As Edyth stepped out of the tunnel she was bombarded with light, searing behind her eyeballs. She screamed, tripping over something in her temporary blindness and smacking the back of her head on the ground.
She scrambled back, pressing herself against a rock and covering her eyes until the pain subsided. She carefully inched her eyelids open to reveal a world where the only color that seemed to exist was brown.
She blinked, rubbing at her eyes as dust kicked up from the wind stung them. Wind. She closed her eyes, feeling the breeze brush against her. Sure, it was uncomfortably warm, but any kind of wind was good enough for her.
After close examination of her Geiger Counter, Edyth was happy to know that she wasn't dying of radiation poisoning as she sat there. Everything they had told her about the Earth being a giant pit of radiation, and that it was completely uninhabitable, had been wrong. The files on the Overseer's terminal had been evidence of enough.
Edyth's grin disappeared as she realized that there was no turning back. She couldn't go home if things got too hard for her out there. She was really alone now. Completely, and utterly, alone.
With a hiccup, Edyth curled up against the rock and went entirely to pieces.
After about an hour Edyth collected herself and headed on, her hand on the pistol at her hip as she climbed and tripper over rocks, almost falling and getting hurt on ledges a couple times.
Finally, Edyth found the town that had been mentioned on the Overseer's terminal. Megaton. It looked like a giant hunk of metal, but as the sun set she could see lights from inside, the only clue that anyone actually lived there.
"Welcome to Megaton. Friendliest town around." The robot at the entrance said, and she gave it a small wave.
"Right, um, thanks."
As she got closer the gate opened, emitting probably the most horrible noise Edyth had ever heard.
She covered her ears until it slowed to a stop, and ignored the robot's friendly reminder about a bomb at the center of the town and stepped inside.
She was quickly greeted by a dark-skinned man in a cowboy hat, who introduced himself as Lucas Simms. He was no help at all to her.
"Sorry, kid, I didn't see anyone come through with that description. You might want to ask around, someone else might've seen 'im."
"Thanks, anyway." Edyth sighed, walking down to the center of town. It was a relief to see other people, even if they weren't exactly friendly. At least they're not mutated, so I don't think I have to worry about that any time soon.
People gave her wary looks and glares, and she self-consciously crossed her arms, although with the big '101' being on her back, it didn't help. She navigated the ramps that lined the crater with difficulty, frowning. They seemed to be a jumbled mess, leading down to the bomb, or up to the higher areas of the crater.
After several minutes she found herself in front of a building that read 'Moriarty's Saloon' in large letters, and finding it still open she pushed the door and stepped inside.
Edyth's nostrils were hit with the smell of cigarettes, booze, and unwashed bodies. She wrinkled her nose and stepped up to the bar.
"Um, hi there, can you tell me anything about-" The man behind the counter turned, and Edyth shrieked. She fell off of her seat, and when she looked up the... whatever it was, looked almost as scared as her.
"Shit, are you okay? Please don't scream again or else Moriarty will kick my-"
"GOB! What the hell is goin' on out here?" Edyth watched the man, well it seemed to be human but sure as hell didn't look the part, cringed and backed away from her, hunching over the glass he had almost dropped and hurriedly cleaning it with a dirty rag.
"Sorry, Moriarty, this girl came in, I scared her. I didn't mean to!" He added hurriedly, fidgeting and rubbing the glass nervously with the rag." I don't think she's ever seen a ghoul before."
"Never seen a ghoul before? What, does she live under a..." Moriarty trailed off as he turned to look at Edyth, his eyebrows knitting together and a little crease forming between them. She used a stool to push herself up, straightening up and crossing her arms at the Irish man.
"I'm looking for my dad, sir."
"Ah, that's it. You're James' kid, you look a lot like him. He was here, then he left in a hurry."
"Well, where is he?" Edyth asked, her gaze wondering over to Gob. The 'ghoul' gave her a nervous smile, and she felt herself relax a bit. Not a whole lot, though. She was still freaked out.
"I might tell ya...or I might not. You'll have to pay a fee to get me talkin', girly."
"Fine. How much?"
"100 caps." Edyth sputtered. Does he mean, like, bottlecaps? Seriously? "Or, you could take care of this bitch, Silver. Took my caps and ran off. She's holed up in Springvale."
"Take care of? You mean, like, kill her?" It seemed like something out of a bad film, but this was her life. It was real, and she was being asked to kill someone she had never met. Is that what goes on out here? People killing each other over money?
"That's exactly what I mean. I want the caps, and you want to find your father. Just get me the money." Moriarty waved off her next question, turning away from her and heading into a back room, closing the door behind him.
"You don't plan on hurting Silver, do you? She wasn't that bad, she just got tired of Moriarity's bullshit and left." Gob spoke up from behind the counter. His voice was low, like he didn't want Moriarty to hear him.
"No, I don't. I'm just gonna see if she'll give me the caps and I'll leave her alone. Don't worry Gob, I'm not a killer." She frowned, her memory bringing up those adrenaline filled moments in the vault as she had made her escape, killing the guards that had attacked her. Men she had known her whole life, and their blood was on her hands. Maybe I am a killer.
"That's good."
"Hey, Gob." Edyth started, turning on her pip-boy and pointing the screen to Gob,"Mind showing me where Silver lives?"