Upon entry the first thing I notice is the smell. How did I not smell that outside? My only comparison is a mix of shit and sour milk. Looking around I see a guy dressed like... a sherrif or something? Hes probably dressed like that for a reason "Um. Hi? My name is Ally and I came out of Vault 111- sorry, 101." I said to the man. "Howdy ma'am. Lucas Simms is the name. Haven't seen anyone wearing one of them jumpsuits in a while." The first thing I notice when he turns around is his beard. Damn beards are cool. "Thanks I guess. I know you said you haven't seem anyone in a vault jumpsuit in a while, but when would that have been? My fathers gone missing. In fact thats why Im not in the vault anymore." Was my response to the man I had just met "Well Im not fully sure when it was but chances are Moira probably saw them. She runs the Craterside Supplies." Thats a start I suppose. I nodded at the man and started towards the crater. Its an educated guess, I reasoned to myself.
"Hello? Im looking for someone named Moira?" I asked while entering what I guessed was the trading post of this... town? Village? Im not sure. "That would be me." A woman called out moving quickly over to the desk. "Ooh? A vault dweller I see. Or at least I hope." that confused me. How was it so obvious Im from a vault. "How do you know Im from a vault? Maybe I shot someone for this or something?" I tried to sound formidable, failing. "Now don't be that way. Im just here to help. In fact you could help me while I help you. You could even make a few caps while your at it!" "Caps? As in bottlecaps from Nuka Cola or something?" I enquired very confused "Of course, what else would I give you as payment. Oh wait. I forgot, its your first time outside right?" Again, how is it so obvious? "Yea. I left today after a disagreement with the overseer and my dad left as well." "Hmm, well I wanted to work on something, a survival guide for the wasteland for newcomers like you, and since you're a newcomer you could be a great test subject and I could teach you a bit about the Capital Wasteland. What do ya say?" I am going to regret this so much... "Sure whats first?" What did I drag myself into? "Well you just came out of the vault right? So lets talk about what its like out here, your first glimpse of the sun or why you left." Already pulling out the big guns huh? "Alright. Well so far Ive had to kill a man. A lucky shot in his head and I got a rifle. The sun is super bright, in fact I should probably have some eye cover on as for why I left the vault, my dad left and I got kicked out." That wasn't so hard, was it? "Ok now that the introduction is done onto chapter one." Fuck me. What will I have to do? "Great. What do I need to do?" I asked cautiously "Well you are new to the wasteland and while I do need other data a good start is getting used to radiation. Luckily you wont have to leave the town. A few sips of the water in the crater beside the nuke should be enough." Did she just say a nuke? As in an atomic bomb? AS IN WHAT DESTROYED THE UNITED STATES? "Whoa, whoa, whoa, a nuke? As in a nuclear bomb?" Please say no... "Of course silly. Where else would we have gotten the name Megaton from?" Aw crap. "So I just need to drink nuke water? Great just great." Why Ally. You don't even belong here. "Thats the spirit. Here, as a gift for helping me out take this armoured jumpsuit. Someone before came in and asked dor it but never returned." Well at least its something.
Why am I doing this? This repeated over and over while I drank the water. Why am I doing this for bottlecaps? Why did dad even come out here? Ok that has to be enough right? I swear Im glowing by now.
"Hey." I said as I walked back in "Ooh my. So you did it. Ok, tell me how you feel." Is she crazy? Im irradiated, I feel like shit "Well I feel like Im glowing and Im sure my hair is starting to fall out." I guess I should have been more scientific "Ok. Now lets get that radiation flushed out of your system. Most people use Radaways but lets see how my homemade mixture works." I immediately collapsed before I could disagree.
"Ooh you're alive. I didn't know if it killed you or not." Was that meant to be reassuring? "Haha well. Um. The mixture didn't work very well and I think you mutated. Nothing bad. No extra limbs or glowyness. Just radiation enduced healing properties." I can't tell if thats good or not. "Well thank you Moira. I think I might take a while before I start the next part of the chapter if thats ok with you." She was visably disapointed, but understood "Alrighty. Take these chems and heres the bottlecaps I owe you." She was kind about it but also kinda sadistic nearly. Oh well. Im 100 caps richer and ready to look around more.