Fatman

It happened not long after lunch a loud gunshot rang across the wasteland. Everyone in the caravan stopped and pulled out their weapons turning to its source. Not far ahead of us was a single Raider. He was wearing ragtag armor that looked like he cobbled it together himself and had the classic Raider Mohawk.

"Attention maggots my great and glorious boss has decided in his infinite wisdom that all your stuff should stop being yours and start being our stuff. So if you could kindly give us everything you own we promise that your deaths will be quick but, not painless I can assure you it will be extremely painful after all we're Raiders not saints" he smirked.

Everyone in the caravan was full of activity as they prepared for the attack. The Raider seeing their actions just laughed it off and assumed they weren't planning on surrendering of course he never wanted them to give up as that wouldn't be very fun. He took a walkie talkie off of his waist and contacted his boss.

An ominous quiet soon spread through the caravan everyone knew that they would soon have to fight for their lives. Nobody was giving up however the caravan had well over 1,000 different members so even if they were attacked it would not be easy for the Raiders to take them out.

Aaron frowned "They see how well armed and protected we are and yet they still decide to attack. There are only a couple reason they could be this brave."

"What are they" I asked while gripping my Hunting Rifle?

"The first reason is that they significantly out number us and will simply trample over us when the battle starts. I don't think this is likely Raiders are by nature unreliable and unruly it wouldn't be easy for someone to manage to gather up more than a couple hundred of them into a cohesive group.

The second is that even though they are few in numbers they are all elites who would be able to take us out with only a small group. However given that they are Raiders this isn't likely either they could never be the kind of super elites required to do that.

This leaves the last option that they have some kind of extremely powerful Trump card."

Almost as soon as he finished talking an explosion rocked the camp knocking everyone to the ground. I looked behind me and saw a massive mushroom cloud rising up into the air. Aaron's last words about them having a Trump card echoed in my head there was only one thing I could think of that could cause the scene I saw in front of me.

"Fatman" I absentmindedly spoke.

I stood there petrified by the sight before me it was one thing to see it in movies and tv but, seeing it in real life feeling the heat on your face and smelling the burnt flesh of the people who were just caught in its blast was like a nightmare.

I wasn't the only one who figured out they had a Fatman as the whole caravan panicked. Most people scattered and tried to escape by rushing back down both sides of the road.

However would the Raiders let them? Hundreds of Raiders sprinted over the hills and opened fire on the escaping traders. I had no idea what I should be doing and while I was do nothing another Fatman fell. This time it wasn't far from where we were at and I could feel the burning wind from the explosion brushing against my face.

Luckily Aaron wasn't paralyzed and already had a plan. Initially Gayle was unsure whether he should stay with the group or make a run for it but, when he saw the second Fatman he knew it was time to go and was about to whip his brahmin to get them moving. Aaron however grabbed his arm stopping him.

"What are you doing" Gayle screamed?

"Saving our lives" He said "We have no idea how many Fatmen they have left if we leave we'll more than likely be blown to smithereens."

"At least if we run we have a chance of surviving" Gayle argued as he took a glance at the pale Nikole sitting next to him.

"No our best chance of survival is to go there" Aaron said as he pointed to the large group in the center of the caravan.

"What are you crazy the Gun Runners supplies are probably what there psychos are after in the first place."

"Exactly which means they won't be firing any Fatmen there they don't want to destroy their loot."

"But then we'd end up surrounded by an army of raiders with no hope of escape."

"True but, at least we would have a chance to take our lives into our own hands and not rely on luck" Aaron argued.

Gayle grit his teeth and eventually turned the cart to head towards the Gun Runners encampment and no sooner than he did another Fatman landed. As it turned out Aaron wasn't the only smart one as there were several other people who were rushing to the Gun Runners. By the time we arrived I was already starting to snap out of it I realized that if I wanted to survive I had to fight back.

I looked through the scope of my Hunting Rifle and started firing. My shots were decently accurate and I hit around half the shots I took. I would say that my aim is far better than any normal persons.

I had the Rifleman Perk and I managed to get my Perception to 6 after I earned all those Perks during training which brought me all the way up to level 2. I was about half way to level 3 and need 250 more Exp. Whenever I would hit a Raider a +25 appear at the edge of my vision. I kept firing and managed to kill over six Raiders before some of them noticed me and started taking pock shots.

I had to duck down to avoid being hit. The Gun Runners and remaining traders were in a fierce firefight with the Raiders. Due to the confusion caused by the Fatman they were at a disadvantage and we being forced back. This didn't last for long even though there were only about a hundred people in the Gun Runners group every single one of them had been through rigorous training and were armed with the best weapons and armor.

The battle soon reached a standstill there were bodies everywhere and the Raiders were hiding in the wreckage of the destroyed carts and couldn't get close due to the Gun Runners heavy weapons, and the Gun Runners couldn't force their way out as the Raiders still had a Fatman and were blocking all escape routes.

Soon there was an unofficial cease fire as neither side wanted to waste bullets on an enemy who was hiding behind cover. It became a waiting game the Gun Runners handed out better weapons to the remaining Traders and started to give out medical aid because they knew if they wanted to get out of this mess they wouldn't be able to do it alone.

While the Gun Runners were doing that the Raiders were collecting the stolen loot from the Traders they killed and were dealing with their own wounded.

After the Gun Runners were finished handing out supplies they invited the Leaders of each group into a tent they set up in the center of camp to have a discussion. Gayle and Aaron were both invited. Gayle because he was the owner of a Trade caravan and Aaron because he killed over 30 Raiders during the fight. When I heard how many Raiders he killed I was a little impressed, I must not have noticed it because I was so out of it while all that was happening.

Gayle and Aaron went to the meeting leaving me and Nikole behind.

"Do-do you think we will be alright" Nikole stuttered?

"I'm sure we'll be fine there are a lot of competent people in our group and defending is always easier that attacking so even if we have less people we have the advantage. I tried to comfort her.

"But they have a Fatman" she nearly screamed.

"No they HAD a Fatman during the attack I counted at least 4 nukes. Fatman shells aren't like caps you can find on the side of the road there is no way they have many more of them if they even have any left at all" I said although I was nervous about that as well.

"What if they still do have some left though?"

"I don't know that's not our problem all of the adults are together right now thinking of solutions."

Nikole looked unconvinced "Dan I-I'm scared can I please have a hug?"

I had no idea how I was supposed to respond to that. I knew she was just scared and wanted someone to hold her but, I felt weird about it seeing as I was more or less an adult trapped in a child's body. I was about to refuse her when thankfully I was spared as Aaron and Gayle returned from the meeting.

"What's going on do we have a plan" I asked?

"Sort of Gayle" replied with a sigh "We're going to wait."

"What?"

Aaron stepped in to explain "We are expected to be at Flatirons by sundown if we don't make it there in time people will get worried. Especially The Gun Runners at their base apparently if a large Gun Runner convoy like this one is late by more than two hours a battalion is sent out to find out what happened to them."

"So we are just going to wait for reinforcements" I wondered out loud felling that it wasn't a very good idea.

"Yay we're saved" Nikole bounced.

"Not quite" Aaron interrupted. Our reinforcements won't even notice that somethings wrong for at least 6 more hours and it will take them another 8 to actually get here. So we have to wait for well over half a day for help to come and that is if we're lucky."

"Normally that wouldn't be a problem with all the fire power we have here but" Gayle explained.

"The Fatman" I spoke.

"Exactly they shouldn't have any more shots but, it's impossible to know for sure. If they launch a couple more of those into the caravan our defenses will completely collapse."

"So all we can do is wait" Nikole shivered.

"Yes and Pray" Aaron said as he stared into the distance.