CHAPTER 1: THE FIRST ROAD OF MANY.

War...War never changes...

February 17/2296

In a desolate town, one of countless others that have become burnt out shadows of their former selves after the Great War. The town was chosen as the place to complete a deal with a group of bandits that had been harassing another settlement. And unfortunately, the two people that were chosen for the deal have ended up in a firefight against the bandits. The two ran with all their strength as bullets flew over their heads.

The first young man was around 6'2 and had chestnut brown hair cut short and hazel colored eyes. His body was medium build and didn't look like he had lived in the Wastelands for very long. He wore a blackish gray trench coat with many pockets, his black steel toe boots went up to his knees. He wore a Vault suit with the number 96 on the back in bold yellow numbers. The Vault suit was also covered in extra layers of padding and straps for extra protection. He also had a pair of goggles and a face bandanna around his neck. On his left wrist was a very unusual Pip-Boy that covered most of his forearm. He was equipped with a AN-94 assault rifle, Mossberg 590 riot shotgun, two Colt M1911 handguns, a Desert Eagle 50AE, and combat machete.

The second young man, was around 5'8 with messy dark brown hair, gray-blue eyes, and a thin build to his body. He wore a typical black long sleeve shirt with a dusty brown cargo jacket with dark gray cargo pants that were worn out. He had a black leather belt with a gun pouch, black combat boots, and a black fingerless glove on his right hand. Around his neck was a pair of goggles that were also a prescription for his eyes, and a black box top cap on his head. He carried a Winchester rifle 1873, a sawed-off shotgun, a Browning 9mm pistol, a combat knife, and a fire axe.

The two returned fire at the group of bandits that were chasing them. "Doug! Move your ass already! Don't stop running!" the first man screamed as he emptied his assault rifle.

"What the fuck do you think I'm doing?! You move your ass, Louis!" the other man shouted as he fired both shells in his shotgun.

The bandits were closing in with the leader at the front of the line. "Kill them! Kill them and take everything they have!" he ordered his men while firing.

"Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch!" Louis screamed as he loaded a new clip. "Shit! I'm down to my last magazine!"

"You think you have it bad?! I only have five shells left! And I'm down to only twelve shots with my rifle!" Doug snapped at him as the two spotted a gutted car. "Quick! Duck behind this car! Its fusion core isn't in it! So it won't explode!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Louis agreed as they ducked behind the rusty old heap.

The bandits shot away at the car while closing in. "Don't let your guard down! I want their stuff! I want that guy's Pip-Boy as well! Don't damage it, you stupid sons of whores!" the leader yelled.

Doug quickly moved from cover and fired the last six rounds in his pistol before ducking down. "So this turned out to be a nice fucking day! Let's go to a town to settle a deal with little information on the bandits and no backup at all! Great plan, Louis!"

Louis lunged up and fired his Desert Eagle before ducking back down. "Hey, you weren't complaining when the leader of the settlement said he would pay us four hundred caps for completing the job! We need the money for our trip!"

One bandit managed to make his way around the car and almost got the drop. But Doug spotted him and pulled out his saw-off shotgun and fired two rounds right into his chest. He looked at his gun and realized what he did. "Aw, dammit!" he screamed.

"What? You got him! That's a good thing!" Louis said as he managed to shoot down two bandits with his magnum.

"I fired off two shells instead of one! I wasted two rounds on that cocksucker! Now I only got three!" Doug groaned while reloading it.

"Here, I'll make it up to you!" Louis pulled out a grenade from his pocket and pulled the pin and tossed it.

The grenade flew and landed near a few of them and exploded, killing them instantly and forcing the bandits to spread out more in a panic.

"I gotta admit, you got a nice throw..." Doug commented as he fired one round from his shotgun at another bandit.

"Eh, just one of my many charms..." Louis shrugged with a smile. "But we need to end this! Cover me, I got a plan."

"You mean like your last plan with the radscorpion and mole-rat?..." Doug frowned at him.

"We got the teeth out of your leg! Now cover me!" Louis began running from their hiding spot.

The bandits focused their fire on him as Doug fired another round from his shotgun and loaded the last shell and switched to his rifle and got most of their attention after he hit one in the throat. Louis dodged the bullets and got within several meters of the bandit leader and his remaining men. He spotted the motorcycle near them that was mostly intact and aimed his handguns at it and fired. The bullets hit the body near the reactor core and caused a chain reaction. The bandits panicked and ran away from it, but the motorcycle went off with a loud explosion that killed them almost right away. Their burning bodies hitting the broken pavement as Louis took cover behind another old car.

"Are you shitting me?!" Doug yelled with his ears covered.

The small mushroom cloud soon faded away as the two travelers emerged from cover. The bandits were all dead, some were even in pieces as the two cautiously looked over the battlefield for any survivors and put them out of their misery for good.

Louis scanned the area for radiation with his Pip-Boy to make sure it was safe. "We're okay! The radiation in these motorcycles have always been incredibly low." he called to his friend.

Doug got up from his hiding spot. "Still doesn't make it okay to blow up a prewar motorcycle! You could have caused a chain reaction and set off every vehicle in the area."

"There's not that many cars in this godforsaken town." Louis looked at the bandits. "This whole deal was a bust. I say we scavenge these guys and sell what we can back in that town..."

"Now that's a good plan. I call ammo and stimpaks..." Doug said with a smile.

"Got some more giant mole-rat teeth in your legs?" Louis laughed.

"Fuck you..." Doug rolled his eyes and searched the bandit that he fired two shells at.

The two suddenly heard a groan and turned with their weapons drawn and spotted the bandit leader on the ground. He was covered in burns and didn't seem like he would last any longer. "Please...please...I beg of you...help me..." he wheezed.

The two walked over to him with looks of indifference in their eyes. "What do you say, Doug, should we help him?" Louis asked him.

"Well...I suppose we could do a good deed for today." Doug nodded as the two held their hands up.

The bandit leader smiled and held his hand out, but the two suddenly did something he didn't expect. "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" they both said. Louis threw a rock as Doug threw scissors.

"Ha! I win!" Louis smiled in victory.

"Damn." Doug opened his shotgun and looked at his remaining shell. "And I only got one shell left! It's such a waste on him."

"In that case, why don't you use your fire axe?" Louis suggested to him.

"Oh, right, thanks! You can come up with good plans." Doug put his gun away and reached for his axe. "Don't worry, I'll make it quick..." he flipped it to the pick end.

The bandit leader panicked and tried to crawl away. "No, please! Don't! I beg you! I'll give you guys anything! I'll stop bothering the settlement! You guys can even have the caps we have in our base! It's in the old police station in a desk drawer! Please, don't do it-" the pick of Doug's fire axe was stabbed into his skull.

The two then searched the bandits and gathered their weapons that were still intact and any ammo they had. But most of them had ammo that didn't go with their guns, and they found only three stimpaks and a bottle of rad-x and a can of food with no label. Doug found the sack of caps and the two decided it was time to head back to the settlement.

The way back was an hour walk down an old road with most of its concrete and asphalt gone. The two had the guns they recovered tied together and slung over their backs as Doug counted the sack of caps. "Man...only forty-two caps?! What a load of crap. And to think I actually considered sparing him..."

"Better than nothing. Personally, I just don't see how you people have ever ended up using bottle caps for money..." Louis commented to him.

"Like I would know, Vault boy. If you don't like it, you can always head home..." Doug put the caps away.

"You know I can't. I have a mission to complete." Louis said as he lifted his unique Pip-Boy up and flipped the knob to its journal entry mode. "Year, 2296. Date, February 17th. Journal Log number 6. Me and my companion, Doug, have finally made it near the state border of Maine in Bethel. We started our journey less than a month ago with a lot of distractions that have put us way behind schedule."

"We're traveling across the country! Do you have any idea how long that's gonna take?" Doug interrupted before taking a big gulp from his canteen. "What a way to start the new year..."

"I was getting to that." Louis frowned at him before continuing. "As my friend said, we are traveling by following a signal that my Pip-Boy is displaying. I came from Vault 96. A Vault that monitored the Wasteland of the country that was once known as America. Our Vault was filled with tens of thousands of probes that are very similar to the Eyebot model robots that have recorded years worth of footage on the events that had happened to this country after the bombs dropped across the world on a Saturday, October 23rd, 2077. My partner, Doug, came from a town in Millinocket that was near my Vault. We opened our door to his town fifty years before we were born. I am now twenty-three, and he is twenty. Our Vault and town has a peaceful coexistence, we provided better technology for their crops and water purification, while they provided more food and trade."

"But you guys still live in the Vault. Not that I don't mind living on the outside, at least I have plenty of space." Doug said while eating some jerky.

"Do you want to write this journal log? And besides, a lot of us Vault dwellers have been out in your town. And we even have a plan to have everyone hide in the Vault if the need arises..." Louis said to him and began finishing the last part of his log. "Around January, one of our probes suddenly relayed an emergency signal, it said that there was a Level 10 emergency that needed to be dealt with. Our supercomputer activated a secret protocol and locked on to the location of the signal before the probe went dead. The Pip-Boy that I have now was a special model locked away in a secret case. And for some reason...the supercomputer chose me as the one to wear it and go to the location of the signal that seems to be across the country. Why it chose me? I don't know. What are we suppose to do when we get there? I don't know either. The supercomputer displayed that the Pip-Boy is the key to the location. So all we can do is get there and see what happens. I just hope there's no time limit to this emergency signal. This is Louis, signing off until next time." he turned the Pip-Boy recorder off.

"Not that I'm complaining, but do you really think it was a good idea to just follow this signal with such little information to go on?" Doug asked as he tossed his jerky wrapper. "There's got to be more to this plan of yours..."

"My Pip-Boy never stops transmitting the direction of the signal. So it's better than nothing." Louis slung his arm over Doug's shoulder and held him close. "I have an experienced Wastelander to show me the ropes."

Doug removed his arm from his shoulder. "You said you guys have more than two hundred years worth of recorded footage of the surface. And studied everything about it in classrooms. And you even told me you guys trained with military tactics from army footage before the war. So I still don't know why you need me."

"That's all true, but training and practice can only do so much. Experience is what I need, and only someone like you can provide that..." Louis took a few more paces before Doug grabbed his arm.

"You're right. And here's a Wasteland tip." Doug pointed to the ground where a tiny red light was. "You were two steps from having your legs blown from your ass." he crouched down and slow moved to the landmine and carefully pulled it out and disarmed it. "Someone's idea of a sick joke I'd wager..."

"See? I'm learning stuff all the time..." Louis chuckled as the two continued walking for a few more paces.

"Just don't get too arrogant. The Wasteland is full of idiots that get killed over nothing." Doug pocketed the landmine. "This should get us a few more caps."

"Don't worry, I'm not the type of guy to let things go to my head. And lucky for you..." Louis grabbed Doug by the shoulder to stop him. "I'm a very quick learner..." he pointed to the ground. There was a small stick with a wire tied to it, and on the other end was buried grenade.

"Shit..." Doug sighed.

Louis unarmed the grenade and put it away. "Now we got some more explosives on our hand. You can never have enough explosives."

The two heard a twig snap and saw a feral dog coming towards them. Five more feral dogs came out into view, all of them growling and ready to pounce on the two. The pack slowly got closer to them as they backed away slowly, making sure not to make the dogs think they would start running.

"Good dogs. Nice doggies. Do you think they just want us to play fetch with them, Doug?" Louis chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, they want to play fetch with us alright! They'll play fetch with our bones after they're done eating us!" Doug pulled out his fire axe.

"Damn. And I really love dogs. I guess you can say this whole world has gone to the dogs!" Louis quickly pulled out his long combat machete with a jagged back end.

"Less puns, more killing!" Doug said as the dogs charged.

The first feral dog leaped after Louis as he swung his machete and chopped its head off. The next wild mutt tried to snap at Doug as he hit it in the head with the side of his axe before bringing the blade down on its neck. The third feral dog managed to bite on Louis' leg, but his heavily padded boot protected him as he stabbed his machete blade into its back. The forth one leaped at Doug, he raised his fire axe as the dog bit down on the handle. He struggled for a moment against its pull before kicking it away and chopping the beast in the side. The last two charged at them as they stood together and swung their melee weapons, ending the wild canines by striking them in the heads. The two put their weapons away and continued on without a second thought.

"It's a shame. These dogs were man's best friend as the old saying goes." Louis sighed in pity for the dogs.

"Not all dogs are wild. You've seen dogs at our town before leaving." Doug commented. "Just remember to tell the difference between the good ones, and the really bad ones."

"Understood." Louis smiled with a thumbs up.

The two soon came up to the metal gates of the settlement called Last Post, one of the guards spotted them and gasped. "Holy shit! They're back! Open the gates!" he ordered the men on the ground.

The metal gates slowly slid open for the two with a loud creak as they walked in. The two were soon met by a middle age man with most of his hair gone and wearing a slightly formal suit. "My god, you two made it back in one piece! I was beginning to worry!" he said to them.

"You hear that, Louis? He almost sounds surprised to see us..." Doug frowned at the town leader.

"Indeed he does. And that makes me very...upset..." Louis nodded with a small crazed look.

"Now, hold on! It's not what you think! I was worried about you two!" the Mayor stammered a little. "The deal with the bandits was supposed to be a fair trade."

"What were we delivering in that small package? I doubt it's something that could buy off bandits!" Doug demanded him.

Two of the Mayor's guards were about to step forward as he stopped them. "The item in the package was a map that lead to some prewar storage. The deal was for them to have the location and go get it. They get a lot of loot and stop harassing our town for good!"

"Then why not just give it to them? Why have us go and do it?" Louis questioned him next.

"The bandits never leave their hiding place unless they're going to attack. And we don't have the men to spare for an attack of our own on their place. And besides, the idea was to get them killed. The place I marked on the map is full of Deathclaws, they would have been ripped to pieces and we would never see them again." the Mayor gestured for his accountant to come over and reached into the bag he had. "Here. Take seven hundred caps. Four hundred for your pay, and three hundred more for the trouble you two went to. Please, that's all I can spare!"

Doug took the stacks of caps and quickly counted them. "Okay. I guess we're square."

"And next time, don't send people on a dangerous mission with half-ass and half-cocked details. People might question your leadership skills. Later..." Louis said before the two passed him and walked down the dusty road. "So...should we get something to eat or get rid of this stuff we picked up?"

"Let's sell the weapons we took. I need some more ammo anyway..." Doug shifted the tied guns on his back.

"Sounds like a plan to me..." Louis smiled. The two soon came up to the gun shop of the town and went in and placed the guns on the table. "What can we get for all this stuff?" he asked the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper was an old man with dark skin and a long white beard. He spent the next few minutes looking at the various guns and dozens of empty shells and casings they gathered. "Well...I can give you about twenty caps for all the casings. The guns, maybe about six to seven caps each. These things aren't exactly in very good condition."

"Come on, maybe just a little more on the price?" Louis held his hand up a little to signal an increase. "You're gonna sell the ones that can't be used to melt down. And even the pipe weapons will be taken apart for their plumbing pipes and parts for other stuff. And even the wood parts of those will be used for burning."

The shopkeeper looked over the dozen and a half weapons for a few moments. "I'll give you...fifty caps for all of them. And I'll spare some ammo that you guys need. We got a deal?"

The two looked to each other for a moment before nodding. "Alright, you got it." Doug shook his hand.

The weapons were exchanged for caps as the two looked over the other items to buy. Louis stocked up on several more grenades and a combat knife and a new scope for his assault rifle. Doug stocked up on more ammo, a couple of lock picks, and even some incendiary shells for his shotgun. The two departed from the gun shop and decided to hit up the local bar that was once a restaurant long ago. The inside was surprisingly clean with a number of people eating as the two went up to the bar and took their seats and looked at the menu above them for a few moments.

"I'll take a bottle of rum with a shot glass." Louis ordered to the bartender

"I'll have a whiskey and Nuka-Cola." Doug ordered next.

The bartender quickly made Doug's drink and then placed the bottle of rum on the bar lounge and gave him a glass. Louis poured up his first drink and chugged it back in one gulp. "So, you want to try and reach the next town? We should pass the border of this state." the Vault dweller asked his partner.

"Sure, why not? I'm not particularly fond of this town anyway. We almost got our asses fed to the vultures." Doug said before taking a big drink.

"What can we get you two? Or do I need to read the menu for you?" a waitress asked them.

Louis glanced at the menu for a moment. "Uh, I'll take the Brahmin steak, well done, with a side of potato and cornbread..." he ordered.

"I'll take the same, but make my steak medium rare." Doug spoke next.

The waitress walked off to place their orders as the bartender made Doug another drink and took a quick drink. "So...you've taken to killing quite well. Are all you Vault dwellers eager to pull the trigger?" he asked him.

Louis made himself another shot and drank it. "I need to do what needs to be done to survive. That's what you've told me the first day we left. And I took your advice a few days later when those Raiders attacked us. That was the first time I killed."

"I still remember that night." Doug took another drink. "You played it off as if you were okay, but I heard you over that ridge puking your guts out and saw you shaking really bad. Not that I'm judging you for feeling bad for killing, it just means that you're not a sick bastard that loves killing. Out here...it's a very thin line between killing because you need to...and killing because you want to..."

"When was your first time?..." Louis asked before taking another drink.

"I was...around fifteen. Her name was Grace. And she had a big pair of titties for her age..." Doug smirked behind his glass.

"Ha, ha, ha! Very funny. You know that's not what I mean." Louis scoffed.

"Alright, if you don't want to hear about titties." Doug laughed before drinking again. "I was thirteen. My dad was showing me how to use my Winchester rifle. We practiced on the range for a little bit until it was time to get back to farming. My dad let me carry my rifle as I went to the farm shed to get some gardening tools. And that's where I found him. A Raider, he was going through our stuff, looking for anything he could take or eat. He soon spotted me and started coming after me, either to slit my throat or take me hostage. He was completely deranged, he was either half-crazed from hunger or on some really hard chems, maybe both. As he came for me, I panicked and grabbed my rifle. I fired one shot and got him in the stomach. Then another into the leg, another went into his chest, and another went into the side of his cheek. But he was still coming and was just in reach of grabbing me as I put one right between his eyes. He fell to the ground dead as my dad came over to see what happened." he looked down at his drink, the ice was starting to melt. "I felt like shit for days, I could hardly eat or sleep. At least my parents let me take a few days off from farming, any halfway decent parents wouldn't want their kids to kill someone. Even if it's in defense. But life out in the Wasteland is anything but simple. So like I said before, everything out here in the Wastelands is a thin line." he chugged down his drink.

Louis chuckled and poured another drink. "You did what you had to do to survive. And I'm glad you fought back, because I like having you as a companion." he drank down his shot. "And for the record...I was sixteen, and her name was Francis. And she was wild in bed, and then her friend Gina went down on me later."

Doug scoffed into his drink. "And I thought you Vault dwellers were all tight ass about everything."

"This may come as a surprise to you...but we do have a number of activities. And you gotta pass the time somehow." Louis said as he saw their orders coming. "Ah! Meal time! I've actually come quite accustomed to Brahmin steaks!"

As the two chow down, someone was watching them from across the room. At the dim corner of the room, a Ghoul man sat at a small round table with a few beers. His wrinkled, leathery skin had a reddish dull and very light brown color to his slender body. His hair was a little long and black with some streaks of gray in it, and his eyes chocolate brown in color and faded. He wore black pants that had a few rips on the side, and a belt with a large buckle and pouches. He had a dark green, button up shirt with long sleeves and collar. And over the shirt was a blackish blue, denim jacket with pockets. Around his neck was a beaded chain with two wedding rings, a dog tag, and a faded police badge. He kept the items under his shirt and out of view. Strapped to his back was a combat shotgun, a hunting rifle with scope, and a revolver pistol strapped to his upper right leg.

The Ghoul man had been watching and following the two for the past few days, waiting for the right time. He reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and was about to pull one out. But he then paused for a few moments while looking at it before putting it away in his coat.

The were finally done and paid their tab before leaving, and even had their six flasks filled up with various booze. They hit up a small store to fill up on water and some dried food and medicine before leaving the town. The Ghoul man was following them while keeping his distance so he wouldn't be seen. The Vault dweller and traveler left the town and traveled down the dusty road. The Ghoul kept his pace with them, they were just within his line of site and kept his footsteps quiet.

"So...it's been about two hours and I'm not shitting every few minutes. I guess that place really was nice and clean." Louis spoke to Doug while giving his Pip-Boy a quick check.

"I told you that place was fine. You sometimes worry too much." Doug chuckled.

Louis was fiddling with his device, frowning that he couldn't get a radio signal. "Well, music is dead in this area. Now I'm getting so bored!" he slouched forward dramatically.

"Take it easy. We should reach the other town in another two or so hours. Hopefully before the sun goes down." Doug rolled his eyes at him. He suddenly heard a heavy beeping sound. "Hey, you're getting something..."

Louis raised his Pip-Boy up and looked at it. "No. That's not my Pip-Boy. That's not anything on it at all!"

The two suddenly heard rumbling, like heavy machinery rolling on the ground as the beeping got louder. The two looked up and saw something come out from behind a large fallen sign that said, 'YOU ARE NOW LEAVING MAINE'.

It was an army grade Sentry Bot. The massive, three legged robot rolled across the old pavement, its body was covered in rust and had a number of bullet holes all over, but it seemed fully functional for the most part. Its targeting system locked on to the two as its right arm laser gun charged up and aimed directly at them, beeping furiously.

"Holy fucking shit!" Louis and Doug yelled in terror as it opened fire with many beams of red lasers.