14. Jump Session
When you're really flying high
Don't you think about touching the sky
Mama, let me tell you
Just fall right into that groove
It was with triumph that she emerged from the tunnels and took a lungful of warm, salty air, immediately grimacing at the stench of...something. It reminded her of dead mirelurk but that wasn't it. She sniffed, trying to figure out if she could place it.
Oh, well. She'd probably be able to ask people the next time she saw any.
She shook her head and folded the surprisingly intact map she'd found. "You know, Dogmeat, pre-war people clearly had their issues, but they weren't dumb," she said. "I don't know if you know about the bombs. Probably not something a dog cares about. 'Specially since it wasn't your species that tried to kill the planet." She peered down at the wagging dog. "But they had actual maps for that labyrinth. What the hell were their lives like?" She carefully tucked the map into her pack and reshouldered it, standing with one hand raised against the sun's glare.
She exhaled in a huff, twisting to look around. Nothing. No sign of living people. Obviously there were signs of people and civilization, but nothing recent.
"No point in standing around. Kay, Dogmeat. Find people." The dog woofed at her, tail wagging low, before heading off at a slow trot. B stood there for a moment, blinking at him before she followed, walking only a little bit faster than she normally would. She'd asked just because she'd gone so long in near silence that she was expecting to monologue about how ridiculous it was for her to be talking to a dog. And had clearly forgotten that it seemed like he could understand just about everything she said.
That wasn't always her favorite thing ever. He'd seen at least part of what had happened between her and Leo but as long as he didn't suddenly gain the ability to speak, she figured things would be fine. Plus, once she found her dad, she wouldn't have to go back to Megaton and see Leo again.
God, even thinking about Leo had her stomach twisting up in dread and self-loathing and no small amount of guilt.
As they walked, there were signs of both raiders and supermutants (was it murder when she killed them? She still wasn't sure on that point) including a fairly fresh corpse that had been ripped apart by something big with knife-like claws. Dogmeat stopped to sniff it. B tried to stay away, curling her lip at the stench. The spilled innards had been mostly devoured but it was still dead meat lying in the sun for who knew how long.
Ugh.
Dogmeat suddenly whined, ears going back and tail tucking between his legs. B froze, senses suddenly on high alert and even worse, an insistent curiosity to find out what had shredded the person. She had to kill just about everything that she crossed paths with but this? This was a death wish waiting to happen. And she knew that but it didn't stop her from wanting to know.
She shook her head at her own ridiculousness. "Let's go, boy."
The dog slunk over to her, hackles raised and body as low to the ground as he could make it. He led the way but stayed close to her, fur occasionally brushing her tender but tanning skin.
They rounded a corner and she stopped dead, blinking in surprise. Her mouth fell open into a little o. No one had told her Rivet City was built out of a ship. Even decaying and in half, it was still magnificent and huge. She knew from one of the more recently banned books in the vault that the old US had used ships like this in war but coming face to face with one was…
"Wow. Oh, wow." She just kept staring. "What kind of weapons did they have if these didn't destroy the world?" Her question floated out, unanswered. The bomb in Megaton came to mind but it was practically harmless. It was just...there. Her geiger counter got a little pissy when she got too close but it was a fixture, especially now that she'd essentially neutered it.
Where did it come from? Why didn't it detonate? She remembered the skeletons at the entrance to the vault. Were they people who didn't survive the bombs that detonated? Or were they the ones who survived and died anyway because of...something?
Dogmeat barked at her, bringing her attention back to the here and now. Still awestruck, she tripped over a rock she didn't see, but began the climb up the structure.
When she got to the top, she looked down, startled. A man sat there, filthy with sunken cheeks and wild eyes. He was in better shape than Adam when B had first met him and he was closer to her father's age than he was hers, but she still had that painfully familiar ache in her chest. He asked something, voice grating in his throat and rendering the word incomprehensible.
She leaned in, careful to stay out of arm's reach. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
He cleared his throat and B winced at how painful it sounded. "Water. Purified. I can't...take...that radiated shit anymore."
"Oh, of course!" She dug a bottle out of her pack, trying to ignore the last bottle she had.
He squinted at her. "Ain't got caps to pay for it." She shook it at him more insistantly. He slowly reached out to take it.
"That's fine. You can owe me a favor instead." She lifted her head to stare at the ship again. A breeze picked up, moving blood and sweat stiffened strands into her face. Grimacing, she tucked them behind her ears. But the movement felt amazing on her skin and she basked briefly in the feel of wind and sun. The nagging push to find her dad interrupted her before she was quite done and she opened her eyes with a disappointed sigh. "I'm trying to get in there. Am I going to have to swim across or…?"
"There's a button type deal." He pointed, the other hand keeping a tight grip on the half-empty bottle. "Press it and talk into the box."
B smiled gratefully at him. "Thanks."
An intercom. Her muscles relaxed a little. She walked over, studying it. It wasn't much different from the ones in the vault and when she pushed the comparatively large red button, it stuck a little.
"Hello?" she asked.
Silence. Then "Who are you?" Male voice, impatient, smoke roughened.
Her heart began to pound a little, hope and trepidation mixed. "My name is B. I have stuff to trade and I'm looking for someone."
"B, huh? Alright then. Cross the bridge when it extends."
B didn't have a chance to ask what bridge when the ship made a grinding noise, or at least some mechanism on it did. Metal strafing extended across the gap between ship and shore.
She stared at it, eyebrows slowly pinching together and lips turning down. Dogmeat bumped up against her leg. "You're right, boy. I got this."
Crossing the extended bridge was nerve-wracking to the extreme. By the time she got onto the boat, her palms were sweaty and her heart thrummed like it was trying to run away out of her body. The relief that she had made it to the other side left her weak-kneed.
Honestly, she wasn't sure how she made it across. But the fear verging on panic shooting through her veins was probably part of it. The fuzziness, not the fact that she was on the other side. She had clearly put one foot in front of the other. That's how walking worked. Shit, she was not okay.
The man in combat armor standing on the side studied her. "Welcome to Rivet City." The sound of his voice sent a shiver down B's spine and she clamped down hard on the hysterics trying to break out of her throat. He paused, blue eyes moving over her again. "Are you okay, miss?"
Instead of answering, B just slid to the floor and dropped her forehead against the shade cool metal in a frankly impressive display of flexibility.
"Miss?"
"Peachy." Her voice sounded squeaky, even to her own ears, and she cleared her throat. "Fine. I'm-I think I might have a fear of heights. It's a new thing. Very, very, very new. It's new. A lot is new." She squinted at him. "What was the question?"
"If...you were okay."
"Oh! Right." She clambered back to her feet. "Yes. No, yeah. I'm fine. How-how-how are you?"
"I'm...good." By this point, B could easily read the hesitation, confusion, and concern on the man's face. She smiled at him, just a quick flash of her teeth, but the confusion on his face only deepened. Her lips pressed together self-consciously when she remembered her vault white teeth. "Are you here for trade?"
"I'm actually looking for someone. A Dr. Madison Li?"
The man frowned again and B found her breath catching in her throat at how attractive he was before she firmly shut that down. God, what the hell was wrong with her? He was frowning for God's sakes. She had no business even considering him given the monumental fuck-up that was her personal life. "Why are you looking for Dr. Li?"
"Well... It's a long story. I'm not actually looking for her. I'm looking for someone else and I was told that she could help me." B shifted so that her back was to the empty space behind her, so she couldn't see how high up she was though the emptiness and the height clung to her mind like a centaur in her face.
He released his rifle with one hand so he could scratch his chin, studying her. B shifted her weight uneasily, unable to meet his eyes. "She's probably in the science lab. Try not to cause any disturbances." B straightened up, eyes widening. "If you need something, just find me."
"Do you have a name?"
"Harkness."
Bit of a weird name but then, she really had no right to judge. "Harkness. Okay, then. Nice to meet you, Harkness. I'm B." She smiled, keeping her lips carefully pressed together. No need to make him more confused between the scar on her face and the neatness of her teeth.
His lips twitched to one side and she could definitely have a moment to be grateful that she wasn't going by her full name anymore. No one would take her seriously. "Is that short for something?"
"Just B."
His eyebrows raised curiously as he looked her over. She tensed but there was nothing untoward in the look. He stepped to the side, allowing her to be able to pass without worry. "Welcome to Rivet City, B."
AN: I know I said this would be published on Friday but I got hit with an icky something and was pretty much laid out for almost the entire week. So here's new chapter. (And if you think this is just a fluff chapter...well...)
In related news, I'm going to be publishing another chapter tomorrow because it's my birthday (Nov 5th). That chapter is...well, you'll see tomorrow. :)
Thank you for reading. Y'all are awesome. Chapter title and lyrics from "Jump Session" by Slim Gaillard (1938). You guys should seriously go take a listen to that song. It's pretty delightful and I'm glad I found it.