Hey everyone, I just figured I would tell you all that this is my first story. I'm trying to improve my writing so any criticism would be appreciated

That goes for comments as well, feel free to speak your mind. Comments would probably keep me going, because I have no idea if people like this or not.

I'm also trying to decide if I should shorten the length of the chapters and update more frequently…hm…

Oh yes and CallxOfxPuberty I appreciate the first comment.

Anyway, time for Chapter 2!

Chapter 2: Welcome to the Scenic Capital Wasteland

I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it.

"Jesus Christ!" Both brothers dropped to the ground. The light coming from all around them blinded them. So much for admiring what was outside. "Someone turn off the damned light switch out here!" Oliver North shouted. He started rubbing his eyes vigorously, hoping to regain his vision.

"We should have found some tinted glasses before we left. The manual to the Vault always said that if the world became inhabitable that we should find darkened glasses." Gary North tried to throw some logic. He was facing down, holding his eyes shut. Personally he didn't think it would be that bright out here. Gary always thought the sun would be blocked from clouds or something. He took off the Vault guard visor he had on and threw it to the ground in order to rub his eyes.

"Always the voice of reason, eh?" Oliver regained his sight, and looked up from the ground and out towards the area around Washington DC. "Holy crap…" He didn't know what to say.

"What?" Gary squinted and looked up, holding his hands over his eyes to shield them from further damage from the sun. His jaw dropped at the pure and utter destruction of the area.

Rock and dirt surrounded them, but in the distance there were the ruined remains of buildings. These structures were simply skeletons of their former selves. Even farther away was a single spire with gaping holes, the years had not been kind to it.

"We gotta check this out." Oliver slowly stood up, he wobbled a little but planted a steady posture. He held his abdomen; blood had drenched his blue and yellow jumpsuit.

"Not just yet." Gary placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. "We have to fix you up first."

"I'm fine, really." And as if God was poking fun at Oliver, he fell to the ground as he tried to walk.

"Don't move, I'm patching you up, and getting that bullet." Gary started unloading his pockets of all of his medical supplies. "You feeling any pain?" Inquiring about the Med-X that he previously gave his brother.

"No, the chems are still workin'."

"Good, cuz this minor surgery of ours may hurt." Gary grabbed a scalpel and a set of tweezers. He made an incision at the entry wound to make slightly larger so he could successfully fit tweezers in. The bullet didn't penetrate that deep, so recovering it was a fairly simple task. Gary grinned as he removed the bullet, his first successful "surgery" in the wasteland.

He put down the scalpel and the tweezers and then took out a needle with some surgical thread. The needle penetrated Oliver's skin, he struck blood but he didn't seem to notice. Gary nimbly sewed up the wound, good as new.

He held up the bullet he got from Oliver's body. "Want it as a souvenir?" Oliver slapped it out of his brother's hand.

"Get outta here. Give me bandages so I could patch myself up." Gary smirked and removed a roll of bandages from his jumpsuit; he tossed it to his brother, who was now propped up on a rock. He walked out towards a ledge overlooking the wasteland. There was a single tilted sign; it read 'Scenic Overlook'.

'Scenic overlook my ass.' Gary thought to himself. There was a road that led to a small town, both were in horrible condition. Large chunks of concrete were missing from the road while some cars were overturned. The town was in ruins, only the support structures were left, yet there was nothing to support.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gary saw movement. He turned to his right; down the road was a man. The man was dressed in strange rags, typical wasteland garb he assumed. The man was staring up and Gary, motionless. At first he wasn't sure if the man was going to attack or if he was simply watching.

"Hey! Sir we just got out here! Could you help us out?" Gary shouted, waving a hand. The man quickly turned and ran away. Great, first encounter with the natives and it was a complete bust.

"Who the hell are you shouting to?" Oliver asked. He managed to get up on his own; he tossed the bandage roll to his brother.

"No one now, the guy ran." Gary caught the roll and placed it in his pocket. Oliver joined his brother at the ledge overlooking the small town; he responded with a whistle.

"Well, where to next?" Oliver guessed that they would look for their dad, but who knows where the hell he could be. They didn't even know if he stayed in the immediate area.

"No idea, I guess we could wander aimlessly for a bit, hope to find someone who isn't feral, and get some info."

"Sounds fairly vague if you ask me." The two brothers started walking down a hill that led to the road.

"Oh and I just know you have a better plan, right?" Gary shot back. They were now in the town. There didn't appear to be anything noteworthy within its boundaries.

"Of course I have a better plan; I just want to make you feel important by using yours." Oliver said with a grin. He figured that with his brother, the two could survive on pure sarcasm alone in this crazy wasteland.

There was a slight hum that arouse behind the brothers. They quickly turned around, weapons in hand. A giant metallic orb, about the size of a basketball, was hovering above the ground. As the orb lessened the distance between itself and the brothers, patriotic music was audible.

"What the hell? Moral boosting flying robot?" Oliver questioned. He saw Gary move closer to the object, examining it carefully. His brother always wanted to know how things worked; this mystery object was no exception.

"I don't know if it is Pre-War, I don't think it would be able to maintain itself for that long. That means someone out here is civilized enough to make robot play music."

"I'm just giddy with anticipation of meeting this 'civilized' people." Gary laughed at his brother's quip and they continued on their merry way. They passed what appeared to be a Pre-War gas station of some sort. A Nuka Cola machine stood amongst the rubble, the neon light going on and off.

Oliver walked towards the vending machine and stuck his hand up the slot where one receives the cola. Gary watched as his brother wiggled his arm around. Oliver stopped and his face lit up. He removed his arm from the machine and tossed something to Gary. Gary caught it with ease, a Nuka Cola. Oliver walked over to him with one of his own.

He held up the bottle, "Cheers." They brothers hit the bottles together and removed the caps. Both took a hardy chug of Cola before continuing up the road. In front of them was a large makeshift sign made from large chunks of scrap metal; it read 'Megaton' and there was an arrow pointing to their right.

"Cross your fingers that they're civilized." Gary joked. A sudden burst of energy came over the two; realizing that they may finally get some information. They reached the end of the road; Megaton, or what was assumed to be Megaton, was towering over them.

"Well that's… thinking outside of the box…" Oliver thought aloud. The town was made of metal, probably taken off of random items strewn about the wastes. There was one large turbine in the middle of colossal pieces of metal. Above the turbine was a walkway, where a man with a rifle stood watching the Wasteland.

Gary broke the silence. "Uh… shall we?" Oliver turned to his brother and nodded. The two downed their colas before proceeding the town's makeshift gates. To their left was a man in rags. He started motioning to the brothers.

"Please… do you have any water?"

"I take it water is hard to come by around here?" Gary asked.

"No, I've been drinking this irradiated crap. I need purified water." The man gave a loud cough, as if he was to spit out a lung.

"I apologize but we don't have any water." Oliver pushed Gary before he could say anymore. He didn't care for this man's problems; they had problems of their own.

The two walked up to the gates of Megaton; a robot stood in front. "Open the gates. Open the gates." A loud screech was heard as the turbine fired up. Wind was quickly sucked in as the metal blades spun rapidly. The two large sheets of metal that once covered the huge opening moved up, revealing another gate. "Welcome to Megaton, friendliest town around." The robot continued in its monotone voice.

"I hate robots…" Oliver grumbled as they pushed past the doors and into Megaton. The large makeshift buildings were essentially based around a crater with a large… "What the hell is that a bomb?" So it was, the town was based around a bomb, great thinking.

"I'll be damned, more new comers." A voice got the Gary's attention. Standing in front of them was an African American male with a beard and a muscular build for his age. He wore a long trench coat with a star on it, and to 'top' it all off he had a cowboy hat. The man introduced himself. "Name's Lucas Simms, town sheriff; and mayor too, when the need arises. Ya know, I don't know why, but I like you boys. Something tells me you're all right. So welcome to Megaton! Just holler if you need something."

Gary spoke up first, the last thing he needed was his brother saying one of his witty comments. He imagined Oliver was still looking around. "Nice town you got here sheriff. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Lucas seemed taken aback. "Friendly AND well mannered? I think we're gonna get along just fine. You treat my people nice, and you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like."

And then Oliver joined the conversation with a 'pffff.' He started laughing. "Nice hat there buddy." Gary smacked himself in the face. Here we go.

Lucas Simms squinted his eyes at Oliver and shook his head. "Well I take back what I said before then. At least about him."

"Please excuse my brother, he's chronically enfeebled, I'm Gary North." Gary extended his hand. Simms responded with a firm hand shake. "This is Oliver." Gary added in quickly, jabbing a thumb in the direction of his brother. Oliver had his arms crossed; he didn't plan on shaking the sheriff's hand.

Simms released a sigh and then looked to Gary. "Is there anything I could help you with while you're here?"

"Uh yea actually, we're looking for our father. He's a middle aged guy, gray hair. Have you seen him?"

"Sorry son, but I got enough fires to put out in this place that I don't have time to keep tabs on every visitor. I'd ask around town." Gary sighed at the sheriff's response; he was hoping he'd know at least something.

"Where should we start?" Oliver added in.

"I'd check with Moriarty, he runs the bar around here. If you head up in that direction you'll get to his bar. It is on the top level of the town." Oliver walked off before anything else was added to the conversation.

"I'm sorry about my brother. By the way sir, is there anywhere we could earn some money? We're both kinda broke and could use the money." Gary was kind of embarrassed to admit that he didn't have any money.

"Yes I suppose you do need some caps. Well you..."

Gary interrupted Lucas. "I'm sorry Lucas but did you say caps?"

Lucas looked at Gary questioningly. "Yes caps, bottle caps are the form of currency of out here; did you live in a Vault or something?"

Gary laughed nervously, "Um yea actually." Lucas stared at him for a brief second, and then laughed hardily.

"Well I do suppose I should have figured that out, and here I just though you and your brother were trying to make bold fashion statements!" Both men laughed at the comment, Lucas continued when they settled down. "Moira brown of crater-side supply should have some odd jobs, you could check the water purification plant, and Moriarty may have some jobs but I would advise against that. Oh and of course you could always trade items you find out in the wastes."

Gary nodded; this Moriarty character didn't appear to be someone he'd want to associate with. "Duly noted, thanks for your help sheriff."

Oliver entered Moriarty's saloon, it was dimly lit and had an environment of one he'd expect from a bar. He walked up to the bar and rapped his knuckles on the counter to get the bartenders attention. The man turned around and Oliver was taken aback.

"Gah! The fuck are you?" the man, Oliver wasn't sure if he could call him a man, had peeling skin and no nose. There were tuffs of hair on his head; mainly his scalp was exposed.

"What, you never see a ghoul before, smoothskin?" well he had to be a man, because he talked. His voice was very rough, agreeing with his appearance.

"Now that you mention it... No. What's a 'ghoul'?" Oliver slowly sat down on a stool.

"Well you see, not all of us had the protection of a Vault when the bombs fell. A bunch of us got stuck out here in the world, and got a full blast of radiation. It essentially turned us into a pack of walking corpses. As far as I could tell, we age slower then you. A lot slower. There are even a few ghouls that were alive during the war." Oliver unconsciously felt himself reaching towards his own face. "But of course with a face like ground Brahmin meat, you can imagine that folks don't take too kindly to us."

"The hell is a Brahmin?"

The ghoul shook his head and looked at Oliver, ignoring his comment. "I'm just surprised you haven't it me yet."

That was an odd statement. "Your people haven't pissed me off, I have no reason to." these 'ghouls' were odd creatures.

"Wow, well I like you smoothskin, don't tell Moriarty, but I'll give you a discount." There was the name.

"Tell me, where could I find this Moriarty?"

The ghoul looked around, as if he was being watched. "He's probably in his room behind the bar, knock on the door if you want, but don't tell him anything about me." the ghoul was clearly afraid of the bar owner. Oliver wanted to meet this guy.

Oliver got up from his stool and proceeded to head around the counter. To his left was a women with red hair; she followed him with her eyes as he walked to the door. A part of him felt good about her admiring him. Women always seemed to look at his brother, he had no idea.

Oliver knocked on the door and waited for a response, none. Oliver knocked again, this time a little bit harder. Just as he was about to knock again the door popped open, nearly hitting him in the face.

"The fuck you want?" the man had a leather vest and gray hair. His voice had a thick Irish accent.

"You Moriarty?"

"Yea, who the hell is askin?"

"I am, I'm Oliver north. I'm lookin for my father; I was told maybe you'd know where he is." Oliver noticed a change in Moriarty's face.

"My god… It's you. The little baby boy, all grown up. Persistent little bastard, ain't ya? Then and now, it would seem. It's been a long time, kid. But I thought there were two of ya." Oliver stared at the man, what was going on? "Oh, your daddy passed through here, all right. Here and gone. Got what he came fer, and then left. I'm assuming you'll do the same, correct?"

"The hell you talking about Moriarty? We were born in the Vault!" Oliver was losing his temper, this guy was screwing around with him.

"Is that what your father told you? That you were born in that hole! That HE was born there as well? Ha!" Moriarty pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. "Oh, the lies we tell to those we love."

"Your father brought you to the Vault right after you were born. To keep you and that other bloody baby safe. I remember it well- you stayed in my saloon, after all." Oliver was practically fuming; this guy was feeding him shit! "That's right. Your father, his Brotherhood of Steel friend, and then you and the other child; suckling babes with nary a tit to suckle. Sorry about your mom kid, truly.

"Life goes on though right? Daddy lied. Life's full of little disappointments. An now… you're all grown up, and wondering where he's gone to…I'm still wondering what happened to the other babe with you…"

"Stop giving me bullshit!" Oliver shouted. The patrons of the bar gave him sidelong glances while drinking.

"You know, I heard about the brainwashin' that goes on down there. From some other fella, escaped, oh… five years back." Moriarty was using sarcasm now. "'All hail the Overseer! We're born in the Vault; we die in the Vault!' And all of that other lunacy." Moriarty chuckled at his own joke.

"Kid, you've got better programming than our own Deputy Weld outside. You'd best wise up quick, ya know that?" Moriarty became serious quickly. "I'm going to be straight with you. Your James was here, and now he's not. I know where he went, yes, but you're asking for information. Information around here happens to be a bit of a commodity. Lets say a couple hundred caps… and your daddy's location is yours."

"I don't have that kind of money! I just escaped the goddamn Vault!"

Moriarty scratched his goatee. "All right then, let me help you out for old time's sake. Since you don't have the caps to pay me for the info, how about you do a little favor for me.

"You want me to do you damned dirty work?" Oliver questioned, the rage still behind his voice.

"That's one way to think of it. Listen, this junkie bitch named Silver borrowed quite a few caps from me… claimed she could start funneling Jet and Psycho to me for a good price."

"I'm listening."

"Well the problem is that she scrammed with the loot and set herself up in Springvale so she could inject herself into a stupor. Get me the caps she owes me and they're yours. Your's to pay me with anyway." Moriarty started laughing; Oliver hated this son of a bitch. He may have hated him, but he realized he was speaking the truth.

Without another word, Oliver stormed out of the bar, intent on getting the money.

After Gary talked to Lucas Simms he went into the water purification plant that they had in Megaton. It appeared that some pipes in the town had sprung leaks; Gary was getting paid to fix them up so the water pressure would rise.

Just as Gary exited the building, someone ran into him.

"Oh sorry, sorry." it was a woman; her voice was sweet but had a nervous edge to it.

"It's alright, simple accident." Gary looked at the woman; she was around his age, possibly a bit older. She had blond hair put up in a fashion that reminded him of Amata's hair. She had an attractive face, one that wasn't ruined by the effects of the Wasteland. After a slightly awkward moment the women smiled, looked to the floor and left. Gary scratched his head and shook it off, maybe he'd find her later.

Gary continued down the metal walkway. To his right was Crater side supply, he'd go there after he went to the bar and met up with Oliver.

"Yo!" well speak of the devil. Oliver came running up to him from the direction of the bar. His face was red, never a good sign.

"Why did you go off ahead of me?"

"I wasn't in the mood for BSing with that guy. Besides I have info for you." there was certain anxiousness in Oliver's tone, with a hint of anger.

"Is it about dad?"

"Yea you could say that. Did you know that that sonova bitch has lied to us our entire lives?"

Now Gary was angry, why the hell would he start bad mouthing their dad? He stuck an accusatory finger in his brother's face. "What the hell are you taking about?"

Oliver placed his hands on his brother's shoulders and gave him a slight shake. "We weren't born in the vault." he released his grip and allowed his brother to sink in the new info. Gary skipped a heart beat. In his mind, he tried to rationalize everything.

"No, no who told you this?"

"Moriarty did, he said he knew dad before we went to vault 101."

"Well what if he was..."

"Lying? What would he gain from lying to us? He would have no reason even if he is a scum bag." Gary listened to his brother and ran his hand through his hair.

"Alright alright, but let's not jump to conclusions until we see dad and ask him ourselves. Did you find out where he was?"

"I have to complete a job for Moriarty before he tells me."

"Well let's go then! We have no time to waste." Oliver held back him brother.

"No, I'm goin alone; you need to earn us some cash so we could fund our future excursions." Gary shook his head in protest to his brother's response.

"No, I can't let you go out there alone. You don't know what's out there. So what if we didn't see anything on our first walk! We probably just got lucky!"

"Listen to me; I could handle myself and so could you. I'll meet you at the cratered bomb in a couple hours, alright?" Gary let out a breath, he could handle himself. He agreed to the proposition and gave Oliver a quick manly brotherly hug. "Oh by the way, do something with this." Oliver tossed the be-be gun he previously used as a bludgeon to Gary. They parted and walked their separate ways.

Gary made his way into the conveniently named Crater Side supply. The building had a high ceiling and was made of scrap metal like every other building in the area. A man was leaning up against a wall, next to a work bench. A woman with fiery red hair was talking to a man about the same height as Gary with an eye patch.

Gary stood silently, waiting for their conversation to end. The man with the eye patch stopped and motioned to Gary. The red headed turned around and looked and Gary.

"Umm I'm looking for a Moira Brown? I was told maybe I could get some kind of job?" the woman's face seemed to light up, it actually kind of scared Gary.

"Oh oh! That's me! Are you one of the strays from the vault? I haven't seen one of you in years! I heard that there were two of you." Gary was surprised he asked how she heard of him, she said news traveled fast. Gary laughed nervously. "Anyway, I'm Moira Brown, I run Crater-Side Supply, I tinker and research a bit here and there too."

"You're from the vault? Well hot damn it's nice to meetcha!" the man with the eye patch extended a hand, "I'm Billy Creel, but most people just call me Billy." Gary smiled and shook his hand. The man's appearance betrayed his great personality. Gary was personally glad that he has met so many nice people in the wastes.

"Nice to meet the both of you. My brother and I need some money before we go off looking for our dad, but we need money first. I was told by Lucas Simms that you may have a job for me ma'am?"

Moira clapped her hands together. "I have the perfect job for you! I'm working on a book about the Wasteland—it'd be great to have the foreword by a vault dweller. Help me out, wouldn't you?"

The woman was certainly forward. "Uh, sure I guess I'd have plenty of things to say about life in the Vault." Moira clapped her hands together, obviously pleased to here his agreement.

"Great!" Moira ran behind the counter and started searching around, she appeared again with a pencil and paper. "OK, just tell me what it's like to live underground all your life. Going in detail would be great. Oh! Oh! And if you could talk about leaving for the first time that would be just amazing!"

Gary scratched his head; he never felt more on the spot before. Billy spoke up, "Hey, you mind if I stick around? I'd love to hear your story."

Gary looked at him and nodded. "Uh yea sure you're more then welcome to stay. Well I guess I could start with daily life…"

Oliver left Megaton and was now passing by the town he and his brother walked through on their way from the vault; his pipboy said that the place was called Springvale. Moriarty said that the person he needed to get the money from lived in a small house near the town.

Oliver kept his hands close to his sides, his pistol on his right and his baton on his left. He imagined the med x he received from his brother earlier had worn off, yet he didn't feel any pain. There were no signs of life in the Wasteland, he imagined giant mutated animals and bands of feral people, yet he had seen nothing.

There was a house to he left of the road, another building was off in the distance. Oliver went towards to door, he didn't even know if the place was inhabited. He went for the handle, the door opened easily. Oliver walked in, baton now in hand.

"The hell?" a woman's voice came from another room of the small ranch house. The woman was blond, nice body, OK face. "Who the hell are you? Where did you come from? Did Moriarty send you?"

"Slow down lady. Yes he did send me; he says you owe him some caps." Oliver may have appeared calm, but he would pop this lady if she tried anything.

"That bastard! He… he's a liar! He just wants me dead! Those caps are all mine. I earned them!" The lady was getting frantic, swinging her hands in the air as she spoke.

"Settle down before I put you down lady. What's your story."

"Look… I used to work for that slob. Doing… you know… favors for guys." That peaked Oliver's interest. "Well guess what? I got sick and tired of it. I told Moriarty I'm taking my share of the caps and leaving. I even slept with the pig to seal the deal!"

Oliver leaned up against a wall. "And?"

"The next fuckin' morning he tells me I couldn't leave. So I bolted! I took the money and ran. Now I've been branded a thief."

Oliver thought he'd try and put on the charm. "Listen hun, give me the caps, and I'll tell him you're dead. If I have all the caps he'll assume you're dead and he'll be none the wiser. How about it, we have a deal?"

"You'd do that for me? Wow... thanks kid. You're all right." Silver went back into her bedroom, Oliver followed. She retrieved a bag of caps. "500 caps in total. Take them, and don't come back." Oliver examined the bag; he assumed 500 caps was a lot out here. Oliver pocketed the caps, he had one more thing to ask.

"You still offer your services?"

Silver sneered. "Kid, that was a past life, and I wouldn't do it with you no matter how much you paid me." That set Oliver off, the fuck was that supposed to mean.

"Fuckin' bitch." Oliver shouted. He shot across the room and back handed Silver. She screamed and reached for her gun. Oliver kicked her in the stomach and tossed the pistol across the room. He lifted the woman by the throat, she was surprisingly light, and threw her on the bed. He jumped on top of her and ripped open her shirt, grabbing her breasts…

Gary walked out of Crater Side Supply with Billy, who seemed to be just as excited about Gary's story as Moira. "Damn man that's a hellova story! I don't think I've ever heard anythin like it!" Billy clapped his hand on Gary's shoulder.

"I'm glad you liked it. I'm also glad that Moira liked it enough to give me this new jumpsuit and a job." The new jumpsuit was reinforced with leather in certain areas; there was a belt that could contain ammo in various pockets, and holster, and a bandolier. He sold his armor since the new jumpsuit made it obsolete in his eyes. Moira also wanted the North brothers to be her research partners. There first mission was to raid a grocery story out in the Wastes not too far from Megaton. He also traded his baseball bat for a combat knife; he figured it would be easier to carry around.

"Would you be able to tell your story to Maggie? I'm sure she would love it." Gary looked at Billy questioningly.

"I'm sorry, who's Maggie?"

"Oh man I'm sorry." Billy laughed a bit. "I tend to get ahead of myself, Maggie is my daughter. Well I've never had a daughter, but if I did, I'd want her to be Maggie. When I used to wander the Capital Wasteland, I found her after a raider party killed her parents. I took her in and we've been together ever since."

Gary was impressed; he never thought he'd find such kindness out here. Thinking about it, he hasn't really found much to worry about. "Well I'd be glad to sometime. There's no rush, we aren't leaving anytime soon."

"In that case, you wanna get a drink up at Moriarty's? My treat."

"I appreciate the offer, Billy, but I have some things I gotta wrap up before the day is done. However, me and my brother could probably meet you over there at night."

"Sounds good, I'll see ya then." The two shook hands and went off in different directions. Gary still had to find the pipes that needed repairing. Gary looked up; the sun had just fallen from its highest point in the sky. He wondered where his brother was, the sky would start darkening soon.

"Well no point in standing around; I better get some work done." Gary set off to find the leaking pipes. The first two were fairly easy to find, seeing that they were on the ground level of Megaton. The third pipe was high up on the walkways overlooking most of the town. Gary hopped over the railing of the walkway to reach it, he was on some roof. Needless to say with his past experience in mechanics he was easily able to fix each of the leaks with tape, glue, and some metal.

Gary walked back to the water treatment plant. "Yo Walter! I got each of the pipes fixed." The elderly African American man walked out from a different room that Gary couldn't see. He wiped his greasy hands with a rag from his pocket.

"Huh? Oh right, let me check." Walter grumbled. He walked over to a large machine; apparently it monitored the water pressure. Walter seemed surprised. "Well you actually did it! Here are your caps." Walter removed a small brown bag from his pocket and handed it to Gary. The money jingled as it transferred hands. It was nice to finally have some cash.

"If you ever need any more help just hollar." Gary was about to walk out but Walter interrupted him.

"Well, ya see I could always use some scrap metal because I don't think I'll always have people like you to repair pipes for me."

Gary smiled and nodded in approval. "Yea sure if I come across any I'll make sure I give it to you." With that, he opened the door and headed outside. He would stock up on medical supplies and grab some grub while he waited for Oliver. He was good on ammunition; he had two clips and the one in the 10mm pistol.

Gary walked down the road that led to the bomb in the middle of the town. He still couldn't believe that the town was centered around a nuclear warhead. To his right was the building he was told to be the clinic. In front of it was a… two headed cow? A man was standing next to the animal drinking water.

"Uh pardon me sir… but what is that thing?" Gary asked, pointing to the cow. The man practically laughed in Gary's face.

"It's a Brahmin, you've never seen one?" Gary told him no. "What have you been living in a Vault?" Apparently the man didn't notice the apparel Gary was dressed in, a jacket from VAULT 101 and a VAULT 101 jumpsuit. Gary ignored the comment and walked into the clinic. A man was sitting at a table right near the door. He didn't look up, just continued writing on a chart.

Gary cleared his throat to make his attention known. The man looked up. "You look fine, why are you here?" Well hello to you too.

"I'm Gary, I'm new here. I was hoping I would be able to buy some medical supplies?"

"Yea sure fine." The man pointed to a shelf to his left, that contained various medical supplies. Gary sighed, so much for the optimal experience of meeting nice people. He picked up two syringes of med-x and two packs of radaway. The man held out a chart that had prices on them and held out his hand, expecting his payment. Gary dug into the bag he had of caps and gave the presumed doctor his payment.

"By the way, what's the news around town? From doctor to doctor?" The man looked up at Gary.

"You're a doctor?"

"Well at least I was in the Vault before I left."

"I guess not may people are smart enough to stock up on medical supplies so I guess you must have some medical experience. Disregarding doctor-patient confidentiality, Leo Stahl, I don't know if you know him?" Gary shook his head. "Well the boy has a serious chem problem. I don't think his family even knows."

"Hmm well thanks doc, I'll see if I could help him." Gary left the clinic, shutting the door behind him. There was a building that appeared to have some kind of outdoor bar. There were several stools; Gary took a seat next to a man with an assault rifle on his back. A woman in a yellow jumpsuit walked up to him from behind the counter.

"Welcome to the Brass Lantern! I… wait… oh you two are twins?" Gary looked at her oddly, what was she talking about?

"Hey brother." That was Oliver. Gary leaned onto the counter to look past the man with the assault rife. Oliver was sitting down eating some kind of meat. "Where have you been?"

"What the hell happened to you?" Oliver had blood on his face and clothes; he didn't even manage to clean up.

"I met the locals." He took a big chunk of the meat and swallowed.

"Would you two fuckin' move or something? I don't need your spit on my Goddamn food!" The man in between them shouted. Gary looked at him, he looked older, not from age, but from experience in the Wastes. His hair was shaved but he had a brown goatee.

"Sorry Jericho." Oliver stood up and was seated next to Gary. "Get somethin' to eat…"

Oliver zipped up his jumpsuit and strapped his armor back on. Silver was knocked out; blood from her nose covered her skin. Her breasts were perfect, and even when she resisted she was still great.

Oliver ransacked the house; he found another hundred caps hiding behind a cabinet, a switchblade, and took her .32 pistol and all her ammo. Oliver started walking towards the front door. He was about to put his hand on the door handle when the door busted down. A male was one the other side of the doorway. He was dirty and had a purple mohawk. He had what looked like a tire around his arm and armored pants. Three more people were behind him; all were just as dirty and were adorned in various scraps of leather.

"Take the girly back the school! Slaughter this fucker!" Shouted the purpled haired one. Oliver jumped backwards, taking out the new switchblade. He knew there was a door behind him; he just had to get there before they caught a hold of him. Purple hair struck at him with a kitchen knife, which got caught within Oliver's armor. Oliver was just relieved it didn't go deep enough to affect him.

Oliver grabbed the raider's arm and dug his switchblade deep into his throat. The man gurgled as Oliver drew the blade across his throat. Blood shot out as the artery's were ripped apart, caking Oliver's face and hair with blood. Quickly thinking, he kicked the corpse of purple hair into his crowd of raider goons. Oliver turned around and shouldered the back door to Silver's house. It fell to the ground, dust shot up.

Oliver pocketed his switchblade and started running. He wasn't sure if he could handle that entire group of crazed raiders. As far as he was concerned his best way of living would be to get to Megaton. Adrenaline coursed through his entire body as his legs took him as fast as they possibly could. From behind him he heard shouts of rage. Oliver heard a cackling laughter as a raider tackled him from the side. Where the fuck did they come from?

"You're mine now bitch!" It was female raider, scantily clad in some odd metal garb. She tried to push a knife into Oliver's chest. He managed to grab her hand as they struggled on the ground. As the knife was at a standpoint, Oliver went for the .32 on his side. He lifted up the gun and pulled back the hammer. With a loud bang, the raider woman dropped, brain matter and skull fragments littered the ground around. Oliver threw the body off him and wiped off blood from his face, smearing it across his nose.

Oliver got up and quickly ran in the direction of Megaton. As he was running, gun shots started going off behind him, pistols. "Dammit!" Oliver shouted, he thought they just had blades. He started returning fire as he ran, occasionally turning around to at least fire in their general direction. He ran out of ammo quickly seeing that the .32 was a revolver. The click was one of the worst sounds he had ever heard.

Oliver quickly got over the hill that led to Megaton and started waving up to the guard on the crow's nest above the town. "Open the damn gate I'm gettin' chased!" He wasn't sure if the raiders had followed him this far, but he wasn't prepared to check. The gate seemed to take forever as he waited. As soon as the doors were opened in the slightest, he slid inside. Oliver slumped over and tried to catch his breath. He had just experienced the Capital Wasteland's raiders.

Oliver ran his hand through his hair and started walking down the road towards the bomb and the crater in the center of town. He saw a restaurant type area and he sat down on a stool next to a man concentrating on his bits of meat. "Uh could I see a menu?" Oliver asked a woman standing behind the counter. She smiled at him, despite the sheer amount of blood on him.

"Now I now I've never seen you before, even if you're covered in blood. I'm Jenny Stahl, welcome to the Brass Lantern!" She had a piece of paper with a list of food, she gave it to Oliver. "Here you go."

Oliver nodded and looked through, none of it sounded particularly appetizing. He noticed a Brahmin stake on the list. "Excuse me, but what the hell is a brahmin?"

"Ignorant wasteland assholes." Mumbled the guy next to Oliver. Before Jenny had a chance to respond, Oliver turned to the man.

"You have a problem with me baldy?"

"Jericho, don't start anything…" Jenny said quietly.

"I have a problem with you ignorant fucks. I bet you're the guy from the Vault eh? I bet you think you're better then us too? All prim and proper?"

"Nice deducing skills there Sherlock."

"There you go with your fancy Vault education." The man, Jericho, wave his hand in the air as he said it.

"Well it wouldn't take much to be better then yours." Oliver saw Jericho crack a smile. He was enjoying this, and frankly, Oliver was too.

"What's your name kid?"

"Oliver North."

"Well North, you don't get a much better education than learnin' to live out in the Wastes."

"Is that so?" Gary turned to Jenny and tapped on the menu, pointing at a brahmin steak and a nuka cola. "What's your story Jericho?"

"I'm just a washed up ol' raider, I did what raider's do." Jenny placed Oliver's food in front of him and he started eating.

"You ever think of gettin' back out there?"

Jericho laughed and shook his head. "Nah, too much rapin, killin, and stealin."

"I know, sounds fun right?" Jericho turned from his food and looked to Oliver.

"What's someone like you doin' here?"

"Just escape Vault 101 with my brother. Ya know, we could use someone of your skills with us." Oliver took a chug of his Nuka Cola. "You wanna join us?"

Jericho appeared to be deep in thought. This kid reminded himself of… well how he was when he was younger. Something about him rekindled a wanting of the Wastes. "Ya know kid, I'll tell you what. Judging from that blood on you, you know how to handle yourself. I'll join ya, but you gotta get me 1000 caps… for supplies and shit."

Oliver nearly spit out his food. He just got here and he was expected to get 1000 caps? Christ almighty. Then he had an idea. "Tell you what Jericho… I'll give you half that and you could make do. We'll find our own riches out there. You won't need anything else. We'll fly by the hair on our asses, living as we go. We'll find double what you want in no time."

Jericho looked at Oliver and bobbed his head up and down, tossing the idea around. Finally "I'll think about it kid." As far as Oliver was concerned that was a yes. The two ate the rest of their meals in silence, and then Gary arrived. Once the brothers discussed what had happened up to that point, they paid for their meals and left.

"I wanna get back out there." Oliver said. Gary was surprised; it looked like Oliver had enough adventure for one day.

"You really wanna go to that grocery store?"

"It ain't far, and besides, the sun is still in the sky. We'll get back by nightfall." Gary though that this seemed dangerous, after all, who knows what the hell went on at night. He looked up, the sky was red, but their visibility was still good.

"Fine, let's hurry up and get outta here."

"Thatta boy." Oliver put his hand on his brother's shoulder. The two walked out the gates of Megaton and headed towards their next destination...

I apologize if the points of view got confusing. It kind of went from different times back and forth. If something confused you leave a comment or something.

I would like to think of this as a buildup chapter for the things to come.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I'll update as soon as as can.