CHAPTER FOUR: WELCOME TO EGRET

This is Radio Freedom, it's two o'clock. Nothing new to report. A friendly reminder to avoid the Lexington area when traveling. The Lexington Horde is contained but the area remains dangerous. We urge traders and travelers to avoid the area as much as possible. If you have to travel through the area, use extreme caution.

SUMMER'S POV:

As James talked to Mr. Nate, I looked around at the other Minutemen. They were all doing their assigned duties. A man was carefully considering the immobile scrap knight's power armor frame. It had been pried open following the effort of two of the caravan's strongest men's efforts and the crumpled body of the slain scrap knight lay discarded at the side of the road. The rest of the Minutemen were systematically searching and moving the bodies to the side, all casually talking the whole time. Over by the brahmin carts, a small line of people who needed patching up had assembled in front of the medic.

How could they be so casual about this? It had been utter chaos just moments before! I tried to remember specific details from the battle, but it was hazy. All I could remember was James shooting that loud rifle of his and almost leaving me there to charge off into battle. It wasn't that I had forgotten the battle, I guess I must have been trying to repress it. I couldn't dwell on it. I need to be strong right now, I-

"Helloooo, Commonwealth to Summer, anyone home?" James' voice interrupted my thoughts. I jumped a little bit but quickly recovered and nodded my head to show I was listening.

"Alright, so orders are to take you to Sanctuary City by way of Egret. We'll resupply and spend the night there before joining one of the caravans heading north. It'd normally be a pretty easy trip but ever since Lexington got overrun we gotta take the long way."

I blinked. Sanctuary City? Egret? What had overrun Lexington? More raiders? This world was so very confusing and my questions only ever led to more questions. I wonder if I had known all these things before I lost my memory. This whole amnesia thing kinda sucks.
While I was lost in my confusion James had led me to the cart I had been very courageously cowering behind moments before. He rummaged around in the back of it before finally pulling out something with an 'aha!' He turned around to reveal the item. It looked like a small box with a handle at one end. It had a few wires running along the edges and its green paint had been scratched in a few places. .

"You're gonna need to defend yourself in case I go down so here; your very own laser pistol." James announced, handing me the box. I hesitantly took hold of the gun, it was surprisingly light and felt comfortable in my hand as I moved it around. "I figure you might feel safer with it too."

"Oh right, you're gonna want ammo for that, otherwise it'll be just as useful to throw the thing at the bad guys." He said, once again rummaging through the cart and returning with several little yellow cylinders. Fusion cells, I remembered. Why would I remember that?

"May I?" James asked, holding out his hand for the weapon which I quickly returned to him. "The cells go right here," he demonstrated, pushing the fusion cell snugly into place on the side of the weapon, "When you want to fire just flip the switch there on the side. One cell should be good for a while, but it's never an exact science with these old things, that's why I prefer 'Ol Reliable here," he said, fondly patting his lever action rifle. I nodded and took the now loaded pistol back.

"Energy weapons are tough to maintain, but they're easy to shoot." James was back to looking around in the cart, grabbing things seemingly at random and throwing them into his already stuffed pack.

"No recoil, no drop off, just point and shoot." Finally he turned with the bag on his back replenished and another in his hand, which he offered to me.

We're all set then. Let's head out, I wanna get to Egret by tonight." James said. And with that we were on our way; a Minuteman, a synth, and a blue robot, headed north towards wherever Egret was.


We had made good progress since we had left an hour ago.

I think.

I'm not entirely sure to be honest, I have no idea where I am.

I decided to quicken my pace up to James', who was in the lead, with Ada waddling along behind us. He was walking with his rifle casually laying across his forearms and was humming along to a song on the radio about some guy who was 'All Shook Up.' I tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

He turned his attention from scanning our surroundings, "What's up Summer?"

I tried to ask where we were but remembered that I physically couldn't. Damnit. Instead I gestured around with my hands to the surrounding area before pointing in the direction we were heading followed by a questioning face. The only response I got was a slightly amused face. DAMNit.

"How about you write it down instead?" he said with a chuckle, offering me a pencil and paper. Only a bit embarrassed by my own antics, I took it from him.

Where are we?

"Oh! We're about a mile or two outside of Egret, we should be there real soon. It's almost evening now so we'll probably rent a room and stay the night. It's not as safe on the roads at night…" he trailed off, apparently distracted by something, "Ada, what time is it?"

"Almost nineteen hundred hours sir." Ada replied.

"Shit! Quick let me change the channel!" James said eagerly, jogging over to Ada and fiddling around with some of the dials on the back of her chassis. The music was quickly lost to a sea of static as James began fiddling with the small antennae out of Ada's back.

"This is Radio Freedom -kzztch- it's seven o'clo-kzztch- Lexington remains full of -kzztch- Give it a wide berth. Nothing -kzztch- to report. Stay safe everybody." announced a very staticy radio report. The message began to repeat itself before James cut it off and switched back to Diamond City Radio.

"That was Radio Freedom, Summer. It reports news to the settlements and the Minutemen. It's based in The Castle which is way north along the coast from here so we don't get good coverage. I've heard that they're trying to fix up that old Gunner HQ to give it a better signal but I guess they haven't finished." James' explanation was appreciated but yet again I was simply left with more questions than I had before. I'm glad he was at least trying.

We continued along that same silent railroad with nothing but the radio, James' quiet humming, and the mechanical whirr of Ada waddling along in the back. The sun was getting low in the sky and the dead trees cast long shadows across our path.

I decided to take advantage of the peace and ask James another question. I quickly jotted down:

Who are Minute Men?

I tapped his shoulder once again, interrupting his humming and handed him the paper. He read it over for a moment before replying, "The Minutemen" he corrected, "One word. Are a group dedicated to helping ALL people of The Commonwealth. We are dedicated to fighting any malevolent force that seeks to harm innocent people. From the poorest beggar or the snobbiest Upper-Stand Resident, we protect and help them all!" James stated proudly, "Under The General, there's nothing we can't accomplish!"

"Couldn't have said it better myself" Ada added approvingly.

I nodded my head, at least these people who found me seemed to be the 'good guys.' And I doubted James would ever try and harm. I decided to ask him another question so I quickly scribbled down:

Your story?

James glanced at the paper, "O-oh, me? Well there's not much. I came from a place up north. Like, WAY up north. It's kinda nasty and always foggy. But hey, it's home. It's called Far Harbor. I joined the Minutemen because I really wanted to make a difference, so when General Delaney came to town and talked about the Minutemen, I couldn't resist. A group of us came back to the Commonwealth with him. Everyone on the Island knows how to shoot. Needs to know how to shoot, honestly. Plus we knew how to track, which is how most of us became Specialists."

What do you like to do?

"Help people and protect The Commonwealth!" he announced dramatically before noticing my facepalm, "oh, you mean like hobbies, right. Well uh, I sing and I can play a few instruments. Like I said it's pretty dreary where I'm from. Before The General came along we were all holed up in the harbor and had nothing but time so we'd play a lot of music to pass the time. "How about you? What'd you like to do before the Institute went bang?"

I quickly scrawled out the obvious.

I don't remember.

He read it over and seemed a little disappointed and said, "Oh right, no memories. Well hopefully we can fix that! I've heard they've got some places that deal with that sort of issue."

I merely nodded, deciding not to point out the fact that I had no idea if that was true or just wishful thinking. We rounded a corner and finally came to what I assumed was Egret.

The first thing that struck me was how busy it was. Outside of its junk walls, there were loads of people milling around tents that were set up as temporary shops. In a pen opposite the market there was a large pen full of two headed red cows, brahmin, James had called them. Near the pen there was a small field of corn and carrots being tended to by a few workers. It was all overseen by a string of guard posts dotting the wall, manned by Minutemen adorned in combat armor and sporting combat rifles.

From our position atop a small hill, I could see overtop the walls. There were several pre-war buildings in decent condition that had clear post-war additions built on top of them, including a large watch tower built on top of the tallest building. Drifting lazily in the light was a blue flag with the same symbol of a rifle and lightning bolt I had seen already. As we approached the main gate, navigating the small crowd, James began rattling off facts about Egret, oblivious to the dozens of stares I was receiving from the crowd.

"Egret is a really important southern settlement because it's right on the river and its got some nice pre-war docks. It's also right by the only bridge this far south not infested by mirelurks, so pretty much all trade going this way needs to stop- HEY! She's not for sale!" He shouted suddenly at a man who was inspecting Ada, clearly to the robot's discomfort. The man quickly backed off, disappearing into the crowd of traders and travelers. We continued through the crowd, standing out all the more thanks to James' outburst, before making it to the settlement's main gate.

We were greeted by a solitary statue of a man carrying a laser musket and wearing a tri-cornered hat. Behind him was the flagpole bearing the Minuteman flag I had seen from outside. At the base of the statue there was a single burning oil lamp, surrounded by several vases of flowers and a few spent candles. There was a bronze plaque with some sort of inscription that I couldn't read from this far, so I made a mental note to check it out later.

James beckoned me over to where he was standing by one of the prewar houses, jarring me out of my trance. He was at what appeared to be some sort of clothing store with a big banner proclaiming "Fallon's! Best in the Commonwealth!" All around the main stand were shelves full of clothes of all sorts, from prewar dresses to simple cloth and leather clothes made postwar. James was chatting with the vendor, a petite woman with a stern face.

"Now how much for some clothes for her? Nothing fancy, just something basic"

"Depends on the size" the vendor replied.

"What size is she d'ya think?" he asked the vendor casually. The lady stared me up and down for a moment. I suddenly felt very awkward, standing there, not being able to speak up.

The vendor grunted, "Medium is a safe bet. 20 caps for the flannel and jeans." she offered.

"Aww come on now, she's a lost soul! Make it 15?" James bargained with a big grin.

"18."

"Come on now, just look at her! Who knows how long she's been wearing it! 15? Pretty please?"

The vendor wrinkled her nose, "Fine. For a lost soul."

"Thank you very much ma'am!" James said, smiling broadly as he paid the lady her bottle caps and took the flannel and jeans.

He returned to me with the clothes in his arms, a smile on his face, and Ada at his side, "Now we can get you out of that nasty jumpsuit. No offense but uh, it kinda stinks." I gave myself a sniff. He had a point. We walked back towards the statue.

When we reached it I tugged his arm and pointed to it, hoping he might explain. Instead he asked heavily, "We should pay our respects shouldn't we?" He placed the clothes down on a nearby bench and removed his hat. He then stood silently with his head down and his hat in hand.

Rolling my eyes, I walked over to the plaque to read the inscription. It read:

On August 31st, 2291, The Minutemen and townsfolk of Egret bravely gave their lives to defend the innocent from the Institute.

It was followed by a list of 17 names and at the very bottom read:

May Their Memories Be A Blessing.

Oh. That's what it is. A memorial.

I walked back over to James, who remained in the same position, hat in his hand and staring at the ground. Even Ada had her robotic head down. I lightly tapped him on the shoulder and watched as his solemn face returned to its casual self.

"Oh! Summer! Sorry about that!" he sighed and put his hat back on, "How about we go rent a room? It's getting dark, follow me." He said, regaining composure and walking towards a large brick prewar building with the words "Tanner's Inn" painted above the door.

As James talked to the innkeeper, Tanner presumably, I took in my surroundings. The lobby was small, with the counter being just in front of the door, with a lounge area to the left, complete with a dumpy couch and half broken radio playing some prewar tune. A Robco brand clock on the wall read 8:36, which made me feel very tired, as if the weight of everything that had happened that day had come crashing down on me. Waking up with no memories, a fight with raiders, getting a gun, that long walk, and finally arriving at Egret. I couldn't help but silently yawn as I looked out at the waning twilight.

James called me over and led me down a hall to our room. Evidently we were in room four. Inside was a bunk bed pressed tightly into the corner, a small nightstand, a trunk, and a small safe in the wall. A small screen covered window looked out over the main plaza.

As soon as we had entered, James declared he wanted the bottom bunk. He said that he had to go get something so I could change and get to bed and then promptly left, leaving me alone with Ada. The robot in question seemed to be in some sort of sleep mode. I quickly changed out of my jumpsuit and into the flannel shirt and jeans. Not knowing what else to do with it, I folded my dirty and torn jumpsuit and carefully placed it on my pack.

I was just about to climb up to the top bunk (much to my legs' protest) when a soft sound drifted into the window.

It was just a simple and quick guitar melody, going up and down various notes before abruptly stopping as someone tuned some of the strings. Once again the music started, methodically going up and down a few scales.

It began slowly. Just a few notes being strung, one at a time. Then it started getting more complex, forming an actual tune. As the song continued, curiosity got the better of me and I slowly creeped towards the window, careful not to make any sounds that would interrupt the beautiful and sad melody.

Peeking out the screen window, I saw a solitary figure sitting on a bench in front of the statue, playing the guitar alone, illuminated by the candles and oil lamps decorating the statue. I recognized the figure as James quickly, thanks to the Minuteman hat laying on the bench beside him. The hypnotic effect the tune had one me was broken when I listened to what he was singing.

Every night about this time

Oh, how I miss you

I'd drifted in two

Our old rendezvous

Every night about this time

And whenever they croon

Our favorite tune

A tear falls with every rhyme

Oh, how I miss you

Every night about this time

And with that final heartbroken note the song was finished, and the dark night was once again quiet. Without another word, James packed up the guitar and began a slow walk back to the inn.

I quickly climbed into the top bunk and pretended to sleep. I felt ashamed, as if I'd witnessed something private. James silently entered the room and got into bed below me and sighed.


A/N: Should have chapter 5 out really soon, hopefully by tonight. Remember to follow and leave a review if you're enjoying the story :)