-Chapter 10-

A redheaded woman stirred on a bed in a small room, awoken by a strange noise. Slowly she opened her eyes. She saw the dingy roof above her bed. She attempted to sit up but was met with a sharp pain in her side. Her eyes shot down to her side and the stains in her shirt spoke of violence.

She sat up in bed with difficulty and looked around. It was a nice enough small bedroom area. One Sunset Sarsaparilla poster on the wall, a nightstand, a few privacy curtains, and a menacing hook hanging from the ceiling. Then she remembered, she was in a Legion base, in a Legion commander's bed. How on earth had she ended up here?

Suddenly the events of the previous day came flooding back to her: the approach to the Legion camp; the endless hours of observation waiting to figure out the patterns of the patrols; waiting until nightfall; the sneak into position; waiting for her companion's signal; and the killing, the slow, careful, and methodical eradication of all the Legionnaires.

Well, almost all.

She could still hear the crack of the door as it swung open against the side of the building. She could still feel the bruises around her neck where the centurion's hands had very nearly wrung the life out of her. She could recall her breath leaving her for what she was sure would be the last time. She remembered the sound of the rifle's impact on the man's helmet, and how he had dropped her to the floor; how her vision came flooding back.

She had scrambled away from him as best she could. She made it to the side of the building before she even realized she was bleeding. Her stomach was turned to lead by the sight of the machete protruding rudely from her side. She definitely could still feel it. Her hand fell to the wound. She could feel bandaging underneath her shirt.

The conspicuous lack of sheets on the bed, and the curious amounts of scrap cloth around suddenly made sense. She remembered stabbing herself with medicine as her vision clouded again. The last things she could recall before the morning were the words "my only friend". She'd have to ask her friend about that.

She looked around for her friend. She couldn't see much of the main room, obscured as it was by two dividing walls set up around the bed. On the bed next to her she found a full stimpack and a dose of Med-X. She grimaced; she hated needles. The pain in her side spoke to her of their necessity and she injected them without much further delay.

After the medicine had a few minutes to work, she tried to stand. Finding it less difficult than she had prepared herself for, she stood up and, leaning against one dividing wall, she made her way out of the makeshift bedroom in search of the source of the odd noise.

Emerging out of the bedroom the noise suddenly made sense. Her blonde companion lay on the desk which had been pushed up against the door. She lay on her back with her arms outstretched and was snoring loudly. A trail of detritus led from the desk to the bed: bloody scalpels, empty syringes, torn scraps of cloth used to collect blood, a few magazines, and one book. The lot had clearly been discarded by the Courier on her path to the desk.

Cass smiled as she returned to the bed. She was more tired than she first realized and the medicine wasn't helping in that regard any. As she lay back down, she silently thanked her friend for being there and wondered from where the Courier's berzerker aggression had come.

It was late in the day before the Courier rolled off the desk, landing with a comical thud. Quickly she looked around. Thankfully no one saw her rough dismount.

"You alright?" she heard her friend ask as she limped into vision. Seeing her friend up and about the Courier was ecstatic. Despite all her doubts, she hadn't butchered her only friend.

"Desk try to feel you up?" Cass sarcastically inquired.

She laughed nervously, "Yeah, the desk started getting a little fresh with me." The Courier picked herself up off the ground. "How do you feel?"

"Not bad, all things considered." Cass smiled weakly. She was holding her side.

"I did the best I could," the Courier offered, gesturing to the mess on the floor of discarded medical paraphernalia. "We should get you to a real doctor though." Cass simply nodded. "Our packs are still hopefully still up on the ridge, but I think we should stick to the road as long as is safe." Cass nodded again. "Sounds good."

The Courier scooped up the mess on the floor and replaced it in the doctor's bag. Hoisting it up over her shoulder she smiled at Cass. "You feeling good enough to travel? Sooner we get started sooner we can get you the help you need." The Courier asked as her stomach growled. "and the sooner we can get some food." Cass's nodded in agreement. Her own stomach was starting to growl with hunger as well, though the thought of food was rather unappetising at the moment. She motioned to the desk by the door, "Why don't you move your bed and we can get started?" The Courier looked behind her at where Cass had pointed before realizing what she was talking about. "Oh right, duh."

Cass started out into the room as the Courier slid the desk away from the door. She turned around just in time to see Cass start to falter and she rushed over to help prop her up. The Courier slid Cass's right arm around the back of her neck. She smiled at her friend. "Just lean on me and we'll take this slow alright?" Cass nodded as the pair limped their way out into the bright Mojave sun.