"Speaking of frying." A voice mocked from the darkness. To Curie's dismay, Gabe walked out of the shadows with his pistol pointed right at them.
"Looks like y'all jumped straight out of the frying pan and into the fire." He noted with a chuckle. Piper clenched her fists; of course, this day would end with her being captured by raiders. Would it even be the Commonwealth if something bad didn't happen every five minutes?
"So, the night starts with us finding Lily Tourette and her pretty little nurse, and by the end of it, we capture Piper Wright as well?" Sasha said, smiling cruelly. "Yes, yes, we know who you are. Maybe you should change your get-up once in a while, eh?" she asked, mocking the open-mouthed reporter.
"Let's see. We sell the reporter to a raider gang, sell Lily to the General and then keep this no-name around for entertainment?" Damien asked, as he took Piper's handgun off of her belt.
"Yeah, then we pack up and head for Nuka-World. I know the Disciples are always looking for test subjects. Sell Nisha this fresh little thing and we're settled for life." Sasha added, staring hungrily at Curie like a wild mongrel looking at a newborn infant.
"Wait, y'all wanna pack up on the Commonwealth? I thought we were gonna stay here, make a name for ourselves. What are ya gonna do in Nuka-World?" Gabe interjected.
"Don't lump me into this man, that was Sasha's idea. I don't know about going to Nuka-World, but she is onto something." Damien said with a shrug. "You really want to stick around here, waiting for that psycho sister of hers to come tearing after us? We do this, and we make a lot of enemies in the Commonwealth."
"So what's your big idea?" Sasha pressed Gabe, unhappy to see that she would have to be the voice of reason yet again. "Bounties on our heads will be through the roof, even worse if that General comes looking for her favorite reporter."
Lily began whimpering, a sound that shook Piper to her bones. Not because she cared particularly about this raider, but because the sounds she was making were so hauntingly similar to Nat's cries. For the first time, Piper realized that the raider she'd planned to leave for dead couldn't be much older than eighteen. Sure, the Wasteland made soldiers out of everyone, including children. And she would know best; most of her life had been spent chasing after scoops and rumors, flitting from atrocity to atrocity. After all these years, Piper had almost grown to believe that nothing could move her anymore. While the raiders continued to argue, only occasionally glancing at their prisoners, Piper took a closer look at the girl sprawled beside her.
Her eyes were instantly drawn to the left side of her face, where two deep scars stood out in the dim light of a nearby streetlamp. The damaged flesh formed bumps and ridges on her otherwise smooth skin, as if someone had been more interested in damaging her appearance than actually causing pain. Perhaps it was just a fever dream cooked up by her chem-addled brain, but Piper thought the woman looked a little like Nat. Pitying a raider. Piper thought to herself, a bitter taste in her mouth. How fucking high am I?
"Jet." Lily moaned, her voice barely more than a whisper. "Jet…" she pleaded, her eyes half-closed. The raiders paid her no attention, having momentarily taken their eyes off the prize to quarrel among themselves. Piper sighed. She'd stolen quite a few chems from Blue's emergency stash, and she still had half of them with her. Including a few doses of Jet. The least she could do was make this girl's last few moments of freedom comfortable.
The sound of the inhaler brought the trio of raiders out of their argument.
"Hey! Drugs don't get to kill you. Only I get to kill you." Sasha yelled, marching towards the fallen raider. Piper sighed. She'd probably made things worse for herself, and as the last of the Chems left her bloodstream, so too did the last vestiges of her courage. Raiders weren't the smartest bunch, but the one thing they excelled at was torture and cruelty. Her thoughts turned to the various ways she'd seen raiders deal with their prisoners during her travels with Blue. The half-eaten face of an informant popped up in her mind, uninvited and unwanted. That particular gang had thrown him to their dogs, delighting in their success until Blue had set their base on fire. Another, more vicious group had taken to forcing prisoners to swallow Plasma, a horrific form of execution that had left her sick for weeks after she saw the bodies. Beside her, Lily moved slightly.
Three shots rang out in rapid succession, the sound of the high-caliber revolver echoing in the narrow alley. Three bodies slumped to the ground, blood streaming from various gunshots. Piper blinked furiously, whirling around only to see Lily slumped on the ground, her revolver still smoking.
"H-How?" Piper stuttered. Lily's soft breathing was the only answer she'd get; the raider had fainted into Curie's arms.
"Put her down gently." Curie urged, as three raiders placed Lily's body on a relatively clean bed. The three men grinned and high-fived on their way out, no doubt going to brag about what parts of Lily Tourette they got to touch. Piper snorted in disgust but remained silent as Tommy entered the room.
"I've got some contacts at Goodneighbor, they can get you medical supplies in two hours max. Until then, make do with what you got, Doctor." Tommy said, smiling at Curie. Curie nodded slowly. She didn't dare begin an operation to remove the bullet lodged in Lily's back until she had proper, sterilized equipment.