The Cost of Survival

Embers in the Dust
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  • SCIENCE FICTION

The Cost of Survival is a serialized audiobook set in the Fallout universe. This dark, character-driven story follows a human captive inside a super mutant stronghold, where survival depends on learning rules that were never meant to be fair--and on deciding what parts of yourself you’re willing to lose to stay alive. ⚠️ Mature themes, violence, and psychological distress. Listener discretion advised. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks.

Episodes

  1. 12/23/2025

    Epilogue: Stock

    ⚠️ Content advisory: violence, captivity, and psychological distress. Survival continued. Costs compounded. The Cost of Survival is a long-form, character-driven audio narrative set in the Fallout universe, exploring trauma, captivity, survival, and the shape of identity under extreme pressure. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks. Listener support and additional work: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/EmbersintheDust

    6 min

  2. 12/23/2025

    Chapter 9: The Program

    ⚠️ Content advisory: violence, captivity, and psychological distress. The cost had been paid. The work remained. The Cost of Survival is a long-form, character-driven audio narrative set in the Fallout universe, exploring trauma, captivity, survival, and the shape of identity under extreme pressure. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks. Listener support and additional work: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/EmbersintheDust

    16 min

  3. 12/23/2025

    Chapter 8: The Coup

    ⚠️ Content advisory: violence, captivity, and psychological distress. Sometimes, you don't even know what you've lost until the payment comes due. The Cost of Survival is a long-form, character-driven audio narrative set in the Fallout universe, exploring trauma, captivity, survival, and the shape of identity under extreme pressure. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks. Listener support and additional work: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/EmbersintheDust

    33 min

  4. 12/23/2025

    Chapter 7: The Threshold

    ⚠️ Content advisory: violence, captivity, and psychological distress. Some missions change you. And some of them change everything. The Cost of Survival is a long-form, character-driven audio narrative set in the Fallout universe, exploring trauma, captivity, survival, and the shape of identity under extreme pressure. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks. Listener support and additional work: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/EmbersintheDust

    1h 9m

  5. 12/23/2025

    Chapter 6: The Claim

    ⚠️ Content advisory: violence, captivity, and psychological distress. Faction lines were sharpening inside the stronghold, and I was caught in the middle of it. I would find a thin kind of protection--but the price was something I'd never agreed to pay. The Cost of Survival is a long-form, character-driven audio narrative set in the Fallout universe, exploring trauma, captivity, survival, and the shape of identity under extreme pressure. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks. Listener support and additional work: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/EmbersintheDust

    33 min

  6. 12/23/2025

    Chapter 5: The Realization

    ⚠️ Content advisory: violence, captivity, and psychological distress. Use became routine, and routine became expectation. I began to understand that staying alive here meant more than obedience--it meant fitting cleanly into something that had already decided what I was for. The Cost of Survival is a long-form, character-driven audio narrative set in the Fallout universe, exploring trauma, captivity, survival, and the shape of identity under extreme pressure. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks. Listener support and additional work: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/EmbersintheDust

    20 min

  7. 12/23/2025

    Chapter 4: The Choice

    ⚠️ Content advisory: violence, captivity, and psychological distress. Expectation turned to function. What was demanded of me was no longer abstract, and what I did began to carry weight. Responsibility was assigned in the shape of a choice. The Cost of Survival is a long-form, character-driven audio narrative set in the Fallout universe, exploring trauma, captivity, survival, and the shape of identity under extreme pressure. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks. Listener support and additional work: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/EmbersintheDust

    28 min

  8. 12/23/2025

    Chapter 3: The Laboratory

    ⚠️ Content advisory: violence, captivity, and psychological distress. Being noticed began to carry expectations--and those expectations brought consequences I couldn't ignore. I would start to see that once something was expected of me, refusal was not a matter of choice. The Cost of Survival is a long-form, character-driven audio narrative set in the Fallout universe, exploring trauma, captivity, survival, and the shape of identity under extreme pressure. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks. Listener support and additional work: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/EmbersintheDust

    49 min

  9. 12/23/2025

    Chapter 2: Seams

    ⚠️ Content advisory: violence, captivity, and psychological distress. By now, observation had become habit. I was still disoriented, but no longer blind. Patterns would begin to emerge--who spoke, who didn't, what drew attention. I would start to understand that survival here depended not on avoiding notice, but on learning how to endure it. The Cost of Survival is a long-form, character-driven audio narrative set in the Fallout universe, exploring trauma, captivity, survival, and the shape of identity under extreme pressure. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks. Listener support and additional work: ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/EmbersintheDust

    57 min

  10. 12/23/2025

    Chapter 1: The Promise

    ⚠️ Content advisory: violence, captivity, and psychological distress. I had been captured. Taken out of the life I knew and put somewhere with rules I didn’t understand. I would have to learn them by paying attention. Survival was about to take the shape of a cage. The Cost of Survival is a long-form, character-driven audio narrative set in the Fallout universe, exploring trauma, captivity, survival, and the shape of identity under extreme pressure. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks. Listener support and additional work: ⁠https://patreon.com/EmbersintheDust

    57 min

  11. 12/22/2025

    Prologue: Property

    ⚠️ Content advisory: violence, captivity, and psychological distress. I thought I understood fear before any of this began. I was wrong. My world was about to narrow. Certainty would give way to instinct, and the last clean lines of my old life were about to blur. This was the moment I realized something was watching—and that it already knew my name. This episode includes a brief preface, followed by the prologue of the story. The Cost of Survival is a long-form, character-driven audio narrative set in the Fallout universe, exploring trauma, captivity, survival, and the shape of identity under extreme pressure. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks. Listener support and additional work:https://patreon.com/EmbersintheDust

    11 min
  • 11 Episodes

About

The Cost of Survival is a serialized audiobook set in the Fallout universe. This dark, character-driven story follows a human captive inside a super mutant stronghold, where survival depends on learning rules that were never meant to be fair--and on deciding what parts of yourself you’re willing to lose to stay alive. ⚠️ Mature themes, violence, and psychological distress. Listener discretion advised. Unofficial fan-fiction set in the Fallout universe. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks.

Information

  • Creator
    Embers in the Dust
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    11
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Embers in the Dust
  • Show Website
    The Cost of Survival