- "Finally ... hey anybody there? Can you open the gate please?"

Amy carefully put down the corpse of the mirelurk she killed and sat on the ground next to it, or rather dropped on her behind like a sack of taters. This was a problem with hunting mirelurks she never considered - once you killed one, you had to carry it all the way back to Megaton and these things, as she found out, were seriously heavy.

She had to wait a while but she didn't mind - a rest was very welcome at this point. Then the gate opened with a screech of metal and Tom walked towards her. He was a stockily build young man, perhaps one or two years older than Amy, his parents were farmers from Springvale.

He waved to her, then saw the mirelurk corpse. "Oh nice, mirelurk cakes at Brass Lantern tonight. Wow, that's a big one. Did you kill it yourself?"

- "Yes, way out by the river. And I've regretted it ever since. It so heavy." Amy wiped her brow.

- "Did you carry it all the way here?"

- "Yep. I think I've thrown out my back. The thing got its revenge."

Tom smiled "Let me help you carry it."

- "Would you? Oh thank you so much. Just give me a minute." Amy stretched her back gingerly. "OK, if you take its arms, I'll grab the legs."

- "Don't worry about it." said Tom and threw the dead mirelurk over his shoulder.

- "Oh, you don't have to do this."

- "It's all right. Maybe if people see me carrying it they'll think I killed it." he smiled.

- "OK then, I'll just walk behind and give you admiring looks." Amy clapped her hands once then said in an exaggerated tone of voice "Oh wow, Tom, you're such a great hunter."

- "Yeah, can you just try to be a bit more convincing?"

- "I'll keep working on it." Amy grinned.

She met Tom about two weeks ago, before Grayditch. They've been seeing each other a lot recently, he's been really helpful. Amy was sure that he had ulterior motives, but she felt that was just fine with her. Tom was kind and charming, they always had fun together. She still missed Freddy, but it was no use. She would never see him, or anyone else in the Vault again and she was starting to get used to that thought. Besides, since the last time with Freddie it's been so long. She was just going to see where this goes, she told herself.

- "Tom, is your family OK?"

- "Yeah, they're fine. Neighbours got raided, Will and Theresa. Nobody got killed, looks like the assholes were only after food. They hid when they heard them coming. My folks are going to spend this night in Megaton."

- "That's good, but what are they going to do afterwards?"

- "I have a feeling this will get resolved real soon. Maybe tomorrow. Don't worry about it."

- "It's you and your folks I'm worried about."

- "It'll be over real soon. You'll see."

Amy smiled and nodded, but inside she wasn't convinced. Recently a large group of raiders holed themselves up inside an old school near Springvale and started attacking passing caravans and raiding Springvale farms.

Amy's train of thought was interrupted when a child nearly run headlong into her. She dodged at the last minute. She recognized the kid as Matty, Skinny Tim's and Ellie's youngest. Several other children were playing Guai Tag. This was similar to a regular game of tag she used to play back in the Vault, except the tagged player was the 'Guai. 'The 'Guai' was obliged to roar, wave their arms around with fingers bent like claws and generally imitate the fearsome predator. Right now Maggie was the Guai. Amy snorted with laughter watching her - as much as Maggie tried to roar or scrunch her face into a bloodthirsty expression, she made for a very unconvincing Yao Guai.

She was a bit surprised to see Harden Simms among those playing. He stopped and waved at her.

- "Hey Amy. Dad was just talking about you. Oh wow, did you kill that mirelurk?"

Tom, who was still carrying the mirelurk's corpse, turned back towards her and shook his head ruefully. Amy grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

Seeing Harden distracted, Maggie run in behind him, squeaked out a 'Rrawr' and tapped him on the back. Hayden spun around but it was too late. "Not fair!" he complained, then looked at Maggie suspiciously "Hey, how come you're always tagging me?" Maggie just giggled shyly.

Amy spotted Bryan Wilks among the children and smiled. It was good to see him making friends with other kids. She asked Harden "Has Bryan been playing with you for long?"

- "Yeah." Harden nodded, before announcing "He's cheating at 'Hide from the Deathclaw'"

- "Am not!" answered Bryan indignantly.

- "Are too!" insisted Harden. "How come you never lose?"

- "I'm just really good at it."

- "Yeah, well ... " Harden paused to think but the best retort he could come up with was "You're not that good at Guai Tag."

- "Nah" admitted Bryan.

- "And that's why ..." Harden held a dramatic pause "I'm gonna eat you little human. Rrrawrr!"

Amy once again had to dodge the kids, who giggled as they fled from pursuing Harden. She was glad to see Bryan Wilks making friends. In his first days in Megaton he really retreated into his shell, it was hard to get a word out of him. It was good to see him doing normal kid stuff.

The path up to Craterside Supplies was crowded, like every other place in Megaton has been for the last couple of days. Most of the people were farmers from Springvale, looking for safety inside Megaton's walls. Amy could see fear and tension on people's faces.

Amy got a lot of caps for the mirelurk, as she expected, so she decided to treat herself to some of Jenny Stahl's cooking. Tom went back to his family, they were going to see if there was a place at Moriarty's Saloon they could stay. Amy already knew the answer to that question, even if there was a room free that asshole Moriarty was going to demand these people's life savings for it. She headed down to the Brass Lantern.

The first thing Amy noticed was the hat. Lukas Simms' rather unique way of dressing always made him stand out in a crowd but it was his old stetson that you would first notice. The owner of the stetson was standing in front of Brass Lantern eating what looked like a squirrel on a stick while talking to Billy Creel. They both looked serious, the way everyone's been looking recently.

- "Amy." Sheriff Simms called to her. "Come here. I want to talk to you."

Amy came towards them, trying not to make her concerned frown too obvious. It's not that she had anything at all against Simms but what did he want with her? When Simms wanted to talk to you there was usually a problem. Dammit, all she wanted was some of Jenny Stahl's noodles.

- "I've been hearing things about you. That whole Grayditch business."

- "Oh" Amy sighed. She asked Moira to keep quiet about what she did in Grayditch but she had to know that it was never going to be likely. "Have any ants been wondering close to Megaton?"

- "No, no, there haven't. At least no one's reported anything to me. Look, we've got another problem now." Simms looked directly at Amy. "I'm sure you've heard. A large group of raiders holed themselves up in this large ruin they call Springvale Elementary. They've been raiding farms and attacking folks in Springvale. I think they're massing for an attack on Megaton."

- "Are you sure?" Amy asked with concern.

- "Yeah. I'm sure. We're not going to wait for that though. We're going to clear them out of that place. And ... " Simms paused "I want you to take part in the attack tomorrow."

- "Simms, what the fuck?!" Billy Creel stared at Simms, not caring that several people who've heard his outburst were now listening to them. "She's just a kid"

- "I'm .." started Amy but neither man was now listening to her.

- "From what I've been hearing she can handle herself. We need everyone who can hold a weapon. Come on Creel, I don't need to be telling you this."

- "So what, you're gonna get my Lucy to charge a bunch of raiders now? Are you going to give Harden a gun and send him out there too? Or my Maggie?"

Simms's expression darkened. "Creel, you better think real hard about the next thing that comes out of your mouth."

- "Or what? Are ..."

- "It's OK." said Amy, then when neither of them heard her, louder. "It's OK. I'll be there."

- "Good." Simms nodded. "After sunset we're gathering in Moriarty's Saloon, to plan for the attack. You should come". Simms looked at Amy and Billy Creel briefly, then turned and walked away.

- "You shouldn't have agreed." Creel turned to her. "I don't know about all that stuff people are saying about you, but these ain't molerats or ants. These are people and they want to kill you. You don't need to know what it's like."

Amy wanted to tell Billy about the lifeless eyes of the dead raiders in Super Duper Mart but instead she said

- "I'll stay back. I have some medical knowledge and there may be wounded that will need to be cared for."

- "Oh yeah, there will be wounded for sure". Billy smirked unhappily. "Ain't gonna be a shortage of those. Just be careful out there, OK?"

Amy reassured Billy as best she could, then headed towards the gates. She seemed to have lost her appetite for noodles.

Later, sitting on her hill, next to the granary, Amy sat down to watch the sunset. It seemed especially spectacular this evening, the sky painted in what seemed like every possible hue of red and orange.

- "It's good that we're helping the intrepid inhabitants of this place defend their dwellings. I am however surprised that you've agreed."

Amy run her hand across the left side of her face. "I know, Shroud. I'm surprised too. It's ... " she spent several seconds staring off into space. "Looking back at Grayditch, and even at Super Duper Mart, it was horrible. It was so horrible. But when I think about it I feel ... like it was right". Amy moved the fingers of her right hand in some odd pattern. "No, like I was meant to do things like that. Like that is what I'm supposed to do. You understand what I'm saying?"

- "Hmmm" came a noncommittal reply from Shroud.

- "So if that's what I'm good at, I might as well use it to help these people. " Amy clasped, then unclasped her hands. "I don't understand, Shroud. Why is it like this? I'm useless at medicine, I'm useless at repairing things, I'm useless at growing food. The only thing I'm good at, really really good, is killing things. And people. It doesn't make sense. What kind of sick joke is this?"

- "I believe you underestimate your secondary abilities but I'm glad you're finally embracing your primary talent. I believe the answer to your question is, it is this way so that we can defend the helpless, bring justice to this land and finally restore the great US of A to all its former glory!"

- "Uhhh. Never mind."

- "You can look at it this way. Because of your actions in Grayditch, a young child and an elderly eccentric enthusiast are alive today. Without your intervention in events that occurred their chances of making it out alive seem staggeringly slim to me."

- "I'm not sure about Lesko, he isn't helpless, but ... I don't know ... probably. Yeah, I guess you're right" sighed Amy.

- "And from what Lesko said, you may well have saved this entire settlement."

- "I don't know, maybe ... let's just watch the sunset, OK? Look how beautiful it is."

- "That is certainly a striking spectacle" agreed Shroud.

When Amy got into Moriarty's Saloon it was so crowded she could barely find a place to stand. The air was heavy with cigarette smoke, stale sweat and tension. Amy couldn't see but it sounded like Simms, Billy Creel and Jericho in the middle of the room did most of the talking.

- "... So you hit them at night. Get in through the front and the back and whatever holes in the wall there are. I reckon you have enough people." Amy recognised Jericho's voice.

There was a clamor among the people in the saloon, several voices spoke at once. One voice was louder than others.

- "The fuck Jericho? You want us to fight when we can't even see? Half of us will end up shooting each other."

- "Eh. You'll do that anyway" snorted Jericho dismissively. "You go in when it's light, they'll have a guard on the wall, he'll see you. They'll take out half of you from the walls, before you even get to the building. You go in at night, they'll still have a guard but he might be sleeping or fucked up on Med-X or something else. They'll still hear you, but a lot later."

There was more argument, Amy could hear Jericho, Billy Crill and Simms among the cacophony of voices. Finally Simms's voice rose above the others. "All right. Quiet all of you. Jericho, people need to see where they're going and who they're shooting at. We're going in at dawn."

- "Whatever. But I ain't going in the first wave. Not getting myself shot like a fucking idiot."

- "Jericho, do you remember why you're here?" Simm's voice rumbled.

- "Yeah I know boss, I know. I'll get more of them then any of these farmers." there was real disdain in the way Jericho pronounced the last word. "Shit, most of them don't know which end of a gun to shoot with. I'm just saying ... "

- "Jericho, you do whatever the fuck you want." Billy Creel cut across Jericho. "And we're gonna kick the raiders out of Springvale."

There was a deafening chorus of cheers from across the saloon. There was more discussion later but it degenerated into several different conversations and Amy couldn't follow them with all the background noise. By now she was really feeling desperate for some fresh air so she quietly slipped out.

Megaton's host assembled on a hill overlooking Springvale Elementary. Amy never saw that many people together before. Even in the dim light of the morning she could recognize many of them. While most had guns, many carried improvised melee weapons - axes, shovels, hoes. Amy saw one man with what looked like a long pole with a knife tied to the end with a piece of string.

Simms, Creel and several others kept walking around reminding everyone to keep quiet. People tried to follow that command, all conversations were whispered. Still, this force was about as quiet as a Yao Guai with a firecracker tied to its tail. Amy felt amazed that the raiders still haven't noticed the force assembling in front of the ruined school. Perhaps they have, and were biding their time.

Amy could smell vomit in the morning breeze - someone nearby must have thrown up. She could see fear on many of the faces around her. Others looked calm, almost indifferent, or perhaps wearily resigned. On any given day the Wasteland could kill you in a thousand different ways - this was merely one of them.

The assembled force separated into four groups - the plan was to hit the school from all sides. Billy Creel was in charge of the biggest group - the one facing what used to be the front doors. Amy saw him wave his arm then point it in the direction of the school, and the line moved forward.

'Oh god, could they make any more noise?' thought Amy. Surely the raiders would see what is happening any time now. As it turned out, it didn't take them long. Amy heard loud yelling coming from the direction of the school and soon the morning exploded with a cacophony of gunfire. She cold see dark silhouettes among the the ruined walls of the building. They were throwing something at the wastelanders below them, what looked like liquor bottles with something burning inside them and smaller, rounder objects. Then Amy heard explosions. The wastelander line broke, some continued running towards the school, others run back, some returned fire.

Among all the chaos, Amy's eyes were drawn to one figure. The man was on fire, flailing his arms wildly as he run screaming. Amy was frozen, her mouth open, unable to think or do anything other than stare at the burning man running towards her.

- "Dumb shit-shovellers"

Jericho's voice snapped Amy out of her shock. She looked to her left and saw him crouch behind a pre-war concrete bollard, then shoot at the raiders on the walls. With that, Amy felt a switch snap inside her. Sounds grew softer, time slowed and every feeling and emotion seemed to be instantly extinguished.

'Estimated hostiles - 50-60. Estimated allies - 207. Optimal strategy - move into cover, maximum speed, turn 48.5 degrees, 1.43 meters. Then shoot hosile nearest to own position, aiming for the body, to hit chance 43.7%.'

Together with Jericho, Amy started shooting at the raiders on the wall. After several of them fell, the rest moved away from their previous positions, some of them started shooting in her direction. This diverted some of the fire from the wastelanders, a faint echo of a thought run through her mind as she continued firing.

'Optimal strategy - move towards the front doors, turn 87.6 degrees, 40.3 meters, maximum speed.' Amy sprinted towards the ruined building.

Amy sprinted towards the front doors and went inside. Then there were corridors, stairs, rooms. Amy kept moving through them, the sounds of gunfire and yelling of the wastelanders and the raiders all around her, all the while picking off raiders. With every shot she took, another body fell to the ground. Inside one of the rooms, in among the dead bodies lying on the bloodstained floor there were several school benches. 'A bit like the school room in the Vault', a thought briefly surfaced and was instantly discarded.

In the corridor up ahead, Amy heard a female voice, distorted by the slowed time.

- "Fuck this, I'm getting out."

- "Get the fuck back here!" then, a shot. The heavily built raider in metal armor was just turning around, away from the body of the raider he just killed when Amy jumped into the corridor and shot him in the head.

'Revised estimated number of hostiles - zero. All hostiles eliminated.'

Amy walked out of the front doors, then sat down on the ground, next to a body of a dead raider, and remained in that position for some time, staring into space. She got up when she saw people bringing out the dead and wounded out of the ruins of the school and rushed towards them.

She tried to tend to them as best she could. She took a shirt from a dead wastelander's body and using the knife the dead man was still holding in his hands, cut it into makeshift bandages. The shirt was anything but clean but this was better than nothing at all. She soon run out of Med-X and stimpaks but the people kept bringing more and more dead and wounded. Feeling on the verge of throwing up, she searched the bodies of the dead and the wounded for more stimpaks but there were hardly any to be found.

She was just trying to tend to a very badly wounded man when Billy Creel walked by. The injured man had severe burns all over his body and several bullet wounds, the most serious of which was in his gut. Amy kept on making more bandages for his wounds but the man's entire body seemed to be one big wound. He kept on moaning in pain.

Billy got on his haunches and looked at the man's face. "Damn, that's Martin. Shit, man." He shook his head, then looked at Amy, said "Stand back" then took out a knife.

- "Billy, NO"

Billy, who already had the knife over the man's throat, stopped. "He's a goner. Least it'll end his pain."

- "You can't do that! He can still be saved."

Billy shrugged wearily and put his knife away. He then fixed Amy with an intense stare. "I saw you inside. The way you moved ... how ... ?"

- "Billy, I don't know. I'm just good at it."

He looked at Amy uncertainly, like he wasn't sure who, or what, he was looking at. Then he got up and left without a word.

Amy opened her mouth to say something, than closed it and turned away. 'Dammit, I helped them in there.' she thought. 'Would have been nice for him to at least acknowledge it."

She was still trying to tend to the man Billy called Martin when he let out an especially loud moan, his body arched in a spasm, then went limp. He was dead.

A little later Amy run into Jericho. He was standing over the body of the raider in metal armor. Amy tried to slip by him unnoticed but Jericho saw her.

- "You wasted him?" he asked. Amy nodded.

- "That's fucking Boppo." he gave the dead raider a long look. "Thought that dumbass would be long dead by now." he turned to Amy "I used to run with his gang, years ago. Hey, you got almost as many kills as me, I reckon. Maybe more, even" he added reluctantly. "Good shit."

Amy didn't say anything. Jericho nodded and started walking away.

- "Jericho." on impulse, Amy called after him.

- "Yeah." he turned around.

- "Just before I killed ... Boppo ... there was another raider with him. A girl. She was going to run away, and then he killed her. Why did he do that?"

- "She was probably new. They'll do that sometimes, especially Boppo." Jericho narrowed one of his eyes and gave Amy a long, appraising look. "Tell you what. Come to my house later. I can tell you everything you want to know about raiders. There was this other thing I wanted to talk to you about."

- "I don't think I can, tonight. I'm so tired I can barely stand up." Amy was a little shocked by the invitation.

- "Whenever." Jericho shrugged and walked away.

Amy kept on trying to tend to the wounded as best she could but it was increasingly becoming an excercise in despair. She was completely out of Med-X, stimpaks or anything else. Even water for cleaning the wounds was running short. Then, in among all the dead and wounded, one drew her attention. She came closer, slowly, recongnizing who it was but wanting desperately to be wrong. She wasn't. It was Tom.

Amy checked his pulse and breathing, even though a bullet hole in his temple already told her everything she needed to know. She then gently closed his eyes and just sat next to the body for some time.

Amy was in a bit of a daze when she got back to Megaton, so the first time Lukas Simms called out to her she didn't hear him. She did hear him the second time and turned around. Simms was with another man, Amy didn't know him.

- "Sheriff Simms?"

- "I've been looking for you. Great work, you've really helped in the attack."

- "Thank you."

- "I knew there was something about you. I mean, the rumours about Grayditch were a little hard to believe, but today, I've seen the proof with my own eyes. Are you still living in the Common House?"

- "No, I'm staying with Moira."

- "Right. Listen, there's a lot of folks just passing through Megaton, some might stay a while but they'll move on in the end. The Common House, living with others, that's who that is for. People who are part of this town, who belong here, should have their own place."

Simms leaned over to the man and they talked in hushed tone, Amy only heard parts of their conversation "The one next to the Church ..." "No, that's Lesko's old place, he's getting it back" "...What about the one ..." "Is there anything better?" "Old Stu's dead too" "Is that the one above Brass Lantern?"

Simms turned back to her "A few houses have just become available. I think Old Stu's place just above The Brass Lantern will really suit you. It's close to the gate, pretty close to Craterside Supplies too. You're friends with Moira, right? You'll like it, I'm sure."

- "Um ... " Amy was caught unawares. "Did this Old Stu have family? Children?"

- "No" Simms shook his head. "Anyway, that's not how it works around here. So, what do you say?" he offered a set of keys to Amy.

- "Oh wow. Thank you." Amy took the keys.

- "Good. I'm sure you'll like this place." Simms looked actually happy, thought Amy. "Damn, between you, Jericho and me, ain't nobody gonna threaten this town again."

Even as she put the keys into the front door lock, Amy felt like this was some mistake, like the keys wouldn't open the door. But no, the door opened with a creaking sound. She was inside her own house. This was the dream for almost anyone living in Springvale or in the Common House. She was supposed to be happy, Amy thought. All she felt now, however, was tired.

Amy got into her new bed - it was very comfortable, she reflected, almost like back in the Vault - and tried to get to sleep. But instead, she started crying. She cried for Tom, for what they had and what they could've had. She cried for all the wounded people she couldn't help. And, she just cried because she was tired and felt like shit.

The next day, it felt like everyone was looking at her. Several people said things along the lines of "Good job" or "Way to go". One woman run up to her and said she wanted to give her something, "for everything you've done for us". She gave Amy a bowl of noodles from The Brass Lantern. Amy felt ridiculous but of course she had to accept. She tried avoiding the main street but it didn't help much. She resolved to spend as much time out hunting as she could.

Later, Amy remembered Jericho's invitation. Ridiculous, she thought. If she made a list of the people she wanted to see, he wouldn't be far from the bottom. Yet at the same time, she realized that she was going to accept it. He had information about raiders that could be useful. That makes no sense, she thought. All you ever needed to know about raiders was that you stayed away from them, unless you had to defend yourself. And that was all true, but Amy understood that it would make no impact on her decision. She was going to see Jericho and that was that.

- "Shroud, why do I have this strange urge to go and talk to Jericho? It makes no sense."

- "On the contrary, he may offer interesting insights about his former life."

- "Oh not you as well." Amy sighed. "Well, I'm taking my 10 mm with me. I don't trust that psycho." She ended up putting on her armored Vault suit on, too.

Outside Jericho's house looked no different than any other in Megaton. Amy could see light coming from the windows but when she knocked on the door there was no reply. Still questioning why she was here, Amy knocked again.

- "Just get inside" she heard Jericho bark a command through the door. She opened the door and stepped through.

Inside, the house was as much of a mess as Amy expected. There was a pre-war leather couch that was micaculously more or less intact, a pile or dirty looking clothes lay on top of it. Several things were lying on the floor in a haphazard fashion. At the back of the room, by the window there was a shelf filled with ammo boxes neatly stacked on top of each other. Next to it there was a tool cabinet, Amy could see at least two guns inside. The most unexpected thing in the house was a large wooden clipboard hanging in the middle of the wall on the left. Nailed to it was a big map of Washington DC and surroundings, pre-war of course but surprisingly well-preserved. It looked like the map was torn in several places but every tear was carefully glued together by adhesive tape from behind. Even more surprisingly, there were several colored pins stuck into the map. Amy decided she would copy the roads and some of the landmarks into her pipboy map after the conversation.

Jericho was in the kitchen, sitting on a fragile looking chair with his feet on the table. He was wearing the same black leather armor he had on in Springvale Elementary.

- "Good, wasn't sure you were coming. Here, sit" Jericho waved at the chair at the opposite side of the table from him. "There was a thing I wanted to talk about."

- "Yesterday you said you could tell me a little about the raiders."

- "Yeah, sure. Don't know why you care " he looked at Amy appraisingly "but I'm the best guy to ask. I'm one of the real raiders. The original ones."

- "There are real and ... non-real raiders?" Amy looked at Jericho with uncertainty.

- "Yeah. Your average Wasteland asshole doesn't get it. To him, a guy with a gun comes to take his stuff, that's a raider. But most of the time, it's some other tribe. Or just a random bunch of assholes running a gang together. Some settlements will sometimes get a bunch of people together and raid richer ones. The real Raiders though, the original tribe, that's where I'm from. The main town is Evergreen Mills."

- "And there is a big difference?"

- "Of course there's a difference. These other pussies, they'll at most hit a caravan, or steal food from a farm or some shit. Fuck, many of them, as soon as someone shoots back, they'll run. The real Raiders though, they are the ones taking over big settlements. Well, maybe the Talons too."

- "Talons?"

- "Yeah, another tribe. Got themselves a big territory up in the North-East. They got some real nice gear, sometimes even robots. Don't know where they got all that stuff."

- "Where did raiders come from? How did they start?"

- "Ah" Jericho's yellow-toothed smile was more like a scowl. "That was real long ago, before my time. We were just a small tribe just east of Evergreen Mills back then, weren't called 'Raiders' yet. There was this other tribe that we were at war with. They say the war went on and on, both tribes near wiped each other out."

- "What was the war about?" Amy asked.

- "Don't know." Jericho shrugged. "Who gives a fuck? Anyway, there was this really huge building nearby, out on its own, wasn't destroyed at all like all the others. It had defenses still active, robots and ... what do you call these things ..."

- "Turrets?" Amy guessed.

- "Yeah, turrets. So our guys figured it was important somehow, kept trying to break in. Lost many people . But then they finally managed to get inside and ... " Jericho's eyes lit up. "All that huge building was full of guns. All kinds, assault rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns. Even some guns that shoot rockets. Ammo too. Anything you could imagine, that shit was there."

- "That was probably where they stockpiled weapons for the Great War." Amy mused. "Before the bombs hit. I guess these guns ended up being used for war anyway."

- "They're guns, what the fuck else are you going to use them for? Anyway, they took the guns, destroyed the robots and turrets and then hit the other tribe. Fucking totally wiped them out."

- "You mean they killed ... everybody?" asked Amy quietly.

- "Yeah, all of them. That's what they say anyway. Then we hit another tribe, and then a bunch of others. Hit Evergreen Mills, that used to be a big place back then, a huge town, took it over. And then just carried on taking places."

- "So the Raiders are one tribe, one ... force?"

- "Fuck no. Well ..." Jericho grimaced. "They say it was like that back in the day. But nowadays, every boss is on his own. Every now and again, somebody tries to unify all the raiders. They don't usually live long after that. Sometimes a boss will take over a bunch of other gangs. Some bosses work together sometimes, but they're usually back fighting each other real soon."

- "Raiders fight each other? Why?"

- "Same reason anybody fights anybody else." Jericho shrugged. "They want something the others have. Maybe want to take over their settlement, maybe want a bigger force. Or one guy doesn't like the other guy's face."

- "You said yesterday, that when that raider shot that girl, she must have been new."

- "Yeah" nodded Jericho. "When raiders hit a settlement and take it over, whoever survives, some of them we put on growing food for us, or making armor or whatever, and others, usually young ones, get to run with that boss."

- "Raiders ... recruit people from settlements they've just taken over? People whose friends and family they've just killed? They're not afraid they'll turn the guns they're given against them?"

- "Yeah they do that sometimes. So long as they're more scared of the boss than they hate them, it's fine. Some of them will join happily though. Not everyone wants to shovel brahmin shit for the rest of their life. Instead, with us they get to see other places, hit settlements, have fun."

Amy had a pretty good idea of what kind of 'fun' Jericho was talking about. Once again she asked herself, what strange madness possessed her to talk to this psychopath.

"Thing is, to begin with many of them are pretty dumb." Jericho continued. "Many of them go nuts trying to prove how tough and crazy they are." Jericho's features formed a dismissive grimace. "Some of them take drugs. Psycho, Jet, whatever. Or they do stupid shit with their hair. I reckon some of them spend more time fucking with it that they do raiding."

Amy smirked. "You're only jealous because you don't ..." she abruptly stopped, bit her lip and glanced at Jericho nervously.

- "Cause I don't have any hair." Jericho grinned and run his hand across his bold head. "Yeah, I get it. You haven't seen the shit some of them do though. Some shave the sides completely and then get all the hair in the middle to stand up. Or shape it into sort of horns, like brahmin. Or put it into these spikes."

- "You know, you were a lot less friendly to me when we first met."

- "Yeah? I just thought you're just another useless dumb asshole from the Vault. But it turns out you've got skills. So, " he leaned closer to Amy. "how did you learn to fight like that?"

- "I'm ... not sure. I just know what to do."

- "Ah right, I get it. We used to have a guy like that, in that gang I used to run with, years ago. He could see in the dark just as well as in daylight. One day we're going to hit this place, at night. It's fucking pitch black, no moon, no nothing. And this guy, he stops and says "don't go any further, there is an ambush up ahead." The boss goes, how do you know there's an ambush? And this guy says, I can see them. The boss goes, what the fuck are you talking about, you can't see your own fucking hand in front of your face, you've gone nuts. So he keeps on going. Except I know this guy, I trust him. So I say, I'm not going. Me and a couple of others as well. He wanted to shoot us right there, except he didn't have the balls. So he just goes, you're out of my gang. I say, whatever, fine by me."

- "So what happened?"

- "What the fuck do you think happened? They all got killed in the ambush up ahead. Stupid fucks."

- "Why did you attack Billy Creel in the bar?"

Jericho's face twisted into an angry grimace. "Fucking Creel. That motherfucker's gonna get what's coming to him. Simms says I have to play nice with him, so I'll play nice, for now. One day, though. One fucking day."

- "You didn't play nice then."

- "Yeah, that fuck pretty much called me a coward, right to my face."

- "He called you a coward so you tried to kill him?"

- "I wasn't gonna kill him. Probably. But yeah." Jericho shrugged, then seeing the look on Amy's face he continued "Eh, you don't get it. To a raider, if you're a coward, you can't go on raids. Anyone can come and beat the fuck out of you whenever they feel like it. You're only good for growing food or some shit. Means you might as well be dead."

- "So why did you stop being a raider? Why did you come to Megaton?"

- "Ah yeah, that's a good story. Haven't told anyone in ages." Jericho once again flashed his yellow teeth in his scowl-grin. "I was running with Jed back then. Jed the Hammer. Called himself that because he used to carry this hugeass hammer. Really liked to smash people's heads with it." Jericho looked through Amy, his mind in the past now. "One fucking scary guy he was. Not that smart though, but nobody said it to his face. So anyway, one day we see these metal fucks."

- "Robots?"

- "Not fucking robots, people in this hugeass pre-war metal armor."

- "Ah, you mean Brotherhood of Steel."

- "Yeah, them. We were on top of this hill and they were at the bottom, didn't have a clue we were there. So Jed says, they've got some nice gear, let's hit them and take it for ourselves." Jericho turned his face towards Amy "Cause that's how he used to think, yeah?" Amy nodded.

- "So, " Jericho continued "we hit them properly, got the drop on them. Except I just got a real bad feeling about this. So I just sort of, hang back. Not because I was scared to go after these guys." he gave Amy an intense, angry look. Amy nodded her head emphatically to show that yes, of course she understood that it couldn't be that. "So anyway, we hit these guys properly. But the bullets just didn't do shit against their armor. We didn't have anything high-caliber, just regular guns. So, everyone charges at them. Except I hang back, like I said. And nobody even made it close to these fucks. Not Jed, not fucking nobody. They shot them all with their laser guns. Took seconds. And then they just sort of looked at each other, like 'what the fuck was that all about?'. And then just left, didn't even bother looting the bodies."

- "So you were the only one who survived."

- "Yeah. So I took what I could off their corpses and then just started walking towards Evergreen Mills, to find a new group to run with. What the fuck else was I going to do?" Jericho shrugged. "And it's a long way, not much to do but think. So I got thinking about how it happened. How they wasted fucking Jed like it was nothing. And the rest of the gang, none of them were new, all went on lots and lots of raids. All wasted just like that. And I felt like it just wasn't right, like i didn't get it. So I just thought about it for a long time. And in the end, I figured it out. I got it. "

- "You have?" Amy asked hopefully.

- "Oh yeah." Jericho looked at Amy triumphantly, then pointed his index finger at her. "Gear. That's what it's all about. All this 'we're the toughest and the craziest' fucking bullshit, doesn't mean shit. The ones who have the best gear, win."

- "Oh. That is what you took away from what happened?" Amy asked, disappointed.

- "Yeah. So I thought, I'm not going to run with any gangs no more. Fuck them, they don't get it. So I turned around and started walking the other way. Stopped at the nearest settlement, which was Megaton. Simms wanted to kill me first, but I told him, if any boss tries to hit their town, I'll help defend the place, all I ask is to stay here. And he saw sense. Then there was an attack, wasn't even the real raiders, just a bunch of dumb fucks from the south. Surprised they even tried. Anyhow, we beat them back easy, and afterwards Simms tells me he definitely wants me in this place and gives me the keys to this house."

- "You probably hate the Brotherhood of Steel now?"

- "No" Jericho raised his eyebrow. "Why? They get it. I could even work with them. I wouldn't join them, fuck that. But I could, like hit some place or kill some assholes with them. As long as I got some gear out of it."

- "So anyway, this is what I do now, I look for the best pre-war gear. This place is a good base for me, doesn't get attacked too often, in between attacks I can go and look for the good stuff. I found some good shit already. See that?" Jericho pointed to the dark colored armor he was wearing. "Looks like regular leather armour, yeah? Wrong. See this?" he liften the armor to reveal something that looked like a military vest made from an odd looking fabric. "This is pre-war. Weighs hardly nothing but gives as much protection as the armor on top. Together it'll stop a dog bite, easy. Can even stop a bullet if it's low caliber and shot from far away. I wear that all the time. I see you're wearing yours as well" Jericho nodded approvingly.

Amy stayed quiet and Jericho continued. "So, here is what I wanted to talk to you about. I found a few places where I'm pretty sure there could be pre-war gear. Some of these places, I can't handle all by myself, too many defenses or animals. But the two of us, I reckon we could hit them. We could even find some good gear for you. Except it'll be hard to find something that fits you. Stuff we can't use, we sell for caps. You'll get ... a good share. It'll still be way more that you get for whatever the fuck it is you do now. You what, hunt radroaches or something?"

- "Mainly molerats actually, I got a mirelurk the other day."

- "Whatever. I can get you some real caps."

- "Uhmmm. Thank you, that sounds very interesting. But I had some plans already, so ..."

- "What fucking plans? What the fuck are you talking about?" then Jericho's expression changed. "Ah I get it. You think, here's a scary, ugly motherfucker, don't want to hang out with him. You've got skills but you're still dumb. Tell you what, you spend a year living in the Wasteland. Yeah?" He jabbed a yellow-nailed finger in her direction. "You spend a fucking year here. Then when you're ready to make real caps, you come talk to me. I'll still be here."

- "I'm just going to go now." Amy raised her forearms.

- "Yeah, you can fuck off now."

Amy left the house as fast as she could, stopping only when the door to Jericho's house closed behind her. then stopped and breathed in a lungful of cool night air. What was the point in coming here? Sometimes, she reflected, she didn't understand some of the things she did. A lot of the things she did, in truth. She shook her head and then went home.