Fallout 3, the race for Eden

[Keanumoreira]

The doors burst open as the unknown men and women carried their next test subject within their working area, me. I squirmed as I tried to break free, but the scientists only applied pressure with their leather wrapped hands to keep me confined. I was transported down a vast network of hallways, similar to the ones back at the vault, but the ones I was carried through, were far more abnormal in appearance.

 

Not only were the walls chipped, and falling part which of course was typical, but fathoms of blood, enough to save an entire hospital capacity, were smeared all over the walls, unknown bodies were strewn everywhere. Screaming of all kinds could be easily heard from every direction; god only knows the torture these unlucky people were being applied with, and I was scheduled to join them.

 

As we neared the end of the first hallway, we took a sharp right, continuing onward past door after door.

 

Room thirteen, room fourteen, room fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, room nineteen.

 

The entrance, unlike the others, had a code pad that prevented curious eyes that shouldn’t belong there from trespassing. One of my captors typed the code in, code 4383, and what they failed to recognize was that the entire time, my Pipboy copied that code down instantly, faster than a nanosecond, virtually undetectable, but I was fully conscious of what it was doing.

 

The A.I unit within was busy at work, putting together mathematical equations and physic solutions, carefully calculating my escape route. I gazed over as a red button flashed off my Pipboy, a clear sign that the plan to freedom had been solved. I learned of this secret message from the digital manual I read off the machine hours prior to my capture, soon after I woke up from my deep slumber on the once functioning Virti. Now that the pan was set, it was up to me to make the next move, but when that time came, that was where most of the concern was centered.

 

The door opened manually as the code was accepted, and the gurney, along with its tied companion, where thrown inside, the scientists leaving us there alone as they trapped us within. I laid there in the darkness, petrified, expecting at any moment to be harvested, sedated, or even processed for any scientifical reason that these criminals could benefit from. Then, there in the darkness, segregated from another being, the sound of operating machinery was active. The clanking noise was positioned directly over me, before stopping all together. My body grew still, my ears more attuned, my senses more alert. Shivers raced beneath my chest and throughout my body, my heart playing the beat of Little Drummer Boy, but this wasn’t a beat to celebrate happy times and prosperity, this was the beating of death’s arrival.But I was soon relieved to know that it wasn’t an instrument of pain, it was only the activation of four observant lights, the ones you can find on an operating table, and this table was soon to be in operative use.

 

My relief was shattered when I saw the unmistakable presence of a three segmented drill device, rapidly closing in for dissection. The general spoke over the intercom as the inhumane procedure was underway.

 

“Ah, my prey, my tools, no hope for escape. Smell that boys, it’s the smell of fear, and if there’s nothing I love better than to get up in the morning, sip some caffeine, and play with my power toys, its fear."

 

“You’re insane.” I spat at him.

 

“Maybe so.” He agreed.

 

“But it’s just so much fun, ripping open the torso and exposing that beating heart, listening to the sweet chorus of unbearable mistreatment similar to that of childbirth, what a rush! I can’t wait to taste the sweet nectar of blood as it flows over my arms, as lovely as the old stories of medical treatment spoke of, except for the removal of pesky bystanders such as the all too familiar pain relievers, and safety rules, all of those that would otherwise hinder our progress and craving for the red life giver."

 

“This is wrong!” I shouted out to the overcome,

 

“This is murder; this is treason to your kind. Who are you people, vampires, cannibals? Are you on some kind of wonder drug or something?”

 

“Half.” He said.

 

“Half what?” I asked.

 

“Half vampire.”

 

“I was being sarcastic. Vampires? This… this is crazy, you people need help, you need enlightenment.”

 

“Perhaps you’re the one who is in need of help.” The general insisted.

 

“Hey I’m not the one experimenting on people to find efficient ways to drink their blood, and what else.”

 

“We drink blood not because we are Vampires, but because we need the nurturing the substance provides. We aren’t bats, we don’t fear the so called ball of gas, we don’t kill unless we need to, and we certainly don’t eat flesh. We are descendents from a cult of a new group of Vampires who started the clan some three hundred years ago. We simply feed to not hold back the inevitable, but to hold back the hunger that rages within us, begging to lash out and harm those we deem as friends. My child you are too young to understand the needs people such as us require, and it’s an honor to be fed to the clan. You will provide for generations to come, giving birth to a new world order, to at last accomplish peace for everyone in this new society, this new race that is derived not from myth, or some sort of divine being you foolish beings believe in, but from something, no someone, that is real, that is fact.”

 

“What kind of general are you? I criticized,

 

“You can’t be a leader of some sort that aims to protect the people. Why do you even wear these uniforms if it doesn’t appeal to what you are referring to?”

 

“Simple, we wear it to confuse our prey, to lure them in a false sense of security. Think of it as camouflage, like a predator hiding in the distance, waiting to pounce. We also have powerful military planes and helicopters to capture various targets at a time. But we prefer the victims to be alive when we extract them, precisely why we took you instead. And we have the experimenting area, where we get to play with our food before ingesting it, the blood of course, but there’s no harm at poking around first. But there’s another reason why we want to possess test subjects.. We want to extract your DNA, observe your insides, so that we can make clones, a never ending food supply at our exposal. Then we just drain you of whatever amount of liquid you have left, and dispose of you quietly so that no unwanted attention is captured.”

 

“You can’t do this!” I yelled.

 

“It’s unethical!”

 

“Unethical? My boy, out here in this world of survival, there’s no such thing as unethicality. Now enough stalling, the feast is soon to be underway, and we need a source. Men prepare our friend, then start her up.”

 

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, they proved me wrong. A single, mechanical arm appeared from an opening in the ceiling, grasping my clothes. Then without warning, to my complete displeasure, the artificial hand began to strip me. First went my lab coat, then my shirt, my pants, and everything else, not one piece of clothing remained. The arm then went from where it came, taking my belongings, other than the Pipboy with it.

 

“My, my. What a healthy individual.” The general complimented darkly.

 

“I am not an animal, release me at once!”

 

But he wouldn’t have it, and so the general ignored my pleas as I was about to be cut open while totally nude, fully exposed. The drills came online, sinking its spinning, razor sharp teeth into my torso, shredding it in an instant. The agony was too much to bear, but try as desperately as I might, the bands around me wouldn’t let up.

 

“AHHHHH!!! ALAS! ALAS DO SOMETHING, QUICK!” Alas responded to my cries for help, and began searching for a way to escape the drill.

 

“MR. Vitoli.” She replied,

 

“In order to flee from your predicament, you must gather every ounce of strength in your body, and hold me up to those two wires crossing the drill. Do you see them?”

 

“Ye… yes, I do, the blue one and the red one.”

 

I lifted my arm up to the wires as Alas had instructed, a sharp pain immigrated from the flesh wound as a result. My arm flew back as a shock from the scare.

 

“Focus MR. Vitoli.” Alas advised.

 

My arm rose as I attempted to retry the action. The feeling returned, my teeth grinded, but I succeeded. After an excruciating six second wait, Alas cut the wires in two by using a laser system built within her. The drill became obsolete, and swung to the left, leaving a deep gash on my side. I vociferated as it left my flesh, chunks of meat, shards of bone, a pool of blood, scattered everywhere.

 

“Alas, hurry!”

 

Now with no distractions to cease her work, the A.I crushed the straps around me with bone crushing force, finally setting me free. I rolled over onto the floor, smacking into it with heavy resistance. I pulled myself up, and tried to find the doors opening mechanics, but the drills influence simply wouldn’t let me, forcing me to succumb and collapse. But then, something hit me, but it wasn’t the company of something sinister, but that of extreme strength. The injuries burden could no longer be felt; it all just dwindled away, leaving without a trace. It was Alas, pumping large amounts of adrenalin directly into the wound, blocking its sway of immobilization.

 

I leaped from the ground, ready to take on anyone who got in my way, an army, a navy, an entire organization if need be. Without the ability to feel, I punched the control panel into oblivion, setting off a backup system that opened the door for me. Wasting no time, I darted out of the room, heading for the exit, but Alas urged against it.

 

“MR. Vitoli, your chances of escaping alive are very slim, but you do have one option that can save your life. Two floors up from this level is the General's observation deck, where he keeps the controls to every prisoner’s room who are being kept until there time comes. If you can activate it, the scientists will be overwhelmed with revengeful men and women, but I must warn you that upon doing so will also set off a self destruction protocol that will obliterate the entire area, twice the range from that of Megaton’s atom bomb if it were to set off. I have located a convenient helicopter that you can use to escape with before the blast can kill you, but it’s low on fuel; however it’s the only means of doable transportation in the complex.”

 

Accepting Alas’s plan, I hurried to the observation deck. On the way, every scientist who caught sight of me fired without question, mercilessly gunning down all those who where unfortunate enough to get in the way. Flying up the flights of stairs, I at last made it to the final floor, blockading the staircase, and the nearby elevator to dissuade interference.

 

Inside the control room, the General was waiting, sitting in a wooden chair, smoking a cigar, as I let myself in.

 

“So.” He expressed without fear,

 

“Here you are, strong, fit, and in a man’s full glory, and I must say you surpass even my own!”

 

My fist struck his nose, sending him outside his chair; boy it felt good to do that.

 

“You disgusting, perverted, demon. What in hell's name possibly possessed you to commit such vile actions?” The General laughed at such a remark.

 

“I guess I’m the monster under your bed, hidden in your closet, stalking you at night. Yet you come from a species that caused all this chaos, a species who argue amongst themselves, who, when the going gets tough, choose war as a means of punishment, abandoning all the good left in them, your people care for none. I take gratitude from nature knowing my death is out of an act of selfishness, out of rashness and unjust behavior. You deserve what you’ve gotten.”

 

Noticing a steel pipe to my left, I reached out for the defense, or in this case, the offense it wielded. I held it in a bloodthirsty manner, ready to take a human life, but one that had it coming. As I drew closer, the General uttered his final words.

 

“You’ve proven my point.” Just before swinging the blunt object, I gave him the last sound he would hear as he cowered there in the corner.

 

“For all the lives you’ve taken.”

 

The pipe landed on his skull with tremendous accuracy, stealing the life from him almost instantly, his lifeless corpse sinking. Acting fast, I initiated the “emergency” sequence, and watched happily as my enemies were taken by the wrathful. But as reluctant I was from leaving these people to an unfair fate, I had no other way of saving them. The countdown began, and so did my pursuit for safety, and my current mission, and nothing would stop me. With every last fiber of my being, I collected all my strength in my legs, and sprinted for the helicopter, praying that I wouldn’t trip, or fail to go on.

 

When I threw the door aside, only twenty seconds remained from absolute hell, but something wasn’t allowing me to get in. A woman and her child were being harassed by the possessed staff, and were quickly losing the battle of revolution. With the pipe still in my grasp, I cut the men down into piles of useless trash, and dropped the pipe as I replaced it with the two females, setting them down in the machine that would save their lives.

 

“Hold on tight, we’re getting out of here.” I assured, as I took my seat at the front of hope.

 

I was cut, I was slashed, stricken with doubt, and exposed to two ladies that would surely mock me after this, but it didn’t matter, we had less than ten seconds to high tail it out of there, and I knew it was going to be a tight squeeze. We took off with five seconds to spare, witnessing the full blast of fury behind us, the only ones left to tell the tale. But after we were in the clear, I began to become disoriented, dizzy, lightheaded. The adrenalin had worn off, only intended to be used in quick bursts, not to be long lasting. I switched the autopilot on, and got up, swiftly letting go. Before unconsciousness, I could hear the little girl asking what was happening.

 

“Mommy, mommy, he doesn’t look too good, is he ok, what happened to him?”

 

Her mother didn’t answer, only talking over the radio from an incoming transmission.

 

“Roscoe, Roscoe are you there? Your Pipboy is allowing us to commune through this aircraft's radio. We saw you fall from radar, are you ok……? Roscoe, Roscoe please answer.”

 

It was the G.E.C.K research woman again, seeking my words, but I was too weak to comply. As the darkness engulfed my sight, the mother came to the radio.

 

“This is Eve Kalaborn, and I’m here with my daughter Molly. We were saved from this man from being killed after being kidnapped, I think he was too. I believe his name is Roscoe, the man you’re searching for, but he’s in need of immediate medical care. He’s got deep flesh wounds all over his body and is losing a lot of blood, I believe he is too far gone to save. He's dying."

[Keanumoreira]

Great story, it's worth the trip - (Lol) - :wink:

 

It's easy to identify with the hero, and it's not the minor wishes I could make here. Take your time for the next, we are not in hurry. I personally think that releasing a complete chapter in one time would be better for the reading.

 

A little humor go's a long way I always say.

[Keanumoreira]

(Sorry for the long delay guys, I've been distracted.)

 

Chapter 4: On the road to Oregon

 

I awakened to a familiar face watching over me from a strange bed, in a strange location. I could hear fighting outside, explosions, cursing, the sounds of war. Eve and Molly were there, keeping a close eye on me as I slept. Her mother smiled as she spotted me inspecting the room, reaching out for the soft touch of my resting hand. I looked up at her, returning the gesture.

 

“Uhhh. Hey...I remember you, and, Molly. Hello sweetie, how are you?”

 

The child kissed me on the forehead, thanking me.

 

“Mommy said you saved us from the nasties, those big things with toys that shoot metal. She said that those people would harm us, that we would be...dead, but then you showed up. Thank you mister, you saved us.”

 

Eve kneeled down to Molly, holding her little, doll like hand.

 

“Honey, why don’t you go find Steven, I heard he needs help with the soup for MR. Roscoe. I heard he gives candy to big girls who help around the kitchen.”

 

“Candy? I love candy. Do you think M.R. Thomas would love one too?”

 

Molly pointed her finger at my divided body.

 

“M.R. Thomas?” Eve explained.

 

“That’s what Molly calls you now. She finds the name more amusing and acceptable than the drab common name Roscoe. Her words not mine.”

 

“Uh huh, yeah, a child as young as her uses the word drab.”

 

“I’ll have you know that Molly is very intellectual!” Eve scolded as her daughter abruptly left the room.

 

“Great, now look what you did, you scared the poor thing away. (Sigh). Forgive me; I’m a little stressed at the moment. It’s just that, well, it’s been so hard since my husband was taken from us, and since then we’ve been terrorized without him there to keep the animals and raiders at bay, not to mention the slaves, no, not again, not to be a slave again.“

 

“You were a slave?”

 

She sat on the bed, fixing my hair with a stroke of her hand, as she told me her past.

 

“I was eighteen when they found me, when they stole me from the caravans. It was a night I would never forget, one that would forever alter my personality. Before my capture, I was nothing short of a playful young woman, ignoring the so called dangers of the wastes. The life I led was one of joy, taking part in the vast celebrations of merchants everywhere as we roamed the thirsty lands. But one day, it all changed, when all I had known, slipped away in only a blink of an eye, faster than a surprise attack from a Deathclaw. While we pranced around the fires like cavemen, and danced the night away with scotch and whiskey like a couple of carefree, partiers, nature called. I excused myself, searching for a good spot to do a ladies business, far away from the hormonal men, perfect for a quiet extraction.They snatched me by the hair, arms, and legs, taking me to their slave pen where eager customers were waiting. I never saw it coming; they were too fast, too agile, too strong, bred like hunting dogs to carry out the dirty deed. They put a crude, chocking collar around my neck, chained my hands together, and left me in a pen with five other people. That’s when I met Molly.”

 

Eve went on as she perceived my bewildered attitude.

 

“Surprised? It’s true, Molly isn’t my blood daughter, I did not create her. She was a slave, just like me, taken from her parents at childbirth, but I guess none ever took an interest in her. Once I entered her world, her domain,she didn’t take her eyes off of me, stalking my every move, as if intrigued by my “visit.” She saw something in me that was apart from the others, something that was worth exploiting. Every night she would come to me, lips silence, with a portion of her food, where she would give it to me with no charge. Molly would then withdraw to her little corner, only returning to join me again when it came time to sleep. But something remarkable came from her tiny body, something I didn’t expect to see in such a kind, loving being. Four days after the incident, a slaver entered the pen and did things that Molly found most unacceptable, that being of rape, or at least he tried. She pounced on his back, lashing out at him with such untamed acrimony, unlike any I had ever seen before. The others rushed to finish him off, sealing his mouth shut to trap all pleads for assistance, but they still had a body to deal with, and when morning came, then what? But Molly was clever, hiding him inside our expanding amounts of feces. She then took me by the hand, and with the others, sneaked out of Paradise falls, and went our separate ways, but my little girl clutched my bedraggled dress, wanting to follow me, no matter where it may lead her. So I adopted her, having my first, true daughter, even if we didn’t share the same genetic codes.”

 

“That’s a touching story.” I admired, “But what of your husband, how did he go?”

 

I could tell Eve found it tough to talk about; her face told it all.

 

“Jacob...was a determined man; he wanted to end all tyranny in the Capital wasteland. He told me that he went around forming save havens for slaves, donating clean water, clothes, and food to the less fortunate, and rescued children from the Super Mutants that would otherwise eat them. He was a savior in his lifetime, full of bravery, there’s just so much potential he had that he never lived to see. We married when I was twenty, after we both fought off a group of raiders from taking the Republic of Wilson. Our love was unparalleled, unchallenged, together, with our adopted daughter, we made life shine. But then Jacob died, after a group of Regulators found his actions to be a joke, and cruelly assassinated him in the dead of night. At the time, we left for Megaton, consulting the mayor for living space to do safe research in the ways of terra forming. Jacob vowed to stay behind to guard our shelter just in case we were unsuccessful; we shouldn’t have left him there. We were ultimately denied because of our slaver status, told that it would attract undesired company, and when we came back home, we found him with his head removed. After awhile, we finally pulled ourselves together and scavenged the bits and pieces of him that we could find, burying him in a grave overlooking D.C. Me and Molly just couldn’t let him go, but when supplies ran short, we had no other option, no other way, and I was certain that Jacob didn’t want us to starve ourselves over his passing. We torn down our makeshift house, the same house my love crafted with such gifted hands, and grieved as we left him alone in death, moving on with our life’s, a divorced family."

 

I belied at such a remark.

 

Divorced? Molly surely looks like she moved on; she still shares the same young nature as any kid her age."

 

”Molly’s a complex girl; I still don’t fully understand how she functions. She’s like an optimist, quickly switching from one mood to another. I’ve known her for four years, but I still haven’t come close to cracking her genome so to speak. Thank you for listening though, at least someone cares enough to wonder about one’s life.”

 

Eve finished all that she had to tell, and all the while, cracks of thunder rang from beyond the walls, taunting and war cries mixing together enhanced the uneasy mood of the dark story time. Perturbed by the disturbing fuss much too close for comfort, I questioned Eve.

 

“Whoever’s out there, they’re not going to break in are they?”

 

"What, you’re not afraid of big boys with big guns are you?”

 

“No.” I rebutted, “Just practical, since they seem to have the upper hand.”

 

“Nah, I’ve seen what our allies can do, they know how to handle misbehavior. Our attackers are just peeved that you leveled their playhouse, and killed their homecoming leader. Just after you passed out; we were being pursued by a nearby outpost that was aware of your actions back at the experimenting site. They sent men after us, but a women who claimed to know you from back in D.C., I believe her name was Darleen, was trying to track you down, said she lost sight of you from her radar. She instructed me to come here and hide with you while the men at this station gave us cover.” I rubbed my eyes as I acknowledged the situation.

 

“Oh man I forgot, all this talking has made me forget about my objective.” Eve crossed her arms.

 

“Well geese, sorry if I tried to make some conversation.”

 

“No, no, it was fun, uh nice to talk with you about personal matters, but after being held up in a bed for a week, well, I need to get up and Adam.”

 

“A week? Roscoe It’s been over a month since we arrived”. I catapulted from the pillow.

 

“A month? Ahhh!” I directed my hand over to my chest, the wound was still there, partially intact.

 

Eve placed one of her hands on my back, while gently pushing me back down.

 

“Easy. You’re still not fully recovered, and the stitches haven’t come into full effect just yet. You’re going to be sore for awhile, and it’ll be at least another week before you can walk again.”

 

“I can’t wait that long!” I protested, “I have to go now, its urgent!”

 

“Roscoe you have to rest, there’s no telling how severe your state is.”

 

“You don’t understand, my mission is crucial, the entire human race depends on it.”

 

The scratching of static interrupted us as a radio setup opposite of us began receiving frequencies, those from a very far place. The transmission stabilized as Darleen began sending messages.

 

“Fort Nebraska 43 do you read, I repeat, fort Nebraska 43 do you read? Eve can you hear me?” Eve left my side as she answered the message.

 

“Yes this is Eve here, we are still under attack, supplies are low, there are reported casualties, and the base is getting pounded, but we are holding out just fine for the moment.”

 

“Is Roscoe ok, is he alive?” Darleen asked with worry.

 

“Yes he’s fine, even better actually, he woke up.” Darleen couldn’t believe her ears.

 

“What? He’s fully conscious, unbelievable, his life looked so grim. Everyone, everyone listen, Roscoe has departed from his coma!” The celebration of excited men and women exploded from the background of the radio.

 

“Eve...” Darleen called, “Eve Can you bring Roscoe to the radio?”

 

“I don’t know about that, he can’t even sit up in bed.” But before Eve even knew it, I was already alongside her.

 

“Roscoe my god! You ass, you startled me! Here, Darleen wants a word with you.”

 

“Hello?”

 

“Roscoe! Good heavens, I wouldn’t believe it if I couldn’t hear it with my own two ears. Well you’ve made a full recovery in such a short time, remarkable given your circumstances. From what Mrs. Eve has told me, she has a lot to be grateful for, and that little “show” you displayed isn’t the only one.”

 

Eve giggled as I scratched my neck in humiliation.

 

“Uh...well yes, I, uh, hope she enjoyed the, ahem, show.”

 

“Yes, the show was quite enjoyable.”

 

“Well I’m sure you too aren’t focused on such pitiful matters, may I remind you Roscoe that you still need to bring back that G.E.C.K; we’re off schedule as it is, we don’t need any more distractions.” Eve’s smile faded.

 

“A G.E.C.K, that’s what you’re after? That’s just an urban myth; everyone knows the last one was destroyed in the process of cleaning up the Potomac.”

 

“Not according to Darleen. She believes one more still exists, in the Brotherhood of Steel HQ in California.”

 

“Wait a minute; you’re going to infiltrate a highly guarded organization in possession of unstable technology capable of unimaginable power, wielded by trigger-happy men and women who’ve gone rogue?”

 

“Yep.” I answered simply.

 

Eve eyed me.

 

“That’s insane, it’s too precarious, to even side with something outweighing the odds is suicidal, it’s not worth the risk.” I was quick to reject.

 

“Not worth the risk; Eve, this is the entire human species we’re talking about, we have a chance to undo the mistake our ancestors made so long ago, to return what should have been ours. You have to understand that this is humanities final turn to make a difference, if we miss it, Earth will never revert to its original form. So what if I die, so what if I never live to tell the story, at least I would have tried to make life better for the future of our kind.”

 

Eve put her hand on my shoulder, giving her worry as she gave me a crutch leaning on the radio’s desk to support my weight.

 

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

 

“Certain.” I replied as I placed the object under my arm. “What could be a better heroic act?”

 

“Wait!” Eve asserted as I proceeded to the exit. “I want to come with you; I want to be there when you activate the creation kit.”

 

I stopped, turned around, and gave her a dubious look.

 

“And you think you and Molly will last one second following me into the fray?”

 

“Yes.” She responded, “I know we will, because I’ve seen what you can do, what you can accomplish. Besides, we have nowhere to go, no escorts; you’re the only one I trust right now.”

 

I didn’t want to approve of having two other travelers on my journey, but I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I abandoned two innocents to the wastes.

 

“Fine, you can come. But please, be careful, I don’t want you two to share the same fate Jacob did. Go fetch Molly, we’re leaving right now.”

 

Eve’s anxiety continued to plague her.

 

“How are we supposed to leave, when there are blankets of bullets raining from the sky?”

 

“See this?” I showed her my Pipboy 3.0.

 

“What about it?"

 

“It has a programmed A.I; I’m without doubt that Alas has a plan.”

 

As she left to find her daughter, Alas gave me aim.

 

“I have found that we are going to have to redirect our direct focus from California to Oregon. At the moment, we have no air assistance, as a result, we have to find another air base, otherwise we’ll have to walk. Luckily, we are at the border with Wyoming, where air transportation exists at the nearest. Then from there, you will fly to Oregon where a ferry can bring you close to the G.E.C.K location. I have a shield charged and ready for use when you’re ready to leave, it will ensure that we will escape unharmed, though I fear our opponents will chase us the entire way. Please execute caution.”

 

Right as Alas finishes, Molly returns with her mother, ready with their things.

 

“Ok bundle up.” I ordered as I gave Alas the cue to power up our defense.

 

Alas gave the go.

 

“Sequence activated, charge at 100%, no obstructions detected. Process complete.”

 

Just before dispatching, I gave the final command.

 

“Now hold hands and run where I run.”

 

The two did as they told as the three of us surged from the building, heading off in the direction that my Pipboy presented. We came under siege as the army advanced on us.

 

“There, get them!” One of them yelled as they swarmed after us.

 

“Don’t stop, we’ll make it.” I assured, “Oregon here we come!”

[Fifoo]

Great work Keanumoreira and I'm eagerly waiting for what happens next :thumbsup:

 

May I ask something : when the characters are talking together perhaps it could be clearer for the reader if the quotes from each of them are in one line instead of a new paragraph.

 

Example :

 

“I can’t wait that long!” I protested,

 

“I have to go now, its urgent!”

 

“Roscoe you have to rest, there’s no telling how severe your state is.”

 

- “I can’t wait that long!” I protested, “I have to go now, its urgent!”

 

- “Roscoe you have to rest, there’s no telling how severe your state is.”

[Keanumoreira]

Thanks for the positive feedback Fifoo, and a great point, consider it done.

[Keanumoreira]

The killers kept advancing, promising to be our cessation as they showered us with their hails of fast moving ammunition. Our loud sprints became muffled jogs, our breath close to depletion, our bodies begging for submission, but the crazed staff of the long gone research center only took advantage of our deteriorating state. These people were clearly better adapted to life in the wastes as not one ounce of sweat dripped from their grimy face and torn boots, nor were they gasping for oxygen or showing signs of fatigue.

 

“Why the hell are they still chasing us?” Eve pointed out, “Where the f**K are our bodyguards?”

 

I turned around at the researchers as I gave her an assumption

 

“Probably dead, most likely mowed down by the nonstop staff; we must of left right as they broke through.”

 

Molly began shedding tears, traumatized by the idea that this could be her final moments of life. Eve embraced her as she alleviated her despair with a false promise.

 

“Honey don’t cry it’ll be ok you’ll see.” Molly replied in bouts of pause as her emotions interfered with her speech.

 

“That’s...what...you said...about daddy, but daddy...didn’t make it.”

 

“Baby you’ve got to settle down, Roscoe will….”

 

Without warning, one of the men slammed into the shield with the full force of his shoulder, causing further inflation to Molly’s fright. She threw herself to her mother’s leg with tight palms, refusing to retreat as the world around her brought even further torment.

 

“I apologize if this is a bad time.” Alas stated, “But energy consumption is no longer tolerable; if we don’t shake them soon, then I’m afraid I’ll have to shut our defenses down to conserve vital power.”

 

“Do you have any suggestions?” I questioned.

 

“Just one Mr. Vitoli, but I must warn you that it is a very dangerous solution.” More men continued to besiege us, battering the shield with their guns, screaming.

 

“Anything!” I yelled desperately.

 

“Very well, please standby for deadly force.” We all huddled together as our barrier between us and the savage harvesters hungry for blood, drained.

 

“What are you doing?” Alas didn’t answer me, focusing only on her given task.

 

I watched as the last of the blue dome dissipated into a concentrated beam into the Pipboy, leaving us bare and vulnerable. I ducked my head back into our little human bubble, expecting to feel a full blow to the skull. Then, out of the blue, the Pipboy erupted with a storm of electric charge, frying the men to a dark, rock hard, burnt crisp, stopped dead in their tracks. Their burning flesh fell like dominoes, tipping each other over; some still stood blazed into place, a special position reserved just for them.

 

“Damn Alas.” I said with disbelief, “What did you do?”

 

“A simple conversion. I simply changed the particles in the shield that would normally emit electric pulses from off to on, and used the Pip-Boy to intensify it.”

 

“Impressive.” Eve complimented as she examined the Pipboy, “Roscoe where did you get this, I’ve never seen this so called Pipboy.”

 

“I grew up with it, every Vault dweller get’s one when their ten.” Eve looked over at me astonished.

 

“Vault dweller, you mean you’re not from the surface?“

 

“No.” I answered, “I’ve lived my entire life underground. Why, you don’t think that Vault people aren’t as aware of the world as you guys are?”

 

“NO, no, it’s just, well, you’re like a killing machine, yet a brilliant scientist, your an original Gordon Freeman.” I felt insulted.

 

“Oh I get it, so I’m a video game character to you. A person who is so abnormal and expected to be a simple scientist that they can’t fight?”

 

“What? That’s not what I meant at all.” I crossed my eyes and gave her a look.

 

“You know something Eve this isn’t a game where things just miraculously happen for no apparent reason. So what if I’m not surface bred, that doesn’t mean I don’t have the skills to live up to my expectations, something you so obviously lack.”

 

“Excuse me? I’ll have you now that I have no problems fulfilling my goals.”

 

“Says the women who can’t take care of herself!” I countered.

 

Eve boiled. “At least I’m not the one who blows everything out of proportion….”

 

“OUT OF PROPORTION, I don’t blow anything out of proportion!”

 

“Then what are you doing right now?”

 

“You know what your problem is?”

 

“What?” She asked curiously in a fuming attitude.

 

“I’ll tell you what, you’re pathetic. I’ve never met anyone who could be any more worthless than what’s currently standing right in front of me.”

 

“Is that so? We’ll you know what I’ve noticed, you without clothes, I’ve seen bigger!” She smiled as this combat hit me like a brick.

 

“Why...you...I...That’s it, I’ve had enough of this, I don’t have time to argue, there are more pressing matters that deserve more attention.”

 

“Yeah I can tell.”

 

“What did you say?” I asked with hostility.

 

“You heard me, perhaps you were such a coward in your childhood, that you never grow a big enough pair huh?” Eve could recognize my embarrassment, the perfect coal in her fire, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.

 

“At least I had sex, what about you and your b****y way of mind, no wonder why you never had a real daughter, because you never had the chance in the first place!” Eve took a step back as she looked down at Molly, her face turning a bright red.

 

She turned her head away from me as she quietly followed me onward.

 

“Hurts doesn’t it?”

 

After the fight had reached its climax, and died down, no one said a word for the rest of the day, carefully and secretly keeping their thoughts strictly to themselves.

 

During those four hours of the nonstop trek through the countryside, I at last had time to think, I only wished that a fight would have been adverted to get some time “alone”. I thought about the vault again, but not of the events itself, but the odd disappearance of my coworker. Where he was, if he was dead, or alive, I hadn’t the slightest idea, but why I thought of him so much during the time, also wasn’t crystal clear. I barely knew the guy, yet my conscious told me otherwise as if I knew him since I was a toddler.

 

But I also thought about Eve, and by then, a little guilty of how I treated her, and it was then that I began to fall in love with her. This bizarre, almost indescribable feeling, what the old world referred to as having butterflies in your stomach, paraded around in that very spot, and my heart leaped with joy. I was confused, lost; I had never felt this strongly about anyone before, not even when I had my first time. I couldn’t comprehend the fact that my feelings for Eve were changing just after our first major fight, a fight that had gravely wounded her, and after she saved my life.

 

When dusk came, and the sky resorted to a palette of yellows, oranges, and reds, we agreed to stop for the night.

 

“Eve.” I said in a calm tone, “Do you want to rest for tonight?”

 

“Sure.” She replied in a low voice, still hurt from earlier.

 

She sat there in the dirt with her head down, playing gloomy with a stick, writing randomly in the sand. My remorse continued to grow as I watched her fall in what seemed to be a depression.

 

“Alas.” I whispered, “What do I do, I mean look at her, she’s broken.”

 

“Well Mr. Vitoli, you’re unreasonable and overly dramatic way of handling the dispute between the two of you wasn’t the best path to follow. Sensors indicate that she is very sensitive to her sexual history, even if Molly is her adopted daughter. I suggest you take her for a walk, try to cheer her up on the way, and while doing so, apologize for all the sore feelings.”

 

“What about Molly, we can’t leave her behind.”

 

“Don’t trouble yourself with that matter, simply remove your Pipboy and place it next to her slumbering body, I’ll protect her if anything that shouldn’t be there get’s too close. Remember, be gentle with Mrs. Kalaborn, you don’t want to worsen what you have already begun.”

 

Walking over to the crackling of the fire, I set the Pipboy down and took Eve’s hand.

 

“What are you doing?” She wondered as she peered into the distance, gazing upon the barren mountains in the distance.

 

“Common, let’s go for a little walk.” I proposed, “Alas is going to watch Molly, so why not?”

 

She glanced up at me, then down to my opened hand before placing hers with mine. I pulled her up as the two of us left the camp. For a few minutes we walked together without a sound, until I chose to break the ice.

 

“Beautiful night huh?”

 

“I suppose.” She responded bleakly; I sighed.

 

“Look, Eve I’m sorry.” She stopped.

 

“I’m listening.”

 

"I didn’t mean what I said, I was just angry and I guess I wasn’t thinking straight.”

 

“I’m the one who should be sorry.” She replied with a heavy heart.

 

“No you shouldn’t, you were right, I did take it too far when all you were trying to do was create a little talk. It was my fault that I made such a foolish blunder to mock someone who saved me from the jaws of hell, someone who is very smart, kind, and unbelievably alluring” Eve smiled.

 

“And I’m sorry to have mocked your sexual appearance, in truth I was, ummm, well…attracted.” I smiled back as I turned my head away in embarrassment, but as to why, I have no clue. She followed the same action, no doubt we both got the same results. To ease the pressure, I tried to find a reason to leave this discussion behind, so I scouted the stars.

 

“Look at them Eve, aren’t they magnificent?” She glanced up.

 

“Indeed, but I think they can’t compare to the awe inspiring nature of a Mr. Gordon Freeman, that is, if I may call him that.” I looked into her eyes.

 

“Why yes, Mr. Freeman quite enjoys that name, he finds It as the best source of praise, from somebody he adores a lot, even if he just met them." We stood there for a moment, starring at each other before I leaned over and kissed her.

 

When we finished, she put her head to my shoulder as I wrapped my arms around her stomach.

 

“This is so weird.” She commented, “But I like it, it’s been such a long time since I last felt like this. It’s wonderful.”

 

For another thirty minutes we remained in that position, before it had occurred to us that somebody was watching. It was Molly lying down in the sand, observing our actions with pleasure.

 

“Eve is that Molly?” She took her head off my shoulder.

 

“It is.”

 

“Should we stop?”

 

“No, she won’t mind, she knows that I haven’t done this in awhile. She’s happy to see me with a man again. She trusts you, you know, cares about you, and quickly too.” She returned to my shoulder. “And I believe this will make her feel overjoyed.”

 

Molly retreated to the camp, and with midnight quickly approaching, we held hands and headed on back as well. There we ate a good dinner Eve had packed; laughing and having a great time as we told stories of our past. With our plates empty, our bellies full, and our eyes burdened, Eve put Molly to bed after drinking a cool glass of water, thanks to Alas’s condensation collector system, much like the Mr. Gusty robots of prewar times, but faster.

 

With her daughter in bed, and the fire refueled, Eve and I retired to a good night sleep, cuddling together with Molly to keep warm, waiting to greet the new day. Hours later dawn stretched from over the horizon, awakening us with its kisses of glimmering sunshine. It was a little chilly that morning, and a slight yet biting breeze didn’t help either. The fire was entering its last stages of burning out, evidence not only gathered from just looking at it, but of the return of tiny insects, no longer in fear of the fire’s harmful radius.

 

After taking the time to clean ourselves up, pack everything up, and checking to see if we had left anything behind, we marched on forward with our objective, but it wasn’t long before trouble reared its ugly head.

 

“Roscoe look.”

 

Eve said in a worried tone as she pointed just to the right of us. There, standing as clear as blue, were strange men in black power armor boarding strange aircraft, and vehicles, carrying all sorts of alien things. And then I saw it, etched right into their suits, the words no one wants to hear. I pushed Molly and Eve behind a rock, quickly scanning if anyone had noticed us.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” Eve asked.

 

“Stay down, as of now we are in grave danger.”

 

“What’s wrong, who are those men?”

 

I turned over to her. “The Enclave.”

[Fifoo]

Great improvement, I think it's a better way for reading the story now. Keep up the good work :thumbsup:

[Keanumoreira]

Thanks again Fifoo, but i think my last entry was a little weak, i've got to improve on that. Last part of this chapter is coming up, and its going to be a long one so expect a lot of progress. Here's a little hint, the ending of this chapter is going to be a huge twist, and Roscoes little relationship with Eve will see a rapid turn.

[Fifoo]

Here's a little hint, the ending of this chapter is going to be a huge twist, and Roscoes little relationship with Eve will see a rapid turn.

I'm eagerly waiting to see more about this very special issue :woot:

[Keanumoreira]

Believe me, you haven't seen the last of romantic intrests between the two, but enough of that for now, I don't want to spoil anything!