CHAPTER 2

The wasteland stretched endlessly. The dwellers of the vault gasp and stare in awe of the outside world. Connor was used to the wasteland already in a way. He didn't he even marvel over the dead landscape anymore.

10mm pistols were passed out for safety reasons. In the distance, two men in armor shot a bolt of plasma into a radiated scorpion at an unbelievable size. The scorpion laid dead, lifeless and at the mercy of wasteland scavengers. The two men in armor changed their attention towards the group of vault dwellers.

These men were part of group called The Enclave. They are, or at least believe they are, the remnants of the American government and seek their own form of justice. "Do you figure we should see if these guys have clearance?" one of the two Enclave said to the other.

"We gotta follow the rules." The other replied.

"You want to do the sappy diplomatic crap or should I"

"You should"

The men marched forward to the vault dwellers. "Hello, vault residents, do you have clearance to be in this sector?"

"Yeah, we came out of a vault here." Connor answered.

"That's all great and stuff, but I don't give a damn what vault you came from, I just want to see your clearance accounts!" the man responded.

"We've been down there for 200 years!"

"Then you should've asked your great grand dad for a permission account!"

"We didn't know there was an outside world!"

"Excuses, excuses!"

"These are real reasons jackass!"

"Open fire Phil!" Suddenly the men started a massive slaughter of the vault dwellers. Shawn fell down dead. The overseer's head was shot away in a bloody mess. Men and women weren't spared. Connor couldn't take it any more and fired his pistol at one of the men's arms and knocked the plasma rifle out of his hand.

Connor rolled and gripped the unfamiliar weapon. All he needed to know was pull the trigger to kill. He shot off the helmet of one of them. He aimed fast before the other could react and blasted his legs away. The men fell dead.

Connor looked around, he was the only survivor…. He couldn't believe it. Everyone was dead. There corpses offered no sympathy… no life… Shawn's face only brought tears to Connor's eyes. 5 men began walking up. They wore metal mask with gas filters. They had the symbol of gears and a sword on their shoulder pads. They are members of the Brotherhood Of Steel.

"Hey look, a rookie who kicked the asses we had to kick!" One of them said.

They approached Connor, holstering their weapons. They didn't even need to ask what had happened, they saw the whole thing. "So, your entire vault died right here, eh?" One of them asked.

"Yes…" Connor replied back with tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Not to old huh?"

"I'm 19."

"Came out of a vault just now?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we better take you to the refuge station."

"Who were those guys!?"

"Enclave, worst jerks on the entire wasteland!"

"And who are you guys?"

The man took a second to answer. "We're the Capital Brotherhood. We're a branch of The Brotherhood of Steel. The Capital Brotherhood was formed to protect innocents, and get The Outcasts to shut up."

"The Outcasts?" "Just follow us." With that, Connor followed the men through the long wasteland. They came up to a large pit with shards of metal scattered in the middle. More Mole Rats attacked commonly. The Brotherhood members made short work by using odd green bullets. Finally Connor asked them about the bullets. "The heck are those bullets?"

"An invention by Moya Brown. These 'Repellent Bullets' help us kill those things faster."

"Kind of crazy." "So is this entire wasteland!"

Like on que from the sentence, a monstrous bird flew down. The naked face with one eye starred down at the men. It's wings at huge boney claws protruding from each end. Oddly teeth grew out from the beak. It's call was like a crow's call shot out a shotgun.

"What the hell?" "That's a Nuka Bird."

"Why do you call it that?"

"There used to be a saying bout these things stealing your Nuka-Cola."

"Is it aggressive?"

"Nicest thing you'll find in these wastelands considering they only eat mutant rodents."

One of the men threw a Mole Rat corpse for the bird to eat. "Lyons thinks we can domesticate these things one day. Then again, the old man is at the edge of his life."

"Who the heck is Lyons?"

"He leads the Capital Brotherhood! Any other questions?!" The man was becoming irradiated fastly. "Don't take out your mentats withdrawal on the poor kid" a different guy said.

"Uhg… your right. Damnit I need some of that crap."

"That's Greys, he has a different addiction every week, so get used to it. I'm Simmon, the leader of this squad."

"You guys are pretty silent."

"That's because we try to stay focused on getting to our destination." Hours pass with the hopeless travels through the endless wastes. Eventually they reach the mighty mesh of a city. The buildings are crashed away. Windows shattered, floors destroyed, buildings collapsed. A massive fence made sure the gaps in the building would never be used as an entrance again. Connor couldn't believe the sight up close. "Come on, we still have to find the entrance."

"Can't we just use the gate?" "We could if the entrance was ours to pass."

While walking a gruesome sight become obvious. Right at the main entrance to the city was an Armageddon monster. Large and made of welded iron and steel. Dead corpses laid next to it. Rain water was collected in it's small pit. It, was an atomic bomb. A small C4 explosive was attached to the hull the bomb. "What the hell is with the nuke!?"

"During the massive need to create nukes in China several nukes without a detonator were accidentally launched. Some were even bribed by Vault-Tec to be launched early to intimidate some to enter the vaults." Greys answered.

"Why would Vault-Tec do that?"

"All in good time." Simmon said.

They walked along the dead city corpse, shooting down countless rad roaches and other mutant inhabitants of the wastes. They reached a small shattered road by an Abraxo shop. Greys went up to the building and pressed on the doorbell button. "Do you think someone will answer?" Connor asked. With another press of the bell the store back loosened welds and began to go back into the hollow building. The wall slid back until a door was visible inside the room.

"A secret room?" "Of course, wouldn't want the Enclave finding it would we?" Simmon answered.

Greys reached down for som mentats on the floor. "Ever though about quitting?" Simmon asked.

"I will when the wasteland stops being stressful!" Greys answered.

The group went through the hollow and into a plaza fenced off by a square of buildings. A stairwell was by one of the buildings, it lead to the city subway. Connor walked down the aged stone stairs. The loud speakers began playing a prewar tune. "Song always makes me a bit sad, and only a dead man couldn't catch the irony of it." Greys said. The song "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" echoed throughout the empty subway.

A sloppily built subway train came up to were they stood. The train screeched to a stop. The doors slowly slid open and creaked. "Alright, this is were you go to get registered into the Capital Brotherhood civilian or soldier roster. Steel be with you." Simmon said, then walked off with his group.

Connor got in and sat on the aged seat. The train sparked on the rails and began a slow and steady movement. Another man sat in the train as well. He was middle aged, a black beard and buzz cut. He wore red robes with a gold outline. "So, you are that vault kid I've received reports about." The man said.

"Ummm, I guess." Connor said.

"Welcome aboard, the BHOS Subway."

"Thanks, ummm…"

"Daniels."

"Than you Daniels." The aged man fiddled with his pitboy and then spoke. "You interested in fighting with us?"

"Why not, my entire vault is already dead!"

"They would've died no matter what."

"What are you talking about." "Vault-Tec, those monsters had horrible plans."

"Are you on Mentats like that one guy?"

"I will explain it to you properly once we get back to the base."

A screech boomed through the tunnels. The sound of hooves running through bounced through the room. "Damn, here comes a Chimera!"

A hideous beast came into view. A demonic beast, scales covered it from head to toe. Massive bat wings stretched from the body. 6 hoofed feet clattered against the rails. The alligator like head bared boar teeth and horrible shark jaws. This beast's name is Rad Chimera.

"Damn things are worse then deathclaws!" Daniels said. He un-holstered a laser pistol and ran to the back of the train. He aimed his pistol and fired at the Chimera's head. The monster didn't even slow down. It ran faster towards the back of the train and clawed at the back, leaving a massive claw mark, creating several gaps in the rusted metal.

"You got any guns?" Daniels asked.

"Just this rifle thing."

"It's immune to that plasma, got anything that packs a boom?"

"No, I don't."

"Well, then this pistol will suffice. Hand me a micro fusion cell."

Connor passed a micro fusion cell over to Daniels. Daniels crammed the cell into the pistol. "Warning; wrong ammunition installed, please beware side effects." The pistol said in it's robotic voice. Daniel tossed the pistol onto the Chimera's head. The pistol exploded, stunning the Chimera for a while. "Those things formed from inbreeding between many species. The radiation exposed bests genes and instincts towards mating were changed bizarrely. Chimeras are the result. That there was a horse model. Things are nasty, but no the nastiest." Daniels explained.

The train stopped at the other station. Connor walked out of the subway and discovered were he was. The train had gone underwater, and dropped them off at the Statue of Liberty.

VAULT-TEC TIPS:

G.O.A.T TEST SLIDES ARE RECOMMENDED FOR KIDS IN THEIR TEENS.

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Puzzle: Va