Matthew Howard

Matthew "Sharpshooter" Howard is the protagonist of Howard's Mind. A former combat engineer in the United States military in a time of dwindling resources and intense international conflict, Matthew's service allowed him and his family (his wife Nora and son Shawn) a place in the local Vault-Tec facility, Vault 111. It wouldn't be long before the Howards would be making residence in the Vault, however, as news arrived of an imminent mass nuclear attack from China. They reached the vault with barely seconds to spare, and were sent into cryogenic stasis in the hope of being revived when the surface became habitable again; however, they were revived early and Matthew was forced to watch in horror as unknown assailants murdered Nora and kidnapped Shaun, powerless to stop them as he was still trapped in his stasis pod, subsequently being re-frozen.

After finally being released from stasis an indeterminate amount of time later, he discovered he was alone in the vault; almost all other residents had either died in stasis, or been killed by the same assailants. Recovering a Pip-Boy 3000 from a deceased Vault-Tec employee, Matthew made contact with an experimental artificial intelligence housed within the Pip-Boy, identifying itself by its serial number B52486. Considering this "a bit of a mouthful", Matthew decides to call the AI Mary instead.

Returning to his former residence, he discovered his robotic assistant Wadsworth is still functional, much to his surprise. He was further alarmed to discover that "a bit over" 210 years have elapsed since he entered the Vault, and all that time alone with "no-one to talk to, no-one to serve" had driven Wadsworth to a state of robot depression. Matthew helped calm him down and asked him for assistance in finding Shaun.