Clara was confused. She felt like the whole world was more weird than it had ever been before, and she was stuck right in the middle of it all.

Amata woke her up and told her what had happened―and Clara had cried hard when she found out Jonas was dead. She made her way out of her room with a baseball bat for protection, because Amata tried to give her a gun and she didn't even want to touch it. Clara accidentally killed a security officer, because he was trying to hurt her and she just wanted him to stop. She'd never killed anyone before. She was upset and angry and very worried about what was going on. It wasn't right.

After she left Butch she moved through the Vault and killed all the radroaches she could find. Amata said she had to get out, go outside, find her dad. But she wasn't gonna leave with all the bugs running around. Butch didn't like them. He'd given her his jacket, his Tunnel Snakes jacket, because she'd helped him. It was the first gift he'd ever given her, and it made her feel better about what she'd had to do.

Clara felt bad about having to kill the security officer and she didn't know how to make up for it. Didn't know how to make it better. She wanted to make Butch feel better, too. She missed having him around, missed being touched by him. Didn't know why he'd stopped talking to her after he spanked her. Amata said she shouldn't let him get near her, at all. But Clara loved Butch... she didn't want to leave him behind.

She cried soundlessly as she walked through the Vault, looking for the way out. The worst part of trying to leave was that people were fighting her and she had to hit them―had to make sure they wouldn't hurt her―

Amata and her dad were talking in the security office, and Officer Mack died. Clara stopped herself from hurting the Overseer, Amata would be upset if she killed him. He told her she was being bad and that she should turn herself in. She thought about it for a moment, and he asked her to hand over her weapons.

It felt like the right thing to do... but The Overseer called for security and he started to fight her, too.

Clara ran. She ran past Jonas' body and through the door to the Overseer's office, and she couldn't figure out the computer. The Overseer was coming after her with her baseball bat and she shrieked, typed in the first thing that came to mind―Amata's name―and opened the door that Amata had told her to open. She fled downstairs and out of the tunnel.

She didn't stop running until she was outside and put her feet down on the ground, and then she fell to her knees and stared out at the world. It was so much different from the Vault―she sat and she cried, and she saw all the damage. She'd been told the world was in ruins, but she'd never believed... She could see a big heap of what looked like scrap metal, with a robot and people walking around it. Maybe someone would be able to help her, there.

Clara walked without feeling her feet hitting the ground. Where had her dad gone? Where was she going? She hoped she would find him soon―


The sheriff in the scrap metal town was nice. Clara really liked him. He was patient and he didn't treat her meanly; he said something about the bomb in the town being active, wanting to disarm it. Clara didn't know what it meant. Maybe if she helped him, he could help her?

But he didn't know where her dad was, so she went where he suggested she should. Up to a saloon, where she met some people who were jerks. Except for Gob; Clara liked him and felt bad for him, he looked so terrible on the outside but he was super nice. He helped her get some glass out of her hands when she tripped and fell onto it. He didn't yell at her when she broke the glasses, either.

She spoke to Moriarty, the man who owned the place. He took her back into his office and explained to her that she hadn't been born in the Vault―she didn't believe him, but he said he knew where her dad had gone, so she tried to pretend that she believed. He wanted money. She didn't have any money.

He told her to go and talk to a woman that owed money, and he would tell her where he dad went. She sat down at the bar while Gob helped her get the glass out of her hands and asked where she could find the woman. Gob couldn't help her―he was scared of Moriarty, she could tell. She spent so much time being scared. She felt sad for Gob.

"Just head west toward the school," he told her, under his breath.

"She lives in a school?" Clara asked.

"No," Gob said. "Silver probably went that way, though."

"That's a pretty name, Silver," Clara said, wiping her hand on her pants.

"Nnnnngh," Gob replied, and Moriarty started yelling at him again. Clara decided she didn't much like Moriarty.

While she was in the bar, some guy named Jericho tried to put his hands on her. She was too upset to care at first, but then she remembered Butch saying she belonged with him and she didn't want to chance him being mad at her again. Clara punched Jericho in the face without thinking. He fell down and he didn't get back up and she was worried that she'd killed him―

But Gob smiled about it, and told her not to worry. Clara wondered if sometimes it was okay to hurt people, even though she'd been told it wasn't okay so many times.


The Tunnel Snakes jacket was warm under the high sun as Clara looked at a small house outside of a school. She chewed on her thumb and checked her Pip-Boy again. The woman should be here. Clara knocked on the door and opened it to find a blonde-haired woman who was surprised to see her.

"Moriarty told me that you owe him," Clara said.

"Owe him some caps? He's a liar! He just wants you to kill me! Those caps are mine, fair and square." Silver crossed her arms and scoffed at her. "You must be dumb as hell to believe him."

Clara didn't like that. She frowned at the woman. "You give me that money, or I'm gonna have to be mean," she told her.

"Oh, yeah?" Silver snorted. "I ain't scared of you."

Clara stared at her, then lifted a hand to grab her. She didn't even have to touch her. Silver said she'd give her the money if she didn't hurt her. It was pretty easy, really. Except she didn't have the whole amount, so she gave Clara some stuff she called psycho and told her she ought to try it―showed her how to use it, when Clara didn't know what she meant. Said it would make her tougher, stronger, faster.

She asked if it would make her smarter. She really needed to be smarter right now, to find her dad.

"Can't make you much dumber," Silver said.

She was a little annoyed by that, but... She gave herself the psycho and―Silver was right, it was good. Made her feel a lot better. Clara didn't need to think when she was using psycho, she just did things. She couldn't remember what she had done, but she didn't feel bad or stupid when she was using the psycho. It let her feel free of all the bad things she'd had to do, recently.

She couldn't find Silver when she came down from her high. The woman had left, or something. There was a pile of bad-smelling bloody stuff in the corner of the room that got left behind. Clara crinkled her nose at the smell and went back to Megaton with Moriarty's money.


As she came into Moriarty's Saloon again, she saw a man in the corner trying to get her attention. Clara felt off, like something was wrong and she couldn't put her finger on it. Maybe the man could help her figure out why. He looked nice in his suit and tie and hat, like a fancy doctor.

"My, my. Just when I had all but given up hope. My dear girl, I am very happy to make your acquaintance. I am Mister Burke," he introduced himself. He sounded very smart, very cool.

Clara slid into the chair beside him and put her hands in between her knees, and looked at him sidelong for a moment, unsure what to say. Mister Burke smiled at her, and she smiled back.

His smile grew wider. "And you, well, you are not a resident of this putrescent cesspool. That makes you a rather valuable individual," he continued, as if the pause had never happened.

"It does?" she asked, not entirely sure what he was going on about.

"Don't you see? You're a free agent! You've no ties here, no interest in this settlement's affairs. Megaton means nothing to you!"

Clara nodded, vaguely. That was true, she didn't live here. ...She didn't live anywhere, now. She did need to get Moriarty's money to him, but that was all she had to do in Megaton.

"I represent certain... interests who view this town, this 'Megaton,' as a blight on a burgeoning urban landscape." He leaned forward, like he was going to tell her a secret. Clara leaned in to hear it. "If this settlement were to... go away. Why, who would really care? Certainly not you, or I..." His smiled disappeared and was replaced with a stubborn look. "The undetonated atomic bomb for which this town is named is still very much alive. All it needs is a little motivation."

Clara thought about that. He didn't like the place? "But... if the town goes away, the people here won't have anywhere to live," she pointed out.

Mister Burke sat back for a moment and looked her over, a weird look on his face. Unlike all the other men she'd ever met, his eyes didn't linger on her chest. He was smart. He was very smart, and he didn't stare at her chest―and he wanted her help, or else he wouldn't have asked for it―she wanted him to like her, like Amata liked her. She didn't have any friends out here―

She sniffled back tears and tried to keep her composure. It didn't work. "I don't know what to do," she said, wiping her eyes of the tears that came. "I―I just want to find my dad. I―"

"My word," Mister Burke said. He paused for a moment, looking away from her, and set his mouth. When he looked back, he was smiling again. "If you do this for me, I will help you find your father."

Clara's heart soared. "You―you will?"

"Of course." Mister Burke put his fingers together and looked at her over the tips. "I have access to a certain... company of men who are very good at what they do. Quite often, that includes finding people."

"Wh-what―" she stammered. This was great―if he could help her find her dad―well... the people here could build a new town, right? Maybe one that didn't look so sloppy. "Tell me what to do," she said, more confidently.

"Excellent! I had a feeling about you. Here's the Fusion Pulse Charge. It needs to be installed inside the bomb." He handed her the charge and she stuffed it into a pocket. "When it's done, meet me at Tenpenny Tower. It's southwest of here, well out of harm's way. You can't miss it. Questions?"

"What if I can't... do this?" she asked, screwing up her mouth. Clara knew she was dumb. She didn't want to admit it to―to what she hoped was a new friend.

"If you get stumped, talk to Leo Stahl. He might have something to help you concentrate. He's got a bit of a reputation." Mister Burke looked at the door, pointedly.

"Okay," she said. "Okay."

"Good girl," Mister Burke said, and he smiled at her. She liked to see him smile.

Her heart fluttered inside her chest, just like when she'd been kissed by Butch for the first time.