Fallout: After-Effect

05.31.2284 - V.A.T.S.

"No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear." - C.S. Lewis

Raising the rifle to his shoulder Lyle aimed at the scorpion and pulled the trigger. Click. Damn, the thing was jammed. The scorpion turned its head towards them and raised its stinger in a menacing fashion. "Nate, pistol now!" Lyle screamed reaching his hand out behind him. He felt the familiar stock of the weapon as he wrapped his fingers around it. Bringing his arm up he accidentally knocked the Pip-Boy against a rock.

When Lyle aimed down the sights he noticed something strange happen. Time was slowing down. Not only that, but percentages began to appear around specific parts of the scorpion's body. Taking a chance Lyle focused on the 43% above the head and with the painfully slow speed of a sloth he pulled the trigger.

For Nate, it all happened in an instant. Handing Lyle the gun, hearing the shot, and finally seeing the thing's head explode into a million tiny pieces all floating through the air.

Gasping for breath Lyle felt around for a rock to sit on. "Where the hell did you learn to shoot like that?" Nate questioned, amazed at his brother's accuracy.

"Wasn't me," Lyle replied raising the Pip-Boy up. Peering closer at the screen Nate realized it had words scrolling across it.

"Lyle, get this, your pup-boy or whatever. It's saying something, 'Congratulations you've successfully used the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System or V.A.T.S.'" Nate said reading off the text.

"That was fucking awesome. It was like time slowed down or something." Lyle explained, still gasping for breath.

"Well, we better get a move on, sun won't be out forever." Nate said, focusing Lyle back onto the subject at hand.

"Right, let's go." Lyle muttered, slightly perturbed that his brother barely even reacted to the thought of the awesome technology that was on his arm.

Grabbing their bags they once more began to hike across the Utah desert...