Charon

She was dragging me along on another suicide mission for more people she had absolutely no connection to and had no intention of earning anything from. I guess I can understand why. The time slogging through raiders and mirelurks took longer than expected. I thought it would be a few days, instead it was a week and two days before we made it to the beacon.

When we reached the source, a guy named Werner approached her. His face was caked with dirt and he was missing an eye. He explained the situation and gave Judith a set of instructions to follow. He looked at me funny.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?" He pointed right at me.

"There are no ghouls in the Pitt?"

"Nah, they ain't. Somethin' worse. So what's wrong with him?"

"He can hear you and his name is Charon. He suffers from ghoulism. When people are exposed to too much radiation, this happens."

"You all there, big guy?"

"More than you are." I shot him a glare he couldn't match.

Judith shrugged off the conversation and started moving. She followed the guys instructions and went West to find the captives. We approached the slavers and dispatched them with a barrage of frag grenades. They never knew what hit them. Judith released the slaves and her good side was showing again. It was weird. She never asked for a reward. She borrowed a slave outfit off of a dead body and wore that.

Her face turned bright red.

There was barely any clothing on her beat up body. It was a small strip of cloth around her breasts and a short skirt that showed the crease in her ass when she walked. There was a collar around her neck that attached to her waist. It showed off her figure, among other things. She flipped me off.

"Quit gawking, ya skinless perv!"

I shrugged and cracked a small grin. "I'm skinless but I ain't eyeless."

I chuckled as she awkwardly took the lead. I couldn't help but look at that barely covered ass again. If anything, just to laugh at her awkward state. Her sleeping clothes, which is a tattered tang top and grey shorts, are more modest than this outfit. She turned her head and shouted "You are awful!"

I reveled in seeing her so flustered. It was quite satisfying really. She got to the tunnel and the two started talking again. They talked about how they were going to get in. I didn't trust this guy as far as I could throw him. I knew Judy was blind, all she thought about was freeing slaves now. She wasn't thinking about how he could be manipulating her into something life threatening. But really, there isn't much I could do to talk her out of it at this point. I snapped back to the conversation when the Werner guy gestured towards me and said I couldn't come along.

"Your friend will have to stay here. There's only room for two on the cart and we only have supplies for two."

Before Judith could say anything, I grasped her around the arm and yanked her off to the side. "Judith, I don't trust this guy."

She pulled her arm out of my grasp. "Yeah? Well why not?"

I shook my head. "This is too convenient. He's asking you to go to a place you've never been before that's infected with some terminal, disfiguring disease, and he wants a complete stranger to fix it."

"Well this place isn't much better when it comes to disfiguring diseases," she jabbed, "You should know."

I glared at her and growled. "Shut up, Judith. You don't know what you're doing."

"I know exactly what I'm doing. What if there was a cure for ghoulism, huh? And you were the only one who could get it. It was a proven fact that the cure could work. Would you walk away?"

She had me beat. I grumbled in protest, but I couldn't argue with her. She didn't smile, but we locked eyes for a good ten seconds. She looked at me with a look that said 'Don't worry about me. I'll be okay.' I looked at her thinking she was stupid, but if she felt the need to free some more slaves, I could not stop her. I finally reached out and rubbed her shaved head then rested my hand on her shoulder. "Get going. Your friend is waiting for you."

"If I'm not back in a week, you know the drill."

We had discussed this. I was to tear apart my contract. I really don't see how it matters anymore. Judith is more than the contract.


Judith

The Pitt was a nightmare. Never could I imagine such a sick, dark place. Werner was right. There's sickness in the water and the air. The slave bosses are heartless maniacs and the slaves have no will to live. They've accepted their fate and they've given up. The Mill was scorching and reeked of sweat and metal. To see these people toil and sweat and burn up, it sparked only an intense flame in my heart- in my whole being, to free them of Ashur.

My first objective was to collect steel ingots and get a feel for my new surroundings. There was a surly raider with a sunken, dirty face that looked like cracked ground. He laughed at me and fully expected me to perish in The Yard. He shoved me out the door, laughing, locking the door behind me. As I entered the Hell that is The Yard, I happened upon a poor soul, well, a dead body. An assault rifle, some rounds, and ingots were scattered about his corpse. I started walking, when I heard a slave call out to a trog, calling him his brother. I ran around the gate and I tried to save the slave. But, but his brother had killed him in senseless, animalistic violence. That was my first experience with a trog.

It made a sickening noise that was no longer a human but truly an animal. It's red, pasty skin was cracked and bleeding. The face was no longer distinguishable, the blood shot eyes squinted in the little light provided, it's teeth were long and the lips curled into a constant snarl. Massive claws protruded from it's grimy hands. The stench coming from this animal nearly made me vomit. Before I could react, it charged me. I shot it down with a few well placed bullets to it's skull.

I spent half the day looking for ingots as trogs clawed and scratched and bit my limbs. The air choked my throat and left an unyielding taste of fire and metal in my mouth. The harsh air stung my eyes to tears. My skin seethed at every sound of trog yowling over a fresh kill. The red sky punctuated by towering black buildings sent my heart yearning for the Capitol Wasteland. Billowing smoke choked the air.

Maybe Charon was right. But I needed to free these people. I had to press on.


Charon

The trek to Ten Penny tower was a fuckin' brutal one. It felt weird not tailing Judith, not seeing her trip over everything and anything, remarking about something, or generally being a salty bitch. I really missed it, actually. She always had something to say, sometimes plain and simple, sometimes way over my head. She thought a lot. She thought a lot about life and people. I wouldn't always listen, but I loved the sound of her voice. It was a pleasant voice I guess, it was dark but clear. But she wouldn't be gone for long. The Wasteland is depressing enough, but with only yourself and your thoughts it's fucking awful to live at all. I met up with Crazy Wolfgang at Paradise Falls and followed him down to Ten Penny Tower.

We crossed paths with many Yao Guai and even a sprinkling of Super Mutants. The tower was clearly in sight. But before we reached the tower, Wolfgang thanked me for my services. He slipped me a handful of Stealth Boys; our agreed payment. It was dark by the time I reached the pearly gates. Wolfgang asked for entrance to stay the night. They begrudgingly let him through, while I sneaked into the building.

The place hadn't changed a fuckin' bit.

It had been near 50 years since I last 'worked' here. Back when I had skin and hair, when it didn't hurt to wake up in the morning, when my spine wasn't exposed for all to see. Back when people made fun of my red hair, not the lack of it. It had been 50 years, but things hadn't changed much. The security was much tighter, but the insides and the people weren't much different. Well, there were certainly fewer ghouls. There used to be at least three ghoul residence here before, well, before I fucked it up for them.


Judith

I fucking wish I could have died.

I wish I had listened to Charon.

Werner wasn't to be trusted at all.

My firearm was pointed directly at the bastards head. "You never told me the cure was a child."

He put a hand on his gun, but the other in the air. "I didn't think it would be a problem. A hardened merc like you wouldn't think twice about it."

I gripped the handle. The sweat from my palm rubbed my skin raw against the grip of the gun. "Stealing children from their parents is fucked up to anyone with half a goddamn conscience. You're enslaving her just as they enslaved you." I took a deep breath in. "I need you to assure me that not a goddamn hair on her head will be put out of place to get this cure."

"I can't assure anything, tuts. If we have to cut this kid open to get this cure-"

My heart raged. "Then I'm killing every last one of you!" I roared. "I'll kill you, and him-" I pointed to the slave in the corner. "And Medea, and anyone you can think of. I'll kill all of them and I'll take Marie with me. Don't think I can? You saw the slave bosses. I filled them with so much lead they started bleeding tar." My voice darkened. "You picked the right person to do this job. You were right for killing. You were right for getting a job done. But you were wrong if you thought I'd just hand a baby over to a bunch of filthy slaves."

"You sick bitch. You wouldn't-"

I swung my arm to the right and shot the slave right between his eyes, then turned the gun back to Werner. I pressed Marie closer to my heart. "I believed you Werner. I helped you. I saved you. At this point, I don't care if you all survive or curl up and die in this filthy fuckin' hole. I only care if this child remains safe. And if you can't assure that, I'm taking her with me and I'll kill you right where you stand."

Werner took his hand off his gun and threw his arms into the air. He glared at me with his one eye for a long time before finally speaking. "No harm will come to Marie."

There was a tense moment where I considered shooting him anyway, just for lying to me. He wouldn't dare fire back. He could hit her. She cooed, and it halted the images of splattering his brains all over the wall. I glanced at her, then back at the son of a bitch. I lowed my gun but kept it in hand as I walked up the ramp, placing her into her crib. I sealed it shut. "Now, there was something else you wanted me to do."


Charon

Ten Penny was standing on the balcony, sniping various creatures that wandered his way. The Stealth Boy wore off, and he noticed my presence. He didn't look surprised.

"Oh, it's you again. Come to kill of the rest of my family you heartless monster?"

"I came to apologize."

He scoffed. "You? Apologize? I didn't know worms had the capacity."

"I'm sorry for killing your wife."

"Sorry isn't good enough. I actually trusted you with out lives, and that's how you repaid me? By trying to save a worthless ghoul slave? Really? One of the lowest life forms on earth? I didn't expect that from you. Never in a hundred years. You were supposed to do my every bidding, not your own. You were weak and defective from the start. I paid good money to purchase your contract. It was the worst investment in my life."

"I never meant for things-"

"Never meant for what?!" He bellowed. "Never meant to murder innocent civilians in cold blood?! Never meant to destroy my beloved wife?! I doubt that. I sincerely do not believe you never meant for any of that to happen. You were just a murderous demon from the start. I know it." He calmed down, only to stand up and look me in the face. "You know, I've been sitting here for 50 years, waiting for you to enter my scope. But you never have, until tonight. I'm going to kill you for everything you've done to me." He pulled out a much more practical .44 magnum. He was a terrible close range shot, his hands were shaking violently with rage.

I was a much better shot.

I flipped on the extra Stealth Boy and snuck out of the Tower. I didn't feel good about what I did, but another part did. I finally got that off of my mind. My business was settled. I traveled all the way north again just to meet up with her. I got there on the tenth day. It didn't open until the afternoon of the eleventh.

"Judith." I said, seeing her walk through the door. Something was wrong. She was hunched over, standing limp in the doorway. I walked up to her.

Her eyes were dark and sunken in, deep purple bags hung under them. The whites of her eyes were blood shot. Dirt caked every inch of skin. There were deep scratch marks on her face, arms, scalp and chest. Plenty of bite marks as well. She looked like she hadn't eaten the whole time. The relatively healthy body I knew a week before had become a shell. She looked at me with blank, half open eyes and shook her head 'no' before she melted. Tears ran down her face in seconds flat. Her lip quivered as she croaked "I should have listened to you." She walked right into my chest and started bawling. She wrapped her arms around me. I was not sure how to handle the situation.

"What happened, Judith?"

She shook her head. I made her sit on the ground, her legs were wobbly as she was growing weak from crying. There was no end. There was seemingly no end to her tears. She hugged her knees. Through the gaping holes in her clothes, I saw ever vertebrae beneath her skin. As she breathed, I could see her ribs expand and contract beneath her skin. I pulled out some food for her, but she refused. I gave her some water and made her drink it. She chugged the whole bottle. She calmed down enough to speak.

She shook her head "I should h-have listened to you, Charon." She looked at me with lifeless, puffy red eyes. Those blue eyes I had known to be bright and wild had been tamed by something dark.

"What the hell happened?" I asked. I wanted so bad to reach out and hug her, or something, goddamn anything. But I was so afraid. I was terrified to touch her or console her. I didn't know if physical contact would have made it worse. It was so frustrating.

"Werner lied. I shouldn't have trusted him. I should have listened to you."

"What did he lie about?"

She rested the heels of her palms on her forehead. "He never mentioned the cure was a child."

"Shit." A surge of rage ripped through me. I never trusted this guy. I should have made that more clear. "Did you kill him?"

She shook her head. "I couldn't. The baby, Marie, she- she looked just like her." And she broke down again. She curled up in a ball and leaned up against me. I gingerly wrapped my arm around her shoulders. She leaned up against me and put her head on my shoulder. I looked out of the tunnel. The sky started churning. It would rain soon. I looked down at Judith. She had calmed down, mostly. A few minutes later, it finally started pouring. She lifted her head and watched the rain fall. She stood up and stumbled outside. She sat in the rain. I didn't bother her. I watched her from a distance. This probably had to do with the 'something' she never told me back in Arlington. This is the pain she's feeling.

Raw pain. Pain that kept you from breathing. Pain that lingers in your head and in your body. Pain she had been fighting with smiles and Med-X. A war had been raging in her and she just lost a major battle.