Chapter 2: Introduction and Wasteland Survival 101

Liam was quite surprised to find the boy was gone from the bed, but he was even more surprised to find the same boy bashing a crutch over his head. Now Liam should've expected this after all in the wasteland people have learned to become paranoid and non-trusting due to how many people would shoot you in the back for supplies, ammo, or just for sick fun. Liam couldn't forget the raiders and how sick in the head they could be, they would torture, murder, and rape just for some sick pleasure. One tactic that was dreadful but super effective was using wounded people, children included, as makeshift bombs so when people got close to try and help them the raiders would just detonate the charges placed either under or on them.

Liam now was looking at the boy with an annoyed glare as Dogmeat stood by the doorway growling at him. Liam gave Dogmeat a signal with his hand to back off while he calmly approached the kid. Liam got on his knee once he was close enough and proceeded to disconnect and remove the stealth suit mask. It would be better for him to talk to the kid face to face rather than have the kid talk to an emotionless face of glass. Liam was, by wasteland standards, good looking his hair was still it's natural brunette shade even with some dirt and dust. His skin had gained a bit of a tanned hue due to his long expeditions in the wasteland which matched his amber eyes that showed an irritated look to their observer.

"Alight kiddo, I'm gonna ask some questions and you'd better answer truthfully because right now I'm a bit livid from having a crutch of all things being bashed over my head." The boy seemed petrified by that statement.

"O-okay w-what do you w-want to know" the kid was quiet, so quiet Liam probably wouldn't have heard him if his ears weren't enhanced by the augmentations.

"Well number one what are you doing this far in the D.C. ruins all by yourself? It's not exactly safe especially for kids."

"I'm sorry, my sister was working on this device and- Wait did you say D.C. ruins? How is D.C. in ruins? Did an earthquake or something come through?" Liam was confused, did this kid come from an unopened vault? If so why wasn't he wearing a vault suit? Or his Pip-Boy? He couldn't be from the wasteland he was far too clean and the swing earlier was sloppy, not strong enough to knock out raider or at least daze them.

"Kid, tell me, what do you know of the Capital Wasteland?" Liam asked narrowing his eyes slightly. He had a theory but he needed more if he was to prove it.

"I've never heard of that place. It sounds like it's not someplace anyone would want to live in. Is it in Russia or something?" Liam looked at the kid in disbelief. This kid is how old and doesn't know that he's in the wasteland? Who the hell was raising this kid?

Liam stood up as sunlight started to shine through one of the broken windows and gave a good view over the ruins. The kid looked in the same direction and gained a look of worry, he ran up to the window to get a better look but this didn't help if anything it made it worse. Before the kid could look any further Liam grabbed him by the arm and yanked him away from the window and on the ground. "Are you crazy kid? What the hell are you trying to do get your head blown off!?"

"What are talking about? Where am I?" the kid was getting scared, shaken even and it seemed that Liam's theory was correct. The kid was not from the wasteland. It wasn't that surprising to the Lone Wanderer as he had met some people on the Zeta that were from pre-war times and didn't even know about the wasteland or what caused it. Liam took a gamble and looked out to see if there were any threats of raiders, super mutants, or worse Talon Company. Every time Liam would go into the D.C. Ruins or even to Rivet City those mercenaries would chase him down just to get the bounty placed on his head, not even a high bounty either. When he didn't see any danger, he looked over to the kid who just seemed filled with anxiety and panic.

"Alright kid what's your name, and how did you get here?" The kid told Liam everything. His name was Lincoln Loud and he told Liam about his situation and why he ended up here, from sisters to the fight protocol to the brawl in his own room to waking up and bashing a legendary unexpecting dumbass in the back in the head with a crutch. There wasn't anything too farfetched except for one thing. 'He has TEN SISTERS!? Jesus Christ his parents must part rabbit or something, that or a large bottle of Viagra.'

Liam shook his head and got back at the topic at hand. He scrolled through his Pip-Boy until he found the device that he found next to Lincoln and materialized in his hand. Needless to say, Lincoln was surprised and shocked by what he witnessed but shook it off when he saw Lisa's device in the hands of the man who saved him. "Is this the device you were talking about, if so I think I know some people that could help fix it."

"Really!? Who!?" Lincoln was in front of Liam in seconds, if there was a way back home he was willing to take it.

"There is a group that specializes with this kind of technology, if anything they would be our best option at getting this thing fixed, but it's one hell of a walk from here to there and that's not counting what we might encounter on the way there" Liam estimated that it would take a whole two-day journey to get to the Citadel. They would have to rest in Rivet City and restock but that wasn't too big of a road bump, they would have to go though one of the metro tunnels which could be a big problem due to chances of having raiders, ghouls, or god knows what else. Before Liam could voice his plan and concerns he heard voices from outside and they were getting closer. He cautiously poked his head over to look outside to see a group of five men coming towards the building that him and his companions where in. As they were getting closer he was able to hear a conversation between them.

"You're sure you saw him go into this building?"

"I'm not a hundred percent it was this building but I know it was this area."

"How are not a hundred percent sure?"

"Because I had to hurry back to base before those damn ferals came out, you know that they've been crawling out of the metros late at night in hordes. Last thing I want is to get swarmed because I wanted to perfectly sure that our target was in this building." The voices were bickering back and forth, but that wasn't were Liam's attention was instead it was on their armor. The dark combat armor was already a red flag but the white four-pronged claw mark above the heart settled it. Talon Company was here and blood was going to spilled. Liam just hoped he could keep Lincoln safe.

AND done I'm sorry if it's a short chapter but I really want to do something special for when Lincoln sees the harsh reality of the Wasteland plus it will give a great opportunity for Liam to show and teach Lincoln about how it works. Let me know what you guys think I always love feed back and to those who did the PM poll for pairings (don't know why PM and not comments) but you guys wanted some results and here are.

Liam:

Leni-4

Lori-2

Luan-3

Lynn-1

Luna-1

Lincoln:

Ronnie Ann-5

Lucy-3

Lynn-1

Interesting results is really all I can say.