Chapter 5: On the Road Again

"They didn't take us very far. Feels like we've only been walking an hour and we're already back to the truck." Adam was trying to break the silence. Jack was still walking with a limp, trying not to reopen his recent wound. Mainly relying on April to help him walk at all. She blamed Adam for the mutant attack just because he was awake. They had been walking for what they assumed to be roughly 3 hours without a word to each other. Jack dropped to his knees, holding his side and let our a strained groan of pain. April lifted up his shirt to reveal the stab wound. It looked worse than before. Clearly infected. "Adam, give me a Stimpak." Fumbling around the backpack filled with rations and some Stimpak's, as well as Med-Ex. A large needle full of a purple liquid. A strong pain killer that lasts a few hours. Adam grabbed one of each and a bottle of water. April stuck Jack directly in the wound with the Stimpak, then again in the leg with the Med-Ex. After a few seconds he was feeling better. Adam handed him the water to drink. "Thanks, guys."
"Like we have much choice. We'd probably be dead without you." Replied Adam. He helped Jack to his feet. Jack stumbled when he tried to walk but April caught him and helped him along. They continued down the dirty, destroyed highway, passing old, decrepit and exploded vehicles. Trucks, cars, transports, and even the odd motorcycle. "Man, could you imagine one of these things in working order?" Adam looked to Jack, who was staring at the destroyed frame of an old motorcycle, long since scrapped for parts. "I mean, imagine flying down roads on one of those. And from what I've seen in some pre-war magazines, they looked awesome!" "Yeah, they looked cool but any decent sniper could pick us off on one. We are way too exposed. We would want one of those." Adam pointed to a rusted bus. Most of the paint was scratched off but it had a faint blue color left on it, along with orange rust. It was missing a front wheel, and the hood was open, exposing an empty box where an engine used to sit. The windows had all been smashed open and it looked like some seats were removed. "We could turn that thing into an armored tank. Block off the windows, reinforce the walls, we would practically have a base on wheels..." April then piped in. "Quit getting your hopes up. There's no way we could ever fix one of these things up." "Well let's not be so hasty, I heard about these guys, the brotherhood of steel. They have working Virtibirds. Those flying car looking things with the propellers on the top. The prewar military used to use them. And theres these other guys, the Enclave, they are like the brotherhood, and ive heard they have working tanks too!" April gave Adam a dirty look. "Of course you'd believe that. The brotherhood is just a bunch of guys in power armor trying to look like those sci-fi robots and act like the prewar military. That doesn't mean they have access to working Virtibirds. As for the 'Enclave,' I have no idea who they are or where you heard of them. Surely nobody else is dumb enough to pretend to be the soldiers that those crazy prewar ghouls talk about." Adam's face dropped and he went silent. Jack was already feeling better and was walking on his own again. The sun was setting, and they decided they needed to settle down for the night and give Jack some time to heal. They set up camp next to an old blue van and pushed some vehicles around them to cover themselves better. In merely an hour they had a small fire going with a few bushes and tumbleweeds. After looking at the blue van with the odd yellow logo on the side, he finally realized where he'd seen it before. It's a Vault-Tec van! He felt somewhat stupid for not sooner recognizing the yellow circle with three lines along either side. He jumped up from his place around the fire and ran to open it. He slid the door open and inside they found some loot. It looked like a supply vehicle, probably stocking up multiple vaults judging by the loot. There was security batons, vault posters, a set of security armor that vaguely looked like riot gear. They also found .10mm ammo, and more medical supplies and food. They packed their bags with as much as they could carry. Adam was about to close the door but spotted an odd looking box in the back of the room. It was tan colored and had the vault tec logo on the front. It was small but heavy and made of metal. When Adam opened it, it contained a Pipboy 3000! A wrist sized personal computer that let you play local radio stations, had a map of the area, shows your health and physical condition, as well as the time and date. He slapped it on his arm and powered it on. The bright green screen lit up and booted the startup menu. "Thank you for using Vault Tec!" Large letters read on the screen before opening a menu of a cartoon looking character with a 100% over each of his limbs. "Good to know I'm healthy" Adam said to himself as Jack hobbled over. Amazing find! That things seriously going to help us out later." April grunted. "Or get us shot and looted. Take it off." Adam tried the lock mechanism but it wouldn't budge. He tried again but it wouldn't come off. "It's stuck... I don't think it's coming off." "Great. Just another reason for people to try and kill us. Those things are super rare. I guess it doesn't matter. Adam you're on lookout, don't fuck up this time." April helped Jack out of the van while Adam checked his ammo. Fully loaded. "Now to wait out the night. It'll give me time to figure out this pipboy at least."

Authors Note; sorry nothing really happened in this chapter. I unfortunately rushed it but I wanted to get one out finally. I promise the next chapter will be better!