Prologue: A Boy and His Knife
War. War never changes.
The setting of war changes, the weapons that the men fight with change, but the one reason why men fight each other never ever changes.
That reason is one word, one simple, little word, that millions of people had died for.
Power.
Two cave men fought savagely, for the still warm kill of a sabre tooth tiger. Not because they were hungry. But because they knew whoever walked into their village to their families with that corpse of that sabre tooth tiger, they'd be respected, feared, and thanked.
They fought, for power.
Eventually, the men produced offspring, and more offspring, until Earth, was populated by man.
They evolved, began to think about things, and began to invent.
They invented, for power.
They made countries, and leaders arose, claiming the power of the country.
Countries began to fight each other, for land, for their resources, for their wealth.
For. Their. Power.
This... was war. War... will never die, as long as humanity is still alive.
Peace... is a pipe dream. They think they can stop fighting for each other, but their hunger for power, will end that very quickly.
Eventually... two of the most powerful countries... the US, and China... declared war on each other...
However... mankind had came a long way from sticks, and stones.
China... covered the US with atomic fire with their nukes, and brought an end to the Great War, as we know it.
When the other country is wiped out... the war stops... doesn't it?
No.
Because no matter what the cost, man will rise from the embers, and the ashes, and survive. If man survives, then war... survives.
This... is who we are... a person... trying to survive... trying to get more power... in a hellish land... that we know... as the world today.
This story is about a boy... who survives... and declares war on everyone of his enemies, and he hunts them down until his last breath.
His name... is Richard... a son... of two raiders, in the hellish remains of Pittsburgh. Richard, however is now known... as the one and the only... Stabby, who wields his knife known as Steve to end the lives of raiders, and Brotherhood of Steel knights.
My name... is Stabby.
I... am from the Pitt. One of the most hellish places in this world today. My parents were killed before my eyes in the Scourge in 2255, they were killed by the raiders, and the Brotherhood of Steel members, they killed some of the raiders, but when the Brotherhood turned their attention to them, they were too weak to fight back... they drowned in their own blood... before my eyes... I was only five back then...
I hid in my parent's house when they all came. They were going to kill my parents no matter what... they were helping scabs escape.
When it was all clear, and the raiders were dead, and when the Brotherhood left my parents to die... I came to my father's side... my mother was already dead.
He was injured... badly. There was ten bullets in his chest... all of them had missed his heart. He was coughing up blood, every time he tried to talk.
My father handed me a knife... when he was dying... and he told me... one day... to get the raiders, and the Brotherhood of Steel back. To kill them all.
I wiped the tears from my face, and I nodded. I took the knife... and hid it on me, when the raiders came.
They took me... and I became a scab... a slave... I still have that knife from that day...
It's now... 2277... and I am twenty seven years old... I've had enough of this shit, so I'm escaping... today.
I'm going to get all of them back... the Raiders... and when I step out of this Pitt... I'm going to the Wasteland... to kill all of the Brotherhood.
This is my story... this... is my... massacre.
Heh... if you have to go out... why not go out with a bang?
Year 2255... the Scourge... the Pitt...
"What do you have for me, Brand?" The raider asked.
"Uh... well... you know Steve, and Ella? Those two raiders, who has a kid?" Brand whispered.
"Yes... why?" The raider asked.
"Well... apparently they've grown a heart, when their baby boy was born, and they have began leading slaves outta the Pitt." Brand said.
"THEY WHAT? Oh... the boss ain't gonna be too please bout this..." The raider said, walking away.
"WAIT!" Brand yelled. "I did good right, so can I get another thing of...?" Brand asked, stopping the raider.
"Fine. This is the last one for this week, though." The raider said, tossing Brand a dose of jet.
Brand literally dived for it, and he walked back to the steel yard with his jet in his pocket.
Elsewhere... later...
"Boss..." The raider said.
"What the fuck is it? Can't you see I'm trying to count the slaves here?" The leader raider said, beside the slave pen.
The leader raider, was in combat armor, and it's color was faded, and the parts that wasn't faded, were covered in blood. He attached spikes to the combat armor's shoulders, and he attached the horns of a male brahmin to his combat armor helmet.
When he was fully suited in his combat armor, he looked like a demon straight from hell itself.
"Well... we've found out from our slave rat, that there's a raider couple, helping slaves escape!" The raider said.
"WHAT? God damn it! I thought this count was off... GO AND KILL BOTH OF THEM! NOW!" The leader raider yelled. The smaller raider quickly ran from the leader raider, as if he didn't go get these two slaves, the leader raider was going to kill him.
The leader raider went back to his counting.
"Boss... please..."
The leader raider wheeled around to see a group of raiders, covered in blood, limping towards him.
"Oh, what the fuck now?" The leader raider yelled.
"A bunch of armored assholes... are... invading the Pitt... killing everyone..." The raider cried.
"GOD DAMN IT! I WILL FUCKING BREAK THEIR NECKS!" The leader raider yelled.
The leader raider walked through the group of bloody and shot up raiders, putting his horned helmet on.
Elsewhere... a little bit later...
"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" The raider yelled pounding on the door.
The group of raiders were assigned to kill the couple, that was leading slaves out of the Pitt.
"THAT'S IT FUCKFACES! WE'RE COMING IN WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!" The raider yelled.
He kicked the door open, and the raiders flooded into the apartment.
Upstairs, a minute before...
"They're coming!" Ella, Richard's mom screamed.
"Son... you have to be strong for us... and no matter what... DO NOT COME DOWNSTAIRS. Ok?" Steve, Richard's dad said.
"Ok, daddy." Young Richard said.
"Come on... we have to "take care" of our guests..." Steve said, picking his auto-axe up.
"Let's go... lock the door, and slide the key into the room, so Richard can get out when... all of it's over..." Ella said.
"Ok..." Steve said. Richard's mom and dad both walked out of the room, and closed the door.
Young Richard, heard the click of the lock, and he saw a key slide into the room through the space under the door.
Young Richard sat down in the chair and looked out of the barred window. He saw a group of power armored people approaching the back door of the apartment. They began to try to kick and break the door open.
The backside of the apartment...
"Come on break it already!" The brotherhood of steel paladin yelled.
"I'm kicking it! The door's tough!" The paladin yelled, who was kicking the door to get it to open.
"God damn it... move aside. I'LL kick it open." The bigger and tougher paladin said.
The bigger paladin walked over to the metal door, and kicked it and slammed on it several times to no avail.
"Ha... you can't open it either..." The first paladin who had tried to open it said.
"ARGH!" The big paladin yelled, frustrated. He began to hit and kick the door faster and stronger. He even tried to headbutt the door, but that didn't work either.
"How about we just blow a hole in the wall?" The paladin who specialized in explosives said.
"Yea... let's do that..." The paladin said.
The paladin who specialized in explosives, walked over to the wall beside the door, and he rigged the wall with C4 and laughed while doing so.
"Better move back, cause, thats about to explode in... five..." The Explosive Paladin said, running away from the armed explosives on the wall.
"Four."
"Why didn't you just use a god DAMN DETONATOR!" One of the paladins said, retreating away from the wall.
"Three, Two..."
"One."
The apartment building shook as the back wall of it exploded.
Young Richard was startled when the room began to shake because of the explosives.
"ALRIGHT! Let's go and kill some raider bastards!" One of the paladins yelled, leading the charge into the apartment building.
Richard's parents came down the stairs to the central room of the first floor, when Paladins flooded in from the backside of the apartment, and when Raiders flooded in from the frontside of the apartment.
"Who the hell are those armored freaks?" One of the raiders yelled, running towards the Brotherhood's paladins.
They opened fire, and Richard's parents ran into the kitchen away from the mass amount of gunfire that was happening in the central room.
Ella and Steve walked through the hallway from the kitchen that led to the backs of the raiders in the central room.
"Keep shootin'! They can't dodge forever!" One of the raiders yelled.
Ella and Steve were right behind the raiders. They could have turned around, and walked out through the kicked open door to escape, but...
What about Richard? Both of them thought.
They powered their auto axes up and began to rip through all of the raiders' flesh.
They didn't know what hit them. Some of them turned around and fired at Steve and Ella, however they had only hit the couple's legs and arms, they had not shot them in any lethal spots.
When all of the raiders were killed from either Steve and Ella's auto-axes or the Paladins' gunfire, the central room was covered in blood, and littered with the broken bodies of dead raiders.
"They're raiders too!" One of the paladins yelled, pointing to Steve and Ella.
"What? NO!" Steve yelled, but it was too late.
The Paladins' fired several rounds towards them, Steve and Ella charged towards them.
But they were too tired and weak to hold up their auto-axes.
Steve wheeled around, when he had saw a bullet fly straight towards Ella's head.
Ella dropped her auto-axe and fell to the ground, her face covered in blood.
"ELLA!" Steve yelled. "You sons of bitches... WE WERE HELPING YOU! We... were repenting our sins as raiders... and now... my son's mother is dead... I'll... I'LL..." Steve was shaking with anger.
"I guess karma has finally caught up with you huh? I don't feel an ounce of remorse for you or your raider bitch of a wife..." The paladin said.
"You... I'LL KILL YOU! ARGH!" Steve screamed, running towards the Paladins.
The paladin who had insulted Ella, shot once at Steve, and the bullet landed in his stomach.
Steve kept walking towards the paladins, the paladin shot him again, and this bullet landed in his side.
Steve stopped, and grabbed his side and grunted in pain. Again, another gunshot was heard from the paladin's gun, and another bullet landed in Steve's stomach.
He had three bullets in him so far. Steve fell to his knees, as the pain was increasing, and his vision was fading, as he lost more blood.
"You... will... pay..." Steve said.
"No." The paladin said. Steve looked up at the same paladin who had insulted his now dead wife, Ella.
"You will." The paladin said, holding down the trigger of his gun.
Six more bullets landed in Steve's side and stomach, however, he was still alive.
The paladin walked up to Steve who was now laying on the ground, in a pool of his own blood.
"You've sold children, women, men. You've beat them, you've killed them. You've tortured them. You have sinned too much to repent. You... are a lost, and damned soul. Goodbye, demon of the Pitt." The paladin he said, while loading his magnum.
He aimed at Steve's heart, but he missed, on purpose.
Steve screamed loudly, when the magnum was fired, and when he had ten bullets in his chest.
"Heh... ironic..." Steve coughed up blood.
"What's ironic?" The paladin asked, about to walk away and let Steve bleed out and suffer slowly.
"Ten... ten... hahaha..." Steve laughed.
The paladin looked at him strangely.
"I've captured and sold... ten... children... I guess... that this is... karma... coming back to haunt me huh?" Steve said.
"Yeah." The paladin said, walking away. "We got more buildings to search for raiders." The paladin said to the other brotherhood of steel soldiers who were waiting outside.
Richard grabbed the key to the door, as it sounded if it was safe now.
He reached up and put the key into the door and turned, until he heard the click of the lock, unlocking.
Richard pushed the door open, looking both ways to see if there was anyone near the door.
It looked safe, so he walked through the door and into the hallway and he began to walk down the stairs.
The walls of the first floor was covered in blood, and so was the floor.
He saw his father, Steven in the middle of the room in a ocean of blood.
"DAD!" Richard yelled, he ran towards his bloody father.
He kneeled beside his bleeding father.
"Son..." Steve coughed. "I hoped... that you would have came down... after... I..." Steven couldn't finish his sentence as he didn't want to scare his son anymore than he already was.
Richard was crying, as he noticed Ella, his mother, dead beside Steve.
"Son... it's okay... remember... our family's saying?" Steve said.
"Those who take and misuse, will only pay in the end." Richard said.
"That's right... if you are a evil bastard... than everything... will eventually be taken from you. But if you are a good person... you will gain everything the evil bastard lost." Steve said.
"Dad..." Richard said.
"Son... you have to... do something for me..." Steve said. "You have to... make those armored... bastards pay... and... fill the Pitt with enough raider blood... to drown the raiders in it." Steve said.
"I will... I will dad..." Richard said.
Steve smiled while grabbing something from his pocket.
"Here... as long as you have this... you'll have a part of me with you at all times..." Steve said. He handed Richard his knife.
"Your... knife..." Richard said, as he took the knife from Steve. "You... used to never let me even touch it..." Richard said.
"That knife... has a lot of sin on it's sharp edge... cleanse it... with the raiders' blood... goodbye... son..." Steve said.
Richard felt the tears run down his face, as the life from his father's eyes fade away.
Richard opened the knife and he saw his father's name on the edge of the knife's blade.
"Steve..." Young Richard said looking at the knife.
Young Richard closed the knife and hid it in his pocket.
Just then Richard was grabbed by something behind him. Richard turned around and he saw it.
It's face was covered in blood, and some flesh was missing from it. It's hands were covered in cuts and bruises, and they were also covered in blood.
It was a trog but... what was it doing in the city? They were mainly found in the Steel Yard... and this trog wasn't just like an ordinary trog.
This trog was like a giant. It was covered in bits of flesh from earlier meals...
The trog was squeezing Richard's left arm tight. It let out a roar, Richard reached into his right pocket, and grabbed his Father's knife, and opened it with one hand.
Richard stabbed the giant trog in the stomach seven times, and each time the trog screamed louder.
"Kill... KILL!" The trog screamed. The trog released it's grip on Richard's left arm, and it clawed his face.
Five thin lines of blood, went across Richard's face. Richard continued to stab it in it's stomach.
After the seventeenth time, the trog threw Richard against the wall, and it ran through the hole in the wall that the paladins created with the explosives.
"I... stabbed it... stab..." Richard said, he collapsed to the ground, as he was tired from the fight. He blacked out as soon as he felt the apartment's smooth bloody carpet on his skin.
Richard's eyes began to open, and he was on the dirt ground, and he was being dragged by something.
Richard flipped over to see what was dragging him. It was the giant trog from earlier, Richard still had ahold of his Father's knife. He aimed at the back of the giant trog's head, and he threw the knife at it.
The knife landed in the middle of the back of the trog's head, and blood spurted from it. The trog let go of Richard's leg, which he had been dragging him by.
Blood splattered onto the ground, and the trog reached to the back of his head and he began to pull out the knife.
"You... are not... worth... it... I'll wait... until you're grown... then... I'll rip your flesh with my teeth." The trog said.
The trog threw the bloody knife at Richard, but he dodged it. The trog smiled at him, with his set of bloody, and nasty teeth, and it ran and disappeared.
Richard picked up the knife, and stood up.
He was in the middle of some type of yard... or something.
He had no idea where he was.
However he did know that there were trogs everywhere, so he had to tread carefully.
Even though, he was scared for his life, it was kind of nice here... as there wasn't a raider to be seen.
Richard came to a sign, that said "Steel Yard". Richard's eyes opened wide, as he knew now where he was at.
He was at the heart of the trogs' lair, and the wildmen's camping grounds.
There were trogs around him, however... they weren't attacking him for some reason.
Richard looked down at himself, his clothes were completely covered in trog blood.
That was it, that was why the trogs weren't attacking him. They only smelled another trog, not a human.
Perhaps... I can live here... there's not any raiders... and these guys don't seem to be very hostile when I'm covered in their blood. Richard thought.
Several years passed, and Richard survived in the Steel Yard for a hellish ten years until...
So much blood... so many trogs to kill... so little time. Richard thought.
Richard was now fifteen years old, and he was much stronger than he was ten years ago. He was now donning a bloody suit of black and yellow combat armor that he had found in the Yard.
Being in the Yard for so long, his mind began to deteriorate, as he was the only human around, so his imagination was his only friend...
"So, buddy? Are you ready for the next fight we're gonna get into?" Richard asked.
"Yeah, of course. I'll be right there with you, cutting through the waves of trogs."
"I can always count on you Steve, my favorite knife." Richard said.
Three trogs had seen him, they jumped from a building near him to the ground.
"Ha... YOU WANT IT? YOU GET IT!" Richard yelled, he ran towards the trogs, and the trogs ran towards him.
He stuck his knife "Steve" into the first trog's face, and he yanked it out, and wheeled around to deal with the second trog.
The first trog fell to the floor, covered in blood from Richard's knife.
Richard punched the second trog in it's mouth and he stuck "Steve" right through the back of the trog's mouth. The knife cut through the flesh, and Richard could see it poking out of the back of the trog's head.
Richard began to move the knife up, cutting as the knife slid through the trog's face.
The third trog tried to ambush Richard while he was dealing with the other trog.
Richard suddenly turned around and let go of "Steve" and he kicked the third trog right in the face.
He was good at unarmed combat, as much as he was at melee combat.
Richard grabbed the third trog's head, and he broke it.
The second trog had fell down, because of all the blood it was losing.
Richard walked over to the second trog, and he grabbed his knife that was still stuck through the trog's face, and he yanked it out.
Richard held the trog down with his left arm, and began to stab it repeatedly in it's chest with "Steve".
Eventually, the trog let out a dying scream, and the life in it's eyes faded away...
Richard picked himself up, and wiped "Steve" off, and closed the knife, and slid it back into his pocket.
Just then he heard a gunshot, and he fell to his knees.
He felt pain in his left leg, something had shot him, but... Richard didn't know what.
He fell onto the ground, as his left leg was in too much pain.
He flipped himself over, ignoring the pain of his left leg, and he scanned the area to find what had shot him.
Then he saw them, a band of raiders.
All of them were in a typical raider's armor, but one of them had Power Armor on, it was black and yellow, and it had a brahmin's skull as a shoulder pad.
Richard's vision began to fade, when he saw the power armored one who was smiling.
The group of Raiders began to get closer and closer, and when they finally got close enough, Richard heard laughing from them.
"A new recruit... let's drag him back..."
"He looks like he's been out here for a while... he has the stink of them on him..."
"Just like every other trog and wildman that lives out here... but regardless... a recruit is a recruit..."
"His knife is pretty sharp... I'm keeping it... come on... don't want to be here when the other trogs come..."
...
Richard woke up... he was on a bedroll in a dirty room of a building.
The room's walls were coated in dirt and looked as if they hadn't been washed in years. He saw a desk in the corner that had nothing on it.
There was a raider sitting in a chair in front of him.
"Well... sleeping beauty finally wakes up... heh..." The raider laughed.
"Where... where is Steve?" Richard said.
"What? Who the hell is this Steve?" The raider asked.
"My knife... where is it...?" Richard asked.
"Ah... yes... that beauty of a knife is now mine... I suggest you to go the fuck back to sleep... or you'll be out there working like the other scabs." The raider said.
Richard couldn't remember anything but his knife and the event with his parents.
He looked down at his leg and he saw that it was wrapped with a dirty towel. Possibly to stop the bleeding, to prevent him, a capable slave, from dying?
Richard saw a hammer near the desk, but he'd have to outrun the slave to get to it.
Richard saw a half broken pistol thrown in the corner, maybe the slave was trying to fix it, but he got frustrated with it? But even then there was no guarantee that the pistol was loaded...
Richard saw a shine from the raider's pocket, was it his knife? He could try to sneak up on the raider and try to pick pocket it from him...
Richard also could just bum rush the raider and beat the living shit outta him.
Richard thought for a second on what he would do.
He decided that he would wait for the guard to lose his guard to sneak up on him, and try to pickpocket his beloved knife.
When the guard got up from his chair and went to go to the fridge that was in the corner to get something to drink, Stabby sneaked up on the raider, and he slowly but carefully pickpocketed the knife from him.
However, when he got the knife, the raider felt Richard's hand in his pocket pulling out the knife.
"What the...?" The guard turned around, but it was too late.
The guard's armor was thick and it covered most of his body, but his neck was uncovered.
Richard quickly opened his knife, and he attempted to thrust it into the raider's neck. However, he caught his hand before it reached his neck.
The raider used his other hand to reach for a beer bottle that was on the desk, besides them.
He hit Richard on the head with it.
Richard began to stumble, while the glass pieces of the beer fell to the floor.
Blood began to run down his head.
He wasn't going to last long, but he was determined to not go out alone.
He punched the raider, and then stuck the knife into his neck. Blood began to erupt from the raider's neck, like a beautiful red, gory fountain.
Richard pulled out his knife, and he began to stab the raider several times, even through his thick armor.
The raider stumbled backwards and fell over the desk.
Richard's head was still bleeding, and he felt woozy.
He quickly hid the knife on him, and he collapsed to the floor, not being able to stay conscious.
...
Richard woke up in what was a cage.
He felt the cold feel of the metal that he was laying on.
He pulled himself up, and he rubbed his head. It was wrapped by the same wrap that had covered his leg previously.
He looked around, and he saw the same man he did when he was captured. The man in black and yellow armor.
However, his head began to throb, and he remembered the event in the Steel Yard.
He felt like he had forgot his identity... perhaps the beer bottle caused brain damage? As, he couldn't remember anything but that black and yellow armored man walking towards him... laughing...
"Hm... you have a lot of fight in ya kid... do ya know that raider you killed was one of my best?" The man asked.
"Who... who are you...?" Richard said.
"My name... is Ashur... and... trust me... you won't be given another opportunity like the one my idiot lackeys gave you... you're gonna be in that cage for a while..." Ashur laughed, and then walked out of the room.
Richard then remembered something. He reached into his pants, and he pulled out the knife.
He forgot who had gave him it, and what was so important about it. He opened the knife, and he saw "Steve" inscribed on the blade.
Just then his head throbbed again, and he saw an image of the knife in his head. Someone was handing it to him, but he couldn't see the person's face.
When he heard the door opening, he stuck his knife back where he had gotten it.
An angry looking raider entered the room.
"You killed my brother you son of a bitch..." The raider said angrilly. He grabbed a nail board, opened the cage and he charged at Richard, but Ashur had entered the room again.
Ashur pulled the angry raider back and threw him against the wall.
"Were you about to damage a worker?" Ashur yelled at the raider.
"He, he STABBED AND KILLED MY BROTHER!" The raider yelled.
"Stabby, over there isn't going anywhere..." Ashur said.
Stabby...? Is... is that my name? Richard thought.
"I'LL GET YOU, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" The raider yelled, being ejected from the building by Ashur.
Richard who named himself Stabby that moment, saw that Ashur didn't close the cage after the raider opened it.
He began to walk towards the open door of the cage, but Ashur entered the room and closed and locked the cage.
"Ha... have fun in your new home..." Ashur laughed, closing the door behind him, locking it.
Ashur made Richard stay in that cage for months... to break him... luckily for Richard... the raiders or Ashur never found his knife.
Stabby rocked back and forth in the cage, he was beginning to lose his mind. He couldn't remember his real name, and he began to hear voices in his head.
Just then he heard something.
"PSH!"
Stabby looked around, and he didn't see anyone in the room that had the cage in it.
"IN YOUR POCKET!"
Stabby reached into his pocket and pulled out his knife.
"Hi... my name... is Steve..."
This... this can't be real. Stabby thought to himself.
"Oh, but it is." Steve, the knife said.
"How'd you know what I was thinking?" Stabby thought.
"We have a bond, you and me." Steve, the knife said.
"A bond?" Stabby said.
"Yes... we've been through a lot you and me, and I'm going to be the only one who you can trust for a while..." Steve, the knife said.
This is crazy... I'm talking to my knife. Stabby thought.
"It's not crazy at all... now you should get to sleep..." Steve, the knife said.
Stabby felt tired, so he put his knife back up, and hid it, and then he laid down in the cage to go to sleep.
Years later...
Stabby was woke up from his sleep, by another slave.
"Stabby!" The slave yelled.
"Argh... I'm fucking waking up... I had that dream again..." Stabby yelled, getting off of his sheet on the ground.
"We gotta get back to work before those bastards come and fuck with us..." The slave said.
"Fine... now fuck off, Bob..." Stabby said.
"I don't understand why you push everyone away... especially in this situation, you need a friend to watch your back..." Bob, the slave said.
"I have a friend." Stabby said.
"Oh really? All I see you talking to is yourself, while your holding that knife..." Bob whispered, as a raider passed by.
"Go away, Bob..." Stabby said.
Bob shook his head at Stabby and walked away.
Stabby looked at around at the other slaves, who were doing repetitive, hard labor, or were being beaten by the slave overseers.
Stabby began to walk over to the others, to begin the day with several hours of hard labor, and beatings.
I fucking hate my life. Stabby thought. He reached up and touched his face, feeling where the Trog from many years ago clawed him, leaving five long and thin scars across his face.
"SCAB!"
Oh, what now...? Stabby thought, he didn't even get to the beginning of his work.
End of Prologue: A Boy and His Knife
Yep. I've been working on this for a while, and I think it turned out to be pretty good for the beginning. Also, this will tie into A New Definition of Hell a little bit... so... but anyways. Hope you enjoyed this creation of TGG333 industries, please review.
...
OH, and adios.