Chapter Two: Arrival to Megaton

Begin Entry 02

Well, if I didn't survive the night, there wouldn't have been another entry. When I woke up, I decided to name the new pet I had, Rex. It was a cliché name that I had read in a book somewhere. The hero always used that as a name for their dogs or something like that. Of course, hard to imagine why anyone would want a dog. Vicious little fucks they are. I swear I saw a pack of them tear a Brahmin in half once while escaping the Pitt. I was just glad that their attention was on the Brahmin and not turned to me.

Anyway, yeah we woke up. Surprised me too, with all the shit I heard outside. There must have been a caravan travelling out there... All I heard was the screams. Rex stayed sleeping through the entirety of it, creepy little thing. After hearing the screams and the tearing of flesh? Sleep was the last thing on my mind. Surprisingly however, I was wide awake. Perhaps it was the constant flow of adrenaline or something, but I quickly washed out the bag from any of the remaining dried up goo, and placed the STILL sleeping deathclaw inside, covering the flap over loosely before setting off again.

Sure enough, it was a caravan. Merry motherfucking Christmas to me. The Brahmin was torn to fucking shreds. The smell was horrible, and the sight of the people was... definitely not wanting me to think about morning Breakfast. Of course, the smell of blood had Rex writhing and struggling to poke his head out of the bag, and when he saw what was on the menu, he hopped out, and scampered towards the mutated animal with soft, eager crooning. I was too sickened to watch him eat, and turned my head to begin rummaging through the dead caravaner's things.

After scrounging around the dead bodies, and thankfully finding that they weren't stripped to the bones of supplies, I found some clothing that fit me off of a dead Raider. It looked as if they were the ones that had jumped the caravan, and ran into Mama Deathclaw while they were at it. I'll tell you right fucking now, I was damn proud. Got me a good gun too! An assault rifle, hunting rifle... I was starting to feel like a real Wastelander! Rex came back to my feet a bloody mess, and obviously looking as happy as could be, and lovingly clawwed all the way up my leg to mosey right on into the bag.

"You know, I have hands for a reason..." I grumbled, after letting out one hell of a chorus of odd shrieks and wiggles, before finally being rid of the little bastard's claws. Oh he was going to be a fun one. I could feel it. When he settled himself in the bag, I twitched and checked for any missing flesh on his path of destruction. There were a few tears in whatever fucking flesh I had left, but I wasn't falling apart.

We began our trek across DC, and what a fun stroll that was. I had gotten nearly bashed senseless by a gang of super mutants, and before you fucking ask. Yes. I ran like a little bitch. There, you happy? You gettin' your laughs in? Good.

Anyway, the trip out of DC wasn't that bad, compared to my first night on the town. It felt as if already I was beginning to understand the harshness of the Wasteland and what it had to offer. The caravans passed me though. Never gave me the time of day or aknowledged that I existed. Not like I wanted their attention anyway. Hell, people walking right on by was fucking welcome in my book. I didn't want to end up like the jokes in DC. That was the last thing on my to do list. Being a ghoul may have been hard, and disgusting, but it was better than being dead.

No pun intended.

It took us... about a day and a half to reach Megaton... it was this crazy city made completely out of scrap metal. It had a nice dig to it... and at least looked somewhat protecting against the sun. They even had opening doors. I swear it was like one of those fucking castles I read about in the museum's abandoned parts. Of course, Rex was curled up in the bag and out of sight. I didn't want anyone shooting him or anything like that. I'd have been devastated. However, my thoughts were interrupted by a haggard, black-skinned man in a duster and a cowboy hat walking up to me, cigarette at his lips and eyes boring into me like I just crawled out of a hole. Well, he was right about one thing.

"Hey, you... Kid..." I looked up at him, he at me, and I swear to god I thought he was going to kill me. I was terrified, which was why I couldn't move, or responded with a gurgle. "What brings you to Megaton?" I was silent for a good long moment, mouth slack and eyes wide as saucers, before I finally brought up the courage to speak up. Hey, he wasn't a Deathclaw, right?

"Uh... I'm... passing through... I'd... like a place... to stay..." I fought every bit of me to not say smoothskin. It was a force of habit, and I really didn't want to piss off a guy with a gun.

"Passing through, and a place to stay. You ain't Raider shit, are you?" His hand would rise up lazily to motion to my clothing, and I looked down at the ripped khakis and the loose tanktop that I had jacked.

"Ah, no... I took this off a body... ain't usin' it no more so... you know..." Yeah that didn't sound right to say to a guy that was obviously the leader of a town. However, he'd smirk, as if I said something amusing, before crossing his arms, and giving me a less... hateful glare.

"Be careful, ghoul, we only have one of your kind here, but he dun get treated right. You keep your head down. And stay out of trouble. I don't want any fighting." I nodded. It was the only thing that I could do, before I began to walk around the man and down the path to the center of the town. "Oh, and the bomb?"

"Bomb?"

"Yeah, that bomb." His hand pointed down into the middle of the town, where a giant nuclear warhead dug itself quite a cute little hole. "It's safe. Some guy came back a few years ago, defused it. You got nothin' to worry about. And don't mind the Church of Atom. They're just a bunch of crazies with nothin' better to do. Hell, they might worship you. Being a 'son of radiation' or some weird shit like that." I stared at him, and probably looked stupid, because he began to laugh, a loud, and slightly cheerful sounding thing. There wasn't any hate in that voice anymore.

"Right, I'll be sure to remember that." I continued my way down to the center of town, and sure enough, an old man came sloshing out of the green glowing water in a frenzy. Psht, to think these people would be smart not to roll around in a radioactive cesspool.

"Good day to you son of Atom!" He squealed, his... ethereal sounding voice making me want to punch him in the face. He sounded like he was shooting up way too much jet for his own good. "I am the Confessor for the Church of Atom. We always welcome those who received the gift of his eternal glow!" I swear. Oh his voice was just grating on my mind. Eternal Glow? What the fuck was that bullshit? Needless to say, I was confused, but if a bunch of smoothskins wanted to worship ghouls, hell, I was all for it. Rex shifted in my backpack, and I continued staring at the man as if he were an alien, or uglier than me. However it looked at the time.

"Uh... Right... Glow... and stuff." I watched the man shake my hand repeatedly, before letting go and stepping back.

"Come, come! I'll show you to our Gathering Place. The worshipers will be more than happy to meet you!" I swear to god, this guy floated. Either that or he was just that flamboyant. Lavish hand motions must have made him feel important as well, because he seemed to think he was talking to a crowd of brainwashed supporters.

We came up to this church... thing... looked more like a building with a bio-hazard sign on it, and of course, we went in. People were walking around listlessly, or sitting at the pews praying. Hey. More power to them. Any religion that thought Ghouls were friends was alright in my book. Even Rex popped his head out and looked around.

Me and the church guy talked some more. Yeah this is boring, I know, but there wasn't much entertainment other than that washed up old Raider looking creep named Jericho. Confessor was what he called himself. He explained the church of Atom with me, and honestly, I thought the guys were a bunch of kooks. Either way, they gave me food and a place to stay for free, and gave me permission to come back whenever I pleased. It was probably a much better welcome than the common house was going to give me, so yeah, I ate that up for all it was worth. Hey, it was a ghoul-hating world out there. I wasn't about to argue with a little kindness.

But hey, I wasn't the one acting like my blood was replaced with Psycho.

However, news of another ghoul in town lifted my hopes up, and upon getting his location, I left Rex in the care of the Mother, who was more than happy to observe the 'creature of Atom', and I made my way up to Moriarty's Saloon.

Immediately upon LOOKING at the place I felt as if I was going to die. And entering? Oh yeah, this certainly looked like what should have belonged to a Raider Overlord or something. However, the ghoul was on the other side of the counter, and I immediately made my way to a stool. The guy I sat next to gave me a look that could have probably killed me if I was paying attention, but I didn't care.

"What'll it be, smoothskin?" The ghoul asked, voice deadpan and depressing.

"Does my skin look smooth to you, zombie?" My words, and voice, must have surprised him, because the cup he was drying clattered to the ground, and he was scrambling to pick it up.

"Jesus Christ, another ghoul? And you didn't get shot yet?" He asked, eyes widening as his hands locked themselves onto the table. "Holy shit, where did you come from, Underworld? How's Carol?"

Carol? He knew Carol? My mind began listing off the menagerie of folks that Carol had known, and only one finally brought an alarm bell ringing.

"Gob, is that you? Jesus, fuck, what are you doing in this place?" I asked, my own eyes widening this time around as I grinned. "You know your mom has been worried sick about you!" Gob gave me the best smile that he could. "It's Jeyral. We only talked once. But damn, you've been gone a while! Everyone thought you were dead!"

"Nah, I'm just stuck in this shit hole of a town," Gob replied, before setting down a cup and smirking. "What'll it be?"

"Whiskey, and why are you stuck here? You ain't a slave are you?" The lack of an answer was enough of one for me, and I scowled, shaking my head. Slavery, pissed me off more than anything, and here Gob was, licking the shoes of someone who probably thought his shit smelled like fresh air and sunshine. "Damn it... you didn't try to get your freedom or nothin'?"

"Can't. Every time I get caps, it goes right out the door for Moriarty's room and board," he grumbled, pouring me a whiskey and setting it on the bartop in front of me. "I even owe him money and shit for other stuff. Man I just can't get outta here..."

"Got a little boyfriend here, do yeh Gob, and oh lookit here, he smells just like yeh!" A shitty voice with a shitty accent that left a bad taste in my mouth suddenly spiked up, and I looked up to see a gray haired, bastard looking of a man glaring down at me and Gob like we were the excrement of the planet.

"No boss, just another customer," Gob replied, and of course, me and my big mouth did as well.

"What, pissed to see a Zombie ain't lickin' the shit off your boot smoothskin?" I growled, in my best bad-ass voice I could muster, putting a scowl on my face, in what hoped to look like I just got out of grappling with a super mutant one handed the victor. The guy laughed.

"Oh, we got ourselves a live one here," his arms crossed, and the look in his eyes became serpentine. "You best be learnin' who you're talking to boy. You don't want to have a little accident of some sort, now do you. Walking around the Wastes with a missing arm is only going to get you in trouble?"

Oh now I was pissed, this smoothskin was barking up the wrong Ghoul's tree.

"Lemme guess, you're the guy named Moriarty."

"And it has a brain ladies and gentlemen!" The man yelled, and the small, gruff crowd at the bar laughed. All eyes were on me, and Gob was staring at me with a mix of horror and fascination on his face.

I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I stood up, stared the man straight in the eyes.

And splashed my whiskey right in his face.

What happened next, was probably a fight worthy enough to go down into history.

Too bad I think I hear Raiders outside.

end Entry 02