Gotta Bounty
“Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me” Sev mumbled, looking through her rifle scope. She passed her rifle Cooper to reach in her pocket to light a cigarette. Nothing in the Mojave would ever just be easy.
Cooper lifted the rifle to look through the scope to take in what Sev had seen, “looks like a bounty service moved into your soda factory,” Cooper muttered.
“Fucking radroaches, not you Coop,” Sev said, inhaling the smoke of her cigarette before passing it to Cooper.
He took the cigarette, taking a puff before passing it back, “they are roaches, big name clients don’t want to see the bounty hunters, so they send them out through services like that. Gonna be a hell of a fight,” Cooper muttered, looking at the two women with him.
“We can’t fight all of them,” Lucy spoke, nervousness heard in her voice. If Cooper was saying it was going to be a hard fight, then it was definitely going to be a hard fight.
Sev mulled over the options, “I can’t go in there, the bounty on me is kill only,” Sev muttered, looking at Lucy. “Lucy, how do you feel about being kidnapped again for a bounty?”
Lucy blanched a bit, “Well I wouldn’t like it.”
“Ain’t a bad idea Sev,” Cooper said, looking at Lucy.
“Won’t they just kill me anyways?” Lucy asked, looking at the two like they had grown an extra head.
“Bounty on you says dead or alive, meaning they offered more for ya to be brought alive. You look like a strong breeze would knock ya on your ass, they're gonna want that higher reward.” Cooper explained.
“Okay, but what about after?” Lucy questioned, really not getting what they were trying to plan.
“We sync our Pipboys, they have a bit of range. It’ll tell me where you are and the rough layout. Then we attack, panic the people outside, you get free and either help or hide.” Sev broke down for Lucy, giving a rough breakdown of what was going to happen.
Lucy took a deep breath, she held trust for the two of them to get her out, but this plan seemed dangerous. She pushed those negative thoughts to the side, letting out a shaking “okie dokie”.
~~~~~
Sev had gone through everyone’s bags, looking over the knives they had on them along with a roll of duct tape. “Go on, behind the rock, we ain’t gonna look, tape ‘em where they won’t be seen,” Cooper spoke, pointing to a rock jutting out from the ground.
Lucy simply nodded, deciding to put her whole faith on Cooper and Sev, no matter how loudly her brain blared alarms. She really didn’t mind getting undressed, she didn’t think the two of them would peek, but she didn’t like getting undressed under the burning Mojave sun. This entire trip, she had to sweat at least a gallon at this point.
Lucy’s hand reached up to unzip her vault suit, looking down at the bright (now dirty) blue suit that she had lived in since she was 15, when she was too big for her previous one. This suit at one point belonged to someone else, and before that someone else, but now it was hers. As she thought about the suit that Cooper hated and that Sev advised her to change for safety, she thought about her vault's residents. Did the previous owner of this suit ever imagine going to the surface? Did the person who owned this suit before feel so attached to it like she does? Would the vault reject or shun her for what she has been forced to do?
She realized that she had zoned out with her hand still on her zipper, she physically shook her head, trying to chase away any thoughts of her vault before she ran headfirst into danger. She carefully taped the handful of knives on herself, trying to hide them as well as possible. She assumed that they would pat her down, which added an additional level of difficulty. Despite this, she managed to get it done, slipping her trusty vault 33 suit back on.
As she finished up, a sick feeling settled in her stomach. Something didn’t feel right, but she wasn’t sure what was causing that feeling. She tried to not focus on it, stepping back out from behind the rock and walking back towards Cooper and Sev.
Sev had already fished out her inherited Pipboy and the connecting cord, promptly connecting the Pipboys together. They took a minute to fully link together, leaving Sev and Lucy to stand next to each other as Cooper looked around to make sure that they weren’t being spotted.
Lucy’s face was tightened in worry, prompting Sev to speak, “try and not worry about it, Cooper and I can handle this as long as we know the building layout. You just get yourself in a closet and we will find you.”
Lucy tried to relax herself, she really did, she failed, but she tried her damnedest. The two girls didn’t speak again until the Pipboys were fully synced. “Be safe Lucy, I need to head towards the back of the building,” Sev spoke, waving the two off before taking her leave.
“Come ‘ere” Cooper spoke with a rasp. He reached down, unravelling the rope attached to his hip. Lucy unintentionally flinched as he did so. While Cooper noticed he didn’t comment on it, instead gesturing to her arms.
Lucy watched as Cooper bound her wrist together, the knot looking intricate and difficult for her to untie. Cooper left a long three foot tail for him to grab, but left another tail, no longer than four inches. Cooper grabbed the shorter tail, forcing it in Lucy’s hand and moved her hands where it wasn’t seen. “When you can, you pull it, it’ll unravel. Don’t let no one see it or you’re shit outta luck.” Cooper explained, bending down to pick up the long piece of rope. “Come on, let's get this shit over with.”
Lucy showed an uncomfortable smile, “okie dokie!” Now bringing her tally to two for the day.
~~~~~
“Fuck you, you got cards up you sleeve, ain’t no way you just won 5 games in a row,” the frustrated man yelled, throwing his cards down face up, two pair.
The other man stood up, shaking out his sleeves, “ain’t got no damn cards up my sleeves, you just ain’t lucky,” he retorted, his hand having been a full house. “Now I’ll be takin my Caps,” he spoke again, grabbing the small pile of caps set out on the wooden box.
“My old lady’s gonna kill me,” the first man said, wiping his hand down his face.
Cooper directed Lucy towards the two men. He counted his lucky stars that Lucy was nervous about this, it would make it a whole hell of a lot more believable. “Gotta bounty to turn in. Some runaway vault dweller,” Cooper spoke, finally catching the attention of the two gambling men.
“I’ll get the boss man and your Caps, you stay out here,” one of the men spoke with a hint of suspicion, entering the factory, leaving Cooper and the other man.
“Pretty one you got there, hope you didn’t try nothin’ Ghoul,” the remaining man leered, not hiding how he was looking at Lucy.
“Her daddy put out the bounty, Caps worth more than a lay,” Cooper responded, shifting the weight from his left leg to his right leg.
Lucy bit down any kind of retort, not liking how the man talked. She felt so nervous she could be sick, it was the worst nerves she had felt since being on the surface. Something really felt off, maybe it was being tied with the same rope as the first time, maybe it was the stakes of this plan, maybe it was the man who was so rude to her travelling companion, or maybe it was something else entirely.
The negative feelings swirled around her head as the other man came back with another fellow leading him. This man was more put together than she expected: a clean looking shirt, clean looking pants, and somehow undamaged shoes, something she hadn’t seen anyone wear since the vault. “I see she’s in good condition, 3000 Caps and a 500 Cap alive bonus, pleasure doing business with you,” the well put together man said, placing a large satchel of Caps into Coopers hand. Cooper tested the weight, realizing that the man had definitely shorted him, but rather than make a fuss, he tucked the satchel into his saddlebag, and just walked away.
~~~~~
Lucy was led inside, her hand still clutching the tail of the rope. She looked around the hallway she was being led down, trying to play it off as pure anxiety rather than her looking for anywhere to hide when bullets start flying. She did notice something that struck her as odd, the building did have electricity, but the lights were notability dim, like something else was pulling power.
She was led into a small room with no windows, the lights still dim. The man leading her tied the long tail of the rope to an exposed pipe. She had became a little less squeamish at the dirt, so much so that being forced to sit on the ground didn't faze her anymore.
Lucy sat there for a while, the man staring at her like he was considering something. With a yell of “attack,” the man left the room. She listened to the rushing footsteps in the hallway and as soon as they quieted down, she pulled on the short tail of rope tucked in her hand. Just as Cooper said, the rope around her wrists unraveled, freeing her.
She moved as quickly as possible, painfully ripping the knife attached by duct tape off of her skin. Lucy decided to let the others remain taped to her skin, just in case anything went astray. She turned the knife over in her hand, hoping not to use it.
Listening at the door, she cracked it open to peek her head out. She carefully moved down the hallway to slip into the janitors closet she had spotted while being led down the hall. The handle of the knife was digging into her palms, but she didn’t dare drop it, not having anything to protect herself could very well be the death of her.
Keeping herself low to the ground, she rounded the corner knowing that the closet was close. She moved fast, but kept her footsteps as quiet as possible.
The closet was almost in her reach, just a few more steps, when a figure rounded the corner. The well put together man saw her, and quickly ran to her. His right arm was visibly injured, hanging limply at his side.
Lucy didn’t know what happened, she didn't know what had happened between seeing the man run at her and her being in the janitor's closet. All she knew was that her hands were sticky and warm, the back of her head hurt, and she didn’t know where the knife was.