June 8, 2161

I've always been a man who favors learning things slowly. Go in clear-headed, pace yourself to match your limits, you get the idea. Seems the wasteland disagrees with that fine philosophy, and thought it'd be fun to throw as much shit in my face as possible in a single day; show me the ropes the fast and hard way, I guess. It certainly made damn sure I understood the danger of what's called a "Radscorpion".

When morning came around I was starving. My foul mood only intensified when I was told only locals of the town were allowed access to the food. I can understand their reasoning for it, life's tough and you've got to take care of your own before strangers. Still didn't keep an angry sneer from twisting across my face. I took a seat at a splintered table in the back and took out one of the nasty-ass nutrient bars I'd been given at the vault.

During that time a man with a food tray took the seat across from me - short, stocky guy with long hair and a leather jacket. He introduced himself as Ian, said he noticed I was an outsider and was wondering if I had had any good adventures out on the wastes to share. He seemed like a nice enough sort; hell, he's the first person I met in this town to actually show some courtesy. So, I thought "what the hell" and told him about the troubles over at Vault 13. Had it not been for the vault jumpsuit I'm wearing I doubt he would have believed a word of it. Still, he's an alright guy; doesn't talk much but he's very knowledgeable. Told me he used to work as security for a caravan group - Crimson Caravan if I recall correctly - before he left to do some freelance merc work. Said he was shot by a raider a few years later and found his way here to Shady Sands where he eventually took up another security job. Looks like life came full circle for him.

He pointed out a few interesting locations on my Pipboy map: Junktown, a town a good ways south of Shady Sands; the Khans hideout, a raider camp that's been causing some trouble around here; and another town called The Hub, which he described as the main trading center of the wasteland.

We made smalltalk while we finished up our meals. He mentioned a job he and his security crew were going on later and offered to let me tag along, saying they could use an extra gun. I don't have much - no, scratch that - I don't have any combat experience and I'm not that good of a shot so I'd been willing decline at first. But he said the reward would be fifty caps. It sounded like pretty good pay and I had plenty of time to spare, so I thought "Fuck it" and took the job.

Ian lead me out of the hostel and down to an old storage shed made of rusted sheet metal. Other men were inside inspecting old weapons, packing supplies and whatnot. Ian slid a wooden lockbox my way with his foot, telling me to take what I needed from it and load up. Wasn't too much of use in it, but I did salvage a couple of ammo clips and a few pieces of leather armor with a shoulder guard to strap on.

I noticed Seth - guess he was the security leader here after all - leaning back on a bench in the back of the shed, taking a long drag on a bent smoke with his eyes closed, like he was just waiting for something big to go down. That reminded me that I still didn't even know what this job was all about and I told Ian as much. He told me we'd be going a few miles out to a cave home to a nest of what he called "Radscorpions". Said they'd been preying on the town's brahmin and had even poisoned Seth's little brother Jarvis. Our job was to kill them and bring back some venom samples so that someone he called "Old Doc Razlo" could study it and learn what was needed to manufacture an antidote for it.

We left Shady Sands about an hour later and spent most of the trek to the cave in silence except for the occasional smalltalk amongst the group. The guys didn't even look my way except for Ian who asked a few brief questions about the vault, and Seth who gave me a quick "Thanks" for tagging along. Really wary of strangers, these folks are.

It must've been around, say, 3:00 PM when we finally came to the cave. The sunlight didn't shine too far in so we had to rely on a few torches to get some good lighting, and my Pipboy's flashlight came in handy too. The passage was linear but very narrow, not allowing much room for maneuvering. Not having much wasteland experience under my belt, I had already began feeling paranoid, flinching occasionally at the quick flickers our shadows made on the environment. I'm just glad no one in the group noticed.

About ten minutes into the cave we came upon our first small group of radscorpions, four in total. They were ugly little bastards but their carapace looked rock-solid; I briefly wondered if my lousy pea shooter could even penetrate their shells. My thoughts were interrupted when Seth wordlessly raised his rifle and took aim, its crack like a bolt of lightning as the bullet flew into the brain of the nearest radscorpion and tore it apart with a nasty slushiness. The other men in the group had already began firing on the other scorpions and had killed them all before I'd even drawn my own gun. Guess their shells weren't as durable as I thought. Seth took out an old rusty knife and began slicing into the tail of one of the radscorpions; after the venom sample, I assumed. Damned if I know the anatomy of these things.

Of course, there were worse problems than me not getting any of the glory of battle. Our vision had been limited but our hearing hadn't been; further back into the cave we could hear the clatters and taps of more radscorpions as they were scurrying to the source of the noise, clamping their pincers in anticipation for the kill. Seth had finished his work and motioned for us to run back the way we had come from. To my left I noticed Ian held a stick of dynamite in his grip. Smart thinking - kill a few to get the venom sample and then blow the cave in, trapping the rest of the little fuckers inside.

I reached the cave entrance before anyone else, no doubt thanks to my cowardice and pumping adrenaline propelling me to get the hell out of there like it was the coming of the devil. The others reached it moments later and focused their aim over Ian to cover him while he set the dynamite. The last thing I remember from today's excursion is turning around to the outside at the sound of a familiar clatter and then firing off every round in my pistol before being lanced in the side and having a white, burning pain arc up my body, only to blackout moments later.

And that is all. I woke up on an old mattress in Doc Razlo's house back in Shady Sands hours later; must've been about 9:00 PM, I reckon. Ian stopped by when he heard that I'd awoken and explained what had happened. To here him tell it, a lone radscorpion had been returning to the cave around the time we were leaving and pounced on me. At least I managed to kill the little bastard, though Ian informed me that I had been poisoned by it.

Razlo tells me that the antidote has taken effect and I've nothing to worry about, but it's like I can still feel the venom flowing through my veins and burning them.

I can write no more for tonight. Anitdote is making me feel drowsy and I really need the rest for tomorrow. I still need to go investigate Vault 15. Ian has requested to come with me for the sake of adventure and action, to hear him put it. I accepted - of course - for his talents will be useful to me while traveling out here. He has told me of a woman here named Katrina who supposedly came from Vault 15. I will speak with her tomorrow.

Albert Cole signing off.