Nathan approached the Super Duper Mart with a feeling of relief. He had travelled hard all day and was ready for a rest. The big building had once been a large supermarket. He noted that there was a trading counter in the front of the store, with shelves and lockers arrayed behind the counter. A few seats in front of the counter accommodated weary travelers and traders. Down a hall to the left were public restrooms, now renovated and fully functional. A wall had been added to the back of the large room, blocking off the storage areas. A hall to the right led to rooms in the back that were rented out to travelers. A small café now occupied the room on the far right that had once been a pharmacy, with tables arrayed in front of the counter. A second door into the building led directly to the café and the hall for rooms to let.
He approached the man at the counter in the front of the store.
"Hey, trader," he said politely. The man nodded at him.
"What can I do for you stranger?", he asked.
"I'm just travelling through", Nathan said. "I need a place to spend the night and a meal. Do you have a room available and a place to stable my horse?"
"We have a room open in the back. That'll be 150 caps for the night. There's a shed out back for your horse. I'll have the boy take care of it. That'll cost you another 100 caps. You can get a meal over at the Mart Café there," he said, pointing.
Nathan counted out the caps, noting that prices had gone up in the last few years. "Make sure she's fed and watered, she travelled hard today", he said.
"No problem", the man agreed, motioning over a boy. He instructed him to go take care of the horse.
"My name's Dan, what's your name, stranger?", the man asked.
"Nathan", Nathan replied.
"You wouldn't be Dr Nathan Halliday, would you?", Dan asked.
"Yep, that's me", Nathan said, surprised that the man knew his name.
"Well, I've been asked to look out for you to give you a message. Hawk and Calli came through here a day ago, and Hawk gave me this."
Dan handed him a folded paper. Even though it had been sealed, Nathan could see it had been opened. He took the paper, his heart beating harder with excitement. Keeping his face calm, he nodded at the man.
"Thanks, Dan, I think I'll see about getting a bite to eat now." Stuffing the paper in his pocket, he walked off, ignoring Dan's disappointment that he didn't read the note in front of him.
Nathan suppressed the urge to rip open the note. He ordered a steak with browned vegetables and a beer and took his time eating. When he finished he made his way to the public bathrooms and took care of his nightly routine. No one talked to him or tried to waylay him as he went to his room. Once he had secured the door for the night, he sat on the bed and took out the note.
'My brother, to find your heart's desire you must ride the wind and not steal.' He considered the message. Well, it's meaning was fairly clear to him, Hawk must not have had much time to think about it. He just hoped it wasn't as clear to whoever had read the message before him. He lit the paper on fire and watched it burn, then stretched out on the bed. He would need a good night's sleep before heading out for the Citadel trading post.
Calli crept forward, sure now that something was wrong. The grenade landed at her feet just as the hail of bullets erupted all around them. Pain slammed her from all sides. "Hawk", she cried, and then nothing.
Calli slowly began to focus on her surroundings. Her eyes were closed, and she didn't dare open them just yet. She listened through her pounding headache. The regeneration hadn't gone right, she never woke with a headache, and her body throbbed with pain. Listening, sensing nothing but night sounds, she slowly opened her eyes. She was staring up at the ceiling of a large tent. She registered that her wrists and ankles were strapped down, and she was completely naked, though a blanket covered her form.
The smells drifting into her consciousness were familiar but strange. Blood, antiseptic, medicine smells… "Nathan?', she queried softly, hopefully. A grunt to her right caught her attention.
"Nathan is riding the wind.", Hawk said quietly. She slowly turned her head and saw Hawk, similarly bound on a larger table nearby. He was staring at the ceiling but otherwise wasn't moving. If her brain had been less fogged, she would have wondered what Nathan was doing on the Tradewind, but it didn't occur to her. It seemed right somehow.
She tried to take stock of her surroundings. Her eyes were having trouble focusing, but there seemed to be only one other person in the room, a guard sleeping by the door. No, there was another, past Hawk, sleeping on a bunk by the wall.
They seemed to be in a medical tent of some kind, not as large as she had first thought. There were lockers along one wall, and a tray beside Hawk's table held a clean scalpel. The place smelled of blood and antiseptics. She could see a trash can in a corner. She was close to a wall with nothing on her other side.
Her head was throbbing and she was having trouble forming coherent thoughts. She whispered softly, so as not to wake the sleeping men, "Hawk?" The big mutant grunted softly. "Someone has operated. The cuts are still healing. They know what we can do now, but I don't think they expected us to wake up, or they wouldn't be sleeping. We have to get out of here", she said urgently.
She wasn't concerned about the restraints. If she had to she would simply break a hand and pull it through but she didn't think that would be necessary. She was still regenerating and the bones were somewhat soft and pliable at this stage. Calli concentrated, squeezing her hand together, constricting it as she pulled. Pain shot through her hand, her wrist, her arm. She concentrated on not screaming, on pulling, and slowly felt the hand slipping through the restraint, coming free. She relaxed, breathing hard. Her hand wouldn't move for a minute, but gradually it straightened out, the pain lessened. She flexed her fingers experimentally. Good. She twisted sideways to work at the buckle on her other wrist. Finally it came loose and she could free her ankles. The blanket fell softly to the floor.
The men were still sleeping. She slipped quietly off the table and went to Hawk's side. She moved slowly and carefully around the table, releasing the restraints. She shook him lightly when he didn't seem to move. He blinked at her and slowly sat up, his blanket falling away. Calli looked around for their clothing and weapons but they were nowhere in sight, and they couldn't risk waking the men by searching the lockers. They would have to dispatch them first. She took the scalpel from the tray and motioned to Hawk. He could move quietly for such a big man.
Some sense of danger alerted the guard who suddenly sprang awake, letting out a shout of alarm even as Hawk broke his neck. There was no time left now, the cry would have roused the camp. They burst from the tent and ran for the wasteland, unclothed, with only a scalpel for a weapon. The warm summer night came alive with the sounds of the wakened camp.
The night was fading around them as the sun was rising over the mountainous terrain. Calli and Hawk surveyed it with trepidation. They would no longer have the night to hide their exposed forms. The Enclave doctor hadn't kept their radiation levels up. They always kept their radiation levels high but they had already used that up healing as much as they had. Without enough radiation the healing hadn't proceeded as quickly as it would have, and both were hurting badly from the extensive injuries and surgeries.
Added to that was the cuts and bruises from a night of pushing through the wasteland naked, the cuts to their feet from the rough terrain. They had skirted a death claw a couple of hours ago, but the scent of their blood had drawn it to their trail. The Enclave soldiers were so close they had heard the battle as they engaged the creature. They might lose one or two soldiers but the duo knew that wouldn't slow them down much.
They knew they were leaving a blood trail a novice could follow, but there wasn't much help for that, there was no way to stop bleeding. They couldn't stop to rest. They didn't dare approach known watering places, as the Enclave could have sent soldiers to stake them out, or wild life could be there. At least the Enclave soldiers didn't seem to realize where they were headed. They probably expected them to go to the nearest safehouse or the Citadel. They probably would have too, if they hadn't become fixated on reaching Nathan in their minds.
Even in their fogged state they realized they couldn't take roads or trails; they were too vulnerable. They looked at each other in silent, grim communication and ploughed on into the rough of the wasteland, shadows against the expanse.