Prologue - The Birth of The Hub Part 1

Chapter Summary: The year is 2093 where a lone wanderer by the name of Angus MacGill, travels the land by himself and his mule Bill, trading performances of long forgotten Shakespearean plays for food and water. But one day, Angus arrives in a settlement where he was forced to join a post-apocalyptic neo-fascist militia called Holnists, who wants to control the remaining settlements. The story idea is based on the movie The Postman.

(A New World Saga - Part 1)

The Birth of The Hub - Part 1!

28th of February 2093 - Oregon:

Angus MacGill is a thirty-year-old male who was travelling the post-apocalyptic world of the United States, more precisely Oregon. It had been about three years since he began his journey to travel the post-apocalyptic land of Oregon, before that he had spent thirteen years in a place called The Vault which was located under the Rocky Butte Natural Area. The Vault had high and middle-class societies.

He was only fourteen at the time, and Angus could remember it as it was yesterday. The place was in chaos for a while. For the first week, things weren’t too bad, as there was a leader that was called an Overseer, Bethany Hughes, who meant to oversee things and make sure things were fine and such. But a week after the Great War, the Overseer suffered a heart attack due to a considerably poor diet and an even more considerable refusal to acknowledge her habitual taking of Mentats.

This void of leadership left the place in chaos for a while, arguments were started between the conservative and liberal factions as to who should lead the Vault with the Overseer dead. It took a month of chaos and arguments before they decided to fill the void by forming a ruling council, which consisted of a Director, Chief Engineer, Chief of Security, Head Medical Doctor, and the Head Steward. This wasn’t to be a long-term deal, just long enough to stabilize what is going on in the Vault.

For the next thirteen years, that was how the Vault was run, by a ruling council body, where those who run it are voted by the other vault dwellers. There had to be at least two from conservative and liberal factions, as for the third person, the Director, it was whoever the vault dwellers wanted, sometimes it was a conservative and sometimes it was a liberal person.

Life there wasn’t too bad, they were safe and sound, but as years passed, some wanted to leave the vault, of course, as they didn’t want to be stuck in the place forever. But the hunters who left to find food reported back that it wasn’t safe. Not only was the radiation in areas too high, but there were new creatures appearing that were too dangerous to deal with by those who can’t fight. So, it was decided that no one other than the hunters would be allowed out of the vault.

Not that Angus, as he got an easy life. He was a L’Cie, one of the important ones some would say, as he had the ability to create illusions of people that he wanted. Because of this, the council wanted him to help with entertainment and set up plays for people to watch, so they wouldn’t be bored. So, Angus looked up old plays that he could use, his favourite was plays from William Shakespeare. So, whilst he used his illusions to play out other plays, he mainly did plays from William Shakespeare.

But over the years, it got boring, he wanted to see the world outside, to see what it really was like. It didn’t help that he wasn’t a people person and he wanted to be left alone. The only reason he kept doing what he was, was mainly because he had nothing else to do, and if he wanted more than the basic rations, he needed to work. But getting out of the Vault was impossible unless he was a hunter, and although he knew basic fighting, he hated it. He didn’t like hurting people; he preferred to run or hide from fights. He only learned how because everyone had to learn the basics just in case. Because of this, he didn’t become a hunter.

However, one day when he was in the entrance hall when the hunters were returning to the vault with their latest hunt, the vault was attacked by mutated wolf-like creatures. In the chaos, Angus was able to sneak out of the vault and never to return. Not like he wanted to, there was no one there left for him. His father died whilst hunting for food, and his mother died from an unknown illness, they believed that she might have caught something from the food that was brought in from the outside. Whatever the case, after thirteen years of being stuck in the Vault 14, Angus was free and able to travel the land.

For the next three years, Angus travelled around Oregon.

MacGill quickly realized that this new world was nothing like the world that he used to know. Now, most of the land was destroyed, very few plants and trees survived and the plants that were around were new types. Some even attack you if you weren’t careful, something that Angus never thought possible before outside the magical areas. Then there were animals and insects whilst most of them have been killed off, a few of them became mutated. A few of them weren’t all that dangerous, but most of them were though.

Then, there were the people, whilst most of the population of the United States were killed off, it would seem the lucky few were able to survive by living in areas that the bombs didn’t hit. If you call it luck. For a few people who survived, they became what are called ghouls, and if they were really unlucky would become mindless and feral. But for others, some had some sort of physical mutation, be it a deformed hand or another body part. Some even gain some sort of psychic powers, a weaker version of L’Cie powers. So, whilst many seemed fine, there were a few who were mutated in some shape or form. Unfortunately, Angus needed to keep an eye out for riders, people who pick on the weak for fun or just to get things off them.

But still, although the world had changed a lot over the last thirteen years and had gotten more dangerous, Angus knew that if he had a chance to redo things and stay in Vault 14, he wouldn’t change a thing. Whilst Vault 14 was safe to live in, it wasn’t living, it was more of a prison. Stuck there unable to do much, unable to see the sun, the moon, even the sky, only seeing the same walls, door, people and the like every signal day. It was boring. So MacGill was happy to leave the place and travel the land, even if it was dangerous, he was free to do what he wanted.

Now, it wasn’t long after leaving the vault that he found a mule wandering around, which he called Bill. As Angus and Bill travelled the land, Angus found that mules were very rare. During his travels, when he got into fights, he would use his powers to escape. But, when his powers didn’t work for whatever reason, he would fight. Thankfully, it wasn’t often. Now as for food, whilst he could hunt for some basic small animals and such, he still needed certain things, and not only vegetables, clean purified water and the like, but a soft bed and hopefully a female to join him.

So, whilst he preferred to be a lone wanderer, a nomad, or that’s what he told himself, Angus knew that after at least a month of visiting a settlement, it was time to visit a settlement to get more supplies. As Angus thought back upon visiting his first few settlements, he thought about the hunters back at Vault 14. They didn’t seem to bother mentioning them, for whatever reason. As Angus thought about it over time, he suspected that it was because they and/or the council didn’t want people to learn that radiation is now more or less low enough for them to leave the vault. Not that he was bothered about it now, seeing how it meant that they wouldn’t be looking for him unless they wanted him to tell the rest of the vault the truth.

This is where our story begins, a few days of travelling and Angus found himself close to a nearby settlement. “I know the rule, I made the rule.” Angus said as he talked to his mule. This wasn’t the first time that he did this. After being alone for so long, he began to talk to Bill as if he was real and as if the mule talked back to him. “Avoid civilization at all cost. But the thing is we need food and other supplies.” He told Bill, who made some whining sounds, as he made sure that the mule and himself were clean. “What are you worried about? All you have to do is stand there and watch. I’m the one who has to make sure the illusions act the right way, make sure I don’t mix up with another play.”

After making sure that he and Bill were presentable, Angus made his way into the settlement. As he did, he knew that with his experience with settlements, he had to be careful, as anything could happen. A few settlements were full of ruffians, who were ready to rob you in your sleep, which they did with Angus. They believed that with the world as it is now, they could do whatever they wanted. As there were no laws or a governing body to stop them.

Then there were a few rare settlements that allowed the men to fuck any females that they wanted, even from the age of seven or so and upwards. They believed that to rebuild the world, they needed women to give birth to children as soon as possible. So, these settlements would sell the females to men to be fucked and get pregnant. Once pregnant, they would be protected and cared for, but once they give birth and healed up, they would be sold again.

Thankfully, not all settlements were like this though, most of them were just trying to get by with their daily life, not looking for any trouble. These were the ones that Angus went to when he had, to buy supplies and equipment. Even a few rare livestock.

Thankfully, this village seemed to be one of those who were trying to get by day by day, not looking for trouble. As he entered the settlement, Angus realized that this must have been some sort of small settlement of its own, as there were some old pre-war buildings here and these people just built upon it to make it their own.

Now, as he got to the entrance of the settlement, the four guards there stopped him, and one of them asked, “Stop stranger, what’s your reason for being here?”

“I’m a wanderer travelling the lands,” explained Angus, “I’m here to trade with your leader for food, water and supplies and if possible, a bed for the night.”

“And what are you trading with?” asked the guard, “You don’t seem to have much on you.”

“That’s between me and your leader.” Angus told the guard, “Please take me to them so we can talk.”

“Mayor Thompson doesn’t just talk to anyone.” the guard said, not trusting this outsider.

Just then, an elderly woman wearing some basic post-apocalyptic clothing and a hat came up to the guards, and asked the guard who was talking to Angus, “What’s going on here Jimmy?”

“Nothing Mayor Thompson,” explained Jimmy, “This wanderer says he wants to trade, but he hasn’t anything to trade with.”

“Is this true wanderer?” asked the mayor, not believing that a man would come here without something to trade with.

“No, ma’am, I’m willing to trade myself for food, water and supplies and if possible, a bed for the night.” explained the wanderer,” You see, I’m a L’Cie performer, I’ve got the ability to create illusions where I can create plays for people to watch.”

“Hmm, interesting.” hummed Thompson, as she thought it over, “Tell me, how good are your illusions.”

“Unless you touch them or something goes through them, you wouldn’t even know they were illusions.” explained the illusionist.

“Very interesting,” admitted the mayor, already thinking up a trade the two can make, before asking “how many plays can you do in a day?”