Sally stared at the vast cold darkness of a late autumn night. The high vault of the sky twinkled with thousands of lights. The bright orb of the moon shown down, highlighting the path below her with a ghostly, pale glow. She felt very tiny, frightened and exposed in all of this vast expanse. She moved forward slowly and stared down. She had never been this cold or alone in all her life.

The path lead to a broken road, large slabs of dark material broken by shimmering puddles of reflected moonlight. A broken twisted rail ran along parts of the road. Off in the distance she could just make out some tall spires against the dark sky. It didn't look anything like the pictures she had seen in the vault of pre-war towns.

Shocked and dazed by the unaccustomed violence, frightened by the vastness and strangeness, Sally gathered her courage and strode in a numb daze down the path leading away from the vault that had been her home.

"Well, what have we here?" a rough voice said, startling Sally. A big man came out from behind a large group of boulders. A smaller man slunk behind him.

"I believe it's a girl," the smaller one sniggered. "And all alone too."

Sally felt a rush of fear as the disgustingly dirty gross males approached her. "Can you help me?" she asked pleadingly, looking hopefully from one to the other, her heart sinking.

"Sure, Babe", the big guy said, reaching out for her.

"Get her," he yelled to the smaller man as Sally broke and tried to run. He grabbed her, laughing hoarsely. Ripping her pack from her shoulders he jerked her arms behind her, holding her fast. The older, bigger male grinned at her.

"Oh yeah, we're gonna have some fun with this one,", he grinned, jerking at his crotch with one hand, as he stepped in close to her. The stench made her gag.

"Aren't you the pretty one?" he asked, taking her face in one grimy hand and turning it from side to side, taking in the flawless ivory skin, splash of freckles, the red gold hair swinging softly.

"Don't you think she's too pretty? She don't belong here. I think we can fix that", he grinned evilly, pulling a large knife from his belt. Sally quailed, paralyzed with fear and indecision, flinching at the pain as he swept the knife down her face, carving a long cut from eye to mouth. This was no Tunnel Snake, brandishing empty threats! This man was big, and strong, and deadly.

He moved into her, lowering his head towards her. The feel of his mouth on hers, the pain, the smell, the fear, suddenly exploded inside her. The anger in her belly took over as her vision went dark and her reason fled. Her training kicked in and she reacted.

She brought up a knee as hard as she could into the man's groin. Even as he doubled over in pain, moving back from her, she shoved back against the man holding her fast, using him as leverage to kick the knife from the big man's hand. Surprised, the younger released his grip, letting her fall. She hit the ground, rolling into a crouch. She dove for the knife, turning up as the big man rushed her. The knife swung up, slicing into his gut. He collapsed with a single cry. Whipping to her feet she sprang at the young man, frozen for an instant too long in his shock. She grabbed his head and sliced the knife cleanly across his throat, holding him upright for a moment before releasing him to fall to the ground.

Sally stood looking at the dead men as the red haze of fury and fear in her brain faded and her senses seemed to return to her. She had done that. With her own hands! The secret training, the explosion of anger, had allowed her to react without hesitation or thought of consequences. She was breathing rapidly, more from fear and adrenaline than exertion. Blood trickled down her face falling from her chin to mix with the blood covering her vault uniform, her hands, the big knife she was still holding. It suddenly hit her what she had done: the dead guard, the dead wastelanders. She started shaking, staring at the knife and then bent over and vomited violently.

She sat for a long time staring at the men. A resolve was growing in her, the resolve to live, to do whatever she needed in this violent land to stay alive. She had trained in the Vault, but it had been safe and easy, more a hobby than an avocation. The Arms Master had helped her at first, when she was small, but the Overseer had found out and forbidden her training in fighting or weapons. That hadn't stopped her; she studied the old holo tapes in secret and picked fights whenever possible with the Tunnel Snakes, mainly for the practice and because she was bored. She hadn't always won, at least not at first.

She had been allowed to practice with her BB gun as most of the children did, but the Overseer would have had a fit if he'd known she sometimes snuck her Dad's pistol to shoot radroaches. There had been no real need for combat training in the vault; she did it because it appealed to her and she had a natural talent for it. Now she was glad she had studied so hard, but she realized there was a whole lot more she would need to learn. The tapes hadn't taught her how to handle fear.

She rose and went to examine the dead men. They wouldn't need anything they had now and she needed anything she could get. Hesitantly she knelt to check the bodies, recoiling at the metallic scent of blood, the rank smell of filth and offal. She forced herself to go through their pockets and packs, taking everything that might be of value. She added the few caps to the meagre collection in her pocket.

Sally didn't know much about the wasteland, even though Amata had gotten them into her father's secret files containing information about the outside. She had gathered a little about the currency and wild life, not nearly enough, but one thing she felt intuitively. The scent of blood would attract predators, and there were some dangerous ones out here. She wiped off the knife and used the dry vegetation to scrub off as much blood as possible. Shouldering her now heavier pack she headed down the road looking for some source of water to cleanse away the scent. The single bottle of purified water she had found in the vault was too valuable to use for cleansing.

No ready source of water was in the offing, but the road led into a blasted village. She looked around curiously at the burnt timbers of mostly destroyed buildings, startled when a flying robot whizzed past, blaring a canned message. She stared after it for a moment.

She became aware that the night wasn't really silent. There was a low thrumming of sound, of small life in the wasteland. She listened for a while, deciding it must be insects that had survived the holocaust, almost unchanged. The slight breeze was pretty chilly, her soiled suit not offering enough protection from the cold night.

Pushing her discomfort aside she began exploring all the buildings, all possible receptacles where anything of value might be found. She found some grenades, which was great, a few bobby pins, and some other useful items. She studied a bobby pin, noting its curved edges. She hoped she could remember how Amata had shown her how to break into her Dad's safe with one.

She dropped the pins in a pocket. Her most urgent need now was water. She was going to have to find a source soon. She stopped for a moment to stare at a decrepit rocket, leaning on rusted beams. Whatever had that been for? She shrugged and examined a blasted vehicle.

So much to see, so much to learn about. Suddenly her Pip-boy lit up with the information 'Springvale'. What? Oh, somehow it had divined her location? This was, or rather used to be, a town called 'Springvale'? That would explain the big building she had seen with the inscription 'Springvale School'. It was very imposing and frightening looking in the dark, she wasn't going anywhere near it.

How interesting. It must be using some form of GPS signals to keep track of her location. That meant some satellites must have survived the war. It had been 200 years since the nuclear holocaust, if she remembered her lessons correctly. This area had once been a center of political activity so it had been heavily hit. Now it was a big, decimated wasteland. Yet it somehow didn't seem as foreign to her as she would have expected.

The Pip-boy was a device she had worn on her wrist since she was a child. It was standard Vault procedure to issue one to each child on their 10th birthday. It was a wrist computer and monitor with a number of varied functions. She had often wondered why such a thing should be required in the Vaults, but now she was glad for it. It was programmed to her bio-signs and could never be removed without destroying it except by a master programmer. She was going to have to play with her Pip-boy, what other functions might it be capable of she hadn't been aware of?

The lone house that appeared to be intact might hold some water. Sally approached it carefully, her violent introduction to the wasteland making her wary. She had been searching buildings for a good part of the night using the flashlight feature on her Pip-boy. She had managed to accumulate a few more items. Her face had quit bleeding now but it still hurt like hell and should be cleaned. She had been training to be a medical doctor in the vault and was concerned about the likelihood of infection from the dirty knife, but there didn't seem to be anything she could do about it right now so she shoved the thought aside.

Sally pushed open the door slowly and walked into the room, expecting another abandoned building. "Who the hell are you and what do you want?" The voice made her jump. Damn. She should be more aware. What if the person had attacked her instead?

"My name is Sally. I thought this building would be empty. I just need some water to clean up a bit", Sally said.

The blonde woman was pointing at pistol at her gut, not encouraged by her bloody state.

"Over here," she said warily, pointing at a sink. She handed her a cloth, never taking her eyes off her, the pistol ready. "My name's Silver. I thought that bastard Moriarity sent you after me."

"Why would you think that?" Sally asked curiously, slowly wiping the cut on her face, wincing slightly at the pain. "Who's this Moriarity?"

"He owns the bar in Megaton. He says I stole from him. He cheated me and kept me enslaved for 6 years. I only took what was mine and ran, but he wants me back. You know, if you're going to Megaton, you could help me out. Tell that bastard I'm dead.", she said hopefully, lowering the pistol.

Sally considered. The woman had been kind enough to help her out, and wasn't holding a pistol on her now, but she didn't like what she'd heard. The name Megaton seemed familiar. She believed it to be a small town nearby according to the Overseer's files.

"Do you have any caps?", she asked.

The woman regarded her warily. "Enough to get by", she said.

"Then why are you still here? Isn't Megaton close by?" , Sally asked reasonably.

"Well, yeah, I haven't given any thought farther than hiding out." , Silver replied, somewhat sheepishly.

"Well, I suggest you get the hell out of here. If I'm gonna tell him you're dead, do you think he'll take my word for it? He'll probably send someone to check it out", Sally snorted.

"I see what you mean", Silver said slowly. "Yeah, you're right. I'm outa here at first light."

"Hmmm I think we better think this through a bit further. He'd probably just come after you. I expect there're plenty of predators in this area, right? Look, I left a guy up the road there, don't worry, he's dead, but he's a small guy, about your size I think. Before you leave drag him down here and leave him in the house. Oh, and make sure you leave some of your hairs around and leave the door open so things can get at him. Might be best to leave his head up there though, it shouldn't be too hard to finish taking it off, I cut it through most of the way I think. Once animals have been at it for a week or two I don't think anyone's gonna look close enough to tell it isn't a woman, do you?" , she asked consideringly.

Silver gaped at her, horrified. "Do you think that's necessary, really?", she asked.

Sally shrugged. "Tell you what, for 300 caps I'll help you set it up." She thought that sounded reasonable though she wasn't sure how much that buy.

Silver thought about that. "Fine, let's get started."

It was harder to remove the head than Sally thought it would be, but they managed to complete the task and have the body stripped, dressed in one of Silver's dresses, and left just inside the front door within a couple of hours. They left the man's clothes with his head behind some rocks near the vault.

"Do you want to stay here the rest of the night?", Silver asked tiredly, handing Sally a small bag with 300 caps in it. It had been a long night and Sally realized she was exhausted, physically and emotionally. She'd never killed before, let alone cut off someone's head.

"Thanks, it's just a couple hours, so I guess I'll try to get some rest. I need to get to Megaton. I'm looking for my father", she sighed.

Sally didn't get much sleep though. She was too wary of this strange land and strange woman, and the body she had made dead resting in the living room kind of freaked her out. She said good bye and left Silver getting ready to leave just as the predawn was starting to lighten the sky.

Sally sighed tiredly, sitting briefly in the last blasted building on the road. The sun was just rising, and she had never seen a sunrise before. She watched in wonder as the color slowly seeped into the land, turning the horizon pink and then bright. The high blue sky above was liberally sprinkled with soft fluffy clouds. The brilliant sun shone down, heating her through and driving out the cold. She had never seen anything so wonderful. Just for the moment she felt like soaring.