It had been the stangest day. Riley sat mulling over the events that had just occured, and she was still confused. To begin with, she'd met her first, real life synth. She'd heard rumours about the synth detective in Diamond City, and the accusations that the Mayor was a synth but she'd never met one. There was also the matter of Simon. Her elusive friend, if she could call him that, had quickly vanished after they had escorted the synth away, mentioning something about 'other business' he had to take care of.

Sure, Riley was used to Simon running off, he did it so often, but now she knew that he dealt with things as serious as synths? Well, that had brought upon a whole new light. But deep down, the thing that was troubling Riley most was the affect the synth had had on her. She'd had an ingrained hatred and distrust for synths ever since she'd stepped into this wretched wasteland, it was one of the first things she'd learned - you never trust a synth. But now, she'd actually met one, and it had been so human. It was creepy and intriguing at the same time, Riley had a desire to get to know the synth but a part of her wanted to stay as far away as possible.

Riley ran her grimy hands through her mussed hair and let out an agitated sigh. She pulled her jacket tighter around her body and trudged along through the barren landscape, the harsh sunlight battering her skin. She was annoyed at Simon for leaving so quickly, she had so many questions she wanted him to answer and now she had no one to go to. As her frustration peaked, her hand made its automatic route to her pant pocket, aching to feel the familiar cylindrical feel of a Jet injector. When her hand felt no such thing, her body tensed up.

Shit.

The first thing that went through her mind was panic, without her Jet, Riley was going to start going through withdrawal soon, she hadn't had a hit for almost a full day and she was already dealing with the consequences. Her heart began to accelerate and she could already feel the small shakes the accompanied the absence of Jet. The bigger problem was being about, alone in the Wasteland without her Jet. It was already getting dark and she didn't want to be alone out here. Her fighting skills took a toll without her Jet, and she was much better of when Simon was around.

Simon, god damn Simon. Riley exasperatedly thought. He'd taken her bloody injector.

"I'm going to kill him." She muttered to herself. But that could wait, for now, she needed to get out of the open area. She immediately first thought of heading back to Goodneighbour and grabbing some Jet there but an idea was forming in her head. If the stories of the synth detective in Diamond City were true, maybe Riley could get some answers about synths from him, and besides, Diamond City had Jet as well.

Nora lay on her back, eyes open, staring at the ceiling. Silent tears trickled down her cheeks as she tried to stop her body from shaking with each sob she held in. Preston had told her to try and 'get some shut-eye' as she was up for quite the task tomorrow morning, but the thoughts of her family being taken from her were keeping her far from sleep. But Shaun was out there somewhere and she needed to find him. She closed her eyes once more and tried to settle into the uncomfortable mattress but her attempt to sleep was interrupted by a wet sensation on Nora's forehead.

Tentatively opening one eye, Nora was met with two large brown orbs staring back at her.

"Oh hey, boy." She softly muttered to the German Shepherd looming over her as she stroked his soft hair. The dog, Dogmeat, reminded her off her sister in-laws old German Shepherd, a painful reminder of the world that had been. Moving over slightly, Nora allowed enough room for Dogmeat to settle down next to her.

His brown eyes soon closed, tempted by the prospect of sleep, but Nora's stayed open, for quite some time.

Slowly, and groggily, Nora opened her eyes, jarring rays of light burning her retinas. Quickly shielding her eyes from the suns glare, Nora sat up from the stale mattress she'd spent the night on. The warm weight of Dogmeat was no longer there, causing a pang of loneliness to pass through Nora.

Finally standing, Nora made her way towards the main living area in the ruins of Sanctuary, taking the longer route around so as she would not have to face going past her old home. Not yet. She stopped just outside, noticing the man (Sturges was it?) already wide awake and working on something at the workshop.

The friendly face of Preston emerged from the broken down doorway just as Nora was about to knock.

"You ready to head out General?"

Nora raised an eyebrow.

"Come on Preston, I told you not to call me that." She half scolded the younger man. His pleasant attitude and manners reminded her of when she'd first met Nate. He'd called her ' ma'am' for what seemed like forever until they started dating, the similarity caused an ache in her heart. Part of her was still insisting that Nate was okay and this crazy world was just a figment of her imagination. But she knew better, she wouldn't be able to imagine something as horrible as this.

Preston sheepishly smiled at Nora in reply. They began to make their way towards the bridge out of Sanctuary, Dogmeat dutifully trotting behind them, tail swinging from side to side.

"So, what's the safest way to Diamond City?" Nora piped up once the were past the Red Rocket where she'd found Dogmeat. Her sense of direction had been completely thrown off by the drastic change in landscape, and finding her way through the Commonwealth would surely prove to be a difficult task.

Preston let out a soft chuckle.

"Safe? That's not a word in the Commonwealth's vocabulary." A frown began to form on Nora's face. "But don't worry, if we head through Concord, we should be alright considering it's just been cleared out"

Nora sighed as she nodded. "Through Concord it is then."