Crossfire - Fallout 4 - [R J MacCready x Sole Survivor]

Chapter 18

Trails of smoke drifted into the air as MacCready walked up to the teleporter. He felt unhinged as he observed the structure; what was once formidable now a smoking ruin of twisted metal and plastic. The platform where Dawn had stood was still pristine and uncharred, but the he still felt unease at the possibility of the teleporter malfunctioning during Dawn's transit to the Institute.

MacCready's sentiment was shared amongst the settlers, each of them hushed with a mixture of anxiety and awe. Sturges was not silent – instead he whispered to Preston – but the two men stopped when they noticed MacCready.

"Hey," the sniper cleared his throat as he approached them, "Was that explosion supposed to happen?"

Sturges shrugged before he raised a gloved hand to itch the back of his neck. "Well, I'll be real honest with ya, we didn't exactly know what we were expecting," he looked at Preston with uncertainty, "But despite the fancy fireworks, the teleporter was successful. The General's been delivered to the co-ordinates, safe and sound."

Relief washed over MacCready, but the gnawing feeling in his gut remained.

"When will she be back?" He asked the two with the hope of one of them somehow knowing.

But his answer was reticence from the Minutemen.

Preston was the one to stop the silence. "The General went in there blind. None of us know what is in the Institute, but we can only hope that the General is safe and that she comes back alive."

MacCready sighed as he looked back at the ruined teleporter, the crackle of thunder still fresh in his mind.

"Yeah..." He turned on his heel and sauntered up to the bunkers.

Me too.

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Weeks passed. MacCready did not know exactly how long it had been since Dawn left for the Institute. Life carried on as usual in Sanctuary, but the unease lingered with the Minutemen. Preston was the acting General in Dawn's absence, and he did his duties well, but the Minutemen were expanding their reach, and new recruits and militia were always joining the cause.

It gave the sniper something to do. Patrolling the perimeter was no longer MacCready's only job. Besides hunting and helping Sturges with cooking for the settlers, his new task was to train the new fighters with sharpshooting.

After his lessons, MacCready would buy a box of cigarettes from Trashcan Carla, then walked up the hill to the graves. He smoked in peace there.

The hill was seldom visited by anyone else except MacCready, a perfect spot if he wanted to be alone and undisturbed. MacCready surveyed the area as he smoked, a keen eye focused on the graves when his glance passed over to them.

But this time, something was different.

Something caught his eye – bright green and slowly swaying in the wind – and he walked closer to one of the graves to inspect it.

There, a stark contrast to the usual vegetation of the wastelands, a small sprout of Dawn's sunflower was growing at the foot of one mound.

He knelt down to look at it. It was a very small thing, just a stalk with budding leaves, but it was undeniably alive and growing. He reached to his belt to unhook his flask, unscrewed the cap, and poured some water on it with the hope it could continue to grow.

A small part of him wanted to see what they would look like after they bloom. Another part of him anticipated how Dawn would react with her little project. Perhaps, when Dawn returned with her son, she would be happy to see something else from before the war.