following in his footsteps

chapter 2

Emily had been staring at the bomb for a full hour, wondering how the hell she was going to defuse it, the good people of megaton payed her no mind, especially the man standing in the small pool of irradiated  water where the bomb had planted itself into the ground, who seemed too busy spouting out religious nonsense about the bomb and how holy it was

she didn't even want to touch it, for fear it might go off, but according to the sheriff that wouldn't happen, still, this thing scared the shit out of her, this was one of the things responsible for making the world like it was. she wondered briefly if the bomb had been american, or chinese, before shaking her head. she had absolutely no idea how to do this, so she figured she would wait on that bomb thing, and to head to the saloon to continue to find her father.

after climbing some steps, and winding her way around the weird patch work of metal buildings and decks, before finding her way to the door of moriarty's saloon. she took a breath, before stepping through the door.

the place reminded her of the dinner back in the vault, but where as the dinner was usually clean, and was painted in bright blue with pink and yellow highlights, and a checkered floor, this place was  mishmass of metal colors from the sheets of metal that composed the walls, and wasn't nearly as clean as the dinner, and was full of people in varying states  of drunkness. just like when she was by the bomb, she was payed no mind. she heard someone hitting something which drew her attention, and she she saw the person in question she nearly stumbled back in surprise, the person was a ghoul, though Emily wouldn't know what that was just yet, she was instantly reminded of those old zombie movies, as the mans flesh was falling off like one, however, she wasn't about to judge this book by it's cover, as the person seemed to be the bartender, although  he wasn't currently serving drinks, and instead was hitting a radio, which was giving nothing but static

"god damnit, work already-" muttered the ghoul as he hit the box, a female, a fellow red head, who was standing on the other side of the counter rolled her eyes "i told you gob, it ain't the radio, that enclave channel comes in just fine, it's GNR, their signal has been shit lately"

the bartender, Gob, muttered as he gave up on getting to radio to work, and began to wipe down the bar counter, the red head looked at Emily for a moment, before walking off to lean against the wall in a corner. Emily decided that the bartender would be the best person to ask, as they probably talked to or at least saw everyone who came into the bar.

she walked up, and sat in a stool near Gob, before waiting for him to come to take her order. when he did walk over he frowned, and emily realized she must have been givng him a weird look, as he spoke "s'matter smotheskin, never seen a ghoul before?" he asked, a little annoyance in his tone

"actually. you're completely right, i've never seen a... ghoul? I'm sorry if i offended you, i meant nothing bad"

Gob stared at her, before his eyes landed on her vault jumpsuit "ah, you're from one of them vaults then... figures"

Emily raised her hand, and Gob flinched a little, emily ws a little confused but she held out her hand so he could shake it "i'm Emily, and you're Gob right?"

he reluctantly shook her hand "yeah, names Gob, i do the bar, mister moriarty owns and runs the place, and the redhead in the corner is nova, she's... let's just say our working lady... anyways, can i get you a drink?"

Emily was confused for a minute, before it hit her he meant prostitute. she let go of gob hand and sat back in her chair "uh, no actually, i don't drink... i'm actually looking for some information-"

"sorry kid, i can't help you, mister moriarty would have my head if i went around giving away information to random stangers-"

"but-"

"sorry kid, if you want info talk to moriarty, if you want a drink, talk to me"

emily Sighed, "ok, fine. thanks for your time Gob... can you at least point out moriarty?"

Gob pointed to a man hanging out near the back of the bar, Emily nodded and got up from her seat, before walking to the man Gob had pointed out "excuse me?"

the man turned, and gave a little smile, when he spoke he had an irish accent "ah, hello there lass, names colin moriarty, and who might you be?"

"I'm emily-"

"by god, it's you-" said moriarty suddenly "my you've grown..."

"im sorry, what?" asked emily confused

"we've met before, but you probably don't remember me, you being a baby and all last time" said moriarty "your Pa and you came in here 19 years ago, and rented a room for a few days"

"what are you talking about-" said emily, incredibly confused "my father and i were born and raised in Vault 101-"

"is that what he told ya? no lassy, you were born in the wasteland, your Pa too, the being inside the vault bit came a little later"

Emily was confused, and maybe a little hurt, if this man was telling the truth, then why hadn't her Dad? what reason did he have, of course now that she had thought about it, it made a little sense, she had never known her grandparents, and always assumed they died before her birth, but none of the older vault dwellers ever spoke about them. as well, her father always had a far off look when she asked about outside...

she shook her head "what ever, i didn't come here to argue about my birthplace, i'm looking for my dad, he left the vault suddenly and i couldn't stay there for... many reasons.. so i'm looking for him"

mortary scratched his bear "aye, james came through here, wanting to know what's what,but he didn't stay long"

"you've seen him? where did he go?" she asked, worry in her voice, she however immediately knew things weren't going to be easy, when a greedy little smile came across the man's face, she recognized it as it was eerily similar to the smile Butch would give her in the vault when ever he thought he could get something out of her or amata

"slow down there lass, i'll tell you what you want to know, for a price... 100 caps"

"100 caps?" emily was confused, but it was easy enough to figure out caps equaled currency "i don't have 100 caps-"

"well... that's too bad, guess you'll have to round them up"

"can't  i... i don't know, put it on a tab or something?"

"how do i know that you'll ever return to pay it off? no, caps upfront, then i tell you about where James went" replied moriarty "it's nothing personal kid, just business"

Emily's fist clenched as she got a little angry, but she held back that anger "fine..." she muttered, before turning and heading out the door, and so it was she found herself in another predicament, this town had many of those didn't it?