Charon
Things were different after that afternoon. Judy never touched Med-X again and I continued feeling like a human again. Judith told me that addiction isn't as easy as just initially getting over the physical need to inject yourself. Your body has to remember exactly how to function before the drug entered the picture. There are more symptoms, but ones that linger. She wanted to make sure she didn't suffer from all that out in the wastes. If something went wrong, she wanted to be within arms reach of a clean clinic. I'd do whatever I could to help her get better. If that meant hanging back in a smelly ship, then I'd do just that.
I would shave her head in the beginning because she was too weak to do it. I was always very careful and very exact. Even when Judy's health had gotten better, she liked the idea of not having to shave her head herself. I think I did a better job than her anyways. She would miss spots all the time or not press hard enough. When it did grow out, her hair would curl and it really was quite pretty. A part of me would always regret slicing it. But I knew exactly why she wanted it gone. 'So nobody would fuck with me again'. That was reason she always gave. I truly understood the weight of the phrase now.
Another vault kid, Butch, showed up in the Muddy Rudder. Butch was a little bitch. We only talked to him once and he was so full of himself but had little to show for it. I think he was boasting about how strong he had gotten and Judy laughed in his face. He challenged her to a fist fight and she knocked him out cold. And this was a weakened state she was in. She wasn't burly, fighting form Judith. This was recovering from addiction and not carrying around a 20 pound monster of a weapon every day Judith.
About three months after Butch showed up, the 'Lone Wanderer' sauntered into the bar. Judith and I were enjoying a beer in the corner when he recognized her.
"Whoa! It's you!" He blurted, pointing right at Judy.
She looked confused and a little bewildered. I think she had forgotten about him. "Yeah, it's you too." She heard the dog bark and she nearly jumped up in the air three feet. "Oh! You're the nerd in the Museum!"
"Isaac?! How do you know this broad?"
Formal introductions were exchanged. The four of us had something of a booze fueled night shortly afterward. After a few drinks, Butch seemed to forget all about when Judy knocked him flat on his ass.
He threw his arm around her neck, and quite proudly proclaimed, "This broad here, lemme tell you! She is somethin' else!" He laughed and swayed back and forth a few times. "I got knocked flat on my ass by just two punches! Isaac, you've known me the longest, who else has done that?"
The nerd shrugged his broad shoulders. "Not me, I can tell you that."
"Nobody!"
"Yeah, I'm sure." Judy prodded.
"See?! There she goes again! Crazy bitch!"
A jolt of anger surged from my toes all the way up to my cheeks. I wanted so bad to knock this arrogant little snot out cold. Judy grinned and leaned over and whispered into my ear. "He isn't worth it."
I let it go. But I kept my eye on him.
"Isaac is your name? What are you workin' on nowadays?" Judy asked after the second beer.
"I'm working on getting my dad's water purifier up and running. I actually stopped in Rivet City to restock before I meet up with the Brotherhood to begin the assault on the Memorial."
"Wait, are you saying there's gonna be pure water for us soon?"
He smiled a great beaming smile. "That's the plan!"
"No shit," Judy furrowed her brow. "They're not gonna make us pay for it, right?"
"They?"
"The Brotherhood pricks."
He shook his head. "They shouldn't. If they do, I'll have a word with Lyons. I mean, there will be merchants who sell purified water, but I don't think the Brotherhood will have anything to do with that. Independent enterprise."
"So, the entire river, completely cured of radiation? The whole fuckin' thing? Not a single blip of radiation will be detected in any drop of water?"
He laughed. "Yes! Yes, all of it. Purified. Safe to drink! I'll be thinking of your reaction when I flip the purifier on." He smiled and took another swig of alcohol.
"You don't understand, Isaac! You have purifiers in the Vault. We don't! We have purifiers in a handful of robots that hardly function anymore! I've grown up my entire life seeing water as this dangerous but necessary thing. We need a lot of it to live, but too much without the proper treatment will literally kill us. To me, that river is poison that I need to drink to live."
"I understand. I've had plenty of bouts of radiation poisoning. Hell, when I first met you, I was a little over the limit and didn't even realize it."
"You guys are just dirty all the time. If you bathed regularly, you'd be fine!" Babbled Butch the Bitch.
"Keep quiet Butch, you're drunk and you don't know what you're talking about." Snapped Isaac.
"You guys are taking things too seriously! You gotta drink more." He bought everyone another round and none of us complained.
The conversations just kept getting louder and weirder. The question was finally asked of Judy why she kept her hair shaved, 'So no one will fuck with me again', and Butch asked if she was bald somewhere else. She rolled her eyes.
"Are you asking to get your ass whooped again?"
"I ain't sayin' nothin'! I simply ass-ked a question."
"Lay. Off." I snarled.
"Oooh, so big scary ghoul man finally contributes to the conversation, defending his honey. How chivalrous."
Through clenched teeth, I turned to Judith and asked, "Judy, what does that mean?"
"Chivalry? All that matters is that you have more of it than this snake here."
"Yeah! Tunnel Snakes! Those years were crazy, man." Isaac tried switching the subject.
"Judy? W-What a cute nickname, familiar of Jud-Judith. You guys uh, familiar, with each other? Could uh, we, get familiar?" He then proceeded to tell her exactly how they'd get familiar with each other. Judy was using every ounce of strength not to cry, or beat him to a pulp, something. Isaac tried making him stop, but Butch was intent on telling Judith just exactly how he would fuck her.
But I couldn't take it anymore. Judith deserved more respect than this. I stood up, grabbed the brat's collar and threw him against the wall. He crumpled to the ground in a curled up ball. The dog started barking like mad. I stood over Butch and glared. I never said anything, but I saw the fear in his eyes. The bouncer in me wanted to slam this guys head against the wall and toss him out myself. But the bouncer of this bar threw all of us out equally. It was the first time I've had a bar door slammed behind me. It was a novel feeling. Judith was laughing, her arm looped through mine, starting for the stairs.
"I'll catch you later, Isaac! Without that little bastard next time!" She kept laughing, her steps swaying a little bit. "The situations we get in, huh?" She giggled and chuckled the way back up to the deck. "I'm going to get some air."
I followed her onto the deck. We didn't say anything to the other for a while. She just stared out over the water, occasionally looking up at the sky. "You know, a couple months ago, I would have taken a hit of Med-X and gone to bed to forget about that."
"I shouldn't have said your name."
She shook her head. "That name thing doesn't matter anymore. At least, it doesn't feel like it matters anymore." She looked up at me. "I'm trying to thank you."
"For what?"
"It feels better to not have to rely on morphine to deal with the pain."
I shook my head. "Morphine."
"The medical term for Med-X."
"You're welcome."
We went back to the room and played cards until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore. At the end of the game she put her cards down and looked up at me.
With eyes half open and a sleepy grin spread across her face, "I'm glad you're with me, Charon."
I grinned, "Yeah, you'd better be." She laughed. We got ready for bed and slept.
*Thank you for reading!*