Chapter 609 - Truth Of The Matter

Tamia certainly wasn't having a good time in the Divide. While Afton was preparing for the Battle of Hoover Dam, she was running through a military base with hundreds of Tunnelers hot on her tail. She'd lost the single remaining Ultimo-Bot when they started swarming, as well as the Cyberdog that had been limping... It was probably considered easy prey for the Tunnelers, as they easily caught it and torn it to pieces.

*BOOM!*

As for why the underground military base was exploding? Well... She may have pushed a random button and set off a random nuke, that may have exploded over a random location... Randomly...

Sure, it could probably be judged as her fault, but, who just places a big lever there and not expect someone to pull it? How was she to know it would launch a LITERAL FUCKING NUKE!

After that, her only path forward had been the underground military base that'd launched it, which was now malfunctioning and exploding due to having launched a nuke earlier... Yeah, not her fault... The nuke probably also awoke the hive that was hiding down there, which might have been why they might have been waiting for her.

As much as she hated to run, she simply wasn't equipped to deal with so many alone. Sure, her Cyberdogs might be able to fight off a couple, but they'd quickly get overwhelmed and devoured if they tried to directly fight the enemy. She still needed them to teleport back to Big Mt once the sandstorm cleared up, so her only option was to run.

Honestly, she'd gotten lucky prior to pressing the lever. After awakening from her sleep and venturing down the highway, she'd only run into one Deathclaw. One which had already been heavily wounded after fighting many flayed men.

She'd been running through this labyrinth-like place for an hour now with the Tunnelers hot on her heels, yet it felt as if she was only going deeper and deeper underground. It was incredibly disorienting, and if she weren't being chased right now, she'd stop for a while to recollect her senses.

Fortunately, judging by the sudden change in aesthetics, she was still progressing... The clinical metal of the military base had faded and she'd seemingly stepped into some sort of hotel building that'd also been buried. A yelp behind her signals that she'd lost yet another Cyberdog, leaving her with only one left... She couldn't do anything aside from running though.

Soon enough, she reaches a door that had beams of light peaking through it, signalling it was likely the exit outside. She crashes through it with her shoulder, pulling the pin on a grenade and tossing it behind her to collapse the entrance and prevent any Tunnelers from following.

*BOOM!*

The place shakes as the unstable earth collapses right onto of it. The Tunnelers give a final screech as they are buried... Probably not dead, but it'd restrict their movement for now at least.

She falls to her knees and heavily pants for a couple minutes to gather her breath, her one remaining Cyberdog doing the same next to her.

"*Bzztch!* Hopeville, High Road, Ashton... Tiny cracks in the earth, nothing compared to the road carved ahead... Before you, this is the edge of the Divide. Ahead lies your work, the history you burned in the earth. What you brought to the people here." the man says in a tense voice, clearly aggravated by the subject matter.

"Hah, hah, hah..." Tamia swallows her saliva and looks up to see what the man was referring to, quickly getting a glimpse of the utterly devastated landscape. She appeared to be in some sort of canyon, yet, the presence of buildings and skyscrapers showed that it hadn't been formed naturally.

It seemed to have been formed after the skyscrapers had, as the buildings themselves were halfway buried in it, fused to the canyon walls as if they were pillars holding it up... The ground level didn't look any better, metal and concrete scrap littered the place, and she was unsure if it was even traversable for regular people...

Currently, she was standing atop a skyscraper where the exit had led, getting a good look at the landscape she apparently had a hand in creating. She glances at her Pipboy and glower, "Why are you so hellbent on pinning this shit on me? There's no way I had anything to do with creating this!" she gestures at the landscape.

"You delivered a package, had markings that matched those in the Divide. Not all... But enough. Military markings, from someplace the Bear had scavenged in the west. Maybe seeing those markings on it reminded you of home... Made you carry it." he chuckles morosely.

"That's what I hope happened... But I knew you, knew who you served... We were the same, you a spy for Caesar... And me, a Frumentarius... Tell me, did Caesar order you to bring it to the Divide? Was it sabotage, or an accident like you had earlier with that nuclear bomb?" the man asks.

"No... I... I don't remember, but I don't think I would do something like this on purpose... If I did it at all." she states while chewing her lip in thought, "What was brought here anyway?"

"A detonator. Once I'd never seen before... Or heard before. You carried that thing into the Divide. I know because I followed you as you walked the road, Watched you do it. You brought it here, to the community you built. And you are responsible for what happened after..." he trails off and releases a solemn sigh.

"When the device opened, started to speak. The Divide answered back. Those missiles you've seen, buried in their silos. They exploded beneath the ground, cracked the landscape, sand, ash... The dead... The Divide skies became a graveyard."