Chapter 24: Homeward Bound
"We should probably get going. I want to make it there before sun up. We can sleep in all day when we get back." I said, pulling my pack over my shoulder.
Charon grunted in response as he held his hand out for me at the bottom of the ladder. I hit the ground quietly and thanked him.
"I'm guessing you didn't find my dad in there, huh?" My voice was barely audible.
"I'm sorry. I didn't find him, but I found these holotapes he left behind. One may give a hint to his next location." Charon shrugged his pack off and dug through it haphazardly.
"I'll just go through them when we get home." I dismissed him with a wave.
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Thank you, really. I wouldn't have made it this far without you."
He looked away as he shouldered his pack. "No problem."
My hand lingered on his arm as I passed him by. He followed, then took lead. He reached for his shotgun as we made our way down the road into downtown. I pulled my 9 mm from my waist and held it tightly.
"You hear something?" Charon asked in a hushed tone.
"Uh, sort of. Not sure. Do you?"
"Yeah. Sounds like thunder."
I tightened my grip on my pistol. "I've never seen one. You know how to kill it?"
Charon let out a throaty chuckle. "You can't kill thunder."
"Well, shit. What are we going to do?"
Charon slung his shotgun over his shoulder. "Thunder won't hurt us. It's not concrete. Rain is what you have to worry about."
"Rain? Like the movies?" I holstered my pistol.
"Rain is still real. Thunder is just the sound of lightening. Lightening is that bright flash in the sky. We'll need to find some cover soon. You don't want to know what happens when you don't get out of the rain on time."
"I'm assuming the radiation made it very acidic."
"You assume correctly. Melts the skin right off your body." Charon looked around for vacant buildings or houses.
"Sounds like heaven." I gazed at the darkening sky.
"Smells like it, too." Charon grinned.
"That's really gross."
"You started this. Come on, I think I see an overpass over there by the Citadel." He pointed towards a broken bridge over the river.
"Seems kind of far, don't you think?"
"Seems kind of not infested with mutants." He shifted his pack and pulled me closer as we stepped over the rocks near the river bank.
"Whatever you say." I watched for movement in the water.
"I'm just trying to protect you, Eleanor. We can make it in about five minutes if we hurry."
We sneaked passed the mutants and a sleeping merchant as we made our way under the bridge.
"Well, genius, how are we going to get across the river? 'Five minutes' my ass."
"So skeptical. You know I usually make things work out, yet you still have no faith in me." Charon mocked.
"What's your plan now?"
We need to hurry. I can see the clouds coming from the east. I would say we chill under here but then the wind will just blow the rain under here. The water isn't deep right here so I can just carry you on my back."
I must have given him a funny look if he returned it with a laugh. "Are you being serious? What about the guns? You really want to deal with wet gun powder?"
"You put the stuff we can't afford to get wet in your bag and hold it up out of the water." He reasoned.
"This will never work. There's a current. We'll get swept away." I put my hands on my hips in defiance.
"Again with no faith. Open your bag."
"Oh my god. You were being serious."
"Do you want to get home?" He raised his brow.
I sighed in defeat as I tossed my pack on the ground. I opened it and he began filling it with our small armory. I glanced at him and saw a wide, smug smile.
"Asshole." I giggled.
"I can't celebrate a victory? You actually lost in this one. Let me have this." His smile seemed to melt into me and I couldn't help but return it.
"I like seeing you happy. It's good. Makes me happy when you're happy. You deserve it."
You are the only one is this entire god damned wasteland who believes that." His smile faded.
"You aren't happy with me?"
He stopped with his hands in the bag and looked up in confusion. "Where'd you get that idea? If anyone is unhappy, it's you." He looked away. "You have to deal with my temper."
"I don't really feel like getting started on this again. Just stay down there so I can get on your back." I pulled the heavy bag over back and heard a tear. "Shit."
He looked over his shoulder." You need a new bag."
"I need a new everything." I grumbled as I crawled onto his back when he waded into the water to waist deep.
He was about chest deep when we reached the halfway mark of the river. The bottom of the pack was damp but the bag was dry for the most part. The water was cold and stung from the radiation. There was a slight push from the current but not much movement other than that. The weather must have driven off mire lurks. It wasn't until we were almost to the banks when we heard raider activity.
Charon dropped me gently when we reached the shallow end and grabbed for his shotgun. He fumbled with the air as he realized it was in the pack. I dropped the pack and retrieved his shotgun. I held my pistol close to me as Charon rounded the corner with a hand up. He signaled me to stay put.
I huffed and kicked the dust. I looked up and the wasteland lit up blindingly. A loud boom resounded from every corner of the capital. Raiders yelped in surprise and moved about, kicking cans and bottles.
"What the fuck was that?" A gruff man asked.
"You think I fucking know?"
"Do you guys really have to have such dirty mouths?" A small feminine voice asked.
"Says the whore." A man snickered.
"Suck a dick, Chris." The woman snapped.
"That's your job, you stupid bimbo." The man growled.
"Fu-"
Loud banging and screams filled the air as Charon fired into them. It was over as soon as it started. The bodies hit the ground with thumps as Charon tossed them out. He held his hand up for me and I took it.
"Stupid ass raiders." Charon grumbled, kicking a body as he helped me over the ledge.
I looked around the little fort. It wasn't so bad. There was a bunk bed, tables, and boxes. Charon started rifling through them immediately and I dropped the pack on a table. I began to unload them one by one. Charon dropped scrap metal in his pockets and pulled a ragged blanket from one of the boxes.
"That's not much of a blanket."
"We aren't using it as one. Good knows what they've been doing on this blanket. Probably stands up on its own."
"So what are you going to do with it?"
He hitched his foot under a step stool and dragged it across the floor. He stepped up and held the blanket to the concrete lip of the ceiling. He dropped a corner of the blanket and reached into his pocket to pull out scrap metal. He bent down to grab the hammer on the box beside him and hammered the the metal into the corner of the blanket in a crack in the concrete. He repeated the process with the other corner.
He stepped down and over the ledge. He disappeared around the corner and came back a few seconds later with two large river rocks. He placed them on each corner of the blanket to weigh them down to the ledge. He stepped back to admire his work. "We got a tarp."
I gave a small clap and he bowed. "Not a bad idea."
He wiped his hands off on his pants and sat back on the bunk. I crawled up the ladder to the top bunk and laid down with a creak. The thunder was getting louder as the sky grew darker.
"Hey Charon?" I whispered as I leaned my head over to peer over the mattress.
"Yeah, smoothskin?"
"What's rain like?"
He rested his head on the pillow and smiled up at me. "It will either put you to sleep or scare the piss out of you."
"There's no in between?"
"Nope. It doesn't happen very often anymore. Before the war, it happened all the god dammed time."
I rolled back over onto the mattress. "What else happened before the war?"
He sighed. "Save that for another day. We're both too tired to pay attention."
"Okay."
There was a long comfortable silence between the two of us. "Smoothskin?"
"Yeah?" My voice was heavy from exhaustion.
"Do you ever plan on going back to the vault?" His voice was quiet and uncertain.
I thought about it for a long moment and may have taken too long.
"Have I upset you, Eleanor?"
"No, you haven't. I'm not sure if I will. They sure as hell don't want me back. Amata is a bitch, the overseer wouldn't hesitant to order someone to feed me a bullet since he's too much of a pussy to do it himself, and Butch-" my voice trailed off.
"I apologize for asking. It was not my place."
"No, it's okay. I'm not what Butch will do if he sees me pregnant. We didn't do anything for a while before I left. I doubt he knows how it works so he'll probably assume it's his. He might try to convince me to stay or come with us. I don't want to think about it."
"I'm sorry, Eleanor. I brought it up and I shouldn't have." His voice was chillingly sad.
"It's okay. I've thought about it myself but I could never come up with a final answer." I looked out of the fort as I saw big drops of water hit the ground.
I sat up and jumped down from the bed, hurrying to the ledge. Charon followed and rested his large hands on my shoulders. I poked my head out from behind the tarp and a drop hit my nose. It was cold but soon after, I could feel it stinging and itching. The rain came down in a heavy blanket and the light lit up.
"You might want to step back." Charon said, gently pulling me away from the ledge.
I leaned into him and he wrapped his arms around me. His hand rested over my stomach and he rubbed it gently. We both looked out into the rain, the sound soothing. Charon kissed the top of my head and nuzzled his cheek into my hair.
"I need to dye my hair again. I'm thinking blue this time. And get a cut." Pushing my bangs out of my eyes was growing more and more aggravating.
"Absolutely not. The chemicals are bad for the child." He muttered into my hair.
"I think you're more worried about this thing than I am."
"It is not a 'thing'. It has a heartbeat, therefore, it has a life."
"Alright." I rested my head against his chest.
The next morning, the wasteland seemed to have been reborn. The sun was shining through pockets in the clouds and cast everything in light yellows and grays. I slept next to Charon. He was right, rain scared the piss out of me.
We got ready to leave for Megaton and set out. It wasn't long before the nagging sensation of feeling followed got the best of me.
"I think there's something following us." I whispered.
"You noticed it too?" He slung his shotgun from his back.
I pulled my pistol out of the holster and looked around. We searched, but found nothing. I glanced over my shoulder, saw something gray, and looked back. My eyes widened and I aimed over to the gray mass. It was a dog that appeared to be limping.
I nudged Charon. "Dog."
I leaned down and dug through my bag. My fingers wrapped around a can of beans and a stabbed it open with a knife. I pulled it out slowly and set it a few feet away. The dog looked uncertain as it limped over to the beans. As it got closer, I noticed the matted hair and dried blood on its leg. It lapped at the beans hungrily. "Hand me a stimpak, will ya?"
Charon dug through my pack and produced a syringe. I popped the cap off and eased my way over to the dog. I found the gash on its leg and injected it. The dog whined and looked over from the beans. "It's okay. You'll feel better in a second."
I rubbed it's ear and felt something around its neck. I grabbed it. A collar with a name tag. I flipped the metal over and read "Dogmeat" etched into the plate.
"This dog's name is fucking Dogmeat." I giggled.
Dogmeat yipped and wagged his tail slowly.
Charon scoffed. "So, when are you going to ask to keep it?"
I clasped my hands together and batted my lashes. "Pretty please? I promise I'll take care of it."
"Childish through and through. It's not like I can say no. Not my place." Charon grinned.
Dogmeat clawed at the now empty can. I patted him and found a box of Cram at the bottom of the bag. I ripped it open and dropped it to the ground for him.
"Guess we have a dog." Charon smiled.
"Yeah." I started walking back towards Megaton, Charon on my left and Dogmeat on my right.
Within the hour, the protectron was inviting us into Megaton. Stockholm waved but his hand fell as Charon came into view.
"It's been over a month. I didn't think you were coming back. Who are they?" Stockholm gestured to my growing family.
"Companions. Family. Whatever you want to call it."
"As long as they don't cause trouble, we shouldn't have a problem. I'm sure Maggie will be excited for a dog to play with."
"Will do. See ya." I waved and pushed the gate open.
The steps to the house seemed to fill me with a new invigorating energy. Dogmeat rushed passed me and circled around the door. I pulled the key out of my back pocket and named it into the knob. Charon opened the door and I stumbled in.
"Ah, welcome home Madame. It's good to see you alive and well." Wadsworth chimed.
"It's good to be home."