Randall Clark aka The Survivalist | Fallout Lore

before the great war randall dean clark had served with the united states army and had been one of the many unfortunate souls to have been deployed to annex canada while there he witnessed things that no one should have to see entire families fighting killing one another for food and soldiers executing those that refused to cooperate when the killing was done and canada had been successfully annexed clark was sent home leaving the battlefield behind but also taking his atrocities with him the nightmares of war forever embedded in his mind to escape these memories clark found himself wandering into the wilderness to hone his survival skills for multiple days and sometimes even weeks at a time clark would leave his family in salt lake city his wife charlotte and his son alex who thanks to these frequent excursions would hardly ever see him the husband and father who had left for the war had returned a stranger but no matter how many times he would run off into the wilderness to distract his troubled mind with survival he always came home and it was on that fateful day october 23 2077 as clark was driving home from his latest bout of survival training where the world was forever changed everything appeared to be normal but then the truck he was driving came to a sudden stop and so had the chryslers in the other lane both vehicles had mysteriously stopped working although he was uncertain he was fairly sure he knew what was going on what he and the people in the other lane had just experienced was an electromagnetic pulse or emp fearing the worst clark turned to face away from the city he covered his eyes and braced himself for what he thought would come next and within 60 seconds a nuclear warhead had touched down at salt lake city blinding the couple in the crisis who by chance had been facing that direction their ragged screams filled the air and for several more minutes the bombardment continued clark remained covered and proceeded to count a further 13 dreadful detonations almost 30 minutes later when he was sure that the bombardment was over he lifted his head and stepped outside the first thing he saw was a globe of fire where salt lake city had been he knew right there and then that his family was gone the chances of surviving a direct strike from a nuclear warhead was unlikely impossible even so clark focused on the now he grabbed his pack his rifle too and approached the elderly couple who were now blind clark knew there wasn't really anything he could do for them they were quite far from any help their vehicles no longer worked and it would seem that the end of the world was on the horizon so he did the only thing he could he removed them from the car propped them up against the side where they could comfortably hold each other and told them that help would soon be on the way that everything was fine and there was no need to worry and then he saw to them in the quickest and painless way he knew how one bullet through both heads with his family and home completely obliterated clark went to the only place he felt safe back to his camping spot in zion canyon although without his truck the trip would take a little longer than a simple afternoon drive and so he started walking five days later clark found himself back in zion canyon and soon after he found himself seeking refuge inside one of the many caves this particular one was known as fallen rock and would prove to be more beneficial to his survival than he could have ever anticipated to his surprise the united states geological survey or usgs had been stationed in the cave and had left a serious amount of equipment and supplies behind when the bombs fell food water and geiger counters along with radios and pretty much everything he would need for a short stay the next day clark began writing his thoughts feeling it would somehow make the whole situation clearer war had broken out his family were now dead along with the elderly couple he had mercifully killed and now after five days of travel and one day of rest he was surviving the end of the world inside a cave at zion canyon alone clark would contemplate taking his own life thinking it was what he deserved for deserting his family and running off to live in the wilderness as often as he possibly could perhaps if things had been different then he could have been with them during the end as a family the way it should have been and yet it hadn't been that way his family had been alone when they died no husband or father to hold on to and despite these thoughts that convinced him that taking his life was the best solution he never did for two days the world seemed to be unchanged that was until the sky darkened and black water rained down which seeped into the earth and poisoned the land the geiger counter left behind by the usgs revealed the radiation levels outside the cave's entrance to be deathly meaning clark was now trapped confined to the safety of his underground shelter so he did the only thing he could he waited and would continue to wait until the small pool of water at the back of the cave ran dry or until the radiation levels became tolerable which according to his training would be somewhere between two and four weeks but it wasn't on new year's day after two months of waiting for the radiation levels to change without changing he calculated just how long it would be until he died from dehydration by his calculations he had less than one month's worth of water and that was including collecting the small amount of condensation from the walls each morning which was only ever enough to wet his mouth if the situation outside didn't change soon then it wouldn't be long until the inevitable happened despite the dire situation concerning water food seemed to be holding strong thanks to once again the usgs workers this was the only thing that was going well for clark other than the abundance of food he didn't really have anything to be thankful for his water was low he was also incredibly lonely and the regret for not being with his family when they died was intruding on his every thought but if there was even the faintest chance of finding them alive then he would happily brave the radiation to see them again if only for a moment the increasingly dire situation would thankfully begin to improve only 10 days later when what sounded like a windstorm raged for two whole days this not only gave clark something to focus on breaking up the monotony of his time within the cave but it also drastically reduced the radiation levels outside thanks to the storm clark could take a quick peek outside and what he saw shocked him it was snow but not just any snow it was glowing a white blanket with a green aura the reason the radiation level was lessened was because the top soil where the fallout had settled had been whisked away by the blizzard and moved to somewhere else outside the canyon it would be another 13 days before the radiation would be low enough to risk a short trip outside and as soon as it was safe that is exactly what clark did although his time outside was short he did discover that the water outside the cave was now safe enough to drink meaning dehydration was no longer a concern provided he took anti-radiation chems to diminish the effects this small victory was overshadowed by a great sense of loss the world was so quiet and empty than it had been and it was as if he was the only living thing left alive and for five whole years it did seem that way in this time clark had established another home at two skies a cave where he would go to spend the much colder and unforgiving winter months over time he began to see more and more signs of life creeping into the canyon fresh fruits the prickly pear honey mesquite and banana yucca had all survived the great war yes they had been slightly mutated and now had strange looking nodules but they were still delicious and clark was thrilled to be eating something fresh that wasn't canned or packaged it seemed that life had after all survived and in some cases seemed to be thriving in time clark began to see other signs of life small lizards clouds of stinging flies and a slightly larger fly that would zap the smaller ones before consuming them whatever they were or whatever they have since mutated into is unknown as clark never mentions them again and we see no such creature based on his description unlike bighorners which clarke also saw and it wasn't just the one either but an entire family which showed him that not only had other large mammals survive the great war but they still possessed the ability to procreate and that was something clark so dearly wanted that sense of companionship a purpose a family and so he decided that after five long years of surviving it was finally time to go home and on april 10th 2084 once winter had passed clark set his sights for salt lake city after 15 days of walking scavenging and dodging pockets of residual radiation he made it to salt lake city he had hoped to find his old house with the skeletons of his wife and son inside wanting to bury them and lay their bones to rest instead clarke found a landscape of massive craters brick mounds and a twisted figure of steel that had once been the city the destruction was so severe he couldn't even find the street he and his family had once lived on let alone their home and the contents he so desperately wanted to find his hope was crushed and without a second thought he turned around heading back to the only comfort he now knew to zion canyon during his walk back he found himself thinking of what could have happened to his family he of course hoped their deaths had been quick but there was always the chance that they had been further away from the blast yet close enough to have been burnt alive and torn apart by the broken glass and bits of wood and brick he was of course punishing himself with these thoughts for not being there with them during their final moments and again thinks himself a coward for not taking his own life but soon clark found himself focusing on his journey for the road back to zion was long and treacherous and his sense of self-loathing was soon replaced with surviving and scavenging so much so that by the time he made it back to zion he was carrying a cart load of supplies and was once again in good spirits and then he saw them human tracks just outside of nephi a town near salt lake city they appeared to belong to three men heading toward fountain green another small town in the area clark thought about following them but soon realized that this fantasy of having friends would likely get him killed and maybe eaten if they were cannibals so he turned away and went home alone and at the time he didn't realize it but he was afraid of what the other people would do to him if they found him and within two days of getting back home to zion clark hadn't only built a door to his cave but he had also electrified it whether these new fortifications were ever used is never said and despite being created to prevent anyone from getting to him it would be over 11 years until clark would see another sign of human life on september 20 2095 clark counted them 11 adult males eight adult females and nine children between the ages of two and ten they had rifles and pistols but they were in poor condition and their clothes weren't much better for two days clark only watched and on that second day he had gotten close enough to hear them talk he wasn't sure but they sounded spanish perhaps from mexico one word that he continuously heard them say over and over was paradiso spanish for paradise with that word he knew that these strangers were here to stay and even though they seemed harmless it would be some time before he trusted them enough to approach and interact and so clark kept his distance almost studying them the one called maria was suspected to be pregnant the father could be jose but maria also spent a lot of time with pablo so there was a chance that he was the father and these watchings became his entertainment he would spend much of the day following the mexicans around the canyon listening to them or sitting near their camp and watching them from the shadows and then one night clark had gotten a little too close while he was watching them sit around the campfire talking one of them a man named pedro ran out to pee in the nearby stream and if pedro would have looked to his side or if his eyes had adjusted to the darkness just that little bit quicker than he would have seen clark quietly watching him under the cover of darkness this encounter told him that he needed to back off and give the mexicans some more space and so he did but still he continued to watch them only from slightly further away a month later clark witnessed the one called jose break his leg chasing a big horner jose tried calling for help but his camp was just too far away for them to hear his screams clark wanted to leave it be he didn't want to get involved but he was done sitting idly by he wanted to do some good for once and so he ran as fast as he could to their camp 300 yards away out of sight clark started yelling in the best jose impression he could muster until he heard them coming and while remaining out of sight he strung them along until the screams of the real jose could be heard assured that jose was now in the hands of his people clark slipped away unnoticed back to his cave but for the first time he was left with a sense of pride he had helped for the first time he had done something good but the very next day the mexicans could be heard using the word infection and there was no mistaking for what this word meant the bone had broken the skin and now jose's leg was infected clark had felt good for helping the previous day and so he did it again this time answering their prayers by leaving a bottle of antibiotics on a rock outside their camp in the morning they thanked god their dios which angered clark why on earth would their god burn the world along with hundreds of millions of lives but still care enough to leave medicine for a single soul it made no sense to clarke but he wouldn't question their ways again they had needed help jose had needed help and clark had helped and thanks to him jose would walk again albeit with a slight limp but he would live a normal and happy life and that is what mattered then clark turned his thoughts to the winter he knew how cold and unforgiving it could be having gone through it time and time again and so he wondered if the mexicans would survive and if there was anything else he could do to ensure their survival this time clark moved to stone bones cave for the winter as it was closer to the mexicans where he could watch over them to his surprise they managed to survive the winter with relative ease it was a relief but what they didn't survive was the newcomers these new people wore strange blue jumpsuits all sharing the same bright yellow numbers over 100 of them had found their way into zion and they were stronger than the mexicans they had better weapons they had more people and they washed over them like a raging blue wave killing every man that wasn't one of theirs as well as any woman or child that picked up a weapon and through it all clark only watched in horror as the people he had come to love were slaughtered clark returned to his cave enraged at what he had witnessed and waited for some plan to come to mind the next day the newcomers had centuries patrols and all seemed to be listening to the man with the dark hair but if that's true or not clark wasn't sure because he couldn't get close enough to tell at the center of their camp with a few mexican survivors penned in like livestock all that remained from yesterday's slaughter were two women eleanor and carmen and five children at the site of this clark knew he had to act but he couldn't run in guns blazing like some big hero if he did that he would be gunned down and then there wouldn't be anyone left to save them instead he decided to wait for night and under the cover of darkness find a way to rescue them he didn't know how he would do it or where they would go afterwards all he knew was that he had to get them to safety when night fell clark began scouting the area the newcomers were well organized with most angles of approach completely out of the question but the stream the same stream where pedro almost saw him last year that was not covered and straight away clark knew that this would be his way in and their way out before heading back to prepare for the infiltration which would take place on the following night clark noticed that many of the newcomers were sick a chorus of uncontrollable coughing filled their camp he suspected tuberculosis or some other new disease that he hadn't yet seen whatever it was he hoped the mexicans wouldn't catch it and give it to him but there would be time to worry about that once they were safe and so he headed back to his cave and prepared for tomorrow but this preparation wasn't necessary for by the time clark returned the pens were empty and all around them the newcomers sat feasting and coughing between mouthfuls of charred flesh clark couldn't believe his eyes he had failed to save the ones he loved and something inside of him snapped on the surface clarke was calm if not shaken but underneath a deep burning hatred for these newcomers had risen and if they only knew what their future held they would have stood up and left while they still had the chance for the next 10 months clark dedicated every waking hour to destroying the newcomers seeking out their trails following the sounds of their ragged coughs and killing them as often as he could his first attack killed six men their bodies and weapons were rigged with explosives knowing the others would try to claim their fallen dwellers and weapons of those that came searching for their missing patrol two would die from the traps another two clark would take down with his rifle leaving one alive to crawl away and spread the message that this canyon was not their home and they would pay for what they had done three days later when they still hadn't left clark would kill another eight men east of culpit's wash yet still they persisted despite suffering heavy losses five more days would pass and clark would take another six lives in the narrows all men but this time he had been wounded a 10 millimeter struck his thigh missing his femoral artery but reducing his mobility after the fire fight he would tourniquet his wound and made sure to not leave any blood leading to his cave once there he proceeded to set traps all along the entrance passage almost certain that they would find him corner him and with their numbers they would kill him but they didn't come clark was left in peace to assess the situation so far he had killed 24 coffers in 10 days around a third of their fighting force they had been ambushed shot blown up and left wondering who or what was doing this to them a few days later clark was disturbed from his sleep by a man screaming a coffer had been caught in a deadfall trap and panicked fired into the cave which ricocheted throughout the cave and into clark's sleeping quarters almost killing him crawling forward clark managed to use the layout of the cave to his advantage and killed the entire patrol luckily it was only three men and his traps had worked but his location was now compromised the safest thing to do was relocate so clark gathered as much food as he could carry and headed for another cave known as cueva garage which was just one of the many caves that clark knew of he had weapon stashes food stocks and more importantly a will that would not break they may have taken one of his caves but they couldn't take them all the only way to escape this relentless onslaught was to leave die or kill the vengeful spirit that they had wronged this war of attrition raged on until january 13th 2097 when the 34 remaining coffers that hadn't yet been killed or died from the sickness they carried ate their dead and left zion canyon hoping that whatever was within that tormented them wouldn't follow clark had won but his victory didn't feel as good as he thought it would he reassured himself that the coffers deserved everything that had happened to them and once again he found himself alone first his family and then the mexicans and now the coffers even if they weren't wanted they had kept him busy had given him a purpose and they too were now gone four days after the coffers had fled the canyon clark heard a scream coming from the cave's entrance at first he thought he was daydreaming but then he heard it again and then he was certain that it was real he found himself hesitating to go towards these screams thinking the coffers had merely pretended to leave the canyon and were now trying to lure him out of hiding but there was something different this time the screams belonged to a woman the patrols along with all the coffers who would try to kill him had been men although he had killed the majority of their numbers so perhaps the women were now being sent in their stead it was plausible yet curiosity got the better of clark and edging around the corner of the passageway he saw a woman she was wearing a blue jumpsuit and her ankle was deep in a bear trap clark raised his weapon and prepared to fire but there was something about the way she was crying that stopped him from going through with it and when she finally saw him peeking from the shadows she screamed and clark knew why he was for lack of a better word their bogeyman he had been killing them for almost a year rigging their dead with explosives and vanishing unscathed and here she was staring at the vengeful spirit in the flesh but when he didn't kill her she stopped screaming and then they began talking her name was sylvia she had run away from the other coffers because they were evil people and children of the devil she confirmed that they were indeed sick having caught something from a vault they once lived in and came to the canyon to escape clark knew that she wasn't a real threat and what she was telling him was the truth as he had previously interrogated several men who told him the same exact things about a vault and the sickness they had tried to escape he then freed her from the bear trap and since she seemed to be healthy and more importantly friendly clark saw to her wounds and after learning that the vault she came from had taught her nothing about surviving the outside world he decided to teach her and sylvia was eager to learn in the blink of an eye clark had transformed from a vengeful spirit into a compassionate teacher for three years clark and sylvia had managed to lead a somewhat normal life through his lessons she became accustomed to the new ways of survival outside the vault and through teaching clark retained his sanity and together they continued living in time their relationship was anything but platonic and sylvia soon discovered that she was with child this news the very fact that he would be a father at the age of 47 in a world full of dangers absolutely terrified him unlike sylvia who was excited and trusting fully believing that clark would let no harm come to her or their child which once again brought back those painful memories of his life before the great war his wife charlotte and his son alex two people he had never mentioned to his new wife not wanting her to know that he had previously failed as a husband and as a father but he swore that he wouldn't let that happen again it couldn't happen again soon clark found himself hiking into tuckerville for medical books and supplies assuring himself that this pregnancy would be done right for the entire pregnancy clark studied and prepared himself and sylvia for what they would have to do when the time came however when sylvia's water broke indicating that she was ready to give birth clark discovered that the baby was in the breech position meaning the feet were coming first instead of the head this complicated the birth and forced clark to attempt a caesarean section clark knew that a c-section would improve the chances of the baby being born without any injuries or worse to prevent sylvia from feeling any pain clark administered an anesthetic which knocked her out while he was left to perform the c-section the procedure was a success and the baby was removed however the baby had died from complications which clark suspects was due to taking too long to perform the c-section and to make matters worse sylvia had also died from complications this promise of a new family a chance to begin again was completely torn from under him and as always clark was left alone he decided to bury them south of the narrows and this time he was able to get some closure he had finally been able to bury the ones he loved and say goodbye but that didn't make it any easier and for the first time since entering this new world clark was fairly certain he could take his own life but for whatever reason he didn't he continued living and moved to morning glory cave somewhere new and fresh where he wouldn't be reminded of his failures somewhere he could instead do what he did best survive which he did for seven more years without any signs of human life or activity until he came across ten sets of tracks just half a mile northeast of the canyon's entrance and the strange thing about these tracks weren't the fact that they were human but the fact that all of them were barefoot a day later clark would see them through his scope walking corpses very old and very worrisome for he thinks he could have finally lost his mind but the very next day he knows these shuffling abominations are real because as soon as they saw him they rushed him like wild animals snarling and clawing their way towards him clark did manage to escape from these creatures unharmed and soon after he found himself thinking how could something look like a walking corpse yet lack the smell of decay he didn't know it but he had just encountered feral ghouls people changed by the radiation of the great war destined to walk the land for all eternity to be healed but also maddened by radiation he decides putting them out of their misery would be the best thing to do and this becomes his new purpose to rid zion of the walking corpses and a little over just a week they were gone all taken care of and then just like before after the deaths of sylvia and michael his unborn son clark disappears for several years no more notes no more records of his doings only an empty passage of five or so years before he resurfaces on february 5th 2108 to celebrate his 60th birthday clark contemplates what could you actually give a man that already has everything and his answer to that is a bottle of whiskey and a 12 gauge slug through the roof of the mouth he asks god why a shriveled old man with a beard who's seen enough sunrises and sunsets even the big sunset referring to the great war is still alive why has he been hanging on to life for 36 years and as you would expect he gets no answer he then thinks about charlotte and alex and sylvia and michael who could have been his loved ones who were dead without really dying not the way he was dying why should he age slowly over time instead of joining them in what could be instant a single shot would be all it took and so clark said goodbye to zion yet the very next day he's writing again calling himself a coward and promises to try again next year with two bottles of whiskey instead of one maybe that will do the trick he says to himself but it didn't and for 10 more years clark would spend his days surviving and wanting to be with his loved ones but simply can't bring himself to do it and then something happened something miraculous something that he could finally focus on perhaps for good 24 children half boys half girls all aged somewhere between 8 and 14 arrive in zion they were dirty and scrawny and he knew that they had been on their feet for quite some time a children's crusade if you will keeping his distance as he always had clark watched the children stop and set up camp roughly where the mexicans had done so all those years ago 30 years ago in what seemed like a different life listening to them he discovered that they spoke english and one of them was literate reading stories while the little ones fell asleep these children had escaped from some place called the school although the exact whereabouts of the school is unknown the principal presumably the man in charge who likely held them captive was being used to scare the little ones into behaving clark knew that he was getting old but he could still shoot straight and already he found himself caring for these children wanting to keep them safe making an unspoken promise to them that if the principal ever came to zion then he would deal with him much like he had done with jose the mexican who broke his leg clark began leaving notes and gifts near their camp for them to find watching from the shadows he knew they liked books and so he began seeking out stories to give them but he remembered what had happened to the mexicans the slaughter if only they had been better prepared soon those stories were replaced with weapons manuals medical books things that would keep them alive and more importantly keep them safe as for the notes he delivered in the dead of night those were a little more personal clark writes to them telling them to read and to learn and to make the most of their new home telling them that he is giving them zion as a gift to make up for all the sorrows of their lives that they have had to endure he tells them to be kind to each other and be modest as well as to never hurt each other but that if someone else came along and tried to hurt them just as the coffers had done to the mexicans then they should strike back with righteous anger at the end of each note clark signed as the father for these lost children were now his own zion was their home and for as long as he could watch over them to keep them safe for as long as he was able he would and then clark turned away from the children's beginning and looked towards his own end for he was dying his mind was still sharp but his lungs were failing him he suspects cancer as his cough has been getting worse for months and finally he was now coughing blood this saddened him deeply not because he was dying but because he was finding it harder and harder to visit his children these canyons are a lot for an old man not only to walk but to remain unnoticed as well sensing the end was near clark gave away almost all of his possessions to the children and knowing that one day they would search his caves and find the rest he didn't want them to find him or his body to discover that the mythical figure of zion known as the father was nothing but a broken down old man and so he left not wanting to spend another birthday on this earth with tired legs and failing lungs clark climbed to the top of a mound near red gate and lay down to stare at the sky and while staring up at the starry night watching his warm breath fight with the cold air he thought of the children and wondered if they would do well and he hoped no harm would come to them from within or without now on death's door he found himself wondering if he had done his best to prepare those he's leaving behind he recalls saying something nice about each of the children in his notes what made each one of them special he told them the father was pleased by their kind nature and that it would be up to them to handle things on their own but he would still be watching and still caring then clark thought about his failures about charlotte and alex about sylvia and michael who could have been he told them all that he would be with them forever and looking back after everything these promises may seem like lies but he wouldn't go back and unsay them if he could because it was the truth failing didn't make those words any less true but what was the point to all of these failures and then clark finally understood why he couldn't take his own life the reason he continued living was to keep the memories of the ones he had promised to spend a life with alive and by keeping their memories alive he was in some small way also keeping them alive it was the only way he could keep his promise to them and while that might not be good enough for some it was good enough for him now his body on the other hand that wasn't his choice his body seemed to have its own mind its own drive a desire to continue living that he hoped the little ones also had because to survive the canyon and the new world they were in they would needed to continue the species that blind drive to push on no matter how bleak things may seem and their crusade to the canyon to their new home was more than enough proof to suggest they had this drive and so clark was content with how things were his breathing slow to a crawl and the cold consumed him his time on earth had been full of war and death and vengeance but thankfully at the end of a very punishing and painful life that would have broken the strongest of men clarke was able to witness innocence once more in the children that came to zion be sure to show your support by liking the video and subscribing if you haven't already for more fallout content if there's anything you would like to see in a later video leave a comment and i'll see what i can do with that said thank you as always for watching and i'll see you in the next adventure you

Channel: Synonymous

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Keywords: synonymous, fallout, lore, secrets, fallout lore, randall dean clark, the survivalist, the vengeful spirit, the father of the caves, fallout lore summary, fallout lore honest hearts, fallout lore new vegas, fallout lore dlc, saddest story of fallout lore, fallout lore story, fallout storytelling, fallout the survivalists rifle location, honest hearts lore, Randall Clark aka The Survivalist | Fallout Lore

Id: Pr26N_WE-7Y

Length: 40min 10sec (2410 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 16 2021