[color=f26522]CELESTE BROWN[/color] -- Salem Diner - mid-morning

Betty didn't seem to be much for chatting.  The young woman had taken to fussing over her hair, leaving Celeste to tap her fingers on the counter and quietly finish her cup of coffee.  "I should probably get going, I have an inn to run, after all."

Betty muttered something.  Celeste sighed, slid off the bar stool to the floor, and picked up her mug to bus it herself.  Just as she plunked the mug into the sink, thundering and shrieking could be heard outside, and getting louder.  Celeste pressed herself against the edge of the counter, her eyes widening as she watched a huge deathclaw cross past the diner, chasing something she couldn't see.  Betty tore out of the diner, leaving Celeste alone.  She thought she heard gunshots and yelling.  Suddenly, Betty tore in just about as fast as she'd left, with Steve and a deathclaw on her heels.

Celeste shrieked and wasted no time bolting from behind the bar and further into the diner.  She hauled the cellar door open with all her strength and flew down to the floor. "Betty!" Celeste shrieked.  "Betty, come on!"

"Go hide!" Steve bellowed from the front of the store.

"BETTY!"

Suddenly a pair of feet appeared at the cellar door.  Betty stooped and made her way down.

"Help me shut the door," Celeste called frantically.  Betty just stood there, staring at Celeste.  "Please!  I...I can't reach it and pull at the same time."

Betty turned her gaze to Celeste, her mouth gaping open.  

"Come on!" Celeste pleaded, her voice shrill.

"R...right," Betty replied, reaching up and over Celeste's head and easily pulling the door shut.  Celeste swallowed and said nothing more.  She stood and strained her ears.  Sounds of a struggle could be heard just above her head.  Thudding, gunshots, snapping.  She cringed after every sound.

The fight seemed to be outside the diner, or at least, it sounded more distant.  Celeste was not at judge of such things by any means.  The sounds seemed to go on for an eternity.  Suddenly there was a loud crash above her head, some kind of dull, repetitive noise.  Then, full quiet.

Celeste looked at Betty, who still seemed frozen in her fear.  She swallowed.  "You think it's safe?" she whispered.  Betty shook her head, then shrugged.  "It sounds quiet.  Let's just check it out, and if it's still unsafe, we'll just come back down here.  I need to check if I can leave, I need to go back to the inn."

Betty took a breath.  "Fine.  I'll open the door, but I ain't going out there."

Celeste poked her head out the door and looked around.  Shrapnel from broken furniture and fixtures littered the floor from her perspective.  She slowly crawled out and kept herself low as she poked her way through the kitchen and to the main room of the diner.  She continued to advance slowly.  There sounded like there was some activity outside, but nothing like the fighting from before.  She crept past the edge of the counter.  First, she saw the dead deathclaw.  Then, she saw the crumpled form of Steve in a pile against the bar stools.

She started screaming.