Random Oneshots

So, I wrote this in October 2021 and didn't even realize it was fanfiction. This is an angsty horror story. TWs: Irradiated stuff, going feral, implied death

I looked in the mirror, and thought about what I looked like before the world turned irradiated, and I moved out here, all alone, to my little farmhouse. The girl I pictured was rounder, her skin softer, smoother, lighter, her eyes bigger, her smile genuine, her hair thicker, darker, shinier.

The face staring back at me from the mirror had sun-worn, calloused, skin. My body was lean, muscled, strong. My eyes were sunken, but they retained the intelligent glimmer that has kept me alive this long. I didn't seem to even have aged much, but I suppose that came from the lack of the pre-nuke world's many aging factors. My hair was the only thing that didn't get better or stronger over time. It was extremely thin, and an ugly shade of straggly gray. But I was used to my appearance, and there was nobody else out here to care. Just me and my lonely farmhouse, surviving. All this time.

I heard a sound, and went out to investigate. I was almost sure it was another irradiated monster, come to eat my crops or me, so I had my gun aimed. I dropped it when I saw, it was another human. He resembled the long-gone me, with light, fair skin and thick hair. He wore bits of leather armor over a blue-and-gold jumpsuit with some lettering on it that I frankly, didn't care about. He held a gun in his hands, aimed towards me.

"Oh, great, another ghoul," He muttered.

"Ghoul? I'm human!" Not like one of those feral creatures that I saw roaming the wasteland from time to time. It took a bit more running around and convincing, but eventually he saw the truth more than even I did.

"You're irradiated enough to be a ghoul, but you're not feral."

"I guess. I'm used to it."

He extended his hand. "If you're looking for a safe place, come with me, to the Vault. There are other people there, it's like an underground safe haven. You could get a job, make friends. How does that sound?"

It sounded heavenly. "Sure! Yes, I'll come with. I can fight, I'll be a good help. You won't regret it." I walked towards him, ready to go. But, I tripped. Fell.

As I rose up from the green puddle of goo, I could feel myself changing. The light drained from my eyes. My mouth opened in a slack-jawed growl. My skin began to glow a sick, unearthly, green. With the last, fleeting, vestiges of my slipping sentient consciousness, I could feel one, primal instinct welling up within me.

Kill.

Explorers journal, new entry. I met a ghoul woman who was very nice, if a bit awkward. She accepted my offer to come back to the Vault. She fell in a pile of goo, though, and became a Glowing One. She is no longer alive.

WC: 471

Also, at the time this takes place, the apocalypse was 200 years ago.