"Are you ok?" Curie's voice called from behind her piece of cover. Lily managed to grunt in response as she shakily got to her feet.
Before she could collapse, a surprisingly strong arm wrapped around her waist. Curie had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, propping up the exhausted raider.
Lily wanted to shove the woman away, but her arms lacked the strength to do anything but hang on for dear life. For most of the day, she'd sat down behind a rock or a barrier, poking her head out as bait every once in a while. Meanwhile, Curie was slowly getting accustomed to her new body; her shots grew more accurate after every firefight. With only four bullets left in her revolver, Lily had watched helplessly as Curie won every fight for them. Not that she'd be very helpful in a fight. Although Curie had somewhat relieved the pain in her lower back, she'd been unable to figure out the cause of the heaviness in Lily's hip.
To her credit, Lily managed to limp forward with stubborn determination, escaping Curie's grasp while ignoring the burst of pain that threatened to send her tumbling to the ground. She managed two shaky steps on her own before her legs buckled. This time, she didn't have the strength to escape Curie's arms as she was gently brought to the ground. A bottle of water was pressed against her lips, and Lily drank greedily.
"You are exerting yourself too much." Curie said matter-of-factly. Lily ground her teeth. The last thing she needed was a human Mrs. Nanny following her around swaddling her like a baby. It seemed like every time she hit her lowest point; life would remind her that she still had quite some distance to fall.
"Why're you still here?" Lily spat, venting her pent-up frustration on a bewildered Curie. "You're just carrying around dead weight."
Curie's eyebrows knitted as she carefully considered her response.
"Your vital signs are weak, but you are not dead." Curie explained patiently. "So technically, you're living weight!" she added with a delighted laugh.
A stone-cold stare from Lily killed her laughter instantly. The raider shifted her weight onto her own feet, wincing at the jolt of pain from her hip.
"Where do you think we are?" Lily mumbled.
"Maybe a few miles Northeast of where we were before?" Curie replied, eyebrows furrowed with concentration as she gauged her surroundings. Or atleast pretended to; she didn't want to admit just how little knowledge she had of the Commonwealth.
If Lily's rolling eyes were any indication, her bluff wasn't working.
"Where have you been for the last 200 years…" Lily's voice trailed off as she spotted something written on an ancient military truck that made her blood run cold.
Swan.
"A-Are we in the Boston Common?" Lily stuttered uncharacteristically, her grip on Curie tightening. Curie scanned-no she looked at their surroundings. 200 years of devastation had left the former park in utter ruin; even by Commonwealth standards, the area looked uninhabitable. Curie tried to pull up what she knew about the Prewar Boston Common. Yes, the size was approximately the same. But Curie couldn't see any of the beautiful white swan boats that her database-her memory told her would be present.
"I think so, but I am not sure. Perhaps we could ask someone for directions?" Curie offered helpfully. Despite Lily's growing panic, she spared a moment to marvel once again at the woman's naivety. Surely she had to be putting on an act?
The moment of astonishment passed, and Lily's fear returned like a tidal wave, making every inch of her body feel like it had been doused in icy-cold water.
"Listen to me carefully. There's a…thing that lives in the Common. I've seen in with my own eyes. It's real!" Lily's eyes were wide, and for once she was maintaining eye contact with a stunned Curie.
"We need to get as far away from the Common as possible." Lily looked around wildly, searching desperately for the alley she knew was somewhere nearby.
"There!" she cried, pointing towards an alley that was partially obstructed by shoddily constructed platforms. The alley was no more than a hundred feet away, but Lily limped forwards with an unnatural surge of strength. Curie supported her as best she could, but she was more confused than frightened. All her memories told her that swans were majestic, white-feathered birds. Perhaps Lily suffered from Cygnophobia? She'd have to pursue her diagnosis later; right now, they'd have to deal with the burly raider moving towards them with his weapon drawn.