The Hope of Humanity: Lost in the Wastes

Chapter 6: Trip to the Mall, Part 1

The hastily assembled supply team set off on their journey along top of a large bridge spanning the D.C. basin. At point was Knight Artemis, Chief walking to his slightly behind him off to the side carrying medical supplies, Jenkins in the middle with the radio, Dubbo holding fresh ammo with Linda walking beside him. As they walked across the bridge, Chief noticed the "Knight" taking peripheral glances of him every few moments, as though John might try to pounce on him any second.

"So what's your deal, Chief?" asked Artemis' through his helmet's speakers.

"…What do you mean?"

"Where are you from? Most of the knights back at the Citadel say you're the runaway android from the Institute. That true?" the Knight investigated.

"Afraid not. It's a long story where I'm from. And technically," Chief paused for a moment to think, "I'm a cyborg."

"Great…so we hardly know anything about you, and Lyons sticks me with you and a bunch of prospects. I'm not saying you're untrustworthy…but…this is ridiculous. It's times like these that make me think I should have left with Casdin and them." Artemis stated softly to Chief so the recruits wouldn't hear. "Casdin never would have picked someone off the street and expect things to go smooth in the field."

"Thoughts of going AWOL?." Asked the stone cold Chief.

"Leaving? No, absolutely not." Artemis whipped back. "But sometimes…there's just a little doubt in me in the direction the Brotherhood is going…ya know?"

"No…I don't."

"Oh yeah…I guess you wouldn't. What are you at here risking your neck for anyways? You don't have any allegiance to the Brotherhood," asked Artemis.

"I'm hoping for information about what's happened since I've been gone. Your databases are my best chance." John stated simply, drawing a sharp glance from Artemis.

"Been gone?" Artemis paused. "Where'd you go?"

"That's…a longer story."

Artemis shrugged his shoulders, "Mysterious type, huh." The Knight faced forward, ending the short conversation.

"I know the UNSC never taught you how to talk to other humans Chief, but it wouldn't hurt to try and make nice with our new buddies." suggested Cortana.

Chief took a big sigh. Socializing wasn't his strong point. "So, what does the, Brotherhood, do exactly?"

"Glad you asked. We recover working technology from before the war and preserve it. We master it, understand it, and in time, hopefully begin to create technology of our own so we don't have to rely on what's left."

"And how did it all begin?" Chief asked.

"I don't really know the specifics, you'd have to ask the Scribes back at the Citadel. I do know it began on the West Coast, a group of soldiers were underground when the bombs dropped. They got out from their bunker, went out and gathered what they could to survive. As the group got bigger, they began to think bigger, rebuilding civilization, preserving information from the past. They started scavenging technology, keeping it out of hands of people not fit to use it. About 20 years ago they sent a detachment out here. Originally we were supposed to find more tech to send back west, but Lyons changed that when the Super Mutants started coming down in force." Artemis stopped his story and gave the group a hand signal telling them to halt. He then took a knee and the group followed, joined last by John.

The road straight ahead was blocked off by a massive amount of debris. To the right was an off-ramp leading down. High above the ramp was a skyway overlooking the ramp and patrolled by two super mutants. One of the greenies carried, to Chief's estimation, an RPG type weapon, and the accompanying mutant was armed with an assault rifle similar to the one held by Artemis.

"Damn…they move back in fast. The Pride cleared this area out only a few days ago." Artemis mumbled to himself, then turned to his soldiers. "Dubbo, go see if any of them are watching the shoreline."

"Aye aye sah(sir)." Dubbo backtracked some distance on the bridge to get a view of the water, peaked his head over the small barrier, then scuttled back over. "They goit a lookout movin' up and down keeping an eye out."

"Alright," Artemis began to plan. "I counted two muties up top on the walkway. About two or 3 buildings down on the right side of the street I saw some movement in the ruins, probably a few green bastards in there too. Linda, Chief, Jenkins, you three stay up here. Dubbo and I will head down to the shoreline, take out the Cerberus quietly, then I'll recon the ruins. Dubbo will come back and give the number to you Linda. You're in charge up here, give me few a minutes to get in position once you get the count then open up fire. Hold your spot up here at the top of the ramp and take out the one with the launcher, we don't need him raining missiles on us. Get the greenies on the ground level out of their hiding place. Dubbo and I will take up position in the building once they're gone it to engage them on the flank." Artemis took a deep breath after explaining his lengthy plan. "Understood?"

Linda and Dubbo gave a "Yes Sir", John stared silently through his helmet and gave only a slight nod, and Jenkins' saluted the Knight with a quivering hand.

"Alright…." Artemis's lack in faith at the unlikely band was easily visible at this moment. "Let's go."

Artemis and Dubbo silently made their way down to the shoreline from the bridge, using the rubble on the left side of the bridge to get down. Reaching the ground level, Artemis could hear movement around the corner and drew out his assault rifle while Dubbo unholstered his SMG. With his fingers Artemis counted down from 3 to 1, then when the last finger dropped he turned the corner in the blink of an eye and raised up his rifle, followed by Dubbo in support. Artemis's eyes were met by a shocked human who was in the middle of stretching out, likely having just woken up.

"What the hell are you doing here? Don't you know there are muties only 100 meters way?," Artemis asked quietly, pointing in the general direction of the enemy.

The man shrugged his shoulders, "Well good morning to you too. And of course I know there are muties there, I'm not retarded."

"So why would you camp out here of all places? Rivet city is only a mile or two that way." Artemis questioned.

"I dunno…I've been selling my goods here for years, I like it here. They don't bother me, and if they do come down, I hear them way before they get close and I scram." Explained the scavenger.

"Whatever, just, just keep quiet and stay down here. We're about to take those green bastards out." Artemis ordered. "We don't need civilians getting in the way."

"Huh," the man scoffed. "Alright Mr. Badass, be on your way then."

Ignoring the scavenger, Artemis motioned Dubbo to move up with him.

"Whoit's(what's) da plan sah?" asked Dubbo.

"Cerberuses aren't too bright, but we can't let the mutants see us take it out, shouldn't be too hard. I need you to draw its attention, bring it over here. I'll be right behind those rocks, I'm gonna wait for it pass by me then I'll take it out." Explained the Knight.

"Right-o." Dubbo affirmed.

As Artemis got into position behind the rocks at the shoreline, Dubbo watched as the Cerberus made its way back towards the trap that was set for it. A cerberus was a curious creature. The head was recognizably human, but with multiple tongues whipping about. It had pinkish skin, and sunken, somewhat mournful looking eyes. The human part stopped at its stomach, where out behind the creature stuck out an appendage, similar in some ways to the stinger end of a bee. It made its way around clumsily by waddling on its 2 front "feet" and dragging its extension behind it along the ground. Cerberuses were rejects of the FEV process, hideously deformed and nearly combat ineffective. They acted as lookouts for Super mutants, since they had very few other practical uses, and even that they don't do very well.

Dubbo proceeded to waved and jump up and down, catching the eye of the creature. As it slowly walked over, it shot out a noxious sludge every few seconds. Dubbo was easily avoiding the attacks, but there was an unexpected side effect.

"Aw crikey," Dubbo exclaimed, holding his hand to his nose, "Dis shat stinks."

The scavenger watched and laughed at Dubbo, who was struggling to fight back the urge the puke.

Artemis placed his R91 assault rifle on his back and reached for his combat knife. Staying behind the rocks, the Brotherhood Knight supported himself against it, his grey armor blending in perfectly as he laid absolutely still, watching the Cerberus waddle past him, only an arm's length away. The creature was taken by surprise as Artemis sprang on top of it, his metal hand coming around to its face and grabbing its "tongues", forcing it still as a sharp pain began to pierce through the creature's skull. After a few moments of struggle and two more stabs to the head, the lookout was motionless. Artemis held the lifeless body then began to slowly and quietly push the monster in the water, hiding the remains from plain view of any Super Mutants.

Having killed the "watchdog", Artemis motioned for Dubbo to rejoin him. They crouched alongside the wall of a building, now moving toward the ruins that were occupied by the muties. Artemis peaked around the corner, spotting 3 mutants, each with a different weapon. One wielded a minigun, indicating this particular super mutant was an experienced combatant and should be a high priority target. Another one held a hunting rifle and the last one swinging a nailboard, an inexperienced super mutant favorite due to its simplicity of construction, a nail hammered into a wooden board.

Artemis turned back to Dubbo, "Three mutants in the ruins, one's carrying a minigun, one has a close range weapon, the other has a hunting rifle. Go run tell Linda and them, make sure they know to give us two minutes to get in position before they begin the diversion."

Dubbo nodded, then quickly and quietly made his way back to the Linda's position back on the bridge.

Back on the bridge, the group stayed behind the cover of the building, staying out of the view of the mutants. The group stayed dead silent. Linda was mentally preparing herself for the coming attack, making last minute adjustments to her scoped revolver. John recalled the "Gunny" stating she was training to be a sniper.

"Are you good with that?" John asked, breaking the silence, causing the nerve wracked Jenkins the jump a little.

Linda took her eyes off the gun to look at John then fixated back on the revolver. She conducted a deep breathing to relax herself. "Yeah, I'm pretty good. I used to practice all the time on mole rats back when I was a kid."

"Any combat experience?"

"Eh well…no." Linda admitted reluctantly. "Not yet, but don't worry. All I need is 1 bullet for each of those greenies. A .44 round for every head. I don't miss."

John could sense Linda was trying to protect her pride. Her composure indicated she was half as confident in her abilities as she wanted others to believe. Another silence fell over the group after the quick exchange.

Just then a hushed whisper came from the other side of the bridge. "Linda", the voice spoke out.

Linda stayed low and made her way to the other side of the bridge, looking over the side to see Dubbo standing on the rubble.

"What's the count?" Linda asked.

"We got three muties in the buildin' on the roight(right)." Dubbo informed. "One mini, one bolt action, one wit' a piece 'o' wood."

"Understood."

"Give us 2 minutes, then let 'er rip." Dubbo said, Linda acknowledged. She headed back to Chief and Jenkins, briefing them on the enemy's position.

"I'm gonna try to take the two muties on skybridge out first. You both get ready with suppressive fire." Linda ordered.

"I think you should let me do it." Chief sternly suggested, pointing to Linda's scoped revolver.

"…Are you kidding me? No fucking way," snapped Linda, as though John had just insulted her. "My father gave me this gun. I'm not gonna let some random asshole like you use it."

Chief shook his head and shrugged it off as Cortana laughed inside John's helmet. In the UNSC, the only thing scarier than the Covenant was female soldier with a chip on her shoulder.

Two minutes came and passed, and Linda was preparing herself with deep breaths again before initiating the attack. She take a look at the Master Chief, who's visor stared back at her, waiting on her word. She looked at Jenkins who looked like he was about to piss himself. She rolled her eyes and then lifted her fist, lifting five fingers. She let one fall, then another, then another, then she dropped her fist completely, lifted up her revolver and stared down the scope, her targets being the two mutants at top.

One .44 caliber shot rang out, then another accompanied by the sounds of shattering glass. Two more blasted off in quick succession. John knew the last two were fired too close together to have been aimed carefully by someone still in training.

"FUCK!" Linda yelled out.

Curious, John peaked up around the corner to see two disoriented mutants on the skybridge attempting to find out where these attempts to kill them were coming from. Slowly turning back to Linda, he reached out his hand like he had done only a few minutes prior. Looking at John's hand, then his face, she reluctantly handed over the gun.

"Two enemies, two bullets Chief…make 'em count." said Cortana in a daring manner to her supersoldier.

"Watch me", John replied back, training his eyes down the scope. He watched on the right as the mutant holding the missile launcher spotted John and took aim at the Spartan. John took a quick breath, held it, and pulled the trigger. The .44 round carved through the air finding its way into the head of the mutant holding the launcher. As its body fell to the ground, his hand twitched its last bit of life, accidently pulling the trigger as the launcher's exit port faced downwards, shooting the missile right into the skybridge. The large explosion caused the bridge to give way and crumble to the ground, along with it came the other mutant who was also patrolling the bridge. He fell onto the ground with a bone cracking thud, and yelled out in agony, as it now laid on the street crippled and mortally wounded.

John turned back to his team, flipped the revolver around grabbing onto the barrel, leaving out the handle for Linda to grab. "Here", he said unnaturally calm. She slowly took the revolver back, then looked around the corner to see the devastation and with wide eyes, was left utterly speechless.

As planned, the 3 mutants ran out onto the street to see what was going on. Hardly noticing the destruction, they focused on finding who their attackers were. They got their answer when they were fired upon by two tiny humans and one large man in green armor who at first they mistakenly thought was one of them until he too began to fire on them.

As Linda opened up with her revolver and Jenkins used his ineffective 10mm pistol, Chief chose to shoot conservatively, preferring to save his precious ammo and hoping the over aggressive mutants would simply charge up the hill to fight hand to hand. The situation, however, was not that simple. At the bottom of the ramp, the most experienced mutant revved up his minigun, unleashing a wall of 5mm bullets, quickly suppressing both Linda and Jenkins, with Jenkins having actually pissed himself at this point. The mutant armed with a bolt action slowly made his way up the hill closing the distance and taking advantage of his minigun wielding friend's cover fire. The Chief made a few pot shots here and there at the minigun mutie with his M6C pistol, but this one was different. It was bigger than the others, had thicker skin and made use of its minigun with relative ease, impressing even Chief and reminding him of the Brute Chieftains he fought that used heavy plasma turrets as regular weapons.

Taking their cue, Dubbo and Artemis ran to the now vacant building, taking up position in it. Now on the mutant flank, Artemis fired upon the leading Super Mutant, taking it by surprise. Dubbo joined in with his 10mm submachine gun, chewing up the beast with 5.56 and 10mm. The monster dropped its weapon, writhing in pain, and began to make a break for it, running the opposite direction of Linda's group. Artemis ran onto the street, and looking down his sights took a three round burst that passed through the hulking warrior's chest, by where the heart is…or at least where it used to be, sending the mutant to its grave.

Up at the top of the hill, Artemis watched their Supersoldier ally taking on the lone Super mutant fighting at the top of the hill in hand to hand combat. John wrestled away the Mutant's rifle, used the butt of the gun to ram into the stomach of the creature, causing its knees to buckle. The Spartan stuck the barrel of the hunting rifle inside the Super Mutant's mouth and shot one round, sending the .32 round completely through its head. Artemis stood there stunned as Dubbo ran to join Artemis on the street, congratulating him on his finishing shot.

"Well done sah(sir)!" said Dubbo cheerfully.

Artemis snapped back as though he were in a trance, not responding to Dubbo. Looking vigilant, he walked back into the ruins of the building Dubbo and him just came from. Dubbo stared at his commander, unsure what to think.

"Um, sah? Everything ok?" Dubbo asked

"Shutup!" Artemis hushed back. "…There was one other.."

Before he could finish, a Mutant came sprinting across from hiding in the building, smacking into Artemis like a train.

"OH SHIT!" Dubbo yelled out, panicking about what to do.

The mutant winded up a large swing of his nailboard against Artemis' armor, breaking the piece wood against the Knight's tough protection. The mutie took a quick look at his broken weapon, then snarled as he formed a fist that came crashing down towards Artemis. The Knight rolled out of the way with only a hair's length to spare from being smashed. Quickly getting onto his feet, Artemis bull rushed the much taller beast, knocking it back only few feet before it took a hold of him and tossed him backwards and onto the ground once again. Laughing, the mutant walked towards Artemis, cracking his knuckles.

"You die NOW," the horrible creature yelled out. As it was getting ready for the finishing blow, a familiar revving sound began behind the mutant. It turned around to the sight of a human male aiming the deceased mutie leader's minigun at him.

"Go fock a croc!" Dubbo yelled out as he rained bullets upon the Mutant, although hardly controlled with bullets flying almost everywhere but straight. However, enough rounds had found their mark, killing the last beast.

Artemis through off his helmet as he gasped for air, thankful the Initiate had managed to think quick on his feet. Dubbo threw down the minigun as his hands trembled from the vicious shaking of the rickety, 200 year old heavy weapon. Linda, Jenkins, and the Master Chief walked down the ramp to rejoin the group. Linda helped Artemis up to his feet, who took notice of Jenkins' embarrassing stains and quietly chuckled to himself.

"You know rook… it helps to take your pants off before you go." Artemis joked, causing Dubbo to laugh hysterically having just gotten a look the junior initiate's "battle" stain, making Jenkins face light up a bright red.

"Chief..." Artemis called out to the Spartan. "Where the hell did you learn to fight like that?"

"Like I said sir, it's a long story."

Author's Notes: Hey everyone. Sorry this took forever to get out. I was writing at a snail's pace, I apologize, hopefully I'll get part 2 out much quicker.

Anyway, about the story. Dubbo is supposed to have an Australian accent, I didn't quite know how to type out an Australian accent, so you'll have to use your imagination with that. If any of you readers are from Australia and could give me some tips, private message me, it would be much appreciated. If you're wondering how the hell a guy would have an Australian accent in Post apocalyptic America, all will be explained in due time.

Thank you for reading, reviews are much appreciated.