I am so sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I had some things to attend to. There was a death in my immediate family, and I was pretty close with her. It was hard to even think about writing for a while, but I've since made my peace with her passing. Sorry again this chapter took so long to get out. I'll try to return to daily updates soon.

Chapter 29 - Solitude

Marilyn awoke in a cold sweat. She could still feel the hot blood spurt across her face, but her trembling hands came away clean. Just another nightmare, she realized. With a deep sigh drawn from the core of her being, she sat up and flung the blanket aside. The room was dark, dim. Not as dark as last night, but not as bright as daytime. Somewhere in between. With a yawn, Marilyn slung her legs over the side of the bed and rubbed her eyes. Images from her dream, from her memories, still swirled in her head. She didn't want to think about that.

After slipping on her boots and pulling her dark hair back into a ponytail, she finally checked her Pip-Boy. It was a few minutes past 6 in the morning. That was surprising. She hadn't expected she would sleep the entire night, not after having slept away a good portion of the day prior. But maybe she just needed the rest. With each passing minute, the room illuminated more and more, incrementally. It was still dim, but less so.

Getting the door open was a bit of a struggle, but it was even more difficult to do it quietly. Yet through enough rattling the doorknob and gentle tugging, eventually Marilyn managed to pull it open. As soon as she stepped into the hallway, her eyes immediately moved towards Dick's door. It remained closed. He must've been still asleep, she figured as she walked past. She decided to let him sleep in. He hadn't had an hours-long nap like she had, after all.

As Marilyn descended the stairs into the main room, she could hear two things. First, she could hear someone bustling about in the kitchen. Gracie, no doubt. Preparing for the day. But the other thing she heard was music. Any not just any music. That gentle lullaby she'd fallen asleep listening to back at the church. She could recognize it instantly, for it was so different from anything that ever played on the radio. And it was coming from outside.

"In my solitude, you taunt me…" The woman sang somberly, "With memories that never die…"

Marilyn gently pushed open the front screen door, peering out curiously. Billy was leaning against the railing of the front porch, a cigarette between his withered lips and his gaze far in the distance. The Pip-Boy on his wrist illuminated him in a pale green light. Marilyn quietly moved from the doorway, coming to stand beside the ghoul. His milky white eyes flicked over to her briefly before looking away again.

"What're you doing out…" Marilyn began as she followed Billy's gaze, "...oh, wow…"

"What's the matter, kid?" Billy sniffed, momentarily glancing back at her again, "Never seen the sunrise over the ocean before?"

"I've never seen the sunrise before, period," Marilyn admitted, leaning her arms against the railing, "It's beautiful."

The sky had become a tapestry with so many colors. Colors which Marilyn had never seen it take before. Red, orange, pink, purple, and yellow. And it was all blooming outward from the small golden circle that peeked up over the far horizon. Over the endless waters of the ocean, which reflected every color upon the rippling surface.

The two of them stood side by side in silence, watching the sunrise for a good few moments. The soft music played in the background, the woman's voice accompanying the scene so beautifully. Her voice was like an auditory sunset, Marilyn thought. But then the song ended, and Marilyn heard a holotape click.

Her eyes flicked down to Billy's Pip-Boy, which sat between them on the railing. He reached over with his free hand and tapped a button. There was a quiet whirring, and then the song began again. Marilyn went to inquire about the song and the holotape it was on, but Billy spoke up first, much to her surprise.

"There's no sunrise in a Vault," Billy grumbled, moving his eyes back towards the sea, "They just turn the solar lights on."

Marilyn perked a brow at the obvious statement, but Billy just continued on.

"At least…" He paused to puff his cigarette, "They're supposed to."

Something about the statement settled ominously in Marilyn's stomach. But her curiosity was piqued.

"Gracie already let slip that everyone in the Vault you're from is—"

"I'm not from a Vault, I'm from Hoboken," Billy interrupted tersely, "...But yeah, I lived in a Vault. If you can call it living."

Marilyn frowned, glancing down for a moment.

"Was it… far away?" She asked cautiously.

She was curious, but she knew full well that he was touchy about the subject.

"Princeton," Billy sniffed, "About 120 miles north of here, give or take."

Marilyn tried to carefully construct the next question within her mind, trying to figure out what she could and couldn't ask. But Billy continued unprompted before she had the chance.

"Most of the Vault were professors and staff from the University. Princeton used to be known around the world for its school," He explained quietly, "And there was a special admittance rule. No infants, children, or pregnant women."

"Really? That's interesting," Marilyn hummed, leaning her chin on her arms, "Vault 31–the one I'm from—only admitted people born in the same year. And all of the Vault's staff were robotic."

"...Even the Overseer?" Billy asked after a moment.

"No, I think they didn't have one in the beginning," Marilyn explained as she tried to recall everything she had learned about the history of the Vault in class, "Not until someone was elected."

"My Vault had an Overseer," Billy frowned, looking down at the grassy water below the deck, "He was a mean man. Cruel as can be. He couldn't have been elected in a million years. But luckily for him, he was assigned the position by Vault-Tec, so nobody had a say."

"What was so bad about him?" Marilyn asked innocently.

Judging by the way Billy's jaw clenched and his face hardened, she assumed she had pushed too far and wouldn't be getting an answer any time soon. But instead he just clenched his fists and gritted on.

"He… experimented on everyone," Billy responded slowly in a strained voice, as though the words were physically painful for him to say.

"Experimented…?" Marilyn furrowed her brow.

Billy sighed deeply, like he had pulled the sigh deep from within his bones. Marilyn instantly recognized that kind of sigh. She had only recently been acquainted with it, but she already knew it well.

"We'd been in the Vault for about six months when he called a lockdown. Said there was a plague, and restricted everyone to solitary confinement so the plague wouldn't spread," Billy explained in a voice uncharacteristically quiet, "Then he just… sat back and watched. For 10 years."

Marilyn's brows shot up. Her first thought was what sort of plague it could've been to warrant that sort of reaction. Something terrible, to be sure. But then Billy looked at her and seemed to read her thoughts because he just shook his head. No, there was no plague at all, was there? She frowned. But then why would the Overseer do something like that? She searched Billy's expression for an answer, but he was blank. Completely unreadable.

"Then one day, the doors just… opened," Billy continued, "Half of the population was already dead. Stopped eating, hung themselves, or what have you..."

Marilyn looked down, trying to parse her thoughts. She couldn't imagine this sort of thing happening in Vault 31. She just couldn't see it.

"There was this feeding tube, built into the wall, that'd deliver just enough nutrient paste each day to keep someone alive," Billy continued, gesturing with his hands, "The lights were always off and the walls were soundproof. Couldn't hear anything outside of your little cell."

"...I just don't understand. What could drive your Overseer to do something like that?" Marilyn asked finally, when her own brain couldn't find an answer.

Billy looked at her and smiled sadly.

"You're awfully naive, kid," He chuckled, lowering his head, "Don't you get it? The feeding tubes, the soundproof walls? That place was built for it from the start. For the experiment."

"H-Huh?" Marilyn furrowed her brow, "But that doesn't—"

"Make sense?" Billy chuckled, "Kid, you just got lucky. Seems like your Vault was one of the good ones. Or maybe the experiment just wasn't too invasive."

"One of the good ones? Wh-What? But all Vaults are supposed to keep—"

"Look, I've been around quite a bit over the last century, kid," Billy sighed, "I've met people from Vault 2 over in Philly, Vault 30-something up in New York, and even crossed paths with former dwellers of much further Vaults out in the Pitt. Trust me when I tell you, your Vault is one of the rare few good ones."

Marilyn looked down quickly and bit her lip. She didn't know why, but something about his words was resonating with her in a terrifying way that she really didn't like. She shut her eyes, willing her rapid heartbeat to calm down. It was easier when she concentrated on the gentle music, which still played on loop in the background. Maybe that was why Billy listened to it, she realized. Surely thinking about these things was much worse for him than it was for her. With that in mind, she opened her eyes again to find him watching her as he puffed his cigarette. Once her blue eyes met his milky white ones, he looked back towards the ocean.

"When the doors opened… for those left alive, it was hell," He finally continued, "People ripping each other's throats out with their teeth, tearing off limbs, strangling the life out of one another…"

Marilyn paled slightly at the imagery that came to mind with his words.

"I was the only one still alive at the end of it. I knew I couldn't stay in the Vault. I couldn't… be alone anymore. So I left," Billy concluded with a sniff, "It was only 10 years after the bombs, but I didn't care. Rather take my chances with the rads than…"

Billy reached up to touch his face with a gloved hand for a moment before withdrawing it sharply.

"Well, that's how I became a ghoul," He finished promptly with a small shrug.

Marilyn watched as he looked down to his Pip-Boy, opening the tape deck and staring at the holotape. He looked at it for a good long moment, before seeming to remember her presence.

"This holotape is the only thing I took from the Vault," He explained, "I thought it was… fitting."

Marilyn watched him shut the tape deck and the song began to play again.

"In my solitude, you haunt me…" The woman began, "..with reveries of days gone by."

"Billie Holiday," Billy spoke up after a moment, drawing Marilyn's gaze up from his Pip-Boy, "That's her name. I thought that was fitting, too."

Marilyn looked back down to the holotape, frowning more intensely than she perhaps meant to.

"...With gloom everywhere, I sit and I stare…" Billie sang onward, "I know that I'll soon go mad…"

When Marilyn looked back up, Billy was no longer looking at her. He was back to watching the sunrise, which had almost fully risen over the horizon. Marilyn thought about everything he had told her for a moment before returning to leaning on the railing beside him. They didn't say anything further to one another, but even silence was better than being alone.