It was a hot, bright day in the Kentucky Wasteland. The sunlight shining brightly off the T45d power armor of the Paladins and Knights in the expedition force. They were followed up by Initiates in their recon armor armed with assault rifles and the Scribes who were carrying everything they needed to document whatever arcane artifacts of the dead empire of America they could discover. While this would have been an awe-inspiring sight in most circumstances, this was not any of them. The Paladins, Knights, Scribes, and Initiates were all carrying what they needed to make the long trek across the four former commonwealths. This included food, not all of it was properly cooked or preserved. Some of it had begun to rot and befoul the air, with the heat accelerating the process and worsening the stench. They were carrying more than food, plentiful ammo and an assortment of weapons and explosives for defense against whatever awaited them. They only had two adult brahmin with them as well as one brahmin calf.

Elder Maxson said they could take what weapons they thought was necessary for the trip, knowing that this would incite them to take the biggest guns they could and all the ammo they thought was needed. The idea was to show them how brash and inexperienced they were from their own decisions. The expedition had more heavy weapons than it had troops authorized to used them, with the excess slung over the brahmins' backs just in case they needed them. With miniguns and missile launchers taking up carrying capacity, it was up to the Initiates and Scribes to carry the rest. The Initiates and Aspirants were mainly recruited wastelanders and had not built up the strength to carry more than their own needs, and the Scribes were what the name implied; researchers, engineers, and historians and thus not fit for heavy labor. As an act of good faith, Elder Maxson had given the Paladins' and the Knights' armors total repairs for maximum protection and extended condition span with a really shiny new chrome finish. Although the Paladins and Knights had enjoyed looking brand-new at first, they were now paranoid now that they are very well outside Brotherhood territory. Their armor shined brightly under the sun and made them visible to potential hostiles for miles. The noise from the mutant animals disturbed from their marching would certainly catch someones attention if they missed the bright lights. The armor also constantly reflected light into the eyes of the Initiates and Scribes, adding to their annoyance. This was actually more of an oversight from Maxson than anything else as he thought the sight of shining armored giants would pacify whoever saw them.


"This. Sucks. Ghoul nuts!" Knight Martin loudly declares. His carrying capacity of 280 was close its limit by just one point.

"We know, Martin." Scribe Marleen groaned, although she was carrying considerably lighter than Martin, she was tired, not from the trek or the weight but from hearing his complaints like everyone else in the group.

"Why did he only give us two brahmin and a calf?!"

"Maybe they needed the rest were needed elsewhere."

"Bull****, they have a fleet of vertibirds now!"

"If we decided to fly a vertibird every time we needed to go around the block..."

"This isn't across some ****ing street-"

"It's across nine ****ing states, we know already!" Everyone around loudly groaned in unison.

"Stop. Complaining. Like ****ing. Pre-war. Spoiled. BRAT ALREADY!" Paladin Bradley, the Paladin in charge yelled. He had been hearing non-stop whining from the entire group (a good percent of which came from Martin alone) ever since the start of this endeavor. He may be in charge but that doesn't mean that he was chosen for being level-headed and calm under pressure. This group is made out of dissidents and what not, and he is no exception. So you can expect them all to be less reserved and disciplined than the Brotherhood proper.

"Hey, I have the right to complain!" the Knight protested.

"You've been complaining ever since we stepped out of the Citadel, you brainless oaf!" Scribe Alfred retorted.

"We used to vocally agree with you at first, but now it's getting very annoying..." Marleen said.

"Do ghouls even have nuts?" some initiate asked.

"Why are you curious-"

"SHUT UP! EVERYONE! JUST! SHUT! UP! FOR A MINUTE AT LEAST! IF SOMEONE TALKS BEFORE THAT'S UP I'M GOING TO GO INSANE!" Bradley bellowed.

51 seconds silently pass...

"So are-" said by an initiate.

"OH MY GOD WHAT!? WHAT!? IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN A MINUTE YET WHAT DO YOU WANT!? *INHALES* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh..."

"... are yo-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh..."

"uh-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAHHH! AAAAAAHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh..."

The rest of the group started slowing down at the lapse of Bradley's sanity. The other Paladins have begun to back off as well. It wasn't hard for some to imagine Bradley was literaly foaming at the mouth. In fact, with the wet gutteral noises he's making while screaming, and that his voice is going deeper, its seemed like he was either mutating or ghoulifiying underneath his armor.


Four minutes of screaming followed up with 11 minutes of awkward silent marching later.

"You okay?" Scribe Marleen asked through . She was concerned about his well being and would have asked earlier, but was afraid that he had lost it and would roar at the slightest noise. She also imagined the small possibility of him turning on them and attacking on the spot if that were true.

"Urg- *cough* *hack* *cough*... yeah I...*cough* I could you some water..." Bradley said in a tired tone. "So what was it you were going to ask before-..."

He turned around and saw that he was so far from the rest of the group that they looked the size of pre-war plastic army men toys.

"Why are you so far back?!" Bradley asked.

"With all the screaming and inhuman gurgling you were making, we figured we'd give you some space." Paladin Vanessa stated with a smile under her helmet.

"Well, before you started doing an impression of a flaming Super Mutant's battlecry, I was going to ask if we're going the right way." Initiate Bob asked.

"Argh, hang on, let me check the map." He pulled a pre-war paper map from his inventory and began unfolding it as he walked back towards them.

"And here's another thing-"

"If you say one more thing, Martin, I'm going to punch you in the faceplate so hard, it will cave in and break your teeth!"

"I have a question, sir." Initiate Bob said, arm raised like a school boy asking for something.

"What?"

"How come we were given a paper map rather than a pip-boy that had one?"

"Thats a good question, to which 'to **** with us' is most likely the answer"

"Hey, that was what I was going to ask!" Martin loudly stated.

At this, Paladin Bradley threw down the map and charged at the annoying knight. He knocked Martin off his feet and pinned him to the ground, smashing against Martin's helmet with his fists. Unbeknownst to any of the exiles, they were being watched from afar. Three tribal scouts had been observing them, shadows and camoflage paint diguising them in the environment. They slowly slinked away, to behind the foliage, before running off to the wilderness.

"We must tell the others." the scout leader said.

"We must tell the chieftains, and the other tribes, of their coming. We must tell that the Metal Brothers have arrived."