5:45 AM

July 2nd, 2274

LeVito Farm

Joseph and Kassandra both were awakened by the repeated and manifold barks from the family dog, Rex. Shortly after, the wails of young Judith in her crib joined into the orchestra, prompting Kassandra to sigh and sit up as well as her husband Joseph.

"You get the baby, I'll see what's bothering the dog?" She suggested, the two of them standing from the bed in perfect synchrony.

"I got Judith last time."

"Fine. Rifle's by the door."

Joseph threw on a few layers from the clothes drawer to prepare for the Montana cold, the married couple filing through the door to their room. In the living room, heated by the contained fire underneath the chimney, Kassandra made a beeline for their baby daughter, laying in her crib and crying, while Joseph grabbed the gun from in front of the door. He pet the barking and howling German Shepherd with his free hand, calming the dog down enough for him to slip out of the door and into the cold morning air while Rex remained inside.

Once Joseph was on the porch, he leaned against the railing and strained his eyes. He made out a moving mass of dark shadows on the edge of the clearing, near the pine trees. As soon as his eyes met the shadows they paused, the largest among them's eyes meeting his. Wolves. The Montana ones had been surprisingly unaffected by the radiation, but two hundred years without man as a dominant species had led them to grow larger and deadlier. Still, they could be very easily dealt with in the same fashion as the ones years ago.

"Hey!" Joseph yelled at the canines, lifting his gun and aiming to the treetops. "Get the hell outta here!" He fired once when his yells failed to convince the hounds, startling the dogs and watching as they skittered away back into the forest. "Shoo! Shoo!" Once he was sure they had gone, Joseph smiled to himself and turned back to the door, pressing down on the handle and walking in. The baby had been calmed, now in Kassandra's embrace, and she sat on the worn, red couch with Rex snuggled against them. Joseph smiled at the scene, reloading the rifle with a box of ammo on the table beside the door before setting it down where it had been.

"What was it?" Kassandra whispered, not wanting to wake the baby.

"Wolves." The man answered, sitting next to his wife with a huff. Rex lifted his head and ears, flopped off of the couch, walked to Joseph's left, got back onto the couch, and collapsed in his lap. "You get the little baby and I get the eighty pound dog. That hardly seems fair," He joked.

"Hey, you made your decision."

The newly-made farmer snorted at the response, rubbing the fur on the dog's head as he leaned back and appreciated the silence. This was his life. Sitting besides his wife, baby, and dog, in their warm cabin in his home state. This was proof for him that dreams could come true. He had worked hard for this life, both of them had, and frankly Joseph wouldn't have had it any other way.

Before the man knew it, he had fallen asleep.

7:58 AM

November 11th, 2280

LeVito Farm

The twenty-seven year old man was awakened by his now seven year old daughter bouncing on the bed, as well as multiple orders from her to "Wake up, wake up!" And a few simple statements of "Birthday!" His eyes opened and he smiled at Judith, nodding and waving that he was awake, it was okay to get off the bed now. After a few more bounces she did just that, rolling sideways off of the foot of the mattress and landing on the wooden floor with a harmless thud. She jumped up and ran out of the room. The aging Rex followed, still limping from a bullet he had taken to the leg years ago.

Joseph turned to his wife of also seven years, who was already wide awake and sitting up with a book in her hand and a faint smile on her lips. "Today's the big day."

He nodded. "You sure it's a good idea?"

"I was shooting mole rats when I was five. If anything, I think you should have taken her hunting sooner."

"In that case…" Joseph slipped out of bed, throwing on his favorite hunting attire, one that he had bought off of a passing merchant: A sleeveless white shirt underneath a long-sleeved thermal shirt, and cargo pants that had sustained minimal gashes and were only slightly bloodstained. He exited the bedroom as well, seeing Judith already by the door with her jacket and boots on. Holding in a laugh, Joseph shook his head. "Nope. Not yet."

The girl groaned, exasperated. "Really?"

"Yes, really. There's one thing that every wanderer that braves the Wastes needs before they head out each day…" He trailed off, expecting Judith to pick up what he was putting down.

"Breakfast?"

"Goddamn right!"

The girl giggled. "You cursed."

"Ah, shit, I did." Joseph sighed and shook his head, trying and failing to suppress a smirk as he tsk-tsked at himself and his daughter broke out into a laugh. "Well, let's get you some food." He reached up onto an overhead cabinet just above the counter in the main room of the cabin.

"What is it? Mutfruit? Watermelon?" Judith asked, standing on her toes to try and see into the cabinet.

"Better." Joseph pulled from the storage appliance a plastic box, within which was hundreds of poorly chopped cubes of ice and a medium-sized label-less tin box, made in one of the newer NCR food production facilities to the southwest. Judith knew instantly what it was.

"Brahmin steak!"

"Nothing but the best for my little girl's big day!" He set it down onto the counter, peeling open the lid and ensuring the meat was still fresh and unspoiled. It had cost him a hell of a lot to buy from the last merchant, the meat and ice both, but it had been worth it to see the look on his daughter's face when she saw it.

"Why don't you go play with Rex?" Kassandra suggested, coming out from the bedroom. "Me and your father are gonna get breakfast ready, but it'll take a few minutes."

"Okay!"

As Judith led the dog outside to play in the clearing around the house, Joseph and Kassandra spoke with one another, setting up the steak. There was silence in the kitchen for a few moments, before Joseph spoke.

"We need to talk about moving."

Kassandra groaned, shaking her head with a hint of annoyance that they were back on this subject. "No, we don't."

"Kass, she can't just stay pent up in here her entire life."

"Wasn't it you who suggested we fix up this farm and stay here?"

"Yes, but-" Joseph sighed, but did not stop making the food. "I was wrong."

"Okay, then where do you propose we move now?"

"I don't know. Somewhere out west. The NCR's been expanding-"

"The NCR is a dysfunctional and corrupt empire. They barely have any hold over their own land, let alone any hold over the land they're expanding into. And, Joseph, they'll make us pay taxes! Taxes. Joseph, do you know what taxes are?"

"I'm…Aware of what taxes are, yes." The man sighed.

"They'd be stealing money from us to fuel their own failing war industry. We'd be working our asses off to line Kimball's pockets, and then still be second class to goddamn Ghouls and Super Mutants."

"Fine."

The rest of the meal preparation was spent in silence. When it was finished and Judith was called back in to eat, Joseph and Kassandra both pretended that the discussion had not happened. They laughed and smiled outwardly, but inwardly both of them dreaded the future.

How long could they keep living like this?

Joseph held his hands around the sleeves of Judith's jacket, positioning her grip on the gun so that her aim with the rifle in her hands could be accurate and true. He tucked her chin in, and whispered into her ear, "Breath in." When he heard his daughter draw a slow and quiet breathe, he instructed her to "Breath out. Keep your lungs empty. When you have the shot, take it. Remember: Aim for the chest." A moment or two after he finished, a gunshot pierced through the air, and Joseph's hands reached out to catch his daughter, should she fall from the recoil, but found with great joy that she remained standing, though with the rifle dropping out of her hands while the Radstag a good few yards away fell to the ground, bleeding from a newly torn hole around where its vital organs were.

"I…I hit it? I hit it!" Judith yelled at the grinning Joseph, hitting his shoulder and jumping up and down while pointing away, at where their prey had been standing. She ran towards the body, while Joseph stood from his crouching position and picked up the gun.

"Judith, wait!" He sighed and jogged behind the girl, reaching the radstag's body only a few moments after she did. The excitement in the air only a little bit before had disappeared, and Judith now stood over the deceased mutated stag, looking down at it with uncertainty in her eyes. Joseph knew this was coming. He was even glad that it had in a way, because it meant that she wouldn't be so nonchalant about taking a life as…

…Well, he loved his wife. But she had her flaws.

"Do you think he had a family?" She asked in a low, quiet voice. Important, life-defining parenting moment here, and Joseph recognized that he had to choose his words carefully, as these would be what she remembered the entire rest of her life.

"Maybe."

"Do you think they'll miss him?"

"…Maybe." Joseph mentally chided himself. He knew he couldn't just respond with vague, one word answers. He knew this would happen, it was a major reason in why he had brought her out here, so why hadn't he planned for this in any way? "But we had to do it. For food, to survive."

"Why?" Judith asked.

"I don't know. That's just the way things are in this world."

"I wish it wasn't." Judith whispered, and Joseph placed his hand on her shoulder and drew her close, holding his daughter in his embrace.

"Me too, honey. Me too."