Riding to the town of harmony had been easy. It wasn't far and I had accurate maps of the area. My eyebot scanned for enemies as we made our way to a crop of trees near the tow. What had been difficult was putting a cart on Elizabeth then taking it off. I wanted to be prepared to loot everything I could if I managed to wipe out the raider group. Elizabeth had been incredibly mean due to the cart and had gotten me with a few nips as I put it on her. I had to actively look out for clawed hooves as she randomly threw kicks at me as I removed the cart. She clearly hated the thing and was punishing me for making her pull it. I had of course been prepared for this as the lancers suffered this same situation anytime they needed to put carts on their Ecus.
When I finally set up on a hill overlooking the town I did my best not to open fire the second I could. I'd dealt with the legion and all their shit but I'd never dealt with actual raiders. The fiends and such were pretty bad but they didn't do insane stuff like this group. I'd seen the ingame raiders do horrible shit but these guys went a step beyond. The small walls of the town were painted in blood. Most bodies were made into human scarecrows with most skin torn from their bodies. I could see what was definitely a flag made of human faces and a chair ontop of a house was made of fresh bone and tied together with human flesh.
I could see what I guessed were the survivors of the town all strung up and being tortured in various ways. All of the survivors were women and children and had been stripped naked. All were in the process of being raped and beaten as they didn't even fight back. They had been thoroughly broken and had no will to exist. As I looked through my scope I flinched as a survivors head explode. A spray of blood mist settled before all the survivors began looking around in what seemed to be hope. I flinched as I, on muscle memory alone, brought my long rifles bolt back. A bullet casing softly landed in the thin grass as my hand pushed the bolt forward.
My face came back down to rest on my rifle as I took aim. I couldn't feel my heart beating despite the knowledge that it was beating as fast as it could without giving out. The click of my trigger sounded and a soft smile sprouted across the face of one of the survivors. In the next instant har head became a spray of blood and bone.
Slowly to the rhythm of my breath I continued my to bring mercy to the broken. I reloaded my five round magazine three times before I started targeting the raiders. After depleting my ammunition I made my way down the hill to Elizabeth. I left the cart where it was and took Elizabeth and myself back to Laramie. I handed my rifle to the mayor without a word and he had a guard retrieve the gun and ammo I had asked for.
They had put a night vision scope on it and I went back to the town after a special purchase at a general store. I tied Elizabeth in the trees and took my small 22 rifle. I continued my shooting till the dawn broke the next day. When the sun finally came up I took my laser blaster and walked down to the town. Shooting the insane raiders had been like hitting ants with a hammer. Most didn't take more than a few shots to stop moving and any I could got a bullet to the eye. They had found my direction early on but didn't have the manpower or ability to fight back. A small group had been sent out but they were now just another pile of corpses.
The small gate collapsed at a kick and bullets wizzed past as I stood at the side of the wall. I flicked my blaster to full auto and cut through the small group of idiots. I slowly placed multiple mines at the gate and continued into the town. Inside I methodically swept through the alleys and houses, burning holes in anything that moved. What few raiders had survived my sniping did nothing against me as their guns and knives barely gave me more than bad bruises.
Midday came with the crowing of scavengers and I trudged my way back to Elizabeth. I left my rifles with her and took my special purchase from her. The incinerator had been broken but a bit of Jerry rigging got it throwing balls of fire. As I walked back into the town I checked my helmet to make sure the mask was fitted properly and started up my incinerator. Once I emptied the tank I left the fire cannon outside the town and went back to Elizabeth. I slowly carried two more cans of fuel to the town before emptying the tank twice more. I left the weapon outside the town as I would be reporting that the team sent to clean up would need to take lots more fuel to the town.
I'd never been able to understand what soul weary was till now and I really needed to get down drinks. My crazy little eyebot and Elizabeth supported me as they practically dragged me back to town after I passed out in the saddle. The mayor and guards carried me to the mayors office were they set me up on an old couch. I woke a few hours later and gave a report that left the mayor and the newly discovered head guardsman horrified and furious. The head guardsman immediately left to gather his veterans as the mayor gave me something he called an alcohol voucher.
I took the voucher and tied Elizabeth to a pole before sitting at the bar of the inn. Eventually I found myself in a brawl after a drunk college boy called me a savage from the west. The girls with him had screamed as I shattered his jaw and the other idiots with him tackled me. Some drunk old timer jumped them and dragged a few tables into the fight. It all ended the second the tall and imposing headmistress of the college kicked the doors of the inn open. The boy who'd insulted me was dragged off by a guard who'd followed her in and she followed him out with tow boys at her side, hands yanking their ears.
As I sat my bruised and drunk body back at the bar the old man who'd joined me sat down beside. "That woman will teach those fools. They don't know who they talkin' to kid. Can't tell the difference between the legion and the lancers. Lancer tribes the only reason we have relative peace from the west." I looked up at the two old men and tried to raise an eyebrow. He smirked and spoke "They keep them other nearby tribes suppressed and are all decent folk. They maintain the fog pass to the west and are the only legion forces that can threaten us. They like us and don't want conflict. Hells they was the ones to wipe out the Casper tribes for their torture of Chey civilians."
I nodded. It sounded like something they'd do. Their tribe suffered a lot and they figured that they shouldn't spread that suffering to others. They were ruthless against enemies and were probably only legion cause they knew their tribe wouldn't be able to stop a determined legion. "I remember the days before the legion took over. Lancers wandered the lands, hunting the enemies of peace. They gave others what knowledge they could and left behind tales of their bravery. My father used to tell stories about entire towns surviving because they had a lancer protecting them. How enemies would flee as one of them dropped to the ground dead like the reaper himself had stolen their soul. A single rider on a hill, a long rifle like the hand of god, smiting criminals and sinners from miles away."
He stopped for a bit and looked around. Most of the bar was listening at this point, with a few remaining college students hanging onto his story. He started again after a shot. "They used to say if you could see the tracks of an Ecus you were in the sights of its rider." Another shot and he started up again. "My father used to scowl and grumble whenever my mother bragged about laying a lancer but behind her back he'd pump his fists because he knew he had gotten her instead of that 'amazing' hero."
A round of laughter met that and I bought another drink for myself. Once again the old man spoke but his tone dropped. "Back when the Casper tribes terrorized the area I was a young man. My father and older brother fought in the skirmishes against them. They had superior weapons and tactics. They had cultist beliefs that held them firm in what they did. If our forces hadn't been fighting to protect their families then they would have fallen to the Caspers. I remember when Wheatland was razed. The people there were tortured to death, every single one that didn't die in the fighting.
When word of the massacre spread over the radio the Chey and anyone in the area mobilized their forces. The day after the radios had told the story we got reports that the Casper tribes had gone quiet. When the gathered army marched to Casper they found Ecus tracks had shredded the grounds of the four tribes and not a soul had survived.
The army burned down the remains of the tribes and went back home. They didn't come back victorious. They came back with the haunting shadow of the lancers. I remember the only time my father spoke of what he saw there. Bones stripped clean, homes trampled or burned. Not a human skull in sight. The battlefields were blood flooded pits of mud, buried bones missing skulls." When he finally stopped he took another three shots. "The hand of god is silent. But when it descends all shall bare witness to his almighty wrath."
With those words he stood and walked out the door. With the mood of the bar now ruined most people drifted off for rooms or homes. A few like myself, travelers and the like, stayed for more drink. A glance showed it in their eyes. Most of them were trying to forget or ease the pain. My coping came to an end near morning when the head guardsman walked in.
"Lancer Kane, the mayor would like to speak with you if you're up for it. He also stated that if you needed some time then he can meet you tomorrow." He said when he got to me. I responded in a rougher voice than expected "I'll meet with him tomorrow, need to sleep this off." I set the alcohol voucher from the mayor on the bar and slowly stumbled to my room. I set my pipboy to wake me with an alarm in twelve hours and crashed into my bed.
Twelve hours later I woke with an empty stomach, a killer migraine, and my pipboy blaring a Marty Robins song I didn't recognize. I turned the radio off, fumbled with my small burner till it turned on, and set an open canned coffee on it. My basic medicines included ibuprofen and acetaminophen so I downed multiple with my coffee. I put my helmet on after switching my goggle lenses with tinted lenses and walked out to find the nearest shower.
After a skin burning wash in a properly hot shower I got myself a decent meal. I could barely eat the meat but I forced myself to as I needed to make sure I maintained my body. I wouldn't be outrunning a deathclaw but I could outrun the people beside me. Besides that I made sure to mix a fixer tablet into my surprisingly good Sargent Pop to make sure I didn't get any addiction from all my drinking the previous night. I couldn't remember how much I drank but I knew it was all strong as I also couldn't remember much of the brawl or the old man's story. I was incredibly surprised to find that I'd spent an entire night drinking the stuff the bar served without eating anything. I even scanned myself after remembering that part to make sure I hadn't gained some kind of mutated super liver.
After my meal I grabbed a bottle of the fire pear moonshine and sipped it while walking with Elizabeth to the mayors office. My eyebot maintained a hover above us, quietly beeping about the weather while keeping lookout. When I finally got to the mayors I found multiple people looking at me as the mayor waved me to take a seat at his desk.
There was some grumbling about the savage getting to sit with the mayor and how I was acting above my station as a mercenary. The head guardsman gave them all a decent withering glare as I sat and removed my helmet. The mayor slowly brought the radio stuff over to us and clicked the microphone on. As the mayor turned the radio and such in the guardsman spoke. "This is head guard Weston of Laramie. We the guard have given our report on the town of Harmony and the massacre that happened within. I will now hand over the microphone to the mercenary lancer Kane who will give his report to the best of his ability. After his report he will be paid for the job he has done for us."