February 28, 2078

The pond was green from the irradiation but the lone fish swimming in it swam normally as if it was nothing, completely ignoring the fact that the top of the pond was filled with dead fish. He kept swimming in circles, as if lost. I raised the silver knife I was holding and threw it. It missed and the fish disappeared into the murkiness of the pond. I swore under my breath. That fish was going to be our dinner. We would have to be eating from the rations again which were becoming exceedingly low.

I returned to our small camp by the side of the road, the sun blinding me. We made the remains of the Corvega into a roof for the camp, and bedding from the house I had stumbled upon. The only reason we didn't stay there was because it became…corrupted.

As I got nearer to the camp I saw her there, sleeping peacefully on the burnt dirt. I raised my 10mm Pistol from its holster and fired into the air.

BANG

She shot up from sleep and frantically pulled out a 10mm Pistol and aimed it wildly, then she saw it was me. She lowered it.

"You were supposed to be keeping watch," I said putting my gun back in its holster. I sat over by where she was and pulled out our bag of supplies. There were only a few boxes of food inside and only 4 bottles of water. They were the only pieces of food that had survived the storm.

"I got sleepy," she replied nervously watching me. I turned over the pieces of food, observing them.

"Sure next time, go to sleep and let your guard down. I'm sure that when you wake up, you'll meet your parents again," I growled, then realized what I had just said. I looked over at her and saw her sniffle.

"Sorry," I said quickly. We sat there for a while not really saying anything until I opened a can of Pork n' Beans. I shared it with her and we ate it all in less than a minute. She wiped her mouth with her ragged clothes.

"We need to make a food run, we're running low on rations," I told her. She nodded.

"I wish things were back the way they were." She said, "No Wasteland, no radiation, no food runs, no Vaults," At the last word I winced, the Vaults were a touchy subject for me.

"I suppose I do too but there would still be something fucked up with the world." I sighed, "War, war never changes." She looked at me for a while before staring into the nothingness in front of us.

"Why'd you say 'War' twice?" she asked. I shrugged.

"Makes it sound more dramatic I guess." I said. She smiled at that and we kept staring into the nothingness. I decided to break the ice with a simple question.

"If you could change your name, what would it be?"

"Bridget," she answered immediately.

"Why Bridget?" I asked.

"I always like that name." she answered.

"Well from now on I'll call you Bridget, how's that sound?"

"Sure."

"Think of the Wasteland as a new life, forget all of your past mistakes and lead a new destiny." I said. She stayed quite for a few minutes.

"In this new life…I'm a murderer." She answered.

"Yeah, me too." I replied.

"So what would your new name be in this life?" she asked me. I played with the can of Pork n' Beans, tossing it from hand to hand thinking deeply. I had seen a lot of films about medieval times and I was a bit of a fan of Grognak the Barbarian… and I took into account Vault 69 as well.

"The One." I said.

"The One?" she asked as if unsure that she had heard me correctly.

"Yeah, the One." I replied. She chuckled.

"The One, yeah they'll talk about you in future stories!" she said. After a few more minutes of weak conversation we stayed quiet. Then I got up.

"We ought to pack up our supplies; we'll leave in the morning." I said.

"Ok," said Bridget. I turned my back to her but she said something else.

"What happened in the Vault?" she asked, I froze and slowly turned towards her.

"Which Vault?" I asked.

"You know, the Vault down in that house we were in."

"Nothing, I had to go was all. I wasn't allowed down there because I was from the outside. That was all." I said quickly. I turned to pack; I could feel her eyes burrowing into my back.

"I don't believe you, what really happened down there?" she asked again. I stopped packing and crouched down to where she was sitting.

"It doesn't matter what happened down there, what matters is what happens now. Ok?"

"Fine," she said, "Let's pack."

A few hours later it was night, Bridget went to sleep quickly but I couldn't sleep. I kept twisting and turning but I was kept awake. So I watched her sleep instead, she seemed so peaceful and innocent.

"I'm a murderer Bridget," I whispered. I got no response. I laid back and watched the sky, I saw no stars.

March 1, 2078

A new month. God knows what happens now but today we left our little camp and traveled on the road, the hard gravel of it quickly messed up our shoes so we walked by the side of it. I'm following the Pip-Boy map as best as I could since there are no signs.

With any luck we should find some food at any location.

March 2, 2078

We stopped at a derelict building by the side of the road today since we couldn't find any supermarkets. There was a half-burnt sign by the entrance that read: NUKA COLA OFFICE FACILITY. I'm assuming that this was some sort of headquarters for it.

"Oh Nuka Cola! Let's go in, maybe they still have some bottles inside!" Bridget said excitedly. She walked forward but I stuck my arm out.

"I'm not sure about this…"

"Oh yeah," she said backing away, "Maybe we should see if it's safe?"

"I only have about 20 rounds left in my 10mm Pistol and God knows that a Laser Rifle won't affect anything a robot if there's one in there."

"Robots?" she asked confused.

"Long story," I said.

"Well…we need to see if there's anything in there."

"I guess… hold on,"

I searched around and eventually found a good sized rock. I flung it at one of the office windows. It crashed and I heard some things falling. Silence, then a rumbling noise. I turned to Bridget.

"Not safe," I said.

"Agreed,"

We walked on.