After Dana had given him the precise date and time for him to put into his Pip-Boy she left tent four. Drake would then spend the rest of the night looking over the holotapes she had provided him. Most of them had apparently been authored and narrated by a man named Ron Jennings. A man the tapes distributor was apparently calling the storyteller.

He had begun by looking into why Vault-Tec's Vault program had apparently failed to preserve civilization like it was supposed to. He was shocked to learn that Vault-Tec had turned the vast majority of its facilities into bizarre laboratories for various scientific and social experimentation. With their human inhabitants as the test subjects. The vast majority of these experiments apparently led to the deaths of the Vault residents for one reason or another and almost nothing of any real value was ever gained.

These experiments were apparently part of a secret government project known as the Societal Preservation Program and was apparently created by a rogue faction of the United States Government known as the Enclave. Curiously, it has been discovered that not all of the experiments conducted by Vault-Tec were actually developed, or even authorized, by the Enclave's leaders. Other projects that the Enclave had authorized were apparently either modified, or deliberately sabotaged, in order to guarantee failure. Three vaults that the Enclave leadership was very angry about losing in this way were Vault-92, which was supposed to develop a way to brainwash and control people with sound waves and subliminal messages but had been given an inexplicable order to experiment on the entire population all at once, Vault-96, which was never meant to have any other type of experiment other than its official genetic and biological work, and Vault-108 which was supposed to develop an endless supply of quickly grown clone soldiers but was apparently intentionally poorly built, under supplied in certain areas like entertainment, and had an Overseer meant to die early.

The Enclave leadership sent troops to Vault-0 to capture Vault-Tec's apparently renegade owners only to find the entire facility empty.

Drake then went on to learn about the two groups that tried to kill him in that underground facility he had woken up in. The Brotherhood of Steel and Caesar's Empire.

The Brotherhood is apparently one of the oldest organizations on the continent and was formed by a rogue US Army officer by the name of Roger Maxson not long after the bombs dropped. The organization appears to operate as a sort of militaristic religious order similar to the Knights Templar and possesses a fanatical obsession with both preserving and controlling all scientific knowledge. They also seem to be almost as obsessed, or at least prideful, of their own perceived genetic purity as they are with technology which has caused them to develop an almost genocidal hatred of Ghouls and Supermutants. It also apparently led to their near annihilation several decades ago as it caused them to start two losing wars with factions who were once their allies. Those defeats eventually lead to a series of reforms that have allowed the Brotherhood of Steel to conquer a truly massive chunk of North America and become the second largest of the eight nations.

Caesar's Empire in contrast is a much newer faction that apparently broke away from a separate organization called Caesar's Legion. Its founding Emperor, a man by the name of Joshua Graham, was apparently a co-founder of the legion who survived an execution attempt by his partner after a military defeat against a country called the New California Republic. Years later that man, by the name of Edward Sallow, died alongside his new second in command causing the legion to fall into civil war. This allowed Joshua to return and reunite half of the Legion's surviving troops under his command. He then led them further east where they would conquer a sizable portion of the southern states. After Joshua's death his son Nicholas succeeded him as Emperor and currently rules with, what the author of the record he was reading describes as, an iron fist and a benevolent heart.

"So much of the country has now found itself ruled by either a group of technological zealots or reverted back into the hands of a primitive monarchy. I can't believe how much America has fallen." Drake thought to himself as he popped the holotape from his Pipboy.

"Read anything interesting there smoothskin?" Came a voice from Drake's right.

Drake looked to see Derecho standing just outside his tent with a small bag full of something that jingled as he shook it.

"Just reminding myself how screwed up the world is. I see that you're a man of your word after all. Thank you for saving my life by the way."

"Hey, it's the least I can do for someone who had literally just saved my own ass. Besides, I wasn't lying about me needing an antidote for myself." Derecho replied as he tossed the bag to Drake.

"So how much is my cut?"

"One thousand caps. Lenny, the guy that did most of the talking, had some damn good chems he was hoarding away for himself in his satchel!"

"Exactly why were those guys so angry with you anyway?"

"We were among the raiders trying to fight off the Brotherhood of Steel in the Carolinas. I was the one that convinced our gang to join that alliance so they blamed me for our eventual defeat."

"When did the Brotherhood take control of South Carolina? The Holotape I was reading said something about them starting a campaign in North Carolina."

"They started their invasion almost three years ago."

"The holotape mentioned that the Brotherhood was expecting to capture both states within two months."

Derecho gave a truly big and devilish smile before saying, "Me and my boys proved them wrong. "Painfully" wrong." Derecho let out a wicked chuckle as he appeared to relish a memory.

"So when did the campaign end?"

"About a week before we met. My gang and many other surviving raiders have been flooding into Georgia in droves! So many that even I'm starting to feel bad for the local settlements here. Poor bastards."

That struck Drake as a little odd. "I got the impression that robbing, pillaging, killing, and most likely raping are what you do."

"Hey now. I may rob, kill, and "occasionally" pillage.."

"Occasionally?"

"Okay you got me, I do that a lot too. But I have "never" raped a woman in my life."

"Well that's something at least."

"You're damn straight. I also don't sell people either by the way."

"That last denial came out pretty quick."

"Most of the eight nations take an exceptionally dim view on slavery and reserve most of their most painful punishments for slavers and their customers. Seeing as this place is likely to fall under Brotherhood control in the next few years I think it might be a good idea to make it very clear that I have "never" dealt with the slave trade since the bombs fell."

"You were around for that?"

"Kid, you're most likely looking at the last living survivor of the Battle of Anchorage."

"Really?"

"Yup, really."

Drake wasn't sure whether or not he could be considered an expert in human behavior but something in his gut told him that Derecho was definitely telling the truth about being at Anchorage. Not only that, but he seemed to be almost prideful of that fact. So he decided to change the subject back to current events.

"So why exactly did you say you felt sorry for the local settlers?"

"Because there's now a massive swarm of locusts and not enough food to feed them all kid."

"So you're saying that their going to steal more than what the settlers actually have to begin with."

"Exactly. The local raiders are already more than most of the settlements can handle as it is. But now they have about ten times that many wounded, thirsty, hungry, and down right angry battle hardened raiders to deal with too. And I really doubt whether or not any of those Brotherhood assholes care about the suffering these people are about to go through because of their crazy ass crusade either."

Drake could clearly make out a strong sense of anger and perhaps even resentment in Derecho's tone as he spoke of the Brotherhood. He could tell that Derecho's grudge against them was likely about far more than his recent defeats, and most certainly very personal.

"Anyway, I made you a little gift before leaving that trade settlement. Figured you're going to be needing it pretty fucking soon." Derecho reached down and picked up a backpack he had sat down on the ground out of Drake's view.

Derecho tossed the backpack to Drake who opened it to reveal what looked like a homemade revolver and hundreds of .308 rounds.

"It's a Tactical .308 Pipe Revolver Pistol. I built it from scratch out of recently made parts brought in from the Commonwealth. So no need to worry about rust damage. I even attached a Long Night Vision Scope I scavenged from Jenny's corpse. Only fitting that you use it since you're the one who brought her down. Although I grabbed the ammo off of a couple of dead Brotherhood Knights I stumbled across on the way back here."

"Were those knights dead before or after you found them?"

"I'll be honest. When it comes to the Brotherhood of Steel you can almost assuredly assume that it was after. Which is exactly what happened here. They saw me and made the fatal mistake of pointing their guns at me."

"They pointed them at you before or after you shot at them?"

"After, of course."

Drake wasn't sure what to make of the man's unabashed admittance to murder. Everything he knew, or at least everything that was downloaded into his brain, about morality says that the man should be arrested, or even killed, for what he did. But on the other hand, everything he has seen and read about the modern world says that the man is actually frighteningly normal. Not only that, but could he truly condemn Derecho for killing people he had so recently been at war with?

Drake looked back into the sack and considered the ammunition that Derecho had looted from his victims. Should he accept it, or should he toss it away? Ultimately, Drake had to reluctantly admit that he needed the ammunition more than the dead soldiers did. He then felt the healing cut on his left leg and knew that he was certain to need weapons and ammunition if he was to survive threats like that strange creature again.

In the end, Drake chose to accept the ammunition. "I assume that you are using better quality guns than this if you were able to take down fully equipped soldiers. Correct?"

"Hey you get what you pay for kid."

"I don't recall paying you for anything yet."

"Exactly!"

"Wait. Won't the recoil from this thing destroy my wrist with the first shot? These are .308s after all."

"Nothing a little Monkhiin won't be able to solve."

"Monkhiin? Isn't that the Mongolian word for eternal?"

"I wouldn't know anything about the word itself but it's the current name to a powerful medication that heals long term wear and tear and strengthens parts of the body under the most strain. It comes straight from the Khan Empire."

"Is that one of the eight nations?"

"Yup. And the pharmaceutical juggernaut of the eight too."

"So exactly how many bullets do I get to shoot for free here? Any moon clips?" Drake asked as he pulled out the unusually long revolver and what appeared to be a customized chest strap with holster designed just for it.

"Six hundred and six rounds and since the bullets were an unexpected bonus for us, one that earned me a punch in the stomach by one of Frank's guards by the way, I didn't get any moon clips. You should be able to pay this camp's engineer to make you some though."

"You know that guard most likely wouldn't have shot at you if you hadn't decided to drag them into a firefight, right?" Drake asked partly to admonish Derecho and partly because he was curious as to how the man would justify that particular part of his little murder spree.

A man's got to do what a man's got to do. Besides, Brotherhood troops are about as useful to the world as Radroaches anyway."

That last sentence confirmed Drake's suspicion of Derecho's hatred toward the Brotherhood of Steel being a deeply personal one.

I know you were at war with them, but isn't that a particularly cruel way of looking at them?"

"They deserve it for the way they have treated me, and all other Ghouls, alone. Never mind the fact that America would likely have been restored a century ago if those selfish, and arrogant, sons of bitches hadn't stolen, hoarded, and "never" used valuable pieces of technology and knowledge for so god damn long!"

Drake felt that further questioning on the matter would only alienate the man. Something he wanted to avoid after both learning of his military history, age, and seeing first hand how quick of a draw he is when they first met. He was certainly a person anyone would want to have on their side.

Besides that, Drake felt that the man was not as cold blooded as his raider lifestyle, which was described by the holotapes as being truly horrific and depraved, would suggest. He has already shown Drake that he does indeed still have a moral ethical code.

"I see you're point. Say, if Frank and his men are so angry with you for killing those soldiers, why did he let you come see me? Let alone carry a gun through camp. I would think the man wouldn't trust you not to kill any of his Brotherhood patients with it."

Derecho chuckled before replying. "He doesn't. He had me disarmed and has had snipers aimed at me this whole time."

"What?!" Drake got out of his bed and went to take a look outside and after a couple seconds of searching spotted no less than three men aiming rifles at Derecho from the watch towers surrounding the camp.

"Needless to say, they are the reason I haven't stepped into your tent."

"My bed is so close to the entrance I didn't really take note."

It's a tad bit overkill though. I killed them out in the wastes where "anything" goes. But this camp is his turf and his rules are law as long as he stays in charge here. That is how it has always been since the bombs fell."

"I notice that most of the stuff I have read refer to the exchange as either the "Great War" or simply "The War" and seem to consider it as a separate conflict to the ten year long war that caused it. But you don't. Why is that?"

"Because it had been hundreds of years since the mainland United States had been significantly attacked, and because most of the survivors were too god damn stupid to understand the difference between war and fucking Armageddon. I know first hand what real war is, and that senseless bloodbath and destruction was "nothing" like it."

Before Drake could say anything more gun fire could be heard from behind a large hill to the northeast. Instantly strong metal walls began rising from the ground between the inner and outer Heavy Machine Gun Turret rings with a second row of walls rising behind the inner turret ring. Frank Morden's voice then came over the speakers attached to his trailer. "Attention all patients and personnel. Scout group seven has spotted a large group of heavily armed Overlords heading straight for our location. All patients capable of being moved are to be placed inside the shelter trailers on the west end and all Brotherhood and Imperial soldiers still capable of fighting are to report to my trailer immediately!"

Drake looked at Derecho who looked to be even more shocked by the announcement than him. "I take it these guys aren't friends of yours either then."

"Fuck no! The Overlords are the largest slaver gang in Georgia. They probably want to capture and sell all of these doctors and every other able bodied person that survives this raid too!"

"Sell us? Sell us to who? Most of the people here are wounded soldiers more than capable of fighting back once they recover. Who would possibly want to buy them?"

Before Derecho could answer, the guards on top of the three watchtowers began to open fire on attackers hidden behind the newly risen walls. This would quickly be followed by the sounds of the outer turrets, and most likely the Sentry Bots, finally engaging the enemy too.

Drake then rushed back into tent four and began quickly loading his gun. He then grabbed his own pack he had found in the caves and took out the combat knife he had recovered. After placing it and the pistol into their strap holsters Drake ran towards his Ghoul bunkmate Olivia and began undoing her restraints when Derecho grabbed his right hand.

She's restrained for a damb good reason kid. It may be cruel as fuck, but you do "not" want to free a potentially feral Ghoul. Ever. Trust me, I know."

"Ghouls don't show symptoms before going feral though."

"Frank told me about her before letting me come see you. They haven't a clue as to what is happening to her. But judging by the whispering she claimed to have been hearing I think it very likely that what is wrong with her could finally trigger whatever it is that makes us go nuts. We can't take that chance."

"We can't just let those evil bastards just capture or kill her."

"The hell we can't! The doctors will be here to transfer her to a shelter any moment. All we need to do is either help protect the camp or fight our way out and run like hell. Personally, I choose to run." Derecho then let go of Drake's hand and ran out of the tent, most likely to grab his confiscated weapons from Frank. Nobody can fight their way out of this kind of mess unarmed.

Drake now had a decision to make. Either untie Olivia and risk being eaten alive, stay and protect her and the camp, or hide and wait for an opportunity to escape. When he heard, and felt, a large explosion to the south Drake knew that he had to make his decision now.

Just then Dana and two caravan guards entered the tent with a stretcher.

"You're still here? Why aren't you in one of the shelters?!" Dana exclaimed upon seeing him.

"I was about to untie Olivia and carry her to the shelter with me when Derecho stopped me." Drake replied just before a series of explosions began raining down on the camp's outer walls.

The guards grabbed Olivia, mattress and all, and strapped her tightly onto the stretcher before Dana spoke again. "It's a good thing he did. You haven't seen what Feral Ghouls can do and we have no idea what is happening to her."

Caravan guards and lightly wounded Brotherhood soldiers, two in damaged Power Armor, ran past the tent towards the inner walls.

"Why the hell are the slavers working so damn hard to attack a place this well defended? They can't possibly hope to gain more than they are losing. It doesn't make any sense." One of the guards shouted as they all left tent four.

It was Dana that replied. "Shit! They must be after Conner."

"Whose Conner?" Drake shouted over the weapons fire.

"Our doctor from the Commonwealth. They must think he's an Institute survivor." Dana answered as though Drake would understand what that meant.

They were halfway to the shelters when Drake was startled by a bright flash to his left. When he turned to look at where it came from one of the guards took a blue energy bolt to his helmet covered head and crumpled to the ground. Drake responded to this by grabbing Dana's left arm and dragging her, and because Dana hadn't let go of her stretcher Olivia too, into the nearest tent as the second guard opened fire on their seven goggle wearing attackers, who were dressed in blue Heavy Combat Armor with what looked like a drawing of a man walking around two women on their hands and knees with leashes inside a circle, with his Combat Rifle.

As Drake flipped the three operating tables and other pieces of equipment to use as cover Dana seemed to speak as much to herself as to him. "How the hell did they get past the barriers already?"

Drake realized that Dana had just asked a pretty damn good question because he hadn't noticed any broken gaps in the camp's defensive perimeter while they were traveling to the shelters. He also hadn't seen any of their attackers approaching which made no sense because there was hardly any cover for even a single man to hide behind, let alone seven, from the direction they were attacking from. It was as if they had just appeared out of thin air.

The guard's gun went silent just before another bright flash appeared. He motioned for Dana hide as he crouched behind one of the tables. A second later, five armed masked individuals, three men and two women, looking more like the raiders he and Derecho had killed when they first met, entered the tent obviously in search of him and Dana.

"Now where the hell did these guys come from?" Drake thought to himself. He could clearly hear from a distance that the fighting at the barriers still hadn't gotten any closer and he was positive that these new guys would have attacked when the others did had they simply been hiding.

When one of the male raiders got close to Drake's position he jumped up and used his left hand to stab the man's heart, not an easy thing to do as he had to angle his blade just right and aim for a small gap in his make shift armor, and used his right to shoot one of his female partners in the head, which simply exploded, only two feet behind him.

As Drake had suspected, the revolver's recoil was extremely powerful and his hand cried out in agony in response to the shot. However, Drake struggled through the pain and fought on by using the dead raider as a human shield and cocking a new round into position. He then used his Pip-Boy's V.A.T.S targeting system to quickly take down the other three raiders by first shooting the second woman, who was the furthest away but was carrying what looked to be a more sturdy and accurate rifle made out of pipe, wood, tape, and likely various other parts, in her left shoulder while aiming for her head, he then adjusted for his gun's accuracy and took down the other two men with two rapid headshots.

Drake looked behind to check on Dana only to find her missing and a large cut in the tent where she had been. The Overlords must have snatched her while he was busy fighting their raider partners.

While still in V.A.T.S, Drake pulled his knife out of the dead raider and recklessly lunged through the hole only to find himself facing the end of one of the Overlord's energy weapons. Drake instinctively aims his gun ever so slightly and shoots the man's right leg, completely severing the limb, but is hit in his left shoulder by an energy bolt from the slaver's weapon.

Instead of being injured by the energy bolt Drake only became extremely dazed and confused. Despite this, he could still Dana's voice as she desperately fought tooth and nail against two of the other four Overlords. He did his best to aim his gun but was attacked by one of the others wielding a stun baton.

Drake barely dodged the man's first swing and the two began lashing at each other, Drake with his knife and the Overlord with his stun baton, as he didn't want to waste his last bullet on another close target.

After about a minute of dueling Drake was able, despite his still incredibly dazed state, to slash his attackers right arm, causing him to drop his weapon and giving him the opening he needed to slash open the man's throught. Drake then turned towards Dana and her two would be abductors and, even with the assistance of VATS, was barely able to take the head off of one of the Overlords with a well placed shot to the back of his neck. Which was not a good sign as Drake had been aiming for his left leg.

Drake was only able to take a single step forward when before he collapsed to the ground. "No! Not again! Not now!" He thought as he realized he was starting to lose consciousness. The last thing he saw before passing out was Dana and her last Overlord attacker disappearing in a blinding flash of light.