Chapter 28
Blood.
It was almost all the big ghoul could think about.
He wanted to drain the red liquid from whoever had taken Rachel away from him. He'd paint the walls with it. Equally whenever he wasn't picturing the violent ends he could bring down on the Contact his mind tortured him with all the ways the Contact could be spilling her blood.
Charon opened the basement door to the decrepit shop he was in and inspected every inch of the little room.
Nothing.
No helpful Talon informant, no hidden doors…no Rachel.
Frustrated he kicked the wall, the old brick cracked under the force of his steel toed boot and dust flew into the air. It had been two complete days and he'd searched every building in the mall from sub basements to rooftops.
He'd even crawled through the ruble of the collapsed structures that littered the mall searching for hidden doors or secret basements.
He'd found two but the only things inside were dust covered supplies and the skeletons of the people who'd tried to wait out the bombs there.
He'd taken the salvable supplies he'd seen and had left the dead to their resting places.
This building, it sign was ruined beyond recognition but he was pretty sure it had been a café once upon a time way back before the world burned. It was empty just like all the others had been.
Charon sent one last glance around the room and left. He numbly decided he'd go back to Underworld and check to see if anyone had seen or heard anything out of the ordinary. Maybe somebody notice people around. Maybe by some miracle of the wasteland somebody had left a map with directions to his little lost smoothskin.
Charon rubbed his tired eyes and trudged towards the city of the undead. It didn't take long to navigate the old trenches. Hell, even if the super mutants were still swarming around here it wouldn't have taken him long but killing a dozen of them might have made him feel better.
Willow was the first ghoul he saw and she gave him a tight smile when she saw him. She already knew of course, everyone in Underworld knew. Underworld was the second place he'd combed. The first had been the Metro's running around and under the Mall.
"No luck?" she asked sympathetically and his dejected grimace was all she needed for an answer. She frowned and nodded towards the door. "Come on, Quinn just got back and I'm due for a break. He can take over while I buy you a drink."
"No time." Charon rasped, "Has anyone been into Underworld since the other day."
Willow shook her head. "Nobody but Quinn, Although Ahzrukhal has left a couple times."
"He has?"
"Yeah, guess without you to order around he has to pick up his own shipments."
Charon scowled, drawling sarcastically. "My heart bleeds for him."
The Ninth Circle was the one place Charon hadn't gone into when he'd been searching for Rachel. He'd been too worked up too deal with his former employer and now he was too exhausted. He'd end up killing the man out of spite and then Winthrop would be up his ass about slaughtering residents no matter how much old Az deserved it.
Charon didn't have time for that.
Willow regarded him for a long moment and then nodded once. "Stand guard for me, I'll be back in a few minutes." She told him and was gone before he could tell her to get bent.
He sighed and leaned against the stone barricade that ran around the metro entrance. He didn't want to sit here but he wouldn't leave Underworld unguarded either. She'd said she wouldn't be every long and as much as he wanted to keep searching he really didn't know where to go now.
Charon rubbed his tired eyes for the hundredth time and looked out over the mall, "Rachel…where the fuck are you?"
Charon would never know exactly how long he'd dozed off for but the sudden bump against his hand made him grab his shotgun with a curse. He swore again when he looked down at Claws. He'd been leave the beast in the Metro's but it looked like the deathclaw had gotten tired of waiting.
Claws looked up at him and Charon gave his leathery hide a pat. His eye was healing but Charon knew now that the damaged eye would never regain sight. He was going to have a scar too. Between that and the collar Rachel must have put on him while Charon was off killing they'd always be able to tell Claws from other less domestic deathclaws.
The big doors of the museum opened and both Willow and Quinn stopped short, reaching for their weapons. Charon growled, too tired to offer the explanations Rachel would have in this situation, and put a ruined hand on the deathclaw's head.
Claws looked between his ghoul and the new people before settling next to Charon with an exaggerated sigh.
"Wh-" Willow tried to questioned but she couldn't get the words to form in her mouth properly.
"What the fuck?" Quinn finished for her as he held on tightly to his rifle.
"He belongs to Rachel." Charon told them simply, offering nothing else. The two ghouls exchanged looks and then Willow held a bottle of whiskey out towards Charon. He took it but didn't drink.
Both Willow and Quinn had their own bottles and they both took long pulls, never taking their milky eyes off the little deathclaw.
"So…it's tame?" Quinn asked carefully to break the silence getting heavy between them.
Charon looked at the beast and shook his head. "No, he's loyal. I've watched him rip apart our enemies. Little bastard think's Rachel is his mother or some shit."
"I see." Quinn mumbled although he didn't seem sure. "So no leads on her?"
"If I had a lead I wouldn't be here with you assholes!" Charon snarled with more hostility then he'd intended.
Willow studied the bigger ghoul for a long time, noting the changes in him. His eyes were bloodshot behind the milky-ness and his face looked more haggard then it had ever been under Ahzrukhal's employment. Charon's slumped posture and shaking hands practically screamed his exhaustion.
"When was this last time you slept?" She finally asked.
Charon scowled at her and she scowled back, unthreatened. Finally his shoulders slumped, defeated. "Maybe three days…I'm not sure."
"You should go rent a bed from Carol. I'm sure she'd give you a line of credit if you don't have the caps on you." she coaxed, "hell I'll pay for it. You look like hell."
"I can't." he was already shaking his head. "Not while Rachel's out there. I have to find her. She's the only thing that matters."
"And what happens if she isn't alone?" Willow challenged as gently as she could.
"I'll kill every single person keeping her from me." Charon growled.
"Not if you collapse from exhaustion." Willow growled back although her voice held none of the aggression that his had. "Charon you won't be any good to her if you can't see straight."
Charon tensed and Claws growled at Willow, responding to her tone and his pack elder's posture. Charon put a calming hand on him sighed because he knew just how right she was. "I know, but I can't."
"Do you love her?" Quinn asked and Charon looked at him sharply.
"She is my employer." He answered automatically.
"Yeah," Quinn agreed. "But you wouldn't have gotten this worked up if Ahzrukhal had disappeared."
Charon looked at his hands warily. The fog in his brain was making it hard to think. "I…care for her." he finally told them slowly. "In ways I have no right too. I think she cares for me too. I would feel confident saying we are …friends." He pictured Rachel curled up next to him when he'd been hurt in Vault 108. "Loyal friends."
Quinn nodded, satisfied with Charon's honest answer. "Let me help you look for her."
Charon started to shake his head. "No" already on his lip but he paused, thinking better of it. "You don't have too."
"I want too." The merchant glanced down at Claws, "The wasteland need's an Angel to walk it. I would hate to know I could have helped and didn't."
Charon scratched the deathclaw's head. One look at Claws and everyone knew who Rachel was thanks to Three Dog.
Charon stood, ignoring his protesting back, and nodded to the next building over. It had been a Law Office once.
"Come on, We should get started."
"And that asshole said she was in the Mall?" Quinn asked some hours later.
"Yes," Charon confirmed. "She could have been moved by now though. It was only supposed to be a drop point but there should be signs. There isn't anything to suggest anyone was held against their will or even that anyone has been in the area."
Quinn watched the other ghoul open a door for the hundredth to inspect an empty closet. When Charon slammed the door shut again Quinn sighed. "Charon we've been looking for hours. You've been looking for days. Come back to Underworld and get some fucking sleep. We can start fresh in the morning."
Charon wanted to argue but he was too tired to think of a new dispute. Instead he nodded and trudged after Quinn. They hadn't found any trace of her of course.
He knew the likely hood of finding her alive got slimmer with every passing hour. Still he wasn't going to be able to keep going very much longer. Willow was right, a couple hours of sleep and he'd start again. A power nap, really. Even that made him feel guilty, like he was condemning her on purpose.
When they reached the doors to the Museum of History Charon looked over his shoulder. As if they could feel his resolve to sleep breaking both Quinn and Willow each took one of his elbows and towed him inside.
He didn't fight them, instead he let the two guide him towards the steps. He might even consider them friends later when his brain wasn't aching so painfully. He found himself in Carol's Place soon enough and he was directed to sit.
"-ron?"
He blinked and looked up at Carol, Quinn and Willow were gone. She smiled uncertainly at him and he forced himself to focus. "Sorry?"
"I asked if you wanted something to eat Charon." She repeated, trying to mother him like every lost soul that crossed her path.
"No, I'm fine ma'am." He reached down to unlace his boots only to find that they were already off. The two packs he'd been dragging all over hell were stacked neatly on the bed next to his too. He didn't even remember taking them off his shoulder.
Carol nodded but she returned a minute later with a bottle of irradiated water and a bowl of warm noodles.
"Here you go dear." She told him kindly. "I think you should eat anyway. It'll help keep your strength up."
"Thank you Ma'am." It was all he could think to say as his hands wrapped around warm porcelain.
Carol fussed with a wispy lock of her hair and smiled warmly. "Oh call me Carol." She told him, "now eat those noodles and get some sleep."
"If I'm not up at dawn will you wake me?" Charon asked as she turned to leave.
"Oh of course dear, though I'm not sure I'll be up that early. I'll do my best."
Charon nodded, she reminded him of the chipped bowl warming his hands. "Thank you…Carol."
She left him with a warm goodnight and he shook his head, eating the food as he'd been instructed too. She was possibly the sweetest woman alive today. Carol prompted the vague memories he had of his own sweet mother.
He remembered that she'd been gentle and kind. He also remembered that she'd died before the war.
Back before he'd even joined the military.
She'd been sick and that illness had claimed her quickly.
His father had died too…a reaction to his mother's death. They had passed maybe a year apart, leaving him and his two younger sisters on their own.
Charon drained the liquid left in his bowl and set it on the floor next to his bed. He was too exhausted to try to dig the past out of his foggy memory. Generally Charon didn't want to remember the past, even the good parts, but in spite of himself he pulled the chain around his neck from under his armor. He ran his thumb over the worn metal and snapped open the oval locket he kept with his dog tags.
Two ginger haired girls smiled up at him from the faded pictures and pain twisted in his chest. Charon snapped the locket closed again and settled into bed. Rachel had asked him about the locket only a little over a week ago. If he found her, when he found her, he'd show it to his little smoothskin.
Charon promised himself that he'd try to be more open with her. He'd try to reciprocate the trusting friendship she forced onto him every day. He would do it because he wanted to be her friend. He'd let his contractual obligations fall to second for the first time since he'd gotten it.
Even if it was only going to last for her short lifetime he was going to be Rachel's friend.
Groaning Rachel opened her bloodshot eyes. Her mouth felt like it was full of cotton and her head felt like a super mutant had used her skull for batting practice.
She wiped sweat from her neck and reached for the Jet inhaler on the table that had been dragged next to the bed. Her ankle shackle chafed but it was hardly worth noticing once the drug filled her lungs.
She'd only gotten half a hit out of the inhaler but it was enough to take the edge off. Ahzrukhal never left her with enough to get a good high but at least she could function while he was away. She hated knowing in just a couple of hours she'd be a shaking idiot praying he'd return with more.
Today was the first day she didn't have someone from Talon Company watching over her during the day. Touching her and feeding her the drugs that made her compliant.
Apparently part of the payment they'd gotten was taking turns with her. One of them had told it was payback for all their men she'd killed but she'd been too out of her senses to even feel his abuse.
Now, while she could almost think straight, she worked on unscrewing the bolt that attached her to the bed. There were two and she hadn't even started loosening the first one but it was better than just sitting there waiting for old Az to return. Her bruised skin was enough of a reminder to keep her focused and motivated on escaping while she slipped into drug withdrawals.
She caught a shadow out of the corner of her eye and her head snapped in the direction of the movement. For a split second she could have sworn she'd seen an animal dart back into the shadows. The narrow passage wasn't that long though and she could see all the way to the back where a lantern burned.
There was nothing there.
Rachel looked at her Pipboy and growled. 5 am. She'd only slept an hour.
She knew she was probably hallucinating the shadow animals now. Exhaustion and drug withdrawal could do that. The first time she'd seen one she'd thought it was a species she'd just never encountered before. It was only after she started seeing them more that she realized they critters weren't real.
Finally alone she flicked over to the communicator and clumsily pushed the button to call for Charon. She was already starting to feel loopy.
"Hey, are you out there?" her voice was almost as raspy as his from the thick coat of dust in her throat. The seconds ticked by but she didn't get a response. He was either out of range or dead.
Ahzrukhal kept saying he was dead.
The thought of her stalwart ghoul companion being dead hit her harder than it should have and she was reduced to sobbing onto the dirty mattress. It was a very clear sign that the jet was worn off but there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it and that only made her cry harder.
Charon woke with a start and sat up. He knew where he was but he was still confused. He thought he'd heard someone whisper to him.
His mind was playing tricks on him, he guessed.
He rubbed his eyes, the lids felt like they were made of lead but he forced himself to get up anyway. Charon put on his boots quietly and looked at the communicator on his wrist. Using it was a gamble. If she was being guarded and they heard him Rachel could be put in danger.
Charon glanced around the room. He was alone so he hit the button, unable to hold out any longer. At least if she was in range she might be able to tell him if she was still in the mall.
"Smoothskin?" he whispered experimentally.
The room was absolutely silent for a long time and he was standing to go have a cigarette when the speaker crackled with static. "lo?"
Charon swore and grabbed his gun, heading for the door. He jogged, footsteps echoing on the marble walls of Underworld. The only person he saw moving was Winthrop who was taking a grate off of one of the vents. The other ghoul didn't even look up as Charon passed him.
He bust out into the cool pre-dawn air, not slowing until he was standing on the cracked sidewalk. Willow was there but he hushed her when she started to ask what the fuck he was doing.
"Smoothskin?" he asked into his watch, vaguely aware of Claws appearing at his side. "Rachel, can you hear me?"
"Charon?" she asked after a few long seconds, the static was much less outside and he could hear the weariness in her voice.
"Where are you?" he demanded while Willow inched close to listen.
"Hey Charon, Listen. I know you're dead. I can see the shadows, they want to play. I guess I'm hallucinating you too." her voice trembled at the end like she was about to start crying.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" It was still a demand but the ghoul was pretty sure he knew what she was saying.
"Not enough Jet to chase away the shakes." her vice floated through the speaker in a sing song kinda way. "At least I have you back for a little while."
"Come on smoothskin, I'm not dead, alright?" Charon told, relieved and frantic all at the same time. She was close but drugged up worse than a wasteland junkie. Where the hell were they keeping her? "I need you to try and focus, can you tell me where you are?"
"It's nice of you to say that, so I guess I'll play along like I didn't steal your breath and sight." her words barely made sense and only very little sleep the riddles were perhaps more frustrating than not hearing from her at all. "I'm in a cave…or a mine …or something…"
Charon scowled, "What do you mean?"
"What I said, there's a door on the other side of the darkness….but I can't get there. The bed is biting my leg."
Charon swore under his breath, "Okay, tell me something else. Are you still with Talon Company?"
"I think they might have left today, the first day I've been alone is today. It won't last, he'll be back to take what she owes him. She owes him quite a lot it seems. She killed a lot of men to stay away." Charon could hear the fear creeping into her voice and he gritted his teeth.
"Who?"
"Who? Whhoo… A bird said that before the war right? An Ole?"
"An Owl, Rachel-"
"An Owl…I bet it was pretty. Hey Charon? Thank you. I figure since you're a corpse on longer walkin', and all because of me, you should know that I was sad you left. All hot and bothered and alone you left me. I like it when you kiss me. Yours are better than the ones I've gotten lately. You're lovely about it… and you're not wet. Soggy skin ... smoothskin here doesn't like it. Squishy leather and sweaty mercs…" she trailed off, falling silent.
Charon felt a cold chill flash down his spine. "Rachel focus, who's squishy? Did a ghoul kidnap you?"
"No," she scoffed, "Puppets stole me away… Ghoul is the puppet master… You're puppet master once upon a nightmare living."
Willow knew exactly who the babbling girl meant when she said Charon's old puppet master.
Charon did too.
She watched his back snap straight and a feral growl rip from his throat. Claw's ducked his head and scurried out of the way as Charon whirled and kicked a blue mailbox so hard a crack split in the middle of the big dent he'd made.
"I hear thunder…" they both heard Rachel comment as the echo reverberated around the Mall.
Charon had his gun in his hand and was heading back into Underworld but Willow planted herself firmly between him and the door.
"Move!" he roared.
She flinched and put her hand up like she was trying to calm a raging animal.
"Charon, find her first!" she shouted, catching his attention even as he was forcefully sweeping her to the side.
When he didn't say anything but paused she continued. "You don't know how hurt she is, or even where she is exactly! Find her and kill him later!"
"I can find her when I beat her location out of his sorry ass!"
"You were with him for seven decades! Do you honestly expect him to tell you the truth!" she snapped. "I don't. I expect him to lie to your face, die and laugh from his reserved seat in hell!"
The seven foot ghoul set his mouth in a hard line and she knew she'd made him see her point.
"Charon?...have you flown away again?" a voice crackled at his wrist.
Eyes never leaving Willow's he lifted the watch to his lips. "No, I'm coming to get you."
"Oh good, I miss the sun."
Charon looked out over the mall with a renewed fire in his eyes. "She's close enough that she could hear that echo." he said to Willow, glancing at the busted mailbox.
"She's close enough for Ahzrukhal to slip out and see her without him having to travel very far."
"What the fuck could she mean by a mine? There are no mines in the Mall."
Willow snapped her fingers. "Have you searched the super mutant bunker?"
Charon rounded on her. "What bunker!?"
Willow took a step back and pointed, "Out there was a bunker the mutant's hid in. This end collapsed last year but the other end might still be standing."
"Why didn't you tell me!" Charon yelled, furious that he'd been careless enough to miss it.
"I thought it had been destroyed! Until she said she was in a mine I'd forgotten about it!"
Charon grabbed her wrist and dragged her with him in the direction she'd pointed. "Show me!"
Together they ran, Claws skittering after them. Willow jumped two of the narrow gullies with Charon close behind her. She went over a fortified hill and jumped into the pit behind it, spinning. She stumbled to the hidden door and turned the handle of the wooden barbwire door Charon had missed so many times in the last few days.
"It's locked!"
"Move!" Charon swept her out of the way and the wood around the lock shattered like glass under his boot.
"Rachel!" he roared, unable to believe he'd missed this place. He'd searched every inch of the buildings surrounding the mall but he hadn't even thought to check the barren center.
Dust swirled in the in the dim room, the only light coming from a lamp by his foot and another on a bedside table. He jogged forward, turning in a circle.
He didn't see her.
"Rachel!" he called into his communicator and blinked, hearing his echoed voice in the room. It was followed by a whimper. Slowly he took a more careful look around and saw an inch think chain leading under the bed.
He got to his knees and looked under the rusted frame. Two glowing golden eyes set in a pale face gazed back at him.
"Rachel?"
The eyes flinched and he withdrew the hand that had been reaching for her. She was like a frightened animal.
"Who are you?" she asked in a quivering voice. "You look like a dead man and it's cruel."
"I'm Charon," he coaxed, unsure about what was running through her head. "The idiot who left you unprotected."
"Prove it," she challenged, the chain clinking as she retreated further under the bed.
The ghoul blinked and looked back at Willow. The ghoulette shrugged and he looked back under the bed, wanting nothing more than to pull Rachel into his arms and never let go.
He sighed, thinking. "Okay…ah… I'll tell you something only you and I know about?"
She shifted, listening.
"The first time I saw you with no pants on was the first night you slept curled against me. In vault 108 after we barely survived a horde of violent clones all named Gary. You saved my life that night." He said it quietly but he knew Willow could hear him. He trusted her to keep her mouth shut but it had been an intimate moment for him and he didn't want to share it with anyone but the girl under the bed.
Charon carefully reached out to her and Rachel took his hand this time, letting him pull her out from under the bed and into his hard embrace. She buried her face into the nape of his neck and sobbed there quietly. She kept whispering non-sense about angels and undoing the dead.
Charon had his arms wrapped around her tightly with what was left of his nose in her hair. Listening to every babbled word and rocking her slightly.
After a couple long minutes Willow cleared her throat and when Charon glared at her she gestured to the girl in his arms. "You should take her to Barrows, poor thing looks like she's had a rough couple days."
Charon loosened his grip enough to get a good look at her and nearly saw red all over again. She was completely naked and her skin was a mass of dark bruises and angry cuts. Some looked like finger nail scratches and others were very clearly vicious bites. He didn't miss the soft relieved sigh she gave when he let go of her. Charon had to stop himself from leaving her with Willow to go murder the man that had caused it.
Instead he stood and helped her to stand with him. When she was stable her growled, "Cover your ears."
She did just in time for a shotgun blast to shatter the end of the chain locking her to the bed. Rachel jumped but she didn't move away from him. He looked down at her and yanked a stained greyish sheet from the bed.
Charon wrapped the sheet around her shivering body, rubbing his hands over her shoulders. He didn't like the bluish tint to her skin. Charon saw her turn her head quickly and she leaned enough to look around the edge of the bed.
"What is it?"
She shook her head, "The shadows want to play…do…do you have any Chems?" she asked, embarrassed but still desperate. Charon heart squeezed painfully and he shook his head, seeing her glassy bloodshot red eyes and the sheen of sweet on her skin.
"No," he scooped her up with one arm behind her knees and the other supporting her back. The sheet trailed almost to the ground but it didn't slip from her body. "I'll take you to the doctor, we'll get you fixed up."
She leaned into his chest, finding comfort in the body heat radiating through his armor. "Thank you," she whispered. "For saving me."
"Always," He whispered back as Willow took point on the way back to Underworld.
"I missed you." She whispered against his neck, her head resting on his shoulder.
Charon held her tighter. "I missed you too smoothskin."
