Chapter 38: Garage Band

The sun baked earth cracked under our feet as we stumbled towards the garage. This was where my dad had gone. A fucking garage in the middle of ass fuck nowhere. Charon and I fought off packs of raiders and a fucking deathclaw for a garage. Dogmeat was the only one who seemed happy right now. His tail thumped against my leg loudly.

"Are you alright, Eleanor?" Charon called from several feet behind. He had taken most of the damage from the deathclaw, to much of my dismay, so I wouldn't get hurt.

"It better be somewhere in here or I'm going to murder my father." I grumbled, opening the garage door.

Charon insisted on entering the garage first to make sure it was safe enough. He had a fucking knife jammed in his leg and refused to let me help, even after I mentioned I was the doctor's daughter.

He stopped behind the counter to look at something under it, leaving his leg out in the open. Now was my chance. I dug through my pack quickly and quietly for two stimpaks and once I had them ready, I wrapped my fingers around the handle.

Charon turned to look at what I was up to right when I yanked the blade out. He slammed his fist on the counter, knocking down an empty bottle with a scream of anguish. I plunged the needle in and emptied it right above his knee. I issued the second one without a moment to spare and pulled it out of his leg, dropping the dispensed needles to the floor.

Charon dug his nails into the wood of the counter. The wood streaked lines across the surface. He reared towards me.

"What the fuck was that for!" He bellowed.

I froze in my spot. Whatever he would do was better than him suffering. I threw my arms up to shield myself when he grabbed my wrists. Dogmeat growled by my feet.

"Charon, please don't do this!" I whined.

He dropped my arms and threw himself back, hitting the counter. He stuttered and tripped over his words. "I... I'm sorry. Eleanor, you know... you know I didn't mean it. I won't hurt you."

I held my left wrist loosely where he jerked it the most. "I know, Charon. Let's just look for the vault."

He swallowed and nodded. We searched the garage for switches and buttons hidden under garbage. I ran my hands around the metal walls delicately.

"Found it," Charon muttered, obviously still shaken up by his justified freak out.

"Alright, do what you need."

I heard a click and metal screeching against the floor. I looked down to see Dogmeat descending a hidden set of stairs in the floor. We followed with our guns drawn down the halls and doorways.

We stopped in front of the distinctive gear with bright yellow chipped paint marking "112" on the door to the vault. Dogmeat ran around my ankles excitedly. My hands shook as I reached for the lever to open it and my fingers wrapped around the cool metal. It hadn't been touched in a long while.

The lever stuck in its place. I grunted when I pushed down on it once more, barely budging it. I sat on it, hoping that added weight would do the trick. It didn't move. Charon lifted me and shoved it down with little effort. He smirked at me and I huffed with crossed arms.

The air was filled with the klaxon siren more metal screeching against metal, except this time was a much worse sound. Images of Butch's face in the closing cracks of the gear screaming at me to run flashed through my mind.

I left so suddenly, leaving him alone to defend himself. He'd most likely be questioned unjustly just because we were in a relationship. The vault police had always been quick to get rough and they already didn't like him due to his little "gang". He could be dead because of me.

Charon's voice broke through my thoughts. "You alright? It's open, you know?"

I shook out of my mind and pressed on into the vault. Tires wheeling down the hall alerted the three of us. Guns aimed at the door greeted a strange robot. It looked like a trash can with a ban on top of it and it had tracks like a tank.

"Welcome Vault citizen! It appears that you are 202.3 years late for arrival. Did you sleep in?" The robot had a voice that was cute, in a weird way. This robot was very trusting and small compared to other robot around the wasteland. I liked this one.

"Charon, this is a really cute robot. Can I make one?"

He rolled his eyes. "This may be the only one I have ever seen that was not hostile. Do not expect more like this."

I patted the robot on the brain case. "I'm just going to call you Sally."

"I am unfamiliar with that programming. I am, however, familiar with the name. As a vault greeter, I am required to distribute Vault 112 vault suits."

It opened a small compartment with a tinkling noise I had heard from a music box ones. I took the vault suits that were in the compartment. I jumped back with a gasp when a tiny cannon popped confetti at my hand.

"I sincerely apologize for the late confetti. I shall see to it that it is fixed immediately." Sally responded with its little robotic purpose.

"It's alright."

I stripped quickly, my pants hooking on my boots. I bent down to unlace them and pull them off when I felt like I was being watched. I looked around to see Charon turn his head quickly. I stepped into the legs of the vault suit with a smile tugging at my lips. He was still interested.

I zipped the suit up and saw him trying to pull his over his waist. Vaults didn't make his size apparently. I stifled a giggle and failed miserably. His head shot in my direction.

"What are you laughing about?" He grunted, trying to yank the waistband over his hips.

"I think you're a bit too big. It's sort of like the time I tried to put Dogmeat in one of the baby onesies you found."

He rolled his eyes. "You're one to talk."

My eyes opened wide and I tilted my head back. "Did you just make a fucking fat joke?"

"What?"

"You just called me fat." My hands were on my hips without me even realizing.

Dogmeat sensed the change in the mood between us. His eyes darted between us nervously with a whine. Charon glared at him and he stopped whining.

"I apologize if that is was it came off as. I do not think you are fat. You are pregnant, so it is natural that-"

"I think it would just be safer if you stopped talking." I interrupted.

H nodded and gave up with the suit. He stepped out of it and dropped it to the floor. He retied his boots and we moved to the other room. I leaned over the railing to get a closer look at the weird machines in the atrium.

There was a large machine in the center of the room with terminals connected at the base. It looked like a prewar vacuum cleaner, only much larger. There were glass pods wired to the central power unit. They circled they unit and were hooked up to each terminal.

My brow furrowed as I leaned over to look closer. None of it made sense. What was this vault's purpose?

My central balance was knocked over and I could see the ground getting closer. Charon's large hands grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me back over the railing the rest of the way. He held me tightly to him like I was disappearing in thin air.

"Thanks." I breathed out, my voice a quiet whisper.

"Don't do that again." His breath was hot on the back of my head.

I swallowed loudly and nodded. He didn't let go when we descended the stairs to the first floor. The temperature was cool, but not too uncomfortable. It was a god send compared to the wastes. I ran my fingers along the cold glass of the closest pod. My fingers drug streaks in the heavy dust.

My brows knit together in confusion. I wiped my hand around the glass as dust fell in loose clumps. I watched it fall to the floor and pool on my boots. I looked back up and pressed my face to the glass. It was too dark to see what was in there. I turned my Pipboy light on and shined it in the dark pod, pressing my face back against the glass. I gasped and flew back from the pod. I hit a startled Charon in the chest with my head.

"What did you see?" He questioned, concerned.

"There are people in these things. They look like a skeleton." My heart was racing.

He pushed me aside and bent down to look in it. He shook his head and waved for my light. I shined it for him and he cursed under his breath.

"They've probably been here for the past two centuries. Check the terminal for whatever it will give you."

I moved on shaky legs towards the glowing green screen of the terminal. My fingers twitched as they glided across the keyboard. The screen produced the vitals of the victim in the pod.

Timmy Neusbaum was the man in the pod. His heart rate was dangerously high and his temperature was inhumanely low. Whatever was going on in these pods was an all new level of stressful environment. Charon moved to the next pods looking for anyone salvageable. He stopped at the one on the opposite side of the room.

"Eleanor?" He called out.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"Uh, you might want to see this."

I flung from the terminal with Dogmeat at my heels towards Charon and the pod. I skidded to a stop and wiped the dust away from the glass. I shined the light and looked in. What I found brought tears to my eyes. I finally found him.

"Is this your dad?"

I nodded, unable to speak. I moved to the terminal and confirmed it was Dad. "We have to get him out of there. I don't know how long he's been in there."

"I am unsure of how to do so. Whatever is in there is preventing them from leaving. You are not going in."

I drew my hunting rifle and brought the butt down on the glass. It shook under the shock, but didn't crack. I brought it down again, only to have the gun slide and bang my head on the glass. I held my mouth and pulled my hand back to find hot blood between my fingers.

"God damn this fucking vault!" I tried kicking the pod, only to be pulled back by Charon again.

"You are getting nowhere, Eleanor." He muttered in my ear.

Tears and blood were staining the vault suit. I thrashed in his arms unsuccessfully and he didn't budge when I kicked at his shins.

"Violence on your parts invalidates the contract."

"Well maybe I can actually fucking free someone then." I choked.

"Eleanor, please calm down. You'll hurt yourself and it's not pleasant having to hold you down."

I slumped in his arms, tired. I was tired physically and emotionally. I was tired of the world and my life. "Charon, please. We need to save him."

"I know. That is why I am going in."

My heart stopped in my chest. I looked up at him slowly. He was staring at the pod, motionlessly.

"You're not being serious, are you?" I dreaded the answer.

"I am."

I could deal with going in myself, but sending someone else in, especially Charon, was unfair. "The contract doesn't say you have to go in. I won't order you to go in."

"I know. That is why I am going in. I have an obligation to keep you safe, I have a dire need to keep you happy. Me going in won't make you happy, but me coming out with your father would be... enjoyable."

"You're crazy. You can't go in. Charon, please don't go in." I begged.

He shook his head. "You have come all this way to find your father, and you are physically incapable of going in. You are pregnant, which adheres to the safety protocols of the pod. This will not be my first time in a simulation pod."

I bit my tongue. "There's no other way?"

He shook his head again. "I will go in, find the fail safe that all simulations come with, and come out. I will find your father and get him out of there."

I sighed in defeat and thumped my head against his chest. "You better be in and out."

"Yes, Eleanor."