AN: Ok, here we go. First real chapter of Questions to Answers. Not much to say other than hope you enjoy the fic and of you feel up to it, how bout a review.
IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN
Blue eyes snapped open and darted around the room taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. The sterile white walls and roof offered little help in determining where she was. So all the senses were sent into overdrive, the familiar scent of antiseptic and the sound of heartrate monitor happily beeping away, were the things that she took from it all.
"Hospital." She muttered to herself. With a groan she lifted herself up into a more upright position and found her assumptions correct. She was currently situated on one of the many beds lining the edges of the treatment facility. Each bed separated by a wall probably built more for containment than privacy.
Over in the center of the room were several desks and carts of various operating equipment that could be deployed anywhere in the room in seconds. With all the speed of a crippled brahamin she hoisted herself from the bed and planted her bare feet on the freezing ground. Covered in only a thin hospital gown, that did nothing for the arctic conditions of the room, she made her way to the central area.
Outside her "room" she found the hospital must have been having one damn slow day as she was the only patient here. In fact, there was but one other person in the entire place. In a while lab coat, hunched over a desk, scribbling madly on a sheet of paper they seemed no more aware of the world than the dead. From her vantage point she couldn't tell weather he was a she or she was a he, so not knowing who it was she settled for the more vague approach of "Hey you."
That seemed to work well enough as its head jerked upright and spun around to face her. The surprised look on his face was soon replaced with a warm smile, almost welcoming in appearance. "Your awake."
"Yeah, kinda obvious. Where are my clothes?" She responded with a hint of irritation at the fact she was still naked underneath her gown.
The man looked away rubbing the back of his neck. "You see when we brought you in you were highly irradiated, we had to dispose of your belongings. All of them."
A roll of her eyes and a brief bout of sarcasm later and she was back to interrogating the doctor. "Great. That's fuckin wonderful. So where exactly am I?
"Field hospital outside New Haven, patrol found you out cold in the middle of nowhere." He turned and rifled through some papers on the desk before plucking one out of the bunch and turning back to her. "You didn't have any identification on you when the brought you in so if you could help me out with a name that'd be great."
"My name?" Now that she thought about it she couldn't recall what it was. "My name?" No memories were coming forth, she couldn't name where she came from, where she lived or even her fucking name. "I… I can't remember."
Now she was scared, no name, no past, no foreseeable future. The worries ran through her mind a mile a minute. She had no money. She hadn't a place to stay, or a source of income. All this and more suddenly came crashing down around her. She felt light headed.
Stumbling forward she landed herself in a chair that someone had left out. With forehead buried in her palms she racked her brain for answers. 'What was her fucking name?'
The doc leaped toward her as he saw her go down. Luckily she had found that chair before she found the ground. Using a radio on his coat he called a person in the other room, "Layla, bring me a glass of water. No it can't wait."
He was at her side trying to calm her after the slight disagreement. "Hey its ok. You just need some time, just calm down and it'll come back on it's own. Amnesia usually wears off before to long."
Layla, his fiery red headed assistant with a temper to match, barged through the door with a bottle of water in hand. "Tom I'm not your damn-" whatever else she was about to say was lost as she saw their newest patient hunched over in a chair. "What'd I miss?" She asked handing over the bottle.
The now nameless woman snatched the bottle and greedily gulped down the contents. Half the bottle was gone before she dropped it from her lips. "Memory loss." Tom stated.
"Poor girl, I don't recall any missing persons reports being filed." She padded the woman's shoulder. "If you need a place to stay I've a friend that'll put you up."
The woman shook her head, "Thanks but I don't know if I can stay. Was there anything that said where I was from?" She asked.
He thought for a few seconds before realization dawned on him. "There was a deck of cards, from the Tops Casino in New Vegas. Its good a place as any to start."
"How the hell am I going to get to New Vegas? I don't even know where I am or where it is." She muttered. Her mind was still running through everything it could recall, witch wasn't much. Faces with no names barely ghosts in the mind were present. Looking like a collection of villagers but no signs as to where they were from. The NCR, that name sat in her mind for some odd reason. Looking up at her doctors she decided they might be of some help. "Who is the NCR?"
Layla raised an eyebrow at that. "Its the New California Republic. Your sitting in one of their hospitals right now." She stated.
The woman nodded, "Oh, well thanks. Any ideas on getting some work around here?"
"Caravans stop here for a break before heading down the long 15. You can try to link up with one, either as a guard or just traveling with them. Should make it up to Vegas in about a week. And if you can't get a guard posting the Mojave Express always has something to run out that way. Their office is across the street from the barracks." Layla informed her.
"Thank you. I hate to ask more of you but, you wouldn't happen to have a spare change of clothes lying around would you." She inquired.
Layla smirked as she looked over the girl and saw she indeed needed those clothes. "Yes one might need something to cover herself with in a world such as this. I'll go grab you a change. It ain't pretty but at least you won't be naked."
"I appreciate it." These people were being awfully kind to her, and at this rate she'd be in dept to them for the rest of her natural born life. Something witch she wasn't quite comfortable with.
Thirty minutes later the still nameless woman stood outside the door to the local Mojave Express office in a set of tight fitting doctor's fatigues. The neon sign almost seemed to stare back at her, expectantly. She had no name, and not a cap to whatever it may have been. Taking a deep breath and exhaling she took her first step to the rest of her life.
Right into a barely lit, smoke filled office building. The air was much hotter than the already scorching outside and the lack of circulation made it feel stagnant. The scent of cheap cigarettes assaulted her nose and burned her eyes, in the air hung the thick smoke almost like a fog. Beyond that the lack of interior lighting left only a single window in the back to illuminate room. Trash littered the floor, cigarette buds, papers and the random assortment of office supplies were strewn about as if a tornado had torn through the interior.
She instantly hated that place. And she was sure the smell of smoke taint her clothes for the next few days. As she stood taking in the place a door swung open to her left.
From it walked a man, looking to have seen more years than she dared count. His face was old and weathered but his eyes told a different story. Finally from his lips hung the very reason the air in this place seemed to choke the life from her, the smoldering stub that used to be a cigarette at one point. He spoke in a gravely voice that assaulted her ears in a most unpleasant fashion. "Your Late."
His tone left little room for interpretation of his mood. Not entirely hostile, but still pissed. "If you can't bother to show up on time for your biggest payday of the year then get the hell out."
The woman blinked at his abruptness before her brain caught up with her. "You know who I am?"
The man just seemed to grow more annoyed with her question but answered none the less. "Of course I do. Your Courier Six aren't you. You were supposed to pick up the House account three days ago."
Her heart sank at that, "Thats all you know about?" She questioned, still holding hope that there might be something on who she was.
The man just shook his head, "What else is there to know. Female, 5'10", and White hair. Beyond we don't take down anything else. Now are you here for the package or what?"
"Package?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, the package." He dug around in a his pants pocket, cursing when his lighter fell out, finally he withdrew a brown envelope that had been folded in on itself several times. "To be hand delivered to the Lucky 38 in New Vegas." He tossed it to her with the flick of his wrist, "Now scram, your already late."
AN: See told you it'd be longer. Now only if I knew it was better. Why don't you help me out on that one with a review.