Fallout Origins: Chapter 1

Fallout Origins: Chapter 1, Birthdays and Last Days

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Town of Brenwood, United States, October 23 2077

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*Beep beep beep*

An alarm went off but was quickly deactivated by a small hand. The person who turned it off was a (as of today) six year old kid named Nick. He was five foot two with bright green eyes and messy curly dirty blonde hair that was rarely ever combed. He was wearing sky blue Pyjamas that had rocket ships, moons, and stars on them, covering his feet were red and white Nuka Cola socks.

Nick slowly sat up, rubbed the crusty sleep out of his semi tired eyes and raised his arms high in the air as he stretched. The bright morning sun shone through the window and its warmth gently hit the side of his face. The smell of freshly baked pancakes filled the house. He quickly pulled his red Nuka Cola blanket off of himself and carefully ran towards the bedroom door and opened it, then he slowly made his way down the hallway. The soft carpet made it impossible to hear his footsteps, Once he was in the kitchen he saw his father leaning against the counter while having a conversation with his mother.

“These pancakes smell delicious honey, I’m sure Nick will love them” Tom said as he placed some pancakes on a thick blue kitchen plate, he then began pouring some maple syrup on the stack, covering them in the sticky liquid.

Maria chuckled “They are pancakes, of course he’ll love them” she replied while flipping some in a pan, a soft sizzling sound filled the room.

“Wish I could have made him some” Tom said while looking for a fork in the cupboard.

Maria smirked and shook her head “Nick likes his pacakes light brown and soft, not pitch black and crunchy”

“I prefer the word overcooked” Tom gave her a big innocent grin.

Nick smiled and giggled “Mommy, daddy” he quickly ran towards his father who happily picked up the boy and held him in his arms.

“Happy birthday little one, how old are you today?” His father asked even though he already knew the answer.

Nick giggled “Daddy you should know the answer.”

His father chuckled. “I do son, I’m just wondering if you remember.”

“I’m six.” Nick raised both of his hands; the left one had all fingers up while the right one had only the pointer finger raised.

“You sure are.” Tom placed his son down and grabbed a medium sized box that was sitting near the edge of the honey oak table. “Here, before your mother has to head to work I want you to open this.” He gently handed the box to his son, the box was covered in red Nuka Cola wrapping paper, a dark blue ribbon was wrapped tightly around it. .

“Is it a puppy?” Nick inspected the box before starting to open it. His small fingers clawed at the fragile wrapping, pieces of wrapping paper were torn and shred off the box, the pieces slowly floated to ground, landing on the black and white glossy checkered floor that had recently been mopped the night before.

Tom chuckled and crossed his arms as he watched his son unwrap his gift “If I told you what it is then there would be no reason to wrap it”

It took Nick about seven seconds to fully unwrap it, but once he saw what the present was he gave a big smile and shouted happily. “A Nuka Cola train set, I’ve always wanted one of these, thank you so much mommy and daddy!” He happily hugged both his parents.

“You’re very welcome little one. I saw you staring at that when we went to the mall last Sunday, your mother and I knew it would be the perfect gift” Tom said with a smile.

“How much did it cost?” Nick asked curiously while looking for a price tag on the box.

Tom chuckled and gently rubbed Nick’s hair. “Price doesn’t matter when it comes to family”

Maria smiled then looked at the clock on the wall, when she saw the time she sighed quietly to herself “Think I’m gonna head to work early, got lots to do today”

“Do you have to work today mommy?” Nick asked with a sad tone in his voice. he hated when she would leave but he knew that her work was very important in keeping a roof over their heads.

“I do sweetheart, sadly all of the cafe’s employees are unable to work their shifts so it looks like I have the cafe all to myself, not complaining though, means I can steal some tuna sandwiches and apple pie,” she said jokingly while gently nudging her husband with her elbow.

“Honey isn’t stealing wrong?” Tom asked sarcastically while giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek.

“Doesn’t count as stealing if you’re the one making them right?” she looked at her son and winked.

Tom sighed and made his way towards her, he wrapped his arms around her and she placed hers on his shoulders. “I didn’t know I married a troublemaker, fine, take whatever foods you want, but bring me back a Nuka Cola and Cinnamon French Toast,”

“Deal” Maria kissed her husband on the lips, which as usual made her son jokingly pretend to gag.

“And please don’t break any dishes this time,” he stuck out his tongue mockingly.

She sighed loudly and rolled her eyes “It was one time honey”

“I counted three, and I lost track of how many times the fire alarm had gone off” Tom laughed.

“I’m pretty sure those alarms going off we’re your fault honey, need I remind you of a certain Fire Captain, what his name again?..” Maria smirked and rubbed her chin in thought.

“Ok ok you win” Tom sighed.

“Thought so” Maria grabbed her burgundy leather purse from the coat hanger and she placed her right arm through the handle and let the loop rest on her shoulder. “I have to go, and you can forget about that French Toast mister!” she said in a somewhat joking manner.

“So just the Cola?” Tom responded with the biggest smirk on his face.

She sighed and crossed her arms, after three seconds of thinking she finally came up with an answer “I’ll think about it, just don’t get your hopes up”

“Love you honey,” Tom said.

“Love you mommy,” Nick shouted from the kitchen table.

“Love you too sweetheart.” Maria waved to her husband and son then made her way out the door and down the flat stone path that lead to the sidewalk.

Once she was out of view Tom rubbed his hands together and chuckled mischievously. “Well then…now that she’s gone who wants some ice cream?”

“I do!” Nick cheered.

(Brenwood Diner)

Maria happily hummed the toon that was playing on the Jukebox, it was one of her favourite songs, “Uptown Girl by Billy Joel”. she was enjoying the music but when she heard the bell on the door ring she quickly snapped to attention.

“Good morning Maria, are you the only one working today?” A man in a fancy expensive looking tuxedo entered the café. he was about six foot two and had a close to strong build. this man was Mister Cane. he was Brenwood’s thirty-seventh mayor and as a lot of the people would agree one of its best.

“Sure am, Susan sprained her ankle and Jeremy’s wife just had a baby.” Maria replied.

“That’s wonderful, I-I mean about Jeremy, not about Susan, hope she gets better.” Mister Cane nervously cleared his throat and tried his best to look casual.

“So what brings you here this early? Wife snoring too loudly again?” Maria asked while cleaning the counters with an old wet worn out rag. it used to be a pale white but after years of use it turned a lifeless grey.

Mister Cane pulled out one of the stools near the counter and sat on it, he slouched a bit and rested his elbow on the counter so he could be eye level to Maria “Believe it or not it’s the dog this time, a house full of snoring can really drive a person nuts.”

Maria placed the rag down on the far left side of the counter and chuckled a bit. “It sure can.” She never actually lived with anyone who snored, but a lot of times when she took the New Transit bus around town people would often fall asleep in it and snore very loudly. “Now what can I get you”

“I’ll take… some eggs, preferably scrambled, bacon, but not too crispy, toast without crust and freshly squeezed orange juice.”

“We’re currently out of oranges, would cranberry juice be ok?”

“Only if you don’t want a tip,” mister Cane jokes.

Maria smiled, “I’ll get you some apple juice.”

“That would be lovely darling, I’ve got an appointment in forty minutes so don’t mind me if I eat like a dog.” Mister Cane said apologetically.

“May I ask what your appointment is for? If you don't mind of course, don’t want to pry into your personal life or anything." Maria asked as she turned her back towards mister Cane and started fumbling through the fridge, trying to find apple juice, eggs and bacon.

Mister Cane chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand "Oh, you know, the usual."

“Knee giving you problems again?” Maria asked while placing the eggs, bacon and juice on the counter.

“Yeah, it’s been aching for a while, my wife told me if I don’t stop whining about it she was going to make me an appointment and…well you know the rest” he chuckled.

Maria grabbed a clean glass cup and started filling it with juice, once it was full she handed it to Mister Cane who gently took it from her “thank you darling, I tried arguing with her and told her it would go away soon but she wasn’t having any of it”

Maria opened a cupboard, grabbed a large bowl and placed it on the counter next to the eggs “you know how it is, women are stubborn when they want to be, men are stubborn all the time"

Mister Cane laughed as he placed his glass down. "You're not wrong"

Maria then went to another cupboard and took out a pan and placed it on the stove. She cracked five eggs into the bowl and mixed them with a whisk. “She can be stubborn but she sure does love you"

"That she does." Mister Cane nodded in agreement and smiled. "I'm a lucky man."

(27 minutes later)

After his meal was finished Mister Cane grabbed a fresh napkin and gently cleaned his mouth with it. “That meal was lovely, thank you.”

Maria smiled and nodded and gently picked up the dirty dishes “You're very welcome.”

“If you would like, I'd be happy to assist you with cleaning the dishes.” Mister Cane said in a polite manner.

“That‘s very sweet of you mister Cane but you have an appointment that you are currently running late for.”

Mister Cane quickly looked at the watch that was wrapped around his right forearm and his eyes went wide as soon as he noticed that she was right. “Oh shoot, um gotta go, here keep the change.” Mister Cane reached into his pocket and slapped a crumpled twenty dollar bill on the counter, even though his meal was only twelve dollars.

“Thank you mister Cane.” She called out to him.

“Anytime darling.” She shouted back while he was halfway out the diner door.

(87 minutes later, Brenwood Diner, 10:13 am)

Maria was washing dishes; her wet rag rubbed against the burgundy plate in a clockwise motion, the cafe was quiet so she decided to hum, there were only four people in the cafe, one was sitting in the right corner reading a newspaper, and the left corner had three people eating and laughing, it was such a beautiful and relaxing day, that was until…

An alarm in the distance started blaring loudly, it wasn’t a tornado siren or even an air raid one, it was one everyone prayed they would never ever hear.

Everyone who was in the restaurant quickly got up and ran towards the exit, once outside they sprinted as fast as they could towards their homes, but Maria just stood there frozen and unable to move, there was no reason to move, because there was no possible way she could outrun what was coming.

In the distance she could barely see it; a tiny spec was falling from the sky. It seemed to fall in slow motion, but once it finally did make contact with the ground it created a large explosion that was so bright it was almost blinding, above it was a giant mushroom cloud the size of the Empire State Building the blinding light began to get closer and closer.

Maria slowly closed her eyes, took a final deep breath and prepared herself for what was to come. The light shattered all the cafe’s windows, the glass shot towards her faster than a bullet; the shards hit the chalkboards and menus behind her, somehow penetrating the hard objects.

Everything was in slow motion; she couldn’t do anything but stand still and watch as the white light made its way closer to her when the blast finally hit her she didn’t even feel it, she could no longer feel anything.

(Johnson family home, 10:13 am)

Nick and his father sat at the family table, Tom read the Brenwood newspaper while Nick happily played with his new train. The train had a button on the top that once pressed would make a train whistle sound, Tom took his eyes off the newspaper for a moment and smiled at his son. “How are you liking your new train son?”

Nick didn’t take his eyes of the train and continued playing with it “I love it, it’s the best toy I’ve ever gotten, thanks again daddy”

Tom chuckled “your welcome son” he then went back to reading his newspaper, but before he could finish the paragraph he was reading an alarm began blaring in the distance.

Tom dropped his coffee mug on the floor; it shattered and coffee splashed all over the recently cleaned floor. Nick didn’t understand what the noise meant, but his father did.

“Daddy, what’s that noise?” Nick asked curiously.

His father didn’t answer the question; his only response was “Run.”

The sound of the alarm made it difficult for Nick to hear “What?”

“RUN!” Tom shouted loudly and gently grabbed his son’s wrist then quickly made his way towards the back door, he opened it as fast as he could, once outside they could hear screaming from their neighbors houses.

“Daddy what’s going on; where are we going?” Nick asked worriedly while trying to keep up with his father.

“JUST KEEP RUNNING!” Tom shouted.

They quickly approached a door which Nick recognized as the storm bunker he and his father made two years ago, but what Nick did not understand was why his father had stocked the bunker with food and water. Most storms only lasted two to three days and most of them weren’t that severe.

Tom quickly turned the speed wheel clockwise and opened the heavy titanium bunker door, once they were both inside he slammed it shut and turned the wheel counter clockwise, once the door was sealed he brought his son to the middle of the room.

“Daddy what’s going on; please tell me.”

Tom didn’t respond; he just kneeled down and hugged his son, there was a sound of wind in the background; then it got louder and louder until it was deafening.

It hurt Nick’s ears so much he screamed as loud as he could, but his screams were drowned out by the sound of the strong wind, but what Nick didn’t know was that it wasn’t wind.

(10:23 am)

“Daddy, where's mommy?” Nick asked worriedly while looking around the fully stocked bunker.

Tom sighed and pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes, he tried his best not to cry, he wished his wife was with them, if her fellow employees would have worked today she would be here “She…she’s still at the cafe”

“Will she be ok? Will she be here soon?” a small tear slowly ran down Nick’s cheek.

“Your mother…” he wanted to tell his son that everything was going to be ok, that Maria would be joining them soon, but he promised Nick he would never lie to him “your mother won’t be coming.”

“But why? D~Did something happen to her?” Nick asked nervously.

Tom didn’t answer the question, instead he got down on one knee and placed his right hand on his son’s shoulder “…son…remember the battle between America and China?…”

Nick thought for a moment; his Social teacher Miss Smith had taught them about it a couple months ago, Nick didn’t really like war so he usually drew instead of paying attention to the topic, but sometimes he would put down his drawing and listen. “Yeah, I think so, we learned about it in school”

“Well…” Tom took a deep breath before continuing to speak. “it got worse…and worse…and worse…”

Nick was confused; how could a war get worse? “What do you mean?”

“Well…it got to the point where they both threatened to drop bombs on each other.” Tom sniffled and wiped away a tear that was forming in his own eye.

“That doesn’t sound bad; bombs aren’t strong enough to destroy a state…right?” From what Nick had learned in school bombs were strong and did lots of damage, but not enough to destroy an entire city.

“I wish that were true son…but the bombs they…they didn’t use the bombs that you see in the war movies that they play on TV…”

“What did they use?” Nick asked curiously, starting to feel a bit more worried about the situation.

Tom was silent for a moment, he looked to the side and took a deep breath before speaking “Atom Bombs.”

Nick had never heard of those types of bombs before “W-What are Atom Bombs?”

Tom didn’t want to talk about the subject anymore; he wanted to talk about anything except what was going on outside the bunker. “Son, I need you to listen to me; we only have enough food and water to last us a year and a half so we need to use it scarcely, if anything happens to me I want you to stay in here and do not leave until we run out of food, do you understand me?”

“I do…” Nick sniffled and started to cry “I’m so scared daddy.”

“Everything will be ok, I promise… love you son” Tom wrapped his arms around his son and held him close.

“I love you too daddy.”

(The next day)

The bunker didn’t only have food, but other necessities as well, in the back of the room sat a TV with a VCR hooked up to it. beside it were some movies, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Tangerine Bear, Toys That Saved Christmas and Old Yeller. Out of all those movies Nick knew which one he would definitely never watch.

There were also board games, Boggle, Camelot, Rook, Children’s Hour, and Sorry. A record player and a Transistor Radio, sat about three feet from the TV, beside it laid some records, there was the Andrew Sisters, Boznie Sisters, Bing Crosby, Bob Crosby, Elvis and The Chordettes.

There was a sky blue sofa on the left side of the bunker door, it was the one his parents found at the garbage dump, it used to have a few tears here and there until Maria patched them up, there was also a cream coloured stool which he and his father had made about three years ago.

(October 7, 2082)

Tom looked at the food shelves, he noticed that their food supplies was running short, he sighed quietly to himself and picked up a can of Ravioli and looked at it for a second, he just stared at the label for a moment and read it to himself repeatedly, Ravi’s Ravioli, the same food him and his wife used to being on their picnics to the Red River Park.

He turned his head and looked at his son who was drawing something on a blank piece of paper, he didn’t have to look at the art to know that his son was drawing his favorite superhero, the Silver Shroud, Tom smiled then looked back at the can, he placed it back on the shelf and sighed happily.

(October 14, 2082)

“Dad, when you were my age…what did you want to be when you grew up?” Nick asked his father curiously.

Tom thought for a moment “Hmmm…Well…there were a lot of things I wanted to be when I was your age, I wanted to be a pirate, a veterinarian and a chef.”

“Why didn’t you work with mom at the diner?” Nick asked.

“Um well…” Tom rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously “I did for a couple of days, the Cafe’s owner and the fire department put a stop to that”

Nick gasped in shock “You set the diner on fire?!”

“S-Sorta, almost…once or twice…or maybe five times…” Tom stared at the ground and thought about the day the diner had to replace its stove.

Nick giggled “Is that why mom always cooked?”

Tom smiled “yes, she never let me cook, well sorta, the only times I could cook was when she supervised me” he chuckled “Anyways what about you? What do you want to do when you're as old as me?”

“I want to be a train driver when I grow up,” Nick said cheerfully.

“A Locomotive Engineer, what makes you want to become one of those?” Tom asked curiously.

“Well there’s a couple of reasons, first because I want to travel the world and meet new people; and second because trains are awesome, you can go as fast as you want without getting a ticket, because the police officers are too afraid to pull you over”

Tom chuckled and smiled “yeah, that’s true”

(October 22, 2082)

“Are you ready to play some checkers dad?” Nick asked excitedly while placing the pieces on the board.

“I’m feeling a little tired son, I think I’m gonna call it a night” Tom said weakly while slowly walking towards his sleeping bag, he looked at his skin and noticed it was beginning to pale.

Nick was confused, his dad never said no to checkers, he looked over at the clock on the wall “But it’s only three o’clock, a-and you said we’d play some checkers today”

“I know son, we’ll play tomorrow, I promise” Tom’s voice was shaky and weak, Nick noticed this but didn’t say anything.

“Ok dad, love you”

Tom didn’t respond, he just weakly crawled into his sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep, Nick looked at him worriedly and sighed, he decided to read some of his Silver Shroud comics.

He imagined being the Silver Shroud, fighting bad guys and saving the world from evil, maybe one day he could become the Shroud, maybe one day he could make the world a better place.

(October 23, 2082)

“Good morning dad, are you ready to lose another game of checkers?”

Nick said cheerfully as he carefully pulled the sleeping bag off of himself and stretched before slowly getting up, he looked at the sleeping bag beside him but it was empty “Dad?” He looked around the bunker for his father and found him lying face down a couple feet away.

“Dad…DAD!”

Nick stood up as quickly as possible and ran over to his dad, when he approached his father he gently nudged him, there was no response, he quickly turned his father over so he was laying on his back, but Nick froze, his fathers skin had turned completely white, there was no air coming from his father’s mouth or nose, he placed his hand on his father’s neck then his wrist but couldn’t find a pulse anywhere, which could only mean one thing.

“Dad no, please no, dad wake up, please wake up! I can’t lose you!”

No response, he knew what had happened, his father spent nine days without food or water, he gave his food rations to his son, his father seemed fine, less energetic than usual but still normal, but nothing could deny the truth that laid before him, The truth was that his father…had starved to death.

Nick just wanted to scream, to yell as loud and long as possible until his lungs hurt, but all he could do was cry, the lump in his throat felt became bigger and bigger with each passing second until it became painful, Nick had never cried this hard in his life, his nose began to run but he didn’t care, he just sat there as tears soaked his face.

Nick looked at his fathers lifeless body, the tears blurred his vision, he reached out and held his fathers hand in his “I…I can’t lose you too”

(178 days later, 2083 April 18)

It was quiet in the bunker but Nick had gotten used to it, he looked towards the sleeping bag in the corner which contained his long lost father, he didn’t see it as a sleeping bag anymore, now it only appeared to him as a body bag, he hated looking at it as that but once he was out of this bunker he would give his dad a proper burial, sadly he would never be able to do that for his mother.

Memories began flooding Nick’s mind, the day he had a water fight with his parents at the Brenwood Park, their first picnic together, the day he worked with his mom at the diner, all of it was now a painful reminder of the life he used to have, the life he would never get back.

He sighed and made his way to one of the food shelves, the shelf didn’t contain any food so he went to the next, then the next, and the next, there was no food or water anywhere, Nick remembered what his father had said if this incident ever were to happen.

“If anything happens to me I want you to stay here and not leave until we run out of food, do you understand me?”

Nick had only hoped that the outside world was safe and the air was breathable, it was a long shot but it was either that or starve, he chose the first option; he looked at his shoes, they were red semi worn out sneakers, he hadn’t worn them since he was six, so the chance of them still fitting were extremely low, right beside his shoes were his fathers, black dress shoes with a nice shine to them, he approached them and put them on, they we’re a little big but would still work.

After he was dressed and ready he made his way towards the vault door, he grabbed the speed wheel and sighed, this was it, this was either the last day he spent in the bunker or his last day on earth, he prayed that everything would be fine, he took a deep breath and turned the wheel clockwise and once the vault door opened a bright light struck his eyes, he quickly shielded his eyes with his right hand, it took some time for his eyes to adjust to the light but once they did his heart dropped, his house, the neighbors houses and the entire neighborhood was either badly damaged or turned to rubble.

He looked in every direction, there were no signs of life anywhere, no family barbecue’s, no kids playing on playgrounds, nothing, just deafening silence.

Nick began making his way towards the town hall, the mayor had told everyone that during times of extreme emergencies or even dangerous storms the safest and best place to go was the Brenwood Community Centre, everyone just called it town hall.

On his way there he had saw something in the distance, It looked like a giant sign, he ran towards it and once he approached it he got a better look at what it was, It was a billboard that for some miracle was still intact, there were giant red letters painted on it, the paint looked like it had been there for a long time, even though the letters looked very runny and faded from years in the sun Nick could still read the words, he let out a loud sigh then read the words out loud to himself.

“Welcome to the Fallout”