EXT. WASTELAND – LATE AFTERNOON
The sun dipped low behind a shifting veil of clouds. Wind stirred ash and grit across the road.
Juno moved with a slow, steady limp, one arm cradled close. His coat flared with the breeze, hiding the bandages. His wounded arm throbbed, dull and rhythmic—his pulse, a reminder.
His Pip-Boy pulsed faintly. Each blink tugged him forward like a slow, persistent heartbeat.
Ahead: the broken skeleton of a building.
Faded red signage clung to rusted frames, letters peeling like old scabs.
JUNO (under his breath):
"Super Duper Mart…"
The parking lot was cracked and half-swallowed by weeds. Nature was reclaiming it in slow defiance—green crawling through the asphalt like veins under bruised skin.
Juno crouched at the curb. Bootprints, layered and recent.
He stood again, tracking them to the shattered glass doors—splayed open like broken teeth.
INT. SUPER DUPER MART – MAIN FLOOR
Juno stepped inside.
He flicked his Pip-Boy light on, casting a soft green glow across long-dead shelves and crumbling displays.
The silence was thick.
Shelves leaned like wounded men. Ceiling tiles had fallen in clumps. A soda bottle fizzed somewhere in the dark, long shaken.
He moved carefully. One aisle at a time.
A sealed can of beans.
A half-melted box of mints.
Purified water, label faded.
He slipped them into his pack without a word.
A faint ding blinked on the Pip-Boy:
+25 XP – Location Discovered: Super Duper Mart
In the pharmacy aisle, a half-shattered lockbox stuck beneath a fallen rack. He wedged it free.
Inside:
—One Buffout.
—A rusted tin of Mentats.
—An unlabeled syringe filled with thick orange fluid.
JUNO (to himself):
"…Guess we'll see what you are… eventually."
He tucked them away in a side pouch. Curiosity came before caution—but caution always came next.
Toward the front lanes, something caught his light.
A fallen Mr. Handy, collapsed between two checkout counters. Its dome flickered red—soft, fading. Burned.
Juno knelt beside it.
JUNO:
"You've seen better days."
He pried open a side panel. Salvaged a few things—a gyro arm, a charred logic coil, a half-melted lens. No core.
JUNO (muttering):
"Could retool this… maybe rig diagnostics… Just need interface housing…"
His voice died as a sound reached him.
Shuffling. But not alive.
He turned—
INT. SUPER DUPER MART – FROZEN FOODS AISLE
And stopped.
The scene before him was pure aftermath.
Feral ghouls—at least half a dozen—lay scattered across the aisle. Limbs twisted. Mouths open in snarls. Eyes still wide. Still empty.
Among them, two dead raiders. One nearly torn in half. The other slumped, shotgun dropped beside her. Shells littered the tile like brass rain.
JUNO (quietly):
"…What the hell were these?"
He knelt, took the shotgun. Checked the barrel. Still usable.
He loaded it with care—then slung it over his back.
A soft crackle drew his attention. Static. Then a voice.
He followed it to the electronics counter.
One screen glowed—barely functional. Dust streaked across the glass. But the image came through.
A still frame. A man in a long coat, blue shirt buttoned high, cowboy hat tipped. That smile—sharp, half-mocking.
Copper Howard.
The Man from Dead Horse.
COPPER HOWARD (TV):
"Feo, fuerte y formal. It means you was ugly, strong, and had dignity. I'll give you two outta three on that front (bang)."
Juno stared.
The screen flickered.
He exhaled, slow. Tired. Reached out and clicked the monitor off with one press.
The Pip-Boy signal blinked on—still moving. Still ahead.
INT. SUPER DUPER MART – STORAGE ROOM – MOMENTS LATER
He moved toward the rear, passing a toppled display. Something rattled behind it.
He turned—
SNARL.
A feral ghoul launched out from the dark, lunging with impossible speed—skin sloughing, eyes ablaze with rage.
Juno stumbled back—barely raised the shotgun.
BLAM.
The first shot hit it in the chest. It staggered but didn't fall.
He slipped on debris. The creature clawed at him, knocked the gun from his grip.
They fell hard.
It shrieked in his face, teeth yellow and sharp. Fingers clawed his coat.
Juno reached down,punched the ghoul's throat.
It fell back .
BLAM.
The second shot hit its skull.
The body collapsed, limp.
Silence returned.
Juno lay there a moment, panting.
Then—
+10 XP – Threat Neutralized
He slowly sat up, checked his chest. Scratched, bruised—but not bitten.
JUNO (breathless):
"…Yeah let's get out of here".
EXT. SUPER DUPER MART – SUNSET
The sky behind him burned gold and gray. Wind stirred the dust again.
Juno stepped out of the ruin, bruised and quiet. His silhouette caught the last light.
He glanced down at the device on his wrist—a little marker still blinking. Still moving.
Then toward the open road.
JUNO (calm, steady):
"…Let's do this."
He walked on.
Toward the signal.
Toward whatever came next.