In the Shadow of the Valley
It was impossibly dark.
Dark and loud.
Neither Ginger nor Lou could see more than a few inches in front of them. Hours ago they'd dragged themselves through a narrow gap in the ruble of a collapsed train tunnel entrance. They'd have spent the night inside but with six inches of water and counting on the floor it hadn't seemed like a good idea.
Outside the storm raging was only getting worse.
They both had thought about turning back but in the blackness they'd never find the half flooded tunnel again. Ginger hadn't seen Dogmeat in hours but hoped he was sticking close.
With this much darkness, wind and rain it was unlikely their guns would do much good. An enemy would be on them before they even knew they were in danger. Knives and the dog were their only defense if anything was crazy enough to hunt in this weather.
Lou's outline was in front of her, he swore loud enough for her to hear him over the roar and disappeared. Ginger scrambled forward, her foot suddenly meeting air instead of soggy ground and she fell too. She rolled down a steep embankment and smacking into a pole or a tree. Ginger couldn't tell which but whatever it was it was going to leave a bruised mark on her left ribcage.
Wet ragged hands found her and hauled her to her feet. Lou felt along her shoulders and her neck, checking her for wounds. She felt his warm breath next to her ear and over the roar of wind he yelled, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine!" she yelled back through chattering teeth.
"We have to get out of this shit!"
Ginger agreed. Lou found her hand and together they trudged on. Distantly Ginger thought she heard a dog barking somewhere in the wind. She stopped short. Lou turned… or at least she thought he turned… to look at her. Ginger felt up along his arm until she found his ear.
"Listen! That's Dogmeat!"
They both stilled holding their breaths as they tried to pick out the sound over the wind and rain. Lightning flashed followed by a deafening clap of thunder. The sudden flash of light didn't help either of them at all. The area they were in was thick with blackened trees.
The thunder subsided and there it was, Dogmeat barking in the distance. Together Lou and Ginger made their way in the direction of their dog.
They fought through the storm for a few long minutes and then Ginger picked out a different sound. "Lou!"
"What!"
"Listen! Tin roof?"
Lou stiffened for a second while he listened before he tugged her along with new purpose. He had to get Ginger out of this weather before she froze to death. Hell ghouls were resilient but even he wasn't going to last much longer then she would in this hell.
The tin roof got louder until it almost muted the sound of everything else. Lou ran smack into a hard wall and swore with the pain that flared behind his eyes. Dogmeat barked to his right and he followed the sound, feeling along the wall with one hand while keeping the other firmly in Gingers. The mutt was smart, he'd never led them astray before and it was times like this he was truly thankful for Dogmeat's intelligence.
The rain stopped bombarding them as he felt his way up creaky old steps. In the blackness he could just make out a white painted door. It took a few seconds of grouping but he found the handle and twisted, his heart leaping when he found it wasn't locked.
They all rushed inside and Lou muscled the door closed against the wind. Once the door was closed it was quieter. Not quiet because of the rain on the roof was still thundering above them but quieter.
Ginger fiddled with her Pipboy for a few seconds, doing a sweep of the room before she tried her light. The light cast off by the Pipboy was faulty because the device was waterlogged. It also didn't help that Ginger was shivering violently but it was enough to avoid running into old furniture.
Lou looked the room over and spotted a cast iron woodstove with a fully stocked wood box next to it. Lou opened the iron door and after a little swearing and a little more effort he managed to get a half decent flame crackling.
Lou left the door open, casting warm orange light over the dust caked floor.
The ghoul grinned at his smoothskin and she grinned back, arms wrapped around her shivering body. "Th-the wastel-l-land al-al-always p-pr-provides."
Dogmeat shook, sending water droplets flying before he curled in front of the stove with a heavy sigh. Ginger giggled in spite of her numb lips.
"I'll barricade the door if you wanna look around for blankets or something," Lou said and Ginger nodded. Lou wedged a chair from the table under the doorknob and turned the lock. It wasn't great but they hadn't seen another living person in over a week so he figured it'd be alright.
He turned making his way back into the main living/dining area, Ginger's boots were set close to the stove to dry along with her clothes hanging over various surfaces. Everything they both wore was beyond soaked.
"Ginger?"
"Upstairs," she called back. "Th-there are b-bedrooms up here."
Lou removed his boots and set them next to Ginger's. He striped everything off except for his wet boxers before heading up the open staircase. Upstairs there were two bedrooms. One on each side of the house and connected by an open catwalk with hip high railings on either side.
One room was loft style and he could see that she wasn't over there. Instead he turned right and headed into the closed bedroom. Ginger had found and lit a candle on a nightstand. She was shaking what looked like two hundred years of dust out of the king size bed sheets.
She smiled at him, goosebums covering her pale skin.
"You should let me do that and look for some dry clothes." Lou scolded, moving to take the blanket.
Ginger snapped the sheet out over the bed with a flick of her wrists and laughed. "It's already warming up in here and soon I'll be curled up with you in this bed. Besides, there are other things we could do to get warm."
Ginger waggled her wet eyebrows at him and Lou laughed. "Well when you put it like that it's hard to argue."
Lou helped Ginger dust off the comforter and pillows before they climbed into bed. The sheets were cold but Lou dropped his wet boxers on the floor and pulled Ginger close to him, chaffing her skin with his hands to try to warm her faster.
"Lou?"
"hmm?" he murmured, kissing her neck while he hugged her closer.
"I love you." She whispered, she'd only said it a couple times before and Lou smiled against her skin, kissing her shoulder.
"I love you too smoothskin."
Ginger woke up early, she wasn't cold and that was a small miracle in itself. She'd been positive that she'd never be warm again last night. Lou was still sleeping soundly next to her so she eased out of bed and crept across the catwalk to the other bedroom.
She found some clothes in the dresser and after picking through what was available Ginger pulled on a pair of tight jeans and a dark red sleeveless blouse. She found socks too and a brush in the top drawer. After taming the cloud of doom that her hair always formed when she slept on it wet she slipped on the socks and tip toed downstairs.
Last night she'd removed her Pipboy to dry out. She checked the time on it but didn't put it back on, it was still damp. It was just before dawn according to the Pipboy but she felt wide awake. Ginger fed wood into the stove to fend off the morning chill and gave Dogmeat a scratch. His fur was impossibly tangled so the first thing she did was retrieve the brush and give him a good grooming. The dog loved being brushed. He made it difficult but trying to roll on his back and lick her fingers.
When she was done he looked better than he had in months. Hours in the rain had cleaned all the filth from his fur and after the brushing it was left shiny and soft.
Dogmeat went to the door and whined softly, looking at her. Ginger peeked out past the floral curtains and only saw a wall of fog. Sighing she quietly moved the barricade and unlocked the door, letting him outside to do his business.
"You better not roll in the mud you little bastard," she hissed and he wagged his tail as he disappeared. It was a gesture that said to her, We'll see.
In the grey early morning light Ginger could see the layout of the room. The front door opened into a little kitchen, the kitchen opened onto a large square living area and there was a large sitting room on the other side separated by half walls. There were big windows that looked out on flat fog and Ginger pulled the curtains closed because honestly the thick fog creeped her out a little.
She moved to the refrigerator and studied it. On the door there was a knob and a digital readout screen at said Standby. She opened the door and found it empty. She closed the door again and turned the knob because really who wouldn't fiddle with it?
The first setting read All. She pressed a green button that said enter but it made an angry beep and the screen flashed Insufficient Space.
Ginger shrugged and turned the dial again, Breakfast.
That sounded good.
She hit enter and the fridge made a humming noises. Things shifted and clinked inside and she jumped back several feet, her had flying to her hip were her knives usually were. The screen flashed Ready and the fridge quieted.
Vault-Tec was embossed on the top of the refrigerator and she was reminded of the cooler system they'd had in the vault. It had work off of some kind of cryo-storage technology that she hadn't quite understood.
Ginger opened the door again and her mouth fell open. The space inside was stuffed with food. Some of it she recognized from the vault and some of it she hadn't a clue what it was. A scratch on the door told her Dogmeat was back and she let him in. He was thankfully still clean and returned to his place in front of the fire.
"I'm gonna make Lou breakfast!" she whispered to him excitedly. His ear perked up and his tail wagged but he didn't lift his head. He was too comfortable.
Lou tossed an arm over his eyes to block out the sunlight beaming directly into his eyes through a crack in the curtains. The bed was warm and he didn't want to get up yet but he could hear movement downstairs. Bacon was sizzling and it was accompanied by the scent of green peppers and onions.
He should probably get up for school, any minute his mother would yell up the stairs for him to come get breakfast. His mouth was already watering even as he tried to fight his way into a few more minutes of sleep before he had to get up and - wait a minute.
Lou sat bolt upright, his eyes snapping open. The fuck?
His eyes traveled around the dusty room. In a chair next to the bed a clean pair of jeans and a black T-shirt topped with boxers and socks waited for him. He pulled back the curtain he could reach from the bed and looked outside.
The sun was burning off the last of the fog and he could see a debris covered dirt driveway, a couple shed looking buildings and what looked like a fire pit that needed to be cleaned out in the worst way. What had him staring though were the trees. Tall, healthy, leafy, trees turned into the dense forest surrounding the yard.
Lou blinked several times and he had to close his mouth. He threw off the sheets and pulled on the cloths in a hurry. They fit pretty good and he suspected Ginger had taken some time to find the closest sizes for him.
Ginger…
Ginger was cooking.
Ginger was cooking bacon?
Outside was momentarily forgotten when he came down the stairs. A light blue tablecloth was on the little round table and it was set with clean dishes in a little patch of sun streaming in threw a skylight.
Ginger was pouring steaming coffee into porcelain cups and she was wearing a blue plaid apron. If he hadn't checked his hands just to make sure he was still a ghoul he might have sworn that the last hundred and fifty years had never happened.
"Good Morning sleepy head!" she smiled like a new wife greeting her husbanded for the first time.
"Good Morning," He answered, awed.
Lou was confused but in a delighted kind of way. Lou crossed the room, pulling her into a hard kiss. Ginger returned his affection for a few glorious seconds before she pulled away, going to the stove to collect the waiting food. Dogmeat was right on her heels, incredibly interested in what she was doing.
Lou tried to follow but she giggled and snapped a green kitchen towel at him. "No, go sit down and let me serve you. I'm playin' housewife and you have to play along."
Lou grinned and moved to the table, sitting down without taking his eyes off her. Ginger looked great naked and she looked great in bloodstained armor but right now, dressed in soft famine pre-war clothes with that apron she was heaven sent.
Ginger met his eyes with two steaming plates in her hands and she blushed. "What?"
"You, let's go back to bed…or right here on the floor, or on the table," he grinned and she shook her head.
"No. the floor is dirty and I spent too much time making the table look nice for you. Besides if we go to bed now you're eggs and bacon will get cold,"
She set a plate in front of him and he damn near had a heart attack.
Bacon.
Real bacon. And there were scrambled eggs with peppers, mushrooms, onions and cheese. To top it off she had triangles of toast with butter and red jam.
Lou looked at her, awed all over again. "…how?"
"The refrigerator is a Vault-tec storage device. We had a big one in vault 101. It preserves everything inside like the day you put it in. It has like four settings and I only got to breakfast but there is all kinds of stuff in there."
Ginger moved to the fridge and opened the door, pulling out a carton or orange juice and filling the two glasses on the table. "I hope you like what I made because it's the only thing I know how to cook."
Lou picked up a warm slice of bacon and took a bite, groaning in pleasure. He bit a corner of toast, identifying the jam as strawberry and forked some eggs into his mouth. It was amazing. He was in love with her all over again.
"Smoothskin…this is amazing." he growled. Ginger was having a similar experience and she grinned at his praise. Dogmeat moved from Ginger and set his head on Lou's thigh, looking up at the ghoul from under oddly expressive eyebrows. The dog groaned and Lou gave him a corner of toast.
Ginger laughed and fed Dogmeat half a strip of bacon. "Remember boy, Mama love you more."
Dogmeat snapped up the food and grinned with his tongue lolling out one side of his mouth. Ginger scratches his ears and he dusted the floor with his tail.
Lou was scraping up the last bit of egg with his toast when he remembered the view from the bedroom window. He shoved the food into his mouth and jumped up, grabbing his boots. Miraculously they were dry. He swallowed and yanked his boots on at the same time.
Ginger brought the empty dishes to the sink and cocked an eyebrow at him. "What's the rush?"
"Put your boots on! Have you looked outside?" he almost yelled and she moved to obey, grinning in response to his excitement.
"Outside was nothing but a wall of fog when I looked. Why?"
"Just…shake a leg woman. Let's go!" He tossed her newly dried boots to her and she yanked them on, lacing them up with a practiced ease. As soon as she tugged her pant leg down over her second boot Lou grabbed her hand. She almost fell flat on her face when he pulled her to the porch windows. He had been planning on just dragging her outside but though the window might be better first.
He threw open the curtains and both of their mouths fell open. Ginger clapped her hands over her mouth. The cabin they were in was sitting on a twenty foot cliff face overlooking a beautiful lake. The lake was nestled in the bottom of a densely forested valley. From the window they could see other cabins dotting the opposite shoreline but there wasn't any sign of people.
Small colored bird's flitted in the trees and Lou saw a fish jump out of clear water. It was a paradise on earth.
"Jesus Christ…" Lou whispered. Ginger was stunned into silence. Lou grabbed her hand and hauled her out the front door, the mutt close on their heels. Outside the air was cool and damp, water droplets shone brightly in the light and Ginger laughed, spinning on her heels to take it all in.
"Lou! Look at this place!"
"I know!" He looked towards the lake and spotted what looked like a path to the water. "Come on!"
Hand in hand they ran down the steep embankment to the shoreline. The dock was old but they ran out onto it. Lou could see fish swimming lazily on the bottom of the crystal clear water.
Ginger dropped to her hands and knees at the edge of the dock. The red head hesitated but then she carefully stuck her handed in the water. Silence. She cupped her hand and lifted a little water to her nose. It smelled okay so she took a sip. Her Pipboy stayed silent and it tasted fresh.
"It's pure."
"It's pure?"
Ginger nodded, almost frightened.
"This place…" Lou breathed, looking slowly over the rolling green valley. "It's not possible. Something's got to be wrong, dangerous. Maybe some giant creature that stalks the woods or something."
"I know what you mean but…there are birds singing and fish in the water. And the trees... Lou I know what this is."
He looked at her expectantly and Ginger blew out a sigh, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. "We died last night."
"We died?"
"Yes. Probably the fire went out and we froze to death in our sleep. Funny, I always thought it would be a bullet to take me out."
"I thought you'd blow us up one night while trying to make bombs."
"Hey!" she shot, "I'm fantastic at bombs."
Lucifer slapped his leathery cheek a couple times and shook his head. "I don't feel dead."
"Like you could possibly know what being dead feels like." Ginger gestured to the spectacular view. "How do you explain being in paradise if we aren't dead?"
Lou was still shaking his head. "That's another thing. If we were dead there is no way we'd make it into Paradise."
"Well that's true," Ginger sat back on her heels. "I'm not convinced that any of this is real but as long as we're here we may as well enjoy it."
Lou nodded. "Do you want to stay here?"
"Stay?" Ginger asked, weighing the word on her tongue.
"Your job is done smoothskin," Lou reminded her gently. "You went to war, almost single handedly took out the most dangerous army in the wasteland. Gave D.C clean water, thus finishing your parents work. You even managed to die in the process. It was only for a few minutes but you gave your life for the Capital Wasteland. You're free kid. We could stay if you wanted."
Ginger looked up at the cabin they'd spent the night in. "We could, couldn't we?" her eye's brightened as she started babbling excitedly. "Lou we could live here! Quit wandering and just live out our day's right here in this valley!"
"You'd quit wandering?" Lou asked, surprised.
"Well," she amended. "Quit wandering far and wide. I do want to search this Valley from one end to the other!"
Lou smiled crookedly. "That's my girl."