Chapter Three: Running At

After the particularly unpleasant task of cutting a bullet out of her own leg and stitching up another wound in her shoulder when she ran out of stims, V was ready to sleep. She fought her drooping eyelids for hours on her way back to Sanctuary, and she could honestly say that if anything had come out of hiding in the night to kill her, she would have accepted death with open arms rather than walk one more step.

The high from her battle with the raiders had worn off hours ago, but she pressed on, stopping only to briefly inform the settlers in Tenpines Bluff that their problems had been taken care of. They begged her to stay the night, noting that the Commonwealth wasn't safe after dark, and V had a hard time keeping back a sarcastic remark.

The Commonwealth, as it turned out, was always unsafe, dark or not. V could have counted the number of major injuries she'd ever had on one hand before she'd stepped out of the vault, but now everywhere where she turned it seemed like something was there to shoot her, and they seemed to all be good shots.

And besides that, V wouldn't have given up a night on her cot in her own little house for anything, especially not a floor in the middle of nowhere with people she barely knew.

So she politely declined their offer, after which they insisted on at least paying her 100 or so bottlecaps (which her new friends back in Sanctuary had failed to mention was the new law of the land in currency) and vouching their support for the minutemen.

Now on the road again, V held back actual tears as the bridge into Sanctuary came into view. She could also see Preston up on the guard tower, laser musket at the ready, lit only by one small lantern. It was all V could do to hope that he wasn't going to shoot, but her fears were calmed when he lowered the rifle and hopped over the banister to meet her.

"You made it!" He said joyfully. "And in one piece, too?"

"Surprised?" V joked wearily.

Preston's expression was suddenly more serious. "If I didn't think you were capable, I wouldn't have sent you out there, I promise."

V almost argued, but caught herself and put her bad mood to the fact she hadn't had a good night's sleep in weeks. She settled on a somewhat forced "I know" and walked back with him to her house, where they said their goodnights.

Sleep was too inviting and she barely make an effort to take off her armor as she stumbled towards her bed, falling asleep with her gun still at her hip and the buckles over her forearm still clutched in her hand.

The next morning V felt like she'd been hit by a car. More like a semi, actually, she thought as she attempted to move.

It had taken everything she had just to sit up in bed, the wounds from yesterday's fight screaming in protest the whole time. She made a mental note to ask about stimpaks the next time she saw Preston, but at the rate she was moving, V didn't know if that would be today or next century.

Thankfully Preston, the worrier he was, knocked on the door five minutes later and V called out a strained "come in", surprised her voice was still in working order.

"You holding up okay?" He asked from the doorway.

V, still covered in blood, and dirt and all of her armor stared at him in quiet discontent. "Just peachy."

Preston laughed. "Yeah, I remember those days. You'll get used to it eventually."

V grumbled a quick "yeah, right" under her breath and stood up.

Bad idea.

If Preston hadn't lunged forward and caught her, V would have hit the ground as she tried to put weight on her bum leg.

"Damn, if you're really that tired," Preston said, helping her back to bed, "maybe you should just stay in bed today."

"It's not that," V said, swatting his hand away as he hovered. "I got shot in the leg and had to dig a bullet out and stitch it up myself. I'm way out of practice, I probably didn't do that great of a job."

She knew she hadn't, in fact, since the office she stopped in was dimly lit and it was all she could do not to pass out from the pain of it all. The stitches were messy and uneven, and only sanitized by a half-empty bottle of Vodka she'd found lying around, not to mention the scalpel she'd found in a centuries old first-aid kit that might have had some rust.

"I also ran out of stims," she said, somewhat sheepishly. "Guess I'm not as qualified as you thought."

"Why didn't you say so?" Preston said, an amused looking crossing his features. "We spent a good part of yesterday trying to restock up on our chems, we made plenty, all you have to do is ask."

V at least had the good sense to blush. "Uh, thanks."

"Come on, let's get you over to the other house and I'll show you the stockpile," he said, slipping one of her arms onto his shoulder. "It's pretty impressive. Apparently Mama used to be with some kind of chem lord, but uh, I wouldn't ask."

V shifted her arm and winced. "Wasn't gonna."

The walk across the street seemed like a hike up a mountain, but it was well worth the reward thanks to the nearly-instant relief of a much-needed stimpak.

She stretched out in the chair she was currently sat in and stared out the window, trying not to turn it into one of her 'moping days' where the only thing she could do was stare at her wedding ring and wonder if it would have been better if she'd died with Nate.

It didn't help her forget that Codsworth, their Mr. Handy bot, floated around the neighborhood, idly trimming long-dead bushes and humming to himself. V felt a little guilty for not spending more time with him, but it was painful to look at anything from her old life.

She must have been lost in thought for a little longer than she planned, because when she looked down the dog, Dogmeat, was pawing at her leg, teddy bear in his mouth.

V chuckled and took the stuffed toy to throw it for him. If anything had to remain pure in the wasteland, she was glad it was dogs.


Three days later when she finally felt ready for the next step of her journey, V made plans to leave Sanctuary for Diamond City with Preston. She had been surprised when the minuteman had offered his companionship at first, but then less surprised when he followed it up with asking another huge favor. To make a long story short, she was now the General of the minutemen. Which, to her knowledge, consisted of only Preston.

It seemed a little ridiculous, but letting him down in such a sincere request wasn't an option and she accepted happily. Mostly she was glad to have someone watching her back. More importantly, someone who knew the city.

When the bombs fell she and Nate hadn't been living in Boston long. After he was discharged from the Army, they'd considered long and hard about where they wanted to really start their lives, since so far their married life had been marred by war and they'd barely lived together in their shoddy DC apartment for more than weeks at a time after Nate had been deployed again.

It was Nate who suggested Boston. A new start, he called it. They were going have to move anyway, they had a baby on the way and somehow being crammed into a one bedroom apartment with an infant had no appeal. Besides, neither of them loved DC with any passion, and the stress of city living had taken its toll on them both. He'd also been the one to find Sanctuary Hills, just two months before Shaun was born. It was expensive, and they couldn't really afford it, but it was a great neighborhood to raise a family in and as soon as they both started working they could make it work.

Everything thing about her old life seemed so trivial now. The Verity that had once spent so much time dusting and cleaning and wishing her life was more exciting had been so stupid to get worked up over anything. She was so lucky for what she had.

V found herself lost in thought again, but snapped out of it quickly when they came to the bridge leading into downtown Boston. It had been a long day already, especially trying through parts of College Square, but she'd made it clear to Preston they weren't stopping before Diamond City.

"I know you want to get there fast, but it can get pretty nasty up in the ruins so we should probably take a little break," Preston said, already taking off his pack and setting it down on the remains of a tree trunk.

V followed suit, heaving off the backpack she'd found and setting it on the ground.

"How far is Diamond City?" She asked after taking a generous gulp of purified water.

Preston shrugged. "It's pretty far into the city, but it's easy to find. I guess it used to be some kind of stadium."

"Wait, Diamond City is Fenway Park?"

He looked at her strangely. "I don't know. Maybe?"

V sighed. She'd only ever been to one game there with Nate, but something about knowing baseball was dead made her sad. "Have you been there before?" she asked.

"Oh sure, lots of times. Everyone in the Commonwealth has for the most part. It's the safest settlement there is, and the biggest."

"Are there others like it?"

"Like Diamond City?"

She nodded.

"Not really. Like I said, it's the biggest. There's Goodneighbor, I guess, but you don't want to go there if you don't have to," he answered, taking the water when she offered it.

V frowned. "Why is that?"

He took a long sip before he answered. "Well I'm sure there were bad parts of town back before the bombs fell, right? Think of it like a sleazy alleyway, only a lot bigger and with way more chems."

V stood up. "We should get going."

Preston agreed. "I should warn you though, keep your gun out. Once we get close Diamond City security will take care of things, but there's a little ways between us and them."

They packed up quickly and started across the bridge. Part of it was submerged and though she wasn't particularly happy about having to get her boots wet, Preston had insisted the intact bridge parallel to them was always crawling with raiders.

The wet boots also made it difficult to walk quietly, they found, and soon enough they'd attracted several raiders waving tire irons.

It was easy work for Preston, who jumped up onto a shipping container and took them down mainly by himself as V stumbled to reload her 10mm. She'd always been able to pride herself on steady hands, but there was something so chilling about the way the raiders laughed that it made her shake like a leaf.

"We've got to get you a better gun," Preston said as he went through the pockets of one of the raiders after their small battle. "Or at least one you can reload quickly."

She stared down at the pistol. She'd almost become attached to it in the weeks since she'd picked it up out of the vault. "Yeah, probably," she said sadly.

Preston noticed her forlorn look and corrected his response. "Or, I think there's a guy in Diamond City that does gun mods, maybe we can really pimp that thing out."

That made V smile. "Thanks, that'd be great. It's a little silly, but I feel like it's an old friend now."

Preston patted his laser musket. "I know the feeling."

They continued on into the city without too much trouble, only running into a pack of feral dogs just outside the entrance, which, just as Preston had said, Diamond City security had helped take care of.

V almost had to laugh when she first spotted them. The guards seemed to be armored in what looked like a modified umpire's uniform, helmet and all. She guessed to the people of the city it didn't look ridiculous at all, but she had a hard time taking orders from guards basically playing dress-up.

There was nothing to laugh about in the fortification department though, even as they got closer turrets lined the streets and there were guard posts everywhere. Even better the entrance to Fenway had been covered with a huge yellow security door, which V guessed was the only way in or out.

Another woman was standing outside next to the intercom as she and Preston approached, clad in a red coat and hat with a little note in it that said 'press'. From the terror that V had seen so far in the wasteland the idea of anyone having a newspaper seemed laughable, though as they got close enough to really hear the conversation the woman was having, V realized it wasn't a joke.

"…the article you wrote was all lies. It's got the city in a tizzy, Miss Piper," the man on the intercom said.

The woman, apparently Piper, didn't take this too well and began yelling into the intercom again, waving her hands wildly. "I know you can hear me in there, Danny, I know it!"

V could tell Preston was about to ask what the trouble was when Piper motioned her over.

"You, you want in, right?" she asked, her voice hushed and a far cry from the previous shrieking.

V nodded. "Yeah, definitely."

A sly smile broke out on Piper's face. "Play along, then."

Piper moved back over toward the intercom and resumed her previous volume. "Oh, what's that you say? You're a trader up from Quincy and you have enough supplies to keep the general store stocked for a month? You hear that Danny? I sure wouldn't want to be the one who has to deal with crazy Myrna when she finds out that you turned away a trader like this!"

There was a pause before the man on the intercom finally gave in. "Fine. I'm opening the gate."

Piper smiled devilishly. "Better head inside quick before they shut the gate again."

"Lead the way," V said, shrugging in Preston's direction.

He seemed to echo her sentiments and they both followed Piper into the ticket area.

There was a man inside one of the booths, Danny, she guessed, who looked somewhat dejected, and another man wearing a dirty suit and a bowler hat standing at the entrance.

"I told him to keep the gate shut!" The suited man shouted. "Your paper has been spreading ridiculous lies!"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Really? What about freedom of the press?"

The man seemed to sputter and before he could answer Piper interjected again. "You, what do you think?" she said, gesturing to V.

V shrugged. "I've always believed in freedom of the press."

"It's one of the foundations of a free society," Preston agreed.

The man seemed to compose himself almost immediately and introduced himself as the mayor. "I didn't mean to drag you into this, you definitely look like Diamond City material!"

V looked down at her vault suit, which was filthy and had several bullet holes in it. "Uh huh," she said, raising her eyebrows at him.

This didn't seem to fluster McDonough, who continued. "Now is there something specific you're here for?"

"Not really, just thought I'd come see 'the great green jewel of the commonweath' for myself," V lied.

"Well if you do need help, don't expect anything from Diamond City security," Piper said, still glaring at McDonough.

He matched her gaze. "Consider you and that sister of yours on thin ice," he said, giving one final glare to Piper and waking away.

It didn't faze Piper too much, obviously, and she mocked him a little more until he was out of sight.

"Hey, come by my paper sometime, I've got a story in mind I think you'd be perfect for," Piper said.

V grinned. "Sure."

Piper gave a small salute and retreated up the stairs into the city.

V then turned to Preston. "You ready to see 'the great green jewel of the commonwealth'?"

Preston laughed. "Let's go before they kick us out, General."

With that they started up the stairs and, V hoped, into a place that would finally have some answers.


AN: Hey there! So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I just wanted to make note that I am definitely going to be paraphrasing when it comes to the in-game dialogue, as you may have noticed with Piper's little scene. I just find it way easier to write. I'm also going to be making a point to try and update every other day, but we'll see how it goes. Anyway, thanks so much for reading and a big thanks to anyone who reviewed, followed, or favorited!