Nickname

"Right. Uh, no." To cover the embarrassment of her lapse of survival training, she pointed towards the buildings framing the central pond crater. "Let's try over there first. We might be able to get into the buildings through a destroyed wall or broken door." Most of the smaller buildings on their way in were barricaded to a fare-thee-well and probably not worth the effort of trying to search.

"Good thinking. Let's go. It's going to be dark soon, so we may as well try to find a place to shelter for the night, too." Suiting action to words, MacCready took the lead, carefully picking his way across the rubble-strewn common and towards the endmost building surrounding the dirt-rimed pond. Nora followed, trying to place her feet in his footsteps and mostly succeeding. They crossed the road, ducked around several collapsed structures, climbed the steps from the ruined sidewalk and rounded the corner of the row of brick buildings. Shops with apartments on the upper floors, unless I miss my guess, Nora mused, stepping with more speed and confidence as she reached the dirt packed mound cresting the crater. She moved faster now. Could be filled with all kinds of--

"Oof!"

MacCready had not only stopped, but had actually backed into her. His right arm snaked out to catch her before she tripped. "Shhhhhhh!" Moving with admirable stealth, he pulled them both down just behind the top of the dirt mound. "Shi- Damn it!" he muttered intensely, "just what the Commonwealth needs, another source of Feral Ghouls." MacCready was staring intently at the sight before them, lips pressed together into a thin, angry line. "Must've been where one of the bombs dropped. No wonder there weren't any raiders about." His voice was a barely audible murmur, but the intensity still came through. His hand gripped his sniper rifle tightly, knuckles whitening. Nora inched up to look over the edge.

That's when she noticed the clicking. Her Pip-Boy's Geiger counter was ticking away quietly, letting her know in no uncertain terms just why the pond looked unnatural. Well, and it was glowing. And full of ghouls wandering aimlessly around the entire crater. It was only a matter of moments before they were discovered. Decision time. They need to go.

Nora slowly set her shotgun against the dirt slope and reached into her side pouch for a couple of grenades. MacCready heard the rustle of fabric and looked over at her. His eyebrows shot straight up and he mouthed "Are you crazy?" at her.  She shook her head, pointing to the slope leading down into the irradiated water. There was really only one way in or out of the pond, and if the ferals came after them, they'd have to come out at that ramp. A couple of frag grenades tossed into a clustered group of ferals would do a great deal of damage. They just had to time it so the ghouls would group together in their effort to leave the crater.

MacCready rolled his eyes and held up one finger. Wait. He took the binoculars from his belt to sweep the crater's edge, lips moving silently as he counted. Two, three... seven... nine... fourteen... seventeen.... Nora waited, grenades held ready. They had to do this. Getting supplies was important, but they needed to rid the Commonwealth of feral ghouls whenever and wherever they were found. Ferals, raiders, Gunners, Super Mutants, the varied scourges of the average settler just trying to scrape a living from the land. Her thoughts were punctuated by the clicking of her Pip-Boy.

"Twenty-two" was the murmured announcement from MacCready. He returned the binoculars to his belt, shifting onto his side in order to face Nora. "You sure you want to go through with-- dammit!" His rifle was instantly in his hands, swinging around to aim directly behind her.

Simultaneously, a sharp, burning pain lanced through Nora's calf as the feral ghoul that had raced out of the nearest building attacked. Rotted, irradiated hands clawed at her leg, grasping and pulling her towards the gaping mouth and gnashing teeth in a frenzied, mindless hunger. The crack of MacCready's sniper rifle blasted its head clean off to bounce down the embankment into the glowing water with a noisy splash. Nora kicked with her free foot, shoving the limp body off of her. "That's done it," he said, quickly getting to his feet, offering a hand to help Nora up. "We have to get to cover now. You gonna make it?"