FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The journey down the steps from the mouth of the vault was unnerving, even to one such as Veronica. A slip or a misstep, and she would fall down the mountainside. The journey was made even more agonizing by the wind that blew through the trees; she had little by way of protection, either by her garments or the land around her; though she was surrounded by trees, they were all dead, with no leaves or canopies to speak of to hinder the brisk chill sweeping across the land, carrying with it flakes of snow that pelted her endlessly.

By the time she finally reached the bottom of the stairs, she was shaking uncontrollably. She held her arms against her chest in a vain effort to keep herself warm, but the icy wind was enough to cut straight to the bone despite her efforts. Her teeth chattered violently as she sought to find somewhere to shield herself from the cold and wind. She looked up desperately as if seeking some break in the clouds that would bring an end to this snow,

The road ahead was littered with parked cars, long abandoned and reduced to scrap. She could not use them for shelter; besides the fact that most of them were buried in the snow, the ones that had been spared had no windows, and they wouldn't be operable after sitting idle for two centuries. An ambulance ahead caught her attention, however; she remembered that emergency vehicles often carried supplies in them, including provisions, medicine and blankets.

Veronica made her way over to the ambulance, pulling the rear door open with some effort. The inside of the ambulance was also filled with snow, blowing in through the empty front windows, but she noticed a blanket in one of the side compartments, spared from the snow. She eagerly took it, only to drop it halfway out; she could barely form a proper grip with her paws, but she managed to pick up the blanket and throw it around herself, jabbing her fingers into her armpits and moving on.

The blanket helped stave off some of the wind, but not much. Veronica used part of the blanket for a makeshift hood, throwing it over her head. Her ears stung as the blanket touched them, forcing her to flatten them against her head so that it wouldn't rub against them. She found herself glad to have also kept her boots; as uncomfortably hot as they had been back in the vault, their thick material was now the only thing protecting her from losing her feet to frostbite.

Finally, as Veronica followed the road, she saw buildings. Actual buildings! With renewed hope, she walked at a brisk pace down the road, heading for those buildings. A settlement, she hoped, where she would find people and a warm bed -hell, at this point she'd settle for an open fire and a sleeping bag!

But her hopes were dashed as she stepped off the road, passing a side that read 'Grouse Mountain' to find herself at an old building situated between a pair of gondola housing units, but no signs of life. One of the two gondolas that had once run up the mountain carrying tourists now lay on its side in the middle of the parking lot, atop a parked car that had been abandoned. How the gondola car had been out far enough to land on that vehicle, she didn't know. But, despite her disappointment, she at least found shelter.

Veronica made her way over to the coffee shop, relieved to find the walls intact. She forced the door open, stumbling inside, and looked around. The place was empty, except for the furniture and a coffee pot resting on the counter. The windows had been boarded up, and caused an ominous howl to fill the cafe as the wind passed between them, but the walls allowed her some reprieve from the cruel elements outside.

Veronica noticed a brick fireplace to the immediate right after stepping away from the door, sitting unlit and with the metal grate broken off of it. She dashed over to it, looking for some way to light it; matches, logs, anything at all. But her heart sank as she found out it was a decorative fireplace, powered by gas and not wood-fed like a real one. She silently cursed whoever had built this place, sitting down in front of the fireplace and clutching the blanket around herself.

'Think warm thoughts, Ron,' she thought, shaking heavily as she curled into a fetal position, rubbing her arms and wrapping her tail around her shins in an effort to warm herself. But her efforts were for naught; the chill of the winter had crept too deeply into her flesh. Her paws had lost all feeling, her teeth ached from chattering, and nothing she did could stop her shivering.

So very cold...

~~~~~

Grant stepped out of the woods along the trail, feeling his coat wave about in the wind as he cleared the trees and became exposed to the moving air. He lifted off his goggles to search the area around him, checking for signs of raider activity. Satisfied that it was quiet, he hefted his rifle and began to cross the old parking lot of the Grouse Mountain tourist site towards the tram houses, hoisting the satchel on his shoulder he had brought along to carry parts and tools for extracting them.

Replacing his goggles over his eyes to keep the cold out, he hoisted his satchel of tools and shouldered his hunting rifle as he crossed the parking lot to the old terminal building. The sign that rested atop had long since blown off, but Grant knew the place to have been the tram terminal for the Grouse Mountain tourist site; people would ride the steel box cars from here all the way up to the Observatory -a restaurant, not an actual observatory- at the peak. It had once been a popular stop for locals and visitors to Vancouver alike, but now it was just another place to find salvage.

Grant had his eyes on the fallen gondola car in front of the terminal -particularly the motor on top that would carry it along the cables to the top. Despite having sat there for decades by now the motor had been left untouched by other salvagers that had come through. 'Payday, Petey,' he thought to himself.

He moved to set down his bag of tools when something caught his eye. He blinked and lifted off his goggles once again to get a better look, noticing impressions in the snow, leading around the fallen tram car and towards the cafe. Grant hefted his rifle into both of his hands, leaving his tool bag behind as he made his way over to the cafe, keeping the weapon levelled and his eyes down the sights as he approached. He tried to look through the boarded up windows, but could not see much inside through the narrow crack.

Moving to the door and gently opening it with the barrel of his gun, he crept into the cafe, keeping low in case anyone tried to take a shot at him. When he was fully inside he closed the door behind him, and looked around the lobby. It didn't take him long to find the snowy boot prints leading across the floor to the fireplace, where he saw a form lying prone, covered by a blanket, against the wall in front of the fireplace.

"Hello?" He called out to them, speaking through the green cloth that covered his mouth and face. "Hey, I'm not looking for trouble; just want to know who's in here."

No response. They did not even move to the sound of his voice. Slowly, he began to cross the room, careful not to let his hooves clomp on the floor as he made his way over to the figure. He reached for the front of the blanket that covered them, lifting it off to reveal the person underneath. An orange-furred vixen lay there, lips blue and eyes shut. Further movement of the blanket revealed that she was clad in a vault suit, with light kevlar armour worn over her chest.

"A vault dweller," he muttered to himself. "Poor girl; must've froze to death." He shook his head, and was about to pull back when he noticed something. A cloud of fog escaping from the mouth of the vixen; at that, he also saw their lips quivering slightly, as though her teeth were trying to chatter, but couldn't.

Leaning down, Grant put his ear close to the vixen's face. Sure enough, he heard her inhale, and felt lukewarm breath escape her mouth as she exhaled again. "My god, you're still alive!" He said in an excited whisper.

The deer buck hurriedly set aside his rifle, pulling off his duster and carrying it over to the serving counter, where he laid it out over the wooden top, and then ran back over to the vixen. 'I know I shouldn't move you, but if you stay on the floor I can't help you,' he thought, sliding his arms under the vixen before picking her up off the floor, still covered by the blanket, and carrying her over to the counter.

Grant lay her down gently on the counter, and began to examine her, confirming her clothes were dry by running his hands along her body. He removed her armour, but left the vault suit on -it was thin enough that it could stay and would not hinder his work to stabilize her. He ran back outside to retrieve his bag from the ruined gondola, running back in and reaching into it to find his medical kit.

'Should've brought my fire kit so I could warm up a compress of some kind," he thought as he leaned close to the vixen, noting her irregular breathing. He pulled off his face mask, and held her face in his gloved hands, pressing his lips to hers and gently breathing into her, seeing her chest swell beneath his vest out of the corner of his eye.

He repeated this several times, until finally she was able to breath on her own. Grant caught his breath for a moment before moving onto the next step.'Just hope she doesn't decide to shoot me if she wakes up,' he thought, though was certain to remove the holstered pistol from her hip and set it well out of reach as he sat down on the counter.

He took off his vest, setting it aside before also removing his shirt and then replaced the vest again, leaving it open to expose the gray fur covered chest underneath. He took the blanket off the vixen, throwing it over himself as he stood on his knees and bent down, slowly and carefully laying atop the vixen, making sure not to put his full weight on her by supporting himself on his elbows and knees. With the blanket draped over them both, held up by his antlers, he remained in that position, shivering a little himself with the vixen's cold body pressed into him.

"Come on, lady," he said. "Hang in there."

Grant didn't know quite how long he stayed like he did, lying atop this strange vixen to warm her. But overtime, her breathing had become less labored, the blue in her lips had faded somewhat back to their ordinary colour. He retrieved a thermometer from his kit, placing it into her mouth and waiting for it to register. Though still not back at proper temperature, she seemed to be stable for the moment, allowing him to finally climb off her and rest his arms. He covered her with his vest and blanket, putting his shirt back on.

The deer buck huffed and rubbed his arms, feeling the chill of the store interior. "The things I do for complete strangers," he muttered. 'Oh, who am I kidding; I'm a doctor. It's in my nature.' He thought.

Now he was faced with another problem. It was dangerous to remain in one place for too long, and so he had to find some way to get this vixen back up to Grousetown where he could properly treat her. He had no way to make a stretcher of any sort and even if he did, he would need a second person to help him carry her. 'I'll have to carry her up the old-fashioned way... I just hope she survives the journey. But if I don't do anything she won't make it either way; I have to risk it.'

With that, his mind was made up. He retrieved his rifle from the corner, flinching at how cold the barrel had become before sliding his hand down to the stock. He brought it over, setting it on the counter and picking up the vixen's pistol, making sure the safety was on before putting it into his pocket. He took back his vest from the vixen to put back on, before sliding her off his jacket and wrapping her in the blanket he had found her with. When she was sufficiently cocooned within it, he lay his coat over her as well for an additional layer, and used part of the blanket for a makeshift hood and his face mask to cover her neck and mouth.

He checked her breathing again, making sure it was still regular. When he was sure that it was, he slung his rifle over his shoulder before carefully picking her up, lifting her by her thighs and beneath her shoulders just so as not to let her legs bend back as much as he could prevent it -if he let the blood in her limbs flow too quickly back towards her heart it could chill her core all over again. 'Fortunately for me, she's not heavy,' he thought.

With the vixen securely in his grasp, he left the cafe behind. The wind had died down since his arrival, but it was still snowing. He kept his pace brisk as he left the terminal behind and headed back to the trails, soon vanishing into the trees with the vixen in tow.

'Don't know where you come from, vault dweller,' he thought as he ascended the trails. 'But you picked a bad time to leave your little hole in the ground.' It then dawned on him that he'd left her armour back in the cafe, but he shook his head. 'Not worth it; I'll come back for it later.'

~~~~~

Veronica could hear the crackling of a fire as she finally pulled herself from the blackness, feeling the warmth emanating from beside her. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself covered in blankets, laying on an old mattress before the roaring fire next to her. But the last time she had looked at that fireplace, it had been an ornament with no means of being lit without a direct gas line.

It didn't take her long to realize that the fireplace next to her was not the same one she had collapsed near. The bricks were red, and the walls around it were wood and not drywall. She was in a completely different place; the cafe was gone, replaced instead by what appeared to be some kind of house.

Where was she?

As she tried to sit up, a hand grasped her shoulder from behind and stopped her from moving. "Don't try to move yet," a low, male voice spoke behind her.

She jumped at first when the hand clamped down on her, and instinctively she struggled and shrugged it off violently before turning around, which made her head spin and her vision swim, nearly falling onto her side. "Fuck me... feel like I just came out of a coma..." she mumbled to herself, holding her head before she opened her eyes again to face whoever was in the room with her.

It took a moment for her vision to clear enough to see, and more to adjust to the dim light, but she found herself looking at the face of a gray-furred deer buck, who was eyeing her very sternly. "You very well might have. You very nearly died down there, lady; I told you not to move yet," he said, standing up from the chair and walking beside her, kneeling to eye level. "Come on; lay back down. I'll get you something to drink." He turned, calling behind him. "Marv! You have any tea or anything like that?"

"Afraid not, Grant; she'll have to settle for some warm water. I do have some sugar I can put in it though to boost her energy," another, very raspy voice called from across the building, where Veronica could see someone in the shadows, working behind a bar counter.

"That'll do; just anything to help warm her up," the deer confirmed, before he turned to the vixen again. "It's alright; you're safe here. Can you tell me your name? I'd rather not just call you 'vault dweller'."

She was a little wary of him at first, turning her gaze away from him slightly and staying quiet for a little longer. After a bit of thought, she sighed. From what she had gathered, this man had saved her from an untimely demise. The least she could do is let him in on who she was.

"...Shepard." She finally answered softly. "Veronica Shepard. VaultSec from Vault 228."

The deer buck nodded. "Well, Veronica, you're a very lucky woman. You didn't lose any limbs to that mild frostbite you had; seems the worst you got out of the weather was just a bad case of hypothermia." He shifted in his chair. "My name's Peter, but most just call me by my last name, Grant." He stood up, stepping away from her and pulling up at a chair at the foot of her bed. "You mind telling me what you were doing down there in just a vault suit; no winter clothes of any kind? You may as well have been in aught but your fur with the temperatures out there."

"The fuck's it matter to-!" She caught herself before she went on, closing her mouth slowly and taking in a deep breath before she spoke again. "If you really need to know... I got kicked out of my vault because of... reasons." She answered as calmly as she could, looking away from the buck angrily.

Grant put up his hand. "Okay; clearly a touchy subject. I won't ask any more," he said. "Just know, I'm only here to help. I'm a physician."

She looked closely at Grant, studying him. Between the matted fur and a small scar on his face, and his deep gray eyes and athletic build, he hardly had the look of a physician at first glance. He looked more the outdoorsman type, and she noticed, just off to the side, a hunting rifle laying just out of arm's reach, which was probably his, but she noticed some of her own belongings as well, including her pistol, her bag of provisions, and...

Her vault suit.

Veronica gasped a bit as she saw her garments, looking down at herself to find that she was nearly naked beneath the blankets, left only in her undergarments. She looked back at the buck with a shocked and angry look. "You fucking undressed me while I was out?!" She exclaimed. "What kind of doctor even does that? And judging by your attire, I'd hardly call you one! You look more like a man of the land!" She further went on.

"You don't think I can be both?" He asked, unfazed by her outburst.

"Well, judging by that screaming, she's recovered pretty well," the raspy voice of the other man sounded to her left.

The other man she guessed he was a feline, or at least used to be as he stepped into the light of the fire. What she saw was a half-decayed male cat, missing an eye and most of the skin from his face, exposing his teeth and jawline. No fur was left on his body, having likely shed it when he had become... whatever he was. His arms were visible from the short sleeves of his shirt, and were also bony with exposed tissue from there to the hand, as though the flesh had been eaten away by some unholy creature.

Veronica almost shrieked as the other creature, whom she assumed to be this Marv character the buck called back to, walked in, even scooting back in her bed until she hit the wall behind her, pointing at him with a shaky arm. "Okay, what in the holy fuck are you supposed to be?!" She asked loudly. "You look like you got dipped in a vat of acid!"

The zombie-like figure let out a throaty chuckle -which did not help Veronica calm down in the slightest- as he turned to look at Grant. "You know, a few years ago I might've been offended by a reaction like that, but I've kind of grown accustomed to it -especially from vault dwellers," he remarked.

"This is Marv," Grant introduced the cat... creature. "He's what's known as a Ghoul; I'll explain later. For now, he's been kind enough to let me use his establishment to care for you. The least you can do is try not to wake all of his guests."

"I don't have any other guests, Grant; caravans are late this month," the ghoul replied, kneeling and setting a steaming cup on the floor next to Veronica's mattress -the hand which carried it was covered by a glove, as though knowing she wouldn't want to touch it if she'd seen his decayed hands on it first. "Right about now, it's just you two here." And with that, he walked away, heading back over to the bar counter across the room.

Grant turned back to Veronica. "Your tail is going to catch fire if you sit there," he warned her, pointing at the fireplace she was next to.

"Eh?" She tilted her head at him, then noticed the heat by her tail and quickly moved away from it, tucking her tail under the covers and blushing in embarrassment. She then looked over to the cup of warm water next to her, gently taking it into her paws and sipping on it slowly, sighing as she felt its warmth spread across her core, helping to thaw her insides.

"Feel better?" Grant asked her after waiting a few moments. So far, he had been quite patient with her behavior, and continued to be so, letting her get everything out of her system despite how she might've been offensive several times now.

"A little," she returned, calmer than before, glancing back in his direction and flattening her ears a bit. "...Thanks." She finally added. "For uh... bringing me here, wherever that may be."

"We call it Grousetown," replied Grant. "Or... they do. I'm rather new here too. It's a little hamlet on the mountain; safely tucked away from raiders and mutants. Except for the ones that live here of course," he looked in Marv's direction. "No offense," he called.

"None taken," Marv returned.

Grant turned to Veronica again. "And to answer your question about my undressing you, I had to; it started snowing as we got up the mountain and your clothes -and my jacket, which was covering you, got dampened. Never leave a hypothermia patient in wet clothes; one of the basics of first aid."

"...Oh." Veronica replied. "...I was that bad, huh?" She asked, now feeling slightly more embarrassed for her initial assumption of Grant.

As if sensing her plight, he spoke up again. "It's fine," he replied, standing up from his chair. "Marv has prepared a room for you, but if you need anything, just ask him. He'll help you out." With that, he turned and headed for the stairs. "Rest well, Veronica."

With that, the buck was on his way up the stairs, soon vanishing onto the second floor of the inn, leaving Veronica alone in the main room with Marv, who was busy cleaning a row of glasses on the counter, humming to himself. "Your vault suit should be dry by now; I'll look away," the ghoul called to her. "But if you're going to be living out in this region, furs, you're going to need some better gear."

Though the ghoul-cat was still very unnerving to the vixen, she knew at the very least that he seemed to mean well, and she certainly could use some proper advice as she still knew very little about the world she had stepped into. "...Any idea on where I should start looking?" Veronica asked, staring into the open first and sipping her warm sugar-water.

"There's a store here in town that sells gear you could use, but I'm guessing that, being fresh out of the vault, you probably don't have very many caps yet," Marv replied.

She slowly looked over to the ghoul-cat inquisitively, tilting her head in confusion. "...Caps?" She asked. "The hell are those?"

"You're probably going to laugh about this, but, it's short for 'bottle caps'," replied Marv. "Yeah; they're what passes for currency nowadays. Speaking as someone who was around when we still used cash, I thought it pretty weird too."

"Wait, wait, wait, back up." She held her paws up and shook her head as she processed what she heard. "Did I just hear that right? You guys use bottle caps as currency nowadays?" She exclaimed, laughing a little at the concept.

"Told you you'd laugh about it," Marv returned in a triumphant manner, sharing a chuckle with the vixen. "But, unless that vault you came out of has a working printing press they'd be willing to share with the whole wasteland, that's what we've got."

"Yea, no. We didn't have anything of the sort. Closest thing we had were ration tickets." She replied.

"Yeah; that'd never be enough for the wasteland. Plus, it'd probably end up broken if any raiders got their hands on it, and we'd be back to square one," Marv went on, shrugging as he set down another glass. "For all the planning and preparation made preserve life when the war happened, I think there's still a lot the government didn't consider way back then, eh. Like what everybody would have to do after." Deciding to change the subject, he looked over at Veronica. "Hey, you hungry at all? I've got some mirelurk meat ready to grill. And in case you're wondering, it's basically crab meat."

Veronica shrugged. "I guess it can't hurt." She returned. "Though wouldn't that mean I'd need to start up a tab with you?" She asked with a bit of jest.

"Don't worry about it, eh; Grant offered to let it all go on his tab, 'till you get back on your feet," replied Marv as he loaded a wood burning stove with fresh logs.

"He did, huh?" Veronica asked, looking down slightly as her thoughts returned to the Buck that had saved her life. "...Guess I should properly thank him next chance I get." She muttered softly, then her gaze returned to Marv and her ears flattened a bit. "And... sorry for the earlier comment I made about you..."

"I've grown to expect it a little, eh," he replied, brushing it off. "And believe me; compared to one of the last vault dwellers I've met, your reaction was pretty mild. I've had one pull a shotgun on me before 'cuz he'd run into some ferals before meeting me. Fortunately for me, he was out of ammo, or I'd be lacking a pelvic bone right about now."

Marv spoke about himself with such neutrality -even in the face of violence, Veronica wasn't sure if she should chuckle or feel sympathy for the ghoul, given that his... appearance was likely no fault of his own. "Well, still." She returned. "It wasn't right of me to say something about a condition you can't really fix." She added, then she crossed her eyes a little and slapped herself in the forehead. "That... sounded better in my head."

"A friend of mine used to say, 'open mouth insert boot' for moments like that," Marv remarked as Veronica heard the sizzling of meat on the grill. "And thankfully, you still have a foot to fill that boot," he added in jest, lightening the mood for both.

"Too true." Veronica returned, laying back in her bed after finishing her water and waiting for the meat to be served.

A few moments later, Marv walked over to her carrying a plate in his hand, which he set down gently on the floor next to her. On the plate were three wooden skewers with with white meat on them; they smelled a little strange to Veronica, but her growling stomach won over her nose as Marv took her cup for her, offering a refill before he returned to the bar counter.

She picked up one of the skewers, biting hungrily down on the meat and pulling it off. It barely touched her tongue before she noticed how bland it was, and when she chewed, it was slightly rubbery, though not to the point of being inedible.

She cringed from the lack of flavour, thinking it could use a little more spice. The rubberiness of the meal made her cringe a little. It would take her a fair amount of time to adjust to it, but it was food at least, food that _wasn't_processed paste like it was back in her old vault. When Marv returned with a refill of her water, he noticed her expression, and let out a light chuckle.

"Not quite like you're used to?" He asked.

Veronica swallowed her morsel slowly, shivering a little before she answered back. "Not really... but it's food." She returned, accepting the glass and swigging it quickly to chase down the meat she just swallowed.

"Keep that mindset. Out here, you gotta take what you can get," Marv informed her, stepping back and pulling up a chair before sitting down. "Now, on the subject of the gear I mentioned earlier. I might be able to help you out a bit there, though I would ask something in return."

"I figured..." She replied with a small sigh. "What do you have in mind?"

"I can spot you for what you need to weatherproof your vault suit, or anything just as suitable," replied Marv. "And in return, you do some work for me -don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to be the barmaid -I'm content doing the work here myself. What I will ask is supply runs, and if you're any good with that pistol maybe some pest control. Sound reasonable?"

"...Ya know, I was almost expecting you to say I was to be a server or barmaid, but if all you need are supply runs, then sure." Veronica returned. "Can't be too hard anyway."

The chuckle that Marv elicited following her comment sent enough of a chill up her back she almost felt like she was outside again. "Furs, you have _no_idea what you're in for out here," he said as he walked back over to the counter once again. "Like I said, you better be damn good with that pistol of yours, and you better be ready to use it every single day."

She was silent for a long moment after that comment, slowly working up the courage to ask a question that she might regret asking later. "Uh... why?"

"Let's just say you were lucky it was Grant who found you at that old cafe, and not someone else," replied Marv. "Out here, everything out there either wants to kill you, eat you, rape you, or do all of the above if they're particularly crazy." He pointed at her arm. "I noticed that pip-boy of yours too; keep an eye on that. It might save your life."

Veronica looked down at the device on her arm. "...Huh. In all the excitement, I forgot I even had it on me." She admitted, raising it up to her face and using her left paw to fiddle around with a little, trying to get a grasp of how it worked. "Let's see here..."

The controls for the device were quite simple once she got a grasp of what everything did. On either side of the screen were two dials, one of which cycled through her options; Status, inventory, map, journal and even a radio. She noticed that she could detect two frequencies on the radio, one of which was the Overseer's frequency from Vault 228. She was shocked to find that; a lead-lined vault should have kept the signal contained from any conventional radios. This thing was either very powerful or there might have been a breach in the vault's shielding somewhere.

On the map, she noticed the places she had visited were now marked down. She found the location of Vault 228 was recorded, along with the place where she had lost consciousness and likely been found by Grant; Grouse Mountain Tram Terminal. But that's when she noticed something odd; her current location, Grousetown, was also listed on the map. But how was that possible? This was a post-war settlement; surely a GPS wouldn't recognize a location that didn't exist when it was built?

A mystery she'd have to explore another time, because she noticed something odd on the compass at the top of the screen. She saw two green bars, showing off to her left. After a moment or two of looking around, she realized one of them seemed to be pointing towards Marv, and the other seemed to be behind him. She guessed that it was probably Grant, upstairs, though the compass didn't show elevation differences, only direction.

But she found a third bar on the compass as well; this one was red, and it seemed to be off to her right, beyond the wall of the building.

"...Uhm...there's a red bar on this compass function." She informed Marv, looking up at him. "That mean anything I should know about?"

Marv looked over at her with some alarm, before he turned to the stove and quickly snuffed out the fire. "Yes," he replied, reaching beneath the counter and lifting out a double-barrelled shotgun, which he placed upon the counter. "Seems the town's got an unwanted visitor; probably a Yao Guai looking for a snack. You better get over here, kid."

"Wait, a Yao-what?" She asked, quickly rising out of her bed and reaching over to her belongings for her pistol, thinking she'd need it.

"Yao Guai; it's a bear, one that's a bit ghoulish like myself," replied Marv, loading a pair of slugs into his shotgun before snapping it closed. "They're scavengers and will eat just about anything they can find. Unfortunately, food has become scarce since the bombs fell, so guess who winds up being their main diet?" He scoffed, and began to walk around the building, checking the windows. "Which way is it?" He asked.

She checked her compass again, noticing the red bar had moved slightly. "To the right, slightly ahead." She informed the cat-ghoul. "Er, I mean... north-east."

Marv moved over to the window closest to where she indicated, peering out and looking around. "Ah, there it is," he said, stepping back from the window and keeping the gun levelled as he watched the creature, his one eye narrowed as it peered down the sight of his weapon.

There was a long, tense moment of silence as Veronica watched the creature's movements on her compass, while Marv watched it through the window. She began to hear the growling and heavy footfalls of the creature as it wandered near the building; it sounded huge. Marv moved back from the window and over to another one, his gun still raised, but it was at this window Veronica saw a pair of lifeless white eyes peer through, looking into the inn. Those eyes sent a shiver up her back, and she thought for sure they were on her, but with the lack of pupils she couldn't be sure.

Veronica tensed up to the point of going completely rigid, her paws gripping onto her gun so tightly as she stared back at the lifeless eyes of the irradiated predator. She dared not move, keeping completely quiet so as not to alert the Yao-Guai of hers, or Marv's presence for that matter. After a moment or two of the creature staring, Marv thumped the wall next to the window with the stock of his shotgun, and the creature recoiled from the noise, visibly startled as it vanished back into the dark. Marvin stepped back from the window, waiting to see what the creature would do.

Time passed, and all became quiet. Veronica checked her compass, to find the red line had moved again, heading back to the left in the same direction it had come from. And then... it vanished. She turned, looking for the red line again, but she didn't find it.

She let out a long sigh of relief, lowering her arm to her side and relaxing completely. "Okay...it's gone." She informed Marv.

Marv lowered his gun, backing away from the windows as he returned to the counter. "Good call, kid," he said, nodding to her. "And now you've seen one of the most crucial functions of that gadget; it warns you when something's nearby, and whether or not it might be unfriendly. That doesn't mean you should shoot first and ask questions later, eh, but it'll let you know to be on your guard."

"Thanks for the tip..." She returned, nodding back to Marv quickly. "Least now I know what setting to keep it on the most."

"It should also have a geiger counter, which you'll need if you wander too close to highly radioactive locations, like bomb sites or spilled toxic waste," Marv went on. "For anyone who hasn't lived in the wasteland and learned to survive in it, that thing is going to save you a lot of pain."

"Duly noted." Veronica returned, then she smiled nervously. "So... is it too late to become a barmaid?" She asked with a nervous chuckle.

~~~~~

After spending the night in a room that had been prepared for her, Veronica rose to a bleak morning, with still no sign of sunlight in the skies. Thankfully, it had finally stopped snowing, clearing the air enough for her to see down the mountainside from the window of her room to the ruins of Vancouver below. The aged, ruined city seemed to draw her in to continue staring at it, either with morbid fascination or curiosity to what waited her there in what was once the jewel of western Canada... before everything changed.

It would take some time for her to adjust to this new life of hers, surviving out here in this frigid wasteland.

Canada was nothing like she had been taught during school in the vault. While regarded as a winter country in most areas, Vancouver was supposed to not have so much snow thanks to its proximity to the ocean, yet it seemed to go on forever, from the peak of the mountain to the shores of the gray ocean in the west, stretching endlessly across the horizon. And from what Marv told her, it was the most dangerous place to visit, filled to the brim with raiders and monsters beyond her wildest nightmares.

As she stood contemplating, there was a knock at her door. Turning, she went to answer it, and found Grant standing outside her room, holding her Kevlar vest in his hands. She had wondered what happened to it since putting her vault suit back on, but Grant had been gone that morning, preventing her from asking. "I believe this is yours," he said, offering it to her. "Thought you might want it back."

"Yea, actually. Thanks." She returned, taking the kevlar vest in her paws from him and nodding back to Grant slowly. "Going to need all the protection I can get today."

"Have you had a chance to go over to the store to see about getting the gear you need?" Grant asked.

"I was going to do that before seeing what work Marv had in store for me today." She answered back with a shrug. "Warmer clothes for one. That's my priority at the moment."

Grant nodded. "I've already seen to that. His lamps are running out of oil, and there's a restaurant up the mountain that should have what we need. He asked me to come along with you too, since I know my way around."

"So, my first outing and I'm paired up with you already huh?" She asked. "Shame I didn't bring any confetti to celebrate the occasion."

He stared at her blankly. "What?"

"Nothing. Was just trying to be funny." She returned dismissively, beginning to strap on her armour, only to find it was still extremely cold from being outside, causing goosebumps to form all over her chest and make her fur stand on end beneath her vault suit. "F-Fuck me!!" She exclaimed, already shivering again and forcing her to take it off once more.

"I was going to mention that," he remarked, mildly sheepish.

"Smooth, deer boy." Veronica grumbled, shooting him an unamused look.

Grant cleared his throat. "Well anyway. Get yourself some breakfast, and we'll head over to the store to speak to the proprietor. I'll wait downstairs for you."

"Yea sure." The vixen returned, waiting for him to leave before she sighed and looked down at her kevlar vest, then to the cold winter outside. "...This is going to be fun." She muttered sarcastically to herself.

Veronica gave her armour the chance to warm up before she tried putting it on again -having to improvise by lying on top of it for a few minutes with a blanket thrown over here. There was no central heating of any sort in this establishment, so her options were limited. Once it was warm enough for her to put on, she slipped out of her room and headed downstairs, grabbing a bite to eat from Marv, where Grant was also waiting. They ate their breakfast in silence; Grant was munching on some sort of kelp that Veronica couldn't identify, with a side of some boiled Mirelurk meat. She settled instead for some of her provisions, eating a batch of bacon jerky and sipping on some water.

Eyeing the kelp roused her curiosity, as it was the only sign of living vegetation she had seen since leaving Vault 228. "Where did you get that?" She asked Grant.

"The ocean in the west," replied Grant. "Only place you can find any vegetation here in the winter wastes is in the ocean. Some traders bring it out here in exchange for any hides or meat the store has."

"...Isn't the ocean irradiated?" Veronica asked.

"So was that water I gave you last night," replied Marv, only to chuckle at the vixen's startled reaction. "I'm joking; it was purified, and so's that kelp."

"That is not funny, Marv," Veronica scolded.

When they had their fill, the two of them got up from their stools to leave. Grant left a handful of bottlecaps on the counter for Marv, who scooped them up and counted them out before waving his free hand to them. "Be safe!" he called to them as they walked out the door.

This was her first time outside the inn since her arrival in Grousetown, giving Veronica the chance to take in the sights, though there wasn't much to see. Two very old buildings stood in the vicinity, one of which had collapsed, but the other, more elongated metal structure, looked to be in decent shape and had likely been repurposed. The other structures, built away from the cliff along the path running through the town, were shanty looking houses, with only a few people seen entering or exiting them from where she stood. Marv's place also appeared to be something built post-war but was certainly a sight better than these other buildings.

The town seemed drab to the vixen, with improvised homes in such an unforgiving wasteland. Yet, she still did not find herself longing for the confines of the vault she had grown up in when comparing the two. But thinking of the vault also had her thinking back to Berens, the VaultSec commander. Of all the things in the vault she didn't miss, he was the one she thought of fondly, and wondered how he had been faring since the night of the riot...

'I sure hope he managed to restore order down there or I will never forgive him,' she thought in jest.

Grant led her over to the long building, which, as of stepping out front, she saw the sign over the door, made from spare metal parts such as rebar and weather stripping. 'Gr--setown Gener-l Sto--'; some of the letters were missing, with only the patterns of the bolts that had held them allowing her to make out what the name was probably supposed to be.

_ _ Grant held open the door to the shop for Veronica, letting her step inside. She found herself standing before a counter with an assortment of items strewn across it from one end to the other, ranging from food and medicine to ammunition and various junk she couldn't even identify. Behind the counter stood a pair of gray wolves, one male the other one female, who were talking until the door opened and Grant and Veronica entered the shop. The male's eyes quickly found Grant, and he promptly spoke up.

"Mr. Grant! What have you brought us today, my friend?"

"A new customer, Simon," Grant replied, gesturing to Veronica. "This lady is in need of some proper winter protection; Marv's picking up the bill. What have you got for her?"

The male wolf regarded Veronica with a neutral expression, looking over her briskly and nodding. "Fresh out of the vault are we?" the male wolf asked. "I believe we can do something for you." He put his hand on the shoulder of the female wolf next to him. "My delightful sister here will take you in back and see if we can't arrange something for you then, ma'am."

"Right this way please," the female bade Veronica to the other end of the counter, where she opened a saloon-style door to let her step through.

Veronica followed after the wolfess, still sneaking a few glances at a few of the shops inventory before stepping through the doorway. When the wolfess shut it, the vixen spoke up. "Got a lot of...interesting stuff here." She commented. "You guys sell a bit of everything here?"

"Pretty much," the wolfess replied honestly, leading Veronica through a second door and into a back room. "We try to tailor to all of the needs of anyone who might come around. Going over the mountain is sometimes safer than around it with all the raiders about."

"So I have been told." Veronica returned. "Had a bit of a close encounter with one of the local predators in the area."

"That Yao Guai that wandered into town last night?" The wolfess asked, earning a questioning glance from Veronica. "I'm a bit of a night owl; I saw him come in from my upstairs window."

"So that one's a regular visitor?" Veronica asked. "If he's that much of a bother, then why not just...off it? I mean, you guys clearly aren't defenseless."

"It's not the only one," replied the wolfess as she led Veronica to what appeared to be a clothing section at the back of the store. "There's a whole family of them up near the Observatory; there used to be a habitat up here for tourists to visit some bears they kept in captivity. Some of them stuck around over the years and now there are plenty of them on this mountain. So, we just don't go out much at night, especially not alone, and keep guns ready just in case."

"Joy..." Veronica muttered, rolling her eyes a little. "Guess I'm going to need a better gun at some point. Doubt this little peashooter can do much damage to 'em." She added, looking down at her holstered 10mm service pistol.

"With standard ammo? Not likely," replied the wolfess. "But..." She looked towards the front of the store, her tail flicking absently as she became silent for a brief moment, and then turned to Veronica again. "If you want, I could slip some full-metal jacket ammunition in with your purchase; that should help take them down if you find any." She offered.

"...My gun can have armour piercing rounds?" Veronica asked skeptically. "Not that I don't appreciate the offer, but you really have some for it?"

"Of course! The 10mm pistol is the most common firearm in the whole wasteland; ammo for them is easy to get a hold of, even for us," the wolfess returned. "That said, we still only have a limited supply of specialty ammo like armour piercing -maybe enough for one magazine, so you'd have to make them count."

She turned back to the clothing selections. "But we'll get to that later; first thing's first. We can't have you freezing your tail off out there."

Veronica nodded softly in return. "Good call." She replied, following the shopkeep to the clothes and going through them with her. "You got a name I can call you? Or should I just stick with shopkeep?" She asked in jest.

"My name is Tammy," she replied, smiling at Veronica. "And yours?"

"Veronica." She returned, putting on a smile back at Tammy.

"Well, Veronica," she returned. "It's good to finally not be the only woman in town, let me tell you. So, I'm going to cut you a good deal -one you should be able to work off with Marv pretty easily." She said, smiling at the vixen.

This time, Veronica's smile was much more genuine, beaming at the wolfess for her kindness. "If I had known it was this easy to make friends, I'd have left my vault sooner." Veronica returned. "Now let's get some clothes going. I think we're holding the boys up outside." She added with a small laugh.

Tammy waved it off. "My brother knows this could end up taking a bit of time. First thing we can do is weatherproof your vault suit; give you more insulated underclothes you could wear beneath it, and throw in a couple of gloves, some hide. It won't protect you from the really cold nights but it'd be your cheapest option. Alternatively, we can select a whole new outfit for you from what we've got here but that might run up the bill a little more. So, it's up to you."

"Let's just go with option A for now." Veronica replied. "Don't want to exactly get on anyone's bad side and come off as spoiled and needy..."

"Alright; let's see what we got here," Tammy said as she began to peruse the inventory.

Within the half hour, Veronica's new outfit was prepared. She had to strip out of her Vault suit for the insulated underclothes, which was a two-piece set consisting of a tightly knit woolen undershirt and pants to match; they fit snugly to Veronica's form, even more so than the vault suit, which, upon putting back on, seemed ever so slightly tighter with the new underclothes but she felt much the extra insulation doing its work right away, keeping her comfortably warm.

A pair of yao guai hide gloves was added for her paws; she had to take off her pip boy briefly, which required a special tool that fortunately Tammy had on hand to remove. Once the gloves were on and the pip boy replaced, she added a pair of calf warmers made from hide and still covered in animal fur, which would help keep her feet and legs warm. The final piece was a balaclava specifically designed with slots for her ears. The face mask could be lifted up and pulled down as she needed, and a pair of goggles would protect her eyes from the chill and the blowing snow.

When all was said and done, her vault suit had been weatherproofed.

Veronica looked herself over at a mirror, checking out her improved clothing and giving a small nod of approval when she felt everything was all in order. She turned back to Tammy and nodded back to her. "I think I'm all set." She stated. "How do I look?" She asked the wolfess for her opinion.

"Like I want to take you for a drink," Tammy joked, before answering seriously. "I'd say as you're as ready as you can be. With just this final touch," she reached for an item on the table next to her, approaching Veronica with a filled ten millimeter magazine. "I collected the bullets while you were dressing; twelve rounds, full mag." She offered it to Veronica. "Just make sure you hit the head."

"Will do." Veronica answered back, taking the magazine and adding it to her own stockpile on her belt, bringing her total to three. "Anything else I should know about before I venture out into the wild?"

"Nothing I could really tell you," she replied. "Most I can do is wish you luck from here on."

"I'm going to need it." Veronica returned with a nod, casually waving to Tammy as she headed back to the saloon style door to regroup with Grant.

The deer buck looked over as she stepped into view, looking her over with a keen eye before he nodded. "Now you look like someone ready for the winter wastelands," he remarked.

"I agree," returned Simon. "Good picks, Tammy." He looked at Grant. "I'll forward the bill to Marv, as you requested. Will you need anything else?"

"You have any snowshoes? The snow gets pretty deep up at the peak." Grant returned.

"I'm afraid not, my friend; those are not easy to come by and most who have them are using improvised ones. But if you stick close to the trees the snow should not be as deep there," replied Simon. "Just keep that rifle of yours handy at all times and make sure you have plenty of ammo."

"No need to worry, Simon. I'm fully prepared," assured Grant, before turning to look at Veronica. "And now so's my companion. You ready to go?"

"Yup. Ready as I can be." Veronica replied with a nod. "Let's get this thing going."

"If you find anything interesting be sure to bring it back with you," Simon called as they headed out the door.

"We will," Grant called back as he held open the door for Veronica and followed her out.

The four exchanged their goodbyes as the buck and vixen stepped out into the cold winter air. Veronica felt her new insulated underclothes doing their job already as she did not feel the chill of the air on her body, and felt more comfortable to be outside now. She pulled down her balaclava, having to fumble with it a little to get it to fit over her face, and to get her ears into the pockets on top of the head. With the final touch, she placed her goggles over her eyes, and was thus shielded from the cold.

With that, Grant, with his face mask and goggles in place, took the lead, turning about as they stepped off the porch of the shop and heading north towards the slope leading up the mountain, with Veronica following in his wake. The snow quickly became deeper as they left the town perimeter, forcing Veronica to follow his path as he powered through it, leaving a narrow trench behind him as they ascended towards the summit.

The vixen kept pace with Grant as best she could, secretly thankful he was taking the lead and making a passageway for her to follow; she did not yet have the legs for trudging through such thick snow. As they slowly got closer to their intended destination, she felt the need to engage in conversation with him. If she was going to be working with Grant in the future, it wouldn't hurt to know a little more about him and where he was at with this world.

"So, uh...Grant." She called out to the buck, having to speak a little louder for her voice to be heard through her protective mask. "How'd you end up in these parts? I remember you mentioned you were somewhat new to Grousetown."

"Well I wouldn't say 'new' in the literal sense, but I have been here the shortest time out of anybody else, I suppose," he began, answering her question in a casual manner. "I came here about a year ago, from Alberta. Started salvaging and hunting in these parts doing business with Simon and Tammy. Overtime everyone in town just grew to know me."

"Wait, you came all the way from Alberta??" Veronica exclaimed in shock. "Holy hell; how'd you even end up here in BC? Let alone Vancouver?"

"I've grown up here in the winter wastes, Veronica," replied Grant. "I know how to survive. Just followed the old Via Railroad tracks from Edmonton and eventually made it here."

"On foot??" She added. "Jeez, and I thought I had it bad... I couldn't even make it down the mountain without freezing to death." She then asked. "Were you once a Vault Dweller too?"

"Not me, no," he replied. "The last one in my family to live in a vault was my grandfather, about seventy years ago. Vault 245, if I remember correctly. But I was born outside of it in a little community; I never got to enjoy the comforts of a nice insulated space myself." She detected a hint of distaste in his voice.

Her ear twitched a bit when she detected his subtle change in tone, making her narrow her eyes in curiosity. "..Well you're not missing much... it gets pretty boring after a while." She commented back. "Though I do have to ask, why didn't you get the chance?"

Grant paused mid-step as her question sank in, hesitating only briefly before he pushed forward, and spoke in a low tone that was only barely audible even to the vixen. "Sometimes, you don't get to choose," was his response, a somber tone accompanying his words as they passed through his green bandana, followed shortly by. "Someone else chooses for you..."

His words didn't fall on deaf ears. Veronica picked up on his somber tone which made her pause for a moment, debating whether or not to continue the conversation. After a bit of thought, she decided to speak up again. "...Something happened to you back in Alberta, didn't it?" She asked. "Something pretty bad..."

Once again, he stopped, standing frozen for a moment before turning to Veronica, his eyes narrowed with some irritation present. "Look, Veronica. I don't know your backstory, you don't really need to know mine. But let me give you some advice, if you're out here to stay. First, the kindness you've experienced in Grousetown, don't get used to it because you were lucky for it to be the first; those people have enjoyed a safer livelihood than most get do, letting them risk a more laid-back lifestyle.

"Secondly, and this goes back to the first in not expecting too much kindness. Someone always wants something from you, and many won't be afraid to take it by force; always keep your gun ready, always be ready to use it," he went on. "Thirdly, when you're out here in the wilderness, not everything is what it seems. The Yao Guai are just the tip of the iceberg -there are much worse monstrosities out there and some of them wear the same skin as you and I; keep your head down, and if you meet someone, never assume they are friendly unless they prove it first."

"Fourth, and most important of all, don't be an idealist. The winter wastes will only be what we can make of them, but trying to change them for some noble cause is the fastest road to death," he turned away from her again. "Look out for yourself and those you know you can trust, and just do what's right by you and them." And without another word, he continued through the snow, not looking back once as Veronica considered his words.

She stood in a stunned silence, processing his sudden shift in tone until she scowled behind her mask. "Well excuse me for trying to get to know the guy who saved my fucking life." She grumbled lowly. In her mind though, she at least found something out about Grant in the sense that, judging from how he reacted to her last question, he had suffered a pretty tragic event that led him to this point in life. 'Best to just drop it, girl... don't wanna get on anyone's bad side while I'm here.' She thought to herself as she continued to trudge after Grant.

They finally reached the peak, and Grant had to stop for a moment to catch his breath after the long climb and snow he'd pushed aside, but they had made it. Ahead of them was a building, built into the mountainside with tram car houses on either side of it. It dawned on Veronica fairly quickly that the tram terminal she had seen at the bottom of the mountain led up to this same place where they now stood. But it was in no better condition than its counterpart below.

Though the building had managed to remain standing despite the passage of time, the trams had suffered the decay of the elements. Over the side, she could see the second tram car, apparently at the top of the mountain when the services had ended, lying below in the trees. The long line of windows, through one of which she could see what looked like the remains of a restaurant, had cracked and broken, exposing the inside to the elements. It was a miracle the restaurant had not collapsed under the weight of the snow, and it made Veronica feel apprehensive about entering the building; there was no way it was structurally sound.

"Okay. So, we just need to get to the kitchen," Grant stated. "We'll locate Marv's oil, maybe grab anything else worth salvaging, and then be on our way."

"Seems simple enough." Veronica returned. "Though in the event things go south, I hope you have a plan B." She added.

"That will depend on what happens," he returned. "Right now, we're downwind of the Yao Guai territory so they shouldn't know we're up here. Should be a simple grab and go."

"Alright, then let's do this thing." She returned, gesturing to the decrepit building ahead of them. "I'd rather not stay here any longer than we have to. Place looks like it'll come down at any moment."

"Of that, we're agreed," returned Grant, trudging onward through the snow as they made their way over to the building, finding the main entrance, which was snowed in after having not been opened for decades if not longer. But the two managed to make their own entrance, crawling through a window and sliding down the buildup of snow that had accumulated inside.

Once they were both inside, Veronica reached for her pistol and drew it from her holster, double checking the magazine inside before sliding the hammer back and flicking off the safety. To her, this may be a simple grab and go run, but she was the type to not take any chances, especially after what Grant had told her not too long ago about how dangerous the wasteland was.

"Alright doc. You lead, I'll cover your six." She said to him.

"Your pistol is much better suited to this enclosed space than my rifle. Plus, you're half my weight; less strain to the structure." He took one hand from his rifle to gesture onward. "After you."

"Joy..." She grumbled, but complied. She stepped forward in front of Grant to take point, keeping her pistol ready as she took the lead, her senses now on high alert.

Finding where they needed to go was not difficult; the signs that directed customers around the building were still up, and one pointed straight to The Observatory restaurant, where they would surely find the items they needed. Grant took in the surroundings throughout the rest of the building, looking for any items of particular interest that might be worth salvaging, but stopped when the floor creaked, letting Veronica carry on ahead while he kept back.

Veronica entered the restaurant, finding it too was also filled with snow. The whole floor she walked on groaned with protest as she sought out the kitchen, eventually finding the access door on the other end of the room. 'God damn it why did it have to be there?' She bemoaned in her mind, and made the risky journey of rounding the scattered, decrepit furniture over to the kitchen. Grant stuck his head in to watch her but dared not take another step forward or risk causing a shift in the weight within the structure.

Inside the kitchen, Veronica found signs that the staff that had worked here seemed to have left in a hurry; platters of food, now long since wasted away, cutting boards and knives lay strewn across the counters, rusted almost down to nothing, one of the boards had an ancient chicken breast sitting upon it, with the knife used to cut it placed next to it.

It was as though the entire staff had left all at once in the middle of business hours; she could only imagine what reasons they might've had for doing so...

She located the pantry without much difficulty, and inside, she found unopened glass bottles of cooking oil; grapeseed, corn and olive alike. She collected as many bottles as she could carry, bringing them back out of the kitchen with her and returning to Grant, who took a few for her so that she could free up one of her hands, placing them into the pockets of his coat.

"Excellent work," he complimented her. "Now let's get out of here."

"Let's..." She returned eagerly, already looking for the exit out of the building. "Did you find anything worth scavenging?"

"Just some old paper and other tourist junk; nothing useful," replied Grant. "Guess the oil's the only think we'll need from this..." He paused mid-sentence as he turned to leave, his face discolouring somewhat when he looked ahead into the lobby where they had entered through. "Oh shit..."

Veronica followed where he was looking, and was quite sure her heart skipped a beat when she saw the creature standing in the lobby, shaking the snow from its body before the two white eyes found them, and it emitted a low growl. It was a bear, but not a bear described in the books Veronica had read about bears in the wild. This creature had no fur, and its skin was a deathly gray, as though it were long dead. It was almost like a wild animal's answer to a Ghoul like Marv, and it sent shivers up her spine as she peered into those eyes.

Grant reacted quickly, moving to raise his rifle, but the creature charged, roaring and forcing both of them to back up into the restaurant to escape it. Grant fired, his bullet imbedding itself into the creature's back, but this served only to anger it as it chased them down the hall. Grant pulled back the bolt on his rifle to fire again, backing away only to trip on a fallen chair, nearly taking Veronica with him as he toppled over, with colourful profanity to announce his plight.

She shrieked as she fell to her knees after Grant tripped, managing to stand back up quickly after her tumble. She turned back to see the Yao Guai still charging them, with Grant dead in its path. Pure instinct took her over as she quickly raised her pistol and began firing at the charging irradiated bear's face.

It was only when the Yao Guai continued charging that she realized, she was still using standard ammunition!

Fortunately, the two bullets thudded into the skull of the irradiated bear, failing to pierce its dense skull but still landing enough of a hit to rattle its brain and leave it dazed. It blundered into the dining area, forcing Grant to roll and Veronica to step out of the way as it fell into a dining table before regaining its senses. But as it crashed into the floor, the whole room groaned noisily, followed by the sound of splintering wood and breaking metal

"MOVE!" Grant screamed, throwing his rifle into the hallway and scrambling to get up to dash for the exit.

Veronica made it first, and looked back to see the Yao Guai attempting to pursue the deer buck, only to miss a deadly swipe at his back as the floor beneath it gave way and sent it reeling backward. Grant had just managed to get to his feet and leapt for the hall where Veronica waited as the rest of the structure fell away, the Yao Guai roaring in terror as it and the structure plunged off the cliff and into the trees below, followed by several tons of debris.

Grant caught the ledge left by the collapse, and struggled to hang onto it as his legs hung freely below, the rest of the building still creaking ominously. He then felt a pair of hands around his wrist, causing him to look up and see Veronica straining to pull him back up to safety. Despite the condition of the building and how dangerously close it was to collapsing, she chose to stay and help Grant out of this predicament rather than choosing to save her own skin.

Slowly, they managed to get Grant over the ledge and back onto the floor, the buck falling onto his side and gasping for breath, one hand over his heart as if to check to see if it was still beating. Eventually, he turned to look up at Veronica, and seemed about to say something when the sound of more splintering wood filled their ears, drowning out the first word.

"Shit, go!" He shouted.

The buck grabbed his rifle and practically pushed Veronica towards the lobby as they got back to their feet, followed by the rest of the building started to give way; the kitchen, the last of the dining area, one of the gondola cars and even the store adjacent to the restaurant all tumbled down to the trees below, as Grant and Veronica collapsed from the violent shaking, and lay on the floor watching as the rest of the building fell to the trees below, leaving what had once been the lobby the last part of the structure to remain.

They sat there in stunned silence at how close to death they had just been, and waited to see if the section of floor they were on was about to follow, but it remained. It was on solid, level ground, unlike the rest, finally allowing them a moment to collect themselves.

"Well... how's your first day out of the vault, Ms. Shepard?" Grant asked, still staring ahead.

"So far?" She asked, never taking her gaze off the now open space where most of the building had once been, as though still unable to believe they had escaped such a calamity. "...It's been a hell of a lot more eventful than a fucking half year in any vault." She answered, managing a bit of a smirk and a chuckle as she turned her gaze toward him. "By the way, you're welcome." She added.

His ears twitched at her words, and he promptly turned to her, before he reached up to pull off his mask so she could see his face, and saw a light-hearted smile as he answered her. "Thank you," he said, with genuine gratitude present in his voice.

She laughed a little harder. "Well look at that. I got the stoic doctor/woodsman to actually crack a smile." She added. "Chalk up a small victory for the new girl."

"Don't expect it to last, Ron," he returned promptly, looking ahead again and shaking his head. "Still, you saved me from quite a nasty fall there. I won't forget it."

She scoffed a little and pushed herself up onto her feet. "Like I was going to let you fall during my first day on the job." Veronica replied, dusting the snow off her vault suit. "You saved my ass from being frozen to death, I save yours from a fatal fall. I'd say we're pretty even now." Veronica then turned and offered Grant her paw. "...And did you seriously just call me 'Ron?'" She asked inquisitively.

"Would you rather I keep using your full name?" He asked, reaching up to grasp her paw as she helped him to his hooves. "It's a bit of a mouthful if we ever ended up in a firefight."

"Fair point." She admitted. "And I wasn't exactly complaining about it. It just caught me off guard." She added, managing a smirk back at Grant. "Plus, I am a bit of a tomboy by nature, else I wouldn't have been in VaultSec, so yea. I can live with that little nickname."

"Alright then, Ron. What do you say we get back to Marv's place? First round is on me," returned Grant. "And..." He opened his coat, showing the pocket that held the bottles of oil. "I didn't lose a single one, so we still managed to accomplish the job."

"Fucking score!" Ron exclaimed with pride. "Not bad for a first day's job, eh?" She asked, nudging his arm with her elbow.

"Not bad at all," he returned honestly while they climbed out of the remains of the ruined structure, returning back to the snowy ground beyond. "Whether or not you can survive out here remains to be seen, but at the very least I know of someone I can call on to have my back if I need it."

This time, Veronica's expression was one of genuine appreciation as she glanced over to Grant, a wide smile forming on her lips as they made their way back to Grousetown. "Right back at you, doc." She replied.

~~~~~

The journey back to Grousetown was much easier than the way up to the Observatory beforehand. The entire trip was downhill, and other than a few slips in the snow, both Veronica and Grant returned to town triumphantly with their collected items for Marv. They entered town and turned straight for the ghoul-cat's tavern, entering through the front door and into warmth.

They found the tavern was not as empty as they left it; there was someone else besides Marv there. A male lynx, who seemed to be quite distressed as he sat at the counter, tapping his claws frantically. He looked up with some alarm as the door opened and the two stepped in, before running up to them -or Grant in particular, calling out the buck's name before practically falling into him when he tripped. Oddly klutzy for a cat.

"Wait, I know you," Grant remarked. "Aren't you from Woodshade?"

"I am, sir," the lynx began. "And by god I am glad to see you here!"

"That you Grant?" Marv's voice called from the back of the tavern, the ghoul-cat appearing from the back area behind the counter. "Ah, you made it back, and not a moment too soon, apparently."

Veronica looked at the lynx curiously as he ran right into Grant, shifting her gaze between the two of them momentarily. "...He a friend of yours?" She asked the buck.

"Well, sort of. I do some business at another town past Capilano Lake, down below," Grant explained. "This fellow's one of the two kids of the trader there." He looked down at the lynx. "Tell me what's happened."

"It's those damn raiders again; they're back!" The lynx replied. "They found their way to Woodshade; they must've followed one of the caravans coming to town! Now they've blocked off the crossing and are holding my sister hostage, threatening to sell her to a slave camp if we don't give them everything they want!"

Grant's face contorted into a scowl. "Dammit," he cursed.

"I know you just got back, Grant, but it looks like you're needed again," Marv chimed in.

"So, it would seem," returned Grant, sighing. "Alright; let me go get my scope." He reached into his coat and passed Veronica the three bottles of oil they'd managed to save at the Observatory before he gently pushed the lynx aside and strode for the stairs, ascending them two steps at a time as he headed for his room.

The lynx returned to his seat, looking a little better knowing Grant was willing to help, and accepting a glass of whisky from Marv, who looked up at Veronica as the vixen brought over the bottles of oil to offer to him. "Aha! You did find some; great work, furs," he said, graciously accepting them from her.

"It wasn't easy getting them, lemme tell you." She answered as she passed the bottles over to Marv. "Had a close encounter with one of those Yao Guais while we were up there, but we were able to give it the slip after it caused the place to cave in."

"The whole damn building came down?" Marv asked, incredulously. "Geez. I knew it was decrepit but I never guessed that much. Still, you came out of it none the worse for wear, anyway." He set the bottles on the shelf behind him before turning to Veronica. "But it looks like I've got another job for you already, and this one might get even more hairy than the last one."

"Lemme guess... you want me to go with Grant and deal with the raiders, am I right?" She asked while rolling her eyes.

"That's right," he returned. "Grant's a tough customer, and a good shot, but these raiders are nasty fuckers and they always travel in groups; he might need some backup. Assuming that armour and pistol aren't for show, I'm guessing you can handle yourself against a bunch of junkies?"

"Please, I may not look like much to you guys, but I know how to handle a gun." She returned, crossing her arms in front of her. "I wasn't assigned to VaultSec to just look like I knew what I was doing. I had to fucking work for my position."

"Good, we could use a little 'security' now, then," he said. "Go with Grant down the mountain and to the dam; that's where the raiders will be holed up. Make your shots count, furs; you miss one of these guys you might not get another."

Ron nodded back. "I'd be more worried about them than me," she said confidently. "Cause they're the ones going be in a world of pain once I'm through with em."

"For both our sakes I hope that's not a boast," Grant chimed in as he came back down the stairs, with his rifle now sporting a scope on top of the barrel. "Let's move, Ron," he added urgently as he headed out the door.

"Right behind ya, Grant." She replied, eagerly following him, finally about to get some action in this wasteland. At least other humanoids, she knew how to fight.

~~~~~

It took hours for Grant and Veronica to make their way down the mountain to the land below, following the road along Nancy Greene Way -identified by Veronica's Pip Boy, to the south. Throughout their journey, there were ruined houses on either side of the road, and always Veronica felt as though someone, or something might jump out at them at any given moment; setting an ambush in such a place wouldn't be a difficult task as there was plenty of places to hide a small army in the ruins.

They followed the road until eventually reaching a place that the Pip Boy identified as 'North Shore Rescue Society'. There, Grant led the way off the road and towards the main building, and began circling the structure, until he found an old, parked semi truck adjacent to the building. "Let's get onto the roof," he stated. "Can get a good view of the Cleveland Dam from up there." He walked over to the truck, placing his rifle onto the hood and began climbing the wrecked vehicle, onto the trailer and then looking up the wall to the roof, which was just in arm's reach of him but still too high to pull himself up.

"If I boost you, could you get up there?" Grant asked Veronica.

"Probably, yea." She returned. "Let's do it."

"Alright," he returned, laying his rifle down atop the truck before turning to face her, kneeling and cupping his hands in front of him. "Ready."

Veronica nodded back, stepping over to Grant and lifting her left leg up and stepping into his cupped hands, ready to be boosted up onto the building's roof. "Ready and waiting."

"Going up!" Grant announced, heaving the vixen into the air; she went higher than initially expected but this only served to help her as she landed with half of her body onto the roof, nearly winding herself in the process but thankfully her drop onto the roof was broken by the snow, and she was able to pull the rest of herself up.

"You okay?" Grant called.

"I'm good!" She called back, grunting as she turned around and leaned over the edge of the roof. "Here, grab on." She said as she held down her arm for him to grasp onto.

"Take this first," Grant returned, picking up his rifle and then holding it up to her. Once she had it, she set it aside, and Grant backed up as much as the trailer would allow him to, before looking up at her. "Here I come!" He announced before getting a running start at the wall, jumping and kicking off of it to launch himself a little higher, tilting back his head so as not to gore her with his antlers as she caught his arm.

Grant was heavy, but she had readied herself for such, and with some effort managed to pull him up enough that he could swing a leg over the side and pull himself up. Once they were both upon the roof, he picked up his rifle and turned his gaze to the west. "Okay; we'll get a good view of the dam from up here," he said, reaching into his coat and handing something to Veronica -a pair of miniature binoculars. "Here; think you can be my spotter?" He asked.

"No problem." Veronica returned, taking the binoculars from Grant and moving it about in her paws until she was gripping it properly, then brought them up to her face and peered through them. She found the raiders easily enough; they had set up a small camp on the dam, blocking all access.

The raiders themselves were an unpleasant sight even through the binoculars; she saw filthy, dirt-ridden anthros of various species gathered at the camp, some of them eating by the fire. One seemed to be smoking a cigarette just across from the first two, and the last that she could see were in a scrap, fighting over what, she didn't know, but punches and backhands were being thrown as the two grappled with each other.

As she peered through, Grant pulled off his long duster and laid it down in the snow atop the roof, before he dropped onto his belly upon it and peered through the rifle scope. "See anything?" He asked.

"Yep." She returned. "A whole group of the fucks. Couple of em actually fighting each other...God only knows what for." She added.

"Probably over the last shot of jet or something," replied Grant with a scoff. "...I think see two more just behind the tent, and -oh shit. Better load up those armour piercing rounds; one of these sods is clad in steel."

"You're kidding." Veronica replied in shock. "Which one?"

"Come over to my left," he directed. "You'll see him just past the tent."

She moved her gaze over to the left, gazing over toward the tent through the binoculars. It didn't long for her to find the raider, catching a glint of the firelight coming off of a metal chestplate worn by a filthy-looking male wolf, who was currently talking with a male deer buck with a missing antler.

She grunted at the sight of the armoured wolf. "Shit..." She muttered, putting down her binoculars and quickly changing her magazine to the FMJ rounds she was given by Tammy earlier. "Didn't think I'd have to use these so soon."

"Try to be sparing with them if you can; only a straight shot is going to punch through that and there's little margin for error," said Grant. "Now, where's...?" He paused, becoming silent for a moment before he spoke in a low tone. "Fucking scumbags... I found the kid's sister. There's an eighth raider in the tent; looks like he decided to have some fun with her." The buck growled in his throat. "Get down low; I'm only going to get a couple of shots before these guys figure out where we are. But I'm taking out that bastard in the tent first."

Veronica lay as prone as she could, scooting a bit away from Grant to give him enough room to adjust his aim as much as he needed to while sliding the hammer of her pistol back and chambering the first round. "Give em hell." She stated.

"It will be my pleasure," he said; an odd thing for a physician to say, but for this Veronica could understand it. "First shot in three..." He announced. And true to his word, exactly three seconds later, he fired, the sound of his rifle splitting the silence of the night. Through her binoculars, Veronica saw blood spray the inside of the tent, followed by a body falling against the side of it; he'd scored a perfect shot.

The raiders were immediately on alert, the two scrappers ending their brawl and hands reaching for their weapons, while the two at the fire dropped their food and dashed for cover, but one of them didn't make it before Grant chambered his second round and fired again, this time scoring a shot on one of the mobile raiders, the bullet entering under his arm. He went still on his feet and fell haphazardly to the ground.

Marv had not been exaggerating when he said Grant was a good shot. Two bullets, two confirmed kills -one of the targets had even been moving.

Veronica was stunned at how accurate Grant was with his rifle. A moving target was indeed hard to nail, and he pulled it off like it was second nature. "...Well colour me impressed." She commented. "And here I thought I was a crack shot."

Grant made no reply. One of the raiders had spotted the muzzle flash of his rifle and was now beelining in their direction, quickly dispatched by the buck. The armoured raider stepped into view from behind the tent, only to duck back just as Grant fired again, missing him. The buck cursed, but moved onto his next round without hesitation. Another of the raiders, eyes disturbingly wide as if he were in a fit of bliss, was running full tilt in their direction, carrying a wicked looking knife in his hand.

Grant took aim at him and fired once more. Veronica saw the bullet hit its mark, passing through the man's neck and sending blood pouring down his side...

But he didn't stop. He was still coming! Grant had severed an artery and yet the raider was still moving as though he didn't feel it. The buck lifted his head to look over his scope as if not believing what he saw. "Did I miss?" He asked.

"No, you hit him dead on in the neck!" She exclaimed. "He should be bleeding out from a shot like that!"

"He must be boosted on drugs!" Grant stated. "I have to reload! Take out his legs; blood loss will do the rest!" The buck instructed her as he retrieved a handful of bullets from his pocket.

"On it!" Veronica returned, holding her pistol out in front of her and closing one eye as she aimed down the ironsight of her gun. She focused on the raider's left leg first, waiting until she was sure she had a clear shot, then pulled the trigger. Immediately after, she moved her gun to the raider's right leg and fired again, both shots hitting her target right in the shins.

The raider fell face-first into the pavement as one of his legs buckled; Veronica could see it bent awkwardly, and knew she had probably hit the bone of his right leg with her second shot, because when the raider tried to stand up, he couldn't put any weight on it. Finally, he collapsed, expiring from blood loss and dropping his weapon to the ground.

The remaining raiders apparently had firearms, though, as several bullets ricocheted off the angled roof in front of her, forcing her to scurry back to avoid getting hit. By now, Grant finished reloading his rifle, rotating the bolt to chamber the first round and taking aim. When he fired, another raider fell, but he too was forced to back up as suddenly several bullets struck near him as the shooters followed the muzzle flash of his rifle again.

"Well, they know we're here." Ron stated to Grant, flinching as she heard a shot ricochet in front of her. "What's the plan now, doc? Wait for em to get close enough for blunt force trauma?"

"Their only way up is over that truck, same as we used to set up here," replied Grant, prematurely reloading his rifle back to full capacity. "We're going to pincer them; you get down to ground level -the roof is lower towards the main road and you can jump down from there. Find cover, and when they try to get over the truck, you get them from behind. Now move, quick; we've only got a few seconds!"

"On it!" Veronica quickly returned, turning and crawling through the snow covering the roof as quickly as she could, heading back in the direction of the main road. She felt herself sink deeper into the snow as she cleared a slant, and suddenly began to slide turning herself feet-first as she approached the edge of the roof and dropped.

The moment she recovered from her fall to into a snowbank below, she searched the area for a good spot to protect herself from any shots the raiders might take on her. Straight ahead, she spotted a fallen tree that looked large enough to use as cover as long as she lay prone against it. Without a second thought, she made a dash for it, hopping over the tree and hiding herself from sight, only peeking her head up to see how close the oncoming raiders were.

They appeared only a moment after she had taken cover, rounding the building in a circle, seeking some means of climbing up onto the roof. Four of the raiders remained in total, including the metal-armoured one, who carried a bigger gun than his peers; the other three raiders held pistols, but Veronica soon identified his weapon to be a pump-action shotgun. The Vault Security in 228 did not employ such a weapon but she knew well of its existence, as many illustrations of security officers in the war showed them carrying a similar weapon for the protection of high value assets.

"...That's a gun I'd like to get my hands on." She muttered to herself. "If only I could off the guy carrying it." She muttered, looking at her pistol for a moment, then ejected the magazine to chexk how many FMJ rounds she had left. "...Ten left..." She muttered. "Have to make em count." She concluded, sliding the clip back into her gun and and took aim, starting with the raider trying to climb the truck to get to the roof where Grant was.

She took careful aim, closing one eye while aiming down her ironsights right at the raider's head...then sucked in a deep breath and pulled the trigger. The raider cried out in agony and reeled backward, falling from the truck and to the ground in a heap. The other three turned in her direction, forcing her to take cover as they returned fire. She heard Grant's rifle firing, and could see just under the tree, one of the raiders falling to the snow with blood pouring out from atop his head.

The remaining two raiders, realizing they'd been caught in a trap, attempted to retreat; the metal-clad raider fired a shot, but Veronica didn't hear it strike near her -he was likely aiming for Grant. She looked over the top of the tree to find the buck still moving, retreating from the edge of the roof and the deadly weapon. The other raider was fleeing; she had dropped her weapon and was running back towards the camp on the dam.

She quickly rose up from her hiding spot as the raider made their retreat, deciding to give them one last parting shot for good measure. Again she took aim, this time at the armoured raider, focusing on the center mass and fired two shots, but the raider was turned at an angle and the bullets pinged off of his armour, though he still reeled from the impact. 'Seven...' She thought.

The raider turned towards her again, levelling his weapon, but she was quicker. She aimed right for the brute's face on pure instinct and discharged another round as quickly as she could. This time, her aim was spot on; the bullet entered through the man's face, and he immediately went limp, falling to the ground with the gun still clutched in his hands, armour clamoring as he struck pavement.

"Bullseye!" She exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air triumphantly and laughing a little.

"Clear!" Grant called down from the roof.

Veronica lowered her gun and approached the deceased brute, her eyes scanning him as if to double check to make sure he really was dead. The hold left in between his eyes, just off the bridge of his nose, told her for certain that he wasn't getting back up, her eyes travelled to the shotgun the brute had on him and she knelt down to yank it out of his cold, dead grasp. "I'll be taking this." She muttered as she examined the weapon in her paws. It was in rough shape, but she had seen it was still in working order -after all, the raider had used it without any difficulty

Grant hopped down from the roof and walked over to Veronica, looking down at the armoured raider with visible intrigue when he spotted the placement of last shot. "No reflex kill zone; damn." He looked at her, nodding with approval. "Nice shot."

She smirked and rested the shotgun along her shoulders. "Helps to have night vision." The vixen returned, pointing at her eyes with her other paw. "His weak spots stood out to me like stink on a warthog."

"That's... oddly specific," remarked Grant. "But nonetheless, good work. You certainly can handle a pistol, I'll give you that." He gestured to the shotgun. "And, spoils of war to boot. Make sure you get that checked when we get back to town; raiders don't always take good care of their gear."

"Oh I plan to take real good care of this little puppy." Ron returned. "Now I just need a rifle of some kind and I'll have a gun for almost every situation." She joked.

"Except I guarantee you finding ammunition will be difficult," Grant pointed out. "But more about that later; let's go get the girl and get her back to Woodshade. And then on our way back to Marv's we can stop here and loot these bodies for ammo and supplies."

"Right." Veronica returned. "You better take the lead for this part. Better she sees someone she recognizes rather than a complete stranger." She added, stepping aside and gesturing for Grant to walk ahead.

"Right. Let's go," said Grant. "Keep an eye on that Pip Boy too just in case that runaway decides she wants round two."

"Good idea." Ron agreed, lifting her left arm up and fiddling with her Pip Boy until she found the radar function. "There we go...and looks like we're green across the board for now." She commented, as she only saw two green lines on her screen, one pointing to Grant, the other to the girl in the tent. "...I swear, how does this thing know how to identify friend from foe..?"

"I have no idea," admitted Grant. "Vault Tech made some interesting stuff, but how they made any of it, only one of their techies would know. And they've been gone a _long_time." He took point, and began approaching the dam with his rifle held ready to be used again if he needed to, hooves gently crunching the snow beneath his feet. "I hope they didn't rough that poor girl up too much..." He muttered, somberly.

As they approached, Veronica noticed two additional green markers appear on her compass, one of which she assumed was the girl, but the other, she couldn't identify, though it quickly moved out of range. Perhaps it was the raider, truly no longer intent on engaging them. But not a moment later, she saw the marker appear again... followed by a red one.

She stopped mid step when she saw the red marker appear. "Uh oh..." She muttered softly. "Grant, heads up. We got red on the map." She warned him.

"Is it the raider?" He asked.

Before Veronica could answer, a blood-curdling scream filled the air, prompting both of them to lift their weapons, expecting an attack, only to hear a wet _splat_following something being thrown through the air towards them, hitting the pavement and rolling in their direction; Grant backed up, expecting it to be a grenade, until it stopped, and they saw what it really was.

It was the female raider's head, her vulpine mouth opened in a scream of horror with no sound to escape; her eyes had rolled awkwardly inwards and the wound from where her neck had once been bled profusely, pieces of skin hanging in strands to indicate that a tremendous force had decapitated her.

"Son of a...!" Grant cursed, nearly backing into Veronica.

"Holy FUCK!!" Veronica followed. "What in the hell happened to her???"

"I... don't know," replied Grant.

Their eyes were stolen again followed by the sound of another female voice screaming, followed by the raider's tent collapsing. The sick sounds of shredding flesh soon followed, a massive form moving beneath the collapsed tent as the screaming intensified. The two stood frozen in horror at the sight, the screams of the young girl forever burning into their minds until it suddenly stopped, and the violent thrashing ended as well. The tent began to move once again as the hulking form beneath it stood up again, eventually causing the tent to slide free and reveal the horror beneath.

A bipedal form stood up from the tent, blood dripping from its face following its recent kill. In the dark, Veronica could not make out much even with her night vision and the glare of the burning fire ruined her eye's ability to enhance light naturally, but she could still make out a silhouette of the creature. It seemed almost reptilian in form, hunched over like a velociraptor or some other variety of dinosaur, but it had two thick, forward curving horns growing from its skull.

Its arms were long, ending in hands with opposable thumbs and all, as though it might have been anthropomorphic, but it was too big to be any species of anthro Veronica could think of, and each of the fingers on that hand ended in a sharp claw, also dripping with the blood of its kills. A feral growl reached her ears, and she could feel its predatory gaze upon her, even if she couldn't see its eyes.

Grant was frozen. Veronica was frozen. Not from the cold, but in terror at the sight of this hell-spawned abomination.

Finally, the buck managed to speak, in a very low and shaky tone. "Veronica... run... run as fast as you can..." He said, taking a small step back.

"...Ya know, I was just thinking that..." She returned, mustering the slightest sarcasm before she spun on her heel and began to run. "Come on!" She hollered as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

The creature let out a savage roar as the vixen bolted. Veronica heard Grant's rifle let off another shot, and looked back in time to see the creature reeling as though stricken in the leg before the buck turned and ran after her; for the first time since meeting him, she saw genuine terror in his eyes, and even weighed down by the gear he had, he still caught up with her, his hooves crunching the snow frantically.

"Don't look back!" Grant screamed at her as they kept running. Behind them, they could hear the snow crunching loudly as the creature chased then; its patterns sounded odd, but heeding Grant's advice, Veronica did not turn to see why.

In record time they had reached the ruined residential area, and went down several blocks before Grant pointed to a street to their right. "We'll lose it in here!" Grant said, turning them down the street and running onward, clearing most of the block until coming to a house that was mostly intact.

Grant practically rammed the door down as they approached the house, waiting until Veronica was inside before turning and closing it. At that moment, their fatigue caught up with them, and they both collapsed onto the floor. Even in the midst of catching their breath though, Grant scrambled over to the window, and peered outside, looking back the way they had come for any sign of the creature.

Struggling to refill her lungs, the first question Veronica voiced when she had enough air to speak again was the most obvious thing she could ask. "What in god's fucking grace was tha-??" Before she could say anymore, Grant practically threw himself at her and covered her mouth with his hand.

"Quiet," he hissed. "These things don't give up easily; it might still be following us," he warned, before taking his hand away and slowly moving back towards the window, looking outside again.

His expression remained neutral for a long moment; the room was so quiet that Veronica could hear her heart thundering. She might have even heard Grant's as well, but she couldn't tell for sure. Eventually, he looked back in her direction. "Pip boy," he mouthed to her; he wanted her to check the compass.

Understanding what he wanted, she lifted her arm again and looked at the compass, looking for any sign that the creature was still within the vicinity of their current hiding place. She nearly gasped when she turned to the west and saw there was a red marker just off to the side; she didn't know the precise range of this compass or its detection, but the monster was still somewhere nearby.

She listened, and snow could be heard crunching from the next house over, but in a strange pattern. Thump,thump. Pause. Thump, thump. Pause. It sounded as if the creature were limping. Grant heard it as well, and shrank away from the window, concealing himself in darkness but sticking his head out enough he could still see outside without his antlers protruding into view.

A long moment of terror passed. The snow crunching began to fade. Soon Veronica could barely hear it; she took that moment to check her compass again, and she saw the red marker moving leftwards, towards the south. By the time she could no longer hear the footsteps, it was almost right to the S, when finally, it vanished from her compass.

She let out a huge sigh of relief once the mark vanished from her compass, causing her to lean back fully against the wall she was next to. "We're clear; it's gone." She informed Grant in between pants.

He let out the biggest breath of air she had ever heard a man make, and he fell against the wall heavily, rifle dropping into his lap. "At least the knees aren't bulletproof," he said. "We're lucky..."

"Yea, back to my earlier question." She returned, before she flailed her arms out frantically at her sides. "What in the fucking shit, was that thing?!!" She practically screamed at Grant.

He turned his gaze to her slowly, still panting for breath as he lifted his rifle, holding it upright and resting it against the wall as he leaned forward, swallowing heavily before beginning his explanation. "Wastelanders call them Deathclaws," replied Grant, pulling down his bandana to breath more easily, his breath appearing in clouds of fog from his mouth. "An apex predator of the wasteland. They've been showing up ever since the vaults first opened decades ago; nobody I know has any clue where they came from. They're fast, have claws strong enough to rip through steel, and skin that makes Brahmin hide seem like paper."

He swallowed again. "Our firefight must've caught the attention of one that was passing through the area... by now it'll go back for its kill and hopefully head back to wherever its nest is -preferably far away."

"Jesus, that thing makes a Yao Guai look fucking cuddly, and I've only seen two of those things since arriving here." She commented. "Now you're telling me there's something even worse than those hairless bears?"

"I wasn't exaggerating when I said the Yao Guai were just the tip of the iceberg," stated Grant, leaning back against the wall again. "The wasteland is full of many horrors, and it seems like more keep appearing. Super Mutants, feral ghouls, mutated ants; the list goes on." He put his hand over his eyes. "If only we'd gotten to that girl sooner. Nobody deserves to die like that, least of all a kid..."

Veronica looked down at the ground for a moment, the screams of the two women that Deathclaw slaughtered still echoing in her mind, making her cringe and tighten her hold on her weapons to the point of trembling. She struggled hard to calm herself down, fighting back any tears she felt welling up from how horrific the scene was.

"...That was... way too intense." She whispered softly. "First day out here and we run into one of the worst things in this current earth..." She added in a shaky tone. "I was looking for excitement, not a fucking death wish."

Grant scoffed. "There's an old saying from before the war; you can't always have your cake and eat it too," he said, dismissively as he stood up from the wall, leaning on his rifle for support. "Come on... let's get back to Grousetown; there's nothing else we can do now. I'll break the news to the brother."

"Y-Yea sure." Veronica returned, forcing herself to her feet as well. "I think we've both had more than our fill today..."

"I could not agree more."

~~~~~

The return to Grousetown was slow for Grant and Veronica. With the horror that they had just experienced at Cleveland Dam, neither one felt particularly motivated, and the climb up the mountain was slow and silent for both. They hardly said anything -neither really could think of anything to say after what had happened. Grant already seemed to be past it, already familiar with the horrors of the wasteland, but Veronica was slower to adjust.

In the vault, the worst thing she had ever seen was a young fox that she'd caught brewing chems in the backroom of the clinic, and he'd taken a particularly strong drug that left him choking on his own blood. She'd barely managed to save him, and she thought that was the worst she'd ever see in the vault -even the riot paled in comparison to that boy's face.

But this time, she couldn't even put a face to the young girl she'd seen die. She could only keep hearing that screaming repeatedly, and the monster that had brought such terror. Looking at that Deathclaw was like staring into the face of evil itself... she doubted anything would ever top it.

But then... this world was still unknown to her. For all she knew something worse still waited to rear its ugly head one day...

They arrived back at Marv's. Veronica filled the Ghoul cat in one what had happened while Grant took it upon himself to inform the girl's brother. The boy's sudden, heartbroken wail only worsened Veronica's mood as she sat at the bar counter; the boy cursed repeatedly, though not her or Grant, but the raiders. He blamed them for his sister's death, taking her from her home where she could be mauled by such a monster, but soon his anger reverted to sadness again, and he collapsed into Grant's arms.

Marv told Grant to take the boy upstairs, and he did, taking him to a vacant room to rest, while the Ghoul-cat contemplated everything Veronica had told him, a pair of bony fingers rubbing his chin as he thought "I haven't seen a Deathclaw out here in ten years," he muttered. "I'd hoped that the mercs hired to kill that pack in Lynn Creek got them all. Assuming this one's from the same pack, some must've escaped and settled somewhere else. Now they're comin' back..."

She didn't respond to him at first. Her mind was still travelling back to the incident, reliving everything from the two girls screaming to first laying eyes on the Deathclaw, to running from it. Each time she remembered the screams and seeing the disembodied head, it made her cringe a bit, her paws clenching for that moment before they would relax again.

"Don't beat yourself up, kid," Marv said softly. "There isn't much you could have done against one of those monsters; not you or Grant." He reached behind the counter, and emerged with a beer bottle that he placed in front of her. "Looks like you could use one, on the house." He told her. "You've had a pretty nasty first day out here."

"...Thanks." She said softly, looking up slightly at the bottle of beer and slowly taking it in her right paw. She cracked it open and began swigging it back quickly so that the buzz would kick in as soon as possible.

Grant returned to the main floor shortly after she started on the drink, taking a seat at the counter next to her, where Marv offered one to him as well, which the buck happily accepted, pulling off his bandana and goggles and slapping them onto the counter before he stood back up again to pull off his duster as well, laying it over the stool next to him.

"I'll take the boy home tomorrow morning; we'll have to break the news to his father," he said to Marv.

"You did all you could, Grant," Marv stated.

"I know," he stated. "Not even I could have anticipated a Deathclaw showing up." He sighed. "I saw one of those in Alberta too when I came from there. Damn thing chased down this wild dog and..." He paused, glancing at Veronica. "Well... it was frightening, seeing one for the first time." He took a sip of his beer. "Marv, you were around during the war; do you have a faint idea where the hell those things came from?"

"Just rumors, I'm afraid," replied Marv. "Some have said the Americans created them as a weapon against the Communists -or, the Chinese, rather. But I don't know if I believe that; I don't believe something that horrifying can be made in a lab. My guess, just another wasteland mutation -though hell if I know what they mutated from."

"I wouldn't put it past the guys down south to at least attempt something like that..." Ron muttered softly after finishing her beer and placing it firmly back on the counter. "I've heard they've done shady things in the past before...creating bio weapons sounds like something they'd attempt just to get a slight edge in a war..."

"Well, you wouldn't be wrong about that," agreed Marv, shrugging helplessly.

"Even when they're long gone, the Americans still manage to screw over everybody." Grant muttered.

Veronica scoffed. "Good riddance to em anyway..." She stated with disdain, then passed the empty bottle back to Marv. "I'll have another.."

"Should I start a tab for you then, 'till you start earnin' some caps?" Marv asked, taking the bottle and retrieving a second one for her.

"Keep it on mine for now," Grant piped up, looking at Veronica. "Least I could do, for having my back against those raiders."

"Works for me," replied Marv, nodding to Veronica and setting the bottle down in front of her. "Let me know if you want anything stronger, eh."

"Sure." She said as she took the bottle and cracked it open, glancing at Grant momentarily. "And... thanks." She added before she started chugging down her second bottle quickly.

"No problem," Grant returned, watching as she downed the second bottle as quickly as she had the first, but said nothing about it, looking ahead to his own drink instead, taking a long swig before setting it down. "I may have been wrong about you on some things," he piped up suddenly, bringing her attention to him. "When I first brought you up to Grousetown, I pretty much had you figured to be one of the Vault Dwellers that wouldn't last a day out here. I thought the Yao Guai alone would have you running back to your vault begging to be let back in.

"But, from what I've seen the past day...Well, far be it from me to not admit when I've misjudged," he went on. "You have a good head on your shoulders, and stay calm under pressure. You handled that firefight with the Raiders like a professional, and even when facing the Deathclaw, you didn't freeze up for a moment. No more than I did anyway, and I've been out here my whole life." He turned to her, spinning on his stool to face her, still holding his beer bottle. "Bit more time out here, and you just might have what it takes to become a real winter wastelander."

His words did help to lift her spirits up a bit, causing her to glance back at him and smile a little. "That means a lot, coming from you." She returned. "Maybe I could get used to this kind of life. Mutated predators aside, it's a hell of a sight better than life back at that boring old vault." She added.

Grant chuckled. "Well, having not been in one of those Vaults myself, I'll have to take your word for it," he said. "It's certainly never dull out here... the world can hurt you sometimes, but that's just part of life in general, no matter where you are." He let out a sigh. "Maybe we can't change it, but we can try to make the best of it. Plenty of things that'll test our limits await us in the future; we have to be ready for them. And then, once we're past them... well, the only way is forward, to move on to the next."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Ron returned, turning in her seat to face him fully, holding up her half empty bottle. "Suppose we should make a toast or something?" She asked.

"To what specifically?" He asked, lifting his slightly.

"I don't know; for an relatively successful first day? To the start of a new life?" She listed off. "Or... maybe to us being a pretty damn good team."

Grant allowed himself a small smile at that. "All of the above, then," he said, holding his bottle out to her. "And to one more thing. Welcome to Canada, better known as the Winter Wasteland, Veronica Shepard."

She chuckled, tapping her bottle against his. "Glad to be here." She returned, winking at him before the two of them tilted their heads back and began downing their drinks simultaneously.