Dakota Michelson

A Fallout 4 Fan Fiction

Chapter 3: Recruitment... Sort of...

I tried sleeping. I think eventually I did, but it wasn't long until I heard the door to the police station slam open. I am startled, but I don't move. I think maybe it would be advantageous to catch the intruder off guard and attack if they thought I was asleep. Or maybe I am just too scared to move and I am trying to justify my actions. The footsteps from the door are loud and heavy and… metallic? Like some sort of robot burglar. I hear another set of footsteps from behind me and I recognize them as Haylen's footsteps. She has a light step, good for sneaking around if she tried. I hear her whisper and then more footsteps.

The metallic footsteps get closer and closer to me and I begin to panic. But I decide to keep still. It was a man's voice I heard. "Who's this?" he asks. Haylen responds, "Some stray from Vault 111. Stumbled in here trying to run away from a raider."

There was a pause for a little while and then the thundering footsteps walk away with Haylen following. Her voice gets louder with some sort of excitement. "And guess what? Our guest is pre-war." The man seems confused and retorts, "What!?" She answers, "Yep. It turns out Vault 111 was some sort of cryo lab." He grunts like he might find that fact interesting, but is tired. "We'll have to pay that vault a visit."

I shudder at the thought of returning to that place. Then I begin to wonder another thought. Where else can I go? I have no home and I'll probably be thrown out of here in the morning. I don't even know where the nearest sign of civilization even is.

Then I suddenly wake up and look around. I guess I must have fallen asleep while I was deep in thought last night. Haylen looks over at me and says, "Good morning, sunshine." I sit up and realize another person is snoozing away in the sleeping bag next to me. It's the intruder from last night, I figure. As soon as I look over, Haylen whispers sharply, "Don't wake him." I give her a look to acknowledge her request.

Haylen walks over and sits down on the ground besides me. "So what's next for you?" The 1 million dollar question. "I don't know," I reply. "I don't know anything about this new world. I don't even know where I would go." I realize I'm starting to get louder and Haylen gives me a look that easily tells me to shut up. She then looks down and I can tell she is deep in thought. She asks, "What skills do you have?"

"Skills?" I ask. "Umm… well I am good with technology. I used to work for Robco before the war." Haylen gives a surprised look. "Wow, that's great. You didn't look like the technological type to me though." "Well it is true," I assure her. "Ever fire a gun?" she asks. "No. Never," I say. She leans in and says, "You might want to learn. The world is a dangerous place."

Haylen and I get up and get splits part of her breakfast with me. I think to myself that I'll probably never find this courtesy anywhere else. I reach in my pocket and realize my wallet is still in there. I open it and find a little over $220 in cash. Haylen gives me a concerned look and says, "Ohhhh no. That currency is worth close to nothing anymore. You need to earn some caps." "Caps?" I ask. "Like bottlecaps?"

Haylen nods. "Look. I'm not guaranteeing anything, but if you're willing to help us, you could join us. You'd be safer and better off than wondering the Commonwealth by yourself." "The Commonwealth?" I ask. "It's not called Massachusetts anymore?" Haylen lets out a small laugh and says, "No, it's not called Massachusetts anymore."

I have to take this opportunity. I never wanted to join any military operation. Ever. But what are my options? I have nothing. I know nothing. I need the support the Brotherhood offers me.

I ask, "What do you need help with?" Haylen smiles and says, "So you will help? Glad to hear it. For starters, I could use some help installing this Deep Range Transmitter that Paladin Danse brought back last night. We need this to call for reinforcements. Come on. Let's go to the roof."

Haylen and I work together for a while and I can't help but think how great it is to be working with technology again. This may work out better than I first thought.

After a while, I hear this loud growl/screech sound. I've never heard anything like it before. I look quickly at Haylen and she slides a rifle to me. "We have company," she says. I look down from the roof and see people limping toward the building. Except they don't look like normal people. "Shoot 'em!" Haylen yells.

I aim, but I am very shaky. I try to concentrate. I lock on to one of the creature's heads and fire. I am surprised to see that a bullet wasn't fired, but a laser. I look back down the sight of gun and find the original monster I tried to hit and realized I missed. I aim again and fire. The creature falls down to the ground, but several more are coming closer to the building. I aim and fire, aim and fire, aim and fire. I am pretty decent at firing the gun actually, but I'm out of bullets or whatever this guns uses and I have no idea how to reload the gun. I also realize I don't have any ammo. Luckily Haylen can tell by my lack of firing and passes some ammo to me. I try to figure out how to reload the gun and I lean on the small wire fence for support. All of a sudden, the fence falls over and I follow suit. My back hits the roof above the door of the police station and then again on the ground.

My vision is blurry for a second but quickly comes in to focus on one of the creatures right in front of me. I hear gunfire and the creature falls. "You alright?" Haylen yells. I am about to respond but see one of the creatures running, unlike the slow walking of the others. I close my eyes as I wait for almost certain death but then I hear another gun and heavy metal footsteps behind me. I look up and see Paladin Danse firing. He hits each monster with flawless precision. One shot to the head and they fall down.

I sit up and try to reload. It takes me a few seconds but I think I've just figured it out. I fire but nothing happens. "Damn it," I say to myself as I fumble with the rifle a little more. I try again and it fires. I stand up and move closer to the barricade in front of me. Aim, fire, aim, fire, aim, fire. Eventually it gets quiet.

I take a deep breath and I feel happiness that I made it through the attack. I also feel a sense of pride for being able to take a few of the creatures down. Danse turns around and looks at me.

"What the hell was that?" he yells. "What were you doing on the ground?"

I'm taken back by his questions and all I manage to get out is, "I fell-". Danse interrupts me and says, "Your carelessness almost got you killed." In just a few seconds, I am reminded of how I will never last in this world, especially not on my own. I doubt Danse would ever let me join the Brotherhood of Steel at all.

I walk over to the first creature I shot and examine it. "What the hell happened to it?" I think to myself. It was definitely human at one point, there's no doubt about it. I get back up and head to the doors of the police station. I hesitate about even opening them, but I do anyway. Haylen and Danse are talking and all I hear from Danse is, "Only going to slow us down." They both look at me and stop.

There's a long awkward silence. I walk forward and hand Haylen the rifle she gave me back and said, "Thanks for trying. It was great working with you." I turn around and begin walking towards the exit and Danse says, "Unless you're willing to go through some training."