The year was 2015, and the story began with a young twenty-year-old man who had just moved into an apartment in Albany, New York. After he finished college, he became a video game programmer and was hired by Robo Co., Which was a lifelong dream of the young man since he was a kid playing video games. This young man's name was Zeke. He had just finished bringing stuff in and was sitting on a couch the earlier tenant had left. Zeke wore a white shirt with the words "Robo Co. Video Game Department." He was also wearing a pair of blue jeans with black sneakers. Zeke had short black hair, light-colored, and brown eyes.
He sighed, "Man, I am finally done moving my stuff in. I guess I will take a break for now. It's pretty cool that the company helped get me a good place. Once I get my first paycheck, I can get some new furniture, but this couch is pretty comfy. I might keep it."
Zeke lay back on his couch when suddenly he heard a knock at his door, which he did not expect. Zeke was not expecting guests right now, as he just moved in. He would head over to his front door and open it. He would see a man wearing an army uniform who looks at him.
"Are you Zeke? Robo Co just hired you? Well, I am sorry to inform you of this, but there is a nuclear warhead to be striking in a nearby area, and you can be secure inside a vault-tec vault, which is vault seventy, found outside of the city. I am sorry, but we don't have enough time for you to decide to wait too long. But things may be different once you enter the vault.
Zeke did not know what to think as he had this so suddenly. At first, he thought of his family, but he finally decided because he knew what his father would tell him, and that it was to live.
"Alright, I will go with you to this vault," Zeke looks at him.
"Oh, that's great. Please follow me to the bus, and I'll be brought to the vault." The man leads Zeke to the bus, and he is brought to Vault Seventy-Nine.
Zeke also steps inside Vault-tec Vault Seventy-Nine with others and other people there. But they would see who looked like a scientist with a clipboard.
He says, "Alright, listen up, please. You all will be cyro frozen inside pods made to preserve you until you are awakened when the world hopefully returns to normal."
Frozen? Zeke thought as he heard that.
After a bit, Zeke fitted into what seemed like a skin-tight suit, blue with yellow strips and the number on the back, "Seventy-Nine." He also put on black boots. He was inside the pod with an oxygen mask over his face. Zeke starts to feel his body getting cold from the pod, and soon, he drifts to sleep from the gas from his mask. It was unknown when Zeke would wake up in this future that they told him about, but all he could do was wait for the day to awaken in what could be a new world from his old life.
Zeke would finally awaken when his pod was flashing red lights inside. He was still drowsy but would be ejected from this pod due to a low power shortage. He falls to the ground and starts coughing up his lungs as he looks around and sees the room is dark, and he can barely see due to the effect of being cyro-frozen for so long. He gets up and leans on a nearby pod as he catches his breath. He would then peer into the pod he was on as he was near the window and looked horrified when he saw a frozen corpse rotting inside and vomiting on the floor as he was not used to seeing that.
"What the fuck? Is that person dead? Wait, where are the people in charge of this vault? How long has it been?" Zeke questioned as he looked around, his vision fully returning to him.
He would explore what seemed to be an abandoned vault, and he did not know what was waiting for him there.
The young man would enter a room with a terminal that was flashing on and off and sit down and try to get info out of it to see what was going on. He managed to get into it and see a date on it, which shocked him. He would see that more than three hundred years had passed since he was frozen, which shocked him that it had been that long. However, he seemed to calm down as he was still alive before he decided to go back to the surface and see what had happened in the world above for the last three hundred years and what it had to offer him now. Before he left the vault, he would find some weapons in the room, like a shotgun and a pistol, a 9mm, to be sure.
Zeke opened the door to the vault seventy-nine and returned to the surface. He stepped outside of the vault and saw the world he once knew was still in ruins from the nuclear warhead. He looked towards Albany, once the capital of New York, which was also in ruins. It seemed this was the world he lived in now, so he decided to head back to the city. What awaits him is unknown.
Eight years Later.
A young woman was running away from a mutant dog chasing her on the outskirts of Albany. She was wearing clothing that covered her appearance from head to toe, even her face, which was covered by a mask and sunglasses. She had a pistol in her right hand. She would turn and aim her gun at the dog, but when she tried to fire the weapon, it was jammed.
"Shit," She muttered.
The dog goes for an attack before a stranger appears and shoots the dog square in the head before it sinks its fangs into the girl. She looked and saw her savior and saw it was the one man who was a video game programmer, Zeke. But something was different about him as he seemed to be more muscular. His hair grew longer and scraggly. He wore a black eyepatch over his left eye with a notable scar around it. He wore blue jeans with black combat boots, a black shirt with the word "Shroud" on it, a silver color, and a black leather jacket. He was carrying a magnum revolver in his hands, which he used to take out the dog.
"Thanks," She tosses her old gun on the ground.
"You were just lucky I was passing by, was that all? Are you a ghoul? I am only going by your get-up as a ghoul who hates their appearance?" Zeke questioned.
"No, I have a rare skin condition," She responds.
This was a lie she told him, which Zeke picked up on, but he did not care as much as he learned over the years since he left the vault, which people tend to lie to stay hidden.
"Very well, I won't ask any more questions. Just be careful who you lie to miss. Some people tend to hate liars," Zeke turned around.
She looked surprised that he knew she was lying to him but had to survive.
Before he left, she asked, "Excuse me? But do you have a spare weapon? I am a traveler trying to leave New York. I would appreciate anything you give me."
Zeke turns around and looks at her, "You want to leave? I guess there are better places than this rotten shit to stay in. Sadly, I have only this gun on me, but if you want, I could take you to my store, where we sell guns."
"I have no caps on me."
"Oh, you broke too. Well, you can work for me to pay for it. Others and I do jobs, too, and some even pay well since we are partnered with the Brotherhood of Steel. You can get a new gun and maybe some caps for your journey ahead."[i]
The young woman ponders a bit while Zeke waits for her answer before she answers him.
"I don't see why not. But I like to keep my identity a secret. You can call me Jess."
Zeke can tell this girl who goes by Jess is someone who is trying to stay hidden by someone or something. It was unknown why she was like this, but he could tell she was somewhat new to the wastelands like he was years ago.
"Very Well, Jess. I am Zeke, but most know me around this part as Zeke Deathclaw. I own a store at the old hockey arena in the city."
"Zeke Deathclaw? I heard of you before, or maybe it was just a talk. Some say you could bash in a super mutant's skull with your bare hands."
"Trust me, I hear it all the time. I am like most people fighting to survive in the wastelands. But we should get going, as it will be night soon, and we can get a job tomorrow. We can send you on your way. Follow me. I have a running car over here, which can take us to my store."
"Alright, lead the way." She follows Zeke to an old car, which he used to drive them to the old Hockey arena.
An hour passed, and they arrived outside a garage, the door closed. Zeke gets out of his pocket, which was used in his old world as a Pip-Boy Pocket, a small handheld computer, and a phone. He uses it to call someone inside the garage.
"Hey, open the door. I am outside of it, waiting for you to open the door," Zeke spoke into the device.
"Oh, you're finally back, boss? Well, give me a minute. I was under a car where I was changing oil," said a man on the other side of the door.
They watched the garage door open, and Zeke drove the car into the garage and parked it. They both left the car and saw a young man approaching them. He was an average-sized man with dark brown eyes, light-colored skin, and forest-colored green eyes. He wore a blue mechanic jumpsuit with an old blue baseball cap and messy hair underneath it. He was smoking a cigarette in his mouth. This young man was Ian Smokeroach, and he was, too, the owner of their shop.
"Yo, boss. How did she run out there?" Ian inquired about the car he was driving.
"It still needs work, it seems. I have noticed a few problems," Zeke responded to his question.
Ian's gazes looked toward Jess, which caught his attention.
"So, who is this person? They look cold with the get-up they have on," Ian commented on Jess' attire.
"This is Jess; she will help us on a job tomorrow. She has no caps, and the only weapon she had broken."
"I see; I would be against having an outsider join us. But as long as she is not troubled, then it's alright with me."
Ian glared at her, as it seemed he did not trust her, but Jess already felt he had not trusted her since she arrived.
"Well, I guess I will get her a guest room, and we will leave tomorrow morning."
"That sounds good. I will finish up here," Ian says, leaving his toolbox.
Zeke and Jess leave the Hockey Arena and head to an old apartment building nearby. He brings her to an old apartment they have fixed to rent out.
Jess enters the apartment while Zeke stands by the door. She looks around and turns around towards him.
"Alright, this will do," Jess seemed tired from her day.
"Cool, I will call it a day as well. If you have any problems, please let Ian or me know. I live across the hall, and Ian is next door on the right. Well, I will see you tomorrow morning. We will meet up in the restaurant in the arena, which we use as a kitchen at the arena," Zeke explained.
"Yeah, I think I saw it on the way here."
"I will see you then," Zeke walks away as Jess closes the door.
Jess locked the door and ensured no curtains were open, as she did not want to be seen by people. She would begin to undress herself from the jackets she was wearing. She takes off the mask and sunglasses. She had light-colored skin with silver hair, which was unusual for her hair color, and was not dyed as it seemed natural. Her eyes were golden, a distinctive color, and were not contacts. She looks at herself in a mirror in the room, gazing at her appearance. She looked upset.
"I wish I were never turned into this; I would never have had to run away from the only family I have left. I only wish never to be a problem for them."
Jess was running away from something, yet it was unknown to Zeke and Ian who took her in. Who could this mysterious person or something that was chasing her?