Chance

by SML818

Anything can happen in the Commonwealth, that's the only thing that's certain. Life in the wasteland is a game of chance, and like any game, there are winners and losers. Upon making a routine journey to Nuka World, one survivor is forced to pay off her debts. (Set in a slight AU: all 4 factions are active, though the SS has played little part in things. Rating will likely change)

1. Chapter 1

Chance

Chapter 1: Let's Play

"C'mon, just give me a bit more time, I swear, I'll pay it off."

"Now, you know I can't do that. And the fact you can't pay off the caps isn't my problem. I can't dictate that you get more time, you've had more than enough as it is."

"I don't have the caps! I just need a few more days, I swear!"

"I'm sorry, bud. This isn't anything personal, I'm just doing my job. Besides, there's still a chance you could walk away from this."

"Let's just get this over with."

A quiet chuckle echoed through the store-room. A man; looking to be barely thirty, trying to keep a straight face through his growing fear, took a knee across from a younger-looking, smaller female. She seemed to be hardly twenty, wearing a mildly contented expression as she casually loaded a single round into the cylinder of the revolver she held. The chamber clicked softly, metallically, as it spun. Once it stopped, she set the revolver on its side between them.

The revolver spun on its side, breaking the silence with the sound of the metal against the hard surface of the ground. The firearm spun, slower and slower, until it finally stopped, the muzzle pointing towards the man. He silently picked up the gun, cocking back the hammer and raising the gun to his head. The man closed his eyes, trying to avoid the unnerving gaze of the young woman across from him. With a final deep breath, he pulled the trigger. The hammer clicked, and the cylinder rotated, no shot was fired.

The young woman took the revolver, and repeated the process of priming it and bringing the gun to the side of her head, though with a practiced confidence and a steady hand. She pulled the trigger, keeping her eyes on the man before her, and once again, the pair was met by only the soft click of the rotating chamber. She passed the firearm back to the man.

He took the revolver, cocked back the hammer, and raised it to his head once again. With a shaking breath, he closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger.

The shot was sudden, and echoed off the bare concrete walls. Anyone else would have jumped at the sudden noise, but the young woman remained as she was. With a shake of her head, she approached the slumped body of the man.

"Luck just wasn't on your side, Bud. Though, I guess that's what happens when you deal with someone who goes by Roulette."

She let out another quiet chuckle, and plucked the gun from the man's hand. She cleaned off the blood from the end of the barrel, and placed the revolver back into the holster at her side. The young woman straightened up after fishing the caps out of the dead man's pockets, he had nothing else of use to her on him, anyways. With this, she turned and left, without as much of a side-long glance back at the body.

"And to think, I actually sort of liked you. That's just how the game goes, there's always a winner, and always a loser; and I haven't lost yet."