Before Sunrise

DATE: 8.30.2224
LOCATION: East of Houston, Texas
STATUS: Continuing East
SIGNAL: Active
RADIATION: Elevated

I woke at 4 AM.

Nora was still asleep.

The bunker was quiet. No voices. No movement beyond the low hum of whatever was still keeping the place alive.

I didn't wake her.

I gathered my things quietly.

Armor.

Backpack.

Medkit.

Water.

The Pip-Boy.

Everything accounted for.

I took one last look around the room. For one night, this place gave me something I hadn't had much of since leaving Vault 288.

Rest.

I tightened the straps, checked my coordinates, and watched the marker settle back toward the east.

New Orleans.

Still there.

Still waiting.

I stepped outside.

It was dark.

The kind of dark that comes before the sun remembers its job.

I started walking.

East.

No hospital to chase.

No reason to turn around.

Just the road ahead and whatever comes with it.

The world can wake up when it's ready.

I already have.

— Big Chief