*I wrote this when I was half asleep, but If I didn't do it know then I would never get it done, so...constructive criticism appreciated. Thanks.

Home of the Nomad
-Chapter One-

I was running. Running for my life.

I scrambled over the remains of a one story house. As hurried up the mound of dirt and wood, I paused to look around. This was once a town, this was once my home. But in a single moment, the heavens split open and the world destroyed.

My home was turned into a unrecognizable landscape of gray and black. Soot covered everything, it rained from the sky. Powdered my hair, burned my lungs, made my eyes water. Places were I spent my childhood, no longer existed.

The gas station were I would spend the hours after school, hanging with my friends and sipping Nuka-Cola. That was gone, it had caved in on itself, probably crushing the shopkeeper. He was a fat and greasy man, with a set of oily blond hair. I always hated him, believing me to be a no good punk.

But, I never wanted him dead. I never really wanted anyone dead. But it was better him than me, I had the ability to survive, he didn't. It was just natural selection. That was why my friends and family were dead and I was alive. I was stronger than them, that's all.

I shook my head from those thoughts, I had no time to think about that stuff now. I needed to find shelter, fast. I checked the sky, it was filled with ash. A dark cloud that blocked out the light, well most of it anyway. The first few days, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

It looked like it was going to rain again, people would say that it's impossible to tell with the cloud of dust blocking the sky. But my instincts told me so, an ability that has led to my survival. If it rained now I was screwed. With nothing but a charred landscape to protect me, I would be killed by radiation.

Or worse...Turn into one of those zombies.

I shuddered and then continued my frenzied pace. Leaping over piles of rocks and bounding over the occasional car. Sometimes with the charred passengers still in them. The uneven ground jarred my body, and after a particular big drop, I felt something snap in my side, and a warm feeling began spreading along my right side.

I ignored it, another ability that allowed me to survive. Besides I had found a building that was still standing in the distance. It looked like a power station, those usually had some kind of basemant. It would be a great place to hide before the storm hit.

I passed the city limits, I stopped at a warning sign, it read:

WARNING!
Leaving Quarantine Zone
No unauthorized personal
Beyond this point

It filled me with anger just looking at it. I hated the quarantine, everyone did. We were trapped in our own town, made prisoners by the government. Our friends and family died of the New Plague while the soldiers just watched, not letting us leave to travel to the nearest hospital. I had watched my sister died of it. I clenched my fists in rage as I remembered those nights where her bed sheets were soaked with sweat and blood. In the end I watched her choke to death on her own mucus, unable to do anything but watch.

I spat on the sign and then continued on my way, the power station was situated up on a steep, rocky slope. I climbed it with my feet as often as my hands, constantly slipping on the loose soil. Every time I fell, I would get ash in my lungs. Causing me to cough violently.

After a while my sides began to ache, adding to the pain of whatever I did while I was running. Eventually I was at the top, the power station use to be surrounded by a lock gate. But most of it had been knocked down. Starting to disappear beneath the ash. I slowly stepped over a portion of it.

My boots made little puffs of ash rise with each step. I walked over to the station, cautious of the towers or whatever you call them, that surrounded the place. One of the had already broken in half, and I was afraid that another one might topple on me at any minute.

Near the faded blue door, was a plaque, mostly covered in ash. I wiped it off with the sleeve of my jacket, it read:

PDPL-07 Power Station
Property Of: Poseidon Energy

I snorted. Poseidon Energy was ran by a bunch of greedy bastards, carrying only for themselves. They were probably the ones that destroyed the world, I hoped they were rotting in hell at that moment... I guess there were some people I wished dead after all.

I tried the doorknob, locked. I looked over my shoulder, from here I could see the whole town...Or what was left of it. In the distant, I could the see the rain begging to fall. It would destroy everything that was left.

I remembered the park, in the center of it stood a great oak tree. I remembered it still held clang to life, even after the bombs fell. But...The rain, it turned it to a charred stump. A shadow of it's former self. I saw men, laying dead in the road, faces melted away.

I banged on the door with my fists, rattling it.

“Hey! Hey! Let me in! I'm going to die out here!”

I could already see the rain sweeping across the town, making it's way towards me at an alarming speed. The door quickly opened, from the dark came a rotting hand. It pulled me inside right before the rain hit.

The force of throw made me stumble to the ground, yet once again. At least the only thing I was inhaling this time was air and carpet. I got up slowly as the man put the lock in place, he turned around and put his hand on my shoulder, it felt unnaturally cold.

“Sorry about that, son.”

His voice was deep and grating, I wasn't sure how he could see me in this pitch blackness.

“Nadine, turn the light on! We've got a visitor.”

A light appeared a few feet away. The source of it was a small electric lantern. Despite it size, it lit the room fairly well. I looked around, the room was like a work place and small house combined. Most of the floor was metal, but carpet had be thrown over some of it. A workbench table doubled as a dinner table, shelves contained tools and food.

The man moved next to the woman holding the lantern. It lit up their faces and I froze, my heart sped up, so loud I was surprised they couldn't hear it. I broke out in a cold sweat as they just stood there smiling.

Zombies!

It was true, their faces were completely gone, just muscles and bone. The had little to no hair, and it constantly looked like they were grinning. They seemed to be oblivious to my shock. They wore dirty, blue jumpsuits and the man began to introduce himself,

“I'm Tom, and this here is of course, Nadine”

The woman spoke up, I concentrated on the way their muscles worked as they spoke,

“It's so nice to meet another survivor. We thought we were the only one's left.”

I nodded nervously, they seemed civilized. But maybe they were just a smarter breed of zombie.

“Well I guess we can have dinner now that your here.”

I snapped my head up,

“E-Excuse me?”

“Dinner. We weren't going to have it until you showed up.”

That did it, they were going to eat me! I reached under my jacket and pulled out my N99 10mm pistol, I found it off one of the quarantine guards, two to three days after the world ended. I firmly planted my feet and used both hands to fire it.

I didn't know much about firearms, but this seemed like the right shooting position. Tom and Nadine's eyes widened. I fired four rounds, three of them hit Tom's chest. He fell down, his face one of disbelief.
Nadine began to scream and I fired off three more shots, one hit her leg while the other two hit her chest.

She toppled forward and a harsh silence filled the room. It was only broke by my heavy breathing. I wiped the sweat off my brow and holstered the pistol. They seemed civilized, but I know zombies. I saw them on my fourth day.

Growling beasts that tore men apart and ate them. You couldn't trust them, that's why I'm a survivor. The rain continue to pummel the building, making a drumming sound on the roof. I dragged the bodies to the corner of the room so I wouldn't have to look at them. They took quite a bit more energy than I had thought. I was exhausted and collapsed onto the bed of the zombies. It was quite comfortable. I looked at the ceiling, amusing myself with the way the shadows resembled strange beasts and buildings.

Tomorrow I would have to live of course. I couldn't stay here no matter how comfortable it was, soon other people would come. In a world of; cannibalistic zombies, greedy men, and no law, there is no place to stay. There is no home.

I sighed and turned off the light, allowing myself to be absorbed by the darkness.

I enjoyed reading this & i was suprised when he shot the Ghouls. I can understand the characters feelings, and it adds some nice emotion considering that the Ghouls may not have wanted to turn him into dinner. Keep it up !

I think you have a good set up for an interesting character, he's angry, he just shot some ghouls that may not have deserved it. This presents a conflict for the reader, which is good writing. I would say your biggest flaw is you slow your pace down by giving too much back story during your action sequences. I don't think anyone would stop to reminisce about their childhood ,or spit on a sign,when they are running for their lives. You can give backstory, but I suggest choosing a time when your character is at a slower point in the story.
Still, it's a job well done, and I look forward to more. :mellow:

I imagined the lady ghoul as Greta from Fallout 3, I think she was the cook in the Underworld

Definitely a good set up. I don't know the canon specifics about the post bomb rains so I can't say that the rain eating away a stump is impossible because anything can get thrown into the atmosphere and henceforth, come straight back down. Not sure why I focused on the rain, just another interesting survival factor. Normally I'm not into immediate-post-bomb stories because they're usually billed as 'rebuilding' not 'oh man this is nuts'.

In all honesty, I'm sure I'd make the same choice after running into the ghouls even though I usually play don't mind them when I play the games. At that point, no one would have one clue about them.

It's interesting to see something about the Plague since its one of those aspects that gets less attention. Other than rad-poisoning and gunshot wounds, I haven't seen many medical issues addressed before.

(wow am I still typing?)

Thank you all.

@ Doodmaken- Thanks for your continued support, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

@Spittoonist- I'm sorry, the back story gets a little boring. In hindsight I could have always brought the quarantine and town up later. I wanted to give a description of the world shortly after the bombs fell, and what it was like a couple years before when everything was chaotic, I guess I got a little caught up in it. Thanks you.
Also-your pic is seriously freaking me out,

@MrSmileySmile- Hmm. Whenever I think of ghouls, I always picture the one outside Underworld, like a guard or something. That's what I picture. Anyways, thanks for your comment.

@grandobsidian- I actually didn't mean stump. I meant something similar to husk. I'm going to fix that. I always wondered what it would be like directly after the fallout, it would certainly be crazy. I And yes, I always wondered why no one seem to address the New Plague, for it seemed it would have a big impact on people and their trust in the government. Speaking of gun shot wounds, I actually had something planned...Well thanks a lot for your comment, your insight is much appreciated.

I believe you mean "As I hurried...." and then the last sentence, I think you're looking for a "h" in "were" but should be "where".



Instead of "I had watched my sister died of it..." probably want to fix it to just "die." Secondly, you have a double space before the "I" of that sentence.



In the sentence, "Eventually I was at the top, the power station use to be surrounded..." it should be "used".



Then at the beginning of the sentence, "One of the had..." just need to add an "m" to "the".



Here, you might want to fix up the sentence, "I remembered it still held clang to life..." Either held or clang should work for what you're looking for.

Besides those, I think everything's okay with the story. Nice ending, I did like that.

wow cool story. the title is rather ironic also. which is cool.