Young Writers Society

Just across the bridge heading towards Concord, Jacob had already found his first signs of a fight. Two fresh corpses lay on the ground-- a man and some hairless dog. He took the gun and ammo and some stimpaks the man had before taking his clothes. Jacob took off his Vault suit, tossing it to the side, putting on the dead man's pants, coat, and gloves-- all were warmer than the rubber, fashion-focused suit.

A few yards ahead, the Red Rocket station was completely abandoned. The old building was vacant, and he ignored a sleeping hairless rat just beyond it, instead continuing down the road. Then, he heard a bark, seeing two giant mosquitoes fighting a German Shepherd. Jacob reached for his baton and limped-ran forward to swipe at them, taking one out by breaking it's back. The dog finished off the other one before sitting on the ground and licking Jacob's hand in thanks.

"You got an owner, girl?" Jacob asked, rubbing the dog's head. "Why don't you come with me? I could use a friend." The dog barked cheerfully and licked his hand, wagging her tail as she smiled. "I think I'll call you... Sadie!"

The roads were cracked and faded, no longer dark and clean as he remembered them. Rusty lamp poles, ancient debris, and yellowing grass littered the ground. In some parts of the road, small flowers poked up crom cracks and crags. Old maple trees stood by burned and scorched homes and shops, and much of the outskirts of Concord had obviously seen better days.

Jacob followed the road, Sadie at his side, stopping behind one building after he heard gunshots. On down the street, he saw three people dressed in make-shift armor shooting at a black man with some kind of laser rifle on the balcony of an old museum.

H quietly snuck forward, pulling out the pistol he had looted from the dead man earlier. Making sure it was loaded, he carefully aimed and fired at one of them, striking them in the back. A second turned and started running at him and Sadie while the third fired at the man on the balcony.

"Get him, Sadie!" Jacob growled as he quickly ejected the empty bullet shell before taking another, slightly shaky shot at the second person. The giant dog leapt onto the man, who dropped his knife as she clawed at him. Jacob hurried forward as best as he could before shooting the man in the chest, killing him. The last attacker had been shot down by the man on the balcony.

"Hey, up here!" the black man called. "I've got a group of setters inside, and the raiders are almost through the door! Grab that laser musket by Staggs and help us! Please!" The black man went inside through a small door.

Jacob leaned down and tossed the knife into his satchel before scooping up a musket-looking gun on the ground and scooped up the fusion cells on the ground. He quickly searched the pockets of the dead man beside it, finding more cells in his pockets. He also took the man's hat, placing it on his head before stepping into the museum.

The insides of the museum were burned and destroyed. Silently, Jacob cranked two cells into the barrel, getting close to the floor as he carefully aimed at an attacker-- had the man called them raiders?-- two floors up. The musk unleashed a thunderous roar as he pulled the trigger, hitting the raider squarely in the chest before rushing for the gate that led onward. Jacob started to open it, but there was a locked chain on the gate too difficult for him to pick. He turned instead into a small hall that he remembered led around to the other side.

"No more British occupation! Back to England with you!" a voice cried. Jacob assumed that the audio recordings must still be working after so many years as he quickly moved through the museum, past mannequins dressed for the Boston Massacre and old, broken relics from a bygone era.

"Join or die!"

"Have your tea back, you jackanapes!"

"No taxation without representation!"

Jacob ignored the recordings as he exited the last room, coing to a partially collapsed floor that made a ramp between the bottom floor and a staircase leading upstairs. He ran up the stairs as he reloaded two more cells into the musket. Taking careful aim, he fired at another raider from behind, sending her falling forwards, landing on the ground floor. "That army training really came in handy, didn't it, Sadie?" Jacob said sadistically as he reloaded the musket again.

He carried on around the staircase, turning into a small hall. Sneaking on the ground, he heard two men talking to one another in hushed voices.

"I don't wanna stay here, Marv, I wanna go kill them Minutemen! We been chasing them since they left Quincy," the first one complained.

"Nah, don't get ya panties in a twist, Carl, we'll get 'em soon, you's just gotta have some pashence, man," the second one-- apparently Marv-- replied.

Standing up, Jacob growled, "Carl, Marv, meet my musket," before firing at Marv. Sadie leapt onto Carl, biting at his throat as the man hollered and cried in pain before he fell still and silent, blood all over his neck and the floor, red drops running from Sadie's teeth.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," Jacob chuckled before moving on through the next hall and up another staircase. He placed the musket on the ground and reached for the 10 millimetre he'd found in the Vault, making sure it was loaded-- the musket was eating up too much ammo. He moved up the hallway, turning through a door to find three raiders in front of the door where the black man and his settlers were.

He fired at all three of them multiple times, twelve shots going off before he ducked back behind the wall to reload. He popped out again, mercilessly unleashing a storm of bullets upon the raiders. One by one, the trio fell before him, like rocks falling into a gorge after waiting to fall for centuries.

'Man, I dunno who you are, but your timing's impeccable," the black man said. He had a close shave and was dressed in a brown cowboy hat with a long dirty trench coat. "Name's Preston Garvey, and I'm with the Commonwealth Minutemen. I'm afraid that we need our help."