Shielding her eyes, Rosalinn walked forward a step, the wind blowing dust in her face and the sun blinding her. When the woman felt she was adjusted to the bright star that warmed her skin, she opened her eyes and looked around. When she realized what she was seeing, her eyes grew large and her heart sank.
Rosalinn had always known it was going to be rubble and dust, but she had no idea really how big the world was. And if this was a fraction of it...
"Daddy, how am I supposed to find you in all this?" She said as she stared upward.
Blue streaked with white was all she could see. Her eyes grew even wider when she figured out she was looking at the sky.
"Beautiful…"
The woman started forward after some time and slid down the steep hill. After finding what she suspected was a road, she was about to follow it when she heard voices.
She looked around for a place to hide, but realized she was too late.
"Ahahaha look boys, fresh meat!" Shouted a crazed sounding woman wearing leather and...was that a half a tire? They were red-eyed and skinny - were they under the influence of narcotics? Before Rosalinn could register when was going on, a baseball bat slugged her in the back of her head.
"Ah!" She cried, as everything swam. She felt herself going down.
No.
You're not getting the better of me, you...you evil woman.
Rosalinn caught herself on a rock and slung her 10 mm out of her belt, closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.
BANG.
Right in her chest.
There was a heavy thud as the woman hit the ground and opened her eyes.
The junkie woman was dead, and her friends were angry. Rosalinn looked up and aimed at one of the other two there, both male. One had a knife and one had a lead pipe. She narrowed her eyes and aimed for the one farthest away. To the panic of the raider in front, a bullet whizzed by his head and straight into the shoulder of his friend, knocking him down and out of commission, perhaps to bleed out. And then the woman zeroed in on the final raider.
The look in her eyes said she meant business, but before he got the chance to run, she shot him in the leg.
"Don't come after me again." She spat before turning and running off the road.
Rosalinn felt pangs of guilt as she raced from the scene of her first kill. Her father had taught her better. But then again, they would have killed her anyways, given half a chance - and that would quickly defeat the purpose of James having tried to leave her behind. The least she could do was practice some self-preservation. Tears formed in the woman's eyes, but she bit her lip and shook her head.
From the reports she had read about the vault team's outings, this was no place for weakness or a lapse in judgement, so she would not be weak either. She had to do this. She had to find her father and ask him what was so important that he had to leave their home.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the wastes, the quiet was broken in a dark room with brightly-lit screens. A new signal had been discovered, and it was a Pip Boy. A smile appeared on the face of the occupant, and fervent typing echoed off of the walls of the room. The screens zoomed in to reveal a young, raven haired woman of about eighteen to twenty, trying to fend herself against a trio of junked-up raiders. A pair of bright eyes widened as she was caught in the back of the skull, and just when the observer thought she was done for, she pulled a move, revealing a 10 mm and shot all three, one after the other. This one was no slouch, but she was a vault dweller for sure, so she would likely need help at some point.
"What is your story, cutie?" Mused the watcher, grinning wider as the quick-paced typing started once again.
"I guess we'll find out!"
After nearly running off of two cliffs and screeching at the sight of a giant dead ant loud enough to scare some people standing with some sort of two-headed cow nearby, Rosalinn dropped to her knees in front of some sort of town. Her sight was failing her as the hit on the back of her head started throbbing.
She heard steps come up behind her and felt a hand on her shoulder, so she grabbed her switchblade and turned around.
"Don't touch m-..." She stopped when she saw an older man wearing some sort of suit.
"Ah, you must be fresh from that vault nearby. One-oh-one, was it?" Rosalinn nodded a little and placed her hand on the back of her head.
"Ah, so you must have been part of the commotion we heard from a little ways off. Do you need medical attention? I am Doc Hoff, and a fully qualified doctor. I might have something in my magic bag that could help. And I could administer it, all for a price, of course."
Rosalinn shook her head.
"I don't have any money..."
Doc Hoff chuckled.
"I barter as well. Anything you have that you don't want, I can take it off your hands and treat you."
"I have nothing to get rid of."
The doctor looked on, nodding.
"Ah, I see. Well, perhaps seek shelter in Megaton here. Maybe someone in there can help."
"Thanks for the help..." She said softly, shaking off her dizziness and getting up. As she approached the great metal gates before her, they opened and she watched in awe as they revealed another set of gates. A robot nearby almost made her jump as it spoke of the pleasantries within.
The other gates opened to reveal a huge city of metal. Ramps went in every direction and there were people everywhere.
A man in a hat and trench coat approached her and she stood up tall, placing her weapon in it's holster.
"Welcome to Megaton, stranger. I'm Lucas Simms and the sheriff and mayor of this town, when the need arises. What brings to our town today?"
Rosalinn cleared her throat and tried not to show any fear, but no defiance either.
"I'm from Vault one-oh-one and I am looking for a place to crash for the next twenty-four hours so I can catch my bearings…" The girl trailed off as she noticed a hulking black object behind the sheriff.
"Is that a Megaton bomb?" She asked.
The Sheriff nodded.
"It's what the town's named for, girl. Why do you ask?"
"Because I was taught how those things work and the damage they can do. Are you not afraid of it?"
The man heaved a sigh and nodded.
"Yeah, well it hasn't gone off, but I keep thinking someday it might…"
"I can fix that." She said before she held out her pack to the Sheriff, politely asking for him to hold it for her. He stared at her for a moment before taking her pack and following her to the bomb.
She watched the crowd near it for a moment, intently, before raising an eyebrow and rolling her eyes, mumbling to herself as she opened the panel. After a few moments of shifting things and cutting wires, a click resounded and Lucas Simms' heart skipped a beat. He heard a whirring of gears and squeezed his eyes shut, but nothing else followed. He tentatively opened them to see the word "Deactivated" on a small screen in the panel before she closed it up and turned around.
"Well, I'll be! You did it!"
Rosalinn smiled and took her pack and heaved it back onto her shoulders.
"I was trained in explosives as part of our education. Though our Overseer never let us out until I left, we still had to be trained in various things in the event we would have to leave the vault.."
Lucas Simms nodded.
"Well you've sure come in handy. Here… take this deed to an empty house. And let me pay y-"
"No…please… I would like the house but no - don't pay me."
The Sheriff handed her the deed and key and smiled.
"Well, that's mighty kind of you. I appreciate that, really. With my son here and plenty of other little ones and refugees, we can't afford to lose this place. So thank you, from all of us."
Rosalinn smiled again and took what he handed her, and after he directed her to her new home, she found it and entered. Once she entered and locked the door behind her, she sank to the ground.
The smell of rust and metal filled her nose, so different from the clean and familiar scent of the vault. Tears welled in her eyes, but she shook her head, muttering to herself about being weak until the sound of a Mr Handy interrupted her thoughts.
"Hello Madam! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Wadsworth, your new Robo-Butler. Can I get you anything?"
After recovering from a jump-scare, the girl shook her head and stared at the robot for a moment before answering.
"No. No thank you."
The robot seemed to scan her for a second before speaking.
"You are wounded, madam. May I suggest you seek medical attention as soon as possible?"
Rosalinn reached up and touched the back of her head where the baseball bat had left a goose egg. She had forgotten all about it. She could feel dried blood from the bump all the way down her neck.
"I should…"
The robot seemed to study her again before offering out one of it's arms.
"Allow me to help you up, Madam."
She nodded and the robot effortlessly helped her to her feet.
"There is a Doc Church in town. I would suggest you see him."
The woman nodded.
"Thank you. I will. My name is Rosalinn. Could you maybe call me Rosie instead of Madam? I don't do airs and graces."
The robot seemed a little taken aback, as it didn't provide her an answer right away.
"Of course, Ma- Rosie. Yes, I believe I can acquiesce this request."
Rosalinn nodded and turned towards the door. She was about to open it when her Pip bleeped.
She frowned. It's never done that before.
She looked at the screen and went through her options until she came to something new: A "Messages" tab. And in the tab was a message named "Hey Cutie!"
Rosalinn scrolled down a bit and started to read.
"Hey there, Cute Stuff! I was moseying through my day until I caught your signal. You're from that vault nearby, aren't you? Fresh into the Wastes. Oh, Cutie, you're in for a ride. But I can help. I know the outside world, so I can guide you."
Rosalinn rubbed her eyes and opened the door of her new home to go back outside. Her Pip bleeped again.
"I bet you're a little bit unnerved, right? Someone personally messaging your Pip? Well you'd be the first… no one else has figured out how. And if you meet me at certain coordinates, I can upgrade your Pip so you can talk to me. It's lonely out here. I know. You might need a friend."
Rosalinn stared at the screen for a moment before deleting the messages.
"That's…no. I'm not falling for anything." She growled to herself as she headed to the medical building Wadsworth spoke about. She opened the door and was greeted by a greying doctor in a white t-shirt and khaki-colored pants.
"Oh, you must be new. Well, let me lay down some ground rules before I treat you. Number one - if you bother me, you're not getting treatment; number two - you steal, I shoot. And lastly, number three - no freebies. Now that that's settled, what can I do for you?"
The woman stood staring for a moment, the blood draining from her face. This man scared her for some reason. He must have noticed, because when she mumbled something and turned to leave, he heaved a sigh and was about to speak when he noticed the blood clinging to the back of her neck. He grabbed her arm, maybe a little too roughly, and she gasped.
"Look, girl, I can come across a bit gruff, but I wasn't always a doctor for this town. However, you came to the right place judging by the lump on the back of your skull. That needs cleaning and stitching." He tugged her over to a chair and sat her down.
Rosalinn looked down at the floor silently. She wasn't timid, really, but to her, these outsiders were new and even a bit frightening. Unknown variables scared her more than anything else. She had no clue what they were capable of, and because they were unpredictable, she felt at risk. But as soon as he gently pushed her head down, put her hair up and worked on her injury, she noticed he was far easier in his handling of her than his way of speech lead her to believe. She felt a pinprick and her body went rigid.
"Med-X, girl. To dull the pain. You don't want to feel me stitching your skin together, do you?"
"No, Sir." Was her quiet response, which was met with a somewhat surprised grunt from the doctor.
He was shocked anyone knew what manners where, let alone practiced them.
He worked on her head, cleaning it with alcohol and stitching the shallow but long cut as quickly as he could. He bandaged her head and nodded.
"That should do it."
She looked up at him as he came around into her view.
"How much? Because I have American bills…"
"Money? Girl we don't use that kind of currency anymore. We use caps. As in bottle caps."
"I'm sorry, I don't have any caps."
Doc Church looked at her.
"Consider it on the house. a "Welcome to Megaton" gift."
"I thought you said no freebies?"
"That means don't ask for them or expect them. But if I feel like it, I'll give it out. Now you better go on before I change my mind."
Rosalinn nodded.
"Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate this." She said as she got up. As she walked to the door, she felt herself pitch forward. She put her hands out and braced herself on the table by the door. The doc tilted her chin up and turned on a flashlight to check her eyes.
"Concussion." He muttered. "You got a place yet?"
"Yes. gave me a house after I disarmed the bomb."
"Huh. Well done. That thing made everyone nervous but those Atom crazies. Go home and rest. Now." He opened the door in time to see a man with an eye patch walk by.
"Creel! Take this girl to the empty house, will ya? She's got a head injury."
The man stopped and looked in on the girl, then smiled.
"Sure, doc." He came into the office and held out his hand.
"Well, hot damn, someone new! I'm Billy Creel."
Rosalinn took his hand and he pulled her into an upright position, then shook it.
"Can y' walk alright?"
Rosalinn nodded.
"I think so. I'm just not used to Med-X. And coupled with being hit in the head… I'm…out of sorts…oh…" She held her head and closed her eyes.
Billy and the doc exchanged glances and in the next instant, Rosalinn was in Billy's arms.
"Yeah see… you're havin' a rough time standin', let alone walkin'. So how about ol' Billy gives you a lift? I won't even charge!" He said with a grin and a wink, or what she could assume was a wink. Her face flushed as Billy gave the doc a nod and walked out the door with the embarrassed woman.
"I…oh God, I cant believe this is happening." She covered her face as they walked, eliciting a chuckle from her ride.
"Hey now, Missy, don't worry about bein' embarrassed. Barely anyone's around." He said as he walked up the ramp and rounded the corner of her house to her front door. She peeked through one hand and opened the door, then Billy walked in with her and kicked the door shut.
"Hello madam and sir. Glad to see you are looking better, Miss."
Billy eyed the robot.
"Well, Isn't that fancy? Got yourself a butler!" He said as he walked upstairs and into the open room. He sat her on the bed and sat on a chair nearby.
"Better?" He asked.
she looked up at him and nodded.
"Thank you." She said, touching the bandages gingerly.
Billy was now paying a bit more attention and noticed she was wearing a vault suit.
"Oh, hey, you're from that Vault nearby. What's a Vault dweller doin' out? Aren't you safer down there?" Rosalinn smirked softly.
"Not really." She said, looking away.
"I left to find my father."
Billy looked thoughtful for a moment.
"I was grabbing a Nuka from Moriarty's one evenin', a while ago and I saw him speaking to a gentleman in a white lab coat with a vault suit underneath. Older guy, grey hair, intelligent way of talking. I haven't a clue what they were discussing, but maybe if you talk to Moriarty, he can tell you."
Rosalinn felt like she could hug this man, and she was suddenly elated to be where she was.
"Are you serious?! Thank you so much." She looked down and bit her lip to prevent tears of relief from falling down her cheeks.
Billy watched the girl and laid a hand on her arm.
"Hey, if you need to talk, I can listen. I know you don't know me from a crater in the ground, but I can see you're overwhelmed."
Rosalinn looked up, her blue eyes sparkling with tears as she bit her lip in an attempt not to break down in front of a total stranger.
Whoa. This girl was enough to make a guy stutter.
"Hey, come on darlin', don't cry. You're too pretty for that."
As everything that had happened in the last few hours set in, the woman had to take lungfuls of air to keep from breaking down.
"It's too much. It's all been too much." She managed.
Billy sighed and moved to sit beside the girl and, after some hesitation, he gently rubbed her back as she sat with her head in her hands.
"Let it out, darlin'."
He stayed with her until eventually she calmed down, until her shoulders ceased their shaking and her sobs quieted. She rubbed her face and looked at him, ashamed.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to put you in such an awkward position. I couldn't stop."
Billy smiled.
"Hey now, don't worry about it. I seen girls cry, and I don't mind." He got up.
"Think you'll be alright now? I have to go tend to Maggie, my adopted daughter…of sorts."
Rosalinn nodded.
"Yeah… I'll be alright. Thank you for the help." Billy nodded.
"Well alright then. I'll be seein' ya. Take care there, miss… oh what's your name, there sweetheart?"
"Rosalinn Lawrence."
"Pretty name. Alright, Rosalinn, you get some rest, and we'll see y' tomorrow, likely."
"Thanks again, Mr. Creel."
"Oh, call me Billy. And you're very welcome."
Rosalinn watched as he disappeared and waited until she heard the door click before she decided to check out her new digs. Two levels, two rooms upstairs, a kitchen. She smiled bitterly and thought that though it was her very own house like folk had in pre-war times, it was just a shell, a ghost of what it could have been.
After some time, Rosalinn tired of wandering the house and went upstairs to the bedroom, dropping her pack on the chair, and herself on the bed. It squeaked with her weight, but upon lying on her back, she found it to be quite comfortable. The girl brought her Pip up and slipped a holodisk in that she had found on poor Jonas' body on the way out, and pressed play.
"Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first. -Don't mean to rush you, Doc, but I'd feel better if we got this over with.- Okay. Go ahead. Goodbye. I love you."
I... I don't really know how to tell you this. I hope you'll understand, but I know you might be angry. I thought about it for a long time, but in the end I decided it was best for you not to know. So many things could have gone wrong and there's really no telling how the overseer will react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame everything on me. Obviously you already know that I'm gone. It was something I needed to do. You're an adult now. You're ready to be on your own. Maybe someday things will change and we can see each other again. I can't tell you why I left or where I'm going. I don't want you to follow me. God knows life in the vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe. Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going.
Her eyes swam with more tears.
"Dad…" She said as she lay on her side, listening to the note over and over again. She couldn't stop being heart-sick. And though she'd been without him for only a day, she had never felt so alone.
"I have to find you" Rosalinn muttered as exhaustion overcame her, lulling into a fitful sleep, riddled with dreams about the Vault and her father in better times.
The next morning, Rosalinn awoke to the rays of the morning sun filtered through the holes in the wall, and the beeping of her Pip.
She blinked away morning tears and squinted as she looked at the screen.
There was another message from the person who had hacked her Pip the day before.
Morning, Cutie. Hope your first night wasn't too bad. Now look, I know you don't want to trust me, but to be honest, I really could use a friend, too. I'm alone our here, completely. I know there's no basis for you to trust me, or even talk to me, but what do you have to lose? Everything beyond those walls you're behind will try to kill you anyways, but at least with my guidance it's less likely. So whaddaya say - tentative partners?
This person was persistent - she'd give them that. Rosalinn sighed.
Fine. We can "work together", but the second you do something shadier than you already are, I will be dropping contact. Now leave me alone for a bit - I need food and some water, somehow.
After only a minute or two, a beep sounded her new 'friends'' response.
Yes! You have made me a happy person! You can call me Alias! What can I call you?
Rosie is fine. Now lemme sort myself out. I can only see out of one eye.
What a morning; and she'd only been awake five minutes.
What did I just get myself into?