Greetings everyone. This is a story based on an all-time favorite franchise of mine and one of the best games of the century as far as I am concerned. It combines the elements of both Fallout New Vegas and FNV the frontier MOD.
This is the story of an NCR exile who after surviving the events of the frontier, journeys north to Washington State in search of a rumored town called Cascadia to start a new life. When he arrives, he must work to show he belongs there, yet little does he know that his arrival there will have drastic effects on not just himself but those around him as well. Will he finally find peace and a new home worth fighting for or will his past life forever haunt him and brand him an exile for the rest of his life?
Disclaimer: The NCR, New Vegas, Characters, Equipment, etc. belong to Bethesda and Obsidian. FNV The Frontier and its content belong to its creators. All other stuff is mine. Rated M for violence, blood and gore, drug and tobacco use, sexual content.
Chapter 1: Forever an Exile
Dark grey clouds covered the afternoon sky, rain fell to the earth in perpetual waves as the wind howled from an ongoing storm, lightning was a constant danger as it struck the ground in multiple bursts.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the rainforest as a man with a duffle bag on his back jumped through the thick foliage onto a paved road cracked and misshapen before a gigantic shape followed close behind him. The young man looked back in terror as a deathclaw was right on his heels. Its giant teeth filled maw roared at him as it gave chase to its potential prey.
The man was breathing heavily, he has been running for over fifteen minutes. He should have been used to this, it was part of his training in the army of the New California Republic, he ran quite a bit as a runner during his time in the frontier as an exile, but now he was running again only this time for his life. He was used to encountering all sorts of hostile wildlife, but a deathclaw terrified him the most.
He ran down the road as fast as his legs could carry him but the deathclaw was much faster than he was. It ran on all fours towards him, weaving back and forth with such agility that it would be near impossible to escape it outright were it not for the slippery road from the storm causing the beast to lose its footing sometimes before instantly recovering.
The man took his service rifle and fired three shots behind him as he ran. Two of the rounds missed while the third one struck the deathclaw in its head. It roared in pain but because of its armored skin, it only enraged it as it continued its pursuit. The deathclaw swiped at a derelict pickup truck with its enormous, clawed hand, hurling it at the young man.
The man looked back just quick enough to duck as the truck barely missed him, landing a couple of feet ahead of him before rolling over a cliff into the ocean below. He rolled on the ground before getting back up and kept running with all his strength. He soon spotted a structure in the distance on the side of the road. He recognized the rocket shaped sign as a Red Rocket Truck Stop.
"Finally, some cover. I can duck in there and hide till this thing goes away!" He thought loudly in his mind.
He ran with renewed energy toward the truck stop as the deathclaw charged at him on all fours. The rain fell down his face as he ran. He quickly wiped the rain away from his eyes as he hurried to the truck stop with the monster right behind him.
He made it to the truck stop and headed for the open garage door, but before he could make it inside, the deathclaw lunged at him with mouth open and attempted to strike him with its claws. The man sidestepped to avoid the strike and tumbled into the garage, the monster attempting to grab him but was too big to enter. The man hit the button next to the door, closing the big metal shutter to prevent being this beast's dinner.
"AAAHHHHH!" He yelled as he fell on his side and dropped his rifle, clutching his arm as searing pain overtook his body. He looked up at the monster through the garage window, who was still trying to get in but couldn't quite figure out how to get to its potential meal. The man looked down at his arm and agony gripped his face, the deathclaw had grazed his arm slicing it open like a sharp knife, blood gushed from his wound and poured down his arm staining his white top of his armor.
Breathing heavily, he sat up and scooted back on the floor, drawing his .45 Auto Pistol out of its holster and fired at the monster through the tiny window. The rounds simply bounced off its armored scales as it continued to ram the steel door with its head. The man holstered his pistol and picked up his rifle. He made his way through the smaller sliding door on the opposite side of the garage into the convenience store area of the truck stop. Sweat dripping off his head as blood continued to ooze from his open wound.
The deathclaw found him and was about to charge through the windows of the truck stop with the man painfully aiming his service rifle at the creature and stood ready to fire at its head. And then as if from nowhere, a loud and ear deafening screech echoed through the area, so loud that the ground slightly shook from the noise.
The deathclaw immediately stood up and sniffed the air with its forked tongue. Beams of sunlight reflecting off its scales at the storm began to lessen. Suddenly a loud thud echoed outside, sending the man to the ground in shock behind a shelf in the middle of the store. He slowly crawled to the edge of the shelf to look outside, and what he witnessed was both awe inspiring and utterly terrifying all at once.
A creature twice the size of a school bus stood behind the deathclaw. Closely resembling a hawk, it was covered in grayish black feathers, walking on both the elbows of its wings with a single claw protruding out of each elbow and its talon tipped feet. Its tail feathers long and whip like as they swayed side to side, its head brandishing a sharp yellowish black beak with large, piercing yellow eyes.
The deathclaw roared at the new arrival but backed away in fear as the hawk like mutant stood on its hind legs and spread it wings, flapping furiously. The deathclaw roared again but the giant hawk screeched so loud that the man covered his ears in pain due to the high-pitched noise. Knowing it was outmatched the deathclaw immediately started running away but the giant easily overpowered it, taking it in its mouth and slamming the lizard like mutant into the pavement, pecking at it with its razor-sharp beak until what was left of the once mighty deathclaw was now a carcass littered with puncture wounds all over its body.
The man laid where he was in complete silence. He dared not move out of fear that he would be seen by this new predator. He laid there for what seemed like an eternity until the monster took the now dead deathclaw in its taloned feet and with a might flap of its wings, ascended into the air and took off over the adjacent forest into the cloudy sky, the rain still pouring down more steady and less intense.
The man picked himself up after five minutes of laying in a pool of his own blood. He was still bleeding considerably and as a result was feeling fatigued and weak. His white top and chest armor piece was covered in crimson red from his own blood and the stench was almost unbearable. He wasted no time and got to work immediately despite his fatigued state.
He made his way to the back of the truck stop and entered the men's restroom, he spotted a first aid box on the wall and opened it, revealing a stimpak, some bandages and some purified water. He greedily chugged the water and jammed the stimpak in his stomach and activated it. He felt relief but looked in the bathroom mirror and saw himself in the reflection. He was pale from blood loss and bags were under his eyes from exhaustion. It was then he noticed the still oozing gash in his arm, he took a few minutes to remove his armor and white top and applied the bandages to his arm until the bleeding stopped. He was exhausted and drained from the days events but at least he would survive.
He went back outside to the back of the truck stop and spotted a cellar entrance into a sub-basement. Slowly opening the hatch with his pistol raised, he descended into the basement where a giant rat tried to leap at him but was knocked away and shot in the body, killing it instantly.
"Tonight's dinner." The man said to himself. He scanned the rest of the basement which was used as a maintenance bay. After searching the basement and finding it clear. He sat down in the corner and dropped his duffle bag on the ground, opening it and setting out its contents.
A bedroll for sleeping and resting, a Hunting Rifle complete with a Scope and twenty rounds of .308 caliber bullets, additional ammo for his service rifle and .45 auto pistol, some additional clothes including a red rocket jumpsuit he scavenged from up in the garage and a red beret with the NCR 1st recon badge on it, five stimpaks as well as various chems for trading, two caravan lunches and five nuka Colas as well as a canteen of water, a lighter, a Christian bible with dog tags dangling from the spine with the name Paxton Clark Serial Number 156870955 with the insignia of a two headed bear to the side, three decks of cards for playing caravan, a road map he also scavenged from the truck stop and finally a teddy bear he received from home before he left on active duty.
He pulled out his journal and began writing while the rat meat cooked on the open fire he made shortly after settling in for the night. He sat on his bedroll and began writing albeit painfully from his still healing wound.
"April 15, 2282"
"It seems now that everywhere I go, I always manage to find trouble even when I'm not looking for it. I almost ended up being a fucking deathclaw's main course were it not for another mutant seeing it as its dinner also. Well, you know what they say, there's always a bigger fish."
"I've been on the road for almost a full 3 damn months now, ever since the whole failure at the frontier there was nothing left for me there, even now I still don't know what happened with General Blackthorne or Second in Command Rancor. I couldn't go back to Shady Sands, after all I was probably deemed a deserter and would probably be executed if I had returned home, hell I haven't spoken to my parents or my little sister in so long, they probably think I'm dead in some monster's den.
"But all hope is not lost, after my escapade today I managed to scavenge a road map and after reading it I'm somewhat relieved, I have finally crossed into Washington state, also called the Olympic Wasteland by a scavver I met in the frontier. He told me that he occasionally made trade runs to a town up north called Cascadia saying that it was situated on the Columbia River Gorge In the middle of the Cascade Mountain Range. It spanned both sides of the Columbia with a big castle overlooking the town.
"This is hopefully my destination after this journey is said and done. In the frontier we were called the NCR Exiles by the locals." I have wandered this hellscape looking for any clues regarding this supposed great city, and now with this map I should be able to finally make my way there and if they will let me, to begin again. For now, I rest, and if my arm is better, I will resume in the morning toward a brighter future."
"Paxton Clarke Signing off"
He put down his journal and took the rat meat off the campfire, it smelled good considering the day he had. He finished it in a few bites and after having a sip from his canteen, he undressed to his boxers and crawled in his bedroll. Paxton thought of his potential new home and after thinking about how his life could have ended today, he drifted off to sleep.