Chapter two
"Edward, who is that, what happened" asked the neighbourhood watchmen who sat at the bench right in front of kill or be killed. He did not answer and kept running. They had no actual medic in goodneighbor, but when something happened, doctor Amari had never refused to help.
So he ran to the memory den, kicked the door open and yelled:" Doctor! I need help! Now!" the memory den was empty, lights off and Edward panicked. "Doctor Amari!" he screamed now. He looked left and right thinking about what to do. Warm blood was seeping between his fingers and dribbled down on the floor. Finally, he heard footsteps upstairs and soon after, he saw the head of Doctor Amari looking downstairs.
Her eyes went big and round. "Go downstairs, I'm coming!" in the small clinic in the basement of the memory den he put the woman gentle down on a table. He had swept it beforehand with his elbow. The patient grimaced but kept quiet. Her breathing was too short and shallow, her skin hot, heart racing. Doctor Amari bolted into the room with flowing lab coat and looked over his shoulder while sanitizing her hands with moonshine.
"Get her into the light." Without a second thought he lifted the table and carried it carefully into the middle of the room. Doctor Amari looked at the patient for a second and the shook her head. Fear crawled up his neck. "Not enough light. Get upstairs, there must be some construction lights, bring them." She grabbed the scissors as Edward ran upstairs and cut the leather chest piece off the young woman. She hissed but Amari didn't pay attention to her, completely in her element.
Edward was already back and placed the lights on another table behind the doctor. "better." She turned and filled a syringe with med-x. "This won't be easy. Not sure if she makes it. Better if she is not conscious." She stated in a hushed voice to Edward. She faced the patient again, grabbed one arm and got the syringe ready. The woman groaned and shook her head, tried to pull her arm away. "Honey, it's just a little prick."
"No." she coughed out along with some blood. Edward grabbed a washcloth and pat the blood away. "I.." she spoke hoarse. "I took psycho and buffout." More she could not say, too occupied with breathing. Doctor Amari looked at her annoyed. "A 'right, sweetie. Eddie, hold her still. We have to do it without Med-x." She sighed and grabbed the moonshine. "What is your name, sweetie?" She coughed some blood again.
"Te…Teresa." "This will hurt, Teresa. Like hell. The sooner you pass out, the better. Don't fight it." She nodded towards Edward and he placed one arm across her hip and one below her collarbones. "On Three." Amari said. "One…" she poured the Moonshine all over the wound. Teresa screamed shrill, draw a breath and continued. Amari worked fast. She opened the wound a little further, cauterized, stitched, looked for new leaking wounds and continued with the procedure until she was pleased. She stitched the foot long wound close and applied two stimpaks. Teresa had lost consciousness half way in the operation.
Doctor Amari threw some self-made bandages to Edward. "Wrap her up. I'll look at her ankle." Obedient he stood up from the sofa and started to wind the bandages round her lower torso. The ankle seemed not as troublesome as her belly wound. Luckily her organs weren't injured. If that were the case, she could not have helped her. "Who is she?" The doctor asked. "I don't know." Edward answered. Amari was waiting for some explanation but Edward stayed silent.
"Could you elaborate?" He looked at her shortly before he continued wrapping the girl up gingerly. "I went outside for a piss and she laid there." He didn't want anyone to know that he killed her assaulters without noticing her. Thank god she managed to walk after him. "I see." Said the doctor unconvinced. "We are done. I will look after her so you can head back to the bar." That was no suggestion. It was an order. She probably thought that he assaulted her himself in a drunk delirium. He couldn't blame her. She knew everything. Without a word he left.
The third Rail was almost empty. Magnolia tidied up, put the chairs on the tables and fished some garbage from the floor. "Eddie, where have you been? You missed the show." He looked at her questioning. She smirked and gestured him to follow. In the backroom laid MacCready with the two girls, naked. "Damn, they settled for him? Can't believe it. If I were here, they would have taken me instead."
Magnolia smiled at him knowingly. "Sure, honey." He went back to the bar, not wanting the three to be disturbed and Magnolia followed. Edward lit a cigarette, handed it to Magnolia but she refused as usually. "So, were where you? Another one of your secrets?" He shook his head and let the smoke escape through his rotten nose. "Do you have some wine for me? I need a drink." Magonlia rolled her eyes but handed him a bottle of white wine. "Great, now I'm even forced to drink pussy wine." "What do you say?" she hissed at him. He grumbled something but pulled the cork with his teeth and gulped it down.
He wiped his mouth with his bare forearm, still not wearing a coat. "Can you explain now to whom all this blood belongs?" she pointed at his white undershirt which was soaked in blood. "I found a girl, she was wounded but Amari saved her." Magnolia crooked an eyebrow. "A girl." "Young woman." He corrected himself. "In the middle of the night. On New Year's Eve. You sure she ain't just some raider bitch?" "I am" he claimed emphatically. "So, what now?" he shrugged. "Amari watches over her until she is better, I think."
Teresa woke up a few hours later. Everything hurt, to blink hurt, to move her eyeballs hurt, breathing hurt…a lot. She tried to look around but a stabbing pain stopped her. She let out a grunt. Doctor Amari, who was taking a nap on the sofa woke up immediately. She stood up and hurried over. "You're already awake? Tough one, aren't you?" she laid a hand on her forehead but nodded and smiled.
"where." A cough stopped her question and Amari opened a can of purified water for her. She helped Teresa to drink. "You are in goodneighbor. Don't worry, you are safe here." "Goodneighbor" she repeated and doze off again. Amari made use of the opportunity to check her wounds which seemed to heal well. "What were you doing outside in the night? Don't you know this city is full of monsters?" she hugged herself and looked up at the ceiling.
Edward emptied his wine and soon after, Magnolia kicked him out. He would just be in the way while she needed to clean up, she claimed. So he went to his room in the old state house. He was dead tired and laid down on his bed roll, expecting to fall asleep immediately. After a few hours of toss and turn he finally gave up. Edward put on his armour and his thick coat over it. He shoulderd his assault rifle and left goddneighbor. Nobody noticed.
"This is so tasty!" Teresa declared and took another bite of the Mirelurk egg omelette Irma had made her for breakfast. Teresa was still in the basement but Amari allowed her to move her sick bed to the sofa. There she sat now, smiling and eating. "Amari chuckled. "at least someone who likes your cooking." "that's not true!" Irma scolded her girlfriend. Teresa put the empty plate aside.
"So, when am I allowed to walk around." Amari sat down beside her. "I think; you should take it slow. Maybe tomorrow we help you get upstairs and the day after that we can think about letting you outside." Teresa tried not to look too disappointed. "Why do you want to get up so soon?" Irma asked her. "I need to know, what happened to my Caravan. I'm sure the Brahmin is dead." Amari nodded in realization. "oh, so you're a caravaneer?" Teresa shook her head. "I'm the guard." The women fell silent. "but you're so young." Irma remarked.
"I know. And that was my first job. I need to know if my merchant survived. I told him to run and he did. If he didn't make it, I'll never get another job. How am I supposed to make a living then?" she worried. "oh gosh, I need to pay you, too. You saved my life!" she blurted out. Irma gave Amari a look that she should say something. "Don't worry, Teresa. Just. I don't know. Pay us when you can." She looked first at Amari, than at Irma. "Oh, no. I couldn't, I could never walk out of here without paying you. You saved my life." Amari sighed. "You should focus on your recovery for now. Doctor's order." Teresa nodded but was still worried. "Common, Irma. We will let her sleep." Teresa had snapped up.
"Wait. Do you know the man who rescued me? I wanted to thank him. Maybe if you two see him somewhere you could ask him to visit me?" Irma looked at Amari, unsure what to say. "Maybe you can look for him yourself when you are good enough to walk around. Don't worry about him. Try to sleep for now."