Liam laid his head against a stone pillar while the sounds of rain could be heard from the entrance to the metro tunnels. After about a day since the encounter with Talon, the group had made minimal progress to Rivet City. Between having to carry Lincoln due to his injured leg as well avoiding contact with any "locals" they couldn't make it as far as Liam had planned. Throw in the sun setting and a rad storm about to hit and you have their current situation. The metro tunnel they took shelter in had remains of a raider camp Liam had disposed of a while back. How the place wasn't picked apart by scavengers by now was a mystery. Liam thought it may have been ferals or mole rats, but there were no signs either.

After starting a fire and some Brahmin steak cooking Liam went to look at Lincoln's leg. He unwrapped the bandages he applied earlier and saw the cauterized wound left by the merc's laser weapon. At least with bullets, you pull out the bullet and patch up the wound but, laser weapons, on the other hand, would make a wound and cauterize it with deadly accuracy making it almost impossible for anyone quickly treat it. Most mercs in the wasteland have armor, plating, or in rare instances power armor to protect them efficiently from such damage. Lincoln was unfortunate enough to encounter it firsthand without any proper protection. Liam had applied some gauze and a stimpack before wrapping Lincoln's leg in new bandages.

Now here they are, Liam, waiting for the food to be done cooking food, Dogmeat resting not too far away, and Lincoln laying in some homemade bedding courtesy of Lone Wanderer. Lincoln had been real quiet during the trip. At first, Liam thought because he was tired or sleeping, but that wasn't the case. Liam would look up from time to time to see him just lay there looking down at the floor with the occasional blink accruing. His eyes gave him an exhausted look like he hadn't slept in days. Liam normally wouldn't be too concerned, he had seen many people with exact look while traveling. Granted most of the time they were running from someone or something. Lincoln, however, had gone through an ordeal that Liam could relate to and that was having to kill someone for the first time.

Food was finished cooking after a while and smell of Brahmin steak filled everyone's nostrils. Dogmeat, of course, got up quickly made it over to the source where a big plate with equally big steak waited for him. Liam made himself a plate before he took the third one and went over to Lincoln. He sat down next to the boy while putting a plate in front of him. Lincoln looked at the plate for a moment before pushing it slightly away from him. Liam, on the other hand, wasn't having it.

"Look I know what you're feeling right now, but you gotta eat something. Starving to death is not an experience you'll enjoy." Liam scooted the plate back over to Lincoln and placed a knife and fork on the plate before digging into his own meal.

"…I killed him." Liam stopped eating and turned to look at the boy. "I killed him, but he would've killed me. Killing is wrong but he was a bad guy, right? So, was it okay?" Liam didn't know what to do or how to respond. Most kids in the wasteland grew up being used to the death and destruction that came with it, but people said he was a child at heart whenever he had to deal with kids. Liam always told himself 'do what dad would've done' now though he was dealing with a child who wasn't used to the wasteland. In fact, before the whole mess, you could say he was the embodiment of innocence but now? It was like he switched personalities.

"Look, if you didn't do what you did that man would've just killed you and move on to someone else. You aren't from the wasteland so you don't understand how people can be, but you need to understand that you did the world service. He was a bad guy and you did what heroes do to bad guys out here." The answer seemed to slightly ease Lincoln if only a little and with one final nudge from Liam Lincoln began to dine on the steak provided for him.

"So, what's your home like? From what little you've told me it sounds like you're from a pre-war era and I'm quite interested about what life was like before the bombs and the Vaults." Lincoln swallowed the food he was chewing and looked at Liam. While he didn't know him long the man had helped him back at the old hospital. That, and he needed something to take his mind off the recent events.

"Well...why don't we exchange stories. I'll tell you one and you tell me one. Like a trade?"

Liam just smirked. "Okay snow white you got yourself a deal."

The night went on with a lighter air after that and while they ate Lincoln and Liam traded stories about each other's life. While Liam told stories of adventure and danger Lincoln told stories of the chaos that was his everyday life. Some stories Liam found more amusing than others and a few became his favorites.

"Oh my god! Hahaha, your sister did all that for fucking April Fools day! Ha, I wish I could meet her." Liam had just finished listing to Lincoln's story about April fools day. Jesus Christ his sisters can be crazy but this Luan sounded like she could strike fear into any poor bastard in the wasteland. Even super mutants. He could see it now super mutants running away in fear, screaming for mercy, while on the opposite side was Luan in power armor laughing triumphantly with a platoon of brotherhood paladins backing her up.

A man could dream.

"Trust me, Luan is only like that on April fools day any other day the only thing you gotta worry about is her bad puns. Now, my sister, Lori is the real one to be scared of if you make her mad she will 'turn you into a human pretzel' which sounds stupid but she can make it happen. She's also really bossy mainly because she's the oldest out of us." Lincoln explained while laughing as well.

"A human pretzel? That sounds like a painful torture tactic or kinky sex position but depending on what you're into it could be both, I guess." Liam said as he leaned back against the cold stone.

"Gross dude! You know you actually might just be nastier than Lana, and that's saying something."

"Hey, when you live in the wasteland nothing is too disgusting, well, besides cannibalism," Liam said with a shrug.

"Wait. People eat each other in the Wasteland!?" Lincoln asked turning a shade of green while trying not to throw up his dinner.

"Well, I've only encountered a few one time. At first, I thought it was just a small and peaceful settlement with a crazy old coot but turns out that old man was trying to warn me. Found out that everyone except the kids was killing travelers and turning them into their signature meat pies. You can imagine my reaction when I found out I ate a pie made of human meat." Liam shivered. The memory would never go away no matter how much chems and booze he took and to this day Liam blamed those inbred cannibals for that. Bastards.

*HERG*

Liam looked over to see Lincoln emptying the contents of his stomach into a trashcan. Maybe telling him Andale wasn't the best idea. Liam noticed that the fire was dying out with its embers giving a faint glow of warmth.

"Well! Looks like its time to head to bed. We need to get up early tomorrow if we want to make up the time we lost. Hopefully, the wound won't get worse before we get you to a medical center."

Liam laid down on a makeshift bed with Dogmeat curling up next to his feet. Lincoln laid on his own bedding across from the Lone Wanderer and pulled a blanket over him. While Lincoln got comfortable he felt something in his back pocket. He reached into it and pulled out a slightly wrinkled photo of him and his family standing in front of their home, all except Lucy smiling without a care in the world. Lincoln gave a small sad smile before closing his eyes.

"I'll come home. I promise."

As night fell over the wasteland in the presence of the radiation storm a thunderous noise could be heard over the storm's natural symphony. The sound of a rotary engine could be heard as one of the many things that the people of Capital Wasteland have come to fear flew through the storm. The vertibird flew through the storm making its way to deep into D.C. with unmistakeable E on the side.

The vertibird continued on its unknown course until stopping and slowly descending in the middle of the ruined city. Landing in front of an old hospital seven figures in dark intimidating armor wielding strange glowing weapons stepped off the aircraft before it slowly lifted off and flew back in the direction it came. The group made their way to the hospital while constantly on alert as if expecting someone or something to attack. As they made it to the entrance the one leading the group looked back to his comrades.

"You all know the drill get in, look for targets Alpha and Omega, capture Omega alive and terminate Alpha as well as anyone else that gets int the way." He said in gruff commanding tone.

"Sir, yes sir!"

The group moved into the building and saw the aftermath of a battle. From what they could tell the bodies were talon company mercenaries but there was no sign has to who did this. The squad was about to continue forward until they heard a groan from one of the talon members. It seemed one is alive. Barely. The squad leader walked over to the mercenary who was suffering from blade wounds and was trying to crawl away. The squad leader slammed his foot onto the merc's leg getting a loud crack sound and a pained cry from the mercenary.

"And just where do you think you're going maggot? I got some questions for you and you're going to answer them."

"Fuck you! I'm not telling you shit you heavy fu- AHHHH!" The squad leader twisted his foot receiving more pained cries from the mercenary.

"There were reports of an anomaly here as well as the Lone Wanderer, so tell me what was it you were doing here and where did they go?" The leader said.

"I don't know! All I heard was they going south that's it!" The mercenary was about to go on but was silenced by a green light that turned him into a pile of goop. The squad leader turned back to his men.

"Alright gather what supplies you can and then we're moving out. For the glory of the Enclave!"

"For the glory of the Enclave!"