Well done. Interesting and I can tell you put a lot of hard work into this story.

Thanks, I will definately check it out. Nothing wrong with a little research.

And thanks for all the superb response. Keep it comin', I love positive reactions

Roo's still very quiet. even for someone who hasn't got a tongue.


Haha i love it, this is a very good story and il defo be keeping track of it 5/5

Names & Names

The days pass extreme slow. The only things to do are watching at the chemical experiments,
or at least, what’s left of it. Besides that and talking with Roo and Warren, it's boredom all over.
I ask Roo if he wants me to tell how he lost his tongue, but he won’t.
Warren also hasn’t given me a straight answer yet. This is a good time as any, so I’ve decided to ask him one more time.

“Warren?”
“Yes, I know, we need a name for our group, don’t we?”
He already knew what I was going to ask. Unlike other scientists Warren is the social type.
“So did you have a name in mind then?” I ask him.
“Yup, only the best name ever!” he replied with full confidence.

“So?” “So what?” “Well, what’s the name you’ve come up with?” “Oh yes, the name…”
“Well, what do you think of: The Ultra Bould And Extremely Handsome Fighters Of Good?”
I don’t even reply to that, I just look him in the face with disappointment all over it.
“What?” he asks. “T.U.B.A.E.H.F.O.G!? what kind of name is that?” I tell him.
Warren has many specialities, but coming up with names isn’t one of them.

Roo quickly writes a note and shows it to us with a big smile on his face.

Defenders Of The Wastes

“Roo, you’ve won the competition.” I tell him. “Not that it was a tough one…”

After all these long nights and days, I’m finally recovered from the concussion.
Every now and then I have a sizzling sound in my head, and the occasional blurred image.
But apart from that, I’m quite all right.
As we all pack out belongings, I take one more look at my list.
It’s a summary of all the people I’d like to have in my team.

Donovan
Argyle
Fincher
Shorty
Kemar

I guess I’d start with the most obvious first.
I saved Argyle’s ass more than once, so he owes me big time.
“We’re heading for Rockopolis.”
“So we’re taking a visit to our old friend Argyle.” Warren says.
“Indeed” I say “I hope he still lives there.”

Before we got in here, I saw a pack of tame brahmin.
So I sent Roo to catch one. We pack the brahmin with mostly Chemical stuff belonging to Warren.
We’re packet and ready to set off to Rockopolis.
I just hope I still know the way after so many years.

It seems like yesterday that I was a member of the Rockopolis society,
only to see it being destroyed by those raider bastards after a couple of days.
It was a close call, or Argyle and I were killed by that damn Penelope and her gang

Enough old stories, time for us to go.
Here we go again, into the wastes. This time we’re ready for anything.
Warren asks me to turn on the radio. So I turn on the radio.
Ah, good old GNR, haven’t heard it in a while. It does keep our morale up.

Not even 5 minutes on the road, and there comes our meal running towards us.
Four mole rats think they have found their meal. They couldn’t have been more wrong.
I take my quantum pistol and four shots later we’re surrounded by a flaming act of dancing mole rats.

Warren quickly runs up to me and stretches out his hand. “Let me see it!”
I give him the gun. “Fascinating!” he says.
As we walk on, Warren is still holding the pistol and studying every part of it.
Roo scouts the area and spots a man in the distance.
The man’s waving at us with both hands. As we come closer I see the man’s face.
It’s a familiar face.

One of my favourite Fan Fics, keep up the good work.

Death & Claws

“Barren, Barren!” the man shouts from a distance.
“Crow!” I shout back at him. “How are you man? I haven’t seen you since the Paradise raids!”
“No time to talk Barren.” Crow quickly replies.
“There’s a deathclaw after me and he already got Harold and my brahmin!”

A deathclaw!?
Well, I said we were ready for anything, so here goes.
Roo is thinking ahead and already tries to localize the deathclaw, while Warren and I get ready for battle.
Warren’s got my Quantum pistol, so I get my hunting rifle and start loading.

Roo gives out one of his famous screeches which tells me he found our victim.
Me and Warren run towards the screech and see Roo running towards us, being chased by a bad tempered deathclaw.
I got to admit, Roo’s got balls. Or he’s just not thinking ahead too much.

Warren and I get closer to the deathclaw and fire away, but the beast won’t budge.
His skin is too thick for the quantum to get a hold, and my hunting rifle isn’t making much damage either.
Warren looks at me and comes up with a plan only he can come up with.

He runs towards the brahmin and grabs a bottle of turpentine.
I give him a nod of understanding, and we both run like madman towards the beast.
We don’t have much time left before the deathclaw reaches Roo.
The boy does have good stamina, but to outrun a deathclaw, you’d have to be a gold medal winning athlete.

We only have one shot at this, so we have to be extremely precise in timing and aiming.
Warren throws the bottle of turpentine towards the deathclaw.
One thing you have to know about deathclaws is that they will try to bite anything that comes in range of their face.
I got my hunting rifle pressed hard in my shoulder and put one knee on the ground to maximise my accuracy.

The bottle reaches the deathclaw.
The deathclaw snaps at the bottle.
I pull the trigger.
The bullet meets the bottle.
The deathclaw’s face explodes.
We cheer.

Suddenly I hear a strange wooing sound.
I quickly get my rifle and start looking around, only to find Roo cheering at high volume.
He quickly stops, and looks at me frightened. I notice I still have my rifle pointed at his face.
“Oh, I’m sorry Roo.” I quickly reply.

Crow comes up to us and thanks us by taking a large bow.
“If I hadn’t run into you guys, I’d surely be done for.”
“Well, we were glad to help Crow.” Warren says.
“Barren and I used to do these things for a living, so we know our tricks.”

“They did get my brahim and my new bodyguard though.
I don’t know how I’ll ever get back into business now.”
“Well, I know how you can repay us Crow.” I tell him with the cunning of a businessman.
“We got a brahim, and we can provide the necessary protection,
if you will aid us in our journey.”

I tell Crow about our mission, and he agrees to help us out.
We go searching for his brahmin, only to find it shredded to pieces.
There are still a few items left. Some armor, a few weapons and a small range of ammo.
Roo finds a strange looking helmet, and puts it on.

“That’s an eyebot helmet that is.” Crow says.
“But you can have it, for being a part of saving my life.”
“Talking about helmets Crow…”
Crow quickly turns around at me looking like a child who had just taken some candy without asking.
“Do you happen to have a combat helmet that actually does fit me?”
“I’m sorry about that Barren. I’ll give you one as soon as I get my hands on one.”

We take all the salvages and tie it up on our brahmin.
The brahmin looks sad, as though he knows his fellow brahmin died.
Or maybe it’s the fact we just tied 30 pounds more carriage to his back.

Warren tells us to hold on for just a moment and runs towards the deathclaw.
He cuts off the claws and runs back with blood all over him and a smile on his face.
“There’s something I’ve always wanted to do with the claws of a deathclaw.” He says.
“You’ll get used to this.” I tell Roo. “He does these kinds of things all the time.”

One correction brahim is spelt brahmin

Ty, I think I've got them all now

More, more, we want more! But really, I like the way you word things, and the first person perspective and all that...Now I gotta' get me on of them Quantam Pistols!

Fridges & Familiarities

It’s already been 3 days now and finally the destination comes in sight.
Not a moment too soon, because Warren’s getting tired of the trip.
We need to make more and more stops. You can’t blame him, he’s getting pretty old.
I still remember the days that Warren and my father went out adventuring.

Over the last couple of days Roo has proven himself to be quite a good scout.
I guess you learn a great deal of observation when you lose the ability to speak.
He runs up to me writing at the same time. There’s a note shoved in my hands.
I can barely make out the writing: Up ahead, 6 wastelanders and a fridge.

I don’t know what to make out of it, so I decide to check it out myself.
As I approach the small crowd, I see some wastelanders arguing about something with their pistols drawn and waving in the air.
There’s a fridge standing in the middle of the group, and small rocky hills surrounding them.
“Oh great... Even more scabs trying to get their share. Well you aint getting anything! We found it first, so buzz off!”

“What’s going on?” I ask Crow.
“Well, apparently these guys found a fridge full of purified water, and they’re arguing about who gets what.”
“SHUT UP!” I yell. Everybody stops talking and turn their heads toward me.
“Don’t you all think it’s a bit strange that there’s a fridge standing in the middle of the bloody wasteland?”

One of the ignorant wastelanders says he doesn’t care where it came from, he just wants the water.
Everybody starts arguing again.
Roo, Crow, Warren and I watch the arguments. We all take a few steps back, and draw our pistols.
Roo’s gotten two Chinese pistols from Crow the other day, which seems to boost his self esteem.

Crow points his 10mm at one of the wastelanders.
“No you moron!” I shout at him. “Not them! THEM!”
I point my finger to the rocky hills. A group of raiders stand ready to start an assault on the wastelanders.
Some of the raiders noticed that their cover has been blown and turn their attention towards us.

They’re not quick enough. Our bullets meet them long before they can return fire.
The rest of the raiders slightly panic and start shooting everything that moves.
One of them hits a button on a detonator and blows up the fridge with the drinks and the wastelanders all together.
A rain of fire and bullets covers the screams and shouts of the wastelanders and raiders.

The battle doesn’t take long. Only a minute later, everything goes quiet.
The raiders probably have a camp nearby and I guess that this isn’t the whole population of that camp.
We don’t have the strength left to fight more of these clowns.
So I order everyone to scavange the corpses fast and leave this cemetery.
A few raiders hold some ammo, but nothing important.

Roo quickly leaves a note on one of the dead raiders.
Fear The Defenders
For the first time, he scares me with a sinister look on his face.
We quickly pack our stuff and make way for Rockopolis.

Warren is too tired to go on. We‘re only a few hours further and I’m not sure if we’re far enough to make our next stop.
But we have no option. We make camp for the night and take turns on guard.
The morning doesn’t come soon enough, but it has come nevertheless.

I’m relieved we didn’t have any encounters.
With everybody rested, we’re ready for the last day of travel.
Warren’s still looking tired while Roo’s energy seems endless.
I’m glad I haven’t shot his ass that day in the tunnels.

After all these days we’ve finally arrived at out destination, or at least I think we have.
It’s been so long that I can’t exactly remember where the entrance is.
I search the rocks for the secret entrance but the more I search, the more I get confused.
Finally I see something familiar, a small pointy rock sticking out off the side.

As I pull the rock, the entrance opens before us.
Strange warmth meets my skin. I feel drained, like all the energy’s leaving my body in a second.
It must be from the journey. I haven’t had a decent meal or purified water in days.
We enter the caves and look around us. No sign of any life whatsoever.

“This place looks more like a tomb than a community.” Crow says.
He’s right. There are decayed corpses and skeletons lying everywhere.
The only thing that has changed when I left the place is the decoration.
Everybody’s looking around to find clues about Argyles whereabouts.

“What a horrid smell” Warren says. I look around me and see everybody’s covering their noses.
Only I can’t smell anything. Why can’t I smell anything?
The room starts spinning. The warmth gets a hold of me, like a fever. Everything goes
blurry.
“Arrrreeee yyyyooouuuuu oookkkaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy……..?”
I pass out.

Every now and then I hear some voices.
“Oh my god, what’s happening?”
“There must be something we can do.”
“Is he going to die?”

I open my eyes and try to sit up straight.
I try to focus on the person before me.
He looks like Argyle. But I can’t focus enough to be certain.
No, it isn’t Argyle, he looks different. But I know that face…

OMG, more, more, more! Awesome work man, keep it up.

Saviours & Severeness

I know that face. As I try to stand up, Warren and Roo come rushing towards me.
“Are you all right?” Warren asks. “Yeah, I’m fine, a bit woozy, that’s all.” I reply.
“How long was I out?” “2 days.” Warren says.
“2 days!? What the hell happened?” I shout. “Well, I don’t know how to put this” Warren replied
“You’d best see for yourself.” And he points at a mirror in front of me.

A mirror? But I just saw a ghoul standing there.
I look into the mirror; I see warren and Roo standing over the ghoul I saw earlier.
The ghoul is sitting right where I am. The ghoul’s eyes meet mine.
I am the ghoul. The ghoul is me…

All those years I’ve become the very thing I was afraid of becoming.
It’s strange, I don’t feel different. In fact, I don’t feel anything.
It isn’t cold, or warm. The only thing I feel, is dizzy.
I look at my hands; they’re brown and dry, like old paint curling of a wooden board.

How ironic. I came here to find a ghoul, and now I’ve become one myself.
All these years, drinking irradiated water, visiting irradiated places.
It’s my own fault. I should have paid more attention.
Well, it happened and I can’t say I’m that surprised actually.
I guess I’ll have to live with it. It doesn’t really change my plans.

Roo and Warren are still gazing at me. “Where’s Crow?” I ask calmly.
“He’s outside, taking care of the brahmin.” Warren answers.
Roo passes me a note.
We found a computer with encrypted writing.
Warren has decoded it and found out where Argyle is.
“He’s gone to underworld.” Warren quickly says.
“Underworld? But that’s in the heart of DC!” I reply.
My heart sinks. We’ve come all the way here, just to be sent to the complete other side of the wasteland.

“If we take a small detour, we can go through Bigtown.” Warren says. “It will only take a day more.”
I know we can, but I wanted to avoid Shorty until we’ve had the whole group together.
Having that annoying garden gnome with us for the rest of the trip isn’t what I intended.
I only want him because he’s the best gunman in the area.
They say something happened to him during the Super Mutant attacks on Bigtown that made him excessively better.

Crow enters the room and turns his attention to me. “I’m sorry man.”
“Don’t be” I reply. “I’m still alive, so it’s not all that bad.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” He says. “So where do we go next?”
Warren turns his head back to me. “It’s your decision” he says.
“Let’s go to Bigtown.” I say. “From there we can go to Rivet City.”

And so, yet again, we pack our belongings and set out for Bigtown.
This will probably be the last time I’ll ever see Rockopolis.
I take one last look. It’s a shame no-one lives here anymore because it’s still a fine establishment.
The ghoul in the mirror is still looking back at me.
Just a few days ago I was still a man. Unbelievable how fast things can change.

For the first time in my life, I step outside of Rockopolice as a ghoul.
I thought being a ghoul would change things, but it hasn’t.
Only the air is different. It’s dry and it tastes a bit rotten.
It’s probably just the smell that I need to get used to.

Crow walks to the brahmin and unties the rope attached around the neck of the creature.
The Brahmin yanks the rope out of Crows hands, and runs for the hills.
All of a sudden a group of at least fifteen raiders appear from behind the rocks.
In a heartbeat Crow reaches for his gun and shoots four raiders in the head.
Only the fourth manages to pull the trigger of his shotgun before he’s hit, and shoots Crow in the arm.

Roo starts shooting like a madman, with a gun in each hand.
I quickly pull the boy behind a rock. Crow is too far away, but I can’t let them kill him.
So I lift my arm aside the rock and start shooting everything that moves.
Warren helps me, and hits a few raiders. Only my bullets aren’t meeting their targets.
I can’t seem to hit anything.

Finally a raider goes down. But I was shooting at the guy standing next to him.
Because of my mutation, I can’t seem to get a straight shot.
The changes in my body have more influence than I thought.
How can we win this fight if I can’t even hit my targets?

This is hopeless. The raiders get closer and closer, and Roo and Warren can’t take them all by themselves.
Out of the blue, laser shots mow over the battlefield. A beautiful display of red beams kills everything it hits.
The raiders don’t know what just happened, but before they can take action, their lives have ended.

Warren runs towards Crow to aid him.
I try to find the faces that have saved our lives, but they’re not the faces that I want to see.
The sun reflects upon the suits of the saviours.
A small group of steel men approach us. The brotherhood of steel has saved the life of a man they’re hunting.

In a reflex, I try to run for the same hills as the Brahmin did.
But the steel men shout: “Hey, where are you going? We’re not going to hurt you!”
I pause. Are they trying to lure me in a trap?
Wait, they honestly don’t know who I am. The only thing they see is just another ghoul.

The best thing to do is pretending that I’m stupid.
“I’m sorry; I was just so scared that I tried to run away.”
Not too far from the truth, I actually was scared and tried to run away.
The steel men don’t expect anything, and after a short talk they leave as quickly as they came.

Roo and I run towards Warren and Crow. His arm has been hit pretty severely.
The entire arm is open; at some parts you can even see the bone.
Warren says we have to amputate it. Crow looks at me with fear in his eyes. I give him a nod.

Warren takes his knife and cleans it with some turpentine.
Roo gets the blowtorch as I grab a piece of wood and put it in Crows mouth.
Warren heats the blade and asks us to hold Crow.
In one quick handle, Warren cuts off the arm. Crow lets out a hard and devastating scream.

Wow, Barren's team is taking some [censored]. First Barren himself turns into a ghoul, then Crow has to have his arm removed. It isn't looking good

Noooo! He turned ghoul!...I hate ghouls! *Tears fly*

That'll teach Crow for giving bad-fitting helmets.

Also, great story. Just read it all. Very nice.

Sorry skippy, couldn't help it.
I'll try and not let any parts fall off

-My biggest post yet. Enjoy Oh, and reactions are appreciated -



Preaches & Prophesies

Crow sheds a tear when I lay my hand on his shoulder.
“I don’t know what to do Barren.” He says. “I can’t even defend myself anymore.”
“You’ll learn to shoot with your left hand Crow.” I reply. “You’ll get used to it eventually.”
I know my words sound harsh, but this is how the wasteland is. You can’t sit down and sob over everything that goes wrong.
But Crow knows I’m right, and he gives a slight nod of understanding.

However, we do have a problem at hands. Crow is in no shape to be travelling, and we need to get to Rivet City.
Warren walks up to me with the solution at hand.
“Barren, I’ve been thinking about our situation, and I think its best that I stay here in Rockopolis with Crow. That way, I can treat his arm, while Roo and you go looking for Shorty, Fincher and Kemar.”

It’s the best option we have, and with Roo at my side, we can travel fast without drawing too much attention.
Roo agrees, and we get only that what we need for the travels.
Before we go, Roo slips a note in Warren’s hand.
Take good care of Harry
“Who’s Harry?” Warren asks. Roo points at the Brahmin, I let out an uncontrollable laugh.

The last time Roo and I travelled with just the two of us, I had to tie him up every night.
I don’t think I’ll have to do that anymore.
We walk over the ‘running hills’ and glare into the distance.
Roo taps on my pip boy to let me know that I have to turn on the radio.
As I turn on the radio, the pip boy gives a few alarming bleeps.

The radiation level stated on the pip boy is exceeding the ‘death’ limit.
Suddenly I realise that I’ve been quite fortunate
If I hadn’t turn into a ghoul, I would be dead now.
Maybe I should have paid more attention to that Radometer when I was still ‘normal’.
We walk over the dead plains as nightfall reaches us.

Roo and I set up camp, and we do some targeting practice before we go to sleep.
It’s a good exercise for the both of us and a good way for me to get used to the changes in my body.
Roo’s getting better and better at shooting. He prefers the dual guns rather than just one big one.
I think he feels cool doing it, because he pretends to shoot everything while holding both guns sideways.

The night passes quickly, but I haven’t slept at all.
Roo on the other hand, has slept like a baby. His snores could be heard from miles,
probably not the best ability to have in a desert full of deathly creatures.
Just a few more hours of travel before we reach Bigtown.

We cover our time with some more target practice on a few radroaches and some mole rats
As we walk over the bridge, I have a bad feeling that something’s wrong.
Everybody’s in their homes and only the guard is outside, sitting on his chair.
His voice sounds alarmed; “Who are you, and what do you want?”
“I’m Barren and this is Roo. We’re looking for Shorty.”
“More people looking to meet the prophet I see.” The guard replies a bit more relaxed. “You can meet him in the town hall.”

The prophet? What’s all that about?
We walk towards the town hall and open the door.
The place is filled with people. At the far end of the room there’s a small man standing behind a small altar.
He wears dark green robes and hands raised while he speaks.

“…Within these days I have stopped the entire assault and made save the city.” He stops and turns his attention to us.
“What have we here? A Ghoul and a boy come to seek aid from prophet Flash?”
Roo looks annoyed at Shorty. He doesn’t like to be called a boy.
“Shorty, can we have a word with you?” I ask.

His face turns scarlet as he yells. “My name is NOT Shorty! It’s Prophet Flash.”
“Whatever, can we talk?”
His face turns more scarlet than I thought possible.
“And who wants to speak with the prophet?” He calmly asks trying to get a grip back on the conversation.

“It’s me, Barren.” He walks down from the altar and scans my face for any recognition.
“Barren, is that really you in there?” He says as if he's talking to a monster that just ate me.
After I tell him our story, his face turns back to it's normal color.
“So will you join us in our mission?” I ask him.

Shorty turns his face back to the audience and raises his voice.
“These men have asked me for my help in order to do more good in this world.”
“I will answer their needs and go into the world to join their mission.”
The voices of the crowd become noisy.
“But what about us? what about Bigtown?” A man shouts with a frightened look on his face.

“There have not been attacks in months.” Shorty replies. “There won’t be attacks for any time soon.”
“But what if there will be attacks in the future?”
“I can help you build up a decent defence which can hold of most assaults.” I tell the crowd.
Some people agree with my plan, but most of them give me an untrusting look.

They obviously think that a ghoul isn’t capable of setting up a defence.
And on top of that, I take their leader away from them.
It’s probably best to just go and get the work done, so the people know my intentions are good.

Outside, Roo is helping me find parts to repair some old robots lying on the scrapheap.
It’s a shame that I can’t take some with me. They aren’t in a bad shape at all.
After a few hours of hard work, four decent guard-robots are patrolling around the small town.
Shorty hasn’t done one thing to help, but I’m long glad he agreed to come with us.

The people are still giving me rotten looks as I walk across town to get Shorty.
He just finished packing and lets us know he’s ready to leave.
It’s best to just leave the town, and don’t look back.
There’s probably nothing more I can do to change these people’s minds.

“So we go to Rivet City first?” Shorty asks.
“That’s right, Fincher and Kemar are probably still running the weapons shop.”
“It’s a shame that Flak and Shrapnel died during the Paradise Raids.” Shorty answers.
“Well, if that vault brat didn’t try to enslave Flak and some people tried a bit harder, none of this would have happened.” Shorty's cheeks turns a bit scarlet again.
“But you’ve got to admit that it was one hell of a fight.”

As we walk on through the wastelands, I start to wonder why Shorty agreed to join us without any persuasion.
So I ask him the question and Shorty tells us his story.


“During the Super Mutant attacks on our town, they had managed to capture Red and me.
We were scared as hell when the Mutants took us inside an old police station.
They locked up Red, and took me down to the basemants.
Luckily they didn’t tie me up that well. You know, big hands and all. So I got the chance to escape while they were
fighting about killing me, or taking me to some base.

Once I was outside, I realised that I couldn’t leave Red behind. But I also couldn’t fight off all those Super Mutants.
Then it happened. In the dark night, a big green flash blinded my eyes,
and a rain of small round white shiny tubes accompanied by a strange plasma weapon fell before me.

I realised that this was a sign from the lords above that I had to go back and take the weapon to fight of those Mutants.
So I went back inside. The weapon was magnificent.
Every shot I released killed its target instantly, only to leave a puddle of plasma behind.

After I killed all those mutants, I released Red and we went back to Bigtown.
Everybody started to worship me because I told my story and kept the Town save from any assaults.
After a while, the Super mutants stopped attacking the town.
I call the holy weapon that was given to me the ‘lance of fire’.”


I look at Shorty with a blank expression. “But that still hasn’t given me an answer to my question.”
“I’m getting to it” Shorty says irritated.
“The white tubes are the ammo of the weapon. But it’s unique, and I’m kind of running out.
So I can’t stay with my people because if they find out that I'm just a normal guy with an un-normal weapon, well err..."
“How much do you have left?” I ask.
“How much what?” “How much ammo.” “Oh, ehm, twelve.”

That’s great. I took someone into our team that’s annoying, superstitious and without any
great ability besides giving out preaches of nonsense.
What a lovely day this has turned out to be...

And of course, he gets the Firelance before me. T.T

Great job! You are a master writer!

Wee! I would kill Shorty anyday =]

Tongues & Twins

Its five o’clock in the morning and my eyes are wide open.
I volunteered to keep guard the first few hours, but I’m still wide awake after six hours.
Ever since my body mutated, it’s like I gained insomnia.
I don’t feel the need to sleep any more. It’s like my body fuels on a different type of energy.

It’s as quiet as it gets, apart from the occasional snoring of Roo.
How peaceful the surroundings seem, I feel that it’ll all change soon.
Our trip to Rivet city is halfway and until now, there hasn’t been any major resistance.

I wake the guys up. It’s time to get moving once more.
We are two days away from Rivet city, where Fincher and Kemar hopefully still are.
The line in the horizon changes. Buildings start to emerge from the ground, and the ruins of the DC become visible.
This region doesn’t just have a soul. It has stories, millions of stories.

There’s still one story that interests me. I still like to know how Roo has lost his tongue.
Up until now, he didn’t feel like telling. But I’m sensing he might have changed his mind by now.
So I walk up to him and ask the question once more.
You aren’t going to stop asking, are you? he writes.
He’ll probably tell me the story if I say no, so I say “No”.

Shorty and I examine the area for a bit, while Roo writes down his tale.
I notice that he has a lot of difficulty writing it down.
But he finishes it, and hands me the piece of paper with a trembling hand.
I feel sorry for asking him such a difficult question, but I read it none the less.

Back when the TC ‘recruited’ me. They were always rough on me.
I could never do anything good, and basically got picked on for most of the time.
Like I told, it wasn’t the best time in my life.
So after a few weeks I planned to escape that hellhole.
Anything should be better than staying with those maniacs.

That kid that was also a former slave helped me planning it. His name was Petrol.
After weeks of planning, we finally finished the plan, and agreed to leave the training-pit the next morning.

But Petrol didn’t show up the next morning.
I waited for half an hour, but I couldn’t wait any longer, or it would have been too late in the morning.
So I crawled through all the secret shafts and small corridors by my self.
When I finally was out of there, four of the Talon mercs were waiting for me outside.

Petrol was standing next to them. That son of a [censored] set me up.
At first I didn’t understand. How could he have done such a thing?
But it came quite obvious after a while. In return of his backstabbing he received a great deal of ‘recognition’.
He was taken into the higher ranks of soldiers and got some nice equipment.

The four mercs tortured me and made sure that I would never do it again.
If I would escape, their secret base could be revealed. And that wasn’t something they wanted.
So demanded that I would swear to never try and ‘leave’ again.
But I refused to talk. They tortured and yelled at me, but I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction.

So my mouth stayed shut. One of the guys walked up to me and said:
“Well boy, if you aint going to use tour tongue, we might as well cut it off.”
So he grabbed his knife...

The letter ends. I feel even worse for asking now.
Roo turns his head away and signals us to continue walking.
I figure he doesn’t want to say, or write, another word about it.
“Can I read it?” Shorty asks eagerly. But Roo quickly rips the paper out of my hand and shreds it to the smallest pieces i've ever seen.
“Just asking.” Shorty says slightly annoyed.

I avoid the confrontation and start to quicken the pace.
We’ve reached the buildings and agree to take the long way around.
As long as we don’t have to take any underground tunnels, we won’t.
“I have some stories of my own.” Shorty says.
“No one wants to hear them Shorty.” I reply.

He looks to me even more annoyed, and angrily states that his name isn’t Shorty anymore.
“You always be short, err, I mean Shorty to me.”
Making fun of Shorty is the only entertainment left at this point.
So we tend to use it as much as we can. And this way, Roo is a bit happier too.

We come in range of the Brotherhood of steel base and keep on walking without trying to draw too much attention.
They may have saved our lives, but I still don’t tend to make friends with them.
With the BoS base behind us, it means we’re not far from Rivet city though.

The city on the water appears in our eyes. The beauty hasn’t left her yet.
We walk over the bridge and the head of security is already waiting for us.
He asks us what our business in Rivet city is. Harkness is his name.
There’s something strange about him. It’s as if I look right through him.

“We are here to meet with Fincher and Kemar, can you please direct us to them?”
Harkness directs us to the market and shows us through the sturdy metal door.
The space is enormous. Metal everywhere I look.
I walk down the stairs and notice that my friends are still at the same spot they were a half year ago.

“If it isn’t the twins of death.” I tell them.
“There’s only one person in the whole world who calls us that” Fincher replies.
“Barren! Haven’t we told you that this would have happened if you would drink any more of that poison?” Kemar says.
I walk up to them and put my arms around them.
Roo looks confused. I guess I forgot to tell him that they’re twins.

:poke: more more!!! :flamethrower: :banghead: :fallout:

Give us next chapter pl0x!

Seriously, where's your next chapter?

Very nice, very nice, my only grumble is in the title of the 2nd chapter up. Should be Peaches and Prophecies, you see the c? Just one grumble, apart from that, great.

Allrighty, I'll post the next chapter in about an hour or 7. ([edit] Or six)

Had a few busy weeks behind me, so srry about the delays

Dark & Light

There stand two identical men. They look like they just might have jumped out of Grognak the Barbarian.
Their hair brown and fuzzy, looking like they've never touched it.
'Don't let their appearance fool you." I tell Roo. "They killed more raiders than you've ever seen."

Roo walks up to them and gives them a hand. "He's Fincher and I'm Kemar" Kemar says.
Roo just gives a nod of understanding. "And your name is..?" Fincher says.
Roo Writes his name on a piece of paper and gives it to the twins.
"What? Cat's got you tongue then?" Roo opens his mouth and Fincher and Kemar witness a tongue-less mouth. "Wow" Kemar says. "I didn't know that there are still cats around."

After Shorty has introduced himself as Prophet Flash, I try to get Fincher and Kemar up to date and slip in that the name is Shorty.
The twins immediately accept my request to join us. I couldn't be more excited.
After only a few weeks we were able to gather a small army for the greater good.

With Warren, Fincher, Kemar, Shorty, Roo and 5/6th of Crow we're just two people away from storming the HQ of TC.
Our next step is Underworld. Though I've been in the DC more than once, I can't say that I'm looking forward to this.
The last time I went there, it nearly cost me my life.

"Hellooo? Barren?" I look up to see Kemar waving his hands before me. "What are we going to do Barren?" Kemar asks.
"I don't know" I reply. "There are several ways to reach Underworld, but none of them are a stroll in the park."
"The Metro tunnels might be the best solution." Shorty states. "It's not that save, but we'll get there fast enough."
I think I have to agree with Shorty. I don't like agreeing with him, but he's right this time.
"Allright, we'll go through the tunnels."

After dinner at Gary's we set out to the Metro station near Rivet City.
The entrance got an eerie look, as if it's just been past by death itself.
Nonetheless we enter the tunnel and automatically hold our breaths every time a voice echoes through the halls.
I decided to go up front in case any Feral ghouls might show up, and they do.

They don't give much of a sport. I can take out most of them before they even notice I'm a foe in disguise.
After a few hours walking, the Ferals seem to get a bit suspicious. As if they can smell the death on my hands.
I'm not surprised if they can. Once in a while I wonder myself if my ability to smell has increased.

A Feral in the distance spotted me. But instead of running towards me like a madghoul, he runs away from us, giving out a screech as he goes.
I look back at the others and tell them to keep their eyes out for any danger.
I don't trust this situation one bit. Ghouls running away should look like a good thing, but it's not exactly normal.

After 10 minutes of total silence, I'm beginning to think that I was wrong.
But the sudden screams of what seem like dozens of ghouls changes my mind.
The echoes surround us. I don't know where to aim; it's too dark to see any ghouls at all.
They aren't near us yet, but their voices are.

The dark tunnels gradually grow light. It's a strange sort of green that seems to attract all the ghouls to it.
The sources of the light show themselves. Three glowing ghouls surrounded by numerous feral ghouls approach slowly.
Somehow the light is appealing to me. It calls me.

As the defenders put their guns in good use, I let down my guard and walk up to the light, trying to touch it.
Bullets sizzling past, some going right through me.
One of the Glowing ghouls bursts out a wave of green light. It penetrates me and fills my body with beautiful warmth.
The bullets don't hurt; the light takes care of me. It sings to me.

Kemar and Fincher caught up with me and pull me away from the ghouls.
While dragging me back, they throw a few handgrenades at the glowing ones.
Shorty gets his special gun and fires the Firelance bullets to finish the glowing ones off.

The remaining Ferals start screaming and run right towards us. Roo takes his two 10mm's and lets down a rain of bullets on the ghouls.
It almost looks like a dance of decayed limbs.
After Kemar, Fincher and Shorty join in; the battlefield becomes quiet once more.

I can't move a muscle, just staring at the ceiling. What just happened? Why did that light call to me?
The guys bow their head over me, every single one of them looking worried.
"Those bullets should have killed you." Kemar says. "

"It's that light." I tell them. "That light made me invulnerable."
"Well, that same light got you there in the first place." Fincher replies in a slightly troubled tone.
"Normal ghouls don't do that you know? They do get healed by high radiation, but they aren't called by it."

Roo walks up to the corpses and takes something from one of the dead, still glowing, ghouls.
He walks back and puts it in my hands.
It looks like a headband with various electronics build inside. I can't anolyze it, it's much too complicated.
"We'll have to take this to Warren. He can find out what it is."