Paradise

by aeternapancake

Is the wasteland outside the door of Vault 101 really the land of death and misery she had been raised to know it as? Or is it what she really needed all her life? Doesn't matter now... she's forced into it, and she'll have to make the most out of this "lost paradise" of the Old World in order to survive. [DISCONTINUED]

2. Hello Megaton and all who inhabit it!

Disclaimer: Bethesda owns Fallout!

Sorry that these chapters are so long, when I get off of break, I might make the chapters a bit shorter. It's kind of hard to tell when I don't have a word count while writing this.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1 - Hello Megaton and all who inhabit it!

It was now or never. Do or die. To be or not to be.

It was a lot harder of a decision than deciding whether to get out of bed in the morning or not. A lot harder! And definitely when there was not as much time, or knowledge, or lack of motivation. There was plenty of motivation: Dad, freedom, and being able to escape her best friend's homicidal father who was out for blood. Her blood that is, not anyone else's, just hers.

"GO!" Amata called. "They're coming!"

Chrys could only look back for a second, when the sound of approaching steps sounded. The Vault police were coming. She looked ahead and charged forward, toward the opening. She crossed the threshold and ended up in a cave, made of a strange surrounding material. Rocks? Was that what they were called? The sound of the Vault door shutting distracted her from her questions. Looking back, Amata had closed the door behind her, stopping the prusuing officers. They weren't brave enough to go out of Vault 101, then again she wasn't really either, but they didn't have the leave-or-your-oh-so-grand-Overseer-will-kill-you reason to leave.

Of course, looking behind yourself while running left you susceptible to rather embarassing moments if not careful. For a clutz, careful was not her middle name.

BAM!

'Why is there a wooden door here!?'

Well, it wasn't all wood, but given the circumstances she didn't really care. "Huh?" She looked up to find the cave was shielded off with a poorly constructed wall of wood and various peices of sheet metal. She pushed the actual door part open. Letting in light, and a greatly unneeded amount of it too.

Light never hurt this bad, but it also never warmed her this much either. It was strangely odd, yet comforting in a different kind of odd way. The good kind? She hoped so. Plus the light wasn't white like the light in the Vault. Rather than white, it was golden yellow. And when the fresh-out-of-the-vault teenager looked to the sky, there was no ceiling.

'AH! WHERE'S THE CEILING!? WHERE'S THIS LIGHT COMING FROM!?'

After some observation, she decided it came from the big golden lightbulb up in the sky, that (also through observation) she found hurt her eyes when looking at it. This definitely was not the Vault.

Finally pulling away from the light, and after her eyes finally adjusted, she saw... rocks. Not exactly just rocks, but dirt and various rocks scattered about on the hillside. Odd. It crunched under her boots as she took a couple steps away from the door. It was a knew feeling underfoot. She almost gave in to the urge to yank off her probably smelly boots and sink her feet in the dirt to figure out what it actually felt like. But the possible asperity that would waft from her boots was enough of a turn off.

Besides... the dirt wasn't going anywhere anytime soon; and by the looks of it, there was a heaping lot of it. 'One day maybe, when my feet are odor-free, but not today. Today, I got to find Dad.' It was easier said than done and she knew that she wouldn't find her MIA father in one day. From what she could garner from the situation, he knew this wasteland, she didn't, not in the slightest except it had rather appealing dirt and a giant floating lightbulb.

With an exasperated "huff" she moved her pack off of her shoulders and set it on the ground so that she could make inventory of her supplies. After a moment, she had inventory of her smattering of supplies. A 10mm pistol (graciously donated by Amata), a baseball bat, her BB gun gift, her Grognak issue gift, two Stimpaks, a Nuka Cola, her PipBoy 3000 (which had been bonded to her wrist since the age of ten), her jumpsuit, her glasses, and a handful of bobby pins and ammo were her supplies that she would have to use so far in this wasteland.

'I can do this. I'm sure I have more than anyone out in this wasteland could possibly have in their possession!... wait. Are there other people out here?' It was a perplexing question. She only knew of two people: herself and her dad. That was all she knew of. And where would she begin this quest to find her dad? She didn't know which way her dad went. And how would she know how much of a headstart he had on her? Luckily, her PipBoy device had a map. She wasn't sure if it had adjusted to the Wasteland,but she couldn't help but try. Hopeful, she lift her left arm to look at its screen to find that the map had indeed adjusted! This place was huge! A small green square marker designated the location of Vault 101 and a solid green arrow showed her position.

It took a moment for her to see the faded square marker near her location. She poked it with her finger and faint green words appeared below it: Megaton. Good, there was a town nearby. Hopefully the people there were nice. With another "huff" she puffed her cheeks out and puckered her lips. 'Now or never.' She set out.

1 hour later

She never realized how directionally challenged she was. The straightforward and everpresent directional signs of the Vault probably didn't help her improve on her navigation skills growing up. Chrys had walked 20 minutes in the West direction instead of the East direction she was supposed to be going. So she spent 40 minutes getting nowhere, and 20 minutes walking in the right direction... hopefully. Her arrow marker was getting closer to the Megaton marker thankfully, so she had to be getting close now.

As if the Wasteland read her mind, a large gargantuin object appeared in the distance. It looked dark with the sun rising behind it; hard to believe it wasn't even noon yet. 'Eureka!' With a burst of energy, she ran towards it at a decent speed. Sadly, her clutz nature kicked in again.

She never knew about small cliffs and drop-offs until she ended up face down in dirt at the bottom of one. "Ugh. Why me?" she groaned and spit the foul-tasting dirt out of her mouth, luckily her glasses fell off her face in the fall and were otherwise, undamaged. Granted, she had to spend a minute or two feeling around in the dirt for them. When she came across them, she regretted putting them on.

Standing infront of her knelt-down form stood the ugliest, pinkest, and most buck-toothed creature she had ever seen. It was about two feet from her face and eyed her with odd curiosity. Chrys had no idea what it was, so she just smiled and reached out a hand toward it. "Hey there little fella. Want me to pet you?" she voiced nervously and her stretched out hand started to shake with the nerves. Her greeting got a vicious 'hiss' in response and the quadraped reared on its hind legs in order to lash out at her hand. Its claws nicked her hand and she pulled it back with a hiss of pain.

The rat-creature charged her, and all she could think of was to run away. She got up and dashed along the perimeter of the wall that surrounded Megaton, hoping to find an entrance or help; in any which order she didn't care. Her legs pumped and impelled her over the dirt at a speed she did not know she could muster... but she doubted she'd be able to maintain it for a long time. Luckily, a red beam shot past her, and a squeal of pain sounded behind her. She slid to a stop on a sloping hill and proceeded to fall on her bum.

Rolling over, she looked back to see what had occured. The pink rat lay dead on the ground with a nasty hole burned through its chest cavity; a strange robot, which dawned a sherif's hat, stood nearby sheathing a laser attachment. Chrys pushed herself up off the ground and walked over to the robot stand by the monlith that she was sure to be Megaton. But still, no entrance could be found.

"Welcome to Megaton." A monotone and mechanical voice greeted her. Chrys looked at the robot and then back at the wall. Ever full off manners, she went up and knocked on the wall. At first, nothing happened, but then a whirring noise similar to the sound of the Vault door opening resounded and the wall began to split, revealing an indent along with a door.

"Thank God." Chrys silently prayed as she walked to the door. Nervously, she pushed one of the large double doors opened. All of the wall had been made of various large pieces of sheet metal, these doors were no different. She got it opened to where she could slide in, after which she hurriedly shut the door behind her.

"Somebody must be new."

"AH!" Chrys jumped, and screamed, and cowered, and covered her face in defense. 'Great job Chrys. Just let everyone in a mile radius know you're scared to death.' When nothing happened, she moved one of her arms to look at who or what was in front of her.

A black man stood infront of her; he wore a leather duster adorned with a sherif's badge and a leather sherif's hat sat atop his head. His kind yet aging face was covered in a somewhat neatly trimmed dark beard and mustache. He simply watched her with a plain yet amused look on his face. In some ways, it could also be perceived as a subtle, "What the fuck are you doing?" expression.

Chrys reverted to a normal standing position, she slowly rubbed her arm out of nerves. "Sorry. I didn't mean to..."

The man held up a hand in dismissal, "No need to explain ma'am. I shouldn't have surprised a newbie to the Wasteland."

"How do you know?" Chrys asked.

"Nobody around here wears a Vault jumpsuit. Only someone fresh out of an isolated Vault would be wearing one around here." the man explained, gesturing to her attire, which now was covered in dirt.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Chrys said as she looked down at her clothing. It was odd knowing that the only fashion she ever knew, was obsolete out of the Vault. Then again... she had been itching to ditch the jumpsuit every now and then.

"So, let me welcome you to Megaton. My names Lucas Simms: town sherif. Ignore those folks down at the bomb. They think it's some kind of deity or something. Really, it's just what keeps me awake at night." he greeted.

Chrys knew she had a confused expression and peered past Simms down to the bottom of the crater that Megaton was built along and down the rim of. At the center lay the most disturbing centerpiece ever: a giant undetonated atomic bomb. "Oh... so that's why this place is called Megaton."

"Yeah, pretty much. I'd get someone to disarm it if I could, but nobody in town knows how, and its worshippers won't let me tamper with it. Not that I'd know how to disarm it anyway." Simms explained. Chrys tapped her finger to her chin. She made the same puffed-out cheek and puckered lip face again as she thought through all her mechanical know-how. She'd messed with generators and circuit boards and many different kinds of technology that involved lots of wires. If she could get to it, she was sure she might be able to do something about it.

"I'll disarm it."

Simms looked at her with a surprised look, he shook it off rather quickly. "If you're up to it. I could reward you for your efforts when you're done. You might want to wait until night when those Children of Atom people leave it alone."

"Sure. Uh..." Chrys began to wonder, if this was the closest town, her dad must have come through here. Surely somebody knew as to where he was going or something. "Has anyone else in a Vault jumpsuit come through here?"

Simms rubbed his chin, well beard, and cocked his eyebrow a bit, "Yeah, I believe an older fellow came through here not long ago; went on up to Moriarty's saloon for God knows what reason."

"Thank you, so much." Chrys said with a bright smile on her face.

"He left a bit ago." Simms said.

"Oh... okay." Chrys got a little bit dismayed, but her dad had been here and that was a good start. This Moriarty hopefully knew where James had gone. "Thanks anyway, somebody there ought to know where my dad went."

"The guy was your dad?" Simms asked.

"Yeah... he's missing... or I just don't know where he is, and I... I need to find him." Chrys said shyly. A gentle hand came down on her shoulder.

"Don't worry kid, you'll find him. But if I were you, I'd get what you need from Moriarty and get the hell out of that saloon." Simms warned. Chrys nodded. Her dad had told her what a saloon was: a place where people got alcohol and drank away their sorrows or had a good time. Maybe it had Nuka-Cola and she could get a quick drink! She wouldn't even try for alcohol. Back in the Vault, it wasn't allowed for those under the age of twenty-one to drink. Butch and the Tunnel Snakes broke that rule for sure though.

"Thanks again Mr. Simms." Chrys said.

Simms gave a light laugh, "No problem miss...?"

"Oh! Winchester, Chrysanthemum Winchester." Chrys said.

"That's a mouthful." Simms responded.

"I go by 'Chrys'." She informed him, "Uh... where is the saloon?"

"Moriarty's," he pointed behind them to a large building sitting on a scaffolding platform, "The entrance is on the top level opposite the main gate. Just be careful. Moriarty is NOT your friend, no matter what he may say, so don't fall for his lies. And for God's sake, don't trust the man."

"Uh... okay Mr. Simms. Thanks again." Chrys replied and headed off down the slope of the crater.

"By the way! If you're looking for supplies, talk to Moira at Craterside Supply!" the sherif called down to her. She turned and waved back in response to the top of the slope and continued on down to the bottom.

2 hours and much galavanting later

'It's for science. It's for science. It's for science. Why did I agree to this? Oh yeah! Cause she said it was for science!' A toilet never looked more intimidating to her in all her life. She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "You can do this. Just drink enough water to get radiation poisoning; you can do this."

The toilet gurgled.

"I can't do this!" She moaned and leaned against the wall in defeat. After leaving Simms and after checking out the large atomic bomb, Chrys had decided to see this Moira lady at Craterside Supply. At first, she hit it off with the lady and had a decent conversation with her, but then Moira brought up the book she was working on and how she needed help with it. And Chrys could not bring herself to say no when it came to helping research for the book. So after a little supply shopping (really a little, cause Chrys only had 117 caps), she went to go find away to get Rad poisoning so that Moira could study it.

Easier said than done.

Chrys walked out of the public bathroom in dismay and started walking back to Moira's shop when the Children of Atom preachings reached her ear. 'That's it!' She ran off down the scaffolding that most of the buildings were built upon until she got back to the "holy" bomb. A small puddle of water surrounded it and when she stuck the tip of her boot in, her Pipboy's Geiger counter started to go off. 'Sweet! Just got to stand in this for a couple hours!'

Rad poisoning came faster than she expected. As she made her way (clumsily) back up to Craterside Supply, she probably looked like someone with a massive hangover. Heck, she felt like she had one too; however, it felt like her body was tingling with a painful numb sensation, like when try to get blood circulating back into a numb area. Also she had to try her best to not let out all she had left in her stomach, albeit basd on her growling stomach, there wasn't much.

So she shoved open the door to the shop upon arrival, and everything started spinning.

"Oh good! You're back. Looks like you're quite hyped up." the squeaky voice of Moira Brown piped as Chrys made her way inside and closed the door.

"Please just examine me quick." Chrys said, or she wanted to say that, what came out sounded more like grumbled and groggled undecipherable groaning. And with that, she fell.

3 hours and 5 Radaways later

Chrys slowly and painfully opened her eyes. Her Rad coma having finally worn off.

"Oh good! You're awake! You were in quite the doozy there, luckily I was able to get the needed data off of ya before the radiation started to kill you." Moira said with the everpresent smile on her face. Chrys could only lay her head to the side and sigh. She needed the caps that Moira offered badly, but this "Wasteland Survival Guide" would probably kill her before she came even close to finding her father. The first task had rendered her in a small coma for Christ's sake!

"Can I take a break from research for a couple days?" Chrys asked as she sat up and rubbed her head.

Moira giggled, well it was probably a regular laugh but with Moira's voice it sounded like a giggle, "Of course, you can research for the Guide at your own pace. Don't want my lead researcher going out and getting herself killed."

"Hehe... thanks." Chrys nervously laughed at the irony of the statement. After all, one of her assignments was to get severely injured, or to get one of her limbs crippled. The thought made Chrys shiver in horror. The sudden chime of a clock made her realize it was getting pretty late. "Moira! Do you know when the saloon closes?"

"Oh it stays open for quite some time, but Moriarty usually stops greeting guests around nine o'clock- ish. I think?" Moira said as she bent over to repair something on a workbench. Chrys got up off of the counter that Moira, or more likely Moira's hired bodyguard, set her when she passed out.

She then realized she was in her underclothes, consisting of a white tanktop and dark gray short underwear.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Chrys screamed, "WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES!?"

Moira looked up, "Oh! There on the shelf there behind you." The flustered Vault girl quickly spun around and grabbed her Vault suit, ynaked it on, and zipped it up, making sure nothing else was amiss. Her pack sat on the floor by the counter and she hoisted it onto her shoulders.

"Bye Moira!" Chrys called and waved "goodbye" to the eccentric mechanical psuedo scientist. Even though Moira's experiments were probably going to get Chrys killed, she couldn't help but like her. The cheerfulness of the woman made Chrys feel like she wasn't the only naive person in the whole wasteland. When she stepped outside of the store however, she was met with something breathtaking.

The sky... it looked as if it was alight with fire! So many warm colors cascaded across the sky and they got brighter the closer they got to the rim of Megaton's wall. Strangely, the giant lightbulb in the sky had disappeared. She turned around multiple times looking for the glowing orb. But all in all she couldn't stop admiring the beauty of the sky. It was... comforting.

"You okay there toots?" a gruff voice asked. Chrys stopped spinning and turned her head to look at a grizzled old man wearing armor that appeared to be made out of leather. He had little hair on his head, but he had a beard and facial hair.

"Oh! I'm fine. Is the sky always on fire like that?" Chrys asked the stranger. He just gave her a "What the fuck are you smoking?" look. He then proceeded to shake his head and mutter "Dumbass" under his breath. Chrys didn't quite understand what that meant. She knew what dumb meant though. But before she could respond the man walked away, revealing a large gun holstered on his back. She shied away from him and head up the ramp to where she was pretty sure Moriarty's saloon was. Turns out it was a couple scaffoldings over.

An older man, about her dad's age, with crazy silver hair, a moustache, and long beard, stood leaning against the railing lining the scaffolding platform. He had a strange little white stick that was producing horrible foul smoke. He eyed her with a sneaky curiosity laced with guile attentions. Chrys walked by him and looked up at the sign on the building he stood in front of. It was Moriarty's Saloon alright.

"What's the matter there little lassy? Never seen a saloon before?" The man from behind her asked in an odd accent. She turned and looked at him. The white smoke-stick he had in his mouth now sat between two fingers and his mouth was now curved in a sly smile. This guy was really creeping her out.

"Actually... I haven't. Is it like the cafeteria at the Vault?" she asked nervously, though she remembered what her dad told her about saloons, she wanted to get a different view from someone else.

"Is it like the...?" the man burst out laughing, well more like started hooting or a rather stuck up laugh. In his bout of laughter, he flicked the msoke stick over the edge of the of the platform and keeled over in more laughter. Chrys stood there... very very confused at his answer to her question. 'Why can't anybody give me a straight answer?' When the man finally stopped laughing, he rubbed his eye a bit and looked at her with an amused look. "Lass, this ain't no cafe, this is where adults spend time. Alcohol, liqour, or gossip, you name it, it has it." He approached her and and wrapped a hand around her shoulders, making her rather uncomfortable. "Now based on your..." he gestured to her clothing, "... choice of attire, my guess is you're from the same Vault as that older gentleman that passed through here."

"That's my dad! You saw him? Did he tell you where he was going? Could you tell me?" Chrys inquired, beaming with happiness. The man then smiled a bit.

"Information is a commodity." He said, "About a hundred caps will do just nice." He held out his other hand, plam up, expecting the money. Chrys looked down, and then back up at the creepy old geezer's face.

"I can't give that many. I'll just go ask the saloon owner." Chrys shrugged his arm off and walked toward the saloon.

"Lass, I am the saloon onwer." he said before her hand reached the doorknob. She froze and turned to look back at him. He happily walked over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders again, pressing her closer to his side this time however. "Colin Moriarty. Pleasure to meet ya Miss...?"

Chrys gulped, "Winchester. Chrys Winchester."

"You're daddy gave you a boy's name?" Moriarty inquired.

"My name is Chrysanthemum... I just prefer to be called Chrys. Less of a mouthful." Chrys andswered quietly.

"Yeah... that is a mouthful. Anyway, I know where your ol' dad went or is going, but if you can't cough up the caps. I'm afraid your fresh out of luck." Moriarty said as he examined her, "Man, I remember when you were just a wee little lass in your dad's arms."

"What? I've never been out here before... and neither has my dad." Chrys said. Although, she wasn't exactly sure of that last part.

"Guess Daddy's got a little explaining to do." Moriarty says as he let her go and walked to the saloon door. "One hundred caps. Give or figure it out on your own."

He shut the door behind him. She stared hopelessly at the closed door in front of her. Suddenly she could here muffled screaming from inside the saloon, most likely Moriarty, that sounded like it was berating and depriving another person. It shocked her, but she felt more sorry for whoever the screaming was directed at.

She had to decide: give Moriarty more or less all of her caps, or find out where her dad went on her own. She sighed, maybe she could go inside and think it over. She opened the door to the saloon and stepped in; most men in the saloon directed their stares at her. They all held a strange look she didn't quite understand. Feeling like a fish out of water, she walked over to the bar and sat down on one of the barstools. She looked down at her follded hands in her lap, and began to think over the situation. Either get to dad faster, or waste time figuring out where he was. She didn't want to fall far behind him, so maybe giving Moriarty the caps would be easier and all around more effective. After a couple minutes, she felt a new set of eyes staring at her, and she noticed someone on the other side of the bar was standing in front of her, waiting.

Looking up, Chrys saw one of the strangest people she had ever met. He had barely any skin, or if he did, it was rotting, chaffing, or in the process of peeling off. Exposed muscle and ligaments were all over his face and the cartilage and skin that would be where his nose was, was gone. He had no nose! Or lips for that matter... or ears. There was just a hole on each side of his head. It looked all his hair had fallen off too... but there were little tufts of it placed over his scalp. His eyes were pasty and clouded and pale. He wore a grimey old white shirt from what she could see from over the bar. He looked irritated, tired, and perplexed at her, but overall, he looked exhausted.

"You gonna look at your hands all night? Or are you gonna order a drink or something?" he asked, his voice very raspy and gravely.

"Oh, sorry. Do you have Nuka-Cola mister?" She asked politely. Not really wanting to spend caps, she decided a soft drink would be good in calming her nerves. The skinless man gave her an even more perplexed look. He turned and went away for a moment and then came back with a cold Nuka-Cola. She handed him back some caps and popped the bottles' cap off. She looked at it for a moment and then pocketed it. She took a quick sip and sighed in content. The bartender shrugged and walked down to one end of the bar counter where an old radio sat. At the barstool sat a red haired woman with short cut hair, fair skin, and rather immodest clothing.

The radio wasn't really working produced only static. The bartender banged his fist on it, grumbling about how it was a stupid piece of crap. The immodest woman only laughed a bit at the bartender's attempts to fix it. "Gob, it's not the radio. The signals jammed." she said to the bartender, who apparently was named Gob.

"Why would the signal suddenly not work?" Gob asked in reply. The woman shrugged.

"Happens all the time. Signals jam or go down." she said and shooed his fist away from the radio in order to give it a breather. Chrys eyed the device with curiosity. SHe knew that she could see if it was actually a signal jam or not , but she wasn't sure as to how to approach the situation. Luckily, the red head noticed her stare. "You okay Sweetie?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh! I was just looking at your radio. I... I could try fixing it if you'd like." she offered. The red head and bartender exchanged glances and then looked back at her. The hubub of the saloon still droned on, so they shrugged.

"Sure, you can take a look at it. I'm sure it's the signal, but you never know." the red head lady said and got up from the barstool to make room. Chrys got up out of her seat, bringing her drink along and walked over to the radio. Setting down her drink, she started to examine the machine. It looked alright, so she pulled up her Pipboy and flipped it's radio on, tuning it to the same station to see if she would get similar results. Static flew from the Pipboy radio.

"Yeah, it's a signal problem." Chrys deduced. The woman let out a "Hah!" at the bartender and lightly punched him on the shoulder. He just grinned shyly and rubbed the back of his neck. She then sat back down on the barstool. Chrys stood awkwardly nearby, until the woman gestured with a smile to the barstool next to her. Chrys pointed at herself. The woman nodded.

Chrys sat down by the woman and set her drink back on the counter. The bartender looked at her with a perplexed look still. Chrys felt bad, but she wanted know what he was exactly. "I don't mean to be rude sir, but what are you exactly?" Chrys asked innoccently.

"Wait? You're not gonna hit me? Yell at me? Not even berate me a little bit?" he asked with surprise.

"No. Why would I? I don't like hurting people." Chrys responded. "I've just never seen anyone like you before. That doesn't give me the right to hurt you."

Gob looked at her with even more surprise. "Well, now that's a surprise! I'm used to every asshole smoothskin in this town giving me shit 'cause I look like a corpse."

"Smoothskin?" Chrys asked.

"It's what Ghouls call humans." The red head answered, "You know, the skin and all." She gestured between herself and Gob.

"Oh." Chrys said. "Uh... what's an asshole?"

They looked blankly at her, but the woman eventually smiled. "You're just a kid aren't you Sweetie?"

"I guess. I'm nineteen though." Chrys said.

"Guess it's the Vault isolation that's got you still innocent." the woman said. "my name is Nova by the way, and that pieace of sunshine is Gob."

"Pleasure to meet both of you. You're a lot nicer than Moriarty. I didn't think bosses could be mean." Chrys said, reflecting on her experience with Moriarty. Nova and Gob simply exchanged looks again.

"He's not really our boss. He... owns us." Gob explained.

Chrys looked at them, confused. "That's not right, you can't own people."

"Welcome to the real world Sweetie. Out here, you can." Nova said.

"And believe me, there are people in a lot worse of situations than we are." Gob said as he started cleaning a dirty glass. He looked a little disheartened at that comment, and Chrys saw his eyes slightly flick to Nova.

"But if Gob is the bartender, what do you do Nova?" Chrys asked.

Nova's lips made a thin line before she sighed and looked back at Chrys, "I provide... entertainment for the patrons with enough caps. And on often occassions, to Colin."

"Entertainment?" Chrys asked.

"You'll learn what I mean eventually." Nova said and patted Chrys on the wrist. "What's your name by the way sweetie?"

"Chrysanthemum Winchester. But you guys can call me Chrys." she answered, after which she finally finished off her Nuka-Cola.

"Nice to meet you. Thanks with the radio too." Nova said with a warm smile.

"Eh Lass! You're back." the odd accent of Moriarty called. The three turned to face him. He walked proudly up to the young Vault girl and stood expectantly in front of her. He licked his lips and then put on another creepy smile. "So what'll it be Lassy?" Chrys gulped.

"I'll pay you." she responded after a moment. She fished through her pack and handed him the one hundred caps. His sick smile spreading further as he pocketed her caps. Gob and Nova could only watch in fear for their newfound friend. Moriarty turned away from Chrys and coughed.

"Your old Dad said he was going to Galaxy News Radio. GNR. It's in the DC ruins east of here across the river." Moriarty said and started to walk away, but then he turned back around. "You two lazy assholes better not be standing around! Get to work! You got a fine to pay off and standing and chit-chating ain't gonna help ya!"

Nova muttered, "If people were paying, I would be working." Sadly Moriarty heard her.

"Nova. You're with me tonight!" he called and gestured for her to follow him. Chrys looked at Nova, who had an irritated expression, but she got up anyway and followed Moriarty. Chrys looked at Gob with a worried expression only to find him with the same worried expression ten fold. She reached out and put a hand on his own that was sitting on the counter. He looked down at her hand and then at her. His hand felt like touching rough leather with spots feeling more like smooth leather. Chrys still didn't know or understand what Moriarty was going to do to Nova, but based on Gob's expression, it was bad.

"She'll be okay. Right?" Chrys tried to comforting the worried Ghoul. He sighed and nodded.

"It's horrible what men do to her. She doesn't deserve it." Gob said as he retracted his hand from under hers so that he could start wiping off the counter. Chrys sighed.

"Is there anything I could do?" She asked. Gob shook his head.

"No one could pay off the debt we owe to Moriarty. Thanks for the offer though Chrys." Gob said with a small smile. He looked back and forth. "Moriarty'd have my head if he saw me chargin' at a discount, but for you, I'll risk it." He fidgeted around in his pocket and pulled out a couple of the caps that Chrys had used to pay for her Nuka-Cola and handed them to her. "Here."

"Gob, I couldn't." Chrys said.

"I'd rather they go to you than to that Irish bastard. Take them, at least as payment for diagnosing the radio." Gob pleaded and plopped the couple caps in her hand. SHe complied after a pause and stuffed them in her pack.

1 hour later

Chrys and Gob had spent the last hour talking about different things. Most notably Gob had described her the differences between Ghouls and humans and how society more or less viewed Ghouls. Chrys could hardly believe the bigotry faced by the Ghouls from humans. They were more or less the same as humans, they were just missing their skin, their noses, healed from radiation, and lived for long periods of time. Some Ghouls had lived from before the Great War that rendered the world a wasteland. It was amazing. Chrys could hardly believe they were the second-class citizens while humans were the first-class. It almost made Chrys feel ashamed of her humanity, but she still didn't quite understand why they were treated in such a way.

During a pause in their converstion, Chrys finally got a look at the clock. It was late, and she had promised Simms she would check out the bomb. She said her goodbyes to Gob and told him to carry the message to Nova as well. He waved her bye as she walked out the door. The sky was now black... well a real dark dark blue. She had never seen it before. Little glowing speckles of white dotted the sky along with a large white orb. Maybe another light bulb?

She walked to the edge of the scaffold platform and looked down over the rails at the bomb. She promised she would try and disarm it. She had to try.

A small "humph" nearby alerted her to the presence of another individual. She looked to her right to see a man she recognized. He had been in the saloon ever since she walked in. 'Did he follow me out?' The man wore a pale beige colored pinstripe suit with a dark hat and glasses. He looked like he was possibly middle-aged maybe. It was hard to tell with the sky so dark and with the lack of light. He eyed her, but not in the way Moriarty did. He looked at her with a deducing look, he smirked. It wasn't creepy looking either.

"I'm sorry, I'm Mr. Burke. You are?" he introduced as he held out a hand. Chrys looked down at it and then shook his hand.

"Chrys Winchester." She replied and withdrew her hand.

He smiled a decent smile and tipped his hat a bit, "I have a proposition for you. If you are interested."