CHAPTER ELEVEN
May 14th 2273
The next two days went by slowly. The miles ran one onto the next, a slow slog that the two vault-dwellers just weren't used to.
Sometime yesterday, they had left the I-85, and headed south near a town called Greenville. Now they were nearing the town of Columbia.
As always when they approached a town, LeBethany was on edge. She gripped her shotgun tightly, expecting someone, or something to try and jump them at any moment.
"This way." she said to them, leading the way east down an off-ramp onto another freeway.
It was clear that she intended to avoid the town altogether, as she had done with every built up area since they began their journey. Scott was glad, as he didn't want to meet anybody who might be looking to do them harm.
"We take this to Interstate 95." she told them. "Then we take the I-95 into North Carolina."
"North Carolina." Scott repeated. "Ain't that where the place we're goin' to is at?"
LeBethany frowned at him. "Y'know, you're really hard to understand sometimes."
"What makes yer say that?"
Oliver chimed in before LeBethany could respond. "Your grasp of the English language is very poor." the robot told him. "Your sentence structures are often broken, and your regional dialect is bloody awful."
Scott stopped in his tracks, his mouth agape. "What?" was all he managed to say.
LeBethany couldn't help but smile, but also felt bad for not always being able to understand what he was saying. "Your dialect is hard to follow sometimes." she told him.
"Can ya understand me?" Milly asked.
"Most of the time." LeBethany told her. "I used to hang with folks who had accents like yours, but it wasn't so fierce."
"Fierce?" Scott asked, walking briskly to catch the others back up.
"Well, you shorten a lot of words, and outright change others."
"Like what?" he questioned.
"Well, instead of saying 'isn't it', you say 'ain't it'." she explained.
"Ain't got time to be rattlin' off a dictionary." Scott argued. "Get what y'mean out, is what I say. No need to be sculptin' yer words, just get it out."
"I guess 'ain't' is in fact an all purpose word." she said. "You use it for isn't it, haven't, aren't."
"Y'guessed right, Ms Beth." Scott confirmed. "No need for nothin' else but ain't."
"Y'know-" LeBethany began.
"Who's cuttin' words now?" Scott interrupted.
She looked at him with a half smile. "What I was going to say, was that I'd like to have a proper discussion about this sometime."
"Why not now?"
"Because we really should be paying attention when we're walking."
"Y'right." Scott agreed. "Could be sumthin' waitin' to jump us." he said, the bear incident still all too fresh in his mind.
"Come on. Let's pick up the pace a little." she told them.
Not much else was said for the next few hours.
The Old house was pretty well hidden from view, and it appeared as though no one had been there for years. Perfect for weary travellers who were looking for somewhere to stay for the night.
As always, Scott couldn't wait to get off of his feet, and sat down on an old decrepit sofa. Milly did the same, While Oliver placed himself down in the corner to recharge his power cells. LeBethany on the other hand, searched every drawer and cupboard for anything even remotely useful.
After heading upstairs and searching the bedrooms, she came across a box of old boys toys. Upon further inspection of the room, she found an old stuffed bear in a sealed box under the bed. Clearly something the child who had lived here had loved when he had been much younger, but had grown out of as he had gotten older.
LeBethany remembered back to when she had been a little girl in California. She'd had many stuffed animals and various superficial toys designed for girls. Her parents had been good to her as a child, and life had been bliss.
She checked the bear over for damage. Apart from the stitching coming apart under the arms and between the legs, it appeared to be in fantastic condition. She thought of Milly, and decided to take it down to her.
After one final look around, she headed back downstairs, the bear behind her back.
Upon entering the living room, she saw the two sitting down, Milly picking something off the bottom of her boot.
"Milly." LeBethany said.
The little girl looked over at her.
"I have a present for you."
Milly's eyes lit up, as she saw LeBethany pull the stuffed bear from behind her back.
"I found it upstairs." she said, passing the bear over.
Milly hugged it tightly to her chest. "It's the best ever!" she said happily.
"I'm glad you like it."
"My daddy said I was too old t'have a bear." she said, closing her eyes shut.
For a moment LeBethany thought the girl was going to have another episode of sobbing about her dead parents. Instead she laid down on the sofa, the bear clasped firmly in her arms.
"I'm sleepy." Milly said.
Scott smiled. "You go t'sleep then." he said softly.
"Goodnight." LeBethany said.
"Night." Milly replied with a loud yawn.
LeBethany walked over to the other sofa, where Scott was sitting and sat herself down next to him. They both remained silent for several minutes.
Scott was the first to break it. "So, how far is it we have left to go?" he asked her.
"Not sure." she revealed. "Not long though. Perhaps a few more days."
"That's good."
LeBethany clenched her jaw. While she wanted to see those that lived at the old airbase again, she knew that there'd be questions when she got there. Questions she didn't want to answer, questions she couldn't answer. The best thing to do, was to not reveal who she was to them. Doing so could be dangerous, in fact she could almost guarantee it would be.
"Scott, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure."
"I'll have to ask Milly this in the morning also."
"What is it?"
"Can you not call me Beth or LeBethany when we get there."
"Why?"
"I don't want to get into it."
"Are you in trouble with 'em or sumthin'?"
"No, I just don't want them knowing who I am."
"Okay, what should we call ya instead?"
"I don't know, I'll have to come up with something."
"Won't they recognise you?" he questioned.
"No, I don't think that will be a problem." she told him.
In truth, the way she looked had changed a lot since she'd last been there. She didn't want to admit it, but there were some there that would see her die in agony, if they discovered who she was. And while she trusted the old admiral, she didn't want to risk it.
"I'm off to sleep." LeBethany told him.
"Okay, do yer want me t'keep a lookout?"
"Yeah, wake me in four hours."
"Sure?" he asked.
"Yeah." she confirmed.
"Okay." Scott accepted.
He couldn't get what she'd said out of his head. It had been two hours, but the thought kept rattling around like a loose marble in a drawer.
Why didn't she want them knowing who she was? Could it be, that when she and her father had left to do the research he was doing, that had he stolen something from them? Taken something he had needed to complete his research? Scott didn't know. What he did know was that it was very peculiar.
Tomorrow, she'd have to tell Milly. He had no idea how that would go. Children were naturally inquisitive, but also tended to not be very good at keeping secrets.
Scott disliked the idea of suddenly having to call her by a different name. He knew so little about her as it was, and this just made him question whether LeBethany was even her real name. It was an odd name, one that he'd never heard before. Then again the selection of names he'd heard was rather limited.
Still he had to remind himself that they were travelling with a stranger. A stranger that he'd put a lot of faith in. Oliver needed repairing, and she had promised to take them to a place where that could be accomplished. He had assumed that them knowing her would be what guaranteed them helping Oliver. It looked like that wouldn't be the case.
Would they help a group of strangers with their broken robot? The chances were they wouldn't do charity, and that they would want something in return. What that would be he didn't know, and suspected that when the time came, it wouldn't be pleasant.
The whole situation made him feel very uncomfortable. The very fact that she didn't want them knowing who she was, meant that there was a strong possibility that if they found out, that they could all end up being in danger.
Then again, everything she had said up to this point could have been a potential lie. Perhaps she wasn't going there to help Oliver. What if she was going there to get some kind of revenge? He'd believed what LeBethany had told him up till now, because she hadn't given him any reason to doubt her. Now he wasn't so sure.
Scott looked at his Pipboy watch. The readout told him that he had another hour and fifty minutes before LeBethany was supposed to take over on watch. Unfortunately, now he wasn't to sure if he trusted her enough any more.
He knew that he was probably blowing it all out of proportion, that there was a simple reason why she didn't want them to know who she was. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of any.
He looked over at Milly, who lay there in the darkened room. The only light source came from the flickering electric-light in the corner. She was sleeping with the bear held tightly in her arms, hugging it against herself. He smiled at the sight. LeBethany had found her the stuffed animal, so she couldn't be all bad.
Scott then looked over at LeBethany. Her almost completely hairless head, and red-looking skin around her eyes and nose reminded him of the way the ghoul had looked.
For the first time, Scott realised that perhaps the reason she didn't want them to know who she was, was because she was turning into one of them.
The thought of her ending up looking like the ghoul, who she had called Granger, upset him. He found her somewhat pretty, even if she had a bit of a tom-boyish look to her. To think her skin might start to rot off, made him feel like crying.
He was unsure if he would ask her about it, but he felt as though he had too. He was a doctor after-all, and treating patients with all different kinds of ailment, was his job. He just wished he had access to his computer, so that he could cross-reference the 'ghoulism' condition with other illnesses.
If LeBethany was becoming one of those ghouls, then he wanted to find a way to help her.
They didn't have long left to go. He hoped that by the time they had arrived at their destination, that he had gotten the answer to exactly why she didn't want them to know who she was.
But that would have to wait. Right now, he was supposed to be listening, and watching. So far, he'd done very little of that. In fact he had done practically none.
Two hours later, he was laying down on the sofa, while LeBethany kept watch. His mind simply refused to shut off, images of Granger the ghoul, and LeBethany flowing constantly through his mind. Eventually though, fatigue overtook him, and he finally fell asleep.
Updated 21st Dec 2013
