Fate... something that unavoidably befalls a person; her fortune; her lot in life. Was this it? Driven mad by the horror's of her life and now forced to be witness as her own mind holds her body hostage and decides to pursue its own final solution?
As she felt gravity pulling her stomach downwards, her stomach filled with a small tingling feeling. Was that fear? No. She wasn't afraid of her death. She never had been. So what was it?
Was it... relief?
The Wanderer wasn't going to find out on that day because fate; that ultimate order by which events are inevitably predetermined had different plans for her.
She never met the water. She began her fall from the rail, but didn't make it any further than that. A hand gripped her color and caught her. The Wanderer's descent came to a jerking halt as her jacket caught at her throat.
No!
How?!
The Voices craned her neck around and looked up at a familiar face. A face that the Wanderer had honestly never expected to see again.
It was a young man dressed in blue jumpsuit and black, leather jacket.
Butch Deloria stared down at her with a pissed off expression adorning his features.
"The fuck you doing?" he shouted at her.
The Wanderer's mind was racing. No, Butch! No! He couldn't be here. Not now. It wasn't safe. She still wasn't in control.
Even as she thought that she could feel one of her hands sliding down her leg towards her holster.
"Seriously," Butch grunted as he pulled her back up. "What the fuck are you thinking?"
With one more heave Butch pulled the Wanderer back over the railing. She landed on the metal with a meaty thud, but didn't remained silent.
"Come on. Spit it out! What were you doing?" Butch asked again.
The Wanderer looked up at him, trying to express with her eyes the danger he was in. Once upon a time she'd hated Butch, but that was before she met him again out here in the Wasteland. He'd been one of the only people in her past life that didn't immediately condemn her for what she'd done. And now she was going to shoot him.
She could feel her hand slowly unclip her pistol and begin to pull it out.
She wanted to yell at Butch to run, to get away from her, that she wasn't safe to be around, but her mouth wasn't hers to control.
He's going to die now. And then you are going to jump. You don't get to escape.
Her arm raised the gun and leveled it at Butch.
"Holy- what are you doing? You looking for trouble?!" he exclaimed and tried to jerk back, but it didn't matter. The Voices had her.
Say goodbye.
No!
She wouldn't do it. This was her fucking body! And she was not going to kill Butch.
Her gun hand trembled as she fought for control. The barrel dipped slightly, but didn't go down. She grit her teeth, fighting with all her might.
She was the Lone fucking Wanderer! And she... was not... going... to shoot him!
Butch took her hesitation and used it to his advantage, lunging forward he smacked the gun away and it went skittering across the deck and off the edge. Far below it plunked into the water. With her disarmed, Butch went on the offensive and delivered a mean right cross to her face. The force of the blow spun her around and she fell to the ground.
"Yeah, Tunnel Snakes rule!"
Butch pumped his fist in victory before checking on his downed "friend".
"You wanna tell me what the fuck that was about, huh?"
The Wanderer spit a glob of blood on the deck as the Voice screamed in frustration and anger. The Wanderer turned over towards Butch. Her cheek was already turning red from where he'd slugged her.
"Ouch. Sorry bout that, but you know, you were acting like a psycho so... yeah."
Perhaps a different strategy is in order.
NO! No fucking way! It was the Wanderer's turn to mentally scream in anger as control was once again taken from her.
"Butch..." she said. It was her voice, but it wasn't her words. "I- I don't-" Tears started to fall from her eyes. "I'm s-so s-sorry, Butch," she sobbed. The words sounded phony and hollow to her ears, but they had the intended effect on Butch.
"Ah, shit. Sorry, for slugging you like that, nosebleed." Butch knelt down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder as she began to bawl her eyes out. She threw her arms around him and began to weep into his shoulder.
Butch looked startled before awkwardly patting her on the back.
"Jesus, you- uh- you sure got some water works."
The Wanderer pulled away from his shoulder and sniffed. "I- I just couldn't d- do it anymore." She hiccuped miserably to sell the lie.
The Wanderer felt like vomiting in her own skull at the false display of emotion.
Oh, I'm sorry if you have the emotional range of a feral ghoul.
Butch held her by the shoulders before hugging her again.
"Butch... I..." The Wanderer separated from Butch and looked up at him.
"What?"
She leaned in closer. She slowly closed her eyes and puckered her lips. Butch's eyes widened in surprise. "What are you-"
He was cut off as she pressed her lips against his. Butch shifted uncomfortably, but soon enough caved to what he thought was the Wanderer's intentions. He held her to him and kissed her back. She pulled her body as close to his as she could... and slowly began sliding her hand in his pocket for his switchblade.
The Wanderer was raging as hard as she could, but she remained an unwilling participant in this charade. She had to stop them. Come on! Fight, damn it! FIGHT! Mustering up as much strength as she could she savagely bit into her cheek. Blood welled up in her mouth, but it had the desired effect.
NO!
She pushed herself away from Butch and yelled, "stop!"
Butch stumbled back, shocked. "The fuck?" he cried in confusion. "I'm getting some mixed signals here!"
"Butch, I don't have time. I have to- I have to-" the Wanderer was fumbling in her jacket for where she'd stashed her chems. With a shaking grasp she pulled an inhaler of Jet out. Butch's eyes widened.
"Fuck that! You're using again!" he shouted angrily. "I thought we got you over this!"
"It's not like that, Butch. I have to hurry! They're coming back!"
The Wanderer raised the Jet to her mouth, but was halted as Butch grabbed her wrist. "Oh, no you don't!"
"Butch!" she screamed in frustration, but he didn't have release her arm. "I NEED IT!" she cried.
"Oh, yeah," he said sarcastically. "I sure you do." He was trying to wrestle the inhaler away from her.
"Goddamn it, Butch! You stupid bastard!"
She jabbed him in the gut with her knee and tried to spin out of his grasp. Butch doubled over in pain, but didn't release her. With her free hand she wrenched Butch's arm to the right. Following the limb, Butch flipped over onto his back. With a thud and a gasp he let go of her. She turned to run from him, but the fight had not left the Tunnel Snake. He reached out and clasped at her ankles. His hand caught and the Wanderer fell to the deck with him. The inhaler of Jet slipped from her grasp and skittered towards the open door back into Rivet City.
"No!"
"Yes! Now sit still you crazy bitch!"
The Wanderer rolled onto her back and looked back at Butch. He was clutching her boot and glaring up at her.
"You were clean! What the fuck did you go back for?"
"Fuck! Off! BUTCH!" Each word was punctuated with a kick to the face. On the last one, Butch released her leg, but it was only a feint. As the Wanderer rolled over and tried to get back to her feet, Butch was already rising and moving. He planted his foot firmly in her back and stepped over her. With a grunt and a curse, the Wanderer was squashed to the deck as Butch passed her.
"You DO NOT need this!" he cried as he scooped up the inhaler and turned to her.
"Butch, I don't have time for this! Give me the Jet. Now." The Wanderer was pleading with him now, but to Butch she looked just like any other addict.
Butch nodded his head at her, shrugged his shoulders, and then turned and hurled the Jet over the ship's edge. "What now?" he asked her.
The Wanderer's only answer was a feral scream of rage and panic as she tackled him through the open door. They crashed to the metal floor with a loud bang. She had her hands wrapped around her throat as she shouted incoherently at him. With his hands trying to pull hers off, Butch managed to get his foot planted in her pelvis. He rolled himself back as best he could and kicked her off him. With a surprised yell, the Wanderer sailed over him and down the stairs. She rolled and crashed down them, grunting in pain with each impact. However, the pain cleared away some of the static in her head again and kept the Voices at bay for a few more precious seconds. Her movement down the stairs was halted when she slammed into the wall at the bottom, loudly breaking through the crates and pallets stacked there.
Butch stood up at the top of the stairs. He was rubbing his throat and looking down at her.
"Sorry about that, but we both know it's for your own good."
"Fuck you," she called up to him. She reached into her pocket again and pulled out a syringe of Psycho. This was her last chem. Her last chance. Butch's eyes widened as he saw her pull it out.
"Fuck me!" he cried as she scrabbled to her feet and took off at a run down the metal corridor. Butch leaped down the stairs and careened after her. "Stop this shit, goddamn it! Hey!"
The Wanderer ignored him as she was trying to carefully stab the syringe in her arm while stepping over all the ships raised door frames. Unfortunately her focus wasn't enough as an officer of Rivet City Security stepped out in front of her. His eyes widened when he saw the girl sprinting at him, but neither of them had enough time to react as they crashed into each other.
The guard landed on the ground with the Wanderer on top of him.
"What the hell are you doing running around like that?" he yelled at her. She sat up as best she could, which turned out to be her awkwardly straddling him and she began linging the needle up on her arm again. His eyes locked onto it. "Fucking, junkie!"
The security officer pushed her up and off of him before quickly getting to his feet. Butch skidded to a stop behind the two of them.
"You wanna get high? You get high outside of Rivet City!" He grabbed her arm and pulled it away. The Wanderer screamed at him.
"NO! I DON'T HAVE ANYMORE TIME!"
She tried to drop the needle and catch it with her other hand, but it was too late.
You can't run from this!
It's inevitable.
The fingers of her free hand closed around the falling syringe, but it wasn't her doing the catching. She raised her fist into the air above her head, but it wasn't pointing the Psycho at her.
"Oh shit! Watch out!" Butch shouted as the Wanderer brought the needle down straight into the security officer's eye.
Butch's eyes widened in shock. "JESUS CHRIST!"
The officer dropped to the ground howling in pain as the Wanderer stumbled away from him with a look of horror on her face.
"What the fuck did you do?!"
"Butch, I- I couldn't- it wasn't-"
But the explanation just wouldn't come. Butch stared at her with his mouth hanging open. With her hands shaking the Wanderer turned and ran away from him. Twisting and turning through Rivet City's corridors she brushed past and knocked over anyone in her way. Where was it? Where was the fucking exit?
There! Up ahead!
The Wanderer skidded to a stop at the door standing between her and escape. She turned the wheel on the door and pushed it open with a squeal of metal. The Rivet City market lay before her.
"You! STOP!"
She looked back over her shoulder. Three of Rivet City's finest were sprinting down the hallway with their weapons drawn. She slammed the door and took off across the market. The exit was right there across the plaza! She could make it!
The door to the Wasteland opened. A flood of security officers flooded inside followed by their commanding officer, Harkness.
The Wanderer stumbled to a stop and tried to go back the way she came, but the officers who were following her had already caught up. She spun around as they spread out across the raised catwalk that surrounded the market. Her eyes widened in panic. Oh no, no, no, no!
What part of inevitable do you not understand?
No matter what you do, you cannot fight fate.
Her face fell as she listened to them. Was this really her fate? Did she really not have a chance?
No. She couldn't accept that. She'd fought too fucking hard for her old life and her new life. And damn it she wasn't going to just give up. Even now.
She grit her teeth and looked around her. The guards had surrounded the market and were looking down at her. Harkness was shouting for her to lay face down on the floor with her hands behind her head. There wasn't any immediate escape, but! There were several people trapped down here with her and one of them was...
The Wanderer smiled wickedly.
It was Flak.
Harkness had begun to descend the stairs towards her. "Down on the ground. NOW!"
She raised her hands, but didn't stop smiling.
"I surrender," she said.
What are you planning?
She ignored the Voice.
"Please, I'd like to surrender."
"Then get on the goddamn ground!" shouted Harkness.
She took a step towards him before diving to the side and rolling back to her feet.
Right next to Flak.
In one fluid motion she spun Flak around, drew Vampire's Edge, and held it to his throat. She stepped behind her brand new human shield and looked at Harkness.
"Back off, Harkness. Now. Or..." Her words trailed off suggestively. She wrapped her arm around Flak's throat tightly and leveled the point of her sword on his Adam's apple.
You think this will change anything? We aren't letting you leave this place alive. What part of that aren't you understanding?
To illustrate its point, the Voice froze her legs.
You are going to die here.
The Wanderer snorted derisively and quickly pulled Vampire's Edge across her forearm. The Voices screamed as blood welled up from the cut and ran down her arm. The sting of the wound was barely felt as the Wanderer grinned in triumph. She had them beat.
Now she just had to get away from River City securiy.
"Let him go," shouted Harkness. He had his rifle shouldered, but had no clear shot as the Wanderer peered over Flak's shoulder.
"Not going to happen," she said in a sing song voice. "I'm going to walk out of here and Flak is going to come with me."
"I'm not just going to let you leave here."
"For fuck's sake, Harkness!" cried Flak with difficulty. The sword at his throat did not make talking an easy task. "Just let her walk!"
Harkness clenched his jaw in frustration. Letting someone go was not in his nature and this didn't feel right to him.
"Fine," he spat out in defeat. He waved at the men guarding the door to the bridge. "Let her pass. Now, you release Flak."
"Weren't you listening? He's coming with me!"
Flak struggled against her. "What?! Come on! You've got what you want!"
The Wanderer pressed harder against his throat. Hard enough to draw blood. "We're both walking out of here Harkness."
"No you're not," came a voice from behind her. She couldn't see him, but she could tell that Butch had a gun trained at her head.
"Butch! What are you doing?" she hissed at him.
"What am I doing? What are you doing? Did you lose your goddamn mind?"
The Wanderer heard him step forward and then felt the barrel of a pistol press into the back of her skull. "I can explain! I swear! Just let me leave!"
"Mmmmmmm, no."
"Butch!" she spat out in frustration.
"I don't know what happened to you," he said. "I thought you were getting better, but I guess I was wrong. You've always had my back though. Now, I've got yours. Even if that means getting you arrested so I can get you some fucking help."
"I don't need help!"
Her eyes were scanning the room, trying to figure her way out of this. Harkness was still standing in front of her. Though he'd shouldered his gun again now that Butch had her in his sights. The rest of Harkness's men were shifting impatiently. It would only take one wrong move to make them all open fire. Think! She could still do this.
"Butch, please just trust me. Nothing is what it looks like."
The barrel of the gun didn't move. Butch wasn't buying it.
"Please. I just need you to trust me."
"Wish I could, but I can't. This is for your own good."
She grit her teeth. The stubborn bastard was going to make her do this.
"Butch, I-"
Mid-sentence she dropped to the floor. She jabbed one fist into the back of Flak's knees causing him to drop with her. Time seemed to slow down. Harkness was shouting to hold fire. Butch was trying to step back from her, but it was too late. She rolled backwards and shot up. She brought the hilt of Vampire's Edge hard into his elbow. He dropped the pistol, but was already drawing his switchblade. He tried to slash at her, but his heart wasn't in it. He wasn't trying to kill her.
She caught his wrist, stopping the slash, and and grabbed him by his collar. She threw herself backwards like he'd done on the stairs. She went backwards over Flak and put her feet on Butch's chest. With a hefty kick she launched Butch over her and into Harkness.
Using her momentum she rolled back to her feet before grabbing Flak by the scruff of his neck and darting for the nearest door back into the ship.
"Fire! Fire!"
Rivet City security opened up on them. Bullets tore through the canopies of the market's shops and pinged off the floor. Pulling Flak after her, the Wanderer ducked through an open doorway and fled deeper into the ship. She twisted and turned until she found the stairs.
"Down! Go down!" she shouted at Flak. With a prod from her sword he stumbled down the stairs. He could hear help coming, but Harkness wasn't close enough for him to risk disobeying. They descended and descended until they couldn't go any deeper. With some more prodding, the Wanderer got Flak to start running down the hall until they came to a closed door at a dead end.
"Way to go," he muttered with a small smile. "You've taken us right to the flooded section of the ship."
With a dirty look, the Wanderer slashed at his face. With a yell, he raised his hands to guard his face and felt the sword slice across his palms. He clasped his hands to his chest in pain, but he hadn't been cut deeply. The Wanderer knew exactly how to handle the sword. She turned to look back down the hallway. She could hear her pursuers approaching.
She pushed Flak to his knees and put Vampire's Edge back to his throat. Harkness rounded the corner with his rifle drawn and sighted on her.
"It's over. You've got nowhere to run. Just give it up."
The corners of the Wanderer's lips perked up into a little smile. She removed the blade from Flak's throat and pushed him forwards, but it was only a ploy. As Flak fell to the floor, Harkness's eyes followed him. The Wanderer whirled around and spun the wheel on the door. As he fell, Flak caught sight of what she was doing.
"Wait! No!"
With a great groan of metal the wheel reached its limits. The door slammed open as a wall of water cascaded into the ship. The Wanderer vanished under the sheer amount of water rushing in. Harkness and his men ran back down the hall they'd come down in an effort to escape the tidal wave. Flak frantically tried to rise above the water to flee as well, but he felt something holding onto his foot. With a gasp he felt the water rise above his head. He continued to struggle, but whatever his foot was caught on wasn't letting him loose. He could feel his lungs straining and his vision fading. With a loud gurgle he screamed under the water, but all that came out was a futile stream of bubbles.
Flak woke up to a swift kick in the chest. He coughed violently and spat up water.
"Get up."
Flak opened his eyes and looked up at the sodden Wanderer. She was slowly cutting horizontally across her forearm with her sword as she looked down at him.
"You and I have to get moving."
"Where?" he gasped quietly.
With a smile that chilled Flak to the bone, she answered. "Paradise Falls."
Ta-da! This chapter was originally written completely different, but it evolved and turned out much better this way in my opinion. As I say every time: please review, favorite, and follow. Questions? Send me a message or leave it as a review so everyone can see. Next time it's on to Paradise Falls!