A Trek Through the Wasteland

Man out of Time: Joseph

War. War never changes. The place I once called my home, now in ruin. Everything I knew about this world, erased in a matter of minutes. The last thing I remember of that day was seeing the bright lights of the bombs falling, before descending into the vault. Hearing the screams of those who couldn't make it inside. Those inside the vault, the ones wearing lab coats and blue jumpsuits, calmly assured us we would be fine. The rest of our lives would be spent inside that vault. My wife Nora, my son Shaun, at least they were there with me. But even when I was put somewhat at ease, it was immediately ripped away from me. We were tricked. We were put into cryogenic pods that put us to rest for 200 years.
I remember waking up, seeing a man and nsome people in clean room suits. They opened Nora's pod with her and Shaun. Those people then tried to take him from her, she wouldn't comply, so the man shot her dead and took my son. He then walked to my pod, said I was the "backup" if they needed me. Then they refroze me, staring into the pod of my wife they just murdered.
When I awoke again, it only felt like a second when they were there. I ran to her pod, tripping over myself and fumbling with the buttons. My hands were still frigid and shaking from the cold and adrenaline. When it opened, I knew it was too late. That moment, I knew I had to do something. I would do anything to know who did this to them and make them regret it. I pull the ring off her finger and put it in my pocket, then close up the pod. It looked like no one else was shot, though the statuses on their pods still wasn't something to be celebrated. Every single one I walked up to, all said the same thing "deceased." The vault, or what was left of it, was filled with skeletons and the frozen bodies of the people who were once my neighbors. I asked myself "what the hell happened here?" Massive bugs infested the inside as its new residents. They looked like massive cockroaches and attacked anything that moved. While looking for the way out, I managed to scrounge up a 10mm pistol, some ammo, and a couple of stimpacks. After searching around, I found a terminal and a way to open up the door to the exit. The door pulled itself open and the elevator stood before me. I walked to a button to turn it on and found a device with a small screen on it next to a skeleton with a lab coat. I picked it up and turned it on. The screen flickered to life, green text appeared then cleared from the screen. A cartoon character appeared, gave me the thumbs up, and then the device opened to a new screen. I put it on my wrist like a watch and it seemed to fit. The device had many settings on it, a map, my vitals and a radio. I connect the device to the button and then press it to power up the elevator. It rumbles awake and the gate opens up for me to go inside. The elevator shakes as it raises me to the top, the big gear shaped hole opens up and the bright sun shines on my face. It's blinding compared to the dimly lit vault I was in. I had no idea what to expect of the world. At that moment, I didn't know how long I was down there. My eyes adjusted to the light and I looked at the landscape.
What was once Boston, my home, now a barren memory of what it once was. Crumbling buildings, scorched trees, radiation and creatures littered around. My only thought was to see if my house was still standing, if it still was what I remembered it as. Approaching the neighborhood, I see some homes still standing but very broken down, ready to collapse at any time. The street still felt somewhat the same. Then, I went to my house.
"Then you found me." Codsworth, my trusted robot companion before all this, points out.
"Yes Codsworth, then I found you." I say.
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry Mr. Moore. I wish things could have turned out better for you. If only I knew you were still down there after all these years. Being stuck doing house work for over 200 years does not keep the mind occupied." Codsworth says, trying to cheer me up.
"It's fine Codsworth." I say "I just wish I had a lead on where to find Shaun.. he has to still be out there. It wasn't that long when he was taken." Codsworth nods and seems to be thinking. I get up from the dusty couch I was sitting on and walk around my old living room. The walls of the room are littered with holes, the door broken off its hinges. Everything is covered in dust and dirt, along with being mostly broken. All I can do is stare at the home that was once mine, how my son could of grew up here, now he's out in this wasteland.
Codsworth watches me closely. "You know Sir, there's a town not too far from here that might have some people in it. I heard some commotion a while ago, maybe they could help."
I nod "Concord right?"
Codsworth nods "that's right, though I should warn you. Some of the locals don't seem to be that friendly. They very much like to do some shooting practice with me."
Great, the new world is filled with a bunch of gun wielding psychopaths. I take out my 10mm and begin my walk towards Concord. Codsworth follows behind me. From what I remember, Concord was a historical kind of town, there's a war museum and that's kind of about it. We walk down the street and find not too far from town, someone dead next to a mutated dog with a tire iron in its head. I pull it out of the dogs skull and then grab some of the clothes off the corpse. A dirty trench coat and gas mask was the only salvageable items on them. I put the tire iron in my belt loop for later. We then continue a little ways down the road and get to Concord. We hear gunshots and shouting in the distance. I go and hide behind a building and peek out to see people in makeshift armor and gas masks. Carrying around and shooting guns at someone on the balcony of the museum. Every once in a while someone would throw a grenade at them but nearly miss the balcony.
Then, someone says "there's someone over there!" Some turn and start shooting at me and Codsworth, how did they even see us? I know Codsworth is kinda bulky and his thruster that allows him to move around is quite loud.. I now see how they found us after realizing this about him. I start shooting at them, they seem to have better guns than my measly 10mm. Though, I somehow took out a few of them, thank god I was in the military and learned how to kind of shoot a gun. That's really the only good thing I can take out of being in the military.
The man on the balcony then shoots one last guy and looks down at me. He's wearing an old military uniform from the Civil War era and holds a strange laser rifle. Not any kind of laser rifle I'm used to, it's much bigger and has a massive crank on the side. "Stranger! Come quick, there's more inside and we could really use your help!" The man says. Before I could get a word out he ducks back inside.
I turn to Codsworth and say "I guess let's go help this guy." Codsworth nods and goes towards the door of the museum. Bodies lay around the streets, is this going to be a common sight?
I step over the corpses and pick up anything I can off the bodies. Ammo, armor, a better gun, anything that seems useful. On the ground, next to someone dressed similarly to the man in the balcony, was the strange laser rifle with the crank. I picked it up along with a couple of fusion cells to power it. It seems similar to the laser rifles I'm accustomed to from before the war but bigger and much more powerful than the standard. I decided to take it just in case.
We then open the door to the museum and step in. Many of the walls are dilapidated and the roof seems to be caving in. The old museum still has some relics from the past, like murals and displays about the different wars America has fought in. The second we entered, more people with guns and gas masks turned to us and started shooting. Me and Codsworth duck behind an old ticket booth for cover. I take out the laser rifle and shove some fusion cells into it. I then point the weighty gun at someone and try to pull the trigger, nothing happens. A rain of bullets came flying the second I stuck my head out. Searching over the weapon, I struggle to find a way to power it. "Come on you stupid-" I say before looking at the massive crank. Rotating it makes the barrel hum to life and light up with a bright red glow. Once again, aiming it at someone and firing it releases a massive red laser straight through their body. They barely get a scream out before their body turns to ash. The glow slowly fades from the barrel, I shove another fusion cell inside and crank it. Someone jumps down from the second floor and starts shooting. "Look out sir!" Codsworth says and manages to get in front of me before the shots hit me. He takes out his buzzsaw and swings it at the person forcing them to move away. He then uses his small flamethrower and sets them on fire. While Codsworth distracts them, I run out and shoot at another person. Every time I shoot this gun once I have to reload and crank. I run up the broken uneven steps to the second floor. Trying to reload, I fumble and drop one of the fusion cells. Then someone walks up with a gun and points it to my back. "This doesn't involve you, scum." Says the guy. This is it, I thought I could take on this new world. Now I'm gonna be killed because I wanted to help this person I've never met. I just wanted to find my son... I then hear a bzzzzz sound and look back and see the guy's head on the ground and his body falling to the ground.
"Are you okay sir?" Codsworth asks.
I stood there stunned for a moment "I thought I was done for... I don't think I'm cut out for this..."
"This world is much more dangerous but if you want to find Shaun..." Codsworth says. He's right, I need to do this for both Shaun and Nora. Maybe these people know where Shaun is, or can at least point me in the right direction. Give me some form of hope. I pick up the fusion cell and put it in. Me and Codsworth fight through the group of attackers and get to the third floor. Two people stand at the door where the man on the balcony is.
"Open up the door, come on, you already know it's hopeless." The two chuckle and one tries to ram the door in. Codsworth and I run up and attack the two people. Codsworth slices at one with his buzzsaw. I grab out the tire iron and swing it over the girl's head, then try to hit the gun out of her hands. She holds her head and shoots and hits my leg. I try to not stumble and fall and just keep hitting her till she goes to the ground. Codsworth then shoots his flamethrower and the guy backs off and falls back into the broken railing. He then falls through the weak railing and hits the first floor with a thud. I slump to the ground and hold my leg in pain. The door then slowly opens and the man walks out.
"Oh thank god, aren't we glad to see you. We'll patch you up and talk." The man holds out his hand to me. I grab his hand and he pulls me up. He helps me inside and grabs a chair for me. I look around at the rest of the people in the small room. One man has a pompadour and works on a terminal. An older lady sits on a couch, she wears a bandana kind of headwear and loose flowy clothes. A couple sits on the floor with a man quietly rocking himself and a woman trying to comfort him but looking irritated. The man from the balcony grabs a bandage and wraps my leg and hands me a stimpak. "By the way, what's your name stranger?" He asks
"Joseph Moore." I take the stimpak and use it, it slowly relieves the pain from my leg.
The man nods "Preston Garvey, Minutemen." Minutemen? Is that a group, if so, it's not a very big group from what I can see.
"Minutemen?" I ask Preston.
"The Minutemen are a group of people who swore to protect the people of the Commonwealth. Though, our numbers have dwindled, Im the only Minuteman left that I know of." Preston says and sighs. "We lost a lot of our people back at Quincy during the massacre. Have been trying to find a new place to settle ever since. Mama Murphy spoke of a place for us to go," he motions to the woman on the couch. "But we've lost even more trying to get there."
"It's a place called Sanctuary, I saw it in a vision, along with you." Mama Murphy says.
"'Along with me'? What do you mean by that?" I ask the woman.
"I was shown that someone would guide us to this Sanctuary. You seem to be that someone." Mama Murphy states calmly. "I also know you're looking for someone."
My heart drops instantly, she's talking about Shaun. How does she know about Shaun? "Where is he? What do you know? You have to tell me!" I begin to walk over to her.
"I'm afraid that's all I know... but if you get me more jet..." she says before Preston interjects.
"No, you don't need any more jet." The woman on the floor then joins in.
"You don't need to keep pumping your body full of that crap, you're just delusional." She scowls at Mama Murphy.
"We don't need to be so harsh Marcy. I know we're all on edge, but we'll get to Sanctuary. Once Sturges gets the terminal open, we should be able to get access to that power armor on the roof." Preston says boldly. "Then maybe our new friend here can help us out a bit more." He gives me a soft smile.
I nod "Yeah, sure I can help out. Just tell me how I can."