I'd hate to live here, in Arefu. I feel surrounded, surrounded by this endless Wasteland and trapped, trapped being up this high. I've never been one for heights but it's just this nagging thought that keeps prodding me – there's only one way in and one way out.

I don't know, maybe I'm just being paranoid. I'm standing near the collapsed part of the bridge, just out of the shack area so no one will bother me. The sun is beginning to set. It's funny, it doesn't feel like the same sun I've seen set every evening from inside Megaton. This sun is colder... more harsh. I look down to the river... fuck, it's a long way down. There's a Mole Rat sipping at the radiated water, I wonder if I could get it in the head with my rifle from up here. If this had been any other night, I probably would have tried. But tonight is different. There is something out there...

Screams...

They're coming from Arefu. Shit! There had always been a fear at the back of my mind that I would witness this lunatic first hand. And now I am forced to realise that my fear has become a reality.

I race back to Arefu, Assault Rifle in my hands and ready to fire. I left my Hunting Rifle back in King's shack, although I do still have my .32 pistol with me. There's no gunfire. Only screaming. People running.

I run passed the first shack. A few terrified settlers thunder pass me, they're faces and bodies covered in blood. Jesus... it really is here. Gunfire! I snap back to reality and run towards the guns. However it soon stops, followed by a man's cold and deathly shriek. It was enough though. I run passed a couple more shacks and turn a corner...

A man stands only a few feet away from. He is dressed in dark, heavy clothes and wears a foreboding gas mask. He is surrounding by bodies, or at least, parts of bodies. Blood washes over the floor and various smaller limbs float and bob freely. There are severed heads and carved up torsos that lie in the sea of blood, it is a terrible sight.

I look back at the man... the lunatic...

If this had been twenty years ago I would have shot this guy before he could even move a step. But now I'm slower. I raise my rifle and aim at the man's head, before I even realise it he's charging at me with incredible speed. I haven't even touched the trigger and he's already met me. I go flying through the air, coming to ground with a painful thud. My Assault Rifle has landed several feet away from me, it's out of the fight... for now.

This guy doesn't let up though. He approaches me and kicks me hard while I'm down... what an asshole. His foot goes in again for a second time but I'm expecting it this time. I catch the foot and use the weight of my body to swing this guy around me. He wasn't expecting a little fight and he goes crashing to the ground, that felt good. But I can't hesitate...

Fuck, it doesn't even matter. This guy's already standing and ready to go and I've hardly got my breath back, too many nights in Moriarty's is finally taking it's toll. I take a swing at him, it's a pathetic attempt to catch him off guard and it doesn't pay off. He easily deflects the attack and goes in for the counter, punching twice in the gut. It'll take more than that to floor me, asshole.

****

Jake won't allow it. Jake won't allow anyone or anything to stop the mission. This man will be defeated. This man cannot win. Jake takes what punishment is given out, there is no greater punishment than failure. Jake waits for the opportune moment. Jake doesn't have to wait long.

Blood pours from the man's nose. He lies on the floor, hurt and exhausted. Although he is not defeated... not yet. Jake will finish him. Jake will defeat him.

****

Shit! My whole world shakes and the deafening explosion knocks the shit out of my ears. No doubt one of King's little toys. There's light all around, my eyes are stunned as are the rest of my senses. I start to make out what's directly in front of me – burning rubble, I think – until I'm given another nasty surprise.

The ground cracks open, it's actually opening up and... falling. That's when I remember that we are high up on a bridge, and the explosion has done more damage than good. My sight returns, along with my other senses, and I see before me pieces of road just fall away. The cracks are huge and me and this lunatic are stuck right in the middle of them.

The lunatic is unconscious, he's not the unstoppable killing machine I thought he was then. I step up immediately, and run as fast as I can. My feet thundering on the ground causes it to crumble and fall down to the river, but I'm beating it. I'm running faster than the rubble is falling. Only I thought I was... The rubble catches me only a few feet from the safe and solid concrete. My right foot comes down, expecting to land on road, but it lands on nothing. There is only air and I can feel my whole body start to sink downwards. I stretch my hand out, hoping to catch something... anything...

****

Jake falls through the air. The ground gave way after an explosion. The man... that man who Jake was fighting. This man must be stopped. This man is trying to destroy everything that Jake has worked so hard for. Jake won't let the man stand in the way of completing the mission. The man must die, only then can the mission be continued...

Jake fell from the bridge. There was no scream, there was no need to scream. The hard impact of the splash and then the river washed over Jake. Jake sunk to the bottom. There was no movement.

Lifeless...

****

I stand at the bank of the river, directly beneath Arefu. That strange and impossible man couldn't have survived a fall like that. I feel sorry for him, in a way, or maybe I regret the manner of his death. There were secrets held by him, not least his name and where he was from. I would've also liked to know how he could tear humans apart with his bare hands. There are drugs I suppose, drugs that can make men unnaturally strong but I've never seen anything like what that man achieved. Maybe he found something, a drug or an ingredient possibly. Whatever the reason, the secrets have died with him.

"Who was he?" A young girls voice asks. I turn around and see exactly that, a small, innocent girl. She is barely ten years old from the looks of her, she has bright blonde hair and a fresh face with sparkling eyes.

"Who?" I ask, knowing her answer.

"The man," The little girl replies, "Who was he?"

It's quite incredible, this small girl is the only one that has actually shown an interest in who this guy was. I wonder if I had fallen with this man, would the settlers from Arefu act any different if it was my body lying at the bottom of the river? I was lucky though, there had been a pole that hadn't fallen with the rest of the road and in my last attempt I had caught hold of it. Evan King was by my side and hoisting me up in seconds, after all it was his explosives that caused the road to collapse in the first place.

"What's your name?" I ask the girl.

"Lucy," She replies, "Lucy West."

"Well, Lucy West, don't worry yourself with the businesses of others. Your loyalty and service should be to your family, and only your family."

The words are the truth. In a place this, families need to stick together otherwise you learn how to survive the hard way... like I learned.

The journey back to Megaton is lonely and thoughtful. I find myself questioning the worth of existence, is it worth all this hardship and all this death just to survive? I think of Lucy, it is inevitable that she will encounter hardship many times in her life and there will be deaths that she will have to overcome. Is it worth it? A typical day in the Wasteland is hard enough, and yet we must go through so much to live these days. Is life in the Wasteland really worth killing over?

I know a lot of people have turned to religion. They believe the Wasteland is a test, if you pass you go to heaven and if you fail you go to hell – it's horribly simple. I suppose that's Lucy's only hope, lead as good a life as you can and hope there is an afterlife. Although that doesn't help me much. I was doomed for hell even before I started thinking of an afterlife. So it brings me to the ultimate question – why the hell do I bother?

****

The mission is in danger. The man is trying to stop the mission. The mission cannot fail. The man must be killed.

Something climbs out of the river. A figure. A human figure.

Jake stands up...