I was awoken suddenly by the sound of Bessie barking furiously at something in the still night air. This was followed immediately by commotion on the front porch, including my dad shouting above the barking of Bessie to whoever was out there.

A couple of gunshots exploded simultaneously outside, followed by pained whimpering from Bessie and a thud on the front porch, before a flood of footsteps bounded up the porch and rushed into the house.

I stood up, heart pounding, reaching for the gun I always kept in my room in case of emergencies. Before I could draw the weapon and load it, two raiders came into my room and pushed me down, resulting in my head hitting the hardwood floor with a hard thwack.

The raider on top of me chuckled sadistically as he pulled my hands behind my back, securing my wrists with thick cords of rope.

Scared out of my wits and thrashing against my restraints, I called out to my mom and dad.

"Don't even bother, girl," leered the man on top of me. "All of y'all are gonna face Cutty tonight."

I heard the raiders drag my mother from my parents' bedroom, screaming and pushing against the men who held her. I called out to her once again, but was immediately hauled up to my feet by the two raiders.

It was then that I realized something: these men, the people ransacking our house and kidnapping us, were all very familiar faces to me. In fact, they were of the same gang that hung out at Bunker Hill and extorted my family for a share of our hard-earned profits.

One of the men smiled, seeing how confused I was.

"H-hey, I think she recognizes us," he laughed to his friend.

"Why the hell are you doing this?" I demanded. "We've paid our protection to Cutty, we're straight!"

"Nah nah, sweetheart. We're only straight when we fuckin' say you're straight..."

The raider grinned evilly before delivering a hard punch to my stomach. I cried out in pain, falling down face-first with my hands secured behind my back. My kidnappers laughed at my misery before dragging me out of the house.

Immediately I noticed a smear of blood on the porch, near where my dad had been sitting with his rifle. The pen where we kept our brahmin had been set alight, with the freshly-killed corpses of our livestock littering the smoldering haystacks. With the wind knocked out of me by the blow to my stomach, I could only weakly cry out and struggle against the two people holding me.

Out in the yard I saw the raiders gang up around my mom and dad, who both had sack hoods placed over their heads. My dad had a bloody patch on his left knee, most likely where the raiders had shot him to take him down. Both of my parents lay on the ground with their wrists tied as the assembled scumbags took turns beating and kicking them.

Seeing my parents groaning in agony, the raiders laughing as they pummeled their bodies, was enough of a catalyst to regain some of my strength and struggle some more. I managed to slip my elbow out of the grasp of one raider before driving my shoulder into the other man, sending him temporarily to the ground. Unfortunately though, there was only so much that I could do without the use of my arms, and was just as quickly hauled to my feet by the other raider.

I immediately sucked in a throatful of saliva, then spit it into the face of the man who held me. The loogie hit the man straight in his left eye, immediately erasing the smug smile.

He wiped the spit from his face and suckerpunched me, sending a stream of blood rocketing from my mouth. This was immediately followed by the man I had tackled kneeing me in the shin, sending me into the dirt.

"Fuckin' free spirit, ain't ya'?" he remarked. "Hey boys, lay off a second! Think we oughta teach this one a lesson!"

This managed to get the attention of the scumbags beating on my parents, who had since fallen unconscious. They placed an identical sack hood over my head before beating me in the same manner.

Underneath the suffocating blackness of the hood, I could not anticipate each hit, could not register anything other than the pain overwhelming my senses. They spat and cursed at me as I lay crumpled on the ground, completely defenseless. Come to think of it, that's just how raiders like to operate: picking on people that can't fight back. Why else would they resort to stealing from tiny settlements and wandering merchants instead of storming a Super Mutant or Gunner encampment? These cowards could only get their kicks from those who were weaker than them. Like me back then, spitting up blood as the raiders delivered kick after kick, punch after punch, laughing ecstatically each time I cried out in agony.

Before I completely lost consciousness, however, I could sense them laying off of me as my body stopped moving. Obviously they didn't want to kill me...Not yet, at least.

From what I'd heard, raiders loved to take prisoners. Sometimes they used them as slaves. Other times, they forced people to join their ranks under threat of death or torture. And other times, they simply kidnapped people for the hell of it, using them for sick entertainment in one of the many raider-exclusive clubs in the Commonwealth.

Whichever option these raiders chose for me and my family, it was going to be hell. For all of us.

I heard the sound of glass breaking, followed by an intense blast of heat. No doubt, they had set fire to our house, and were watching gleefully as it burned to the ground.

"Hey, let's watch these poor saps burn with the rest of their shitty-ass farm!" one of the men shouted.

"No dumbass, Cutty said 'capture and return'!" piped another voice. "I don't want the boss hangin' my balls up on her mantle."

I couldn't make out much more than that, as my ears had begun filling up with blood. I blacked out soon after as one of the raiders tossed me over their shoulder.


I awoke soon after, my head hurting like hell and my face tingling and swollen. The sack hood, at least, had been removed, allowing me to breathe, but my wrists were still secured behind my back, greatly restricting my movements.

My surroundings, meanwhile, were less-than-hospitable; light filtered into the dark cell I was in through rusted steel bars. Through the cage door, I could see what looked to be a small office, one which the bombs had failed to tarnish even two centuries later.

It became obvious as my eyes adjusted to the darkness that this was a jail before the Great War. This was affirmed by the human skeleton lying in the corner, one which the raiders hadn't bothered to clean up when they commandeered the building. The skeleton, unfortunately, still wore a pair of handcuffs around his left wrist, which attached him to a utility pipe close to the floor.

As sorry as I felt for this poor sap who bore a permanent skeletal grin, I bore much greater concern for my parents, who lie upon the cold concrete with their wrists bound in the same manner. My mother remained unconscious, while my dad panted heavily, eyes darting in fear around the prison cell. He soon came to notice me, freshly-awoken from my trauma-induced stupor.

"Lily..." he whispered, his voice choking in fear.

"Dad..."

I struggled to sit up without the use of my arms, but eventually managed to prop myself up on a far wall.

"What...do you know why they're doing this to us?"

"I dunno, Lily," he shook his head solemnly. "I...I was out on watch, and they just...came out from everywhere, every conceivable corner. I couldn't get 'em all, there was too many..."

He winced from the pain in his leg. Judging from the splatter of blood on his pants leg, the bullet seems to have hit him right above the knee.

I scooted closer out of concern.

"N-nah, I'm fine, hon. The bullet went in-and-out, it should be okay."

At that moment, my mom awoke, her hair falling in her face as she craned her head upwards to face my dad. Both of them sported a painful assortment of facial bruises, with blood still leaking from their busted lips.

As soon as my mom remembered what happened, she couldn't help but to start crying. Dad quickly moved to comfort her, placing his shoulder comfortingly on top of hers.

"Oh God...Logan..." she spoke in between sobs.

My dad could do nothing but issue quiet assurances to my mom as he allowed her to cry into his shoulder. I quickly traversed the floor to be with my parents, and they immediately included me in their arm-less embrace.

"Lily, honey..." my mom's tear-filled eyes turned to me.

Seeing my mom's identical green eyes so distraught, I could not help but to fill a flood of anguish rise up in my esophagus. I felt myself began to tear up along with her and my dad as we kneeled in a crude triangle on the cell floor.

I sniffed heavily as the tears came on; I couldn't wipe my face without the use of my arms.

"Mom...Listen, i-it's gonna be alright, okay? We're gonna get through this, all of us...I love you."

"We love you too, honey..."

My mom tried to say something else, but was completely overcome by sobs shortly thereafter My dad leaned in closer to console her, even though his eyes had since become moist.

"Your mom...she's right. We do love you...and we're gonna do all we can to keep you safe from...from what these raiders do to people...We'll take the brunt of all the abuse, everything, for as long as we can."

"No, dad," I objected. "We're all in this together. I can take my fair share too, if it means we can all get out of here together."

I sighed heavily, looking into my dad's steel-blue eyes.

"I'm not leaving here without you guys...I promise."

Bearing witness to the fiery stubbornness in my pupils, my dad looked down, shaking his head faintly.

"They'll kill us first, Lily...That's what raiders do to old folks like us. We ain't gonna be of much use to them for very long."

At the moment I was about to debate further, the door swung open, allowing two armor-clad raiders to enter our cell. Me and my parents stood up, my mom's face still dripping with tears.

The raider on the left, a female dressed in a spike-studded leather jacket, did not hesitate to chuckle at our misfortunes with an air of complete uncaring.

"Well, would you look at this," she sneered at us. "Two old farts and their darling daughter, who have somehow survived in the Commonwealth for this long? What a fucking load."

"Cutty..." my dad growled at her and her bodyguard.

"Logan," the raider addressed in a devilishly calm manner before stepping closer to us.

I glared up at the silver-mohawked, face-tattooed woman before me. She seemed to not even notice me, however, instead brushing back my dad's hair as my mom watched.

"Sorry to come knockin' on your door so soon, baby, but I'm afraid I've had to change up our routine a bit. I'm sure you won't mind."

"Why?" he demanded. "What the hell was wrong with us givin' you money?"

"Well, because times have changed, Logan," she mused. "It's...well, it's just not as easy to be a Raider anymore. Ever since the Minutemen reformed and that dipshit General of theirs started dispatching patrols. My guys have been dying, Logan. My bases have been stripped clean of parts and men, so...we've just decided to get into a different line of exchange. Unfortunately, Logan, that means you and your loving family are gonna be sold as slaves."

"Look, j-just name your price, alright?" my mom pleaded. "We'll pay up at a new rate, just don't do this!"

"Sorry, Charlotte, but I've already got a buyer for your daughter over there. Unfortunately though, no one's wanting to take you two yet."

The smug raider leader turned to look at me; I, of course, gave her my best death glare, which was unfortunately all I could do in my current position. If my hands were free though...

"Aw, what's with the long face, Lily? Surely you don't think I'd sell you to people who wouldn't take good care of you."

I said nothing; my eyes simply followed Cutty as she sauntered over to my side. She knew she was in complete dominance over us, and she did not waste the opportunity to stroke her own ego.

She squatted down next to me, feigning a friendly grin. Of course, the woman with the spiked jacket was about as friendly as a stingwing, and just as venomous.

I had met her only a few times before at Bunker Hill, and all those times she was demanding money from us and the proprietors of the market. By all accounts she was cold and ruthless, even by Commonwealth standards. Anyone she didn't like, she'd kill on the spot. Any settlement that refused her egregious demands for tribute payment were wiped off the map by her gang. Nothing was left of these sites but bodies and burnt-out husks of houses. This was probably what convinced most merchants and caravans to pay their dues to her.

"Y'know, I think you're gonna like it over there with Chancer. He's got a pretty sweet setup, completely underground...You don't mind doing a little diggin', do you hon?"

"Fuck you," I spat at her. "I'm not gonna be a slave, Cutty. Not for you, not for anyone."

"Aww. Well we'll just see about that..."

She tusseled my hair a bit before standing back up, calmly wiping some dirt from her knees. All that my parents could do was to look on anxiously.

"...Hey boys, I think this one's ready for you!" she shouted outside the cell.

I tensed up as I prepared to fight back, but not before the raider boss delivered a swift kick to my face, sending me onto the ground as footsteps flooded into the cell. Two raiders, a man and a woman, dragged me away by my elbows as my parents cried out helplessly. I kicked my legs in desperation, but the raiders dragged me swiftly through the building, my parents' voices fading in the dark corridors.

I shouted back to them, but was immediately shut up by one of the raider thugs, who promptly withdrew a syringe and stuck it into my neck. I could feel the mysterious chemical enter my bloodstream, where it immediately went to work in paralyzing my muscles.

"Don't worry, this'll help calm ya' down," the woman said in a mocking tone. "You're gonna need to save your energy, girlie, for the work you're gonna be doin'."

The two thugs cackled at my misfortune as they took me out of the police station. At that point, however, I was starting to fall unconscious. As my vision was gradually blurred by brilliant geometric shapes, I could make out none of the buildings or scenery around me.

Unable to think or to move, I eventually slipped into unconsciousness.


Welp, after a longer delay than expected, this chapter is up. During this time, I've been busy moving to a whole new area of the country and getting a new job, so it's been quite eventful. But, I haven't forgotten about poor Lily. How's she gonna get out of this one? And what's gonna happen to her folks in the raiders' captivity? Tune in next time to find out, dear readers.

Note: The chapters here are probably gonna be a bit shorter than those of my other story, mainly due to the straightforward nature of the narrative. Also, there'll be a lot less subplots and everything: I hope to have Lily's story wrapped up within 20 or 30 chapters or so...Maybe...Possibly. p_p

Nonetheless, I'm thankful for you guys reading, and I will see you in the next chapter.