Rated M for gratuitous profanity, violence, and ghoul sex.

The Fallout universe rights are currently owned by Bethesda Studios. I receive no money for this. It is merely a creative outlet, dream space, respite from the real world, and something to tide me over until Fallout 4 is released.


Chapter Three: Comprehension

The creaking of the doors echoed around the open hall. With only a few weeks in the wasteland, her instincts were already primed to scavenge every new location. But she wasn't sure if the entire museum was considered Underworld. She definitely didn't want to fuck up anything here, so she kept her hands to herself. She did glance around the computer graveyard that Willow had mentioned. The only thing that these scraps of motherboards and drives were good for was ammo for the rock-it launcher that Moira never shut up about.

A row of posters advertised the Virgo II lunar lander exhibit at the Museum of Technology.

"Dick," she muttered under her breath.

She stepped into the adjacent hall. She saw the mammoth first. She wondered if Gob had just gotten his pre-historic creatures mixed up, but then she saw the half of the T-Rex on the floor. She snorted. She certainly hoped that she was cooler than something that was falling apart—ghouls excluded, of course. She walked up to the entrance to Underworld and stared at it. The skull mocked her, trying to intimidate her.

She grinned up at the skull cruelly. "You don't scare me. You're the cutest thing I've seen all goddamned day."

She pushed through the doors with a swagger. Her pride seeped out as the room went silent and at least ten or twenty ghouls and a Mister Gutsy stared at her. She raised a hand and gave a meek wave.

"Uh. H-hi," she stuttered with a half-convincing smile.

The silence was replaced by a flurry of whispers. She took a deep breath to steady herself, then she nodded and focused on where she was going. She took the stairs two at a time, ignoring the whispers. Instead, she imagined Gob's hearty laugh. "Find Carol," she repeated over and over under her breath. She grabbed the handle of the first door that she came to. Just as the door began to give way, the sign by the door caught her eye.

The 9th Circle.

She gasped and jumped back. The door rattled closed. She cringed and sighed in relief, holding her hands to her chest. She gave a muffled growl. For fuck's sake. She had made it through raiders, feral ghouls, mutants, and even a behemoth. How was it that she almost walked straight into the most dangerous place in what was supposed to be her safe haven? Gob made it sound like going in there would be worse than her getting caught by Jericho in his house while she was fucking Sheriff Simms and picking open whatever lock box held Jechico's most secret, expensive shit.

Picturing Jericho's expression sent her into a giggle fit. She doubled over, hand supporting her on her thigh as the tears began to drip down. As she laughed, she realized just how tense she had been all day. She enjoyed the euphoria of it until she felt eyes on her.

Kate looked around. A few ghouls had approached her. They were obviously torn between moving closer to see what was wrong with the weird smoothskin or fleeing with their lives.

"Are you—okay?" a ghoul woman asked, wide-eyed. Her body was stiff, and her hands twisted in the material of her skirt.

Kate took a deep breath, stood up, and wiped at her eyes. "Um. Yeah. I just thought of something funny."

A male ghoul crossed his arms and raised a brow. "About us?"

The first ghoul that spoke to her looked back at him. Confident with support, she stood straighter. "Yeah. About ghouls?"

Shit.

Kate frowned and shook her head. "What? No. I was just—" She didn't even know if Gob would laugh at that one. No. He'd probably call her insane if not suicidal. There was no way that angry strangers were going to find the image funny. "I was just thinking about my friend, Gob."

A ghoul woman to her right perked up. "You know Gob?"

Kate grinned and nodded eagerly with relief. "Yeah. He's my best friend in Megaton." She cursed herself. What had happened the last time that she thought of someone as her best friend? Did she want to fuck up her friendship with him too? "He works at a bar there, and seeing this one reminded me of a joke that he told me."

"Oh? Do tell," said the male ghoul.

"You gotta drink until she's pretty."

The man gave a dry chuckle. One woman pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips. The other harrumphed and narrowed her eyes.

"And that's funny because you're so fucking pretty. Isn't that right, smoothskin?" said the female ghoul in front of her, trying her best to incinerate Kate with her eyes.

The room felt hotter with each passing second. All she wanted to do was to meet Carol before she got kicked out. Now she had dragged Gob's name into things, so even more was at risk. She had to figure out how to get out of this without dragging his reputation down with her.

She shook her head. "No. The opposite, really. I was just thinking that tonight, maybe some people here will drink until it seems like I'm less of a weirdo." The ghouls visibly relaxed when she said 'people.' Maybe she wouldn't fuck everything up after all. "Look. I know that just by coming here, I've probably ruined everyone's evening. I was just hoping that everyone would still be able to sleep well with me here without having to wipe out all of Ahzrukhal 's stock. Although, I doubt that he'd mind. I might be the best thing for his business to come around in a while."

The woman to the right grunted and slapped Kate on the back with a laugh. "You're okay, smoothskin. Just don't start any shit down here, okay?"

The other woman kept her hands on her hips. "And stay away from our men," she snapped.

Kate put her hands in the air. "Done and done. I promise you: I'm the least of your worries. If Gob were here, he would tell you that himself."

The woman on her right patted her arm. "I'm sure he would. He's such a sweet boy."

Kate took a deep breath. "Okay, well I'm off to see Carol then. Gob said to be sure that I say hello to her for him."

The woman on the right squeezed her arm. "Of course, dear."

The other woman continued to glower at Kate. She harrumphed as Kate passed her, but Kate pretended like she didn't notice. She heard footfalls behind her that was followed by a non-subtle, attention-seeking cough. It was the male ghoul from before.

"That thing you were saying earlier—you know—about drinking. Um, is that—uh—is that some kind of offer or something? Or maybe, would you like to get a drink?"

Kate gave him a sympathetic smile. "Um, I'm flattered. Really, I am, but today, I have either had to outrun or kill every type of creature out there that wants to kill me—I think. There's still a lot of the wasteland that I haven't seen yet, but you probably get the point. The only things that I really want to do are to get a hot meal and get some good goddamned sleep. I'm afraid that I wouldn't be much company."

His eyes lost their enthusiasm, and he crossed his arms. "Well—uh." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, I know. You'll still be here in the morning though, won't you? I mean, you'll probably want a hot meal in the morning too. If you've been chased by half the things you've said, I doubt you're in too much of a hurry to get back out there, are you?"

She bit her lip, thinking of her dad. Thinking about how to stay polite. "I haven't decided yet. There's something really important I need to do over in the other museum."

The ghoul chuckled. "So important that it can't wait for a drink? Or whatever else you want?" He looked around and then leaned in, whispering. "Look, I don't know what you're into, but Ahzrukhal's got all kinds of other, uh—'mood enhancers,' if you get my meaning." He put a hand in his pocket, and it jingled. "I've got plenty of caps to show you a good time down here." He chuckled nervously and began stuttering in the hopes of explaining himself. "I don't mean like that. Well, I do, but I mean to treat you like a lady, and then if you—you know. Um." He dropped his head and sighed. "Look, I know that I'm just a goddamned ghoul, but maybe after you have enough of—whatever your poison is, maybe I'll be kind of—" He cringed. "Well maybe handsome to you. Or maybe almost tolerable, or whatever."

Kate put an arm on his shoulder. His eyes widened, staring at it. Kate couldn't tell if he was about to cry in horror or ecstasy. She bent her head to catch his eye.

"Hey. Don't sell yourself short. You seem like a good guy. Really. And depending on how things seem in the morning, maybe I'll buy you a drink." His eyes glowed hopefully. She cursed inside. Was that leading him on? She hoped not. She just didn't want him to waste his caps on her. "We can see how it goes from there, you know? I mean, look at me. I've got the skin thing going on, but for all you know, I could be a total cunt on the inside."

And with that word, he was totally enamored with her. Fuck.

She drew her hand back. "So, I've got a big night of eating and sleeping ahead of me, so I gotta go see Carol now. Okay? I'll probably see you in the morning."

He nodded, dumbstruck. "Yeah. That'd be amazing." He shook his head and cleared his throat. "I mean, that would be cool."

Kate gave a small bow and a wave. "Well, see you then." She turned and began walking towards Carol's again.

"Hey wait!"

Kate closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. The tension was replaced with cheer by the time she had turned back to him. "Hmm?" she intoned sweetly.

"I'm sorry. I guess my manners are a bit out of shape. I didn't get your name."

"It's Kate."

The ghoul grinned, eyes glowing with pride. "I'm Rusty. It's—uh—it's a pleasure to have you here in Underworld, Miss Kate."

Kate smiled genuinely. She had gotten a taste of what it was like for Gob. It was refreshing to be a person once again instead of an object or worse. At least the ghouls had an "ask first, touch later" policy unlike many humans.

"Don't drink too much tonight, Rusty," she said with a wink.

He gave her a salute. "No ma'am. I'll make sure to leave some for you."

She turned back and started walking to Carol's. She heard the ghoul dash off into the adjacent room followed by a not-so-quiet "Guess what guys!" She cringed. Maybe she would just grab dinner, go directly to sleep, get up early, and get the hell out.