Despite Nick's reassuring touch, I hesitated before stepping out into the night. I turned to him, the panic I felt at leaving behind the relative safety of his office plainly etched on my face. I don't think I'd ever seen a man's features morph from a look of iron determination to pity quite as rapidly as did his. Shifting my gaze down to my boots, I took a moment to remind myself that no matter why my emotional impression of Nick was shifting from wary dislike to burgeoning trust, he was no man. Not in any conventional sense, at least. I had no idea if he was well received by the residents of this place or not, and that made him an unknown element in my mind. In the middle of collecting my thoughts, I felt his more humanlike hand touch my lower back. He gently steered me through the corridor, and began leading me towards the brightly lit area off to our left.
"Wait, hold on a sec. Mr. Valentine, where's my jacket? Did I have it on when you found me?" I asked. The chill of the night air reminded me of the moments before the seizure. The realization that my hoodie was gone but nothing else I'd been wearing had disappeared was more than a bit disconcerting. Why take only that and nothing more? My wedding and engagement rings were still on my finger, as well as my goddess pendant in its accustomed place on my neck.
"When I found you, you were dead. Taking inventory of your belongings wasn't high on my priority list." he quipped.
"Of course not. The smart ass robotic private eye was more concerned with dragging the dead woman back to his bed." I grumbled.
"Usually when I drag a lady to my bed I know her name first. Care to share?" he asked.
I tried to keep a straight face and couldn't. The short bark of laughter felt better than I'd expected. Almost normal. "You don't know my name? My purse got snatched too then." I said, wrapping my arms around myself and staring down at my feet once again.
He cupped my chin and directed my face up to meet his gaze. "I promise we'll figure this out. You can share whatever you need to about yourself after we revisit the scene of your arrival." he said. Nick's detective training must have included a section on dealing with insane damsel in distress situations to be putting up with me as well as he was.
I took a steadying deep breath, and continued in the direction we'd been walking. He quickly caught up, falling in at my side. We rounded the corner and the blinding light of what appeared to be an open air market fell across our path.
"Nick! Pssst. Nick, hey!" a voice hissed urgently from behind us.
"Piper, what are you doing skulking around at this hour?" Nick asked the voice. A shapely dark haired woman in a red coat and newsboy hat stepped into the light.
"Hear anything about the dead person who reanimated near the front gate? This'll be my best story all month!" she asked with barely concealed glee. She glanced in my direction. "You, uh, collecting strays now, Nicky?" she added.
Before I could say a word, Nick's hand gave mine a sharp warning squeeze. How'd he know that I was about to mouth off? "Stray zombie women at least." he said.
Piper's eyes went wide. "You mean this is the one? No wonder word is spreading fast, even at night. She looks just like a fish out of water." she said.
Ok, this was all too much. Now I was the talk of the town? So much for some quick answers and then getting back to my life. My actual one and not this surreal life unfolding before me.
"The odd zombie chick has a name, and is standing right in front of you." I growled, glaring at the both of them.
Nick chuckled and smiled down at me. "Now you'll tell me, lovely lady?" he teased.
Piper's eyes shifted between him and I. "Something you two wanna share with me?" she asked.
"Nothing like that, Piper. Just let our new friend tell us who she is." he said.
I disentangled myself from Nick's hold on me, and steeled myself for the inevitable onslaught of questions. "My name is Brenna. The last thing I remember before waking up in Nick's bed was crashing my car on the highway near Hartford, Connecticut. He tells me I was dead when he found me. You understand why I find that impossible to believe, yes? I don't know where I am, how I got here or why. I just want to go back home."
I plopped myself down on the ground, and let loose the tears I'd been holding in since first waking up. Holding my head in my hands helped to block out this new world surrounding me.
Piper pulled Nick aside, and whispered something to him. I didn't care that they were likely discussing me. I was grateful to have a moment of private sorrow. Ok, semi-private at least. I missed my husband and our kids. I hoped that whatever had happened to me could be reversed so I could be with them again. Dread crushed my heart. What if I never saw those four precious people again? I needed to pull it together. If I broke down and couldn't function I'd never find a way back home.
Piper squatted down by my side. "Hey, hey there. It's gonna be ok. Nicky is the best around at solving cases. If he can't find out what happened to you, I'll eat my hat." she said with jokingly soothing tones.
I dried my eyes on my shirt and got up from my spot on the ground.
"But once we figure it all out, you owe me an interview, Zombie." she added with a grin.
"Sure, whatever. This can't possibly get any weirder than it already is. Mr. Valentine, we were going to the 'scene of the crime'?" I asked.
Piper laughed heartily. "Oooh Mr. Valentine, is it? Boy, Nick. How'd you attain this level of formality with the newcomer?" she asked.
Nick shot her an irritated look and said "Piper, if you intend on coming with us, try not to egg her on. I suspect that Brenna here is just as bad as you when it comes to acting up at every available opportunity."
I turned to him and asked how he preferred to be addressed. This whole synth thing certainly played with my senses.
"Nick is fine. Now let's head over to the entrance gate." he said, as he resumed herding me towards the market area.
The three of us walked through the market, past empty stalls and a restaurant of sorts. Nick pointed to a set of stairs dead ahead of us. Ha. Dead ahead. I still could not wrap my mind around his assertion that I was found lifeless.
"There's the exit that'll lead to where your body was… dumped outside of Diamond City. With any luck, we'll find some clues." he said.
"And what if we don't? Maybe there are no answers to all of this." I asked him.
"There's gotta be something left behind. Other than you of course. I mean, things don't just happen. There's nearly always a reason, even if it's a dumb one." Piper added.
As we passed through the main gate to this Diamond City, I finally realized where we were. "Holy shit. This is Boston? This is Fenway Park! Forget about me, what happened to Massachusetts?" I whispered in shock. I stopped dead in my tracks, taking in the devastation around me. The whole area looked like a war zone. I knew the Big Dig caused some serious upheaval, but c'mon!
My two guardians exchanged a stunned yet knowing look. Uh oh.
"Guys, what happened here? Please don't leave me in the dark." I pleaded. I felt Nick approach me from behind, and place a steadying hand on my shoulder.
"The world ended. Total atomic annihilation as they say. Nobody won that war, I tell ya." came his soft voice.
"Well…shit. Everything is gone? What year is this? Nuclear war never seemed a possibility the last I knew." I asked.
"You really don't know?" asked Piper, her head cocked in such a way that it reminded me of nothing so much as a curious dog.
I simply shook my head. I didn't have any words to convey how I felt at that moment. A gentle squeeze on my shoulder caused me to turn towards Nick.
"It's April 2288. The bombs fell a bit over 200 years ago." he said with a quiet certainty that told me he was not lying.
"How is any of this even possible? I…I can't…" my words trailed off. What else was there to say? Any hope of getting home was obliterated in that moment.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I want to thank you for reading my little tale, and for the favs/follows. My goal is to update this once a week, dear readers. That said, life is very crazy right now with school, work, and family life. There may be times where the next chapter gets slightly delayed. I hope you enjoy the story nonetheless.