"Oh for fuck's sake!"

"Ow!" I yelp, jolting awake and clutching my stomach, "what the fuck was that?!"

"I've tried waking you up FIVE times! I have NO clue how anyone can sleep like you do!"

"So?! It doesn't mean you slap my stomach!" I protest.

She laughs, "Come on dipshit. Don't be a baby. Breakfast's ready."

"My morning hasn't been so great so far." I cough, "thanks for that."

"It's 12 in the afternoon, you've slept long enough. I don't know how I woke you up that night... sorry."

I give her a look and she smiles sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. The Vault's still a sore subject to me more than it is to her, and I avoid talking about it as much as possible.

"So, are we leaving today?"

I'd decided to put of Galaxy News for a few days. While it was only a half day walk, I still wanted Amata to have a few more days of training before we set off.

"Yeah, I think we're as ready as we can be." I nod, "ready?"

"Yeah." she smiles, "I'm ready."

I finish breakfast and I leave Amata to pack food and water.

"Lucas?" I say, "it's time."

He sighs and nods toward the armory, "Come on."

I follow him up the hill, "What's wrong?" I ask him as he sighs again.

"Nothing," he shakes his head and unlocks the door. I walk in and immediately grab a holster for Amata and stuff a 10MM inside.

"What would you recommend?" I ask, gazing at the racks lined with weapons and ammo.

"For you, I'd recommend a hunting rifle. You're an accurate shot and you won't waste ammo. Amata on the other hand, tends to be less accurate." he hands me an Assault rifle, "Remember to repair these as much as you can."

"You got it," I nod, picking up a holster for a rifle, clipping it on to my back, and sliding the rifle into it.

"I'll be back soon," I promise him, shaking his hand.

"You'd better." he chuckles, before gasping, "FUCK! I almost forgot! Follow me!"

"What?"

He takes me to the Craterside Supply and opens the door, "Moira! Are they ready?!"

"You bet they are!" she grins.

"Oh... my god," I gasp, sticking my head inside the store.

"Two nicely armored Vault 101 suits! Just enough to remind you two of home and still keep you both safe!"

"Where did you get them?" I grin, examining the suit, "Did you break into my house?"

She laughs, "Lord no, wouldn't dream of it. From another expedition a few years ago."

I shrug off feelings of ignorance and anger regarding the secret expedition and instead smile, "Thank you, so much. They... this means a lot to us."

"If you ever need anything, anything at all, you know where we are."

He smacks a small pouch into my hand and I open it.

"No." I say, pushing it back, "I can't take money from you."

"You'll need it. It's important."

I hug him and Moira, "Thank you. Keep everything under control until I get back OK?"

"You got it," he laughs.

...

"God I miss air conditioning," Amata pants.

"Are you seriously complaining already? We've only been walking an hour." I sigh.

"Mmm I remember ice cold Nuka Colas after a baseball game." she smiles.

I roll my eyes and ignore her, keeping my gaze fixed on the horizon ahead of us.

"Ow!" she yelps, slapping her neck, "something stung me!"

I turn my head and see an insect about the size of a basket ball. I shoot it with my pistol and it lets out a high pitched shrill.

"Yah!" I gasp, covering my ears.

"Damn!" she gasps.

"... We should keep moving." I sigh.

"How far are we?"

"I don't know, maybe half an hour to the metro if we hurry. We need to get to GNR by sunset, see if we can find somewhere to sleep afterwards."

"Sounds like a plan... Winter?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you sleep with Nova?"

"This really isn't the time to talk," I sigh, "I need to concentrate."

"Whatever..."

After around 2 hours of walking I point to a set of steps beside a large river. I stuff my pistol into my bag and dive into the river.

"Wait-" she looks sheepish.

"Oh are you serious?!" I groan.

"I never learnt OK? You don't have to sound so angry!"

I DID explain why I never saw her in the pool back in the Vault, I just figured it was because of her "insecurities" regarding her weight. Pft, she's barely 120 pounds.

"Can we go around?"

"No, time is precious... OK. Just- grab a hold of my back holster and kick your legs. Keep your head above the water too."

"OK."

We manage to get across the river and she shivers, "That was disgusting!"

I ignore her, again, and walk up to the streets. I turn my head and see the entrance to the metros.

"You ready?" I ask, turning on my flashlight.

"Yeah." she nods.

I pull on the doors and walk in. The whole place smells like a damp, dusty sewer.

"Stay on me," I whisper, glancing over my shoulder when I see her lagging behind.

"Here," she points at the map that's hung up in the metro, "we take the blue line."

I point the light at the map, "No we take the green."

She rolls her eyes and drags her finger along the lines, "We're here, we need to be at Chevy Chase."

"If we take the green line halfway then we'll be there in half the time."

"Ugh! We take the blue line!" she objects.

"Stop being stubborn!" I argue.

"YOU'RE the one disagreeing with me!" she yells back.

"Yeah well you always had a shit sense of direction,"

"What did you just say-"

We hear a loud hiss and growl and I spin around, "What the fuck- oh shit, you scared me for a second there mate."

"Mate?" Amata tuts.

"Shut up and leave my accent alone." I growl, before turning to the Ghoul, "Listen, we're friendly, just passing through alright?"

He tilts his head back and roars, kinda a raspy cough more than a roar, before charging toward me.

"Shit!" I gasp, stumbling for my gun, "S-back off!"

He keeps charging and I fire, "Gah!" I gasp, "Jesus!"

"... fucking hell…"

"... Blue line?" I stumble, looking back at her.

"Sure."

"My god..." I hold my sleeve over my mouth as I look at skeletons lying along the stations.

"We lived a very sheltered life Winter Daniels," Amata sighs.

"Yeah," I cough, before dropping down onto the rails and splashing into mud and water.

"What are you doing?"

"What?" I frown.

"I'm not going down there."

"Oh for fuck's sake. What did you think the blue line is?"

"Are you serious? You're covered in crap already."

I grab her wrist and pull her into the tunnel with me.

"Winter!" she squeals, "you bitch!"

"There we go!" I laugh as I keep walking.

"Not EVERYONE's dirty like you."

I grin over my shoulder at her and wink, jerking my hips.

"Oh shut the fuck up!"

"So?"

"So what?" I frown.

"Did you sleep with Nova?"

"Amata..." I sigh.

"Winter," she scowls.

"I'm 19 years old and we're walking down a metro with god knows what in here. Do we really need to do this now? Why do you even care?"

"I don't. Do what you want- shit!"

I spin around and Amata screams. It's... I don't know that it is. It LOOKS human, but it has yellow skin and towers over both of us, with veins bulging everywhere with only shorts on and a plank of wood in his hand. He raises it and moves to swing it against Amata's head.

"Get away from her!" I yell, shoving her away from him and sending her crashing into the mud and water. I rip out my gun and aim at his face and fire twice.

"No!" he cries out as he crashes onto the mud. I rip out my knife and stab his chest repeatedly, twisting and aiming for his heart. Blood pours onto my hands and clothes and I keep stabbing.

"Stop!" Amata sobs, pulling me away, "stop! Please!"

I break away and gasp for air, completely out of breath.

"Are... are you OK?" I pant, looking up at her.

Tears pour down Amata's eyes and I pull her into a hug, herself not seeming to care she was getting blood on her suit.

"Come on," I whisper, "I can see the exit from here."

A bright light hits us after spending hours in the dark metro. I look to my left and spot two buildings next to each other with a destroyed garden between them.

"Come on, I know where we're-"

A gunshot rips through the air and I shove Amata towards a destroyed car.

"Muties!" a voice shouts.

"Stay here!" I shout above gunfire, "don't move!"

I grab my rifle and peek above the car and spot some of the yellow... things shooting at some Brotherhood members. I know they're Brotherhood because there were a few recruitment posters around Megaton, some guys dressed like robots in steel armor. I shoot at some of the yellow guys.

"Fuck!" I swear as I miss, "god damn you'd think I'd be able to hit a target that fucking big!"

Bullets skim across the car and come close to hitting me a few times.

"Lyons' Pride bitches!" someone shouts as they mow down the others.

There's silence for a while, before someone shouts, "People under the car! Drop your weapons and put your hands up!"

I look at Amata, who looks terrified.

"Listen to me," I say, grabbing her arm and staring into her eyes, "we're going to be OK. Just drop your gun Amata, it's gonna be alright."

She nods and drops her weapon and stands up.

"We're friendly! We promise!" I say, raising my hands, "we don't want any trouble!"

"Walk slowly toward us! Now!"

"No problem," I stay calm for both Amata and I's sake.

"My god you're filthy," a woman with blonde hair gasps.

"We're looking for Galaxy News Radio, I'm looking for my father. That's it, I promise."

"Ah, you must be Winter."

"Yeah. Where is he?"

"I don't know. I'm a soldier not a fucking missing persons rep."

"You don't have to be a bitch about it," I snarl.

"Excuse me we're in a warzone. Forgive me if your daddy problems aren't at the top of my list of priorities."

"Hey fuck you blondie!"

"Don't test me Vault runt!"

"Hey!" Amata shouts, "settle down!"

"OK listen, we're going to clear out some mutants on the way to GNR. If you help us you'll be let in. Under supervision of course."

I roll my eyes and Amata whacks my shoulder and goes back to get our weapons.

"Just follow me. I'm Sarah by the way."

We walk down and alleyway and a group of soldiers are already engaging. One soldier, a girl who looks around 17, starts to engage in two freaks. She takes the first one down, but another shoots her in the stomach and she collapses to the ground, moaning in pain.

"Go get her!" I shout, "what are you waiting for?!"

"She's lost, the area's too thick!"

"Oh for fuck's sake..." I groan, shoving my gun into Amata's hands, "cover me."

"Shit! What the hell are you doing?!" Amata and Sarah both cry as I sprint after her.

"Hey! Mother fuckers!" I yell, firing into the air, "over here!"

Any freaks that were shooting at the wounded now look at me. I shoot and badly wound three, kicking another one out of the way and stabbing him in the face when he hits the ground. Two are holed up in the building and I shoot five times, three times missing, twice hitting either their necks or their heads.

"Shit!" I yell as a bullet lands inches from my feet. I dart and dive for a car.

I spot a grenade on the wounded's belt.

"Give me a grenade!" I shout above the gunfire.

She hastialy and unthinkingly pulls the pin and throws it at me.

"What the fuck?!" I yell, frantically grabbing the grenade and hurling it as hard as I possibly can at the building. It smashes into the building and creates a cloud of dust from the rubble. I use the camouflage to change my position and fire five bullets to each window the freaks were firing from, confident I'd killed them.

"W-what are you doing?" she gasps.

"Saving your life, now shut up and move your legs."

"You're gonna get killed!"

"Shut up and move!" I laugh, hoisting her up and sprinting towards the cover the soldiers were firing from.

"There!" I yell, dropping her onto a mattress, "that wasn't so hard now was it?"

Sarah shakes her head and keeps firing, "Civilians..." she mutters.

Hands grab me and slam me against the wall, "Are you INSANE?!" Amata screams, "Don't EVER do that again! Do you understand?! NEVER AGAIN!"

"Not now Amata! We don't have time for your shit right now!" I yell back, only just now realizing I was grinning. That, was probably the most fun I had ever had since we left the Vault. It was FUN! Running around, shooting stuff and... being the hero. That was probably the stupidest thing my brain had ever done, and I feeding off being the hero that saved the kid. I feel like a pretentious fuckwad. I wipe the grin off my face and help provide fire to the freaks.

We comb through the building pretty easily. Freaks are strong, but they're stupid. It's easy to flank them and I just follow someone around and they tell me what to do. I leave Amata with the casualty and we make it to the court yard. 15 minutes of exchanging gunfire later 5 dead freaks lie together in a fire pit.

"That was probably the most dangerous thing I've ever done," I sigh.

"Damn right!" Sarah laughs, "let me tell you kid, no casualty is worth another casualty. Got that?"

"I guess..."

"Think about that before you go charging into battlefields. People tend to turn up dead." another soldier tuts.

"Does this mean I can see Three Dog now?"

"Yeah you can go up now-"

I hear a loud screeching noise then a thump.

"Get back," Sarah says quickly, shoving me behind her.

"Why?" I frown.

"Just do it, hide." she says, "Pride! Get ready to kick some ass!"

"What? No!"

The bus parked as a barrier to the right side of the building suddenly explodes. The force of the explosion sends me flying back and my head bangs against the cement of the garden walls. My vision goes blurry and I see a massive shadow ahead of me. My body's too tired to move and I fight to get everything together again.

"Come on kid!" I growl, standing up on wobbly legs, before a huge weight falls on me. A dead soldier was lying on the perimeter and had fallen ontop of me when I reached my hand up to stand. The power armor every soldier wears weighs 45 pounds alone. I can't push him off me and my vision snaps into focus.

It's a freak, but easily 9 times my size. He doesn't have a neck, and carries a street lamp with a red thing attached to it.

"Fuck!" I gasp, arms grasping the perimeter to stand up. My fingers brush against something metal and cold, and I grab it. It's heavy, but the metal's too smooth for it to be another soldier.

"What the fuck is this thing?" I groan. It's got a rad counter on the side and I frown as I look in the barrel and stare at a miniature atomic weapon.

"Sarah!" I scream, pointing it at the giant freak, "fall back."

Sarah looks back at me and nods, "Lyons' Pride! Fall back!"

They retreat and I fire. A shockwave of heat hits me as the nuke detonates on the freak's head. I cough and lie back as the freak collapses onto the ground, and that's the last thing I see before everything goes black.

...

"Hey kid? You OK?"

My eyes jolt open and I gasp, "Huh?!"

"Woah relax," he chuckles, "friendly. You took a pretty bad knock on the head kiddo. Name's Three Dog, heard you were looking for me?"

"Where's Amata?"

"She's fine, eating with some soldiers, said I'd keep watch over you while she was gone."

I groan and rub my eyes, "I feel like shit."

He laughs, "And so you should. Don't worry it's nothing serious."

"Whatever. Have you seen my Dad?"

"Ah yes James," he sighs, "I'm afraid he's no longer with us..."

"What?! He's dead?!" I yell, sitting up in a panic.

"No! No no no no no no! That's not what I meant!" he laughs, "No! He's gone to Rivet City for work. Said he'd be safe there."

I nod, "Is there any way I can contact him? Let him know about me?"

"Ha! He probably already knows you're out!" he laughs, "I'm a news reporter kid. When someone disarms an atomic bomb and takes down a Super Mutant Behemoth, it tends to make the news."

"It isn't a smear campaign is it?"

"Ha! No."

"I've been trying to pick you guys up, but the signal keeps-"

"I'm glad you mentioned it." he cuts me off, "care to run an errand for me?"