Return to Sender

by Chemtest

Spirit

He crashes through the door, and the screaming only gets louder. Manticores, timberwolves, spiders, all roam the streets and destroy.

Yet one stands above them all. A giant among Timberwolves, one who howls into the air, “Courier!”

He moves out of the house, and takes a stand behind the beast, “What?”

The Timberwolf turns to face him, and the green light coming from it’s eyes almost blinds him. It growls, “You shall pay for your crimes. Venom-Fang murdered, forest set ablaze, chaos sowed into our roots! My children, murdered without a second thought!”

He gets his hand near his hip, “Who are you?”

The Timberwolf walks closer, “We are the Spirit of the Everfree, and we shall destroy you! Courier, killer of the Bear and Bull, we shall rip out your throat!”

He reaches for his revolver, “You’ll never get the chance!”

Yet, right before his hand reaches the grip, it is stopped.

He tries to force his hand downward, but it just can’t move. He looks down, and sees that his hand is covered in some green aura. He tries to grab a grenade from his pocket, only for it to be stopped by the same aura.

He looks up at the Spirit, noticing it’s eyes glowing brighter, “What is this?”

The Spirit gets right in front of him, “Magic, Courier, the thing you cannot fight!”

He takes advantage of it being so close, and head-buts the Spirit. Yet, even though a dent appears in the wood, the wood just returns right back to normal.

The Spirit growls, raises a claw, and smacks him.

He goes flying, crashing through a building.

He coughs roughly, managing to get a stimpack into his system. He gets on his knee, and tries to stand.

The Spirit raises it’s claw, and the green aura appears around it. The Spirit closes the claw, and the building collapses on top of him.

He is forced down as a ton of building material rests on top of him. He tries to push up, only to discover his broken arms can’t do anything. Even his legs can’t move.

He struggles to breathe as dust fills the air, and a howl comes from outside, “Kill them all!”

His eyes close as oxygen leaves his system.

———

He slams the cell shut and quickly locks it. He looks in, and smiles, “I’ll let you out in the morning, Ralph, you’ve had too much to drink.”

Ralph waves his hand around, “Yeah, yeah.” He then slams himself onto the cot, falling asleep instantly.

He looks to his side as someone else enters the office. He nods, and tips his hat, “Howdy, Noah.”

Noah nods back, “Howdy as well, John.”

John takes his hat off, and places it on a holder, “Should hopefully be a quiet night, especially with Ralph making his visit early.”

Noah laughs, “Yeah, you always get all the excitement.”

John nods, “Yeah, well, it’s better for you to not have that excitement.” He looks back at Noah, “Rachael is on watch tonight, right?”

Noah smiles, “If she ain’t drunk, then yeah.”

John smiles back, “Drunk? You know that woman is temperance in human form. Unlike Ralph over here.”

Noah nods, “Have a good night, John.”

John nods back as he exits the Sheriff’s Office, “You too, Noah.” He peeks his head back in, “Oh, and make sure your Deputy ain’t slacking.”

John then exits, and makes his way to home. The full moon’s light provides ample, even if they didn’t have lanterns going.

The town of Lucky Springs is not a very large one. Maybe only one hundred people in total, so everyone knows everyone else. They didn’t get many visitors, but they now seem like a pretty good hub for travelers. Anyone traveling from California to the east would want to stop here. No town is for another three days walk, so stocking up is what most travelers do. Folks of all kind visit. Gamblers, NCR troopers, even a few Couriers. The town also serves as a safe haven, where one can be without fear of raiders or NCR taxes. Both of those things are plenty in the area.

John eventually reaches his home, and enters. As he does, he is hit with the inviting smell of grilled gecko.

He sits at the table, smiling as another joins the table, “So, Platinum, how was school?”

Platinum smiles, “They taught us how to shoot! I’ll be able to be just like you!”

John laughs, “And you’re going to make those criminals shake in their boots!”

Three plates are placed on the table, and she takes a seat.

Platinum looks to his dad, and John smiles, “Scarlet, would you like to do the blessing?”

She smiles, and they all three bow their head, “Lord above, we ask that you bless this food so that it may nourish our bodies and souls. We ask that you bless this family and this town, and in the Lord’s name we pray, amen.”

They all raise their heads, and begin digging into their meal. John nods, “So, have you two heard the news?”

Platinum looks up, “Oh, what is it?!”

John smiles, “Out in the east, some guy named House is rebuilding Vegas. One of the Courier’s told me, name of Ulysses I believe. Apparently an army of robots came out of nowhere, contacted some of the tribes, and they built an entire city!”

Scarlet smiles, “Maybe that means we’ll be getting more travelers for gambling.”

John nods, “The Courier fellow also told me that the NCR was looking to annex the region because of some dam. So we might well have an army marching through here in a few weeks.”

She looks at his plate, and see’s he is finished, “Why don’t you go to bed, dear, I can do the dishes.”

John gets up, “Sure. Goodnight.”

His sleep was good, enjoying the quiet night. The smell of grilled gecko still fills his air, causing his dreams to be full of good tasting gecko.

The smell changes. The sound changes.

Smoke, gunshots, screaming.

He jumps out of the bed, quickly throwing on his hat and uniform. He straps his revolver to his hip, and rushes outside.

He looks around, and sees men in NCR armor rushing around and dragging others out of their homes.

John quickly aims his revolver, and shoots one of the NCR, injuring but not killing. He fires off a second shot, and barely manages to hit in the head.

Footsteps rush behind him, and he spins around.

Another NCR knocks the revolver out of his hand, and tackles him to the ground.

John tries to fight back, yet the NCR pins him down on the ground, and ties him up by his hands. Then, he stomps down with his boot, and knocks John out.

He fades into consciousness, and quickly takes in everything around him.

Lucky Springs burns. People scream as the ones next to them are executed. Women, children, men, all are killed and left to burn. People he knew, travelers looking for safety.

But he quickly sees someone on a tiny hill.

Platinum raises his dad’s revolver, aims carefully at the NCR, and pulls the trigger.

The shot is dead-on, and the NCR falls over with a hole in the back of his head. The rest all turn around, and quickly gun down Platinum.

John shouts out, “You fuckers! You’re all going to pay for this! I’ll find you!”

They turn to face him. Their brown armor covers them, and a two headed bear stands proudly on front of their armor. They all laugh at the man, moving their revolvers to his side, and shoot Scarlet.

He cries, “You bastards are all going to burn in Hell! You fucking cunts are all going to die!”

The leader of the crew laughs, and nods to his comrades as they kill the last person, “Leave him alive. We’re going to make him suffer.”

They pour gasoline all around, and eventually throw a match on it. The entire town ignites, and they leave the man tied and bound.

The fire grows closer, and the man throws every insult he can against the NCR. But they don’t untie him, they don’t spare another word.

Smoke fills his lungs, and the screams of the children fill his head. His vision fills with black, and he slowly starts passing out.

“No, I don’t believe so.”

The black void in his head burns away with purple fire.

He dives into the nearest fire, throwing his hands into it. The fire burns. The rope eventually burns away, and he can free his hands. They suffer terrible burns, but he can now run away.

Yet as he runs, he sees a symbol left on the ground.

The symbol of a raider gang.

Then, that same symbol appears on a building.

John throws down a last brick of C4, and ducks as the NCR disguised raiders fire at him.

He looks at the detonator, and smiles as he thinks of all the C4 planted all around the building.

He nods, “Dear God almighty, I do hate to do this, but I’m afraid your delivery of life upon me has to be rejected.” He shouts at the raiders, “So prepare for a return to sender!” He presses down the button.

The building explodes in a huge ball of fire, and collapses upon everyone inside.

“Not yet.”

He awakens, yet seems to be missing something.

He thinks as hard as he can, yet he cannot remember anything.

Someone walks up to him, with a letter in hand, “Excuse me, are you a Courier?”

John looks down at himself, the duster he wears, the gloves on his hand.

He looks back at that person, “Yes. I’m... the Courier.”

———

The visions stop, and he finds himself in what looks to be the middle of the desert.

A man stands there, wearing purple robes that seem to blow in the wind. He looks away from him, “Now you remember.” He looks back at him, “John, the Courier. Has a platinum lighter and took a Platinum Chip because of Platinum. Driven be insanely in love with explosives because that’s how you got revenge. Driven to kill millions all because of some misleading armor. Sociopath, villain, hero.”

John tries to speak, yet the Courier can’t.

The godly figure holds out something in his hand. A golden necklace, with a shiny gold badge in the middle, “Makes me wonder if you are worthy of this power.” A book appears out of nowhere, and the figure glances at it. He then rips the badge out of the necklace, and puts it onto an old and battered hat. His old hat. The figure nods, “I’ve helped you twice before, and I help you now. Yet not again. Now it is up to you. If you lose or...” He holds out the hat, and the badge glows with power, “Seek Redemption.”

———

John wakes up, and pushes his way out of the rubble.

The Courier claws his way through the rubble.

They reach the surface.

And they are pissed.

Comments

[HB_DS2013]

I didn’t think raiders would be smart enough to disguise themselves as NCR since they’re usually hopped up on chems.