FO4 | Book 0: The Diaries of Anarchy ✔️

December 24, 2280

After the paper was published, Mayor Thompson decided to take action and raise chem taxes to fifteen percent. He told the city guards to start patting down anyone who looked suspicious and wasn't local. Caravans also had to pay a fine — fifteen percent of all bulk chem trades. 

Piper was proud of herself. Though the streets were freer of human garbage, the tax still burnt a hole in my pocket. I had to wind up buying my chems from Chem-I-Care in town. The chems were trusted and regulated, but Soloman was only allowed to sell a certain amount to each buyer. My choice of chems became less accessible and more expensive to boot.

The first time Soloman quoted the paper and told me, "So I heard you're a bit of a connoisseur," I almost walked all the way to Goodneighbor to get my chems, but I gritted my teeth and decided to bear it for the sake of convenience.

Damn Piper for calling me a "chem enthusiast and connoisseur" in her paper. Still, I trusted her. She didn't blab to everyone that I was the one that killed Vivienne, and Nick didn't, either.

It was Christmas Eve. I got off work early for the holiday. I didn't have anything planned for Christmas except dinner at my brother's. Before I left the Dugout Inn, Randy stopped me and handed me his guitar. A Christmas present. Said his fingers didn't wanna work right anymore to play the strings like he used to. Damn near made a grown man cry.

I hugged my coat closer to me as the wind chilled me to the bone. It never snowed, probably because the damn Bombs fucked up the weather everywhere, but I had read about it a long time ago in my books. I'd always wondered what that woulda looked like — just a thick, fluffy blanket of ice all over everything.

I saw Piper on my way through the marketplace as I was headed home. She had her eyes on something at Mirna's shop — a Giddy-Up Buttercup pony.

"That's highway robbery!" she yelled.

"What, you going to write about it in your paper? Gonna write about how my prices are too high?" Mirna's face was sour, and her arms were crossed. This wasn't unusual for her, but she seemed more irritated today than most days.

"Don't tempt me," Piper muttered.

"If you don't have caps, move on. I don't need the bad press."

I stopped beside Piper. "What's got your panties in a wad today, Mirna?" I asked.

"John, I don't know why you hang around her. Especially after what she wrote about you in the paper."

Piper gave her a rude stare.

I just shrugged. "If you ain't got freedom of the press, what do ya got?"

Mirna rolled her eyes at us and shooed us away to tend to the next customers in line. Once we got a distance away from the market, the silence between us broke.

"Little old to be givin' a Giddy-Up Buttercup puppy eyes, don't ya think? Might be a little too small for you, anyway."

She playfully punched me on the arm. "It's for Nat, you goof. But I don't have enough money. The paper sales have been shit."

"The stories haven't exactly been riveting lately," I pointed out.

"I know, that's the problem. I've written about everything there is to write about in Diamond City. I think maybe I'll go beyond the Wall and start documenting what's going on outside our community. People have to know about what's going on out there, too."

I shot her a look. "And what, leave Nat here?"

"Well, I can't take her with me. Guess I'll just have to find her a babysitter."