Night Shift

Ev thought Julia was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life. She was tiny, black, and had big brown eyes forever in a heavy-lidded weariness which set him off. She had a habit of rolling her eyes at him and making faces which he couldn't resist. She was intimidating, she always seemed to know everything about anything and anyone. She made him feel so small when they worked together it made him feel three times as big when they had sex.

"Hey, you got the night shift?" he caught her sipping coffee outside the emergency response tent.

"Oh, no, I never get the night shift," she took a sip from her cup. "I'm way too lucky for that. Just can't sleep is all."

"That's probably the coffee," Ev cracked.

"You think?" she asked between more sips. That was always how it was with Julia, that little I know something and I'm not telling smile that would piss the other Followers off if it weren't for the fact that she was the best damn doctor out of all of them. It was a wonder to watch her work, cleaning wounds and fighting infections. Although the camp wasn't set up to handle much more than the usual wasteland injuries (bites, scratches, and burns) Julia had demonstrated proficiency in much more advanced medical practices, such as surgery to remove cancerous growths. She was especially skilled at delivering children, which she attributed to years of being an apprentice midwife in her tribe.

Once Amelia cracked if Julia was the kind of tribal the wasteland produced, there should be more tribals. Julia smiled a little but got very quiet when she said that. Ev didn't need an explanation. He'd heard the news of a particularly powerful band of raiders killing off tribals in the east. Julia carried the weight of tragedy with her, everyone could see it. It helped her relate to the people they helped, although Ev couldn't help but notice she seemed to treat people with the same robotic perfectionism whether she was stitching them up or talking them through PTSD.

"Anyway who's to say I wouldn't like to help even though it isn't my shift?" Julia smiled. Her teeth lit up the night. Ev was about to say something when there was suddenly a cacophony of chaotic confusion from the camp's gate. There was screaming and wailing, everyone in the whole camp was up. Jacob, the head camp guard was waving his pistol around in the air. There was a crowd of doctors and guards headed straight for Ev and Julia.

"We need to get him strapped down!" Amelia was screaming. "Alec, get the table prepped!"

Julia and Ev gave the incoming doctors a wide berth. They were all surrounding a struggling figure, a person with a bag on their head. The bag-headed person was fighting fanatically, like an animal. Julia pegged it as rabies, and didn't expect there was anything to be done. The doctors with the help of the guards brought the hooded figure into the tent and forced it onto the table, strapping it down.

"Patient's name is Edward Wong, prospector," Alec told everyone as soon as Ed was strapped to the table. "At about noon yesterday he and three other prospectors, Mac, Duff, and Sally, entered one of the underground complexes near Hopeville, and have been missing until Edward was discovered milling near a cave entrance. Subject appears to have been attacked, no gunshot wounds but what appear to be claw marks have left deep gashes in his sides." Julia observed Edward and noted that he did appear to have been attacked by something, most likely a deathclaw. If deathclaws in the area were infected with rabies it was going to be a big problem. Like an NCR-abandoning-the-area problem. "Patient appears to be in shock."

Alec pulled the hood off of Ed and everyone recoiled. The ghoul howled at them, his eyes rolling madly in his sockets. "We need a sedative!" someone yelled in the chaos. Julia grabbed Jacob's pistol from his hand, walked over to Ed and shot him in the face, in between the eyes. She didn't even put down her coffee cup. Suddenly everything was quiet. Julia returned Jacob's gun into his hand, he looked at it blankly like he'd never seen it before in his life.

"Zombies turn feral," Julia explained herself to no one in particular, then walked off. Everyone looked from her to the ghoul she had just shot, now still and lifeless in his straps.

Ev was shocked. He had never seen Julia weld a weapon before, much less so casually. She had just plucked it out of Jacob's hands without him even noticing. She hadn't even put down her goddamn coffee to kill a man. Ev was beginning to realize he knew even less than he thought he did about her. When he returned to his room she was waiting for him, half naked in his bed.

"C'mon, Everett, let's fuck," she writhed seductively in front of him. He could only stare. "Killing always..." she stared into his eyes and bit her finger. "I just love it, y'know," she gasped and fell backwards in ecstasy. Ev instinctively pulled away. "What?" she noticed, "What? Oh, fuck you!" she got up and zipped up her pants, pulled on her shirt and stormed out. Ev didn't follow her so he didn't know that after she went outside she felt dumb and alone.