Chapter 5, It Cannot Be All Gone

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks from the sight she saw. The crater I had mentioned earlier right in front of the gas station and the supermarket, destroyed by the nuclear fallout. A sight I am used to, but not to her most likely.

"What is this? What happened here," I heard her shakily say.

"This city was bombed years ago," I responded.

" Why has this city not come back from this destruction," she asked, still with a shaky tone.

I walked towards her and replied "It isn't."

She turned towards me. "What do you mean? Why can't it come back? Cities always come back from destruction just like France did after the French Revolution," she replied.

I sighed looking down at the ground, getting ready to explain what I was afraid of wanting to have to tell. After a few seconds, I looked back up and responded.

"There was a Great War here that ended with a nuclear apocalypse in 2077. Two hundred years ago. This is what's left of Washington D.C. and the rest of the U.S. including New Vegas and the Mojave. The whole world was destroyed just like here as well."

"No, this can't be," Elizabeth stated with tears starting to come out as she fell down on the ground crying her eyes out.

I've heard people cry before, hell I cried after my father died. He wasn't perfect, but he did his best despite the circumstance we both were in. But I have never heard a person cry as hard and as in so much pain as Elizabeth spent the next few minutes crying. I can't even describe how gut wrenching, depressing, and sorrowful it sounded. It made me even want to cry a bit. I mean imagine dying a horrible death to save someone then being brought back from the dead only to witness a literal hell on earth and unsure if what you did mattered in the end. Putting that all together, I think that is a fragment of how she felt, but not the whole picture since I barely know anything beyond that. However, with the weather sounding like it was going to start pouring soon, I told Elizabeth we have to get off the street and keep moving. She got up and started to brush her tears away and agreed.

I noticed a gift shop that was still standing and decided that would be the best place to wait out the storm. However, as we got closer, Ghouls appeared. I pulled out my Service Rifle and popped a few shots on them and watched as one by one they all fell down to the ground. One of them, their heads exploded as my rifle round pierced its skull. As I cleared them out Elizabeth got out of cover behind a rock and walked towards me.

"What happened to these… people? What are they," she asked point towards them.

"Ghouls, they were normal people infected and turned by the radiation," I answered.

"I don't like this Evan. This can't be how the whole world is," she shakily said.

"No one really does. It's the world we live in now."

"Let's just get in the shop, I don't want to see anymore of this now."

We entered the shop and as always, it looked like a total mess. The front counter was completely smashed and destroyed, the air smelled musty, and the walls were losing paint and plaster. Not to mention there were these stupid mannequins just standing there that only added to the creepy factor.

"I think you should get a change of clothes, your dress is a complete mess," I stated, pointing at her dress.

She looked down at her dress, "Good idea, let me see what's here."

I would have loved to see what she looked like in her dress when it was new. It looked like it hugged certain features of women to help give off their beauty a bit more and the stockings I feel only enhanced it as well. But given the world we are in, armor or what covers your skin more is more important, but one can wonder.

"I think I found some clothes that work," She said after digging around.

"There's a dressing curtain over there you can use or what's left of one."

"It'll do for now"

As she enters I jokingly say, "I promise not to peak, even if it's that easy with that curtain."

I hear her laugh a bit as she closes the curtain. I feel a bit of an urge to look still but gain composure quickly. She isn't one of the women on the strip that are begging people to look at what they are wearing and revealing. I need to be respectful if I am going to get her to trust me and to want to be around me. A few minutes later she comes out wearing blue jeans, regular shoes, a brown leather jacket, and a basic white buttoned up shirt. She also had the red handkerchief tied around in a knot around her neck with the bird pendant in the middle.

"How does this look?" Elizabeth asked.

"Definitely gets the job done and hopefully you will not catch too many eyes looking at you." I replied.

She chuckles, "Is that a bad thing these days?"

"Well not necessarily as long as it isn't the Legion.'

"The who," she asks.

"Group of people that dress up as old Roman soldiers from a long time ago and are not at all the friendliest people."

"How bad are we talking?"

"They tie people to crosses if you cross them and pillage and rape towns for Cesear," I answered.

"That is so morbid and awful on so many levels. How is this tolerated," she disgustingly states..

"It isn't, but there is no central government that people support here that can do something about it. There is the New California Republic, but they are so spread out they cannot do much anyway. This is a lawless world now," I explained to her.

Elizabeth looks at the ground and fidgets with her hands again primarily with her right pinky and walks over to a mattress in the corner and sits down on it. I can tell she is still trying to take it in and is contemplating everything. And this is only scraping the surface. There is so much here in New Vegas that even I do not know and I am even figuring it out. So many factions with different goals and agendas that conflict with each other, who knows how New Vegas can be fixed or lead on a more righteous path.

Before I can think of another thought I hear the rain starting to pour and come down hard. I turn towards the window and take a quick look through the cracks of the boarded up window to see the outside. I hear Elizabeth get up off the mattress and join me in looking outside but she doesn't say anything. I can tell just looking at her she is just doing a ton of thinking and taking everything she can in. She started humming something but I couldn't make out what it was after a minute.

"What are you humming?" I asked.

"Something I know to heart, something that's keeping me a bit calm," she responded, still starting outside.

"Something from your childhood?

"No,...something a bit later."

I could tell by her responses, she was wanting to think more than talk and there was no use trying to get to know more about her right now.

"Well the storm is probably going to stick around for a bit and given the day we both had, I think we should get some sleep." I stated..

"I agree, though I don't see another mattress here." Elizabeth replied, turning around and looking around.

"You can take the mattress, I can take the floor."

'You sure? I don't mind sharing," she responded, turning to me and looking at me with her blue eyes.

Ugh as much as I want to especially with her looking at me with those eyes, I can't. She just met me and that's putting a ton of trust in a stranger not to mention I just met her and don't know her true intentions and don't want to ruin any first impressions.

"Naw, besides, I am used to sleeping on the floor. I've been living like this on a mattress one day, off one the next day for 22 years," I answered.

"Ok, well I'll see you in a few hours," she said as she walked and grabbed one of the loose pillows, dusted it off,headed towards the mattress and started to go to sleep.

I grabbed another pillow, layed down across from her on the floor, and looked at the ceiling as I slowly started to drift to sleep.

"Evan?" I heard a voice say in a calm, quiet tone with my body being shaked ever so slightly

It sounded so comforting I wasn't sure I wanted to wake up, I felt like I was having a good dream.

"Evan?" I heard the same voice say it again but in a bit louder tone with it still feeling like a quiet whisper while being shaked a bit more.

Again, I still didn't want to get up and move. I felt at peace.

"Evan!" I heard it much louder in a shrill tone but quiet like it was trying to get my attention without being incredibly loud and the shaking was much more violent. I opened my eyes and saw Elizabeth staring at me with a worried look on her face.

"The rain stopped but I'm hearing something outside. Is it one of those Ghouls you mentioned earlier," She asked, concerned.

I rubbed my eyes and got up. "I'll go take a look. Wait here," I replied, pulling out my 44. I went outside and saw it was a ghoul eating a mole rat. I whistled and the ghoul stopped eating the mole rat and turned around and I pulled the trigger once blowing his head off and sending him flying a few inches. I went back inside and she asked, "It was, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have a spare weapon? I don't mind taking these things on but I don't really feel safe without a weapon," she requested.

"You've been in combat before? There is a thrill you have to get used to."

"Oh yeah I have been in combat many times before," she replied.

"Alright, first chance we get I'll get you a weapon. I need both these to fight back against them."

"OK, hold on a second, I saw a safe I can pick the lock open."

Elizabeth ran behind the counter and crouched down to start picking the locked safe open. Once I heard her finish picking the safe open, she opened the safe up and said "I found two pistols, looks like you wont need to find me something for now." She got up and showed me what they were.

"Looks like a .22 and a laser pistol. They should do well for now until we find something better," I said.

We both left the shop and made our way to the train station entrance in order to get back to the high speed train to make our way back to New Vegas. As we arrived, to the train I heard an ugh from Elizabeth.

"That's how you got here," she stated, disgusted.

"Yeah it aint the best looking thing, I'd recommend going to the front cars as they are covered the most. It won't be as loud as well."

We both walk into the train and I start it up to take us back to New Vegas. We both sat down and I figured to ask the first of many questions I had for her.

"Ok, I have so many questions about what the hell Rapture was and what happened to it," I asked Elizabeth.

"Well I am more than willing to tell you, but I also want to know what happened to the world. Why did those nukes go off and how bad was humanity affected? How are things currently?" she replied.

"Well, as they say, ladies first," I stated, sarcastically.

She smiled and agreed to start first in explaining what Rapture was and what happened leading up to her death.

"Get comfortable, it is quite the story," she replied as she leaned back with her legs crossed.