[Whelp, I have no clue how the thermal insulation tech tree will be useful right now but oh well] Getting ready to click on [Tech Trees], my focus was interrupted as I heard a crack echoing off somewhere nearby.
At first, I thought it was just something metal snapping somewhere on the floors below me.
But when I kept hearing a constant burst of cracks, with an occasional loud bang, my inner american senses tingle in me and I quickly realized that there were gunshots somewhere far below me. And whoever was shooting, they were coming closer as the gunshots were slowly becoming louder and louder. They were still a lot of floors down judging by the sound, and thank god I landed on the very top of this massive building. So it will take them quite a while to reach me. But slight problem.
I got no legs, no arms, no way to speak, and I'm just a white ball with a Pip-Boy sticking out of me. [I'm kinda fucked] I thought to myself, as I could literally do nothing and watch. But hey, if you saw a large white ball on the top of a random ass building, would you shoot it? That was a constant question in my mind. But, I actually may have a chance of surviving...
...
Nah... I don't have a lot of hope right now. My luck been kinda shit.
[Well, thanks God for giving me some extra minutes in this life, next time, please give me some legs if there's a third chance!] Praying again, hoping for a third chance in life since my current run was about to end, I waited and waited, and waited for my fate.
And damn, did it take a while before I finally saw whoever was doing all the shooting. Turned out it wasn't just one person but a whole group, six of them, wearing this bizarre mash-up of civilian and military gear. Weird combo, but hey, this planet already looks like a dumpster fire, so who am I to judge?
Actually, scratch that. I will judge.
[Come on, you nerds, just make it quick. Your style makes me sick!] I closed my eyes and mocked them silently in my head, waiting for the inevitable.
"Look see, there's nothing valuable up here. This place has already been scavenged long ago, it is pretty close to base. Probably just another meteorite falling and landing here, there's been a recent surge," one of them said out loud, with a tone that had a hint of tiredness, annoyance, and a bit of sarcasm.
I opened my eyes again to get a better look. All of them were armed with some kind of rifle, M4s from what I can see but… also swords? Really? Guns and swords? What kind of apocalypse are we dealing with here?
They started to fan out across the floor below me, rifles at the low ready. Luckily for me, the level I was on was unfinished, no actual flooring, just beams and rebar, so I had a clear view of them while staying somewhat hidden. For now, though they may be blind as I kinda stick out.
"Captain, we should really start heading back to base. We burned through a ton of ammo climbing up here, and supplies are running low. Want me to radio Turner, have him bring the truck around?" a male voice asked. His M4 dangled freely on its sling as he fished a radio out of his pocket.
"Fine. Tell Turner to pull up," came a female reply. Her tone was firm, commanding. She was giving me the leader type vibe. "But trust me, my gut says something's here. I've still got enough mana left for a quick sweep. Just cover me."
That caught me off guard. Did she just say mana? Before I could process what exactly she said, she set her M4 carefully on the ground, got on her knees, and pressed her palms flat against the cracked concrete.
[What is she doi...] I froze mid-thought as a faint blue aura shimmered around her hands, pulsing outward every few seconds like ripples in water. Oh. I could guess what that was.
[So... there's magic in this world. Pretty neat, scratch that, it's pretty fucking cool. Aw, it sucks that I actually might die.] Pretty sure that whatever the female did was for detecting stuff, as I cringed as she snapped her eyes directly at me. I swear I felt butterflies in my stomach, even though I'm a metal ball, when they all pointed their M4s at me.
Uh… Captain, what is that?" The same guy who'd radioed Turner kept his rifle trained on me, though he glanced sideways toward the woman in charge.
"How the hell should I know, Mike?" she shot back. "I've got no clue what it is. It's just… a white ball. Maybe my gut was wrong."
She slowly lowered her weapon, her stance easing up. The rest of her group followed suit, their barrels dipping one by one.
"I'm sorry, guys," she sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "I really thought we'd find something useful for the base today. Guess not."
She turned to one of the others. "Shurren, go check out that white ball. Pretty sure it doesn't belong here. See if you can salvage anything from it so this small side trip isn't a total waste."
"Shit, no need to tell me twice, I was gonna do it anyway" Giving me a glance, before looking away, it took him about 10 minutes to climb up to where I was at since there were no stairs to my floor. Luckily for him, my floor was mostly a mess of rebar, beams, and half-built platforms, basically a jungle gym
"Let's see what we're working with." Having finally reached me, I was able to get a closer look at the guy as he examined my body. Maybe being around his mid 20's, having dark skin, he was wearing a plate carrier that held some empty magazines, with two appearing to be full. He also wore some black sunglasses that fully hid his eyes, had scratched up jeans, and wore a dark grey sweater that was covered in a black goo.
"Ooh, what's this thing sticking out of you" He immediately found the Pip-Boy and tried to pull it off of me, but it didn't budge at all, thank god. But once he figure it out it wouldn't budge, he started to press his dirty fingers on the screen, how rude!
Whelp, not like it matters, it's attached to me, and I can't even use it. I do wonder if this pervy guy touching me can get the Pip-Boy on. I guessing it's just a waiting game before Shurren turns on the Pip-Boy, I hope.
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Yo I'm back, quality may... be a bit bad. As I'm writing everything on my phone. Please comment if there's any grammar errors or if you think I should make a change somewhere.