Chapter Two

Cress looked up at the bomb, wiping the sweat off of her brow. She had worked all day, disarming that bomb. If she was going to be staying here for a while she wasn't going to live near an active bomb. She turned around and looked at Lucas.

"Done." She gave him a tired smile, grease and dirt covering her face. She let the tools she was using slip from her hands and land in the irradiated puddle surrounding the bomb as Lucas stood there in amazement.

A smile spread wide across his face, "You did it! You actually disarmed that thing!"

He dug in his pockets and handed her a small bag of random bottle caps. She didn't take it, she just looked at it confused.

Lucas gave a warm laugh, "That's right, you just got out of the Vault. This is the new type of currency. Bottle caps. Each one is like a Pre-war dollar. I'm paying you a hundred dollars for disarming the bomb, it's not much but it's something." He smiled and offered the bag of caps to her again.

She grabbed the bag and checked its weight. It seemed to have the right amount. She was going to have to check later.

"Thank you Lucas" She gave another smile.

He shook his head and returned the smile, "No, thank you for making it a bit safer for this town." With that he walked away.

Cress stepped into the old dusty bar, covering her nose as she attempted to block out the smell of sex and alcohol. She looked around at the wasted men hanging halfway off the counter, their faces pale and sick. Her attention was caught by a ghoul banging on an old little radio. She had read about the theories the scientist made about a human being exposed to too much radiation. Trying to contain her excitement she quickly walked over to the Ghoul. A woman, with very little clothes looked at her with an odd expression. Cress didn't bother to look back at her, instead she kept her eyes locked onto the ghoul.

She gave him a light and gentle tap on the shoulder, making him flinch. Cress eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

The ghoul gave her a confused look but suddenly looked down as if he was scared to make eye contact, "Well, uh, what do you want to drink?" then flinched as if he was going to be hit.

Cress shook her head, "Oh, I'm not here to drink."

The woman snorted, "Well, there isn't much here, other than drinking and sex, sugar." A smirk spread across her slightly pale face.

Cress cringed, she must be the 'escort'. Shaking off her disgust she focused back onto the ghoul. She came her to ask questions and get answers. "So, did you see a man about 30 years walk into here a couple hours ago, maybe earlier this morning? He was wearing a vault suit like mine." She looked at the ghoul, desperate for an answer.

A flash of recognition flickered onto his face, but immediately disappeared as he shook his head, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know. Many people come in and out of this bar."

He was lying. Cress glared at him, clenching her fists, "Why are you lying to me?" He flinched as if she was going to hit. Hell, she wanted to. "Tell me the truth, I want to find my father"

Sighing he signaled her to come closer and leaned towards her ear, the smell of rotting flesh making Cress gag. "I can't give you customer information, Moriarty would have my head. I would like to help you, because you aren't like the drunk assholes around here, but I can't risk it. I'm stuck here to begin with, I have a debt to pay and I still have to pay rent. I can't have Moriarty adding things to pay on my list. I'm sorry kid."

Sighing she looked at him, speaking in a hushed tone, "Please, this is my dad. I need to find him. He's the only thing I have left." She looked at the ghoul with pleading eyes, trying to keep tears from spilling.

He let out a soft sigh then nodded, "Meet me out by Moria's shop CraterSide Supply at 12am tomorrow and I'll give you the information you need."

Cress smiled, fighting the urge to hug the rotting corpse.