Her face was towards the wall. She had followed his instructions, dumb as they seemed, to the letter. Through the dull ache of pain in her shoulder, she was surprised to feel rough-skinned fingers brush hesitantly against her scalp.
"I'm going to try and be gentle." Charon's murmur sounded so loud to her hypersensitive ears. Those fingers came again, this time digging through her hair with a purpose. Spoon bit her lip, forcing down a yelp of pain as he jerked a bobby pin free. There were a few metallic scraping sounds that seemed to echo over the crackling of the fire in the corner.
He's picking the locks! We're going to escape! Spoon realized excitedly. The next time his hands touched her hair, she eagerly pressed against them, hoping that she was helping. Charon's body stiffened momentarily, but his fingers sought out another pin, and pulled it free. And after that one broke, another took it's place. And another, and another.
The sky was completely dark outside when the sound of footsteps alerted Spoon that someone was coming. She went limp behind Charon, the ghoul flexing his hands in a fidgety manner as someone entered the room.
"Take the runt. We'll see how well he holds up."
Spoon's blood went cold as someone grabbed her arm and crouched, pulling her boneless self up onto their back. She felt her hair fall over her face, much longer than she remembered it being. She heard some scrabbling, but didn't dare open her eyes to see what was happening.
Charon's voice rasped through the cave. "Don't take him! He's...he's crazy! He'll kill you all if he wakes up!"
"'He', huh?" someone sneered. Greedy fingers pushed her hair aside and tilted her head. Spoon's face burned with shame as she imagined the look on Charon's face. Disappointment. Hatred. Anger. "'He' sure has some soft skin. Almost like a woman. And this hair-!" There was a harsh inhale. Spoon barely kept from flinching. "I know a few folks that would pay a pretty penny for this little lady."
"No!" Charon sounded desperate.
The Raider snickered. "What's the matter, shuffler? Is she your fuckbuddy?" Whoever had been carrying Spoon dropped her suddenly. The young woman bit her tongue as she hit the ground, cringing from the pain in her shoulder.
"I ain't touchin' no shuffler-fucker." a voice said nervously. There was a dull smack, and a howl of pain.
"We need to make sure the little lady's in working order, got it Harold? Now, strip 'er."