Chapter 5

2249

Sam dumped a final shovelful of dirt on the grave, then stopped, wiping the sweat from his forehead. His fingers brushed his hair. It needed to be cut. He'd have to do that himself now.

He'd thought of putting up some kind of marker, but decided against it. It wasn't as if his mother would care now, and he would rather not remember where she was. Which was why he'd dug all the way out in the wastes half a mile from the house.

He would not be coming back.

He stared down at the mound of dirt after he'd finished. He wasn't sure what to do now. After a few moments he swallowed and turned to walk back to the house, carrying the shovel with him.

The house was filled with nearly everything he could ever want, but he could only fit so much in his bag. He took the largest one he could find and filled it with everything he thought might be useful. Then he left, locking the door behind him. He might come back someday, but right now he didn't want to be there. The emptiness was unnerving.

He paused only a moment at the end of the path in front of his house before summoning his courage and continuing in the direction of Megaton.

He walked until it began to grow dark, then started to look for a place to sleep. There was a cliff with an outcropping of rock that shielded it from the weather and from view somewhere along the way. He and his mother usually camped there. But now, not only was it nowhere in sight, but he didn't recognize any other landmarks, either. He seemed to have wandered off the route he was supposed to take. But he kept going. It wouldn't do him any good to stop in the middle of the wastes.

Soon, the flickering glow of a fire nearby caught his eye. Off to his left, a figure sat on a log in front of the small blaze. Sam ignored it and kept on straight ahead, but as he passed, the figure waved and called to him. He paused, watching the figure. It looked back at him. He and his mother didn't usually talk to anyone outside the cities. He was nervous about doing it alone, and normally wouldn't even have considered going over. However, he needed to ask someone for directions, and for some reason today he felt less afraid than usual.

He turned off his course and walked cautiously to the fire. The man sitting there was wearing clothes more worn and dirty than his own. He didn't look more than five years older than him. The man smiled up at him as he approached.

" 'Lo there."

"Hi," Sam replied. "Do you know how to get to Megaton?"

"Oh, yeah." He stood up, turning to look and point in the other direction. "I just came from there. See, you can see it from here, between those hills."

Sam moved to see from his perspective. Indeed, he could just see the city's lights twinkling in the twilight, very far away. "Thank you," he told the man, and started toward it.

"Well hey, wait up," the man said, sitting down again. "You just got here. You look tired. Why don't you just chill for a while?"

He definitely did not want to stay for a while. But he was tired. Against his better judgement, he sat down on the other end of the log.

"You packing for the apocalypse or something?" the man asked, noting his over-full backpack with a good-natured smirk. "Didn't anyone tell you it already happened?"

Sam shrugged, unsure what sort of reply was expected.

The man picked up something from the ground beside him, which turned out to be a tin can with a spoon sticking out of it. He held it out. "Beanie Weanie?"

Sam stared at him. "...what?"

"It's just beans and cut up hot dogs," he said, looking thoughtfully into the can. "It's pretty good, though."

Sam's stomach had been growling for the past two hours. He had some food in cans, but he'd realized halfway here that he'd brought nothing to open them with. He accepted the can. The man was right—it was pretty good.

"So what are you going to Megaton for?"

Sam looked up from the can. "Trying to find a job."

"Yeah? What can you do?"

He looked up again, wondering why he cared. "I don't know. Normal stuff."

"Good luck getting a job without any skills," the man replied. "Everyone wants to go to Megaton. It's tough out there. I don't live there either. I just go to trade."

Sam set the spoon back in the can. "Oh."

"Can you shoot?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

The man nodded slowly. "If you can shoot, you'll be okay."

Sam nodded, handing him back the near-empty can.

"I just trade, the man continued. "And transport things. Get something in Megaton, take it to Big Town and sell it for more. You know. It's pretty easy money, if you know how to haggle and how to avoid trouble. Like, you—I could tell you're not trouble."

He didn't know what Big Town was, but he nodded again. He hadn't been around people much aside from trips to Megaton, and usually no one bothered him there. He wondered if they all talked this much. His mother never did. It seemed unnecessary.

"I can't do computers or electric stuff or anything. I grew up out here, in the wastes. Never learned that stuff. You too, I bet. I can tell. You don't seem much like the intellectual type."

Sam gave him an unappreciative look.

The man held up his hands with a smile. "Hey, hey, I'm kidding. Take it easy." His smile faded. "You know, you look a little young to be out here alone."

He had not felt much since she died. Maybe he was in shock. Of all things, the man's innocent statement was what brought him out of it. He bowed his head. He didn't know what he was going to do now.

"Hey, you okay?"

Sam looked up and away from the man, wiping his face. "Shut up."

"We've all been there, man." The way he said it, Sam guessed that he had. It was not condescending or presumptive, only reassuring. "It'll get better. It will."

He sniffed, looking sidelong at the man, and nodded quickly as he tried to clear his face. The man quieted after that, for which he was grateful. It slowly grew dark. The fire glowed and cracked.

Soon, the man stood up, licking his spoon and tucking it into a pocket. "I'm heading out," he said. Some, but not all, of the smile in his voice had come back. "Good to travel at night, you know. The raiders and animals are asleep, and you're harder to see."

Sam watched him pick up his pack and dust off his pants. They only seemed to get dustier as a result. "Wait," Sam said, and reached into his own pack and dug around hurriedly before locating an Astro-Stix candy bar. He held it out to the man. "Here," he said, and nodded to the can on the ground. "For that."

The man grinned and took the candy bar, looking it over closely. "No way! I haven't seen one of these since I was a kid. They're my favorite." He looked up skeptically. "You sure?"

Sam nodded. They'd had a few of them at home. His mother loved them. He didn't. They were too sweet.

The man, needing no more encouragement than that, happily tucked the candy bar into his backpack, then looked at Sam. "You'll be alright," he said sagely. "I can tell."

For some reason, Sam thought he might be right.

He offered no more help, which was just as well, because he wouldn't have accepted it. Traveling with his mother was one thing. Taking aid from pitying strangers was another.

After the man left, Sam watched the fire until it became embers, and then cooling coals. Then he picked up his pack and swung it over his shoulders. He was tired, but he would keep walking for now, until he found a safe haven. It couldn't be too long until he found one. He looked across the horizon for Megaton, and started for the dim and flickering but ever-present lights.