There are Such Things

Megaton greeted them on the horizon just as the sun began to set. Alex leaned heavily on Bethany. The entire trek they'd been trying to outrun the shadows slowly creeping across the wasteland. As they approached the door Bethany could see the lookout tracking them with his rifle. She raised her hand in greeting and waited for the gate to open. She thought he might have mistaken them for raiders, but after an agonizingly slow second the gate screeched and opened enough for them to go through. Bethany wasted no time and she dragged her sister through ducking under the still rising gate.

Once the secondary gate was shut behind them Bethany could finally breathe. Alex's skin looked grey in the fading light. She did the best she could back at the school but it wasn't enough. She'd always operated under the close supervision of her father in a high tech medical facility. She didn't know field medicine. Lucas Simms jogged over to them hand resting on his pistol.

"What fresh hell did you two run into?" He asked eyeing Alex. Her eyes were narrowed against the sun, the twilight was still too bright for them. She lost her welding mask back at the school and Bethany didn't want to waste time looking for it.

"Raiders, at the Springvale Elementary School." Bethany answered.

"Springvale is overrun, you should have never wandered in there yourselves." He said shaking his head. "I suppose we could send a few volunteers in to clear the place out… Never felt right having that many so close to home."

"There aren't any left." Alex said. "But that information would have been really useful yesterday." Lucas Simms eye her warily, Alex's glower might have been more imposing if she didn't look seconds away from keeling over.

"You said there was a doctor here?" Bethany chimed in.

"Down that way," Simms said gesturing into the crater, "Across the way from the Brass Lantern." Bethany nodded and began walking as swiftly as possible in the direction.

"And here," Simms called after them. He heaved a pouch into the air and Alex's hand shot out to catch it. The bottle caps clanked against each other loudly, and Alex groaned gripping her side. "For taking care of those raiders."

People stared at them as they passed but the look on Alex's face was enough to avert their gazes. Bethany was grateful for it, she squirmed under the close scrutiny. "You better be damn near dying." A gruff voice called out when they opened the door to the clinic. A dark skinned white hair man came out from a small adjoining room, he stopped dead in his tracks when he got a look at them. "Put her on the exam table."

Bethany obeyed and Alex grumbled about being moved around like livestock but she allowed the help. Bethany helped her strip off her vault suit and Bethany gasped stepping back. She was covering in bruises and shallow cuts. The doctor got to work immediately. There was no indication that Alex was in pain beyond the change in her breathing. Bethany hovered closely and the doctor stepped on her more than a few times. He must have gotten frustrated because he started giving her orders to fetch this and that. Eventually he handed her a rag and told her to wash up. She dabbed at her neck and face absently as she watched him work. He injected her with a few more stimpacks, and checked under the bandages on Alex's head and stomach. Fresh blood oozed from the hole in her stomach. He got to work stitching her up. "I tried…" Bethany trailed off. Her eyes stung.

"You did enough." He said snipping the thread. "She'll live. She'll have scars, but she'll live." Alex stood and pulled her vault suit back over herself grimacing as she zipped it up. It was more brown and red than blue now. "Now on to you."

"What?" Bethany asked. Alex nodded her head over to a glassy square on the wall. It took Bethany a moment to realize that it was actually a mirror and not a painting of a sad little girl. Her hand reached up to her neck and gingerly touched the dark purples bruises forming around her neck. They reached from her collar bone to connect with the bruise on her face from where he'd hit her like some kind of grotesque necklace. One of her eyes was red from a subconjunctival hemorrhage. "Oh." She said softly. She trade places with Alex who'd opted to perch on the table to the left.

The doctor fussed over her turning her head this way and that. He had to remove her boot and cut up the leg of her vault suit in order to get to her bullet wound. She winced as he cleaned it and Alex crossed her arms. Bethany's sister had not spoken since they got to the clinic and she would not take her eyes off Bethany's neck. Her frown deepened and she looked at her shoes.

"Hey," Bethany said softly nudging Alex's leg with her bare foot. The doctor grumbled. Alex looked at her and scowled again. "Don't. If you hadn't; it would have probably been way worse." The doctor paused for an almost imperceptible second before continuing his ministrations.

The doctor stood, "Lucky for you you're mostly bruised. Avoid anything too strenuous and you should be good. Now, normally this would cost you close to 450 caps, but seeing as you did some of my job for me I'll bump it down to 400 even." Bethany balked. Of course they had to pay. The Overseer had been telling them for years people outside vaults sought only to serve themselves. Alex handed him the bag Simms had tossed them and hour ago. The doctor poured it out counting them. "You're 60 short."

"Wait." Bethany slid off the table and pulled the pouch from the Springvale house of out her bag. She bit her lip and held it out to him. She knew it wouldn't be enough. He poured this pouch out and counted them too. He frowned.

"Fine. Now get out of here before I regret helping you." Bethany wasted no time slinging her bag over her shoulder and escaping from him, Alex in tow behind her.

Alex and Bethany stood around one of the trash cans that dotted the Megaton walkways, this one in particular housed a fire. Alex wasn't sure what the fire trashcan was originally for, but right now she was using it to burn her clothing. She covered her nose and mouth with her hand, but the stench still wormed its way through the cracks into her nose. Her vault suit had been completely ruined, blood soaked all the way through it making the tough utility fabric stiff and rank. Even her sports bra could not be saved and so she tossed it too into the fire. After losing one in the vault, Alex was now down to the one vault suit on her. At least her tunnel Snake Jacket had been spared. She's pulled it off a corpse of one of the raiders that took it from her when they knocked her out.

Alex pulled the jacket closer around her as wind whipped past them. It still smelled faintly of Butch and of home. Her heart ached painfully in her chest. She hadn't allowed herself to mourn yet. Alex gazed into the dancing fire until shapes began to form. They were abstract at first, but they soon morphed into screaming faces; the raiders she'd killed. She felt the first raider's head cave under her boot as blood and brain matter seeped up over her foot. The next she'd killed by stabbing a piece of sharpened rebar through her gut. There was tension as first as her body resisted, but them it slid through her all of a sudden like a knife through butter. She gripped the metal sticking out of her with blood slick hands. Alex had clamped her hand over her mouth and she screamed against her palm until life left her. She picked up her bat off this raider, so the next few were easier.

She raised her bat, and brought it down on heads and legs or arms. Until her victim stopped moving. Rinse and repeat. Like a machine. The drug flowed through her veins making her feel head feel like it was full of cotton, and she moved in slow motion. It felt more like she was watching a movie through someone else's eyes, and she was just along for the ride. The dreamlike quality of her trip up to Bethany was sharply contrasted by their trip down. Bodies littered the floor in twisted broken piles. Alex could see her mark all over them. Bethany kept her eyes up and kept them moving, they probably should have looted the bodies but Alex couldn't bring herself to look too closely at them. They only stopped to grab her Tunnel Snake jacket. The raider she pulled it from looked almost like she could be asleep, at least compared to the others. Alex had shattered her hip with her bat and then used the raiders own knife to slice open her thigh. She bled out.

Alex squinted against the light across the fire at her sister. Her vault suit was equally bloody, little of which was her own, and so she'd opted to burn it as well. After they pried the armor off Bethany eagerly tossed the ruined suit onto the flame nearly smothering the fire in the process. Bethany was staring out at the city. She chewed her Vault Tec id tag necklace, deep in thought. The collar of her vault suit was turned up and her hair, free from its usual braid hung down like a dark curtain. Alex could still see the pink line from where the bastard cut her. If Alex had stayed with Bethany they might have been able to fight their way out together, but instead Alex got herself and Bethany caught.

Alex shuddered to think what might have happened to Bethany if the raider hadn't been stupid enough to pump her full of drugs, what might have happened to her. The sky was a light indigo now, and tiny white pin pricks of light had appeared in the night sky. "Are those stars?" Alex asked. They looked nothing like the only picture she'd seen of stars back in the vault. To be fair it was a painting, a painting she'd painstakingly replicated on the ceiling of their shared bedroom with stolen chalk. 'Starry Night' it was called.

When they were children Butch and Alex liked to make up stories about what the outside world would look like. At first the stories revolved around the grotesque monsters horribly mutated from the radiation. They made a game out of who could make the scariest story. As they got older their stories turned into questions. Do you think there's anyone left? Do they look like us? What about trees? How big do you think the world is? What do you think the stars look like? They were questions that only left their lips in whispers. Even more secret still were their plans of escaping the vault, of finding adventure. These dreams they only talked about in dark apartments in the dead of night, their secrets safe from prying ears. She wondered what he would think of the stars.

"They're beautiful." Bethany murmured. She dropped her necklace so it hung at her neck and she gripped the railing tightly as she gazed upwards.

Alex scanned the sky, "Which one do you think is the moon?" Some of the stars were brighter and bigger than the others, but they all kind of looked the same.

"Maybe that one?" Bethany offered pointing out the brightest star in the sky to the north. Alex agreed that it must be. They stood in silence as darkness settled around them.

"Are you James' kids?" The question startled them both and Bethany whipped around to face the scruffy looking man addressing her. He had an eyepatch and his head was wrapped in a bandanna.

"Yes. Do you know him? Do you have information?" She asked inching closer with each question. Her throat was a little raw, and her words hurt. Alex placed a hand firmly on her shoulder from behind her. The man raised his hands and backed up a step.

"I just wanted to tell you Moriarty's looking for you, he wants to talk. That's all I know." Bethany turned on her heel and grabbed her sister's hand dragging Alex along with her. Her leg screamed in protest but she only walked faster. The man mumbled something under his breath but she ignored him. When she got to the door to the saloon her hand hovered over the doorknob. She looked over at Alex waiting patiently beside her. She exhaled and plastered a friendly look on her face. She turned the handle and stepped into the dingy bar.

Jericho slammed his empty glass down on the counter and Gob jumped. The ex-raider glowered at him and Gob hurriedly grabbed the whiskey bottle from under the counter. He un-stoppered it and moved to pour the amber liquid but Jericho just grabbed the bottle out of his hand. "Put it on my tab." Gob nodded and moved over to the other end of the bar. He'd been on edge ever since Moriarty got back that morning. The beating he'd gotten for telling those girls that their dad and Moriarty had spoken was still fresh in his mind, and his labored movement. The door to the Saloon opened and two figured limped in. "Speak of the devil."

He cursed under his breath when they moved under the light. He almost didn't recognize them as the girls that had wandered in two days ago. He'd overheard two patrons earlier talking about them. They'd rolled into town earlier today soaked head to toe in blood. The guy had commented on how crazy vault dwellers always were, probably from being cooped up all their life, and all that inbreeding.

"Hey Gob, is Moriarty in?" Bethany greeted him. Her voice was raspy, probably something to do with the black ring or bruises around her neck distinctly in the shape of large hands. One of her eyes was the color of blood and her cheek was covered in a large yellowing bruise. His eyes lingered on her neck and she shifted tugging on the collar of her vault suit and pulling her loose hair forward. He looked at her face and her eyes were down cast. He opened his mouth to apologize for making her feel bad, or at least say something instead of just gaping.

"As I live and breathe!" Gob winced. His boss, Colin Moriarty, called out as he descended the steps. Bethany's attention was immediately on him and the moment was lost. "It really is you, the little baby girls, all grown up, and quite well it would seem." Alex stiffened and her clenching fists were not missed by Gob, nor Moriarty it would seem as his eyes narrowed at her.

"Mr. Moriarty, we're looking for our father, and I was lead to believe you could help us out?" Bethany said sticking her arm out in front of her. The gesture looked awkward and unpracticed. Moriarty took her hand in both of his and shook it firmly. He turned to Alex, but she did not offer her hand. Moriarty glanced over at Gob and he ducked his head, trying to look very interested in wiping down the bar.

"Come along into my office, its best not to be discussing business out in the open like this." Moriarty walked back around the bar and led the girls into his office. They hesitated for a moment at the door, Alex looked back at Gob and he met her gaze, shaking his head just ever so slightly. She closed the door behind them.

The door clicked softly behind Bethany and Alex moved to flank her. Moriarty sat completely at ease at his desk and she and Alex had no choice but to stand. Moriarty was not at all what she was expecting, he was fat, and old, with long while hair and a scraggly white beard. He also spoke strangely, even more strangely that the harsh tone and sharp vowel she's was becoming to expect from wastelanders. Considering his speech impediment and overall look he was anything but imposing, and yet his presence still filled up the space. Bethany knew better than to underestimate him, she saw his sharp eyes, he might not be strong but he was certainly not a man to owe any favors.

"I'm sorry but you must be mistaken, we've never been outside the vault before now." Bethany said biting her lip.

Moriarty laughed and Bethany flinched, "Is that what your father told you? That you two were born in that hole? That HE was born there?" he chuckled and Bethany decided right then that she hated him. "Oh the lies we tell to those we love."

"Look, we just want to find our dad. Do you know where he went or not?" Alex said. Her muscles were tense and fist clenched tightly at her side. The smile slid from Moriarty's face and was instead replaced by something more dangerous.

"See the thing is dearie," He rose from his chair standing too close to Alex and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "What you're asking for is information, and information is a commodity, and the right information is worth more than gold." He placed a cigarette in his mouth and lit it, taking a long drag. Alex's shoulders were creeping up, he was trying to intimidate them and she was losing patience.

"What do you want?" Bethany asked, there was no point in playing coy, he already knew they were desperate.

"Let's say… one hundred caps and Daddy's location is yours. Very reasonable." He took a drag of his cigarette and tapped it a few times letting the ash fall on Alex's boots.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Alex raised her voice.

"What my sister means to say," Bethany interjected pushing Alex to the side so that Bethany was level with Moriarty and Alex was a safe distance away, "Is that we ran into a bit of trouble today, and we spent all our money at the clinic getting fixed up."

"I'd heard about that. I suppose we might be able to work out some kind of deal." Moriarty said blowing smoke into her face as he sized her up. Bethany wanted to squirm under his gaze but she forced herself to stand up straighter.

"Or," Alex said in a low voice stepping between Bethany and him. She took the cigarette out of his hand and stubbed it out on the desk. She was nearly toe to toe with him now, "You tell me where my dad went, and I don't rip your throat out through your asshole." She snarled the last words and Bethany flinched. Her eyes were glued to Moriarty, his face grew dark.

"I don't take kindly to being threatened in my own bar, but seeing as I'm in a generous mood, we'll call it three hundred caps and we'll call it even."

"Fuck you." Alex spat.

"See that might actually get you somewhere." Moriarty laughed and Alex raised her fist. Bethany darted forward and grabbed her by the wrist.

"Alex, go outside and cool down. I'll work it out." She said looking into her sisters eyes. Alex's face was flushed with anger, and for a moment Bethany was afraid she wasn't going to listen. Alex's eyes flickered over to Moriarty who was smiling smugly, and she sagged. She yanked her wrist out of Bethany's grip and stormed out slamming the door behind her. Suddenly Bethany felt very small in the cramped room all by herself with a strange man. She smiled anyway.

"Fucking creep." Alex muttered as she stomped into the now silent bar. The pretty redhead was not leaning against the wall like she was when they walked in, but there were still people at the tables near the walls, watching her. "The fuck you looking at?" She snapped. Her blood was still boiling and she wanted nothing more than to drive her fist into someone's ribs. They must have read it on her face because suddenly their own conversations were far more interesting than the crazy vault girl.

"Hey." A voice rasped softly at her. Alex turned to look at Gob, his eyes were darting around and he was tapping his fingers on the bar rapidly. He gestured her closer with his head, and Alex approached the bar slowly. He was admittedly nice, probably the nicest person they'd met out here, not counting Moira but she gave her the creeps. Alex still had a hard time looking directly at him though, so her eyes settled on the hole in his face where his nose should be. He slid a small scrap of paper across the bar and she covered it with her hand quickly. She locked eyes with him and his face was a plea; don't say anything.

She carefully tucked the paper still damp with his sweat into her pocket. "Could you tell my sister I'll be waiting for her outside?" She said casually.

"Sure thing." Gob nodded and began wiping the bar down again. Alex stepped through the door and was greeted by a cool breeze. She sighed and leaned on the railing looking out at the city. Light shone through dozens of holes in the ramshackle buildings and it reminded Alex of the stars. She pulled the paper out of her pocket and squinted at the hastily scrawled word; 'terminal'. She'd noticed it in Moriarty's office. She wasn't sure why he would want to help them, but she did see why he might want to hurt Moriarty. She'd have to thank him if it panned out. She heard a light click behind her and she turned back to see a man, Jericho, someone said his name was, leaning against the wall of the saloon. The red glow of his cigarette lit up his features and they regarded each other for a moment.

Alex scoffed and turned back around. There were lights strung up along the buildings and fire trashcans places around the city, but instead of chasing away the dark they created shadows, black and ominous. It made Alex uneasy, in the vault it was never dark. Even in her own apartment light from the hallway always seeped through the heavy curtains, and her Pipboy always emanated a soft green glow. The idea that there could be something in the dark looking at her when she couldn't see it made her skin crawl.

The door to the saloon opened and Alex was bathed in light. Bethany looked unhappy. "Hey." Alex greeted. Bethany walked over to her and Alex looked over at Jericho to let her sister know they had an audience. Bethany glanced at him and perched next to Alex at the railing.

"He wanted us to go hunt down some woman he say's stole from him, in Springvale." Bethany said. Fear seized Alex and Bethany hastily added, "I said no, we aren't murderers."

"You aren't anyway." Alex mumbled. "But don't worry, I got it covered." Alex said passing the paper into her sisters hands. Bethany unfurled it and frowned.

"You want me to-?"

"No. I'll deal with it. I can figure something out." Alex cut her off. She didn't want Bethany to be put in any kind of position Moriarty could exploit, and she'd hate to see what he'd do if he caught her sneaking around his office.

"Well…Okay. I'm going to head to the common house. Be safe, please?" Bethany squeezed Alex's hand and headed out. Alex waited until her sister was out of sight before turning and walking over to Jericho. He raised his eyebrows.

"D'you thing I could bum one of those from you?" She asked. He eyed her, and then wordlessly held his pack out. She pulled a cigarette and places it between her lips. She light the end with her own lighter and took a long drag. She tilted her head back and exhaled a thick grey cloud of smoke. She groaned aloud in satisfaction. It was stale as shit, but it was the best thing she'd tasted since leaving the vault.

"I heard you used to be a raider." Alex said in between puffs.

"What's it to you?" Jericho asked. His voice was rough and deep. She could barely understand the mix of emotions swirling around her head so she just shrugged in answer. Her entire life had been ripped from her against her will, and then the raiders at Springvale took something else from her. She didn't know what, but she felt the absence in her chest. The emptiness filled her with dread and impending sense of panic.

Alex pushed off the wall and crushed her cigarette under the toe of her boot. If Bethany knew what she was about to do she'd slap her. She planted herself in front of him. He was taller than she'd initially thought, he had almost half a foot on her. "What do you want now?" he asked, like she was some petulant child. She stepped closer invading his personal space and grabbed his dick through his leather armor more firmly that absolutely necessary. He grunted in surprise and suddenly he was looking very intently at her.

"Good enough of an answer for you?" She asked, cocking her head to one side. He made no move to back away from her, which she took as a good sign.

"You trying to get back at Daddy or something?" He asked dropping his cigarette to the ground. He didn't bother to stomp it out.

"And if I am?"

Jericho just smirked, "Happy to be of service."

Bethany wrinkled her nose as the stench of dozens of unwashed bodies crashed over her. She closed the door to the common house behind her and scoped out the room for an unoccupied bed. By now she'd lost her novelty and thankfully no one spared her a second glance. The first floor was full but she managed to find a bed on the second floor that didn't appear to have a body in it. She kicked her bag under it and stretched across the length of it on her stomach. Her body practically melted into the bed and she breathed a sigh of relief.

The mattress itself was worn and grey and smelled distinctly of vomit, but Bethany was exhausted. She felt herself drifting into sleep and her eyes snapped open. She needed to wait for Alex to get back from hacking Moriarty's terminal. How exactly Alex was going to get in and hack the computer when Bethany was both the lock picker and hacker Alex didn't say. Bethany knew her sister would find a way though. She propped herself up on her elbows and toggled through her Pipboy menus. She skimmed the medical records until she got to the one that her father had normally sealed from her access. She hovered over the name 'Alexandra Clark' and bit her lip. She opened the file.

Vault Resident #2381

Full Name: Alexandra Catherine Clark

Bethany skipped all the basic information she already knew, height, weight, birthday etc.

8.15.2270

Patient has been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder based on a consistent pattern of behavior and displays overwhelming number of symptoms. Cause unclear, but I fear it may be a result of my extended hours at the clinic. I need to make a point to eat dinner with the girls more often… Though Bethany has not shown any symptoms. Patient to attend counseling appt. with vault Chaplin once a month. Revisit diagnosis in 4.2271

Bethany balked, she never knew either of them had ever been officially diagnosed with anything. Alex never mentioned it. Bethany skipped through the next few sections where Alex was admitted for fights with Butch. She hovered over an entry from March 2274. She remembered that fight; it was the only one Alex refused to talk about. In fact, she was pretty sure it marked the end of Butch and Alex's relationship. Bethany had been the one to treat Butch, he called her a, well, a name and stormed out. Bethany's curiosity was piqued. She backed out and searched for her own file.

Vault Resident #2382

{file could not be retrieved, please contact administrator}

"What?" Bethany blurted out. She received a few wary glances and she waved them off. Why would her file be gone? She scrolled through dozens of other files pulling up each with ease, hers remained the only inaccessible file. Maybe her father was trying to protect them? But if that was the case why wasn't Alex's file gone too. Curiosity burned in her gut, maybe Alex had an idea.

Alex sat on the edge of Jericho's bed an unlit cigarette dangling from her lips. Alex was a virgin by no means, having lost it to Freddie a few years ago when they were dating, she still felt strange having fucked some random man from the wasteland. An ex-raider no less. She looked over and the snoring man beside her. His body was as rough as his face, darkened from years in the sun and covered in a web of scars. She lightly traced a particular deep scar across him chest. She wondered if she would look like him in a few years.

He hadn't been like she expected, in fact he'd eagerly accepted her commands and did not complain when she was unnecessarily rough. Alex wasn't sure if that was better or worse. She still felt empty inside, getting no real satisfaction out of it, beyond physical. She looked around his apartment, and her eyes settled on a small plastic inhaler sitting on a small table in the corner. She recognized it immediately and a shiver ran down her spine. Alex jumped from the bed suddenly needing to be anywhere but here. She yanked her vault suit up hastily only zipping it up halfway. She jammed her feet into her boots and glanced back at the bed. Jericho eyed her blearily and she froze.

He rolled back over exposing his marred back to her, the scratches she left beginning to scab over already. She hefted her bag onto her shoulder and tripped over her untied shoes and bumping into the tables jostling the contents. "See you around." She called out over her shoulder tucking the small red inhaler into her pocket.

Alex staggered into the common house around three thirty in the morning. She walked into the room and scanned the sleeping bodies. Familiar footsteps thudded down the stairs and Alex tuned to greet her sister. Bethany's face was flushed red and as Alex opened her mouth she reached out connecting her palm with Alex's cheek. It didn't hurt but Alex immediately recoiled from the hit. Bethany clutched her own hand to her chest like Alex's face was the one that attacked her. They stared at each other for a moment.

"Where were you?! I was this close to busting into Moriarty's." Bethany whispered at her forcefully.

"I didn't mean to make you worry." Alex said reaching out pulling her sister into a hug. Bethany was stiff but she did not resist.

"You're all I have." Bethany mumbled into Alex's shoulder, her voice cracking. Alex rubbed her back until Bethany sagged against her.

"I found out where dad went." Alex murmured Bethany's loose hair tickling her nose. Bethany bolted upright.

"You did? Where is he going? Is he okay? Can we contact him?" Alex took her sister's rapid fire questions in stride.

"GNR, it's a radio station operating out of D.C. Don't know anything more than that, but you'd hate to see what Moriarty thinks of us." Alex said with a wry grin. Getting the info was shockingly easy. After checking inside the bar that Moriarty was upstairs with Nova, Alex just had to creep outside and sneak in the back door to his office. It took her a little while, and cost her all of her bobby pins, but she managed to pick the lock.

"Moriarty was stupid enough to leave his password written down in his office. We can be on the road by tomorrow morning."

Bethany jumped and clapped her hands together.

I like to build on preexisting canon so from now on there are going to be notes at the bottom of chapters explaining changes or headcanons I've included. As always reviews are welcome