FO4 | Book 0: The Diaries of Anarchy ✔️

February 8, 2254

Weak from blood loss, exhaustion, and mourning, my brother helped me hobble all the way to Diamond City. We were careful to stay on the main roads. Thankfully, we didn't come into contact with any large hostiles.

We never did see those men again, either. Guy figured they were raiders or somethin'. A part of me wished that we had run into them on the way to the city so I could strangle them with my bare hands, but the other part of me knew that I wouldn't have been able to do any such thing with as weak and inexperienced as I was.

Once we finally got to the gates early the next mornin', a few guards in old umpire uniforms came to our aid and gave us directions to the nearest doctor. The doctor ran a small operation close to the middle of town. A bearded guy with glasses stood behind the medicine counter under a shack-like awning made of wood and tin. From the looks of it, he had just opened up shop.

As soon as he saw us, he knew we were in trouble. "Oh, my," he said, walking around the counter to meet us. "Are you two alright?"

"My brother, sir," Guy replied. "His foot. He was bitten by a feral. Please, we need help."

"Bring him over here, quickly. I'll take a look at it."

Guy helped me up to the chair. I took a seat carefully and immediately felt better after sittin' down. Never had I walked so far before; my dad never took me on trips to the city. My foot was throbbin' where the pinky toe should have been, but I knew good and well it was bitten clean off.

"My name is Thomas," said the doctor as he carefully lifted my foot and untied Guy's shirt from around it. "Feral ghoul, you say? Feral attacks are more common than you think. And by the looks of it..." He completely removed the cloth and sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth. "Oh, yeah, that toe's completely gone. I'll have to disinfect it and stitch it up."

"Wh-what? You're not going to give me a Stimpak?"

"Goodness, no. Do you know how hard it is to make Stimpaks? How expensive they are? No, no, no. Good, old-fashioned stitches and antiseptic will work just as well."

My heart started pounding. I was sure that this was gonna hurt. A lot.

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Guy waited patiently by the chair, one hand clutching my shoulder as the doctor worked. Once it was all over and done with, the doctor gave me a bottle of purified water and some bread. I steadied my breathing, wiped my brow, and took a few bites. My foot wasn't feelin' any better, but at least it was clean and the wound was dressed.

"How much do I owe you?" asked Guy.

"Normally, that'd cost you about fifty caps, but since I know that you boys are in no position to be paying fees..." He scratched his chin. "Tell you what. You two see about settling down here, making a few caps, and you can pay me back later."

"You mean that?" I asked. "I mean, we don't really have a place to go, so..."

"Our parents were recently killed in a Raider attack. We lost our house and our farm, too," Guy explained. "I'd be happy to start looking for work here in the city. Anything's better than going back out there."

"Well, I can't offer you a place to stay, but there is one place you can lay your heads at night. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe." He pointed to another side of town. "Right down that way, you'll find where the squatters sleep. People that are just passing through, the poor and the begging, and the disabled. It's not a pleasant place to sleep, but there are warm beds and a community garden you can eat from. There are armed guards twenty-four-seven here in the city that take shifts, so you'll both be fine."

"Thanks, Doctor Thomas," I said weakly. "You've done more for us than I could have hoped for."

He chuckled. "Nonsense. If I could do more, I would. The youth are the seeds of the future, and I want nothing more than two fine, young men to settle down here in our city. Who knows what you could accomplish in the future?"