Wasteland Handy-Man
That's the last of 'em, Harvey thought, and sighed, clinging to the pipe. He stuffed the wrench back into the pocket of his jumpsuit. It was a mechanic jumpsuit, brown and dirty and covered in soot and sand. Said 88 on the back, used to be some race-car pit-stop team jumpsuit.
"Dad says not to talk to strangers!"
"Holy sh-" But before he could finish his sentence, he was tumbling down off the pipe and down towards the dirt.
"OOF!" he grunted, slamming down onto the ground, dust flying up by him. Harvey groaned. It was that dang Harden Simms kid. Man, he was creepy. Turn around, and there he was, all the time, just staring up at you, with this crazy kind of look in his eye. Then he'd say "Dad says not to talk to strangers," even if you hadn't said a single word to him!
Stupid kid must have crawled up on the pipe with Harvey and snuck up on him.
Harvey groaned again, and pushed himself up off the ground and dusted himself off.
"Stupid kid," he muttered.
Oh, well, might as well head up to the water purifying station and tell Walter he was done, then it was back on home, set the little science station he'd brought from Moira to brew a chem for the night, and then to sleep.
Harvey looked up, but the kid was gone. Creepy as hell.
"Did you hear, Billy Creel is dead?" Harvey overheard, turning around and on his way to the Purifying Station.
Billy Creel? Wasn't that the guy with the eyepatch, the guy who was always stopping by Moira's shop, had the little adopted kid?
"Yeah, heard a few Talon mercs killed him. I didn't even hear any gunshots or scuffle at all at night! You think he put up a fight?"
"Nah, I don't think he even has a gun! Poor guy didn't stand a chance."
"Yeah, musta killed him in his slee-"
"DADSAYSNOTTOTALKTOSTRANGERS!"
"Holy shi- Oh, it's you, Harden," the settler said, patting the boy on the shoulder.
"Dad says not to talk to strangers," the boy hissed.
Harvey sighed. And so the stranger danger boy claims another victim. Harvey headed on up to the Purifying Station, then started walking home.
"Hey! You there! Asshole!"
What in the world?
Harvey turned around to see a man dressed in a Vault 101 jumpsuit walking angrily towards him. He was covered in dirt and had a mad look on his face. He shoved Harvey.
"Hey, what the hell was that for?" Harvey asked.
"For disarming the bomb, dumbass! That was supposed to be my job, my decision, disarm the bomb or blow this place sky-high!" the man replied, and shoved Harvey again.
"Quit it!" Harvey said.
"Now what the hell am I supposed to do here, you just made me coming here totally pointless!" the man said, and shoved Harvey again.
"You shove me one more time, asshole-" Harvey started to say.
"And what, you'll kill the main character?" the man asked.
"You know what, forget you, psycho," Harvey said and started to walk away.
"Don't you walk away from me!" the man said and shoved Harvey again.
That was it. Harvey spun around and popped him in the jaw. Unfortunately, he punched him too hard, and the man went tumbling off the railing, hitting a pipe with his head on the way down.
"Holy crap!" Harvey yelled, rushing to the railing and looking down at the body sprawled below.
"Oh my god! He killed the Lone Wanderer!" a woman said, pointing right at Harvey.
"What? He attacked me, I didn't mean t-"
"You sick bastard!" another lady screamed.
"What'd he ever do against you?" a man yelled.
"How could you?"
"You brute!"
"Dad says not to talk to strangers!"
-
"The Lone Wanderer? I used to know that guy!" the young man said.
"Listen, I really, honestly didn't mean to kill the guy, he was harassing me and I accidentally pushed him off the rails," Harvey said. He'd been saying that to people for the past three weeks. After being kicked out of Megaton, Harvey traveled to Rivet City. Problem was there wasn't that much work for a handy-man here in Rivet City. He sat at the counter of the bar at the Muddy Rudder.
"Eh, I never liked him that much anyway. We used to live in the same Vault. He busted us out of there, but still, he was too much of a goody-two-shoes for me," the young man said, and took a drink of his whiskey.
Harvey turned his head and looked at the man.
"Are you even old enough to drink?" Harvey asked.
"Whaddo you care?" the kid asked.
Harvey shrugged and looked back down at the counter. Out of a job, almost out of money, and out of the ability to shave. Finding razors in the Capitol Wasteland was harder than it sounded. 'Course, there were tons of razors in Megaton, but it didn't take a fortune-teller to realize he probably wouldn't be going back there any time soon.
Three men sat down by Harvey. After the bartender was done taking their orders the one closest turned his head towards Harvey and asked, "Hey, how's it going? You look a bit low on caps, what would you say if I offered to buy you a drink?"
"Sure, thanks," Harvey said.
The fellow ordered Harvey a drink then said, "I'm the Chosen One, this is the Vault Dweller, and that's the Courier."
Harvey nodded and said, "Nice to meet you."
More weirdo's, he thought.
Hmm….
"Hey, have any of you guys ever met a guy named The Lone Wanderer?" he asked.