Hello Everyone! Here is the next chapter of Commonwealth Rising!

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Chapter 2: A Soldier's Duty

The man's corpse was only a day or so old, but it was in horrid condition. It was covered in bite marks, deep ones. Most likely they came from the dead mutated dog laying next to the man, a small bullet hole in the center of the dogs head. But for the man, that shot had been too little too late. Their combined blood had pooled and dried around them.

Nate was just over the old wooden bridge that led to Sanctuary Hills where he found the scene, the two were simply in the middle of the road. What part of the man's face that was not covered in blood was covered with filth. Clearly he had not lived a good life, at least not recently. Nate wondered if this was the fate of everyone in the Commonwealth. He supposed he would find out.

Bending down over the man to see what he had on him, the stench was the worst part to overcome. It reminded him of times better forgotten, of battlefields and dead friends. But he pushed it out of his mind as he searched through the man's pockets. Next to the man was what looked like a handmade pistol, but it looked like a piece of junk. His 10mm was easily a wiser choice.

The man had two things on him worthy of taking. One was a belt with a few pouches on it. A handful of bullets were in it, but since they were .38 caliber they would not be of any use for him, at least not now. He left them in one of the pouches as he strapped the belt around his waist. There was blood on it but it was of little consequence. The other item was a shoulder harness with a holster that snuggly fit his pistol. He counted his good luck, even though it was the result of the dead man's misfortune, and moved on.

He moved quickly, but carefully on the side of the road staying behind what brush he could. He did not know anything about the surrounded area. Sure, he knew the general layout, but his information was two-hundred years out of date. While it did not look like the roads had changed, there could be roadblocks, obstacles and groups of men or beasts waiting to give him a bad day or a fire off a lucky shot to the head before he even saw them. So he kept his head down and stayed quiet.

He made it to the Red Rocket truck stop. Like everything else it was in poor condition, but it looked sturdy, certainly better of than the homes back in Sanctuary Hills. He observed the area and saw nothing, so he moved forward hoping to find some supplies. Maybe he would not have to even go to Concord if he was lucky enough here.

There was a lot of rubble and debris and he peered through the windows but did not see much. The garage door was open and he figured it would be the best place to start. But as he moved towards it to enter the station, he felt a tremor beneath his feet. He paused. 'Are there earthquakes now?' he thought to himself. But as he was thrown from his feet, he quickly realized it was not an earthquake.

He landed hard on his back and landing in front of him fresh out of the whole was a horribly ugly creature. It looked like a giant mutated hairless rat, with large yellow teeth on its snout. The creature lunged at Nate and he acted on pure instinct as he pulled the pistol from his holster and fired once at the creature. The bullet slammed into its mouth and through its head and the rat landed on its side just beside Nate, already dead.

But before he could give a sigh of relief, he felt another tremor underneath him. He quickly rolled to his side just before another rat burst out of the ground. He fired, hitting the creature in its belly and killing it as he jumped to his feet. But it was not over yet. In quick succession, five other rats exploded out of the ground, nearly all at the same time. He wasted no time, aiming and firing his pistol. However, the distance gave the rats time to maneuver and they ran around, two coming up on his right and three on this left. He aimed at the group of three and fired. Five pulls of the trigger and the three rats were either dead or immobile enough where it did not matter.

Unfortunately, he was just too slow and the other two rushed towards him, closing the gap. He could not aim his pistol fast enough, but he tried nevertheless. But as he brought his pistol around, knowing it would not be fast enough to prevent them from at least reaching him, a black shadow slammed into the two rats, knocking them to the side.

The shadow was a large german shepherd and with a growl it turned around and pounced on one of the rats, its teeth tearing into the creature's flesh. The other rat, having forgot Nate, turned and lunged at the dog, but just as the dog had saved Nate, so too did Nate save the dog. As the rat sailed in the air, a single bullet from Nate's pistol slammed into its side, knocking it down. The creature struggled on the ground, crying out, but then it fell still and silent.

The dog barked and Nate quickly turned to face it, his pistol ready to fire if the dog was hostile. But there was no hostility in the dogs eyes or demeanor. In fact, it wagged its tail and came up to Nate.

"Hey there, boy," said Nate as the dog stopped in front of him. He hesitantly reached out a hand a petted the dog on the head. After a few seconds, he knew the dog was no threat and bent down on a knee to give the dog a bit more attention. "You really saved me, you know it?"

The dog barked in response. Nate guessed that mean yes and smiled. He carefully checked over the dog. There was no collar and the fur was filthy, but the dog seemed to be in good health. And it was clear it was use to people and friendly towards them. Nate wondered how trained the dog was. He stood up and ordered the dog to sit, lay down and shake. The dog did not disappoint and followed all of his commands. Nate took another few minutes testing the dog's listening abilities. He could follow directions easily. Nate was impressed.

"Okay, boy. How about you come with me?" The dog barked and Nate took it as a 'yes.' "Alright then, stay close."

Nate went into the truck stop to search for supplies, but after a few minutes found nothing of real interest. Some junk, but nothing else. So Nate, with the dog in tow, set off and continued to Concord.

-)(-

Gun fire echoed off the dilapidated buildings in Concord. A group of men fired at two men on a balcony of the museum in the center of town. The attackers lacked discipline and organization, moving around and firing blindly with small arms. The two on the balcony were much more efficient. They had some strange type of laser rifle that made a funny noise every it discharged a round, and when they managed to actually get off a shot between the waves of bullets trying to find them, there aim was far more true than that of their attackers. A few of the attackers were already dead or injured on the ground because of it.

"You can't hold out all day!" yelled one of the attackers. "We are going to get you and we are going to have some fun when we do!"

Nate watched all of this from down the street of the museum. He crouched behind a burnt out car, trying to keep out of sight, his pistol ready to be used. He had told the dog to stay back, and thankfully the dog had listened. Concord definitely had people alright, but he did not know if any of them were friendly. As he listened to the attackers taunt the defenders, he figured that the attackers were not friendly at all. Of course, he did not know if the defenders were either and even if they were, he really doubted he could take on all of the attackers to aid them.

One of the defenders screamed and Nate's eyes widened as he watched the man fall over the railing and down to the ground. He heard the man slam into the ground and could see him from his position. Miraculously, the man was not dead. But, as he moved around on the ground, it looked that at least his legs were broken. The fallen defender tried to move towards the laser rifle that had fallen with him, but it was too far way from him to grab in time as three of the attackers rushed man.

The defender on the balcony fired at the three rushing his fallen ally, but he was pushed behind cover by the attackers peppering his position. The three attackers reached the fallen man a few seconds later. They were not gentle. Stomping him with their feet and hitting him with tire irons, the attackers were brutal and soon the fallen man was little more than mush.

Behind him there was a click of a gun. "You move and the same thing's going to happen to you," said an unpleasant male voice from behind him. "Now turn around."

Nate did so, slowly. The man was one of the attackers and he was wielding a handmade pistol, similar to the one Nate left behind earlier near Sanctuary Hills. This one looked like it was made out of small pipes and spare parts of various guns. At this range, he did not dare to test how effective of a weapon it was.

"Well, well. What a surprise," said the man. "It seems like I found myself a pretty boy. Your skin is so clean and your teeth are so white. You from Diamond City?"

Nate did not know of anyplace called Diamond City, but he had to suppress a smile at being called a 'pretty boy.' It was almost comical. Of course, the man pointing the gun at him certainly was far from it as well. He was filthy and stunk worse than a old pile of garbage and his clothes looked like garbage and hung loosely on his malnourished, thin body. He eyes bounced around, like he was high on drugs. He was clearly dangerous.

"Why don't you put that pistol of yours on the ground," ordered the man.

Nate nodded. He placed the gun on the ground, and looked back at the man. The man looked at him, but just for a second his gaze flicked past Nate and down the street towards the siege. It was more than enough time for Nate.

Quickly, Nate lunged forward and grabbed the man's pipe-pistol and spun it out of his hand before the man could react. With the pistol in Nate's left hand, he mustered his strength and slammed his open right hand into the man's throat shoving him to the ground. Nate jumped on top of him, dropping the pipe-pistol to the ground and used both hands to choke the man. The man struggled, but he was weak compared to Nate. After a few long seconds, the man stopped moving, his eyes fading as the life left his body.

"Hey! Someone's attacking Lloyd!" shouted someone closer to the museum behind Nate.

A feeling of dread went through Nate's body and as he turned around to look over his shoulder. He saw one of the attackers on the roof, looking directly at him as he announced to the rest what Nate was doing to their fellow. Nate watched as the attacker on the roof brought his rifle up and saw a few others turning around to face the new threat in their rear. Nate wasted no time.

He grabbed the pipe-pistol in his left hand and his 10mm in his right and dashed into an alley near the car. As he put his back to the wall of one of the alley's buildings as the man on the roof opened fire. The bullets pounded into the ground and building, but Nate was unscathed. Another second of firing, and the bullets stopped. Correctly guessing that the man had run through all the rounds in his magazine, Nate leaned out from his position, aimed his 10mm and fired once. The man on the roof fell back, blood spurting from his chest as he screamed out.

He now the the attention of some of the attackers. More of them turned to face him and began firing. He ran to the other side of the alley, away from the street that faced the museum and the distracted siege.

He ran in the direction of the museum and ducked back into another alley. Four of the other attackers were advancing the to alley he was so recently in, unaware he was now behind them. He fired into their backs dual wielding the pistols. They never were able to fire retuning shots as they fell to the ground bleeding and dead.

Now he really had the attention of the attackers, after all, he had already killed almost half of their men. But not all were as dumb as the others and some tried to use tactics. Two attacker ran up around on of the building as the others took positions in the main street while still trying to keep the museum's defender tied down.

Nate took position behind a dumpster. He was trapped. Attackers were on each side of the alley boxing him in. He fired at one of two coming in from behind, hitting him in the leg. The man screamed, and his friend pulled him to the side before Nate could fire off another shot. But as Nate saw a shadow dash across the alley opening towards the two men, he knew they were dealt with.

With the dogs aggressive growls and the men screaming as the beast tore at their flesh, Nate turned back around at those on the main street. Carefully, placing each shot, he fired at the attackers. The seconds turned into minutes. The firefight was going on to long. The men behind him had long stopped screaming, and he already had to put a fresh magazine into the 10mm. He pulled the trigger of the pipe-pistol, but it only clicked. It was empty. Nate tossed it to the side.

He heard a woman yell off to the left of him of the street, and watched as the dog jumped up onto a female attacker, doing to her what it did to the others. They tumbled down and in that moment, the other attackers seemed to have forgotten Nate and turned their attention and guns onto the dog and the woman it was attacking.

Nate moved into action. 'No way in hell are you shooting that dog!' he yelled in his mind as he dashed out of the the alley and behind the cover of an old barricade in the street, giving the perfect vantage point on the attackers. He fired again and again into them just as the defender of the museum was able to fire as well, free from the suppressive fire of the attacker, helping Nate and the dog. Bullets, teeth and laser beams tore into the attackers.

The attackers panicked and began to loose what little amounts of pathetic organization they had. It made Nate's job all the easier. A few seconds later and the attackers were either dead or close enough to being so that it did not matter.

"There are more coming!" shouted the defender on the balcony pointing the the left of the museum. Nate look and saw over twenty more people, dressed similarly to the attackers they had just killed, rushing through alleys and on the street heading towards the museum. "Quickly, grab that laser musket and get inside!"

Nate wasted no time. He guessed that the laser musket was the strange laser rifle that fell along with the other defender earlier. He grabbed it and the few fusion cells and with the dog at his heels, he opened the door the to museum and ran inside.

As he closed the door behind him, he noticed an old bookcase right next to it. He moved to the side of it and pushed the bookcase in front of the door. The door opened inwards, and this would hopefully buy a few seconds that they might need. But the action brought its own kind of attention.

Before the dust had settled from the downed bookcase, bullets raced through the air, splintering the wood of the walls and bookcase. Nate dived behind a wooden pillar, a bullet grazing his left arm along the way. It stung like hell, but he did not stop to fret about it just then. He peeked around when the bullet fire paused, and saw two more attacker. It had caught him by surprise. He had not realized they were already in the building.

He raised his pistol. There was one on each side. He took out the on on his right first and then fired at the one on his left. They were horrible shots, but he was not and they were easily taken care of.

"Let's go, dog," he yelled at his canine companion. He could hear more firing deeper in the museum. The building was falling apart. Walls and whole sections of floor had fallen. He made his way carefully but quickly through the building, moving higher where he guessed the defender was. He met a few of the attacker along the way. Two he ambushed in a small room as they frantically discussed fleeing the assault. Further up, another two were on a higher balcony floor. One was yelling at someone to open a door, saying it was hopeless for them to resist.

Nate swung around far enough behind them, leaned onto the balcony and fired onto the men. Like the others, they dropped easily enough.

Nate ran up to the door and gave it a bang. "Hey, is anyone in there?" he asked though the solid wooden door sporting a few splintered spots where bullets impacted and had bounced off.

He heard the lock of the door click, but the door did not open. He paused for a moment, his hand on the door knob. He still did not really know if the defender was a real friend. He took in a sharp breath and exhaled. Either way, he needed help if he wanted to find a doctor or supplies for Nora. He listened to his gut, and it told him to go in. Lacking anything concrete to go against the feeling, he opened the door.

And the defender he had seen on the outside balcony had his laser musket aimed right towards him. The defender wore an old style duster and hat. It looked like a member of an old militia than anything else. The defender smiled, and then lowered his gun.

"Thank's for your help," the defender said. "We really needed it."

Nate looked around the room. There were four others present besides the defender. Two women and two men. "Happy I could help," said Nate turning back to look at the Defender. He stretched out his hand. "I'm Nate Williams."

"Preston Garvey," said the defender as he shook Nate's hand. "I'm with the Commonwealth Minutemen."

"Minutemen?" asked Nate.

"You've never heard of the Minutemen? We are defenders of the Commonwealth, coming to aid the settlements at a minute's notice. Or, we use to anyway. I'm afraid that I'm all that left now." There was regret in Preston's voice.

"So is that what your doing here in Concord, defending a settlement?" asked Nate.

"No. I'm escorting the survivors from Quincy. Those damned raiders have been picking us off over the last couple of weeks. We started out with over twenty survivors, but now there's only us. But, maybe if you willing to help us, I can get these people to safety."

Nate hesitated. These seemed like normal people, not like those that had been attacking them. He could understand why Preston referred to them as raiders. But still, he did not know if he should get involved. He had to help Nora. That was his priority, but if these people could help…

"I need a doctor, or at least some good medical supplies," said Nate. "If I help you, can you help me?"

"I don't have any medical supplies, and we lost the only person who could be considered a doctor before we reached Concord, but I do know where we can find a doctor and some supplies. If you help us, then we will help you. I give you my word."

For a second Nate thought about his possibilities. He could take Preston's offer, but he could just threaten them to give him the information. Preston was the only one that seemed capable to fight and if he was taken out, the rest would most likely prove no trouble. No, he threw that though from his mind. The apocalypse and the desperation was trying to worm its way into his mind. He was a soldier. And these were his countrymen, or at least the descendants of his countrymen. A soldier had a duty, and if these people were being honest with him and trusting to him, unless it was absolutely necessary, he should return it in full.

"Alright Preston, you have a deal. So do you have any ideas about how to deal with the guys outside."

"Do you know how to use power armor?" asked Preston. Nate nodded and Preston smiled. "Great! Then Sturges here has a plan." He gestured one of the other men over.

Sturges came over and to Nate he looked like a mechanic. "Alright, so you see, there's a suit of power armor on the roof. Looks like it's been there since the bombs fell. It's next to the crashed vertibird and the vertibird has a functional mini-gun on on. The power armor should be enough to get the gun off, and then those raiders will be nothing to deal with."

"I'm thinking there might be a 'but' coming," said Nate.

"But, the power armor's fusion core is depleted. Now before you say anything, there a good one down in the museum's basement. It's behind a locked door with a terminal on it. Now, I can fix just about anything but I'm no computer hacker. None of us are in fact. So if you can go down there, grab that core, then the rest of the plan falls into place. Sound good?"

To Nate it sounded like he was doing the brunt of the work, but he did not protest. He told them he would go get the fusion core and that is what he did. The computer proved to be no problem. He had hacked plenty in his day, and as those computers were mainly in chinese, and these being in english made the job even easier. The passcode was cracked and the door to the generator was unlocked. A minute later he was back in the room with the others, fusion core in hand.

He left the dog in the room with the others while he and Preston went up to the roof.

"Alright, I will cover you with my musket," whispered Preston. "Try not to get hurt out there."

"No promises," responded Nate with a smirk.

He moved to the power armor. It was covered with dirt and rust, but these things were built to last and he prayed it still worked. Below on the street, he could hear one of the raiders yelling for them to come out and it sounded like some of them were pounding on the door, trying to get in. 'They're in for a surprise,' thought Nate with a smile. For everything that had happened, and that for him it happened so quickly, he felt surprisingly alive. He knew the shock would eventually come, but right now he could not afford let it affect him.

He pushed the fusion core into the appropriate slot on the back and the armor powered up. It opened up and he stepped inside. It was about noon, and the day was bright and beautiful, but it looked hazy through the armor's helmet, but only just so. He checked his heads-up-display. According the to HUD, the armor was in far from perfect condition and as he moved around a little he noticed it was also a bit sluggish. However, for these raiders, if they were anything like the previous ones, this armor would be more than enough.

He moved to the crashed vertibird halfway submerged into the museum's roof. He grabbed the mini-gun. Sturges said it was in working order so he figured he would see if the man was right.

He stepped up to the edge of the roof. Preston took cover on the edge as well. He let the barrels spin.

"Holy shit!" said a raider that had climbed to the roof of the building across from the museum. "They've got pow-."

Nate fired the mini-gun into the man before he could finished. The bullets shredded threw him and the raider fell down in a wet mess of flesh. That put all of the attention from the raiders on Nate. He did not mind one bit.

He found a target, fired in bursts, and when that target was down he moved to the next. The small arms of the raiders did loudly pinged off the power armor. They did not pose to much of a threat right then, but the armor was in bad shape and it would only be able to take so much. If it was in pristine condition, then they could have fired at him all day to no avail, but that was not the case and Nate knew he had to wrap it up sooner rather than later.

After a few raiders had fallen, the rest fell back further down the street, Preston's more accurate laser fire helping push them back. With some breathing room now between the museum and the raiders, Nate used the power of the armor to jump into the air and off the roof. With a loud thud the armor slammed into the ground, the paved cement of the road buckling underneath his weight forming a small crater.

He charged at the raiders firing his mini-gun, spent shell casing littering the ground in his wake. He came up to one raider, stopped firing and used the strength of the power armor to back hand one of the raiders. The raider sailed through the air into the brick wall of a building. He did not move after that. And for the next minute that is how the fight continued. With Preston providing long range support and Nate alternated between the gun and the sheer power of the armor to destroy the attacking raiders. But still they would not give up. They kept fighting even though there was no way for them to win.

All of a sudden, the raiders stopped fighting as a roar came from underneath the street. In that moment, there was true fear on their faces, fear which they did not have towards Nate and his power armor.

"Deathclaw!" one of the yelled. "We have to get out of here!"

And the raiders' fighting spirit broke and all began running away. As they did the ground shook and one of the sewer grates flew from its position on the street and into the air. Out from the exposed sewer jumped a creature Nate had never seen before in his life, not even in his worst dreams. It looked like a lizard, but it was huge. It was easily ten feet tall with powerful muscles under its skin and foot long sharp looking claws. One raider was too close to it after it emerged and the deathclaw swiped at it as the raider ran. The man was split in two as the beast's claws cut through him like a warm knife through butter.

Nate had seen enough to know that creature had to be stopped. He pulled hard on the trigger and the mini-gun began to spit out countless bullets, but it only seemed to make the creature angry. The deathclaw gave Nate its full attention and charged with a roar. The bullets seemed to only bounce off of it as it closed the distance.

It swiped at Nate, and though he tried to jump to avoid it, he was to slow and he felt himself being thrown off to the side. As he skidded to a stop on his back, he began firing the mini-gun again. And while it seemed to be actually hurting the deathclaw now, it only made the deathclaw move to avoid the bullet storm. He never knew something so big could move so fast, but the creature's speed was incredible. In a zigzag fashion it once again closed the gap, only this time Nate was expecting it and acted accordingly by keeping out of its reach and continuing to fire.

The creature advanced again, and once again Nate pulled on the trigger, but no bullets fired. 'What? I have plenty of ammo! Don't tell me it fucking jammed!' Regardless of whether it had jammed or there was some other problem, the result was the same. The Deathclaw slammed into him and the both tumbled. Even in the power armor Nate felt his breath knocked out of him. He could taste blood in his mouth. And the deathclaw stood up over him. This was not good.

The creature roared, opening its mouth wide and showing its hideously sharp teeth and a long, ugly tongue. Nate saw his chance! With all the speed he could muster he lunged toward the deathclaw's open mouth and grabbed its tongue. He gave a forceful pull and the tongue came free. Blood soaked his armored glove and arm, mixing in with the blood of the raiders already staining the armor. The triumphal roar of the creature turned into a nightmarish shriek and the create nearly fell back in shocked surprise, but Nate did not hesitate.

Taking advantage of the momentary weakness, Nate charged the creature forcing it to the ground with him on top. With all his might and as quickly as he could, he began to pound into the creatures head. The creature tried to put up a fight, but from its shock and the sudden nature of the attack in general, after a few punches in the deathclaw only twitched. Warnings flashed on the armor's HUD, but Nate had won. Against both the raiders and the creature from Hell.

As though sensing the fight was over, the armor gave up the ghost and it shut down. Nate activated the emergency release and climbed out though the back. The blood of the raiders and deathclaw covered drenched the armor.

He made his way back to the museum. The door was easy to open, as someone had already moved the bookcase out of the way from the inside. He still had his pistol in hand just in case there was a raider inside. Thankfully there wasn't.

The dog barked and came up to Nate as he stepped inside the building, wagging its tail and generally happy to see him.

"I cannot believe what I just saw," said Preston as Nate moved toward him and the others now gathered on the first floor. "That was incredible!"

"It was something alright," said Nate. The adrenaline was wearing off and he was feeling exhausted. "So is everyone is alright?"

"Yeah, we're all good, thanks to you," answered Preston. "Now we can make our way to Sanctuary."

"Sanctuary? You mean Sanctuary Hills?" asked Nate. Preston game him a nod. "Well that's where I actually come from. It's… It's my home."

"You're home? I'm sorry, we thought he place was abandoned, well except a crazy robot that wanders the area." Preston went silent for a moment. "These people need somewhere safe, and we believe Sanctuary is our best shot, but we will not intrude if you don't want us in your home."

'Or what's left of my home anyway,' he thought. He looked over the desperate people. Were they generally good people? Could he trust them? He had just briefly fought alongside Preston and he had a good feeling about the man, so after a few seconds of internal deliberation, he decided that he could at least give them a chance. He knew that if he and Nora were going to survive in this world and find Shaun, they would need help.

"Of course you can, Preston," answered Nate to an obviously relieved Preston. The mood of the small group lightened a bit as though a new level of certainty, even hope, now existed. "So then, I guess we should get going."

"Hold on a minute, kid," said the older of the two women in the group. "A word, about the journey your about to start on. I've seen your destiny. I know your pain." Her words had an ominous tone to them.

"Mama Murphy," said the other woman of the group. "Don't bother the man." The old old woman ignored her.

"Destiny?" asked Nate.

"You're a man out of time and you have experienced loss. But all is not lost. I can feel…" She struggled for a moment, as though she was trying to grasp onto a concept she did not immediately understand. Then here eyes lit up. "I can feel your son's energy. He's alive."

His heart jumped. How did this woman know about Shaun. An internal storm of questions swelled, but he retained his composure. He did not know what she knew, or if what she said was legitimate and not simply a scam of a very clever con-artist.

"I'm listening," Nate responded calmly.

"Look kid, I know how I sound. The Sight, it's weird. And it ain't always clear. But your son's out there. And I don't need the sight to tell you where you should start lookin'. The great, green jewel of the Commonwealth. Diamond City. The biggest settlement around."

"What's in Diamond City?" asked Nate.

The old woman sighed. "I'm tired now, kid, and we got a long walk to Sanctuary," said Mama Murphy. "Bring me some chems later and that will help the sight paint a clearer picture."

"Mama Murphy, We've talked about this…" said Preston. "That junk is going to kill you."

"Oh, you worry too much Preston," she responded. "And its got us this far, hasn't it."

"Well, I will see what I can do," said Nate, speaking up before Preston could respond. "So Preston, about that doctor…"

"Right," said Preston as he turned to face him. "The doctor is in a settlement a ways to the east from here. He owes me a favor and I would be happy to use that favor to help you. So if you help me get these settlers to Sanctuary, then you and I can go over there and get his help. Sound good?"

"Sounds great," said Nate immediately not wanting to was time. "Let's get going then.

-)(-

Nate, Preston and the settlers reached the bridge to Sanctuary a couple hours later. They were burdened with as much as they could carry. It was not luggage they had brought with them from Quincy. Rather, they were had looted as much as they could carry from the dead raiders. Guns, bullets, cloths, shoes, etc., and all taken regardless of the condition. Sturges had summed it up best to Nate. Everything has value in the Commonwealth. He had even taken a rusty saw and cut off some of the deathclaw's claws. Apparently that was worth a good amount of change to some of the traders.

They unloaded all of the stuff in the house across from Nate's a few minutes later. There were various workbenches set up around it already. Nate figured it belong to someone who tried to set up shop well after the bombs fell, since they were not there before.

Nate dropped the extra gear that he was carrying rather unceremoniously on carport. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he said to the group, Preston in-particular. "I have to go check on something and then we can head out." Preston gave him a nod and Nate set off for the the root cellar.

He opened the cellar door and jumped in his skin. Codsworth was right there, inches away from where the door was on the inside. "God, Codsworth. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"I'm sorry, sir," apologized Codsworth. "I detected a small group entering the neighborhood, and I did not realize you were with them."

"No, it's okay. You were protecting Nora. How is she?" He stepped into the cellar and closed the door behind him. The lights were turned off. A second later they clicked on, thanks to Codsworth.

"She seems to be fine but has not yet woken up I'm afraid. But we have had no troubles to speak of since you have been gone."

"Alright, well that's good at least. So, there were people in Concord, like you said. I helped them out and one of them said he knew a doctor not too far from around here. If you don't mind watching Nora a little longer, I'm going to go with him to bring the doctor back here."

"I will gladly watch the Mrs., sir. But do be careful out there."

'Thanks, Codsworth. I will be. Oh, and the other people that came with me. They seem like decent folk, but don't let them down here, alright."

"No worries, sir. I will not let the two of you down." He gave a little salute. Nate gave him his thanks again and headed back out the door, closing it behind him.

"Alright, I'm ready to go," he said to Preston a minute later when he returned the the house with the settlers.

"Good, but before you go, you should probably put on those." Preston pointed to a pile of leather garments on the ground separated the the rest of the stuff they brought with them. "It's only made of leather, but a little armor is better than no armor, right?"

"I'd definitely agree to that," said Nate as he moved to the armor and began putting in on. The armor was sectional. A separate piece for all four limbs and the chest.

"So if you don't mind me askin'," began Sturges as he walked over to join Nate and Preston. "You said that this was your home, but I really don't see any fortifications, or.. well anything really except these workbenches. How long have you been around here?"

To Nate, Sturges did not come off as hostile, merely curious. And, he supposed he had some right to be. He gave an internal sigh. He should probably be honest with them if he wanted them to do the same in return. The other settlers all turned from what they were doing and looked at Nate. It seemed as though they were curious as well.

"Well, to begin I should say that the reason I need a doctor if for my wife."

"I was wondering about that," said Preston. "You don't really look in need of one."

"She was shot. In the chest. I used a couple of stimpacks on her, but I want a doctor to look her over. She is in the root sister behind the house over there. She does have a guard, so I wouldn't suggest going and poking around." There was a hint of a threat to is warning. "But as to answer your question, this is our home, but… we haven't really been here in over two-hundred years."

"What?" asked a baffle Sturges. "Two-hundred years. You don't look like any ghoul I've ever seen."

Nate did not know what a ghoul was, but he continued on. "Yeah, well, there's a vault up the hill. We've been in cryogenic storage until someone came in, took our son and shot my wife. Then we escaped and came down here. That was only this morning."

"So wait a minute," interrupted Preston. "Are you saying that you are really from before the bombs dropped?"

"I guess, yeah," said Nate. "We ran to the vault when the news came in that New York and Pennsylvania were hit with nuclear strikes. We barely made it inside before it was too late. We were going down just as a bomb hit a little outside of Boston. To me, because we were frozen almost immediately, the bombs only started a few hours ago."

The settlers and Preston were in complete silence. They just stared at him in near awe at what he just said.

"My God," said Preston. "I can't even imagine."

"Yeah, well, I have other problems to handle now. Now, where is that doctor?"

"That Pip-Boy," started Preston turning back to the task at hand. "It has a map function on it, right?"
"I guess so. Haven't had much of an opportunity to check it out."

"Can you stretch out your arm and let me access it." Nate did so and Preston began playing with it. "Alright, I've put the coordinates into the settlement on you map, just in case we get separated. I would recommend entering any important location you come across. It could come in handy."

Nate brought his Pip-Boy back to him and looked at the map. He figured the small triangle marked where he currently was. He fiddled with it for a second and managed to mark the area he was currently in as Sanctuary. He then saw where Preston had put in the coordinates for the settlement that the doctor was in: Tenpines Bluff. It was not too far away.

"Alright then," said Nate. "Let's get going." And off they went.


I hoped everyone liked that chapter. Now to respond to some of the comments I have received:

Xypher1: I think that Nora dying was some of the most wasted potential in the game. It was hard to care for someone you have only know, as the player, for a few minutes. Her death was kind of useless. If they wanted to kill her off, they should have done so later when she and the player had formed some sort of bond. For instance, think of how much it would suck if Valentine died during the game after wandering with him so much. The player would actually feel devastated instead of simply feeling like they should. As for a Nate and his skill set, he is former military of course, but as an officer. Specifically, he is former special forces. A behind enemy lines sort of guy. I think it fits the narrative of him going out into the Commonwealth surround by threats and surviving more plausible. So he knows how to do quite a bit from combat to hacking, etc. And, like you I think it would be interesting if you knew the BoS founder. We shall see, won't we. As for Nora, she is no soldier, but she will play an imporant part. Her skill set revolves around the law, after all, she does have a juris doctor after all. But what she does will be fundamentally different than Nate. And her knowing the man Valentine is based off would be interesting.

jackieredfield: Yes. Her surviving will cause many changes. These changes are minor at first, from dialogue to how events play out being similar to the game, but by the end, the story will be completely different than the game. Oh the plans I have!

Mandalore the freedom: I don't want to give too much away, but take a look above for a little of the background I have come up with for Nate. He may certainly have been involved with Operation Anchorage. Also, I am totally up for suggestions. Just PM me with them. Not going to promise I will necessarily use them, but I bet you have some good ones that could be a lot of fun.

Alright. I will see you all next time with Chapter 3. Please feel to follow, favorite and leave a review if you have something to say. I do this for you guys so let me know your thoughts!