There are a lot of things that disappeared when the bombs fell all those years ago. Aside from humanity, sound is another thing that is long gone from this place. Back in Vault 101, Suri had read about the world was like before everything happened in books, usually recanted by pre-war ghouls who actually remembered it for what it was. The places she saw used to be filled with lush greens, massive amounts of people going about their daily lives. She could only wonder how it must have felt to be in such a large world when it was full of life. But now, it all just sits in silence. Even in Megaton and Rivet City, there is an unsettling silence that grips everything. Even with the people that inhabit these places around her, there is something more. A greater silence. As if the inner voice of the world itself was silenced on that day.
When traveling through the ruins of what was once the downtown area of Washington D.C., the silence is amplified even more. There are moments when it gets so quiet that the silence itself can be deafening. It was during these times that Suri was thankful that she was able to tune in to radio signals on her Pip-Boy. But every now and then, even in the quietest of places, something will break this silence.
It was a blisteringly hot day, the sun beating down heavy on Suri's skin. She stood on a cracked, concrete road in downtown D.C., a rusted sign swinging loosely from a metal pole before her read "Seward Sq." in chipped, white letters. The road then split into two lanes. The one on the left lead to the park in the center, where a giant statue of a man with his arms outstretched that were holding a giant ring around him stood tall, and around him lay the remnants of what must have been a vibrant display of greenery. To the left of the statue was a small bridge leading to a bowling alley; an oblong shaped building with a decaying sign standing on top that displays the name and slogan. The gray, empty shells of buildings towered behind it.
The right lane lead down to a small grouping of two-story houses, painted in various dull colors. The road was partially blocked with a large, tan supply truck and a couple of destroyed cars, burnt and rusted. A tram bridge was looming over the square, with the middle section missing. What was left was cluttered with the ruins of various cars.
Suri turned her head to the left and to the right ,weighing the options of which lane to go down first. There is no sound, save for the seldom dying flicker from the neon "BROADWAY" sign of the theater house beyond the bridge. Hearing that single sound caused Suri to reminisce about the lights back in Vault 101. While she was living there, she hated the sound that they made. But now that she was finally away from them, part of her missed that sound. It felt like it had been years since her escape from Vault 101, and her journey to find her father.
Suri was sure that if Amata saw her right at this moment, she wouldn't know that she had. She no longer resembled the sheltered girl of Vault 101 that she once was. Her hair was one of the only things about her that stayed the same, as short and unkempt as ever. But the auburn color is now spotted and caked with dirt. She hadn't worn her vault jumpsuit since she left, but she did keep it as a reminder of where she started. She'd long since traded it for a simple white shirt, a pair of faded black jeans and black combat boots. Concealing it all was a black, leather long coat with the sleeves cut off at the shoulder. A pair of heavy goggles with plastic lenses were shielding her eyes, an old bolt action rifle weighed heavy on her back and a dusty brown messenger bag was slung across her shoulder.
She was no longer a citizen of Vault 101.
She was a Wastelander now.
She decided to take the right lane. A row of houses seemed like a more likely place to find food and other supplies to trade or sell. Suri briefly supposed it would be easier to just buy this from Moira back in Megaton. However, Suri preferred to search the ruins, because there was a better chance of finding something that vendors in the cities rarely carry.
Books.
While most of the books found are ruined to the point of being illegible, there are still some in readable condition, if one would look hard enough. She moved down the street, checking the doors on the houses first to see if any of them would open. Most of them were stuck and wouldn't budge. "Damn," Suri muttered to herself. She walked back down to the street and kept moving. She passed by one of the wrecked cars on the street. The windows on the car are all smashed out. As she walked by it, Suri glanced into the window. There, on the seat, was a book. An undamaged book.
Suri's heart stopped for a moment when she saw it. She reached inside, making sure not to get cut by the glass teeth sticking up from the lips of the car's windows. When she felt the book was securely in her hands, she slowly pulled it back out, being just as careful not to get cut. She flipped the book over to the cover side. The cover is black, with an orange border, and a drawing of three charred books graced the front cover. 'Fahrenheit 451' was written at the top in bold, orange letters. There was another set of print beneath the title, much smaller than the rest. "'…The temperature at which books burn.'" Suri read aloud. She opened the book and flipped through it slowly. The print was still legible and all of the pages were still intact. Suri opened her bag carefully and slipped the book inside and continued on.
When she reached the end of the street, she found herself in front of an alley between two of the dull-colored houses. It weaved between the two buildings in a zigzag and was framed by what used to be a pair of small trees. The alley was also house to a children's playground. Another thing Suri had heard about in in books about the pre-war world. There were several different pieces of playground equipment littered across the zig-zagging path, all rusted at the joints and nearly falling apart. She started walking down the alley when a booming, echoing voice suddenly struck her ears, and she froze.
"THE SUN! IT BURNS! Why does it burn? Why have we put the sun into a jar?" Suri stood in the broken silence as the echoing voice continued, "And what did we do with that jar? We broke it all over out little world!" She narrowed her eyes and scanned the distance, trying to find the source of the voice, but she saw nothing. She walked further down the alley, when a second voice called to her. This time, it was coming from her right. "Wait!" the voice whispered. "Get down!" Suri turned her head to the voice and saw another wastelander, crouching down low, his hands over his ears. He was an older man, with a graying beard and dark skin. Suri immediately crouched down and moved over to him. "What's going on?" she asked.
"The man his insane! He's rigged this entire alley to explode. He's been up there for days, just screaming that nonsense. I don't know what happened. He wasn't always like this. I don't even know where he found all those explosives." Suri looked back in the general direction of the voice. From where she was now, she could see the man shouting. He was standing on the ledge of the second floor of a building near the end of the alley. She couldn't see well from here, but there was something held in his hand. The man on the ledge screamed out again, "Try new BLAMMO! Soap! Blasts stains out! Blasts the whole world out! We've all been BLAMMO'd!"
The man clamped his hands down tighter over his hears, "God, why won't he just shut up?" Suri took another look down the alley and she was able to see the explosives as well. They were carefully placed on all the playground equipment, up and down the entire length of the alley. If he were to set them off, the entire alley would go up in flames. Suri removed her rifle from her back and set down on the ground in front of her. She slipped her bag from off her shoulder and set it next to her. She opened the bag and reached inside, taking out a small scope. She attached it to the top of the rifle.
She brought up one knee and raised the rifle. Suri pushed her goggles up to her forehead and brought her eye gently to the scope. She could see the man clearly now. He was another older man with a scraggly beard dangling from his chin. A megaphone was in his right hand and the detonator for the explosives was clutched in his left. Suri held her breath and moved her finger to the trigger. The man screamed into the megaphone again, "Trees! So many trees! To the north! But be careful…the trees…are deadly. And the trees too will be consumed in the belly of the great, fat WORM!"
Suri pulled the trigger and the bullet escaped the barrel with a loud crack that echoed up and down the alley. Through the scope, Suri saw it hit the man's head, just above his right eyebrow. A lucky shot, given how far away she was. The megaphone fell from her hand and clattered on the floor of the building and he fell into a heap on the floor. She stood up slowly and pulled on the bolt handle. The bullet shell popped out from the chamber and fell into the dirt by her feet. Suri let her hand rest down by her side, the rifle's tip touching into the black dirt and looked down at the man, still crouching down with his hands clamped tightly over his ears.
The man uncovered his ears slowly and looked around, "It's…it's so quiet. I can hear myself think again." He looked down the alley and saw the man was gone. He looked back up Suri, "You did it! You got rid of him! Thank you!" Suri picked up the bag and slung it over her shoulder, "Don't thank me." She still didn't like the thought of killing people, and doubted she ever would. But she had gotten used to having to kill to survive or keep others out of danger. She returned the gun to its place against her back. The man went on his way, and so did Suri. It was a long walk back to Megaton. She didn't find any food or supplies as he originally intended to do, so she'd just have to hope to run into a caravan on the way back. She pushed her goggles back down over her eyes and began heading west back to Megaton.
The outing was not without its gains, however. When she did get back, she had another book to begin reading. A small smile of anticipation grew on Suri's face, and she quickened her pace, in the once again silent wasteland.