by M. P. Pubs
Lucy smiled at his cockiness and stopped. "You think so, hu?"
Marcus turned and looked into her brilliant eyes. "Sure I do. As long as you don't slow me down."
Lucy gave him a playfull jab. "Oh really. You'd be lost without me."
Marcus laughed. "Well I don't..."
The bullet entered the left side of Lucy's head and exited the right. Blood splattered all over Marcus's face, and he stumpled backwards as Lucy's lifeless body fell to the ground. Marcus turned to his right, fumbling for his shotgun when two more rounds of .308 slammed into his Vault body armor, knocking him to the ground. Though the bullets didn't penetrate, it felt like Marcus'chest had been blown out. Before he knew it, two men were standing over him; one with a .308 sniper rifle pointed at his face.
"Alright! Time to collect those caps!" said the man with the rifle.
"Hold on." the other said. "Eulogy wants this cat brought to him first."
The man with the rifle was shocked. "What! What about the contract?"
"You work for Eulogy, remember? You will get paid."
The slaver sighed, then smashed Marcus in the face with the butt of his rifle.
Chapter 7: I Am So Screwed
When Marcus woke up the first thing he realized was that his weapons and body armor where gone. It was dark so he quickly turned on his PIPBOY light, and from what he could see, it appeared that he was in a small abandoned classroom. Marcus sat up and his head began to throb. The last thing he remembered was the two slavers standing over him after they had killed...
"Lucy!" Marcus cried out. The memory of her death brought on a sudden wave of tears, and as he wiped them away, Marcus realized that her blood was still on his face. 'Get a hold of yourself', he thought. 'Crying will not get you out of here'. After drying his tears, Marcus realized that something heavy was around his neck. He grabed hold of it and realized it was a metal collar.
"Don't touch it!"
Marcus jumped at the female voice coming from the darkness. He shifted his light, and saw a woman sitting against the wall just a few feet from him. "It's a slave collar. If you try to take it off or escape-boom!"
Marcus' hand carefully slid away from his neck. "Where the hell am I?"
"You're in Paradise Falls, mungo."
It was another voice, a child's, coming from the opposite end of the room. With his PIPBOY light, Marcus could see three children, two boys and one girl. They looked like they were between eight and ten years old. "What's Paradise Falls?" he asked.
The children laughed. "You've never heard of Paradise Falls?" one of the boys said. "Jesus Christ, mungo, you been living in a hole in the ground?"
The boy's fowl language caught Marcus by surprised. If he or any of the other children in the Vault had talked like that to an adult, they would've been on trash detail for a month. Marcus had to keep reminding himself that this was the wasteland. "Actually...yes, I have been. I grew up in a Vault."
The other boy, and African-American, rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, whatever you say, mungo."
"Hey, hold on a minute!" It was another captive, this time a middle-aged man who stepped into Marcus' light. 'Yeah, you're that kid from Vault 101, ain't ya?"
Marcus was alarmed that this man knew about him, so he stood up before answering. "Yes I am."
A smile crossed the man's face and he slapped Marcus on the shoulder. "I heard all about you kid; how you stopped some lunatice from blowing up Megaton."
By now the other captives, about six in all, began to gather around him. Marcus stood there amazed that this complete stranger had already heard about that.
"Man, Three Dog has been talking about you on Galaxy News Radio! My name's John, by the way."
Marcus' eyes widened. "Three Dog! The disc jockey? He knows about me?"
"Well, he doesn't call you by your name. He just refers to you as 'the kid from Vault 101'." John address the group. "This cat caught some guy named, um...Burke. That's it, Burke was trying to rig the bomb in Megaton to explode." He pointed to Marcus. "Not only does he capture Burke, but he disarms the bomb himself."
Everyone was amazed by the story, and Marcus began to blush. "Well, I...had some help from Sheriff Simms."
"Great mungo," it was the girl speaking, "so why don't you figure out a way for us to get out of here."
Being more than a little annoyed, Marcus walked over to the children. "Why do you call me that?"
The little girl, who introduced herself as Penny, answered the question. "That's what we call all you adults: mungos."
"And your parents are okay with this?"
Penny made a rather rude face. "We don't have any parents. We take care of ourselves."
Marcus' annoyance now gave way to sadness and pitty. "You mean...you're all alone out here?"
"No way!" Penny said. "We live in Little Lamplight; it's a town where only kids are allowed to live."
Marcus looked over at the other captives, then back to the children. "An entire town of only children? How have you survived?"
One of the boys, who the others called Squirrel, scoffed at him. "You adult all think you know everything. Little Lamplight is in the old Lamplight caverns, and our town's been around since the bombs fell. Any child can live there, but once you're sixteen, you have to leave and live in Big Town."
"What do you have against adults?" Marcus asked.
The third child, Sammy, was quick to answer. "We don't need'em! When adults are around...bad things happen."
As if on que, a door leading to the outside flew open, and three "adults" stepped inside. Each one was dressed in black leather and armed to the teeth with assault rifles. One of them approached Marcus. "Let's go."
Marcus stood defiant. "Where the hell are you..."
A punch square in the gut sent Marcus down on one knee.
"Speak when spoken to, slave!"
The other two grabed Marcus by his arms and dragged him outside. The sun blazed over head and Marcus struggled to see his surroundings. Just outside the abandoned school wa a fenced in holding pen filled with about a dozen more slaves. They were men, women, children, even a couple of ghouls. They dragged Marcus out of the pen and into the main camp. He could see slavers all around eating, drinking - a couple were even fucking. Marcus spotted an eatery and a small clinic on one end of the camp. In the center was a thirty foot tall tower with a slaver manning a 5mm minigun. As he struggled against his captors, Marcus noticed several automated gun turrents mounted around the camp.
His captors brought him to the front of what was once a hotel, and just off to the side was a brahmin hide on a hug spit. The slavers shoved Marcus through the double doors of the hotel, and he found himself standing in the lobby. Aside from the empty front desk, all that was inside was another automated turret scanning the area. There was a doorway on either side of the desk and Marcus was pushed through the one to his right. Both doors led into a huge room containing a heart shapped bed, and a large projector on the back wall. Marcus was brought ot the center of the room and his wrist were shackled to a chain above his head. One of the slavers pulled a lever on the wall, and with a violent jolt Marcus was hoisted two feet off the ground.
"Aaaah, shit!" Marcus yelled. As he hung helplessly from the ceiling, a black man wearing a rather loud, red suit entered the room. He was closely followed by two women wearing slave collars, but who were also armed with Chinese officer swords. As Marcus wondered why a slave was allowed to walk around this place with a weapon, the black man spoke. "My name is Eulogy Jones, and you must be: 'the kid from Vault 101' that everyone is talking about." Jones mockinly bowed to Marcus.
"What do you want with me?"
The same slaver who punched him in the stomach now stepped up and slapped Marcus across the face. "You don't ask Mr. Jones questions, slave!"
"Fuck you!" Marcus spat back.
The slaver responded with several more punches to Marcus' face and stomach.
"Enough!" Jones said.
The slaver backed away
, and Jones approached Marcus until they were face to face. "You've got guts kid, but it doesn't mean shit to me. You have a pretty big bounty on your head, and I intend to cash in on it." He grabbed Marcus by the chin and forced the teenager to look into his eyes. "But before I do that, I need something from you."
Marcus fought against the pain in his arms and stomach. "What...do you want?"
Jones released his chin. "I want you to download everything that wonderfull PIPBOY of yours has on your Vault. Where it is, how many people are there, security protocals - everything."
For a moment Marcus only stared at Eulogy as he wondered why the slaver would want...
"It won't do you any good. You'll never get in!"
Eulogy laughed and it was then that one of the slave girls, who was well built with bleach blonde hair parted to the side, stepped up to Marcus and punched him the jaw. "Eulogy always gets what he wants! You got that?"
Marcus didn't respond. Eulogy placed his arm around the woman. "Now, now, Clover. He'll give me what I want."
Clover looked at her master. "Let me kill'em for you baby, please."
Now Eulogy jerked the woman's arm. I said that's enough! Get over on the bed!"
Without any hesitation, the slave girl Clover obeyed. Eulogy smirked at Marcus. "You're lucky, kid. Clover is as crazy out of the sack as she is in it. But my girl Crimson," he pointed at the other slave girl, an African-American woman, "she will eat your liver if I tell her to."
Marcus responed by spitting in Eulogy's face. The guards were about to pounce when their master held up his hand. Eulogy removed a red hankerchief from his jacket and wiped his cheek. "Last chance: give me the Vault's information, or I will make you beg for death."
Marcus kept his eyes locked on the slave master while a million thoughts flashed through his mind. He knew these men would beat and torture him within an inch of his life to get what they wanted, and for a moment Marcus considered giving it to them. After all the Vault had been sealed for 200 years. It would be impossible for Eulogy and his men to get inside. Wouldn't it? Marcus began thinking about Amata and the rest of the people he had grown up with - and his decision was made. He took a deep breath and braced himself. "I'm not giving it to you! So do your worst, chicken shit!"
And they did. For the next four hours the slavers beat him with everything from thier fist, to brass knuckles and police batons. When that didn't break him, the slavers tore the back of his jumpsuit and whipped him until he passed out. At some point during all of this both of Marcus' shoulders were pulled from thier sockets. The slave girl Crimson joined in, and she dug her blood red nails into the right side of his face, and scratched him down to his chest. On more than one occasion, Marcus nearly broke. But each time he was about to give Eulogy what he wanted, Marcus thought about Amata. The idea of her being Eulogy's slave was enough to steel him against the pain.
When it was finally over, the slavers lowered Marcus to the ground, and his leg immediatly gave out underneath him. The slavers medic, a woman named Cutter, was brought in, and brutally re-set his arms back in place. Cutter then injected Marcus with several stimpaks before the slavers threw him back into the holding pen for the night.
One of the slaves, a ghoul named Jeanette, gave Marcus her ration of water and tried to clean his wounds. In between bouts of concessness, Marcus begged her to kill him.
"I will not." Jeanette replyed. "If I do, they'll kill us all."
Marcus cried out as she accidently touched his broken ribs. "I'm sorry. They gave you stimpaks to heal you, but no Med-X to dull the pain." She began to clean the whip marks on his back. "They will keep you alive and heal you, so that they can continure to torture you. My advise: give them what they want."
Marcus winced in pain. "I...can't."
Jeanette shook her head. "Whatever you're portecting, I hope it's worth it."
Just before he passed out, Marcus whispered: "She is."
The next morning the same three slavers from the day before dragged Marcus out of the holding pen. While his wounds had begun to heal, he was still very weak and soar. The slavers brought him back to Eulogy's room, where the slave chieftain was waiting with his slave girls. When Marcus was again chained and hoisted off the ground, Eulogy spoke. "It seems we have a slight change of plans. The...individual who put the contract on your head know you are here, and is demanding I deliever you to him now. So that means the time for being nice is over." He nodded at two of the guards, who walked out of the room. A few minutes later they reappeared, only this time they had Jeanette and Penny. The guards held them a few feet infront of Marcus, and both of them were shaking with fear. Eulogy stepped behind Jeanette, drew a rather large .44 caliber pistol from his jacket, and shot her in the head. Penny screamed and tried to run, but Eulogy grabbed the girl and put the gun to her head.
At that moment, Marcus lost it and began screaming and thrashing around. "I'LL FUCKING KIll YOU! ALL OF YOU!"
The slaver who had always made it a point to slap Marcus when he spoke out of turn, walked up to him and did it again, only this time, Marcus was close enough to sink his teeth into the man's coradid artary. The slaver screamed, and with one violent jolt, Marcus ripped the tissue away, and the man bled out in seconds. With blood running down chin, Marcus continued to scream and thrash like a mad man until the rest of the guards subdued him.
Eulogy brought Penny closer and put the gun to her temple. "Last chance, hero. I'm going to count to three."
Marcus looked into the eyes of the terrified girl. She didn't say anything, but it through those eyes she was pleading for him to save her.
"One."
Marcus looked around, his mind racing for some way to get out of this.
"Two."
He thought about Amata, about everyone in the Vault. How can he betray them to this animal? His eyes went back to the terrified little girl standing infront of him, and that's when he heard the hammer of Eulogy's gun cock back.
"Three!"
"ALRIGHT!"
Eulogy smiled and secured the gun.
"Alright, damn you! I'll give you what you want...just don't hurt her."
Eulogy handed Penny over to the guard, who took her outside. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"
Chapter 8: Paradise Lost
Once Marcus was unchained, the two guards that remaind dragged him over to a computer terminal which was in the corner of Eulogy's room. After forcing him into the chair, Marcus was handed a memory stick by the slaver chieftain. "Log in with this, and don't try anything stupid."
Marcus reluctantly took the memory stick and plugged it into the terminal. Once logged in, he then plugged in his PIPBOY's USB drive. As Eulogy watched, Clover came up behind him and began to kiss his neck. "You always get what you want, don't you baby?"
Eulogy smiled. "You know it."
Clover's hand slid down and found his crotch. "There's something I want to give you."
Eulogy turned and faced her. "Is that right?" He hoisted her in the air until she straddled him. "Then come over here and give it to me."
Clover giggled and he carried her over to the heart shaped bed; where the slave girl Crimson was also waiting to "give her boss something". Marcus gagged in disgust. As his PIPBOY was interfacing with the 200 year old terminal, he took a look around and noticed an auto-turret mounted in the corner of the room just to his left - and an idea began to take shape. Marcus looked over at the two guards who were standing just a few feet away, and they were both distracted by the "show" their boss was putting on with his two slave girls. Quickly he began to scan the computers files until he came across one marked "turret controls". He openned the file, and after making sure the guards were still distracted, Marcus quickly read it's content. If he was understanding it correctly, he could either shut the turret system down, or reverse the calibration so that the turrets would shoot everyone WITHOUT a slave coller. It was a long shot, but it was all he had...
"What's taking so long?" It was one of the guards, who was now st
anding over him. Marcus quickly minimized the screen he was on before he could see what he was up to. "It's taking a little longer to interface with this old tech."
The guard obviously didn't have a clue what he was saying. "Well...just hurry up."
Marcus nodded. As soon as the guard's eyes were back on Eulogy and his girls, Marcus restored the screen and made the neccessary changes to the turrets. After a few more minutes, a rather satisfied Eulogy Jones slapped Marcus in the back of his head. "I want those files NOW you runt!"
Marcus looked up at the slaver, and his eyes scanned the turret directly behind him. Marcus looked back at Eulogy. "Here it comes." He touched the screen of his PIPBOY and held his breath.
The turret's sensor light went from green to red. A second later the turret stopped scanning and pointed itself right at Eulogy Jones, who spun around and found himself staring down it's barrel. "Fuck me..."
Eulogy was cut in half as the turret unleased a hail of bullets. Marcus hit the floor and watched as the unsuspecting guards were also cut down. All around the Paradise Falls compound, turrets came to life and unleased hell on the slavers. Half of them were slaughtered during the initial attack, the rest struggled to grab their weapons and take cover. Inside the holding pen, the slaves watched in terror and awe as their captures were torn apart.
Inside the hotel, Marcus struggled to his feet and ran over to one of the dead guards. He was about to pick up his AK-47 when the slave girl Crimson charged at him; screaming and swinging her chinese sword. As Marcus tried to keep his distance from the insane girl, he realized that while the turrets would target Eulogy's guards, they would not target his slave girls since they wore collars. As Crimson continued her crazed advance, Marcus picked up the chair he was sitting on and used it to block her strikes. But the wooded chair didn't have a chance against the steel blade, and after only three hits, it was splintered. Marcus fell on his back, and Crimson stood over him with her sword raised above her head.
The blade sprung from Crimson's chest, and blood splattered all over Marcus' face. As he wiped the bodily fluid away, Crimson dropped her sword and began to spit up more blood. A moment later, the blade was pulled out of her back, and her lifeless body crumpled to the floor. Marcus looked up and saw Clover, holding a now blood stained chinese sword in her right hand. She approached Marcus and presented him with her left. "Well come on, suga, we can't hang around here."