Chapter Title; My Only Sunshine

You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When the skies are grey
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
Please don't take
My sunshine
Away….

She has to throw her weight against the damn screen door to make it open, but eventually it does, causing the girl to tumble out and into the top of the little hill that the Vault entry led out to.

It's bright out. Way too bright. The girl has to blink multiple times and even still has to raise a hand to shield her eyes from the harsh, natural light. Down in Vault 101 the lights were supposed to be like the sun, but those lights weren't this damn bright.

Alexis forces herself to stand up and winces at they way her knees crack, reminding herself that she's not the most physically fit being that could be heading out here…But if her old man could, so could she. Hell, her dad was a scientist for Christ's sake, not some sort of superman…

Why did you leave me there…?

With a gentle sniffle, the Vault dweller made her way down the small slope, already beginning to sweat within minutes of just escaping her old coo,l air-conditioned home. Frowning to herself, she considered stripping out of the light Security armor she had stolen, but then quickly decided against it…Alexis didn't know what dangers lurked in the Wasteland. Yet.

Off in the distance, there was what seemed to be….A large junk pile? No, as she got closer it looked like some sort of fortress. "What the hell is that thing…?"

Suddenly, there was a soft whuffing noise behind her, along with the clacking of overly large teeth. With a loud squeak, the girl whipped around and began firing her 10mm pistol blindly at whatever was there. A squeak in return answered her, along with the sound of something hitting the ground. Cracking an eye open, Alexis realizes it was nothing but an over-sized Molerat. The sight makes her feel both sickened and stupid. Sickened because of the beast's size and dead body, and stupid because it was only a fucking Molerat for God's sake.

She cut off a hunk of the creature's flesh to be eaten later if she can't find anywhere else to eat. Alexis had also realized that the creature had a small baggy of bottle caps in it's stomach, so she took those too without realizing that those were now the currency of the land.

The Protectron outside turned towards her for a moment, "Please hold for threat level assessment. Threat level minimal. Open the gates. Open the gates. Welcome to Megaton." The little badge on it's 'chest' read Deputy Weld making her want to laugh out loud at the sheer stupidity of the situation and irony of it's name.

Shrugging, Alexis entered the small town anyways, only to be stopped by some Lucas Simms character. He seemed nice enough, bothering to explain the caps and then offer her 300 of 'em if she deactivated the bomb in the center of town.

"If you're looking for a place to stay, head over to Moriarity's, just be careful." He tipped his hat to her and went on his way after that.

"Moriarity's…" The sign wasn't too hard to read from where she stood, especially since the building was raised up a bit. Sighing, Alexis forced her feet to move along the rusted metal walkways towards the Saloon, more wanting something to drink, some food to eat, and a bed to sleep in.

By the time she entered the bar, it was getting late and most of the patrons had filed out the door. Glancing around warily, Alexis realized that she was left with herself and the bartender, whom currently had his back to her.

"E-Excuse me," This got his attention, only when he turned towards her the girl brought a hand up to her mouth to stifle a gasp.

"Hey Smoothskin, do you need something? A drink, maybe? Anything? Anything at all?" Cue a scratch at his disfigured face, a small piece of skin coming off and making the poor man look more like a walking corpse.

Taking a deep breath, Alexis nodded. "L-Let me think that for a moment or two, please."

He looked a little bit taken back at this, "Wait…You're not gonna hit me? Or berate me? Not even a little bit?"

"…No?…"

The Ghoul grinned widely, managing to look both more horrific and not so scary at the same time. "This is a surprise! You have no idea how many asshole Smoothskins I deal with in a day, they only give me shit because I look like a corpse." He looked around carefully, checking to make sure that someone(Alexis wasn't sure who) was around. "It's nice to see that there's some worthwhile people still left in the Wasteland…So for you, I'll give you a discount. Moriarity would have my ass if he knew I was doing this though, I'll risk for you."

"Really? Oh, well….You don't have to if you'll get in trouble for it…-?" She let her sentence trail off, allowing the man to give her his name.

"Er, Gob. It's short for Gobtholemew." If Gob could blush, he'd be doing it right now.

"I don't want you getting into trouble, Gob…But…Have you seen a middle-aged man around here with a Vault 101 jumpsuit on?"

He nodded proudly, "Yeah yeah! I remember a guy like that. I couldn't really tell you too much about him. I normally have to keep my head down or else I'll get smacked around. Talk to Colin if you want to know more."

Alexis noticed a change in his facial expression, or at least what was left of his face. "Gob…Please, if you know anything about my dad can you tell me?" She gave him her best puppy eyes afterwards.

"Sorry Smoothskin, I can't take the risk. Moriarity would beat the shit out of me for even talking to you!" Gob frowned and shook his head now, once again checking over his shoulder for the mentioned male.

"…I-…Alright. I'll talk to him in the morning.." She pulled away from the bar and approached the red-headed woman leaning against the wall. "Excuse me, ma'am? How much for a room?"

"120 caps, and it includes company…~" The woman offered her a playful wink, then waited for her reply.

Alexis swallowed nervously, then shook her head. "And how much is it without company?"

"75 caps."

"Done deal," Counting out the correct number of caps, she handed them over and was then led up the stairs to the room she'd be staying in. She thanked the woman, who's name was Nova, and shut the door behind her.

Where are you? I'm literally gonna bust my ass to find you, but it seems like you've left me some clues to track you with. Heh, thanks Dad.

With a quiet sigh, the Lone Wanderer curled up under the sheets of the crappy old bed, opting to stare at a wall for some 20 minutes before finally dozing off into a fitful slumber.