"Can we leave yet?" Charon asked in a low irritated tone as he stood in the doorway of Carols place.
"Almost." I said quickly, still keeping my eyes on Carol.
Carol smiled as she handed me a few pieces of paper and a few caps. "You will make sure he gets these wont you?"
I nodded quickly. "Don't worry Carol, I'll make sure Gob gets these as soon as we get back to Megaton."
"Alright. And make sure you don't get to hurt out there, Dear."
"I'll try not to."
"And you have enough food and stimpacks to get you back to Megaton?"
"Yes. It will only take a day to a day and a half at the most to get there, and the way we are going has already been cleared out pretty much, maybe a Super Mutant or Mirelurks but that should be about it."
Carol nodded thoughtfully. "Alright, I'll let you get out of here then."
"See you soon Carol." I said smiling as Charon and I left and made our way out of Underworld and out to the Capital Wasteland.
"Leaving already Tourist?" Willow asked as she approached.
"Yeah on our way back to Megaton."
Charon grumbled again as he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for the conversation to finish.
"Well don't get drug back here like last time yo come and visit."
"I wont... or at least I'll try not to."
"Lets go Emily, we are burning daylight." Charon said with a huff.
"Fine Charon." I grumbled.
Willow smirked. "See you later sightseer." she said walking away again.
"Bye Willow." I said turning to Charon.
"So what way are we going?" the ghoul asked, crossing his arms over his chest again.
"We should go up to Meresti Train yard and go through the tunnels, I have blood packs for Vance anyway, then go past Arefu and down to Megaton."
Charon nodded. "Alright."
The tunnels of Meresti were cold, so I pulled my Tunnel Snakes jacket tighter to me as Charon and I walked through the tunnels and up the stairs to were Vance stood watching over The Family.
"Hello Vance." I said digging through my pack.
"Hello my friend, how can I help you today?" He asked taking a drag from his cigarette.
"I brought you some blood packs to help out." I said handing him several blood packs and closing my pack.
"Thank you again, here are some caps for your troubles." Vance said smiling.
"Thank you Vance, I'll come back when I have more blood packs." I said as Charon and I walked away.
The tunnels that led Charon and I to Murphy's lab in the Northwest Seneca metro station were just as cold as the tunnels in Meresti, they didn't seem to bother Charon, but I shivered like someone had dropped me in a tub full of ice. When we had finally gotten back out the the Capital Wasteland we discovered that the sun had long since set and the cold night had set in.
I was quite content to continue our trip back to Megaton but apparently Charon had other plans.
"Hold open the door." He said slinging his shotgun to his back and picking up a large barrel, probably used to be a oil barrel before the bombs fell.
"Why? We can still keep walking." I said quickly.
"It would be easier to walk in the daylight, so we can actually see if anything is attacking us. Now open the door so I can get this barrel inside."
I sighed and nodded as I held open the door as Charon carried the barrel inside . He put it down just after the little incline and threw some loose papers in it before reaching into his pocket and pulling out some matches.
"Since when do you have matches? You don't smoke."
"No, but I carry them anyway, you never know when your going to need a fire."
"Hmm, I guess your right." I said nodding before I went to collect some more papers, if we were going to stay the night we were going to have to keep the fire going as long as possible without taking any of Murphy's supplies, god knows he needed them more.
Throughout the night Charon and I stayed quite so we wouldn't bother Murphy or Barrett, and even when we did talk briefly it was quiet and hushed. It didn't take to long for Charon to fall asleep, and I was actually kind of surprised that it happened so fast, considering it usually takes him forever to fall asleep,.
"Must have been more tired than he looked." I said throwing the last of our papers into the fire before resting my head on my pack. I drifted into a light sleep knowing that tomorrow I would be back in my own house in Megaton were it was warm and safe...er.
The fire had long been out and Charon looked like he had been up for a while when I woke, must have been a deeper sleep then I thought.
"Ready to go?" Charon asked grabbing his shotgun when he realized I had woke.
"Yeah just let me grab my pack." I said standing. I quickly grabbed my pack and followed Charon out of the gates into the blindingly bright, warm sun of the Wasteland. "Holy balls its bright." I said grabbing some glasses out of my pocket. "Want a pair Charon?"
"No thanks." he said cracking his knuckles. "Shouldn't take us more than a few hours to get to Megaton now, even if we stop to rest."
I nodded, he always had a way of making things seem not so bad.
We walked for hours and by now my back was starting to ache something fierce, making me wonder if it would ever be the same again. "Charon do you think we could stop for a bit? My back is trying to kill me." I groaned.
"Yeah fine." he said looking around. "Over by those rocks would be best." he said pointing about 20 feet ahead of us. It was freaking perfect. Nothing could sneak up0 behind us easily and given the right angle you could see everything around you for miles, god he was good at this.
Charon sat against the rocks, they were sort of like a cliff with a bit of a edge that gave him just enough shade to make him comfortable.
"Remind me to get Nova to look at my back when we get to Megaton." I said as I laid on my stomach in the sun, letting my back absorb the warmth ans relax the muscles, it felt great.. until a few rocks fell from above Charon, then more.. and more.. then they started getting bigger, Charon quickly grabbed my arm as I was getting up and pulled me towards him and out of the way of the rocks. I covered my face with my hand and pressed my face to his shoulder as a Yao Guai landed not far from were I had been laying. We sat like that for a few moments, a few long moments, before turning our attention to the Yao Guai.
"Stay here." Charon said as he let go of my arm and moved his other arm that he had wrapped around me, grabbing his combat shotgun and standing to examine the fallen beast. "Its dead."
"It would have to be after falling like that." I said looking around from were I sat, before grabbing my Lincoln's Repeater. "Any idea what did it?"
"Its got some deep cuts in it, could be a number of things." he said still looking at it.
My jaw dropped as out of the corner of my eye I saw a tall hunched over creature walking our way. "Charon... I think I know what happened." I said pointing at the creature.
Charon raised his shotgun as he turned to look, soon firing round after round at the Deathclaw as it sped up its approach. And I soon joined the mirage of bullets aimed at the Deathclaw, determined not to have what happened last time happen again.
When the creature finally dropped just a few feet short of us, I hesitantly lowered my weapon before looking at the ghoul beside me. "You okay?"
"Yeah. You?"
"Yeah. What the hell was that thing doing this far South? They are almost never down here." I said poking the dead body with my gun.
"I don't know, but lets not stay and find out. Grab your bag and lets go."
I nodded and grabbed my back, Charon quickly snatching it from me, and we quickly left, making our way once again to Megaton.
I never thought I could be so happy to see the mound of metal that was Megaton, but once we were past the front gates and inside I instantly left much better, like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.