Ruby sat there for what to her felt like hours as she gazed out at the desolate ruin of what had once been the United States of America. I really wish you were here beside me now Amata…I'm already lonely She thought as she finally stood up grabbing her 10mm pistol and stepped down the hill towards the broken pre-war road walking down into the ghost town that used to be the happy community of Springvale. She gazed at the ruined houses and decided to start looking for supplies letting her habit of looting random items get the better of her despite the massive weight that the equipment she looted in the vault was bringing down on her. She began softly singing one of her favorite songs from one of her favorite World War 2-based anime when she began hearing what sounded like the Star Spangled Banner and a humming moving nearby outside of the house she was looting.
She laid her hand on the handle of her pistol as she slowly walked out cautiously peeking out and seeing what looked like a close relative of the Soviet "Sputnik" satellite. She pulled out her pistol cautiously aiming at it as it wandered around seemingly in a set patrol pattern as she heard the song end and the voice of a man was heard. "Hello sweet America this is your President John Henry Eden and its time we had a chat…" And the voice continued its message as it harmlessly passed her. She watched it go by bewildered at how in the hell could any semblance of the old and idiotic American pre-war government could still be surviving somewhere in the Capital Wasteland. And to think that stupid war only started simply because China and the U.S. had a fucking trade disagreement. And they call young people like me kids! She wondered frustratingly cursing the dead ghosts of the Pre-War government for doing the things that they did to destroy the identity of their own nation and to turn the entire planet into a scorched corpse. She continued walking among the houses sulking silently that she had read so much on American history right down to what secret military documents she was able to find from Alphonse's terminal. "Sickening…so god damn sickening…" she mumbled as she stopped and saw the green glint of a safe lying in the dirt and garbage filled floor of the house she was staring at. She couldn't help but grin with delight as she walked into the house towards the safe and took out her lock picks and began to work her rogue-ish magic picking the lock on the safe as it opened up revealing the stash inside to be a small bottle of Rad-X, three grenades, a Psycho-filled syringe and an old Chinese pistol causing her to squeak happily with delight as she immediately began stuffing them in her pack gazing at the Chinese Pistol. "Hmm…never thought I'd lay my hands on a Chinese type 17 pistol…the legendary Broomhandle…now I just need a motorcycle and a sexy biker outfit!" She giggled at the reference she made to one of her favorite video game franchises and frowned as she saw how lousy of a condition it was in. 200 hundred years has NOT done this poor Broom any favors…oh well I'll keep it safe for now She thought as she stuffed the gun into her pack mumbling to herself how she wished it was the original German developed model.
After she stepped out of the house she saw what looked to be a school. She wondered if anyone could still be alive inside and shrugged softly smiling to herself indulging her own hunger for an adventurous exploration beginning to get back on the road she gazed at the houses that survived the initial atomic blasts seeing that they were all boarded up except for one. "Huh…I wonder if anyone is inside now." She said to nobody in particular but herself as she stepped towards the house solemnly imagining the unimaginable terror people must have felt sitting in their homes seeing the bombs crash into the earth just seconds before they were either eternally blinded by the divinely bright light of the explosion or their flesh was immediately ripped from their bodies in the rushing and scorching heat that the blasts released upon detonation. She stopped at the front door of the house as she touched the handle of her pistol that Amata gave her as if it were a talisman slowly stepping through the entrance opening the door and closing it behind her as she arrived inside. She only had a minute to look around the dreary and decaying interior of the house as she heard footsteps moving towards her as she saw a woman who looked to be in her late thirties and going into her early forties as the woman began to snarl at Ruby as she asked "Who the hell are you?! Did Moriarity send you here?!" Ruby was momentarily taken aback with surprise at the blonde-haired woman's abrupt anger and paranoia noticing the 32 caliber revolver on her hip. That pistol was always known for being weak as all hell but it was also good as a concealed quick-draw weapon, I better not take the risk of this woman being a gunslinger. She thought as she raised her hands showing that she meant no harm saying "Whoa whoa please miss calm down, who is Moriarity?" she asked as she mentally prepared to mercilessly gun the woman down in the event she had a paranoid itchy trigger-finger. The woman seemed to calm down a little as she almost gazed at her in confusion. "Moriarity, the owner of Moriarity's Saloon in Megaton, that bastard won't leave me alone demanding I need to pay him 400 caps!" Ruby immediately caught on to the word "caps" as she read about it being the currency of post-war Wasteland America from Old Lady Palmer's journals as she suddenly had an idea. "Okay listen, you give me the caps and I'll go tell him that you're gone alright? Then he'll leave you alone." She said patting herself on the back at not only getting a head start on currency but also obtaining info about the settlement known as Megaton that she had read about in the Overseer's terminal just before she escaped. The woman seemed to think it over as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a pouch of Nuka-Cola bottle caps handing it over to her mumbling "I'm just tired of living like some Wasteland dog…:" She took the pouch stuffing it in the pocket of her vault suit thanking the woman and wishing her the best of luck as the woman turned and for whatever reason returned to her bed.
After leaving the woman's house she continued her journey towards the school as the building's sign came into view as she saw the name Springvale Elementary. She looked down gulping back the sadness that was returning as she could almost hear the agonizing screams of the small children that most likely perished here at the school on that fateful day when the bombs fell. She turned to look at the front entrance considering to enter through the door as she remembered that some dangerous people may have possibly taken refuge inside and she decided against entering through the front door and continued walking around the corner of the school next to the abandoned shell of the playground amidst the abandoned uranium-powered cars seeing a large gap on the building. She touched her pistol readying herself for anything as she began hearing bullets passing by her and dove down behind cover. I can't believe some people are actually still here hiding out at this school! She thought to herself as she momentarily rose to return fire at a savage dusted up man whose skin looked heavily tanned and was wearing makeshift armor. He seemed to wince as some of the rounds from her 10mm pistol hit their mark as she began running inwards looking for some better cover. She winced as she felt some bullets hit her shoulder and thigh as she turned and saw another man running up from what looked to be a makeshift barracks from the cracked open basement area of the school firing at her. She quickly dialed her target into the VATS system on her Pip Boy turning and shooting the man twice in the chest and once in the head as he collapsed broken like a toy. The man she had wounded upstairs seemed to lose sight of her as he began brutally taunting her with such a worse form of threats it'd make Butch Deloria shit himself and weep with fear. She grinned to herself confidently as she hid under where the stairs were while swiping some stray coffee cups from a nearby table. That's right little wounded hyena…cmon down so I can put an end to your fucking miserable existence! She deviously thought as she suddenly heard the sudden rush of footsteps behind her. As she turned that was when she felt the sharp sting of a police baton bash her head causing her to drop her pistol and fall over turning to see that a raider had snuck up on her and began to viciously beat her with his blunt weapon. She cried out in pain as she felt all sense of confidence drain from her body knowing shit was going south fast. For a brief moment the Raider stopped to pause noticing her fear and got down on top of her chuckling in psychotic delight. "Get off of me fucker!" She managed to snarl out struggling in the grip of the man. He grinned as he grabbed onto her vault suit and tore it open with his bare hands exposing the grey undershirt underneath "Heh you have some amazing tits there you slut! Let's see what happens when I rip off that shirt of yours!" Ruby could only shiver in disgust knowing what the man planned to do to her as he grabbed onto her large breasts groping them roughly as she desperately reached for her pistol trying not to give him the satisfaction of letting him see her blush.
As his calloused hands began wandering to the hems of her undershirt she felt her hand grasp onto the pistol. "Time to die you perverted fuck!" she yelled as she bashed the man's stomach with her elbow turning and repeatedly firing into his brain killing him instantly. She heard the wounded man begin to panic and run for the exit she came from as she turned and viciously gunned him down. Ugghh…getting felt up was not on the list of shit I wanted to do today, ah well at least the bastard did me a favor at ripping this stupid skintight vault suit now I feel like I can finally breathe! She thought as she cleaned their bodies of their equipment and armor and began walking out of the school deciding it was best to return at a later time. She turned to the right and walked past the abandoned motorcycle towards the other side of the building turning around and looking at the stranded vehicle after picking up its fuel tank and hand brake. May as well mark where I left off here She thought as she took out her pistol and fired into the motorcycle the 10mm rounds smashing into the mini uranium fuel cells causing the motorcycle to explode out of Ruby's range as she turned and saw a cable tower littered with toxic waste barrels around the bottom. She gritted her teeth in disgust as she saw the lonely med box among the barrels and decided to brave the radiation she knew she would be walking through. She opened the gate and stepped towards the med box and felt her skin starting to become warmer as she began hearing the vibrating crackle of the Geiger counter on her Pip Boy. "Nyuuuuu….Nyuuuu….." She squeaked in misfortune as she saw the rad counter going up from when she entered and looted the box and finally was able to leave. She coughed and wheezed knowing she just gave herself minor radiation sickness for a small amount of medical supplies as she began shambling her way towards Megaton praying that she wouldn't start losing skin or hair.
