Back on the road! (Karina)
Aurora Moon
Verfied Insomniac with too much time on her hands
- Location
- USA, Earth
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter summary in case you don't wanna read:
===============================
After everyone realized how far-reaching Regan's influence could be, that he could summon all sorts of dangerous creatures that could threaten them here even in vault 129, it was like a fire had been lit under all of them.
They were no longer focused on other things like setting up a cow farm or whatever else, even though Joceyln did bring all the cows back into the vault to keep them safe from the predators out there, but not before shrinking them down slightly so that they could all comfortably fit in one room that she had filled up with hay and feed.
Now everyone was fully focused as hell as practically everyone went out to the garage building to work on all of the racing cars therein to turn them all into battle cars. Sadly they couldn't instantly work on mounted miniguns and turrets for the other cars, as that would still take a while to make.
Even so, with all hands on deck like this everyone was making good time.
They were quickly modding the racing cars to be able to travel over any rough terrain and being able to ram into other vehicles or creatures out there without getting badly damaged. Which was surprisingly easy to do by simply placing a very spiky-looking snow plower thing on the fronts of all the vehicles after reinforcing the windows, the hood of the vehicles, and the fender. That, or if they no longer had snow plower pieces, they would then build a very spiky barrier guard over the fender and hood.
The once sleek racing cars now looked like something out of that one movie Karina had once seen back in the day. Car Doomsday or something like that?
She forgot the name, but she remembered the plot being all over the damn place with a car derby AND the zombie apocalypse happening both at the same time and how it all ended with the main human character engaging in a car battle with some of the zombie drivers and saving his entire town that way. It was the stupidest storyline ever and was just an excuse to have a whole lot of car action, over-the-top car violence, explosions, as well as a lot of excessive gore. The cars themselves looked very memorable as well.
But as stupid as it had been, it had been kinda fun to watch.
Karina shook her head as if to clear it, and then she focused on the current reality.
She looked over the new battle cars one by one and was pleased to find that they now had enough battle cars to outfit a small army, even if all of the cars hadn't been outfitted yet.
"Great job everyone. I think we have enough battle cars now, even though I'd still like them to be outfitted with turrets or miniguns." Karina cheerfully said out loud to everyone.
Everyone else smiled at this.
Terry was the most enthusiastic out of them all at getting his beloved ride back and fully repaired.
Better than repaired to base stats, even… it was now thicker overall in terms of armored metal, and also had on a thick protective coat of bronze-red paint that was somehow bulletproof. As in, this coat of paint could stand up to bullets and create a protective layer over the metal, deflecting the bullets away instead of letting them make holes in the metal. Presumably, it would also stand up to sharp claws and things like that.
That was directly from whatever universe this battle car had come from… it must've been quite the rough world if it had given almost every woman here the knowledge on how to make bulletproof PAINT on top of knowing how to fully armor up cars properly.
But this meant one thing-- Karina and Terry were finally going back on the road again!
And it seemed that two of the men would be coming with them, by the looks of things, even if they didn't have guns mounted on top.
Now all they had to do was take a break and sleep for the night before getting ready in the morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karina woke up bright and early, but it was so early that she couldn't help but feel cranky somewhat.
She wanted to sleep in some more, damn it! But she had to go find Regan. They couldn't have him summoning more dangerous creatures, could they?
In the cafeteria, she found Jocelyn having coffee in her cereal again, and for once Karina wasn't feeling charitable enough to stay silent about her pet peeve.
"For Pete's sake. We have cows now, why haven't you milked them to put milk into your cereal already? What you're doing is an abomination against breakfast!" Karina grumbled loudly.
"For one thing I have no idea how safe it is to drink raw milk, especially from mutant cows. I haven't gotten around to learning how to pasteurize them." Jocelyn said in her defense.
Karina just rolled her eyes and asked her power to summon some milk so that Jocelyn could finally quit this disgusting habit of putting coffee in her cereal bowl.
>ring<
Karina went to get a ladle for the bucket full of milk, got herself a bowl of dry cereal, and then spooned the milk into her bowl while looking at Jocelyn meaningfully.
Jocelyn snorted. "Fine, I'll have milk in my cereal today. Happy?"
With that, she went to get a different bowl of cereal.
Karina just nodded at that, satisfied for now. People wouldn't have any gross eating habits as long as she was around.
When the other women came in, they were delighted to find out that there was actual milk today for their breakfasts and eagerly helped themselves to it.
The milk in the bucket went down until the bucket became an empty one in record time.
Freya smirked as she joked, "You keep on spoiling us with nice treats like this, we're going to miss you when you go on that mission to kill Regan again."
Karina grinned back. "Once Regan's dealt with, you can have me at your side for as long as you want."
Freya chuckled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With breakfast over with, Karina and Terry started packing again for their trip.
Meanwhile, two of the other men, who went by the names Jacob River-Hawk and David Running-Horse would be joining them in a separate car.
Like Terry and Karina, they too would be accompanied by a Mr.Handy robot even though their car currently didn't have any turrets but instead had latches they could open to shoot through with their regular guns. They might need the robot to drive the car while the two of them start shooting out of the car at random monsters or enemies.
They didn't even have to worry about meat and food for the road considering that some of the dead dinosaurs had already been cut up and processed. While it was too early for the meats to be properly dried and cured into meat jerky, they did put slabs of the raw meat into coolers that were full of salt and ice to help keep it longer, along with some of the veggies and potatoes to turn it into a proper stew later on.
They outfitted the two cars with handheld radios too, so that the two cars could communicate while following each other on the road.
With that, the two cars were off onto the road while the rest of the people watched and cheered them on.
"So where to?" David asked over the radio "and Terry looked over at Karina.
Karina picked up the radio and told David, "We're going to a place called Helena. Or Hel as you might know it. Our Intel told us that he was going there, and he was also last seen leaving a place called Neo-Bowser City, but we're not going back there again. That place is full of dangerous and supernatural traps that Regan left behind."
Terry nodded at that vigorously, even though David and Jacob couldn't see him doing that.
"Roger that. We'll be right behind you." David agreed.
Terry then asked Mr.Handy with them, "So what's the fastest way to Helen?"
Mr. Handy opened up the paper map of the Northern Commonwealth, and one of its eyes zoomed in on Montana and all its markings.
"According to my calculations, the fastest way to Helena would be to go through Glasgow and then Great Falls. That would take us 7 to 8 hours of driving."
"Wait, didn't we nearly run into raiders at Glasgow?" Karina pointed out.
Terry nodded grimly. "Yea. And I hear Great Falls has a raider problem too. Mr.Handy, give us a route that would have us avoid those places. I don't care if it takes longer."
Karina nodded too. As much as she wanted to get to Helena as fast as possible, they couldn't be too battle-worn from fighting raiders, or else Regan might get one over them easily.
Once they had a suitable route carted out, they kept on driving.
Unfortunately for Karina and Terry, they forgot that it was simply a fact of life that groups like raiders could and could move around in groups because one hour into their trip they came across a road blockade made by raiders.
The blockade was made out of makeshift crappily-made wood fencing that was just slightly higher than the average human male. It seemed to be made out of nothing but plywood and some loose plank wood. The raiders, armed with crude weaponry, demanded a toll for safe passage. And there were only three of the raiders.
"Normally we'd just demand some caps from you, but I'm thinking you give up one of your vehicles." The dumb raiders said as they eyed the cars greedily.
Unfortunately for them, Terry and the others weren't feeling all that threatened and simply rammed through the weak-ass blockade and picked up speed. The raiders' small ammo guns were no match against the cars' bulletproof nature.
Karina flinched slightly as they ran through the flimsy blockade.
>Ring<
With that, they left the angry raiders choking on their dust as they sped off into the distance. The raiders were then startled by the random bat-like creatures suddenly flying out of the trees at the noise.
"Normally we'd just kill them, but right now we don't wanna waste the cars' ammo," Terry commented, "So I'll just do the next best thing and warn everyone over the radio about those guys."
Karina nodded and turned on the long-range one that would send a message to all the Buffalo soldiers' radios out there, not the one meant for communication between cars. She then handed the handheld mic thing over to Terry.
Terry spoke as he drove, "Guys, we ran into a traffic jam heading southwards in East Montana. It was spearheaded by an unfriendly campfire. Keep your eyes peeled if you're moving around."
With that, he turned off the radio. At Karina's questioning glance, he explained, "Enemies tend to hijack our broadcasts to listen to us all the time. So out of necessity, we've been using codes."
"Ah." Karina nodded in understanding at that.
With that, the rest of the trip was uneventful until the third hour, when the two cars ran into yet another herd of dinosaurs, startling the fuck out of everyone on the road.
>ring<
Thankful the dinosaurs seemed to be more of the bipedal herd animal type who was easily startled, and they had a weird single horn on their heads and duck-like lips. Karina forgot what the name of that dinosaur was, but they were now scattering away from the road in fright.
Terry chuckled. "Looks like we scared them just as much as they did us. I thought for a second that we'd have to fight deathclaws, or have a repeat of what happened outside the vault."
Karina smiled shakily, her heart slowing down once she realized they weren't in any danger. She commented, "It helps that this time we're both in moving tank cars now, eh?"
They radioed the other car to see if they were okay too. Jacob and David sounded equally shaken up too, but also relieved at the same time. After all, their car wasn't the one with the badass minigun mount on the car roof.
For the rest of the trip, they were far more cautious and drove at a more reasonable speed so that they wouldn't accidentally run into anything else this time.
And they were finally at Mile City in Southeast Montana.
It was now a dusty afternoon in Miles City.
The sun hangs low in the hazy Montana sky, casting an eerie, golden glow over the once-thriving city of Miles City.
As the cars approached the ruins, the first thing that caught their eye was the imposing silhouette of the iconic Range Riders Museum, its facade marred by time and neglect. The entrance sign reads, "Welcome to Miles City - Where the Past Meets the Wasteland."
The city is surrounded by the skeletal remains of old-world buildings, now weathered and crumbling. Patches of parched, yellowed grass struggle to break through the cracked concrete. The wind carries a whiff of dust, a constant reminder of the harsh reality of the wasteland despite the new fresh air and the nice scent of trees from the nearby renewed forest.
On the outskirts of the city, makeshift barricades of scrap metal and tires stand as a feeble attempt to deter raiders and wandering creatures. At the makeshift guard post, a few armed survivors keep a watchful eye, their faces obscured by tattered clothing and gas masks.
They did seem very impressed by the cars coming and seemed tense ready to shoot if things got messy, but they relaxed when Terry poked his head out and told them that he was just here to rest a little bit before moving on.
With that, the two cars were let into the city.
As everyone drives deeper into the heart of Miles City, they pass by the remnants of a once-vibrant downtown area. Broken storefronts, their windows shattered, still bear faded signs advertising businesses from the past. A dilapidated saloon sign, "The Dusty Spurs," creaks mournfully in the breeze.
In the distance, the Yellowstone River snakes through the city, its waters once tainted by radiation, but seemed to be steadily recovering now that the rest of nature was renewed. A few makeshift fishing boats, converted from old vehicles, are moored at the riverbank.
A bustling market square forms the central hub of the city. Here, scavengers and traders peddle their wares from ramshackle stalls, hawking everything from mutant rad-rat meat to pre-war relics. A flickering neon sign above a makeshift bar reads, "Radscorpion's Den," where locals gather to exchange stories of the wasteland over watered-down Nuka-Cola and alcohol.
Despite the desolation, there's a tenacious spirit in the air. The people of Miles City, resilient and resourceful, have adapted to this harsh new world. They've created a community that's filled with pure determination, and that's the essence of Miles City, Montana.
But at the same time, everyone seemed somewhat tense as everyone was still adjusting to the great transformation that all of Northern Commonwealth had gone through. There were a lot of great benefits to having healthy lands, but it seemed as if they thought it was all too good to be true and were waiting for the next shoe to drop.
As Karina's group entered the "Radscorpion's Den" the atmosphere shifted momentarily, just as it might in a classic Western movie. Suspicion hung heavy in the air, and the patrons cast curious and cautious glances at the newcomers. The regulars, however, soon returned to their drinks and conversations, their initial judgment of the group finding them to be no immediate threat.
Karina's blue vault suit, a relic of the past, drew more than a few curious looks. Terry and the men's distinct orangish-tan camo uniforms, signifying their origins from North Dakota, were also noticeable among the post-apocalyptic attire of the locals.
Amid the hushed murmurs, Karina couldn't help but overhear snippets of conversation:
"Thought the raiders drove them back to North Dakota."
"Guess not. What's with the lady in the vault suit, though?"
"That number on her back. 129. Huh, never heard of that one."
"Maybe they finally opened up to the outside world after they ran out of food and the like? Wouldn't be the first time that happened."
The last comment intrigued Karina. She had always wondered about the other vaults and what secrets they held within their sealed doors. As she settled into the bar with her group, Karina couldn't shake her curiosity as she listened to the conversation around her and took in the atmosphere of the bar.
"I'm gonna go take a leak," Terry said, getting up.
David got up at the same time Terry did. "I'll accompany you, just in case. I need a leak myself too anyways."
With that, Karnia and Jacob kept sitting at the table as a waitress came over to them.
"What'll you have?" the blond waitress asked bluntly, wearing what looked like well-worn daisy dukes, cowboy boots, and a red flannel shirt.
"I'll have a Nuka cola," Karina said.
Jacob said, "Three beers for me and my friends, the ones who went to the bathroom just now."
The waitress then said bluntly, "That'll cost 70 caps up front. Don't want you dining and dashing."
Jacob grumbled a little bit at this but he did as agreed, giving the waitress the caps. With that, she went to get the drinks.
They waited some more, listening to the rumors around them.
Some wild-ass rumors were going on around here, that was for sure. Stories about how there were giant creatures out there eating unwary travelers, even a giant mutant human. There was the hot topic of dinosaurs, of course, but most people here seemed to think of them as mutant variations of deathclaws considering that was what they were most familiar with.
But the rumormongering travelers did discover that a good chunk of the dinosaur species were herbivores, which seemed to be a relief to everyone considering that the dinosaurs wouldn't hunt them, the humans just had to stay out of the way and they'd be fine.
Some other rumors were weirder and far more concerning though.
Take the following for example:
Terry nodded. "Yeah…. Some of those also sound like something you'd summon too."
When the gossipers got around to talking about where you could find those strange things, Karina made a point out of marking them all on her pip-boy, just in case it was something like Neo-Bowser city where Regan was luring guileless people into deadly situations and torturing them.
Karina hadn't found a way to neuter Neo-Bowser City itself harmless yet, but she would be damned if she didn't at least make sure all those other strange things were at least halfway safe for the human travelers out there.
========================================================
A/N: The listed weird stuff was the natural Fallout stuff in Montana and elsewhere that I had hoped our characters would eventually find when wandering, but my blasted characters ended up staying in one place to randomly summon things instead! Grrr!!
I wanted Karina back on the road though, and chasing false leads and getting into hijinks. So I'm pretty happy about this. It's not a summon-heavy chapter though, because I wanted to focus more on the plot. XD
===============================
After everyone realized how far-reaching Regan's influence could be, that he could summon all sorts of dangerous creatures that could threaten them here even in vault 129, it was like a fire had been lit under all of them.
They were no longer focused on other things like setting up a cow farm or whatever else, even though Joceyln did bring all the cows back into the vault to keep them safe from the predators out there, but not before shrinking them down slightly so that they could all comfortably fit in one room that she had filled up with hay and feed.
Now everyone was fully focused as hell as practically everyone went out to the garage building to work on all of the racing cars therein to turn them all into battle cars. Sadly they couldn't instantly work on mounted miniguns and turrets for the other cars, as that would still take a while to make.
Even so, with all hands on deck like this everyone was making good time.
They were quickly modding the racing cars to be able to travel over any rough terrain and being able to ram into other vehicles or creatures out there without getting badly damaged. Which was surprisingly easy to do by simply placing a very spiky-looking snow plower thing on the fronts of all the vehicles after reinforcing the windows, the hood of the vehicles, and the fender. That, or if they no longer had snow plower pieces, they would then build a very spiky barrier guard over the fender and hood.
The once sleek racing cars now looked like something out of that one movie Karina had once seen back in the day. Car Doomsday or something like that?
She forgot the name, but she remembered the plot being all over the damn place with a car derby AND the zombie apocalypse happening both at the same time and how it all ended with the main human character engaging in a car battle with some of the zombie drivers and saving his entire town that way. It was the stupidest storyline ever and was just an excuse to have a whole lot of car action, over-the-top car violence, explosions, as well as a lot of excessive gore. The cars themselves looked very memorable as well.
But as stupid as it had been, it had been kinda fun to watch.
Karina shook her head as if to clear it, and then she focused on the current reality.
She looked over the new battle cars one by one and was pleased to find that they now had enough battle cars to outfit a small army, even if all of the cars hadn't been outfitted yet.
"Great job everyone. I think we have enough battle cars now, even though I'd still like them to be outfitted with turrets or miniguns." Karina cheerfully said out loud to everyone.
Everyone else smiled at this.
Terry was the most enthusiastic out of them all at getting his beloved ride back and fully repaired.
Better than repaired to base stats, even… it was now thicker overall in terms of armored metal, and also had on a thick protective coat of bronze-red paint that was somehow bulletproof. As in, this coat of paint could stand up to bullets and create a protective layer over the metal, deflecting the bullets away instead of letting them make holes in the metal. Presumably, it would also stand up to sharp claws and things like that.
That was directly from whatever universe this battle car had come from… it must've been quite the rough world if it had given almost every woman here the knowledge on how to make bulletproof PAINT on top of knowing how to fully armor up cars properly.
But this meant one thing-- Karina and Terry were finally going back on the road again!
And it seemed that two of the men would be coming with them, by the looks of things, even if they didn't have guns mounted on top.
Now all they had to do was take a break and sleep for the night before getting ready in the morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karina woke up bright and early, but it was so early that she couldn't help but feel cranky somewhat.
She wanted to sleep in some more, damn it! But she had to go find Regan. They couldn't have him summoning more dangerous creatures, could they?
In the cafeteria, she found Jocelyn having coffee in her cereal again, and for once Karina wasn't feeling charitable enough to stay silent about her pet peeve.
"For Pete's sake. We have cows now, why haven't you milked them to put milk into your cereal already? What you're doing is an abomination against breakfast!" Karina grumbled loudly.
"For one thing I have no idea how safe it is to drink raw milk, especially from mutant cows. I haven't gotten around to learning how to pasteurize them." Jocelyn said in her defense.
Karina just rolled her eyes and asked her power to summon some milk so that Jocelyn could finally quit this disgusting habit of putting coffee in her cereal bowl.
>ring<
| https://graveyardkeeper.fandom.com/wiki/Bucket_of_milk Roll 14 A massive bucket of milk, large enough to provide 5 jugs of milk. Enough milk for almost all the women in the vault to have some actual milk in their cereals today. Effect: as this is a roll 14, it'll only last the day today before going bad. |
Karina went to get a ladle for the bucket full of milk, got herself a bowl of dry cereal, and then spooned the milk into her bowl while looking at Jocelyn meaningfully.
Jocelyn snorted. "Fine, I'll have milk in my cereal today. Happy?"
With that, she went to get a different bowl of cereal.
Karina just nodded at that, satisfied for now. People wouldn't have any gross eating habits as long as she was around.
When the other women came in, they were delighted to find out that there was actual milk today for their breakfasts and eagerly helped themselves to it.
The milk in the bucket went down until the bucket became an empty one in record time.
Freya smirked as she joked, "You keep on spoiling us with nice treats like this, we're going to miss you when you go on that mission to kill Regan again."
Karina grinned back. "Once Regan's dealt with, you can have me at your side for as long as you want."
Freya chuckled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With breakfast over with, Karina and Terry started packing again for their trip.
Meanwhile, two of the other men, who went by the names Jacob River-Hawk and David Running-Horse would be joining them in a separate car.
Like Terry and Karina, they too would be accompanied by a Mr.Handy robot even though their car currently didn't have any turrets but instead had latches they could open to shoot through with their regular guns. They might need the robot to drive the car while the two of them start shooting out of the car at random monsters or enemies.
They didn't even have to worry about meat and food for the road considering that some of the dead dinosaurs had already been cut up and processed. While it was too early for the meats to be properly dried and cured into meat jerky, they did put slabs of the raw meat into coolers that were full of salt and ice to help keep it longer, along with some of the veggies and potatoes to turn it into a proper stew later on.
They outfitted the two cars with handheld radios too, so that the two cars could communicate while following each other on the road.
With that, the two cars were off onto the road while the rest of the people watched and cheered them on.
"So where to?" David asked over the radio "and Terry looked over at Karina.
Karina picked up the radio and told David, "We're going to a place called Helena. Or Hel as you might know it. Our Intel told us that he was going there, and he was also last seen leaving a place called Neo-Bowser City, but we're not going back there again. That place is full of dangerous and supernatural traps that Regan left behind."
Terry nodded at that vigorously, even though David and Jacob couldn't see him doing that.
"Roger that. We'll be right behind you." David agreed.
Terry then asked Mr.Handy with them, "So what's the fastest way to Helen?"
Mr. Handy opened up the paper map of the Northern Commonwealth, and one of its eyes zoomed in on Montana and all its markings.
"According to my calculations, the fastest way to Helena would be to go through Glasgow and then Great Falls. That would take us 7 to 8 hours of driving."
"Wait, didn't we nearly run into raiders at Glasgow?" Karina pointed out.
Terry nodded grimly. "Yea. And I hear Great Falls has a raider problem too. Mr.Handy, give us a route that would have us avoid those places. I don't care if it takes longer."
Karina nodded too. As much as she wanted to get to Helena as fast as possible, they couldn't be too battle-worn from fighting raiders, or else Regan might get one over them easily.
Once they had a suitable route carted out, they kept on driving.
Unfortunately for Karina and Terry, they forgot that it was simply a fact of life that groups like raiders could and could move around in groups because one hour into their trip they came across a road blockade made by raiders.
The blockade was made out of makeshift crappily-made wood fencing that was just slightly higher than the average human male. It seemed to be made out of nothing but plywood and some loose plank wood. The raiders, armed with crude weaponry, demanded a toll for safe passage. And there were only three of the raiders.
"Normally we'd just demand some caps from you, but I'm thinking you give up one of your vehicles." The dumb raiders said as they eyed the cars greedily.
Unfortunately for them, Terry and the others weren't feeling all that threatened and simply rammed through the weak-ass blockade and picked up speed. The raiders' small ammo guns were no match against the cars' bulletproof nature.
Karina flinched slightly as they ran through the flimsy blockade.
>Ring<
| https://speculativeevolution.fandom.com/wiki/Swamp-wing Roll 12 Oh look, a repeat. Pretty sure we had this one before. It's where frog-like creatures evolved into bat-like creatures and lived in swamps. Effect: Because we rolled a 12, this one is permanent this time but due to the low roll it's a very small number of them. |
With that, they left the angry raiders choking on their dust as they sped off into the distance. The raiders were then startled by the random bat-like creatures suddenly flying out of the trees at the noise.
"Normally we'd just kill them, but right now we don't wanna waste the cars' ammo," Terry commented, "So I'll just do the next best thing and warn everyone over the radio about those guys."
Karina nodded and turned on the long-range one that would send a message to all the Buffalo soldiers' radios out there, not the one meant for communication between cars. She then handed the handheld mic thing over to Terry.
Terry spoke as he drove, "Guys, we ran into a traffic jam heading southwards in East Montana. It was spearheaded by an unfriendly campfire. Keep your eyes peeled if you're moving around."
With that, he turned off the radio. At Karina's questioning glance, he explained, "Enemies tend to hijack our broadcasts to listen to us all the time. So out of necessity, we've been using codes."
"Ah." Karina nodded in understanding at that.
With that, the rest of the trip was uneventful until the third hour, when the two cars ran into yet another herd of dinosaurs, startling the fuck out of everyone on the road.
>ring<
| https://animanga.fandom.com/wiki/Eri_Kitamura roll 16 Voice actress for several animes. Effect: Karina's voice acting skill increases. +2 to charisma. As if her charisma wasn't already ridiculously maxed out. XD |
Thankful the dinosaurs seemed to be more of the bipedal herd animal type who was easily startled, and they had a weird single horn on their heads and duck-like lips. Karina forgot what the name of that dinosaur was, but they were now scattering away from the road in fright.
Terry chuckled. "Looks like we scared them just as much as they did us. I thought for a second that we'd have to fight deathclaws, or have a repeat of what happened outside the vault."
Karina smiled shakily, her heart slowing down once she realized they weren't in any danger. She commented, "It helps that this time we're both in moving tank cars now, eh?"
They radioed the other car to see if they were okay too. Jacob and David sounded equally shaken up too, but also relieved at the same time. After all, their car wasn't the one with the badass minigun mount on the car roof.
For the rest of the trip, they were far more cautious and drove at a more reasonable speed so that they wouldn't accidentally run into anything else this time.
And they were finally at Mile City in Southeast Montana.
It was now a dusty afternoon in Miles City.
The sun hangs low in the hazy Montana sky, casting an eerie, golden glow over the once-thriving city of Miles City.
As the cars approached the ruins, the first thing that caught their eye was the imposing silhouette of the iconic Range Riders Museum, its facade marred by time and neglect. The entrance sign reads, "Welcome to Miles City - Where the Past Meets the Wasteland."
The city is surrounded by the skeletal remains of old-world buildings, now weathered and crumbling. Patches of parched, yellowed grass struggle to break through the cracked concrete. The wind carries a whiff of dust, a constant reminder of the harsh reality of the wasteland despite the new fresh air and the nice scent of trees from the nearby renewed forest.
On the outskirts of the city, makeshift barricades of scrap metal and tires stand as a feeble attempt to deter raiders and wandering creatures. At the makeshift guard post, a few armed survivors keep a watchful eye, their faces obscured by tattered clothing and gas masks.
They did seem very impressed by the cars coming and seemed tense ready to shoot if things got messy, but they relaxed when Terry poked his head out and told them that he was just here to rest a little bit before moving on.
With that, the two cars were let into the city.
As everyone drives deeper into the heart of Miles City, they pass by the remnants of a once-vibrant downtown area. Broken storefronts, their windows shattered, still bear faded signs advertising businesses from the past. A dilapidated saloon sign, "The Dusty Spurs," creaks mournfully in the breeze.
In the distance, the Yellowstone River snakes through the city, its waters once tainted by radiation, but seemed to be steadily recovering now that the rest of nature was renewed. A few makeshift fishing boats, converted from old vehicles, are moored at the riverbank.
A bustling market square forms the central hub of the city. Here, scavengers and traders peddle their wares from ramshackle stalls, hawking everything from mutant rad-rat meat to pre-war relics. A flickering neon sign above a makeshift bar reads, "Radscorpion's Den," where locals gather to exchange stories of the wasteland over watered-down Nuka-Cola and alcohol.
Despite the desolation, there's a tenacious spirit in the air. The people of Miles City, resilient and resourceful, have adapted to this harsh new world. They've created a community that's filled with pure determination, and that's the essence of Miles City, Montana.
But at the same time, everyone seemed somewhat tense as everyone was still adjusting to the great transformation that all of Northern Commonwealth had gone through. There were a lot of great benefits to having healthy lands, but it seemed as if they thought it was all too good to be true and were waiting for the next shoe to drop.
As Karina's group entered the "Radscorpion's Den" the atmosphere shifted momentarily, just as it might in a classic Western movie. Suspicion hung heavy in the air, and the patrons cast curious and cautious glances at the newcomers. The regulars, however, soon returned to their drinks and conversations, their initial judgment of the group finding them to be no immediate threat.
Karina's blue vault suit, a relic of the past, drew more than a few curious looks. Terry and the men's distinct orangish-tan camo uniforms, signifying their origins from North Dakota, were also noticeable among the post-apocalyptic attire of the locals.
Amid the hushed murmurs, Karina couldn't help but overhear snippets of conversation:
"Thought the raiders drove them back to North Dakota."
"Guess not. What's with the lady in the vault suit, though?"
"That number on her back. 129. Huh, never heard of that one."
"Maybe they finally opened up to the outside world after they ran out of food and the like? Wouldn't be the first time that happened."
The last comment intrigued Karina. She had always wondered about the other vaults and what secrets they held within their sealed doors. As she settled into the bar with her group, Karina couldn't shake her curiosity as she listened to the conversation around her and took in the atmosphere of the bar.
"I'm gonna go take a leak," Terry said, getting up.
David got up at the same time Terry did. "I'll accompany you, just in case. I need a leak myself too anyways."
With that, Karnia and Jacob kept sitting at the table as a waitress came over to them.
"What'll you have?" the blond waitress asked bluntly, wearing what looked like well-worn daisy dukes, cowboy boots, and a red flannel shirt.
"I'll have a Nuka cola," Karina said.
Jacob said, "Three beers for me and my friends, the ones who went to the bathroom just now."
The waitress then said bluntly, "That'll cost 70 caps up front. Don't want you dining and dashing."
Jacob grumbled a little bit at this but he did as agreed, giving the waitress the caps. With that, she went to get the drinks.
They waited some more, listening to the rumors around them.
Some wild-ass rumors were going on around here, that was for sure. Stories about how there were giant creatures out there eating unwary travelers, even a giant mutant human. There was the hot topic of dinosaurs, of course, but most people here seemed to think of them as mutant variations of deathclaws considering that was what they were most familiar with.
But the rumormongering travelers did discover that a good chunk of the dinosaur species were herbivores, which seemed to be a relief to everyone considering that the dinosaurs wouldn't hunt them, the humans just had to stay out of the way and they'd be fine.
Some other rumors were weirder and far more concerning though.
Take the following for example:
- The Treasure of Big Sky Country: Whispers of a hidden treasure buried deep in the Montana wilderness, said to be guarded by a pack of mutant wolves the size of Brahmin. Some claim it's a cache of pre-war gold, while others insist it's a stash of advanced technology.
- The Ghost of Yellowstone: Stories of a spectral figure haunting Yellowstone National Park, rumored to be the vengeful spirit of a pre-war park ranger who died during the Great War. It's said that the ghost protects the park's natural beauty from those who wish to exploit it.
- The Cursed Radio Signal: Hushed conversations about an eerie radio transmission that drives listeners mad, turning them into deranged cultists who roam the wasteland, searching for an elusive "Radio God."
- The Eternal Stare of the Giant Bison: Legends of a colossal mutated bison roaming the Montana plains. Some say it's a guardian spirit, while others believe it can grant wishes to those who dare to approach it.
- The Talking Crows: Whispers about a colony of highly intelligent, talking crows rumored to know the world before the war. Seekers of wisdom journey to find them and engage in cryptic conversations with the avian sages.
Terry nodded. "Yeah…. Some of those also sound like something you'd summon too."
When the gossipers got around to talking about where you could find those strange things, Karina made a point out of marking them all on her pip-boy, just in case it was something like Neo-Bowser city where Regan was luring guileless people into deadly situations and torturing them.
Karina hadn't found a way to neuter Neo-Bowser City itself harmless yet, but she would be damned if she didn't at least make sure all those other strange things were at least halfway safe for the human travelers out there.
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A/N: The listed weird stuff was the natural Fallout stuff in Montana and elsewhere that I had hoped our characters would eventually find when wandering, but my blasted characters ended up staying in one place to randomly summon things instead! Grrr!!
I wanted Karina back on the road though, and chasing false leads and getting into hijinks. So I'm pretty happy about this. It's not a summon-heavy chapter though, because I wanted to focus more on the plot. XD
