Chp. 1: Lost Is Innocence

The large door had shut loudly behind her. So giant it had dwarfed everything else she knew of the world. But everything of that world was broken. Her mind still reeled at it. Trying to pick at the pieces, make sense of everything, when she couldn't.

Memories she couldn't quite remember now floated to the front, calling attention; Important in their own.

A year or so old, her father bouncing her on his leg, smiling, reading to her a vault issued book, You're SPECIAL!. He beamed at her as she sucked her thumb, telling her she was very perceptive, lucky, agile, and intelligent. And yet she could endure much, he chuckled and told her she wouldn't be too strong, or very charismatic. Flash forward, receiving her first Pip-boy at age ten, an older, more reliable model than what every other kid had, and her father's old B-b gun, and being bullied over for a sweet roll by the vault bully Butch. More further, taking on the tunnel snakes, stopping the bullying her and Amata had suffered for most of their days, then taking the G.O.A.T, being told her skills were suited for being a pedicurist. A cushy, average life down in Vault 101.

But now she stared at the door, the immovable vault bulkhead, envying everything of the people inside. At her feet she could see the same feeling was shared, signs of desperate people who never entered the safety of the door. No one alive to be found, not even her father.

Why screw up this life? Run off, leaving me for the guards to kill? She had to take their lives, and she could still see their faces. She'd known them only superficially, but it was hard to protect herself from them without ending their lives. And then Butch.

'"You have to help me!' He'd cried, grabbing her and recoiling at the blood covering her arms and clothing. "My mom."'

But it was too late, she laid on the ground, covered in a mound of snapping radroaches, dead. Just like Jonas. Lost. She'd ran away from him.

Amata was there at the end, opening the bulkhead, whispering, "You need to leave now, good bye Dapnee." Tears ran from her eyes.

And here she was. Nineteen years or so old, standing on the opposite side of salvation, all her life was over. Now all she could do, was try and pick the pieces, and answer her question.

What was worth leaving the vault, or more importantly, her?

And so, with tears still coursing from her eyes, blood splattered over herself, she shoved off. BB gun on back, bat in hand, she walked to the smaller wooden door, pushing it with little effort.

Light invaded the dark cave, blinding her. Nothing had been this bright and unforgiving. Someone must of messed with the settings.

But no. Overhead was endless, no ceiling, just blue falling over blue, never ending. A big yellow bulb of light hung high above. The sky, and the sun, alien. Things she was told of. Fathomable to someone who'd never seen it, the equivalent to a blind man finding colors and shape in the end of his ailment.

The girl's eyes adjusted, all around was open. Dirt and little vegetation. No lakes, no grass, almost nothing. A large metal structure stood off in the distance. Different from its surroundings. 'Possibly where dad went? Close to home?' What little did that matter? It was certainly somewhere to start.

She began sliding down the slopes, dirt kicking in the air in her wake, becoming closer and closer to the structure. Nothing would stop her; For all she knew, it could make everything go back to normal, finding James, her father, and returning home. Away from this wasteland, back inside the vault. She could already taste the good filtered air now.

Pains surged from her leg, she cried out it agony as it continued. A very large, furless rat hung to her right leg, sinking its large gangly teeth into her flesh. Ripping and tearing, eating her.

Whack! Her bat connected to its head, a crack noise from the bone crushing emanated from it. It released its hold and stumbled back. Again, still it stood up, two more strikes and it fell over, unmoving, dead. Good and dead.

She trudged on, the wound hurting and causing her to limp, she couldn't stop now. The place was closer. Another of the things jumped out, but she was ready this time. Her arms threw as much strength into her swing and the thing went flying overhead.

The sun was approaching the horizon to her left as she reached the metallic structure she was headed toward. She was tired, thirsty, hungry, and her leg stung. Before the entrance, she collapsed, taking out some bandages and one of her five stim-paks, administering it to her leg, feeling it numb and covered it.

A gate led in, a protectron kindly greeted her as she went past it, "Welcome to Megaton, the bomb is perfectly safe."


AN: I re-edited this, mainly due to an error I hadn't known of until watching walkthroughs. I had made Dapnee the wrong age. I'm somewhat glad the game has 19 as the age for our lone wanderers, seeing as I enjoy writing my OC at this age (OC as in, she had nothing to do with this story until after I tweaked her quite a bit). Any ways, welcome back to the story some of you, and welcome to the story the rest of you! I'm your kindly writer Dapnee, and I shall bring you for a ride. This day in age, I'm not always on a computer, and sometimes when I update, it will be way early in the mornings. So leave an alert if you would llike to follow along.

In other news, I restarted this up and have about four additional chapters than the 14 I had (they had only reached the GNR plot until the certain people decided to force some change into our protagonists world). So please know this story may feel all over the place, considering I need to edit some portions of the original story and add in the new chapters. Any inconsistancies are gladly fixed if any of you can send me a PM (take all the space you need to do that).

Anon reviews are open, so any feed back is acceptable. I haven't seen any flammers yet, but that could always change. So feel free to get down an nasty with this if you feel you need to get something off your chest. Suggestions, advice, and critique.

Oh and P.S., I may write the as "teh" or other words may go missing. I try to have a copy of the story in my Kindle in order to read for these, so please don't worry about that.

Well, have fun reading, next chapter has been up for less than a week, so feel free to chew on that for now.