It feels like it had been 3 days since the world ended to Junior.
It has, apparently, been about 200 years since the world ended. At least according to people that his father had brought back from Concord after they left the vault. Nathaniel Jr still doesn't know if he believes them. Granted these "minutemen" hadn't given him any reason to distrust them but it seems a bit far fetched to the 15 year old Pioneer Scout that he had skipped 2 centuries.
…There were more important things to deal with.
Like finding the fucker who shot his mom.
And also finding Shaun.
His father was already making plans to go to some place called Diamond City, leaving him with Codsworth and the Minutemen settlers while he took Preston along with him.
"...This is bullshit"
"Language Master Nathaniel!"
"Codsworth, You and I were here first. Sturgis shouldn't be able to make us do stuff like this"
"I thought you enjoyed outdoorsmanship, Master"
"Yeah but theres a reason I flunked the Gardening badge 4 times." Junior leans on his rake that he was supposed to be tending Melons with. "Besides I have more important things to do!"
"Your father is attempting to find Shaun alread-"
"I know! But I…I don't know, I don't think I trust him. He ran off to fight in the Great War when he found out Mom was pregnant with me." At this point he's ditched his rake and begun walking off towards the woods. "Besides, even if I'm not gonna look for him I need to get my Kit."
"Master Nathaniel I must insist you do NOT go into the woods alo-"
"Well then you better come with. I'm tired of Gardening and I'm going to get my stuff"
"What stuff sir! You can't really think you'll find anything ou-"
"Codsworth remember when I told you I couldn't show you were the Pioneer Scout Lodge my group met at was?"
"Yes! November 1st 2074, Why?"
"The Lodge is in an old, disused radio station Concord gave us. It's hermetically sealed for anyone without the pass code, and had things like fishing poles and hunting knives in it. I think it could be useful and I know the code so…why don't we go get them"
"...Are you going to go without me if I deny this idea"
"Absolutely yes"
"Then…fine. But if Mister Nate is upset by this I will not speak out in your defense to avoid your punishment"
The two travel down a hidden path in the woods, alongside the creek. They avoid trouble for the mostpart, minus a pack of wild dogs that Codsworth scared off with his flamethrower, before coming to…
The still-standing, but extremely overgrown, Radio Station. The Pioneer Scout's Emblem is emblazoned over the door.
"Aight, looks like the door's still sealed. My kit will be in here."
"You mean your Uniform and fishing pole, correct?"
"Uh…right, just that kind of thing" He leans over the panel and enters the code before entering. "And uh…some other things."
"...Such as?"
"Oh you know…my old Red Ryder Lever-Action Rifle"
"YOU DRAGGED ME HERE SO YOU COULD RETRIEVE A FIREARM WITHOUT YOUR FATHER'S KNOWLEDGE?!"
"Come on Codsworth we both know I know how to use it! I got gold in trapshooting 5 years running!"
"At the same time I'm not certain your father would enjoy you arming yourselves under false pretenses!"
"I can get us more food via hunting than I ever could with gardening! And I would rather have a way to fight back if someone tries to storm the settlement that rely on the Longs and Sturgis to fight em off!"
"...This is going to be a headache."
"...Can robots even get… nevermind. It should be in here…" And after a bit of a struggle getting the door open, the lock being stubborn, he opens the supply room. Mounted on the wall is a wooden-handled, lever-action rifle with a red-dyed metal barrel. Junior smiles and takes it off the wall. "Oh, Betsy, I have missed you. We got work to do, you hungry gal?"
"...Are…are you talking to your gun?"
"...Shutup Codsworth. And…watch the door I'm gonna get in uniform"
"Understood sir."
After about 10 minutes, Junior re-emerges from the supply room, now wearing a tan shirt, green pants, and a black cowboy hat with golden thread trim, a reward for his repeated wins in the trap shooting competitions. A Blue scarf around his neck declares him the highest rank of Pioneer Scouts, a Bear Scout, and he has also donned an oversized Camping backpack. "Lucked out! I found some camp-food in there along with some 45-70 Govt and hunting knives! Also a bedroll and a campstove! All of it's in the pack!"
"Admittedly those could be useful…"
"And hopefully will keep Sturgis and Dad from getting too mad at me, yea. One second I want to tune my pipboy to the old Pioneer Scout's encrypted frequency and it will be easier to do in here."
"Why in the name of heaven do you want to patch into a 200 year old ghost-signal?"
"Hey, you never know it could still be on! And we had old re-runs of the Red Ryder show going on it 24/7! It's free entertainment."
"Ah. Well…I did like the Red Ryder hour."
"I know ri-"
The radio on his pipboy rings to life and then…
"S-sorry to interrupt the Red Ryder show but this is a priority alert! This is Possum Scout Jack Ryder of Troop number 32123! Our campsite has been overrun by raider's and we need help! I'm setting this message to repeat, the coordinates are encrypted on th-"
"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!"
"SHIT, GOTTA GO! SORRY!"
And the message then repeated.
"...Well, we gotta check that out"
"What? Why!? It's a pre-war transm-"
"He listed the problem as raiders Codsworth."
"...At the same time should we not get…"
"Nope! Lets go! They're apparently nearby in the woods…which would admittedly possibly be a problem for Sanctuary anyway"
"...fine. But don't take unnecessary risks"