Crawled Out Through The Fallout

Chapter 12

Deacon frowned at me.

I stood up and sighed.

"Fine, I'm sorry. It's just that if it's so secret, it should have a better passcode."

I scratched my head, not sure what else to say.

Preston walked over, and got my attention with his firm voice.

"General, I've caught word of a settlement that needs your help."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"My help, huh? What, is there no one else that can help?"

Preston just blinked at me, and continued.

"They're having raider troubles. The settlement is Finch Farm. Good luck, General."

I sighed.

"Fine. I'll go. Don't you worry about it."

Preston nodded, and walked away.

I searched through the workshop for my best gun, and stocked up on some stimpaks and food.

Deacon watched me, and glanced at Preston.

"I'm guessing things are a bit tense between you two. Lover's spat?"

I glared at him over my shoulder.

"I am not- Preston isn't- Ugh. No. Just no. Why the hell would you even think that?"

He chuckled.

"Relax, boss. I was kidding. Defensive much?"

I slammed the cabinet closed.

"Come on. Let's get this over with."

I fiddled with my Pip-Boy, setting the location to a destination closest the the farm. We fast travelled there, but we were still several hours away.

We started walking towards the farm. I walked quickly, leaving Deacon in my dust. I didn't like him insinuating that Preston and I are an item. Preston mostly just annoyed me. At least I got paid for my work.

"Hey, slow down. Are you trying to win a race?"

I responded without slowing down.

"If we don't hurry, we'll have to camp out. We don't have much time before it gets dark."

Deacon jogged to catch up.

I focused on making sure we were on the right track. But my mind wandered. Maybe I was overreacting. But why did I react like that? I glanced at Deacon, who was trying to keep up. I slowed my pace a bit so he could keep up. I sighed.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that."

He nodded.

"No harm done, boss."

I smiled a bit, then stopped walking. I faced him, and took off the welding goggles I wore.

"The first time I met Preston, it ended in me getting this scar from a deathclaw."

I gestured to the long scar over my left eye.

Deacon looked at it, then nodded.

"Good reason to not like someone."

I put my goggles back on.

"Yeah. I guess it wasn't really his fault, but I was still pissed. Anyway, let's keep going."

I started walking again, and Deacon walked next to me.

We walked over a bridge, and there was a rustling from the bushes nearby. A yao guai stood on its hind legs, looking around.
I muttered and crouched, hiding behind a car.

"Shit! It's a yao guai."

Deacon took out his gun and aimed at the irradiated bear.

I pushed his gun down.

"Wait, let's see if we can go around it."

He nodded, and started slowly walking away from the bear. I followed him, keeping an eye out to make sure we were a safe distance away. Once we were within sprinting distance of a building, I stood up and ran, pulling Deacon along with me.

We slammed the door shut behind us, barricading ourselves in with a table and some chairs that were near the entrance. After we did that, there was a loud thump from outside, and some scratches.

I looked around, and saw we were in a liquor store.

Deacon grinned, and looked at me.

"And here we have the makings of one hell of a party."

The shelves were full of vodka, bourbon, chems, and food.

I shook my head.

"We can't get sidetracked. We're here to camp out. Not party."

I was too late. Deacon had already popped a bottle open and drank from it.