Foreword: The idea of a how the Lone Wanderer might cope with the Wasteland upon leaving the Vault has been rattling in my mind since I first played FO3. Combine that with inspiration from several well-written fics about the Wasteland (see SickleYield's Tales From the Wasteland series and Atiaran's FO3 fics) and you get this story.
This story is intended to follow a Good Karma, Caucasian Female Lone Wanderer from the moment she leaves the vault right up to the events of Take It Back! While I will not include every single sidequest available in the game, I will make reference to some of the quests being completed (or abandoned as the case may be) by other people. I doubt one individual can do in real life as much as the LW has done in FO3. Besides, if I were looking for my lost dad, I'd hardly make a detour to the Oasis to check out some trees. But that's just me. *winks*
Naturally, Fallout 3 and everything in it belongs to Bethesda Softworks. I'm just having fun with the characters and the world they inhabit. Leave me a review and tell me how I'm doing so far!
James took a deep drag from the cigarette he held and immediately began to cough violently. Damn, he thought, he was beginning to remember why he had quit these things. Breathing in nearly two decades worth of recycled air had left his lungs almost unable to cope with a single cigarette. Ah well, he had hoarded this one for years and it was a wonder that it was still smoke-worthy (1).
He took another drag at the cigarette and held his breath, feeling the smoke circulate in his lungs. Puffing out, he idly watched the smoke dissipate into the air. The reactor room was the only room in the entire vault that allowed him to smoke without fear of alerting every fire alarm in the place. Eventually the smoke would be sucked in to the air vents and filtered endlessly through the vault's complex ventilation system before being released as clean albeit recycled air. Nothing was wasted in the vault.
James laughed ironically. Well, nothing except talent, specifically his. True, he was a trained doctor but his interest was in research and that was buried in the Jefferson Memorial. The Overseer and he didn't exactly see eye-to-eye over many things and for the sake of his daughter, he didn't attempt to push his boundaries too hard.
His daughter, Elizabeth. James' thoughts shifted to the one bright spot in the past nineteen years. She was the only reason why he came to Vault 101 and sometimes the only reason why he woke up in the morning. Subconsciously, he reached for the worn photo in his pocket and smoothed it out with his hands as he stared at the image. His eyes dwelled lovingly on his beloved daughter's face. Sometimes he wished that Elizabeth, or Lizbet as he affectionately called her, resembled him less and Catherine more if only to keep a memory of her.
Still, it might have been too painful for him to look at her everyday without seeing the ghost of his dead wife. In nearly every aspect, she resembled him. Her calm gaze, her long sensitive fingers, her chestnut brown hair, even her warm smile. She even shared his love for the sciences, a source of never-ending pride for him. The only trait she inherited from Catherine was her tenacity and stubbornness, reflected in her work and their few quarrels over the years. He smiled, recalling that he and Catherine had similar spats which often resulted in him capitulating to her. It had been the same with his daughter although he had occasionally pulled out his 'I'm-your-father-and-I-said-so' card with her. She would sulk and glower at him but would make peace with him before nightfall; such was their bond.
He rubbed his forehead and sighed with melancholy. It wasn't going to be easy. He never enjoyed disappointing his daughter and what he was going to do would risk utterly alienating her from him. True, he wasn't going to return but he had hoped that she would at least harbor no anger or hate against him. He winced at the thought that she might possibly hate him tomorrow but he had no choice. He had made up his mind. He had to go, for Lizbet and Catherine's sake.
James shook his head, pushing away thoughts of his daughter. He needed to go through his plan for tonight. He couldn't afford to have his wits scattered about him. It had been years since he had to defend himself against the wildlife of the Wastes and he wasn't entirely sure if he could even survive the first week on the road. He had tried his best to keep himself in shape for the journey he knew he would eventually make but jogging up and down the pristine vault was a poor comparison to the brutal conditions he would find outside. The sun alone would be a huge adjustment for him, not to mention the heat.
It was the reason why he had finally decided to leave in the middle of the night and make immediately for the town of Megaton. Not only would he be able to better adjust to the outside world again without dealing with the harsh sunlight, most of the vault citizens would be asleep, including Lizbet.
Damn, he swore. He was thinking of her again. He kept telling himself that this was good for her, that leaving her in the vault was for her sake. James took a final puff from the cigarette, trying to ignore the kernel of guilt in his heart that plainly told him that he was abandoning his daughter.
James hoped that it wasn't true. He hoped that she would understand why he couldn't bring her along. Stubbing out the cigarette, he made sure the fire was dead before hiding the cigarette butt in a dead radroach as it wouldn't do for anyone to find it. The Overseer would have a fit if he knew that such things existed in his vault. The possibility of a fire in the high-pressure vault, while remote, was an uncomfortable concept that had catastrophic implications in a confined space. There was also the fact the most of residents had never breathed in any such contaminant in their clean filtered air. He strode through the doors and up the stairs to his rooms.
After gargling half a bottle of mouthwash (2) and washing his mouth out with Nuka-Cola, James moved softly into his daughter's room. The room was dark but he could barely make out her sleeping form on her bed. Tiptoeing to her side, he stood over her and watched her silently. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could trace her facial features in the darkness. He stared at her, willing himself to memorize her features.
How innocent she looked in her sleep! His heart tugged at him, whispering to him to stay. He didn't need to leave now. He could stay a little longer and watch her grow up a little more. Maybe even stick around to see her settle down and have a child of her own. There was no need to leave the vault at all…
James.
He started and turned, half-expecting to see her there but seeing no one else. He listened again but only heard the soft whiffling of Lizbet's breath on the pillow. He knew he didn't imagine it, he had heard her voice.
Stooping down, he kissed his daughter on the cheek and gently pushed the hair back from her forehead. Elizabeth murmured and shifted in her sleep. He tucked in the blanket close to her as tenderly as he did for her as a young child. He stared at her again, unwilling to tear himself away from the sight of her.
James.
This time, he turned around and walked out of the door. Jonas was waiting. Catherine was waiting. It was time to keep his promise.
There was no way he could have known that in a few hours, his daughter will be running for her life out of Vault 101 to search for her missing father.
Some brief notes on the story.
(1) – A quick search on Google revealed that unwrapped cigarettes can last almost 2 years if kept in proper conditions. It is possible to still smoke one years later but the taste would be somewhat stale. However, many NPCs smoke cigarettes in Fallout world and you can find boxes and cartons of them everywhere. I'm going to assume that they don't know the difference between a 'fresh' and a 'stale' ciggie since barely any of them were born pre-fallout and I doubt anyone's manufacturing new ciggies anymore.
(2) – Chances of mouthwash still existing are low but we're talking about the vault here. It MIGHT be possible. Let's just pretend it is, alright?