You Always Hurt the One You Love

A/N: Glad to see you guys still read this fic, hope ya'll don't hate it much. Anyways I got a favor to ask all of you so if you don't mind just pressing that there power stone button that would a huge help, also please don't forget to leave a review, those help me bump up my views.

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(Manuel POV)

Its now 2055, 2 years after mom died from what people now call the 'New Plague'. Thankfully enough nobody else in my family got infected. They also had to check our home to confiscate anything that could have been infected with the virus.

So they took everything that mom ever owned, and burned it to a crisp right in front of our house. As soon as I saw the men in hazmat suits bring out a jerry can I immediately went and ran for the pile they'd stacked.

I was held back by my father, and a sudden rush of betrayal sprung forth from my heart. I looked up at him with eyes that pleaded him to let me go and salvage what's left of my mother. The only thing he could do was look away from my face.

They lit up the pile in a blaze that only brought grief and sadness to me. Mom's journal where she wrote down her cookie recipes, up in flames. The dress she wore to my 1st grade graduation, slowly turning black instead of the brilliant blue it's supposed to be. 

I felt so defeated when I looked at that pile, dozens of memories and mementos up in flames just like that, I couldn't decide whether to cry out in anger or in sadness so I just stood there like an idiot while my father and grandfather tried to comfort me.

After my mother's legacy was burnt by the government I threw myself into my wasteland preparations. I first focused on tannery, because I knew I couldn't just find cotton or linen in radioactive ruins, so I turned to the most common material that would appear after Armageddon, leather.

There would still be animals around after the bombs dropped, so I figured it would be beneficial to turn the leather from the animals into clothes instead of searching for underwear in some abandoned/ruined mall.

I also asked my dad to take me hunting when I turned 9 years old, at first he was a bit apprehensive about the idea, but after a couple of weeks he gave in. He first took me to a shooting range to teach me the basics of firing a gun, like making sure to squeeze the trigger instead of pulling back my arm. He also had me practice by giving me a BB gun and shooting at tin cans at different intervals.

It only took me a couple of weeks before I could hit a swinging can from 60 yards yards away, or around half a football field. Also I still don't understand why the Americans used the Imperial system to measure distance and other similar things, it's inefficient and it's even got the word 'Imperial' in it, not very freedom of you America.(A/N: The Imperial system is a sham and should be abolished.)

After about 2 months with the BB gun my father got me a real one, a Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic rifle. It was apparently a great starter rifle for children, and when my dad heard that he decided he would buy it for me for our very first hunt.

The first type of animals he taught me how to hunt was hogs. It might not have been a smart move on my dad's part to introduce me to hunting such a difficult animal for my first hunt, but it would certainly allow me to adapt faster. Since jackrabbits were a common enough species in Western Texas we didn't really need a permit to hunt one of them.

As my dad sat next to me in the lookout tower, he helped guide my aim to a certain patch of wild grass, I eventually spotted one of the biggest Jackrabbits I've ever seen in my life. He looked like a quick sumbitch with a line of dark fur going down his back, making him look more unique than other jackrabbits. I waited for the most opportune moment to fire into him and after a few moments I saw my window of opportunity. 

I squeezed the trigger and my bullet bullet pierced it's chest and exited through the other side. It struggled for a while before it eventually died to blood loss. After confirming the kill my dad and I celebrated my first ever successful hunt by teaching me how to field dress a jackrabbit and making a meal out of it. 

I also threw myself into as many outdoor activities I was allowed to do. I joined the boy scouts and actually learned quite a lot from Scoutmaster Clark. He also brought along his 2 year old son, Randall, to camp sometimes to boost morale which surprisingly worked really well.

I also spent more time in the library and reading all sorts of medical journals, because nobody wants to die of an infection in the Wasteland. I know its guaranteed that I'd become a ghoul in the future with some sort of healing factor, but it's still useful to know how to stitch a wound close or properly extract a bullet from a wound. 

I started spending less time with the others after school and just immediately started getting into my routine. I also started simple calisthenics exercises recently in order to build a solid foundation for my body to grow and adapt in the future.

I also started to climb just about anything I thought I could climb. Climbing is a great form of exercise, both as a muscle developer and for practicality. I started by doing pull ups on my door frame and eventually moved up until I could climb to the top of my family's ranch house.

I then started scouting for a few caves or abandoned mineshafts around my home, It was built near an abandoned mining site and the cave would be useful as a future safehouse. I eventually found one with an entrance dug out at the base of a small hill in the woods.

It wasn't very spacious since it was caved in at about a 10 minute walk from the entrance. So I started bringing a majority of my caps to the cave and burying them in the ground and just to be extra safe I piled a box and a few pieces of scrap on top of it. This cave now has around 560 caps buried in it.

I then continued with my schedule day in and day out. For some reason however, Frederick, Sharon, and Alisson all kept asking me to hang out with them during weekends and such, but I didn't have any time for that I needed to prepare for the future. That doesn't mean I ignored them completely though, I just attended important things like birthdays and other similar occasions.

After finishing the final chapter in the basic anatomy book I borrowed from the library I finally went to my bed and slept, although not very peacefully.

(Time skip-3 years)

The year is now 2058, I'm currently 13 years old and my body is starting to go through puberty. Last month I was at a height of 5'6 but now I'm at a height of 5'7, I grew an inch in just a month, so I'm definitely going to get huge in the future.

I was in my final year at Bowie Middle School, still sticking with the original trio I met in elementary. While our relationship now may be seen as friendly, we weren't quite close as we had been during our more formative years.

During my time in middle school I joined the wrestling team since I knew that Frederick wanted to be the star of the football team. I also noticed how every time we would spend time as a group he would look at me with a strained expression for some reason.

Sharon also joined a fashion club and has actually made a good sum of credit from it. Alisson on the other hand grew to be one of the smartest students in the school, she also joined the debate team of our school and won us numerous awards for her efforts.

During this time my dad also bought me a new shotgun to use when hunting. A brand new 20 gauge shotgun, to test it out my dad drove us to a lake and handed me a box of birdshot pellets. I was able to get 2 mallards and a Canadian goose that was just wandering around.

Anyways I was in school, organizing my things for the next class when I felt someone tapping me on my shoulder. I turned around to see Alisson with her dark hair tied into twin braids that reached just below her shoulders. 

"Oh Alisson, now ain't this a surprise, what do you want with little ol' me?"

She seemed to still for a moment, looking down at her toes as she fiddled with her hair. She then looked up at me and asked me a question that honestly surprised me.

"You know about the, um, upcoming prom right?"

I was then reminded that the school organizes a prom at the end of the school year for graduating classes. When I thought about it, the whole concept deterred me, I mean all hormone filled, pimple-faced adolescents in a gymnasium awkwardly dancing while some Riverdale level drama occurs in the background.

"Yeah? what about it?"

"Well, since, um, you're popular you've probably gotten a lot of date invites right? hehehe...."

"Well, actually now that you mention it, nobody's really asked me out, why?"

As soon as I finished my sentence her eyes seemed to beam up with such joy that you could make out a silhouette of her doing backflips. She then took a deep breath and looked up with me with a confident look that slowly deflated into the visage of a shy mouse.

"So does that mean you're, um, still going to the prom?"

"No, I'm probably going to skip the entire thing and catch up on some reading?"

As I finished my answer she looked up at me with a face full of grief, probably because one of her friends wouldn't be having a good time and would be all alone.

"B-b-but it's like the biggest night of the year!"

"The biggest night of the year for dorks you mean, it's all a waste of time, and there's probably going to be some other kids who would probably do something stupid like confess their love for their crush, only to be rejected and become the laughing stock of the school."

After giving my opinion on the matter Alisson stayed quiet for a moment before looking back up at me and with the most silent voice I've heard her use replied:

"Ah, I..... see, I've got to got now."

She immediately started running towards the end of the hallway and ran behind the bend at the corridor. She must really be in a hurry if she decided to end our conversation so abruptly like that. Well I wish her luck in whatever she's going to do.

(Alisson POV)

That damned idiot! That dumb stupid handsome idiot! I work up all the courage I could find to ask him and he goes and says that! All this dressing up, all this makeup I put on to try to pretty myself up for him and he goes and says that!

Why does he have to be such an idiot?

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A/N: And that's a wrap for this chapter everybody, I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying this little piece of literature. Anyways don't forget to leave a review as it helps the book get more views, and I ask all of you to please give me stones. Once again, I'll see you al in the next chapter, Buh-Bye now!