Nuka World Wasteland

Chapter 8- Rocky Narrows Park

Zora and her small gang left the abandoned house at the first break of dawn, and mist covered the morning sky, thankfully keeping their cover. She rubbed her throat, the earlier murder attempt of the night still in the back of her mind. When they reached that 'raider oasis' or whatever the fuck it was, she was going to enjoy killing that rat Rex. 

They walked slowly, taking their time to not be caught out in the open, even with the dense fog that surrounded them. They were getting closer to Cambridge, but still had to walk west in order to reach it. If she had been traveling alone, she would have just gone straight in a diagonal and get there in half the time, but settlers would attack their group on sight. People knew what a group of raiders looked like.

They reached a different type of city. They could see the ruins of a large building, the old C.I.T. Ruins, and tall green and silver towers and office buildings lay behind it. Gunner territory, most likely. Snipers in the towering buildings, land-mines in the streets, and who knew what had taken up the space within the giant walls of the ruins. 

She pulled out her faded Commonwealth map, and looked at the roads to Cambridge. They could keep following the river up to the city, but there was no cover in front of the college. It was just an open courtyard and the river, and on the other side, the dangers of the back bay that they wanted to avoid during their travels. The last time she heard, there was a raider gang holed up somewhere across the river, and she didn't feel like delaying their travels any longer than she had to. 

"We'll go around the back of the ruins, follow this road and go straight to Cambridge. There's not enough cover to just follow the river up. Let's move."

"You're all gonna die on this quest-" Rex spoke up vehemently and spit on the ground.

"Put a sock in him, Bear, I don't feel like listening to the rat," Zora didn't look up from her map as they walked, focusing on the long length they were supposed to travel.

Bear took her command literally and reached into his pouch and pulled out a spare sock, stained yellow and brown with dirt and frayed holes covering the foot.

"No, no NO-" Rex cried out, letting Bear shove the wretched clothing item into his mouth.
Whiplash laughed and Rex growled at them.

"Hey Zora," Whiplash chuckled, "it seems he's more of a mutt than a rat."

She smiled at the two raiders and their prisoner and continued on past the ruins, holding her gun just in case they ran into any unpleasant surprises. 

They passed Cambridge quietly and the sun had started falling back down after noon. She had noticed the ferals wandering the outskirts of the city. Where there were a few stragglers, there was probably a whole mob behind. If she was lucky and as long as she drew no attention to herself, she could have easily passed by the ferals as she herself was a ghoul. But they needed to stay together so they had to go the long way around. 

She liked having a gang and all, but sometimes it was just so much more efficient to be alone. 

They now headed northwest, to the next place Rex pointed them to go. He wouldn't tell them the final destination, apparently smart enough to keep himself useful. She could torture it out of him, but that would draw attention to their group, and she didn't mind the adventure. The Combat Zone's fun had dried up recently, which added to her eagerness to find a new conquest. 

After taking one break the entire day, they finally grew tired as the sun began to set. They still hadn't reached their destination, a pond just south of Lexington, but Zora knew that if they continued the next day, they would be able to reach their location.