Chapter 92: Open Wounds
"…can't understand even slightly what she saw in you," Rosa continued to moan at her captor/savior as he went over his inventory for what seemed like the third time that afternoon. Not knowing where OCD began and his desire to never hold a conversation ended, Rosa kept needling him with whatever she could think of. "You threw her away, she came crawling back to you, and you used her dead body to throw us off your scent so you could hook up with a bunch of hospital-burning psychotics. Jimmy would have treated her better and he literally runs a strip club!"
"…I have my charms," Cade replied brusquely, as he occasionally did.
"…You saved her life, didn't you?" Rosa deducted. "Saved her from one hell and condemned her to another you built for her. God, you are just the fucking worst!"
Cade turned around to glare at her. "You want me to throw you outside?"
"That wouldn't be in your best interests, would it?" Rosa scoffed at the threat. Cade growled as he turned away. "And you know the really fucked up thing about all this? The thing that really pisses me off, that I can't get over despite everything?"
"What?" Cade asked, tauntingly.
"They'd take you back."
Cade dropped the bullet from his fingers before he could fit it into his magazine. Gulping, he picked it up, inspecting it for dirt as he pra- hoped Rosa didn't notice.
"Joe would sponsor you in a fucking heartbeat. The Elders are too nice for their own good," Rosa continued.
"…Of course they are," Cade spat.
"You used to be a guardsman, right?" Rosa asked. "…You worked for Joe's dad?"
"…Not his squad," Cade shook his head. "Although I worked alongside most of them at one point or another. I actually joined up with them and a few other guys when we went out after Joe's sister got attacked on her mission."
"Yeah, Joe told me about that. Hard to see you as an "instrument of righteous violence," got to say."
Cade almost laughed. "…I just wanted to kill raiders. Most scouting trips they sent me on, they told me explicitly to avoid engagement. But I always found it hard to justify not culling those pests whenever the opportunity presented itself."
"New Canaanites are all about second chances," Rosa interjected.
"Tell that to my namesake," Cade actually managed to laugh. He paused as he thought things over. "…Is Paul still alive?"
"…Joe's dad?" Rosa asked. "I mean, he doesn't spend a lot of time around town, and he had a bit of a falling out with Joseph, but last I heard he was doing some work with some of the tribes up north."
"…How's Hannah?" Duncan asked.
"Vice-Captain of the Temple Guard, probably the best gunner outside the Marshals. Heck, better than most of them, anyway," Rosa recollected.
"…That's my girl," Duncan smiled warmly. "…And what about-"
"If you're so damn interested in the New Canaanites, just throw yourself at Joe's mercy and maybe you won't get shot entering that section of the damn city!" Rosa snapped.
"…I think we both know that ship sailed a long time ago," Cade scoffed.
"Too good to go back home, I figure?" Rosa snarled.
"More like too smart to know it's not worth the trouble," Cade hissed. "If they're willing to overlook a man like me, then they really haven't learned a damn thing since…"
"…Since what?" Rosa asked.
He'd just joined up with Thatch's group after his tenure with the Ximenez Gang ended in dramatic fashion. Dunk's more lone-wolf attitude was tolerated by the more relaxed leadership of this new gang of Liquidators, and he adjusted fairly well enough by the time the reports of their forced labor service bureaus had been attacked by three well-known wastelanders. A rogue caravan of do-gooder meddlers attacking something so large that they could not hope to defeat, but nonetheless attracted the agitation of Abacus themself. So, his team was sent to dispatch the Rose of Sharon Cassidy, Raul Tejada… and Joshua Graham.
The first two had already been a caravan team previously and evidently came across Graham by happenstance in the Unclaimed Wastes after he apparently wished to make sure that the Legion had honored its word to release its hold on Arizona. The three joined together and not long afterward began striking at the growing slave trade headed by the RMX, Duncan's newest employer.
The engagement had been a disaster for Thatch, who was killed in the opening exchange of fire with the group. Most of the group was cut down by the experienced fire of the three, even as Cassidy took a bullet and was whisked away by the ghoul, leaving only the Burned Man to cover their retreat. That was when he found himself standing across from a man he had known for years. The Prodigal Son of New Canaan, a man whose ruthlessness Duncan respected. The man whose presence burned down the only home Duncan could ever recognize. Holding their weapons towards one another, Joshua looked and saw a face he recognized. Duncan looked and saw only the man behind the wasteland legends. Graham hesitated. Schmitt didn't.
"…What do they call it, anyway?" Cade asked. "New-New Canaan?"
"North Vegas," Rosa shrugged. "Though I've heard Joe throw around "Newer Canaan" as a joke."
Cade snorted out a laugh. "Figured." He stopped as he thought for a moment. "…I also heard a rumor that there's also a dreadlocked courier who lives near that city, now."
Rosa looked at Cade. "…What about him?"
Cade let the moment pass before letting out a snarl. "THEY REALLY HAVEN'T LEARNED ANYTHING, HAVE THEY?!"
"What's this about? Dreadlocked- Ulysses?"
"Oh, so that's what he calls himself?" Cade spat. "And yet he still lives?!"
"…If you're talking about the sacking, they already talked it out before I was even born. It's all water under that bridge, so why bother-"
Duncan grabbed his half-sister's jaw, clenching her mouth shut as he pressed her cheeks in. "That right there is precisely why you, and they, don't want me anywhere near Vegas! I don't let things like that slide!" he released her as he stormed out of the tent.
"Where are you going?" Rosa asked.
"OUT!" Cade barked.
"Wait, I-" was all Rosa could say as the flap closed behind him. She bit her lip as she wondered just how she could protect herself going forward.
A decanus and two of his legionaries made their patrol through the Hound pens. In addition to a full Legion's worth of soldiers, Scorpio rarely went on campaign without a full complement of hound cavalry, his pride and joy. It was a common sight to witness villages put to the torch by baying hounds and their riders, and Scorpio could always be trusted to be right in the action atop his chariot, a mechanism built out of half an Old World machine and latched to two of the largest hounds in the Legion, Fang and Claw, littermates to the very hound Barabbas rode. Seeing the chariot was in place and both dogs sleeping, they were about to depart when they noticed one of Scorpio's girls standing around with a rake as she seemed to be glancing around furtively.
"You there, slave!" the decanus snapped. Cheslie winced as she held the rake close to her defensively as she turned to face the legionaries.
"Where's your partner?" the decanus asked as the other legionaries fanned around her.
"…She was requested away by our new and temporary master. I know not what they are doing," Cheslie shook her head. "I've been feeding these hounds myself and-"
"I didn't ask what you were doing, bitch!" the decanus hissed as Cheslie shrunk away. "…Where are they off to?"
"The new master took her to the cavalry mustering area," Cheslie confessed.
"Max, go check on our newcomer," the decanus ordered one of his legionaries. Cheslie bowed as he passed, "accidentally" bringing the end of her rake against a bell on one of the posts. Fang and Claw both began baying and howling for their meal, prompting the decanus to start screaming indecipherable orders while the legionary hurried out into the mustering yard.
As he scanned over the area, he saw little but pawprints on the dust and mud and a few provisional crates on the other end of the yard. As he approached, and once he got away from the cacophony behind him, he began making out another noise. Some pained grunts and moans were coming from behind the crate, and a pair of hands stretched out from behind as they clawed into the dirt. Clearly, the guest was making far better use of the other slut, the legionary thought to himself as he turned away and left them to their devices.
May Lin peeked out from the crate as she saw the legionary return to his superior. Content that he bought the ruse, May Lin returned to Dalton as he kept cutting into the edge of the barrier, only with significantly redder ears. "…Well, aren't you talented," Dalton awkwardly praised her. If there was one thing her service to Barabbas had taught her, May Lin thought to herself, it was how to fake pleasure. While he didn't lack in size, his technique had been honestly a bit disappointing, to say nothing of Scorpio and his appetites. In all seriousness, if this all worked out and she did indeed end up with a new master in the old man, she saw no reason he would be any more a horrid master than what she had already endured before. Who knew, maybe he actually knew how to fuck?
Cheslie poked her head out of the kennels, signaling they were all clear. May Lin tapped Dalton on the shoulder. The old man nodded as he placed some extra supplies into the crate, taking his gladius and carving an "R" into the side of the container. Letting the girl help him up, Dalton and May Lin returned to Cheslie.
"…Well?" Dalton asked.
"…I got the animal fat," Cheslie motioned to some burlap bags near the animal feed. The Legion ran on brahmin and bighorners, for food if not always as beasts of burden, and they were not especially picky about what was used. The animal fat was often used, if not always for human consumption, for dog chow and torches. Dalton peeked inside the bag, withdrew from the rank odor as he grimaced, and resealed it.
"…Good work, ladies," Dalton nodded. "May Lin, you did your homework?"
May Lin produced from behind her two bones, likely femurs, from the hound feed. She had spent the last few hours sharpening their ends into points. Dalton took one, tapped his finger against the barb, and withdrew as he dabbed his finger against his tongue. Nodding, Dalton watched as May Lin passed Cheslie the other shiv. "…Remember, girls, tonight you head here and wait for my signal. Once it goes off, don't stop for anything or anyone. You both got that?"
As the girls nodded, Fang and Claw noticed a new odor and immediately both began baying and barking, the noise setting off the other hounds. Dalton turned and saw an exceptionally surly-looking gunman approaching him. Cheslie, meanwhile turned her attention to Scorpio's chariot mounts, calming them both down and soothing them until their barks turned into growls. Fang and Claw were two misanthropic hounds, and their tolerance for humanity didn't extend farther than man who rode behind them on their hunts and woman who had recently been feeding them after they had eaten their previous handlers.
"…Can we talk in private?" Cade hissed at Dalton.
"Where's Rosa?" Dalton asked.
"Back at the tent. We need to have a discussion!" Cade snapped.
"…Ladies, you two both know where the tent is, right?" Dalton asked. Both girls looked at each other and nodded. "…You two both head there a while. Don't worry about our friend here or the girl that's trussed up inside. We're all in this together,"
"…Thank you, Dalton," Cheslie said as she led May Lin away from the two. Dalton turned to Cade and noticed that he seemed especially agitated. "…I see she's been her usual charming self," Dalton grinned.
"Were you also Frumentarii?" Cade asked.
"I beg your pardon?" Dalton balked.
"Were you also Frumentarii?" Cade repeated.
"…Yes, Duncan, I used to have a brain when I served under Caesar, if you really must know," Dalton taunted. "Now could you politely remove your hand from your piece so we can finalize this whole thing?"
Cade took his hand off his magnum. "…New Canaan's destruction. It really was just one man influencing one tribe, was it?"
"..Caesar didn't tell me or anyone near his camp about that operation. As far as I know, he only sent one man to level that place, and it turned out to be one of his last good calls," Dalton taunted. As he finished, Dalton noted the flash of pure hatred that crossed over Duncan's eyes for the briefest of moments. "…Close to home?"
"…Your generation can't die soon enough," Cade snarled.
"At least you won't have to wait long," Dalton smiled. "Although, if you want someone to be angry at, blame the man who led the Legion to your home's doorstep. Maybe plug a bullet in that guy and do us both a favor," Dalton laughed. Cade just stared at him. Slowly, Dalton's laughter began to peter out as he looked back at the face of the man whose expression did not change in the slightest at the mention of Joshua Graham. "…Well, considering in all likelihood the man is already dead…"
"He is," Cade said.
Dalton stared at Cade and studied his face and eyes. Slowly, the realization began to dawn on Dalton. Suddenly, his throat began to feel very dry and tight. Dalton had hated Joshua Graham ever since his failure at Hoover Dam and would have loved nothing more than to have killed him in Caesar's name. It was a task that he knew was far easier said than done, and to stand in the presence of someone who could accomplish that, Dalton suddenly felt a new wave of apprehension wash over him. Before he knew it, his foot stepped onto one of the bags of animal fat behind him, signaling to his mind that he had been backing away from the gunslinger.
"…How?" was all Dalton could get out.
"…I got lucky," Duncan admitted as he looked away.
"…That's it?" Dalton uttered, disbelieving what he was hearing. "…One of the greatest warriors this land had ever known, and that's how he's done in? A lucky shot? How… why?"
"…His bounty was worth 5,000 caps from my employers," Cade shrugged.
"5,000?! For Graham?!" Dalton kept himself from screaming.
"…His actions against California and the Legion were considered "immaterial." He didn't get his bounty issued until he started hindering RMX operations," Cade explained.
"But… you two… you were a New Canaanite too? Adopted, sure, but you and Graham were…" Dalton tried to get out.
"New Canaan is dead," Cade snarled. "And Graham was a paycheck, nothing more," he lied.
"…Did it help?" Dalton asked.
"What?" Cade asked.
"Did killing Graham help?" Dalton elaborated.
Duncan had turned his back on that burning city with tears in his eyes. He remembered looking at the paltry few survivors, knowing his guard detachment had all been killed, and seeing HIM of all people alive and safe from the cataclysm HE caused. He remembered pulling his gun towards Graham, and being wrestled to the ground by Daniel and Paul. He heard the words, about forgiveness that and will of God this and so on and so on and other useless nonsense. So he left them, rather than watch over them all march to their own damnation and refuse to protect themselves, let alone be protected. This was what he told himself in every quiet moment he spent alone.
In his heart, he told himself that his life would be so much easier if he just admitted he hated Graham, that he didn't need the New Canaanites anymore, and that he didn't need anyone else.
"…Is everything set?" Cade deliberately changed the subject.
Cheslie and May Lin entered the tent, having kept to themselves on the trek over. The legionaries had been keeping their distance from the women, ever since the rumor had spread about the lizard devouring the last one who tried to harass them. As the closed the flap behind them, they looked down and saw a girl tied to the center post of the tent, her hands bound behind her. The girl looked up to the two women and let out a smile.
"Oh, sweet, sweet estrogen. How I missed thee," Rosa grinned.
"…You look unharmed," Cheslie breathed in disbelief.
"Not for any lack of trying on Tiny's part," Rosa smiled.
"Tiny?" Cheslie looked over to May Lin. "Who is…"
"That spear compensates way too much for him," Rosa explained.
"Oh, Tiny," Cheslie realized as May Lin let out a giggle. "…Honestly, he's not that small, just average and, well, sick in the head."
"Oh, I know, but it was the fastest way I could think of that would piss him off," Rosa stated in smug triumph. "And guys like that are way too easy to read. By the way, I'm Rosa."
"…Cheslie," she introduced herself. "And that's May Lin."
Rosa looked up and down Cheslie. "… She wasn't kidding," she muttered out loud.
"Who?" Cheslie asked.
"Kyra. She talked about the other harem girls a few times when we traveled together and she mentioned you a few times."
"…I can imagine," Cheslie scoffed.
"She said your personality was awful," Rosa continued.
"Of course," Cheslie rolled her eyes as May Lin stifled a laugh.
"And if someone put a gun to her head, you would be the one harem girl she would share Barabbas with," Rosa continued.
"And she, wait, she said what?" Cheslie looked at Rosa in disbelief.
"I mean, I get it, even beneath all the sackcloth I can tell you're hot. I mean, I got a friend I don't really mesh with romantically that I'd be sort of tempted to introduce you to her and-"
"Share!" Cheslie interrupted. "Then, that means… Kyra and Barabbas are…"
"Trust me, it's not a secret to anyone," Rosa smiled. "Pretty much the whole AEG heard those two when they shacked up in a barn not too long ago, and I saw our girl Kyra with a mouthful not that long ago now that I-"
"Finally!" Cheslie threw her hands up. "It's about damn time she took one for the team!"
"She was taking a bit more than one with all the time they spent together-" Rosa started up.
"I told you she wouldn't hold out on her own out there," Cheslie turned to May Lin. "It was either him or the riders out there with him, so she had to chose for her safety in servitude."
"Oh, Kyra's free," Rosa interjected.
"Exactly! Free to service him, that's what I- I'm sorry," Cheslie and May Lin both turned to stare at Rosa in disbelief.
"From what I understand, Barabbas didn't start sleeping with Kyra until after he freed her. She's not his slave anymore, just his girlfriend."
Cheslie and May Lin turned to stare at one another. …Well, guess the other girls are out of a job, May Lin thought. Cheslie turned back to Rosa, seeing that she was indeed serious. Barabbas, the Destroyer from Dallas, the Fort Wrath Fiend, the man who deflowered Cheslie and two other harem girls over a single Saturnalia night, had that trembling little tribal for a girlfriend?! By her own choice?!
Cheslie fell onto the floor, her need to sit down overwhelming her as May Lin fanned her. As Cheslie registered everything, she began to realize something. Barabbas wouldn't need his harem anymore. And after tonight, she'd never have to worry about Scorpio again, regardless of what happened. With her father having fully thrown his lot behind Scorpio, it was all the easier for Cheslie to justify cutting ties with every last connection she had with Imperial Dallas. She had nothing to go home to. Nothing to hold her back. The thought made her so deliriously lightheaded that she almost felt sick.
"…Hey, so, I know this is a little bit awkward," Rosa began to speak again. "…But, Dalton filled you guys in on the plan, right? Asshat-, I mean, Duncan-, Cade, I guess said you all were pitching in, right?"
May Lin nodded as Cheslie felt queasy for the third time this week. "…And you guys know that I'm getting put in this "duel" for Scorpio's amusement later tonight, right?" May Lin once again nodded.
"Well, the thing is, Duncan hasn't exactly been treating me in a Legion-compliant manner. And if I showed up without any marks, Tiny would get suspicious. I tried to tell him this earlier, but he left before I got around to it cuz I had other things to get off my chest about him," Rosa explained. Cheslie looked to the bound girl as May Lin fought back a gulp.
"…I need you two to beat the shit out of me," Rosa finally let out. Cheslie looked to May Lin. May Lin looked to her sister in trauma then down to the tied girl. She was asking them to inflict the same pain they'd been enduring for weeks under Scorpio's ownership of them.
"…Cheslie," May Lin told her sister, the first words she'd uttered in weeks. "…Go untie her."
Soon enough, Rosa was unbound and standing up, stretching herself and cracking her back as Cheslie got behind her. May Lin got in Rosa's face. "…You sure you want to do this?"
"…If you think it'll help, you could just pretend I'm Scorpio," Rosa tried to grin.
"…I'm going to have to," May Lin said with a gulp as Cheslie brought the rope around Rosa's neck.
Cade made his way back to the tent. As he often did, he kept his ears open. The incident with the dumbass lizard had made its way around the camp, but thanks to some successful politicking from Vulpes, the story had shifted from a dangerous animal taking liberties with the soldiery to a handful of guards and the total dereliction of their duty. So, Scorpio was going to give the guards a chance to redeem themselves just before the main event of the evening. Rosa versus a soldier of his choosing. The prize? For the soldier; Rosa.
As Cade drew the tent flap back, something about the iron smell tipped him off to what happened. As he entered, he saw the fallen frame of Rosa as she lay beaten in a pool of her own blood, and off in the far corner he could see one of the slave girls sobbing as she was comforted by the other.
"What the hell happened?!" Cade demanded.
Rosa weakly pulled her head up. "…My idea," she tried to laugh. Duncan leaned down to Rosa as he inspected her wounds. No real injuries, just a lot of bruises and cuts, with a swollen eye and a busted nose the most dramatic. "…He can't know we're planning something," Rosa explained. "If I'm too pretty, he would know that you-"
"Shut up," Duncan snapped as he dove into his travel satchel. "…I get your logic, but you have a fight in a few hours and this is the last thing we need," he hissed.
"Well, why did you beat the shit out of me, then, Asshat?" Rosa weakly looked up to him.
"I didn't- Oh, very clever," Duncan snorted. "Getting me in trouble, then?"
"Getting you praise, more like," Rosa weakly chuckled. "Scorpio might give you a medal."
"I'd rather give him a bullet," Duncan muttered to himself.
"Hm?" Rosa perked up.
"Nothing," Duncan covered up as he pulled out some cold packs to reduce the swelling. "Now keep this on and let me make sure you didn't get anything torn. You are going to be very busy not too long from now," Duncan muttered.
"I'll be fine," Rosa tried to fire back. "What about the other two?"
Duncan looked at the two slaves as they cowered away from their actions towards Rosa. "…They'll have everything they'll need by tonight."
"And what about Dalton?" Rosa asked.
"He knows what he's doing," Duncan replied. "Now shut up and let me look after you."