Chapter 4

People Are Very Strange IV

"I intend to live forever. So far, so good."

-Steven Wright

2280

Milly is almost always busy. She very rarely has time off. It's not that the Brotherhood always has something for her to do; the hours are actually very fair. She just can't sit still. We go to her home in Megaton often, but we don't stay there all day unless it's absoultely pouring outside or if she's sick.

Even when there's no problems to fix, we just wander around and talk with each other. We tease each other, laugh, and argue from time to time, but I still love them both and I know that this love is returned.

Alright, that's crap. I do love them, though.

I bring up the busy schedule because Milly's favorite thing in the world to do when she isn't busy fixing problems is wander. She says she always loved to wander around.

I think she can't sit still because she was in a Vault for so long. Now, it's like she's making up for being stowed away in Vault 101 for 19 years. I'm not complaining. Wandering the wasteland with Milly and Dogmeat is one of my favorite things to do.

We were mostly quiet for the first half hour as we walked, but eventually Milly piped up.

"Cord, let me ask you something."

"Shoot."

"How did you become so comfortable with who you are now so soon? When I met you, you never once mentioned your humanity. Not until after we defeated the Enclave, anyway."

"Are you kidding? This mutation destroyed me. It took a long time to get used to things. It took Kastine telling me to stop chasing the past to get me to accept what happened."

She stopped walking and I did the same. She looked up at me, curious.

"But you're always so cool about it; so collected..."

"I hide it well, I guess."

I started walking again with an air of "here endeth the lesson". Milly jogged after me until she caught up, and then walked my speed.

"Does it still bother you? You can talk to Dogmeat and I, you know. We'd gladly listen."

There was a question. Was I really bothered anymore? I lost all that I had (which, regrettably, wasn't much to begin with), and I had to learn to walk and run over a few weeks. It took all this time as a deathclaw to master this body. Up until around now, I still couldn't figure out how to move in some ways. It took me a year and a half to master the running jump. Now, I can run on all fours if I need to (I usually don't need to).

It bothered me deeply in 2277, obviously. After I betrayed Milly and came to my senses again, all that's really haunted me is that. The betrayal, that is.

"It doesn't bother me when I'm around you guys," I offered. She smiled up at me, and then looked straight ahead.

"Three years ago, when I was escaping the Vault, I never thought I'd be saved by a deathclaw. Actually treating one for wounds was out of the question, too."

I smiled down at her.

"Do you remember if she injected you with a stimpack?"

I turned my head to Dogmeat as we walked. "Oh, come on. That was an isolated incident."

He snorted. Milly looked down at Dogmeat with a smile.

"I'm glad you're amused now. Cord will get a few laughs soon. You reek, Dogmeat."

Have you ever seen a dog stop midstep, frozen with one paw held in the air. That's exactly what Dogmeat did when she said that.

It took him a little while, but eventually he managed to connect "You reek, Dogmeat" to "You're getting a bath in the near future, Dogmeat". Once he figured that out, he'd do whatever he could to avoid having the bath. It could be kind of annoying at times, but Milly actually enjoyed the struggles Dogmeat put up. Otherwise, she would've stopped hinting at bath time.

He wouldn't ever run away when she mentioned a bath, because that would mean breaking the promise he made himself: protect Milly, and do so beyond death.

That's what he told me, anyway. I think deep down, he kind of likes bath time for the attention he gets from Milly. He likes it and hates it. Mostly hates it.

It was one of the few peaceful days we had in the Capital Wasteland. We encountered no hostility as we wandered.

Needless to say, when we set up camp, we were all in a good mood.

And then as I went to relieve myself, that man that I last saw in Fort Bannister had to ruin everything. I scowled when I saw him, but I knew he'd probably follow me around until I acknowledged him, so I walked up and stood behind him.

He was just sort of staring out into the wasteland when I approached, and he wasn't armed. When I thought about it... he never was armed. He was essentially defenseless in the wasteland, yet his suit was always perfectly kept. The weather never made him sweat, gunfire never made him shake with adrenaline, a Super Mutant Behemoth didn't bother him... it was like he couldn't be harmed.

He spoke to me without even looking at me, which I felt was kind of rude... but he's done it so often, so why stop now?

"You know what's a great place to visit? Oasis."

Now, I stood beside him and he looked up at me.

"You'd like it there, Cord. I really think you would."

"Great, listen... what's your name?" I asked, practically demanding it and at the same time staying civil. As usual, he deflected my question.

"Listen, Cord-"

"No. Tell me your name and where you know me from."

"Well, I know you from Big Town, I know you from Evergreen Mills, I know you from Fort Bannister... I know you from all over."

"You know that's not what I mean."

He looked back out at the wasteland again.

"This world was nearly devestated and stripped of life. Do you think it would've become another Venus? Do you think it would be an oven that could cook, burn, and crush you? Maybe it would become a bigger Mars; freezing cold with little atmosphere..."

I shrugged, still irritated with him.

"Really, it could become neither of these things. It's interesting to think of, though."

I was silent.

"That's why Oasis is such a nice place. It helps you get away from this world while remaining part of it. Your troubles wait outside Oasis."

"Maybe I'll go there one day," I muttered.

"That's correct. You will."

We were both silent for a moment.

"Anyway, there's a woman hiding in the wreckage of an old barn not far from here, waiting for her husband. Both were attacked while heading for Megaton by raiders. She escaped, but the man is dead. It's only a matter of time before they find her. Why don't you get rid of them and allow her closure? Either that, or forget what I said and go back to Milly. She likely won't know the difference."

"Who are you?" I asked again.

He was silent, and he resumed staring out at the wasteland. I knew he'd be ignoring me until I left, so that's what I did.

I'll admit I wasn't planning on helping that woman out, but I could smell raiders and fear coming off a human in a barn not too far away. I paused, looked over my shoulder at the smoke from Milly's fire, and then in the direction the scent of the raiders was coming from.

I reasoned that the raiders may see the smoke from her fire and attack the camp, so I decided to take them out, and while I was at it, I'd try to help the woman. Still, I let out a reluctant sigh as I started running in the direction of the raiders.

Raiders tend not to split up too often because they're stronger in numbers and they aren't smart. That's a bitter sweet tendency for all predators. Whether you're a wild dog, a Yao Guai, a Deathclaw, or a human, there's power in numbers. Hurt someone in one on one combat, and you might get that person to recoil and allow for another attack on your part. Fight several people at once, and it becomes more difficult.

Still, my strength allows me to kill with only one or two swipes of my claws on lightly armored humans. Enclave members dressed in heavy armor were difficult, if I remember right. I had to wait until I had an opening in the armor to defeat them usually.

Then again, I'd only been a deathclaw for a few months then. Recently, when we came across a few Enclave remnants in power armor, I tackled one to the ground and ripped his throat out with my teeth.

When I got to the group of raiders (five of them), they were immediately shooting at me. Since gunfire is a regular sound in the wasteland, I figured Milly would have a hand on her gun, but wouldn't investigate.

I caught a few bullets in my torso and one in my leg, but I ran towards them (they split up and kept shooting at me). I chose one with a decent weapon (an M1 Garand), and I knocked him to the ground and sliced him up with my claws.

I was still being shot at, though. Most of the bullets being fired upon me were from handguns and submachine guns (M1 Garand guy was the exception), so they didn't cause me much harm when they actually did hit me.

I took another one out as he went to reload, and a third ran out of ammo for his weapon and drew a Jim Bowie on me. He didn't last very long.

Targets #4 and 5 started to jog backwards while shooting at me, and they jogged in opposite directions with me in their middle.

Taking a fourth out was as simple as stepping out of the line of fire. Two of six bullets fired as I stepped out of the way took the fourth's life, and the fifth was lucky in the sense that number four couldn't hit the broad side of a burned out barn. I might have been able to shoot better than him.

...Well, maybe not.

I decided to try something new with the fifth and final raider. I approached him, knocked his weapon out of his hands, and lifted him up over my shoulder. I then proceeded to give him the ride of his life before eventually flinging him off my back as I ran top speed.

I didn't think he'd hit his head on a piece of debris and die, but once I saw that happen, I made a point of being extra careful when carrying Milly around.

I snorted in the air a few more times, searching for more raiders, and I found one. He was wearing the remnants of sports armor, and he wrote on the front in what I hoped was paint "111". I don't know why he did that, but I do know that he was killed before he managed to shoot me with his shotgun.

All in all, I took about 15 low caliber rounds and one shot from the M1 Garand (not deadly for a deathclaw, but fairly irritating). I snorted the air once more and picked up the scent of fear coming from a tiny shape not far to my south. As I ran towards it, it became a burned out barn like the man said.

I was reminded of the first time I met Milly; how I saved her from raiders in a burned out barn like this. In return, she dressed my wounds, and gave me a bandana in case we ever met again.

(If you aren't following along, we did.)

I was thinking about that first meeting with the girl that would become the only human that cared enough about me to let me live with her. That's why I was happy when I found the scared woman. She didn't share my enthusiasm at the sight of me, though. She let out an ear-piercing screech and for a moment I thought she was half-bat.

When she was done, I held out my paws to try and calm her.

"I am not here to harm you," I said, much like I said to Milly when I first met her. The woman's fear gave way quickly when she heard my voice. It was replaced by awe.

"You're... the Lone Wanderer's talking deathclaw," she said, stunned. I smiled as I offered a paw to help her stand.

"That's what they tell me," I said. She took hold of one of my fingers and gently pulled herself to her feet.

"Wow... that's incredible..."

Her voice trailed off. She frowned, and worry returned to her eyes.

"Have you seen my husband? He has black hair, he's a little taller than me, well built..."

I frowned. "The raiders took his life."

My simple statement brought the conversation to a standstill. All was quiet for what felt like an eternity. The woman cleared her voice.

"Wh-what do you mean? He can't be dead."

I frowned further. "I am sorry."

With that, tears watered up in her eyes. She wanted to break down and cry, but she wouldn't in front of me for whatever reason (maybe she feared that appearing weak would make me hunger for violence or something). Rather, she squeezed her eyes shut and feigned a smile at me.

"Well, th-thank you... for telling me. Ex-excuse me, I need to col-collect myself," she said, her voice cracking towards the end. She didn't wait for me to respond before running off, and I knew she was sobbing.

I looked inside the barn again. Spray-painted on one of the rotting walls was "John 3:16".

M.M

I decided to walk back to Milly instead of run. I didn't want to move so quickly in case the bullets in my body moved around. I should've probably risked it and ran, because as I walked, I took notice of that man walking beside me.

"Apologies do nothing to change the past," said the man. I looked down at him while I walked.

"Maybe not, but they do help mend the present."

"You didn't follow her. Why?"

"She wanted to be alone to cry. Who are you?"

The man looked out at the wasteland we were walking again, and I looked out to see Milly's fire a little ways off.

"Everything," he said. With that, he looked up at me again.

"It's getting late. I have to go."

I blinked. He turned and started walking off, and I went my way, feeling like I wouldn't see him again. He stopped and turned to me, though.

"Before I do, you should do yourself a favor and check out Oasis one of these days, Cord. I mean it. It truly is a place to die for."

I turned to face him; to demand his name again, but he was already walking off again.

"See you around, Cord."

I didn't stick around for more than a minute or two. It was time to get back to Milly, and she was probably getting worried about me.

Needless to say, when she saw me approaching, she ran up to meet me.

"Cord! There you are... oh, my good Lord. What happened?"

She wanted to start treating my wounds immediately, but I wanted to make it back to camp.

"I found some raiders coming too close for comfort. I didn't want to risk them attacking us tonight, so... here I am."

"You could've called for help, numbskull."

I didn't respond to him. Milly knew I'd be okay after she treated me. Me reappearing with bullet wounds was surprising, though. I walked with her to the fire and I lay down so she could treat the wounds.

"Honestly, it feels like I have to babysit you," she said, taking medical supplies out of her pack. I smiled.

"Maybe you should. I obviously can't be trusted alone."

"You can't be trusted, period."

He was being a smart ass, but that did hurt a little. I mouthed "I'm sorry" to him, but he didn't respond.

"It's okay... you do have a tendency to attract bullets," said Milly. She started working on a few of the rounds that needed to be removed (several others were better off where they were).

I've become so accustomed to Milly's gentle hand with medical treatment that I hardly notice her working on bullet wounds anymore.

In fact, I was so used to it, that I was now able to carry on long conversations while being picked and prodded. In the past, I could converse, but... it felt like hell.

"Milly?" I asked. She acknowledged me with a "hmm" while working on a bullet. She wasn't angry, just focused.

"Have you ever heard of a place called 'Oasis'?" I asked.

She actually paused while treating me and thought a moment.

"I may have heard the name," she said. "Elder Lyons has coordinates to a place by that name."

I thought for a moment. Milly eyed me while patting a wound with a cloth.

"Why?"

"Well, I heard it was a nice place. Three Dog claims to have seen living trees before, and Oasis makes me think of them."

"I've seen trees in a few films while I was in the Vault," she said.

"What are they like? Are they really covered in green things, and do they really change color?" I asked. I'd never seen a living tree before.

Milly smiled as she took another bullet out.

"They have brown bark, green leaves, and those leaves could change color and fall off. They're very pretty."

I put my head back and thought.

"To think that the world was once full of them..."

She bandaged my wounds.

"Indeed."

We were both silent for a moment and she gave me a stimpack, from which I received another headache fairly quickly. I looked over at Milly with a paw to my head and she smiled gently at me.

"How about this? One day, we'll go to Oasis. We'll see if it's nice at all, and if it is, we can have a vacation there!"

I smiled through my aching head. "Sounds good."

We spent the early evening chatting and eating (I found a mole rat). As usual, I finished my food and returned before Milly and Dogmeat were done eating. I was pretty hungry. Heh, and I used to think Mole Rat meat was bitter... I don't mind anymore.

That night, we camped and looked up at the stars. Orion still looked different to me without Betelgeuse there, even though it had been several years since the supernova. I once convinced some of the scribe geeks in the Citadel to point a radio telescope at where Betelgeuse used to be (I call it a radio telescope, but it may have been something else). What the device picked up was a sound. I can't really describe the sound so well. All I can say is it was a static sound, and it was "trilling", but almost constant. After they did some research on it, the scribes concluded that Betelgeuse left behind a rapidly rotating core with jets of material at its poles: a pulsar.

They also determined that this particular pulsar was spinning about 72 times per second, and we were actually hearing it. We couldn't see the pulsar, but when I look up at Orion, I always think of that sound. I try sometimes to imagine the pulsar spinning nearly 100 times in one second, but my brain can't comprehend something moving like that. Something is spinning 72.3 times per second. That's fast. Now think about the pulsars out there that spin over 200 times per second. It would be a hell of a ride, assuming you could land on a pulsar and not be crushed to the width of an atom.

Thinking about all that made my head hurt worse.

I remember I was the most popular living thing in the Citadel for a while. I was the most popular thing in the world, as far as the Brotherhood Scribes were concerned. Once Scribe Rothchild heard the pulsar, he looked like a kid that just learned how to curse. They named it Cord 07052280 because it was my suggestion that led to its discovery.

We were naming constellations that we each knew in the night sky. It was a lot of fun, laying side by side with Dogmeat and Milly and looking at the stars. We don't often do that.

We don't often camp out in the wasteland, either. It's dangerous, but sometimes we do it. Dogmeat and I are light sleepers (so is Milly, but not as much so as we are), so it's not necessary to take turns sleeping. Milly did as she typically did camping in the wastes: she used my chest as a pillow. I put my arm around her to keep her close, and we all fell asleep content with life. If you can find a way to be content with your life in this wasteland, you win.

Milly, Dogmeat and I were victorious.

Revolution! Revolution!

"Caesar, may I enter?"

"Yes, come forward, Marcus."

Centurion Marcus approached his leader, the self proclaimed son of Mars. He respectfully bowed his head.

"There is still no sign of Enclave activity in D.C."

"They have not returned?"

"They've tried, but so far have been unsuccessful. Losing D.C was a crushing blow."

Caesar went into thought for a moment, and then spoke.

"Much like failing to secure the Dam harmed us."

All was silent for a few brief moments.

"Send word to Lanius. He's to start carving his way further east, but is to stop short of D.C. I can't afford to spread my men too thin with the NCR still live."

"Yes, Caesar. But... what of the west?"

"We will not fail again. We will conserve ourselves this year, and we will take the Dam next year. Tell Lanius that, once he's carved our influence further east, he is to return to me and take Hoover."

"You do not fear the inescapable thinning of our numbers?"

Caesar leaned forward in his throne.

"This movement will thin our numbers, yes... but Lanius can do with ten men what Graham could not do with a hundred. We will succeed."

"Yes, Caesar."

Marcus turned to leave, but Caesar stopped him.

"Marcus, once we take Hoover Dam, you are to send your team into D.C. Remember these orders, for I will not repeat myself: Establish a camp quietly, do not draw too much attention, and finally... exterminate the profligate that destroyed the Enclave. Though she is a mere woman, she proves herself to be a liability."

Marcus bowed once more to Caesar. "By your orders, Caesar."

Marcus left Caesar's tent, unsure of what to make of Caesar's faith in Lanius. As it turned out, Caesar was right to trust him. In early 2281, he would drive the NCR out of D.C, and he would destroy the west.

So began the five shots heard around the world.

End of Chapter

3,909 words. It's longer than I thought it would be (lulwut?).

Assume that the events of New Vegas take place in early 2281. I'm not exactly sure when they actually take place, so maybe that's right.

If you go outside tonight and look for the pulsar of Betelgeuse, you're an idiot. I made that part up. Betelgeuse, as far as the world knows, isn't dead yet. We don't know if it'll be a pulsar, a neutron star, or a black hole.

All pulsars are neutron stars, but not all neutron stars are pulsars. Why would you get crushed to something as wide as an atom if you tried to land on a pulsar? Imagine an object with a mass greater than 1.44 solar masses, but less than 3 solar masses. Basically, imagine multiple suns. Now take this object of high mass and shrink it down to no more than 10 kilometers. Congratulations, you've got an object smaller than Earth but with more gravitational attraction than the sun (a neutron star/pulsar). You could try to land on a pulsar, but the gravity is so intense that you would be yanked to the surface and crushed to a fine paste no wider than an atom.

Having said that, landing on pulsars is strongly discouraged.

Next chapter covers a vacation in Oasis, and an attack by Caesar's Legion. I think. It might not be so long.