October 27, 2077

Judgement Day

War. War never changes.

The world ended today, just as I expected. In less than an hour, hundreds of millions of people died in an instant. By the end of the day, a billion more will have joined them. I was one of them.

Yes. I just said I died. Because I did. I just caught a nuclear blast to the face.

Whomever, whatever, it was that sent me here, is even more of a fucking douchbag than you could ever imagine.

It's complicated really, and thankfully, I died alone. Kelly is safe and more than a bit freaked out, and I can't blame her considering it all. I'm rather freaked out myself. But you just gotta laugh now don't you?

Let me tell you the whole story. After some teasing me about the upcoming apocalypse, she convinced me that we needed to have one day, one last wonderful day before the war to enjoy everything that was about to be lost. And we did. We went out for a wonderful dinner, I spared no expense at all. Anything she wanted I got her, I insisted. After all, my money was about to be worthless so might as well make the most of it.

We dined, danced, and made love under the stars. She even insisted we sleep under them, after all, enjoy it because in a day we'd be spending the next six months in a lead can. I gave in and after tuning my Pipboy so we'd detect emergency broadcast, which would give us 15 minutes warning, we did so.

I fucked up. It seems we both sleep pretty soundly, enough to sleep through the Emergency Broadcast system but thankfully not so soundly as to sleep through an atomic bomb, which brings up my next question. WHO IN THE FUCK NUKES A NATIONAL PARK?! I know about the Volcano but really, of all the stupid fucked up shit to do this is on the top of the goddamned list!

We were awaken by a massive tremor and a thundering sound moving through the earth of the world exploded. Our opening eyes were greeted to see a mushroom cloud in the distance, and my Popboy screeching at the radiation from the blast. At the foot of the blast we could see the shockwave moving towards us. The Earth shook under our feet, and there was plenty of screaming and running as we went for the fortified protection of our RV, blinded in terror that I'd been right after all. It was a blur, a chaotic mess, but I'll never be able to forget it.

When we reached the RV though, all I can only say fuck this shit. The machine had detected the blast and activated its automatic systems. It rooted itself to the ground, closed its shutters, and activated its internal sealing, including the Airlock. The tiny, one man airlock. Only one of us could go in at a time, and there was only time for once cycle, so I did the only thing I could think of. Before she could even speak, I threw Kelly inside and slammed the door.

My last words were 'I love you'.

Then I turned to face my end with a strange sense of calm because you know what, for the first time in my pointless misspent life, I did something worthwhile and heroic. I willingly gave my life to save the life of the woman I love. And then, with a sad little smile on my face, I took aan atomic bomb, right to the chin.

Next thing I remember, I found myself crumpled up against the RV looking into Kelly's bewildered face through her radiation suit.

I died, but I got better. I'll tell you in a moment, but here's the setup. She went inside, she took her anti-rad drugs to flush her system, then she put on a suit and went back outside to do the only thing she could think of in her bewildered state, and bury the body of the man who died to save her, who died because she insisted on sleeping under the stars one last time.

When she left the RV and approached my corpse, well...

ROB really watches too goddamned much Doctor Who.

I regenerated like a fucking Time Lord

The First Me is dead. Long Live the Second Me.

And I really do mean the second. I feel... different. It's strange. I feel like the same person but not and it is somewhat terrifying. I can see why the Doctor fears death even if he doesn't die. Regeneration is almost as bad.

Well, anyways, Kelly, being the darling soul she is who would not leave anyone sitting out in the radiation, immediately herded me back into the RV and followed, after picking up my PipBoy which had managed to wedge itself between two steps . After a decontamination shower and disposing of my clothes she asked me a full Q&A to figure out who the hell I was and what was going on.

We talked about what happened, about what we saw, and after I managed to convince her that I'm me, she basically let go. Seeing me die, seeing the world die, literally right before her eyes was too much. She's been going on her reserves, her desire to at least do right by me for saving her from the bombs, to do the right thing, but when she didn't have to be strong anymore, she just let go.

She cried, she screamed, she just freaked out, and I can understand why. I feel it too, but I think I've already come to terms having known it was coming for so long.

Right now she's asleep in our bunk and I'm going to let her rest. She needs it.

I've already moved the RV into the cave and thankfully we didn't lose anything. Radiation levels inside the cave are currently within safe limits but I'm not taking any chances. Once I'm done this I'm going to put on my rad suit, pop some Rad-X, and tarp off the mouth of the cave

For the record everyone, Rad-Away is the worst shit in the world. It makes you nauseous when you inject it and makes you feel like 5 kinds of hell once its in your system. To make matters worse it makes it burn like fire when you pee... and I had to take so much I think I'm going to be pissing orange for a month because of how long I sat out there. Kelly's not much better off because she has to purge her system of whatever it was she picked up due to the blast. Still, we have plenty thank god.

About the cat. She's a tough fighter yes, but she really is a sweet and lazy fat cat whose main complaint over the last few days is that Kelly's stolen her pillow. She's a spoiled demanding little bitch, but very lovable. She's is a sweety pie. I chose my mamma kitty for both survival skills and affection. Even the big mean tom was a neighbors cat... he was a tuna vacuum who refuses to let you pass without petting him on pain of cat attack. I want tough, intelligent, and good natured animals that can kill an oversized post-nuclear rat with ease.

And yes, the pipboy upgrades I stole include a biometrics cuff, its just not something I can use all the time without modification. Also, I didn't have to worry about EMP. Most of this tech is optical and thus hardened by its very nature. I read the manual, but not that any of that is a worry now that the world's been blown up and all.

If you guy have anything to say, please say it because with everything going on I'm at a loss. I need to stay sane.