"Has she woken up yet?" She heard Butch's voice in the distance. He sounded... Worried? No, that's impossible. Butch was never worried about anything.
Stacy was quiet. Gloria wanted to talk to her, but she also wanted to dream. Thinking about her good memories was comforting. It was nice when they passed through her mind; usually it was bad memories, though.
If this was heaven, then it fucking sucked. It was easy to delve into repressed memories, both good and bad, and come back to absolute blackness, where only voices and machines and footsteps could be heard.
She hoped this was at least purgatory. It's not as bad as she thought it would be.
It's not; only a long-awaited sleep. It seems most heroines sleep before their rebirth, like the circle of life.
But Gloria didn't expect to wake up. She didn't expect to be alive.
It wasn't like she was going to heaven. Almost everything she did warranted her arrival in Hell; sure, she'd done some good things, but not enough for forgiveness.
But mostly, she was a little disappointed to see she wasn't in Heaven. She was in the Citadel clinic.
Elder Lyons explained to her what happened: She miraculously survived the radiation from the Purifier and it knocked both her and Sentinel Lyons unconscious. Two weeks have passed, and she's finally awake.
And, Gloria couldn't live without having to do something for somebody. She had to destroy the remaining Enclave.
It wasn't too hard. Liberty Prime, the giant overly-patriotic robot, was destroyed though. But hey, she got to ride a metro bus.
She felt a certain satisfaction to see the rest of the Enclave blow up in some building at a base.
~~~
She felt truly alive when she dragged Butch and Stacy back onto the Vertibird the Brotherhood stole from the Enclave and, and they stole it again.
She had no idea how to fly it, but somehow she managed to get it to go up and away in a different direction, away from the Citadel. Butch complained about the wind messing up his hair and Stacy was waving to the Brotherhood from the doorway as they took off. Gloria was screaming and laughing at the same time as they almost crashed into the Washington Monument, but Stacy hit something and they barely missed it.
She waved back to Megaton, Vault 101, Girdershade, the settlements they passed over, knowing they'll never see them again. None of them seemed to mind.
They were somewhere in New Mexico when they crash landed.
The three Vault rejects expected the desert to be hot, even in January. But nope, it was freezing.
It wasn't too hard finding food. Since Gloria was a bit of a hoarder, they had plenty of canned beans and potato chips. Water, on the other hand, was a rarity.
The only water Gloria had was dirty water, and she forgot to pack her Food Purifier with her. There was only so much RadAway and punga fruit for them, when radiation sickness became a problem.
Stacy was the first to get sick. It was surprising. She was the most physically fit out of the three, and she was the first one to double over and throw up. It reminded Gloria of herself.
Stacy managed. They only had to stop every once in a while to let her rest.
Gloria finally sat her down (after giving herself a shot of Med-X to stop the shakes and the cravings) and diagnosed her with Advanced Radiation Poisoning.
"I'd offer you my radiation suit, but I don't think that's going to help much." Gloria tried. Stacy responded by throwing up in a bucket beside Gloria's feet. That's the last time she ever tried to joke around.
"Don't you have any of that fruit stuff?" Butch asked, sitting on the other side of Stacy and rubbing her back.
"No. We ran out about a week ago. It's too late to go back to Point Lookout."
Butch made a huffing noise, and Stacy coughed, then threw up again, barely missing Butch's shoes.
"How do you have so much food in you?" He asked her. She shook her head. Gloria rummaged around in her bags, but found nothing to help her.
"It's probably stomach acid. When you run out of food, you throw that up instead. Don't ask me why."
"How do you know?" Butch asked.
Gloria sighed, "None of your business, Butch. What time is it? The clock's broken on my Pip-Boy."
He checked his Pip-Boy, then moved out of the way before Stacy threw up again. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer.
"Is she cold?" Gloria asked. Butch pushed back her hair covering her face and felt it with the back of his hand.
"Yeah... is she not supposed to be cold or something?"
"No, probably not. I'm not sure. I never had radiation poisoning."
"What about that person... Moira? The crazy book girl? Didn't you say you stood in a puddle of irradiated water for three hours for her?"
"Don't... make fun of her!" Gloria scowled, "But, yeah, I did. But it was only for a few hours, not for days on end. Anyway, you should probably give her a blanket or maybe your jacket if she's cold."
"Why my jacket? Why not yours?" He unconsciously tightened it around him.
"She's your girlfriend."
He hesitated, then shrugged off his jacket and put it around Stacy's shoulders, then pulled her close to him again. He looked kind of silly with only his Vault suit on, but now was not the time to make fun of him.
Stacy woke up and threw up again, then laid her head back on Butch's shoulder and groaned.
"I hope she's not becoming a ghoul." He said.
Gloria laughed, "No, I'm pretty sure she won't. I guess tomorrow we can hit the wastes and look for RadAway."
"Yeah, that would be a good idea if there was anything to find. Look around, there's nothing. Just desert and certain death."
"Geez, sorry Mr. Negative. I thought we should get a move on. There's a settlement a few miles west. We can get there the day after tomorrow if we go fast enough." She checked her map to make sure she was right, then shut off her Pip-Boy screen to keep them somewhat hidden in the night.
"No way, we should go now if it's close enough."
"I'm not sure Stacy's able to walk all the way..."
"I'll carry her."
"Are you strong enough?" Gloria asked, a smirk forming upon her lips. Butch rolled his eyes, "Of course I can. You'll have to carry our bags."
"Fuck that, those things are heavy!"
"You can carry them, stop complaining," He stood up and helped Stacy on her feet, then he turned around and he helped her onto his back. Gloria put her arms through both straps on her backpack, and carried Butch's bag on her left shoulder and Stacy's on her right.
Butch was right, she was strong enough to carry everything, but they were damn heavy.
"Hey, can you get that thing?" She tried to point at the Captain's Sidearm laying on the ground next to the fire, Butch reached for it, and grabbed it before he dropped his girlfriend. She grunted, and held on tighter to him as she apologized.
"Yeah, thanks." He handed it to Gloria. She checked her ammo pouch specifically for alien power modules. She had 389 of them, so she's probably be okay if they were jumped by raiders. Maybe.
~~~
They were halfway to the settlement when they were jumped by some men in red armor, claiming to be part of some sort of Legion. Gloria didn't care, so she shot the leader. When he disintegrated into ash, the five other men immediately attacked them.
Gloria threw down all the bags she was carrying and yelled at Butch to hide. He ran behind a rock and laid Stacy against it.
He held his ground, shoot and yelling to distract their attackers, but they got him pretty good. Gloria punched one guy in the stomach and punched him in the face with her powered fist. His head flew off his body and rolled a ways away.
There were only three men left. Butch already shot one of them.
He was reloading his .44 magnum when one of their attackers bolted from behind another rock and tried to stab him. Butch rolled out of the way and kicked the guy off his feet. Another guy from behind Butch grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and stabbed him in the side.
Gloria shoved the remaining guy off of her and shot the remaining men with increased accuracy, sprinting to Butch as he fell onto one knee, holding his wound to stop the bleeding.
"Okay, okay," She unzipped his Vault jumpsuit and pushed the sleeves off him, then pulled it off, letting it hang loosely around his waist.
"Jesus Christ, we need to get you a doctor."
He didn't say anything, he gasped when Gloria pressed her fingers near the wound, being careful not to touch it.
"Do you have any more Med-X?"
"I only have one left and I need it-"
"Just give it to me you fucking junkie," He hissed out, grabbing his wound. Gloria sighed, then pulled out the last vial, and considered taking it to keep her growing headache away. No, no, stop that. He needed it more than her.
She removed the cover of the needle, then flicked it to get out the air bubbles, then stuck it in his wrist, since it was the only place where she could see a vein. As she emptied the drugs into him, her headache increased.
He stopped groaning after a few minutes. Gloria cut off one of the sleeves of his jumpsuit, then pressed it against the still-bleeding wound.
"I can see why you like this stuff, I can barely feel a thing."
She wanted to snap at him, but her headache stopped her from raising her voice.
Stacy was a little delirious, but she could still walk with Gloria guiding her.
She picked up their bags and put them on, then helped Butch onto his feet and put his arm over her shoulders so she could help him walk. She grabbed Stacy's hand and pulled her along.
This was going to be a long journey.
The weather was becoming more pleasant. It was probably the most positive thing about this situation.
Butch was starting to feel pain again. Stacy was stopping every few minutes to throw up. Gloria had to stop and wait for her to dry heave, then almost pass out.
She could see buildings in the distance. She hoped to God it was inhabited and they were friendly.
~~~
The air was particularly pleasant this evening. Not too hot, not too cold, not too humid, and not too dry.
Genevieve Elizabeth Fredrickson-Carter sat on the front porch of her parent's house, rocking on the rocking chair, sipping lemonade, reading a Pre-War magazine, and listening to the radio.
This was perfect, she mused, flipping the page. She took a sip of her lemonade, then set it down and picked her magazine up once more.
Due to the recent breakout of Legion, there were plenty of refugees passing through. She had her work cut out for her, repairing their old cars and stitching up cuts while her parents were out looking for supplies. Cranston was quiet for the first time in a long time.
She remembered seeing Caesar and the Legion march through when she was very young. That was the last time she's seen them. He hasn't been to Cranston since.
Her mother walked outside, "Gen, time for work."
"Mom, please, it's Elizabeth!" She groaned. Her mom chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Fine, Elizabeth," She laughed.
Lauren Frederickson was a short woman of only five feet, and had the curliest, reddest hair in the West. She was also the most talented doctor in the Legion territory. Or, at least Elizabeth thought so.
Her mother left after the sun went down, and Elizabeth was thinking about going back inside, when she heard a noise.
A woman carrying two people stumbled into town.
"Please, someone help!" She screamed.
Elizabeth stood up, almost knocking the chair over, and ran over to the woman. She helped the woman with white hair into the clinic, then carried the man inside, then laid him down on an examination table.
The woman who carried these two strangers stumbled into the clinic, then laid down on the couch.
She started working on the man. He only had a few scratches and a stab wound. It wasn't infected yet, but it was a little too deep for her to be comfortable. She would call her mom in, but she's spent the past few months trying to prove to her she's a good enough doctor to handle the clinic on her own.
She finished cleaning, disinfecting, and stitching up the wound in about a half-hour.
She moved onto the woman with white hair.
"What's wrong with her...?" Elizabeth gently lifted her face up to look into her eyes and check for a concussion. She coughed, choking out "radiation", and Elizabeth smiled.
Ah, easy enough. She searched through the medicine cabinet and returned with a few doses of RadAway.
"It's going to burn a little bit, but I think you're tough enough to handle it," She smiled as reassuringly as she could.
The woman took the cure like a pro. She didn't scream or even move while she flushed out all the radiation. She helped her up to sit on the couch in the waiting room.
She walked over to the girl who brought everyone inside. She was asleep, sweating heavily and shaking. She mumbled something, then jolted awake, startling Elizabeth with her movement.
She wiped at her eyes, and glared at Elizabeth as she asked "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she mumbled. Elizabeth noted she had an unusual accent, one she's never heard before.
"I have a bed you can use. It's for the family members of patients who need someone close by."
"I don't need any more sleep," She sat up and ran her fingers through her short blonde hair.
Elizabeth sat next to the girl, who looked out the window. The sun was almost behind the mountains. She sighed and rested her arm on the arm rest.
She looked peculiar; a certain look to her that made Elizabeth's heart hurt. A broken woman, maybe... no, she couldn't have been a Legion slave, even if she did have the scars and weariness they all seemed to share. No, she had been like this for a different reason. She looked tired, most of all. She had dark circles around her eyes, her shoulders slumped as she caved into herself.
The woman noticed she was staring, and raised an eyebrow. That meant she wanted Elizabeth to speak, right?
She cleared her throat, "I wanted to talk to you about your friends-"
"They're not my friends," She spat, a snarl forming on her lips. Elizabeth nodded, "Right, sorry. Do you have anything you can tell me about them? Any allergies, medical conditions? Their names?"
"The girl's name is Stacy Cole, and the other is Butch DeLoria. That's all I know about them."
"Really? You're all wearing the same jumpsuit."
"We grew up together."
"And you know nothing about them?"
"We weren't the best of buddies," The girl looked back at Elizabeth. She looked her up and down, then looked back out the window.
"Are... you injured?"
"No," She covered her stomach with her arm.
Elizabeth stood up, then turned toward the girl, "You can stay in the room at the end of the hallway. I'll bring dinner up to you if you want any. It's Brahmin and leek soup."
The girl nodded, refusing to take her eyes off the sun as it sank behind the mountains.