Vault Dweller

October 24th, 2287
Red Rocket Fueling Station

After Meathead woke from the concrete ground, head on his forelegs, laying on his stomach, he shook his head and blinked. Tensing, he was undisguised and the garage door was open. Less than ten feet away was Nate, sitting by a small fire pit made from pebbles, rocks, and it was no larger than two feet wide. Small burning sticks and twigs, Nate sat crosslegged, facing the road with his back to the Red Rocket station. The blue jumpsuit and yellow leather number '111' stitched onto his back faced Meathead. In his hands was a sewing needle and black thread. stitching the leather and synthetic liner back together.

Hooves scraping against the ground as he pushed himself up, Meathead took one deliberately slow step after another, trying to approach Nate as quietly as possible. The only noises they could hear that morning was the faint push of wind across the road, and the flapping of birds wings.

"" Meathead said softly, not wanting to disturb Nate.

"Fine. Better. Stimpaks kinda undercut the scars and how we got them, when all it takes is one and the bones pop back into place, and then you're walking ten seconds after that." He was frustrated, the changeling could easily tell. His hands made quick jerks with the thread and needle, and there was a frown on his chin.

""

Nate nodded, and then he shook his head, "Just...why...us?"

His eyes went out to the fusion coolant price sign. In his childhood, the last of gasoline was finally getting phased out in America, but still used in other countries.

The price of coolant had gone up from $110, to $119.00. No wonder the economy broke.

"There were...one hundred people in that vault...sixteen staffers...one doctor...one overseer... did anyone else have kids?" Nate asked, turning his head to face Meathead. He took a spot on the ground next to Nate's right and sat down.

"We survived, Meathead...why didn't everyone else too? Why only Nora's and mine?"

Meathead's head dropped, lip out.

"Those men were scientists...whoever took Shaun was a scientist... Not a mercenary...not a raider...not a cannibal...I hope...and God damn them if a cult took him. Brain washing psychopa-"

"" Meathead said, trying to instill a sense of self-preservation into Nate.

Nate nodded and inhaled, cutting himself off and shaking his thoughts away. "Meathead...what are you?"

""

"No, now I want to know what you are." He said looking back at the changeling with a smile that stretched up high to his cheekbones.

"That's what I just sa-" Meathead stopped, catching Nate's grin and huff of air through his nose. "We're emotivores.

"Symbiotic parasites. We detect emotions and live off positive energy like love and happiness and...>" rolling his head down, the forewings on Meathead's elytron lifted up as his hind wings buzzed for a moment before settling back down over his shell, becoming seamless.

""

"Meathead, I'm just trying to cope...and thinking about dirty jokes is the only way I know how." Nate nodded and blinked, looking over to his right to the dead mole rats still lying on the ground where they died by the entrance to the Red Rocket the day before. His voice dropped a tad, "And violence." Nate added.

Meathead rubbed his eyes with the back of his leg, ""

"What type of person am I?"

"Hopeful, carefree, laid-back." Meathead blinked again and leaned in to meet Nate's eyes. "When we were standing on the elevator going down...You were this giant beacon of positivity...The bombs were going off. The skyline was brighter than the sun! And there you were, hugging his wife, biggest damn shit-eating grin that I couldn't believe, thinking 'Everything is going to be all right!'" Meathead circled around to stare Nate directly in the eyes.

"" Meathead swallowed, waiting for Nate's answer.

Nate looked away from Meathead down to the small fire. "I knew we were going to make it...and that we were going to be alright." He said, eyes scanning the tree line.

Meathead shook his head, ""

"Then I believed in my own words." Nate rubbed the side of his face, "I lied to myself and Nora...you...and there were plenty of other people looking at us. I said what needed to be said to keep everyone else from panicking."

Raising a hoof to scratch the back of his head, ""

Nate shrugged and then coughed once. "I closed my eyes after I saw the bomb go off...Grabbed her and Shaun, wrapped a hand under your neck and just kept on thinking, 'Everything is going to be all right'."

Meathead's head swung around, attracting Nate's attention. "But how can you think like that? How did you get to be so...positive? How were you smiling when the bombs fell?"

"I lived in a well off house, growing up. We were never that family whose car broke down in the middle of a roadtrip, we were the kids who tried to stop bullies at school."

"My father going off to war just after I was born was a family calling."

"To go out into the world, meet the natives and kill them....And then there was Alaska. That was different. That was fighting on the home turf. Other then that, we were always ready. Always prepared. I never really worried about any of those things because no matter what, even if it was something short and stupid like... like getting the wrong seat on a plane. We were the ones who always got through. The ones who if we were inconvenienced...I don't know, the world gave back."

Nate tisked, and tilted his head. "I knew everything was going to be alright because I knew that we were seconds...fucking seconds," His fingers flexed straight out, "Away from getting into the Vault. We were going to get in right under the wire and we we're going to make it..." Nate unfolded his legs, extending them to the right, away from the fire. "I was never in the Scouts, but we were always prepared."

"My dad made it back. My grand dad made it back, his dad made it back, even brothers and cousins...we were the well adjusted ones whenever something bad happened."

""

"Yeah...can't turn it off..." He bounced his head back and forth, "...Always not quite good enough, could look a little better... attention for detail and high standards."

""

Meathead looked up at Nate, Nate frowned and pushed off his hands and stood up. "I don't know, Meathead! Is that your name? Do you go back to being my dog? Do you run off? Do I treat you like a human being? DO you want to be treated like a human being? What do you want? Tell me what you want and I will get it, Meathead. I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to do. I don't want to see you run off because you were my dog! Are my dog. Fuck! I don't know!" Pressing his palms to his face, covering both eyes and exhaling loudly, "I just..." His hands dropped to his side.

"I wanted to protect the things I love. So I joined the military. I wanted someone to love, and Nora and I found each other. We wanted a house. Okay? I got a house. I wanted a wife. I found Nora. I wanted to protect them, I knew I couldn't protect them while I was away, so I got you! Dog-you! I wanted all those things because they last, Meathead! How long have you been my dog?"

His voice shook, standing tall and
chest out, his hands were shaking.

"" Meathead rose to all four legs, standing at a meter and a half tall, he came up to Nate's pectorals. A spiral of green flames rose up from around Meathead, and when it vanished, the German Shepard was there, but now much shorter.

""