Bryan Wilks

Bryan Wilks is an eight-year old boy living in Grayditch in 2277. He gives the player the quest, Those!.

Background
Bryan spent his childhood living in Grayditch with his single-parent father, often playing with the teenage son of William Brandice. Together, the two boys explored all of Grayditch and learned the best places to hide from giant ants. Bryan also pestered Doctor Lesko with questions. His father always told him that if he made a mistake, he had to apologize three times, and then decide if he actually meant it.

He survived the fire ant attack on Grayditch by hiding underneath a demolished car. The huge insects overlooked him and moved on after carrying off their prey. Since the attack, Bryan's food and water supply has swindled (his father used to make trips to stock up for the entire settlment), and he has left the safety of the small settlement in hopes of finding help.

Quests

 * Those!: Bryan runs up to the player and initiates dialogue the first time the player approaches the vicinity of Grayditch. Bryan tasks the player with helping to save his father from an attack of fire ants. He spends much of the quest hiding in a closed Pulowski Preservation shelter next to the diner near his home, waiting for the player to find Doctor Lesko. When Bryan comes to give you the quest, there is a speech challenge where he will either give you the key to his father's emergency supplies or lie to you about it. Having the Child at Heart perk ensures he gives you the key. Without the key, you will have to pick the very hard lock on the dumpster, which contains one of five different handguns, .32 pistol, 10mm pistol, laser pistol, or scoped .44 magnum, Chinese pistol and numerous frag grenades.

Effects of player actions
At the end of the quest, Bryan is left alone and orphaned, and goes to live in his former home. The player then has the following options: 1. To find his Aunt Vera Weatherly in Rivet City and ask her to take him in. 2. To secure him a place in Little Lamplight. 3. To sell him to Eulogy Jones and the slavers of Paradise Falls. 4. To simply leave him in Grayditch by himself.

Later in the game, the player can check up on him. If he is with Vera in Rivet City, he will be very happy and grateful to the player for getting him there. If he is still in Grayditch, he will be lonely and miserable, but at least safe. If he is in Little Lamplight, he will think the other kids are weird, and say he would have enjoyed Rivet City much better. If the player sells him to Eulogy, he disappears from the game permanently.

If the player simply leaves him in Grayditch, Three Dog will criticise the player, saying (incorrectly) that "you left the kid to rot in that fallout shelter". If the player sells him as a slave, his remarks will be even nastier. Contrastingly, if the player gets Bryan to Rivet City, Three Dog's remarks will be strongly positive.

Notable quotes

 * "Pappa called him an egghead, but his head was shaped regular, so I didn't get it." (referring to Dr. Lesko)
 * "My Pappa had a gun, he called them the dumbest Fuckin' Ants he ever saw."

Appearances
Bryan only appears in Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes

 * While in the shelter, Bryan will say "Now I know what a TV dinner feels like". This is a reference to Die Hard, where John McClane is crawling through a narrow ventilation shaft.

Bugs

 * If Vera Weatherly dies after Bryan moves in with her, Bryan may appear inside of the Enclave garrison outside of the Jefferson Memorial during Take it Back! Strangely, Enclave soldiers will be friendly to Bryan while Brotherhood troops are hostile and will open fire on Bryan.
 * If you attack Bryan while he is in Rivet City, everyone will become hostile towards him but not you. As he cannot be killed, the resident non-player characters will chase him and attack him fruitlessly.
 * It's possible to find Bryan being attacked by other NPCs. Examples of this include the Enclave soldier north of the ruined farmhouse, and random event occurrences outside the Super-Duper Mart.