Well here's the third chapter. Hope you enjoy.
Mandalore the Survivor - First off, thanks for the review. Secondly I already have something planned that involves Cindy's history of bullying set sometime between the quests 'Sanctuary' and 'Returning the Favor'. It just won't be about Jackson and his friends. Also Jackson himself never started smoking, just his friends. I'll also be trying to do something with the factions that we didn't have a chance to do in Fallout 4. And yes certain characters in Fallout 4 will be making reference and comparisons to the Lone Wanderer from Fallout 3.
In addition I have something else planned for Jackson's character set after he recruits all but Paladin Danse, X6-88, Old Longfellow, and Porter Gage. In fact that'll be how Jackson... whoops almost gave that one away.
I'll also give those videos that you put in a look when I get a chance.
'Thinking'
"Talking"
When Freedom Calls
October 23rd 2287
After the embarrassment Codsworth dealt him the Mr. Handy robot slightly made up for it by offering him a present his parents would've given him for his upcoming birthday. A grey fedora that, according to Codsworth, his mother believed would make him look 'rather dashing'. Putting it on he was about to head out until he spotted a skeleton in a corner of the kitchen area between the stove and refrigerator. Near the skeleton was what seemed to be a pistol of some kind. A homemade one at that if the glue and duct tape holding it together were any indication. Collecting the pistol and storing it in his Pip-boy, he exited the house and made his way through the town of Sanctuary. Jackson stopped in front of his house briefly and decided to enter. Entering Shaun's room he walked up to the crib, put a hand on it and said, "I'm coming buddy," before exiting his old home.
Halfway over the Old North Bridge, which had held up remarkably well given the circumstances and the slightly destroyed part, Jackson noticed a body of a person along with a dog that had a tire iron sticking out of its body. Upon approaching the duo of bodies he decided to take the outfit off the man, he wouldn't be needing it anymore after all, and put it on over his vault suit. In addition Jackson took the mans double barreled shotgun and stored it in his Pip-boy along with a couple of stimpacks that were unused. Standing up he noticed a duffel bag near the statue of the Minutemen and walked over to it. Opening it up he found a shortened hunting rifle, what seemed to be a variant of the pistol he found, only as a rifle that, if Jackson's knowledge of guns he learned from his father was anything to go by, was set to full auto and had no way of changing it. In addition Jackson also found a moderate amount of ammunition for all four of his new weapons since the pistol and rifle had the exact same clips and type of ammo.
After collecting the items Jackson headed out once again and not even five minutes later came across the old Red Rocket Truck stop and heard a noise from it. A shape rounded a corner and as Jackson turned to it ready to fire the shape decided to bark out to him. Realizing it was a dog Jackson knelt down and spoke to it. "Hey, boy. What are you doing out here all by yourself?" The dog barked in response and Jackson continued, "You lose your owner, buddy?" the dog's head bent downwards in sadness at that, "You seem like an okay guy," the dog's head perked right back up and Jackson continued, "You want to come with me, pal?" as he held out his hand. The dog nuzzled up against it and Jackson spoke up once again, "Okay, then. Let's stick together." The twosome headed back to the road Jackson was travelling on and not even a minute after the dog began growling at something ahead. At first glance it appeared to be the corpse of a bovine animal but the animal began to move slightly. After another bark from the dog two insect creatures looking like giant mosquitoes flew up from the body. Quickly dispatching them once the slight shock had worn off he approached the insects, "Giant roaches, giant mosquitoes, what's next? Giant flies? Giant lizards?" he sighed to himself before addressing the dog, "C'mon boy, let's get into town before I jinx myself."
Entering the outskirts of Concord Jackson had a quick look around and felt a little homesick, or rather timesick would be more accurate since in a sense he was already home. Passing by some sandbags that had been set up he continued along until he heard the noise of gunfire. Hustling over to a destroyed shop he peeked around the corner to find a single man on the balcony of the Museum of Freedom fighting off a group of men. Jackson was admittedly reluctant to join in on the fray since he had no idea who was fighting and why. The dog however seemed to have his own opinion though and headed towards the ones on the ground. Jackson started out after him and the dog barked at one of the people getting their attention. Turning towards them the woman brandished a tire iron with a blade on it and started towards them. "Hang on now," Jackson tried to reason with her, "I'm not here to fight." Either the woman didn't hear him or didn't care as she picked up the pace causing Jackson to raise his 10 mm pistol in the air. "Stop now!" Jackson tried to say fearing that this woman was unstable, "I don't want to have to hurt you!"
The dog had other ideas cause when the woman was close enough to Jackson he bit her on the leg. This caused her to swing her weapon towards the dog, who managed to dodge by shaking the leg he had bit, as Jackson continued to point the gun at her. Managing to kick the dog free of her leg the woman charged at Jackson ready to strike him. Hands shaking afterwards Jackson managed to pull the trigger getting a clean shot through her unprotected head. This, however, managed to get the attention of the others on the ground and they turned their weapons on Jackson. Taking cover behind an old truck Jackson raised his pistol and fired towards the group hoping to hit something. If the group was hit they didn't show it and continued to make their way over to Jackson, who was now taking out his shotgun. Popping up over his cover he aimed and fired downing one of the group while the man from the balcony took down another with his laser gun. Aiming to one of the remaining three people Jackson fired again and while most of the shot hit the target it wasn't enough to fully down him. Reloading he aimed again and fired this time taking down two targets while the man from the balcony finished the third and final one.
Once he realized all the people trying to kill him were dead and the adrenaline had worn off Jackson could feel the non-existent contents of his stomach resurfacing. Heading to a nearby alleyway his stomach contents were brought back up as the feeling of what he had done began to settle on his mind. He just killed someone.
Scratch that, he just killed four some ones.
His hands continued to shake as he braced himself against the wall as the dog came over to nuzzle them. Sliding down the wall Jackson looked at his shaking hands for what seemed like an eternity before a harrowing realization set in.
These wouldn't be his only kills.
The people who took Shaun wouldn't give him up without a fight.
They had a reason to take him which meant they would give up their lives to ensure Jackson would fail.
And above all, he had to, as he gulped down some air, get used to killing other people too. They wouldn't hesitate to end him so Jackson would have to be ready to fight and kill if and when necessary. Standing back up he put his shotgun away in favor of the hunting rifle he found as he approached the museum. The man on the balcony was still there and upon seeing Jackson called out to him, "Hey, up here! On the balcony!" Jackson looked up at the man as he continued, "I've got a group of settlers inside! The raiders are almost through the door! Grab that Laser Musket an help us! Please!" he finished before heading back inside presumably to deal with more of these 'raiders' he was speaking about.
Jackson decided to help these people out and hopefully find out more about this new world he had entered. Grabbing the gun which seemed to be a laser pistol core attached to a variety of parts to turn it into a makeshift gun including a crank on the left side which Jackson assumed was the equivalent of reloading. Storing it for now in his Pip-boy and taking the ammo on the ground and on the body he entered the museum.
Inside there were two raiders on two of the upper levels firing at the group trapped above. Jackson downed the one on the second floor and when he did the one on the third floor was distracted long enough for the man above to kill her with his own laser musket. Jackson saw a gate that would provide quicker access to the staircase, but the giant hole in the floor made him hesitant so he chose to head down a path to the right of the gate instead. As he passed through the exhibits started to play like they would for tourists and Jackson was hopeful that the raiders wouldn't hear him. Just before exiting the last exhibit he saw movement ahead in the area near the gate. Taking cover near the door he peeked out, aimed, and fired hitting his target and killing them with a shot to the neck. Stepping around the hole he looked down said hole and saw something down there. It was an old fusion core that was in the machine behind a locked gate. Picking the lock Jackson acquired the fusion core and headed upstairs and to the left.
Passing through a doorway Jackson could hear two raiders up ahead, one talking about leaving and the other one saying he'll kill him if he tries. Taking out his shotgun due to the close quarters Jackson approached the area and saw there were in fact three raiders and all were conveniently situated near what looked like an explosive canister. Jackson's aim needed to be straight and true as there was a similar canister by himself and if he missed then the raiders could shoot it and kill him. Aiming at the canister he fired his shotgun and enough shot hit the canister and made it explode. Stepping into the area Jackson saw another duffel bag and and ammo box near it. Gathering the ammunition first he then opened the duffel bag to find what looked like a revolver version of the pistol he had found in Sanctuary.
Storing it in his Pip-boy Jackson continued through the busted down wall and headed left and up the stairs where he heard two more raiders threatening the settlers trapped inside. Noticing that part of the wall was busted Jackson quickly but quietly made his way to it and stuck his shotgun in it. After the raiders were done threatening the group they turned away and begun walking and that's when Jackson pulled the trigger twice and killed both men. Stepping through a door to his left he heard the man from before ushering him inside. Once inside he saw that the dog from before had made its way in before him and was laying down near an older woman. To her right was an Asian man and woman and in front of Jackson were a Caucasian man and an African-American man, the latter of whom began speaking to him.
"Man, I don't know who you are, but your timing's impeccable," the man said putting his weapon away, "Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minutemen."
"Minutemen? So now I'm traveling backward in time?" Jackson asked now confused since the Minutemen were from colonial days.
""Protect the people at a minute's notice." That was the idea. So I joined up, wanted to make a difference. And I did," Preston said before his face fell, "but... things fell apart. Now it looks like I'm the last Minuteman left standing."
Jackson seemed to get the idea behind the 'Minutemen' ideal, but that didn't explain the others so he asked, "Who are these people?"
"Just folks lookin' for a new home. A fresh start. I've been with 'em since Quincy. Lexington looked good for a while, but the Ghouls drove us outta there," once again Preston's face fell, "A month ago, there were 20 of us. Yesterday there were 8. Now, we're 5. It's just me, the Longs - Marcy and Jun - that's old Mama Murphy on the couch. And this here's Sturges," the final man giving an acknowledgement when he heard his name.
"Ghoul's?" Jackson asked not familiar with the term, "What are Ghoul's?"
Preston looked surprised at this as he explained, "Wow, you really aren't from around here, are you? Ghouls are... irradiated people. Most are just like you and me. They look pretty messed up, and live a long time, but they're still just... people," Jackson nodded to showed he understood so far, "The ones I'm talking about are different. The radiation's rotted their brains. Made them feral. They'll rip you apart, just as soon as look at you."
"Alright, thanks for the information," Jackson replied before Preston continued.
"Anyway, we figured Concord would be a safe place to settle. Those Raiders proved us wrong. But... well, we do have one idea," Preston finished.
"One good idea can make all the difference," Jackson said trying to sound encouraging.
"Sturges tell him," Preston said to Sturges.
"There's a crashed vertibird up on the roof. Old school, pre-war. You might have seen it," Sturges responded.
"Yeah kinda hard to miss that," Jackson replied.
"Well, looks like one of its passengers left behind a seriously sweet goody. We're talking a full suit of cherry T-45 Power Armor. Military issue," Sturges continued.
Jackson thought back to his father's days in the army and recalled him mentioning those particular pieces of equipment, "That's some serious protection."
"Oh, it gets better," Sturges responded, "Get the suit, you can rip the minigun right off the vertibird. Do that, and those Raiders get an express ticket to Hell. You dig?"
Now it seemed to Jackson that this would increase his odds quite a bit, but he had some concerns, "And I can use the minigun like a... rifle?"
"Don't see why not. It'll have a manual trigger. Just aim it at the bad guys, and do the ole' "spray and pray."," Sturges responded. Jackson nodded in response, it seemed like a good plan but there was always a catch, "Now, as for the armor... It's outta juice," and there it was, "Probably has been for a hundred years. It can be powered up again, but we're a bit stuck..."
"I'll help if I can," Jackson replied, "Though I don't know how."
"What you'll need is an old pre-war F.C., a standardized Fusion Core," Preston answered for Sturges, "Your high-grade, long-term nuclear battery. Used by the military and some companies, way back when. And we know right where to find one..."
"But we can't get to the damn thing. It's down in the basement, locked behind a security gate," Jackson's eyes widen realizing that the one they were talking about was the one he had grabbed earlier, "Look... I fix stuff. I tinker. Bypassing security ain't exactly my forte. You could give it a shot."
Jackson smiled as he called up the fusion core from his Pip-boy and held it in his hand, "Actually, I already grabbed the Fusion Core. We're set."
Jackson's smile seemed to be infectious as Preston had one as well. "Well all right. Maybe our luck's finally turning around. Once you jack the Core into the Power Armor and grab that minigun, those Raiders'll know they picked the wrong fight. Good luck."
Jackson turned and headed towards the door on the other side of the room but was stopped when the older woman spoke to him, "You're not what I expected Dogmeat would find in that little neighborhood. But oh, so much better."
Now Jackson was starting to feel a little guilty over taking an old woman's dog, "So he's your dog?"
The old woman chuckled a bit before responding, "Oh he ain't my dog. No sir. Dogmeat, he's what you'd call his own man. You can't own a free spirit like that. But he chooses his friends, and sticks with 'em. He'll stay by you now. I saw it."
Jackson was slightly confused at this, "You "saw" it?"
"It's the chems, kid. They give ole Mama Murphy the "Sight." Been that way for as long as I can remember," the now named Mama Murphy replied.
That wasn't quite clear enough for Jackson, "What's the Sight?"
"I can see a bit of what was, and what will be. And even what is, right now," Jackson wasn't entirely convinced that this was true, but let her continue nonetheless. "And right now I can see there's something coming. Drawn by the noise, and the chaos. And it is... angry."
Now whether this was an old woman's rambling or a genuine case of clairvoyance didn't matter anymore. Given the tone in her voice that something was about to happen Jackson chose to take it to heart, but could use more intel, "What is it? Mama Murphy, I need more. Please."
Mama Murphy got this faraway look before beginning to speak, "I see... I see... Oh. it's horrible, kid. Claws and teeth and horns. The very face of death itself," surprising absolutely no one that didn't exactly clear things up for Jackson since everything out here seemed to want to kill him, "That's all I can manage. That's all. I need to rest now. And you have a job to do..."
Jackson headed towards the door he was going to, stopping quickly to pickup the bobblehead on the table, and headed down the hallway to the roof access. Upon reaching the roof he saw the power armor Sturges was talking about and it seemed that during the time he was in the museum it had started raining. Giving the suit a quick once over he found that the armor was not in very good shape, specifically the left arm and right leg being the worst. They were nearly destroyed and the rest of it seemed to be half as good as it was. Deciding that it was better than nothing Jackson popped the fusion core into the armor, turned the wheel on the back and hopped into the armor. Noting that the core he picked up only had half a charge, which seemed appropriate in a twisted sort of way, he would have to hurry.
Approaching the minigun Jackson ripped the gun off the vertibird just as he heard a raider call down to his boss about him from the opposite roof. Now armed with a minigun and over thirteen hundred rounds of ammunition for it Jackson gunned down the raider on the roof pretty quickly before jumping down from the roof onto the street. The raider leader congratulated Jackson saying not many could get past his boys before firing at Jackson. The shots missed and Jackson responded in kind with his minigun while Preston provided covering fire from the balcony and Dogmeat helped out on the street. The result was several of the raiders going down quickly with the exception of their leader and three others when near the leader the metal covering of the sewer was shot up and out of the hole crawled out a monster with claws and teeth and horns and had the very face of death itself. 'Oh... that's what she was warning me about...' Jackson thought to himself grateful he had on the armor when the creature grabbed the leader of the raiders and bit his head clean off his shoulders. Using it's claws, tail and teeth it quickly carved through the other three raiders as Jackson shot the creature with his minigun.
Either that creature had a really thick hide or the bullets weren't effective. Jackson had poured almost four hundred rounds into the creature and was forced backwards as the creature came at him with astonishing speed while he was forced to reload. Just as he got the next clip in the creature swung it's tail at Jackson knocking him to the ground and destroying his left arm and right leg in the process and knocking his minigun off to the side. The creature then leapt onto Jackson and begun tearing at his suit with it's claws destroying his torso armor and more worryingly his helmet. Preston kept trying to keep it off him with shots from his laser musket to no avail. The creature practically looked Jackson dead in the eye and he couldn't tell if it was the rain or this creatures saliva that was hitting his face. His minigun was just out of reach too and as the creature opened its maw...
It spun its head to look at its tail. Looking himself Jackson saw that Dogmeat had bitten down hard on its tail and the creature swung its claw at Dogmeat who let go of the creatures tail to dodge and bit it again when the claw had passed. With the help of Preston who fired a shot that hit the creature in its head making it stumble backwards and off of Jackson. Jackson took this opportunity to grab the minigun and fired at the creatures belly and after another hundred or so rounds shot out quickly the creature collapsed on the street, dead. Jackson stayed on the ground as thoughts passed through his head.
He almost died.
If it hadn't been for Dogmeat and Preston he would have died.
He would've been devoured alive by that thing and Shaun...
He was down on the ground so long that Preston called out to him to make sure he was okay. Getting up he headed back into the museum after storing the broken pieces of the broken power armor in his Pip-boy. Quickly checking the fusion core he was dismayed when he saw there was less than twenty-five percent left. The creature must've damaged it in their fight. Inside the museum he saw the group down at the bottom floor of the museum and made his way over to them as Preston and Mama Murphy were talking. Seeing Jackson Preston spoke to him once close enough, "That was... a pretty amazing display. I'm just glad you're on our side."
Considering the man had practically saved his life Jackson responded in kind, "The feeling's mutual, Preston."
"You can never have too many friends. Not in the Commonwealth," Preston replied, "When we first met... You asked about the Minutemen. One thing you should know about us, we help out our friends. So here. For everything you've done. Thank you," he said handing something over to Jackson. It was five hundred bottlecaps from the Nuka Cola brand and ammunition for the Laser Musket.
Not sure why Preston was giving him this Jackson accepted anyway replying, "I didn't do this for a reward."
Preston had a slightly apologetic look on his face, "Hey, sorry. I'm used to everyone being in it only for themselves. You know, you remind me of my friends. The other Minutemen, the ones who gave their lives for something bigger than themselves," Preston had what Jackson could only describe as a nostalgic look on his face when he said that second part, "You should come with us to Sanctuary. We could use the help."
"What would I need to do?" Jackson asked and before Preston could reply Mama Murphy beat him to it.
"You'd need to stay strong. Like you been. Cause there's more to your destiny. I've seen it. And I know your pain."
Jackson turned to her and asked, "My "destiny"? What do you mean?"
"You're a man out of time. Out of hope. But all's not lost. I can feel... your brother's energy. He's alive."
That caught Jackson's interest so with enthusiasm, or close enough to it, he said, "I knew it! Please, tell me where he is. I need to find my brother."
Mama Murphy got the same look she had before warning him of the creature before saying, "I... can't see him. Not clearly. But I feel his life force. He's out there," that made Jackson deflate a little, "But even I don't need the Sight to tell you where you should start lookin'," Jackson perked up a little at this, "The great, green jewel of the Commonwealth. Diamond City. The biggest settlement around."
"Please, Mama Murphy, I'm working from nothing here. You said it yourself "I'm a man out of time". I need more," Jackson practically begged.
Mama Murphy was sympathetic to his plight, but couldn't muster the sight again so she replied, "Look, kid, I'm tired now. Maybe you bring me some chems later, the Sight will paint a clearer picture."
That got Preston's attention, "No! Mama Murphy, we talked about this. That junk... it's gonna kill you..." as he knelt down to be at eye level with her.
Mama Murphy put a hand on his cheek as she replied, "Oh shush, Preston. We're all gonna die eventually. We're gonna need the Sight. And our new friend here, he's gonna need it too," before standing up and continuing, "Now let's get goin'. Sanctuary awaits."
Preston then spoke to the whole group, "Alright folks. Thanks to our friend here, it's safe to move out. We're heading for that place Mama Murphy knows about: Sanctuary. It's not far."
The other woman in the group decided to voice her concern about the plan, "She knows about it? You mean she had one of her "visions" while she was stoned out of her gourd," Jackson hated to admit it but from a certain perspective it did seem a little... unorthodox, "And now you want us to just head out on another wild goose chase based on no better plan than "Mama Murphy saw it"?"
"It can hardly turn out any worse than..." Preston started to say before being cut off by Sturges.
"Hold on, hold on. Everybody just take it easy. We're all in this together, right?" Sturges said before turning to Marcy, "So, Marcy. You got a better idea of what we should do next?" to no one's surprise she didn't answer, "Anybody?" Sturges asked and receiving no answer he continued, "Well, then. Sanctuary it is. Let's just hope it lives up to its name."
The group exited the Museum of Freedom and saw the creature that had almost killed them had Jackson not killed it first, "I still can't believe he took that thing out," Sturges said.
"First time I've seen one of these things up close. I'm very glad it's already dead," Preston said.
"What was that thing anyway?" Jackson asked.
"They're called Deathclaws," Preston replied.
"Appropriate name..." Jackson deadpanned.
"Don't know the whole story of how they came to be but I think they used to be some kind of lizard, a chameleon I think," Preston continued. Jackson paused for a second realizing that his words when he entered the town of Concord had bit him in the ass, "Wouldn't blame you if you wanted some kind of trophy from it. Very few see one and live to tell about it." Jackson paused for a second to contemplate that. He couldn't take the whole body as a trophy, too heavy. Just the head alone would be, but an arm...
Grabbing the tire iron from his first kill, hands shaking when he did, he cut off the hand of the creature and stored it in his Pip-boy along with the iron. Rejoining the group they made their way to the outskirts of Concord as Sturges spoke up, "Can't say I'm going to miss this festering boil on the ass-end of the Commonwealth," before realizing something and turning to Jackson, "Uh, no offense if you're from here or something."
Jackson chuckled slightly before speaking, "Concord, no. But then again I don't exactly have a home anymore, so to speak."
The group continued along the path coming up to the Red Rocket Truck Stop and Sturges spoke again, "Well, look at that. I think I just found my new vacation home."
"Your idea of heaven, eh, Sturges?" Preston asked him, "Could be some good salvage in there. Let's get to Sanctuary first, though. I think we're close."
"Yeah, just a few minutes ahead, give or take," Jackson replied.
After the allotted time Jackson quoted, the rain stopping and the sun beginning to set Preston saw something, "Well I'll be damned. It's the monument to the original Minutemen. I knew that was somewhere around Concord," he then turned and faced the bridge, "That means this right here must be the Old North Bridge. Where the first shots of the American Revolution were fired," he turned back towards the group, "I'd call that the best omen I've seen since we left Quincy," he finished before starting the trek over the bridge.
"I don't know what you're talking about, boss, but I'm glad you're happy about it," Sturges responded. After crossing the bridge they passed by the first couple of homes in Sanctuary when out of the rubble of the house on the left came another cockroach but it was swiftly dispatched by Preston, "Ugh, I hate those radroaches," Sturges said.
"Radroaches?" Jackson asked, "That's what those things are called?" Getting a quick nod from Sturges Jackson remembered something, "That reminds me, there were these two insects feasting on a dead bovine creature along the path we came down that I killed. They were about two feet in length, kinda muddy brown in color, and had a long proboscis. What were those? Also what were they feasting on?"
"Pro-what-cis?" Sturges asked. In response Jackson picked up a tree branch and held it against his face like a mosquito proboscis, "Oh, that. They're called Bloodbugs, nasty creatures. They drain your blood and spit it back at you and can penetrate most armor with their what'dja-call-it. Thankfully though they have yet to penetrate power armor, or so I've heard. As for the other animal that's a brahmin. Mostly used for meat, milk, manual labor, and for their hides."
Jackson thanked Sturges and began to look for Cindy and Codsworth. After several minutes and finding neither in Sanctuary he started to become panicked. 'No-no-no-no-no! This is not good! I told her that I would protect her! I told her I'd keep her safe! I-' his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a voice call out to him, "Jackson? You're back."
Turning towards the voice it was Cindy who, along with Codsworth, were coming down the path heading towards Vault 111. Hurrying over to them Jackson was overcome with relief as he asked, "What were you doing over there?"
"Doing what you asked remember?" Cindy replied, "We checked over the town and put what we found near that yellow house across from yours, barring a few safes we couldn't get into. Since you weren't back yet we decided to check out Vault 111 for supplies we missed. You know like you made me do?"
Codsworth floated over to him and almost hit him as though he wasn't paying attention. After realizing that he almost hit Jackson he apologized to him, "Young Master... I... I'm sorry for almost hitting you it's just... sir... and Mum, I'm... I'm so sorry."
"It's fine Codsworth," Jackson reassured him before turning back to Cindy, "We need a better system for communicating otherwise we'll go through me having a panic attack every time I can't find you," Jackson continued, "At any rate, I think I found something of value in Concord."
"Able to find some assistance in Concord were you Young Master Jackson?"
"You could say that. I made a few new friends," Jackson replied.
"Can't have enough of those these days," Codsworth said before adopting what Jackson could only guess was a... bashful expression, "I realize that I'm no Mister Gutsy, but if needed, I'd be honored to accompany you throughout the Commonwealth. Just say the word!" Jackson was surprised at this, but nevertheless was thankful for the help.
"Of course Codsworth," Jackson replied, "But I think I've had enough adventuring for today. I need to speak to Preston, I'll be done as soon as I can."
After heading to the yellow house Cindy mentioned to leave the power armor Jackson, now power armorless found Preston and began speaking with him. "I'm glad you decided to come with us," Preston said, "I should have listened to Mama Murphy all along. Pretty nice place she's found for us," he continued looking around Sanctuary, "I think we could settle down here, make it a place to call home. What do you think?"
"Honestly," Jackson replied, "I don't know. It's strange being back here."
Preston looked at him confused, "What do you mean? You used to live here or something?"
Jackson looked over at his old house while saying, "Yes... before the war... before everything was ruined," he pointed over to his home, "That's where my family lived. I still remember things before the war."
"What do you mean? Before what war? Are you saying..." Preston slowly trailed off upon realizing what he meant.
Jackson decided to confirm it for him, "I lived here... over 200 years ago. I was... frozen or something for most of it. Just woke up a little while ago."
"Damn. Like one of those old prewar ghouls..." Preston said before thinking about something, "You say you were frozen... anybody else make it out with you?"
Tears threatened to fall from Jackson's eyes as he spoke, "Just my little brother. He's not even a year old. Somebody took him away while I was still trapped. I've been looking for him."
Preston looked at Jackson with concern as he spoke, "Damn. I'm sorry. I hope you find him. Let me know if there's any way I can help. Anyway... I am glad you're here."
"Thanks Preston," Jackson said, "Also there's something I want to show you and get your opinion on."
"What is it?" Preston asked.
"Follow me," Jackson replied. The two began walking and when they reached the path to the Vault Jackson stopped and spoke again, "There's an old Vault up the pathway from here. I was thinking that at some point we could convert it into an emergency bunker in times of crisis. What do you think?"
"That's," Preston started, "A really great idea. But we'd need more people out here helping us to do that and before we can get more people here we need to help out those we have now. Speak to Sturges, he'll have some ideas. And I'm sure he'd be glad for all the help he can get," Preston finished before walking off to patrol the settlement.
Finding Cindy and Codsworth again Jackson spoke to Codsworth, "Hey Codsworth," he said getting the robots attention, "Can you do me a favor and whip up some food for seven people?"
"But of course sir," Codsworth replied, "We happen to have enough food for a few days at least, even with the amount of people we have."
"Great," Jackson said, "I think I saw a campfire pit near one of the houses near the Old North Bridge. It should do as a makeshift stove right?" Codsworth began floating off to the aforementioned house before Jackson remembered something, "Oh and Codsworth," he said running up to the robot, "here," he placed a black bowler hat on his head, "found this in Concord, figured that'd make you look like a real British butler now."
"Well," Codsworth said, "Aren't we a pair now," as he floated over to the house.
Turning back to Cindy he spoke to her, "C'mon, let's find Sturges." Finding him wasn't hard, he was around the yellow house where Jackson left his power armor. "Hey Sturges," Jackson said.
"You willing to do some work?" he asked the duo.
"What kind of help do you need," Cindy asked.
"Well, for starters we could use some real beds. We've been sleeping on the ground for too long," Sturges replied, "Just make sure we can sleep with a roof over our heads. Some of these old houses still look solid enough to do the trick," he continued, "There's a workbench over there you can use. Give me a holler if you need anything. Free tip, for beds we'll need steel and cloth so anything you can find would be great."
"I think we can manage that," Jackson said turning to Cindy, "Shall we?"
Turned out that many of Sanctuary's residents decided that a bank was not a good place to store their money and as a result they had enough to make seven beds in total including the steel from some of the destroyed houses. With some glue and duct tape to bind it all together. They put two beds in the yellow house, now the Longs home, a bed in the blue house where Codsworth was cooking for Mama Murphy, a bed in each of Jackson's neighbors homes for Cindy and Jackson, and lastly two beds in the blue house at the other end of Sanctuary to the left of the path to the Vault. The two of them finished just in time for Codsworth to say he finished preparing the meal for everyone in Sanctuary. Unfortunately nighttime came quickly and the group were forced to go to bed not long after stalling any other projects until the next day.
As Jackson got ready for bed there was a knock on his door. It was Cindy who spoke up very nervously, "Jackson," she said in a quiet voice, "Would it be alright if I... uh..." she seemed nervous about what she was about to ask so Jackson stayed quiet as not to dissuade her. Gathering up her courage she finished her thought, "Can I sleep with you tonight?" That question caught Jackson off guard a lot. He'd never expect Cindy of all people to ask that, let alone how she asked. "It's just that, after everything that's happened I don't want to be alone."
"Because of nightmares?" Jackson asked and Cindy nodded her head. Jackson sighed and continued, "Of course you can."
Cindy smiled a little and approached him, but as she did she could tell something was off about him, "Are you alright?"
Jackson looked at her and was about to say he was fine, but relented and told her anyway, "I... it's... it's just..." he took a deep sigh and spoke as Cindy sat on the bed with him, "I had to kill people today." That made Cindy's eyes go wide in shock as he continued, "They had a bladed weapon and were about to kill me with it. I did it in self defense but..." he rested his head in his palms and as he did he felt a hand on his back trying to soothe him, "I felt awful, but I didn't have time to because others had heard the gunshot and tried to kill me as well so... I killed them too." He raised his head from his hands and looked at Cindy, "and it didn't stop there I had to kill more and more people and what's worse is that the more I did the less bad I felt about it," placing his head in his hands again he finished, "Am I a monster for not feeling anything?"
Cindy was quiet for a while before responding, "I don't think you are." Jackson brought his head up from his hands and looked at her in disbelief as she continued, "If you were you wouldn't be feeling this way now, would you?"
"But I-" Jackson started to say before being interrupted by Cindy.
"Look at me," she said as he did as she asked, "You may have killed people today, yes, but it was to save the lives of others. Monsters don't do things like that."
Jackson took a few moments to process Cindy's words before smiling back at her and saying, "Thanks Cindy." After that the two of them crawled into bed with each other and that night neither one was plagued with nightmares. They had each other.
At least for now.
Wow. About 10 hours of writing this all at once (minus breaks to eat and shower and etc.) and here we are. Up next is the continuation of the current quest.
And here's Jackson's updated S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats
S-6
P-5(without glasses, 7 with)
E-3
C-6
I-8
A-4
L-4
Here's your daily dose of Zoid
(V)_(;,;)_(V)
