Chapter 1: The Tower in the Distance
For the last several months, Eli had been living on the road in the unforgiving Capital Wasteland. The long list of creatures and raiders trying to kill him had been his only companions for a while now so when he saw the enormous tower standing tall, far in the distance surrounded by the great desert and the crumbling ruins of pre-war buildings, he was relieved mainly because he was in pretty bad shape. On top of severe radiation poisoning, he had no food, no Stimpaks, no ammo and all his equipment was falling apart.
"Damn I need a vacation." He muttered to himself. Eli stopped in his tracks for a water break before walking the remaining distance to the tower but even before looking in his pack, he laughed and swung his pack, back over his shoulder. He had finished his last water bottle 2 weeks ago and since then, he had been barely surviving on the highly irradiated water of any abandoned restroom he could find, but for some reason he always seemed to check his pack, just in case. He licked his cracked lips with his dry tongue, adjusted his shotgun and his pack one more time and began walking towards the tower once more.
As he got closer to the tower, he was able to make out more details and could see it was fortified with enormous cement blocks which surrounded the entire perimeter and this made him breathe a sigh of relief. This was a sure sign that it was inhabited and this suspicion was confirmed when he got nearer. He could hear shouting and he could see a man, or what seemed like a man, waving his arms wildly at the entrance. Before Eli could reach the entrance though, the man had walked off angrily towards a decrepit metro station half a mile away.
Eli came up to the tall, red gate and knocked on it. He waited a moment and when there was no response he sighed and started walking away, planning his next course of action, but stopped and turned around when he heard a voice start yelling at him from nowhere.
"For the last time, we're not letting any stinkin' ghouls in so stop knocking!" squawked the voice. A quick look around the gate revealed a small intercom with a glowing red button on it. Eli walked over to it and tried to compose himself. Several months exposed to the elements of the Wasteland had taken a toll on him and he wanted to make a good first impression on the residents of this building.
"Is that how you treat everyone that comes by here?" Eli asked sarcastically after clearing his throat several times. For a while there was no response and once again, Eli started losing hope when the intercom crackled to life.
"Sorry about that, that ghoul Roy Philips has been bitching all day trying to get in here. Anyways, what's your business here, stranger?" asked the voice suspiciously. Eli thought quickly. The fact the person was asking made him realize that no one is let into these gates unless they have a good reason. Eli looked around aimlessly for inspiration when he saw an old, brass plaque mounted on the gate that read "Tenpenny Tower." The name seemed oddly familiar and after thinking for a few seconds, he finally remembered where he had heard it before. The mysterious Mr. Burke, who Eli had met in Moriarty's Saloon, had offered him a great deal of caps to blow up Megaton and had told him to meet him at this tower when the job was done. Even though he never blew up Megaton, Eli thought he'd give his idea a shot.
"I'm here to see Mr. Burke." responded Eli. He let go of the intercom's button and slumped over against the gate. Eli began feeling very faint in the heat and right before he thought he couldn't take it anymore, the voice responded.
"Mr. Burke isn't here at the moment but you're welcome to come in and wait for him." Eli quickly lifted himself off of the gate as it slid open. He took a few tentative steps inside and was simply amazed at what he saw. Right in front of him was a fountain, flowing with crystal clear water, the clearest he had seen since leaving the Vault. Before he could run over and drink the water though, the man from the intercom grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.
"Jeez you look like hell. I'm Chief Gustavo and I just want you to know that if you cause any trouble or disturb any of our residents, you're outta here, right back into that living hell. I've got my eye on you." Eli nodded in understanding and smiled, turned towards the water fountain and promptly blacked out.