This story is based off my character in 'Rockland Rescue'. This character will have a very colorful history, and I will detail it out as best I can. I will try a completely different writing style here(dialogue-wise). Enjoy :foodndrink:


**Prologue**

This was the final day. My graduation from the Brotherhood training. I was so excited about finally being able to join, I had awaited this moment my entire life, from when I first saw the Brotherhood soldier march across the trail to now. There were many other men and women graduating to Initiate rank. We were all sitting down in the center of the Citadel, where a ton of chairs were set up, and a stage with a podium, where Elder Lyons, Paladin Gunny, Star Paladin Grant, High Paladin Cross, and Sarah Lyons. The first ten people to go up to the stage would be giving a speech and acceptance into a certain Brotherhood division. Finally, they called my name. "Recruit Crawley Redd, come on up." Sarah Lyons announced while sitting back down.

I smiled and stood up, nodding to my friends who applauded for me. I approached the stage with a steady pace in my recon armor, proudly walking with glory. I stepped onto the wooden stage and shook hands with all the people on stage. I finally approached the podium, extremely nervous and happy at the same time. I pulled a paper from my pocket and set it on the podium and read.

"You know, since I was a young boy, I've always wanted to join the Brotherhood. All I ever saw from them was a heroic group of bold men in armor. That's what I wanted to be. Now look at me. I'm becoming one of them myself, and I'm very proud to say so. I must say that I could not have gotten here without the help of many of my friends, associates, and instructors. It is from them that I learn the philosophy of the Brotherhood: Respect, Duty, Strength, Assistance. I will always know my job in the Brotherhood because of all I've gone through. I will not forget this moment. Thankyou."

I folded up the paper and put it in my pocket, the crowd went back to clapping loudly and cheering. I once again smiled as the wind picked up and blew my shaggy black hair back from my forehead. Elder Lyons stood up and approached me. He looked into my eyes, solemnly. I could see the seriousness in his eyes about how important this moment was not only for me, but for him as well. His frozen blue eyes gazed deep into mine, then he finally spoke. "I appreciate your dedication to the Brotherhood. I have seen you when you've been training; you work hard and fight to achieve the goal. I have taken note of it, and decided you are fit for my division: Lyon's Pride." Elder Lyons said to me.

My eyes popped open wide with disbelief. Elder Lyons was actually granting me the right to join the Lyon's Pride. This was unbelievable to me, and when I turned to the silenced audience, they all were amazed as well. Not many recruits made it into the Lyon's Pride, but I was one of the ones that did. I nodded briefly, accepting this request, and shook hands with Elder Lyons. "Please, report to Ring A conference room afterwards. You, I, and other Lyon's Pride members must discuss the matter at hand." he muttered to me. I was on my way back to my seat. I sat back down next to a friend of mine, Daniel, who immediately exclaimed about how special this was.

--

"I understand you all know about Rockland, the land west of the Capital Wasteland," Elder Lyons announced. "I have had the strong feeling that we need to investigate further for technology in that region. I will have the gratitude to say I will only be sending the Citadel's most elite squad, Lyon's Pride, to go there. I will hope to start a Brotherhood base there. Now, not all Lyon's Pride members will go. Only the select few. Now, I will list those who will go.

"Star Paladin Grant, Initiate Weathers, Initiate Greene, Initiate O'connor, Initiate McCoy, Initiate Redd, Knight Rulia, Knight Ullman, Knight Patricks, Knight Harrington, Knight Jameson, Knight Freeman, Knight Julius, Knight Hering, Paladin Vermil, Paladin Trent, Paladin Younge, Paladin Seth, Paladin O'Donnel, and Paladin Mathius. You will all be transported to Rockland via Vertiberd. There, Star Paladin Grant will from then on be known as Elder Grant.." Voices muttered and whispered throughout the room when the new Elder was announced. "There, you will follow his orders and instructions. We will send you all supplies to build a fortress when we gather materials needed. Your vertiberds will be assigned to you and mailed to you through your personal terminal in your barracks. Report to the courtyard tomorrow morning at 5 A.M. You are all dismissed.


(more soon)

Pretty cool. Looking forward to more !

Very good. I want to read more.

I am a little puzzled by the sentence below:

Not what I meant. I meant the vertiberd number would be sent.

I stood in the courtyard in the chilly morning, very tired and barely awake. Everyone else appeared to be the same way. After ten minutes of waiting, Star Paladin Grant appeared from behind a vertiberd and greeted us. "Alright, everyone has their numbers.. Report to the correct vertiberd and we'll be heading off." I looked at a piece of paper that I had wrote the number on, and it was number eight. I turned to the vertiberds and found one with the number eight painted on the side. I proceeded toward it and opened the hatch. I climbed inside and strapped myself in to the seat in the corner. After settling myself in, I shut my eyes and fell asleep.

--

I awoke after feeling the vertiberd touch the ground roughly. I opened my eyes and looked around the vertiberd interior, everyone was here. I slowly unstrapped myself and stood up, while everyone else did the same. The pilot gave a signal and we all poured out the small opening that was the exit from the vertiberd. Stepping outside, I stared at the land that was Rockland. Miles and miles away I could faintly see a large hunk of steel, as it seemed, and not far from it were outstretching railroads crossing the heavily rocky terrain. The Brotherhood site I was at was a few tents being set up by the knights and paladins who got there before us. I approached one of them. "Hey, what am I supposed to do?" I asked. "Help us, if it isn't too much trouble." the knight said through his respirator. He handed me a hammer and a few railroad nails.

I went to one side of the tent and hammered a nail through the cloth and into the ground. I then went inside and set up the skeleton of the tent to hold it up and hammered the pieces in, then finally the rest of the tent edges. I walked away from the tent, spinning the hammer in my fingers. Some of the people were building a wooden structure. I came to one of the workers and asked, "Hey, what are you guys doing?" "Building a home for the Elder. He is more than worthy of a lousy tent." I nodded and turned back to the rest of the camp. I really had nothing to do.

I walked away from the camp that sat on a low plateau, and stepped to the edge of the short cliff. The ground below me was only about fourteen feet away. I put my weight onto my leg, leaning. I gazed at the stretching land, the light of dawn slowly rising above the horizon in a purple-crimson. I suddenly heard someone yell my name. I quickly turned around, only to find nobody really called, but it was just my imagination. I had forgot to keep my balance and I slowly wobbled back and forth, until I was only standing on one leg and toppeled backward. I yelled as I fell backward, awaiting for the sound of my back smashing into a rock. Istead, I landed in something that had an ooze texture.

Turning to what I had landed in, I could see it was green-brown. A whole puddle about a yard in diameter. There was heavy, thick yellow mist rising from the liquid that felt like tar. I immediately realized I was in a radiation pit. I managed to pulle my torso out of the goop, but my leg wouldn't move. It was stuck at the bottom of the puddle, trapped in a ton of weight of radioactive slime. I clawed at the dirt in front of me to try and pull myself out, I tried scooping away the stuff with my helmet, but nothing would work. I screamed for help, but nobody came. I soon became dizzy from breathing the radioactive air and fealt nausea settling in. Fatigue took hold on me and I finally went unconsious.

~

I opened my eyes to see I was still stuck, but when I tried to pull up, my leg gave way. I slowly brought my leg out of the goo and looked at it. It was covered entirely in the substance and was burning badly. My entire body was burning. I climbed up and trotted away up the rocks to the camp, leaving my helmet behind. As I was running, my skin felt incredibly itchy and irritated. I stopped and scratched the skin on my forearm, pulling off the armor piece. When I scratched, though, I clawed off bits of skin. I stared, frightened, and stopped scratching. I dropped the forearm armor piece and ran to the camp, ignoring the terrible itching. Eventually the skin fell off on its own, revealing muscles beneath.

After a dreadful trip to the camp, I came to the first person I saw and grabbed them by the shoulders. "Help me!!!" I shouted. The soldier turned to me and immediately stared at my arm. "Woah, woah.. Hang on. You need to get to a tent and take off that armor. You don't look so well." he said, then helping me to the nearest tent. "Here, get inside and get rid of that armor. You'll need to rest, I'll get a medic ASAP." he shouted, turning and running off. I slowly removed my armor as told, and dropped it on the ground. I fell to the ground and crawled to the inside of the tent. I could now realize my scalp was very itchy as well. I scratched, but when I looked at my hand, There was a large clump of hair and a few pieces of skin.

I could feel myself becoming very sick, and pointed my head out of the tent. I puked out heavily, and my vomit had traces of blood in it. I finally knew what was happening to me, and when I thought about it, I began crying. I didn't want to be a disgusting zombie, and I wanted to keep my body the way it was. But my skin kept falling off and my hair kept coming out as my eyes started burning. Eventually, the soldier came back with a medic. The medic began inspecting me, checking the issues. I could hear him mumbling 'dear God', but didn't know if it were real or just my thoughts. The medic pulled out of the tent and began talking to the soldier. "He's... I don't know how to say this, but.. He's becoming a.. Ghoul.."

Elder Grant looked into my eyes. He was there the day I became an Initiate, and he'd be there the day I would be kicked out of the Brotherhood. "I'm afraid that according to the rules, I have no choice-" Elder Grant said before I interrupted him. "Like hell you don't!! You know you have a choice of whether or not to kick me out of the Brotherhood! Just because I'm turning into a Ghoul doesn't mean it requires me to be kicked out of the Brotherhood.." I exclaimed in anger. "You do not understand. The Brotherhood only serves with humans, Ghouls are already on their way to death and should be left alone." "So, what now, are you guys trying to be like the Enclave now?! If this were the Western Brotherhood they wouldn't desert me like this.. I should have known better than to be dragged here with you bigots...." My voice trailed off. I had nothing more to say. I simply turned my back around and walked off, only being left with my guns and my clothes. My power armor was no longer mine.

I turned around and looked once more at Elder Grant, then turned back and continued trekking north. My skin was hurting bad, my lungs burning, my eyes stinging, and the heat pounding on my miserable body. I shed a few tears during my walk, not because I was being kicked out of the Brotherhood, but because my life was ruined now. I had no money to get a house or have food, my parents were dead, and my decaying body was being baked under the deadly summer sun of Rockland. There was only one place I could go, only one place where I'd be accepted and be able to live without having to pay any money. The only place I could go was Drakesville; a town I had heard about before going to Rockland, a poor man's town. It was my only choice.

As I stumbled into the town, my nearly lifeless, dehydrated body rolled down the hill into the town. Rocks and dirt kicked up in my face as I toppled downhill. When I finally reached the ground, my vision was extremely blurry and clouded, but I could see a few people coming to help me out. One person poured warm irradiated water down my mouth while the other brushed dirt off of my clothes. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but they began to carry me into a house. Once inside, the heat of the tin home made me sweat badly. Some of the locals had said that summer was the hottest in years, but it took its toll on me and made me want to die. Eventually, the heat would end as July came to an end and Rockland quickly became cooler.


Three Months Later

I pulled the overcoat tighter to my body as I entered the main room. Frank was sitting in his usual recliner and when he saw me, he asked, "Lose any more hair?" "No, haven't lost any in almost a month. I think it's finally stopping." I responded, sitting on the floor across from him. "I think the whole 'Ghoulification' process is over with, you look like alot of Ghouls I've seen before. There was-" Just as he was talking, gunshots outside were heard. Another raid. Frank dropped to the floor and readied his '44. Minutes passed of dreadful screaming and firing, when the sounds came closer and closer until it was outside the front door. The door burst down and two Raiders fired their machine guns rapidly at Frank, but for some reason not at me. His blood splashed onto the wall as bullets pelted him through the chest and his gun went launching away. It landed just in front of me.

I took my chance and picked up the revolver, quickly shooting at the heads of the Raiders. The first one died, a quarter of his brain being blown off. The other barely dodged the bullet, but didn't dodge the next three that went bolting through his throat. I quickly approached Frank who was bleeding out on the ground. "Aw, [censored], you don't look okay.." I said casually. "Look.. I'm not going to ask you to sware revenge because of the cliche it would have with it, all I ask of you is to live life. I've seen how miserable you are sometimes.. Crawley.. You shouldn't let being a Ghoul stop you.. Just.. Just.." Frank oozed blood out of his mouth, then coughed up more. He stopped breathing and shut his eyes.