What a regular fool I must have been to believe her when she said she weren't there to cause no trouble or anything. She said she could use a place to keep her things. She said it so nice, I forgot to ask her to get me my Kenny-Bear. Gave a strange lady a home for nothing. And I thought I knew not to trust anyone.

She did get Kenny-Bear for me though, so she wasn't all rotten. And she didn't have the marks neither so I guess it was just as dangerous out there for her as it were for me. And she made it through my traps, so I guessed she was pretty quick on her feet. Really, though, I guess I was lonely.

She never told me her name, not proper-like. Oh sure I asked, but she turned the question on its head and shook the mother-loving life out of it, like she did with everything. Like she did with me.

"What do they call you?" she asked me that time. She had a funny way of talking, she said she came out of one of those Vaults. Everything was short with her. All neat and clean, like she was most of the time. I saw her kill a feral once. She said sorry before she shot it. All nice and sincere. Sorry! Couldn't I believe it then. She was always too polite. Maybe she was too scared to be rude, maybe she just liked to gain your trust before she knifed you in the gut.

Wasn't sure I could trust her yet, but I figured a name was nothing to hold on to so dear. Sure she taught me different since, but I didn't think much of it at the time.

Couldn't just tell her they called me Latchkey Kenny, that was too sad and runny of a story. "Kenny Latchkey," I said instead.

"Kenny Latchkey," she repeated, like maybe she didn't believe me.

"Can't you hear me right? Like it or not that's what I'm called, lady. What about you?" Okay so maybe I was huffing and puffing a little. Like she had a right to make fun, the way she was.

"Well, I suppose that would make me Lady Latchkey."

I was shooting some tin cans then and damn near shot my foot, I was that surprised and if you really want to know, I guess I went kind of red in the face too. Was I ever happy that cave was dark. I didn't know what to think, but I felt sort of happy, to tell truth. And so she wasn't a strange lady anymore, she was a lady, my Lady.

I asked her if she'd ever kilt a man and she said yes. I was nervous about that, on account of I never really kilt a crab-man or nothing, not even one of those dang flies. I never knew a lady could kill but looking at her, I knew.

Lady gave me that radio over there. She'd been gone for near a month when she promised it would only be a week, and all she said was that there were some people who needed helping.

She didn't say what kind. I asked her if she was a no-good goodie two-shoes. Lady laughed sort of sad and said no, she wasn't a good person. But she didn't seem bad either. I couldn't figure it out then, and I'm only just beginning to understand it now.

But back then I weren't worried much about anything, not even dying old and alone like Old Man Herzog. I figured when my time came, I'd give a hell of a fight first. I shouldn't have been thinking so hard about that damn old grim reaper because I lost sight of the real one in front of my eyes. Could I been watching closer I would have seen then and there that that Lady would be the death of me.