Chapter II

Walker of the wastes

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,

I pulled my hood over my head to try and keep warm, the days were getting colder and supplies were getting harder to find. the wind howled as my hood was thrown of my head again. I flicked on my Pip Boy's hud and saw a blue marker on my compass.

I climbed onto a rock and looked through my Binoculars. There was a faint glow and smoke in the distance. as I tried to climb off the rock, I slipped on some ice and fell into the snow.

"Shit!" I groaned as I clammered out of the snow "God, Its cold"

as i got closer to the light source I began to hear the cracking of a fire. I stopped and pulled off my backpack to check for anything that could warm me up...

Walker looked deep into the fire. It'd been months since he'd had the materials to create one. The flames crackled with a comforting noise that made Walker remember of a more calm time. Moments like these were hard to come by in the irradiated land known as Australia, and Walker knew that. Knowing he had a long walk ahead of himself, Walker began to doze off, when he heard a clank of a backpack hit the ground. Without hesitation, he quickly grabbed his trusty rifle and load in a clip of ammunition. He stood up firmly and spoke "Alright, out where I can see you. No sudden movements or there'll be trouble."

Walker knew he could be talking to the air right now, or worse, A cold one.

Hearing the sound of a rifle load, Alex froze in place. "I'm not here for trouble!"

This was bad for Alex, the last thing he needed was someone putting some new bullets into him. Walking out into the open, Alex saw a gruff man pointing a old, but odd rifle at him.

The man himself looked as if he'd spent most of his life out in the wastes. His worn armour and quickness to arms showed this. The man had brown hair and a rough 5-o'clock shadow. His armour consisted of torn up combat gear, with what appeared to be scrap metal as replacements for the missing areas of the armour. On his head sat a welding mask that had been tilted up. The man stood tall with his rifle, but steady. Obviously he knew how to use the gun, but it wasn't his best skill. Alex grabbed his trusty Cross Rifle and slowly placed it in the snow "I'm just looking for a way to keep warm, I mean no harm"

Just as he finished, a strong gust of wind blew out the fire leaving the two men in darkness

Walker sighed. "Bloody hell. Look, If you want warmth, help me bloody get this fire going again. You seem genuine enough mate." Walker strutted over to where the fire was, and pulled out what was left of his matches. He didn't hear the man move. " Look, If you're just standing there doing nothing, how 'bout you help. If you're grabbing that funny gun of yours to shoot me, You'll be shooting an unarmed man."

Alex looked at the man trying to restart the fire "Back up, I think this will work"

Walker looked up "Alright, just don't do anything to me. alright?" Alex then grabbed a laser pistol from his side and pointed it at the burnt out fire. Firing two shots was all it took to get it to burn again. Walker jumped with fright "CHRIST!". He wasn't prepared for that. The light began again, and Walker looked over to the man with the laser pistol. He was wearing a Vault jumpsuit with an old thin grey hooded coat, he had a buzz cut that looked to be growing out and no facial hair. Walker sat back onto the logs he'd dragged out around the fire and rested down his rifle and sighed "Sorry about the gun, you never know what you'll find stumbling into camp now-a-days" Walker looked at the man "So, what's your name Vaulty, you look pretty alright, with that gun of yours anyhow"

Alex picked up his gun "Well, the name's Alex" then he pulled the bar of his gun back "And this is my Cross-rifle" he then pulled the mag out of the gun and slid it into his pocket "Yours?"

"Mine's 8, but most people call me Walker instead. Personally I don't care, I'll respond to both." Walker replied, Alex sat down on one of the logs and began to warm his hands "Walker? That's a strange name"

"Family name" Walker said with a smile on his face he then grabbed 2 bits of meat and 2 sticks out of his pack and tossed Alex one of each." Guess you're hungry Alex?"

Alex stuck the piece of meat onto the stick and began to cook it on the fire "I'm not from the vault… one of my grandparents were from the one further south. I just got the gear when my dad told me to see the wastes" he then laughed and checked to see if the meat was good yet "All I've seen is pain, death, drugs and radiation"

Walker chuckled "Your dad too huh? Yeah, pain, death, drugs and radiation are all factors of life out here. You get used to them after awhile, but It's never gonna change as long as we're still livin' out here" Walker grabbed his meat and stuck it on the stick and cooked it over the fire.

"Even if its not going to change doesn't mean that people can accept it and go killing for fun. You ever seen those guys in full armour?" Alex then took a bite out of his meat and gagged "Oh that is bad!"

Walker frowned "Yes,it's bad, but everything helps. As for killing for fun, well that never stopped Raiders." Walker pulled out his meat and bit into it without flinching. "There are plenty of full armoured blokes runnin' around. You'd have to be more specific"

"Those guys that never take off their masks? Say that something down south will cleanse the world?" Alex then laughed "Sounds like bull to me, but some believe them"

Walker laughed slightly "Well, can't say I've ever heard of those guys, but that part about something down south clearin' up everything sounds like the funniest joke I've ever heard!" Walker then took another bite out of his meat. Alex laughed too "Yea well, I've never seen them but there are people out there that say they were helped by people clad in metal and wearing dusters or riot gear"

Walker yawned "Well, Until I see some metal men running around in dusters spreadin' word of some top of the world cleaning agent, It'll sound like rubbish to me." Walker then grabbed his sleeping roll and laid it down close to the log. He settled down on top of it and said " You're welcome to stay the night. It's always good to have some company out here. Just try not to kill me while I'm sleeping, eh?" Walker the closed his eyes and dozed off into a light sleep.

Alex pulled his own sleeping roll out of his bag and unrolled it on the opposite side of the fire and slowly drifted off to sleep "This world needs help"

Authors Notes: Fallout and Fallout related themes in this story are property of Bethesda softworks, Obsidian entertainment and any other copyright holders. we claim no ownership for anything in this story save characters (unless stated otherwise)

This story is made from headcanons. nothing in this story is canon unless stated otherwise.

Opening POV was written by Danbrixton.

Chapter body was written by Danbrixton and Lez

Authors Notes were written by Danbrixton