21: That Bad Man

"Bitch!"

Faith let out a shriek as she was thrown down the flight of wooden steps, her limbs flailing as she fell before everything crashed harshly on the floor. Everything felt broken but that didn't stop her from using her bleeding elbows to drag herself backwards, away from the advancing Undertaker.

He had not taken the news that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of getting her pregnant that well. Probably due to the fact that she had laughed at him like a hyena throughout the entire explanation, which was given while he was attempting to fuck her through the mattress.

"What the hell is-" Henry fell silent when he seen what was going on. None of the mutants were paying any attention, violence was violence to them, completely normal. He went to go help Faith but hesitated when the demonic growl of Luke cautioned him back.

Swallowing hard, he looked her over. She was covered from head to toe in bruises, bleeding from various cuts and scrapes, one eye completely swollen shut… she needed medical attention but he doubted he would be allowed to provide it. "You're going to kill her, Luke." He managed to say, pleased with how calm he sounded.

"Probably." He was on the ground floor now and planted a heavy foot right over her abdomen. "Run all that by me again, lil sister." He ordered.

Faith shook her head, though she started giggling, brokenly. Blood seeped from her mouth.

"Tell me again about how you were blasted with radiation and it killed off everything that made you a woman…"

"That's… about… it…" She managed through her sniggers, coughing violently when he increased the pressure, feeling something crack. "Go on, kill me!"

He was seriously considering it. When she had gone into that Purifier thing back in D.C., there had been enough radiation to kill her instantly, but it hadn't. It had, however, rendered her sterile. While that didn't overly bother him in the grand scheme of things, her laughing at him did.

The bitch was still laughing at him.

Faith stopped laughing when his next kick got her right in her head. She stopped everything but her ragged breathing.

"Come on, come on…"

"It's beeping faster, doc."

"I know, Calamity!"

"She's coming around!"

"Give her another dose, no point in her being awake if this thing goes off."

"What about us?"

"You're a ghoul and I'm an old man, shut up and dose her!"

And Faith was back out.

"Wake up, kid."

She did, reluctantly, her eyes fluttering open. Well, one eye, the other was still swollen shut. "Calamity?"

"Yeah, it's me smoothie."

"What's… ow… what's going on?" Faith felt Calamity's arm snaking around her, felt herself being pulled into a sitting position and winced. The pain wasn't as bad as it should have been, probably thanks to copious amounts of drugs, but it was still just this side of bearable.

"You got to get out of here, before the Undertaker comes back."

"But the collar-"

"We removed it," Calamity was now trying to guide the out of it and in pain young woman to her feet. "You have to go now…"

"But…"

"Lily is going to-"

"Oh my poor darling!"

That was the Nightkin's voice, Grammie.

"Careful Lily, she's hurt bad." Calamity said anxiously.

Faith actually whimpered as the giant purple… woman, hovered over her. She couldn't keep herself from cringing when Lily picked her up, everything hurt. She could only imagine the pain she would have been feeling if she hadn't been drugged up. "Where are we going?" She whispered, feeling the Nightkin cradling her against her giant chest, feeling the old… woman's… shawl brushing her face. For a mutant, she was surprisingly gentle.

"Grammie is going to run you somewhere safe, pumpkin." Lily rasped as softly as she could. "Leo says we should stay and kill the bad man but-"

"But Faith needs help, more than we can provide. Now go Lily."

Lily nodded once.

Lily had been an old woman when she had been made, changed into what she was now, but the physical limitations of old age no longer held any sway over her. She could sprint long distances for a short period of time faster than any human and she was using that now to get Faithy as close to a human civilization as possible, as close to New Vegas as possible. Calamity had ingrained in her that Faithy needed to go to Julie in the Mormon Fort inside the city, but there was no way Lily, a mutant, was going to get past those gates.

She couldn't worry about that now, her grandbaby was beginning to bleed again. That was her cue to stop. Frowning, she twisted her large head back and forth, surveying where they were. She hadn't taken the path, instead dashing through the woods and down the mountain, trusting her senses to get her where she needed to be safely.

That and that bad man was less likely to find them this way.

"Hold on dearie, Grammie is going to get you settled." She murmured, gingerly laying Faithy down on the softest patch of earth she could find. "It's getting dark, we're going to stop now, alright dear?" She crouched down, staring into Faith's face. "Faithy?"

"I'm awake." Faith murmured, the whole 'Faithy' thing registering in the back of her mind. Nobody had ever called her that before, but if this Nightkin was getting her the hell out of dodge, she could call Faith whatever she wanted. "Ow…" She tested her weight on her elbows, realizing that they were bandage and tried to prop herself into a semi-upright position.

Lily realized what she was trying to do and bent to help her, hoisting Faith until she was propped back against a pine tree. "Alright dearie, Grammie is going to have to look you over and give you your medicine."

Faith simply nodded, giving herself over to the care of a schizophrenic mutant.