Living for you
Is easy living
It's easy to live
When you're in love
And I'm so in love
There's nothing in life but you
He saw himself in the mirror. He could faintly make out Billie Holliday's voice softly streaming from the radio, along with distant whirring of Codsworth's thruster.
He was back. It's 2077. He felt an intense rush of relief wash over him.
He looked to his right, and see Nora brushing her hair, with her head peering onto the mirror, trying to catch a glimpse of her own reflection.
"Hey, move over, big guy," she said. The sound of her voice, to hear her say such mundane sentence brought comfort to Carter. He could feel a smile forming on the corners of his lips as he took in the sight of his wife once again; her olive skin and freshly clipped fingernails tapping along to the music. The faint smell of sandalwood permeates from her short black hair as she continued to brush it gently.
Before he knew it, he reached over and gently grasped the sides of Nora's face. She is here, he thought. It was all just a dream. A horrible dream. We're all together again.
As soon as Carter's fingers touched Nora's face, his heart sank as he felt her grow as cold as ice. Her full, rosy cheeks no longer soft to the touch, but hard as a rock. Slowly, Carter witnessed the color drain from Nora's face, a bullet hole planted on the side of her forehead started to show. Blood streamed from the top of her face down to her neck, and finally drenching her blue top.
"Make it stop," Nora murmured. The hairbrush slipped from her grasp, making a loud, hammering sound as it touched the ground.
Carter's heart wrenched as Nora grasped his arms with her cold fingers. He could almost feel the blood in his veins stopping in their tracks as Nora continued to wail. "It's cold. It's too cold. Help me!" she screamed.
Carter frantically searched all around him for something, anything, that could stop the bleeding. To stop Nora's pain. He could see the agony in her eyes, something that he always prayed he would never have to see. Soon, he let out a soundless scream as the walls around him melted down, and he was back within the vault. His world fell apart as Nora dropped like an untied scarecrow, twitching as blood continued to stream down her body. Carter couldn't see straight as his vision turned into a whirlwind, Shaun's cries echoing, overlapped with voices. Preston's, Mama Murphy's, even Dogmeat's.
Then the bombs fall all over again.
Carter snapped awake in the morning in cold sweat. His heart hammering in his chest, an intense ringing wouldn't escape his ears, as if he really did hear the nuclear detonation from up close.
He looked around, eyes squinting as sunlight burst through the boarded-up windows in his old room. He made a mental note to install curtains soon.
Carter took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. He stumbled out of bed in his briefs, heading straight to the liquor cabinet. He remembered stashing a couple of bourbon there, provided Codsworth hadn't used it to polish the floors yet. He realized that being stored for so long, it would either make the drink taste transcendentally better, or basically a bottle of poison.
Either way, it'll get his mind off last night's nightmarish vision.
As Carter was reaching into the liquor cabinet to find the bottle still sitting there after two centuries, he looked over to the house across the street, where the Minutemen remnants were residing in. He could faintly hear the sound of hammer against nails, brush slick with paint gliding up and down walls, and the crunching of weed being pulled out of soil.
He somehow felt a sense of relief knowing he's not alone.
Carter twisted the cap off his bourbon and took a sip. It tasted so sharp and bitter it's almost toxic. He let out a startled cough as the liquid traveled down his throat, burning its way into his system. His struggle to catch a breath apparently caught Codsworth's attention. The robot butler glided from the backyard to the front door.
"Why, I thought I heard signs of distress, Sir. If I may be so bold, isn't it a tad early for that?"
"It's all good, Codsworth."
"If you say so, Sir. Would you like me to find you some clean clothes, perhaps? I couldn't help but notice that you are, in fact, underdressed."
Carter realized he was still in his briefs, and nodded. "Sure, Codsworth. Thanks."
"Of course, Sir!" he replied gleefully. He's probably just giddy to have someone to serve again. Not that he would mind. He didn't mind doing some home maintenance around the neighborhood, but it did take some toll on his back, especially after his two-hundred-year long nap.
Carter walked back along the hallway leading to his room, and he caught a glimpse of Shaun's old crib. Its blue paint had barely anything left, the supports had rusted to a point it looked so frail that a simple wind blow would turn it to dust. The mobile attached to the headboard only had one rocket left hanging on its wires, looking much too forlorn to his liking.
"I'm coming, buddy." He muttered to himself.
Hi everyone! This is my first attempt at making a Fallout 4 fanfiction, and while I'm still trying to figure out what kind of twists and turns I'd like to add to the story, I think I should tell you a bit about my Sole Survivor, Carter. (I used the last name Howard because that seems to be the default last name a lot of FO fanfic authors use? Lol)
As you already know, my SS's name is Carter. He had Maxson's haircut and very little facial hair, and I really like making him look like a homebody during the initial parts of the game by making him wear flannel shirts and plain leather armor (and yes, this got me pwned to hell by ghouls, mutants, and raiders alike but I guess anything for the aesthetic). He's generally a high-karma character with a solid moral compass, and I had his affinity with all female companions maxed out, but right now he's with Piper. I like to think he's not the type to date multiple girls at once, and I'd like to write about his stints with the female companions during certain points of the story. As of now, I'd like to focus on his developing relationship with our favorite Diamond City reporter!
Fallout 4 belongs to Bethesda.