There was a wave of relief that washed over Adam when he heard the friendly call back. He truly went out on a limb and luck just happened to be on his side. So he approached.
At first glance it looked to be rather normal. A touch… hobo looking man, wearing worn and dirty clothes with a big smile, rifle on his back, and leather cap on his head was standing next to a brownish red cow which had a lot of boxes and bags strapped to its back as well as what looked to be a large barrel of water. But this was only at first glance. The cow had 2 heads?! Other than the two heads it seemed to be acting like a normal cow, but that was not what drew his attention the most. It was the literal zombie standing behind the cow, cigarette and lighter in hands as he lit up a smoke. The zombie was decked out in full armor, it looked like a mishmash of the combat armor he was issued when he served and other pieces like some leather and some metal armor but all painted black and uniform enough that he looked well put together. Not to mention he was packing some serious heat. He had two guns slung over her back, one assault rifle with a number of attachments and a double barrel shotgun. But he also had a 9mm pistol in a holster at his hip and a large knife in its own holster on his left leg. If he wasn't a zombie it would have been easy to assume he was a soldier or mercenary.
Adam immediately went pale, his eyes darting back and forth between the two head cow and the zombie in armor.
The man in the leather cap seemed to catch onto Adam's fear and grew a wide smile. "Cat got your tongue stranger?" He laughs. "Ain't never seen no brahmin or ghoul before?" When the man spoke he spoke with a heavy southern drawl, which was strange considering how far up north they were, but truly this was the last question on Adam's mind at the moment.
The "ghoul" finished lighting up his cigarette and then scowled at Adam. "The fuck you lookin' at smoothskin?" He said with some vitriol. The Ghoul's voice was rough. It sounded like stones on a gravel driveway. Which is to say it sounded like he was a coal miner and just got off a shift. It was not any prettier than his face which seemed to be full of rotting skin.
"I uh…" Adam started, caught flat footed. Truly, he had just seen a monster not 20 minutes ago, seeing more wasnt that out of the question, but this… "ghoul" seemed to be talking to him? And the brahmin was just… standing around like a cow? It took him for quite the spin.
The leather capped man laughed again and slapped Adam on the shoulder. "Don't you be worrying here." He says with a wide toothy smile, revealing a missing tooth on the left side. "Neither Bessy nor my hired gun, Salvatore, will be doin' ya harm." He said with a firm grasp and gentle shake on Adam's shoulder. "You one of them vault folks? Ya got the blue suit and fancy computer on ya."
"I um…" Adam started again still feeling a bit flat footed, but so grateful for a friendly face he regained his footing and decided to be honest with the man. "Well sort of, I was just in a Vault not too long ago."
"I figured!" The man grinned. "No one else but the vaulty types would be confused as you 'ere seeing these two." He holds out his hand for a handshake. "Names Chuck, Chuck Winchester."
Adam takes his hand, shaking it back. "Nice to meet you Chuck, the name's Adam Baxter." When Adam introduced himself Salvatore in the back raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"Well Vaulty, gotta say, not many of your type 'round these parts. Heard the last Vaulty to pop up was over 50 years ago. Can't imagine livin' inside a metal box for 200 years myself though."
"Yeah I couldn't feel comfortable living… Wait, did you say 200 years!?"
Now Chuck was the one who looked confused. "Yes?" He looks at Adam with a mix of suspicion and pity, now wondering if Adam was actually a looney.
"Been 'bout that long since the bombs fell, well that's what my grandpappy tells me anyway."
"211." Salvatore spoke up from behind, correcting Chuck casually as he smoked the cigarette and leaned against the ruins next to him, mostly waiting for the conversation to end.
"Two hundred years…." Adam repeated, hit with a massive shock.
"Ya alright there friend?" Chuck asked, concerned.
"I don't know anymore. I woke up in a vault without any recollection of how I got there, walked past a mass grave, found out my home was destroyed, and barely escaped a monster, all just to find out over 200 years have passed." He said before adding. "I can't exactly say I have been having the best day."
Salvatore lets off a single dry laugh. "Join the club, kid." He responds curtly. Chuck on the other hand was more sympathetic.
"Sounds like you've been having it rough." He took off his hat and gently placed it over his heart. "Look friend, we all go through ups and downs in life and this is just one of 'em. You can't be looking back, just look forward, there's going to be a beautiful field of razorgrain somewhere out there fer ya." He said, speaking softly and calmly to him, being awfully nice to a man he had just met.
Adam just sighed deeply and then nodded. "You are right." He offered a half smile. "It's… a lot, but I'm not letting it stop me." He said a bit more determined now.
"Good. Now, I'd love to sit here an' chat with ya all day but I got a delivery to make…" Chuck said with a smile as he put his hat back on and then paused. "Hold on though, you said you encountered a monster? What sort?" He asked, now much more serious than he was a moment ago.
"I don't know." Adam admitted readily. "It was some kind of 8 foot tall lizard, it had a long tail, upward curved horns and long ass claws at the end of its hands." As soon as Adam finished describing the creature it was now time for Chuck to go pale. "A Deathclaw?!" He said, with some visible fear and apprehension. "Salvatore?!" He said, whipping around to look at his armored ghoul friend who already seemed to have hardened his expression.
Salvatore had thrown his half smoked cigarette on to the ground and stopped it out, and drew his assault rifle, looking through the scope as he scanned the horizon. "I heard him." He said without sass, clearly focused on making sure the deathclaw was nowhere near.
"You didn't let that thing follow ya did you?" Chuck asked as he grabbed onto the collar of Adam's vault suit, in an almost accusatory manner.
"No I… had it chase a Mr. Handy I reprogrammed. I ran in the opposite direction. I haven't seen it for like half an hour." Adam said, on the backfoot, not having expected the sudden shift in tone from Chuck.
"Let him go Chuck, if he was being chased by a Deathclaw he'd be dead already." He sighed and then lowered his rifle. "And so would we." He then dropped his arms letting his rifle hang in front of him loosely on the strap as he leaned over to the side and spat onto the side of the street. The spit was almost very faintly luminescent green.
Coming to his senses, Chuck let go of Adam's collar. "Apologies, friend. Just about the worst kinda news I could have gotten." He then takes a deep breath and slaps Adam on the back. "Far from being bad news, you are a good omen." He smiled. "Had you not shown up, we might have walked right into a Deathclaw nest. And I ain't fixin' to die today."
"Hey smoothskin." Salvatore piped up as he picked up his stomped cigarette off the ground and fiddled with it to get it usable again. "Which way was the Deathclaw, how far?"
"Well." Adam paused to consider. "I ran from the east, over that way, for a while, twenty minutes i'd say? I saw it when I stopped to enter a house. But I had the Mr. Handy catch its attention and run the opposite direction, further east. So I can't tell you where it is."
"Nah, that's good enough." Salvatore said as he finished straightening out the cigarette and then re-lit it, only to grab onto his rifle again, having it at the ready if needed.
"I recommend we change routes. I say we hop off the 75th, hop on I34 and then take it up to Aurora. Should get us to Naper real easy without any chance of running into them."
Chuck nodded in response. "Fine, we will need to double back a bit." He turned around to look at the path he came from. "Damn, after all the trouble we took to avoid War's cadre." He sighed as he lifted up his hat and scratched his head.
"Better than dying." Salvatore added dryly.
"True." Chuck then turns to Adam who had mostly politely waited for the two of them to finish their conversation. "Well thank ya for the information. Do you know where you are headin'?"
"No I don't."
"Well, iffin you'd like, you can come with us to Naper, my home. It's a bit of a walk away but none too far by now." Adam took a moment to consider, he was truly lost. He didn't know the first thing about this world and going to some place with other people, no matter how strange, was certainly a good step in the right direction, at the very least he might get some answers.
"Alright." Adam spoke up after a few moments to consider. "I'll come with you."
"Now hold on." Salvatore said, his voice raised in protest. "I ain't getting paid to cover for two smoothskins just you." He stood staring at Chuck, rifle raised into the air, held with one hand, clearly unhappy about the additional passenger.
"You don't need to protect no one other than me. Ya' right, me and Bessy is all ya need to worry about. But ain't no worry if we have one more come along, we're close to home anyhow. Besides, I'm sure the young man can help out in a scrap if needed." He said, gesturing to the 10mm pistol that was strapped to Adam's belt. "Safety in numbers and all." Chuck smiles.
Salvatore didn't respond but he did scoff softly and then turn to face the opposite direction, planning to lead the way as they doubled back a bit to follow their new path.
"Come along friend, let's get home." Chuck smiled as he slapped Adam on the shoulder and then grabbed Bessy's reins and gently guided her back the way they came, to their new route.