Chapter 1 – Slice of Heaven
Constantine walked through the street, police baton on his belt, 10mm pistol in his hands. He was wearing the armor of the security guards of the vault. To his right, a destroyed car, to his left, the mountain that hid the vault. Ahead of him was a group of near collapsed buildings that looked like they were once a small city.
He saw a sign in the corner of his eye, it said 'Welcome to Springvale' which he assumed was the name of the ruined city. He stopped before going forward, thinking he heard something. When he didn't hear anything he continued walking forward.
He looked to the first building to his left, its walls still stood, holding its roof up. He headed to the door, still watching the other houses as well. He entered aiming his pistol, turning left, then right. It was empty inside, only a few things inside that wouldn't be mistaken for rubble.
He started to walk to the building next to the one he was in when he heard, and saw, a tin can get kicked along the road. He immediately ran to cover, making sure to not make any noise as he did. He looked at the street to see who was coming, and took careful note of his first sight of society outside the vault.
A man, clearly in his thirties; his features hidden behind a pair of sunglasses and a hat. He was dragging a woman along as he walked. The woman was young, barely into her twenties. He threw her into the middle of the street; she let out a small scream, both of anger and frustration.
"Well now, Miss you have been sighted in the close vicinity of the raiders of Springvale elementary. These raiders showed no sign of hostility and seemed to have accepted you. The only logical explanation for this seems to be that you, yourself are a raider." The woman only gave a grunt in return. The man pulled her up so that she was on her knees.
"No real response? Then you are a raider. Tell me friend, do you know what happens to raiders?" The woman looked up at him, then spat, landing on his sunglasses. The man looked down at her, a grin crossing his face. Removing his sunglasses he crouched down. He cupped her face in his hand.
"Shame, with a face like yours, you could have made an excellent whore." The man stood up and drew his .45 pistol; he pointed it at her head. He looked like he was doing his best not to take her head off before finishing his conversation with her.
"Now Miss tell me, do you have a god to pray to?" The woman looked up at him, a twinge of fear evident in her eyes.
"Yes" He looked like he was taken aback by her answer. Constantine knew that the bombs had fallen, but he didn't think religion would be so diminished. It seemed to survive and thrive despite whatever happened in the world. Apparently not even religion could thrive in this situation. The man nodded and watched the woman begin to pray. He looked like he was stifling some laughter, like he found the sight amusing.
"You are going to die now." He spoke with no emotion in his voice. "The wasteland will forget that you ever existed." The raider looked back up at him a look of desperation on her face.
"Please let me go, I was never with them I swear. Please let me live." The raider screamed at him. The man shook his head then aimed his pistol back at her head.
"You had a chance to save yourself through prayer. Now you're lying to me. That's a sin right there." The woman was about to speak up before she was cut short by the gunshot. Her lifeless body fell to the ground. The man finally let his laugh out.
Constantine watched as the man kept laughing, was this some type of sadism, or was this his amusement of the belief in religion? It didn't matter as the man grabbed the woman's left hand and cut of the index finger before pocketing it. He didn't care to ask as he tried to escape in the opposite direction. He didn't get far before he was stopped by a trio of heavily armed people.
One of them smiled as he moved to aim his assault rifle at Constantine. It would be the last move he made as Constantine aimed his gun at him. Thoughts raced through his head.
Wind speed? Negligible. Distance? Negligible. Strength of footing? Near negligible. Chance of collapse? Near guaranteed. Chance of approach by other people within earshot? Not enough knowledge of areas inhabitants, unknown outcome. Chance of death if no action is taken? 96.8 percent, guaranteed. Chance of survival if action is taken without assistance? 13.7 percent, unlikely.
He decided what he would do and fired. The bullet flew out of the barrel and straight into the neck of the person who was aiming at him. He didn't react fast enough and only started firing too late. The bullets barely missed Constantine as he fell flat on his ass from the recoil. He crawled into cover as the other two opened fire on him with their assault rifles.
He looked around to see if he could sneak away while they shot at him. No way to do that without getting shot. He looked to the door, maybe he could run fast enough to it?
Before he could test that theory the man from before was standing at the door and aiming his gun. But instead of aiming it at him he was aiming at the people shooting at him. The man fired, and the rest of the shooting stopped as the man got behind cover. Constantine got up and fired at the last person, this time his bullet ripped through his skull.
He fell back, the recoil knocking him on his ass again. He holstered his gun as he got up while watching the man from before come out from his cover. He took a glance at Constantine before walking over to the people who attacked him.
"Don't suppose you have a name? Or a name for them?" Constantine asked the man. He watched as the man cut off the left index fingers of each of the corpses.
"You can call me Red Harlem, you can call these guys raiders, and you now own two new guns, two whole magazines for those guns, 10 caps and two things you can sell for an extra 20. Oh, and you also have some armor but you're gonna have to pull that off of those bodies, 'cause I'm not doing it" Red Harlem said, gesturing to the bodies, then throwing him the assault rifles, the ammo, 10 caps and finally two fingers.
"Why would caps be valuable and why did you throw two fingers at me!?" Constantine asked, a look of disgust on his face. He threw fingers at him! Why?
"Well the caps thing should be obvi-" Harlem stopped talking when he saw the large 101 on his clothes. He blinked twice before realization set in.
"Oh you're one of those vault guys. Well don't expect me to tell you everything about the Wasteland, I ain't no damn tour guide" he said. "But I can take you to the nearest settlement"
"Thank you, I don't know anything about this place, I really need the help" Constantine responded as he followed Harlem. "So what's this place called?" he asked Harlem.
"Megaton, and all other questions can be answered by Lucas Simms, the sheriff and unofficial mayor" Harlem answered as they exited Springvale. They walked up a hill and approached a large structure made of debris.
"Welcome, to, Megaton. Friendliest, town, around" an electronic voice said. Constantine looked to where it came from and saw a robot standing there.
"Well you heard Deputy Weld, welcome to Megaton" Harlem said as they walked through the gate. The gates of Megaton slowly whirred to life and screeched open.
"Wait this place is built around a bomb!?" Constantine near shouted when he saw the bomb in the middle of the town. Harlem ignored the comment and pointed out a man who looked like he was in charge. Constantine looked at him as Harlem started talking to him.
"Simms, I found this vaultie out in Springvale, dumb-ass almost got himself killed." Harlem then handed Simms the fingers he had gained from the raiders he had killed. Simms looked over at Constantine.
"Name's Lucas Simms, I'm town sheriff. I see you got acquainted with Harlem. Welcome to Megaton, it's been a long time since one of you lot came here."
"My name is Constantine, thank you for welcoming me here." Constantine replied. Constantine spent some time asking for directions and whatever Harlem didn't tell him, specifically the importance of caps and why he gave Simms the fingers. Most of his questions were answered simply and many were met by Harlem's laughter.
Constantine spoke with Simms until Harlem started speaking with Simms. A lot of the things being spoken between them involved raiders and wildlife. Then a name popped up, 'Mr Burke'.
When the name came up, Simms looked exasperated. "Harlem, I know you don't trust the man. I admit I don't either, but he hasn't done anything wrong. In fact he has been paying us very well to have a home here. Now that is the last I want to hear of this." Simms said.
Constantine walked away, the people offered little in the way of information on his father, when he came into the general store however he was greeted by an overly happy woman who introduced herself as Moira. She told him that the best way to find information on where his father went would be Colin Moriarty.
When Constantine opened the door of the saloon where he was greeted by the smell of rancid food and strong alcohol. One sight in particular threw him off, a man walked around but he looked like a corpse. Swallowing the small amount of vomit in his mouth, he walked towards the man and as politely asked where Colin Moriarty was.
"He's in the back, handling some business. You won't be able to see him yet smooth-skin." Constantine nodded and was about to walk out when he noticed a man beckoning him over. Constantine walked over and sat in the chair next to him.
The man began to speak, "You my friend, look like a man with great potential. I have a way to help you reach your potential. Look around you, this settlement if you could call it that, is a blight on the world. My employer, a Mr Tenpenny recognizes this and wants me to. Get rid of it." Constantine felt uncomfortable around this Burke. The man exuded malevolence and he was powerful. Constantine could tell he was powerful.
Constantine breathed before speaking. "What do I get in return?"
Burke smiled and pushed his glasses further into his face, "You my friend, get all the luxuries Tenpenny tower can afford and a sizable sum in caps." Mr Burke must have noticed Constantine's hesitation; he grinned and pulled a small device out of his bag.
"All you have to do is place this on the bomb, then come to Tenpenny tower to trigger the bomb." Constantine took the device from Burke and walked out of the saloon. He looked over at the bomb, there were people gathering around it. They seemed to be listening to a man in little more than rags.
Curiosity took over and Constantine walked to the man, staying far enough away from the man to avoid the radiation. "Excuse me sir, what are you talking about?" The man stopped his preaching and looked back at Constantine.
"Why I am talking about the god Atom, Child. He who destroyed our world to create us anew. When he speaks the skies boom, and when he walks, the world cracks. I am the leader of the church of Atom. We recognize his power and wish to venerate him. Constantine took a small glance at the bomb behind the preacher.
"You realize that you are worshiping a weapon right?" The man looked back at him with a look of disgust crossing his face.
"You dare say that our lord Atom is an invention of man? Such blasphemy! Our lord wants to make us perfect and yet you call him a weapon!?" The preacher was seething and Constantine weighed up his chances of survival. The man is old and most likely weak, I could probably beat him. But the rest of the town is another question. Everyone here has a weapon that they could bring on me before I have a chance to run.
"If you can only see Atom as a weapon then you do not deserve his blessing! You do not deserve to be atomized!" The preacher revealed a small revolver and aimed it at Constantine. A gun being aimed at his head stopped him.
"Now Cromwell, our friend here is a newcomer to the wasteland. Now cut him some slack and go back to your preaching." Cromwell put his gun away and walked back to the bomb. Constantine looked over and saw Lucas Simms standing over him offering help.
After allowing Simms to be help him up, Constantine spoke up. "Sheriff, there is this man, up in the saloon; he asked me to detonate the bomb." He handed Simms the trigger, Simms had a brief look at the device then nodded.
"Come along boy, you are about to receive a lesson in wasteland justice." Simms said before cocking his rifle and running towards the saloon. Constantine ran along as well his pistol readied with him. Just outside the saloons door, Simms slowed down and opened the door carefully. Burke was still in the same spot as before but a flash of anger appeared in his eyes when he saw the Sheriff.
"All right Burke, I know what you are up to."
"Why sheriff, I have no idea what you mean"
"Enough Burke. I am taking you in, and you will come along peacefully."
Mr Burke sighed, "Very well sheriff. Lead the way."
Simms and Burke had begun to walk out when Burke pulled out a pistol. Constantine took aim at Burke. Burke stopped and looked over at Constantine. "You could have had so much potential."
"Thanks friend, I guess age is getting to me now. I'll take Burke in, but you; I hear you people in the vaults are knowledgeable in science. If you could help Harlem defuse that bomb I can make it worth your while." Constantine nodded and walked towards the town center, Harlem was standing there now, he looked like he was deep in thought.
"Hey Harlem, Simms wants me to help you defuse this bomb. What do you need help with?" Harlem sighed and looked back over at Constantine, "I can defuse the bomb, but unfortunately I don't know what the effects of disarming it could do. As far as I know it could cause all the radiation to leak out and either kill us all; or turn us into Ghouls. I would rather avoid that."
Constantine had a brief look over the bomb and grinned. "Well the bomb is in good shape, so disarming it won't do anything bad." Constantine looked over at Harlem who seemed to not believe him. After a moment he nodded and crouched down at the bomb and began pulling wires and cutting. A moment later he stood back up with a small smile.
"Well that's the end of that. Maybe those psychos over there will stop worshiping the damn thing now. Well friend, you have earned a reward, sadly though it"s not my place to say, but go see Simms and I'm sure he will have something for you. Then after that, come see me. I think I can help you find your dear pa."
After a brief discussion with Simms, Constantine gained one hundred caps and a deed to a house. Harlem's comment however, stuck with him. He looks like he can handle himself and I know I need help out here. Maybe I should at least hear him out. He does know about my father.
Constantine walked over to Harlem. "Seems like you want help. Well kid, I'm happy to help you but first we have a goal in mind. I want Tenpenny to pay for what he tried to do. You help me kill him, and I will help you find your father. Deal?"
"Deal."
Harlem nodded, "I have already found someone who can help us get there. His name is Jericho, don't let him fool you. He's an ex-raider and is downright amoral even now. I warn you kid, there is every chance he will turn on us if he gets the chance."
Constantine nodded "All right then, let's get moving. We have little time until night and I would rather not be caught out there with the Deathclaws."
Author's Note: Well this is Chapter 1. No more is going to be written unless it gets at least one review. Something I think I should have mentioned earlier is that this story is a collaboration, so both me and another person are working together to write this, however they won't write anymore if nobody is reading it. So yeah, if you like it review. I'll stop rambling now.