"Last time I had Fancy Lad snack cakes it did weird things to my tummy. I'm just thankful there are stronger smells in the Commonwealth to cover things up." Dustyn holds his tummy as he recalls the bad memory of the ancient cakes. "I'll stick to cuddles and loads of tarberry jam, if that's OK?" Dustyn smiles, about to tiptoe and kiss Dallas but pulls away and winces in pain as his head continues to pound. "Ohh...you know what? If it's not a headboard, it's not worth it," he says, rubbing his scalp.

Riley looks on in horror at the remark, not sure how to join in on the conversation. Dustyn isn't a sexual being to him. He's just...Dustyn. The thought of Dallas giving it to him good is something he never wants to cross his mind. "Anyway...." he begins, crouching down beside a raider corpse and sticking his hands in her pockets. "We should loot these guys. They could have useful stuff," Riley says as he pulls out cob of corn from the raider's back pocket. "People carry the weirdest shit in this world."

"What if one of them grab me?" Dustyn says, indecisively moving back and forth next to one of the corpses.

"They're dead, Dustyn. The dead can't harm you. It's the living you've got to worry about," Riley says in an unintentionally poetic manner before pulling out a pulse mine from a dead guy's satchel. Examining it, the piece seems to be in fair condition but a little bumped and dented. He's no expert though. "What do you think, Paladin? Will this suffice?" Riley holds the mine out to Dallas for inspection.

---

As they run down what is left of the corridor, they realise that it's a dead end. A wall stops them in their tracks and the only route is a set of stairs to the left which is covered in rubble...and a baby stroller for some reason. Commomwealth decor at its finest. The offices they have passed have zero doors on them so there goes protective barricading. Sayyid lets go of Nina's hand. They have a good lead on the dogs and they appear to still be fighting the doors further down. He bends over, holding his stomach trying to catch his breath and fight sever hunger pangs. This chase is burning all the energy he has left. "Well this is just marvelous. Couldn't save my little brother...couldn't save you...couldn't save myself..." Sayyid punches the wall that has ended their path before sliding down it and sitting on the floor. He sighs and checks his pistol. "How many bullets you got left?"

The dogs start to howl in the distance, hungry and impatient. They want their meals. Sayyid closes his eyes and shudders. "That has got to be the worst sound in the world."

Dustyn takes off spiked shoulder armor from one of the dead raiders and places it loosely upon himself while looking in the screen of an old broken terminal to see what he can of his reflection. "Ooh this looks fabulous," he says with a sideways turn to the right. The raider gear suits him in a cute dress up sort of way. The way they live is far from Dustyn's morals but some of the attire is flattering if it's not covered in dirt and blood. His heart is still going like a crazy train and he's still thinking about his friends but Dustyn is able to stay somewhat calm as he has Dallas and Riley with him. The fact that there is a potential exit a few feet away also helps soothe the nerves. He giggles at Dallas' synth comment and then ponders for a moment. Relating synths to a sex joke got him wondering. "Can eh...can synths...you know...?" Dustyn makes a jerking off motion near his crotch. "I mean the human looking ones. If they can feel and cry and stuff...can they...make babies?"

"Ugh, imagine it was oil that spurted out instead?" Riley grimaces, leaning back and placing his butt on top of on old control panel as he rests up. He subtly drops the corn on the floor after Dallas' wiping remark. "Thanks for ruining corn for me, mate." He then tilts his head to the side, examining the distance between himself and the mine. Riley's not an expert in explosives but he's seen what these can do to people. "Sure thing...good luck and cover your ears," he warns as he reloads his gun and takes aim. Shooting the mine causes it to erupt and a cloud of smoke and tiny bits of wooden debris flies at them. It didn't blow the doors off entirely but enough to make a decent sized hole in it. As luck would have it, a cold breeze sweeps in through the gap. There's the outside world on the other side.

Dustyn claps excitedly and hugs Dallas tightly. There's still a long road ahead but they're finally free from this hellhole. If this were a video game, people would be rage quitting this level. It's been far too strenuous. "We did it!!". The teamwork between the trio has been insane. While Dallas and Riley took out the opposition and were the brawn in the mission, Dustyn was the brains by overriding Blake's terminal system and outwitting the raiders.

---

Sayyid opens up his gun and much to his dismay realises he only has two shots left. Of course they had to run for their lives before they could snatch Deneil's bag of supplies because that's how life works. Unfair. "Two shots. Better make them count." Sayyid sighs and looks down at his feet but his gaze is drawn a few inches along the floor. His eyes widen and he springs to action. "LIGHT!" he bellows, jumping back onto his feet. He points at the floor and highlights the stream of light coming out from one of the offices without a door. "There must be a window! We're on the ground floor. We can get out!" he says sounding happier than ever. Standing in the door frame of an abandoned office, he looks across to see a window with slated shutters. One of the slates is broken, allowing a stream of light to flow inside. It's a rather delicate color, being very early hours and on the cusp of sunrise. "We've made it!".

BANG. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!". As soon as Sayyid steps into the office, a sharp click is heard before a deafening shot. The next second, Sayyid is on the floor in the office while his boot with his foot still in it still remains in the door frame. He had set off a shotgun trap and it has blown his foot completely off due to how close he was to the range of the gun. "AAHH!! AAHH! AHHH!! AAHHHHH! FUUUUUCK! FUCK! NINA! NINA!!!" he screams out in the most bloodcurdling manner. He has just had a limb surprisingly severed after all. The stub at the end of his legs spurts and oozes uncontrollably as he wriggles around on the floor. Sayyid looks down and catches a glimpse of his missing foot. "HOLY SHIIIIIITTT!!!! AAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!"

Sayyid manages to subdue the dog for a moment, grabbing the broken leg of a chair and sticking it into it's flesh. As the hound snarls and tries to shake out the sharp metal, Sayyid drags himself across the floor. "NINA!!! PLEEASEEE..." Sayyid yells out followed by a pathetic whimper as he extends out his blood soaked arm. He is drenched in the stuff and it's smeared over his face. Even if Nina killed the dog, this guy is going to bleed out in less than five minutes. Sayyid. He's panicking and in denial. He sees Nina at the window, he knows in the back of his mind that he's about to die and he's being ditched but he doesn't want to acknowledge that. Sayyid doesn't want to die. He wants false hope. He wants Nina to come to the rescue and get him all stitched up. Unlike Deneil, Sayyid hasn't accepted his fate. He's scared of dying.

"DON'T GO!! DON'T...PLEASE! PL-PLEA-" Sayyid stops to cough blood up over the floor. It's crazy how things can change. Not 10 minutes ago, he was alive and well with Nina, formulating plans and looking to the future. Not 30 minutes ago both he and his brother were still alive in their little group down the shaft. Now...he's bleeding out and experiencing his final moments. He doesn't deserve to go out so brutally. There are many other people far more deserving. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!" he yells out before breaking down in tears, still offering his bloody hand out to now avail. Suddenly the hound springs back into action and pounces while Nina makes her escape. Its jaws clamp down on the back of Sayyid's head and the most HORRID crunch fills the area. Like biting into an apple only amplified by 100. Sayyid's lets out half a scream before it's immediately cut short as his body lays limp in the hound's jaws.

---

Riley is about to let Dallas look at his bullet wound before he springs into action and raises his gun. He aims it down the side of the building as he sees a bloody figure in the distance. He has no idea if it's a raider, ghoul or any strange wasteland combination. Rather than call out in fear of drawing attention to the group, Riley keeps his aim on the target and examines it. They don't seem to be aiming back and stumbling of their feet like a ghoul. As they come into focus, Riley lowers his weapon in disbelief and relief. "Nina?!" he says in a surprised and concerned tone. She is drenched in blood and clearly got the short end of the stick when it came to navigating her way out. Aside from the bullet in Riley's bicep, the trio of guys got it lightly in comparison.

ooc: Your next reply will be the last for this segment and then I'll switch the groups around :)

Billy, Erica, Reuben and Oscar are still trapped on a level of the building. After falling through the floor, they found themselves in disused office space not dissimilar from the setting where Sayyid met his maker. Unfortunately for them, they are still several floors up. Prying open the windows and jumping out would be suicide. Billy leads the way as usual, taking control of the situation. Upon leaving the office, they are met with a dead raider in the corridor and one who is fatally wounded. Billy just walks past him, not even bothering to give a mercy kill. "He'll get what's coming to him. Come on. Let's not waste ammo," he says coldly as he leads the way down the corridor.

Oscar follows on, holding his wounded shoulder and trying his best to usher Reuben out of the way. He knows Reuben is the type who'd try to help the raider in spite of what they stand for. He's way too soft and fluffy for this world. "What's the plan?" Oscar says with a wince, rubbing his shoulder. He's refraining from using a stimpak unless it's a dire emergency. Who knows how many they'll need?

"We keep moving. We kill whoever is in our way and hopefully pick up some of our friends along the way. Be wise with your aim and your ammo. This could take a long time. This is a rescue mission now." Billy reloads his pistol. With a rifle and submachine gun also strapped to his back as well as a combat knife in his back pocket, he's more than prepared. "We stick together, we use our heads. We have to find our friends. I have to find my brothers," he says blissfully unaware of their fate.

Oscar has to bite his tongue. He and Billy never see eye to eye and the last thing he wants is for Billy to go off especially in these dire circumstances. As much as he loves his friends, he just wants to get out. If these four have survived and are moving about and making plans, there's a great chance the others did too. They could be walking around in circles for ages trying to find one another. "Right-o..." he says quietly and as unenthusiastic as possible.

Reuben shakes dust from his fluffy hair and reaches into his pocket. He takes out a packet of gum drops and offers one to Erica. "You want?"

---

Joshua and Erich remain trapped under rubble with that huge shard of glass still looming about 25 feet above them, just waiting to come down at any moment and end them. It's a rather cruel thing to endure, waiting on a painful death. Knowing that you're going to die is one thing but waiting on a huge sheet of glass to come down and slice you in half is another. Having spent the best part of an hour staring up at it hasn't made it any easier. The thoughts of "this could be my last moment alive" and "that could slip at any second" constantly run through Joshua's mind no matter how hard he tries to ignore it.

"I...I hope Karoliena was worth this..." Joshua jokes with his laugh sounding more like a cough. His voice is so dry from inhaling all the dust down here. If the glass and rubble doesn't kill him, choking on tiny particles will. He sniffles and wipes his nose, smearing some blood into the white dust that covers his face, forming a horrid paste. "You think the others are OK? I hope they are...and I hope Dustyn shoots Blake right in the dick. I'd gladly do it but I think Dustyn warrants it more." Joshua seriously hates Blake and would love to stick it to him. He handles himself really well back when they were held captive. If it wasn't for Joshua being a slick loudmouth, they wouldn't have discovered that Scott was a traitor nor would he had riled up and distracted Blake enough to let his guard down near the cage. Joshua coughs harshly and places a hand on his chest, wincing afterwards. "God! It feels like there are razors in my throat. Do...do you wanna call out for help again?" he asks, staring up at the serrated glass. Joshua knows that screaming out could bring unwanted attention. A raider could come in and shoot them dead or a mutant could have its way with them. It's far more polite to discuss with Erich how they wish to meet their maker.

Reuben smiles and takes another gum drop for himself, seeming surprisingly chipper considering his surroundings. The truth is, Reuben is so far removed from his reality both literally and mentally. He's always had a sunny disposition and a very soft and mild demeanor, staying away from conflict and chaos. He isn't hardened to it like the others and when it gets serious, other people usually handle it for him. "I try to make us all happy," he says with a pearly white grin while signing his words as he speaks. It's hard to believe that this soft and gentle guy is the same one who went down on Erica and fucked her senseless back in Covenant. "I have more if you need any, OK?" he smiles, patting his pocket. Despite being weaker than her as a fighter, Reuben feels the need to protect and look out for Erica. He likes her a lot.

Billy leads the group down a flight of stairs to be greeted by a dead mutant hound laying at the bottom. "Hate those ugly fuckers," he says, giving it a kick as he makes way past it. This level seems similar to the one above but it's clearly still occupied. Two mutant voices can be heard nearby. Where exactly they're coming from remains a mystery. Billy crouches low, readies his gun and signals for the others to do the same. He looks at Erica and then at Reuben as if gesturing for her to inform Reuben what to do. He's hard of hearing and tends to have his head in the clouds most of the time.

---

"I've thought of many ways in which I may die. Can't say I ever thought that being stuck under rubble next to Erich Hess with a very large pane of glass severing us ever crossed my mind though." Joshua has had his fair share of close calls both in his own time and post-apocalypse. He thought he'd be popped off like JFK or die in an intense dual with an arch nemesis. Hanging around waiting for death in a dilapidated room seems anticlimactic for him. "I really hope Blake's dead. Even if it wasn't a spectacular death like he deserves, I hope he's gone. I don't want him to have outlived us. Imagine that? That'd be...well...it'd be homophobic, quite frankly." Joshua laughs, poking fun at himself. He's always been self aware and knows what people expect of him. Again his laughing turns into a coarse coughing. He coughs up some blood into his hand and quickly places it back down out of his sight, not wanting to look at it. Bringing up blood is not a good sign. He's really starting to succumb to the dust inhalation and the pressure of the concrete against his waist. He nods when Erich decides not to call out for help.

Things fall silent for a few moments before Joshua turns his head as best he can, looking at Erich. His are watering and for once, the mighty and ballsy Joshua Grimmie looks like the frightened kid he tries to hide and protect. "Erich...I can't...I can't feel anything," he confesses in a soft voice. "I'm so cold...are...are you cold?". He's clearly scared and is aware that he'll be slipping away soon, taking notice of how cold and numb he is. Joshua isn't sure if he's looking for comfort, reassurance, false hope or whatever. He's just saying what's on his mind while he still has the ability to speak. He can feel his energy draining by the minute and that collapsed concrete pillar crushing his pelvis isn't getting any lighter.

Reuben nods and places his finger over his lips to make it clear that he understood the instruction. He doesn't even dare to whisper as he has trouble controlling the volume of his voice at times and doesn't want to cause any attention. He has his gun at the ready as if he'd even use it. If push came to shove, he'd fire it to save himself or one of the group but when the others are handling it and tearing into an enemy with bullets, he tends to just hang back. He's also with Erica and Billy, two of the most savage and fastest fighters in the wasteland.

"Head shots and critical shots are important, guys. Conserve the ammunition," Billy commands as sternly as you can sound while whispering. He wants everyone out of here alive and with a fighting chance. Wasted ammo and easily avoided wounds are not on the agenda. "Use your heads. If it's a suicider cunt, fall back. Retreat upstairs and keep running. If you think you have a shot from a great distance, take it. We can't risk one of them going off in such close quarters again." Billy pops his head around the corner to see if the mutants have come into view yet. Nothing. The low mumbles of their voices continue though.

"Here's hoping its just some spear yielding foot soldiers. I don't want to come face to face with a Primus or an Overlord in a little hallway," Oscar says quietly. He moves down a step to inch closer to Billy but in doing so, accidentally kicks a piece of old piping and ultimately blows their cover. "Shit..."

"WHAT? WHO'S THERE?!" booms one of the mutants voices.

"Thanks for that, Oz" Billy scolds, turning the corner and aiming his submachine gun. As soon as he's on his feet, two mutants emerge from the downward stairwell. Like Oscar had hoped for, they aren't heavily armed but they're still mutants and fairly difficult to take down without accuracy. Billy opens fire while retreating backwards, not wanting to be within striking distance.

The second mutant knocks Reuben flying with his board, causing him to land a good few feet away in the corridor. He coughs and holds his winded chest.

---

"I hope Blake falls on a huge spike...then gets torched...then eaten by hounds...then shit out into a toxic pond." Joshua has always been one to push for justice to be served and if Blake didn't deserve that after all of his doings, Joshua would gladly be wrong and rebel. The fact that he's pinned down here totally helpless while a murderer, rapist, torturer and all-round evil man is still on the loose is really grinding his gears. He erupts in a fit of rage and starts slapping on the concrete slab that's on top of him, taking up all the energy he has. "UUHHH THIS IS SO FUCKING UNFAIR!! I SURVIVED FUCKING NUKA WORLD BUT I CAN'T GET OUT OF THIS??!" Joshua grinds his teeth and pushes down on the broken pillar to now avail. He lets out a whimper and gives up. Oh and yeah, Joshua made it through Nuka World and it's Gauntlet. He's that much of a badass.

When Erich says that he's relatively unharmed, Joshua just nods and accepts that he's in worse shape than Erich. No point in dwelling on it and feeling sorry for himself, as scared as he is. He doesn't wish to spend his last moments as a cowering little cupcake. That's not Joshua Grimmie's style. He takes hold of Erich's hand and gives it a squeeze, letting him know that he's going to remain as strong as he can and that they're in this together. "I want a lobster roll..." he says out of the blue, totally unrelated to everything. "Don't you just want to wake up and everything was back to how we knew? I really want
a good fucking lobster roll and a pitcher of peach tea. Mirelurk cakes and dirty water don't go down the same." He wants his last memories to be fond ones. "HEEEEEEELP!!!! HELP US!!" he calls out with Erich, still giving his hand a squeeze. Never in his life has he wanted big muscular men to come to his aid more than now. Let's hope Riley and Dallas are still kicking about.

Oscar puts a bullet in the back of the super mutant's head, finishing off Erica's job after shooting it in the face. Reuben rolls across the floor to avoid being crushed by the falling giant. "Thank you!" he says to Erica and Oscar, looking panicked as he scrambles to his feet. Reuben pats himself down, making sure everything is intact before searching the mutant's corpse for anything of value. He holds up a desk fan, looking rather bemused. "Why...why he has..this?" he asks, holding it up to the light to see if it's specially adapted into anything special. Nope. It's just a desk fan.

At the end of the corridor, Billy continues to fire at the mutant that's targeting him. He realises that he's only going to waste his ammo on this beast so holds his fire and begins to formulate a plan. As he descends the stairs backwards with the mutant towering over him, Billy quickly gets down low and shoots the mutant's ankle. As his opponent flails and fumbles, Billy takes the opportunity to get behind it and jump onto it's back with great stealth. It's not the first time he's climbed a mutant. He takes his gun, presses it against the back of the mutant's head and pulls the trigger to make his kill. Billy wipes his forehead and returns to the group shouting from the far end of the corridor, "Yeah, thanks for helping me out, Oscar. If you were going to bring the attention to us, you might have at least helped." He has a personal vendetta against Oscar and singles him out.

"Yeah...whatever..." Oscar says with a defeated sigh. He knows that he helped Reuben out but that doesn't matter to Billy. Oscar's never good enough in Billy's eyes and he knows it's best not to challenge him.

Reuben stands against the wall, smiling to himself as he twirls the blades of the broken desk fan with his fingers. He's keeping himself amused and trying to find some light among all the chaos. Reuben looks up and smiles at Erica, holding up his fan. "I like."

Billy shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair. This is going to be a long night. "OK, there are stairs back there. We're going to head down. Follow me and stay alert." Billy heads off down the corridor.

---

"That's me being nice about Blake." Joshua replies equally as flat. He has no compassion for that go whatsoever. "Falling into a nuclear reactor is too good for him, I tell ya. Promise me something?" Joshua turns his head again to face Erich, making sure to catch him in the eye as he's deadly serious about this wish. "If you get out of here and I don't...make sure that guy is dead. Doesn't matter if it's not today. Doesn't matter if it's 10 years from now and you come across him living a new life as a merchant on Far Harbor...make sure he pays." Joshua knows Erich wouldn't let the guy get away with it anyway but he just wants to reinforce it. Blake has to die.

"Vegan?" Joshua says with a little laugh before shaking his head. He stares back up at the looming glass panel, acquainting himself with it more as he continues to talk to Erich. "I tried going vegan for like 2 weeks but I caved in and had mozzarella sticks. I fucking loved mozzarella sticks. They were good. You take deep fried cheese for granted and then...that's it. Gone. Not the future I was fighting for." Joshua chuckles but it does get him wondering whether or not his life was wasted and pointless. All the fighting, the charity, the advocating and everything in between all for it to be wiped out and the only real worries being radiation storms, impending mutant attacks and Marcy Long. "You think...you think it's a curse knowing what the world was once like? The people here are miserable as fuck and are striving for better days but this is all they've ever known. Us? Well we've seen those better days and know just how far we've fallen. Piper thinks I'm so lucky to have liv-" Joshua stops in tracks and sighs, closing his eyes. "Shit, Piper..." he says quietly. He confirmed earlier that the pair have a little thing going on. It was never official or exclusive but that was mainly down to pride and ego. Neither one of them wanted to admit just how wrapped up they were. Now it seems too late.

Reuben giggles along with Erica, not actually quite catching what she said but he doesn't wish to be rude or ask her to repeat it. Telling a joke again just sucks the funny right out of it. He likes to keep the group's morale up and has always had a rather sunny disposition. It's even more beneficial now, bringing a more human quality to the group. Everyone nowadays is pretty long in the face as well as being stone cold killers. Reuben's the type of sweet soul that people like Riley, Dallas and Billy fight for. "You're funny!" he lies with a big convincing smile. The whole joke went over his head but Erica doesn't need to know that.

"Oh please stop, Erica. I might have to check myself for a hernia...from laughing so much," Billy says as dryly and flatly as possible. He's not saying it to be a dick, more so to mock Erica's bad joke but Billy has a naturally very abrasive way about him. 80% of the time he appears to be in a standoffish state whether it's the truth or not.

As they head down the stairs, Oscar sighs and mutters behind Erica. "Centuries later and it's still the same with him," he says with a nod towards Billy who is charging away ahead downstairs. Hundreds of years onward and these two still have a rivalry. The private schoolboy versus the street urchin. There's probably a book or a play about this somewhere. "How you holding up?" he asks, still keeping his voice as low as possible. Oscar's still feeling guilty for kicking the pipe earlier.

"Great...blocked off!" Billy says with a grunt, kicking some of the rubble. Access to the floor he wanted to explore has been cut off with all sorts of debris. The only way to go is downwards. Heading downstairs is pivotal for their escape but Billy wants to explore all the floors in the hope of finding people. "Who knows who we're walking away from..." he says with a hint of sadness in his voice that he's clearly trying to mask. The fact that Dustyn and his brothers are still out there (to his knowledge) is preying on his mind.

---

"Thank you. If we both die here then we'll haunt Blake until he's literally driven over the edge. I'm pretty sure I'll be just as persistent in the afterlife." Joshua isn't really sure what there is after death but he hopes it's kind to him. Staring death in the face is raising a lot of questions right now. Another thing he is thinking about is friendship. He didn't have many friends in the old world and he cannot remember the last conversation he had with Dae. It all seemed so pointless and cruel. Erich was always someone he admired but again, Joshua's need to be constantly "on" prohibited another possible friendship. His passion and zealousness grated on people and they never really wanted to get to know him. Joshua hopes that he can at least form one more friendship before this is all over. "It would be an honor to be your parasitic twin, Mr Hess."

"Veganism is a great concept and it was lifestyle I would've liked to live out but...vegetables fucking suck. The ones that grow here aren't any better." Joshua screws up his face at the thought of the irradiated carrots that grow here. As if regular carrots weren't bad enough. "Riley used to be vegan but I don't think that diet translates well into this hell of a world. Pretty sure that guy now puts a brahmin between two buns and calls it breakfast." Just talking away like this almost makes Joshua feel somewhat normal again. Even talking about Piper, as sad as it makes him, eases the worry of him being trapped under a huge concrete pillar with a glass guillotine lingering above. "Yeah...I got a girl...well...I..it's not...it's not official but we had a good thing going," Joshua says with a small smile while looking up at the carnage above. Laying here makes him realise what he's wasted with her by holding back and puts into perspective what he really wants - love. "Don't know why she was interested in me of all people. Guess she has a thing for vault dwellers with an ass that won't quit!" Joshua laughs softly.

"Yeah...I suppose," Oscar mumbles in agreement with Erica. Billy could've easily turned into a power hungry bastard like Blake. He certainly has all the tendencies but it appears that when push comes to shove, Billy doesn't really want to be the bad guy. "Scott. Yeah, that fucking hurt." Oscar says with a shake of his head. Scott was his best friend back in the day. It was brotherly. Whenever things went awry among the Weekend boys, Scott would always have his back. More often than not it'd be him and Scott versus Billy and Dustyn while Riley played referee. "I'll definitely check out your arm properly when we get out of here. I think I'm going to have my work cut out for me after this. God knows what scrapes everyone has gotten themselves into."

Reuben examines the rubble, pressing different parts of it in the hope of finding a weak spot that'll make it give way. He's not much of a fighter but still wishes to remain useful to the group. Finding a way into the shut off level would've given him some Brownie points but alas, it would not budge. He sighs and looks down at his feet before grinning as he finds a shiny cap on the floor. "Oh, look! I found cap. I wonder who dropped this?" he says, holding it up to the light for a better view. Reuben twirls the cap in one hand with the old desk fan in the other. He has his hands full and isn't prepared for combat. He wasn't the best guard in Diamond City. Reuben offers the cap out to Erica. "For you?"

Billy continues to lead the group downstairs and grimaces as they hit another floor. "I think I know who the cap belongs to, Reuben." In front of them lays a dead raider with her arms severed. Her corpse is in between them and the door that leads to the new floor. Billy steps over the pools of blood as if his boots aren't dirty already. There's just something real horrid about stepping into blood, especially when the corpse is right there. Billy looks through the little glass window in the door and his heart drops. "SHIT!" he yells out in panic, ultimately drawing attention to himself. He couldn't help it. The fear that ran through him took over. "Back! Back! Back!" he commands the group, clearly terrified.

A group of four armed raiders run towards them but that's not what's making Billy weak in the knees. They are accompanied by an Assaultron which is charging towards them at a rapid pace. Raiders don't have the capacity to build their own and judging by how rusted and battered this one is, it's clearly secondhand or stolen. Regardless, they are deadly with their beam, bladed arm and sheer strength. With four raiders also in tow, this is going to be a deadly battle. Billy opens fire on the raiders. "Guys, keep moving back. Don't get within that thing's range!"

---

"Thank you. You're not so bad yourself," Joshua says while giving a soft smile. He can't muster much more than that. There's a concrete pillar crushing him from the pelvis down so he's not really in the mood for grinning ear to ear. It's nice for him to hear these words from Erich. Even though it's too late to form a real friendship, he can rest easy knowing that there's no bad blood. Joshua loves people and only ever does his best for them. It's just that he's unconsciously abrasive and it's impacted his relationships. "You know I could easily be sooooo cynical right now and start cussing at the world," Joshua jokes. "This all does seem like one big cosmic "fuck you" though. I can think of other people who deserve to be down here more."

"I barely eat anything here, man. The radiation, the sanitation, the taste...I'd leave a 1 star review on Yelp if I could. Us oldies are also not as adapt as the people born and raised in this mess. They can eat rotten food and go about their day. I won't tell you what happened with my guts when I ate some old Cram." Joshua screws up his face in disgust at the memory. Death seems like a better option than enduring that ordeal again. "The vault suits really are something. You should see Dustyn in one." Joshua pauses for a moment and then clears his throat. "I mean...not that I was looking or anything...I..and I...I don't mean YOU should see him in one because you and him...you're...you know...you have a bond...he has Dal-I'm gonna shut up now." Joshua drops the Dustyn conversation, not wanting his last words to be an awkward remark about an Irishman's bulge. "Oh so you'll hang out with me in the afterlife? That's cool. I hope they have some cool bars there."

After a few moments of silence, Joshua clears his throat again and looks up at the glass. He doesn't wish to give Erich eye contact as he might break. "Erich?". Joshua pauses again to compose himself and swallow the lump in his throat. "Are you still holding my hand?". A tear falls from Joshua's eyes and he grinds his teeth, trying to keep it bottled up. His hand is frozen and he can no longer feel Erich.