Crawl Out Through The Fallout (Fo4 Fanfic)

Fond memories II

  
      "Wake up, ya lousy pile of crap!" The firy irish woman relentlessly slapped the unconscious teen. "Huh?" He groaned, nearly rolling off the beat up sofa. "Fuck, Cait c'mon my head's splitting." After being lovingly awoken from a post fight nap, he'd like to call it, Erin collected his surroundings. He was slumped against the ratty ass clutch in the back room of the Combat Zone. Where else did he expect to be?  Last thing he remembered was stepping into the cage.
     "Wellie's lookin for ya. Just cashed out, think he's at the bar." Cait tossed a stained shirt at his head. Erin lazily pushed himself up, pulling the shirt over his head. "Lookin like shit, pretty boy!" She called leaving the room with a cackle. "Awe you mean it?" He shouted back.
        Erin made his way out to the bar, moving past crowds of raiders and junkies. Smelled like vomit, sweat, and blood, as per usual. He spotted the familiar blonde mohawk leaning against a stool.
     "Well hey there sleeping beauty. Good crash, huh?" Max flicked his dark eyes over Erins hunched figure. "Did I win?" He asked with a slick smile, Erin already knew the answer.  "No shit, man. Maybe you shot up a little too much, you don't remember stomping the poor man's brains out of his skull? Killing new blood on Rookie Night is ruthless!" Maxwell chuckled with a congratulatory tone. Erin cocked his head back with a shitty smile once again. "Yeah yeah. Poor bastard knew what he signed up for stepping in the cage. Anyway, you got it? Don't wanna miss Cait." "You know I got it, big guy. I always do..." Maxwell was a slick little shit, always has been. The two built a side hustle together. Maxwell Lynwood the Chem shilling, charismatic raider, would talk unsuspecting audience members into betting caps on whoever Erin's opponent was. 'look at him, stoned out of his nuts! no way he has a chance.' he would say. People would bet on him hitting the floor, Max collects the caps. But the fact of the matter is, Erin never loses. Whether it be a biological advantage, or a fuckload of psycho. Max slides him half of the earnings, and everyone's happy. Except the losers.
       
    "We have some new blood, folks! And it looks like she wants to fight! What do you say? Shall we put her in the cage?" Tommy shouted into the microphone. The crowd of raiders went wild. Erin turned to this 'new blood' Tommy was talking about. She was a mean looking blonde woman, scars littered her face and neck. Looks like she'd seen better days. Before jumping into an industrial shredder by the looks of her. Cait was already in the cage, riling the crowd as she walked. Erin could overhear Tommy's conversation with this 'new blood' she sure was chatting a lot of shit. "Hurry it up would ya, Tommy! Goin' grey out here!" Erin shouted impatiently. Smiling while Max settled beside him. He watched the woman disappear backstage, presumably to the platform below.

       "Ladies and gentlemen - and the rest of you ugly lot- for your entertainment only... I present to you... Cait! And this lady! Three... Two... One... Fight!" Tommy announced. Erin excitedly shifted on his feet, watching his best friend absolutely destroy this other woman. Cait had snapped the blade off the blond's machete with her baseball bat. She was now beating this woman to death. Erin and Max jumping and cheering for her. Everyone knows Cait's the undisputed champion, the woman was an idiot to try. If she wasn't dead she was in a coma, Cait tossed the bat to the side and threw up her arms. Drenched in blood she paraded around the cage in victory.
     "Ow...Ow!" Cait hissed. "Shut up." Erin stated, focused on stitching a gash in her arm. "Bitch only got me a couple times... How'd I look?" "Awesome. Record time too, she was out in what 4 minutes?" He laughed, tieing off the end. "Where's Max? Saw em next to you earlier." Cait asked, Erin having to hold her hands back from picking at the stitches. "He and his gang had to bounce, something about a deal down by the commons." "he bringin' us some?" "Yeah, said he'd throw some our way." "Nice." "Nice." The two looked at each other for a moment, the broke down into laughter. They had their moments, but Cait and Erin couldn't take anything seriously. Not even their own survival. Just looking at each other had them crying laughing. Cait's laugh was loud and obnoxious, just as she was, but it was home to Erin. Cait never did him wrong, she always had his back and he had hers. Even hopped up on psycho he felt like himself around her.
       He finished stitching her up, which included more bickering and laughing, as per usual. The two ended the night, slumped against each other high as a kite, passing a cigarette back and fourth.

      "Why don't you want to go back? Don't you miss her?" Fiona asked. She was absolutely enthralled by his story. This was the first time Erin really opened up aside from the casual short story. "It's a bar full of raiders. Don't want you to get caught up with that crowd." Erin answered. He smiled thinking of the memories he'd pushed aside. It was another part of his past he'd wish to forget. For the most part that is. "If my best friend was still alive, I wouldn't hesitate to go back to them. Cait sounds awesome! I'd love to meet her! She is still alive right?" "Yeah. As far as I know." "We should visit one day. I can't believe you have friends, I can't believe you were a cage fighter, that's so cool!" She pulled on his arm excitedly. "I mean, if you really want to... It was kinda cool, I guess. I just did what I had too, to survive." He shrugged.  Maybe seeing her again wouldn't be that bad.