Charon
When they split us up, I struggled with my programming.
I need to see her, to know where she is. So I can protect her.
They drag me into a cell and wait for me to recover. When they take off the flimsy wrist restraints, one young officer turns his back carelessly. He should have known better. I slam him against the wall, hard. He slumps to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Another tries to punch me; I grab his arm, twist, and he falls, screaming.
They hit me with shock sticks again. The pain is instantaneous and brutal. I fall to the floor, stiff as a board, twitching, as they pummel me.
They'll never get close after this.
They've drugged me.
They've started on the chems first – things that won't destroy my – how'd they put it? "Bodily integrity." They want to see how much it takes to affect me. Not really much I can do about that – a chem won't respond to threats and violence.
They had to resort to physical restraints with me – nearly seven feet tall, I don't fit in their goofy restraining pods.
When they run out of the common ones, they start using their experimental concoctions. One feels like fire in my veins, burning me from the inside out. Another paralyzes the leg they put it in – glad they didn't use any more than they did.
Then there's another one. It makes me…hallucinate.
It's the sobbing I hear first. It's her. I'd know it anywhere. I know it's a hallucination, but I can't help myself. "Mallie?"
She sounds pitiful. I've never heard her this way, and it tears my heart up inside. "It's dark in here, Charon. It's dark and cold."
I pull against my restraints. She sounds so real. "Come here. Come to me; I'll warm you up." Please, please…
"I can't. Oh, God. I'm so lonely. Why did you leave me?" she pleads.
I plead with her. "I didn't leave you, I – "
"You left me. For her." My heart wrenches. Why did I let her do it? Why was I so weak?
"No, no – never!" I pull against my restraints. "You're my world, Mallie! I'd never leave you!" You're all I have!
"Charon, I need you!"
I pull tighter, frantic. "I'm coming, Mallie. I'm coming!"
I barely register the men in the room, the white coats, and the dart in my chest.
Everything fades into blackness.
Wendy
I allow myself to be put inside the restraining pod again.
I'm getting a "special visitor," whatever the fuck that means. Don't know who'd be interested in me here – other than Virgil – but I'm intrigued.
A brown-haired woman – about my age – enters the room and approaches the restraining pod. "Hello, Wendy. My name is Emily."
"And what the fuck do you want?" I reply, icily.
"Just to have a little conversation. About Virgil." She says.
"Go on." I lift my chin.
She paces the room as she talks. "You see, in the bunker, in the beginning, they married for love," What the fuck does this shit have to do with anything? I have little interest in the history of this godforsaken place. "Later, the leaders developed a…breeding program. To enhance genetic diversity. Children were "matched" – sometimes, even before they were ever born. "
"What does this have to do with anything?" I ask, irritably.
"Virgil was my match. He was to be my husband." Oh. Well…that makes me awfully inconvenient. She continues. "We – the Enclave – don't consider unsanctioned marriages valid."
"I see."
"No…no, I don't think you do. Virgil is mine, Wendy. He was promised to me a long time ago." She sighs, tilts her head. "You know, I was excited when they found him. When I got the news that he was already married, I was devastated." There's a flash of anger in her eyes. "I was working on him, making good progress. He held my hand yesterday, if you can believe it. I wished that you would die out there. That you'd disappear, killed by a junkie, or a scorpion – whatever. It's easier to compete with a dead woman than a live one." She smirks. "But I think this outcome is much better." She points at my left arm. "You're broken. Beat up. Incomplete. You aren't the person he fell in love with."
"You don't know that." I snarl.
"Yes, I do. I also know about your…transgressions. You cheated on him – with one of those walking corpses." She smiled. "You're tainted. Damaged goods." I clench my teeth. "Not only that, this one raised him. You cheated on him…with family." She chuckles. "You're a freak, you know. Your genes are altered – generations of exposure to radiation…you're lucky your skin isn't peeling off like that thing in the other room."
My eyes narrow. "He has a name."
"I'm sorry?" she asks.
"He isn't a 'thing.' His name is Charon." I spit out.
"Defending him, even now. Do you love him, Wendy?" she asks, a haughty smile on her face.
"He was all I had out there." I answer, weakly.
"I'll take that as a 'yes.'" She stops pacing, stares into my eyes, like a predator would stare in the eyes of its prey. "The scientists will tear him up, you know. Pull him apart, to see what makes him tick." I take a deep breath. Tears obscure my vision, roll down my cheeks.
"You can't bear to see him in pain, can you?" She smiles, wickedly. "Everyone has a weakness, Wendy. Something; someone that can be used to break them." She pauses. "He's your weakness, Wendy. We'll break you."
Charon
"Hi Charon."
I close my eyes and shake my head, growling in frustration. My head's fuzzy as hell. "Fuck these hallucinations! Go away!"
"I'm not a hallucination."
I look up, look at him – and see a handsome young man in a military uniform. He's real. He's here. We found him. I did it! I smile. "You're awful hard to find, Virgil."
"Maybe I didn't want to be found." He spits, bitterly.
"What – what do you mean?" Here it comes.
"How could you? My wife! Your son's wife! " My shame, bared.
I will my face into a mask of stone. "It was my fault. All mine."
"Really? She told me that it was her fault. That she came to you." He paced, and then said, thoughtfully, "She said she was thinking of me every time." I stare at him. "I suppose you were thinking of mom. In the dark, one woman could feel like any other." I close my eyes, clench my teeth. No one can replace my Mallie. "Grief isn't an excuse, Charon." His use of my name sears me like a hot brand. He's trying to take a step back, distance himself from me. "Did you think I wouldn't find out? That you fucked her right under my nose? The whole wasteland knows!" His face is a mask of pain.
I try to explain it to him. "You don't understand. She'd just lost her hand, and…"
"And what? She tripped, fell on your dick?" He yells, viciously.
I hang my head. "I am sorry."
"You're sorry? Is that supposed to make it all better? Make me forgive you?" I've known him so long that I can feel the pain in his voice. The rawness. The anger. I know – I've taken something that I had no right to in the first place. Something precious. Something that belonged to him, and him alone.
I shrugged, as much as the restraints would allow. "I didn't expect that it would."
He shook his head. "Virgil…we needed each other." I offer, weakly. It's the truth, but I know he won't like it.
This seems to make him angrier. His nostrils flare. He's quiet for a few seconds, collecting his thoughts. "What happened to her hand? You were supposed to take care of her."
"She pushed me away from a shotgun blast. It was…point blank. Gone." Goddammit Virgil, I got enough shit from Barrows, I don't need it from you. I think of the panic that I felt, the tourniquet, the frantic run to Wellville, to Bones, to safety. For a moment, I can feel her weight on my shoulder, the panic that I might lose her, lose him, lose everything.
He shakes his head in disgust. "Sloppy."
Pride wounded, I yank on my restraints. "I told her not to protect me! That if anyone was gonna take bullets, it was gonna be me. She didn't fuckin' listen!"
He stood, calm. "She's a woman, Charon." He said. "Women love their men, they protect them. Mom would've taken a bullet for you."
"SHE DID!" I snarl.
"Then you should've known better." I can't…
He turns, and walks stiffly out of the room. The door closes.