I've just realized how much I'm referencing movies in this area of the story. I should probably point out that in my mind I picture movies being a main source of entertainment in the Vault, and major source from which the average vault dweller draws their knowledge of what the 'real world' outside 101 is like.

Chapter 14

To his credit, Butch only whined a little bit about all the walking. (Lydia supposed he was better physically prepared for that part of life in the Wasteland than she had been.) He did have a never ending stream of commentary on everything they did or saw, and especially on everything Lydia said.

"So, those Encore guys can track our Pip-Boys? Mine, too?"

"Enclave. Yeah, that's what it sounds like."

"You think they're following us?"

What, the mighty Tunnel Snake is afraid of fighting someone who's not smaller and weaker than him? She bit back the remark. "I'm sure they are. I have to figure out how to get my Pip-Boy off. I don't know how else to get them off our trail."

"What do they want us for?"

"I'm not sure. I don't know how they even have access to our GPS signals." Lydia pondered the question. "They say that they're the remains of the government and the military. Maybe they had access to Vault-Tec information, like where they are and who was admitted into them originally. That would explain how they can track us. Come to think of it, when we first met them they said something about me having 'Enclave property'. I didn't think Vault-Tec was federally funded, though."

Butch shrugged. Lydia doubted he knew what 'federal' meant.

"That woman, the scientist who interviewed me, covered up most of what she was writing, but I saw 'Vault Behavioral Project' in her notebook."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think they're doing some kind of sociological research on us. They want to know how much our society has changed after being isolated underground for 200 years."

Butch snorted. "Buncha eggheads."

"Yeah, I think that's what the sergeant thought, too. I don't know. I think it would be an interesting experiment if they were just a little less aggressive about gathering their data."

"You would." He looked about to say something else, then he stiffened. "Hey, did you hear something?"

Lydia listened. She checked her map. There was only one dot, and it was Butch's. "Like what?"

"I dunno. Voices or something. Didn't you hear it?"

"It's just the wind. It makes noises like that sometimes. Just keep an eye on your map."

"Yeah. Okay." He slowly lowered the fist that clenched the handle of his knife. His knuckles were white. The breeze fluttered through the loose fabric of his pants. "Like air vents, huh?"

Lydia nodded. "Nature's air vents."

"Hey, Lyd." He looked at the ground as he spoke. "Does this place ever, you know... I mean, not now, but maybe like, when you first came out here... did it ever, you know, freak you out? I mean... " He gestured around vaguely. "It's so... huge out here. And... there's so much stuff, like Yao Guys and slavers and... and that." He pointed to her gun. "And there's so much dirt everywhere. Everything's so dirty. Look at my boots!" He held out one foot indignantly. It was grey-brown and dulled with dust. "Pretty soon I'll be as gross as you. No offense."

"Gross?"

"I said no offense."

Lydia blinked at him.

"Look, I'm sure it's not your fault. You've been out here for a while. But you know what I'm saying, right? This place is... weird."

"You don't like it?"

"I don't know about like. It's just different, is all I'm saying."

"Yeah," Lydia said. She watched a tiny tornado of dust that had formed nearby. A long dead bush twitched in the light wind. "I like different."

Butch stuttered to a halt and raised his knife defensively again. "There! Do you hear that?" he whispered. He looked at his map at the same time that Lydia raised her wrist and turned a dial to look at hers. Butch's dot stood next to her own location, but fifty yards ahead of them were two more dots. As she listened, she did hear the occasional raised intonation of a voice on the wind.

The other two people were beyond the dropoff of a cliff near them. Butch ran toward them with abandon, waving his toothpick of a knife.

"Wait!" Lydia hissed at him.

"Come on," he said much too loudly. "Let's kick some Wastelander ass!"

She rolled her eyes. If Harris was a character from a cheesy spy movie, Butch was from one of those awful teenage-boy-gang movies. Not that that wasn't already obvious. "Butch," she said just loud enough that he could hear her. "Stop! Just wait, will you? We don't need to fight them. They might not be raiders or slavers, and even if they are, we can just sneak past them."

He slowed long enough to shoot her a disdainful look. "Don't be such a wuss." He leaned over the ledge, wobbling precariously. "Shit," he said, stepping back.

"What?"

"It's really high."

"No kidding." She crawled to the edge on hands and knees and peeked down. Butch knelt beside her, keeping further away from the edge than she. The two people below were speaking to each other, ignoring the vault escapees who spied on them from above. "Be quiet, okay? They don't know we're here yet."

Butch was quiet for a moment, and Lydia could almost see his brain working through his eyes. She could see his excitement, fear, aggression, and annoyance at being told what to do, all battling for dominance. "That's just like you," he said, buying himself time to decide what to do. "Being all quiet and wimpy like a sneaky Chinese... "

She shook her head in exasperation. What could she say to placate him? "No..." she started. "Like a Japanese."

"Whatever. Same thing."

"No, it's different. They have ninja there. You know about ninja?"

He started to shake his head, then stopped. "I think I saw a movie with them once. Are those the guys with the little metal stars?"

"Yeah, that's them. They're not just in movies, they're real people. They're feared by all of Asia for their ability to kill without ever being seen. They're some of the most deadly warriors in the world."

"Yeah?" he asked, trying not to sound too interested.

She nodded. "Under cover of night, a few ninja can take out an entire army. Just by snapping their necks, like this." She made a twisting motion with her hands.

Her imagination was running away with her. She decided to quit while she was ahead. Butch seemed mostly persuaded, anyway. "Snakes are sneaky, too, you know," she added. "They wait quietly until the time is right, then bam!"

"You want me to be like a snake?"

"You already are a snake. Have you forgotten already?"

" 'Course not."

"Then...live up to your name. Carry on the Tunnel Snake legacy." She felt ridiculous rambling on about snakes and ninja, but Butch seemed to buy it. He narrowed his eyes down at the people below, clearly channeling his inner snake energy.

At first Lydia thought both of the people were men, but then she saw that one was a tall, flat-chested woman. The metal of the guns in her hands glinted as she paced back and forth around the man. He sat with a posture that demonstrated, without a doubt, that he was not happy about being there. He occasionally shook his head mournfully at the woman's words. She seemed to be doing most of the talking.

"Can you hear what they're saying?" Lydia asked Butch. He shook his head silently. Still being a snake.

The woman waved the guns tauntingly, jutting out a hip and placing her hand on it carelessly. She had won the fight, whatever it was about, and she knew it. Her black hair brushed her neck as she cocked her head. As she turned, half of her face came into view, and Lydia drew in a breath sharply. The woman's narrow eyes were even narrower as she smirked, and her wide mouth nearly cut her face in two.

"Not her," Lydia pleaded.

"Who is it?" Butch asked.

Lydia put her head in her hands. "Shin."

"Who?"

"One of the slavers who attacked Harris and me."

His eyes widened. "Damn. I didn't know there were chick slavers. Well, let's go get her!"

He started up, but Lydia pulled him back down. "Your pocketknife will not fare well against two guns."

"Oh. Yeah. Give me yours, then." He reached for the glowing pistol.

"No." She jerked her hand away from him.

"You want to kill her yourself?"

"No! I don't want to kill anyone."

Shin suddenly turned and cuffed her hostage on the ear. He shrieked and curled into a defensive ball. Shin giggled.

Butch stared at Lydia in confusion. "You're just going to let her do that?"

Usually she would have commented that it was nothing worse than anything he'd done to her. But she was suffering from a bout of deja vu. She remembered saying something similar to Harris not long ago. It disturbed her more than it should have.

Shin kicked the man in the stomach. He doubled over and writhed on the ground. She went to hit him again, and he flinched. She tilted her head playfully side to side as she said something else. The man didn't move as she put her backpack on the ground and pulled something out. A circle of metal...

"Hey, is that one of those collars you told me about?" Butch asked.

Lydia closed her eyes. If she did nothing, that man would probably be a slave for the rest of his life, if he wasn't fatally injured by Shin's mistreatment. Maybe I could just injure her... No. She's the type to hold a grudge. She'd find me. And if I don't kill her in one shot, she'll have time to shoot at us or that man... She slowly raised her gun. Her hand trembled.

"You want me to do it?"

"No. You can't shoot." She swallowed. She closed one eye and tried to line up the sight with Shin's head. She deserves it. She visualized her time with the woman, and imagined all the people she'd tortured before her and this new victim. She pictured the blood dripping down Harris's face after Shin hit him.

The Chinese woman approached the prone man. She held the collar up in one hand.

"You better do it quick."

"Yes, thanks, you're such a help, Butch." She held the shaking gun firmly in both hands. She traced Shin's movements with the notch at the top of the gun. Her heart raced. She waited for the woman to hold still.

Then something shifted under her hands. A stone came loose and tumbled down the rock face in a shower of dust. Shin pivoted on the spot. She immediately saw them at the top of the ledge and began to raise her gun, but then a splotch of red appeared in her neck. It happened so fast, Lydia hardly remembered firing.

The gun and collar fell from Shin's hands as she choked and clutched at her neck. Blood made a stripe of deep red over her hands and chest. Her eyes were wide as she glared at them. Lydia couldn't have said whether she recognized her or not.

Shin's entire body shook violently as she fell to her knees, then onto her side. She continued to shiver there for a minute or so as she bled out. Lydia couldn't look away. She twitched a few times, with a sort of grave finality, before she became completely still.

The man on the ground looked back and forth between Shin and Lydia in awe. Their eyes met briefly before he leapt up and staggered away.

The gun fell from Lydia's hands. She leaned forward and let her head drop to the ground, and she cried.