My feet felt like they hardly touched the ground. The growling of the beast grew louder, the noise of it's footsteps terrified me.

I screamed slightly, without much air to scream with. My clothes, as torn and dirty as they were (torn enough to reveal my stomach), waved in the breeze, my baggy pants swishing (Is that a word..?). My bandana was loose and wavy, too, and my hair was singed too much from it's original blonde to do anything. The long, lucious hair I used to have was long gone.

The beast managed to claw my leg, tripping me. I flung myself on my back (Which proves quite difficult with only one arm and a glove on the other) to see it looming over me, ready to kill me with a single bite.

Instead.. It looked at me and showed it's teeth, possibly a smile.

"Wha... Why..." I murmured, and the irradiated bear stepping back. It seemed to regonize me as a friend. He layed down suddenly, huffing sleepily.

I backed away, my leg searing from its playful scratch. It looked at me as I walked off with its only fuctioning eye (the only thing I'd seen we had in common.).

I looked around, the only constant compainon of mine being snow. I was hunted by just about all the residents of this Alaskian Wasteland, inculding these "Brotherhood of Steel" characters. They wore red or black heavy armor and helmets, and carried large guns.

I'm not a fan of the ones in red. They call me a "Local" and that I should go "bang some rocks together." They insult my intelligence constantly, though they say I can bring them any armor suits for "free rocks" or Stimpacks. Man, I hate them..

There are some people called "The Enclave" who often came to me with floating robots, asking if I had any "running operations," and that I should give up any "Chems" that allow animals to like- and not eat -me. I had no idea of what they were talking about, but I'd managed to trick them with Jet. Sadly, I was running out of Jet to scavage and no trading caravans came near my base.

Then there were the Slavers. They were quite suspicious of me.

Unlike the rest, they had reason. ...That I will not explain.

Moving on, I started walking back home, the bear behind me following. I looked back at him, he grinned, and rushed closer. I sighed, weakly petting it's head and expecting it to run away.

Instead... It licked me. I backed away again, then turned around and headed home. That bear would loose interest soon, right?

I walked through the snow, my arm pressed against my stomach to keep warm. Home wasn't far from here, and I didn't have much to carry back.

Except a huge bear.

How helpful.

The landscape looked quite bleak unless you had good eyesight. Small shadows curving the path that led to my base where just about the only clues to my location. Those shadows weren't nearly as easily seen as the dents in the dark snow that was my home, and I-

...Was that three men? By the enterence?

...And they were Slavers... NO!

I rushed towards them, the bear sensing I was going to attack. He growled loudly, and pounced on the nearest Slaver. The other two opened fire on the bear as he mauled the first to death. He then clawed at the nearest Slaver and threw him at the last one.

All the while, I stopped in my tracks and watched this silently. I was terrified it had followed me this far and that it was killing the Slavers, but I was also happy it was destroying the threat.

But could I trust it to not kill me?

I rushed up to it, pulling it off the last Slaver. His head and legs were crippled. He wasn't going anywhere.

"The hell... Are you...?" The Slaver spat.

"I should ask the same thing, aye?" I said, eyeing him as the bear huffed beside me. "What were you doin' here?"

"Boss said... To find your ho-... House..." The Slaver mumbled. "You... Are in for it.. Now..."

"What do you mean?"

"You killed.. His men... They'll come looking for us... Find you..." The Slaver was slipping out of connsiousness. I decided to put him out of his misery..