Crawlout Through the Fallout - Ch. 04

On the left stood a medium-sized black man. He wore a long pale coat over a formal-looking uniform. A three-cornered hat perched over close-cropped hair and he bore a long gun with a glowing chamber on the receiver and a crystal aperture at the barrel tip. The man glared at the Gunners with a palpable hatred.

In the center was a woman maybe ten years older than me. She was about six feet tall. Her wavy auburn hair hung to her shoulders and calm blue eyes surveyed the situation from behind black-rimmed glasses. A spattering of freckles dotted the sun-darkened skin of her face. Mismatched armor adorned her body, beneath which peeked the telltale blue of a vault suit. Multiple guns hung from her belt and she carried a heavy-looking long gun that made Pops' combat rifle look like a child's toy. Her expression conveyed nothing but iron will and I got the feeling she'd assessed the entire situation at a glance.

Bradson's lip curled. "Who the hell are you?"

The woman ignored him. She glanced at me, then at David. "You two must be the ones Nick told me about."

Unsure what else to do, I nodded.

She shifted her attention to Bradson. "Leave."

He sputtered. "What?"

"Get lost. Now, while you still can."

"You can't talk to me like that."

The woman sighed. "You really have two choices here. One is you leave, and live. You know how the other one goes."

He motioned to the Gunners. "You men! Shoot this bitch!"

The woman's eyes flicked to the Gunners, whose expressions had gone from stony and fierce, to uncertain and intimidated. One of them glanced at the rest of the squad, then stepped forward and tossed a bag at Bradson's feet. "Here's your payment back."

"What?" Bradson's mouth fell open in shock. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"We're out."

"You signed a contract." He clenched his fists. "You can't--"

"The contract's voided. You didn't tell us we'd be going against the Vault Dweller." The Gunner's nervous eyes darted to the woman, who regarded them with the same implacable expression. "Sorry about this, ma'am."

She jerked her head in the direction of the exit from town.

The man with her turned a crank handle on the side of his gun and the glow in the rifle's chamber grew brighter. A deep thrum reached my ears. He continued to glare at the mercenaries.

As one, the Gunners turned and hurried away. The woman watched them go. The second her back was to him, Bradson snarled and clawed for his pistol.

Moving like lightning, the dog sprang forward, slamming into Bradson and knocking him to the ground. He had time to scream once before the dog's jaws closed around his throat. Blood sprayed and I closed my eyes.

"Sturges," I heard the woman say, "can you take care of that?"

"Sure thing." When I opened my eyes, a couple of the settlers were dragging Bradson's body away. I faced the woman--the Vault Dweller--and whispered, "Thank you."

She smiled, for the first time since I'd seen her. "No, sweetheart. Thank you. Nick told me what you--what both of you did--to stop the Brotherhood from turning off the synths. He also said they had targeted you but don't worry about them. I've spoken to my deputy and we're mobilizing the Minutemen. We're going to finish off the Brotherhood once and for all." She glanced at her companion, who gave her a grim nod of confirmation.

"We... we just did what we had to," I said, managing a shaky smile.

"I know, and you have my undying gratitude." She hugged me. Unsure what to do, I hugged her back until she released me.

Something cold poked my hand. I glanced down and stiffened. The dog had crept up and sniffed my palm. My heart leaped into my throat. The dog sniffed again, looked up at me, gave a tentative wag of his tail, then backed off.

"I think he likes you," the Dweller said.

Thank God, I thought.

"Mom!" The young boy Shaun ran toward us.

The Vault Dweller trotted to him, knelt, and opened her arms as the boy fell into her grip. They hugged each other for a long minute while the dog capered around them, whimpering in joy.

David nudged Sturges and whispered, "I thought the Vault Dweller's whole family died in the vault."

Sturges sighed. "It's a long, complicated story."

Watching the reunion between mother and child filled me with a joy I had not felt in a very long time. If such happy tenderness could exist in the wasteland, perhaps there was hope for the future after all. I glanced at David, who caught my look. His smile swelled my heart.

A tap on my shoulder jerked me from admiring my love. I turned to find the man who had arrived with the Vault Dweller. He grinned and offered his hand in greeting. "Colonel Preston Garvey, deputy commander of the Minutemen."

His voice was smooth and cultured, and quite friendly. I shook his hand. "Beth Arnaut. This is my... my husband, David Thompson."

"A pleasure to meet you." He shook David's hand as well. "Nick and Piper spoke very highly of both of you. And if the General's dog--" He gestured at the mutt, who was now licking Shaun's face and making the boy laugh. "--likes you, then you're probably not a troublemaker."

"I hope so," David said. "We don't want to cause trouble. We just want make a life out here, Colonel."

"I'm glad to hear it. Nick told us what you all did and how you handled the Brotherhood. I'm impressed. We need capable fighters in our ranks."

I raised my eyebrows. "Ranks?"

"All the settlements are part of the Minuteman network, which is where you all come in. We have a job that suits the two of you perfectly. I've gotten word of a settlement that needs our help..."

END

Thank you for reading to end of this one. I've never done fan fiction before this story and it was a fun project, though it will be a while before I try another. For any Fallout 4 fans, I tried to stick to the lore as close as possible, so you'll have to let me know how I did.

Fallout Note One: If you've never played the game, you've probably still guessed the Vault Dweller is the player's character, which is why she (or he) is at the center of everything. In this case, though, she's the heroine of another story.

Fallout Note Two: The final line was intended as joke for the game's fans. Preston Garvey is known for his non-stop quests to assist random settlements every time the player runs into him, to the point of annoying many players.

Fallout Note Three: Shaun, the Vault Dweller's son, has likely (by the completion of the game's main story) been replaced by a synth with the original's personality. He is the only remnant of the Vault Dweller's family, which is why she was happy they were not all deactivated.

Thank you again!