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aaaaaaaagh_skyEverything was normal on the other side of the door, thank God. Ellen couldn't even begin to express how grateful she was for that- even if it was the normal of the blasted hell of the Wasteland. Empty, desolate, wrecked, yes; but it was the same desolation it had always been without the slightest sign of arbitrary changes to clothing or skin or species. Out there, everything was exactly the same as it had been when she saw it last, and that... that meant a lot.
She stepped out of the rocky defile that led down into the entrance to Vault 92 and tried to get her bearings. She and Dogmeat were in uneven country, massive rock formations thrust upwards through the soil. It was a good place to put a Vault, but not an easy place to navigate on foot. She shuddered to think what it would be like to try and cross this country with that bicycle Mr. Mills had offered her. Wheels, here? That was sheer insanity, nothing less... well, it didn't matter, she didn't have the thing regardless. What she had was Ben Grimm's armor and a pack with enough supplies in it to last her a while, and that weird violin case she'd found in Vault 92. If she wanted to get home to Megaton and regroup, she'd have to find some way of doing it without turning her ankle every third step.
"Hey, Dogmeat," she said after a bit. The Heeler obediently looked up. "Is it just me, or does that look like a bunch of old buildings off to the west there?"
Dogmeat didn't answer, but it didn't matter. There were enough upthrust girders and fingers of concrete and brick that she figured they were looking at the remains of a pre-war town, maybe even a small city. And where there had been towns, there had been roads. Yes, the surface would be down to nothing but chunks of stone by now, but at least they would be chunks that lay almost flat, in a nice broad arrangement wide enough for her to walk without getting hurt. If she was lucky, there would be the remains of a southbound road accessible from somewhere in there. It looked like about ten minutes' walk, so she patted Dogmeat's head and started off for the town.
It occurred to Ellen as they got closer that they would have to be careful. The closer she drew, the more she thought she saw semi-intact walls here and there. In Springvale, the school's intact walls had sheltered raiders, and in Arlington, the library had been crawling with them. There might even be greenskins; they'd set themselves up in a few fortified places down in the city ruins, after all. Well, she and Dogmeat would just have to keep their eyes peeled, and travel as quietly as they could. She didn't want trouble, just a way home.
They passed a fallen road sign. Ellen stopped, went back, dusted it off; it said WELCOME TO OLNEY- EST. 1800 - SISTER CITIES WITH ESTERNAY, FRANCE. Well, that was good, right? A town that old had to have been linked to DC in some way, right? She stood away from the sign and loosened the odd little alien fire-pistol in its holster, just in case. They were getting close, now, and she wanted to be ready.. Not that she was hearing any sign of people, but there were barricades of sheet-metal and city wreckage up ahead now that she was close enough to see, and the barricade-makers could be anywhere. You never knew...
In the shadows of two buildings slumped against one another like they were each the last thing in the world, something moved.
She stepped out of the rocky defile that led down into the entrance to Vault 92 and tried to get her bearings. She and Dogmeat were in uneven country, massive rock formations thrust upwards through the soil. It was a good place to put a Vault, but not an easy place to navigate on foot. She shuddered to think what it would be like to try and cross this country with that bicycle Mr. Mills had offered her. Wheels, here? That was sheer insanity, nothing less... well, it didn't matter, she didn't have the thing regardless. What she had was Ben Grimm's armor and a pack with enough supplies in it to last her a while, and that weird violin case she'd found in Vault 92. If she wanted to get home to Megaton and regroup, she'd have to find some way of doing it without turning her ankle every third step.
"Hey, Dogmeat," she said after a bit. The Heeler obediently looked up. "Is it just me, or does that look like a bunch of old buildings off to the west there?"
Dogmeat didn't answer, but it didn't matter. There were enough upthrust girders and fingers of concrete and brick that she figured they were looking at the remains of a pre-war town, maybe even a small city. And where there had been towns, there had been roads. Yes, the surface would be down to nothing but chunks of stone by now, but at least they would be chunks that lay almost flat, in a nice broad arrangement wide enough for her to walk without getting hurt. If she was lucky, there would be the remains of a southbound road accessible from somewhere in there. It looked like about ten minutes' walk, so she patted Dogmeat's head and started off for the town.
It occurred to Ellen as they got closer that they would have to be careful. The closer she drew, the more she thought she saw semi-intact walls here and there. In Springvale, the school's intact walls had sheltered raiders, and in Arlington, the library had been crawling with them. There might even be greenskins; they'd set themselves up in a few fortified places down in the city ruins, after all. Well, she and Dogmeat would just have to keep their eyes peeled, and travel as quietly as they could. She didn't want trouble, just a way home.
They passed a fallen road sign. Ellen stopped, went back, dusted it off; it said WELCOME TO OLNEY- EST. 1800 - SISTER CITIES WITH ESTERNAY, FRANCE. Well, that was good, right? A town that old had to have been linked to DC in some way, right? She stood away from the sign and loosened the odd little alien fire-pistol in its holster, just in case. They were getting close, now, and she wanted to be ready.. Not that she was hearing any sign of people, but there were barricades of sheet-metal and city wreckage up ahead now that she was close enough to see, and the barricade-makers could be anywhere. You never knew...
In the shadows of two buildings slumped against one another like they were each the last thing in the world, something moved.