Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 10: Paradise Lost

Kelly walked in no specific direction, she just walked. The memories of the Commonwealth before the fallout would drift over her, a cruel reminiscence of a paradise lost but never forgotten. She relived it every day, in the place deep inside her that she dared not touch nor let go. As long as she remembered, then it all still existed. Nate still existed. She still existed.

Her feet dragged over pristine roads, the white paint down the centre so crisp it reflected the sun. The streets were in perfect order, white picket fences surrounding the ideal homes for the ideal families. The trees swayed in the light breeze, leaves fresh in the summer season, rustling softly to her eardrums. Kids were outside playing in their yards, cheeks full and flush, laughter merry, eyes alight. Shaun would have been there, one day.

Beyond, the grand highways rose along the skyline, magnificent in scope, harboring the bustle of daily automobile traffic. Freshly painted billboards graced those highways and the sides of towers, advertising an array of splendid services and products.

It was a metropolis at it's height, brimming with luxury and refinement.

But beyond all of that, war touched the horizon. It spawned and spread, covering the world in it's gloom, creating horrors and destroying the good in man. It fed on the lust for power, for domination, and it bred paranoia until mankind turned on itself and brought the world to it's ruin.

But war was not done. It lingered, waiting, festering in the quiet while man stumbled in the wastes of it's demise and learned to survive anew. As the skies cleared and life took a stand to try again, war took it's place once more, and it smiled, because war never changes.

Kelly stood in place and stared at the face of life now, at how far it had fallen, at how it was dying all around her. She considered her place in it, a woman out of time, a sole survivor, a lone wanderer, a weapon for the people. It was such a small place in the scope of it all, but she still couldn't fill it. Couldn't save those ghouls. Couldn't save her family. Couldn't save the world.

And then she ran.

She just ran. The road, the dirt, the grass, the rocks. None of it mattered, it was just her path, and in the way. The sun was on the wane, fleeing from her as she tore up the land. Her heart thrashed, bruising in her chest. Her breath wheezed, stinging in her lungs. Her limbs pushed, burning in her muscles. But she powered on, crashing through rivers and clearing outcrops of rock with a furious speed.

Her sprint was fuelled so strongly by a rage at the world that she ignored the familiar voice calling her from behind.

"Harper, slow down!"

Danse had fallen behind long ago, but he had maintained her trail at a distance, it seemed. Even Dogmeat had drifted away from her side, the canine's anatomy not built for endurance like the human anatomy. Kelly continued pushing her body, heaving air in and shoving it out painfully, ascending hills on all fours, pulling at the grass or dead branches for leverage.

"Harper, just stop for a moment!"

She couldn't stop. Couldn't let it all catch up to her. Had to keep going. Keep going. A couple of stingwings darted across her path, altering their flight plan to zero in on her. She didn't stop. Her sidearm was drawn in a fluid motion, and she snapped off multiple rounds, shredding one stingwing in the cascade. The other she rushed right at, ripping out the serrated machete she had taken from the Rad Lands and slashing. The stingwing dodged, but failed in round two as Kelly connected her following slice and brought it out of the air. Her feet picked up their momentum once again.