I was a chemistry teacher in a small town outside of Denver when the bombs dropped. I survived the ensuing chaos along with several others and we built up a small community well clear of the Denver maelstrom. Unfortunately my husband and friends didn't make it. Most of them were in Denver when It happened and those that weren't... didn't survive long aftwards. We lived there fairly peaceful for about 12 years. We paid tribute to Throckmorton's goons, but luckily there were enough towns around that the demand wasn't more than we could provide (barely). Everything was fine until one particular band of Black Hats came rolling through. They demanded extra tribute and said they would be back in three days for payment (which was more than the town could afford). The town got together and we decided that our only choice was to fight. We had some guns from the old police station and had built up a nice compound, so we thought we just might stand a chance.
It was at that point that Felix revealed himself. Felix was a beggar who had been suffering from rad-sickness (we thought). When he first came to town many wanted to turn him away, but enough took pity on him that he was voted in to do some menial labor. Felix was actually a templar and after seeing that the town was willing to take him in AND fight the Black Hats he decided we were definitely worth helping.
With his help we were able to build up our defenses to the point that the Black Hats were repelled, but at a high price. Half the town had been killed, and so had Felix. I thought that we should take Felix back to Boise (I'd heard that swords and burials were important to Templars). But, however worthy the town was before, no one was willing to undertake the trip to Boise with me.
In the end I decided to make the trip on my own. I took my horse and cart, loaded up Felix's body and his sword, and made for Boise. The trip was rough, I only had a shotgun and a couple shells, and hoards of raiders, mutants and zombies to fight off. I spent more time hiding than fighting and my shells ran out quickly. Eventually I had to turn to using Felix's sword to protect myself. The sword served me well and saved my life on more than one occasion. The same couldn't be said for my horse. It was killed (and eaten) by a pack of mutants just inside of Idaho.
Unable to carry the body with me, I buried Felix and took his sword and tabard with me to Boise.
Simon thanked me for my work to return one of his own's swords. He regreted that the Templar's body could not be returned, but "the sword will live on long after the body is gone", as he likes to say, so the sword was what was important.
Incidently I got my "super-awareness" when the bombs dropped. I was caught at the edge of the blast and survived, but that's when my synapses got fried. Over the next few years I learned about my ability and have since come to trust it implicitly. I routinely sleep through the night with no guards, and the few times there was danger I was warned with plenty of time to save my bacon.
I was invited to stay in Boise for as long as I wanted and I decided to spend a stretch there. Not much to go back to in Denver anyway.
I'd been looking for my "place" in the world for awhile. In truth the Templar dying was as much an excuse for me to leave as an honest desire to return his body and sword. I hoped that maybe I would find my calling here.
While living with the Templars I picked up many useful skills. I learned to heal (non-magically) as well as how to survive in the desert wastes that now abound out west. I also learned how to fight, I'd already picked up some sword use "in the wilds" and the Templars were happy to teach me more, although I was never allowed to keep a sword as they were too rare and valuable for non-templars to have.
After awhile though I came to realize that I still didn't feel like I was part of the group in Boise. I had been invited to become a Templer squire, but didn't feel I was ready to make that kind of commitment to them. I wasn't too happy with the whole "test of worth" thing.
I instead became a companion to the Templars. Eventually I decided to break out and leave Boise. One of the Templars was heading out to travel the wastes, so I offered to travel with him for awhile and assist. The Templar (Alex Wright) was happy to have the company and the two of us left the next morning.
We traveled for about 6 months together, Alex's fighting abilities and my un-canny awareness kept us both alive. Over the 6 months the two of us got very... close. We talked many times about my becoming his squire, but because of our initimate relationship we decided it wasn't a good idea.
I also confided in him my insecurity in the "test of worth", much to my surprise Alex responded that he too had difficulties with it. I felt better after that, and even thought about taking him up on the squireship.
Then we got around to Bouldertown, Co. Btown (as the locals called it) was one of several communities built outside the maelstrom in Boulder. The town was in trouble with the Combine, they wanted tribute and the town couldn't afford to pay (what else is new?)
Alex and I did our usual routine of sneaking in as a down and out married couple. Most of the town didn't want to let us in (another mouth to feed). But one family took pity on us and said they would take care of us. We found most of the community to be unworthy, they wanted nothing to do with us, they were leaning towards paying the Combine even though it would likely mean many of the poorer families would starve, and when we mentioned that there were several other towns in the area that could use help, or that they could band together with, the town's response was "frag'em we've got our own problems".
Alex and I talked. We knew this community really failed the test of worth and we should leave. But there were many children in the community and this family was nice to us above and beyond...
In the end we decided to screw the test of worth and help the town. Alex revealed himself and we started working to fortify the community.
The Combine came and the battle started. The town fought well, and Alex was trully amazing. I helped out as best I could, mainly staying back and protecting the children and wounded with my shotgun. When the battle was over the town had beaten back the Combine gang, but again at a high cost.
Most of the town was dead or injured, and Alex was mortally wounded. I could tell that there was no way to save Alex (which about killed me inside), so I decided to leave and try to get back to Boise with him before he passed. Maybe they could heal him...
I knew it was hopeless deep down inside, we didn't get far before Alex was too weak to travel anymore. We talked for awhile and Alex said that he was content. He wished he could have spent his life with me, but he had died doing his duty. After the battle, the town had even agreed to join together with a few of the other towns to strengthen the group.
Alex died shortly after that and I buried him in a ravine outside of Denver (I liked the idea of burying him near my home). That night I wrestled with internal demons. Alex had violated the test of worth, but it had turned out to be the right choice. But it had also cost Alex his life and Simon would never see that we had done the right thing. Should I return to the Templars? I should return Alex's sword, but I knew that Simon would most likely dis-avow him and break the sword for breaking his oath. Should I keep the sword as a memory of him? Should I try to become a Templar and carry on Alex's memory?
That night I slept un-comfortably. Nightmares of the battle and Alex's death filling my mind. Then a vision visited my sleep. It was the Martyr, St. Hise. She said that others have also chosen to violate the test of worth, and that these are the strongest Templars and souls in the wastes, because they have the strength to stand up to Simon and follow there hearts. She bestowed her blessing upon me and gave me a measure of piece that night.
The next morning I woke up, my decision already made. I placed my old wedding band in the dirt on Alex's grave, picked up his sword and headed southeast, directly away from Boise. I never looked back.
I eventually found myself in New Mexico. I had been traveling for about a month, visiting towns, doing odd jobs and scavenging. I still carried Alex's sword and wore my companion's patch (I still felt faithful to the code of being a companion, and St. Hise was still with me).
I was traveling by foot (I really wasn't in a rush) when I came across a lone man being attacked by a band of mutants. Seeing that the man was out-numbered and surrounded by slavering mutants and that the mutants seemed to be playing with him, I threw my hat in with the humie.
From a safe position I tossed some home-made explosives down towards the muties. They didn't have much bang for the buck, but it was enough to scare the crap out of them. They scattered and didn't come back.
I moved down to check on the man. He turned and fired a weird looking gun on me. I dived to the side as a ball of plasma engulfed the dead tree I was standing in front of.
After several cries of "I'm human!" and "Don't shoot" I was finally able to calm the obvious Junker down and he relaxed. I introduced myself and he introduced himself as Markus.
He WAS a Junker, and had been traveling through New Mexico looking for a lost military base somewhere near what used to be Roswell. He had heard that there was a hidden cache of military tech there and was anxious to get his hands on some of it.
I was curious so I offered to go along. Markus took one look at my size (I'm not very tall or impressive) and my pretty looks, and said that I probably shouldn't come along as it would be dangerous.
"I can handle myself."
"How?"
"Well for starters I could warn you about the two muties hiding over that ridge behind me, waiting to ambush us..."
A short fight (and a reversed ambush) later Markus and I were traveling across New Mexico, looking for signs of a secret, hidden military base.
Naturally the searching was not easy, but Markus found my awareness to be exeptionally useful in this situation. We spent the next month combing the New Mexico desert. We stopped at several towns, some good, some bad and some ugly.
I learned a lot from Markus over that time. I learned how to hunt through wreckage for valuables, as well as how to fix some of the simpler items Markus carried. Much to his disappointment I didn't have the "Junker-Gene" as he liked to call it, but I was still capable at performing simple repairs.
Finally after a month and a half of searching we crested a rise and found what we were looking for: an industrial ramp leading down into the ground.
Markus started dancing around and heading down the ramp right away. I tried to stop him, pointing out that the place could be guarded by automated defenses or something. I suggested we go back to the nearest town and hire some help. Markus wouldn't hear of it. He didn't want to wait and he didn't trust anyone else with his discovery.
Sighing resignedly I followed Markus down the ramp. We came to an access gate that still seemed to be functioning.
"The retinal scanner should be broken beyond repair and my research indicates that the default password should be 'eyespy615'" Markus sat down at the terminal and began to slowly hunt for the password interface.
I couldn't believe it, "You can design and build an Interferemetric Plasma Destabilizer from a car engine and some toothpaste, but you can't touch-type?!? Get up, I'll do it. Looks like my teaching days are going to pay off."
A few minutes later we were inside. There was a lot of stuff, but most of it had been destroyed in some type of bad fire. There were zombies too, lots of them.
Markus and I both opened up on the zombies but, much to my surprise Markus ran off. He'd never been a coward before. I kept firing, screaming at Markus to get his ass back there.
A few minutes later Markus did return, in an infantry battle suit!
"Cass! Get down!"
As I dropped Markus opened up with the battle suit's chain gun. What was left of the zombies wasn't dangerous in the least. Markus just stood there with this goofy grin on his face.
'I must be tired,' I thought 'he looks all blurry'
Then Markus's expression changed to one of shock as he started bleeding from a stomach wound. I saw a blurry form moving to attack Markus, but it was like it was almost invisible. Markus was in trouble though, so I did the only thing I could, opened up with my last few shotgun shells.
The thing turned on me and whatever field it had on shut down, revealing an automaton. It advanced on me, but I was out of ammo and wounded. It grabbed me by the neck and lifted me off the ground, starting to squeeze.
As my vision started to darken I noticed that my shots had blasted off a shoulder panel, exposing wiring. Thinking quickly I pulled my taser out from under my coat (a gift from my late Pre-War husband) and zapped the exposed wiring.
The automaton fell over with a clunk. It's internal circuits fried by electrical feedback.
I ran over to Markus and pulled him out of the battle-suit. The wound to his gut was bad, but I was able to heal him with my medical skills ("Thanks Alex").
When Markus finally woke up the first thing I said was, "That stealth field is mine!" With a smile, of course. Markus agreed (he had come for the battle-suit) and said he would help me fix it up and re-wire it for human use.
After a week of healing, work and scavenging (mostly for food) Markus and I exited the base. Markus with his brand new battle-suit and me with my spiffy new Stealth-field.
"And the best part is we can come back and loot for more once we buy a vehicle."
"Yeah," I mused. "That automaton alone should be worth a pretty penny. I wonder why it didn't blow when I took it down...?"
Almost on cue an explosion rocked the ground and a computer voice came over the old loud-speaker. "Warning, base security violated. Base will self-distruct in 5 minutes without deactivation code."
I looked at Markus with a question on my face. Markus merely shrugged the shoulders of his suit, "The entrance code was the only one I got, I think we should run!" We took off out the ramp and made it clear before the whole base went up in a big ghost rock mushroom cloud. I looked at the explosion sadly, the last thing the world needed was another deadland. Markus didn't take it so well, I actually saw tears in his eyes.
Although he never said it, I could tell that Markus blamed me for the loss of the lab. The next few days saw an uncomfortable silence between us. Eventually I just decided to leave. I woke up early one morning, packed up my things and took off without saying goodbye. I didn't feel like being followed, so I turned the field on and again, never looked back.
I spent the next year traveling and still looking for my place. I was still trying to find a place where I belonged.
It's hard to explain, but because of my fried synapses I'm very rarely surprised by anything. Whether it's a doombringer getting ready to ambush me or a kid that wants to surprise me with a hug. Most of the joys in our lives are from surprises though, winning the lottery, a surprise birthday party or just finding something new during a walk. Well none of that really surprises me anymore. I guess the result is that my synapses are great for surviving, but bite for living with. That's why I have to keep traveling I guess, some kind of attempt to "stay ahead" of my own senses.
It was during this time that I learned that I was black-balled by Simon for not returning Alex's sword and telling him what had happened. I stopped wearing the red-cross in public after that. But I still kept it sewed on the inside of my jacket. Somehow not wearing it at all seemed wrong.
There were several times when I would come to a community in danger (from sickness, an individual, or the Combine) and I would always do what I could to help them. Although I found I still had a strong intolerance for people that weren't willing to help themselves, and more than once I left a community in the dust to rot.
I did a stint riding with the Convoy, mostly as a passenger, but as a guard towards the end (again my fried synapses came in handy). I stayed in plenty of towns and traveled with plenty of people along the way too. But no matter where I went or what I did, I still always felt like an outsider. Eventually I would always part ways (on good terms usually), and head out on my own again.
Currently I'm working as a postman. Traveling from town to town delivering messages and packages. I kinda like it, gives my a purpose, but still lets my wander. It seems like with all my traveling no matter where I go I always have a friend (or a friend of a friend). And it can really pay off to have a lot of friends these days. Besides, between the pay for delivery and my scrounging abilities it keeps me in enough trade goods to get by. And my hardy constitution means I don't mind walking all over creation.
Lately though, I's been noticing that my abilities at noticing things and my physical abilities are increasing too. At first I thought maybe it was another Templar thing from St. Hise. But I'd never heard of anyone who wasn't an ordained Templar actually getting powers...
The other thing that worries me is that my hair is starting to fall out a little. I'm worried that I took a dose of rads somewhere, but can't figure out where... maybe in the underground base? But that was so long ago...