Surviving The Fallout
War. War was "The great tabernacle for the hearts of man; immutable, and a judgement for all the sinners who've survived what the hot ash wrought," the Overseers had written in one of their logs. A euphemistic phrase for what really meant "total destructive envelopment and perpetual darkness on earth," I thought. These Overseers were a religious group that used to be in charge of the inhabitants in Vault 111, before everyone suddenly vanished.
It's hard keeping my faith in this desolate wasteland of new Washington, D.C., now called the Capital Wasteland. All I find are old empty tin cans, rad roaches, and the occasional ghoul (humanoid creatures transmogrified due to high levels of radiation) trying to protect its territory. Were they really once human? It is detestable to imagine those creatures once had aspirations of a future, family, and the will to live peacefully, just to be turned into this wretched abomination that scours the wasteland.
I've preemptively laid out a perimeter with my Geiger counter to ensure what areas are safe and what areas are not, as I make my way. Though, when supplies run dry, and with my limited resources to reduce the effects of radiation sickness, I venture into areas of low radiation to procure food and materials, just to survive here in the Capital Wasteland.
It was not but a few moments ago, I encountered a feral ghoul lunge at me whilst rummaging through an old house for materials. Its singed, mummified flesh slapped across my back, bringing me to my knees. I immediately reached for my gun, but my hand was met with rotting teeth and a mouth hungry enough to consume it. I pulled back and reached for a lamp on a dresser and smashed it across its face, spewing its bile and broken teeth across the floor. The creature roared and screeched vehemently and determined. It leapt from where it stood. Hollowed black eyes ready to swallow me whole. My gun was pointed dead center. A flash, then a loud clap of sound echoed throughout the room, followed by a thud. The contents of its head evacuated along the curtains behind it. Dead silence thereafter. I took a moment to recollect myself, then reached for my bag of supplies. I stepped over the corpse, and carried on.
This is the way it has to be now. This is what I go through daily if I am to survive. I have to be indifferent. Impartial to what fate throws at me. Even if it's something literal.
Welcome to the Capital Wasteland.
It was October 23rd, 2077 when the bombs dropped. It was known as the Great War. Gosh, it feels like just yesterday. Everything went so chaotic within moments. China struck first. They (the Overseers) said it was their (China) submarine Yangtze that launched the first warhead to hit American soil. So many people died I had learned. It was the thermonuclear war we all dreaded, but all knew was alarmingly inevitable. So alarming in fact, the American Government created Vault-Tec who were in charge of creating a little over one hundred underground vaults, all throughout the nation, for just such an occasion. Unfortunately when the bombs were dropped, many didn't stand a chance to stow themselves within the vaults. Something didn't add up: 350 million Americans with only hundred something vaults, each only being able to house approximately 500 people? Hmm. Now's not the time. I can't get into conspiracies right now. Those thoughts vex the mind. The bottom line: the vaults were shelters put in place, to be used once all options were exhausted.
We were told by the Overseers that, once the "dust" had settled, hundreds of thousands of people were killed, primarily within the first two hours from the nuclear bombardment. A variety of nuclear warheads were exchanged on both sides; the low-yield warheads caused the most damage, spewing debris and radioactive particles of cesium-137 into the atmosphere, locking us in a blanket of hell. It was this blanket that killed off the millions of people who did not make it to the shelters. Many perished due to the nuclear fallout that followed. Agriculture destroyed, estuaries completely irradiated, along with countless fern and fauna, all decimated as a result of this selfish... destructive...
War… War never changes.
It's the year 2287. Of the many shelters made, our Vault 111 was the only experimental facility designed. We were induced into a coma-like sleep, and stored in cryogenic freezing chambers. When I came to, it felt like waking from a deep sleep with what seemed like cold, electric-like needles all over my face, very unpleasant. My body ached and it took me some time to catch my senses again; I vomited what scrapes I could find over the course of the three days I spent within the vault.
This was experimental technology that apparently was being conducted within one of the bases of Area 51 years prior. We (Americans) knew of the vaults, however, we had no idea it was intended that we were to be shot forward 200 years into the future. On top of that, I have no memory of anyone or anything prior to the bombs falling. Very odd. Did they alter my memory with this technology? Or is this the byproduct of being frozen for 200 years? My ultimate goal was to find out the truth to my amnesia, but first, I needed to find a way to make it out there in the Capital Wasteland. I knew I couldn't stay at Vault 111 any longer.
I began to peruse the many terminals located throughout the vault. Most of them I could not access. I felt a great sense of unease; a feeling of dread befell me as I looked around. There was no one here. What happened to everyone? Was I the only survivor? Things appeared as if there was an unexpected evacuation. Could that have been Vault-Tec, or perhaps the Overseers? But then what happened to the survivors? I frantically searched and eventually came upon a terminal that was accessible, as it was still logged in. It was here I had learned the intimate details of the history of our nation, the bombs that fell, and the plans for awakening the chosen survivors within the cryogenic stasis-pods once an "all clear" had been broadcasted from Vault-Tec HQ. This of course never happened and according to the data entries, there was a mutiny; a planned uprising that echoed throughout the logs. It all went south.
We were a failed experiment and to my knowledge, I was the only survivor. I searched around for materials I would take on my journey out to the Wasteland. I found an old radiation suit, Geiger counter, and various other materials and amenities to sustain my trip. I navigated the terminal and found my way to releasing the vault lock that had once been accessed. I emerged from the vault.
Nothing could have prepared my eyes for what peerless vistas my mind would have to comprehend. I beheld a shining, gleaming Hades affront the land. A glowing phantasmagorical landscape of blinding death. Decrepit growth all around the dead trees with scintillating lakes of bright green radioluminescence. The dystopian wasteland inhabited with unfathomable creatures 200 years acclimated to their environment was now before me. And I had to trudge forward. I had to scrape and gnaw at the heels of perdition. I had to live and I knew I would cut the wasteland in two if I were to survive.
Fast Forward several weeks of adapting, surviving, and creating a system of living while on a path to nowhere when I came upon a stronghold; a fortified settlement known as Diamond City, according to my Pip-Boy (a mobile-terminal-device affixed to my arm), that seemed very promising.
It was a picturesque little town built from old trailers, with everything from the bottom up covered in haphazardly fastened boards, metal sheets, and panels. Different shades of muted red with specs of light green patina, all rusted and bent, painted the ground and walls. A large smokestack at the center of town where settlers collected to eat and converse caught my attention, as the structure was the most aesthetically pleasing in town.
They were surprisingly hospitable towards my venture. I half-expected hostility, or at least some incredulity towards me as an unknown wanderer. But instead they greeted me, and offered me lodging and supplies while in their settlement. I spent some time here. Made friends and earned their trust through completing various quests appointed to me. So much so, I was greeted by the leader of Diamond City, Mayor McDonough. An austere, well-groomed looking man adorned in vintage attire. Clean-cut and seemingly wholesome, yet revered by the townspeople.
Time passed as I proved my worth and through my purported acts of heroism, was offered to help modify their version of the Bill of Rights for their town. He called himself mayor and was perceived thusly. However, he and his advisers ruled this town and did not plan to leave anytime soon. They made the rules and I had little choice to question them. So naturally, I could not refuse a proposal of such high esteem and responsibility.
I was brought hitherto a dimly lit room boarded up on one side, presumably due to a prior raider attack or some other unknown instance. White and green checkered tiles with metal sheet panels covering cracks and holes along the floor. There was a crooked painting of a lighthouse tacked, rather hastily on the wall to brighten up the room. Filing cabinets lined most of the opposing wall. Very plain, but quaint, with charters and other documentation covering the walls. This room was indeed, where the business was conducted.
Mayor McDonough approached me with a sheaf of papers and a larger, rolled up scroll under his right arm.
I noticed there were guards adorned in armor who pretended to melt into the background, all around the perimeter of his office. Presumably for our protection. He leafed through his papers, unrolled the withered scroll, and we began discussing its contents along with the parameters of my job that I was thus committed to entirely.
Preserving the core principles of their bill of rights was paramount during the deliberation phase of this political endeavor of which I was bestowed. The details of these rights were re-drafted to be further concise, with the intention of eliminating any chance for misinterpretation; its structure and breadth rigid, for the protection and preservation of Diamond City's people.
Suddenly, a few hours of drafting had passed, when there was an alarm signaling a breach within the city walls.
The guards, dispersing along the perimeter of the compound, assumed their defensive positions, while others coalesced near the breach sighting.
There was a loud explosion near the office which shattered the windows. The shockwave knocked both the mayor and I off our feet. The mayor quickly collected the documentation on the desk under one arm and crawled to a safe hidden behind the lighthouse painting near us.
As the mayor was placing his papers into the safe, I saw a guard across the way, firing his rifle in a panic, being violently pushed back, smashing head-first against the wall, as if being catapulted by a two-headed brahmin. This creature was in fact not a brahmin, but rather something far more nefarious. This colossal behemoth, with the morphology similar to that of a man's, stood approximately 8 feet tall hunched over, staring at the mayor as it imploded a guard's head under its large foot. I leapt for a nearby pre-war rifle, but was no match for the quickness of this agile monstrosity. I was grasped and quickly flung aside with immense force. There was an audible impact of my body breaking through to the floor below.
Clamor, smoke, and darkness were all my senses could interpret before I had blacked out.
I awoke being jostled back and forth vigorously from a dark figure before me. I was in moderate pain. Perhaps adrenaline suppressed anything severe for the time being. I did not know how much time had passed since the attack.
The shadowy figure loomed over me, burning eyes of rich gold. With a piercing, yet stoic gaze. Seemingly artificial in nature.
Then a bright light blinded me momentarily. I retracted, covering my eyes with my bloody forearm. After which, my vision came to, and my eyes were alighted to a robotic, humanoid being, dressed in a weathered trench coat and western hat, who extended his arm out to me. I've heard about these beings before, but never had I seen one in person. He helped me up and introduced himself. He said his name was Nick Valentine and was the synth-detective on tracking down the perpetrator and mastermind of the orchestrated attack upon the city.
He spent some time explaining the situation and why he needed my help. He explained he had been keeping "tabs'' on me in the weeks prior to my arrival, studying my unorthodox methodology of survival. All while on his main pursuit of stopping the miscreant who eluded him for a prior infraction. He further explained the large mutant who attacked us was only hostile due to being "neuro-linked and hijacked", effectively being mind-controlled by the elusive criminal.
Nick said Mayor McDonough was being held captive in an obscure mutant outpost southeast of Diamond City. He was taken via an underground tunnel tram-system which I agreed we were to be headed once I recovered.
In no time I procured decent weaponry and provisions, along with a sidearm holstered if my rifle failed. He was armed with an array of weapons from his own venture. He then showed me the plan he concocted which involved retrieving the mayor surreptitiously, while apprehending the enemy behind the kidnapping. If said enemy was where he was purportedly sighted to be, by an unnamed source of Nick's.
We then made our way towards a tunnel that Nick located.
"The political processes established by your council and leader, McDonough have coaxed Shaun out of hiding," said Nick as we walked. "He has been laying low, seemingly preparing for that very 'moment of weakness' of your people."
"Moment of weakness?" I replied sardonically. "There were dozens of armed guards all around the mayor's office⎼⎼the hell do you mean?"
"Precisely. The heightened concentration of armed guards in one location inadvertently created a weak point in your city's defenses. A weak point in which Shaun exploited advantageously," he replied sharply.
I inquired with Nick about the origins of this Shaun character.
"Other than the fact that he is the head neuroscientist and leader of The Institute ( a scientific research facility) based in the Commonwealth. And has been eyeing Diamond City for sometime now with malicious intent. Not much else can be said," he answered.
"So that's how he's able to 'mind-control' those mutants," I said out loud.
"Correct. He has the resources and time which allow him to delve into such alchemy," Nick said assuring. "The poor bastards never knew what hit 'em."
After ambulating through the tunnel for some time, we arrived at the adit, illuminated by subtle starlight and distant radiation. This hidden, abandoned railway joined the outskirts of Diamond City to an outlet close to an escarpment under the mutant outpost. The outpost itself sat upon a promontory near the glowing sea and was thus heavily guarded.
Since it is well known mutants ardently follow orders of their super mutant leader⎼⎼the same creature I had before encountered⎼⎼If we could neutralize the mutant's neuro-link transmitter, we could effectively return its original cognitive functions, thereby saving the mayor from imminent peril.
We were attacking the canker at its source, first. Then once the mayor was secured, we would then deal with Shaun on a level playing field.
I still had my Geiger counter, and coupled with my Pip-Boy, I was able to hyper-link the device and give a visual representation of the radiation as markers across the map. And since all mutants have trace radioactive emissions, I was able to pin-point the guards, thereby making this operation much more manageable for the two of us.
It was dark out. Stars mildly illuminated the sky. No moon out. The occasional screech and roar of the suffering and the damned near the glowing sea was ignored as that was beneath our trek and did not affect our mission. We were essentially invisible to the inhabitants.
Nick could see better than I in the dark, so he led the way. And with the mutant's locations identified and tracked, we went off on a series of routes which circumvented the guard's patrolling paths.
We arrived at a large partition where Nick previously had done some reconnaissance. Around a nearby room there was a series of vestibules which further led into a fortified enclosure where the mayor was being held hostage.
As we made our way carefully around to the large room. We would enter through a vent on top of the room. Nick made short work of this bolted vent and we rappelled down into an adjacent room.
Thunderous vibrations were felt from my feet. The super mutant leviathan was surveilling the room and walking the perimeter of the mayor's enclosure. We did not know if Shaun would be there or not. Either way. It was imperative that the mayor was rescued for the preservation and future of its people. We needed to put an end to this subjugation. And we needed to move fast.
We crept slowly onward. We tried a diversion tactic but the behemoth was immovable. He became more agitated and impatient. So I instead found a terminal and I attempted to hack into releasing the locks attached to the mayor's hands and feet, and releasing the door which enclosed both the mutant and the mayor together. There was softer dialogue exchanged within the room, followed by a loud bellow like that of a lion. Our time was up. It went to the mayor and grabbed his neck, squeezing tight.
I hacked the terminal. I gesticulated what I was planning to Nick which he understood tacitly. The timing was crucial. There was no getting in any other way. It was now or never.
I hit the final terminal key and the quick succession of locks releasing was heard throughout the room.
At the same time Nick burst through the door. The monster averted his gaze from the mayor to Nick.
"Get out McDonough!" Nick yelled.
Mcdonough sprang for the door, clearly disoriented and dehydrated, stumbling as I grabbed him into cover.
At that moment the mutant aimed its large repeating rifle towards our escape. In an instant, countless bullets barraged at our direction like hellfire, immediately destroying the surrounding area, expelling chunks of rock and metal in the air, barely missing us.
Nick quickly sought this opportunity and instead of firing as expected, he pulled up his right hand, leaping to the side as if making a touchdown, aimed his open hand at the raging beast.
All in an instant. Time had stopped.
The goliathan tempest pulled the trigger of his repeater rifle, at the same time, Nick's hand exploded forward, shrapnel cascading, propelling his arm as a robotic-javelin. The hand attached itself onto the mutant's face, temporarily blinding it, transforming itself around the head onto the neuro-device. All while bullets completely littered and ceaselessly sprayed the surrounding area.
I pulled the mayor to safety as there was too much destruction in that room to render aid to Nick.
Hundreds of bullets expelled within seconds followed by an electrical explosion heard in the background.
I ran the mayor to our extraction point in the adjacent room. Once upon the roof. I had limited time. I had to recover Nick. I was not about to leave him behind. I had to make a decision.
I told the mayor to wait on the roof, out of sight, as I jumped back into the desolation. I was met by two mutants across the hallway to which I immediately exchanged fire.
Broken glass shattered behind my head. A barrage of bullets cascading all around me. Loud, wasp-like buzzing screamed past my ears as I emptied my clip, when I heard a blood curdling goliath roar the likes of which I had never heard before. Immediately, the firing on the mutant's end ceased. It was the super mutant inside with Nick.
Apparently the hand that wrapped itself around the monster's head had successfully found the neuro-device and the explosion I heard previously, was it being destroyed by the hand's detonation. The scream was the giant on its trunk-like knees, a fist smashed into the ground. Head down. Half-confused.
Nick lay before him, broken, and in pieces like a half-finished puzzle tossed into the trash.
The monster was weeping before him, not understanding any of the occurrences.
"Do not be sad, beast," said Nick. "For I was never alive."
The creature spotted me and was not hostile. Perhaps Nick had explained our purpose here as the mutant had then gestured for me to come near it. In a deep, monstrous bass, I heard it speak.
"Krogg nak trallum ga gnost"
"He says he is sorry for what he has done to us," Nick affirmed.
Completely in shock and bewildered, I tried to avert my gaze from the giant mutant to Nick's mangled, robotic frame.
"These mutants want to be left alone. They are not barbarous like their cousins across the glowing sea. Also, I explained to him who Shaun was and what nefarious deeds he had conspired against them," Nick stated.
"Ask him if we could be escorted back to Diamond City, along with Mayor Mcdonough, and yourself, Nick."
"I had already anticipated this question after he did not destroy me, once the neuro-device was removed," said Nick. "He told me he would do whatever he could to ensure I 'live'."
"A truly gentle giant⎼⎼that's as powerful as it is kind," I said.
"He."
"It is a male?"
"That is correct," he answered.
"Okay. Well tell him I am grateful. We do need to move out though, Nick. Will you be okay?"
"I will be fine. So long as we can return to the city. Someone I know owes me a favor," Nick said blithely.
I retrieved the mayor. Both he and I had taken some Rad-X from my provision's bag due to being around these irradiated creatures. The mutant leader, whom I decided to call Erickson, took Nick in his arms, whilst the mayor and I took what pieces of debris that belonged to Nick with us on our journey back to Diamond City. We were escorted back to the city and arrived early-dawn.
Nick explained to Erickson, in his native tongue, that this is where we would part ways. Based on the perception and views the people had towards mutants. He said he would return to the mutant stronghold once he was repaired by a robotic specialist he knew in town.
I looked as the towering colossus peered over at me from above. He pressed my shoulder firmly with one finger, then dragged it across quickly across my abdomen. I looked over at Nick.
"He approves of you."
"That's, that's good to know," I said to Nick.
I turned to the mayor.
"We've got to get you back and the proper care you need ASAP," I exclaimed.
The gates opened and we returned with Mayor Mcdonough and made our way towards the infirmary. The mayor's guards rushed while another group went to retrieve Nick. Erickson was gone.
Security was heightened for obvious reasons. Every point of the city was scrupulously inspected and guarded.
Several days passed. We knew the longer we took to recover, the more time Shaun had in his plots to wreak more havoc.
The mayor and I continued to work on the revision of their bill of rights. And after a few days of deliberation with the council. We reached a final draft which subsequently became their official Bill of Rights.
This ensured each settler had equal rights to food and the right to live as they saw fit, so long as they contributed a percentage of tax along with work from each household. It was an oligarchy of sorts. But it worked for Diamond City, as the town soon became the most civilized settlement this side of the glowing sea.
Since there was no real currency other than the exchange of Nuka-Cola bottle caps—there was this "one for all and all for one" philosophy that resonated among the people.
There were no states, no government, at least in the traditional sense, as far as Diamond City is concerned. It was a pragmatic, self-sufficient system.
They say "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." An aphorism that pangs against the council's core values. Just because they are trying to be "good", doesn't inherently make them a nefarious collective. It appears they really are doing everything they can to help ensure peace and create a system for future generations. A system that has formed out of necessity to help humans thrive amidst the terrors of the post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Each household was provided with a defense and service droid, along with water evaporators which extract concentrated moisture from irradiated clouds along with Rad-X: a radiation reducing "chem" that renders irradiated water and certain foods safe for consumption.
The mayor congratulated me and awarded me with a distinguished medal so people would recognize my valor and contributions to the city. I earned my keep by putting my life on the line for the well-being of the council and for the people. This was a choice that came with its own weight of pain and hardship which I had to overcome. I am just thankful to be honored and rewarded for the acts of bravery that I would've done irrespective of any reward. I know what it's like to lose everything. So I took it upon myself to ensure others could have a viable future.
After some time. I went to visit Nick who was already reconfigured into an updated robotic frame. He still chose to wear the hole-ridden, ragged trench coat and hat combo. It was nice to see him, regardless if he was synth.
Nick told me about his plans to overtake Shaun's institute with the help of the mutant enclave who vowed to assist him for the greater good of the Capital Wasteland.
He said if he needed me, he'd ask ahead of time. But this was a job he was instructed to complete. He said he knew I had some unfinished searching of my own and should uncover that part of my quest, first. He had the heavies on his side; a mutant battalion to help him finish his mission.
I knew that would not be the last I saw or heard of Nick Valentine.
In the following days, people acclimated further, and many faces were met with hope in their hearts, I felt it was now time to leave my home and venture out to solve my past and the whereabouts of Vault 111's inhabitants. I could finally start the quest to unravel the mystery of what really happened to us, those at Vault 111. Were those plans rife with malignancy? Or perhaps they had altruistic intentions, that had just gone awry?
I finished my Nuka-Cola, double checked my supplies and gear. Everything was in order. I was prepared, and even if I was not, I would adapt vis-à-vis, against the impregnable bulwark of hell. My scars were a testament to that. I'd accomplished many things in my efforts to uncover the truth and had become the piercing arrow that had entered the heart of the wasteland.
I want to know. No, I need to know. If not for me, then for the sake of those breathless whispers extinguished so unjustly.
I walked over to Codsworth (my assistance droid) and asked him to tell me a joke, to lift my spirits. Without missing a beat he said, "Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says, 'Does this taste funny to you?'" He always had a morbid sense of humor, that droid. I told him I would be leaving for a while. He saluted me, "Tally-ho, sir!"
I turned off my lights, exited my humble abode, and made way for Diamond City's exit gates.
I've already made my peace with the people here. I had recently shook the mayor's hand and was given survival accommodations for my long trek forth. "Peace be with me", I said under my breath as I was let out of Diamond City.
The gates opened and revealed the tempestuous, gleaming nightmare of rot and decay. The indispensable terra firma that was once a flourishing, blissful nation, was now a smoldering husk of its former self. The searing levels of radiation which destroyed the ecology, and the pyroclastic material, swathing across the land as I took my first step towards the great infinity and nothingness. Such unspeakable atrocities lay before me.
Nick had mentioned a faction called the Brotherhood of Steel, northwest of Diamond City. Perhaps they could help me uncover some answers to my past.
I double-checked my gun. It was loaded. A hair-trigger. The gates close behind me. I checked my Pip-Boy for any broadcasts and came to an active radio station playing music. "I don't want to set the world on fire" by The Ink Spots played.
"Hmm, couldn't be more appropriate," I said to myself.
And off I went.