I find myself disoriented on a snow-covered mountain. I was dizzy, but I couldn’t help but look around. There were ranges upon ranges, it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen, but somehow my eyes believed it. A muffled voice appears in my head and then incrementally becomes clearer and I see that there is a man in white and black combat armor and he’s screaming at me to follow him. I finally noticed my body and found that I was in the same combat armor he was wearing. I guess I expected a training program to start off with some basic training, not thrust me onto a snowy peak. Maybe everything I told Olin was bullshit. I was right about one thing; I did have weapons and by Atom I had access to VATS in my pip-boy. I assumed I was supposed to follow the guy screaming at me, and after finding cover behind some fallen boulders he gave me orders. It was surreal how life like and human this computer-generated man was. It didn’t seem like he had ever faced a day under the wasteland sun. Maybe it was his haircut, but he reminded me of the Rivet City guard. As a military training program, I could only assume that those orders were to be followed if I wanted to survive the simulation. He handed me some explosives and sent me to destroy the artillery. I think he meant the guns that were bigger than fuck shaking the whole mountain range. I didn’t have any stealth boys, so I picked up the silenced ten-millimeter pistol. This was probably not the time to practice my shooting, but I didn’t know this area like I knew the wastes, so I didn’t want to rely on melee weapons. I snuck around best I could and relied on VATS to make my shots. I remained hidden and then I came across something I could only describe as a kind of vapor coming up from the mountain. The strange thing is, my pip-boy detected life, but it didn’t give me anything to target. I took cover, just in case the mysterious gas was explosive. As I took my shot, I thought to myself “watch this just be a malfunction of the simulation.” To my surprise a man in a black body suit materialized, my shot seemed to catch him in the shoulder. He saw me and then became almost invisible again. “Oh this is fucking bullshit!” I said out loud while emptying my clip at nothing. I saw a shot come from a few feet right of where I was shooting, and it caught me right in the gut. I fell down reloading. From the ground, I fired back and again I struck him, this time in the leg and he rematerialized before my eyes. This time I tried VATS while he wasn’t a cloud of gas and I shot until muscle failure at his head. I got off seven shots and probably didn’t need the last six, but I was glad that fucker was dead. I went over to examine the body, I was hoping if the camouflage was a feature of the strange black suit, perhaps I can find some use for it. But as I approached the body, it faded away digitally. “Oh this is fucking bullshit!” I said again grabbing my gut and falling to the ground again. It has been a while since I was shot at without the help of med-x and stimpaks to ease the pain. But, this simulation nailed the experience. I figured I was as good as dead without my stimpaks, until I saw that there was a red cannister with a strange red glow. It had a red cross on it, just like the med-kits in the wasteland. Except there were no stimpaks stored in it, it was just a cannister with a needle. Desperate, I just injected the needle and I could feel my stomach returning to its natural and significantly more comfortable condition. It also gave me a nice head rush, not as good as jet, but not bad for a simulation. I felt good as new and noticed something else in the area. It was love at first sight. A pristine, chic, shiny sniper rifle.
I gra
bbed it and took some cover while I cross referenced it in the pip-boy. It was a Gauss-rifle and it wasn’t a sniper rifle, it was a single shot energy weapon. It took microfusion cells, and to my relief there were a few around. I was disappointed at first, I couldn’t think of why anyone would want an energy weapon that you had to reload at every shot. I used the sight to locate one of the artillery units. I used VATS to locate a combatant and I was surprised to find that my shot would be ninety percent in my favor. I made sure I had good cover and took the shot, which completely drained my stamina. Fucking atom, this thing fired, and I wasn’t sure, until it hit the poor guy’s head, then it was a pale blue fluorescent impact and the head shattered in a bloody mess. I could’ve sworn the impact also ripped the guy from his legs. I’ve never seen a gun do that, so I wondered if the physics were just a feature of the simulation. Others gathered around the digitally deteriorating corpse, but I couldn’t take another shot and it would only be a matter of time before they came looking for me. I moved position. I snuck around with the Gauss-rifle and kept an eye out for ammunition and those health canisters. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to plant all the explosives undetected on the three gigantic guns shaking the mountain. I only had to drop a few enemies do it, but I figured the explosions would take care of the rest. I after that I rendezvoused with the same man as I met before. He started to complain that the artillery was still operational. I detonated them. I was afraid I’d caused an earthquake, but after the initial explosion, there was an odd calm. Things go black again, I feel a visceral shock and before I know it, I’m in a tent. There was a guy standing at a big table with a digital map and he seemed important; he was the only one not wearing the combat armor. He instead wore a stylish overcoat and a flat-top. What’s with these militant types and this haircut? He had a lot to say to me and told me all of the military plans. I zoned out until I heard him say. You will create a strike team and clear the Chimera Depot. The fuck? Chimera’s are bullshit on wheels. I chucked a few frag-mines at it and had it roll towards me, but I still needed to waste a microfusion cell to finish it off. I assembled a strike team of a sniper and a Mr. Gutsy. The robot was mowed down by the Chimera tank and my sniper didn’t help me out too much. I planted more explosions and exploded more Chinese equipment. That was also a bit of information that came late. I was fighting the Chinese. I can’t say I know what a Chinese was or why we fought them, I think I remember reading a little bit, because the information was strangely familiar, but I still had no idea what was going on. My best friend became the first “person” I met here and I found out his name was Sergeant Benjamin Montgomery. Maybe I was getting lonely and being in constant peril increased my need for companionship. It was strange, but I never felt this level of companionship for anybody, Something about being here and being a soldier really made me feel like I was part of something bigger than myself. I was a little saddened when I thought about it. None of this was real, but I felt important anyhow. Perhaps Olin would still find me important when I finished this thing. My confidence for finishing the simulation was shot. We entered a building, I forget why, but I do know that it was crawling with those invisible people. I was on the brink of cardiac arrest, but my sentry bot and infantry man helped divert and uncover the bastards so I could VATS a microfusion cell through their stupid faces. Coming back from that assault was comforting, but the worst was yet to come. Still Sergeant Montgomery stood by my side and set me up for success. The last thing I had to do was disable a pulse field so we could get onto the Chinese headquarters. It was a day from hell. I barely survived the trenches, but after coming to their pulse field, I was relieved to find I could disable the field from a small construct not far from the trenches. I expected to get sniped, but I fucking did it! We stormed the headquarters where I was treated to a Chinese general executing one of my own. I was aware that this wasn’t real, but I got mad. The fucking general had a Chinese sword just like my own, but this one was electrified. He seemed to only see me during this battle and a VATS shot to his head wasn’t enough. It was foolish, but I challenged his sword with a trench knife; I’d kill him the same way I killed all his men today, I think that’s what a communist would want. Not sure why, but since starting this simulation I’ve had a vendetta against communism and truth be told, I don’t really know what it is. I ate a blow from his Shock Sword but parried well enough to throw him off balance. I then stabbed his face repeatedly. I was sure I was going to suffer a cardiac arrest, but before I knew it went black and after a visceral shock, I was waking up in the simulation pod. “Did I do it?” I asked myself as the pod opened. I stepped out of the pod to find Olin, dead next to it. I looked around and I found that the Brotherhood seems to have killed each other. No one survived. I took a good look at Olin, it made me sad, I never considered keeping in contact with a girl just because I liked them, but there was no chance for that. She was so pretty, it seemed like a waste. The armory was opened, and it was all mine. I was dumbfounded to find a Gauss rifle in there, but also, there was a shock sword and a one of those Stealth Suits! I quickly put it on and picked up everything I could from the armory. I also grabbed McGraw’s power armor. I felt like deteriorating with the rest of the Brotherhood wasn’t what Olin deserved so I used a laser rifle to cremate her. I was amazed that the stealth suit concealed me and my sack of belongings. I just hope
it’s enough to get passed what I’m sure are agitated Brotherhood and the super mutants.
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