Prologue – A boring childhood in a post-apocalyptic world

Drifting to sleep, I once again felt my soul was being sucked. I never know where I end up. My dreams are annoyingly vague and not very helpful, especially with locations, time and... People? Faces are blurred and names are garbled.

But knowledge and information flow freely, filling my head with all sorts of nonsense. At least I know their nonsense until they’re not. And that’s what terrifies me. I’ve been having these dreams since I was four. At first, the dreams were manageable - ‘one plus one equals two’, ‘three times three equals nine’. Then, as I aged it progressively got harder and more mind-breaking - ‘area of a circle equals pi*R^squared’, ‘-b±square root of b-squared minus 4ac over 2a’.

“Hey! %$£” pay attention!” An ethereal figure pulled me out of my rumination and pointed at the smartboard with an equation I had never seen before ‘P=Aekt’. “Since you were clearly listening, what formula is this and what do the notations mean?”

“An exponential growth formula where P stands for final population, A is initial population, k is the growth constant, e equals 2.718 and t is time,” I guessed flawlessly and was surprised when I said it with confidence. Suppressing the urge to flinch, I nervously swallowed, mentally preparing to be berated.

“Very good! That’s correct,” the blurry figure patted me on the back. I preened and puffed my chest until I quickly deflated in absolute fear. I wasn’t supposed to know this! I’m only eight! Why am I getting these dreams? “Now, %$£”, suppose we know what everything else is but the growth constant, how do we calculate it?”

As if something possessed me, I stood up and walked towards the smartboard and started to scribble nonsense and ‘I’ started to narrate what on earth I was doing, “Apply natural log on both sides which cancels the e, then rearrange to make k the subject.”

The whole dream then started to go to ‘differentiation’, ‘integration’ and some problems that can be solved by ‘calculus’. I absorbed knowledge like a sponge. What was incoherent nonsense a second ago has become an established truth. I learnt to trust my dreams, despite my fear of how unnatural it was. Perhaps this was an elaborate and yet unknown symptom of ghoulification. I shivered in disgust at that before reminding myself of the impropriety of what I just did. Mamma and Pappa say xenophobia is wrong. Every ghoul who is honest and hardworking is a Californian citizen!

I tried to forget my misgivings and concentrated on the positive. These dreams propelled my studies to heights never before seen in the Republic. Pappa has leveraged his network and his wealth from our brahmin herds and farms to get me into a prestigious high school, on track to become a student at the University of Shady Sands! How exciting! I’ll just have to breeze through high school then I’ll be learning with one of the best minds in California... No, the entire world!

What subjects should I study? Pharmacology is cool. Learning about what psycho does to the human body would be interesting. Perhaps, studying jet – a drug that was developed by one of the mob families in New Reno, would be beneficial for my future career. I could imagine it – me and my lab in the centre of the greatest city in the world, away from raiders and backward tribals. I will be in the centre of Civilisation itself!

I noticed too late, but the world started to disappear and coalesced into a blob which started to pull me in, signalling the end of the dream. I’ve been experiencing this for the past four years and I never get used to the sensation of my soul being ripped and pulled into a hungry vortex.

“Oy! Leon! It’s your first day of school! Get up! Ma prepared breakfast.”

I heard my older brother run downstairs without leaving my door wide open. He knows this vexes me, yet he still does it! I looked at the clock striking half-seven.

Weary and tired from dreaming of calculus, I managed to pull myself up and hobbled down the stairs. My family doesn’t know that my knowledge came from my dreams. If it came down to it, this would be the secret that I carry to my grave. No need for the people I love to think I’m a freak.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

I could smell toasted bread with butter and eggs causing my stomach to growl.

“Good morning, Leon. Excited for your first day?” Mamma asked as she buttered a toasted bread and scattered some scrambled eggs on top. She passed me the dish as I sat up. I nodded in gratitude and started to eat up.

“Yesh! I canch wait.”

“What did I tell you about eating with your mouth full?”

My brother snickered and suppressed a laugh. I blushed and I immediately forced the food down. “Sorry, Ma. It’s your fault for making breakfast so delicious.”

Mother reached for my cheeks and gently pinched it. “My precious baby is learning to flatter - I see. But you’ve got a lot to learn.” I puffed my chest, proud and accomplished I managed to calm my mother until I heard my brother snicker. Again. I glared at him.

“You may be the smartest kid in the block but seeing you preening in front of Ma is adorably pathetic!”

“Ben. Be kind to your younger brother.”

“I did say he was adorable!”

My brother and I argued for a while, whilst Ma was hopelessly mediating. All of us completely missed Pappa entering the room.

“How’s my Angel and two cubs!”

My brother and I started to race to him. Ben was at least a head taller and beat me. Damn him. When I grow up, I’ll beat him.

Pa crouched down and braced himself. “Whew! My little cubs are not so little,” he said trying not to topple over as he hugged us.

Ben pointed at me, “Are you sure Pa? He seems little to me.”

“I’ll grow eventually, and I’ll surpass you. I’ll be bigger both in mind and body.” I retorted.

“Nah, can’t imagine it,” he flailed his hand towards his head to mine. “You have this much to catch up on.” He didn’t even let me mentally calculate the height difference and started to mess my hair.

“Alright boys. Behave yourselves and finish your breakfast.” She kissed my father, which grossed me out, then shot him a serious stare. “Did you manage?”

“Yes. Sorry, it took me a while, Liane.” He plopped down on a chair and stared at my brother. “Ben,” he took out two bundles of paper. “Right here I have your acceptance to the Military Academy Navarro! By the time you’re sixteen,” he fumbled slightly but pressed on, “let’s see... In four years time, you’ll be an NCO. No son of mine will be mere cannon fodder!”

Ben glowered and jumped. “Thanks, Pa! I promise you - I'll be the bravest soldier of the NCR!”

I couldn’t resist and blurted, “You’ll need more than bravery. You’ll need intelligence which you obviously lack.” I mimed towards my head and braced for his retaliation.

“What’d you say you pipsqueak!” He started messing my hair again! My arms were too small and weak to stop the onslaught. How unfair.

Pappa laughed and stopped Mamma from stopping our ‘fight’. As we calmed down and separated, my father clasped his hands on Ben’s shoulders and said, “You’ll also be working with state-of-the-art Enclave technology!”

‘How unfair!!’ I burnt with envy and somehow my older brother sensed it and smirked at me. The Enclave was rumoured to be more technologically advanced than the Brotherhood of Steel.

Pappa coughed whilst holding another piece of paper which caught my attention. “I know how much you wanted to go to the University of Shady Sands. But I got something even better!”

I resisted the compulsion to be disappointed. I grew up around Shady Sands. I have a few friends in the city. I watched as factories and brick skyscrapers reached for the skies, as trains snaked across the metropolis. I looked outside the window and saw sprawling crops and greenery – a testament to Vault 15’s GECK. To leave all that would be... Sad. I don’t want to leave. I respect Pappa enough, that I should hear him out.

Pappa poked my cheeks, “You’re pouting,” he said.

“No, I didn’t.” I crossed my arms and looked at the ground which just made all my family laugh.

“Sorry, Leon. But you’re so cute!” He lifted me with one arm and gave me the letter with the other.

To Leon Frederik,

I have been most impressed by your achievements and advancements in mathematics and agriculture. Your theory on why crop rotation causes high yield has been tested and proven by our scientists. All this at such a young age is incredible.

I am good friends with Brian, your father, and I heard from him how you intend to study at the University of Shady Sands. But please hear me out. I’m the Chancellor of the University of Boneyard. It is within my authority to grant you a scholarship without needing a Certificate of Secondary Education. If you accept, you will not need to waste time completing two more years of high school.

As a university, fully funded by the Followers of Apocalypse, we are entirely independent from NCR’s requirements on who we induct as students. Please give us a chance. We will equip you to advance civilisation in a humanitarian direction.

Best regards,

Adam Farkas, Follower of the Apocalypse

Chancellor of the University of Boneyard.

This... Seemed acceptable.

“Pappa, when do I start?”

“This September.” He gathered everyone in a huddle. “Our baby cub is going to become a freshman at the University of Boneyard! Our slightly older cub will be a soldier of the Republic! Let 2244 be a year to remember!”

“Hear! Hear!”, “Do us proud!” Our parents chanted and cheered.

Yeah... I burst into tears. Right into Ben’s chest...