War... war never changes, Sense the dawn of time humanity has engineered ever more effective methods of destroying one another. Then on October 23rd, 2077 the Great War began, two hours later it ended. No one knows who struck first but it doesn't matter everyone lost the great atomic fire swept the world nearly extinguishing all life, nearly. In the ruins of the nations capital, life survived and scratched a living in the ruins of the old world, though plagued by raiders, slavers and super-mutants. Then in 2277 from the shelter of Vault 101 emerged a hero. He became known as The Lone Wanderer, the one who broke the raider gangs, wiped out the slavers, laid waste to the super mutants and halted the Enclave's plans of conquest saving Project Purity and bringing forth the waters of life. Some called him the last best hope for humanity...

This is not his story

For the uncensored version with all the swearing you can follow the link. Or if you don't mind the [censored] just read on below.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6524030/1/Fallout_Journeys

There's only two chapters, you should just post them here, lest people think you're advertising for a different board.

Interesting idea though.

Nothing I see in the rules makes it forbidden from what I can tell. It just feels easier to link to the story and have a discussion topic here then try to copy paste and put the formatting back in.
If enough people actually reply in this topic and show an interest I may do that.

Fair enough, I do rather like the idea of an alternate where the main character isn't the Saviour of the Wastes, and I'm looking forward to what you do with "He Who Must Not Be Named"

Disclaimer: Fallout is the property of Bethesda, all rights etc etc

Our story begins in 2294 with a young vault dweller beginning a similar journey

William looked back towards the cavern entrance to Vault 101, "Am I doing the right thing" he wondered. "Should I go back" he thought. "No, I'll never learn who my dad is back home, I'll have to find answers myself." After confirming his resolve he continued on. He gazed at the open sky the sun shining brightly over the scorched earth, with patches of brown vegetation scattered around With a heavy sigh he wondered "where to first?" He checked his pip boy having downloaded the latest maps before leaving the vault. He knew that settlement of Megaton was near by but that be the first place they'd look for him, A simple radio message and he could me apprehended the moment he steps through the gates and be back in the vault in less then an hour and have to face *gulp* William Pushed that thought aside. He'd have to be in and out of Megaton quickly before anyone back in the Vault realized he was gone.


William followed the the broken road down to the ruins of Springvale. He briefly looked back towards the Vault entrance to the place he called home his whole life.


No, William keeping pushing forward, Somewhere out in the wasteland is my father and answers. he told himself and kept moving, soon he made his way into the center of Springvale.

"What the hell happened here?" he asked himself allowed, gazing at the charred ruins.

"Oh yeah nuclear fire, I'm stupid… and talking to myself great"

William started poking around the ruined houses trying to find anything useful, unaware that danger was creeping up on him. After ten minutes of fruitless searching he gave a long sigh this place was picked clean. He looked over to see the charred remains of a body strung up from a post with a sign saying. Raider.

"Well, well what do we have here?" a sinister voice said.

William whirled around to see half a dozen armed individuals in patchwork armor, carrying a wide assortment of weapons. The first raider the one who spoke was the second largest of the group, he was covered in dirt William wasn't sure if the man ever bathed, he wielded an assault rifle and sported a large spiked Mohawk. Most striking was the horrible burn on the right side of his face, he could see the man's teeth through a whole in his cheek. The others around him clearly looked to the man as their leader, he was the raider boss, William had no doubt.

Behind him stood a huge imposing dark figure carrying a super sledge and what appeared to be a flamer tank on his back. The man lovingly caressed the flamer tank. a Pryo William thought would he burn me alive?

To his right was a short raider, no more then 4'10, he was probably making up for it with his .44 magnum. "Keep that hand canon steady Small Fry" the Boss spoke. Small Fry? is that a nickname, not the most creative bunch William thought. To the left of the Boss stood a young girl, 5'2 maybe. She was fourteen or fifteen at the oldest better groomed then the rest. She had a 10mm SMG in hand, and wore a tool belt in addition to her raider armor. Behind the girl stood a tall slim man, with a double Mohawk and wielding a scoped hunting rifle trained on Williams head, he had a necklace of teeth from various animals and possibly people. William thought him a hunter.

Next to Hunter, as William had dubbed him was a sadistic looking individual, he wielded a metal chain, stained red with blood along its entire length. William tried not to think of how many people the man may have strangled to death… or decapitated with that chain.

"Looks like a pretty little Vault kid" the girl said in an alluring voice. But with five other murderous raiders staring him down it just unnerved him further. Though calling her a woman was a bit generous William figured she fourteen years old give or take.

"Ahh Wrench has a crush" laughed the one with the chain, who William dubbed, Choker in his own mind.

"Bet he has some sweet stuff" laughed the biggest of the raiders who let off a blast of flame from his weapon. Yeah I'll call him Pyro for now

"What me, no I've got nothing worth taking" he defended, not that he thought the Raiders would believe him but it was worth a try.

The girl stepped closer and William in his attempt to backup fell on his ass causing a roar of laughter from the five men. She bent down and put her face millimeters from Williams

"I don't know about that, you could be worth taking she whispered" as she ran a hand down his face. William shuddered, he wondered if it was possible to feel guilty about being violated by a raider kid.

"Boss can I keep him?" she asked sweetly, the others just laughed.

"Alright you can keep this one for awhile, but after your done with him, I think its bout time we had a turn with you"

William noticed the look of fear pass behind her eyes for a moment but said nothing,

"And we get the rest of his stuff, including that vault suit. I know some guys who'd pay big bucks for vault gear especially if we armor it up like his suit".

"Boss wouldn't that pipboy thingy be worth some caps"

"Not unless we find someone with the expertise to remove it properly, its bio some [censored] sealed, no one can use that thing but him until is reprogrammed and you dumb [censored]s wouldn't have a clue how to do that and I don't either." The boss slung his rile over his shoulder.

"Who'd know how to reprogram it?" Chocker asked.

"[censored] if I know, outside of guys who'd kill us on sight, and if I did find someone who could reprogram it, I sure as hell wouldn't sell it, I'd keep it myself"

"Say, Boss", something had dawned on the smallest raider, "Doesn't that kid kinda look like…."

"Just [censored] tell me Small Fry no games." The lead raider turned to him then looked back to the kid, who was currently uncomfortably held close by the female raider.

"Oh [censored], he does…" the gears were turning in the raider bosses head; he saw caps and plenty of them.

"Look like who?" questioned Pyro

"We dare not speak his name" Chocker whispered,

"Oh him…." Pyro's voice trailed off

At this point the same thought had now dawned on all five male raiders.

The boss thought of his options for a moment before making his decision.

"Come on, Wrench lets take the kid back to camp, we can think of how to ransom him later"

"But you said I could keep him!" she whined,

"I changed my [censored] mind got a problem with that [censored], you've got him tonight and maybe tomorrow tops, then it's our turn with you"

William felt her grip tighten for a moment before she released him, and he took notice of the lustful grins most of the older men gave the young raider. In his heart he suddenly felt a great deal of pity for this Wrench.


Pyro and Wrench each took an arm and proceeded to drag William towards the ruins of Springvale School, trailing behind the rest of the gang.

"Is this a good idea, if the kid is related to HIM it could be trouble" a worried Hunter looked to his boss and back to their hostage.

"It could also be the biggest payday ever," laughed The Boss.

Small Fry simply shook his head, "You really want to [censored] with death himself, he'll butcher us like Brahmin the moment the brat is safe "

The boss shook his head, "Nah, he won't try anything with the kid near, we'll do the meet way out in the wastes so he has to bring the kid to safety instead of chasing us" The boss answered.

"And what if the him and kids aren't really related." Hunter interjected,

"Boss I got an idea, might be a little safer then facing the grim reaper, but still profitable" Small Fry had a huge smile on his face.

"What is it?" demanded the boss.

"Well 'he who should not be named' is off north somewhere, heard about it on the radio, so he isn't home in megaton right now"

"And your point?" The boss was getting angry Small Fry questioning his leadership

"Well I'm sure Megaton would pay a hefty ransom for the kid, even if he's not related to that devil the punks over there will take one look at his face and…"

"Assume the same thing as us, they'll pay big for the son of their hero and we'll be long gone before you know how comes knocking, brilliant!" The boss liked this plan more and more.

"Another idea boss, we could just kill him, leave him strung up in Springvale then skip town head east or something," Choker whispered

"Why the [censored] would we do that?" the boss whispered

Choker gave a sadistic smirk "For the pleasure of knowing we made that raider killing bastard suffer, if we don't announce what we did, there's no way for LW to know which gang killed him."

"Hmm, that is an idea, I'll consider it, be great to make that punk suffer" As William was being dragged some distance behind so he couldn't quite catch what they were saying. He could gather they intended to ransom him to Megaton and not the Vault. They were important trading partners but he didn't see the logic in that line of reasoning. He also picked up the vague references to a grim reaper, someone these raiders were quite afraid of.


"So why are you ransoming me to Megaton and not Vault 101" he finally asked as he was pulled into Springvale schools jail cell.

"Shut up, if you don't [censored] know I see no reason to tell" The boss answered,

"Come on" William begged. Why the hell am I so valuable? He thought, not that he cared if it kept him alive; furthermore he wondered why are they ransoming me to Megaton? Does it have something to do with my father? Or maybe they figured he was outcast and the Vault wouldn't pay them, but that didn't explain why Megaton would pay for his release, he thought.


Wrench once again got a little handsy but this time whispered in his ear, "Don't worry I'll find out and tell you tonight" The raiders all left except for Small Fry who was left on guard duty

William took a good look at Wrench as she walked away, she wasn't like the others, aside from being a wee bit overly friendly. She was afraid of the others that much was clear she was either abused or feared being abused.


After several minutes of silence William finally spoke up again, figuring his guard might be willing to converse simply out of Boredom .

"So tell me, why am I worth so much?"

"You honestly don't [censored] know do you brat?" Small Fry laughed

"Not a damn clue" shaking his head.

"Well it has to do with your dad" he pointed squarely to William. "Or at least who we think your dad is", he rubbed the stubble on chin. "more importantly who we can convince others your dad is"

"My father, why is he so important?"

"You really don't know who the [censored] your dad is do you?" the short raider raised an eyebrow unsure of William's honesty.

William just sighed, "Once again not a damn clue." He gripped the cell bars and pressed his face to them, giving another long sigh. "I never knew my father he left the vault or was exiled before I was born." He turned his back to lean against the cell wall. "The other residents don't like to talk about him, when ever I ask they give me vague half answers or avoid it all together" He slid his back down the cell wall and sat on the floor."Maybe because they hate him or feel so guilty about him being gone I don't know. I left the vault to find him; I know he's out here somewhere"


"What about your mom?" Small fry crossed his arms and leaned back against the cell.

"She talks about what a great man he was, how they were friends growing up in the vault, and how an incident happened and he was forced to leave the vault forever, but its not enough I want to meet my dad, see if he really is everything I'd have hopped for."

"Well if your Dad is who I think he is, you'll be proud to meet him." Small Fry smirked.

"So sense you seam to know who my dad is why not tell me" the young vault dweller asked as he got back to his feet.

Small Fry just smiled, "No"

William kicked the cell and screamed "Damn that hurt" Small Fry simply laughed as the boy rubbed is injured foot. "Come on, why the hell not, do you get some sick pleasure out of stringing my along?"

The raider smirked "Well yes actually, but that's not the only reason, knowledge is power and I'm not about to hand a prisoner any power"

William slumped down against the barred wall, guess all I can do is wait he thought.

End of Chapter 1:

Chapter 2: Victor's Story

We will not be rejoining William just yet.

First we will take a look back to the origin of the Raider boss named Victor, who captured William in the last chapter. Today was Victor's fourteenth birthday, and he'd never been more excited. He was finally old enough to join his dad hunting for new meat. Today he was officially a slaver -, well, technically he wasn't officially a slaver until he brought back a slave.

Victor was the son of a Hispanic slaver veteran Ralph Indigo and an Asian slave woman named… come to think of it; he didn't know his mother's name. All he knew was she died after trying to kidnap him and escape when he was about three. As far as Victor was concerned, she was a stupid [censored].

He strapped on his leather armor, grabbed some extra ammo and a couple stimpacks, and slung his hunting rifle over his shoulder. Now, he was ready to go and enslave some god-forsaken wastelanders.

Victor emerged from the barracks to be greeted by his father Ralph and the other members of the expedition. "Ah, there you are, my boy! Ready to throw some meat into the pen?"

Victor smiled at his father, "Can't wait to bag my first [censored]!" he exclaimed, as the other slavers laughed.

"Alright, men." Ralph said, standing tall in his metal armor as he faced his platoon of four men – five, counting his son. "The plan is to first head south towards Big Town and see if we can't finally nab that little [censored] Red and some of her friends. We'll collar up who we can and roll out."

Victor felt proud as he saw his father standing proud and commanding in the suit of spiked metal armor he wore, the Chinese assault rifle at the ready, and a string of frag grenades at his belt. That's my future, Victor thought, a slave master.

"We'll head west to VAPL-58 Power Station, camp out there for a few days, and see if we can't nap a few travelers or scavengers. Keep your heads low. Outcast patrols move through that area, and that is a [censored] storm we don't want."

This was what made his father a cut above the rest of them, Victor thought. He was wise as he was strong. He didn't throw away precious resources like men and equipment on suicidal attacks

"From the power station we'll march northwest to MDPL Relay Station and see an old friend of mine - Torcher," Victor continued. "She'll have some supplies we're to deliver back to Eulogy. Before we do that we have to head northwest to the train tunnel, and talk to Ramsey. We'll drop off our slaves there for transport to The Pitt, and then, we come home."

Nodding their understanding, the gang of slavers rolled out into the wastes.

"You were magnificent, dad." Victor complemented

Ralph squeezed his son's shoulder "Work hard, and one day – maybe you'll be this good."

As they exited Paradise Falls and approached Grouse, a man dressed in deep green combat armor walked up to the guard post. The armor was a deeper green and much bulker then any combat armor Victor had seen before - such as the one Forty wore. Most strikingly was the laser rifle he wielded; it was not a weapon commonly seen in the wastes - especially one with 'Wazer Wifle' written on the buttstock.

The man had auburn colored hair, cut in a military style, with a goatee. Next to him was a ghoul dressed in a traditional suit of combat armor, a sniper rifle at the ready, and both wore sunglasses to protect their eyes from the glaring sunlight.

"Damn that ghoul is ugly - but if it fights half as good as it's ugly..." Victor whispered to his father.

"Couldn't agree more, my son," his dad whispered back. "Oh look - they have a scavenger dog, too. " At the mention of his species, the dog barked, as if he understood that he was being talked about.

"Tallied the last slave you sent us - and here's your cut," Grouse greeted the wanderer. Victor looked at the man - only a few years older then himself, and already a distinguished fighter, judging by the armor he wore, and the weapons he carried. , Aside from the laser rifle, it was clear his pack held an assortment of explosives.

"So what's up with only sending raiders? Personal grudge or something?" Grouse questioned.

"Raiders." Victor thought. Going after raiders was much more dangerous then wastelanders. So why target them instead of easier prey like hunters and scavengers. On the other and raiders would have all the loot they acquired from raids and that meant extra profits. Plus who gives a [censored] if you enslave raiders?

The wanderer shrugged, "Well raiders attack me anyway - so I might as well enslave the survivors for extra caps. Beats killing them -and who gives the [censored] if I enslave a couple raiders?"

"I was right," Victor muttered to himself, as the gang moved out of earshot and the Wanderer, - the ghoul and dog in tow - entered Paradise falls.

Thoughts of the wanderer mulled in Victor's mind for an hour before he spoke up. "Who was that guy?" he asked.

"The Lone Wanderer - or so he's called on the Radio. He's some kid from a Vault – going around and stirring up all kinds of trouble." Ralph answered.

"How?"

"Killed Mr. Burke - the right hand of Mr. Tenpenny He disarmed the bomb in Megaton which is good for us, as we can't capture any hunters or scavengers coming out of Megaton if it ain't there no more."

His dad paused a moment to shoot a bloat fly out of the air. "Hear tell he stormed a super-mutant infested building in downtown DC, and rescued an entire band of mercenaries called Reilly's Rangers single handedly," he continued. "Bet that was a handsome payday"

"Probably where he got the armor." Victor added.

"How'd you know that?"

Victor gave a knowing smirk. "It said 'Reilly's Rangers' on it."

Ralph smirked, "Good eye, son. They say he stopped the fire ants in Grayditch, took care of those costume freaks in Canterbury Commons - and last I heard, he escaped Jefferson memorial just as it was stormed by the Enclave. If you listened to the radio, you'd know. Three-Dog won't shut up about him. He also helped write that wasteland survival guide you were so keen on."

"Maybe you two should team up, and take over Paradise Falls from Eulogy," Victor joked.

Ralph's expression turned cold – and he slammed the buttstock of his gun down on Victor's cheek. The boy crumpled to the ground.

"Don't you ever joke about Treason, boy!" Ralph barked. "Eulogy Jones is the best leader Paradise Falls has ever had!"

Victor fought back the tears as he pulled himself to his feet. Men don't cry - and it certainly wasn't the first time his dad clocked him. The rest of the gang just stood quietly, stunned by young Victors joke and his father's response.

Ralph bent down and clenched his boys' shoulder. "Displaying any disloyalty is deadly, son. Eulogy hears even a whisper of a conspiracy against him and heads will roll – OUR heads – so watch your mouth. Got it?" he sneered.

Victor nodded before Ralph yanked him his feet. Victor just shrugged and dusted himself off.

They continued on towards Big Town. Upon reaching the outskirts of the settlement, it became clear something was up. They several radscorpions swarming by the bridge – and as they approached the reason became apparent. In the ditch running under the bridge lay a pile of super-mutant corpses, long dead – at least a couple of weeks ago, by the look of the bodies.

The radscorpions were too busy feeding at their gruesome meal to pay attention to the passing slavers. It wasn't clear who killed the mutants - but the proximity of the slaughter to Big Town was enough to make them nervous.

They slowed their pace, creeping slowly along the outer ruins until the entrance of Big Town came into view. "Now listen -these punks ain't that tough. No way they took out all those mutants by themselves," Ralph told his men. "But blinding charging up that bridge will get some of us killed especially if whoever helped them hasn't left yet" The slavers nodded in agreement.

"We should scout it out, see who's guarding the entrance, and then see about boosting each other over the wall." Victor suggested.

"Good idea, son," Ralph smiled, "Joe - go check things out," he said, pointing to one of the slavers.

Assault rifle at the ready, Joe crept up towards the bridge. Once he could see the other side, his eyes widened. He turned back to the others, and gave a quick hand gesture.

"He says, 'I see a sentry-bot, it's not moving'," Ralph translated.

"Is it functional?" questioned one of the slavers

That question was answered when a spray of bullets turned Joe into Swiss cheese - and the robot rolled across the bridge, turning to face the slaves peeking around the corner.

"[censored]! Run for it before it gets a bead with that missile launcher!" Ralph yelled the slavers diving for cover as a missile exploded near the position they were at moments earlier.

Making a hasty retreat, the slavers moved toward the power station – but without any slaves, and with one man down. The crew was silent until they entered the station.

"[censored] HELL!" Ralph exploded. "How did those brats get a functioning sentry bot!, Eulogy won't be happy to learn of another fortified settlement."

They remained at the power station for a couple days - but except for some bloat flies and a Yao-Guai, they didn't encounter much. The bear was quickly dispatched from the roof and was delicious.

A small caravan did pass by - possibly heading to Big Town - but an Outcast patrol appeared at the same time, forfeiting any chance of attack.

The hunt was not going well, going out and catching nothing wasn't that unusual for a band of slavers, but they lost Joe, and potentially a lot of easy pickings. They arrived at the Relay Station without further incident.

"Hey Ralph, I've got the stuff. You got the caps?" Victor assumed the raider male in the welder's mask was Torcher.

His father handed him the caps, and Torcher handed him a case.

"You here about Big Town?" Ralph asked.

Torcher nodded. "Heard 3-Dog say that Vault guy saved them from some Super Mutants."

"Well, they've got a sentry bot defending the front gate now, it turned one of my men into Swiss cheese." Ralph sneered.

"Life svcks - then you die. Who's the kid?" Torcher asked.

"This is my son, Victor. He's going to be a find slaver one day."

"If he's half as good as you, he'll be fine."

"We've got to go," Ralph laughed. "Take care of yourself, Torcher. Don't do anything stupid - like get yourself killed." The slaver gang left, and made its way towards the broadcast tower to make camp for the night. Originally they planned to stay a few days and keep an eye out for fresh meat, but Ralph decided that, given the loss of Joe at Big Town, they should head to Ramsey quickly and report back.

They sat around the fire and ate leftover Yao-Guai from the other day.

"So kid - how are you liking your first hunt?" one of the slavers questioned.

"Well, except or nearly being blown up, and not capturing a damn thing its going great." Victor took a bite of bear meat off the skewer.

"So except for svcking its fine." The first slaver replied

A second slaver spoke up. "Hey boss - why do we have to stop at Ramsey's, anyway?

"Because we haven't heard from him in days," Ralph answered. "He should have reported in the day before we left. Eulogy told me to check up on him before we headed back home - and we might as well deliver anyone we captured directly to Ashur."

"Think anything happened to him?" Victor asked.

Ralph shrugged. "We'll find out tomorrow morning."

When they arrived at the train tunnel, Ramsey was dead Everyone there was dead. The cages lay open, and there was no sign of any slaves. It was clear the slavers had been dead for a few days.

"What happened here?" questioned the third slaver.

"They got killed, you dumb [censored]!" Ralph yelled.

"But by who?" Victor asked.

"Examine the bodies for clues." Ralph ordered.

Victor did as he was told checking the corpses Victor checked the corpses as he was told.

Picking up the shell from a .308 caliber round laying on the ground he guessed sniper rifle had killed some of them. It occurred to him those rifles were rare, rarer then laser weaponry.

A few of them were clearly mauled by an animal… or cannibals. The import thing was that the bodies showed clear signs of bite marks. Most damning was the piles of ash - the result of laser fire.

", learn anything?" Ralph asked, but Victor suspected his dad had already knew and was simply testing him.

"Well these shells came from a .308 caliber round so that indicates a sniper rifle."- He pointed to a couple of the bodies. "Those two were mauled by some animal, dog probably." Gesturing to the pile of ash that may have once been Ramsey. "And only laser weaponry turns you into ash, right?"

"Correct" Ralph nodded.

"Hey, boss" the second slaver questioned, "Didn't that guy going into Paradise Falls have a laser rifle?" -added the first slaver.

"They had a dog, too, and the ghoul… had a sniper rifle" Ralph finished.

The slavers made haste to Paradise Falls. They knew that if anything had happened – it was long over. But a dog, a laser weapon and a sniper rifle wiped out Ramsey's camp and the same three weapons entered Paradise Falls as they left.

When they arrived, their fears were Not only confirmed – but magnified.

Grouse and the other gate guard lay dead.

"Eulogy wouldn't leave the front gate unguarded." Ralph stated.

The gang crept into the Paradise Falls; all around them lay the bodies of slavers, stripped clean of their valuables. Some were shot, others blown up, and several were piles of burned ash.

"Look around at the bodies son - see how they're arranged" Ralph directed his son's gaze around the compound "Everyone was converging on the courtyard in front of Eulogies. That's where it started, a semi-circle of the dead."

A group of them looked like they were sitting down to dinner when someone tossed a set a bomb off under the table. In truth, the killer had shot a bottle cap mine - but the slavers had no way of knowing that detail.

"It was him wasn't it, Dad? That guy - he had a laser rifle, his a ghoul had a sniper rifle - plus they were loaded with explosives."

"Probably happened shortly after we left, it was still dark then."

The gang went inside Eulogy's pad. It to was picked clean, with the bodies of Eulogy and Crimson lying on the ground next to a pile of ash.

"Hey I don't see that Clover chick anywhere!" one of the slavers spoke up. "Maybe she survived?"

"Or she's that pile of ash over there" Victor replied.

He saw the radio sitting on the desk. As the others watched, music filled the room as he turned it on.

Ralph looked pissed at his son's action. "What the [censored] you doing, boy?"

Victor rolled his eyes. "Seeing if they mention the massacre on the news."

The slaver boss' anger quickly deflated. "Oh".

After an hour of picking through the ruins and piling the bodies together, carrying the radio as they worked, The slavers heard old Three Dog begin his news segment.

"All right, children. It's time for Three Dog to be honest with ya. Here it is, plain as day - I used to think we were all well and truly [censored]. The Good ole U.S. of A... ahhh, she's a mess. I had pretty much written us all off."

The slavers smiled; it was nice hearing ole Three Dog sounding down and depressed. He was always badmouthing them, and all they did was try and make a living by providing work and labor for those who needed it.

"But that was before a certain kid from Vault 101... I've always given it to you straight, have I not? For good or ill, Galaxy News Radio has been the voice of truth on these airwaves. So believe me when I tell you that I was wrong. Dead wrong. That kid from Vault 101 is the Last, Best Hope of Humanity. We'll get through this, children. You just gotta believe."

Damn, Three Dog loved to do that. Get their hopes up, and then, dash them to pieces.

"For now, listen close, as I share yet another of our friend's adventures."

They listened intently as Three Dog described how the Vault Dweller showed up at slaver central, and the 'bad' guys started dropping left and right. All doubt had been erased; they left Paradise Falls perhaps no more then an hour before it fell.

"[censored]!" his father swore, "When I find that punk, I'll-"

"Die," a female voice said.

The slavers turned, weapons at the ready, to find Cutter - the compounds doctor. "You can't beat him. He walked right in here in the early hours of the morning, laid out a mine field - and then, started shooting from up on the Balcony."

She took a drag off her cigarette. "After what he did here - do you really think the five of you stand a chance in hell?"

Cutter took another drag, and Ralph sent a barrel flying with an anger-fueled kick.

"How the [censored] did you survive then?" questioned Ralph.

Cutter stood her ground. "I wasn't stupid enough to challenge him, and he didn't care to bust into my clinic," she told him. "I got lucky"

"Well, we're moving on now," Ralph told his men. "We'll join up with Lelory Walker and his crew at the Lincoln memorial. Then, we'll find the Lone Wanderer - and put him down."

"Dead" Cutter said flatly.

"What!"

"You heard me - dead," the continued. "It was on the news earlier. Before coming here he reclaimed the Lincoln Memorial for slaves and reunited Lincoln with his head."

"Ramsey's dead, too – scorched by a laser bolt" Ralph sighed.

Cutter took another deep puff before replying. "First Lelory, then Eulogy. Only makes sense he'd make Ashur and the Pitt his next stop."

"What now, boss?" asked one of the slavers.

Ralph turned to them. "We'll survive."

The gang soon left the ruins behind. Cutter left their company, taking the opportunity to strike out on her own. Things went downhill from there. Before, they were proud civilized slavers -but with the trade in ruins, they were nothing more then raiders now. For the next two years, they traveled the wastes, drifting form hide out to hide out.

It was 2279, they'd been staying in the trailer of a broken down semi-truck for the past few weeks He was sixteen now, a little over two years since Paradise Falls fell. At least he got to raid alongside his father -and he scored this really hot chick a few days ago… before they gutted her. All in all, he was happy.

Victor was awakened from his slumber by the sound of screams and gunfire. He stumbled out of the trailer, ready for battle.

It was the same man from two years ago at Paradise -only now, he was wielding a Plasma rifle. Three of his gang lay already dead, he watched a forth melt before his eyes from a plasma blast the second he emerged from the trailer. His father was running towards him at full speed.

"RUN!" His father screamed moments before a bolt of plasma slammed into his back.

Ralph's body fell forward as it melted - and a glob flew out striking Victor's face. Victor's legs gave out, and he dropped to the ground screaming in agony.

Nothing had ever hurt like this before. He could feel his flesh burning, and it was quickly followed by a freezing cold fluid pouring over his face and the jab of two needles to his face. The wanderer had poured a bottle of water over his wound, it felt like ice - but only because his face burned the needles were stimpack and a dose of Med-X for the pain.

He'd be scared for life, including a hole in his cheek - but he'd live.

"Listen, kid" the Wanderer spoke. "I'm going to show you something I bet you've never given anyone… mercy. In return, you to give up this life, no more raiding, no more [censored] or any of that other crap. Live a good life, or the next we meet - I won't be so merciful"

Victor lay motionless on the ground as he heard the Wanderer slowly walking away. His father's memory giving him strength, Victor somehow managed to rise to his feet, powered grief and rage.

"You son of a [censored] - don't walk away from me!" He drew his .44 magnum but before he could line up his shot - the Wanderer turned around, and shot it right out of his hand with his own .44.

"Don't blow this chance, or next time we meet… you're dead."

Victor dropped to his knees and watched as the man who twice destroyed his life walked away. There was nothing he could do for now but survive.

End of Chapter 2:

I'm enjoying this read. Looking forward to more. Shame about the message boards policy for regulating profanity though. Nobody in the wasteland would avoid the occasional swearing and amongst friends its hardly avoidable with a bit of banter.

Clap.Clap. Good start, you have some nice imagery going, not too much detail and not too little(well, not quite perfect, but it's got a good balance.)

First off you have your internal thoughts in italics and quotes, and then just quotes. You should stick with one, preferably italics as it much easier to read on the web and distinguish from the actual dialogue making the story flow nicer in my opinion. I understand that it is a little tedious to go through and put all your thoughts in italics since format doesn't copy over but it shouldn't be skipped.

Next thing, a little comma rule if you want this to be more grammatically correct.


Notice the missing punctuation mark. There should be at least a period, but since the dialogue is denoting who is speaking a comma is used instead.



Is how it should look like, but it's a small thing so don't sweat it too much. Also this rule excludes ? and ! marks.

Moving on, a little before that quote. You introduced the raiders blandly. Without flavor. You just said it right out, you should have them introduce themselves in the story or made them be known in a way that flows with the story maybe something like;

He knew of the mohawk man; an infamous raider refereed to as "The Boss".

Of course William having just exited the vault would not know of this, but this was just one example on how to not break up the flow while giving. Maybe;

I looked up at the mohawk man, later I would be calling him "The Boss".

Eh, not so good on that one, but do you get my point?

Anyway, the rest of it was pretty solid. I was actually getting into the story and this is only first chapter so that is very good. When you said you would be changing perspective, I was like "ah, man" and then I got svcked into that one. Great job, seems to be a nicely woven story so far.

I'll try and pour back through and find any of the thoughts I missed, If I could find a way to view a webpage with just the text formatting tags visible it be sweet. But with maybe view source, I can find them all a bit more easily using a regular webpage copy of the story as a reference. And your right about the raiders introduction, They needed names but the problem was how to introduce them. Having the raiders introduce themselves sounded to cheesy what gang of thugs introduces themselves? and was unsure of how to do it gradually.

It may be best for me to simply alter the dialog a bit, Hunter, Pyro and Choker are never referred to by name by another character. There "names" could simply be what William calls them based on there appearance. Which was actually the original intention to begin with. The Boss calls, Small Fry and Wrench, by name, but a little adjustment and they can be introduced before William dubs the rest of the gang.

Funny thing with Victor's story,
For each character I decided to write a single paragraph on there background, even if it never came up. Just something to ground the character and keep them different.
Originally I had written a short paragraph on each character who had appeared Just a tiny tidbit on there background to round out the character. That information wouldn't necessarily ever come up in the story but I thought it would help me keep them separate entities. With Victor, I was writing out his paragraph and it turned into a whole page. Way more then I needed simply for a reference, but to much to get rid of. So I figured I might have a whole chapter to get out of him. And I did. I later went back to chapter one and added his scar.

This is an example of the Blurbs I wrote up for the raider gang. I have others for locations and the grownup/older versions of various characters from Fallout 3.


I also wrote out little bits on several of the locations and people who exist in Fallout 3 when you play the game

EDIT: I hope I've improved the introduction and made there names more of what William calls them and not what it actually may be.

Post Beta-reader edition
Chapter 3
Victor awoke from his short nap, he had slept only a few hours and was plagued by the memories of his last days as a slaver, the night his father died and he was given his scar. Around him were Choker, Pyro and Hunter. Chocker and Pyro appeared to be playing a card game of caravan using bullets for cash. Small Fry was still guarding the kid.
He could hear Wrench in the next room performing weapon maintenance the familiar sounds of tools and duct tape.

“Say Boss why you giving Wrench time with the boy first?” Pyro questioned as Victor groggily pulled himself to his feet.

“Because Small Fry wouldn’t stop [censored]ing, and Wrench would jump six feet into the air if you so much as breathe on her wrong.” The boss reached over and grabbed a bottle of whiskey taking a huge swing.

Choker chuckled “I thought Small Fry bribed you with ten doses of Med-X in exchange for giving the girl time?”

Victor took another chug of Whisky before handing the bottle over to Choker who took a swig of his own. “Oh yeah that was the reason” Victor suffered an addiction to the painkiller Med-X ever sense he got the plasma burn on his face and Small Fry was quite good and procuring and even producing chems. A dozen doses of painkiller was more valuable then breaking in any girl. Still she was young, healthy and well developed for her age and Victor had his eyes on a son of his own one day, Ralph for his father.

“To bad, I so wanted the first crack at her” Choker sighed.

Hunter who was leaning against the wall near the fission battery powered lamp just smirked. “As I recall she had a crack at you, tell us again how you got knocked out by a 90lb girl? That story never gets old” The whole gang save Choker erupted in laughter.

Nearly a year ago Choker and decided that Wrench was old enough to start putting out. He had apparently shoved his hand down her pants and in response she kicked him in the balls and beat him unconscious with her signature tool and namesake a wrench. A fact they never let him forget. Afterwards Small Fry approached Victor with the bribe of chastity and Wrench was given the chance to choose her own partner and over a year to do it. None of the other captives met with her approval until William who they captured earlier that day. It might have helped that her grace period was up in a few months.

“I’ve been thinking Choker, maybe we should just flay the kid,”
Pyro dropped his cards while Hunter dropped his whisky. The room went still.
“Caps are fleeting, we’d blow our fortune in a month or two, but making that hero suffer? That memory would put me to sleep better then a life time of Med-X” Victor headed for the door. “I’m going for a walk, when I come back I’ll have made my decision” The gang watch Victor leave before anyone spoke.
“I don’t like this” Hunter started, “ransoming the kid is one thing, but killing him,
“Boss, knows what he’s doing he’s never steered us wrong before” Pyro said picking his cards back up.
“You never stop licking boots you Pyro?” Choker asked bringing one of his caravans up to 25.

“I know I ain’t smart so I leave the leading to leaders.”

“I say kill the kid, Victors right caps are fleeting, we may not be able to take on the big man himself but we can become legends by making him suffer.” Choker sneered.
“And have him take a personal interest in hunting us down?”
“That sounds painful” commented Pyro

“And just how is the Lone Wanderer going to find us?” questioned Choker.

“When you and Victor brag about it to every raider [censored] from here to Ronto and someone sells us out.” Hunter shook his head. Or when I turn you stupid [censored]s in, if Victor thinks for a moment I’m giving my life for his stupid revenge he’d dead wrong.Hunter thought to himself I'll go along with this for now but if they kill the kid I walk away forever

“And you think he’ll just forget us if we ransom the kid back?”

“He’ll forget us a lot faster and be a lot less motivated to find us” Hunter finished his whisky and stomped from the room. “I’m going to my post to watch the road into Megaton”



William looked around the cell he was imprisoned in – which was really little more than a filthy room with a half-collapsed ceiling and old meat hooks hanging on the walls. He was reminded of the stories of raiders from his youth - psychos who displayed the butchered bodies of victims, yet the school was strangely empty.
"Say Small Fry - growing up, I heard that raiders hung corpses and all that around their lair. This one looks kinda empty?"

The raider turned to answer him. "Ah we did that in the old days, before the regulators became widespread, the brotherhood was distracted by super mutants, And that [censored] ‘lone wanderer’ showed up. Nowadays. it doesn’t spread fear, it just brings trouble. Good riddance - because it stank."

“I met him once” Small Fry stated, “The Lone Wanderer I mean”

“What? You met the Lone Wanderer?” William's eyes widened.

“Well I didn’t meet him so much as see him” Small Fry paused briefly at the memory of the man.


“A Behemoth, how on earth did you manage to capture a twenty-five foot super mutant?” William interjected.

“[censored] if I know” Small Fry continued. “I was eight years old at the time, anyway we kept in a electrified cage and fed it the bodies from anyone we raided.”

“More Importantly why did you capture it” William added.
Small Fry Kicked the cage in anger causing William to recoil slightly. “Would you quit interrupting me. I don’t know why we captured it, fear maybe? Tell all the other gangs, and the Brotherhood of Steel we weren’t to be [censored] with. Maybe we planned to train the damn thing to serve us. So I was playing in the train container when I peered out and saw a ghost”

“A ghost?” William questioned

“I never saw a stealth boy in action before so I thought it was a ghost. Well this ghost used a rifle and shot out the generator keeping the fence electrified.”

“And the Behemoth broke fee” William guessed



"You hate him?" William asked. "The Lone Wanderer I mean."

"Nah" Small Fry shook his head, "We [censored], murder and pillage the wasteland, it’s our way life. Why should I hate a guy whose way of life is pillaging the pillagers" he paused a moment and looked to the horizon as if the walls weren't even there. "He's not all that different from us."

"He's nothing like you, he's a hero" William shot back. The young Vault Dweller had grown up listening to tales of the Lone Wanderer on the radio. He saw him as a real life super hero.

"Yeah, you’re right." Small Fry admitted.

"I can still see the old hooks, though" William questioned pointing to the various chains and spikes strung over the room. If raiders didn’t string people up any more he wondered why this decaying school looked like an empty meat locker.

"Used to be another gang that lived here more then a decade ago" Small Fry leaned up against the cell, pulled out a cigarette and lit up. "They were trying to tunnel into vault 101, but they ran into a ant problem and before they could fix it - old LW came through and wiped them out. "

"Strung up bodies used to be a big symbol of fear and power, few dared to [censored] with raiders in their lair, now its just a big damn sign that says ‘come kill us, we're raiders’," he spat.

Silence returned to the room; William had nothing left to say. He slumped down and waited, he didn't know for what, but for something. The hours passed before Small Fry spoke again.

"My shift should be over soon, and after Pyro, it will be Wrench's turn."

With a slight groan William pulled his tired body to its feet. "What’s the deal with her anyway?" he asked

"Wrench…?" Small Fry paused briefly. "She's not a kid anymore."

William rolled his eyes. "And what’s that supposed to mean."

Small Fry smirked and shook his head. "It’s expected that raider women service the men of the gang" at those words a disgusted look came over William's face. "And because she's not seen as a kid anymore the boss and the others think its time she started putting out."

"What about you?"

Small Fry was briefly taken back. "Nah I grew up with her she's like a little sister to me."

"But she's taller then you" With a sneer Small Fry punched him in the gut through the bars.
"Being a smart ass we'll get you killed or at least you'll get the crap kicked out of you."

William just laughed and pulled himself to her feet. "Alright so she's scared of becoming the play toy of the others, but why is she so handsy with me?" He demanded

"Because you ignorant [censored]" Small Fry let out a long sight. "The boss was being gracious" the sarcasm dripped of the last word. "He said she could pick her first partner before becoming the property of one of the gang." the small raider yelled

"Why'd she pick me then?" William yelled back.

Small Fry crossed his arms, "Probably because she saw a little vault pansy who'd be gentle, and you'd best be gentle or else I'll gut you and to hell with the consequences." he warned.

"Well I don't want my first time being with some fifteen year old raider."

"She's fourteen actually,” Small Fry corrected.

"Ahh, not helping." William looked a little sick for a moment. "There is no way, I'm being intimate with a kid two years younger then me."

"A man of principles huh? Well before you climb up top your pedestal of morality." Small Fry pointed to the ceiling at the word pedestal before pointing to William. "The least you could do is show her one night of clumsy incompetent tenderness before the boss takes his liberties tomorrow."

"If you care so much then take her and run!" William shot back. The two men stared each other down. Small Fry then stomped off as Pyro entered the room.

William was then lost in thought, Wrench wasn't like the others, she didn't give the impression of taking joy in violence, she didn't have the drug shot eyes. He had to figure out a way to help her, but he couldn’t do that if he was ransomed off, he closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.


While William lay in locked in a cell in the ruins of Springvale School.
Back in Vault 101 the current Overseer Amata was freaking out, her father desperately trying to calm her down as she tore apart her office.

"Amata, calm down, everything is going to be fine" his levelheaded voice did nothing to sooth his raging daughter.

"Fine, fine! Everything is not going to be fine, my son, your grandson is out there in the wastes somewhere!" she screamed, gesturing to herself, then him, then gesturing out the window.

"Which is no where near as dangerous as it once was and he's been gone two or three hours at the most." Alphonse reasoned. Except for the mess the office was exactly as it had been for decades.

"But its still dangerous especially for a sixteen year old boy all alone." she screamed back.

Alphonse shook his head, “Amata think clearly about how we’ll find him panicking solves nothing.”

She took a few deep breaths pushing her anger and worry down to a more controllable level. “We should radio megaton, if William’s stopped there first we they can hold him until we get there.”

Alphonse stroked his chin for a moment. "We could radio the brotherhood for help, we do a lot of technical and mechanical work for them so they should be willing to lend a hand"

“They’ll send word to their patrols to keep an eye out for a lost vault kid, but they won’t comb the wastes looking for him, unless we tell them….” Her voice trailed off

Alphonse gave a knowing nod. “I agree it would be a dangerous if word got out that William is the son of the legendary lone wanderer.” The retried overseer paused struggling over how to say this right. “Maybe we should use the emergency beacon and contact Jack, he’ll help us find William.”

Amata looked to her father like she lost her mind. “The emergency beacon isn’t secure enough some could still overhear.” She let out a long sigh. “And the range doesn’t go beyond megaton, accorded to Susie’s report after returning from Rivet City yesterday Jack’s gone north on some kind of trip and won’t be back for some time. He’s out or range. I won’t want the first word Jack hears of his son to be that he’s missing, he’ll be furious enough.”

"Of course he'll be furious, William is his son, a boy he has no idea even exists. He should have known years ago." No matter the situation Alphonse still spoke in his old authoritative voice from his days as Overseer. It still irritated his daughter.

"You know very well why I couldn't, how could I tell him that he had a kid. That he couldn't see his son grow up because half the people down her still resent him." she wiped her eyes of tears and blew her nose into a handkerchief.

Alphonse squeezed his daughters shoulder, "I know dear, as Overseer one must make painful decisions for he good of the vault and its residents, no matter how much it breaks your heart." He paused and thought back to the decisions he made. How he always questioned if he did the right thing. "Jack’s hero but it would have been dangerous for him to have come back to much bad blood, and some of the "

Alphonse smiled and thought of his grandson. "I think William's leaving was inevitable, this vault is just too small for him. He’d never have made a good Overseer - a life of adventure is what he's always craved. He has to much of his father in him."

"That’s what I'm afraid of, Dad. William grew up listening to Galaxy News and their radio drama's about the Lone Wanderer. Every kid in his generation did, and if William knew the truth of his father - he'd have ran off into the wastes years ago on some idealistic crusade. "

"Then its as I said, Amata, Inevitable, but I'm not worried."

"How can you say that - he's your grandson!?” she shot back.

"Because his father left the vault at nineteen, fought, raiders, slavers, super mutants, the Enclave and he's still alive today. If anyone can survive, its William - and maybe he’ll find his dad out there."

"Maybe your right, but I can't help worrying" Amata slumped down in her office chair, laying her head in her arms. "When William got older, maybe five or six, I should have told Jack then. I could have sent a message to meet me outside the vault door" she paused for a deep breath. "It would roll open and I'd say. Jack this is your son William. They could see each other on weekends gotten to know one another. But by then Jack had…."

"I know Amata, I know…. Just the same maybe its time William met his father.” Alphonse thought for a moment back to the present matter finding his grandson. "What about Butch, he knows the wastes he could find William much better then our own scouts. He’s in Rivet City, right?"

Amata laughed thinking of him. "Jack is going to kick Butch's ass when he finds out about William."

"Yes, you’re probably right about that." Alphonse sighed.

“You wish you could be there to see it, don’t you?”

Alphonse shrugged, “Butch was always a major headache in my life.”

Amata smiled briefly, her mind momentarily off her missing son. “According to Suzie’s report, Butch left Rivet City a couple days ago to join a hunting party that was going after Deathclaws up by Old Olney.”

“Who’d be stupid enough to hunt Deathclaws with Butch?” the ex-overseer laughed. Somewhere on the outskirts of Old Olney, Butch and the Lone Wanderer Jack sneezed simultaneously.

William was awakened by the sound of his cell door slamming open. Startled he looked frantically around the room before remembering where he was. He wished he could go back to being simply startled.
He looked to the cell door and saw Small Fry standing next to Wrench.

Small Fry stood with a deadly serious look on his face, he had Wrench by the arm who was dressed in a Brahman-skin outfit rather then her raider badlands armor and looked quite nervous.
“Get up” he ordered and William slowly moved to his feet, looking around he saw no signs of Pyro and figured he slept through his shift. The moment he was standing Small Fry practically through Wrench at him. He caught her and she quickly embraced him. Small Fry then tossed a duffle bag of supplies and a hunting rifle at William’s feet.
“The boss woke up a few minutes ago, he decided he’d rather flay you then try and ransom you back.”
“What!?” was his only response.
“Take Wrench and get her out of here, I’m going to try and slow him down try to ‘convince him’ he should think about the money, I suggest you take her back to that Vault.”
William just shook his head, “They’d take me back, but there’s no way they’d let me to bring some stranger into the vault.”

“[censored]” Small Fry was hopping the boy could just take Wrench into the Vault where she’d be safe and he could secretly laugh behind Victor’s back from here to eternity. “Alright, then - head north towards Big Town, it’s a safe settlement and it’s nearby, Hunter’s watching the way to Megaton. He’ll shoot you both if he spots you, now GO!”

Small Fry quickly departed to try and slow the raider boss down, giving them as much of a head start as possible.

William picked up the duffle bag and the hunting rifle. Wrench had a 10mm at her side. Together they fled the old ruined school and headed north. William noticed immediately it was dusk, he must have been locked up there for ten hours or more.

“Boss” Small Fry said stepping in front of the raider. “Not now, Small Fry I’m off to flay that brat.”
“Think of the caps, Boss. Megaton will pay big for the boy. With the resemblance, the vault suit and pip-boy they wouldn’t doubt for a minute he was the Son of the lone wanderer”

The boss Victor simply spat in Small Fry’s face, “I don’t care, I may not be strong enough to take on the man himself but I can make him suffer, he wiped out Paradise Falls, butchered my father and his gang and gave me this!” Victor screamed pointing to the plasma burn he received years ago.

“And how does that [censored] change anything or us now? W should we blow our chance at a big score for YOUR revenge?”

Victor had enough with Small Fry’s back talk, and clocked him with the end of his rifle. The short raider crumbled to the ground, and Victor proceeded to kick him repeatedly in the gut. Small Fry said nothing but simply withstood the beating; every second he endured was another second William and Wrench had to escape.

After beating Small Fry for several minutes, Victor continued on towards the cell with Choker in tow. Upon seeing the empty cell he screamed with such rage bits of dust actually fell from the ceiling. Pyro quickly arrived propping up a bloody Small Fry.

“He’s gone, how the hell is he gone!”
“Where’s Wrench?” questioned Choker.
“That little [censored]” Victor sneered, “She must have helped him escape! You all saw how sweet she was on him.” Choker and Pyro simply nodded in agreement.

“They can’t have gotten far, Choker, head south - they may head towards Andale before heading east to Rivet City try swimming across the river.” Choker simply nodded and swiftly left on his assignment.

“Pyro, see if they made there way towards the Vault, if they haven’t head north towards Big town it’s the closest settlement”

“Yes boss!” Pyro saluted dropping the beaten Small Fry to the ground before heading off. Victor looked down at the badly beaten Small Fry. “After you pick yourself off the ground, tell Hunter what’s happened and tell him to stay put, then join up with Pyro. I’ll check along the river and see if they try and reach Citadel, now go!” The raiders scattered into the early night.

Good story! More, please.

Chapter 3 has now been beta-read with an additional content

-Great Stuff. The dialogue is very believeable and I am really enjoying the read. Thanks.

Your reviews are all appreciated

Chapter 4: Welcome to Big Town

William didn't know how much of a head start Small Fry would be able to give Wrench and himself so he kept running pulling the girl along who gripped his hand tightly. Big Town was only an hour away judging by his map assuming they ran the whole way.

"Stop!" Wrench suddenly cried out breaking the silence. William skidded to a stop and Wrench crashed into his back nearly knocking him over.

"We have to keep running if they catch us…."

"If we keep running that way were bug food" she scolded. William followed her pointer finger to a spot just under the bridge where he saw the Giant Radscorpion. William always thought the name was redundant weren't, all radscorpions giants? That is until now seeing one for the first time made his heart stop. At five or six feet long not counting the tail it was a terrifying creature.

"What now?" William questioned. "Do we risk fighting It."?

"We'll need to go around it, with any luck – they'll run strait into it" She answered.

So the duo made their detour west, they ran low to the ground to avoid detection the last thing they needed was to be caught between a giant arachnid and Victor's gang.

Pyro lowered his binoculars smiling, "found you" catching up would normally be difficult with his metal armor and gear but with there detour he could head them off. Heedless of the danger he charged forward, the radscoprion clicked its claws and lunged towards the raiders. With a resounding crack Pyro brought his super sledge down on its armored hide the creature recoiled and Pyro swung from the right knocking the creature onto its back. And with a third and final blow Pyro crushed its soft underside. With the bug crushed Pyro continued running forward to lay his trap.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As William with Wrench in toe rounded the fallen silo Pyro leaped out with a mighty swing of his hammer which William narrowly ducked to avoid. The Super Sledge impeded itself in the silo wall.

William and Wrench used this moment to stumble backwards as Pyro tried to dislodge his weapon. When this proved difficult, William pulled his 10mm pistol and fired right at the flamer tank on the raiders back. Much to his horror the bullet simply bounced off.

"Sorry brat" Pyro said pulling out the nozzle end of the flamer. "But blowing up a flamer tank by shooting it only works in the movies. William dived through an opening in the silo wall right before a jet of flame consumed the very spot he had been sitting.

Looking around William saw no sign of he raider girl and his heart clenched. He looked up to see Pyro now standing at the broken base of the fallen silo and once again the boy leaped through the opening to avoid the scorching flame. He looked around and still saw no sign of Wrench.

When Pyro rounded the corner again William took another shot this time at the chest but impact barely fazed Pyro through his metal armor.

"Playtime is over kid" The raider moved into position to blast William and the opening leaving no room for escape.

"Not quite" shouted Wrench who leapt onto Pyro's back. With her handy tools she quickly set to work losing valves while Pyro desperately tried to throw her like a bucking bronco. After a brief struggle Pyro was able to grab hold of Wrench's arm and throw her to the ground she landed on her ankle hard and cried out in pain.

"You [censored] little [censored]" Pyro aimed his flamer to roast the girl and… nothing happened. He heard a faint hissing sound of the fuel escaping from the tank.

As Pyro raised his foot to stomp her face in William whistled. He looked to his right and could only say. "Oh [censored]" Before William tossed the lighter into the growing cloud of gas. Jets of flames erupted from the valves and Pyro screamed in rage as he desperately tried to remove himself from the flamethrower.

William charged forward and grabbed Wrench, and without a moments hesitation swooped up and over his shoulder and ran as fast as he could towards Big Town. Wrench was about to protest but the pain stabbing from her ankle silenced any resistance.

When Pyro managed to dislodge himself from the burning wreckage of his favorite toy he looked up and saw the kids were long gone. There was no way to catch them before they reached Big Town and his Super Sledge was n match for a Sentry bot.

When they reached the outskirts of town Williams legs finally gave out and he collapsed his heart racing and gasping for air.

"Thanks for saving me" Wrench smiled and hugged him.

"You saved me first" he replied returning the hug.

"We should get you changed that blue jump suit is a dead giveaway you don't belong, if were going to hide from Victor we need to blend in"

William nodded and retrieved a Brahman skin outfit from the duffle bag. He looked to Wrench who simply looked back. He gave a fake cough but still she did nothing.

"Turn around" he laughed, with a slight pout she obeyed. Not quite trusting her he went behind a nearby dumpster.

"Hey don't you trust me!" she shouted upon noticing William had moved.

"Yeah I trust you to peak," he shouted back. Wrench only giggled because it was true. After dressing William put his old jump suit in the dumpster. The shirt was baggy which proved useful, as William was able to roll it over his Pip-boy.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Big Town had expanded in the past 17 years; the walls now included the outer buildings that had previously been left vacant. To the west the residents had established a Punga Fruit farm, which they grew for food and trade. Fresh water was piped in from the tidal basin daily.

Together they made there way to the entrance to Big Town, Wrench hoping on one leg and leaning against William for support.

As they approached the gate a sentry bot was there to greet them.

"NO ENTRY AFTER DARK, PLEASE RETURN AT FIRST LIGHT"

"Please let us inside, there are raiders chasing us" Wrench pleaded despite knowing the futility of pleading with a robot.

"NO ENTRY AFTER DARK, PLEASE RETURN AT FIRST LIGHT"

"What the hell is going on here, who are you?"

William and Wrench looked up to see a man in his late twenties to early thirties standing above the gate. He wore a sandy colored combat armor with matching helmet, an assault rifle at the ready.

"I'm Wrench and this is William, please we just escaped from some raiders in Springvale there after us" she begged giving the best sad eyes look she could muster which had no apparent effect on the man before them.

"Why the [censored] are raiders after you two?" he questioned.

"Do they need a reason?" William answered.

"Touché," the man looked to Wrench and could see the large swelling bruise from where she had impacted the ground. "I'm still not letting you in"

"Come on Mayor MacCready have a heart" came a slightly annoying voice from behind the wall.

"Your going to bug me to hell and back if I don't open this gate aren't you Sticky"

He shook his fist down at who ever this Sticky was.

"You now me to well sir"

MacCready sighed, "Alright I'm opening the gate, but sense this is your idea Sticky you take care of them."

The gate slowly grinded upwards and they walked inside to be greeted by the brown haired Sticky in a similarly colored combat armor.

"This way kids, my wife is the town doctor she'll take a look at you"

Without a word William picked up a limping Wrench bridal style and followed Sticky to Red's Clinic. Big Town was rather dilapidated the boards covering windows no house over a single story. A couple Protecteron style robots patrolled the town.

"Hey Red, you have a couple patients to take a look at." Sticky shouted as they entered the house, the sounds of numerous voices filtered in from a door leading down stairs. Soon a black woman emerged in a white lab coat over a red jumpsuit.

"So these two were all the commotion at the gate." she greeted Sticky with a brief kiss then looked to William carrying Wrench and smiled.

"Alright set her down on the table and hope up next to her." without a word they complied and Red began her examination. Starting with Wrench's swollen ankle.

"Whose downstairs?" questioned William still hearing the ruckus coming from the basemant?

"Our five kids" Sticky replied

"Congratulations?" William said not sure if five noisy kids was a good thing.

"They're a handful but we love them." Red answered.

"As wonderful as children are you two should wait tell your older before having any" Sticky teased.

William looked to Wrench and she to him the both turned the color of the doctors old jumpsuit then quickly looked the other direction. The good doctor continued her examination.

"Well it's a minor sprain, a couple days off your feet and you'll be fine. A stimpack would speed the recovery."

"Why do they call you Red?" Wrench questioned as the doctor moved on to examining William.

"Maybe because I'm Irish… actually its for this jump suit, I've always worn red sense I was a little girl."

"You wore red so they called you red no the most creative bunch were they" Wrench smirked. Red ignored the comment and continued her examination.

"Hmm looks like you have a few bruises, but otherwise your fine." Red then rolled up William's pants leg and gasped. "Oh god spoke to soon, you have minor burns up and down your calves, Sticky grab the burn ointment quick"

William looked down and indeed the back of his calves were all pink and starting to blister, he must have been burned dodging the flame thrower, he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it while he was changing or felt it for that matter.

Her husband quickly complied and Red set to work applying the ointment.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Red questioned.

"No not really" William shrugged.

"Your made of some stern stuff, kid." She turned to her husband "Dear grab the ice packs from the freezer" Sticky complied with her request and retrieved two plastic bags containing some frozen blue gunk. Using some bandages Red tied them to William's calves.

"Why don't you two come downstairs?" Red showed the duo down into the basemant, in the center of the room down there was a large table with five people around it, pushed against the wall were three sets of bunk beds. Gathered around the table were five kids of various ages who turned to look at their guests. On the table was as selection of what William believed to be Molerat meat and Punga Fruit.

"Introduce yourselves and have a seat," Sticky instructed,

The both sat down next to one another at the table,

"I'm William and this here is Wrench"

"Thank you for inviting us" she added.

The oldest child a fifteen year boy with his fathers stringy build introduced himself as Adam, a few years younger then that was a thirteen year old girl named Joana, the near spiting image of her mother.

Between the two was a ten-year-old boy trying to cut his meat with his teeth. "I'm Xander," he mumbled. Across the Table an eight-year-old boy with his father's hair but mothers skin rolled his eyes,

"I'm Tom and I'm sorry for my brother" Xander simply glared at Tom but said nothing. Now sitting in her mothers lap was a four year old who was busy tiny pieces bits of molerat and punga fruit. "This little princess is Angelica" Red stated brightly

"Don't let the name fool you, she's anything but an Angel" joked Adam, Little Angelia then hopped off her mothers lap walked over and kicked Adam in the shins.

"Ahh! See what I mean" and the whole family laughed, Angelica returned to her mothers lap and resumed eating.

"So kids what's your story?" Sticky asked, and the attention of the whole room was now on them.

William gulped down a mouthful of Punga fruit, "Oh well Wrench and I just escaped from some raiders down in Springvale we came here because we heard it was safe"

"Why not Megaton it was closer?" questioned Joana.

"They were watching the road" Wrench replied.

"How'd you get burned?" Xander asked pointing to the gel packs tied to William's legs.

William recounted the story of how they out maneuvered Pyro, how Wrench had leaped onto his back while he was distracted and started loosening valves before he tossed his zippo lighter igniting the gas cloud. He palmed the slightly singed lighter, displaying it like a trophy.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"You and your wife look good together." Joana smiled as she got the exact reaction she was hopping for. Wrench to turn red and hide her face while William sputtered out his water turning a similar shade of red.

"We aren't a couple we only just met after I… ah we were captured by raiders" William decided to leave out the part where Wrench was part of the raider gang. Quickly changing the subject "Why are your names… kinda weird but you kids…."

"Normal?" Sticky finished. "Well Red and I grew up in a place called Little Lamp Light, only kids are allowed to live there until they turn sixteen"

"It used to be eighteen but MacCready lowered the age limit" Red added.

"I swear he only did that so kick me out early." Sticky grumbled.

"You guys met the Lone Wanderer?" questioned William.

"Yep, he helped be reach Big Town, and without him none of us would be hear to day" Sticky smiled.

"You see" Red explained. "Big Town was set up to give the advlts or as we called them mungos a place to go after turning eighteen"

"Sixteen after MacCready lowered age limit" Sticky interjected.

"Anyway" Red continued, "Big Town was advertised as this great wonderful place where all the grown-ups go, but it was horrible, we had almost nothing to live on and were always plagued by slavers or raiders and worst of all Super Mutants, one day after an attack our friend Shorty and I were carried off. To this old police station the muties were using as a base."

"How did you escape?" asked Wrench.

"Why the Lone Wanderer" Red said as if it was obvious "He stormed that mutant base, saved me and Shorty and killed every last one of those yellow skinned freaks. Then he brought us back home and taught us all how to repair and maintain old robots" she finished.

"And to this day Big Town is a major trader in robot parts, we've got two sentry bots, four Protecterons and two Mr. Gutsy's." Xander added.

"There was talk about reprogramming an old brain bot but those are way to creepy," Joana said.

They finished dinner and the family pvssyd about things neither William nor Wrench really understood. Stories about people around town they didn't know, and events they never saw.

"It's getting late, you kids should be getting to bed soon, Sticky show Wrench and William to the common house would you? Red asked.

Sticky nodded and stood up, motioning them to follow he lead them upstairs. As they exited the house, MacCready was waiting outside the door. Sticky stopped in his tracks, "The common house is that building there" he said pointed across the street and a few houses down. "Looks like the mayor wants to have a word with me." Sticky waited until they were gone before turning to talk to the mayor.

"So did the kid say anything?" MacCready asked.

"Said they were captured by raiders and managed to escape." He shrugged.

"About his dad moron" the mayor spat back.

"Didn't say anything about his family, we didn't ask. But when we brought up Jack Romuald he simply referred to him as the Lone Wanderer like everyone else does."

"Well he looks like him, and that badly hidden Pipboy under his sleeve is suspicious." MacCready took out a cigarette and lit up.

"A lot of people have Pip-boys these days, Vault 101 has been known to fix up broken ones you bring them for a price."

"That kid look, like he could afford that?" MacCready replied.

"That just means he stole it, if he's that mans son he could afford it" Sticky smirked.

"Unless he doesn't know" MacCready turned to look Sticky in the eye. "Anything else?"

"Yeah" Sticky nodded, "He had some nasty burns on his legs, not enough to be serious but enough he should have been bawling or high on painkillers."

"So we have a though kid, with a pipboy who resembles the biggest badass in the wasteland."

"So what do we do?" Sticky asked.

"[censored] if I know" The mayor kicked the dirt "Maybe he's his kid, maybe he isn't. Maybe Jack knows about him and maybe he doesn't… but still"

"We need to find out" Sticky finished, to which MacCready nodded

"Tomorrow take one of the Sentry Bots head to Megaton and see what you can find out. Once we know the truth we can figure out what to do. I'll come up with a chore or something to keep them close at hand."

William and Wrench entered the common house; it was a decaying one-floor ranch house much like many of the buildings in Big Town. The living room had half a dozen mattresses laid out. The kitchen and the original bedroom were converted to storage for a travelers belonging. The place was currently empty save for them, but Wrench could remember seeing a few merchants hanging around when they entered and knew they wouldn't be alone for long.

The two leaned against a wall and sat down. William turned to look at Wrench for the first time he really had the opportunity to get a good look at her. She had bright blue eyes and raven black hair. Back in the vault all the boys would be stumbling over each other for a date. She felt so different then the woman he met just yesterday. William reminded himself that she was a few years younger then him and put those thoughts out of his mind.

"So" William began, "Why is that raider Small Fry so protective of you why did he have me escape with you, why did…" Wrench silence William by placing her finger on his lips.

"When I was five or six years old I was living alone, I don't really remember what happened to my parents, if they died or they abandoned me or I simply got lost. " she wiped a tear from her eye. "I was living in a scrap yard, ambushing molerats with a butcher knife for food when I ran into a raider gang. "

William listened intently, and gave her hand a squeeze, which she returned.

"They were raiding party from the Skulls the last big raider gang in capital wasteland, among them was Small Fry."

"Was he still shorter then you back then?" William joked,

"No" Wrench elbowed him in the gut hard, but William simply grunted. "Anyway, you could say I was adopted or conscripted into the gang, either way I had to earn my keep"

"What did you do in the gang at that age?" he asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know.

"I cleaned guns, made beds, fetched whisky or ammo clips." She turned to look him in the eyes.

"You were a gopher?" he surmised

"Gopher?" she looked to William like he was sputtering nonsense.

"You know, Go for this, go for that, a gopher" William gestured with his hands to random objects scattered about Big Town.

"Yeah, I guess so" she giggled. "Anyway Small Fry always looked out or me. Made sure I had enough to eat and warm clothing to wear." She paused briefly thinking of her big brother again hoping he was ok. "When he came back injured after a raid I'd take care of him tell he was back on his feet again, we were…"

"Family" William finished, Wrench simply nodded.

"He taught me how to read, and sense I was always cleaning guns I figured it help if I knew how to maintain them. So I read every deans electronics or technical manual I could get my hands on."

"I take it that's how you earned the nickname." William guessed.

"You got it" Wrench gave her signature tool a twirl high into air before effortlessly catching it. "I helped maintain guns, armor, generators and other equipment, that kept be feed and protected"

"So how did you two end up in Victor's Gang?"

Wrench gave out a mournful sigh. "The Skulls were the last great raider gang in capital wasteland" the word great carried obvious sarcasm. "Most of them were kinda jerks. If I talked back or screwed up they'd slap me around a little"

William's eyes suddenly darkened, and the look on his face sent shiver of fear her down spine. But his murderous expression vanished as quickly as it came and she continued her story.

"But they never hit me for fun, or because they got angry, not like Victors trope."

"Well that's better I suppose"

"They beat other people for fun, [censored] them, killed them or did other unspeakable things" Wrench winced at the memories of hearing and seeing things no child should witness.

"I get the idea," William said while he instinctively wrapped an arm protectively around her. He didn't even realize what happened until she cuddled closer to him.

"Alright sure they were evil, but they were they only family I could remember." She took a deep breath and continued her story. "I was eleven years old the gang was currently hold up in some old cavern complex between Andale and Tenpenny Tower. I awoke to the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and screams. "

"Who attacked you?"

"Brotherhood, I don't know how many five, six? A dozen? Not that it really mattered our weapons were no match for the gray painted hellfire power armor and plasma rifles. One guy tried to fire a missile launcher but got shot in the leg and ended up hitting the ceiling"

"How'd you and Small Fry survive?" asked while trying not to laugh at the missile mishap.

"Small Fry locked us both in the slave pens, they were empty at the time."

"Disguised you as prisoners" he guessed.

"Yeah, so they led us outside once the fighting was done, celebrated their victory and our rescue. A couple of them removed their helmets a blonde woman and this guy. They talked about if either of use would make good recruits, the blonde woman said that Small Fry was to scrawny but I might have potential, Small Fry said I should go with them but I didn't want to leave my big brother."

"Well that explains how you left your old gang but how did you end up with Victor."

"Well, we traveled with the brotherhood platoon only a short ways. We parted at Andale Rest-Stop, where Small Fry told them we'd travel with a Caravan to find our own fortune. "

"Did you meet Victor in Andale?"

"Yeah we stayed there for a couple weeks, he sold some chems and I repaired a few things here and there for caps. One of our customers was Victor who was impressed by the quality of the Med-X and by repairs to his assault rifle."

"So he recruited you then?"

"He tried but Small Fry turned him down, said the life we had running our small stand in Andale was better, but not long after one of the traveling caravans recognized Small Fry from failed raid a couple months earlier and we had to run for it" she let out a long sigh. "And that's how we ended up in Victors gang.

"We should get some sleep, tomorrow we have to figure out our next move"

"What was life like in the Vault?" she asked. "Must have been really something"

"Boring mostly" William laughed, "but it was safe, there was plenty of food and water. I had school everyday, but my classmates were all your age." He put his hands behind his head, "Still, movie night was twice a week, could play cards, board games, soccer, and listening to Galaxy News' radio dramas of Daring Dashwood and the Lone Wanderer was pretty popular."

"Why is that? Wouldn't there be kids of all ages?"

"No" William shook his head, "You see in a vault reproduction is planned, families have babies at set times. I was born a couple years before the rest of my mothers generation had their first kids."

"Why plan it?"

"There is limited space in a vault, it can't expand physically so population control is important, and making sure there isn't a labor shortage by having to many or to few people of a certain age is part of that." William explained. "So there's about a dozen or so kids who are fourteen years old give or take, and another dozen who are about five."

"But you were born early?" Wrench picked up a pebble from the ground and tossed it aside.

"Yeah my dad was exiled from the vault, but I guess he left my mother the gift of me before he left." he smirked. "My mom being the Overseer had no one who could ague with her about keeping me, and there wasn't a doctor in the vault at the time to freeze me for later"

"Freeze you?" she questioned utterly confused.

"Unplanned embryos are usually frozen until the next population cycle."

"So you have no idea who your father is?"

"No" he shook his head, "I knew my mother and the other grownups back home were hiding something from me, I just got so sick of the lies and the cover-ups I decided to leave and find him myself. "

"I don't remember my parents, the closest thing I have to family is Small Fry"

"Wrench when we met why were you so…"

"Amorous?" she finished.

"Err, yeah" he winced. "Small Fry explained it somewhat but I'd like to hear it from you

"Well the thing was, as I matured the members of he gang thought it was time I start putting out, so after an incident with Choker. Small Fry bribed the boss with a bunch of Med-X that I be untouchable for little more then year, so I decided before I was forced to take on added responsibility that I'd choose my own partner"

"Why me?"

"Well…" she blushed, "I saw you there and you looked so sweet while poking through the ruble." She leaned in closer and ran a hand down his face, "And handsome with your reddish brown hair and green eyes. I've always heard vault dwellers were supposed to be soft until the wasteland hardened them."

"I don't know about that," he muttered.

"Oh of course your nice, you could have run back to that Vault to hide from Victor's gang but you stayed out here to protect me."

"No I stayed out here to find my dad, protecting you was just a bonus"

"Liar" she smiled, William wanted to argue otherwise but realized she as right. He was ready to slink back home given the chance until Small Fry tasked him with protecting her.

"Anyway I thought being a bit aggressive would work but you had to go and ruin it by looking at me like I'm kid instead of a six object like the rest of your perverted gender" she teased.

"Hey don't judge my gender based on, a gang of raiders." William defended.

"Fair enough" she laughed,

The duo pvssyd for a few for minutes about nothing in particular before finally drifting off to sleep.

End of chapter 4.

Authors Note: I know someone is going to ask why is the brotherhood using Enclave armor? The answer is obvious they just repainted the Enclave armor to there colors and started using it themselves.

I would have posted this much sooner but you see I sent this to my beta-reader on February 16th and still haven't heard back. I eventually gave up on him and sent this to another betareader a couple weeks ago, still nothing. But rather then make everyone whose reviewed or marked this as a favorite wait who knows how long I decided to upload this chapter as best as I can make it. I HOPE to have the betaread and corrected chapter uploaded... eventually.