Fallout 4: Call to Arms

by theGhostflyer

IN the year 2077, civilization was destroyed in atomic fire. A small family manages to get to the safety of a vault just in time. Now, 210 years later, a single survivor embarks on a journey to save his son and enact vengeance upon those who have wronged him. Along the way, he will find that it's not all is at it seems. Eventual PiperxM!SS. Let's crawl out through the Fallout.

1. Chapter 1

So yeah...I'm alive. Been a really long time since I updated, but hey, I'm back. My muse is now on Fallout, so decided to write this. Thinking it'll be a novel like flow of the story. First off, before complaints are made, I have altered some of the fallout lore and the M/SS back story. He's not a solider, but a Marine. It makes more sense to me to be honest. I also tried to make Preston seem more...real. Not some naive guy with a laser musket. He's more of a hardened soldier that is dealing with depression and survivors guilty. Kinda hoping I portrayed that. Sole is the default name as well...it fits. Any way. Give it a read and a review. Thanks guys.

Where does any story begin? I suppose it should start at the beginning. But that begs the question. Where would I begin this story? I could always start with my life story. Simple American, born in Dayton Ohio on March 23, 2049. I was a pretty bright kid, but much to my parents dismay, I never fully applied myself. Mom always blamed that on why I joined the Corps at the age of seventeen. That or she blamed my Dad. Granted, the crusty old Marine always liked to say there was only one true branch of service in the world. No. The fault doesn't lay on him or me. It was, as I like to think, fate that took me to the door of the recruiter. Oh he spun a pretty tale of only being the boot for a few months before picking up rank and then being the boss. I guess my dumb ass bought it, even knowing he was full of it. So there I was, some out of shape kid showing up at Paris Island, not knowing just what I had gotten myself into. Looking back now...I don't regret it. In fact, the hardest part of all of it was just getting through the training. School of Infantry did suck, but it was a good kind of sucked. Not long after graduation, we were told we would be sent to the front lines in Alaska. The Chinese had dug their boots in and refused to give up their conquest in desperate need of the oil in the Yukon. I hated every moment of it. The cold bit at every piece of exposed flesh. The wind didn't help either. By '74, after several botched ops, lulls in the war while diplomats tried to weasel a way to a peace treaty, we got new orders.

Those orders saw me dropped into the deepest part of the shit. I guess the brass wanted to relieve the pressure on the Anchorage front, so freshly promoted to Staff Sergeant, me and my boys invaded the Chinese main land. Oh, we had help from our allies, but the Japanese had been hit hardest in the opening days of the War, and while damn good fighters, they just didn't have the numbers to help make a dent. For six months, we slugged it out in open fields, small villages, even managed to push into Shanghai for a few weeks. It was hell. Almost bought the farm twice before they rotated my unit, or what was left of it, back to the States for a month of leave before sending us to deal with riots that had sprung up around the nation. Turns out, shit had gone south back home too. It was during this time I met a woman. She didn't turn any heads so to speak, more of a plain beauty. One easily over looked. That month was the best of the War.

Of course, it wasn't love at first sight. More the slow burn kind. She'd write me while I was deployed. I send a holotape or two when I had the chance. Things just went from there. It wasn't until after we liberated Anchorage that I made the choice not to reenlist. So I mustered out, got my honorable and a nice retirement paycheck with it. It wasn't long until we decided to take the next step. Nora looked absolutely beautiful. I doubted I'd find any bride out there capable of overshadowing Nora. We started our life in Massachusetts together where Nora had a great job offer. And me? Well...it wasn't easy to fit into civilian jobs. Eventually I started work at the VA, dealing with other vets and such. Didn't pay as much as it should have, but it was enough with everything else.

Then, when I thought things couldn't get better, Nora told me she was pregnant. I was so happy, I doubted I made any sense to my parents on the phone. But they were able to figure out what was going on and were happy for us. They'd have loved to have met our baby. Unfortunately, they never would. Two months before our son was born, they were killed in a riot. Mom had been shopping with Dad when some bastard with a bomb detonated it at the Gas Station across the street. It had ignited the gas mains and took out several city blocks. They said the guy may have used a dirty bomb. I was devastated. Turned to Alcohol to help numb the pain for about three weeks before Nora put her foot down. With her help, I came around just in time for my son to be born.

The ten months following his birth, my boy, my beloved son Shaun became the bright light in my life. And then, it was ripped away. I can still remember that day. The day the world ended/ Maybe...maybe that is the true beginning of my story. The beginning of the end. Not sounded by trumpets, but by atomic fire. The day I'll never forget. October 23, 2077 is a day I will always curse...

-Recovered transcripts from US Military servers from DIA headquarters prior to the first bomb impacts-

/0023 20771023/COMPACFLT/

/Possible Sub Contact/USS OHIO/

/CAPTAIN ANDERSON, JAMES M/

Four USOS contacts on sonar. Unable to achieve positive identification. Possible Chinese stealth units operating fifty nautical miles off southern California coast line. Sending ASW assets to track and identify unknown contacts. SITREP to follow after ID is made.

/END/

/0310 20771023/USAF AWACS/

/HAUFO BERING STRAITS/COM TRANSCRIPTS/

/USAF AWACS SKYEYE/ ALTITUDE: 50,000 ASL/

/DEFCON SATUS: 3/

AWACS SKYEYE: SKYEYE to CONTROL. I HAVE SIX UNKNOWN CONTACTS ON RADAR.

CONTROL: SKYEYE, CONTROL. CONFIRM YOUR LAST.

AWACS SKYEYE: SIX UNKNOWN CONTACTS ON RADAR. CONTACTS COMING IN FROM 308, ALTITUDE IS 40,000.

CONTROL: ROGER SKYEYE. SCRAMBLING WARDOG TO INTERCEPT. SEND HOSTILE CHALLENGE AND MONITOR RADIO CHATTER FROM UNKNOWNS.

AWACS SKYEYE: UNDERSTOOD.

/END/

/0913 20771023/INODS EMERGENCY REPORT/

/PROBABLE WMD LAUNCHES DETECTED/

/TRAJECTORY ALPHA ONE: SAN DIEGO, CA

/TRAJECTORY ALPHA TWO: YUMA, AZ

/TRAJECTORY ALPHA THREE: AUSTIN, TX

/TRAJECTORY ALPHA FOUR: MEMPHIS, TN

/PROBABILITY OF CONFIRMATION: 92.8%

/ALERT STATUS RAISED TO: DEFCON TWO

/ALL NUCLEAR ASSETS ON HOT STAND BY

/AWAITING LAUNCH COMMAND

/END/

/0917 20771023/NORAD FLASH TRAFFIC/

/CONFIRMATION OF WMD WARHEADS INBOUND

/TARGET COUNT: 115

/RESPONSE SCENARIO PROTOCOL MX-CN91 HAS BEEN ENACTED

/RELEASE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS HAS BEEN AUTHORIZED

/LAUNCH PROTOCOL HAS BEEN INITIATED

/PROJECT SAFEHOUSE: LOCK DOWN INITIATED

/ALL US MILITARY UNITS: NOVEMBER ROMEO DELTA 1020.34 XRAY IS IN EFFECT.

/GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

/END/

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It was a beautiful morning, especially for October. Barely a chill in the air and the leaves had only begun to change in color. In the small suburban neighbor hood, Halloween decorations dotted the homes of the residents. In a small two bedroom home, a rather ordinary looking man in his mid twenties toweled his face off as he recited his speech once more, hoping it sounded decent.

"You're gonna knock them dead at the Veterans Hall tonight."

The man, of average build, with blue eyes and dark brown hair, glanced at his wife's reflection in the mirror before turning to face her directly.

"You think?"

She smiled brightly at him, her brown eyes alight as she made her way over to him.

"Absolutely. Now stop hogging the mirror." She teased, gently pushing him out of the way so she could get ready herself.

He let out a chuckle and decided to grab a cup of coffee before he finished getting dressed. A short walk down the hall found himself face to face with Codsworth, his newest best friend, but only because he made the coffee just right. The man nodded and gave the Mister Handy a nod as he took a sip of the beverage and looked through the paper as the news played in the background. He had finished his cup as Nora entered the kitchen, looking for some herself. He found it adorable how she seemed to almost melt at the first sip. He was about to poke fun at her for it when the buzzer sounded. Nora glanced at the door before sighing.

"It's that Vault Tec salesman again. He's been coming by everyday to speak to you about something."

The man gave his own sigh as he put his cup down and answered the door. A rather cheer yet nervous looking man greeted him with a flourish. Who wears a bright yellow suit? The man almost missed what the rep was saying when the guy went through his song and dance about how the bombs would be coming.

"So what will this cost me?"

The man seemed taken aback before answering.

"Why, nothing of course. This is the residence of a Staff Sergeant Nathaniel Johnson, correct?"

The man nodded his head, making the rep seem to relax. Maybe he thought he had rung the wrong house. Nate nodded his affirmative to the question, which brought back the cheerful nature of the Rep, which he had to admit, was border line creepy.

"Thanks to your honorable and steadfast service to our great country, you have been preapproved for entry into the local vault! Vault 111!"

"And that includes my wife and son, right?"

"Of course! There is plenty of room for your family! Excluding any robots you may have of course. Now, all I need from you, sir, is a simple signature on these five forms. If you want the spot of course."

Nate paused for a moment before shrugging.

"What the hell. It couldn't hurt to be prepared." He stated, taking the clip board and signing the forms.

The Rep seemed to approve of his attitude.

"That's the spirit! Now I'll go and get these filed at the vault for you. And may I say, you have made an excellent choice! You have yourself a good day!"

The Rep seemed to be in quite a hurry as he headed to his truck. Nate blinked before closing the door and shaking his head. Nora seemed amused and teased him about the hassle he had to go through of signing his name. Any retort he had for his lawyer wife was cut off by a shrill cry and a sheepish Codsworth stating that Shaun was being fussy and needed some paternal comfort. Nate knew it was his turn, not that it mattered and headed to calm his young son down before they truly began the day. He entered the small, modest room that his son resided in and moved to the crib, smiling down at the baby that only moments ago had been so fussy.

"Hey little guy. Why so fussy?" He asked.

The response from the infant was a happy gurgle followed by a toothless grin. Nate chuckled as Nora slipped into the room, leaning against the door way.

"How are my two favorite men in my life doing?" She asked.

He smirked at her.

"I'll make sure to tell your Dad you said that."

She snorted before moving to the other side of the crib and hefting Shaun into her arms. Nate simply smiled, watching the two most important people in his world. He almost missed Nora's suggestion about the park and decided to let his playful nature take effect.

"I don't know. Can we afford a second child?"

Nora's cheeks took a red tint as she huffed at him in a playful manner.

"Daddy is just begging to be banished to the couch, isn't he?"

Shaun for his part, just giggled happily before an alarmed call from the front room caught Nate's ear.

"Sir! Mum! You should come and see this!"

"Codsworth? What's wrong?"

Nate followed Nora out to the hall, and made their way to the front room. Nate could hear the news broadcast, moving closer to the TV to see the fearful reporter's face. He saw movement in the corner of his eye and moved to the window to see his neighbors hauling ass toward the Vault, complete with Military helicopters and the new, yet well received Vertibirds flying over Sanctuary Hills. His blood ran cold and his stomach dropped when the Anchor began speaking again.

"We...we've received unconfirmed reports of an attack in progress. We...we are trying to confirm. Reports indicate bright flashes...sounds of explosions...Wait, we are getting word now..."

Nate saw the look of pure terror on the Anchor's face set in as the man continued speaking.

"W-we just received word that...that New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. have been shit by multiple Nuclear strikes...Oh my God..."

The screen flashed out as the numbness that had been overtaking Nate was banished. He quickly looked to Nora, the fear in her eyes was all he needed to energize himself into action.

"We need to get to the vault. Now!"

Nora blinked and nodded, heading for the front door as quickly as she could. Nate moved to follow before he looked to Codsworth.

"Stay safe buddy. We will be back." He promised.

What ever it was Codsworth replied with, Nate didn't know. He caught up to his wife and the pair hurried to the vault site that overlooked the whole of Sanctuary Hills. The trip only took a minute, but it felt like hours as they passed weeping people along the path, or in some cases, feuding couples. They approached the gates as they heard the Vault Tec rep argue with the gate guard, who looked to be a Captain in the National Guard. Nate took the chance to move up through the gap made from people scattering out of the line of attack from one of the power armored guards that had spun up his mini-gun to fire. The Captain looked at Nate as the man approached.

"Sir, we need to get in. We are on the List."

"Name?"

"Staff Sergeant Nathaniel Johnson."

The Captain's eyes darted to the clipboard and nodded, moving out of the way for the family.

"They're clear." The Captain placed a hand on Nate's shoulder with a small nod. "Best of luck Staff Sergeant."

"Orah, sir."

Nate followed after his wife and the Vault Tec guard as they hurried to the main lift that would take them to the Vault. Over head, F-35 Talons screamed through the sky, angling upwards. Nate felt his mouth go dry. If the fast attackers were aiming upwards...

"Oh shit. The bomb is almost here!" He called to the Guard.

The guard quickly motioned them to the platform as he sprinted to the elevator controls. The Guard must have also realized what the fighters soaring up into the clouds meant. Nate pulled Nora and Shaun close, hearing Nora praying that God would lend them strength and protection.

"I love you. Both of you."

Nora let out a shaky sob as the world around them seemed to slow down to a stand still.

"We love you too."

Nate would never know what possessed him to look in the direction of Natick, but the memory would be forever burned into his mind. A sudden, bright flash of light, so bright he quickly closed his eyes. Followed the sound of a massive explosion. He opened his eyes as the panic took full force. The Guards were screaming to send the elevator down, the people on the platform were screaming in terror, and there was Nate, strangely calm as he saw the approaching shock wave from the explosion. Time still seemed to crawl as the elevator finally began its decent into the underground vault. Nate covered Nora and Shaun with his body as the blast wave passed over them as the exterior doors sealed shut.

Nate only had one thought.

Now what?

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

He felt himself awaken. The stiffness in his body and the bone deep chill. It rushed back to him. The ride into the vault, the bomb dropping, the rushed through the vault into this damned pod...everything. He coughed and opened his eyes, rubbing them from the sting of the harsh cold and mist that was clearing. He shook his head and looked through the frosted over porthole. He could barely make out two people by his wife's pod. Were they being released? Had the war ended? Was the surface even safe? He pushed those thoughts aside and banged on his pod door. He watched as Nora's pod was opened, and saw she was okay. She seemed out of it, but who knew how long they had been in these pods. It didn't take Nate long to see something was wrong. The man had a pistol in his hand, trying to placate Nora as what he guessed was a woman was trying to take Shaun from her.

"What..." He rasped out. "How long...?"

His hoarse voice echoed in the pod as more and more energy came to him. He saw Nora struggle to keep Shaun in her arms.

"I'm not giving you my baby you bastards!" She screamed as the man pointed his gun at Nora.

"YOU HURT HER AND I'LL KILL YOU!" Nate roared, slamming his shoulder into the hatch the best he could, hoping he could break it open.

"I'm only going to tell you this once. Let the boy go."

"GO TO HELL!" She screamed.

The gun shot rang out, piercing the silent room as Nora went limp, sliding back into her pod as the Hazard suit wearing woman hurried away with Shaun. Nate felt his heart shatter and a moment later, tears burned down his cheeks. A deep rage settled into him quickly.

"NO! YOU FUCKING BASTARDS! I'LL KILL YOU! I'M GONNA GUT YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" He slammed harder, the throbbing pain in his hands and shoulder numbed by the sheer burning rage.

The bald man walked up to his pod and Nate slammed his fist against the glass, causing the bald man to frown before he walked off, saying something about him being a spare. He felt the cold settling into him again. Nate roared in fury before the darkness claimed him once more.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

He smelt the barbecue and felt the warm summer air creasing his face. Around him, the sounds of summer rang through the streets as children played and neighbors enjoyed the weather. He looked over from his patio chair and saw Nora walking towards him, smiling with a beer just for him. He smiled and took the cold drink from her.

"It's time to get up Nate."

He looked at her confused.

"You need to get up honey. There-"

His eyes snapped open as the speakers blared their warning.

"-has been a failure in the cryogenic array. All vault residents are to evacuate Vault 111 immediately."

He shook his head, gasping as as the pod hatch popped open with a groan and lifted. Nate started forward, only to find his body was sluggish and stiff, making his landing on the hard concrete floor all the more painful. A sharp pain in his shoulder brought back the horrible truth to his mind as he looked up, silently hoping what he had witnessed was a nightmare. That his wife was alive with Shaun in her arms, waiting for pod to open. Nate clumsily climbed to his feet and staggered to the pod controls. He hurriedly looked over the console and spotted the red lever that would activate the manual release. The seals broke with the mass of swirling gas.

"Come on. Come on." He chanted as the hatch slowly rose. His heart dropped and the hope he had that it was a nightmare vanished.

Nora laid were she had fallen. The bullet had passed through her heart, killing her instantly. Tears fell as he moved Nora to a more peaceful position. He took her ring and kissed her frozen lips once more before he re sealed her pod.

"I'll get the son of a bitch who did this, and I'll get back Shaun. I promise."

Nate took a shuddering breath before wiping his eyes and headed for the exit. Spotting a terminal, he quickly looked over the status of the other pods, as the computer had been left logged in. A minute of looking over each pod showed he was the only survivor. Shock rippled through him as he exited the room, into the hall that led to the exit.

"Am I all that's left?" He asked himself as he tried to main door.

"ALERT. RELEASE FAILURE. PLEASE CONTACT A VAULT TEC MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN FOR ASSISTANCE."

"Great. Another fine Vault Tec product." He muttered and headed for the door to his right.

The side passage led on a winding path through the rest of the vault which included a sleeping area that granted him more access to information on the vault, including a log of the Security Chief.

"Cryo storage. Why the hell would Vault Tec do this? They were supposed to keep us safe." He snarled out, wishing he could wring the neck of the yellow trench coated bastard that promised them safety.

Nate pushed on, finding an old Security Baton. Not much in the way of personal defense, but it would work until he found something better. Which is what he wished for right after he opened the next door. Staring him down from across the room was a two foot long cockroach, its antenna twitching in his direction. With some weird screech, it scurried towards him. Nate stumbled back and swung the baton at the creature.

"Holy shit!" He cried out as the Baton made contact with the bug in mid jump.

The impact sent it flying into the wall it hit with a disgusting crunch. Nate stared at the bug for a moment.

"Giant...cockroaches...Okay." He muttered as he continued forward.

He ran into a few more of the giant bugs before he came across the overseers office. He was very pleased to find an 10mm pistol with three magazines on the desk, along with half a dozen Stimpacks. A once over showed him the main terminal was active and still logged in, just like the other six he had found. The mutiny, as the Overseer had called it, seemed to have been rather thorough, making him wonder if anyone had gotten out. He pushed his thoughts aside and focused on his task. Which was to get out of this...this tomb. He found the override for the escape tunnel and activated the program, happy to hear the lock from across the room release. He froze as the door opened and the now familiar screech reached his ears.

"Damn it." He muttered, readying his newly acquired side arm.

He didn't need to wait long as the first roach came skittering into the office through the door, only to be greeted by a 10mm bullet through it's body. The sharp pistol report brought more to the door, forcing Nate to pick them off as they appeared. The only tight spot was one that managed to get by it's dead brothers and took a running jump at him. Nate used his free hand and back handed the bug away long enough to put the sights on it. He squeezed and the pistol bucked once more in his hand, blowing a nice sized chunk out of the mutated pest. The Marine swung his weapon back to the door, waiting to see if anymore would show, but after a few minutes, nothing else poked it's head in to see what made the noise.

Nate carefully made his way past the carcasses in the door jam and followed the tunnel until it deposited him in the main entry way. The same entry way he had used only God knew how long. His eyes hardened at that. No...no God. God wouldn't have let this happen. Wouldn't have caused this much suffering. Just as that thought crossed his mind, the words of his Grandma echoed through his head. 'God has a plan. We may not agree with it at times, but there is a reason. Your struggles are challenges for you to over come. To gain strength from. You must have faith.' The man cleared his head and moved quickly to what looked to him as the main control panel for the vault door and was pleased to see he was right.

He wasn't pleased to see it needed a Pipboy to open but that problem remedied itself in the form of the skeletal remains of the Vault Doc that had ushered them into the cryo pod sporting s new hole between the eyes. He bent down and grabbed the Pipboy, checking it over it over to make sure it wasn't damaged, which he was happy to see it wasn't. He took one last look at the remains before he put it on.

"Karma is a bitch, huh Doc?"

Nate quickly put the Pipboy on, and activated the start up process, waiting out the boot cycle as he cleared the screen of as much dust and grime as he could. The annoying Pipboy image appeared before it started the new user log in. Something that had always bugged Nate about them was how they tended to track user's vitals to the letter. Hell, the thing was able to tell if you had cancer just by its bio-metric sensors. And unfortunately for him, he had a feeling he'd need this little bastard even after he left the vault. And to leave the vault to hunt down the bastards that killed his wife and took his son, he had to set up this Pipboy for his use.

"Okay...User Name...Nate. Keep it short I guess." He muttered. "Password...eight characters...no spaces...one special...okay. V.A.T.S? What the hell is that?" He wondered out loud.

"Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System grants Vault-Tec Security Teams the edge needed to keep tomorrow safe today! Utilizing advanced neural interface technology, this V.A.T.S. System is capable of using real time targeting data analysis to help improve accuracy and reaction times of Vault-Tec Security Teams in a crisis situation.

"Hmm...that does sound handy." Nate mumbled, taping the activation sequence.

He regretted it moments later as an unholy pain shot into his arm. The blazing pain worked up through his arm, into his head and his eyes. Nate fell to the ground, screaming in pain and gripping his head. What felt like an eternity, but lasted only minutes passed. Nate took in deep lungful of air as the pain faded. He had almost blacked out from the pain. He glanced at the Pipboy and was ready to tear it off at the next display.

"Be advised, non Vault-Tec Security personal are advised to keep V.A.T.S. Disabled due to required nanite injection to link neural functions to on board sensor systems. Thank you for choosing Vault-Tec."

Nate muttered a few choice words about Vault-Tec as he made his way to control panel, slipping the control key into the slot, and unlocking the primary door controls. He suddenly wondered if the controls would even still work. He really didn't know how long he'd been on ice, but he figured it couldn't be that long. At least he hoped. Shaking that thought aside, Nate slapped the ignition switch and stood back to watch the massive rotor mount roll forward and began moving the massive lead and steal door. Nate felt the air rush by him and into the elevator shaft, quickly pressurizing it. Nate made his way to the elevator, stepping onto the rusted platform. He took one last look behind him, saying a silent good bye to his wife as the lift took him to the surface.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"A bit over 210 actually. What with minor changes to the Earth's rotation and a few dings to the ole chronometer, sir."

Shock didn't begin to describe Nate's feeling of numbness. He had been on ice for over two hundred years. Two hundred. He couldn't believe it. To be honest though, he really couldn't believe Codsworth was still in one piece after all this time. Nate felt his knees get weak and slid to the ground, still processing what he had just been told. Another thing to put on his weird shit list. He took a shaky breathe as Codsworth became alarmed at his demeanor.

"Sir, are you alright? Shall I ring the misuses?" He asked on a concerned tone.

Nate felt a sharp pain in his heart at the mention of his wife and confusion at Codsworth apparent memory glitch. And if Nate was right, phones would be completely fried from the massive EMP he knew would have ravaged the world. It clicked in his head that Codsworth was acting off.

"Codsworth...are you okay? You seem...strange." Nate admitted, getting back onto his feet.

"I-I..." Codsworth seemed close to breaking point. "Oh sir. It's been terrible! No one to talk to or serve for 200 years! My purpose for exsistance was non exsistant! It almost drove me mad, sir! I spent the first ten years trying to keep the floors waxed! But nothing gets nuclear fallout out of vinyl wood...Nothing!"

Nate watched as his robot friend had the robot equivalent of a nervous break down.

"And let's not even talk about the futility of dusting a collapsing house. And the Car! How do you polish rust!"

"Whoa buddy. Stay with me Codsworth. Its gonna be okay."

Codsworth seemed to calm down and it made Nate wonder if Codsworth had become a fully sentient being as he could sense the depression coming off the poor robot.

"I...I really don't know anything that's happened around the world. The bombs came, and you headed to the vault, and it all happened so quickly. I feared you had been killed sir."

"But you stayed here. Why Codsworth? Why stay if you thought we were dead?" Nate asked.

"I...I guess it was fear sir. Fear of not finding anyone else alive. Once I came back online following the massive EMP from the bombs, I had found it was two weeks after. I am truly thankful that General Atomics had the foresight of installing a secondary system to take over if my primary was disabled." Nate agreed with the Robot. "I did venture into Concord a few times of the years, though the inhabitants seemed to always greet me with gunfire." He mentioned.

"There are still people living in Concord?" Nate asked, a plan already taking form in his mind.

Codsworth seemed to be thinking along the same lines as him.

"Of course sir! There may be some one there to help you track down young Shaun!"

Nate smirked and nodded before looking at the house. A thought came to him.

"Codsworth, has anyone been in the house since we left?" He asked.

"No one sir. I haven't seen another person step foot in Sanctuary since the bombs fell." He paused, processing where his Master was going with this. "Are you intending to access the safe sir?"

"I am. Stay here and keep watch buddy. I need to get dressed," He ordered him.

He heard Codsworth's reply but paid it no mind as he entered his home and headed down the hall to the utility room. The sounds of creaking metal greeted him as the sight of his destroyed home brought a swell of lose to him. This house had been a gift from his parents when he and Nora had gotten married. She had loved it. And now...now it was a rotting husk of what it had once been. He thought that offhandedly he could fix it up. He'd need a place to raise Shaun that was safe and secure. And that brought the nasty thought that even if he settled back here with his son, he'd need to set up some kind of defenses to protect from any other kind of mutated critters would be running around. Or people looking to take his shelter from him. Nate pushed those thoughts aside and pulled the washer free from it's hoses to get to the false floor cover he had placed over the safe. Nora hadn't known about his little side project of converting part of the crawlspace into a sealed safe, keeping a set of combat armor, uniforms, weapons, and ammo. He also had enough food to last six months for three people. Well, with it just being him, it gave him eighteen months of rations, which he could probably ration to double that. Who knew what would still be safe to eat around here.

Nate opened the safe and was pleased to see the contents were very well preserved. With more than enough space, the Marine lowered himself into the safe and made his way to the wall locker holding his combat gear. Two sets of woodlands and two sets of deserts with a full set of combat armor. Nate took his Pipboy off, thankful it wasn't one of the bio-metrically locked ones, along with the vault suit, quickly stripping down to nothing. He grabbed a set of skivvy shorts and a skivvy shirt along with a pair off boot socks, boot blousing, and his combat boots and began getting dressed. After a few minutes of getting presentable, he quickly doned his combat armor, placing the helmet on the utility room floor, before he headed to his weapons locker. He pulled the locker open and grabbed the M16A4 he had gotten from a gun show a few years before the bombs fell. He'd gotten it as he had heard how much his Grandfather had talked about the rifle to the point Nate had thought he was in love with the design. Which he was corrected that is was more of a love hate relationship. He slung the rifle, barrel down across his back and attached the hip holster carrying the M1911 that had been passed down since his Great Great Grandfather. His assault pack, which to him had been repacked and stocked with ammo and food last week, was right where he had left it

The man gathered his gear and climbed out of his safe, making sure to close and lock it, and headed to the front door. Codsworth took in his new appearance and seemed to understand what was going through the man's head.

"Sir, if I may?" Nate nodded for him to go ahead. "I know I am no Mister Gutsy, but if you wish, I can accompany you to Concord."

Nate thought about it. It would be nice to have someone he trusted to watch his back, but logic dictated that it wouldn't be safe for Codsworth and Nate would risk losing the last link to his old life.

"Actually Codsworth, I have another mission for you." He paused and looked around the neighborhood.

It was mostly intact with a few homes destroyed. But...it had potential to be a good spot to live.

"We need to get this place cleaned up and ready for when I finally get Shaun back. That means fixing up the house and setting up some sort of protection from the local wildlife. I need you to do that for me buddy." Nate looked Codsworth right in the eyes. "And if I can find us some help or other survivors, I 'll be bringing them back with me. But," He stated firmly, "Only allow someone access with the pass phrase 'Tun Tavern'. Anyone else is to be labeled as hostile and treated as such. Do you understand?"

Codsworth seemed to stand straighter...well float straighter.

"Crystal sir. I shall endevour to bring this place into a more presentable condition. And I shall be waiting for your victorious return sir!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Nate moved slowly towards the sounds of gun fire. To him it seemed to be coming from the museum in town. Though Nate wondered what kind of idiot backed themselves into a museum Too many points of entry to cover to be secure. He winced slightly from the bite wound that he'd gotten from the over-sized mosquito he'd literally run into after meeting some mutant rodents that tried to eat him. A whimper at his side from his newest companion brought him back to reality. The dog he had found at Red Rocket. The pup was very helpful to him in sniffing out useful items or in the case now, potential trouble. Nate readied his rifle and peaked around the corner, and saw what looked like five potential hostiles taking potshots at some guy in a duster with a laser rifle. Nate hesitated. He didn't know who was really the bad guy here. For all he knew, these five guys on the street could be some sort of law enforcement and the guy with the laser rifle could be some kind of convict. However, the shouts of he guessed the leader answered his question as to who was innocent, and who were dead men walking.

"Give it up musket boy. We got you holed up with limited ammo, while we have more guys on the way. We are going to squash the rest of you like we did your pals at Quincy!"

"As long as I draw breath, I will not abandon these people nor will I surrender!"

"Your funeral musket boy. I'm gonna enjoy the screams of you being skinned alive while I have my fun with that little dark haired bitch you got with you!"

Nate approved of the duster wearing man's response of nailing one of the assholes in the face with a full laser blast. It was artfully done in Nate's opinion. But the Marine knew he had limited time to help this guy and decided to make the most of his advantage over this dumb asses packed up by the museum. He hurriedly moved from his spot and made for the next section of sandbags for a better firing position. He'd prefer going to a more elevated position, but time was limited for him. Nate brought his rifle up and switched the selector to semi-auto and placed the ACOG sight on the head of the wanna be hard ass he heard yelling early. The rifle barely moved in Nate's rock steady hands, but the sound of the 5.56 leaving the barrel caught everyone elses attention. The round caught hard ass in the back of his grape, dropping him like a puppet with it's strings cut. The other gang members seemed too surprised to move, which allowed Nate to line up a second shot before they got smart and ducked. Another round left the chamber and tore right into the throat of Mister Road Goggles, leaving the final one, a man with a lather strap and some kind of metal brace over his left shoulder turning and snapping off a pair of potshots that impact high and to the right of where Nate was sitting. Before the Marine could return fire, a laser blast relieved the braced one of his head.

Nate moved up quickly, knowing that these guys had some more buddies coming and kept his rifle aimed at the dirt so not to incur the wraith of duster man as he was now calling the laser rifle wielding man. Laser man sounded pretty cool though.

"Hey you! I got four civvies up here with me and raiders trying to get in. Grab that laser musket and help us! Please!"

Nate looked down at the weapon Duster man pointed at and examined it. Looked like some kind of self made laser rifle with a crank. Nate tried it and was surprised to see the glass bubble glow red with energy.

"Okay," He muttered, grabbing a few of the fusion cells he saw before heading into the church.

He immediately regretted it as gunfire greeted him from the third and second floor. Nate cursed and stuck to cover as a few rounds impacted the wood pillar and floor in his general area. He hoped that these raiders were just as lousy of a shot as the five that had died in the street outside and made his move with a lull in the weapons fire. He sighted on the dumb ass hanging halfway out on the third floor and pulled the trigger. The red beam of energy speared through where the man's left lung would and out of his back, close enough to the spine to destroy the nerve endings from the sheer heat. A scream followed by a sickening crack let Nate know the raider had fallen off the third floor and probably slammed head first into the first floor. He slipped back into cover and gave the crank another turn and popped back out to catch the shooter the the second floor in the face. Not even bothering to try the gate in front of him, Nate shot into the the doorway to his right well aware it was an interactive display of the Revolutionary War. He kept his wits about him as he passed several display that could have a raider behind it and entered the last room, only to drop behind the nearest display half a second after entering. The mannequin behind him exploded in a shower of plastic and wood from the shotgun blast that had been aimed at his head.

Nate cursed as he looked at the now damaged laser musket. He must have cracked the bubble when he took cover.

"Guess it's back to the basics." He muttered, pulling his M1911 from it's holster.

He popped out of cover and his pistol found itself buried in the rather large bust of the shotgun raider. The young girl seemed surprised, too surprised to pull the trigger, but Nate didn't and he pulled the trigger, sending a round into her chest. The girl gasped in pain briefly before dropping to the ground, the bullet having entered and destroyed her heart. A mostly painless death,.

Nate didn't wait to see if she had possibly survived and continued forward, seeing that the first floor by the stairwell had collapsed into the basement, leaving the primary generator open to all. Nate glanced at it and figured it'd help in the long run to power the house at Sanctuary. He scurried down and to the cage while the dog watched his back for anything dumb enough to try to catch a Marine from behind. Nate saw he had two choices. He could plug the Pipboy in and have it crack the password, or he could pick the lock. Sensing speed was the key here, Nate plugged the wrist mounted computer in and watched as the cracking software began it's work. With in fifteen seconds, it broke the password and allowed him to access the gate controls.

He grabbed the F.C. And made his way up to the second floor. Nate kept low and his pistol out as he caught the sound of two raiders arguing about whether to abandon their posts or not. Nate made the decision for them by a bullet to the head of the one by the busted out wall and a well placed palm strike to the nose of the other, killing him by sending bone into his brain. The Marine hustled on after going through the duffel bag that the two dead raiders had been going through and was happy to find two boxes of 24 rounds for his sidearm. No extra ammo for his rifle, but Nate could always restock at the house if he had to. He stopped that line of thought. Just what the hell was he doing? Helping strangers over finding his son? What did he owe this world anymore when it had thoroughly screwed him over. He stood up and looked at the mural dedicated to the U.S. Military men and woman who had died in the line of duty. Looking upon the mural Nate felt his resolve solidify, Yes he needed to get his son back, but he had a duty to defend the citizens of the United States from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. And last he checked, his oath never had an expiration date.

Nate squared his shoulders and nodded to himself.

"Alright. Time to show these raiders why you don't take pot shots at a U.S. Marine."

A short trip up the stairs brought him to a wall with a few holes through it. Nate had an idea of how to deal with the last two raiders with little risk to his health. Nate pulled his combat knife out and made his way to the door. This would be tricky because if he missed, well, nothing would stop these assholes from putting holes in him. He heard the foot steps approach the door he standing near. It swung open and Nate waited until the first idiot walked into the hallway.

"-one is shooting up our guys needs a-GAH!"

Nate timed it perfectly. He moved like a viper, bringing his arm over the raiders right shoulder and slamming the knife into his chest, pulling the raider to his chest to act as a meat shield. Nate turned both of them around quickly enough for the other raider to accidentally put a shotgun blast into his buddy's chest. The Shotgun Guy looked horrified at what he had done, allowing Nate to put a .45 into his grape. He yanked his knife out of the now useless meat shield and wiped the blade on the ragged and torn pants.

"Amateurs." Nate muttered as he slipped his knife back into the chest scabbard.

"I don't know who you are but your timing is impeccable." Duster man said from the door way down from him. "Get in here quickly."

Nate motioned for the dog to follow him and the pair entered the small office where Nate saw the people he'd just saved. Duster man seemed a little on edge but considering it was literally just him protecting all five of them, Nate could understand.

"Well, that was fun." He commented. "Now, who are you people?"

"I'm Preston Garvey. Commonwealth Minutemen." The man now identified as Preston responded, holding out his hand.

Nate grasped it and gave a firm shake,

"Staff Sergeant Johnson. Did you say Minutemen? As in the Revolutionary Citizen Soldiers?" Nate asked.

"I'm impressed. Not many know any history before the Great War."

Nate cocked an eyebrow.

"Great War? What are you talking about?"

Preston seemed taken aback before giving a rather snarky reply.

"The one that turned our planet into a wasteland? Where have you been for the past few centuries? Under a rock?"

Nate sent Preston a rather level look.

"Actually yes. I've been on ice in a vault since the bombs dropped." He snapped back.

Preston blinked before rubbing his eyes in frustration.

"Damn. First off...I'm sorry. We've been on the run since Quincy was overrun last month." He gave a defeated sigh before he continued. "We made it out with fifteen of us. Yesterday, we had eight. Now...now it's just the five of us."

Nate recognized the thousand yard stare. He had it every once in a while himself. It hadn't been a problem since after Shaun was born, but he could recognize the signs of a soldier near the edge of no return.

"It's fine Garvey. Sounds like you were neck deep in the shit." Nate responded.

Preston nodded and returned his tired gaze to the Marine.

"Look, I'd love to tell you our whole history, but we have more pressing concerns. The Raiders have more men coming, and while I'm a good shot, I can't handle getting these people to safety on my own." He glanced behind him as a young Asian woman wrapped her arm around a weeping man. "We need your help, if you can give us a hand."

Nate glanced at the people and nodded. He had already made a vow to himself to up hold his duty as a Marine as well as a father. And right now, he needed these people to help him accomplish his quest to get his son back.

"Alright Garvey. I'm in. What's your plan?"

Preston looked extremely relieved and turned to the man that was going over the blue prints on a computer terminal.

"Sturges. Give our new friend the run down. I'm gonna keep an eye on the streets to see when Gristle decided to poke his ugly head out."

"Can do boss." The younger man quipped, turning to face Nate. "Well now muscles. Let me give you the gist of our rather brilliant plan. You may have spotted the crashed vertibird on the roof of this here museum. Now before those Raiders dicks showed up, I managed to get a good look at some of the goodies left behind." He leaned back, a cheerful grin on his face. "Seems one of the passengers left a seriously sweet gift up there. I'm talking a full suit of T-51E Power Armor."

Nate let out a low whistle.

"That's one hell of a good piece of salvage. The 51s were well balanced. I like where this is going." Nate grinned.

Sturges smirked.

"Yeah, I though ya might. Only problem is, the reactor is offline. Looked like the last user did a hard shut down of it's systems, meaning the fusion reactor needs a kick start so to speak." Sturges explained.

Nate frowned, thinking back to the briefs they had gotten when the T-51Ds has been issued out. Unlike the 45s and early 51 models, the reactor system in the Deltas, Echos, and Foxtrots only required a fusion core to bring the main reactor online. Once the initial fusion charge activated, the F.C. Acted as an emergency back up power supply if the main reactor was either disabled or overheated. Sturges guessed what he was thinking.

"We need the Fusion Core from the basement to get the main reactor running. Only problem is, the damn thing is locked behind a security gate," He explained.

Nate smiled and fished the core out of his cargo pocket.

"Not anymore. I grabbed it thinking I could use it to help restore my home to working order."

"Well I'll be damned. Guess that means I might as well get to the best part then huh?" He chuckled. "Thee Vertibird also has a single mini-gun left on her. Best guess is the other was ripped off during the crash, but that's fine anyway. Just use the suit and rip the last one from the mount. Since it has a manual trigger, you shouldn't have any trouble using the mini-gun like a rifle."

"How many rounds are on board?" Nate asked.

Sturges' brow furrowed as he thought about it.

"It had one drum loaded and I saw one spare drum in the seat by it. So...I'd say maybe a thousand rounds."

Nate was about to compliment Sturges on the plan when a short curse followed by a gun shot interrupted him. Preston cranked his rifle and took a shot through the window.

"Damn! Gristle is here and he has quite a few buddies with him." Preston growled, ejecting the spent fusion cell.

Nate slid into cover by the window and took a quick look using the V.A.T.S. System on his Pipboy. That two seconds was all he need before he ducked back down with a grim look.

"I counted at least a twelve foot mobiles."

Preston cranked his rifle and looked to Nate.

"Get your ass to the roof and get the Armor going. Once you're up there, it's your choice on how you want to engage them. I'll cover you best I can from here but..." He trailed off as he sent another laser beam at the approaching raiders.

Nate knew what he was getting at and turned to Sturges, tossing him his rile.

"Use that to help Preston out!" He ordered, dropping his assault pack. "Spare mags are in the pack. I'm gonna want that back once we get done here!" He called out, dropping his helmet on the couch by the door.

Nate didn't hear what Sturges said in reply as he moved quickly to the roof stair well. He damn near ripped the rotting door off it's hinges in his rush, and took the stairs up, two at a time, as the adrenaline coursed through his body. Nate quickly found himself shattering the last door and emerging on the roof. The sounds of laser blasts and gunshots echoed around him as the sky grew darker,. The Marine moved to the armor before him, and quickly slapped the core into the armor. Thirty agonizing seconds later, the armor came to life. A quick twist released the armor locks and it opened wide for him to step into it. Nate felt at home once the armor sealed around him with the heads up display flickering on. He ran a quick systems diagnostic, satisfied that most of the suit appeared to be in good shape, minus the left leg knee joint, which he guess was a bit rusted, and the right shoulder pauldron. Again, it was still at eighty percent integrity. Nothing short of of high caliber weapons would be able to do more than scratch the paint. The fusion reactor showed it was up to a sixty percent charge and still climbing. Nate rolled his shoulders and started forward, not even bothering to keep low. The min-gun was right where Sturges said it would be. A quick yank removed the 5mm death spewing machine from it's mount. Grabbing the spare drum, Nate started forward to the edge of the roof so see what he was facing. Sure enough, most of the raiders were near the sandbags across from the museum.

He guessed the other four were hanging back in reserve. He smirked. Their mistake. The steel encased man took a powered leap off the building and slammed into the road just in front of the nearest sand bag wall. Debris went flying as the impact cratered the road. He rose to his full height and swung the gun toward the group in front of him that had been knocked backwards from his impact. The male, maybe twenty or so summed up all their thoughts.

"Ah shit."

The min-gun roared to life, cutting the six in front of him down in a matter of moments. Nate turned himself to get a good angle on the other two nearest to him.

"No one said they had power armor!" The one Nate guessed was Gristle.

Again, hot death spewed from the weapon, cutting the other two down. Expecting the last four to rush him, Nate was surprised to see the steel grate he had passed earlier shoot up from the ground and some sort of demonic looking creature rose from the hole. The four other hostiles turned and aimed their weapons at the creature.

"DEATHCLAW!"

The Marine thought the name apt as it quickly moved in on a young blonde girl and quickly ripped her head from her shoulders. Not needing to be told what the bigger threat was, Nate brought the mini gun to bare and tracers were sent flying. The beast slashed another raider in half, this one had been wearing a gas mask of all things, when the rounds began pelting it's rather tough hide. The Deathclaw roared in anger and spun to face this new threat. Nate braced his stance as the barrels began to glow red from the amount of rounds passing through. He just hadn't counted on the animal using a weapon of it's own.

"Fuck!" He screamed, rolling away from the truck that the Deathclaw had thrown at him.

Nate popped back to his feet and had begun to turn back to the Deathclaw when he felt a massive weight slam into him, sending him once more tumbling to the ground, the mini gun flying out of his usually steady grip. He tried to get back to his feet but felt himself being raised into the air again. The Deathclaw gave a mighty roar right before Nate brought his metal boot crashing into it's jaw. He felt the creatures jaw break, forcing it's grip to loosen enough for him to get free. He'd rather not go hand to hand with this damn thing, but it looked like he had no choice. He lookde quickly around for a weapon and saw something he could use. He hurriedly ripped a near by parking meter out of the ground. Hearing the pissed roar, Nate managed to get the meter flipped around just in time to impale the bastard.

If anything, the beast looked more surprised than him that it had worked. The monster slid to the ground, lifeless. Nate backed away slowly Until he was sure it was dead. He took a deep calming breath and made his way back into the museum to find the survivors on the ground floor, with the dog curled up by the old woman feet. Figuring he didn't need the armor, Nate exited it as Preston approached him, something akin to awe in his expression, but still fairly well hidden.

"That...was an impressive display. I'm glad you are on our side." Preston hesitated before continuing. "I'm actually surprised it didn't explode when you powered it up."

Nate grinned.

"It was fun." He looked to the group behind the young soldier. "Is everyone okay.?"

"Thanks to your help yes. We're planning on staying the night here and moving on to our destination in the morning. You're welcome to stay if you'd like." Preston offered.

Nate thought it over and made the decision it would probably be the best idea.

"Yeah. I'd rather not run into one of those Deathclaws again."

"That was odd to be honest with you. They tend to stay near the Glowing Sea, Haven't seen one this far north in long time,"

"The Glowing Sea?" Nate asked.

Preston sat down on a chair near the door and Nate joined him away from the others who were rolling out sleeping bags.

"I guess I need to bring you up to speed. You said you've been on ice for 200 years. So I'm guessing you've been around since before the war, right?"

Nate nodded.

"Well kinda. Was in the Marines for a good chunk of my adult life. Settled down here after Anchorage." He explained.

"Damn. Like one of those old prewar ghouls." Preston commented.

"Ghouls?"

"Ghouls are people who have been heavily irradiated. Some are people from before the bombs were dropped. They look like corpses running around but most are goo people just trying to survive." Nate saw Preston's eyes harden. "then there are the Ferals. Some say the rads rotted their brains. They act on pure instinct against anything that isn't a ghoul."

To Nate, it sounded like a really bad sci fi movie with zombies, but he nodded his understanding.

"So did anyone else make it out with you?" Preston asked.

"My son...he was...kidnapped."

Preston sighed.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Any idea who it was that took him?"

"No. But when I find him, he's a dead man." Nate paused before asking his own question. "How'd you guys ended up here in Concord? It's not like Quincy is just down the street."

"Guess you earned the right to know our story. I was part of a detachment sent to reinforce the settlement in Quincy when they were put under siege by a Mercenary group known as the Gunners. Colonel Hollis, my commanding Officer, had a parley with the Gunner Leader, a former Minuteman named Clint. I don't know what they discussed, but not long after the Colonel returned, he sent word for more men to help out." Preston narrowed his eyes in anger. "No one came. The others...they just abandoned us." He glanced over to the others. "Managed to get a group of eighteen out. It was myself and five other men. Went through Jamaica Plains, but the damn Gunners never let up. Stopped in Lexington which seemed promising, but Feral overran it not long after we set up shop."

"Damn. Bad stretch of luck." Nate remarked, fishing a cigarette out of his pack,.

Preston declined the offered smoke.

"You can say that again. And you've seen how Concord has turned out. I can't help but think I only postponed the inevitable by dragging these people along on this trip."

"You can't give up Preston. I can tell you know, that if in the end, you managed to save just one life, you've done your job."

Preston blinked and smiled in appreciation.

"Thanks. I guess...I guess I needed to hear that from someone else. Now, you said you were looking for your son. The only place to get that help will be in Diamond City. Its built inside what used to be called Fenway Park."

Nate perked up. He knew right where that was. But Preston's next remark brought him back down.

"Only problem is, Raiders and Super mutants present a rather difficult obstacle to get around."

"Super Mutants?" He asked.

"Lost of muscles, little amount of brains. Trust me, you can not miss them."

"So...how would I get to Diamond City then?"

Preston paused, thinking over the area before he answered slowly.

"I suppose if enough people banded together, they could clear the area out and punch a hole through the mutants." Preston answered. "Hmmm...you know, we did have a few Minutemen Outposts up here. Maybe...but I would take some work to get them to come back. When Hollis died, everything just fell apart. Hell, we'd been on the decline since General Becker was killed back in '82."

"Tell more about the Minutemen."

Preston leaned back as Nate gathered his gear nearer to him. The silence last a minutes before Preston started speaking.

"The Minutemen came about a century and a half ago. The first members where former US National Guardsmen who had been irradiated and became Ghouls. They were there to help the vault dwellers get used to the topside and to keep them safe. It's not like they called themselves the Minutemen right at the start thought."Preston chuckled. "It was a name they gained from the quick response they gave any settlement in danger. The attack on Diamond City in 2160 was what solidified them as the good guys around here. Hell, even the CPG wanted to put them on the payroll as a standing army."

"The CPG?"

"Commonwealth Provisional Government. An idea that took hold around 2202." Preston muttered. "It was a good idea at first. We had been hearing for years about the New California Republic back west. Some people here wanted to give it a try. Didn't last long. Once the Minutemen lost the Castle, everything started going down hill for the Commonwealth. Infighting and other stuff. But the worst by far was complacency."

Nate nodded his understanding.

"Complacency kills." He quoted.

"You ain't kidding. The Minutemen hadn't faced a real threat in close to a century. Oh sure, raiders and Mutants are dangerous but can be handled. No...what killed us was ourselves. Men who refused to leave their settlements to aid others. Minutemen betraying each other. And last...no will left to make this shit hole somewhere we can live in peace." Preston growled out. "I joined at 17. I wanted so badly to make the Commonwealth a decent place. My Dad wasn't happy about it, but he understood. Now, a decade later, I'm the last one."

A battle weary man sat before Nate. It was never easy to lose everything you've fought for. Hell, Nate wasn't sure he was dealing with his loses since he was pretty sure he was still in shock.

"Are you really the last Minutemen?"

Preston snorted.

"Maybe not the physical last. But sure as hell the last Active one. There are others out there. Either retired or the ones who turned their backs on us at Quincy. I can only hope this Sanctuary place Mamma Murphy has been talking about is as safe as she claims it to be."

"You guys are headed to Sanctuary?"

"Yup. Hoping it will be a good start for everyone."

Nate just nodded his head, deep in thought. Thinking on everything Preston had told him, Nate felt he could use the help. And they could use his. If there really were potential allies out there, he'd need them. Oh sure, he remembered all the cockiness he and his buddies had right out of bootcamp. The feeling of being able to taking on a whole army and coming out victorious. But experience had changed him. He'd need help. Not just in personnel, but with the more important things like food and ammo. And Nora would have his ass if he didn't hep these people out. The ache returned again as his thoughts drifted to his now dead wife.

"How much work would it take to get these people to help us?" He asked quietly.

Preston seemed to be taken by surprise before he was able to respond.

"Probably not much. Just seeing that there are Minutemen out there willing to help will do a world of good for us. Are you...considering joining up?" Preston asked.

"I'm thinking about it. I'll help escort y'all to Sanctuary tomorrow. We'll discuss it then."