A sweat broke out on the back of my neck, the familiar tense thrill of lining up a shot settling into my shoulders. My finger was just itching to pull the trigger but the ghoul was still thrashing around too much for me to be able to call it a clean shot.
Finally, she stopped moving. I didn't hesitate. She fell, never knowing what hit her. I grinned.
"Nice shot," my companion, Hancock said approvingly. Suddenly his face grew serious. "Do you see that, too?"
I glanced back through my scope.
Damn. There were a lot more ghouls than I had thought. And now they were all up and walking around.
"Well, they're not going to shoot themselves," Hancock grinned at me. He pulled out his double-barrel shot gun and began sneaking down the hill. I switched to my laser pistol and followed him.
Together, we cleared out the feral nest.
"It's a shame these ferals keep causing problems for the locals," I murmured, searching their corpses for loot.
"Take what you need, I'll stand watch," was his only reply. I glanced back over my shoulder at him, studying him. His back was tense. He always got like that when something was eating at him. And I don't mean the radroaches that plague the Commonwealth.
"Is everything okay, Hancock?"
"Yeah, it just brings me down. I just need some more chems."
"Well, you're in luck," I said as I pulled a syringe with Psycho out of the ghoul's pocket beside me. I tossed the vial to him.
"Nah, you should keep it. I'm more of a Mentats ghoul myself." I caught it as he tossed it back to me, putting it in one of the many pockets on my vault suit. I felt him watching me as I went through the rest of the bodies. Finally, I turned my light brown eyes to look at him. "You gonna wear that thing forever, sister?"
"For now," I replied softly. I couldn't bring myself to stop wearing it yet. Or my wedding ring. They were the last things I had left from Vault 111. The last things I had of my family...when we were still a family. And we hadn't been a family for over 200 years apparently. Nate, my husband, had been shot in front of me while the Institute was taking our son, Shaun. I've been combing the Commonwealth looking for him and the bastards that took both of them from me. But lately things there have been messy, too. The more that I find out, the more that I don't want to know. And the more that I don't want to know, the more I have to know.
Hancock is one of the few people that understands this about me. He doesn't press me when I'm sullen or silent. Just like I try not to press him when the same mood strikes him. But we can't keep running forever.
"Where to now?"
I looked up to meet his all-black eyes, replying, "I guess we should head back to Preston and let him know that this place is cleared out. You up for following me around some more?"
His lips lifted into a faint smirk. "For now."
I chuckled, checking the PipBoy on my arm and discerning how far away from the Sanctuary we currently were. Not too far. Maybe a few hours worth of travel time at the most. It would probably be dark by the time we got there. Good thing neither of us are afraid of the dark.
It was an hour after dark by the time that we reached Sanctuary Hills. I was beginning to tire from the long day and was looking forward to a restful sleep. But, knowing Preston, he'd want us to head out on some other mission right away. I'm all for helping people, but I definitely need to sleep in a decent bed tonight. I didn't even know when the last time I had slept on even a mattress was. And sleeping bags in random Raiders' dens just doesn't cut it on an everyday basis.
"We cleared out the ghouls' den, Preston," I informed him as we walked into the house he was resting in. He was covered in dirt and grime and had probably been tending to the crops all day. Say what you want about Preston Garvey, he's a good leader. He's willing to break his back doing the work right alongside the underlings.
"Good, I'll send some settlers there to set up camp. Here's some caps for your trouble, General," he said, handing me a fistful of caps.
"No problem, I'm happy to help." But I certainly wasn't going to turn down caps, either. It may be the end of the world but a girl's gotta survive. "Anything else?"
"There's another settlement that needs our help. We have to let them know that the Minutemen are there when they need us." He eyed me suddenly. "When's the last time you slept?"
"Three days ago," Hancock answered before I could. Preston raised his eyebrows before turning to me. I furrowed my red brows in thought before nodding. Yes, that was right. It had been three days since we had taken turns resting at a rundown building that had belonged to a group of Raiders.
"I'll send someone else to deal with it," he decided. "You get some rest. We'll find something else for you to do in the morning."
"Alright, if anything happens though, wake me up."
"You need to take better care of yourself, General. We don't need you keeling over from exhaustion and getting your head blown off in the middle of a fight." Hancock opened his mouth to speak, probably about to assure him that that's what the drugs he gives me are for. "And, no, chems are not a valid substitute for sleep."
Hancock chuckled. I wearily shook my head. I was far too tired to deal with this at the moment. They get along well enough but Preston is too uptight for Hancock and Hancock is too rough around the edges for Preston. I think Preston assumes that I'm more like him than Hancock...but he's never travelled with me for more than a day. Hancock has been travelling with me for a month now.
"Where to now, General?" Hancock questioned. "I know you're not going to want to sleep here."
"I hate sleeping here," I answered bluntly. "May as well use the truck stop." He nodded.
"After you."
It took us about thirty minutes to get to the Red Rocket Truck Stop near Sanctuary Hills. My husband and I had stopped for gas here many times on our way to visit my parents in Pennsylvania. They had died when the atomic bomb went off, though, I'm sure. I'm also sure that Mom and Dad died together. They were always together. That's how Nate and I had been.
But that was a long time ago, even if it only seemed like a few months ago to me. If I was really curious enough, I'm sure I could go down there and try to find my childhood home. Hancock would probably come watch my back. That was a lot of unnecessary time and effort for an answer I already knew to be true.
"Home sweet home," I murmured as I stepped through the garage door. I rubbed my neck, noting that a kink had formed at the base of it.
Still rubbing my neck, I dropped onto the bed I had built upon first finding this place. It was then that I noticed a stiffness in my back as well. Maybe Preston was right and I did need to take better care of myself. Yeah, I'll just schedule a spa date with my bestie right away. With a groan, I laid down on my stomach and let gravity begin to realign my spine.
It didn't take long for me to drift off to sleep.
