Carter looked through the scope on his rifle, putting the red painted, needle-tipped helmet in his crosshairs. He took a deep breath and pulled the trigger, feeling satisfied as the raider's head blew into a few dozen pieces. He knew he didn't need to go and confirm that kill, but may as well take a look what the last of the Chemheads had on him. On the walk over he thought about everything he'd been told by Staples and the other citizens of the Springs. The year was 2297, and it had been over two centuries since the bombs dropped, blowing humanity to smithereens. In the time that passed various groups came together and started cutting America into pieces for themselves. Apparently raiders, bandits, used to control almost everything in the Midwest until others starting coming in. The Brotherhood, the Legion. According to most the Brotherhood wasn't that bad, protected people as long as they paid their taxes and didn't say shit about them. The Legion.... a different story. Staples admitted to only hearing tidbits about them, never the whole story. Most said they were slavers, others peacemakers, sometimes both. But Carter knew one thing for sure, both groups had made the Springs a dangerous place to live. A no man's land between the two, where raider gangs like the Chemheads were forced to flee. Luckily for him, that meant there were caps from bounties to be made in hunting them down.
Carter had reached the camp and keeled down next to the dead raider. Over the last month he'd managed to take down every one of the Chemheads, and this was the last member. Searching around in one of the body's pockets, Carter found a key and some caps. In another pocket he found a set of handcuffs.
"You a match?" he said aloud, locking the cuffs and then opening them with the key. Perfect, he thought. A lot of people didn't know most cuffs made before the war were the same model, used the exact same key, he knew it'd probably come in handy some day.
After checking and rechecking the pockets he noticed the raider had no chems on him, must've used the last of them up he thought. It was back to the Springs for him.
Walking into Staples bar, Carter was greeted with a groggy welcome from some of the town citizens. The last month he'd spent was mostly either alone or with Staples, but doing contracts for people helped get his name around. The "Icicle" they jokingly called him after Staples accidentally spurted out that Carter slept through the war in a cryopod. He didn't mind the name much, but hoped none of the Brotherhood soldiers in the area had heard about it.
"Hey there Carter, any luck out there?" Staples asked from his counter.
"Yup, Chemheads aren't a problem anymore. I'll be taking those caps now." Carter responded.
"Mayor Margery'll be happy they're dealt with. Only a dozen gangs to go." Staples said, passing him a jingling bag.
"Not my problem though." Carter said.
"Yeah, yeah. Speaking of, got them maps in back if ya wanna go over the, uh.... plan again." Staples whispered while beckoning for Carter to come with him to the backroom. Carter followed behind and saw the worn maps of America as his ghoul friend pulled the light switch for them to see better.
"You sure about this?" Staples asked. "Lots of folk round here like ya, ain't no reason ya can't stay"
Carter had been hearing this since a few days before when he told Staples his plan.
"I know, and it isn't the Brotherhood I'm worried about either, so don't bring that up. States aren't the same as they were used to, must be some place better than this out there, no offense." Carter said.
Staples started rubbing his forehead like he did whenever he was anxious. "I've got that, just don't want ya dying out there. I know a lot but my info ain't all that good, mostly from drunks." he said.
"You could always come with me, leave this bar behind and start a tiki one out on some tropical beach. Drink from coconuts, have some nice hot babes" Carter joked.
"Nah, I like it here. Well, I don't like it, but ya know what I mean." Staples said and sighed. "Alright, let me go over this again. Tomorrow there's gonna be a shuttle heading for Epsilon, lots of Brotherhood, but ya should be fine long as you keep your head down. Just one guy saw ya afterall. From there you're gonna wanna stay on that shuttle til Osceola and walk southeast. May run into the Brotherhood's 'not so much brothers' down there but they probably won't hassle ya. You could go down into the Okies and Texas quicker, but then you'd have the Legion to deal with, and don't want no misunderstandings from them. Got that?" Staples finished.
"Yeah. Epsilon, Osceola, southeast. Florida here I come. Ain't no nukes down there if your bud's story is right, just a nice lush jungle." Carter said, smiling for the first time in a long time.
"Eh, I'm gonna miss havin' another oldie to talk to. Ya know that?" Staples asked.
"Righto my zombie friend. That's why we're gonna get wasted tonight... and likely make you go bankrupt" Carter said.
"Ha. Let me close up shop, then we won't stop drinking til we drop. Got this Nuka-Cola-beer fusion recipe been meaning to try, maybe we'll....." Staples kept talking but Carter had lost focus, staring down into the maps laying on the table. Of course he was sad about leaving his only friend in the Wasteland behind, but in no time he might be away from this mess, maybe.
Carter woke up to the sound of Dean Domino coming from his Vault-Boy alarm clock he'd taken off a dead raider. 5:24 it said. "Huh, got half an hour before the bus" he said aloud to himself. Carter proceeded to begin packing his stuff up, what little he had. His 10mm and ammo from Vault 0, the rifle and ammo he'd gotten from Sploder's Supply in exchange for the plasma rifle he'd picked up from that Brotherhood guy, all his cash and caps, some meds, a Vault-Tec staff card, and the lighter he found the day before. He also took the key he'd found and put it in his back pocket. Walking out the door of his room at the Springs' Bed n' Eat and saying farewell to the owner Murph, first Super Mutant he'd ever seen, Carter began out of the town. Having some time left, he stopped at Staples' to say goodbye. As he walked in he found the ghoul polishing some dishes, just like the day they met.
"Am I glad to see someone out here" Carter said laughing.
"What'll ya be having!" Staples yelled out, also laughing. "Been wiping those goddamn dishes the last hour hoping you'd walk in."
"Stopped by to say goodbye again, case you didn't remember from last night" Carter said, not having remembered the night before much himself.
"Yeah, I remembered. Take care out there. Florida may be some great oasis in the Wasteland, or it may be the worst place the world's ever seen" Staples warned.
"I figure with everything that's happened I should be pessimistic, but I've just got a good feeling about this. Place'll be beautiful I bet. Last chance, you wanna come along?" Carter asked.
"Lakeman, you are one persistent sonofabitch. Tell ya what, if it is a great place, come along back and get me." Staples said. "Hey, hear that? Shuttle rolling in, gonna wanna get aboard."
"All right, I'll see you later then" Carter said, smiling and holding his hand out for the ghoul to shake. Staples shook it and said "Naive bastard you", chuckling.
Carter turned and walked out of the bar. Sure enough there it was near the gate, a bus covered with barbed wire and a turret emplacement on the top. As Carter stepped aboard he handed the driver some caps, "Ain't your everyday school bus, is it?" Carter said. The driver looked up at him confused, "Forget I said anything" Carter added, strolling to the back and taking a seat where no one would notice him. He looked out the slits for windows until the bus departed, keeping his eyes on the Springs until it was just a blot in the landscape.
A big bump woke Carter up this time. He looked around and noticed that just about half the seats were full, about twenty people. His eyes stopped at the Brotherhood soldier staring at him from the other side of the shuttle. They must've already stopped at Bunker Epsilon he thought. But with this soldier there was something about him that didn't sit right in Carter's gut, like a feeling of dread. That's when he looked down and noticed the bandages wrapped around the soldier's waste. Shit. The soldier turned towards another and said something to him. The other soldier got up and started walking towards Carter, his power armor making the shuttle's floor creak after each step.
"Sir, I'm going to need you to come with us when we reach Osceola" the soldier said.
"If you'll just let me explain I promise we can all just walk away from this with a few laughs" Carter said nervously.
"A few laughs?" the soldier asked in a serious tone. "According to one of my men you were the Vault Dweller that shot him with his own rifle. I can see your fucking jumpsuit underneath that armor! Now this is what we're going to do-"
"Wait, shut up" Carter said, noticing a small whistling noise barely hearable under the sounds of the bus.
A sound he'd heard back in Anchorage and Gobi countless times before seeing tanks and trenches blown apart. "That's a-"
*KABOOOOM*
Carter was cut off by an explosion that flipped the shuttle, knocking him out.