A/N: Hello and thank you for taking an interest in my story! This is my first Fallout fanfiction as well as my first Pandorum related fanfic. I hope you enjoy it!

Prologue - Nadia's Journal

July 12th 2281 -

We always knew that man-kind would destroy itself. It was only a matter of time once we began building those accursed bombs. Sending our citizens into the Vaults was the only way to ensure that they survived the Great War. One other group of people who were not raffled into the Vaults survived the war, and that was us, the crew of the Elysium.

It was a ship that was built by scientists who'd hoped to build a better world by sending us to a new one. But the war erupted on the very day that we were scheduled to launch. While the bombs tore our world asunder we were safely tucked away within the ship in our hyper-sleep chambers and unaware of the destruction that was happening outside.

When we awoke nearly one hundred years later we all attempted to stay together and survive. We lived as our own little society within the safety of the ship. This lasted for a few years until the radiation from outside began to seep into the ship and mutate the members of the crew. It wasn't long before the Elysium became nothing more than a feeding ground for Ghouls.

I don't know what happened to the remaining members of our crew. I didn't stick around long enough to find out. All I know is that I am now wandering the desert with a member of our flight crew, and we're searching for answers.

- N

Good Luck, Bad Luck

The dry air only served to make Nadia's throat grow dry, and slowly worse as she and Bower plodded across the Mojave at an agonizingly slow pace. They had escaped the Elysium only two days prior and they had managed to ration their supplies so far. Still they had no idea how much longer they could hold out. There wasn't so much as a road or any other sign of civilization in sight, and Nadia was beginning to question the idea of leaving the Elysium. Until she remembered the horrors that had driven them out of it in the first place...

"I'm starting to think this was a bad idea." Bower croaked as he nearly tripped over yet another rock.

Nadia rolled her eyes. "You think everything is a bad idea. That's why I make the decisions." She said as she began to pick her way over a particularly unstable patch of rocks that covered the hill that they were climbing.

"Yeah...well maybe if we had followed my idea and gone north we would've found something by now."

Nadia shot him a look that she really wished could have killed, "That's why you pointed south when you said that right?"

That shut him up for what Nadia knew would only be about twenty minutes. At least it would be twenty minutes that he wasn't complaining, which he had done nothing but since they left the ship. Naturally, I had to get stuck with the resident moron of the ship... At least he's entertaining? The German thought as she looked over at him and caught him stumbling over another rock. Sometimes...

The top of the hill came sooner for Nadia than her companion. While she was able to scale it with nothing but one small slip up, Bower had trouble navigating the sharp rocks. Eventually he caught up to her and stood next to the crouched woman and took a moment to catch his breath. "Why are we stopping?" He asked between huffs.

"Why don't you look instead of standing there like an idiot?" Nadia hissed back as she tugged on his pant leg to bring him down next to her.

From where they sat they could see down into a small valley. The hillside that they were on made up one of the four boulder covered ridges that surrounded what had once been a small town. Littered all throughout were old rust buckets that some people might still see as cars. Other things like trailers, and even a shabby fence surrounded the center of town. The only thing that could be certain was Bower's comment, "It looks deserted."

Thank you, Captain Obvious. Nadia thought with a slight roll of her eyes. Without waiting for him to say anything else she stood up and began to work her way down the hill. Paying no mind to her fumbling follower the German focused on taking in her surroundings. Even if this place looked deserted there was still a chance of someone being here who wouldn't like the idea of strangers wandering in.

Getting down the hill was only the first of the obstacles that stood between Nadia and possible supplies. Next was the fence. Though it was old and rusty it was still sturdy enough that it wasn't going to budge to a knife or sheer force anytime soon. She found this out by simply testing both methods, neither of which led anywhere. Without a second thought she scaled the fence with relative ease. Bower however got caught twice and nearly landed on his face when he attempted to swing over to the other side.

Nadia stayed low as she scurried across what was left of a street and made her way toward the nearest house with Bower in tow. The house was old and run down, covered in patches of dirt with sections of the siding on the walls itself falling off. But somehow it was still standing. Over the front door there was a patch of the roof that provided a tiny spec of shade, but otherwise it had no other luxuries. Though it seemed that none of the other houses were any better off.

Despite it all appearing to be deserted Nadia still took caution in peering into the house through the windows. Just like everything else it was abandoned and rundown to the point that it almost had an unsettling feeling about it. Still this was no time to be afraid of the unknown. Keeping her head low the German made her way around the house to the door that was covered in rust and missing strips of paint. There were also a few tiny bullet holes but she decided to ignore those for now.

To Nadia's annoyance the door was also locked, but a few tries and eventually one rough turn of the knob was enough to break the flimsy lock. A cloud of dust and foul smelling air offended her senses as she pushed open the door and looked inside. There was definitely something rotten in here, but hopefully it was just something like old food and not anything worse. Her mind conjured up several different possibilities of what it could be, and she didn't want to find any of them.

Carefully she stepped across the threshold and into the first room that at one point would have been the living room, judging by the old couch and coffee table. In the corner was a television that had a hole through it and a radio that was equally broken down on the shelf next to it. Other than a few old books and some tin cans there was nothing of any value.

"Doesn't it feel a little wrong to be robbing this place?" Bower asked as he went to investigate one of the side rooms which turned out to be nothing but a bathroom that was also the source of the smell.

Nadia gave him a strange look as she made her way into the kitchen. "It's not like anyone is going to be back for any of it." She replied while opening the refrigerator. It had obviously stopped producing cold air a long time ago but there were a few things inside. The remaining food looked anything but appetizing, and to her disappointment the few bottles of water that remained were filthy and completely undrinkable.

With nothing of value being found in the kitchen Nadia moved on to the last room of the house, which Bower was already in and investigating. There wasn't much but this room did produce a few more useful things than the others. In the medicine cabinet Nadia found some first aid equipment and a few boxes of pill form meds. Bower also managed to find some old money that could possibly be of value in a jewelry box as well as some packs of cigarettes. Although neither of them where going to smoke them there was a good chance that if they found civilization that they might find someone to trade them to.

Just as they had put their loot into the one bag that they carried a commotion could be heard from outside. Shouts were accompanied by a single gunshot and then shuffling of boots as a series of shadows passed by the window that Nadia and Bower both ducked beneath. Once they seemed to have passed Nadia stood up from her crouch to look out the window. The sight that greeted her made her wish she hadn't looked.

Men in red armor dragged what looked to be military personnel along the dirt street to a raised dirt mound, atop of which sat three crudely made crosses. Nadia cringed as the soldiers were beaten and then mercilessly strung up on the posts. Two of them cried out when their hands and feet were bound, but the other just bore his pain in silence.

The german was forced to close her eyes as the strangers lit the ground below the soldiers ablaze. It was now that the men yelled in terror even though it would take a while for the flames to reach them. Nadia decided that now was as good a time as any to try and get as far away from this horrific scene as they could.

While battling the memories of the ship that threatened to berate her mind she grabbed Bower by the arm and dragged him through the house to the back door. They made a little noise jamming the stuck door open, but it obviously wasn't enough to draw attention to themselves since there were no footsteps headed their way. It wouldn't have mattered anyway because Nadia didn't care. She would gladly drive a blade into their gut if they tried to stop her from leaving.

For once Bower didn't complain or make any noise, he understood just as well the reason behind scrambling away from this place. So he blindly followed the German as they wound their way through a slight alley way between a group of houses. When they reached the exiting side of it however they were forced to duck behind a line of foul smelling barrels when yet another group of men marched past them. This time they were dangerously close to being seen, but thankfully they had managed to stay just out of sight as they passed by talking amongst each other.

"Those guys are everywhere. Looks like it's not as deserted as we thought." Bower whispered as the men turned the corner.

"I've realized that." Nadia snapped back with a hiss. "We just need to get out of here."

Slowly she peered over the barrels and checked both ways of the street. The heavy footfalls of the marching men could be still be heard in the distance. Still, it seemed as though they were gone for the moment, and there was no sign of any others in the opposing direction.

A slight flick of her hand was Nadia's signal to follow her, and without looking back she climbed over the barrels and made a quick dash for the other side of the street where there was a single long building with a pile of rubble sitting next to it that could provide at least partial cover. As soon as she reached the shaded spot she crouched behind it with Bower directly behind her and began to make her way toward the back of it. There was only one more street ahead and then the fence, which she already knew they could scale with ease. Well...I can at least.

When they came to back side of the building the two wanderers found themselves facing a completely open stretch with no cover between themselves and the fence. Cautiously Nadia leaned so that she could get a better look around, and when she did her eyes fell on something she didn't expect to see in a place like this.

Right in the center of an intersection of the broken street was a square pen fashioned out of rusted old fencing that had been taken from the original one that surrounded the abandoned town. It was falling over on itself, but held together by crude barbed wire. This was surrounded by some old cement barriers aside from one opening that led to the gate of the pen. None of this was really what caught Nadia's eye however, it was the horse that stood inside the pen.

It's coat was a light red with a slightly darker mane and tail, and it was big too. But you could hardly tell it's color since it was all but hidden by the amount of mud that was caked all over it's body. Despite what she already knew of the fowl nature of the people who had taken up residence here the animal was in fairly healthy condition aside from being dirty. Which told her that it must not have been here that long. Either way, she had the urge to ensure that it didn't stay here.

"Woah, what is that thing doing here?" Bower asked as he peeked out from behind his companion.

"I don't know...but I'm not going to stop and ask them."

"Poor guy… I doubt they treat him any better than they treat those soldiers we saw." Bower commented with a sigh that was accompanied by a sorrowful frown.

"That's why we're not going to leave him here." Nadia said as she stood up and began to leave the shadows.

"Are you crazy? What if they catch you?" Bower argued in a hushed voice.

Nadia glared back at him, "And what if we leave him here to be butchered and eaten, because that's no doubt what they'd do to him. Would you like that on your conscience? Besides he would be useful." Without another word the German took off for the pen. Keeping a sharp eye out for anyone who might not appreciate her stealing the animal.

As she drew closer to the pen the animal lifted his head and perked his ears in curiosity. On his head was a dirty halter that looked like he had been wearing it for weeks, maybe even longer, but it was a good thing. Otherwise Nadia wasn't exactly sure how she was going to lead him out of here.

This felt like it was going to be easier than she thought, especially since there wasn't even a lock on the pen. After a good tug the latch on the gate sprung loose, and a loud screeching sound stung her ears as she opened the rusted gate. This also caused the horse to step back to the far side of the pen and stamp his hooves to show his irritation at the offensive noise. But he stood still and simply eyed Nadia cautiously as she stepped inside the pen.

The horse threw his head up but otherwise did not seem to fear Nadia as she approached him. Softly she spoke to him as she held her hand out to allow the animal to smell it. Hopefully he wasn't going to shy away from the fowl scent of a dirty house that no doubt masked her human smell for the moment. At first the horse took a shy step backwards and tossed his head as a warning. But when Nadia continued to step forward and show no signs of hostility the horse tentatively stretched his head forward and lightly nuzzled Nadia's hand, and to her delight allowed her to stroke the bridge of his nose.

"That's a good boy," She whispered softly as she moved next to him and began to calmly stroke his neck while allowing him to sniff her free hand. Further allowing him to see that she was a trustworthy human. "See, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to get you out of here."

For a moment Nadia forgot where she was and was happy to simply spend a few moments getting to know her new four-legged friend. But a man shouting "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" was enough to snap her out of it. Both she and the horse jumped at this and she turned to see a man pointing at her with three other soldiers behind him that were drawing weapons from their belts.

"Scheisse..." Nadia cursed under her breath as she began to panic. Without a second thought she grabbed the horse's mane and jumped onto his back. I sure hope you know how to be ridden. She thought while taking a firm fist full of the horse's mane in her hand, and nudging his sides with her heels.

The horse made a slight motion forward but otherwise didn't take more than one step toward the gate. It was clear that he had been punished previously for trying to go past it, and despite Nadia's urging he simply was not going passed it without something drastic forcing him to do so. But the gunshot from a hunting rifle was enough to convince him.

With a frightened winnie the horse took off in a dead gallop as the bullet ricocheted off the metal fence and sent sparks flying passed his flank. Nadia gripped the frightened beast with her legs and clung to his mane as he bolted through the gate and down the street toward Bower.

"Come on!" Nadia yelled to Bower as she held out an arm to him.

Not wanting to get left in the dust Bower leaped out from his hiding spot and reached for Nadia. A hail of bullets peppered the ground at their feet as Bower was dragged up onto the back of the speeding horse. Another bullet went sailing past them both and narrowly missed Bower's head as the animal carried them down the street heading for a dead end between two buildings.

Thankfully the horse was smart enough to know it was heading into a trap and responded to Nadia yanking on his mane to tell him to turn the corner. This direction wasn't any better than the last since the men they had seen stringing up the soldiers were standing at the end of this street.

"Don't let them get away!" The leader of the men behind them shouted at the top of his lungs as he fired more bullets at them. All of which missed by mere inches.

Nadia couldn't even hear her own thoughts over the cacophony around her. The sound of her own heartbeat drummed in her ears in time with the horse's galloping hooves as he carried his passengers through the rundown place. The soldiers ahead of them spread out into a line, all with guns pointed directly at them, and even if she wanted to the German had no way of stopping the frightened animal who was being guided by instinct at this point, and had no care for the people on his back.

There was no turning back, even if they stopped they would just be trapped between groups of soldiers and no doubt gunned down. So Nadia kicked the horse to remind him of his human cargo and shouted to encourage him to barrel past the armored men. The horse didn't hesitate to follow this idea, and Nadia was more than happy to swing a foot out to clip one of the men square in the face as they broke through their line.

Neither the horse nor the humans on his back looked behind them as he extended his stride and made direct run for the open part of the fence at the edge of the town. It led to a beaten dirt road that stretched over a hill, and it was only guarded by some old caution fences.

The bullets striking the houses and asphalt around him only encouraged the red horse to run faster. Both Nadia and Bower braced themselves and held on for their lives as the horse gathered himself and leaped clear over the railing and took off up the hill as soon as his hooves were on the ground again. All of them were more than glad to be in the clear as they heard the distant shouts from behind them. The only one that was intelligible to Nadia was "You have angered Caesar's Legion!"

Nadia didn't even try to stop the horse until they were miles away from that wretched place they had rescued him from. It felt like hours before the animal began to tire and slowed down to walk. He had taken to remaining on the road, however Nadia had other ideas. It was a terrible idea to stay out in the open, and the sun was beginning to set.

Gently she sat back a bit to shift her weight as she tugged on his mane. The horse responded unlike before and stopped swiftly as breathed heavily from his extended sprint.

"So now what?" Bower asked from behind her as he leaned back a bit and looked around.

There was nothing on either side of them, aside from what looked to be an old deserted highway up ahead. To which Nadia pointed and said, "That might lead somewhere. But we need to find somewhere to rest."

"Well, where there are roads there are usually people I guess."

"That's right." Nadia replied as she swung her leg slowly over the horse's neck and dropped to the ground, dragging Bower with her who landed on the ground with a loud thump.

"What are you doing? Didn't we take him so we could ride him?" He questioned while standing up and brushing himself off.

"He's carried us far enough for today." Nadia growled. She was growing tired and she could tell the horse was too. "He deserves a rest, and just because we can't stop doesn't mean I'm going to make him carry us everywhere." She took hold of the horse's halter and continued down the road. "Besides, who said you get to ride him? I saved him." A smirk played on her lips as she said this over her shoulder.

"Of course." With a sigh and roll of his eyes Bower begrudgingly followed his female companion. "So what are we gonna call him then?" He asked curiously as he caught up to walk beside Nadia and the newest member of their little party.

Nadia looked over at the horse who perked his ears at her as if he wanted to know that answer to that question too. This made her smile and she gave him a light pat on the neck. While continuing to walk she hummed to herself as many possible names floated through her mind.

"I think I'll call him...Felix." Nadia said with a smile.

Felix tossed his head with a happy sounding winnie as he pranced for a few steps to express his approval of the name.

"That's a bit of a strange name…" The blonde man said with a puzzled look. "Why that?"

"It means 'lucky one, and that's exactly what he is." Nadia replied as she gave Felix a light scratch on his nose.

Bower nodded now that he understood. "Yeah he is. I like it."

Again Felix voiced his approval and swished his tail happily as he walked along with them. The three of them wandered toward the highway in the direction of the setting sun. Each of them with high hopes of what it might lead them to. A place to rest for the night, and with any luck some sign of civilization that might eventually lead them to the answers that they sought...

A/N: Thank you all for reading this first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and continue to enjoy future chapters. If you have any questions or comments please leave them in a review for me and I'll be sure to answer them :)

However there is one I'm sure that I will get and that is 'why is there a horse?'. I do know that there are no horses in any of the Fallout games. However I wanted to give Nadia and Bower a quicker way to travel as well as add a little flavor to their adventure. I think it is possible that a few horses might have survived the war, and Felix here is one of them.

Fun fact: The name Felix is a german name which means 'lucky one', as Nadia explained in the story. Felix is also the name of a cartoon cat from the 1950's.

Thank you again for reading, see you next time!