The REALLY Wild Wasteland. (The Fallout RP!)

[Souplex]

"Phew! That was a close one... Ma'am, two of the bastards seem to have a bunch of Mini-Nukes that they're throwing like grenades. The lead bastard's wearing car parts for armor, wielding a big fucking hammer and riding a giant horse!"
[Repair 100/60][Success!]Frank had worked on enough Fat Men to know that wearing a bandoleer of mini-nukes was a monumentally stupid idea. Mini-nukes were very sensitive, and any significant impact could set them off. That's why Fat Men used a pneumatic launching mechanism. A single shot to one of those nukes with a laser, plasma, electrical, or Gauss weapon would set off a very nice fireworks display.
Of course, the one on the horse (Of course!) would require some creative thinking.
[Tactics 60/50][Success!]Frank was a pretty creative thinker.
"Elder Sugar-tits, I can stop them. I'll need some flamer fuel, one of the Vertibirds we took from the Enclave's last show, I'll need Paladin Gilford piloting it, and Swordfish and Mattie need to come along. If we can get Danny-Boy, I could use her in there as well, but I doubt she's back."
Frank mentally ran over various ways this scenario could play out.
[Flashback]"Now remember Frank, even if you think your plan is foolproof, plan for it failing."
"But Grandpa, if a plan is foolproof, that's unnecessary!"
"Frank, A plan that doesn't plan for plans outside of the plan is not much of a plan at all."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"It means that if your plan isn't taking into account every single little possibility, such as the plans of others, your plan can not be said to be very good."
"Well why didn't you just say that!?"
"Because it doesn't sound as cool silly!"[/Flashback]
"Everyone else had best entrench and form a firing line in the unlikely event that I fail."

 

[CrazyBlaze]

Dan dived behind a pile of broken concrete as the spider sentry bots advanced on his location, their rapid fire forcing him to keep his head down as he crouched behind the concrete and gripped his hammer with both hands. When he saw the first claw advance over the rubble Dan swung upward with all his might, knocking a sentry bot off backwards, wobbling on its back two legs. Reversing his swing, Dan brought his hammer down on the other bot?s gun, smashing it due to its heated state from firing. The first bot regained its balance and jumped at Dan, wrapping its legs around him, clamping his arms to his side.

Dan dropped his hammer as he struggled to force the bot off him when a plasma shot glassed the ground next to him. Dan staggered out of the open and in between two buildings to avoid the open. Finally he managed to pull his arms free, grabbed the spider bot by its head and pulled it off his body. He slammed the mechanical spider against a wall, grabbed one of its legs with both hands and smashed it viciously against the ground. When the other bot came around the corner Dan threw the now broken spider bot at the working one, knocking it backwards with the other bot lying on top of it, pinning it down.
?Spiders are bad enough. But giant robot, gun wielding ones, whose bright idea was that. Give me a Deathclaw any day. I hate spiders,? Dan spat at the spider bots when a shot in his back sent him stumbling forward. Dan turned around as fast as he could to see an Enclave solider, standing there with a smoking barrel.

?That hurt Bug face. I mean what kind of person shoots someone when their back is turned. And not kill them!? Dan yelled as he charged at the solider who was stunned at the sight of a three hundred pound, nearly seven foot tall man charging at him, full force. Before he could fire another shot, Dan was on top of him, bringing him to the ground. Dan ripped off the soldier?s helmet and punched him as hard he could. Dan grabbed the man?s head and slammed it against the ground, knocking him unconscious, As Dan stoop up to deliver the killing blow he felt a muzzle being pressed against the back of his head.

?Turn around slowly and don?t try anything. We aren?t above blowing your head off,? a muffled voice commanded. Dan, obeyed his hands in the air.

?Does it really matter if I say I say surrender at this point,? Dan saw two Enclave soldiers in front of him and another one standing on the rooftop, all three with guns pointed at him.

?Um. Take me to your lead??attempted to say when one of the Enclave soldiers hit him in the head with the butt of his gun.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Lucy finally received her audience with the Elder, the information received during this time, however, was not what she expected.

Sarah Lyons was an imposing woman that positively emanated dominance (And Frank was doing the horizontal mambo with her at some point!?)

"He had worked with my father for a time, enough that he might've been considered one of us..."

My father was basically an unofficial member of the Brotherhood?
Yet his own daughter is currently an asset to the Enclave.

Lucy felt disgusted at herself, angry at her father, frustrated that the answers she received actually raised more questions, but most of all, she felt...guilty.

"That rifle was examined and determined to be relatively new. It couldn't be more than a few years old, if that."

Enclave

That was the dominant suggestion in her mind. With regards to manufacture and trading, you could find pre-war tech from local arms dealers, anything new is produced by those with the proper training and tools. Which meant Brotherhood or Enclave.

Great. Enclave asset, title and what most likely appears to be an Enclave weapon.
She wondered when she's getting the standard black power armor in the mail.

She had remained silent the entire time, not out of respect, but more out of visible shock and guilt. She was sure Frank would pick up on it. She listened to their mission briefing. It sounded like a suicide mission to the average person, but for her it's exactly what she needed.

On a personal level, she could alleviate her guilt by helping the Brotherhood properly, she could continue Vikki's fight and she had cheated death twice. She was meant to die a long time ago, marching towards her death again seemed like she was doing the wasteland a favor. She may as well do something good with her life.

Her fatalistic thoughts put her in a dark place emotionally.

Time to talk

"Why wasn't anything said to me!? I've been stumbling in the dark looking for bullshit answers and no-one approached me! You knew!" Lucy had no intention to get angry, but her emotions had gotten the better of her "You could have sent someone or even a damn message!"

She took a step towards the Elder "I'm even doubting the man my Father really was, but he was obviously significant to you lot! So you tell me why nobody here gave a flying fuck about me or the atta-...!"

Lucy was cut off by the disturbing transmission and subsequent alarm that followed.
Her anger had been pushed aside, but her dark mood lingered.

She turned to Frank "Frank, the mutant with the mini-nukes. I can make a big mess if you let me take a shot at it." she paused for a moment, analyzing the situation "If they're positioned close together, my attack could cause some nice splash damage"

Finally, she faced the Elder and spoke "I'm sorry, I just-...This is all news to me. I'll..I'll help however I can." she wasn't sure if she was heard or not, she hoped so, especially for her next line:

"It's time to start paying off my debt"

 

[RobDaBank]

"Oooh, you think so? Let's go meet them!" Said the man, hurrying towards the trio, quite a fast mover. This made Wayne feel very conscious about his limp, causing his mind to feel the pain. Holy sh*t, here we go with the pain!! he grimaced as the man turned to talk to him once more "Come on, then! People to meet, things to do!"

'I bet you just shit rainbows and piss nuka cola don't you?' He said under his breath.

He realised he had lost focus as he began approaching the three when he saw the nasty end of 3 weapons pointed at him, stopping him in his tracks, at least now he was close enough to hear the three stooges clearly.

"Hey, smoothskin. You don't wanna get between this guy and the Nuka-Cola. He's like a junky with that stuff, and you know what junkies are like when they haven't got any. A little twitchy."

Just as Wayne was about to reply, with something hopefully intimidating and possilby offensive to the ghoul, the three began to bicker, these guys were obviously noreal threat, but still, anybody with a gun shouldn't be messed with, that said Wayne wouldn't lower his weapon, if he was going down, it wasn't without a fight.

'Listen guys, my new friend here wants to know why you guys were following him at a distance, one of you looking for a date or something?'

He grinned, hoping he had sounded as funny as he thought he did. It felt strange to grin, someone could've mistook this for a smile, and that was most definitely not something he did often. FOCUS! Maybe the pain was what kept making his mind wander, he hadn't noticed the young lady change her gaze somewhere high behind him, keeping his gun trained oin the ghoul, he turned and glanced, just about making out two figures watching the group argument...

Maybe it's time to lower the weapon Wayne, Lowering his rifle he turned his full body, hoping the guy with what appeared to be a scoped weapon, judging by the light reflecting from the front, would get the picture that he wasn't going to cause any trouble... yet...

He looked at the man in the duster, 'Any idea what's going on?'

 

[wilcoblackflame]

Marlon smiled. "Suits me perfectly m'am. And believe you me, I got a bucket of ideas for that sort of thing to run past you later on." He turned to look as Lucy and Frank entered the room, a small smile playing around the corners of his mouth now that things seemed to be looking up. There were a whole bunch of ways he could screw over raiders and still make cash. Not to mention those outcast goons...Oh this was going to be a very profitable venture.

He couldn't see Frank's face, but he liked to think it was at least displaying an annoyed expression that Marlon wasn't to be executed on the spot. He was however, more interested in the information surrounding Lucy for the time being. Her old man...Enclave maybe? That might be worth remembering for later...

And then the alarm. At least behemoths were stupid as hell. Carrying a bunch of mini nukes? Oh this'd be cake. All you'd have to do is land a good solid hit on one of them to set them all off. It sounded like Frank was planning to do something that Marlon would be more impressed if he didn't add the last part about his almost certain success. If not for the fact that, you know, Behemoths were approaching, Marlon'd be more inclined to amuse himself with the notion of Frank failing if only to see his confidence catch up with him.

Amusements later though. Right now there were (literally) bigger problems to deal with.

He smiled at Lucy. "What say we go vent all that anger of yours at the dummies with the bombs." He retrieved his belongings from the bench where they'd been placed while he was in the cell and loaded up the laser rifle. "I could go for a little bit of mutilated mutie."

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

"What say we go vent all that anger of yours at the dummies with the bombs."

Marlon's remark had refocused her thoughts somewhat, so with a heavy sigh and a small tired smile, she walked over to help him with his belongings.

That's what it looked like, at least.

Handing him his laser rifle, she whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

"I'm sorry. When we met I was cozying up to you because I hoped you had info on my dad. After I was hurt, I started to like you for realzies. I can't judge you if I don't even know what kind of person my Dad really was" she paused so that the weight of her sincerity would be noticed "My future is still unclear and there's still a lot of shit I have to deal with, but after this fight, I want to know if I have a shot at normal someday."

She crossed her arms and smiled at him, feeling a little better.

"I haven't forgotten my promise to help you out with your new ride and setting up shop. If you'll have me."

Lucy playfully fist-bumping his arm.

She started to prime her rifle, which made quite a few nearby heads turn. "Chill. Sheesh."

Turning to everybody else, but mainly looking at Frank, "I'm ready, just point me in the right direction"

No more restraints

 

[Souplex]

Frank didn't wait for Elder Lyons to approve his plan. He knew her. She would say yes to one of Frank's crazy schemes.
"Everyone meet up in the courtyard for pickup! Let's move."
Frank rushed out the door, stopping only to give Lucy and Elder Lyons a quick slap on the butt. Being back home was bringing out some of Frank's old tendencies.
Frank rushed down to his old lab to pick up some Flamer Fuel, and three mysterious packages. (You'll see)
Frank then rushed back to the courtyard, stopping only to plug in his Flamer Fuel, and to slap a foxy looking scribe on the butt.
"Let's do this."

 

[SamtheDeathclaw]

'Any idea what's going on?' the man with the pretty eyes asked.
Stanley grinned. "Nope!" He studied the trio for a moment. The woman looked dangerous. The ghoul looked... Well, like a ghoul. The man looked friendly enough, though.

"So you three are headed to the Nuka plant? Neat! So are we!" Stanley interrupted them. "Er... I am. I don't know about my friend here. He's chasing ghosts, I think. Dangerous ghosts, even more. Anyways." Stanley clapped his hands together. "It's decided, then. You four put away your weapons, and we all go to the-"

Stanley noticed the other man looking behind them, something up in the air. He turned, and traced the other's line of sight. He didn't see anything. He shrugged, and turned back around.
"Erm. Anyways. We all go to the plant together, and go our separate ways from there. How's that sound?" Stanley grinned around the group. "Good. Settled then. Off we go!"

Stanley turned back around and headed for the plant. The others could follow, or not, as they would.

 

[The Harkinator]

The light of a new dawn rose over the camp belonging to William, Dudley and (Evan) Ramsey. Yet it was already empty, the three had already left. Ramsey had alerted them to the possibility of toxic rain. Neither William nor Dudley had any wish to be caught in it, though Dudley did think Ramsey was saying it to speed up the journey.

The three of them had instead set off into the dark, towards their goal. Another day of this speed and they could be almost there. With three pairs of eyes potential dangers could be spotted and avoided. It became a matter of point scoring between the three with Ramsey coming out on top. Though William and Dudley both agreed he cheated by insisting on riding ahead.

They passed several travellers on the road and stopped to talk to some of the larger caravans. They provided details of vertibirds watching their movement on certain parts of the road and a weapons merchant told the story of how his friend had been stopped by power armoured soldiers who searched his possessions. Though William had thought the man was on something and decided not to believe everything he said.

Mounting their bikes the trio set off along the lonely road again.

 

[ImSkeletor]

Barry was physically and emotionally worn as he laid in the dirt. He pondered the events of the dream. But, before he made any significant headway a tall man in strange clothing aproached him. The man greeted him and talked and talked and talked. Barry wasn't exactly in a state to deal with this at the moment so he merely remained silent and laid there absorbing only parts of what the undertaker said. The undertaker then dragged him to his bike and sat him on the front of it. Out of pure puzzlement he started to really listen to the man so he could figure out what was going to be done to him. Barry thought to himself"Why is he calling me Mumford? Nice name, but not mine. Wait, he seriously wants to bury me? Maybe I should let him. For the last few days I have been sleep deprived, beaten, stabbed, crushed, ran over, set on fire, and abandoned by I man who I thought was going to be my friend and part of the super team I always dreamed of making.I don't know if I can take anymore of this. I may just be at the end of my rope." So he merely sat there for the fairly long bike ride taking in all the burial types. The bike stopped. "Wait what am I considering? Giving up bringing justice to the wasteland? Just because I had a really vivid nightmare? I'm sure it didn't mean anything. How could I not remember something like that. My brain probably just made it up because I caught fire earlier and my sub-conscious held onto that and turned it into a nightmare. I'm just being silly. Though I should probably stop this guy who is trying to bury me. "MMMMMMMPPPPPPPHHHHHHH!" Barry yelled hoping that the man would pull the bandages off of atleast his mouth.

 

[Contradiction]

And things got weirder.
Usually he would have been surprised but with his newly detoxed body and uncanny welcome back to the land of the conscious he couldn't shake the feeling that it was all some kind of extended dream. Honestly that was probably the surest sign of sanity he had left, maybe people who'd lived in DC could meet a living military weapon and an abomination all in the same day and keep stride but Sully was a bit put off. In any case it was probably a very good thing that liberty had shown up when he did because Sully wasn't exactly looking forward to meeting that glowing slab of opaque flesh. Although on the plus the over sized beacon seemed fond of talking a trait that seems to have been lost on all the ghouls around Old Ohney. Channeling the personality of the Drill Sergeant that had been imprinted into the armour he turned to liberty Minor, "Time to do your duty soldier. I need you to relay messages between that creature and myself. Are you up to the challenge?!"
With a clang LM's metallic hand swept up to his head in eerie salute, "Yessir"
Without any further instruction LM trotted off towards the exuberant man and his Brahmin. Sitting a safe distance away from the corona of light pouring from the pair cringing internally as he heard LM introduce himself 'on behalf of America'. It seemed this unbridled patriotism wasn't an issue for the charismatic anomaly as Sully watched the two figures shake hands enthusiastically. With all danger but Rad poisoning gone from his mind he stood waiting patiently to see how LM would handle things.

 

[RobDaBank]

Wayne watched as the man he nearly landed on rather
enthusiastically calmed the situation and even got the three
followers to lower their weapons. This guy was quite a smooth
talker in difficult situations by the look of it.


Maybe I should follow suit, at least the guys in this
'Nuka plant' might have some info on Gannon. It can't hurt to
try


'Ok, lead the way' He said rather submissively, placing his
rifle over his shoulder by the strap 'And so you know Happy,
I'm looking for a missing friend, and I think the Enclave are
involved' 




He turned and followed Happy to the building, the three
strangers muttering amongst themselves with only the whirring
of the Robobrain's wheels adding any kind of background
noise.


  As they drew closer Wayne held his hands out slightly,
hoping the people on the roof would see this gesture and not
think him hostile, he glanced to the man, hoping by now he
had noticed the two on the roof, and watched for anyone
coming to the door to greet them. It was only at when they
were a mere few feet away from the main entrance that he
noticed a strange looking carcass half hidden behind an old
truck. It looked like a mirelurk but it had a strange blue
tint to it also...




Perfect, it seems they might have some kind of
infestation, this could be a good bargaining tool to get some
info outta these folk




Nobody is willing to give anything up for free these days,
and as an abomination hunter, Wayne was well suited to
removing 'pests' for settlers, or business people, at a
fairly reasonable price. He fixed his gaze back on the door
and patiently waited for somebody to do something.

 

[ImSkeletor]

Barry was now incredibly frustrated. How was he going to make this man understand him? He looked around for a moment. He then realised what he had to do. He flopped off of the motorcycle onto the ground landing on his shoulder. He spasticly span on his side in the style of Curly from the 3 stooges to get in to the position he needed. He scooted sideways across the ground forcing his knuckle into the dirt. After a bit of this he managed to spell out, "Free my mouth!" across the ground hoping the undertaker would read it and assist him. This caused considerable pain because he unfortunately flopped on his damaged arm so there was a few muffled screams while he spelled out the words. And several muffled screams after.

 

[SamtheDeathclaw]

'And so you know Happy, I'm looking for a missing friend, and I think the Enclave are involved'
Stanley scratched his head as they walked. Or, rather, while he and the other three walked, and pretty-eyes limped along, followed by his robot buddy.
"Happy? Me? Never." He laughed. "The Enclave, huh? There's some scary stories about those guys. I'm glad I've never run into them. I count myself lucky. And yet here you are, hunting them down." Stanley shook his head, then grinned widely. "Weeeelll... If this doesn't take too long for your tastes, I could see about helping you out? I'm always looking for more adventures, and that does sound like an adventure to me."
They approached the door- Stanley still having yet to notice anyone on top of the plant- and Stanley pulled up short in front of the door.
"Alright! I think introductions are in order before we go in. I'm Stanley Jessupt. Who are you guys?"

 

[Ruedyn]

Jackson began got to the door before turning around, to check on his eerily quiet partner of three weeks. He was... Staring? No, that implies something working upstairs. He was looking blankly ahead, Jackson thought he could even see some drool strands slipping from his lips. Jackson quietly pulled out his knife, just in time for Forests charge, growling like any number of ferals in the metros. Jackson tried to raise his knife, but the older ghoul was much faster than he expected, and he tackled Jackson to the ground.
Jackson couldn't decide between protecting himself or stabbing his aggressor, so he tried a half-assed combination of the two, successfully stabbing his ex-friends hands and leaving a cut on his temple. Unfortunately, Jackson lost some more skin patches to Forests clawing fists. Jackson still managed to push him off, and the creature that was once his friend ran off, into the direction the dull, familiar ache in Jacksons forehead told him too as well.
Jackson sighed, getting himself up and brushing the dirt off of himself.
"This, THIS is why I don't take on partners. Shit." Jackson looked around, noticing something on the ground. He bent over and picked it up.
"Well, it'll sell well, probably." Jackson muttered, examining the Guass Rifle. He put it in the jeeps front seat. He stretched, and hopped into the back of the jeep, putting his newspaper/blanket over him.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Lucy gave Marlon one final pat on the back, to which she received a pat on the ass by Frank.

Under normal circumstances, she would have gotten a little pissed off, but today had been such an emotional roller-coaster that all she could was softly snort with laughter before yelling after him "You're such a gentleman, Frank!"

Her smile faded rather quickly, she said her goodbye's and added another apology to her outburst before heading out ot the courtyard.

The base was a hive of activity, knights readying weapons, suiting up their power armor and scribes following orders.

Lucy stopped by the Med-Wing, laid her hand on Vikki's "I don't know what the hell will happen, V, but I'm scared."

The Brotherhood had brought in Vikki's equipment, she took a few clips that she had bought for her previously at Megaton, shoved it in her backpack and clipped the 10mm SMG to her holster.

"I'm going to need you with me somehow. Love you, Vikki." Lucy laid her own combat knife along Vikki's equipment for when she woke up. The name "Vikki" was crudely scratched into it.

So she had 4 stimpacks, a 10mm SMG and a Gauss Rifle. Plus she had plenty of ammo to boot. If ever there was a point where she was ready, it was now.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she tried to clear her head of her father, the Enclave, focused on Frank, Marlon and the battle ahead.

Stepping into the courtyard, busy as hell, she found her way to Frank and looked upon the three recent editions to his equipment. "Fraaaank? Mind telling me what you got planned there buddy?"

Lucy started to consider calling for a Brotherhood psychologist...

 

[RobDaBank]

Wayne couldn't believe his ears, the man was offering to help him after nearly being crushed under a Vertibird and almost getting into a Mexican stand-off. He introduced himself as well, Stanley Jessupt. Something about Stan really pissed him off, but also intrigued him, he was so much like Arcade, then again, he could have some hidden agenda. Best not to jump to any conclusions just yet

Wayne limped over to his Robobrain and pulled down the seat on front, taking a seat to take the weight off his leg, he pulled out a cigarette and a match, striking the match against his rough beard and lighting up. 'Wayne' he replied. 'And for what it's worth, it might be that my friend volunteered, these guys can't be that bad can they?' He pondered his last statement, he hadn't really met any Enclave before, all he knew where shadows of rumours, and what little Arcade touched upon.

'So Stan, I take it your some kind of courier, if this job ain't taking long that is...'

 

[SamtheDeathclaw]

Stanley stared as the man- Stan would never understood how he did it, but he did- lit a match against his beard. He shook his head, deciding to ask later.
'Wayne. And for what it's worth, it might be that my friend volunteered, these guys can't be that bad can they?' the man with the pretty eyes- Wayne, apparently- said, propping his leg up in his robot pal.
"Oh, I wouldn't know. I've never met any. I've just heard some stories." Stanley shrugged. "Not any nice stories, but I guess there's not a whole lot of niceness in the wasteland." Stanley frowned thoughtfully for a moment, before perking back up, almost immediately.

'So Stan, I take it your some kind of courier, if this job ain't taking long that is...' the man said, obviously looking to take Stan up on his offer.
"I have no idea how long it'll take." he grinned widely. "Some fancy-pants ghoul gave me a bunch of caps to come out here. I didn't listen to most of what he said, to be honest. I was staring at his suit." He shrugged again, here, and turned to the plant, studying it. They were still a ways away, but something told him they hadn't gone unnoticed. He simply stood and waited for something to happen.

 

[ImSkeletor]

Barry was prepared to tell him that he wasn't a mummy and had no intention of being burried anytime soon. But he didn't. He didn't want to be alone again. He was randomly brushed off by the Enclave and the dream he had made him feel lonely and he wasn't entirely sure why considering that he didn't believe that the dream had any basis in fact. Barry was going to lead this guy on. It hurt him to do it, but he just couldn't take the chance that this man would pack up and leave. The part that confused Barry the most was that he didn't even know the first thing about this guy aside from him obviously being an undertaker of some sort. But in the end Barry decided to play along, "I'm Barry Allen and..." At this point he realised that he didn't know how old he was. He fished through he memories trying to order them chronologically but he couldn't manage to put together more than the last few months. The rest was a fairly blury collection of battles against nefarious villians and saving people. And what days was today anyway? "I honestly can't remember the answers to the rest of your questions. I must be having sun stroke or something. I just can't remember. I'm sorry."

 

[Pink Gregory]

*urrgh...*

"Crawver's log."

"I have tales to tell. Tales that end here, where more tales begin. Ugh, what does that even mean? I...uh."

"The hours grow more desperate, I have not been able to concentrate on sleep or finding water, not while Udders is beneath some scoundrel's hand and...and not mine. I have grown emaciated, and madnesses gnaw at my temples. Perhaps if I recount my journey here, in the succeeding days I will have the means to trace it again, and somehow rebuild myself, when all is doubtless crumbled and shattered. The face of hope appears more grim to me now than any deaths or diseases, for it means continuation of these...conditions; just Sisyphus, Prometheus...and a Walrus."

"I defied reason in believing that I could somehow follow and find whomever it as that led her away, and even then, there are thousands of brahmin out here, checked and unchecked, and I am not even fully aware of the extent of the world. There isn't even any method of deduction that can prove that she wasn't predated on the...no. No. No. No. No No No No."

"uhh...I had...I had finally managed to separate myself from that drunken loon. His, his fault, it is he that broke my doctor's oath, not me. Not me. It was simple enough, without Udders I traverse the earth with great difficulty; my belly's all cut up, and...y-yes; I simply couldn't keep up with him, and that unexplained compulsion to protect him subsided. He's just an old fool, and there are more than enough of those already, what would the loss of one of them mean? What would any loss mean to me? Nothing, now. Except for her."

"So realising this, in my desperation, I took to the only thing I could think of, a thorough, methodical search. Of the whole blasted city. But...I knew I wouldn't last long enough out there to carry it all out, that hunger, thirst, the sun or the rads would sweep down and gently slit my throat once I came upon the boundary of some clue or some hope. I couldn't rest, do you understand? I've read the WSG, I know that...that you have to keep moving, the devils can only be stymied by constant relocation, they must be at your back to stay alive, that way they're only ever where you once were, not where you are."

"I had to shelter beneath an underpass, when the sun reached it's painful, concentrated apex; but self-preservation would then prove my sudden undoing. I heard it before I felt it. Just another whisper of shifting dust or a rifle-shot somewhere beyond the canyons of architecture, or something burbling up from somewhere subterranean; reduced to a gentle, hushed burst of air. But then the trap-jaws struck, with all the cruelty and sinister efficiency of surgical tools. I howled from the shock of the thing snapping at me, I convulsed and contorted but I had not the hands to pry the damn thing apart; but...God damn if I didn't try. Exhausted and bleeding, I collapsed in a cloud of brick-dust and dry earth, my curses reduced in their volume but heightened in their severity; oh I cursed everything I could find, the sun, the earth and their gods, the trap and the vagabonds that laid it, Abe, the Surgeon, myself, Ud-...damn."

"I made sure to fall so as my vision remained upright. Curiosity decided, in that moment, that I would stare death quite literally in the face. Men came, and women too, ragged and bony, all patchy hair, jaundiced skin and sagging hide coverings. One asked what I was, oh if I could have told him! But what would I say? 'Keyser Soze'? 'Ozymandias'? 'the Vault Dweller'? "

"Hell if I know, who gives a fuck, right? It's meaty, ain't it?"