"Hiyah!"
Curie's shrill warcry travelled a few feet before fizzling away, her voice seemingly swallowed up by the night. Through bleary, half-closed eyes Lily watched a pebble soar through the air only to crash unceremoniously into the dirt a few feet away.
So much for that idea. She turned her attention back to her revolver. The metal gleamed faintly in the sickly-yellow glow of a nearby streetlamp, revealing the five petals of a poorly drawn flower scratched into the barrel.
"Rachel, what does my name mean?"
The redhead whirled around, finger pressed firmly against her lips. Lily knew she'd been whispering, but she waited patiently while her sister peeked out of the subway car's window. She knew better than to disturb her when she was searching for ghouls.
Once Rachel was satisfied the coast was clear, she turned towards Lily.
"I've told you, Lily. Momma named you after a flower." She explained with a weary smile.
"But why? I don't look like a flower." The ten-year old held up her hands to prove her point, managing to extract a tired laugh out of her sister. She gestured for Lily to come closer.
"No you don't." Rachel planted a kiss on the girl's head. "And you don't smell like one either."
"Meanie!" She wriggled in her sister's lap. "Let me go!"
"Momma called you Lily cause you were her flower." She stroked Lily's hair until she stopped squirming. "She wanted me to keep you safe and help you grow. Even water you from time to time."
Lily giggled when a small trickle of water ran through her hair and down her back. The faint, sweet scent of shampoo tickled her nose, and she leaned back against Rachel's chest with her eyes pinched shut.
"You need to be more careful with your hair, Lily."
"Mhmm." Came the muted reply. Lily had already disappeared into dreams of tall towers and long dresses. After a moment's pause, she gave up on talking and began to hum instead.
"My bonnie lies over the ocean. My bonnie lies over the sea…"
"What song is that?"
"Hmm? Oh, I-It's something Momma used to sing for me." She sighed. "I don't know all of it, but I'll teach you sometime."
Lily went silent for a while, hoping her sister would start to sing again. She didn't, but that couldn't stop her from enjoying the feeling of Rachel's fingers massaging her scalp. For a few seconds, she wasn't trapped in a dark, dusty subway car ten feet below ground. For just a few seconds, she was Lily the Princess, being attended to by a loyal handmaiden. Her lips curled upwards as Rachel began to speak.
"Now that Momma's gone, you're my little flower." Rachel carefully undid the stubborn tangles in Lily's auburn hair. "I'll take care of you, no matter what."
The soothing vision disappeared in a flash, replaced by all the terrors they'd dealt with in the last few days. Minutemen wearing dark-blue dusters and darker expressions. Supermutants with jagged, gnashing teeth. She pulled a little closer, burying her nose in Rachel's chest.
"Even from Minutemen?" Lily whispered, growing still as her heart began to race. "F-From Supermutants?"
"None of them can get us while we're down here." Rachel promised, rinsing off the dirt and grime with small splashes of water. "And even if they tried, I'd protect you."
"Even fr-"
"Yes, even from Supermutants, silly."
Rachel, if there was ever a time... She fingered the last two bullets in her chamber, fighting desperately to keep her lip from trembling. Now would be it.
Red's voice was silent in her head. For a brief moment, Lily entertained the fantasy that her sister was too busy coming to her rescue to reply. That illusion was shattered by an ear-splitting roar from Swan, who pounded his chest in fury when it became clear the rock wasn't going to explode or shoot lasers.
She hadn't shown up two days ago, when a Supermutant was dangling Lily upside down. It'd been a Vault dweller, of all people, that'd come to her rescue. Then Curie had shown up, rescuing her again and again while she charged headfirst into danger. Even now, she refused to budge from her position between Lily and the Behemoth. Her knees trembled and shook, threatening to give up on her entirely. And still she held her ground, fists clenched at her side. Lily felt a sudden surge of gratitude for the woman, even if her gesture was ultimately pointless.
With shaky hands Lily brought up her weapon. The woman who'd saved her life twice in the last two days was entirely oblivious to the sights trained on the back of her head. If she wasn't going to run away, the best Lily could do was make it quick for her. Nobody deserved to die at the hands of Swan, least of all her.
Swan raised his fist to strike, Lily's finger tensed on the trigger and the pitch-black night exploded into color.
Lily didn't even notice the gun clatter out of her hands; she stared, open-mouthed, at the hail of lasers lighting up the sky. The air grew thick with the stench of burning flesh, sending Swan stumbling backwards. Part of her wondered if this was some sort dream, a final vision cooked up by her feverish mind right before Swan's fist smeared her into the ground. But even in her half-conscious state, she could hear voices, human voices in the darkness. Taunts and insults, jeers and cheers echoed around the square as the monster began to retreat.
Curie collapsed to her knees, panting and wheezing. She knew they couldn't afford to waste this opportunity to escape, but her body was wholly finished listening to her commands. As far as she could tell there was no option to reboot her systems when this happened; if there was, she was too exhausted to start searching now.
The creature had pulled away, swatting at the lasers while howling in agony. Depleted though she was, a new jolt of terror shot down her spine when she heard the mutant begin to roar. Somehow, its roars of pain were even more frightening; the monster sounded human as he wailed and flailed at his enemies.
There was a shrill scream in the darkness as one of the monster's swipes found its target. A few panicked shouts followed as Swan swung his massive club like a cricket bat, sending a car flying into a nearby building. Swan was a force of nature, and the steady stream of laser fire began to subside a little in the face of his wrath.
A soft thrumming noise that Curie hadn't noticed earlier was quickly growing too loud to ignore. She looked up just in time to spot a mysterious dark shape in the sky, silhouetted in the red glow of laser fire. A split second later a shockwave shot through her body. The flow of laser fire halted, replaced with jubilant cheers as a creature marched towards the Behemoth.
Swan roared a massive challenge, pounding his fists into the ground instead of his still-smoking skin. He fully expected the approaching creature to back off, the scamper away like all other prey he'd hunted over the years. This new threat carried itself with far more confidence than it should have; he dwarfed it and yet he felt an unfamiliar trickle of fear travel down his spine. He roared another challenge and this time his roar was answered by a chorus of horns reverberating across the park. And the creature…
The creature's arm was starting to glow.
The moment the gatling laser began to fire, the terror of the Boston Common turned tail and ran. It barreled down an unfamiliar street, the sound of horns hounding its every step. The hunters emptied the park to begin the pursuit of Boston's greatest monster. In a matter of minutes, the Common was silent and empty once again.
"That was fucking epic!" The woman yelled, even after her partner glared at her with a finger to his lips. "Like something outta one of those comics!"
"Quiet, Sasha." The raider warned, peeking over a leafless shrub. "There could be more of them around here."
"Did you see that thing?" Sasha gushed, ignoring his angry looks. "They must have emptied the whole Castle to hunt it down."
"If only we had a gang of our own, huh?" Gabe turned around, his face just inches away from hers. "Just imagine the haul we'd get out of Castletown right now."
"We could get one, you know. We just need to find our score and get paid." Gabe was too busy peering through a bush to see the blush on her cheeks. "Just the two of us."
"We won't find them if you don't shut up!" Gabe snapped, finally raising his voice. "You really want to catch another grenade to the face?"
"Oh, that bitch." The woman's voice twisted into a snarl. "I'll string her up for the crows. I'll-" She paused to tap on Gabe's shoulder.
"They're over here, idiot."
Sure enough, the black-haired woman was slumped under a tree with Lily's head on her lap. Gabe's heart sank; neither one seemed particularly alive. The two raiders approached stealthily, sticking to cover and splitting up halfway to get the jump on the pair. To their immense relief, the two women were still breathing when they arrived. They looked so peaceful that Gabe almost felt guilty when he pried them apart.
"She's not looking too hot." He warned after checking Lily's temperature. "She's got some sort of fever and this stuff coming out of her mouth…" He glanced over at his partner.
"I've never seen anything like it."
Sasha had put the other woman out on the grass, sneering down at her as she blinked awake.
"W-Who are you?" All Curie could see was the silhouette of a woman in the moonlight.
Without a moment's hesitation, Sasha pulled out her pipe pistol and clubbed the woman across the face.
"What the-" Gabe ran over to stop her, but not before she got a few more hits in. Even after he grabbed her arms she kicked at the woman's stomach until she curled into a ball. "Stop!"
The woman on the ground groaned, rolling desperately to avoid the blows. Sasha aimed a kick at her tear-streaked face.
"You bitch!' She screamed, struggling against Gabe's vice-grip. "Come on Gabe!"
"Be quiet." He ordered before tossing her to the dirt. She didn't fall hard, but it took her a while to get back up. When she did, her hands were trembling.
"My ears, Gabe." Sasha whimpered. She held up her hands, stained red with blood. He spotted a trickle of red leaking out of her left ear. "I can't hear good."
"Oh. Fuck." Gabe whispered.
"Speak louder, Gabe!" She grew agitated when he turned away from her. What if he didn't want to be around her anymore? She'd been a mess even before he'd met him, and the gruff, blunt raider was the only one who'd bothered to put up with her for this long. Her ears strained in vain to pick up anything as he walked over to the woman on the ground.
Gabe swung his boot in a vicious arc, landing a solid hit on the woman's face and causing her to shriek loud enough for even her to hear.
"We can kill this one." Gabe shouted, stepping over Curie. "But we need Lily alive."
"Ah don't worry about it!" Sasha yelled back, pulling out an inhaler. "Jet solves everything."
"Are you sure-"
"Trust me!" She pressed the inhaler to Lily's lips and slapped her until she took a deep breath. "After all we went through, this bitch doesn't get to die so easy."
"We still need her alive. Did you check for weapons?" Gabe asked.
"What?" Sasha yelled, leaning towards him. He rolled his eyes. Busy emptying Curie's pockets, he'd forgotten to raise his voice.
"I said-"
Crack. A splash of warm liquid hit him across the face with so much force he thought he'd been slapped. In the dim moonlight he watched Sasha's body drop to the ground, a gaping hole in her throat. She struggled for a second, reaching towards him with bloodied hands as the life drained out of her eyes. Then she went still, her eyes permanently widened in horror.
As Gabe watched her bleed out in the dirt, he was only dimly aware of movement in the corner of his eye.
Then the revolver cracked again, and he was aware of nothing.