Chapter 27 - 27

Words : 1854 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

Adam emerged into the moonlight that poured from above onto a street he didn't recognize, though this was no surprise, he had been in the sewers for a while. He took a moment to let his Pip-Boy map recalibrate where he was since it had been skewed due to him being underground. He could have set his Pip-Boy to a local map when he was underground; it might have helped him navigate down there more, though only nominally. Adam had found that, despite the incredibly precise map that the Pip-boy had, it only had a built in US territories map. The local maps had to be done manually. So, while he might have been able to retrace his footsteps using the local map, he would have to explore more of the sewers for the Pip-Boy to actually remember it. Ultimately he had decided early on it wasnt worth using it, after all, his goal was to get topside again. But if he ever needed to go back into the sewers, god forbid, the Pip-Boy did already have a bit of a map uncovered, small blessings. Now that the map was updated Adam realized he was even further from Naper than he had hoped, it still was not too far to get back but he had drifted east further than he had wanted. He was actually closer to the Vault and midway now. Despite this, it was now late at night, far too late to be traveling with even a modicum of safety, not to mention he was exhausted. So he had to come to an unfortunate decision. He would need to sleep outside tonight. He looked around for a moment at the buildings nearby, most of them were in ruins but one that looked to be standing was a small 3 story building with a grocery store on the bottom floor and, hopefully, bedrooms on the top. He didn't have many other choices so he made his way there. He was careful not to turn on his helmet light and pip-boy light until he was inside the open door, afterall he would be lit up like a beacon if he used them outside, the moonlight was bright, not bright enough to mask him doing all of that. Once inside he remembered that neither of his pistols were loaded, it was a careless mistake, he had got so caught up in everything he forgot. Once more he turned off his lights, snuck to a corner of the grocery store he hadn't yet explored and hid behind a shelf as he began to reload his guns. The laser pistol was easy, simply load the fusion cell into the slot, god energy weapons were so nice. The 10mm took a bit longer, loading all the rounds into the magazine and then the magazine into the gun. He was hit with the unfortunate realization that he did not have enough 10mm ammo to be able to fully reload his gun, the ammo he had gotten from the vault had finally run through. Luckily he had two other guns now to rely on. Finally rearmed, he grabbed his 10mm pistol, turned back on his lights, and began to search the building to make sure it was clear. The first floor, like the sign outside the building and its green and white striped canvas canopy led him to believe was indeed a small local grocery store, mostly for fruits and vegetables, evidenced by the large bins with labels for foods that have long since turned to dirt or been eaten. Though this fact was unsurprising, food was probably one of the first things looted at the end of the world, this place probably didn't last a week. But it was far from just lacking fruits and vegetables. In fact the entire store was pretty empty. There were shelves labeled for dry goods like noodles or canned foods too but they were all empty. This place had already been picked clean. He moved around the empty shelves and walked behind the counter to where the register lay. Unsurprisingly the back of the counter was also empty, however he did strike upon something useful. Underneath a really old raggedy cloth mat he found a small wooden crate full of Nuka Cola. Still intact and preserved as the day they were bottled. To make things even better one of them was a Nuka Cola Quantum! The Quantum glowed with its luminous blue as it was uncovered from the mat even within his little area of light from his pip-boy. This was a great find, there seemed to be 10 bottles total, including the quantum. He regretted the fact that he didn't have any space in his backpack whatsoever but they were still all crated up nicely so he could just take the whole box. However before he did he turned to the cash register and hit the button to open the drawer. Inside was a few hundred dollars in cash and coins. He mused for a moment about taking them but decided against it. After all, what use was pre-war money, no one would accept it, it seemed as though everyone accepted caps not cash so this was not even worth the paper it was printed on. Unfortunate, but not worth spending more time thinking about, so he left it behind. Leaving the crate where it was until he was certain the rest of the building was safe he proceeded into the backroom of the grocery store where the storage room and the stairs to the next floor was. Predictably the storeroom was as empty as the store itself, save for one opened bag of flour that had long since gone bad. Shame, if it was salt it would be good. The storeroom was empty and uninteresting so he kept moving up the stairs, gun out, ready for whatever might pop out. The second floor emerged into view with 3 doors and a staircase to the third floor. He kicked open the first door to reveal a small office space. Something between a study and an office, probably a home office. The computer on the desk had a huge hole through it and the rest of the room looked to be in shambles with nothing interesting to look at, so it was not even worth entering. The next room seemed to be a room full of filing cabinets, more paperwork, nothing worth thinking about. The third room however seemed to be a child's playroom, it had a toy chest, a playmat on the ground, a TV, a child's couch, and toys littered about. It confirmed that likely the third floor was going to have bedrooms, which was all he really was looking for at the moment. Even if he wanted to scavenge, even if his bag was empty, even if he found something worthwhile, he would do it tomorrow. Right now all he wanted to do is find a safe place to sleep. So he proceeded to the third floor to be met with 3 more doors once again. The first room seemed to be a living room style space, a TV, couch, a cellarette, some magazines on a short coffee table and a broken long radio and record player table. It might have something worthwhile grabbing, but once more he was not scavenging, he was looking for a place to sleep, so he moved on. Next room he found was a young boy's room, probably for a child under the age of 5 judging by the excessively small bed with guard rails around it. Far too big to be called a crib but not big enough for any grown person. The room was also decorated for a child with more toys on the ground and a few other odds and ends. But he couldn't sleep on the child's bed so he moved on. Lastly, and finally, he found the master bedroom. At a quick glance it seemed like it previously belonged to a single man judging by the lacking vanity in the room, though it was possible the wife didn't need a vanity, maybe she didn't use makeup? Regardless it didn't especially matter what he came in here for was the bed. Which, luckily, was sitting right in the center of the room… empty. The bedframe was there, the springs that supported the mattress were intact but the mattress itself was completely gone, nowhere to be seen. "Fuck." Adam said softly to himself as he left off a big sigh. However as he came to the realization and was staring at the non-existent mattress a radroach snuck out from under the bed frame, closing the distance before he even knew it was there and bit at his shin. It hurt, but wasn't nearly as bad as the surprise he felt by the sudden ambush. He had relaxed his guard since there was nothing in this house up until now, and the realization that his dreams of a comfortable sleep were crushed made him lose focus. The radroach simply got the drop on him. Adam was quick to shuffle back and then, using the butt of his rifle, smash the hell out of the large roach but the damage was done. He looked down at the bite mark on his leg, it was bleeding, but not altogether too bad all things considered, just a small bit of damage, he's lucky that the roach wasn't carrying diseases or anything… right? He might need to ask Doc or someone about that one when he gets back, but for now he was still left with his original problem. What was he supposed to do about the lacking bed. Adam took stock of his options. The only bed he found in this building was the child's bed, but it was a third the size of his body, it would make for a poor sleep. He would be better off sleeping on the ground rather than trying to contort his body to fit the small bed. He was no stranger to sleeping on the ground, he had done it more than once in the army but comfort was a luxury he would prefer not to have to give up. Unfortunately his options ended there, unless he got very creative. Adam walked back to the child's bedroom and looked at the small bed again. It really was too small. So, left with few other options, he decided to make use of it in the only way that made sense to him, as a pillow. He pulled the bed off its bed frame and then placed it on the ground, taking off his backpack and placing it in the corner of the room after he closed the door. He took off both his bullet proof vests and helmet and placed them on the now empty bed frame. Then, with no blanket, mattress, and minimal comfort, he laid down on the ground, head on the small mattress, and bid himself to sleep.

Chapter 27 - 27

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