Chapter 5 – Schnee Tower Reunion
The townsfolk of Sanctuary were kind to me. All I did was lie to a child about faith. They gave me a new lead on Rust's whereabouts. A silver eyed traveler in a vault suit came through town and was asking about the location of Schnee Tower. It was the tallest tower in the downtown area. You can't possibly miss it. We loaded up and headed out as early as we could. The townsfolk gave us some extra food for the trip. It would be a couple of hours before we could get to the tower. That was so long as nothing bad happened along the away.
I scanned the horizon and sure enough a massive tower with a snowflake on it was visible in the center of the high rises of downtown. The tower seemed to go all the way up to the clouds, though that might have been a matter of perspective.
The trip was oddly quiet, save for the sounds of dogs barking, animals howling, and distant gunfire. It was way too quiet, no raiders jumping out at us, no monsters hunting us. It bothered me a little too much. The entire way Dodger was telling me that downtown was the most dangerous part of the city. Way too much evil condensed in one place. I saw none of it.
The trip took forever, at least it felt that way. We reached Schnee tower just after noon. A giant snowflake hung dangerously over the main doors. The streets downtown had all been similar. Debris clogged the roads, cars where packed in the streets, overgrown by the red foliage. Broken glass and other debris layered over the streets. There was plenty of obstacles. I noticed there were no street lamps downtown. I wondered why.
Dodger told me to keep low while in downtown. It made walking harder and slower but she made a point that this was necessary. There are plenty of creatures downtown, so she says, last thing we need is for the beast to spot us first. Dodger held up a finger to her mouth and motioned for me to look. I glanced over to the tower, something was below it. A ghoul, hunched over and barely dressed. It's rotting flesh was exposed and horribly scarred. Blood was dripping from it's hands.
"It's a ghoul, like the shopkeep." I said.
"Not quite." She said. "That one is what we call a feral." She drew her revolver and leveled it on him. "It's mind is gone, it's violent and dangerous in a group. We can take this one though."
"So why aren't you?" I asked, noting the fact she hadn't fired yet.
"Because they rarely travel alone." She said.
"Why is it feral?" I asked. "What happened to it?"
"This is the fate of all ghouls." She said. "One of these days, old shopkeep is going to snap and that town's going to have to put him down. That's life."
"That's horrible." I said. Dodger turned to look at me, she frowned.
"Sometimes I forget how naive you are." Dodger said, shaking her head. She turned back to the ghoul and chalked up pretty fast. "Ghoul's gone. Be quiet."
I glanced and sure enough the ghoul was missing. I scanned the area but couldn't find anything. I glanced at my Pip-Boy map. The area had plenty of alleyways, plenty of worn out buildings. No doubt there were a dozen paths not listed on my map. I turned around following one of the paths on my map.
"Dodger." I whispered. "I found it."
She spun around. The ghoul was standing behind us staring right for us, a few yards down on the roof of a car. It made an odd hissing sound. She trained her revolver on him. It lunged, she fired. The shot echoed. The shot blew the top of it's scalp clean off and it collapsed onto the pavement with a splash of blood. I sighed with relief. A series of loud roars echoed from all around us. It was as if every building was screaming at us.
"Keep your weapons read." Dodger said. "When I say go, you run to that tower and don't look back."
"What about you?" I asked.
"Concern? How sweet." She said with a weak smile. "I'll keep them off you. You find that prick and we'll run our asses out of here."
I noticed a dozen ghouls clambering out of the nearby buildings on all fours.
"This sounds like suicide." I said.
"Call it what you will, I've got your back." She said. She kissed my cheek. "Now run dammit!"
I felt my face go flushed again. Given the circumstances this was the worst time to be thinking like that. I turned and ran. Bat in one hand, revolver in the other. I sprinted down the street, dodging debris and leaping over rusty cars. The tower wasn't that far ahead. I ran through the doorway. Everything was trashed, and I had plenty of floors to search. This was going to take a while. Dodger didn't have that long. I had to think. Most of these floors would be offices, probably identical ones at that. Why would Rust bother going through this building. What would be important about it? I realized it, the top floor. The CEO office, that one would certainly be different and anything important about this building would be up there. Top floor, elevator had an out of order sign. I doubted it would work anyways. I sighed and ran through the stairwell door.
I heard gunshots outside and horrible shrieking sounds. I continued to run up the stairwell. I was tired and out of breath, but I didn't have much time for breaks. I still took a couple when I could. It took way too long but I reached the top floor. Floor forty four. Fantastic. I really needed to do more cardio. Living in a metal box underground certainly didn't help my overall fitness. That's an excuse, there were gyms in the vault.
I stepped out of the stairwell and found myself in a hallway leading to two large doors. I could hear an odd howling on the other side. I opened it slowly. I could faintly hear movement on the other side. I pushed the door open with my bat and crept through. I could see a blue and yellow jumpsuit on the other side. Wearing it was a man with dark red hair, digging through the main desk. I leveled my revolver on him and stepped forward. I took a moment to catch my breath.
The desk was large and made out of mahogany. The walls were adorned with paintings of the kingdoms of the world. The windows were shattered so the howling wind was echoing into the room. The floor was covered in debris and broken glass, underneath all that was beautiful white marble.
"Rust!" I shouted. He stopped and glanced up at me. I kept my .38 revolver trained on him. He squinted for a moment and shook his head in surprise.
"Preacher?" He asked.
"Say my name you son of a bitch!" I replied. "We've known each other all our lives, the least you can do is remember my god damned name for once."
"Calm down Navy." Rust said. "Let's talk."
"No. I don't think so. You are coming with me back to that damned vault right this instant or so help me the god of destruction, I will put a bullet between your eyes and be done with it."
"You won't do that." Rust said. The smug bastard. I was breathing heavier now, I was thinking a lot less clearly. Whether I'd shoot him was kind of up in the air right about now.
"Why not?" I asked. My hand was shaking, either from the fatigue or the adrenaline. I couldn't quite say.
"Because either way you aren't going home again." He said. He brushed some dust off the desk beside him. "Moot point either way, you won't be going back."
"Something you want to say?" I asked.
"Listen, I'm not here to fight with you." He said. "But I'm not going back, neither are you."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Because the Overseer won't let you back in the vault. The only reason I'm being let back in is because I'm his replacement and he's getting old. It's too late to train a new replacement. He doesn't want you." Rust said. "That came out wrong. I'm not trying to be your enemy, I'm just speaking the truth."
"How do you know this?" I asked. "Where's your evidence?"
"I know this because I know the Overseer. He won't let anyone who's been out here come back in, not anymore." Rust said. "Not since the last time."
"What last time?" I asked. "The vault doors have never been opened."
"I don't know if I should-" Rust began.
"No! You don't get to talk like that. You don't get to lord anything over me, not now! I am done! Sick and tired of all of this!" I shouted. He actually winced. I tried to keep calm but it just wasn't working. Seeing his face again wasn't helping. Hearing all this was getting my blood pumping. I squeezed the pistol in my hand, a fist clenched the bat in the other. "Ever since I got out here I've been beaten, captured, and threatened with death. I've got a drug addled, sex crazed, psychopath threatening to cut my balls off. I've witnessed shootouts and executions. I've had to crack a guys skull open with my baseball bat. I've had to lie to children, make up religious dogma, be praised for it of all things. I've had to track you down, for days now. Now I've got freaking zombies outside clawing their way in, the closest thing I have to a friend I've ever had since you turned your back on me is risking her neck trying to save the both of us and now you're telling me I can't even go home again, and on top of that you won't tell me why?"
"Calm down Navy." Rust said.
"No! I will not calm down! I am done! I am tired. I am frustrated." I said. "Tell me why I shouldn't shoot you right about now. What is it you're hiding from me?"
"Everyone has lied to you. Your entire life." Rust said. "Your parents, they aren't even your parents."
"What?" I asked. "What are you talking about?"
"They lied to you, your parents came from out here." Rust said. "From outside the vault."
"No. My parents are from the vault. Their names are Peter and Sandra Fallow." I said.
"Peter and Sandra couldn't have kids." Rust said. "Sandra was sterile."
'What?" I asked. None of this made any sense. I had half a mind to shoot him right now, but something kept me from squeezing the trigger. That isn't the man I am. I am better than that.
"When your parents tried to get into the vault, they pleaded for hours for the Overseer to at least take their kid. You. The Overseer eventually relented and let you in, what's the worst that could happen. Your parents even got to stay for a while."
"What happened to them?" I asked.
"The overseer eventually kicked them out of the vault. Kept you because you were just a kid. They were a liability. They were spreading rumours and dissent that the outside world was habitable. The Overseer doesn't want people to know there is a whole world out here. He got rid of them." Rust said. "He claimed they were visitors from another vault and were clearly mentally unstable. Nothing survived in the surface."
"How do you know all this?" I asked.
"I was the Overseer's replacement. I was given full access to his terminal. He tried to erase the evidence but he got sloppy." Rust said. "I've always been good with computers, I found it pretty easily."
"So why leave?" I asked. "You could have been king of the vault."
"When I heard there was a whole world out here I had to leave. When I heard the elaborate conspiracy the Overseer made, I couldn't stay. I couldn't grow up to be like that old man. If I have one regret." He said with a sigh. He sat down on the desk. "My one regret is not telling you. I thought for your own good that you'd be better off living the happy lie."
"Happy lie?" I asked. "Are you kidding me right now?"
"I thought you were happy." Rust said.
"No! Anything but! I was hated by anyone and I didn't know why. My parents never liked me and treated me like I was some form of tumor they had to put up with. My job was preaching to a senile old bat who hated everyone almost as much as I did. I had no friends. How could I possibly be happy?" I asked.
"Why do you even want to go back?" Rust asked.
"Because I-" I shouted. I couldn't finish the sentence. Why did I want to go back? Safety? Certainly not because I liked it there. The metal walls always felt claustrophobic. I never felt I could have ambitions in a place like that. I never felt wanted or desired. Everyone avoided me and nobody trusted me. I holstered me gun and loosened the grip on my bat. "I don't know."
"I know I've caused you a lot of trouble." Rust said. "I don't even have the right to ask this. How about we leave that dreary vault behind us for good."
"And do what Rust?" I asked.
"Find your parents." Rust said.
"Why would you possibly what to do that?" I asked.
"Because the only evidence I could find, other than an old journal entry from the overseer, was a pair of holotapes." Rust said. "Containing the journal entries by one Ruby Rose herself."
"Your ancestor." I said.
"Exactly." Rust said. "They found it outside the vault. They claimed to have ideas where others like it could be found. They were looking for these."
"She's long dead." I replied.
"You might not care, but I do." Rust said. "She's my ancestor, she was a hero. I want to put her to rest. No doubt she's just a skeleton like the ones all around us, like the ones clustered around the door to Vault 5. Just laying out in the open, ignored by all. I'm going to bury her. Then I'm going to move on with my life."
"So my parents were on this wild goose chase too?" I asked. "What could possibly drag them down that path?"
"I don't know." Rust said. "But we could find out together."
I picked up a discarded chair and sat down. The office was too quiet. I couldn't hear the distant gunfire anymore. Either Dodger took care of our ghoul problem or she was dead. I glanced at Rust. He was as he always was. Reckless and arrogant to boot. He left the vault without thinking how it'd affect anyone else. He made a good point though. There was nothing left for me at Vault 5. I'm amazed it took me this long, and with his help just to figure that out. What was I going to do? Follow him on a fools errand? Run off with Dodger should she still be alive? Settle down in Sanctuary? Set off on my own into that dreary apocalyptic sunset? I did want to know where my parents were.
"Fine." I said at last. "Fuck the vault, the Overseer, and old lady Henderson. I'm done with that place. We find my parents, we find your ancestor, we go our separate ways for good."
The door burst open and Dodger came storming into the room. She was soaked in blood and looked like the god of destruction himself was after her. She started panting heavily. She quickly emptied her revolver's cylinder and with shaking hands she reloaded it. Rust reached for a weapon. I held up my hand, he relaxed.
"Sorry... reunion... broken up... ferals... lots... here... soon... all... die... fuck." She said between pants. She took a deep breath. "Don't just stand there. Run!"