Chapter 26: Hidden Worries

"So, that's what happened here... Vault Tech has done an experiment to allow a group of post-Saints to live together naked for long periods of time. Andy was a little silent for a while, just a social science topic, although a little offensive, but somewhat interesting to discuss, but the problem is that they really put the experiment into practice; Once all the residents of Vault 70 enter the Vault, the aftermath and radiation from the nuclear bomb destruction of Salt Lake City will make it difficult for them to leave the Vault for a long time, and there will be no way to repair the garment machine or replace the clothes in the Vault, and everything will be realized.

As the unidentified old man in the recording said, this place will return to the era of the Garden of Eden, and people have already eaten the fruit of wisdom.

As you can guess, a series of chaotic outbursts began with the shame and embarrassment of traditional politeness, then the naturalness of getting used to everything, then the revival of fundamentalism born of desire, and finally, the dark battle of ideas and physical violence.

Fortunately, the results were good, and instead of falling, the Post-Saints corrected all problematic doctrines, and people were willing to help outsiders after leaving Vault 70 to rebuild New Canaan in Ogden.

But it's just a little too much. Alexandra covered her face and was silent for a long time.

"A group of demons..... How can they do that? Andy looked at the narrow gap, wondering if there were any horrible traces of the past left inside Vault 70, which he would never get a chance to go into.

"I've heard in New California in the past that Vault Tech never saves anyone, they can help people avoid one disaster and then create another one over their heads..."

"Let's go, show this to Prophet Rigdon, and let him understand how difficult it is for the ancestors of the Latter Saints to fight to get to where they are now." ............ Emerging from the elevator, Andy saw several Post-Saints, including Jeremiah, surrounding John.

"Stop giving me strange nicknames!" John shouted impatiently.

"I'm not a prophet, I'm not your 'Apocalypse' John, I don't have that power. I've seen a doctor, I'm sick! There's always a strange person talking in your ear, and that voice isn't a god, it's just your head! Yes, I'm sick, but I'm already self-medicating, I think smoking does work, and the sound is noticeably quieter! As he spoke, the blue-skinned super mutant had four or five cigarettes in his mouth, and ordinary humans would choke themselves to death if they did this, but it was just right for a super mutant.

The post-Saints whispered.

"So?"

"So it's a disease.... I thought .... Wait, Rigdon Prophet sometimes says that God still speaks in his ear, and that's not true..."

"Is he really feverish and confused?"

"Shut up! Rigdon Prophet wouldn't be like that! Jeremiah stood not far away, hearing everything, his face was as usual, but there was a twinkle in his eyes.

Andy and the others walked towards the crowd, and Jeremiah glanced at it, but suddenly turned to leave.

Seeing that Jeremiah had no intention of stopping, the two had to give up for the time being, and it happened that Andy saw Jude sitting on the side, although he still looked very weak, but his face was indeed much better.

"How's Marshall?" Andy walked up to him and asked.

"He.... Took the medicine, but the reaction was violent, and he .... Excreted a lot of green stuff, I guess it was radioactive material, but he was in pain, I didn't give him a lot at once, and I was afraid that he would risk killing himself because he was too religious, and he would rather risk killing himself than reduce the radiation in his body quickly. Jude said, suddenly bleeding from his nose.

Alexandra immediately stepped forward to check it out.

"You really need to minimize contact with that ghoul, and if you keep going like this, you'll really be done." Jude had a tangled look on his face.

"But, if I don't take care of him, who will?" When Andy heard this, he immediately ran to John's side and called him over.

"John, you have to help your brother." The super mutant walked up to Jude a little impatiently and looked at him twice, as if he didn't understand what was going on.

"Huh? What's wrong? You little human being is soft, why don't you stand up and move your skinny arms like bug legs? Hahaha-" Andy stopped his taunt and told him what had happened.

John patted his chest.

"Is that the matter? Take it easy, I'm not afraid of radiation at all, you better take care of yourself, human. After receiving his promise, Andy continued to persuade Jude.

"Your wife and children are here, if you continue to do this, you are irresponsible, what if you die of them?" Jude wiped his nosebleed with his sleeve, and this time he finally nodded and promised to see Marshall less often in the future.

Finally settled a few things, Andy didn't wait to breathe a sigh of relief, a commotion suddenly spread to everyone around, the members of the Hand of God team members of the post-holy congregation quickly grabbed their weapons, put on a fighting posture and rushed outside, and another group of members who were helpless and only responsible for labor and chores poured into the elevator, ready to take refuge in the shelter.

This happened so quickly that someone shouted a directive claiming to be from Rigdon Prophet for all members of the Hand of God to assemble at the front of the church camp.

Andy and Alexandra looked at each other and couldn't figure out what was going on, so they grabbed their weapons and ran outside with the crowd, and soon they saw all the members of the Hand of God gathered in the middle of the camp, and Jeremiah was standing in the middle of the crowd and making some loud speeches.

"Brothers and sisters, I have just received news that those wicked people are coming to our camp again, and we must not let their evil intentions succeed, even if they raise swords, let their blood be spilled on the earth!" The followers of the Post-Holy Church expressed their solidarity and support, raising their weapons in their hands, and they appeared to be full of martial virtues.

Andy and Alexandra watched this scene, Alexandra's face showed emotion, she took off the hat on her head and pursed her lips.

"If we had such a team long before the destruction of New Canaan, all the tragedies could have been prevented, but at that time no one was willing to take up arms, and there were only a handful of people with guns in New Canaan, otherwise how could those riotous people do whatever they wanted.... I'm starting to change my opinion about Jeremiah Rigdon, or at least he did do something right. At the end of the speech, a group of people took their positions and found their shooting bunkers, and the post-congregational believers had a variety of weapons in their hands, from those who held pistols like Jeremiah, or assault rifles in both hands, to homemade firearms that looked like iron pipes tied to wood, and even tomahawk knives made of scrap metal.

Seeing this scene, Andy didn't say a word, and also took out his weapon and stepped into the battle line, Jeremiah saw the two nod slightly, and then solemnly looked at the distance with flying sand.

Moments later, a wacky vehicle that had been heavily modified and welded here and there with a lot of rusty metal spikes welded here and there, along with several motorcycles, rushed in the direction of the church camp; The exhaust pipes of these vehicles had been modified, and the sound they emitted was nothing short of terrifying screams that could be heard from a long distance, and they didn't hide the slightest hint of their coming.

Obviously, this is a group of marauders, and not at the level of the Salt Lake Gang before. When it was still a few dozen meters away from the camp, the very arrogant convoy slowly stopped.

The potholed door of the car was pushed open, and a man wearing a yellow hard hat, a black face scarf, welding goggles, and a road leather jacket stood up on the roof; He had to carefully adjust his posture to avoid being injured by his vehicle due to the welding spikes, and these alterations were not entirely meaningless decorations, as evidenced by the ramp-and-roll ghoul with his hands and feet still on his spikes.

He pulled out a large, tattered horn and put it to his lips and began to shout.

"The fools over there, the fools in robes, don't be in a hurry to shoot first, this time we just want to talk!" Jeremiah looked at the gang suspiciously, and raised his hand to signal the others not to act rashly, he wanted to know why these marauders had suddenly changed their temperament and knew how to speak.

Matthew got Jeremiah's eyes and shouted back to the group.

"Don't try to make any conspiracy! I tell you, if you have the guts, come and try, and we will fight to the last man to protect everything we have! Alexandra whispered as she heard this

"Good!" She seems very happy to see the new Canaanites who had maintained absolute pacifism in the past now have this different transformation.

The bullhorn-wielding marauder seemed to have been poked in the laugh, almost laughing up to the sky. He snapped his fingers, and two marauders on huge motorcycles began to race in circles without saying a word, and the loud engine noise resounded all around, and two marauders in leather armor and colorful painted motorcycle helmets screamed from time to time, one of them raised his 9mm submachine gun and fired wildly into the sky, and one of them vigorously shook the thick iron chain in his hand.

The two performed so insolently, showing the madness, mania, and aggressiveness that belong to the predators to the fullest.

The marauder in the yellow hard hat took off his hat to reveal a mohican hairstyle and raised his horn again.

"What a ridiculous statement you make, it shows that you poor worms know nothing about our great power.... The people who have come here are only a fraction of the total strength of our gang, and if we wanted to, we could destroy you all in an instant! Guys, right? The marauders shouted hoarsely.

“215! 215! 215! Andy couldn't figure it out, what is 215?

The members of the Hand of God were sweaty on their foreheads, others with steadfast eyes, and everyone behaved differently in the face of the situation, but all remained steadfast and unwilling to take a step back.

Seeing the performance of these people, Andy guessed that most of them may not be able to come out of the shadow of the destruction of New Canaan to this day, and those flames and wails will echo in their minds day and night, but whether they turn their grief into strength or leave psychological scars that can never be faced, under the leadership of Jeremiah Rigdon, they have become a full-fledged armed force.

Alexandra's eyes began to redden, and she looked at the marauders, only to feel that she had returned to the day when New Canaan fell, clenching the shotgun in her hand with both hands, and gritting her teeth angrily.

She stared at the mohican, and suddenly got up and half-knelt to shoot. Andy dragged her back.

"Don't! Let him finish his work and wait until everything is inevitable. Alexandra tried to push Andy away, but the other party's strength was too great, and it was useless for her to struggle.

"Let go of me! We must do it first, or we will lose even more! Andy had no choice but to snatch her shotgun away.

"Now that your old acquaintance prophet is up for it, and you're already half an outsider, is it right for you to act rashly?" Alexandra calmed down a little when she heard this.

On the other side, Matthew turned around and shouted back after whispering a few words to Jeremiah.

"So what are you waiting for? There are times to love and times to hate; There is a time of war, a time of reconciliation, and if you do not leave or make clear what you are here for, you will be greeted with punishment from the hand of God! Jeremiah suddenly raised his pistol, and the other members of the Hand of God followed suit, and everyone fired a shot into the air in unison.

This scene shocked the marauders greatly, and their arrogance was immediately suppressed, and the marauders with loudspeakers bared their teeth and finally began to talk about their purpose.

"Well.... Okay, you lunatics, I know you're going to do that, and now listen up, our boss Jackson has made an offer, and it's a show of mercy to you, so give me serious consideration and take it, understand? Prick up your ears and listen, robed idiots, we Gang 215 will attack Jericho in three days and take everything there! ”

"And you, dumbas, we know you have a grudge against them, don't we? Don't you want revenge? How? Follow us on the attack, and we may consider getting a slice of the pie when we succeed, and.... Don't you find this sweetness of revenge very tempting? Andy's face was shocked, Sheriff O'Connor had sworn to Andy that there were no decent marauders around to threaten Jericho Town, but today he had heard that there was such a group of marauders claiming to attack, and it seemed that they were not bluffing.

If they hadn't lied, this so-called 215 Gang should have a lot of strength, just the number of people in front of them was about the same as the number of the Salt Lake Gang who came to the door at the beginning, not to mention that they still had a so-called large army.

When the followers of the Queen's Church heard this, their attitudes softened and they began to exchange words with each other. Jeremiah was silent for a moment, patted Matthew, and stood up in response to the marauder.

"We have heard what you have to say, but we need not be merciful on the part of your chief, to give us some time to consider, and if my men finally agree, we will go in three days! Now, you can get out of the way, get out of our sight, and if you move too slowly and make us nervous, I can't say what will happen! The beast-like eyes of the marauders scanned the crowd for a moment, and when they realized that it was a difficult bone, the men turned away, and the deafening noise gradually dissipated into the desert, leaving some rut marks that quickly disappeared as the wind and sand moved.

When the situation becomes less tense and the members of the Hand of God put away their weapons and return to their normal lives, Andy sees a man with long black curly hair, whose temperament is obviously different from that of the people around him, which is obviously an outsider again.

But to his shock, he put away his weapon and picked up his farming tools and walked to the barren farmland. Before he had time to think too much about this man's specialness, Andy hurried towards Jeremiah, who was pondering deeply, and he had to stop this catastrophe before it could be undone.