It was around 8:00 in the morning when they left the safety of the Settlement and went on their way to the usual meeting location traders from all over The Canadian Wasteland met when passing through the rubble of Calgary's buildings. They went along the usual route through a trail made long after the war, presumably by some raiders who were passing through to get to the riches that the city may have to offer. The trail had many footsteps imprinted on top of its soft soil.

Joe looked over and noticed something he hadn't noticed before, after going through this same trail for years, a skeletal arm with shreds of clothing still on it sticking out from beneath the rubble. He cringed and looked away trying to convince himself. I've never seen that skeleton there before, but I'm sure it's nothing. He pushed all negative thought away and grasped at his rifle barrel. He walked on staring at the scenery of rubble and destruction. Gray skyscrapers that no longer touched the sky shown in the morning light as leaves and sand blew past the group in dancing clouds.

"It's been a while, eh Matty?" Amos said this in a way that made everyone feel like everything was like how it used to be and would be forever; they knew that in this day and age, it wouldn't be.

"Yeah, it's good to be back, the Brotherhood had too many rules." Joseph had heard stories of the Brotherhood of Steel, a group of people dedicated to finding as much advanced technology as possible and hording it, keeping it out of the reach of normal people, so that we would not destroy ourselves. A noble cause, but flawed in its execution.

Gun shots could be heard in the distance as they were accustomed to. Calgary was a big city and everyone wanted a slice of its hidden treasures, people were always fighting over what might be stashed beneath the rubble of the two century old buildings.

The city was often covered in a dust cloud and dust storms frequented the area. Martin couldn't resist putting on his rebreather-mask to stop the sand from getting in his mouth and nose. The noise of his muffled semi-robotic breathing was a mild annoyance to Joe, but no one else seemed to notice or care.

As they went on their way to the Trading post, the racket that was obviously being made by a mass group of traders got louder, and louder, until they reached a hill. As they clambered up the hill they saw the usual, a large amount of traders and people from settlements all over the prairies, a trader with a long overcoat and a shopping cart full of worthless junk approached them. He scratched his long white beard.

"Would you boys like to peruse my fine wares?" The way he said 'Peruse' made Joe want to punch his face in, they didn't have the time to deal with people like this; the people of the vault needed their supplies as the traders only came twice a month, they couldn't afford to shirk this duty.

"Sorry old man, we're not here to browse, we're lookin' for supplies" spoke Amos, before anyone got a word in edgewise.

"Oh horse shit, you know you want to see what I've got in this here cart here." The old man stepped straight in Amos' way, and he, being the man that he is, simply pushed the man out of the way, walking as if no one was even there.

The man left them alone but stared venomously in their direction as they walked away. Joseph could notice Traders that he had met before, and they noticed him too. Emile, a smaller man with spiked black hair and glasses, only 18 years old, ran over to greet them, Martin spoke first.

"Emile, how havya' been?" Emile couldn't reply while he was running up the steep hill, brown dirt spraying his eyes as he made his way to where they were.

He caught his breath with his hands on his knees. He spoke in a west-stricken accent, "Pretty well, we've been making a lotta' cash, me and my Dad." Said Emile "Caps are caps."

"Here's to that." Added in Joe, trying not to be left out.

"Oh!" exclaimed Emile "I have to tell you a story later, about a place me and my Dad went to trade, it was AMAZING!"

"What's it called? Maybe we've heard of it" said Joe.

"Ronto."

"Ronto?"

"Ronto."

Thad added into the conversation. "Well what the hell kind of a name is that?"

"The name of an Oasis, it was pure wasteland Bliss!"

Amos, who didn't know much about Emile, beat the conversation to a bloody pulp. "I think you've been losing a few to many brain-cells from the Radiation buddy?"

"Funny." Joe and Emile chorused.

"Well, let's go see your Dad." Amos said. "He's always been a good trader to get deals with."

Emile laughed a friendly laugh not pointed at anyone. "You better believe it, by god!" they took not one step until Emile said "Hey… do you fellas' hear som-!?"

A bullet whizzed through the air and landed not a foot from Joe, kicking up the dust from the miniature crater it created in the dusty soil.

Without thinking about it, both Mathew and Amos got onto their knees and aimed their weapons out to the western horizon.

"Raiders!" Hollered Amos.

Over the horizon Joe could see something that he had only heard about from other vault dwellers. A Horde of poorly, and barely, dressed men and women running towards them with machetes and hammers, clubs and pipes, with a very limited amount actually carrying Firearms. The ones that did were horrible shots, "Couldn't hit the earth if they aimed down!" Daniel laughed.

A bloody battle ensued with traders of all kinds mowing down the near weaponless raiders as the traders herded their pack Brahmin out of the way of the fighting. Raiders leapt over the bodies of their allies, leaving them torn to shreds by a storm of lead.

"They're not gonna' go down easy," said Joe "they must be hopped up on psycho or some shit!" He screamed as he struggled to make his voice heard over the fighting. The whole group scrambled to get to the closest cover, Joe and Martin both hid behind the same rubble with Emile soon joining them. Emile pulled a pistol out of his jacket and leaned his fore arms over the top of the rubble, shooting randomly.

"My Dad already evacuated his Caravan, so I came back to help!"

"Thanks!" said Joe. A piece of rubble landed on Martin's lap, obviously from a bullet that hit the top of their cover. Joseph had never been in a fight against other human beings before, and he prayed that the training Sims in the vault were enough to prepare him for it.

Joe quickly turned and rose to face the crowd of Raiders, now only a few remained. Still full of adrenaline from the drug which they craved they continued to run at the caravan guards, getting mowed down in the process. Bullets flew by and Joseph saw an opening. He raised his rifle to his face, put the stock up against his shoulder and aimed down the sight. The fiendish raider saw him and ran at him with a knife in his hand, screaming. Josephs Vault combat training was about to finally pay off.

"Die Junkie!" he threatened as he squeezed the trigger. Bang. The bullet hit the raider right in the chest, and another, and again. The raider fell backwards onto his back and laid there bleeding, and then died. He had killed someone, and he didn't know how to feel. It was a mixture of adrenaline, disgust, and relief, with a twinge of guilt.

Just when he began to relax he heard someone scream as the two others scrambled for their weapons.

"Time to die you fucken' Snot-nosed punk!" Joe turned around in time to see a man with no shirt and a torn up pair of pants running at him with a cows skull adorned on his face, a hammer in his giant hairy paws.

Joe looked down and quickly pressed a button on his Pip-boy 3000 attached to his left arm. A sentence appeared on the screen "V.A.T.S. mode activated" it said.

Suddenly a feeling shot up Joe's arm and into his head continuing to spread throughout his body, it felt like time was slowed and his muscles relaxed. He saw the raider slow to a halt in a lunge position and stand like that. A bullet in the air was halted there and refused to move. Joseph remembered his training and imagined himself killing the man, shooting him like the other, and then suddenly 7 boxes popped up in his field of view. They displayed hit chances and damage already done to the body part that it represented, this he remembered from training. One of the boxes focused on his weapon, and then Joe knew exactly what to do.

He imagined himself shooting the hammer out of his hand and then pegging him in the cranium with a bullet from his chest-holstered pistol. He heard a beeping sound and it was done.

He whipped out his ornate revolver; its golden trim stood out upon its black finish and shone in the morning light. He grabbed his rifle with one hand and pressed it against his shoulder and with a click his finger released from the trigger. One well-placed bullet knocked the hammer from the raider's hands as the head of the tool hit the ground with a thud. The ruffian stopped himself with his foot and turned around, but by that time a bullet had already been lodged in his skull. Blood spurted out of the open wound and the barbaric man fell to the ground. Dust gathered around his body as it lay in a pool of its own blood. Time returned to its natural feel and everything felt so… fast. This kill felt different, now he felt less guilt.

Another raider came up on his flank screaming, Joe was ready to say his prayers. Then with a burst of booming sound the man fell to the ground, bleeding from his back.

A man with pale skin stood behind him with weapon rose, in a sweater with tattered sleeves and hair like oil at midnight.

"Judas!" Joe cried out in joy.

The raider slowly turned back to look at his assaulter and let out a wad of blood and saliva from his mouth. He squinted his eyes and then they widened like a Brahmin that fell into a den of coyotes.

"You… Y-Y-You, what are you doing he—" Judas didn't give him time to speak as he raised his pistol and ended the brutes life with a riddle out the chamber of his gun.

Jude looked up at Joe and the others with a stern look on his face and cold eyes in his sockets, which eventually morphed into a smile and an expression of joy.

"Hey Joey, I haven't seen you around the vault for a few days." Said Judas

"Likewise Jude." Joseph said. Jude looked down at the raider and gave his body a nudge with his hiking boots. His smile turned to a frown again.

"What a mess."

"Should we move the bodies?" Martin asked

"Don't bother, it's a part of the guards' jobs." Emile pointed behind him with his thumb as the caravan guards, hardly scathed, began to move towards the corpses.

"I'm amazed you know how to fire a gun, you know with your nose always in those books." Joe pointed the question at Judas.

"Whoever said they couldn't be about guns." Judas said giggling

"Hey! You guys alright?!" they could hear Thad calling.

"Yeah! We're fine Ted!" shouted Jude. The rest of them rose out from other bits of cover, sheet metal and rubble, rocks, even the carcass of a Brahmin that had been shot.

"We're just gonna go trade now, like we PLANNED!" said Amos in a rage, who proceeded to kick a raiders corpse in the face. "Damned psycho Junkies!" he said not-so-below his breath.

"While we wait," said Emile "let me tell you about Ronto."

"While I'm covered in some other Kid's Blood, no thanks…" said Joe as he wiped his face of the splattered blood that he had just taken notice of.

"Ahh shut up Joe. Tell us 'bout it, 'Meel." Said Martin

Emile pulled out a map from his knapsack and sprawled it across the ground. Being a navigator, Joseph decided to immediately whip out his Pip-Boy and scan the map.

"Eager to hear is we?" said Emile. Joe shrugged and went back to scanning the map all over. There was a red line across the map, a route to a place labeled as 'R' somewhere in lower Ontario. "You see, this place called Ronto was a sprawling metropolis before the war, yeah, and when the bombs fell they went off trajectory and instead of hitting the center of Ronto, they landed on the outskirts, demolishing most of the city but leaving a crescent shaped area that was still livable on the west side of the city." All of their eyes widened in amazement "Obviously when the bombs hit, the people on that side of town still died… or turned into ghouls, but anyways, that area was resettled by a bunch of different people from all over Canada, and it is heaven on earth!"

Jude interrupted then "So you're saying that the city might still be irradiated?"

"Without a doubt it still is."

"And how many bombs dropped there?"

"Well, I didn't mention that but if you must know I've heard that it could have been anywhere from 10 to 30 atomic bombs. I even heard that not all of them may have exploded." Judas' face lit up for a split second and then faded into boredom.

"And you say It's like an oasis?" said Joe

"It has all manner of supplies, and for cheap too!" Joe and Martin looked at each other then and their faces lit up, and stayed that way.

He then realized why the skeleton in the ruins bothered him so, the meat on the bones was still fresh.