Chapter 21 - 21

Words : 1568 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

There was a moment of shock that followed. Adam had never been shot before. He had seen plenty of others shot when he fought in Alaska, he had even seen a case of friendly fire, but he himself had never been hit. Luck of the draw. So the suddenness hit him like a truck full of bricks. He fell to the ground on his butt, winded, and then had the thought to look at the woman who had shot him. She was now dead, laying on the ground splayed out, her pipe gun still death-gripped in her hand. Adam was quick to look down at himself and was relieved to remember he had the bulletproof vest on. He had forgotten. He was just shot after all, it's an easy thing to forget in the heat of the moment. He needed to be sure he was truly uninjured though so he peeled off his bulletproof vest, to his delight he was not bleeding, his vest also had survived the hit too, though it definitely showed the signs of having been hit with a bullet. Adam sat there on the ground for a few moments catching his breath again. It was close but he managed to bring down the two raiders. It was yet another close call though, not something he would relish having to do again. Once he had regained both his stamina and his wits he stood back up and walked over to the dead body of the woman. It seemed as though that shot was her last hurrah, she had no more life in her. Adam was quick to forcefully rip the pipe pistol from her death-gripped fingers and examine it. It was just as he had thought. A makeshift gun made of scrap parts thrown together haphazardly. But it worked, that was the important thing. He considered throwing it out, it was, after all, nothing more than a junk pistol, and he had a much better one, but truthfully Chuck had told him last time that weapons were all sold for good prices, it was best to take it with him even if the gun itself was a piece of shit. Worst case he could throw it out if his bag got too full later, for now it was worthwhile. Then he examined the man's rifle. It was, unsurprisingly, just a hunting rifle. There were modifications done to it but nothing much major beyond aesthetics. This, unlike the pipe pistol, was worth keeping. He didn't have a rifle, up until now he had solely relied on his pistol. Having a rifle for tougher enemies and engagements was going to be invaluable so he threw the rifle strap over his shoulder and then stared at the two bodies for a moment. He really did need to get over his old world sensibilities. They were dead, that meant they had no more use for the things they had. He needed to remember that. So, after a moment to steel himself, he got to work. On the woman he found some loose 357 ammo for the pipe pistol in her pockets, he also found she had a can of food, a pack of cigarettes she pulled out earlier, and a small bag of caps with 19 caps inside, the rest was mostly junk or… more teeth, he was content to leave it behind. However he did decide to, after a moment to consider, strip off the body armor from her, it was a pretty nasty and gnarly body armor and since it was modified it wouldn't be as good but armor is armor, maybe he could sell it for something, but for the moment he decided to bare with the weight and the uncomfortable fit and throw it on over his already worn body armor. It might provide extra protection, but more than that it was simply the most efficient means to carry it. Then he moved onto the man, once more the man had very little of use mostly junk things not worth taking, but he did have a ankle holster for a combat knife stashed there, Adam did not hesitate to take it from him, however other than the knife everything else was useless, seemed as though this man didn't even have caps. His partner must have carried them all. What a pitiful amount of caps to have, no wonder they lived outside of the walls, must have been homeless. Thoughts aside, he needed to get moving. He may have dealt with these two but no telling if they were part of a larger group and if they were their compatriots might come looking. So he needed to get a move on. A part of him told him to return to the town, he had already faced danger once he didn't need to put himself into more. But he knew better, first off he was already too far from town to make a journey back any less dangerous. Second, he had nothing of note to show for his efforts so far. He needed to make enough caps to make this journey worth it. Besides, after walking as long as he did, he was closer to the factory than the town now. Besides, even if he did return to the town there was no telling if tomorrow would be safer. No, pushing on while he was uninjured was the best plan. And so he did. Luckily the rest of the trip to the Corvega factory was uneventful. It proved to be a simple trip. The only things that held him up were the occasional sounds of gunfire going off in the distance, likely some other people getting into gun fights with the locals, creatures or otherwise, but far too distant to matter to him, and a path that was blocked. The path being blocked only required a moderate redirection but by the time he arrived the sun was already hanging high in the sky. The corvega factory was clearly in quite a massive state of disrepair, a large chunk of the right side of the building seemed to have been reduced to rubble, however the other side seemed to still be standing and it looked to be in moderately good shape, considering the damage on the right side. The building was also large, even with a large part of the right side destroyed it was still a sizable building. He walked over to the good side of the building and approached what he hoped was either a loading bay or an employee entrance. He found the employee entrance. On the side of the building, clearly not the main entrance, was a metal door housed inside a framed metal cage with a roof over it. Perhaps it served as a place for workers to take a smoke break out of the rain. Adding credence to this theory the metal cage looked more like an intricate lattice more designed for aesthetics than for any real use, and the browned broken shards of glass that still remained in few numbers both on the ground near the cage and sticking out of the sides of the frame led him to believe it was once housed in glass. But he had already spent too much time on something so pointless so he moved on. The entrance to the assumed smoking area was an open doorway, though he noticed some hinges on the doorway but no door, perhaps at one time a door was here but no longer. Regardless, what truly impeded him was the employee door to the factory. Locked. He noticed that the door had a keycard reader next to it but since he lacked a keycard he was unable to get through. He had considered, for a moment, either breaking the card reader or the door itself, but the door was made of metal and wouldn't break easily, and breaking the card reader likely wouldn't get him inside, only serve to get his frustrations out. So unfortunately he moved on. Continuing to walk alongside the building he did eventually find the loading bay, and luckily a few of the large truck doors seemed to be open. However before he went inside he noticed a number of trucks still hitched to their cargo sitting in the lot. Curious, he went to each one, checking to see if it was unlocked and then seeing what was inside. He was disappointed. There were 4 trucks in the lot, one was locked, one was empty, and the other two which he could open had nothing but car parts in them. Go figure. But nothing even worth bringing back, or really portable for that matter. Unless he was planning on assembling a Corvega by hand these things were useless. Well, maybe not useless, if he had the wherewithal this could be a good source of scrap metal to bring back to the blacksmith but considering the distance and the dangers between this factory and the town, and considering how a single piece would be bulky enough he'd need to carry it by hand, he decided to just let the matter drop. A shame but nothing could be done about it. So finally, after what had already been an exciting trip just to get here, he turned and headed into the loading bay to enter the factory.

Chapter 21 - 21

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