The sweltering heat of the Commonwealth set into the survivor, the sun's blazing light taking up most of his vision. Even so, he was determined to make it to Diamond city, and everything that stood in his was destined to die.
The size of the wasteland set into Nate as he reached the end of Concord, feeling like he'd walked a long distance, he gazed into the distance only to see the city center barely on the horizon.
As he carried on, he stumbled onto a standoff between two raider looking individuals and a woman, inside of an old school diner. Walking carefully closer, he announced his presence
"Hey! What's going on here?"
The female of the duo turned her gun towards him.
Quickly putting his hands up, Nate said, "Look, I don't want any trouble, just passing through"
"Oh yeah? Then move along… Come on now"
"What's going on here any way?" Nate said, ignoring the command.
"This don't concern you, now go on, get outta here"
"Look I just want to-" Quickly pulling his gun out of the holster he shot the woman in the leg, piercing through the leather armor and making her drop the gun in her hand to grab the wound.
The man quickly turned around, Nate pointed his gun directly at him.
"Now" Nate said coldly. "What is going on here?"
"Look this lady -" A bullet flew through his head, splattering blood in front of him.
"NO!" The woman stopped grabbing her leg and caught the man.
"What have you done!" She cried, not looking at Nate, but looking at the lady in the diner.
A second later blood came spewing out of the woman's head as well, nearly hitting Nate.
"Jesus!" He said loudly, walking over to the diner. "What the fuck was that?"
"Those two devils tried to scam me out of my caps, saying that 'I owed them' or whatever. Anyways, thanks for distracting them long enough for me to get a hit in"
"Pleasure" Nate said, slightly creeped out by how nonchalantly this lady just killed two people, while one of them was mourning over the other.
"So" The old lady said, "Do you wanna buy anything?"
"I'm fine for now" Nate said, slowly backing away from her as if he was afraid he'd get shot next.
Ignoring what just happened, he carried on down the road. He still hadn't used anything but his vault suit, fearing anything else would be unsanitary. But you could barely tell it was a vault suit thanks to the amount of armor he had on. It was like he was constantly in a sauna, but he could bear with it if it meant he had more protection.
He scavenged some food off of the wild plants, or he bought some from the travelling merchants, the sun slowly went down, as he got the city outskirts. He was tired now, as he started looking for places where he could get some sleep, he eventually settled on a large rock with a flat side. He sat down and leaned against it, with the city in front of him, he fell asleep soon after.
Waking up with dawn breaking, he sat up and pulled out a carrot and chuckled at it, seeing how mutated it was compared with the ones he knew, then ate it. Walking further down the path set by his Pip-Boy, crossing a bridge to get into the city center.
He'd visited a few times before, so he knew generally where to go, but he was always baffled when he saw an improvised settlement or raider garrison, never thinking that people would use the city in that way.
He saw on his Pip-Boy that he'd entered through the east-most bridge, a stupid mistake seeing it was harder to navigate the city that it was the plains outside of them.
He stumbled on an alleyway that seemed like a shortcut to Diamond city, it looked like a raider fort of some kind but he figured he could get through unnoticed. Crouching down, only taking a step every few seconds, holding his breath, he steadily made his way though the alley, seeing half way it opened up into a path with some doors at the end.
There was a sign above it, "Combat Zone" Nate brushed it off as nothing, simultaneously hoping he'd never get to see the inside of a place called the "Combat Zone".
Which is especially why he hated hearing a crude voice behind him
"Well looky what we have here" snarled the voice, Nate turned around, reaching for his revolver, but not before a baseball bat met his face and he was knocked unconscious.
The park was beautiful, bright green grass with dew on them, trees that had birds coming and going from it. It was like a paradise. A tablecloth laid down on the floor, with Nora sitting atop, playing with Shaun. It was paradise. After a while Nora suddenly looked up at Nate, eyes glowing, a smile with a shine, she said "We've got a special one now ladies and gentlemen-"
Ripped out of paradise with his hands tied to a large cage that he was on the inside of, head aching from that blow to the head and stripped of all his weapons and armor.
"You heard that right ladies and gentlemen, we've got our own vault dweller and oh- It seems the little guy has woken up"
The announcer looked like he had 3rd degree burns across his entire body, his voice raspy.
"SO! As a special event, we'll have one of you guys come down and put the hurt on this butterfly eh?"
Some one walked behind Nate, untying his hands, at first he was happy, then he realized that he was still locked inside of a cage. After a few chants from the crowd, a raider came down, with a dirtied face and a scar across his eye, Nate nearly laughed at how 'classic movie villain' this guy looked.
He walked up to the announcer, quickly stopping him before he tried to enter the cage.
"Now, now, this is a vault dweller, we don't want the fight to be too easy, you gotta take off your armor"
Raider shot the announcer a look of disdain before complying.
The door creaked open as the raider was let in, eyeing Nate up and down. Nate hadn't got into a lot of fist fights in the military, but right now he was hoping he had. None the less Nate knew he had a bit of muscle on him, and if he could land a shot it should do some damage, both the ego of the raider and his body.
Standing up straight and cracking his knuckles, Nate readied himself for the incoming fight.
"Remember, only one of you get to walk outta this cage after the fight, if you lose, then you get to compete in the next one.
Ready…
set …
GO!"
And with that the raider charged at Nate tackling him to the ground, raising his fists as he started pummeling Nate's face. After a few punches, Nate managed to block an oncoming punch, returning with an uppercut that got the raider off him.
Getting back on his feet, wiping the blood off his mouth, he ran towards the still recovering raider, delivering a perfect blow across his face, knocking him back to the ground.
The raider recovered a lot quicker this time, using his legs to get back up. Nate and the raider circled each other, looking one another in the eye. The raider went in for a blow, Nate blocked his attempt at a punch, although, the raider sent his other fist into Nate's stomach, making Nate stumble back.
Nate, trying to recover, looked up to see the raider trying his luck with another punch, Nate blocked this one again, but before the raider could return a counter attack, Nate punched the raider's gut with all the force he had left in him.
The raider didn't even stumble back, so Nate used his attempt at recovery to send another fist into his stomach, this one making the raider double back.
Nate straightened his body, walked towards the raider, and sent his clenched fist up to connect with the raider's jaw.
The raider fell on the floor, still conscious. So Nate, in order to fix that, got on top of him, and started punching the raider's face. Each hit connected squarely, right on the raider's cheeks.
After what felt like a minute of punching the raider within an inch of his life, Nate lifted his right arm, sending his fist down with the rest of his might. With a crack the raider's head was now looking sideways, his body not moving, not even his chest.
The crowd was silent, even the announcer looked shocked.
Nate slowly got up, breathing heavily, he walked over to the side of the cage's door, and looked at the announcer. The crowd burst out into disappointed murmurs, but the announcer quickly silenced it saying "Rules are rules guys, even for a vaultie like this one"
The announcer then put down his mic, speaking only to Nate.
"Your stuff is in the room to the left" He said as he unlocked the door.
Nate limped out of the cage, the audience watching every movement of his with hatred.
He walked into the room, it had a bed, bedside table, sink, toilet, and a chest below the bed.
He went straight for the chest, ignoring everything else, opening it, he saw his gear, his guns, his armor and some other junk he found useful.
He put on the armor, and as he was putting the holster around his waist, the announcer opened the door.
"Where'd a vault dweller like you learn how to fight like that, huh? Next time I might as well put you up against Cait"
"There wont be a next time" Nate said bluntly "I'm getting the fuck out of this little party you got going on"
"I wouldn't recommend that" The announcer said, a hint of seriousness in his voice.
Nate finished with his holster, now looked him in the eye and said, "Why's that?"
"Look kid, you just killed a guy, and now you got an entire hall full of his friends that want to rip out your entrails and feed it to the mongrels. My advice is to wait around here for a while, do a couple more fights for me, then when this thing dies down you get to walk out of here with a couple extra caps, hm?"
"I'm leaving, now" Nate replied.
"It's your funeral… good luck kid, your gonna need it"
The announcer then left the room, closing the door behind him
. Nate went over to the sink, turning the nozzle and washing the blood of his face with the warm brown water that it spat out. Closing the nozzle then walking over to the door, he stood in front of it for a minute, slowly breathing in and out, trying to gather his bearings.
He pushed the door open and calmly walked out. Each step echoing through the hall as the crowd stopped talking.
He stopped walking at the begging of the path that led to the exit. Raiders above and below holding their guns at the ready.
The air was thick and palpable, every raider in the room wanting to kill Nate, not a sound was heard.
He slowly counted the number of heads, 6 at the top, 8 at the bottom was his conclusion.
His hand hovering above his holster, he felt the time was right. He pulled his gun out and quickly removed 2 of the raiders from the incoming battle. Diving into cover as the rest opened fire.
Peaking around the corner, he chose a raider that was reloading, popping out of cover, shooting the raider's head, then popping back into cover. The constant gunfire was familiar to Nate, he felt like he knew exactly what to do.
Hearing one of the raiders shout "Fuck, I'm out of ammo" He peaked out to see the raider taking a spiked baseball bat of their back and run down the path. Knowing he cant get a good shot at them, he aimed for their lower body the first shot, hearing them fall to the floor, he then aimed for the head.
He lowered the number to 3 at the top and 5 at the bottom, which is when he went out of cover, trying to land a shot on a raider on top that was reloading, he was pushed back down by a sharp pain in his shoulder. Cupping his hand over the pain, he pulled it off feeling his blood on his hand and looking at the bullet wound.
Breathing in, and ignoring the pain, he jumped out of cover again, and the raiders were still where they were last time Nate looked up.
One shot
Another shot
Two bodies fell from the walkway. But feeling like the time was right, he emptied his remaining ammo on 4 of the raiders on the ground floor.
A split second after Nate went diving for cover, thinking he was going to get away with the kills he just got, he felt another sharp pain, this time in this left leg. Behind cover, he glanced at the bullet wound in his leg, trying his best to ignore it, he reloaded his revolver.
He jumped out of cover again, looking for the one raider that was left, but as he was searching the hall, he felt a sharp pain on the right side of his chest.
Falling to the floor, and grabbing the wound, he heard foot steps of a raider coming towards him.
The raider dropped the gun, and pulled out a sledge hammer.
"You killed Tommy" He said
"You killed Tommy!" He said louder, walking closer to Nate.
"YOU KILLED TOMMY!" he screamed, this time looming over Nate, with the sledgehammer lifted in the air.
Nate used this moment to lift his revolver to the raider's face, shooting a hole through his jaw and seeing blood come out the top of his head. The sledge hammer fell between Nate's legs, the raider fell on top of Nate.
Pushing the raider off of him with his right arm. He got up to his feet, trying his best to push through the searing pain the bullet wounds gave him.
He limped to the exit, coughing into his hand. He reached out for the door handle, when he saw splattered blood on his hand.
Brushing this off, he opened the door to the outside, dragging his broken frame. He glanced at his Pip-Boy, Diamond city was close, if he could make it there…
He staggered onwards, head feeling dizzy and feeling like he was going to pass out.
No, he thought, Not like this.
He started to tear up, coughing up more blood.
He saw a sign that had 'Diamond city' with an arrow pointing down a road with a turret on the side.
Thank god.
A person rounded the corner, wearing a baseball gear and holding a baseball bat.
No, not another one Nate thought.
But instead of running at Nate ready to bash his skull in, he ran to Nate and pulled his hand over his shoulder.
"Jesus Christ man, what happened?" The guard's voice had extreme Boston accent.
All that Nate could respond with was "Combat Zone"
"Damn, we better get you to the Doc... quick"
Walking over to a baseball stadium with the help of the guard, Nate saw a woman arguing with the intercom.
"You cant just lock me out of my own goddamn house Danny, I live here for fuck sa- oooh"
The woman saw the guard helping Nate limp towards the entrance. He felt numb, like he was losing consciousness, his blood starting to leave a trail, the guard noticed this, and slapped Nate awake.
"Not yet you crazy bastard"
The guard walked up to the intercom, still having Nate lean on him.
"Danny, you gotta open the gate" He said.
The voice came back, sounding mildly annoyed
"Nice try Piper, but I'm not falling for some 'actor' you hired with yo-"
"For fucks sake Danny someone's dyin' out here!" The guard screamed into the intercom.
The voice responded with a quiet, "Oh god"
The massive steel gate slowly lifted open, and as soon as they could fit through, they went in as fast as Nate could handle with his aching leg.
Ignoring everyone that stood in the entrance they went up a flight of stairs.
Nate's vision slowly started to narrow, getting darker and darker.
Down another flight of stairs, walking past a tin shack and rounding a corner to see a man making something with a chemistry station, all that Nate could muster was a soft, raspy
"Doc", before it all went black.