Fallout 3 - Beautiful Stranger

Chapter 11 Part 1

Patience bolted upright, gasping for breath, clutching at the first things she saw. Valrie and Vincent hovered over her, reaching out to hold her down, to calm her. Everything was so bright, so clear. Even the ever present dirty haze in the air seemed brighter. Each and every particle floating around, drifting and falling fell into sharp focus. Her heart beat as if it were about to explode from her chest.

"My spleen tastes yellow!" She stared into Valrie's face almost as if she didn't recognise her. Patience grabbed the front of Valrie's many pocketed coat, pulling her forward. "I don't like it!"

"Jesus! Has she never had a StimPak before?" Vincent frowned at Valrie even as Patience's head wobbled as she turned to stare at him.

"How the fuck do I know? I've known her about a week." Valrie eased Patience's fingers open, releasing her coat, pushing the hand down, gently.

"I never had a pet moose!" Patience began pushing her legs against the ground, trying to scramble backwards. "Never! They eat too many diamonds."

"Alright. Alright, Patience. Relax." Holding her hands open, trying to calm Patience, Valrie edged forward, maintaining a calm, soothing voice. "We need to get you out of here before more Super Mutants arrive."

Valrie and Vincent picked up Patience by her arms, lifting her as she shot confused looks at them both. Patience allowed them to lift her. She knew it was the right thing to do. She looked down at the massive yellow creature at their feet. One side of its head a bloody mess, the eye socket empty with blood oozing down to the ground.

She could feel her mind clearing. The intense fire, as if all her neurones had flared at the same time, was fading along with her visual clarity. She felt strong, though. Powerful. Pushing Valrie and Vincent away, she began walking without their aid until a memory flashed through her mind.

"The prisoners!" She tried to turn back, but the others continued to lead her away. "I was supposed to free the prisoners."

"You did, you crazy fuck." Despite the language, Valrie looked up at Patience with admiration. "You got them. They ran away. I don't fucking blame them, if I'm honest, but you got them out."

"The other? There was one being tortured over the fire." Patience's brow creased as she twisted in the grips of her two companions. "I can't let him suffer."

"I took care of it." She didn't have to ask what Vincent meant with his muttered growl. She knew. It was what she would have done. The human thing.

Leaving the girder and barb wire barrier behind, they moved up the ramp at the side of the highway and travelled parallel to the Super Mutant camp. Patience looked down into the camp, seeing the two Super Mutant bodies, her memory of the events returning fast and clear.

She had thought the second Super Mutant had got her. The massive hand gripping her throat as she poured bullets into its brain. When everything went black, she thought that was it, but here she was, as if nothing had happened. She felt her throat, expecting to find indentations where the Super Mutant's fat fingers had gripped her.

"Those bruises will be gone soon, thanks to that StimPak Vincent gave for you." Valrie held out her hands, holding Patience's knife and sidearm. "The prisoners dropped the knife when the fuckers ran. I thought you'd want them back. I'd have kept them and sold them if you'd died. Of course."

"Of course. What's a 'StimPak'?" She took the knife and pistol, returning them to their respective places. She lifted the assault rifle, still dangling across her chest, and checked it for damage. It was fine. An amateurish design, but well made.

"You're not a soldier, are you?" Vincent continued keeping an eye on their surroundings, watching for more Super Mutants. "I thought you were, at first. You've got skills. I thought, being from one of those Vaults, you were a soldier in the World-That-Was, put on ice, you know. But you're not. No scars that I can see. Don't know what a StimPak is."