For two days Amata prepared herself, and for two nights the Lone Wanderer was forced to sleep on the couch. When the sun started to rise once more Amata was already up to greet it. She walked down the stairs expecting to see the Lone Wanderer crashing on the couch but to her surprise she only found Wadsworth in sleep mode.
"Well I guess he's not going to see me off then." Amata sighed, she had hope he would've changed his mind about not going.
'Well you did tell him you can take care of yourself… now you just have to.' She thought as she proceeded to exit the Lone Wanderer's house. The sun was still peaking its head over the horizon and its warmth had yet washed over the wasteland. It was still dark out but Amata could tell some people had already started their day as well. With a heavy heart she made her way towards the giant metal gate that served as the only passage in and out of the settlement: Megaton. To her surprise she found a familiar looking individual with a wasteland hound hood over his head.
"You're late." He said, Amata didn't know if it was the night or his words that made the world feel cold.
"We did you decide to change your mind?" She asked hoping he did.
"Not exactly." Another one of his simple yet cryptic responses.
"What does that mean?" Amata asked a bit confused.
"I've been thinking… and I've come to the realization… you have no idea where D.C. is, don't you." He answered.
Amata was a bit insulted by the sudden accusation but was too proud to admit it. In fact it was one of the reasons why she wish he'd change his mind.
"S-sure I do!" she quickly lied, but the Lone Wanderer didn't buy it one bit.
"Then point in which direction it is." He requested.
Amata had been looking over the map display on her Pip-boy for the past two days, it had places she had been to already marked on there but GNR was not among them.
"Better yet maybe you can tell me how you're going to navigate the metro tunnels underneath the city?" He asked.
"Tunnels?" Amata gulped, she hadn't given it much thought on going through tunnels, she had no idea she had to go through tunnels to get to GNR.
"Don't tell me you thought it was going to be a simple cake walk?" The Lone Wanderer teased.
"What do you want?" Amata finally asked, admitting she had no idea how to get to GNR.
"I merely wish to offer my services." He answered.
"What 'services'?" She asked with an eye of suspicion.
"Why, my guide services of course." He answered. He had thought of this plan the very night he had to sleep on his own couch, he could get Amata to GNR safely and make a couple of caps as well.
"So you want me to hire you… as my guide?" Amata guessed.
"Yes." He replied.
"And how much would it cost to hire you?" Amata asked she couldn't help but smile coyly she believed she had figured the Lone Wanderer's plan, he wasn't going to simply let her loose on her own. But that smile quickly disappeared when he gave her his pricetag.
"1,000 caps! That's completely outrageous!" she yelled nearly waking up people who we're still trying to sleep.
"Actually it's quite reasonable and cheap, especially when you take into accounts of the dangers, like slavers, rabid dogs, mercs, and of course raiders and that's 'before' you even get to the city line.
"I can't believe you! This is extortion!" she scolded.
"You have a very weird definition of extortion, but if you feel you can do better without me." The Lone Wanderer proceeded to head back to his house.
"500 caps and not a single one until I get there safely!" Amata countered offered. The Lone Wanderer pretended to give it some thought before agreeing.
"Alright then, give me a sec." he requested as he disappeared inside of his house. When he returned he had an assortment of armaments. Amata thought he looked like a walking firing squad he had so many rifles and pistols on him. She especially noticed the old fashion gun in his hands. It resemble his lever-action rifle but seemed almost 'regal' in some way.
"What kind of gun is that?" Amata asked.
"Lincoln's Repeater." He informed her. There was only one 'Lincoln' Amata had learned in Mr. Brouch's class and that was.
"Abraham Lincoln's repeater?" she asked in disbelief.
"The one and only." He answered with a hint of pride in his voice.
"That thing should be in a museum!" she exclaimed.
"It 'was' in a museum." He corrected. Amata was about to ask him how when she noticed that he too had a hunting rifle on his back coupled with a combat shotgun and a Chinese Assault rifle.
"Wait, if you had all these weapons, why didn't you just lend me some of yours?" she asked.
"Because I don't like sharing." He retorted, as he proceeded to head out the giant metal gates of Megaton. Amata quickly followed behind him. Outside the settlement everything seemed peaceful but Amata knew that it could be a while before she would see walls that would make her feel safe again. They started their journey heading towards Springvale but soon turned east. As the sun began to rise so did the temperature of the Capital Wasteland and it wasn't long before sweat started to form on Amata's forehead. She took note of the increasing number of abandon vehicles as they were traveling along the ruined road.
"What's the deal with all these cars?" she asked, her infamous curiosity getting the best of her.
"Relics from the old world, not much use to us, but they make nice cover…sometimes." He answered.
"Sometimes?" she inquired further.
"Some of these vehicles still have a working fusion coil in them. A couple bullets or a grenade in the right place and 'BOOM'!" He threw his hands in the air signaling a big explosion.
'I guess that's good to know… I think.' Amata thought. As they continued to walk nature began to call her name, though she tried to ignore it her body demanded that she should answer.
"uh, I have to go." She didn't know how to go about in asking to go to the bathroom so she decided to put it bluntly.
There was a awkward silence with only their footsteps braking the silence.
"We just left Megaton." Was the Lone Wanderer's response.
"I know but I didn't have to go at the time." She retorted with the urge getting stronger.
There was an audible sigh from underneath the Lone Wanderer's hood. "Go over there." He ordered pointing at a nearby rock.
"You got to be kidding me. You want me to squat on a rock?" Amata asked in disbelief.
"No I expect you do your business 'behind' the rock." He told her.
"I'm not going out here. Why can't you find a bathroom? You're the guide, remember?" Amata shot back crossing her arms in defiance.
The Lone Wanderer sighed, there was no point trying to convince Amata otherwise so he looked on his Pip-Boy to locate a place that had a bathroom. Luckily for the both of them there was a place a little bit farther up the road they were on.
"Come on." He sighed as he walked ahead. Amata couldn't help but smile inwardly at her small victory.
It wasn't long before the two were standing in front of a big one level building. Amata looked up at the letters that spelled: SUPER-DUPER MART.
"Well head on in, I'll wait out here." The Lone Wanderer said as he checked a nearby Nuka Cola vending machine.
"Why aren't you coming inside?" Amata asked, she was a bit nervous to go inside a lone.
"You wanted privacy so head on inside, me on the other hand is going to check the other vending machines around here." He answered closing the door after failing to find any Nuka Cola.
"Besides you can handle yourself, right?" he teased poking at her pride.
Amata wanted to make a snappy retort but the call of natured couldn't be ignored any longer, she pushed open the nearby double doors and she was quickly introduced into darkness. The interior was a refreshing change in temperature as it was cooler than outside. Her eyes started to adjusted and she could see the looted shelves that once held supplies of food on them. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally located the restrooms. To her dismay the restrooms were a messed and smelled foul to the point it made her eyes water and to top it off there was no toilet paper to be found!
'This is just great, I'd rather go behind the rock than this place.' She thought, missing the comforts of the vault. She walked out of the bathroom doing her best to ignore her poor bladder. On her way towards the entrance out of the corner of her eye see spotted a cash register. Her mischievous side getting the best of her she walked over and checked it out. she pushed a couple buttons on it before the register slid open with a bell chime.
Ding!
At that moment it became the loudest sound Amata had ever heard in her life as it echoed in the empty market. Her eyes quickly darted around seeing if it had alerted anyone of any 'thing'. She calmed down enough to note the bountiful amount of cash sticking out at her.
"I'm rich!" she quietly squealed, but her happiness was soon shortened when she remembered Sheriff Simms telling her that bottle caps were the only accepted currency, meaning pre-war money was useless.
'Way to get your hopes up Amata, what are you going to do with useless paper? It mind as well be-' she suddenly had an idea, but it was not one her bladder would wait for. She took a quick look to her right and to her left and decided to go right then and there. She sighed in relief as the golden stream came and gone. She quickly finished up and was in the process closing her leather armor back up when she heard a pair of voices.
"I'm telling you I heard something, it was around here… I think."
"Man you need to lay off that Jet, you hearing shit now?"
Amata could see the two only because one was smoking a cigarette. The low level light didn't show much but from the parts of the outfits she could see told her they were raiders.
'Where the hell is he when you need him!' Amata thought as she tried to quietly move away from them.
"We don't got all day to check out noises, we got to head back to camp soon."
"Fine, Let's head ba- whoa." A raider yelled as he slipped and fell.
"W-What the hell is this!?" He yelled in anger as his fellow raider laughed at him.
"I don't know but it smells like piss." The laughing raider commented.
"I'm going to kill whoever did this." The angry pissed covered raider swore as he tried to get up only to slip and fall again.
Amata found the sight to be funny and couldn't stop the slight snort escaping from her. Both raiders quickly ceased in what they were doing.
"Ok, now I 'know' you heard something that time."
"Yeah, looks like we're not alone."
'Nice going Amata you are 'so' dead.' Amata thought as she instinctively clamped her hand over her mouth.
"Come out, come out where ever you are." One raider taunted. He helped the other raider off the floor and motion for him to flank.
Amata grabbed her silenced 10mm pistol and readied it, the raiders still haven't seen her. She took aim at the closest one and fired.
A muffled thud was all she heard as the bullet left it's chamber and found its mark. She couldn't see where it had hit him but she could see him drop to the floor in a heap. Amata watched as the other raider noticed his partner was down and ran over to check on him. Amata took aim again but before she could fire a shadow over took the raider and tackled him to the floor. She could only hear sounds of a brief struggle then silence, only a barely audible gurgle could be heard.
"You can put your gun away, Amata." The shadowy figure called out to her, she instantly recognized the voice.
"Where the hell were you?" she asked angry he didn't intervene sooner.
"I was nearby." Was his only answer.
"Nearby? Wait you don't mean." Amata trailed off.
"Did I see you go? No. At least give me some credit Amata." The Lone Wanderer answered dismissively.
"Come on, we should go then." Amata said wanting to change the subject.
"Not yet." The Lone Wanderer objected.
"Why?" she asked.
"Cause now I have to go, damn Nuka Colas go right through you." he muttered as he hurriedly walked off towards the restrooms.
AN: Thank you for all of your support, and I will be putting up the next chapter soon!