Light flooded into the room. The covers of the bed were softer than practically anything he'd ever felt, and he actually had more than one pillow. He then realized that there was some else with him. He turned and saw Sara, still asleep. He smiled, seeing her there. The light disappeared; the bed was gone. He found himself on his knees, a rifle to his head. Sara was in front of him, a pistol to her head. He looked at the man holding the gun and saw the face of Colonel Augustus Autumn of the Enclave. "Let her go you son of a bitch!" he yelled.
"As you did at Megaton?" the colonel asked. The weapon discharged but before Sara was killed the scene shifted to a massive swamp, one he remembered from his time at Point Lookout. "Why did you do it?" said a women's voice. He turned and saw Moira Brown. She was covered in blood and her skin was blackened. "Why?" said the voice of Lucas Simms, similarly injured and stained. "Why?" went Nova, Glob, Moriarty, and every other person who called Megaton home. "GET AWAY!" he screamed. The scene changed and now he stood in front of his father, "How could you have done this?" he asked.
"Father…..I didn't…I wasn't…." Ridger tried to say, but he couldn't form a sentence. "You are nothing but a disappointment," his father told him before raising a gun to his head and taking his own life. The scene shifted to snow. A blizzard had rolled in. He was standing out in the open. The shelling began. He was thrown from his feet and next to him was the corpse of a young man, barely in his twenties. His lower body was gone and his blood stained the snow. He was trying to call out, trying to beg but he couldn't. Ridger stood up and looked around him. U.S. and Chinese Soldiers littered the ground around him. Standing amongst them was a blacked armored figure, wearing a deathclaw gauntlet. He marched toward the figure, "Who are you?" he asked. The figure didn't move. "Who are you?" he asked again, this time shouting. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the water of life, freely," the figure said, before turning to face Ridger.
It was his face, not the one he wore now. The face he wore when he destroyed Megaton, enslaved people for Paradise Falls, and got his father killed. The face he wore before he redeemed himself by throwing Tenpenny off his balcony, the face he wore before he slaughtered Paradise Falls, the face he wore before he ended the Enclave. The face he bore now was crafted by Pinkerton, to replace the face that inspired fear across the Wasteland. Now it stared at him, angry. "I am you, as you are meant to be," the man snarled, "I am the equalizer. The one to rebuild mankind,"
"Through fear? Through slaughter? Through slavery?" Ridger shouted. The man smiled, a wicked smile that he wishes he had never been able to make, "Through strength," he lunged at Ridger. The clawed hand bit deep into his chest and he screamed in pain. "I am you! I am you! Iamyou! Iamyou!" it screamed.
His eyes fluttered open and he was washed in light. There was a movement to his right and he reached for the knife he kept sheathed to the bed frame. If it had been his bed frame Dr. Katerina Vonlasky, the most qualified doctor left on Earth would've died and with her, much of the knowledge on Neurosurgery and Human Psychology left on Earth would've been lost forever. Instead, he hit the air and rolled out of the medical bay cot. Attempting to rise he wobbled, his body not fully heal.
Gaining clarity, he took in his surroundings and saw the shock on her face. "I'm sorry," he said, panting, "You startled me." He tried to rise again and held the wall, "How long?" he asked her. "You shouldn't be standing," she told him, "As in, you shouldn't be physically capable of standing,"
"You should know by now doc, I'm full of surprises," he said, bursting into a coughing fit. She guided him back to the cot. She grabbed a needle and began to draw a drug into it. He could smell it... "No," he told her, "No sleeping drugs." She looked at him like he was crazy. "You need sleep," she told him.
"No, what I need is to get back to work," he told her, "Now, get me the after-action report for the Mutant Citadel Op and a Nuka Cola Quantum,"
"No," she said.
"What?" he responded.
"You are in no condition to be doing any work, let alone functioning. That layer of metal in your muscular system Pinkerton implanted isn't enough to limit the amount of damage you took. That mutagenic concoction that ant studying bastard injected you with, is strength, not endurance. The Punga anti-bodies in your bloodstream help deal with toxic organic matter. Finally, that radiation vaccine from the Pitt is just that, a radiation vaccine. So, how are you not in agonizing pain?"
He stayed quiet. She was staring into his eyes at this point, the eyeliner that she made herself adding to the piercing gaze. "Do a brain scan," he told her. She looked confused. "Do it," he told her harsher. She used the portable tool salvaged from the alien ship to scan his skull. The look of shock on her face told him that she discovered the Combat Enhancer Chip that had been given to him by Dr. Zimmer. "Ever since it was implanted pain was, less of a problem," he told her, "I don't understand it, but most of it doesn't phase me anymore."
"That doesn't mean the damage isn't there. You need rest," she told him.
"What I need is to make sure my people are okay. That everything is running smoothly. That…. that…." he couldn't focus. Everything began to spin and he passed out.
The dreams came. A man in an eyepatch, a man wearing sunglasses, and a man in a red suit. Werhner, Burke, and Eulogy. The men who had made him a monster. They beat him. Others joined them; he couldn't see who. He didn't fight. He was tired. "Get up scavver," said the voice. The voice that drove him. The voice that dictated his every waking moment. "Don't let these bastards keep you down," Anger flooded into him. He grabbed a man's crowbar and ripped it from their hands. He slammed it into another's head. He screamed in anger. He swung. And swung. And swung. When the weapon was knocked from his hand so he punched. And kicked. And clawed. He kept fighting until they were all dead.
Their bodies were around him, but their wounds weren't from the blunt force trauma. They were like the way he had left them out of his dreams. Werhner's good eye had been shot out. Eulogy's crotch region had been melted off with a plasma weapon. Burke's neck had the marks from being hung off Tenpenny tower. She stood there, as beautiful as ever. She looked like the day he met her. In power armor, helmet removed. Grim and sweat on her face, rifle in her hand. "Stop the pity party," she told him, "You are a fighter, you are a soldier, you are a paladin." She stepped closer, he knew it was a dream but he could feel her breath, "Get up,"
His eyes snapped open. He pulled himself out of the cot, no wobbling. He walked out of the med bay. Elliot noticed him and tried to get him to sit back down, "Ridger, you aren't ready to be walking around," He simply scoffed, "I'll be fine," pushing Elliot away he marched off to the galley, everyone watching him as he walked by. Entering in he grabbed a whiskey, popped off the cap and had a drink. "You're awake," Sally shouted. She ran to him, embracing him in a hug. "Hey little girl, how are you doing?"
"You got shot and beat and you're asking me if I am okay?" she asked him in a joking tone that only teenagers could get. "It's my job to keep the crew in good shape, you're part of the crew." The fourteen-year-old girl was probably the most valuable person on the ship. She was the only one who could find the paths to the most valuable salvage aboard. She could find the lockers with the guns, the crates with the biogel and adhesive, the functioning agri-cubes, and the salvageable scrap metal.
"Yo, boss," Somah shouted, "Someone's calling your name on the radio," he stood up, "Duty calls," he marched towards the command deck, not realizing the level of shitshow he was about to enter.
Author's Note
We've got an understanding of what makes Ridger tick, but is that all that's hidden behind the curtain or is this just a taste of what's to come? Also, who's calling him? What do they need? Why him? Who knows. Please Review!
