Celia spent the next few hours trying to explain to Mr. and Mrs. Perkins what had happened, wording it as neutrally as she could. Lionel had been holding something back, she thought, but she only had what he'd told her, to pass on to Bobby's parents.

She retired to the room she occupied, by her lonesome, in the women's dormitory. She washed her face in the shared bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. The Vault seemed extremely dreary and closed-in after having been outside.

A popping noise caught her attention, then the alarms began to blare. Celia covered her face with the neck of her shirt and moved out of the dormitory, to the lobby. Coughing, several others came from their living quarters and joined her. A puff of smoke followed Mike Rind and Jason Knowles as they hurried out and closed the door. "All clear!" Mike yelled.

The door sealed with a hissing noise. A head count was taken, and once the threat had been cleared, Calhoun took to the head of the lobby and addressed the Vault dwellers.

"As you are all aware," he began, "the air filters are inadequate for cleaning up our oxygen. Just now, the men's dormitory caught fire, and the smoke cannot be cleared. By that, I mean there is nothing filtering the air in the men's dormitory, at all."

He held out his hands to calm the clamor that arose. "We are out of replacement filters! If we choose to stay in the Vault, the air will continue to deprecate. Even opening the Vault cannot replace the proper amount of air to maintain the Vault. Without some device to force the bad air out and draw good air in, we'd only stagnate further and draw unwanted attention." He gestured to Celia. "Our latest scout reports that the world is irrevocably changed, but moderately inhabitable. We must seek out a new home, or build our own."

Gasps and whispers went through the crowd. Celia felt eyes on the back of her head. "Why not?" she muttered.

Mrs. Perkins called out, "But there are creatures out there that we are not prepared to fight!"

"We have many able-bodied young men who could do with some target practice," Officer Pesaro said.

"If we start by investigating the nearby town... Celia Landis reports that ammo is sold in large amounts, weaponry too, but we will conserve. Food is a primary concern, so we will send out a team to ascertain our options before the majority of us leave." Calhoun placed his hands on his hips and stared out over the crowd.

"What is there is to eat?" Mr. Bailman asked. "What could possibly grow out in the irradiated wastes?"

"There isn't much radiation in our area, actually," Calhoun said. "And I'd rather risk a stomach ache than suffocate in my sleep." He chuckled wryly. "We've got Rad-Away, and Dr. Sorel and Nurse Boyer can learn to deal with the influx."

"What about water?" Jacob Ievvi asked.

"There's nothing wrong with the water in the area."

"But is there water nearby? We can't lay pipes, not without attracting attention like you said."

Celia left them to discuss the situation's details, and sought out her brother. Ed Landis was sitting in the cafeteria with Ann, his wife, looking dour. "Howzit?" she asked, and plopped herself into a seat beside Ed. The brown-skinned man turned a suspicious eye onto his little sister.

Ann Landis always looked like she was disgusted. "I can't believe we're being forced to leave the Vault," she said.

Celia ignored her. "Ed?"

"We should make it voluntary. Janice Armstrong has stepped up to become the new Overseer, if Calhoun decides to leave. We can't risk everyone out there." Ed looked through the window of the cafeteria, not meeting the women's eyes.

Celia sat back and wondered if Ed had even listened to what Calhoun said. "We'll probably end up doing that, anyway," she said, coolly, and looked through the window at the mob of people in the lobby.

"What is it like out there?" Ed asked.

"Bright," Celia said. "The ground is mostly bare, but there are shrubs, with berries on, and trees. Lots of small creatures, some bigger ones. Ants," she said, watching Ann's pinched face squirm. "There's something called a yao guai out there, some kind of mutated bear? ...If your walls are tall enough, you can keep out everything but raiders."

"People are raiding?!" Celia's sister-in-law flushed, her gray eyes wild.

"All people are capable of theft, dear," Ed said. calmly.

"I think that's why Calhoun wants as as many people on board as he can get," Celia said. "To keep out the bad ones." Ed and Ann were not impressed.

Jacob came and fetched Celia back to the lobby. "We're taking a small group out to scout," Calhoun told her, "I'd like you to come with."

"Sure," she agreed. "Bring weapons."

Once fully outfitted, the group of people―including Celia, Overseer Calhoun, Mike Rind, Thomas Perkins and Sally Bailman―left the Vault. Celia watched the Vault door close, saw it shuddering, and wondered if it was having mechanical issues. What happens if it never reopens? she wondered, shivers running down her spine.

The group entered the bright light of the wastes, temporarily blinded by it. Mike and Sally walked slightly ahead to get the lay of the land, consulting their Pip-Boys for information about the terrain. Calhoun had Celia show him the way she'd gone to Grayling, and their relation to the crumbling asphalt of the highway.

The wind was warm, blowing dust into their faces, as they worked their way down the highway towards Grayling. Celia kept her eyes open, but didn't notice anyone or anything roaming the road except for the Vault dwellers. She paused to take a breath at the top of an embankment, and looked down out of curiosity.

"Calhoun!" she called.

"Oh, poor bastard," Mike groaned, looking down at the dead body sprawled at the base of the embankment. "Christ, the skin is gone from her face. If she wasn't wearing that dress..."

"That's a ghoul," Celia said.

"Let's have a look." Calhoun slid down the embankment. Mike and Celia followed, while Thomas and Sally kept watch on the road. Celia moved to the body, and pointed out what she'd mentioned in her notes: the desiccated skin, loss of tissue on the face and the missing bodily hair. She made a personal note that both the dead woman and Lionel were missing the same facial features.

"Seems like a fresh body," Mike said.

"Ugh, how would you know?" Sally called out.

"When my grandma died, she was cold by morning," he answered. "And stiff. This one," he lifted an arm and dropped it. "Is not."

Celia checked the pockets of the body, coming up with a handful of bottle caps, and a Stimpak. "This is currency," she said to Calhoun. She went through the backpack nearby, while Calhoun stared at the corpse, his face distressed. A slim piece of metal shaped like an L-beam fell out, and she examined it. It was too rusted to tell what it was supposed to be, but she pocketed it anyway.

Calhoun motioned for everyone to get back to the road. They couldn't go out of their way to bury her, but they did drag a bit of dead brush on top of the body.

"You weren't kidding," he finally said, after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

"Lionel is worse off than that woman," Celia said.

Mike laughed, high-pitched and nervously. "Do all the people out here look like that?"

"No," Celia said, "only the ghouls."

The walls of Grayling rose in front of them, lit up by the sun, and Calhoun made an awed noise at the structure. Sheets of corrugated metal had been pieced together, stretching for half a mile across the dry earth. Celia pointed out the pulley system that worked the gate, powered by electric engines. The front half of a car jutted out of the ground nearby, stuck in a bog of some kind. A gate guard, sitting in a metal tower above the wall, aimed his rifle down on them and called out a greeting.

"Well, people," Calhoun said, "Let's make some friends."