They traveled east together because neither of them had given the other a reason not to. Adrian was beginning to suspect that was close enough to trust by wasteland standards. The afternoon sun hung low, painting the desert in deep shades of orange while long shadows stretched across broken earth and scattered ruins.
Cassandra walked several paces ahead with the effortless awareness of someone who had survived hostile places for years. Nothing she did was wasted. Her eyes swept every ridgeline. She checked sightlines without seeming to think about it. Whenever the terrain changed, she adjusted course almost instinctively.
Military, Adrian became more convinced of that with every passing mile. Not Brotherhood, though, at least he didn't think so. Mostly because she lacked the self-righteous "I collect toasters for God" energy he'd always imagined Brotherhood members carried around.
His leg still hurt, not enough to stop him. Just enough to remind him every few steps that giant radioactive mole rats were, unfortunately, a real thing… which remained deeply upsetting.
☢ ☢ ☢
"You're limping again," Cassandra said without turning around.
"I'm walking dramatically."
"You're walking badly."
"That too."
One corner of her mouth twitched, barely. But it was progress.
Adrian shifted the shotgun resting across his shoulder. Cassandra had handed it over with obvious reluctance after deciding his pistol skills were nothing short of catastrophic.
The shotgun felt... right, heavy walnut furniture. Cold steel. Years of scratches worn into the finish. A real weapon, not a controller vibrating in his hands.
The memory of that blast still echoed pleasantly in the back of his mind. He understood immediately why people became addicted to power, that realization was a little concerning.
"So," Adrian said after several minutes of silence, "do you save random Vault idiots often?"
"No."
"Damn. Thought I was special."
"You were screaming at a mole rat."
"It was a stressful situation."
"You called it a 'skin goblin.'"
Adrian gestured defensively. "In my defense... have you looked at them?"
That earned another quiet snort, tiny, brief but genuine. Adrian couldn't help smiling. Good, because beneath the suspicion and professional distance, Cassandra was genuinely attractive. Not just physically. Though... dark hair, sharp eyes, an athletic build and an unmistakable "could probably stab me efficiently" vibe.
He'd be lying if he said that wasn't working for him, but it was more than that. Confidence, competence and purpose. Back home, most people drifted through life distracted, staring at phones or thinking about something else.
Cassandra didn't, she moved like every second mattered. Out here... it probably did.
"So where exactly are we going?" Adrian asked.
"The closest settlement."
"Which is?"
"Shady Sands."
Adrian nearly stopped walking. Right, not a location on a map or pixels on a screen. All the settlements were real, with actual people.
"That name means something to you?"
Shit, he recovered as quickly as he could. "Uh... sounds familiar."
Cassandra glanced back at him, just for a second… he was beginning to suspect she missed absolutely nothing.
"So," Adrian continued carefully, "what's your story?"
"No."
"That's not how conversations work."
"It is if I don't want one."
Cold, efficient but not hostile. More like practiced avoidance.
Interesting... Adrian smirked faintly. "You know, normally when a mysterious wasteland woman saves my life, there's at least a little dramatic backstory exposition."
"You say that like it happens often."
"More than statistically reasonable."
That earned another tiny almost-smile. God he was absolutely flirting with the dangerous stranger in the apocalypse, fantastic survival instincts.
☢ ☢ ☢
The ruined highway emerged ahead of them as the desert terrain flattened gradually into cracked asphalt and skeletal remnants of old-world infrastructure. Burned-out car husks littered the roadside. Most had long since rusted into near-unrecognizable shapes. One vehicle had melted almost completely into the pavement itself.
Adrian slowed while staring at it, even after all this time the destruction still felt fresh somehow. The Great War stopped feeling fictional frighteningly fast out here.
Cassandra noticed him staring. "First time seeing ruins?"
"Not exactly." He walked toward an overturned bus resting beside the highway. Its windows were shattered, the paint long faded away and a child's skeleton still sat near the rear seats. Tiny fingers wrapped around a decayed stuffed animal.
Adrian stopped moving, the world suddenly felt quieter again. Not game quiet, dead quiet.
Cassandra remained several feet behind him, giving space.
Adrian stared at the skeleton for several long seconds. Then slowly looked away, "...Jesus." No sarcasm this time, just exhaustion. Because in the games... skeletons became environmental decoration eventually. But standing here physically... this had been a person. A real kid.
The apocalypse suddenly felt uglier than any Fallout game had ever managed to show.
"You stop getting surprised eventually," Cassandra said quietly.
Adrian glanced toward her. "That's not comforting."
"No." She sounded almost tired when she said it, for a moment he wondered what she'd seen out here. What kind of life created someone this guarded this young.
☢ ☢ ☢
They continued walking as evening slowly settled over the wasteland. The temperature dropped fast once the sun lowered beyond the mountains. Cold wind swept across the highway carrying distant animal cries through the darkness.
Adrian finally broke the silence again. "So, are you gonna tell me your last name or do I have to earn that?"
Cassandra glanced sideways at him. "Why do you want it?"
"Maybe I'm trying to impress you."
"That would require impressive behavior."
"Ouch."
"You almost died to wildlife within an hour of leaving your vault."
"Okay in fairness I adjusted very quickly."
"You screamed."
"It was tactical screaming."
Cassandra shook her head slightly. But Adrian noticed something important, she wasn't shutting the conversation down anymore. The suspicion remained and the caution remained. But little cracks were forming now, human ones. “It’s Hale.”
☢ ☢ ☢
The road curved around a rocky ridge ahead. Cassandra abruptly stopped walking and looked instantly alert.
The change in posture alone made Adrian's stomach tighten. "What?"
She crouched beside the road carefully… “tracks.”
Boot prints, several people and they looked recent. Cassandra touched the dirt lightly before standing again. "Raiders."
Adrian instinctively tightened his grip on the shotgun. "How many?"
"Five. Maybe six."
"Can we avoid them?"
"Probably."
Then gunfire echoed somewhere ahead, distant. Three shots, then screaming… human screaming. Adrian froze.
Cassandra looked toward the sound without expression. "Trader caravan maybe."
Another gunshot cracked through the evening air, closer this time. Then silence.
Adrian looked toward Cassandra, she already knew what he was going to ask. "No."
"Come on."
"Vault dweller." Her voice hardened slightly. "You barely survived mole rats."
"Yeah but…"
"You are injured. Undertrained. Unarmored and carrying a shotgun like it personally insulted you."
Adrian blinked, "...okay that one's fair."
Cassandra stared at him evenly. "People die trying to play hero out here."
The screaming had stopped, only wind remained now.
Adrian looked toward the distant ridge where smoke drifted faintly into the darkening sky. Then back toward Cassandra. "You still came when you heard me shooting earlier."
Something flickered behind her eyes briefly. Annoyance maybe, or recognition.
Adrian pressed slightly. "So, either you're a hypocrite..." He adjusted the shotgun. "Or you're coming with me."
Silence, cold wind swept dust across the ruined highway. Then Cassandra muttered something under her breath Adrian definitely wasn't supposed to hear.
"What was that?"
"You talk too much."
"Not a answer."
Another long stare, then finally, "...stay behind me."
Adrian grinned. "There she is."
"I can still leave you here."
"You won't."
Cassandra started walking toward the distant smoke. "You sound very confident for someone who nearly lost a fight against skin goblins."
Adrian hurried after her. "They were tactical skin goblins."
And despite herself, Cassandra Hale laughed quietly into the dark.