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Fallout Wasteland	By : Samson Category: +A through F > Fallout (Series) > Fallout (Series) Views: 28950 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
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Dawning Hope, Journey To The NCR.

Fallout: Life In The Wasteland

Part 4 - "Wounded Heart"

By: Jesse Racine AKA Samson

Original Date Written: July 1, 2010

While Kid and Dominique drove from New Reno, Hiro had been on a special mission. He was to take a delicate package down to San Francisco as fast as humanly possible and take it to the small Brotherhood of Steel bunker there. He was to give the package to the them along with a holotape recording, having instructions not to look at the package or listen to the holotape's recording. So, naturally, being told not to, he went against orders and did both of those things. The holotape was in Keith Wright's voice, asking the Brotherhood for help with the package, and that they'd know what to do with it. He said that he knew that the Brotherhood would be expecting a high price in return for their help, and that he was prepared to pay whatever they wanted, as long as they "brought her back as soon as she arrived". Not understanding these words, Hiro looked in the package, finding the pale and bloody body of Dawn.
He wasn't really surprised to find a body in the package, nor was he disgusted to have been transporting it. He was simply curious as to how the Brotherhood could help her. She was dead, after all. His cart being pulled by nearly twenty dogs, he raced through the wasteland and made it to San Francisco in hardly a day or two. The buildings of the city were familiar. Most of them were in pristine condition, made of red brick with light brown roofs to them. He grabbed the bag that Dawn's body rested in, picking it up with the holotape recording, rushing through the streets of Chinatown and heading to a rather empty street. He knew where the small Brotherhood bunker lay. It was right in plain sight, but because it only had a single human guard and nobody else, the Shi of San Francisco had grown used to it long before and paid it no attention.
The bunker was a small building made of black steel, a pair of flags on the front having the Brotherhood's symbol, a pair of wings with a sword in the middle along with three gears behind the sword's blade. The front door was thick and obviously made of reinforced metal, having the Brotherhood's symbol very neatly painted on it as well as having no doorknob to it. A single Caucasian male guard stood unarmed in a dark variant of combat armour, Hiro not recognizing it as anything he had seen before. The guard had short brown hair with light blue eyes, looking at Hiro curiously as he rushed over with the bag and holotape. "Here, take this!" Hiro said, almost breathlessly. The guard said "What is it? What do you want?" Hiro said "Listen to the holotape, it's from the Wright family of New Reno." The man curiously listened to the tape, looking inside the bag once it was over. He raised his eyebrows in shock. "...You do realize there's a corpse in here, right?"
Hiro nodded. "I know, I know. So...Do you know what my boss is talking about?" The man nodded. "I think I do. Come inside...But don't touch anything." Hiro nodded. The doors opened automatically by themselves as the man stepped closer to them, Hiro quickly following him into a dark office of sorts. A single desk sat in the dark room, not having anything on it at all. A single chair sat behind it, not having anyone in it and looking rather plain. Another dark metal door stood in the room, it sliding open with a mechanical hum as the guard stepped over to it, revealing another, even smaller, room. "What's your name?" Hiro asked. "Jeff." The man said. Hiro walked into the room, seeing an elevator in the floor. It looked like a large circle of black steel, a guardrail around it, part of the railing having a computer attached to it. "I'm Hiro." He said. Jeff didn't reply. Hiro stepped on the elevator with him, Jeff pressing a few buttons on the computer, the elevator going downwards a moment later.
A few seconds later and it stopped, revealing yet another small room with another door. "Follow me. And remember, don't touch anything." Hiro nodded. Jeff carried the bag and holotape towards the door, the door opening, Hiro following him. They were suddenly in a large room, filled with wooden tables and chairs, several doors in the room apparently leading to other rooms. Hiro couldn't help but notice how quiet everything was. There didn't seem to be anybody in the bunker except for Jeff and Hiro himself. Jeff walked across the room towards another door, the door opening, Jeff stepping into another room. Hiro followed him, surprised at what he saw. The room was sort of large, but it was made a bit cramped due to the massive computer inside. A supercomputer sat in the room by several suspension tanks filled with a clear watery fluid, a large terminal sitting by the computer. Jeff walked over to the computer, setting down the bag with Dawn's body. He pressed a key on the terminal, a few lights on the supercomputer lighting up. "How are you, ACE?" He asked.
The machine spoke back to him in the gentle voice of a female through a speaker on it's side. "I am well Jeff, thank you for asking. What can I help you with? My sensors indicate another male in the room with you, an unidentifiable man. A corpse rests in the bag near you. Is there trouble, Jeff?" Hiro looked along the machine with wide eyes. It looked like a huge block of black metal with several twinkling lights on it. Jeff shook his head. "No, there's no trouble. This man is simply a messenger. I have a bit of a challenge for you, ACE. The corpse in the bag needs to be brought back to life. If you do so, the Brotherhood may be able to take a chunk of the power of New Reno." The machine responded. "I love challenges, Jeff. I can flood one of my tanks with Bio Med Gel and attempt to bring her back. How long has she been deceased for?" Jeff looked to Hiro. Hiro shrugged. "A day or two, maybe." Jeff raised his eyebrows and said "One to two days, ACE."
ACE slowly said "If that is the case, bringing her back to full functionality may be difficult if not impossible. There is a good chance I would bring her back brain dead, as in, her body would be healed but her mind would be gone, regardless. I may be able to bring her brain back to life and thus her personality, but the chances are she will become a vegetable and stay that way." Hiro looked at Jeff curiously. "What is it?" Jeff said "ACE, an Artificial Conscious Entity. She is this bunker's self-aware machine. She's not quite a true artificial intelligence, however. She deals with medical problems, implants, augmentations of the body, several useful functions. Her Bio Med Gel may heal your friend's body, but ACE thinks she'll probably come back brain dead, anyway." Hiro shrugged. "Not my problem. My mission was to bring her here, not make sure she was brought back. I wasn't even told I was carrying a corpse." ACE asked "Are you speaking to the unidentified male, Jeff?"
Jeff nodded. "I am, but I am finished speaking to him now. Shall we load the corpse into one of your tanks?" ACE said "Please, I look forward to the challenge of bringing her back. I will try my hardest to bring her to full functionality." Hiro watched as one of the tanks nearby quickly drained itself of fluid, sending the fluid down into the machinery beneath the tank, leaving it empty. Part of it's glass shell lowered, leaving it open. "Help me out, Hiro." Jeff said. Hiro nodded, the two of them opening the bag, pulling Dawn's corpse out. "We're going to have to undress her. The Bio Med Gel won't work right if it has to go through her clothes." Hiro nodded, the two of them undressing Dawn fully, leaving her naked. They picked her up and raised her into the tank, setting her limp form at the bottom of it, the both of them stepping back. Jeff said "She's in, ACE." The tank closed in reply. A light shone at the top of the tank, illuminating Dawn's body with a soft blue glow for a few seconds. "I detect several gunshot wounds. Several slugs of lead are inside her body. The Bio Med Gel will have trouble working with them inside her. I will have to remove them."
A few thin mechanical arms pushed upwards through the bottom of the tank, each topped with some sort of instrument. Hiro looked to Jeff. "How long do you think it will take to bring this chick back, brain dead or not?" Jeff watched as ACE expertly and skillfully removed the bullets from Dawn's body, dropping them in a small tray that appeared in the tank, the tray closing a moment later. "Flooding tank with Bio Med Gel....One moment, Jeff..." Jeff replied to Hiro. "Who knows. I'll ask ACE once she's done filling the tank." Hiro nodded. They both watched as the tank began to slowly fill with a clear sappy fluid, engulfing Dawn, floating her up in the tank slightly. "How long do you estimate it will take to bring her back, ACE?" Jeff asked. ACE said "Preliminary scans estimate anywhere between six weeks to four months. I am already planning to bring her brain back to life using experimental methods that show promise."
Jeff nodded, Hiro nodding, as well. ACE suddenly said "Although, Jeff, something you said earlier is incorrect." Jeff raised an eyebrow. "What's that, ACE?" ACE said "You said I was not a true artificial intelligence. While I was created to be more than a machine but not quite an artificial intelligence, I began to detect strange things about myself several years ago." Jeff remained silent. "The protector before you, Matt, was killed by an Enclave agent I can now identify as being named Frank Horrigan. It took a long time for you to arrive here to replace him. During that time, I...I felt something that I can only name as "loneliness". I enjoy your company, Jeff. You talk to me much more than Matt did. I feel "happy" with you here. A machine feeling emotions, that is the definition of a true artificial intelligence, is it not? If I am not one yet, I may become one soon."
Jeff nodded lightly. "Interesting. Well, I appreciate your company, as well. You're the only one here I have to talk to." ACE paused for a moment. "It makes me even happier to hear you say that, Jeff. Allow me to continue working on this woman's body, surely you have to see to your post for the rest of the day?" Jeff nodded, saying "You're right, of course." He looked to Hiro. "Let me see you out. But first, let me rewrite over your boss's message." He pressed a button on the holotape, saying "We will contact you with the cost of this operation at a later date. I feel I must warn you that although we may be able to bring her body back to life, her brain may still be dead, resulting in the procedure being a waste of time. We will most likely require more than simply money for this operation. Resources and territory may very well be one of them." He stopped talking, pressing a button on the side of the holotape, handing it back to Hiro. Hiro took it, slipping it in a pocket in his pants. Jeff showed Hiro out of the bunker, Jeff standing guard by it's front door like before, Hiro heading back to his dog-pulled cart. He headed back for New Reno, taking a little less time now that the added weight of Dawn's body wasn't present.
Several days after Hiro's trip, Marv and Heather still sat in a dark alley of New Reno, eating the cooked remains of a freshly-killed junkie. Heather finished eating, smiling happily, wiping the blood off her face with a scrap of the junkie's clothes. "That was tasty, Marv!" Marv was getting a little worried inside. He had salvaged enough money from the people he had killed to buy Heather normal food, but she had refused to eat what he had gotten. She was only interested in what he ate now: other human beings. He didn't want her to become what he was. He didn't want her to become a cannibal, an outcast, someone who fled from town to town once they had been discovered. Cannibals were a rare sight, and most met their end crucified in a city's outskirts to warn off others of their kind. He didn't want her to meet her end like that. Marv wiped the blood from around his mouth and said "Heather, you can't keep doing this..."
Heather looked into Marv's eyes curiously. Marv said "You're not what I am, you don't have to eat people, you can eat normal food!...Doing what I do when you don't have to isn't right, Heather. I have enough money to buy you regular food, you have to eat it when I get it." Heather looked to the ground sadly. "But-" Marv quickly said "But nothing! You have to eat normal food, it's bad enough that I do what I do, you don't need to do it too." Heather slowly mumbled "Well...Okay..." Marv smiled a little. "Are you still hungry right now?" Heather seemed to think for a moment, softly saying "Well...Not really...But I guess I'm kind of thirsty..." Marv smiled and said "Well, let's go get you a drink, then." Heather smiled and looked into his face, reaching up and taking one of his hands in one of her's, the two of them leaving the alley together, leaving the massacred corpse of the junkie in the shadows.
Far to the south, Kid awoke, Dominique being awake already, looking through Ace's old duffel bag, looking through all the equipment they all had. "Good morning, Kid..." Dominique murmured. Kid softly said "Good morning..." before he reached up to his face, rubbing at his eyes, pushing open the driver's side door a second later, stepping outside. He stretched slightly, seeing Ronald and everyone else to be awake already, standing by their carts. Ronald raised a hand to him. "Good to see you awake, mate!" Ronald called out. Kid raised a hand, saying "Hey, before we go on our ways, mind if I t-trade with you?" Ronald raised his eyebrows. "Well, certainly, Kid. What did you want to trade?" Kid took the rather large bag of caps from the bag of supplies in the back of the car, walking over. "Stimpacks, meds, anything medical, really." He said. Ronald nodded sagely. "Alright, one second. Tansy, you got the medical stuff in your cart, right?"
Tansy nodded, walking off and grabbing several dark brown leather bags, walking back over. Ronald looked in each bag, saying "Well, I got about seven injections of Med-X, plenty of stimpacks, a few Super Stimpacks, some Rad-X and some Rad Away, I got a dose of Psycho, I even have a dose of Mutie here...I have a few poison antidotes, too. No Mentats, unfortunately." Kid didn't know what each drug did, so he called to Dominique, Dominique getting out of the car and walking over curiously. Kid said "Dominique, you know more about these th-things than I do, could you trade with Ronald and get us some good chems?" Dominique said "Sure", taking the bag of caps from Kid. Dominique started talking with Ronald, discussing prices with him. Kid took a few steps back, looking to the side, spotting Mandy looking at him. At first she shyly looked away, but a moment later she looked back to his eyes with a small smile. Kid smiled back. Tansy walked over, quietly saying "Good morning, Kid..."
Kid smiled at her, saying "Good morning, Tansy." Mandy lost her smile, looking away a little jealously, clenching a hand slightly. Tansy smiled a little, saying "I look forward to seeing you again in the NCR...I'll talk to Ronald on the way, see if I can set something up with him so I can leave with you. But we'll need some kind of idea as to where we should start searching first. The vaults are usually in mountains I think, so...I don't know..." Kid smiled a little. "We can figure that out when we get there." He said lightly. Tansy nodded. Kid raised a hand to the side of her face, touching her gently, running the tip of his thumb along the bottom of her eyepatch lightly. Tansy's eye went a little wide when she realized he was touching her eyepatch, but she calmed down, feeling that he was touching it and only touching it, not flipping it off to look under it or anything. She smiled a little, bringing her face to his for a moment, giving him a kiss on the cheek before taking a few steps back, waving to him slightly before turning and walking back to her cart.
Dominique and Ronald traded items, seemingly coming to an agreement. Dominique walked back over, carrying the bag of caps as well as a semi-large first-aid kit. Ronald gave him another wave. "See you in the NCR, my boy!" Kid waved, everyone else in the group waving to Kid and Dominique, Tansy blowing Kid a kiss. Kid smiled a little and waved back to them, walking back over to his car with Dominique, pulling open the driver's side door. Dominique rested the first-aid kit in the backseat along with the bag of caps, saying "I got us some stimpacks and a Super Stimpack, some Rad Away, two doses of Buffout, two shots of Med-X, and the only dose of Mutie Ronald had. I think we'll be okay for a while." Kid let out a breath, soft like a sigh. "Dom, I wanted to apologize..." Dominique looked over to him slowly and quietly. He said "I've been acting mean lately, and...I'm sorry."
Dominique reached up and pulled off her gasmask, smiling a little. She said a few words in French before gently raising a hand to his face, touching his left cheek. "Mon chéri, it's okay. I know you must be hurting over Dawn...It's okay..." At the mention of Dawn's name, Kid's face instantly grew depressed, Kid looking down to the ground. "...Thank you..." He said quietly. Dominique smiled a little. She stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms around his upper arms, resting her chin on his right shoulder, closing her eyes. He seemed a little more receptive of having her physically close, lightly wrapping his arms around her waist, hugging her back. He could feel her soft blonde hair against the side of his face.
He caught her scent, light and like a flower. He closed his eyes like she did. They stood and hugged for a few moments in silence, Ronald's carts slowly trudging off into the distance, to the south. Kid smiled and quietly said "Maybe we should get going?..." Dominique smiled and released him slowly, saying "Yes, of course..." She walked around the car and got in the passenger's side, Kid sitting down in the driver's side, starting the car once more, an old rock song softly playing through the car's radio. Dominique pointed him in a certain direction, Kid lightly shifting the car's positioning, taking off and driving quickly in the direction of Vault 15's settlement to the southeast.
Within another day and a half, Kid could see buildings in the distance. The radio kept playing softly. "Whoa Black Betty, bam-a-lam, whoa Black Betty, bam-a-lam! Black Betty had a child bam-a-lam, the damn thing gone wild bam-a-lam, she said "I'm worrin' outta my mind" bam-a-lam, the damn thing gone blind, bam-a-lam!" Kid was slowly rocking his head in time with the beat of the song, Dominique sleeping by his side. He had driven through the night without stopping, the music helping to keep him awake. He was holding one of Dominique's hands in his right, his left on the steering wheel still. After another twenty minutes of driving, Dominique slowly drifted into wakefulness. She stretched a little in her seat, sitting up with a yawn. She looked forwards, smiling as she said "Yes, that's it, the settlement!" Kid smiled a little. "Think your dad will be there?" Dominique hopefully said "He should be, but...He left a while before, so...I don't know. Maybe they captured him. I can't imagine anything else..."
Kid squeezed her hand for a moment. "We'll find him, Dom." She smiled and looked over to him. "Thank you..." She said quietly. Kid smiled at her. Another thirty minutes later and they were reaching the outskirts of the settlement. They drove into the settlement through a few houses, driving down an empty street and down to a clearing by a few gnarled and wizened trees. Kid and Dominique both got out, Dominique grinning and looking around. "This is my home! Oh, it's so good to be back!" Kid smiled. Dominique pulled on her gasmask, saying "Come on Kid, let's go see if we can find my father!" Kid nodded, pulling open the door on his side once more and reaching into the back, grabbing a combat shotgun from the supply bag along with the keys from the ignition, walking around the car to her, slipping the keys into his right pants pocket. Dominique slowly reached over and took one of his hands, smiling a little, Kid holding his combat shotgun in one hand, holding her hand back. They walked through the empty street, Dominique looking around.
"Hmm...This place wasn't this quiet back when I used to live here..." She said softly. Kid didn't say anything, walking around a corner in the street with her. The street ahead was empty of life, as well. A soft wind blew through the seemingly-empty buildings, sending up a frightful wail every little bit. Dominique slowly said "...Something's not right....Where is everyone?" Kid softly said "This place looks deserted..." Dominique released his hand, walking forwards quickly, looking left and right. "Hello?" She called out loudly. No voice returned to her. Kid looked to the side, raising his eyebrows in surprise as he noticed a corpse lying in a doorway. Walking over, he caught it's scent of decomposition, his face easily showing his disgust. "Uh, Dom?..." He said. She walked over, spotting the body. "Oh no..." She said. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back, softly saying "Let's...Let's try to find the mayor's office...There might be something there to help us figure out what went on..." Kid nodded, the two of them walking off, heading through the town. The further in they got, the more they noticed dead bodies everywhere.
They were lying in buildings mostly, but some lay out in the street. When they reached the town square, they both gasped, Dominique raising her hands to the visor of her gasmask, turning towards Kid. The middle of the town was filled with corpses. Kid looked along them all. There were tons, Kid wasn't even sure how many, he couldn't count them all. The ground was hidden beneath them. Dominique looked forwards once more. There was a large building across from the bodies, charred and half-destroyed, looking like it had been set fire to. Dominique slowly said "Maybe...Maybe some survivors ran to the vault?...Oh...But...The vault's door was broken, it couldn't have been sealed to protect them..." Dominique had tears in her eyes as she quietly began to sob. "Where is my father?..." She softly cried. Kid slipped his arms around her, holding her close, feeling her shake softly as she sobbed quietly. She cried gently for a minute or so, calming down afterwards.
She looked up to his face, gently saying "Thank you..." He nodded lightly. Dominique looked past him, narrowing her eyes slightly. "It...It was them!..." Kid raised an eyebrow. Dominique stepped away from him, walking past him to a nearby building. Kid looked over. Some sort of symbol had been spray painted onto the side of a building, looking like a skull with green snakes crawling out of it's eye sockets and through gaps in it's teeth. The skull had a pair of horns to it, as well. Dominique was clenching her fists, apparently in anger. Kid asked "Who?" Dominique said "Them...The Scaled Hiss...." Kid raised an eyebrow. "Scaled Hiss?" Dominique nodded. "Bunch of raiders and slavers...I've heard about them. They totally destroyed Modoc not long ago, as well as a small attack on Vault City. I'm surprised they'd come this close to NCR territory, if the NCR knew of this...They're flirting with disaster."
Kid slowly said "So...What now?" Dominique sighed slightly, unclenching her hands. "I guess...I guess we go to the NCR. You wanted to meet with Ronald and his friends there, yes?" Kid nodded. She slowly said "Well...Let's go then...There's nothing left for me here..." She stepped back over to him, Kid taking right her hand in his free one, his left, Dominique looking into his eyes and smiling under her gasmask. They walked back through the empty streets, heading back to the Highwayman, sitting inside and starting up the car, driving off to the west and heading for the New California Republic...
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Fallout Wasteland