Chapter 36 - 36

Words : 1349 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

"Hey!" Adam could hear the sounds of shouting from the otherside of the storeroom nearer to where the gunfight was happening. Clearly they were going to engage the rear entrance team too. Adam moved quickly, taking cover behind a heavy wooden shelf used to store bowling balls as the raiders poured into the room. He looked over at the still slumped body of the guardsman he was sure by now was dead, judging by the way he had rolled his eyes into the back of his head. Salvatore had taken up position on the other half of their side of the room behind some crates, and Deccanus was using the open door in the hallway as cover. Bullets ripped through the room as the raiders poured out of the door, they had no trigger discipline, they were firing madly as they screamed their heads off. Salvatore waited for the raiders to take cover on their half of the room and then pulled the grenade from his pack, primed it, and then tossed it over at them. The boom was spectacular. An arm of one of the men the grenade had felled flew through the sky and landed in the center of the torn storage room, another screamed out in pain. Adam had no idea how many of them there were, because they had pinned him down as they entered but he assumed no more than 5… maybe 6. They were outnumbered, now, less so. Adam popped his 10mm over the cover and began to blind fire at their positions, just hoping to offer his allies a chance to fire back. Deccanus was the first to accept Adam's offer as he briefly popped out in front of the door and fired three rounds at the raiders from his rifle, at least one was a hit judging by the scream of pain. Salvatore then took the opportunity to vault over the box, shotgun in hand and begin laying lead down at the enemies, peppering the wall with tiny birdshot pellets. Adam too capitalized on the opportunity and popped out of cover and fired his whole magazine at the raiders. He managed to nail one of the raiders who he had a good position on right in the shoulder, causing him to fall back in pain. As soon as he fell backwards his head was in perfect line of sight for Adam to finish him off. His head was unable to resist the kiss of the bullet that followed. One of the raiders then popped up from his cover, holding a ramshackle assault rifle and began unloading his clip in the direction of Adam and Deccanus. Salvatore had ceased his advance and was now much closer to the enemy positions as he reloaded his shotgun and prepared for the next advance. Another raider, emboldened by his friend's suppressing fire, stood up straight, took a hit of Jet through the inhaler and then pulled out a hatchet and charged. He ran right past Salvatore, who was in the middle of reloading, and even past Adam who he almost brushed up against. It seemed he had his heart set on killing Deccanus and that was the only thought in his mind. He dove into the hallway swinging his hatchet down hard at Deccanus. Deccanus only had enough time to drop his rifle on the ground, draw his machete and block the hatchet at the handle, right below the blade, though it remained very close to hitting his collarbone. Adam was quick to spin around and shoot the man in the back with his 10mm. Just to get him off of Deccanus. Deccanus did not waste the opportunity and immediately swung his machete deep into the chest of the raider carving out a huge chunk of flesh with it.The raider roared with pain but seemed to be fighting with sheer adrenaline and fueled by the psychoactive effects of the Jet. He had no intention of stopping here. He brought his arm up high to swing down on Deccanus once more. Adam took aim at the raider's head ready to fire but was stopped by more gunfire from the other raider at the other side of the room, he was forced to duck down lower behind his cover to avoid getting hit. When he looked back up at Deccanus he had impaled the raider in front of him with his machete, the blade sticking clean through his body. Then, while still holding the machete-impaled raider's body up, he charged forward towards the raider on the other side of the room, using the body like a shield as it soaked up the bullets fired at him. By the time he had reached the otherside of the room his human shield was a bloody mess of a carcass but it did its job. Deccanus pulled the spear off his back and then chucked it at near point blank range at the raider who was shooting at him his entire mad dash of a sprint. The spear impaled him into the wall through his heart. There was no struggle, just a look of shock and surprise and one groan of death before he slumped over. The last raider took aim at Deccanus who had just thrown his spear and whose back was to him now. Adam wasn't going to let him take the shot, quickly popping out of his cover again he fired a few times at the raider, none hit their mark, but it was enough to throw off the aim of the raider, enough that he shot wide of Deccanus. It was Salvatore who finished him off, walking out of his cover and firing both rounds of his shotgun into the chest of the raider. His chest flayed open like a chestburster had popped out. He was dead instantly. The three of them took a moment to look around, making sure there were no other attackers in the room with them. Once all three were sure it was clear they each went about preparing for the next assault in the main room, where the sounds of Grant's gunfight were still on going. Salvatore reloaded his shotgun and rifle, Deccanus recollected his spear, and Adam loaded in a fresh magazine for his 10mm. "You two alright?" Salvatore asked as he remained behind his box cover reloading his guns. "I'm fine!" Adam called back from his position as he just finished his own reloading. "Fine." Deccanus said with a low, deep tone. But as he walked past Adam back to the hallway to grab his rifle, Adam could see that he had taken a bullet in the shoulder. His armor did little to stem the bleeding that was pouring out. "Hey, Deccanus, you were hit." Adam informed him, assuming he just had so much adrenaline running through him that he hadn't yet noticed. Deccanus looked down at his shoulder where he was hit and then looked forward at his gun again, not once stopping. "I see." He said stoically. "Pop a stimpack, don't take the wound lightly." Salvatore said as he walked over towards Adam, ready to regroup and join the fight in the next room. "The warriors of the Legion do not use drugs." He said with the same stoic tone as he grabbed his gun off the ground and then shoulder it turning back around to the other two. "I will use a balm later, the battle is not yet over." "Sounds dumb, but whatever makes you happy." Salvatore said dismissively before turning to Adam. "Ready kid?" "Yeah, I'm good to go." Adam said as he holstered his 10mm and then unslung his hunting rifle and readied himself for the next fight. "Deccanus?" Salvaore asked as turned to him now. Deccanus simply nodded in response. "Good. Now let's go make sure that idiot doesn't get his head blown off." Salvatore said as he started to make his way towards the exit of the storeroom and towards the sound of the ongoing gunfight.

Chapter 36 - 36

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