NOTE: Returning readers, chapter 1 is the new chapter. I wrote a bunch of these out of order and posted one before I figured out what chronological order I wanted them to be in. They'll all be in order from now on though.
Pounding feet, pounding heart, burning muscles, burning lungs.
No time to follow the road, no time to rest. She scrambled over rocks, sprinted through open fields, past raiders and animals and ghouls without so much as a glance at them. Why Paladin Rahmani and Knight Shin both decided they needed to come to the Enclave bunker was beyond Molly; they were just at each other's throats anyway, slowing down the whole process, and Fort Atlas was left vulnerable in their absence. The words of Sheena at Crater crawled across her mind, when asked how she knew about the Brotherhood's scribes; "we have eyes the same way you do. Remember it."
Despite her best efforts, Molly's legs gave out under her and she tumbled into the dirt somewhere near Morgantown with a frustrated groan. Shin and Rahmani were in power armor, so likely making better time than her, but they were taking the winding, crumbling roads so it couldn't be by much. That would mean the Initiates back at Atlas were fending for themselves. Scribe Valdez was fending for herself.
Gasping for air, Molly reached into her bag and pulled out a can of water and a small bottle of pills. Bufftats, she thought they were called. As a rule, she avoided chems, but just this once she was willing to make an exception. She scanned the warnings and side effects, shrugged, popped a few. Her empty stomach protested, but she ignored it.
Struggling back to her feet, taking a few slugs of water, and shouldering her pack, she got back on track. And internally, she cursed her bosses.
"We'll be right on your tail," Scribe Valdez had told her before she left. She assumed that Valdez would accompany either Shin or Rahmani, leaving at least one leader at the fort. That was precisely why Molly had exhausted herself clearing everything out of the bunker; she assumed Scribe Valdez would be coming through behind her, so she wanted to make sure there were no surprises. And she assumed wearing herself out would be fine, that there would be time to rest before returning. She assumed many things.
"Assuming makes an ass out of you and me," her grandfather often told her as a child. She could almost hear his scolding now as the bufftats kicked in and, muscles buzzing, she took off to scramble up the nearest mountainside.
Just before sunset, she reached Fort Atlas.
"Did the Paladin come back yet?" she asked an Initiate as she passed. The buzz of the bufftats had long since worn off, but now the adrenaline of whatever was waiting inside took over.
"Yeah, just about 20 minutes ago," he replied. "You better hurry. Scribe Valdez was worried about you."
That was all she needed to hear; another burst of strength, like magic. She pushed open the doors with force.
"Odessa?" she called as she made her way across the atrium, eyes scanning for any sign of danger.
"Molly!" Scribe Valdez broke away from the group she'd been standing with and ran to greet her friend. Without thinking, without any consideration for protocol or rank, Scribe Valdez rushed into her, wrapping her arms tightly around her shoulders. Molly followed suit, pulling her arms around Valdez's waist and breathing a sigh of relief.
They pulled back, examining each other carefully.
"Are you alright?" Molly asked. "You're bleeding, Scribe, you're hurt-"
"No, it's nothing," she said dismissively as she swiped a hand across her bloodied forehead. "Nothing serious. You're hurt too, are you ok? Thank goodness you're here. You were gone so long, I didn't know if-"
"What happened here?" Molly interrupted. They conversed in hushed, frantic tones, eyes combing over each other's injuries.
"I'm not exactly sure," Valdez replied. "Big… green… mutant people? Dozens. They broke through a wall in the substructure and a few made their way up here. The Initiates and I fought them back into their tunnel and established a barricade, but I don't know how long it will hold."
"Shin and Rahmani have heard this already?" Molly asked, and Valdez nodded.
"Yes, they're arguing about the best way to handle it right now," she said with an eyeroll. "Molly- Inititate... Molly. Did something happen? They never really got along but this-"
"Long story," Molly said. She realized she was still holding Valdez's waist and let her hands drop awkwardly. Valdez, in turn, took her hands from Molly's shoulders and held them at her sides uncomfortably. "I'll tell you all about it later, after we get the green freaks out of our fort."
"Hey, sounds good to me," Valdez agreed, then turned and led Molly over to where the others were standing, and together the 4 of them entered the sub-structure. Along the back wall, Initiates crouched behind barriers, eyes and weapons trained on a roughly dug tunnel.
"Looks like the barricade held," Scribe Valdez breathed, relieved. "But that's not all of them. I've sent scouts in, and the ones that came back said there's dozens, with more coming in through the walls."
"Unbelievable," Knight Shin huffed. "How could this happen, Scribe? Didn't you have patrols around the perimeter?"
"They're coming through the mountainside, knight," Rahmani protested. "The scribe followed your patrol route and schedule, which means you didn't cover a wide enough radius-"
"We don't have enough personnel to cover that much ground," Knight Shin snapped back. "But I don't see how they could have missed mutants tunneling into the mountainside-"
"And they would have noticed if you'd been the one posting the same schedule that morning?" Paladin Rahmani snarled. "Whoever's fault it is, we have to go into the tunnels and take the fight to them. Drive them all out-"
"Are you crazy?" Shin scoffed. "We don't know how many there are, what weapons they have, their tactics. We can't take them head on just so you can satisfy your delusions of glory-"
"What has gotten into you all?" Valdez interrupted in frustration. "Is now really the time to bicker about the patrol schedule? It doesn't matter whose fault it is... Can we just address the problem please?"
A shocked silence fell over the other three, and Molly beamed with pride. It was by far the loudest she'd heard the scribe speak. Except, of course, their first expedition into the substructure when a mole rat had erupted from the ground in front of them and scared a surprisingly guttural battle cry out of her.
"Of all the secrets I'm asking you to keep today," Valdez had said. "That noise I just made is the most crucial."
"She's right," Molly agreed. "We need to think smarter, not harder, and I don't know anyone who thinks smarter than Scribe Valdez. She has so many thoughts. Scribe?"
"Well… I do have some explosive charges I was going to hold onto, as a last line of defense. But our scouts have found 4 tunnels they're coming in through. Maybe… you plant the charges, collapse the tunnels?"
"Sounds good to me," Molly deadpanned, looking between her bosses. "Anyone else have any better ideas? No? Alright then, before the mutants take us while we bicker-"
"Fine," Knight Shin sighed in exasperation. "But the Initiate will plant the charges, I'll detonate them."
"Whatever gets your ass moving down that tunnel, big boy," Molly said as she readied her gun and headed for the entrance. Paladin Rahmani gave a sharp bark- possibly covering a laugh.
"Watch yourself, Initiate," she warned, but there was no edge to her voice. "Scribe Valdez, wait here and hold the line, in case we don't make it."
Molly looked over her shoulder from the tunnel's entrance to find Scribe Valdez watching her go. A small, forlorn wave, then she was gone.
Hours later, as Valdez tended to the wounded and supervised the Initiates in the substructure, the sound of clanking power armor echoed down the tunnel.
Relief flooded her system too soon; when the Knight and the Paladin came into view, they were walking awkwardly, carrying something between them.
"Clear that table, Scribe, she's losing blood," Rahmani barked. Molly's limp body hung between them, eerily still and eerily pale.
"What happened?" Valdez demanded, sweeping everything off the table, wheeling her table of medical tools over, and dousing her hands in antiseptic.
"She took a nail board to the stomach," Shin informed her. While he spoke, Rahmani worked on removing her broken, near useless armor. Scribe Valdez, trying her best to stay steady because now is not the time to lose it Odessa, quickly sterilized her tools. "We think she ran out of ammunition and went after the mutants with… a broken ski? With metal shards taped to it? If you can believe it, she actually tore through a number of them before one got her."
Making a note to tease her about that later- because she would get that chance- she focused on the task at hand.
"Has she had any stimpacks? Med-X?"
"We ran out," Rahmani said helplessly. Shin, stone faced, watched from a small distance. Despite his rigid posture, he jumped into action when Valdez asked him to ready med-x and a stimpack from the nearby first aid kit.
Without a moment's hesitation, Valdez used a pair of scissors to cut Molly's bloodied fatigues open, exposing big, ugly puncture wounds peppering her stomach.
"Hey…" Molly protested weakly, her breath coming in short gasps. "That's a new shirt."
"Shh…" Valdez tried to keep the relief out of her voice. "No it's not, love. This stain right here, that's from the time you made me cranberry relish and I spilled it on you. Remember?"
"Oh, right," Molly breathed shakily. "Shit, it hurts to laugh- and talk- Odessa, it hurts."
"I know, love," Valdez said softly. She held her hand out for the stimpack. "You've got a few holes in you that weren't there before, but I'm gonna close them up for you."
"You're the best," Molly grumbled. She lifted her arm weakly, presumably to try to reach for Valdez, but the attempt fell flat.
"This is gonna pinch," Valdez warned. "Probably not as bad as a nail board to the gut. You're a tough girl, yeah?"
"So much squishier than I thought I was," Molly murmured. She winced just a little as the needle pierced the skin of her stomach. Burning and tingling spread under her flesh like fire consuming a forest as her skin repaired itself.
"Humans are squishy," Valdez agreed. "You know what makes us less squishy? Armor that's not completely busted."
"Yeah…" Molly agreed with a groan and a chuckle. "I didn't have time to fix it..."
"I know, love," Valdez felt a little like a broken record. "Don't worry about a thing. I'm going to press on your stomach a little, and you tell me if it hurts and how much, scale of 1 to 10."
Everywhere she pressed was at a 5 or less. Satisfied, Scribe Valdez bandaged the now-healing wounds and nodded to Knight Shin, hand held out for med-x.
"Ready for another pinch? You're going to get pretty tired after this one."
"Been tired since I left the vault," Molly sighed. One amber eye cracked open and looked for Valdez. A faint, pained smile as the med-x needle pierced her arm.
"Get some rest, alright?" Valdez said, returning the smile and stroking her hair softly as her eyes slid closed. "You're going to be just fine."
It felt like years later that Molly's eyes finally slid open. She looked around the familiar space blankly, deciding it was the Fort Atlas barracks. Next to the bed, another Initiate sat reading a comic book. She tried to ask what happened, but her voice came out hoarse and crackly. The Initiate leapt out of her seat.
"Oh, hey!" she said. "You're awake! Don't move, ok? Scribe Valdez asked me to tell her as soon as you woke up. Stay there, I'll be right back."
The Initiate ran out. Molly blinked dimly. Her stomach felt… odd, but not bad. The skin there felt like it was pulled too tightly, and it itched under the bandages, but she couldn't say it hurt. Her head felt foggy and heavy, like her eyes were weights pushing into her brain. It felt better to close them, so she did.
The last thing she remembered was gentle fingers in her hair, big blue-green eyes smiling down at her, a soft voice in her ear… it could have been a drug-induced dream for all she knew, but it was a comforting memory, so she stayed in it.
Footsteps, and hushed conversation. Frantic, worried but excited.
"Welcome back, Initiate!" Valdez's voice pulled her back to herself. "How you feeling?"
"I've been better," Molly croaked as she forced her eyes open. "Can I have-"
Valdez held up a can of water, smiling smugly.
"Don't worry, I kept you watered while you were out," she chuckled. "Listen, this is going to sound ridiculous but just humor me, I'm going to feed you water with a syringe. I don't want you sitting up yet."
Molly laughed weakly, and regretted it as her head started pounding. She watched Valdez crack open the can of water and fill a syringe with it.
"Open," Valdez said, holding Molly's chin with a featherlight touch and giving her small sips of water.
"How long have I been out," Molly asked. "What about the mutants? Are they gone?"
"Everything is ok now," Valdez affirmed. "You planted all the charges. Knight Shin detonated them as planned, and after they carried you up to a bunk, Shin and Rahmani swept through the whole fortress to make sure there were no more mutants."
"How long ago was that?" Molly asked again. As she came to her senses, she realized it probably hadn't been years. She felt so much older, though, and so helplessly out of the loop.
"A few days," Valdez said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "You've been full of med-x… I wanted you to rest. You haven't missed much. Shin and Rahmani are… well, still Shin and Rahmani. Shin told me about the transmitter "
"I'm so sorry, Odessa," Molly said, squeezing her eyes shut. "I tried to stop her but she wouldn't listen-"
"It's ok, love," Valdez said. "What's done is done. All of that can wait. Right now, your top priority is recovering and mine is you."
"First I find out you're a programmer, now you're a doctor too?" Molly asked. "Amazing!" Valdez smiled softly.
"I'm full of surprises, Initiate," she said with a wink. "Speaking of surprises… a broken ski? Really?"
"A gift, from Rose," Molly smiled. "The metal shards were my addition though."
"Shin tells me you took down a lot of mutants with that thing," Valdez said, amused. "I'm starting to think there's nothing you can't do."
"Oh, don't be silly," Molly said. "I can't jump rope. Mom tried to teach me to knit once but she made me stop when I stabbed myself with the needles. Uh let's see, math is absolutely greek to me- and speaking of Greek, I took a few foreign language lessons in the vault and not a single one stuck-"
"Molly, please," Valdez laughed, grasping her arm lightly.
"Ask me to count to 5 in French," Molly insisted. "I can't!"
"I'm just… so happy you're ok," Valdez said with a sigh, eyes intently sweeping over Molly's face- littered with fresh wounds. They would likely become scars. "When morning came and we still hadn't heard from you…"
"I was worried about you," Molly admitted. "You said you would catch up with me later. I killed every abomination in that bunker so it would be safe for you."
"When we didn't hear back from you, they decided it was probably too dangerous for me," Valdez said with an eyeroll. "So they asked me to stay at Atlas while they went after you. I almost went crazy waiting to hear anything. The mutants were almost a welcome distraction."
Molly reached for the scribe's hand and held it tightly, smiling up at her. The way her heart leapt was unprofessional to say the least, but Valdez couldn't seem to care about that at the moment; Molly was alive and breathing and right there in front of her, and for now, that was enough.