Chapter 10: The Colorado
The Mojave grew hot and searing, the sands of collected dust steamed with mirage above the surface. The marks of the battles were still far to be seen, the clouds from their left overs were tall in the sky as they drew flocks of crows to gather and feast. But despite the gossips and news that was traveling quick across the Mojave, there were a different set of stories waiting to be told in the near future. Several hours had passed since the conclusion of the Black Mountain battle, as now the abductors had made their way south like spirits in the winds. Dana felt as if her eyes were glued sealed, her head throbbing violently as where her body felt heavy but numb with her sense of gravity fazed strongly. Opening her eyes, the sunlight burned through into the core of her brain as she attempted to groan but her throat was severely dry. Moments passed as her senses began to configure themselves, a quiet cough slipping from her mouth as she tried again to open her eyes as she caught the sound of several or more voices talking nearby. Dana then moved her fingers a little before she realized that her hands were bound together, a small thread of rope had fixed her wrists above a long pole that was rested between the shoulders of two of her kidnappers. A familiar feeling of dread made it's way back to her, the discomforting fact shining in front her that she was once again at the mercy of the Wasteland. She saw the horrid tortures that had been bestowed to others as the road they moved on was decorated with a short number of crucifixions. The cries of the victims were haunting and hollow, groans of the dying synchronizing almost as one. Dana gulped as she caught only glimpses of their bodies, sickening at the site of their frail anatomies denied of nutrition and water. But it was not the crucified victims that maintained Dana's center of attention, but rather the gathering of tents and soldiers that lurked in the camp before them. Dozens upon dozens tending to their duties and labors, a traffic of armored men moving back and forth as more arrived on a few rafts at the docks. Something was brewing within the camp, but Dana feared to know what that may be and if it would have a connection to herself or Don.
But the two of them were hoisted along by their cap-tees, bringing them to the confines of a chain link cage next to a small building. Don awoke in the same manner as Dana, waking up from a narcotic induced state as the world was seen as a smear across water to his eyes. The two of them were cut from their binds shortly after they were lowered into the cage, the earth underneath their bodies boiling with heat as if hell were right beneath them. As the guards exited the cage, Dana assisted Don as she moved him to lean against the nearby wall with a heavy chest. Sitting across from them was a resting old man, filthy and red from his time in sun exposed torture. The clashed talk from the camp had slightly settled, as the action within the area had weakened after their arrival. Don coughed with a dry throat, his tongue feeling sandpaper within the chamber of his mouth. Blinking a few times, he was able to see as clear as he normally could, turning his head to take in more of what was going on around him. Dana rested a little at his side, "Are you okay?" She asked him rooted with worry. Don's head lowered as he couldn't stomach to look her in the eye, "I am for now." He replied as his voice was surprisingly unaltered by the thirst in his throat. "Who are these people?" Dana fretted as she looked at them moving by through the camp. "It's the Legion..." Don uttered as he too glanced at them, before meeting eyes with the old man who stared endlessly into him. "Little lady's a vault dweller?" He said in a wise voice, Dana immediately turned her attention onto him instead. "Should have taken better care of yourself."
Dana sat forward a little, "Isn't that a bit hippo-critical old man?" She remarked with sterning eyes. "I don't need to be worried. Old bag of meat like me doesn't have much to look forward to, besides these slavers don't usually pay first for us elderly folk." Don snapped his head towards him with a displeasing expression, "Shut your mouth." He warned him before slowly standing himself up to look deeper into the camp, watching the little motions made by the legion troops as they went about their duties. "Slavers. Is this worse than before, Don?" She asked him as she gulped with a sickened stomach, but he did not answer her. The old man chuckled loudly, "You not gonna say anything there son?" He smugly spoke with little care on his face. "I said shut up. Dana and I aren't gonna be sticking around to know what these bastards want, if you want in too then keep your damn mouth shut." The old man kept up his snobby grin, leaning the back of his head against the fencing as he stared up towards the sky. Dana hesitantly got onto her feet, stepping alongside Don as she kept her eyes down to the ground. Don may have looked determined to anyone outside the cage, but deep down it would likely be something else. Dana could see it on his face. "So it is bad then." She said weakly, a defeating feel that this was perhaps the end at last. "I...I don't. I don't know where the big guy is. You see him with you when they brought us in?" Don asked her with a stutter. She couldn't muster the strength needed to speak, her mind rattled by the reality they both were in. "Hey youngster, is that girl of yours a virgin?" The Old man spoke, taunting them with his choice of words. Don stepped away from the fence towards him clenching his fists as he moved, but Dana hurried to grab his arm. "Don't Don, it's not worth it." She said in a gentle plead. The Old man got up onto his feet with a paining groan, his age taking it's toll on his physical well being but he did not stop until he standing upright. Don gazed intensely at him, sickened and hateful at the grinning face that the old man had forged on his face. His fist felt tight as his fingernails almost pierced into his palm, as the stress had contributed heavily to his desire to hurt the old man. But Dana's hands seemed to sap the fuel from his angered mind, gradually turning away from the taunting nature of the slave.
But Don suddenly felt a brush of dirt smack him across his neck, as broken tiny shards of earth scattered around his face. Now there was no second doubt, as Don turned back around and marched directly towards the old man who did not seem worried in the slightest. Dana watched with innocent eyes as he approached him, "You want me to kick your ass?" Don threatened as he stood only a couple of feet away from him. The old man continued to grin smugly, all the while his hand remained at his side but his fingers moved slowly as if it were motioning something within them. Dana spotted something small and sharp between the old man's fingers, her eyes lighting up once the realization of it had struck her mind. But as a breathe escaped her lips, the old man drove his small shiv towards Don's gut however though it was to no success. Don had managed to catch the old man's hand in mid strike, pulling his arm up as punched him squarely onto his nose. A yelp of pain drummed from him as Don proceeded to break to the old man's hand, causing him to drop the knife into the dirt before he casted him against the fence by a heavy kick to the chest. The Legionnaires yelled as they struck their clubs against the chain link fence, as if they were commanding disobedient dogs to submission. Don pressed his boot against the shiv, covering it so as to keep it hidden from their view. Their eyes glanced between the inhabitants of the slave pen, as they seemed now to have ceased their aggressive introductions to one another.
A nearby officer barked out a series of orders, causing the Legionnaires to move themselves away as Don carefully leaned down to sheath the small blade into his boot without any of them noticing. The old man coughed sickly as he clenched his nose with his hand, blood slipping through his fingers as it trickled along his neck and chest. "Had enough old man?" Don rhetorically spoke, as he returned to Dana as she sat back down against the wall twirling her fingers against one another. Don then began to seemingly wander and speculate at the edge of the fence, watching the Legion soldiers with cautious eyes. "Think they'll keep us in here for long?" Dana asked him, but she wasn't met with an answer. "Think maybe...there's another place they have take us to first? Some sort of screening?" Don moved to the opposite side of the cage, approaching the eastern side as the rays of the sun caused him to squint and shield his eyes. Dana turned her head to look east, spotting the collection of water that met at the edge of the camp and it's docks. "Is that a lake?" She asked with little wonder, Don rested his hand for a moment against the fence. "Colorado River." He uttered plainly. Dana could tell that something was getting to Don, his pacing between the two sides of fencing was a strong enough giveaway. "You know. I heard about what happens to people east of the river, men and women becoming addicts before they get put into slavery." Dana's words gradually caught a better grip of Don's attention, "Did you ever go east? For a bounty?" Don rustled the fence lightly with his hand, "Stop Dana." He said quietly as he re-framed from acknowledging her. "Stop?" She replied calmly. "Stop asking me things." Dana smiled softly as she lowered her face, doing what she could to hide it from him before spotting the old man who seemed to have passed out from the hits he took. "I only just noticed it until now was all. You were the one asking me things." Don scoffed lightly as he pulled his hand away from the fence, before turning to lean his back into it. "Yeah, fair enough." Dana sat up to straighten her spine as it gave her little comfort, "I know your not going to bullshit me, Don. I don't want to know what happens here. Just want to hear you say something." Dana said softly as she genuinely attempted to reach him with her words. "Then you know that it ain't gonna be good. So what more is there to discuss?" He told her in a gruffed voice, rubbing his neck as the last of the dirt had finally left his skin. "You ever seen real slaves before Dana?" He asked her with the expectation of not having it unanswered, to which his foresight had proved him right. "Yeah. You don't need to see any to know, what's east of the Colorado...across the dam. Shit that you don't want to see."
Dana silently sighed under her breathe. "Seen a few things since I've been up here." Don brushed the back of his hand against his nose a little before speaking, "Sure. Go a few rounds with raiders and muties, it's not the worst of the world I'm afraid Dana. Least there's a chance you'll get a quick death from either one." Dana thought on everything that was being said to her, keeping herself fixated on the topic itself. "I never said it was gonna be easy Don, not once." She said tenderly, "Really? Just what exactly was you expecting to begin with? Never should have got myself suckered in." Don spoke bitterly, glancing at the old man as he rested in pain. "Oh sure. As if you would have done differently Don, seems to me that either way we were gonna end up in this place. Whether the Terminator came along or not. And what do you mean suckered in? Nobody asked you to help anyone." Dana witted as she grew slightly eager to engage harder in the conversation. "Nah but I didn't see you doing anything differently either." Don replied as he became a little aggravated by their talk. "What's this really about Don? Huh? Your upset because we got put right back into this mess or because you wanted to see the mission through to the end? I'm not an idiot Don, I could see how much it mattered you. It doesn't take a genius to know that life holds little value in the wasteland, but getting to put it towards something meaningful is a chance that I'm guessing don't come around often."
Don chuckled with displeasure, "Yeah, well. You got me there Dana, maybe for once I decided to give a damn about more than caps and booze. Just once. And look where that got me? You know it's not even the fact that it happened and in the end all I got was being tossed into this place that pisses me off Dana." Dana rolled her eyes with disbelief, "Sure. Because gun toting drunks are always at ease when they get stuck between bars aren't they? So tell me, what else could it be that pisses you off about our current situation?" She argued in a firm manner. "It's the one person in this damn cage who couldn't have had it any better than the rest." Don ill tempered said, causing a pause between the two of them. "You want to tell me something I don't know?" She replied as she clenched her jaw a little, as Don grin stepped from the fence a step or two. "Oh I'd love to Dana, believe me." He replied as he strolled by her again, "Well jeez I'm not goin any damn where now am I?" She spat at him as it became clear that emotion was begin to spill from her. Don sat knelt down in front of her, his strict focus directly engaged at Dana. "You really want me to lay it all out then? I'm disappointed Dana. Smart girl like you, never figured I'd cross paths with a vault dweller ever again and I was almost right too. Except this time I came across a damn runaway, one who after a bit of time tells me that things weren't so bad for her." Don venously said causing Dana to breathe heavier with furious intent. "Yeah?" She sarcastically remarked, her anger not seeping away in her eyes. "I know you didn't want to stick around for long once we got out of Nipton, and you know what I don't blame you. But just remember something Dana, I was born up here while you were down there your vault. You see for me, it ain't about what's been lost. It's about what I didn't start off with. You had privilege Dana. You got to sleep safely in a bed, with parents and a home to keep the wasteland out. Then you turn twenty and you think you know what the big bad world is like from your vault, and decide to stage a little runaway."
Dana's anger had climbed to a dangerous level, her teeth pressing against each other heavily with force. "Oh Don, your vision just gets more and more narrow when your not looking through your damn scope. I know the difference between losing something and not getting what you want. Tell me something, you ever doubt yourself Don? Hmm? Ever doubt your own opinion?" She verbally retaliated, "Not once." Don meekly replied, as if he had no care as what to say anymore. "Good! Because your in for a treat." She boldly uttered with annoyance, "Well take a damn shot then Dana, might as well since daddy isn't here to spank ya." He replied a taunting voice, causing Dana to flood with emotion. "I never ran away you stupid son of a bitch!" She screamed loudly as her voice rang across the camp, followed by an eerie silence that lasted a short moment. Don felt himself growing sick into his stomach, a massive dose of guilt plunged into his core as he broke away from her. Feeling beaten, and tired of what they had seen as the two of them became distant whilst the small kept going like an unending cog in a machine.