This is a little different form the game but I think this wouldn't be a very good story if It wasn't.
Way Back in My Home Town
Nate inched his way to the fire, he had no idea what might be waiting in that wavering light but the person seemed friendly enough so he kept the gun on his belt. Once he was finally within the fire ring he found the speaker, an older man leaning up against a tree, he was graying and tired looking with a handlebar mustache, a old, dirty suit hung loosely on his thin frame and he wore a fedora to match.
"Glad to see you finally got the balls to come over, sit my friend the meat is almost done." The man insisted. Nate took a seat on a log as the man pulled an unknown meat away from the fire. "I had intended to eat the whole thing myself but I'm more than happy to share. Now, you have just exited a vault as it seems, tell me, how do you feel?" Questioned the man while handing Nate a chunk of meat.
He pondered the question a moment, he had been so busy with Ben and Shaun, getting out of the vault and... and Nora, He hadn't given himself time to think about all that had happened, his wife had been shot in front of him, his son had been kidnapped for Christ sake and now he was two hundred years in the future eating mystery meat with a old man and his... what the fuck was wrong with his cow?
"Well I'm just great, my Son is gone, my best friend is missing and my Wife... God my WIFE IS DEAD IN A FREEZER." Nate wailed. "And now I'm here, with you and you two headed cow because why the fuck wouldn't there be a cow with two head. God I must have died and went to hell. WHY DOES YOU COW HAVE TWO HEADS?" He pleaded.
"Oh, Misty. Well she sir is my Brahmin. I don't suppose you would have ever seen a Brahmin before, this world is very different from the one you left behind. And I can assure you, your are not dead yet Nate Howard." The man chuckled.
Nate's despair was halted by the hearing of his name, it had been two hundred years since it was last used. This man was old but not that old.
"How do you know my name? Who are you?"
"Forgive me I get ahead of my self easily, My name is Miles Stockton, though most just call me 'Old Man Stockton'. I am the owner of multiple caravan throughout the commonwealth based at Bunker hill, I was sent here to greet you by our mutual friend Mr. Montgomery."
Nate perked up at the mention of his friend "you know Ben, where is he why didn't he meet me here?"
"Well Mr. Montgomery is an associate of mine," Stockton explained. " He owes me a favor and I called it in leaving him unable to come meet you. He made a deal with me though, I come here to meet you and give you a hand, and he holds his end of the deal." Stockton said. Nate was put at ease by his words but left with more questions, it seemed to be a trend today.
"How do you know Ben?" Nate asked taking a bite out of the meat, it was gamy and tough but quelled his pained stomach.
"Well, Benjamin is a gun for hire nowadays." Stockton said between bites. "He happens to live in Bunker hill next to my home. A good neighbor if I might say, and an even better gun. He works as a hand for me at times as well as an guard for my daughter." Stockton said but at seeing Nate's face at the words 'gun for hire' he knew he would have to clarify.
"He takes off jobs for cash you see, guarding, intimidation, repossession, and sometimes bounty hunting."
Nate simply took a moment to stew on all this. Many military men went into jobs like those mentioned, but bounty hunting was new, had he forgotten about Shaun, or did he simply stop caring. Had he missed coming to get Nate for one job. Nate decided to ask before jumping to conclusions, after all Stockton seemed friendly enough.
"What favor did you ask him for that could have kept him from coming himself?"
"Well, for starters favors are important in his line of work, a man is only as good as his word." He chuckled once more but very quickly became serious. "My daughters was on a caravan when it got hit by raiders, Nobody can find her or the others. So I sent Benjamin to find her, I would trust nobody else. You would be alive in that vault regardless, my daughter might not be so lucky."
"As a father myself I understand," Nate said for he really did, he would do anything to find Shaun and this man was no different. "God look at all this, the world." He said gesturing around "I've only been back in it an hour and I'm already scared. War, kidnappings, hired guns and raiders. What happened to humanity?" Nate wondered aloud.
"Nothing happened Nate, this is humanity." Stockton said looking into the fire. "It is always easy to be a good person when its convenient, That's why the world was the way it was two hundred years ago, it was easy to live in. Being good when things are hard is not easy, but that's when it counts the most." Nate listened to Miles words intently, this man was wise beyond his years and it often paid to listen to wise men.
"You see Nate people are effected by their environment, this world is not safe or good anymore, with the minute men now gone it is darker than ever and it will drive more and more people to evil, any light that shines they will try to snuff out because it reminds them of what they should be but are not" Stockton finished.
"Now I must be getting on my way back to bunker hill soon. As per me and Bens arrangement I have sent my guards to clear out your old neighborhood, he wishes you to stay their until he is able to meet you. He also sent me along with some things for you." Stockton said standing up. He walked to his... cow, and pulling of a large trunk which fell to the ground.
"These are prepaid and now are yours. My guards will be along any minute now so if you have any question now is the time to ask."
Nate panicked at the lack of time, but needed answers and now was the time. Starting with something simple. "What do I need to watch out for?"
"Animals are always dangerous, anything that lives in the wastes has to be dangerous to survive. The things you know have changed greatly over time, take my Brahmin for instance, a mutated cow, it now has two heads and is capable of carrying three thousand pounds." Nate was shocked but Stockton continued.
"Everything is deadly Nate and most will attempt to kill you as food is scarce, people as well, raiders as I have mentioned and other human like creatures. Slaver are particularly Nasty, they've only recently crept into the Commonwealth since the Minutemen fell, they always like Vault Meat so watch out." Stockton answered.
Ignoring the 'Vault meat' comment he asked his next question"Is all the radiation gone?"
"Certainly not, though it is not deadly in most places. Some hot spots still exist and the water and food is full of it, but with that thing on your wrist you'll know immediately where they are, unlike SOME PEOPLE we know." The 'some people' confused Nate but he continued.
"Are there any Doctors capable of closing a Cardiovascular wound left?" He would need to know for the future.
"I don't know why you ask but the only people I can think of are the Institute, though I hear there are some talented people left around the commonwealth."
"Where are all the people, you said you lived at the old monument, Bunker hill."
"Settlements are all over the wasteland, though the larger ones that are left are Bunker hill, Goodneighbor, Diamond city and Lock down. People nowadays don't like to build their own, rather fortify whats left."
Nate had an idea, he had countless questions but he didn't want to waist any time, he needed the important stuff that he might not think of. "What do you think I should know?"
"Hmmmm. Bottle caps are the main currency but people will always try to screw you so haggle. Synths are not all dangerous regardless of what some people say. Water is better than gold up here, though down south it's all clean apparently. And I hope you know how to shoot because there are no more laws or police to protect you, you got a problem or somebody's got one with you death is the most common answer."
After that Stockton's men arrived back and reported. "Damn place was full of bugs but we cleaned it out, we heard some crazy old robot but as long as we didn't try to enter its house it was fine."
"A mister handy!" Nate shouted causing the men to jump slightly
"Don't know, all we heard was it yelling inside a house so we seared clear, you should too."
It couldn't be a coincidence, Codsworth was still there.
"Alright boys it's time to head home. Goodbye Mr Howard, I hope to see you again." Stockton said beginning to leave. Before he was gone Nate spotted something on the cow that he would need.
"Before you go, how much for the book?" He asked. It was large and hand drawn, a scull brandish the front and it looked rather new.
"What the Wasteland Survival Guide, one hundred caps but you don't have that much yet I'm sure." He said turning away again.
"I can trade you two Stimpaks." He shouted back. Stockton turned with a smile.
"Deal. Best be careful with those though, they're worth a lot." He said pulling the book from the pile. He handed it to Nate who gave him the Stims. "Pleasure doing businesses with you." Stockton smiled, and with that he left down the trail with his men.
He shouted for one last answer before Miles was gone "Stockton, What kind of meat was that?"
"Dog!" He shouted back.
Nate was left alone At the fire, with his book, a package from Ben and horror over the meat. After a moment of gagging he figured it would be best to get... home.
He slung the box under his arm, it was incredibly heavy, and walked out of the Vault park. He crossed the ancient rusted chain fence and there they where. Hundreds of bones littered the dirt hill, all the people he cut in line, his neighbors and friends, the man he beat to death and his kids all for what, his family was gone to.
Nate crept through the boneyard silently, he tried to ignore the pain in his soul ask he walked down the rough path towards his home. Most of the trees where dead and burned save a few smaller ones, they had purple and red leaves and where just saplings, they glowed, must have been mutations.
As he walked he thought about all Stockton has said. Raiders, monsters and radiation mutants, if he hadn't been awake so long he would have thought this all a nightmare. It was all to much to handle, why was all the water clean south? What did Stockton mean when he said Synth? How much of humanity was left? and who took Shaun?
Finally he found himself at his neighborhood, and it was decimated. The houses left standing where hole ridden and foul. All the glass had been gone for ages and trash was in piles on the street, burnt out cars lay dead in the road and roots grew through what was left of the pavement. He walked up the sidewalk until he stood at his mailbox, The faint word Howard was left on the rusted tin, Nora had painted it all those years ago.
Overall his home was the best on the block, it had a few windows left and the ones that where broken had been boarded up. His door was still there and holes in the roof had been patched, his car was still parked in his driveway and the dead hedges where cut uniform. He walked up to the door but didn't know what to do, so he knocked.
The knock echoed through the dark house and after a moment he heard movement inside.
"Who ever it is would you kindly SOD OFF, the Mr and Mrs are away. Who the bloody hell knocks anymore."
Nate eyes filled with tears at hearing his friends voice, Codsworth was still here, waiting for them. He let himself in but the house was pitch black, turning the brightness of the Pipboy all the way up and using it as a flashlight he found nothing ruined, It was his house after all. The inside was much like how he left it, The kitchen windows where boarded up and dust caked everything but other than that it was fine, the TV was intact as was all the furniture, though a few things where missing, family photos and heirlooms where gone off the shelf's.
He searched the house for his Robotic butler and soon found him in the laundry room shambles on the floor, His jet had probably run out of fuel a long time ago. Nate had bought a lifetime supply but he supposed a lifetime had passed by now, the robot simply couldn't be expected to find more alone with Nate's last order, guard the house.
"What part of leav- As I LiVE AND BREATH ITS YOU IT REALLY YOU." Codsworth was shocked to say the least. The robot gave off the tone of someone crying and lifted his limp arms to try and hug his master, Nate knelled down and embraced him as best as he could.
"Codsworth, My god buddy" Nate said, he noticed he was crying now but it hardly mattered.
"I can hardly believe you came back, after a hundred and Thirty years I started to worry." the robot quickly composed himself with his master back now. "Where is the missus, is she with you?" The question hit Nate like a cinder block.
"She's, well Codz shes gone. For now... But I will get her back I promises" Nate said. He would get her back.
"Gone to stay with the sister huh, well where is Shaun then, I've missed the boy, He must be rather old by now." The irony was that Nora's sister Grace had died before they where married, so in a way she was with her sister for now.
"Shaun has been kidnapped Codsworth, We are going to get him back!" Nate said. Mr. Handy's where just Gutsy s but domesticated, A simple setting change would make him as useful as his Anchorage counterpart in a fight, and if Nate was lucky he could find a Gutsy attach his Plasma caster to Codsworth.
"Kidnapped, Well I suppose we better find the man responsible. Don't Bother calling the police though, I did with the first few looters and got NUTHING Suh, Don't believe they make house calls anymore. But come lets have dinner. You Have Not eaten in Two-hundred and ten years." He chuckled trying to drag himself to the kitchen. Nate knew something was wrong, Codsworth couldn't just be fine after all that emotion he had shown, he was trying to seem stable for his master.
"Codsworth are you alright? don't lie to me." The robot seemed to want to hold back but broke rather quickly.
"I... I...Oh Suh Its been AWFUL, Two Hundred Years With No one TO Talk To, NO ONE TO SERVE" he screamed clearly distraught "I Spent the first Eighty YEARS trying to keep the floors waxed, But nothing gets out Atomic fallout from vinyl, NOTHING." he continued, Nate wondered how well he could have coped alone, but clearly he didn't at all. "Don't even get me started on the futility of dusty a collapsed house, And the Car, The CAR. HOW DO YOU POLISH RUST?.. I finally gave up after the fuel ran out some, twenty years ago and now I'm here, General Atomic's pride crawling on the floors to try and trim the hedges."
"Don't worry buddy I'm back now. I'll find you some fuel soon and then we will get Shaun back." Nate said trying to calm the robot. "I have to change some setting though, so stay still." Nate pulled a screwdriver from his tool box as it was still there, Codsworth had done a remarkable job keeping the house in order ever after two hundred years and a bomb.
He started removing the plate covering the server of the old robot and as he did so examined him. Time had clearly done a number on the metal, The hull was rusted to a dull gray and brown and he had a number of bullet holes on him, One of his eyes was gone as well and dents littered him.
"Codsworth, what happened to you?" Nate inquired as he began on the last screw.
"Well suh, the people are no longer the friendliest." He must have been talking about the raiders.
"After you and the missus left the world must have ended, people would come looting from time to time but I would chase them from the property. Some would shoot or hit me with bats but General Atomic international didn't build me soft." He laughed. finally Nate got the plate off, but he remembered he would need to take him to a employee to change settings. No more stores existed he thought as he looked at the plug port, suddenly Idea sparked and he examined the Pipboy, The plug was a perfect fit.
He inserted the cord in and after a moment of computing he was in Codsworth's CPU. He opened the targeting parameters and with a few switches, copyright, safety, and warranty warnings made it so Codsworth would attack anybody who showed hostile intent or was marked by Nate, thus turning him into a friendly Mr Gutsy.
He left the personality subroutines as the lovable Brit Rather than the enraged drill Sargent, it reminded him of Nora, but he turned off some personality traits that made him so emotionally distraught for good. "Alright Codsworth I'm going to find you some fuel, I'll be back soon." Nate said with a smile.
"Don't worry suh I'll still be here, on the floor, ALONE." Codsworth yelled in a whiny voice, Nate rolled his eyes and exited the house.
All the joy of seeing his robot again vanished as he gazed upon the world but regardless he started searching the neighborhood. Remembering the Ables had a Handy of their own he turned left and walked to their home just next door, Codsworth was never fond of his neighboring handy, said the Australian accent put him on edge.
He entered the decrepit abode silently and found the carcass of a massive Roach easily the size of his arm, these must have been the bugs Stockton's men spoke of. Nate marveled at the insect for a moment pondering how it could have grown so large, the radiation was the only explanation he could come up with but even that didn't fully make sense. He also stumbled upon what was left of an egg clutch that sickened him but the men had burned them out with fire.
Nate found the robot destroyed in a ruined bathroom, clearly it had been shot to death. The fuel was in the closet and Nate picked up two of the massive tanks, One could last fifty years with minimal movement, Nate had four at his home so if they moved constantly these would last twenty years each? He also removed one of the intact eyes from the dead automaton with his screw driver careful to remember how to put it back on for Codsworth , and placed on his vault belt with the aid of a hook.
He hauled them back to his home and soon was attaching the new eye, He screwed it into the hing and plunged it in, Codsworth dilated it and soon was ecstatic to have full vision again. After that Nate fueled him up, the Handy could do it himself but only if he was floating above the tank, Using his lighter he ignited the gas . Soon as the robot was hovering again but all the dust in the room sprung up with him.
"Terribly sorry suh, I shall begin cleaning at once, The house shall shine like the SUN when I'm done with it." Codsworth yelled over Nates coughs, He flew out into the hall but before leaving spoke. "Its good to have you back home Suh, and thank you."
Nate stood soon and in a moment found himself in Shaun's room, He didn't know why he went there of all places but he did. the windows where all boarded up with plywood, god only knows where Codsworth got it, in the faint light he could still see on the floor basic toys, books and puzzles Nora had bought for him despite his age. The crib lay vacant and gloomy in the corner with the paint gone and the mobile broken.
Nate couldn't keep himself from crying, this room brought back too many painful memory's of his family. Nate fled the babies room shutting the door behind him, he wiped his tears away and promised himself once again to save his son.
He walked into the living room and sat himself on the couch slowly as to not cause another dust explosion, pulling the lock box to his feet and undoing the latch he found many things inside but most important he found a letter from Ben, Nate began reading the letter silently and Codsworth busied himself cleaning and humming.
Nate.
Hope you made it out safe, I suppose there is always the chance your pod failed before you got out. For now lets just say you did for the point of conversation, inside the box is everything I could afford to get you here in Bunker Hill, use it all regardless of how you feel. The armor is not going to stop a bullet but it can save you- ditch the vault suit because it might get you killed- ration the water its clean and not much of its left clean- and don't go outside.
I'll be there in a few days but Stockton called in a favor and I can't say no, Love you buddy. Also don't freak out when you see me but I got some new scars, the safe word is Anchorage.
Nate laughed at the Antics of his friend, safe words and house arrest where just his style, but was left to wondered what kind of scars could leave Ben to think Nate wouldn't recognize his best friend. Regardless Nate dug through the box to find the gifts:
A leather harness studded and reinforced along the ribs with a stop sign, Leather thigh, shin, arm and forearm guards to match with a metal bar down the outer thigh and upper arm, a double barrel shotgun sawed off at the base with three dozen shells, two I.V.s labeled RadAway, two more Stimpaks and a Military field medical kit, six cans of 'Purified Water', Ancient spam and Instamash, a pair of jeans, a Flannel shirt and a Winchester Hunting rifle with thirty shots. What could be out here that Ben would send all this?
Nate decided to ignore it all for a moment as he was becoming worried again and decided to Read his newly purchased book with a can of water, He cracked one open and began the first page of the book.
The Wasteland Survive Guide
by Moira Brown and John Ronas (101).
Megaton 2277.
Creator side supply original
-Moira Brown
-John Ronas
He read the title page and found this to be a hand written, signed copy dated twenty-two seventy-seven. Megaton wasn't any town Nate had heard of and 2277, this book was fresh, it must have had current advice he could use.
Nate spent the next few hours reading through the book and it covered a lot of ground, finding supplies, ancient dangers like Robots and mines, radiation sickness to which he also learned the use of the Radaway he had gotten, mutations which Nate found incredibly interesting, physical damage and repair, how to build a settlement, and what was left of history and in part humanity. Nate also found an Index of mutations with incredible drawings and notes of each one.
The images scared him, to think that these monsters could be lurking outside in the night would keep him up. Massive scorpions, all sorts of bugs, Deer, Mirelurks, Yau Qiu which looked like a bear and Nate could only translate to Evil. Deathclaws sounded particularly bad but there where no pictures included and the info was vague at best, probably because the authors had never seen one.
He also found distinguishing marks of raiders; Crazy hair, spiked armor, drug use, savage tendency, and what they might do to you, Nate didn't like any of it. The things that where the worst where the human mutations, Supermutants, centaurs, Abominations and Ghouls.
He was glad he had read all of this as he would have probably shot a sane ghoul on sight for looking like a zombie, but it turned out they where just normal people with radiation exposure, like the Gob of the authors home town. The idea that humanity could go so far back as to racism and even enslavement because someone looked different disturbed Nate greatly.
The Centaurs where a grotesque monster that would haunt his dreams forever and Supermutants didn't sit well either, the massive humanoids driven by hunger and rage could even grow up to thirty feet tall. they reminded him of old military ideas of super soldiers in a way with the tough skin and damage resistance.
Once he was sufficiently unnerved he put he book into the trunk, there where more pages but he decided to wait on those. Slowly he loaded the weapons Benjamin sent, arming himself made him feel save even after Anchorage.
He moved it all to his bedroom which by now Codsworth had cleaned stashed the trunk up against the far wall. It was six AM and he was exhausted, he flipped over the mattress to expose the cleaner side, removed his dirty vault suit and and laid on his bed for hours struggling to sleep but he finally gave up, it felt wrong without her.
He finally went to the couch in his underwear and played with the Pipboy on his arm looking through its ability's, he was lead to a test within the machine to determine his Intelligence score and he began it seeing nothing else to do with Ben not here yet.
The test consisted of ten sections all with twenty questions, each section he passed with sixteen questions right would add a point to the score. After a few hours he finished not feeling very smart and the Intelligence score was given, 6. He assumed he was about average.
At some point he finally passed out on the couch from exhaustion, and fell into a deep sleep.
OoOoOoO
"I'm only going to ask you one last time... give us the kid now."
"I'm not giving you Shaun!"
"NORA!"
"nate?"
BANG.
Nate was shot awake terrified and reached for Nora only to fall onto the floor of the living room. He was sweaty and blind trying to find her in the dark but soon remembered all that had happened and gave up. She was gone.
Nate stood up and banged his toe on the coffee table in the dark but didn't feel it, looking at the Pipboy he found it to be 6:20 AM and came to the conclusion he had fucked up his sleep schedule so bad he fixed it. He struggled to remember what woke him up, it had faded so fast, but found it to be the dream. It had felt so real, down to the Gun Sho-
"SUH" Codsworth rushed into the room slightly illuminating it with his thruster. "There was a GUN SHOT OUTSIDE! wake up."
"WHAT!" Nate screamed.
He rushed past the robot into his room to the trunk, and digging through it he found the shirt and pants, as he put the clothes on he heard mor gun shots outside and frantically tied the vault boots. He grabbed the rifle and rushed to the door but before he opened he turned back to Codsworth.
"Guard the house Codz, it might be my last line of defense."
With that he rushed out into the early morning and found nothing, another shot rang out and he found it to be the direction of the bridge. Rushing down to the mouth of the Neighborhood and peaking around the corner of a collapsed house he found a man pinned down under a mailbox, and firing from the bridge where what Nate could only think to be raiders by the spiked armor and screams.
Nate had only been in the wasteland for a day, and asleep for half that but he knew a few things, one of which was raiders are the bad guys and deserve death. There where five if them as he saw it in the dim light, three with guns and the others with... who knew but Nate couldn't rush them or he would get gunned down after twenty seconds.
He decided to sneak around the house across the street and fire from behind their rusted car. Running as fast as he could across the street he hurdled the ancient white fence and around the back, he took and knee behind the car and a deep breath.
"Five shot bolt action rifle, I forgot to grab more ammo and there are five of them. I guess I can't miss." He spoke clearly to himself.
OoOoOoO
The raiders where too focused on the man behind the mailbox that they didn't notice that the raider in the back had been killed, they probably didn't ever hear the shot over their own. But after the second Packer felt the body drop. He turned around to see two of his Counterparts dead already.
"STOP GUYS WE GOT A PROBLEM!" He screamed over the gun fire, it took a moment but finally his boss turned around had he could see a fire light in her eyes.
"WE GOT ANOTHER ONE HERE BOYS." Shouted a his boss, she was enraged and clearly scanning the area for the new shooter. "COME ON OUT BUDDY AND WE'LL MAKE IT QUICK." She signaled for them to move up and they did, her wrath was worse than a bullet and the original pray was not the main threat anymore.
Before the man on the right could make it to the mailbox he was dead, shot through the neck by the sharp shooter, but that was the only mistake the boss needed. The head raider watched the gunner pop up from his cover behind a burnt out car to fire, she had him now. He popped up again to fire but before he could take aim the finale two unloaded their guns on the car and he misfired.
The woman ran ahead to Packer to stop him, he had fired his gun dry and held the trigger even after the clicking started clearly terrified. "We rush him, GOT IT." Packer could only nod.
She was in the dirt before her first step toward the car and now the Shooter was out of his cover walking towards him. He had never been the bravest raider but this man could scare anybody.
Tall and muscular with a rifle in hand, stubble coated his face save the area where a large scar that went from his cheek towards his ear, his nose was slightly crooked probably broken a few times, and it looked like he hadn't slept in days. Packer dropped to his knees and begged for mercy but the fire in the mans eyes prophesied death.
OoOoOoO
Nate approached the would be raider and already smelled urine, the man had pissed himself. He silenced his beggings with a devastating punch to the face but the man continued to whimper in the dirt.
Nate planned to end the animals life and shoot him to death but, he had run out of bullets. The only other option would be to beat him to death, He pounded the mans head on the pavement to silence him and swung the stock of the rifle like a club at the mans neck but his windpipe endured, the second attempt was met with the same result.
"You reds just keep getting harder to kill." Nate raged. He raised the gun for a final blow but before he swung he heard her voice.
"Nate, you know this is wrong."
"WHO SAID THAT?" he demanded frantically looking around. The raider clearly didn't, the man he saved was unconscious and nobody else was in sight, but then he saw her standing in the road in a dress.
"Nora!" he rejoiced, there she was, thirty feet away. The rational part of his brain shut off at seeing her and He ran to her completely forgetting the men behind him, she was alive and she found him. He ran but she only kept getting further away from him. soon he finally stopped and it sank in.
"God your not real are you" He cried, she wasn't real she couldn't be his wife was dead "I've finally lost it haven't I." but the silence tore at him "HAVEN'T I!" He screamed to the ghost, and just like that she was gone.
He knew she wasn't real in some part of his mind but losing her again was blocking out his logic. "NO... I din't mean it Nora don't go again!" Nate begged tears rolled down his cheeks once again as he pleaded with her to return, But she was gone.
His rage and sorrow was to great, he needed to get it out and the only thing he had was the raider. Sprinted towards the monstrous creature in a blind fury he was stopped upon feeling a hand on his shoulder. He turned and there she was, He went to hug her but found nothing.
"Your not real, my Nora is dead in a vault. Who are you?" Nate questioned taking a step back.
"Nate."
"I'm not going to entertain this." he said, but the ghost wouldn't take no for an answer.
She touched him, put her hand on his shoulder and it felt real, more real than anything he had been through in the past day. He forgot for a moment that she was dead and went to grab her yet again, but was met with air. She cupped his face in her hand and lead his eyes to hers, forcing him to look at her like she had done so many times, and his will was broken.
"Nate... You know you can't do this right? You can't just kill him." Nora said, her disappointment evident, but is was more, it was sadness.
"He is a MURDERER, I can't let these people run around or I'm just helping the problem" Nate replied.
"But you are too Nate. How many people have you killed. You've been back in the world a day and you already have the right to judge him?" Nora questioned.
"That was war Nora"
"Are you at war now?"
"I would never murder to survive."
"But you would for your family right? The man at the gate you killed him to survive."
"Nora... I did that for you. There have to be consequences for evil." he pleaded.
"But not for the evil you commit?"
"What would you have me do? Let him go?" Seeing her nod didn't ease him. "Nora I wont be able to make it through this world to save you and Shaun if I don't kill, its violent and its cruel."
"I didn't say you can't kill Nate." she said in that same even loving tone she used with him when she knew he was wrong, it was all quite unnerving. "But you can't kill everyone who does wrong Nate, our you would be dead too."
"THEN WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH HIM?" Nate screamed.
"Show mercy Nate, for once show mercy. Don't become them show a better way... For Shaun?"
And with that she was gone leaving Nate lost and alone once again. He walked to he severely beaten man as the sun arose, a debate was raging inside of him, his instinct told him to remove the threat but what would she think of him.
A decision was made. He dragged the man to the stone wall overlooking the now sickly river and threw him into the water, once the raider hit the water he awoke instantly and began to swim to the far shore... this was as much Mercy as he could spare.
OoOoOoO
Sturges felt before he saw. He was on a soft bed or couch and he could hear a Mr. Handy floating nearby just like mama Murphy's, and he could tell somebody was watching him. He also knew that he had been shot, he could feel it on his leg but he also knew it was wrapped, who ever had him patched him up.
Deciding play dead he began running over what had happened in the last few days for how he got here, the moved on from Jamaica plains heading north to find a new place to set up shop, maybe Preston could get enough of a foothold up here to restart the Minutemen. Course the raiders from Lexington had to get on there ass, they got pinned down in some museum and Preston said to sneak out and find help.
He got spotted by some raiders in the night and ran for his life up the road, running a good mile past a old gas station before he got shot on a bridge as they finally caught up. Hiding behind a mailbox probably wasn't the best idea because they pinned him down, but right before he passed out he saw a man up the street with a rifle.
The raiders didn't have him or he would be dead so the man man had clearly saved him, Sturges had heard people talk about a stranger come out of nowhere and save them, to many people had said it for it to be a lie but he never thought he would have it happen to him. After a moment of thinking he decided to speak, the man didn't kill him so either he was a good person or a slaver. He hoped it he the first.
"Whats your name if i would be so bold." He said trying to sound brave.
"Nate." replied a calm strong voice.
"Are you going to kill me?" he knew he shouldn't have asked but he had to know.
"I don't... I wont unless you give me a reason." was the reply. "Whats your name?"
"My Name is Sturges, No last name." He said sitting up and opening his eyes.
The house was nicer than any he had seen thus far, no burnt carpet, clean of dust, and nothing was smashed. A man sat in a chair across from him, a few scars and a gruff look but over all he look uneasy. His old Mr. Handy hovered in the kitchen, Bullet holes and dents covered the rusted exterior and one of his eyes was attached wrong.
"So what happens now?" Sturges asked shifting uneasily on the couch.
After a moment of what appeared to be thought his savior spoke. "That depends. Are you a raider?"
"NO" he replied as fast as a person could.
"have you killed anybody?"
"No?"
"Why should I trust you?" the man asked. Sturges was stumped for a while, the silence deafening until he finally found a reason.
"I'm with the Minutemen... for whatever that is worth anymore." He said. His host stared so intently at him he could swear he could see his soul, but finally cracked a slight smile.
"Alright." Nate stood up and closed the distance then gave a firm handshake, which Sturges returned. "This is my house, your welcome to stay I suppose. Why where you being chased?"
Nate listened intensely as Sturges wove a tale of betrayal and retreat that took place over the last two years and across Massachusetts. Of the Minutemen who had fought so hard to keep people safe and died in the end, and of the fact the A man by the name of Preston Garvey was still fighting at the museum of Freedom in Concord.
"-So I ran with all I had in me to find somebody to help. Preston said find help though I think he just wanted one of us to survive it, Almost didn't but then you found me, you got anybody else here who could help save us?" Nate was silent for a few moments looking into the kitchen as if listening to somebody but then replied.
"No... But I will." He started retreating into the house and Sturges limped along as well.
"Not to put you down but there are twenty raiders and your alone." He said as he entered a bedroom and watched Nate opened a trunk littered with armor and a few guns. He wanted to save his friends but didn't want this guy to get killed.
"I can handle it. I've killed one fifth of them already right." he joked with a grin while trying to put on a chest piece, he was failing miserably. "I don't know how this works yet, Help me out." He said clearly embarrassed.
Confused Sturges helped him with the straps and into the arm and leg guards, how could he not know how to use is own gear? regardless this was a well made set but almost to heavy for most people to use. They did not put on the left forearm guard because of the Pipboy, after it was on Nate grabbed a 10mm and put it in a holster on the right thigh, the rifle around his back and a shotgun in the holster on his left thigh bringing his overall wight to well beyond what Sturges could carry.
He filled pockets with shells and bullets for the rifle, put two Stimpaks in his belt, he also grabbed two waters and probably the best looking pack of cigarettes Sturges had ever seen. Nate passed one to Sturges who only now realized how thirsty he was and drank one himself before walking back to the living room.
"Alright, I'm going to go try to save your friends. If I'm not back by tomorrow night you can have the house." Nate said ans turned to walk away leaving Sturges stunned. But before he closed the door he addressed his Robot.
"Codsworth I' heading out. Watch the house and if this guy tries to steal anything or run before tomorrow night kill him." Nate added nonchalantly before opening the door. Sturges knew he was no mach for a Handy without a gun.
"Suh YES SUH" Codsworth shouted giving a salute. "Suh I forgot to tell you, I stashed some of the more... Priceless family effects in the trunk of you automobile under a tarp." Chirped the Robot.
Nate nodded and left the house with a concerned and scared Sturges and robot who may or may not kill him.
OoOoOoO
Nate walked around to his car thinking about the armor. It was lighter than the Combat kind he wore in Anchorage, but it was probably not going to stop a bullet but those raiders carried knifes and bats so it would help. Around the back of the car now he pulled off the tarp and opened the trunk, Codsworth was smart to store things of value in the trunk, Nobody would look there and it was sealed away form rain and dust. Inside he found his old footlocker.
"Alright Codsworth, lets see what you saved." Nate said as he opened the container, he could not have been more happy.
Inside where many things, the family photo album, his medal of honor along with other awards, Nora's diploma, newspaper clipping of Nate's war exploits Nora kept, His trench knife along this its sheath, a photo of him and Ben and a picture of Nora and him on their wedding day.
This was all more than he ever could have hoped for, but the wedding photo caught his eye. She was wearing that same dress when she came to him at the bridge to save the raider and in the house when she convinced him to save Sturges's friends. He grabbed the knife and hooked it to his belt, A knife with built in spiked brass knuckles was all to american and he would need it.
Nate closed the box and shut the trunk lid and shouted to Codsworth and Sturges. "Codz, I love you so much. Can you bring this into my room when you have a moment." Nate's yelling echoed through the empty neighborhood.
Nate heard a faint "Thank you suh and right away!" through the wall of his home and set off to Concord, Hopefully Ben wouldn't arrive while he was gone but Sturges and Codsworth could explain where he went.
"Alright 'Preston' hold on a little longer. Sorry about this Ben but I got to leave the house." He joked as he walked across the broken wooden bridge.
Another chapter done. I decided to use Shepard's Lore's "Wasteland Waltz" as my canon fallout 3, If you haven't read it I would encourage you too as it is a phenomenal story. I always wished you could read the wasteland survive guide and I just seems so Moira to add an index of creatures.
Until next time.