Chapter 43: Home Again

A couple of minutes in as we were traveling east along the road, it split into a Y shape, so I had us continue back tracking, heading in Vault 101's direction. Following us changing direction, my group and I eventually got on a road heading northeast for the next couple of minutes till the road bent and continued eastward.

No more than a handful of minutes later, the road broke yet again into another Y. So we continued retracing the route I had initially used when I departed on my journey into the capital wasteland, heading north for the next several minutes and arriving in the vicinity of Big Town. The moment we came into the area of Big Town, I examined the surroundings, looking for any possible threats.

The coast looks clear. 

Not finding a single one, I had us follow the road west so we could get on the side road that heads to the southwest. After swapping over a number of roads, we came to the main again, and as soon as we did, I checked the area, searching for hostiles and traps like landmines and IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices).

Look what we have here, a group of ants that need to be exterminated.

Counting myself lucky to find such easy prey on my way back home, I scanned the rest of the region to make sure I wouldn't be getting third partied when I go to eliminate these bugs. Lucky for me I didn't find any more enemies. Finished observing the region, I redirected my group and had them move in on the small swarm of 30 giant worker ants heading in the southern direction along the main road, the one that directly passes by my destination.

As we were rapidly closing the distance between us and them, I gripped my AER 29 LMG and aimed it at the group and held down the trigger for 10 seconds while sweeping the weapon left to right. Once those 10 seconds were up, the entire group of 30 giant worker ants was dispatched with their burnt remnants spread across the asphalt.

Happy to have gained a small boost to my exp bar, we continued south instead of going southeast in the direction of the Springvale School. Because one we're already on this one and two, this road will lead us directly to the vault just like the other route.

Quickly passing by the many fresh giant ant corpses I made moments ago, my group and I came upon the branch we needed to take to reach Vault 101. But just as we were about to begin traveling north to follow it to our destination, I spotted a group of 3 giant radscorpions.

The instant I spotted them, I signaled to my robots that they could deal with them. So, upon receiving that order, my robots unleashed a laser light show at them and after a few seconds of intense laser fire, they stopped. What was left of them was just a scorch mark on the earth and with not a single piece of the giant rad scorpions in sight.

It's a good thing I didn't plan on looting them, otherwise I'd be crying right about now. 

I thought as I mushed Hauler north with the ghoul brothers and my small army of robots in tow.

From that encounter, we sped off down the street and soon arrived at a large cave opening.

Alright, I'm nearly at my destination. Let's give them a ring.

Slinging my AER 29 LMG over my shoulder, I pulled my communication device out and gave everyone a ring. And no longer than a couple of seconds later, Amata's father, the overseer, answered the call. "You out front, Harold."

"Yeah, I'm at the cave entrance of the vault. I'll be heading inside when I hang up."

"Alright, hold up for a minute while I get vault security to open the vault door for you. Also, just a heads up Amata is very antsy so be prepared to catch an Amata before she hurts herself, ha ha."

"Okay, thanks for the heads up. I'll see you guys in a minute."

"See you then."

The moment I hung up, I returned the communication device to my inventory, as well as my AER 29 LMG. Finished with that, I took Amata's power armor out beyond anyone's view and placed it into the back of Hauler so I could give it to her. When I was done taking care of that last thing, I directed the convoy to enter the cave and make their way to the massive door, keeping my original home safe from the dangers of the wastes.

Making it to the door in less than a minute, I had the Hill brothers hop out of Hauler and waited alongside them for the nuke proof door to start opening. Whilst I was busily waiting, I exited out of my power armor so Amata wouldn't injure herself when she inevitably leaps at me. As soon as I was out of the suit, the Hill brothers and I kept ourselves entertained by chatting about how life was prior to nuclear annihilation.

After a couple of minutes had passed by, we heard the vault door begin to open, so we halted our conversation and directed our attention to the vault door.

*Grrrrnnddd*

The massive metal door screeched as it was dragged into place and when it had finally ground to a halt, it rolled off to the left side, revealing the vault entrance. The instant the door stopped rolling and came to a complete stop, Amata came charging out towards me and leaped towards me where I caught her and spun her around to slow down her momentum. So she wouldn't crash into me and injure herself against my increasingly dense and tough body.

"You missed me?" I asked.

All I got in response to my question from the girl with a bright red face latched to me was a small nod against my chest and a mm sound. Sharing a hug with Amata for a few short seconds longer, I let her stay latched to me via my hand while I headed inside to greet everyone and see how they'd been doing since I'd been gone from the vault.

Shortly thereafter Amata, the ghoul brothers, and I entered the vault and when we did we were greeted by my and Amata's dad along with officer Gomez, a number of the vault security uncles, old man Pete, and Butch and the gang. From that point on, I spent the next 10 minutes talking to everyone there and introducing the three Hill brothers to those gathered here.

After conversing with everyone for a brief period, I sent a signal to the robots with Mechu-deru and had them start moving the stockpiled stuff in my research/workshop area. Once I had taken care of assigning them their new job, we all collectively headed to the usual dining area and had a bit of a welcome back party for me, even though it was a bit much to have one for me when I was only gone for a relatively short time. Regardless, you weren't going to catch me complaining since I got the opportunity to eat a ton of delicious food that I didn't have to make myself.

...

Two hours later, Amata and I headed out to spend some quality time together, like I had promised her a while ago when I was out and about in the wasteland. Venturing off, the two of us exited the dining area where the welcome back event was held and right as we did, Amata immediately attached herself to my right arm.

Seeing her smiling and happy as can be, we began walking through the maze-like gray halls to one of the many communal entertainment areas down here. On our way there, the two of us navigated our way through the hallways, passing by numerous vault dwellers going about their daily lives, and before long, we were right outside our intended destination. 

Stepping inside the entrance, it opened up to a very large room filled to the brim with well over a hundred different games to choose from. "So what do you want to start off with first, Amata?"

"Hmm... How about we go play some air hockey?" She replied, whilst seeking my opinion as well.

"Sounds good to me." I responded before we both headed over to one of the four air hockey tables located in this entertainment area.

Amata and I then spent the next half an hour playing air hockey. Surprisingly, she got really into it since I was keeping the game at a draw for a good portion of the game. Nevertheless, we kept it up till the half-an-hour mark when I thought it was about time we went and did something else for a bit, otherwise we'll be here all day from the looks of things. Thus, I waited till she hit the puck and when it was nearing my striker; I let it pass by the smallest of margins into my goal, giving her the win.

*Clink*

"Yea, I got it in!" Amata cheered excitedly at the breaking of our tie.

Waiting a few seconds to let Amata bask in her achievement, I complimented her winning shot. "You did great, Amata. That last shot was phenomenal."

"Ohh, it wasn't that great. You just let me win." She said a bit shyly with her cheeks flushing faintly.

"Nonsense, you did phenomenally well."

 Showering her with a few more words of praise, I moved things along. "What do you want to go do now?"

"Let's go play a few of the other games here and when we've had our fill, let's go for a swim. It's been a while since we've last swam together and I don't think we'll have very many, if any, opportunities to do so once we're out adventuring in the wasteland."

"It has been a while, hasn't it... Alright, let's go do that then and you're very right about there being no opportunities to go swimming in the wasteland. Most of the water in the wasteland is contaminated with varying levels of radiation."

"Oh, and when we're done swimming, I'll cook us something nice for dinner."

"For just the two of us?" She inquired with hopeful eyes.

"Yes, for just the two of us." I answered lastly, which got me a bright beaming smile from Amata.

Following our little chat, Amata and I spent the next hour and a half going from game to game, enjoying our time together before we finished our session on the skee ball machine, where I took the final win by a few hundred more points than her. Which was surprising since I was actually putting in effort to win.

"Aww, I almost had you there. Better luck next time, I guess." My talented skee ball girl commented right after we finished the game.

"Yeah, you had me on the ropes for just about the entirety of that game. You even nearly had me beat towards the end there. Nice try though, Amata. I'm sure you'll have me beat next time around or if we decide to go bowling."

"Mm, I'll definitely win if we go bowling. I have a very good average, you know." She replied, a bit puffed up.

"Indeed, you do."

We spent a couple of minutes chatting and when I thought it was time for a change of scenery; I decided to ask if she was ready to head to our next activity. "You ready to head to the pool and get that swim in or do you want to play one more game before we go?"

"Yeah, I've played enough games for now. Let's go to the pool and after that, we can have that dinner you promised me." She answered.

The braver and braver girl then wrapped her arms around my right arm, latching herself onto me again a split second later while wearing a small but pretty smile.

With her attached to my arm, we exited the arcade and took out time going to our next destination.

______

If you're looking for something else to read, that's similar to this, check out my other webnovel Wasteland Conqueror.