It was safe to say it was awkward during the return trip to the surface. James had about a million questions to ask Autumn and Juliet, but he would wait until they reached a place called Rivet City, which he explained was a giant beach craft carrier turned into a city.
Sylvia and her father led the way out, while Juliet and her mother, who had reawakened thankfully, trailed behind them. "Are you okay, baby?" Autumn asked quietly.
"Yeah, yeah," Juliet answered. Honestly, she was far from okay, but she wasn't going to trouble anyone. She didn't feel comfortable or safe for that matter. She wasn't even sure if she was in her right state of mind at this point. Her boyfriend turned into a red zombie and the world apparently ended.
"Don't let what Charon said get to you," Autumn continued. "If it's really been two hundred years... I don't think I could ever get over seeing you again after all that time."
Juliet simply frowned in response.
Upon reaching the Vault 112 entrance, they came across the two Robobrains. One of them had a crack in its case that protected the brain.
Juliet remembered because it felt like minutes ago when she first saw them:
"Hello," a Robobrain greeted.
"Let us in!" Autumn roared. "I have Project Downy Hair!"
"Processing," the other Robobrain responded. "Access granted. Welcome, Mrs. Carlisle."
"Hello ma'am," the same Robobrain spoke. "Are you Juliet?"
"No," Sylvia answered. "She's right there." She pointed behind her to the slightly shorter strawberry blonde-haired girl. Juliet confusingly approached the Robobrain.
"I have a message for you," it spoke again. "Recorded two hundred years ago from user unknown. Message repeat: TELL HER I'LL BE WAITING FOR HER WHEN SHE GETS OUT."
Juliet's heart dropped as James asked, "Who sent that?"
"Charon." Sylvia and Juliet answered in unison.
Juliet shred a very faint smile as she followed the others completely out of the vault, back into the garage Autumn crashed into.
"Our car is still there," Juliet noticed.
"You crashed your car through the garage door?" James said in amusement, looking at the two century old damage across the garage.
"It feels like I only did it a few minutes ago," Autumn admitted, flipping back some of her long red hair. Sylvia made a big deal about that, saying she had never seen anyone with red hair before.
"Ouch," Juliet groaned, touching the right side of her waist. It throbbed horribly.
"Are you alright?" Sylvia quickly asked.
"Yeah, yeah, it just hurts sometimes. I got hit by a truck." Juliet told her.
"What's a truck?" Sylvia wondered.
Juliet stared at her, and then at James, who only shrugged. "A truck is a bigger kind of car." Autumn explained.
"Bigger than your car?" Sylvia said innocently.
"Yeah, yeah," Juliet said, feeling another painful throb.
James led the way through the door to the outside. Autumn about fell over from what the fallout looked like. Grass didn't exist anymore. What few trees were left were dead and bare. Giant rocks formed over the land as far as she could see.
"Jesus Christ." She gaped in horror.
"We need to get going," James advised. "It's a long way to walk to Rivet City."
A dark grey dog was over by Charon, whom Sylvia called over and introduced as Dogmeat. "Interesting name." Autumn muttered.
Now, James wasn't kidding. It took them nearly the rest of the day going east, with some shortcuts through D.C. Charon revealed. Sylvia took this time to try to learn more about Juliet, and even Charon if she could. "How did you guys meet?"
Juliet looked at him nervously as he let out, "She was following me."
Juliet waited until he started to cross before she slowly turned to follow him. When he'd crossed he suddenly stopped, Juliet also. He turned around sharply as Juliet gasped. Before he saw, she also turned around and saw a Nuka-Cola machine against the wall of the coffee shop. She dug some quarters out of her pocket and put them in the slot, grabbing the cold drink as it hit the bottom.
When she turned back around she watched the boy inside the café. Wait... he wasn't there! Where did he—
"Why are you following me?"
Squawking, Juliet looked to her right to see the boy staring down at her nearly. "What?" She said loudly. "I'm not following you! I-I, was just—"
"Was not," she pouted.
"That sounds better than how I met you," Sylvia admitted. "The guy who had his contract before I did was... well... I think Charon wouldn't mind saying it again."
"He was an evil bastard," Charon growled. "I do not feel bad for killing him."
Both Juliet and Autumn gulped. He killed people-? That was... kind of scary for them. Regardless, the pair were next introduced to raiders, and mutated creatures called Radscorpions and Molerats, which they understood how they came to be - mutated from radiation.
But when they first set eyes on a Super Mutant, Autumn's blood curling screams revealed their position to every Super Mutant nearby.
That was fun to run from.
It was dusk when they were crossing the bridge to Rivet City. Juliet and Autumn were exhausted - how did the others look totally fine?
A security guard of sorts was standing idle as they closed in, turning the valve on the left side door. "So this is basically a giant boat?" Autumn realized.
"Yeah," Sylvia confirmed. "Have you ever been on one?"
"Yeah, yeah," Juliet gleamed. "Charon and I took one to Point Lookout," she looked up at the ghoul. "Do you remember?" She tried to ask cheerfully.
"I have a bad feeling about this trip."
"You said your mother was okay with you going." Charon recalled.
"No, she is okay with it. I'm talking about... what if...?" Juliet shuddered.
Charon faced her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Nothing will happen, Juliet. But if anything does happen... I will take care of you."
Why was he remembering that? He wasn't supposed to remember anything. Instead he grumbled an answer. "Anthony disappeared there." He wasn't supposed to remember that either.
Juliet frowned, missing her old best friend from... two hundred years ago.
This was insane.
Two hundred years.
Rivet City wasn't even a city. It was really just a bunch of people living on a giant boat. The group walked through the midship deck to get to the science lab, which Juliet was excited about. She told Sylvia about her love of science, how she always did well in that subject in school. This pleased James greatly. During most of the trip, he was afraid of the influence people from two hundred years ago would have on himself and his daughter, but it turns out... they weren't really different.
As soon as they entered the aft hanger James took off for the stairs that led down to the lab. Sylvia sighed, thinking that he was such a child sometimes, and struggled to keep up with him. Juliet peered over the balcony to watch the entire scene.
"James? You're back?" An older, Asian lady acted completely stunned.
"I told you it would work, Madison," James said in glee. "I was right about Dr. Braun, and the G.E.C.K. If we can get one, we can use it for the purifier."
What the hell are they talking about? Autumn thought to herself. Braun's a basket case!
Next thing she knew, the lady known as Madison was staring up at them. "They're from the past?"
Charon let out another grumble. This would be fun to explain.
James explained to Madison and the other scientists with her about Dr. Braun's Tranquility Loungers, how his technology was able to preserve them and keep them alive for all this time. "He sounds like a genius." Madison admitted.
Autumn simply rolled her eyes. If they only knew...
It took the scientists a few minutes to pack, which allowed Juliet and Autumn to eat some of the food Madison offered. They mostly had fresh fruit, which the mother and daughter practically inhaled to satisfy their empty stomachs.
As Madison closed the lab up James and Sylvia again led the way, this time to a place the scientists called Project Purity. One of them, Anna Holt, was walking with Autumn and Juliet and eagerly loading them questions.
"How old are you?"
"I'm..." Autumn stopped for a second. "Two hundred thirty-six years old. My daughter is two hundred seventeen years old."
"Where did you live?"
"In D.C. Takoma Park."
"Where did you get water?"
"From anywhere really. Our sink, our bathtub, our toilet... we didn't drink from that of course, or we could buy it from the store in bottles or gallons."
"None of it was radiated?"
"No ma'am."
The questions were non-stop until they reached the entrance to the gift shop of The Jefferson Memorial, where James brought up the matter of Super Mutants inside the memorial. This nearly threw Autumn into a panic until Sylvia said she and Charon would go in and secure the facility.
"I want to help." Juliet offered.
"Absolutely not!" Autumn squealed in defense.
Juliet glared into her mother's brown eyes. "Mom, you ruined my life when you put us in that vault! You can't decide what I do anymore!" She angrily tramped into the gift shop. Instinct suddenly befell Charon as he went after her without thinking.
We'll help you forget.
Deep inside his mind, he wanted to talk to Juliet so badly. Ever since he saw her pop out of the Lounger alive after two centuries, he wanted nothing more than to grab her and never let her go again.
We'll help you get better.
But he couldn't. He had a contract to follow.
You're going to be just fine, Charon.
Tough shit, Charon. All he could do was keep an eye on her. For now.
A long hallway was laid out before them. Juliet was a few feet ahead, standing by the left wall with her arms crossed. Sylvia approached her with a weapon. "This is a 10mm pistol. Try to aim for the head." She explained.
Juliet accepted the gun and looked at it in horror, gulping silently and following Sylvia down the hall. "Is that a bunk bed?" She noticed as the hallway split into four.
"Is that what it's called?" Sylvia realized. "I thought they were just double beds."
"Yeah, yeah, they're called bunk beds. That one is missing the mattresses, though." Juliet noticed.
Sylvia nodded. "I think the rest of the Super Mutants will be in the basement. That's the only place we haven't been to." She continued.
Clearly she was right. Dogmeat took off like a bullet when the basement door opened. Sylvia trudged after him down the stairs only to be greeted by a Super Mutant who yelled, "FOUND YOU!" And swung a nail board at them.
Charon flew down the stairs, pumping shotgun lead into the creature. Juliet was the last one down in time to watch the mutant drop dead. She felt useless... why did she want to come?
She looked around. There were destroyed desks and shelves, which caused her to wonder what kind of work went on here. Across the room was a fence that appeared to surround a pool of water.
"No more games... time to DIE!"
Juliet yelped when an armored Super Mutant appeared from a hallway to the right of the fence, charging at them. She held up the 10mm, begging mentally to get a good shot, when something insane happened.
To Juliet, time froze almost completely. Nothing moved the way it was supposed to. Sylvia, Dogmeat, Charon, and the Mutant all remained nearly immobile.
The Super Mutant's face was glowing.
Glowing. Fucking GLOWING.
What-?
It would be useless to aim for the armored head. If she could shoot the rifle out of its hands...
Now its arm was glowing.
GLOWING!
Juliet fired her gun and time resumed. The bullet pierced the Super Mutant's wrist perfectly. It dropped its weapon, resulting in Sylvia and Charon killing it easily.
Juliet stood there, temporarily lifeless. "Did I just-?" She started to ask, but nausea hit her hard and she felt like she was going to-
Just before she dropped to the ground and fell unconscious, something spoke into her mind that sounded like...
Code Downy Hair Activated.