THE LONE SISTER

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this fic.

Chapter 1: Doubly out of time.

The first thing I saw was... nothing. My eyes were too adapted to the underground vault that the light of the sun blinded me.

Little by little the landscape gained into details. A wasteland... There wasn't even one leaf of healthy green anywhere, just some brown, gray and orange. Only trees and mutated plants trying to grow into the irradiated soil. Ruined roads, rusted skeletons of buildings and dilapidated houses...

I was petrified. Seeing the Fallout wasteland on a screen is a poor substitute for reality. I couldn't hear a sound except for some crows. It was only the sensation of thirst and hunger that decided me to move. I needed to find uncontaminated food and water first, then a shelter and then learn about the area and only then could I plan on finding my baby brother.

The area around the entrance to Vault 111 had a few things I could salvage. Valuable medicines mainly, but I also found some more ammo and magazines for my pistol and a small backpack. The only box of Cram I found was unfortunately slightly radioactive and yet still comestible. Thanks for my Pip-Boy which could make a full inventory of what I have and their conditions.

It was with a heavy heart that I took the path towards Sanctuary Hills, where my... home was located. I passed the checkpoint where the military allowed only the preselected people into the Vault. Oh god... Their skeletons were still there, the skeletons of people who were my neighbors and my classmates... I forced myself to not touch them, to not recognize them (It was the favorite green dress of Lucy, a classmate, on that one... Don't look, don't look!) and to not shed tears as I needed to conserve my precious water.

I passed the wooden bridge, remembering the couple with the luggage and checked the water... Irradiated as I feared. Curiously, the background radiation was elevated, compared to before the war, but still within the non-dangerous level... How could that be as I would never forget the initial nuclear blast... The half-life period of the nuclear fallout should have made this place hot, very hot for a long, long time... I didn't want to think on what that meant about the time passed since my cryogenization.

I finally reached the ruins of Sanctuary and walked slowly towards my house. Ghost sounds and illusions of the past danced before my eyes... The ball from Timmy, the little boy of the Clark... The perfect garden of Miss Appleton... The sound of the Harrison's car... A Mr. Handy trimming the lawn...

Huh..? Wait a minute..? There was really a Mr. Handy trimming the lawn?!

"As I live and breathe! Oh... It's really you, Miss Alice!"

That voice... That inimitable voice that Dad passed 3 hours to select... "Holy shit... Codsworth..? You're still here..? Then... Maybe others have survived..."

"Of course I'm still here. You didn't think that a little radiation would have harmed the pride of General Atomics, did you? But you don't seem in a good shape, it would be better if your parents don't see you like that." Using his circular saw on me would have hurt less. "Where are they, by the way?"

I staggered as I could still hear the two fatal shots in my head. "They... They have been murdered..."

One of the three lenses that Codsworth used as eyes blinked. "Miss Alice... Those things... Those horrible things you're saying. I think you need a distraction." Oh god, I forgot about his damn Health-Care program. "Yes! A distraction to fight against this depression. It is an eternity since our last familial activity. Why not playing your favorite game of chess? Or better, charades. Shaun likes them so much. Is he with you?"

Oh god! Oh god! I began to hyperventilate. "He... disappeared... Someone... kidnapped him... They took away my baby brother!"

"This is worse than what I thought. You are suffering from paranoia, probably due to hunger. This is the kind of thing that happened when you don't eat for two hundred years, I'm afraid."

This time I felt like a sledgehammer just hit me on the head. "200 years..? What..? What are you saying..?"

"A little more than 210 years to be precise, Miss Alice. Well more or less a few minutes because of the earth rotation and a small problem with my internal chronometer. This means you are two centuries late for dinner. Ha ha ha. Do you want me to prepare you a little snack? You must be famished."

I blinked at the robot. Something was wrong. "Codsworth? You're acting... a little bit weird. What's wrong?"

"I... I... Oh, Miss Alice, it was horrible. Two full centuries without anyone to talk to, no one to serve. I passed the first decade trying to wax the floors, but nothing can remove radioactive fallout stains from vinyl wood... Nothing! I'm not even talking about the futility of dusting a collapsed house. And the car. The car! How do you polish rust..?"

His AI seemed on the verge of rampancy. "Stay with me, old friend. Focus, please."

"I'm afraid I know nothing, Miss. The bombs came and you all went away in such a hurry. I thought for certain that you and your family were... dead..." One of its manipulators reached inside a compartment and retrieve an item. "I did find this holotape. I believe it was a surprise from your parents, but then well... everything happened..."

I took the offered item. "An holotape? What's on it?"

"I believe it's a private message for you, Miss. My etiquette protocols prevented me from reading it... Well, enough feeling sorry for myself. Do you wish to explore the area with me? We could find something about your family?"

I shook my head. "Too much time has passed... There nothing left in here... At least nothing actual on Shaun's location... Thanks, Codsworth, you're an example of loyalty."

"Thank you, Miss Alice. I will stay here and guard the house. Be careful, there are some nasty giant bugs that regularly come into town. Oh! One last thing. You should probably go to Concord."

"Concord? There still some people alive?"

"Yes, Miss. Oh, I wouldn't say they are that much sociable, a bit rough in fact, but they only throw me rocks and try to beat me with sticks the last time I went there. Go there and I'm sure you'll have some help."

Charming... I went into my ruined house... The roof was holding, but some walls and doors didn't resist either time or the inherent violence of this era. I almost laughed when I found my old comics "Grognak The Barbarian" but the old "You're SPECIAL" book made me shed some tears as it was the favorite book of Shaun. It was there that I decided to finally listen to the last words of my family.

It was a recording of Mum, Dad, and Shaun. Dad and Mum were praising me on how good I was doing at school, the projects for the future, that they were proud me and loved me, little things that only a family can talk about, the baby sounds of Shaun, the giggles of Mum, the chuckles of Dad... I found myself looking seriously at the business end of my 10 mm pistol... No... The temptation was there, but no... I promised... I will find Shaun. "I'm coming, Bro. Hang on..."

And so I explored Sanctuary with Codsworth... and fought against truly disgusting giants insects... Something called "bloatfly" by my Pip-Boy. I salvaged everything I could from the ruined houses including my... schoolgirl uniform..? Yes, a dirty and a little worn but still wearable school uniform, complete with my green blazer and brown tie... Well, I didn't want to be identified as a Vault-Dweller at first glance and the dark green was a better camouflage than blue, so it was cool... Although the skirt was a little short... But it showed up nicely my legs... I chuckled as I remembered that the Japanese Extra-dimensional Exiles were all females clad in a school uniform.

It was during my search that I found hidden stashes of... caps... Nuka-Cola caps... Used as money in this wasteland..? Like in Fallout 3..? Why not? However, the jackpot was a hideout in a cellar with food and clean water..! and a bottle of Nuka-Cola..! I greedily drunk the nectar of the gods... I was saved until I found a regular clean source of food and water... and Nuka-Cola... Three gold bars also should serve nicely for barter. I decided to make this hideout my temporary base until I found better.

Something strange in my loot was something my Pip-Boy identified as a "Pipe Gun" that used .38 caliber ammo. It was something visibly home-made from second-hand material, probably by the inhabitants of the Wasteland in the absence of salvaged weapons. It was... well crap compared to the weapons I knew of or had, but it used an ammo type easily found. Another surprise was finding 2 fragmentation grenades in a trash can... I resolved to open any and all containers I encountered in the future.

I crossed the still usable Old North Bridge and found the first evidence of the violence and cheap way of life of the Wasteland near the monument to the Minutemen: The corpse of a man killed by the same wild mutated mongrel he killed with a tire iron. I looted his weapons, ammo, and items but left his outfit. Wearing the clothes of a decomposed body..? Never..! At least until I found a way to do laundry.

There was also a stash of weapons hidden under the feet of the statue of the Minutemen... Truly, this world is very dangerous if the main thing stored by people is weapons.

I came upon a familiar view: The giant red rocket of the Red Rocket truck stop. I spied movement ahead and draw my pipe gun... A German Shepherd dog? Wait a minute, it looked like just... Was it possible..? "Dogmeat..? Is that really you..?"

The dog barked once and I found myself kneeling and petting it... him. "Impossible... and yet... You are Dogmeat... Or at least you look like him and you answer to the same name... Did you lost your master, boy?" He whined and leaned into my hand. "You want to come with me?" He licked my face. "Okay then. Let's stick together." I suddenly felt like I was the Lone Wanderer...

I explored and looted the truck stop with my new companion and it was a good thing. They suddenly jumped out of the ground and rushed us, jaws clapping: Molerats... A whole group of molerats that Dogmeat made short work. The powerful dog was obviously experienced with that vermin. My VATS helped tremendously putting a few bullets into their skulls. I embraced the wonderful dog, checking for wounds after the fight.

"Best friends forever."

In fact, Dogmeat helped me cleaned the area as there was a den under the Red Rocket. Many useful things salvaged, including a still-charged fusion core, a hard hat and numerous bruises and cuts that I bandaged. I did that because they were some crafting benches and a power armor station that I hoped would be useful later.

Dogmeat's nose was amazing. I asked him to search for anything useful and he guided me towards the water tower nearby where I found a full first-aid kit and stored clean water containers and a half-buried steamer trunk full of goodies including the first set of armor I came across. It was only reinforced leather with straps for the legs, arms, and chest, but it was better than nothing. I was beginning to look like a background extra in a Mad Max movie.

After that, curiously Dogmeat guided me back to the bridge and follow the riverside. I was perplexed, but I trusted him. He guided me to an electric water pump that I stopped and slowly walked the nearby hill following the water pipe. I understood that danger was around and followed him discretely. I found a skeleton nearby a water-locked container with a big stash of caps and medicines and... My eyes glowed with glee: A sub-nosed .44 pistol with a few ammo..! One of the most powerful handguns in the world... Score!

Molerats attacked us, but Dogmeat dispatched them easily. I only helped a little with my tire iron bashing their skulls. Damn, but they were very persistent vermin! Oh... a nice pair of sunglasses in the dead's luggage... I was really looking bad-ass now. After that, Dogmeat showed me why he was so prudent: There was a little camp nearby with... raiders... Fucking raiders, easily recognizable from their outfits, the first I encountered... From my past games in the Fallout series, I developed a visceral hatred of raiders.

The .44 pistol felt so heavy in my hand. I didn't know how, but I found myself slowly crawling to them, looking around if there was a sentinel. I cocked back the pistol's hammer and fired at the sleeping raider in front of me. The detonation seemed too big to my ears as I activated my VATS and aimed at the two others raiders who were awakening. Blam! Blam! I just killed three human beings cold-blooded... So much blood... I vomited what little I had in my stomach. Oh god, what did I do? What have I become? I felt Dogmeat trying to raise my spirit. This was no video game! This was the reality! They would have... They would have also killed me after probably raping me and even perhaps they would have fed on my dead corpse... I was in the Wasteland, in the Fallout setting... My life depended on my wits, luck, my companions, my armor and my weapons, especially how quick I could use them.

I looted them... It was the only logical thing to do after that. I needed to move on and search for my baby brother before I changed into a monster able and willing to put a bullet into anything on her path... Still, the presence of raiders could mean a den nearby. I signaled Dogmeat to search for our enemy and we sneaked away.

Well, yes, there was a den of raiders. Along with a treasure trove of ammo boxes and finally some armor for Dogmeat... After we killed two of them and their guard dog. It was just a leather apron that I could strap around his body along with a chain collar, but it was better than nothing and... Yes, I could easily improve on it later when I had time and material. I hesitated but finally took their drugs to use as barter for later.

Since I was at the summit of a big hill, I looked around to have a better idea of the area. This enabled me to find a robotics disposal ground that I vaguely remembered from the past... With molerats of course. I screamed in frustration as I bashed their skulls with the help of Dogmeat and my trusty iron tire. I found a non-functional but still intact Combat Sentry robot and... a Fat Man mini-nuke launcher..? What the hell did this most powerful and insane weapon was doing here?! Oh well, there was also some pretty good stuff around including a few intact reading magazines and a holotape with a method for activating and re-programing the Sentry... I decided against for now, but surely for later.

Dogmeat then guided me towards the most fantastic discovery. Near the wreck of a Vertibird was a rusty but intact full suit of T-45 power armor... Unbelievable... I had a few fusion cores to activate it, but I remembered Dad saying that power sources were a weakness of the suit. You needed a good supply of it to stay in the field... So I decided to take it back to Sanctuary to hide it and my Fat Man in my hideout. They were too visible, too powerful, too heavy and didn't have enough ammo and juice? Not worthy enough to haul it for now... But later? Oh yes... I kept the fusion cores with me and carefully hid the mini-nukes to prevent an easy theft if someone found my current base.

It was time to go for Concord.

Name: Alice Lindberg.

Level: 2.

Age: 16.

Hair: Black. Eyes: Green.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L:

Strength: 4. Perception: 4 (+1). Endurance: 4. Charisma: 5 (+2). Intelligence: 4. Agility: 4. Luck: 4.

Damage resistance: 13. Energy resistance: 26. Radiation resistance: 0.

Perk acquired:

Lone Wanderer.

Notable possessions:

Pip-Boy 3000 mark IV, 2 wedding rings, Hot Rodder issue #1 and Grognak the Barbarian issue #3.

Current Apparel:

Schoolgirl uniform green with a blazer, hard hat, sunglasses and a full set of light leather armor (chest, R/L leg and R/L arm).

Current favorite weapons:

10 mm pistol, pipe gun, and tire iron.