Chapter 3

The realization that dawned on him was bittersweet. On the one hand, he knew this area. Well for the most part. Even at a cursory glance to the surrounding area it had changed drastically, but not so much that he had zero idea where he was now that he knew. However, as it was, he would be lost without some sort of map. No road signs or maintained buildings and roads meant he couldn't really navigate purely on memory. But this was the good news. The bad news was, on the other hand. This was his hometown area. He grew up here, he spent most of his life here, with the exception of when he was deployed to Canada as part of the occupying force and then to Alaska to retake it from the damn commies, he had never really ventured further past the greater Chicago area. There was no need. But his home was destroyed. Gone. The bombs had done more than create a wasteland; they had stolen Adam's home, and his heart hurt for that. However he didn't give himself time to grieve the home he had lost, instead he remained constructive. He knew the area well enough to be able to navigate with a map, but he did not have one. But he remembered that the Pip-Boy had many features, among which included a map, the problem would be finding it. So he found himself a still standing building, one that didn't look like it was about to fall over on top of him, and entered it. It was not any prettier on the inside than the outside. The inside had been weather worn, the entire ground was caked with dust and dirt, the couch, coffee table, and TV that sat in the living room he entered into were all faded considerably and in a state of massive disrepair, but mostly from the eastern facing side, due to the large hole in the side of the home where the wind likely carried in through. Well it was the same hole he had entered through so he couldn't complain about it too much. He then walked over to the couch and then poked it tentatively. It seemed stable… enough. So he sat. Not nearly as comfortable as a couch in new condition would be, but it was acceptable. Once he was sat and settled, he started messing with the functionality of the Pip-Boy, turning the dials, flicking switches, and swapping through the tabs. Doing this he learned various things. First and foremost, there was a map. Good. He could use that later. Luckily it was already tuned to the greater Chicago area. Second There was a radio feature, it seemed to be able to receive both in the FM and AM frequencies but it only displayed FM radio, which was odd. But he did notice some signals were being shown to him automatically now that he was skimming through, though he decided to handle that later. Next he noticed there was a UI feature where he could catalogue and organize everything he had on his person, even a modular section for the money he had on hand or other tools he wanted to keep track of, not that he imagined money would have much use if the bombs fell… but such thoughts were depressing so he shoved them away. He also found a notes section, perhaps an on-hand diary? It seemed useful for general note-taking so he would keep it in mind going forward. However none of this was nearly as important or eye catching as the last two features. First there was a display that accurately showed his condition, showing, based on percentage, his individual limbs, chest, and head condition, overall health, present radiation in his body, as well as indicators that would light up if he was dehydrated or sleep deprived. It was a full monitoring system. How it worked was beyond his understanding. It's not like it was a bunch of monitoring devices covering his body, just the one thing on his arm. But Vault-Tec had a lot of scientists working for it, surely one of them was a medical company that invented a system that could read a diagnostic of a person just by placing it on the wrist? Or… not… whatever, so it was magic, it seemed to matter little how it worked, just that it did. This would be immensely helpful if he was forced to survive out in this new world. And lastly something called VATS? It seemed to be some kind of targeting system but he wasn't able to get it to activate. Perhaps because there was nothing to target? He would have to further explore it later. It could be helpful. Finally done with his study of the Pip-Boy he stood back up and turned his attention to a doorway connected to the living room. He still had no ideas on what kinds of difficulties he might face going forward, for all he knew finding food might be the hardest thing to do, which, now that he thought about it, he hadn't eaten or drank at all since he awoke. He wasn't desperate or anything but he certainly had cravings. So, with doubt he would find anything, he entered the doorway hoping to find a kitchen. He was in luck! It was in fact, a kitchen, however it looked disorderly, there was a mess on the counter, the fridge door was wide open, not that it would matter since the glass window was shattered and it seemed to have no power, and the kitchen table was full of clutter. And then he heard a skittering sound. It sounded like… a bug? He didn't know, but he found out as soon as he turned back around. Hiding underneath the fridge, now coming out, was a cockroach the length of his forearm. And it seemed to be making a beeline right towards him. Adam was not a man especially afraid of bugs, nor was he particularly scared of combat. He had been in firefights with the red bastards back in Alaska, gotten a few marks on his rifle back then too. He had more than one close scrape back in the war. He had even almost died as a civie after the war due to a faulty Protectron that had misidentified him as an invader. Luckily that one cleared up quickly. But he screamed. A shrill terrified scream at the giant roach on the ground coming towards him. In one swift move he unholstered his pistol, pointed it at the roach, and unloaded. It was dead after the second round connected. But he didn't stop firing for another 6 shots after that. So caught off guard was he that he lost his trigger discipline. After he finally came to his senses and stopped firing he looked at the mutilated carcass of the, now deceased, bug. It really did look like a cockroach just giant, it was notably durable too, the first and second shot were not that far apart from each other so he didn't have time to analyze but it definitely survived getting shot once. "The fuck are you?" He asks no one in particular as he examines it, seeing nothing to explain what it was beyond the green blood it was now bleeding. Giving up he sighed and then thoroughly checked the nooks and crannies of the rest of the kitchen for more of them before he was satisfied that it was safe, after which he began looking for things of value. He found nothing. Well nothing was not quite accurate, in a lower cabinet he found a well preserved can of cat food with a pull tab, however he was not desperate enough to eat that. After all, he had standards. So with a heavy heart he left it behind, though he may have lingered for a bit too long, considering taking it with him before he gave it up and headed back out of the kitchen and towards the stairs that were in the other doorway from the living room. He stops right at the foot of the stairs and then pulls out the magazine from his gun, and then the box of 10mm ammo he had brought with him from the vault and loaded the ammo back into the gun. He was going to take no more chances. This time he was more careful. Now that he knew there were giant bugs, he was not going to be caught off guard again. So, with measured steps, he ascended the stairs slowly and quietly. Upon reaching the top he saw three doors. Opening each of them in succession, breaching into them gun out and ready to shoot anything that so much as twitched, he found 2 bedrooms and a study and luckily no bugs. Stowing his pistol away back into his holster he took the time to look through the rooms. First was a young girls room, clearly. It had pink, though faded, wallpaper, a pink comforter on a small bed, a toy box left open with toys still inside, a closet full of small dresses and skirts and a child's vanity. He was about to leave it before he noticed something in the toy box. Curious, he walked over and pulled out a half buried Jangles the Moon Monkey stuffed animal, in his astronaut outfit worn but still very intact and the glass face mask covering his face still protecting his otherwise clean face from the elements. He had one just like these when he was younger. He hadn't thought of Jangles in a long time. Not since he started going to high school anyway. It was… nostalgic. But after his trip down memory lane was satisfied he put it back into the toy box and then examined the next room. The next room was the master bedroom, clearly of a married couple. The closet door was open revealing a few suits still on hangers, and dress shoes below them, and a full sized vanity with a makeup kit was still out, ready to be used. The bed itself was not in the best of shape, it seems others had stayed here at one time or another and were not the cleanest. Dirt, grime, something he didn't want to think about, and dried blood, all caked the bed creating an art display of unpleasantness. He turned to the footlocker at the foot of the bed, still closed and then tried to open it. Locked. Of course. He considered breaking it open but without a means to do so he figured it was pointless to try. Besides, it was most likely full of throw pillows, blankets, and clothes. But then why was it locked? No, he decided not to waste any more time on it, he couldn't open it so that was that. But he decided to explore the closet for a moment with something specific in mind. Rummaging through the musty closet full of old clothes and half melted cardboard boxes, he finds what he was looking for. He pulls out a moderate sized backpack from the back corner of the closet. It seemed to be in decent shape considering the state of disrepair of everything else. It was a matte black and had various pouches and pockets, perfect for carrying whatever he might find going forward. Though he had been unsuccessful so far he hoped he would find something eventually. Finally he headed into the third and final room, a study, full of books, a desk, and a computer terminal. But none of that was the interesting part, it was the Mr. Handy that sat deactivated on the floor of the study, still connected to the terminal on the desk that caught his attention. However his excitement didn't last long as he heard the roar of something outside. It sounded scary, whatever it was. He rushed over to the window to look outside and see what he heard and he was met with something right out of a nightmare. It was a monster. It stood about 8 or 9 feet tall. Even hunched over it was huge. Its skin was a tannish yellow and it had almost dead white eyes. Its hands extended into claws that made its hands notably larger than its already sizable head, and that's without even taking into consideration the length of its arms giving it a huge reach. Its head was crowned with two horns that curved upwards giving it a devil-like appearance and its sharp teeth were shown through its underbite. It also had a tail that was as almost as long as its body and was covered in upward facing spikes. It couldn't be described as anything but a monster. And it was right outside.