Radscorpions
By his third day in Shady Sands, Adrian had learned three important things. First... Radscorpions were apparently everyone's problem. Second... Cassandra Hale seemed to believe sleep was a sign of moral weakness and third... Tandi enjoyed watching him suffer far more than was probably healthy.
"You're holding the rifle wrong again."
Adrian looked up from where he sat beside the settlement well, patiently cleaning sand out of the rifle's action. "I'm beginning to think you say that recreationally."
"I say it because you keep doing it."
Tandi walked past carrying a bucket of water and grinned openly. "She's right." She nodded toward the rifle. "You look like you're wrestling it."
"Thank you both for the constant emotional support."
"You're welcome," Tandi replied without missing a beat.
Adrian shifted the rifle across his lap, trying not to aggravate the bruises on his shoulder. Training with Cassandra had turned out to be... exhausting, a little humiliating and weirdly addictive. Every improvement had to be earned. Every bottle he hit felt like an actual accomplishment.
For the first time since leaving Vault 13... he didn't feel completely helpless, he was mostly helpless now. Which counted as progress.
☢ ☢ ☢
Shady Sands had started to feel different too. Not like home, but familiar.
The children had stopped staring every time he walked past. The guards greeted him instead of watching him like he might accidentally destroy something. People occasionally stopped him to ask questions about the Vault.
Adrian had quickly learned to stay intentionally vague. Because the moment people heard... "advanced underground Vault..." their expectations skyrocketed.
Meanwhile Vault 13 mostly consisted of... stressed people, recycled air a water shortages and existential dread. Not exactly paradise.
The door to the council building opened. Aradesh stepped outside. He somehow looked even more exhausted than the day before.
Adrian noticed immediately, something was wrong.
The settlement leader crossed the square while several nearby guards exchanged uneasy glances. "Scouts found another brahmin carcass this morning."
Tandi's expression hardened. "Near the eastern caves?"
Aradesh nodded once. "The tracks match radscorpions."
Adrian stood. "How bad are we talking?"
Aradesh looked toward the eastern desert beyond the settlement walls. "Worse than before." Not reassuring.
Cassandra appeared beside Adrian so quietly he still had no idea how she kept doing that. "How many?"
"Unknown." Aradesh rubbed at his forehead. "But enough that people are afraid to work the fields."
That mattered, no fields meant, no food, no trade and no future. Adrian could already feel the mood changing throughout the settlement. People whispered more quietly. The guards scanned the horizon more often. Even the brahmin handlers kept glancing nervously toward the eastern ridge… fear spread quickly in places this small.
Tandi immediately reached for her rifle. "I'm coming."
"No." Aradesh's answer came instantly.
Her jaw tightened. "You said that last time."
"And I'll say it again. You are not leaving the settlement while those things are active."
"I'm not a child."
"No." For the first time that morning, Aradesh's voice softened. "You're my daughter."
Silence settled over the square. Heavy and uncomfortable. Adrian suddenly found the dirt beneath his boots very interesting. Nope, not getting involved in that family argument.
Tandi looked directly at him. "You say something."
Adrian blinked, "...why am I involved all of a sudden?"
"Because you're armed."
"That feels like an absolutely terrible qualification."
Cassandra folded her arms. "She's right."
Adrian looked at her in open betrayal. "Whose side are you on?"
"The side where giant venomous insects don't overrun the town."
Fair, annoying. But fair.
Aradesh let out a weary sigh before looking directly at Adrian. "If you're willing to help..." he glanced around at the settlement. "Shady Sands won't forget it."
That landed differently than accepting a quest in a game. These people weren't offering experience points. They meant it, this town mattered. Not because a developer had marked it as important. Because families lived here… children lived here.
Adrian looked toward the eastern desert, then at Cassandra. "You think I'm ready?"
The question surprised all three of them. Including Adrian. Cassandra studied him for a long moment. "No."
Comforting…
Then she added, "But you're better than you were."
Oddly enough... that helped.
Tandi smirked. "High praise coming from Hale."
Aradesh frowned for a moment before giving a slow nod. Adrian picked up the shotgun beside the well.
Cassandra looked at it. "You're bringing that?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because if giant radioactive scorpions exist..." He slung it over his shoulder. "I deserve emotional support."
Tandi laughed, even Cassandra looked dangerously close to smiling.
☢ ☢ ☢
An hour later they stood beyond Shady Sands beneath the harsh afternoon sun. The settlement disappeared behind them as the desert stretched endlessly toward the eastern hills. Wind swept across cracked earth and weathered stone.
Adrian adjusted the shotgun strap. "So..." he looked at the empty landscape. "How big are radscorpions?"
"Big," Tandi answered.
"That's not helpful."
"Bigger than you want."
"...Oh good."
Cassandra crouched beside a stretch of disturbed earth. "Tracks."
Adrian walked over carefully. The grooves carved through the dirt were enormous. Wide and deep. Like someone had dragged sharpened farm tools through the desert.
Nope, absolutely not. One thing the games had never communicated properly was scale. Everything out here felt larger, meaner and more determined to ruin your day.
Tandi scanned the rocks ahead with her rifle ready. "There's a cave system farther east. They're probably nesting there."
Adrian swallowed. "You two say things that should never sound that casual."
Cassandra stood. "Stay alert."
"I am alert."
"You're talking."
"Talking helps me stay alert."
Tandi grinned. "You really are strange for a Vault dweller."
Adrian gestured broadly at the wasteland around them. "Look around. I feel like strange is the appropriate response."
They pushed deeper into the rocky terrain. With every step away from Shady Sands... the world grew quieter. No voices, no brahmin and no hammering. Only wind slipping between the rocks.
Then Cassandra stopped, the change in her posture alone made Adrian's stomach tighten. "What?"
She silently pointed toward a cluster of boulders, Adrian followed her gaze. At first... nothing. Then something shifted, his brain rejected what it was seeing. The radscorpion slowly crawled out from behind the rocks with a grinding scrape of chitin against stone.
It was enormous, its armored body was nearly the size of a compact car. Massive claws clacked together as it advanced. Its tail arched high overhead, ending in a venomous stinger almost as long as Adrian's arm. The creature's red eyes locked onto them.
Every survival instinct Adrian possessed immediately filed a formal complaint with reality. "Oh..." he took one involuntary step backward. "Absolutely fuck that."
The radscorpion let out a shrill, metallic screech, then it charged.