"It is curious - curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare" –Mark Twain

Chapter 3: The Sheep and the Goats

I stood there hesitantly, not knowing what in fucking hell to do. That phrase, "Can you take me with you?" reverberated throughout my head. Should I take her? One half of me wants to, knowing that I could barely survive without her intellect. The other sees her as a burden, one I'd have to waste precious resources on keeping another person alive. Besides, what good would that be if she would be useless outside? But she's a good friend nonetheless, I still trust her. I didn't know what was outside the door to begin with. Would it help to have a companion? Wandering in whatever outside alone seemed like a really shitty idea to me.

"Todd, you there?" I couldn't let anything get in the way of my decision. I have to think it over but what was that tugging? I needed to think. Was I really going to do this? Was it right to suddenly change a deal if I couldn't back it up, especially when I said it myself? Holy shit, what the hell have I done? Someone help me.

"TODD!!!" I heard someone scream, followed by, from what I could tell, a slap hitting the back of my head.

"What the hell!?" I yelled.

"Are you fucking deaf!?" Megan glared at me. "What the hell are you doing? You're just standing there!"

"Alright, alright. Fine, you can come." I relented, still not quite sure with my spur of the moment, under pressure decision. Although I was still quite pissed that Megan hit the back of my head, I wasn't looking forward to another slap or a kick in the balls if it came down to it. The least I could do was honor my word.

I bent down, "Now run," I hissed into her ear.

I suddenly glanced at the Overseer's eyes and then we both sprinted off toward that son of a bitch's office to find a way out of here. The overseer must have realized that I had broken my end of the bargain by originally saying I was the only one that was going to leave. His footsteps were catching up right behind me. He shouldn't be armed, not daring to try to make a bloody mess on the metal floors. It would be a pain in the ass to clean up and they were never known for cleaning. Still, I kept running.

His office was straight ahead. My feet clanged on the metal floor, doing the most natural thing possible, running as fast as I could. Turning around, I saw Megan trying to keep up, trying to be faster than the Overseer who was right behind her. She strained under her effort, it's probably the most important 100 feet of her life right now. It was the only chance between freedom and well, anything other than pleasant. I'd choose the freedom bit.

"C'mon, Megan!" I encouraged her on. The door up ahead came in sight, there must have a chip embedded in the key as it opened as we got near. Bounding inside first, my eyes suddenly saw the manual override switch on the side. As soon as she used the last strength of her energy to pass through that door, I pushed the switch down. The hydraulic door fell with an almighty clang. It went really quiet after that. The only noises I heard was the sounds of our panting breaths. I wiped some of the sweat off my brow, hoping I would never have to run that distance again.

"You bastard! Don't make me run that fast again!" Megan complained, sweeping her bangs out of her face.

"I don't know about that," I said weakly. "We may not have much time. What about your place? Do you want me to go back?" I proposed, it was the least I could do. No doubt if she didn't save my ass, I would've faced a horrible death.

"No, it's alright." she whispered, putting her hand on my shoulder. "You did enough. I don't have much to go back to either."

"Okay," I lazily murmured. That was awkward. What happened to her yelling at me a few minutes ago?

I walked over to the overseer's metal desk to find a white computer sitting there. Well, it was mostly white, with a black strip that read "Commodore, PET Model 4032. Computer," and a black keyboard. I've seen these before, they're everywhere within the vault, though I'll never understand what "Commodore", means. I sure as hell didn't know what "PET" stood for. Did it stand for Pretty Expensive Thingamagig? It looked ridiculously expensive though, who else in the vault could afford his tricked out personal computer?

I sat down and turned the power on. The familiar evergreen letters danced across the screen from left to right, the soft glow permeating through the hazy screen of the computer. I hardly used these things ever.

Welcome back, Overseer. Please enter a password

Christ, where was it? I'm patted myself down. Oh, it's still attached to the key, I couldn't believe I was that stupid. I looked at the password suspiciously.

"K- " clack "I-" clack "B-" clack "B-" clack "L-" clack "E-" clack "S-" clack

Access Granted. Loading Main Menu…

"What the hell? Who sets their password to 'KIBBLES'?" Wasn't that the pre-war dog food?

"Apparently someone does," Megan peered over my shoulder. "Todd, can you stick this in?"

"Stick what in?" I turned around. She was holding up box with "Polaroid Holodisks" written on it.

"Oh," I looked at her slightly confused. "What do you want me to do with it?"

"Feed it in so I can copy the data, stupidass!" she exclaimed.

"Okay, dammit. You didn't need to yell," I relented as I took the Holodisk out of the box. I looked around the computer. "Where do you feed it in again?" I wondered.

"Do you see the big orange button?" Megan grumbled.

"Oh, right." I quipped. I pressed the orange button on the top and a latch popped out on left side of the computer.

Please feed holodisk film into drive A.

I did exactly that, threading the film from the 'START' end as best I could into the narrow opening of a slot labeled 'DRIVE A IN'. It seemed to catch so suddenly and automatically with it yanking the film out of the reel, catching me completely by surprise. The computer hummed and whined as the film went through the machine, giving regular updates on a green tinted status bar, its eerie glow staring at us. Was it there to taunt us? After what seemed like a few, long, agonizing minutes. It spat out the film in nearly the same way it came in, out the 'DRIVE A OUT' slot.

"Holy crap!" I exclaimed as I tried to catch the film and rewind it as tight as I could. If only they could be much easier to operate.

A dull thud pounded on the door that I just closed behind us. I dismissed it off as someone trying to kick the door down, as if anyone could kick a vault door down with their feet. I was going to look over the rest of the files and take my time on the computer, but after the second, much louder thud, Megan was freaking out. Browsing some of the stupid musings of the overseer, I saw her pacing around in the reflection of the computer screen, the expression on her face was getting more agitated by the minute. I wanted to say some kind of witty and sarcastic remark but it was obviously not the time.

By the third one, she completely lost it. It was too much for her. "Todd!" she cried.

"What?" I nonchalantly replied.

"Can we hurry it up?" she growled.

"Alright, Alright, shut the hell up, I'll get us out of here."

I clicked on the Vault Controls and after I don't know how many annoying, numerous prompts of "ARE YOU SURE??" from the computer, finally got confirmation that the vault door was opening. In how many years? I don't know. Shortly afterward, I leaped from the chair ran down with Megan through the cacophony of blaring alert tones, messages of the overseer, and the clanging sound of our footsteps to the Vault entrance; inhaling the nauseous air and fighting off the pains of fatigue along the way. I nearly tripped on the way down but I managed to shrug it off.

As we made it into the entrance area, the both of us stopped. It was a sight to behold. We both just stood there at the vault door as the cog shaped door with the yellow '111' plastered in the center finally finished its creaking movement. The hissing of steam filled the room with an ominous fog. It was an amazing sight; I certainly didn't think tons of metal could be moved like that. I know at least someone could have played some epic classical music to it, it was, heavenly. The sunlight was tantalizing from the other side of that flimsy looking door only a short distance away. That smell and taste the freedom on the other side of the door beckoned me on.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"You know it," Megan cheerfully smiled. That was at least reassuring. There was at least something for us beyond that door; tangible or intangible.

I took her hand and we took off toward the exit, eagerly anticipating a better life outside the confines of the Vault. I couldn't tell what her dreams were but I knew there at least the same as mine, freedom. My shoulder did most of the banging as I rammed through that door with an eager amount of force. The sun was eagerly blinding us as we have never experienced such a feeling. My vision turned completely white; it was like going to heaven.

As the sun blinded us, I could feel myself landing with a dull thud. What did I just crash onto? I hoped it wasn't a cliff ready to collapse and send both of us to a sudden and untimely death. As our eyes got used to the glare of the sunlight, I faintly made out a few tall buildings out to the southeast, the expanse of land that greeted us was much worse than I'd thought. Imagine how many dreams were shattered among the jagged flats before my eyes. The tear-flavored dust that went into my mouth as I staggered up and dusted myself off. It seemed to warn us to forget even trying to survive here, to turn back and return to the Vault we just broke out of.

"Thanks a lot, Todd," Megan grumbled as she was dusting herself off as well. "You could have at least tried to anticipate what's on the other side of the door."

"Not my concern now," I brushed off. "We got to find a town if there is any." I looked at my PIP-BOY, inserted the holodisk, and turned to the map that was conveniently on the overseer's computer. "According to this, we have to head east, and the town of Springvale should be along the way. With any luck, we should reach DC soon."

"Did you say town?" Megan perked up. "I want a shower!"

"I'd doubt we would reach it today, look at the sun," I pointed out in the distance. The sun was a brilliant red tone, the sky surrounding what looked like hazy orange smog smothering everything below it. We both walked toward the sun, despite the uncertainty that lay before us. Despite our virginity to the wasteland we thought we thought we could tame the beast that had claimed so many. A slight shiver went down my back. Despite my confidence, there was still the unknown ahead, and who knew what that would turn out like? At least I had someone else to accompany me on and that I was not alone. That could be the worst thing anybody has to go through, being alone and alive in hell.

After wandering for a while, with the sun behind us and illuminating the frizzled trees, I faintly saw a partially collapsed brick building and what looked like a collapsed beige metal shed that we could probably use as shelter for the night. It looked good enough to shelter us from the elements. No sooner than we got near it, I felt the whiz of a bullet graze past my shoulder, soon replaced with the sensation with the cold barrel of a gun. I could smell the assailant behind me, reeking of the smell of filth and death. I suppressed the temptation of nauseating. I didn't want to turn around, I'm sure the looks of it would kill me, or worse.

"What have we here?" I heard a ghoulish growl behind us. "Vaulties, eh? Get on yer' knees!"

Megan and I were both too scared to respond and so immediately complied. I couldn't believe it; our first taste of freedom was so good yet so fleeting. I closed my eyes, anticipating the shot to end it all. This was it, I had failed. This was going to be all over in a matter of minutes.

"These pathetic little fishies didn't have their cherries popped yet!" I heard another ghoulish cackle us. "Don't waste your ammo on them!"

"Why not?"

"We've got raiders to the North and a caravan to the South, let's go!" his companion urged and ran off.

"Wait! Where the hell are you going?!" his raspy voice echoed after him. "Freeloading yellow bastard." His voice breathed down our necks, worsening the stench, "Ya' won' be better off with raiders either. Smell ya' later fishies!"

When I felt that the two had run off a sufficient distance away, I tugged Megan's wrist and bolted off to the brick structure. I didn't know when those two would be back to re-catch their fresh catch, us. Didn't he also say there were going to be raiders as well? Together we ran much faster, further, and harder than in the vault, kicking up mounds of wasteland dust along the way. I honestly don't know how we did it, it must've been a miracle. After passing a few parked, insanely rusted and deteriorated cars, I spotted a pair of double doors, where I ushered the two of us inside.

Megan and I were both coughing and wheezing from running through the acrid air of the wasteland. It felt good to be panting in at least a little bit fresher air than outside.

"TO- " Megan was about to yell, when I muffled her mouth with my hand. She was going to get us killed!

"Shut up," I hissed. "We don't want to announce our presence here!"

She tapped my hand as a signal to lower it, "You're right, sorry. I forgot we aren't in the vault anymore."

"What is this place?" I quietly whisper, looking all around me with the PIP-BOY light on. There seemed to be ripped banners of 'GO SOX' strung all over the place, what seemed to be left of a snack bar stand, and lockers for I can only wonder what they were used for. This is not counting that the place was dark, damp, and dingy, with grime and objects just scattered around all over the place. I noticed a fairly decent, but most importantly, working terminal and tried to work my magic with the green dancing letters.

Welcome to the Veterans' Memorial Sports Center!

Please join us for Game 1 of the 2077 World Series as the Boston Red Sox take on the Chicago Cubs! We will be showing it to you live on our big screen TV! Cost is $20 for the event, unlimited food and drinks are included!

Bring the whole family! Be part of the experience and cheer the Sox on!

GO SOX!

"Wait," I frantically tapped my buttons on my PIP-BOY, trying to find more information about this place. "I can't find this place anywhere."

"Here, let me try," Megan offered, I let her examine the data I had on there. "That's weird. When I type in this place, it says the data is not available."

"The announcement clearly said 'Boston' but the map on the PIP-BOY says, 'Capital Wasteland,'" I pondered. It didn't make sense, the wasteland we saw earlier should be the Capitol Wasteland, and it clearly showed it on the Pip-Boy, with all the maps of it. After a few minutes of more thinking, I came to a stunning conclusion. I couldn't believe it, I was breathing so hard, it was so sudden, shocking.

"Todd," Megan looked at me as I'm still panting. "What's wrong?"

"This isn't the Capital Wasteland." I pant heavily.

"No…" she replied blankly. "If that's true, all of our data is worthless. I think we should throw out the disk…"

"No," I interrupt. "I still have to look it over. There could be some information on Dad."

"Oh, I forgot about that," Megan softly gasped. "I'm so sorry about what happened. He's a great man, always the one to look out for others." She warmly embraced me with her delicate hands. "We'll find him," she whispered.

"Thanks," I softly replied. "What happened to your-"

"Oh, my father," Megan looked down for a moment. "He's dead, killed by one man's lust for power…"

"I'm sorry," was the only thing I could muster.

"Well, I have closure," she softly smiled. "That counts for something I guess. Don't worry about me Todd, I'll pull myself together. I'd be much more worried if I didn't know if he was alive or not."

"But-"

"We're a team aren't we?"

"Yeah…"

I reluctantly broke off, I think Megan understood. We didn't have much time to mourn our losses in this unforgiving wasteland. We both reflected on how really lucky we were not to have been shot only a few minutes ago by ghouls that would probably feast on our corpses for a lovey human dinner. I was more concerned at the moment seeing if there's maybe a safe place for the night in here. It's really hard to think of our own survival when I'm too focused on finding him. He could be anywhere, and without any reliable maps, we're lost. We were screwed without maps.

"Let's see where we can plop ourselves down for the night," I tried to provide a bit of hope.

Megan silently agreed with me and we both combed the ruins of this place searching for anything of use to us, which included some stimpacks, rad-aways, as well as much needed food in the form of an MRE pack. Most importantly, there were no raiders here, despite what that smelly ghoul kept mentioning about. That was great, had there been raiders here, we would have been in trouble immediately. After what I thought was a through enough search of the place, I was ready to relax in what used to look like a locker room in its pre-war heyday. At least a filthy, worn out mattress was there to seal the deal.

I went to my task of trying to prepare a half-decent meal out of radioactive gruel and a ridiculously weak flameless ration heater by the light of my Pip-Boy, while Megan ducked into the locker room showers to find water, if there was any. She'd rather take a best of a shower she could than actually drink the probably irradiated water anyway. I wouldn't mind going a month without a shower, though knowing her, she couldn't go a few days without one. But why though? Wouldn't radioactive water scald your skin and leave it so raked and ugly like a walking piece of shit?

I dipped my finger into the gruel. Not wanting to look at whatever the sight of the contaminated food was, I closed my eyes and swallowed it down as fast as I could. God, that tasted awfully disgusting. To get the taste of cold, acidic puke out of my mouth, I needed a whole lot of pure water. It sure had a feisty kick to it. What the hell was in there? I have got to remember to bring pure water for consumption next time, or at least how make the contaminated water around here significantly more potable. It would make our lives a hell of a lot easier.

I waited for Megan since the cooking was unfortunately done already after less than a minute. There was no luck at all in the cooking and nothing I could do. I should probably clean my pistol, there's no telling how much dust has entered the thing when I hit the ground. Would it jam if I fired the next shot?

"TODD!!" I heard Megan scream.

"What?" I bolted into the shower room. Megan's naked torso was covered up by her vault jumpsuit, her brown hair going to a bit past her shoulders, her fair skin basking in the green glow of my Pip-Boy light. I stood there and stared for a good few moments. In the Vault, we'd always have our immensely utilitarian and stifling blue vault-suits. Besides, I was never really interested in women within the vault anyways, not even Megan. She was probably out of my league though, being the daughter of a well off bureaucrat and being on the wish list of many other guys. I didn't know how to react. I was speechless.

Megan frowned, "Are you done staring at me?" she snapped.

I blushed a bit, "Oh...," I murmured. "What's the problem?"

"There's somebody there," she pointed toward the corner where it seemed to be a makeshift stall was built but I couldn't see anybody where she was pointing at.

"You can't be serious. Are you-"

"Yes!" she cried.

I crouched down with my pistol drawn, gingerly trying to catch some wasteland asshole by surprise. Nervous for her own safety as well, I motioned for Megan to stay back in case I was unfortunately dealing with a wasteland lunatic on top of an asshole. I took a bit of cover for the last time before I darted around the makeshift divider; I was prepared to be shot at point blank range, again. Twice in one day, how about that.

However, I was greeted by the body of a dead male wastelander sprawled over the tile floor. Breathing a sigh of relief, I put two fingers on his neck to see if there was any pulse, which I didn't find any. He had been dead for quite a while, long enough for anyone to not notice him, I guess.

"Don't worry, it's safe," I reassured her and holstered my pistol back.

A short pat-down of the body later, I pocketed a few shotgun shells and a holotape. He had some other interesting loot as well, I don't know what the names were but I tried to pocket them anyway, they looked so foreign and intriguing. I looted like a kid in an unlocked candy store. Besides, if I didn't need them, I could always sell them off, for a gun to shoot people with if need be.

"Todd! You can't do that!" Megam screamed. "It's just... not right!"

"What's not right?" I ask. Why her of all people? Me looting a dead body not going to affect anyone else. So what if I'm caught red-handed?

"Stealing from a dead body… I'd never think you'd be so-"

"Look Megan," I turned around. Apparently, she moved closer to take a better look at what I was doing, she must have assumed that I'd be all nice and walk away from it. "I know it's tough, but if it hasn't sunk into you yet, morals die out here or it's you or me who dies."

"But you don't have to-"

"Alright, fine. I'll humor you," I grumbled. I reluctantly put the rest of the loot back down, deciding to keep the shotgun shells and the holotape. They're way too damn valuable for me to just return it. I hoped that her complaining doesn't risk our lives.

"Anyway," I changed the topic. "The food's done. I tried my best though, I wouldn't expect much," I shrugged.

"Alright, I'll just change back into my vault-suit first," Megan replied while I went back to the food.

Supper was otherwise uneventful as we tried to consume the gruel as best we could. I don't know if I could look at Megan anymore. Have I broken her trust? Should I apologize to her? Those questions crossed my mind as I tried to get used to survival. We had it so sheltered in the vault; only worrying about if the food was any good, the water was always clean, and we knew everyone around us pretty much. Out here, it was just us, the wasteland wasn't climate controlled, the food and water are nearly always contaminated, and who knows what kind of wacko would try to kill us in our sleep.

"Umm… Megan," I tried to break the looming and uneasy silence.

"What is it, Todd?" she looked at me.

"Sorry…" I muttered.

"'Sorry?' What for?" she asked, confused.

"That accident a while ago…"

"Don't worry about it," she brushed off. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

We finished our meal shortly after. I don't think the two of us were looking forward to living off that every few days. It was an acquired taste to say the least; it had a fiery one afterward.

"What was that supposed to be?" Megan complained.

I picked up the MRE package, "Says 'Chicken Fajita,'" I said as I held it toward the Pip-Boy light. "What the hell is a chicken fajita?" I wondered.

"Beats me," she shrugged. "Todd, where did you get that holotape?" she asked.

"The holotape? Oh, I got it off the dead guy." Dammit, how did she see that?

"Todd you- "

"Hold on, calm your ass down. I'll play it first. There might be some information on here," I explained. I ejected the overseer's data and inserted the current tape. I pressed the buttons to make it play. I hope this tape is valuable enough so I don't have to put it back.

"If this isn't a wasteland, what is it?! Ghouls, mutants, raiders; just three of the things that could get my ass killed. I can't believe some people actually want to interact with them or even deny that they're in a wasteland. All of the above need a good piece o' slugs shot up their asses. I've heard the Smiling Buddha is nearby, maybe someone can answer this stupid rhetorical question..."

However, the next voice startled us. It was definitely a different voice, kind of similar to the one that was breathing down our necks.

"It's what you want it to be, but for the most part, its hell."

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Can you spot some nods in this chapter? There are quite a few. In my twisted Fallout universe, the Red Sox haven't won the World Series since 1918, Cubs haven't won since 1908, you do the math. Sorry, fans of those respective teams.

Thank you for the, 5 reviews and 1 new fave and alert. A big thank-you to lovelyxxmelody who did everything. I was a bit uneasy about suddenly cutting off the plot so suddenly and adding a plot twist, but I'm glad to hear it worked out alright.

As always, I only ask for reviews. It's set on anonymous if you're too lazy to sign in. All trademarks belong to their respective owners, including Fallout 3 to Bethesda, various real life trademarks, and of course my characters. I don't plan to earn anything off of this.