"I have to get outta here, Lonnie. I can't stay in this fuckin' place anymore." It seemed like such a long time since he'd said those words. He remembered exactly how Lonnie had looked at him when he'd said them too, the calculating expression that fell on her hard face. They had been guarding the old sewage pipe, just them and the quietly humming turret. There hadn't been many ferals that night and it had been all quiet for a good hour or so. It was in that quiet that he'd known for sure it was time.
"Why?" was all Lonnie had said, in a toneless voice. He'd shaken his head, looked around at the filthy, rusting walls of the pipe they were standing in. He hadn't wanted to say. Lonnie stared at him for a while, waiting until the silence had grown tense and uncomfortable before saying, "It's Jared." It wasn't a question.
He had nodded. "It's Jared. But it ain't just Jared. It's what he's doin'. It's the chems. It's the lurin' people in with 'em. It's the experiments, Lon', it's his obsession with that old lady who thinks she can see the future. I can't do this anymore, I can't keep actin' like workin' for him makes any fuckin' sense. Like it ain't insane."
Lonnie had sniffed, said nothing, and he'd asked, "Are you gonna shoot me now?" But she'd just replied, "You still got too much Gunner in you, Boomtown. Shoulda seen it before. You always looked fuckin' weird in Raider gear. You're bad, but you ain't really all that bad. You got some o' them morals. They're gonna get you fuckin' killed. Especially if you stay here." She had fixed him in her hard glare. "You gotta plan?" He had nodded, "Yeh. The Good Boys." Lonnie had snorted and said in a tone as close to mirth as the hardened raider could muster, "Why ain't I fuckin' surprised?" and then, "You gonna be ok?" he'd nodded, "Yeh." Lonnie had shrugged and said, "Well you better go now then, you stupid pup, before Jared catches wind of this. You got all your shit? Got Violetta?"
"Yeh. Thanks Lon'." She'd only replied, "Fuck off Boomtown, and don't come back."
It seemed like such a long time ago, but really it couldn't have been more than three days, he was sure of it. He'd gotten out of Lexington fine, left the Corvega plant, and the Super Duper Mart and all those fucking ghouls, and Jared, and Lonnie behind him. And he'd begun to head towards the coast, because he'd heard that's where he'd find The Good Boys, and their territory, a place called Avalon. They weren't like other raiders, he knew that much. Stories had been circling the Commonwealth since back when he ran with the Gunners. That Dokter Good, and his men, people would say, They're a new breed of raider. They're evolving.
He hadn't told Lonnie that he didn't actually know where exactly Avalon was. He doubted she'd have tried to talk him out of going, she didn't really give that much of a fuck. It had been a pride thing really, he'd wanted to set off looking like he knew what he was doing. He didn't.
His first night out in the quiet of the Commonwealth went fine. He climbed a high tree and tied himself to a branch and ate a tin of spam. He even slept a few hours. The day had dawned sunny and clear of radiation storms. A good day for the journey that was in it, he thought. But it wasn't.
The Yao Guai took him completely by surprise. One second he'd been peering up at the wreck of the old overpass above him, wondering how such a huge and heavy thing had managed to stay standing for two hundred years. The next, there was a roar and a searing pain in his right shoulder and back, and he nearly dropped Violetta.
He was lucky. He had a fairly good pipe rifle with him and he managed to swing it up left handed as the mutated bear leapt for him. By fluke, his bullet found the Yao Guai's eyeball, easily piercing it and smashing into the creature's brain. The huge thing fell to the ground, and then he fell to the ground too.
He didn't want to look at his shoulder. He didn't have to, to know something was really, really wrong. He felt stupid. He'd been too optimistic about his journey, let his guard down. If he'd still been with the Gunners, that kind of lax behaviour would have been completely unacceptable. As it was now, he feared it had cost him his life. The dirt around him was red with blood, his and the Yao Guai's. Soon it would draw all manner of nasty scavengers and they'd eat him whether or not he was dead by that point. He had to get out of there.
How he'd gotten back to his feet with all his gear and Violetta on his back, he'd never know. How he then managed to keep on walking for another full day was even more of a mystery. He had no idea where he was, where he was going, or if he was even going to make it. All he knew was that he could barely feel his right arm, that Violetta was getting heavier and heavier on his back, and that he thought maybe he could smell the ocean…
"Holy, fuck, Haimes, get a fuckin' spotlight on the guy so's I can fuckin' find him. He looks dead already."
The shout startled him. He hadn't even realised that he'd still been walking. He opened his eyes. It was night-time now, but a bright light was being shone directly at him. He wasn't able to move his right arm. He fell to his knees.
He was staring at the dusty ground when the sound of running footfalls approached him. Two people, he thought, but only one voice spoke, the same one that had shouted earlier. "Ah shit lookit him. He's lucky you spotted him when you did, Dandy. Fuck. Alright. We gotta get him in to see Nightingale. You carry his gear, I'll carry him."
He felt his gear and Violetta being lifted off his back, and made a weak noise of protest. Then he felt someone duck under his left arm and get a tight grip on him. The person lifted him to his feet and began to half drag, half carry him along, the bright light of the spotlight following them as they went.
"You're some stupid fucker, you know that, kid? What you doin' out there, runnin' around on your own?" he managed to register the question and remembered what it was he was doing. "The Good Boys." He murmured feverishly, "I want to be a Good Boy."
The person carrying him snorted. "Doesn't everyone, kid."