Author's Note: Told you updates would be sporadic. But, seriously, sorry for taking half a year to update. A lot of crap happened in that time period, and I was way too distracted to do any writing. Things have calmed down, so hopefully, updates can become more frequent.

Ain't Nothing in this World for Free

The walk from Springvale to Megaton didn't take long. Which was good, because my face was hurting more and more. I knew my face had to be bruised up pretty bad. I also had to spit up blood a couple times on the way, so I'm pretty sure the inside of my mouth was torn up. I'd been in a couple fist fights before, but nothing that bad. Something told me that such events would be frequent out here.

On the way, Billy didn't say much outside of pointing out where I should watch my step. He seemed to think that I needed some time to myself after that. Maybe he could see how bad I was shaking from the adrenaline rush. I was thankful for that, really. I was still running those events through my mind, trying to deal with it. It'd only been a couple hours since I woke up, and I had already shot three people, watched several more die, and got my face punched in. You could call it a busy morning, I guess.

I was watching the ground as we went, still not quite used to the sight of the sky. So, Billy had to point out the walls of Megaton when we got close. And let me tell you, they were a sight to see. They had to be easily fifty feet high. And they looked like they were made out of whatever metal was available. I swear I saw several wings from jet planes. The front gate was also made from a pair of wings overlapping each other. As we got closer, I heard a loud engine turn on, and the wings slid apart, revealing another gate beyond.

In front of that gate was a robot. It stood about the same height as an average person. It was kind of stocky, with stubby little arms that ended in claw hands. The "head" was an elongated dome that melded with the body, making it look like it didn't have a neck. I recognized it as a Protectron model of robot, built by RobCo way back before the Great War.

The Protectron waved a stubby hand at us as we passed it. "Welcome to Megaton. The bomb is perfectly safe. We promise."

Huh. Never heard a Protectron before. I mean, it's understandable because I've never seen one, but I still didn't expect the voice to sound quite so digital.

Wait...

What was that about the bomb?

As we went through the second gate, I was going to ask Billy for some clarification, but he had his attention diverted by another person. This man was tall and dark, wearing a leather duster and a cowboy hat. Which I thought was silly, but I wasn't gonna tell him that.

"Billy! Glad to see you back. How'd your trip go?"

Billy shook hands with the man. "Pretty good, Lucas. Picked up a stray in Springvale on my way back." Billy jerked his thumb towards me. Lucas glanced at me, and I waved. I would've smiled, but my face hurt.

"Well, hello there." Lucas came over to me and held out his hand, which I shook. "A pleasure to meet you. My name's Lucas Simms. Sheriff, and mayor, when the need arises."

"You too. My name's Molly Brown." That much talking made my jaw hurt more, so I winced and brought my hand up to my face. Which, of course, made it hurt more.

Lucas seemed to have just then noticed the bruises. And blood. "My, what happened to you? Come on, let's take you to Doc Church." He put an arm around my shoulder and guided me forward. I know I probably should've been cautious and tried to get out of his arm. But I was tired. And cranky. And in a lot of pain. So I went with it.

That's when I got a good look at Megaton itself. And, while I couldn't describe exactly what I was expecting, it wasn't this. From the edge of the giant wall in, the ground went sharply downhill towards the center. Basically like a crater. Metal shacks were built up on the slopes of the crater, using stilts as needed to hold them up. They weren't laid out evenly. Like nobody planned where the buildings would go ahead of time, and instead just slapped them wherever they'd fit.

Now, I mentioned that it was a crater, right? Well, what caused the crater was sitting right in the middle. And, wouldn't you know it, the object was a big old bomb. Probably the bomb that Protectron had mentioned. I was stuck nose first in the ground, surrounded by a pool of water. The sight of it definitely worried me. I mean, I had only seen pictures of them, but I was pretty sure that was a nuclear bomb. You know. One of the thousands that fell to the earth a couple hundred years ago? The ones that caused all this destruction and set humanity back a ways? Kind of odd to build a town around it.

Lucas, Billy, and myself headed down the slope towards the bomb. Some of my nervousness must have shown, because Lucas chuckled a bit. "Don't worry about the bomb. It's been sitting there for two hundred years now. It isn't going off." That didn't reassure me much.

At the bottom of the crater, we turned right and went into one of the smaller shacks. The entrance area was kind of small, and dimly lit. The air was a bit dusty. And the smell...made me miss the air purifiers of the vault. Obviously, whoever owned this place wasn't a neat freak.

"Doc? Got a patient for you," Lucas called into the back area of the clinic.

"Alright, hang on a minute." The response was a slightly deeper and gruffer voice than Lucas'. Like the owner was more worn out over life. From the back stepped another dark skinned man. He looked much older than Lucas, though, with his wrinkles and white hair. He was wiping his hands dry with a towel as he looked over our group. "So, Vaultie here got in a fight, huh? She doesn't look too bad."

"Well, she got hit pretty hard by a raider. Took a few punches to the face." Billy almost sounded like he was proud of how much I got hit. Which was weird, honestly.

Doc Church grunted a bit, tossing the towel onto his little desk. "Well, might as well take a look at ya anyways. For once, I ain't got fifty other people to look over." He headed towards the back again. "Come on, girlie."

I glanced at Lucas and Billy for a brief moment, then followed the "doctor" into the back. This area wasn't much cleaner than the entrance. He had a few gurneys set up, with passable curtains around them. One at the end seemed to be in use, as the curtain was shut. He stopped near an empty one and patted it. "Alright, hop up and tell me what hurts."

I dropped what I was carrying to the floor, took off my helmet, and took a seat, wincing a bit at the pain in my side. I must have made a noise when I did, because even though Doc Church was facing the other way, he seemed to notice. "More than just the face, huh?"

I sighed a bit. "Yeah. Some crazy bitch in Springvale kicked me in the side, then punched me in the face a bunch." Doc Church nodded a bit, then gently, but firmly, grabbed my face and moved it a bit as he carefully looked over the damage. He also had me open my mouth so he could look in there briefly.

"Well, nothing's damaged too bad. A stimpack or two should do the job." He let go of my face and took a step back. "Alright, shirt off."

I looked at him with an eyebrow raised, slightly confused. "Uh, what?"

He rolled his eyes. "You got kicked in the side, and it still hurts. I need to see if your ribs are broke. Easier to do without a shirt in the way. Now, come on, hurry up."

Well, he wasn't wrong. I sighed again, then went through the process of removing the security armor. I hissed in pain a couple of times while doing that. Then, after a slight hesitation, I unzipped my jumpsuit and slid it off my torso. Now, I was wearing a bra, so it wasn't like he'd be seeing anything. I just wasn't super comfortable with showing so much of myself to most people. Especially people I just met.

I had to give him credit, though. While not the nicest doctor, he was extremely professional. He checked out the area around the bruise on my side, poking and prodding as much as he needed to. I winced a couple of times, but it wasn't too bad.

"Alright, zip back up." I did so as he stepped back again. "Ribs are fine. Stimpacks will take care of the bruises. Should only need three total. You'll be sore till they're finished healing, but they'll work just fine."

For those of you that don't know, a stimpack is an injector that delivers a medicine designed to speed up the body's healing abilities. What would normally take days to heal would, with a stimpack, take only hours.

"So, three stimpacks. You have any of your own?"

I shook my head a bit. Yes, my dad was the doctor in our vault. Yes, we had medical supplies all over our dorm. But, I was kind of in a hurry. So I forgot about them. Sue me.

"Well I can sell ya some, then. It'll be eighty caps."

I gave my confused expression again. "Caps? What are those?"

Doc Church grunted again. "What, you just leave the vault?" I nodded a bit, and he shook his head a little. "Yeah, figures. Caps are the money out here. And since you don't have any, I'll take some of your gear as payment."

"Wait, hold on, that's not fair! I don't have anything!"

Doc Church shrugged. "Hey, I need to pay for my supplies. So I gotta charge for them. It's completely fair. You want stimpacks from me? I need payment. And you do have some stuff. That armor and helmet will get ya two of them."

"I'm not giving up my armor! I need it!"

I was kind of yelling by this point. Which is why Billy and Lucas came to the back.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" Lucas seemed a little concerned. Makes sense, since he's supposed to be the sheriff here.

Doc Church gestured towards me. "Girl needs stimpacks, but she doesn't have any money. And she won't trade anything else she has."

Billy rooted around in his bag for a moment, then hand a sack to Doc Church. "Here. Nabbed this from the raiders that attacked her. That enough?"

Doc Church quickly counted the caps in the bag, allowing me to finally see what the looked like. They were bottlecaps. From soda bottles. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything else, but still.

He nodded as he closed the bag. "Yep. Let me grab those stimpacks." He went to a shelf on the wall, then came back over and handed me three stimpacks. "Here ya go. Pleasure doing business with you folks." Clearly, that was his way of dismissing us.

Lucas, Billy, and I headed out of the clinic. I took a moment to inject the stimpacks near the bruised areas. It wasn't long before I could feel the slight tingling that meant they were working.

Billy, mentioned something about having to check up on Maggie and headed off towards his house. Lucas waved as he left, then turned back to me. "Well, miss, I'm guessing you came out this way for a reason, right?"

I nodded a little bit. Which still hurt. "Yeah. My dad left the vault, and I'm trying to find him. Did he come this way? His name's James. He's kind of lanky, middle aged. Probably wearing a labcoat over a jumpsuit."

Lucas seemed to think on this for a moment, like he was trying to remember to earlier this morning. I think. In all honesty, I'm not sure what he was thinking at that moment. But, after a short period, he shook his head a bit. "Nope, sorry, can't say I have. You could try asking around town, though."

I sagged a bit at hearing that. I was hoping for something along the lines of my dad hiding right around a corner. Probably should've known better than that. "well, could you point out who might know, then?"

Lucas nodded a bit. "Sure. Two places most visitors stop by would be Moriarty's and Craterside Supply." He pointed out where they were. I also asked him if there was a hotel or something. He said Moriarty's rented rooms, but he recommended staying in the common house. He also pointed out where the community shower was. Then he wished me luck and headed off to take care of some other business.

I sighed a bit in defeat. I was very tired at this point. And sweaty. And covered in blood. Half of which wasn't my own. I really wanted to find out more info about my dad, but I knew I needed rest first. So, I made the trip up the catwalks and to the showers.

Ain't No Rest for the Wicked – Cage the Elephant