Chapter 3 Megaton
As Douglas came closer the towering entrance to the junk made town of Megaton, he noted a man in a perch like landing above the main gate. Armed more than likely a sniper, seems very well fortified to say the least. A man dressed in a baggy and battered coat with random pieces of junk such as eating utensils around the belt and many pockets observed the lone figure approaching the town. Noting the bag, that was resting heavily on his shoulders, and blue jumpsuit already picking up dust from the wind. "Well I'll be crazy bastard, oh wait I am he he he kids from one of the vaults it seems, could have plenty of great junk to sell." The man thought to himself as he made his best attempt to garner the attention of the figure heading down the path. As Douglas approached the man who was obviously trying to get his attention wary of what he could want. "Welcome sir or madam, to Crazy Wolfgang's Junk Store! The Depot of Detritus, the Shop of Slop, the Caravan of Crap! Now, what can I, the Craziest of all possible Wolfgang's offer to you? He said as he put all of his best charm into his introduction. "That was quite the introduction, name's Douglas nice to meet you." Douglas said trying to make a good first impression, especially is the man could buy some of the things he had in his pack to lighten his load. "As it is to meet you my boy, I Crazy Wolfgang have every feasible, imaginable, and possible type of random assorted crap available for you to buy for a reasonable price, and will even buy anything you wish to sell." Crazy stated as if he had said it a thousand times, he probably has. "You're a trader then awesome I was hoping to lighten my load before I went into town, if you could?" He said happy to have met a trader. "Of course my boy show me what you have." They traded crap for caps as Douglas asked Crazy about the local area trying to get some information to plug into his pipboy map. "Come again to Crazy Wolfgang's Junk Store! And don't forget to tell your friends". Crazy said as he walked off trailing his Caravan to places unknown to Douglas, as he input some data into his wrist mounted computer and hefting the lessened weight of his bag onto his shoulder. Walking toward the town's gated entrance the robot acting as a greeter spoke up. "Welcome to Megaton partner. The bomb is perfectly safe, we promise." That got Douglas's attention. "Bomb what bomb what do you mean by safe?" He asked a stunned wide eyed look upon his face. It's at this moment the gate began to open and the man on the cat walk told him not to bother that it's just a programmed greeting, and to hurry up an head on inside so he could close the gate again in an annoyed manner." Alright I'm going, sheeeess!"
As Douglas entered the town he was stunned by what he saw, a town built up from the bottom of a crater all manner of homes, building and walkways made from the scraps of the old world. At the center an undetonated fatman style nuclear bomb just sitting there at the heart of a bustling settlement. It boggles the mind why they would build around a bomb, Douglas thought to himself as a dark skinned older gentleman approached him wearing a leather duster and what appeared to be a hat a rancher or cowboy would wear. "Well I'll be damned; you're from that vault, Vault 101. He he he I haven't seen one of those jumpsuits in years. The man whom Douglas could only assume was another greeter or maybe the sheriff with that getup like that said in a gruff but welcoming voice. Also noting what looked to be a Type 93 assault rifle strapped to his back. "The names Lucas Simms town sheriff, and mayor when the need arises welcome to Megaton." The man introduced definitely coming across as the law. "Nice to meet you sheriff my names Douglas Myers quite the town you have here it's a bit of an eyesore to be honest." "Polite and not afraid to say what's on your mind I can tell were going to get along well kid, just don't start any trouble and there won't be any." Douglas couldn't shake the thought of dying any moment being here as they conversed, knowing less than 15 yards away was a devise that could disintegrate everyone here in an instant. "I hear you I'm not here to cause any, though if you don't mind me asking why in the hell would you build an entire town around an unexploded nuclear bomb seems like the mother of all bad ideas to me?" Douglas said with a puzzled look on his face hoping for an answer maybe he could even take a crack at disarming the thing with the right tools. The one thing I couldn't grab before I left my tools stupid idiot, not like I took bomb disarming 101 in school though. He mentally berated himself for his lack of thinking. "It's not like Megaton was built in a day it took decades from the first homes being built to the walls that keep us safe. Many of the first settlers were hopefuls looking to get into Vault 101, no such luck though so they ended up settling here, there's even a damn church that worships the damn bomb bunch of crazies." The sheriff went on telling Douglas about the towns founding it made sense except for the worshipping bit, how crazy did you have to be? "People worship that thing? Whatever not important I was thinking I could take a crack at disarming it if I had the right tools, I was pretty handy back in the vault." The Sheriff at that wore a face of amusement though what if he could disarm it he and many others would definitely feel safer. "Now hold up now I don't want you going and blowing us all up but if you could Ide be willing to pay you let's say 100 caps, I could even throw in the deed to an old home in town if you could disarm it." 100 caps Douglas didn't mind the sound of that and a place of his own was even better he didn't have a home anymore now that the vault was sealed up. "You got a deal sheriff I'll see what I can do, before I go can you point me to a place where I could get tools and supplies and maybe a place to stay for the night." Sleep was something coming to his mind as he hadn't gotten a full night's sleep because of the start of this cluster fuck of a day. "Crater Side Supply is where you can go to get supplies, just don't mind Moira she's, a bit eccentric but a kind soul. And as for sleep Moriarty's Saloon should have a room for rent and companionship if you want it." Lucas pointed out the buildings to Douglas and started down the hill into town to go on with his own business. Moriarty's ehh that's the name of the guy that woman in Springvale told me about. Ok first thing first head to meet this Moira and buy a better weapon than just this N99 also see about those tools I will need. Maybe I can get something better to wear than this annoyingly snug suit as well, that would be nice." Douglas began up the path to the store looking down at the creator below with people going about their lives having conversations and buying food or drink at what looked to be the only other eating establishment in town other than the saloon. "Not much different than the vault in that aspect minus the rust and radiation though, people just living whatever lives they can to the best of their ability." He muttered to himself as he approached the door to Crater Side Supply.
Upon entering the shop Douglas was met with a large puff of black smoke caused by whatever the woman whom he could only assume to be Moira was tinkering on before it blew up in her face covering it in soot. Coughing Douglas fanned the smoke away from his face with his hand and took a look around, noticing a man slouched against that wall wearing something you'd imagine a body guard or mercenary to wear shooting a look over at him and Moira shaking his head at the failed experiment then going back to his own boredom. "Ohhh hey you must be that new stray from the vault, sorry about that just one of my experiments backfiring on me… again oh well I'm Moira Brown what can I do for you?" Moira coughed out fishing a rag from one of the pockets on her baggy mechanics jumpsuit to wipe the soot from her face, while taking in her newest customer's appearance. Being roughly 6'5 and 245lbs with mid neck length hair and a week or so of growth on his face. Douglas was an imposing person, muscular but not overdoing it. "Cough uhh yeah I'm the stray from the vault names Douglas nice to meet you, how'd you find out so quickly I just got into town?" He asked while continuing to cough a bit as the smoke had nearly cleared. "Ohh news travels fast around here, especially about noticeable persons like a tall guy in a blue and yellow suit." She chuckled clearing her counter of her failed experiment so Douglas would have a place to set things to trade. "Yeah I guess I do stand out." Moira suddenly remembered another project she was working on. "Hey I just remembered another project I was working on, I'm writing a book about survival in the wastes. Ide love to get a statement from you about your time in the vault." She exclaimed giddily hoping he'd give her a statement hoping he could even help her with the field research as well. "Umm sure I could say a bit about the vault." I could say a lot about the vault not much of it good right now He sighed. "Goody so coming from a vault what's your thoughts on the outside world" Pulling out a pencil and paper, waiting anxiously for his reply. "Well the sun definitely is harsher than the lights of the vault, and I can already tell water is going to be a major concern for me other than that I've meet some friendly people so far." He told her as she rapidly wrote down what he said to quote later. "Excellent, thank you so much that will work great for what I had in mind, just be careful not ever one is as nice as we are. Now that that's out of the way maybe you could help me out some more with the book, "I need someone to do field research for me for the book I mean." I suddenly have a feeling I'm not going to like this. "Ok what would I be doing and what would you pay me?, I'm so not going to like this." He muttered that last bit under his breath hoping it wasn't anything to dangerous. "Ohhhh goody I knew you would help me, no one else will anyway the first chapter is about dealing with the daily issues of surviving in the wastes." She went into more detail while Douglas noticed an old vault suit obviously modified with some bits of leather here and there and pouches along a bandolier connecting to a single shoulder pad hanging on the wall behind her. "Hey Moira where'd you get that old vault suit on the wall?" Douglas asked cutting Moira off on her ramblings. "Ohh that old thing another vault dweller asked me to modify it for them a decade back or so, poor guy never came back probably died out in the wastes somewhere." Douglas grimaced at her nonchalant dismissal of a man's life a fellow vault dweller none the less. After Douglas and Moira ironed out the details of their partnership he proceeded to trade the rest of the junk and other items had in exchange for a decent condition R91 assault rifle, 120 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, 2 extra magazines, 4 more cans of water a KA-BAR combat knife in rough shape and a scarf and goggles to cover his face and eyes in case of sandstorm. Moira also gave him the modified suit as a cementing gesture for their new partnership.
Changed into the new suit and strapping his new weapons to him Douglas slung his pack over his shoulder biding Moira goodbye walking back out into the heat of day. Checking his pipboy for the time it read 4:30 pm. "Jesus did I really spend hours talking to her fuck sake!" He muttered emotionally drained and physically exhausted trudging his way to the saloon and more importantly a bed. Entering the saloon his senses were assaulted by the smells of strong liquor and tobacco from cigarettes. He scanned the room seeing many patrons the one person that really stood out was a man who looked like he had been burned from head to toe. God how is that man still standing he must be in a lot of pain. He approached the bar gaining the attention of the bartender. "Hey smooth skin, my names Gob whatcha need?" He asked in a gruff and raspy voice. "A bed for the night would be nice Gob names Douglas by the way nice to meet you." Gob was well… gobsmacked a smooth skin that didn't want to berate or insult him because of his looks he couldn't believe it. "You're not going to yell at me? Beat me? Not even berate me a little bit?" Douglas didn't know why he was asking him that why would anyone treat him that way? Are people really that shallow? Scratch that I know they are. "I wasn't planning on it." Douglas said tiredly while Gob looked at him slightly teary eyed. "I….. I don't know what to say Douglas thank you. Most people treat me like crap cause of how I look, and hey don't tell anybody especially Moriarty but I'll give you a discount on anything on tap because you brightened my night." Gob told him how much the room would be for the night and directed him to the last room at the end of the balcony upstairs. As Douglas made his way to his rented room he began to feel the stress of the day catching up to him. Other than his breakdown after just leaving the vault, he hadn't vented he hadn't figured out what he'd do next. Upon entering his room for the night Douglas flipped the lock into place leaning his new to him rifle against the dresser next to the door and dropped his pack at the foot of the bed. Finally slouching down onto the bed he cupped his face in his palms, the emotional strain of the day catching up with him. "God this day…. I don't know what to do now." He let out in exhausted whisper to himself. Finally getting up the small amount of energy necessary to make the move from the foot of the bed to lying in it he began his journey into a fitful sleep.
My first day outside the vault and I was terrified for what the next would hold. I just didn't have the energy to care at that moment. I should have though because fear it keeps you alive something I would come to learn.
Authors note: Yeah this one was a long one I didn't realize how much dialog I was putting in till I read through it myself whoops, I don't mind it though I find it fun to write the next chapter is going to involve some combat I promise. Also please do review I very much want tips and opinions, like I've said this is my first story and I'm not very skilled at writing yet feedback will help me with that. Thanks for reading.
Sincerely Bradknight