The following morning came far too quickly. I was not looking forward to facing the wasteland again so soon, and this time, I had a feeling we were going to face it for what it truly was. From what we had heard in the past, alongside some chatter from settlers in Megaton, there were much scarier things than just giant mole rats out there. I overheard one person telling another about some town that was losing people to Super Mutants nearly every day, often times children being dragged out of the town screaming as Mutants carried them off. Billy Creel told us about some sort of creature called a Deathclaw, and I didn't want to believe what he said about those. Yet, I could tell from his detailed description, alongside Gob's agreeing nods, that Billy was not making anything up. According to Gob, though, the most dangerous thing we could possibly encounter was other people. He said to trust no one, use our instincts, and never hesitate to shoot first. I was going to make sure I kept that in mind.
As Jon, Lucy and I were walking out of the saloon that morning to prepare for departure, Moriarty yelled after us, "You three best not die on me now, I'd be heartbroken! After all, how else am I going to get the caps you owe me?" I never turned to look at him, but I was sure he was standing with his arms crossed and with a stupid smirk on his face. I also knew he wasn't joking; he cared more for caps than anyone's wellbeing. Greedy dickhead.
I shielded my eyes against the morning sun as we shut the door behind us. I wondered if I'd ever get used to the brightness. I walked up to the railing and slid my gaze over the whole settlement, squinting. I paused briefly to marvel at the nuclear bomb at the center of the town. I still couldn't quite grasp why anyone would build a city around such an object. It just seemed rather unsafe. However, Gob did quietly mention to us that it was disarmed by the Lone Wanderer awhile back. We just weren't supposed to say anything about it, though, because it might upset some weird religious group called the Church of Atom. There was a man standing in some brown, stagnant water around the bomb, preaching some sort of bullshit to a few followers behind him. They actually looked upon the man attentively, soaking up every ridiculous word. Whatever made them feel better, I guess.
I said, "So, should we go to meet this 'Moira' person?"
Lucy answered, "Yeah, Lucas said she's the owner of Craterside Supply. I saw it down over there yesterday." Lucy led the way, prompting Jon and I to follow. She had a knack for remembering where places and things were located; this was a skill that I did not have. I lost stuff in our own quarters in the vault all the time, yet Lucy always seemed to know where everything was.
Upon entering Craterside Supply, the first thing my eyes went to was the guard standing in the relatively small shop. He looked pissed off, but not at anything in particular. I figured his face probably always looked like that. He had dark skin and black hair, carried an assault rifle on his back, and was smoking a cigarette. He spoke with the cigarette still sticking out of his mouth, "Don't try anything stupid, and I won't kill any of you."
Jon said with an irritated tone, "Do you greet all of your customers like that? All we did was walk in."
"Never seen you around here before. I don't like newcomers. Don't trust 'em. So you best-"
A higher-pitched voice interrupted, "Oh, would you leave them alone? They're new around here, and they don't know any better!" The guard mumbled the words "That's kind of my point…" but the woman continued in her more-than-enthusiastic tone, "Welcome! Oh my, aren't you three adorable? Aha!" We simply gave each other side glances and looked back at the woman. "Aw, I remember when the Lone Wanderer came into here looking just like you three! Dressed in a vault jumpsuit, armed with a cute little 10mm..."
I glanced at the weapon holstered to my side. I spoke, "Well, mine got me this far. I'm a good shot, not sure a bigger gun really matters."
The woman smiled, "Oh, I am sure you are the best shot in town, haha! But, that doesn't mean you couldn't use something a little more powerful, now does it? What are you going to do when there are too many enemies ahead of you? Why, all it takes is a good rifle and you can pop off their little heads from afar without them ever seeing you. It's just wonderful!"
Jon spoke after a brief awkward silence, "So uh… are you Moira Brown?"
"Oh my goodness, I forgot to introduce myself! Yes, I am Moira Brown, but just call me Moira! I am just too excited to be talking to you three, I was expecting you! Lucas Simms came by last night and let me know to help you all out. It would seem he's covering all the costs for arming you up for your little mission!" She suddenly covered her mouth with her eyes widened, and then she continued with a whisper, "Sorry, I forgot that it's a super-secret mission. Aha!"
I asked, holding back a smile due to her strangeness, "So, how does this work? Are there certain weapons that Lucas paid for already?"
Moira lit up, "No, and that's what is so exciting! You three get to pick out whatever you think you'll need; guns and ammo and anything else your little vault-dwelling hearts desire! And I just send a little bill to Lucas afterwards!" She went behind the counter and began unlocking a large, rusty gun cabinet. She continued speaking while she fumbled with the lock. "That being said, I highly recommend that you stock up. If Lucas is paying - and trust me, he can afford it - then you'll want to get the best stuff we have here at Craterside Supply. Better weapons means you're more prepared, and more preparation means less dying, haha!"
The padlock fell free from the humongous gun cabinet, and the two doors swung open with a metallic screech. Inside was an array of guns spanning across the entire cabinet, each set up vertically. There was also a shelf displaying various handguns, and the shelf below that appeared to have crates full of ammo. I could not quite see the bottom section of the cabinet, but just then Moira gestured for us to come around the counter. I saw once I walked around that this bottom area housed many explosives. Moira told us to have at it, and so we began picking up different guns, weighing them in our hands, and feeling them out while Moira commentated on the various pros and cons of each weapon.
I gravitated instantly to the scoped rifle, making sure to get more than enough of the .308 ammunition to go with it. As an additional sidearm to my trusty 10mm, I went ahead and grabbed a .44 Magnum as well. Jon, of course, went for the combat shotgun, filling a cloth bag Moira handed him with shotgun shells. Instead of a sidearm, he loaded up on grenades and a few frag mines. Lucy had grown to like her plasma pistol that she took from the Enclave guard in the vault, so to compliment this, her bigger gun of choice was a plasma rifle. Moira warned her that its effects could be quite "drastic" when hitting a target, and Lucy simply told her that she was very aware. This warranted that she grab as many microfusion cells as she could. The last thing we each did was pick out an outfit of leather armor that fit us, putting it on directly over our jumpsuits as per Moira's recommendations.
Once we were satisfied and sure that we were locked and loaded, we thanked Moira profusely for all of the help she was offering. She simply laughed - almost hysterically - and assured us that she was only doing it because Lucas would pay her generously. She also added that she loved "helping little vault-dweller birds fly from the nest." I was not sure what exactly she meant by that, but I simply went with it and thanked her again as we carried our new, precious goods outside.
Once we closed the door to Craterside Supply behind us, Lucy set her bags down beside her and said, "How are we supposed to carry all of this in the wasteland?"
Jon said in agreement, "I don't know. We haven't even got the food yet, either."
I wasn't sure about this myself. I was just glad that our larger guns at least came with slings so that we could carry them easily and have easy access to them when the need arose. As for the ammo and other items, we were going to need bigger backpacks than what we had in our rooms. I suggested that we just go to the front of the town where Lucas wanted to meet so we could figure it out from there.
We made it to the front gates by 10:30 as Lucas had requested, and to our relief, he had already prepared for each of us a large travelling backpack packed with food and water. There was plenty of extra space for our ammunition and explosives, but these items definitely maxed out the room that was left in the backpacks. I was wondering what else Lucas might do for us before departure; it was all seeming too good to be true at this point. How much worse was the wasteland than what we'd experienced so far?
"Alright," Lucas spoke in his deep voice, "Here's the rest of your instructions." He pulled out a blank, slightly crinkled piece of paper, attached it to a clipboard that he took from a bag, and began drawing as he talked, "So, here we are in Megaton. I want you three to head east until you come across the Super-Duper Mart. That's your first landmark." We nodded and mentioned that we saw it during our initial journey to Megaton. "Good. Once you see that, you'll cross a bridge that you likely also crossed on your way here from your vault. Now, to get you into Downtown D.C. as quickly and safely as possible, I'll need you to hear me out for this next part. Your intuition might tell you that simply walking east once on the other side of the bridge and straight into the city is the best way to go. You would be wrong. The city, despite the efforts of the Brotherhood of Steel and the Lone Wanderer, is still littered with Mutants and raiders. In fact, they're coming out further than usual, so they're even being encountered on the outskirts of the downtown area more frequently than normal. That being said," he drew an arrow to the left instead and continued, "I want you to go west just a little bit, until you find a place called Farragut West Metro."
"Why would we go the opposite direction?" Jon asked.
Lucas answered immediately, "Well, to reiterate, going straight into the city is just too dangerous. Also, there's a lot of rubble and other physical obstacles that might divert your course in a manner that'd it would take a very long time to reach your destination, all danger aside. But, your question is, how could going west get you to the east, and faster no less? It's simple: the metro takes you underground."
I thought for a moment, and then recalled, "Oh, I think I remember something about this in school. There used to be some sort of transportation running underground in D.C., right?"
"That's right," Lucas said, "And I want you three to take those underground tunnels right into Downtown D.C. You'll skip most of the danger by walking right under its nose, and end up very close to your destination on the other side."
Lucy asked, knowing the answer, "But there will still be danger in the tunnels too, won't there?"
Lucas responded with some concern in his voice, "Well, yes. And no small amount of it there, either. But the tunnels have still proven to be much safer for travel than anything else. The Lone Wanderer and many other wastelanders have used this technique for a long time now. It will be very dark, and there's no short supply of ghouls down there, that's for sure. But they're much easier to handle than Mutants. Not to mention, underground you'll only come across isolated groups of raiders, while the path above ground will lead you into entire settlements of them."
"Ghouls?" Jon questioned, "You mean like Gob over in the saloon?"
"No," Lucas replied sharply, "Nothing like Gob. I mean feral ghouls, son. Ghouls that are long gone from being anything like humans, both physically and mentally. They have keen ears, and their bites and scratches can do quite a number on you." Lucas saw the sudden look of worry on our faces, so he chuckled and added, "But don't you kids worry, though. They fall easy. Doesn't take much at all if you know what you're doing. Plus, you three strike me as resourceful, so you will be just fine. Just be smart and use your instincts." That was not the first time someone had told us that, so I tried to take it to heart.
I spoke, "You say these tunnels lead to our 'destination', but you didn't say where that was."
Lucas raised the pencil in his right hand and said, "Ah, yes. Of course. So, once you're in the tunnels, you'll want to navigate to the Friendship station. Those Pip-Boys you have there should help you quite a bit with this task. This is where you'll head back above ground. Once you get up there, a nice sweep of the area with a scope or some binoculars should tell you the right direction."
We waited for a moment before Jon asked, "Wait… That's it? That's all you're giving us?"
"I am afraid that's all I can say for security reasons, but rest assured that you will know exactly where to go once you give the area a good look-around." Lucas tried to smile.
I insisted this time, "Come on, you've got to give us more than that. Are we looking for a certain building? A person?"
Lucas's voice was firm, "There will only be one point of interest in the area, so go towards that. You'll know it when you see it. You're just going to have to trust me. Unless, of course, you'd like to give up the supplies and let me find someone else to pay 5,000 caps…"
I responded, "Alright, alright. We'll trust you on this."
Lucy added, "And thank you for all the help you've already given us. We've only been out here a couple of days, and you offered us this opportunity to get a great start in the wasteland."
"It's my pleasure," Lucas tipped his hat, "but don't thank me just yet. You kids be safe out there, get back here after delivering the envelope, and then you can thank me. Speaking of which…" he reached inside his brown trench coat and removed a sealed envelope, handing it to me, "Don't tamper with it or open it, else the whole mission is useless. My recipient won't accept damaged letters." I packed the envelope away safely into a pocket inside of my backpack. Lucas added, "Also, don't think you're going to walk out of here with those brand-new weapons and just 'happen' to never make it back here. If you wander off course intentionally, I will find out." He eyed us closely for a moment before saying, "If you have no more questions, then I can let you be on your way."
I looked at Lucy, then Jon, and said to Lucas, "I think we're as good to go as we can be."
"In that case, good luck out there. I'm counting on all of you." Lucas began to turn away.
"Wait," Lucy stopped him, "don't forget that if you see more Vault 117 dwellers come in here, please tell them we were here. And that we're coming back." Lucas simply half-turned around, smiled slightly, and nodded his head before continuing to walk away.
Jon said quietly, "I think he really gets a kick out of his own little 'mysterious cowboy' getup."
I commented in a low voice, "I kind of love it and get weirded out by it at the same time."
Jon said in response, "Maybe we need some sort of badass persona to dress up as."
I added, "Maybe we'll wear leather jackets or something and give our group a stupid nickname, like… the Vault Lizards. I don't know."
Jon agreed, "Yes, I like this."
Lucy said to us both, "You guys are so weird." She then turned and stepped up to the gates, which started to raise with a loud mechanical screech. Jon and I chuckled and followed up behind her. The barren landscape revealed itself before us, and we stepped out into to its ever-so welcoming embrace once again.
It was strange to be walking the same route that we took to get to Megaton in the first place so soon, only in the other direction this time. Every step we took was actually bringing us closer and closer to the vault we had just escaped days before. It wasn't our destination, but I kept think about it as we traversed the seemingly endless stretches of desolate nothingness. Would I rather be back in the vault, before everyone we knew was slaughtered by the Enclave in a rain of plasma? I wasn't so sure. I had always dreamed of leaving the vault, and my wish came true. Despite the wasteland's emptiness, it was certainly something to see in comparison to the metallic, subterranean walls which we used to walk. Yet, in the vault, we didn't have to walk for hours and miles in an unknown world with the potential that we would meet our fates to some starving raiders, or decaying, radiated corpses that were somehow not actually corpses, all just to make some money so we could afford the bare essentials of human life: food, shelter, and water. The vault had all of those things, and we hardly had to work for it. Did I love or hate the wasteland?
I pondered this and other things for the next few hours until we grew very close to our first destination. I knew we were nearly there because, for one, we had crossed the bridge already. On top of this, the area looked extremely familiar because we had obviously been there before. When we left hours ago, I checked my Pip-Boy map and immediately realized that we had actually used Farragut West Metro as a reference point the other morning when we first exited the vault. We did not actually see it the first time around, but it was very close to us on my map.
I couldn't wait to get my map more filled out as we spent more time in the wasteland; our Pip-Boys seemed to auto detect the land near us and store where we had been. All we had to do was add the location names and any other notes that we wanted attached to them. I had a very general map of the entire D.C. area uploaded on my Pip-Boy that I obtained from an academic database in the vault, but much of it was outdated and it did not have a lot of the location names. Not accurate ones, at least. I tried examining the area that we would be emerging from on the other end of the metro tunnels, hoping to figure out what "point of interest" Lucas might be sending us to. Unfortunately, nothing stood out to me out of the few locations I had on my map.
The sound of automatic gunfire sounded far in the distance. It was not close to us, but it was still too close for comfort. All three of us placed our hands on our side arms instinctively, ceasing to walk forward.
We remained silent, each of us leaning forward slightly as if it would help us hear and see more acutely. Jon said in a low voice, "Should we wait?"
"No," I suggested, "I think we need to keep going. Farragut shouldn't be too far off, and we'll probably be better off getting underground than roaming out here in the open." I hoped I was right. With that, we kept walking forward cautiously.
The city, or what was left of it, was in clear sight now. We weren't going to be walking through it, but we would be coming out of the tunnels right in the middle of it, and this was making me nervous. I could see that the density of the buildings increased as you looked further and further towards the center of the distant, half-destroyed maze. I was both amazed by the structures we humans had so intelligently designed some two hundred years ago, and intimidated. Our own creations from the past managed to make the present much more frightening. Anyone, or anything, could be lurking in there.
We came upon two dead bodies on the side of the road, and they had been dead for quite some time now. The stench was much worse than that of the general mix of scents we were exposed to in Megaton. There, it just smelled of dirt, body odor, and perhaps a little bit of chemicals. These bodies, though, were producing a strong smell of decay that far surpassed Megaton in repulsiveness. I nearly got sick, and I heard Lucy gag a couple of times. We all sort of glanced at the bodies, but only looked for as long as we needed to. What had killed them, and why? I suppose a purpose for killing in this world was a bit of a trivial topic.
Just a few minutes after we had past the corpses, Farragut West Metro finally came into sight. I figured we had to enter from the other side, because we could only see a sort of shattered glass awning type of thing from where we were. On either side were little pillars that said "Metro Station" in gold lettering. Further out was a statue of a person standing inside of a ring, and the area was littered with countless destroyed automobiles. More distant gunshots from the inner parts of the city sounded, but we chose to ignore them completely this time.
As we walked around, Jon asked, "So, this is it?" I nodded.
Reaching the other side, we looked down the stairs that led into the tunnels. There was a chain-link fence, at the entrance, and beyond that was shear darkness. Just looking down there made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Lucy was looking the opposite direction, squinting her eyes. She said suddenly, "Guys, I see something over there. Two figures walking."
I stood next to her to match her line of sight, "Where?" She pointed towards a building that was on the other side of a sort of drop-off. I swung my sniper rifle from my back to my hands and raised the scope. Scanning the horizon where Lucy had pointed, I got a glimpse of something I had never seen before. "What the fuck?"
"What is it?" Jon asked nervously.
I swallowed hard. What I was looking at was a huge, green-tinted creature bearing many human characteristics. It had oversized muscles and appeared to be carrying an assault rifle. It perfectly matched the descriptions I had heard for Super Mutants. I panned over to the right slightly. There was another Mutant, looking straight at me with a rifle. "Shit!" I grabbed Jon and Lucy by the arm at the same time and pulled them down to the ground with me, and simultaneously the crack of the Mutant's rifle sounded. The bullet whizzed right over us. Some small pieces of concrete landed next to us from the bullet's contact with a pillar.
"What the hell?" Jon exclaimed. Lucy had let out a small scream.
"We have to go down in the tunnel, right now," I insisted. I crawled down a few steps, prompting Lucy and Jon to do the same. Once I felt that I was covered, I stood to a crouch and walked the rest of the way down as quickly as possible. I started yanking on the gate of the rusty chain-link fence.
Someone up above the stairs to the metro yelled, "Hey, guys, over here!" and many gunshots followed. It sounded like someone else had stumbled upon the scene and was having a gun battle with the Mutants. The person who had yelled must have been calling to whoever they were traveling with.
Whatever was going on up there, I took the diversion as luck, because now we had the chance to keep moving. Lucy showed up next to my right side and helped yank the gate open, while Jon stood facing up the stairs as a precaution. We did this without speaking, and this little moment of natural collaboration gave me a brief moment of satisfaction. I led the way into the darkness, Lucy gripping the back of my leather armor in fear. Jon slowly backed himself through the gate, eventually turning around completely and joining alongside us.
It took no time at all before we were completely enveloped in darkness. "Collin, I can't even see you!" Lucy said frightfully, her voice echoing down the tunnel. I flicked on the switch for the flashlight on my Pip-Boy, and just a moment later I heard another click as Jon's lit up. Lucy hadn't put her Pip-Boy on yet, so I helped her get it out of her bag and insisted that she use it. She hated wearing hers normally, but she didn't resist at all given the lack of sight.
The lights we had only provided a small amount of visibility, allowing us to see maybe ten or fifteen feet around us. It was all we had, though. We stood still for a moment, then slowly started inching forward. We came upon an array of turnstiles, each of us picking one and stepping through. Despite two hundred years of aging and rusting, the metal arms actually still rotated surprisingly easily.
I heard Jon mutter, "Fuck," as he had stepped in a pool of mole rat blood. The mole rat's body lay in pieces just two feet away. That scent of decay from when we saw the two bodies outside was very much present down here, as well. The air was cool, but very stuffy. We were each now walking a few feet away from each other, spanning the width of the tunnel.
"Guys, look at this," Lucy said with a tone of astonishment. Looking over to where she stood, I could just see by the green-tinted light of her Pip-Boy that some sort of corpse was lying on the ground. I stepped closer and suddenly understood the surprise in here voice.
"Oh my god, what is that?" I wondered with disgust.
Lucy replied, "I'm pretty sure it's a feral ghoul, like Lucas talked about." The creature had wrinkled, leathery skin that had rotted in multiple places. I knew that the rot was probably there while the thing was alive as well.
"I can't believe this place," Jon said, "It's…" He left the sentence unfinished.
I checked the local map on my Pip-Boy, and it was showing me the pathways of the immediate area. It did not have the entire tunnels mapped out yet, of course, so we were going to have to follow signs. For now, though, there was only one way to go.
About five radroaches in a side-room we were passing were alerted to our presence and scurried off, one running out of the room and between us, slipping into the shadows behind us. It startled me, and I nearly pulled my gun on it. This place was already getting to me.
"Look, a Nuka-Cola machine!" Jon said excitedly. The machine's lights were flashing in and out, alongside a few other lights in the part of the tunnel we had reached. This only added to the ominous, creepy vibe. I stepped over with Jon and began toying with the machine, pressing buttons and trying to see if it still did anything.
Just then, a sort of hiss-like growl came from up ahead, sounding like it came from two sources. Before I even had the chance to get my gun in hand, Lucy had somehow managed to pull out her plasma pistol and fire three times. Two globs of plasma landed on a ghoul's torso, leaving it on the ground. The third shot had missed, sizzling the wall behind a second ghoul that came into sight. The ghoul charged forward and knocked Lucy to the ground, jumping on top of her. She discharged another shot, hitting the ghoul's arm just before it swatted at her. I aimed my 10mm at the creature and fired twice. Both shots landed, hitting the ghoul in the chest with spatters of blood. This only seemed to knock it back some. It stood up, dead-like eyes fixated on me. I fired two more shots, again landing both, but to no avail. The ghoul stumbled one step towards me, but suddenly its head disintegrated into hundreds of piece with a deafening bang. Jon stood with his combat shotgun raised, arms shaking.
The wall and floor were painted with blood, and some droplets had sprinkled onto my face. Jon joked, "I guess that's why we shouldn't get distracted by shiny things like Nuka-Cola machines." I let out a short laugh, but I was too shaken up to really appreciate his poorly-timed humor. How could that thing keep going after I fired so many shots into it? Lucy had even crippled its arm before I shot at it, and it didn't even falter.
I helped Lucy up, saying, "Those were some quick reflexes. How did you see the ghouls that quickly?"
"I didn't, really," she responded, "I only heard them at first, but I was pretty sure I could hear which direction they were, so I fired and hoped for the best."
"Well, that was still pretty badass. Are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, the one that got on me scratched my chest a couple of times, but the armor actually stopped it completely." I looked at her chest, and there were a few rows of scratch marks in the leather.
"Yep, your chest looks fine to me," I said in a playful tone, and Lucy smiled, giving me a little push with her hand. "I'm just glad you're okay, I thought that thing wasn't going to die." We kissed once, and then again, hugging.
Jon cleared his throat, "What? Me? Don't mind me, I'm not even here." Lucy and I laughed. Jon smiled, and then said, "So, should we keep going?" We nodded begrudgingly, and then began walking deeper into the tunnel.
By the time an hour passed, we had taken countless turns, gone down more stairs, and stumbled upon more and more corpses. Most of them appeared to be ghouls, but there were definitely some people every now and then. I was getting a headache from that rotten odor.
Lucy spoke as we followed some old train tracks, "It feels so weird to be down here."
I figured she must have meant something other than the fact that we were in a network of abandoned tunnels full of dead bodies and creatures that looked like they should be dead. I asked her, "In what way?"
"Well," she began, "we're underground again. Like, our entire world used to be a place kind of like this. In the vault, there was no sun, every hallway was narrow, and there were only so many places to go. This is exactly like that."
I thought about this, and it was true. Sure, the vault was full of biological life, and there were lights at least. But, was it actually full of life? I always felt somehow closed in or hindered while in the vault, and I don't just mean the small amount of space. At the time, I didn't even realize it was a small space. Only now did I have something to compare it to. What I mean is the way things were run. I only had so many choices of what I could do and where I could go, and I could see all of those choices right before me. Out in the wasteland, I could not possibly fathom the number of things we could decide to go and do. Being down here in these metro tunnels, however, was bringing back that feeling of isolation in the vault. I realized just how badly I hated it down here.
"The difference," Jon said suddenly, "is that we can walk out of here whenever we want. It's completely up to us."
That is something we never had in the vault. Nothing was really up to us. I didn't even want to be a guard when we lived down there, but I had to be. And how long was I going to be able live down there before I felt that I had exhausted all of my own decisions?
There were a few lights on up ahead, and I could see that the tunnel we were in opened up to a huge room with old train cars scattered about, as well as two sets of stairs that led up to a higher platform. Abruptly, something made a loud noise of metal-on-metal up on the platform. What followed was the same hiss-growl of the ghouls we encountered earlier, only this time, it sounded like a whole chorus of them. I faintly saw the movement of a dark mass of figures going between some of the train cars. Lucy suddenly gripped my hand very tightly. Jon whispered a profanity. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.