Chapter 3

Juan was definitely feeling a bit safer. He had just over a dozen power cores now, enough to walk the power armour for weeks without stopping. He had managed to enhance it’s armour a bit too, reinforcing the joints and buffing the plates a bit.

He knew it was the opposite of stealthy and that was not his preference, but he had realized there were too many things he did not understand about this post-apocalyptic world ... too many things that could easily kill him.

For now, he had decided to just stick with using the armour. Besides, with the straps and riggings, he had the ability to carry significantly larger loads. Helped a lot when it came to salvaging.

Preston’s contacts had pointed out what appeared to be an abandoned settlement, over by a dam. Juan was sure they were referring to an area North of Walden pond. So he was headed over to see if it looked good enough to set up as a settlement.

He figured he would swing by the Abernathy farm on his way, make sure they were ok. It didn’t hurt that Connie and Lucy both looked good. Lucy had the youthful, farmgirl look going, and always had a big smile for him. Juan could see she was attracted, but obviously unsure of herself.

Connie on the other hand was a different story. Juan was not sure what was happening between her and Blake, but there was no mistaking the way she leaned toward him when he visited. Nor the casual touches she made sure to give him. She was very interested.

Blake seemed like a nice guy, Juan liked him. But he also looked to be a good 10-20 years older than Connie, add to that the negative effects of growing up in a nuclear fallout zone. Frankly, Juan was surprised that Blake had managed to get her pregnant at all, let alone twice.

Juan was sure he was an intimidating sight. He had arranged a hook to connect the minigun to, so it sat on the back of the power armour, always connected to the 500 round hopper for the ammo. Juan had modified the timing so it was considerably slower firing than it’s max capability. Now it would take a good minute of constant firing to empty the hopper.

He had been fortunate to find a few caches of 5mm rounds, so he had restocks back at Sanctuary. Add to that the big 10mm pistol strapped to one thigh, the .44 in the chest holster and the AR he usually carried in his hands, he looked ready to fight a war.

Juan didn’t get to leave Sanctuary until later than he would have preferred, but he figured he would stop for the night at the Abernathy place and make it to the new site in the morning. The Abernathy’s usually had a bed or two available.

They had built their house around the base of a power transmission tower, using the metal skeleton as a framework to attach their walls to. So their house was a little ramshackle, and the metal structure continued out the roof, leaving a few holes to deal with when it rained. The power cables had been broken long ago, likely when the bombs dropped, so they just hung from the connection points, not quite down to the level of the roof.

Juan was a little surprised when coming over the ridge that over looked the farm on the East side, he could see them working in the back field, and a couple more people working in the front. On second thought, he was sure that the person in the front field was standing in some kind of improvised security post.

Right in front of the house, the Abernathy’s had laid out part of their garden area. The ground was mostly flat for a good 30-40 feet in front, then dropped into a slope, about 20 degrees, ran for about 20 feet and mainly flattened out. They had the advantage of building on what had been cleared for the massive power line towers, so there were no stumps for them to deal with.

The space for the house was about a hundred feet across, before the obvious signs of clearing stopped. There was a forest on the West-SouthWest side, continuing down the slope that the ridge, to the East-NorthEast of the property, started. The original powerlines had run in a NorthWest to SouthEast direction at this point.

Juan made his approach to the farm obvious, no reason to make the new people nervous. He knew the one standing in the guard post spotted him as soon as he started coming down the slope. Juan watched them give a shout to the other person working out front. It must have been loud enough for the Lucy to hear, as Juan saw her head come up, and take a look up the ridge.

He could tell she recognized him, certainly not the first time he had worn the power armour out this way. She gave a big wave and moved toward the front of the house. As he got closer, he could see Blake and Connie were finishing up collecting from the melon patch in the back.

As he approached the house, Juan could see it was a man working the front field, where the tatoes were, and a woman that was standing guard. She was wearing a few pieces of leather armour over her clothes ... better than nothing Juan supposed. The guy was wearing a one piece, probably a mechanic’s overalls, no apparent armour there.

Juan could see them both relax as Lucy came up to him with a welcoming grin, when she spoke his name, and asked if he was going to be staying awhile, they went back to what they had been doing.

Juan stopped a few feet from Lucy and removed the power armour helmet. He could hear just fine, but he wanted the new people to know who he was, and see his face. He gave Lucy a smile when the helmet first came off, then nodded in the direction of the new people.

“What gives?”

“That is Tammy on guard and Ron harvesting. Mom has known them for a while from Diamond City, and a week or so ago, Ron asked if she was interested in having him and Tammy come up to live here and help with the farm? Mom decided to take them up on it, figuring safety in numbers right? Besides, with their help, we can harvest and take more to market.”

Juan gave them a look over and could immediately see that Ron at least knew how to work the plants, and Tammy certainly looked like she knew how to use the hunting rifle she carried. He thought it was a great idea. He had been concerned with there only being the 3 of them here. He hadn’t seen any signs of the Deathclaws in these areas, but lots of signs of ghouls, super mutants, raiders ... not to mention the usual collection of mutated wildlife that would happily feed on humans.

“Nice, I have to tell you Lucy, I was a bit concerned about your guys situation here. I think maybe I will speak to your mother and father, and see if they would be willing to really expand. If there were 15 to 20 living here, it would really make raiders think twice. Maybe I could see about setting up some automated turrets for you guys as well, just to add some more teeth to the defense.”

Juan could see that the idea appealed to Lucy. Damn did she look tasty. The smudge of dirt on her left cheek, just added to the cuteness factor. Juan could feel his cock start to swell. He quickly looked around to try and distract himself. It didn’t help when he took a better look at Tammy and realized that she was stacked.

The bulky jacket did hide some of her features, but Juan could tell that she was a little thick, but in all the right places. She looked back over her shoulder while he was looking at her and Juan upgraded his opinion, she was hot.

Juan took a quick look at Ron and had to hide a smile. Right now, Ron was on his hands and knees, harvesting a row of carrots. He had stayed focused on working, after initially seeing how Lucy reacted to the guy in the power armour. Juan quickly moved his eyes back to tammy, to find her still looking at him, but with a slight smile, before she turned back and continued her guarding.

Ok, That didn’t help, Juan realized. He quickly realized that he really should have gone looking for Marcy before heading out today. He figured he better go find Connie before his frustration really starts to build.

Juan left Lucy and headed around the back of the farm. He found Connie putting tools away in a box near the back wall of the house. She certainly looked like she had been working in the fields for most of the day, with mud on both of her knees.

The noise of the power armour ensured that she heard as soon as he came around the corner of the house. So she was looking his way when Juan saw her.

“Well, hello there neighbour. A little late to be wandering around these hills, isn’t it?”

“Hello Connie, yeah, I got a late start out of Sanctuary. I am heading to a spot Preston’s contacts have located. Out near the dam to the west. Not sure what to make of the information, I have not been out that way since I ... woke. I know there used to be a historical spot out near there, Walden something, don’t remember.”

“So this is just a passing visit then?”

“No, I had been thinking of asking to use a bed for the night, and continue in the morning, but I see you have taken on some more people here. I was a bit surprised, what made you decide to do that?”

Connie was smiling now, moving closer to Juan. With his height, especially in the armour, she had to tilt her head a bit to keep eye contact.

“Well, I remember what you said, the first time you came. So I have been keeping my eyes and ears open at the Diamond City market mainly, but other places too, for others, that would are up for sharing the work and responsibility to work a farm.”

“I know you have some space inside, but how many are you going to try and get to come here?”

“Well, I think that if we had 15 to 20 at least, that would be more than most raiders would be willing to take on, especially if we had decent weapons and armour.”

Juan considered what she had just said, seeing how those numbers would be a good deterrent for a lot of the problems, and a decent number for defending against the other problems that wouldn’t be intimidated.

“That sounds like a plan. I will be heading out in the morning, but when I am done, I will be back this way. I will drop by for a while, maybe help you get some shelter set up for new people. Maybe get a few defenses, and more guard posts set up. I will keep an eye out for any components that could help with that. Working with Preston, and the Minutemen, we have been using beacons, to try and draw people that might be out there alone, or in small groups, to come join the settlements. Give some thought to whether you would like me to set one up here.”

Connie gave him a warm smile, “Sounds interesting, I’ll find you later to talk about it some more.”

Juan confirmed with her that no one was actually using the small trailer behind the house, and explained he would sleep there. Connie was leery of his staying there, the trailer was a good 200’ behind the back wall of their farm.

Juan assured her that he would be fine, he would use the armour as a kind of blockage for the door. He moved off to the trailer, it was empty of any visitors when he got there. He dropped his pack there, and did a short recon around that end of the fields, he only found a couple of the odd deer he had seen before. They ran as soon as they noticed him.

He was under the next powerline tower in the row, to the north of the Abernathy farm, and noticed some movement across the small ravine just to the north of him. He stayed still and gave the opposing slope a good look. He was able to make out what looked to be 3-5 people moving around the base of the next powerline tower.

They did not seem to be moving anywhere, just setting up a camp. He made a mental note to take a look into them in the near future, they were entirely too close to the Abernathy’s, and the small creek that ran at the bottom of the ravine, originated in the lake to the West of Sanctuary.

He made sure that they had not noticed him, then moved back toward the trailer. He parked the armour just inside the doorway, preventing anyone else from being able to come inside. He had a couple candles with him, and took only a few seconds to set them up. It was still warm out in the evening, so he had stripped down to a tshirt and jeans, stacking the combat armour he had taken to wearing under the power armour.

He had already laid out his bedroll, just a sleeping bag unzipped, no need for sheets or anything more yet. He had moved a box over to beside his ‘bed’, for an improvised table.

“Hey there, how the hell do you open this ‘door’?”

Juan turned at the voice and found Connie standing outside with a covered plate in her hands, and jug of something hanging off one arm.

“Connie, you are a welcome surprise I see. Give me a minute to open my door.”

Juan stepped into the armour and shifted it a step to the left. He waited for Connie to step into the trailer, moved it back, and then exited it again.

“I know you must have packed some food for the trip, but I figured while you were here, I could at least save you some, and let you have some fresh stew. Radroach and deer for meat, tatoes, corn and carrots to fill it out. I have had it simmering for most of the day. Hope you like it.”

She took the covering off the plate as she spoke and the aroma was very good. She set it down on his table and set the jug on the floor beside it.

“I have already had my supper, so you go ahead and finish that off. When you are done, I will take the plate and jug back to the house.” She sat down on the end of his bedroll, leaning back against the wall.

Juan sat on the bedroll, and tried her stew. She was a good cook, the flavour was fantastic. The jug turned out to be cold apple juice, not refrigerator cold of course, but pleasantly cool.

A few minutes later, and he was finished. Juan had not realized how hungry he had become. As he leaned back against the wall himself, it took a second for him to realize that his cock was mostly hard, stretching across the front of his crotch, making a very significant bulge. It was reacting to something.

He looked over at Connie, and saw her eyes locked onto his crotch, no way she could not see he was getting more aroused. Juan noticed a musky scent in the air, familiar ... it made his cock twitch, as more blood flowed in, making it feel very cramped in his pants right now.

Ah ... that would explain his growing lust. Whether she had always wanted him, or just being in closed, close proximity to him had accelerated it, she was horny now ... and she wanted him.

Juan reached down and opened the button on the top of his pants, his eyes never leaving her face. She did not move or react, other than her eyes snapping to his hands and what they were doing.

He slid down the zipper, his cock forming an obvious bulge under his hand. He could hear Connie’s breathing now. He noticed that she had one hand balled into a fist and was forcefully rubbing it into the crotch of her coveralls.

Juan stood up, his pants hanging open. She still did nothing but look. Juan was able to more easily reach into his pants, and fish out his mostly hard cock. It only took a few strokes, her eyes locked to the shaft of flesh sticking out of his crotch, for him to get fully hard.

Her eyes were wide open at finally seeing his massive cock in all it’s glory. Connie had been attracted to Juan since the first day he came by the farm. She had not given him much thought, other than the original appreciative look. But as he came back, either passing through or to talk with her or Blake, for trading purposes, she had become more and more fascinated with him.

His killing of the bandits that had killed her oldest daughter, had certainly made her like him even more. It was his returning of the necklace the bandits had taken from her daughter that really made her realize how attracted to him she was.