https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=877373929

Head shaking as Demarco gazed all around him at the dead bodies piled up behind the seats, he let out a rueful chuckle, “well, there goes our element of surprise. You think she knows we’re here?”

Her face sharp with distaste as Cassidy looked around at the corpses of men no older than twenty years old, covered in furs that had been stitched together, and with blank eyes that stared up at them, she replied,“That doesn’t matter anymore. Get in your gear in check, and get ready, we won’t be far out from her stronghold.”

Still shouldering the weight of your exchange with Red, you picked up the sniper rifle that lay beside one of the dead beastlords, and looked into the dead eyes of a boy, his lightly tanned skin hidden underneath layers of tattoos.

Item Added to Inventory.

x1 Sniper Rifle.

x5 Bullets.

Having never seen death this up close without moving on, you found yourself unable to breathe, the boy’s eyes following you around the compartment as he stared at you, a part of you wondering what in the world had brought him here? When something caught your eyes, a leather clasp around his left arm, tucked away underneath him.

Quivering uncontrollably for reasons you still did not understand, you used the tip of your foot to nudge him aside, and felt yourself sway as you saw a pipboy strapped to his arms. The glowing dark green screen, stuck on the stats page, which indicated a Level 16, human, male, beastlord. The letters ‘Game Over’ highlighted across the screen with the underlapping image of a body with its eyes turned to X’s.

Falling to your knees as bile rose up at the back of your throat, you stared down at the boy in horror, your mind reeling from the implications of what this could mean. Was he another gamer drawn into this world? How long had he been here? Why had he attacked you? These questions and more flooded the back of your mind as you wondered how many more of them were out there? How many had you killed without knowing it? Lastly, that this can’t be real, that this can’t be happening. It just can’t, when a hand clasped your shoulder and squeezed.

Looking up to meet Jernald’s steel grey eyes, the usually emotionless paladin, shot you a commiserating look of sadness as though he too understood what you were going through. But how could he know? He wasn’t real? None of this is real!

Tears spilled unbidden down your cheeks, you wanted to rage, wanted to beat at something, anything to cool the anger inside of your chest, when the paladin spoke up from behind you, “When I was thirteen years old, I found a playstation at my doorstep. I thought it was a christmas gift from my grandparents, I opened it up, and it brought me here. I’ve lived in this world for almost thirty nine years now. I’ve had to kill to just like you, I’ve had to kill so many times. Most of us have.”

Gaze moving to look back at Cassidy, you realized that everyone was watching you. “All of you? All of you were brought here? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Her lips curled into a sad smile as her dark eyes held unshed tears, Tessa spoke up, “child, do you think you could have come this far, if you had known? Could any of us? We couldn’t tell you, child. No one could. Not without endangering your life.”

“So everyone here?--”

“--yes, we were all caught up in the same web, some of us lost ourselves in it, while others like you and I seek a way out of here. That’s what the vault holds for us, child, not treasure, but a way out. So that we can all finally go home.”

Shaken to the pit of your core, you again looked to Cassidy. “And Yula?”

“I never lied to, rookie. She was once a close, and dear friend of mine, but then she lost herself to this game. She wanted to make this world better, but not so she could get out. She wanted to stay here.”

Head still shaking in shocked disbelief, you wanted nothing more than to just run away, run away to the furthest corner of the world, and leave everything else behind, but if Tessa’s words were true, you could not leave this world until the main quest was complete.

Eyes snapped shut as everything you knew came crashing down all around you, you could hear Tessa’s faint whisper, “We still need you, rookie. We all do.”

And whether it was her words or the sound of desperation in her voice, you were back in control, standing up, brushing the tears out of your eyes, and looking out the window to see Red’s Fortress, a stronghold built into the very rock wall of the cavern. You still needed to get home.

~*~

Listening to the newcomer’s thoughts as they drew closer to her, Red thought she could recall what it was like to be him, to be so disoriented in this world, and not what was good or what was evil. She thought she could recall the dreams of living in another world, before her friends had betrayed her, stabbed her in the back, and left her to die. She had known then what she had needed to become. She had created the Empire, and she would not lose it to some lost child dreaming of home.

~*~

Lying along the top of Big Bastard as the wind whistled by you, you stared out into the bleak darkness, feeling nothing but emptiness. The hiss of the steam, and comforting rattle of the train engine, no longer warming your soul as you cradled the sniper rifle to your chest, and gazed down it’s scope. The view of the stronghold, showing you hundreds of wasteland monsters, beastlords, raiders, and wildmen scrambling across the ramparts. That small part of you that had dreamed of an easier way out of all this mess, dead and gone, as you cocked the weapon back. If this is what it took to leave this nightmare behind, you would do it, but not just for you, but for everyone else stuck in this fucking place.

(Small Arms Skill above 80%.)

Trigger slowly drawn back as you released a heavy breath, you began to fire, and the gods help those that got in your sights.

-20 Bullets.

(Small Arms Skill above 70%.)

Trigger slowly drawn back as you released a heavy breath, you began to fire, and the gods help those that got in your sights.

-24 Bullets.

(Small Arms Skill below 50%.)

Trigger slowly drawn back as you released a heavy breath, you began to fire, and the gods help those that got in your sights.

-27 Bullets.

Each ping on the metal surface of the train as snipers fired back, did nothing to break your concentration as the stronghold loomed ahead you. Tall and strong, with walls made of brick and mortar, it’s round circular bastions towered high above, carrying flags, and crenellations that mimicked medieval castles. The railroad tracks that led towards it’s huge metal gates, guarded by an army of radscorpions, yao guai, and other dangerous beasts from the wasteland that rushed out to try and slow the train with their bodies.

(If you have a Fatboy. 50% Big Guns Skill.)

But you had one last trick up your sleeve, loaded up the last of your mini nukes, and fired at the gates, watching the tremendous mushroom cloud blast apart her walls, and take a huge chunk of Red’s Army out with it. (Any further damage to your HP is halved.)

(No Fatboy equipped.)

With no Fatboy to clear a path for you, you slapped another magazine into the sniper rifle, and continued to fire, methodically taking them down one by one.

-15 bullets.

The miniguns that had been positioned to the front, sides, and rear of the train’s windows, whirred into motion as gunfire roared in wide arcs of death, it’s bright bursts of light revealing piles of mangled bodies that tumbled into the darkness.

Shoulder aching from a bullet that ripped through your skin, you had a brief moment of respite to breathe again, before they slammed head first into the gates, the ram exploding outward in a huge explosion of flame as you closed your eyes shut, and retreated back down the rungs. The hardened faces of Cassidy and crew coming together one last time as they looked upon the wreckage that was the destroyed gates, and passed through into the chaos of the fortress, fires springing to life everywhere as beastlords, wildmen, and raiders screamed towards them.

With only a few seconds to load up on more ammunition, you readied yourself for the fight of your lifetime, when trolley cars full of F.L.A troops rolled in from behind, throwing themselves into the storm of bullets, blood spraying everywhere as men and women died screaming, along with synths in white body armor that charged into out into the middle soaking up damage. (Load up on ammo.)

-7 Hp.

-10 Bullets.

Not even waiting for Cassidy’s order, you swung open the train’s car door, and leapt outside, pistol in one hand, and knife in the other as you threw yourself into the thick of it. Firing, slashing, and hacking your way through scarred wastelanders, beastlords, and raiders, before they were blasted backwards by fiery explosions. One glance over your shoulder, showing you Wren with a dark smile as she let loose with her laser gatling gun, Demarco, and Bull firing as they charged up alongside with Jernald grabbing hold of the minigun to fire from the window. It was though the gates of hell had broken open, and they themselves had been unleashed upon the world.

-8 Hp.

-16 Bullets.

Half smiling at that grim thought, you quickly took cover behind a wall, when you were struck by a hailstorm of bullets raining down from the ramparts, and turned your glare up at them.

Determined to take the high ground from them, you raced towards the bastion, throwing yourself into a roll through the doorway, and came up, gutting a man who had been about to rush out. His death so quick and sudden, he stared down at your knife, before you kicked him off, and kept moving, rushing for the staircase behind him, your pistol up, firing ahead of you to kill four more raiders on the stairwell.

Then with your heart pounding in your throat, you launched yourself onto the ramparts, tossed your knife at a woman firing down at someone in the courtyard below, before you shot several more of them dead. Each bullet tearing open flesh, and killing them, while your body came afire with crimson pain.

-9 Hp.

-16 Bullets.

It seemed no matter how many of them you put down, more kept pouring out from the stronghold’s inner doors, when a voice roared into your mind. “You! You shall pay for this!”

Standing there before you on the ramparts of the outer gate was Red in all her glory, her beautiful visage scarred and covered in tattoos, wearing a cloak of blood red around her shoulders, and black leather armor that molded to her body.

-5 HP.

-19 Bullets.

Assault rifle raised up in one of her hands, you threw yourself towards her, knocking the gun out from her hands and losing your pistol as you punched her in the stomach. The mental barrage that struck your mind, numbing you for a split second as a knife appeared in her hands, and she stabbed you in the chest. Her lips curled in a viscous smile as she slashed for your throat.

-7 HP.

Crying out loud as blood flowed out of you, you tried to ignore the pain, when she kicked out your feet, and slammed you face down into concrete.

-5 HP.

Dazed and body screaming in agony, you rolled aside, just as the knife arced downward, and came back up, roaring with rage, your hands turned into fists as you beat at her, feeling only self-loathing, guilt, and pain. Everything that you had done in this world to survive, a meaningless masquerade of blood, death, and innocent lives lost at your hands.

-10 HP.

It was only until you felt her stop moving, that you looked down, and saw her smiling, her face bloodied and calm as she lay there dying. Her voice a soft whisper, “I think I remember, I think I remember, I think I remember now…” Before life left her dark eyes.

Falling down beside her as you watched the freedom liberation army continue it’s fight through the stronghold, you found yourself unable to move, unable to think, your mind a broken sore that ached as you fell into darkness, eyes closing shut with exhaustion…

~*~

In the aftermath of the battle, you had watched the pires burn, filled with hundreds of dead, and felt cold inside. Nothing about this felt like victory. Even when you had been rewarded, and given the title of Honorary Member of the F.L.A, you felt nothing but despair.

It was only until you were back aboard the train as it continued it’s trundle forward that you could finally think again, think what you had done, how far you had been willing to go to reach this point, when they broke out into the surface of daylight, the wasteland splayed out before them in all its glory. It’s distant towering peaks, that of dead skyscrapers turned into jagged mountains, it’s roads faded into the brown soil, and boundless vegetation given free rein over the entire world, covering everything in vines, and still you felt nothing but a dull ache in your chest. The joy and wonder you had felt at the beginning of your journey, extinguished in a single horrifying revelation, and in dreamless sleeps you had had since that day.

What’s worse was that none could meet your eyes anymore as though they too all too felt your guilt and shame. Each one of them dealing with their own demons, until eventually you found yourself back out and atop the train, gazing into the dust storm that blew into your eyes, and wondering if this world was one big joke meant to break your spirit. Then as if in answer to your question, you saw something metallic glint in the far off horizon, and knew you had reached your final destination.

Stil, it was a several hours, before they were close enough to stop, and march the rest of the way there on foot, but even then your eyes never left the glint of metal on the horizon, not even after they stopped in front of the vault, it’s huge cogwheel shaped doorway closed shut from the rest of the world with the number Vault 01. The indicator on the pipoy, pointing directly inside as Cassidy turned towards you with an exhausted smile. “Looks like we are finally here, rookie, would you care to do the honors.”

Still wondering if this journey had been all worth it, you moved towards the panel with it’s blinking red light, pulled out the extension from your pipboy, and plugged it in, then with a final press of the red button, you watched the great doors begin to grate open.

The familiar sound, forcing you a step back, when bright lights flooded your eyelids.

Blinking through the tears, you saw that same young holographic projection of a boy appear beside you, and with that same cheeky grin, he smiled, “Congratulations, wastelander, you have completed the main quest for, Fallout Ardea, would you like to try another game?”

Eyes red rimmed with tears as you looked back at Tessa’s kindly face and warm dark eyes, you replied, “fuck, no.”

Well, that’s it for this bit of fanfiction! Thank you guys for following me, and I truly hoped that you enjoyed this story. I still have plenty more stories to write, but in the meantime I will be trying to finish off Book 2 of Heroes & Legends, then perhaps working on the third of the series Heroes & Legends Book 3, featuring Drakas, the ogre.

Let me know in the comments, what you thought of the game, or if you have any feedback. You can also check out more of my work on royalroadl. More news to come soon, hopefully. Farewell. :)