War, war never changes

Throughout history we can see many kinds of war civil, cold, religious, offensive, and defensive. Each with their own tactics attrition, chemical, and guerrilla warfare.

As humans we launch out selves at problems and declare 'war' on them. Our ingenuity has lead us to create hundreds of types of war, both the big and small, righteous, or unjust.

But for every war there are constants there are the factions, the weapons of war, the ammunition, there are the leaders with their reasons and their propaganda, the heroes, the money, the bystanders, the victims and finally their is the fodder of war, the people. The average Joe who's been conscripted, given a weapon and sent across the world to fight and die.

But if I can tell you anything it's that people do change with war as the catalyst. The trials and tribulations of warfare, the adversity of battle, and the chaotic rage of a bullet storm will shape, twist, and mold a person for better or for worse.

In the throws of war the happiest optimist can be hurtled into depression, a meek pessimist can step up and take command and even a coward can earn the title, Hero.

It is now the year 2279, two years after the battle for Hoover dam, and while the leaders of the two nations butt heads to the along the Colorado river expansion elsewhere must continue. With approval from both the Caesar and president Kimball both factions send expeditionary forces north.

Both NCR and legion forces now hold positions either side of the New falls trail and with tensions rising in the factions around the city of Boise soon the people of southern Idaho will be thrown into the jaws of war, prepared or not. In this battle sides will be chosen, old enemies become new friends and the game of chess the leaders play will come down to the pawns and the actions of a single man can change it all.

"Holy *cough* shit" a raspy voice said as Jay awoke from his drug-induced sleep.

Coughing a few more times to clear his voice out, Jay quizzically glanced around the room of an old gas station to ascertain how he ended up here until memories came flooding back, upon which he relaxed this wasn't the first forced nap he had taken and he figured it wouldn't e the last.

'That's right after I passed those NCR pansies and stubbed my toe on that fence; I got wasted and came here'

Jay then tensed again and scrambled over to his bag which was on the counter.

"Shit I didn't use it all did I?"

With mild concern in his voice he checked his bag and with a visible sigh of relief there he saw 4 completely unused canisters of jet. Sure he was an addict but even addicts had to be smart about it sometimes and not completely waste their supply.

Resting his elbows on the counter and slumping down he sighed again, the last thing he needed after waking up was more stress. Working up the energy to actually do something he stood up straight and cracked his back.

'God I'm only 30 something and I'm already too old for this shit'

After stretching he proceeded to methodically pick up his stuff and a few things that might be worth something and place it into his satchel. Once again after finishing he stretched and sighed again.

'Go on then world, let's see how your gonna fuck me over today'

Bang

As a bullet landed on the wall next to him jay draws his 9 mm and fires three shots in the general direction of the gunfire after which he takes cover by the door frame.

'I really did ask for that didn't I?'

Outside two bandits stand, guns pointed at the gas station, talking in a low voice

"Damn it Stan you was supposed to hit'im"

In a grizzly voice of a ghoul, Stan responded "C'mon Mike, you try rotting for as long as I have and then you can complain about my marksmanship, any way you got a plan"

Scratching his head with his pistol mike then said "alright lemme try something"

He then shouted "Hey you, we know your alone in their come on out, we take some compensation and then we part ways both alive"

He then whispered to Stan "don't worry we gonna shoot him"

Back in the gas station Jay is peeking through a boarded-up window.

'Hmmm, that's defiantly a lie, but two on one even with cover isn't ideal' after some more thinking Jay finally settled on a plan and then stood and shouted

"Alright I'm coming out, and we'll deal with this like civilized bandits"

Placing his pistol in its holster and raising his hands where they can be seen Jay sauntered his way out the door to see the ghoul bandit standing between two pumps, the other nowhere to be seen. Approaching the man whose shotgun was held at his waist pointing down, Jay eyed the surroundings cautiously. He stood 4 meters from him and as he was about to speak he heard the cocking of a revolver behind him.

"Haha, I told you I would work Stan", the one behind him said as he came into view he then turned to Jay and mockingly said "what you thought we was gonna let you go, Ha idiot", to this jeering Jay reminded stone-faced, much to the disappointment of Mike.

Turning back to his partner "Alright Stan go check'im, I'll keep my gun on'im"

Stan then huffed as he strolled over to Jay, taking his pistol from Jay's hand and then frisking him.

Jay then broke his silence and began to speak "my god I completely fell for this trap, you two must be geniuses, and I didn't see this outcome at all"

Mike then chuckled and with pride in his voice, completely missing the sarcasm in Jay's voice, said "well thank you very much, at least someone actually appreciates the skills I bring to the table"

This earned a faint snort from the ghoul named Stan as he snatched Jay's satchel and began rummaging through it.

"But don't think flattery will get you outta this bullet, but know that your comment is appreciated"

Jay then started to focus, how the hell the ghoul miss his pistol he won't know, he ever so slowly lowered his arms as the ghoul was admiring one of Jays jet capsule in his hand and the other was being overconfident.

'Alright time to end this' Jay thought as he put his plan into action.

Putting back his flattering tone he said "oh no, I wouldn't dare try to weasel like a coward, besides experienced men such as your selves must have heard all the excuses there might be" as the bandit with the revolver nodded and smile confidently, "I was just trying to say th--"

Jay then reacted looking behind the bandit and shouted "HOLY SHIT".

As both bandits spun around on reflex, Jay reached for his pistol, took aim at the one with a revolver and fired, killing him instantly. As the ghoul, who hadn't even raised his weapon, look in shock to his friend and then to Jay, only to see that the man they were robbing had reared his head back.

"Wai—"was all he could say before Jay slammed his head into the ghoul, knocking the poor bandit out cold.

"Morons", Jay said as he lazily holsters his pistol, he then proceeds to pick up his satchel and loot the bandit he shot.

'Hmm, a few caps, nasty ass water, a spork and the revolver' as he was going over the bandits stuff the ghoul on the ground began to stir.

Walking over to the ghoul and picking the shotgun up from the floor and aiming it at the bandit, placing his boot on him and shaking him until the ghoul woke up panicked from his forced sleep.

"Hey, hey n-no need to be rash here buddy, we weren't actually going to kill you, i-it was just mark playin around. I-I didn't even really like the guy, j-just please let me go and we won't meet again"

Jay sighed this wasn't the first time he had people beg for their life from him, usually bandits, but it was always the same you let them go they come back with friends eyes set on revenge, such is the nature of humans. Morality would dictate that he go free, no real harm done, but this was all too common in the wasteland, you let someone go now and it's a knife in the back later.

"sorry rough skin, you made your decision when you fired that bullet, some things are just set in stone and you just gotta try not to be a coward about it. But I won't lie that is a very nice hat"

New Falls trail, west of Pendleton

Jay looks at his reflection in the muddy puddle on the side of the road; obviously it had been raining overnight. His eyes blue and still as tired as they were yesterday, adjusting his new cowboy-Esque hat to keep some stands of his messy black hair out of his face, with one last glance at his tired face he let out a dry laugh.

'Try not to be a coward about, what am I talking about. God I'm such a hypocrite'

Getting over his own self-deprecation Jay continued down the ruins of what was once Route 84 which is known to most waste Landers as the new falls trail. The trail is a popular trade route starting in the ruins of Seattle, down Route 82 until it connected with Route 84 that continued down toward Boise were caravans pick one of a myriad of different paths past the battlefield that is Boise. From there it continued down Route 84 and over Snake River through the settlement of New falls which is where most caravans stopped and earning the trail its name. From there, there are several splitting routes one of the most known being through New Cannan and connecting to the long 15 through Vegas to the Hub.

It's never considered wise to do anything alone out in post-war chaos that is America, but more so unwise to do so on the new falls trail. All manner of bandits, mutants, and monsters of both man and nature pepper the trail, but Jay didn't really care, if it was his time so be it but that doesn't mean he won't give as good as he gets. His nose followed the money and his final job in Seattle said that money could be found in the direction of one Roland Bonneville, and so he was sent off to deliver a package supposedly worth 2000 caps.

He knew that it cost a lot less to shoot the messenger rather than pay him, but he had experience dealing with that kind of situation, but he still had a ways to go before Boise so he'd deal with that idiot when he'd dealt with all the idiots in between.

'Uhhh the next stop was Pendleton or was it Brickhills, Pendleton yeah... no wait... yes, yes. Pendleton, the funny looking road then Brickhills, that's what the guy at Kennewick said'. Jay continued to think as he progressed down passed a few dilapidated cars. 'If what that guy said was right those NCR fellas were having trouble imposing themselves on the town...'

"Sounds like a nice place" Jay said aloud as he continued his trek, he was very vocal about his dislike of the NCR and their rules specifically the ones about not shooting assholes. Jay's train of thought was broken by the music of the wasteland, a gunfight.

On instinct Jay's hand floated to his holster only to remind himself that he was holding a much more powerful shotgun already. After listening to a few shots and their echo he figured while close it was probably passed the ridge on the hill to his left. While the fight continued Jay clambered his way up the hill, stopping at the ridge he took out his binoculars from his satchel and looked down at what appeared to be a small scrap yard which had a small farm attached, clearly someone was living here and from the looks of it engaged in a gunfight with some bandits. From the looks of it the residents of the yard were probably prepared as they had set up some barricades, and shoddy as they were they helped.

'With the size of that house, they probably called in help, that or their a family fine with very low living standards and no personal space' Jay thought as he observed the 8 people defend the scrap yard from the 12 or so bandits attacking from the field north of them.

'It's not my place to help, I mean I'd love to help and request some compensation afterward but right now a shotgun and pistol won't cut it at this range' after a few seconds of contemplation Jay decided to watch and find an opportunity and 'save the day'. Once jay looked down the lens again he spotted movement next to a large drainage channel that connected to the yard, upon focusing on the area he saw an older woman with what seemed like a sling around her chest leading a small child away from the yard. This however hadn't gone unnoticed; one of the bandits that was trying to skulk around the side had seen them and with a sinister smile followed silently.

From his vantage point, jay could see both but where others would watch in horror, Jay smiled and in a low voice he said "well look at that, lucky me". In Jay's experience saving a damsel in distress often lead to good rewards, thinking back to a girl he saved on his travels quite a few years back, turns out she owned a caravan and he got paid very well when he got to town.

Choosing a spot on the mountain he wouldn't be spotted as he went down Jay began to descend and move toward the channel.

Down in the channel, the woman named Willow was running with her two children after getting well over 100 meters from their home she stopped behind an old car that had fallen into the channel, so that they could catch their breath.

"Mom, who were those men and why did they shoot at Jason", asked Liam her second eldest, 'well eldest now after... no can't think about that now'.

"They are nasty people Liam, if you ever see one run as fast as you can ok" as Liam nodded she looked towards her son with a reassuring smile that only a mother could give. Willow then looked to her daughter that she had kept close to her chest all this time inside a sling their lay a sleeping child no older than a few months 'good still sleeping' she thought as she kissed her forehead, 'I'm sorry you have to go through this my child... Right now we need to get to Pendl-'

Her thought was interrupted by a cackle and she froze in fear as her pupils shrank. "We ain't all too bad, you just got to get to know us first". The figure of a Bandit revealed themself as Willow grabbed Liam and brought her child closer.

"Please leave my child out of this" Willow said as her eyes teared up, she knew she couldn't get away now he had a weapon she didn't.

"What, and leave a child out in the wastes with no weapon, and people call me a fool", the bandit chuckled again while approaching Willow with his rifle raised. "Well it doesn't matter anyway, what with these NCR goody two shoes moving in we can't take any prisoners so I'm just gonna kill ya"

"YOU BASTARD" Willow shouted at her now executioner, and hugged her son tight into her stomach as she closed her eyes waiting for the end.

Thwack

Crunch

Willow opened her eyes, now streaming with tears, to see another figure standing over the bandit holding the bloodied butt of a shotgun. She wanted to say something but could only stutter as her jaw shuddered and she was gasping as she hadn't realized she had been holding her breath

As her whole body caught up with her she realized now she had fallen over on her back, she heard a small gasp in front of her and looked only to see her sons face with a mix of confusion and fear as he said "Mom".

Before he could speak again she hugged him again as another wave of tears overcame her.

All this time the stranger stood looking at the two until he finally coughed grabbing Willows attention. "So, how you doin"