Steel Waste

As had happened before, the Brotherhood members had "requisitioned" some brahmin to use as pack animals... The previous ones had been slaughtered for meat as soon as they reached their destination, a waste from Afton's estimation, but it had to be done due to them living underground and trying to remain hidden.

The journey had started, but no one aside from Elder Elijah and Head Paladin Mcnamara knew exactly where they were going... Afton often caught glimpses of humanoid figures as they walked, but was told to ignore them by his father, as long as they didn't bother the convoy, the Brotherhood wouldn't vaporize them in-kind.​ ​

It was around a month of travelling later that they seemed to reach a more populated region... They'd just walked past some sort of abandoned nuclear test sight that was rife with radiation, as well as an old crashed vertibird, Elder Elijah commanded them to stop the convoy so they could get a better look... The place was guarded by a few sentry bots and mister gutsies, Afton and Sandra were told to sit back and watch as getting them killed by a stray shot from the heavily armed robots was not something they wanted.

Zachary commanded a small unit of Paladins and Knights and made his way down there, first throwing a couple pulse grenades to stun the robots before opening fire on them. Elder Elijah was shouting behind them to "not damage the technology", obviously he was referring to the vertibird but it was probably difficult to concentrate with your superior shouting difficult orders in your ear.

Eventually though the robots were disabled, not being a match for the Brotherhoods firepower. Afton got a chance to look closer at the vertibird. In Fallout 3 these things were all too common, used by the Brotherhood and Enclave alike, they are some of the only still functioning vehicles in the wasteland... For what reason? Afton didn't really know.

Almost immediately he could spot something strange with this vertibird, first of all, the Brotherhood insignia wasn't plastered all other it, making it clear it didn't belong to them... The technology it held was slightly more advanced than what Afton had seen their own vertibird posses from the logs.

If you include the pitch-black colour of it probably trying to make it more stealthy, it was obvious this belonged to the Enclave. A faction that, from what Afton could tell, was completely wiped out... Having been caught in the middle of the NCR and BoS.

The convoy would have to get moving eventually, but Elder Elijah couldn't just let this thing sit here... He had the scribe deconstruct it and carry all the valuable or repairable parts with them... It was a bit difficult to find people who weren't already struggling to carry the things given to them, but they managed but allocating some Knight in Power armour for the job.

After that they continued on their journey, there were a few other notable locations they passed, most containing innocent civilians that they fortunately let be. Finally, they seemed to reach a relatively undamaged highway, trudging through the desert sand was exhausting enough, but with the added weight of all the technology they had on their backs? Afton was surprised no-one had passed out yet.

They walked along the road, and it was during this that Afton got his first glimpse into active combat with other humans... They'd passed by a large rocky hill, the scouts had already marked it as clear but it seemed someone had climbed up after they'd finished observing it...

*Bang!*

A bullet shot from a man dressed in ragged clothing atop the rocks, it hit his father in the shoulder but was deflected by the armour with ease, the only thing indicating he'd actually been hit were the sparks it gave off.

Afton and Sandra crouched behind Zachary as the man charged up his Gatling laser to unleash a barrage of light-based hellfire upon the unlucky cunt who'd provoked them. His father wouldn't get the chance though as the sound of a Gauss rifle discharging was followed by the raiders head exploding into red mist.

Afton felt a little bile rise in his throat at the sight, momentarily feeling as if it was his head that'd been hit... Sandra started vomiting off at the side, they were so close that she could've sworn some blood had gotten on her face.

He looked over to see who'd made the shot, and saw someone in Power armour hefting the Gauss rifle on their shoulder... They glanced at him and noticed his troubles, walking over and crouching down. "You okay Afton?" they ask in a distorted yet familiar voice.

"Huh?" is all he could reply with, still feeling faint at having seen someone die in such a brutal fashion.

The person crouching next to him takes their helmet off, and smiles at him.

"Christine?" he mutters, the contrast with how he usually viewed her hitting him in the face... She didn't seem all the bothered about killing the man, so it must've not been the first.

"Deep breaths Afton, remember your training." she says, resting a hand on his shoulder.

Afton nods and starts slowly breathing, closing his eyes and recalling the pattern he was taught in class. It was disconcerting to see someone die, even if they rightfully deserved it... He went through the various reasons why the man had been killed, and why it was just that it happened...

Had his father not been wearing Power armour, he would have been injured... Not only that, but the attack was completely unjustified, it was a single man aswell, meaning he expected to be killed. Had the man been aiming for him or Sandra, they might very well not be standing... A bullet to the head was all it took to kill you, only now had it hit him that he'd almost died...