Chapter 1
The sound of makeshift light bulbs flickering through the wasteland night, the generators running in the distance, and the rain hitting makeshift patches on the roof was no match for the laughter coming from one of the houses in Sanctuary Hills. Inside were a bunch of friends, savoring some Nuka-Cola and telling stories.
"I'm not bullshitting, Nora literally picked up her Farman and loaded the Mini Nuke that she carved 'Have a Nice Day' on and sent it straight into a group of Raiders." His grin shining in the light just as much as his sunglasses. Deacon always knew how to put a good twist on a story, whether or not it was true.
"And, and," Nora said, pretending that wipe away a tear, "they didn't even have time to react. They had power armor and a goddamn grenade launcher just a few feet away!"
"They didn't even know we were there!" Deacon added.
"Christ, that's one rude awakening! I can just imagine them sleeping soundly and just all of a sudden a fucking mini nuke goes off," Hancock chuckled, almost choking on his beer.
"I've heard of using the shadows to your tactical advantage, but launching a mini nuke from the shadows takes that kind of thinking to a whole other level," Danse said covering his mouth, trying to contain his giggles.
"So there is a sense of humor underneath all of that soldier seriousness we know and love," Mccready said with a smirk.
"If you guys think that was fun, wait till I tell you about the time when we went to go check out the old Museum of Witchcraft." Deacon leaned in and rubbed his hands together as if he was about to enjoy a meal.
"Do go on!" Nora said she knew it was about to get rich. But that's when they heard a quiet knocking at the door. An awkward silence fell throughout the room, "I got it," Nora volunteered. The sparkling dress she was wearing fluttered as she walked by Mccready who snuck a peek at what was underneath. Nora turned around and gave him a quick smile before opening the door. It was little Shaun.
"Hey, mom." He said, rubbing his right eye.
"Hey Shaun, what's a matter sweetie? Can't sleep?"
"I had a nightmare," Shaun said, rubbing his eye. His forehead was sweaty and he had a terrified look in his eye.
"Come on hun, I'll tuck you in," Nora said, she lifted him up in her arms. He snuggled up against her shoulder and closed his eyes.
"Sorry guys, we'll have to continue this some other time. I had fun though!" Nora said, being a mother and the General of the Minutemen, the Railroad's Secret Weapon, and the Sentinel for the Brotherhood of Steel was so time consuming that it was hard for her to get everybody together like this. When she did, it was almost too much fun, to the point where it sucked when duty called.
"Hey, don't worry about it pal. We'll finish this up another time," Deacon said, he stood up and finished off the last bit of his Nuka-Cola.
"Don't worry about us princess, you just get little Shaun to bed and get some rest yourself. We can clean up," Mccready said, smiling to reassure her that it was no big deal.
"Thanks, MacCready, see you later," Nora said, smiling as she shut the door.
Shaun snuggled closer to Nora as she opened the door to his room. It was the house that she had planned to live in before the war, it was her last memory. White picket fences, green grass, Nate sipping coffee, Nate watching television, Nate kissing her on the forehead and holding her so close she felt safe during a war with the threat of an outcome that she'd been living. Now it looks as best as it can in post-apocalyptic Sanctuary Hills. The fences as fixed as she could get them, debris and clutter cleaned to a degree, and as many holes in the roof she could patch up. Home sweet home.
She tucked Shaun in, tightly as she could, so he'd feel safe from the nightmares that have been plaguing him the past few weeks.
"There you go Shaun, comfy?"
"Mother, it happened again. You didn't come back and I was worried. I was so worried."
"Oh Shaun, didn't you know? I'm a superhero, practically invincible. I'm not going anywhere." Nora leaned in and kissed his forehead, rubbing it in with her thumb so her love stayed there longer. "Goodnight, no more bad dreams, ok?"
"Wait, can you stay with me? Just until I fall asleep? I'll be quick, I promise," Shaun pleaded.
"Sure Shaun," Nora said with a sigh. She laid back in her chair, resting her head on her hand and watched her little boy doze off. Soon, her eyes began to wander, she looked at all the things in his room. Some were Shaun's original toys, his little toy car and baby rattle survived.
She carefully leaned over and, without making a sound, picked up the little toy car. All of a sudden, she was back home. Her real home, where her heart was, with Nate and giggling little Shaun. His little hand, soft and tight around her index finger. His little grip went right to the sole.
Her eyes filled up with tears. She put down the toy car as fast as she could, pushing the memory out of her mind. No, she thought, I can't keep thinking about the past. It's gone and there's nothing that could bring it back. It was like a big brick wall was blocking that realization. No matter what the cold hard truth was, it was the same flashbacks that haunted her.
The blaring, horrible sound snapped Nora awake. Her neck cracked as the sudden realization that she had fallen asleep in the chair next to Shaun's bed hit her like a freight train. Shaun woke up with a fright.
"Mom, what's going on?"
"I don't know baby, Hold on, it'll be ok," Nora said, pushing herself up. She rushed to the window and saw Maccready taking cover behind a house. Sanctuary Hills was under attack. "Shaun, get anything valuable. That you absolutely need, now!" Shaun's face squished into worry. He jumped out of bed and threw on his shirt and pants.
"All set mom, what now?" Shaun asked. Without a word, a heavily armored, vault suit wearing Nora grabbed Shaun's hand and ran out the front door. They were immediately under fire. MacCready began laying down covering fire, as the two sprinted over to Garvey and the other settlers they had taken in.
"Preston, what the hell is going on!?" Nora shouted. It was hard to hear over the constant machine gun fire.
"A vertibird came in, it looked like one of the Brotherhood's until they started shooting at us!" Preston gritted his teeth, even the safest of places can never be fully prepared for a surprise attack.
"Crap!" MacCready screamed from back behind his cover position. Nora snapped her attention over to him, he was down and holding his side.
"Shit," Nora slammed her fist against the house in anger, MacCready was hit and usually when Macready gets hit they're in for a tough fight. She turned and looked at the settlers she had taken under her wing, they needed to get out of the way, somewhere safe. "Preston, get these people and my son over to Vault 111. You send them down there until I give the all clear."
"Yes, general," he said. Preston was upset, about something. Nora could tell, maybe it was because this whole situation was a little too familiar for him to ignore.
"Mom, I told you I can handle myself!" Shaun yelled.
"Shaun, this is not the time. Hun, I need you safe, just go. It'll be ok," Nora said, she gave him one last kiss before one of the settlers dragged him away up the mountain. She blew him one last kiss as she watched them cross the river. Then, it was game time. How could anyone be so stupid as to walk and attack her main base of operations and expect to win with one vertibird and, if she were to guess, a hand full of soldiers then they are gonna get one hell of a surprise. As she adjusted her combat helmet, she got a little reminder of how stiff everything felt. Regretting falling asleep in that chair, she picked up her Heavy Automatic Assault Rifle and peered around the corner. She counted 4 troops, couldn't tell which faction, one in a suit of power armor and the rest basically either naked or armored up. She took the safety off and went in guns a-blazing. Focusing on the guy in power armor who thought he was tough, she charged forward. With a bang, his helmet shattered into pieces and blood shot everywhere. His eyes were red, even from where Nora was standing.
"I can't see!" He shouted, staggering backward in pain. Nora's perfect moment to attack, she took several frag grenades and tossed them into the air, they landed straight into the 4 man group, killing all in one giant explosion. Putting away her gun, she rushed over to Maccready who was sitting against the house he was using as cover.
"You know, I keep forgetting how fricken dangerous you are, until little reminders like that hit me with brute force," Maccready said, attempting to lighten the mood. Nora looked down at his wound, his green coat had been completely soaked through already. She dropped down to her knees and pulled out her backpack. She grabbed a couple stimpacks and jabbed one into his arm. "Ow," Maccready winced and held his side tighter, "little… warning next time?"
"Where's the fun in that?" Nora chuckled, "Where are all the others?"
"Spread to the fucki-, ugh, spread out to the winds. That vertibird surprised us," MacCready started slurring his speech, "but… the amount of gun fire I hear tells me… at least they're close," MacCready said. His head felt like it could roll off at any time. He was losing too much blood. Nora gritted her teeth. She didn't have a doctor on sight. One of the Minutemen settlements was attacked and one of the settlers had been injured. Nora had instructed Curie to stay and help out, but now she was regretting it. Her job was to protect and help the people of the Commonwealth and help them out any way she could. The whole General of The Minuteman job was in the description. That settler wasn't as bad as MacCready was right now.
"Ah shit, MacCready, look at me, alright?" Nora said, lifting up his drooping head, "I can't lose you, I won't. Stay with me."
"Wouldn't dream of running out on you," MacCready winced. It was like a sea of black was slowly rising in his vision. Nora seized a blood pack and hooked MacCready up to it, 50 liters of blood began pumping into his system.
"You're so lucky I'm such a great scavver," Nora smirked.
"You're right… I am. Feeling better already."
"I gotta get back out there, get rid of these bastards and teach them a lesson," Nora said. She zipped her backpack up and pulled out her gun.
"Nora, wait," MacCready said. He stood up, ignoring his body's instant plead to sit back down and the complete threat of passing out, MacCready pulled Nora into a kiss. He held it for as long as he could until it was impossible to stand any longer. He lost his balance and leaned on Nora as she helped him back down. Maccready refused to let of her hand and pulled her in close. "Be careful, I don't know if I could handle losing you. Don't do something stupid," Maccready whispered.
"I'm always careful," Nora kissed his forehead, "I love you." It took every ounce of strength to pull herself away. Maccready was hurt and it turned her stomach as she sprinted away. But, turning back wasn't an option. This place was to important to lose. In the distance, Nora spotted a familiar red hat and matching colonial coat and a someone in combat armor. They were fighting together.
"Oh, this is rich," Nora said to herself, "the fun I'm gonna have with these two once this is done," Nora said, chuckling at her own imagination. She ran straight into the fight. "Hey, guys," Nora said as she gunned down a guy, "What did I miss?"
"Not much, you know, another day in the commonwealth," Hancock replied.
"Someone should definitely," Nora pulled her old friend Kellogg's Pistol out and cleared more of them out, "Put that in the brochure for this place. "Come see the great historical Salem Museum of Witchcraft and the great terrifying deathclaw avenging the eggs that were stolen from his nest," she threw a couple frag grenades as more of a Hail Mary shot than a tactical decision. Nora was starting to have a little bit of fun. "And, when you've gotten enough salem history for the next three generations of your family, stop by the Slocums Joe," Nora switched back to her automatic weapon and started an ol' spray-n-pray, "where they serve government secrets and Gen 1 Synths for breakfast!"
"You two are ridiculous!" Danse yelled from across the street.
"He's right, I'm running out of people to shoot and the amount of fun your having is on a timer. It's like being high on psycho."
"Ain't that the truth," Nora said, pointing out the last surviving soldier. "Hey asshole, stand down or you're gonna turn into a bad batch of Blamco Mac'n'Cheese!"
"Are you feeling me? Because, in order to get the full picture, you gotta look around. All your friends seem to be very very dead." Hancock said, motioning to the complete carnage all around him. Surely enough, the guy came out, unarmed, with his hands in the air.