Jason and Sal had always been best friends since before they could remember, they both grew up in the vault, but one day, their perfect little world would be turned inside out when the vault had a catastrophic sub system failure and Jason and Sal were they only ones left alive, they had managed to use each other's skills to navigate to the vault entrance and kill a few overgrown rad roaches along the way.
They didn't know what life on the outside would be like, but they never expected it to be like this, but they were prepared, when they were younger they were different to all of the other kids in the vault's orphanage, they knew that someday they would no longer be cooped up in the vault, and when they had a chance, they seized it.
Finally at vault 101's entrance the atomic sunlight burned their eyes, but they soon became adjust to it.
"Jesus it's a shit hole out here." Said Jason.
"But at least we're alive." Said Sal.
"Look, we don't know how it works out here so our best bet is to find some form of civilization, somewhere to keep safe, check your pip-boy, and I'll do an inventory check to see how long our rations will last." Said Jason.
The two got to working on their different jobs, when Sal's pip-boy found something.
"MY pip-boy has gotten into a local data archive about a mile that way." As she pointed in the distance.
"It says it's from a town called Megaton." She finished.
"Well that's our best bet, send the co-ordinates to my pip-boy, and we'll head there now." Said Jason.
"I linked my pip-boy to your when we were going through the overseer's emergency escape route, and how much food and water do we have left?" asked Sal.
"We have enough for a couple of days, but I don't know whether that will depend on the heat, probably not long if it's like this." Said Jason.
"Either way we really need to get going." Confirmed Sal, and they walked towards the location their wrist mounted computers had told them was Megaton, in hopes that they would find a safe haven among the destroyed wasteland, and after five minutes of walking they saw a giant fortress as they came over a hill, with a big sign next to is saying 'Megaton'.
"I'm not sure if it's still in use." Said Sal.
"It is, I can see a sniper on the perch above the gates, we're in luck." Said Jason.
As they neared a funny looking robot in a cowboy get up came live, "Evenin' partner, looking for a drink? Try Moriarty's Saloon."
"Holy shit!" said Sal.
"Make you jump?" asked Jason sarcastically.
"Yeah, just a little bit." Replied Sal.
The gates to Megaton opened in an unusual fashion, they were lifted by a giant spinning engine, they took this as a prompting that they could enter the settlement, and once inside they were met by another man dressed as a cowboy.
"Greetings, name's Lucas Simms, town sheriff, and Mayor too when the need arises, now what do I owe you the pleasure off?" he asked in a well mannered tone.
"Hi, we've just come out of the vault on the hill, place is a mess, I'm surprised we've made it this far, are we safe here?" asked Jason.
"Son, no one's safe in this wasteland, but you're a lot better off in here than out there." Said Simms.
"Is there any place we can stay? We'll work for it." Said Sal.
"Young lady, I wish I could offer you space but there simply is none, apart from that house up there, but we can't give that to anyone, the other refugees would riot, no that house is still to be earnt by anyone who can disarm the bomb in the town's center. " said Simms.
Jason's face lit up, as he was a bit of a demolitions expert, "I can disarm that!" he yelled.
"Hey keep your voice down, we're a nice calm settlement here, we like to keep the peace when we can." Said Simms.
"Sorry, yeah, I can disarm that, if I do, will you give us that house?" asked Jason.
"We'll by the interest of the public I'd have to, but you gotta disarm that nasty thing down there first." Said Simms.
"I got this, I'll be back in a minute." Said Jason.
"Now boy, don't go fiddling with anything you don't know about, don't go blowing us up now." Said Simms as Jason walked down the hill to the bomb.
"I agree with the cowboy." Said Sal quietly.
About a half hour later Jason had done it, he had disengaged the explosive primer and taken the reaction agent out, making it impossible to blow it up, he turned to Sal, "Time to go get our house." He said arrogantly.
Simms walked up to them, and Jason held up the primer, "I'll be damned, you actually did it, didn't you?" he asked.
"Yeah, it was a lot tougher than I thought though, so about that house?" said Jason.
"I'd be glad to give it to you." Said Simms as he pulled a pair of keys out of his inner coat pocket.
"The place only has basic stuff though, you might want to go and see Moira, be careful though, she's got a few screws lose." He continued.
"I'm sure we will have a look." Said Sal.
"Oh and I forgot to ask, you two seem pretty close, are you?" he said awkwardly.
"Oh well actually." Said Sal before Jason but in.
"Yes we are." He said as he pulled her in close and hugged her from behind, which made Sal smile ridiculously.
"Ok, well I'll leave you to enjoy your new home." Said Simms as he left.
"So what was all that about?" asked Sal.
"I saw you smiling, don't say you don't want to be." He said
"You got me pinned." She said.
"Anyway, let's check our home out." Said Jason as he put the key in the door, and as soon as he opened it another robot came to life.
"Hello sir, I am Wadsworth, your new robotic butler." Which startled the two.
"Madam." He regarded Sal as she walked through.
"Is he going to be on all the time?" asked Sal.
"Don't worry masters, when you want some private time, all you have to do is tell me to shut down and I will until re-awoken." He said.
"And how do we re-awake you?" asked Jason.
"You simply pull the lever across my main function panel, and that will start my systems." Said Wadsworth.
"Interesting, what kinds of things can you do as our butler?" asked Sal.
"I can offer you a variety of information in my databanks, I can purchase items for your house, provided you give me sufficient funding." He said.
"And what is the currency?" asked Sal.
"Well after the bombs fell and you were all scurried into your little vaults, the world went down the drain, as it were, and now the wasteland relies on bottle caps as a reliable source of funding."
"Thank you Wadsworth, shut down for now." Said Jason.
"Time to go see Moira?" asked Sal.
"I don't know, we should probably find work, and better equipment for now, as that sheriff only gave me one hundred caps for disarming the bomb, I'm not sure how much that'll get us, but I guess it couldn't hurt to go and see the nut job." Said Jason.
"Don't be mean, I'm sure many people could go insane living in this world." Said Sal.
"Well I guess we'll find out, come on." Said Jason as they left to go to see Moira.
"I think this is the place, the Simms said it was the Craterside Supply." Said Sal.
"Then let's go." Said Jason, as he opened the door to the local store, as soon as they entered strange smells violated their noses.
"Oh hi! Don't mind the smell, I'm just working on some chems back here, be with you in a sec!" said a womanly voice, as she walked into view, Moira had dark brown, reddish hair that was tied back in a bun, and she was wearing a mechanics jump suit.
"So, how can I help you today?" she asked.
"Well, we're fresh out of the vault, over the hill, and need some supplies, but we only have 100 caps, what can you help us with?" asked Sal.
"Not much, but seeing as you're out of one of the vaults, I can give you some work, and free supplies so long as you're helping my research." Said Moira.
"What kind of research?" asked Jason.
"Well, I was writing a wasteland survival guide, but I came to a stand still when it came to exploring because I couldn't leave the shop, if you guys could go and do some specific research, then I'd be more than happy to part with supplies and such, after all it's going to a good cause." Said Moira.
"Work is work, and we need those supplies." Said Jason.
"GREAT! Oh, but firstly, here's some armour for both of you, it will protect you more than those vault jumpsuits you're wearing, and here's some ammo for both of you." Said Moira.
"Great, so what's the first thing you need us to do?" Asked Sal.
"Well, the book is split into chapters, and in the first chapter, we look at gathering food and supplies from possible scavenging points, not to mention this will help you two to live in the wastes." Said Moira.
"So where do we go for that?" asked Jason.
"Well, I noticed that you both had those fancy pip-boy computers on your wrists, those should have connected with my data terminal automatically and updated your map for quite a large area, you need to go to the old super-duper mart east of here, and try and find some supplies, anything, from food to meds to ammo, but also being careful of the resistance out in the wastes, there's frequent bandit patrols that shoot on sight, there's also mercenary groups that come by occasionally, and if they're after supplies as well, then they won't hesitate to put a few rounds in you, survival of the fittest out here, and to top it off the wild life became irradiated from when the bombs fell and have become oversized monster with immense destructive power, but nothing your guns wont fix." Said Moira in a creepily cheery tone.
"You're nuts." Said Jason.
"Awww thanks, now go and have a look in the super-duper mart and try to bring back some food, meds, and ammo, and that would cover this part of chapter 1." She finished, and Jason and Sal walked back to their homes to gear up before going to the abandoned super market.