Perry awoke on a cold hard floor in a dark room, the sound of some far away machinery thrummed away in the black abyss behind him, he was cold and his wrists and ankles felt tight. Perry blinked to clear his groggy eyes. He noticed his frock coat was gone and his wrists and ankles were bound, dark crimson blood soaked the front of his green satin waist coat, his trousers were covered with dirt and burns. And his usually pristine pressed white shirt was soaked in blood and was tattered and sodden with ash.
How had he come to this?, how did things go so wrong?. He looked down to his now dirty, scorched riding boots and tears began to role down his pallid white cheeks and into his salt and pepper five o'clock shadow.
"how far are you actually willing to go to get this guy?", Sarah was tired, they had been walking for weeks now and they still didn't seem any closer to their target. Perry turned to Sarah with a cold empty expression, he seemed almost invisible in the nuclear snow only his gleaming blue eyes and his shiny black boots gave him away. "I swore on your fathers broken body in front of the pride that I would follow Le Grange to the ends of the earth and beyond and make him pay", he stared off into the pure white frontier "this man has taken so much from us he must feel pain, and I shall be its author Sarah".
Sarah was aghast, she had never heard the wanderer speak in such a way. She knew he had lost a lot since project purity and the death of good friends in the ensuing war with the enclave but this was dark even for him, almost twisted. "all this just to kill him, why?!".
"I have no intention of killing him Sarah, I want to make him suffer, I want him to be broken in the gutter begging me to finish him, so I can walk away leaving him to pick up the remnants" perry then turned sharply on the spot and began walking over to a nearby motel. It was getting dark and Sarah knew the wanderer was looking for shelter for her sake and not his. The wanderer never seemed to fear the darkness, for that matter he never seemed to fear anything. Then again Sarah had never been close enough to the wanderer at his most vulnerable moments, surely he had vulnerable moments everyone has at least one weakness.
At fist she thought perry was heading for the motel but then he stopped dead amongst the snow and ice and pulled out a small silver fob with a glowing blue button upon it and pressed it and then he simply stood there with his back to Sarah, his dark green frock coat billowing in the winter air. Sarah was mystified by this behaviour. Then she heard it, an engine roaring in the distance towards them. It faded into existence from the white-out. A large vehicle that looked like a modified tram car with tank treads and painted black it stopped a short distance from them in some trees where it was well secluded from all angles. The wanderer began walking towards the mammoth vehicle then stopped again. Sarah was still rooted to the spot looking incredulously at the wanderer. "are you coming or not?" he said sharply. Sarah could not believe it "how long have you had that thing!?" she barked. He turned to her with a patronising expression"since about a week after the enclave land crawler incident, why?".
Now Sarah was seriously pissed "we have spent nearly two months walking to New York and sleeping in a fucking hole in the ground and you had this thing the whole time!". The wanderer's demeanour did not change. "unfortunately the shadow stalker isn't suitable for the areas we have been through previously, it has no armour or weapons and its off-road ability is limited, the simple fact is its taken the long way round on routes it can actually drive on at top speed just to meet us here where further routes are clear" Sarah looked at him in disbelief "if we had been travelling in the stalker at the beginning we would only have covered half the distance we have by now meaning the trail to Le Grange would be too cold to follow, and her defensive options are limited, she's a rolling camp not a rolling fortress". "but how do you know the routes are clear?". Perry was getting bored of the questions but humoured Sarah none the less "i know they're clear because I hacked into the enclave satellite and used it to map our entire journey to Le Granges stronghold". Sarah was shocked "you know where he is?, were not just wandering on clues?". " of course I know where he is, I can see right into his bedroom with this satellite Sarah, but the stealth module on the stalker prevents all comm's, i cant keep tabs on him while I am in there, he could move any moment." Sarah attempted to interrupt but the wanderer raised his hand and continued, "don't think were going to take it easy now Sarah, we need to keep tabs on Le Grange and clear roads can still be infested with wildlife and denizens, the stalker will be for a mobile base and some short bursts of fast travel, we cannot simply sit inside and speed run our way to New York, we would lose track of Le Grange and a few good hits from a bandits assault rifle would finish the stalker once and for all then wed have no base and no target". Sarah was now too tired to argue and simply followed the wanderer to the stalker in hopes of a decent nights sleep. As they drew near Sarah notice the sheer size of the vehicle, there must have been at least the decks in height an the width looked generous too. There also seemed to be an observation deck on the front of the upper decks as there were glass wrap around walls on the outside. As they entered the wanderer updated his pip boy and then turned to Sarah. "I've updated my info on Le Granges location", Sarah looked puzzled by his remark. The wanderer sighed, "I'm going to switch on the stealth module so we aren't bothered while we sleep". Sarah wondered what this stealth module was but just couldn't be bothered to ask. The wanderer showed her to her quarters and then headed to the bridge. Sarah entered the room wandering whether she would find a decent bed or a grungy bedroll. As she entered she was awestruck. A beautiful art Deco style presidential suite lay before her. The room started with a large octagonal lounge with plush green leather chesterfield sofas and winged armchairs with finely carved rosewood tables and book shelves. To the left was a wide arch leading to a large four poster bed, on the opposite side was a matching dressing room and an en suite Bathroom. She had never seen such luxury and opulence. The wasteland felt a thousand worlds away. Decorative art Deco sconce's and artworks lined the walls, the carpets looked plush and comforting, the deep mahogany panelling on the wall glimmered in the down light. A thought entered Sarah's head, there didn't seem to be enough room on the stalker for more than one of these rooms. This must be his room, his space. The place where the wanderer was simply a man with thoughts, feelings, needs, wants and …...desire. She perused the dressing room, male clothing hung crisp and clean from brass poles on silver hangers, ornate rosewood draws broke the continuity, a dresser with a stool sat at the very end of the room opposite the door. It was hard to think of the wanderer obsessing about his appearance, and just a bit funny too. next she returned to the lounge books lined most of the wall space below the ornately carved dado rail, the wanderer was a learned man she knew but the books in here seemed so much more complex, scientific techno babble and arcane languages, obscure texts. The scribes would kill to see this library. Weird tools and brass contraptions sat around the room on ornate marble topped spindle tables. The wanderer was a true enigma to Sarah. Finally she came to the bed chamber, where he slept, proof he was an actual human that needed rest. She laid on top of the covers, the comfiest bed she had ever been in within seconds she was gone to the world.
The wanderer stood on the bridge, looking out over the now dark wasteland, he was tired, angry and bitter, he looked at all the people he had lost over the past few years. Amata who ran back to the vault with their unborn child, Charon who needed to find his place in the world and of course the brotherhood members who had been lost on the road to an empty victory, his father to a worthy cause. The pain of loss at times scarred the wanderer so deep he could barely contain himself, and so he closed himself to everyone and everything. It was the only way he knew to stop the torment bubbling over and consuming him. When would his number come up, when would it be his turn. He knew he couldn't carry on forever, time had taken its toll on him. Aged beyond his years. He'd managed to hide his failing health from Sarah and the others, which is why he was so angry that Sarah had followed him. He fully intended this to be a one way trip,no going back. And now she was here to watch as the wanderer fell. His drinking problem had become worse, something else he struggled to hide from those around him.
He sat in the command chair and allowed the soft leather to soothe his aching bones, he began to drift in and out of consciousness before finally entering sleep, the final moments of those he had lost playing in his dreams like a twisted lullaby.
Sarah awoke to peace and quiet in the bedchamber, she didn't know how long she had slept but she felt well rested and the fatigue from weeks of roughing it had been soothed by the soft clean mattress. She left the quarters to explore the stalker and find the wanderer.
In her tiredness the previous night she hadn't realised the décor in the stalker, it matched the bedroom exactly, the wanderer was right that the vehicle wasn't built for warfare, it was more like a luxury liner than a practical travel vehicle. This thing really was incredible. It had a library, top of the range kitchen, even an armoury that put the citadel to shame. How had the wanderer managed to build something like this, it was amazing. She made her way to the bridge under the belief the wanderer would be there. But when she arrived it was deserted, she stared out of the window and realised the stalker was moving. It was so quiet. They passed a nearby death claw which didn't even bat an eyelash. She checked what she believed was the navigation console at the front of the bridge. A green button with autopilot labelled above it was lit up solid green, below and left was a digital map with a red line showing the route the stalker was taking. She was beginning to wander where the wanderer was. Then she heard the bridge doors slide open. There he was looking as pristine and aware as he usually was, he silently sat in the command chair in the centre of the room, various stations and consoles lined the room with a few invading the floor facing the window. The wanderer noted the look on Sarah's face and decided to explain what was going on. "I decided to use our time wisely and set the stalker to auto pilot while we were sleeping, this should cut the weeks journey in half at least" Sarah looked at the console then back to the wanderer. "but a death claw was out there, why didn't it see us?". The wanderer smiled. "the stealth module, it renders the stalker invisible, and it dampens sound when active, but the drawback is that no form of communication signal can enter or leave". Sarah couldn't believe it, such a mammoth vehicle rendered completely silent and invisible, technology like this would be invaluable to the brotherhood. The wanderer could tell exactly what she was thinking "I wont be sharing this with the brotherhood Sarah, having tech like this would make them lazy and unable to defend themselves, they'd forget their ability to defend themselves and others, they would simply pass by those in need instead of helping". Sarah didn't like hearing this but understood the wanderers reasoning, they would hide more than fight. She decided to put that idea to bed and focus on the adventure ahead. "so, what's the plan?" the wanderer stood and walked over to a console to the left and back of his chair before motioning to Sarah to come over.
A holographic image grew out of the ether atop the console as she drew near. The wanderer began to brief her on the plan. "this is our current route to New York" he said as a map materialised with a red line etched into the grey black dug into it. "we will use the stalker full time for travel, a change from the previous plan of only using it at night". Then an image of the stalker with a blue aura around it appeared in place of the map. "however we will be using sensor data to detect the road ahead, its risky but if the road is clear of danger we will de-cloak so that we can use the satellite to track Le Grange". A 3D image of New York appeared. "the roads in New York will be too closed quartered to take the stalker into the city, so once we reach city limits we will be leaving the stalker in a safe place under cloak for our return journey". Then a picture of damaged streets similar to inner DC appeared. "we will use the sewer network to traverse the city and enter Le Granges base." "this will be covert ops so no shooting, avoid guards, we will tranquillise Le Grange and bring him back to the stalker before returning to Washington". Sarah nodded to show she understood what the wanderer was saying, "and what are we going to do with him after we return to DC?". The wanderers demeanour became cold once more, "I will deal with him upon our return". Sarah began to protest when the wanderer raised his hand and silenced her. "I will not be killing him as I said before, I will find a way of dealing with him upon our return". Sarah knew better than to argue any further.