Love Me As Though There Were No Tomorrow (Chapter 7)
Story by STRONG on SoFurry
chapter 7!
Chapter 7: Home is whenever I'm with you
>You've been wandering around vault 11 for about a week now.
>Gracie had locked herself in one of the rooms and hasn't come out for anything.
>You had been leaving food outside her door and it HAD been disappearing so you guess she was eating.
>In the time wandering around the vault you had found out just how horrendous Vault-tec was.
>This vault was a whole social experiment.
>They were told on the day the vault door closed that each year they would have to sacrifice one person.
>Elections were held for overseer, who would be the person sacrificed.
>Politics took over, groups formed which held power over who would be sacrificed.
>After a while a bloody civil war erupted, hence the traps and corpses.
>And in the end there were 5 survivors who went to kill themselves.
>Only to find out if they had refused from the start to kill anyone, the vault would open and free them.
>Fucked up to say the least, but there was no time to lament.
>It truly cemented how awful people were, but then again who are you to judge
>You had picked the place clean, tons of 10mm ammo, well preserved food and lots of giant mantises and a few bark scorpions.
>When Gracie locked herself away, you were worried at first.
>But as time went on you grew more annoyed.
>Not annoyed at her per se, more annoyed that she wouldn't tell you why.
>Who locks themselves away for a week with no explanation?.
>It's about time to leave some food out for her, so you navigate through, the light of your pip-boy guiding you.
>You had learned the ways through the vault, nearly 7 days alone with nothing to do but loot and explore gave you time to learn the way around.
>The room you had chosen to live in for the time being was once a bedroom.
>In the center you had built a firepit and used parts to make a makeshift BBQ.
>You found preserved butter in the vault along with a variety of other spices.
>As heinous as vault tec was they had great tech for food storage.
>You were grilling up the claws and legs of a bark scorpion and cram for you and Gracie.
>As annoyed as you were at her you weren't going to let her starve.
>The thought had crossed your mind to starve her out, simply not give her food until she came out.
>But you weren't that mean .
>You place half the food on a plate and get a food tray to carry it plus a sunset sarsaparilla.
>The room you picked was next to where Gracie stayed, you hoped she would open up sooner rather than later.
>You set the tray on the floor and knock a few times, hoping she'll answer.
>She hadn't so far at all, but maybe she would this time?
>Doubtful.
>"Gracie, food"
>You wait for a bit by the door and sigh.
>Guess she's staying in there for a while longer.
>Still the food smells good, and your portion is calling your name.
>You go back to you room and sit next to the fire.
>There had been plenty of old magazines and books all around, so you sat and read while eating.
>You aren't sure how accurate these magazines are, after all they are 200 some years old.
>But they kill time, after all you had killed everything that dared move near you, you had taken apart and cleaned ALL your guns.
>Hell you even repaired every old weapon you found.
>You found a maintenance room and used everything to make repair kits.
>But even guns had their limits of entertainment for you.
>It had been barely a week and you were going stir crazy.
>The first day you had taken apart and stored the Robobrain parts you needed.
>The second day you found the paladin and knights Father Elijah had sent.
>They had some recon armor on them so you grabbed it for Gracie, a little more protection and much easier to wear.
>After that you just explored.
>You crack open a Mantis leg and pull out the meat and you read a magazine about energy weapons.
>The stuff is a bit confusing but you get the general gist of it.
>"A-anon?" you weakly hear Gracie's voice.
>The sound of Gracie's Voice causes you to jump and drop the bit of mantis you were gnawing on.
>"Gracie! Are you ok?!"
>You get up quickly, knocking over a bit of your food onto the floor.
>It doesn't even bother you right now.
>She needed you and you need answers.
>You scramble out of your room and into the other one for the first time in a week.
>The first thing you notice is all the bedding has been shredded and made into a large nest.
>The second is the smell.
>Wet, heavy, and musky; the air feeling humid and hot.
>In the corner was Gracie, trembling and staring at you as you looked around.
>"Gracie? What happened? What's going on?"
>She walks a bit closer to you, giving you a small sniff.
>"Oh uh, I didn't want to do something stupid Anon"
>You take a step closer to her slowly.
>"What do you mean Gracie?" you ask slowly.
>She looks down and kicks at a bit of the nest she made.
>"I uh, I went into Heat Anon, for a while I was able to stay calm but after getting all close to you when you were hurt, plus watching you take
down those robots just...it was too much. so I locked myself away for a while so I wouldn't do anything stupid"
>You sigh and rub your face.
>Heats, right; that was an anthro thing you had forgotten about.
>Or were you just blissfully unaware?
>You want to say the former.
>"You Ok now then Gracie?"
>She looks at you with worry in her eyes.
>"You still ok to travel with me? I mean I might slow you down! So much! We would have to stop like once a month!"
>She was right it would slow you down, but this might be a blessing in a way.
>"We'll make it work, just tell me when you feel it coming so we can get somewhere more inviting"
>She takes a step towards you carefully, still sniffing.
>"Th-Thanks Anon, thank you for bringing me food as well"
>Eventually she's in front of you and she pulls you into a hug.
>You smile and pet the top of her head.
>"You're welcome Gracie"
>You lead her into the room next door and begin packing you stuff as she watches.
>After that you stand and lead her out of the room.
>"Let's get out of here Gracie, I'm sick of this place"
>She looks around.
>"Uh which way is out?"
>You point.
>"This way"
>She reaches for her SMG but you stop her.
>"No need for that, I've been busy here"
>She looks sheepish as she moves her paws from her gun to your arm.
>"Sorry Anon, Thank you for not just leaving me"
>You wave aside the apology and lead her out of the vault.
>As you walk out, you see 4 more skeletons, all will bullet wounds in their skulls.
>Guess you know what happened to the survivors.
>You walk out of the vault and the sunlight blinds you for a moment.
>Sitting in the darkness of the vault waiting for Gracie really made your eyes more used to dark.
>You look at you pip-boy and look for a route to the brotherhoods hidden bunker.
>Lucky there looks like there is a small pass through the mountains.
>"Come on Gracie, we're going to back to the bunker and setting up a base to live"
>Her grip tightens on your arm.
>"Together Anon?"
>You nod as you lead her south towards the pass.
>"Unless you would rather we didn't, I'm sure we could find you a place to live al-"
>"NONONO! I think we should live together! plus you're a good pillow!"
>Again with being a good pillow.
>Whatever could be worse.
>You can feel her claws on your skin as she grips your arm.
>The hole that was burned through the leather armor is still there, you didn't have anything to fix it with.
>You need to replace it at some point or get things to fix it.
>The sun beats down on the sand but you're able to stay relatively cool in the shade as you walk around the side of the mountains.
>Along the way a few cave openings held their mouths open as if to swallow you and your curiosity, but you had a place to go.
>One of the major parts of the treadnaut was in your possession.
>Granted it was the easiest to locate and get but it was still a part that the brotherhood wasn't able to get.
>They said they could make more of it once they had the parts, but getting the parts was difficult.
>You walk up to the pass and look at you pip-boy.
>Yea this is it.
>Scorpion gulch.
>You can see the red ticks on your pip-boy screen already.
>Lots and lots of scorpions, hence the name you guess.
>"Gracie do you want more of those scorpions to eat?" you say as you draw out your LMG.
>Leh LMG's are perfect for solving any problem.
>Gracie eyes your gun for a moment then draws her own.
>"How many are there Anon?" she says before disappearing from view.
>You smirk, She's learning.
>"A lot, watch my back"
>You walk slowly into the gulch, gun raised and ready.
>"Don't shoot me in the back" you whisper back to Gracie.
>"I won't!" she hisses.
>Bark scorpions and radscorpions emerge from their hidey holes all around you.
>Slowly and methodically, you move through the gulch, shooting each scorpion as it appears.
>Occasionally behind you the sound of silenced gunfire goes off as Gracie covers you.
>As annoying as the bugs are you aren't worried as each one falls to a barrage of bullets.
>You reload the belt fed system of your LMG and look around.
>Corpses of scorpions lay scattered around, a few twitching awkwardly.
>Your pip-boy doesn't show any more enemies so you put away your LMG and begin harvesting the bodies.
>Food would be plentiful for a while!
>You motion to Gracie to follow you and you lead her back into the "Hidden valley".
>It doesn't take long until you've entered the bunker of the Brotherhood.
>It takes an even shorter time for you to open the bunker doors and stroll past Ramos, who glares at you.
>Fuck that cuck, he's just mad you're able to come and go as you please and he has to stay on guard duty .
>You head through the halls with Gracie once against latched to your arm.
>People all around with varying types of Power armor walk by.
>You don't remember the differences between all the types but they work so what do you care.
>When you walk through the door to the Elders chambers he almost looks surprised.
>"Boomer! I thought I had sent you to your death" he says.
>His eyes fall on the burn on your armor.
>"I see you didn't come out unscathed"
>You nod and hold out 3 holotags from the paladin and knights you found.
>"I found these on the bodies, I'm sorry"
>He stands and takes them from you, looking at each one.
>"Thank you Boomer, they will be given full honors, I assume you found what you were looking for?
>"I did, we had to take a detour along the way but we are here now"
>He nods to you, "alright, go to Knight Nickson, he'll be in charge of this project, paladin Neil will lead you there"
>As you turn to leave you feel a hand on your shoulder.
>"One last thing, the northern bunker is usable and if you can clear out the entrance, its fully functioning but only suited for about 4 people, it will be perfect for you and your Anthro friend"
>You nod and thank him before leaving.
>The paladin leads you to a newer part of the bunker, you can tell its newer from the metal of the walls.
>It looks like they had begun expanding the vault, housing more gear and weapons.
>As well it looks like they've begun building a ramp out of the bunker.
>Heh guess the only one way in and out wasn't great, plus they must have contact with other chapters of the Brotherhood.
>"There's Knight Nickson and his new apprentice, they will help you with your farfetched project outsider" the paladin says with a bit of disdain.
>You frown as he stomps past you.
>No one asked for his opinion so he can shove it.
>In front of you is a man in Recon armor talking to a young Anthro coyote.
>"Alright Rusty, this is how we weld things together".
>He demonstrates to the coyote who mimic the movements.
>You tap the Knight's shoulder to get his attention.
>"Hm? Oh who might you be?" he says as he looks over his shoulder at you.
>He stands and shakes your hand as you introduce yourself.
>"People call me Boomer, this is Gracie. Elder McNamara said you were going to help us build the treadnaut?" you say, perplexed.
>The Knight is tall and fit, he doesn't look like the kind of guy to build a vehicle.
>But then again who are you to judge.
>The Coyote, Rusty, looks over at you and gracie, who waves to him excitedly.
>He waves back shyly.
>Knight Nickson looks you over.
>"So you're The infamous Boomer eh? Not what I expected, but if you can Bring everything we can build it".
>You look at the coyote as you get the treads out of your inventory.
>"I didn't know the Brotherhood had recruited Anthros often".
>The knight looks at the young coyote.
>"We found him wandering, starving and alone around the valley. We weren't going to leave him to die, we may be wary of outsiders but we aren't monsters"
>The coyote smiles a toothy grin.
>"He doesn't talk much though"
>You smile at him and give a small wave.
>"Anyway yea these will do perfectly! You must've aimed well to not hit the treads, we can definitely reproduce these"
>You nod as the Knight circles the treads and points out things to the coyote pup.
>"We can start making the Chassis and stuff following the blueprints, I assume you know where to get the rest of the parts"
>You don't know for sure but you knew someone who would and these two look like they are already giddy to start building it
>Gracie grips your arm as she watches them work.
>"Aww thats so nice to see Anon!" she croons.
>You smile and lead her away from the two as Nickson instructs the coyote on tools they will need.
>They would need time to work and you didn't need to bother them.
>You needed to find Sato and ask where the "Sierra Madre" was.
>Gracie is still holding into your arm as you walk around.
>Not as tight as before but still on you.
>But this time you don't mind it.
>As you walk through the halls you occasionally ask passing knights and paladins where he might be.
>Most just told you to check the chow hall.
>Easy enough.
>You quickly head in to the chow hall and find Sato nursing a drink as per usual.
>"Hey Sato, I got a question for you"
>He looks at you with droopy eyelids and is a little unsteady in his seat.
>"Heyyyyyy Booooomer,whasssssup?!" he says with his breath stinking of alcohol.
>Ugh, you liked Sato but really wish he would stay sober enough to have a good conversation with you.
>"Do you know where the Sierra Madre is?"
>The chow hall goes almost silent.
>"I know where to find the Sierra Madre, We all do; we've heard of the legend, the curses. Some foolishness about it lying in the middle of a City of Dead. A city of ghosts. Buried beneath a blood-red cloud"
>you're stricken by the sudden soberness of Sato's words.
>The way Sato speaks, it's like a whole other person pushed through to speak to you about it.
>It almost send shivers down your spine.
>It's like he's controlled by some otherworldly force, He grabs your arm and pip-boy, dialing in a location easily despite your struggles to escape his grasp.
>"That place will be your Grave Anon" He says glossy eyed.
>He then slumps over onto the table and begins snoring, leaving you dumbfounded at what just happened.
>A check of your pip-boy shows you a location to the south.
>But you have reservations suddenly.
>Tearing yourself away from the map on your pip-boy, you focus on Gracie.
>"Anon? You ok? That was... Intense"
>You nod and offer her your arm, which she grabs onto .
>"I'm fine, I just didn't expect that"
>You can feel her worried eyes burrowing into you as you lead her out of the Bunker.
>"Peace fuckboy" you call to Ramos as the bunker door closes behind you.
>The muffled yelling you hear from behind the door makes you smile.
>The sun is setting as you walk towards the northern bunker door.
>When you find the bunker, it's door is still in decent condition, so you press the open button.
>It opens with a loud squeal as metal grinds metal.
>Jeez this place needed work.
>A large room is in front of you, another metal door is opposite you, rocks and dirt block the way further in.
>Guess you now know what the elder meant.
>This would take a while to clear out, but you had explosives to break up the rocks.
>But for now it wasn't a priority, food and sleep was.
>You have some leftover Grilled mantis legs so you give some to Gracie and sit down on the ground.
>She sits next to you and crack open the exoskeleton of the legs.
>"So this is our new home Anon?" She says in between mouthfuls.
>You nod.
>"Yep, we'll clean it up and use it as a home base"
>She leans against you, eyes searching around the room.
>"It's not very much is it Anon? is there more past those rocks?"
>You take a bite out of the Mantis meat and look around.
>She's right, it's dirty, and just a room, but the Elder said there was more beyond those rocks, a small bunker built for a family.
>"There should be more, we can spend a bit getting it nice and comfy"
>You watch as her eyes light up.
>"Can i decorate how i want!?"
>You feel like you might regret this but whatever.
>"Sure Gracie, you can decorate as long as you help clean up"
>She smiles a toothy grin and eats the rest of her meal in silence, looking around.
>Looks like she's already planning it out.
>before long you finish your meal and stand up slowly.
>You lock the bunkers door with the press of a button then pull out your bedroll and unroll it in a corner.
>"I've missed snuggling up to you Anon, you're the best pillow" Gracie says as she Changes into her Pajamas.
>You don't want to admit to her that you missed her too so you change in silence.
>There is no privacy here yet so you change quickly and sit down on the bedroll and get both pillows ready.
>One behind your back and head, one in your lap for Gracie's head.
>She crawls over to you and curls up on the bed roll and wraps herself in it, gently placing her head on your lap.
>You gently pet her fur and scales as you drift off to sleep.
>This was your new home, and you were determined to make it a good one with her.
>A New home with her, Your favorite Snakedog.
>Well the only Snakedog you knew.
>Her hissing snores lull you to sleep as you think about it.
>Finally a home.