Waves were lapping against stone. There was the faint sound of someone in power armor walking a leisurely patrol. Water could be heard softly rushing into the river. Every so often the wind would change just enough for the voices of people arguing to filter across the water. Ryleigh sounded exhausted.
"It's been a while since I've actually sat down and recorded anything. Probably a few weeks at least at this point. Fawkes and I continued helping the Brotherhood hunt down any remaining Enclave outposts and protected shipments of Aquapura as they went out to the settlements. The Purifier is working at top capacity but it will still take time for us to have a proper stockpile of clean water, let alone clean the whole river. Until then we are rationing so each settlement gets a month's worth for their specific population. It's not ideal but it's free so most people aren't complaining."
She paused and took a long drink. The quick inhale at the end hinted that she was not drinking water.
"We cleared out Paradise Falls. It was a damn raider camp I have been hearing about for a while now and I guess I just got sick of it. They had a bunch of kids and adults in there chained up with explosive collars. It felt good to get them out of there and ensure those slaving assholes can't do that shit to anyone ever again."
Ryleigh chuckled dryly. Glass slid and clinked against stone as she rolled the bottle back and forth.
"The Wasteland must really be wearing off on me, or maybe it was walking up with a super mutant. Either way, the guards at the gate were positive I was wanting in on their trade. It was easy to go along with their assumptions and learn how the collars work. They let me in without any fuss so I could 'see their process' and after that it was child's play."
She took another long drink, staring out at the wasteland for a few minutes before continuing. Her voice was distant and tinged with regret.
"I picked up a strange signal while we were up there. A man named Wernher claimed to be an escaped slave looking for help. I didn't really have any other pressing business at the time so I went to see what was up. He had escaped from the Pitt. Paladin Kodiak was from the Pitt. He's a member of the Lyon's Pride so we got to chatting one night after clearing out an outpost. He was a slave there when the Brotherhood came through and 'cleansed' the city. They call it the Scourge. The Pitt is full of mutated people, not like super mutants or ghouls but something else. There is a toxicity in the air and water that changes people. Apparently Kodiak was rescued by the Brotherhood with a handful of other people who were not mutated or too violent. He left his brothers behind. I ran into them in the arena."
She set the bottle down and fiddled with something plastic in her other hand. She tapped it twice against the stone before setting it down and adjusting how she was sitting.
"Right, so I agreed to help Wernher get the slaves out of the Pitt. I could tell he was unsure of my help since I was in the Lyon's Pride power armor at the time but the man was desperate. Apparently the Scourge was not seen as a 100% great thing by those left in the Pitt. Turns out killing a bunch of people, especially the people in charge of the primary gangs, creates a power vacuum."
Her laugh was cynical and she sighed, laying down. Fabric scrapped against stone as she got comfortable staring up at the stars. The footsteps of the soldier nearby adjusted slightly to give her space.
"Wernher's plan to get me into the Pitt involved having me pose as a slave, which meant I was going in alone and without any of my gear. I gave a bunch of my shit to Fawkes and hid the rest of it near the tunnel, including my Pip-Boy. That would have been a dead giveaway I wasn't a slave. Wernher was at least able to give me a concealable .39 so I wouldn't be completely defenseless in the city. Fawkes wished us luck and Wernher and I hopped on a trailcar. It took most of the day pushing that damn hand cart through pitch black tunnels before we reached the city."
Fabric shifted as she leaned up to take another long drink, putting the bottle down harder than needed.
"Fuck. And I thought the Capital Wasteland was a mess."
Plastic scratched against stone. Ryleigh's voice was dark. The sarcastic humor and disgust in her words were directed at herself more than what she was describing.
"I could tell we were getting close when the air got thick. It stung to breathe and my eyes started watering. That should have been my first clue that this place was not like anything I had seen in the wasteland. And the people… It looked sort of like when people turn to ghouls but it was wrong. Their skin was covered in boils and rashes, pieces were sloughing off but brittle and not like they were melting."
Another long drink. This time there was a pause before a glass bottle shattered a few feet away.
"Then there were the troggs. I was stupid and thought maybe that was a regional name for ferals or mutants but its something else entirely. The people who are in the Pitt for too long… their arms and legs stretch and their skin becomes rippled and torn. Fingers elongate into claws. They crawl everywhere on all fours. Worst of all, they can still talk. Sort of. It's like a super mutant only the troggs say even worse shit, somehow. Wernher wasn't kidding when he said all they do is sleep, eat, fuck, and fight. The lucky people died of the disease before they devolved into… those."
She shuddered and sat up, the rubber of her boots scuffing as she dragged her knees to her chest. She rustled around in her pack for a moment and there was the unmistakable sound of a cork popping from a bottle.
"Wernher's plan was fairly straightforward. I sneak in, win a few fights and make a name for myself as a slave, get close to the boss, and steal a cure he was sure the gang leader was developing. I ended up with the name Quickdraw after those fights. Of course, Wernher didn't mention the boss was ex-Brotherhood. Initiate Ashur."
Ryleigh spoke into her arms crossed over her knees. She shook her head and stretched back out with another tired sigh.
"Fucker actually thought he was helping. He'd been thought for dead and left behind during the Scourge. Said after coming to power he realized the 'workers' were necessary to get the city up and running again. Ashur seemed more than willing to give the cure to everyone once it was complete. He at least had the decency to seem disgusted in himself for the slavery, no matter what he wanted to call them. I think he truly wanted to create a great city, a beacon of industry. Wernher also didn't mention that the cure came in the form of Ashur's infant daughter."
Plastic began tapping rapidly against the stone as she spoke. Her voice was full of sorrow and uncertainty as she searched the scene before her for a reason behind her actions.
"I left all the holotapes he had recorded for her. I don't know, maybe she will want to hear them when she is older. Hear why he did what he did. How he did it for her. For the future people of the Pitt. It might help her to know where she came from. Why people look at her differently. I don't know."
Plastic tapped a few more times before she realized what she was doing. Ryleigh muttered a "fuck it" under her breath and picked it up. She took a deep breath from the Jet inhaler and held it for a few seconds before slowly releasing it. Ryleigh sounded a bit more relaxed as she continued but there was a higher pitch to her voice that only occured when she was forcing herself to be happy.
"The Pitt has a fully functioning steelworks and can make damn near anything. Now that the people there work for pay and not at the end of a gun I'm hoping they can get things up and running again. They could be a great trade city."
She tapped the plastic inhaler twice before setting it down and taking a long drink from the bottle on her other side. She was quiet for nearly five minutes, watching the water of the river lap against the rubble stone shore. Gun fire started up and quickly ended far off to her right and the steps of the soldier behind her jogged in that direction. They returned to their route at their usual leisurely pace a few seconds later.
"The air is so fresh out here. Clean. Slightly irradiated sometimes, sure, but still so much better."
A faint smile was on her lips as she took a few deep breaths.
"Fawkes said he'd wait for me a few days and then head to the Museum of History. Since it took me near a week to get shit sorted I wasn't surprised to find he had left when I got back to the capital wastes. I was headed back towards the Museum when I picked up another radio signal. I need to stop responding to random radio signals."
She laughed, this time with real humor in her voice, and took another drink.
"This one was at least way more entertaining. It was the Brotherhood Outcasts calling out for some help. I talked my way down to their leader who explained they were just trying to find more tech and weaponry. Traditional Brotherhood stuff. They needed someone to go through a simulation to unlock a bunker. It sounded different so I agreed."
Her shrug was audible as she went back to tapping the Jet inhaler against the stone. The rhythm was far less stressed than before, more of a force of habit than a reaction to her thoughts. To match this, her voice was full of energy as she sat up straight.
"Man, this one was so much better than Tranquility Lane. I was in a simulation of Operation Anchorage. I could vaguely remember reading about it in school but this was intense. I was a soldier going on special operations to wipe out those 'Chinese commie bastards.'"
Ryleigh mimicked a gruff man's voice and sniggered. Her sigh was wistful as she took another sip.
"The propaganda was nuts but the simulation was enjoyable. When I finished it and opened the Bunker, Protector Casdin said I could have my pick of whatever was in there. That pissed off some of the other outcasts but it was nothing we couldn't handle. I guess once you take away structure and order from soldiers they can quickly devolve into worse than raiders. Anyway, more gear for me in the end."
She took another hit of Jet before throwing the inhaler back in her pack.
"I think that's about everything. I'm gonna rest up in the Citadel for a day or two. Someone had been asking about me here needing help finding her missing daughter so I may go and see what she needs before I go grab Fawkes. I'll have someone run a message over to the Museum so he at least knows I got out of the Pitt in one piece. This is Knight Ryeligh "Quickdraw" Levinson signing out."
*Click*
