Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 24: Rubble Of The Forgotten

Kelly was lost in her own world, staring at rock, riding the high, imagining that Dogmeat's spirit was sitting just at her side, watching nothing with her. He was watching over her, her very own guardian angel, a totem animal to send her signs and guide her down the right path.

The only path from here she could see was the one on her right, a tunnel filled with an encroaching dark that was welcoming and sinister all at once. It teemed with secrets and memories, things only for her to know, things that the dark deemed forbidden for anyone else to know. It was whispering to her, she could hear it in her head. There were so many, too many to grasp their words, but she got the sense of what they were saying, nonetheless.

The forgotten from the Old World, they felt her pain. Shared it, understood it. They offered her solace in their domain, a place to go and rest, to slip away quietly from her mortal despair. Crisp tongues on her synapses, all soothing and promising.

It would be so easy. So easy.

But Dogmeat barked at her side. She turned to look at him. He was whining now, ears pinned back in anxiety, slinking toward her hand to lick it in pleading.

"Hey, it's okay, boy. I won't. It's okay."

"Talkin' to yerself?" Cait enquired, closing the door behind her. She held a bunch of food rations in her hands, and two bottles of water under her arm.

"Something like that," Kelly dodged, then sent Dogmeat a wink while Cait wasn't looking.

"Better watch that," Cait taunted on as she plopped herself down next to Kelly and handed her a box of Yum Yum Deviled Eggs, with a bottle of purified water to wash it down. "Talkin' to yerself is a major sign of loneliness. And I would know." She took a quenching gulp of water and then sighed loudly in satisfaction.

Kelly took a more tentative sip, swishing it and washing down any dust residue in her mouth. Mmm. Tasted rank.

"So," Cait started while tucking into her stale, irradiated eggs, "how long have you been hittin' the chems?" This time, her approach was devoid of judgement or hostility. She wasn't even looking at Kelly, just staring off as if the rock surrounds were a fascinating view. Everything about her manner was casual. Kelly knew it was a strategy, but she indulged her, anyway. Cait was a friend, and one that was only trying to help. She didn't deserve the cold-shoulder.

"I haven't exactly been keeping count of the weeks, but for a few now. Got curious in Diamond City. Finally picked it up in Goodneighbor."

"Hancock?" Cait guessed.

Kelly nodded and bowed into a fond smile. "Not that he straight-up pushed anything. He just let it slip that I looked on edge, and then suggested I try taking that edge off."

"Goddamn charming ghoul," Cait scoffed and gave a crooked smile, shaking her head.

"Wasn't his fault," Kelly vouched. "One offhand comment of his can't take the blame for getting me hooked. He didn't even know I was into chems until recently. It was all me. Just being dumb and weak. Needing an escape."

"I get that." Cait was nodding subtly, still staring ahead. "Was that when you went off with him straight after gettin' home from that Brotherhood airship?"

Kelly nodded.

"Knew it," she exclaimed in hushed self-satisfaction. "Knew you two were up to no-good. Should have followed me nose, but I had this stupid sense of respect for yer privacy. Stupid me."