Eventually, they got there, to the Vault with no number and no particular purpose other than to store things, and in one piece, more or less. Jael's handiwork and ballistic lining had been tested along the way, but it came through with flying colors. Barb's directions had been accurate, but when they came to the massive door, it was not locked.

"It don't look like it was broken into," the Ghoul said, stepping back and taking a look. "No blast marks, no tool marks. And here," he scooped up a Pipboy abandoned on a stair.

"So somebody came out?" Lucy asked. Dogmeat came over, whining, and scratched at a particular spot on the floor and came back again. They ignored her.

"Guess there's only one way to find out," the former Vault dweller pulled out the cable on her own Pipboy and plugged it into the console. The giant, gear shaped door screamed and grated as it rolled to the side.

Before it opened more than a crack, a wave of angry, screeching mole-rats erupted all around them in the dark, and the next several minutes they spent shooting and warding off bites before they were all dead.

"Mole-rat chunks for dinner tonight!" the Ghoul said, "All the shit flavor you could want in a meal."

"I was hoping there would be Salisbury steak and Instamash inside," Lucy said.

"Then it'll be rat jerky for the road," he replied.

There was a tidy desk awaiting them in the center of the entryway. Next to the terminal were two holotapes. One was labeled 'For Janey's Mom', and the other, 'For Janey's Dad'. The handwriting was not that of a child.

"This is just….okay, it's a little weird." Lucy said, looking around. "I mean, I thought it would be more difficult than this."

"No," Cooper Howard said. "It just got a lot more difficult. Somebody left here with Janey, that's what this means." He picked up both tapes and sat down at the terminal.

He started to put the one for him in the computer, but paused, then swapped it for the other.

"Okay," an adult woman's voice said. "You just talk into here, sweetheart. I'll go over there so you can say it in private."

"Okay," Janey's voice said, and the sound reached into his heart and squeezed hard. "Uh…Hi, Mommy. I didn't want to leave you any message, but Lana said I should. So. I don't forgive you. Lana says that you don't have to forgive people unless they ask you to and make things right. They have to mean it, too. So, I don't. We're going away because there isn't enough food. Love, Janey. She said I could still love you even if I'm mad and sad and don't forgive you. Bye."

That recording clicked off, but then another clicked on. "This is for Janey's mother. I don't know where you are now, but this vault was damaged by an earthquake and the cryopods turned off. I don't know how to get them working again, and that's not something to leave to an amateur. Janey is awake." The woman's voice said, low and half-whispering.

"I don't blame you for your decision. Putting her in cryosleep to wait for a cure was…a reasonable choice.

"What I blame you for,"—and a cold, a glacial anger undertone to her voice surfaced. "is letting her see and hear that you were angry and disgusted. You broke her heart. You left her self-esteem in pieces and destroyed her confidence and trust. I have spent months here putting her psyche back together. She has separation anxiety and was nearly suicidally depressed. She has a phobia of medical treatment and needles and can't stand to be alone. This is something she will never, ever completely get over. She will carry it with her forever.

"You were a failure as a mother.

"May you die alone without anyone to hold your hand or bring you a sip of water, and may your bones lay unburied and forgotten."

The recording ended.

Cooper Howard closed his eyes and squeezed them hard. Dogmeat, sensitive to mood and changes in spirit, nosed his hand.

Lucy opened her mouth and closed it again, in silence.

"Dunno who she is, but she sure knows how to curse somebody," the Ghoul said, finally.

He hit the eject button and replaced it with the second tape.

"Yes, I can do it by myself," Janey's voice came out of the computer.

"Hi, Daddy!" she began cheerfully, but then her voice changed. "I got burned by the bombs, and the doctors put me in a room all by myself for days and days and everybody who came to see me had to put on spacemen suits. They put needles with bags attached to them in my arms every day and it hurt but they wouldn't stop. Mommy watched through a window and cried but she didn't come in and tuck me in or kiss me goodnight.

"Then my hair fell out and they had to do a surgery on my nose because it died. I'm ugly now and Mommy didn't want me anymore. So then the doctors said that they would put me in hibernation like bears until they figured out how to make me better, and Mommy would go into hibernation too. They said when I woke up I would be pretty again and Mommy would be there, but I woke up and I'm still the same, and Mommy isn't here." Her voice was small now, and squeaky with the beginning of tears.

"But Lana was here, and she takes good care of me. She hugs me and tells me stories and kisses me goodnight. She says that I'm a ghoul now, and lots of people are ghouls, so I'm not sick, I'm just different, and…" her voice became more certain now,. "that's not a bad thing. Because I'm stronger than I was, and when I get hurt it heals faster. Lana says that when you love somebody then they're beautiful. She says I'm beautiful and I think she's beautiful too.

"Oh, and I brush my teeth like I'm supposed to. Lana says we have to leave here because there isn't enough to eat. We're going to North Lake Tahoe because it's cooler there and there's much more water and trees. Don't worry, Daddy. You'll be able to find us because I'll leave trail signs like you taught me.

"I love you, Daddy. Oh! I left some of my best pictures on the walls in our room for you. Bye, Daddy!"

That recording ended, and then came the woman's voice again, hushed and careful. "This is—", but he stopped the recording, peeled off a glove, and wiped his face. His eyes were leaking.

"You know," Lucy said, tactfully. "I think I'm going to look around and see if I can find a washroom. Even though this doesn't look like it was a residential Vault, there has to be one somewhere, right?"

"Be careful," he warned her. When he regained his composure, he pressed play again.

"—for Janey's father. You may notice I'm not using names. If you are her father then you know who you are. My name is Lana Hunter, and I'm recording this while Janey is asleep.

"I've managed to conceal from Janey that about two hundred and fourteen odd years have passed since the end of the world, and privately I think the odds of your surviving, even as a ghoul, and not one that's wobbling around trying to club and bite people to death, are about the same as getting a strawberry snow cone in Hell, but if by some impossible chance you are and you find your way here and listen to this, it will be waiting for you.

"Anyway I'm originally from Massachusetts, and before the war I was a forest ranger. I'm used to working with children and campers and I'm good at shooting things and not getting killed by animals or assholes with guns. That came in handy after I woke up from cryosleep the first time. This is the second time.

"There's not enough food here for us to stay much longer and what there is, I think is laced with chems of some kind. I don't like deserts and from asking around, I've learned that the Tahoe area wasn't bombed directly. The ecosystem there isn't as bad as most places and I know how to live off the land in a forest. Therefore I'm taking Janey there. It was a popular winter destination area so there should be plenty of chalets and cabins in the woods. I ought to be able to find one that's still in good enough shape to live in, with a little work.

"I have doubts about how long Janey will remember to leave trail signs so, on the infinitesimally slim chance that you are still alive and listening to this, I will leave you letters at the caravan stations along the way. Just ask if anyone has left a message for your dog. I trust you remember his name.

"I plan to stay on the California side of the lake, but you never know. Probably not directly on it, either, but somewhere near running water for practical reasons.

"Above all else, I promise I will do my best for Janey. I have grown to love her. Although, if you want to show up any time and take over parenting, you will be more than welcome. We could really use another grownup around. Good luck."