# Love Me As Though There Were No Tomorrow (Chapter 7)

Author: STRONG
Tags: Anthro, Fallout, Greentext, Human, Love, M/F, Nightstalker, Snekdog, Violence

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.

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/0mvdA7X1
Part of the series Love Me As Though There Were No Tomorrow
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