...Not in the Commonwealth
As Tess walked down the street of her once beloved town of Sanctuary Hills, Tess stopped to speak with Codsworth. "Hey, I'm heading to Concord, maybe there are still some people there that won't shoot first and ask questions later." Her brow furrowed in thought. "I have to find others, I need a place to start, information to help me find Shaun." She raised her left arm, pointing to her wrist. "Can you sync with this Pipboy so I can contact you if need be?"
"Of course, mum! Just pull that connector out and plug it into my interface panel." he happily replied.
She found the panel on the side of his spherical body and opened it. The port was similar to the one on the vault control panel. She made the connection. In less than a minute they were synced. Codsworth's stalks blinked at her, "Mum, do be careful, and be sure to keep that mask on in this dreadful storm!"
She grinned, marveling at how RobCo had managed to make these robots seem so human. But more than that, in this moment, she was just happy to have anyone, or anything, to speak with. "Will do, Codsworth," she replied as she turned to leave, but then, looking over her shoulder she added, "Hedges are lookin fine, Codsworth." She laughed softly at is reaction. It was as if he was a proud gardener puffing up with pride.
"Thank you mum!"
With a grin she released the strap holding her rifle, checked the magazine and headed out of town.
The storm, and her Pip-boy, crackled on. The strange timpani of the lightning jolted her bones and the green haze over everything was so surreal it was like being flung back into one of her nightmares. Only this was a living, breathing nightmare that she would never wake from. The thought made her shiver. After the roaches she encountered in the vault, she was now hyper alert, not knowing what else might be roaming the world.
She came to the Minutemen statue just past the end of the bridge, surprised that it was still in one piece in comparison to everything else. Just down the road she could see most of the structure from the Red Rocket was still intact, albeit just a sad relic of a time long forgotten, a time that had been hers only a day ago. It was still almost impossible to process.
The wind soughed through the few live trees and bushes, swirling up dust and debris as she made her way to the station, eyeing all the rusted and abandoned cars. As she got closer, she thought she was seeing things at first. Was that a dog? Cautiously she approached, wondering if it would come snarling at her, spewing out tentacles. At this point the realm of possibilities were endless. However, much to her surprise and relief, the mutt spotted her and whined, wagged its tail and then trotted toward her.
She crouched down, giving him a good scritch behind one ear. "Hey boy, what are you doing out here alone?" And how are dogs even alive, she wondered. He answered with a playful huff, dancing his front legs with happiness. "All right then, you wanna come help me find my son? I could sure use the company, pal." As though understanding her, he gave a soft bark. "Well, that settles it then."
It was nice to have a real living, breathing being to travel with. Although the conversations would certainly prove lacking. This German Shepherd was relatively young. She guessed no more than two years old. But how? Where did he come from? Just more questions to add to the eternal list of them she was compiling in her mind. He reminded her of the dog she and Nate had, Rex, although he was what they called a Heinz 57. You could tell Rex had some German Shepherd, but just a bit. She smiled, tightened the strap of the rifle around her arm and set off with her new companion.
Not 30 seconds had passed and the dog stepped in front of her growling. Momentarily confused she scanned the area, then knelt behind him and looked down sights. "Well, what a good boy you are!" As expected, new fun and exciting creepy crawlies. Just ahead were two insects that resembled mosquitoes, even larger than the roaches she encountered, and they were feasting on what looked like the remains of a cow. It was hard to tell as the corpse was so badly decomposed it was practically part of the asphalt. She grimaced with disgust.
Figuring it would be safer to just exterminate them, she lined up the first shot, sighed out her breath and took the first one down. The second rose and immediately started to rush her but the dog raced forward, leapt at it, and with a sickening crunch, snapped it in two. Rising up, Tess looked down at him as he trotted back to her side and raised an eyebrow at him. "Let's just say I'm glad you're on my side." She ruffled his ears and chuckled at his earnest face, his lolling tongue and his wagging tail. It was like someone knew she would need him and left him there for her. But in reality, she knew his story was probably worse than that. Much worse.
They made their way to the city limits of Concord and she realized something that hadn't consciously come to her earlier. Just how damn quiet it was. Nothing but the wind, the creaking of buildings and the caw of crows. And just why were there so damn many crows? It didn't seem there was a lot of carrion to feast on, despite the cow from earlier. No, these birds seemed to flock around everywhere she went. It was almost creepy. Total Alfred Hitchcock vibes. Steeling her resolve she cautiously made her way toward town.
Scratch that. Not quiet.
She ran for cover as she heard the zing of bullets, and they were apparently meant for her. "I guess Codsworth was right," she muttered to herself. Even fifty years later the locals were still hostile. Wonderful. The dog was growling again and she could see his muscled flanks twitch "No boy, not yet." He looked at her with disappointment. She surmised that this dog was a little more than just your run-of-the-mill mutt as he seemed preternaturally intelligent. Win for her, she supposed.
He moved closer but still in front of her. She shook her head. "You are somethin else boy, aren't you." The bullets stopped. But did they give up or was someone just reloading? Quietly, she and her new best friend went around the first building of the main street that led to a museum. She looked through her scope, scanning for whoever it was that had rolled out the red carpet. A flicker, something moved. "There you are, you bastard." Just as she placed her finger on the trigger the dog vaulted off at full tilt. She sighed. "Well, that was a very fulfilling, yet short-lived relationship."
Squatting down she realized that the storm had passed and gratefully removed the stifling gas mask and hooked it on her belt. She crouch-stepped quickly around the building to a space between it and the next crumbling structure. Just as she was trying to peek around the corner she heard a male screaming "Get off me, ahhh!" She had to stifle a chuckle. "I'll be damned," she whispered.
Not knowing if the chew toy had any friends, she did another scan then quickly sprinted to the storefront across from her where she had spotted the guy. The dog came out, muzzle bloody. "Can I reiterate how glad I am you're on my side?" He did a tiny dance in response. The contrast of his dog smile and the blood dripping from his mouth almost made her laugh. They went into the store on alert. No one but the dead guy. She checked him. His neck was broken.
Wow.
And then all hell broke loose. This time it sounded like an army. Peeking through a corner of the dingy, broken window she saw a group of men and women, about eight or nine of them, rushing into the street right in front of her. She ducked quickly under the half wall of the store front. They were headed toward the museum.
She managed to raise up just enough to peek out unnoticed. They were disheveled, wearing rags and bits of leather pieces with strange metal bits that she would probably not have called armor, and they were shouting words and obscenities at what she would have calculated to be a second grade education.
She took a closer look through her scope. Their weapons were laughable. They looked like something from a bad NRA science fair project. How they actually fired she had no idea. But a bullet to the head will still kill you no matter what delivers it. From what she could see, they were shooting at some people who were running toward the museum from the street perpendicular to it, fleeing into the museum and there was another man who was apparently shooting at the second graders. Huh. Who was this suicidal idiot?
"Come on, boy," she whispered to the dog who followed obediently. They slipped out of the store and around to the back, running behind the rest of the tattered buildings until she was at the last one that sat just to the left and across the street from the the museum.
There was a man up on the balcony of the museum and she almost burst out laughing before catching herself. The guy had on some old costume, like revolutionary war old, complete with hat and cravat, and he was shooting some sort of laser weapon.
Since the man on the balcony and Mr. Suicide had the cretins' attention, she slammed her weapon into full auto and came out shooting. The dog immediately went to work. The world was suddenly immersed in a cacophony of bullets and death. And then it was quiet. How she wasn't shot, she had no idea.
It's official. I've completely lost my mind.
Mr. Revolutionary War shouted down, "Hey, up here! We could use some help, there are more of them inside. Please help us!" And then Mr. Suicide came out from behind some sandbags that were apparently left over from before the bombs. He looked incredulously at her as though seeing an alien coming down the ramp of a space ship. She tilted her head at him and decided maybe he wasn't Mr. Suicide after all, maybe he was Mr. Crazy.
The dog was coming back toward her but stopped and sniffed Mr. Suicide/Crazy, wagging his tail. Well, shit, if he was good enough for the dog, then fine by her. She raised her hand and waved. Mr. Whatever-He-Was-Now tentatively waved back. She slung her rifle and walked toward him.
He was out of breath but never took his eyes off her. "Hi," she said.
"Well hello to you! That was incredible! I mean, you just mowed down that entire pack of raiders!" His jaw was still dropped. Okay, maybe he was Mr. I-Want-to-Catch-Flies-in-My-Mouth. She was still mulling the names over.
"Looked like you could use the help," she smiled at him.
"You could say that again!" he agreed. She noticed he was bleeding. He'd caught one in the arm. He offered a slightly shaking hand and she accepted. "Name's Jake. Jake Evans."
"Nice to meet you Jake, I'm Tess."
He had a strange look on his face for a moment. Maybe he had been thinking up names for her. She almost snickered at the thought.
He was very attractive, 6'2" if he was an inch. His hair was the color of warm chocolate and his hazel eyes glinted in the early morning sun. He was muscular, but in a lean way. Compared to what she had seen so far - including Mr. Revolutionary War - he was dressed much better. He wore a button down blue checkered shirt, a brown leather vest, jeans, and an odd red scarf of sorts around his neck. And were those cowboy boots? Huh, fitting since she detected a slight southern drawl. All his items were old and careworn, but she could see he took the time to keep them clean, however that was accomplished in this world. At least he didn't smell like the one the dog had taken down.
He nodded with a smile. "Well, darlin, I'm damn glad you happened by when you did. These damn raiders've been gettin a lot bolder lately.
They both snapped their heads toward the museum as gunfire broke out inside. She could hear the sound of the laser rifle blasting away.
"Sounds like those folks could use some help, too," he said sheepishly
Good grief, was she now the new law in town? She took a deep breath. "There better be a shiny new badge for me after this," she teased.
Jake snickered at her, "Roger that, Sheriff."
"Are you Okay?" she asked, gesturing to his arm.
He looked puzzled for a moment and then answered, "Oh, yeah, no I'm fine, I've definitely had worse."
Worse than being shot. Dear god what was this world? Not knowing what to say to that she just nodded.
"Come on boy," she motioned at the dog and he immediately trotted off to the museum door.
Astonishing.
"Hey," Jake said as she started off, "Come on by after, I'll be here in this hardware store."
Glancing back she said "I'll take that vote of confidence!"
He blushed slightly and nodded. "From what I just saw, I don't think a deathclaw could stop you."
Her mouth opened to ask but she decided it could wait. If people really did need help, she'd be no better than the raiders if she didn't at least try. She just smiled back and headed to the prancing dog and the door to uncertainty.
It took the better part of an hour to clear the remaining miscreants from the museum. She had been lucky. As she snuck in, she spotted two shooters on an upper level engaged with Mr. Revolutionary War. That gave her the distraction she needed to rapidly take them down. The dog, of course, had already jetted off into the building. He was certainly a puzzle.
Moving up some steps she saw a gate ahead in the center of the lobby area but found it locked so she took a hallway that wound around into a room full of mannequins. Not creepy at all. Past that she took down a third raider and moved upstairs. She heard two of them arguing over something, shaking her head at the thought they might as well have just blown a bugle, but before she could get all the way into the room where they were, the dog had already dispatched one and had the other one pinned down. She put him out of his misery.
Eventually they cleared the place and entered a room where Mr. Revolutionary War was. He introduced himself as Preston Garvey and made the introductions to his group, how they had escaped some huge massacre in Quincy and used more terminology she wasn't familiar with (like speaking of ghouls as if they were actual beings, for one). She noticed that the dog had immediately gone to sit at the feet of a blind looking woman on the couch, Mama Murphy.
She found out the old woman knew the dog and said his name was - are you ready? - Dogmeat. Not exactly the moniker she would have given him but, hey, he seemed to like it so, so be it. And more irony, they were headed to settle somewhere called Sanctuary. Could her first day in this mindfuck of a world get any stranger? She agreed to help them and said she would come back for them but there was something she needed to do first. She was curious what Mr. ... no, Jake wanted to talk to her about. Preston said they needed to rest anyway and had planned to leave in the morning.
Jake watched Tess and the pooch crouch and quickly enter the museum. Normally he'd never let a woman do something dangerous alone. Not that they weren't capable – especially this one – but it was just his upbringing. Jesus, she probably thinks you're a complete coward, he frowned. Everything had just happened so fast he didn't really have time to think. But his arm was definitely a mess.
He left a swath of blood in the store all the way up to the second floor where he had his med kit. Grimacing, he opened it and pulled out a couple of Stimpaks and sat down, leaning against the wall. The first one started working immediately, at least the pain was subsiding, but he could feel that the bullet nicked bone and that was going to need a second dose. It took a while but the bleeding finally stopped.
His thoughts wandered to this new woman and wondered who she was, where she had come from. She seemed so... clean. And where'd she get a rifle like that? Further, how'd she learn to shoot it that well? He just had to know her story. Okay, maybe it was also because she was absolutely gorgeous. But he was grateful she had been willing to help.
Jake had taken one look at that group of unarmed folk and knew their story. He'd seen it more times than he could count. They were displaced. They were trying to survive. And seeing those pieces of shit trying to kill them for sport just hit a nerve, and if he went down protecting them, then so be it. But truth be told, he was sure glad Tess had come by when she did or he might've bled out. He had not been anticipating a shoot out today and mentally vowed to never be without a stim or two on his person from now on.
It was becoming hard to keep his eyes open. Damn adrenaline crash. She sure was pretty, though. Long copper red hair and green eyes the color of of the sea. Her mouth was... yes, her mouth... he trailed off and fell asleep.
Tess left the museum and headed to the corner hardware store. She didn't see Jake, but she did see an alarming trail of blood going up the stairs. She immediately pulled her rifle and crouched, making her way up the steps as quietly as possible. As usual the dog, excuse me, Dogmeat, took off. Damn it. But she didn't hear shrieks of pain, no bullets flying; what she did hear was Jake weakly laughing. She trotted up the stairs to find him sprawled out on the floor, back against a wall being mauled with dog kisses.
"Okay boy, Okay, thanks but mmmmpphh," he grunted, closing his mouth against the barrage of dog tongue.
She started laughing. "Seems you've made a friend." She moved over to him, crouching down to look at the wound. "How's the arm?"
"It's fine, nothing a couple stimpaks couldn't handle." He sounded exhausted.
She was surprised. 200 years later and there were still stimpaks floating around? She was still going to guard the few she had like they were the crown jewels, just in case.
'Hey," he continued, "I'm sorry I didn't go in there with you to help, feelin kinda bad about that, but..."
She cut him off, "Yeah. Sure. I can always use a partner whose arm is falling off to back me up." She smirked at him and he started laughing.
"Glad you understand, just didn't want you thinkin I was feeding you to the wolves."
She really liked the way light refracted in his hazel eyes. There was a lot of green in them, surrounded by a ring of brown. Intoxicating, actually.
Her heart suddenly stung as her mind flashed to her husband, frozen in a cryopod. She'd never see him again. Never hold him, smell him... love him. Her entire body began to ache as she realized everything had been thrown at her all at once. She had been tossed into a meat grinder and spit out into a living nightmare. In the last 24 hours – for her – she went from planning a picnic on a stunning October day to having a shootout with smelly bandits. From being in her beautiful house to seeing it in tatters in a post apocalyptic wasteland. From looking lovingly into the eyes of her husband, to finding him dead in a vault. And someone had stolen their baby.
She sat down and felt everything in her being draining out through her pores, as if she was now nothing, a cosmic spec of dust floating in the air with nothing to tether her. Her life was gone. Her world was gone. She wished she could have just stayed frozen. But she had to find Shaun.
"Tess?" Jake asked gently. "Are you all right?"
She fought hard to stave the tears but she could feel her eyes welling up.
"Hey, hey," Jake moved next to her. "It's all right, darlin, you did it, they're all dead, right? You helped those people?"
Now she really started to cry. She felt Jake lightly place an arm around her.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "It's just... I, well... shit!" She looked at Jake, his face was contorted with worry. She felt his concern and was touched. What did she have to lose? She had no roadmap in this world, no compass, no footing.
She told him everything.
"Oh darlin, I'm so sorry, I know what that's, I mean I understand how that can feel. Seen way too much of that kinda heartache in this world. Jesus, this must be beyond culture shock for you, I can't even imagine." He held her next to him in silence and let her cry.
She felt grateful, if for nothing else, to be near another human being, someone that wasn't trying to shoot her or leave her for dead in a cryopod. The horrors of the day slowly ebbed into a manageable state and she sniffled and took in a deep breath.
"Well, at least that explains why you're so clean," he said out of nowhere.
The absurdity of it made her start to laugh and she laughed so hard she thought she'd wet herself. Jake chuckled. She wiped her nose with her sleeve and turned to him. "Thank you. I didn't mean to dump all that..."
"Don't apologize, darlin, I think after the day you've had you deserve to cry, scream, hell, set somethin on fire if ya need to!"
She suddenly realized that he must be a rare individual indeed. If the small bit of this world she'd seen so far was any indication, most people were hostile assholes who preyed on the weak. She found Jake thoughtful, caring, and to her embarrassment, intelligent. She leaned into his shoulder and he embraced her. "Thank you," she said meekly.
"You're welcome," he replied softly.
They sat in silence for a while.