Chapter 21

The sharp click of her pet's claws on the steel floor hit her ears seconds before a little green tick mark blinked to life on her Pipboy compass. The little deathclaw rounded the corner and she almost cried when she saw him. Claws squeaked and ran to his mistress, rubbing his blood splattered head against her tight.

"Good boy." She praised him, rubbing his head with both hands. Rachel wiped the tacky blood left on her hands off on her pants and slung her rifle up onto her shoulder.

"Okay, let's go get Charon."

Claws turned immediately and trotted back the way he'd come with Rachel right behind him. She lifted her Pipboy and hit the intercom button as they walked, eyes scanning ahead for any enemies that might be left. "Charon, Claws found me and we're on our way back to you."

It was a few more seconds then Rachel was comfortable with before he answered. "Get out of here."

"No, how bad are you hurt?" She demanded.

"Bad enough smoothskin." She could hear the pain in his voice and ground her teeth together.

She growled under her breath and picked up her pace. Claws did the same and Rachel was glad he was so responsive to her.

Claws escorted her up two flights of stairs and she understood how she'd ended up on a different level of the vault. She didn't have a great scene of direction when she was underground and the blind panic she'd been in compounded that problem.

It took them around eight minute to reach the edge of their battle ground. Dead Garys' were everywhere and there was blood spatter even on the ceiling. Rachel recognized a small handprint on the wall as her own and shivered.

Rachel rounded the next corner and froze in her tracks. She didn't know when she'd been expecting but this wasn't it. Large splotches of blood shone brightly on the floor leading to her bodyguard and there was a long red trail down the wall behind him showing her where he'd slumped to the floor.

Rachel scrambled to his side, already fumbling for her sparse medical supplies. Charon looked like he was asleep and the sight sent a chill down her spine. He didn't look up as she reached his still form, nothing to show he knew she was kneeling in front of him.

"Charon?" she asked quietly, afraid that she'd taken too long.

Slowly, softly he groaned and rolled his head enough to look up at her.

"Charon!" she put a hand on his chest and his eyes squeezed shut against the pain her touch had caused. "Holy shit, I'm sorry! I'm…I'm gonna help you alright."

"Rachel," his voice was barely a whisper. "Get out."

She ignored him.

"I know it frustrating but Charon I need you to stay awake okay?" No way in hell was she leaving him here to die. "That's an order. Don't go to sleep."

He nodded, forcing his eyes open. Rachel ran a hand threw her hair, looking around and leaving a smear of Charon's blood on her forehead. She needed to find somewhere safe to move him.

She jogged down to the end of the hall and gave silent thanks. They were in the living quarters.

Rachel went into the first room, giving the space a quick inspection. The two beds where intact and the doors locking mechanism worked. "Thank all hell for small favors," she whispered quickly going back to her waiting friends.

Charon was still awake as ordered, stair off into space.

"Can you stand?" she asked, crouching down beside him.

The big ghoul grumbled something she couldn't hear and tried to get his legs under him. Rachel got his arm around her shoulders and hauled him up. He leaned heavily on her five foot two inch frame and she swore. He was solid muscle and heavy.

"Why the fuck are you nine feet tall?" she growled out, hoping to distract him while she got him to the other end of the hall. "And aren't ghouls supposed to be scrawny malnourished little bastards? You're a fuckin' super mutant. It's just nonsense."

Charon gave a breathy chuckle close to her ear. "What?" he rasped weakly, "I too much man for you to handle?"

"Trust me," she told him, getting him to stumble over the threshold. "I can handle anything you got."

She sat him down on the nearest bed with a relieved sigh from her and a painfully groan from him. Rachel looked behind her and laughed, the sound bordering on hysterical. Claws had Charon's gun in his jaws.

"Good Deathclaw," She reached out her hand and the beast obediently dropped the weapon into her palm. Rachel put the shotgun on nightstand and handed Charon her pistol.

"This will be easier with all the holes you have. I'm going to go find the medical wing. I'm leaving Claws here with you in case more clones show up."

Charon leaned back against the wall with a growl, shaking his head. "No, take him. I'll be alright,"

Rachel scowled, she wanted to argue but she was acutely aware that time was not on her side. "Fine, stay alive okay."

He nodded and she left quickly, Claws on her heels.

Now that she wasn't running in a blind panic she had a better sense of direction and it only took her about ten minutes to find the medical wing. It was near were she'd fallen flat on her face. There was a single Gary inside the large room studying a dead raider on a medical table.

She didn't know how she missed him but a single shot to the head was all she needed to take him down. Rachel opened a loose med kit and started shoving things into it. She found Rad-X and Rad-Way, a bottle of Buffout and a handful of Stimpaks. There were a few doses of Med-X in the desk drawer and a few bottles of softly glowing dirty water.

Rachel tucked the kit under her arm and stuffed a roll of clothe bandages in her pocket. She gave the room a last look over to make sure she hadn't missed anything useful and stopped. On a table by the door sat what looked like a toy. Rachel picked it up and its head bobbled.

Charisma: Nothing says pizazz like a winning smile.

Rachel showed it to Claws. He tilted his head and sniffed it.

"You think this is worth the weight?"

He sneezed and she stuffed it into her pocket. Together the girl and the deathclaw jogged back to the living quarters. Charon was right where she left him. His eyes were closed but he opened them when she set the med kit on the edge of the bed and closed the door.

"You still here?" he asked softly.

"Did you ever doubt?" She asked, noting the alarming amount of blood soaking into the bed sheets.

"No, but I hoped."

Rachel ignored him, pulling a bottle of irradiated water out of her pocket and shaking two tablets of Buffout into her palm. "Here, this should help while I dig those bullets out of you."

Charon tried to obey but his hand shook so violently when he lifted the water bottle that Rachel took it from him. She unscrewed the cap and lifted it to his dry lips. Charon drank but he didn't meet her eyes.

Rachel got the Buffout into him between gulps of water, hopping it would boost his strength enough to buy her some time for surgery. "I'm going to give you a couple doses of Med-X, okay?"

He nodded and Rachel quickly administered the drugs. She knew he would probably need another before she started digging but two would take the edge off. His soft sigh of relief let her know when the drugs were working.

Carefully Rachel undid the buckles and zipper of his armored leather jacket, hanging it off a chair behind her. Next she reached for the hem of his blood soaked shirt but he caught her hand. Rachel looked at her companion, startled. He'd moved incredibly fast for the condition he was in.

"Don't-" he started but she cut him off.

"Charon it's okay." she whispered. "I told you I'm going to help you. You saved my life back there and now I'm going to return the favor. We're partners. You can trust me."

He took a long breath and then, slowly, let go of her wrist. Rachel kept her eyes on his as she tentatively cut and peeled his shirt away from his ruined flesh.

Under better circumstances she would have inspected what was left of his skin. His exposed muscle was fascinating but right now she had much more important things to do then ogle her bodyguard's abs.

She took his pulse quickly while she counted the holes in him. His pulse was quick and light and that was nerve-racking. So were the nine holes she counted along a myriad of bruising and cuts. There were three bullet holes in his right should and his left forearm was defiantly broken. There was a hole in his left bicep that was through in through. He had a bullet hole right above his collar bone. It had missed his windpipe by less than an inch. A nasty hole the left side of his chest was only inches from where his heart was and he had two in his stomach she'd have to be extra careful with.

The worst of them was a bullet implanted into his upper thigh and Rachel was sure it was embed in bone. It was certainly bleeding the most.

Rachel let out a long breath and administered a stimpak to the clean bullet hole in his bicep, the rest weren't going to be so easy. Rachel met Charon's eyes with her scalp in her hand. I am not trained for this! Was screaming in her head and she hoped Charon couldn't read it in her eyes.

"Do you trust me?"

Charon nodded weakly, "More than anyone else in the last couple hundred years."

"Since you were under Ahzrukhal half of that time I guess the bar isn't that high." she tried to joke. "Feel free to pass out, it'll probably be easier on both of us."

Charon nodded and lay down on the bed. Rachel tried not to show how nervous she was. She'd dug out bullets before but they'd been in her or they hadn't been that bad. She'd never treated anyone this hurt before. She knew what had to be done but she also knew the hundreds of thing that could go wrong.

She might cause his death here tonight.

Rachel started with his shoulder and after giving him more Med-X she carefully inserting a pair of tweezers she kept for just this reason. When she started on the third bullet she noticed his breathing had evened out and his eyes were closed. He was either passed out or was deep in meditation, whichever it was she was glad.

After each bullet was removed she cleaned the wounds with a cloth soaked in a mix of irradiated water and vodka. After that Rachel applied gauze and wrapped him in bandages instead of giving him more stimpaks. She knew if she tried to do too many stimpaks the bullet holes she hadn't cleared yet would close around the lead still stuck inside of him.

Once Rachel got started she forgot about her nerves and focused on the task at hand. The surgery took two and a half hours. She finished by setting his arm with a splint she'd made out of a leather belt and wood from a chair she'd broken up.

She wrapped a final set of bandages around him and applied both Stimpaks and Med-X. Then Rachel pulled the blanket off the other bed in the room and covered him up with it.

Now all she could do was wait.

Treating Charon had taken all of the medical skills she'd learned over the years and probably she still needed a good deal of luck but there wasn't anything else she could do for him now.

Rachel suddenly felt cold and she looked down at herself, she was a mess. Her hands, arms and chest were covered in blood. She could feel a smear of it on her cheek and it was dripped onto her boots.

Ghoul or not no man should bleed this much and be okay. She was definitely going to have to have luck on her side to see him wake up from this. The red head told Claws to stand guard and went the bathroom across the hall to wash up. She looked even worse in the mirror.

Rachel scrubbed the blood off as quickly and thoroughly as possible. She checked her own injured shoulder in the mirror too before she left the bathroom and applied a stimpak when she got back to the room.

It wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. She'd have a good scar because she'd neglected it in favor of saving Charon but she'd proudly wear that scar as a badge of honor for the rest of her life.

Rachel finally got to look over Claws and frowned. He was filthy but she didn't want to take him to the bathroom and leave Charon unguarded. Things would be a lot easier if she had their packs but they had decided to leave them near the entrance of the vault. It had seemed like a waste of energy to drag a bunch of useless junk around underground but now she wished she had it.

"I'll have to go get them." she told Claws softly, "Stay, and kill anyone trying to get in here who isn't me."

The girl hefted her gun and left quietly. She didn't want to run into anything hostile and she didn't on her way up to where they'd slept last night. It seemed like it had been a lot longer than just a handful of hours since she and Charon had spent the night here. Rachel found the bags tucked into a corner right where they'd been left that morning and hurried back to Claw's and Charon.

Once back Rachel filled a pot with water from the bathroom and gave Claws a much needed bath. He had a few cut and his muzzle had a dark bruise from what looked like a bat but thankfully he hadn't been shot at all.

When he was clean Claws climbed up onto the free bed and was almost instantly asleep. Rachel was a little envious of the beast, she was exhausted. She knew she could curl up next to her deathclaw but somebody had to keep watch. Besides, sleep never came to her easily.

Rachel was leaning against Charon's bed fiddling with her Pipboy when she heard him moan softly. She looked at her green glowing clock in the corner of her Pipboy, he'd been out cold for over six hours.

She gave him another two doses of Med-X and put her palm on his forehead. The action was more out of habit than fear of infection but his flesh was hot under her skin. Rachel knew ghouls ran hotter than human, the trouble was she didn't know how much hotter.

She looked around the room for something to make him more comfortable. There were no pillows and her pack was full of scrap metal for Winthrop so that wouldn't help. Rachel double checked the lock on the door and then climbed onto the bed with him. She settled with her back against the wall and gently moved Charon's head into her lap. When she'd been this hurt so many years ago Carla had done this for her and the contacted had helped her feverish mind.

Rachel turned her Pipboy volume down and switched on Galaxy News Radio to break the oppressive silence in the room. Butcher Pete was just finishing up and Three Dogs voice invaded the airways.

"Hello Capitol Wasteland! It's me! Three Dog! Now Children, I know I've told you this already but in case some of you have been living under a rock this month I'll tell you again. Little miss 101, our very own Hero of the Wastes has said goodbye. We've got reports of her heading west. Hey there 101, I don't know if you can hear me but if you can I hope you find what you're looking for.

Now Children you may think Ol Three Dog has been hitting the Jet again but I swear I speak truth. We've lost our savior 101 but it looks like we've gained an Angel of Death. Not too long ago I got a visit from a new walker of our neck of the wastes. I get a lot of reports folks and I have seen a lot of crazy things out here but I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. A girl with an honest to god Deathclaw in tow. That's right children, a deathclaw. That's one guard dog I don't want to run into. If you're in the D.C Ruin's Angel stop buy the studio so I can give little Claws a pat!

Rachel stared at her Pipboy with her mouth open as Maybe started to play. She hadn't listened to Galaxy News at all since meeting Three Dog. Sometimes it was playing over at Moriarty's but she tuned it out while she talked with Gob and drank with Jericho.

Claws snorted, he'd picked his head up at the sound of his name but since it appeared that he wasn't going to get a snack he settled back into sleep.

Angel of Death huh? The nickname was probably the result of Charon and Claw at her back and the threats she gave the DJ regarding her identity. As far as nick names went she didn't hate it. She didn't hate being talked about on the radio station either as long as he kept it vague.

Charon grumbled in his sleep and his brown wrinkling in distress. She quietly stroked his forehead. If he was dreaming right now it didn't seem like it was a pleasant one. Rachel pulled up her list of stored songs and found one they played in New Vegas a lot.

A smooth harmonica and guitar started to play and the girl softly sang along. It was the kind of song Rachel liked to fall asleep too and she hoped it would comfort her friend.

"In the shadow of the valley

I would like to settle down

Wide open space

Wind on my face.

"It's alright Charon, you're safe," She told him gently.

Charon quieted and she smiled softly. He was going to be fine, Ghouls were tougher than most humans and Charon was tougher than most ghouls. He's has to be fine. He just needs a little rest that's all.

Charon looked down the long hallway he was in. There was only blackness behind him so he kept moving forward. He swore he could hear a voice, it was far away but it was there.

"Charon! I order you to come here." He jerked to a halt and looked around. In a room to his right that he was sure hadn't been there a minute ago was a man in a black military uniform. Charon immediately presented himself before the man.

"Yes sir,"

The man, the man who had trained him, read a file in his gloved hands. General John Green wasn't pleased with whatever he was reading.

"Charon we have a spy on base. Find her and eliminate her."

General Green showed him a picture of a pretty red head with feline eyes. Charon frowned at the picture. "Sir, she is my employer. It would be a direct violation of my contract to harm her in any way."

Green scowled hard. "I am your employer, not some commiee bitch. Find her and kill her. That is an order."

Charon wanted to argue but his body snapped to attention. He saluted and left immediately. It was her voice that he could hear. She was up ahead, he knew it. Charon hurried to finish his task quickly. The Captain didn't like to be kept waiting and he was cruel with his punishments.

There she was. He saw her slip between to bookshelves. They were in a library; he didn't know the base had a library. The girl he was instructed to kill was singing to herself. "In the shadow of the valley, I would like to settle down,"

He turned into her isle in time to see her slip around the far corner. It didn't seem to matter how fast he ran she was always just turning when he caught a glimpse of her. He just saw a flash of red hair or dark clothing.

"Wait!" he called, knowing it was stupid. What kind of spy waited for you to kill her?

He round yet another bookshelf and stopped short. She was there in a black tank top and ripped jeans that looked like they were being held together by duct tape and faith.

"Why did you stop?" he heard himself ask. Really he hadn't wanted her too. He wanted her to run. She had to get away from him. Charon didn't want to be the reason for this girl's death.

"You asked me to." she told him simply.

"You shouldn't have." He told and added apologetically. "I have orders to kill you."

"I know, it's too bad isn't it? I wanted us to be friends." She gave him the saddest smile he'd ever seen.

"Smoothskins aren't friend with ghouls." He told her but his own words confused him. Ghouls?

"Your skin looks pretty smooth to me and besides I wouldn't care either way." her voice was sweet and soft. He looked at his human hands. They looked just like they always had and knew that she was telling the truth.

"I'm…I'm sorry I have to kill you. I promise I'll make it as quick as I can." he told the strange girl. If she was really a spy she didn't seem to be very good. She'd let him catch her after all. That strange song led him right to her.

"Charon where are we?" She asked instead of commenting on her imminent death, looking around.

"How do you know my name?"

The red headed girl just smiled at him.

"The first vault, it is a model to show investors." It was easy to talk to her. It shouldn't be. He shouldn't be this familiar with anyone. He especially shouldn't be giving information to an enemy spy but he couldn't see this girl working for anyone but herself.

"I'm going to save you." the little red head said matter a factly.

"You can't." Charon whispered. "I really am sorry miss but I have orders, I need to kill you now."

"Charon!" Green barked, appearing behind the girl. "I told you to kill her. If you can't follow orders then you're not prepared for deployment. Nurse!"

Fear slammed through him and he looked back, two nurses with fake smiles and needle filled with unknown liquid were there. They were going to drug him again, drug him and make him do things. Horrible things no man should be forced to do, he could almost hear the sobs of the children at his mercy. Mercy he wasn't allowed to give.

Charon reached for his shotgun but it wasn't on his back. There was a knife in his boot; he could take a few of these soulless people with him. After this exploit he would no doubt be labeled a failed subject and be eliminated. It was probably better that way anyway.

"Wide open space, wind on my face," the spy sang. Even now he didn't believe she was a spy. She wasn't his employer, Green was, but he still felt he knew this girl and that she did mean to try and save him.

The nurses eyes turned black and they advanced, hissing through pointed teeth. Charon backed away, whatever was in those needles…he didn't want it. He bumped into something and the girl stepped around him. The nurses stopped as the spy made a shooing motion with her hands. "Please go away," she told them politely. The nurses looked at each other and nodded, vanishing.

"Charon, I order you to kill that spy." Green snapped, turning red. He was furious.

"She is my…" Charon looked between the girl and the captain. They were both his employer. That was impossible, he could only have one. His head felt like it was going to explode, he ran a hand through his hair and backed against one of the bookshelves.

His chest hurt too, a lot, and his shoulder and his leg. It was like he'd been shot. It was his punishment for disobeying. Green must have shot him. For a moment Charon wondered if he'd be allowed to die.

No, General Green was not that merciful.

"Kill Her!"

Charon looked at the General with wide eyes. He was going to be punished for disobeying. He deserved it but he couldn't kill an employer either. Green glared at Charon and the bookshelf behind him suddenly went soft. The wood turned to a strange putty and pulled Charon's limbs into it. It was going to consume him, he'd suffocate when covered his nose and mouth. After everything he'd done thought he couldn't bring himself to feel anything but regret.

The girl whose name he didn't know stepped between him and General Green. "Be quiet please, you are upsetting him."

With the General distracted the wood stopped eating him, instead he was trapped there.

"I'll do whatever I damn well please with my own employee." the General snapped, stepping close to the spy.

The girl leaned into the taller man's face, her soft voice suddenly taking on a very dangerous edge. "You will not hurt him while I'm still breathing."

The girl reached into her shirt and pulled out an ancient looking paper square from her breast. She unfolded it and held it up for the General to see. He swore and pulled a clean sheet from the folder suddenly in his hands.

"I have his contract girl, who do you think you are?!"

The girl smiled brightly, "I'm Rachel," she made a gun with her fingers and mouthed "Bang". Green dissolved into black dust, he didn't even have time to scream.

Charon tried to gasp but he started coughing. Rachel took his hand and pulled him from the shelf. Charon fell to his knees, coughing violently. She hugged him like he was a child who'd had an awful nightmare, hushing him. "Shh, it's alright, Charon you're safe with me. You have always be there, And you always will be…"

Sage brush and Pine…

Old Friends of mine,

A little bit further…

Charon snapped his eyes open, Rachel was looking down at him with those familiarly calm feline eyes. She was stroking his scalp with her thumb and singing that song as it played from her Pipboy.

I will find my rest

It was unusual for a smoothskin to offer this kind of comfort to a ghoul and Charon found it even stranger that it was being offered to him. The contact was both comforting and made him uncomfortable at the same time.

Rachel blinked when he shifted slightly and when her eyes focused on his she smiled.

"You're awake."

His face must have reflected some of what he was thinking because she took her hand away from his skin and blushed. "Sorry, you looked like you were having a nightmare and I didn't know what else to do."

"It's fine smoothskin," he rasped. His throat was incredibly dry. Rachel reached for something out of his range of sight and when her hand retuned it held a bottle of irradiated water. He leaned forward long enough to gulp down the water with her help and then settled back down again.

It was now that he realized where she was exactly. "You don't have to be my pillow."

Rachel's lips curled up into that now familiar smile. "I don't have to do a lot of things. I'm glad you woke up, for a while I wasn't sure if you would."

"It's going to take more than a couple bullets to drop me kid." He told her although from what he recalled she was probably right to have feared the worst.

"Nine."

"What?'

"I pulled nine 10mm slugs out of you and I reset your arm so try not to move it to much until you're sure it's done healing." Rachel told him.

"How long-"

"You've been asleep for a little over sixteen hours."

Charon slowly looked around the room and then back up at his employer, awed at her loyalty to an old slave. "You stood watch for sixteen hours?"

She shrugged. "Hey, what are friends for? Now go back to sleep and if you think you're up to it we'll get the fuck outta here in the morning."

"No, I can be awake for a little while. You try and get some rest."

Rachel looked like she wanted to argue but her exhaustion won out and she nodded. She moved and he expected her to go to the other bed with Claws but instead she curled up next to him. She was careful not to bump into any of his injuries but she did put her hand on his wrist and squeezed.

"I really am glad you're alive." she whispered with her eyes already closed.

Charon wasn't sure how to process this woman sleeping so close to him or the level of consideration she had given him since he'd been hurt. Finally he whispered, "So am I smoothskin." but she was already asleep.