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Chapter 4: The Proposition

Eddy and the stranger were inside the semi truck trailer passageway. A slab of sheet metal in front of them lowered down like a drawbridge. Eddy and the stranger stepped out of the trailer and into what seems to be one of humanity's deplorable attempts to recolonize the earth.

Eddy ignored the pain coming from his hand as he was preoccupied with the sight that was bestowed upon him. Eddy stood there with his eyes opened wide with a mix of curiosity and disbelief. There were other people roaming around in the junkyard who had survived the war, only these people didn't look like they came from any vault, they looked as if they had been living out in the wasteland for years. Not only have they survived but they even have set up a small shanty town in the junkyard. Poorly built shacks made from whatever scrap metal the Wastelanders came across lined every corner of the junkyard. The Wastelanders went about their daily lives; some were carrying loads of junk, others were bartering with other strangers, and a few of them were just living in the moment.

"What is this place?" questioned Eddy to the stranger.

"This here is our own little refuge from the wastes," replied the stranger.

"So you all live in this dump?" said Eddy, sensitivity not being one of his strong suits.

"…Yeah, that's it. As a matter of fact, we just so happen to call this place 'Junktown'," replied the stranger who was becoming annoyed.

"So who are you?" asked Eddy.

"The name's Keith. I guard the entrance to the town," said Keith who just now noticed the significant amount of blood Eddy's right hand was coated in. "Boy, you'd better get that hand of yours checked out by our doctor. That radscorpion poison will mess yer body systems up bad. We wouldn't exactly call our doc a professional but he'll get the job done… Most of the time."

Eddy whipped up a sarcastic reply, "How reassuring." The pain in his hand came back to him. "Geez this hurts. So where's this doc of yours?" questioned Eddy.

"He's over in that shack behind the wooden fence," said Keith as he pointed in the direction behind Eddy.

"Alright then," said Eddy as he began to walk away. "Oh yeah, um… Thank for saving my skin back there."

"All in a day's work kid," replied Keith as he slung his rifle over his shoulder and walked back to his post.

Eddy walked in the general direction where Keith had pointed, trying to figure out where the doctor's office was located.

"The shack behind the fence," mumbled Eddy, repeating Keith's directions to himself. "There's like a dozen shacks behind fences around here!"

He walked past one of these fences but stopped dead in his tracks after spotting another horribly mutated abomination to mankind. There, staring him behind an enclosed fence was a hideously deformed two-headed cow! The thing looked diseased; its skin a leathery brownish color, a large utter coated with blemishes and boils sagged down from its undercarriage, all while flies buzzed around the miserable creature 24/7. It had a moody look on the two of its faces, a look that seemed to implore "Kill Me".

Eddy stared at the creature for a bit then slowly back away. "This town just keeps getting weirder and weirder." He said to himself.

Eddy then came across a shack where it looks like someone carelessly painted the word "Clinic" on a piece of sheet metal next to the door and decided to call it a sign. It didn't exactly look like the most sanitary place to be treated but it would have to do. The looks of the place made Eddy nervous.

"Maybe there's another doctor," Eddy thought to himself. He then remembered that he was given a first aid kit as part of his survival. Eddy opened up his backpack and pulled out a small white container with the words "Vault-Tec Standard Issue Medkit®". Eddy scoffed at the very mention of the words "Standard Issue". He opened up the kit and tried to look for an item that could stop the poison. Unfortunately the only things the kit included were a few bandages, a roll of gauze, some aspirin, a tube of ointment, and a pamphlet entitled "Coping with Mr. Virus". Eddy grumbled to himself but then noticed a disclaimer on the back of the box. It read: "Vault-Tec All-in-One Infirmary Kit® issued separately. Ask your Vault-Tec representative for order details."

Eddy scoffed, "Vault-Tec; they got the power and the money to save you from a nuclear holocaust yet they're too cheap to give you a decent First Aid kit!"

Eddy angrily tossed the lousy medkit back into his backpack and decided to finally pay a visit to the clinic. Eddy knocked a few times with his good hand and after a few minutes a rather disgruntled looking man pulled open the door. He wore a genuine old labcoat –seemingly scavenged from someone with an actual medical degree— as well as a tattered pair of brown pants. He was almost completely bald except for a small patch of hair at the top of his head. He had the raspy voice of someone who had long since run out of cares to give.

"I already told you Ted, I'm not supplying you with any more morphine shots! And if you think tha-". The man stopped shouting for half a second when he realized that it was not "Ted" who was standing at the door but Eddy.

"Wait a minute. You're not Ted."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm not," replied Eddy.

"Then what the heck are you doing here?" asked the Doc.

"Oh, I don't know. I just wanted to stop by, say hello, and maybe— what do you think I'm doing here!" yelled Eddy, spewing sarcasm from his mouth. He then proceeded to hold up his bloody right hand.

"Rule number one, kid: watch the way you talk. The people around here don't take to kindly to rudeness... Which is why I'm pretty much the most hated person in town."

"Ok, Ok, geez. So can you patch my hand up or not?" replied Eddy.

The doctor examined Eddy's hand.

"I suppose I could fix your hand but it'll cost ya."

"But I don't even have any money," yelled Eddy

"Welcome to America!" replied the Doctor as he immediately grabbed for the edge of the door began to close it.

Eddy grumbled to himself but then thought up an idea. He reached into his backpack and pulled out the water flask the overseer gave him.

"Wait! I'll trade you this," Eddy then held up the flask.

The doctor took the flask and examined it.

"This is a pretty substandard piece of barware you got here… Ah, what the heck, it's petty decent compared to the other junk I've seen. I'll take it. Maybe I can trick someone into buying it later." replied The Doctor. "Step into my office."

Eddy walked inside and sat in an operation chair. Eddy observed the clinic. It was dirtier on the inside than the outside. There were shelves full of unorganized medical instruments, messy piles of papers scattered across the floor, and a rusty oxygen tank stood in the corner of the room – the only thing that tank would dispense anymore was tetanus. There was also a surgical tool tray next to the chair Eddy was sitting in. On the tray laid some forceps, many different syringes, and a bone saw with traces of blood along the teeth.

The Doctor walked into the room holding a rectangular shaped bottle of a milky, dark red liquid and frighteningly large, 16 gauge syringe. Eddy took one look at the size of the needle on the syringe and the hairs on his neck shot up.

Eddy thought to himself, "Oh man, this is gonna end up like the time that creepy school nurse tried to give me a booster shot!"

"Alright now kid. I'm gonna need you to not fidget or squirm or do anything that involves movement. I just need to inject some of this home brewed antidote into your veins to help fight the poison. It should work… in theory."

Eddy started to panic, "You know what, it's alright. I could just live the rest of my life pretending to be scorpion boy."

"Don't be an idiot, the injection will just take a few seconds. Then the antidote has to kick in which should take about, hmm… three hours." replied the doctor.

"Three hours! What are you, nuts?" yelled Eddy.

"Rule number two, kid: Don't nag the doctor! Now sit still!" shouted the doctor.

Eddy reluctantly held out his arm. The doctor quickly put down the supplies and strapped Eddy's hand to the chair using some rope lying around on the floor. He then dipped the syringe into the bottle of antidote and then flicked the tip of the needle. Eddy shut his eyes tight as the doctor prepared to inject the needle into his veins.

"Oh by the way, did I ever tell you my name? My name's Doc Morbid. Heh, heh."

"Are you kidding me? Like that's really gonna make me less stressed out!" shouted Eddy in his head. All this commotion caused Eddy to pass out.

A few hours later, Eddy awoke. Dr. Morbid noticed and walked towards him.

"Sheesh kid, it's about time you woke up, I could have sworn you slipped into a coma. Welp, better put away the dry ice then." joked Dr. Morbid.

"Gah, whoa. Am I still here? How long have I been out?" asked Eddy.

"Oh I'd say…" Dr. Morbid pretended to look at a watch on his wrist. "About three freakin hours! At least the antidote had time to get flowin. I even patched up yer hand."

Eddy looked at his right hand. It was wrapped in gauze.

"Uh, ok, thanks," said Eddy. He hopped off the table and walked towards the door. "Hey, do you know who's the head honcho of this place? I got a few questions for him."

"Well I suggest you head on over to Darkwater's General Store. Place is run by our mayor and sheriff. His family has been watchin over this town for years, heck his dad was the one who founded this place."

"I'll be sure to head on over that way. Thanks again for patching me up," said Eddy as he walked out the door.

"Later," Dr. Morbid waved farewell to Eddy. "Now let's see what I can do about this flask." Dr. Morbid held up the Vault-Tec issued flask Eddy traded him. "I know, I bet people would want to buy it if it was used by The Pope!" Dr. Morbid ran outside looking for the nearest gullible person. He spotted a man wearing a welder's mask who was scrapping fecal matter out of the two-headed cow's pen and then silently chuckled to himself.

"Hey, buddy!" he yelled to the man. "Are you Catholic?"

Eddy walked deeper into Junktown. He eventually spotted a much larger shack than the clinic. There was a much better looking sign out front that read "Darkwater General Store". The white, legible, letters were neatly painted upon a green background. Already Eddy liked the looks of this place better than the clinic. Then only thing that raised his curiosity was that there were two guards standing out in front of the entrance to the building, both decked out in what appeared to be Pre-War bullet proof vests, used by the army during the war. The vests looked tattered and as if they've seen their fair share of gunfights. Each of the two guards also toted with them a gun, not just any old guns; they were M16 assault rifles to be precise. Though the rifles were an old military model that was out of use during the time of the Great War they still looked as if they would have no trouble pumping a man's body full of lead.

Eddy approached the door with caution. One of the guards halted him.

"Whoa there kid, you can't just waltz right into Darkwater's store!" spoke the guard on the right of the door.

"Why not!" questioned Eddy.

"Because for all we know you could be another juvenile delinquent looking to cause trouble," replied the guard.

Eddy hesitated for a moment.

"Look, all I want is to speak with this Darkwater guy. I swear," said Eddy.

The second guard looked at Eddy with suspicion. He finally spoke. "Do you have any weapons on you?"

Eddy carefully pulled a combat knife from his survival kit out of his backpack. He replied "All I have is this… Dull looking knife, thing."

The guards examined the knife and then glanced back at Eddy. They exchanged a look at each other. They seemed to believe that Eddy truly had no intention of causing trouble. The first guard spoke again. "Alright, you can go in, but no funny business."

Eddy put the knife back into his backpack and walked into the general store. He wondered to himself "Why are the guards acting so suspicious? Why do they think a kid like me would cause trouble? What were they afraid of?" Eddy examined the inside of the store. It looked almost exactly like the clinic; walls of rusted sheet metal, a weird smell in the air, he even swore that he spotted a small blood stain in the corner of the room. The only difference was that Darkwater's General Store had three times as much space on the inside and instead of shelves filled with medical supplies and papers the shelves were literally filled with junk that lined the entire floor space. Eddy walked pass all the aisles of scavenged knick-knacks, electrical equipment, scrap and lumber, and years-old preserved food until he reached the back of the store. There, behind a counter, stood a man whom Eddy presumed to be the mayor of Junktown. He didn't exactly look like how you would think a mayor should appear, dressed sharply and professional looking. Instead, this guy looked almost like everyone else in the town. He looked as if he was in his late thirties. His short brown hair was unkempt. He wore a dusty denim vest and also had a pair of dog tags hanging around his neck. As Eddy approached the counter the man spoke out to him.

"Well, well. It looks like we got a newcomer to our town, and a kid no less,"

Eddy took a look at the extremely dusty vest the man was wearing and decided to make a sarcastic remark. "Oh wow, denim. Did you come from Vault 1990 or something?"

The man's mood suddenly changed. "Hmm, a comedian, huh? Listen here, behave yourself and don't be stirring up any trouble unless you want to get on my bad side. You hear?"

Eddy stepped back a little. "Ok, ok! Uh, look, I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot so let's start over. I'm Eddy." He then extended his arm, offering a handshake.

"Very wise of you," replied the man. "The name's Killian Darkwater, and I happen to be the Mayor, Sheriff, Chief Justice, and occasionally the Executioner of this fine settlement. What brings you to my store?"

"I'm looking for this thing called a 'water chip'," said Eddy "it's about yae big—"

He made a small hand gesture.

"And it's got a bunch of wires and tubes and electrical crud on it. I need it to fix the vault I'm from."

Killian raised an eyebrow. "You're from the Vault?"

"Yeah," replied Eddy.

"That one in the mountains Northwest of here?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I've always wondered what was in that vault ever since my father sent out a scouting party this one afternoon. They found a large cog shaped, metal door in a cavern during their exploration. My father told me about those giant vaults the government used to shelter the population for the coming war. Course, my family wasn't wealthy enough to stay in a vault so we had to make our own shelter. Worked out pretty well, considering I'm still alive, and standing here today."

"Wait, you had to pay to get into a vault?" questioned Eddy.

"Of course, isn't that how you got in?" said Killian.

"No, I just got an invitation in the mail one morning that said I can stay in the vault for free. Every family in my neighborhood got one," replied Eddy.

"So the vault just let you, your parents, and all the other families on the block stay in there for free?" asked Killian.

"Pretty much, except our parents didn't get to stay in the vault with us. The overseer guy said that because of the lack of space, they were moved to another vault or something like that," said Eddy.

"Harsh world we live in, and even harder for one to survive without a support network, especially for a kid like yourself. I was already an adult by the time my father passed on and it still took a toll on me. No father, no family network, and with an entire town to keep in order. But still, I managed to persevere. There's always hope kid, and I'd like to to my best to help you out with your situation if I could" said Killian. "But unfortunately for your case, I don't believe I have the part you are searching for. Well seldom have any computer parts lying around here. Most of our gear is just old electronics scavenged from houses and storefronts around the area. It's probably not the kind of stuff that could run a vault computer as sophisticated as yours."

Eddy groaned, visibly frustrated. "Shoulda known."

He contemplated on what he should do next. His first thought was to immediately leave town and get back to his original goal of heading straight for Vault 69, as there was no point in hanging around this useless general store any longer than need be. However, Eddy had no idea just how semi-prosperous the survivors out here in the wasteland would be. Junktown may have been a tetanus-infused eyesore, but it was an achievement in survival none the less. He thought that it might actually be worth his time to spend the day to exploring the place, at the very least to find any supplies that might be useful to him for the journey ahead. The only problem being that Eddy had very little to barter with and he had no idea what kind of prices or resources these people traded in or how he would even be able to accumula—

Suddenly the sound of a loud gunshot shattered Eddy's thoughts! Eddy and Killian reflexively shot their heads towards the front of the store where the sound originated. Somebody was fighting one of the guards outside while the second guard lay incapacitated on the ground clutching a bullet wound in his torso. The first guard was struggling to grab hold of a weapon from the attacker. The attacker then bashed the weapon against the head of the guard, knocking him unconscious and burst through the door of the store

"Gizmo sends his regards!" shouted the attacker; a man of African descent wearing golden aviators and brandishing a hunting rifle. A dirty, torn red shirt covered his torso. The pockets of his raggedy jeans were strapped with bandoliers of ammunition.

He aimed the rifle at Killian's head. Killian managed to duck under the counter fast enough to dodge the first bullet fired by the rifle. Eddy had taken cover behind some of the shelves in the store. The attacker started to walk closer to the counter where Killian hid behind. Eddy then noticed a large metal pot beside him. Using every ounce of courage in him, he grabbed the pot and stood up from behind the shelves he was hiding. He then threw the pot as hard as he could at the attacker. The pot hit the attacker square in the face. He staggered back for a moment and briefly clutched his head due to the pain of the major migraine Eddy just inflicted on him. Enraged, he held up his rifle in order to fire at his newfound target but in that brief moment of distraction, Killian jumped over the counter and tackled the attacker. Amidst the melee Killian was able to whip the rifle from his hands and use it to pin the attack to the ground. He then aimed the rifle at the attacker's head.

Killian spat, "This is a surprise to me, Kenji. It just goes to show Ol' Gizmo will recruit anyone desperate enough to kill me." He then looked at the first guard outside the door who finally became conscious again. "Tycho!" yelled Killian at the guard. "Take Mitch down to the Doc's office to patch up his wound!"

The guard complied and began to drag Mitch over the infirmary.

Killian faced Kenji again, "As for you, you're lucky I won't execute you where you lay. You better get used to prison life real soon."

A third guard ran into the store. Killian and the guard had a small conversation while Eddy leaned against a shelf and waited till they were done. The guard left the store with Kenji in tow. Killian walked back towards Eddy.

"That was a mighty display of heroism, there young man," said Killian.

"I'll say," replied Eddy. "I didn't know I had it in me."

"I owe you big-time kid, and if I ever come across this 'water-chip' thing you're after I will be the first to let you know when I do."

"Great to hear, Eddy replied," But even if you did have it I still probably couldn't afford to buy if from you."

Killian paused briefly, as if he were hesitating to say something. "Kid, you're not like the others from your vault, are you."

"Well I've never known any other kids from my neighborhood who have shown the amount of awesomeness I have shown today."

"Your bravery could really benefit this town. Listen, I have a proposition for you. How would you like to become the most idolized member of this settlement?"

To be continued…

Author's Note: Please check out the Desolation Ed article on the Ed, Edd n Eddy Fanon Wiki to satisfy your Desolation Ed needs*.

(*No Guarantee)