Carly skipped in Tranquility Lane. She noted that Old Mrs. Dithers was walking to her and she stopped and smiled brightly. She always had the brightest smile of all, "You are new here." she stated and Carly tilted her head confused. Her short hair hanging in choppy waves along her ears, "Oh Mrs. Dithers you were confusing me for a little bit there." she laughed at the crazy old bat and went to turn when the old lady held her arm softly in her fingers, "Please help us. We are stuck in this computer program."
Carly tore her arm away from the lady and it felt like a familiar fashion, "Let me go Charon." she growled and sighed before stopping. Who in the world was Charon, "See?" Old Lady Dithers walked away from Carly with a self satisfied smirk on her face and a sparkle in her eyes. Charon? Who was Charon? A sharp pain entered her mind and she rubbed at it best as she could.
Betty skipped up besides her. She loved Betty. Betty was her best friend, "HI Betty!" she called and Betty giggled, "Heya Carly." she said and a dog nearby barked in response, "You know Bill Foster has been mean to me lately." she said and Carly raised her eyebrows, "Bill is a nice kid." she said and Betty rolled her eyes, "That's what he wants you to think. But he was mean to me. Be was pushing me on the swing and I fell."
The name Freddy entered Carly's mind but once again a sharp pain kept her from digging further. She rubbed her head as Betty narrowed her eyes just a little, "You should go and hurt Freddy for me." she ordered and watched Carly's face, "Betty, I don't think that's nice." Carly shook her head and walked away leaving Betty to raise her eyebrows, "Oh, Carly, I tried.." A male voice reverberated in her ears as time seemed to stand still. Carly felt her own body and memories flow back.
Her long hair spilled down her shoulders as he limbs stretched out, "What is going on here? Who are you? Where are we?" The little girl formerly named Betty fuzzed a little and Carly took a step back in apprehension, "Listen, you do as I say and we can help each other out. Now make Bill Foster cry." Carly wiped her hair from her face, "All this to make that kid cry?" she asked and Betty gave a sick smile as time slowly sped up. Carly felt her body contract and her hair disappeared from her shoulders, "You do as I say, I'll free you and your dad."
The girl skipped away as Carly felt her chest sink. She was stuck here. Her eyes scanned every piece of the small neighborhood and she still could not find hair or hind of her father. Maybe Betty, or whoever the hell she was, had him and would not let him go in tell Carly did as she was told. She could feel karma biting her in the ass right now.
She walked over to the boy happily playing at the lemonade stand. Carly sat besides him and gave him a smile, "Hi, Billy." she said and Billy looked up offering her a glass. She took it gratefully and sipped on the sour liquid. The pulp stuck to her teeth and kept her from speaking, for a while anyway. She spent her time licking the sour lemon pulp from her teeth before opening her mouth to speak, "Billy..." she closed her mouth. What should she say?
"What's wrong, Carly? Is it my parents? They have been fighting a lot lately." Unfortunately for Billy he just gave Carly her idea. She looked at the black and white kid and wondered how old he was now. If he was even still alive in the outside world, "Billy, your parents are getting divorced." Billy's eyes opened wide as he dropped a cup. When he looked at Carly his eyes were slowly filling up, "What?!" he asked and his voice was loud and squeaky. Carly grit her teeth, "Yeah, and its all your fault. You did this to them. They would have been happy without YOU!" for emphasis Carly poked the boy in his chest and watched him fall off of his seat.
He threw his bottom lip out before the tears fell down his cheeks and he began to wail. Carly couldn't help but feel bad and yet annoyed by his loud cry. She got up and left him to cry. Trying to find Betty and tell him/her it was a job well done Carly walked to the park in the middle of town. A dog jumped on her, but tired and upset, Carly savagely pushed the dog off of her and kicked it for good measure.
Betty walked up to the tired girl, "Good job, I just love seeing him cry. Don't worry he won't remember any of this soon..." Betty got a savage glint in her eye and Carly felt her stomach drop, "Anyway, I have more for you." she said with a laugh and Carly shook her head, "Let me rest before you shove something more in my face." Betty gave a manly laugh as time slowed, "Oh don't worry we have time. Lots of it."
Carly turned from the demonic he/she and walked to an abandoned looking house. She stared at the shattered windows and touched the broken fence gingerly. What else would the child have her do before she freed herself? Arson? Murder? Carly put a child's finger to her lips. She looked at the small digits and wondered how long she would sit here with a tiny body.
"Once the realization passes you will be fine." Carly looked up to see Old Lady Dithers walk up besides her, "This is the fail safe. You can enter and shut this down you know." the old lady smiled and touched the gate, "Why haven't you gone in?" Carly asked and watched the old lady touch the broken gate and her hand fade, "I can't enter, but you can." she said with a small smile and Carly rubbed her forehead, "But if I pull a fail safe won't everyone die?" she asked and the old lady gave a small smile and pointed to the people milling around them, "They are already dead child, and I have lived a full life. Save yourself and your father." Carly watched the old lady walk away again and stared at the house.
The dog was at her side again barking and rubbing it's head on her leg. She looked down to the beast the shoved it away from her. She hated dogs.
She could just imagine her father watching her standing in front of the house and twiddling her fingers. Did he want her to go in? The dog barked again and opened the gate with its big head and Carly stared at it. It wasn't her father but it would do.
As she touched the door an electric shock traveled up her fingers and into her body. Her body was thrown into a black hole before falling through and into a room. The pain of the shock leaves her to lay there for a while where she fades in and out of consciousness. Suddenly Charon is there grumbling, "Dumb girl, just get up and finish the mess you have made."
"I can save him Charon." The words were labored and hard to get out, "I can save my dad." She smiled and tried to move but her body was pinned, "He left you to die in the Vault. He lied to you. I was the only one to protect you and you..." He faded away as Carly slowly came to her mind and sat up. It was her muddled mind playing tricks on her. How long had she been here?
She wiped long hair from her face and stood, "It's a hard choice isn't it?" Carly turned to her right to see Betty standing on the doorstep with a pipe in her hand. The door was gone but she was there. Carly backed up to a wall and hit a radio with her hand it gave a ding in response, "Don't worry. I would have killed you before you woke if I could. You are in the house. I cannot go inside and I have no power in here."
Carly felt a warm trickle of blood from her mouth and wiped it with her hand, "You have no power here?" she asked before bumping something behind her. It gave a loud disapproving beep and she saw the cinder block by her foot, "Radio, Pitcher, Gnome, Picture, Block, Gnome, Bottle." The male voice spoke from the girl's mouth again, "Why should I believe you?" Carly asked and the girl threw the pipe at the doorway. She flinched as it hit a barrier and flew to her feet, "You're going to find out sooner or later."
Carly followed the orders and found that a ding followed her every touch and a terminal appeared before her eyes. Slowly Carly logged onto the virtual machine and opened the fail safe. She could hear screams outside and loud gunfire. This reminded her of the day she escaped from the Vault. She turned around.
"Amata." and there she stood, "You need to get out of here now." she fizzed a little and reached out, "You need to get out of here... You need to.."
Carly ran through the apparition and wondered where her own sanity was fleeing to. She ran to the playground where Betty was standing. The girl pointed to the door, "Go... just go... you've ruined it all." without warning the dog rammed into Carly and flung her through the door. Once again she felt the electronic zap through her body. The pain so grueling she thought she was being burnt alive.
Suddenly fresh air and blinding light met her eyes. She was free. Standing she checked the terminal and frowned. It said she was there for three days, "Dear God." her hands were sweaty as she rubbed her eyes.
"Carly?" she looked up, "Charon?" she asked and ran around the big machine to see her father. For once she was extremely disappointed to see her father.
"Thank you honey, I had no idea I would get stuck. I did retrieve the G.E.C.K." Carly felt mute as her father rambled about his project. No 'I love you honey' or 'what are you doing here, it's not safe'.
"I need you to help me get to Rivet City, honey." She felt numb, "Dad.. I... I came for you." he smiled and patted her shoulder, "Good girl." He smiled and patted her head next, "Well, have you got any weapons, I'll need some you know. Armor?" he asked with a smile in his eyes. Carly felt stupefied.
"Well?" he asked and she nodded handing him a piston and leather armor from the pack she carried, "Uh, yeah. Those were extra's Charon made me carry." Her dad didn't even look up, "Mmmm. Who is this Charon person?" He asked but walked away before she said anything. She almost forgot how her father was. So heartless yet charismatic enough to make you think he cared. It worked when she was in the vault but now... she could see through the veil he tried to put over her eyes.
"We need to make a stop in the capitol before we go to Rivet City." she said and her father shook his head, "Oh, nonono, child, no time. We need to keep going on my mission." Carly pushed her way forward, "Dad. We need to go to the Museum of History." he wrinkled his nose, "Why? It is full of undesirables." she looked down before walking on keeping quiet, "Carly, I asked you a question." he sounded annoyed and the old Carly would have tripped overself to please him but not now. Not after living in the Wasteland and being her own person.
"And I ignored you."