A/N After six months I've decided to rewrite the first few chapters of Michigan Wasteland because I thought it lacked the feel that was required and that the characters' reactions were a little unsubstantial. Plus it's good to reedit things and get it squared away. I'm also looking for new Beta Readers and editors
A Master Derek Fanfiction
In Association with
Legacy Productions
Based on the Video Game
'Fallout'
Fallout: The Michigan Wasteland
Written by Master Derek
Disclaimer: The Factions, References, History, and Some setting do not belong to me. They belong to their respected owners (Bethesda Softworks)
Prologue
War, war never changes.
That saying has been used throughout the post-war world. Humans continue to fight there petty fights and skirmishes but where does it lead? In October of 2077 it led to the destruction of human civilization in the form of nuclear war. The after effects were devastating Billions died. But it was not as most believed it would be. Humanity did indeed survive the nuclear exchange. They did so in underground fallout bunkers known as vaults. The vaults saved thousands from the horrors that occurred on the surface. People were mutated beyond belief and those that survived unscathed had to face radiation, raiders, bandits, and other atrocities that rose from the ashes of nuclear fire.
But not all hope was lost. The United States government had survived. However some were misguided into having to purge the wasteland of mutant people and all who were exposed to the wasteland such as the West and East Coast 'Enclave'. But the heartland Enclave based out of Chicago who have captured places like Detroit, Grand Rapids, Columbus, Lansing and other Northwest Territory cities are not like those on the coasts. That's why they haven't been destroyed by people in the wastes like the West and East.
And now let's go back to the vaults. More specifically Vault 42. Vault 42 had opened long ago but by the will of the inhabitants was sealed again after an 'accident'. This is where our story begins…..
Chapter 1
A man with jet black hair in Vault security armor minus the helmet but was wearing some awesome shades was strolling through the Vault atrium when he noticed a delinquent teen spray painting 'The Overseer is a tramp' on a wall in the atrium.
"Hey you!"
The atrium was all grey with many pillars connecting the ceiling to the floor. On the far side of the room was a magnetically locked door that led to the Vault's sealed outer door. Other doors in this room branched off into the other sections of the vault like the living quarters, security offices, Cafeteria, and the overseer's office.
"What you want holms?" The boy replied without looking.
"To stop defacing our dear vault and come with me to see the Overseer."
The boy turned around and found himself face to face with the security guard. He was holding a night stick.
"Shi-" He was knocked to the floor before he could even think about running away.
The security guard threw the boy over his shoulders and walked through a door on the right side of the atrium and to the end of the hall was an elevator. The guard entered the elevator dragging the kid along with him. He pushed the top button and the elevator lurched. The boy kicked and screamed the whole way.
"You should stop trying to fight it, Joseph. You can't fight the will of the Overseer."
"Oh shove it. What about the exodus? They won."
"A bunch of people who fought there way out of a safe place to live? What kind of victory is that?"
"Shut up John, you're always busting my balls about something or another."
The elevator doors parted and revealed Overseer Beverly Jones. She wore a normal Vault 42 Jump suit like everyone else who wasn't security. She had long blond hair that curved over her shoulders. She was hard at work typing on her computer. She looked up.
"Hello Joseph. Hello John."
"Hey mom." Joseph replied with a sigh.
"Hello Beverly." John said with a smile.
"What did Joseph do this time?"
"He spray painted 'the overseer is a tramp' on the wall of the atrium." He replied with a 'here we go again' in his voice.
"Joseph, why did you vandalize the atrium?"
"Because you a ho."
The Overseer sighs and reluctantly tells John to take her son to the brig.
"Yes ma'am." John replies as he grabs Joseph and drags him back to the elevator and puts cuffs on him.
"Bitch." Joseph says before the door closes
Joseph stayed quiet this time and john held is hand firmly on the handcuffs.
The elevator opened and John carried Joseph into the security office where Sgt. Williams was looking over the reports on his terminal. He looked up off of his computer.
"Overseer's kid again?"
"Yeah; sprayed some graffiti in the atrium."
Another security guard grabbed the kid and escorted him to the brig. He kicked and bit but the guard kept him under control.
"Snarly one ain't he Williams?"
"Yeah; fifth time he's been here this week. I'll recommend we get the vault's counselor to talk to him after I file this report. You're off duty, Martin. Go get yourself a sandwich or something for dinner."
"Thank you sir." John replied
"Don't mention it. See you tomorrow."
John quickly jogged to his dorm and swapped his security barding for a vault jumpsuit but he kept the sunglasses for style. He then walked his way into the cafeteria where he noticed a table with 6 of John's friends sitting there laughing and drinking Nuka-Cola.
"So this one chick was all like 'oh man my nail got chipped' and I was all like 'so' and she was like 'MY BEAUTIFUL NAILS!' Then she feinted."
"You're an idiot Anthony." Sam Vasquez told Anthony.
"Yeah well, women eh?"
"What's up guys?" John asked as he sat down next to his buddies.
"Nothing. We're all completely board."
"Wanna go bug Lindsay?" Sam asked.
"Sure." Eli Freeman replied.
"How about you John? Wanna go screw with her?" Anthony asked.
"Nah. I'm gonna eat and hit the hay. Got first shift tomorrow."
"Man you need a day off."
"I do. I get Sunday and Monday off. Today's Wednesday."
"Okay! call us when you get promoted to head of security!" Anthony called as he left the cafeteria.
"That's the plan!" John called back.
John stood up and walked into line in front of the vending machine.
The entire vault was self sufficient. Everything was recycled. Fecal matter, urine, trash, and even corpses were recycled using patented Vault-Tec recycle-o-matic recycler which turned anything you put into it into a type of matter which could be shaped into other matter. Like food and spare parts. Water was pumped in from wells, rivers, and even from the great lakes and purified using the Vault's water chip. Man it would be terribly bad if the water chip broke. That would mean they would have to send someone out into the wastes to find another. John would feel sorry for the one who had to scour the wastes to find one.
The key is to not think about where the food comes from knowing it's from recycled waste and dead people and garbage. But it was either that or build a massive underground farm which probably would've taken Vault-Tec too much time to erect.
John retrieved his freeze dried Carrots and tofu from the vending machine and proceeded to the cafeteria table Anthony and the others sat at.
John didn't have many friends growing up. It was usually just Anthony and him. They had so many crazy adventures growing up! They even snuck into the reactor core chamber and stole some cherry bombs from the Engineer's tool box! Then later on after Anthony and John passed the G.O.A.T test they both went into Security. Anthony never striven much in school or in work for that matter. But John he got straight As in school and was only tardy when sick or when school was closed for rainy days. But that was one time when someone set off the fire suppression system (Probably Zach he's always screwing with John).
Now John met his other friends in Security when he started his first day on the force. John was a little shy at first but got to know the guys with Anthony's help and finally crawled out of his shell.
After finishing his tofu and carrots and stood up walking out of the cafeteria and into the corridor. He quickly snapped a look at his Pip-boy to catch the time. It was about 8:30.
Pip-Boys are super computers that are miniaturized to fit on your wrist. Everyone in Vault 42 had one it helped with people's jobs; it stored audio and written files on the system, it connected to your eyesight to give you a 'Head-Up-Display' or HUD, and finally a targeting system known as VATS. VATS allowed you to target an individual limb with any weapon be it Melee, firearm, or fists. VATS and the HUD were strictly used for security purposes only and were locked to other vault residents unless they were deputized. They also had an automatic Inventory sorter that counted money and sorted anything else you were carrying. John would never know how that works.
John entered the male dormitory of the vault and entered his room.
It was a modest room with a standard grey sheet on his bed. On his bed side stand was a lamp. His desk on the far side of his room held a book atop of it. It's title: Firearms for fools. The cover showed a man holding a pistol, scratching his head, with a speech bubble saying 'How do I gun?' Everything else on his desk was scattered papers and his terminal that glowed a sickly green comparable to cartoony radioactive goop.
John stripped down to his undergarments and plopped down on his bed leaving his security barding on the floor. He shut hid eyes and quickly fell asleep.
John dreamed about a girl. Not just any girl, but the overseer. Beverly was smiling as she held John's hands in a dance in the vault atrium. John was wearing some form of Pre-war tuxedo with a little green bow-tie. Beverly was adorned in a sparkling blue dress. A disco ball hung above them as they danced to the song.
Blue Moon you saw me standing alone. Without a dream in my heart. Without a love of my own.
Blue moon….
John slowly leaned in towards her.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! An alarm sounded throughout the vault. John arose with a jolt.
"What the hell?" He muttered as he slapped on his Vault Jumpsuit from his dresser.
He opened the door to find a young man in a Vault jumpsuit (John thought his name was Alex) firing his 10mm pistol down the hallway.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Alex was about to answer but his vault suit became riddled with holes and they started spurting blood. Alex fell to the floor with an unmindful look in his eyes he was dead.
John ducked and rolled into the hallway grabbing the pistol as he rolled. He fired the gun into the attacker that killed Alex.
The man was roughly as tall as John he had a spiky hair-do and his face was covered with crusted dirt and blood. He was barely dressed his 'armor' was nothing more than a thin sheet of metal over his shoulders that connected to his tattered pants which were nothing more than muddied pants that were degraded to nothing more than rags. If looks could kill this man would slaughter an entire city. He held a military grade assault rifle that even from this far looked like it was falling apart after too much usage.
John entered VATS and targeted the man's torso and head and blasted him with the pistol. Both shots were dead on and the gruesome man fell to the ground; dropping the assault rifle.
The man was dead but John showed no remorse for that monster. He looked behind the dead man. Three more bloodied bodies followed in his wake. John didn't know these people but they were still his neighbors. He cursed his timing as he stepped over the corpse and along the female dormitory wall. 6 more bodies. He continued walking he heard more gunshots erupting from the cafeteria. John rushed into the room.
6 more dirty characters with weapons of equal condition of the man he killed back in the dormitory. These men were fighting most of the security task force who were off duty at the time including Sam and Eli.
One of the ruffians had a shotgun. He charged up in front of a member of the guard force, whacked him in the face with the rifle and shot him in the head. His brain case exploded leaving blood and gore everywhere including a few brain chunks on John's face.
John's instincts took over as he tackled the hooligan and forced the shotgun out of his hands and shot him in the face; his head burst like a balloon and the floor was flooded with blood and gore.
He quickly entered VATS and targeted 3 of the others' heads and fired. 2 shots hit and the murderers tumbled to the floor but the third shot missed and hit the bandit's shoulder. VATS was out of energy so John looked down the sights and shot the man in the chest. The last two had already finished off Sam and Eli was on the ground with a shot in the leg and in the chest his Vault suit was covered in a crimson fluid.
"NO!" John exclaimed as he entered the now recharged VATS and gunned down the remaining 2 of those murdering men.
He went over to Eli's side and knelled down.
"What the hell is happening?" John asked his dying friend.
"These fuckers... blew a hole, right through the east side of the Vault." Eli coughed twice. "They gunned down the men over there and saved some of the women; killed them when they were done. Since then they've killed more than half the vault. We tried to stop them before they got to the west dorms but they had more C4 and just blew a damned hole in the wall! Anthony and Williams are holding the fort in Security. Overseer shut down the elevator so the only way to her office is through security. Get to them! Stop…. Stop them….. We can win…."
And John's friend was gone. He looked down in horror with tears in his eyes. He was not going to let Eli's death be for nothing. He picked up some 10mm ammo off his friends and other downed soldiers and sprinted to security. Along the way he saw more bodies… Vault's Pipboy technician Lucas was scalped and had passed out from the intense pain, Billy the Vault's head chef's arm was blown off by what John deduced was a rocket launcher by the scorch marks and damage to the wall. Others were killed by dismemberment, blasted to bits, even Disintegrated.
John finally made it to security. Williams and Anthony were making a final stand. Three raiders were in front of them. One wielding a flamer.
"You son of a bitch!" Anthony was wielding a combat grade shotgun. He shot towards one of the raiders splattering his arm across the floor. The second raider with the flamer torched Williams. His uniform burst into flames as if the son had come down to earth. The smell of burned hair filled the air as Williams fell to the floor in agony.
Anthony jerked and fired into the raider's head causing it to burst like a melon. But the third raider wielding a 10mm SMG gunned Anthony down. A bullet piercing his neck.
John took aim with his Pistol and killed the third raider. Three bloody holes filled that raider's back and he fell. John rushed to Anthony.
"Bro..." John looked over Anthony's crippled body.
"Looks... Looks bad doesn't it?" Anthony said with a stammer as he smiled u at John.
"Bro... You..."
"Look... John. You've been there for me... I've been there for you... Just... Just... Kill the rest of these sons of bitches for me... Will you?" Anthony said as his blood began to spill over John's jumpsuit and the floor.
"I will brother..." Tears filled John's eyes but he held them back.
Anthony's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell limp.
John kneeled there for a moment.
"Sons of bitches... Why... Why the hell would anyone do this? WHY!?" John's yells echoed through the vault.
He finally stood up and looked over to the cell where the Overseer's son was trapped forced to watch the raiders as they burned Williams alive. But at least little Joseph was alive although probably scarred for life.
John opened the cell. Joseph shook traumatized in the corner.
"It's all right Joseph, it's me, John..."
"They…..They burned him and killed him." He quivered.
"I know." John said as grabbed another pistol from Williams' desk and handed it to Joseph, his voice breaking as well.
"Find anyone alive get them out of here... The vault's been compromised... I need you to be a man and find anyone else left and get them to safety... Can you do that for me?"
"Y-yes sir!" Joseph did a shaky salute and ran off.
John snuck into the Overseer's office. Beverly lay on the floor unconscious or dead. Over by the elevator was a raider who was well armed. He had a Gatling Laser and combat armor. Etched on his chest plate was 'Gatling Lazer Ramsey'. He was surrounded by other raiders wielding an assortment of weapons from assault rifles to shotguns and one even had a flamer.
"So Geoff now that we have this Vault what exactly are we going to do with it?" The raider with the flamer asked Lazer Ramsey.
"You idiot. We get paid from the head honcho. We're not securing this place for us but the man who paid us to come here you dumb shit. And it beats us getting sold to the Ann Arbor trade or killed by the Enclave."
John didn't understand what the 'Enclave' or the 'Ann Arbor trade' meant but their plans didn't seem too nice. And John wasn't about to put up with any more if these murderers.
Beverly opened her eyes and saw John. She rolled him a grenade. A grenade!
John got the point and lobbed it over the Overseer's desk and underneath Geoff 'Gatling Lazer' Ramsey.
"What the fu-" All of the raiders exploded into blood strewn paste and meaty chunks.
"John..." Beverly rasped.
"Beverly... No..." He rushed to her and held her broken form in his arms.
"John... Is..." She gazed into John's blue eyes with her own green eyes.
"Joseph is getting people together... They'll be safe. Now we have to get you some form of medicine..."
"It's too late John..." She clutched her bloodied midsection.
"No... No...No... Not..." John was on the verge of breaking down.
"I'm sorry..." She coughed. "There's a safe in my room... In it contains something I want you to have... It'll help you out there..."
"I can't go... Not without you..."
"John dammit I'm dying..."
A tear dropped from John's eye.
"Please John... Open the safe with my terminal... The same one that will open the door..." She took a sudden breath.
"I will... Beverly... "
Beverly's eyes close and she falls limp in John's arms.
John didn't know what to feel anymore. His emotions shut down and he zombily opened the Vault's outer door with Beverly's terminal. He also opened the safe in Beverly's office and retrieved its contents: an old luggage bag and a special looking 10mm pistol.
The pistol had a purple stripe on the barrel that ran through its body. Engraved small on the bottom of the cartridge were the words 'Morning Glory'. They were accompanied by the small purple symbol of a flower.
John grabbed the bag and the pistol, holstering it and slinging the sack over his back and made his way the elevator. Glancing back at Beverly's body who he had folded her arms over her heart as he pressed the button that leads to the atrium. The elevator's doors closed as it began its ascent.
John now stood at the edge of Vault 42's entrance where the steel met the darkness of the unknown. John took a single step forward into a new world.
Footnote: Character stats
John Martin
Level One
Strength: 6
Perception: 4
Endurance: 7
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 8
Agility: 5
Luck: 5
Skills
Barter: 16
Big Guns 20
Energy Weapons 14
Explosives 14
■Lockpick 29
Medicine 22
Melee 18
Repair 22
Science 22
■Small Guns 31
Sneak 16
Speech 16
■Unarmed 35
Perks:
Vault Life: Your life in the Vault has given you some skills most others would find egg headish. Your science, repair, and Lockpick are raised by 10.