2 The Minuteman

Sleeping on a hard floor wasn't difficult, just a reminder of my years in the service, with little more than a bedroll and a thin blanket against the elements, usually in a tent, but sometimes we would have to sleep in the trenches, waiting for the next Chinese onslaught. It was amazing at the time, that with all the technology at our disposal, we still ended up fighting what was basically trench warfare, a reminder of the wars of the previous century.

I woke with the dawn the next morning, the sun almost blinding as it appeared over the horizon. The air was definitely different. There wasn't a real smell, at least around Sanctuary. At least I didn't smell any dead bodies. After two centuries, I had a feeling I'd only find skeletons from now on.

It dawned on me quickly that there wasn't running water, so having a shower was out. There was a river to the south, though did wonder if that was irradiated. I had a feeling most water sources would contain some sort of radiation, even after all this time. I'd read literature that suggested it would be, at minimum, three hundred years before areas of the United States would have been habitable. So I was awake ninety years too early, at least if the sums in my head were correct. No point worrying about that now.

Putting on my vault suit first, I then put my army fatigues over those. I had no other armour, though nothing was really going to stop a bullet unless I found combat armour. I had a holster for my pistol, at least, while I fastened a strap to my shotgun and looped that around onto my back. I managed to find a small pack that I could carry some water and a couple of snacks. But I wasn't going to hang around Sanctuary feeling sorry for myself. I'd been a man of action and circumstances now suggested I get busy quickly, otherwise I'd just end up dying of starvation, dehydration or radiation.

"Where will you go, sir?" Codsworth wondered.

"Well, Concord is only a short walk away. You said you've seen survivors there before, so I'll see if I can find anyone. I'll stick close to Sanctuary for the time being. Though I'd love nothing more than to head to Vault-Tec and get answers, I have a feeling it won't be that easy. If Sanctuary looks like this…"

"Would you like company, sir? I can certainly help defend you against anything you might run into."

I gave it some thought. If cockroaches had mutated into bigger, uglier, more aggressive things, then I can only imagine the same thing has happened to other animals. And if humans had disappeared in millions, if not billions, then I could only assume that animals might have flourished in the centuries since. "You know what, Codsworth, come along. Better than hanging around here for the time being."

"Very good, sir."

Thankfully the wooden bridge leading out of Sanctuary Hills was somehow still standing, though it was a little rickety. Nothing around us lived. Every single tree was dead, but I did see small signs of life, a few different flowers and ferns blooming. Nothing familiar though, so I figured they'd also mutated. Whether they were actually dangerous to health or not, I guess I'd have to ask someone still alive.

The Red Rocket station was abandoned but the building was intact, at least. Searching the ruins for supplies, I found a small pile of bottle caps. That boggled my mind as it seemed they were sat there for a reason. I checked the till to find plenty of cash. Considering it was abandoned and everyone was dead, I had no issue with pocketing the money. I was about to just leave the caps, but something in the back of my mind suggested they might be important, so I slid those into my pack as well.

Then I found a dog, of all things, a German Shepherd. Getting down onto my knee, he came running towards me and was very friendly. No signs of radiation or mutation either. "Hello, boy!" I exclaimed as I gave him a rub between the ears and down his coat. He was surprisingly clean.

He barked happily. "Where's your owner?" He cocked his head and barked again. "You don't have one?" He barked again. I looked at my robot companion. "Looks like we had a dog, Codsworth."

"He seems to be in remarkably good health, sir."

"Want to come with me, boy?" The dog barked happily, and as soon as I started to walk off, he joined me at my side. So now I had a robot and a dog. No idea what to call him though. "Have a name, boy?" He again cocked his head so I gave it some thought. "Want a human name or something else?" He barked again. "How about… Max?" He barked and licked my face, so I guess he liked it. "Okay, Max, want to come along with me?" I stood up and he circled around me a couple of times before running off, looking back, suggesting that I follow.

After two centuries, roads were cracked and falling apart. Cars, which likely stopped as soon as the bomb hit, lay abandoned, nothing more than rusted husks. Many cars had been powered by nuclear energy as car makers had converted away from oil, which was kept rationed by the government and generally only given to corporations and the armed forces.

The road to Concord was a descent, and we passed by the carcass of a cow. Bending down on a knee, there was no missing the fact it had two heads. Another sign of mutation. "Fucking hell," I muttered, "Are all the cows like this, Codsworth?"

"I don't know, sir. The furthest I've ever travelled was Concord, and that was a long time ago. Whenever someone arrived in Sanctuary, I'd usually hide."

"Why?"

"I had a feeling people would want me for salvage. My circuits would prove rather valuable, I think."

"Hmmm. I do wonder if there is working electricity anywhere. Clean water. And crops." I looked up and around. "The air certainly feels… drier. And, looking around, everything is either dead or… Does it rain much?"

"It does rain, sir. Though some of the storms are radioactive."

"Fantastic. Acid rain?"

"Not anymore, sir. Storms that come in from the south-west are the problem."

On the edge of Concord, we ran into some more bugs. Again, these were mutated bastards, and I was left thinking they were enormous mosquitos. Codsworth charged ahead, using his saw to cut one in half. I lined up my pistol and put a bullet into two others, dreading to think what would happen if one managed to latch onto me. Mosquitos were little shits before the war. These things? They'd drain all my blood in minutes. "Has anything not mutated?" I wondered, leaning over one of the bugs, checking it over.

"The occasional stray dog came through Sanctuary, sir. Dogs like the one with us are rare."

"Not friendly?"

"Most are starving, sir, and simply looking for a feed."

I gave Max a scratch behind his ears before moving on, keeping my weapon in hand as we entered the outskirts of Concord. It was only another suburb of Boston, though this one contained more shops than Sanctuary Hills, which had been purely residential. There had been a few small shops Nora had liked to visit, though we'd done our food shopping in Lexington, where there was a large Super-Duper Mart. The houses to either side of us were abandoned, some having fallen down completely, others looked in somewhat decent condition. We searched one or two but didn't find anything worth taking.

Hearing gunfire ahead was a surprise. To be honest, I hadn't really expected to find anyone in Concord, figuring it would have been abandoned as Sanctuary Hills. Gesturing to Codsworth for silence, I also whispered to Max to take it slowly, crouching down as we made our way down the hill to the corner, the sound of gunfire increasing with each step.

Peeking around a corner, the Museum of Freedom was in the distance. Nora and I had visited it not long after moving into our new house. I could see at least four-armed people firing on the museum, just about making out a lone defender on the patio above, and he or she seemed to be armed with a laser rifle. I was amazed that technology still existed. Otherwise, the main road was deserted, a truck trailer providing cover.

"Codsworth," I whispered, "I'm thinking we help the guy up on the patio. So, you head down the left, take out who you can. I'll head down the right and hopefully knock off a couple while you provide a distraction. Max, if you want to bite someone, you're more than welcome." He growled, so I think he liked that idea. "You understand hand signals, Codsworth?"

"I do, sir."

"Just keep an eye out for any I make. I'm not getting killed as soon as I wake up."

The three of us moved out, Codsworth silently heading down the left of the street, I went down the right, Max at my side, staying low. Once I was behind cover, I waited for Codsworth to make his move. Huh, just realised I thought of the robot as a 'he'. Must be the voice. Anyway, he fell upon the first attacker, causing him to cry out and turn around, his saw immediately slashing down the chest. That drew the attention of two others, and I opened fire immediately, two hands holding the pistol steady. The first bullet went through the eyes of the first person, though the second who turned fired immediately. Max disappeared, noticing him sneak ahead. I waited for the man to stop firing before rising and firing. My first shot missed, the second shot hit the shoulder. By now, the fourth attacker had turned, Codsworth zooming ahead, taking a couple of shots.

I leapt over cover and charged forward, switching to my shotgun easily, firing away, the blast impacting the chest of the man, watching him collapse back onto the ground. Max was helping Codsworth with the last one, watching him bite the arse of the man as Codsworth sent his saw slashing across his neck, blood spurting as he collapsed to the ground.

"Quickly! Quickly!" I yelled out, rushing down the rest of the street towards the museum.

I noticed two dead bodies on the ground, both of them dressed in clothing that seemed vaguely familiar. "Hey, up here! On the balcony!" I looked up to see a black man looking down at me. "I've got a group of settlers inside! The raiders are almost through the door! Grab that laser musket and help us! Please!"

"Raiders? The fuck are raiders?" I asked, more to myself than him. "Okay, give me a moment." I looked at Codsworth. "Watch our backs out here. If any more of these raiders appear, get to safety. Max, you come with me." I looked up. "I'll head inside now! Get to safety!"

"I will. And thank you!"

I picked up the laser musket. It wasn't the sort of rifle I might have once used, it adapted so I had to turn the crank to charge it up. But at least I had something better than a pistol, checking both bodies for energy cells, finding a few of those and pocketing them. Looping that around my body, I took out my shotgun instead, which was much better for close quarters fighting. Now I was in my element. Street fighting? Check. Fighting in general? Double check. Clearing a building of the enemy? Triple check. Though sometimes we'd just call in bombers and lay waste to an entire area, particularly if it was a large factory or warehouse. And given I was only recently retired, in the sense that I'd been on ice for two centuries, all the old training returning immediately. Having Max was a bonus, though.

The raiders were definitely firing on the position of wherever or whoever these settlers, and my presence was missed as I kept to the shadows, Max sniffing ahead, making sure the area was safe before he looked back. He seemed to understand what I needed. I didn't particularly like sneaking about, but being completely unarmoured, I didn't want to take a shot to the gut. So it required catching them by surprise. Some wore leather armour, one or two what looked like metal armour, none of it in particularly good condition. Most carried poor weaponry, covered in dirt, tattoos, and scars.

We managed to surprise more than one of them. Whenever there were two in a room, Max would distract one while I blasted away the other. Thankfully, the plan worked each time, though I did have to duck more than one bullet, a couple coming too close for comfort. Working our way upstairs, the raiders figured out someone was coming, and the last two were ready for us. That's when I switched to the musket, cranking it up and, from cover, fired at them. First couple of shots didn't hit home, but the next one did, the shot going straight through his armour, then his body, watching him fall over the edge to the ground below. The last raider charged towards me, taking out my pistol and putting a bullet right between his eyes.

Then there was blessed silence, though Max and I remained vigilant until making the door. I knocked. "Um, it's me, the guy from outside."

"Hold on a moment. I'll get the door for you."

When it opened, I was greeted by the same black man I'd seen earlier, gesturing for me to enter as he shut and locked the door behind me. "Sit," I told Max, and he did it immediately, so he seemed to have some training at least, giving him a scratch behind the ears. I looked around to see an old woman, a younger man who was working at a terminal, and an Asian looking couple, both of them looking terrified. "Who are you people?"

"I'm Preston. Preston Garvey. If you don't recognise the grab, I'm a Commonwealth Minuteman. Last one, I'm afraid."

"Minuteman? They're still around? I thought they'd disbanded after the revolution."

"Revo-what?" He looked me up and down. "Who are you?"

"Nate Shepard. I'm… I'm not really sure how to explain it, to be honest. But I'm from a vault."

"A vault? Where?"

"Sanctuary Hills. Vault 111."

"There's a vault there?"

"I told you we'd find someone there, Preston," the old lady said.

"You mentioned nothing about a vault, Mama Murphy." He looked back at me. "Um, so, as I said, I'm Preston. Man at the terminal is Sturges. Mama Murphy is the older lady. And the couple over there are Jun and Marcy Long. We're all that left after what happened…" He trailed off, and I could see it was a topic he didn't want to talk about just yet.

"Why are you in Concord?"

"Take a seat and I'll explain." I did as he asked, finding a chair to sit down on. Opening my pack, I took out some water, offering it around though everyone waved it away, stating they at least had their own supplies. "So you've been in a vault since when?"

"I entered the vault on October 23rd, 2077."

That caused them all to look at me wide-eyed. "You're pre-war? How is that possible?" Sturges asked.

"I was frozen along with everyone else. Vault-Tec were… doing some sort of experiment. Something must have gone wrong, though, as my pod malfunctioned. But my wife…" I sighed. "I'm the sole survivor of Vault 111."

"Holy shit," Preston muttered, "Talk about a man out of time."

"Yeah, I only woke up yesterday to find… this…"

"Look, I wouldn't really know where to start regarding your circumstances. You know it's 2287 though?" I nodded. "The world as you might have known it? Gone. I don't know much about the time you're from but the world was blown to hell. There's no government, no real law and order, no help, so it's up to people to band together and survive as best they can. As I said, I'm part of the Minuteman. We established over a century ago to help bring order back to the Commonwealth. But events in the recent past… I won't go into details yet, but you proved one thing. You can fight. Can you help us?"

"I left looking for survivors. I'm just glad to find someone alive. What did those raiders want?"

"They're packs of people who thrive on nothing but what you probably considered crimes. Murder. Theft. Rape. Torture. Without any sort of effective police force, raiders operate with impunity. And without the Minutemen to maintain at least a semblance of control, I fear it will only get worse. The raiders we were fighting? I have no doubt they were not the last."

"You think more raiders will come?"

"No doubt." He glanced at Sturges. "You think our new friend could help with our problem?"

He turned around and looked at me. "You're pre-war so I can only hope you know about power armour?"

"Sure do. Only ever used it once or twice. I was infantry."

"You served?" Preston asked.

"Reached the rank of Major of the United States Army. I'm guessing that doesn't exist anymore?"

"The United States barely exists, if it does at all, Nate. As for the army, that probably fell apart in the days after the war. We have walked by one or two of their abandoned checkpoints. The only group that could possibly relate to them are the Gunners. They generally look like pre-war army soldiers, though they act little more than raiders."

"Shit, things are that bad?"

"As I said, there is no law and orders, Nate. I can only assume the society you once knew collapsed after the bombs fell. Millions would have died immediately, and many more in the aftermath. Guess you could ask a ghoul or two…"

"What the fuck is a ghoul?"

"Oh, right. So, ghouls are irradiated people. Some are probably as old as you are. They look messed up but some managed to retain their humanity. Somehow, their bodies reacted to the radiation by giving them what seems to be immortality, though it stripped away their skin and other features that we have. Noses and lips are the most recognisable features they lack. Unfortunately, many others who turned into ghouls… well, we just call them ferals. No humanity. Nothing that you would recognise as human. Vicious, aggressive creatures. Radiation rotted their brains. They attack on sight, desiring nothing more than your death."

"Okay, so obviously you want to get somewhere. Concord is out, I assume. So where next?"

"To be honest, we had heard of Sanctuary. We were hoping to get there. But we need your help. Tell him, Sturges."

"There is a suit of power armour up on the roof. Crashed vertibird. But we can't get it fired up without a fusion core. There's one downstairs that you could use to power it up."

"Fusion core? Those babies last forever. Okay, so I get the F.C, power up the armour, then what?"

"Get ready for the next raider incursion. Once we've dealt with them, we can make our way to Sanctuary and hopefully safety."

"Well, it's better than sitting around here, waiting for them to try again. I'll grab the core, head upstairs, power up the armour, and go from there."

"Get us out of here, Nate, and you'll have our thanks."

Heading back downstairs, I found the generator locked behind a door. My years of juvenile delinquency returned as I slipped a bobby pin and screwdriver into the lock. It took a little jiggling, but it wasn't a particularly hard lock to break. Ejecting the core, I was surprised the lights stayed on, figuring that power would remain until the generator itself was empty of charge.

Carrying it back upstairs, the stairs to the roof were through the room Preston and the others were waiting. On the roof was the rusted remains of a vertibird, and by it rested a suit of power armour. The core fit into the slot easily enough, and turning the handle to open it up, I stepped inside as I was soon encased by it. Though I hadn't used it often, I had been trained how to operate one of them long ago. It was a T-45 set, so the most basic but also common on the battlefield. I was just relieved it still worked after two hundred years. It came with air-conditioning, which was a relief, and also provided fresh air. The interface was at eye level, giving me details such as power level. It also provided help regarding aiming, and allowed me to carry weapons on the arms and chest. I remembered watching soldiers in power armour takes down tens of soldiers at once.

There was also a minigun nearby, picking that up and checking to see it was nearly full to the brim with ammunition, with at least three more chains of around five hundred bullets. Though power armour did come with in-built radio, I had no-one to contact so I made do with simply dropping from the roof and waiting.

The raiders must have been waiting, as my sensors lit up, alerting me to at least ten raiders approaching. I definitely smiled to myself behind the helmet. "Codsworth, get to safety."

"Is that you, sir?"

"It is. Time to show these raiders some old-fashioned warfare."

Pressing on the trigger, I had to wait around two seconds for it to spin up and start firing. Holding such a heavy weapon is almost possible without power armour, but takes unbelievable strength, and it would be almost impossible to hold it steady. Power armour would allow me to use any heavy weapon I found without a problem.

Walking forward, I sprayed left and right, cutting raiders to pieces, particularly those dumb enough to leave cover, watching clouds of bloody mist appear. I must have been halfway down the street, at least half a dozen bodies now behind me, when a steel covering on the road ahead blew into the sky and from beneath appeared… a creature.

The four raiders remaining all turned around and I heard the cries of fear. "Deathclaw!" one of them cried.

Instead of running, the raiders decided to open fire on the creature. To say it cut a swathe through them would be an understatement. With razor sharp claws on its hands and teeth that resembled a shark, it cut the four raiders to pieces in seconds.

Then it looked at me.

"Fuck," I muttered.

It ran towards me. No point retreating. Plus, I had power armour. I lit it up with the minigun, bullets flying towards the deathclaw at a phenomenal rate. Most hit it centre mass, but whatever it was, the creature was built of strong stuff.

"Fuck," I muttered again.

I started to step backwards, as although the deathclaw tried to charge, the rate of fire it was taking meant it at least slowed it. Then I changed from centre mass, lowering the minigun and firing at its legs. If it can't walk, then killing it would be easier. A few more bullets now missed, but the rate of fire meant there was little it could do, and soon blood was flowing from its legs, causing it to slow down considerably before it finally collapsed to the ground.

Only then did I step forward to get a good look at the creature. Honestly, I thought it was some sort of draconic creature. But it's eyes were nothing but pure evil, left believing I was standing near nothing but a killing machine. "The fuck are you?" I wondered to myself.

The creature kept trying to get to me, swiping at me helplessly as it hauled its bloody legs, watching the blood now start to pool under its body. I remained alert, checking there wasn't another deathclaw waiting to catch me unawares. But we were now alone on the street and I aimed the minigun straight for its head and opened fire. It was the weakest point, leaving it as little more than must after a few seconds of fire.

Taking my finger off the trigger, I looked around to check we were alone. Walking back to the museum, I noticed Preston out on the patio once again, raising my hand. "It should be safe now!" I called out, my voice through the speakers no doubt sounding differently to him.

"We'll be down in a couple of minutes."

I stored the minigun on the slot on the back as I waited, Codsworth appearing from the side of the museum. "Are you okay, sir?"

"I'm fine, Codsworth. I'm guessing the world is not a very nice place, though. I hope I don't run into too many of those deathclaws. As for raiders, well… None of them were well trained." I walked back towards some of the bodies, checking them for the standard of armour and weaponry. Armour was as basic as possible, most not wearing much more than something across their chest, mostly leather than one or two had metal armour. Looked little more than scavenged metal that was moulded together. Might stop a few bullets but nothing like what I was wearing. As for the weapons, I picked up a pistol and rifle, checking them over. I hadn't seen anything like them before.

"We call it pipe weaponry. No doubt basic to what you were used to," Sturges said.

"I assume these are abundant, though?"

"Easy to make from salvage. Long as it shoots bullets, a lot of people are happy."

"How long will a core last?" Preston asked once the five had joined me, with Max and Codsworth as well.

"In a suit of power armour? A long time. It's nuclear energy. The whole point was clean and long lasting power. I have two questions, though. Can we find more power armour? And can we find more cores? Because if we find cores, we can power things other than armour."

Preston grinned. "Sounds like you have a plan, Nate."

"You wanted to head to Sanctuary, right?" He nodded. "Well, I think we might have a lot of us. The place is nothing but ruins, including the house I bought with my wife. But depending on what you have planned, there's enough to at least make some shelter from the elements."

"More than that, Nate. We can make it a settlement."

"You reckon?"

"There are plenty already around the Commonwealth. Small farms where people try to scrape a living. No reason why we can't do the same with Sanctuary."

"I'm not really a farmer. And I have things to do."

"Get us to Sanctuary and we can discuss it further."

Before leaving, we picked over the bodies, taking what we could, most weapons and ammo, but we also checked any buildings we could for supplies. Sturges eventually grabbed some sort of cart, loading it up with salvage, explaining as he did that he had some technical know-how, and with the right bits, should be able to build some basic things for us to use.

We spent a few hours loading up the cart before I suggested we should head back before it gets dark. The cart was rather heavy, finding a cable that could be tied around my armour, and I was able to drag it along, now armed with my musket as the six humans, plus a dog and a robot, began the walk back to Sanctuary. No-one had much to say. Preston and I remained alert for any raiders. Sturges seemed to be deep in thought. The Long couple appeared on the verge of mental exhaustion. Mama Murphy just looked tired and beaten down by everything.

I was a bit worried crossing the bridge in heavy power armour, but it stayed standing. I pointed out where the vault was, though suggested I didn't particularly want to return there anytime soon, though figured I should probably at least collect the bodies for burial eventually. They deserved that much, at least. A few of them had been friendly neighbours, accepting of Nora and I moving in straight away.

"That was my home," I said, gesturing to the ruins of what had once been a house I'd happily shared with my wife. "Not much left of it now."

"No doubt the entire area has been picked apart by scavengers," Preston stated.

We based ourselves across the road as I stepped out of the power armour, making sure it was sealed tight. I thought about ejecting the F.C, but the armour automatically switched off when empty, so that wasn't a problem. As long as the core had plenty of juice, I wouldn't have to worry about it running out for a long time yet.

With at least a little light left, we headed out and started to move some furniture into the house, just a couple of chairs and a couch, while we managed to find a couple of mattresses that someone could use. As for food, I had what little remaining, but at least they all had canteens of water, so dehydration wasn't going to be a problem.

"It's peaceful here. First time we've had that in weeks," Preston finally stated once light disappeared. We'd started a small fire to provide some light outside. Mama Murphy and Marcy had already headed to bed. I still felt a little adrenaline pumping after the battle. It always took time to wear off completely.

"It's why we moved here originally. It was a nice little place to call home."

"What was life like, pre-war? To be honest, no-one knows now. We've just been left with what happened after the bombs dropped."

"In some ways, it was idyllic, for some people anyway. I was a military man, though. Served for fifteen years in Alaska." He looked at me blankly. "It was a state of the United States, up north. We fought the Chinese there for ten years."

"Heard of them before. They were the ones bombed?"

"I have no idea. Once we heard the siren to get to the vault, my only thought was saving my wife and myself. We were frozen within a few minutes. I have no idea who bombed us, why or what happened afterwards. I'm sure it wasn't pleasant, though. I knew all about radiation. I never experienced a nuclear attack, but they were experimenting with mini-warheads. Saw the effects of them more than once." I cleared my throat. "Anyway, life was somewhat peaceful. But there were issues. Canada was annexed, something they hated. Read more than one news story of a massacre taking place. Food shortages were common as everything was focused on the war effort. Ever heard of Europe? The Middle East?" He shook his head again. "They destroyed themselves fighting over oil. To be honest, by 2077, only the United States and China remained as any real power. Europe devolved into anarchy. The Middle East was basically nuked. The rest of Asia was a mess. No idea about Africa."

"I think a lot of people have an idealised vision of what was life before the bombs," Preston stated, "What about… your wife, if I may ask?"

"We'd only been married a few months. I left the service of January '77, and I was married around six months later. We only bought the house a couple of months before the war. Thank my lucky stars that Vault-Tec man showed up the day before the bombs dropped." I paused a moment. "Ah, shit, and I bet the Sox still didn't win the World Series!"

"The Sox?"

"Baseball team in Boston. Know what baseball is?"

"I've heard it mentioned before."

I could only sigh. "I'll be honest, Preston. Life before the war was better than this. At least I could look around and not see everything… dead. What's Boston like?"

"A lot of it still stands, though obviously there are plenty of ruins. Obviously empty of a lot of life though. From the little any of us know, the bomb meant for Boston hit far to the south-west of the city. An area now called the Glowing Sea. Nothing but a heavily irradiated wasteland."

"Yeah, that's what we were always told. The crater and surrounding area would be lethal. But the further away, the less fallout, and over the years, that would slowly disappear. Humans would be able to live but there would be health concerns because of it." I glanced at him. "So what's your idea, Preston? I assume you haven't come all this way without one."

"To be honest, we need to rebuild civilisation. A tall order, I know, but we have to do something." He paused before nodding to himself. "We came from a place called Quincy. I assume you know it."

"Yeah, far to the south-east. Quite a walk."

"We had a small community there. Thriving, to be honest. Had everything we needed. Crops. Water. Defences. And the Minutemen helped patrol the area. But it wasn't enough. We were attacked, scores were killed, and many Minutemen simply gave up and walked away. When we escaped, there were twenty of us. Between there and Concord, we simply didn't have the numbers to keep safe. I'm amazed any of us made it to Concord. Honestly thought the five of us was going to die there. Glad you showed up."

"Okay, so let me put my 'Major' hat on. What any place needs is supplies. People need food, water, and shelter. Those are the most basic needs anyone needs. After that, we need other supplies. Electricity would be a start."

"Sturges is out tech guy. Give him enough supplies, and he'll even have things like lights for us." He gestured with his head. "Could probably mod your armour given the right tools."

"We'll worry about that later. We need the basics down first." Gesturing, I said, "Some of these houses would be somewhat habitable with a little work. Fix up the roof of each, a bit of work on the walls, keep anyone living in them dry at least." I paused, thinking about any base I was part of. "Defence will be important. Whether raiders would come this far, I don't know, but if they were operating in Concord, then they must know about Sanctuary. They might just venture this way eventually."

"Sounds like we're going to need numbers."

"Are there radios around?"

"Yeah, plenty of people still use ham radio. Short wave radios are common."

"Okay, my power armour has an in-built radio so that's something to consider. I can link the suit to my Pip-Boy, at least. I've already picked up a couple of radio stations."

"If you find any old relay towers, you should fire those up," Sturges suggested, "It will broaden the range of your own radio, and we should be able to retain contact once we get our own."

"Do you still intend on heading to Boston?" Preston asked.

"It's not urgent, but yes, I want to. I want answers about Vault-Tec. I'm guessing it's abandoned like everywhere else, unless they built their own vault underneath or something."

"I think there's at least one vault near the centre," Sturges added, "Vault 81. Not sure exactly where it is though."

"That's another avenue. See if they have some answers."

"But you're willing to help us for now?" Preston asked.

"Sure. To be honest, it sounds like you need all the help you can get. So I think we can get to work tomorrow morning, see what we can do to make ourselves somewhat comfortable."

I let the others take a couch or chair, happy enough to just lie on the ground inside, Max lying down next to me so at least I had his warmth alongside. There were a few gaps in the roof, so I knew that would need fixing immediately. Good thing I was half decent with my hands, as when I was grunt before rising the ranks, I'd spent more than enough time fixing things. I could certainly keep on top of all the weapons, and we'd found a little oil so I could keep my weapons clean.

But I already had a list of things in my head. Food. Water. Supplies. Exploring the local region. Find settlements or farms willing to help, perhaps trade. I'd asked about what the currency was and Preston told me about caps. When asking about pre-war money, I was told it was worthless, though people found other uses for it. As it was made of cloth, it was used for clothing, bedding, and other uses. Though amusing, I figured it was better than nothing.

All I knew is that I certainly hadn't planned to ever leave the vault. Having taken the elevator down over two hundred years ago, I already thought that was the place I was going to die. Now I was awake and alive two hundred years after the bombs dropped, and I probably should have been completely lost. But I now had a mission. That's how I saw it. Preston seemed like a good man, someone I could perhaps use as an ally. If the others chipped in, and we somehow managed to bring more people in, there was a chance that it could all work. From what Preston told me, there were small communities across the Commonwealth.

The next morning, we pooled together our somewhat meagre resources. We had enough food for a few days, and there was enough water to prevent dehydration, but it would be exhausted quickly enough. I looked around and it seemed they were all looking at me.

"Let's get to work."