Chapter 1

Out of Time

It had been about a month since I had crawled out of that God-forsaken freezer that they had claimed was a vault. Thinking back on the situation at hand, I'm lucky to be alive. I had watched as my baby was ripped from Nate's hands as they put a bullet between his eyes. But the worst part of it all, was I had to sit and watch; frozen, disoriented, and completely helpless. That is, until the freezing unit shut down and I got the hell out of that ice box. That day, I made a vow. I swore that I would find the bastards who took my son, and murdered my husband. I took his wedding ring and slipped it into my vault suit pocket and fought my way through some giant roaches until I obtained my Pip-Boy and escaped that prison. Sure, the condition of the world had been a shock, but my number one concern was finding my baby. My first thought was the house. There had to be something there that could help me, and for some reason, my instincts told me to go there. I wasn't the strongest or the most lucky, but I was quite intelligent and perceptive, and my gut was usually right about situations like this. So I ran down the hill , stepping over the skeletons of the unfortunate souls who weren't "fortunate" enough to make it to the vault in time. Honestly, they weren't any better off. Those who made it to the vault had died anyway; their life support had been cut at some point, killing them all. Another reason why it was a miracle that I had survived.

Anyway, I ended up finding Codsworth, our Mr. Handy robot that we had bought not too long before the bombs. The poor bot was in utter distress over the state of the world and the fate of Nate and Shaun, and had informed me that it had been over 200 years since the explosion that destroyed everything. I thought I was losing my mind, until I found Preston, the leader of the Minutemen. He and several others of his group confirmed the timeline, confirming that I hadn't lost my mind as I had first thought. I helped them get rid of a raider problem, along with one pissed off Deathclaw, which nearly ripped me apart like a sheet of paper. I took them back to Sanctuary, my old neighborhood, hoping that it could be put to better use and maybe even restored one day. After making sure they had gotten to Sanctuary safely, I sought out Codsworth, informing him of my success. He then offered to accompany me in my search for Shaun, to which I couldn't refuse. We have been traveling together ever since, taking out the occasional raider gang or scavenging for supplies to build a better home for Preston and his crew. After building up some beds and establishing food, water, and defenses, it was ready for them to start really settling in. They had thanked me and offered me a spot to join the Minutemen, claiming they could use someone like me to lead them to victory and help restore the Commonwealth. After some encouraging words from Preston and Codsworth, I wholeheartedly agreed to help out however I could. If humanity wanted to make it through this, my belief is that it needs to stick together and work to rebuild what was lost.

Shaun was still my number one priority though, and I had to push forward to find him as soon as I was physically able. That brings us to where we are now, walking down the road through Concord. We had received word of a large settlement called Diamond City. I was told that there was probably my best bet if I wanted to find my son. I gathered some ammo from Sturges, and set off towards the direction I had been given on my Pip-Boy. It was a long walk, but I would walk to the ends of the earth to find my baby. He and Codsworth are all I have left in this world, and I sure as hell wasn't about to let a long walk stop me from getting to him. About a mile and a half down the road, voices caught my attention. It was a man and a woman, and they didn't sound happy. Gripping my 10mm pistol, I jogged lightly in the direction of the noise, and a small diner came into view. Two armed people were outside, yelling at someone inside. I approached slowly, listening intently as I kept my eyes on them.

"We had a deal, Trudy! Hand over the goods. You owe us!" The man stated, sounding irate as he glared into the diner.

"I ain't giving you poison-selling chem-pushers anything! Do you know what that junk has done to my boy?" An older woman's voice sounded from inside. I could tell right now that this was a delicate situation, so I thought it best to intervene before it got out of hand. As I approached, I found their weapons instantly trained on me, their eyes narrowed and not at all friendly-looking.

"Whoa, whoa, easy there, scavver. This doesn't involve you." The man spoke up, his voice a bit nervous.

"You stop waving that gun in my face, or it's gonna involve me." I retorted, hoping he would lower his weapon. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding when the guns were no longer in my face.

"Okay, okay, just take it easy. We'll lower our weapons, all right? Just don't do anything crazy." He replied, his voice much more calm than before. I thought for a moment, thinking of how to best defuse the situation.

"Looks like you've got some trouble. I could help." I offered, hoping this situation could be calmed with words rather than force. I did't take great pleasure in using force if talking it out was an option.

"Help? What you some kind of hired gun? Or maybe you can talk some sense into Trudy over there." he replied, eyeing me over once before returning his gaze back to mine.

"I'll talk to her. Maybe we can work this out." I offered, hoping my past experience as a lawyer would give me enough experience with my words to calm the situation without violence. Codsworth seemed to like that option as well.

"Appreciate it. If things go sideways, we'll back you up." The man stated, nodding to me once as I turned and walked into the diner with Codsworth close behind. As I entered, the older woman turned to me, speaking before I could greet her.

"I saw you and that poison-seller talking. Well, he ain't getting his money. Period." She stated stubbornly, glaring at me with aggressive eyes. Was everyone this tense nowadays? Damn.

"Look, you owe them money. If you just pay them, then this will be over. Everyone walks away without getting hurt." I offered calmly, hoping she would see the sense in a peaceful resolve.

"All right. I'll pay, but that bastard ain't gonna sell one more drop of Jet to my boy." Trudy stated before yelling back out the window. "You hear that, Wolfgang? You'll get your damn money, but I better not catch you selling chems to my boy again."

"Fine by me, Trudy. Your son's broke as shit, anyhow." Wolfgang retorted, ending the conflict.

"All right, crisis is over. If you're here to trade, step up to the counter." Trudy stated plainly, returning to he post behind her counter. I sighed with relief as a fight was averted, stepping back outside to talk to Wolfgang again.

"We get paid, and I don't even gotta shoot nobody. Good Job. Here. Now, how about I show you the pick-me-ups I have to offer." He stated with a grin, looking at me expectantly. I had heard about chems. They were basically drugs similar to steroids and marijuana. Some made you smarter for a short time, some gave you an adrenaline rush, and some just gave you a high. I never advocated the use of drugs, so I respectfully declined and stocked up on some ammo before continuing down the road. The midday sun was high in the sky, beating down on me relentlessly. I turned to Codsworth, who produced a bottle of purified water for me.

"Take this." He insisted, handing me the small bottle. I thanked him and downed the bottle a bit too eagerly, some water dribbling down my chin. I wiped off the excess water and disposed of the empty bottle before continuing to trek down the road. A little ways down, we came across a small farm, headed by a man named Blake. He was kind and we struck up a conversation. His daughter had been shot while trying to stand up to raiders, and Codsworth and I expressed our condolences. He mentioned that they stole her locket, and I immediately offered to get it back for them. I could understand what it's like to lose family. The least I could do to help them was get their daughter's heirloom back. He expressed his gratitude and we set out to get their locket. Diamond City wasn't terribly far off, and if we could get the thing back before dark, maybe he'd let us stay the night and rest up. He told us where the gang had been camping out, and I marked it down in my Pip-Boy before heading in that direction.

It took a little while to get to the hideout, but once we got there it wasn't hard to find the raiders. Codsworth had cautioned me to watch my step, and soon after I spotted a mine. I crept over to it, stepping a bit too heavily and tripping it's motion sensor. It beeped several times in a rapid sequence, and I jumped back before it went off, hurting my arm pretty badly.

"Your arm!" Codsworth exclaimed, floating over to make sure I was still alive. My arm was badly burned and had some shrapnel lodged in my skin. There was no way I was going to be able to shoot straight with my dominant arm injured. The explosion had alerted a couple of the raiders who were on lookout, and it didn't take them long to spot us. I crawled behind some cover, and Codsworth went after them with his blowtorch and buzzsaw. It wasn't long before I heard cries of agony from the bastards as Codsy tore into them, going for their arms and heads. He may be a Mr. Handy, but he's pretty good in a fight. I was thankful I brought him along. After he had taken care of the two raiders, he came hovering back over. My arm was starting to feel a bit better than before, at least to the point where I could actually move it. I took a stimpak from by bag and stabbed it into the afflicted shoulder, numbing the pain and enabling me to move it again. We crept inside their little nest, watching extra closely for mines this time, and began the search for the stolen locket.

We fought our way through several more raiders, either picking them off stealthily or confronting them head-on, and eventually located the little trinket. We made our way back out to the outside and began making our way back to the farm. Blake was more than pleased with our efforts and payed us some caps as well as offered us a place to stay for the evening. I thankfully accepted his offer and took up the mattress that was under a wooden canopy. Codsworth informed me that he could keep watch while I slept.

"Thanks, Codsworth." I smiled before laying down and getting as comfortable as I could on the worn mattress. During times such as these, I wasn't going to be picky. I was thankful I had a mattress to lay on. Sleep eventually took me over, and blackness slowly consumed my vision as I slipped off into its welcoming embrace.

Note: God, I hope I'm doing this justice. Please let me know how I'm doing! It really helps. Thanks! Stay awesome!