Zoe aimed her rifle at the woman’s back when she sheathed her machete to pull her weapon instead. She’d prefer to not make an already bad day worse by killing someone, but she wouldn’t hesitate to do it if threatened. Frankly, she didn’t think killing this woman in particular would be an act worth torturing herself over either. She’d likely killed enough people herself out here to deserve it. It seemed like a very unfriendly place, so she had to wonder what the woman wanted with her at all. She could have sent all three of them away as bait and escaped alone.

They walked in silence, and the thought crossed her mind that she may be leading her into some sort of trap. A shack came into view after they had walked for what felt like half an hour or so. She checked the time on her pip boy, which said that it was more like twenty. The slavers hadn’t known how to remove it without cutting off her arm so they had let her keep it. She’d learnt how to tweak one without taking it off, so maybe it wasn’t possible to begin with.

Zoe carefully followed the woman inside of the shack, with her rifle at the ready. To her surprise, it soon became evident that she had been lead to this woman’s home. It made her feel a bit more at ease around her, because why would she take her to a place that must have been a safe haven for her if she had hostile intentions? It did occur to her that there might be cannibals out here though. She gripped her rifle a bit tighter at that.

She raised an eyebrow when the woman explained what this place was, and what she had been doing here, unsure of how to respond. “Thanks… I appreciate it.” Zoe said, grateful, and let her rifle hang across her shoulder as she took the blankets and pillow that she was offered. The tension she had been feeling in the presence of the other woman faded some, but it would be foolish to let her guard down entirely. 

“If you say so.” Zoe answered, and looked around the room for a place she could put the things. It wasn’t like she knew much about the life out here. She’d have thought their shelter would have protected them against the worst of the cold though. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten in a while. “Um, you don’t happen to have anything to eat…? I lost my backpack with my rations in it.” 

Zoe cleared away some of the dust and rubble in a corner of the room, then sat down and wrapped the blankets around her. The pillow she put behind her head against the wall. The rifle was put behind her so that it would be easy for her to grab, but harder for anyone else without her noticing. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable to sleep in the corner of a room, but it was better than sleeping under the night sky with no protection against the climate, animals or worse. 

“Yeah, I suppose I am.” Zoe said and met Sienna’s gaze. “My name’s Zoe. I’ve read about Sydney in the old books we had, but I’ve never been there myself. I hadn’t been outside my vault till this morning anyway.” She sighed, looking down at the floor.  “It used to be an easy and comfortable life, things changed slowly over the years and I had to get out. I don’t really want to talk about it.”