FO4 | Book 1: Bombs on Monday Morning ✔️

Ch 18: Swimming the Glowing Sea

"Hey, mind if we talk?"

We were close to the Glowing Sea now. It was as frigid as the day before, and my Power Armor only saved me from the wind and not the temperature.

"Is everything all right?" I asked with concern.

"Yeah, yeah. It ain't anything bad. Just you takin' care of Bobbi. I ain't proud of havin' to put you through that. That sort of dictatorial shit — it ain't usually my style."

"Why are you still so upset about that? I told you it was the right move."

"True. But it doesn't change the fact that she's outta the picture 'cause of us. Hell, that sorta bull's the whole reason I became mayor in the first place. Some ass named Vic ran the town for I don't know how long before that."

As we walked, I noted the change in surroundings. The buildings were almost completely demolished here, and trees were knocked down or uprooted, but all of them were charred.

"The guy was scum," he went on. "Used us drifters like his own personal piggy bank. He had this goon squad he'd use to keep people in line. Every so often, he'd let them off the leash, go blow off some steam on the populace at large. Folks with homes could lock their doors, but us drifters, we got it bad. There was one night, some drifter said something to them."

"I'm guessing that didn't end well."

"You guessed right. They cracked him open like a can o' Cram on the pavement. And we all just stood there. Did nothin'."

"It was a hard choice to make."

"I appreciate you tryin', but there's no need to sugarcoat it. It was spineless, the way I acted. I felt like less than nothing. Afterwards, I got so high, I blacked out completely. When I finally came to, I was on the floor of the Old State House. Right in front of the clothes of John Hancock."

"That so?" I smiled with one eyebrow raised.

"John Hancock: first American hoodlum and defender of the People." He kicked a pebble across the road with a smirk. "I might have still been high, but those clothes spoke to me, told me what I needed to do. I smashed the case, put 'em on, and started a new life. As Hancock. After that, I went clean for a bit, got organized, convinced Kleo to loan me some hardware."

We carefully stepped down a steep incline.

"Got a crew of drifters together and headed out into the ruins, started training. Next time Vic's boys went on their tear, we'd be ready for 'em."

"And the fact that I'm traveling with you and not Vic would suggest things went well."

"Oh yeah. The night of, we all got loaded, let Vic's boys get good and hammered, and burst from the windows and the rooftops where we'd been hiding. They never even saw it coming. We didn't have to fire a shot. We didn't have to... but we sure fucking did. It was a massacre. Once we'd mopped up, we strolled right into Vic's quarters in the State House, wrapped a rope around his neck, and threw him off the balcony. And there I am, gun in hand, draped in Hancock's duds, looking at all the people of Goodneighbor assembled below. I had to say something. That first time I said 'em, they didn't even feel like my words. 'Of the People, for the People!'"

I laughed.

"Was my inaugural address," he said with a toothy grin and straightened the collar of his frock proudly. "Became Mayor Hancock of Goodneighbor that day. And from then on, I vowed I'd never stand by and watch. Ever again."

Listening to Hancock's story reminded me of the Mass Pike Interchange where MacCready and I slaughtered Barnes and Winlock and those their subordinates.