A/N: The discerning reader will note that I've made up the concept of having to power up/down the energy weapons. Nothing in FO3 seems to have a safety catch. I haven't noticed any lore regarding yao guai hunting behavior, but they do seem to have paired spawn points.

I don't know that there's really any way Project Purity could cause it to rain, but I've never heard a good explanation for how nuclear war could make it STOP raining in the D.C. Area, either.

4

The super mutant wiped his lipless mouth with the back of one huge hand. He was only three or four yards away now. When you get used to seeing super mutants at a distance they sort of shrink for you, and then if you get up close to one, it's scary how big they are.

"You seem to be injured," he said.

"Yeah," I said. "I got shot."

The mutant looked around.

"It was a couple of days ago," I said. "He took off when he found out I didn't have what he wanted." I tried not to wince as my muscles unclenched. I didn't realize until then how tense I'd been. Now I was tired, and as things unbound the wound in my belly hurt again. I leaned against the boulder carefully, trying not to look as if I were slumping. The super mutant wasn't as bad off as I was, even if he had lost a leg. Being tough is what they were made for.

"You're waiting here for the radiation to heal you," said the mutant. It didn't sound like a question. "This seems an intelligent plan." I watched him roll himself into a sitting position with his one-and-a-half legs out in front of him. He moved sort of careful, but he wasn't clumsy.

"It would be if I was here on purpose," I said, sort of dry. "This is where I fell. And, like you said, there's water." I turned my head so I could lean it against the rock and still see him. "Are you going to kill me?"

"I see no immediate necessity for that," said the super mutant.

"Don't you need protein to grow your leg back?" I said. Talking seemed like more of an effort every minute.

"Yes," said the super mutant. "But I suspect patience will be rewarded in that area."

I was trying to figure out what this meant when everything fuzzed out again.

I was awakened by the supersonic hum of the gatling laser going from off to full power in a couple of seconds. I had the plasma rifle up and charged before I knew what was going on. By that time the super mutant was already firing at something behind and to my left. He was shouting something, but the world-filling rattle of the gat drowned him out. This time he must've managed to cut it off in time to avoid blowing up his target. When he finally shut it off, leaving me with a ringing in my ears, something rolled down past me and fetched up in the mud by the edge of the pond.

It was another yao guai, bigger than the other one. It was full of holes, and the head was halfway off, but it was in one piece. Now I knew what he had meant by patience being rewarded. If I hadn't been so tired and brain-dead I'd have thought of it before. They hunt in pairs.

I heard the super mutant take a deep breath, filling his giant lungs. Then he hung the gat's barrel back up, flopped over on his belly again, and crawled over to the carcass. He had to go right past me, but he went out of his way to keep a polite distance. This had to be for my sake, since it added a minute or so to the trip and he had to splash through the muck at the water's edge.

I powered down the plasma rifle and laid it down beside me as I watched him. He put one arm around the stinking black-furred body – I could smell the reek of it from where I sat – and dragged it with him as he crawled further from the pond. Some blood had run into the water, but it was already clearing, swirled away by whatever sad little spring kept the pond here to begin with.

"It's probably best if you don't watch this," said the super mutant. There was another sound in his voice, the edge of the berserk roar I'd first heard. I turned my head away.

That was it for me for a while. The sky was leaden gray and covered in clouds when I opened my eyes. The super mutant was closer than before. He sat on a thick tree trunk he must've dragged down into the hollow. It still had green leaves on one end. I noticed he had both boots on, and he was mostly free of the mud. There was no sign of the carcass.

I dug out a bottle and took a couple of swallows of water before I tried to talk. It was pond water. It tasted bitter and there was grit in it, but it was better than nothing. "That didn't take long," I said.

"It's been two nights and one day," he said. "You rested for a long time."

"Oh." That explained why I was so thirsty. I was starting to be hungry, too. Maybe that was a good sign. I noticed as I took another drink that I'd mostly regrown the skin on my right hand.

"Your injury must be severe," said the super mutant. "We are near to a source of radiation and yet you have not healed." I shrugged, but carefully.

"Through-and-through with a .44," I said. "If I wasn't a Ghoul it would've killed me. It's actually closing up pretty fast." I peeled up my shirt and looked at it. Skin had flaked off around the entry hole, which made it look worse than it was, but it was definitely smaller than before. "A couple more mud packs should do it," I said.

"You might be wiser to find shelter," said the super mutant. "It will rain soon."

I squinted up at the sky. It hadn't been that long since Project Purity. I kept forgetting the rain had come back. And the lightning. Being out in the open was not such a good idea if we were going to have a storm.

"Looks like you're right," I said. I drank the rest of the bottle and knee-scuffed my way over to the water to refill it. I clapped some more mud on front and back while I was there, then rinsed my hands and face. My belly hurt, but I still felt all right otherwise. I could probably choke down some of my jerked rations and walk a little way. "So why are you still here?" I said.

"You let me share your water," he said. "It has been some time since I've encountered a simple courtesy from another person. It seemed appropriate to stay."

"You're really not like other super mutants," I said. I made it back to my ruck and put the bottle away, then dug around for the jerky.

"I am unlike them in a great many ways," he said. "My name is Fawkes."

I remembered then. I should've picked it up earlier, but I'd been hurting and fuzzled for most of the time we'd been talking. He's wearing what's left of a vault suit. Vault 87, I thought. And he's carrying a gatling laser, and how many of those do you see every day? I'm an idiot.

"Fawkes," I said. "You were with the Vault Dweller when he set off the GECK."

"Yes," said Fawkes. "I was proud to call him a friend."

"So he did die?" I said.

"Yes," said Fawkes. It was the shortest statement I'd heard from him.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"There is no armor against fate," said Fawkes. I got the feeling he might have shrugged, but he didn't. Maybe a super mutant's shoulders are set up wrong for it, or maybe it just didn't occur to him.

"I'm Thistle," I said. I laughed a little at how weird it was, saying it to him. "Pleased to meet you, Fawkes. Want some jerky?"

Fawkes inclined his head politely. "No, thank you. I've eaten already."

I knew better than to ask for details. I ate some of the jerked brahmin and washed it down with water. It stayed down all right. I felt a little stronger by the time I'd put away what was left. I slung the plasma rifle over one shoulder and levered myself up against the boulder. I heard Fawkes stand up as well. I thought my knees were going to give for a second, but I caught myself. I looked down at the rucksack. It seemed a long way down now.

See, here would be a great place to talk about Fawkes's giant shadow falling across me and the rucksack. That would sound nice and dramatic. Except it didn't, because Fawkes was standing West of me and it was still morning, so his shadow actually fell the other direction. It'd be nearer right to say my shadow fell on him. (Here my commentator says a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, but I have no idea what that's supposed to mean.)

I was trying to reach down for the ruck without bending too much when I saw the pair of huge boots out of the corner of my eye. I straightened up carefully.

"Allow me to assist you," said Fawkes. He bent over and picked up the rucksack in one hand. It fit there like a wallet.

"Thanks," I said. I debated for a minute as I looked up at him. Well, I could use the help, that was the truth. And it's not like I could stop him. "There's an old gas station not far away from here. It'll be a little crowded, but the roof doesn't leak."

"Then lead on," said Fawkes. "And I shall follow."