It took a bit to convince them that I had no ill intent, but once they were out of the funk I kind of put them in; I asked them why they reacted the way that they did. Hearing my question the ghouls went on to tell me about how their friends that were also ghouls, which wasn't a big surprise due to most ghouls being discriminated against if not outright shot on sight by most wastelanders, were taken by a group of people equipped in black power armor that looked similar to mine.
After their abduction, they don't know what happened to them because they were loaded into an aerial vehicle probably a vertibird and taken to god knows where with no ability to pursue the kidnappers given that the 3 of them were on the ground and their foes were in the air.
"That's a sad and unfortunate turn of events. I'm sorry your friends were taken from you."
"Thank you. You are one of the very few civilized people we've met since the day the bombs dropped some two centuries ago." One of the other ghouls said.
"Thankfully, you guys are in luck. I might actually know what group took your friends."
"REALLY?" One of the ghouls asked excitedly in his signature raspy ghoul voice.
"Potentially. Did the people who took your friends have a large symbol right around here on their power armor, by any chance?" I inquired while pointing at the left side of my chest.
The ghoul leader tried recalling for a few seconds after thinking about it, he began. "Hmm, I don't recall them having a symbol on the left side of their chest, but they may have…"
Before the leading ghoul could finish answering, the ghoul who hadn't spoken much till now interrupted him with a hate filled voice. "I remember with clarity what they looked like. So I can clearly remember that each of the bastards had a capital E on the left side of their chests."
"Ohh, in that case, the Enclave took your friends from you guys then. How long ago did they take them?"
"It happened about a month ago." The ghoul who interrupted the leading ghoul quickly responded.
"...I don't particularly like giving people false hope since I see it as basically lying, so I'll tell it to you straight. Your friends are more than likely dead at this point."
Before all 3 of them could lose all hope, I continued keeping them on a roller coaster of emotions. "However, there is a chance they may be still alive, although the chances of that being the case are quite low, and the longer they're with them, the higher the likelihood they've already left this world for the next."
Once I had finished saying that, the general mood for the 3 of them plummeted through the floor, especially so for the ghoul who clearly remembered the details of the event.
I waited for a dozen or so seconds to pass and added while the ghouls were still processing, that their friends were more than likely dead at this point. "Sorry that I couldn't give you all a better answer, but that is most likely who took them."
"Hah, thanks for telling us smooth skin, it's better that we knew who took them and what happened to them than to go on thinking that we would have a chance of seeing them again someday, even though that's a very unlikely thing out here in the wasteland to begin with." The lead ghoul responded.
"Back to what I was going to ask you 3 originally. What are your names, occupations back before the great war, and what sort of skills did you pick up from the time since the bombs fell till now?"
They collectively thought over my questions for a minute before the leading ghoul answered first in his harsh, raspy voice. "My name is Don King Hill and my occupation prior to the war was a sniper in the US army. As for what sort of skills I've picked up in the many years, I've been alive following the great war with my brothers, I've managed to pick up and learn an assortment of skills ranging from how to repair weapons from scrap to how to survive and avoid most dangers in the wasteland by going off of tracks and other such clues left in the environment."
When Don was done answering, the one of the two ghouls who was wielding a .32 hunting rifle next to him started answering. "Well, now that my brother has finished answering, I guess it's my turn. My name is Kevin Watts Hill, and I was an electrician. I also had a hobby of working on cars, but I'm not able to enjoy that hobby anymore due to the current state of the world, as you can see."
"As for what sort of skills I've picked up since the great war they're a pretty similar skill set to my brother's but I would say I'm better at putting things together than him as well as disassembling."
"That he is." The ghoul leader agreed.
Following Kevin's answer, we all looked at the last remaining ghoul who had yet to answer. He didn't seem like he was all there, thus Don put his hand on his shoulder and woke him up from his thoughts and told him to answer my question after retelling him what I had asked originally.
"Ahh, sorry about that. My name is Hugo Dean Hill and before the great war I was employed at RobCo as a researcher in the robotics department. As for the skills I learned since the great war I would say I've become very good at hacking, lockpicking, and a couple of skills that I picked up from my brothers. Though not to the same levels as them." Hugo answered in the signature ghoul voice.
Mm, they all have pretty decent skill sets and they seem to be halfway decent people, though that could all be bullshit since I don't think there are all too many who would want to pick a fight with me when I'm right on top of them. Despite that possibility, that's not the feeling I'm getting from them, hence I'll listen to my gut for now and see if I can't recruit them. Having 3 ghouls that are over 200 years old, each holding a wealth of knowledge and experience, is a very valuable asset to have no matter how I look at it, especially in this day and age.
With them done answering my questions, I decided to do the polite thing and introduce myself as well. "Seeing how you guys have already introduced yourselves, I'll do the same. My name is Harold Todd Woods and I'm a vault dweller from Vault 101. It's nice to meet you, Dom, Kevin, Hugo." I said with my power armor helmet off, showing my face for the briefest of moments while shaking each of their hands.
The instant I was done introducing myself, I put my power armor helmet back on and continued. "Now that I know a bit about you 3 brothers and know a little about me, I have a proposition for all of you, if you're all interested?"
"Sure, I'll bite. What's the proposition?" Don replied after a couple of seconds while his 2 brothers focused their attention on me.
"Here's the deal. I'm looking to recruit people as subordinates that would be useful in trying to achieve my goals. And I think the 3 of you fit that to a tee hence, why I'm extending this offer. As for the sort of benefits you would receive for working for me, I'm sure you 3 brothers will be more than pleased with what I can offer."
"You've piqued my interest. What sort of goal do you have and what could you offer my brothers and me?" Hugo asked, both intrigued and somewhat skeptical at the same time.
"My dream is to bring some semblance of order back to the wasteland and to ultimately build a country upon the ashes of the United States. I'm nowhere near the point of making that a reality just yet. However, I do have the semblance of a foundation to make that dream come true one day, preferably in the next decade or two."
"As for what I could offer you and your brothers I can offer you safety, actual food that's the equivalent of what you used to eat prior to the world turning into a radioactive wasteland, fresh clean non irradiated water, better equipment, and a nice place to live. And that's not all I can also give you, something to strive for instead of wandering the wastes looking for your next meal and the chance to get back at the Enclave that ripped your friends from you. How bout that?" The moment I was done presenting my offer, Hugo instantly responded with a bit of a crazed look in his yellowed eyes.
"If all of what you said is true and you keep your word, you have yourself a deal, Harold. If there's a chance I can take revenge on those bastards, I don't even care if you work me to the bone." When his two brothers heard Hugo, they both sighed and shrugged their shoulders as if they expected he would react the way he did.
I guess the Enclave must've taken someone he cared for deeply if he's willing to jump on an offer that doesn't really have anything of substance backing it up other than my word. Not that I would go back on my word, but now that I'm thinking of it, I also haven't even given them the stuff I offered to them earlier.
"As happy as I am to hear you're willing to work yourself to bone for me, I'd rather you not. So you can see human civilization reborn from the ashes of atomic war along with your brothers Dom and Kevin."
"Nonetheless, I'm happy to have you guys join me. But before we go any further, let me get you the items I offered you 3 initially so you see that I'm a man of my word and not full of shit. Also, while I'm at it, let's sweeten the deal a bit more and get you guys kitted out with better gear since you're all now my people and I, for one, take care of my people." I said whilst sending a signal with Mechu-deru to my robots to start bringing the items I had initially offered them, as well as some Type 93 Chinese Assault Rifles with drum magazines to upgrade from their .32 hunting rifles and some other miscellaneous items.
In no time at all, my robots brought them the items I had promised them, as well as the additional things I had asked them to bring over. And right as they did, Kevin gave off a whistle, very impressed by the weapons. Don and Hugo also looked quite satisfied with what I gave them when I looked over at them.
When they were done admiring their new items, I asked another question. "I have another question regarding what happened to your friends, what direction were they taken because if you remember, I may know the location of where your friends might've been taken?"
Hearing me say that some hope returned to their eyes and their collective mood improved further, and once a few seconds had passed Hugo, who remembered the event in detail, asked hopefully. "I remember the vertibird flying off in the northwest direction. Is that at all useful?"
"Definitely, they were most likely taken to Raven Rock, which is a bunker meant for top military officials before the great war."
"We won't be able to do anything right now due to the Enclave having a ton of guys equipped with all sorts of advanced weaponry as well as power armor. But I promise the moment I have enough firepower, we can take them out. Hopefully, by that time, your friends will still be alive and well. If not, hopefully, their remains are still there, so you can lay them to rest." I added before any of them could respond.
The second the 3 ghoul brothers processed what I had just said, Hugo looked ready to charge directly to the Enclave headquarters. Nevertheless, his brother Don walked up next to him and put his hand on his brother's shoulder and slowly shook his head side to side, to which Hugo clenched his hands into fists before relaxing them and letting out a sigh a few seconds later.
"So Harold, what do you want us to call you by now that you're our leader?" Hugo asked.
"Ehh, I haven't given it much thought... Just call me by name for now, and if we start getting close to the makings of a country or some other entity in the future, just call me by whatever title is selected for my position in the future when in public."
"I got one more question. When do you think you'll be ready to take on the Enclave if you don't mind me asking?" Hugo asked expectantly.
"Yeah, I don't mind answering. I would say within a year to give myself enough time to accumulate resources and firepower, but that timeframe could probably be cut down as long as there are no major setbacks." I answered, which put a satisfied look on his face or what I thought was one. I could be wrong since it's very difficult to tell due to ghoul faces missing most of their human facial features, but that's the feeling I was getting.
Finished answering Hugo's question, I had my robots begin opening the sealed entrance of the building with my stashed loot. About a minute in, they had it opened up, thus my worker bots headed inside and began the process of transferring the loot onto the hauling bots. While my worker bots were busy getting everything loaded up, my now 3 ghoul subordinates, and I entered the building and took a seat at a table away from the bloodstains on the store's floor and started chatting about different things happening in the wasteland.
As we were conversing, they started eating and drinking the food I had given them before. Several minutes quickly passed by from then and before I knew it, they finished filling themselves up. And right as they did, my robots were just about done getting everything loaded up. So with nothing keeping us here any longer, I headed outside with the ghouls following behind me.
"Alright, time to head out to vault 101. Don, do you want a Type 93 Chinese Assault Rifle like one of the ones your brothers are currently using or do want something else, perhaps?" I asked Don.
"Hmm... do you have any R91 Assault Rifles on hand? I would much prefer one of those since I'm much more used to them from my time in the military?" Don answered in his same old, raspy voice.
"Yeah, I have a few of those." I answered while I sent 1 of my worker bots to retrieve 1 for Don and when it came back, it handed the weapon to Don.
The instant Don got hold of the gun in his hands, he went over the weapon and racked the assault rifle's bolt, clearing a jammed bullet.
"Now I'm ready." Don said while he had his sniper rifle slung on his back and the R91 Assault Rifle in his hands loaded with a drum magazine.
Once the 3 ghoul brothers were ready, they loaded up into Hauler since it was faster for them to ride on it than it was for them to try to keep up with my usual traveling speed. From there, we headed towards the east, following the crumbling and deteriorating asphalt road.
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If you're looking for something else to read, that's similar to this, check out my other webnovel Wasteland Conqueror.