Author's Note: I hope everyone is doing well. Just an update on where the story is going. I plan to wrap up the Sierra Madre portion of the story within the next couple of chapters. Enjoy this chapter, and reviews are always welcomed and appreciated.
Amata was having a very pleasant dream. She knew that it was a dream because she was standing in a grassy meadow with rolling hills, and she was pretty sure that this type of place no longer existed in the world. It was sunny, and there was a very refreshing breeze swirling around her. She was wearing a light blue sundress, her hair was flowing freely around her face, and, strangely enough, she was not wearing any shoes, nor was her pip-boy anywhere in sight. She looked around to see if there was anyone else with her, when she saw three people walking towards her.
In the middle was a grown man holding the hands of two children. Amata's face lit up when she realized that the man was Mark. He looked a bit older, and was not wearing any armor, nor carrying any type of weapons. He also was not wearing his pip-boy, and he and the children were not wearing shoes either. Mark was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt. The child to Mark's right was a young girl, looking about twelve or thirteen years old, wearing a sleeveless yellow t-shirt with a matching yellow skirt. Amata realized that the girl was Abby, although she was no longer a little girl, but on the brink of becoming a teenager. She was going to be a knockout when she grew up; there was no doubt about that.
Amata looked at the other child on Mark's left, who was wearing a navy blue t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. For a moment, she could have sworn she was looking at Mark when he was five or six, but it couldn't be Mark because he was standing in the middle of the three. Her brain froze for a second, and she unconsciously put a hand on her stomach. Was this child her son? Was this the child that she was currently pregnant with? She was broken out of her reverie when she heard Mark say, "Abby, James, go give your mother a hug." Mark let go of the children's hands as they ran over to Amata. Amata crouched down and engulfed both children in a hug.
It felt so warm, so…perfect, that tears of joy streamed down her face, and her smile threatened to split her face in two. She looked at Mark, and he was smiling as well. The two children broke off the hug. She looked at Abby. "I love you, Mom. Thank you for adopting me." "I love you too, Abby, and you don't have to thank me." She kissed Abby on the cheek. She then looked at her apparent son. Upon closer inspection, although he did look like Mark, the eyes were the same shade of hazel as her own. He was definitely their son. "I love you, Mommy." Amata kissed him on the forehead. "I love you too, James, my handsome little man." Amata didn't care that this was a dream. This was probably the happiest that she had ever felt in her entire life. She could feel so much love that her heart felt like it was close to bursting.
"Hey, how about some love for the handsome big man?" Amata laughed and let go of the children, and then walked over to Mark. "Of course," Amata said, "how could I forget the 'big man'?" "Handsome, don't forget handsome as well," Mark said as they put their foreheads together and looked deeply into each other's eyes. "I seem to be very forgetful today," Amata said, "but one thing that I will never forget is how much that I love you." They began to kiss, their tongues dueling for dominance. Mark's tongue gained entrance into Amata's mouth, eliciting a groan from her. Amata didn't know how long they were kissing for. Seconds, minutes, hours, it didn't matter, and not just because it was a dream. She loved every second of it.
"Get a room, you two," a voice to Amata's left said, interrupting them. It was Abby. "Eww, that's gross," James said, scrunching up his face in disgust. Mark, being the mature adult that he was, stuck out his tongue at the two children, which the two children returned in kind. Amata burst out laughing, and playfully slapped Mark on the chest. "Kids," Mark said, "why don't you go and play. Your mom and I need to talk for a minute." James tapped Abby on the shoulder. He shouted, "You're it," and then promptly ran away, Abby chasing after him. Mark and Amata watched the two of them run around for a few moments, and then turned back to face each other.
"I love you, Amata." "I love you too, Mark. This is the happiest that I've ever felt." "You do realize that this is just a dream, right?" She put a finger on his lips. "Shh, please, don't ruin the moment." They were silent for a few moments. "You, um, wouldn't happen to know where you are, back in the real world, that is, because you're missing and I'm worried." "Sorry, babe, I don't, but wherever I am, I'm sure that I kicking ass and taking names, and that I will be back. What have I always told you?" "That you'll always come back," Amata said. "You got that right, because I have a brilliant and sexy wife waiting for me, and apparently now a daughter. Now, I think you need to wake up, because Abby needs you."
"Amata, wake up." Amata's eyes shot open, and found Arcade standing over her, apparently having come in to wake her up. "Oh, good," he said, "you're awake. Abby is, too, and she's looking for you." Amata rubbed her eyes, threw off the blanket and stood up, stretching as she did. "Abby, right, yeah. How long was I out for?" "About an hour-and-a-half or so." "Well, thanks for keeping an eye on her for me. It was a long morning." "So," Arcade asked as they walked to the door, "how's your attempt at parenting going so far, in your opinion?" "It's all new to me, Arcade. I'm entering the unknown here." "Well, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," Arcade stated as they walked out into the hallway. "Going philosophical on me, Gannon?" Amata joked.
He shrugged. "Eh, I have my moments. Now go on, that child needs you," he said motioning her to get going. Amata patted Arcade on the shoulder. "You're a good friend, Arcade. Listen, I'm sorry about earlier. I think that you, I, Boone, and Cass need to sit down later tonight and have a chat. But, as you said, right now I have a child that needs my attention." Arcade nodded. "Absolutely. I'll be in the lab if you need me. Oh, and remind me later, I have a book that might be of interest to you, vis-à-vis this situation with Abby." "Thank you, Arcade." With that, they went their separate ways, Amata towards Abby's room, and Arcade towards the elevator.
Amata walked into Abby's room and turned on the light. She saw Abby leaning up against the headboard. "Hi, sweetheart, how was your nap?" Abby looked at Amata with a bit of sadness in her eyes. "Abby, what's wrong?" Amata said as she walked over and sat down on the bed. "I- I had a dream…about my parents." "Oh, um, did you want to talk about it? You don't have to if you don't want to." Amata put a hand on Abby's arm. "No, it's okay. They, um, they told me that they're happy that I found people to take care of me and give me things that they would never be able to." She looked up at Amata with a sad smile on her face. "They said that they're at peace, and to live my life to the best of my ability."
"They, um, they also had a message for you and your husband." Amata's eyes widened. "They did?" "Yeah, they, um, they said thank you, and that your baby is going to be a boy." Amata's mind immediately went back to the dream she just had. "They said that?" "Yeah, and right before I woke up they said that they loved me, and that they were proud of me, and, and…" Abby lost her composure and started crying. Amata engulfed her in a hug and let Abby cry into her shirt while she rubbed her back. "I miss them so much," Abby said between gasps of breath. Amata couldn't help but start crying as well. "I know you do, Abby, I know you do." The two of them stayed like they were for a few minutes, Amata calming down a bit and allowing Abby to cry for as long as she needed to.
Eventually Abby stopped crying. Her eyes were red and puffy and there were tear tracks running down her face. She noticed the wet spot on Amata's shirt. "I'm sorry," she said pointing it out to Amata. "Abby, you have nothing to apologize for. Everyone needs to cry every now and then, even more so when people close to you pass away. When my father-in-law passed away, I cried for a few days because he meant so much to me. But then I remembered all the good times me and my husband had with him, and then I smiled because I knew he wouldn't want my husband or I to grieve for him, but to remember him as he was."
"That's the secret in these situations, Abby. Remembering all the good times you had with your parents. The dead never truly leave us, sweetheart. They are always in our minds-" she placed a finger on Abby's forehead, "-and in our hearts-" she placed her hand over Abby's heart, "-and one day, when the time comes, we will all see our loved ones again, in a place far better than the world we live in now." Abby smiled. "So…I'll get to see them again?" Amata smiled and rubbed Abby's right arm. "Yeah, you will, but hopefully not for a very long time, if I or my husband have anything to say about it. Now, how about I cook us up some lunch? Sound good?" Abby nodded. "Good. Now let's get you up and dressed, and we need to get you used to those crutches."
After a few false starts and a couple of minor adjustments to the crutches, Amata got Abby to a point where she could use them without help. They went out in the hallway and headed towards the kitchen when the elevator dinged open and Boone stepped out. He took a few steps down the hallway but stopped when he noticed Amata with Abby. They stopped as well and were now in a stare-down with Boone. "Um, Boone," Amata said, "this is Abigail Fields, mine and Mark's adopted daughter. Abby, this is another friend of ours, Mister Craig Boone." Abby and Boone continued their stare-down until Abby walked down the hallway with Amata right behind her. When she got close to Boone, she handed her crutches to Amata and hugged Boone around the waist.
Boone looked at Amata with a raised eyebrow, but all Amata could do was stifle a laugh. A few moments later, Abby let go of Boone and looked him in the eyes. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Boone." Boone, who looked to be in a bit of shock, said, "Nice, uh, nice to meet you too, kid." He then cautiously walked around the two of them and went into his room. Amata handed the crutches back to Abby and looked at her. "Abby, I'm not mad or anything, but, um, why did you hug him?" She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. He just looked like he could use a hug." Amata smiled, secretly wishing the others had been here to see that.
Ten minutes later, Amata was at the stove, cooking some mac and cheese, while Abby looked at the box while sitting at the kitchen table. "What does the box say?" she asked while she turned it over in her hands. Amata looked over her shoulder at the young girl. "Abby, do you know how to read at all?" she asked carefully, not wanting to make her feel stupid if she couldn't. "My mom taught me a few letters, but things came up, and she never really got to finish." She frowned and looked down. Amata stirred the noodles and then walked over to Abby and crouched down. "Well, how about this: after we eat, you tell me what letters you know, and then we'll finish what your mom started, okay?" Abby nodded. "Yeah, okay, I guess." Amata smiled, gave Abby a kiss on the cheek, and went back to the stove.
(Same time, Sierra Madre)
The trio of Mark, Christine, and Veronica had just entered the switching station and closed the door. Looking around the small room, Mark saw some computer servers along the back wall, a couple of desks and filing cabinets to his right, and a bit past those was a door that most likely led further into the facility. Mark walked over to the door and hit the switch to open it, but it did not respond. He then realized that the station looked to be running on emergency power, so they would have to find some way to turn the power back on.
"Veronica, do you see-" He was cut off when the station lit up and the door opened. He turned around and saw Veronica close the lid to a fuse box that had a heart on it. "Sorry, did you say something, Mark?" "Um, never mind. Let's get going. Wherever we need to be is a bit further in." They walked through the door and immediately heard the telltale beeping of the collars. He looked to his right and saw an unshielded speaker. Thankfully it was low enough that he just decided to smash it with the butt of the holorifle. They descended down a couple of flights of stairs, and they came across two more speakers, both unshielded and both low enough for Mark to smash as well. It also helped that there was graffiti denoting the locations of the speakers for them.
They walked onto a catwalk of a wide-open area. The catwalk led in two directions, one going down to the floor, and one going across to another room. The power management access was on the opposite end of the facility from where they currently were. However, getting there would be a bit of an issue. The first problem being that the floor was shrouded with the Cloud, and the catwalk leading to the small room he noticed earlier was missing a couple of decent-sized chunks of catwalk, leaving one three-foot section between them and the room. That section didn't exactly look stable.
Elijah had mentioned earlier that some people were able to survive the Cloud for short periods of time if they were strong enough. The problems with going down were that they would intentionally be exposing themselves to a deadly toxin, and it most likely wasn't a straight shot to a set of stairs that went up to the catwalk on the other side. If they went across to the room, there was only a chance that they would expose themselves to a deadly toxin, if the section of catwalk collapsed. He relayed all of this to Veronica and Christine, who agreed after thinking it over.
"You two go first," Mark said. "Why us?" Veronica asked. "You two are lighter than me. If I go first and the catwalk collapses, you two would be forced to go down and through the Cloud, and your lesser weight would likely make it easier for the cloud to kill you. On the other hand, I would probably have a better chance at getting through the cloud. My radiation immunity has to count for something here. Of course, I'm merely speculating on all of this, and I may be completely wrong, but we don't have any better options."
Veronica thought about it, and came to the realization that he was probably right. "You're a noble idiot, you know that, right?" Veronica said as she hugged him. "So I've been told. Go ahead. I'll see you on the other side." Veronica walked over, leaned back against the railing, and then started running. She leaped over the first gap, onto the isolated catwalk, and then onto the other side. Christine went next, but not before she threw the doctor's bag with their supplies in it to Veronica on the other side. Christine also made it over okay, and then it was Mark's turn. He tossed over the holorifle, and then began his run. He leaped over the first gap okay, and then went to start his leap over the second gap, but after two-hundred plus years of neglect and decay, the support beams collapsed. Mark screamed and made a desperate attempt to grab the other side of the catwalk, Veronica's hand, anything, but it came to no avail. He fell into the Cloud below.
Both Christine and Veronica looked down in shock. "MARK!" Veronica screamed, hoping to get him to respond. "MARK! Can you hear me?" There was nothing, and Veronica went out the other doorway, and down the other set of stairs that led down. Christine, meanwhile, typed furiously on a computer that was on a desk in the room, hoping to find some type of ventilation controls, or anything else at all to help.
Mark had miraculously landed on a small pile of rags. He immediately began to feel the effects of the Cloud. He got up slowly. He thought he heard someone yelling his name, but he wasn't really sure. He managed to barely stagger to his feet and tried to get his bearings. He attempted to turn on his pip-boy light, but even with that he could barely see a foot in front of him. He walked for a few more feet, but fell backwards into something hard and slid down as the Cloud began to overwhelm him. He tried to force himself to stand up, but his body refused, and the realization began to set in that this is where he would likely die. For the second time in his life, his life flashed before his eyes, which incidentally included the first time that his life flashed before his eyes.
(Five months ago, Project Purity Control Room)
Mark took the last steps into the control room, pressing the button to seal the outer door and opening the bulkhead as he went. He briefly looked at where his dad had taken his last breaths. He regretted not being able to say a proper goodbye to his dad. 'Then again,' he thought, 'it's not like it matters. I'll be seeing him and my mom shortly.' He walked over to the panel. He could feel the radiation begin to affect him as he began coughing up blood. He leaned against the panel, and looked up. "Amata," he said between coughs, "I surrender my soul so that the wastes may be a bit more hospitable to you than they were to me." He began to cough more violently. "I fought for you, but my fight is over. I hope that, when the time comes when we meet again, you will forgive me for breaking my promise to you. I always saw you as my guardian angel, Amata, and until we meet again, I will be more than happy to be yours."
He looked at the panel, and with a shaky hand, entered the code: 2-1-6, and then hit Enter. The machine activated, and the water inside the chamber became clearer as it started to swirl around. Mark fell back against the glass, and he looked at the statue of Thomas Jefferson with the water around it. His life began to flash before his eyes.
I am Alpha and Omega
"…happy tenth birthday, son…"
"…Mark, guess what I got you for your birthday…your favorite barbarian, Grognak…"
The beginning and the end
"…you're a perfectly healthy sixteen year old boy…"
"…Thanks for saving me from them, Mark. Bunch of jerks…"
I will give unto him
"…Mark, you have to wake up, your dad escaped, Jonas is dead…"
"…promise me you'll come back, Mark. Promise me…"
That is athirst of
"…thanks for disarming that bomb, kid…"
"…met your dad, real stand-up guy…"
The fountain
"…the Rangers are in your debt, kid…"
"…just know that your mother loved you very much…"
Of the water of life
"…run, son, run…"
"…dammit Lyons, I know you can hear me, let us in…"
"…thank you for releasing me, my friend. Now, the GECK…"
"…come on Franklin, we're taking that purifier back…"
Freely
Mark took one last look at the purifier as a solitary tear rolled down his right cheek. "I'm so sorry, Amata." Then, nothing. Unknown to Mark, at that exact same moment, in the vault, a feeling of dread suddenly came over Amata, although she was unsure why.
(Present Day)
Mark groaned and opened his eyes. He was sitting down, leaning back against something. His vision was a bit blurry, and saw the fuzzy outline of someone kneeling down in front of him. Mark smiled. "Amata, is that you, babe? Come here and give me a kiss." "Sorry, Marky-boy," the person replied, "but I don't swing that way. I'm flattered, though." "Huh?" Mark responded before he rubbed his eyes, and the world came back into focus. It was Veronica kneeling in front of him. "Welcome back to the land of the living." Mark looked to his right and saw Christine looking at him, a slight look of relief on her face. "What happened?" Mark asked. "The last thing that I remember was the catwalk collapsing, and then falling against something hard, and then nothing." 'Yeah, you did fall," Veronica responded, "likely on that pile of rags over there, got up, walked a bit, and then collapsed over here from exposure to the Cloud."
Mark looked around. "Wait, are we still in the switching station? What happened to the Cloud?" "Christine found some ventilation controls and cleared it out. Right after you fell, I came down to try and save you. I passed out, although just before it was cleared. I was out for about fifteen minutes. You, however, were out for about forty, forty-five minutes or so. Christine saved both of our lives." She indicated something on his chest. He looked down at himself. His vest had been taken off, his shirt lifted up, and a stimpak had apparently been injected into his heart, as it was still there. He took out the needle and tossed it away. He looked back at Christine. "Thanks, Christine. I owe you one." She nodded.
Veronica stood up and extended a hand for Mark, which he took and got back up to his feet. "Listen, you two, I owe you guys an apology for earlier." He ran a hand through his hair. "It's just…this is the longest that I've been away from Amata in quite a while, and it's bringing up some bad memories. It's not much of an excuse, but it's the reason, and I realize that acting like a jerk isn't helping our current situation." Nothing was said for a few seconds, until Veronica smiled and slapped him on the back. "We forgive you. Just don't let it happen again." She leaned down, picked up his vest, and handed it back to him. He took it thankfully and put it back on. She then handed him the holorifle.
He looked around the floor. He saw the remains of the collapsed catwalk and the pile of rags that had initially saved his life. In the middle of the floor was a large circular machine with a pipe that extended to the ceiling, and since it was humming, Mark assumed that this was what was controlling the ventilation. He walked around the machine, and stopped when he saw a body without a head slumped against the machine. He was wearing a grey jumpsuit, and there was a spattering of dried blood on the machine. "Uh, guys, you might want to look at this." Veronica came around, looked at the body, and gasped, while Christine examined the body closer.
Mark looked at Veronica. "You see, Veronica, this is what your so-called mentor has done, yet you continue to defend him. You saw the body at the medical station, the skeleton with a spear through it, and now him," Mark said, indicating the body. "How many more bodies do you need to see before you realize that Elijah is not worth saving?" "Mark you don't understand-" They were interrupted when Mark felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and looked at Christine. "What?" She held up a pip-boy to him. Mark took it. "Was this near the body?" He asked her. She nodded. "Mark, I thought Elijah said that those things could only be removed by the user because of the biometric seal." "True," Mark said, "but that's only for people who are still living. If the vitals drop to zero without being properly released, it releases automatically because the person is likely dead and can't remove it themselves. You think that I'm the first vault dweller to use this pip-boy?" he said, twisting his left wrist. "Although, I will be the last."
He looked over the pip-boy. "So, what vault are you from?" Mark said quietly to himself, although not quietly enough that Veronica couldn't hear him. "How can you tell?" "Each pip-boy has the vault number it was sent to imprinted on it somewhere. Ah, here we go. Vault number 34. Either of you know where that is?" "I think it's somewhere southeast of Vegas, but other than that, I'm not sure. Why?" "No reason. I was just curious. So, it looks like it still functions. Which one of you wants it?" "You want one of us to have it?" Veronica queried. "Yeah, why not? It still works, and it'd just be a waste to leave it here. These things are extremely useful." He looked at Christine, who shook her head. "Veronica?" She looked unsure for a couple of moments, before he shrugged her shoulders. "Sure, why not? Show me how it works."
He showed her how it was sealed by using her fingerprint, how she would release it, and all of the various functions. "Normally, the Overseer would input all of your personal data in it using a special device, but since we're short one of those at the moment, we'll wait until we get back to Vegas and then we can figure something out." The three of them climbed back up the stairs and made their way around to the other side of the station. They came to an open section of the catwalk, and there was an elevator that had a sign next to it. The sign read: "Power Management Access: Authorized Personnel Only." Mark looked at Christine. "Well, looks like this is your stop." Christine backed away and shook her head vigorously. Mark sighed. "Look, Christine, I'm guessing you're a bit claustrophobic from your time in the Auto-Doc, but you know what's at stake here, so, and I'm sorry for being so blunt about it, you need to suck it the hell up."
She shook her head again. "Mark," Veronica whispered in his ear, "let me talk to her. I may be able to convince her." Mark assented, and Veronica went over to talk to Christine. While he waited, Mark walked over to a section of the catwalk that had been partitioned off with a wall. He walked over, and saw a desk with a computer on it. He sat down at the computer, booted it up, and started typing. A couple of minutes later, Christine and Veronica walked over to him. "Alright," Veronica said, "she'll do it, but I need to stay with her." Mark looked at the two of them. "Well, I've got some good news. I was able to reroute power control to this terminal, so you can take care of it from here." Christine looked visibly relieved. "I'm guessing you're still gonna stay with her?" Mark asked. Veronica nodded. "Yeah, we have some catching up to do. I hope that's all right with you." "That's fine. I figured that was what you were going to do anyway."
After taking a stimpak out of their bag and putting it in his pocket, he went over to a ladder that led to a roof hatch that he noticed earlier. He decided to leave the holorifle with them. He took a couple of steps up, and turned and looked over his shoulder at them. "I'll see you two in the casino. I suggest you two primarily use the rooftops when we set this thing off, because these ghost people fuckers seem to be attracted to noise, and something tells me that there's gonna be a lot of it." "Be safe, Mark," Veronica said. "You as well," he responded. Mark continued his climb, forced the hatch open, climbed out and closed the hatch back up. He stood and looked over the villa. "Once more unto the breach," he said quietly, and then began his journey to the bell tower.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Until next time, and reviews are always welcomed and appreciated.