Author's Note

WIP. Very, very rough draft of a possible alternate beginning to "Lost". More of a trial run and character sketch, than anything. Characters are meant to be stereotypical and ridiculous, it allows me to re-shape them into what I want.
Going to pull elements from this and the 16k chapter that I wrote in the beginning of the year to make a final first chapter. No more real changes after that. I have a plot that I'm satisfied with. I'm not going to promise constant updates, but I will be working on "Lost" whenever I can.
Working on a prologue chapter, let me know what you think of this.

1 - Carry On

Act 1 – Wayward Son

"I hope you know what you're doing, for our sake as well as theirs.”

"Baby, I always know what I'm doing.”

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"A whole new chapter in my life, a new beginning. Can you see it through my eyes?”

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"The true measure of a man lies in what he is willing to do for those who cannot do anything for him in return."

“Super Duper Mart? Genius. Wonder who came up with that?” David grumbled, making his way down the road leading up to said store. The boy checked his shotgun again, a slightly battered but very much functioning Remington 870. as he reached the south wall. He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't nervous. Moira had told him that, while the store had been used as a hideout for raider gangs in the past, it probably didn't have anyone living in it currently.

Probably.

He'd already tangled with two groups of raiders yesterday and the day before, both of which was nearly the end of him, and he wasn't looking forward to testing his luck again today.

David groaned as his stomach rumbled again. Wasn't like he had much of a choice in the matter, anyway. Much as he hated 101, there were no raiders, and food was readily available each day after he finished whatever back-breaking task the Overseer assigned him. He didn't have to worry about choosing ammunition over lunch, down there. But, it could've been worse, David supposed as he peered around the corner of the store, to find the parking lot devoid of life.

Literally. There were three raiders, a brahmin and who he assumed was the late owner of the brahmin lying in the parking lot, all of them riddled with bullets and slowly baking in the afternoon sun.

Yep, raiders. Fucking perfect. At least three of them were dead, leaving him with who knows how many left to kill. Judging by the voices echoing from the closed doors near him, there was more than he'd care for.

But it could be worse. The boy felt that he was at least a little prepared for life out here. He knew how to shoot well enough and barring that, he had the V.A.T.S. function of his PipBoy, limited as it was. The results of his G.O.A.T. and Officer Gomez saw to the first part.

David took a deep breath as he pressed himself against the double doors, preparing to breach. He supposed what he was doing now wasn't too different from moving heavy parts or crates around, or sanitation in the lower levels with the rest of the social outcasts. At least out here, he was his own man. No Overseer, no security officers, no Tunnel Snakes to keep him down. It was a fair enough trade, he supposed.

At the count of three, David kicked the door inwards and rushed in, gun up and finger on the trigger-

THUD

-then everything went black.

David awoke to the sound of cat-calls, laughter and, to his growing horror, the tearful begging of a young woman nearby. Before he even opened his eyes, he knew that he was naked and restrained, the feeling of the rough, scratched-up tile floor on his bare ass and back, and hot metal cuffs around his wrists and ankles was proof enough of that.

“Please, d-don't do this! I-I-”

SLAP

The laughter picked up as the girl hit the floor with a whimper, and one of her- their captors spoke up, “Toys don't fucking talk, pretty thing, so keep your fucking cocksucker shut until I say you can put it to use.” His voice was eerily calm, sending a chill down David's spine as he felt the speaker turn his attention to him.

It was then that David opened his eyes, and that feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach doubled, then tripled in size. That girl that had just been begging? She too, was naked, her wrists and ankles bound together. An assortment of bruises marred her light-brown skin, mostly centered on her breasts, face, neck and stomach. He spied some distinctly hand-shaped bruises amongst the mess on her thighs and bottom before he realized he was staring, and averted his eyes. The poor girl was already being leered at, hungrily, by seven armed and disturbed-looking raiders, one of which was tucking his flaccid-

Oh god, they- they'd fucking raped her.

The girl began to openly sob as one of their captors approached, leering down at her with a malicious grin on his face. The bastard grabbed a fistful of her curly hair and roughly hauled the girl to her knees, her cries softening into terrified whimpers as their captor dragged her over to David, and threw her to the floor next to him. “Hey, don't do tha-” A hard kick across David's jaw shut him up.

“Shut the fuck up. Toys. Don't. Talk."

A normal person would know when they were beat, accept their fate and try to get it over with as quickly as possible. "Fuck you, bitch!” David wasn't a normal person. Another, harder kick was delivered to his jaw, followed by a boot to the stomach. His captor grinned down at him as David, ever-defiant, spat a loose tooth and a wad of bloody spit at his feet.

“It's funny you say that, though.” the raider continued, putting his knee into the small of the girl's back as he flipped her onto her stomach, and released the cuffs around her ankles, “Fuck me? Oh no, my big, meaty toy.” David began to struggle as the raider pulled her ass into the air, kicked her legs open, hauled David to his knees by the back of his neck, and positioned him just behind the girl. “No, you're going to fuck her.”

The raider laughed as David froze, waving over the only female raider present. “Hope you don't mind sloppy seconds, boy. You showed up late to the party." In each hand she held a syringe of Psycho, which she quickly handed over to the bastard that David could only assume at this point was the leader of this raider gang. David paled as she knelt behind him and wrapped a surprisingly soft hand tight around his flaccid member.

"Oooh, you're a big boy, ain't ya?" David tried pushing her away, but he was unable to do much but press himself against the raider as she started playing around the flesh in her hand.

"Fuck you, you sick fucking cunt!" David cried, struggling to shake the raider off of him. She let out a sick little giggle at that, looping her free arm around his torso and tucking her forehead into the spot between his shoulder blades.

"Mm, think I'll take you up on that later, let you wreck two pussies in one day." David tried again to shake her off, prompting a bout of laughter from the raiders still watching. "Bet she'll still be real snug on you, with a dick like that. I'm jealous that little bitch gets you first.” The girl had stopped sobbing by that point, frantically hyperventilating as David unwillingly loomed over her.

“Don't fucking do this, please!”

The raider holding David's head forced him to look down at the girl, calling over several other raiders to hold his arms while he freed the boy of his restraints. The raider snuggling herself against him redoubled her efforts, frustrated that he wasn't getting hard quick enough. "Think it's time for that liquid courage, big boy here doesn't seem to be in the mood." She squeezed his dick a little harder as she mocked him, "You got a headache tonight, baby?"

David hissed as the syringes pierced his neck on each side, emptying a double dose of Psycho right into his arteries. The raider leader laughed as David's struggles intensified, even as he was being pushed towards the terrified girl below him. The raider still clinging to him cooed as she felt the drug taking effect, the flesh in her hand growing stiffer by the moment. “Don't be shy now, go on, take a gander. She's a pretty little thing, ain't she?” As much as David hated it, hated the bastards that had put them in this position, hated his growing erection?
She was right.
Even with the bruises, tear-stained face and the terror in her eyes, the girl was quite pretty. Her slender frame had just enough softness to it that David knew she'd had an easy life, one bereft of hard labor or hunger. The poor girl couldn't be much younger than he was, and if they'd met under better circumstances? Who knows what might have happened. Maybe they'd be friends. Maybe they would court each other. Maybe they'd find each other supremely annoying, and leave each other be.
But they'd never find out. That opportunity had been taken away from them both, by these fucking animals.

"Ooh, you lucky little fucking cunt. Look at this dick, he's gonna make you fucking scream!"

They'd already beaten and raped the poor girl into submission, they'd drugged him and was about to force him into doing the same, and there was nothing he could do about it.

David growled, a red haze settling over his vision as he felt the raider clinging to him stand up, satisfied with the throbbing erection he now had. She gave him a light peck on the lips before stepping around him and kneeling right in front of the girl. David could see, just as clearly as the girl could, that the raider wasn't wearing any undergarments.
The raider tenderly stroked the girl's face before roughly grabbing a handful of her hair, and pushing the girl's face into her exposed crotch. "Ah-ah-ah, be a good girl and make me scream, too. I licked you earlier, it's only fair that you return the favor."

David didn't want this!

The raiders had all went back to watching what was going on, and were making a proper noise now, yelling profanities and slurs at the girl, promising her that they'd be next in line once David was through with her. The female raider gripping the girl's hair let out a happy sigh as the girl did what she was told.

Why was this happening?

David wasn't being held back anymore. By the time he realized what was wrong with that statement, he was insi-

Zoe jolted awake with a panicked cry, quickly curling into a trembling, sobbing ball in her fit of nightmare-induced panic. Several minutes passed before she was able to calm herself enough to realize that it was just a dream, none of that had happened. She heaved out a deep, shuddering sigh as she remembered that she was safe, David was safe, she was inside Megaton, laying in their bed, tucked away in the corner of their bedroom in the sheet-metal shack David had purchased.

She was safe, she was safe, she. Was. Safe.

It only took about a dozen or so repetitions of that mantra to convince herself of that, this time.

Zoe uncurled herself just enough to snag David's pillow, hug it to her chest and bury her face in it. No, none of that happened, to her or to David. He'd saved her, just in the nick of time. There were no guards to catch him unawares and knock him out. Those animals were too busy getting their jollies from tormenting her to care about watching the door. And why would they, anyway? They had a new toy to play with, and it was rare that anyone who actually had to deal with raiders would be both well-armed and brave enough to fight back, let alone attack them on their home turf!

Things got a little fuzzy for her when David opened fire on her captors. Zoe recalled grabbing a pistol from the belt of the raider that had been restraining her, crawling into a corner away from the gunfight, curling into a ball and hoping against hope that the intruder would not only win the fight, but be of decent enough character to help her, or at the least, leave her be and not hurt her. David turned out to be the kind of guy who really didn't take too kindly to what the raiders were doing, or raiders in general. So when reinforcements showed up in the middle of the fight, he didn't do the smart thing and take off.
No, he stood his ground and fought, five-to-one, until it was just him and the leader of that raider group.

David's shotgun barked again, silencing the enraged scream of the raider that had been charging at him with a fireaxe. By his count, there was only one of those sadistic fucks left to kill. Ears ringing, heart pounding, he pumped the forearm on his shotgun, poked his head around the concrete pillar he was using for cover-

"Gotcha, you little bastard."

-to find himself staring down the barrel of an R91 assault rifle. "Drop the gun, and step away from it. Two steps, do it now!" The raider holding it walked around the corner, keeping the gun trained on David as he laid his shotgun on the floor and moved away from it. "You killed a lot of my boys, and you're gonna fucking pay for that. On your knees, hands behind your head!" David complied, seeing no other suitable course of action. This bastard was smarter than the rest, it seemed. He kept well out of David's reach, and did not take his eyes off of the boy.

A few moments passed in silence as the raider looked the boy over, broken only by the quiet, terrified sobbing of the girl the raiders had been working over. She'd had enough sense to stay out of the way when David opened fire, thankfully, and had tucked herself into a corner somewhere behind him. But that didn't help him right now, and it wouldn't do her any good when the raider came for her next. "What's your name, boy? Where'd you get that suit and that contraption on your arm?" David spat at the raider. Fuck him, and fuck his questions. The raider rolled his eyes and asked again, "Suit, doohickey, answer. Running low on patience right now."

David was tempted to tell him where he could shove his patience, but if the raider was interested enough to ask again instead of simply blowing his head off, then he might just be able to talk his way out of this. "Vault 101. Got the Pip-Boy when I turned ten. Got this suit two weeks ago from the req officer."

The raider cocked his head to the side, "You're a vault dweller? The fuck are you doing out here, then?"

"I'm looking for my father. Woke up to security trying to kill me because he left, so I killed them and left too. I came here because I heard there might be supplies."

That got the bastard's attention. "You left, huh? Can you get back in?"

David hesitated, "Uh, well-"

The raider snorted, circling around to David's back. "'Course ya can't, idiot. They probably changed the access codes the minute you left. No matter." David felt the still-hot muzzle of the rifle poke him in the back of his neck. "Thanks to you, I don't even have anyone to try and take a Vault with, not that these ones were worth a godamn anyway. Idiots didn't even have anyone outside or watching the doors, did they? Answer me!"

David sneered up at the raider, shaking his head, "Nope. I walked right in and started blasting. Got two of em' before they even realized what was happening, your 'boys' weren't worth shit!"

The raider chuckled, walking back in front of David. "Ha! You've got balls. I like that, kid. If you'd left a few of my boys alive, we coulda'... talked, see, until you saw things our way. I'm always looking for capable, loyal men." The rifle was leveled at his forehead again. "Too bad you didn't. Ah well, one good thing came outta this, I don't have to share that hot, young piece of ass waiting for me right over there with anyone else." The girl started crying again. "Now, I can't risk having you come at me when I've literally got my pants down." David tensed, and the smug bastard holding the rifle shrugged, "So, looks like I gotta kill you. Goodnight, sweet prince."

CLICK

The raider blinked. "...fuck."

As the raider reached to draw the charging handle back, David surged to his feet and grabbed the barrel of the rifle, shoving it skywards as he slammed the raider into the shelving unit behind him. They struggled for control of the rifle, but David easily had the advantage in height and raw strength, and quickly wrenched the gun downwards, pulling it from the raider's grasp and sending him to his knees.

David reversed his grip on the rifle as he freed it from the raider, smashing the stock into his face one- two- three times as the raider fell to the floor, crawling away from the boy as he clutched at his obviously broken nose.

"You fucking sack o-"

The boy stepped forward and brought the stock of his new rifle crashing down on the raider one last time. As the raider's head bounced off the floor, David checked the chamber of his new rifle, giving the bottom of the magazine a firm slap when he realized that it wasn't properly seated. "And here I thought you were the smart one," he chuckled, aiming the rifle down as he chambered a round. "Good night, sweet prince."

The girl let out a sigh and slowly sat up, letting go of David's pillow to blearily rub at her eyes and glance at her alarm clock. "S... seven-twenty." She uttered a tiny, wordless whine as she briefly considered trying to lay back down to catch a few more hours of shut-eye, but between the absence of David and the absolute shit-show of a dream she'd had? “No, I-I think that's enough sleep for now.” It had been three days, three fucking days since her encounter with that particular gang of raiders, and it wasn't any easier. Zoe grimaced, lifting up her sleep shirt to check the angry, black and blue bruises on her belly. She wasn't really expecting it to get easier.

Losing the farm and almost all of her family had been hard enough. The girl had thought she'd lost everything then, but now? Her father was gone, cut down by another group of raiders, same as the brahmin that had survived the razing of the farm. Zoe shivered, hugging her arms to herself. She was not a fighter. When the raiders came for her, she choked. They knew, those, those bastard animals knew that she wasn't going to fight back, once her father fell.

Didn't stop them from slapping her around in the parking lot, nor did it stop them from beating the hell out of her once they dragged her inside, groping her with their disgusting, dirty hands and promising her all kinds of torments! If David hadn't shown up and started shooting, those monsters would have raped, tortured and eventually murdered her, there was nothing she could have done about it, and that fact chilled Zoe to her very core.

So no, it wasn't going to get easier, not anytime soon. Zoe had lost her home, lost her family, her trust in others and now, her peace of mind! Suffice to say, Zoe had a lot on her plate, and she wasn't exactly a hearty eater.

The girl groaned as she stood up, wincing as the soreness between her legs fully asserted itself now that she was up and about. Her cheeks flushed as the reason for her discomfort came to mind, stumbling over to the desk and flicking the lamp on. Zoe wished that David would have stayed with her until she woke up, especially after last night. She'd found rest easily, after being worn out and cuddled by her... boyfriend? Lover? One-night stand? She'd figure it out later.

She was fairly sure that sleeping with David was what had influenced her nightmare to be different this time. She had her misgivings about doing that after only knowing him for a few days, not to mention how readily he'd taken her to his bed. Had he felt that she owed him something for saving her? Well, of course she did, but not in that sense, she hoped! Was she going to become pregnant? He'd... finished, in her. Had he even given it any thought? She sure as hell hadn't, caught up in the moment as she was.

He wouldn't do that on purpose, would he?

Was he going to want her body again, when he came back?

The girl hoped not, because she was very sore. Hell, she wasn't even sure why she had offered herself to him in the first place! Sure, he'd saved her life and he was certainly very desirable in her eyes as a male; tall, strong and commanding, capable of protecting his own, too. He was also kind enough to make sure she got food, water, and pain-killers each day.

But on the other hand, she barely knew him. He'd told her that his name was David, he hailed from Vault 101, he was searching for his father and had stumbled upon and saved her by pure chance.

That was pretty much all he had told her about himself. Every time the man was around, Zoe was either too miserable or too nervous to really try striking up a conversation with him. He kept to himself, and spent most of his time awake outside of Megaton, either "hunting" or down at that god damned Super Duper Mart, tearing everything he could out of that store and selling what he didn't keep for caps. Other than making sure she was alive and somewhat comfortable, he didn't seem to really care about her, or show any emotion other than annoyance.

The girl had seen people like him before, and that only made her less certain of her decision. Lots of people would stop by the farm, scavengers, merchant caravans, wanderers and even the occasional mercenary band, looking to trade for a hot meal or supplies for the road. As such, Zoe had seen and interacted with a lot of people, something the shy girl had come to love. Most of them looked and acted normal, for what that was worth in the wasteland.

But some of them? They were different, they had a look of hunger about them. The young girl could see it in their eyes whenever she was brave enough to look. The hunger wasn't always the same, and it wasn't as strong in some as it was in others, but it was there. Sometimes, it was the only thing that was there.

David had that look of hunger about him, especially the last two times he'd returned to her, smelling like propellant and sporting a few new dents in his combat armor.

So why did she sleep with him and more importantly, why did he take her to bed with him?

Was that his end goal, to get her into his bed? Was he just playing some sort of sick, twisted long-game with her? Was he going to use her until he became bored, then simply abandon her? Kill her? Sell her into slavery? Zoe paled at that particular thought. She was the youngest of her siblings and while she thought that her older sister was prettier, Zoe was soft, slender and healthy. She knew there was only one fate that awaited girls like her, once they were sold. David wouldn't do that to her, would he? Zoe shook her head, that was just her imagination running away from her.

She was grateful that David had tried to be gentle with her, considering her injuries and the fact that neither of them really knew what they were doing. It certainly wasn't under the best of circumstances, but given the alternative that had very nearly happened?
Misgivings aside, Zoe preferred having the option to give her virginity to David, rather than having it violently stolen by a gang of filthy, drugged-up murderers.

Still, she had a lot of questions for David, questions that needed answers. All she needed was the courage to ask.
David was... different, but he certainly hadn't struck her as malicious yet. She'd try talking with him about her dream, about last night, about him, about anything, once he got back from the Super Duper Mart. The sooner he was done there the better, in her opinion.

Some day, she'd get the caps and the courage to buy a few bricks of plastique explosives, and she'd collapse that monster's den. It would never be used as a hideout for raiders, and nobody would ever have to be hurt in there again! Maybe then she'd be able to start getting over it. Maybe she'd stop feeling so helpless all the time, so... little. She was definitely ready to get some motivation back, or to stop being so afraid, so jumpy around other people. Hell, even Wadsworth made her nervous! It was just a domestic robot, it didn't have the desire, let alone the capability, to be cruel to her!

Zoe hated, fucking hated the state she was in.

Why did David have to leave her alone? Didn't he know that she was hurting and had nobody but him to turn to? That she needed him? Was she crying again? Sure was, she'd been doing a lot of that recently. Zoe shook her head again, wiping her eyes with the bottom of her shirt. She'd try talking with David once he got back from his scavenging. Maybe she'd be able to get a conversation out of the guy.

The girl let out a yawn and turned her attention to the decent collection of literature David had stacked on the desk. It was mostly random works of fiction that had managed to survive nuclear bombardment and exposure to the elements, but there was a distinct stack of technical manuals, magazines and a few comics as well, one of which was a "Dean's Electronics" edition that she hadn't yet read. Zoe pulled that one over, and cracked it open while she waited for David to return.

She was chewing through a section regarding fission batteries when Wadsworth decided to intrude.

"Madame Zoe? It seems that both you and Master David have missed breakfast, again. Shall I leave your portion outside the door as usual?"

Zoe dropped her book with a yelp, swearing under her breath as she lost her place. "Um, j-just a minute!"

She huffed in frustration and stood up, she'd had enough of this, of being scared all the damn time! There was no way in hell she'd be able to overcome the trauma on her own, not without drastically changing who she was, and Zoe was just fine with who she was, thank you very much. "Wadsworth, right? Would you mind if I, um, talked to you a bit?" But she had to be willing to help herself, to start taking steps of her own, even if they were baby steps.

"Certainly, Madame. What do you wish to discuss?"

Especially if the first of those baby steps was to simply stop hiding. Zoe slowly opened the door, taking a moment to calm her racing heart before stepping out, and closing the door behind her. No running away, it was just a robot. Not a rogue U.S. Army murderbot, but a friendly butler-bot, with food! "W-well, you're actually the first Mr. Handy I've seen that has a personality module, so..." The Handy- Wadsworth, hovered just at the top of the stairs, a plate containing a fork, a decent portion of scrambled eggs and some kind of fried meat held in it's manipulator arm. Yeah, she supposed it wasn't so scary. "Um, I guess, what do you want to talk about?"

The robot bobbed in place as she took the plate from it, something inside it giving off a quiet whir as it processed her request. "If I may, Madame?" Zoe hesitantly nodded, spearing a piece of egg with her fork. "Do you know any jokes?"

Zoe smiled, really smiled for the first time in days. "Have you ever heard of a 'brick joke'?"

David let out a tired grunt, giving the deactivated Protectron unit one final heave next to the doors of the Super Duper Mart. He'd figure out a way to get it back to Megaton later, he'd been out scavenging since two in the fucking morning and he was exhausted. He wandered back into the store and sat on an overturned shopping cart, resting his eyes for a moment as his thoughts turned to Megaton, or more specifically, the teenaged girl who he hoped was still peacefully asleep in his bed. The girl's nightmares had been taking a toll on them both, causing her to wake up, crying for her lost loved ones in the cramped bed that she had begged him to share with her.

She wasn't his problem. The boy shook his head, that wasn't quite correct. He'd taken the girl in, provided and cared for her, and had bedded her not even twelve hours ago. The girl shouldn't be his problem, but he had done more than enough to ensure that she was his problem. He didn't know what to do with a traumatized young woman, he didn't even know what he was going to do with himself! Before he'd encountered and rescued Zoe, David at least had the goal of tracking down and getting some answers from his father. That was pretty much the only thing that had kept him going since he fled 101, having a purpose. The bounties, the scavenging? Those were just a means to that end.

But now? Zoe didn't fit into that. If the girl couldn't bring herself to leave his room on her own, how the hell was he going to convince her to come with him, going who knows where, to track down his father who might just be dead already? He'd felt that he was almost prepared to make the trip to Rivet City and beyond, and she'd brought that to a screeching halt.
It had taken him every cap he'd scrounged up to convince Lucas to sell him the vacant house near the town entrance, as well as the promise of more caps, and several services to be rendered. He'd had his eyes on the house, sure, but David had wanted to get it on his own terms, and his own time.

He certainly didn't regret it, but David had planned to use those caps in Rivet City to purchase armor, ammunition and supplies to use in the search for his father.

Part of him wanted to just cut his losses, and abandon the girl. Have another romp with her, since that was all she'd proven to be good for so far, gather his few possessions and just leave in the night. Whatever happened to her after that wouldn't be his problem. And as much as David hated to admit it? He was a product of his environment. He didn't really trust or care about other people. In 101, he'd felt more than justified in that, and he didn't have any reason to feel otherwise towards the various denizens of Megaton.

But Zoe? She was in a similar boat as him, only hers was on fire, sinking rapidly and didn't have any life preservers in sight. She didn't have any reason to lie to him. The tears that the girl shed when he walked her past the riddled corpse of her father were real

And after taking her to bed with him, for the first time in her life? The very thought left a bad taste in his mouth. He had a fair idea of why she'd propositioned him last night, and it only made him feel that much worse about the whole thing.
So no, leaving Zoe behind, especially in her current state, was not even on the board. He was involved with her now, one way or another.

Unfortunately, that left him back at square one. What was he going to do with himself, let alone Zoe? Once again, that small part of him spoke up, screaming at him to use his common sense, just leave now! "Should've just stayed in the Vault." He muttered, wiping at the wetness gathering in his eyes. "Wouldn't have any of this fucking shit to deal with." But that was selfish, wishful thinking, he knew it. Staying hadn't even been an option, the fucking Overseer had seen to that, even in death. "You just had to- to fucking start that witch-hunt of yours, you paranoid fucking dead sack of shit! I had nothing to do with the roaches or Dad leaving, nothing!" David had never liked the Overseer, Bannon or his lapdogs in the Mack family. Hell, he hated half of the assholes living in the Vault, and he'd never made any effort to hide that fact, same as they did to him!

Pulling the trigger on Officer Kendall wasn't too hard, the bastard had came at him with a shotgun. A fucking twelve-gauge shotgun, loaded with slugs, intended for use against an unarmed boy. David remembered the look on the bastard's face as he disarmed him, and turned the shotgun against him.

The next guard he came across met a similar end.

Gomez had simply stepped aside when he and David ran into each other. Maybe it was the shotgun, maybe it was the blood on his jumpsuit. Maybe Gomez had seen something in the boy's face, in his eyes.
Something dark, something that quietly reveled in what was happening, and hungered for more.
Or maybe he also thought the Overseer was a paranoid, murdering, authoritarian asshole, and respected David enough to not get himself killed over something the boy didn't have a hand in.

David figured it was probably the last one. Gomez was a good guy.

Everything he'd done up to the point where he came upon Jonas' broken and bloodied body in the Overseer's suite had been self-defense. He certainly didn't shy from or regret ending anyone who came at him, but he hadn't sought anyone out for revenge.
After that? What had been building for well over a decade, the exhausting work, the scorn, the broken bones, the loneliness? It came to an end, the business end of his shotgun. Amata would probably never forgive him, but he couldn't really blame her. Were their situations reversed, he would have done far worse than telling her to leave.

David slowly stood up, letting out a heavy breath as he walked to the closest check-out counter, and leaned against it.

Had it come to an end, though? Here he was, out here in this strange, unknown wasteland. He was killing and scavenging to get by, having to decide between lunch or ammunition on a daily basis. He'd almost died four times in the last week, he had nobody to back him up out here, and he'd made no fucking progress in finding his father at all!

It hadn't fucking ended! He was alone still, more than ever before! Sure, there was the girl, Zoe. She was interested in him, one way or another.

But she wasn't out here with him, she was hiding in Megaton.

The boy froze as it finally hit him in full; he had no plan, no help coming, nobody to tell him where to go, what to do, how to handle this situation. He was on his own now, whether he liked it or not, and he had someone depending on him to get his shit together and stop moping about. Adapt, improvise and overcome, like his father was fond of telling him.

David stood in silence for a bit, clenching his fists against the counter and mulling over his options. Purchasing the vacant house in Megaton hadn't been an entirely altruistic move. He'd not only secured a roof over his and Zoe's head, and a safe place to store their belongings, but he now had a staging and fall-back point for any expeditions into the Wasteland, even after he found his father.
Zoe would be the first item on his list. Whether he liked it or not, he wouldn't be able to abandon her. She needed him, and he could definitely use someone who was native to the Wasteland at his side. His father could wait, he was the reason that David had found himself in this mess. His old man grew up in the wastes, anyway, and would most likely, probably be okay until David sought him out. He let out a heavy sigh, pushing off from the counter and heading towards his discarded armor.

Detach, adapt, improvise, overcome. Easier said than done of course, but David had a new trick up his sleeve when it came to clearing his head.

David stretched his sore arms, before donning the few pieces of combat armor he'd acquired over the past week. His heartbeat picked up in anticipation of what was to come, as he retrieved his assault rifle and checked it for potential misfires. Killing was one of the things that David had thought about at length, ever since he'd thwarted the radroach invasion of the reactor level on his tenth birthday. He'd wondered since then what it would be like to take the life of another person. The boy had put a fair amount of thought into the subject, but he'd never been able to actually answer that question, only speculate. Then his father left the Vault, and he got his answer.

He didn't want to say that he liked killing, but he couldn't deny the rush it gave him. So far, the firefights had been quick, brutal and by god, had they been intense. It gave him chills, it felt empowering beyond belief, having and exercising the opportunity to take someone's life.

And it wasn't just the killing, no. His kills in 101 had left him with mixed feelings, necessary as most of them had been, but the raiders? They were a different story. Something had awoken in the boy during his flight from 101, and it only grew stronger as he hunted down and killed his first group of raiders. He was doing good, every time he killed a raider. He was fighting a good fight, and that satisfied him in a way that he couldn't quite put into words.

David shivered in anticipation as he left the store and headed towards the nearby river. As a part of his services to be rendered, Lucas had informed David of a small group of raiders camped out near the Farragut West Metro, on the river's edge. They were taking potshots at travelers and merchant caravans journeying between Rivet City and Megaton, and would be a threat when he finally convinced Zoe to make the trip to Rivet City with him.

As he walked, David absentmindedly ran a thumb over the notches he'd carved in the stock of his assault rifle, one for each group of murdering, scumbag assholes he'd taken care of so far.

They wouldn't be a threat for much longer.

"Okay, um, here's another one. Are you ready?” Zoe smiled, she'd learned this one from a friendly scavenger who would come by her farm to trade every month. “Okay, okay, so two chemists walk into a bar. The first tells the bartender, 'I'd like a glass of H2O, please.' The second tells the bartender, 'I'd like a glass of water, too.' As the bartender goes to fill their orders, the first chemist fumes, seeing his assassination attempt foiled." The girl giggled as she finished her retelling, despite having heard and told this particular joke dozens of times.

“I'm afraid I don't understand the premise of this joke, Madame.”

Zoe's mouth scrunched up, she'd also had to explain this joke more times than not. “Well, the first chemist asked for a glass of H2O, that's the atomic formula for water. If the second chemist had asked for a glass of water in the same manner, he would have asked for a glass of H2O, too. But if the second chemist had phrased his request like that, he would have been asking for a glass of hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, instead of water, H2O. Get it?”

The butler-bot bobbed in place again, “I see it now, very good! The humor is in the second chemist's termination.”

Zoe opened her mouth to explain further, but the door swung open and David walked in. All of a sudden, the girl felt very small again. She'd managed to distract herself and was having a good time with Wadsworth, but now he was here and his armor had a few new dents in it and he smelled like a gunfight and he was looking at-

"Hey, Zoe. You feeling a little better today?"

Her only response was a small, timid nod, hugging her arms to herself. David let out a sigh, and sat next to her on the stairs. "Zoe, I- I did some thinking, while I was out. I have done wrong by you, and if you're acting this way towards me, then I can only assume you've come to that realization too."

Zoe perked up a bit, was this really happening? "I, um, well no, but I had a bad dream about you and I-I did want to talk to you about some things, if that's okay with you."

"Last night one of them?" The girl nodded again, and David continued. "Yeah. I, uh, go ahead then, ask me what you want to know. I've got a lot to get off my chest, and I just don't know how to say it."

A few moments passed in silence, before the girl replied, "Um, I- a-am I going to be pregnant?"

David shook his head, "Unless you've had sex with anyone else since I left this morning, no. I'm, uh, I'm sterile. Found that out when the Overseer had me and the rest of the guys tested for, ah, viability."

Zoe frowned. "I'm sorry."

The boy shrugged. "Don't be." An awkward silence fell over the two, until Zoe quietly spoke up again.

"Why did you leave me, this morning? Why have you been leaving me all alone?"

He looked down at the girl, as she looked up at him with teary eyes. "Because, honestly, I have no idea what to do with you, Zoe." He sounded tired to Zoe, and not just in the physical sense, as he continued. "Look, last night, the past three days, I've been going about this whole thing the wrong fucking way, I know that much. But I don't know what I'm doing out here now, with or without you. I had a single purpose when I left the Vault, and that was finding my father to get some answers from him. Everything I'd been doing up until finding and rescuing you, I'd been doing to further that goal. Now, I don't regret saving you and killing all those bastards, not at all, but you've derailed that." The girl seemed to wilt at that, and opened her mouth to respond, but David hushed her with a finger and continued. "I just said, I do not regret saving you. If I had it to do over, I would not hesitate a single second to get in there and start shooting, and I'm not saying that because you slept with me, either. But the fact still stands that I do not know what to do with you."

Zoe didn't know, either.

David took a deep breath, offering his left arm in a hug, "Regardless of what happens, I will figure something out. And if you'll still have me as a friend after we finish talking, then we will figure something out. Okay?" Zoe quickly nodded, accepting the hug. "Does that sound good to you?"

Zoe took a moment to think it over, before giving him another nod. "I, um, I know you have things to do, a-and you're looking for your daddy, so I promise to try to help in any way that I can. I'm scared and I don't know what I'm going to do either. But I know that I have to get over this, eventually, and I'm tired of feeling so little, and so helpless all the time! You make me feel a little bit safer so please, please don't leave me all alone again, please? I'll do anything, just please don't leave me."

David frowned. "If it's in my power, I won't. We're in this together, now." The girl smiled, resting her head against David's chest. "But there's a few things we're gonna have to clear up before we can move forward, the most important being last night." The boy took a deep breath, and sighed. "I'm going to say my piece, before I lose my nerve and start making bullshit excuses, so do me a favor and don't interrupt until I'm done. Can you do that for me?"

Zoe realized that she'd been doing a lot of nodding in the time since David's return. "I, um, yes. For what it's worth, I don't regret it. It was..." Her cheeks flushed, "It wasn't so bad, after it stopped hurting." She wasn't lying, either. The penetration had been harsh, what with David being much bigger than her, and both of them not knowing what they were doing.
But the pain eventually faded to a manageable level, and the girl was able to enjoy the sensation of just being filled, kissed and caressed by the big guy.

David frowned, his voice a bit unsteady as he continued. "Don't say that just yet. Zoe, I, I feel like I took advantage of you last night, by taking you up on your offer of sex while you were not in a sound state of mind. I could make excuses until the sun goes down, but the fact stands that I took advantage of you. It was not my intention to do so, never was, but I did. You're dealing with a significant amount of psychological trauma, Zoe, and you were clearly in distress. The issue of consent gets a little messy at that point. What I did could very well be considered, well-" Another sigh. "-it could be considered rape."

The girl tensed, but she did not move from her spot. There was some merit to his words, but after some thought, she felt otherwise. "Look at it from my direction, Zoe. You've had everything taken away from you, you had nowhere to go, nobody to turn to other than some random guy who stumbled upon and rescued you by chance. If I were in your shoes- I can't even imagine being in your shoes! I-"

A soft pair of lips, gently pressing against his own cut him off. His immediate reaction was to try and push the girl away, but as she climbed into his lap and straddled him, he decided to just go with it. Mixed feelings about sleeping with the girl aside, he still wanted her. She let out a happy little noise as he pushed into her kiss, holding her close by the waist.

As his hands slid down past her undershirt to cup her rear, he noticed that she was wearing one of his undershirts, most likely the one he'd been wearing when he took her to bed... and nothing else.

David felt like he should bring that to her attention at some point, but for the moment he was content with loving on the beautiful girl in his lap.

Almost a minute passed before Zoe pulled back, face flushed and panting as she felt David caressing her bare bottom. Her face flushed even harder as she realized that she was pushing her rear into his hands, and his gentle ministrations. She didn't really know where this, this forwardness was coming from, but it made the normally shy, reserved girl feel more confident, and she liked it. "David, can I talk now, and you'll listen to me?" The boy nodded, moving his hands up to her hips as she continued. "I still don't regret giving my, um, virginity to you, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I don't feel like you took advantage of me, either. Maybe you did, maybe you didn't, you did make a good point about consent. But I made the offer, David. If you had came to me and told me that I owed you sex for saving my life, then I definitely think that would have been taking advantage of me. But you didn't."

David opened his mouth to rebut her, but she silenced him with another kiss, just a quick one this time. "Please let me finish, before I lose my nerve, a-and go back to being shy. I don't know why I offered myself to you, but what's done is done, and I still don't regret it. Maybe I was just fed up with being lonely and scared and I thought that having sex with you would make you hang around longer before leaving me each day, m-maybe I thought I owed you something, something for saving my life and taking me under your protection and feeding me and not asking anything of me at all."

The girl paused, tucking her face into the crook of David's neck. She was crying again, surprise! "Maybe I'm just a naive, desperate little girl clinging to the only thing I have right now in the only way I can think of, I-I-I don't know. And I don't know why you took me to bed with you. But I don't think I care, either."

They both sat in silence, David idling rubbing Zoe's back as she cried herself out against him. She jerked, just a little, as he spoke up. "I- You're beautiful, did you know that? Has anyone ever told you that?' The girl flushed a little, mumbling something about her parents. "I guess, and it just sounds like I'm making an excuse here, but I guess that, well, you did catch me off-guard. I just know that I was tired, I was in one of my moods, and as soon as I walk in the bedroom door you're in your underwear, and you're kissing and holding onto me and I-" He paused, "I felt so fucking ashamed afterwards, that- that I just left, once you'd fallen asleep. I know you just said you don't regret it, but I will respect whatever decision you make regarding us sleeping together."

Zoe shyly glanced up at David. "Do you regret it?"

David stopped rubbing her back, moving his hand down to her waist. "No. You were so, so soft, so warm, you felt so goddamn good to be inside, Zoe. Just thinking about it makes me want you, again and again and again until I can go no more. So, no, I don't regret sleeping with you. But if I had it to do over, I'd unfuck myself from the beginning, and make sure you were in a well-enough state of mind to make that decision, or even to simply stay here by yourself while I scavenge and- and hunt. I kinda figured that you don't want anything to do with that fucking Super Duper Mart, so that's why I haven't been taking you out with me. I knew you were in a bad way, but if I'd known you were hurting like this, I wouldn't have left you here all alone."

Zoe pulled away from David, just enough to plant another kiss on his lips. "I think, maybe we both did wrong by each other. I don't blame you for not knowing what I'm going through, and I don't think you're a bad person, David. I... I think I can trust you. I think, I think that if you were a bad person, or if you didn't care, we wouldn't be having this talk, you'd just be trying to get in my pants again, o-or worse. I think neither of us know what we're doing out here, a-and that's okay. We'll just have to-"

"-figure it out together. I- heh, yeah." It was David's turn to initiate a kiss, and Zoe loved every second of it. "Tell you what, Zoe, mulligan?" He chuckled at her confused look. "Mulligan, it's slang for getting a do-over. Why don't we start over?"

Zoe smiled, wriggling around until she was sitting sideways on his lap. "Okay, um, hi! My name is Zoe, spelled with an 'E', Deloss, I like cooking, computers and robots, my favorite color is pink, and I'm a Taurus. What's your name?"

"Hi, 'Zoe-spelled-with-an-'E'', my name is David Cooke, also spelled with an 'E'. I like guns, food, pretty girls, and fixing things, my favorite color is red, and I don't believe in astrology. You looking for someone to wander the wastes with?"

The girl giggled, "Well, the wasteland is scary and I prefer to know where I'm going, but wandering doesn't sound too bad. Especially if I have a big, tough guy like you at my side."

The two lapsed into silence after that, content to sit on the stairs and hold each other as Wadsworth went about his business upstairs. What had awoken a week ago in David burned bright inside him as the girl dozed off against him, strengthening his resolve to protect and help not only the girl, but anyone who was in need. He had a chance at a new lot in life. There was nobody out here to tell him what to do or where to go, that much was true. But the boy realized that he didn't need anyone to guide him. This was his life now, and he was going to make the most of it. He knew, first-hand, that there was much evil and misery out in the wastes.

The traumatized girl snoozing against him was more than enough proof of that.

So, for the first time since his flight from Vault 101, David started to plan. He couldn't do a whole lot of good by himself, and he wasn't about to put Zoe in the line of fire for his admittedly lofty goals, regardless of whatever type of relationship they would end up in. The girl struck him as the type to want a quiet life. And after what she'd been through so far? She deserved it. If it was within his power, she would have that quiet life.

David softly rubbed the girl's shoulder, and closed his own eyes. First things first, they needed some actual furniture in this house. A bigger bed, for sure, with extra sheets, just in case Zoe was up for more fun. A few workbenches, a couch, maybe, and some extra storage. He'd get that once he was able to finish his scavenging later in the day, after ensuring that Zoe would either be fine by herself, or coming with him. The Protectron unit he'd left in the store would likely fetch him a pretty sum of caps, given the excellent condition it was in. After that, he'd work on helping Zoe get over her trauma. He wanted to visit Rivet City sooner rather than later.

Also, it wouldn't be such a bad thing to see the girl smiling more often, and more sure of herself. Finding his father would come after that, and the boy figured that it would be a good thing for Zoe, as well. His father was smart, and probably knew how to help Zoe.

"Hey, David?" His eyes snapped open, and he glanced down to see Zoe shyly looking up at him.

"Yeah, what's up?"

The girl took a breath to sturdy herself, and asked, "What are we going to be?"

"Aside from a team, you mean?" She nodded, and David shrugged. "We can try to make something out of this, or we can move on. It's up to you, Zoe. I'm... different, and I'm sure you've noticed that. There's a long-winded, boring explanation I could give you, but it all boils down to this; sometimes I feel, sometimes I don't. Valleys and hills, simple as that. Everything just kind of, turned off a while back, I can't really control it, and that just became the status quo. You'll have to understand that, if we're going to enter any sort of romantic relationship."

"Do you, um, feel anything right now?"

David pulled the girl a little closer. "I uh, yeah. I could blame it on you, on a sudden change of environment, on anything, but yeah. I'm back to normal, for now. If you're asking whether or not I feel any sort of way towards you in particular... I don't know. I think you're beautiful, and I'd like to get to know you more, so there's that, I guess. I've never, uh, never really done this before."

Zoe flushed a bit, turning her face into David's chest. Such a flatterer! "Oh, um, okay. I've never done this, either. You were my, m-my first, and I'd really like to get to know you more, too. I think part of it is because you saved my life, but," the girl paused, "...I really like you, David. I think you're probably a really, really great guy, and I would love to give a, um, relationship with you a try."

The boy absentmindedly nodded his head, before moving Zoe off his lap, standing up and offering her his hand. "Well, if you think you could brave going outside with me, we give this a test run. Are you okay with that?"

Zoe hesitated, before taking his hand letting him pull her up. "Um, yes. I am okay with that. Going out, it- it doesn't sound so scary, now. You'll keep me safe, right?"

David smiled, "You know it. Let's get cleaned up and get you some clothes on, and I'll take you to the Brass Lantern for lunch. It'll be a practice-date. When we get back, we can talk about those nightmares you've been having, if you want."

For the first time in over two weeks, Zoe's smile reached her eyes. Things were looking up.