Cyberpunk 2077: V

Prologue: Chapter 1 - The Clan

The first memory V could recall was the sound of Freddy's voice. Next was the smell of gasoline, motor oil, and tobacco. She never saw him smoke, but she knew he did. He'd hide it from her by sneaking out to the edge of their Nomad camp to do it. When he returned to their small trailer his flannel shirt would radiate the smell of burning tobacco and sweat. When V would give him a questioning look, Freddy would smile at her and say in that deep raspy baritone that he was sorry, that he had an errand to run. They both knew that he was lying.

V still had no idea why this now thirty something man had taken her in all those years ago when he was barely an adult himself. She wondered what he saw in her, that little abandoned baby left to die in the desert. She'd been discarded; thrown away. Someone else didn't want her, apparently. So why did this dusty Nomad pick her up in his arms and carry her back to the clan, against the everyone's wishes, and raise her as his own daughter?

Her thoughts drifted back to the day he told her how he'd found her.

"Well, I reckon it was about...oh, ten years ago now. I was younger then, no more'n twenty two. On that day in particular we'd caught some radio chatter that MiliTech was movin' around the area. That was troublin' news, since we don't get along none to well with the corpo folk. Jamie, the clan leader then, sent a small squad out to comb the surrounding desert n' see if we could find any trace of the corps movin' around. We was out there 'bout three hours when we stopped to rest at one of the ole rock markers left over from years ago when the States were whole. All that was left was a few slabs of rock and an old leanin' telephone pole. Well, we get there, park, and I go around and sit on the largest rock to take a quick smoke and swig of water. Almost jumped outta my skin when I heard a little mewl comin' from under my rear. I jumped up, thinkin' there was some animal cookin' in the heat, and when I got down on my knees, I saw..."

Freddy choked up when he talked about the first time he saw her. His eyes misted with tears, and he had to clear his throat a couple of times before he could continue.

"Never in my life did I expect to see a little baby sittin' there in the shade of a dusty rock. You were so small...and the noises you made broke my heart. I kneeled down to you, saw that your skin was burned and your eyes were swollen shut. You made another little noise, like a baby kitten, then started reachin' out. I put my finger out to ya and wouldn't you know it; you latched on to my hand and wouldn't let go. And suddenly, I was a father."

V remembered the way her heart felt like it might shatter in her chest at his words. His story, his true story, destroyed V's fantasy that she was a Nomad, a Bakker; a member of the family. Suddenly her own father figure was telling her that she was an outsider. What made the story even worse was that it confirmed V's worst fears, gave a reason for that nagging feeling that always seemed to exist in her chest. 

She wasn't a real Nomad.

It had been evident all her life, but V didn't quite catch on at first. Freddy loved her and raised her as his own daughter. As she grew and became more aware of the world, however, she began to question. V and Freddy always seemed to be parked just a little too far away from the others. Freddy barely spoke to anyone, including those he called his "friends", and when repair parties were thrown he and V would sit and quietly work on their small trailer and Freddy's truck together, barely interacting with the rest of the clan festivities.

V didn't understand how they could be part of the clan, the family, but still feel so far apart; even with all of Freddy's talk about how important it was to understand that family was complicated and strange sometimes. He preached about the Nomad ways; honesty, integrity, loyalty...but his words were confusing when the other kids treated her with everything ranging from cautious acceptance to downright meanness. It didn't make sense; didn't mesh with what Freddy was preaching. V also didn't get it because she was just like the other kids.