The New Wasteland

Part one: A harsh wake-up

Your head is throbbing. you can't seem to open your eyes, and you barely feel conscious. In fact, you can barely even form a thought. All you know is that your body desperately wants to go back to sleep. You resist as much as you can, but your eyelids are still impossibly heavy and you can barely feel your limbs. Your ears ring, but the ringing eventually tones down, and you can hear two voices, both rough and gravely, but both obviously belong to the opposite gender. You have a good feeling they're talking about you.

"damn, that fella was heavier than I expected!" says the man. He sounds like he's been smoking for decades.

"Nah, you're just weak," the woman replies. Her voice, though also gruff, doesn't sound like she's been eating sandpaper at least. "Maybe you should stop doing jet and start doing some buffout."

"Ah, shut up. Anyway, what do we do know? We don't know when the smooth skin here is gonna wake up, so it's not like we can just leave em here. "

"Alright then, if you care so much about the iceman, then you stay here while I go tell the boss what we found."

It's at this point you finally begin to open your eyes, even if just a little bit. You can't see any details, but you can get the general idea of the two people talking. Luckily for you, they aren't facing you, and appear to be about to walk out a door directly ahead.

"Fine with me. I could use a bit of silence anyway. Maybe even get a huff or two in," the man says, walking out the room. As he opens the door, you can see a warm light coming from the other room, hurting your eyes that are used to the unlit room you're currently in.

The woman chuckles and shakes her head as she follows him out. "How'd I know you'd say that, you junkie!" She closes the door behind them. their footsteps and voices slowly fade away as they seemingly leave. You hear one last thud, probably a door closing, as everything goes quiet.

Only a few moments after they leave you finally have the ability to open your eyes fully. Your ears have also stopped ringing, and all your senses seem to be returning to you. Although, your thoughts are still fuzzy, and you can't seem to remember... well, anything. you don't think anything of it though. You're too worried about the present to think about the past. You manage to get up, stumbling a bit as you do so. The room, as mentioned earlier, is dark but you can still see well due to the light seeping through holes in the walls. Speaking of, the walls are cobbled together tin sheets, all covered in rust. It seems like it's just a closet or a storage room, given the shelves to your left. They were full of random junk you didn't bother with. There is a desk lamp, Sugarbombs, lots of gum, and enough inhalers to supply every asthmatic in this hemisphere. there's probably far more than that, but you quickly get your attention directed somewhere else. Namely, your lack of clothes. You look around for something to put on before you get out of there, but you can't find any. you suppose you'll just have to live with only wearing your underwear for now.

You walk over to the door, just as shoddily built as the walls, and peek out of it. It appears that the room your in is just a small shack built into an actually well-made structure. It seems to be some kind of factory, having a few conveyor belts covered in scrap. The only light is coming from numerous lit lanterns. You see just across the room is another shack, but that one is both bigger and lacking a door. Finally, you look over to the far end of the room, where there's a big set of double doors, most likely the exit. You would just walk over there and leave, but unfortunately, a man is sat next to it. At first, you find his appearance revolting. He looks like all of his skin is burned beyond belief. Then, you feel a bit of your mind clear up and you feel the tiniest bit of a memory floods into your thoughts. "He's just a ghoul," you thought. "Nothing I haven't seen before."