Chapter 70 - 70

Words : 1753 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

"The fuck are these things?!" Adam shouted as he pointed his gun at the crabs who had surrounded them from behind. "Mirelurks. Rad crabs. They are tough as fuck. Aim for their faces; they are right below where the top of the shell meets the bottom." Salvatore said as he aimed with his rifle and fired, a direct hit, right into the tiny face of the giant crab. It seemed to scream for a moment writhing around as it wobbled side to side and then it fell over. Then the rest charged. They were fast. Far faster than Adam would have assumed, they were moving at the speed he could jog at. Outrunning was not impossible but even if they did the exit was blocked by the rapidly advancing Mirelurks. Even if they killed all the ones coming from behind, the time spent could mean that they could be attacked from further in the mall. Right now if they were to be surrounded, they would be completely cut off from any route of escape. They had only one choice, flee deeper into the mall. "Salvatore!" Adam called out as he whipped around to look to make sure the path forward was clear. "We have to run deeper in, get out of this hallway before we find ourselves boxed in!" "Shit!" Salvatore said as he fired a few more times at the quickly advancing mirelurks. All his rounds hit the crabs but none as accurately as his first shot, though it was enough to slow a few of them down. "Fine!" I'll cover our retreat! Find a path, kid!" Salvatore yelled over his successive fire. Adam ran to the 4 way junction that they were close to down the hall and looked down all the paths. The one to the left was full of more makeshift barricades, clearly done by raiders, it was not impassible but they didn't have the luxury of climbing over furniture at the moment. The path to the right he could see what they had walked in on, there was a huge sinkhole in the ground it spanned multiple stores and the entire hallway starting about 40 feet away, inside the hole was a massive pool of water, the entire space was slick with humidity and there was green vines growing on the sides of the shops that remained, there was also, most horrifyingly more Mirelurks, a lot more. It did not take Adam long to see why, eggs, a ton of them. It was really a huge nest they had stumbled into. He also, while scanning his eyes down into the path that led to certain death, saw what happened to all the former residents of this raider hovel. Carcasses, stacked high, some torn apart, some half eaten, clearly being used as feed for the giant crabs. Regardless, that was a poor path choice too, which meant all he had left was the path forward. Forward offered nothing of interest, he couldn't see all the way down as it was too dark, but it also offered no obstacles and no more enemies, it seemed the safest choice. "Salvatore! Follow me!" Adam yelled to his ghoul companion as he turned around to see Salvatore laying down heavy fire into the crabs, a few had fallen already and he had slowed the advance but it was clearly not enough to stop them completely. "Right behind ya, kid!" He said as he whipped around and began to sprint after Adam. Luckily, despite the speed of the crabs, a full sprint from both men was more than enough to get some distance between them and their pursuers. Adam found very quickly he was notably faster than Salvatore, so he had to slow down a bit to keep pace with him. But after running for a bit they reached another exit. Or rather, what would be an exit if the door wasn't completely barricaded. "Looks like we can't go this way." Adam said as he looked around. At the exit there was another barricade like the one he saw at the entrance they came through, makeshift cover used to create a defensive position for would-be defenders. A strange choice considering this door was boarded and nailed shut, but perhaps it was not always like that. Regardless, on the cover, specifically on an overturned shelving unit were four assault rifles welded together and bolted down with two belts of ammo feeding both sets of guns, one from each side. The strange unit also had a joint trigger allowing all to be fired at once. This would be more than enough to deal with their pursuers. There was one problem, it was facing the wrong way. "Salvatore, I can unscrew this if you can buy me time." Adam said as he ran over and began to unscrew the makeshift machine gun from the shelving unit to allow it to spin freely. Luckily he had his toolbelt on him like always so he had the tools in hand, he just needed time to get it done. "Take your time, kid. Not like we have giant mutant crabs after us or anything." Salvatore said sarcastically with a dry tone as he leveled his rifle down the hall, ready for a fight. They could hear the sound of the mirelurks getting closer. "Any time now kid." Salvatore said, getting impatient. "It's rusted! It's hard getting it loose!" Adam complained as he muscled his way to unlodging the metal that strapped it down. "Well I think you are outta time kid." Salvatore said as he began firing down the hall. Adam didn't turn around to see what was happening and solely focused on getting the makeshift machine gun spun around to fight. He could hear the sounds of the semi automatic rifle firing round after round behind him, Salvatore not moving an inch from his spot, standing his ground and protecting Adam. He could hear the screams of the Mirelurks as they were hit, some with death rattles, some with cries of pain, but it was getting closer, there was no doubt. Then he got it. "Salvatore duck!" Adam shouted as he dislodged the last screw that held the gun locked in place and picked it up, swinging it around to point down the hall. He was, of course, still locked to a small area he could move with it, the belts of ammo that fed the guns were sitting on the floor next to him, he couldn't just take it and run, but it was in his hands and he was able to spin around, that was enough. Bullets ripped through the hall lighting the scene before him up with a dazzling display of light and color as the carapace of the pursuing Mirelurks are torn to shreds from the quad gunfire. Salvatore, who had dropped to the floor too, took a moment to reload and then joined in on the fire, shooting downrange at the ever dwindling numbers of Mirelurks. As the belts of ammo for the makeshift machine gun ran dry, so too did the mirelurks, only a few stragglers remained, and none of them were uninjured. Adam dropped the gun unceremoniously on the ground and then pulled out his hunting rifle, firing round after round at the tiny faces of the crustaceans. After emptying his hunting rifle clip, they too were now all dead. The silence after the large gunfire in the enclosed space was momentarily deafening. "You okay?" Adam asked after a moment to Salvatore. "Yeah I'm fine…" He said as he stood up and wiped a bit of green blood off his face. "Though I need a bath." Despite not being delivered as a joke that got a laugh out of Adam. Adam let off a sigh of relief as he took a knee on the ground. "This was far more harrowing than I expected." Adam said softly. "Eh, I've been in much worse spots." Salvatore shrugged as he took a seat on the ground and lit up a cigarette. "Mirelurks aren't that bad, just don't usually like walking to a nest of them." "I hope we didn't get into this big fight for nothing." Adam said as he slowly reloaded his rifle. "Trust me, you didn't." Salvatore said as he stood up and walked over to one of the bodies of the Mirelurks. "These fuckers got a lot of good meat on them, not even that hard to get at if you know what you are doing, that alone will earn you a pretty penny." Salvatore offered. Adam chuckled. "Well I didn't exactly come here expecting to bring back large amounts of crab meat, but beggars can't be choosers." He grinned. "Oh, but don't worry I can do one even better." Salvatore then began to wordlessly lead Adam back down the hallway they ran through until he arrived at a store that had clearly been reinforced with extra care. He then kicked the door to the store as hard as he could and knocked the lock loose letting them inside. Inside the store was exactly as Salvatore suspected, a stockpile of goodies. Guns, ammo, armor, food, tools, odds and ends, books, toys, clothes, and more. It was a veritable treasure trove of junk and weapons. Adam smirked. "Wow, you got a hell of an eye Salvatore." Adam praised as he slowly walked over to the rack of weapons on the wall and picked it up gently. The weapons all were suffering from water damage at first glance, but none of them looked irreparable damaged, some of the books and other things might be, but even still this room alone would make the trip worth it. "I've been doing this a long time." Salvatore grinned as he smoked. "I'm guessing you don't know how to carve a mirelurk, right?" "You'd be correct." Adam said as he put the gun back down and turned to Salvatore. "Well I don't care much for looting but I do like cutting things, so i'll get to work taking meat from some of these fuckers while you start looting, deal?" Adam nodded. "You are full of great ideas today, Salvatore." He teased. "That's me. A man with great ideas." He responded casually and dryly as he walked out of the room to begin his work, leaving Adam to handle the storeroom alone.

Chapter 70 - 70

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