Crawled Out Through The Fallout

Chapter 36

I sat at the head of the table as the other settlers joined for dinner. Deacon sat at my right hand side, and Piper on my left. It was a usual dinner, talk of upcoming plans to carry out, news from other settlements, and new places to avoid. I ate quickly and went upstairs. I lay on my bed and turned on the radio. I turned down the volume and lay down. I fell asleep thinking about the next day's work.

...

I was woken up by someone poking me in the side.

"I'm awake. I'm awake. Stop poking me."

I swatted the hand away. I looked up to see Deacon grinning.

"Good morning! Ready to build the Molecular Relay?"

I grumbled and pulled a pillow over my head.

"Just get Sturges to build it. I want to sleep."

I heard him walk away as I fell back asleep.

I woke up, by myself this time, and got out of bed. I stretched and ate some grilled radroach. I walked outside and saw Sturges approaching me.

"Good news General, the Relay is ready to connect."

"What?"

"It's ready to take you to the Institute."

I rushed to the lot, and there was a large machine connected to many generators.

"You built it all with out me."

"I hope you don't mind. It was too fun to stop."

I gave a small smile.

"I don't mind at all."

"Are you ready to go to the Institute?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, let me go get Deacon."

"About that... It can only take one person."

"Oh. I guess I'm ready to go then."

Sturges helped me into the machine before standing at the control panel.

Deacon ran over, waving his arm.

"Wait, wait! Don't go yet."

I jumped out of the machine and went to him.

"Before you go, I want to show you something. Come with me."

He took my hand and led me through Sanctuary, and past the Vault door. We walked up to a hill overlooking the entrance to the Vault I escaped from.

"Here. I wanted to show you this."

He gestured to a chair under an awning, with a table. There was a rail sign, the symbol for ally next to it.

"This, this is where you saw me leave the vault."

Deacon nodded.

"I wasn't lying when I said I was with you from the beginning."

I looked out over the Wasteland.

"I have to go to the Institute alone. I thought I was ready."

"You are ready. I've seen you face worse things than the Institute."

I sat in the chair.

"What if Shaun isn't there, and I have to start my search from scratch? Or what if he was there, but they killed him?"

Deacon put his hand on my shoulder,

"If you have to start from the beginning, I'll be there with you every step of the way. And if they killed him, we'll kill them back. And I'll be there for that too."

I laughed, feeling better.

"Thank you. I really appreciate that."

He smiled genuinely and leaned against a tree. I stood up and gave him a hug. He put his arms around me and gave me a kiss on the top of my head.

"I'm ready to go to the Institute."

I pulled away and headed down the hill to where Sturges and Preston waited.

"There you are, General. I need to talk to you before you leave."

I nodded to Preston.

"I'm listening."

"When you are in the Institute, you need to find their weaknesses, and Sturges made the holotape to get information from them. All you have to do is run it on a terminal inside the Institute."

Sturges handed me the orange plastic rectangle. I thanked him and put it in my pocket.

I looked at Deacon, who gave me a reassuring smile. I smiled back, then walked up to the machine.

"Ready to go, General?"

I was about to step into the machine, but stopped.

"One more thing before I go."

I ran over to Deacon and gave him a big hug, and a kiss on his cheek. I whispered to him before leaving.

"I will see you all soon."

I waved to everyone from the machine platform, then was surrounded by blue light. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I was in a room. I had made it to the Institute.