AN: Welcome the second book Fallout: Unforgotten! Now to any of my new readers I recommend reading Fallout: A path best not taken before reading this. Also I recommend subscribing so you know when I post a new chapter as some already know I'm not exactly consistent with my chapter releases. (Which I will try to be in this one but no promises!) and now without further delay chapter 1: Welcome to the Mojave.

The sunlight beamed down unforgiving rays of heat and light on the young traveler's desperado hat, but that was the least of her worries. What caught her concern were the ropes that bound her hands tightly behind her back. She futilely struggled to free herself which drew attention to one of her captors.

"There is no point squirming." One of them said.

"It is foolish to tell a worm not to squirm when that is all they do." Another said. He walked over and kicked the struggling captive over knocking off her black desperado hat over revealing the red headed woman underneath. It has been a while since Amata left the Capitol Wasteland in pursuit of her friend the Lone Wanderer. She tracked him all the way across the vast lands that was once called America in the pre-war era but was now shadow of its former self. No matter how far and fast she chased she always seemed to be one step behind the Lone Wanderer, even hearing some of his heroics that he performed as cross the wastelands and sometimes even cleaning up some of his messes she ran into along the way. Amata thought the Roman-era idiots in the football gear were the later.

'I can't believe I was so careless.' She scolded herself as she glared up at her abuser.

"This one still has fight in her." He remarked as he shoved her with his foot.

"Then she shall make a great wife to the lucky officer who gets her." The other jested.

"Just imagine the great warriors that will come from her." The other laughed.

"The hell I am! I rather die!" Amata proclaimed.

"This one also has a mouth." Another one of her captors bemoaned as he stepped on her head. This one however seemed to be in charge as the other two straightened up immediately acknowledging his presence. Also there was the fact that he wore the biggest head gear Amata reasoned, it was one of the few things she had picked up on in her travels. The bigger the headwear the high up on the ladder they were.

"Why haven't this one been fitted with a collar yet?" He questioned with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"We were just about to do so." One captor said as he pulled out an explosive slave collar. Amata saw it and immediately renewed her struggle to free herself.

"You're not putting that damn thing on me!" she grunted as she rope dug deeper into her skin. Struggle as she might she had to admit that they knew how to bind their captives.

"Then stop wasting time recruit, we need to keep moving." Their leader barked as he applied more pressure to Amata's head.

"What is the rush Decanus? Our scouts haven't even returned yet." The other captor said moving to assist.

"It is because they haven't returned yet. We need to get back to camp." He retorted but as best as he could disguise it Amata picked up on it. It sounded like fear but what was it he was afraid of? Amata soon got her answer.

"And they won't be coming back anytime soon, oh and that camp? Just a smoldering pile of charred cloths and sticks." A voice echoed around them. Amata could see that she just became a small footnote in their minds as they soon grouped up with their backs to each other obviously planning to counter the chance of an ambush, whoever they are they weren't the average run of the mill raider, Amata noted. They soon gathered their weapons, the two recruits had throwing spears whereas their Decanus had a machete. An eerie calm could be felt all around them with only the hot desert breeze moving a tumbleweed pass them as they waited. Suddenly breaking the silence was a song.

'To the town of Aqua Fria rode a stranger one fine day, Hardly spoke to folks around him didn't have much to say'

Amata heard a faint rhythmic jingle of metal matching that of footsteps and it was obvious that her captors heard it too.

'Hardly spoke to folks around him didn't have too much to say, No one dared to ask his business No one dared to make a slip'

Soon the figured from which the music was originating from step from behind a nearby boulder facing her captors.

"For the stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip." He sang along as his right hand hovered over his Ranger Sequoia.

'Big Iron on his hip.' The radio chorused. Amata could see the group tense up upon recognizing the stranger and the beads of sweat on the two recruit's forehead were not from the blazing heat.

"It was early in the morning when he rode into the town, he came riding from the south side slowly looking all around." He sang along to the radio which Amata noted came from a Pip-boy on his arm. He slowly but aggressively took a few steps forward and for each one he took the football geared captors slowly took defensive positions.

'He's an outlaw loose and running came the whisper from each lip and he's came to do some business with the big iron on his hip.' His radio sang, it was then the scene before Amata seem to fast forward. In a speed she hadn't seen before the stranger pulled is Sequoia and fire three quick rounds fanning the hammer with his left hand. The two recruits never stood a chance as two .45 caliber rounds slammed into their foreheads killing them instantly the Decanus on the other hand was spared due only to experience and the headgear he wore as the round meant for him skimmed the left side of it because he moved his head. The fact that he escaped death so narrowly didn't weigh on him or Amata couldn't tell if it did or not because he immediately broke into a charge quickly closing the gap between him and the stranger. The stranger fired once more this time the round hit the Decanus in his shoulder but it wasn't enough to stop the attack as he swung his machete. Amata turned her head and closed her eyes to spare herself the sight of a beheading after a moment she turned back expecting the stranger to be headless and her captor standing over his corpse but the sight that greeted her seem still like a painting. The trajectory of his swing should've cleaved the stranger from his left shoulder to his right rib cage and it would have if the stranger hadn't performed a simple side step pivoting on his left foot and now he stood perpendicular to his attacker's right side with his Sequoia aimed at the side of his head.

"Of all the things-" The stranger didn't give his opponent the honor of finishing his last words as he pulled the trigger sending the final bullet in its chamber into his head. The Decanus body went stiff and fell to the ground and like a dog that was finally fed the ground absorbed all the blood that had splattered.

'Big iron on his hip' his radio chorused but before it could began the next line of the song the stranger cut it off.

"I never get to the end of that song." He sighed as he holstered his weapon. What he did next seemed to match the Lone Wanderer's actions. He began going through his former opponents pockets looking for valuables.

'Looting…he's looting.' Amata thought in utter disbelief. She started struggling to free herself while the stranger was occupied. Either he was completely oblivious to her plight or he simply ignored her as she struggled he continued on ransacking the other corpses.

"I can't believe you assholes only have 52 caps, 3 Aureus and 10 Denarii between the three of you, what a waste." He complained as he kicked one of the bodies. Amata weighed her options which weren't many and hoped that the stranger wasn't some crazed psycho.

"Excuse me, you seem to be a reasonable individual can you help me out?" she asked raising her bound hands behind her. It was then the stranger seemed to have taken notice of her and walked over to her.

"Depends, you got any caps?" he asked looking down on her questionably.

'Figures.' She mentally sighed. "They took it when they captured me, you looted it off them." Amata answered.

"So that's a 'no'." he sighed as he unholstered his Sequoia and loaded one .45-70 gov't round. He spun the chamber wheel and with a flick of his wrist slid it into place. Amata couldn't believe her luck, she renewed her struggle to free herself when she heard an audible sound of a hammer hitting an empty chamber causing her to freeze. She looked at the stranger wide eyed his black leather armor didn't make him any easier to see with the sun at his back but she thought she saw a faint sign of amusement. With a shrug of his shoulders he holstered his Sequoia and noted Amata's desperado hat laying on the ground next to her. He picked it up and placed it on his head and with a tip of it he stepped over her and walked off towards the horizon. Amata couldn't believe what was happening to her, fighting the urge to was energy screaming a slew of curse words after the thief she call after him.

"Can you at least tell me which way to the Mojave Wasteland?" she yelled.

"You're in it, Welcome to the Mojave." He yelled back leaving her to bake in the unforgiving sun of the Mojave Wasteland.

AN: A bit of a rough start for our protagonist! Don't worry you'll be seeing 'The Stranger' again real soon (say next chapter.) Thanks for reading and check back for new chapters soon!