Be Careful What You Wish For. [Maccready x Reader] *BEING EDITED*

Chapter Three: Friends?

(Time Skip)

It was dark.

No other sound could be heard. 

I kept my head down as my feet hardly pick themselves up. We've been walking, hiding away from Megaton.

My foot got caught behind a rock making me fall forward landing on my hands and knees, I grunt by the fall and  cough making the dirt puff up in the air. Fawkes heard me and came to assist me, he gently grabs my left arm helping me up to my feet.

(Fawkes)- "Are you alright?"

(Y/n)- "I'm...fine..." I mumble. It was a lie. My eyes are swollen from silently crying, I want to cry more but I'm all out of tears. I adjust the railway rifle and gauntlet still strapped onto me.

(Fawkes)- "We should keep going, they could be following." I nod. We continue to walk. The image in my mind that's on repeat is the death of my father falling to the ground. I sniffle my nose before anything drips out of it. I feel a few tears fall out, I guess I still have more in me. 

I looked down at my Dads pipboy attached to me. Fawkes had clamped it on to my wrist making sure not to lose it while traveling. Why did Dad give me this? What's so special about this? His words echo in my head. 'Keep it safe', 'Take it to the right people.'

 What does he mean? What does he expect me to do with this?

(Fawkes)- "There's something ahead." I look up to see a group of people surrounding by fire and taking cover by boulders and tents. Friendlies? I wipe the extra tears away and sniff my nose once more to collect myself to prepare if they are enemies. I equip my railway rifle and Fawkes equips his gatling gun, we approached the small campsite with caution. The group heard our presence-- they stood up and held their weapons pointing to us. I see two men and one woman, the woman held her pistol with trembling hands. 

(Stranger)- "Who're you!?" One of the men cocks the shotgun back. 

(Y/n)- "We're just travelers!" I say with a cracked voice. Pull yourself together, don't show weakness. Not now.

(Woman)- "Just travelers you say? How do we know you don't work for Charlie?" I furrow my brows at the name.

(Y/n)- "I don't know who Charlie is. Besides, would they have a super mutant by their side?" They glance towards each other taking slow steps to talk amongst themselves. I look up at Fawkes, he has the same expression he always plastered on his face-- he's ready for a fight in case this goes sour. The group of strangers whisper and finally look back to us lowering their weapons. 

(Stranger)- "All right, you can come join us." I nod, I lower my weapon and place a gentle hand on Fawkes for him to lower his too. We step closer to the fire feeling the warmth as I sat near keeping my distance from the group. The light revealed to me that the two men were identical twins. They put away their weapons keeping it at arms reach. None of them speak as all three of them were staring at the super mutant beside me. The woman took a deep breath in and smiled towards me, she gets up from her spot stepping around the fire to sit near Fawkes and I. 

(Woman)- "What's your names?" She askes politely. 

(Y/n)- "I'm-- (Y/n). This is Fawkes."

(Man)- "This is Karlie and Collin. I'm Eli" One of the men answers. He sits on top of a boulder with his shotgun leaning against his shoulder. I look towards the woman, she looks about twenty years of age. She has Dark short brown hair and brown eyes, Eli and Collin have the same features. You can slightly tell them apart as the one who spoke to me has more facial hair than the other. Eli intimidates me a little but not enough that it worries me, he picks up his weapon and walks off to go scout. 

(Karlie)- "Sorry about them. We're a little jumpy. We saw a super mutant and we thought we'd be done for sure." She chuckles to lighten the mood. Collin makes some movement and sits down near the fire. He has yet to say a word. 

(Y/n)- "It's okay-- understandable."

(Karlie)- "What happened to you two? Your eyes are red and swollen?" She glances closely at my face. 

(Y/n)- "Uhh--just.." I'm having trouble on what to say, I don't really know what to say exactly especially to strangers. 

(Karlie)- "Oh, did you lose somebody?" She lowers her tone of voice.

(Y/n)-"Yeah." My voice cracks.

(Karlie)- "I'm sorry. Collin and Eli lost their sister a couple of days ago. The three of us escaped from a camp, we're running away from a man named Charlie. When we saw your super mutant I thought he just had some shit luck, but seeing you beside him we thought there was no way Charlie would hire a kid."

(Y/n)- "Charlie. Who's he?"

 (Karlie)-"He's the son of a bitch that killed their sister." I looked to Collin and he looks into the fire with saddened eyes.

(Karlie)- "He's a damn slaver. Finds people and takes them in and makes them slaves. Has a place up north. He found us a few days ago, we escaped before he could put those collars around our necks. He swore that he'll find us, we've been on the run since."

(Y/n)- "Damn. I'm sorry." I say as I wipe away the tears stuck in my eyes.

(Karlie)- "Sorry about your loss."

(Eli)- "Everything seems clear right now." He walks closer to us and sits on a small rock near the fire. Karlie gets up sits down next to him.

(Karlie)- "I'm so tired." She sighs and places her head on Eli's shoulder. They must be romantically together. 

I yawn into my mouth feeling my eyes start to tire, Fawkes leans closer whispering that I can lean against him to rest. I nod and say thank you. Karlie calls it quits as she walks over to their tent, the tent as seen better days. It has rips and even worn out duct tape strips to keep it all together. Collin gets up and takes the shotgun from Eli to go scout.

(Eli)- "How old are you, kid?"

(Y/n)- "Sixteen." 

(Eli)- "Hey-- we're almost the same age. Collin and I turned nineteen a couple weeks ago. He's my twin." He lightly smiles. I couldn't bring myself to even give him a fake smile, I still feel numb and not just from the outside temperature. 

(Eli)-"What's a super mutant and a kid doing all the way out here? Don't you have parents?" I don't want to repeat myself but he wasn't even here when I first said it.

(Y/n)- "I-lost my Dad today." My head flops down looking at the dirt. I can feel those damn tears building up again. 

(Eli)- "Oh shit. I'm sorry to hear that. We lost our sister, Tavia." 

(Y/n)- "Karlie told me." I raise my head to keep my spirits up but all I want is to just.. go home. Eli grabs something near him.

(Eli)- "Water?" I nod. He passes a water bottle with dust and grime around the plastic. I twist it open and take a few sips. I cap the bottle and carefully toss it back to him, he uncaps it and takes a sip too.

(Eli)- "If you don't have a place to go, you can come with us? You guys seem like good people. I'm vouching for you, so don't make me look bad." He lightly chuckles. I look to Fawkes who had his head down and was resting his eyes.

(Y/n)- "Sure, I have nowhere else to be." Eli chuckles.

(Eli)- "You're in safe hands kid."