The War of the Elements

A Rude Awakening

(This story is loosely related to Fallout 4, so a disclaimer, I do not own any references to Fallout)

Mornings suck. I mean they really suck. The sun is extremely harsh due to the leftover radiation from over 400 years ago. The fact that my mom throws open my curtains every morning doesn't help at all.

I opened my eyes to another blinding ray of light from my bedroom window. I groaned and sat up, my hair sticking out at the sides.
"Gonna need to fix that," I muttered as I ran my hand through my wavy mousse brown hair. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and padded to the bathroom as nature called. After I was done I walked down the stairs, my feet barely making a sound on our solid metal stairs.

I paused mid-stride as I heard whispering coming from downstairs. Now I'm not normally one to eaves drop but the first word I caught peaked my interest.

"Henry I heard they took another one last night," I stopped and put my ear closer to the railing to hear them, "I heard that the only survivor was so beaten and bloodied that they thought she was a Ghoul."

Ghouls. The terror of the world. They were short and withered from 400 years of 'living' but were easily as strong as two fuly grown men. The only way to kill one was to burn them. Their natural body hair was so thick and oily, it could repel small caliber bullets, but they lit up like a torch with even a little bit of fire. In the beginning that was a huge advantage and needless to say flame throwers were very effective. The problem was the nuclear war. It had depleted the worlds oil and the survivors has no way to drill for more. This led to widespread shortages of flame producing weaponry. After 50 years the Ghouls had taken over many ammunition factories, and oil refineries. Humanity had found other ways to kill the Ghouls but they were much less effective, and the resources and factories that were essential to the making of these weapons were scarce and hard to obtain. We eventually were reduced to building large walls and creating settlements.

I was ripped out of my thoughts by my fathers reply, "I have heard similar rumors, and I fear them to be true. If the map that the Guard posted in city hall is anything to go by, then they seem to be heading this way. I contacted my cousin Sally, who lives in the city. She has agreed to take Jim in."

I was so surprised that my balance in the step faltered and I went tumbling down the stairs. My parents heads shot up and they stared at my prone form at the bottom of the stairs.

"Ouch," I muttered.
"Jim!" my mother exclaimed,"how much did you hear?"
"All of it," I replied,"why are you sending me away? I want to stay here with you!"
"Jim, the danger of a Ghoul infiltration is far to high, you'll be much safer in the city with your aunt," my father replied.

I got up from my prone form and looked at them with a worry in my eyes.

"Then why don't you come with me there!" I said.
"I must stay here. The Guard needs the direction of their leader. Your mother has agreed to come with you though." my father explained.

I sighed and looked at my father. His steely determination showing clearly on his face. Murphy's Law of course prevented this plan from reaching even it's beginnings.

-_*_-

I looked up at my teacher, his graying hair and his large mustache made him look both aging and extremely intimidating.

I turned my head to look at my friends Lila and Brock. Brock has been my friend from birth. We argued about a lot of things but in the end we always had each others back. He was an asian looking kid who was only barely taller than I was. He was lanky and very fast, so fast that he never had trouble with bullies, they couldn't catch him.

Lila has been my friend for quite a while, maybe 3 years. I may or may not have a giant crush on her. Though who can blame me. She was shorter then my six foot stature by almost six inches. She had short cut brown hair and the most intimidating stare I've ever said. She used her stare to intimidate idiots but she was really a sweet girl.

I was yanked out my head for the second time that day when a ruler smacked me across the knuckles. My hand recoiled in pain and I looked up to see the teacher Mr. Swanson. His scowl made me flinch slightly.

"So mister Bowie," he said,"would you like to stop staring at miss Grace, and pay attention to class?"

My face must have flushed a terrible red because Brock snickered from across the room. Big mistake.

Mr. Swanson whipped around so fast I thought he would get whiplash.

"So Mr. O'Riley, do you find Mr. Bowie's embarrassment amusing?" he said.
"Of course not sir everything is-"

A distant siren sounded from across the town. We all stopped and listened. It was so quiet you could here a pin drop. Suddenly a voice came over the loud speaker.

"ATTENTION STUDENTS, THIS IS NOT A DRILL, GHOULS HAVE INFILTRATED THE WALL. PLEASE REPORT TO THE NEAREST SAFETY BUNKER IMMEDIATELY."

The mad scramble that ensued was pure ans utter chaos as people were pushing and shoving to get to the basement shelter. Me, lila and brock had agreed to meet in an empty classroom if this happened so we wouldn't be separated.

It was probably the only thing that saved our lives.

We didn't see this happen but much later when we came back here we realized what had happened. The students were absolutely slaughtered. The Ghouls had used some stranger creature to tunnel underneath the walls and into basements and shelters everywhere.

Needless to say, most of the students made it to the shelter, but didn't live long enough to enjoy it. I'll spare you the gory details.

When Lila, Brock and I met up we sat in the corner, to petrified to go to the shelter. When all of a sudden a man burst through the window, we screamed in terror, until we saw his clothes. They were the traditional clothes of a Guard Captain. I immediately recognised the the salt and pepper buzz cut and the thick goatee as my father.

He gestured to us and told us to get our asses in gear. His rifle full of phosphorus rounds slung across his shoulder.

The mad dash that followed is still a blur. I caught occasional glances of the horrifying ghouls before my father either shot them down or ran right past. Before I knew it we were at the gates to the road leading to the city.

"Son, I need you to take yourself and your friends to the city, Okay? Once you get there try and find your aunt Sally, she will take care of you."

This statement was punctured by the burst fire from his gun.

We didn't question him. Not that I didn't want to, but my brain had not yet even registered that he had told us to run until he shoved me towards the road. By then he had already run back into the town.

So we did the only thing that came natural to us. We ran.

-_*_-

So this is the first part to my first story on Wattpad. Any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated to help me improve my writing. This story will be updated maybe not on a regular basis but hopefully often enough. Thanks for reading!