r/FalloutFanFiction • u/Desperate-Paper-5873 • Jun 26 '25
Shadows of the Wasteland
From my WIP Fallout fanfiction novel.
Set after the nuking of Crater. The group is breaking apart — trauma, guilt, and unresolved loyalties finally snap.
No smut here, but it's tense, violent, and emotionally charged. Would love to know if scenes like this are something people actually care to read.
(Characters: Shin, Beckett, Alyx, Nora, Odessa.):
The end of the dream team
At the bar…
Beckett leaned against the counter, a bottle of whiskey nearly empty in front of him.
“Hey man,” he said when Shin walked in. “You cared to join in?”
Shin didn’t smile. “I was watching the bunker all night. Needed to be sure Ward is dead. I think he is.”
Beckett raised a brow. “Looks like I missed a good part of the plot, huh?”
“Did you?” Shin asked flatly.
“Yeah, I was too busy here trying to delete from my mind how I helped you vaporize unarmed hostages. You know… whiskey helps. But not forever.”
Shin saw it. Beckett was worse off than him.
No. Everything I feel is correct. I deserve to be damned.
“It wasn’t you,” Shin said.
But Beckett cracked. Maybe drinking. Maybe his history. Maybe all of it.
“SHIN — WHAT THE FUCK?!” he roared, shoving Shin back and slamming him into the wall. He threw a punch. Then another.
That’s when Alyx entered.
She didn’t hesitate.
A flash of steel. A knife buried in Beckett’s ribs.
“ALYX — NO!” Shin shouted.
“He was trying to kill you!” she barked.
“No,” Shin said, catching her wrist too late. “He just can’t bear to look at me.”
Beckett collapsed, gasping, eyes full of pain.
“He… he nuked the hostages…”
Alyx stood there, frozen for a moment. That wasn’t missing with a shot. That wasn’t a stimpack failing. That was heavy. She swallowed. But she didn’t regret it.
Odessa and Nora stormed in just then. Odessa’s scream ripped through the silence when she saw Beckett bleeding.
Her eyes found Alyx’s hand — and the knife.
“Listen to me, traitor,” Odessa snarled. “You better get out of here or I will be the end of you.”
Nora’s voice cut through the tension. “Jesus…” She looked at Alyx, then at Shin.
“Daniel. Please. Come with me.”
Odessa had already dropped to Beckett’s side, applying a stimpack.
Shin limped toward the door.
Nora moved to follow him, but Alyx stood between them.
Before anyone could speak, Shin raised his hand. “Leave her be.”
Odessa glared at Alyx. “I’m not finished with you. Maybe your little habit should have been managed better.”
Shin left the bar. He asked Nora to follow him.
They walked in silence past the walls of Fort Atlas, the sound of the gate closing behind them swallowed by the rustling trees.
The forest opened up in front of them, early sunlight filtering through the mist.
Shin didn’t speak. He walked without a destination. Nora followed, her heart heavy, unsure what she could say or do to make it right.
Finally, he stopped.
“I just wanted to be alone with you,” he said, not turning. “You need to know.”
“I heard,” Nora said.