Nate's sleep was untouched by the dreams he had before, it was like he blinked, and the sun was rising again.
Seeing the little glints of sunshine through the broken windows, he got up slowly. Standing up straight, he noticed Piper on the other side of the now smoldering fire, still sleeping.
He didn't want to wake her up, so he would just scavenge around the houses they cleared for supplies and food. Searching house after house it took him about half an hour to get through all the houses, although he only managed to find a Salisbury steak and a single Nuka Cola, they'd have to share.
He came back to Piper getting up quicker than he did, a lot quicker.
As he opened the door she shot around and looked at him, "Oh there you are! For a second there I'd thought you ran out on me Blue"
"Wow, good to know you have such low standards when it comes to friends" Nate replied as he was putting down the food on a barrel.
Piper mumbled something about 'friends' but Nate couldn't make it out.
"Okay, we got a Nuka Cola and a steak, we can split it"
"Sure, just don't backwash in the Cola" Piper said with a sigh.
They both sat on the floor with the food in front on them, Nate cut the steak with a knife he had.
"So" Piper said, taking a sip of Nuka Cola, "What are the people at Sanctuary like- now I mean, not 200 years ago"
"There's just a handful of them, as I said in the interview, one of them is a 'Minuteman', from what I gathered, it seems like a charity group that ran out of members"
Piper laughed."Yeah, I guess you could call them that"
"Well hey, I'm member number 2, so I guess I fell for it aswell"
"Wow... didn't know I was dealin with a honest to god Minuteman" Piper joked.
"Well, the only people I helped were at Sanctuary, so maybe he'll give me something different this time"
"Jokes aside Blue, I think you could make a pretty good Minuteman" Piper said.
"We're gonna put that to the test soon enough" Nate replied, finishing his side of the steak.
After breakfast, they made their way out of the shed, and further north. Moving closer to Sanctuary, they past a small house nearby a power line, and a bigger house with a farm attached to one. They didn't want to disturb them, as they seem to be gathered around a grave.
"So is this where you put petrol in your car?" Piper asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, this place was already pretty shitty before the bombs, so its good nothing has changed"
They shared a laugh as they made their way to the bridge.
The planks on the bridge creaked as they made their way across it, Piper looking at the broken down houses and the cars.
"Y'know, If we got someone with enough know how, we could probably retro-fit one of these cars to get through the broken roads"
"Yeah, well, If you find someone like that, let me know" Nate said.
They walked up the road, and they met the group of survivors Nate had helped. Preston being the first one to greet them.
"Hello Nate" Preston said, somewhat surprised, "I'd thought you'd spend a bit more time away, although Mama Murphy disagreed, said you'd come runnin back round about now"
"She did, did she?" Nate said, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Yes I did" The old woman said with a smile, coming out from behind Preston. "You think I'm lying... don't you?"
"I'd be pretending if I said I didn't"
Mama Murphy looked slightly disappointed in Nate's response, she shook her head and wandered back into the orange house.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nate asked Preston.
"To be truthful, I think Mama Murphy's back on the chems again, can't stop talking about 'the sight'. Anyways, who's your new friend here?" Preston asked, pulling Piper out of her awe state, gawking around the Neighborhood.
"Oh- Hi I'm Piper" She said smiling. "I come from Diamond City"
"I think I've heard that name before… You run the newspaper there don't you?"
"The one and only"
"Say, how much caps would it be to slip in an advertisement for the Minutemen"
"I am terribly sorry to say, but Publick Occurrences is not accepting sponsors any time soon" Piper said with a joke posh accent.
"Guess we're gonna have to do it through word of mouth huh?"
"Seems like that Preston" Nate interjected "I'm just gonna head up to the va- er – do some recon, I'll be back in fifteen minutes"
Piper quickly picked up on his code, "Hey, didn't you say you were gonna show me around the place" She said with a fake smile.
"I did say that… okay, lets go" And they were off to the vault, leaving an extremely confused Preston in their wake.
Piper spoke up as soon as they were out of hearing distance.
"What's the deal with the sad sap and his pissed off wife, I didn't even have to speak to them to realize what mood they were in"
"You could be a bit more sympathetic Piper, they lost their son a while back to some raiders"
"Oooooh, that's why. Damn, that sounds like some awful luck."
"Yeah I know, from what I've heard, the Commonwealth Minutemen isn't doing so well. But I'm sure Preston has a plan to change that, and I'm sure that plan involves me doing most of the legwork" Nate said
"Hey, look on the bright side, it's us doing most of the legwork now" she said with a smile.
"Yeah, I guess so"
They were now at the vault entrance, Piper taking pictures of the skeletons.
"Hey, if you wanna see skeletons, you should check the inside" Nate said with a grin, slamming the red button.
Sirens blared and the red lights turned on, Piper looked alarmed at first but calmed down when she saw Nate nonchalantly walked over to the platform.
"Y'know" Piper said, getting onto the platform with him "Most vaults I've heard of usually have the entrance on the side of a hill or something, not an elevator going into one"
"Not like it makes a difference, got in here just as quick"
The platform slowly started to creek down, lowering into the vault. Slamming to a halt as the gate in front of them slid open, they stepped into the underground vault, Piper walking slowly, looking around, while Nate just hurried on to the reception.
"So why'd you come back here Blue?"
"There's something I saw, and I figured I should be able to get it now" Nate said as he walked into a cornered off section of the reception.
"And what's that?" Piper said behind Nate.
"This…" Nate said triumphantly as he moved his hand to a glass box containing some sort of weapon.
"Jeez, what does that thing even do?"
"I have no idea" Nate replied as he took a 10mm pistol and aimed it at the lock, taking a shot. The lock didn't break, so he put in two more shots and it cracked.
"Damn, that's one strong ass lock" Piper said
"Yeah" Nate smashed the lock with the pistol and creaked open the case.
Taking the weapon in his hands he cried "Ah- ah- ah, cold, damn this is cold"
He threw it to Piper who fumbled around with it, but eventually caught it.
"What're you takin about Blue, this ain't that cold"
"Easy for you to say, you're the one wearing gloves"
"Oh, yeah"
"Well I'm not going to use it thanks to that freezer it has on it, you can keep it"
"Damn, your just giving this away? Guess it was beneficial to come down here"
"I thought you wanted to take pictures?"
"Oh… Yeah" Piper said, putting the gun on her back and taking out her camera. "Where'd you say those cyro-thingies were?"
"Down the hallway and to the left, there should be a room full of them"
Piper nodded and Nate followed after her as she hurried to the room, Nate wanted to make sure she didn't stumble into the room with Nora.
Just being down here brought back bad memories, he tried desperately to ignore them, but walking back to the room where it all began, it was getting harder.
"Yeah, it should be this one" Nate said, running in front of Piper and showing his hand to the room to the left.
Piper was visibly confused, but she went along with it.
Taking up her camera and taking pictures of the cryo-pods, she asked, "So you were in one of these ice boxes for how long again?"
"200 years, give or take"
"Did you try to get anyone else out with you?"
"I did" Nate said as he pushed a button next to one of the pods.
A mechanical voice from the machine said Error, cryogenic array, non responsive.
Piper looked deeply troubled, "I kinda feel sorry for all these sad saps, I mean,they just escaped a nuclear war, just to come down here to die a quite and alone death"
"Jesus Piper, that's dark for you"
Piper looked at Nate and shrugged off the comment.
Piper continued to take pictures of the pods for a few minutes, Nate was starting to feel uneasy in the cold, lifeless vault. A fact that seemed to elude Piper as she kept on taking pictures.
"Are you done yet?" Nate asked, teeth nearly chattering from the cold.
"Yeah, sure. I guess I got everything I need"
"Then let's goooo" Nate said as he walked out of the room, heading straight for the platform, Piper reluctantly following as she was taking pictures as they moved out of the vault.
Heading back to Sanctuary, Nate was greeted by Jun, the father who just lost their son, a terribly ironic coincidence.
He seemed to be getting happier, gradually. As for his wife, she seemed angry as ever, like two opposites attracted together.
Nate went over to Preston to ask him what work he had for him "Since we got our own settlement up and running, I think it's time we do the same for others. I've gotten word of a small farm just east from here that's having some raider problems, I know it's seems mundane, but this is the only way we can rebuild the Minutemen"
"Okay Garvey, I'll give them a visit"
"Thanks Nate, it means a lot. The Minutemen have been the only thing in my life for a while now, seeing them get destroyed… I really just want to bring them back"
"Don't worry, Preston" Piper tuned in "We got this"
Preston nodded, and Nate and Piper were off to help some poor farmers.
"We do have this… right Blue?" Piper asked, sounding unsure.
"Yeah, I'm sure we'll be fine, it's gonna be a bunch of raiders or something like that"
"Lets hope. You know you were actin awfully strange in that vault, why is that?"
Nate desperately made excuses, "It was just really cold, and it's just eerie being back in there"
"Yeah I guess so"
"Remember you still owe me the booze, where do you plan to get it?"
"There's a place over by Diamond City, the Dougout Inn, there's some quality booze there, besides the moonshine, that stuff is only good for getting you drunk"
"Yeah, knowing that it's been 200 years, I bet the leftover booze is top notch, I'll have to see about the moonshine though"
"Oh come on Blue, even I can handle that stuff, I'm sure you can"
"I just don't wanna get drunk, I like having control of myself"
"hmpf, suit yourself"
"You've never told me about yourself Piper, and I'm pretty sure I gave you my life's story"
"Why do you wanna know?"
"Just curious I guess"
"It's pretty boring Blue, I mean, compared to yours"
"Still, cant hurt to hear it"
"Okay. I'm pretty sure I was born 20 or so years ago, time is kinda hard to track in the Commonwealth. It was mostly just me and my dad, my mom wasn't around much. About 10 years later, my father blessed me with my sister, Nat"
"Wait, you have a sister?" Nate said, sounding shocked. "Why'd you come out all the way here with me?"
"She can handle herself, Blue, plus it's not like she has to be fighting anyone inside Diamond City… So after Nat was born, my mom died, and it was just the three of us. My dad found a job as a security guard at Diamond City, so it was easier for us to move in with him. It was a pretty nice place- compared to the rest of the Commonwealth- but it needed a lot of work. There was a hole in the wall, we constantly ran out of food, and the security was super corrupt. And that corrupt section of the security eventually led to my dad getting shot when he threatened to rat them out"
Piper's voice grew softer, quitter and slower.
Nate didn't know what to say except "Sorry".
"It's fine, and hey, I ended up getting the security head who shot my dad killed, so he got his karma"
"How'd you manage that?"
"Well, when I first went to the mayor, he just shrugged it off and ignored me, so, instead I started printing out flyers with the bastard's face on it with the title 'Wanted for corruption and murder', I practically covered the city with them. I suddenly got the mayor's attention, who then kicked the security head out to the raiders. Needless to say, his corpse was seen outside the city gate in less than a day"
Piper recovered from her quietness, shaking off the grief she still felt.
"That sounds like one hell of a story, definitely more interesting than mine, I just got shoved in a freezer for 200 years"
Nate wanted to change the subject, noticing Piper's sadness
. "Why were you locked out anyway? You seemed to be having a fight with the intercom."
"Oh you know, reporter things…"
"What type of reporter things"
"Just, writing about how the mayor is a robot and is infiltrating the city… Wow, that sounded a lot less insane when I put it on paper"
"I don't even want to know what made you write that" Nate said jokingly.
"I've done some actual good though, you remember that hole in the wall I mentioned, after printing out countless papers and flyers they finally got it fixed"
"Sounds like you did some proper work for Diamond City then"
The weather looked fitting for the task to come, a dreary, overcast day, for a mundane, easy job.