We are in Concord, set up for the night in the Museum of History.

It has been almost a month since I have been here, but it feels like a lifetime ago. This is where I met the first people I didn't have to kill, proving that humanity wasn't completely shot to shit. It is also where that old crazy lady told me to go to Diamond City to start my search for Shaun. Things have changed so much in such a short time.

After my experiences at Concord, the elimination of the Institute has taken on a separate life from just finding my boy and avenging my wife's murder. That the fear of any organization could drive people to the evil I saw committed by an entire community is disturbing. Inherently, there is nothing "evil" about the synths themselves. Nick is a hell of a guy and I would easily be able to call him friend as we get to know one another better. After dealing with Nick, AI consciousness have evolved to a point that starts to raise the questions of what creates a soul - is it a body or a consciousness. Is it possible to have a separate consciousness without having a soul? Questions like these make my head hurt, so I leave them to smarter people.

The point is - synths are not evil in nature, just as no man or woman is born evil. In a way, each and every one of us is programmed through life experience. Am I evil? I don't think I am, but there are those that would disagree. I think about the resolve of the good Dr. performing her experiments on unwilling subjects to help refine her test to reveal hidden synths. I know she felt that what she was doing was the right thing. My differing view point ended her life.

It has to be this way. The Institute, in concept, may not be evil, but their methods are, without a doubt. Evil begets evil, but maybe what defines true evil are the victims? I think that thought is what keeps me sane. I have killed dozens of raiders without thinking twice because they prey on the innocent. The people of Covenant had they just been defending themselves, would have lived, but they were not doing that. They were luring unsuspecting people into their community and then kidnapping, torturing, and murdering them all for the sake of a safer world. In a way, they were no different than the Institute.

Once we secured the entrances to the museum, we actually had some time to set of a camp of sorts, complete with a nice barrel fire venting through holes in the roof. Every now and then, we will hear gunfire in some distant area of town, but in this new world, that is as common as the morning dew. In all honesty, now that I think about it, I don't think there has been a single day that I have not heard gunfire.

Tomorrow should be interesting. I have no doubt that Glory will be here, probably with her friends and a rep from whoever she is working for. I still can't figure it out. She has an air about her that just fucking radiates badass. Heather has proven herself to me and is one of the best, if not the best, partners I have ever had for this kind of thing. She can take as much as she dishes out... I think the part that is eating away at my brain is that, for some reason, I feel like Glory wouldn't need to prove herself, that she somehow already has. My loyalty is clearly with Heather, but fuck, Glory fascinates me and it is driving me fucking nuts. I am hoping that this doesn't turn out to be some huge ambush, I'd really hate to have to kill her.

Heather started talking to me again today. I think shit is going to be fine. I apologized for her seeing what she saw and she apologized for reacting the way she did and told me she just needed time to process the reality of what she knew and the reality of what she saw. I think she explained it to me very well.

"It is kind of like birth... I mean, you get it. Pain, screaming, lots of blood and fluids and out comes a baby. The difference between that and actually helping to deliver a baby... fuck... Completely different story... I know I was fucking traumatized! I knew what you did, but, for some fucked up reason, I wanted to see and really know what you do. Maybe I was romanticizing it somehow? Well, whatever it was, I won't be doing that again. In the end, you got the information we needed and saved the damsel in distress. Yay us, right?"

Just like that, things started to get back to normal. I am glad to have it coming back around. Heather is not just a partner and a travel companion, in a lot of ways, she has become my best friend in this fucked up world.

PS - Just woke up due to sounds of activity across the street in the old market. There seems to be a trader and his caravan guards setting up for the night. Who knows, maybe the sound of the Brahmin huffing and shuffling around will help me sleep better. It kind of reminds me of a farm I was crashing at for a while in China... back when Brahmin only had one head.. That being said, weapons are locked and loaded.