Chapter 41 - 41

Words : 1665 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

Heading through the parking lot he noticed a handful of cars, most looked beyond repair but a few looked like they could work, in theory, but there was a motorcycle leaning against the wall next to the liquor store that really caught his eye. As he walked over to it he noticed it was definitely an old motorcycle but it looked well protected from the elements, had two saddlebags and underseat storage. The tires even looked good, miraculously. It was a miracle it looked in one piece. Adam couldn't help but pause, considering if he could use this himself. Afterall, traveling by motorcycle would cut down time a lot for him, in addition it might give him a bit of extra storage, especially if he could add a few more bags on. The downside is it would be loud, very loud. It would attract the attention of every person and creature for a mile, so it was a risk, but in theory, if he was at least slightly confident there was a path he could traverse with it, he would be unlikely to run into any opposition that could stop him. Adam stopped entirely, this was far outside his expectations. He had no plans on finding something like this, but it was a good find, of course that is if it worked, which he had no way of knowing unless he tried to turn it on or took it apart, or both. He gently touched the handle bar and gave it a twist, to which it responded satisfyingly without hitching, though of course without a key it remained silent. It was the nuclear powered variety, much like the cars that were most popular, it could theoretically run forever given the ideal circumstances, though this was anything but ideal. "Maybe later, friend." he said softly to himself as he let go of the handle bar and finally walked inside the store to scavenge. The inside of the store was exactly as he would expect, almost entirely empty shelves upon shelves, displays where liquor would sit were empty and fridges that once contained beer were barren. But it wasn't entirely devoid of things; there were still a number of bottles on shelves and underneath cabinets. They were just scarce, and over half of the stock that remained was broken and unusable. But even so, within this small store there were still a few worth taking. So without further ado he began to take whatever he could find, gathering a not insubstantial amount of alcohol to bring back with him. The back room was more of the same, mostly looted but a few bottles here and there worth taking back. However other than what would be expected to be found here, there was nothing of note. So he moved on. The next store was the smoke shop. It had a metal shutter grate in front of the window and the door, but it was flimsy and clearly more meant to stop petty thieves, not a dogged individual who had no law enforcement to contend with. Thus, as would be expected, the metal shutter was torn through where the entrance was. It looked as if someone took a metal cutter right to the shutters and cut their way through, though very sloppily. However it happened it mattered very little as it gave Adam easy access. Inside was much as the liquor store, heavily looted. There were some cigar boxes and, yes, in fact some cigarette cartons on the shelves, but aside from a few things it was quite empty. However As Adam was taking his meager findings from the store he heard some sort of chittering coming from the back room. Assuming it was some sort of radroach he pulled out his 10mm and slowly crept forward until he was just outside the door. He took a moment to listen, heard nothing more, and then went in, pistol drawn ready to kill all those disgusting cockroach bastards that he could. He learned very quickly he was wrong. Inside was not, in fact, forearm length roaches that could do no more than bite his shin, but instead giant ants. And these ants were not giant in the same way the cockroaches were, they were not just abnormally large bugs. These massive titans of ants were the size of a human, in some cases bigger. They were terrifying. And to make matters worse there were 3 of them, not even 5 feet away. Adam had stumbled into the room expecting to fight a giant bug but he encountered something much worse than he had expected. The three bugs were standing over what looked like a hole that had been dug into the ground in the backroom of the shop. On the back wall was a massive hole where the bugs, presumably, would be able to come and go freely. And now, thinking about it, the shutters in the front of the store were not cut cleanly, they were cut as if something had chewed through them. Just like these giant ant mandibles, for example. Adam ran. He didn't stay to fight, at such a close range he stood no chance, so he booked it out of the room as fast as he could, practically vaulting over the center shelf of the cigar store that had fallen over. He whipped around as soon as he had made it through the door to look back the way he came, gun pointing at the backroom door ready to blow them away. However the ants were simply staring back at him from the backroom, they had not, and were not, following him outside. They were chittering wildly, clearly agitated to be disturbed by Adam. However they seemed to have no more interest in going after Adam than Adam did in fighting them. It seemed as if both parties were uninterested in a fight. It was a strange show of… intelligence? From the ants. But he didn't question it, he simply backed up slowly, gun still pointing at the ants who remained unmoving in the backroom aside from their mandibles and antennae. As soon as he had enough distance he ran out of sight of the doorway, to get away from the ants, but remained in the plaza. That was an exceptionally unexpected encounter, but giant ants would still make nests right? Which would mean likely they had a whole colony underground through that hole. He was not equipped to fight an army of giant ants. However it seemed as though they had no interest in him, just as he had no interest in engaging them. So as long as that held they were not a threat. Of course he didn't plan to drop his guard, but he had come all the way here, it would be a great shame to leave with only the few things he had gathered, he wanted to at least hit the gun store first. So that is what he did. Despite the risks. Upon entering the gun store he was met with a few interesting things. First, the store was empty. And unlike the previous stores it didn't look as though it was looted in a hurry it was thorough, not a single bullet was left behind. But this was true only for what he could immediately access. Half the store from the front entrance was accessible to him, just as if he had walked in to buy something, but the back half of the room was locked behind a metal shutter not too dissimilar to the one that was in front of the smoke shop. However unlike that one this one was heavy duty. A gentle tug test proved that the individual links that made up the metal wall before him must have weighed five pounds each. He could never hope to get through this with brute force. There was a saving grace, however. He noticed that on the ground where the shutter met with the floor was a lock. If one had the key they could easily open the shutter. Adam did not, but he had the next best thing. A bobby pin. He had taken it from his locksmith teacher Mick yesterday when he was practicing. As Mick said it was a very useful tool when trying to lockpick. So he got to work, inserting the bobby pin inside the lock and then inserting his screwdriver from his belt into the keyhole to turn it if he managed to find the right position. Adam spent several minutes working at this before realizing this lock was much more complicated than the one he had been practicing on yesterday. Not only that, but his bobbypin was practically broken by now, bent out of shape from overuse. With a heavy heart he gave up. However, before he stood up and turned to leave he noticed, as he was still looking at the ground, that there was a floor panel that could be removed right next to the lock on the floor. Curious, Adam removed the panel and revealed a small computer monitor with hookups and no keyboard. He hadn't even realized but the lock must have been keyed to an electrical signal, perhaps there was a remote that the owner could have used? But this was perfect, Adam was a poor lockpick, but he was a great hacker. Plugging his pip-boy into the in-ground computer brought up a password menu, navigating through he managed to get through the password screen after only a minute of tinkering. Once inside he was brought to a command menu with only one option: [Open Shutters] There was no hesitation. With the loud whirring of gears the shutters slowly began to open up, it took over a minute for them to fully open, likely due to rusted gears or old motors, but what awaited him on the other side was better than gold. Guns. Lots of guns.

Chapter 41 - 41

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