A Real fight 3

Alex: *Fuck, that thing looks a hella lot more terrifying than I thought* he put his revolvers away and quickly picked up his rifle.

At the end of the street, crawling out of a huge crack in the ground and letting out the most bloodcurdling screech stood the ferocious 'Deathclaw'.

Standing at about 3-4 metres tall, this creature looked like the visual representation of fear with its huge horns and razor sharp teeth.

*Zap*

Preston was desperately firing laser beams at the behemoth, reloading the musket over and over but it didn't even scratch the beast.

*bang*

Alex fires his first shot which lodged itself inside the eye of the creature, causing it to studded in its charge towards the museum.

*RARGH*

The Deathclaw picked up pace and started scaling the building as Alex shot again in the same eye but this time it didn't slow the creature at all.

It wasn't far from the duo and Preston was firing and reloading at an impossible to replicate speed but to no avail.

Alex reloaded the rifle, eyeing the creature with a glare that could kill and fired 5 simultaneous shots in less than 2 seconds.

*RARRRGH...*

It slipped as it tried to climb another step up the building and fell to the ground making the surroundings shake a little. It looked up one more time and soon enough drew it's last breath.

Alex took one puff from his cigar, swings his rifle over his shoulder and made his way back to Nora.

Preston was debating inside his head and trying to create a character sheet for this new appearance. Alex seemed merciless yet caring to his allies, dangerous yet passive to his surroundings... who is this man? Preston was left questioning himself on the roof of the museum.

Alex made his way back to the group, spotting Nora awake and talking to an old woman he knew as 'Mama Murphy'. It seemed that their conversation came to an end, as Nora got up and noticed his arrival.

Nora: "Umm... I can't thank you eno-"

Alex: "So, you ready to continue the journey?" Alex interrupted as he disliked this sort of conversation.

Nora: "Y-Yes." She stuttered a bit, remembering her situation.

Alex tipped his hat at Preston and the group, and exited the room with Dogmeat by his side. Just as the trio came out of the museum, he heard a shout coming from behind him.

Preston: "Wait! I've got a proposition to make, Alex." Preston came running towards them.

Alex: "It better be worth it."

Preston: "I want to hire you, to work for the Minutemen."

Alex chuckled a little at his words, but his expression soon turned a little grim.

Alex: "Last time I checked the Minutemen were wiped at Quincy." Nora was a little clueless but decided keep silent and ask Alex about it later.

Preston: "Well there's still a couple of us scattered around the Commonwealth. With the proper firepower and people, we could rise again.

Look I'll be more than grateful if you could join our cause, but I'm pretty sure the chances of that happening are slim. So I want to take your services as a mercenary." His cards were laid out now.

Alex: "Can you afford them?"

Preston: "I'm sure we can work something out, but if your talking caps then yes. I'll pay roughly 250 per job."

Alex thought a little about it before giving his answer.

Alex: "I'm guessing you've got a job?" Preston's face lit up a little after hearing that Alex took up the job.

Preston: "Yeh, there's a settlement not too far from here. They've gotten themselves in trouble with some super mutants or so I've been told."

Alex: "I'll take it, but I've got another job right now. I'll handle the green skins after I complete this one."

Preston gave Alex the coordinates, and soon enough the trio left Concord. After 20 minutes of walking, Nora decided to ask Alex the questions she had kept to herself.

Nora: "You've mentioned something about a group called 'The Minutemen'?"

Alex: "Yeah, they were known as the 'police' of the Commonwealth. They always protected settlers and people who couldn't fend for themselves, always for free or small sums of money."

Nora: "That's... pretty great isn't it?" She smiles hopefully at the existence of such a group, especially in the current state of the world.

Alex: "Guess it is, just not that possible. You see, not taking compensation yet using resources drained them heavily.

They got mixed with the wrong group of people, the Gunners, and were wiped clean from the Commonwealth-well almost clean." He added the last part after remembering Preston.

Nora: "The Gunners?" Her hopes quickly got shot down, but not surprising her that much.

Alex: "Most dangerous gang of mercenaries in the Commonwealth, very well trained and armed even better."

Nora: "Are you-"

Alex: "No, not even the slightest bit tempted." He cut her off, not letting her get too carried away.

Nora: "Why? Aren't you also a mercenary?" She was pretty confused right now- he seemed more than adequate to be a part of an elite mercenary squad.

Alex: "Lets just say that there are a lot of things I won't do, no matter how much the payment."

His words made Nora smile a bit, her previous hope returned to her. She looked at him with different eyes now, very thankful that he was the one she met first in the wasteland.

Nora: "Thank you, Alex." She muttered softly, with Alex barely able to hear her.

He didn't reply and just continued to pace in silence, never dropping his guard as they were travelling in the open.

When the buildings surrounding them started to increase Nora got more and more shocked, looking at all that was left of Diamond City.

Only rubble that was held up by steel beams, streets completely desolate yet riddled with craters.

They encountered the usual pack of mole rats of gang of ghouls, but no people yet.

Nora: "What are they... zombies?" She asked with a bit of disgust at the hideous creatures.

Alex: "Not everyone had the privilege of entering vaults when the bombs fell, most of them are those people. Some were just exposed to too much radiation, turning them into what we call 'feral ghouls'.

Not all of them are mindless and some just look like that, those are the 'ghouls'. Mind still intact, but body... not so much."

Nora was silent, taking in the amount of information and feeling angry at herself for being disgusted by their appearance.