior and hiding behind the columns as the dogs devoured the corpse like this was their last meal. He couldn't tell what the building once was, it was nearly just the concrete and metal supports that framed the building when it was built. But it was of no concern, so long as he could use it to get around the dogs safely it didn't matter much. Just as he was about to get clear of the area he heard the sounds of shots ringing out. Bullets that came from very near the building he was in. A few of the dogs turned to look at the sounds, right at the building he was hiding in. Shit. He had no choice but to run, however he was poorly positioned. Trying to skirt around the dogs meant that he was taking cover in the husk of the building however he had quickly found out that the side he intended to exit on was completely destroyed, it was blocked and even if he had the wherewithal to move the rubble in the way he didn't have the time. However, a small stroke of luck as a stairway, now nothing but concrete much like the building that surrounded him, was just off to his right. He wasted no time and ran as fast as he could up the stairs, his heart pounding in his chest. He could hear from the other side of the walls that offered little sound insulation, the dogs barking and growling at some unseen enemy. He could only hope that none of the dogs would chase him up the stairs. The sound of gunfire once more rang out, multiple shots this time, probably a rifle by the sounds. These shots were still shot quite close to his building, it seemed almost as if they were on the other side of the wall that he was blocked from exiting through.The exact situation mattered less than the sounds of the dogs yelping as they were assumedly shot. He made it to the second floor finding it slightly more preserved, but not much, so than the first floor, the stairway continued upwards but he was determined to vacate the area as quickly as he could so instead he went deeper into the second floor. That was until he heard the sound of something running on the floor behind him. He whipped around to see one of the scrawny dogs from outside, had, indeed, followed him upstairs and it was making a mad dash at him. He wasted no time. He pulled out his 10mm pistol, spun around on his heels, and fired nearly point blank at the dog as it dove through the air at him. Unfortunately the speed at which the dog was moving made it hard to hit it accurately. He was aiming for the mutt's head but he only hit its front right shoulder. The dog let out a painful yelp as it dove past Adam and then slid across the floor, its bloody shoulder dragging across the ground. It was still alive. "Hey did you hear that?" Adam could hear from outside, clearly another human voice talking. Shit! In his haste to defend himself he hadn't even thought about the fact that the sound of his gunfire would be heard by the other gunman. This was a massive miscalculation. Actually, this is the second time he did this, the last time it drew a Deathclaw to his building. He was so stupid! But self depreciation wasn't going to help him now, he needed to hide. Luckily the dog he had shot seemed to have no intention of moving from its spot, laying on the ground. It was very much alive, but it seemed to have lost the will to fight, or even run away, perhaps accepting its fate. Adam spared it not even a second thought as he ran past it and deeper into the second floor. "Hey hey hey!" the voice from before said in a taunting and menacing way, now much closer, probably inside the building too. "I know you are in here. Why don't you come out to talk?~" He said with a faux tender tone. Adam was taking no chances. Luckily, not too far in front of the stairwell were two elevator shafts in a short hallway right before a T junction. One still had its metal doors closed so it was inaccessible at a quick glance but the other had the doors wide open, and, with a quick glance through, the elevator was sitting on the first floor, slightly buried in the floor presumably when it fell from above but he could easily hide on top of the elevator in the shaft if he ducked below where the floor was. The doors to this shaft were open but not all the way, more than enough to sneak in and hide but not enough to be obvious. Or so he hoped. He hoped in, ducked, and held his breath, hoping his impromptu hiding place was enough for this deadly game of hide and seek. In addition, though it was risky, he took off his helmet and placed it at his feet, hoping that if he needed to, he could peek more effectively without the bulk of his helmet increasing his visibility profile. He could hear the sounds of metal boots stepping on the concrete floor as it came out of the stairway. The man was definitely closing in on him. "Heh!" The man seemed to laugh once before another shot rang out from his gun. Adam had no idea what happened but it was safe to assume he had just shot the dog as it laid on the ground. He felt bad for the dog but he was going to shed no tears, it had tried to attack him after all. "Come out come out wherever you are~" The man taunted as he seemed to be getting closer and closer to Adam's position by the second. "I won't bite… much." The man said with a menacing tone before he laughed to himself. He was close now, probably just before he entered the hallway. Then Adam saw him. The man who was speaking stepped into view of the open door to the elevator shaft, Adam couldn't help but peek and what he saw confirmed his fears. He had learned, from various conversations, that there was no 'markings' that set a raider apart from a mercenary, or a soldier, or a bodyguard, or any other survivor. But you could tell by the way they carried themselves, and the type of gear they wore. Adam was told that Raiders wanted you to know they were raiders, they wanted to be seen, their branding was the fear they brought just by their presence. Or so he was told. But now he understood. The man before him wore an open vest made of some sort of animal furs, nails and screws were sewn into the vest with the points facing outward towards any enemy he might face. Under his vest he wore a light brown T-shirt filled with stains of all varieties but clearly blood being on that list. His bulky pants were similarly studded as his vest but it seemed like he had augmented his pants, he had metal knee and shin guards strapped to his legs as well as a large metal codpiece with a spray-painted yellow smiley face on it. He had spiked gloves, his boots were brown leather with curved metal sheets in front of the toe area, his hair was shaved all off on one side and swept over to the other. And his eyes were red. The kind of bloodshot red eyes one gets from taking chems. But all of this paled in comparison to the thing that drew Adam's eyes the longest, it was the ears. Not his ears though, the rows of ears all strung up on a thin piece of string he wore around his neck like a necklace. And, of course, he had an evil grin on his face. There was no doubt in Adam's mind this guy was bad, however he was packing heat. He had in his hand a modified hunting rifle. Adam couldn't tell at a distance what he had done to the hunting rifle but it was clearly not the kind you would pick up off the wall of a gun store. The only thing he could tell at a glance was the gunstock had a tight white wrapping around it, and possibly thicker padding on the butt of the stock for the arm, but of that he was uncertain. Regardless this man meant business and right now he was standing right in between Adam and his way out.

Chapter 19 - 19

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