Crickets and flies buzzed angrily in the background. Ryleigh sounded scared. Her breathing was erratic and her voice shook as she held the Pip-Boy close to her face.
"Fuck this place. Fuck punga. Fuck tribals. Fuck crazy inbred assholes living in swamps."
She turned away and vomited. A bottle was opened and she rinsed her mouth, spitting the water with disgust. She sat back down and pulled her knees to her chest, whimpering softly.
"Recording should help. Need to get everything straight."
Ryleigh took a deep breath but it did not calm her tone.
"Made it to Point Lookout. Was supposed to find a girl called Nadine and get her back home. Helped some old ghoul in a mansion. Treasure hunter. Everyone who comes here is supposedly a treasure hunter. There's no fucking treasure here. It's a desolate swamp. Fuck, my head is killing me."
She choked out a pained sob and gasped in horror.
"What the fuck? What the fuck!"
Her voice echoed through the swamp, scaring the insects nearby into silence. Ryleigh was clearly panicked.
"My hair… and blood. Shit."
She hissed in pain and reached for her pack, dragging it close. She twisted the top off a bottle and poured liquid over her head, gasping in pain. She took a swig of the bottle and put it back in the pack.
"Someone shaved my head and I have a… an injury. I can feel stitches all along the left side of my forehead back to my ear. Fuck, it hurts."
Ryleigh pulled a different bottle from the bag and repeated the process. This time was less painful and she only groaned uncomfortably. She took a slow drink from this bottle as well but kept it out.
"Ok… ok ok ok ok. Breathe. All my shit is here. Still have all my guns and ammo and caps. I'm ok. Just need to focus."
A deep breath. Two. Three. She whimpered again as she adjusted how she was sitting.
"The ghoul paid me to go see what the tribals who attacked him were after. To do that the tribals wanted me to take their stupid ritual before letting me in to talk to them. I went into the 'sacred bog' and fought my way through mirelurks. There was a massive punga fruit at the back. I'd seen punga fruit in Rivet City but never knew it came from here. I had to take the seeds from the big fruit as part of the ritual."
Ryleigh's voice became distant as she struggled to remember what had happened. Her sentences were punctuated with shaky breaths and pained whimpers.
"The plant gave off a spray when I plucked the seeds… gas of some sort. Hallucinogenic. Worse than any trip on Jet, that's for damn sure. I saw… things. The bog was full of weird bobbleheads that taunted me when I picked them up. They said I was stupid for walking into such an obvious trap and that there was no point in fighting. I saw ghouls and corpses filling the bog. Sheriff Simms, Amata, Elder Lyons, Moira. All dead. When I tried to touch them they vanished. I heard someone talking above me and a saw cutting through flesh and bone. I could hear a needle sliding through skin..."
She gagged again, crawling a step away from where she was sitting to be sick again. Ryleigh coughed and cried as she rinsed her mouth out again. When she had finally settled back down her voice was suddenly cold.
"It sounded like Tobar, that ferry boat captain that brought me here. Who brought everyone here. Did he cut my head open? Someone did. Someone cut my fucking head open and left me outside the entrance to the sacred bog with a sack of food, dirty water, and a stimpack. All my gear was lying nearby."
There was a rustle of fabric and the click of a pistol being holstered. She checked the ammo in her rifle with a louder ker-chink. Ryleigh shakily got to her feet.
"The Ark and Dove cathedral. The tribals are waiting for me at the Ark and Dove cathedral. They should know what happened. And if they did it I'm gonna lock the doors and burn that church to the ground."
*Click*
