The Diary of a Survivor: Olivia

by KRicci93

I haven't written in my diary since after Nate got home from deployment. Seeing the world like this is just... painful. I've returned to my diary. Writing about my day to day life out here is therapeutic in the absence of my family. Like someone I can come home to. To whoever this falls into the possession of, I hope my life was meaningful. I hope I found my boy. Be well.

7. Chapter 7

Olivia Remington.

10/31/2287.

Monday.

9:30 AM.

Dear Diary,

What a night… what a fucking night. Why haven't I died yet? Raiding ArcJet Systems like that against those robotic monstrosities called "Institute Synths" should've been the last thing I ever did. But here I am, writing another diary entry from inside of the trailer of an 18-Wheeler because, somehow, I haven't died yet.

I'm not complaining, I'm just astonished. Last night after I finished writing, I got changed into my leather armor and a pair of military fatigues I found the other day, threw on my road goggles and the black and silver bandanna I wear around my face, then got together with Danse and headed out. Before we left, I spoke with Haylen and Rhys. And I was right, Haylen is a sweetheart, and Rhys is a dick head. He was all attitude and even got in my face when I said hi to him. Like, excuse me? I helped these guys out and this Rhys guy was just a complete ASS to me. He was acting all high and mighty, telling me I should know my place. I don't believe that's him pulling rank though, even though I still DON'T work for them. No, I believe he feels threatened by me. Rhys was the only one of the four of us that was on the ground with an injury. Me, the vault dweller of all people, was more useful than he was in that Ghoul scuffle. But, again, I don't work for them, so I couldn't give a damn WHAT he thinks.

Anyway, Danse and I left and made it to ArcJet with very little trouble. A small raider crew and a few wild dogs, but they weren't a threat, especially since I had that tall glass of water, Danse, shooting as well. Handsome AND proficient with a gun. I felt a bit embarrassed at first since I'm by no means a gun expert, but after awhile, I eased up and felt more comfortable. But ArcJet was no picnic, those "Synths" I mentioned before are the real deal. Dangerous, and in some ways, terrifying. Danse seemed to know a little about them, and this "Institute" he mentioned. Gonna have to listen for that name in my travels, I get a very uncomfortable feeling whenever I think about it.

We wound up in a giant room that ArcJet used to test rockets, and I may have accidentally almost burnt Paladin Danse alive. He told me to figure out how to get the power back on, as if I'd have any idea. But, I went and figured it out anyway. I found the terminal and powered up the generators, even found this big contraption that looked like a cannon with a holotape next to it. The guy on the tape called it the "Junk Jet" in his irritated rambling. I didn't have time to mess with it, but I'm going to as soon as I can. It seems FUN. Anyway, once the power was on, more Synths swarmed Danse in the main chamber. I could see it all through a glass window, and there was a voice playing over the P.A. Under the window on a console, there was a red button.

I didn't put 2 and 2 together until after I hit the button. I'm not even sure why I did it, but I was compelled to. I realized as soon as I did though that I made a mistake, a moments later, the rocket fired inside the chamber and FRIED all the Synths, and Danse himself. Thankfully he survived it though, his Power Armor kept him alive and I felt SO BAD about it. Luckily, Dogmeat had been behind me. I would've cried if I inadvertently killed him.

We got the transmitter and got out of there, it was the middle of the night, and I for one was DONE. Danse and I parted afterwards, he paid me and gave me one of his guns as a token of gratitude. He also asked me to join the Brotherhood of Steel, but I told him I wasn't interested. While all of this has been LOADS OF FUN, I really need to get to Diamond City. That's still my only lead on Shaun, and that's only because it's a well known settlement, and that means people, so I HOPE someone knows SOMETHING.

That wasn't even the end of things though. I came across a mainly intact looking house and intended on sleeping there if it was empty. HOWEVER, I got jumped by what looked like another military outfit. Unlike the Brotherhood of Steel though, these guys shot at me before I could say a word to them. The group was pretty big, and even though I managed to kill off a few of them, me and Dogmeat had to run because there were so many of them. And they had a fucking Assaultron too, so we booked it and found this trailer down the road. I'm pretty surprised they didn't follow us, but it WAS dark. I bet they figured I'd die or something. But all that matters is that I'm alive, Dogmeat is alive, and we're safe.

I'm really glad Nate taught me how to pick locks after I got locked out of my car in Quincy visiting my sister. It can be tedious at times, but Nate got tired of either having to drive out to unlock my car, or paying locksmiths to do it. I haven't unlocked this trailer yet today, and we're not coming back once we leave. They could still be out there, and I'm NOT dealing with them again.

Anyway, I'll check in later. I can tell my entries are gonna get longer if things keep happening at this rate.

1:45 PM.

One of those soldiers was waiting for us down the street. Thanks to Dogmeat for sniffing him out before he could kill us, I'm never traveling anywhere without him. Also, shot two of those two headed deer, so I had a good breakfast.

I hadn't noticed before, but the world is actually really pretty. It's a lot greener and healthier than I'd expect a post-apocalyptic wasteland to be. And it was cool all morning, so that was nice. We headed back to the Cambridge Police Station because I wanted to regroup and replan. And Danse asked me to join again. I told him I'd have to think about it, the offer is a BIT tempting, but only because of how beneficial having an army like that helping me find Shaun would be. I'm not sure how I feel about taking orders though. I'm not Nate, I'm not a soldier. I have to think about it. In the meantime, I'm gonna make my way to Diamond City. From what I understand, it's just on the other side of the river, so I'm close.

I'll check in later, Diary. Hopefully Shaun is nearby.

10:00 PM.

Fenway Park! Diamond City makes so much sense now. Why I wasn't able to connect the dots, I'll never know. For some reason, I was expecting a pristine city risen from the ashes of Boston, but no, it's because it's a settlement built inside of Fenway Park. I'm both blown away AND disappointed, but it makes so much sense now!

Anyway, with all that aside; YES, I made it to DIAMOND CITY, writing to you as always my dear Diary. I'm staying at this place called the Dugout Inn; a baseball dugout renovated into a bar. For just having to cross the Charles River, it sure took me a while to get to this point, and sadly, still no Shaun.

Today was weird. After I left the Cambridge Police Station, I came across a group of dead raiders, and a bunch of Mole Rats that I made quick work of. As I've been going, I've picked up the habit of looting anything I can, including dead foes. And I found an intervention letter on one of the bodies. Addressed to "Hank", the letter was basically asking this guy to quit the drugs. But, instead of drugs, the letter said "food paste", and mentioned it coming from a school. I don't remember the name off the top of my head, but that's certainly something that I want to know more about.

But anyway, I finally got to crossing the bridge into Boston, and underneath the bridge in the river was the USS Riptide. It was all rundown, part of the ship looked like it had hit the bridge, and I'm pretty sure Raiders were occupying it. I snuck across the bridge with Dogmeat and headed toward Diamond City. Unfortunately, I walked right into a massive gunfight. The first thing I spotted were two guys decked out in umpire gear, Diamond City Security, with really shitty looking guns. And across from them in this rundown apartment, TOWERING GREEN MONSTERS. At least 8 feet tall, grotesquely JACKED, and… really stupid. One of the guards called them "Muties", which sounded to me like a slang term for mutant. And that makes a lot of sense. They weren't very easy to kill, but they didn't notice me, so I was able to sneak by since they were so distracted with the guards, and kill them all at close range.

The gunfire stopped and I thought it was over, but all the sudden I heard more shooting, which startled me so bad I almost pissed myself. It was those rogue looking military guys again. One guy in power armor, and a couple of others. But it wasn't JUST them, more of those Synths showed up too, and I found myself in the center of a three-way shootout. Only me and one of the guards survived, which really sucks since those guys were just trying to protect their settlement. But that seems to be the way life works out here. Survival of the fittest in it's purest form.

Finally made it to the front gate and IMMEDIATELY got wrapped up in some drama between the settlement's reporter, Piper, a Diamond City guard named Danny, and the Mayor of the settlement, McDonough. The gate was locked, the Mayor wanted Piper out, and Piper used me as a means to trick Danny into opening the gate. It was already getting late by then so I didn't really care to converse with everyone. The Mayor's attitude pissed me off right away, picking a fight with Piper in front of a newcomer. He tried to butter me up, but I didn't pay him any mind. His and Piper's bickering annoyed me, and I really just wanted to get inside. I made sure to introduce myself to Danny, and apologize. I got roped into the whole thing so fast that I didn't have time to process everything.

Danny was the first person I told I was looking for Shaun. And immediately, he shot down the idea of helping me before I even asked for it. He said "Mayor's orders", which lines up with the snide remarks Piper made about Diamond City Security not helping anyone. And then he mentioned the Institute. That's the common theme surrounding ALL of this drama. Again, Danny mentioned it first, then Piper's little sister, Clements, the town pastor, mentioned it too. Even a couple of people at the barber shop said something about it. And it seems to me like Piper and her newspaper, Publick Occurrences, are at the center of the town wide paranoia. I didn't think too much of the Institute when Danse mentioned it, but it's turning out to be bigger than I thought. Which means, that sick feeling I got before wasn't a coincidence. What Nat and Pastor Clements said about what the Institute uses Synths for is pretty unsettling. The ones I fought looked like something RobCo and General Atomics would build, but these people are telling me that Synths are indistinguishable from people, which means I would have no way of knowing if anyone I've met so far is a synth or not. Definitely something I need to watch out for.

On top of all that, it got REALLY HOT out for a few minutes after I got here, and my Geigercounter went ballistic. I took some Radaway and Rad-X to be safe, it was pretty fucking wild. The pastor has been the most welcoming person I've met. Ironic, but I think I like him. He's a bit older, black, and has a smooth voice, and he seems like just the sweetest man. Piper's sister is kind of annoying. Nat? I think that's what Piper called her. Really selling this Institute to the cheap seats, but I got a free paper out of it. I'll read it in the morning though, I'm not writing a long ass Diary entry AND reading a whole newspaper article. I'm not too sure about Piper yet. Those shenanigans outside didn't leave the greatest impression on me. But she invited me into her office for something, so I'll head over there tomorrow.

Right now, I think I'm gonna hit the sack. Dugout Inn seems pretty cozy for what it's worth. I've spoken to the waitress, Scarlett, and one of the brothers that run the place, Yefim. I avoided Vadim, the guy behind the bar. He's loud and obnoxious, and I have a feeling my patience would dry up REAL fast with him. My room seems cozy, hopefully the bed is comfortable. I need a good night sleep, and I feel safe here, all things considered. So hopefully I wake up feeling good tomorrow, because Shaun is still out there, and I will do whatever it takes to get him back.

That bald piece of shit is going to pay for stealing my baby boy and killing my husband in his BLOOD.

Goodnight Diary.

PS: I heard this really timid sounding guy on the radio in the bar, and he was talking about the Brotherhood of Steel in Cambridge, and the Vault Dweller that helped them. I guess I'm building a reputation already.