In the Chestnut Hillock Reservoir lies a tattered farmhouse with a flickering bug light, a dead brahmin, and a sad story on a terminal. It turns out that a man named Edwin had stumbled upon the house many years ago and was nearly killed by Annika, the women who lived there and had mistaken him for a raider. The pair fell in love, and lived happily well into their elder years. Annika passed on, and as Edwin’s journal entry makes clear, he struggled to find warmth in a world without her.
One day, a bloatfly swarm came close while he was fishing. He was able to get some shots off at them, but upset his boat in the process. Soon after, he realized that he has lost his locket with Annika’s photo in it, his last material possession that ties himself to her. Edwin is devastated at the loss of the locket, and plans to brave the radiation-filled waters to get it back. Refusing to abandon her memory, he went through with his plan and dove back into the lake in a desperate attempt to retrieve the locket. The Wanderer can dive underwater next to the boat and will find the locket, clutched firmly in the long-dead hands of Edwin. He died holding the last part of the world that reminded him of Annika, and in some small way, a tragic story had closure.
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