Jacen pushed open the door of the small shop and entered slowly, giving his eyes enough time to adjust from the bright sunshine outside. Taking his sunglasses off he walked up to the counter, nodding once at the guard standing across from him. The guard knew him by sight, but still eyed him as he eyed everyone who had business at the Craterside Supply, the best store in the village of Megaton. The ONLY store, Jacen thought wryly, but it suits my needs.
Jacen noticed a woman behind the counter, nearly bent in two examining something on the counter. Walking up across from her, Jacen stopped a few feet away, careful not to make any sounds. Walking the Wasteland gave him lots of practice at stepping so no one could hear.
"Where did you get a power armor helmet?" he asked softly so not to startle to woman, who was lost in her own world looking at the helmet.
"Oh!" she replied with a start, standing straight up. "Jacen! Hadn't seen you for, what, a week?" she said with a broad smile. Moira Brown always smiled, and no matter how down Jacen was, her smile made him a little bit happier.
I need that happiness today, he thought to himself, burying his emotion behind a small ghost of a smile. "Oh, you know," he said softly, running his fingers though his short dark hair, "I discovered an old garage out west then decided to stay at Tenpenny for a bit. Don't worry; I saved you the best thing I found."
"Oh oh what did you bring me?!" Moira squealed, which brought another half-smile to Jacen's somber attitude.
"You really are like a kid on Christmas morning whenever I come here, you know that?"
"Well, you are a great assistant, and you do bring me all sorts of goodies to play with, so why wouldn't I be happy to see you, silly?" Jacen actually chuckled out loud at that last comment.
"You are like the little sister I never had, you know that?"
"I'm older than you though," Moira said confused. "So I guess that makes you my little brother. A little brother with custom-made combat armor and enough guns to start a war, but a little brother either way," she replied with another smile.
"I'll take it either way Moira. Now do you want to see the toys I've brought you?"
"Yes! Stop teasing Jacen! That isn't very nice, "Moira pouted, and Jacen laughed again. First time I've laughed in days, he thought sadly. I knew coming here and talking shop with Moira would make me feel better.
"Close your eyes big sister," Jacen demanded slyly, and Moira did as she was told without hesitation.
"Open 'em," he said softly.
"Whoa! Where did you get a plasma pistol?!" Moira shouted as she grabbed the pistol, held it up to an old ceiling lamp and turned it in the light, turning it every direction to try and get as close a look as possible. She even looked straight down the green barrel.
Suddenly a flash of panic set in on her beaming face. "It isn't loaded, is it?" she said with a start, as if the thought had just hit her that she was literally staring down a loaded gun barrel.
"Nope. I stripped it outside of town. You are perfectly safe…well, as safe as anything in this hell could be," Jacen said wistfully, the sadness of the past few days threatening to overtake him again before he forced it down into the pits of his soul.
"Are you ok Jacen?" Moira asked, concern framing her face.
"Just tired and looking forward to my own bed is all," Jacen quickly replied, and Moira bought the lie wholesale as Jacen felt a small twinge of guilt at lying to a good friend.
"So how much for it?" Jacen asked, eager to get back home.
"Now we're talking!" Moira declared. "The only thing she loved more than science was haggling, and the two got right to business.
A few minutes later, Jacen walked out of Crateside Supply with, well, supplies. Spare parts to fix his rifles and armor. A few full clips of ammo for his trusty submachine gun. A couple days of food, including fairly fresh Brahmin steaks that looked halfway decent. Bobby pins, grenades, pure water and even a pre-war book for his collection completed the take.
Jacen made his way up the hill toward the main entrance as the sun began to set over the metal walls of Megaton, casting long shadows on his path. Fortunately, no one saw as Jacen made his way home. I love the people here, but I don't really want to be bothered tonight, he thought to himself as he used his key and entered his house.
"Good to see you alive and well sir!" came the robotic voice only moments after he closed the door behind him.
"You too Wadsworth. I trust things are going well in my absence?" Jacen asked as he locked the door and armed the security system that he'd bought from Tenpenny Tower a few weeks prior.
"Of course sir, I tidied up while you were gone, and even managed to distill a few pints of water like you asked me to," the butler replied, hovering a few feet away at the foot of the stairs.
"Excellent, thanks Wadsworth," Jacen replied softly. "You may shut down for the evening. I'm gonna undress, cook a little dinner and retire early myself."
"Of course sir. I'll be in the back room," Wadsworth replied, hovering his way up the stairs.
Jacen signed. Alone at last, he thought to himself, taking off his various guns and weapons and stacking them against the long wooden picnic table in the center of the main room on the first floor that he bought at Craterside Supply. The table was lined with weapons, from an old baseball bat that Jacen had had since he was a boy to top-of-the-line energy weapons he'd salvaged while exploring the Capital Wasteland, and seemingly every other death-dealer he could find in between.
Taking off his armor and nearly stacking it on the floor next to the picnic table, Jacen put on a pair of old athletic shorts he'd found for sale in Rivet City that were perfect to hang around his house in, and began cooking the Brahmin steak with a can of beans on the stove in the small kitchenette under the stairs.
Finishing his meal – the steak was a little tough, but otherwise it was fine – he double-checked the locks and security system before heading up the stairs to the second floor. Megaton was a safe town – Lucas Simms saw to that – but Jacen always doubled-checked regardless. He had, conservatively, several thousand bottle caps worth of weapons, armor, artifacts and items in the house, and only a fool trusted other people for security in the Wasteland.
He climbed each stair slower than the last as his sadness and grief began to overwhelm him as he climbed. He slowly trudged to the master bedroom. Reaching into a desk drawer opposite the door, he pulled out a bottle of whiskey and took a long pull, feeling the burn travel down his throat and warm his core before capping the bottle and sitting on the bed, surrounded by more relics of his successful explorations – books, magazines, ammo, other odds and ends from months of wandering the Wasteland.
There, surrounded by artifacts and relics, his grief and sadness finally overwhelmed him, and Jacen started crying. Softly at first, but the tears came faster, until he was curled up in a ball on the bed, sobbing uncontrollably.
He eventually cried himself to sleep, where he dreamed the same dream he had every night since escaping Project Purity a few nights prior.
It always started the same way. Jacen was watching himself walk into Project Purity's control room at the center of the pre-war Jefferson Monument, and he saw his dad James behind a thick pane of glass. A man with a rough Southern accent and a pistol was barking orders, and Jacen's dad, no more than ten feet away but separated by the glass in the control room, was trying to diffuse the situation.
Jacen's subconscious dreaded this next part: The Southerner, a man Jacen later learned was called Autumn, asked James again to activate the project and help something called the Enclave take it over. James again, in that soft Irish voice, told Autumn he wouldn't help him or his Enclave.
Jacen knew what happened next because he saw it every time he closed his eyes.
Autumn, tired of "asking," turned and shot Dr. Janice out of nowhere in the midsection. Jacen could still see the blood pool underneath her dying body. Jacen's dad – realizing the endgame – activated the Project which flooded the control room with deadly radiation, killing him and the others and giving Jacen a chance to escape.
"Run, Run!" James yelled as the radiation overcame him.
Jacen woke up with a start, as he always did when that part of the dream came up. He rubbed his hands though his hair as he sat alone in the bed.
"I couldn't save him, or any of them," he whimpered softly, the guilt overwhelming him again as he eventually entered a fitful sleep.
Author's Note: I am going on vacation Friday 7/10 for a week plus. I will try and post chapter 2 before I leave, but no promises. If not, I'll post it when I get back. Thanks for understanding!