Chapter 4: Bad Blood on Familiar Footsteps (Part 3).

On his way to the station Luka seriously considered turning back and leaving MacCready to get his own revenge. If there was one thing Luka hated more than anything else is was the abandoned metro tunnels that ran underneath the capital wasteland. Repugnant stench, thick air, miles of pitch black nothing, full of rats and shadows, other things, other things with teeth and claws. Booby traps, trip mines, dead ends. The tunnels were a labyrinth of death, perfect hideout for vampires. Not that Luka would ever call it fear, but even he was anxious about heading underground.

At the gates of the tunnels Luka arranged his gear and strapped it down tight so It wouldn't rustle and clink while he was moving around, he stowed the ghille suit in his bag, it would be useless in dark tunnels. He didn't plan on hanging around long, but while he was there he didn't want anything to know about him. Checking his flashlight Luka turned to deadmeat and told him to stay put, the decomposing canine tilted his head to one side and let out a whine.

"No boy, I gotta stay quiet, so I don't need you breathing and pissing all over the place". Deadmeat's tongue flopped out of his mouth and he flopped to the ground with a hint of resentment on his face.

"Good dog".

Luka slowly opened the service doors leading into the tunnels and descended into the dark.

A dripping could be heard some way down the tunnel, it echoed up towards Luka, to him it sounded like footsteps. He had to focus, he couldn't get paranoid over little things otherwise something big might slip past his defences, it was all too easy to get distracted down here. The air was thick and stale, it felt like breathing mud, the tunnel had been loosely lit by the occasional working light driven by a fusion generator somewhere that refused to give up, even so, the light only served to make the dark more ominous. A wrecked train lay dead on the tracks, it's wheels rusted into place, the one working light inside the carriage was flickering sending shadows flitting over the tunnel roof.

Making his way through the winding dark Luka began to notice the tunnels beginning to slope downwards, Luka could see almost nothing, just the outline of the train carriage and a glowing line of ooze seeping from a drum at the end of the tunnel, making his way slowly across the tracks, feeling ahead for any tripwires, Luka stopped when he noticed a crack of light shining from under a service door. His curiosity piqued, Luka headed over and raised his gun before pressing the open button on the front of the door.

There was a hiss and Luka stepped inside. The air was fresher here; lights illuminated a rusted corridor with pipes and wires running along the walls and the distant hum of machinery could be heard. Luka stayed low with his gun raised, and made his way to the end of the corridor.

A makeshift and rusted runway led to the left and right, straight ahead of him Luka saw a huge ventilation shaft which descended beyond his vision into darkness, as he leant over the shaft Luka could smell the gruesome odour of decomposing flesh, the smell made his stomach churn, his eyes watered and his nostrils felt like they had been placed over a fire. Before he could regain his composure his throat closed in on itself and let out a loud gagging noise.

"What was that?" came a voice from around the corner. Luka heard booted footsteps and the sound of an assault rifle being loaded. He was out in the open, no cover, and no way out. The footsteps grew closer. Luka panicked, the thought of his only option alone was enough to make him feel ashamed of himself, but left with little other options Luka held his nose, and vaulted over the handrail into the reeking darkness.

It wasn't hard to guess what was at the bottom, Luka knew the smell well, and the smell of a group of corpses was a hard one to forget. Luka had reasoned, judging by the strength of the smell, there were countless corpses laying at the floor of the ventilation shaft, and he had been correct. After falling for a good 30 feet, Luka had landed into the pile soft and pungent bodies. As he landed he heard a crack and he prayed it wasn't any of his bones. The corpses that the pile was made up of consisted of an assortment of unfortunate creatures, many human, some were mutant, there were mole rats, mirelurks, dogs and even a fearsome deathclaw, stripped of its vicious and valuable claws. Luka pulled his way out of the body pile, bruised and covered in unspeakable things, but otherwise alive.

The pile had been placed behind a massive heap of rubble, the corpses had been dragged down and placed under the vent presumably to avoid the smell spreading throughout the station. Wiping himself off, Luka climbed the pile of Rubble to observe the vampires lair.

The first thing he noticed was a distinct lack of vampires, quite the opposite. The station was a hive of activity, men and women moved to and fro carrying weapons and food, rolling drums of purified water across the upper levels. Cleaning guns and sharpening knives, many sat down to eat very human looking meat All of this, and one thing was clear, these weren't vampires, this army consisted of raiders, hundreds of raiders.

Luka almost added to the bad smell, all thoughts of his task abandoned, trying to fight these people would be futile, and the only message he would send would be the dinner bell. His priority now was to sneak out of here unnoticed. How he did not know, he could not climb up the shaft nor could he avoid the masses of raiders that inhabited the station. If he could create an adequate distraction he could use it to sneak past the raiders, but no such opportunity presented itself.

Luka noticed an office across the hallway from where he was currently hidden, he figured it would be a more secluded spot to plan his next move and as such made his way over with care.

Nobody spotted Luka entering the office, the inside of which was abnormally lavish, a queen sized bed surrounded by antique furniture and ornate objects which would seem more at home in the suites of Tenpenny Tower than a train station office. A large wooden cupboard stood tall in the corner next to a small computer terminal which Luka approached. Pressing the on switch the green display hummed to life and a keyboard slid out from underneath the monitor. The terminal was protected by a password but with little effort Luka hacked the small computer which welcomed him as 'Vance' and a list of journal entries appeared on the screen. Luka went into a trance as he began skim reading every entry for anything that may come in usefull, starting from the top. It became clear that this 'Vance' was long dead as the journal was last updated over twenty years ago. By the sounds of it he died from malnourishment, but then that's what happens if you rely on blood for your main source of nutrients. While clearly deluded Vance was no murderer, it was him who struck the deal with the townsfolk of Arefu all those years ago with the help of the Lone Wanderer.

Mention of his father's title snapped Luka from his reading trance, a lump formed in his throat. Retrieve a holotape from Big Town, Luka almost felt as if his Father had planned on this happening, it seemed such a simple task, yet something inside Luka told him that Dad didn't plan on it being simple.

Reading on there was an entry about a boy named Drake whom Vance distrusted, Drake joined the family and within a month of his arrival very almost, "accidently", irradiated the whole station by overriding the nuclear generator that kept the lights working. Before Luka could read on he heard shouting from outside, quickly pressing the off button on the terminal Luka hid himself in the large cabinet that stood in the corner of the office. Inside the cabinet were countless bladed weapons, Swords hung from the sides and back, old fire axes and decorative samurai blades, as well as throwing stars and other such weapons. Trying to stay away from the hundreds of sharp edges that lined the walls Luka slowed his breathing as to not make a sound.

Two men entered the room, one held the other by the scruff of the neck and threw him into the centre of the room. The man who pushed him sported the traditional raider spiked hair and leather armour, the other wore a long leather overcoat and a large gas tank on his back, connected to a blade covered in charred flesh, the man was pale and gaunt, his eyes were sunken into their sockets and seemed icy and distant, the eyes of a madman. The Raider spoke.

"God fucking dammit Drake we can't expect to keep a low profile when you go around slaughtering patrol's! it's hard enough to keep people from sticking their noses in as it stands so you going out and bleeding townsfolk dry isn't helping". The vampire Drake looked into the raiders eyes and smiled, flashing off a set of brown teeth which has been filed down into fangs. He spoke in a whisper almost too quiet to hear.

"When you came to me asking to use my home I allowed you to on the basis that you did not interfere with my affairs, when you stop me from hunting like this it makes me go a bit... crazy" His eyes widened and the raider was taken aback.

"Go fuck yourself Drake, all your 'family members' were dead and you were starving until we came along and took care of Arefu for you. You gotta be some new breed of crazy when those assholes won't let you feed on 'em 'cos your too god damn nuts".

"Those scum deserved what they got for going back on our arrangement and yes it is true I was in a predicament until you came along but now you are here you must not expect me to lay down like a common dog"!

"Drake you know who I'm working for, and you know he won't be pleased to find out that you're not co-operating". A silence followed, whoever this man was working for must have held some sway over drake who glared into the raiders eyes without a response.

"Fine, now leave, all your men have been keeping me awake". The raider left with a triumphant smile, Drake slammed shut the door behind him. He turned to the cabinet which Luka was hidden and spoke.

"Come out little man". Luka froze, how had he known he was here?

"I can smell you from here you repugnant scum". Luka was too slow to react as the man kicked the door of the cabinet in on him, the wooden door slammed into Luka's arm sending a pulse of throughout his torso, his shotgun dropped to the floor with a crack as the man reached through the broken door and pulled Luka from inside the cabinet. Drake, in an incredible show of strength effortlessly threw Luka to the ground and stripped his sidearm

"Lets make this fun" he said, locking the office door. He took a long and shining sword from the cabinet and threw it at Luka's feet before drawing his own. The deadly contraption strapped to his back let out a hiss as the man squeezed an injector on the base of the handle, sending a stream of fluid to shoot up the blade and igniting, setting the sword alight.

As a flaming sword belonging to the derranged vampire swang at Luka's throat, he wondered, not for the first time, why he had accepted the task given to him by MacCready.