Author's Note: So I know that I should've updated From The Vault, as per my usual update schedule, but my muse for said story currently hates me. Plus, there is major shit going down in Paradise Falls. I'm still planning on doing the next chapter of FTV in a Halloween theme, even though its really late...but I promised, and I hate breaking promises. Hopefully, I can get some more inspiration to continue Alex's tale soon, and hopefully it won't be a long wait. Alex hates waiting...
Wasteland Survival Part 25
The Box. Sarah used to stare at the Personal Preservation Machine that had been converted into this cruel punishment for unruly slaves. She hadn't actually known that anyone was inside of it, until the previous occupant was ripped out of the machine, and she was trapped in his place.
The Box was small and arguably the most uncomfortable place that she had ever been trapped in. There was just enough room to sit down, if she wanted to, but the floor was the same incredibly hard metal that made up the rest of the machine; she would rather stand than make her ass go numb on this metal floor. A small tube protruded from the wall, presumably for the occupant to empty their bladder into. Do you shit in it too? The Sentinel did not want to be in here long enough to find out.
If she had to guess, she had probably been in The Box for about a day, possibly a little longer. Her attempt to kill Eulogy had been a complete and utter failure, only succeeding in getting herself terribly beaten, and god only knows what he had done to Clover. Her head throbbed painfully, and her jaw ached like it had been hit with a sledgehammer every time she moved it. Talking would be painful…eating would be hell. She was lucky to not have lost any teeth from the powerful blow.
Eulogy may have had her defeated in that battle, but all he had done was piss the Sentinel off; she was in no way a woman who accepted defeat.
Sarah didn't have any more time to marinate on what had happened, as the door to The Box suddenly flew open, blinding her with the midday sunshine. Her eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness of The Box; she raised a hand to shield her eyes from the bright glare, and said hand was suddenly grabbed roughly and used as leverage to rip her from The Box. She gave a yelp of surprise as she was caught so that she wouldn't hit the ground from the sudden loss of balance.
Eulogy held her by her biceps, spinning her to face an incredibly tall figure. The Sentinel was forced to narrow her eyes and shield her face again from the sunlight as she tried to look up at the stranger's face.
"So, what do you think, man? She the kinda girl you're looking for?" Eulogy's voice was all sleazy business man, his expression mirroring it with an impish grin as he ran his hands up and down her biceps.
Sarah's skin crawled at the contact, but all she could register was her potential buyer. The figure was that of a man, clearly, incredibly tall and lightly muscled. But the man's body was covered, head to toe. On his head was a Raider Blastmaster Helmet, while his body was covered with Leather Armor. His armor had both sleeves however, completely hiding all of his skin. On his back was a crossbow, of all things, while at his hip was a Scoped .44 and a rather large Combat Knife. The man said nothing as his eyes examined Sarah from behind the helmet, before suddenly giving a quick nod.
"Excellent! My going price is currently 4,000 caps, and she is yours!" Eulogy exclaimed, all but bouncing in excitement despite the sharp pull of the wound on his stomach.
The stranger wordlessly thrust a bag of caps at Eulogy and held his hand out expectantly for the remote to her collar. The exchange was made, to the pure joy of Eulogy, and the dread of Sarah. She watched the exchange with emerald eyes wide and her bruised jaw hanging open.
"Nooo! God damn it! You can't do this! You fucking bastard!" The Sentinel's eyes were drawn to Ray, who stood shaking the fence so violently she was surprised that it didn't come crashing down. This was the most livid she had ever seen the normally calm and collected man. His eyes were even wider than her own, and within them swirled worry, hatred, and pure rage as he continued his thunderous outburst. "Fuck you Eulogy! You better fucking stop this shit right the fuck now!" He shoved his hand through one of the small holes in the fence, gesticulating at the slave driver aggressively. "If anything happens to Sarah, I swear to god I'll fucking rip you open myself!"
Jericho and Bleak stood near Ray, wearing expressions twin to Sarah's. The shock of Sarah's sale was escalated much further by the normally pacifistic Wastelander's sudden outburst. He shook the fence even harder, causing one of the metal clamps holding it in place to suddenly pop off and making the section considerably weaker, buckling forward slightly.
"God damn it!" Eulogy hissed, shoving his caps in his pocket before motioning for two burly looking Slavers to stop Ray's tirade. He looked back at the stranger, shoving Sarah roughly into him. "Get that bitch outta my sight!" Sarah struggled against the man, screaming at the top of her lungs as he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up effortlessly. Her arms were pinned, but she kicked as hard as she could, the blows that hit his shins bouncing harmlessly off of his armor as he walked away with her.
"See ya later, Sentinel! Don't worry, I'll take good care of Clover! And your friends!" Eulogy called after her mockingly, giving her a salute and a devilish grin.
Sarah struggled even harder, but the man was stronger than she originally thought, bringing her even closer against his armor so roughly that it felt like her ribs might snap from the pressure. She could hear Ray screaming with her as he fought the Slavers. "God damn it! Get the fuck off of me! You can't do this! Ray! Clover! I'm not leaving you! I'll be back, I swear!" She opened her mouth to yell more, but something rammed into the back of her skull with enough force to make her chin bounce off her chest and cause deep blackness to consume her mind.
…
When the Sentinel awoke, she was swaddled in warmth and, surprisingly, her head didn't hurt at all. If anything, her mind felt a little swimmy, and she had a pleasant all-over tingling warmth, bordering on being warmly numb. She slowly cracked her eyes open, before sitting up slowly and cautiously, giving a low groan as her head swam. Had she been given drugs? This felt like Med-X.
The Sentinel looked about, taking in her surroundings. She was in a home, not some store or a Wastelander's ramshackle shack, but an actual Pre-War designed home, like the townhouses in DC. The area was rather cozy, and she lay on an ancient couch, wrapped caringly in ancient blankets. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked towards the only light source in the room, a fireplace; the stranger that had purchased her crouched in front of it, stirring at the wood and embers with a fire poker.
He had his back to her, and he still wore that ridiculous helmet. She could easily get up and strangle him from behind if she wanted to, but the Med-X had made her terribly dizzy and slowed her reaction time. The man had turned to face her just as she was trying to get up to attempt her attack.
He pushed her back into a laying position with a large and surprisingly gentle hand, shaking his helmeted head as he did so. "What the fuck…did you do to me?" Sarah managed, her voice hoarse from screaming and dryness.
The stranger simply pointed at her face, then a tiny hole on her forearm, before handing her a bottle of water. The Sentinel arched an eyebrow and took the bottle before feeling where her jaw was previously sore. Damn..she hadn't noticed that; it didn't hurt anymore and there was very minimal swelling. "You gave me a Stimpak? And Med-X?"
He gave another wordless nod before gesturing to the bottle of water. Sarah drank hesitantly, the water soothing her dry mouth and making her stomach a little less empty. It growled loudly as the water hit it; she hadn't eaten in nearly two days now. I placed a palm against her flat stomach, grimacing slightly as it gave a sudden lurch.
The stranger stood from his place in front of the fire and handed Sarah a bowl of some kind of warm soup and a spoon. She sat up, resting her back against the arm of the couch and sitting the soup on her lap. She cast her piercing eyes at the man, suspicion and confusion dancing in them. "What's your game? Why did you buy me?" Somewhere inside, she was grateful for the man. He had gotten her out of Paradise Falls, and away from Eulogy. He had given her medicine, clean water, warm food, and a roof over her head. But he had torn her away from her current mission; protecting her friends and getting them out of that hell hole. God only knew what Eulogy was doing to them. Just thinking about that smug bastard in that eyesore of a suit made her clench her jaw, the pain dulled by the Med-X coursing through her veins.
The man said nothing, just gave her a wordless stare before pointing at the soup. Eat. Sarah stared at him, a slight frustration growing within her. Why the hell wouldn't he talk? Maybe he was deaf, or mute? She looked away from the man, noting an empty bowl near his feet, remains of soup glistening wetly in the bowl as the firelight flickered over it; looked like she wouldn't be seeing his face anytime soon. She gave a frustrated sigh, casting her eyes downward into the soup before hesitantly bringing the spoon to meet her lips.
It was surprisingly good, and the warm broth soothed her stomach. She ate quickly, the strange man lounging on the floor silently the whole time. The Sentinel thought that he might be watching her, but it was hard to tell with the helmet on. It was somewhat unsettling; for all she knew he could be watching her, or he could be sleeping. She finished the soup quickly, leaning back slightly in contentment. She looked over at the man, giving him a meaningful look. "I…thank you. For the food and medicine, I mean. But we have to go back to Paradise Falls," she paused for a moment, waiting to see if he had any comments. Unsurprisingly, he had none, so she continued, "You don't know we from a damn hole in the ground, and I don't know you. I don't know why you bought me, or even what you plan on doing with me, but you have to know this. My name is Sentinel Sarah Lyons, and I'm with the Brotherhood. The man that was yelling in the slave pens, he is a very good friend, and he has enemies in very high places. My Elder assigned me to a special ops mission with that man, to eliminate Talon Company and the land barons known as Alistair Tenpenny and Mr. Burke." She paused again, but once again he just stared at her, his expression hidden and unreadable.
She growled slightly in frustration. "Don't you get it? Now Paradise Falls is on that shit list too. We can take out three of the biggest players in the Wasteland, so we can focus on defeating the Enclave and keeping the Muties at bay. Talon Company, Alistair Tenpenny, and Paradise Falls…they're all alike. They prey on innocent Wastelanders to make caps. Do you know how many people we can save if they are dead? You just gotta take this collar off of me, give me a weapon, and you could come with me if you wanted."
The stranger said nothing; he just stood and crossed the room to take the bowl from Sarah, replacing it with a battered brush and a familiar hair tie. She sighed heavily and looked down at the items. "Did you hear anything I just said? Don't you understand what is at risk here?"
He nodded before motioning to the items and pointing upstairs. Sarah nodded, "Yeah yeah, I get it." She took the hair tie and slid it back to its place on her wrist, wondering why it had come off in the first place. The Sentinel stood, no longer feeling dizzy from the Med-X; the food and water had done her a lot of good. She looked down at her feet, finding them bare and noting that the heels that went with her dress were sitting on the floor near the couch that she had been laying on. Her heart gave a pang of hurt as she looked down at the heels, then her dress. They reminded her of Clover. Clover…
She bit back the emotions that threatened to surface and took a candle from the man, to light her way as she ventured up the stairs. She ascended the stairs quickly, making her way into the bathroom and closing the ancient door behind her, its hinges creaking loudly. She set the candle on the sink and gripped the edges of the ancient porcelain, staring at her reflection. Thankfully, there was no makeup to run as tears suddenly sprung from her eyes, she had scrubbed it all off before Crimson and Eulogy attacked herself and Clover. "God damn it…" Her voice hitched slightly and she struggled to lock the tears away. She felt like a failure; she had been bested by a slave driver in battle, and as a result, she had no idea what he would do to her friends.
She silently thanked that the man had directed her to the bathroom. The stoic Sentinel did not like to show these emotions in front of others, it was unbecoming of her, and it was not something a soldier did. Sarah turned on the tap, quickly washing her tear streaked face and scrubbing some of the blood from under her nails and the little bit on her hands. She scrubbed more roughly than necessary, but she did not want any trace of Eulogy anywhere on her.
Looking to her right, she noticed some clothes on the lid of the toilet. The man must've put them here. She smiled slightly, and pulled her red dress off, folding it carefully and putting it on the lid where the other clothes sat. She washed her body with water from the sink, before finally feeling ready to put the clothes on. She drew the new clothes out, putting on the black cloth pants first, before pulling the white t-shirt over her head, finally pulling on the red jacket over it. She quickly put on the socks and the knee high boots that went with the rest of the outfit. It reminded her of the Wasteland Wanderer outfit, albeit with different colors.
She quickly brushed her hair and pulled it back into her usual ponytail. The Sentinel managed to crack a smile at herself in the mirror; it had been forever since she could wear her hair tie. She was starting to feel a bit like her old self; however, the heavy collar around her neck reminded her of her situation. She bit her cheek and collected her dress and the brush that the man had let her use before making her way back downstairs. She turned the brush over in her hands, looking down at it with curiosity. The blue plastic was faded and chipped, and the name Alison had been carved deeply into the back of the head of the brush. The name was faded and worn, but still deep enough to be legible. Why would this burly man have a girl's brush? Who was Alison?
The Sentinel gave the man a curious look, but did not question him on the name as she handed the brush back to him. He gave her a single nod once again before carefully tucking the brush into a pocket on his bag, his hand lingering over the pocket for a second longer than necessary, his helmet looking down at the place where his hand lingered. Sarah arched an eyebrow at him, before going back to her seat on the couch. There was something strange about him; he was definitely not the typical sort of guy that bought a slave.
Author's Note: Well, looks like Sarah sold quickly. At least the guy that bought her seems nice, right? But what are his motives? Who is he? Who is Alison? Looks like we got more questions than answers in this chapter!