Wastelander

264

"Ok, you already know where the apartments are. Same place as they were before the war."

She handed us a card and keys. It had a room number on it. Room 264.

"Go get some sleep and settle in you guys. Its already late."

I looked out to the sky just now realizing it was dark. We've been out of the vault for atleast 5 hours now. Crazy to think. Well we have a shelter now. I wonder if paul and ginger found jess. Hopefully they did. They had enough time to. They are probably trying to find us.

We started off to find them. Hopefully they've found something to work as. I can imagine if paul was to find some kind of scientist, he would want to hang around them. And possibly get the job. That's means we probably would be around them as much as we thought.

We ended up finding them getting food from a meat market.

"Hey guys, did you find jess?"

They turned to look at us, someone must have told them about the clothes shop as well.

Ginger had on a white tank top with baggy cargo pants. Her boots were dirty but sturdy. On her back was a green army looking backpack.

Paul had on alot of leather. His pants were grey Jeans with a leather belt holding them up.

"Yeah, we found her. Looks like she gave us the same advice as you guys"

"What did she look like?"

I was curious.

"Short, broad shoulders, long reddish hair. Blue eyes."

"She was about to go off to a meeting with another town."
Paul butted in.

"What town?"

"Some place called Oakshade"

"Its a close by town. And they dont get along with the people here. Shes going to be making deals with them."

"Oh, nice. Anything else?"

"She said to stay away from shady people."

"Raiders. They must be a big deal around here"

"Must be."

"Did you guys get a job here?"

Ginger and paul smiled at eachother in excitement.

"Well,"

Paul started off.

"I'm helping the minutemen. I go along with them out into the wasteland, discover different things out there."

"And I go along with the minutemen. I am the wasteland medic. I take care of the injures."

That's it. She found her place in the group. The medic.

"That's amazing you guys!"

"Thank you. We are so excited. What about you guys?"

Me and Z smile at them.

This time z speaks up.

"Ah you know them minutemen you were talking about? Yeah, we joined that."

"You guys are apart of the minutemen?"

Paul looks suprised.

"The minutemen? Those guys are good shooters."

"Fuck yeah they are. And so are we."

"We are happy for you guys. Hey, we will get to travel together."

Paul said nudging Z.

"You know, I'm kind of surprised they didnt care about our age."

"I think it's more about the skills we have."

"Yeah your probably right"

There was a moment of silence. Just us wrapping our minds around everything.

"How's the clothes feel you guys?"
I said with a smirk.

"Surprisingly comfortable. They are very sturdy clothes."
Ginger said touching her pants.

"Did you guys get a room? You know, to sleep?"

"Yeah. We did. Mines room number 234"
Ginger reached into her pocket and pulled out her card keys, showing us.

Paul was trying to remember his number.

"Mine is 278."

"Wait, you guys got separate rooms?"

"You guys didnt?"

Z spoke up once again.
"Yeah. They said they only had one room left. I'm cool with sharing."

Paul and ginger kinda looked suprised at the response. Maybe because a didnt talk much or maybe because they are suprised that he would want to share a room with someone.

"Alright well let's get to our rooms. Its already really late." I said before any of them questioned Z.

We got to our rooms and settled down. The walls were rusted and the floors were creaky. But that's ok. There was one bed in there. Oh great. One bed? Z quickly told me that I could have the bed and he could sleep on the floor. I accepted. I sat down in the rock hard bed. It was probably the worst bed I've ever layed in. Without anything else to say we both got comfortable. I heard him whisper to me.

"I am afraid."

I sat up to look at him.

"You? Afraid? Never."

He rolled over.

"Whatever."

"Oh. Your serious?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, come over here. Talk to me."

He slowly picked himself up off the cold ground and plopped on the bed.

"What are you scared of?"

"That you guys will betray me."

"Why would we do that?"

"Everyone does."

His words echoed in my head. Hes not wrong. Everyone has always betrayed me to. I remember having this very conversation with my ex bestfriend. We promised eachother never to leave eachother. But she did anyways. Even though she was scared of everyone else betraying her. How can I know he wont do the same to me?

"I wont."

"How do I know that?"

"Your just going to have to promise me."

At that moment I knew I didnt belong in a group.

The sun was rising. No way in hell I'm going to stay. I'm meant to be a loner. I got up slowly so Z didnt hear me. I threw my gun over my shoulder. And put my knife in my pocket. I looked over at Z peacefully sleeping in the bed. I let him sleep next to me. I felt bad for making him sleep on the floor.

I opened the door and headed out into the wasteland.