FREV Chapter 03 (Patreon)

January 27th, 2232

I was fully clothed, fed a delicious meal, and then led up to the Enclave roundtable of all the prominent leaders. They all eyed me with wariness as I was a foot taller than most of the guards escorting me. 7’6” and 330 pounds. I was almost too big but as a ‘New Human’ who knows how big me or my children would be. The R.E.V. drug did wonders for height, with my father shooting up from 5’6” to 6’6” from taking the drug.

Even a hundred years later I still considered the man my father… I hope I can live up to his legacy. I look at the seven leaders seated around the table that could fit twenty. The number of leaders slowly being diminished over time as the previous leaders were either killed or never replaced. Three had undergone the ghoulification process, most likely the only original members of the true plan. Well, besides myself that is, they really shouldn’t have left that information on a computer database.

It was sickening that they were so afraid of death that they’d be fine looking like a melting popsicle and smelling like farts for the rest of their lives, hundreds of years of looking and smelling like a testicle(at least they didn’t smell like a rotting corpse). I wasn’t sure if I’d be willing to do it for even twenty. To be fair I couldn’t do it now even if I wanted to. Thankfully I was given updates on how the progress was going with the R.E.V. and psyker combinations.

People injected with the R.E.V. tended to live about twice as long as normal humans could, some of the original members still alive even a hundred and fifty years after they took it. They weren’t in great shape but were kept alive to see how long they could last, psykers didn’t have any effect on the person's lifespan but they seemed to stop any mental diseases from happening to them.

The three that didn’t look like someone peeled their skin off with a cheese grater were all elderly. It appears they had given up on ever refreshing the leadership as two were clearly R.E.V. takers and the last one was the only normal human out of the bunch but in his eighties at least. 

Starting from the left, we had the ghoul wearing a pinstripe suit and hat smoking a cigar. Another ghoul wearing full military regalia. Another military R.E.V. user is still bulky and fit considering his age. The grandpa-looking man wearing a sleeveless vest and long-sleeve shirt underneath. The R.E.V. user who had lost most of his bulk and looked to be on the verge of death. The only female ghoul and another R.E.V. user who had his arm wrapped with the female ghouls.

I stood at attention playing my part as perfectly as I could until one of the generals noticed and spoke first. “At ease, please sit down. I’m hurting my neck just looking up at you.” I move forward taking the first seat nearest to me and sitting in it before interlacing my hands in my lap and looking at each one a little better now that I can move my head.

The woman placed her other hand on the men as they looked at me more strongly than the rest. It was most likely their plan to have me replace the outside leadership if they were so happy that I was here. The pinstripe ghoul speaking first. “Well, you should know your mission by now. You were briefed inside the pod, unless something went wrong in there.”

I kept looking ahead as I answered him. “Sir, no sir. I am to gain access to the Enclave leadership and supply the main base with information on the outside world while providing as much support as I possibly can, including destroying the city currently on top of the vault.” He looked pleased while two of the military men told me the rest of my mission.

“Yes. That is your primary mission but we have several secondary missions for you to try and accomplish outside of the original objective.” The ghoul coughed up flem while the R.E.V. took his place in the conversation. “We need the leadership of the city above wiped out and we need test subjects to continue our research. As you know we’ve hit a wall with our diminished numbers and besides you and your sister, there are no other successful test subjects.”

I had to fight back a wince when he spoke of my sister. I was already inside the machine for fifteen years when I was told that I was now a brother. Even now it felt surreal, I felt guilty for not working her into my plans but at the end of the day, she was a woman I didn’t even know. If they wanted to make me feel attached they should have had us do missions together inside the pods instead of keeping us separated. If I hadn’t lived over a hundred years without meeting her I would feel worse and I planned to storm the base and take it over before her time inside the pod was up.

Hopefully, she had seen through the objective as well. One of the men tossed something at me just out of my reach and I telekinetically dragged it down to my hand before it flew passed. I was looking at the object and didn’t notice all the leaders looking at each other as I did so. It was a pip-boy 4000. I put it on without looking at the screen for now, waiting for them to finish telling me the plan.

Besides the main objective, I was given another twenty side missions to accomplish before I left for California. We were winding down before I thought of something I actually wanted. “Can I have a team to help me accomplish my mission? I should be able to handle it by myself but if I was given a few followers to send on the more easily accomplishable side missions it would help me finish everything faster.”

The leaders all looked at one another. The number of competent fighters inside the base had dwindled dramatically since the vaults were closed. They had to stop the castration process because they needed as many bodies around to keep all the machinery running smoothly. Our military force was effectively gone with most effort spent on maintenance and a small portion on research still.

They finally made a silent agreement with each other as the Pinstripe ghoul spoke. “Yes… I can see how that would be valuable for you. We’ll arrange everything for you so just take a break and rest before your mission starts. We’ll call you when we’re ready to send you out.”

After leaving I was brought to a small room where I barely fit through the door and slept for who knows how long. It was three days of not knowing when it would happen by the time everything was finally set up and I got a good look at the three people they were sending with me. 

An old male R.E.V. user covered in scars always defaulting to parade rest who kept eyeing me from the corner of his eye. A short freckle-faced mousey girl with sandy brown hair wearing the vault tec jumpsuit with the word ‘engineer’ scrawled across the front of it and her name tag which I couldn’t see from the angle I was looking at her. 

My breath hitched as I could guess who the third person they were sending me with was by their height. A very tall muscular woman with black hair and a perfect face approached me with a big smile on her face as she spoke. “I guess you’re my brother then. It’s nice to finally meet you. I can’t wait to head out and accomplish this mission with you.”