Chapter 52: Shit

I stared at the young girl for a moment and burst out laughing. When I finally controlled myself, I stared at the girl and she wasn't smiling.

"I'm sorry, but there's no way that's even possible. There's like, five reasons that say it's not possible." I told her.

"Then let's hear them." She said as she rested against a dark corner.

"Well for one, my father would never cheat on my mother-"

"He did when he was in prison. With my mother, who's just fine now, thanks for asking." She said to me with a nod.

"Uh, two; everyone who was ever near my father is sitting in a mind controlled fugue state at the present moment or dead." I said to her.

"My mother heard about what had happened at your town, Megaton, was it? Well, she took our things up and headed out towards your father, thinking that he would now something about this-"

"So how'd you escape?" I asked her.

"She left me home while she did that, and I chose the perfect time to defect her and run away."

"I'm hoping you can fill me in on her present state. I take it she was too late to make it to Megaton." She said, folding her arms.

"My father's been dead for years. She was chasing a ghost."

"How do you know about me?" I asked her.

"Your father told her all about you when he was kidnapped, and she passed it down to me when she left that place. So for my question, what are you doing here?" She inquired.

"I'm trying to get your mother along with The Capital Wasteland back. How long did you run before being brought all the way here?" I questioned.

"I don't know. They drugged me the whole time. The only thing I remember was being brought all the way over here with all the new recruits, including Sampson." She said, looking over at the large man off to the side as he rested on a bedroll.

"He got it worse than me." She said.

"I'm sorry, but I really need to go now." I told her.

"Don't you want to know my name?" She asked me as she left her dark corner and exposed her face. She wore a red tank top that covered up her set in blood stains with straight leg jeans. A tightly packed dressing covered her shoulder, and from the looks of it, she needed to redress it again. Her face was discolored from the first time I saw her. It was more gray and lifeless, and her bags below her eyes went to the bridge of her nose.

"Not really, partly because I don't believe you." I told her as I walked away.

"What else do you have to do?" She asked.

"I'm going to do a match for medicine."

"You are?" She asked as I turned away.

"Well, if you can, can you spare some supplies for Sampson? He's not doing well and I'm afraid if he gets called on for another match-"

"He'll what?" I interrupted and turned around, "He won't tear someone like me to shreds?"

"He only does it to protect me, Sarah."

"Spare it, kid. Whatever you're planning, it's not going to work." I told her as I turned away again and walked to the Great Arena.

My eyes angered by the girl's clear hoax, I couldn't help but think about it on the walk to the chamber. She was clearly a spy, right? She was just trying to get her greatest accomplice back into power. She probably even knew about the match with Dodson. But then again, how did she know about my father? I figured I really spilled the beans with Dodson, which made him a greater enemy to me. He knew all my secrets and now he's trying to dispose of me with his spies. This made me fret in the elevator.

I had realized that I just asked him to kill me. He was going to get the most powerful person in the arena to attack me, and I couldn't stand a chance with my state. My arm still healing, my bruises still clearing, my cuts still present, I was in no shape to fight in this kind of match. My second thoughts snapped into awareness when the televisions turned on.

"Welcome everybody to tonight's one-on-one cage match, right here in the Great Arena, the home of The Multiplayer!" Bob smiled at the camera.

"Today's match is a special request for hurting, made by the same noob we saw gun down Anaconda Bill's legs, Sarah Marston!" Dave exclaimed. I swallowed hard at this.

"But don't fret good people, Anaconda Bill himself agreed to fight today's match, despite his healing injuries!" Bob added.

"Good thing our doctors here work fast, right?" Dave smiled.

"It is a fair rematch made by the ringmaster, Mister Dodson." Bob explained.

"A no holds barred cage match, just the way grandmama wanted!" Dave added.

"Yeah, right, Dave. I knew your grandmother, you lying sack of-"

"Stop flirting and let's get on with the killing, boys!" Mister Dodson's smiling face flashed at the screen.

The doors opened up slowly to the arena, and I went out running to the weapons box. I lifted open the box by undoing the latches and saw what held inside.

A dirty, rusted shovel lay within the only weapon box there. I lifted it up and stared at Dodson's screen.

"You've got to be shitting me." I sighed at it.

"Ha-ha! I love my job!" He laughed at the screen.

"You know, I'd like to attach a beautiful metaphor that explains why she has a shovel, but there isn't one. I just did it for the hell of it." Dodson said as I held it in my arms.

I walked down to the rock covered crater and looked around for my opponent. I finally spotted him ahead of me.

He was a bald old man in a yellow snakeskin jacket that was armored with painted scrap metal. He wore matching yellow and black boots and thing snakeskin pants. He stood there with a limp, and huddled in my direction painfully, stopping further away. He didn't move his legs after this, and it didn't look like he could.

"You're gonna pay for this, bitch!" He yelled at me.

He reached at his back and slung out a high powered light machine gun, painted to match his outfit. A bullet clip ran down the side and he raised it above his head and roared.

"No one skins the snake!" He yelled as he pointed the rifle at me.

I dove behind a rock as he held his finger on the trigger. A quick line of explosive bullets made it to me as I jumped at the rock, sparking off of it as the hundreds of bullets chipped away the rock.

"This day sucks." I told myself.

"Marston seems to be pinned down at a rock, not knowing how to escape the horror that is Anaconda Bill." Bob said.

"Yeah, I mean, have you seen this guy's record? Four downs in an average team match." Dave replied.

"He's the reason the Blue Team's losing streak started, right? Swept the floor with them and sent them all to the hospital." Bob conversed.

"He made Quick Kenny quit after that match, poor guy."

"Yeah, some people aren't meant for this kind of fight." Bob said back.

"Speaking of which, Marston isn't looking too good right now." Dave announced.

I realized I couldn't stay there, the rock was too thin and it chipped away from behind me. I looked to my sides as I held my shovel and spotted another rock about twenty feet away from me. I couldn't make it there without him turning me into a glorified sponge. I had to think, but the massive migraine from the explosive gun barrel interrupted that. I looked to my right and noticed the shovel in my hands. I spun it around and dug into the dirt below me. I held it in the shovel and took the end of the stick, holding the dirt out in front of me. I looked at it and then at the rock's sparks. I angled the stick to where the shots were coming from and pulled it up, catapulting the mound over the rock.

"Argh!" Anaconda Bill yelled as the bullets stopped jolting the rock and went elsewhere.

I popped up from the rock and ran closer to the blinded fighter as he tried to get a bead on me as he wiped his eyes clear of dirt. With his eyes clear, he spotted me again, and continued firing at my new rock.

"Come on out and fight me! You can't slither from the snake!" He screamed over the bullets.

"Here's a smart move, Marston used her shovel to direct dirt at Anaconda Bill!" Dave exclaimed.

"There goes to show, strategy is important, no matter where you are, and Marston shows that tonight." Bob said.

"Still gonna get shot today, though." Dodson echoed.

"Oh, yeah, right, of course." The announcers agreed.

I realized that this rock was too large, and it covered the sparks from my eyes when I went looking for them. I stuck my head close off to the side to spot where Anaconda Bill was firing from. A stray bullet went at me as I glanced at him, scraping against my arm as I turned back to the rock. I yelped and held my arm in pain, dropping my shovel for a moment.

"Got ya'!" Anaconda Bill chortled as he fired more.

"Godammit, how many bullets do you have?!" I yelled at him.

"Enough to turn your corpse into mush!" He answered.

I quickly grabbed my shovel and dug up more dirt. I held it out at him and threw it over the rock, splashing it all over his shiny head.

"Stop doing that!" He coughed.

I ran from the rock to one just a few feet in front of him. He quickly figured out my position and fired just as I could make it to the rock.

"Get any closer, and you'll get bit by the snake!" He yelled at me as he fired at the rock.

"I get it, your theme is 'snake'!" I yelled at him.

This one I could find out where he was with. I adjusted the shovel and slammed it down into the ground. It hit only hard roots and hard earth. I was under a thick tree and there wasn't any dirt around.

"This looks like the end for Marston's strategic luck." Bob told the crowd, making them cheer loudly.

I looked around for something to do, but there wasn't anything I could. Then, my brain sparked the second greatest idea this match. I lifted up my Pip-Boy and activated my Stealth Boy. The camouflage took over my body, and I sat invisible at the rock. I moved slowly to the side and spotted anaconda Bill limped over and shooting the center directly. I walked away from the rock as he continued to fire and threw the shovel at him with both hands, ending the invisible duration as it coasted from my hands. The rusted iron cracked at Anaconda Bill's head, sending him back and stopping the firing of his beloved machine gun.

"Wow! Marston has done the impossible! She has taken down Anaconda Bill!" Dave shouted.

"Get up and fight, dude! Your legs are broken, not your balls!" Dodson yelled from his screen.

"GRARGH!" Anaconda Bill shouted as he reached for his machine gun.

I sent an uppercut at his chin as he reached for it, barreling him back to the ground. I lifted his smooth jacket to my face and punched his head downward, picking him back in for another punch. The man's face twisted, and he soon grabbed me by the neck and clenched it tightly. I sent a hook at his brow and the old man went back with shut eyes, gripping my neck slightly. I grabbed his head with both hands and sent it into my knee with all my force, cracking his teeth and sending blood into the air around us. His face changed from anger into dreariness, and Anaconda Bill soon passed out onto the dirt, sending out a cloud with his fall.

"Please... don't..." He begged weakly.

I slumped down next to the man, looking down at his broken ribs and bloody face.

"Don't let me die like this... just kill me" He coughed.

I got up and looked down at him with a stolid expression, looking over at my shovel. No one has ever been 'killed' in this competition, and the audience doesn't know exactly what happens around here. The tradition of the fighters is to incapacitate, not kill, so is the tactic used to keep the audience out of the know. The income of new people and possible spies were kept under control using this method. I would be the first one to break this vow if I killed him, and I wasn't going to make people hate me more.

"I'm sorry. I don't want any more of you being taken to this place." I told him as I dropped the shovel.

"She's done it! Sarah Marston has won the match!" Bob shouted.

I exhaled once and rested on my knees, looking down at Bill's body. When I looked up, the crowd cheered and screamed in my victory from all directions, and I couldn't help but smile up at the blinding lights below them.