A good night's sleep can fix many ailments not limited to exhaustion. More than once the companions had noticed simple injuries fixing themselves in the time it takes to sleep through a single night. But there's one thing sleep cannot fix; the workings of the outside world. As the Wanderer and the Courier rested, one monster from their past travelled further away while another drew ever closer. But distance means nothing when the person means so much, and meaning with history will always draw people together so long as they both exist. Perry knew this, so long as he lived Fawkes would follow but not as he did before.
Perry didn't know what Fawkes will do once he finds them; he guessed the mindless creature he had become didn't know either. After the slaughter at Noah the creature must have craved for home. Perhaps it followed the path back to Washington, back to the familiar. But home is not a place, home is found in the familiar of friends and family; what family did Fawkes have if not Perry? In his sleep Perry would toss and turn, in his nightmares he watched Fawkes transform into the hideous monster over and over. Sometimes he was in his cage, sometimes he was on the floor, and sometimes he was swimming in that vat with him. But no matter where he was, Perry could not move. Only watch.
Perry sat up with start. Sweating and breathing heavily, he looked around the camp and the horizon. The sun was barely rising but that was already too late for him. They had to move, he didn't know if hiding was an option but running is at least a temporary solution. Bringing up his Pipboy he zoomed out the map and checked for any nearby structures. All yesterday he had been attempting to connect his Pipboy to an ancient GPS satellite, hoping that doing so could give him and Jesse a better idea of what lay ahead. He at last succeeded.
The often blank map blazed with information and markers. Smiling to himself, Perry scanned ahead along the road. To his surprise a long abandoned military airbase was a few hours walk from them. They had travelled further than he thought. He read the name of the airbase and shrugged; Area 51. He didn't know why such a base would need to be labelled with numbers instead of a proper name but it was better than nothing. He set a marker on the base and then walked over to Jesse.
He pushed Jesse's shoulder trying to wake him up. Snapping around Jesse grabbed Perry's arm, both of them suddenly on high alert. Neither moved. Once the initial shock wore off, they looked at each other and smiled. Jesse then burst out laughing while Perry laughed but in a silent, dry fashion. He couldn't remember the last time he had a reason to laugh; his lungs had almost forgotten the sensation. Once the high had worn off and the awkward chuckling began Perry helped Jesse get to his feet.
"Heading off already, hey?" Jesse arched his back and yawned. "Well early bird gets the worm… whatever a worm is." They gathered up their possessions and continued their journey. They would stop every now and again at a gas station to loot the small building for whatever rotten food and filthy water they could find. Once or twice Perry thought he saw a small furry creature in the dirt but it would scurry away before he got a good look at it. He missed the feel of fur, holding the smaller animals of Noah always brought him comfort in that confusing place.
After a few hours they reached a point where the road arched southwards into the horizon. Perry looked down at his Pipboy and noticed his marker was telling him to keep going North-west. Jesse was already ahead walking south but Perry stopped. Noticing the sound of only one person walking Jesse stopped as well and turned to look at the Wanderer standing in the middle of the road.
"What's wrong?" He asked, almost forgetting The Wanderer couldn't give a coherent answer. The Wanderer glanced at his Pipboy then back up towards the horizon stretching North-west. He pointed in that direction and urged Jesse to follow. This time Perry walked off the road ahead of his companion, but not hearing the sound of his fellow's footsteps he stopped and turned around. Jesse stood in place, fear and habit held him tight.
"Out… there?" He asked perplexed. The Wanderer nodded his head. "Listen, there's nothing out there. If we keep following this road we'll eventually find somewhere at least." The Wanderer shook his head and pointed North-west again. "What makes you think there's anything out there?" The Wanderer sighed and approached Jesse. He held up his Pipboy screen to Jesse and pointed out the base he had marked earlier. Reading it aloud Jesse muttered, "Area 51… I've heard rumours of that place. There are old signs all around it warning people to keep out. I've never heard of anyone coming back." Jesse paused and smiled. "But then I've never heard of someone coming back from the Divide either. Alright, lead on."
The journey towards the ancient military base was plagued with frequent hills and dead shrubs. More than once the companions had to walk around a small radioactive pond of nuclear waste. Perry always despised this smell, not just because it made him sick to his stomach. The nuclear waste was the remains of the very material used to destroy the world. It was almost like history itself reminding him of just how flawed humanity was. He once read of a story of a man given wings by his father, his pride and his genius helped him soar higher than any man, up above the clouds and towards the glory of the sun.
But the sun burned his wings away, and then he fell to his death.
Perry needed to stop doing this. He was spending too much time inside his own head, before long he'd be frantically trying to escape it. He focused on his steps and his environment again, but it was always the same sandy hills covered in dead plants. Perry started to wonder if his mind was a prison or a sanctuary.
Jesse noticed a broken down truck resting along the next hill. "Hey Wanderer, feel like having a look?" Perry nodded in response and they made their way towards the wreckage. Once they arrived they examined the rotten label printed on the side. A strange pink animal was resting on the words with a disturbingly human smile. Perry recognised it as a pig, there were dozens of them in Noah before…
Perry shuddered and walked behind the truck to examine the interior. It was closed and despite his best efforts he couldn't pull it open. No doubt the metal had completely rusted. Perry motioned for Jesse to help him, he picked up a rusted metal bar lying in the wreckage and with a nod he jammed it into the bottom of the door while Perry pulled. With a skin-crawling screech the metal gave way and opened up to the trucks interior.
Perry climbed inside and found boxes of preserved food. Meat, dried food, some Nuka Cola bottles and some dirty water. There were some fruit containers but the contents had long since rotted away. Perry gave Jesse a thumbs-up and started to collect the food into a single crate. While he did so, Jesse walked to the front of the truck and examined the driver's seat. Surprisingly, no skeleton remained. Shrugging it off, he rummaged through the glove department.
His hand rested on a familiar shape that made him want to sing with joy. He grabbed it and once he pulled it out breathed a sigh of comfort, at long last a laser pistol. He checked the wiring and batteries, they weren't in the best condition but being in the glove department had protected it against time. He looked under the seats, in the other glove department and even in the seats padding but he couldn't find another battery. He'd have to make every shot count.
He looked up towards the sun and realized they only had a few hours of daylight remaining. Rather than risk walking through the darkness the companions decided to make the truck their temporary shelter. That night, sitting in the trucks storage and eating more food at once than they had in a long time, Jesse told Perry stories of civilisation back west.
"Don't let this desert fool you; there are plenty of towns and people in the west. They mostly sprang up from vaults or tribes. The biggest two are the NCR… oh, that's the New California Republic, and Caesar's legion." Jesse slowly shook his head. "The NCR has some good people in it, ones that are trying to make things better. But the Legion? Man… They do some terrifying shit. Crucifixions, slaughter, slaves and they treat their women like cattle."
Jesse looked out the door of the truck and into the darkness of the outside. "Honestly, I'm surprised we haven't run into the Legion yet. They have towns out East of California but no one in the NCR knows just how far. But then, I guess they try to stay away of places like Area 51. They're a superstitious bunch."
Perry was fascinated that such thriving communities could have grown out in the West. Washington was nothing, just a collection of small towns with no unity or formal government. The Brotherhood of Steel was the closest thing to government in the entire Capital; them and vault 101. He looked down at his pipboy and thought about how frustrating it was he couldn't ask Jesse specific questions. The touchscreen keypad surprisingly lit up on his pipboy and he stared at it for a second. Suddenly the realization made him want to slap himself for not thinking of it sooner. He rapidly typed out a message then motioned for Jesse to come over. When he did, Perry held out his pipboy for Jesse to see.
You said there are vaults, do people still live in them?
Jesse read the message and smiled. "You can write on this thing eh? Well that should make our conversation a little less one sided." He chuckled but then shook his head. "The ones I know of have mostly broken down. Don't get me wrong, there's a place called vault city that grew out of a vault, but for the most part people have stopped living in them." Perry nodded then typed out a new message.
I've heard of a place called New Vegas, you know it?
Jesse read the message then nodded. "Everyone knows of Vegas now. The NCR found that place not long ago, never been myself so don't really know what's going on right now." Jesse studied The Wanderer's scarred face and guessed he hadn't seen civilisation in a long time. After saving his life, Jesse decided he'd show him. "Would you like to see Vegas? I'll buy you a beer for saving me. Sound good?" The Wanderer smiled and wrote out a message.
I'd like that. Thank you.
With full stomachs and a stronger friendship, the companions drifted off to sleep. Jesse dreamt of walking through a white void, carrying a brown box in his hands. He opened the door, where it came from he never asked. The door opened to a pristine casino from New Reno, as dirty and bright as he remembered it. Sitting behind the counter was a woman whose face he couldn't quite see. Like he was forgetting what she looked like even when he was staring straight at her. He walked up and planted the box on the counter like so many times before.
"You ordered… umm, you ordered… what was it you ordered again?" The woman slowly stood up from her floating chair and opened the box. Nothing was inside. "Oh," Jesse said surprised. "Sorry, I thought something was in there."
"It's alright," the woman replied. Her voice had no accent or tone, no discernible word or emotion. It was just there, the meaning clear as day. "We still got what we ordered."
Jesse woke up with a start. Already his dream had faded into memory when he realized something had woken him up. He listened to the silence; a whistle from the wind there, the rustle of a bush here. Nothing out of the ordinary in this desert. But something was still missing. It was quieter than it was earlier. Like something had been cleared away. He leant over and tried to wake up The Wanderer, as he pushed him he noticed his pipboy had a display of his body condition and general health. But above the cheerful vault-boy picture was a name.
"Perry?" He whispered.
"PAR-RAY!" The walls of the truck shook with the force of the scream. The Wanderer, who Jesse now knew as Perry, leapt up covered in sweat. He ran to the door and tried to shut it as best he could. The floor rumbled with the sound of powerful footsteps. Something was coming. Something massive.
"What the fuck is that?" Jesse screamed as they pulled the metal doors shut. With a few inches left to pull down Jesse realized he didn't have his laser pistol with him. He abandoned the door and Perry to search for it. Perry desperately looked back having no idea what Jesse was doing.
What the hell does he think he's doing? If we don't get this door closed… oh god, Fawkes, what happened to you?
With an other-worldly roar the creature outside thrust his claws into the truck, tearing the metal apart like tinfoil. The companions instinctively ducked. Jesse was still searching frantically for the pistol while Perry just tried to hold on for dear life. The creature screamed again, "PAR-RAY!" The whole truck shook from beneath.
"It's picking us up!" Jesse shouted in disbelieve. The truck lifted off the ground, the entire contents of the truck flew around the truck in frenzy, smashing against Perry as he tried to hold the door closed as best he could. Jesse lost balance as the truck lifted up and fell onto his back. To his shock and relief, the laser pistol fell out of nowhere onto his chest. He fumbled with the handle trying to grab the trigger properly with his finger.
With a terrifying screech the sound of metal being torn apart fill their ears, they ground their teeth from the painful noise. The roof was ripped off and a creature hidden by darkness was looking down at them. Perry looked up at it, up towards his lost friend and greatest failure. The creature breathed a stench of a thousand dead corpses and eyes that glowed green through the darkness. For Perry, they were the eyes of judgement.
For Jesse, they were targets.
Without waiting or taking the time to aim, he fired his laser pistol at the glowing, green targets. His shot was perfect. The creature roared in pain, suddenly gravity gave way and the companions felt themselves lift off the ground; but only for a moment. They slammed into the floor and felt the truck almost roll down the side of the hill. Luckily, it stayed in place. Sore from the blow, they stood up and quickly ran out the newly opened door. Even in darkness they could see the creature thrashing around, its body covered in hideous spikes, its hands covering its eyes.
Without waiting, they ran into the darkness. The companions had no idea where they were going and they were in too much of a rush to pick up the supplies they found. But none of that mattered; all that mattered was getting away from this creature as quickly as possible. But in their haste the companions failed to notice a warped and rusted sign in the darkness. Most of the letters had worn away but some words still remained.
Keep out. Government property: Area 51.
A/N: Well my faithful readers, I've got one last chapter left for this story. 20 Chapters is pretty good considering I had no idea what I wanted to do with this story when I started. Admittedly they're not long chapters but I always find long chapters difficult to read myself. The Lonesome Road comes out on the 20th of September and I plan to finish my last chapter before then. I hope you all have enjoyed this chapter and please stay tuned.
Comments and criticisms are always appreciated.