Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 81: Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing

Dragged from the saturation of the camp, Kelly struggled to keep her feet in pace with Danse. He was livid, the tension in his movements snagging at her arm with unyielding duress, her flesh no longer aching but throbbing. She fought a craven battle with her tongue to keep from telling him that he was hurting her. What a rich, paltry little whimper that would be. She deserved every grain of the rage he had to give.

At the edge of camp, far out of eyesight and earshot behind some gnarled boulders and shrubs, Danse gave a single tug and lurched her around in front of him, releasing her. He tore off his helmet to stare her down with his infamous scowl. Gone was the warmth and homeliness from his earthen eyes. Now they were of repugnant, lacerating force.

"What the hell is going on with you?!" he demanded of her, advancing a step in on her even as she cradled her elbows and cowered back from his bane. "You're beyond unpredictable, you're volatile and unstable and I'm beginning to think that you're a danger to everyone around you, least of all yourself. Do you fully comprehend what you just did back there?! What you just committed?! Mutiny. Treason. Capital treachery! You stabbed him! Do you understand, Kelly? You stabbed the Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel! They could execute you for that, and I'm seriously considering letting them at you!"

He was no longer her Danse. He was Paladin Danse. His gesticulation was sharp and blustery, the arteries down his neck protruding with menace, features pulled into a taut mask. Kelly was bitten by his rage, found one of her hands covering her mouth, the quiver to her lip shameful. Tears begged for deliverance but she snuffed them out under a strong swallow to deny the lump in her throat.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Danse prodded in a scathing tone that she didn't recognize.

That was just it. What did she have to say for herself? No words scrambled to her muster. The volcanic rise in temper from the man she loved had stabbed her deeper than her knife could ever stab the Elder. Split the tough hide of the wild thing in her chest and left it leaking quietly, terminally.

"We kissed again." The words trickled from cold, numb lips.

Danse stood remote, those words penetrating him vaguely.

"It went further this time. Too far. I told him I was going to leave, to find the Minutemen. We argued. He was trying to stop me from leaving. We were pushing each other's buttons. Everything just happened so fast."

"How far?" he queried her bluntly, emotionless. He wasn't even looking at her.

How could she put it into digestible words? We dry humped up a storm and he fucked me senseless with his fingers. Crude, dirty savage words.

"How. Far." Danse ground out, now pinning her with his unflinching gaze.

"...his fingers were inside me."

She saw his brow furrow with sudden pain then smooth over with cold acceptance. She hated the sight of pain on him. Nauseous, spooked, all of her explanations rushed to her tongue at once, and she found herself mumbling and stammering a wild jungle of incoherent words. "B-But it wasn't what you think. He wasn't going to let me walk out that door so I had to play along, keep him distracted."

The look he then turned up at her was disintegrating. "Lie to yourself, but don't lie to me, Kelly. You enjoyed every bit of it; his hands all over you, inside you." His face buckled with the image his words brought him. "After you were nearly raped on the battlefield! Do you have no self-respect? You knew Maxson was attracted to you and you used that to your advantage. You let him take advantage of you. The both of you are as bad as each other. You manipulate each other in this sick game, and you enjoy it. You disgust me. Goddamnit it, Kelly. We talked this through and I forgave you. Tried to treat you with respect, and you squandered it and threw it back in my face. I trusted you."