Chapter four
Teresa was stunned. "You okay, sugar?" Magnolia asked her. The ginger-haired girl looked at her with round eyes. "No, I don't think so." Her shoulders slumped forward. "How much do you owe them?" Magnolia asked quietly. "I don't know, they didn't tell and I never asked." She buried her face in her hands. "But a full operation, a dozen of stimpaks and almost 24-hour surveillance."
She sighed audible. "Everything valuable I had was on that fucking Brahmin. I only had my rifle, my pistol, some medicals, ammunition and some food on me when the super mutants attacked." she picked up her beer and emptied it completely. "Well, if you want, you can sleep at my place." Magnolia offered. Teresa glanced at her with an exhausted look on her face.
"I would like that." The barmaid came around the counter and sat next to the caravan guard. "And then we will have to find a job for you. Maybe they need a chambermaid at Rexfords. I'll talk to Clair next thing in the morning." Teresa twitched. "Chambermaid? You gotta be kidding. No way I'm doing that!" "As if you've got a choice." Magnolia sounded ruder than she wanted to. "Not a real one. But might be worth trying, though."
"Come on Irma. I just need my pants and the rifle." Teresa didn't sleep a bit after her plan had formed in her head. She got up early in the morning without waking Magnolia and went to the Memory Den. "If you want me to pay my debts, you have to give me my rifle." Irma's expression hardened. "if I give you your stuff you will just vanish." A sigh escaped from Teresa's lips. "I won't." She told the stubborn Bit.. woman, she corrected herself, a million times. "Yeah sure." Irma said sarcastically. "Maybe she can offer something valuable in return."
Amari came forth from behind the curtains as she said it. Teresa huffed annoyed. "Yeah, as if I've got something valuable." Amari shook her head. "I mean valuable for you." The doctor went over to her friend who still laid on the sofa. "Amari, I didn't wanted you to overhear this." The blond woman told her. But the doctor hushed her. "It's all right, Irma. I can handle it." They both focused on the caravan guard. "So, do you have anything." Teresa hesitated. "I…might have something." She opened her jacket and fiddled at her neck until a thin necklace appeared. "These are the dog tags from my father." Teresa handed them over to Irma. They looked really old, coated by a greenish- bronze patina.
"Nah. You could've found them anywhere in the wasteland." Irma threw them back and Teresa caught them mid-air. She squinted her eyes. "I'm starting to really fucking hate you." She grumbled from deep inside as she carefully put the necklace back on. "Oh, as if I care." Irma retorted. Something clicked in Teresa's head. "You know what, Irma? Fuck it. Fuck you. Fuck your caps. I wanted to be a nice girl and pay my debt but now? I feel like you deserve it!" with this she turned and left the Memory Den.
He barfed in the toilet and collapsed next to it right after, one elbow on the lid. What was wrong with him? He never got this affected by alcohol. Sure, he had drunk a lot. He usually does. But he never ever vomited from it. In fact, it wasn't only the nausea. He felt dizzy, his heart raced and he could swear he was sweating. Ghouls don't sweat. They don't. But his skin felt wet and he was shivering. He pinched the bridge of his nose. Maybe it was time for going home. For once, he wanted to sleep in his own bed. Punched a stimpak in the vein of his crook and waited for the effect. Slowly he got up and went for the door.
Teresa rummaged through Magnolias wardrobe and picked one of the few pants she had. They were too big for her but everything was in the wasteland. She just couldn't gain weight so in order to fit them she just rolled the upper edge up. The pants fitted low but at least she wouldn't lose them. Teresa laced up her boot. Nobody cared for her as she left Goodneighbor behind. Outside she put on her grey hood which she sewed on her leather jacket. She was nervous. She had never been without a gun since she was ten.
He made it back to Goodneighbor in about three hours and went straight for the old state house. Edward just wanted to get in his bed and sleep. As he went by Hancock's office he heard Magnolia's furious voice and an annoyed Hancock. "I don't get what you want from me. She stole some trousers from you and now you want us to go after her? If you want new pants and I can buy you some." She grunted loud. "No. I want you to go after her because she JUST took the pants. She has no gun. She will die out there." Edward closed the door behind him and snuggled between his blankets. Not 10 second after he was asleep his door was kicked in. Magnolia stand in front of him. "You look like shit." She hurled at him.
He got up immediately not liking being in a vulnerable position. "Yeah, would like to change that, so could you please leave so I can sleep?" "You have to go after her." Edward took his canteen from the shelf and drank the water. "who?" he asked afterwards. "Your girl." He smirked at the thought. Magnolia was truly skilled. She knew that he would like the idea of having a woman by his side, but he wasn't silly. "Got no girl." She sighed. "Common Edward. You saved her once. You're kinda responsible for her." He chuckled raspy.
"So, now that it comes in handy, you believe that I saved her? Interesting, don't you think?" He went for the only chair in the room, feeling sick again. "You know I only saved her accidentally? I went outside to piss and saw the mutant. Sure I killed it, I'm here for the killing part. But I didn't saw the girl. She went after me and called out. Only then I noticed her." Magnolia got closer. "Maybe you can save her now intentionally." He looked up at her and saw hope in her eyes. "Why is this important to you?" he asked a bit curious. Normally, she didn't care much for people. "Bring her back and I tell you. "He stopped for a second and thought about it. "Nah. Not worth the effort." Magnolia's eyes narrowed.
"No more free booze." At this, she got the mercenaries attention. He got up and opened the upper drawer of his shelf, took some stimpaks and ammunition for his assault rifle, gearing up.
Teresa hugged the shadows. She was damn nervous but at the same time she liked being outside again. The smell of the ruins, although not so familiar soothed her. Normally her caravan route didn't went through the city. They mostly stayed north of it, near to her home settlement. Sadness creeped into her heart when she thought of her home but she tried to suppress it. She is still alive and when everything went as planned there was nothing to worry about. She went left at the next junction, directly heading where they were attacked.
She had considered to scavenge for a weapon but she feared getting in trouble in a building. There were often raiders or ghouls she didn't want to face them without at least a 10mm pistol. She had also thought about getting a melee weapon, there was enough junk lying around but she knew she was too weak for properly fighting with one. She would count on her endurance and perception. If she saw or hear something, she would either hide or run. This always worked for her when she was younger. Teresa slid down the pile of debris and landed silently on her feet, quickly crouching and hurrying to the side of the street for cover. Nothing moved, nobody yelled, so she seemed to be undetected.
Silently she moved alongside the building, carefully placing her feet. Only a few yards in front of her was the next interjection which she needed to cross. These parts were always risky.
Edward was exhausted. He had trudge round all the places were super mutants have taken residence. But no sight of the damn caravan guard. He didn't know what to do, Magnolia was no help at all when he had asked her where to look for her. There was no other way. He went back to Goodneighbor and tried to track her down again from there when she was wounded. The first few blocks were no problem but then, he couldn't find any trail of blood. He examined the ground but no matter how hard he tried, not a clue was found. He dropped his assault rifle and sat down, back leaning against a wall.
At least it was not snowing. Sure, it was winter, but the hard part was still ahead of them. He remembered a winter when the Boston bay was partly frozen. The next summer was heaven. So many raiders, ghouls and super mutant had died that you were able to stroll the city almost like in the old days. He took a sip of his canteen and pulled his tattered scarf over the lower half of his face again.
Teresa stuck out her head from behind the corner. Looking left and looking right. When she was sure it was all clear she ducked and darted across the street to the other side.
Edward just looked up as she was disappearing behind the building. He blinked. Did he saw that really? Was he hallucinating? The buff ghoul stood up, assault rifle in shooting position, following the skinny girl. He rounded the corner and saw the redhead cowering behind a car. She looked over it, twice and then rushed over to the other side of the street. He wanted to call out for her but a loud bang drowned his voice. Teresa froze in the middle of the street as a behemoth walked around the corner of the next street. Edward quickly took cover behind some debris. He knew behemoths were dumb as hell and as long as it didn't saw them, they were save. He peeked out and saw Teresa standing in the middle of the street. The behemoth did not yet saw her. "Fuck." He cursed. Dropped his rifle and sprinted towards her. The behemoth's head turned just as Edward was leaving his hiding place. It growled deafening.
As he reached the girl he wrapped an arm around her waist and took her with him inside the next building. Teresa yelped at the sudden movement. Inside, Edward dumped her behind the old counter and slowly looked around the corner. He saw the lower body of the behemoth in the street. It seemed to look around but apparently didn't saw the two entering the building. Angrily it swung its club and wrecked the upper part of the building they were hiding in. Concrete and bricks rained down on them. Quick-thinking, he pulled Teresa in his embrace and shielded her with his large body. The behemoth trotted slowly away. He sighed relieved. "You…you can let go now." He heard a small voice.
Edward looked down and saw Teresa goggling at him with the biggest eyes he has ever seen. Quickly he let her go. She skidded a bit away from him. Edward was angry with himself. He didn't wanted to let his training take over, overly protecting this girl. Sure, snatching her away from the behemoth super mutant was alright but automatically shielding her was way too much. 200 years of being bodyguard can't be discarded in just a few years, he guessed. "What were you thinking? Standing in the middle of the damn street when a behemoth is just a few yards away?" she frowned. "What I was thinking? What were you thinking?" "Saving your bony ass! That's what I was thinking and doing by the way." He scolded her. She huffed. "Don't you know they are only sensitive to motion? If you stay in one place they don't spot you." He went silent for a second. "And how often did this tactic worked for you?" he asked sarcastically. Teresa hesitated. "I never encountered a behemoth before…" Edward smirked victorious. "All right. Then let's settle on: I saved your dumb head."
He stood up, knocked the dust from his pants and jacket and left the building. Teresa followed as he picked up his luckily undamaged assault rifle. He walked in the direction where he came from in complete believe Teresa would follow him. The red head watched him leave and then turned 90 degrees to walk down the road where the behemoth came from. Edward saw the movement from the corner of his eye and went back furiously. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" She kept walking. "Finding my caravaneer and the damn Brahmin."
He grabbed an arm of her and yanked her around to face him. "No. You will come back with me to Goodneighbor." She sighed. "Did Irma sent you?" he looked puzzled at this. "Uh. No. Why should she?" "I got debts." She smiled sad. "And the only way to pay them is for me to find the damn Brahmin."
She pointed down the road with her thumb. "So, I'll be going this way, see ya." She walked away again. With two big steps Edward had her arm again. "Whoa there! No way I'm going back without you." She tilted her head. "Oh, you're worried about me."
He laughed. "Magnolia won't give me free booze if I don't bring you back. That's all." She smiled. "See, then it's easy. You help me find the pack Brahmin and after that I'm coming back to Goodneighbor with you." He shook his head. "Nope. You come back with me now." She crossed her arms. "You could drag me there. The moment you don't pay attention to me I will snug out of Goodneighbor again. You sure Magnolia would be happy about that?" He growled deeply. This damn girl. "Or you could chain me up somewhere where you could watch me?" she winked at him. He froze. "Not happening" Edward shouldered his heavy rifle. "So, where did you say you lost sight of the cattle?" She cheered inwardly.