Hey y'all. I just wanted to say that I totally updated the first chapter. Just the first one so far. I added a few more hints of Lydia's past, and if you guys are extremely interested you could always check it out so you can start guessing amongst yourselves what her past is. And, you know, I made her a little more realistic in terms of dealing with the Legion. I'll be working on future chapters and I appreciate any constructive critisizm as it tells me exactly what it is you guys are looking for.

Still totally accepting suggestions. If you want Benny to find a radioactive stain on his precious suit that ends up eating up the whole town of Megaton, you tell me about it dude. I won't follow this example, but maybe your suggestion could be seen in future chapters.

Also, Fallouters, remember that Grayditch is already deserted. My people were not informed of this. So, you know...

"What do you think caused this Radroach infestation, boss?" Raul called from his steady position at my right shoulder. By this time I had already gotten used to the smell his flesh gave off when exposed to the sun for an hour. He was just keeping pace alongside me, hand ready at his belt to retrieve his pistol at any sign of trouble, completely unaware that his quite possibly moldy skin was giving off a sweet odor similar to a hearty meal of rotted tissue and onions all barfed up into an oven and allowed to bake properly.

"Hard to tell without looking at the infestation itself, Raul," I told him matter-of-factly. The remains of a ghost town lay ahead of us, and a large sign displaying the white, painted-on words: "WELCOME TO GRAYDITCH" was our only hearty greeter. We hadn't seen any Radroaches on our way in, and I was beginning to wonder just how large this so-called "Radroach infestation" was. "Who knows?" I continued, making the first steps into the ever-so-quiet town. "Maybe some unhappy customer didn't order Radroach in their Fancy Lads, and the owner of the restaurant wants us to take care of it."

"This place looks absolutely deserted, boss."

"Your face looks absolutely deserted, boss," I said calmly, and then added a chuckle, which Raul matched with a scratchy wheezing sound.

"You're not very good at coming up with comebacks," he announced in between bouts of the thick, scratchy sound he made with his throat.

"I know," I answered dejectedly. "Just be on the lookout for anything that nips at your ankles."

"If anything nips at my ankles, boss, there's a big possibility that I'm not going to feel it."

I heard a short skree followed by a series of clicks coming from behind a dumpster. A little head poked out at us, equipped with a set of long antennae slapping the area around it with curiosity. Raul whipped his hand to his belt, removing the gun from its holster almost faster than I could percept. "Hold your fire dude," I held an arm out to stop him, and he lowered his pistol. "I got this!"

Snatching a sizeable rod of rusted metal from the sign, I calmly strode my way over to the insect. As I drew closer, it scuttled out of its hiding spot to take a defensive stance, its wings spread wide and vibrating to bellow that series of clicks it had made earlier. One swing aimed at its head proved potent enough, and it flopped limply to the ground. In triumph, I began to peel away the exoskeleton to reveal the squishy meat underneath.

"That looks about as appetizing as my rotting ass, boss," Raul muttered halfway in disgust.

"Yeah, well you'd be surprised at the number of people that find your rotting ass very delicious," I muttered back, thinking back to the tales of the news on the strip: The Courier has been so kind as to recruit new escorts for the Atomic Wrangler—a new boyfriend-material-kind-of-guy, a new sexbot, a new cowgirl-ghoul… "You should be grateful that I'm not peeling away your exoskeleton to get to those thick, juicy, price cuts in your cheeks."

"If you're looking for thick and juicy, you've got the wrong ghoul."

I took a handful of the raw meat and held it out to Raul. "I need something to wrap this in."

He eyed the way I held the stuff so easily. "You could always tear off your flag, boss, and use that—"

"No," I interrupted quickly. "The flag is the coolest thing about this whole outfit. Find something else."

Raul sighed, rolling his eyes, and began milling about in the dumpster before pulling out a very conveniently placed pre-war sweater. It was dirty and mangy-looking, but it looked perfect for holding my Radroach meat. I wrapped the squishy goo in the red fabric and slipped the package into my backpack before I noticed the faint little blip sound that emitted from my Pip-Boy. On the screen, to the upper left hand corner, displayed a Vault Boy and the words: "Radroach meat added."

My head shot back, startled. "This thing keeps track of what I'm holding?!"

"You have a lot to learn about that Pip-Boy, boss."

"Yeah, well you have a lot to learn about accepting meat when you're hungry." I straightened, tearing my eyes away from the machine-wonder to look around. "Hasn't the Courier ever shared a Radroach kabob with you guys?"

"Can't say he has," Raul sniffed. "It's been all omelets and brahmin steak for us."

"Wow, living the sweet life, aren't you. Radroach isn't all that bad," I shrugged. "It's got a nice spice to it. Now, this one here is just hanging out in the garbage—was hanging out, I should say. If this is all we find here, we could just tell Moira that the infestation came from the attraction to Grayditch's waste." Feeling proud of myself for coming up with an excuse so early into the quest, I beamed at my squashed work of violence like it was a masterpiece. "I'm sure she'd take that and shove it all over her book."

"Speaking of her book, boss, did you read that at all yet?"

"Nope," I said bluntly. "I gave it to Arcade because he has lots of room to store stuff in his new suit of armor. Maybe he'll sell it for enough food to last the rest of the crew until we get back."

"What would that book buy, do you think?"

"A few handfuls of dirt." I gestured for him to follow me onwards, further into the city. "It'd make some tasty seasoning if they decide to chop Benny up into little pieces and eat him."

"You can be morbid at times, boss," Raul snickered.

"It's part of the joys of being me," I answered proudly.

Together, we managed to make our way to the center of the town, which happened to be completely deserted. Looking around with a bad feeling forming in the pit of my stomach, I had said something to Raul along the lines of "Looks like a lot of people were angry at that Radroach in their Fancy Lads." He answered with silence, his hand twitching at his belt for any sign of a quick movement.

"We've only seen one Radroach," I muttered. "It shouldn't be this deserted."

Raul opened his mouth to answer back, but cut himself off by whipping around to look behind him, where a thick, bulky silhouette was staggering out of sight. I clutched to my metal rod like a baseball bat, my mind instantly a blank as I noticed that it definitely didn't look like the silhouette of a Radroach. Raul took a step forward, where his foot made an audible crunch. He stooped down to retrieve what he had stepped on, and handed it to me. It was a holotape, still intact even though Raul's foot had gladly tried to destroy it.

"Put it in your Pip-Boy," he said, pointing to a slot in the side that was clearly meant for it. I fumbled for a bit, trying to stick it in upside down before managing to fit it.

"If you're listening to this," it began immediately in a nasally voice. "They've driven me back down into the metro station. I know I promised not to tinker with things again, but I couldn't help myself—it was in the name of science! If my research would have worked—" it cut off as there was the sound of a scuffle, some snorting sounds, a few gunshots, running, panting, silence. "They're all over. All over! If you're listening to this, get out before it's too late! If they trap your exit out of Grayditch, find me in the Marigold Metro Station and we can bunker down together and try to figure out how to get rid of them with science. Just be warned! If one comes, they'll all come and you'll be DOOMED! DOOMED! DOOMED!" There was another scuffle and more running. "This is Doctor Lesko. Don't even bother trying to get out of the city if you're already this far in. Just come down to the station. They'll swarm you; it'll be too much. I'll explain everything when you get down here, just hurry before it's too late!"

The holotape ended with a cute little blip, and Raul said, "That's always a good sign."

"The Metro Stations are not far, I guess," I shrugged, turning to squint in the general direction my Pip-Boy offered. "But what exactly was he talking about? Radroaches?" Raul shrugged along, and I frowned down at my Pip-Boy, wishing the holotape had given a little more information than simply implying a certain impending doom. "Must be some really big Radro—"

I was cut off as Raul's body slammed into mine, toppling me to the ground. Looking up, I realized that it was not Raul at all, but rather a giant mass of pink flesh. It was wiggling, squirming, emitting scratch noises and snorts. It took me a moment to realize that it was digging through the plating at my shoulder. I lashed out at it, but as soon as my hand made contact its body rotated and a set of hulking teeth aimed for my head.