Walking in DC

Probably won't get the title unless you've played Fallout 3. (Xbox 360, PS3, PC game.) Been addicted to it lately, and it really puts it in perspective: what would happen if there was a nuclear war and humanity's barely been surviving, even 200 years later?

You grab a gun, and try to make it anyway you can.

And of course, with me, I have to include ole' Joey-boy. But, in order to make it (sorta) fair...well, read the story below.

*****

January 12, 2277.

My name is Joey Zenako, the Saiyan hero from Earth. A few months ago, I awoke in this new wasteland of a world with no prior memory as to how I got here. The last thing I remember was flying in a high-speed chase after a villain with a jetpack. We flew for hours in a chase, until he finally turned upward and flew straight toward the sun. Naturally, I followed, but the light was so bright, I had to shield my eyes. Of course, that didn't work too well, and the paralyzing brightness made me dizzy. I passed out, and I'm fairly sure I hit the ground...but to wake up in...this...I just don't know anymore.

When I awoke, I noticed three things. Well, beside the nuclear-scarred landscape. One, attatched to my right arm was some sort of monitoring device called a "Pip Boy." It showed my health, a map of the land (thank goodness), displayed a HUD, and had a built-in radio. Unfortunately, all it played from my current location was some sort of governmental propaganda crap. I quickly switched it off until I found a decent music station.

The second thing I noticed was that the temperature fluctuated wildly here. It was like living in the desert; it was extremely warm and muggy during the day, and extremely cold at night. That brought about the problem of finding clean food and water. Since the world had been through nucelar armageddon, it left the land dried out, the plant life burned out, the animal life...mutated out...and the water with this weird tingling sensation and nasty metallic aftertaste, which I'm pretty sure was unsafe to drink, but I had to survive somehow.

After a few weeks of wandering around, I finally found the last thing I noticed: people. Even after nuclear holocaust, I was happy to see people had survived somehow. From hastily-built shelters to bunkering in still-standing buildings, people were surviving. Unfortunately, these people lacked a properly-functioning law and order system, where, if you were found doing something wrong, you were shot. I quickly realized that my powers didn't work here. At all. No ki blasts, no flying, not even my transformation into Super Saiyan. I was no better off than anyone else in this world. So, with no other choice, I sold everything I could part with that I was carrying, bought a second-rate pistol and some food, and hit the road.

Even two hundred years later (apparently), I still felt the need to help people. Especially now, with the world like this. I wasn't used to walking so much at first, but now I hardly miss flying anymore. As I traveled across the plain, I helped out whoever I came across. One week there was a city that was overrun by giant fire ants. I quickly dispatched them with great prejudice. Other odds and ends popped up across the map, like a settlements' people being carried off by Slavers and Super Mutants, an underground safe house's population killed off by rabid zombies, and a whole town of seemingly-normal cannibals I unfortunately had to dispose of. However, a wise man once said that no deed, good or bad, goes unnoticed. Soon after I was making myself known, a mercenary group called "Talon" put a contract out on me, claiming me as a 'shining white knight' that didn't belong in this world. Pfft, if they only knew. So between them, a bloodthirsty group of Raiders, the ever-threatening Super Mutants and wild animals, I'm a pretty popular guy here.

So, I found this journal yesterday in a broken-down bus terminal at the same time I was scavenging for food and supplies. I've begun to keep it to chronicle my times here in this world. If/when I ever leave here and get back home, I can look back and remember this time, remember lessons and memories, and use them to help myself in the future. As I write this, it has been exactly three months and three weeks since I woke up here. I've lost approximately twelve pounds, I've gotten tanner, and I've been increasing my physical strength and muscle structure. My shoes have melted off thanks to an inadvertent step in a radioactive sludge puddle, and I've resorted to wearing medicinal tape around my feet in their place. I took this coat off a rotting corpse's body and ripped off the sleeves to accommodate for the temperature. The shades make me look cool, and the backpack holds all of my stuff. The pistol I wear at my side and the baseball bat holstered on my backpack are for close up encounters, and the Raider I had to kill graciously supplied me his rifle, which I keep maintained and filled with bullets on a daily basis.

My name is Joey Zenako, and I am currently surviving in a fallen out world. God help us all.

*****

Well, a little morbid and dark, but I felt like writing out a big story for this big new...undertaking? No, more like an adventure. No, it's just a game. Okay, okay. I felt like writing this out 'cuz I've had a lot of fun playing the game, then drawing this and a few more pictures accompanying this. There.

Drew this on paper, so my pencils don't die out, thank you, Vero. Colored it, and put lots of shadows, highlights, and awesome details on it.

Plz to comment, and enjoy.

Joey belongs to

Fallout 3 belongs to the awesome people at Bethesda Software.