Chapter 4

I stopped at the large hole that was once called the institute. I stared into it, remembering the quote "Stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back at you." I felt the large dark hole envelope my thoughts. I sighed and trudged away, dogmeat sensing my misery whined for my attention. I cracked a smile, damn dog always knew what brought me back to reality.

Back on track, I began to rummage through my bag. Pushing different guns out of the way I finally found the old map I used from time to time. I did my best not to rip it as I opened it up. I laid it on a nearby intact table and began to study it. I pulled out a pen and crossed out the area of Sherborn. He figured that the crater of atom the was just south of Cochituate was probably what used to be Sherborn.

Considering how the glowing sea stretched north, passing just west of Natick, it must only be prominent in the surrounding area. That meant I would have to pass through the glowing sea quickly if I were to get anywhere near my destination of New York City. Fortunately I had plenty of extra Power Armor suits from all over the commonwealth. This brought me to my next issue. I had to take someone with me on this treacherous journey. I needed fresh eyes as taking any of my other past companions just wouldn't seem right. After what I had already put them through this seemed to be just too much. I decided to start at a good place to find 'friends' willing to do anything for you, as long as it paid well.

I reached the bottom of the stairs of The Third Rail and took a seat at the bar. Whitechapel Charlie hovered over to me and placed a glass of bourbon before me. "Thanks Charlie." "Don't mention it. I'd heard about what happened to Clara, tis a shame." I raised my glass to him and took a sip. "So Charlie, any new Merc's around here needing cash?" Charlie gave me a hardy chuckle. "Plenty Max! Just ask around, won't be long till you find what suits your needs." I grinned at Charlie and nodded. "Thanks again." I stood up leaving a couple caps for the bourbon and began asking around.

Even with the 5000 caps I was offering. As well as the reassurance of the power armor I had available, none of the mercenaries accepted my offer. Probably didn't want to leave the area. A lot of these guys seemed local and had some sort of life here. After a good hour or two of asking around things seemed hopeless. I had just about given up when a lanky man sauntered over to me.

"Hear that you're offering 5 big ones for a companion to a place called 'New York'?" I nodded. "Yeah I am. Think you got what it takes?" He smirked and said "I know I do, but I'm gonna need a lot more to persuade me to go." I chuckled "Very well name your price." "20 big ones and I get to keep the power armor." without hesitation I blurted out "Deal." He seemed a bit surprised at how quick of an answer I gave him. "I didn't think anyone would take just 5 grand for a job like this. And I got caps to spare." He nodded slowly "Well then. Good to know let's ge-" I placed a hand on his chest, stopping him in his tracks. "If you think you can just screw me over and run before this is over you got another thing coming." he grabbed my hand by the wrist and pulled it off his chest. "I don't roll that way. I stick to my clients till the bitter end." I smiled and held out my hand to him. "Welcome aboard then." With a smirk back on his face he took my hand and gave me a firm handshake.

With a panting dog on my left and Scruffy merc on my right I walked through the bleak streets of the commonwealth. Suddenly a very important question for my new companion crossed my mind. "Shit I can't believe I almost forgot. What's your name?" he kept looking forward and walking onwards, "Dan Hendricks, what about you cap'n?" "My name's Max." he turned slightly towards me. "No last name?" I gave him a strained grin. "Just max. Sole Survivor to many but, I prefer Max." "Alrighty then, Max it is."

"Y'know I've heard a lot of stories about some dude known as the 'Sole Survivor'." said Dan as walked, I raised an eyebrow "Oh really? What kinds of stories." he placed his hand on his chin as he remembered the tales. "Something about a guy that is damn near superhuman. He wandered the commonwealth helping out anybody he could, establishing settlements left and right. But those were years ago." Dan kept smiling"Do you believe 'em?" he looked at me "We'll see." and with that we continued our trek to my hq.

As we entered my hq his smirk never faded. He didn't even blink as we stepped into the main room of my armory, the walls lined with multitudes of weapons. He whistled admiringly and exclaimed "I expected nothing less from a guy paying 20,0000 caps and some power armor just to get from point A to point B." I shrugged, "I've been around." he chuckled "Seems like it." "You can grab some ammo if you like, and if you see something else you like just ask." "Thanks but, I'm happy with what I got." "Alright, let's get you some power armor then."

The clacking of the keys echoed throughout the facility as I put in a passcode to a terminal. Once finished I hit enter and the lock to the adjacent door clicked open. I pulled it open, rays of sunlight hitting both our faces. The door led to the fenced off backyard of the extensive facility. Underneath a metal awning was my collection of Power armor suits. Some had full sets of all the right armor. Others were mismatched and missing pieces. Some were just Power armor bases, no armor to go along with it. I brought dan over to the area with full sets. I had a few T-45's as well as a couple raider sets. His eyes were set upon my lone set of T-51. "Good eye, that's the T-51 model. It's the model below the one I usually use." Dan nodded along as I fed him information, explaining how to put it on and the controls and gauges. Once my explanation was over he opened up his armor and hopped in with ease. "You're a natural man." he gave me a large metallic thumbs up. "Nothing I can't handle."

Of course the guy hadn't operated something like this ever before in his lifetime. Once he tried to walk he immediately fell over and I could sense his frustration and worry. "UH this thing doesn't seem to work…." I burst into laughter. "Fuck I'm sorry man but the power cell must've died on you, gimme a second." I jogged over to a large trunk, I opened it up and grabbed a power cell, I ran back to my immobilized friend and replaced the dead cell with a new one. A couple seconds passed before the power surged throughout his armor. He scrambled back to his feet, my eyes still a bit watery from laughing too hard. I heard him grumble a bit underneath his breath inside his helmet. I ignored it as it was probably a few obscenities targeted towards me, rightfully deserved as well. I had a feeling things would work out for me and my companion.

Author's Note

Well howdy guys! I decided to continue working on this bad boy because why the hell not. After rereading what I had I felt it wasn't too bad and figured it would be a good way to get back on track with my writing. I don't exactly remember where I was planning on taking the story so it might not go exactly the way I had in mind but, I promise the quality level will not drop! So hope you enjoyed it so far. I also replaced this chapter because I didn't like the way it turned out before. I kept a few paragraphs but, changed the second half completely. There will be more to come don't y'all worry.