Test

In the end I decided to just go with the flow and get whatever Perks I think I would need whenever I leveled up. After all it was like Aaron said it's dangerous and if I want to survive I need to get stronger as quickly as possible and not waste any time holding back now so that I might get strong later.

The next few weeks Aaron had me doing light exercises and teaching me the basics of stealth. He showed me the proper way to walk to minimize sound and how to watch my target and move in the little gaps in their awareness.

Aside from that he also had me on an intense exercise regimen. I would wake up at the crack of dawn and would go run 10 laps around the store followed by 15 pushups, sit ups, squats, and pull ups.

It wasn't that much exercise but, for my small 5 year old body it was asking a lot. For the first few days I didn't manage to meet the standards he gave me and I suffered as a result. If I failed in anything be it my exercise or sneak training he would find the grosses most vile foods for me to eat.

Most of the time for meals Aaron would bring home fresh meat to cook over a fire and even if it was not the best it wasn't terrible either. When I messed up however we would end up eating Radroaches and all kinds of other unknown kinds of meat that would turn my stomach just by looking at them.

I couldn't complain about it since Aaron also ate everything he brought back without even flinching. So the only thing I could do was to try and force it down and try not to fail the next day.

After about a month I could consistently finish my training and I didn't mess up anymore when sneaking. That's when Aaron decided it was time for some more advanced training. He doubled all of my exercise requirements and said that he was planning something special to train my sneaking ability.

Even though my life was packed with endless training and work it was actually kind of peaceful. I even had some time each day when Aaron goes out hunting to do whatever I want.

When I have free time I go up the office and sit on that old couch and look at my Pipboy. My Pipboy had far more functions that it ever did in the games. It had the standard stuff like a place list of all of my possessions while traveling and section where I could write down all of my goals and things I needed to do.

I laughed when I found those in it because they were like the real world equivalent of the inventory and Missions List from the games.

The Radio and Map function were exactly like they were in the games the first one I checked was the Map to see where I was. As it turned out I was in Colorado not that it meant much to me since It was never featured well in any of the games and I never went there in my past life.

On the Radio there were only 3 channels. The First was something called Dial Radio it was a normal radio station the broadcasted from some place named Tent City. It seemed like it was a major settlement and the station would always give out important news like large scale fights or where good places to scavenge have been found.

The music on the channel was really good and had way more than 5 or 6 song. One fact that made me sad was that this radio channel didn't have fun characters D.J.ing the songs like 3 Dawg and Travis.

The second channel was really interesting it was actually controlled by Supermutant who claimed to be a follower of the Children of Atom church. He would preach all day long about how wonderful radiation was and that all humans should do their best to live in radioactive places.

Funny thing was that he would often think he had switch off his microphone and start ranting about how stupid humans are and that he would be able to kill all of them with his trick. I think a lot of people listened to that channel.

The third radio station didn't have a name it just constantly played classical music 24/7 when I first heard it I got a chill down my back. It made me think about my family and what was happening to them.

I also was scared by the fact that very little time had passed, yet it seemed like Vault 122 had already started to get a grasp on the Teleportation technology. I was terrified at the thought of being chased down by people who could appear anywhere at any time.

I knew that there was nothing I could do about the Vault so I tried my best to put it out of my head but, it was always there at the back of my mind.

Besides the Radio the thing on the Pipboy that interested me the most was Dante's research. Apparently before the Institute fell he managed to make a copy of all of its research and somehow take it with him.

My Pipboy actually had on it hundreds of years of research on it and I spent most of my free time studying it. There was so much of it that even with high Intelligence I would still need years to read through everything.

My days were so full and I was doing so much I felt that even though I wasn't leveling up I was still getting stronger.

A few days later Aaron shook me awake.

"Ahh why did you wake me up so early" I yawned.

"Remember that special training I promised you?"

"Yes" I answered feeling that something wasn't right.

"Good" was his only response.

He led me to the office door and handed me a baseball bat.

"What do I need this for "I asked now being 100% sure that something wasn't right.

Aaron didn't answer me instead he pushed me out the door while whispering to me. "Try not to die and to remember that there are five of them."

I wanted to ask five of what but, before I could he had already slammed the door shut behind me. I turned to look at the store behind me I had been living here for a month already and already knew it like the back of my hand. Tonight however something felt different it felt threatening.

I slowly descended the stairs and even though I was doing my best to try and sneak each step was painfully loud. When I got to the bottom I was half expecting to be attacked by some terrible monster. It was nearly pitch black and I barely see where I was going, Sweat was dripping down my back and my heart was racing.

I swore that the second I reached level 3 I would by that stupid Night Person Perk so that I would never be put in a situation like this again.

As I was creeping around a crashing sound echoed from my side. I turned to face it I knew that was where the shopping carts were stored. Something must have bumped into them. Edging closer I could see a pair of glowing green eyes.

I raised my courage and moved closer. I could hear whatever it was scuttling around as I neared it I couldn't clearly make out what it was but, from what I saw it was no bigger than a small dog. That gave me courage, I was now so close to it that if I wanted to I could reach out and touch it.

Summoning all my strength I swung the bat. Not long after there was a sickening crunching sound as I smashed whatever it was.

A +5 materialized in front of me and I could finally confirm that I could actually get Exp from killing. I began to wonder what I actually was I could level up from killing and change my stats as well as pick different Perks to get stronger.

On the other hand I had no health and stamina bar and I still needed to eat and sleep. I was like a strange fusion between reality and fiction. I quickly threw those pointless thoughts out of my head. I wasn't going to find an answer anytime soon and I had far more important things to deal with at the moment.

Stepping I turned by Pipboy on at the lowest brightness and I finally saw what Aaron brought for me to fight. It was a Radroach, in hindsight I probably should have figured that out much earlier.

After knowing that my unknown assailants were just small bug a large part of my fear went away. I moved much faster while looking for the last four Radroaches while still sneaking. That was the whole point of this after all.

Listening closely and I could hear a small gnawing sound. I followed it and found what looked to be two Radroaches chewing on a piece of meat. Confident I crept closer with my bat ready drooling at the thought of more Exp. I was right before them and was about to take a swing when I messed up.

I stepped on a piece of broken glass that shattered under my shoes (I always wore shoes to sleep because Aaron said we needed to be able to escape at any time).

The Radroaches were startled they screeched at me as one of them charged and the other tried to circle behind me. I dodged to the side of the charging one taking a swing at it. I ended up mistiming my swing and hitting air. The other one then jumped at me from behind but I was expecting it so I leapt forward out of its range.

I turned around again to see both of them charging me. I did an overhead power swing at the one closest to me crushing it but, the second one was faster than I expected and managed to get to me before I could react.

It bit into my leg and I let out a scream. I kicked forward hoping to fling it off but, it held firm and continued eating my leg. I ran to a nearby wall and kicked it repeatedly smashing the Radroach. I squatted down and threw the corpse of my leg.

Feeling my wound I could tell that he had bitten my shin down to its bone. I struggled to stand up I wanted to quit but, Aaron was the only one who could help me now and I knew that if I want dying he wouldn't intervene. After all he definitely heard me scream just now and knew I was most likely injured yet he let the test continue.

With all the noise I just made I doubted that the last to remaining Radroaches didn't know I was there. So I ended up completely turning on my Pipboy light letting it bright blue light fill the area (I changed the Pipboy's screen color to blue because I like it better).

Limping along I zigzagged my way between the Aisles looking for the last two Roaches. Not long after I found them. I got lucky as they were a good distance away from each other when they attacked. Giving me plenty of time to prepare and smash them into paste.

"I'm finished I killed them all" I yelled hoping for Aaron to come help me with my wound.

After my yell only silence greeted me it looked like I would have to struggle back up to the office myself since that's where we kept the Med kit. I slowly trudged back to the stairs, without my adrenalin to keep me going each step was pure agony. When I finally got back to the stairs a cursed loudly as I knew this would be the most painful part.

Before I could begin the terrible climb however I was pushed from behind. I fell forward and threw my arms out bracing for the fall. Ended up smacking my head on the edge of the first stair and everything went fuzzy. Then something ripped into my back.

There must have been six of them I thought to myself that bastard Aaron must have tricked me. I tried my best but, I couldn't summon up the strength to stand. All I could do was lay there as I was eaten alive.

There was a sudden whoosh of air by my head and the weight on my back suddenly disappeared. Not long after a loud gunshot rang out above me. It was Aaron he had kicked the Radroach off of me before finishing it with a bullet.

I look up weakly to try and see him.

He was looking back down at me with a serious face before even checking to see if I was ok bent down to face me and said.

"You failed."