aaaaaaaagh_sky

The western sun's rays slanting across the Wasteland cast long shadows, reminding Ellen that as much as she wants to reach DC and find out what the situation is at the Lincoln Memorial, she's going to need to get some rest first. It's a long way from the Temple of the Union to the ruins. She's tired, Dogmeat's tired, and the temperature's dropping fast as it gets darker. Plus, her armor's starting to hum the Battle Hymn of the Republic, which Ellen figures is never what you'd call a good sign. Luckily there's a shack up ahead, one with a door she can open and close. "What do you think, Dogmeat?" she asks. "Does it smell okay to you?"

Dogmeat raises no objections, so she tries the door. It's solid enough. There's a table with a radio on it to one side; the radio's got enough juice left in its fission battery that it picks up the GNR signal when she turns it on. Unfortunately, when she moves to survey the rest of the place, her Geiger counter starts going off as she approaches the far corner of the room.

"Blast. It's not worth the Rad-X we'd both need," Ellen says to Dogmeat. "We'd better find somewhere else."

As they head out of the shack she pulls the door closed behind her, hard. It's not really built for that, so when it hits the doorframe it bounces open again. Pity she didn't turn around at the sound, because she'd've caught sight of the light of Milliways leaking through the inch or so that the door bounces open.

And anyone in Milliways who happens to be looking at the right spot at the right time will notice the door that suddenly opened an inch or so, letting in the cool evening air.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"Fair enough," says Ellen. She's slept in her power armor, so putting out the fire is a matter of stomping it to death, then scattering the ashes with her metal-booted foot. "Armor, you can say it if you really want to."

"Yes, ma'am!" announces the metallic voice enthusiastically. "ROLL OUT!"

Ellen just shakes her head, smiles a little, and starts on her way with Dogmeat in tow.

From:

thanksrainman

Sighing, Gus follows after. He's not at all keen on the idea of walking across... whatever this place is. Seeing it in the daylight, with gnarled black things that probably used to be trees and soil that probably shouldn't be grey.

Pulling his jumper close around his chest, he grumbles under his breath.

He's not even going to mention the shouting metallic voice from nowhere.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

Don't forget the wreckage in the distance. If Gus looks south from here, as the sun comes up he'll get an excellent view of the half-stone, half-skeletal remains of the Washington Monument. Finding the bashed-in edges of the Capitol dome will be harder from this area, but he could probably spot it if he really tried.

"If you hear any loud buzzing, let me know," Ellen says. "There's bloatflies around sometimes and they're big enough to be a problem."

From:

thanksrainman

"Great!" he says, kicking at the ground. "Anything else you might have forgotten to mention?"

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"Anything moving and green is bad news," Ellen says after some thought. "Anything moving very fast is bad news. We're too far south for Deathclaws, but sometimes there's yao guai, and they're almost as fast. Sometimes there's wild dogs, but they usually leave you alone unless they think you're after their kill. And don't try to make contact with any people wandering around out here. They're just as likely to be robbers as they are to be friendly. That should do for a start."

From:

thanksrainman

Gus scrubs his face with his hands. "Remember Canada?" he asks. "What on EARTH has kept you here, when you can be somewhere like Canada, that makes sense?"

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

Ellen has to think about that for a bit.

Eventually she says, "Haven't you ever wanted to fight for something that was yours?"

From:

thanksrainman

He shakes his head. "No, can't say that I have," he says honestly.

He's really not as honest as the front he puts on in the bar.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"You wouldn't understand, then," says Ellen. "I know it's crazy here. And I know it's horrible in a lot of ways. But it's not all horrible, and there's a lot of good people here, all just trying to live. I can't just go. Not if I could make it better here."

From:

thanksrainman

Gus is positively baffled by this. "You really think one person's gonna make a difference?" he asks.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"One person would have been enough to spare the city of-"

"LET 'EM EAT LEAD!" the armor suddenly roars, even as a wad of something brown and nasty hits the ground nearby with a sick wet plap! noise.

Ellen pales. "Oh, crumbs," she says. "Greenskins! And they've got a tongue monster with them!"

Edited Date: 2009-12-10 09:37 pm (UTC)

From:

thanksrainman

Gus scrambles behind Ellen, ducking behind her. "Holy shit, now what!?" he demands.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

Ellen would point, but she's too busy scrabbling for her grenades. There's three supermutants coming over a rise in the land to the southwest, and they've got... well... Ellen calls them 'tongue monsters' for a reason. "I pull the pin," she says, "and I throw, and then we run like hell- don't let the brown stuff touch you!- and don't get shot!"

She felt the need to ask that because one of the mutants has an assault rifle and she's almost certain the one in the back is hefting a minigun.

From:

thanksrainman

"What?" Gus looks up to see the creatures coming in their direction. He doesn't even wait for Ellen to pull the pin.

He's already running in the opposite direction.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

Smart man, Gus. Ellen, herself, is going to join him soon after the explosion- or at least try to. The problem is that she's got Dogmeat with her, and Dogmeat has this thing where he flat-out insists on getting involved in the fight- so Ellen is doing her best to run and keep the dog with her, but it's kind of a losing battle.

Gus may hear the sound of gunfire and zapping in the distance as he runs. It'll die away eventually.

From:

thanksrainman

As he's running, Gus spots a small hidey-hole in the rocks and quickly ducks into it. His eyes closed tightly, he tries to ignore the horrible barrage of sounds coming from behind him.

It would almost be bearable if not for all of the animal sounds mixed in.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

Eventually, once the gunfire stops, the only animal noise left is a few barks and a hoarse kind of panting. Somewhat later, trudging, shuffling feet and the clink of metal on metal can be heard.

"Gus? You can come out now. It's over," Ellen says wearily. "They won't be bothering us any more."

From:

thanksrainman

"Prove it," Gus says simply.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

Chunk goes the clip of 5.56 millimeter ammo at Gus's feet.

Ka-thunk goes the Chinese assault rifle that matches it.

Thud goes the .32 caliber hunting rifle.

And Whump goes the container of belt-fed five millimeter ammo.

"The minigun's too big to carry, or I'd have brought that, too."

From:

thanksrainman

Gus looks at the cache before him.

"What am I supposed to do with that?" he asks dryly.

He's really hoping she doesn't give the obvious answer.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"Nothing. I'm going to turn it all in later at Regulator headquarters, assuming I don't sell it to Harith or Moira," Ellen says. "But you wanted proof. Those were their weapons. If you want more proof the bodies are where they fell."

From:

thanksrainman

He frowns and gets back to his feet. "Can I go home, now?" he asks. "I really didn't ask to be here."

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

"We're off course," Ellen says. "I'm not sure how far we are from the nearest door now. We're going to have to keep walking south until we hit something else, or double back west until we hit what's left of the Potomac. South's probably better. We can keep on track as long as we've got a line of sight on the Washington Monument."

She gathers up the guns and ammo and starts stashing them awkwardly in or on her pack.

"You weren't hurt, were you?"

From:

thanksrainman

"What? No." He brushes off his trousers. "Just... take us wherever we're going."

He's visibly shaking, and would feel much better in front of the fire place at the bar.

From:

aaaaaaaagh_sky

Ellen leans over to lay a hand on Gus' shoulder in a comforting gesture. This would probably work better if she weren't completely swathed in power armor and therefore using a heavily metal-clad hand to do it. "Come on," she says. "I think I saw some buildings south of us. Let's see if we can't reach them and start investigating."