Blinding pain ripped Justin back to consciousness. He gasped and half-choked on a scream as a white-hot knife blade seared slowly up his spine. He knew that wasn't what was actually happening, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Sweat broke out across his forehead and he could feel the muscles in his back spasming. "S- St-" His throat worked, but it was hard to focus, let alone make coherent noises. His hands curled into fists, and he felt his nails scrape across the concrete.

"Hey, are you-" Justin heard movement close by, and he opened his eyes. Matt was kneeling next to him, concern and not a small amount of fear on his face. "Scav, you alright?"

For a tiny moment the fact that he couldn't say anything sarcastic hurt almost as much as his back. Justin took in a few rough breaths, trying and failing to stifle the pained noises that kept escaping with each exhale. "Back." He choked out, trying to give the kid at least some explanation. "Th- w-weather."

Matt glanced over at the power armor frame lying close by, then back at Justin. "Jesus Christ, you look like you're fuckin' dying, man." He said. "What do we do?"

"Stock-" Justin turned his head, trying to see where she was hovering. He tried to whistle, but his breaths wouldn't calm enough to do it. Matt followed his gaze.

"You need the eyebot?"

"Y-yeah."

Matt stood, going and grabbing Stock and pulling her over. She beeped pleasantly.

"Compartment. On t-top." Justin gasped.

Matt fumbled with the latch and it popped open. Something changed on his face when he looked at the contents. "Damn. I didn't know you had Med-X."

"Med-X?" Gus seemed to materialize from nowhere, peeking over Matt's shoulder into Stock's compartment. "Damn Scav, you been holding out!"

"Get off." Matt elbowed Gus away. He pulled a syringe out and released Stock, who floated off, beeping happily.

Justin reached up to take the syringe from Matt, and moved too far. Needles stabbed into his back and ripped, tearing his spine apart bone by bone. He cried out, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, trying his best to ride out the pain. It would only last a short while, he told himself. It would pass, everything always passed…

And then, it did. Not only that, the pain melted away altogether, and his fear and anxiety went with it. He opened his eyes, and the world had a strange otherness to it, like it wasn't quite real. Matt was kneeling next to him again, and the syringe in his hand was empty.

"Sorry. I panicked." He said. His voice echoed strangely. "You alright?"

Justin's eyes wandered as the world grew too blurry to actually pay attention to. Somewhere in the back of his head a little voice was panicking, but the much louder voice was entirely at ease. This was alright. This was fine. This was fucking great.

"Don't bother, he's high as fuck." Gus said. There was a slight pause, and then he spoke again. He sounded less relaxed this time. "Um… how much of that did you give him?"

"...All of it?"

"Oh. Uh." Gus swallowed. "That was probably too much."

"What? I thought you were supposed to use the whole thing!"

"Who the fuck you basing that off of?"

"You, idiot!"

"Real bad idea. Hey, Scav-" Justin felt his shoulder get shaken, and he opened his eyes. Gus and Matt's faces swam overhead, the colors bleeding into each other, swirling and expanding. "Scav, hey, you with us? How much of this shit do you take?"

Justin tried to watch the colors. The shapes they made were so interesting. His eyelids grew too heavy and he closed them. Gus shook his shoulder again, and then pulled back.

"Well… Congratulations, kid. You killed your first scavver. Ain't a bad way to go though, considering."

"What? No, I didn't- We gotta do something!"

"Yeah," Bethany's voice joined the conversation. "Ask him where he hid the rest of the good shit before he croaks."

Somewhere Justin felt like he should have been insulted, but he was finding it hard to care about what was being said. Their voices drifted in and out. Who were they talking about?

"...Hey, hey, you might not have killed him. He'll come to in a couple hours feeling like shit, but he probably won't die. Beth's got a point though. Grab the rest of the Med-X from that eyebot, I'll go through his bags."

"Wait, what?"

"Grab his shit. We've got a straight shot to Columbia from here, let's book it."

"And just leave him?"

"Uh, yeah. What the fuck else are we gonna do? Carry his ass? Look at him, he ain't walking."

"No, no, we're not just leaving him here."

Bethany's voice grew cold. "So now you're in charge all of a sudden?"

"Sorry, correction; I don't give a fuck what you do. I'm not leaving him here. Walk to Columbia alone if you want to." There was a long, tense silence. Then Bethany spoke again, her voice shaking, forcibly calm.

"What do you have, Gus?"

"What do I have?"

"What're you holding, Gus! You've always got some shit. Psycho, Jet, what?"

"Um… both? And some Buffout. Why?"

"Think if you gave him some Jet he'd get back on his feet?"

"I… fuck, maybe?"

"Well, there ya go. Give it a shot. And if it doesn't work… If it doesn't work, I'm out. Not wasting any more time on him, or you and your fuckin' bleeding hearts." She stomped away.

"...Do you think it'll work?" Matt asked quietly.

"Fuck man I ain't a doctor. Let's find out. Gimmie a sec." Gus walked off, leaving Matt alone with Justin. The kid sighed, putting his face in his hands. He winced as his fingers brushed the bandages on his cheek.

"God, this is so fucked." He muttered.

Gus returned. "Alright, let's give this a shot. Prop him up."

Justin felt himself get hauled up into a sitting position. His body felt numb and he remained limp, his head lolling. Someone grabbed him under the chin and faced him forward. His eyelids fluttered as for a moment he tried to look at who had him, but the world was still spinning and very far away. Something hard that tasted like plastic and chemicals was shoved between his teeth.

"Alright hold on tight kid. I've seen this stuff really mess fuckers up."

Something pinched his nose shut. Justin tried to breathe through it for a second, and then inhaled through his mouth, around the plastic. He heard a sharp puff of air.

Sensation hit him like a truck. He coughed and gasped as his lungs filled with heat, pins and needles, a thousand buzzing insects. Electricity coursed through him, hitting his sluggish thoughts and jolting his brain awake into a sickening swirl of energetic confusion. His eyes rolled up and he could feel his body shaking out of his control. Someone was making strange choked whimpering noises. He was pretty sure it was himself.

"Easy Scav, ride it out. Don't fuckin' die on us now."

Justin's heart hammered erratically. His ears were ringing, but he could hear the blood pumping through his veins, the choked and raspy whoosh of air rattling in and out of his lungs as they heaved. Half-formed thoughts screamed in his head, as loud as they were inconsistent and fragile. He was simultaneously numb to and intimately aware of every facet of the universe around him. Light and colors exploded in his vision, and he was sure there was something in them. Some clue, some hidden answer that would make everything else make sense. On some level he knew he had to be dying, yet he'd never felt more alive. It was maddening.

And then the lights and sounds all crumpled in on each other. He plummeted, and with a jarring sensation of vertigo he found himself back in his body. He was exhausted and covered in sweat. He was also not breathing. That was a problem, wasn't it? He gasped for air, and both Matt and Gus swore.

"Jesus Christ, I thought he was dead."

Matt, still keeping him propped up with an arm around his back, snapped in front of his face. "Hey, Scav, you with us?"

Justin blinked and fought to focus his vision. "I…" He coughed, his voice raspy. "I don'..." He shuddered and closed his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. "What- what the f-fuck…"

It wasn't quite what he'd meant to say, but it got the point across just fine.

"Man, that was one of the hardest trips I've ever seen." Gus said. "Remind me never to mix my uppers and downers again."

"Scav, we've gotta go. You gotta get up." Matt said. "Think you can walk?"

In response Justin just started laughing weakly. "Yeah. Sure. I can w… walk, no problem."

"Great, you look like shit, but the sarcasm is still going strong. You're gonna be fine. Gus," Matt nodded toward the power armor frame. "Help me get him up."

Together they hauled him to the frame. Justin did the best he could, but it still took him a couple tries to get his legs into it properly. He fumbled with the latches, his hands shaking. Finally he was all set, and with a whir of mechanics and metal, he climbed to his feet. He stared at the two of them, pale and shaking.

"Where we… where we going?" He asked.

"Columbia, Scav. Come on." Gus answered loudly.

Justin scoffed, looking unimpressed. "Hah, alright." He tottered over to the Supercomputer, hoisting it up. Barrel and Stock fell into their normal positions flanking him, and he reached out, trying and missing a couple times to grab Stock. Finally he managed it, and he pulled her close, tapping his knuckles on her lens.

"Whose a good girl?" He cooed. She beeped, and he giggled, letting her go. "That's right, you are!" She flew in a circle around him while he grinned stupidly.

"Eugh. Come on, lets go! I wanna get to Columbia sometime today, please!" Bethany called, glaring back at the three of them.

"Careful what you wish for." Justin called back in a singsong voice. He turned to Matt and leaned in conspiratorially. "I don't think you should go to Columbia," He said in what was clearly intended to be a whisper, but was far too loud to actually be sneaky whatsoever. "It's a shithole and everyone there is mean. She-" He pointed at Bethany with a wavering hand. "She'd fit right in. You- I like you. I think you could do better. Gus-" He paused, his eyes wandering around until they finally found the skinny redhead, who was walking alongside them looking very entertained. "Gus… you're alright. I like this shit you gave me."

Gus grinned. "You say that now Scav, give it an hour."