Chapter 69

His conversation with Eve continued for a while more. Despite her flirting she proved to be an able and enjoyable conversation partner. From her he did learn a few of the ins and outs of Midway, though nothing that really changed anything. He did, however, learn of a few locations in the area Eve suggested might be good to go scavenge. In addition, she not so subtly invited him to her house after he shift was over. Adam politely declined but by the end of his time at The Oasis, he had certainly made a charming, if dangerous, new friend.

The only downside to the whole endeavor was that the food and drink he ordered was quite expensive, 50 caps. And Eve had said this was on the cheaper side. It may not have been on the third floor, the most expensive venue but it was definitely a more expensive place to visit. Still It was money well spent. After all, what is the point of making money if you can't spend it on things you enjoyed? He would go back, but he had to pad his pockets a bit more first.

When he got back to his room, ready to turn in for the night, he found there was a plate of cookies on his bed, much like the crackers from yesterday. The free snacks mentioned by the concierge. He considered saving the rest for tomorrow, but there weren't too many and it was a good dessert to wrap up the night. After eating the cookies, taking a shower, and cleaning his suit, he went to bed, ready to head out to scavenge tomorrow morning.

The next day came early for Adam, he had set an alarm on his pip-boy to wake him up early. He needed to eat breakfast before he set out on his adventure. So he headed to the food court to grab some food. 

Today was an omelet and fries. The eggs used were definitely not chicken eggs, but he didn't ask what they were, he knew better than to do so. It was also cheaper than the burrito, only 26 caps today. He now had a little over 200 caps, enough so that he wasn't broke but not nearly enough to be able to live at Midway, not with creature comforts anyway. So it just reaffirmed, more than ever, he needed to go on a run.

Once he was done eating he, with all his gear on and taken from The Delta, he headed right to the front gate to meet with Salvatore. Salvatore was there, armed up as well, waiting for him.

"Ready kid?" Salvatore asked as Adam approached.

"Yeah, I am." He said with a determined tone. As the gate began to open in front of them Salvatore continued.

"You got a destination in mind for us yet? Or are we just going to wander around aimlessly?"

"No, I met a fascinating woman last night, and she tipped me off to a few good places."

"Oh?" Salvatore said with a cheeky grin. "She your type?" He teased, trying to get Adam back for seeing Claire yesterday. Adam laughed.

"I'm not into robots, no." Salvatore looked surprised and then chuckled a bit himself.

"Well, I guess you did say fascinating. Anyway, where are we going?"

"There's a mall not far from here to the south, from what I've heard it's ripe for the picking." Adam responded.

"Mall huh, fair enough. Just remember, I ain't carrying more than I feel comfortable with."

"Don't worry. I don't plan to overburden you." Adam smirked.

The walk to the mall was easy, it took about an hour to get there but no active threats popped up to stop them, though this was expected. As Salvatore said it, this close to the city no raider or even super mutant would dare set up a base Midway. It's too heavily defended to be that close without a plan so even without patrolling the guards naturally cleared the surrounding area near Midway.

Once they got to the mall proper both men got on guard. At first glance the building looked in moderate health. Dilapidated, as most buildings were, but still standing and looking like it could have something valuable inside. However upon entering it was an entirely different story.

The first thing they noticed was the gore. It was everywhere. And it wasn't just bloody carcasses on the ground like a monster came through, it was headless corpses on spikes suspended from the ceiling, mutilated bodies strung up by chains, charred remains of corpses inside cages. It was as if someone wanted to take horror and make it performance art. 

Not only that but the building was set up with benches, chairs, desks, shelfs, and whatever else could be found right in the hallway, blocking the paths, creating natural chokepoints and killboxes while allowing a would-be defender to take up a firing position with advantage.

"Raiders." Salvatore muttered under his breath. If he was to be believed these raiders were monsters, right at the entrance the gruesome display was almost inhuman.

"Don't let it get to ya kid." Salvatore said to Adam with a steady tone. It seemed as though Adam had his worries on his face. "They do this sort of thing as a warning, stay away or you will become like this. It's all just dick measuring, just ignore it." He said as he began to creep forward, Adam following closely behind.

As they walked forward it immediately dawned on them how weird the situation was. Obviously it was a raider den, this was not in question but there were no raiders at the defensive points, no one to stop them, no one to even notice them coming in. 

Of course these were not soldiers, just sadists who lived by parasitizing others, but still this went beyond sloppy, this was… strange, it was suspiciously quiet.

More than that as they continued to walk through the base they saw no signs of the people who once inhabited this space, there was evidence they used to be here, rolled sleeping mats in the corners of the hallways, tables with moldy food on them, broken into stores, but nothing that indicated where the people might have gone.

Of course this was a good thing, the less resistance they met while scavenging the building the better, that meant they could loot in peace, but Salvatore was on edge, Adam could tell from his face, and even Adam was getting a bad feeling.

"I don't like this…" Salvatore said quietly as they crept through the halls, passing stores they could double back to later. "I got a bad feeling about this, there's something wrong here, I can feel it." He said with a tense tone.

"What do you think it is?" Adam asked as he fanned the collar of his vault suit a bit, the heat and humidity in the building was starting to get to him the deeper inside they went.

"I'm not sure. But whatever could make this place so quiet isn't going to spell good news for us."

"Should we turn around?" Adam asked, as he pointed his pistol into a dark store after he thought he saw movement only to realize it was just a shadow.

"I'm not a fan of staying but this is a good spot to loot, surely the guys here before us took the liberty of raiding everything and stockpiling, we just need to find that stockpile, i'm sure it will easily pay for your gambling debt." Salvatore said, injecting a bit of humor without breaking his tense tone.

"Ha ha." Adam returned dryly. 

Then they both heard something. Skittering in the distance. It sounded like claws on tile, different from the skittering of a radroach, something bigger. When they heard it they both froze in place.

"You hear that?" Adam asked tentatively. 

"I'd have to be deaf to not." Salvatore returned.

"Is it just me or is the humidity in here bad?" Adam asked while he kept his guard up but was now actively having a slightly hard time breathing due to all the moisture in the air. It was hot and humid as it would be in a swamp, it was strange, the entrance was not at all like this, but as they got closer to the center the humidity and heat kept going up.

"Humidity?" Salvatore questioned quietly before he went wide-eyed. "Shit. We gotta get out of here kid, we just walked right into a nest!"

"A nest of what?"

"Run first." Salvatore said as he turned to bolt down the corridor, the way they came. Adam did the same, turning to run with him. However both men realized it was too late. It was behind them.

A giant crab-like creature with a giant hunchback shell, pincers bigger than a human head, and tiny skittering legs underneath it that made it stand upright. And worse than that there was not just one, but multiple behind them. Mirelurks.