Enclave HQ
Three months later...
Colonel Autumn was getting very agitated as he stood in the Enclave's command center. His patience was already thin at the moment, as they still could not start the purifier. Apparently, there was a fail-safe they could not bypass without the proper code. To add to his headache, they were having trouble locating the one who might have the code: A young man named Miles, who had somehow gone completely off their grid!
A lieutenant approached his desk cautiously. "Sir, I have the report you asked for."
Autumn snatched the report aggressively from the lieutenant with a quick flick of his arm. He started reading through it.
The news was not what he wanted to hear. According to this, one of their patrols had intercepted a message to the Brotherhood of Steel from a local Vault. Vault 101. It said that according to one of the residents, a girl named Amata, Miles had fled the capital!
Autumn immediately slammed the report down onto his desk, red in the face. "WELL? WHAT ARE Y'ALL JUST SANDING THERE FOR?!" He yelled to his subordinates. "FIND OUT WHERE THAT BOY WENT BEFORE THE TRAIL GOES COLD!"
Meanwhile, at the Citadel…
Amata stood with Butch in the war room of the Pentagon, or as it was now known, the Citadel. She was telling Elder Lyons everything she knew about Miles.
"He was always such a kind and helpful person..." Amata said, in tears. "I just can't believe it… Can't believe that he would just give up on everything like this and run away..."
"It's hard for us all, Miss Amata." Elder Lyons was doing his best to comfort the young Vault Dweller they had liberated, one of many from the tyrannical rule of her father, with her help since she had opened the door. "I wish I had the answer as well. But we must make haste and find him, before all is lost for the capital."
"Can't we just track the little punk's pip-boy or somthin'?" Butch asked. "I mean, the longer we stand around here talkin' 'bout it, the harder it's gonna be on all of us, right?"
"That is a good idea." Sarah Lyons agreed. "If we could get Three-dog to let us use the dish receiver Miles installed on the Washington Monument, we could track him down even if he's left the capital. All we need is his pip-boy signature."
"I'm positive we have that." Stanley said. "I programmed it, after all. We'd better hurry though. He already has enough of a head start..."
Somewhere far southwest of DC…
Miles snapped awake. The nightmares he had been having were starting to seem all too real. If this didn't stop, he felt he would go insane.
He had the dream again. Father and Mother, telling him he that the purifier would never be started, that it was all on him. That he was the only one to blame.
Dogmeat licked his face, whining. He was clearly wanting to make sure his master was all right.
"Calm down, boy. Don't worry about me." Miles said calmly.
He sat up, getting out of the abandoned makeshift fifth-wheel trailer that he had spent the night in. According to his Pip-boy, it was six in the morning. The sun was starting to rise over the arid landscape. According to the maps he had acquired, he was far from DC. Somewhere near the peninsula called Florida. He was near an old trading post called Tally Halsey. It was known as Tallahassee before the war. It was time to get moving. He got up, stretching out. His Armored Vault suit was now even more extensively plated, though it had seen better days. It was time to get moving again. He wouldn't stop until he at least had crossed the continental divide. He wanted to be as far away from DC as possible. He now had a bad feeling he was being followed, and not just by the Brotherhood of Steel. The remnants of the old US Government, the Enclave, were no doubt trying to catch up to him. He slung his Assault rifle over his shoulder and signaled Dogmeat to follow him. They continued to travel west towards the Divide.
