I feel sick. Nauseous. My stomach churns and even with my eyes closed, the room spins. Taking deep breaths in, I try to suppress the urge to puke. It helps, and I keep my eyes tightly closed.

"Ugghh…"

I moan, another attempt to not lose the food I ate. Did I even eat? Last night…what happened? I try to lift my hand, to rub my eyes, but I feel it being held back. The sound of metal clanking together gets my immediate attention. Opening my eyes, it takes a second to adjust to the lights, to the softness I feel beneath me. Am I in a bed? My palms feel the same softness, as I press them down. No, not a bed.

My eyes fixate themselves on my surroundings, and I feel a strong sense of familiarity. I'm in a cube-like room, big, and padded all around. There are no windows, and only one door. Metal chains bind my hands to the wall, the only thing not padded. I see the bedding on the walls was ripped, to install this. It's a new addition. There's nothing else in the room, nothing to use to break them off the walls, nothing to help me.

Pulling my arms up, I realize the chains are too short for me to even stand. Whomever made this, made them for the averaged-sized wastelander. Not, someone like me. The cuffs around my wrists scratch, and it's not long before I feel sore. How…how did I get here? My head pounds, and I slowly recall last night. The fire…dancing…whiskey and then…then Dizzy. Opening my eyes, I remember it was Dizzy who…who knocked me out. Well, not in that sense but it was her who put me to sleep. She said I'd be safe when I woke up. I don't call this 'safe' per say, but I'm not harmed. Not that I can tell, anyways. I don't even have my boots, I realize.

But how was I brought here? My weight…takes more than two average men out here to lift. Especially if I was unconscious, then I'd be nothing more than dead-weight. Looking around, I try to find some hint, a clue, as to where I am. Never being out into the Capital Wasteland before, I know I could be just about anywhere. But, I have a logical mind. Dizzy and I were closest to the Citadel Ruins when I blacked out. There's only what, a few more locations surrounding that area? If that. So…whomever brought me here, took my boots, my jacket, my weapons, had to be nearby. Looking up, I see an area where the padding fails. Where it's torn from someone here before me. Behind it, I see a shining metallic wall. My heart drops to my stomach. I'm inside the ruins. Back, to where I came from.

My mind flashes to the Raider attack when Dizzy and I first left Megaton, whilst our parents were in Rivet City. They were after me. They went after Dizzy, to get to me. I let one go, and that was the biggest mistake. They knew me. They knew who I was, and had been watching me. Dizzy had spent the day before looking around…and I remember how she was awake before I was, and how tired she looked. No…no way. There's no possible way that Dizzy…

But she was the one who put me to sleep. She was the one…that told me she couldn't live with me around. Did she…did she plan this? Did she really go over those cliffs the day we left, to meet with some new boy or was she meeting with the Raiders? How can…how can she do something like this? My denial that she was ever able to do something like this, my trust for her, was my ultimate downfall.

As I think this over, shocked and in disbelief, the door across from me opens. I look up to see a Raider, clad in Painspike Armor. He has a ragged face, but can't be older than me. A crooked nose from one too many hits to the face, and a green mohawk with matching green goatee. He has brown eyes, and a muscular frame. If I stand, I know he's shorter than me. He makes sure not to get too close, but I watch him.

"Well…well…well…"

He says, leaning against the wall beside the door. I narrow my eyes at him.

"It's about time I get to see you up close."

"Who are you?"

I ask through angry and gritted teeth. My fingertips can graze the top of my rusted cuffs, and the Raider lights a cigarette. He seems nonchalant and uncaring, but he gets pleasure out of this.

"Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce myself. Names Scab."

He waves at me, and I see Psycho track marks on his forearms. Raiders are simply junkies, who bother the hell out of people in the Capital Wasteland. Hardly organized, rarely protected with armor, I understand now what my father meant, when he said they were nothing but a nuisance he wanted to rid of the Capital Wasteland. This one, standing in front of me, is the one Dizzy had claimed hurt her. The leader of the band.

"But, I'm sure you've heard about me, yeah?"

"Where is she?"

My stupid, impressionable sister, was just that. Stupid, and impressionable. Whatever these Raiders promised her, she believed they would deliver. I was taught, to never trust them. They will lie, cheat, steal and step on anyone they can to get ahead in their own rights.

"Oh, who?"

"You know exactly who."

Scab laughs, taking a drag of his cigarette.

"Don't worry about her right now. Instead, what happened to formalities?"

"What formalities?"
"Cain, is that how you treat your old friend? Roommate?"

Are all of them, the kids I was with during the first short five years of my life? What do they want with me?

"I see by the look on your face, you remember. Well, I'm surprised you didn't forget. With all you were given, it would seem as if you'd block out all the bad things. The bad times."

"What do you want from me?"

He laughs, flicking some ash from his cigarette onto the floor. I notice he doesn't get close to me. He knows I'm strong, he knows if he comes even within a millimeter of my reach I'll make swift history of him.

"I haven't quite figured that out yet. But, you know, it really…ate us up inside. Do you remember what happened, after you left?"

"No, because I wasn't there."

"Exactly. You weren't there. A bunch of kids, alone in an unknown world, whilst you got it nice and comfortable. It was safe and easy for you, while all of us watched from the sidelines."

"I had nothing to do with that! What's this all about? I can't fix what happened to you!"

"We know that, Cain. We know. We just don't think it's fair, that you got it oh so easy and we had to watch as some of our closest friends died, watched as they were murdered."

"Life isn't fair!"

Scab narrows his eyes at me. He named himself, because if he was, who I remember him to be, at the time we all escaped, he only had a number.

"Your family took the only home we ever knew! The only place we were ever safe!"

"Then why didn't you just stay? Huh? Come back for shelter and food? If you didn't, that's your own fault, and I have nothing to do with it."

"We couldn't. It was destroyed! We only found out after, that there were very few areas of it that withstood the damage. We couldn't return to it for years because of the systems, because of the security. All of it, was because of you."

"No it wasn't! I had nothing to do with anything that happened! The same thing would of happened to me if no one told them who I was!"

Scab walks over and crouches in front of me. I know without even trying, he's too far for me to reach.

"I guess it doesn't matter much now, huh pretty boy? You're a lot like that daddy of yours, aren't you? If I recall, you're his exact copy, am I right?"

I spit in his face. Unfazed, Scab laughs as he wipes it with the back of his hand.

"Your daddy took our home. So what if he was the best soldier to come from here? It doesn't matter to us anymore. I'm sure, he'll do anything, when he finds out exactly who we have in our possession."

"My father won't believe you."

"Oh. I think he will. Especially since we not only have your sister, but your weapons, your pack, and his combat knife."

"If you harm one hair on her head I swear to god…"

"You'll what? Spit at me? Bleed on me? There's nothing you can do. And, to be honest, she agreed to work with us."

My eyes widen. My suspicions in the beginning, were right. But…why?

"…What did you do to her?"

"Oh, nothing. She did it all of her own free will. Her loyalty, in exchange for the truth."

"The truth? Dizzy knows everything! She knows who our parents were!"

"No. She didn't know everything. And really she was quite torn up about it all. Imagine, finding out the person you trust most, is nothing but a liar and a cheat."

"I am not a cheat. I lied to protect her."

"From what, Cain? Your carnal desires? Obviously, that didn't work."

He throws his put-out cigarette butt in my face, and laughs. Standing up, the door opens as he gets closer to it. His body blocks my view, but Scab looks back, and smiles at me.

"Speak of the devil! Here she is now!"

Dizzy walks in, and Scab puts an arm around her. She doesn't lean into him, instead she looks away, at the wall to her left.

"I'll let you two sort out your differences. Remember Dizzy, no funny business."

The tone he uses with her angers me. Even though I know I'm here because of her, it doesn't matter. She's stupid, she's impressionable, she'll believe anyone anything tells her so long as it fits whatever her mindset is. It's the one thing my parents couldn't teach her not to do. In her search for a life, for something more than what she had, Dizzy's mind stayed soft to the pressures of other people. I can't blame her, when really, she did it because I didn't tell her the real truth. Maybe if I had…neither one of us would be in this situation.

Scab leaves, and Dizzy and I stare at one another in a stiff silence.

"…What've you done?"

I ask her, all hope from my voice gone and lost. Dizzy lights two cigarettes, and walks over to me. She hands me one, as I sit up against the padded wall. She looks away from me, not answering.

"Dizzy. Look at me."

With her eyes, she does. But her head is turned away from me, so she sees me only from the corners. I would have done anything for her, even told the truth, if she had just asked. I take a deep drag of my cigarette, as Dizzy balances on her feet, with her knees to her face. She looks like a scared child, and I realize, that's all she is.

"…I told you, you'd be safe when you woke up."

"That doesn't matter, Dizzy. Do you know the extent of the damage you've just done? Do you know that you've just put mom and dad in danger?"

The look on her face, tells me she doesn't know. She shakes her head, and then shrugs.

"Mom and dad'll be fine. They always were, right?"

"They didn't have kids before, Dizzy. We're here, and you know dad is going to do all he can to ensure our safety."

"So the Raiders let you go, and let me go, no harm no fowl."

"No, Dizzy. No. They have it out for dad."

"Dad's strong."

"Not against numbers. He's one man, Diz. One."

"No he's not, he's two."

She falls on her butt, and stares at me while she smokes. I see the hurt and pain in her face.

"…That has nothing to do with what you've done."

"That's why you're not immune to radiation, isn't it? That's why you got sad, when I asked you if you'd be here forever with me, huh? Because you won't be. Because…you're not from mom and dad."

"Dizzy…I know right now it's really hard to accept the truth. I know right now you're really confused, but trust me when I say this isn't the way to go about things. This…this is not the solution."

"How can I trust you, when all that I've known you to be was a lie? How do you think it felt, to believe for so long you were my brother? With all these feelings, these emotions for you, and then I find out you lied…you're not…you're not my brother."

"We have the same DNA, it doesn't matter! We're related in some sense!"

She shakes her head, blinking away tears. I finish my cigarette, and hand it to her to put out. She does so on her boot, and does the same for hers.

"Did you…did you ever really see the information? The records of how you were made?"

I shake my head at her, curious as to what information she obtained. We're back at the facility, beneath the Citadel Ruins. I know, that here, information is preserved. Any information you want, on any of the soldiers taught here over time, is available. No matter, how destroyed.

"…Then you don't know, that…"

"That what?"

"You only have a small amount of dad. That the rest of you was created from falsified and created genetics. That…that…you're…"

"I'm what, Dizzy? Tell me!"

My heart pounds in my chest, eager to know the truth about my own past.

"Why? Why should I tell you anything, when you didn't tell me?"

I stare at her, dumbfounded. Selfish, childish…the traits I find endearing are now working against me.

"Because I need to know. Or else…I won't know how to handle myself. Dizzy, if you've ever cared about me, you'll tell me."

"You're just a creation, Cain. They used dad as a blueprint, and the rest…the rest is all, mush. The best way I can describe it, is that you're the best android ever, only, you have real insides. But they're not really real, they're created. Ya know?"

Androids out here, often come from Rivet City. They're built to be security guards, and only have a short lifespan. Inside, they're machine. If you cut one, they won't feel it, and you'll see wires and technology. But I've been cut, injured. I bleed, I feel, and my lifespan is however long I live. What Dizzy is saying, is that…I was simply molded after my father. Everything else…everything else was really created in a lab. They wanted me to look like him, share his height, share his strength, but…they didn't want me to be him. Discovering…discovering the truth of my existence, as far as I can believe, causes me to slump over. I'm not…human. I am, I can feel and see and touch, taste and smell, but inside…I wonder, what I would look like.

"…You're as real as it gets, as real as me or mom or dad. But…you were never a baby, Cain."

"My earliest memory…I was…I was…"

"Three. That's not a baby. That's…a toddler. No one taught you to walk, no one taught you to speak. It was already there. You came out of the tube, as a toddler."

"Dizzy, how do you know this."

She sighs, and curls up into a ball, her knees hiding her face.

"They showed me. When they got you here, Scab held up his end of the deal. He brought me downstairs, and showed me the room you were made it. He gave me complete access to all the files, records. Cain, I saw the tube. I saw it. It was really there. Everything…made sense."

"What made sense?"

"Why radiation didn't work. Why…I never felt…like we were really brother and sister. There was always something, telling me it was okay to…to…"

She stops to wipe her face. I hear her sniff her nose, and I let my face fall.

"If you let me out, Dizzy, I won't be angry. I won't…I won't get mad. We have to tell mom and dad. We have to…we have to tell them."

"I can't, Cain. I can't do that. I'm here, now. This is my home."

"And you're going to let mom and dad die? Let them give their lives, to save us when they're just going to kill us in the end?"

"…It doesn't matter, if they hurt you, because any good mechanic or doctor can fix you."

"What?"

She points to her head.

"You'd need a mechanic and a doctor, and no matter how dead you seem, you can come back. Unless they don't bother."

"But you said…I'm not a machine."

"You're not, but someone has to fix the machines that grew you, so then you can grow again."

Tears form in my eyes, and I feel like I really am a machine. A machine, that just discovered the truth about themselves. I guess I'm no different. I was grown, every part of me, grown for me. I am an abomination. Letting my head fall, I don't try to hide the pain. I don't try, to hide anything anymore.

"…You know, this whole time I always believed I was an abomination. But at least then, I believed I came from someone. Now…now I know I didn't come from anybody."

I lift my head to look at her, and in her face, I see she's far more lost than I am.

"So you're right. It doesn't matter, if I die here. When you see mom and dad, at least…at least tell them you love them. They'll want to hear it, and if you can…tell them the truth about me."

"Don't they know?"

"No. They…they thought the same thing I did. That someone…simply cloned me from dad. They have no idea…that I'm nothing more than a high-class android that the scientists in Rivet City would envy."

Dizzy didn't know this, and I see her face fall. She stares at me, and gets on her hands and knees like she's crawling.

"I thought…mom and dad knew. I…thought…they did."

"…No, Diz. They know…as much as I did a few minutes ago."

The shock is temporary on her face. In her mind, she finds an excuse to justify her actions.

"It doesn't matter, anyways. Being what you are, I'm sure that…nothing you feel is real, anyways."

"It is real! When I got shot it hurt! When I comforted you I felt sympathy! When I…"

"When you kissed me you felt nothing."

"No! No that's not true! I felt…wrong…because I had thought…"

"We were related."

"Yes."

"Well we're not."
"Aside from that I felt things that your selfish mind couldn't even comprehend!"

"Shut up!"

"No! You shut up! You've been putting others in danger for years with these Raiders! You finally did it, Dizzy! You've gotten the truth! Now mom and dad are going to come here, and they're going to die because you don't have the ability to see the bigger picture!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

"No you listen! Look around at what you've done! You drugged me! You put me in cuffs! And you know what'll happen after mom and dad lay down their lives? Do you know?"

"I said stop it!"

"They're going to kill you too! They don't need you! They're using you and you were stupid enough to buy it!"

She starts to sob in front of me, angry and defeated. She's not mature enough, though, to try and fix her mistakes.

"You don't know the bigger picture!"

Stuck in her ways, she tries so hard to pin the blame and guilt on me. When, really, this is all her fault.

"Yes I do! I do!"
"Then what is it?"

"Not this that's for damned sure!"

I raise my hands to show her the redness around my wrists that the cuffs are making. She stops sobbing just long enough to see them, and it makes her cry again. I pull at the chains, trying to reach her.

"Come here, Dizzy."

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me! I hate you!"

"I know, I know. I know you hate me, okay? It's okay, you can hate me all you want, alright? But come here. Come here, please."

Tears are streaming down my face. I realize, she can't understand. Her sheltered life is working against her. Youthfully stupid, without the advice and training from our father, Dizzy has no idea…how to accept and deal with this. Accept that she fucked up severely, and that these emotions are perfectly normal. It's normal, for her to hate me, because she has no other way to express anything. Like a pre-teen girl who feels she's smarter than the rest of the world. Dizzy can't understand, why even though she says she hates me, why even after she did all this, I still want to comfort her. I guess…it's because…knowing what I do, I just love her even more, because now…it's okay to love her.

The noise of my shackles scares her. She starts to hyperventilate, just out of my reach. If she just leaned forward, maybe I could help.

"Dizzy…Dizzy please, calm down, please…"

"You…you…you…I…hate…"

"I know, Diz, it's okay. It's okay…We can fix this, just come here…"

I see she's going to. She's going to come, and sit with me, but then behind her…the door opens. Through strands of my hair, I see Scab walking in, a smug look on his face.

"Well, I see this reunion turned out well considering."

He takes Dizzy's hand, and helps her to her feet. I watch as he wraps his arms around her, and begins to lead her away. But she doesn't lean on him for support, she doesn't cry to him. Instead, she stares blankly at him, with fresh tears pouring down her face.

"Wait! Wait!"

I cry, trying to stand, but my restraints pull me back.

"You've had enough time."

"I'll give you all the information you want for ten more minutes!"

Scab stops just before the doorway. Both he and Dizzy turn to look at me.

"Listen, Scab, Dizzy spent all her time with you. She would leave home, and go do whatever it is you guys did together. But I didn't. I was with my father. I was being trained. I can tell you more than she can, about anything you want to know. Just give me more time."

"How much time, and how much information?"

"I can tell you every weak point my father has…and my mother."

Scab thinks this over. It feels like ages go by. Ages, where I remain silent, and wait for his answer.