Zoe slammed her fist against the stadium wall, "Damnit I've been traveling for a week! You must have at least five square feet to spare in that massive stadium."
"Ma'am, we're at maximum capacity. There's nothing that I can do." The voice on the other end of the intercom sounded disgruntled.
"There has to be something you can do. Look, I'll clean the toilets. I'll clean the stadium seats. I'll do anything."
"Maximum. Capacity." The intercom voice sounded final.
Zoe shut her eyes and leaned her head against the stadium wall. After five days of traveling the wasteland countryside, she had finally passed through the city limits of former Boston. In the ruined skyscrapers and ancient gas stations that piled the old city she expected to find a tribe of surviving people welcoming her with open arms into a city filled with sprawling farms and makeshift houses.
Instead she found Hell.
Two minutes after entering the city she miraculously stumbled across an entire band of armored humans wielding makeshift weapons and armor, narrowly dodging a bullet aimed at her skull in the process. This spawned a twenty minute chase around the city where she ran across two groups of seemingly giant green monsters, another gang of humans, and a pack of feral dogs. She outran the people and green monsters and had to finally dive into a lake to avoid the pack of feral dogs, one of which had taken a good chunk out of her arm before Dogmeat swiftly ripped its throat out.
Exhausted and sick with the beginnings of what she was suspected was radiation poisoning, she had spent the night huddled in the top floor of a house with Dogmeat at her side, jumping at every sudden flurry of gunshots (which she found out, happens every fifteen minutes) and shivering uncontrollably until, finally, the sun rose the next morning. Sleep-deprived, sick, and hungry Zoe had finally found the giant stadium in the center of the city.
And now, after this entire shit-infested journey, they weren't going to let her in. She would be damned if she let that happen.
Zoe gritted her teeth and leaned in close to the microphone, "Listen here motherfucker, I've been traveling for days without food and clean water. I've been shot at, kicked to the ground, maimed, and splattered with blood. Three days ago I looked a man in the eyes as I shot him in the head and didn't even blink. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I have fucking radiation poisoning after jumping into a lake to avoid a pack of dogs. I've been through Hell, I'm alone, and frankly, I have nothing to lose. So I suggest you let me in before I befriend a group of raiders and tear down this gate with my bare hands."
There was silence at the other end of the microphone before a voice said, "Okay, I can't let you in tonight but there's a chance that maybe I can squeeze you in tomorrow."
"Maybe isn't going to cut it," she said, "I need a guarantee."
"Okay okay you have a spot tomorrow on my word," the voice paused, "I suggest that you stay in Goodneighbor tonight, that's a settlement around the corner from here, and get some supplies. Also, stop by their doctor they'll get you treated for radiation poisoning." The voice then proceeded to give her directions to Goodneighbor.
Zoe turned away from the stadium, pleased that tomorrow she would get to enter the infamous Diamond City. She had traveled all this way and was curious to see a settlement of the new world. But first she would see Goodneighbor. She tugged the straps on her backpack and chugged some dirty water as she watched the sun slowly begin to set. Dogmeat whined beside her. She knew that traveling at night was akin to suicide in this city which was why she planned to get there before the sun set. By running. Her experience on her college cross country had given her the stamina to run miles without feeling faint and she was pleased to see that her endurance hadn't weakened during the time in cryostasis.
She laced her boots and looked at Dogmeat, "Ready boy?"
The door to Goodneighbor shut with a resounding thud as darkness descended on Boston. Zoe took a deep breath and leaned forward with her hands on her knees. I barely outran them, she thought, This radiation is really taking its toll on me. She was now adorned with a bullet wound in her arm and leg and a nasty burn on her left arm from a Molotov cocktail courtesy of a raider group.
Her wounds seemed to hurt less as she looked up. After a week of traveling alone and 200 years in an underground vault Zoe saw human beings that weren't pointing a gun at her. The relief was unbelievable and she felt tears coming to her eyes as she sank to her knees. In front of her was a gun store and trader store with only ten people but Zoe had never in her life felt so relieved. Dogmeat seemed more relieved as well as he let out a little happy bark.
"Hold up there. First time in Goodneighbor? Can't go around walking without insurance."
Zoe looked up to see a bald man lighting a cigarette with a stained leather jacket staring at her. His voice startled her, "Insurance?"
He puffed on his cigarette, "Yeah, insurance, I think you're going to like what I have to offer."
Zoe didn't like the mean twinkle in his eye. She had met numerous con artists in her life and could spot them easily, "I'm not interested."
"Oh come on, don't be like that. You hand over everything in those pockets or accidents start happening to you. Big, bloody accidents."
Zoe stood up and put her hand on her gun, "I don't like your tone, asshole. I said I'm not interested. Back off."
The man scrunched up his eyebrows and was starting to move his hand to his jacket pocket when a voice rang out, "Woah, whoa there. Time out."
Zoe spun around to see a man walking over. Or, what she thought was a man with horribly disfigured skin, a red trench coat, and an American flag tied around his waist. With his shoulders back and a confidence in his step, she instantly recognized that this was the real boss, "Someone steps through the gate the first time, they're a guest. You lay off that extortion crap."
The extortionist growled and faced him, "What do you care? She ain't one of us."
The disfigured man tilted his head slightly and examined the extortionist, "No love for your mayor, Finn? I said let her go." His tone left no room for argument.
"You're soft, Hancock. You keep letting outsiders walk all over us, one day there'll be a new mayor."
The man, Hancock, slowly started walking toward Finn. "Come on, man. This is me we're talking about. Let me show you something."
Hancock reached his arm out as if to embrace Finn and, faster than Zoe could process, had drawn a knife and shoved it twice into the man's chest. Zoe let out a startled gasp and bit her lip as Finn moaned and fell to the ground.
"Now why'd you have to go and say that, huh? Breaking my heart over here," the mayor finally turned to face Zoe, "You alright, sister?"
Still in shock, Zoe's gaze moved from Finn's corpse and onto Hancock's face. She blurted out the first thing that she thought of, "Your face! What happened to it?"
Before she could apologize for her outburst, the mayor let out a slow chuckle, "Like it? I think it gives me a sexy, king of the zombies kinda look. It's a big hit with the ladies." He gave her a look that could make her blush and then continued, "I'm a Ghoul, you see? There are a lot of walking rad freaks like me around here, so you might want to keep those kinds of questions on the low burner next time. Goodneighbor is of the people, for the people, you feel me? Everyone's welcome."
Even though she was still in shock at the violent stabbing that she had just witnessed, Zoe could tell that she liked this Ghoul (even if she wasn't exactly sure what a Ghoul was.) "I'm sorry I asked. Really, I don't pass judgement," she looked him in the eye, "By the people and for the people, right?"
Hancock laughed again, "He he he. I can tell I'm gonna like you already. Just consider this town your home away from home. So long as you remember who's in charge." He glanced down at Finn's corpse then looked Zoe in the eye before turning and walking away.
"Mayor Hancock!" She blurted out.
"Yeah, what can I do for our newcomer?"
Zoe fidgeted in her boots. "Where can I stay for tonight?"
Hancock sized up her backpack and dog, "There's Hotel Rexford around the corner. They have fairly good rooms but I would stay away from the second floor, it's where the junkies and prostitutes go. Of course, that's where the real fun is though," he winked and threw something at her, a bag of bottle caps, "Use this to buy yourself a room and don't forget to stop by my office sometime. I'll be expecting you."
