Fallout 3 - Beautiful Stranger

Chapter 16 Part 1

The two lovers knelt, still naked, before Patience and her companions, heads down, hands behind their heads. They both seemed malnourished, almost to the point of being dangerously thin. The girl, her hair cut into a dual mohawk style and the boy with a single, complimentary mohawk, appeared non-plussed by the situation.

"Still shy in front of others, Bradley?" Gia crouched before the boy and poked his flaccid penis with the barrel of her laser pistol.

"You know these fuckers?" Valrie had already searched the area for anything she could collect, coming up empty handed.

"Oh, yeah. We were lovers." Gia stood up, looking at Valrie. "Back when we were in the same gang."

"Which one? The boy or the girl?" Vincent didn't cover the two naked lovers, but still held his rifle ready to aim at the first provocation.

"Both." Gia crouched again, cocking her head to the side. "They were never this thin before. So, where's the rest of them, Lyla? Otis? Brindy? Lark?"

"Gone." The girl, Lyla, looked up at Gia, her face blank. Drawn and almost half-asleep. Gia rolled the barrel of her pistol, urging the girl for more information. "They left when the Super Mutants started hauling off people. They left while we were stoned on Jet. We woke up, they were gone."

Patience put her hand on Gia's shoulder, then crouched beside her, resting her rifle on her thighs. She lifted Lyla's chin and saw the discolouration around the girl's mouth, the brown, chipped teeth. The girl looked at Patience as if she weren't really there. Her eyes focussing on a point beyond the back of Patience's head.

Beside the filthy mattress, that the two had used to have sex upon, Patience could see several inhalers littering the floor. She couldn't remember hearing about this 'Jet' before, but she knew drug use when she saw it.

"Where did the Super Mutants take your friends?" She cupped the girl's face. She was pretty, once. Now, the drugs had ruined her. "Do you know where? Are there many Super Mutants around here?"

"The Mall. They took them to the Mall." The boy, Bradley, lifted his head for the first time. "Almost got me once. Dragged me all the way to the Mall and I got away. Played dead. I can play dead real good."

"They come and go. Come and go." The girl began swaying from side to side. "Sometimes they're all out there. Sometimes they're not. Sometimes I think they're there, but they're in my head. Screaming purple bubbles."

Patience shook her head, standing up and pulling Gia with her. The ex-raider didn't seem too upset at the state of her old lovers. In fact, she seemed to find it funny. Valrie looked at the two young adults, with their emaciated bodies and seemed to feel a genuine sadness for them. Vincent didn't appear to have any feelings, either way.

"Seems the Super Mutants are everywhere." She gathered them all into a circle, keeping their eyes on the two naked raiders. "Are we going to have trouble getting to Vault-Tec HQ?"

"I don't know. It's a long time since I patrolled that area and, somehow, the Super Mutants seem to be growing in numbers." Vincent hooked a thumb towards Bradley and Lyla. "I don't think we can take anything the Jet-heads say seriously. They could be right, could be wrong, could be thinking this is all a dream."

"Valrie, you looked around. Have these two got any food? Water?" Patience could see nothing except the Jet inhalers and Bradley and Lyla reaching out to grope each other.

"Nothing. And I know what you're thinking, but it's a fucking waste." Valrie turned Patience to look at her. "These fuckers are gone. They're done. It's sad, yes, but you leave food and water for them and they won't fucking use it."