Wild dogs' howls were accompanied by the cackling of raiders. The ever present sound of gunshots echoed from various directions, punctuated with the occasional scream of pain, terror, or triumph.

Such was the continuous orchestra of the wastes.

His enhanced senses picked up the scents of blood, adrenaline, and heart-wrenching fear. A year ago he would have been sprinting off on the trail of one of those smells, looking for the next fight, the next person to save, the next experience.

Not tonight. Tonight he had a far more important duty. The scent of his charges brought him back into focus, but the three men with him weren't speaking. Each seemed lost in his own pursuits as they neared their final destination.

The leader of the trio- a Hispanic man- seemed only focused on reaching the end of their journey, moving at a brisk pace a few feet ahead of the rest of the group. Perhaps his rush was the reason why he was the only man without a bundle held in his arms.

No, the hooded figure mused, that honor goes to me. He looked at the little Hispanic girl in his arms, the soft cotton of his robe shielding her from his rough skin. The little girl giggled and waved her tiny arms at him. This brought a smile to the hooded figure's face, or the closest approximation he could manage.

His ears twitched as he caught the muttering of one of his other companions. It was the man closest to him, the one in a white lab coat.

"I am Alpha and Omega. The beginning... and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life, freely." He kept repeating the verse to the silent baby girl in his arms, who simply stared back at him with deep blue intelligent eyes.

"Will you shut up with that babble, James? We're nearly there," the lead man called back to his companion in the lab coat. James ignored him and continued his chant.

"Paul, anything behind us?" the leader called to the African American man trailing behind them. His pretense was that he was acting as the rear guard to prevent anyone from sneaking up on them, but the hooded figure knew different. He knew that Paul didn't stare out into the wasteland with the vigilance of a sentry, but with a gaze that was one of longing, of loss.

Paul gave a noncommittal grunt in response, lost in his grief. It was just as well that the boy in his arms was fast asleep.

"The nearest danger is at least a mile away. If it gets closer, I will warn you," the hooded figure quickly answered for Paul. His voice was gruff, like gravel grating against gravel.

The leader nodded and looked away from the rest of their party.

Each man deals with loss in his own way, he thought. He didn't begrudge the three men their grief, considering what each had lost. It would be far more disconcerting for there to be a lack of reaction.

They were nearing the top of the hill, and soon they would reach their destination. He sniffed the air again, double checking to ensure that no unknown assailants had drawn closer. Nothing had changed; the same smells permeated the air. The scent that caught his attention was the children, the blood coursing through their tiny veins. It was the same scent that had caught his attention all those decades ago. It stood out from the other humans, it had drawn him to Her all those years ago, and it still called to him when one of Them was near.

"Finally." They stood outside of a ramshackle door in the side of a cliff. The leader pulled a key out of his jumpsuit, inserting it into the rusty padlock on the door's clasp. The lock fell away and the man yanked the door open.

"This is as far as I can go, Alphonse. Your daughter," the hooded figure held the girl out in front of him.

"Yes… thank you." Alphonse was visibly perturbed by the figure using his name, but he took his daughter regardless. He rushed into the cave without a second glance in the figure's direction.

"Thank you for all you've done," James said looking up at him, finally ending his chant. The figure gave him a nod in response, and James followed in after Alphonse.

For a moment, Paul, his son, and the hooded figure simply stood in silence. Finally, Paul spoke,

"If you see her…"

"I will pass on your regards and tell her where she can find you," the figure said, seeing the pleading look in the man's eyes.

"Thank you," Paul said solemnly before joining his companions in the cave, closing the ramshackle door behind him.

The hooded figure turned away from the cliff and the ramshackle door, and stepped to the edge of the hill.

Before the war, it had been a scenic overview for tourists to take pictures from, and for adolescents to sneak quiet moments of intimacy in the dark. The thought almost made him chuckle.

The entirety of the Capital Wasteland was spread out before him. He could see it all; the capital city of the greatest superpower on earth, in all its ruined glory, like a fallen titan's rotting corpse.

There were thunderheads on the horizon. A storm was coming. It was a ways off, but when it hit, it would flood through the Capital Wasteland, and leave it forever changed. The figure looked back at the ramshackle door. Nothing was going to be able to stop the storm, not even ten tons of steel and lead.

The figure shook himself out of his reveries. It was time to go. He removed his robe, carefully folded it, and placed it within his pack.

He sniffed the air, catching the scents of the wasteland once more. He chose a scent and sprinted off on the trail of it, leaving his thoughts of the three children safely tucked away beneath steel and stone, and of their destiny, behind him.

Behold, the first chapter of the rewrite.

I'd like to thank Sunset for One for beta reading this piece for me.

I'll be blunt, I'm probably going to be pretty inconsistent on the updates with this. I'm caught between a part time job, being a full time student, and a martial arts hobby.

I'll update whenever I can, but I'm just warning you, it might be a month or two in between.

To all of those old fans who are coming back, thank you for staying with me, to all of the new fans this brings, thanks for giving this story a shot.

As always, R&R, if you like it tell me, if you don't, tell me why.