A/N: My first fanfic, please read and review. Constructive criticism is welcome. This chapter is the prologue (thanks to youaresotroublesome for pointing out that I said epilogue instead of prologue, lol.) to the main story, it gives you some background on the main characters and sets the moood. Hope everyone likes it!
"I dun wanna set the wurllddd on fireeeee … I jus wanna start a flame in your hearrrtt … hic." The raider slumped over, his drunken singing finally ceasing as he passed out, an empty whiskey bottle clutched in his hand. Raven shook her head sadly, bent down, and frisked his pockets, swiping two pack of Mentats and a bit of mole rat meat from the poor fool. Smiling at the find, Jimmy was addicted to 'tats, Raven glanced inconspicuously around camp, checking to see if anyone had noticed her kleptomania manifest itself again. The Mentats would squeeze a few Caps from Jimmy, Raven knew he was in withdrawal, just today she noticed his shaking hands, fervent eyes and sweaty face. But Jimmy and The Drunk (Raven didn't know his real name, no one did) weren't the only ones in the group.
Plopping down near the fire at the center of camp, Raven swept her eyes across the fucked up people that were as close to family as she'd ever get. Some of the things they'd done … she shuddered. But they were a large gang, no one could retaliate against them without bringing in some serious fire and man power. In fact, Raven thought smugly, they were probably one of the most feared gangs in the entire capital wasteland. The thought brought a smile to her face, a shitty smile, full of yellow teeth and wind burnt lips, but a smile nonetheless.
Settling down on her yao guri sleeping pelt, Raven went over each member of her 'family'. There had been some new recruits added last week, she had no idea what they called themselves. All the new people wanted to do was kill,murder,kill. They hardly had time to introduce themselves, since most were too hyped up on Jet to form a complete sentence. Hmm … she considered herself second in command, receiving direct orders from The Boss, whose real name was Spike. He was conceived in a one night stand between two raiders, hence why he was named after a pointy metal object (raiders aren't too creative). Spike lorded over this little band, and was a bit of a sadist. He prided himself on being full Raider, not some little "spit nosed brat plucked from Megaton". Spike had appointed Raven his second about a month ago, after he caught his previous second curled up in a corner with Spike's woman. Needless to say, that hadn't lasted long and the poor horny soul found himself missing a head and … other body parts.
Raven shifted position on the pelt, so that her back was to the fire and her eyes could scan the darkness outside of camp. Dreds, a tall man with dreadlocks and a fierce temper, patrolled the boundaries of the camp, nodding at Raven as he passed by. Dreds was a "spit nosed brat", captured by slavers from Big Town. But the slavers hadn't been expecting the scrawny 17 year old to bite their ears, kick their groins and run like hell. The kid had stumbled upon Spike's gang, and quickly proved himself more than capable of Raider life as he spit the slaver's ear at Spike's feet.
Raven considered Spike and Dreds her 'brothers' in this raider family, while the others were like those wacky cousins that you put up with because they occasionally cracked a hilarious joke, or in her case, saved her life. Of course, most of the raiders didn't know or care what a cousin was, they were too busy fidning new ways to impale things. Raven prided herself on prewar knowledge, since she had been a scribe in the citadel before … well, that was a long story for another time.
She patted her Ripper softly and curled up in a ball, letting sleep take her quickly. Only one or two hours later her peaceful slumber was interrupted by frightened, high pitched cries of
"Shit, Attack!!"