Chance

Chapter 3: The Road to Nuka World

A couple of days went by, and the pair met up to begin their journey. Neither one of them looked much different from their first impression, aside from the fact that both were fully armed, and each carried a worn backpack.

"Ready to head out?" Roulette questioned.

"Ready as I'll ever be," MacCready offered in response.

Roulette nodded a bit, and the pair set out. The start of the trip was mostly silent. The unlikely companions simply walked along the remains of the road, with Roulette just a few steps ahead of MacCready. The girl was confident, she knew the route well, after all. It was a pretty straight shot from Goodneighbor, if you knew what path to follow.

After some time of silence, Roulette began to hum softly. The tune wasn't all that familiar to MacCready, but it was pleasant, all the same, as it broke the silence. Eventually, the man allowed himself to join in, quietly accompanying Roulette's tune with his own.

The most the pair encountered the first day, aside from the occasional feral ghoul or bloodbug, was a couple of radscorpions, which they had dispatched fairly quickly. They avoided any confrontation with super mutants, and a small group of Gunners who didn't see them pass by. The pair had a generally easy day, overall.

At nightfall, Roulette began to slow a bit, and grow more quiet. "We should try to find somewhere to rest overnight. We'll be getting into a pretty rough area soon, and I'd rather not deal with it in the dark," she suggested, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, it's getting tough to see, anyways. You can never know what's out there," MacCready answered. He'd never favored traveling at night, when anything could be in the dark, ready to strike at any moment.

The two continued on for a bit, before coming across what looked to be an old shack. It had fallen with time, the roof caving in, the wood scorched or otherwise rotted. Inside, it was musty and covered with splinters of broken wood, but it was otherwise fairly empty. No ghouls stood when they entered, no mutated bugs came out at them, and no raiders or Gunners shot at them. It was eerily quiet, but it was safe, at least for the night.

"This place is pretty safe, as long as you watch where you're going," Roulette informed her companion. "I've stayed in here before, it's not the best, but it'll do."

"I guess it's better than being outside," MacCready agreed, laying out his bedding alongside Roulette.

The younger of the two yawned, as the long day caught up with her. MacCready echoed the act, and shook his head a bit in an attempt to wake himself up.

"So," Roulette began. "Anything on your mind?"

"Huh?" the uncertain sound was the man's only response.

Roulette shrugged, "Just, looking to start a conversation, I guess. After all, you did agree to come along to a dangerous area with a person who, for all you know, could be insane."

MacCready shrugged a bit, laying down and propping himself up on his elbows. "Other than the given 'What the actual fu- er, frick have I gotten myself into' there isn't much."

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?

"Cut yourself off when you're about to swear."

"It's just a thing a I do. Habit, I guess. Why?"

"Just noticed that you tend to do that. Most people don't try to keep their language so clean."

"I'm just different like that, I guess."

The blue-eyed young woman nodded a bit.

"So, why are we heading to Raider Town?"

"I need to meet up with a couple of people at the park. You just decided to tag along."

"Who're you meeting with?"

"A couple friends of mine. Cherry and Gage. I'm gonna warn you now, they're probably going to be pretty hostile at first, but don't react to it. They tend to do that to just about everyone."

"And what if they shoot?"

"They're not gonna shoot, as long as you don't act as a threat. Keep any guns or knives away, and keep your hands out of your pockets," the young woman's posture was fairly relaxed, but her voice and expression made it obvious she was serious.

"I'm guessing they aren't really the trusting type," MacCready observed.

"Not in the slightest. Just don't look like a threat, and you'll be fine."

MacCready nodded, yawning. "We should get some rest."

"Yeah. I'll keep watch for a bit," Roulette told him. The young man nodded and lay down, falling asleep fairly soon after.

Morning seemed to come all too quickly. The dawn sunlight woke MacCready as it shone into his eyes. Roulette was already up and about, packing away her things, and getting herself in order.

"Hey," he mumbled, pulling himself up.

"Morning," she replied, barely looking up from what she was doing. She pulled out what looked to be some dried meat. The girl pulled a piece from the makeshift pack, before offering it to her companion. MacCready eyed the strips for a moment with mild suspicion, before taking one for himself. He made no comment about the meat, as he knew it was usually better to not know what he was putting into himself.

"We'll need to get going soon, if we want to get to Nuka World by nightfall," Roulette stated, rising to her feet. She pulled on her backpack, and ran her fingers through her half-head of black hair with a quiet sigh.

MacCready shrugged on his pack, and pulled his hat on over his head. The man resumed his pace a couple of steps behind Roulette, letting the girl lead him along the route.

Like the previous day, the first few hours went by silently. Eventually, the silence was broken by Roulette's humming, and MacCready joining in with her.

"How many times have you been to Nuka World?" MacCready questioned, after their humming had died down and lead back to silence.

"A few times. I haven't really kept track of it," Roulette answered. "If I had to put a number to it, I'd say probably five or six times."

"Huh, I guess you know what you're doing, then."

"Yeah, I guess so. You can never completely know what to expect, but you can at least get an idea once you've been around a few times."

"Makes sense."

The conversation died down, and the pair continued on their way. The hours went by as they progressed, filled with idle chatter and comfortable silences. As they walked, nothing of any major significance really came their way. A few skirmishes with mole rats, radroaches, and a handful of radscorpions were less than memorable. Most raiders in the area were likely already in Nuka World, so they were of little threat, and few Gunners were this far from the main areas of the Commonwealth. It was a long road to Nuka World, but at least it wasn't a lonely one for either of them.