Chapter Two
Out Of Time

I raised my arm to cover my face from the blinding sunlight as the elevator arrived at ground level. When I felt my eyes adjust to the brightness, I reluctantly lowered my arm, not sure what to expect.

I certainly hadn't been expecting this.

How did the world look like after an atomic bomb had been dropped nearby? It looked terrible. The grass, trees, ground - even the sky - were all a sick, grayish color. There wasn't even much of a grass and trees to begin with, just bare trunks and branches with close to no leaves. The air felt different too, and I wondered how sick I would get by simply breathing it.

And, most important of all, it was silent. It was completely, unnaturally, terrifyingly silent.

With a lump in my throat, I stepped off the elevator. I had known, of course, that the world would be different. That it would be destroyed. But nothing could ever prepare me for seeing the place that used to be my home completely devastated by nuclear war.

Was the war over now? It seemed there wasn't anyone left alive here...

I walked to the gate through which soldiers had let us into the vault earlier. The fence itself was covered with a layer of rust and torn apart, and there were several skeletons laying on the ground on both sides of it.

I shut my eyes. I didn't want to look at it. If only we had arrived a minute later, this would have been us. Me, Nate and Shaun...

I carefully stepped over the remains of the gate, mindful not to step onto the bodies. I knew there wasn't much point in dwelling on what might have been. The reality was terrible enough.

The road down towards Sanctuary Hills was completely deserted, which contrasted with how crowded it had been before the bombs fell so heavily that it was even more unsettling than actually seeing the bodies would be. I looked at the ground, then silently walked down the hill.

The town was in as bad a state as I had been expecting it to be, but that didn't make it any less dramatic. Half-ruined buildings, fallen trees with leaves long gone, empty window frames and broken concrete of the road. Broken, destroyed... Everything was gone.

I walked to the nearest house and touched the wall. The already fading orange paint fell off under my fingers. There were still Halloween decorations on the house. The holiday never happened in the end, had it? I let out a breath, trying to control the shaking of my body. I was trembling.

I forced myself to take a step away from the house. Then another one. I looked down at my feet, surprised that they were still moving. That I was walking, breathing. That, in some impossible and ridiculous way, I was still alive.

I then walked up to what was left of my house. Surprisingly enough, the door was still intact, and I gently pushed it so that I could walk inside.

I felt as if in a dream, it was just surreal. I barely even acknowledged that I walked to Shaun's room. The wallpaper was torn and coming off the walls, the carpet desperately needed washing and toys and other playthings were thrown all around the floor. I picked up Shaun's favorite teddy bear and looked at it for a longer moment. Not sure what to do, I put it in the empty crib which still stood in the middle of the room. I gave it only one quick glance, unable to bear the sight any longer.

Everything was gone. I was just walking amid the ruins, hoping to find something that would... What was I even hoping for? This whole situation was completely hopeless.

I hung my head.

"As I live and breathe!" A surprisingly familiar voice exclaimed somewhere behind me. "It's... It's really you!"

I spun around faster than I would have thought possible.

"C- Codsworth?" I uttered, staring at the robot. "You're... Still here." A sudden wave of hope washed over my body. "This means that there must be other survivors!"

"Well of course I'm still here!" He said proudly. "Surely a little bit of... radiation... can't destroy the pride of General Atomics International!"

"What happened..." I began, but had to stop to cough. Was I still suffering from the after effects of being cryogenically frozen or was it the heavy, thick air here? "What happened to the world?"

"Well, except some slight mutations here and there, I'd say that things have been extremely dull," he said. I narrowed my brows: he was acting strange, even for Codsworth. "But! I'm sure that things will get more exciting with you and the master back!" He glanced round. "Speaking of which, where is your husband?"

I felt a dull pain in my chest.

"He's gone," I said quietly. "They killed him."

Codsworth showed as much concern as a machine could express.

"Ma'am, the things you're saying... Those terrible things... That can't be true!" He pointlessly hovered around for a second, probably thinking it through. "That's it, what you need is a distraction! It's been ages since we had a good family integration. What do you think, shall we play checkers? Or maybe charades? Young Shaun is superb at this game! Er..." That must have been when he realized that I was completely alone. "Is... Is the lad with you, by any chance?"

"I don't know where he is," I whispered. "Shaun's been kidnapped."

I felt like the worst mother in the world.

"It's worse than I thought. You're suffering from hunger-induced paranoia!" Codsworth exclaimed. "Not eating properly for two hundred years will do that to you, I'm afraid."

It was somewhere along there that my brain stopped working properly. I just stared blankly ahead for several seconds.

"Two... Hundred... Years?" I repeated slowly. "Wh- what do you...?"

"A bit over 210, actually, ma'am," he precised. "Give or take a little for the Earth's rotation and some minor dings to my chronometer."

"Your chronometer is broken," I insisted. "There's no way it's been 200 years!"

"Oh no, ma'am. I am positively certain that I got it right. This means that... You're two centuries late for dinner!" He laughed nervously. "Perhaps I can get you a snack? You must be famished!"

Why was he changing the subject?

"Codsworth, you're acting... a bit weird." I wrinkled my nose. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I..." He hesitated for a moment, but obviously couldn't keep it all inside anymore. "Oh, it's been just terrible! Two centuries with no one to talk to, no one to serve. I spent the first ten years trying to get the floors waxed, but nothing gets out nuclear fallout from vinyl wood. Nothing!" He lamented. "And don't get me started on the futility of dusting a collapsed house! And the car... Oh, the car! How do you polish rust?"

That was it? That was what he was so concerned about? My family was gone and he was worrying about loneliness?!

"Please, try to focus," I said through gritted teeth. I didn't exactly want to lose my temper. "What happened?"

"I'm afraid I don't know. The bombs came, and all of you left in such a hurry. I thought for certain that you and your family were... dead." He said the word quietly, as though it were forbidden or taboo. It wasn't - it just hurt. "I did find this holotape," he offered, handing me the rectangular object. I reluctantly took it in my hands. "I believe your husband was going to present it to you. As a surprise. But then... Well, everything happened."

"Yeah," I said quietly, letting my fingers brush against the smooth texture of the tape. "It's something at least. Thank you, Codsworth."

"Let it serve as a reminder, ma'am. Of... of happier days."

I nodded and slid it into a larger pocket located on my thigh. (The Vault suit was incredibly capacious, I noticed.)

"Now. Enough feeling sorry for ourselves," Codsworth commanded. "Shall we search the neighborhood together? Master Nathaniel and young Shaun might just turn up."

I knew that they wouldn't, but maybe he was right. Maybe I did need a distraction.

"Alright. Lead the way."

"Proud to serve, ma'am!"

We searched every single house in Sanctuary Hills. It couldn't have taken more than an hour - the town was just several detached houses gathered around one street - but it left me feeling completely drained. The searching itself wasn't even that tiring, but the emotional strain was nearly too much. Every time we saw a skeleton of someone I had known, I had to ask Codsworth to continue on his own while I sat down feeling nauseous. Everything was in a, bigger or smaller, state of decay, and everything reminded me of how everyone was dead.

Two hundred years. It's really been that long - not only did the state of the whole town back it up, the date on my Pip-Boy confirmed it too. It was October 23, the year 2287. Exactly two hundred and ten years. Even the date was the same.

I had been frozen for two centuries. Everyone I had ever known was dead. Shaun had been kidnapped - how long ago? I knew I had been frozen twice - one time before they took him and one afterwards. But which had been longer? Maybe he had been taken a hundred years ago... Even if it had only been a month or a few the second time... I had to face that I would probably never be able to find him.

I had, truly, lost everything.

I was standing outside, leaning on the wall of my old house while Codsworth searched the last remaining building. I didn't feel very well. Maybe it was the air here - according to the Pip-Boy, I was constantly absorbing small doses of radiation. (Even though that amount was harmless, I found it unsettling.)

Codsworth hovered out of the house.

"Your family isn't here either..." He thought aloud. "They're really gone, aren't they?"

"Yes..." I said quietly. "But thanks for trying."

"You could always try the city. Concord is nearby - and the people there have only shot at me a few times."

...People?

"There's still people alive in Concord?!" I exclaimed. "That should have been the first thing to tell me!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. But these people, they are a bit... Rough, if you might. I hadn't tried to get closer to them... But you might have a chance, with you being... Human."

"Well... Thanks, Codsworth. It's something at least." I took a step towards the door. "Are you... Coming with me?"

"No, ma'am, I'd rather not. But I do wish you the best of luck!"

Well, if the people in Concord shot at him, it was no wonder he wasn't eager to go there. But still... People. Just when I was getting used to the thought that I'm all alone, it suddenly turned out that I wasn't.

Concord hadn't been that far away before the War - an hour's walk from Sanctuary Hills, at the utmost. And if what Codsworth was saying was the truth, the city was still there. It simply made sense that I should head there - if not to find Shaun, at least to get some information on the current situation in the world. I had to face the fact that if it had been 200 years, I was completely out of touch with reality.

I crossed the decaying wooden bridge carefully, having to maneuver between the rusty cars that stood abandoned on the road. They probably had been standing there for two centuries. Which, in a strange and twisted way, had been just yesterday...

It was all so confusing... And to top it all... why would someone kidnap my son? Of all the people to choose from, why destroy my family?

And how long ago had that been?

I noticed the bright red sign of a Red Rocket gas station and truck stop to the right from the road. I was grateful to the world for not having had changed so much - I could remember the station from back in my time. And that meant I was going in the right direction.

"The best thing, honestly," I thought aloud, "is that the roads are still intact." The best way to make your way around. If there's a road, it must lead somewhere.

I gripped the handle of my pistol when I noticed something move at the gas station.

Stupid me. Of course there had to be some dangers in this new version of the world - I had already seen mutated roaches, what else could have been affected by radiation?

With the gun in my hand and my finger on the trigger, I headed towards the truck stop. Better to attack than to be attacked, I thought. Better to see your enemy than have them sneak up on you.

I heard a growl and nearly jumped up in fear, immediately pointing my pistol in the direction the sound was coming from. I recognized my enemy immediately, but I hesitated before shooting. Because it wasn't any mutated horror like the things I had imagined.

It was a dog.

Not just any dog, at that - an actual purebred German Shepherd. It even looked rather well-kept and healthy, and didn't seem like an animal ready to attack me, save for the fact that it kept on growling.

I lowered my gun, not sure how to act. For all I knew, it may have been rabid or simply vicious, but I knew I wouldn't feel good with shooting a dog. Not unless it did something to me.

The dog stopped acting hostile as soon as I put away the pistol, as if he knew exactly what the object was and that my lowering it meant he was safe.

"What is it, boy?" I asked as I knelt down next to him. "Did you lose your owner?"

The dog let out a whimper as it cuddled to me. I involuntarily smiled.

"Would you like to come with me, then?"

He probably didn't understand most of it, but he jumped up and barked happily as if he had.

I laughed - for the first time since I left the Vault. Since the bombs fell.

"Alright then." I scratched him behind his ear. He didn't bite. "Do you have a name, boy?" I felt his neck for a collar or something like that, but I didn't find anything. "Well, I suppose we'll come up with something. Right?"

I stood up and looked down at the dog to see if he would follow. It seemed that he had already gotten attached to me.

"Okay." I said, putting my pistol in its holster as I got back on the road. "Let's go, pal."

After twenty minutes, walking became even worse than tiring: simply boring. At some point I tried to make the dog play fetch, but he didn't seem to understand that I was throwing those tires for a reason.

Out of boredom and a fair amount of interest, I began fiddling with my Pip-Boy, curious as to what options the device might have. So far I've noticed that, along with monitoring my health state, it also had access to my inventory and helped sort the items in my pockets. Which, I thought, could prove useful in the future.

It could also display the map of the whole state and, if I was understanding correctly, I could even use it like a GPS - if I knew where I was going. And since I knew, I input the name Concord and watched as a small arrow appeared on the screen and pointed ahead of me. So it had a built-in compass too.

And there was the radio. I was immediately thrilled at that discovery, because I was sure it would prove to be a great way to gather information on the current political situation in the world.

According to the Pip-Boy, there were only two frequencies it could pick up: Classical Radio and Diamond City Radio. Mildly curious, I tapped on the screen when the name Classical Radio was displayed.

The first sounds of a familiar melody burst from the Pip-Boy's speakers - The Morning by Edvard Grieg. Joined with the depressing landscape of a world destroyed by nuclear war and its fallout, the song seemed grotesque at least.

How was I supposed to turn it off? I tried pressing various buttons, but the music refused to go out. I even tried tapping into the other radio station, but when a cheerful upbeat song replaced the classical piece, I decided that, if I had to choose, I preferred listening to Grieg than Five Stars.

The dog whimpered. I winced too.

"I know the music is loud, boy. Believe me, I do." I shrugged. "But I really can't do anything about it."

I glanced at the Pip-Boy on my wrist - and smirked as I saw the analogy to looking at a wristwatch - to see if Concord was still far. It wasn't. Actually, I could see some buildings ahead of us already.

"See?" I said, as if to prove my point - although the dog couldn't care less and there wasn't much of a point to prove. "We're almost there."

I had to admit that I'd been alone for too long. Hopefully Codsworth was right and there were really people alive in Concord. So far I hadn't seen a living soul since the apocalypse, and all the bodies I had found had been skeletons of people who had died when the bombs fell - two hundred years ago. There was nothing that would indicate that life had as much as gone on afterwards.

But all my doubts were scattered to the winds as soon as I entered Concord. Oh yes, there certainly were people there - I could hear gunshots.

With my heart in my throat, I readied my 10mm pistol. As if agreeing to my caution, my dog growled and bared his teeth.

"Sense a fight coming, boy?" I asked with concern. The gunshots were getting louder the closer I got to the town's center.

Beethoven's 5th suddenly came on and I fired the gun, startled by the abrupt sound. The interval after the previous song had been so long that I had nearly forgotten that the radio was even on.

"Dammit."

There was no hiding my presence anymore. And to top all that, I had wasted one of my precious twelve bullets - I now only had eleven. And I was really hoping I wouldn't have to use them.

No, there had to be some reason there was a shooting. Maybe there wasn't any real threat the citizens of Concord had to defend themselves against and those people were just... practicing.

Even I could see how stupid that sounded.

No, there was certainly something going on. I had only eleven bullets and I hadn't fired a gun for well over 200 years, but I was pretty sure I could help whoever was in need of that help.

I checked the magazine of my gun - two bullets loaded, nine in my pocket. I glanced at the dog standing by my side. However silly it sounded, I was glad to have that company with me, even if it wasn't another human being. At least I wasn't rushing into God knew what completely alone.

I sped up to a fast run. If I was supposed to help these people, I had to hurry.

I eventually reached the main street. Most buildings were either completely destroyed or only half-collapsed, but a few somehow remained mostly intact - most notably, the large edifice at the crossing - the Museum of Freedom. I had been there a few times back in the day. It was somewhat comforting to see the building nearly untouched.

What was less comforting was the sight of blood an gore splattered all over the road, and the people who were running from one car to another in search for cover as gunfire came from the windows of the museum. I came to a stop right there, in the middle of the street, unable to take in the situation.

I hadn't been very surprised to learn that people were fighting for survival out here. But I hadn't suspected that they were fighting each other...

It seemed that the larger group of people outside were besieging the museum and whoever had locked themselves inside.

Whose side was I supposed to take? It didn't seem like there was going to be any point in negotiation - my law experience told me better than that. This conflict had long since crossed the boundary of rationality; now it was to kill or to be killed.

I should end this. But who to help?

The question answered itself as one of the men on the ground, the one who was the nearest, noticed me and simply attacked. He didn't even ask if I was on his side. He just pulled out what looked like a homemade machinegun and fired.

I acted on instinct - I quickly jumped to the left, whatever I had to do not to stand in that place, and rolled over. I ran to a rusty car and crouched behind it. My heart was beating wildly in my chest. Someone had just tried to kill me! I tightened the grip on my pistol so hard that my knuckles were becoming white.

I peeked out from behind the car and aimed as well as I could. The man was reloading his weapon and I gladly took that opportunity. I pulled the trigger of my 10mm and sent the bullet flying in his direction. It hit his torso and the man fell to the ground with a moan. I wasn't sure if he was even dead, but I didn't bother to check - the people in the museum needed help.

I ran towards the building, where most of the fighting seemed to be taking place. A young woman dressed in rags and straps of metal attacked me with a tire iron but I managed to jump away in time and she ran forwards, carried by force of her swing. I put a bullet in her back.

I didn't even feel like I was doing something wrong by killing these people - this was self-defense. They were trying to kill me without any apparent reason, so I felt that my actions were completely justified.

I looked up at the museum. There was a man standing on the balcony and shooting at the attackers below with some kind of an energy weapon. I was hoping he wouldn't shoot at me as well, but for now I couldn't worry my head with things like that.

My immediate survival was more important.

I dove to the ground as a series from a semi-automatic pistol filled the air just where I had been standing mere moments before. Terrified, I watched as the man with the gun - the last remaining opponent on the street - aimed it at me again. My heart sank. I knew that I would not be able to stand up fast enough to avoid the next shot.

The man staggered backwards as my dog suddenly jumped at him and bit into his arm. I quickly pulled myself up, my relief beyond measure. The man managed to throw the dog away - it hit a lamp post with a whimper - but I was already by his side. He got hit with the handle of my pistol before he even realized what was going on.

I stood there for a moment, panting from the sheer intensity of what had just happened.

"Hey, you alright?!" Someone shouted. I looked around, baffled. What...? Everyone around me was dead. "Up here! On the balcony!"

I looked up. The man who had been shooting the besiegers earlier was now waving his weapon as if that would make him more easily spotted.

"What's going on?!" I shouted in response.

"I've got a group of settlers inside!" He answered. "The raiders are almost through that door! Please, you need to help us!"

My mind worked on simple associations: settler - good, raider - bad. The ones that had attacked me had been raiders.

"Just try to hold out for a few more minutes!" I shouted and, without waiting for the man's response, ran to where my dog had fallen. He was still alive, but it was more than obvious he had taken some damage - he was trying to get up, but kept on failing. When I knelt down by his side, he whimpered sadly.

"Good job, boy." I ruffled the hair on his head. "You saved my life."

I really needed to give that dog a name.

I pulled out a Stimpak from my Vault suit's pocket. I still didn't entirely trust that technology, and this one was over two hundred years old. To add up, I had no idea if it would even work on an animal.

I shook my head. This wasn't the right time for hesitations. Without overthinking it, I injected the syringe into the thick hide on the lower part of his neck. I wasn't an expert, but I thought that was where veterinarians did injections to animals.

The effect was nearly immediate as the dog stood up and proceeded to lick my hand with affection. I smiled at that.

"Let's go," I said as I turned towards the Museum of Freedom. "We're not done yet."

I checked my pistol again - the magazine was empty. I loaded the last remaining nine bullets into the gun. This would have to do for now.

I gently pushed the door to the museum and, once it swung open, slipped inside.

I was greeted by a storm of gunfire! I yelped as a bullet sank into my right shoulder, making it impossible for me to fire my gun. I only had enough time to look around the large hall - dead bodies, broken pieces of furniture and various object I couldn't identify were scattered all over the floor. I could spot three raiders on the mezzanine up above; they were the ones who shot at me - before I dove into the hallway to the right. Thankfully, I had been to that museum before and I still remembered the general outlay of corridors.

I followed down the hallway among mannequins dressed in revolutionary and British uniforms. Of course, this was the exhibition dedicated to the Revolutionary War - the whole museum was.

"Down with British dictatorship!" A recorded voice came from the speakers, followed by tinny shouts and the sound of shooting. I was partially amazed at how the system still worked after two hundred years and partially concerned I would not be able to tell apart the war reenactment from real gunshots.

I leaned against a wall, my left palm pressed to my right shoulder. The bullet must have gone straight through, but I still had to stop the bleeding. I could easily see the green flashing warning displayed on the Pip-Boy on my left forearm - my right arm had taken critical damage. The advised course of action was immediately using a Stimpak or contacting medical services.

I did the former.

I experimentally moved my arm around, but the pain was all gone. The wound hadn't healed completely yet, but I could feel that my body, aided by the chemicals and nanotechnology from the injection, was already repairing itself.

The dog looked up at me curiously.

"I'm fine," I said, though I did it mostly to reassure myself, not him. "Let's go. We've to help those people."

It didn't take me long to find the stairs up, and from then it was quite easy. I ran out onto the mezzanine with my pistol ready and as soon as I spotted the nearest raider - a woman around my age, dressed in crudely scrapped metal armor and holding a rusty rifle - I fired two shots at her. The first one hit her in the chest, making her stagger backwards, wounded but not dead. The second one hit her left forearm, but didn't penetrate the armor. The woman swore loudly and aimed her weapon at me.

Panicked, I grabbed the pistol with both hands, including the one equipped with the Pip-Boy, in order to make my aim steadier. I managed to hit the woman in the head, which killed her on the spot.

I turned towards the second raider, this one a man, and aimed at his torso. I fired twice, which left me with only five bullets - the Pip-Boy also kept track of that. Both hit him in the chest and neither penetrated the armor. That was bad.

I quickly aimed at the man's head and pulled the trigger before he had the chance to recover from the shock of getting shot. I missed.

I groaned in pain when someone attacked me - not from up front as I had expected, but from the left. I had forgotten about the last raider and thus allowed him to sneak up on me and hit me with an empty glass bottle.

The bottle itself shattered as soon as it came in contact with my head, but it didn't mean the blow wasn't painful. It was, and I fell to the floor. I quickly shook my head and, before the man would have the chance to attack me while I was vulnerable, I packed three bullets into his face.

He was dead even before his body hit the floor. I turned towards the second raider, but I couldn't spot him. I nearly panicked, but then I finally noticed him laying on the ground nearby - dead - with his throat nearly ripped apart. The dog was sitting nearby, his snout covered in blood.

Despite the image being gory, I smiled at my canine companion. I was glad to have him on my side.

"Whew," I said and took the moment to pet him with affection. "That was intense." I hid my pistol in its holster and turned towards the last remaining door that was still closed. "We're nearly done here."

I turned the knob and calmly pushed the door open. This time, I wasn't expecting a fight.

"Man, I don't know who you are, but your timing's impeccable!" The balcony man exclaimed as soon as I entered the room "If it weren't for you, we would all be dead now."

The man was in his early thirties and looked as though he had been taken alive from the War of Independence - full with the musket he was holding. The pale brown coat he had thrown over an old-fashioned shirt and vest contrasted with his dark skin nearly drastically, but, somehow, he made it look good. Overly, he made a much better impression than the raiders.

"Glad to have helped," I replied with a laugh. "Now, who have I helped?"

"Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minutemen," he introduced himself as we shook hands.

"Minutemen?" I asked, arching an eyebrow with a smirk. His outfit, his manner of speaking, the muskets... What was this, post-apocalyptic roleplay? "Am I going backwards in time now?"

He either didn't get the joke, or was treating this Minutemen business seriously.

"Protecting the people, at a minute's notice. That was the original idea, at least. So I signed up, wanted to make a change. But everything went to hell surprisingly soon, and now it seems I'm the last Minuteman."

"Okay," I said. "So if you're the last Minuteman, then who are these people?"

"The settlers I've sworn to protect. They just want to live in peace - something those raiders can't understand. But we keep on losing people. Just yesterday, there was nearly a dozen of us - now it's just Sturges here," he nodded towards a man who was typing some things into a terminal nearly all the time, "the Longs - Marcy and Jun - and old Mama Murphy." He sighed. "I can't take this anymore. First the ghouls in Lexington, and now this... I promised to get these people to safety. I promised."

Technically, I was only here to look for my son, but I couldn't deny the fact that these people needed help much more desperately than I did.

"I might help with that," I said. "I mean, I can help you escort them to a safe place if it's relatively nearby."

"You can?" Preston Garvey looked at me with disbelief. "That would be amazing. I have a place that's nearby on mind. We just need to get out of here first."

"It's fine. I killed all the raiders." I tried to smile while saying that.

"Oh, but there will be more of them," interjected the man called Sturges - I had a feeling that wasn't his real name, but then again, what did it matter? "They just never give up. But!" He grinned. "I have a great plan on how to get rid of them nice and quick! And with your help, it might just work."

"Uh... Sure. I'll help."

I took a step back when Preston Garvey attacked Sturges with inquiries about 'another of his reckless plans'. Clearly this wasn't the first time the man suggested something that didn't work.

"Hey, kid."

I looked around to see who was speaking to me. It was the old woman sitting on the sofa - Mama Murphy, if I gathered it all correctly.

"Excuse me, but are you talking to me?" I asked her. "Is something the matter?"

"I was right, kid. Dogmeat sure did find us help. Just look at ya!"

"Dogmeat?" I repeated, then glanced at the German Shepherd. "So he's your dog?"

"Oh, he ain't my dog," the old woman laughed. "Dogmeat, he's what you'd call... his own man. You can't own a free spirit like that." She smiled. "But he chooses his friends, an' sticks with them. He'll stay with you now."

"So... it's a stray?" I summed up. "I'm sorry, but I really don't think you can predict how he will act."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, kid. I know I don't really make sense. I need to rest now. An' you have a job to do."

A job...? Oh, that's right. Sturges wanted me to help with getting us out of that place.

"What's your plan?" I asked him.

"There's a crashed vertibird on the roof of this building," he said. It didn't escape my notice that his grin made him look like a maniac. "I'm sure you noticed it when you were outside."

"Actually, I was a bit occupied with fighting for my life," I said with a fair share of sarcasm. "So forgive me if I didn't have the time to look up."

I winced when the song playing from my Pip-Boy's speakers grew louder and louder as it approached its climax. Sturges didn't appear too happy about that fact, either.

"A Pip-Boy is really very impressive," he said. "Really. But if you keep this radio as loud as it is, you'll inform every raider from here to Lexington of your location. It's not exactly inconspicuous."

I sighed.

"Yeah, I know. But I have no idea how to turn it off. Do you?"

"Sorry," he shook his head. "But I've never even seen one in real life." He bit his lip, deep in thought. "On second thoughts, though..." He fumbled with the pockets of his mechanic's jumpsuit and produced a small item, which I recognized as a wireless earbud. "You can take this. It won't turn the music off, but at least you'll be more discreet."

"Thanks," I said, gratefully accepting the gift. It was something at least. I put it in my ear and pressed "connect to wireless headset" on the Pip-Boy. Frustratingly enough, that option was far easier to find than turning the music off.

Mozart's Turkish March came on then, but only in my right ear. That was an improvement.

"Where was I...?" Sturges closed his eyes for a moment. "Oh, right. The crashed vertibird on the roof. Anyhow, there is a full set of power armor up there. Pre-war, good engineering. Solid."

"I have a feeling I know where this is headed," I muttered.

"Well, none of us have power armor training, so we can't exactly use it... You, on the other hand..."

"I don't have power armor training." It wasn't exactly a lie. I didn't. But my husband had had, and well... You know how things like that work with couples. I knew the basics. "Fine. I'll do it. But what do you even need power armor for? If it really is 200 years old, I doubt you'll get much protection from it."

"Here is when it gets interesting." He clapped his hands. "Crashed vertibird, check. Power armor, check. But there's not only that armor inside. I'm pretty sure there's also a mounted minigun."

"Pretty sure?" I exclaimed. "This sounds risky and you expect me to go up on that roof because you're pretty sure?!"

"I'm one hundred percent sure. It will work. There's only one thing..."

"Don't tell me." I sighed. "The power armor doesn't have power and you guys don't have a fusion core." I was glad to see the surprise on his face: he clearly hadn't expected me to know what powers a suit of power armor. But of course, he had no way of knowing my husband had served in the army.

For now, I was just smug with making the man confused.

"Well... Yes," Sturges admitted. He saw that I was about to protest and raised his arms defensively. "But I know where to find one!"

"Then lead the way," I said sarcastically. "Unless, of course, it's outside where all the raiders are."

"Actually, it isn't."

"Oh." That was the first good news of the hour. "In that case... Do lead the way."

"Alright. Follow me." He led me through the door I had entered the room via and down the stairs to the mezzanine. I looked at the dead raiders in disgust, but Sturges seemed to have different priorities. "You should try to salvage what you can, you know." He nodded his head towards the bodies. "They could have had something useful on them. Weapons, ammo, armor..." He gave me a lingering, criticizing look. "Don't take this badly if I'm wrong, but you look like you're straight out of a Vault. You may not be exactly... in the swim, so to say."

"You have no idea," I said seriously. I was at least two hundred years out of date.

"Then let me give you this piece of advice: this world, it's harsh. In this world, blood flows a lot and there's loads of suffering and killing. I just want you to be aware of that before you go out there and face something you're not mentally ready for." He shook his head. "Basically, I'm trying to say that if you had any restraints before looting the body of a dead man for supplies, don't have them anymore. Because that's what you gotta do to survive out here."

I wasn't sure how to reply, so I just nodded.

"I'll meet you downstairs," Sturges said. "The fusion cure is in the basement, wired up to all sorts of stuff. I'll try to work on that while you search those guys."

He shook his head and gracefully jumped down to the ground floor. I looked down - it couldn't be much more than two meters, but I was pretty sure I would use the stairs anyway.

I knelt down by one of the bodies. The woman was wearing only some rags and patched-up metal armor. I supposed it did provide some protection, but it couldn't be very sturdy. I shook my head. No, I would not be taking that.

I forced myself to slide my hand into the blood-soaked pocket of her shirt. It was completely empty, save for ten Nuka-Cola bottle caps. I stared at them for a moment, because it seemed like about the strangest thing to collect, but eventually, I just shrugged it off. It's not like those people had been in their right minds anyway.

My later search proved more fruitful: I managed to find seven bullets for my 10mm pistol, as well as some ammunition for a weapon I didn't have. Looting the remaining two bodies went much easier, and I soon owned a brand new (relatively speaking, because it looked like it might fall apart at any moment) pipe pistol and thirty-five bullets which actually fit into its hull, as well as a total of twenty-one bullets for my 10mm pistol.

I ran down the stairs to meet up with Sturges.

I found him in the cellar beneath the ticket counters. He was crouching next to a closed metal gate which separated the room in two.

I cleared my throat to announce my presence. Sturges stood up quickly.

"Have you got a bobby pin?" He asked.

"...Yeah." I nodded, confused. "But what do you need it for?"

"To open the lock?" He looked at me as though there was something wrong with my head. "What would you need it for?"

"To pin my hair?"I gave him the same look. "I mean, it's in the name."

His expression told me that I was a completely lost cause. With a heavy sigh, I reached for the hairband which was keeping my long black hair in a ponytail and pulled it off. I then took off the bobby pins that were still entangled in my hair - two on each side, overly four. I handed them to Sturges.

"That hair's a bit long, by the way. It might get in the way of shooting," he noticed. "If I were you, I'd tie it up again."

I was kind of bothered by the way he just so casually said 'it might get in the way of shooting'. Was this really the way the world was now? And my little boy was out there somewhere... The sooner I was done with all of this, the better.

I watched in interest as Sturges meddled with the lock on the gate using only the bobby pins I had given him and a screwdriver.

"Can you teach me?" I asked. He looked at me, surprised.

"I suppose you could try your hand at this lock, but we only have so much time. You sure bought us some, but we are still far from being safe."

I nodded.

"Sure. What do I do?"

"It's simple." Sturges crouched down in front of the lock. "You use the bobby pin to adjust the pressure point. When you think you've found it, just press on with a screwdriver or another similar utensil." He gave me the bobby pin and a red screwdriver I hadn't seen before. "Nothing easier."

"What if I fail?" I asked.

"You'll break something. The pin or the lock, depending on how lucky you are."

"Great. Sounds great," I muttered. "No pressure here."

I inserted the bobby pin into the lock and began slowly turning it around. The lock made clicking noises in one place, and I pressed the screwdriver onto it. But I probably applied too much strength, because the bobby pin broke in two. I was about to complain but then, the lock clicked and the gate nearly automatically swung open. I took a step back, surprised.

"I've done it," I noticed, still not quite believing it. "I've made it."

"Just about time, too." Sturges ran inside and grabbed a small object, which I figured had to be the fusion core. He threw it to me with a grin on his face. I barely managed to catch it in time.

"Now for the real fun."

Level up.
New perk: Locksmith - Your nimble fingers allow you to pick advanced locks.