abdl FALLOUT: Diapered Tales From the Wasteland - Episodes 1-6 (29/06/24)

[RawrJames]

DIAPERED TALES FROM THE WASTELAND 
EPISODE 1
 LEAVING THE LITTLE VAULT

War. War never changes. 

In the year 2077, bombs were dropped across most of North America, wiping it away in less than two hours. But locked underground, protected from the blasts, some managed to escape into the safety of the Vaults. 

Deep in the heart of Virginia, lies Vault 86. The people of Vault 86 have lived peaceful lives for over ninety years. Most do not know what it’s like in the outside world–that outside the vault, they don’t sleep in cribs, that they aren’t able to play all day long without worry, and that they don’t even wear diapers.

Armed with fresh padding, a dino pacifier, and the collected knowledge of his vault, Joe Palmer has been chosen to lead the first expedition outside in nearly one hundred years. But what will he find?

 ***

“You’ve got your paci?” Mom asked, I pulled out my pacifier, tied on a lanyard around my neck. She nodded. “And you’ve packed spare diapers?” She checked my bag again, going through its contents one by one. “You don’t know if there’ll be any on the outside.”

“I know mom!” I said, “And yes, I’ve packed spares.” I shrugged her off me–everyone was watching from behind. 

“Okay. I only ask because I love you, kiddo.” she smiled sweetly. “Already going out… ah. You’ve grown up so fast. Only twenty years ago you were this high!” she said, gesturing just below her knee. “Now look at you!” she leapt on me with a tight hug.

“Moooom, you’re embarrassing me!” Even though she was squeezing me so hard I thought I would pass out, I accepted the hug, not knowing if I would see her again. Just before she broke away, I felt her tense up. She grunted a little, then sighed and went limp. The smell of her dirty diaper hit my nose almost immediately. As gross as it was, it didn’t bother me so much. It was the smell of home after all, a home I was about to leave for the first time.

“We’re all so proud!” she gave one last, wan smile, then made her way back to the gathered group, waddling around in her freshly-filled padding.

Overseer Carmichael nodded. “You’re doing a fine thing, son.” he said, and he gave me a brisk pat on the shoulder. “You get an idea of your surroundings, then come straight back here. Be gone no more than three days, understand?”

“I do Overseer.” I gave a determined nod.

“Good lad. We’ll have a good ol’ play party waiting for you when you get back.” he winked, and I gave him a smile. “You ready?” 

I looked around the room one last time. Two dozen or so people had gathered here, out of the three-hundred people who inhabited the vault. All these people had come to see me leave, I nodded to each of them. I was so nervous, my hands were sweaty and I swear I was already beginning to leak a little into my diaper. At least I would have that comfort, that reminder of the vault.

“I’m ready.” I nodded to Overseer Carmicheal. The Overseer nodded slowly back, and moved up to the console, ready to open the inner doors. Everyone took a step back, I heard them draw in breath. I touched all of my equipment again, to make sure it was there–my supply bag (with food, spare diapers, and Mister Fancypants the teddy bear, of course), my holstered gun, and my pip-boy.

“Joseph Olsen Palmer, we wish you good luck, and safe travels.” The Overseer pressed a button on the console, and an arm swung around to grasp at the inner door. It slid open smoothly, and spun out of the way. I took in a deep breath, refusing to look back at what I was leaving behind, and made for the outer door. 

The inner door locked behind me with a loud clang, and I was alone. I knew that the people of vault 86, the people I most cared about, were just behind the door, but that didn’t stop my nerves. This was it, the last chance I had to turn back, I almost went for it, went to knock on the door and call it in already. But then I saw everyone’s faces again, and the hope they had for me. So I remained alone in the darkness. 

Despite it all, I felt the bulk of my diaper keeping me safe under my onesie. Resolutely, I took my green dinosaur pacifier, and stuck it in my mouth. Feeling much better about my chances now that I had Tommy the T-Rex on my side, I stepped up to the outer door. It was angled slightly, tilted towards the floor like a massive hatch. I knew that when it opened, the first thing I would see would be the endless sky, just like the one painted above my crib. But so much more real.

The outer door opened with much less grace than the inner one had. The machinery squealed and groaned, as if the vault itself was in pain. How long had it been shut? Nearly a hundred years? Three generations of people had never seen the outside world.

My own grandpa had told me stories of when he was little, before the bombs. He’d said that people ‘potty-trained’ back then, and only wore diapers when they were little. He told me how angry he had been when they told him he’d had to start using diapers again, but after everyone began using them, he came around to the idea. Eighty years later, and diapers were the norm. It was terrifying, how quickly things could change. Vault 86 was a place to relax, and let all your worries–potty training included–disappear. Soon I would have to change my own diapers, sleep outside of a crib, and find my own food. My nerves rose suddenly, and I tried not to panic. Why was I leaving it all behind? Why did things have to change?

The door inched open, and I recoiled. A golden ray of light shone through the small gap, brighter and warmer than I had ever experienced before. The sun. My panic transformed into excitement. This is why I was going out–to finally see what was outside, after all this time. The door opened completely, leaving a light cloud of dust in its wake. With a broad smile, and a mostly clean diaper, I stepped into the outside world.

***

The massive door, with Vault 86 written big on the front, slowly rolled back into place, and I checked my Pip-boy–the slow clicking counter meant radiation levels matched our initial scan. So that was good.
 
I looked around. Ahead of me was a wide, open concrete plain, dotted with the broken ruins of old buildings, and beyond that, the hills. Apparently this place was an airport, once used by soldiers, though I didn’t see any airplanes like the toy ones we had in the vault. My Pip-boy had been loaded with old maps of a town called Blackstone, in what used to be Virginia. My job was simple–match the maps to the world outside.

“Oh! This is going to be so fun!” I wiggled about, unable to keep my excitement hidden away. I decided my first job was to update the area right outside the vault, so I waddle-marched all around it, and got some measurements, and made sure that the maps were up-to-date. 

After about an hour, just as I was coming to the end of my first survey, I realized that without thinking, I was weeing. My diaper had done a good job of soaking the accident (thank goodness) but I stopped as soon as I realized I was going. I didn’t have many diapers out here, and they would need to be rationed, so that meant holding it in as long as possible.

I sighed, left with no choice but to endure the uncomfortable feeling of needing to pee pee. At least my diaper was nice and squishy now. I gave the front a poke, and giggled at the way it moved about. 

“Right then,” I said, taking out my checklist, “Item number twosies! Check for human activity.”

The airbase was big, so big that I could barely see Vault 86 in the distance by the time I reached the edge. It was so quiet out here, I was sure that if other humans were around I would have heard some by now. Suddenly feeling very lonely, I decided it would be best if Mister Fancypants joined me out of my bag, and took him to cuddle while I continued doing a lap around the airbase. His legs dangled beneath him, whenever I got nervous I squeezed his fuzzy fur. Mister Fancypants had been with me nearly my entire life, and had insisted on bringing him with me.

It wasn’t long before I came across a small group of houses on the edge of the airbase. The need to pee grew with every minute I was walking, but I knew if I could just hold on a little longer, I could save diapers for the rest of the trip. Plus, I wasn’t looking forward to changing myself all the way out here. I’d practiced a lot but I still wasn’t very good. 

I didn’t manage to hold it very long. Before I had completed another, wider circle around the airbase, I had to stop in a little forested area. I wriggled my legs, and squeezed them together as tightly as I could, but I struggled to push them all the way. My puffy diaper prevented me from pressing them together, and stopped me from holding myself to stop the wee, though I gave it my best shot at pushing into the padding. Before long, I was jumping from foot-to-foot doing a little potty dance.

It was very rare that we had to hold our bladders in the vault, normally we just went whenever nature called, and got changed later, after all that’s what diapers were for. Unfortunately, that meant I struggled desperately with the weight of pee in my tummy, and felt a little leak into my diaper without warning. I hugged Mister Fancypants tighter, and tried my best to hold it in, but my best wasn’t enough. “N-nooooo!”

Suddenly, the dam burst open, and immediately my diaper grew warm. It spread up the front of my padding, and across my bottom at the back, and made everything soft and squishy. “Aahhhh!” I gave an almighty sigh, and felt myself sag, my legs no longer tense with holding back my accident. The padding around my waist swelled and spread my legs apart even wider, until eventually my stream stopped. “Nnnnn. That felt goooood.” I said with a silly smile across my face. The now pleasantly warm diaper squished when I poked at it, now almost completely saturated. “Wow. I really had to go, didn’t I, Mister Fancypants?” I looked down at my teddy, but he gave me a blank stare back. “No need to be so mean Mister Fancypants, I really couldn’t hold it anymore!” Mister Fancypants didn’t respond.

Deciding to continue my survey, I let my soaking diaper sag beneath me as I walked. There was no point in changing yet, after all I still had work to do. Besides the fact that I may as well use my diaper as much as I could before a change, I kind of wanted to find somewhere a little more private, and safe. Despite my earlier confidence being out here in the wild was beginning to give me the willies. 

My survey ended with a small, surprisingly neat, house on the edge of the forest. I guessed that this was the way into Blackstone, based on my maps. It was beginning to get late, and after wetting my diaper another few times, I decided it might be best to make a little camp in the building. I also quickly realized I should also probably change myself before I got a rash, or worse, leaked. I didn’t want to ruin my onesie.

The house looked like a standard pre-war house, the sort I had seen in pictures in the vault. The garden, once cared for, had been left to grow messy and patchy. The wooden fence had nearly rotted away completely, but there were very few weeds, and hardly any rubble, unlike the ones I had seen earlier.

I had expected the place to be in worse condition inside, but apart from a small layer of dust and a few webs here and there, it looked almost completely untouched. I stood still for a moment, and sucked thoughtfully on Tommy the T-Rex. “Yes. Dis will do niwcely.” I said from behind my paci. 

I uncoiled my bed-roll to act as a changing mat. It wasn’t like the ones back home, but it would do. “I can do dis. I can do dis.” I repeated to myself. With a squish that sent the yellowed padding outward, I sat down on my diaper. 

Getting the old diaper off was the easy bit. I ripped open the tapes, and pulled it open, revealing the very yellow padding beneath. It was all swollen and heavy. I folded it into a weighty little package, and then into a plastic bag–it was important to dispose of the diaper ethically after all, and not just leave it on the ground, even if the world had been nuked to oblivion.

Right. I steeled myself. Now that the easy bit was done, things got a little trickier. After wiping myself down with a damp washcloth, I carefully retrieved the clean padding and placed it beneath me. I’d seen the Mister Handy caretakers back in the vault do this a million times, how hard could it be? 

I powdered over my diapered area, then lifted the front up against my belly, and leant back a little so it would stay there. Then I went to fold the back up. But by the time I turned back around, the front had fallen down again. “Mmmfff! Why is this so hard?” 

I tried again, but this time, focused on one side at a time. This worked much better, and I was able to stick the left side together with a single, loose tape. However, before I could continue, I heard a loud clang. 

My heart leaped in my chest, my hairs stood on end. I looked around the empty room, but there was no one there. Just the silence. Quickly, I went to tape up the rest of my fresh diaper. But before I could finish, I heard a familiar voice.

“Get out of here, you burglar scum!” The voice called from another room. I shot up, my diaper still half-undone.

“Sorry, I didn’t know this place was … well I thought everyone was dead.”

“Are you trying to tell me you killed everyone? Good lord!” The voice said, growing closer. It mingled in with a gentle whirring, almost as if…

“No I–” I went to protest, but just as the voice rounded the corner, I realized why it was so familiar. 

“A Mister Handy unit!” It must have been the one keeping the house clean. But something was wrong. The Mister Handy came through the door, from the darkness on the other-side. It’s voice was more crackly than the ones from 86, and one of its eyes was… well it wasn’t there at all.

I backed up slowly. 

“Sowwy! I can leave ifu want?” I said, but the Mister Handy did not reply. It stopped for a moment, and moved its eye up and down, as if it was scanning me. 

“I-I-I-Intruders will not be t-t-tolerated!” It said, crackling. Suddenly, one of its arms arose with an attachment I’d never seen before–a buzzsaw. It whirred into motion, spinning sharp and deadly, and rushed toward me.

“No!” I shouted, my paci fell out of my mouth, and not knowing what else to do I grabbed my gun. But I was too slow, before I could completely draw it, the Mister Handy’s buzzsaw launched at me. I moved out the way just in time, and the saw buried itself in the wall behind me. My gun fell to the floor. I reached for it, but the buzzsaw swooped in and I fell backwards with a crash.

 The Mister handy rotated, its eye focusing on me like the aperture of a camera. But when the robot tried to rush at me again, it found itself stuck for a moment, before lurching free. That gave me an idea. Quickly, carefully, I aligned myself with a light switch to my back. 

“Come on!” I shouted, which seemed to enrage the robot. 

“Intruders will not be tolerated!” Despite the strange nonchalance of its voice, it rushed at me again. I dove out the way, onto the carpet, and the Mister Handy shot straight into the wall. Its metal buzzsaw made contact with the light switch, and the wires inside. Electricity ran through it, arching and sputtering. The lights flickered on for the first time in decades, then sparked off again. I took the distraction to crawl madly for my gun.

But I didn’t need it. The Mister Handy recoiled, its head spun wildly. “I-I-I-Intru-d-d-d-W-welcome home s-s-s-sir! I have ma-a-a-ade-t-traditional-carpet cleaner--s-shopping–the b-b-baby is asleep now–” and with a final garbled mess of words, its glowing eyes flickered off, and it went limp. 

I released a breath I forgot I was holding, and the silence returned again.

***

Over the next hour, I dove into the Mister Handy’s wiring. Back in the vault, we hadn’t the resources to spare to send one with me, but if I could bring this one back, or even get it to help me out here… 

Thankfully, the robots were so important to our way of life in Vault 86, most people learn to take them apart and put them back together again before they turn eighteen. I was never the best at it, but I knew my way around them well enough. I decided to remove the buzzsaw attachment out of caution, and replaced it with a Rob-Co certified posable hand I found in the garage. Whilst I was at it, I renamed the unit Basil, after a pre-war TV-show they showed in the vaults.

It was getting dark by the time I found the program settings, the sun was red in the sky, and golden in the treetops. The neon-green light of my pip-boy was all that lit me in the dark room.

“Gardener, no. Shopkeeper, no. Driver, not that. Mmmmm, ahha–Babysitter.”

I let the program run, and Basil suddenly burst into life again. Immediately, I backed up and held my gun at his eye. The robot rose quickly, and spun about itself.

“Re-re-rebooting…” It stuttered, and went quiet. I worried that I had messed up the program for a moment, and quickly put my paci in my mouth for reassurance. Then, “Can I be of service, master?” The robot hovered, clearly waiting for instruction.

I frowned. “What mode is cuwwently activated?” I asked through my pacifier.

“Babysitter mode is activated, master. Where is said baby in need of sitting?”

“Oh, I … right here.” I gestured to all of me.

“Oh dear! Well we can’t have you in that state, can we master?” The Mister Handy moved towards me, and I flinched despite myself.

“No…? What are you doing?” I asked nervously. 

“Why, changing your diaper of course, look at the state it’s in! I do say… wheoever put it on you needs a right bloody scolding” 

At Basil’s words, I looked down. With everything that had happened, I had forgotten to put the diaper on properly, and it still hung lopsided off me. I realized, too, that it had been a while since I last changed it, and I felt a familiar sensation below…

“Hang on …” the robot paused, “What do good boys say?” 

“Pweese? Pweese would you change my diapee? And, could you pweese hurry? I fink I need to pee again.” 

“Of course!” The robot said, “And what a good little boy you are for remembering your manners!” Basil’s hand patted me on the head and I giggled. It was almost like being back in the vault. With some proper repairs, this unit could be good-as-new. 

I laid back down and clutched Mister Fancypants in my arms as the robot inspected my bare butt.

Basil was much better at changing my diaper than I had been. For the most part, I just lay there and stared at the ceiling, sucking on my T-Rex paci as Basil cleaned me up. It felt good to be properly padded again, with the familiar bulk pushing my legs apart. Basil  was a fast changer too, which was good, because I was growing desperate. Almost as soon as he had finished fastening the tapes, I let out a sigh, and felt my diaper expand as I wet it again. “My, my. Wet already! Do you need me to change you again, Master?”

“No, I should be fine until the morning. Fankoo!” 

I slept surprisingly well that night. In fact, I slept almost like a baby. Maybe it was because I was so exhausted from the day, or maybe it was because I knew I had Basil and Mister Fancypants watching over me. Either way, I woke up early the next morning, ready to take on the day’s challenge–going further afield. 

Basil  changed me out of a thoroughly soaked diaper, and together we made our way out. With a fresh diaper, Mister Fancypants, and Basil  by my side, things were looking up. 

Perhaps, finally, I would be able to see what remained of the world, after all this time…

END OF CHAPTER 1

[sklawlor]

nice story.

[RawrJames]

DIAPERED TALES FROM THE WASTELAND 
EPISODE 2
ASHSTONE

War. War never changes. 

In the year 2077, bombs were dropped across most of North America, wiping it away in less than two hours. But locked underground, protected from the blasts, some managed to escape into the safety of the Vaults. 

Deep in the heart of Virginia, lies the town of Ashstone, a settlement created by those unlucky enough to be trapped outside the vaults during the last days of the Great War. It is a small community, but loyal and friendly to most. 

Armed with their toolbox, a practical mind, and a secret very few know, Claudia Hughes is the town’s very own ‘Miss Handy’ repairing the few pieces of technology that remain in town. But what will happen when a stranger who shares in her secret activity wanders into town?

***

The morning after I had re-programmed Basil was chilly. My vault-onesie didn’t cover my legs, which were all raised with goose-bumps. Fortunately, my full overnight diaper kept me nice and warm until the sun eventually began to warm the house. Basil changed me first thing, leaving me with … one … two … three… three diapers left. Basil fed me breakfast, mushy oatmeal rations which I got all over my face, and then cleaned me out of my bib. Then, without more delay, we set off.

I used the time walking to catch up on the past hundred years with Basil. He floated slightly behind me, carrying my balled-up wet diapers in a bag. “And what happened to you, Basil? Why did you stay at the house?” I asked as we trudged through a forested area. The map read that we were in what used to be a park, but whatever had been here had been buried under layers of plants and trees.

“Why, I worked for the Robinsons for over twelve years,” Basil said, “I daresay I wasn’t going to just abandon the pride and joy of their family for a few silly bombs sir!”

“You never wanted to see what was out there? If they were still alive?”

“I was told to stay and wait until they came back, why would I want to leave? At least, until you came along sir.” I nodded aimlessly, and found a stick to play with as we walked. 

After an hour’s hike, the sun was out in full and sparkling through the trees. Basil surprised me with a question. “Sir, may I ask you something?” he said, in a slightly funny tone. 

“Of course, Basil.” I said.

“I can see clearly that I’ll be changing many a wet diaper on this adventure of yours, but should I expect any accidents of a stinkier nature as well?”

“Sure.” I said nonchalantly, “Wait, I haven’t done a boom-boom have I?” I stopped suddenly, and looked around at my diaper. I hadn’t had to push, and I didn’t feel anything in my diaper, nor smell anything. Basil came up behind me, and I felt his robotic hand press against my padding. I jumped slightly, not expecting Basil to be so forward with his diaper checks. 

“My sensors do not indicate you’ve made messies yet.” he said, and I felt a pressure on my head, “Well done for keeping your pants clean, this long, Sir!” As he patted my head, I felt very pleased with myself. Seeing Basil behave so well, I thought it was a good opportunity to re-attach the buzzsaw. 

“Now, only use this when I says, m’kay?” It seemed like a good idea, after all I didn’t know if I’d run into more dangers out here. Maybe another rogue Mister Handy.

“Of course Sir, I shall protect you with my life!” Basil said, which was good enough for me. It was comforting, also, to know that Basil was taking care of me as the other Mister Handy’s in the vault would. Thinking of home made my heart ache a little. 

Thankfully, I found a great distraction. We stood on the edge of a hill, where the forest fell away to fields of grass, littered with abandoned piles of junk. In the distance a ruined town lay flat across the land. At the very south of the ruins, was a colorful, smokey, noisy settlement. My heart leapt with joy.

“Other people!” I said, thankful that I had finally found someone, which I assumed were humans. “Maybe we can get you some spare parts, Basil!” I turned to the robot, his stalked eyes lifted slightly, and the aperture inside widened.

“You would do that, Sir? For me?” he said.

“Of course, you’re my friend now Basil.” I gave him a pat on his sphere, and began the long waddle to town, narrating into my pip-boy for the record. The fact that other people had survived the apocalypse both excited me and, truthfully, made me a little nervous. What were they like? Were they dangerous? What type of diapers did they wear? All these questions spiraled in my head as I journeyed forward.

As we approached, I realized that the piles of junk that had been littered about were actually old cars. They didn’t look much like the ones I had seen on the TV set, being all rusty-orange and half fallen apart, but it was still a treat to see one in real life. They became a common sight as we approached the remains of Blackstone–on the map, it said we were traveling down the main road.

Quickly however, I realized how outdated my maps were. At the entrance to the settlement, a surprising number of people went about their business back and forth. “Morning!” I said as we walked past, “Hello there!” They all seemed curious, glancing toward me and Basil, but none approached. In fact they all seemed to hurry away from me. Maybe they had seen the re-attached buzzsaw on Basil. Above the makeshift metal gates to town, I found another surprise. The large sign did not read Blackstone, but instead read another name, written very crudely.

“Ashstone?” I wondered aloud.

“Hey! You!” a voice called behind me. I turned.

“Hello?” I turned to see a wiry old man in overalls at least three sizes too large for him. He had rolled them up around his ankles, and still they were covered in mud.

“I ain’t seen you ‘round here before.” He inspected my vault-uniform with interest, one eye wide, “Nice clothes you gots on there…” 

“Um … thank you?”

“Hey, you ain’t from that military vault over the hills there, are ya?” His face lit up, his jaw widening into a rotten-toothed grin.

“You betcha!” I smiled back, though I think it was lost on him. He continued to search me up and down, pausing on my waist. 

“How the hell did you survive them cannons?” the old man said, perplexed. 

I frowned. “Cannons?”

“Yeah. Ma papa told me never to go near, cause when he was young, you see, he gots shot by a cannon on the airbase. Most folk don’t go near the airbase for that very reason.” the old man said. I was very confused at this point–I’d just walked out of the airbase, and nothing had stopped me, let alone something as big as a cannon. I wanted to press on, but I noticed the old man staring at my waist, and then at the paci around my neck.

“Hey, why is everyone staring at me so strangely?” I asked. I thought it might stop him staring, but it didn’t. Instead, the man simply nodded.

“Most people ain’t seen no vault-dweller before. Specially not one like … you.” he looked straight at my padded waist.

 “Okay. Well, I’ve just come to get some parts for my pal here…”

“Your pal?” he looked behind me, to Basil. “Oh. I see…” For a moment he went still, and I thought he would run away. Suddenly I regretted putting that buzzsaw back onto Basil, especially if it meant scaring away potential acquaintances. “Well, if ya be wantin’ parts, ya best bet is Claudia Hughes, down in town there. She’ll have all ya needs for the robot there.”

He gave a last, nervous glance to Basil, and quickly scurried away. Weird.

I shrugged and, not knowing what else to do, headed into town to try and find this Claudia. Perhaps she’d be more welcoming.

The town was small but busy. People wove between old ruined buildings, held up with wooden beams and roofed with bits of old cloth. Compared to the vault, it was dirty, crowded and stank. I felt a little dribble of pee soak into my diaper as I approached nervously, and my stomach clenched. Something felt off about this place, but I couldn’t tell what.

“Maybe I should have asked where this Claudia was.” I said to Basil, who just returned a blank stare. I began to ask people questions about where to find Claudia. Some ignored me or ran away after seeing Basil by my side. One was extremely helpful, and gave me directions to around the small town. I learned that it had been established a number of years ago and was now home to a modest population. No one had been near the entrance to Vault 86 in years, owing to the ‘dangers’ that lurked there, though I was still incredibly confused about what this meant. Still, something nagged at me. Something here was wrong. 

Clearly this was a very different place to the world of the vault. It was almost like all the joy and color had been taken out of the world. Honestly, I kind of expected that. Made sense after nuclear devastation really. No, there was something else wrong. I couldn’t pin exactly what it was, until a man in little more than rags walked past. For the first time I realises he was diaperless. Everyone was.

The revelation hit me like a brick–it wasn’t just a few people who didn’t wear diapers. Nobody here wore diapers. My head felt faint. Grandpa’s tales about a diaperless world hadn’t been fanciful fairy tales meant to scare us, they had been true. Oh god. 

I had to sit down before I fainted. “Are you okay sir?” Basil asked, his robotic voice distant. “Yeah, I think so.” I said, and I leant my back against the wall. The lack of diapers explained the smell around here–did people just go potty in the streets? Eewwie. How gross. I felt tears welling up in my eyes, and began to sniffle. For comfort, I placed my paci in my mouth and suckled, though it didn’t help much. I unzipped Mr Fancypants from my bag and hugged him tightly.

Was Vault 86 the last bastion of Littles in the world? Humanity had lost its way so easily.

“Get back! You scoundrel!” I heard Basil say, accompanied by a crinkling sound.

“Calm down robo-cop. Hey, kid, you alright there?” a woman’s voice asked. I looked up. 
She stood in baggy cargo-pants and an engine-grease stained vest. In fact, her entire body, up to her mousy hair, was caked in grease and oil.

“I’m fwine!” I said, wiping my eyes on the sleeve of my onesie. “Basil, stand down.” I said, just as he had begun to lift his buzzsaw. Reluctantly, he lowered it. The woman had a look of sympathy in her eyes as she looked down on me. Suddenly I realized that if I was to help bring diapers back into this world, I needed to make a good impression. So, ignoring my fear, and my longing for home, I put on a brave face. “I’m wooking for Cwaudia Hws?” I asked through my paci, “Dwo you know werew she ith?”

“Huh. Well, you’ve found her.” the woman said. “I’m Claudia.”

Suddenly, I found myself smiling, my paci fell around my neck.

“I’m Joe, Joe Palmer. I’ve been looking for you.” I stood up, and the woman held out a hand. Reluctantly, I took it. There was a moment where Claudia eyed me up and down. I saw her take in my uniform, and knew the question she would ask before she asked it: “Are you a vault dweller? From 86?” her eyes widened. 

“Sure am.” I said, thankful that she had led the conversation. She looked me up and down, and frowned.

“Were you sucking on a pacifier just then?” she asked.

I nodded enthusiastically.

“Is that a teddy bear?” 

“Mr Fancypants.”

Her eyes fell to my waist. I saw her frown for a moment, then she went scarlet. “Are you wearing …”

“A diapee? Yesh!” I nodded triumphantly–finally, we were making progress up here. “But you surface people don’t wear them?” I moved forward.

“Woah there horsey.” Claudia held up her hands, “Clearly you do things differently down in the vault.” She eyed me again, glanced about here, and then seemed to come to some sort of decision. “You’re serious huh. Oh to hell with it … come back to my place kid, and I’ll fill you in.”

Hesitantly, I nodded, and gestured for Basil to follow. Despite her calling me kid, Claudia only looked a few years older than me–maybe in her late twenties. She led me back to a small house attached to a workshop, and as soon as we arrived, she shut about half a dozen locks, and closed all the curtains conspiratorially. 

The place wasn’t exactly what I’d call neat, but it was in better condition that the house I had stayed in overnight. A large round wooden table sat in one corner, covered in miscellaneous machine parts, and old TV screens with the glass shattered. A more purpose-built workbench had been set up in a dark room at the back, with neatly organized parts laid out under a flickery lamp. A plump couch sat in a lounge covered in many different rugs piled across the floor. Claudia stood in the middle.

“So,” she said once she was sure no one else was looking, “Only two other people in town know about this, but since you’re wearing them too, and it seems this ain’t some sorta prank…” Slowly, she dragged down her cargo-pants, revealing a very familiar sight–the high waistband of a diaper. “Don’t you dare tell anyone!”

“You’re a vault-dweller too!?” I asked, jumping up.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but no. I’m from the real world, even if most people besides me don’t wear diapers.”

“But you do…” I asked, genuinely curious. Her blush deepend.

“I … like it?” she said, though the question was aimed more at herself more than anything. “Besides, they’re convenient when working long hours on projects. I work to tight deadlines, I ain’t got time to waste on peein’”

I stood, stunned that I had finally found someone else in this apocalypse who wore diapers like we did in 86. Perhaps humanity wasn’t doomed after all. Before I had a chance to speak, Basil chimed in.

“Wet diaper, detected, are you in need of a change?” he asked, floating forward a little. I waved my hand.

“Not yet Basil, I’m fine.”

“Oh, silly sir! I wasn’t talking to you.” Basil’s eye stalks turned to Claudia. I didn’t realize it was possible for someone to blush so much.

“Oh…” I said awkwardly, “I can wait outside?” 

“Um … no. That’s fine.” Claudia said, “I don’t have anything else to change into at the moment.” She looked down at her wet padding.

“You should really change before you get a rash.” I suggested, but her face scrunched up angrily.

“I said I’m fine, kid, don’t test me!” she didn’t shout, but somehow that was even scarier. I muttered an apology and she sighed. “No, I’m sorry. I … it’s been a really weird ten minutes.”
    “It’s been a really weird few days.” I agreed.

Claudia paused, but perhaps something within her relented, because she sighed again. “Look, I need to go pick up some more … ‘supplies’. If you want to tag along, you can tell me more about your vault.”

“By supplies you mean diapers?” I asked, and Caludia gave a little nod. I thought about this for a moment. I was curious about this place, and any new information I could get would be important–especially if that information was to do with the diaper supply chain. “Is it far?” 

“Two hour walk.” she said. It sounded daunting, but I was really curious about where she was getting her diapers from, if not the vault.

“Okay then, I’ll go. But I want to hear more about the outside world too.” I said. Basil pointed a finger with an accusatory jab. 

“Is he yours?” Claudia asked me.

“Yes. He’s my very best friend.” I gave Basil a pat. “Good bot.”

“Good, it’ll be good to have some backup, just in case.”

***

As we made our way through town, people greeted Claudia eagerly. She waddled a little, but I was the only one who seemed to notice, perhaps, because I was used to being around people in soaked diapers, or perhaps because I knew she was wearing one. 

Claudia seemed well liked–a town handy-person of sorts, who helped everyone with their mechanical needs. She explained some of the little, confusing things about this world. 

“People buy things? Like in the movies?” I asked, after finding out there was a currency made entirely made up of bottle caps.

“Do people not do that in the vault?” 
“Pfff, no. We fix the Mister Handy’s and they do aaaallll the work for us. They keep us clean and happy, and they feed us, and give us sippy cups and stuff, not those weird bottle thingies.”

Claudia’s jaw dropped, “I need to visit this place.”

“It’s wonderful!” I spun on the spot, recalling my many years growing up. “Not like out here, it’s all gray and nuclear-y.”

Claudia laughed, “It’s not so bad. You get used to it, and the people in Ashstone are really nice. Not like other places nearby.”

“There are other places?”

“Sure, Victoria’s okay I guess, they got some tension with us at the moment, their mayor is brothers with ours, so you get the idea. Sibling rivalry. But Pinkelton to the south? Most people are afraid of the place.”

“Are you?”

“Considering that’s where I get my diapers from, I don’t have the luxury to be afraid.” Claudia’s expression was determined, her stride set on getting resupplied. “But I’m happy to have back-up this time, I must admit.”

I had a lingering question, one I didn’t feel had been answered by Claudia, not really. “Earlier, you said you like diapees, and at the time I was like, ‘well duh, they’re great’, but most people gave me weird looks in town, and you keep it a secret. Why? Why do you like them, and why do you hide them?”

Claudia went quiet for a moment, and I could see her mind working, trying to figure out if she could trust me or not. In an attempt to give her a little solidarity, I popped my Tommy T-Rex pacifier in my mouth and smiled. I won a little giggle from Claudia.

“Truthfully, they are convenient. But they’re also comfortable, and cozy, and they make me feel … small again. Like there’s nothing to worry about in the whole world. And when they’re used they … can also feel good, I guess.”

“Yeppers!” I said, “That’s a great reason!” 

She smiled again, and continued, “But most people up here don't see it that way, all they see is a weirdo who wants to act like a baby. You’d think, after all that’s happened, after how many weird people come in and out of Ashstone each day, that it wouldn’t matter. But I got a reputation to keep-up.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Huh?”

“How do you know they won’t just accept you? Have you asked them? Seen it happen before?”

“I seen people look at you weird on your way into town. You said yourself.”

“They looked at me weird because I’m a stranger. People in Ashstone know you. They like you.”

“Think so?”

“Sure I do! I like you anyways, and I just met you!” I jumped along beside her, and she giggled.

“Thanks, I think I like you too.”

“That makes three of us.” A voice from the trees said. Claudia paused, and held a hand to stop me and Basil. We were on a leaf-strewn path in the middle of a tall forest. Somehow very different from the one on the eastern edge of Ashstone, but full of the strange smell of greenery that I was so unused to. Without thinking, I let loose a little nervous toot. Claudia, blushing furiously again, looked toward me. 

“Sorry!” I whispered, “I haven’t gone poopie in a while.”

“Can I help you?” The man’s voice called again, “Or are you just going to keep standing there?” 

“Cain? That you?” Claudia shouted at a large boulder.

“Yes it is me, little miss potty-pants.” the man said with a smile in his voice.

“Will you shut the hell up you little molasses-brained bastard. Get out here.” Claudia clapped her hands to her waist and stared down the rock. After a moment, the man made his way out as sharp as a knife’s edge. His hair was slicked back, he wore a suit that would have been smart were it not tattered and moth-eaten. He was tall and thin, but hunched over a little.

“Well well well, who do we have here?” he said to me with a sly grin. “Make a new friend?”

“Cain, this is Joe. Joe, Cain. Cain here is my … ahem … supplier.” 

“Oh … I see.” I crossed my arms, and puffed myself up a little. Behind me, I sensed Basil rise as well. Cain backed off. Wise.

“Now now, no need to be so … intense. Are you a baby like little Claudia here?” He whipped out a hawk-headed cane, and lent against it. I nodded. “Well, I’m afraid both of you will have to wait to get your changies I’m afraid.”

“What…” Claudia stepped forward. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that Mister Pinkel has been very naughty and—”

“Would ya stop with the baby babble?” Claudia said, her anger rising. 

Cain rolled his eyes. “Fiiinnnee. You people are such a bore, honestly. Pinkel has cut off my supplier. Not sure why, but it means no diapers for you, I’m afraid dear girl, or your friend here.”

“No! Damn it! Those bastards!” She kicked dirt across the ground.

“Well that’s not a problem,” I said, “There are plenty in–”

“Go fuck yourself Cain.” Claudia said suddenly, and before I could argue, I was dragged away, both mine and Claudia’s diapers crinkling loud in the quiet forest.

“Goodbye, mon cheri!” I heard Cain shout from a distance. “So long, good luck with your potty training!” 

Claudia ignored him. She dragged me to a non-descript part of the woods, off the track a little ways. I looked up in amazement at the vibrant red leaves, they seemed almost unnatural. The golden light of the sun just about peaked through them, and I had to be careful not to blind myself. My stomach cramped, and I let out another little fart which spread throughout my padding. Claudia didn’t seem to notice, she only glanced about suspiciously when we had finished walking a little ways, checking for others nearby.

“Why’d you do that?” I asked when she had finished looking around. “It seemed a little rude.”

“Because Cain’s a dick, and if you tell him you have something he wants, he’ll get it, and that includes you guys in the vaults. Everyone’s been too scared to go onto the airbase because of its defenses, but if you walked out, that must mean the defenses are down somehow. And if Pinkel is involved somehow…”

“Oh.” I said, and then the true scale of the situation hit me. “Oh no. No no no. I have to go back and warn them.” 

“Back to the vault?” Claudia asked.

“I need to report tomorrow evening anyways. With all I’ve discovered, I’m sure they won’t mind me coming in a little early. You should come with me.” 

Claudia didn’t answer, instead, she seemed to grow very still, deep in thought. “We have diapees there…” I said quietly, and her eyes flickered back to life.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“Awesome.” I said, and clicked some buttons on my pip-boy to log this section of woodland. 

As we spoke, I saw Claudia fiddle with her trousers a little. She stuck a hand around her inner thigh, and I realized she was fiddling with the leg-holes of her diaper. She seemed uncomfortable, as if she was trying to scratch an itch. If she had been waiting on a new supply of diapers, then she might not have changed for hours–or out here, even days. “Claudia?” I asked, and she looked at me questioningly. “Are you oka–” before I could finish, her eyes widened.

“Shit!” she said under her breath, and we both watched as a dark patch grew from where she had been fiddling, spreading slowly around the gap between her diaper and her leg, and trailing down her pants. 

END OF CHAPTER 2

 

 

 

 

 

DIAPERED TALES FROM THE WASTELAND 
CHAPTER 3 
THE LEAK

War. War never changes. 

In the year 2077, bombs were dropped across most of North America, wiping it away in less than two hours. But locked underground, protected from the blasts, some managed to escape into the safety of the Vaults. 

Deep in the heart of Virginia, two new friends journey across what remains of the world outside, their destinies aligned. But bodily functions often have a will of their own. With diapers running low, and both companions springing leaks in their pants, will they be able to get the diaper change they so desperately need, before a messier sort of accident?

***

“Shit!” Claudia said under her breath, and we both watched as a dark patch grew from where she had been fiddling, spreading slowly around the gap between her diaper and her leg, and trailing down her pants. 

“I think you need a change.” I said.

“No shit. But in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m all out of diapers.”

“I can give you one of mine, if you want?” I suggested. Besides Claudia’s kindness over the past day, it was all I could do to help another diaper-wearer out. 

“Ha! Thanks kid, but I already owe you enough, and I ain’t got no more caps to spare.”

“It’s no problem, really. You can have it. I have some rash cream too if you need it.” I began to get the stuff out of my pack, but Claudia held up her hands.

“Wait, wait.” She said, seeming genuinely surprised. “You’d really let me have one of your diapers?”

“Sure, I mean I’ve got more than you have, makes sense to share. I’m sure Basil will even change you if you want.” I pointed to Basil, who gave us an enthusiastic thumbs up. Claudia went deep crimson again.

“I … I can change by myself, but thanks anyway.” she said quietly. There was a moment of awkward silence. “We should get back to town before it gets too dark. We can stay at my place overnight, then head to your vault in the morning.”

“You’d really give me a place to stay?” I asked, wide eyed. No one had been that generous to me before, not even inside the vault, really. 

Claudia nodded, “Sure, it’s the least I can do.”

“Fankooooo, fankooo!”

“Hey now, don’t get too enthusiastic. Let’s get moving, alright? I still need to pee a little, and this diaper can’t take anymore.” She said and we made our way back to Ashstone, both waddling a little, though Claudia, with her wet pants, seemed to spread her legs a little wider than me. 

On the way, my stomach cramped every half-hour or so, but each time it passed quickly. I had an idea of what was coming, but decided to hold off on that until I had someplace safe to change. I didn’t want to attract monsters with my stink. Claudia began to wriggle, growing more and more desperate with every step. 

It was dark by the time we reached the outer gate. “Thank goodness.” Claudia whispered, as we quietly made our way back down a side-street. The moon peeked through the clouds a little, and reflected against the metal shop-wall

“Pssst, Claudia!” a familiar voice suddenly said, and just ahead I saw his figure standing against the moon. I jumped, and let loose an accidental toot. Claudia groaned, clearly desperate to get back inside where she could pee in peace. What a pair we were, both desperate to use diapers that were already full to the brim.

“Rogers?” Claudia hissed back, “The hell are you doing here?” 

“Mayor Dawson wants to see ya, she’s waiting round the front.” The man approached slowly, and then stopped, and leaned forward, like he was squinting. As his face came into the light, I suddenly recognised who it was.

“It’s you!” we both said at the same time. It was the old man at the gates of Ashstone who had stopped me. “You ain’t got that devil robit with ya?” The old man said, one eye wild.

“Why! Devil? I’ve never heard such insolence–” Basil’s buzzsaw spun into action, but I held up a hand before anyone could get hurt. 

“Wait!” I said defensively, “He’s my friend.” Slowly, Old Man Rogers backed away.

“Sure he is.” He squinted, then quickly changed subjects, “I see you found our Claudia.”

“Wait,” Claudia said, turning, “Rogers, you sent Joe to me?”

“Sure I did.” Old man Rogers said, “Thought ya needed a potty training buddy, and seems I was right…” he looked down at Claudia’s wet legs.

“Oh, scurry off ya mole-rat piece of shit.” Claudia said, but Rogers just grinned madly, and backed out of the alley. “Well, good night, ya little babies. Get some shut-eye, and maybe a fresh diaper, hehe.” As we watched him go, I sensed Claudia’s rage dissolve into a resigned frustration.

“Stay here a mo, will ya?” she said, “I guess I have a customer.” 

“But your leak?” I said, pointing at her wet jeans.

“Shit, yeah.” Her pee had run all the way down her legs, and was damp and saturated in her pants. 

Distantly, a woman called from around the front. “Hughes? You in there?” she shouted. I guessed this was Mayor Dawson.

“I think I have an idea–keep quiet, stay here.” she said to me, and waited for me to nod before fleeing inside. Quietly, I went up to a window.

Claudia hurried over to her workshop, and disappeared into another room. Mayor Dawson’s knocking became more insistent, but Claudia quickly reappeared, hopping into a baggy boiler-suit, with her soaked pants still on underneath.

“Coming!” she shouted, and she barely managed to get the boiler suit around her legs before she reached the door. She tied the sleeves around her waist, and welcomed the mayor inside. “Sorry about that, Jane. I was just … finishing something delicate.”

“I’d hate to take you away from your work my dear.” Mayor Dawson was a middle aged woman, not tall, but lean. Her face was wrinkly, and while she wore a warm expression now, I suspected it could grow very stern, very quick. I could see Claudia struggle a little once Dawson had passed, shifting her weight from foot-to-foot. She was growing desperate. “I just wanted to check on you,” Mayor Dawson settled down on the couch as if it were hers, “Rogers says you were out hiking, at night of all times.”

“Scavenging for parts, Ma’am. Hard to come by these days.”

“Naturally,” Dawson nodded serenely, “Do be careful, we have many enemies out here, recently acquired ones not included.”

Claudia paused, I could see a question on the tip of her tongue, and clearly Dawson could too. “Spit it out, Hughes.” she said with an amused smile.

“You mean Pinkelton?” Claudia sat on a chair and crossed her legs in an attempt to stem the oncoming flow.

“Ah, so you’ve heard. He’s cut off some of our supplies, blocked a trading route. That’s probably why you’re low on parts, my dear.” Dawson raised an eyebrow.

“Um… Sure, ma’am. But I don’t see much we can do but pull our pants up, so to speak.” Claudia glanced down at her crotch, and I saw her wiggle a little. “Listen, it’s mighty nice of you to come here tonight Mayor Dawson, but now really ain’t a good time I’m afraid.” I could see the nervousness in Claudia’s eyes. There was a long, drawn-out pause, and when Dawson stood, so did Claudia.

“I understand.” Mayor Dawson said, “It’s been a long day. Come find me tomorrow evening and perhaps we can talk a while longer.” she made her way to the door, but paused there. “I know you think there’s little you can do, but you’d be surprised at the difference a single person can make.” She left without closing the door. 

Claudia closed the door, waited alone for a moment, and finally let loose a mighty sigh, her fidgeting settling into stillness. More dark patches began to spread around the inner thighs of her boiler suit, having soaked through both her leaky diaper and saturated pants beneath. 

When we were sure Mayor Dawson had gone, Claudia gestured for me inside. 

“Damn it! That’s two pairs to clean up.” she said, removing her boiler suit.

I sat awkwardly on the couch. It felt rude to get too comfortable in a stranger’s house, and I was growing more urgent to poop. Without thinking, I let loose some gas to help relieve some tension, and was about to completely poo my diaper, but I suddenly realized something: if people up here didn’t wear diapers, then would it be weird for me to poop?

 I made the decision to ask Claudia after she had changed. As much as it pained me, both morally and literally, I held back my oncoming accident. I could do that, right? Claudia wasn’t going to be long, and I had to be brave up here, especially if I was to make allies. I didn’t want to offend my host by pooping on her couch. I smiled as kindly as I could, hiding my grimace, and handed Claudia the folded diaper. 

She took the diapers with a very red face. To my delight, she said, “Thankie.” before hurrying quickly into a backroom, where she drew a curtain.

I heard the sounds of her cargo pants rustling, and the crinkle of an unfolding diaper. “Sorry about Rogers.” She said loudly from behind the curtain, “He’s a weirdo, honestly. He’s the only other person that knows about my diapers. Bastard caught me taking out a soaked one, and I swore him to secrecy for the rest of his life. I caught him in a bind, too you see. Fella loves dressing up as an animal, a wolf. Weirdo.”

“If he’s not hurting anyone,” I said, thinking of the strange looks I received earlier, “Then what’s the harm? I guess it’s no weirder than diapers.”

“I … I guess…” Claudia admitted, just as another fart escaped beneath me, filling every gap of air in my padding. “Um … Claudia…” I asked, but she didn’t seem to hear. She was taking her time in there, and I was beginning to doubt my ability to hold my messy accident in. “Are you okay? Do you need help? Basil can come in if you want.”

“I’m on it, sir!” Basil said enthusiastically.

“No–I–” I heard her struggle a little, then, “I’m fine!” If Basil seemed disappointed, I didn’t notice. I was in the middle of my own struggle. I began to wriggle uncomfortably in my seat. Come on! I thought desperately, Come on! I squeezed myself, feeling the head of my load beginning to come out. Oh no.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long for Claudia to finish up however. She dragged the curtain away, and walked out pantsless, with her fresh diaper on show. It was good that she was trying to be more confident about diapers. She seemed a little nervous about it, so I gave an encouraging smile. “Better?” I said, trying my best not to wriggle too much. 

She gave a little twirl. “Hehe. They’re a little thicker than I’m used to,” She bent her legs, and adjusted the leak-guards with a finger. “But other than that, snug as a radroach in a sewer!” she said, and waited for a reaction.

I gave her a blank stare. “I have no idea what any of those words mean.”

“I’m comfortable, thanks.”

I wasn’t so comfortable. Things were moving very quickly, if I didn’t get permission right now, I doubted I ever would.

“Um … Claudia?” I began, but she walked past me.

“Hang on, I just need to find somewhere to put this.” she said, walking into a room behind me. I clenched my stomach amidst a barrage of farts.

“Claudia…” My voice rose anxiously, but I heard no response. I wiggled manically, desperately trying to hold back the inevitable. “Claudia! Unnnfff!” 

“I’ll be there in a second, hang on!” she said. I really wasn’t sure I could anymore. I shot up and began to dance from foot-to-foot, hoping it would somehow help against the tide of poop. Desperately I danced and danced, clenching every muscle in my body. I looked to Basil for help, but he stared blankly back, almost expecting me to do my dirty deed.

“I can’t wait! I’m about to–” Too late. 

I instinctually bent my knees and began to push, though I didn’t need to try too hard. “Mmmnnn, poopie!” A large, firm ball of poop shifted into my diaper–it expanded out the back, making room for itself as it mushed against my butt, and down between my legs. “Nnnn!”

The mess fell neatly into my seat, weighing down my diaper with a crinkle. I grunted as more mess forced its way out, following the first load, and building up in the back of my pants, firm but squishy. I balled my fists and began to shake as I pushed, pushed, pushed. My diaper swung forward and back, the mess was so heavy, and felt so good!

I was already feeling much better, and decided to stop fighting completely. Wee wee rushed into my diaper, making the front grow warm and soggy as the wetness crawled through the padding. With one last final push, I let go of a fart and a big sigh, and my face curled into a satisfied smile. “Ahhhh.” I looked down at my yellowed and browned padding. I had just helplessly pooed myself. “Whoopsie.” 

Panicking a little, I stepped back, only to walk into the couch, which I fell right onto. My fresh load squished all around my butt, and spread out across my diapered rear and between my legs.

“Sorry about that.” Claudia said, coming suddenly back into the room, still only wearing a diaper and her vest. I felt my face grow hot as I realized what I had done. Nervously I glanced away from her, and tried to act as naturally as I could, pretending I didn’t have messy underwear. 

Honestly, I didn’t know why I was so embarrassed, no one was embarrassed about a messy accident back in the vault. But for some reason, I didn’t want Claudia to notice now, I didn’t want her to know I was just a stinky diaper baby, who couldn’t control himself. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t have much say in the matter. “You’ve gone awfully quiet,” Claudia said, smiling, “You–hey … what’s that smell, ugh.” She waved a hand in front of her face. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, the mess spreading out even more. But before I could say anything, Basil spoke for me.

“I believe young sir has just had a little accident in his diapee.” he said. My eyes grew damp, but I was determined not to cry.

“I … um …” I stuttered. It took a moment for Claudia to realize what had happened, but I could see her expression shift as she figured it out. 

“Oh? Oh. Oooooohhhh. You pooped?”

“Um … Uh-huh.” I nodded shyly. I wanted nothing more in that moment than to curl up into a ball and disappear. “I’m sowwy.” I squeaked, unable to hold back tears.

“What’s there to be sorry about, kid?” Claudia came up and knelt before me, placing a calming hand on my knee.

“Well I … I know you don’t do that sort of thing here and …” I began to sob, “I wanted you all to see me as a big boy, so I could represent my vault. But I went and pooped my pants! You think we’re all weirdos, and don’t want anything to do with a bunch of pants-messers.” 

Claudia sighed. “Joe, it’s okay sweetie. It’s my fault, really. I should have realized you needed to go poop. I guess it’s what you’re used to huh. Why don’t you calm down a bit, go get changed, and we can get some rest?”

“Okie…” I said quietly, wiping away tears.

“Jeez, you did a stinker, huh?” She teased. I smiled a little, her humor helped, and reminded me of home. 

“Basil, can you change me please?”

“Of course sir,” Basil placed his robotic hand on my shoulder and led me to the room Claudia had changed in. It was only small, but there was enough space to lie down. Annoyingly, there was a strange white seat, with a lid on top, taking up a lot of room, along with a sink. 

I drew the curtain and tried to find a comfortable position. Basil hovered over me. “What a weird room.” I said, wiping my eyes on my sleeve again. I was still tearing up a little, but my sniffles had calmed down, and now that I was in the familiar situation of a diaper change, I felt waaaay better.

“Are you ready for changies?” he said, bringing up my T-Rex pacifier, and placing it in my mouth. I nodded shyly and Basil began to change me, tearing off the tapes and unfolding the padding to see the present I had dropped inside. “My, my, someone’s made a large old mess, haven’t they?” 

I went all blushy and covered my face, as Basil used a damp washcloth to clean my tooshie. The feel of the washcloth around my butt felt good–I always enjoyed feeling clean again after a messy diaper change. Memories of the vault rushed back to me, and although I wished I was back there now, I felt excitement well up within me, knowing I could return tomorrow. 

“You alright in there, kid?” Claudia asked from behind the curtain.

“Uh-huh.” I said, looking up at the ceiling as Basil worked, sucking on my paci absentmindedly.

“Good, that’s good. Listen, everyone out here wants caps and the like for favors. Well, I was thinking about all that you done for me, giving me a diaper, taking me to your vault and all, and I want to do you a favor in return.” she said, her voice growing quiet. I decided it would be best to take my pacifier out to talk, and let it fall around my neck.

“You’re already letting me stay here.” 

“But I want to do something more.” she let the silence linger, and I thought about her offer.

“Um … well…” I hesitated, was it asking too much? No. Claudia had made the offer, so I should at least suggest it. “Well, before we came into town, I kinda promised Basil I’d fix him up a little.”

Basil paused in the middle of unfolding a clean diaper. His eyestalk looked from me, to the curtain, and back to me. Claudia went quiet for a moment, before answering.

“I think that’s a great idea.” she said, “I’ll make him good as new!” 

“Hey,” I wondered aloud as Basil finished up, “What is this room for? There’s a weird seat that gets in the way.” I didn’t get an answer immediately, only a giggle from the other side of the curtain.

“Well,” Claudia began, “That’s a bathroom. The white chair is a ‘toilet’. I guess the word ‘potty’ might be more appropriate for you though.”

“Potty.” I said to myself–I’d heard of those, we had been taught about them in school. “You pee and poop in those?” I asked, gobsmacked. 

“Haha, yeah, usually.” Claudia said, and I craned my head up.

“What if you … fall into it?” I asked–it was basically a hole with water at the bottom. It looked dangerous to be honest, far easier to just mess your pants, even if you did have to change afterwards.

“Why do you think I prefer diapers?” Was all Clauda said, though I swore I heard her chuckling to herself.

Basil fastened the diaper snugly around my waist, and popped the buttons on my onesie back together again, before giving my freshly diapered toosh a pat. “Finished?” Claudia said, and I drew back the curtains, and nodded. “How about we get you to bed and fix Basil up in the mornin’, then we can head over to the vault? How does that sound?”

“I think I’d like that.” I said with a big grin. 

I helped Claudia drag in an old mattress. It was way more comfortable than sleeping straight on the ground, and whether it was because I knew I was in a safe place, or because I had worn myself out today, I fell almost immediately into a deep sleep, and didn’t wake up again until late the next morning. Predictably, I woke up wet, and changed into my last diaper.

Claudia was already awake, fiddling quietly away at her workbench. I watched her work for a bit, not pretending to sleep, but not bothering to get up either. It was neat, watching her so absorbed in her work. Eventually, I decided to get up and we chatted whilst finding bits and pieces for Basil. 

“This here is my shop.” Claudia said, leading me into the building attached to her home. It was full of junk, bits and pieces organized into boxes on shelves. She had small piles of scrap littered about the place, some weapons against the wall, and an assortment of robotic arms lined up on a rack that caught my interest. She must have seen me eyeing them because she came up to me and said, “They’ll do for Basil, no?”

“Sure, I think so.” I eyed each one. There was another hand-attachment that almost matched the one already on Basil, and I decided it would be good (for both Basil and my diaper changes) to get it for him.

We spent the rest of the morning sat on the workbench together and began tenderly fixing Basil up. “Oh, young sir, there’s really no need to fuss!” he said as we cleaned off some rust, and re-worked some of his wiring to make him more efficient. “Oh, I do feel much better now, though.”

As we sat side by side, working on Basil, I noticed Claudia raise herself up from her chair a little and let loose a quiet sigh. Her diaper, still fresh from the night before, began to rapidly turn yellow, and expand out as she wet it. I heard a gentle hiss, as her diaper filled. “Sorry,” she said, “I was holding that all morning!” That got a giggle from me, which Claudia quickly joined in on.

“Claudia,” I said after we had calmed down a little, “If you don’t mind me asking, do you go poopies in your diaper at all?”

She paused suddenly, her face turning that familiar red I was now used to when she was embarrassed. “Well … I … no. I haven’t tried it yet, I ain’t as confident going number two as you are, that’s for sure.”

“Oh. Back in the vaults, we just sort of … let go whenever we feel the need, you see. I guess I’ve just become used to it.”

“Yeah. I might try, someday, but I ain’t done one yet.” she said, and I sensed that she wanted to leave the subject alone.

We were ready and packed to leave within an hour of finishing Basil–we didn’t have many things to pack. Claudia was full of chatter as we made our way to the vault, asking me lots of questions about my home, and how I grew up in a place where you never really grew up at all. 

“It’s just normal I guess?” I said as we walked, “We don’t spend all day playing about–we go to school and stuff and learn about the time before the bombs, and the outside world. We sometimes help out with the farming, and usually we’re constantly repairing a Mister Handy or two–we have so many to keep maintained, and they’re not great at repairing themselves.”

“So, let me get this straight, you spend all day in diapers, being little, and repairing robots? Joe, I’m not sure you realize how much like my idea of heaven this is…”

“Yeah, I guess it is pretty great when you put it like that.” I agreed, and we came to the other end of the forest. The airbase was just in sight across the overgrown neighborhood I had passed on my way here. As we approached, something caught my eye. I thought I saw something new on the airbase, something that wasn’t there before.

“Are those tents?” Claudia suggested, and I squinted. 

“Yeah, I think they are.” They were blue and gold, the same as my vault-tec onesie, and printed on the sides in big gold lettering was the number ‘86’. My heart began to race. 

“Joe, where are you going?” Claudia shouted, but as I sped away, her voice was already distant. I had never been so scared in my life, fearful for my family and community, terrified of what might have happened. 

“Hello?!” I began shouting to them, “It’s Joe! Joe Palmer!” In the distance a few heads turned, ones I recognised. They sent Ellie Williams out, a short girl, only a year older than me, and she was running nearly as quickly towards me.

“Joe? You’re back already! Aw, I knew you would be!” she said, and we embraced in a big hug. Her diaper was puffy and wet, almost as much as mine. 

“Why is everyone camping outside?” I asked, and Ellie’s face fell.

“It’s best if the Overseer tells you everything, but” she hesitated. “Well, there’s been a major radiation leak, and we’ve had to evacuate. We’re mostly safe.”

“Mostly?” I asked but Ellie seemed distracted suddenly.

“Who’s that?” she asked as Claudia caught up with me, Basil trailing behind her.

“Oh, I do wish you would not run off like that Master Joe.” Basil said, grumbling. 

“This is Basil, my new caretaker,” I said, before ushering Clauida forward. “And this is Claudia, she’s from a settlement not far from here. Ashstone.”

“There are other people!?” Ellie looked as shocked as I had been.

“Sure are, a bunch of us.” Claudia said, strangely holding out a hand. “You don’t … you don’t shake hands here?” she asked. 

Ellie looked to me for answers, and not having any, I shrugged. 

“Well, if you’ve helped Joe here, you’re welcome,” Ellie said, “Not that we have much to welcome you with I’m afraid. Either of you need a change?” 

“No, I’m clean, and my padding can probably take a few more before I leak.” I said. Claudia just went red and shook her head shyly. I felt a hand over my bottom suddenly, and realized that Basil was checking whether I really was clean. 

Claudia yelped slightly as Basil did the same to her, and then checked Ellie, who didn’t react at all. She was used to the regular checks in the vault. His hand fell into her diaper with a squish, and she giggled a little.

“Pooowee, I think we’ve found a stinker!” Basil said to Ellie.

“I was about to go for changies Basil, sir, but then I saw Joe here.” she justified, puffing her chest out a little beneath crossed arms, proud that she was going to change on her own initiative. She was rewarded with a pat on the head from Basil. 

“What a well behaved girl you are!”

“We should probably report back to Overseer Carmichael.” I said, “It’s been a crazy three days.” 

Ellie cringed a little. “Well, you should know, Carmichael isn’t exactly the overseer anymore.” She said quietly. My jaw dropped.

“What happened? Who is the overseer then?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around what Ellie was saying.

“That’s the other thing. Joe, the current overseer is your mom.”

END OF CHAPTER 3

[dmavn]

I need mooooore.. It’s like my fallout mods have come to life..

[RawrJames]

On 2/15/2025 at 7:49 PM, dmavn said:

I need mooooore.. It’s like my fallout mods have come to life..

Thank you! More is on the way, I’ve written the next three chapters and am going to start posting them soon, once a week 

[RawrJames]

DIAPERED TALES FROM THE WASTELAND

CHAPTER 4 - THE BABY VAULT

 

War. War never changes.

In the year 2077, bombs were dropped across most of North America, wiping it away in less than two hours. But locked underground, protected from the blasts, some managed to escape into the safety of the Vaults.

Deep in the heart of Virginia, the old world has been mostly forgotten. Vault 86’s occupants have risen to the surface and have been forced to adapt to a world without the Nanny-bots that cared for them, without the warm blankets and soft-cribs of home, and crucially, without diapers.

Will they survive in this harsh land? Will they adapt to this new world order?

***

The airfield was stuffed with people. Some had their full vault-suits on, they were bright blue and gold onesies like mine. Only their bulky waists revealed the padding they wore beneath, or a leak-guard sticking out from the leg-holes. Others weren’t as shy, and had their onesie buttons popped open, or had rolled it up entirely for easy access to their puffy, yellowed diapers. In fact, I coudn’t see a clean diaper in sight. Most I walked past stank of more than one use. I realised suddenly that were already begining to ration.

Claudia and I had been traling behind Ellie as we all waddled over to the makeshift changing station. Ellie’s diaper stank something feirce, worse than normal which was impressive. As she began to unsnap her onesie, the smell only got worse. “You see Joe,” she continued, “Turns out Charmicheal sent you out of the Vault to look for help because he knew there was a radiation leak. Has been for months. Grrrgg, ah!”

Ellie struggled to unsnap the final button on her vault-onesie. “Don’t worry Ma’am, I’ll help!” Basil said, and his mechanical hand reached beneath and unpopped the button with ease.

“Thank you Mister Basil!” Ellie said. Her diaper fell beneath her, sagging there with a large bulk in the back where her mess was. I saw Claudia scrunch up her face a little, but I was used to the smell. Mostly.

Living in an enclosed vault, where people pooped their diapers all the time, did that to you.

“Anyways.” Ellie continued, “The rest of the Vault didn’t exactly love that he’d done that, and well... long story short, he’s alive, just not the Overseer anymore.”

“He’s still inside the Vault?” I asked, horrified that this man I knew all my life might be slowly dying of radiation, despite his betrayal.

“Oh, no no no. It’s all complicated, but—you’ll see soon I guess. The leak damaged a few of our other systems, electric and all, so we’ve all evacuated.”

“Wait ...” Claudia said suddenly, grinding to a halt. “Are all your diapers still down there?”

“Obviously not!” Ellie said dramatically. I couldn’t tell what Claudia thought of her, she only gave a little sigh, and seemed to relax in a similar way to when you make a messy in your pants.

“So, y’all brought them up here?” She asked.

Ellie gave me a look, and I decided to step in.

“Most everything in the Vault is recycled.”

“Even...” Claudia’s eyes went wide.

“Yup, even the dirtiest diapers!” Ellie grinned. She gave her padded butt a little wiggle. In the entire history of the Vault, she had been the only one that had caused the recycler to break before now. That, at least, had been fixed quickly.

Ellie spun and began toward the changing station again. “Until we get the Vault cleaned of radiation, we’re stuck without the recycler, so we’re rationing what diapers we have in storage.”

“Oh...” Claudia’s releived smile dropped.

She seemed dissapointed, even as we reached the makeshift changing area that had been set up. In some ways the station was very familiar, with all the supplies needed to changed a packed diaper, and bedrolls to lay on. Whatever spares that could be recovered were stuffed into the blue-painted wooden dresser common in the Vault, designed to lighten up the cold metal inside. Another familiar sight had been pinned to the side of one of the dresser.

A poster from the Vault changing room had pride of place above the bedrolls. The vault-tec mascot featured on it, in his iconic blue uniform and a very stinky diaper. His thumb was raised, and he said “Remember! Wear Protection!” These posters, or variants of them, were everywhere in the Vault. It made me a little sad to remember home and to see it so close, yet so far away.

The changing station itself was very simple in comparison to home. Four bedrolls had been set up in a line, with what looked like a large canvas sheet draped over four poles above it, to keep off the sun. Before Ellie began to lay down, she poked the rear of her diaper, feeling at the buldge of her padding.

“Mister Johnson?” Ellie asked sweetly, “I need a change pweeeeaaassee.”

From behind the makeshift shelter, came the oldest member of the Vault. He had grey hair, and his pale face was only more obvious in the sunlight. Surprisingly, he was wearing a clean diaper.

“Mister Johnson?” I said, surprised, “You’re on changing duty now?”

“Well, well, well if it isn’t little Joe Palmer. Was begining to think you’d never come back!” Johnson said behind a toothy grin, “Your mother’s going places y’know.”

“Looks like you are too!” I said, and opened my arms for a big hug. Johnson enveloped me back, a goofy old smile on his wrinkled face.

“Now now, while it’s nice to see you, someone should change Ellie here before she stinks up camp.”

I nodded, grinning, as Johnson pulled away. “That sounds like a good idea.” I said, then leaned close to Claudia, “Though before Ellie, Johnson always topped the Vault’s dirtiest diaper competitions.”

Claudia gave a little smile but she still seemed distracted, almost eager to get away somewhere. I decided to ignore it for now, this was a strange place after all, she was probably just in awe that such a civilisation could be living right under her feet this entire time.

“You seem to be clean now Johnson.” Ellie said.

I laughed. “He’s probably using his new job to steal diapers.”

Johnson’s expression dropped. “Listen here you little pipsqueak,” he said, but before he could continue, I heard Basil’s buzzsaw spin into action.

“No, no!” I said, stepping in between Basil and Johnson, who nearly fell back with terror.

“Why, he insulted you, Master Joe!” His attention turned to Johnson, “You want some, you little bugger? I’ll give it to you!”

“Woah, just, calm down! We’re just joking about!” I said, and although it took a moment, Basil settled down. His buzzsaw ground to a halt. Whoopsie. Maybe it had been a mistake to bring him into camp. “Basil, could you go over there? To the fence at the edge of camp for a bit? Don’t hurt anyone, but message my pip-boy if you see anything suspicous.”

The instructions took a moment to process, but he got there eventually. He gave a little salute, and said, “Yes sir! Right away!” Then, he floated over toward the fence.

“Sorry about him.” I said to Johnson, helping him back up. “He’s safe, I promise.”

“It’s fine, but you’re damn lucky I didn’t poop myself. Besides,” He lowered his voice and stared nervously at Basil in the distance, “I got at least five decades on you kids to earn the title of dirtiest diaper-messer. And, I’m doing my part to ration as many as I can now, unlike some people here ...” He tilted his head to Ellie, who went crimson. “This little one here’s gone through three in the past twenty four hours alone! Talk about efficiency.”

Ellie didn’t try to argue, she only shrugged. “When you gotta go, you gotta go.”Then she quickly sat down onto her messy diaper, ready for a change.

Whilst Jognson was getting prepared, I turned to Claudia. She still looked a little distracted. “Umm... are okay, Claudia?” I pulled her to the edge of the shelter, so we had some privacy.

“Yeah, fine.” she smiled wanly.

“Really?”

“Look, I’ll ...” she lowered her voice, “I’ll explain later.”

I wasn’t sure about that, but there was little I could do. If she didn’t want to tell me, I had to accept that. I wasn’t sure what else I could do.

When I turned back, Ellie was wiggling her butt against the floor. She had a far-away look, and she was smiling goofily and drooling a little. She seemed completely in her own world, just scooting back and forth in her mess. I knew that look well, she had always liked to play about in her mess. I remembered the days when we were younger, and Ellie would always try and make ‘poopie patties’ as she called them, sitting in her mess until it was as flat as a pancake. I had assumed she had stopped a few years ago, but clearly she’d just hidden it better. I have to admit, I may have done the same once or twice, but those days were far behind me now.

“Stop that!” Johnson said angrily, giving her a tap on the head. “You’ll dirty up thed changing station!” It was enough to snap Ellie back into reality.

“Sorry, I got carried away!” She said with an ever-increasing blush, “It’s been so long.”

Mister Johnson sighed and began changing her, muttering curses under his breath. As she was being changed, Claudia and I watched. “Why do you guys wear diapers?” she asked out of the blue.

“Huh?”

“You heard me, diaper boy.” she said.

I felt my cheeks flush. “Oh ... I guess I’m just surprised it’s taken you this long to ask.”

“Well, why do you wear diapers? Up on the surface they’re only for babies.”

“I haven’t really thought about it before. I guess we just stayed babies? It’s all I’ve known.”

“Did no one ever tell you why? I mean, did they all wear diapers pre-war, and us surface-folk just kinda forgot?”

“I don’t think so. My Grandpa didn’t wear them before the war anyways. We were always told it was for the good of the Vault, for our own protection.” I pointed to the poster on the side of the dresser.

“So you did it because your parents did it? And they did it because their parents did it too?”

“Well, yeah. We follow the rules of the Vault—it’s our duty!” I said proudly. “We do as the overseer says, and they know everything.” They just didn’t always tell you everything. Pain at Overseer Carmicheal’s betrayal stung badly. “Plus, they feel weeallly good when you use them.” I said, patting the front of my padding to emphasise my point. Claudia giggled at that, and for some reason I felt like I had one a medal.

When Ellie had finished, she led us to a group of large tents that had been set up near the army base, in the same bright vault-blue. Strangely, everyone seemed to be keeping their distance from the main building. Out here, the wind blew across the airfield, making the tents ripple, and giving me goosebumps. It would be nice to get inside.

When the flap of the biggest tent shifted, I knew it wasn’t the wind. Suddenly, my heart was in my throat, and I found my padding swell and realised I had wet it without really thinking. It had only been three days since I had seen my mom, but it felt like years.

A short figure came out from the dark of the tent, their hips bulky with diaper-padding. They had their sleeves rolled up to their elbows. “Mom.” I whispered. By the looks of it, she was right in the middle of things.

And by the smell of it, she was so busy she hadn’t yet had the chance to change her pants.

“Mom!” I said, barrelling into her for a hug. I was taller than her, and had to bend down to reach her. Mom managed to wrap her arms around me just fine anyways.

“My little boy! You’re back! I was so worried about you.” she said.

“I’m fine Mom! I’m fine!” I tried to pull away, but she didn’t let go. I snuggled into her comforting warmth. As embarassing as it was, it was nice to be home. Eventually, I managed to untangle myself and I heard Claudia and Ellie giggling. “I’m doing better than you guys by the look of things.” I said to Mom.

“Yes ... it does seem that way unfortunately.” Mom looked past me for a moment, and I realised she was looking Claudia up and down.

I cleared my throat loudly and without missing a beat Mom’s smile returned as if it had always been there. “Come on in, y’all are just in time. We’re going over what we know about the outside world, and we need someone to debrief us on the land up here. Maybe your guest could help us out?”

“Oh, yeah, this is Claudia. Claudia, this is Mom. I mean ... my mom.”

Mom went in for a hug from Claudia as well, but something about her seemed off, like she was all tensed up, and trying not to show it.

“Apologies for the smell, I haven’t found the time to change my diaper yet.”

“Oh thats fine, I--” Claudia went quiet, and I saw her eyes grow wide. And... was Mom whispering in her ear? When they seperated Mom was all smiley again, though Claudia seemed paler.

“Come on then.” Mom said, and she walked past me and back into the tent. I shot Claudia a questioning glance, but she just shook her head, followed Mom inside, and after a moment of confusion I followed her in too.

Besides Mom, there were three other padded butts in the tent. They were all gathered around an old wooden table and a map of the area before the Great War. Charles Montgomery, a man in his thirties, with his slicked back hair and a paci in his mouth, was at the head of the table.

Next to him was Florence Williams, Ellie’s mom, whose wrinkly face was twisted into a grimace. She was hovering closley over the map on the table, her eyes darting back and forth across it.

Lastly, and this was a shock to see, was none other than Ex-Overseer Carmicheal. He was handcuffed to a metal loop that stuck out of the concrete pavement of the airbase, and looked very grumpy indeed. The chain on his handcuffs meant he had very little movement, and I doubted he could leave the tent without help. Like Mom, he seemed in desperate need of a diaper change.

In fact, the entire tent smelt like stale pee and soiled diapers, really. It reminded me of one of the Vault’s nurseries, an oddly comforting smell.

“Joe, my boy!” Carmichael said, jolting up, “So good to see you son! I trust your adventure went well?”

I was at a crossroads here. I could go up to Carmichael like nothing ever happened, though it was silly to deny things had changed. Instead, I took a cue from my mother. I ignored the shabby looking man as best I could. If Carmicheal was annoyed, I didn’t even notice.

It was easy to ignore him anyways, as my eyes were drawn to the end of the table where a spare, clean diaper had been placed. It was neatly folded, and printed with patterns of teddy bears. Mom waved her hand for me to sit beside it.

“That’s for you my dear.” Mom said, “We thought you may need it after your time away from home.”

“It’s fine, Mom.” I said, “I’m clean for now.”

Mom nodded, but no one went to move the diaper. The other adults gathered around the table looking distinctly ... well, adult. It wasn’t surprising given the circumstances, but it did seem very strange to be around people behaving like proper adults in such a familiar environment. I was used to seeing these people suckle from a bottle, or crawl around in stinky diapers. Sometimes Florence or Ronson would give us lessons, but besides the lingering smell they all seemed so big. Grown up for the first time I had known them. I wondered if this is what it was like the last time the Vault had a major incident, during the Great Rebellion.

“So, kid, you have anything to report?” Charles growled. He seemed the most serious of the adults. “As you can see, we’ve had an adventure of our own since you’ve been gone, playing tea parties with surface dwellers.”

“Oh, don’t be so hard on him Charlie.” Florence said, and I gave her a grateful nod. I hadn’t seen this Charles guy around the Vault much, but he wasn’t making a good first impression.

“As it happens, I have a lot of information about the town nearby, what do you want to know?”

“Everything.” Charles said.

So, over the next hour, I filled them in on all the details of the valley. I told them how I had found the ruins of the pre-war world, and met Basil there. I told them about the town of Ashstone and nearby Victoria and Pinkelton to the south, and stressed that Claudia would know more. I told them how I met her, and about her talk with Mayor Dawson. Dawson. A growing anxiety grew in my tummy whenever I thought about her. She seemed freindly enough, but l couldn’t help but wonder how someone so kind had survived in the harsh world outside the Vault. Besides that, the name sounded oddly familiar.

“And that girl with you? Claudia? You said she’s from Ashstone?” Mom asked.

“Uh-huh, you should probably speak to her if you want to know more. I bet she could tell you.”

“If you could go get her darlin’.” Florence said. I nodded, and did as I was told.

Claudia was standing outside with Ellie. She looked a little nervous, shy in a way I had not seen before. “Are you okay?” I asked her.

“Yeah.” She said, though her eyes were wild and startled. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Maybe she saw the doubt on my face, because she tried to hide her nerves with a smile. Despite myself, I found it impossible to look away from her beautiful brown eyes.

“Joe?” She said, and I blinked.

“Oh, yeah, you’re wanted inside. They umm ... want to know about the area.” I said.

“Right.” She took a deep breath and we went back inside.

“Welcome to our little camp here, Claudia.” Mom said, and she beamed a smile toward Claudia. If Claudia noticed she ignored it. Mom gave me a strange look as I shuffled in beside Claudia, ready to back her up if needed. Why was everyone being so weird? Everyone in the tent—Mom, Charles, Florence and Carmicheal—waited for her expectantly.

“I ... Umm ...” Claudia hesitated. I could see the words buzzing in her mouth, but nothing would come out, no matter how much Claudia tried. There was an awkaward silence as they waited for her to continue.

“Can she speak?” Charles asked me loudly, and I felt anger rise in my chest. I didn’t know him well, but I was already sure I didn’t like him much at all.

“Well, Claudia’s from Ashstone. She knows their leader, Mayor ... Dyson? I think?” I said, deliberately getting Dawson’s name wrong.

Thankfully, Claudia took the bait. “Dawson.” she corrected me, and without prompting, she continued, “Dawson’s the mayor of Ashstone, her brother’s in charge of a nearby settlement called Victoria, and then Pinkleton to the West is run by a man who shares that name.”

Mom nodded, “Little Joe’s filled us in on some of that, but I was hoping to ask a few questions, if I may, dear?” There was a barely audible squish as Mom sat in her full padding, and she gestured for Claudia to sit as well, right by the fresh diaper I had refused earlier.

Mom continued, “Firstly, thank you for taking care of my boy, I owe you one for keeping him safe in this strange land we’ve found ourselves in.” She reached forward and patted Claudia’s knee, to all intents and purposes, a kind and caring face in a tense situation. But Claudia looked terrified. She had gone completley pale, and her eyes were wide like when Mom had whispered to her outside of camp.

Also, my Mom was hiding something. I knew her better than anyone else in the Vault, and knew when she was lying. There was something in her face that gave it all away. I didn’t like one bit of it.

“If I may, why are you here, Miss Claudia?” Mom said, “Are you just a kind soul who found someone lost and offered to help? Or are you here for more selfish reasons?” A part of me thought I knew what Claudia would say, that she saw how lost I was, and helped me find my way.

But Claudia’s eyes betrayed her. Mom spotted her glance toward the clean diaper before I did—all alone and waiting to be taped around a freshly cleaned tooshie.

I should have known. Hell, I did know really, I was just trying to trick myself into thinking it was anything more. It had been me who had offered her diapers in exchange for coming to the Vault, I had played on her desire to be padded. So why did it hurt so much to accept it? To these people, we were nothing more than big babies, and diapers were our only resource.

“Well ...” Mom said, “That’s a resonable desire, and certainly makes things easier.” She leaned back in her messy diaper, the familiar scent wafting into the tent.

Claudia, to her credit, didn’t even twitch her nose.

“I want you to take a message to your Mayor Dawson, if you do...” Mom placed a hand on the clean diaper, “Well, we may be able to get you what you want. Sound good?”

I saw the hunger in Claudia’s eyes as she stared at the diaper, and would be lying if I said I had never looked at one the same from time to time. “Sounds interesting.” Claudia said.

Mom’s smile returned, more genuine this time. “Good. I want you to say that we can offer arms and protection, medicine, and technical knowledge lost to your people.”

“We know you can offer us that.” Claudia said, “My people raid vaults all the time. You’ll hear a story now and then about some crackpot whose opened one and looted everything inside, or died trying.”

“Well, we’re offering the opputinity to gain access to those same resources without having to ‘die trying.’ How’s that sound? Failing that, I’m sure you’re famiiar with the concept of mutually assured destruction? Maybe more than we are.”

Claudia’s eyes widened even more.

I clenched my fists.

Mom saw all of this, and gave a big stretch and yawn as she stood up. Her diaper was flattened at the back where she had sat on it. “Good,” She said, “It seems some of the old world survived the bombs. I don’t want to do anything silly, dear. Just know that life for both of us would be improved with coperation.”

Finally, Mom slid the folded diaper over to Claudia. She didn’t take it at first, her eyes locked with my mom.

“Well, you don’t need to convince me.” Without looking down, she tentatively touched the diaper, her hand running over the soft, crinkly material. “I’ll take your message to Dawson, all right.”

***

We all waddled slowly back to camp. Claudia absentmindedly fiddled with the diaper in her hands, the two of us hadn’t really talked all the way back to our tents. Honestly I didn’t feel like talking. I wasn’t angry with her, just dissapointed in my own stupidity. I couldn’t find the stength to break through my embarassment.

Claudia seemed to be having trouble speaking to me as well. Sometimes she made made a face as she walked, as if she was about to say something, but she never continued beyond that. We walked between rows of smaller canvas tents, hundreds of them.

“Here we are.” Ellie said as she led us to our tents. There were three in a row, slightly apart from the others. “I set them up next to mine.” She looked at the two of us knowingly. She probably suspected something was up, but didn’t know enough to say anything yet.

“Thanks,” Claudia said, “They look really cosy.”

“Ah! Good afternoon Sir!” A robotic voice crackled from behind the tents, as Basil interrupted the quiet out here on the edge of camp. His spherical head twisted hapily, and he gave an excited buzz of his saw which was beginning to unnerve me less and less. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not, but I couldn’t be bothered to argue right now. “Doesn’t it feel good to be home, Sir!”

“This isn’t your home Bas.” I said.

“Uh oh, someone’s a grumpy baby!” He said to me, and immedietley I blushed as Ellie and Claudia giggled behind me. “Maybe you need some discipline!”

“No!” All three of us shouted as Basil raised his robotic hands for a spanking. I did not want to see the discipline he gave out, especially having heard tales of my Mom fighting off the Vault Nanny bots. I made a mental note to turn down Basil’s daycare settings later. Thankfully, he stood down.

“I only meant,” I clarified to Basil in a happier tone, “That you didn’t grow up in an airbase, right?”

“Oh, I know Sir, but it reminds me of the good ol’ days before the bombs fell and everything was blown to hell and back! A little camping trip with the family, and all that.”

“You used to go camping for fun? What was that like?”

“Oh it was wonderful Master Joseph. The Robinson’s were always so happy outdoors, in the fresh air. They even had a young one still in diapers like yourself! They loved her to peices.”

“I guess that’s how you got so good at changing diapers, huh?” Claudia asked. She had begun to unfold a blue Vault-tec sleeping bag.

“Oh, certainly, though I must say Joe’s diapers are a tad stinkier!”

Ellie burst into a fit of giggles again, and Claudia gave a little smirk, so I preoccupied myself with setting up the rest of my tent in an attempt to hide the never ending embarassment I had suffered today.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the airbase. Of course I wet my diaper again, though refused to tell Basil before we got his settings adjusted. Ronson, the Vault mechanic, was keen to help. “Hell, even if there’s nothing but a spark I still got something to work with!” The large man gave a belly-laugh. Claudia hovered about him watching curiously as he began to work, and I decided to give her space.

I had a long talk with Ellie about all the small things I had missed on my little adventure. Little bits and peices of gossip we normally talked about during feeding time in the Vault. When Claudia got back, she went over to Ellie to properly introduce herself, and neither come out for hours.

So, there I was. I lay silently in bed, listening to the hushed whispers in the tent beside mine, and the sounds of people working the airbase. Just as I began to drift off into a nap, I heard scuffed footfalls outside.

“Hey, Kid!” None other than Charles Montgommery shouted, “Come on out!”

I groaned and rose tiredly from my makeshift bed, expecting to get a lecture on my behavior earlier from someone I barely knew. I pushed the flaps of my tent apart. My onesie hung open and exposed my sodden diaper to the world, and it was then realised Charles wasn’t outside my tent at all. He was outside Claudia’s

With Charles were two other members of the Vault, and Florence Williams.

“Mommy?” Ellie said, emerging from her tent as well.

“Come here darling.” Florence opened her arms for Ellie, who fell into her Mom’s arms with a very confused look.

Charles shouted again. “Come out here, mutant.”

“Go away, doodie-head!” I said to Charles. “She’s under my Mom’s protection.”

Charles narrowed his eyes at me. “Your Mother is under our protection, so stay quiet, kid.” He turned to Claudia’s tent. “I said, get out here, mutant scum!”

Anger bubbled in my chest, and I clenched my fists to stop me doing something stupid. Claudia got there before me.

“The hell did you just call me?” Claudia said, finally emerging from her tent. She came out slowly, had a wild look, her face curled into a snarl. Her fists were balled at her sides as well. And visible around her waist, with nothing to hide it, was the clean diaper she had been given by Mom.

“You heard me.” Charles growled, and I had never wanted to hit someone so badly in my life. I held back, stepping just behind Claudia, letting her take the lead. She glanced back toward me, and gave a little nod of appreciation. Then that scary expression returned. It was the sort of face I imagined one animal would make to another when it was cornered.

Without a word, Claudia took a step forward. Charles and his group all inched back. Behind him, two guards had guns, which they gripped tightly. Boy oh boy, did I wish Basil was with me.

The stand off carried on for a few tense moments. I stared from Claudia to Charles, and back to Claudia, but when I looked back at her I noticed something I hadn’t before. She was wiggling ever-so-slightly, hopping subtly from foot to foot. Wait, is she..?

Her tense expression suddenly relaxed. She leant back slightly, her shoulders hunching, and her diaper sticking out at the front a little. I watched as her little desperate movements stopped. In the tense silence, there was a familiar sound, as clear as day. Hissing.

Her fresh diaper was only pristine for so long. Slowly, a yellow patch spread throughout the padding, crawling slowly up the front of her diaper from between her legs. If the hissing of her accident was quiet, Claudia herself certainly wasn’t. She let out an exaggerated moan of relief, followed by a long sigh. Her cheeks flushed, and she was biting her lip a little. All in all, it looked like she was in pure bliss.

I was so proud of her.

Like the growing warmth between Claudia’s legs, I watched as a large grin spread across Charles’ face. Eventually, Claudia finished up, pushing out a few final spurts of pee into the now very heavy padding as it swung a little under her.

There was a moment where everyone seemed to be confused about what had happened. I took the opputunity to move beside Claudia, and Ellie stepped away from her Mom and joined Claudia’s other side.

Mrs Williams was too shocked to speak. She only shook her head, dissapointed at Ellie and I. She strode quickly away, taking the two guards in tow. That left only Charles.

“Well played, girl. “You’ve earned my respect.” He gave a single nod and turned. Without looking back, he said, “But that won’t save you out here.” Then, he left, and his own full diaper swung behind him.

 

 

END OF CHAPTER 4

 

 

 

[illegal_alien47]

I checked this thread every day waiting for next chapter and i thought. What the hell does soon mean, is waiting for weeks soon? But at last you posted it. For me its currently best story being written. I like how people casually talk about diapers.

I did not play fallout games. Just seen vids on youtube.

Sad no one commented on new chapter, maybe more people would comment if it wasnt posted in completed stories section

 

[RawrJames]

DIAPERED TALES FROM THE WASTELAND

CHAPTER 5 - Mayor Dawson

 

War. War never changes.

In the year 2077, bombs were dropped across most of North America, wiping it away in less than two hours. But locked underground, protected from the blasts, some managed to escape into the safety of the Vaults.

Deep in the heart of Virginia, the town of Ashstone has managed to carve out a place amongst the wasteland. The ruthless and pragmatic Mayor Bryony Dawson oversees the town as its leader, the remnant of a powerful family that once had influence over the entire area.

Dawson would see the area thrive again, but there are those who would stop her. Will the threat of the newly uncovered Vault 86 put a stop her plans?

***

The morning came quickly. I awoke, as I normally did, to a soaked diaper around my waist. I didn’t have the chance to change yesterday, and with the entire camp rationing, I didn’t want to change if I didn’t absolutely have to. Slowly, I opened my eyes and rubbed away the sleep. My paci was attached to my mouth only by a thin sliver of drool, and I slowly sat up. As I did I realised my onesie was wet, and so was my sleeping bag.

Quickly, I jumped out of bed. There was a small wet patch where my diaper had finally leaked. Two dark stains worked their way from the legs bands of my diaper, and met in the middle of the padding.

“Poopie-butts.” I swore to myself. I flopped back down onto my pillow, trying to put off a change for as long as possible. Eventually, I realised I should probably just get it over with.

Even though my diaper was soaking, being coddled in the swollen padding, it and knowing I could get a change quickly, was such a comforting feeling. In the few days I had spent outside the Vault, I had already almost forgotten how it felt to be safe again. Here I was, wrapped in my sleeping bag, in a cozy tent, surrounded by my family again.

Well, I’ve already leaked, I thought, no point in holding back now. I got on my hands and knees, and quickly felt a rush of pee erupt into my diaper, taking up what little space there was left. Then, my stomach bubbled dangerously. I hadn’t made a messy since yesterday, and there was a big one brewing.

Knowing I needed to make the most of every diaper, now that we were rationing, made things happen quickly. I did not need to push, a few farts rumbled out into the wee-wee filled padding beneath me.

My mind fled suddenly back to last night, and Claudia’s showdown against Charles and Mrs Williams. Claudia had looked so tall and powerful, wetting herself like that. When I came back to my senses, I realised I was smiling, and my tummy was full of a strange fluttery feeling I couldn’t describe.

I didn’t know how much longer she would remain in camp. I guessed until we were able to recycle diapers again. I wondered if she would carry out what my Mom had said, or just use it as an excuse to run. So many thoughts rushed through my head.

Perhaps I should lighten my load a little. Yes, that sounded good. I gave another push, and out came another squeaky fart. Then, something more solid followed. Slowly, the soft mass of poop moved out of my butt and into my diaper. “Gnnn.” I grunted a little as a cramp hit. Instinctively I pushed again as my accident took hold without me needing to do much at all. I arched my back a little, still on my hands and knees, as my onesie began to stick out like a little tail.

When I was finally finished, a let loose a long, satisfied sigh, happy with the mess I had made. I fell back down into a sit and the fresh load I had just made squished everywhere, spreading between my legs and around my privates. It pressed against my leak-guards and felt so good when I squeezed my legs together and it shifted again. I spent a long while just moving my legs back and forth a little, and couldn’t help but let out little excited whimpers at all the wonderful sensations that it brought me. I began to think of Claudia too, and what it would look like if she messed her diaper with me.

I don’t know how long I spent doing that, but I was torn out of my fantasy for the second time this morning when I heard a gentle voice from outside my tent. “Joe? Are you awake?”

It was Claudia.

Immedietly I froze. Every crinkle of my diaper seemed like an earthquake it was so loud. Another voice, Ellie’s, followed. “Based on the smell and the moaning, I’d say he was awake.”

The two girls giggled, and blood rushed to my cheeks. When did I become so self-concious about going poopies?

“Come on stinkybutt,” Ellie said after a moment, “You’re not the only one who needs a clean diaper, come out and say good mornin’!”

Reluctantly, I shifted in my sleeping bag, and felt my sticky diaper peel away from my butt as I stood. I came out of the tent with my shoulders hunched and my hands in front of my soaked padding, doing my best to hide it as best I could. Ellie, who was wearing only a vault-tec t-shirt and her padding giggled again, though I noticed her distinctly heavy diaper swinging beneath her without a care in the world.

Claudia had already covered her diaper with her work pants, but it’s distinct buldge was just about visible. Ellie patted my butt as we passed, like we were still back in the vault. “What’s got you down in the dumps?” she asked when I didn’t do the same for her.

“N-nothing, I’m fine.” I said, trying not to look Claudia in the eye.

“Maybe you’ll perk up after you get changed. You normally do anyways.” Ellie said. She was right, of course. We had been neighbors all our lives, and she and Mrs Williams were like family to me. We knew eachother other as well as I imagined a brother and sister did. We knew eachothers habbits, how to tease eachother without going to far, and all of the other little things you get to know when you live so close to another person.

That had been why I was so surprised to see her mother’s attitude yesterday. I had never known Florence to be so cold-hearted. Things had changed around here. A part of me wanted to ask Ellie about it, but now didn’t seem like the right time. Especially not with Claudia right there.

I swore my diaper leaked even more by the time we reached Mr Johnson at the changing station. Pee had dribbled down my thighs, leaving a trail of dark spots on the sun-soaked concrete behind me.

“Mornin’ kids.” Johnson was already waiting with supplies for us. He took one glance at me and said, “Err Joe, you want to go first there bud?”

“I--” I glanced from Johnson, to Ellie, and quickly to Claudia, and quickly away again. “It’s not that bad.” I insisted, though I wasn’t sure I was even convincing myself.

“You absolutely stink Joe. And that’s coming from me.” Ellie said, and Claudia agreed with a nod.

“I said I’m fine!” I stamped my foot hard on the ground, trying to push away the embarassment I felt. The mass in the back of my onesie felt so obvious, so big and cumbersome. “I’m a big boy, I know when I need changies!”

Everyone went silent. As soon as I had said the words, I knew how childish they sounded. I groaned and buried my face in my hands. Why was I so embarassed? I had spent my entire life carefree, in messy diapers. Now, when we finally had the chance to show the outside world how wonderful it was to be padded, I wanted out.

Johnson quickly moved on. “Well, it looks like young Mister Palmer here wants to stay in his messy diaper a little longer. Come one Ellie, you best lie down.”

Ellie pouted a little but did as Johnson said. He wiped his brow, preparing for another long day of diaper changes. As I slowly lowered my hands from my face, I noticed Claudia had unbuttoned her khakis, exposing her buldged, yellow diaper ready for changes.

“You errr... are you getting changed too?” I asked nervously.

“Uh-huh. I ... peed a little.” Her rosy blush enveloped her cheeks and she kicked a stone aimlessly. There was a long moment of silence where neither of us were brave enough to speak.

Then we both spoke at the same time. “I’m sorry.”

And again. “You’re sorry?” We both blinked at eachother.

“You first?” Claudia said, and I almost forgot what it was I wanted to say.

“Um ... well, I wanted to apologize for bringing you here, and putting all that expectation on you so soon. It wasn’t right.” It felt good to say it out loud. I hoped this would go a little way to repairing the awkwardness between us.

“Expectation?” She raised an eyebrow, and immedietly I noticed her posture change.

“Yeah, I shouldn’t have expected you to help us without anything in return. That’s how it is down here, but not on the surface. I know that now. I should have known you were only wanted to come here for the diapers and respected that.”

It was unfair. I had been expecting things to work the way they always had in the Vault. I shouldn’t force my own ideals on the people already on the surface. I gave Claudia the biggest smile I could to show I meant what I said.

“I ...” Claudia paused. She didn’t smile back. I began to panic, immedietly regretting what I had said but not knowing why.

“But—” I continued, “It’s cool that you want to be padded. Diapers are great!”

“You really thought I was here just for the diapers?”

“Yeah,” I said, “You’re a surface dweller, why would you help us if there wasn’t anything to benifit you. It makes sense, I guess.”

“And everyone thinks that?” Claudia asked, her voice shaking a little.

“Well, based on your behavior last night, I think so.”

I was so sure I understood the people who lived on the surface. I was certain I knew their ways. Turns out, three days isn’t enough to learn about an entire group of people.

I saw tears begin to well in Claudia’s eyes.

“Claudia,” I said, my stomach dropping, “I’m sorry, I--”

Beofre I could ask what was wrong, she had turned and was running back to her tent. For some reason, I didn’t follow her. I only stood still and silent as she sprinted away from me.

When I turned back to Ellie and Johnson, they were both looking at me like I’d shot a puppy.

“What did I do wrong?” I asked.

Johnson shrugged, but Ellie groaned. “I think she’s dealing with some stuff.” Ellie said, cringing a little.

She got up quickly, gave me a kind pat on the back, and went to rush after Claudia. “I’ll go speak to her.” She said, and then she was gone too.

“Well, come on Joe,” Johnson said after I had watched them both leave, “We best get you out of that messy dip before you rush off after her too.”

I nodded, and glumly went to get my diaper changed.

“What did I say wrong, Johnson? I thought I was making things better.”

“Boy, I haven’t a clue what you said wrong. Like little Ellie said, the Surface people here are dealing with their own challenges. I think it’s more complicated than any of us realise.” Johnson taped up a fresh diaper. “Now,” he said, “If anyone asks, I didn’t say anything, but don’t bother holding back. You begin to leak, come to me, you hear? Better you’re healthy than you hold it in because of the rationing. You’re still not nearly as messy as Ellie. Damn kid could bomb an entire city with her loads.”

Johnson forced a giggle out of me, and I thanked him for the change.

When I finally got back to the tent, Ellie was waiting for me. It wasn’t until I got closer that I realised her eyes were puffy and red, as if she’d been crying herself.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, rushing over. I glanced to Claudia’s tent. Empty.

“I’m sorry, Joe. She’s gone.”

***

It was mid-afternoon before we finally set off for Ashstone. Charles and I had been chosen to speak with Dawson first, and I had convinced them to let Ellie join us as well. Hopefully whilst we were there we would be able to find out if Claudia was okay.

I had asked Ellie what she had said, but apparently she hadn’t returned to her tent at all. She had just up and left. I worried about what I said that could have hurt her. Ellie had some ideas. “Well, we were speaking last night, and she said diapers aren’t really accepted on the outside world. Maybe she was just overwhelmed?”

“Maybe.”

“And you did kinda say she was a selfish person for only thinking about the diapers.”

“I ... yeah.” I said, slowly replaying everything I said in excruiating detail.

“Good riddance, that’s what I say.” Charles said, leading the pack. A newly fixed-up Basil trailed behind us, making sure our diapered rears were safe. “Her stunt with the diaper was impressive, I’ll concede. But that girl was more trouble than good for us, I’ll tell you.”

Even though I still felt betrayed that she had just run off like that, I really didn’t want to listen to Charles’ stinkybuttface dirting Claudia’s name like that. She had been nothing but kind to us over the past few days, and we weren’t repaying the favor very well.

I managed to forget about Claudia for a little while as I tried to remember where I had previously heard Dawson’s name. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t guess where I had heard it before.

We followed the same route I had taken to Ashtone, having put my scans of the area to good use. Sometimes, I was pulled away from my thoughts by a mechanical hand unbuttoning my onesie, pulling back the waistband of my diaper and giving me a pat on the head. “All dry and clean, there’s a good boy.” He said, snapping the buttons on my onesie back together. Then, I fled back into my thoughts, the cycle of thinking about Dawson, then Claudia, then trying to distract myself from the pit in my stomach.

We were nearly half-way to Ashstone, in the heart of the forested area, when my Pip-boy began to click.

“Radiation?” I said, glancing down at the little green dial on my geigercounter.

When I looked up, I saw that Charles had paused on the road ahead. He spoke quietly, and very carefully. “Get your gun out Joe.”

His tone made me shiver.

I did as he said, and pulled out N99 pistol that the Vault had given me. As I raised it I heard another clicking noise, this time more organic. I searched the trees around us. In the distance, some ferns rustled.

“There!” Ellie shouted, and jumped to the side as a giant insect-like creature shot out of the bushes. I fired two rounds and it was dead, but more came--two, three, five of them, scurrying about like giant cockroaches. The clicking on my Pip-boy was now a constant drone as it detected the radiation these creatures were giving off.

Bang! Bang! Two more rounds fired, another insect dead. More of these things came at us as Ellie and Charles began to fire as well. I heard Basil’s buzzsaw activate as he carved through these things with a worrying glee.

One leapt on Charles, and for a moment I thought he was done for, but Ellie raised her arm and fired a round into the insect, and Basil finished it off with his buzzsaw. It fell into a pile of goop on the forest floor.

By the time they had finally stopped, we were surrounded by the bodies of these giant insects things.

“Thank you Mister Basil.” Charles said, wiping away what he could of the radioactive slime. “I was never sure about that buzzsaw, I must admit, but I’m starting to think it was a good idea.”

“Well, now I need another diaper change.” Ellie said, looking down at her squishy padding. “What are these things?” She poked one with her pistol. Like mine, her Pip-boy was a constant hum of clicks.

“Some sort of radioactive mutant cockroaches, I think.” I said. I didn’t want to stay here much longer. This place was giving me the willies.

Ellie seemed to have the same bad feeling about this place as I did. “Let’s get out of here, before more of those things turn up.”

I nodded in agreement and we resumed our long trek to Ashstone. I realised, as I began to pick up the pace, that my gait had turned into a waddle, and my diaper swung beneath me as we walked. I sighed. “Ellie, you’re not the only one that needs a change.”

Charles didn’t say a word for the rest of the trip. He seemed to be taking everything in, ocasionally glancing down at his Pip-boy. If he found anything, he didn’t mention it to us. To be honest, I was thankful that he was quiet. Had he yapped on, badmouthing Claudia, I might have had to punch him. Or shoot him. Or both, even if it meant getting told off by Mom.

When we arrived at Ashstone, the weight of all my thoughts was crushing me. The pressure on us to succeed here for the good of the Vault was huge. If we didn’t get this right, things might go down a very dark path for all of us.

I remembered the last time I was here, walking down this same road three days ago in the opposite direction. I had been with Claudia then. Somewhere, she was in the town. I felt if I only craned my neck enough I would see her somewhere.

But as soon as her face popped into my head, anxiety poured into my gut.

Unlike the other day, the gates of Ashstone were surrounded by a large crowd of people. I descretly told Basil to wait a little ways back. “I’ll call if I need you.” I held up my Pip-boy so he could see, “We don’t want to cause a panic.”

“Of course Sir.” He said, and then he was gone.

As we got closer, the crowd grew rowdy. I suddenly regretted sending Basil away. Armed guards stopped the crowd getting close to us, and they let us pass as we came through the gates of the town, even if they did give us strange looks. To be honest everyone was giving us strange looks.

I felt exposed, and more than a little embarassed, to be swaddled in a diaper and a onsie, so different to everyone around me. Ellie and Charles were both more ignorant of the outside world and didn’t seem to care about their clothing too much at all.

They were more worried about the crowd. “What the hell is this kid?” Charles said, and instinctually the three of us moved closer to one another to get away from the crowd around us. They all wore old mixed up clothing that reminded me of my crib’s patchwork quilt, except not quite as clean as that. If the Vault’s used diapers stank, then these people may as well have been bathing in a sea of them.

A dirtiness filled the air, mixed with sweat and engine oil. It was a very powerful smell, and Charles was coughing before we had even made it halfway down the alley this crowd had made for us.

It wasn’t long before we were in the very heart of town. Pre-war buildings with worn signs like ‘Run-and-Gun-Grill’ and what looked like a picture of some sort of horned animal half-falling apart were hung on one building, and a ‘Mall’ whatever that was opposite. The buildings formed a funnel toward a low-down building surrounded by a wall at the end of the street.

As we approached, I suddenly didn’t want to be here. Around us were more people than I had ever seen in my life, all squished together. I began to panic, trying to breathe but not able to catch enough air.

The crowd got thicker and thicker, and soon people were pushing against us, even against the guards. I tried to push back, but felt myself crushed further and further into the crowd, completely winded.

We were saved at the last minuite by a woman’s booming voice. “And just what is going on here?”

Immediately the crowd stopped. I recognised that voice. It was the same warm but distincly authoritiative tone that Mayor Dawson had used when she had spoken to Claudia the other night. The crowd began to part, and I saw Dawson fully for the first time. Her immaculate silver hair contrasted with her severe face, as if it was the living personification of the notoriously strict Miss Nanny bots back in the Vault.

Mayor Dawson had that same old-fashioned harshness about her, and I half thought that most of the town had probably been over her knee and spanked at some point, before I remembered that they probably don’t do that up here. Did they do that up here? Another thing to add to my growing list of anxieties.

Either side of us, the crowd mercifully formed a corridor. The town gates were at one end, the walled building at the other, where the Mayor and another figure beside her stood. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light. When they did, there was no mistaking who it was.

“Claudia.” I said under my breath. It was only a whisper, but I thought she somehow might have heard when she looked directly at me.

“Is that them?” Dawson asked her loudly.

She nodded.

“Thank you Claudia.” Dawson turned to speak with us. “Claudia here tells me you are ambassadors from Vault 86? And that you wish to speak?” She slowly began the long walk towards us. She was slow, and calm, as if all of time spun around her.

When the Vault was mentioned, the crowd broke out into hushed whispers. Dawson silenced them again with a booming chuckle. “Now, why on god’s ash-stained earth would I want to speak with a bunch of babies?” She walked towards us with a confidence I had never seen in my entire life. The crowd parted as she passed them, as if she had some strange magnetic effect. To me, in that moment, Dawson looked as powerful as the nucleus of an atom, the world shifting and distorting all for her benifit.

Claudia joined behind her. She had a strangely calm expression.

I was also surprised at how quiet Charles was being. Was he waiting to see what would happen?

Maybe that was the clever thing to do. Unfortunately, I was not a clever boy.

“Claudia! We were worried about you!” I said, and stepped forward. The guards who had been escorting us stepped towards me, but I stopped before they got too nervous.

Claudia didn’t respond, in fact she looked away from me. Dawson turned briefly, shot her a raised eyebrow, and came to a stop a few meters away.

“I have no time for silly games child.” Dawson said, almost as if she could sense something was wrong between Claudia and me. Maybe it was that obvious. Despite her harsh tone, a knowing smile spread across her lips. “If you don’t go back to your crib, we may have to put you to sleep ourselves.”

Laughter rippled through the crowd. I nervously stepped back to join Ellie and Charles. Don’t let her get to you. I am a big boy! I can do this! What was Dawson’s game? Was she testing us? I suddenly remembered what Claudia had said about the Mayor and her strained relationship with her brother. “If you’re not willing to speak, perhaps we can go to Victoria with our offer instead.”

Behind Dawson, I saw Claudia wince.

For a moment, Dawson’s smile flickered. “Now, now. I never said I didn’t want to talk. Maybe you’re not as little as I though you were.” She was silent for a long moment. She eyed me, Ellie and Charles, who stared back at her with matched intensity. Dawson was only torn away by Claudia tugging at her shoulder.

She let Claudia lean into her ear. Something was whispered though I couldn’t make out a word. Then the Mayor sighed. “You’re right, of course.” Without looking back, Dawson pushed past Claudia and began to walk back behind her walls. “Well, don’t you babies know how to walk?” She said to us.

I glanced to Claudia for an answer, but she shrugged, sighed, and followed Dawson. Me and Ellie were hot on her heels, but I noticed Charles linger. He glanced at the crowd, clicked something on his Pip-boy then joined us too.

The complex was well guarded. Fifteen or so soldiers lined the walls, each with a rifle in their arms. Even more of them were off duty, and walked about the inside of the walls, sitting around and chatting. More than one gave us glares as we passed them, and I was glad that my diaper still had a little more room for my anxiety.

Inside, the building felt like a slice of the old world. The beige floor was so shiny I could almost see myself in it. Rows of blue fabric-backed chairs led to a wood-panelled desk with the words ‘Family Medical Practice’ still hung up behind it. Two soldiers were behind the desk sorting through paperwork. It felt so strange to be in a building made of brick and wood, instead of the metal hallways of the vault, or the cobbled-together steel of Claudia’s home.

Dawson’s office was around the corner. It was smaller than the entrance, but maintained a high standard of clenliness. It was almost as if the bombs had never fallen. Her office desk was free of dust and ash and covered with potted plants in rusted-metal pots.

“Please, take a seat.” Dawson said, and Claudia and Chalres both took one of the two seats in front of the desk. I stood behind them with Ellie. Dawson held out a hand. “I’m Bryony Dawson, mayor of Ashstone.”

“Charles Montgommery, representative of Vault 86’s council.” Charles said, taking her hand. Me and Ellie did the same.

“Joe Palmer.” I said, and Dawson’s eyes lingered with mine for a moment before she sat back down.

“Claudia here has been busy it seems.” Dawson said, a smile flickering across her face. “Tell me, who are you? What do you want with my town?”

Charles clared his throat. “Trade, if you’re willing.”

“Your freind here,” Dawson looked at me, “Mentioned my brother’s place in Victoria. I can only assume that you were the one speaking to Claudia last night?”

My stomach dropped.

Claudia nearly jumped out of her seat, her face rosy with anger and embarassment. “How the hell did you know--” She began, but Dawson shushed her.

“Ah, ah, ah. I have my ways. This is my town. Remember Claudia, for the good of Ashstone, we don’t keep secrets like that.”

Reluctantly, Claudia sat back down. She kept quiet, although I got the feeling she wanted to scream and shout at Dawson in that moment.

“So?” Dawson continued, “Was it you, baby boy?”

I nodded meekly. Talking with this woman was hard. Dawson had a way of looking that could melt you instantly, a way of speaking that made you forget your words. In that moment, I felt like an actual child. I was helpless, small, knowing whatever I said would be an embarassment. I should leave the thinking, the speaking, to the proper adults. The adults who had been on the surface all this time.

As if she could sense all of this, Ellie stepped in to help.

“Joe’s mommy is the Overseer, our leader. Don’t mock him!”

Dawson’s grin exploded suddenly, and she fell into a fit of laughter. “Mommy! Ha ha! I’ve never heard anything so infantile coming out of an adult’s mouth before! How utterly pathetic.”

A blush had somehow covered my entire body. I wanted to slink into the shadows, back down into the Vault, and never come out.

“It just so happens however,” Dawson leant forward, placing her head on top of her hands, “That Joe’s ‘mommy’ is exactly the woman I want to speak to. You see, I’ve been interested in your little Vault for a very long time.”

I felt the tension in the room suddenly tighten. Claudia just sat there in silence, locked in the same mix of embarassment and fear as I was. Charles was silent too, though by the look of him, he was holding something back, though I couldn’t tell what.

The room remained silent, caught in Dawson’s spell. It was Ellie who broke it.

“How long have you known about us, Miss Dawson?” She asked, placing her hands on her hips.

“Longer than you’ve known about us, I assure you. Had you waited a few more years, or even months, I might have tried to come get you myself.” Dawson’s confidence seemed unbreakable, but Ellie smiled to herself.

“We don’t want to fight.”

“Ha! So you would have just given the Vault over?”

“I didn’t say we couldn’t fight. Just that we didn’t want to. It wouldn’t end well for you.”

Maybe it was Ellie’s complete seriousness, but Dawson’s confident smile seemed to falter.

“Relax kid,” She said, “I was just joking around. Oh, don’t get me wrong, we could have taken the place easily, but I prefer to talk as well. I have no wish to loose half of Blackstone trying to get into a Vault that, for all we knew, contained little more than drool-stained binkies and dirty diapers. It would be a shame to pass up on an oppotunity to get one over on my dear brother, and-- Atomics above! What’s that smell?” Dawson stopped talking suddenly, scrunching her nose.

Whilst she had been speaking, Ellie had become very focused, and had begun to make little grunting noises. From my position, I could see the familiar squatting position, her knees bent ever so slightly. She finished her dirty deed with a sigh of relief. The smell of a freshly pooped diaper quickly began to fill the room.

Dawson was in shock. “Did you just--?”

I watched as Ellie straightened and stood tall, proud of the load she had just dropped in her onesie. It almost seemed like she had done it entirely to spite Dawson. Had I needed to go, I probably would have followed her lead.

She gave a massive, smug grin. “That smell is my diaper, Ma’am.” she said, “I just went poopies.”

We all waited for Dawson’s response. Would she throw us out? Ellie had done the most babyish thing imaginable. Surely Dawson wouldn’t want to speak with us after that.

I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t the look of pure excitment Dawson gave. “Ha! Well I’ll be damned.” Awe dripped from her voice. “You actually do use diapers.”

We all looked at each-other in confusion. All except Charles, who looked very happy indeed. I had to step back. The feeling of anxiety became a sudden fear that shivered down my spine.

“So, you want a meeting? That’s all?” Dawson said, still smiling eagerly.

“A meeting plain and simple, for now at least.” Charles suddenly met Dawson’s gaze feircely.

“Where? I’m not going to your airbase.” Dawson said.

“Good, we didn’t want to be surrounded by your town either.”

I felt like I should say something, do anything to claw back some control. I blurted out, “The hill outside of Ashstone.”

I waited to be embarassed by my stupid comment, but to my surprise, both Charles and Dawson nodded in agrement.

“Yes. Yes, on the hill.” Dawson said. “You are not to approach Victoria or Pinkleton until then.”

Charles frowned. “Why’s that?”

“Ah…” Dawson stood, “That would be telling. So, I assume we have a deal?” Dawson held out her hand to shake again, and Charles took it. The deal had been made. “Claudia, if you could go with them, make sure they uphold their end of the deal.”

Claudia glanced to me, and nodded. Immediately another sort of fear returned. I realised suddenly that we would have to speak to eachother. Get whatever had happened between us in the last few hours out of the way.

All I wanted now was to get out of here, and back to the safety of camp. Maybe there we could set things right. Before we could get out however, Charles paused. “You seem very happy about this all of a sudden.” He said with that same curious confidence that Dawson had.

“Oh, I am.” Dawson leant back. Her gaze returned to that magic stare that made you melt. I found myself unsure whether to move or stay, so I ended up sort of hopping nervously from foot to foot as if I was about to flood my diaper.

“And why is that?” Charles asked.

“Do you know who I am, Mister Montgommery? Do you know what this place is? I am Bryony Dawson, Mayor of Ashstone. You know my name, but you do not recognise my family? Before the war, my ancestors helped to build this place. We got rich by making and selling our wares here, capitalism at it’s finest, something every freedom-loving American citizen dreamt of. We made a product that every pre-war family needed. Something so important that society could hardly function without them. Do you know what we made, Mister Montgommery?” A sly grin danced on Dawson’s lips. She leant forward, a fire lit in her eyes. Almost silently, but loud enough for all of us to hear, she whispered, “We made diapers.”

END OF CHAPTER 5

[RawrJames]

DIAPERED TALES FROM THE WASTELAND 
CHAPTER 6 - Power

War. War never changes. 

In the year 2077, bombs were dropped across most of North America, wiping it away in less than two hours. But locked underground, protected from the blasts, some managed to escape into the safety of the Vaults. 

Deep in the heart of Virginia, two communities prepare for war. Secrets haunt both sides, and tensions are rising, yet there are still those who fight for peace. But it may be too late, for another threat looms on the horizon, and war... war never changes. 

***

“Please, stay in Ashstone for the night.” Dawson said as she showed us out of her compound. Guards were everywhere now, as if they had been told to hold back until the negotiations had been completed. “The forest is dangerous in the dark. Mister Montgomery, you’re welcome to stay with me here. Claudia, if you would be so kind as to show these two back to your home and make them comfortable, that would be mighty appreciated.” Dawson didn’t try to hide her sly grin.

Claudia, however, seemed unfased. “Yes Miss Dawson.” She said, and gave me a knowing nod. Maybe things weren’t so bad between us after-all? I sent Basil a quick message to meet us there.

Charles caught my arm before we could leave. “Before you go, report back home with what we have. Tell them to arrive here at mid-day tomorrow.”

I nodded, unsure of why Charles was getting me to contact home instead of doing it himself. Before I had a chance to question him, he was taken inside by the mayor. “Tell me,” Dawson said as her voice faded, “What is it like in the depths of Vault 86?” And the doors shut before I could hear more. 

Claudia led us through a back-door to avoid the crowds, and quietly we followed back to her shack. I hadn’t realised how late it had become, the sun was already sinking in the sky. I had to stop and stare for a moment. The sun was so low it had become an brilliant disk hovering in the sky. Clouds of all shapes and sizes ran like mountain ranges just above the sun, and golden rays of light burst through through the haze in the distance. I could feel my eyes begin to water. 

“Come on you two!” Claudia insisted, and I realised Ellie was staring as well, eyes wide and slack-jawed.

“Do you see this every night?” Ellie asked. She was teary-eyed too, stunned at the magnificent sight.

“I goes on forever.” I said as the wind picked up. In that moment, I almost felt like it could swoop me up and take me up into the skies.

Claudia glanced to the sky as well, and despite her urgency, her face seemed to soften. The tension in her throat loosened. “Not every night. Some nights are special.” 

I found myself smiling at Claudia despite all that had happened. When she saw me, she smiled back. Suddenly the sun didn’t seem half as bright, not compared to that smile. 

“C’mon let’s go.” She said, and reluctantly, we carried on.

As soon as we got to Claudia’s place she shut the door behind us and I unpopped the buttons of my vault onsie, sticking out my butt. “Basil! Check my diaper!”

Basil’s eyestalk twisted to Ellie. “I don’t think it’s you who’s in need of a change, sir...”

“No, don’t check me for a stinky, I need you to check the label! Does it have the mayor’s name on it?”

As Basil floated over to check, the other two gave me confused looks. “By golly,” Basil said, poking my soggy padding, “You’re right sir! In tiny print, it says Dawson’s Diapers!”

I stood up triumphantly. “I knew it!” It had been bugging me for days now, but Dawson’s confession had been the clue I needed—a clue that had been branded on all of our diapered butts, and had been for the past eighty years. 

“All this time...” Claudia sunk into her couch. “All this time, she’s been the one making diapers?”

I shook my head. “Not her.”

“Nathan... Mayor Dawson’s brother.” Claudia gasped.

“Yeah, I’ll bet that’s where they’ve been getting your diapers from.”

The look of betrayl on Claudia’s face was palpable. “She never told us any of this.” Her hands were balled into tight fists.

“Well, what do we do?” Ellie asked, and me and Claudia locked eyes.

Suddenly I felt my cheeks grow warm. This was the closest the two of us had been in days, and the pain of making Claudia upset was still very raw. I couldn’t imagine how she felt. I wanted to say something and was going to speak, but Claudia looked as if she wanted to say something too. I decided to let her go first. She seemed to have the same idea and waited for me. In the end neither of us had the courage. There was only a long silence.

“I’ll go get us some tea.” Claudia said eventually, and awkwardly she got up from the couch. She dissapeared behind a blanket that had been set up to divide the rooms, some machine parts that had been stringed together and hung from the ceiling tinkled as she passed them. 

When she left, I asked Basil to wait outside and watch the shack for intruders. “Discreetly.” I added, remembering the last time I asked him to guard us. Then, when I was sure it was quiet, I quicklly scooted over to Ellie. The smell of her dirty diaper hit my nose immedietly, and I almost had to move away again. 

“Sorry!” She whispered, “The ration packs back at camp did not agree with me.”

“Leave getting changed any longer and you’re at risk of having a blowout.” I warned, and to my surpise, Ellie lowered her head in shame.

“It may be a little late for that...” 

“Oh, El.”

“I really had to go! Besides, Dawson deserved it. You heard the way that fartface spoke to us!”

I had to admit, it felt really good seeing Dawson’s face when Ellie had done her dirty deed. Still, she was long past needing a change. I got her to lean forward a little whilst I inspected the damage. Sure enough, Ellie’s mess had crept up the back of her diaper, and there was a thin brown stain on her onesie at the rim of her diaper. 

“Should I ask Claudia if it’s okay to change? How do surface people change diapers?”

“I guess ... I guess that’s up to you.” I said carefully.

“Still don’t want to talk to her huh? You know you'll have to talk at some point.”

I began to shake my head, but found myself saying, “I know.”

“Why are you angry with her? For leaving?”

“I’m not angry.” I admitted, “Not with her.” My tummy was churning just talking about it with Ellie, how was I supposed to actually talk to Claudia about it if I could barely handle that? “I don’t want to say something stupid again and make things worse.”

“Could things be any worse?” Ellie raised her eyebrow.

“She let us stay in her home, that’s gotta count for something right? I know Dawson said she should, but somehow I don’t think she’d listen to Dawson if she really hated us.” I didn’t know if I truly did beleive that or I just wanted to, but it was the only thing that made sense to me right now. 

Ellie shrugged noncommitally, and we both waited for Claudia to bring out our sippy cups.

Except, when she returned, she didn’t have sippy cups at all. She had a tray of what looked like cups from a toy-tea set we would play with back in the Vault. She handed one to each of us and strangely they weren’t made of plastic. I inspected the hot liquid in the cup. 

“This is tea?” I didn’t smell like how I imagined it. I lifted the cup to my mouth and gave it a sip. It was suprisingly refreshing. I took another sip.

“Yeah, mint tea, I make it myself. They don’t have tea in the Vault?” Claudia took a seat opposite and held the mug in both hands, somehow immune to the scalding heat.

“No.” Ellie chimed in, she leant carefully forward as if she was sat on a needle. It might have looked strange to anyone else, but I knew she was doing her best not to get her mess everywhere. Then we’d be in real trouble. “We drink milk.”

“Like ... from a cow?”

“No silly! From a--”

“Actually,” Claudia held up her hand, “I don’t want to know where from.” And she took a few sips of her tea to emphasise her point.

We sat there for a long while, in the silence of the evening. Claudia’s windows were still covered in tarp but the last of the daylight still shone through and lit the entire room orange. It was strange, despite the bright colours and carefully tuned lights of the Vault, everything up here just seemed so much more vibrant. Like someone had taken crayons and painted the whole world in sunlight.

When the sun had finally sunk I turned back to find Claudia staring at me. She quickly looked away, embarassed. Then, her expression shifted. I saw her nose twitch, her eyes dart around the room, before they landed squarely on Ellie. 

Ellie sputtered out a nervous chuckle. “Sowwy.” She said, her shoulders folding into her body. 

“Oh yeah, I forgot you pooped your pants in there.” She said. “Do you have spares?”

“In my bag.”

Claudia sighed, “Go get one then, and lie down here.”

“Are you sure?” Ellie asked, and Claudia shrugged, scrunched up her face before eventually landing on a smile and a nod.

“Yeah, come on.”

Ellie quickly pulled out a fresh diaper from her pack. It crinkled loudly, still crisp and unused, with a bright blue ‘Vault 86’ print on the front. And on the back, Dawson’s Diapers. They had been her’s all along, and we had never even known. What did that make the Vault? Did Dawson have a claim to it? Did she have a claim to our way of life?

“You too, Joe.” Ellie said, looking up at me from the floor. 

“Me?”

“Sure, you’ve changed loads of diapees.”

It was true, but the thought of working with Claudia was suddenly terrifying. A part of me knew that I was making a bigger deal out of this than it needed to be, but everything was just so confusing. My brain was a mix of emotions, from fear to excitment, to anger at Dawson. 

I slowly approached the two of them. Claudia’s hands hovered just above the tapes, glancing nervously to Ellie. “Umm...Claudia,” I asked, “Have you done this before?”

“Once or twice, but...” She looked down at Ellie, and the stinky mess she had made. “Only on myself. I may need help.”

“Okay.” I said, “But I need to do something first.” Quickly, I ran to my pack. Even with the chaotic departure this morning, I decided to pack Mr Fancypants for moral support. He had been patiently waiting in my backpack since then, and now I pulled him free. “You just sit here Mr Fancypants, and watch us.” I placed him on the couch so he had a good view. Now I could look to him whenever I got nervous. Oh boy, did I need his help now. 

I decided it would be best to get the apology out the way. Ellie was right, I needed to do this even if I really didn’t want to. I sat down beside Claudia and opened my mouth to speak. Here we go. but before I could say anything, Claudia was up on her feet again. 

“I’ll just get some water.” She said, as if she was oblivous to my anxiety. She probably was, or maybe she was just as nervous as me. I glanced up to Mr Fancypants, and as usual he had that stoic understanding about him. How did that fuzzy old bear stay so calm?

In an effort to distract myself, I began to unbutton Ellie’s onesie. “Jeez El, you really made a mess, didn’t you?”

Brown poop had somehow worked it’s way through the legholes and all the way up the back of her diaper, staining parts of her onesie brown where it had made contact. “Hehehe, sorry.” If her giggling was anything to go by, she didn’t seem too sorry about it. These sorts of accidents weren’t so common in the Vault, where the Miss-Nanny’s would change us whenever we needed it. Though, out of everyone I knew, Ellie certainly had the highest frequency of blowouts.

“Lets get this off you,” I sighed, and Ellie lifted her arms as I pulled off her onesie.

Claudia quickly returned with a bucket, and was greeted by a naked Ellie laying in only a dirty diaper of her own making. “Oh—I--”

“She dirtied the onesie.” I sighed, “I had to take it off.”

“I think I have a spare shirt around here somewhere.” Claudia said, but before she went off to find one, Ellie stopped her. 

“Don’t worry!” she said. It was common for everyone go without onesies in the Vault, especially when we felt comfortable around the people we were with. But something about Ellie’s look of disgust at the thought of wearing a dirty, possibly mildly radio-active shirt, made me think that comfort was not her main motivation. “I’ll be fine until it dries.” Ellie said.

Claudia shrugged and began to scrub away at the onesie whilst I ploughed ahead with the diaper change. When I opened the brown-stained padding, her stink hit us like a gust of fowl wind.

“Sorry, I ... I think this might be the worst it’s ever been. Maybe it’s all these ration-packs.” She seemed as surprised as us. “Listen, Claudia,” She continued as I began to wipe with a damp rag, “I’m sorry about my Mommy. She was a real meanie back in the camp, and I am really ashamed that she said those things to you.”

I listened silently as she spoke, suddenly thankful that Ellie had been the one to bring up the topic. She gave me a subtle, knowing glance. I suddenly felt even more thankful to have such a good freind as her.

“You shouldn’t be,” Claudia said, getting the last of Ellie’s poop out of her onesie, “Your mommy isn’t you.” 

But were people the product of where they came from? I couldn’t stop the thought worming it’s way into my head. I had come to realise that we really were all just little children out of their depth. Our lives were being run by mechanisms beyond our understanding. What other secrets were deciding our lives for us?

Dawson had known about the vault for at least her entire life, and she had chosen to withold that information from her own people. Was Claudia, from this strange, selfish people, just like Dawson? No. Somehow I knew that couldn’t be the case.

I got so lost in my thoughts, I almost didn’t hear Ellie speak up. 

“Thank you for helping us tonight, it means so much, doesn’t it Joe?” She gave me a look.

“Uh-huh.” I nodded. Ellie’s tushy was nice and clean now. I put the dirty rag aside and unfolded the fresh diaper. 

“It’s nothing...” Claudia said quietly, but slowly she continued. “It’s just, nobody has ever welcomed me like y’all have. For the first time, I felt like I belonged somewhere. Like I had a purpose again. A ... home.”

“Isn’t this your home?” I asked.

“Sure, sometimes. But it ain’t the same. I didn’t choose this place, this town. Sure I grew up here, but that don’t mean it was any sort of home. I’ve done the best I can but ...” She trailed off.

“...but, when you found us,” I continued for her, “You found a true home.” For once I wasn’t nervous, I knew what I had said was true.

Claudia nodded, and smiled. 

“I’m so sorry.” I said, “I should have realised sooner.”

“You thought I was exploiting you?”

I nodded hesitantly. “But I was wrong to think that.”

“No,” Claudia’s eyes grew intense, “I would have thought the same were I in your postion. Besides, you can’t have known I had found a home with the Vault, because I didn’t even know it at the time. Not until you said what you did back in camp. Thruthfully, I was surprised at how much your words hurt.”

I felt as if I had taken a dagger to the heart.

“Then, the only thing left was to come back here to see if what you said was true. I had to see if I felt at home in Ashstone, to get rid of my doubts. When I got back, I realised my mistake.” I could see tears welling up in her eyes for the second time today, something I would never have expected from the hardened mechanic I had met a few days ago.

Without thinking I launched into a hug, wrapping my arms around her. Claudia jumped, but seemed to relax in my arms. “Sorry,” I said, “Is this okay?”

Her answer was to respond in kind. I felt her arms under mine, wrapped comfortingly around me. It was in that perfect moment, embracing eachother as if we had been freinds all our lives, that I realised a truth--our lives were our own and no-one elses. 

That began with our diapers. From the moment we taped them around our waist we claimed any one diaper as our own. When we used them, we put our own mark on them, a little bit of ourselves. Ellie, Me, even Claudia. Everyone who chose them had as much a claim as Dawson did.

The same was true with the people we met. We choose who to give a little bit of ourselves too, who to keep close and who to push away. I chose Mommy, Ellie, and Claudia. They were my family.

We stayed there, pressed as close together as we could get, until Ellie cleared her throat. 

“Guys, this is sweet and all, but if you could finish changing me first... then we should probably call the Vault before they get worried.”

Slowly, we both looked to Ellie. Oh no.

Claudia had Ellie taped up again in moments, whilst I dialed the Vault through my pip-boy.

“Joe?” Mom’s voice crackled through the speaker.

“Hey Mom!”

“Joseph Richard Palmer, why haven’t you been in contact?” Mom’s voice almost blew out the small speakers on my Pip-boy. Pehaps we should have made contacting the vault a priority... whoops.

“Sorry Mom...” I said, suddenly feeling a little upset at myself.

“We were so worried about you! I was worried about you! Tell me you’re okay now?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. Ellie too.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re all okay, but you were a naughty boy for not telling us sooner. Never do that again!”

“Okay.” I said, and when I looked up I saw Ellie and Claudia stifling giggles.

“Now, tell me everything that happened.”

We spent the next five or so minuites doing just that. We told Mom about the town, about the negotiations with Dawson and about her family connection to our prized resource.

“I see.” Mom said after we had finished. My Pip-boy went static as she considered all we had told her. Then it crackled back into life. “Does she have any motivation, do you think?”

“Not that I can tell.” I said, feeling a little deflated. “Though she seemed angry when I mentioned her brother in Victoria.”

“Mmm. We’ll do some digging here and find out what they might want. It’s going to be a long night. Where are you now?”

“Claudia’s” I said.

My Mom paused. Then she said, “Honey, are you sure that’s safe?”

Without thinking, I said, “Yes, I trust her with my life.”

“Is she there with you now?”

“Yes.” I looked up at Claudia, her eyes were glittery and wet, and there was a big smile on her face. I gave her an encouraging nod.

“Miss Claudia, if my little boy trusts you then I do too.” Mom paused again, adding gravitas to her next words. When she said them, they came with a power few could convey across a little radio speaker. “Congratulations, little one. You’re an honarary member of Vault 86.” 

When I glanced to Claudia again, I could see tears rolling down her cheek.

“Now get some sleep, all of you.” Mom said, “I love you, my baby boy.”

“Love you too.” I replied, and just like that the line cut out.

We sat there in silence a moment, until Claudia spoke quietly. “Did she mean it? What your Mom said about me being an honarary member?”

“Of course.”

“And do you ... really trust me?” There was a sincerity to the way she spoke. She wasn’t angry at all, there was only hope in her voice.

“Always.”

We all sat in silence for a long time. It wasn’t that we didn’t have anything to say to eachother, more that it didn’t need to be said. An understanding, deeper than anything I had felt before, fell upon the three of us that evening, a harmony that I knew would never break.

Eventually I felt my eyelids grow heavy, and slowly I fell asleep on Claudia’s overstuffed couch.

***

Ashtone’s siren woke me up with a start. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and details came to me slowly. I realised that my paci had fallen out during the night again. I was clinging tightly to Mr Fancypants. It had been the best sleep I had gotten in a long time, especially since being on the surface. I’d slept like a baby.

Only when I finally sat up did I realise that my diaper had leaked again. In all the drama of last night, I had forgotten to change it, that combined with my heavy sleep... Well it was more than a little soaked. From the back door of her shack, Claudia stumbled in, still half asleep. 

“Damn sirens.” she said, and then paused, noticing me, and smiled suddenly. “Wakey wakey, little baby.”

“Claudia? You’re up early.” I said, then popped my paci back in my mouth to calm my nerves. Today was going to be busy, and stressful. 

“Yeah, I had to take care of some business out the back.” she seemed oddly satisfied with something, though I couldn’t tell what. She walked around in just a diaper and a vest, having thrown her khakis on the floor somewhere. “Oh, it looks like you had a leaky accident, huh?”

“Yeah...sowwy...” I said. “I fink I stained your cowch.”

Claudia waved a hand, “Oh, it’s fine. That couch has seen far worse than a little pee-stain I’ll tell ya. Come on, let’s get you changed. We should probably see what the racket’s about huh?”

I nodded shyly, but let Claudia guide me off the couch and onto the floor, before she got to her knees.

She had gotten quick at changing diapers. Soon, she had me completely wiped down and was taping me up again. “You sure did a number on this thing.” She had wrapped the used diaper into a tight little package, and was hefting it in her hand. “Who knew pee could be so heavy?”

My face burned with embarassment, and I had to shut my eyes to escape Claudia’s teasing smirk. Yet, I couldn’t help but sport a mad grin. “I’m surprised you’re not leaky yet!” I said.

As if feeding off my own embarassment, Claudia’s face went crimson, but she didn’t shy away. She gave the front of her diaper a pat. “It is looking a little yellow...” She said, deliberately hovering her wet waist near my head and giving it a pat. “But I’m sure it can hold a little more. Besides I doubt you would know how to change one of these. You can barely change yourself, diaper boy.” 

I almost squeaked out of embarassment, but managed to control myself. Taking time to recover, I watched silently as Claudia went over to her workbench and reached for her new project. It was a big weapon, a long, fat barrel with a big wooden stock at the other end. I had fallen to sleep last night with her still working on it. It looked ridiculous in Claudia’s hands, but she seemed completley comfortable with it.

“It’s an old assault rifle,” she said, noticing my questioning glance, “My Dad got it years ago when he was stationed in the North.”

“Wow, does Ashstone have a lot of weapons?” I asked, suddenly a little nervous.

Claudia noticed my anxiety. “Oh, Don’t worry. We’re practically using spears nowdays, only Dawson’s guard have weapons, maybe one or two others besides myself in town. When I was little, my father helped to fight of the Pinkletons you see. They came to raid Ahstone, and he was in Dawson’s guard. We held them off but he ...” her voice cracked a little, “He died in the fighting.”

“I’m sorry.” I said, “My Daddy died fighting alongside my Mom. I was only little, and don’t really remember.” I said though that wasn’t entirely true. Sometimes I thought I remembered details of my Dad, little things. His voice, a lullaby in the dark of the vault...

“There was fighting in the Vault?”

“Uh-huh. Some of the Miss Nanny’s designed to take care of us malfunctioned, and tried to kill us. But people like my parents, and Florence, fought back. 

“Holy shit. I ... would never have guessed.”

“Yeah...” I said, though my mind drifted elsewhere. “Thank you, Claudia. For all your help.”

Claudia’s face lit up. “Now that I’m an honorary member, it’s my duty to help the Vault now too!” she said, patting the front of her diaper. “Just like it’s your duty to go wake miss drool-puddle up.”

We both giggled and I looked over to Ellie. She had fallen asleep with her diapered butt in the air, and had in fact drooled all over Claudia’s carpet. I gave her a poke, and she jolted awake.

Before we left for the hill, each of us prepared our weapons, and Basil gave each of our diapers an inspection. He deemed each of us clean enough to go out, “Your diaper could do with a change, Miss Claudia,” he said, as Claudia pulled her khaki’s on, “But if you promise to be a big girl, and not have any more accidents, it can wait until later.” 

This made Claudia blush. A lot. 

She was the first out the door, her assault rifle in hand. Me and Ellie followed behind her. It was almost like having an armed escort. I felt suddenly braver, as if the three of us could take on the world single-handedly.

“Ah, there are the babies!” Dawson called to us as we made our way down the street. She had gathered a small group of guards around her. The crowds had come out again as well, though Dawson had better prepared to hold them back this time. More guards pushed the crowds to the side to let us through. The number of armed men and women made me a little nervous, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it had also been an elaborate power-play by Dawson.

“Where’s Charles?” Ellie said. It took me a moment to realise that he wasn’t with Dawson. 

Dawson grinned. “He’s gone to meet your Vault. He said it was urgent.”

I scowled at Dawson. “We should be going as well.” I turned, and was met by one of the guards, her rifle held threateaningly before her.

“Now now,” Dawson said, “I never gave you permission to leave.” She placed a hand on my shoulder and came close to me, whispering in my ear. She had that tone of voice that made me feel small again, helpless. “I know you want to go home, baby, but you can meet your Mommy when she arrives later today. I’m sure you can be a big boy and wait that long?”

“We’re not your hostages.” I said barely louder than a whisper.

Her tone suddenly shifted. “No, you’re not.” She moved back and spoke to the three of us now, “I prefer the term ‘under my care.’ You’re all babies after all, and the world outside is dangerous. If anything happened to you, the negotiations will dissolve.”

Ellie looked at me, and I sighed. Unfortunately, I had to accept that this time Dawson was right. “Fine.” I said, “We’ll stay with you for now.”

We followed Dawson and her guards to the edge of town. People lined the streets to see us off, and bodly, I decided to unpop the buttons on my onesie. I got a glare from Dawson, and a curious look from Ellie, but neither said anything. I belonged in diapers, I had claimed them, so why should I hide them? I told Basil to go and tell my Mom we were all right, then wait for us near Ashstone. “Very good sir.” he said, and then he zipped off. 

As we came out of Ashstone, the smooth roads were replaced weedy, lumpy concrete. Tall thistles and grass had mostly grown over the streets, making it more difficult to walk. Added to this were the steep hills we had to climb. Claudia came up beside me just as we were going up the hill we had picked for the negotiations.

“How are you going so fast?” She said, out of breath. “It’s impossible to walk in these things!” She gestured vaguely to her diapered waist. She did have quite a stiff waddle to her movements, one that came with the unpracticed diaper-wearer.

She raised an eyebrow when I giggled, and I quickly covered my mouth. “Sorry, I guess the Vault diapers are slightly thicker than you’re used to.”

“You’re fighting to hard.” Ellie said from Claudia’s other side. “We spread out legs a little wider and embrace the waddle. Lean into it. See, look at Joe.”

I demonstrated for her with an exagerated waddle, my crisp-white padded butt sticking out behind me as I climbed the hill. 

“Haha, okay, okay I get it.” Claudia said. “Like this?” she gave it a go, and immedietly she seemed more comfortable.

“Exactly!” I said, and began to speed up beside her. Claudia quickly got the idea and soon we were racing to the top of the hill. By the time we got to the top, the two of us were giggling madly. 

“Joe?” A familiar voice said.

I spun around to face my Mom. She was already at the top of the hill, standing right there with a crowd from the Vault. 

My heart jumped in my chest, and I ran toward her. “Mommy!” I shouted and opened my arms. I almost smashed into her, but she didn’t mind. Her arms around my chest felt so comforting. Our hug lasted until Dawson’s calculating voice broke it.

“You must be the Overseer?” she held out a hand for Mom, like she had for us yesterday. 

I gave Mom a warning glance. Taking note, Mom hesitantly took Dawson’s hand and introdudced herself. “Alice Palmer. Pleasure. You must be Mayor Dawson.”

“Please, call me Bryony.”

Mom nodded. “It’s one heck of a place you have here.” 

“And you have a clever little group of messengers.” Dawson nodded towards us, and I couldn’t help but catch the condascending tone in her voice. 

Mom seemed to ignore it, and raised her head a little, gushing with pride. “Oh, I know, they’re our very best. Why don’t we sit down?”

Two chairs had been placed either side of a small table. Dawson sat behind one, and Mom sat behind the other. I stood behind Mom, with the rest of Vault 86. All of them were dressed in onesies and diapers, some of which were far from clean judging by the smell.

Opposite, important people from Ashstone gathered behind Dawson, so confident and adult. I craned my head to see if I could spot Charles, but he was nowhere to be seen. Strange. Dawson also seemed to give the members of Vault a once-over.

“So, let’s get to business.” Dawson said after both parties had settled, “What made you come up to the surface now? Why not just stay in your little bunker forever? You seemed to be doing quite well down there.”

“A change of scenery.” Mom said, and the corner of Dawson’s mouth twitched. The two of them seemed to be studying eachother, locked eyes. The tension between the two was electric, and terrifying, like a bomb that could explode at any moment.

“Quite the risk for a group of oversized babies to take.” Dawson leaned back. She seemed completely in her element here, completely in control. 

“It was a risk,” Mom said, “But fortunately we have freinds on the surface willing to help.”

“Ha! If you beleive we’re freinds you’re more naive than I thought.”

“Perhaps we can change that. You seem to be in need of some freinds at the moment.”

“What makes you say that?” Dawson narrowed her eyes.

“We’re fully aware of life up here, how dangerous it is. We’ve been gathering data for a while to assess whether it’s okay to come out of the Vault. Also, I’m well informed that there are two rival settlements near here that are not very kind toward you.”

For the first time since I had met her, I saw genuine rage on Dawson’s face. She hadn’t lost control, but her confidence had become focused into a beam of pure anger. “Collecting data?”

“Yes, apparently for many years now--”

“You know what life is like up here and you still never came to help us? Ha! And you come offering freindship.”

Mom seemed offended. “How dare you--” she stood, and Dawson rose to meat her. The two leant angrily over the table. They were practically spitting at one another.

“Let me tell you a little lesson.” Dawson said, rage fuelling her voice, “You can only be afraid of the surface—radroaches, raiders, super mutants—for so long. Eventually the twisted reality of life becomes so normal you just go along with it without thinking. Children are born into this world knowing nothing of what came before, to them, this sick place is normal. Can you imagine how that feels?”

Dawson waited for an answer, but Mom stayed quiet, too stunned to speak. 

“No.” Dawson continued, “You’ve been hiding in your nursery for the past hundred years, wasting away time pooping your pants and sucking on binkies, too afraid to help the surface world, even with all that untouched pre-war tech. You’ve had an easy ride, let us do all the hard work. And you want to negotiate? Ha!” Dawson sat back down, a deep defeat in her voice. I had the sense that this was the woman behind all those masks, this was the real Dawson we saw before us now. Or as close to it as we could get.

And I felt sorry for her.

Mom stared down at the table, a deep shame across her face. 

Then Dawson turned to me. “And let me tell you something kid, something even your own Mother hid from you. When these guys took over your Vault, they found something your old Overseer was keeping from you. Charles told me himself. Vault 86, it was all a big experiment! How stupid is that!”

It felt like the entire world paused around me in that moment. Dawson was looking at me, exasperated, Claudia glared at Dawson, and Ellie looked as confused as I felt. I couldn’t see Mom’s expression. 

“No.” I whispered. “I don’t beleive you.”

“Oh yes.” Dawson smile was savage. “Originally, your Vault was designed to be a creche for infants, but when so many adults came to stay, the leaders of your Vault pivoted. You were all given diapers to mess around in, cozy little cribs and pacifiers to make you pliable. Soft. Your every need was taken care of--changes, feeding, entertainment, all of it. Completley carefree. They wanted to see if you could survive on the surface after being pampered so long. Vault 86 was designed to be a paradise, kid. Designed to be the opposite of this hellscape.”

“No!” I shouted. I knew it couldn’t be true, Dawson was lying. There was a moment’s silence, and I could see Mom’s face boiling with silent rage. “Tell them Mommy!” I shouted, “They’re just trying to get inside our heads! Tell them they’re wrong!”

Mom didn’t look at me. For some reason, her lack of aknowledgement hurt more than anything else, even what she said next. “I can’t.” She whispered.

“Why not?”

“Because ...” Her face twisted, “Because she’s right, darlin’.” Mom was smiling, or maybe grimacing, and tears were rolling down her cheeks. “I didn’t get the chance to say last night, but she’s right.”

My chest tightened. I felt myself heaving, on the verge of tears. How could they have kept this from us? “When did you find out?” I asked. 

Mom looked over to Florence, who had made her way to the front of the crowd, and was glaring at Dawson. I still couldn’t see Charles anywhere, but the rest of the Vault were whispering to eachother. Even they hadn’t known. Eventully, Mom seemed to decide that the only way to get through this was to tell the truth. She took a deep breath, and stood.

“Whilst we were going through Carmicheal’s records, we discovered that our vault was indeed intended as an experiment. This information was kept from us until a few days ago.” Gasps and more whispers spread through the members of the Vault who had gathered here. I could see shock on some of their faces—Jamie, August, Mister Martinez, and the other faces I had grown up around. “I am sorry for not telling you sooner, but we had to be sure that we could get through it. Well, I beleive now is that time. We will get through this. Do not forget,” My mom raised her voice, power streaming from her every word, “Do not forget the struggles we have been through. We may have lived in ignorance, but we overthrew that old system. We’re here now, and we will be here in the future! Only through teamwork, by banding together again, will we get through this.”

Despite her height, my mommy seemed as tall as anyone else in Ashstone then, taller even. Then she turned to Dawson. “How dare you try and tear us apart. I don’t know what Charles told you, but maybe it’s time we gave you a history lesson. The people who made the Vault never intended to test us on the surface. Their test was inside the Vault. In those records we found--” her voice cracked, but she continuied, “We found that they designed the Miss-Nanny’s and Mr-Handy’s that took care of us to malfunction, so they would begin to attack us instead of helping us. They wanted to see if we were strong enough to survive. Well guess what. We were.”

I had to take a step back, and saw Mom take in a deep breath, steadying herself.  

“So many people were killed.” Her voice went quiet, and I could tell she was thinking about Dad. But then, she stood tall again. “Yet we fought back. I fought back. We fought a hard and bloody war, that we survuved. So you see, we may not understand the dangers up here, but do not think that we have not had to fight for our way of life, Dawson. And if needs must, we will do it again!”

Both sides were stunned into silence, quieted by her words. I was so proud that those words had come from my Mommy.

I looked to Dawson, expecting some sort of sarcastic response. When she answered however, it was like a bucket of water had extinguished all the conflicting emotion inside me.

“I’m ... sorry.” Dawson said, “I didn’t know.” In her eyes, I saw she had a newfound respect for Vault 86. I looked back at the small crowd of diaper-clad people. Yes, we were babies, all of us, but we were also so much more than that. We were survivors as much as the people of Ashstone. 

Then, Dawson cracked a smile. “You fought of Mr-Handy’s in diapers.”

“Full diapers, sometimes.” My mom said, smiling tiredly. 

Dawson actually laughed. She gave a little chuckle, the most genuine thing I had ever seen from her.

But Mom wasn’t done yet. “Listen, whoever did this, whoever trapped us inside, and you outside, they’re the real enemy. We should not be fighting each-other. We are your people now, and you are ours. We’ve always been here. Now it’s time to acknowledge that.”

There was a pause, as Dawson seemed to consider this. Her eyes were still locked with Mom’s, and I couldn’t tell exactly what she was thinking, what she was going to say. I realised I was holding my breath—everyone was, waiting to see what her answer would be.

“Yes...” Dawson said quietly. There was a collective breath as Dawson gave her answer. “Yes, perhaps...”

The crowd behind Dawson parted suddenly as people let through an elderly man. None other than...

“Rodgers? What in the blasted atom bomb are you doing here?” Dawson grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt.

“Town!” He heaved, totally out of breath, “Ashstone! It’s under attack!”

We all turned to Ashstone. Suddenly, I heard the pop of gunfire echoing down the valley. Another bang was followed by a flash, then smoke from one of the buildings. Oh no.

Dawson turned on us. “What have you done?!” she said accusingly.

“This isn’t us!” Mom shot back, “But we can help! If we don’t move now, you’re done for!”

Dawson brought out a pistol from her belt, and there was a brief moment where I thought she was going to shoot my mother.

Instead, she cracked a smile, turned towards Ashstone, and shouted, “Prove yourselves to us then! Let’s see if Vault 86 is all it’s made-out to be. To arms!” She led her troops down towards the town.

Mommy gave me a look, I nodded. 

Then we joined Dawson, and went to fight for Ashstone.

END OF CHAPTER 6