Can she even talk?
After two hours of intense interrogation (disguised as casual conversation), I had learned absolutely nothing about the girl. She wouldn't tell me her name, where she was from, how old she was, nothing. She hadn't spoken at all. All she did was stuff whatever food and water I had given to her down her throat. Whoever she was, she was about the strangest person I had ever met, and there were some really strange people out in the Wasteland.
I gave up my questioning after two and a half hours. All the girl did was sit and stare at me, munching on a Punga fruit that I had given her.
After another hour, I stood up and looked down at her. "I'm going off to hunt for something for me to eat. You've eaten almost all of my food, and I'm in the mood for dog, so..." I reached into my pack and held out a small knife. "Use this to protect yourself if anything tries to attack you, okay? And stay here."
The girl nodded and took the knife, examining the blade and the splotches of blood that still covered it from its last use.
"Okay. I'll be back in a few, alright?"
She didn't make a single noise as I turned around and climbed the small hill that protected us from the sight of others. Once I was on the other side, I crouched down and pulled out my rifle. I then slowly started walking, ducking behind rocks whenever I heard a strange noise. I was being more cautious than usual, since I didn't want to attract someone's attention and have them stumble across the girl when I wasn't near her.
Then, I heard talking and panting. I instantly hid behind a small destroyed building, ducking out of the way just as three raiders and a dog passed by.
I smiled. Dog, actually, did sound very good at this point.
I got down on my stomach, carefully setting the butt of my rifle on my shoulder. I then took some smooth, deep breaths as I waited.
Naturally, I needed to take the dog out first. Dogs were faster and smarter than humans when it came to hunting down pray. My throat would be torn out before I would even have the chance to stand up and defend myself. But raiders, they were more predictable. Not many of them were good aims when it came to close distances, so they usually pulled out something dinky like a piece of plywood, or a tire iron. Now I, on the other hand, I was good with a gun, no matter the distance between me and the enemy.
The dog turned its head, leaving a perfect shot that wouldn't harm too much of what little meat it had on its bones.
My body shook from the recoil of the gun.
The dog went down, and the chaos began. At first, the three raiders were confused, yelling out "Who's there?" as they pulled out their various close-range weapons. I shot down another before they realized where the shots were coming from.
I holstered my rifle as they came at me, and pulled out my 10mm. I quickly loaded the gun with a fresh clip and started shooting.
One raider was hit in the leg, and she went down on one knee. I shot down the last one in the chest, right through his heart. I then turned to the girl and pressed the gun to her temple.
"Hasta la vista."
Bang!
I spent the next few moments looting the corpses, taking what useful supplies they had. One had a good handful of caps on him, which I pocketed eagerly. I had been running low for much too long.
I then threw the dog corpse over my shoulder and made my way back to where I had left the girl, making sure to stay hidden as I had been before.
The girl was exactly how I left her, staring at the knife I had given her.
"Hey," I said as I threw down the dog on the ground, next to our dwindling fire. "Once I eat, we'll move farther north, alright?" She nodded, giving me back the knife so I could skin the animal.
I went as fast as I could. I knew that where one gang of raiders were, another was nearby somewhere, so I wasn't planning on taking on anymore now that I was back with the girl.
I cooked what meat I managed to pick off of the bones of the dog. I then ate it eagerly, resisting the urge to go out and hunt for some more once I was done.
When I finished, I cleaned my knife as good as I could, and then told the girl to follow me. She did without question.
We moved about a hundred yards, making sure to stick to the hills and stay off of the roads. I was in no position to run into dangerous hostiles with the girl following me. But things like Radroaches, Mole Rats, and Wild Dogs were things that I could handle without too much concern. I then found an abandoned trailer, with two beds in it. It was small, and most likely would attract raiders and such at some point, but I needed to sleep, as did the girl. Her sunburnt skin was starting to glow an unhealthy color, clearly telling me that she needed rest and medical attention asap.
"Why don't you go ahead and sit down for a minute. I want to examine you, to make sure that you'll be okay and won't die on me in the middle of the night. Is that okay?"
The girl nodded and then sat down on the closer of the two beds. I then knelt down in front of her and started my examination.
What little medical training I had received told me what I had already guessed; she was extremely dehydrated and malnourished. She also hadn't had a decent night of sleep for a good week or so. From what I guessed, she had been lost for a good week, maybe two. Surprisingly, I learned that she couldn't be much older than eighteen, maybe even sixteen.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized that this moment was so familiar to one that had happened to me just four years ago. Except, I had been the sixteen-year-old being examined by someone; someone very important to me.
I shook my head, clearing my throat. "Alright, all done." The girl nodded. She then turned her head and looked out of the small, blown out window that was level with her head. I watched her, wondering if she was even mentally stable.
The girl then laughed, the first noise I had heard come from her since I had heard her scream.
"He really went all out on this prank, didn't he?"
Her voice was raspy from dehydration.
I closed my mouth, realizing that it had fallen open. "So, you can talk..."
"Of course I can," She said, her voice cracking. I took that as a sign and reached in my pack, pulling out a fresh Aqua Pura and handing it to her. She took a generous gulp from it.
"Okay then. What do you mean by a 'prank'?"
She laughed. "Well, I mean that David sure did go out of his way to trick me, didn't he?"
I blinked. "David?"
"Yes, one of my best friends."
"What trick do you think he's pulling on you?"
She huffed. "This!" She waved her hand around herself and rolled her eyes, as if the answer to the question was nothing but obvious.
Something was wrong about this, that I knew for sure.
"Are you talking about the Wasteland?"
"Pft! Wasteland! Leave it to David to come up with a lame name like that!"
I started. "Are...you okay?"
"I'm as okay as I can possibly be! I mean, come on! This prank has gone far enough! Leaving me out to die and not even bothering to leave me some food or clean water anywhere, and then hiring someone to pretend to rape me, and then hiring someone to 'save me'!" I could literally hear the air quotes hanging off of the last two words. "I mean, seriously, how far is too far?"
Sadly, a small laugh creeped out of my lips. "Sorry to break it to you, sweets, but this isn't a prank. This is for real. This is the aftermath of the nuclear war of 2077. The bombs left behind this shit-hole of a planet. This. Is. Real."
The girl shook her head. "No, it's not. This isn't what is supposed to be outside of The Home. There are supposed to be trees and-"
"Wait," I interrupted, "what's 'The Home'?"
It was her turn to look confused. "Why, my home. The place I was born and raised in. Us citizens call it 'The Home'. Didn't you know this?"
I shook my head. "Never heard of it. Well, this explains a lot."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I knew something was off about you, and I had the strangest feeling that you were a Vault-Dweller as I was at one point."
"Wait, a Vault?" She laughed. "No, vaults are what money is kept safe in in banks and, last time I checked, I wasn't a hundred-dollar bill, and neither were my friends."
Sadly, even though she sounded more than crazy right now, I knew that she believed everything that she was saying. She truly believed that this was a prank, that the nuclear war never happened. She believed that all of this was set up by her friend. Which proved to me that she was slightly hysterical, since no one had the capability to pull something like the Wasteland off as a prank. Not even before the war had happened, when technological advance was at its highest.
Well, at least most people in the world didn't have the capability, since very few GECK programs were actually up and running at the time of the war.
Knowing the extent to which she believed what she was saying, made me very cautious. I carefully chose my words, not wanting her to have a mental break down or anything. "Let me rephrase then. Vaults are just fallout shelters, built just before the bombs hit. Certain people were allowed to move in them to keep the human race alive. Sounds to me like you're from one of those Vaults, one that was never discovered by the people on the surface. And, from the sound of it, never told the inhabitants' decedents about the nuclear destruction."
She just shook her head, her eyes widening.
"Listen, let's get some sleep. You're tired and dehydrated. In two days we will reach a small settlement called Megaton, and once we get there we can talk about this some more, okay?"
"NO!" She screamed, jumping up from her bed. "THIS ISN'T REAL! STOP THIS! THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" She started flailing her arms around everywhere, hitting herself and me at the same time. I reached over and tried to grab her arms to stop her from hurting herself.
I didn't see her reach into my pack.
Suddenly, my trusty 10mm pistol was staring me in the face, the very pistol that Amata had given to me after she had shot down Officer Mack.
"Whoa," I whispered as I lifted my arms up into the air. "Let's not do anything hasty, here."
"Tell me that this is a joke, or your brains will be scattered all over that wall," She said through her teeth.
I was quiet for a good few moments, contemplating on what to say.
I shook my head. "No," I whispered. "This is real. I'm not going to lie to you to save my own ass, and leave you to just go insane. I'd rather die knowing that I told you the truth and leaving you with something to help yourself survive, then help you live a lie that will just lead to your destruction."
The girl started shaking, looking around her as if she was expecting someone to walk up on us at any moment.
"Just give me the gun, before someone gets hurt, alright?"
The girl whimpered and then held it out to me. I snatched it, making sure to make a personal note to myself to hide my guns more throughly with her around. I looked up just as her eyes rolled back into her head.
I caught her just before she hit the ground.
