Adam spent a few more hours at the riverside, getting his thoughts together before finally returning to the Inn and getting some sleep.
The next day arrived unceremoniously. But that was a welcome change since the last time he woke up he was in a spooky vacant vault without any clues on how he got there. After dressing up he walked out into the open area and saw a bored looking man standing behind the bar counter cheek on his fist as he stared off into space.
Adam wasn't sure who this was but assumed he was a worker. Adam wasn't sure what to do with himself yet, he had just woken up after all, he needed a minute to get his head in the game, especially if he was going to follow through on his plan for the day.
"You Adam?" The guy said without moving a muscle, his tone as bored as he looked.
"Uh, yeah?" Adam returned, confused at why the guy was asking.
"Mandy told me you got a meal on the house as thanks for last night. So what will it be?"
"She did what now?" Adam returned, confused. He was not told of this, and this man's absolute bored tone and expression really was throwing him for a loop. He was able to put the pieces together, clearly Mandy was repaying his efforts for fixing the Jukebox with a meal, that was nice of her, especially since he had not even thought to ask for payment. But still the abruptness of this entire exchange so early in the morning was throwing him off.
The man slowly turned to look at Adam, his expression never once becoming anything more than vacant. He opened his mouth to speak and then seemed to think better of it, sighing and then standing up straight. "Radrat Roast, Mushroom Stew, or Fried Iguana, those are your options." He said with a monotone.
"Uuuh… stew please." Adam said unsure why this man seemed so… devoid of passion. Then again maybe he was just working a minimum wage job in food service and couldn't be bothered to care. If that was the case he understood.
"Okay." The man said before he headed into the back lethargically. Maybe the man was just not a morning person?
As Adam waited for his meal, he took a seat at the Bar again, the same seat as last night, and then turned around to look at the place. He saw patrons begin to shuffle into the Inn, seemed like this was one of the few restaurants in town, made for a nice gathering place for locals he bet. The energy in the Inn was softer than last night though, the voices were quieter and calmer and it seemed far more relaxed. He took the moment to collect his thoughts, he still had his lofty goals from the night prior, that had not changed, but he couldn't be rash, he needed caps to live and needed gear to explore further. Which meant his only option right now was to start scavenging nearby for things to bring back and sell until he was geared up enough to head out further. With any luck he should be fine in a few days. That is, of course, assuming he found something useful out beyond the walls. After he got some capital it might not be a bad idea to learn about these other settlements, they were likely great sources of information. He knew where Second Life HQ was, of course, but navigating through the city, right into the densest part of Chicago would not be easy. Even just ignoring the dangers he might face, he doubted his old paths would still work. In the short time he had been outside he already saw many roads and paths completely blocked off by fallen buildings and rubble, some barriers made by people at some point, and even a road that had completely caved inward preventing him from getting across unless he had a plan to scale a 15 foot wall once he was in the hole. Likely there was a way there but he needed to know a route.
As he was lost in his thoughts the bored looking man came over and dropped off a bowl of stew for him. It looked… pretty normal, aside from the strange looking mushrooms that was the namesake of the stew. Those did give him pause. But he realized that he hadn't eaten anything at all since he woke up in the vault, and was hungry enough yesterday that he had considered taking a can of cat food with him. He was in no position to be picky. So he ate.
He had no company, no conversation partners, or anyone to share the meal with so it was a quiet and speedy affair. Not least of which because Adam was itching to get his life moving. He would need to get funds enough that he could rent the Inn room again, at the bare minimum. Living so close to being homeless was not his idea of fun.
He finished his meal and then got up to leave, stopping in his Inn room briefly to put on his body armor and grab his backpack and gun, his few tools, before heading putting his room key in front of the employee like Mandy had told him to last night and then went out the front door and towards the Southern Gate where he had come in yesterday. As he approached he noted that a new guard, different from, yesterday was standing atop the palisade next to the gate.
"Excuse me!" He called out to the man who had his back to him as he overlooked the vast expanse outside the wall. It took a moment for the guard to know he was being addressed but when he did he turned around to look at Adam.
"Yes? How can I help you?" He asked curious now why he was being spoken to.
"I was wondering if I could leave. I have a living to make." The Guard seemed to just stare at him for a moment and then shrug.
"Your funeral, guy." He said back before checking the otherside of the wall for a moment, to make sure no one else was nearby and then pressed a big red button next to where he was standing.
The loud grinding of gears could be heard again as the gate slowly began to open once more, revealing the tattered wasteland that Adam had survived yesterday by chance. Only now he was braving it again by choice.
He hesitated a moment. Was this really the best course of action he had available? He did have other choices. He could have asked around town for those odd jobs that Mandy mentioned, offering his skills to the people of this town. Or maybe he could have done more research, asking around about local places, threats and dangers. Or maybe still he could have tried something else entirely, something that didn't even cross his mind? But no, this was the best course of action. He had thought this through already.
He would have to go out into the dangerous world beyond this place's walls sooner or later. There was no getting past that. For one, he planned to, someday, reach Second Life HQ and explore for answers, or, failing that, head back to the vault and explore it more thoroughly despite how much he did not want to. So sooner or later he needed to get used to leaving. Even if this plan of his fell through and he instead accepted the mystery of it all, he was still going to leave sooner or later. Mandy had told him last night, there was no stable work in town at the moment. Odd jobs were the best he could do. They could, of course, pay the bills for a bit, but likely not enough to survive on forever. So his only choice in this case would be to head to one of the bigger settlements anyway since there might be more work available. And the trek there might be equally dangerous. After all, that was why Chuck had hired Salvatore in the first place to escort him. There was no escaping it, he couldn't avoid leaving, he needed to man up and prepare himself for this change in lifestyle he was about to embark on.
However he was sure the buildings close to the walls were not going to be especially dangerous. This close to a settlement there could be no raider bases, no hoards of feral ghouls, no super mutants, nothing that could be easily noticed right from the walls. The most that could be in the nearby buildings were some giant bugs and a stray ghoul or two. This was perfect for a test run. He didn't have to go far to get some practice in. He just hoped that there would still be things worth collecting to sell for his trouble.
So, with a finally steeled heart, and the gate now fully open, he stepped back out into the ruins and began his first expedition.