Warpath

Trapper Walsh Series

Part 7 here: https://steemit.com/game/@olmech/new-tricks

I had been using my new way of hunting Deathclaws and Radscorpions for three months now with great success. I have been bringing in no less than two a day and they were usually of rare quality which makes the items much more profitable with the traders. Several times I have actually had to wait in Diamond City till the following day because the traders did not have enough caps to compensate me. It was a good problem to have I suppose. Since I had purchased the power armor pieces I had already made my money back five times over.

Mom and Pops had been busy preserving the meat which currently is enough to sustain a village for several years. I had tried to convince the two of them to sell what we would not need but they insist on keeping it. They remember what it is like to be hungry and because of them I have been fortunate to avoid that experience. Considering all the bad ways I could have ended up the day they found me in a ditch beside my murdered parents, I felt truly blessed.

Today had been yet another very productive day and I had already started back home with the bounty three Radscorpions had afforded me. It was a slow go being encumbered as I was. Once I had cleared the crater ridge, I took an upward glance in the direction of home as I always do. I could not see it from where I was as it is still a fair walk to the northwest. Our home is our sanctuary which protects me from the vicious rad storms that form in the Glowing Sea before moving out through the Commonwealth and living this close to it means we experience a lot of them. Besides protection, our home provides the warmth of companionship and is the only place I truly feel at ease when I need to unwind. Aside from the storms that sweep through, it is usually very quiet there. That would all change forever this day.

As I crested the last rise and home came into view, I was horrified to see the area in front of the house littered with bodies. I immediately dropped everything and began an all out sprint to the house while swinging the big wheel gun around to bear on what may still be here. As I made my way up the steps and into the house, empty shell casings were everywhere. Among them I found .45-70 casings all the way up the stairs to the second floor. When I reached the top of the stairs, I found three more bodies. I followed the trail of casings to the left of the stairwell back into my bedroom. That's where I found Mom and Pops laying on the floor. Pops had died first and Mom had been killed afterwards judging by the positions their bodies were in. I was overcome with grief as I exited my power armor. I sat down on the floor between them and did something I had not done since I was a baby. I cried like one...

When I regained my composure, I wrapped each one of them securely in two of Mom's best handmade quilts. I gingerly carried them one at a time outside the house. I took a shovel and began to dig one large hole. This was no easy task given the rocky soil and my state of mind at the time. I had always considered myself to be callous and emotionless but this task was the hardest thing I have ever done. I could not reign myself in as I began to lay each one of the dearest people in my life down in that cold earth. There is a difference between doing something you have to do and being forced to do something you never wanted to do. As I crawled up from the hole for the last time I wondered if they had known just what they had meant to me. They had been my everything. They were the rock that my whole life was founded on. I had to force myself not to look upon them once more. If I had, I would be unable to finish what I had to do. I picked the shovel back up and began filling the hole.

After the burial, I went inside to get a drink to soothe my mind. It was only then that I realized everything of value in the house had been taken. It was dark now and either the generators had been smashed or stolen because there were no lights or running water. I made a fire in the barrel stove in the living room, then I sat down on the couch beside it. My mind was awash with memories that would not stop haunting me. Some time...several hours later I fell asleep.

When I awoke the next morning, I began the arduous task of trying to piece together what had happened here. There were nine dead bodies in all and they were obviously Raiders. There were maybe twenty in all when the attack began judging from the tracks and spent ammo laying on the ground. They had managed to knock out the gun turrets but it had been a costly effort. Pops had claimed at least four on his own. They had taken the .45-70 after killing him. That was going to be something they would not live long to regret. I had decided the quickest way to get rid of the bodies was to build a large fire and burn them. These Raiders did not deserve a proper burial anyway.

I stood watching the fire as it cracked and popped. Many people use fire to get rid of garbage and I saw this as no different. I could not figure out what had drawn this evil out upon us. In all my years of living here I had never encountered another soul. What had changed? When the answer finally came, it caused me even greater pain. I had been what changed. All of the caps I had been hauling out of Diamond City had drawn the interest of someone willing to kill and take. Even though my intentions had been good, I had caused the deaths of my family out of sheer carelessness. I had let my own greed cloud my better judgement. I had killed Mom and Pops just as surely if I had pulled the trigger.

I went inside to get ready for bed but slowly a rage had begun to build in me that I could not control. My family and I had not asked for any of this. All we really wanted was to be left alone and exist. The people that had done this deed had no clue what was coming for them and all their kind. I had been placed firmly on this warpath by their actions and there did not exist enough Raider blood in all the Commonwealth to bring me away from it. I would kill them all or die trying. That was the only way this would ever end.

More to come...

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