"Kid, wake up." Salvatore said as he walked over to Adam sleeping on the bed in the master bedroom of the Pickerson's house he had taken over yesterday.
"Hm? What is it?" Adam said, groggily, but sitting up immediately ready for action if the situation called for it.
"I got bad news, it looks like a rad storm is blowing through."
"A… what?" Adam asked, not sure what that was. One could guess, of course, but Adam's mind had not yet fully woken up so he was still a bit slow.
"Radstorm." Salvatore repeated calmly. "It's like cloud coverage, sometimes with rain, but it's heavily irradiated. Look outside."
Adam rolled out of bed, rubbing his eyes as he did and looked into the sky. Sure enough the sky was… strange. It was flashing strange colors of yellows, greens, and reds. Even through this noxious looking cloud coverage there was lighting constantly striking but it seemed inside the clouds. It didn't seem to be raining but as he held his pip-boy up to the window his pip-boy began to very slowly click, indicating he was getting irradiated.
"Well that's… not good." Adam said slowly, almost fully awake now, the news enough to shock him back to wakefulness.
"First radstorm?"Salvatore asked and then waved off the question, speaking again. "It's not that bad, they aren't common but so long as you find cover indoors you will be safe." Salvatore looked around the room they were standing in and nodded. "Honestly, if we just stay in here until it passes it should be fine, it's not that dangerous unless you are going to be outside for extended periods." Adam nodded.
"So we just wait then? How long do these normally last?" Salvatore pulled out his pack of cigarettes, took one, put it in his mouth and then lit it while he considered the question.
"Depends. Shortest i've seen them is lasting a few minutes. Longest i've seen is them lasting days. But I'd say usually they last a few hours." He said between a puff of the cigarette. Adam sighed.
"So we just have to wait for a few hours? Damn, I was hoping to move when we were up."
"Nothing that can be done." Salvatore said as he took another step closer to the window and looked outside. "The radiation won't bother me, but it's not healthy for you, best to air on the safe side." Adam sat back down on the bed.
"Alright, well I guess I can wait a few hours. I hope it doesn't last days, I didn't plan for that."
"Worst case we can walk through it, you can pop a radaway when we arrive at Midway, no harm done. But being safe is always the smart play." Adam nodded as Salvatore looked over at the ruins of Adam's old house. He took another puff of the cigarette before speaking again.
"That shelter of yours, is it radiation proof?"
"Yeah, I mean I lined it with lead and followed the advice of people with more know-how than me, even bought a prepper's magazine to follow some guides, I mean there's no way to say for certain but that was my goal."Salvatore nodded and then looked down at Adam's pip-boy, still clicking, slowly.
"Well normally waiting out inside like we are is more than enough, you won't be hurt much by the small amounts of radiation you get from being inside, but if we got a better option across the street…" He paused and looked out the window again. "Might as well take advantage of it." Adam thought his words over for a moment and then nodded.
"Alright we can head back down there, might be a bit cramped for the two of us, but will be fine." He stood up and grabbed his bag off the floor and began to put his gear back on.
A few minutes later Adam was ready to head over to his shelter and lead the way as he walked out the broken front door of the house he stayed in overnight. As soon as he was outside his geiger counter began clicking more rapidly. It read as .5 rads a second, not too much, but certainly, as Salvatore said, best to stay inside if at all possible, traveling like this wouldn't be advisable, especially since he wasn't flush with rad-x and radaway.
Adam opened the hatch for Salvatore and then closed it behind them, heading down the stairs again. Salvatore took a seat on the computer chair in front of the desk and the broken computer and Adam sat on the bed after closing the door to the shelter. Once inside with the door closed the pip-boy's geiger counter was completely silent, it seemed as though he had done a good job when building his shelter.
Salvatore looked around the room with a slightly amused grin and single raised eyebrow. "Cute." was all he said after a few moments. Adam just shrugged.
"I built it for myself on a budget, I think I did pretty well."
"Yeah, no no." Salvatore said with a chuckle before he leaned back on the chair. "Well get comfortable kid, I will check the outside in a few hours, until then just relax." Adam sat on his bed in silence for a few minutes before he reached into his bag and pulled out two wrapped chunks of meat and two water bottles, handing one set to Salvatore. He hadn't expected to be outside for long so he didn't bring much food and water, just enough for a one night stop and two days' travel. Mandy had been kind enough to not only prep the food for him but give it to him for free, a last parting gift. In the bag Adam had given Salvatore, he had his own share but Adam decided to hand some of the food in his own pack over, seemed as good a time as any to eat and he was already holding it, he could just steal some of Salvatore's rations later if needed.
Salvatore looked at the food for a moment then took it, unwrapped it and began eating. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Adam spoke up.
"What were you? Before all this happened, I mean." Adam asked suddenly.
"What? You mean before the bombs?" Salvatore asked with a raised eyebrow. He then laughed once and grinned. "I worked retail." His grin widened to a smile. Adam laughed.
"Really?"
"Really." Salvatore responded. "Shift lead at Super-Duper Mart." He chuckled and then sighed. "But that was a life-time ago." Adam paused and then continued.
"And how did you become a mercenary?"Salvatore didn't respond immediately, just stared at him for a few minutes before sighing.
"After the bombs fell, before I became a ghoul, livin' was hard, did what I could to survive." He paused, reminiscing. "Learned real quick that you had to fight to protect what was yours. No matter how small." He paused again as he finished eating, tossed the wrapper and empty bottle into his bag and then took the shotgun off his back and thumbed it a bit as he laid it in his lap.
"I learned I was real good at fighting… real good." He looked up at Adam again. "Didn't take long before I was fighting for other people. Everyone had something they wanted to protect, food, buildings, people. Everyone had something they didn't want taken, and I became pretty good at making sure everyone kept what's theirs. Or… on occasion… taking it away." he paused again.
"Guess somewhere along the line it just became my job, surviving by doing other's dirty work. I've run with all types, some I'm not fond of having associated with, but I've always done what I had to to make a living." Adam nodded slowly.
"I understand." Adam sighed quietly. "Honestly if I had lived through the bombings I might've been no different." He then paused and laughed. "Or I'd be dead, I guess." He grinned.
"Doubt I'd be lucky enough to turn into a ghoul." He chuckled.
"Ain't lucky, shit sucks." He said as he put his shotgun back on his back. "Maybe if I didn't have to work so hard everyday it might be more enjoyable but living forever ain't it's all cracked up to be."
"I bet…" Adam returned, unsure what to say beyond that. Salvatore looked off to the side, seeming to be thinking about something that happened in the past. Something unpleasant based on his pained expression. He looked like he might say something but then quickly shook it off and looked back at Adam.
"I woke you up early cause of the storm, go back to sleep, we have a few hours to kill anyway." Adam took a moment to respond, lost in his own thoughts as well.
"Alright, I'll lay down, but I might just rest. I doubt I can sleep." Adam said as he took off his gear again, putting it underneath the bed.
"I don't care what you do." Salvatore said as he took out a cigarette from his pack again and put it in his mouth but didn't light it yet. He then stood up a moment later. "I'm going to get some fresh air. I'll grab you when the storm has passed." He said as he started moving towards the door.
"I guess for ghouls the radstorms are perfect for moving huh?" Adam mused as he laid back onto the bed. "No one else can go out in them carelessly so ghouls are free to roam as they please." Salvatore paused at the door for a moment, turning back around to look at Adam.
"That's only if you are thinking about humans." He responded ominously. "Plenty of other things don't care about radiation either." He grinned as if he was telling a spooky bedtime story. He then opened the door and began to walk out. "
"Get some rest, I'll get you when it's over." Salvatore then closed the shelter door behind him leaving Adam alone in the small shelter with only his pip-boy light illuminating the space. Perfect for returning to sleep once it was off again.