(Fairline Hills Estates)

Approaching from the north, they strike the ground as a quick beam of light just behind the large, red, house. Still not being fully use to the transition MacCready gags and shakes his head towards the ground as if he is about to vomit.

"Oh god. I swear there has to be an easier way to travel," he says sarcastically.

"You'll be fine in a second, now keep your voice down," Nora commands.

She lifts off her automatic plasma rifle from her shoulder strap and uses its scope to look through the windows of the other seemingly empty houses.

"See anything?" MacCready whispers.

"Nothing." Her eyes scan the house to their right. "Wait! That one. It looks like it has a barricaded door."

"Well then let's get in there." MacCready moves to walk around her.

She lifts up her arm to his chest to stop him. "Not so fast. It could be a trap."

"So what if it is? Let's just get over there, kick that coursers ass so we can start our vacation already." He continues towards the house.

She lowers her rifle but keeps it tight to her shoulder. "Alright. If we are going to do this you take the back while I try the front door."

"Got it."

They swiftly approach the building from both sides. MacCready watches Nora through the broken, living-room, window. She places her hand over the knob and uses her body weight to try to push it open. It doesn't budge. She tries a second time with a bit more force but still nothing. She turns to MacCready and shakes her head. She then motions her head to signal for them to continue around to the side of the house where they find a make shift ramp leading up to the second floor.

"I'll go first. Watch my back," Nora instructs.

He gives her a hard nod then she jumps up onto the ramp and slowly ascends it. A hole in the wall of the building is her entrance. The upstairs is dark and silent. To her left is an open window that allows her to see the small children's park in the center of town. To the right is nothing but a hill with dead tress. The only point of interest is the closed door right in front of her. 'Is he in there? Does he know we're here?' She takes a look behind her and finds MacCready standing guard at the foot of the ramp. His presence alone helps to give her enough confidence to take on whatever may be on the other side. She grips the door knob but finds it is locked.

"Shit," she mutters.

"What's wrong?" MacCready asks.

"Nothing. It's just going to take me a moment to pick this lock."

As she feels the tumblers fall into place the sound of something moving can be heard on the other side. She readies her rifle again then slowly pushes the door open. Her Pip-boy illuminates the room. She searches high and low but finds only a broken down bed in the far corner as well as a suitcase resting up against a dresser. Feeling the room is secure she turns her attention to the suitcase. 'Might as well see what is inside.' She makes quick work of the lock and lifts the top open. She is amazed to find that it is loaded from side to side with bundles of prewar bills. 'Holy shit! There has to be at least a million dollars in here!' She removes her pack from her back and loads it up.

"Find anything?" MacCready asks while still keeping guard outside.

Wanting to keep her find a surprise she lies, "Just an empty room." As she is about to leave she sees the mattress of the bed shuffle. 'What the fuck?' To her fear, she notices its underside is emitting a bright green glow. She then hears the sound of grunting then groaning as a large, bulbous figure stands up before her. "Oh fuck! Bloated, glowing, feral!" She shouts warning MacCready.

She hurries back to the ramp and lifts up her rifle to fire. Just as she is about to squeeze the trigger, a large dark figure jumps through the open window on her left. Before she even has time to react, the figure pulls out a handgun, places it right up against her left elbow between the small gap of her armor, and squeezes the trigger. A loud bang rings throughout the town as a splatter of blood and bits of bone fly through the air before hitting the wall on the far side of he room. Nora tries to let out a scream of agony but gets struck in the chest by the assailant so hard it knocks the wind out of her. She is knocked backward, through the broken wall, off the ramp, causing her back to strike against her loaded back pack as she lands hard on the grassy yard. Luckily her armor absorbs most of the blow but it takes her a moment to collect her breath.

"Holy shit! Nora, are you okay?" MacCready becomes frantic.

"Robert, look out!" She shouts.

Her warning comes too late and he too gets shoved from the ramp. However, he is able to catch himself by tumbling forward then landing on his feet. He swiftly turns and discovers their target standing before them. MacCready readies his hunting rifle and aims strait for the courser's head.

"Say good night mother fucker!" He taunts as he fires off a round.

The courser moves his head just out of target range then laughs mocking him. Just then the ghoul comes careening down the ramp towards him. He begins to panic. Suddenly he finds himself back in that subway tunnel. The feral ghouls, the lack of a plan, a loved on laying helpless before him. 'Not again.' He looks to Nora. He can see that she is bleeding badly but he can't tell from where. He looks to her eyes and he can tell she is scared. 'I need to help her.' Somehow his fingers find the trigger and he manages to fire off a round that strikes the ghoul on the side of the head but it is not enough to stop it. It continues to run at him full force and slams its gut into him, knocking him to the side.

"Robert!" Nora calls out, praying that he is okay.

The courser jumps down from the ramp and lands himself standing directly over her. He looks down at her with cold, emotionless eyes. "Hello Mother," his voice is just as emotionless.

"Please, it doesn't have to be this way. If you really don't want to go back, I can help you."

The courser takes hold of her wounded arm and begins to twist it violently. "Does it look like I need your help?"

Nora cries out in excruciating pain as she hears the bones in her arm snap. The courser sticks his fingers into her Pip-boy and rips out the courser chip inside. He then lifts Nora up by her wrist to place her face to face with him. She feels as if her arm is going to tear in half any second.

"Consider this your only warning. Leave my kind alone or you will suffer even more than you are now."

She cries out in pain again.

"Hey asshole!" MacCready shouts.

The courser turns to face him. He fires off a shot right between the courser's eyes scattering bits of metal from his face but it doesn't manage to faze him. He tosses Nora to the ground then begins to approach MacCready.

"You stupid, insignificant, human."

The courser reaches out his arm to grab him by the throat but his arm becomes melted off by a plasma round. He looks towards Nora who is struggling to keep her grip on her rifle from her position on the ground, but looks at him with confidence that her next shot will strike true. Realizing that they now have the upper-hand he quickly flees, taking cover behind one of the houses. MacCready hurries close behind to not let him get away. Nora soon joins him. They watch as the courser sprints down the street away from them.

"I got him," MacCready says ready to aim his gun.

Nora places the barrel of her riffle over his to stop him. "No. This one is mine." She slips her pack off her back.

He watches as she lifts the rifle up to her right shoulder but she can't quite get her left arm to do what she needs it to. "Umm, should your arm be crooked like that?"

"It's fine," she responds annoyed.

She aims down her sights at the coursers back. Once she has him lined up she allows the rifle to spurt out a few rounds that all hit him down the line of his spin, before spreading over his entire core, and melting him into a mound of goo. Once certain that he is down for good Nora finally lowers her weapon.

"You see. No sweat." She suddenly grips her arm and falls to the floor in agony.

"Nora, are you alright?"

She grits her teeth. "It's my arm. I'm pretty sure it's broken."

"Well let me see." He forces her to lay back flat on the ground then cuts off the sleeve of her armor as well as her shirt. As he peals the blood soaked fabric from the wound he can see that the bones of her lower arm and elbow have broken through her skin and are bleeding rapidly. "Yeah, that looks pretty bad," he tries to keep his voice calm even though he can tell her condition is very serious. He takes her Pip-boy into his hands and unlatches it from her arm. He attaches it to his own then begins to mess with the knobs. "So how do you get this thing to zap us back?"

"It won't work like that now. The courser made sure to remove the chip so we couldn't continue to track him down."

"Well isn't that fucking fantastic," he growls.

Nora begins to cry from the pain. "I'll be okay. Just help me get bandaged up."

MacCready admires her bravery but he knows that bandages wont help for long. "Nora, I promise you, I am going to get you to a doctor just as soon as I can."

He slips his pack off his back and pulls out their first-aid kit. First he dumps alcohol over the open parts of her wound then uses a clean cloth to dab it dry. Nora cries out in pain again. His heart aches feeling terrible for causing her discomfort but there is not much else he can do that wont risk her life further. He takes out the bandage rolls and tightly wraps it around her arm. She cries out again.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's not your fault." She sucks in air through her teeth. "Just give me a stimpak for now and we can worry about the rest later."

"Nora, you know as well as I do that's not going to help with an injury this bad."

"Well I need something!" She growls. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. This is just the worst pain I have ever felt it my entire life and I didn't think anything could be worse than child birth."

MacCready thinks for a moment. "Well, I do know a sedative that might help. But it's risky. Depending on the dose it could even be fatal."

"What is it?"

"I've never given it a name but it is something I learned to make back when I ran with the gunners. I use to make it all the time to help me fall asleep after... well pretty much anytime I was having trouble really."

"Well if you want to make it for me, I trust you."

He hesitates but the longer he looks into her tear filled eyes the more he wants to do anything he can to sooth her. He rummages through his pack again and takes out numerous drug vials and bottles. Nora studies him as he carefully and precisely mixes the different components into an empty glass jar with a dropper. He then seals the lid onto the jar and shakes it for about a minute. To her curiosity he take his lighter and begins to heat up the glass until the mixture inside turns to a slight reddish color. He then takes an empty syringe and fills it about a fourth of the way. He holds it up strait and taps the tip while ejecting a bit into the air to let all the air-bubbles out. He grabs a rubber tube and straps it around her right arm with ease.

"You have done this a few times," she teases.

"Just a few," he teases back. "But don't worry. I kicked myself from this stuff way back when we first met." He gives her a smile. "Alright, here we go. Now just to warn you, before this knocks you out you are gonna feel a bit loopy, okay? So don't panic or your blood might move too much of it to your heart at once."

"Okay," she replies.

He carefully finds the vein in her arm and injects her with the syringe. After a moment he pulls the tube from her arm and right away she can feel it start to work. She gives him a smile and he is relieved to see he didn't fuck it up.

"Alright, now the only problem we have is getting you to a doctor. The only way I see that happening is by carrying you so that means I will have to leave our stuff behind."

Nora just lets out a relaxed moan but then looks to him worried. "No! We have to bring back my back pack!"

"Look, whatever is in there we will just have to find another one."

"No Robert! If you leave that pack behind I will never forgive you."

He takes hold of its strap and finds it too be extremely heavy. "Nora, its too heavy. I will be able to carry you faster without it.

"No," she begs in a slurred, drunk like tone.

He can tell she is starting to fall asleep but it shouldn't have such a rapid effect. "Nora! Sweetheart can you still hear me?"

"Sweethearts!" She replies even more slurred. "I've always loved getting those for valentine's day."

"Shit. I gave you a bit too much of the sedative."

"Sensitive?" She responds mishearing him. "I am not that sensitive and l-look who is judging Mr... Judgey-pants."

He smiles with tears streaming down his cheeks. He is happy she is no longer in pain but she is far from okay. Doing as she asks he straps the back pack onto his shoulders then lefts her up into his arms. She is lighter than he was expecting but still wishes he could just focus all his strength on her instead of the pack. She nuzzles her face into his chest then begins to snore in her sleep. She looks so adorable he just wants to lean down and kiss her, but instead he places his focus on the road heading north.