A/N: I should've put this in chapter 1 but slight mistakes were made, this story is going to heavily diverge from the original Frost canon, although there wasn't much of one to begin with but that's the beauty of it, it will be more akin to Metro's style.
I'll try to keep these notes to a minimum.
Enjoy and advice is appreciated.
A couple of days went by without really anything, Alex stayed in as he always did, trying to figure out some way to deal with that seemingly immortal monster that was still running through the tunnels, he couldn't shake that something seemed familiar about it, he could've sworn that he'd seen the thing somewhere before but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. The girl had ended up deciding to stay in town and of course with his luck the only house that was available was the one that was built near him, occupied by some passing trader a couple weeks back and no one had ever claimed it, so of course Madsen gave her the home, and since then she seemed to be quite interested in talking to Alex whenever she could, she didn't come to his house but they'd run into each other when he'd go out for scrap and she would immediately run into him and try to strike up a conversation, something he just wasn't interested in. He woke up that morning after having a surprisingly quiet sleep, no nightmares as he often did just a black, dreamless sleep, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, tossing the blankets aside and standing up, stretching his arms out as he walked over to his desk, which was littered with yellowed papers covered with different writings as he'd gotten a bit obsessed with finding out how this creature managed to shrug off bullets like they were nothing.
After sitting he reached underneath the desk and took out a small crate full of Nuka Cola bottles, two of which were cherry flavored, he grabbed one of the cherry ones and set the box down, pushing it back under the desk with his foot and popping the cap off, he took a long drink as he looked over some of the papers from previous days. "I just don't get it…" He muttered to himself. "I've never seen something that can just shrug off that much gunfire, or regenerate from their injuries...I mean the ghouls are pretty much invincible from the radiation preserving them but...Even they die if you shoot them in the head or take some limbs off…" He immediately recalled when the monster somehow reattached its almost severed arm after he sliced through it, he had to wonder if it was able to heal from the eye injury as well. He just sat there, staring at the papers as his frustration only continued to rise, with his free hand he clenched it into a fist and grit his teeth. "If it isn't one fucking thing it's another...It wasn't enough that we can't go on the surface without freezing or irradiating to death, it wasn't enough that there's millions, probably billions of ghouls everywhere and lord knows what else up there, but now we have invincible, regenerating monsters from hell..." His face turned a shade of red as he took another drink from the bottle, then suddenly opened the drawer the revolver was in and just like last time, he took the gun out, pulled the hammer back and spun the cylinder around, he took a deep breath as he pressed cold steel against the side of his head and casually pulled the trigger, and just like last time it went off with a click but no bang, he pulled the gun away and let out a sigh, whether it was just he was extremely lucky or the universe didn't want him to have an easy way out he never seemed to get the chamber with a bullet. He popped the cylinder out and the bullet wasn't even close this time, he could've pulled it another four times before it had actually gone off, he set the gun back in the drawer and slammed it shut before taking another drink from the bottle.
For a moment he was lost in thought, scratching his chin with his free hand as his eyes scanned over the papers on his desk, he couldn't figure out a definitive answer though, quietly letting out a frustrated growl as his mind just kept going from one dead end to another. "There's very little if any radiation down here at all so it's not just a giant ghoul...It seems more like an animal but still less feral than the regular ghouls...So what the hell is it?" He said as he picked up one of the papers, this one was the suggestion that it wasn't a ghoul at all, that it was another form of mutation that he hadn't seen before. "Even if that were the case, why would it have the ability to regenerate?...Even the regeneration wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't damn near instant...That seems...Oddly specific." He set the paper down and pinched the bridge of his nose, the constant study had left him with a headache almost once a day since and it was already kicking in today, he finished the bottle off and set it on the desk, annoyed and frustrated he stood up from his desk, and went to a door inbetween the couch and his bed, which lead to a small room with what looked like a wooden bathtub, lined with rubber inside and a drain in the middle, complete with a shower head, on a side shelf sat a dusty looking bar of soap and a musty white towel. "Thank god we had a plumber in this town…" He muttered to himself, through his scavenging and one guy being able to connect pipes properly they actually had running water, he threw his shirt aside and twisted the two knobs on the pipe, a loud creaking noise echoed through the room as the tank outside had the demand to be useful, then grayish clear water came flowing out of the shower head, filling the room with the sound of water on rubber, he stood there for a moment waiting for the water to heat up a bit before getting inside, he finished getting undressed and stepped inside the tub.
For a while it was less of him showering and him just absently staring up at the ceiling as the water poured on his head, lost in thought again as he tried to repress the fond memories of the prewar world, sure it was just a shower, a basic amenity that pretty much every house in the country used to have but now like a lot of other things, it just reminded him of things that didn't really exist anymore, he quietly sighed as he started working a few of the knots out of his hair, he'd spent so much time in isolation the last few days that he'd not showered like he normally did, his hair was messy, filled with knots that were a pain to pull out but he eventually did, he grabbed the soap off the shelf and rinsed the dust off before cleaning up, it filled the room with that fresh kind of cliche "manly" smell. He didn't notice how long he'd been in there until the water suddenly started feeling a lot colder, he switched the shower off and stepped out, quickly wrapping his towel around him before going back into the main room, going back to his desk as per the usual and reading the papers, hoping the shower would've helped him think a little bit better but of course he wasn't making any connections, he threw the papers aside with a growl as he was losing his temper again. "Damn it!" He exclaimed while slamming his fist down on the desk, he was getting angry enough that he could swear his vision was starting to turn red. "I'm smarter than this, I should have been able to figure this shit out by now!" He ran his hands over his face, letting out another frustrated sigh before he finally just muttered "fuck it" to himself and got up again, loudly slamming the chair against the desk and fetching himself some fresh clothes, nothing fancy just a plain white t shit, some jeans and the coat he wore last night, upon getting dressed he left his home in a huff, slamming the door behind him and getting a few glances from some people nearby, who looked at him just for a moment before quickly diverting their attention to something else, he hopped off the platform and headed for Johnny's to clear his head a bit.
Of course as he walked in the bar there were plenty of people in there, most sitting at their booth enjoying whatever they were eating for lunch, a couple of guys playing poker and about three people all surrounding the pool table, throwing bottle caps down and making bets about who was going to win that game, Johnny of course was behind the bar, chipper as he always was and he gave a kind wave towards Alex, who merely made a brief hand motion towards him as he approached the bar. "Aye good afternoon Alex, you doing alright lad? You got a look that could kill if it wanted to." Johnny said with a chuckle with that heavy Irish inflection, as Alex took his seat he just noticed the other guest at the bar, the girl from a couple nights ago was there, a warm smile on her face with a small glass of whiskey sitting in front of her, mentally he groaned knowing she was going to try and speak to him as she always did and as if on cue her eyes shifted in his direction and she directed that kind smile towards him, he rested his elbows on the bar, fingers clasped together and eyes shut as he tried to ignore her existence. "Yeah, I've been spending days trying to figure out how the fuck there's a literally invincble monster running around the lines and I can't get any leads on it, I can't figure out what it is, where it would come from and what kind of mutation would occur for a human to become pretty much immortal and be able to reattach severed limbs like it's no problem...So yeah, you could say I'm a little bit frustrated." He responded, trying to ignore the prying violet eyes next to him. "Lad sometimes I think you work a little too hard, you're among friends here, so it's fine for you to relax once in a while." Alex groaned as he knew where this conversation was quickly going, another damn lecture. "Johnny I've told you a million times-" He started. "Aye, but I'm pretty sure everyone here has told you at least once that you need to unwind instead of keeping yourself locked up in that little shack of yours, you come here, drink a bit, chat with me and then it's off to disappearing again for days." Alex just shrugged his shoulders, while the girl just casually rested her face against one of her hands, idly listening to the conversation.
"Yeah but I've told you and everyone else that I'm fine the way I am, I stay inside, don't bother anyone and that's that." He said, opening one eye that was staring right at Johnny."I'm telling you Alex, you'd be a lot better off if you'd stop being a loner for once, maybe even find yourself a girlfriend-" "No" He cut Johnny off, both eyes open and practically staring a hole through the Irishman, even still that didn't seem to do anything in deteriorating his persistence as Johnny just sighed and started shaking his head. "Look act disappointed all you want, it's not gonna change my mind, you should know this with how many times I end up coming in here a week." He said while absently scratching his temple. "I know lad, I know, I'm just saying you keep yourself locked up in that shack and it's gonna drive you insane one of these days." Alex just scoffed at that. "No, making friends and watching a ghoul rip their stomachs out through their ass, that's gonna drive me insane." For a moment things went quiet, the sound of pool balls clacking and some guy whooping it up caught their attention, Alex noticed it was the same guy as before, some young looking 20 something looking like he was in a state of denial, along with him was another guy who looked...Sick to say the least, his eyes were sunken in and he looked like he was barely able to hold himself up, as if on cue the man let out a raspy sounding cough before clearing his throat.
"Aye Penny, are you feeling alright?" Johnny asked the girl, who nodded her head with a kind smile, Alex shifted his eyes in her direction for a moment. "Penny?" He suddenly spoke up as Johnny was reaching under the bar for something. "Lad don't tell me you didn't even bother to learn her name when you were savin' her from that beast." He asked. "Nope" Johnny let out another, slightly frustrated sigh as he pulled up another Nuka and set it in front of him, staring at Alex like a father disappointed in his son over something as he popped the cap off the bottle, the stare didn't go unnoticed as Alex returned it for a brief moment before taking a drink. "My name's Penelope." She suddenly said, although he didn't really seem to pay her much attention, only looking over at her through the corners of his eyes before taking another drink, he noticed the smile on her face slowly drained away, she just turned back towards her glass of whiskey with a look of disappointment before taking a drink. There was an awkward bit of silence for a few moments, a noticeable tension in the air that Johnny quickly picked up on as he watched the two go about their business, although he did keep this somewhat disappointed look on his face. Alex didn't seem to really pay it any mind though, sure they'd be disgruntled for the day but it was better than the alternative, in the spirit of maintaining that strict rule of not having any real friends, hell in his mind he didn't even consider Johnny so much a friend as he was just an acquaintance, they would occasionally talk when he came in and that was it, nothing more and nothing less, his outlook wasn't without a few people giving him the stink eye though, most of the town had adopted the pack like mentality, everyone was friendly towards one another, that cliche hippie bullshit in the spirit of survival while he was the odd one out, everyone was all happy and friendly with each while on a good day he'd say hi to you, on a bad day you'd get some sarcasm, it was just fine to him though, at least he wouldn't be brought down when someone kicked the bucket like the town always did. His eyes however shifted over to Penelope again, she looked almost...Dejected maybe? It wasn't like it was his problem though, she'd get over it, not like they were friends or anything anyway.
Although he couldn't stand how Johnny was looking at him every couple of moments, he'd be doing something like cleaning out a used glass or wiping down the bar and his vision would shift in Alex's direction just for a moment, almost like he was silently judging him or something, he wouldn't be surprised, for months Johnny's been on that kick of trying to get him to open up to others, something he emphatically refused whenever the subject came up. He was never going to let anyone in, ever, it was better that way when the inevitable would happen and they'd end up dead, hell it was better that they died thinking he was just some bitter misanthrope than wondering what would happen to him afterwards. Penelope quickly finished her drink and left, not even bothering to say goodbye to Johnny before leaving, Alex watched as some random guy tried to flirt with her on the way out but she promptly snapped at him, saying something along the lines of "Foutre le camp!" Before leaving, although it was clear the guy had no idea what she said, her tone said to leave her alone. "What's her problem?" Alex asked, to which Johnny just let out another frustrated sigh. "You know for a smart lad you do a shit job at picking up people's emotions." Alex raised an eyebrow. "Well maybe she wants to get to know the guy who, out of the kindness of his dear old heart, rescued her from almost certain death and you won't even give her the time of day." Alex quietly groaned, it seemed like he wasn't going to get himself out of this situation. "Johnny, what part of I'm not interested in talking to anyone do people not seem to understand? I helped her, gave her a home to stay in, she's grateful, moving on now." He just wanted to stop having his ass rode about this "bonding" thing, he didn't give a shit if people wanted to bond with him or not, he wasn't interested. "Well laddie you should know that some people just aren't like that, even in this day and age you've got plenty of those social butterflies and maybe she's one of them." Suddenly the guy who tried flirting with her made his way over to the bar, obviously already drunk even though it was barely noon. "Yeah…" He said before hiccuping. "That or... Maybe she wants to suck your dick to thank ya!" He slurred and busted out laughing, he was close enough that Alex could smell the alcohol coming from him, Johnny let out a groan before speaking up. "Or that's a very slim chance...Although I doubt that, she seems like an upstanding lady." The man drunkenly started laughing again. "Johnny...Girls'll blow you for enough caps these days, I bet Alex here is just waitin' till eeryone's sleepin' to pull the tab!" The man went to put his hand on Alex's shoulder when he tightly grabbed the man's wrist to stop him. "Don't touch me…" The man was actually too drunk to notice until he felt Alex tighten his grip on his wrist, he pulled to get free and suddenly Alex let go, the man stumbled back and fell right on his ass, actually getting a chuckle from Johnny as he climbed back to his feet, the man could barely stand at the moment from how sloshed he was and ended up sitting on on the barstool Penelope had been in, he rested his head on the bar and Alex took that as his excuse to leave, the guy was making him feel sick to his stomach anyway, reeking of alcohol and he was pretty sure the guy was going to piss himself at any moment, it honestly disgusted him how a person could get borderline blackout drunk like this.
As if on cue the man suddenly started heaving, like he was about to throw up. "I know you're aren't about to puke all over my bar!" Johnny yelled at the man, but it was obvious he wasn't paying attention to the angry Irishman, he just kept heaving, hunched over and about to throw his lunch all over the floor, Alex quickly grabbed a nearby garbage can and set it up underneath the man and took a few steps back, he left and could hear the guy puking in the can, causing the entire bar to go silent except for that, Alex cringed even with the door closed behind him, he quickly returned home, taking his coat off and hanging it on the rack, he intended to go down there as a way to clear his head and maybe think of how to deal with this monster but he came back home feeling more stressed out than he was before, he was sick of being nagged by Johnny about bonding with people, especially when he started insisting that Alex try to find himself a girlfriend, there was no way come hell or high water that he'd ever end up entertaining that idea, because he knew what would happen, they'd die, they always did. "I don't know why I even bother talking to that drunken idiot...Seems like he's never going to get it through his thick skull that I don't do friends, and I certainly don't do fucking girlfriends." He sat at his desk, just as irritated when he looked down at the papers on the floor as he was earlier, he pinched the bridge of his nose, a sudden lump his throat growing for seemingly no reason, he took a shaky breath before quietly sniffling, Johnny didn't realize how much Alex actually despised the idea of personal interaction, not in the sense that brought his blood to a boil, rather it just kicked him while he was already down. "Every. Fucking. Time!" He said, smashing his fist into the desk with every word, he could feel tears pressing at the corners of his eyes, quickly wiping them away as he bent over to pick the discarded papers up from the floor, he set them up on the desk and went back to what he was doing earlier, mulling over every possible thought, tactic, or even the slightest hint as to how to deal with the monster. Of course he spent a good couple of hours with nothing, spending more of it mentally cursing himself for not being able to figure it out, every second that was spent not finding the answer was starting to eat away at him. "GODDAMN IT!" He shouted, slamming his fist down on the desk to the point he cracked the wood even more, he started tearing papers up, ripping them to shreds and tossing them to the floor, he sat back in his desk chair, gritting his teeth in anger when suddenly someone came knocking at his door, he got up and rushed over to the door, swinging it open. "What?!" He said before noticing that it was Penelope, a look of concern on her face. "Oh... It's you...What do you want?" He said, obviously sounding much ruder with his already frayed nerves, Penelope looked away from him nervously. "Um, I could hear you yelling and I thought I'd come see if everything was alright…" She said. "I'm fine." He responded bluntly, she didn't say anything else, she couldn't even look at the guy. "Look I'm glad you want to be the "caring neighbor" and all but trust me, I'm fine." Again he didn't even let her respond before abruptly shutting the door in her face, he walked back over to his desk when he looked at the door for a moment, a brief pang of guilt hitting him before he sat back down, to be fair he didn't hate Penelope, and surprisingly while most people got sick of his sarcastic attitude after a couple of hours she was still insisting on trying to speak to him, and even still there was a few moments before he heard her footsteps receding from the house and back to her own. He leaned back in his chair and took a quick glance towards the door, thinking maybe he was being a little bit harsh on her, and admittedly he probably was, even Johnny thought maybe he was being a little out of line.
But in the end his isolation was for the better, the emotional tethers weren't needed.
He spent the next few moments just staring up at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts that ended with him starting to nod off, he quietly let out a deep exhale as he'd fallen asleep.
It was dark, a black dreamless void that he often found himself in when he wasn't having a nightmare, however something eventually came into view, the world slowly beginning to form around him, a tunnel, with a group of people sitting around a fire in the middle of it, about 7 or 8 people all huddled together and in that group was a much younger looking Alex, eyes full of fear, rapidly darting around the vast tunnel around him, in the middle the leader of the group, a guy who looked to be in his mid 30s with dirty blonde hair and a short but scraggly looking beard, had a grate with a few slices of some Cram on top, with a separate pot of just water boiling inside, no one said a word, their eyes set on the pot and the food cooking when in the distance they could hear something, a growling noise from further down the line, everyone immediately rushed to their feet with some weapons drawn, a couple had some lead pipes, another with a pipe wrench, unfortunately none of them had a gun on them. Alex nervously stood to his feet, with his father's sword which he wasn't even that capable of holding at the time.
The growling sounds grew louder and there were more of them now, a chill ran down Alex's spine as they could see them, the telltale glowing, sickly yellow eyes of the feral ghouls as a pack of them came running down the tunnels, at least two dozen of them. "Shit! Get ready!" The leader called out to the rest of the group, Alex staggered a bit with the sword as the ghouls quickly closed the distance, the guy leading the group took down one of them but three of them pounced on him suddenly, then the haunting, literally nightmare inducing scream came from his lips as the ghouls swarmed him like a horde of zombies, ripping his flesh from the bone, blood flying and the ghouls getting soaked in it, those that didn't stop for him attacked the rest, they were vastly unprepared for a pack this size as they continued falling, horrific screams of pain and agony ringing out as the ghouls sank their teeth and claws into them, one of them went for Alex and with a clumsy swing, his sword sliced through the ghoul's head, the screaming went silent and was only occupied by the sounds of the ghouls growling and flesh ripping along with bones crunching, Alex stood there shaking, barely able to hold the sword in his hands, tears running down his face as the ghouls set their sights on him, he couldn't move, he was frozen in place as the ghouls suddenly turned into something worse, their claws looked much longer and their mouths opened twice as wide as normal, their jaws snapping as their mouths opened wide, their eyes switched to a dead white color and the ghouls, all of them, immediately pounced on him as he was unable to move.
He could feel them start ripping him apart, teeth and claws sinking into his skin as he could feel the grip on his sword loosen and his consciousness quickly starting to fade, the world went black then suddenly with a brief yell everything came back, his room was dark, only lit from the lights outside, his chest was tight, he couldn't breathe, his heart was racing in his ears and a layer of sweat coated his forehead, blindly he reached around on the desk for something, a lamp that he quickly switched on and the desk was lit by faint orange, he looked around the house, another lump building in his throat as he suddenly broke down crying, he wasn't able to hold it in anymore as he clenched his fists, almost starting to sob, he just sat there for a few minutes, crying against his will as his unwanted reminder of the past continued to weigh in his mind, minus the part where he ended up dying obviously, he of course managed to survive and escape the pack while they stayed behind, eating the group he'd only known for about a month or so. He got his composure and quickly wiped his eyes clean, the corners still red from crying and his sights set on the front door, expecting someone to come knocking wondering why he was screaming for seemingly no reason but no one came.
Then he opened the drawer that revolver was in, he took the gun out with a forlorn gaze in his eyes, this time however he opened the cylinder and took a couple more bullets out, he loaded them into the gun and snapped the cylinder into place and spun it, he pulled the hammer back and pressed the gun to his skull...But he didn't pull the trigger, for some reason he couldn't, he couldn't even rest his finger on it, he froze up, pulling the gun away and just staring at the barrel, his hand was twitching slightly and he set the gun on the desk, he just spent the next few minutes staring at the gun, he wasn't thinking, just staring at the gun with a blank look on his face, finally he picked the gun up and set it back in the drawer, silently closing it as he got up and went over to his bed, he sat and just stared down at the floor for a few moments, lost in his thoughts, he laid down but he knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep that night.