Chapter three
The sun didn't make it past the tall buildings of Boston yet when Edward lit a cigarette just outside of Goodneighbor. He felt better already. Like a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders. He wondered where he wanted to go. Bunker hill was his usually hide out if he messed up things again in Goodneighbor, but he didn't want to be near someone.
At least not someone , north was not an option. East was just the sea and somehow he wasn't in the mood for a walk on the beach. Maybe he should just go into the city, kill some Raiders, some Super mutants. Sounded like a plan, he smirked with the cigarette between his lips. Maybe it was time for him to start looking for a combat armor left arm. He shouldered his Assault rifle and left.
Teresa tried to sleep. She really did, but somehow she couldn't forget what Irma said to her. "Maybe you can look for him yourself" It sounded so wrong, so… she carefully rolled on her back. How did it sounded? She couldn't put a finger on it.
Teresa put her arm up and laid her head on it, trying to find a comfortable position on this old knobbly sofa. A spring poked her spine. With a disgruntled sigh she got up, threw her cushion on the floor and settled there. She pulled the blanket over her body. "Don't worry about him:" she heard Irmas word in her head. Her eyes flicked open. Maybe, there was a reason to worry about him.
Carefully she got up and steadied her body against the table. Her vision was blurry for a moment, but it quickly passed. She grabbed her leather jacket which was luckily not shredded by Amaris scissors and pulled on her boots without lacing them. She wore only the shorts she was wearing when she got attack, but she couldn't imagine herself pulling her leather pants on. It would hurt too much. Wary, she climbed the stairs up and headed for the door. It was cold outside and Teresa slung her jacket around her shoulders.
She stood there for a while, unsure what to do when a ghoulette with a blond wig approached her. "You all right?" she asked with scepticism in her voice. She looked her over and her gaze stuck at her half naked legs. "Uh, yeah. Actually, I'm looking for someone. The man who rescued me? Maybe you could tell me where to find him?"
The ghoulette looked confused but slowly her face lit with recognition. "Oh, you're the dust biter." Teresa cringed at the statement but she smiled insecure. "Yeah, that could be me." She stated. "Rescued, you say?" The blond woman chuckled raspy. "Whatever helps you stay sane, I guess. Eddie should be in the third rail at this time of the day. You see this building here?" she pointed to the old state house.
"Just go in there and ask for Edward." Without another word she walked away. "Thanks I guess." She muttered. Ham watched her come in and walking downstairs but didn't say a thing. He saw weirder people walk in here.
Magnolia wiped the bar top as she saw the girl standing at the staircase. She immediately knew who she was and dressed like that, she clearly wasn't supposed to be walking around yet. The Brunette woman waved her over. "Hello. Uh. I'm looking for someone." Teresa began as she was at the bar. Magnolia picked up a glass and polished it a bit.
"is that so?" she asked Teresa. She nodded. "Yeah, I'm looking for the man that res.." She paused for a second, remembering the strange comment of the blond ghoulette. "I'm looking for a man. His name should be Edward." Magnolia raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so." Teresa was annoyed. Her head and belly hurt, she was hungry and freezing. "Yes, that is so. Is he here or not?" throwing all kindness away.
"No." Magnolia replied. Teresa sighed. "Can I have a whiskey, then?" she placed some bottle caps on the bar that she always kept in her jacket. "No" Magnolia smirked. "What the fuck is wrong with this town." Teresa grumbled angrily, grabbed her bottlecaps and wanted to leave. She was clearly not welcomed here.
"But I can give you beer or wine." She heard the barmaid say. Teresa turned her head, a confused look on her face. Magnolia shrugged. "Eddie drank all the booze yesterday, you know." She smiled warmly
The bar was almost empty since it was the day after New Year's Eve. So nobody cared for the two women who were chattering all evening at the bar. First it was just small talk, Magnolia told her about the last day when Edward drank all the booze and how many patrons are now grumpy about that. Teresa took occasionally a sip from her warm beer.
"So, why were you even out there in the first place?" Magnolia mustered the tall but thin girl. She showed some scars here and there but nothing that would label her as a scavenger. "I was out with my caravan. The business was not good and my caravaneer took a delivery run here and there. Yeah well, our Brahmin was packed with medical equipment from vault 81 and we were so fucking late. He decided we would take a short cut through the city. At night. I hated the idea and tried to talk him out of it but he was a stubborn bitch. He just walked his way and left me there. I had no choice but to follow him. With me, he would have at least a little chance of surviving. Didn't play out though."
Teresa took her beer in both hands and stared at the bar top. Magnolia flicked her tongue displeased. "Yeah welcome to the wasteland. Full of idiots and dickheads. Next time, you will just let him walk into his death. Stupid guy. Had that coming." Teresa stayed silent for a moment. "dunno." She just said before emptying her bottle. "Got another for a poor, injured caravan guard without a caravan?"
Since when was Boston downtown so boring? Where were all the Raiders and super mutants. Damn, he needed something to shoot. Edward shouldered his assault rifle again. He had just cleared an old building of at least ten Raiders. But that wasn't enough to blow off his steam. He grabbed the small backpack with the loot he had taken and strolled deeper in the city. It was late afternoon and the big ghoul was getting hungry and thirsty.
Maybe it was time to look for a place to settle for the night. He knew, the Boylston club was near. He had been there pre-war with Mr. Cabot a few times. That would do for the night. Edward pushed the elevator button which surprisingly worked. On the upper floor nothing has changed. The tables stood in the same place and even the billiard balls laid in the exact same position as last time.
Mr. Cabot once said, that he never saw someone actually play billiard in the Boylston club. Edward walked over to the bar and grabbed all the booze he could get. With a bottle of a very expansive and old whiskey he went to the dirty and milky windows. With a kick he send the skeleton to the ground which was still sitting in the chair. Probably since the bombs fell. Edward sat down and opened the bottle. The loot cluttered the table in front of him and h pulled a can of pork 'n beans out of the pile.
Nice evening, he thought to himself with a bitter grin.
Loud laughter echoed through the now completely empty bar. It got late and a few empty beer bottles piled up on the bar top. "Can I have the wine cork?" She asked Magnolia with a huge pleasing smile. Magnolia flicked the cork up in the air and Teresa caught it easily.
"What do you need it for?" She pocketed it while she explained. "trying to make my armour lighter. Every evening when I strip it off my shoulders hurt so much from the weight. I don't want that anymore." The girl took the wine glass back in her hand and sniffed on it. "So you say, this is better than beer?" Magnolia grinned, she loved wine, especially old one like this one with a real cork and not just some stopper. "Of course. It is over 200 years old. Before the…well before everything happened there were people collecting these and paying a horrendous amount of money for some bottles."
Teresa sniffed the wine sceptically. "ain't it just fermented juice?" Magnolia stopped for a second, thinking. "I guess. Daisy said, it is made from grapes. But… I don't know what grapes are. They don't exist anymore." Teresa, clearly a bit buzzed thought for a minute. "So, wine can't be produced anymore, right? Than this bottle must be very expansive." Magnolia nodded, finally seeing her spirit for wine in the younger woman's eyes. She lifted her glass. "Cheers!" and Teresa did it likewise.
"Cheers" she answered and they both took a huge gulp of the red liquid. Teresa immediately spit the wine across the bar. "What the fuck. It is just so... sour. Tastes like acid." Magnolia herself didn't swallow the wine, she hurried to the sink and spit it out. Quickly she got two glasses of water for both of them. Teresa emptied it without hesitant. "if I wanted to taste that, I could just drink the liquid from a battery."
Magnolia picked up the bottle and inspected it carefully. "I don't know why it tasted like that. It was supposed to be a good wine! I should ask Daisy about this." "yes, please, Ma'am!" Teresa saluted jokingly. "And now, I would like to have a beer." Magnolia placed it on the bar right before the tipsy caravan guard but another hand snatched it away before Teresa could get a hold of it.
"You bloody bastard" Teresa began and reached for her advanced 10mm pistol. Her hand grasped at her thigh but no pistol was found. At first she panicked but when she looked up to compete her rival she saw a fuming Irma. "Amari is so worried about you. She even wanted to look for you outside of the walls! And you sit here and what? Get drunk? With all the med-x in your blood." She scolded Teresa.
"Wait, I can explain. I wanted to thank Eddie for saving me, but he wasn't here and Magnolia was at first such a bitch to me." She turned to Magnolia. "No offense, honey, you were." And started giggling as Magnolia crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue playfully. Irma interrupted Teresa's spate of words. "Amari spent all morning saving your life and all day looking over you, trying to fix what properly this gun slinger was responsible for." Teresa frowned. "could you say that again?"
Irma hesitated first. "I'm just saying that Edward is probably responsible for the state you were in. Wouldn't be the first time." Magnolia shuffled a bit closer. That was the topic she wanted to ask Teresa all along. "Are you kidding? He saved me!"
Teresa shouted outraged. "He killed the super mutant who did this to me." Her head spun to Magnolia who was leaning against the bar, listening carefully what the girl had to say. "Did you thought that, too?" Magnolia gestured wildly.
"Well, I had my suspicions but I wasn't sure. I'm just… look, Edward has kind of a reputation. And besides, he obviously left Goodneighbor right after he dropped you at the Memory Den." She exhaled deeply. "But if you're sure that he rescued you I'm gonna believe you." "Well, I don't." Irma interjected. She turned and walked towards the staircase.
"By the way, we want our money by the end of the week." She said before leaving.