Nuclear Winter

*GASP* *COUGH* *COUGH*

Waking up to an horrendous stench like meat that had been left out in a swamp under the sun, a young man can be seen gasping for air as he jolts up straight.

Continuing to cough as he got his bearings straight the man began to look around his surroundings, only for a horrible realization to settle in immediately as he did.

The horrible smell was a byproduct of the man's current position, surrounded by at least 50 rotting corpses of men, women and children in various states of decomposition. The man began to gag as he began to crawl on the slick and rotting bodies towards the edge of the trench he and the bodies were unceremoniously thrown into.

Finally reaching the edge and grabbing the hot dessert sand, the man pulled himself up and out of the pile. Finally free of the tangle of rotting limbs the man began to vomit, only for a clear bile to come out as there was nothing in his stomach. After a few minutes of this the man slowly began to rise up onto his knees and stumbled up onto his feet.

"What, where the hell…the fuck is going on?!" Looking into the trench at the mass of bodies, most wearing burlap bags as clothes with a large red X on the chest. Confusion began to clear up as the man recognized this scene, but this scene should be impossible, IS impossible. It was exactly like 'Alternative start in the wasteland' for Fallout NewVegas.

Holding his stomach the man looked around and his jaw fell open, all around he saw sand and Rocky Mountains and hills, bodies crucified not far away from the trench.

"The wasted pit" the man mumbled out under the hot Nevada sun. One of the choices for starting NewVegas with one of his favorite mods, it was his favorite start because it was so visceral and shocking. A pit that the legion would toss dead slaves into outside cottonwood cove, which you start as one that wasn't quite dead and a thirst for vengeance with a 50 percent increase in damage to legionnaires.

A former NCR veteran ranger who left the NCR after your girlfriend betrayed you for a high ranking officer in camp golf, only for you to be captured and brought to cottonwood cove before being mistreated and 'dying'.

"Think Alex what was the last thing you remember? I was at home and got a weekend to myself, decided to boot up NewVegas but had to download that strange mod… no way."

Grabbing his head in his two hands the man named Alex remember his last moment as he clicked accept to download the strange mod, the world went dark instantly, like god had flicked a switch.

"This can't be happening, I'm dreaming? Must be.." contrary to what most would expect a sly smile began to form on the man's face as he came to realize that this all felt too real.

"Get a grip on yourself Alex" realizing standing around in the open desert near a large legion camp in slave garb is a sure fire way to get yourself screwed the hard way.

Alex began to try and figure out his next moves. First Alex realized he needed cover, being out in the open is a great way to get oneself killed pronto if unarmed and unarmored.

Turning away from the horrid sight and smell from the trench Alex looked off in the distance and could make out what looked like a shack through the heat haze of the desert.

"Snipers shack overlooking cottonwood cove…" nodding to himself Alex start walking along the hot desert ground, it was extremely uncomfortable and burned but knowing what awaits him if he stands still he sucked it up and began his march.

Walking up the small bank he came across a broken and worn road that was radiating heat. "Fuck this is going to suck." Whispering to himself Alex tried to hype himself up before he bolted across the scorching hot pavement.

"Ahh fuck hot damn bitch!" Collapsing on the other side of the road and eating sand figuratively, Alex reached down and grabbed his foot only to feel blisters starting to form from slight burns on the soles of his feet.

Looking up on the distant hill, Alex could see the shack about a mile away. Getting up and wincing at the pain in his feet he looked back at the road and scoffed at how silly it was. "Took damage from crossing a road, better hope there ain't a fucking cazador up on that hill or I'm going strait to Jesus."

Walking with a waddle do to his burnt feet Alex moved forward with determination, a smile grew with every step. The sun was hot on his back and what little breeze there was burned like a hooker in church on Sunday. He knew that it seems crazy to smile in this situation but come on, as a fan who read many web novels in secret how could he not get what was going on. Plus considering that he started the game like one of his modded play throughs, he believed that this was a golden opportunity, and don't get mad at him for this but he decided it was best to… let go and begin again.

So what if he isn't the currier, with his knowledge of the wasteland and the knowledge he collected over his past life he could pave his own path or die trying, he was finally free from the expectations of others and got a second chance in his favorite fictional world.

He couldn't wait to explore every nook and cranny for real, but first he needed a weapon and supplies. Hence the snipers overlook up on the hill, Alex had to be cautious and move slow, finding cover where he could as he inched closer and closer to the snipers overlook.

Almost 30 minutes later and covered in sweat Alex finally made it to the shack and hid behind a rock to scout the shack in case It wasn't unoccupied.

Just like the game it was an open shack with no one in sight, so hopping up from behind the rock he quickly moved over to the shack while ignoring the pain in his feet and keeping his eyes glued to his surroundings.

Finally making his way over he immediately went for one of the two bottles of purified water sitting on a rusty shelf. Quickly undoing the plastic cap he started to gulp the warm water down greedily, finishing off the 355ml bottle in seconds. Once his thirst was quenched he reached onto the bottom shelf at what looked like a packaged cake of sorts.

Seeing that the wrapper was sun bleached and now had no markings Alex hesitated but still ended up opening the mystery item. Inside revealing a perfectly preserved chocolate snack cake.

200 years in the hot sun and it still looked this good? Alex really didn't want to put it in his mouth but he was starving and needed it, so fuck it might as well die by a snack cake rather then a deathclaw.

However he immediately regretted it and though the deathclaw wasn't so bad, the cake was so sugary he felt a few cavities forming and his teeth cry out in indignation.

"Jesus now I know how this shit survived for 200 years, how much sugar and preservatives did they stuff in this shit?" After mumbling out loud and looking at the wrapper like it slapped him and his family's 18 generations his eyes moved on to an old rusty foot locker.

The real prize lay waiting in that locker, but Alex couldn't pick locks for shit and asking nicely wouldn't cut it so he looked around for a large rock instead. When in doubt go Monke, shit don't stand a chance when you go Monke.

Finally finding a decent sized rock he picked it up ignoring how hot it was. He walked back to the locker and pulled it out from under the shelf, it was five feet long and a foot deep and wide. It looked a lot bigger then it did in the game but that made sense.

"Whelp let's hope this world isn't using game logic, no way I'm picking this lock."

Raising the rock above his head after musing about how stupid it was that you couldn't break locks in the game, Alex brought down the rock hard on the padlock on the locker. Thankfully he had installed 'who needs a key?' That allowed the player to shoot locked doors and containers or hit them with melee weapons to break the locks.

With a loud clang the padlock instantly broke open, Alex's heart began to pump faster as he raised the lid of the locker.

His eyes immediately bulged at the site in the locker.

"Fuck that settles that question I guess."

Looking down he could see the prize he came for…. Only it was different in game and not alone in the locker.

'Doom of the 5th legion armor and the Gobi mk2' layed neatly before him in the locker along with three stimpaks and two radaway with a bottle of cat eye tucked under the rad away and another bottle of purified water.

However looking at the armor made Alex's eyes widen in surprise, he had a inclination that there was something special about this transmigration and now he knew for certain.

"All my mods…also came with me?"

It was an exciting thought, as much as Alex loved the base game, his nearly 900 mods made the game infinitely more interesting.

From weapons to armor, meds and chems, environment and story's, new missions and quests. All of his mods added something or tweaked something to the point it was almost unrecognizable.

In Alex's own words 'The game it should have been from the start if Obsidian had the time and support Bethesda should have given them.'

After he let it sink in that he wasn't playing by the regular Mojave rules anymore, Alex picked up the armors chest plate.

"Can't believe my luck, this armor right out of the gate!" Staring at the midnight black armor chest plate with the skull of a bull with a bullet hole in the center made him giddy.

Normally it would be awhile before you got to the snipers overlook and longer still till you had 100 lock-picking, but thanks to his mods he got to skip all that and got badass loot from the start.

So without further ado he immediately took off his slave garb and began to put on the armor, however considering this was his first time in real life it took more then a couple minutes to get it all on.

When all was said and done he was pleasantly surprised at how well it fit, like it was made for him. The completely black NCR face wrap armor mixed with a black mantle over the left shoulder and a bandolier on its chest, with thigh pouches and a combat knife and holder strapped to his lower left leg. It also came with a black hunters hood and black tinted full goggles, but his favorite part of the armor was the right arm.

Full pitch black interlocking plates starting at the shoulder made their way down the whole arm and over the hand encasing it like a medieval gauntlet. Intricate engravings of an ancient battle between the 5th legion and the pagans of old Britannia inlaid with silver could be seen etched into the whole arm and hand with Memento Mori

Written on the trigger finger.

After admiring the armor for a hot minute Alex focused on what was left in the locker, now that the armor was removed he could see more things then originally.

Fist however he grabbed the beautiful black and silver sniper rifle sitting on top of everything. The Gobi mk2, it was the same type of rifle as the original but with a new sleek skin that better suited it for night time sniping. Hundreds of tiny nicks could be seen from the stock to the muzzle, all done in groups of five, showcasing the carnage this rifle was responsible for. On the barrel of the rifle a passage could be seen in the same silver engraving as the armor 'The last thing you never see'.

Shouldering the weapon he pressed the mag release on the side and checked the mag to see it fully loaded, putting the mag back in the mag well he pulled the rifles bolt and let go, chambering a round and making sure the safety was on. The rifle was heavy so he laid it against the shelf as he went back to the locker, taking out the chems and water he looked at the few items that were hidden.

A stealth boy and five extra magazines of ammunition, as well as 6 boxes of thirty .308 ammo, 180 rounds was more then enough for now. Also a silenced 10mm and box of ammo with one spare magazine.

However picking the rifle back up he came to a new realization… how the hell was he going to carry all this?

No sooner did he think that while holding the rifle did he feel a tug on his brain, a second later the rifle disappeared in a puff of blue particles.

"Shit how could I forget that mod!!" Slapping his head Alex thought to himself and sure enough a screen only visible to him appeared.

Pipboy Evo, an internal pipboy developed by Robco, Poseidon, Med-Tek and the USSA. Using the brain as it's central processor, as a unique gadget pipboys we're mostly known for having a Quantum storage device that would allow the user to store upwards of half a ton without feeling a thing, but we're limited in space.

The Evo however could hold up to 5 tons, developers wanted deep space astronauts to have enough food and materials for trips in space while keeping the pipboy out of the way. Hence internally instead of on the left arm like normal, a pleasant surprise that the human brain as a processor would be so powerful.

Thankfully the Robo-brain was a good proof of concept, so all agreed to move forward on that idea. Of course it didn't take long for the military to get wind of it and commandeer it citing that it could solve soldier resupply issues.

Now staring at the blue digital screen floating in front of him, Alex got a wee bit excited. Looking at all his S.P.E.C.I.A.L's perks and stats he was pleasantly surprised at how high most were. Not a single stat was under 70 other then merchant. All of his SPECIAL stats were above 8 other then charisma. He had plenty of maxed perks, all centered around combat and survival, which made sense.

He loved his new level system, scrolling over to a new menu he saw all the stats with a plus sign beside them and an experience value assigned all dimmed out. Rather then the old level system he opted for a mod that would bank EXP and allow you to buy Skills, Perks and Special points when you saved enough up.

However on the next screen he saw the United States Federal Store, where soldiers would have been able to purchase items with meritorious actions. Basically if you killed an enemy you would be able to buy more things to survive and kill more enemies.

A twisted fucking circle, but effective and efficient nonetheless.

He loved this mod for making the games EXP far more versatile, allowing the player to constantly improve without a level cap to hold them back.

You had no fear of choosing the wrong perk and being stuck with it, also it was lore friendly, the USSA used a satellite that received the order and would send it to an orbital platform that would then beam the item to the person in the field. The platform used a much larger quantum storage device and had enough items to keep a large army supplied for ten years.

All in all many of Alex's mods made Newvegas a different world by themselves, all together it was a completely new world and game.

Not wasting anymore however Alex began to put all the items in his new inventory, seeing the weight go up to 13.5 pounds out of 5k available. He couldn't get rid of the massive smile stretching across his face…

*BLAM**PFFT*

A loud cracking of gunfire was Heard as a pillar of hot sand fell over Alex, rolling out of the way in the opposite direction and coming up into a kneeling position Alex realized someone was shooting at him and looked up.

His eyes meeting the eyes of a legionary who was struggling to reload his jammed varmint rifle, Alex understood that the legionary only missed do to poor weapon maintenance and not his aim.

Looking past him he saw a shorter legionary rushing over some rocks with a crude and rusty machete in his hand.

A cold and glaring look suddenly replaced Alex's happy smile from moments ago as a beautiful black sniper rifle appeared in his hands. Lifting it up and shouldering the rifle, Alex flicked the safety off and took aim, placing his finger on the trigger he squeezed.

*BANG* *CHING*

Suddenly the weapon roared as the bolt shot back and re-chambered another round, spitting out the empty casing.

The head of the legionary holding the varmint rifle from the bottom jaw up simply exploded into a fine pink mist of bone and brain matter before said casing even hit the sand.

The legionary dropped the rifle and slumped forward onto the Mojave sand like a puppet with its strings cut, blood and other things spilled out of the remaining skull into the desert sand, dying it dark red.

"You bastard, you're gonna pay for that!!"

Quickly trying to take aim at the second legionary, he was surprised by a kick to the chest as the legionary in question had closed the distance first.

Alex's rifle had fallen out of his hands as he fell back from the force of the kick throwing him off balance, he gave himself a quick reminder to get a rifle sling in the future if he survived this encounter.

Suddenly the legionary jumped on top of Alex and raised his machete high above his head before bringing it down in a cleaving strike, thankfully the Doom of the fifth legion armor had a metal arm and gauntlet that Alex moved in the way and used the legionaries momentum to parry the strike, causing a couple sparks and a thud sound as the machete hit the ground beside Alex's head.

Not one to waste the opportunity, Alex reared his fist and struck the legionary in the side and then hauled another to his jaw while letting the punch flow through so he could strike him in the side of the head with his elbow, knocking the legionary off him and onto his side in a daze from the forceful strike.

Quickly rolling over so he was now on top of the legionary, Alex grabbed the crude machete and held the handle tight while putting the pommel against his own shoulder, then with a quick thrust he used his weight to drive the blade in the young legionaries throat through his Adam's apple.

The legionary quickly reacted and used his left hand to push on Alex's face as his right grabbed the blade of the machete in a vain struggle to save his own life, only to maul his own hand and palm against the blade.

The legionary began to kick and squirm as fear set in, Alex decided to end it by placing more weight on the machete, causing the crude blade to finally pierce through the legionaries vertebrae and out the back of his neck, stopped only by the now bloody Mojave sand.

Both of the legionaries hands went limp and fell to the wayside as his squirming stopped, his last words a few gurgling sounds as blood pooled in his throat.

Two lifeless eyes looking at Alex with fear and pain.

Leaning back while still sitting on the legionaries belly Alex took a deep breath before looking at the legionary in question a little closer.

A sudden urge to vomit appeared as bile filled his throat, the bloody face of a boy that was no older then 13 laying under him, only one thought went through his mind as he began to vomit what little food was in his stomach on the side of the kid… 'Fucking Legion'.

*CLICK*

"You shouldn't feel any pity for them, fucking legion don't deserve it, a bunch of savages."

Hearing the safety of a gun and a deep sandy voice berating the legion made Alex jolt, quickly turning and pulling the silenced 10mm from his Pipboy Evo, Alex took aim at the voice behind him.

"Woah, no need for the hostility friend, I mean you no harm, just wanna chat is all."

However Alex had completely froze at the site of the man before him, tall with a shaved head and red beret, aviator glasses and t-shirt and military cargo pants and military issue boots wearing a rugged backpack. The man was lowering his bolt action rifle onto the ground while raising the other up in surrender.

"The names Boone, care to tell me yours stranger?"