Well I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I've finally reached the point I wanted to be at long ago when James and Ashlyn first met. Now are you all ready for the true story to begin?
Ashlyn quickly spun around and looked at James lying on the operating table. She didn't believe what her ears had just registered. She knew that James had died, Julie had said it.
"Julie, I wasn't the only one who heard that right?" Ashlyn asked disbelief bleeding from her voice.
"No, I heard it too." Julie replied motioning for the other doctors to inspect James.
"Is he still alive, Julie? Tell me now." Ashlyn demanded as she inched closed to the unconscious James.
"I..I think so. Ashlyn either you get out of here while we try to stabilize him or you help; your choice." Julie said thinking rather frantically about the situation.
"I'm staying here and helping." Ashlyn stated firmly.
"Alright, grab a syringe of Med-X and some adrenaline." Julie said stepping over to James with a stethoscope.
"I've got them, what should I do?" Ashlyn asked knowing full well just what both chemicals could do to a human body if used incorrect.
"Use about a three tick marks on the adrenaline and wait till we see the effects." Julie stated as she finished listening to the faint and uncoordinated beat of James' weakened heart.
Ashlyn slowly slide the needle into the IV and pressed just less than the amount Julie had told her to.
"We wait about twenty seconds and check again and interchange doses of each until he's stabilized for the most part." Julie stated as she shooed away the other doctors in the tent.
Ashlyn stood quietly for the dragging seconds waiting to finally hear whether their ordeal was finally over and that James would finally begin his recovery. Ashlyn began to worry as James' chest rose slightly quicker; she worried for his injuries tearing open from quickened breathing. Ashlyn walked over to grab a stimpack on the off chance that James' wounds really did tear open.
Julie strode back over to James to check his pulse and then spoke when she finished "He's fine now, once his wounds heal he can go back to what he was doing before."
Ashlyn dropped the stimpack and embraced Julie as tightly as she could choking out the words through tears of joy "Thank you so much Julie! Thank you!"
Julie slowly embraced Ashlyn after the shock and lightly rubbed her back to comfort her.
"Thank you…." Ashlyn reiterated as she hugged Julie harder "I owe you so much."
"You don't owe me anything; he saved people and ended up like this. We saved him because we could and we owed him. Even now he deserves more of what we can offer." Julie said hugging Ashlyn back as if she was a child "So thank you Ashlyn, we owe your entire group for the lives saved by you three."
"Julie…." Ashlyn spoke her name with astonishment at a woman full of such kindness much like James.
"Really, thank you." Julie spoke with such affirmation of her belief that Ashlyn lost all doubt in her mind of Julie's possible other motivations.
Ashlyn let go of Julie then looked her in the eyes as she wiped away her tears. Julie smiled back and Ashlyn began to cry more as she laughed weakly. The two women hugged again and when the embrace was broken Ashlyn walked over to the weakened body of James and lent over to kiss him again. Ashlyn put her hand on his face as she felt James subconsciously kiss back weakly.
"I'm going to go talk to Veronica, update me if his condition changes." Ashlyn stated as she walked out of the tent with slight tears in her eyes and an earnest smile upon her face.
Julie nodded to Ashlyn as she walked out.
Ashlyn walked into the tent where she and the group had been staying only to see Veronica sitting on the cot looking downward. Veronica looked up at Ashlyn questioningly.
"When will we bury him?" Veronica asked solemnly.
"You bury survivors?" Ashlyn asked with a comical smile trying to quickly inform Veronica without speech.
"He's alive?!" Veronica asked perking up.
"Yes!" Ashlyn responded merrily.
"Oh my God!" Veronica jumped up to hug Ashlyn tightly with joy.
"He came back after I kissed him for what I thought was the last time." Ashlyn said looking at Veronica as she still held her just out of a hug.
"Did he wake up or just come back?" Veronica asked still smiling.
"He only came back, and then we gave him some adrenaline and steadied his heartbeat." Ashlyn responded telling the events of the minutes prior.
"How long do you think it will be until he fully heals or at least just enough to get out and walk on his own?" Veronica questioned.
"My guess is about two weeks." Ashlyn stated as she thought of James lying in the surgical tent.
"What all seemed to be wrong with him?" Veronica asked curious just what James had miraculously survived.
"Severe lacerations on the outer edges of his chest and small avulsions near the ribcage. In addition I think that a majority of his ribs were broken, not to mention the obvious blood loss." Ashlyn said analyzing the images she had seen of James and use of her relatively basic medical training.
"That man seems to have defied just about all rules of the survivability for a human body." Veronica stated somewhat unsurprised by the severity of the wounds.
"Veronica he killed a Deathclaw, I think that in itself was more than superhuman; I think it was the knife that delivered the kill too. That just shows how inhuman James is when it comes to killing what threatens him." Ashlyn spoke with cold words almost feeling a sense of reverence towards James' murderous capabilities.
"Should we be at all worried about what he can do?" Veronica asked revealing her worry of James snapping and possibly killing her in homicidal rage.
"You're honestly worried about that?" Ashlyn asked glaring at Veronica.
"No, I mean yes, I am. I've seen people who kill efficiently like James. They've killed entire towns simply for material rewards." Veronica said expressing her obvious distress.
"And I suppose you worry about me too then, huh? You're scared of me too aren't you? You're scared about what I did to that Deathclaw's hands. You see me as a possible threat to you don't you?" Ashlyn spit venom in her words as they flung from her mouth like fire spouting from the firing end of a flamer.
"Ashlyn, I didn't mean anything like that!" Veronica raised her voice in distress.
"Then don't fear James. If he was going to kill any of use we'd be dead." Ashlyn coldly stated.
"Okay…" Veronica said her words dying soon after they hit the Mojave air.
"I'm going to walk around Freeside; I'll be back within two hours." Ashlyn said turning from Veronica with anger slowly dissipating from her mind.
Ashlyn walked from the tent into the darkening courtyard of the Old Mormon Fort. She felt a sense of guilt in the pit of her stomach, but soon stowed it away knowing she could apologize to Veronica best when she returned. Ashlyn was soon joined by ED-E and Rufus both of which had been wandering around the fort aimlessly until sighting her. Rufus pawed at Ashlyn's leg as ED-E watched the simple exchange of understandings between the two. Ashlyn's smiling face dug into Rufus' mind and informed him of his master's survival, to which he happily yipped to as he jumped up towards Ashlyn and bombarded her face with joyous wet licks.
Ashlyn managed to calm Rufus down then looked at him "I'm assuming you understand." her face still in a smile.
Ashlyn motioned to her two companions as she walked towards the gate of the fort. Rufus gingerly followed Ashlyn as ED-E too a more stoic approach based on a lack of emotions. Ashlyn stepped from the gateway into the street quickly making an observation of which path she should take for her calming stroll. Ashlyn looked left towards the makeshift gateway into the eastern part of Freeside then proceeded to pass through it paying little mind to the crier at the corner of the prewar street the gateway crossed.
Ashlyn glanced at the wide open street in front of her with slight amazement this being her first time in Freeside during her two years as a courier in the Mojave. The neon lights on one of the buildings piqued her interests so she walked to the building to inspect it further. In front of Ashlyn stood The King's School of Impersonation, a building that housed The King and his gang who brought some order to Freeside.
"What's this place all about?" Ashlyn asked one of the men standing at the door to the building.
"You have to be new here or just really fucking retarded; this is The King's place." a male of African decent wearing a white shirt and faded blue jeans said flicking his cigarette.
"Well yes I am fucking new here, I'm glad we could have a civil conversation. Now, explain more if you would be so kind, because when it comes to Freeside I'm 'fucking retarded', or so it seems." Ashlyn replied her patience long gone from the man's poor attitude towards her.
"This is where The King lives, he's the leader of the gang that is in control of Freeside and if you want to meet him go talk to Pacer inside." the King member replied.
"I'll pass for now, because if he's anything like you I'm liable to get even more pissed off." Ashlyn said mockingly as she turned away and walked closer to the gate guarded by bots much like Victor.
Ashlyn walked down the street calmly with Rufus and ED-E still in toe. Rufus growled as pounding footsteps closed onto Ashlyn's position. She turned only to narrowly dodge a sledgehammer swinging towards her face from her left. Ashlyn fell back onto the concrete as the man was bite around his skinny throat by Rufus who brought the man to the ground with a heavy thud. The man crashed to the pavement smashing the back of his skull against the ground only aiding in the speed of his inevitable death brought upon by his stupidity.
Rufus shook the man's neck as he continued to bite down. Having felt like he successfully killed the man he released his grip and stepped over to Ashlyn who was looking at him with wide eyes. Rufus turned his head inquisitively.
"That was….scary…." Ashlyn said as she warily reached towards Rufus to rub his ears.
Rufus happily leaned into Ashlyn's hand to better enjoy the feeling.
"Let's keep going…yeah…see what's at the gate…" Ashlyn shakily said as she rose.
Ashlyn stood in front of the gate within twenty seconds of the attack. She examined the robots from a distance wondering why they hadn't attempted to aid her despite the fact everything was taken care of. Ashlyn shrugged off the question and looked at the monitors of the robots noting that none had the familiar cowboy avatar, but instead had the face of a prewar city cop much like the picture she had seen in an old book during her life.
Ashlyn soon lost interest in the robots and having cooled off her mind walked back to the fort. Upon entering Ashlyn made a b-line for her tent to apologize to Veronica. The tent was empty, so Ashlyn quickly checked the next likely place, the surgical tent. She opened the flap to find Veronica standing over James with a calm and calculating expression on her face.
"Ashlyn, he's doing fine if you're wondering." Julie said from the side of the tent.
"I assumed as much. Veronica I wanted to apologize." Ashlyn spoke to one woman then the next.
"Accepted." Veronica said so quickly that her word began in the ending of Ashlyn's last.
"I figured you would be a little less forgiving." Ashlyn stated.
"I was wrong worrying the way I was; you were right." the robed woman responded.
"Let's go back to the tent and talk about what we're going to do until he's ready to get moving again." said Ashlyn over her shoulder as she moved the tent flap out of her way.
Veronica nodded
Ashlyn sat in the tent quietly examining her pip-boy again to pass time. The twelve days her and Veronica had spent helping the Followers had been rather slow moving and the women were fighting to stave off boredom. Ashlyn suddenly heard a tone emitted from her pip-boy much like the sound of two pieces of metal being lightly clinked together. Ashlyn's interest in her pip-boy heightened as she found the computer to have notified her of a new radio transmission broadcasting to all that could receive the signal. She decided to wait to listen to the transmission until she checked on James for the first time that day.
Ashlyn reached the tent that James now resided in. He was still hooked to an IV that slowly kept him alive with a chemical cocktail and precious water.
"James, I'm here to check on you. I hope you wake up soon, its been almost two weeks." Ashlyn said with a light voice.
James lightly moved.
"James?" the woman asked questioningly.
James slowly opened his eyes wincing as his eyes again saw light after his unconsciousness.
"James! You're awake! Finally!" Ashlyn said with an ecstatic smile now firmly planted on her face.
"How long has it been….and where am I…..Ashlyn?" James asked weakly; mouth obviously dry from the long time without a proper drink.
"Yes it's me, it's been almost two weeks, and we're at the fort don't worry." Ashlyn said walking to James leaning over him.
"How am I alive?" James asked looking up at her.
"I kissed you and brought you back." Ashlyn stated.
"Very funny." James said dryly.
"No really, your heartbeat started when I kissed you." Ashlyn said positively beaming.
"Well, and here I thought it was a joke." He lightly coughed as he said the winced at the pain in his chest.
"I found a radio transmission just before I came to check on you; wanna listen to it with me?" Ashlyn asked happily.
"Sure." James said closing his eyes before smiling.
Ashlyn switched on the radio transmission.
"Howdy. My name is Jed Masterson….." the transmission said before fading out for a time only to continue with "…job offer for ya; Happy Trails is organizing an expedition into Utah, off the Long 15..."
James' eyes shot open as he forced his body to a sitting position "Utah!" he exclaimed weakly before turning to Ashlyn.