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The Capital Wasteland, Part 1

   "I never even dreamed anyone could travel in The Wasteland like this," said Willow. "Why the hell hasn't
anyone thought about doing this before? The wheel is an ancient invention! Why doesn't anyone use
wheels, except us? They could have brahmin pulling trailers and carts. I mean, just imagine us hauling
patio furniture across the Wasteland without those wheels. Now this is what it really means to travel in
style, girls."
   Willow turned and looked at Cait, saying playfully "About time one of your shrill temper tantrums proved
actually useful."
   "Well, well, well... Has our little doggie finally grown some teeth? How adorable!" Cait laughed. "Then
maybe, just maybe, you have what it takes to survive the antics this gobshite sideshow pulls off for a living."
   "I resent the derogatory usage of 'sideshow' in that context," said Heather, pretending to be offended.
"As a kid, I used to go see this traveling circus act. Their ten-in-one sideshow was the stuff of legends. It
was the freak show to end all freak shows. Literally, it turned out, when their three-headed giant yao guai
called Cerberus broke free during a show, and tore them apart limb from limb. Thank goodness I wasn't
there to see that one."
   "Sounds to me like you missed the biggest legend of all," commented Cait.
   "Yuck. I don't know about you Cait, but seeing people shredded to bloody chunks of meat in front of
screaming kids wasn't exactly on my wish list," said Heather. "Except that nowadays, it kind of is, provided
that we're talking about killing raiders."
   "Ha! On that one we definitely agree," laughed Cait. "So, where are we now? Is there anything worth seeing
in this Capital garbage dump? It looks like The Glowing Sea to me. Dead and ugly."
"Ugh, Glowing Sea is the most depressing place I've been to," said Heather. "I don't want to go there ever again."
   "No arguments from me," said Nora. "I hate that wretched hellhole. If I could, I'd erase it from the face of the
earth."
   Cait considered that, and added "Not a bad idea. Maybe we should enter landscaping business after all the
fightin's done. Erase all the world's depressing hellholes."
   "There must be some missile satellites left," said Nora, "so we could nuke the targets from orbit, rain hellfire
on this miserable dump. Actually, I think we'd have to nuke the entire planet. Just to make sure."
   Heather took Nora's face softly into her hands, and looked her in the eyes.
   "You're getting morbid again, babe," whispered Heather.