Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

[I meet up With Daniel McArthor, a High ranking Officer working at Hoover Dam. The Dam was an important piece in the retaking of America. It supplied clean water and power to many states, and the former country Aztlan, in the darkest parts of the war. ]

[I step in his office, and immediately notice how much of the walls are covered in old helmets, posters, construction parts, photographs, etc. Since most of the items look rusty and battered, and pre- 1940s era, I can only guess that it is artifacts from the construction of Hoover Dam. When I question him about it, he answers, "wanted to keep a piece of yesterday for the people of tomorrow.]

[ He greets me with a friendly smile, but even though his temples are graying, this man who seems ancient is only thirty-six years old ]

So, I take it you are the reporter here to ask about the dam?

[I nod, and ask also for how he came to be in this position.]

Well, that is a story in its self. I didn't come from around here originally. I was from back east, around the Pittsburgh, sorry, New Pitt, I still like to call it by its old name. Matt and I, my older brother, lived in a Civilian zone near one of the old hospitals. We went there after the great panic, for after my parents died, this was before the war, sorry, should have said that, I had to live with my brother before I could finish high school. We were caught off guard by the panic, and someone stole our car, so we decided to stay and hide, rather than leave without a car. Besides, our dad had taught us never to leave with the crowd, for you will always get stuck in traffic. Too bad he was talking about football games!

[He lets out a halfhearted laugh.]

So, some of the kids at the college my brother attended wanted to stay and fight, you know, Rambos. We just wanted to live. So, we stayed in their fort, working on their electronics, and their pluming, and what not. We stayed there for about four years or so. By then, most of the biggest hordes had left for out east. But we still had a ton of zeds out our windows. One time, my brother and I were fixing the sewage pipes under the main door and my brother pointed out something to me. "Look," he said, "the wood under the door is rotting." I looked and saw this was true. We both knew what this meant; the zombies would break through the floor if they broke the gate open. We would be totally un-prepared. I insisted we go to the 'dean', that's what the leader called himself, and told him this. You know what he did? Laughed at us. "look at this, guards. Two boys, smelling like shit, come in and tell us that our fort is broken!" he got on the intercom and yelled it, and laughed. I could tell some people were worried, but the dean just laughed and laughed. We were pissed, Matt and I and then demanded to leave, rather than rule under his stupidity. He laughed again, and told us," fine. Be a [EXPLICET] and go die." He gave us each a 9mm pistol, some ammo, and some bread and water, and took us to the window overlooking the river. He said, "There is a small boat down there. Get to it and you are free." Then the bastard held bets to how long we could last in the river. He pushed us in, and we fell. It was a ten story drop; I still don't know how we survived. But we did, and we got to his "boat" he promised us. It was a small row boat with a motor on the back of it, and it looked like it was made of ply wood. We got in, and I flipped him the bird. We started the engine, and started downstream. About ten minutes in, we heard a loud screech, and looked back. The gate must have broken, the zeds getting in. We could tell by the almost immediate crash of breaking wood that my brother was correct; the floor broke under the weight of the mass of dead on top. They got in, and all because the dean was too stupid to listen to Matt. You probably expected us to laugh or something because we were right. But we actually cried a little, for some of those people were our friends. We saw people jump over the side, only to die on the pavement. Gun shots were heard, and then stopped after ten minutes or so. We considered ourselves lucky that we got out in time, and we chugged on down the river. Wait, this is too off topic, I shouldn't have said that, should i?

[I tell his it's fine, to tell me everything about how he got here.]

Ok then, you might want to speak to matt for the next part. He knows mostly about the first couple of months better than I do.