Fallout 3 - Beautiful Stranger

Chapter 9 Part 1

With Vincent leading the way, they left Megaton early in the morning. Patience spent a fitful night, tossing and turning on the makeshift bed laid out in Moira's store. Waking up several times during the night, caked with sweat, to see Valrie's face next to her, her eyes wide open, staring at her in concern.

The dreams were vivid. The same premise every time. She'd be fighting against Super Mutants, running and firing, only to reach a certain point in the ruins, and her dream, where the Pip-Boy would illicit a loud beeping sound, letters crawling across the screen. 'Correct location - Initiating infusion'. In the dream, she felt pain. In the dream she watched her fingers swell, followed by her hands and arms, turning a sickly green. She felt her bones crack and stretch, her skin harden, her voice growing thick, deep and guttural. She would turn towards Valrie, several feet taller than the older woman now, and tear her apart with her bare hands.

She would wake up then, with a start, throwing off her covers, reaching for her sidearm. Then she would lay back down, return to sleep and the process would begin again.

"Hey! Vacant!" Valrie picked up a stone and threw it at Vincent's back, causing him to stiffen and snap around.

"Are you talking to me?" Valrie nodded, a wicked grin on her face. "The name's Vincent!"

"That's what I said. Vacant." Valrie knew what she was doing this time. The 'mis-spoken' word quite deliberate. "How does it feel to know this woman could kick your ass seven ways to Sunday and not break a fucking sweat? What do you think about that?"

"I don't feel and I don't think." He turned away, twisting his grip on the assault rifle in his hands.

"Ha! Never a truer word spoken." Valrie picked up another stone, throwing it at his head this time. "So, when are you going to turn on us? As soon as you get the rat bastard's information, or are you going to wait until we're back in the ruins before you shoot us in the back?"

Vincent spun around again, drawing the assault rifle up, pointing it at Valrie's face. Valrie remained calm, staring into Vincent's fierce eyes and then slid those eyes over to the muzzle of Patience's pistol, pointing at Vincent's right hand.

"One more move and I send you back to your boss minus a hand." Patience didn't care that Valrie had baited him. It was a test of his character, and he'd failed. "Or, maybe, I blow off your fucking nose. Least then you won't be able to smell the bullshit coming out of Moriarty's mouth."

The assault rifle remained pointing at Valrie's face for a few seconds, Vincent adjusting his grip several times. He soon, began to drop the rifle, pointing it at the ground before looking at Patience's stone cold features. He grunted once, then pointed at Valrie.

"Keep that loud mouthed bitch off my back!" He blinked and turned his face away under Patience's withering gaze.

"I will not." Almost without passing through the intervening space, Patience's sidearm moved from pointing at Vincent to nestling in its holster at her hip. "How you've survived this long with such a thin skin, I don't understand. Keep your temper in check. You touch her, you're dead. She gets hurt when you could have helped, your dead. Basically, you even piss in a way I don't like, I'll fucking kill you. Understand?"

Vincent didn't answer, resorting to a sullen nod instead, before turning away once more and continuing to walk towards the D.C. ruins. Patience caught Valrie's eye and wagged an admonishing finger at the older woman. Valrie shrugged and pretended to bend down to pick up another stone, but stopped and grinned at Patience.

"I still don't understand." It was only a few minutes since the altercation, but it was far too much silence for Valrie. "I mean, why not just stay at Megaton. You know that place is safe. Plenty of people around, plenty to do. They need a new sheriff, you know?"

"I can't. I won't." Patience kept an eye on Vincent, about twenty feet in front. "I'd be a prisoner to something that might never happen. Who's to say this trigger location is anywhere near here? Or, maybe, it's just ten feet away from somewhere I've already been? I can't live like that."

"You seemed to be plenty worried about it last night." She wasn't saying it to be hurtful, Patience knew that. The tone of Valrie's voice, the way she had watched Patience the night before. She said it because she cared. "What I'm trying to say is, I don't want to see you turn into a Super Mutant just because you want your memories back. Memories, I might fucking add, that might not even come back if you do get to Vault-Tec HQ, or might come back all on their own anyways."

"It's not just the memories now." Her voice lowered, became wistful. She glanced at the Pip-Boy on her arm. "I need to know what the hell is going on. If I find out where I come from, maybe I found out why those sick bastards have put this thing on me."

She looked towards the ruins of Washington D.C.. The buildings bent, broken and misshapen like rows of brittle, fractured teeth. A dull haze hung in the air over the city. Not a cloud, but an insubstantial gauze, filtering the worst of the sun's rays, causing fingers of light to reach out to the ruins. As if to hold out a helping hand to pull the city back to its feet. But the city remained forlorn and flailed of any hope.

Vincent stopped, taking his bearings, using the sight on his rifle to mark out the landmarks. Satisfied, he began to step down a mound of rubble, heading south-east. Patience didn't trust him. Couldn't trust him. Valrie was correct, if far too direct. The man had orders to take them down as soon as they completed his part of the mission. She was certain of that.

It remained for her to decide if she killed him first, or not, as soon as the Vault-Tec HQ was in sight. And the worst part was, she had no qualms about taking the man's life. None. In her mind, her subconscious mind, it was a pure tactical necessity. Emotion played no part in the decision and she wondered what kind of a person she used to be that could think of killing a man so coldly.

-+-

"Three Dog here, with another update on the supply of beautiful, beautiful purified water.

There are those folks, out in the Wasteland, that are only just starting to gain the benefits of the life-giving liquid. No longer having to search for and boil down water found out there. Supply lines are stretching.

And there are other folks who are taking advantage of the situation. Some raiders have taken it upon themselves to hijack the water caravans. These 'people' are low. The lowest of the low.

Here's the thing, raider assholes, the water is free! Gratis! No payment required!

Let the water flow! Let the people have their fill!

And to anybody paying these assholes for the water they steal, do yourself and everyone else a favour, go to the caravans, help them out and get your water from them. They want to give you the water. Let them! If there's no market for the water, it won't be stolen. Even raiders aren't dumb enough to put their lives at risk if there's no profit in it.

Stay safe, children. Help the water caravans and don't let asshole raiders take advantage of you.

This is Three Dog, keeping an eye out for all the good people out there."