The Will To Survive

Chapter 1: The World's Gone To Hell

'October. 23rd, 2287

I doubt I'm ever going to get used to writing that. I'm not even sure the date is completely right, but that's what the Pip-Boy says. 

I'm glad I found a notebook laying around to write things down on. Well, laying around might not be the best description. I actually found it in some dead guy's backpack, which I also took. Days of common courtesy and respect for the dead died when the bombs fell. That'll be hard to get used to. I mean, I took the stuff but I didn't exactly feel good about it. I like that I didn't feel good about it. Fuck, the world ending gave me a conscience.

Anyways, here's the information I got so far. Decontamination pod I was shown in Vault 111, not meant for decontaminating. Froze me for about 200 years, give or take a few years. (I'm still no good at math, so I'm not going to bother trying to figure that shit out.) No one else in the vault was alive. All my neighbors are dead in their pods. The science guys that put us in them and the vault security are all dead and skeletal at this point. Oh yeah, and there was some huge fucking  cockroaches. That was fun to see. At least they die easier than the normal little ones. Maybe it's because they're easier to squish? Who knows, but they're even more disgusting now.

Got a nifty Pip-Boy off one of the skeleton doctors and managed to get the vault platform to drop so I could get out. Regretted that almost immediately. When I first got on the platform in 2077, I saw one of the nukes touch down. Now I know the damage it did. The air is irradiated. And the trees. And bugs. And animals. And every other fucking thing in between. Weird getting used to the feeling on my skin, but I don't feel like throwing up. Yet.

Went down the hill to Sanctuary Hills to see if anyone was around and... holy shit. I never was a fan of living in what was basically a post card for the American white picket fence dream, but I'd gladly take it back now. Houses are destroyed. The road and bridge are all fucked up. Mosquitoes. Fucking mosquitoes got more annoying by growing to the size of a dog. If Gramps hadn't been so annoying about teaching me to shoot for self defense, I would have had a very short life. Well, long life if you count the 200+ years, but who's really counting?

I had help looking around the area for people. Codsworth, a Mister Handy that one of my neighbors owned, was still around. Took a bit of convincing, but he promised to help me out. Always wanted a robot buddy. At least that's something positive. Need to hold on to positives these days. I doubt there's many of them left.

Anyway, I'm going to try figuring something out for dinner and somewhere to sleep. Write more later.'

Shutting the notebook, I tucked it into my bag and stood up to stretch. Stepping out of the house I was taking shelter in, I saw Codsworth moving in and out of other houses. He had been keeping himself busy ever since we returned to Sanctuary Hills earlier. I wasn't too sure how our partnership would turn out considering how rough it was at the beginning. He tried setting me on fire. Barely managed to scream that I was from the vault. While I wasn't too close with his owners, I remembered them. Nate and Nora along with their little baby, Shaun. They lived a few houses down from me. According to Codsworth, Nate had been in the city, preparing for some military speech thing when the bombs fell. I wasn't sure if he was lucky or not. But I did bring the robot to the vault so that he could see Nora for himself. At least she had someone still alive who cared for her. Did notice someone though. Everyone else was dead in their pods due to some malfunction, but she had a bullet wound in her head. That and her baby was gone. While I wasn't too thrilled about hanging out with dead bodies, I did another sweep of the vault with Codsworth to try locating the child but we both came up empty handed. When we went back to Sanctuary he told me that he'd help me as I survived in the new Commonwealth as long as we kept an ear out for Shaun. I wasn't hopeful that we'd find the kid, but I'd still do my best. And now I had a robot butler.