Chapter 32: Bullets and Broken Mirrors

After wrapping things up with Bill, I headed back to my boat to spend the rest of my day peacefully. I had a strong feeling it would be a long while before I was able to take a day to myself. I double checked all my gear, sorted out all the supplies I needed, bagged a mutated deer with eight legs for Gus, and spent the rest of the day reading. After a short sleep I headed out at what was either very late night or very early morning. I liked to travel in the dark for the most part, bad people had a harder time seeing me, but I didn’t have any trouble seeing them.

Heading west was a little concerning for me, that was the direction of Kind and Boon, but it was easier to walk the 10 than it would’ve been to try and take a different route. At this point I expected the heat to have died down for the most part, but it was still concerning. My first day of walking I made solid progress with very little issue. Passing through some now-familiar deadzones and munching on a deer leg I’d kept for myself as I walked. The only break I took was a short catnap in an irradiated bog.

The next day I started contending with what was oftentimes my greatest enemy on the road, boredom. I usually found ways to occupy my thoughts as I walked. Counted the ammo and supplies I had in the mental inventory I kept, considered new ways to kill the various things I’d encountered in the past or would in the future, and pondering whatever book I’d read last. In the past I’d tried to read while walking, but that made me less likely to notice when something was wrong, which could potentially be a death sentence. It was always a better idea to keep your eyes open and your nose scanning for any smell of danger that could cross your path.

I decided to take the radio Bill had given me a while back, and try once again to listen to the ‘music’ of the wastes, or maybe even find that signal I’d heard before. I fiddled with the nobs of it a bit, adjusting it slowly back and forth, scanning for anything. I heard some odd variations of hissing stating or other sounds, then suddenly, a voice.

“-fellow Americans. The nuclear destruction that has shattered our beautiful country has done damage to us beyond anything that has ever happened before. Our people are scattered, a remnant of the great and powerful civilization we once were. In spite of that though, we thrive. We continue building, and growing. We are a nation of farmers, and the seeds of our rebirth are being planted across the shattered wasteland every day. We were brought low by the communists, and the socialists, and their wicked and destructive ways, but unlike their countries and the shattered husks we’ve made them, America can return. We can reunite into the great and powerful state we once were. Now I know, there are groups that claim to be the leaders of the wastes today, and some may even claim to carry the flag forward for our nation, to be bringing it back, but these people are false prophets. The TRUE United States of America, will return to cast these hollow imitations aside, and re-unite our country into the perfect and prosperous place that existed before. Be on the lookout! A new dawn is coming, and it will make itself known, very soon!”

The voice cut out after that, and I listened to about a minute of silence before it started back up again. It was the same voice, a man’s, deep and commanding, and it was giving a speech in much the same vein as the one I’d already listened to. I kept listening for two or three more speeches, before I started to find them even more boring than silence and flicked the radio off. From what I understood, only short range radios had been working for a long long time, but it looked like now a new signal was coming through. I wished it had been something with music rather than a man giving tired speeches. I’d met a few people who collected records or tapes, and always enjoyed hearing songs from before the bombs fell. I’d tried to barter or trade for a few of my favorites, but they were all fiercely protective of them. Deux had a particularly good collection of what he called ‘punk’ that he’d happened to find while hiding out in a ruined garage. The content on those tapes was almost the antithesis of what I had just listened to on the radio.

The content of the speeches was confusing to me. I’d known a few communities that still considered themselves ‘americans’, but for the most part wastelanders took a more local approach to how they self identified. At least that’s how it was in Horde territory where the Khan left most people to themselves aside from his routine collection of tribute. The idea of uniting everything and calling it all “America” again, seemed ridiculous to me. It hadn’t worked out too well the first time, why give it another shot.

I flicked the radio back on and listened to one more speech. Their mention that something would make itself known soon felt concerning, but for all I knew, this was just some nut who’d figure out a way to broadcast. I clicked the radio off, and noticed I received a notification.

Congratulations Citizen! You’ve just earned an additional rank in NATIONALISM! You’re doing your part in recognizing that America is the greatest country in the world!

That was interesting. I hadn’t earned a rank in nationalism in years. The last time it happened was because I accidentally stared at an old flag for too long. I’d been using it to wrap a wound at the time. Far as I knew there was no benefit to a higher rank aside from the number being bigger. I’d met a man with a thirty in it before, but considering he said the pledge of allegiance any time he was in trouble like it was a prayer, I didn’t feel he was getting much value out of it.

While the radio content itself hadn’t been too interesting, it had given me something to think about, which made the second stretch of the journey a lot easier to deal with. I took a side path around the road to Kind after noticing some foot traffic on the road and deciding to go around it so I didn’t have to deal with anyone. Soon I was on the road between Kind and Boon, walking through the ruins of some other town. There were a number of buildings overgrown with vines and kudzu, and the gentle buzz of insects filled the air.

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I paused, taking a deep breath. There was a scent in the air that was making my teeth itch. Gunpowder, I was able to pick that out right away, and sweat. My eyes widened and I dove behind the rusted out husk of a nearby car. At just that moment, a single shot rang out and where I had been standing was a small crater left by a large caliber bullet.

I pulled out my rifle and started looking around. The sniper was in an elevated position, further into the town. I could smell generally where they were, but I didn’t have an exact location. I crawled under the car I was taking cover behind and moved up to another one. I risked a quick peek in the direction of the sweat and gunpowder smell. Light of some kind reflected in my eyes and I ducked back down just before another shot cut through the car just beneath where my head had been.

I cursed and hunkered back down. They were good, and patient. I wondered what they were doing on this particular road since it was out of the way, but that question wasn’t a major concern at that moment. I took off my backpack and slid it beneath the car in front of me. I was going to need to move quickly. I considered bolting out of the town, but the idea of a bullet hitting me in the back as I ran wasn’t one I relished. No, it made more sense to remove the threat.

I shattered the car mirror next to me, picked up the largest piece, spat on it, and wiped it clean with my sleeve. I took the mirror shard and used it to peek around the side of the car. I was able to take note of the nearest pieces of cover, but before I could figure out where the shooter was, the mirror shard was shattered by another of the sniper's bullets. Fragments of it cut into my hands and a small bit broke off and cracked one of my goggle lenses.

I took the cloak I’d found in the Black Woods bunker and threw it up above the car. There were several shots into it and I bolted in the other direction, ducking behind a ruined wall before the shooter could re-orient themselves. I didn’t stop, just kept moving from cover to cover as quickly as possible, toward the direction of the bullets. After a half dozen near misses, I realized that the tallest building, one a little forward and to the left of me, had to be where the shots were coming from. I braced myself, and made a mad, straight dash right for it. A bullet took me in the shoulder and spun me around, but I managed to roll forward and keep my momentum until I was through the building’s front door.

I felt a pull on my legs as I entered and looked to the side where I saw a grenade without a pin, and a tripwire being pulled behind me. I kept moving and dove behind the first piece of cover I could find, receiving only a nearly lethal amount of shrapnel, rather than a fully lethal one.

I pulled myself up, dropping my rifle to the ground and drawing my pistol. My right arm was torn up, and I couldn’t hold the weight of a rifle anymore, at least not until my enhanced healing did its work. I found some stairs leading up, and took them. I reached the rooftop access quickly, but there was a problem. The sniper knew I was in the building and on my way. They’d heard the explosion and were almost certainly waiting for me to come through that door. I stopped, and looked around. There was nothing around me that I could use to block a sniper's bullet, but there was a window a single floor down that was busted open. I went over to it and peeked up. There was some exposed rebar there I could use as a handhold.

I stuck my gun carefully between my teeth and readied my good arm. I leapt, careful to be as quiet as possible and grabbed onto the rebar. It was a struggle to pull myself up with one arm, but I managed it, and swung a leg over the side before rolling behind the remains of an old industrial AC unit. I took the gun out of my mouth and put it back in my hand before I slowly peeked out of cover.

There was a woman there, standing with a rifle trained on the door I’d been about to enter a few minutes before. There was something familiar about her that I couldn't place. Maybe I was just so used to people with guns trying to kill me, they all looked familiar at this point. I slowly moved out of cover, activating my freeze ability once I was almost in close enough range to be certain of my shot.

The woman strained her head trying to turn toward me, but it was too late. I lifted my pistol and shot just as the freeze effect wore off. The woman tried to stand, even with the bullet in her head, but I shot once more and she stumbled back, falling over the building’s railing. I heard a thud, and then nothing.

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