Josh and Shawn were making their way through the Wastes, away from the coming group of Raiders. They walked in silence, Josh's mind was racing, he had so many questions but he didn't know where to start. Finally he figured he would just start simple.
"Why did you fake your death," he asked.
The Ghoul sighed, "Well," he said, "I knew that the only way to get everyone out of the town was to see the seriousness of the situation."
"Why didn't you just tell us?"
"Yeah, how many times do people listen to what a ghoul has to say?"
Josh sighed, he knew it was true. No matter how loved he was, nobody listened to Shawn when it came to something serious. Like when the town was about to be attacked by Super Mutants, Shawn ran into the town screaming, "Everyone prepare yourselves! Super Mutants are on their way here to attack!" But everyone just continued on their business as usual. When Super Mutants really did attack they lost 5 people, one of them being Shawn's wife. After that he never really warned anyone about anything.
"Anyway, I needed to get you and Bri alone, but like an idiot you sent her along with the rest of the town, so now we have to find her and get you two to safety."
"Safety? Where would we possibly find safety, Shawn?"
"I used to roll with a group of true American heroes," Shawn explained, "they call themselves the Brotherhood of Steel. They're stationed all over the country. The most successful squadron is in D.C though. Did you know they actually got a water Purifier down there?"
"Really," Josh had stopped listening, he was thinking about where Bri might be right now...
Bri was walking slowly at the back of the large group of people, they were heading for the one safe place that still existed, Vault 909. They figured they could hide out there until the heat was down then they could go back to the town. Bri didn't like the idea, there were all the dead bodies and it's been a year, the whole Vault probably smells like corpse.
They walked on nevertheless, though. Bri wished she could've stayed behind with Josh. They had just gotten together and they were already torn apart. She had cried most of the journey, no one bothered to comfort her, why should they? Her boyfriend was the cause of them having to leave their homes to go live in a hole.
Bri looked up from her feet to see that she had gradually fallen behind. The group was yards ahead of her, she started to run forward when something flying through the air caught her eye, it was a grenade. She was about to call out to the group when a hand clasped over her mouth and dragged her back toward a decrepit house. She kicked and punched and when the hands were removed from her mouth and stomach she turned and punch her captor in the mouth and turned to run and then realized who she just punched. She turned back and saw Josh holding a hand up to his now fat lip.
"Josh," Bri shrieked and ran to him and wrapped her arms around him.
"Shh," came a voice from the darkness, "are you trying to get us killed?"
Bri spun on the spot and saw Shawn. She almost let out a scream but Josh put his hand over her mouth again. There was an explosion, a second grenade was thrown. Screams and yells from the townspeople came from outside.
"Josh," Bri whispered after the hand was removed from her mouth, "we have to do something!"
"We can't," Josh hissed, "they are after us, we have to go to the Brotherhood of Steel."
"The who?"
"Shhhhh!" Shawn hissed. They all stood there in silence as Bri heard a very familiar voice ring out into the night
Morty stood atop the old school building, looking down at the survivors of the grenade explosion. Amongst those survivors was their leader, Mark. Morty surveyed the group of no more than 4 people. Then he spoke.
"Alright," he shouted. "You're free to go back to your town if you explain to me where the Vault Dwellers are!"
Mark piped up, loud and proud. "Josh is back in town. Bri, well," he looked around, "you probably killed her off with the grenade."
Morty looked at his second in command, Jake, who handed him a 10mm. Morty aimed and fired at Mark's leg.
"Do not lie to me," he said calmly. "We were just at the town and it was empty."
Mark's eyes widened.
"Please," he said, tears streaking down his face, "when we left he was there!"
Another deafening bang, Mark's other knee cap was blown to pieces.
"Where are they," Morty snapped.
"I don't... I don't," Mark sobbed.
*BANG! BANG! BANG!* Mark fell down to the ground, dead. There were three people left, all women, all sobbing over the bodies of their husbands and children.
Morty turned and walked away.
"Kill them," he told Jack. Jack waved his hand up and swiped it down in front of him. The men with Assault Rifle all fired, killing the women.
Morty got back in the Jeep and headed toward the only place he could think they would be.
Josh stood there, listening to the gunshots kill the people he had grown to like. He looked up as he heard car engines start up and the sound of tires moving on gravel fading away. The three of them walked outside and Josh had to block Bri's eyes so she wouldn't look at the sad sight of all their friends dead. Death seemed to follow them around, everywhere they went people died.
They started back toward town, though when they got there there were men stationed everywhere. Josh looked at Shawn.
"What now?" he asked the ghoul.
"I have to get to my house," Shawn said, sighing heavily.
"Alright," Josh said, putting on an air of optimism, "Shouldn't be a problem!"
But as they approached the gate they saw it would be a problem, there were 15 men, if not more.
"Is there another way to get into your house?" Josh asked Shawn.
"Through the bar," he said, nodding toward a door that was completely unguarded.
Josh looked at Shawn. He said, "You know there is probably more guys in there, right?"
Shawn nodded, "Maybe if you can distract them without getting yourself killed I can run in real quick grab what I need and we can get the hell out of there."
"They have cars," Josh pointed out, "they'll be able to catch us no problem."
Shawn looked over at Josh with a devious smirk on his face, "Don't worry about that kid, just get out there and distract them and when I'm done, you'll know when I'm done." With a wink Shawn positioned himself, ready to run.
Josh ran into the town and launch a grenade into the middle of 5 Raiders and it exploded, send the 5 flying and causing the other 10 to turn toward him.
"Ohhh shit," Josh said, smiling slightly. He turned and ran off, 10 Raiders on his ass.
Shawn had to admit, the smoothskin could really turn some heads. Chuckling the Ghoul ran towards his bar. He stopped at the side door, crouched, and opened it a crack. He didn't hear anything, so he crept inside and shut the door softly behind him. He stalked across the room and leaped over the bar. No one was in here. He made his way to the secret door leading into his house, the same door he snuck through after faking his death.
He walked through the empty house and went down into his basement. And found the Vertibird he had found out in the wastes and snuck into town. He had been working on it for a year, after the Enclave had fallen. He climbed in and flipped it on, the engine roared, and Shawn hit the switch he had installed, detonating his house so he could get out. He started to rise and he heard screams from below. He flipped on the intercom.
"Josh," he heard his projected voice say, "Get the girl and jump on!"
Josh grabbed Bri by the arm and the ran forward, climbing in the back. The door shut and Shawn pushed the lever up and the started to rise into the air.
"Woo!" Shawn yelled into the intercom. "So long smoothskin bastards! Hahahaaaa!"
They flew north towards the Mall of NH, the base of the New Hampshire Brotherhood of Steel.
Paladin Joseph Craw was sitting in the mess hall when his boss Sentinel McCormick walked in. Craw stood and saluted the Sentinel.
"At ease Paladin," McCormick said. "Listen, I need to ask you a favor."
"Anything, sir," Craw said, standing up straight.
"Well, we have a man coming in later, our Brothers from D.C tell us he is the one who helped them get the Purifier running. They think he can help us with our... Raider problem."
"And you want me to make him feel at home, yes?"
"Affirmative," McCormick confirmed. "Can you do this for me, Paladin?"
Craw saluted, "Yes sir!" he said loudly.
That evening Craw stood waiting at the front entrance of the Mall, waiting for the Lone Wanderer of Vault 101. Then he heard a Vertibird coming in from the south. There were two of them. They both touched down in the parking lot and Craw walked over to the two flying machines. The one on the left opened up and a Ghoul walked out, Craw didn't recognize him and then a boy and girl walked out from behind him. They both had Pip-Boys on their wrists. From the bird on the right came a young lady in the blue armor of the Brotherhood, he recognized her as Sentinel Sarah Lyons, of the Lyons' Pride. From behind her stepped a rugged looking man, also wearing a Pip-Boy.
Lyons approached the Ghoul, it looked as though she was going to snap his neck. Then, she smiled and grasped his hand, shaking it vigorously.
"Its good to see you again Elder Johnson," she greeted him cheerfully.
"Back at ya, Sarah," Johnson replied, returning her nice smile.
Josh walked up to the Lone Wanderer and stared at him for a little while. Then he noticed the Pip-Boy on his wrist.
"You're from a Vault," Josh pointed out.
"Yep," he said, "Fresh from Vault 101... or as fresh as you can be after a year away from home, traveling the Wasteland searching for your father." He let out a rough chuckle. Then he looked down at Josh's Pip-Boy. "You are too?"
"Yeah," Josh told him. "Vault 909, everyone there was massacred by a group of crazy ass Raiders."
"Oh," Lone Wanderer said, "I, uh, I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's nothing," Josh assured him. "It was a whole year ago."
"Really," Lone Wanderer said. "What day last year?"
"The fifteenth of January," Josh said.
"Th-that's when I left my Vault," Lone Wanderer said, amazement clear on his face.
